After Moscow, I didn't take too much time to figure out what I wanted to do with the balance of this year's running.
After two weeks of travel and chilling out, I then needed to quickly pull myself back together. I was committed to the CARA Circuit, which meant I needed to gut out two final races of the season: Halloween Hustle 5K and the Naperville Half Marathon. Furthermore, I had a twinkle in my eye...... I was left somewhat unfulfilled from Moscow and wondering what I should do about it.
Ramping back up wasn't easy. I had some medial left-knee pain that was caused by doing too much walking / stairs in the days following the marathon. Ironically it was very similar to some pain that I had after last year's Berlin. Last year it took a few months to heal. This year, I decided to run through it for the circuit races. It took about three weeks to calm down and become runnable without any discomfort. With a bunch of stretching, foam rolling, and some simple exercises... it's totally fine now.
My initial push back into running was some pacing during the Chicago Marathon for a few friends. It required me to build for a week. I then towed Anu to the finish line for the last 8 miles. The 6:00-6:10 effort wasn't too bad. I started setting my sights on the CARA races.
Halloween Hustle was easy. It was just a 5K. It score points and helped to test some speed. It wasn't super fast because the conditions were less than ideal (rainy / windy / cold), but it gave me more comfort and the knee was no longer bothering me. It wasn't a fast Circuit 5K since many people had just run the marathon... but I did have to race to get 3rd. I dropped a guy that placed 4th, and briefly was in 2nd place before getting kicked myself in the final 400m. I was happy with 3rd and 16:46 in those conditions was satisfying nonetheless. That secured my season with CARA as 2nd 35-39 AG, and 5th OA).
At that point, I had a few weeks of 50+ miles back underneath me. The thoughts were creeping into my head....
If was going to go for a redemption marathon, it had to be CIM (Dec 6th). I felt good. If I was going to do it though, I'd have to quickly ramp my mileage. So I signed up with the option to defer the registration. I'd have to make the ultimate commitment/decision by Nov 16th.... conveniently the day after Naperville Half Marathon.
My focus immediately shifted towards building mileage. I didn't think I'd need a blast into the hundreds, but I knew I'd need a handful of 75-90 miles weeks and a little more speed.
That said, the next two weeks popped up to 72 and 85 miles. The second week at 85 miles was key, as I had 3 large workouts:
- 7 mile rust buster tempo (avg'd 5:54 with conservative start and low 5:40's in second half).
- 8x800 @ 2:34.7 on the lakefront w/ 90 recovery (alternating 4 in wind @ 2:38avg, 4 w/ wind @ 2:31avg).
- 18 miles with 12 at progressing from 6:30 down to 6:15
What happened next was not planned by any means, but inked my commitment to CIM.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I honestly didn't have high expectations for this race. I merely wanted to add to my CARA points and get a solid workout. My running in the week up to this half was all building blocks. I hit 99 miles in 7 days through that Friday, including the workouts mentioned above. I went easy/short on Saturday, then the half on Sunday. In other words - there was no taper, this was a run-through-race.
I expected something similar to the Lake Zurich Half, and that would've been ideal. I knew that a sub-1:17 would be enough to gain more CARA points, though it wouldn't necessarily change the standings... A sub-1:17 also would've easily satisfied my desire for some MGP miles + progressing a little faster towards the end of the race.
Sasha was running this as her debut half marathon, so we road out to Naperville at some ridiculously early hour. Without any significant expectations, I wasn't stressing myself out too much... (maybe this is what makes the best races??). Prior to the start, I took a quick glance at the course map. It showed a bunch of twisty roads and turns, with some rolling hills. Way too much for me to take in. It was what it was. I simply had no clue where I was gonna be running or what was ahead.
Weather was brisk, around 40 degrees at the start. No significant wind and plenty of sun... Ideal racing conditions for me.
I warmed up with Sean Clark, and we ducked into the front of the starting line with just enough time to run a few strides. I looked around and didn't see many recognizable faces, aside from a few New Balance and Dick Pond runners... some of which I expected to go faster than me. Surprisingly no bigger Fleet Feet guys.
After very early some turns and jockeying, at about 3/4ths mile I found myself running with only a handful of runners in front of me. Sean was shooting for 1:18, and I said I might hang with him for the first few miles. I kept checking back, and I was already gaining distance on him. Apparently so much for that plan! I still didn't think I would crush this thing. Everything felt very smooth though; the weather was cool, no wind, and I actually welcomed the sun. I just locked onto my pace and went with it. I passed a few more people before mile one, then breezed the marker at 5:45.
There were three guys solidly in front of me and gaining ground. One was Jeremy Rustin and in my AG. I figured if he had a bad day and I had a really good day, then I could catch him. He wasn't holding anything back in the early going though. The other two guys were New Balance and even gaining on him. Still no Fleet Feet in sight. I knew I would find myself in no-man's-land soon enough. Then I gradually heard a runner approaching from behind. Initially I wasn't sure what to do with that.
As he ran along side of me, and I latched on. He was a younger guy... maybe in his mid-20's. Seemed a little cumbersome, but certainly wasn't slow. We exchanged a couple quick comments, and he was clearly happy hanging onto this pace. I wasn't overly taxed, so I decided to stay with him. Besides, absolutely nobody else was near us at this point... he was my only hope for someone to run with. Mile 2: 5:44.
