Half at the Hamptons

Training update this week. Ran the Half at the Hamptons half-marathon this past weekend. Part tune-up, part benchmarking to help establish a marathon target. I finished in 1:23:29, which averages out to 6:23/mile. A couple of thoughts / observations in no particular order:

• Yikes
  
• This was only my third half marathon. But I lowered my personal best by 4 minutes. Granted this was a much flatter course than the BAA Half, but still. To say that I didn't think I had that race in me is a bit of an understatement.
  
• New Hampshire in February, along the ocean, yet 40 degrees at race time. Let's just say the weather could have been a lot worse.
  
• According to my watch, my split at the 10k was 39:04. That was a personal best. And my split at the 5k was 19:13. Also a personal best. To be clear, those weren't personal bests for 5k and 10k splits of a half marathon. Those would have been personal bests for 5k and 10k races. (Again, with the caveat that I've only run a single 10k and one or two 5k's in the last few years, so I don't have a lot of data points to work with. But still.)
  
• My fastest split was mile 9 in 6:06. My slowest were miles 7 and 13, both in 6:33. I think miles 7 and 9 correspond to what little climb and downhill this course had (only 60ft of elevation.) But my mile splits still varied anywhere from +/- 2% to +/- 4% for most of the race. This was not a very comfortable race.
  
• Big thanks to Scott C. and Katie M., complete strangers that I met at mile 3 and mile 4 respectively, who proceeded to tow me through the bulk of the race. (That's Scott in the picture. I was parked 6 feet off his right shoulder for 9 miles. I ruined most of Katie's pics as well.) At some point Scott mentioned that he was targeting a 1:23:30. I almost gave up contact right then and there, but decided to see how long I could hang on. Plus there weren't a lot of other options. I run most of that race alone and probably finish closer to 1:26 if I had decided to let them go. Oh yeah, and Scott, who finished 3s ahead, clearly knew what he was doing. I wonder what it's like to plan to run a specific pace and then actually do it?
  
• Racing: It's different.

What does this mean for my projected marathon time? I'm not going there yet. Ironically, having tapered last week, and with the temperatures dropping back down, and being sore as hell, I'm actually having a hard time just motivating to get back on the road this week. Part of my brain is clearly asking "Um, was that it? Are we done now?" Nope, not done yet, but good effort.

I Quit

I quit. (My job, not the marathon thing.) Last day was today, Valentines Day. For those of you not familiar with the backstory, I joined a startup in 1999 with some friends from college, under the assumption that I would work there for a few years (or less, if there was some kind of crazy bubble or something) and then move on to the next thing. 14 years, 7 office moves, 2 (3?) bubbles, and 1 acquisition later, it's finally time to get around to that next thing.

What is the next thing? I'll save the details for another day, but it's a new idea / startup, from scratch. I've gotten a couple of responses along the lines of "Really!? You're going through that again?" Maybe 14 years made me overly nostalgic. Or worse, maybe I can't remember anything I learned 14 years ago. Maybe startups should be left to the kids and their energy drinks. But whatever. It's a convergence of ideas + people + timing + experience that I wasn't going to pass up. And it's going to be awesome.

The timing relative to this whole marathon endeavor, however, was not intentional. My work routine was, well, routine, and that made training that much easier. Locker room at the office, run during lunch three days a week, done and done. It wasn't a lack of work, or even a lack of interesting work. If given a chance I will still talk your ear off about the opportunities and challenges we faced. There just weren't many surprises left. You could make, and then stick to, a plan. It was comfortable.

Another thing that was comfortable? Not running a marathon.

My dad is a CrossFit guy, which means I get indirect yet steady exposure to that scene via social media. Plus I go to a session or two with him whenever I visit, and promptly have my leg muscles deatomized. (Shout out to CrossFit Ocean City.) That was where I first heard the phrase "getting comfortable with being uncomfortable." (Not surprisingly, a large number of entrepreneurs latched onto it as well. And everyone else. It's catchy like that. Well, except for maybe programmers. I've worked with more than a few people who would probably rail on this as livelock or something.) Anyways, while the timing might not have been intentional, the startup and the marathon are pretty clearly related. Time to get uncomfortable. (Er, comfortable? Wait, I'm confused.)

On a final note: A tip-of-the-cap to all those who I've worked alongside for the last decade+. That was a lot of fun. "Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who'll argue with you." - John Wooden