I started training for the half to help a couple of co-workers get in regular runs. They planned to do the half marathon, but I was still recovering from my everlasting knee injuries. I decided to take it week by week and if I felt I was ready, I'd run. By December I concluded I could survive a half marathon and mentally prepared myself for the event. I knew that I was under-trained and recovering from injuries. Still, I couldn't help but give myself a time goal. And then I got the flu a week before the race. And then the flu led to bronchitis.
So, I ran the half marathon under-trained with remnants of the flu, with a lovely bronchitis cough, with a time goal. Luckily, running under-trained with a time goal squashed out the flu and bronchitis. While staying focused on just keeping my legs moving at a reasonable pace, I completely forgot about my illness until mile 11. I had slowed down, which apparently gave my body enough energy to start coughing again. I sped up as soon as I was able. Another thing about running in such conditions is that I found it difficult to focus on my surroundings. My primary thoughts were on my pace, my stride, my knees, and the next water stop.
My tunnel vision paid off and I met my time goal. After the race, I met up with many of my runner friends, including runner friend Andy. Andy is a fantastic person to run with because he tells fantastic stories in a fantastic British accent. He's run all 10 PF Chang's half marathons. I knew he was running and I knew we occasionally ran the same pace. Here's a photo of the two of us after the run.
We chatted about our performance and shared our approximate finishing times. His time was approximately 1:53 and my time was approximately 1:54. Gosh, I said, we must have been right near each other at some points! He started in a different wave, so his race began about 90 seconds after mine. Still, I felt certain that we must have crossed paths along the race. As soon as I got home and to my computer, I looked up the results.
Andrew
Half Marathon
| Point | Time | Time of Day | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| START | 00:00:00 | 7:53:27 am | -- |
| 5K | 00:25:42 | 8:19:09 am | 08:17 |
| 10K | 00:51:46 | 8:45:12 am | 08:24 |
| 10M | 01:25:21 | 9:18:47 am | 08:53 |
| FINISH | 01:53:34 | 9:47:01 am | 09:05 |
| Avg. Pace | 08:40 |
Laura
#2040, Half Marathon
| Point | Time | Time of Day | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| START | 00:00:00 | 7:51:59 am | -- |
| 5K | 00:25:23 | 8:17:22 am | 08:11 |
| 10K | 00:52:19 | 8:44:18 am | 08:41 |
| 10M | 01:26:43 | 9:18:42 am | 09:06 |
| FINISH | 01:54:53 | 9:46:52 am | 09:04 |
| Avg. Pace | 08:46 |
Sure enough (if you note the "Time of Day" columns), we ran quite close to each other for most of the race. Though he started later than I, he slowly gained ground and finished just 9 seconds later than I did. At the 10 mile mark, he was a mere 5 seconds behind me. It seemed that we must have been running side by side for at least 3 miles. How could he not have noticed me? I decided that it was quite a large race and we could have been nearby but still had dozens of people between us. Maybe we weren't as close as it seemed.
So, when the pictures were posted, I took a look.
Well, what do you know. I was more oblivious than I realized.
