March Madness Half Marathon

This was to be my first run at the March Madness event in Cary and my third half-marathon. The course for this race is comprised of streets east and north of the Cary-Grove High School area with the start and finish at the high school. There are a few flat areas in the race course but for the most part you’re challenged by different levels of rolling hills, which makes for a rather challenging half-marathon.

Being unfamiliar with this race I really didn’t know what to expect. It’s difficult for me to gauge hill races at this distance since I’ve run only one other, the North Shore Half in Highland Park. That was my first half-marathon and I bonked after about 8.5 miles. Ironically it is also my half-marathon PR (2:13) and I was able to recover well enough for a respectable finishing time. But that race sort of left a bad taste in my mouth because I hate having to stop and walk in a race when I encounter a rough spot. Plus, I had planned on finishing the race with Kelly. She was having an awesome day (and PR’d) but I wasn’t able to sustain the pace she was setting.

To prepare for this race I had been doing my long training runs at the Morton Arboretum, which also has rolling hills. The week prior to the race Jim and I managed to do a 12-mile training run in just less than two hours. I pushed the pace the last two miles to get us under 10 mpm. After hearing this, Kelly was confident that we could run the March Madness Half in 2:10 or better based upon our training run. I wasn’t as confident since hill races usually cause me trouble if I don’t manage my pace well.

On the day of the race I picked up Kelly and Brian on the way. Once we had arrived at Cary-Grove High School I realized that it was a bit chillier than I had anticipated. My plan was to wear my long sleeve Brooks moisture-wicking base layer. It was about 28 degrees at the start so I ended up wearing my Brooks half-zip mid layer as well. I didn’t bring my gloves or ear muffs. We picked up our race packets and headed back to the car. We ran into Jim on the way and told him we would meet him back at the high school gymnasium.

After pinning on our race bibs and warming up a bit in the car we headed back to the gymnasium where we met up with Jim, chatted a bit and then headed out to the race start. Janeth was also running in the race but we didn’t see her as we lined up. Jim and I were going to start together, since we’ve been running at about the same pace over the last several races. This was a recovery run for Brian from his training run at Clinton Lake the day before and he and Kelly lined up at the back of the starting pack.

Although it was a little cold and breezy, with a bit of a headwind at times, it was also sunny and that kept my uncovered extremities comfortable.

The gun sounded and we were off, running east on Three Oaks Rd for the first couple of miles. I had planned to start my pace at around 10 mpm or higher but we actually started out a little faster than that at about a 9:30 pace. Jim was pushing the pace a little, running to my left side but a little in front of me, but I held back and mentioned to him that this was a long race.

Jim and I have a rather different running style. He tends to start races faster and more aggressively than I and relies on a faster starting pace for good finishing times. I need to start slower, warm up a bit so until I’m more comfortable, and then finish strong - making up for the slower start time with a faster paced second half of the race. I’ve messed up more than a few runs by starting out too fast.

The first mile went by rather quickly in 9:40. I was keeping an eye on my Garmin to let Jim know what our pace was. As a few people passed us Jim seemed to unconsciously pick up the pace. During the second mile we dipped under 9 mpm and I let Jim know about it. He said, “Ooh, that’s too fast” and slowed it down a bit. I told him that it was OK with me if he wanted to run ahead but he said that our pace was fine with him.

Since the first couple of miles didn’t have much in the way of (up)hills I thought it would be OK to run a sub 10 mpm pace. I was compromising a bit though since I wanted to run a little more conservatively, but then remembered that Kelly successfully implemented the “banking time” approach during her P.F. Chang’s Marathon run in Phoenix. So, I thought I’d give that a try (since our running style is about the same) and hope that I still had something left over for a strong race finish.

We continued on somewhat of a gradual downhill run from the first half mile of the race all the way through mile two. We completed mile two in 9:28. I remember a young woman runner who kept walking and then running. I thought it was rather strange since we were only through the first couple miles of the race. Eventually she fell behind us sometime during mile three.

We turned the corner just past the two mile mark and headed north on Hickory Nut Grove Rd. You couldn’t really see it but you could feel that we were gradually heading up hill. I seem to remember that Jim had tucked in behind me at this point as we continued at the same pace. Mile completed in 9:27. The colder weather was helping me stay cool and I felt comfortable – no aches or pains. I just didn’t know how long that would last as the race progressed.

During mile four we turned on to Hickory Nut Grove Lane heading west. I was focusing on our pace and not really paying too much attention to what was going on around me. I had slowed us down to around a 10 mpm pace figuring that we would have enough of a buffer to finish at or just under 2:10. Mile four through seven was completed in 9:57, 9:57, 10:14 and 10:02 respectively.

Jim and I were pretty much blowing off the water stations as he had his hydration belt and I was using my hydration pack. We each ate half a bag of Black Cherry Shot Bloks at mile five, without slowing down or stopping, and waited for the caffeine boost to kick in. Consuming Shot Bloks while running is a bit of a challenge for me but they were warm and soft from being held in my hand. No problem with the first serving.

