The 27th Huntsville Half Marathon Race Report

The 27th Huntsville Half Marathon Race Report

November 14, 2015 - Stan W. (The Running Stan)

So this is my first attempt at a blog, and my second attempt at a race report. I posted one on MFP for my first experience at the Rocket City Marathon last year. 

It was a beautiful morning at Hillwood Baptist Church in Huntsville, AL for the 27th annual Huntsville Half Marathon.  Jennifer and I got there about 90 minutes early since we knew parking was going to be very limited. She was volunteering with her Run For God group at the mile 3 aid station.   It was about 39 degrees 6:30 AM.  So I had my tights and sweat hoodie on as I got warmed up. 

Had a chance to take a few pictures with my Panera Pounders Running Group as pictured here with a few of my peeps.

By the start of the race it was in the middle of the 40's so I got rid of the hoodie and elected to keep my tights and long shirt on.  I had shorts in my bag just in case I decided to change.  There were about 800 of us on the starting line at 8:00 AM.

The Huntsville Half always falls on the Saturday closest to Veteran's Day and Huntsville is a great running community that knows how to honor the veterans.  A quick prayer by the Pastor of Hillwood Baptist Church and the singing of the National Anthem. 

Then the Race Director got on and gave a few last instructions.  Then the announcement, "Runners on your mark...  Go!"

So race strategy for me.  Well, the purpose of this race was really to get a sense of my goal marathon race pace.  I hadn't really had a strong race since the Cotton Row Race 10K which was on Memorial Day.  I had a 45:59 finish to include one massive big hill.  Not the perfect 10K to try and get a PR on.  I had also just PRed on the Bridgestreet Half Marathon with a 1:39:26 on April 12th.  My last official race was the 10.2 miler in Fayetteville, TN on June 27th but I was suffering with very sore hamstrings and glutes, but still managed a respectful 1:29:01.  So this 1/2 was my shake out race before Rocket City coming up on December 12th.  Not only is the Rocket City Marathon my feature race for the year, but my last opportunity to get a Boston Qualifier (BQ) time this year.  I need at least a 3:25:00 finish which equates to a 7:49 pace.  In order for that to be realistic, I was hoping for a 7:20 pace at this half marathon using the 30 second faster pace rule of thumb.  That equates to a 1:36:00 finish.  That didn't work out so well as I ended up with a 1:39:38 finish.  That beats last years finish at Huntsville Half (1:40:51) but not a PR (missed it by 12 seconds) and not the BQ confidence builder that I was hoping for (today's overall pace was 7:34/mi which is 14 seconds to slow than I intended). 

So now you understand my goal for this race, you will now understand why I did not readjust my pace strategy as I realized that I was going a bit strong at the beginning.  I learned a while ago that when you go out too fast at the beginning of a race, you will pay for it big time at the end of the race.  Here is my strava data for this race.

I had a hard time finding my pace in the first mile.  I let quite a few people pass me as I tried to settle into my own pace.  Every so often checking my watch and trying to adjust my pace according to the split time on my watch's top screen.  I ended up splitting my first mile at 7:02 (18 seconds too fast).  As I settled down into my pace in the next few splits (7:18, 7:21, 7:29, 7:18).  At mile 3 I passed through the first aid station (the one my wife Jennifer volunteered for).  It was great seeing her cheering me on as I crossed the starting line coming into the opposite direction (the first 3 miles was a short out and back through a neighborhood).  However, I knew that I was going to have a real hard time keeping up with my current pace.  But my stubborn mind kept pressing on.  For the most part, it is a pretty flat course, but there is a long low grade hill at this part that deceives you.  Some more neighborhoods before approaching the greenway.  Since it is an out and back course, you hit the low grade hill twice.  Usually hills don't bother me, but when you try and maintain an already tough pace, the hills can do you in even more if you are not careful.  My gut told me that 7:20 was way to fast to try and maintain, but I kept with my strategy and decided to see what I had in me.  No guts no glory.  Another thing you can tell from my Strava data is that I don't do a very good job maintaining a steady pace. You can see above with paces within a split ranging between 6:00 to a little slower than 8:00. 

 

Just after the mile 4 mark did start a long gradual downhill.  So if I could just maintain pace, I figured maybe I could get a breather in.  Towards the end of mile 5 it was great that I had the chance to run with Susi Bowermaster for about a quarter of a mile.  She's a really fast runner who ended up placing 3rd in her age group today.  She ran just ahead of me but just seeing her at this point on the course was a real booster.  At the mile 6 mark just before entering the greenway, I knew I would see my Panera Pounders. There were a few of us that were not racing this half and were volunteering the mile 6 aid station.  Seeing them gave me a pump and a burst of energy to keep on going.

 

 This is what I had waiting to greet me:



You can tell how happy I was to see them as I approached the aid station excited with my arms in the air.

