Georgetown Half Marathon 2008

What makes for a record-setting race?

Is it conditions? Training? The amount of sleep you had the night before? What you had for dinner, what you had for breakfast, when you had your last mouthful of water? When you formulate your race strategy?

When I ran Canyonlands in March, I spent about a week formulating my race strategy. I looked at my last half- marathon time, calculated how much time I wanted to shave off, and wrote and re-wrote my splits per mile until I had a plan that would give me the finishing time I wanted, but not kill me at the start. And I succeeded beyond my expectations. Hoping to shave off about 2 1/2 minutes, I wound up trimming nearly five!

For the Georgetown Half this year, I didn't even think about my race strategy until the day before. I spent a solid hour calculating what my splits needed to be to trim off another 2 1/2 minutes, but then thought I could do even more. I thought, if I started at 11:30 and cut 30 seconds per mile until I got down to 9:00, and held it there until the last mile when I could pour it all out, that would get me in under 2:05:00. It was aggressive but, I felt, achievable. And as a safety net (in case I fell apart in the last 5k), that still gave me a seven-and-a- half minute buffer . So I figured no matter what, I would be able to set a new record. The only question was by how much.

I'd arranged with a few other Runner's Edge of the Rockies members to carpool up (thanks Jim, Lori, and especially Erin for driving!). I met them at the Stegosaurus Lot by the Morrison Geologic Cut off I-70 at 5:30(!) in the morning, and we headed up to Idaho Springs. We grabbed our bib numbers and timing chips and loaded up on the bus to Georgetown.

Up in G-town we connected with the 50 or so other RER'ers who were running the race. You know, probably my favorite part of any Saturday morning when I get to run with the group is those first few minutes when we're all arriving, saying "Hi" and catching up, seeing how far everyone is going that day. This morning was no different-- except that everyone was going the same distance!

After about an hour and a half of exchanging pleasantries, stretching, and killing time, it was Go Time! I inserted myself into the record-setting crowd a good distance back, knowing that I was going to be starting slow and not wanting to be in the way of people starting faster than me. The gun went off and so did we.

As I've said before, one of the hardest things for me to do is hold back in the first few miles of a race, especially when everybody around me is going as fast as they can. This race was no exception, and try as I might I had a tough time holding myself to my 11:30 pace during that first mile as people zipped past me. I'll tell you what helped, though: thinking back to my experience at Canyonlands earlier this year when the exact same thing happened. Sure, people tore past me at the start, but as I increased my speed during the later miles I found myself shooting past those same fast-starters. That image helped me maintain my slower speed.

I picked up the pace for the next mile, and the next, staying true to the splits I'd developed the day before. Before I knew it, I was no longer the passee, I was the passer. I felt strong, my form was good, and my energy seemed endless. At mile 8 I felt like I could start picking up the pace, but decided against it, opting instead to stay true to my schedule and not risk burning out a mile away from the finish.

As I crossed under I-70 in the last full mile I felt a huge sense of triumph. When I'd run this race last year I'd started out too fast (I'll be honest, I was trying to impress a girl), and by the time I'd got to this point I had slowed to a walk. No walking for me this year! I powered up the first hill and coasted to the next (and last). As I crested the top I saw Coach David and a few other RER folks who'd finished cheering me on. "Three hundred meters, Doug," said David. "That's less than one time around the track! Turn 'em over!" I picked up my pace slightly and pushed on past cheering crowds--including another RER group--and to the final turn less than 0.1 miles from the finish. I put on a last burst and crossed the finish line, arms outstretched in triumph. I looked at my final time, and had I had any energy left I would have leapt for joy: 2:04:20! That's 8 minutes and 10 seconds faster than my PR, and better than 13 1/2 minutes faster than my Georgetown time last year!

I'm still kind of in shock. I'm not entirely sure how that happened. All I can say is, I should have no trouble cutting another 4 1/2 minutes off my time at my next half marathon!