I haven’t raced since the beginning of December (when I did a 5K) and have been deep in training mode for the last several months as I prepare for the Boston Marathon on April 20. It’s never easy to train through the winter but it feels like this has been an especially annoying one. Still, I’ve been running more than ever, often running seven days a week rather than my usual six. Last year was the first time I ran three marathons in a year and I realized how maintaining a consistent high-level base made me a stronger runner. I’ve been feeling good about my training and a month out from Boston is usually a good time to run a half marathon to test my fitness. I usually run the Rock CF half marathon but decided to change things up this year and race in Toledo instead. My friend Lisa had plans to run the Toledo Mini half marathon (in addition to the Rock CF 15K the next day!) which made me look into the race. I ran the Muddy Mini half marathon in Toledo in 2019 and really enjoyed it. Most of the course was pretty similar (and flat) so when one of the price jump emails came along, I finally committed and Saturday, March 21 would be the big day.

I read through my recap from the Muddy Mini which reminded me that I would need to leave the house at 4:30am on race morning because it takes an hour and a half for me to drive to Toledo. That inspired me to look at hotels and when I realized I had enough points to get a free room a few miles from the start, I decided to take advantage of it. That meant I could also hit packet pickup at Dave’s Running the day before the race.

It made me smile when I was assigned to room 420 at my hotel since 4/20 is drilled into my head as the date of the Boston Marathon this year. A good sign for my Toledo race? I got my typical pre-race meal at a Panera right by the hotel and relaxed in the room for a few hours before going to bed early enough to get eight hours of sleep…if I had actually slept through the night. It seems like there’s no way to close doors quietly at hotels so I kept hearing those, the temperature wasn’t quite right, and I probably had some race anxiety too. I screwed around trying to find a white noise app on my phone to drown out the noise, then still woke up for a bit at 2:00.

At least I didn’t have to worry about tightening up during a long drive the morning of the race. I left the hotel just before 6am and was able to park easily at Glass City Metropark. I went into the building to look for Lisa and found my friend Jason instead. As we walked to catch a shuttle bus to the start line, we found Lisa and headed out together.

We got to hang out inside Union Elementary School while we waited for the 8:00 start. It was a cold morning so it helped to have a warm place where we could sit, pack stuff up for gear check, and use restrooms. I didn’t spend much time in the school because I wanted to add a few extra warm up miles to get to a total of 16 for the day. Jason and I both headed out just after 7:00 but ran separately because he’s much speedier! I had scoped out a path along the Maumee River that I wanted to check out and it was just getting light enough.

It had been a little tricky figuring out how to dress with temps in the 30s. The real-feel would be at the low end of the 30s so I worried that shorts could be too cold, but fortunately I went with them anyway. A long sleeve base layer with a t-shirt over it plus gloves worked well, and after warming up, it confirmed that I could shed my bonus layers and be fine for the race.

I ran a mile out and turned around shortly after hitting a trail that would have taken me to Side Cut Metropark had I gone further. I came across Jason who told me where to find a porta potty along the path which saved me from any worries about finding long lines for the restrooms when I got back to the school.

I went back inside the school to pack up my warm clothes then finished off a little more distance in downtown Maumee before lining up to start.

Because I’ve been running so well lately, I was hoping I could aim for a PR. Right as I was thinking about that the day before the race I saw a post from running coach Greg McMillan that talked about how hard you should run a tune up race. Perfect timing! There are several approaches people can take and one of them is to race all-out and use that time to calculate a prediction for the goal race. My Garmin provides predictions and I’ve been a bit skeptical as the times keep getting faster as my fitness improves. My half marathon PR going into this race was just under 1:39:00. Going under 1:35:00 seemed especially ambitious. Even if I was a few minutes slower than the prediction it would still be a PR. Maybe I could do it?

A lot of the time I approach a race by starting a little slower and gradually speed up as I go. It’s a more comfortable approach and it’s fun to feel strong at the end as I pick up the speed. However, I had read my blog about my Rock CF race where I ran my half PR and I basically aimed to run race pace fairly evenly the whole time. I know that can get uncomfortable trying to hang on by the end, but it seemed like that was the best bet for running a fast time. If I wanted to aim for 1:38:00, I had determined that I would need to average 7:28 per mile. That felt a bit scary and I figured I should probably plan to run in the 7:30s for much of the race. My first mile came in at 7:26 as I got caught up in the rhythm of the crowd! I didn’t feel like I was working too hard but also knew I should probably slow down a bit and settled in the 7:30s for the next few miles.

We started out with a loop around Maumee before heading out on River Road for a good chunk of the race. I caught glimpses of the water between houses here and there. It was overcast the whole time and there weren’t many spectators, but it was a great course for aiming for a fast time. By the fifth mile I was back to the 7:20s and not paying a ton of attention to scenery anyway – I was really working.

Within the early miles some people passed me and I passed others. I could get in a rhythm with a few people and the pace still felt comfortable, but eventually I ended up on my own for much of the race. I may have been 30 seconds to a minute behind a couple of guys. At least I could see them well enough to know where the course was going up ahead, and I could hear some people talking a little ways behind me. Somehow I managed to lock into a pace and hold steady without having others to work off of.

