Sacramento Cowtown Half-Marathon Race Report

I really had no business running a half-marathon yesterday. I’ve run a total of 7 pain-filled miles over the last two weeks. But I’m a stubborn bastard, and after stupidly registering for a bunch of races in advance, I simply forced myself to run them. I toyed with the idea of running the 5k, but I figured it would hurt just as bad for less payoff. So I went for it.

The Lovely Mrs. A. and I got to William Land Park in plenty of time (she ran the 5k – without a chip, because she just likes running. I should learn from her.) and sat in the car until about 15 minutes before start time. Except as we approached the start, I realized I really, really needed to use the latrine. So I got in the humongous line. People in front of me started to freak and bail out of the line because the race was about to start, and I was fruitlessly trying to explain to them that there was a timing mat at the start, so it didn’t much matter when the race started. There were more than 3,300 half- and full marathoners, so it was going to take awhile anyway.

I finish my business, trot out to the start area, and guess what? I’m by myself! I begin my run, and as I cross the timing mat, my friend, race director Rich Hanna, announces over the loudspeaker, “And there goes Mike Antonucci, giving the rest of the field a head start.” Awesome.

So, here I am, absolutely dead last, running behind 2,863 other half-marathoners. It was a weird and wonderful experience. If you’ve never done it, you should try it, but not in a race in which you hope to PR. It’s a whole different scene back there. For one thing, there’s a LOT of chatter going on. It’s more like a party than a race. People spread out and there isn’t much jockeying for position. I tried not to waste energy dodging people, but when they’re strolling nine abreast, having a great old time, well, you’ve got to work around them.

In the first mile I passed people right and left, and since the race had pace leaders, I soon caught up to the 2:30 leader, then the 2:20 leader. At mile 2 I caught the 2:15 group. It was great fun speeding by everyone but I realized I was eventually going to find my peers and then run an actual race.

Mile 1 – 9:13
Mile 2 – 8:52
Mile 3-5 – 26:34 (8:51 avg.)

I found a pretty steady pace, and things were going much better than I had anticipated.

Mile 6 – 8:44
Mile 7 – 8:50
Mile 8 – 8:52

The best part of the day was hitting the turnaround point and while running the next stretch, seeing a LONG, LONG line of people, all of whom I had passed to get to where I was. It made me feel terrific even though I was running a very sub-par race.

Mile 9 – 8:51
Mile 10 – 9:09

All good things must come to an end, and while my leg held up pretty well throughout, my poor conditioning began to take a toll. I took two three-minute walk breaks on the home stretch.

Mile 11 – 10:45
Mile 12 – 10:32
Mile 13 – 9:23
.1 – 1:03

I thought I had an outside chance at breaking two hours, but I couldn’t move them any faster. I was struggling at the finish, but got a good laugh when the race announcer called my name over the PA system, then added, “That’s the guy who gave everyone the head start. He must have passed a lot of people.”

Finish – 2:00:50
986th out of 2,864
53rd of 111 in 50-54 age group

They loaded us down with food, then gave us the coveted Cowtown cowbell medal (my fourth one). I located the Lovely Mrs. A. and she led me over to the Fleet Feet tent, where I sat and chowed down. After about a half-hour, I had some trouble getting up, then I limped my way back to the car. I iced the leg for a long time, but this morning it hurts to put any weight on it.

So I’ve managed to go more than a month and run four races in three weeks on a bad leg, but the silliness must stop. I’m out of commission until this gets better. It puts my targeted marathon in the extremely unlikely category, but I’m used to that. In the meantime, I can soothe myself with thoughts of those 1,879 people I passed.