DRC Half: 8 years. 60 half marathons

The DRC Half is one of my favorite half marathons of the whole year.  The course is beautiful, many of my friends are always there, the weather is usually starting to get a little bit nicer, and it is just a great way to kick off my half marathon season.  It was the first half marathon eight years ago and I haven't missed one since.  I'm a sucker for tradition, after all. I wasn't all that sure what to expect from the running itself.  I had a super strong triathlon season, but I hadn't really done any speed work since Kerrville 70.3 at the end of September.  This seemed like a great opportunity to have a fun day of running and get back into race mode.  It would be a great chance to establish my "base" and see what kind of goals looked realistic for the upcoming winter.  My goals for the day were to run by feel and aim for negative splits and a fast last mile.  I ran this one in 1:58 last year so I was hoping that I could come in a little bit faster than that.

We arrived super early and I had a great time catching up with so many friends before the race.  It almost seemed like a party - an odd early morning party with many people wearing spandex - gotta love runners!  We ran into the Bahas early on and I was happy that Karen shares my pre-race porta potty obsession -haha! I love the beginning of a race, there is so much happy energy and right out of the gate I spotted Drum and Stude (The Encourager).  Drum was out on her bike to cheer on Sandie who was going for a huge PR (spoiler alert: she killed her race!) and Stude was recovering from a broken collarbone so he was stuck on the sidelines cheering this time.

Big Pre-Race Smiles (Pic: EW)

I settled in and tried to find a steady pace that felt somewhat challenging, but also one that I could hold for a long time.  I started near the 1:55 pace group and they quickly slipped away from me in the first mile.  Mr K also slipped away from me very early in the race and he went on to have a killer run. The first four miles are mostly flat and I held a very reasonable pace in the low 9:00s.  I knew that most of the hills came in miles 4-9ish and I just wanted to run them as evenly as possible and then push for a fast finish around the lake.  I love running downhill and focused on picking up the pace whenever these opportunities arose.  I was surprised to see my pace trending faster in the hills and reasoned that running the downs fast must be paying off.  Miles 5-9 ranged from 8:30-9:03 with the slowest mile coming on that big, dumb hill that comes as by the dam as we returned to the lake.  It doesn't matter how many times I run that hill, it is just tough and probably always will be.

Coming in for a one-armed hug (Pic: Stude)

My plan was to start to pick it up in the last three miles since it is the home stretch and I know that section well. I saw Stude cheering somewhere between mile 11 and 12 and I paused just a second for a quick, one-armed hug. In mile 12 I saw Ninja and Drum, I love seeing familiar faces along a race course! My negative split plan worked out too and I had a beautiful splits on miles 10, 11, 12 (8:57, 8:43, 8:38). I knew that the last mile was my signal to give it everything that I had and I was quite pleased to see 7:52 when my watch chimed.  It still blows my mind a bit that I can run those paces, especially at the end of a half marathon.

I love it when I look like I'm running! (Pic: Llama Race Pictures)

As I rounded the bend and approached the park with the finish line and I saw 1:54-something on my watch and I made it a goal to cross the finish line under 1:56.  Mission accomplished: 1:55:57 and 8th in my age group.  I felt really happy and very pleased with my race - not a bad place to start my winter half marathon season!

Post Race Beer Garden Hang Out #tradition (Pic: Rico Photo)

I will never forget running this race for the first time eight years ago.  It was my first ever half marathon and the longest that I'd ever run. I finished in 2:25 and I was just so darned proud of myself because I never dreamed that I would ever do something like that.  It would probably have blown my mind to think that I would do fifty-nine more of them (and counting!). I had no idea what I was in for when I ran that race all those years ago.  Running has brought so many people, places, and experiences into my life over the years.  It has also taught me that I am capable of working harder than I imagined and that I am stronger than I think.  I can't wait to see what the next eight years holds!