Relatively unhappy with my Frederick Half, I impulsively signed up for the St. Michael's Half just 13 days later. An eastern shore race, it seemed like it would be flat and fast like the Cherry Blossom and maybe I could improve my time on that fact alone. But I was not sure if I would be able to post the necessary effort. For Frederick I stayed in the night before, ate a full dinner and went to bed early. For this race I had tickets to see Cock Sparrer play a show in Philly. Since they are an English band from the late 70's they don't come around, ever, so the show was very important. I drove up after work and stood for around 3 hours and then drove back home. The show ended around midnight so I wasn't home until 2. And then St. Michael's is an hour and a half drive from home. I was up before 6 to make it to town before they closed the road at 7:30, as was written in bold on the event website.
I overslept slightly and rushed out the door after a quick dog walk. I took my clothes along and proper lubricant for a race of that distance (too much info, I know). No traffic until a mile or two out and I was picking up my number before 8 with plenty of time for the warm up. Thinking the start was 8:30 I did my warm up accordingly, jogging for 10 and stretching. But there was no urgency in most people around and I realized there was no chance it was starting at 8:30. Or 8:45. So at some point they let us line up in the start chute and we stood around. They gave up a 5 minute count down and finally we started (note: this was a small town even run for the first time, i'm not really complaining about how the start went).
Looking around there were a few people who looked pretty racey and a whole lot who did not. And as we ran the first half mile or so, it was pretty much the case. I tucked in somewhere in the high teens and didn't think too much about it. I was just behind the first female and a guy wearing headphones. The scenic part of the race through town didn't last long and we were out on a loop road that went through a golf course filled with mostly disinterested golfers. All the cheering folks were wearing volunteer shirts. There were a ton of those, though. I am not sure if crowd has an effect on my racing, i've decided. I pretty much have to run my race and really block them out in the end. But I digress.
First mile was somewhere around 6:40 (too fast) and I didn't see the second mile marked. Third was still under 7 pace at 20:40, but I was already slipping away. Lack of sleep, bad warm up, or too soon after the previous half--take your pick. I pretty much subconsciously slowed to a sensible pace and prepared for the long haul. A bit frustrating when I can hold 6:50 or better for 7 or 8 miles at the Cherry Blossom and the past two halfs i'm way off even that pace by 6. There is a good chance I peaked on April 1, but there is not much one can do about that, right? The course after the loop part dumps you back on the main road out to Tilghman's and as strictly out-and-back it was a tad easier mentally to grind through as I could count down to the turn. The turnaround was cool, you could see the front of the race for a while. One guy way out (finished 4 minutes up on second place guy, himself as far ahead of third place) and then clumps of folks through to me. I tried to count my place but overestimated the people. Several had passed me on the way out and at least a couple would pass me before the finish.
Feels like I hit a bit of a mini 'wall' at around 10. I took my gu at 48 minutes or so and I was taking a little bit of gatoraide at the stops. After 8 I could compare my times to Frederick and they were pretty uniformly behind--58 versus 56 for 8, 72 and change versus 71 for 10. Not helping was the direct heat since all the shade was on the other side of the road. And after a late start it was after 10 am at this point. But that's not really an excuse. Grinding through the end I held my pace to 1:37, less than 2 minutes off the Frederick time. I think I was close enough I could have seen myself finishing if I had been in the racing running my Frederick time, and would have only finished 24th instead of 26th or something like that. But in the end I think it was a sign to adjust my goal for the full marathon in 24 days. If I can't hold 7:30 when i've only done 8 or 10 miles the odds of holding it for 26 seem low. Then again, maybe i'll surprise myself. Realistic Grandma's Goal: 3:20.
I did a couple of brisk cool down miles bringing the morning's total to 16 miles and I likely won't run farther than that before the race. Almost taper time, with two more races of decreasing length the next two weekends.
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