I came back to the Palos Heights Half Marathon in 2015. I saw a post from WCRC FB page about a free bib for this event on Saturday night. Since I ran 16miles at 7:50 pace/mile on Saturday (garmin data), my original plan was to do ~10 mile run on Sunday. So why not doing a half marathon? My legs were pretty tired, but I had a good memory about this event with PR from last year so I decided to do it for fun. Based on my training pace, I thought I would be happy if my time is around 1:40 which will help me get to church without being too late.
I met Maria and Mike A at the start line, got the bib number, and had a small talk.
It was a warm day at the start (~45F). I brought my favorite water bottle--10oz palm holder, newton distance III (just arrived two days before the race), and two Vfuel just in case for I may struggle from the training mileages on that week (~40 miles). I began with a comfortable pace (meaning stable breathing), but for the first 2 miles my pace was ~7 min/mile. I knew this is not the pace I can hold until the end given my physical condition so slowed down a little settling at 7:20-30 min/mile pace. However, I felt some fatigue already at mile 4 so tried to open the first Vfuel, but dropped... haha (perhaps lost a few seconds plus the rhythm? :-)) I didn't know the big deal would be the warm weather that went up from 45F to 75F along the course.
After the turning point at mile 6-7, I saw Maria who looked quite strong. I shouted "way to go," but didn't see other WCRC members. I tried not to push too hard, but kept hydrated and breathed comfortably. The challenges were to deal with heat that I grabbed a few cups of water and poured down on my head to cool down instead of drinking. The little hill at mile 10-11 was not too pleasant, but I knew it would be much easier after then. I tried to stay comfortable for the last few miles instead of pushing because of the fact that (1) it's not my bib number and (2) my feet were tired. However, I kinda sprinted (@6:14 pace?) when I saw the finish line from a distance. Then, I remembered why I had a good memory for this race..it was the easy/fast last a few hundred yards to the end. Although my body was not in a race mode and the heat was unexpected, I improved two from last year: (1) ~3 min PR (last year was 1:42:48) and (2) my feet were all fine (no blister, no hot spot, etc). I had to leave right after the race not to miss the church service (but missed WCRC friends), but it was nice to come back again this year.
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(at the start line)
(finisher medal and newton distance III)
# Garmin data
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