Half marathoning for fun and fitness

I guess the change in preparation between my disappointing finish in the National Half Marathon and the Frederick Running Festival half marathon paid off because while I was extremely discouraged with suffering cramps in my calves and by my time of 2:09:55 at the National, the 1:56:37 and 13+ minute improvement at Frederick more than made up for it. I still haven't really come all that close to my ultimate time goal of 1:50, but I was a lot closer this time than last and can at least see it in my sights.

There were a lot of things going for me this time. For one thing, I was following the Hal Higdon intermediate half marathon training program rather than the novice program. Intermediate suited me much better. And as bad as I felt it was, I went in to Frederick with one half under my belt. That's a luxury I didn't have at the National.

Also, I didn't try to be Mr. Marathon Tough Guy and acted like this race was a long training run. That meant wearing my fuel belt and packing gels that I'm used to taking. I didn't rely on the water stations to keep me hydrated and carbed up. I believe that made a big difference, as I think drinking water from cups while running is a skill that I don't and likely never will have.

Anyway, I finished in the top third of all finishers and mid-pack of my age group. Considering I am in arguably THE most competitive age group for men (35-39), I'm pretty happy with my age group placing and very, very happy with my overall placing (553rd out of 1844).

Frederick was a nice place to have this kind of event. It's small towny feeling, not too large of a field (I believe there were around 5,300 runners total for all races), the course was reasonably flat and the weather was great. There were some stiff crosswinds the last couple of miles, but I can't decide whether they were good because of how great they felt or bad for making it a little tougher to run. I guess the good and bad average out.

There were a couple problems beyond the wind though. Since the race was about an hour from home and started at 6:30am I got a hotel room for the night before. And I forgot to pack my socks. Obviously, for a runner the two most important things he needs are his shoes and his socks. I bought some cheap socks from the expo at the packet pick-up location, but I started to feel blisters forming about 5 miles in. Nothing I couldn't live with but irritating anyway. There was also the one water station I did hit -- to pour the water over my head since it was starting to get pretty warm out there toward the end. The water just washed salty sweat into my eyes and that stung for a while.

As for external stimulus, I generally keep to myself during races. I listen to my music and tune out the world around me and enjoy the sites and check out the crowds, if there are any. Some people run from person to person chatting with anyone they come across. One guy, a pretty heavyset fella breathing heavily just a couple miles in was one of those people. He pulled up to me and asked if I was looking to come in under 2 hours. I said I was, and he told me a story about how he's run a few half marathons but has never broken 2 hours and how upset he was at his best half when he set his personal record of 2:03. After a few more seconds of idle banter he moved on. The last I saw of him was when he was walking through the second water stop, which was about 4.5 miles into the race. I don't know if he made his time or not, but if not it'd be my suggestion to him to talk less at the beginning of the race in order to conserve energy for the end.

I feel pretty great today, one day after the half marathon. No real soreness or anything and my blisters are ok. I'm forced to take today and tomorrow off from working out because of a time crunch, but I'll be back at it on Wednesday getting ready for the third and final half marathon in my Spring 2008 half marathon series. That one will be in Boston on May 25. In the meantime, I have the inaugural Bloomin' 5K on the 17th, which is essentially up the street from my house and finishing up getting ready for Boston.

After Boston I'm going to have to decide if I really want to run a full marathon in the fall. If I do, it's going to be in Baltimore on October 11, and I'll have to start training for it on June 8. If I had to make a decision right now I believe I'd opt for the half marathon in Baltimore. 26.2 just seems very daunting to me.