Have you ever accomplished something after a relatively big setback and wondered how you did it?
I sure have.
This is maybe the 3rd or 4th time in the past decade where I’ve recovered from a setback only to come back with a newfound confidence that I didn’t have before.
Every time that I’ve emerged victorious from my past setbacks, I’ve been extremely grateful that I found the strength, discipline and perhaps maybe even a little bit of luck that enabled my recovery.
I once shared some of my setbacks with a running friend of mine when we drove to a race together. The first question she asked me was: “How did you manage to get through it all without a mental breakdown?”
My response to her was that the reason why I did not suffer a mental breakdown is because I still had a few people who stood by me and supported me. Furthermore, deep down, I always believed that this is not how it was going to end for me, especially after everything that I’ve worked for and done. I do everything with the purest of intentions in hope that something I do will create a positive impact on other people.
No matter what, somewhere deep inside I found a way to carry on and improve the situation. For that, I will continue to express my eternal gratitude. To those who made my recovery possible (you know who you are)- THANK YOU.
So, what does this have to do with my “shocking” Mesa-PHX Half Marathon Race Recap?
Let’s go back to the beginning-middle of 2016. I was so injured, burned out and sick that I wondered if I would ever make it to the start of a half marathon again. I also didn’t think I would ever finish faster than 2 hours again.
My confidence was completely shot when stairs were difficult and my knee/back would hurt when I went up the stairs (due to a back adjustment gone wrong). Sometimes, it hurt to walk. Other times, I’d have a difficult time trying to press the gas and brake pedal in my car due to the lack of leg strength.
In 2016, I took a little more than 3 full months off exercise and slowly built up strength over the past year and a bit.
Before taking 3 months off exercise in 2016, the last half marathon I ran was a complete “sufferfest” that took me 1:46. It’s a race that, given the circumstances at the time, I should not have started.
For someone whose best time in the distance is 1:28, the 1:46 really took the wind out of my sails. Then, I also lost the motivation to run because it hurt every time I tried.
It was only this year that I felt I could perform the half marathon distance again. When I registered for the Mesa-PHX Half Marathon, I did not put any pressure on myself.
I had no expectation of any kind of stellar finish time.
My intent was only to finish and enjoy running in a new place, perhaps meet some great people.
Hours before the race:
It was an unusually cold (for Arizona!) Saturday morning. We had to arrive in the starting area quite early. Then, we all patiently huddled around the heaters before the start. My A goal was to break 1:40. However, I didn’t think I would be close. I predicted it would take me over 1:50, maybe even 2 hours.
So, what did I do when I didn’t really think I was going to break 1:40?
I lined up with the 1:40 pacer. I chatted with him for a while before we got going. Running with the 1:40 pace group allowed me to start sensibly. Had I lined up with the 1:30 group, it probably would have been wishful thinking at that point. Even 1:40, I thought, was wishful thinking. Deep down though, I wanted to come out ahead of that.
I ran the first 2k relatively slow. My pace was 4:46 per km. I was feeling awesome and surprised. I knew 2k in that it was going to be a good run, no matter what my final finish time will be.
However, I also felt that with 19k remaining, anything could happen. Therefore, the first 2k are never cause for celebration if you are running a half marathon.
I decided to take a leap of faith and sped up a bit for kms 3-11, running each between 4:20-4:40, averaging 4:30. There were 2 guys that I was trying to keep pace with. Then, I passed them.
When I reached km 11, I thought to myself: this is only slightly over half way and I hope I didn’t speed up too early.
Above: Still can’t make a good face in race photos! LOL
What happened next was just unbelievable!
I was shocked to see that I ran kms 12-14 between 4:09 and 4:14. I was speeding up and it was the 2nd half of the race. The 15th km was even more shocking….3:55. I was cruising and the slight downhill was helping for sure.
Then, the shocking km splits just continued: 3:56, 3:49, 3:44, 3:48, 3:40, 3:38. I could not believe my eyes when I looked at my Garmin. Pure shock and disbelief. Just WOW!
I was going fast and each time I caught up to a person, my goal was to either stay with them or pass them. A few people still passed me but I could not possibly be disappointed when I was seeing sub 4 min kms on my Garmin.
Above: “I can’t believe I’m speeding up a bit!”
Shockingly, I finished the last km in 3:23. It’s the 2nd fastest km I’ve ever ran. When I ran a sub 3:20 km in the past, it was when I was only doing 1km.
In conclusion:
They say, a half marathon is 21.1km. According to the total distance as shown on my Garmin, sticking to the middle of the roads and going side to side to go around people added 2km to my total this morning, which is a mile and a quarter. My Garmin read 23.2km, which is possible because I didn’t run the turns properly and sometimes weaved around people a bit.
The net elevation loss, especially with a lot of gradual downhill, dry air and perfect temperature enabled me to run a 37:35 10k towards the end of my half, as well as 18:05 for 5k, finishing the last km in 3:23 (I’m getting these numbers from my Garmin).
Not looking at the watch as much as I usually did in the past and looking forward definitely helped as well. Starting very slow also helped.
The net finish time according to the official results is 1:36:31. My Garmin says I was just under 1:27 for the half. Although it is not an official PB, it would have been if I didn’t manage to add an extra 2km to my race. This is definitely promising and hoping for good results in the future.
Above: My Garmin reading from the day, 23.2 km in 1:36:xx rather than 21.1km in 1:36:31. Definitely different from official results, but I didn’t run my corners properly.
Overall, I finished 287th out of 3847 runners in total (based on net time, top 10% of all finishers). I was the 76th woman overall (out of 2230, which is top 5%) and 17/190 in my age group.
I should have looked at the course map before starting to learn there the turns were. Without a doubt, I want to come back to run the Mesa-Phx Marathon (half) again. If you’re a runner looking for a PB, you can definitely accomplish that goal on this course.
I loved the course and wish I can run it again!
Above: I give the finisher medal 5 STARS. It’s a beautiful medal and looks amazing hanging on my wall.
This is a very awesome run. The best part of it all, is how I felt at the finish- no struggle, no pain, no suffering.
Just a good, strong finish with hopefully even better things to come.
If you are an injured runner reading this-I urge you not to lose hope.