Lexington Half Marathon

Well, after an extended hiatus from writing here, I'm back.

After training off and on for the remainder of 2009, I started 2010 with the goal of training for my first ever half marathon, aiming for the Lexington Half Marathon in Lexington, Kentucky. Up until this point, the longest I'd ever run was 6 miles, and the farthest I'd ever raced was a 4 mile trail race. So ... I was pretty excited, but also a little nervous about whether it would be possible to fit in all those training runs in what might be very bad weather.

The winter did end up being pretty nasty and cold, but I was able to stay on schedule. While I did have to do a lot of running in pretty cold weather (teens and twenties), I only had to run through snow a couple of times. For the most part, it was just cold. A few times when it was icy I did my training runs in the gym on the treadmill, but those were few and far between.

I was also very worried about getting injured from the mileage increase, due to my tendency to develop stress fractures. My main problem ended up being blisters, however - that and black toenails on the second toes of both feet. The blister problem has partly resolved through the use of Asics blister powder - it's good stuff.

On to the half marathon! Sunday was cold, rainy, and windy, and despite trying to arrive at the venue early, I ended up having to hop out of my boyfriend's car and jog about a mile to the venue in order to make the start (it was the first ever half marathon in Lexington, and the organizers hadn't anticipated the traffic issues - everything else ran pretty smoothly). That ended up being a pretty decent warm-up, and I had a few minutes to kill before the race actually started.

My goal was to start as slow as possible. With 13 miles ahead of me, I wanted to get into a good rhythm and not worry about speed or pace. I have a pretty sharp competitive instinct, but I had worked hard to get myself into a mindset to ignore the runners around me and focus on the pace I needed. I maintained that pace through the first 2-4 miles, feeling pretty good and relaxing as the miles unfolded. In my training runs, I learned that I don't really hit my stride until around mile 4, and that was the case on Sunday as well.

The race followed scenic Kentucky roads past gorgeous Thoroughbred horse farms for the first 4 or so miles, then we turned into the Kentucky Horse Park for a slightly hillier loop. By the time we reached the halfway point, I was passing other runners pretty consistently and still feeling great. I didn't let myself really increase my pace until around mile 8, then a little more around mile 10, and I really opened up the last mile. After a good sprint to the finish, I felt great - not really out of breath; tired, but also energized. Success!

My time ended up around 2:15 - roughly a 10 minute mile pace for the whole 13 miles. My initial pace was something between a 12-13 minute mile, so I'm really happy that I averaged out at a 10 minute mile pace. Like I said, I was really rolling for the last 5 or so miles, and I'm really proud of that.

I didn't have a time goal - really, I just wanted to finish under 2:30 - so I was thrilled with my time and effort. Another of my goals was to stop at each hydration station long enough to drink a cup of water or gatorade, then run on - and I did this as well. While running, I ate 3 Shot Blocks around mile 4, 3 more Shot Blocks around mile 8, and around mile 11 I tried to eat a pack of Goo Chews ... I was only slightly successful, because my hands were so numb at that point that I had a terrible time trying to open them! Note to self, definitely.

I definitely became a fan of both the Cliff Shot Blocks and the Goo Chews while training. I can't stand gels, so the chews are my alternative. Also essential to my training was my Nathan Elite water bottle and holder - basically the bottle straps to your hand so you don't even have to hold it, and it has nice pockets for holding your key or snacks.

All in all, the half marathon and training experience went really well. I'm definitely feeling some foot pain today, but with ice and anti-inflammatories I hope I'll be back in action sooner than later.