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St. Luke's Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Allentown, Pennsylvania
United States
St. Luke's Half Marathon
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 55m 28s
Overall Rank = 3237/3340
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 301/310
Pre-race routine:

Rode with 2 friends, one of which was racing. Steph and I picked up Lindsay after she was finished doing a chilly (~55*F, better than it was about a month ago when she swam, ~49*F) OWS to prep for her upcoming Alcatraz swim and headed to the expo and registration. After picking up our bibs and shirts and black ribbons to remember Boston, we ran into a girl from the tri club who told us another friend from the tri club couldn't make it, so Steph went and picked up her bib & shirt (with the intention of racing with it the next day). Steph now became Stacey for the remainder of the weekend, LOL!

I found a sweet bright orange RUSeen shirt with a reflective zombie on the front and the (reflective) words, "In case of zombies I'm tripping you" on the back. Score! (see screen grab from website in my pics and imagine the black as orange). Picked up 2 other bright and reflective shirts for my niece and nephew in WV who run. I was on the prowl for new road sneakers but didn't find any I wanted in my size, but I did find a lovely pair of Brooks Cascadia 7 trail sneaks on huge discount since they are the previous year's model. Score!

Headed to our friends' house to have dinner and spend the night. Almost got chomped by their huge malmute; thankfully I have quick reflexes and no injury was received. Slept so-so, and morning arrived before long. Toasted and ate a wheat bagel with peanut butter and drank some iced tea, consumed all this in the car on the way to the race. Once we arrived to the race area, we hung out in the car for a little, then hit the port-a-johns and scoped out the start area. Headed back to the car to ditch the extra clothes and grab race essentials. Put some 2Toms (thanks, Janyne, for the tip!) on to prevent the legs of my shorts from chafing my skin. Took hits from both my inhalers (asthma). After waiting in the car a bit longer, we headed toward the start to visit the large, plastic rectangles again, only now the lines were MUCH longer. After spending > half hour in line, we finally got our turns as they were lining up the racers to start. Took care of business as fast as possible and ran to the starting area, where the crowd was already slowly progressing forward.
Event warmup:

Running from port-a-johns to race start area, dodging spectators all the while!
Run
  • 2h 55m 28s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 13m 23s  min/mile
Comments:

Slowly made it with the crowd to the starting line, nimbly jumped up to tap the banner, landed, and started my Garmin. I just began my first half marathon! Next came some waterworks. Was it nervousness? Excitement? Fear? Being very caught up in the moment? Probably all of the above. I choked back the worst of it and kept on moving. My goal, per my training levels and McMillan's calculator, was to keep my pace between 11:00-11:15, no slower than 11:30. My overall goal was to finish in under or around 2 hrs. 30 minutes, and the pace listed above would get me there with perhaps a little extra push at the end.

As we wound our way through the first of the parks, I tried to take it all in: the beauty of the day, the other racers, the excitement in the air. I showed appreciation to each band we passed by clapping my hands in the air or singing or yelling. Dork. Yup. :)

I kept an eye on my Garmin to be sure I stayed in my pace range. Check, doing good. Since I started at the literal end of the whole group thanks to the long bathroom lines, I passed a fair amount of folks in the first few miles. I had my Fuel Belt on so I could drink what I wanted when I wanted and I had my gels in there, too. Sipped a bit of water around mile 2, ate a Gu Roctane around mile 4 with some more water. Passed Lindsay and Steph (Stacey, ha!) as they were coming back the out and back and got a hugh high 5 from Linds. Feeling good, enjoying the experience, enjoying the day, enjoying the crowd and bands. Noticed a small rock in my shoe early on, probably between miles 1 and 2 but it was up near my toes and not really causing a problem so I let it be.

