I finally got to race day yesterday and it was a tough one. I did the best I could to train for this event, a mountain road half marathon that started at 7800 feet and finished at about 4300. My training really was a typical half marathon plan, with some downhills thrown in when I could add them.
As it turns out, that was woefully inadequate for this day’s course. You just can’t emulate the elevation or even the grade of Utah mountains in Virginia, not even in the Shenandoahs.
I didn’t have a particular time goal for this, and I just decided to see what the day holds. But I also knew from training about where I should have been, which was somewhere in the 1:50s. That pacing lasted until 8 miles, when the constant downhill pounding simply overwhelmed me. First the quads started to hurt. Then the hips. Then the hamstring felt like it was about to pull. My “run” slowed to a shuffle and I bled time away with every tiny step. I staggered across the line in 2:17.
Despite the trials, I am glad I did this and I’m proud to have been able to run a half again after 7 years away. Yesterday was not my day, but I’m on my way to getting better again. That said, I think this fall, I’ll stick to a “normal” HM like Richmond or Philly. Now for some rest and recovery.
