2010 Eisenhower Half Marathon

I ran the 2010 Eisenhower Half Marathon today in Abilene, KS.  I've put in some hard training leading up to this race as I really wanted to get a 1:50 for the half, which would put me into the seeded D corral at the Chicago Marathon this fall.  I must admit, everything leading up to this race just fell into place for me.  The training was good, the weather was perfect, I had a nice taper, I was healthy, and not only met my goal, but completely smashed it.  I ran the race in 1:47:02, which is an almost 10 improvement over my previous personal record!  There was also a soft field in the M35-39 age group, and the time garnered me a 2nd place medal.  Unbelievable.

The race itself was a small race in a friendly small town, but very well organized.  The course itself was an out and back, starting in town, heading south to a local park, through the park, then back.  Slightly uphill to the turn around, then slightly downhill on the return. The weather was nearly perfect, light winds, mid clouds to keep the sun off, and temperatures in the lower 50s.  I've been having some ITB issues since my last marathon in December, and have been making slow progress in eliminating the knee pain.  The knee pain finally subsided about a week before this race, and I was able to run at an 8:10 pace with no pain whatsoever.

This is the fastest I've ever run, and I felt good throughout, although I was really starting to struggle by about mile 10.  At that point, I turned on the radio and tried to focus on the music to get me through the last 5k.  I felt amazing after crossing the finish line, and couldn't believe what I had just accomplished.  I reached my goal of getting into a seeded Chicago corral, but missed the C corral by only 1 minute and 3 seconds.  Ahh, there will always be another race.

After the race, I headed back to the motel to shower and clean up.  The race offers a free pancake and sausage breakfast, and I didn't want to miss it.  After eating my first helping of food, I thought I should check the race placements.  I didn't think I was fast enough to earn an award, but I still wanted to look.  To my surprise, the preliminary results indicated that I had placed 2nd in my age group.  I was in shock.  Really.  I thought the awards ceremony was already over, and was trying to find out where to pick up my medal.  Come to find out, the awards ceremony wasn't for another 15 minutes, so I made it afterall.

So what can I say?  I had an awesome time at this race, my best ever performance, and I scored some hardware, which is a first for me.  It was a good day.  Better than I was yesterday, but not as good as I'll be tomorrow.  Just keep moving forward.  Even though it was a soft age group today, I'll still take the 2nd place finish.  It may be the only one I ever get.  But, I know that I can do better with more training, and I'm not giving up.