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| Em's Race Bib for the US Half Marathon Championships |
These days Emily is more than a little busy with [other things], but don’t worry: I’ve got spare time out the wazoo.
In the weeks before the US Half, Emily was looking like a million bucks. Maybe more than a million. Here are some quick workout rundowns:
May 10th: 4x2 miles with 3 minute jog recovery in 11:27, 11:40, 11:45, 11:35, with the total workout adding up to 9.1 miles at 6:06 pace.
May 17th: Fartlek totalling up to 9.15 miles at 6:05 pace.
May 20th: 17 mile long run at 7:22 pace
May 22nd (25 days before race): 8x400 w/ 200 recovery, averaging 77 for the 400s and 49 for the 200s. Total of 17:36 for 5k.
But Emily has a stunning, glaring weakness. She SUCKS at running while she can’t breathe. You see, Emily has had various asthma-esque issues for as long as I’ve known her, but we thought we had the right medications to keep it under control. But the root cause of these problems is that Emily is allergic to EVERYTHING in the world. Pine trees? Yep. Grass? Of course. Air? Maybe, honestly I lose track.
And when Emily’s allergies act up, she can’t breathe. Not that she gets what you’d traditionally think of in an asthma attack - it’s more like she has to do all of her runs while breathing through a straw. So the workouts go from 6 minute pace to 6:40 pace. And every run feels terrible. And she starts to think, why in the HELL am I going to go run a race against a bunch of elite runners and make a fool of myself? So Emily went up to Minnesota with me with every intention of just cheering for me while I ran Grandma’s Marathon.
But once we were there, the atmosphere was too much for her. The excitement, the energy, the fast runners everywhere you turn - by Friday afternoon, Emily was telling me, “well, I’ll do the race, I’ll just play it safe and start nice and slow”. As a test, she did a mile on the track Friday morning, in 6:03, and said it felt “horrible”.
So Saturday morning rolls around, and of course I have NO idea what’s going on, since I’m getting ready to run a marathon an hour later. But little do I know, while Em is talking about “just running 1:21 or so” (roughly 6:11 per mile), her first mile is 6:03. And her 2nd is 6:09. Her 3rd is 5:57, and already thoughts of “playing it safe” are out the window. Slow 4th and 5th miles are the last attempts at conservatism, but every mile after that is sub-6. There’s something magical about running within yourself and then catching TONS of people the last half of a race, and Emily was right in that moment. 5:54, 5:59, 5:54, 5:52, and 5:57 took her through 10 miles in a new PR of 60:04.
A few more people passed, and three more miles in the 5:50 range, brought her home in 1:18:14, a new PR by nearly 3 minutes. Her last 10k was roughly 36:26, and her last 10 miles were under 59:30. Was that the outcome we were hoping for a few weeks earlier? Not really. Was it awesome given the circumstances? Absolutely. She finished 36th place, right at half way through the field, when she was hoping "not to get last".
Sometimes things just go to hell, and there’s not much you can do about it. But you have to soldier on and see what you’ve got, and every once in awhile it turns out okay. And now, please wish the lovely lady some luck as she gets allergy shots for her allergies to EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD.
Thanks you, and good evening.
May 10th: 4x2 miles with 3 minute jog recovery in 11:27, 11:40, 11:45, 11:35, with the total workout adding up to 9.1 miles at 6:06 pace.
May 17th: Fartlek totalling up to 9.15 miles at 6:05 pace.
May 20th: 17 mile long run at 7:22 pace
May 22nd (25 days before race): 8x400 w/ 200 recovery, averaging 77 for the 400s and 49 for the 200s. Total of 17:36 for 5k.
But Emily has a stunning, glaring weakness. She SUCKS at running while she can’t breathe. You see, Emily has had various asthma-esque issues for as long as I’ve known her, but we thought we had the right medications to keep it under control. But the root cause of these problems is that Emily is allergic to EVERYTHING in the world. Pine trees? Yep. Grass? Of course. Air? Maybe, honestly I lose track.
And when Emily’s allergies act up, she can’t breathe. Not that she gets what you’d traditionally think of in an asthma attack - it’s more like she has to do all of her runs while breathing through a straw. So the workouts go from 6 minute pace to 6:40 pace. And every run feels terrible. And she starts to think, why in the HELL am I going to go run a race against a bunch of elite runners and make a fool of myself? So Emily went up to Minnesota with me with every intention of just cheering for me while I ran Grandma’s Marathon.
But once we were there, the atmosphere was too much for her. The excitement, the energy, the fast runners everywhere you turn - by Friday afternoon, Emily was telling me, “well, I’ll do the race, I’ll just play it safe and start nice and slow”. As a test, she did a mile on the track Friday morning, in 6:03, and said it felt “horrible”.
So Saturday morning rolls around, and of course I have NO idea what’s going on, since I’m getting ready to run a marathon an hour later. But little do I know, while Em is talking about “just running 1:21 or so” (roughly 6:11 per mile), her first mile is 6:03. And her 2nd is 6:09. Her 3rd is 5:57, and already thoughts of “playing it safe” are out the window. Slow 4th and 5th miles are the last attempts at conservatism, but every mile after that is sub-6. There’s something magical about running within yourself and then catching TONS of people the last half of a race, and Emily was right in that moment. 5:54, 5:59, 5:54, 5:52, and 5:57 took her through 10 miles in a new PR of 60:04.
A few more people passed, and three more miles in the 5:50 range, brought her home in 1:18:14, a new PR by nearly 3 minutes. Her last 10k was roughly 36:26, and her last 10 miles were under 59:30. Was that the outcome we were hoping for a few weeks earlier? Not really. Was it awesome given the circumstances? Absolutely. She finished 36th place, right at half way through the field, when she was hoping "not to get last".
Sometimes things just go to hell, and there’s not much you can do about it. But you have to soldier on and see what you’ve got, and every once in awhile it turns out okay. And now, please wish the lovely lady some luck as she gets allergy shots for her allergies to EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD.
Thanks you, and good evening.
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| Em's view right before the start of her race |
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