Too Cold To Hold Half: I Got My Masters

This just might be the best time of the year for running and there are so many race options here in North Texas.  I would like to race once a month, up until the summer months hit, and the first one on the calendar was the Too Cold To Hold Half on February 1.  This race has been around in some form for many years and Mr K and I have run the 15K on several occasions.  The half marathon was a new option this year, and it fit very nicely into my schedule. There have been plenty of times where this race was cold...but Sunday was not one of them.  We arrived bright and early to find temperatures in the 60s with high humidity and an occasional (but not often enough) rain shower.

It was great to see Elizabeth!

The race was "sold out" but the field for the half marathon looked a little on the small side to me.  I am assuming that most people signed up for the 5K or the 10K...or maybe just stayed in bed when they saw the rain in the forecast.  For just a minute I wished that I was more prepared to run fast because with the small field I could probably place in my age group.  At the same time, I was glad that I was not expecting to run fast because the humidity would have made it pretty challenging.

You might have heard that I celebrated the Big 40 a couple of weeks ago.  I know, shocking - right? This was my first race in my new age group and my first race in the "Masters" division.  Can you believe that they consider runners over 40 to be "Masters?"

Cherry and Rick were there too!

My goal for the day were to run a smart race with consistent splits and come in under 2 hours.  I also wanted to use this as an opportunity to get back into the mental practice of racing.  The two hour pace group was in front of me when we first started and they seemed to pull away even more during the race.  I suspected, as did the others around me, that they were running faster than a 2 hour pace.  I decided not to spend any energy trying to catch them and settled into a comfortable, but slightly pushed, pace.

The race itself was pretty uneventful, I hit my miles in the neighborhood of 9:00 for the first 6 miles - then filling my bottle at an aide station and climbing the biggest hill on the course slowed my pace for a bit for that mile.  I managed to get back on pace and enjoyed seeing all the fast people coming back towards me as they had already hit the turn around on the out-and-back course.  Miles 9, 10, and 11 were my slowest of the race as I could feel myself getting mentally tired.  I walked through the aide stations at mile 8 and 11, taking Gatorade at the second one.  I am starting to think that the Gatorade hit me like magic fuel because my pace dropped back to my 9:00 range for the final 2 miles.  Like a horse to the barn!

I found Ninja a mile before the finish! (pic: Ninja)

The crowds were pretty sparse, as I expected, but I was surprised to see Ninja standing on the bridge somewhere around mile 12.  He had been crewing our friend Baha at Rocky Raccoon 100 in Huntsville and drove straight back to see Fiona finish her race.  I also encountered Julie a little bit earlier and had to will myself to keep moving forward and not stop to talk to her.  It is amazing how much better I feel when I know that the finish line is less than a mile away.  I passed the 2 hour pace group about a half mile from the finish, they ended up finishing right at 2:00 but it was clear that they slowed down a bit in the final miles.

It is also amazing how seeing the faces of friends can give you an extra boost.  First I saw Cherry and Rick just before entering Norbuck park and then I saw Erin as she approached them.  Home stretch, baby!  I glanced at my watch and knew that I would need to hustle a bit to make it in under 2:00 so I picked it up for the last 200 meters or so and came in at 1:59:10.  I was reminded that half marathons are not easy and I felt so happy to have number 49 in the books with a sub 2:00 finish.

Post race with Fi (pic: Ninja)

When I checked my race results, I was pleased with my splits: 28:01 for the 1st 5K, 27:53 for the 2nd 5K, and I moved up 25 places. I felt as if I had met my goals for the day and that I was just where I needed to be going into half number 50 at Cowtown on March 1.  I was also happy to see that I finished 9th out of 40 in my new 40-44 age group and 92nd out of 316 overall - a top 10 and top 100 finish is always a good thing.  Imagine my dismay when I looked the 35-39 age group that I had just left and saw that I would have had a solid 3rd place.  Seriously?  I missed it by 2 weeks!  Lesson: 40 year olds are no joke.

Sometimes you get a snowflake medal when it is 60 degrees outside.

The winds had picked up and the cold front was starting to move in so we did not linger long after the race.  Besides, Taco Joint was nearby and the draw of warm and delicious food was strong.  Not a bad little Sunday morning, not bad at all.