Mile 5. Still feeling mostly good, but something seemed off. Further self-evaluation, I was slowly feeling more and more 'off'. Head felt a little funny and legs were starting to feel a bit tired. This doesn't make sense, I thought. I shouldn't feel like this yet, not for another few miles at least. Continued self-monitoring made me realize I was starting to have trouble breathing. WTF?! I pushed on, feeling noticeably worse as time passed. OK, now I was really having trouble getting enough air, so I decided to walk a little. I remember looking at the distance on my Garmin: 5.32 miles and I was perturbed that I needed to walk that soon even if it was physically necessary. Now the very scary part: the bronchial constriction and chest tightening continued to worsen as I walked, not improve. Breathing was very compromised, like the breathing through a straw analogy. Crap, not cool. I pressed my hand to my chest trying to ease the pain and somehow open things up. Crazy thoughts ran through my head about having an actual medical incident/emergency right there in the street and actually needing to utilize the RoadID I wear, which would let people who found me know I have asthma and they can have my organs if I croak. Surely this slight panic didn't help my situation any. I continued walking and clutching my chest and trying to calm myself and my airway down. I don't know how far I walked, but after things improved somewhat, I tried running again, although slower. This didn't work so well.

I slowly ran/walked for a while, and noticed the dang stone in my shoe had moved toward the ball of my foot, so I figured I've already shot my race in the butt, I may as well stop and take the stone out. I headed over to a tree, took off my shoe, shook the stone out, replaced the shoe and slowly ran again. Soon after that, we headed over a bridge and up a hill to the other parkway. Part of the way up the hill I needed to stop again because my airway was too constricted. I slogged up the hill, holding my chest and audibly wheezing, feeling so frustrated/mad/embarrased/disappointed all in one. Other racers nearby heard the strange, wheezy breathing noises I was making and looked at me as they passed. Man, I feel like a total loser.

We headed down into the parkway on a very loose, deep, small stone path. My frequent walk breaks and frustration over the situation were growing. I tried to distract myself by taking in the lovely scenery: the nearby creek, the blossoming trees, the peacefullness of the park. It worked with only minimal success: I was headed down the ugly, dark spiral staircase, hating being in the race, hating being asthmatic, hating myself for all sorts of real and imagined slights. I stopped looking at my Garmin because it was making me more and more frustrated about my lack of performance and the realization that my first half marathon was not going to have the outcome I'd hoped and trained for. Emotional darkness and psychological torment leeched themselves deeper and deeper into my psyche. Just keep plugging away as best you can so this misery can end, I told myself. I considered throwing myself off some of the little bridges over the creek as we went over them. (didn't seriously think about it, they weren't tall enough - kidding!)

At this time (I don't know what mile since I had stopped caring at that point) a voice spoke as a lady approached me from behind. "How are you doing?" ACK!! At this time, that apparently was not quite the thing my brain wanted to hear and the waterworks tried to start again as I answered her in a cracking voice, "Not so good right now. I'm kind of an emotional mess". I don't remember what else I said or what she said, all I know is she said we'll stick together and finish this together. At this moment she was nothing short of an angel because I truly needed someone or something to pull me out of the abyss. I have never, ever, felt so discouraged and disheartened during a race before.

My angel, Mary Ellen, was awesome. We chatted as we walked/slow ran and along the way she had many friends and family cheering her on it was so wonderful, although this made me a little sad, too, since my family doesn't come to races, nor do many, if any, of my friends or even my husband (he's been to 2 tris and that's it of all my races, ever). At some point one of her sons joined us to run and was very good company. Finally as we got back into the park near the end, another group of her friends/family joined us. We were now a posse of 8! She was so dear, introducing me right away to any new people of hers spectating or joining us, making me feel part of them, if that makes sense. Together our group got closer and closer to the end. In the distance I could hear and see Steph, who had already finished, yelling and jumping, cheering for me which made me smile. The end was finally near!! Mary Ellen and her clan and I and Steph made our way up the semi-steep, mean little hill up to the track. My friend and most of her posse peeled off, but one guy stayed with us, urging us both to run on the inside lane of the track where it was shorter. Bless his dear heart, looking after me as well as her. Mary Ellen and her clan are good people! At one point she said, "I don't think I can keep running until the end!" I rubbed her arm and said, "Yes you can, come on, we got this!!" In the final 50 yards I let her go ahead, letting her sprint to the line and have her moment. About 3 seconds later, I crossed as well and saw Lindsay standing there waiting for me with my medal! She asked a volunteer if she could put my medal on me and the volunteer obliged. Such a great moment, sharing that memory with my friend. Unfortunately, the sense of accomplishment and achievement I was hoping for didn't come. Yes, I finished and yes, it was within the allotted time, but finishing didn't feel as good as I anticipated, emotionally. Physically it did, for sure!!!
What would you do differently?:

