3M Half Marathon: Be Fearless

Once I recovered from Redman 70.3, I noticed that I was feeling so strong - strong enough that I considered upgrading from the half to the full at the Cowtown Marathon coming up at the end of February.  I knew that I was strong and I felt like I only really needed a couple of 20 milers in order to be ready to run a marathon.  I was really close to pulling the trigger on that, but I told myself to wait until after the Dallas Marathon Half before making any decisions.  Not only did I want to see how that race went for me, I wanted to be around people who were marathoning to see if I "felt" it. I had a great race that day, running negative splits with a super strong finish. It turns out that it was my fastest half marathon since the spring of 2013.

I felt like I was on to something with the speed work I had been doing in the weeks leading up to the race, and within a few minutes of crossing the finish line I had my answer.  Instead of going longer, I wanted to see just how fast I could possibly go.  I had signed up for the 3M Half Marathon in Austin earlier in the fall and having a fast race there had become my new goal.  At the end of last year, I ran across the quote, "Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire." This has become my mantra in 2016. Whenever I felt myself feeling nervous about the race, I reminded myself to "be fearless."

Most appropriate race day calendar quote ever. 

I ran the 3M Half on my birthday in 2014 and I had a really good day there, running it in 1:56:16.  It is known to be a fast course and the race adopted the slogan "downhill to downtown." Some of my best races have come on point-to-point courses with a net downhill (see Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon).  I became even more fired up for the race when I broke my 5K personal record (PR) on January 9, a couple of weeks before 3M Half.  That PR was nearly 4 years old and I was starting to think that it would live forever.  Just seeing that it was possible to get a PR after all these years of coming close but falling short really gave me hope.  My half marathon PR was a strong one (1:51:36) and I have not even come close to it since I set it way back in 2010.  Yep, my half marathon PR is the same age as a kindergartner.  I had really started to believe that it was a fluke and had started referring to a half I ran in 2013 as my "modern PR" - and even that one was getting dated!  I was not sure what to expect going into 3M Half, but I would be happy with anything under 1:55.

I looked forward to the weekend because it is a great opportunity to visit Austin and to spend some time with friends.  Mr K and I enjoyed the drive down, stopping in West for some treats and enjoying abundant sunshine.  We saw Oklahoma friends Vicki and Gene at the race expo and we also enjoyed a post race celebration with them. We had pre-race dinner with Mama C, John, Irene, and Dewbs.  Drum was also in town for the race (spoiler alert: she KILLED it), and while we were in a lot of the same places, we never saw each other.

Has there been more perfect race weather?

I was thinking of the race as two separate races.  My plan was to hang with the 1:55 pacers until mile 10 where, if things were going according to plan, I would drop them and run the last 3.1 miles like a 5K.  Once again, I had been "encouraged" by Stude to run the last 3 miles at a sub-8:00 pace (this is getting trickier, it was only the last 2 miles at the the Dallas Marathon Half - I'm afraid of what will happen in the next race...).  Race morning went very smoothly (unlike the last time we ran 3M, right Mama C?) and I was able to find the pacers in the corral and slip in behind them.  We got a solid start and I could hear them talking to other runners about their strategy and what to expect on various parts of the course.  They also seemed to know many runners in the crowd and this gave me confidence in their skill as pacers.  I got lucky because they were solid and I stuck to them like it was my job.

The pace they set felt really good to me.  I never felt like I was chasing them, but at the same time they pushed me ahead on occasion.  A good pacer is worth their weight in gold!  The weather was utterly perfect with temperatures in the 40s, with mostly calm winds and plenty of sunshine.  This was one of those "no excuses" races where everything is so perfect, you have to go for it.  Remember what Meb taught me at the Dallas Marathon Expo?  He told us to run one mile at a time and focus on what needed to be done for that mile. As I crossed the mile markers,  I set an intention for each new mile and worked hard to meet my goal for that mile.  Be fearless.

Post race selfie with Mr K

Around mile 7 or 8 the pacers checked in with a pace update and it looked like we were running at least 30 seconds ahead of 1:55.  This was great news to me as I planned to get ahead of them at the end, but I also know that if I did not I could still get that sub-1:55 goal that I had for the day.  This is such a fun route and the spectators are just awesome, especially on such a beautiful day, I was enjoying my run.

Sometime during mile 9 I found myself a little ahead of the pace group and it felt good, so I decided to stick with it.  I slowed a bit for a drink just before mile 10 and then it was go time.  I took a deep breath and reminded myself to be fearless. A girl next to me said "it is a 5K now" and I told her that she must have read my mind.  Someone from the crowd jumped in with her and she took off like the wind.  I had no idea how fast I was going as I did not have the pace screen up on my watch during the race.  I just focused on running that mile hard and I knew that I would get a pace update when I crossed mile 11.  I was very encouraged when that mile came in at 7:54 on my watch.  I was doing it!!  I still had no idea what my finish time would look like, but I was starting to realize that I was going to do better than I expected.  It was somewhere in that mile that a person on a bike called to another runner that she was at least 100 yards in front of the 1:55 pacers.

Post race smiles with Mr K, Mama C, John, and Irene (Pic: Dewbs)

Mile 12 had a nice downhill as we crossed onto the University of Texas campus and I took advantage of that momentum the best that I could.  So close now, don't lose focus MK! Be fearless.  Finally I crossed mile 12 and saw 7:48 on my watch.  Ho. Lee. Smokes.  This was really happening!  Time to dig in for that final mile - and it was a tough one!  There is just the slightest uphill as you round the bend and head towards Congress Avenue, but it might as well have been a mountain after all of the downhill running in the proceeding miles.  I started to hear the announcers and the crowds and I knew that I was getting close....but it felt like forever.  I later saw that mile 13 was 7:33 - no wonder it felt like forever.  I am glad that I had no idea what these paces were as they were happening because I probably would have freaked myself out.  By this point, I knew that I was most likely going to beat my kindergarten aged half marathon PR - but by how much?  I picked out a few people in front of me and to passed them as I made the final approach to the finish line.

I crossed the finish line and stood there in utter disbelief.  I did it. I DID IT!!  1:50:59  I wanted to tell everyone in the crowd around me "Hey!  I just broke a 6 year old PR!!"  I kept looking at my watch and then at the official results to make sure that it was real.  If there is one thing that running has taught me, it is to never say never...but I gotta tell you, I was starting to lose hope on this one.  I had essentially conceded that while I planned to run for a long time, I was probably not going to be getting any faster.  I thought that maintaining my current speed was a good enough goal.  I don't know what has changed in me since Redman, but I feel as if I have a renewed love of the run.  Not only do I feel physically stronger, I feel like I have a whole new mental game going on. Maybe I needed something to reignite the fire from my earlier running years? Maybe surviving something as challenging as Redman made me stronger? Maybe it was in there all along?  I suppose it doesn't really matter as long as I keep believing it.

Be fearless.