Day 100: Looking good, Blue!

And on the hundredth day of training, I ran the Bar Harbor Half Marathon.

Things worked out very well today. I woke up two and a half hours before race time, and although I battled a fierce tension headache last night and overnight, my sleep was interrupted only once, and I felt rested. Got myself put together and headed over to the Bar Harbor YMCA. Temperature: about 50, and cloudy. Perfect! I had on a long-sleeve blue shirt, and shorts, and a hat and gloves to keep me warm enough. I was skeptical about this configuration, because I'm often cold, but it was just fine. I actually kept the hat on for the entire race.

Race plan: keep up long-run pace for the first 10-11 miles, and then speed it up to my 5K pace. This was advised by Carson, who also predicted that my "5K pace" now, after months of training, would be far faster than my time in my last 5K race, which was back in March. Well, I've aimed for negative splits in all my races (ahem: having a faster second half than first), so that was fine by me.

The gun went off and we ran out of Bar Harbor, into Acadia National Park. Most of the run was on the gravel carriage roads within the park. I was terrified of getting pebbles into my shoes and having to stop and readjust (as happened with one mile to go on my Phoenix long run), but this did not happen. The first few miles, I deliberately held back, and I have done enough races now not to have been bothered by people passing me left and right. I'd see many of them again soon enough.

After about mile 4 or 5, I gradually sped up a bit, maybe 15-30 seconds per mile faster. This was not difficult, and I made use of the water and Gatorade stations, and I brought a few gels and two small water bottles with me on the fuel belt, as backup. I even remembered to look around at the scenery; there was a beautiful moment when the sun briefly lit up over Eagle Lake. Mostly, though, it was overcast -- perfect race weather. I was in good spirits.

I continued to speed up, and after mile 7, I remembered from the course description that it would be mostly downhill. By mile 9 I was moving much faster. I passed the mile 11 marker a little sooner than I had calculated, and the mile 12 marker way sooner. At race's end, I was at a full sprint, shooting past some bedraggled-looking people dragging themselves across the line. The woman who needed to rip off the bottom part of my number, to officially record my finish, nearly fell down trying to grab me as I hurtled past.

This apparently made for an impressive performance among the crowd at the end. As I left the race, walking back through the town to my hotel, a woman on a bike called out, "Looking good, Blue!" I realized she meant me, on account of my blue shirt. "You were passing everyone at the end there, coming into town! Way to go!" I couldn't help but smile.

Of course, the fast finish meant that in fact, I had left a lot on the course: I could have gone faster throughout. But the primary purpose of this race was not to kill myself but to prep for the full marathon, and to learn how to regulate myself over a longer distance. I have already run farther than 13.1 miles, but the race environment does make a difference. All in all, mission accomplished, and commemorated afterward -- following two bagels, half a banana, a quarter of an orange, water, Gatorade, and a hot shower -- by downing two eggs, corned-beef hash, a fresh blueberry muffin, more water, tea, and Barbara's Puffins. (That's a kind of cereal.)

I spent most of the afternoon with my feet up in the hotel room, relaxing, but soon I'll probably head out for a stroll, and possibly a sandwich. I expect to sleep well tonight!

(Oh, my race time -- 1:56:20. Plus or minus two seconds, pending the "official" results. Primitive technology, you know. No chips. Barely a clock.)