My Half Marathon PR Race Recap
Oh guys, this is going to be a good one. I am SO excited to share this today because today’s post is a special one. Really, it is four years in the making. Can you believe that?
Let’s start at the very beginning. Four years ago, I signed up for my very first half marathon. I was nervous and excited and the thought of running 13.1 miles was that in between of mind blowing and inspiring. So, I signed up for it, trained hard, and finished with a time of 1:50. I was so stinking happy, coming in under 2 hours and finishing feeling strong. Fast forward four years and two half marathons later (Landon and I missed my PR by 2 minutes last year and I paced my mom last year too) and I was still itching for that half PR.
A couple weeks ago, I signed up (a little last minute) for the Chicagoland spring half marathon. The weeks following up to this half marathon, I trained more intensely than I have for a long time. I started running double days, added in speed training into my schedule, and did extra strength training. I ran a couple ten mile runs (not too many though) and felt the best I have felt in a long time. And then, last week happened, and I had a minor injury scare. My IT band flared up on Mother’s Day (one week before race day) and I pretty much panicked all week, wondering if I would actually be able to run the race I signed up for and set out to PR at. I iced, stretched, went to my amazing chiropractor (thanks, Dr. Orem!) foam rolled, and prayed that it would heal quickly. But, by Saturday evening, I didn’t know what to expect come race day.
Sunday morning came quickly and after a good night’s rest I felt much more relaxed and ready to tackle this half marathon. I did my normal pre-race routine, which is toasted bagel with honey, coffee, and water. After loosening up a bit and eating/drinking, I woke the boys up and we made our way out to the race. The week leading up to the race, when I wasn’t panicking about not being able to run, I was weather stalking. I knew that the weather was supposed to be a little rainy, but Sunday morning, when I checked it called for clear/overcast skies. HALLELUJAH. And like the smart person I am, I decided to not take my warm gear, or my visor and just slipped on the race expo running jacket over my Rabbit Running Gear tank. (New favorite, tank!)
I felt so calm and excited during the car ride and wrote on my hand the Bible verse I was taking with me during the 13.1 mile adventure “For by YOU, I can run…” and I wrote 1:45 on my hand as a reminder to push hard to get that PR. I was happy with anything under a 1:50, but the idea of 1:45 seemed really exciting to me. I also got my music all qued up > thank you, Abby for the epic playlist.
Once we got to the race, I jogged a little to loosen up my legs and was surprised by how good they felt. I didn’t want to get too cocky, but I was really encouraged by how good they felt. Right before the race was supposed to start, we had a downpour which delayed the race about 30 minutes. At this point, I was freezing already. We were already wet and shivering in the parking garage with a bunch of other runners. Landon and Niah hung out with me while we waited, and since I forgot my visor, Landon gave me his baseball cap. I felt like such a new runner, running in Landon’s baseball cap and a race expo jacket, but I didn’t care at that point, all I wanted to be was warm. After 30 minutes, the rain subsided, which allowed us to start the race. I spotted a 1:45 pacer and slid through the racing gate so I could follow him.
And then we started! I popped my headphones in, listened to Moraih’s Peters song, Brave and started to crank. My race strategy was to stay consistent with my pace, run miles 1-6 at an even 8 min/mile pace, run miles 7-10 at a 7:55 ish pace, and then crank the last few at a 7:40 pace. I was thankful to have the pacer with me and tried to keep him within 10 seconds or so of me, the entire race.
During the first 3 miles, I was just kind of waiting for my leg to start hurting. I went through all the different scenarios in my head of how I would get Landon to pick me up and what it would look like, but by mile 4 everything felt fine and my hopes soared. I watched my pace and I stayed consistent: 8:01/7:56/8:00/7:59/7:43/7:49 and while I watched my pace stay within 10-15 seconds of each other, I knew that I would be close to snagging that PR.
At mile 8, I saw Landon and he ran a few strides with me, encouraging me to keep going and keep the goal in mind. After seeing him and getting water, I felt super strong and ran the next miles with focus, power, and they flew by quickly. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever felt so strong before in a race. And I think a lot of that is due to the mental toughness that I’ve been working on the past two months. Recently, I have and am learning that a lot of my running challenges and ‘failures’ stem from a lack of mental toughness. And the best runners in the world, train their brain how to handle those dark moments in a run/workout/or race. I remember reading this quote from Jordan Hassay (I think I’ve shared it before) and it blew me away – her perspective on her race: “You’re just going to be hurting tremendously, that’s something you’ve got to love as a runner; you’ve got to take pride in that. I was excited to be hurting, and just embracing the pain, embracing the challenge, and just staying calm.” HELLO, elite runner mind. I figured if that’s how the elites think, then that’s how I want to think.
And it paid off, big time. Once I got to my 10, my legs started feeling pretty heavy. But, I kept praying, kept going back to the scripture on my hand and kept remembering that it was really my mind wanting to stop, not my body. So, I ran and kept on running, because I wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t give up. Those last couple miles felt so slow, but once I saw Landon at 12.44 miles, I knew I was close and he would bring me into the finish. He cheered me on, telling me I had it left in me and I fought for that last half mile. It started pouring and I ran into the finishing line, hitting sub 1:45, with a time of 1:44:17.
Honestly, I was so happy and so thankful. Saturday evening I almost didn’t even want to try because I was so scared of what could have happened. And then once I gave it to the Lord and surrendered my goals to Him, He filled me with such peace and joy, I couldn’t describe it. I was so happy to not only come off with a PR, but a strong feeling race. I love racing feeling so strong, not just physically, but mentally and now it leaves me hungry for more. I can’t wait to see what is next for me, but until then I am going to bask in the beauty of God’s grace and this shiny new PR!
I hope you all have an awesome day!