2019 INDEPENDENCE DAY HALF MARATHON RACE REPORT

At the finish!

Year two of the Independence Day Half at Champoeg Park started at 6:45 with my alarm blaring. Unlike last year, I wasn't second guessing my decision to wake up early on a holiday and run my butt off. I was excited to see where I was with my training. It would give me a good baseline for my current fitness level and inform me for the second half of my marathon training.

Breakfast was a Clif bar and a cup of coffee. I've been doing a cup of coffee before my longs runs as well and it seems to really help out. Luckily I was able to "go" this time around at my house and didn't spend the whole run with a slightly rumbly tummy. Getting there was a breeze traffic wise and I parked my car with about a half hour until gun time. I had picked my bib up the day before, so there was nothing to do but wander to the start line and wait.

THE FIRST 10K (7:36, 7:59, 7:52, 7:58, 8:03, 7:50)

I ran into a couple people I knew at the start line, so that was fun to chat with them and pass time until the race started. Eventually I wandered toward the front of the chute and before I knew it the race was off! For whatever reason I wasn't a ball of nerves, I think this time around I was much more sure in my abilities compared to last year. I had to weave around some people at the beginning but nothing too hateful. Within the first quarter mile or so I was in a pocket of people going just about the same speed.

The split times you'll see aren't necessarily accurate. For example, that 7:59... that was not my mile time. It was more like 7:45. This course has some twists and turns in the forest, and when you couple that with all the trees, sometimes the splits aren't quite accurate. Some probably are... the 7:58 is the turnaround with the hill and I can totally believe that time. 8:03 on that next mile though? No way. I was being very steady all all these miles were in the 7:50 range. I was keeping tracking of how far off the mile markers were, so when it said I was running 8:03 but only recorded .96 between the mile markers, I knew not to panic.

Luckily I do have a pretty good sense of pacing so I relied on that a lot since this course just isn't the best in terms of accurate GPS results. It's not terrible, far better than being in a big city with buildings, but just not the best. Anyways, for this first half I was running my target of 7:50s and feeling pretty good. It felt like the correct half marathon pace... you never really know until the later miles if that is true, but I was feeling pretty good about things. If I could just complete the first lap at 7:50ish, then I only needed to average 8:05ish on the next one to stay under 8:00/mile, which was my ultimate goal.

THE SECOND 10K PLUS (7:50, 8:14, 8:02, 8:19, 8:13, 8:16, 8:06)

Again, these splits don't really tell the whole story. I did not run an 8:14 8th mile. That was more like 8:00... again, it missed a lot of back and forth in one area like the lap before. I did slow down though. So while the splits might not be correct, they are instructive in that I slowed by about 20 seconds per mile the last four miles or so. Perhaps I went out a little hot.

Sunstone peeps!

Not much to report on this second loop, just trying to hold on. Some of these lap times were concerning when they flashed, but again, I was keeping track of the beeps in relation to the mile markers and adjusting accordingly. Toward the end the average pace on my watch climbed above 8:00/mi (it actually finished at 8:02), however, I knew this was inaccurate and didn't let it deter me. I was going to end about a quarter mile short on my watch, which translated into something like 8/sec mile. Yes, I was doing this math in my head as I ran, it was good distraction!

As with last year, the second loop is extended a little bit to help us hit 13.1, and that extension is basically a giant hill you have to go up and down. So that's the 8:19 mile. By the time I had finished this part I was ready to be done. My legs were officially tired. In terms of the lung/leg debate, it was my legs letting me down. Maybe I would have felt a little better if I wasn't running this in the middle of marathon training. Who knows. All I knew was that I had to grind those last few miles out.

And grind I did. Based on my math, I knew I would finish below 8:00/mile as long as I could finish them out in 8:15 or less. So that's what I focused on. The final part of the course leaves the shade of the trees and it was actually kind of hot with the sun beating down on me. Regardless, I just kept trucking. In a way this part of a race is kind of fun. When you are struggling a bit but just focus and grind it out. Maybe I'm just weird like that.

THE FINISH AND AFTER PARTY

I rolled through the finish and stopped my watch. Probably a shade under 1:44, meaning I was for sure below 8 per mile. Score! My total distance was also something stupid like 12.89 or something. The course wasn't short, my watch was just cheating me, as expected. Anyways, I was tired but not in terrible shape. I was able to walk around and be normal. Exhausted, sure, but feeling very accomplished.

The after party was fun, because unlike last year, I knew a bunch of people there and we were able to hung out and eat our burgers and drink our beers. I didn't check my results until after I got home, but it pretty much confirmed everything I suspected. 7:46 on the first lap (look at my splits again, I told you they weren't accurate) and 8:04 on the second lap. So even better than I thought. Overall a 7:55/mile pace. Sweet! Not quite the 7:49 of Boring last year, but still early enough in the cycle after a really lazy winter.

Official Results: 1:43:58, 7:55/mile. 21/127 overall, 15/61 male, 5/7 M30-34.