Cleveland Half Marathon - A Little BIt Faster!

Last month I was really happy with the way things turned out at the Spring Classic.  My half marathon time was a little bit faster than the previous half I ran in 2008.  That was good.  I was not really sure how to approach Cleveland.  It's always nice to go a little bit faster with each and every race, but we all know that is not always possible.  I knew the crowd would factor in - there were 15,000 runners registered for Cleveland as opposed to the couple hundred at Spring Classic.  You add in the weather, the course, and all the other variables that are out of your control and the truth is you just never know how things will work out.  For that reason, I just didn't come up with a set of goals this time.

The weather was perfect!  Low 50s at the start so I was fairly comfortable waiting around in shorts and an extra long-sleeve T-shirt that I pitched before entering the starting area. 

One of the best parts of the day was that we brought one of Gina's friends who is a great HS cross-country runner.  She seems to have the desire to continue running and we wanted to share with her what the marathon venue feels like.  It's always great to see how someone reacts to the day.  That is the great part of running in general - all ages, all sizes - you either get it or you don't.  She gets it!

My brain is so used to 4-hr marathon splits that I had an extremely difficult time trying to calculate what sort of final time I might end up with.  I was clicking off lots of 8.30s and that was feeling really good.  My usual marathon goal pace is right around 9-minute miles so 8.30s are a good deal faster.  I hadn't studied the course very much since I assumed it was the same as last year, but it felt very different.  The distraction was kind of good, I guess.  I thought when I got to mile 9 or 10 I would pick it up if possible but I forgot how that section is a gradual climb with headwinds off the lake.  Not so nice and it did cause me to slow down over miles 11 and 12. 

Jerry and the three girls were on the shoreway just before mile 12.  Apparently they REALLY liked the idea that they could walk on the highway.  I was super happy to see them at the end of all that gradual climbing.  It wasn't until I got to mile 12 that I could calculate an approximate finish time.  My watch read 1:43 which left me a good 11 minutes to beat the time from Spring Classic.  I realized I was also close to beating the time from my very first half marathon in 2003.  The group of runners I had been around seemed to be collectively picking up the pace so I just went along with it.  I finished at 1:51.13!  Super happy but with lots of sore toes and feeling a bit beat up from all that concrete city street running.  The fact that I improved a time from 7 years ago tells me that I have been doing some things right and I hope to continue and make a good run at Columbus in October.

We then headed out to the 25th mile to await the finishers.  It was really great to watch the bell curve play out as the first finishers trickled in and then a few more until it was constant runners around that 3:45/4 hour mark.  Lots of amazing effort out there on the course - you just can't explain it unless you've been there.  We did our best to cheer and not say the things I know we runners don't like to hear:  You're Looking Good, You're ALMOST there.  The truth is you are NOT looking good and you are NOT almost there until you are within crawling distance of the timing mat!  We found that most runners just stared ahead as we cheered but if we said, "No more turns now, the finish is straight ahead!"  that almost always got a head turn and a smile. 

Now it's time to focus on getting ready for vacation!  School is over in 9 days.  I am working on getting Abby to agree to a 10K in June and Gina will focus on swimming and getting ready for swim camp.  Jerry is in full Burning River mode and planning a 50-mile training run at night during Memorial Day weekend.  Good times ahead without a doubt!