Essex Steam Train Half Marathon - 10 Years Later

Essex Steam Train Half Marathon

In March, I ran my first half marathon since having kids, my first half marathon in ten years. 

Ten years ago I was 27 years old, living in Utah and in amazing shape. I was running, hiking, biking, as much as I could and when you live so far from your family, you have a lot of time for the outdoors.  Ten years ago, I ran my fastest half and set my PR, the Salt Lake City half marathon. I was running against my Garmin time of 1:55:36 at 13.15 miles which was a PR for me. AFTER the race, and only after, I logged back into the race website to see it was an entirely downhill course, and my official race time was 1:59:15. It's always best to go with the race timer knowing you add a bit of distance as you wind your way through the course (the course is measured on the shortest route possible running the tangents etc).

I set out on the Essex Steam Train half with the 1:55 in my head and pushed myself to run 8:30 splits... something that felt hard as I trained my long runs at an easy pace, and shorter runs with speed work. I went out fast and stuck with a 8:30 and even faster pace the first few miles. I kept running, wildly proud of this pace, and my strava quickly kept measuring ahead of the race mileage. By the time I got to the finish, my Strava recording was at 13.85 miles on a 13.10 mile race course, covering the 13.1 distance in the 1:52 range. 

The only fair way to compare the races is to compare race times. I ran this race in 1:59:14 on the race clock, with an average of 9:06 minute miles over a very hilly course (865' gained over the course of 13 miles in a series of never ending rolling hills). I placed 11th out of 42 women in the 30-39 age group, and 109 of 289 overall. 

My only true goal was to beat the time of my 27 year old self ten years ago in Salt Lake City. This PR was on a very hilly course, ten years, one busy career, and two kids later.  I had so much more time to train ten years ago, and still managed to run a fast race after life tried it's best to slow me down. One second faster than my time in Salt Lake City a decade ago.

I ran the race in 1:59 and held onto my medal and train whistle to give to Whitney. The train pulled back into the station at about 2:20 and Whitney was so excited SO PROUD that I beat the train. He had such a beaming smile on his face when he got off the train and gave me the biggest hug. I gave him the train whistle I won and he told me how proud he was of me. Later that day, snuggling in bed, he told me out of the blue that he would be proud of me even if I didn't beat the train.

 

Essex Steam Train Half Marathon elevation (rolling hills)

Salt Lake City Half Marathon elevation (downhill) 

I wrote my kids an email to their accounts following the race because this truly felt like a big moment as a parent. Training for a half marathon while juggling a career and two young kids is no easy endeavor. At only 2 and 4, they join me in the stroller as I put in some training miles. They see me walk back in the house on Saturday mornings a sweaty happy mess after sneaking out of the house by 5 am to run before the house wakes up. Saturday mornings felt sacred, the only day of the entire week I get to wake up and sneak out alone, silence, a hot coffee and time to myself. I teared up on the course a few times knowing I could and would beat my time and my goal. It was emotional knowing I am setting such an amazing example for my kids, and hearing my son on the phone cheer me on was wildly special.

This race was proof to myself and my kids that health is so important, that kids don't ruin your hobbies, and that you can be faster, stronger, and better even after kids.  I wanted my kids to know they can do hard things.  I broke into tears several times on the course, knowing I could do it or come pretty damn close, that even if I didn't match my time, I knew I was a fitter, better version that that 27 year old. 

About the Race

The race offers the half marathon distance (13.1) and a relay option broke into an 8 mile first leg and 5 mile second leg. Proceeds benefited the Community Health Resources (CHR), a behavioral healthcare provider. In these wild times, it felt good to have my race entry support a cause like this. The race was also ten minutes away and allowed me to run through my easiest running season, winter and early spring. The half marathon follows a course to Deep River station and back. In the meantime, the train takes the relay runners to Deep River Station, heads out for a bit of a train ride, and turns around making it back to the Essex Station 2 hours and 20 minutes later. Runners set out with the goal to beat the train back to the station.