Sunday, I ran the Jersey Shore Half Marathon.
This is the third time that I’ve run this race.
It was the first half marathon I ever ran, way back in 2014. I finished in 1:55, and I was just excited to finish under 2 hours. I was also very undertrained, and about a week after the race I ended up hurting my knee. I’d struggle with this injury for the next five years on and off.
In 2022, I returned to this race. I was in much better shape this time around. I had already completed one marathon (AC), and I was training for my second (Philly). This was a tune up along the way, and I thought for sure I could PR with close to 1:30. It was rainy and windy, and I ended up struggling to finish in 1:33.
Not bad – but again, I came up injured about a week later. This time, at least, it wasn’t so bad. I was able to train through it, and I still finished Philly a few weeks later – albeit in 3:20 instead of the 3:10 I otherwise would have hoped for.
This year, I again had high hopes. I’m two weeks out from the Chicago Marathon, and I’ve got my sights set on a sub-3 performance. I ran a 1:28 in May at the Brooklyn Half, and I went into this week’s race assuming that 1:25 would be well within reach.
So how did things go … ? Let’s find out.
Race Morning and The Plan
I woke up early Sunday – at around 6AM. The race starts mercifully late (9AM), but it’s an hour drive from my house. So I ate a bagel with honey, drank my coffee, and hit the road. Drank a second Dunkin Donuts coffee on the way.
My wife came with me to cheer me on, and we crossed the bridge to Sandy Hook around 8:15. The ocean was churning, and it looked stormy. Not nearly as bad as last time, but I was having flashbacks.
I thought this would have been plenty of time, but I didn’t count on needing another 10 minutes to get into the parking lot. We parked around 8:25, which was just enough time for me to jog over to registration, hit the bathroom, and do a quick warm up. I got back to the car at 8:50, and my wife and I walked over to the start.
The weather had been on and off all morning. Light rain the whole way down, sometimes a little harder and sometimes less. It was a little windy too, but it came and went. The rain was more of a mist by the time we got to the start, but the weather was decidedly crumby. Thankfully, it wasn’t too hot. It was in the high 50’s or low 60’s, and with the wind and mist it was quite comfortable.
The plan was to take things easy, settle into a sustainable pace, and attack the last few miles. I planned to take it out a little slow – 6:30 to 6:40. After the first three miles, settle in to a pace of 6:25-6:30. And the last three miles I’d push the pace down as far as I could.
The course was two out and back loops, and it lined up well with the plan. We run out three miles, make a hairpin turn and come back towards the start. Back out, and the hairpin turn is mile 10. Then it’s three miles home. So I’ve got mental benchmarks on when to adjust the pace.
I lined up at 8:55. Met up with my teammate Donny. We chatted for a few and snapped a picture, and before I knew it, it was time to start.
The First Three Miles – On Target
It was time to start, and they blew the gun – aka an air horn. It misfired, and we all kind of stutter started, unsure of what to do. But a second later, everyone just took off.
For the first 100 meters or so, I was right behind Donny. But I knew he’d be going a little faster, and I let him slowly fade off into the distance. I had no intentions of getting carried away and pushing the envelope in this race.
I settled in to what felt like a comfortable pace. I heard two guys chatting behind me about the Chicago Marathon. One guy said he was running it, and he was targeting 2:55. The other said he’d done it before, but he wasn’t running this year.
First mile came and went: 6:35. Nice. Right on target. Felt controlled, wasn’t breathing hard.
The Chicago guys passed me, and I focused on following them. I figured if the one guy – in a yellow shirt – was targeting 2:55 in Chicago, we’d be approaching this race similarly. The other guy was wearing a Chicago marathon shirt and some colorful shorts.
In the second mile, there was a turn. Not too sharp, but I definitely felt my feet slip out from under me. Uh oh, better be careful. Heard some of the other guys talking about it, too. The light rain had slicked over the road, and it was a little slippery.
Second mile came and went: 6:39. A little on the slow side, but still within the target range.
Third mile was uneventful. We got towards the end, and we passed a water stop. I grabbed a cup, swished the water around, spit most of it out, and swallowed a little. Third mile: also 6:39.
