The (Virtual) Nuun Half Marathon 2020

A few years ago I hit my goal of a 1:20 Half Marathon. It took a lot of effort and it wiped me out for weeks. I was happy with my result and didn't feel the need to go chasing new and faster times, deciding to give 5Ks and 15Ks my focus. 

So this year I had a few plans initially which of course did not happen. Instead I have been doing a lot of Virtual racing and seeing how much I could push myself mentally as much as physically. I did one half marathon hard effort in the Spring testing out my new On Running shoes and did a 1:21. I was very happy with that. Later I would pace my buddy Craig to a 1:24 half. 

Then in September, Nuun (of which I am an Ambassador) offered us the opportunity to race virtually in a half marathon. Unlike a lot of Virtual runs, we all had to do it on the same day, which was kind of fun. I entered, though I wasn't really sure if I wanted to go for it or just have fun. 

I picked up the distance training a bit more and things seemed to be going well. The week before the Half, I even ran a practice race, with the first half at an easy pace then race pace to finish and did a 1:25. So, I kind of decided that if the conditions were decent on the day of, I would give it a good effort. 

We received our virtual bibs in an email shortly before the race: 

The morning of, I woke up early as I wanted to get started as soon as I could. My route had a few road crossings and I wanted to get going before the traffic would get heavier. My course was a point to point that started with a mild down hill, then slightly up and ending with a nice mild downhill to the finish. Only a couple of kilometers were paved, the rest crusher dust as this is a converted rail bed. While generally a good flat route, the crusher dust certainly isn't a fast surface, but I knew that the few mild downhills would counter the soft slippery surface. 

The weather was perfect for November. 10C, no wind and the sun was behind the clouds to start at 7:30.  Craig showed up for my start to snap some pictures and wish me well.  He then biked off to meet me at the end.

I packed very little, and chose my lightest shoes, the New Balance 1400s. All I had was a mask (for the post race drive home), a house key, and my MP3 player to keep me sane.

And I was off

 

The start was on a bit of a downhill, but I took it quite easy to not burn myself out. The plan was to be around a 3:50 min/km pace at the halfway point, ultimately seeing if I could get below that by the end. Ideally I needed a 3:47 to reach my goal of a 1:19. If I don't burn out early, I know I can usually muster up a fast pace to finish.  

Well, 100m into the run my MP3 player stopped working completely. So, I had to choose, call it and go home to replace it or forge on. I opted to keep running.  Somehow the some Let it Roll by BTO popped into my head and that was there for the rest of my day. Oh well, not the worst song.

As far as the run goes after that, things were pretty good. The trail can be iffy when it comes to current pace on a GPS watch, though average pace is spot on. So what I needed to do was basically run by effort. I used the first 1.5 km in the open and on pavement to set my effort and pace and tried to keep as close to that as possible. As I was nearing the halfway point, I was still at 3:49, so I was happy and felt pretty good. I just ticked over to 3:50 at the half way point. So I did accomplish my goal. 

There was a nice little couple of km on a slight down hill at this point before a really soft/sandy uphill section (though uphill and down hill are never much more than a max of a 1% grade on this trail). I pushed a bit harder now.

As I was approaching the main road crossing which lead to the finish kick, I had dropped my pace to an average of 3:48. No cars in sight and I zipped across the road. Now it was just 6 km to go. I really didn't want to push too hard though, 6 km is still a good distance. I held my effort level and did my best to keep a good posture so that my stride wouldn't suffer. 

With 2 km to go I was still at a 3:48 average but let loose. The sun was now out and I could feel the heat whenever I popped out of the shade. Still, not a problem. Now it was just a mental game, I knew I could run fast. 

With 1 km to go I pushed as hard as I could. My form was failing slightly, but I just pushed through that. I ended up doing that last kilometer in 3:28, dropping my pace to a balmy 3:46. I'm not sure exactly when it dropped below 3:48, but it did and I crossed the GPA finish line at 1:19:36 (21.11 km).   

Craig was there to snap a few pictures. The temperature was a lovely 14C and sunny. Perfect for just hanging out for a moment. We drank some coffee and waited for a rescue from Stacey. Normally, my wife would have popped out to get me, but she had embarked on her own Half Marathon on the same route a little after me.

Thanks to this lovely pair of shoes for carrying me the whole way. They did this route earlier when I paced Craig in June. They will have a few more efforts in them as well.  Now to just relax for a bit with no specific races on the horizon. Definitely no big distances for a bit.