Autumn Colors 1/2 and Up Next

A couple of month's back, a friend of mine - Jenn, emailed that she would be making a visit back to Colorado and did I want to run the Autumn Color 1/2 again? This was my last 1/2 marathon in 2008, the year of not so great running for moi. I was contemplating another 1/2 for this year but had not made any definite plans, so her trip was a perfect reason to commit. My running had been getting back on track this summer, thanks to some awesome training partners, and I was excited to give Autumn Color another go.

Just to recap, in early 2008, while training for the ING Georgia Marathon, I was plagued with plantar fasciitis that just did not want to go away. Instead of immediately taking a break after the marathon, I went on to run two 1/2 marathons over the summer/fall before I finally realized I just needed to take a break and let my body heal. It was after the Autumn Color 1/2 in September 2008, when I suffered through a sad 2:18 performance, that I let myself come to terms with a break from running.

I've done some racing this year, winter series runs, St. Patty's 5k, Colorado 1/2, Bolder Boulder, BTMR, WWR, and felt pretty confident going into yesterday's 1/2. I had gotten in a 16-miler a few weeks back, and mid-week speedwork sessions have been coming along. I knew I was not quite back to where I was, when I last PR'd at the 1/2 distance in October 2007 with a 1:50:28, but thought I could finish the race on Saturday under 2:00 without too much trouble. I played my cards right by tapering my long run the week before the race, and not overdoing the workouts this past week. Focused on hydration and nutrition over the week and got to bed early on Friday night for a good night's rest. When the alarm went off at 5am on Saturday, I was ready!

The race is in Buena Vista, which is a 2 hour drive for us. Buses for the start leave at 8:15, so I picked up Sam and Jenn right around 5:30 for the drive over. It's really a beautiful drive, especially on a sunny day like yesterday. We all did our pre-race GUs and made a couple stops at the porta-pottys (and one in the woods at the starting line for me!). When the race finally started at 9am, there was nothing standing in my way. Sam took off, he was going to blow this race out of the water. Jenn and I ran together for the first mile before she decided to reel in her pace, so I took off trying to keep my pace around 8:00 for the downhill portion of the course.

Here we are before the race:

All went as planned and I was at an 8:03 when we hit the pavement and the course flattens out. I knew I would slow down at this point but was feeling pretty good still. About 10 miles in, my feet were killing me but I mixed in a few walk breaks and kept pushing forward. I knew at that point, I would definitely break 2:00, and by the time we hit the 1 mile to go marker, I pushed it in about as hard as I could. I told Sam I am glad we usually push the last mile of our long runs, because that's what I was thinking about in that last mile. I crossed the finish line and heard them call out 1:51:21. Less than a minute over my PR, but now that I think about it, I wonder if I would have PR'd if the race would have been chip timed? When we crossed the Start line, my garmin already read .13 for distance, so we started pretty far back in the pack. No chip timing, so that might have been about a minute right there. Hmmmm? No worries though and definitely no disappointment.

It was great to see Jenn and her beautiful baby girl, Julia. I was so proud of her finish, 1:57ish, especially for just having had a baby 7 months ago and coming from lower altitude to race at 9,500 ft. We all enjoyed a post-race baked good from the refreshment tent, a Mix 1 recovery drink that I had brought for everyone, and a post-race coffee - yum! Then we headed back so I could get cleaned up and over to a couple's golf tournament that teed off at 3:30pm. Busy, busy!

So, what's up next?? Well....Mandy and I are registered for the Vegas Marathon on December 6th! We have a fun group of girls heading out with us. Two others, Kathleen and Rhonda, are going to run the 1/2 Marathon and another running friend is still undecided but she is going with us regardless. We are trying to talk Sonal and her hubby into going, which they are seriously considering, so it's going to be a great group. I also think some of my WWR teammates are doing this one? Holla if you are going to be there so we can make plans to meet up. Looking forward to the training with these fabulous women and a fun race weekend!