queen bee half marathon

Earlier this week, I discovered that there was a half marathon in Cincinnati on Saturday morning...and that the weather forecast looked amazing. So... I was able to get my second and last half marathon of this training cycle in!!!

Found a bell....

Last year, three weeks out for Berlin, I ran the River Run Half Marathon in 1:44:52.  I was very focused on trying to keep it a "training" run...though honestly I think I was scared to race.  Or maybe I didn't want to set my new half marathon PR on yet another downhill course. So, I very actively made sure to slow my legs down on this course - course elevation below.

This year, three weeks out for Marine Corps, I ran the Queen Bee Marathon in 1:40:22. I did not attempt to slow my legs at all. I wanted to see what I was capable of. This was the course elevation.

First off, the Queen Bee Half Marathon is organized by the Flying Pig Marathon team - Cincinnati's late spring marathon that is super fun (apparently). It is a women's half marathon but guys can run too, they just have to start in the back and there are no awards for them.  The expo was in downtown Cincinnati and it was a pretty legitimate expo for a half marathon and four miler.  We got a shirt, headband, bag and poster as participants. They gave me the four miler shirt but oh well. I was having a crisis at the headband stand at the expo, and ultimately walked away with nothing - so I was relieved that we got a free headband. I also studied the mile aid stations and was amazed to see how many stations there were - each mile had a station with a sweet treat, and the water stations were actually at good spots for my gel consumption! 

I did not realize there was peppermint patties. I would have taken advantage of this .

I also noticed that the first 5.5 miles of the race kind of looked ridiculous in terms of hills but I shrugged, figuring Marine Corps was going to be like that too so this would be a good challenge.

Race morning - it was 40 degrees!!! I had my second crisis over what to wear. Do I wear my singlet and arm warmers or a straight up long sleeve? Gah!! So I brought all of it down to the race since I'd be doing gear check anyway. When I parked, and walked the half mile or so to the start, it honestly felt a little warm out (for knowing it was 40) so I changed into the singlet, arm warmers and gloves which ultimately ended up being the right decision.

The start was interesting - they had corrals. Hive "A" was those predicting to finish under 1:40, Hive "B" was 1:45-2 hours, and then the other Hives went on from there. There was hardly anyone in A..or B really. So that made the start nice and easy! Granted we started going up a hill...

The race started and I was like.. let's just try to hold 7:55s through the first half and see what happens. 

That plan totally worked.

There was a Kleenex station at like the first quarter mile so I grabbed one since the nose was runny (P&G was a main sponsor). They should have been at the end too.. Then honestly it was hills upon hills. But the course support was top notch. At one point, maybe around mile 3, there was a really nice view overlooking the Ohio River so that was cool. I tried to take in the scenery and neighborhoods as much as I could and I think that helped a ton! And like the course support once again... I at least smiled at everyone out there that I could and said thank you when I felt like I could talk and I think that also made a huge difference. Also my amount of liquid consumption while trying to run was hilarious..I drank very little from the aid station around mile 5 then stopped for a few moments at mile 11 to have gatorade.

The elevation is in grey - my heart rate in red. My heart rate averaged out at 158 which is my typical heart rate for hard effort training runs. Not sure what happened there at mile 10ish..

So.. the aid station descriptions gave me the impression that the course was downhill from there after mile 5.5. Even a few people on the street said it was downhill and flat from that point but haaaaaaaaa, not real. Granted it was not extreme hills like the first half but it was definitely rolling hills. Mentally though, I fought back at this and said hey, get over it - what goes up, comes down and you have so much more in you- don't get stuck in your comfort zone. Physically I had no ailments. No cramps, no weak spots with my hips, glutes. I was concerned that the first half would come back to bite me but it never did. So that's awesome to go into Marine Corps knowing my body can cope with the hills!

More reasonable paces...

I made a promise to myself that I would not do the math to figure out my finish time until Mile 10. Though I was pretty sure I was on track to a 1:40 before Mile 10. Once that Mile hit, I knew I calculated that I had to hit sub 8s to finish at 1:40 - taking into account that my Garmin was hitting the miles quicker than the mile markers...which I'll take. I rather a course be long than short.

Loved my $6 arm warmers!!!

As I knew, there was a significant uphill right before mile 13 so that was fun. I lost a little steam there but picked the pace back up for the last .1 miles... and finished in 1:40:22! I couldn't believe it - I had finally earned that new PR! And let me remind you that current PR was from a course with over a 1274 feet of decline...and 76 feet of gain.  If you don't count that as my PR, then the Akron Half two weeks ago was my PR of 1:43...So. I am in the best shape I have been in. Which is really exciting. This puts my potential at a 3:31 marathon. To qualify for Boston I have to run a sub 3:30. Anything is possible! 2 weeks until Marine Corps Marathon!!!

Nothing like a photographer grabbing your pic 15 seconds after you finish, lol.