Breaking Down The Lincoln Half-Marathon

One of my goals I wrote down in February was to run a half-marathon again. After my experience with my first half-marathon I was a little hesitant to make another attempt. I didn't hesitate out of fear, more from knowledge - knowledge that I needed to be in better shape and approach the race with a much wiser plan. I sat down on the first day of March and came up with my plan to run the Lincoln Half-Marathon on May 2, 2010 - 2 months time. I developed a very basic training schedule which established a base to allow myself to run the 13.1 miles without stopping - time was no issue. I followed by training schedule very closely and by early April I was beginning to believe I would actually be able to run the full 13 miles - it was then that I started contemplating a finishing time... 1:45:00 came to mind almost immediately. On my next long run on Sunday morning I ran all the calculations in my head - 8:00/mile would be exactly what I needed to break the 1:45:00 barrier with 12 seconds to spare. From then on I ran as close to 8:00/mile pace as I could on my long runs and occasionally on my shorter runs I would go 7:30-7:40 mile pace. Two weeks before the half-marathon I ran 12 miles and ended up around 1:34 - although I did stop my watch for a few minutes while I stopped and stretched after 5 miles - so I was able to recover slightly while sitting around for 5 minutes.

Jump forward to Sunday morning May 2, 2010 - 7:00 A.M. when the starting cannon echoed across the UNL campus and 8,000 runners stampeded through Lincoln. I lined up with the 8:00/mile group, planning to run 8 minute pace for 5-6 miles before trying to speed up a little and run just slightly faster for the last half of the race....
The race starts directly east of Memorial Stadium and begins by running to 16th Street and heading south. Turning the corner onto 16th street I saw Laura and Emryk, I made sure to wave one last time just in case I was marching myself towards impending doom. Emryk seemed to be confused as to why I was in such a big group of people and running away, but had little concern since he was with mommy.

The first mile of the race is rather nice. Just a few blocks into the run a low rolling hill allows a good visual of the course for the next two miles. This comes as you leave the UNL campus and head into the downtown district. Moments later I found myself looking skyward at the state capital building as I ran past with hundreds of other runners. A moment later I passed the first mile - 7:46. Not exactly the 8:00 starting pace I had planned on...

I was still getting into the swing of things during mile two. Folks lined the street, played music, and the pack of runners consumed the entire street. We were all still running to find our pace and settle into a comfortable position, which is all relative when it comes to running. The good thing about the second mile is it is straight and relatively flat - nothing too complain about at all. I came through at 7:55 /15:42 much closer to the 8:00 pace I had been expecting.

The third mile is a long incline. It isn't much of a hill, just a mile of gradual climbing. This was the first place I noticed a lot of people slowing down. I have always been a hill runner, I run hills hard and don't lose my pace (as long as I am not completely exhausted). I passed quite a number of runners but I also noticed some runners were working the hill just as hard as I was and in fact some were surging. Perhaps if I am in good enough shape next year I will try the same approach... Regardless, I still came through the third mile at 7:42/23:24 - whoops, maybe I don't need to worry about surging on the hill!

Mile four and five is the best stretch of the half-marathon. The divided road takes runners through residential streets lined with spectators applauding and cheering everyone on. For nearly two miles there is constant encouragement and lots of things happening. The long curving street climbs for awhile before allowing a long downhill for a mile or more. This is also where runners predominately started thinning into long lines instead of crowding the entire street from curb to curb. Passing became much easier and I ran 7:54/31:18 through 4 miles. The fifth mile I missed the marker while I was looking at all the spectators and didn't notice until I was around 8:42/40:00...

Mile six was more downhill and then some more downhill. That's my kind of running! In fact, I hardly remember anything of it, except I passed a guy in a superman t-shirt with a red cape pinned to the back of his shirt... He didn't look like the superman I had seen on tv - he was much shorter and Asian.. I clocked myself in at the 6 mile mark at 46:46.

Mile seven becomes much trickier. Instead of running on the street the course goes to a paved trail about 6 feet wide. It's a little narrow for passing groups of runners, but it did feel much faster. A few moments after hitting the trails the 10K sensor awaits for runners to pass by - I was there at 48:20 - which is about 7:46/mile pace. I wasn't real thrilled with my pace, I had not trained to run this fast for this distance and I feared I would 'bonk' (essentially crash) somewhere around 9 or 10 miles into the race - as I had done previously in Spokane. However, I was feeling pretty good though, and decided I was going to keep the pace for as long as I could and deal with the results later... In other words "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" At this point in my training long runs I could feel my body beginning to work harder and sure enough, it came nearly at the same distance in the marathon... I came through the 7th mile 7:36/54:23.

