Sham Rocked V
The Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach has been the site of my favorite race memories, as well as a race that has taught me many lessons. This past weekend gave me the best of both worlds.
I set a very ambitious goal for myself of a sub 1:40 half marathon several weeks ago. I knew heading into the weekend that it would be tough, but I was still going to go for it. Changing my mind about my goal before hitting the start line wasn’t something I was prepared to do, but I was ready to adjust once I started running.
The first few miles of the Shamrock Half are all about settling into a pace of people around me and not wasting energy weaving in and out of people. As usual with this event, I held my line as best I could and passed people with some thought — a quick jump to the left or right, then back in line. I certainly didn’t mind bumping elbows with people running 4 or 5 wide.
I hit the first few miles a bit slower than my goal pace — I was hitting high 7:30s when I needed to be 5 seconds or so faster per mile. I picked up the pace a bit around mile 5 and hit 7:27. I knew then that if was going to get sub 1:40 that I needed some miles at a slightly faster pace.
The next few miles felt like a solid hard pace, but I kept hitting my miles in the mid-7:40s. It was around mile 8 that I knew that a sub 1:40 would require a few miles between 7:15-7:20; while I have been known to be able to leave something in the tank for a final kick, I didn’t have that in me yesterday.
At that point I aimed for what I knew was going to happen — a PR. The last 5k of this race felt so weird to me — while I was running hard, I felt like I had a higher gear in me that I couldn’t quite get to. It was like I had one single pace in me all day.
Maybe it was mental in that I knew I couldn’t get a sub 1:40 and I didn’t want to force myself to run harder — honestly I didn’t want to miss a sub 1:40 by 5-10 seconds, but I also didn’t want to hang back and only set a PR by 5-10 seconds.
What transpired on the clock at the end of my 5th Shamrock Half Marathon was just an unbelievable feeling though. Don’t think for one second that I’m disappointed by not hitting 1:39.
I ran the half marathon of my life yesterday in 1:40:48, beating my previous half marathon PR in this same event by more than 2 minutes. That’s about 9 seconds faster per mile.
I’m not sure I’ll ever find the right words to explain what this means to me. This is a huge redemption after not being able to run this race last year.
There are also a lot of things I learned out there yesterday (that I’ll save for future posts) that will only help in future races.
And while I’m still in celebration mode tonight, I’m already looking forward to my Sham Rocked VI post …
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Congratulations!!
Woohoo!
Way to go!!!
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Congrats David!
Nice job bro! Way to go!
Very solid performance, David. Congrats on the major PR! Keep the momentum going….
Thanks Steve. I feel like I'm on the verge of some big changes that will continue to help me.Sent from my iPhone
Congratulations!!
Congratulations, you ran your shamrock off! Sounds like you had a great weekend at the beach away from the race too. I agree with the others above, you're in a good place for marathon training.
After this race I always want to turn my focus on improving on the half distance. It's my favorite. I'll need some motivation by the end of the week to get focused on marathon training. My desire to do another half will be met soon though. No more hints about that.
David: that's all sorts of epicness!! So proud of you buddy.
Thanks so much! I'm hoping that Cleveland treats me well in a couple of months.
Congratulations!!! I ran the Shamrock full-my first marathon!! Your PR is amazing!!
Thanks! Congrats to you as well. Hope you had a great weekend. I'll check out your blog and race report once it's up.
Sounds like you had a solid race and great fun. Congrats
2 minutes is a huge time improvement at that distance. Any plans to go after Sub 140 at a future race?
I'd like to, but it may have to wait until this event next year. The right conditions, especially with weather and flat course, have to fall into place and that won't happen any time soon with other things I have planned this year.
very nice PR David!
Thanks Michael. I hope we can meet up eventually!Sent from my iPhone
Fantastic David! Huge congrats on your PR! I look forward to seeing what's next for you!
Great job, and CONGRATULATIONS on your huge PR! (That is a pretty neat medal too!)
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The medal is awesome, and doubles as a bottle opener.
Big congrats David, that's a great new PR!
so many congratulations!!!! what a great race
I'm totally late to this party (you'll have to forgive me - I was out of town…) but I'm no less enthusiastic when I say:
CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks! It's been a weeklong celebration for me, so this is a great way to close it out!
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Nice work dude! There's always next time for the ideal goal. But setting a new PR is always a great feeling. Next time will be faster. That's my Moto, anyway.
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