The Quad Cities Distance Classic. A nice relaxing Half. I signed up for this race awhile ago, and just wanted to use it as a good gauge of my distance training so far. I set my goal at a nice and easy <2:00. The course does have some long hills so I left myself a little room on that end and I really didn't want to go out hard given my race goals this season. (i.e. I'm not risking an injury for a half when I have IMWI, QC marathon, leadville 100 in 2009, etc). I trained through the race which I actually had higher mileage the week prior than I would have liked but I told myself that I was just doing it as a training run so don't worry about it.  I kept reminding myself that this was going to be nice and easy, little did I realize that this was going to turn into the most mentally difficult race I've done in a long, long time.

The night before the race I actually went to bed by 8pm. I slept well enough except I was constantly woken up by trees crashing against my bedroom window. I woke up at 5:45 and I was unusually cold, you would assume being a midwestern boy that I would be immune to any cold the month of may could bring but this morning was annoyingly cold. I figured I would stick my head outside to see what I should wear and ......wow. My screen door was pulled out of my hand the second I let it off the hinge, panicking I reached for it and exposed my naked upper body to the horrible elements that tried to call themselves weather. Well, back down to put on the tights, gloves, and any other warm piece of clothing I can find. Ate a small breakfast, but since I am still in the early stages of my training I wanted to be burning more than I am using to get to ideal race weight (trust me not a good decision when you are fighting the elements) I managed to walk to my car and in the 20 steps or so to my car I was completely drenched. The rain was almost coming sideways which really hurts the face. Anyway, to the race start.

The race started on the street in front of a local university. Instead of lining the starting line the entire group of runners were huddled underneath a tree trying to find shelter from the 35+mph winds and sleet. We accepted there was no way of hiding from the 40 degree temperature. The RD called on a portable PA, "We are starting in one minute, head to the start line, we aren't doing the national anthem, we aren't thanking any sponsors, you hear the gun you run." bang and we are off. I have spent a lot of time trying to fix my form and run upright and today that was not an option. Running upright meant your face got pummelled by the sleet and stung something fierce. So i lowered my head and put one foot in front of the other. The first mile I witnessed A LOT of people turn around or run into a business, I can only assume to call someone sleeping and beg for a ride out of hell.

Mile 1-4 were slow, my usually buddy Mr. Garmin was like a plague, HR 166, pace 11:30. 11:30!?!?! How is that even possibly I feel like I'm running 8 minute miles. Managing to talk to other people around me, it turns out they felt the same way. I guess a 30mph head wind slows you down a little bit. On the downhills I could see the front of the pack, and on the uphills I could turn around and see the police chaser car. This was a humbling experience, not to say I am a fast runner, I am anything but, however I have never actually been able to see the chaser car, FYI that is a heck of a motivator to pick up the pace. By Mile 4 my time was 41 minutes, ouch.

Miles 5-7 were my real low point. It started off great when we ran along an area of businesses that had noise fences on our side which helped to block the wind, SWEEEET. Pace went up, mental game went down. I was hurting and felt like I was doing terrible. I kept telling myself that I am going so much slower than I am capable of, I was soaked from head to toe and really felt like dropping (it didn't help that people were dropping at every aid station). Then I saw a volunteer standing in an intersection with an inside out umbrella. I made her give me a high five, and she got all engertic, which really helped. I made it a point from then on to yell thank you's to all the volunteers at every aid station, intersection, anywhere I could see them. This really helped my motivation. It may seem strange but I told myself that if I dropped then those people had to come out here and suffer for nothing. Misery loves company.

Miles 8-11 My spirits back up and my pace was climbing, I was maintaing a steady 8:45 at this point which I convinced myself was great given the conditions. Then we made a turn and headed up hill to the river. "Oh this is gonna be fun". Without even being able to see the mississippi I felt the wind gusts that could stop you in your tracks. Running that mile or so on the river was the true definition of hell. The temperature was low, the wind was much faster than I've ever felt and the rain just hurt as a result. I actually saw a guy in front of me in a plastic rain poncho get thrown to the ground when a wind gust came and grabbed his poncho like a parachute. He was thrown right on his butt and rolled over backwards. After the race I heard that another woman broke her ankle on that spot from a similiar accident. I just put my head down and kept running, just keep running.

Miles 11-finish. My pace started to pick back up after spending a mile in hell (or on the river, its the same thing really) The weather started to calm down and it actually stopped raining!! There was a fun mile climb just before the finish that really gave a good burn. Now that I look back I think I'm going to track that hill down and run it later, under good conditions it would be a great training hill.
I course ended with a single loop around the University's track which was a neat twist. I crossed the line in 2:11. Which was 11 minutes over my goal, but given the conditions I was happy to finish. Amazingly I finished 177/610. I later learned that over half of the registered runners either dropped or didn't show. So I'm going to say that they were all slower than me and put my finish at 177/1220 =). Afterwards no one stayed for awards, everyone ate in a little shed on the track, got in their cars and went home. A unique thing for this race was all finishers got flowers since it was mother's day after all. I took my flowers to my mom, and quickly jumped in her shower and tried to peel off my clothes which had nicely frozen to my body. I've done marathons, Half-Ironman's, 50k's but never have I hit a low like this race, the day that was supposed to be a short and fun training day turned into a day where I realized that I can push myself through anything. I am so glad I didn't drop. I still have 0 DNF's and I would love to keep it that way.