Baltimore Running Festival Half-Marathon
Oct. 9th, 2021 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pennswoodsToday I ran my first in-person half-marathon in two years. Part of how I distracted myself through the long waiting and uncertainty and fear of 2020 and early 2021 was to give myself challenges and goals. For instance, I did the 30-day alcohol challenge in November, I enrolled in an intensive Spanish course in January. But from October through February, the months that are darkest, coldest, most full of work stress and when I was struggled the most with the loneliness of the pandemic, I gave myself the challenge of running a virtual half-marathon every month.
A year on from that first virtual race, I ran the in-person half-marathon in Baltimore. It was a challenging course full of hills and with some last minute restrictions due to COVID - it was a cupless race meaning runners needed to bring their own bottle or hydration system and water to the course. I have trained a bit these past few weeks with a hydration pack, but this was my first time racing with one and I really didn't quite know what to expect.
I have also been concerned that, despite my running this past year and this summer in particular, I have lost conditioning and the effects of so much sitting at home and just ageing has slowed me down. I set a goal pace of breaking 1:50:00, which I thought was reasonable for a course that's hillier than what I normally race on. I'm happy to report that I came close to that goal and finished in 1:50:22. Even more thrilling, it turns out that I finished 6th in my age group. This is the highest I have ever placed in a half-marathon!
There were times on the course when I felt myself really tiring and I think I may not have been as strong and as fast as I would like to have been. I had thought I would run the first half slower than the second half. But it appears I ran nearly an equal pace on both halves. I held what I thought was a good conservative pace the first half so I could push harder in the second, but I couldn't. Normally I tire around km 17, but this race, I felt myself tiring at km 14, influenced in no small part by a hill I'd overlooked. But even when I felt myself tiring and wanting to give up and walk, I thought about life a year ago and how uncertain things were before vaccines were available and I smiled in gratitude to be able to run up these hard hills with a few thousand other people. A year ago this was not possible and just being able to do this now is the fulfilment of a dream and goal.
The next goal, after I give my poor tired hamstrings a rest (and boy are they stiff and sore today) - another marathon I think. It's time I break 4 hours.
A year on from that first virtual race, I ran the in-person half-marathon in Baltimore. It was a challenging course full of hills and with some last minute restrictions due to COVID - it was a cupless race meaning runners needed to bring their own bottle or hydration system and water to the course. I have trained a bit these past few weeks with a hydration pack, but this was my first time racing with one and I really didn't quite know what to expect.
I have also been concerned that, despite my running this past year and this summer in particular, I have lost conditioning and the effects of so much sitting at home and just ageing has slowed me down. I set a goal pace of breaking 1:50:00, which I thought was reasonable for a course that's hillier than what I normally race on. I'm happy to report that I came close to that goal and finished in 1:50:22. Even more thrilling, it turns out that I finished 6th in my age group. This is the highest I have ever placed in a half-marathon!
There were times on the course when I felt myself really tiring and I think I may not have been as strong and as fast as I would like to have been. I had thought I would run the first half slower than the second half. But it appears I ran nearly an equal pace on both halves. I held what I thought was a good conservative pace the first half so I could push harder in the second, but I couldn't. Normally I tire around km 17, but this race, I felt myself tiring at km 14, influenced in no small part by a hill I'd overlooked. But even when I felt myself tiring and wanting to give up and walk, I thought about life a year ago and how uncertain things were before vaccines were available and I smiled in gratitude to be able to run up these hard hills with a few thousand other people. A year ago this was not possible and just being able to do this now is the fulfilment of a dream and goal.
The next goal, after I give my poor tired hamstrings a rest (and boy are they stiff and sore today) - another marathon I think. It's time I break 4 hours.
