Florida Holiday Distance Classic

My first half marathon! Technically, I've done one in Ironman Augusta 70.3 and within the Clearwater marathon, but this is my first half-marathon distance race. We had reservations for brunch afterwards, so it was really important that I finish close to two hours, but we were late anyways since my run partner placed first in their age group and we had to wait for their award.

The Night Before...

I only had three hours of sleep. I panicked not being able to sleep and ChatGPT had to talk me off the ledge. Apparently endurance sports only requires good sleep throughout the week, but the night before you can get away with poor sleep as the adrenaline carries you through the race.

I woke up past my alarm clock and left the house within 5 minutes. I didn't get the chance to use the bathroom like I normally did. We got there about ten minutes before the race started. I tried to go right before the start of the race and it was simply too soon.

It became a problem after a few miles. I quickly learned that there weren't many bathrooms on the course. It really started to slow me down. I finally found a port-o-potty and the guy in front of me got to it first. I waited because I felt the trade-off in comfort for time would be worth it and it certainly was, and there was no guarantee there'd be more opportunities to go.

Beast Mode Activated

Keeping a 9-minute pace surprised me because that's barely slower than my 5K pace at run club. I did a 15K the week before at a similar pace and that felt like everything I had. Once I got around 10-miles, it was psychological warfare. I had to do an additional 5K and keep up the pace, which didn't seem possible if this pace was the best I could do for a 15K.

Shuffle on my Liked Songs playlist was too risky, I needed to lock-in, so I started to listen to some slamming brutal death metal, Saprogenic's "The Wet Sound of Flesh On Concrete,"" to help me channel some animalistic instincts. I locked-in and felt like a prey chasing its predator, since, you know, I am chasing much better runners.

It wasn't until the last mile I started to feel some actual physical discomfort. Not cramps, but something else; honestly not sure what to call it. Side stitches? I wanted to push myself further and sprint for the finish line, but I had to control myself because I knew I would blow up and have to stop. There were two girls I wanted to pass and they definitely helped me push through, but I never passed them and I was hidden behind them in all the finish line photos. The last 1.5 miles were my fastest pace, so I know I gave it my best, but I was really limited by the pain.

Lessons Learned

Overall, I feel I did better than I expected. Strava almost predicted my half-marathon time perfectly, but I was a little slower. If I could've avoided the bathroom and maybe drank less water, I could have shaved off an extra 5 minutes or so probably.

Do you know what's really insane? The OCD to want to put toilet paper on the seat when you're already super sweaty and dirty is strong, and that definitely wasted a ton of time. Next time I'm just going to have seat protectors on my car and be more savage...