Conquering the 'hill'

A couple weeks ago, I ran the North Shore Half Marathon in Highland Park, IL. I ran this race last year and I was not even close to prepared for the race. I had signed up 2 weeks before race day having run no further than 8 miles prior to the race. I didn't expect to do great, but never thought I'd have to walk up a couple large hills and post my worst 1/2 marathon time ever......


So, when I signed up this year, I made it my personal goal to conquer the infamous 'Park Avenue Beach Hill' (or famous as the organizers call it).....



It was a beautiful day for a race, and I planned to start off around an 8:00-8:15 per mile pace and see how I was feeling after the infamous hill (which was around mile 8). The race started and everything felt great - I was running with Ian again (see my last post for the blistering pace he made me run in my last race), and I thought we were going a little fast. When I looked down close to the 1 mile mark and saw that we were going to finish the first mile in under 7:30, I told Ian to go ahead as I couldn't hold that pace through this course for 12.1 more miles. I still did the first two miles in under 7:30 each, but then settled in closer to my 8:00 pace.

Mile 6 started the long rolling hills - I didn't remember these from last year, but I've always liked running hills - I know, that's a bit demented - but I just have. At mile 8, I started looking for the hill - then we hit a hill that was much smaller than I remembered - this couldn't be the hill I remembered - this was nothing. I passed the mile 9 marker and was very confused on where this monstrous hill at mile 8 was that I remembered so well. Then I rounded a corner and there it was. It was just as long and steep as I remembered. When you can look straight ahead and see the feet of the person in front of you, you know you're running a real hill. I pushed my pace as I ran up the hill and passed several people. It was actually sort of funny to watch everyone push their pace, but actually slow down - sort of looked like we were all moving in slow motion. a couple minutes later, I made it to the top - a little winded, but I had conquered the hill! Goal accomplished! Time to call it a day - then I realized that I still had almost 4 miles to run - ugh!

My pace slowed considerably through those hilly miles, but I was still averaging about 8:10 per mile - not bad. I really just wanted to finish under 1:50 to qualify for a start corral at the Chicago Marathon. At mile 11, I looked down and thought - I could do under 1:45 if I really push these last 3 miles - so I started pushing. I did the last 3 miles in under 8:00 each, and the last mile in under 7:30. I finished the race in 1:44:27 a new personal record! I never expected to do that - especially on this hilly course. Just goes to show you how far determination to accomplish a goal can go!

Now the 'real' training for the Chicago Marathon is starting - I have no idea what my goal should be for that - so far this year I've exceeded every goal I've set - but I know the last few miles of a marathon are a different beast - we'll see how my training goes over the summer before I start to think about time/pace goals...for now I just want to make it through training injury free.

Get out there and run.....