Race Report

Goals

Splits

Training

I trained for this race specifically right about when the new year started, so about three full months of training. All throughout training, I tried to incorporate a good amount of speed work in my workouts, which included many days where I would run out to do hill sprint repeats. I dreaded these days at first, but they slowly became some of my favorites in a strange way. As for my longer runs, I chose Saturdays as my long run days where I started at five miles and added a half-mile to my run every weekend. I tried to do these at around an 8:15 min/mi pace, with a target race pace of just under 8:00 min/mile.

The biggest challenge I faced with training came about a week and a half out from race day: my allergies hit me hard which had me out of commission for a few days, and by the time that had recovered to the point where I could run, I had formed a skin infection on my ankle that made it difficult to put weight on my left foot. Because of these things, I did not get to run or even walk until two days before the race. Thankfully, two days before the race, I went out and did an easy 5-mile run to make sure I was okay, and it was questionable. My ankle hurt pretty bad, and I had a very hard time breathing – I had a lightheaded spell around the 3.75 mile mark. I took it easy the rest of the day and hit a light 1.5-mile shakeout run the day before the race. This felt decent, so I went into race day still wanting to achieve my original goal of sub-80-minutes.

Pre-race

I got up early (5:30 AM) to follow my usual morning routine of having my coffee and oats for breakfast and did some dynamic stretching before heading out the door. With the race starting about a mile from my house, I walked over with a friend of mine who was nice enough to get up that early with me so he could walk over with me. I stayed loose while waiting around for the race to start, saying hello to a few familiar faces I saw during the process. There were roughly 2300 people running, and I was able to get a spot pretty close to the front with probably only two or three hundred people ahead of me. I had my AirPods in with my 80-minute playlist I curated the night before ready to go. I was definitely nervous, but I was as prepared as I could be.

Race

My ankle felt pretty bad for the entirety of the race, but I knew I had to push through. I told myself to start slow and let myself make up lost time later in the race, so my first mile came in at 8:21. This was much slower than I intended and slower than I felt like I was running for the effort I was putting in, so this was a bit of a wake-up call. I tried not to overcompensate and made sure to try to get my overall pace closer to 8:00 over the course of the next few miles, and I was able to do so – if I remember correctly, I was able to get it down to 7:56 around the 6-or-7-mile mark.

The 8:00 pacers ran the entire race significantly faster than an 8:00 pace, which threw me off a little bit for a few miles until I realized I was going at the desired pace and they were ahead of it. In their defense, there is a massive hill toward the end of the race which I expect they accounted for in their pacing, but they still finished well in front of me despite finishing in under 80 minutes. A little bit of a surprise to me, but very minor.

The ninth mile of the race is straight uphill through a local neighborhood and has earned the name Heartbreak Hill among Chapel Hill runners. Although I had never run it before, I knew it was coming so I ran my eighth mile pretty easily to save energy for it, and I believe I entered the hill at a 7:57 overall pace. The hill was every bit as difficult as advertised, but I was able to push through it and probably passed close to 100 people on my way up. Those hill sprints sure paid off! By the time I finished the hill and entered the final mile, my overall pace was right at 8:00. This was perfect because I knew I could just run an easy 8:00 pace for the next three-quarters of a mile before really pushing it that last quarter mile – good thing I did a fair amount of 400m repeats during training as well! Sure enough, I was able to book it at the end of the race and finish in under 80 minutes. My gun time was just two or three seconds under 80 minutes, but I knew my chip time would be comfortably under because it took around 13 seconds to reach to start line once the gun sounded. Regardless, it was satisfying to cross the finish line in just under 80 minutes. The weight was finally off my back, and right then I knew all the training was worth it. I may have lost to 369 people, but I felt like the king of the world.

Post-race

My friends were kind enough to show up and greet me at the finish, and it was great to get some pictures taken with them and some other friends who ran the race as well. I grabbed a chocolate milk and a banana from some tents they had set up for the finishers, got my medal, and ultimately walked back home with my friends. We celebrated by going out for an early lunch at Bojangles, which is a good chicken joint if you don’t have them where you are. I had some volunteer work to do later in the afternoon, which was exhausting, but it was a really nice cool down. I went out to some Chapel Hill bars and a house party with my friends that night. It was an amazing day, to say the least, one that I will probably never forget – I’ve only been running for about two years and have come a long way since then, so completing this race at my goal pace meant the world to me. I am so thankful that I have the ability to get up and run every day, and I can’t wait for my next race!