Poulsbo Half Marathon
This weekend I ran the Poulsbo Half Marathon. I only got back into running in January after a series of injuries had kept me from doing hardly any training for several years. Having returned to good, pain-free running shape, I was planning on using this race as a fitness test and confidence booster as I prepare for my first marathon next month. To my surprise, I ended up walking away with a 5:30 minute PR!
It was a beautiful day for a race - uncharacteristically clear skies and temps in the upper 40s / lower 50s. Because the start/finish was only a mile and a half from my house, I walked down and arrived 15 minutes before start. I set my watch to pace me to 7:35/mile. The first four miles or so are relatively flat with a few rolling hills. I took advantage of that to get myself a little over a minute ahead of my virtual pacer in anticipation of the steady 350 foot climb over 2 miles that awaited me shortly after mile 4.
At mile 4, I hit the second water stop and the first one I actually stopped for and it was a challenge. You see, this was the first race I've ever done that has gone cupless. Instead of volunteers handing out paper cups of water, the race organizers gave each runner a "hydropouch". The coolers at the water stop have special valves that fill your hydropouch in about a second. You even had a chance to try it during packet pickup. When I got to the cooler, nothing happened. One of the volunteers told me to press down on this and push in here and still nothing. Note - I didn't have this problem at the next water stop, so I don't think it was operator error. After about 5 seconds of trying to figure this out I just ran off in frustration and started my ascent up the hill.
The ascent went as well as I would have hoped and I was only 5 seconds behind my virtual pacer when I reached the top. As we wound through some neighborhood streets near mile 7, I watched as a couple runners made a wrong turn at one of the cones. Since I had practiced the route several times over the past couple of months, I knew better and kept going. Luckily, they didn't go too far off course - a block later they were back on course and it probably only cost them a few seconds.
Miles 8-13 were essentially returning the way we came, having intercepted the course a little further down the hill. Needless to say, I was flying on the downhill portion, including one 6:51 split. I rapidly found myself a little over a minute ahead of my virtual pacer with an average 7:29 pace. The last 3 miles were back to mostly flat with a few rolling hills. When I crossed the finish line, my time was 1:34:37. A 5:30 minute PR!
While I'm excited about the PR, I can't help but feel frustrated with technology. While I was aiming for a PR, my target pace was only 5 seconds faster than my tempo pace for my marathon next month and my watch showed an average pace 10 seconds faster than my tempo pace. The official result was 25 seconds faster than my tempo pace! Apparently the difference lies in my Stryd footpod, which is supposed to be super accurate and doesn't require calibration. The Stryd (and the resultant pacing data) had me only running 12.65 miles, whereas every other runner using the exact same route came out around 13 miles (the spread is mostly 12.95-13.05 miles, with a few at or near 13.1) and mapping software shows it at 13.1 miles. I ran 4800m at the high school track the next morning I was coming up with similar results. Lap to lap, it wasn't noticeable (0-0.01 difference), but after 12 laps, it was showing about .08 short. Over the course of a half marathon, that error would be .35, which happens to be the difference between what my watch and other runners showed for distance.
I guess the positive outlook is that it's showing shorter distances and slower paces, so watch error won't be to blame if I don't make my goal time next month.
And I'm seriously considering Dopey 2020! (Enabling-remember!!) I look forward to being an active participant of this group! 
