Heartbreak Hill Half

(N.B. I started this post almost three weeks ago, the day after the half, and then got distracted with work and other things.)

Yesterday (i.e. Sunday May 15), for the second year in a row, I ran the Katie Lynch Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon. It is without doubt the most challenging races I've ever been involved in. I mentioned in my hill repeat post last week that it gives runners who haven't made it to the Boston Marathon the opportunity (if you want to call it that) to run the most notorious hill in American road racing. And indeed, there is some serious satisfaction in putting that sucker behind you.

As an aside, I can't more highly recommend participating in The KLHHHM. It is a really wonderful race, both in theory and in practice, and they just added a 5K this year, which I presume will continue; so you can get in on it even if you're not quite up to a half marathon. The registration fee and community donations go to a marvelous cause, and the story behind Katie Lynch and her own personal 26.2 ft "marathon" -

http://www.boston.com/marathon/stories/2001/giant_steps.htm

-is sufficient to be heartrendingly inspirational even to unsentimental cynics like yours truly. And then the race itself is organized and staffed so efficiently you'd think a Full Metal Jacket-caliber drill seargeant had been hired to run things. Crowds turn out all over Newton to cheer on the runners (in spite of the cringe-inducing 7:30 a.m. start time), and in general the race just exudes community spirit, friendly competition, and runnerly camaraderie.

My decision to run this year was more or less a whim. Last year I trained six long months for this very race. It was hard not to feel a little bit cocky going in. While I shaved a not-too-shabby 13 minutes off of my time from last year, I did not meet my goal of breaking 90 minutes. And I learned two important lessons: one dietary and one existential.

As to the former: Dairy and distance running do not mix. I've always been a believer in a yogurt-based smoothie (see the second post in this blog for the recipe) as both a pre- and post-workout demi-meal. I need to either rethink this, or find a different base. The smoothie, plus the milk in my cereal, plus a little cream in my coffee all added up to my spending most of the race fighting the urge to veer off-course and vomit. Whole grains and black coffee only before long runs, from now on.

As to the latter: Cockiness does not pay off. My thinking going into this race - and I was fully aware that I was thinking this way and ought not to be, but couldn't seem to shake it - was that since I was full-marathon training, a half would be a walk in the park. Simply not the case.