Race Recap – Zombie Half-Marathon 2015

Lesson from this race: It takes twice as long to do everything with a baby.

Okay, I already knew this, but for some reason I thought I could I wake up at 8 a.m. thinking that an hour would be enough time for me to get ready before I had to start my warm-ups for the race. Obviously, it was not.

I was supposed to run 1.5 – 2 miles ending 30 minutes before the start of the Zombie Half-Marathon here in Anchorage. At 9:20 a.m. I sprinted out of the house telling Craig to pick me up along-side the road. I only got a couple minutes from the house when I remembered I forgot to have Craig bring my UCAN. So I ran back home and just had Craig drive us to the start. The race started at 10 a.m., so I only had about 15 minutes to get situated and finish my warm-ups. It wasn’t ideal, but it luckily didn’t seem to affect my performance!

This was not an ‘A’ race for me, so I didn’t have many expectations going into the race. My coach said I had no time goal, but of course I like to have a loose goal. I was hoping to run right around 1:30 and ideally sub-1:30.

We love this little stinker even if it takes us longer to go places these days.

Usually this race is absolutely freezing–temps in the upper 20s/low 30s. However, they moved it up a week, and it wasn’t super cold this year, so I was happy to be racing in shorts, a tank, and arm warmers. The 40* definitely felt okay.

The start of the race was pretty abrupt with someone counting down with 3, 2, 1, go! I barely heard her, so I didn’t get my watch started in time. With less than an ideal start, I did my best to push those things off to the side and focus on the race.

Mile 1 – 6:47

2 – 6:28

3 – 6:49

4 – 6:32

At mile 4 I passed two girls. I thought I was second place, but a couple spectators said I was 3rd, and I was able to maintain this position for the remainder of the race.

I felt pretty strong throughout the whole race, but during the middle miles things always start to get a little tough. I kept telling myself, “this is a race, Michelle, it is supposed to hurt a little.” My splits stayed pretty consistent except for a pretty lengthy uphill portion at mile 7 into mile 8.

5 – 6:35

6 – 6:44

7 – 7:13

8 – 6:47

The miles ticked away pretty easily. When I was running the race though the mile markers didn’t always come as soon as I hoped they would, but in hindsight it doesn’t seem that bad. Isn’t that how it usually goes? I did my best to stay focused on the race, running the tangents, and trying to maintain a consistent pace. The course is net downhill, but there is a monster hill at the end during the last 0.75 mile of the course. It is a steep climb to the finish line and never a fun way to end a race.

9 – 6:54

10 – 6:42

11 – 6:41

12 – 6:42

13 – not sure?? I have gotten out of the habit of stopping my watch when I cross the finish line.

As I crossed the finish line, I wasn’t sure what my time was as the clock said 1:25, which I knew wasn’t correct. Since I didn’t get my watch started in time, that wasn’t a reliable source. The computers at the event said 1:26, but I wasn’t sure I ran that fast either. The official online results had me at 1:27:20, which is  PR for me! My previous PR was 1:27:49 at the half-marathon in Cordova this summer. Woohoo! I did not think I would be able to PR. I knew I was having some good splits, but I also knew the hill at the end would slow me down, so I didn’t really have a good gauge of what my finish time would be. With 3 miles to go I thought it might be close, but I still didn’t want to get my hopes up.

Last year I didn’t run as I was 9 months pregnant. This was 5 days before going to the hospital to deliver Cullen.

A new PR, 3rd place overall, and 1st for my age group. . . I call that a successful day!