We turned off the main street into some neighborhoods. The course immediately then started climbing. We couldn't even see the guys in front of us any longer, nor anything behind. We climbed through that pig of a hill. Mile 3: 5:48. Neither one of us was letting go of the other. All I could think was, "Shit! What did I just get myself into?" I had no idea there would be hills like that out here.
The course then leveled off. We maintained our effort. Mile 4: 5:38. Yowza! At this point, I'd better not be thinking about a MGP run... because that would be a crash and burn! I laid the cards on the table and told the kid I'd try to run with him for as long as I could, but I didn't know what I had inside of me.
We kept twisting through the neighborhood and saw random crowds cheer on the streets. Mile 5: 5:39.
This was no joke now. I was committing myself to whatever this kid was going doing and he was looking solid. I didn't feel terrible, so I was still ok with it. The constant checking kept happening though... both of myself and of him. Neither of us broke for a second. There was rarely a point where I thought I could drop him... but interestingly, nor did I think I was going to be dropped. I started to use him. I wanted to match him as much as possible.
We hit a nasty uphill again in the 6th mile. We rounded some turns, more good sized crowds cheering, climbed and turned again. A couple people shouted my name. I had no clue who they were. Where did they come from?? I've never been to Naperville!? I was numb to the outside world. Tunnel vision. I just wanted to get up this hill without him dropping me. Mile 6: 5:46.
We then turned out of the neighborhoods and hit a wide, long, straight road, down hill road. I lit the fire! Mile 7: 5:30!
He stayed right with me too. I actually didn't want him to go either. At this point we were feeding one another.
We then snaked our way into downtown Naperville (whatever that is!!)... crowds were cheering again. Still, I had no clue what this course or town looked like, so I was somewhat shocked by everything that was going on. I had no idea people would be out here watching! And more people kept cheering for me too... HOW?!? I had no idea. (Spoiler alert: My name was on the bib!!)
We still couldn't see the other guys in front of us. God only knows how far back the field was. People kept cheering for us to "stay together" and "work together". They were right. Mile 8: another smoking 5:33.
Mile 9: 5:39
We were running like a metronome now... with only a slight ebb and flow around turns.
Mile 10: 5:38... We ran stride for stride with one another through 10 miles without either of us blinking an eye! But this was no longer us running together... It finally dawned on me that we were racing each other! I had completely forgotten all about my 1:17 goal. All I was worried about was two things: Eat or be eaten.
We went through a gatorade station and I grabbed another drink. It wasn't hot by any means, but I was sweating and I had taken a few gatorades before then to keep the fire lit. I noticed that he didn't take anything. He had actually skipped several by that point. I even thought about it... asking myself, was he drinking anything?? Why not?? Hmmm.
About 200m later, we rounded a corner and I noticed him taking it slightly slower than I did and not coming back.
Bingo!
After that point, I was two stepping him for another half mile. I could feel him getting ever so slightly weaker. I actually tried to egg him on and told him to stay with me. Mile 11: 5:37.
Another turn and we were back in a neighborhood and had a few more hills. I had no clue where the hell this course was taking us!! It kept turning. Neighborhoods. Straight-aways. What the hell!? I then pulled a trigger with a surge. I increased the lead ever so slightly. He didn't follow. I knew he was done. The question was now, what did I have left? I was redlining; I was locked in and didn't want to let go. I leaned in to what I could. His footsteps grew more faint. Mile 12: 5:38. The clock said 1:07:59 flat.
It took me a minute to think, but I recognized 1:08 + 6:30 if I blow up = still a PR.
Blow up was not an option. I was finishing this fucker as fast as I could!
Rounded a another turn. I put in another surge to gain as I crested a slight high spot on the road. From there was a long straight away in front of me, and it was all a gradual downhill. My eyes welled up. I couldn't see anyone in front of me. Rustin was out of the picture. All I worried about was keeping the pedal to the metal and not letting the kid kick me down. Mile 13: 5:34.
I was all in. I still couldn't see the finish line though. Where was it?
Boom! I heard loud speakers say the second placed runner finished. It was Jeremy. I waited to hear who was third. I heard nothing after that... It turns out that one of the original three guys dropped off the course/ took a wrong turn.
More downhill, then I rounded a final corner and kicked as hard as I could. The loud speaker then blared "And here comes 3rd place..."... I closed the last .11 in 33.8 seconds, or a 5:07 pace.
SPLIT RECAP:
1- 5:45.1
2- 5:44.1
3- 5:48.1
4- 5:38.4
5- 5:39.2
6- 5:46.4
7- 5:30.8
8- 5:33.5
9- 5:39.0
10- 5:38.6
11- 5:37.0
12- 5:38.7
13- 5:34.6
0.11- 33.8 (5:07 pace)
Tot- 1:14:07 / 5:39.2 Avg; 3rd OA.
Solid negative split and long overdue Half Marathon PR. In fact, it was one of my best races to date. Hilarious, considering I had no intentions of running hard in this race!! I put 12 seconds on the 26 year old "kid" in the last couple miles. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have done it without that guy's help... So thank you, Kyle Julian... whoever you are.
Ironically, a 1:14:07 is somewhat inline with my 55:31 at SF10, per McMillan Running. It says I should gun for a 2:35:59.
With this, I'm officially committed to closing my season with CIM. Time to get to work!!
A special shout out to Sasha for running a fantastic Half Marathon debut: 1:43:53!! Fantastic!! XOXOXOX!!!!
