My fun-filled first weekend of vacation ended with the Flower City Half Marathon (the day after my first duathlon). I didn't train FOR this race, per se. But I had the mileage under my belt, and had no expectations (but no limitations).
My last attempt at this course was back in 2010. I was way undertrained, about 15 lbs heavier, and had a stomach bug the day before. In summary, I stopped sweating at mile 6, puked 3 times in Mount Hope Cemetery, and was in tears at the finish - the only time I cried after a race. I stopped running for a few months afterwards until I got my head out of my butt and decided to learn from the experience.
I was definitely sore after the du the day before, but felt alright when I woke up the next morning. It was still chilly, but this bodes better for a run than for a bike ride. Thankfully my friend Michelle Swisher was running the race, too. I needed a buddy to get me through the course, especially miles 6 thru 8-ish, with the hills. We kept a way easy pace, and I was nervous about feeling as good as I did as we approached the first big hill on Goodman (for all the things that collapsed for me during Sehgahunda - the training and race - last year, I did learn how to run a hill more efficiently). We chuckled as we heard other runners comment out loud "Oh, I bet this is the last hill/only hill/worst hill!" as we peaked Goodman, and we kept trucking.
I still felt good as we got to Mt Hope Cemetery. Michelle said she was feeling a little beat (a rock in her shoe didn't help, I'm sure). I still had gas in the tank, I was chafing under my shirt, and ready to be done. So I picked up the pace as we were almost out of Mt Hope Cemetery, and just cranked the last 3 miles out as hard as I could (honestly, I felt bad...Michelle had paced me through the toughest part of the course, but let me go). We had kept 10:15/10:30s throughout, but the last three miles were all sub-9:45s. At this point, I just wanted to leave it all on the course (yes, for me, that pace IS leaving it on the course!).
As I passed out the final gate in the cemetery, I thought: this year, I kept my stomach contents out of Mt Hope! #winning...
I grew increasingly excited to get to mile 12 as I ran past the University of Rochester, where fellow teammate Kelly Schroeder, and members of the middle school orchestra she teaches, were playing as we approached the Ford Street Bridge. The song they were playing as I passed - Firework, by Katy Perry. One of my favorites!
One of the prettiest sights on the course. Not because it is near the finish, but you can take in the great Rochester skyline. (Hey, look...there's Chuck and Coco!)
Finish: 2:13:01...about 5 minutes off my PR - not bad for dead legs! If I had only trained...
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