Hyannis Half Marathon Race Report

1:49:02.


So why am I disappointed … I shouldn't be. I made it under 1:50:00 which was my 2010 goal. But I feel as though I didn't leave everything out there. I don't think I've learned how to race yet but I need to realize that that is okay, it is a learning process and this is only my second half marathon. I've really only been racing for the last 6 months as before that I never trained etc … and did not run consistently. So I've only been a trained runner for about 6 months and I've cut 7:21 off of my half marathon time. That's a good thing not a bad thing.

I did feel so so much better during this race than my last half marathon. So here's a race report, a few days later, so we'll see what I remember.


Saturday: Got up after not sleeping well the night before. I woke up nauseous twice randomly. Not fun. Dave and his friend had stayed up until 2ish playing video games but luckily I managed to fall asleep around 11. I got up and quietly headed out for an easy two miler. It was snowing lightly and it was very pretty and peaceful out. I was feeling good about my running. We headed out around 11 since I needed to go to the running store for a rain running jacket. Yep, I didn't have one and rain/snow was the Sunday forecast. After stopping there and a few other places, we headed down to the Cape. I was able to sleep some of the hour drive which was nice. Stopped by the Expo and picked up my number. It wasn't an overly impressive expo, a lot of running stuff for sale but not many free samples anywhere. Oh well. We headed to the hotel to check in and then spent some time in the pool/hot tub before going out to dinner.


We went to dinner at UNOs since they have a Gluten Free Menu and I'm currently GF. I had the cheese and tomato pizza which was pretty good and a salad. We ate early and just headed back to the hotel to relax and watch the Olympics. I managed to fall asleep around 10 and stayed asleep until 4. I woke up at 4 and couldn't fall back asleep until almost 5. Ugh. 

But I got back to sleep and slept until 7am. Got up and made my waffle with PB (smuggled a toaster into the hotel room for this) and had some coffee. We headed out around 8:45 thinking we were only a 5 minute drive away and we'd be fine for a 10am start. Not quite. There was quite a bit of traffic and then we had to park far away so I had to decide at the car what to wear. At this point it was overcast but not too chilly, I ended up with capris, a short sleeve running tee, my new running jacket, and a headband. I bought cheap gloves when we got to the Expo since my hands got cold walking there. So we got there and it was about 9:30. I grabbed the gloves and said bye to Dave since he wasn't running. I headed to the porta potty line which moved dreadfully slow and I was very worried about missing the start but the porta potty was so necessary. Finally got in around 9:55 and then ran over to the start. This was not my plan, I had hoped to get a ten minute warm up in after the porta potty. Ooops. I was stretching in the jam packed starting area. There was literally no room to move around though. We finally got started around 10:08am.


Mile 1: 8:29 – my HR monitor was a mess this mile, it said my HR was 195 and kept saying HR too high over and over. Eventually it settled down. I knew there was no truth to it since I felt good and the mile was nice and easy until my stomach started cramping. Ugh. I just kept running through it. This mile was nice and flat but included a lot of maneuvering around people due to the crowded start.

Mile 2: 8:05 – Faster than I had planned at this point but I was feeling good. My running jacket was driving me absolutely crazy though. Bad choice. It kept riding up and I had my Sports Beans in my pocket along with gloves, so it was driving me crazy. My HR strap was bothering me too and I wished that I would see Dave to give it to him. I also wanted to take the jacket off but I couldn't since my fuel was in it and my ipod was in the little ipod pocket. Damn.

Mile 3: 8:01 – I honestly don't remember much about this mile.

Mile 4: 8:10 – I think the first water stop was during this mile, I managed to grab a water and keep running while I drank it. Feeling good and right on pace.

Mile 5: 7:58 – Ooooh, getting a little too fast at the beginning. But feeling good, some downhills here. I think we were along the ocean at this point but I don't remember much. It boggles my mind that people can remember intense details of their races, I just can't, I wish I could.

Mile 6: 8:17 - There was a hill here but not a bad one. I think I took some sports beans and there may have been water. Still feeling good.

Mile 7: 8:09 - I don't remember anything here.

Mile 8: 8:20 - I think there were some hills here.

Mile 9: 8:51 - I had to stop to take in some Sports Beans here, I couldn't eat, run and breathe at the same time. I was getting hot and really wanted to take my jacket off. There was a water stop here too.

Mile 10: 8:18 - Feeling good again, except for a minor stumble in which I twisted my ankle. Ugh. They had only a small part of the road for us to run on and it was right on the shoulder and crowded. I was worried for a second but my ankle recovered fine. Started to notice the pain from my blister here. It always feels like a rock is stuck in my shoe at that one spot.

Mile 11: 8:05 - There was a girl in her yard cheering us on while jumping on a mini trampoline. It made me smile and gave me some energy.

Mile 12: 8:34 - Unfortunately, I had to stop for sports beans again. Why, I don't know. I should have just kept running.

Mile 13: 8:10 - Almost there, I'm thinking I'm definitely going to be in the 1:48 range according to my Garmin.

Mile 13.1: 1:35:25 (7:13 pace) – I had a nice kick up the hill at the end, hitting 5:35 pace at one point and passing about 5 people which felt amazing! My Garmin measured this as .22 miles. 


Final time: 1:49:02 (Race chip official time) 8:20 pace/mile

Garmin stats: 13.22 miles, 1:48:54, 8:14 pace/mile






It's so weird to me that my Garmin is less than the official time since I started it after the start mat. And my official time is usually a good 10+ seconds less than my Garmin. Weird, it must have been off that day but whatever! It's a 7+ minute PR and only :03 off of 1:48:xx, so I'll live. I'm much happier now looking back at it. Now it's time for the Marathon training to really begin!