City of Oaks Half Marathon Recap

This was my second year running the City of Oaks half marathon. Last year I learned that I don't have any clue about running hills. This year I learned that I still know nothing about running hills. Remember when I thought that, of my 3 halfs this fall, the Hokie Half would be the hilliest? Well, let me just tell you: that was incorrect.

Observe:

Top: Hokie Half. Bottom: City of Oaks Half. I know the scales are different BUT STILL.

Until 3 weeks ago, last year's City of Oaks was my half marathon PR: 2:09:59. I was super ecstatic about that time last year, because I got in under 2:10, which had been my goal at a race earlier that year. And I did it despite having a head cold, running a mile before the race started (had to get in 14 miles total for marathon training), and never having run hills before (and there were plenty).

When I lined up at the starting line this year, again I wasn't expecting a particularly great race. My weekday runs last week all felt terrible. After two big PRs recently, I was tired. I knew I wasn't in mental or physical shape to run a hard race, so I had asked Ben earlier in the week if he wanted me to run with him and/or pace him. He said he did but he didn't have an exact goal, so we planned on finishing anywhere between 2:00 and 2:10, depending on how we felt.

The first few miles were mostly downhill, which was nice at the time, but I made sure to warn Ben that that was going to be the easiest part of the race. We ran them faster than I think either of us expected to, but we both felt good so we kept it up.  The 2:00 pacer was well ahead of us, which made me feel bad for all the people following him because he went out way faster than I think I would have wanted to if that were my goal. Miles 1-3 were 8:52, 8:46, 8:57.

Right at the mile 4 marker we started a pretty big climb, and it was up and down for a long time after that. The next few miles took us through a little bit of downtown Raleigh before we headed to a more residential area. At some point we caught up to the 2:00 pacer, and we played back and forth with that group for the rest of the race. All I could think about for the first half of the race was how amazing it would be for me and Ben to finish together, AND to finish under 2 hours. I had been keeping tabs on our pace the whole time and was sure we'd be able to do it with at least a minute or two to spare. Miles 4-7 were 8:57, 8:56, 8:48, 9:08. I don't know what happened to make us slow down during mile 7, but overall I was really surprised by our consistency!

Soon after that we passed the 10k finish line and relay exchange, which was great because there were a lot of people out cheering. But right after that we hit a HUGE hill, and then another really big, long hill after it. Essentially, 7.5-8.5 was a huge climb (and of course it was up, down, up, down even after that). We turned a corner and I distinctly remembered it as being the one where I developed my "What goes up must come down" mantra that I kept repeating to myself through the end of last year's race. That mile really took it out of me. I might have just been a little fatigued since I hadn't eaten anything since before the race, and I wasn't convinced my stomach would play nice if I tried to eat my raisins mid-race. Whatever it was, I was getting tired. There was another long climb from 9.5-10.5, not nearly as big as the previous one, but a climb nonetheless. At some point along that hill, I was really done. I was pretty sure I'd still finish under 2 hours, but I didn't want to chance it for Ben so I told him to go ahead without me. There had been a couple times that I wanted to walk before that and didn't, but I was done with hills at that point. It really wasn't that bad, but I just wasn't in the mood to kill myself that day. I took a walk break and almost immediately I got passed by the 2-hour pacer right as the hill crested (I'm glad I knew he was way ahead of schedule!), and I heard him say that that was the last big hill.  I didn't want to walk too much because I knew I'd be mad at myself if I came that far and didn't get a sub-2, so I ran enough to keep my average pace at 9:00 or below. I walked a water station to get some Gatorade and water in hopes it would give me enough of a boost until the end. Miles 8-11 were 8:53, 9:07, 8:58, 9:53.

When we got to the mile 11 marker, we made a turn to separate from the marathoners. It was about a half mile in one direction, then we'd turn around and run straight to the finish line. I remember this part being really awful last year, I think because it was a little hotter that day, but it wasn't so bad this year. I got to the turnaround and before I knew it, I was in the home stretch. I was thankful when I turned around and realized the wind was at our back, and my pace did pick back up for the last couple miles. When I got to the mile 12 marker I was right around 1:49:00 on my watch, so all I needed to do was maintain a 10:00 pace for the last 1.1 miles to get in under 2 hours (if you've ever wondered how I don't get bored running long distance, it's because I spend at least 50% of the time doing mental math). Even though there were some hills on that last stretch, they weren't nearly as bad as I remembered, and the last mile was mostly downhill.

Before I knew it I was running by the NC State campus toward the finish. There were a lot of people out at that point and I kept scanning to see if I could find my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and friend who were there. I passed the mile 13 marker and kicked into high gear to cross my 41st finish line. Ben ended up finishing only 50 seconds ahead of me, which made me glad I didn't really lose much time with my walk breaks. I'm actually happy I took them because it made the finish much easier, and I had an awesome kick right at the end.  Miles 12 and 13 were 8:53 and 8:30, and the last .1 was 7:03.

Of all the things I thought would never happen in my running career, running not one but TWO half marathons with this dude would probably be #1.

And, with that, my 9th half marathon was in the books! At 1:58:20 it wasn't my fastest, but I think I can live with that ;)

AND! I got to meet Lisa after the race! I knew she was running but we weren't able to coordinate before the race, so I was super excited when I was standing around after the race and heard my name and turned around to see her! I didn't introduce her to family because I didn't want to have to tell them about this here blog, and later when my sister-in-law asked me how I knew her, I responded, "The Internet." I'm really smooth like that. Anyway. This was her first half and she finished in 2:14, on that crazy course no less. How amazing is that?! Only in my dreams would I have had any shot of finishing my first half in that time. You go, Lisa. Now if only we can get Alyssa in on that City of Oaks action next year...

I have to say, I signed up for this race mostly because I remembered how beautiful and quintessentially fall I thought the course was last year, but it didn't impress me as much this year. Not because it wasn't beautiful (it was!), but because all the fall foliage wasn't so novel for me this year. Since I no longer live at the beach and now live in an area that, honestly, looks pretty similar to Raleigh (i.e. it's like a mountainous fall wonderland every day), the course just didn't strike me the same way. It was still a really pretty race, and the weather was perfect for running (maybe a little chilly for those North Carolinians, but I was into it). It was well-organized, the swag was nice, and the post-race activities were great. I really have nothing but good things to say about this race and hope to be back again next year! I don't know what it is about the City of Oaks but I seem to do some of my best running there, even when it feels unlikely.