Philly Half Marathon Race Report (tearjerking if you are a sucker for inspirational sports stories)

jschwab

Barefooters
Jun 16, 2010
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I had some freakouts here (what shoes to wear and pace goals), so I thought I'd post my race report.

I ended up wearing Protons which were awesome because it stayed 45 degrees the whole race. I ended up running almost exactly my initial goal pace (based on McMillan calculator and voodoo).

Here's the longish report:

Some of you might remember my story. Last Fall I ignored pelvic/abdominal weakness and cramping for a good chunk of time. At the 2009 Philly Half, coming down steep Black Road, I busted my gut and tore my abdominal muscles off of the pubic bone (sports hernia). It was super painful. I could not walk more than a mile for weeks and weeks. It was pretty devastating and it came just six weeks after I sustained a severe concussion that left me with post-concussion syndrome. It was a very dark time.

Since last November I have been through a whirlwind of diagnosis, terrifying MRI's, visits with the surgeon, decision not to do surgery and wing it, general teeth-gnashing, stress and huge weight gain.

I followed that up with months and months of 2-3 times a week visits for ART and chiro adjustments mixed with developing my own core strengthening routine. When I started I could not balance on one leg. I could not do a plank for even a second's time. I also switched to barefoot/minimalist running, and just generally did a heap of hard work to make it better without slicing myself open.

I worked up very slowly to running a little over 20 miles a week with a weekly long run of 10 miles before the race, and lots of cross training. I took RW beginner's forum advice and did not run longer than ten in training but I did do maybe a dozen ten mile training runs, so I felt somewhat prepared for the distance. I also did have one "toughening" weekend when I ran ten on Saturday and then another ten on Sunday.

I felt prepared but I was concerned about that last 5K and fatigue and, of course, my injury that can't really "heal" without surgery (muscle cannot reattach itself to bone without suturing). I had done alot of speedwork, though, so I thought that might come in handy.

I started out in the last corral, which was slower than my goal time of 2:28:XX (about 11:20mm). That had me slow for the first mile - I weaved around people wearing corduroys (!) and panicked when I saw the 5:30 marathon pace group. By the second mile I was able to speed up and start ticking down until my pace for the 10K was 11:23. I wasn't sure I would be able to maintain this pace but I thought I'd hang on so long as conditions were good. The first half of the 13.1 course is flat and the weather was very favorable to fast running, about 45 degrees. I revised my goal to 2:35 to account for expected slow downs from fatigue and rising temps after mile 8.

I passed a bunch of folks and finally dialed in on a lady in a gray skirt and coral "Team Philly" t-shirt. I was able to hang on to her as my "rabbit" up until mile 11. Incredibly, the weather forecasters were accurate and the temps held at around 45 degrees for the whole race which was very comfortable. I didn't really slow down much and I never hit that point of discomfort that I was expecting. It was turning out better than I expected, but I still thought I might blow up after mile 10.

Of course, I was not able to make up time as radically as I would have liked (for a 2:28) and I even slowed down a bit on the hills of West Philly. I realized eventually, however, that sub 2:30 was actually very much in reach when I got to mile 10 (site of the busted gut). I was just not slowing down enough that I would have to settle for 2:35. At mile 11, I decided I had enough to gas it for the last two miles.

And I did. I probably got down to 11:00 pace for mile 12. According to the clocks my 13th mile was 10:00 pace but that seems too fast for me (that is my 5K pace). I was running hard, though - hard enough and passing enough people that I got alot of crowd support at that point. Every couple seconds someone was encouraging me in my little "sprint" to the finish. I was working very hard to go sub 2:30.

I finished in 2:29:36 with my overall pace only a second per mile slower than my 10K split.

These are slow times in comparison to most folks, but this is about the best running I've ever been able to do (my best-trained 5 mile PR is only 11:00 pace).

I am ecstatic about my results, both physically and mentally and running-wise. I really did need to prove something with this race and I am so glad I was able to.

The only goal I didn't meet was to come in under or equivalent to the time of a runner buddy who was also going for 2:28 - in the FULL. I was 29 seconds behind his time, but he came in 11th overall and first Philadelphian. I am SO proud of what he was able to do - it's such an amazing achievement!
 
Congrats, J!  That's a great

Congrats, J! That's a great time too!
 
 that is fantastic!!  I'm so

that is fantastic!! I'm so happy for you!!
 
Woooo hoooo! How far you've

Woooo hoooo! How far you've come! The human body is amazing...and your determination is amazing.

That time sounds great to me. I'm trying to stay away from a hard and fast time goal for my first half (which is in 13 days) but honestly if I can do it in 2:30 or less I'll be happy. :)