Mile eight stays on the trail for another half mile and then spits runners out onto 20th street heading north. It's a rolling mile, lots of quick uphill/downhill stuff on the trail and then 20th street offers a rather frustrating hill. It doesn't compare to Doomsday Hill in Spokane, but it certainly can lead to some heavy legs and unappreciated thoughts. This is also where Brock Steinbrink caught up with me and helped keep my mind off of the intimidating hill I was looking at. I still managed to stay on pace and clocked 7:53/1:02:16.

My ninth mile was nearly identical to my eighth mile - 7:54/1:10:10. Although the ninth mile has another tough hill it does have a good downhill to help make up some time. Brock continued to run with me and informed me he was regrouping after starting much farther back and working his was up. I was starting to calculate my pace and what needed to happen to finish the race without stopping, although I knew if I was still staying under 8:00/mile pace I wasn't in as bad of situation as I was allowing myself to believe.

Mile ten was my gut check. Another mile at sub-8:00 pace confirmed I could finish the race without stopping, although I wondered how long the next three miles would feel like. This was perhaps the mile which I forgot the most about, I was thinking more and more about what I needed to do to finish the race and I began to pay less attention to what was happening around me. Brock was still chugging along next to me and we occasionally chatted as we went along - which greatly helped the miles pass faster, although trying to chat and breath does become a little difficult... A good majority of the tenth mile is through residential streets as well. We ran past the Lincoln Country Club and I had a quick thought of what fun a cross country race would be out there, although I was starting to feel my breathing becoming labored and my legs becoming heavier with each step. I came to the ten mile marker at 7:50/1:18:01.

After I passed the ten mile marker I decided I had to slow down a little and save what little energy I had left to finish the race. I calculated I could run 8:30 pace for the rest of the race and still run under 1:45:00 - if that was true or not, I didn't know at the time, but I had to set a goal quickly to keep myself motivated to run to the finish. At 10.5 miles we rounded the corner onto 10th street and it was a straight shot down 10th street for 2.5 miles to the finish line. Just before reaching the 11 mile marker I could feel Brock starting to make his move forward and I wished him well before he disappeared into the crowd in front of me. I knew I had slowed down, but by how much? I was starting to worry myself - I hit eleven miles at 8:03/1:26:04 - not nearly as bad as I thought!

Mile twelve continued to torment me. I felt like I was walking, runners began slowly passing me, some where even clipping off a good pace as they went past! I started second guessing myself and if I could finish under goal time. Most of that entire mile was spent trying to stay with people who were passing me and desperately looking for the sign to indicate the conclusion of twelve miles - just one more to go... It finally came and I hesitated to look at my watch but I finally did - 8:12/1:34:17. Wow! I had 9:43 seconds to get to the finish line which was just 1.1 miles ahead of me! I knew it was going to be close! The good thing was we were approaching downtown Lincoln again and running downtown, with the close confinements of the buildings, can help a person feel like you are running faster and that can help to motivate your pace, is certainly did mine.

After I came through twelve miles, I did my best to keep my pace constant. Even though my legs were heavy and difficult to move, I knew I was still running at the right pace. It wasn't as fast as I had been running, but I wasn't walking either. I was practically running in the shadow of Memorial stadium and when I got there, it was all over! I turned the corner to head for the stadium and I could feel my heavy legs working like machines - moving regardless of what my body wanted to do, this race was going to end soon and stopping before the finish line wasn't an option. I made it to mile thirteen around 8:08/1:42:26 - I had 90 seconds to run 550 feet! It still took me close to a minute to finish from there, but entering Memorial Statium and running onto the field deserved a slowdown to take in that perspective which few people get to experience. At the 50 yard line I crossed the finish line at 1:43:30.

I finished the race without stopping, without taking any water, and I average 7:55/mile pace. I managed to set a goal which I felt I was able to accomplish and still push myself. Perhaps next year I will be able to challenge myself once again and do it all over again. I had a blast this year, I can only imagine what some more training would allow me to do!
One of the great things about finishing the race inside Memorial Stadium is the ability for the crowd to watch the finish and mill around while others are finishing. On top of that, the screens displayed current race information to keep the crowd updated and even showed the runners approaching the stadium and finish line on the huge screen in the north end of the stadium! Next year, they are talking of increasing the race size to 10,000 runners. If they can make some minor tweaks to the course, the race will continue to grown larger and larger each year. I'm already looking forward to next year!

Until again

-=Nolan=-