BT Halvmarathon

Per, Jimmy and Ole from our athletic club, HGATM.

 So yeah, back in January, Ole convinced me I could run a 1:25 at BT half marathon (today) and because of that expected finish time I was put in the elite group (with the above guys) and they were rightfully laughing at my presence. And I made it clear I knew I didn't belong there, but anyway.

Note absence of Gamnin. And, guys, I swear those are super strong abs and not a pot belly. .. 

Soon we sang "Sweet Caroline" in honor of Boston. 

Nice start photo by Jeppe Bjørn Vejlø. 

Anyone want to wager a guess as to which of the above people won? (Hint it was not 1807, but she was the wife of the guy who won and she took 4th for the women in a sweet 1:20:13)

A fantastic view of the start by Mikkel Barker.

There was no reason for today to not be my day, but it was not. I felt it as I was warming up. I had tapered, followed my training plan exactly, but I just didn't feel it.

My excuse du jour is this:

"Many of the female runners I’ve coached have experienced their worst training days in the few days leading up to and including menstruation" says James Karp, PhD in exercise physiology, on Uber Mother Runner. He goes on to say women perform their best when estrogen is at it's peak.

At the end of the race, it was no surprise that Aunt Flo had just paid a visit.

So maybe, I could have run a couple minutes faster had progesterone not been working against me, but clearly there were other reasons I did not PR.

My 5k split was good: 20:32. But then the stomach "cramps". Of course, as explained, this pain is related to the McKenzie back extensions I have been doing. And it sux. Even before 10k I wanted to drop. Dang, this was not good. I was not having fun. But I decided this would not be about having fun or getting a PR, but simply getting a good training run in since I paid for this race and SR and his parents were being so extremely generous by watching the kids.

I came through 10k in 41:58. I drank and used a sponge. It was pretty warm today. I then ate a gel and started to pep up. The pain in my right side eased up. Thank goodness. But the tightness I guess had to go somewhere and it moved back into my right leg. And the sound of my right foot pounding against the pavement sounded terrible.

15k split: 1:04:11. Slowing significantly. We had a tail wind at this point. I had hoped to use it, but couldn't muster up any sort of fight.

Then my legs just wanted to give up. Am I having fun yet? NOOOOO!

THEN, (and I had heard the route was flat and fast), we entered a section of hilly trails! Hello? I remember saying at some point that I "loved trails". Well, hmmm. Just not right now, please?!

Meanwhile - the winners:

Elasri Ebderrahim in 1:04:58 and Sara Sig Møller in 1:15:09

I picked it up for the last 1km. Somewhere I found strength. I was probably still angry at the anonymous person who wrote the comment "jackass" on this blog last night (on the post about gun control). Or maybe I was just happy because it was almost over. 

Final time was 1:31:29. Honestly, folks I shouldn't complain since it is my second fastest half marathon. But not what I expected. Maybe the 60k took more speed out of my legs than I had imagined. Notably, Dorthe Dahl (the first place woman at Fyr til Fyr) ran nearly 4 minutes slower than she did last year (she ran a 1:24 something). I hope this doesn't come off as selfish or mean of me- but it was kind of comforting to know that maybe we were in the same boat, struggling to get our speed back after the ultra.

Pia Joan Sørensen (2nd place female at Fyr til Fyr), on the other hand, just ran the 3rd fastest 100km by a woman in Danish history: 8:34-something. She would have won for the women yesterday at the Mad City 100km USATF championships, just to put this in perspective! Amazing race, Pia!!

Pia- grabbing a snack on her way to an 8:34 100k in Albertslund

Running Song of the Day:

Everything is embarrassing by Sky Ferreira