felt good.
i think i should have worn my ~4.5-5oz endorphin racers instead of my ~3.2 oz nbrc5000v2's tho.. my 1:21 half from 2018 was in those ~3.2 oz shoes but i was more adapted to running in them on hard surfaces. my legs started feeling massively beat up before the midway point, and complete toast by mile 11.
they posted a ton of photos, with watermarks.. but some good ones. might be a "full set".
quick half marathon recap: the fun stuff is before the race
- get up at 4:15 AM
- mosey around, eat a small snack etc
- realize it's 4:45 AM, which is when i should have left
- start rushing, get out of the door at 4:55 AM
- get on my way for a 1.5 hour drive
- start seeing some lightning etc, dammit thunderstorms coming
- eat while driving at 6:00 AM lol, was kinda hard peeling a banana
- at 6:10, hit a massive down pour -> zero visibility
- people were pulling over etc, it was torrential
- decided to keep driving because, now i'm realizing i'm possibly going to get there later than 6:30 AM .. race is at 7 but it's a huge race so, 6:30 sounded good
- around 6:20 AM the massive rains became a drizzle, things looking good
- start feeling like I need to take a massive sh*t
- see some gas stations but keep going (bad move, kinda..)
- get to the parking garage at 6:30 AM, damn worked out perfect
- now i'm in line to get into the parking garage...
- moving slowly..
- in the garage, going up.. slowly...
- time ticking away, 6:40, 6:41, 6:42, 6:43, 6:44, still going up
- finally make it to the very top 6:45 AM, where you can see the sky, and there's
three spaces left: one for the car in front of me, one for myself, and one for the car behind me
- about 4 other cars in line (i guess they prevented more from entering), no idea what they did, but they couldnt park
- so it's 6:48 AM now.. race starts at 7.. i don't even have my bib
- i run down the stairs (5 flights) fast af.
- make it to the registration area, 6:54 AM
- get my bib and put it on kinda crooked - dgaf, 6:56 AM
- run towards the port-o-potties, completely full, lines everywhere, 6:57 AM
- run behind a dumpster, take a massive piss, say to myself, ok well, no sh*t for me, just get to the start
- get to the start at 6:58 AM
-
and just like that, one of the most magical things that has ever happened to me.. i no longer had to take a sh*t. it completely disappeared.- race starts around 7:02 AM, go out at goal pace (5:55), slow down each mile until mile 4, (5:55, 6:01, 6:05, 6:15), then just down shifted
- one of my goals was to avoid water/anything the entire race
- i just zoomed by every water station
- a few times i got thirsty but, once i realized i wasn't going to drink anything, it disappeared
- admired many of the homes/gardens on this course, it was amazing .. very fun course to site-see, which i rarely do
- volunteers were awesome, every single one i passed yelled words of encouragement or made a comment about my "floppy hat" lmao
- anyway by mile 10, legs were toast. 3.2 oz shoes did me in. i felt every stride.
- got to mile 13, figured i'd kick it in hard as fu*k, huge finish line tons of people cheering etc
- there was a dude right behind me but i wasn't worried about beating him or anything, just decided to gun it as fast as possible
- gunned it.. kept looking at my watch: 4:10, 4:05, 4:02 .. so last 0.1 was ~4:05 pace, peak 4:02
- finished.. ate a bunch of donuts.
- saw a bunch of friends.
- one told me I was first in my age group, seriously thought he was kidding
- i ran a slow time, didnt expect to win any $$
- lo and behold, i won $100
- i go up for the awards.. turns out, the dude who got 2nd, was the guy behind me at the end.. and to add to that, his net time was only ~5s off of my net time, but I finished like ~10s faster than him in the race.
- so if i didn't kick that hard at the end to make up that net time difference, i'd have got 2nd. haha.
- $100 kick
- oh! and the 2nd place guy (really nice dude), told me he was the guy behind me, and that i took off so fast it looked crazy.. hah.
- i mean, i guess he was right behind me (like a few feet), and we both kicked the last 0.1, and i finished like 10s ahead.. LOL. kinda nutty with legs dead at the end of a half. i like it.
- hung out with friends i know, most of whom are beasts (9th OA, 11th OA, ~40th OA (and grand master)) for example in a very crazy fast race. the 9th OA guy won $750. 9th & 11th oa are local beasts, been dominating the area for a long time. I think they ran 1:14 and 1:15 respectively. both have PR's of ~1:10 and 1:09 or maybe even faster. miami dudes.
- event over..
- a few hours after the race ends, left soleus starts tightening up, could literally feel it going from normal to tight/strained.. so odd.
- go find a nice place to eat
- ate a NY strip steak, scrambled eggs, potatoes, and a full stack of pancakes.
- drove home
- finally got the urge to go to the bathroom
- watched NFL playoffs (some amazing games, amazingly bad calls also)
so i guess the highlight of that recap, and why i wrote it, was how i almost missed the race, magically had a poop disappear, ran a slow time, and kicked hard af somehow getting me $100 with a slow time.
i'm up to $710 total in race winnings... hah!
oh, and to top it off.. i learned at the end, a world record holder (marathon) woman @ age 70 was going for the world record in the half that day. she was pretty close. ran 1:38, needed 1:37.. dude that's flying for a 70 year old woman.. like 7:3X pace.
her marathon at 70 was 3:25 or something, Chicago 2018.
01/20/2019diet:- 04:30 AM: orange juice, banana, water
- 06:00 AM: pre-race: (while driving): orange juice, banana, water
- 08:35 AM: post-race: donnuts! chips/salsa, water
- 10:30 AM: some fancy restaurant: ny strip steak + scrambled eggs + potatoes, full stack of pancakes with syrup/butter
- 04:00 PM: while watching NFL playoffs: chocolate almonds, milk
- 08:30 PM: while watching NFL playoffs: chicken tenders from friday's, fries, water
- ...
07:00 AM:
Naples Half Marathon: 42nd OA (33rd M) @ 1:27:17 /// 1st AG lol wtf - won $100!! happy about: no water/fluids/calories at all during the race, solid final kick (0.1 mi @ 4:0X) aka "one hundred dollar kick" (-- m.hollander)-
https://www.strava.com/activities/2092106541-
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3316443255-
https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/4426/#resultSetId-142233;perpage:250- 42nd OA @ 1:27:17, 1st AG (35-39)
2nd best 10 miler, 15k, 20k, and half .. way off of my PB's tho. felt great the first 4 miles. then downshifted hard from 5-10, and even harder from 11-13. cranked a nice kick in the final 0.1.
this marathon course is really nice.. beautiful course, tons of spectators/people cheering, incredible volunteers, mansions everywhere lmfao. really nice.
not used to these 3.2 oz shoes on roads anymore lol. might try my endorphins instead for the next road half.
---
footer stats:
top3 finishes:2019: 2/4
2018: 30/45
2017: 6/12
2016: 4/10
2015: 0/2
2006: 0/1
sub5 mi's, sub3 1k's:2019: 0, 0
2018: 12, 15
2017: 1, 1
2016: 0, 0
2015: 0, 0