Aaaaah, totally loaded question. I suppose since the asthma issue was beyond my control, I'm just not sure.
Post race
Warm down:

Gave Mary Ellen a quick hug and another thank you and left her to celebrate with her family and friends. Mad props to her for finishing her first marathon at age 61!! Got 2 waters from the volunteers at the end, then headed to the food area with my friends. Grabbed a bunch of food which I saved until the next day to eat: banana, orange, black bean brownie (tasted much better than it sounds!). I did manage to eat some of the mini pierogie vegetable soup and a tiny bit of quinoa salad, otherwise food just didn't seem appealing. I didn't even eat anything on the way home, just drank some iced tea, diet Dr. Pepper and water.

Discovered I had a lovely crust of salt on my sunglasses which matched the lovely crust of salt all over my face. Thank heavens for wipes! Ick.

Oh, and the walk back to the car up this HUGE hill was NOT fun and nearly triggered asthma attack #3. I felt my airway closing in but thankfully we made it to the top before it got too bad. Friggin' asthma, I hate you.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Malfunctioning, asthma-afflicted lungs exacerbated by allergies. Tree pollen alerts were at high or extreme or whatever the highest level is, so I'm guessing that is what set me off. Hard to say, as I've not had this same reaction at home, ever, during run training. I'd love to know for sure what triggered the shutdown.

Event comments:

A lot can be learned from this race, I think, I just need more time to flesh it out. Mentally I took a pretty big hit from this race and struggled with a lot of things that I need to work out. To add insult to injury, my race shirt, my first half marathon race shirt, is a women's XL, which would normally be OK but in this case isn't. The thing is tighter than I like and short: the sleeves look like 3/4 sleeves on my arms. Sigh, the woes of being an Amazon.

Only good things to say about the race itself. This was an absolutely beautiful, scenic course with nice crowd support on the road areas and great volunteers. The bands made the day even better, and there was quite a variety: native-style drummers (using what looked to be real skin drums), rock (some small and some larger bands), acoustic, a string quartet, a gospel singer in a 3-piece suit, guitar/banjo combo to name some of them. Springtime with the blooming trees and fresh, budding leaves made the course so stunning. Well-run, well-organized, I think I may need to come back next year and have a do-over. This course and I have some unfinished business!


Profile Album


Last updated: 2013-04-09 12:00 AM
Running
02:55:28 | 13.1 miles | 13m 23s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/310
Overall: 0/3340
Performance: Bad
Lap Time Distance Pace/Speed AHR MHR 1 11m 12s 1.00 miles 11m 12s /mile 2 11m 18s 1.00 miles 11m 18s /mile 3 11m 10s 1.00 miles 11m 10s /mile 4 11m 27s 1.00 miles 11m 27s /mile 5 11m 43s 1.00 miles 11m 43s /mile 6 13m 20s 1.00 miles 13m 20s /mile 7 13m 04s 1.00 miles 13m 04s /mile 8 14m 05s 1.00 miles 14m 05s /mile 9 14m 46s 1.00 miles 14m 46s /mile 10 15m 15s 1.00 miles 15m 15s /mile 11 15m 16s 1.00 miles 15m 16s /mile 12 15m 45s 1.00 miles 15m 45s /mile 13 14m 48s 1.00 miles 14m 48s /mile 14 02m 21s 0.19 miles 12m 09s /mile 10K split: 1:15:25
Course: Join over 3,000 participants from across the country to run in the beautiful Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. The course is closed to traffic and runners can enjoy more than a dozen live bands on the half marathon route. The course takes you through several Allentown parks including the Lehigh Parkway, which Runner’s World magazine has listed as one of the top 100 places to run in the country. First 6.5 miles of the race is on closed streets. 6.5- almost 11 is in the parkway, mainly crushed stone (not tiny pieces) and a little bit of paved area here and there. Near mile 9 the course goes through a covered bridge. Near 11 the course heads back out to some of the roads taken earlier in the race to head back to finish on the William Allen High School track.
Keeping cool Average Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race? No
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2013-05-01 12:27 PM

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Pennsylvania
Subject: St. Luke's Half Marathon


2013-05-01 1:34 PM
in reply to: #4722543

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Seattle
Subject: RE: St. Luke's Half Marathon

Girl, having asthma issues during a race is scary and certainly doesn't make you a loser. In fact, it makes you a total badazz for finishing that race despite the issues. 

