Livelong Livestrong Half Marathon RR

Today, I ran the Livelong Livestrong Half Marathon in Hallandale, FL.  This was to be a training run with some speedwork between HMP and MP pace.  Forecast was very nice: 76-80F and 69 dewpoint.  That is Fall weather down here.  Except the forecast didn't say it would rain...hard...and that the wind would be 20mph...or more.  Oh, well.  I found out when I got there when one downpour started and it never abated much until after I had finished.

I got back from Europe on Wednesday afternoon and my run that day sucked.  It was 90F and 74 dewpoint and after running while on vacation in 49F and 39 dewpoint, this sucked too much.  A lot.  The run on Thursday sucked less but my HR was still too high and the pace too slow.  Then, on Friday, as the same thing was happening, I had an epiphany, I am dehydrated from the 11 hour flight.  Doh, I'm a genius!  Not.

Anyway, I knew the pace might suffer a bit because of how the runs have gone.  But I wanted to try to still do some HMP and MP miles.

I got there at close to 6am for a 7am start.  A little late for S. Florida (we usually start at 6am) but I cannot help it.  I went to the restrooms and picked a banana from the breakfast bar.

If you remember, I did this race last year and this happened:



Remember the horse track finish for 1.5 miles?  Ouch.

So this year they promise no track to run, so I registered.

This year, as soon as they said 1 minute to start, the downpour and high winds started.  I did not do gear check because the only thing I had to leave was my car key and I spent the rest of the race worrying about damaging the key in the rain.

This time I had my iPod all charged (dang those plugs in Europe and their no card = no electricity thing) so I used the Berlin Marathon playlist and too bad I couldn't use it for the marathon because it's PR worthy indeed.

Miles 1-3: I did these as easy miles (since I was not racing, I warmed up properly).  I noticed my HR was already close to MP heart rate, but I checked it before the race and I was 6-10bpms higher than usual, so this was normal then.  Paces: 10:00, 9:58, 9:51.

After this, I attempted HMP miles from Miles 4 through 10.  I felt good enough to increase the pace and I did.  I was passing people like crazy from here until the finish.  Paces: 9:19, 9:08, 9:05, 9:02, 9:01, 9:08.

At the end of Mile 9 I got the asthma tightness of the chest, so I stopped at Miles 10 and 11 to use the inhaler (two pumps in between the two miles) and I did it in record time because I finished Mile 10 in 9:31 and Mile 11 in 9:31, when it usually takes me 2-3 minutes.  This time I only lost 1 minute.

Miles 12-13: by now I'm winding down to MP and easy pace.  My workout was done.  Except I keep passing people like it's Christmas! Paces: 10:18 (I had to stop to retie my shoe), 9:30, 1:51 (8:09).

As I head into the chute, I am surrounded by guys I know in my running group and they are all faster runners than me.  It was nice to finish with guys and no girls in sight, LOL.  I finished exactly in 2:05.  My soft PR is 2:04:31, so even on a training run, this PR is ready to be crushed.

When I checked my results, I was 8th in my AG when I passed the 10K mat and ended up getting 4th in my AG at the finish.  So, that shows how many people I passed throughout.

This race is done by fundraising for the Livestrong Foundation.  It's a nice way to cooperate with the foundation and lots of forumites contributed: awnm, cardholic, RedSparkle, RobinCD, Hipfan, DiTrying, Marjorie, Linda, Bryan, Theresa, and others from the marathoners forum.  Thank you for your support!

Here is me after I convinced a poor guy to take my picture:



I guess I'm ready to try again at MCM.  Thanks for reading!

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