Lake Zurich Half Marathon

This was an interesting development. Only time will tell if it'll end up hurting me.

Yesterday's race was a week out from my Moscow Marathon. I generally do some harder efforts and/or goal paced work in the week leading into a marathon, but never to the extent of a half marathon. In theory, I shouldn't have been pushing it too hard for that distance. Lake Zurich Half was to merely tune up to help me feel my marathon pace, with the option of pushing for the whole distance if I felt good.

A conflicting problem was that its a CARA Circuit race. I would gain points, but how many? I knew that some of the CARA Age Groupers would be there and feared getting roped into running too fast. On the one hand I wanted to remain conservative for Moscow, on the other hand I wanted to make sure that I grabbed CARA AG points.

The weather was absolutely perfect. It was a nice crisp morning, with little wind. Regardless of the race itself, this was one of the most comfortable running days that I can remember.

At the starting line, I had already seen my competition: a guy that's generally faster than me, and a guy that I should be able to beat... Everyone else was inconsequential. From CARA AG scoring purposes, I would either place 2nd or 3rd depending on each of our paces. When the race started, I told Scott and Fred that I would run with them, but warned I might not be able to stick to the plan due to this small problem of mine. I still wanted to keep the reigns in as much as possible though.

The first two miles went off every easy, at 5:53 and 5:54. It was a little faster than I wanted, but I had already gained the guy I would be vying with for 2nd place. I wanted to make sure I held that. Scott and Fred hung back and let me do my thing. There were a few packs of runners just ahead and I simply couldn't help myself to overtake them.

Everything felt incredibly smooth. Autopilot was engaged and I locked into lower 5:50's. By the fifth mile, I was resting in about 12th place overall. First place AG was too far in front of me to warrant a push... nor did I want to over extend myself. I stayed comfortable.

A few rolling hills and a few more passes had me pressing into the mid/lower 5:40s through the 11th mile. Everything still remained was in check so I wasn't overly concerned. I merely maintained from there. I coasted 12 and 13 at about 5:45-5:50s (mile 12 was waay long).

I finished 1:16:10, ninth overall and second for CARA AG scoring purposes (technically 3rd AG).

For what it's worth, it appears that the course might've been long by at least 0.1 miles... A couple people claimed even longer, in spite of running tangents. If that's the case, and if it should've been closer to a 1:15:45, then this is one of my fastest half marathons to date. Not too shabby since I ran it as a workout. I easily could've gone sub 1:15. At some point I might actually have to give the half an honest effort.

Anyway, it was still much faster time than I expected. Importantly though, it was wasn't an all-in effort and it didn't hurt. Of course I'm an idiot because I've now risked cutting into my precious marathon taper. I should've exercised more restraint. But, I couldn't help myself!... The weather and other runners just begged me to push it, and I've been chomping at the bit to have a strong distance run.

This is what the marathon taper is all about... a caged wild animal (rabbit?) that's finely tuned itself and now chewing at bars to get released.

As of this morning, I feel OK. I actually am not really sore from the effort... I mean obviously I can tell I ran a 1:16 yesterday... but I'm not limping and I don't think I hurt my Moscow chances. My only real damage appears to be a nasty blister on my right foot, which should have plenty of time to heal.

From here, I'm shut down. I'm getting a massage this afternoon. Tomorrow, a very easy 8 miles. Wednesday and Thursday will be rest and travel days. Friday and Saturday will be easy 6-8 mile runs in Moscow, just to shake the nerves out. I don't know if this is gonna be a PR race, but I've set it up so that I can go for it.

Split recap:

1- 5:53.6

2- 5:54.4

3- 5:53.9

4- 5:35.0 (Short!)

5- 5:53.9

6- 5:49.3

7- 5:45.0

8- 5:51.0 (Long!)

9- 5:42.2

10- 5:45.1

11- 5:42.6

12- 5:59.1 (Long!)

13- 5:48.1

.1- 0:37.0

Total: 1:16:10