Monster Dash Half Marathon - October 27, 2012

It's been a long 6 months since my last race.  In early may I injured my left foot and was on crutches for a few days.  The injury was diagnosed as Metatarsalgia...the swelling of the metatarsals (the balls of my left foot).  It happened on a 10 mile run where I ignored the warning signs that something was not right.  Big mistake.  I was unable to run for two months before completely healed.  Once I began running again, it became clear that I was starting all over again, having lost so much in the two month layoff.

I missed Grandma's Marathon in June.  I was also registered for Twin Cities Marathon in early October.  My training/rebuilding process had several setbacks.  No injuries, but other factors that prevented me from building back into marathon shape.  My base mileage was not where it needed to be in early October.  15 mile runs were my max.  I felt like I was getting back into half marathon shape.  So I decided to run Twin Cities with the pre-determined plan to intentionally drop out somewhere after the midway point.  It felt weird dropping out at mile 16 and not finishing the race.  First time I didn't finish a race in my life.  I kept telling myself it was the right thing to do.  I had a half marathon (Monster Dash) on my calendar in late October I wanted to run.  Gutting my way to the finish line at Twin Cities would have meant a long post race recovery and jeopardized my final training for Monster Dash.

As Monster Dash approached, I was nervous and excited.  After not racing for so long it felt brand new again.  The weather was cold (25-30 degrees), but winds were not much of a factor and it was dry and sunny.  Virtually the same race conditions we had at Twin Cities a few weeks earlier.  I felt confident I could run well today despite not crossing a finish line in 6 months.    



 

I went for broke right from the start and felt good running a 6:45 mile pace.  The course runs West on Summit Avenue in St Paul from the Cathedral, all the way to the river and then follows the river south and east back into downtown St Paul where it finished.  With about 5 miles to go I knew I was on pace to challenge my best time.  I was able to improve my overall pace a few seconds as the race progressed. 

 

I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:28:02, beating my prior best half marathon by one minute and 13 seconds.  My fastest half marathon among the 14 I've completed.  My overall pace was 6:43/mile.  I finished 78th overall among 6,030 finishers and 3rd in my age group among 81 finishers.

 

Race results

http://www.mtecresults.com/race/show/1224