3M Half: Always a lesson in the journey

The 3M Half Marathon in Austin is one of my favorites.  It falls within a few days of my birthday and makes for a great little weekend getaway.  The course is fun and fast, a point-to-point that starts in northwest Austin and ends near the Texas Capital.  The crowds are usually fun and supportive and the 3M swag bag is a thing of beauty - I never have to buy Post It notes, bandages, super glue, and Scotch tape anymore!

The couple of weeks leading up to the race were brutally cold in North Texas - we are talking low temperatures of 13 degrees and blustery wind chills on top of that.  Fortunately, I was able to avoid running on the coldest days, but the bulk of my training was done in freezing and below temperatures.  So naturally it was 66 degrees and super humid on race day - Texas has a great sense of humor that way!

The legendary 3M Half swag bag

I've had such great success at this race in recent years. My course record 1:50 two years ago and I ran 1:52 last year, so my goal was something in the low 1:50s.  My plan was to hang with the 1:55 pace group until around mile 10 and then take off on my own.  I love feeding off of the energy of a good pace group and letting them do the mental work while I just focus on running.  These pacers are great too, they've paced this group during this race for several years so they know the course really well. This strategy worked out great two years ago and I was hoping that a similar plan would serve me well during this race.

Mr K and I arrived in plenty of time and enjoyed some people watching before the race began, the announcer said that there were 7,000 runners, a record field for this race.  As before any race, I took a moment to be thankful for a strong body and mind that allowed me to do things like run 13 miles on a random Sunday because it sounded like fun. Make it count. Take nothing for granted.

We lined up behind the 1:55 group and when the starting gun sounded, I made it my job to stay right with them.  The start was very smooth and we started right on the pace as this pace group runs even splits throughout the race.  The roads were so damp, it looked like it had recently rained, but that was just the humidity.  Since this was my 4th year to run this race the course felt super familiar and I just focused on cruising with the pace group.

I started to feel like I was working harder somewhere around mile 7 and I could feel that my elbows were dripping sweat. I also noticed that my lips had that salty feeling and that told me I was probably not drinking enough.  This course has a net downhill, but there is a hill between mile 9 and 10.  It isn't steep, but it goes on for a while and it feels difficult considering we have been consistently running a slight downhill the entire time.  According to the pacers, we were ahead of the pace but they were allowing some cushion for that hill that would be coming up soon.  I was starting to realize that I was not going to be able to drop the pace group like I planned and my goal shifted to simply keeping up with them.

My heart rate was continuing to climb and climb and the pace group was inching away from me and when I saw the aide station just before mile 10 I knew that I needed to walk through it and regroup.  I was sad to see the pace group disappearing into the distance, but at that moment I just couldn't hang on.  My watch chimed mile 10 and I felt a bit discouraged when I saw that it said 9:19.  I had been clicking off the miles in the 8:30s-8:40s until now.  I felt like any chance for a decent time was gone, but I told myself to keep moving forward.  I was officially on board the Struggle Bus. I felt a little better when I saw mile 11 come in at 9:03, but I was still pretty sure that I was inching closer to a 2:00 finish.

I always finish what I start and I wasn't quite ready to throw in the towel just yet. I saw others walking and it looked so appealing, but I told myself to simply keep running.  I usually try to run the last mile as fast as I can (Last One, Fast One!) and this was still my plan, despite my frustration and fatigue.  The last mile of the race has some more downhill as it passes through the University of Texas campus so it makes for a natural LOFO.  I saw the 12 mile marker just about the same time that I saw the 1:55 pace group, about a quarter of a mile ahead of me.  Redemption was within my reach! I made it my job to catch that pace group, there could not have been a more perfect target for me in that moment.

They reworked the finish line this year and instead of rounding a corner and running up a slight hill, we rounded a corner and it was straight in front of us. It seemed like it was a mile away, but in reality it was probably less than half a mile.  The finisher chute was longer than most and I remember the announcer mentioning this at one point, I caught the 1:55 group at the beginning of this chute. Redemption would be mine! One final push and I crossed the line in 1:54:50.  I was surprised to see Mr K waiting there for me.  He tells me that he passed by me earlier in the race, but I never did see him - I was too focused on keeping the pace.

This wasn't the race I had hoped for, but more times than not, running is about taking what the day gives you and making the best of it. I figure that you can find a lesson in every race if you take the time to look for it. I'm proud of how I kept on fighting even I thought that my race was over at mile 10 and I'm proud of how I worked hard to catch the 1:55 group when I spotted them at mile 12. I have no doubts that I learned more from this experience than I would have learned if I had run a faster and mentally easier race.  This is a lesson that I can carry with me and draw upon in other situations when the going gets tough.  And that is what it is all about, isn't it? There is always a lesson in the journey.

(In case you were wondering, that LOFO checked in at 8:19.)