KDF Mini - 25th Half Marathon

Per my post a few days ago, I've been fighting some kind of cold/flu/infection over the past three days. I woke up yesterday feeling a bit better, and today felt almost completely healed. My glands are still swollen and sore, but my throat doesn't hurt nearly as much as it has been, and the body aches are pretty much completely gone. Regardless, when Jennifer asked me this morning if I would be going for a PR, I told her I wasn't sure. I wanted to try and take it easy - not wanting to push myself too hard and set my health back at all. I knew my PR for this course was 2:20:38, and with my health and the projected rainy race I didn't want to plan for any particular outcome, so I told her I was gonna "go by feel," and see what happens. We started in Corral D, and it took a while to get to the actual Start line. Once we got going though, there was no turning back. As usual I started out way too fast and had to force myself to slow down. I went from a 9:30 to a 10:00 pace and attempted to stay steady for at least the first couple of miles. An ex boyfriend and I had talked a little smack via text a few days prior, and I told him I'd wave as I passed him on the course. Well, low and behold, about 4 miles in I see his running buddy stopped on the side waiting for the ex to finish up a potty break. When I caught up to him they had just begun to take off again. We said a quick hello and he asked how far back I started in the Corral's. I told him D, while he started at C. This meant that I was already technically ahead of him given the difference in the times we took off. Because I was doing one minute walks at each mile marker, it didn't take long for them to lose me - although I was able to keep them in my sights from time to time the remainder of the race. I was going along quite well for those first 6 miles (splits: 9:42 (1), 9:58 (2), 9:51 (3), 10:16 (4), 9:44 (5), 10:10 (6) but miles 6-9 were a bit of a bear. My legs felt like lead and I could muster little more than what felt like a shuffle for the next three miles (10:27 (7), 10:42 (8), 11:22 (9) I ended up walking a minute at mile 8, thirty-seconds when getting into Churchill Downs, and another minute when leaving the track. I got through Mile 9 a little slower due to a slight incline, and even looked down to see that I was averaging an 11:25 pace. At this point I remember telling myself, "An 11:25 pace is still moving forward." Anything to keep my spirits up. At mile 10 (10:58) I decided to start a new strategy: Walk for 30 seconds every half mile. By this point I was quite tired and ready to get it over with. We had gotten quite lucky with the weather thus far, with just a few spurts of mist here and there, but by mile 11 (11:11, coincidentally), it had started to come down a bit harder and more consistently. It didn't take long for my shirt to get soaked through and my shoes to become squishy. At mile 12 (11:10) I saw the ex had started to walk and I was slowly catching up to him. I tell ya - if you ever need motivation for a PR, stay quasi-friendly with an ex who also runs most of the same races you do. With only that last 1.1 mile to go I decided to run it in, no matter how fatigued I felt. Not only to show up someone from my past, but I had also realized at this point that I had 15 minutes to beat my course PR and I didn't want to take any chances. I turned down Main Street with approximately .6 miles to go, and finished my 13th mile in 10:44. Crossing the finish line, I hit my watch and looked down to see that I had beat my previous course PR by more than 3 minutes (2:17:15)! Overall, I felt mostly good about this race. The mental aspect of things never got to me, but having decided to run to music today, the tunes did get on my nerves after a while. Seeing so many of my triathlon and running buddies out on the course really helped as well. I did notice that when I see someone I know or get caught up in the roadside cheering sections, my heart-rate feels like it goes up significantly. I don't know if it's anxiety or what, but it's a slightly uncomfortable experience. Next up: Tough Mudder Chicago in two weeks. My FIRST TM (yikes). Oh, and that ex that I spoke of earlier? Yeah, I beat him.