I registered for the
Lincoln Presidental Half Marathon just a couple weeks ago. My rationale was two-fold... First, I needed a baseline of how well (or how badly) I can run hills during a race. After reviewing my marathon route for May 5, it looks like there is some decent elevation changes. So I wanted to have an accurate guide for how much hills would kill my pace. Secondly, the medal for the
Lincoln Presidential Half was a giant penny. Possibly the most coolest medal I've ever seen and I wanted it. It was completely worth it...
I didn't treat this like a normal race... no taper, no easy week beforehand, just one rest day. I'm training for 26.2 so my plan was to use this half marathon as a tough training run. I spent the early 5am drive to Springfield calculating paces and finish times in my head. I settled on a 2:05 goal
(mid-9 pace).
Then the race excitement started to flare up inside me. Before the race, I met up with a bunch of other local Peoria runners who drove the short 1.5 hour south into the Illinois State Capitol. We jogged, stretched, laughed, talked non-stop
(maybe that was just me) and of course... took lots of pictures!
I was admitted into the Half Fanatics club (#1092) last spring.
One of the things I love about medium-sized city races is that everything is so easy. There was little to none crowd cluster at the starting area. Although I must admit that more porta-potties were needed. Pre-race started with an "address" from Abe Lincoln himself and then we were off. With a small race of only 1500, runners spread out fast. Congestion was never an issue from after the first block or two... I love races like this. I can find my pace quickly.
The first half was fairly flat and I felt like I was cruising. But I had been forewarned that there were some big ups/downs in the second half of the course. My head was busy, trying to figure out what to do. My experience was telling me to slow it down so I don't explode on the hilly backhalf. But my legs were on auto-pilot. I was running at a faster pace than my goal and I knew it could spell trouble when I hit the hills. At the pace I was running, thoughts of a second sub-2 were swirling in my head.
Mile 1 - 8:55
Mile 2 - 8:59
Mile 3 - 8:59
Mile 4 - 8:53
Around mile 4, I tried to distract myself by chatting with fellow runners and giving shout-outs to cheerleaders and volunteers. For a race this small, I was impressed with the number of spectators cheering us on.
Mile 5 - 8:59
Mile 6 - 8:45
About mile 6, the first of the big hills hit. My friend Anna came up from behind, "Girl, I've been trying to catch you for 6 miles!" We ran together for a mile and then it was like hanging onto someone's coat tails. She slowly pulled away - and ended up setting a new PR for herself.
From then on, there seemed to be one big hill each mile... steep decline and then a steep climb. The first few I seemed to handle with ease, and then slowly, one by one, they wore me down. I tried to have fun with it, chanting "I love hills" as I crawled up the slopes. It didn't help much, although it did get some chuckles from my fellow runners. My pace slowed tremendously. I remember thinking at mile 10, "So what? Your goal was a 2:05. You're well inside that."
Mile 7 - 9:09
Mile 8 - 9:05
Mile 9 - 9:09
Mile 10 - 9:25
At mile 11, we turned a corner and got smacked with the wind for the first time. Most of the course had wound through neighborhoods and pretty parks that were heavy with trees. I hadn't even noticed there was a wind that day... until now. I was fading fast.
Mile 11 - 9:28
Mile 12 - 9:45
Then I hit the mile 12 marker. Some guy yelled out, "All downhill from here..." Music to my ears (although should I really believe him?). Typically I study the course map and elevation ahead of time so I know what to expect. I didn't this time, so I really didn't know if there were more hills coming or not. I took a brief look at my clock. I had 10 minutes until the 2 hour mark... to run 1.1 miles. Decision time. Why not?! Go for the sub-2!
Mile 13 - 8:55
...and change for the final 0.1
As I came down the final 1/2 mile stretch, the streets were lined with a great cheering crowd. Some guy was in the middle of the road screaming away at runners. I was working hard and he could see it. He actually ran a couple steps with me and gave me a great pump-up to finish strong. As I approached the finish line, I actually thought I might hurl
(and thank you photographer for catching that feeling on film!).
Half Marathon #8
Chip Time: 1:59:11
Age Group: #28 out of 126
Females: #173 out of 764
Overall: #556 out of 1434
It was hard-fought, but I finished under 2 hours. I couldn't be prouder of this one. It wasn't a new PR but pretty darn close! Most importantly, it was a great measure of where I'm at in my marathon training.
After the race, they had a decent spread of food... oranges, bananas, donuts, bowls of chili, biscuits & gravy, and my favorite Jamba Juice smoothies. I got my picture taken with Abe Lincoln and his wife Mary...
I hung around for almost an hour celebrating and chatting with friends. I even ran into a fellow
Tough Chik Carmen (who completely rocked this half with a 1:50!)
What an awesome race day!
So glad I decided to do this one!
Marathon week has arrived. I've been too distracted the last couple of weeks to realize how quickly the days were ticking away. Now today the reality is sinking in... Marathon #2 is just 5 days away! In many ways, I feel ready but doubt has definitely reared its ugly head. 
