But then, I found this short list of cryptic notes about 3M, and realized I never wrote my race report. Some of the notes, I just don't understand. I can probably blame auto-correct for a couple of them. I do remember typing them up on my phone. That was almost two weeks ago. Between then and now, I got busy and, well you know.
So here's my lame attempt to decipher my own bottled messages:
"goal = ???"
Ok, this one is easy.
I was seriously lacking in the goal department for this particular half marathon. I know the target for my next "normal" half marathon, but 3M is just different. It's faster (or so they all say) because it is mostly flat or downhill, and you have gravity on your side. How much faster? That was the big unknown. And it still kind of is. I think the last time I ran this race was four years ago, and things have changed a little since then. But even though I didn't have time goal, at least I figured that I ought to be able to run faster than my target-half-marathon-goal-of-record (THMGOR, for short. Hmm sounds like some giant creature made of boulders or titanium or something. One that occasionally lifts a fist up in the air, says "Bad day for you!" and then brings it down onto some unsuspecting soul in running shoes. Anyway...)
"cc carpool"
That isn't my teeth chattering, though it was a bit of a chilly morning. A few of us from the southern Austin region (Marshall, Cam, and I) carpooled together to drop a car at the finish and one at the start. I could say more about that, but probably won't, even on my second-pass edit. (second pass - nope).
"Gabe corner cowbell n burnet"
Presumably, Gabe was on the corner of Burnet and Cowbell. Wherever that is.
"Jeff is everywhere."
Yes. Jeff. He is everywhere. Definitively. With a period at the end. Jeff was at least two or three everywheres along the course. Or maybe there are just a lot of people who look like Jeff and seem to know my name. At any rate, thanks for being everywhere Jeff(s)!
"winding face, don't draft drunk dude"
Well, there's an excellent example of alliteration. Beyond that, I have no clue what this is supposed to mean. I don't remember anyone being drunk out there. Reading through these notes, it would appear that someone may have been, though. Winding face?
"TRPM crew Shoal Creek"
There was a big cheering section from our evening Team Rogue group around mile 9. I can't remember who all was standing there to give them all credit, but they were there, they were loud, and it was awesome.
"Icarus of 45th st"
It sounds more cryptic than "winding face", but anyone who ran the race probably knows what this means. The part of the course on 45th street ran uphill and directly into the sun. For like a mile. It was the only part of the race I can say "kinda sucked".
"3m = triple mucus"
Well, yeah! Everyone knows that!
"content til Kirk"
So... I didn't really have a goal for the race, but I certainly had a plan; 1. Run fast. 2. Then, run faster. 3. Finish the race. 4. Stop running.
I got through part 1 of the plan just fine. Part 2 however... I could have done a little better. I started picking up the pace and passing more people during the Icarus mile (around mile 10). But I wasn't really pushing it as hard as I should have been. I knew I was already on my way to a big PR, and was just content to be passing people. Then, Kirk came flying by. That was when I kind of woke up and said to myself, "What in the world are you doing? You should be running your butt off right now!"
So, then I did. I tried to keep up with Kirk, but he was going a little too fast for me. Even still, I did finish the race out pretty strong. I just wish my mind hadn't taken that little 2-mile detour into "good enough land".
One last note in there:
"E and M blink?"
It took me a little bit, but I remember what this one was referring to. I am pretty sure Everett and Mandy were out there cheering, in the final stretch. They can probably confirm or deny it. Why am I only "pretty sure"? I think... though it sounds strange... that I was running with my eyes closed. Either that or I had an exceptionally long blink. I just remember a moment near the finish where I heard my name in a familiar voice, and I had to actively open my eyes to seek out the source. I caught a glimpse of some shapes that looked vaguely Everett-and-Mandyish off to the right, and then I was just looking at the finish line the rest of the way.
---
All-in all, it was a great day. I am happy - finished with a big PR: 1:22:17. 80th place overall (of 5,500), and 16th out of 354 in my division. All my teammates did great as well. It was smiles all around (except for the part where I led Marshall on a 15-minute goose chase looking for the parking garage - we'll ignore that for now).
Splits according to my friend Garmin (who lies a little):
6:20, 6:15, 6:23, 6:21, 6:15, 6:18, 6:25,
6:12, 6:14, 6:20, 6:04, 6:02, 5:55, 1:13 (0.21mi)
Next up is the Austin Half - one week, yikes! It's time to put THMGOR to the real test. Hopefully he doesn't decide to squish me. And maybe I should get started on that race report right now...