Get Lucky Triple 7k (Half Marathon)

I had low expectations time wise for this half marathon.  I had been running at least one double digit run a week for the past month, and I didn't feel like my muscles were recovered enough for this.  I laid off on the Thursday 6 mile run that I had scheduled.  I knew I needed a couple more days.  While I still didn't reach my sub-2:00 goal, it was still a PR at 2:03:25.

At last year's Get Lucky Half Marathon, the weather at the start was a beautiful 60 degrees.  This year's temperatures at the start was a cold and chilly 22 degrees Fahrenheit.  I looked at the forecast for the whole week, and it seemed for a while that with Friday's high of 41, we might get at least into the mid or upper 30s for Saturday's race.  No such luck.  Friday never quite reached that high and instead had some snow in the evening.  The forecast for Saturday now read "26 degree high, with chance of snow in the AM."  I started wondering whether I should've sold my bib and let someone else run the race.

Awesome race swag:
hoodie instead of a T-shirt.

The Get Lucky event is two races in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis.  The 7k run is a loop that starts in Minneapolis, whereas the half marathon is an out and back course that starts and ends at the Ford Plant in St. Paul. I thought it was interesting that the start of the two events were actually 7 miles apart.  It actually worked out in my favor.  I was worried that this was going to be too big a race.  The website mentioned that they usually have about 12,000 people registered for this event. The 7k had about 10,000 people registered, and the half marathon 2700.  As it was, parts of the half marathon course were kind of narrow for the amount of people.

The other nice thing about the two separate races was that parking for the half marathon was super easy and free.  While one could opt for the paid parking in the Ford Plant, parking in the local residential neighborhood streets was just as easy.  I got there at about 7:10am and only parked a block away.

It was cold.  I had on 3 layers and planned to keep them all on during the race.  I also had my hat and my gloves.  After I gear checked an extra hoodie and pair of sweats for post-race, I started my warm-up with some easy jogging.  The warm-up actually kept my spirits up as I felt less cold once I started going.  I appreciated that the start line had nice large banners for estimated min/mile pace.  I lined up right before the 9:30 mile marker.  The pace teams also came out nice and early.

I decided right from the start that I wasn't going to try and keep with the 2:00 pace group.  I wasn't trying for a PR or goal.  I just wanted a good training run.  I wanted to run a smart race, one that I'll recover easily from and still be able to do my 16 mile training run 5 days later.  I told Ellie on Friday that I'm hoping for better than my worst half marathon time of 2:10, but I'd be happy with anything less than 2:20.  Throughout the race, I kept telling myself, "smart race, smart race, not a fast race." 

The first 6 miles were mentally tough.  I felt slow.  My left calf muscle seized pretty early.  I wanted to stop and stretch or walk it out.  I didn't, and instead walked through the first water break 1.5 miles later.  I sped up only to get around the chatty groups running more than two abreast.  The course wasn't super hilly, but the first few were tough.  I ran up all of them though.  Come mile 6, and knowing the turnaround is up ahead, I'm starting to feel much better.  My left calf muscle has loosened itself up.  I'm feeling warmed up, though my nose is still running.  Suddenly, rather than all my attention being focused on how my body is not adjusting or cooperating with this run, I'm noticing the nice cool breeze, and how much easier my breath is coming.  The official clock reads 1:03:50 at the turnaround.  I think, "Okay, I've got 2:10 within reach."

Once we turned around, though, there was quite a bit of ice on the course.  Whereas I only felt my foot lose traction once in a while in the first 6 miles, I was now feeling it slip with nearly every step.  I kept moving left and right, hoping for better traction.  I slowed my step a bit and heard several around me comment on how dicey the road conditions were.  Only until mile 8 were there much less ice on the road and I could return to running normally.

Mentally, the second half of the race feels like a breeze compared to the first half.  The mile markers feel like they're just flying by.  I'm glad to be running this race.  I envision crossing the finish line and the accolades from others once I finish (Yes, I really do do that.).  I walk through all the water stops.  I anticipate the hills that I know are coming.  Many moments I feel like I could speed up, but I feel like I've got such a good solid pace going that I don't try.  "Smart race," I tell myself.

The temperature feels like it drops a couple of degrees around mile 10, and I notice that the water cup I picked up from the water stop had a frozen layer of ice on top.  I had to break through it with my finger to get to the water.  At mile marker 13, I sprint the rest of the way and pass a handful of others.  I smile for the camera and then remember that my jacket covered my number.  Oh well.  I saw the race clock when I crossed, but I couldn't read the time, so I had no idea what time I crossed the finish.  I felt really good though, like I could've kept going for another couple of miles, but I was glad to finish when I noticed that the fingertip of my right glove had frozen from the sweat I was wiping on it.

I grab my medal, some water, a bag of food, some muscle milk and my bag from Gear Check.  I had trouble getting my bag open because my fingers were frozen and not functioning properly.  I get more clothes on, and head to the car.

I only find out later that it was a PR for me.  I attribute that to my increased training mileage, to the fact that I tried to run a smart race, and so I didn't go out too fast.  9:20 min/mile pace for the first 6.55 miles (1:01:06), and 9:31 min/mi pace for the second 6.55 miles.  This was also the first time that I ran a race with some music on.  The music has been helping me run the 1/10 mile track at the SERF for 100+ laps, and I thought I'd keep it on me during this race just for an extra mental boost in case I needed it.

The Get Lucky races are put on by Team Ortho, and the other interesting thing I noticed when looking up my results was that many more women run these races than men.  For other races I've ran, it's been pretty split with maybe 52% women at most.  For the half marathon, 61% of the finishers were women.  For the 7k, 74% of the finishers were women, or roughly three times more women than men.  I remember telling my mom that usually about half of the people who run marathons and half marathons are women, and she was surprised.  Women in Taiwan generally don't run.  Cultural and social expectations, I guess.  But now I can tell her that there are races with much more women than men!