Publix Half

Before I knew it, the weekend of Publix Half marathon came around the corner. I picked up the race packet with Ken and Elishia. We left the office at 11.30AM. I was fine taking Marta to go to downtown but Ken insisted that driving there was a better idea. Since I wasn't the one who drove, I was okay with that. Traffic on Friday afternoon in Atlanta can be a crap shoot. This was one of those weekends. Getting on the exit ramp was taking forever. The traffic was slow after getting off and there was a long line to enter the parking garage. We finally found a spot, parked and went into the Georgia World Congress Center. Seeing the race signs, walking into the expo, picking up my number... really brought back old memories when I ran 2007 ING Atlanta Full Marathon. It was my first race ever. I never did a 5K or 10K before the marathon. After we picked up the packets, we walked around and went from one food station to another, basically we started the carb loading that afternoon. From Greek yogurt, crackers, bread, lemonade, chips & hummus, tomato soup, almonds.... anything that was free. After we were full, we went back to the office.

On Saturday, Susan, Sarah and me rode 42 miles. It was a leisurely bike ride. I felt I could go all day riding 15 MPH at Silk Sheets. We were planning the Gap camping trip on April 14th. I'm excited thinking about it since I've been wanting to ride the Gaps. After the ride, I quickly went home and took an ice bath. I wasn't sore but I felt more confident running the half knowing that I did everything to keep my legs fresh. Plus I learned from the previous weekend. I didn't take an ice bath and kinda did minimal stretching and foam rolling after a pretty hard 60 mile ride. I was suffering a bit when I ran on Sunday. My legs felt heavier and didn't have the speed. I drank plenty of Powerade Zero & water and went to bed early.

I got up at 3:50AM and did my normal routine. I was out the door at 5AM. I was meeting Sarah and Susan at the Marta station at 5:30AM. I was surprised to see there were only a few people on the platform. This was nothing like the morning of Peachtree 10K race. I saw Wendy sitting on the bench. Not long after that, Sarah came. We still didn't see Susan. Then, the train came.... still no Susan. We decided to walk past the first car and surprisingly... Susan called us from inside the car. It turned out that she got on the North Springs station, one stop before the one we were on. We got off the train around 6AM. Potty break was the number one destination. The lines were long but moved quick. It was still dark when I heard the Star Spangled Banner... the race was about to start. I went to my corral. I started to feel nervous. It was the first race of many this year. I prayed for strength. My goal was to run 9 min pace. I was pretty sure I could do it, but I didn't want to be overly confident. I didn't taper. This was just another training day. At least, that was what I kept telling myself.

The corral started moving....walking...jogging... I heard the beeping sound when runners in front me crossed the timing mat. Ready or not, here I went. I pressed the start button on Garmin. I tried to maintain a quick pace and ran very carefully so I didn't trip over somebody's feet or step on pot holes. It was a little crowded but it was expected. I skipped the first water stop at Mile 2. It was too early. I peeked at my Garmin. The average pace was 8:46. After a couple more miles, the air felt pretty humid. I was sweating even though the sun wasn't out yet. I ran passed a few people that I knew. After the second water stop, I checked my pace again, it was 8:35... Holy cow! I thought I was going to be in trouble. I couldn't run this pace the whole race, especially after mile 9 when there were hills after hills until the end.

My strategy changed a bit. I didn't slow down, at least not right then. Sometimes I had to run faster to pass people. I really like the changes in the terrain. Up. Down. Flat. Up again. Down again.... you got the idea. I wanted to get to mile 9 first and checked my pace and figure out what the pace for the last 4 miles. I ate the first gel at mile 6. It was nice to see people that I knew on the course spectating. I saw Kristin, Karen, TNT staff, Sasha and a few more friends. At mile 10, after running a long hill, I was tired. I was running 8:33 average pace. I blamed myself a bit for not slowing down a bit in the beginning. My strides weren't light and easy anymore. I was passing another TNT girl. Normally I would say Go Team but I was tired, then I heard she called my name. It was Katy Aguilar. I ran besides her and she asked me how I felt. I said tired. She said we had 5K left and I could do that in my sleep. That was true. It was a big help running with somebody. I pushed her pace and she pushed my pace. A couple times I lost her but she pulled up besides me again. She was a strong runner. My calves started to twitch. I was nervous that I was going to cramp. I just prayed a lot.
We chatted a bit, talked about the next race and the Blowing Rock weekend. It's funny that I wasn't out of breath, I could speak normal, not gasping for air even though I was running 8 min pace but my legs just hurt.

I started doing the count down when I was at Mile 12. One more mile. Then I  saw the 3/4 mile left sign but we were going uphill, so the thought of 3/4 mile to go was annoying. Then I saw the 1/2 mile left sign, again we were on the last (I hope) hill. My calves were still twitching. After the last hill, we turned left. I'd better see the finish after this turn. Sure enough I saw the arch. Finish line!!! I kicked harder and crossed in 1:53. Personal Best. I was really happy with the result because this was the first race which I didn't taper. It gave me confidence that I could do Zooma Half, Rev3 Knoxville Half IM, Eleven Lake Oconnee Olympic tri well without proper taper.