1:31:50

In January I signed up to run the National Half Marathon in Washington D.C. Upon registration, I set a goal to run a personal record (PR) and finish in under 1 hour and 30 minutes.

I created a training schedule and identified what my pace should be for every training run. I focused my efforts and hit the road. I rarely missed a scheduled run. And for nearly all of these runs I was right on my goal pace. For nearly three months I prepared for the race on Saturday 29 March.

The night before the race I could hardly sleep. This is par for any race I run. I wake up throughout the night anticipating an early morning and constantly worrying about sleeping too long. Unfortunately, at 5:00 a.m. on the morning of this race I awoke to an unpleasant grumbling in my stomach. Uh oh! I knew I was in trouble.

Between 5:15 and 5:45, when we left our hotel, I had to use the toilet twice due to my upset stomach. We arrived at the starting line around 6:30. Before the race began I had to go again, this time using the portable outhouses to relieve the pain. I hoped that I was sufficiently empty to enable me to run the 13.1 miles without stopping.

To reach my goal of 1:29:59 I needed to maintain a pace of 6:50 per mile. My strategy for the race was a negative split - that is my second half of the race would be faster than the first half. I looked to run around 7:15's for the first two miles, then speed up for the next five miles to a pace between 6:50 and 7:00. The course peaks at mile 7. I wanted to have a 7:00 per mile pace at this point. Then I hoped to run no slower than 6:30's up to mile 11 - during these 4 miles, the course drops 200 feet of elevation. By mile 11 I would have a good idea of whether or not I could reach my goal. I could adjust my pace accordingly and finish strong.

The first five miles were great. The course ran right in front of the Capitol building, then down the Mall, past the Washington Monument, and up by the White House. It was a beautiful morning with the sun bringing the morning chill up to a comfortable running temperature.

At mile 5.5 I lost all track of my pace. My focus shifted to a near emergency situation in the lower regions of the abdomen - I needed a toilet, FAST! The next aid station with outhouses was mile 7 - a mile and a half a way. I started looking for open shops or restaurants where I could use a restroom - at 7:30 in the morning, nothing was open. I then began looking for trees, shrubs, cars, fire hydrants - anything I could somewhat hide behind to care for myself.

Fortunately, I made it to mile 7. When I went in the port-a-John my watch said I was just a few seconds over 49 minutes. Despite my problems, I was still right on pace. However, after my pit-stop I was over 51 minutes - I had lost two minutes! Now, not only did I need to run a negative split, I needed to make up an additional two minutes.

Soon after my stop I hit the downhill portion of the race. Without distracting concerns, I was able to pick up my pace. I ran sub-6:30's for several miles. At 10 miles my watch read nearly 1 hour 13 minutes. I needed to run a sub 18 minute 5K to reach my goal - this after having already ran 10 miles. By 12 miles, the clock was near 1:26. I did not have a 4 minute mile left in me.

Knowing I had not reached my goal, I pushed as hard as I could that last mile. I turned the last corner to see the finish line - the clock was already over 1:30. When I crossed the line the clock read 1:32:03. This gave me a chip time of 1:31:50 - one bathroom stop away from my goal.

On a positive note, I did set a new PR. My previous best 1/2 marathon was 1:50:57. I improved a whole 7 seconds!

My next attempt at the 1:30 mark will be the Bear Lake Half Marathon on 14 June. Let's hope my body cooperates.