Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon

I recently joined the newly formed Marathon Maniacs off-shoot: the Half Fanatics. I hadn’t run a half marathon since I stepped up to the marathon distance, but my brief foray into the 13.1 mile world back in 2005 was enough to get me a “Moon” status with the Half Fanatics. And since I am now a card carrying member, I thought I should at least run the local half sponsored by our club.

That’s how I found myself standing at the foggy start line of the Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon. My last race was the Seattle Rock and Roll, then I decided to take the summer off and concentrate on my speed and strength. This half marathon fell on a day that I was scheduled to run 16 easy miles with 2 x 3 miles of harder effort. I figured I could run the race then tack on an extra 3 miles after the finish to hit my goal distance. For the actual race, I would run the first 6 miles slowly (as per my training plan), then pick up the 3 miles repeats with a mile jog in between. That plan would bring me flying into the finish, even though my overall effort would be relatively slow. I lined up with my friend Cat, and we took off through the fog. Around mile 4 the course started to climb as we ascended the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. This section of the course was appropriately narrow as we dodged and weaved around slower runners. Coming off the bridge, I expected to find the course flatten out. I was surprised to find we were still climbing… and climbing…. and climbing. Cat and I continued to run at a pace that allowed us to chat, I resisted the urge to glance at my watch since I knew pace didn’t matter at this point in the race.

My watch beeper went off and it was time to pick up the pace. I bid Cat farewell, and I strided off, still running uphill. 25 minutes later, I approached the “fun” part of the course… running around the bases and Cheney Stadium. I hoped to hit this section during my jog recovery so I could enjoy it, but unfortunately I was still in my speed phase and concentrating on driving down my average pace. I hit the end of my 3 mile effort the same time I closed in on 3rd base. A glance of the watch indicated an average pace of 8:11 minutes per mile for the first repeat. Fast for me! I jogged my mile recovery and started to wonder if I could even come close to that speed during my second repeat.

I didn’t have to wonder too long before my beeper went off, signaling the start of another hard effort. My watch was set to show me my average pace for the repeat and I made a game out of trying to drive the pace down as the distance passed. I started to pass a lot of runners those last 3 miles, some of which I had leap-frogged with several times during the course of the morning. On one particularly fast section, around mile 12, I passed a very fit looking runner who had passed me several times during my easy run phases and she shouted “just who are you?”. I laughed and responded “just out doing a little training run, see you at the finish” as I left her behind. My second 3 mile effort came in at an 8:04 average. I crossed the finish line in 1:53:20 for a new personal record. I turned around and started running back up the course, but offset by a block so I wouldn’t actually be on the course, and finished my final 3 miles. I was very pleased with my time, especially since I ran the first half at such an easy pace. Hopefully this is a sign that my hard work this summer is paying off and I’ll get that Boston Qualifier in September.