Monday, April 27, 2015

Get in Gear Half Recap

On Saturday, I ran the Get in Gear Half Marathon.  When I went to the packet pick-up, I was surprised to learn that it was the 38th annual race - that's got to be one of the longest standing races in the Twin Cities!

Before I delve into the recap, I'll cut to the chase - I managed to PR at this race by over 2 minutes!  My official time was 1:52:14.  I didn't go into this race expecting to 'race it' or PR it and I will definitely admit that it wasn't my smartest race, but you live and learn! Here's a recap!

The night before the race, Phil and I had a quiet night in.  We made roasted broccoli and this pasta recipe but skipped the mushrooms as someone (ahem, Phil) won't eat mushrooms. It was a simple, delicious recipe and one I'd definitely recommend. 


The race didn't start until 9 on Saturday so I got to wake up without an alarm on race morning, which is always nice.  I had my usual breakfast of oatmeal with banana and 2 cups of coffee and then headed out the door to take the lightrail to the race.  I'm so glad I could get there via public transportation!

I was kind of over dressed for this race but I don't like using bag drops and I didn't want to be cold waiting for the race to start!
The race course was along the Mississippi River so it was a pretty scenic route.  I would describe the course as rolling hills with 2 decent climbs/descents (which you can see below in the elevation profile).


Here are my splits:

Mile 1 - 8:30
Mile 2 - 8:11 (WAY too fast)
Mile 3 - 8:20
Mile 4 - 8:19
Mile 5 - 8:10 (WAY too fast again, but this mile was mostly downhill)
Mile 6 - 8:20
Mile 7 - 8:19
Mile 8 -  8:25

* This is the point where the pace I ran during the first part of the race started to catch up with me and my pace started to suffer.

Mile 9 - 8:37
Mile 10 - 8:40

* At this point, I knew that I would PR as long as I ran sub-10 minute miles, which I knew I could do.  I played a lot of mental games during the last 3 miles and told myself things like:  You just have to run 5k more!  Only 18 more minutes of discomfort!  Less than 9 minutes of discomfort!

Mile 11 - 8:32
Mile 12 - 8:50 (there was a big climb during this mile)
Mile 13 - 8:53
The rest - 8:40


I was SO happy to be done when I crossed the finish line.  I grabbed my medal and hobbled down to the area where they had the food, which was SO FAR from the finish line which I think is a poor decision for the race set-up...


I am very happy with my time, but I made a couple of big mistakes during this race.  First, I went out way too fast.  I shouldn't have been running 8:20 or faster miles in the beginning!  Second, I didn't eat anything during the race besides one cup of water and gatorade at each water stop.  They did have some gu's at around mile 10 but it was a brand I haven't had before and I didn't want to risk having GI issues in the final part of the course.  I know some people can do halves without any fuel besides water/gatorade, but I was reminded on Saturday that I am not one of those people.  I felt nauseated and had to force myself to eat afterwards, which is a telltale sign of not properly fueling.  Lesson learned - next time I will bring gu's.

I checked the race website for my final results when I got home for my results and was really happy with my stats!


But all in all, I'm very proud of my time and I am excited that I'll be going into marathon training with a great level of fitness!

19 comments:

  1. Awesome job PRing! :) It had been so long since you did a half, you just needed to remind yourself of all that you need to do ha ha.
    I'm so happy that running is going so well for you these days!

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  2. Lisa, I am so impressed! Three cheers for your half! I suppose it's good to learn those lessons early in the season. Mostly it makes me smile because a year or two ago it seemed like you might never do this again. Bravo!

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  3. Sounds like a great run, except for the gu's you didn't have! I'm really proud of you!

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  4. Dude. YOU KILLED IT! So awesome :)

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  5. Woohoo congrats on a PR! And I'm just like you--no way can I run that far without fuel :)

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  6. Way to go on the race! That's an incredible time and you should feel so proud of yourself!

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  7. Good job, Lisa! I am so impressed! I am slowly getting a better pace and it's nice to see that consistency pays off but I am still ways away from a Half Marathon! You did great!

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  8. Atta girl! Proud of you. Congratulations!

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  9. Awesome!! A PR is fantastic!! I wish I liked running; I gave it a fair shot, but I just couldn't get into it.

    That's too bad that Phil doesn't like mushrooms :-( They are so, so good!

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  10. That must mean a lot to you to PR after dealing with RA and getting it under control! Good for you!

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  11. Well done! And congratulations on your PR :)

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  12. Whooo! Very well done! I just think it's so amazing how you are coming back a stronger and faster runner than ever and I'm so proud of you! Way to rock your race.

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  13. Congrats on such a great race! I know that's a high that you can ride for a while. The last 5k of any race are supposed to be uncomfortable, sounds like you really dealt with the mental aspects very well. Great job!

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  14. Congratulations on a great race and a new PR!

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  15. I am so proud of you!!! You kicked butt! Especially since you weren't really going in it to race it!!! Wow - you are a rockstar!!

    That is so nice that the race started at 9am! Gives you enough time to pace out your morning, and eat breakfast!

    I love the shirt you're wearing! My favorite part of winter running is long-sleeve-shirts. I don't know why, but I just love running in long sleeve shirts!?

    I couldn't FIND the gu's in my last full marathon (afterwards I learned they were totally there, and I just overlooked them), and that was awful. I got super nauseated after. I don't normally take anything but water in a 13.1...but anything more than that - I need some fuel!

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  16. Again, SOOOO impressed. You're incredible gal and it seriously had to have been so amazing to come back from everything and nail it with a new PR :) You continue to motivate and inspire me :)

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  17. So freaking cool that you PR'd this race. I mean, to think that just over a year ago, you weren't even running thanks to RA and now you're PR'ing. You've turned a little health crisis into something pretty darn remarkable, Lisa!

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  18. Congratulations on an awesome race! Woohoo for PRs!!!! I am so proud of how far you have come in the last year or so. You are inspiring with everything you have overcome! The farthest I have ever run without fuel is 10 miles and it was rough. In my last two races I've gotten really nauseous and have struggled to take in fuel so I need to work on figuring that out.

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  19. So so so awesome!!!! Congratulations!!!

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