Somewhere between miles four and seven we encountered a rather large hill. I can’t recall where it was (mile six?) although I think we encountered one like it (the same one?) on our return trip. Since there are quite a few rolling hills, that I literally lost track of, I’m unable to identify it from the elevation and map in the Garmin Training Center or Google Earth software.

I was still feeling pretty good after mile seven and Jim was running up a little a head of me and to the side. We would switch sides occasionally depending upon the running traffic. We were back running at a sub ten-minute pace. Mile eight through ten was completed in 9:39, 9:36 and 9:45 respectively. Once again I mentioned to Jim that it was OK if he wanted to run ahead. But he said no, because he’d probably just end up “coughing up a lung” or “puking his guts out” or something to that effect (Jim’s words were probably a bit more colorful and descriptive than mine). ;-)

I remember telling Jim that we would probably be catching runners ahead of us as we continued our pace. During mile eight we passed a number of runners during our ascent up the winding hill on Crystal Lake Rd., which was one of the highest elevation points of the race. Fortunately, we had a bit of a respite between miles eight and nine as we descended back downhill and sustained our sub ten-minute pace.

Mile ten was back up hill again. Shortly after mile ten we ate the second half of our bag of Shot Bloks. I wasn’t able to finish the last Shot Blok before we encountered more hills so I waited a few minutes. It was becoming much more difficult to chew and breathe at the same time and I thought that breathing at that point was probably more important. On a descent I popped the last Shot Blok into my mouth and after a few chews started to choke on it a little. But I made a nice recovery by simply swallowing what was left and then taking a swig of Gatorade G2 from my hydration pack. But if you’re wondering, yes I can walk and chew Shot Bloks at the same time. ;-)

Mile eleven was a bit of a dipsy doodle as we ran through the sub divisions of the town. I still felt pretty good at this point. Nothing was hurting and my stamina was good. A couple of runners passed us but their pace slowed to ours so they ran just a little in front of us. I wanted to pick up the pace just a little, but not too much since I didn’t know what kind of hills we would encounter during the last couple of miles. We completed mile eleven in 9:39 as the course descended and we began mile twelve.

At this point Jim mentioned that he didn’t think he would beat his PR for the half-marathon. I asked him what it was and he said he thought it was around 2:06. I knew that I was on track to obliterate my PR and was pretty sure that we could finish under 2:10. If we picked up the pace during the last couple of miles there was a good chance of being around the 2:06 mark. But I also knew that we still had some hills to conquer and that it would be even more of a challenge at this late stage of the race.

Jim and I maintained our pace through mile twelve and began to leave some of the runners that were running with us behind. This mile was one of the toughest as it was uphill throughout. However, it was also one of our best as we finished it in 9:32. No one would pass us for the last 2.1 miles.

Mile thirteen started off downhill and at this point I decided to pick up the pace. With a mile and a tenth left I figured I had energy enough left to push the pace even harder. Jim sensed that and said, “I can tell we’re running faster now”.

I continued to push the pace as we passed runners that were slowing down. As we approached the right turn from Mallard Rd to the asphalt path along side Three Oaks Rd. I increased our pace slightly in anticipation of the finish, just a half mile away. Once we had turned onto the asphalt path I noticed that it was on an upward incline. UGH! I wasn’t anticipating another hill!

Jim said we could slow down. I backed off and he ran just a little ahead of me. I maintained my pace and Jim picked up his a little. I let the gap grow to about 15 feet. We were both on our own at this point.

Jim didn’t appear to be increasing his pace so I simply maintained mine as we approached the 13-mile mark, which is a right turn into the high school drive and then on to the finish line. As we rounded the corner I kicked in sprint mode for the final tenth of a mile.

I thought Jim might speed up to match my pace as I approached him from behind, but he just yelled “Good job Paul!” as I ran past him. As I continued my sprint towards the finish line I heard someone yell “Show us that big kick!” Big kick? Moi? Was there someone behind me he was cheering for?

There weren’t that many runners at this point so I had a clear lane as I crossed the finish line. Jim finished well, just eight seconds behind me. I completed the last mile in 8:58 and last tenth of a mile in 41 seconds (6:50 pace).

It was a new half-marathon PR for me as I crossed the finish line in 2:07:16. Jim would find out later that his time was a PR as well. I’m still somewhat surprised with the time since my planned goal was to simply to finish at around 2:10.

Jim and I couldn’t get our official results right away so he ran to get a beer…oh wait, sorry, that was a “coffee”…and I waited for Kelly and Brian to finish a few minutes later.

Afterwards we headed to the gymnasium for warm pretzels. I will admit to having difficulty standing and eating one of those pretzels after running a half-marathon. But I didn’t choke. ;-)

At the gymnasium we met up with Janeth, where I found out that she passed another runner a little before the finish line to win the women’s division. Yaaaaay Janeth! You’re awesome Speedy! ;-)

Can’t help but be very pleased about my race and finishing time. I didn't expect this but it’s apparent to me now that all of the longer distance training runs and races I’ve been doing since last year has made me a much stronger runner (Thanks Kelly! :-)). Now I just have to keep it going.

Next up is the Shamrock Shuffle in downtown Chicago. I ran my best race there in 2006 and it will be quite a challenge (but still possible) to beat my current 8K PR.