Two things that I have never had before in a race: a personal pacer and someone make me a personal cheer sign. I was touched!
I met Moe at the Nightmares 5000, and he reached out to me a few days before City of Lakes asking if I wanted a pacer for the half. I happily accepted that offer!
The weather turned right in time for this race and brought temps in the mid-50s, which felt perfect after the previous weekend being in the 90s.
Race morning, I was up at 5:00 a.m. to try Nomio for the first time. If you haven’t heard of it, it is concentrated broccoli sprouts mixed with lemon juice. When I asked on Instagram if anyone had tried it, a few people said they had, and they thought it worked for them. People said they could push harder and longer during hard efforts than they could without it.
There didn’t seem to be any risk in trying it for the first time on race day, so I drank the concentrate three hours before the race, per the instructions. A lot of people forewarned me that the taste was awful, but honestly I didn’t think it was that bad. It was just very lemon-forward, so I wasn’t that turned off by the taste. Now, did it help me? TBD. I felt pretty strong through the race, but the wheels started to fall off towards the end. However, is that just lacking some endurance? Only taking one gel? Or that the Nomio didn’t help? I’m not entirely sure, so I will be trying it again.
I’ve done the City of Lakes Half a handful of times, so it is nice to know the specific race logistics, be familiar with the start and finish area, and also know the course. When I arrived, I did a 1.5 mile warm-up and then got into some stretches, dynamic drills, and strides. I found Moe, and we talked strategy in the start corral. I told Moe I was going to target 6:35 – 6:40 pace, which was based off what I had done in workouts.
The first couple miles have some fairly steep incline/declines. Nothing is too long, but they keep the pace honest. We came through in 6:41 and 6:39 for the first two miles.
I felt good but also knew I should keep the pace here and then try to pick it up on the second lap if I felt good. (Spoiler alert: I slowed down on the second loop.)
Moe and I were clipping the miles away. It was fairly windy on some sections, so I tried to tuck behind him. I also really tried to hug the left side of the road to run the tangents as best I could. But all-in-all, things were feeling okay, and I just tried to stay consistent with the effort on the rolling hills.
Miles 3 – 6 were 6:40, 6:39, and 6:39, 6:37.
As I was nearing the point in the course where the “figure 8” comes together but doesn’t cross, there are always a lot of people cheering, and I saw an athlete of mine cheering for me with a personal sign. I was so excited because I’ve never had anyone make a personal sign for me! I got a big smile on my face, and I think that’s what helped make mile 6 a tad faster even with the sizable hill.
As you approach the mile seven marker, it starts the second loop of the course. It was through this section and at the start where the road is in terrible condition with a lot of potholes and cracks, and you really have to watch your step. I almost got tripped at the beginning of the race by someone else. (Luckily he was very nice and it and apologized a couple of times.)
Miles 7 – 9: 6:42, 6:46, 6:41
Things were feeling okay, but I was having to work a touch harder to maintain the same effort. I had taken a gel around mile 6 but nursed it for a couple of miles before finishing it. I then considered taking a second gel around mile 9/10 but figured I would be fine until the end. (In hindsight, I should have taken it. Then maybe I wouldn’t have faded quite as much.)
Mile 10 gets to be a hard spot for me in the half as I know that I “only” have three miles left, but that’s still a good chunk of running hard left. And clearly my pace reflected that my legs were starting to feel the cumulative fatigue.
Mile 10 and 11: 6:45, 6:47
I did see some of the Minnesota Distance Elite team doing their workout around the lakes at this point in the course, which was fun. I saw Dakotah Popehn, Annie Frisbe, Elena Hayday, and Joel Reichow.
The last couple miles are much quieter with less people cheering, so you really have to use mental tricks to keep yourself going during this time. I relied on Moe and told myself, “Just stick with Moe.” My EIOL (exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction) kicked in with about 10 minutes to go. My breathing gets very labored when this happens, it is really hard for me to ask anything else of my body at that point because I’ve hit my max.
Mile 12 and 13: 6:45, 6:51
There’s a sizable uphill followed by a short, steep downhill into the finish chute. I gave it all I had and crossed the finish line in 1:28:23. I was really hoping to run around 1:26/1:27 and on a really good day 1:25. So I was a tad off what I thought I could run, but I promised myself I would not be upset with what the day brought. As long as I gave it my all, that’s all I can ask of my body.
I am determined to get back to where I was a year ago when I set a new half marathon and 10K PR last fall. But I also have to be realistic and remember I am 43 and maybe I will never get back there. I posed the question to myself when I was running, “What if you never run this fast again.” It was my way to be thankful for what my body can still do at 43 years ago, even if it isn’t as fast as I would like it to be.
So much of running work is mindset work. It sounds like you are doing the very best that you can, and I hope that you can find some enjoyment in that work, even if PRs are not happening as often as they once did.