Race #174
Half Marathon #61
2019 Race #18
2019 Half Marathon #10
South Carolina Half Marathon #44
Famously Hot Pink Half Marathon #1
Wow. I have never had a “throw-away” half marathon performance until today. Between my missing the start (more on that in a moment), and the cluster also known as the finish, I consider this a “disposable” race.
I headed down to Columbia on my own starting early this morning. Even though I got enough sleep, driving in the dark will draw the sleep out of you. I munched on kettle corn and jerky to try to stay awake and ended up stopping at a rest stop to close my eyes for a few minutes even though I had just enough time to get to the start.
Unfortunately, I got caught in traffic as I tried to head to the start, traffic from all the walkers. This race also served as Columbia’s Walk for Life event so countless running (and walking) newbies swarmed the start.
Once I finally parked, I had to run through the dirt parking lot and around the entire minor league baseball park before I even approached the start. I should have seen the foreshadowing then, the complete lack of directional signs for the 10k and half marathon runners.
Ryan had picked up my bag but I made it to the race start less than 30 seconds before it started and still had to pin my bib on. Someone at the strictly running tent handed me the bag and some pins as the last of the runners passed the start line. I held the pins in my left hand and the bag in my right as I dashed a few feet to the other side of the start line so that my chip tracker would register across the start line.
A few feet later, I grabbed my bib out of the bag and tossed the bag to the side. I had no desire to carry it for the entirety of the race. I likely would not like the shirt either. (After seeing pictures online, I wholeheartedly support my decision.)
As I slowed to a walk to pin my bib on, I realized that I hadn’t started my Garmin, quite the inauspicious start to the race. I quickly started it and power-walked while pinning the bib on, cockeyed and way off to the right. Oy vey.
I started running again and started my music while I did so before tucking my phone back into my flipbelt. (I love that thing.)
The one redeeming part to starting behind absolutely everyone else? The placebo effect of passing a bunch of runners provides quite a boost.
The first few miles held a few rollers, as well as a few spots of gravel and dirt apparently since a bunch slid into my shoe right after the second mile. (I manually lapped my watch at the first mile marker but annoyingly, my Garmin still alerted me when it reached a mile according to its tracking so the watch buzzed twice about two tenths apart each mile.) A significant enough chunk slid in that I had to stop to take my shoe off entirely to shake it out.
Today was not my day.
Even with the stop to empty the shoe, I still maintained a decent pace although perhaps a little too fast based on my results towards the end of the race. I do not remember much of miles 3 – 5 except for an out and back street I had noticed on the course map. I also happened to see Ryan which was nice since that assured him that I had made it onto the course. I also walked a little at mile 3 even though I did not have any chews. I decided ahead of time to take short breaks at 3 miles to rejuvenate myself mentally.
Mile 1: 9:00
Mile 2: 8:57
Mile 3: 8:41
Mile 4: 9:12
Mile 5: 8:47
After the fifth mile we completed another short out and back where a woman cheered us on by saying that we were halfway. I hate when well-meaning spectators say inaccurate cheers like that. Halfway would not come for over a mile. To no one in particular, I started saying something about not saying that we were halfway when we had more than a mile to the halfway point.
Apparently I spoke loud enough for a woman, who sang random songs in the coming miles along with fist bumping or high fiving all the spectators and even once leading a Gamecocks cheer with some cheerleaders who looked like they were in high school not college since they did not know how to respond, to cheerily say that it was okay. We were close enough to the halfway point.
I will admit that this rubbed me the wrong way. I never made eye contact with the woman or even ran beside her. I do not know why she felt the need to respond to my comments which had been directed at no one in particular.
Shortly after that, we entered the canal path, somewhere I have never run before. I really enjoyed this section. We ran through the quiet, peaceful area which also was quite pleasant to look at. Even though I enjoyed this section, I started to feel mentally fatigued. When I passed mile 6, I walked a lot longer this time than at mile 3. My pace also did not pick back up after the walk.
Mile 6: 8:51
Mile 7: 9:26 (reflects the longer walk)
Mile 8: 9:21
We finally made a turn around mile 8, crossing back over the canal and running back towards the start. Unfortunately, on this side of the canal we had a gravel road with large gravel pieces, not hard packed, quite difficult to run on. As I passed the woman from earlier, she started talking to me about how much she hated this gravel, telling me that she’s too much of a city runner for this.
At least, I assumed she directed those comments my direction since I was the only other runner around. I did not respond though and kept pushing forward. What am I supposed to say to that?
I walked a little at mile 9 as planned, and started running again. By this point, we had exited the canal area and started running through neighborhood areas. Mile 10 held a massive hill that sucked the motivation right out of me. In less than half a mile we ascended over a hundred feet.
Mile 9: 9:13
Mile 10: 10:25
After this mile, I really could care less about the race. I wanted to finish but if I had to run to get that done, I would. I did not even try to fight the negative mental thoughts. Honestly though, I would not even characterize the thoughts as negative, just apathetic. I did not care about the race as a race. Instead, I considered it a run to complete.
I slogged through the final 5k which had its fill of another awful downhill and ascent but finally felt like I got my feet back under me a little less than a mile and a half from the finish line. I had no idea at that point what awaited me as I attempted to finish.
Mile 11: 10:06
Mile 12: 10:16 (my pace does not reflect it but I did start to feel better towards the end of this mile)
At some point in the last mile I found myself “leading” the small group around me which meant that I had no one to look towards ahead of me to make sure I went the right way. Usually this does not pose a problem, especially at the end of the race as you approach the finish line. I definitely did not expect to not know where to go in the finishing tenths of a mile.
We took a left towards the stadium and I saw nothing. Um, okay. Even before I made the left, I had to call out to a volunteer to verify that we had to turn left there. Her response? “Oh yeah! Sorry about that.” Okay then.
We rounded the corner of the stadium with absolutely nothing to indicate that we were still on the course. No runners. No volunteers. Just a. few people crossing back and forth. I turned right because I saw some archways to the right which did not end up being the finish line. Thankfully I went the right way.
As I passed under the arches, I cried out in frustration, wondering where on earth the finish line was.
All I saw in front of me were swarms of people in pink milling around in front of the stadium and crossing the street in front of me, not caring that they passed in front of runners as they tried to figure out where the turn was.
I shouted out something about getting people out of the way and asking in desperation where the finish line was. The woman behind me approached rapidly and passed just as we were finally directed towards the finish in which we had to cross the stream of walkers! Seriously?! On top of that, the guy kept telling us to go to the left. I realized that he meant the left of the chute so we could go to the run finish but the other girl thought he meant left of that particular entrance so she had to backtrack meaning that she finished just after me.
My finish line troubles did not end just because I could see the finish line. No, we entered the stadium from the back and had to run across some sort of absorbent boardwalk material I can assume that the organizers put down to preserve the grass of the baseball field. It felt absolutely awful to. run on.
I finished, grabbed my medal and could not wait to get out of there. I will not run this race again but I’m glad that I got out there and knocked my 61st half marathon out.
Going forward, I know that I need to not only continue to work on speed work but also my mental endurance. If I want to go for those goals again, I need to.