Arizona Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon 2012

Pre-race

Tried my best all week to get some extra sleep and a bit of recovery but it did not really happen. Legs felt tight and Kyle had a bad week with his heart so it was super stressful. We flew in on sat morning and went straight to the expo, hotel, dinner and by the time we got back it was already dark so just got things set out and ready. Would have liked to have gotten a short run in to loosen up the legs but no luck. Tried to go to bed early but that never really happens the night befor a race.

Race morning

Woke up at 5:30a. Went to put on my garmin and realised it was completly dead, so I charged it till we left and hoped it would last long enough. Ate some gu blasts and sipped on a bottle of nuun since nothing else really sounded good. Headed down to the start by 6:30a so there was plenty of time to check dry cloths, use the porta potty and warm up. On the way we realized it was actually pretty warm, no need for gloves or arm warmers.

Got everything checked, found our corals and then found a great trail right next to the start to warm up on. Ate a gu as we lined up in the corals.

After a 10 min delay the elites, then wave 1 were off. I was in wave 2. It was super crowded so just tried to run to open space at the beginning. Luckily most people seemed to have lined up correctly so I was right in with a bunch of other people running the same pace. Found the 7:45 pace as planned and tried to get into that rythem. First couple of miles felt good. The worst thing was how dry my mouth was. Grabbed water at the first water station, took a sip and poured the rest on my head which felt perfect. I kept looking for Kyle in case he had a problem early on.

Some where around mile 4 and 5 I noticed my Garmin had already shut off. No more pace. I turned my timed watch to crono and at least got mile times but that was after so I could not really adapt as quickly and started loosing time. Ate a gu at mile 5.

Around mile 6/7 my hamstrings and glutes started hurting. I became very aware that the entire course was a slight gradual climb. I really tried to ignore how tight my legs felt and tried to mix up my stride but nothing really helped. So just tried to keep my feet moving and pushing it when I could. Some time before mile 9 I saw the 1:45 pace pass me which was disheartening when I could not keep up. I kept looking for Kyle since I knew if he was going to have a bigger problem it would be around 7ish and he would have slowed down..

I knew my race plan was to try and increase intensity around mile 9 so I really tried to but don't think I was able to go any faster. I did not let it get to me and just kept going. Telling myself it would hurt no matter what so might as well try to run faster and get it done with. The legs did not really want to go with that idea... Especially once my inner thighs started to chafe and I could feel every time I moved.

Ate another gu at mile 10. Since I was not able to stay on planned pace I at least tried to push the intensity for the last 5k. I did manage to pass some people which felt good after feeling like everyone was passing me. I knew there was only a mile left when we crossed the river which seemed like forevermore the finish line.

Finished at 1:53 ish knowing it was not as fast as I have wanted but at least it was faster than my last 2 halves and really since spring of 2010. So I was happy with that and at least I am getting faster but looks like I will need some more time to get my speed back.

Official splits

5k 24:51

10k 51:00

10 mi 1:25:26

Final chip time 1:53:31

avg pace 8:40