EVL Half Marathon 2022: Sucker for Pain

And here we are, back to our normal go to on the blog - a race report!  Thanks all for your comments on the last "life" post - it seems that October did, in fact, just suck in general for everyone.  Seems to be a pattern, and one I intend to break for 2023 - stay tuned.  At the very least, I did round out my October with a few fun things - the fall foliage was GORGEOUS for running, and the past two weekends were full of fall fun, friends and running!  We can chat more about this past weekend another time, but today it's all about one of those stand by faves for fall races two weekends ago- the EVL half marathon!

I've run this race twice - in 2019 and in 2020.  It's in Ellicottville, which is home of ski country in WNY, and as a random offshoot of COVID, I have a ton of friends in Cattaraugus County, so its a race that stays on my calendar whenever possible.  It's Halloween themed, a fantastic party, and not flat at all, with about 600 ft elevation gain in 13.1 miles.  Oof.  Back in 2019 I raced it while sick, 2020 was 4 weeks post COVID, and so I've never really executed the race well, but its always a good time.  This year was a deferral from 2021, and since I was four weeks out from Philly on race day, the goal was to run it at marathon pace - 8:00 mile, as steady as possible, but not a "full out" effort.  Sweet.

Since I wasn't "racing", I decided to go in costume.  Biz is Harley Quinn this year, and through some weird kid sizing, the first costume I bought her...fit me.  Since I am such a serious parent (LOL) I decided to roll with it, and this was the perfect place to test my Suicide Squad mode (this may, in fact, be a metaphor for my life, but I digress!).  I ran in the outfit once (sorry for anyone on their morning commute that saw this), called it good, and was ready to bounce.

Pre Race

This race has a weird start time, at 11am.  Greg was also racing, so we conned nicely asked my friend Lauren to watch our kiddos (she is a rockstar) and took off early on what Biz dubbed our "road trip" to Ellicottville.  The weather was awesome - for anything but running, of course, with a high temp of 70 - which wasn't bad, but after a few weeks of runs in the 40s, a bit warm.  Clearly, knee high cotton socks and a long sleeved cotton tee was the way to go for a wardrobe (god, am I an idiot or what?  Don't answer that.)

We yeeted the kids out the window dropped the kids off at 9:30 and were on site by 10am for packet pickup, pre race pics, and a quick warm up.  I hit the mile warm up  at an easy pace, with a few pick ups, and my shoes, which were pretty new, and not used to socks in them (I never wear socks)  felt a little loose, so I tightened them.  (Future Rae would really regret this).  Took care of business, nailed a few #seriouspics, and lined up, ready to race!  My friend Billy lined up with me, as we were both aiming for a 1:45 (spoiler alert - we both failed at this - he netted a 1:41, and read on for my failure).  With a few minutes to go, some chick in a pink shirt scooted in front of me, and I gave her shit for thinking she was all fast or something (she is, and a local pro) - poor Jennie thought I was serious and then started laughing once she realized who I was.  Whoops :-P  We joked around for a minute, and before I knew it, the gun went off and we were on!

The Race!

Mile 1 brought a few things to light - one, I was a massive idiot to tighten my shoes and my left foot quickly went numb, and I was too stubborn to stop for fifteen seconds to fix this, - two - cotton anything is really dumb and was hot as shit for the next 12 miles - and three - a minute into the race I managed to catch the legendary pink shirted Jennie Hansen and ran with her for a whole mile.  I joked with her that this was unprecedented for me and apologized for Fan Girling, and she said something back that was probably like "get the hell off my back loser" but came out much more encouraging sounding so I ran with it (thanks Jennie!).  I realized the folly of my ego when my watch beeped mile one at 7:12 and backed the hell off.  Back to earth, Rae, you are not a pro.

Miles 2-6 were pretty uneventful - there were a few more rollers than I remembered, but I managed pacing well - the first 10k is net downhill, so I knew I would be a bit faster, and I was averaging 7:30-7:40 based on rollers, which was perfect.  I talked to a dude about mile 5 that was working super hard and advised him to take it easy (yeah I'm here all day for advice, clearly I make good decisions)  We joked around for awhile then he flew by me (yes, I caught him later).  At mile 6, we made the left turn that started the uphill portion of the course - miles 6-9.5 are just ridiculous on this course - its not a matter of if you'll slow down, its by how much.  I had a goal to average 8:30-8:45 for this section and keep my effort level a 6-7, which I had done so far.

At mile 7 Billy came zooming by me making airplane arms, which made me giggle.  He yelled at me to join him, which I did for the airplane dance, then waved him off - as tempting as it was to do the zooms, I had promised myself and my new possible coach for 2023 that I wouldn't do stupid things (see - I'm trying to listen!)  Aside from the headwind and my ridiculously uncomfortable socks and shirt, the section wasn't too bad.  I joked around with people about the wind, and a dude dressed as Superman about catching his sails (I ended up passing him, but he was a good sport about it).  Miles 7, 8, 9 clocked in right on target between 8:32-8:48 and at mile 9.5 I made the turnaround and flew to mile 10 in 7:42.

The turnaround was awesome - I saw Steve, Mike (who PRed and went sub 2!), Nancy and Greg before turning right to head back home, where there was still a decent headwind, but more of a rolling course in terms of elevation. I cheesed it up for the photographers at miles 10 and 11, one of whom joked that I looked too good and maybe I should start working, and the other I threw down the pathetic triathlete pose, and he laughed and said I made his day (I am a little grumpy this didn't make the race pics, but what can ya do).

Miles 12 and 13 felt awesome, and I picked it up as I went along.  I passed a dude at mile 12 who asked for my number (this is what happens when you run in dyed pigtails and butt shorts, and I laughed) and passed about ten people the last fifteen minutes, with my last 5k faster than my first, which was spot on - mile 13 was my second fastest mile in 7:15 and I was all smiles - this felt awesome!  I crossed the finish line in 1:43:21, for a 7:51/mile, and just slightly faster than my 1:45 goal!

Post Race

Post race I caught up with Billy, who killed it, and my fellow RATs, Mike and Bonnie, who kindly held my medal as I cooled down and scoped out my athletes still on course, who both finished strong in the less than ideal wind and heat.  I FINALLY loosened my shoe (way to go, loser), and spent a little QT hanging with the awesome Wolfpack and RATs crew, and caught up with some of my Cat county buddies, one of which tried to pick me up with some free candy (Thanks Brad, love ya bro).  I found out that I came in 8th overall woman, and won my age group, which absolutely blew me away - I have to say, its ironic that this is the first year I haven't actually tried to race this race, but the execution, despite the heat, wind and stupid outfit, was spot on.  I can't WAIT for Philly to see how this whole fall marathon training pans out - and for the first time - I can say EVL was a total success!