Not all personal best races are those where you feel effortless and you cross the finish with a big runner’s high and wonder how it felt so easy. Racing at the USA Half Marathon Championships at the Cowtown Half Marathon was one of those experiences where it was far from effortless. This was a different build-up than many others for a half-marathon. I strung together really good consistency - 12 weeks between 90-100 miles, but, the weather in Fort Collins has been anything but conducive to quality workouts. Trying to get most of my runs done before 7am left it mostly dark and almost always cold. We’ve had numerous snowstorms so approximately half of my runs and workouts were on the treadmill and the other half was with a headlamp dodging icy patches. The number of repeats where I ran faster than 4:50/mi pace I could count on one hand.
Earlier in the week the weather forecast looked like it might be warm and humid, but the forecast trended cooler and race day was a superb 48F and slightly foggy…a great morning for racing. The competition was very deep for a USA Championship event, especially since it was only announced about a month before the race. It was a great opportunity and to be honest I felt the nervousness before the start line. It had been since the Chicago Marathon that I was in a big event and it was easy to feel anxious.
Somewhere between 3-4 miles Jacob Thompson surged hard and the pack picked up the pace in response. I remember seeing some splits in the high 440s and I was barely hanging on to the back of the pack that was now closer to 15 guys. There were a few stretches where I was off the back by a few strides but I stayed in contact. As I got to mile 6 I started to get some confidence that I was still with the main pack as we were nearing halfway. Through the stockyards and around mile 7 we caught up to Jacob Thompson and we were rolling. Splits of around 4:37 and 4:42 on miles 7 and 8 and I was still just grinding it out to stay on the back of the pack. I repeated to myself multiple times - “you ran 4:46 pace for 15k just three weeks ago, you can run this pace” - really highlighting the importance of a good quality tune-up race. At one point I was feeling so rough and hurting pretty bad that I even had the thought that I wished a second group would break off from this pack as I thought it was too fast. I mentally acknowledged that was not the right competitive mindset, so at this point I knew I needed to better engage in the race. It’s hard to balance your mental energy when you’re just watching guys in front of you. When I saw a few guys around me starting to fade off the back after those faster miles, I moved to the outside of the pack and slowly moved up to the front. After a minute or two, I was in the lead right at the start of the steep climb leading into old town Fort Worth. I pushed the pace up the hill and for a while following it. That gave me a strong surge of confidence that I was now not just in the pack, but I was leading the US Champs and pushing the pace. However, there were still about 4 miles to go and I did not want to get too excited so I was saying to myself to be calm and relaxed. I did what I knew I had to - engage more in the race - however it was still too early in the race to get too excited. Then, Brian Shrader took over the lead and really put the hammer down. After a low 4:50 uphill mile, we started rolling 4:40 and a 4:35 mile 12. But I continued to just simply hang on. I was in the back of the pack with Scott Fauble and we kept covering the small surges in that lead group that was now 7 (including us). I never felt that great effortless feeling, but now we were running so fast so late in the race it made sense to simply be hurting deeply. With the mile to go mark, the official split later showed me 2s behind the leader but really was just a stride or two off of the back of a strung out group of 7 guys. That 13th mile starts with about a third of a mile downhill and then ⅔ of a mile steep uphill before the turn into the finish. It’s a tough way to finish the race. I had no idea what splits we were or had been running since I was focused on competing, but those fast miles ultimately did get to me and I slightly dropped off the pack with Fauble, who eventually also put a few strides on me. With that significant net uphill last mile I still ran 4:46 according to the official splits…but the winner, Thompson, put an additional 12 seconds on me in that mile. I crossed the finish in 7th place, 14s off from 1st, and truly in the race until the last ½ mile or so. The time was 1:02:52, a new personal best by 2 seconds on a much more challenging course than the net downhill one in perfect weather that I ran last year. This was probably the top race in my career that I performed the best while feeling and hurting the worst. It’s a good reminder that you do not need to have one of those effortless, magical days to achieve your best result. It’s also a good reminder that in an hour and two minutes of hard running it’s not like I was perfect with my mental game. I had lapses where I as not as focused, or focused on the negative, or wanting the pace to slow. But I acknowledged those thoughts and shifted back to a positive race mindset and being in the present moment. I had a very simple strategy to stay with the main pack and be confident in myself that I could compete with anyone in that field.
Next up is a 5k here in Fort Collins followed by the Cooper River Bridge Run, a 10k race that I haven’t competed in since 2011. Looking forward to these next opportunities to test myself over some shorter distances!
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