Sunday, February 15, 2009

Lost Dutchman Half Marathon

You learn something at every race.

Yes, you do. You learn something at every race you run. I hadn't run for three days and my legs were fresh. Real fresh. This is a tale of what you learn when you go out fast in a half marathon.
The day started with a beautiful sunrise over the Superstition Mountains.
I got my picture with the Lost Dutchman himself. He wouldn't disclose were the his goldmine is. After all, it's the gold that's lost, not the dutchman.

Right around 7:30 the gun sounded and we were off. Actually, we waited as the faster runners were off. At this time I commented to all around me, "there goes my PR." But eventually we did get to run and it was less than a minute wait.
That's the Superstition Mtns. in the distance. Only about 700 runners in the half, so I didn't have to do a lot of weaving. The first mile split was 9:47. My goal was to see how many miles I could do under an 11 minute pace. 1:13 seconds was way too fast, but my legs wouldn't let me run any slower.

The second mile was 10:12. More reasonable, but still on the fast side. That made me 2 for 2 goal wise. I was a bit worried that it would get me later on. This course is half paved, half dirt road with lots of small hills. Mile 3 was 10:59, perfect and mile 4 was 10:42. I felt like I was getting in the groove.
Maybe it was the site of the medals before the race that got me in a fast mode.


There were lots of medals. I got the HM one on the right. Before the race I got to meet Alissa from Fountain Hills. She's one fast runner and it would be the last time I saw her.
Mile 5 was done in 9:58. Don't ask me. I have no clue as to why I was going so fast. Mile 6 was done in 10:06 and I was cruisin' to the half way point.
Then came mile 7. My first one over 11. I did it in 11:07. Was the first six fast miles catching up to me? I did the 10k in 1:03:47, which would be the fastest 10k I ever did. I did the 6.55 in 1:08:01. That mean't I had 2 minutes in the bank. I was hoping to do 1:10's each way.

Then came mile 8. I was trying to walk thru the water stations. I did it in 10:26. I skipped some stations and this mile most have been one of them. Mile 9 was my second mile over the 11 goal. It was done in 11:27, my slowest mile. I think it was the mile that I saw Lobster Girl. Two years ago I ran behind a girl in a lobster hat for a long time. I even took a picture and she happened to be in it. I recognized her this year. Asked if it was her and we talked for awhile. She's done 8+ marathons and can't even remember how many halfs. And she's young. I was a bit jealous.

Mile 10 was 10:43. Mile 11 was 10:58. Mile 12 was 10:27. During these miles I got to talk with a guy from New Mexico and a gal from Minnesota. We all got in the leap frog mode. When I walked, they would pass me. When they walked, I would pass. Sometimes we would chat. The gal from up north eventually passed me for good. Not sure about the guy.
But, I still had 1.1 miles to go and my legs weren't as fresh as 2 hours ago. Mile 13 came in at 10:25. I did a lot of walking, but I was running in the 9's and I was holding up pretty good.

Good enough to sprint to the finish line at an 8:50 pace. I stopped my garmin about 5-10 seconds after I finished.


It read 2:19:52.
2:19:52 is 7:17 better than I ran PF Chang's 28 days ago. It was 7:23 better than I ran London's Run 15 days ago. It is the fastest Half Marathon I've ever run.

It was a great day. No rain. Sunshine. High 40's to start. Mid 50's for most of the run. The third HM in less than 30 days. Two of them for PR's. The 11th HM of my life. 11 of the 13 miles under 11 minutes. A cool medal. A cool t-shirt.
If only the Dutchman would have shared where the gold is.

17 comments:

desert trail runner said...

Pat, you crushed it! Awesome job mate, glad I didn't run with you as I would have slowed you way down! Thanks for the report and pics, just love em...

J~Mom said...

WOW!!!!!!!! Congrats Pat!! That is sooo speedy!! Awesome job!!

Unknown said...

Excellent job Pat!

The Boring Runner said...

NICE! That is awesome!! All of those miles that you have been putting in must be paying off.

Did you get both of those medals for the race? If so, that is awesome!! I'll admit, I'm a medal dork. :)

Gosh, I need to get to a warm climate to be able to run some races!

Pat said...

Adam, I only got the one on the right. They let me take pictures of both. I think I confused some, so I edited the post.

Alissa said...

Great job on your PR!!! That's awesome! I was so nice to meet you. I'm glad we ran into each other. You got way more pictures than I did. I wish I had been able to take more. I do have a sunrise photo almost exactly like yours! I think the cold is what made me run fast at first. It makes my legs numb so I can't feel how hard they're working! I PR'd too! Great to meet you again and I'm sure we will probably run into each other again.

Lisa said...

Congratulations on your PR, that's a great time! I've been following your blog for a few months... I found it looking for race reports about P.F. Chang's. I was at the Lost Dutchman today too, but just for the 10k. I finally decided to comment because I wanted to ask... how do you carry your camera while you run? The quality looks too good to be a camera phone.

Ax said...

Great job, Pat! Congrats on the PR! That looks like a great run. Thanks for sharing all the pictures.

K80K said...

Wow Pat! Awesome job on the race!

RooBabs said...

Great job, Pat! You are amazing!! Two PR's and 3 half's in 30 days? That's just crazy!!

How come they had 2 different medals? I'm confused. Both are really cool, though.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your PR, and a strong finish, too! I have a friend who sometimes runs in a lobster hat. I know she has run the Lost Dutchman in the past, but I think she mentioned that there was another runner in a lobster hat. I have a note out to see if it was her. How's that for 6 degrees of separation!

Anonymous said...

I checked with my friend Huichi (aka Lobster Girl). She was surprised that you recognized her without the hat! I sent her your URL, so maybe she will stop in and say Hi.

Pokey said...

Wowza Pat....you are awesome buddy!!! Congratulations on a huge accomplishment.....another PR!!!!

You always inspire me :)

Some guy named John said...

Sounds like you really demolished that PR! Good job.

E said...

Congrats on a great race and a PR! That's a tough course with those rolling hills so extra big congrats!

Nat said...

Congrats. That's really really impressive. I love when it comes together like that.

(I am also totally jealous of the short every is wearing.)

Jeff said...

Pat -- totally impressive. Great job, my friend. You're doing it all right.

I'm gonna take you're great results and hope to match it in a week for my next half in Tampa.

By the way, I'm way behind on blog reading. Sorry about that my power blogger buddy.