COX Providence Half-Marathon

Kudos to Tang for an awesome race report about the half! Since he did such a great job and a thorough report, I really don't have to go into detail about the race.

Overall I think I did really well. I always seem to impress myself with my running and the times that I get. Maybe I just don't lift my expectations high enough for myself. I surprisingly had a fun time during this race, but I didn't realize how much pain I would be in afterward. That is basically due to the fact that I hadn't trained as much as I did for my last half-marathon.

It was a rough weekend for me. I have been in the process of moving back to RI so Friday consisted of two car trips from Palmer to Cranston, back to Palmer, then back to Cranston. Moved a lot of stuff on Friday. Then on Saturday, it was the big moving day where we rented a U-Haul and moved all my big furniture down. The couch was a big pain in the neck but eventually we got it up to my new apartment on the 3rd floor. After finally moving all my stuff, I was able to focus more on preparing for the race. I set out all my gear and clothes for the morning. Then Danato and I ate a nice big pasta dinner and also drank plenty of water throughout the day. We made sure we went to sleep early so we could be well rested for the race in the morning.

I thought it was quite chilly when we woke up Sunday morning. I was worried about my race gear selection since I had picked out a t-shirt and capri-length running pants. I decided to still go with it and I'm glad I did! It definitely warmed up, but not too warm. It was the perfect temperature for a run. Not too hot, not too cold. Definitely very nice and I think that helped our PR's a bit :-)

I knew that the first half of the run consisted of many hills or gradual hills so I wanted to take it easy at the beginning. That wasn't very hard to do since there was a swarm of people the first two miles of the race. However, I kept looking down at my pace and thinking that it was way too fast and I'm going to tire myself out way too soon. I couldn't help it. I think it was a combination of the excitemnet of the race, the people running around me, and the great weather we were having. I couldn't slow down from the pace that I was going so I decided just to go for it. I'm glad I made that decision because I was able to shave my previous PR down by over a minute.

At mile 1.69, my GPS watch had stopped recording for some reason. Either I accidentally hit the button or someone hit it while I was running within the huge crowd. I didn't notice that it was turned off until about a mile afterward. I turned it back on by then but that really messed me up. At every mile-marker I had to just believe it but then when I look down at my watch it was way off. I kept having to add 1.1 miles to my watch distance to be in line with what was going on and to make sure I was still doing alright. It really threw me off and in the end my data only showed me going 12 miles instead of 13.1. No big deal, but I really like my running data, and was kinda sad that it failed for a little bit :-(

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this run. I hadn't been running/training nearly enough because of the winter and work. I went into this run thinking just as long as I run the entire thing, I will be fine. "DON'T WALK! You can do it, you've done it before!". I was not expecting to put in a better time and pace than the Newport Half back in October. So to get any time better than that, I was very satisfied.

Since Tang brought it up, I have to comment on the drinking stations. From previous races, I have discovered that I absolutely suck at those things. If I want a sip of water, it usually ends up all over the front of me and none in my mouth. It's a hard thing for me to coordinate while running. Water bouncing around everywhere, it's probably just easier to throw it over your head and hope that some lands in your mouth. That's why I love my fuelbelt. I didn't have to slow down to grab a cup and I can just drink whenever I want. Plus I have a pouch that goes on it so that I can store some GU (caffeinated). My fueling strategy throughout a half-marathon:
-Only need to bring 2 bottles (not the full 4). I fill one with Gatorade, and the other one with water.
-Sip periodically throughout the race, I tended to grab some water whenever I passed a water station.
-At about mile 6, I have half a GU. By fueling time, I usually have a GU in one hand, then a water or Gatorade bottle in the other hand. I alternate sipping the fluid then having a squirt of the GU.
-At mile 10, I have the other half of the GU for that last bit of energy at the end. By this time I am also usually done with at least one of the bottles and have the rest to drink up before the finish line.

My fueling strategy seems to work well for me. I've tested it out quite a few times now. I could probably do full GU each time, but the consistency of the stuff really turns me off from doing the whole thing at once.

A couple memorable things that occurred during the race:

**Towards the end of the race, when the course went through India Point Park, there were all these signs and people there showing support for cancer patients. There were so many signs that said things like "Keep going!" "Run for a cure!", or "Keep fighting, you're almost there", etc. It had a lot to do with cancer but it also went along with pushing it straight until the end. For some reason, those signs really hit my emotional button and I was almost in tears. Until I finally ran out of the park and under the bridge to run right into downtown. It was an emotional part of the race for me because I kept thinking the family members that I have lost to cancer. Good thing I didn't lose it right there, because I would've had to slow down and try to collect myself before approaching the finish line. It was very nice to see those signs and I know that some of the people running in that race have (or had) some form of cancer. In my eyes, they are the true winners of the race.
**Before the very last turn of the race to the finish line, there was a spectator walking the opposite way. As he was walking, he was singing the tune to a very popular victory song that seems to be slipping my mind at the moment. If I can think of it later, I will post it. But it was a PERFECT tune for the end of the race. I had a good chuckle from it then I boosted up my speed to help me truck through the end.
**Running in the area of the Blackstone Path was very cool because there were a lot of people there watching and cheering us on. They were the same people that had seen the first part running pass Blackstone, and they just shifted to the other side to see the runners coming the other way a little bit later. I thought that was pretty neat and definitely encouraging. I love the spectators! Especially the kids asking for high-fives. I always try to get in a high-five throughout a race. It's simply awesome.

I was able to PR at 2:04:02. I was happy with this time but with new motivation, I hope to get it down to 2 hours in the near future.

Immediately after the race when we were all meeting up at the water fountain, I still felt pretty good. I think I was still high from the run. Because during that mile walk back to Danato's place, I could definitely start feeling it. Danato and I felt like two elderly folks walking back. It took probably double the time to get back to his apartment off of Angell than it took to get to the race that morning. It was brutal. We pretty much collapsed and did nothing the rest of the day.

I couldn't believe how sore I got. I wasn't nearly that sore after my first half-marathon. But when I thought about it, it makes sense why I was so sore. I hadn't been training nearly enough as I should have been and I probably pushed myself a little too much. I was very happy with the race and my performance but the next day at work definitely was a killer. Needless to say, I slept very well Sunday and Monday nights. By Tuesday, I wasn't really sore anymore. I made it a point to drink plenty of fluids Sunday and Monday. And I think being on my feet and walking around all day at work really helped me loosen up quite a bit. I was able to run 6 miles at a 9:30 pace yesterday and not be in any pain. I would call that successful.