I’m breaking down, I feel it in my bones

June 8th was the Oddyssey Half Marathon through fairmount park. Thankfully, Rusty was a peach and picked up my packet for me while I was in AC.  One less thing to worry about, right?  On raceday, the weather was beautiful, though humid.  I met up with Skip and we crossed the start line together.

hey skipper!

He took off and I started with  my normal slow start pace (sub 11:30).  The race was actually pretty decent for being as hot as it was.  The course was similar, if not the same as last year’s:

over the river and through the woods….

elevation map and pace chart

Something had been nagging me leading up to the race.  Maybe I hadn’t trained enough (I hadn’t).  Maybe I was over doing it with the races (I was).  The night before I started feeling really anxious about the race.  I had this nagging feeling that I was going to get hurt, or I’d have an awful run.  I didn’t do any of my standard pre-race rituals (maybe that was it??).  I got to sleep late.  I didn’t roll before I got out to run.  I did stretch plenty, though.

I took my time.  After the first mile, I went back to tried and true intervals: run 3 minutes, walk for 1 minutes.  I was trying to pace myself.  Miles 1-3 were pretty even.  Miles 5-6 were uphill.  Mile 7 was downhill and I hit the high.  Mile 8 was ok.  Mile 9 was eh.  Mile 10 was grueling.  There was no gatorade anywhere on the course up to this point.  Seriously? No energy gels either.  Even though I packed my own, I was hitting the wall hard and fast.  Miles 12 and 13 were completely uphill and I dragged myself through it.  In terms of splits, I should’ve been slow and steady at the first half then negative splits on the back half.  Nope.  I feel like I barely finished.

Here’s my on course photos from the race photogs:

this one i like

not so bad

all of the sweat!

walking the last few

the limp

Are you ready for painfully sad?

This.

Head down, death grip on my left hip.

With a net finish time of 02:47:43, my 10th half marathon, the day before the one year anniversary of ever running a half marathon, I limped across the finish line.  While not my best time or my worst, the 2014 Oddyssey half marathon was the first race I had ever walked across the finish line.  I cried.  I usually cry at the end of a race, but this time I cried out of sadness and disappointment and pain.  My left IT band did not like those last two uphill miles.  I just wanted to crumple to the ground.

This is another pretty accurate depiction of post race:

keep it together, dubs.

Thank you, Rusty, for driving me to and from the race, meeting me on the course, cheering me on as I limped passed you at the finish and making sure I didn’t die after.

trying to look happy/not fall down

After he took me to brunch, Rusty dropped me off at home where this happened.  Can’t get a new bottle opener and not put it to good use.  And yes, the ice bath was a requirement.  I didn’t have fun with this race.  The Odd was a means to an end in getting closer to my annual milage goal.  Unless I need some serious hill training, I don’t think I’ll be running this one again next year.   Seeya, Odd.  It’s been real.