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Sunday, November 16, 2008

The 2 Second PR: The Ft. Lauderdale HM Race Report

Pre-Race:
Have I ever mentioned how fast I am at getting ready in the morning? Well, I am pretty speedy: Before a race, I can get up, get dressed, drink a cup of coffee, read my email, take a poop, walk/feed the dog, and be on my way within 30 minutes. The only thing that threw that timing off this morning was that after I walked Scooter, and as I was pouring my remaining coffee into a portable thermos, I heard the distinct heaving of a pre-barfing dog. We only have two area rugs in our house, the rest is either tile or wood, but the dog always barfs on the carpet, why is this?

Anyway, I was able to dash into the living room, lift the heaving Scooter onto the wood, and allow him to barf there. I gathered the necessary paper towels and began to clean it up while he proceeded to complete the necessary dog puke trifecta (he can never barf just once; it is always 3 times).

Thankfully, he finished up his third barf, and then went and ate his food, so I got it cleaned up and was still on my way to the race right on schedule.

I got there at 5:30 am, parked, walked to the start, stood in line for the porta-potty, and was in my corral by 6 am, ready for the 6:13 start (weird start time, right?).

Start-Mile 7:
The National Anthem was performed, a few fireworks were launched and we were off! The race started on 17th street, right by the port, and we headed west along 17th, and then turned north along US 1 through Ft. Lauderdale. The Garmin lost its signal as we went under the river, so the splits for miles 2 and 3 are off, but split the difference and you'll see that I was right on pace.

Around mile 3, we turned east on Las Olas, and then at 4.5 miles, we joined A1A and headed north. There was a strong wind coming out of the northeast and blowing across the ocean, and a few times I had to hold onto my visor, but the wind mostly gusted, didn't blow steady, so at times I had to fight it, but overall it wasn't bad. The temp, in general, was PERFECT this morning: a cool 68 degrees! Thank you sweet baby jesus.

Just after the 10K marker, I had to hit up a porta-potty again (a little too much coffee I guess), but thankfully, there weren't any lines so the restroom break only cost me about 40 seconds.

Splits:
1: 9:49
2: 10:35
3: 8:49
4: 9:35
5: 9:46
6: 9:44
7: 10:34

Miles 8-Finish:
Running on A1A, especially Ft. Lauderdale's section of it, is the perfect running road: it's flat and straight with a good view of the ocean. So once we had turned onto A1A at 4.5 miles, I knew exactly what the course would entail: run 4 miles north, turn around and run 4.6 back to the beach finish. To me, this is perfect. There's no swerving through city streets, the crowd thins out, and the out and back course is my ideal course (a turn around provides me with a huge mental benefit).

So I was feeling good at the turn around at 8.5 miles and I knew it was just a steady 4.6 to the finish. I kept plugging away and tried to maintain my 9:45 pace, which I did a pretty decent job of, so these miles went pretty smoothly. Sure, I began to suffer from the typical fatigue that settles into your joints and muscles during the last half of a race, but overall, I felt good and I knew that either tying or breaking my PR (by a smidgen) would be possible.

As I neared the 13 mile marker, I picked up the pace: I only had one minute to tie my PR and I had to at least do that much. As I was sprinting toward the finish chute, a guy on crutches chose that moment to cross the race path, I wanted to just plow into him for being so inconsiderate, but instead I mumbled a profanity under my breath, swerved around him and gunned it for the finish line.

Splits:
8: 9:38
9: 9:45
10: 9:48
11: 9:42
12: 9:51
13: 9:42
.28: 2:20 (I guess being nearly 2 tenths of a mile over is a pretty standard Jess-deviation at this point)

Total Time: 2:09:43

Yes! A PR by 2 seconds!! (My previous HM PR was set, as I mentioned yesterday, at A1A -- a nearly identical course -- last February with a time of 2:09:45, so I was pleased to be so consistent with the two races.)

Post-Race:
I got my medal, loaded up with some fruit and a bottle of water and boarded a shuttle back to the start. I felt good afterward, and the only thing I was kicking myself for was that one bathroom break, but hey, if a girl has to pee, she has to pee, dammit.

I got home and Jerry made me breakfast (pancakes and bacon: excellent combo for a post race breakfast -- carbs, sugar, protein, calorie dense).

