NicoleI don’t usually run half marathons, but when I do, it’s the Super Half Marathon.
Race History
The Super Half Marathon is back, baby! I was a supporter of PikesPeakSports.us in their early days, and back in 2012, when Tim Bergsten had the idea for this race, I was happy to support it. He was wanting to put on a local race, and except for the PPRR Winter Series, there wasn’t really anything in February. And why not have a race on Super Bowl Sunday so there is actually an incentive to put your feet up and snack during the game?
My History
This was my 6th time running the half and it was quite nice to be back (even though it “hurt”).In 2012 and 2013 I was in “pretty good shape” and had some good performances. In 2014 I couldn’t run due to a hip injury so I just volunteered.* In 2015 I ran the Game Day 5k and in 2016 I was back in the half with an “epic” sub-2 finish of 1:59:59! I ran the half marathon again in 2017 and 2019, and opted for the 5k in 2018. In 2020 I couldn’t run due to recovering from surgery, but was out there spectating and cheering Rudy at the finish. The race didn’t happen in 2021 (COVID) so 2022 marks the 10th running of the race.
*A bunch of stuff began that day which led to me getting diagnosed with multiple sclerosis three months later. If you want to support my efforts to end MS, please donate to the National MS Society here.
Would 2022 be the year I’m back to a strong performance?
My plan
It never fails that at some point in the winter my hip(s) gives me the big middle finger and it did so a couple weeks ago. So much that I skipped a long run completely. After a good amount of rest and a ton of foam rolling and stretching, they were feeling much better before the race. There was no question that I was going to beat the heck out of them during the race, so I decided to do a run-walk format which worked for me in 2012. I set my watch to a run/walk alert of 5min/30s.
I run with a Stryd power meter and the software has a race predictor that provided me with a target power (which I felt was reasonable), but would I heed the recommendation? It’s really easy to “feel good” at the beginning of a half marathon and realize you overcooked it…
The race
The course is my “everyday long run” on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail so I have a tremendous amount of course familiarity. The weather was forecast for a high of around 50, sunny, and 6-8mph winds from the south. At the 10am start it was around 40F and would be about 46F at noon. With sun that is perfect racing weather. Rudy and I arrived at the race start around 9:30am, got in the bathroom line (indoors), dropped off gear at the sweat check and then did a short warm-up. A couple minutes before 10am we got to the start, enjoyed the participant national anthem singing and then a rolling start began.
Pacing
I went in the 8-9min pace group as I was aiming for an 8:45min/mile average pace. The start is downhill, which is dangerous to start off too fast, so my goal was to dial into my target power as quickly as possible. I’m a pretty consistent runner, so once I dial in an effort, I just need to check-in every now and then.
The first walk break is always the hardest because it is very early in the race and it’s tempting to skip. But my watch buzzed and I walked. The entertaining part about doing a run/walk is that I usually end up leapfrogging the same runners for a bit at the beginning. I get a lot of “you got this” when I do the planned run/walk. 🙂 I do appreciate the encouragement of the running community!
How I felt
I felt pretty good during the first half – my breathing was in control and my legs felt good. The turn-around is at about 6.8 miles, so once the turn is made, only a 10k to go! A net-downhill 10k at that. There was a bit of a headwind after the turn, but I expected that. It wasn’t enough to feel like we had to fight the wind.
Around mile 9, a former Team In Training teammate caught up to me. I said hey and we ran together until my next walk break. I haven’t seen him in a while so it was nice to chat a little. (He passed me and I never caught back up!)
The last 3 miles my legs were really starting to feel the effort and I was looking forward to the walk breaks, but they came pretty quickly, which was a good sign. Once I went under the Uintah bridge, it was just a mental effort to get to the finish line and stay as strong as possible. My legs were certainly tightening up but I just kept the positive words flowing. And although it’s a slight uphill push to the finish, the legs did me good.
The clock read 1:54:30 and my goal was sub 1:55, so I knew I was there, especially as my wave started around 30 seconds after the first wave.
The finish
1:53:48 is my official time, which is over 5 minutes faster than my best post-hip surgery time and only 15s slower than a pre-hip surgery time from 2013. My pacing was pretty solid and even with the walking my normalized power was 201W, so just shy of the Stryd race predictor. WIN in my book. I had time to grab some M&M’s before Rudy finished. He was right around 2 hours, shredding his previous time by nearly 10 minutes. Our friend Steve was just a couple minutes behind Rudy. We hung around just long enough for everyone’s stomach to mostly settle and get a few pictures before the slow walk to the car. We then enjoyed a nice nap at home before watching the big game.
Nicole
