I have to admit, it’s much more fun writing a positive race report, rather than all the depressing ones I’ve written in the past. I was beginning to sound like a Damien Rice cd.

Overall I am satisfied with the half, not really happy, not really upset, just satisfied. I went into the race in the middle of marathon training and was hoping to be around 1:28.

What I’m really excited about is that I think I have put all my mental problems behind me. Even though the hills killed me, I didn’t give up. I kept up the effort level extremely high. I really think this was the most effort I’ve ever put into a race.

The only real negative I have from the race, is that I was incredibly stupid when it came to executing my race plan. But that is something that can be fixed.

Anyways on to the race…

I left for Philadelphia Friday afternoon and to my surprise Jeri and Megan (both from South Dakota) were on my flight. I was pretty out of it and spent most of the flight sleeping. Luckily, I was able to spend the weekend with a good running friend of mine. She lives on the Jersey side and took me around to see all the local sites and the expo. Kept it pretty low key since she was running the full. Had my new pre-race meal of Chipotle and two beers (looking back, maybe I should have had three like Des Moines).

I’ve taught Lora well. She likes to get to the races as early as I do. Got lucky and had a parking spot about two blocks from the start/finish. Talk about convenient. Did a little warm-up jog. Legs were feeling pretty decent, especially for not tapering. Hit the bathrooms a couple times, then a couple strides then hopped into the start area. The race was delayed 5:00, but didn’t let that bother me. I was so relaxed and ready. I was in the group right behind the elites, so it only took me around :20 to cross the start line.

The plan was to go out with the 3:00 (6:52/mile) marathon pace group for the first two miles. I saw them, but they were on the other side of the corral. I figured I was good where I was at, but I forgot about the traffic circle that you run around at the start. Needless to say I lost track of them. I just got into a little groove and my HR was only 145 so I figured I was fine. Well until I hit the first mile in 6:40. Ack.

Didn’t let the first mile bother me and decided to slow down. We were running downhill and I was stuck in a little pack. We were chatting a little bit and I wasn’t breathing hard. Legs still felt good, but the second mile was 6:34. I kept thinking what a dumb ass I am. Oh well, I will slow down the next mile. Nice little jog along the river. Kept looking at all the tall ships on the side. I was really taking in the scenery (see nice and relaxed). I finally did slow down, but only to 6:36. Ha.

You take a turn off the river and start a long, gradual climb. I noticed my HR was in the low 160′s, which is where it should be. I ended up with a 6:44 mile. Here you’re running through the south part of Philly. I think this is the “hip” part of town. There wasn’t many spectators at this point and I was just in a nice little pack. We found a real grove and the next three miles were all 6:31. This was through the historic part of town, past Independence Hall, and into downtown where there were a ton of people. The miles just flew past.

All of sudden my feet started to burn around mile 6. I don’t remember this ever happening in a race. I had put about 15 miles on my new pair of shoes. I think that might have had something to do with it. All I know, is that they burned so bad the rest of the way.

I tried to put the pain out of my mind as I climbed the first hill between miles 7 and 8. It was a long climb, but I thought I had my climbing legs. I think you run through a university. I had a slow, 6:56 mile here.

Then you get a nice, little downhill before the climb up to the zoo. I ran a 6:37 here, but soon after is where I started to fall apart. I thought the zoo hill was the last hill so I really made a strong effort to get up it, but then there was a hill I forgot about up to the monument area and the Please Touch Me Museum. My legs were really starting to feel like lead. I got to the top and tried to recover, but that mile was 7:05.

Normally this is where I would throw in the towel and jog into the finish. I was frustrated with the slow mile and how I was feeling. Luckily there was a short, steep downhill to help recover a little bit. Then I remembered pacing my friend Nycole through Chicago and what she went through. I so channeled that. Yeah, so the next mile was 6:33. Ha. Take that half marathon wall. I happened to glance down at my HR a couple times during the last four or so miles and it was at around 180 (or 5k race HR). I don’t know what it was, but I just kept pushing.

Finally we saw the art museum (where the finish is), but the great thing was that it was on top of another hill. My legs were trashed and I was working as hard as I could. There was no way I was giving up. I only ran a 7:07, but it was absolutely everything I had. In fact the last quarter was at 5:45/mile.

I got to through the finish in 1:29:04. Not my time goal, but the fastest I’ve run in three years and I finally broke through that damn 1:30 half.

I was going to go run run with Lora or her sister as a cool down, but I ran a quarter mile and had to stop. My legs were shot. I felt bad that I couldn’t join them, but so happy that I didn’t have anything left in my legs.

I’m just slightly disappointed that I didn’t meet my time goal, but this race definitely filled me with even more confidence that I can really push when I have nothing left in the tank. I’m just so excited that I could run a race like that for once.

Oh and according to McMillan’s Calculator, my marathon equivalent is 3:07:40 – that’s marathon PR range…