Rules were made to be broken: the 2010 Baltimore Half-Marathon

Yesterday was my last race before the big one, and my first time running the notoriously hilly Baltimore Half-Marathon. My training has been pretty rough for the past few weeks, and my last few races have been under far less than optimal conditions. In July, there was the Riley's Rumble Half-Marathon, which took place on a day when the heat index was over 110. In September, I did the Parks Half-Marathon 16 days after surgery. Then, earlier this month, I did the Annapolis Striders' Metric Marathon with a wicked head cold. In all three of these races, I really struggled, walked a lot, and finished feeling like I could not run another step. Its been awhile since I actually finished a race feeling strong and happy with my performance. So, that was the goal for Baltimore: get my head back in the game and finish feeling like I actually ran a race, as opposed to just survived one.

The Baltimore Running Festival includes a marathon, half-marathon, relay, 5K, and kids' run, all starting at different times. The marathon starts first at 8am, and the half doesn't start until 9:45. I heeded the race organizers' dire warnings about parking and street closures and got to the starting area of the half-marathon well over an hour before the race. This turned out to be a great decision because it allowed me to watch the elite marathon runners cross the 13-mile mark of their race. The first two passed at 9:04am, meaning that they had essentially run a half-marathon in just a little over an hour. Amazing! Watching them run was truly breathtaking. I learned later that the top runners all ran at under a 5 min/mile pace for the entire 26.2 miles. They looked like they were running a 100-meter dash and they kept up that pace for over 2 hours. What was even more amazing was how easy they seemed to be running- no panting, minimal sweating. They all looked light, strong, and very fast. I watched the highlights on TV later but it was nothing like seeing it live.

After the elites passed, the half staging area started filling with all of the mere mortals. This was the biggest race I've ever run, and it was very exciting to be around so many people with real announcers, TV cameras, confetti, etc. That excitement lasted until about 30 seconds after the start, when we rounded our first corner and saw that the first mile of the race was straight uphill. That first hill was a fitting introduction to the rest of the race, which alternated between killer uphill sections and merciful downhill breaks.

For me, the first 6 or 7 miles of this race were really tough. By mile 3, I felt pretty terrible and wanted to slow to a walk. I was determined not to give into that urge, so I reached into the bag of mental tricks I wrote about a few posts ago. Something must have worked, because right around mile 7, I suddenly felt great. The pain abated and I started really enjoying the scenery and the great crowd support, which included people in every neighborhood sitting on their stoops to cheer, a pastor preaching on a microphone, a police officer who sounded like a life coach, a group of day laborers who sang to us in Spanish, and the locally famous "Eye of the Tiger guy" who stands on the top of his truck in a tiger suit dancing to the song from "Rocky." In all parts of the city, it seemed like people really felt a sense of pride about the race and enjoyed supporting the runners, which was wonderful to experience.

Around mile 10, I looked down an my watch, did some quick math, and realized that I might be on track to beat my half-marathon PR of 2:24. I ran that time in my very first half-marathon, on an easy course with only one hill. I had not expected to beat that time until I return to that course next year. I felt good, so I sped up a little, helped along by the fact that the last 3 miles of the course were downhill (thank you, race organizers!). As I headed toward Camden Yards and the finish line, the streets were literally thronged with cheering people, which was great motivation to keep up the pace. In the end, I crossed the finish line at 2:26, so I didn't quite beat my record, but I was very happy with my performance on such a tough course.

In the process of running this race, I ignored a whole lot of conventional training wisdom. Rule #1: rest the day before a long run or race. I had a lot of energy Friday afternoon, so I went to spin class. Rule #2: don't run a long distance in brand-new shoes. I ran this race in shoes that came in the mail on Wednesday. Rule #3: take it easy as you get close to your marathon. I felt good, so I decided to go ahead and push it.  Apparently, rules were made to be broken, because I am very happy with this race. It was a great confidence booster as I close in on the marathon- two weeks from today!