All in all, this was a good race, and a huge improvement over the HM I ran last weekend. This is the first 13.1 in a series that's being started by the same organizers who do the ING series, so there's gonna be one in Miami in March, one in Chicago in June, and one in Atlanta next fall, and then they'll repeat Ft. Lauderdale next November. I think I will do it again: Great course, well-organized, and a nice medal.

31 comments:

Viv said...

YES! I knew you were going to get that PR, Jess! Bonus on a well run event.
A guy in crutches WTF?!

Props to Jer for making a you a
grand breakfast.

Congratulations!!

Viv said...

Hope Scooter is doing mo betta'

Marci said...

I had a feeling you were going to get a PR! Congratulations!

Hope Scooter is feeling better!

Awesome job!

Erin said...

Yippee! I thought you would love this weather when I got up and let the dogs out. I thought "Jess got her wish, nice cool temps for her run!" Glad you beat your old PR.

Carolina John said...

sweet! 2 seconds is still a PR. good job!

Unknown said...

Very nice!! Congrats. :-)

chia said...

Sheer badassery! Congrats - you earned it :-)

Anonymous said...

Good job on the PR! Sounds like a fun race!

Kelly said...

Congrats!

And now I really want pancakes and bacon.

SavvyFitChica said...

YAY! 2 seconds! Hell, you had a second to spare! lol.

Great job on your new PR and pushing yourself through the finish. You did awesome!

Great race report too.

Oh, and if Scooter ever divulges his reasoning for always finding the carpet to puke on, please tell me so I can discuss it with my furbaby b/c she does the same damn thing!

Casey said...

Great job! Nice pace.

Poor Scoot. Dogs pick weird places for bodily function relief. Oliver was de-pilling one of his sweaters on the bed, running late for work Monday. Wexley was sitting next to him, watching. With all of his 5 lbs of might, Wex lifted his back legs and scooted across the bed and, alas, across the sweater Oliver had been working on so deligently. Needless-to-say, O picked something else to wear.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Way to PR. Glad you enjoyed the course too.

Hope Scooter is feeling better. There is nothing worse than hearing a dogs prepuke sounds. Unfortunately, my dog is a early morning puker, like 3am!

Shoe Running said...

Awesome job with smashing 2 secs of that PR :) Wooooo Hoooooo!

poor pup! I s'pose it's a good sign that he went right for his food after the puke trifecta! Ha ha!

Carly said...

Nice job on the PR! Sounds like it was a nice race. Poor Scooter, I hope he feels better.

X-Country2 said...

Congrats on the PR! Sounds like a great morning in general.

MNFirefly said...

Congrads on PR!

Anonymous said...

Congrats!

Hope your doggie is feeling better!

Aron said...

yahhhh awesome job on the PR!! sounds like a great race :)

Anonymous said...

Brilliant!

Check out that sweet Mile 3!

Congrats!

Marcy said...

NOoooooooooooooo!! Ohhhhh damn that bastard! I would've plowed him over, and then shrugged my shoulders while running to the finish :P

But hey CONGRATS!! All that and you STILL PR-ed! Nice job chica!

Marlene said...

WOOHOO! Congratulations!!

Let's see that medal!

teacherwoman said...

Nice job on the PR! I totally would have knocked that guy over!

Laurel said...

Well, I guess we know why he was on crutches, what an idiot.

GREAT JOB on the PR!!! Congratulations!

My dog always barfs on the rugs too. I have no idea why.

David said...

Man, great job girl! I mean, doing all that and pooping within 30 minutes? That's awesome!!

Oh, and the PR was pretty great, too.

:-)

In case I didn't mention before, I'm doing the Kiawah Island marathon on Dec 5th (or 6th, I forget). Yeah, taking this one super seriously! LOL

Brooke said...

awesome job! Aren't PRs the best? and btw- I will totally take you on with the hula hooping...I won a contest at a bar last year outlasting everyone else!

Wes said...

That must feel pretty good!! Totally rock-in! I guess we'll add the Scooter dealio to the list of unanswered questions!! I hope you come do Atlanta next year. It would be great to see you!!

sRod said...

Woo hoo! Congrats!

B. Kramer said...

Congrats on the new PR. And solid work on the post-race breakfast. Though I don't see anything about beer. You must have forgotten to blog about it. Cheers!

AddictedToEndorphins said...

AWESOME RACE:) GREAT JOB JESS!!

runner26 said...

Congratulations! A PR is a PR! No matter how close!

...and hilarious sink story, btw ;)

J~Mom said...

Congrats! I dream of those times!