Sarah T Reports On Her PR At The Run To The River Half Marathon

Hi Stephanie!
...I just wanted to write to full you in on how my race went....I started the race and set out to go slow, which is what I felt like I was doing. However, I quickly realized that the course was not marked! 9 minutes went by, then 10, then 11 with no Mile 1 marker! At first I thought I was running REALLY slow, but then realized that there were no markers so I felt better and just tried to monitor as best I could my speed. When I got to the first aid station, I saw that they had posted how many miles it was until the finish. I think I came into the first station at around 27 minutes, and it was three miles in, so I was just about on track. I was feeling pretty good. However, around mile five I began to realize that I really should have eaten better on Friday, because my tank seemed to be running low. So, I kept myself in check, and had some gu, and slowed myself down because I felt like I was speeding up. Between miles 5 and 8 I was getting a little worried, but still felt like I could hang in.

I was approaching an aid station and fully expected it to say "6 miles to finish", but when I got there it said "5 miles to finish". I was overjoyed!! It was one of those mental moments in running that works to your advantage! I checked my watch and it said 1:02 or 1:03. The sign also indicated that it was 2.5 miles to the next station. Since I felt like I was still running a little low, I told myself that I could afford to slow down for the next 2.5 miles and then speed up in the last 2.5. I focused in on finishing at 1:55 which seemed really do-able.

So, I kept myself in check and kept running for the next aid station. I swear it was further than 2.5 miles away, because I reached it at 1:33. So, I thought, ok, you're still ok, you can still make your goal.

At 1:33 I still had 2.5 miles to go. I was running along, and we switched onto another part of the path. I realized that there were markers painted on the ground (markers put there by the parks and rec department, not the race). All of the sudden, I see a marker that says "1.5". I thought, no way, I haven't already run a mile! I almost didn't want to believe it! But, I decided to kick it up just a bit.

My watch at this point was saying something like 1:40. A little further on, a man was running towards me (he wasn't in the race, the path was open to bikers and pleasure runners), and he looks at me and says, "looking goo, only 600 left!" I thought, NO WAY that can't be true, it HAS to be further than that!. However, I was quite excited.

I begin then to really turn it up, and I little further on, I see a man standing on the side of the path with his kids, waiting to cheer his wife on. He says to me, "almost there, only a quarter left to go!". I looked at my watch and truly did NOT believe him. I looked at him and said, "are you sure? really?" He laughed and said, "Yup! Right around the corner!". At this point I could hear the people cheering at the end.
I turn the corner, and I can see the shute further in the distance. I then switched on all the available power I had left in me to push it to the end (like the last 400 we did on Tuesday!), and sprinted to the end.

I looked at my watch. It said 1:52:26. I was shocked and so excited! I really thought that I had screwed myself up because I did not eat well on Friday. I had been negotiating with myself saying that I would still be happy with a 2:00 finish. But, in the end, I didn't have to worry about that!

As for placing, well, there were quite a few more people running it this year than last! I check the results this morning, and I came in 9th in my age group out of 63, and I came in 84th overall out of 550 people. Needless to say, I am quite pleased with my performance.

Thank you, Stephanie, for your dedication to helping us run our best! I am going to enjoy my results, so I am going to take off Tuesday morning, and I think I am going to sleep in on Saturday morning...
Talk to you soon! Sarah