The Middle Miles
Shortly after the three mile mark, there was a hairpin turn. I took it slow, no sense slipping and falling in the rain. Then, there was a short little loop to add some extra mileage, and we eventually merged back onto the main road.
I had planned on speeding up to around 6:25-6:30/mi at this point. I figured I lost a little time with those turns, and I split mile 4 at 6:33. Not bad, I’ll take it.
After that, I tried to speed up. But it just didn’t happen. I was still right behind the two Chicago guys, so I wasn’t falling behind per se. But mile 5 and mile 6 both ticked off in about 6:45.
The 7 mile mark was at the turn around by the start. As we got close, the number of spectators and the amount of excitement grew. There was a drummer and a bugler, and they gave me a little boost. I also saw my wife, which surprised me a bit because she said she was going to wait in the car until the finish.
I took a gel, grabbed a drink of water, and slowly went around the hairpin turn. I picked up the pace a little as I left for the next three mile segment, but it didn’t last long. The speed just wasn’t there.
Since I couldn’t speed up, I just focused on maintaining the same effort through the ten mile mark. The next three miles were all in the same 6:45ish range.
The Final Three Miles
Coming into the final turn around, I heard some footsteps behind me. I heard a spectator call out, “You can do it!” and a guy behind me responded, “Yeah we can!”
I slowly turned around the final hairpin turn and turned back towards the start. Three miles to go. Two or three of the guys from the pack following me moved ahead slightly.
I tried to keep up with them, and I managed to pick up the pace a little for the next quarter or half mile. But I still couldn’t keep it going.
Over the next two miles, I did catch up to the guy in the Chicago marathon t-shirt. But that’s because he slowed down slightly, I was still going the same pace. The yellow jersey guy who was running Chicago was still just ahead.
Coming into the final mile, a man and a woman passed me. I found out later that he was the 1:30 pacer, and he’d been with the guys who passed me earlier. She was the only person left with him, and when they realized she had a shot at the podium they sped up a little.
The final mile came, and I still couldn’t muster up a surge. Although once we got to the very end, and we had about a quarter mile to go, I was able to speed up for the finish.
I officially finished in 1:28:21. Good for third in my age group, but several minutes slower than I had hoped.
So What Went Wrong?
I’m not quite sure what to make of this result.
On the one hand, the time was disappointing. I thought for sure I could run 1:25 to 1:26 and still have some gas in the tank. At the very least, I figured I could hit 1:27:XX, which would be a slight PR over my performance in Brooklyn.
I probably lost a little time due to the weather. Not the heat, but the rain. The road was slick, and I often felt my shoes slipping on the pavement. I deliberately took the turns very slow, and I’m sure I lost some speed due to the bad traction. But I don’t really think that accounts for 2 to 3 minutes.
On a positive note, I never felt dead. I couldn’t speed up … but I also wasn’t struggling. In the final three miles at Brooklyn, I really was struggling, and my pace was popping up above 7:00/mi. Here, I maintained the same 6:45 for the last ten miles. Slow and steady.
And now that I’m looking at the data in Garmin Connect, I see that my heart rate is a lot lower than it usually is in a half. Typically, I’d be around 155-160 for a marathon, and 165ish in a half.
My average heart rate through the race was 160. I had a couple miles slightly above that, but none of them got to my usual range. Instead, the middle portion of the race was in the high 150’s.
In other words, I ran this race – at around 6:45/mi – at an intensity that’s closer to a marathon than a half marathon.
Optimistic thinking? Maybe.
At the end of the day, I think what it probably boils down to is that my legs were fried from all the miles, especially the last peak week while I was in San Francisco for work. That fatigue made it hard to speed up.
But with two weeks of a solid taper, I should be fresh by the time Chicago rolls around. I don’t think the result is a bad sign per se – just a sign that I was too deep into marathon training to race well.
As the week has progressed, my easy runs have felt better. I’m looking forward to Sunday, when I’ll do a last, short long run (13 miles). I’ll try to wrap up the last couple miles at marathon pace just to see how I feel.
And then all I can do is wait … and hope for the best. Chicago, here I come.
At least the post-race pancakes were worth it.
