CJ and I made it down to the Blue Cross Arena around 6:40AM ... plenty of time. I had contemplated wearing my Camelbak so I could have lots of water but I decided against it after lugging it there. I did put on my arm warmers, black ss tech shirt, racing singlet, light gloves and compression shorts. I definitely made sure that I put on BodyGlide ... enough said!
The Fleet Feet Racing team ... smiling before the race!
I went back to the car to ditch the Camelbak, could have done the same with the arm warmers.
Bill, Sean and I shoot the breeze before the race.
Flower City Half Marathon Start video from YouTube. I'm at 6:20.
I just stretched a bit and had a Gu before the start. The start was fast, first mile was 7:05, second mile was 7:00. I ran hard yet easy and the early miles passed; mile 3 in 7:15, mile 4 in 7:06, mile 5 in 7:19. I had another Gu at mile 5.5; mile 6 in 7:46. Then I started the climb up to Highland Park; mile 7 in 7:55. This is where I started to have trouble. My tank of energy was definitely below 1/4. I was still running under 8 min miles but I struggled. The hills in Highland Park and the early part of the Mt Hope Cemetery were not runner friendly for sure; mile 8 in 7:57. The two miles before I emerged from the cemetery were long; mile 9 in 7:32. Seeing the Mile 10 marker (in 7:59) just as I exited was a welcome sight ... only 3.1 more to go! I had my last Gu around mile 11 (in 7:39). I started to slow in Genesee Valley Park ... runners started to pass me. The 1:40 pace group passed me just before mile 12 (in 8:21), then the Ford St bridge. The gentle curve up to the bridge was much steeper because I was exhausted. I knew I only had a mile to go and that I was on a PR pace. I got back to running on the bridge and simply gutted it out to the finish. It was a l_o_n_g mile, mile 13 in 7:57, I could see the finish line! I didn't have anything left to sprint to the line ... I just grimaced and ran as fast as I could, last 0.1 mile in 6:50. CJ was in the finish chute taking pictures and put my finisher medal over my head.
Heather finishing in 1:37:06, a PR!
I am almost to the finish line ...
Nipped at the line! 1:40:18! A 6:25 PR!
Katie finishing in 1:40:29.
Robie finishing in 1:40:52
Hydrating post race.
My lovely CJ did the 5K that started 20 minutes after I started off and set a PR of her own! She walked with a few runs and finished in 52:19, 16:53 pace, 844th out of 895, link here. She finished 54th out of 61 in her age group, link here. Way to go!
After a bit of walking and downing some water, CJ and I headed into the Blue Cross Arena for some well deserved chow. The usual fare was there ... bagels, banannas, apples, cookies, pretzels, peanut butter, water and MVP energy drink from Wegmans. A welcome addition was some tasty pizza from Naked Pizza. CJ and I each had several pieces besides taking their snazzy free water bottles. I saw some other racing buddies and enjoyed catching up on their racing stories. A runner said that perhaps I should try negative split running where you start slower and finish faster. That would be very tough for me because adrenaline usually rockets me out with the faster runners. Maybe I could make it work with some effort but I would definitely have to practice on runs and races.
All in all, I did pretty well. I ran the race I set out to run except for the struggles in the latter stages. Perhaps I could have ran better but I did set a 6:25 minute PR. I finished 193rd out of 1839, link here. I finished 11th out of 97 in my age group, link here.
Here are some DemocratandChronicle.com articles about the Flower City Challenge: Flower City Challenge exceeding expectations, Rochester: Get into the running,
Flower City supports runners in Sunday's race and Flower City Half Marathon victory special for Andrews.
The swag!
Later, CJ and I lazed around ... not wanting to move. We watched the NBA playoffs, second round, both were game 1. Memphis surprised Oklahoma and Miami beat Boston. CJ made up some ribs and salad for supper ... yummy! CJ also uploaded the 280 pics that she took during the day ... which took the rest of the day. We went to bed early and didn't have any trouble falling asleep!