So now I am heading into the greenway.  It's an out and back course and the turnaround mark was right at the far end of the greenway.  So that means I will begin to see the lead runners as we head into the greenway.  Sure enough, about halfway into the greenway was Josh Whitehead heading towards us.  The next group of runners would be about 2 minutes behind him.  Mile 6-9 splits were: 7:22, 7:44, 7:42, 7:35.  I am now slowing down and finding it very hard to maintain my pace.  Somewhere at this point, I remember looking at my overall average on my watch and it read 7:22 pace.  I was thinking if somehow if I could find a way to find a second wind and make the last few miles strong, I had a chance to maybe reach my goal and the hope of maybe BQing next month would still be a reality.

I would be seeing my Pounders group again coming out of the greenway just before the 10 mile mark.  Mile 10 split was 7:47 which was indicative of how the rest of the race was going to end for me.  I gave it a valiant effort but with a 5K still left to go and feeling the effects of my fast pace started to get the better of me.  And now I was heading back into the low grade hill again.  Mile 11 just continued to get the better of me, 7:56 split.  Then a 8:18 split for mile 12.  Somewhere in here was one last aid stop and remembering stopping for a second to down a cup of PowerAde.  I was thinking that maybe the taste of sugar give a boost to my brain. But it was oxygen deficiency, not glucose deficiency.   All I was trying to do now was keep my feet moving fast even if my strides were short.   The funny thing is that I felt strong physically.  It was just a lack of oxygen, a fast heart rate, and lactic buildup.  Looking back at my data, it was between the 7th and 8th mile in the greenway when I started to really go bad.  That was also about an hour in.  That suggests to me that my 7:20 pace that I tried so hard to maintain was right around my Lactic Threshold.   Not a good pace to try and maintain for a half marathon.  You try it, you learn.  I know now where my fitness level really is.

 

It's now the last mile and all I wanted to do was to see if I can at least salvage some kind of a PR.  It was a downhill so that was encouraging.  My legs felt kind of strong despite the lactate acidic feeling in my legs which made them feel a little heavy.  I am watching the runners that were with my for the last 2 miles slowly pull away from me.  I was now running alone with no one around me.  I tried to hit the last turn just before heading in front of the church and tried to finish strong.  I gave it my all.  I knew the time was close but couldn't figure out how close.  I now was seeing the crowd in front of the church and saw some familiar faces.  Mile 13 split of 7:47 and heard the time keeper announce 1 hour 38 minutes and 50 something seconds.  Wow, very close to PR time.  Only seconds to go and  I now turned right into the church.  Last few yards and gave it my all.  I can hear the crowd at the finish line and heard the woman call our race bib numbers of those crossing the finish line ahead of me.  But I could not hear the time and I could barely see the clock at the finish line.  Still giving it my all knowing that I only had seconds to try and get a PR but not enough in me to give a full sprint that I needed.  Too winded.  Too out of breath.  Just finish strong.  Just finish strong.  I could now see the clock and knew that there was no chance of a PR. 

Finally crossing the finish line with a gun time of 1:39:40.  Later I saw that my chip time was 1:39:38. 

Off course I initially felt disappointed but knew that I did better than last year.  I was extremely out of breath and felt an accelerated heart rate.  But glad it was in the books.  Time to walk and catch my breath.  Jennifer greeted me and gave me a big hug and congratulated me.  Grabbed a water and downed it pretty fast.  So maybe I was a little dehydrated too since my only water stop was back at mile 11.  Grabbed a couple of orange slices, grabbed a peperoni Dominos and cleared my nostrils. They were pretty runny with the cool weather pretty much 3/4's of the race.  I just dealt with it.

It was a very good race otherwise.  It was local race so I was around so many familiar faces both crowd wise and on the course.  I remember seeing so many people after the turnaround on the greenway that were behind me.  Everyone I knew gave me encouragement as I tried to return the favor. 

It really was beautiful weather.  Nice and cool at the start.  Perfect PR weather.  The course was pretty much flat.  Everything was in my favor, no excuses.

I got a couple of cups of PowerAde and now time now to congratulate my fellow runners that were now starting to cross the finish line.  I was so happy for some of my friends who did PR today.  So proud of my fellow runners.  So happy to see everyone.  Even though I was disappointed with today's finish, everyone was so great encouraging me and telling me how great I did.  I really appreciated all of this.  It made me feel a bit better.

So time now to focus on Rocket City on December 12th.  Time to reflect my last week of training before my 3 week taper and also think about how I want to attack this race.  I am pretty sure BQ will be off the table this year.  But for the next day or 2, time to relax and enjoy the moment.

 

Thanks to my friends for posting pictures on Facebook and Gregg Gelmis of We Run Huntsville Photography for the pictures in this blog.

 

You can keep up with me on my Facebook The Running Stan page.  You can also follow me on my Strava page.