I am really hoping that once you have time to process all of this you can see the accomplishment and celebrate that.

I'm glad you had Mary Ellen, you deserve that kind of treatment because after all, that is usually YOU providing the angelic support.

 

On another note, look how beautiful those splits were before the asthma struck. 

2013-05-01 1:50 PM
in reply to: #4722543

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Master
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Subject: RE: St. Luke's Half Marathon
Well, I am sorry this didn't go as you wanted.  And, you are hard core for fighting through and finishing.  The elites have learned to run through the pain--that is no different from what you did.  Awesome!!  I'm glad you had someone to support you through it and lovely that your friend could place your medal.  <---just got choked up typing that!
2013-05-01 2:13 PM
in reply to: #4722716

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Master
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Raleigh, NC area
Subject: RE: St. Luke's Half Marathon

Great job finishing despite the asthma issues!  How scary to not be able to breath!

Maybe in the future you'll be able to time your events to not be in pollen season but that is no guarantee either.

2013-05-01 2:18 PM
in reply to: #4722543

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Master
7712
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Orlando
Subject: RE: St. Luke's Half Marathon
I can only imagine how scary it must be not being able to breathe. Although this race was not the experience you hoped for, it probably taught you a lot about yourself - like you're pretty damn tough!

one of my sisters has asthma and brings her inhaler with her ( as she runs, bikes etc) for all her races. Can you do that?

2013-05-01 3:44 PM
in reply to: #4722784

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Pennsylvania
Subject: RE: St. Luke's Half Marathon
amd723 - 2013-05-01 3:18 PM I can only imagine how scary it must be not being able to breathe. Although this race was not the experience you hoped for, it probably taught you a lot about yourself - like you're pretty damn tough!

one of my sisters has asthma and brings her inhaler with her ( as she runs, bikes etc) for all her races. Can you do that?

Historically, taking a hit from at least one but especially both of my inhalers before I exercise is enough to keep an attack at bay unless I am REALLY pushing it for an extended time, like when I try to climb a hill too fast on my bike in the wrong gear, so I don't carry it with me when I am racing or working out.  Plus, I'm not 100% sure I 'should' use it again so soon after the initial hit; I think dosages aren't to be closer than 4 hours apart?  I'll have to check on that.

That's what is also weird about the attack.  Cruising along at 11-11:30 min miles is not pushing it, it's fairly 'comfortable'.  I've done 'faster' training runs and been OK.  I could understand if I was trying to push 8:30s or 9s or something.



Edited by melbo55 2013-05-01 3:46 PM


2013-05-01 5:19 PM
in reply to: #4722543

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Veteran
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Western Australia
Subject: RE: St. Luke's Half Marathon
Great job Mel. I know that you are disappointed but you finished it and your time was only 30 minutes over what you had planned which is amazing since you had an asthma attack and had to walk. Most people would have just stopped.
2013-05-01 7:27 PM
in reply to: #4722543

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Master
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Englewood, Florida
Subject: RE: St. Luke's Half Marathon

Wow, Melanie, you are one badazz woman. Great job on soldiering through it, on making a new friend in Mary Ellen, and no matter how bad you felt, you still feel good for others and their accomplishments!

You'll be back next year, I'm sure of it.

2013-05-01 9:40 PM
in reply to: #4722543

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Master
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Central Kansas
Subject: RE: St. Luke's Half Marathon

I can hear your disappointment, and I'm so sorry the race didn't turn out as you envisioned. Some things are definitely beyond our control. Nevertheless, you deserve congratulations for finishing (13.1 miles even under the best of breathing circumstances is hard) and for hanging in there when many people would have jumped off one of those bridges. Surprised

Whenever I do a new distance, I get very emotional at the beginning. I've run the first few 100 yards of many races barely able to see where I'm going and feeling like an idiot. But races are so special, and I always feel so thankful that I have the opportunity to participate. Sometimes that feeling of thankfulness is overwhelming.

2013-05-01 10:41 PM
in reply to: #4722543

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Master
3870
200010005001001001002525
Subject: RE: St. Luke's Half Marathon
HM #2, you'd better watch out cuz #1 POd Mel... and she's acomin' for ya!
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