I decided about 2 months before the event to give it a shot. This would be the first time I would run a 1/2 marathon event and thought the Mercer Island half would be a good season opener. Bouncing around with a goal time I finally settled on 1.5 hrs. because I overheard someone say that was fast and well, I want to be fast. It was a cool morning with light rain showers lingering in the vicinity. I dialed in my desired pace on the handy Garmin watch and lined up with other people near the goal pace time. As a couple thousand people engulfed the start area, the pace signs became invisible and everyone just crowded around.
The countdown began, and the gun was shot. Nobody moved for about 15 seconds.... it was too crowded. It took me about 45 seconds to get to the start line and I hit "go" on my watch. I forced myself to start out slow and work into my pace within the first mile and since there were so many people, this wasn't a problem at all. By mile 5, I was into a rhythm but 1 minute behind my goal. I was slightly worried about my HR lingering in the low 170s so I just kept the pace and hoped it would hang on. Around mile 10, I was still about 40 seconds behind my pace and decided to ignore the watch and just run.
The last few miles of any race reveal some truly interesting things about life. I just closed my eyes several times while I was running and focused on putting one foot in front of the other... and not throwing up. With about 1/2 mile to go, I glanced at my watch and realized that my goal of 1.5 hours was going to be possible if I could push hard through to the end. That is where pure desire comes from, on the edge of defeat and victory. I crossed the finish line, stopped my watch and headed to a garbage can ready to hurl. Luckily, nothing came out but after looking at my watch I almost peed my pants. (another glorious moment when you are about to puke and pee at the same time from absolute pain and pure joy) It said 1:29:59. I posted my fueling strategy on the Hammer endurance list... here is the recap:
No breakfast, just water and 2 Tissue Rejuvenator, 1 Mito Caps
1 hour prior: 1 Race Caps Supreme
15 min prior: Gel (Huck of course!), 2 Endurolytes, 1 more TR
at mile 5: Gel (Tropical... caffeine worked great)
at mile 10: Gel (Huck)
Post race: 2 scoops Recoverite with 1 Race Caps Supreme, 1 Mito Cap, 4 Premium Insurance Caps, and 1 more TR
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