I ran the slowest five miles ever this morning. At one point I was going so slow a walker passed me. Massoman even finished and circled back in his car to make sure I was okay. I was. I even saw a shooting star through the fog; I love early morning runs.
I’m good with the slow pace today because my plan is working. And just what is my plan? I trash my legs Monday through Thursday for two hours in the forms of leg torture, weight lifting, running or cycling, I recover Friday or Saturday with a Cherry Berry trail run or an easy ride, and Sundays I race or do a long run. I’m not sure if this is a good plan, but it seems to be working so far, although ‘so far’ has only been 2 weeks.
Now about that 1:59:59 half marathon . . . the race people have me down for an official time of 2:05 and now I don’t know what to do. I’m pretty good with my watch and I am always within 2 or 3 seconds either way of the chip time, so I’m a little confused how I could be five whole minutes off. Michael says I should use my watch time because he witnessed as the race people messed around with the clock after the race started. But I’m an “official” type of girl; I need to see things in writing to satisfy that “I really did it” feeling – especially when it comes to a PR and running a sub 2 hour half even if it is by only 1 second. So, now I’m really bummed.
One option would be to run another half marathon soon and make sure I run it under 2 hours so I have a new, new PR. There is one coming up on November 23rd that is along the Trinity River similar to the Fort Worth half. The only problem is I’ve committed to a 20-mile bike rally on November 22nd and I’m not sure if I could PR in the half marathon the day after a bike rally. I am also running the White Rock Half on December 14th, but that is so far away and I’m afraid it might be 100 degrees again – chances are slim that it would be – but it’s Texas, it could happen.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t you hate that when they mess up the times. The race I just did I crossed the finish line alone and in the results they put me at the same time that the next person crossed …which was like 10 min later. Annoyed me to no end because it made the gap between my finish and 2nd place girl look really huge. I didn’t do anything about it since I didn’t stop my Garmin and didn’t have an official time either. It didn’t change the overall standings …2nd place girl still beat me so I felt petty saying anything. I still think about it though since 2nd place girl thinks she kicked my ass in a big way.
Contact the race director no doubt! Recovery runs are good for the soul in my mind
I don’t care what the organizers say. I only know you ran a sub-2 half-Mary. Because let’s face it, when Runner Susan says it, it’s as good as Runner’s Law.
Run for fun…are you having fun?
Run because you LOVE it…how it makes you feel, and how it makes you free and how it’s YOURS and yours alone.
Then the rest will follow….
There’s a science to the timing clock, where you actually click ahead a few seconds to account for the delay in it “grabbing.” Maybe there were technical problems…has anyone else complained on a message board or blog?
I hate timing chips for cycling. They promoters never get it right. They do better with a clock and a pencil.
You know what you ran, but having it this way means you actually achieved something AND still have a goal to shoot for (a clear and official sub 2).
I Just did a half marathon (My first) and although it was only one second, I even have a pic by the race photographer that has me crossing one second sooner with my friend…oh well…
What? How annoying! If it was one or two seconds, I’d go with the official time. But 5 minutes!
You’ll break 2 again, so it’ll be ancient history before long. You’d need to be resting the day before, so the 23rd is out. White Rock is the go.
Re the plan – if it’s working for *you*, it’s a good plan.
I got 2 minutes added to my 20 mile time. It was chip timed but there were no mats at the start. I know it didn’t take 2 minutes to get across the line. In my case my run sucked so I don’t care but you your case I would send a polite email to the RD and ask if any others have noted the same discrepancy.
Great time either way! Check your individual mile splits. If they all hover around 9:10 per mile you are golden with the 1:59:59. If they are all hovering around 9:35, then oughto. Doubtful your watch would have messed up 13 individual miles.
Jamie H
The only thing I can suggest is to try to grab a finisher photo if it has the clock in it. You should have a pretty good idea of how long it was before you crossed the start line – the chip results should list that time anyway.
I know people don’t trust their watches/Garmins, but I definitely trust mine, especially in terms of time. Distance, sure that can be off, but how likely is it that the watch/clock mechanism is off? What is far more likely is that the chip timing for the race was off or the race clock somehow got reset.
Personally, I would rest assured that I broke 2 hours if I were you and would not run another race just for that reason. You’ll break 2 hours again, don’t worry!