Thursday, February 18, 2010

Nago 1/2 Marathon


On Valentine's Day I headed north with Tiffany to run the Nago 1/2 Marathon. After training I knew that I'd complete the race, but I wasn't exactly brimming with confidence. I had intentionally made some rookie mistakes that someone with my experience shouldn't be making at this point.
My biggest mistake was training too far too quickly. After being knocked out of workouts with bronchitis I had 5 weeks to get ready for the half. I'm pretty sure that the rapid build up of miles is what has my left glam (gluteus + hamstring) unhappy. But, really, what could I do? I swear that the coughing started 2 days after I had committed to the race.
My other intentional mistake was wearing unbroken in shoes for the race. The shoes I had been wearing on long runs gave me a massive (maybe 2"x1") blister just under the ball of my right foot on our last training run. I figured the newer shoes couldn't be any worse. This might have actually been a good call. While my outside toes went a little numb I didn't really develop any major blisters.
Anyway, enough complaining. On to the race. Here's me and Tiffany before the race:

I love that at every sporting event there are taiko drummers! It really gets your blood pumping!

This was a pretty big race - probably about 1000 people.

The course was great and I felt pretty good (minus the glam) the whole way. There were 4 decent hills with the last one being about mile 10. The rest is pretty flat and there is some downhill that led us to the east coast. It rained for about half the race, but nothing as bad as our last training runs. I'll probably sign up for this race again just so I can see the coast when the sun is hitting it. I love the Okinawa water.

I felt like I was going along pretty steady besides the congested start for the first mile or so. I did stop for about 15-20 seconds on the mile 10 hill to stretch my glam. Other than that and walking through the water stations I ran the whole time. I was pretty happy with that. What I was unhappy with was my time. According to my watch I was right at 2:15. This is my second slowest half ever - and in my slowest I was physically sick on the course for the last 7 miles. I think I did as much as I could on the day, but I'm not sure where my speed has gone. I should be able to hit about 2:05 and on a good day 2 hours. Admittedly, I haven't done speed work in forever.
So, my goals are to rehab my glam, find some shoes that love my feet, add a little speed work into my routine, and give myself longer to train for an event. I do love running in Japan though because even with my slow performance I was in the top half. If I put up a 2:15 in England there's a good chance I would have been last. Brits take their running pretty serious. Here's a picture of me after the run at the track where the race began and ended:

In happier news, my running partner Tiffany ran a personal best 1:57!! She was flying. I am so proud of her.
Also, my Mom ran a half on the same day in Florida and clocked a 2:03!! Yowzers! She knocked 4 minutes off her time for the same race last year and she won 1st place in her age group! Plus, my sister who paces my mom (and me when I'm in Gainesville), had to pull out of the race because she was sick. So, my Mom was on her own and kicked some major booty! Woohoo! I know I've got some speed in me. Apparently it's in the genes!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think your time is very respectable given the circumstances. "You are a champion" and I posted a DNF so you rock!
Can't wait to see you. Can we see some drummers while we're there??
Monica

Unknown said...

Well done. It sounds great. Wish I could have been there too. I have just signed up for a 5k in Thetford - swimming pool. Never swam that fsr before but willing to try for Marie Curie Cancer Care. It's called a Swimathon. I will start upping my lengths. I do 80 regularly but this is 200. Am I crazy - but you already know the answer to that one.

Chris and Amy said...

Mandy - that is awesome! Let me know how I can sponsor you. You can do it? How did the gym tri go?

Courtney said...

Hey...you did great and it sounds like you have plenty of ways to improve on how you did. Love the "glam..." and the drummers!! That would help me get through a long run for sure.
Congrats to your partner and to your mom as well for rocking out their races!!!

Anonymous said...

Not sure where to post this but I wanted to ask if anyone has heard of National Clicks?

Can someone help me find it?

Overheard some co-workers talking about it all week but didn't have time to ask so I thought I would post it here to see if someone could help me out.

Seems to be getting alot of buzz right now.

Thanks