Harvard Pilgrim Middletown “Hilly” Half Marathon – CONQUERED!

April 12, 2015

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I DID IT!  I DID IT!  I DID IT!!!  I can’t believe how well I did it!  I knew I could finish it; but I didn’t expect to finish such a hilly half marathon with such a decent finish time considering I haven’t really trained completely for a half since I was training for Dopey.  And even when I was training for Dopey I was training to SURVIVE 4 consecutive races with a marathon as the last race!  One reason why I wanted to run this race was because I needed some “real races” to get a decent time to submit for my Disney race corrals.  I haven’t done a good half marathon since Cheshire in 2013.  All of my other half marathons have been Disney races and the fastest I think was over 3 hours.  So it was time to put on my real running shoes and get out there and race!

It was a beautiful Spring day!  The sun was out and the sky was so blue!  The temperature was perfect for a race.  I arrived around 10:30 and watched some of the kids finish the kid races on Main street and then went over to the green to meet Diana.  I told her how scared I was and she said she had butterflies too!  She told me it was because we were running a real race!  I was glad I wasn’t the only one feeling that way.  I swear I felt as nervous as I did before my very first half marathon in 2012.  So we made a visit to the potties and then I wanted to get my pre race picture with Jeff.  I told him I was feeling scared and he reminded me of what we talked about yesterday.  To tell the subconscious brain that we can do this, and that we are ready for this.  I was taking that approach in the shower when was feeling scared and I kept reminding myself that I can do anything.

After that it was close to the start time so we went down to Main Street and joined the 2:30 pace crowd.  We were shooting for around a 2:30 pace.  Little over, little under was good.

The start came up on us quick and before we had time to think about it we were off!  First hill was rough, but we saw Jeff Galloway and Kimberly Markey ahead of us and followed Jeff’s lead up the hill.  It wasn’t pretty but we did it.  I was sucking wind and a little grumpy about it.  We had a straight away and started to set up Diana’s phone for our intervals.  Then we rounded another corner and headed up another hill….  Grumpy again.  But then the downhill… ok we can make up time there.  Then another up hill.  We did what we could up the hill and made sure to run the downhills and then some.  We kept a very consistent pace as well.  Then we rounded another corner towards a water stop and made our way back towards the 3 and 4 mile marks which had a few little hills smattered in here and there.  Then there was the place where the 4 milers break away from the half marathoners.  I sure was tempted to call it a day; but that wasn’t going to happen.  But I was not in love with this race yet and knew that the big hills that we just did 2 miles ago were still ahead of us again.

We sucked it up and conquered the hill, ran the downhill, then walked the uphill and ran the downhill again.  That was the last repeat of the first part of the race.  The rest of the race pretty much followed that pattern as well.  We pushed up the hills and ran the downhills.  We were very consistent with our times.  Each time Diana’s phone announced the mile pace it was always around 11:45.  We used her interals of 30 seconds run and 17 seconds walk.  It was a great ratio because we had just enough time to catch our breath and then run again.  The beginning of the race was around 12 so once I review my splits I am pretty sure I have a negative split for this race!  At around mile 11 I noticed a man running and thought it looked like Bob, from Bob and Mary Perrotti who I met on the plan going to Tower of Terror.  It was him!  I gave him a big hug and saw Mary and gave her a big hug.  They were running with their daughter Elizabeth.  It was great to see them and I saw them finish as well.  I hope to run into them again at some more local races so we can catch up about our Disney experiences!

I am very pleased with my ability to do so well with such a hilly race.  I did train; but not like my usual half marathon training where I put in a 14 mile race prior to the actual race as Jeff Galloway recommends.  In comparison to the Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon I did last June, I finished this race 5 minutes faster.  I will have to review the elevation maps of both courses, but I think Middletown might have been hillier.  It just didn’t have the long growing hill that Heartbreak Hill is.  After the race I waited to watch Kim and Jeff Galloway cross the line and took pictures for her.  I knew she would want to have those.  Then I wanted to get photos with Jeff with our medals.

After Diana and I got pictures with Jeff we went to the food line and found Kimberlee D.  We sat down to eat with her; but I was worried about Diana.  She wasn’t looking too well.  Last year she suffered from major stomach issues after that race and got sick on the way home.  She said she was feeling ok today; but when I checked on her, sadly, it happened to her again on the way home.  I’m going to email Jeff to ask him what happens to cause that.  She was great during the entire race.  We were so consistent and she felt awesome.

I am so proud that this race was such a success for me.  As I mentioned in earlier posts I was very concerned about this race.  My leg is bothering me a little so I am icing it and trying to massage out the rough spots and my husband was helping me with that.  I’ll be fine in a day; but it’s still not 100% yet.  I WILL do the Cheshire Half marathon for sure.  I wanted to do that race because it was where I ran my very first half so I want to see now how I will do with that race.  Especially if I have Diana running with me.