CMM 2009 Half

This blogging thing is sometimes a chore haha...

Anyway, Leading up to the CMM i had a pretty huge taper, as with all the rain i had quite a few baseball games. Almost every night. So needless to say i didn't get as much running or cross training in as I'd have liked to. I had a 12 mile run on Easter that left me feeling pretty good about the race. In the next two weeks i ran a total of 9 miles (one 6 and one 3 miles). That's less than half of what i hoped...

Anyway, the race was supposed to be hot. It was hot, not as hot as Hawaii running but the combination between the hills and the heat took its toll on me. I started running with chad. We both had pretty much the same goal. Goal being that we felt that we might be able to get a 2:00 time. We started in corral 12 with the 2 hour pacer from the striders. The first 5k of the race was strong. Somewhere after mile 4 we started dropping off... before we got to mile 5 the 2 hour guy was out of reach for us. Somewhere around that time i also got bottle necked at an aid station and lost chad. I was hurting but maintaining a reasonable pace. I managed to catch up to chad by mile 7. Just after i caught him, i was able to spot Jessie in the crowd of people running the opposite way, she was around mile 5.

After that i was still hurting but still pushing. My 10k split was still decent. Shortly before the 10 mile mark, chad told me he'd see me at the finish line and he dropped back. At the 10 mile split i was still on track for my declared finishing time of 2:05. Another mile down the road, everything fell apart. My lower back started aching. I told myself i was too close to the end to let that bother me. Right at the split off of the half marathon i couldn't take the pain anymore. By now it was shooting down my legs and just a tight aching pain to lift my legs followed.

I had to pull over and stretch... I'm sure i looked miserable. One of the running coaches approached me to make sure i was OK even. I stretched my back, and walked a little hoping that it would loosen me up. I started to jog slowly again, to what was seemly worse pain, plus my legs felt like anchors.

I ran walked through mile 11... and tried to run again at 12... same but i was a little more motivated. I stopped to walk one last time, for a little bit... Then i made it to the bridge over the river, at this point, i sucked it up and ran. 2:11 was still seemly in sight (i started my watch a little late so i really only had an estimate). I ran down the hill... around the bend, and to the finish line. I finished up with a 2:13:18.

I'll take it. I'd had really hoped for a tad better, but hey its my first one. Gives me something to improve on.

I recovered in the finisher's area with some fruit, drinks, etc... then i made my way to try to cheer Jessie on as she crossed the finish line. I waited and watched a few people go by and Jessie rounded the bend i was a little late seeing her and tried to yell for her... she was in the zone and just ran right past haha. She did well especially given the heat and that there were 3 consecutive aid stations that were bone dry for her. Her finishing time didn't publish however. She is in the 2:30 range however. Hopefully they will get that straightened out soon.

On to the triathlons. GJCC and Mach Tenn are on my list. I am also considering running the middle half in the fall, and maybe hoping to complete a full marathon by the end of the year.