Allstate 13.1 Half Marathon

I'm a few months late getting around to this-that's what going so long without racing gets me.  Anywho, with the Dallas Marathon marked in my calendar in bright red the rest of my fall calendar was about getting myself to the start line as prepared as possible.  With that in mind I looked for a local half marathon to serve as a tune-up race to help me figure out a realistic pace for the actual marathon.  The Allstate race fit the bill and had the bonus of covering some of the same territory that Dallas would so I thought it would be a good preview.

While this was my 8th half marathon it was different in 2 ways: it was no longer tied for my longest run ever and, because it was a training run during marathon season, I wasn't set up to peak for it at all.  I had run an 18 mile run the previous Saturday and a 5 miler as recently as the Thursday before.  And unfortunately this was about the point in my fall training that I learned an uncomfortable truth: the lightweight running shoes I wear for most races and love for shorter distances were ill-suited to the long runs I was doing this fall and the cumulative mileage of the heavier weeks.  During the previous weekend's 18 miler I had begun to feel extensor tendonitis in my left foot/ankle and plantar fasciitis in my right.  I hoped some KT tape on the sore spots would get me through the race okay, and I knew they weren't true "injuries" I was risking aggravating, but I was mindful that this race wasn't the end goal and didn't want to overdo it and go into December hurting.

With all of that in mind I didn't shoot for a PR but looked for a finish around 1:55.  If I could make that and feel good doing it I'd feel confident that a sub-4:00 marathon finish was a realistic possibility.  If not, I'd know to readjust my expectations.

The first few miles felt okay but by about mile 5 the plantar fasciitis was bothering me a little and the tape was coming a little loose (which, incidentally, is how I discovered that KT tape loses its stickiness after a year) so I had to stop and pull it off.  The next few miles were okay but around mile 8 the top of my left foot where it meets my ankle began to feel really sore and swollen.  I stopped to check and there was no swelling and my laces weren't particularly tight though it felt like they were.  I pushed through then got a painful stitch in my side that persisted on and off for the last few miles.  I wasn't particularly concerned about my time so I walked for a stretch to try to clear the stitch.  It sort of worked.  Oh, and my tummy and I weren't agreeing too well with each other either as nutrition just wasn't sitting well.

All that to say, I finished in a little under 2 hours but felt pretty rough for much of the race.  But it served a good purpose as it gave me some good information for the marathon.  I knew I couldn't realistically expect to hold my originally planned pace so I adjusted my goal range to 4:15-4:30 (which still proved a bit optimistic, but that's another post).  I also realized I needed new shoes and fortunately I was still far enough out from race day to have time to get new kicks and break them in.  And I learned that I needed a few tweaks to my pre and during-race nutrition.  

So while it won't go down as one of my best or favorite races I'm glad I did it.  I'm certain it helped me get to December and the start line of my marathon in better shape and better prepared than I'd have been otherwise, so while the feedback was more constructive than reassuring it served its purpose.  Assuming I'm marathon training again next fall I'll probably look to do it again as a good training race.

I owe my post-marathon write-up and I won't wait as long to do that one.  I've got a lot of analysis that will probably be really boring to anyone else (sorry) but helpful to me when I training for my next one.  And as of today, I also owe a 5k writeup too.  More to come!