There was a little climb about halfway through the race, and when I’m going that fast, any little change feels major. There were a few little downhills too though where I could really milk my momentum to pick up the pace. Although half of the scenery wasn’t all that exciting, I recognized when we ran past the zoo, then I also realized that we ran through an area where I had gone to a concert along the water a few years ago. I knew that my friend Mary (Jason’s wife) would be spectating somewhere, and I saw her within the last couple miles somewhere around the downtown Toledo stretch. It was great to see her out there!

I’d been shocked that 7:20s-7:30s felt so easy early on but knew it wouldn’t stay that way the whole time. I was working pretty hard and combined with the cool temps and a little wind, I often had tears rolling down my cheeks. I still tried to smile for photos though!

When I saw that I hit 7:13 for the tenth mile, I was pretty shocked. I was also a little concerned because I knew that I still had 5K to go! As the miles ticked down, I kept trying to do the math. “Even if I run 8:00 miles for the rest, I’ll still have a PR!” I didn’t have to worry though – I didn’t blow up and I didn’t drop to an 8:00 pace. Mile 11 – 7:24. Mile 12 – 7:24. How was I doing this?? I had run some half mile intervals a few days prior in the 7:00-7:10 range that felt hard. I couldn’t have imagined that I was ready to hang on to 7:20s for nearly 13 miles! By the end I may have half looked like I was smiling as I was really cringing my way through. The watery eyes seemed to get worse the harder I worked!

When I take the approach of speeding up as I go, sometimes it can feel amazing to come blazing in to the finish. Somehow I still managed to drop my pace down to 7:07 for the last full mile, but it felt HARD. It didn’t help that there was one more little climb in the last mile or two. I was super excited though because I knew I was definitely going to get that PR. Fortunately we got a slight downhill into the finish which really helped me finish strong.

On the record, I finished in 1:37:36 with an average pace of 7:27! I was in shock that I pulled that off. My prior PR of 1:38:53 had felt unattainable for quite a while and I bettered it by well over a minute! I got my medal and took a minute or two to walk it off, then wanted to go watch for Lisa. When I come to a sudden stop, it doesn’t take long for me to get cold so I started to jog back alongside the course and cheered for people as I looked for her. Thankfully I saw her!

Once I found Lisa I told her I had to get inside because I was getting pretty cold and my fingers were going numb. I had to stop on the way though when I saw a PR bell!

We got inside and found gear check so I could start layering up and get warm. I looked up my results and saw that I was third in my age group so I stopped at the awards table to collect that.

We saw Jason and I was glad he was still around because he had finished nearly 20 minutes before me! He also PR’ed by over a minute. His time was good for sixth overall and he was the first masters runner so we took a picture with our awards.

I really liked the indoor space at Glass City Metropark where we got to celebrate – The Garden. Lots of space, tables, and a place for food.

We had a food ticket on our bib that got us a piece of pizza, chips, and a drink. It was pretty cool that we got pizza made right on the spot!

As we got ready to head out I was glad that I spotted Reagan and her mom Angela – two true speedsters. I know them thanks to Epic Races and they had won awards for running awesome times as well so we grabbed a photo together.

When I got home, I thought about how Greg McMillan said the race time could be used to calculate what to aim for in the marathon. I pulled up his McRun app to type in my new time and it calculated that I could run a 3:25 marathon! My PR is 3:28:55 and I’m not sure I quite believe I could get down to 3:25, especially on Boston’s course. Maybe I can use the logic based on Garmin’s prediction coming into this race that even if I was a few minutes off, it could still be a PR. I always seem to aim for 3:30 as my goal time in the marathon and have only gotten there once. Even if I’m almost five minutes off that prediction, maybe I CAN get down to 3:30?

One thing is for sure – all of the hard work I’ve been putting in is paying off. I always work very hard for Boston, but maybe avoiding injury so far (knock on wood) plus just a little extra mileage and getting successful bits of speedwork in are giving me an extra boost this time around. I keep thinking about a book I have called Run Less Run Faster. I got it in my early days of running and it promotes cross-training some days rather than running all the time. It definitely served a purpose for me at a time, and it could probably be a more ideal approach to take in triathlon season. However, what I’ve been finding is that when I run MORE I run faster. There’s a reason the elite athletes run something like 120 miles per week. I think I’ve pretty much always peaked in the 60s for up to three weeks during marathon training, and this time around I’ve already made it above 70 miles for a week or two. The consistency has been huge for me and it’s nice to have some tangible results now. Lisa has been inspiring me because she’s been good about her speedwork and has racked up a bunch of PRs in the last year. It’s good to know that at 46 years old I can still keep improving if I put in the work. At some point age will catch up with me, but it hasn’t yet so I’m going to have fun seeing what I’m capable of while I still can!

Many thanks to Run Toledo/Dave’s Racing for a great race day experience. I’ve done several of their races and they’ve always been great. I really should make the trip to Toledo more often because I’ve enjoyed myself so much each time. Thanks again to Lisa as well for getting me down there for this race! She’s a part of Dave’s Racing Team now so she’ll be doing a lot of their races. I just may have to join her for some more.

I’m heading into my last really big week of training for Boston before things start to gradually taper down. Weather can always be a factor in Boston and I always have to hope my body cooperates and feels good on race day. Aside from those potential factors, I’m feeling really good about my prep. The results of this race gives a huge boost to my confidence. I’m hoping for great things in Boston next month!

– Janet

Follow me on Instagram @janetboltz