2008 Fargo Half Marathon Race Report

Alternate title: I sold my soul to the devil and all I got was this crappy half marathon time.

In my last post, I was spazzing out like a mad woman about how my IT band hurt (okay, the band itself was probably not what was hurting...but you know what I mean, right?) and how I'd tried everything to make the pain go away. In my haste, I mentioned that I offered my soul to Satan.

If he took me up on my offer, I'd know...right? Because I ran the half marathon on Saturday...and...

...

...

...

I didn't have any pain.

I still have a soul...right???

While I didn't have any pain, I still managed to run like crap. We're talking mere inches from a PW. Or a few minutes. Whatever.

I started out slow. The full and half marathon started out together so my grand plan was to run with the marathon's 4:10 pace group until they split off at mile 5. I didn't see the group until they passed me at the one mile mark. My watch read 9:49.

I stuck with them for the second mile. Bad idea. They apparently decided to make up most of their time in mile two...running it in 9:21. I wasn't ready to run a 9:21. My heart rate soared. I made the classic mistakes - I wasn't running my own race and I started out too fast.

So I slowed down to a more comfortable pace and let them go.

And the next thing I knew, I was a mile 4. And then mile 7. And then mile 9. Miles just flew by. I felt like I was running hard, and even though my heart rate was at an all-time high, I felt okay. And I stupidly decided that I didn't need to Gu at mile 9.

At mile 10, I couldn't figure out why I felt so drained.

At mile 11, the only thing that kept me alive was the hope that I would die.

Note to self: Hey dumbass. You need to Gu at mile 9.

Fellow Roseville Runner Val caught up to me at mile 12 and we took off. One mile left. The faster we'd run, the faster we'd be done.

The wind whipped us around like ragdolls, but we still managed a 9:26 pace for that last mile. Almost a full minute faster than my previous mile. When we were finally nearing the finish line, I found one last pocket of energy that I didn't even know I had. I sprinted to the finish. I passed a slew of people. I was hauling ass.

And I crossed the finish line. I was done. Val crossed the finish line. We'd made it. I didn't PW. We got fantastic medals. We got hugs from our coach and teammates that finished before us.

One of our teammates did end up in the medical tent at the finish but came around pretty quickly after some hydration, food and a checkup by a hottie doctor.

But the person next to her...holy crap. I have no idea what happened, but they needed CPR. Heart. Stopped. The medics quickly put up screens so we couldn't see what was going on, but I saw enough to have the crap scared out of me. The person was stabilized and transported to a hospital. But it was scary and serious...and I was definitely praying to the Adult Jesus.

But the rest of Team Roseville finished strong. We all made it. We ran a half marathon. Five first timers and seven veterans. Yeah, we pretty much rock.



5/17/08
Mile 1: 9:49
Mile 2: 9:21
Mile 3: 9:42
Mile 4: 9:52
Mile 5: 9:48
Mile 6: 10:04
Mile 7: 10:00
Mile 8: 9:40
Mile 9: 10:09
Mile 10: 10:00
Mile 11: 10:15
Mile 12: 10:22
Mile 13: 9:26

Average pace: 9:58
Total time: 2:10:22
Average HR: 182 - DUDE!!

Three words to describe this run: Flat, Uff-da, I-Love-Team-Roseville!!