Long Version: Met up with some Runner's World forum-ites (Lacer and Keenagirl) before the race started, it was a pleasure to be able meet you. Didn't know how fast I wanted to run this race, but had a preliminary goal of running this as a marathon-pace long run in about 2:10sh. However, I've felt really healthy this past week or two, and thought I might have a legitimate shot at a new PR. I strained my ITB on my 2nd HM earlier this year (see previous posts) but am back to nearly 100%. PR time of 1:59:29 in May went to a PW time of 2:24 in the next race in June in Denver (due to ITBS), and then back to 2:12 at a race in July.
Awoke this morning to a thick, dense shroud of fog, and it was pretty chilly. Couldn't even hardly see across the street it was so thick. Ate my normal pre-race breakfast of bagel, peanut butter, banana, and Gatorade, got dressed and headed to the course. Met up with Lacer and Keena, said hello, then did a little warmup jog of about 1/2 mile (to stay warm) and then the race began.
Started off really strong, and everything just clicked today so I just kept putting the hammer down. Absolutely no knee pain at all. Best split was 8:40 at mile 7. But overall, this was just an awesome race! It's pancake flat, so that really helped. At about mile 9.5, my right ankle cramped pretty badly. It did that last week on my long slow run at mile 13.5, so I'm going to have to figure out what's going on there. The cramp worked itself out by about mile 11 thankfully. I was also having some minor gut issues, not sure why since I changed nothing at all in my pre-race routine, although we did do a tailgate lunch at work yesterday, and I did have a Dairy Queen blizzard last night before bed. Hmm. Don't think I'll do that again.
I'm not going to lie, the last 1 1/2 miles of the race was rough. I just maintained my pace, and didn't really have enough for a strong kick at the end. I knew I had already nabbed a new PR so didn't feel the need to push it any harder. Final time was 1:56:35, my previous PR was 1:59:29, so I'm super proud that I was able to shave a full 3 minutes off my time, and have fully recovered from my ITB injury earlier in the year!
After the race, I milled around for just a bit to meet up with Lacer and Keena again, and then headed back to the motel for an ice bath and a quick race report, and then headed back on the road to go to work this afternoon. Am a little sore, even after the ice bath, but I really pushed the pace hard today, so it's a good sore, and I'm totally loving it. Now, I get to eat all the food I want. Yeah!
The Des Moines marathon looms in 6 weeks, and this race has given me enough confidence to keep going!
Here is a post race picture. I'm not particularly excited about this picture, but it's still documentation that I ran the event. Race on!
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