1999 Lake County Half Marathon
Lake County Half Marathon
Lake County, IL
Sunday, April 25, 1999
Totally Negative.....
SPLITS, that is. ;-)
Well, I ran the Lake County Half yesterday as a training run. It was a PW by 7 minutes. Yikes! But it actually wasn't as bad as I just made it sound. The reason that I treated it as a training run was because I wasn't in shape anyway, so I didn't want to tear up my body. Besides, I have another race I'm running next week (Great Western 30k in St. Charles), so I wanted to make sure that I will feel okay for that race.
I woke up at 4:00am (ugh!) and left my apartment at 4:45 to get to Lake Bluff, the half marathon finish for this point-to-point race. A train takes you to the start of the race, in Zion. Parking was limited at Lake Bluff, so I wanted to make sure that I got there early enough to get a parking spot. The 42 miles took me about 45 minutes, so I was the first one in the middle school lot, about a 1/2 mile away from the train station. For some reason, all the train station lots that I saw were barricaded. So I sat in my car from 5:30am until about 6:30, when I decided to walk over to the train station where it would pick us runners up at 6:50am.
Got picked up by the train, then got to the start at about 7:20 or so, and waited inside until 7:50 to walk over to the start area. I didn't get to meet with any of the Deads who were there, but I had a hunch it would be kind of difficult due to the number of runners there. The race started at 8:15, and it took me about a minute to get to the start, but after that I was moving along comfortably.
The weather was much better this year--sunny, in the 50's, just an all-around beautiful day for running. I started out really easy, and then planned to speed up a little bit for the second half.
Usually I pretty much "zone out" during races, not remembering much of the scenery or what other runners are doing, But for some reason it was different at this race. I noticed that there are a lot of runners who were doing the walk-run method, because I would pass them at during their walking breaks, and they would catch up to me afterwards. I think I passed a lot of them in the second half of the race, though, when I started to increase my pace.
The miles flew by, all the way down Sheridan Road for miles and miles, and then the course goes through the Great Lakes Naval Base. We go down the big hill to run along the lakefront for a while. After mile 9 there were a couple of steep hills to run up, and I actually ran up those hills; last year I had to walk up them. I was feeling totally fresh and pumped up and the last miles were about 30 to 45 seconds faster than what I was running the first half of the race.
After the Naval Base tour, we ran the last 1.5 miles or so on a paved bike path. This is where I really faded last year, and a lot of other people fade, but I ran faster. I was passing people, and I felt really good to know that I ran smart and conservatively at the beginning so I could enjoy those last miles.
For the last .1 or so the halfers veered off into the parking lot of the train station (on gravel for a little bit, which wasn't that nice!) and I "sprinted" to the finish. Finish time? 2:27:14 my time, a minute slower clock time. Super slow (last year I ran 2:20!), but I had a really fun race. AND, my second half was a little over 3 MINUTES faster than the first. Pretty negative, huh?
Although this was a fun race for me, it has made me realize how much slower I have gotten. I ran the Chicago marathon last year at 30 seconds/mile faster pace than this 1/2 marathon. I have some work to do if I want to PR at Chicago this fall, lots of work.
Next week, I will be running the Great Western 30k, and am treating it as another training run in prep for the Madison Marathon on May 30. I'm looking forward to another negative experience... ;-)
Happy running, all!
Kelly
Lake County, IL
Sunday, April 25, 1999
Totally Negative.....
SPLITS, that is. ;-)
Well, I ran the Lake County Half yesterday as a training run. It was a PW by 7 minutes. Yikes! But it actually wasn't as bad as I just made it sound. The reason that I treated it as a training run was because I wasn't in shape anyway, so I didn't want to tear up my body. Besides, I have another race I'm running next week (Great Western 30k in St. Charles), so I wanted to make sure that I will feel okay for that race.
I woke up at 4:00am (ugh!) and left my apartment at 4:45 to get to Lake Bluff, the half marathon finish for this point-to-point race. A train takes you to the start of the race, in Zion. Parking was limited at Lake Bluff, so I wanted to make sure that I got there early enough to get a parking spot. The 42 miles took me about 45 minutes, so I was the first one in the middle school lot, about a 1/2 mile away from the train station. For some reason, all the train station lots that I saw were barricaded. So I sat in my car from 5:30am until about 6:30, when I decided to walk over to the train station where it would pick us runners up at 6:50am.
Got picked up by the train, then got to the start at about 7:20 or so, and waited inside until 7:50 to walk over to the start area. I didn't get to meet with any of the Deads who were there, but I had a hunch it would be kind of difficult due to the number of runners there. The race started at 8:15, and it took me about a minute to get to the start, but after that I was moving along comfortably.
The weather was much better this year--sunny, in the 50's, just an all-around beautiful day for running. I started out really easy, and then planned to speed up a little bit for the second half.
Usually I pretty much "zone out" during races, not remembering much of the scenery or what other runners are doing, But for some reason it was different at this race. I noticed that there are a lot of runners who were doing the walk-run method, because I would pass them at during their walking breaks, and they would catch up to me afterwards. I think I passed a lot of them in the second half of the race, though, when I started to increase my pace.
The miles flew by, all the way down Sheridan Road for miles and miles, and then the course goes through the Great Lakes Naval Base. We go down the big hill to run along the lakefront for a while. After mile 9 there were a couple of steep hills to run up, and I actually ran up those hills; last year I had to walk up them. I was feeling totally fresh and pumped up and the last miles were about 30 to 45 seconds faster than what I was running the first half of the race.
After the Naval Base tour, we ran the last 1.5 miles or so on a paved bike path. This is where I really faded last year, and a lot of other people fade, but I ran faster. I was passing people, and I felt really good to know that I ran smart and conservatively at the beginning so I could enjoy those last miles.
For the last .1 or so the halfers veered off into the parking lot of the train station (on gravel for a little bit, which wasn't that nice!) and I "sprinted" to the finish. Finish time? 2:27:14 my time, a minute slower clock time. Super slow (last year I ran 2:20!), but I had a really fun race. AND, my second half was a little over 3 MINUTES faster than the first. Pretty negative, huh?
Although this was a fun race for me, it has made me realize how much slower I have gotten. I ran the Chicago marathon last year at 30 seconds/mile faster pace than this 1/2 marathon. I have some work to do if I want to PR at Chicago this fall, lots of work.
Next week, I will be running the Great Western 30k, and am treating it as another training run in prep for the Madison Marathon on May 30. I'm looking forward to another negative experience... ;-)
Happy running, all!
Kelly
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