Race Report: DC Half, September 17, 2023

 I ran the DC Half today, finishing in a time of 1:34:45.

This race was my tune-up for the Chicago Marathon in 3 weeks, and when I first checked out the forecast a week in advance, I was excited.  It looked like a big cooldown was coming and I was feeling good about my fitness.  Between those two things, I was hoping for a solid performance on Sunday.

Unfortunately, the forecast shifted slightly, with the best of the cool weather sifting away on Saturday night.  When I woke Sunday morning, it was warmer and stickier - in the 60s.  Nothing like the worst that summer can offer, but not what I had been hoping for.  Ah well.

***

I ate a quick breakfast and did my pre-run mobility routine, and then headed down to Georgetown to park on Water Street - about 2 miles from the start/finish.  Once there, I did my standard warm-up fartlek (3:00 at marathon down to half-marathon effort, 4x30 seconds at 5K, and then 4x10 seconds strides).   Then I snuck into the corral and cracked open a Maurten gel as last minute fueling.

I like to start my half-marathons at near marathon pace before easing into tempo effort.  So I seeded myself behind the 1:40 pace group.  There were a few announcements - mostly trying to get us all to cheer - and then we were off.  

The 1:40 pace group was massive, which was fine for the first mile or so, but created some difficulty when I wanted to pick up the pace.  Fortunately, I was running on the right side of the road, and that section had intermittent sections where the asphalt would widen to accommodate parking spaces.  So I used those parking areas as opportunities to move up in the group - I'd accelerate each time the road widened, and then merge back into the group when the road narrowed.  This worked well, and after 2-3 parking lots I was free of the 1:40 group.

***

I was running by feel and ignoring my watch as usual, so my pacing plan was effort based.  I had planned to be in hard tempo rhythm by mile 3 - I'd hold that rhythm until mile 11 and then hammer the last two miles.  However, when I got to mile 3, I was already feeling warm and uncomfortable, so I held off, keeping the pace slightly restrained and my effort controlled.  

I re-evaluated at mile 5 and I didn't feel any better, so I decided to stay where I was, running carefully hard, until mile 9 or 10, when I'd start pushing.  When it's warm and humid, I like to pace my races this way - run the first 2/3 to 3/4 conservatively so that I don't overheat, and then hammer the remaining miles as best I can.  

The race course took us into Rock Creek park and back.  The Rock Creek Parkway is a winding road, and I found myself lulled into following the course of the road instead of running the tangents.  Eventually I woke up and focused on running the tangents, but I likely lost a few seconds there.

The Rock Creek Parkway is also significantly cambered in some places, and I found myself intentionally running wide in a few sections just to get flatter asphalt.  I don't think I lost time there, though, because any time lost from running long was balanced by the time I gained and the energy I conserved from being more comfortable.

***

Mile 9 took forever to show up, but also came up very quickly (racing is like that, sometimes), and it was time to start hammering (I refuse to say "Hammer Time" in this blog).  So I mentally turned the careful switch off and opened up my stride.  From there, it was just a matter of keeping my mind focused solely on a longer, relaxed stride and the people ahead of me that were coming back to me, and not on how increasingly uncomfortable I was.  

I really started to hurt in the last mile, but (as always) I had mapped out the course and figured out landmarks for the last mile.  The Jefferson Memorial was about 1200m from the finish line, and the little humpback bridge was a bit less than 800m from the finish.  I used each of those as cues to open my stride a bit more, and then I started dumping out whatever I had left when I saw the 13 mile marker approaching.  

Finally I was over the mat and I was done.  And I was relieved, because I felt like total crap.

As I closed, I noted the 1:35 pacer near me, so I was fairly sure I had not run the time I wanted.  A glance at my watch confirmed it - 1:34:45.  Oh well.

***

Several of the mile markers were off (one very short followed by two long) and I also missed a split, so I'll post the Strava splits instead.  Those were:

Mile 1: 7:39
Mile 2: 7:19
Mile 3: 7:16
Mile 4: 7:14
Mile 5: 7:16
Mile 6: 7:14
Mile 7: 7:17
Mile 8: 7:20
Mile 9: 7:10
Mile 10: 6:59
Mile 11: 6:57
Mile 12: 6:52
Mile 13: 6:51
last .22 - 6:34 pace

(no, the course wasn't a tenth of a mile long - that's just Garmin error).

I'm not thrilled with this race from a time perspective, but as a tune-up for Chicago, I got what I needed.  And I feel pretty good about how I executed the race.  So we'll file this one away and move on.

Other notes:

• The weather at the start was 64 degrees with a dew point of 56; when I finished it was 69 degrees with a dew point of 59.  (The humidity felt higher to me, but that's what was reported.)  So not awful, but not ideal.  The sun was out for the first few miles and then thankfully some clouds rolled in. 
• I wore my arm-coolers/sunsleeves and as always they seemed to help.  I'm well aware that I look bizarre wearing what looks like arm-warmers in hot races, but they really do seem to help me and this sport is not judged by appearance.
• I parked in Georgetown at about 6:05 for a race with a 7 am start.  This was slightly tight in time - next time it would be ideal to park about 10 minutes earlier.
• I wore the Adidas Adios Pro 3 for this race because I'm considering (and almost certainly) wearing it for Chicago.  I've noted in training that it seems much more comfortable at marathon effort than half-marathon effort, and I felt that today as well.  Which of course doesn't disqualify it as my marathon shoe choice.  I did play around with an alternate lacing for the shoe, and it felt too loose on my feet today.  I nearly rolled my ankle twice during the race and also have a blister on the inside of my right foot, and I suspect both are because the shoe was a bit loose.  So I'm returning to the previous lacing job, which felt not perfect but a bit more secure on my foot.
• I took a Maurten gel right before the race and another one during, at mile 6.  I had some difficulty taking the gel, so this is a reminder to myself to pre-tear my gels before races.  For water, I carried a water bottle from start to finish. 
• I ended up 4th master female, and 4th in the 40-49 age group.  When you are 49, 5 year age groups seem fairer than 10 year age groups.
• My mold/ragweed allergies have been hitting me really hard the past few days and that may (or may not) have affected my race.  This pretty much happens every September - my monthly Xolair shot mostly controls those allergies, but of course I'm due for my next shot.  This is why I don't like to spend a lot of money to travel for a September race - unless it rains, ragweed and mold are issues for any September race.  If I'm going to have a meh race, I'd prefer not to have paid for a hotel.