It's all fun and games until the wall rears its ugly head. It becomes particularly unfun when it happens at mile 17, with nine whole miles to go.
Debbie and I drove three hours over to Blairsville, PA, yesterday. Blairsville is close to Indiana, PA, about an hour from Pittsburgh. Saylor Park, the race start/finish, is actually in Blacklick and is also close by. The weather was cool and mostly cloudy: just about perfect. After a brief ceremony to commemorate Veterans' Day, BOOM, the canon went off.
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| lining up just before the canon went off |
And so did we. There were only around 150 marathoners and relay runners. The Half-Marathon starts a half-hour later. The course is an out-and-back on the crushed limestone Ghost Town Trail, and the scenery is spectacular. I took in the surrounding hills and rock formations, and the nearby beautiful Blacklick River. I don't think I could love any race more than this one.
I ran this race in 2018 and 2019. I completed both under 3:50. I didn't think that was in me today, but perhaps I could at least beat 3:55. Sub-4 was my secondary goal. Reaching halfway at about 1:57, I had a good chance. I even picked it up a little after that.
But oh, that mile 17. I suddenly had to work much harder to maintain the steady pace I'd been running. Little by little, the pace became slower and slower. I kept telling myself I could still break four hours as long as my mile pace didn't slip above 10 minutes per mile. I kept loading up on gels and caffeine. Even at mile 25 at 3:45, with 1.35 miles to go, I wasn't sure I'd make it. After mile 26, my leg began to cramp, and I became terrified that it would stop me. I slowed down even more, but still managed to keep going and cross the finish line.
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| Heading into the finish |
My finish time was 3:58 and change. It felt a whole lot better had I run the first half slowly and the second half faster. But we don't usually know our best starting pace, do we? How much better might I have run had I not done Columbus two weeks earlier? We'll never know.
I still have to reiterate that this is one of my all-time fav races.
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| Got my medal and my beer |
