2016 Medina Half Marathon

Goal: run by feel and stay hydrated but...go out with Chelsea initially and see if you can hang
Result: 1:27:34 for second female, 39:54 at 10k
2016 Medina Half Results

     Where to start with this race? I love it and hope it continues to be held every year as long as I'm still racing. It's a reasonable price, very well organized, has great aid stations every 1.5 miles, provides all the post-race food you could ask for and even provides pacers from 1:30 to 3:20 pace ranges. In the last couple of years I've been happy to have good races and I was hoping to have a decent one again, especially after the Cap City Half debacle. Just like last year, I had regionals to get to directly after the race. I had even less time to get to the bus this year and didn't even stay to see Todd finish just minutes after me.
     I know the course like the back of my hand after running it in full at least five times, most times with Todd dragging me along at a healthy tempo. My fastest training run on the new and improved course was 1:32 (that time mostly with Evan while Todd ran 1:30). The first 10k is deceptively easy with a net downhill of around 180 feet. Then the hill on Foote Road hits, then another couple miles of gradual uphill and then the fun really starts. Miles 7-12 have net gains with the exception of a few sharp downhills in mile 10. If you can get up the hill right before mile 12 with some pep left in your legs, the final mile can really be torched with a nice three quarter of a mile downhill. Of course you still have to climb the hill to the square, but you can see the finish line by then so it doesn't really count. The main thing about this course is that it has personality. It is a very Medina course.

I'm not usually a medal hound but these are cool.

     Chelsea, the women's winner from last year was back for the race this year. I had two goals that were actually incongruous with each other. I wasn't going to wear a watch so I could run by feel but at the same time I wanted to see if I could stay with Chelsea and have her drag me along to a fast time. I knew this was a long shot and I probably wouldn't be able to pace with her but I wanted to try. I got to warm up with my friend Amanda who is 26 weeks pregnant and still ran a 2:00 half marathon! I did very light drills in my favorite back parking lot spot. I felt pretty good and not nervous. Maybe if you run a race enough times the nerves go away.

2016 start. Photo credit: Jim Blake

     I started very reasonably this year. No dragging off the back of the male lead pack! I fell into step with Chelsea just for the first downhill. There was a young girl running way out ahead at about 5:30 pace and by the time we turned down my street Chelsea caught her and was moving ahead quickly. I wasn't wearing my watch but Jeff's watch had us at 6:07 for the first mile. This is probably slower than last year, but still too fast. I knew there was no way I should be keeping this pace and when I went through the 2 mile in 12:13 I backed off to about a 6:30 pace. One of these days I will run an evenly paced half marathon. I think that will be the key to breaking my half pr. Steady 6:20s from start to finish. I caught the young girl by mile three and passed her quickly even though I was slowing down considerably myself. On the Reagan Parkway bunny hills I made sure I didn't expend too much energy going up them fast. I had a quick mile on Granger Road since that is a good opportunity to pick it up. The Lake Medina mile was pretty quick as well and I went through the 10k in 39:56, actually a decent 10k time for me. I saw a bunch of people cheering at points throughout this first section and tried to wave and smile. By this point I was running completely alone. From 3 miles to the finish I didn't pass anyone and no one passed me. The closest person behind me was the first 1:30 pacer guy who came in at 1:29. He and Todd were pretty close behind me at 10k so I knew I wasn't running that much below 1:30 pace. This is the one thing that kept me from completely relaxing for the second half. I didn't want to run over 1:30 no matter what!
     The best way to describe the way I approached the rest of the race was that I stayed in control of the effort. I accepted one of the Carb Boom! packets just before 10k and used every aid station to either drink water or Gatorade or splash water on my face. I stayed quite cool and hydrated and never felt thirsty or hot. Every once and while I felt guilty about staying in control and not going after Evan and Ian who were running close ahead of me, but then I would look behind me and see nothing but a desert with not a person in sight and feel okay with my decision. If there had been a woman close behind me I would have raced harder, of this I am sure, but as it was I had a long day ahead of me and I just wanted to have a positive race where I felt good. The hills were still hard and I had to use some self talk to get up the 12 mile hill at a decent pace. I skipped the final aid station and started the long decent down route 3. There were a ton of friendly 5k runners coming down at the same time and a lot of them cheered me on. I did not blaze this final mile. In one of the training runs I had 6:21 13th mile but I'd say this was more like a 6:30. Before I knew it I could see the finish line and all of the awesome MCRR volunteers including Dan, Angie and of course race director Beth! I congratulated Chelsea at the finish and got my medal from Angie. I waited for just a few minutes to see if the third place girl would come in but by the time the clock got to 1:30 I started feeling frantic about missing the bus and booked it up to Second Sole to get my stuff and head over to Buckeye.

I saw the clock and was going to make sure I finished in the 1:27s. Photo credit: Black and White Photography

     I recovered from this race really quickly, just in time for my first week of training with my new coach. I was able to do a track workout, a tempo run and a long run in a 79 mile week after this race. My endurance is THERE, now I just want some more speed to bring me those prs!

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