Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Gate City Half Marathon 2019


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Gate City Marathon, Half and Relay in Nashua, NH
May 19, 2019
This race is part of the NH Grand Prix, I ran as a Gate City Strider.

I did not ask my husband to edit. You have been warned

Lessons Learned: Don't shave the day before a race and actually follow a training plan.

Observations from the Race

Going through transition with Phil
Started race with two friends, Phil and Susanne. Susanne was running her first half marathon and she finished strong long before I did.

Managed to stay with a fairly big pack of people for the first few miles, sometime around mile 3 or 4 Susanne was doing much better and took off to chase her goal time.

I liked the new course and how the first loop overlooked the second loop.

The course support between NPD, volunteers directing runners, and water stops was great, but the water stop ahead signs near Greely Park(Concord St side) were a bit early for the actual water stop location. We were running along wondering when it would appear.

The weather was unpredictable as to be expected, and while last year was ridiculously hot, this year turned cold and wet. I was happy to see that silver blankets were being handed out at the end.

Once again drinking Tailwind Rebuild* after a race reduced the feeling of eat all the things hours later.

I have no idea why in my head a half marathon is "no big deal" and should be easy. It's not easy, it's not a minor feat, it's hard and even on my 3rd half it was still hard.

Robbie, Phil and I. All smiles before the start
I need to go back to over dressing for the weather. I foolishly shaved the day before and ended up with tiny dagger like hairs on my inner thighs, then I wore one of my shorter skirts. My friction defense application wasn't doing much good even after three layers, once it got cold and started to rain, the goose bumps sealed my fate to chafe.

Please donate to my Youth Council fundraiser and help push me off a sky scrapper in June. For every dollar you donate I'll go walk a floor on a stair master, you'll be helping encourage my mountain training.



Now in Long Form

Last year I ran the full marathon, my first marathon. This year I opted for a little less training commitment and registered for the half. I took that less training commitment a bit too far. I created a plan, and then more or less ignored it. During the months leading up to the race, I was still out running races, track workouts, social runs with friends, but nothing was consistent or gradual building like a training plan should be. My taper week involved a 3 mile hill run on Mother's day and a 3 mile walk on a track. The furthest I ran in the months before the race was 10 miles for Pack Monadnock.

I can say I did accomplish one of my major running goals: Be half marathon ready. I have wanted to be trained enough that if any friend invited me to join them on a half marathon, I could say Yes, and only concern myself with race logistics not training.

Each year as I become more active with the Gate City Striders, I get less race nerves. This year I knew where I was going. where to park, where various facilities will be at the race, and I knew many of the people volunteering and running. To walk around the area stopping to chat with people and having others stop to say good luck, it's something different.

Phil kindly offered to pick me up on the way to the race, which let Alex sleep in and bring the boys by later. This year the half marathon started at 7:50am, instead of 7am, but we were still at the race area by 6:30am.  Around 6:45am we all lined up for a team photograph at city hall, then the marathoners(and relay runners) stepped into the corral to hear last minute instructions and the anthem before they were off.
Running past the unicorns on Manchester St. The one relaxing in a chair gave me a fit bump as I passed. 

The time between the starts allowed for some last minute greetings and conversations, before Phil, Susanne and I found ourselves in the back of the corral for the half marathon. Susanne was running her first half marathon and was understandably nervous, but also well prepared and unlike myself properly trained. The back of the pack is a fun place as I am recognizing more and more runners. We chat, we laugh, we know we are not winning or running for anyone but ourselves.

The first several miles went well and we prompted each other when to take electrolytes, gus* and water. I was struggling a bit as I hadn't run several miles without a walk break in a while and absolutely not at close to an 11 min mile pace. Our plan was to start slow. In my opinion that didn't happen, but likely saved us for the super slow down near the end.

I'll admit as we got close to transition I was done, only 7 miles in and I was wondering why did I sign up for this, I was also fully accepting the consequences of not training properly. Phil and I pushed on and alternated with encouragement for each other. At that point the runners had thinned out and there were a few were your playing interval tag with(alternating who passes whom, depending on who was walking and who was running.). The gu I had was also giving me some significant gas pains and I was unwilling to try and fart outside a portopotty. If you run, you understand. Several potty humor level jokes were made at this point, I won't share as those stay on the course. Thankfully this problem passed on it's own.

We established that we run these races to finish. We like how it feels to finish. We also acknowledged that we wanted to finish in under 3 hours. After a smile at transition, an odd interaction, some one asked if I wanted Gatorade, I said maybe while I took it, and I heard you dude say "maybe?" in an mocking tone behind me. Honestly my brain was a bit scrambled, I wanted to try it and yuck, nope, gatorade was a no go, I grabbed the water. I also skipped the wet sponges(one of the items that saved me in 2018) as I was starting to get cold.

As we turned onto Pine St headed to the Board St parkway we saw Robbie and I joked about asking to borrow her jacket. Sadly she was too far away as that is a huge intersection, afterward she said she would have handed it to me. At this point we were running some, but walking all the up hills. This does not look good for my future mountain races. I was also able to get some great pictures of Susanne running toward us(on the back part, we were on the out side). She looked strong and was doing so well.

I think we gu-ed again on the parkway, thankfully this time I had no issues. This honestly may be my best race yet for nutrition. Sadly I have many S'mores gu* and right now all I was are toasted marshmallow.

On the Rail Trail and in the rain. That puddle
formed during the race.
As we turned on to Ledge st headed to the Mine Falls entrance, a very cold breeze kicked in and rain droplets started to fall. I laughed and took a selfie, because it couldn't be a spring race for me without rain. OK the reports were scattered showers. Ha! This turned into a full on deluge, without thunder and lighting thankfully. As we entered Mine Falls it started to rain harder and continued that way as we exited Mine Falls onto Whipple St jokingly offering a volunteer money for their sweatshirt. The rain lightened up off and on as we rain the rail trail, or at this point walked. We were pissed at the weather and cold. I'm glad Phil was there as I was starting to have my early hypothermia symptoms that happened during sleepy hollow. I was once again under dressed, and the earlier chafing problem was going to be an epic disaster. My skin was patchy with red spots and when the rain came down hard I was having trouble opening my eyes. I think we took turns swearing the last mile or so, but it's possible it was mostly me.

I have so much respect to the volunteers who had to stand out there in the rain and direct runners.

I was so happy when we passed city hall as I knew the race was almost over and all we needed to do was run over the finish mat. This was also when I started to see people with the silver blankets of warmth. I have never seen them before at this race, then again the previous two years have been hot.

As I crossed the finish-line(and accomplished the one time goal we had, under 3 hours) the signs that I was too cold were setting in. I needed help putting the blanket over my shoulders. Thankfully my husband and sons were there to congratulate me. After a brief conversation under an overhang, the family headed to a nearby diner for breakfast while I headed off with Phil to his car and my dry clothing.

I think we spent 20 minutes or more, in the warm car trying to warm up. I was doing ok in the car but once we stepped out and headed to the tents I was shivering again. I found Alex and the boys, who informed me my lips were blue. Then checked in with the volunteer tent as I had intended to go help with course support after but I was in rough shape and apologized before heading him.

I failed to do any of my post race care, and that was a mistake. I am, still slightly sore today.

Next race is Wachusett Mountain 10k on Saturday.

Stats for those that like them.

Garmin lies about weather. It records weather start, not weather finish. 

No split over 15 mm so I'm happy. 



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