I was up and down last night with Nathan and Kim as he hand a tummy ache and started puking at about zero-dark-30 and puked twice more in the next hour after that. Kim thinks he drank too much soapy water in the bathtub last night. I think I'll start calling it the barftub now.
I woke up around 0630, ate some Cheerios and drank my two cups of coffee. I checked the Weather Channel around 0800 and saw that it was 45 with 15 mph winds out of the west and a wind chill of 33. I threw on tights, a long sleeve shirt and my jacket for a quick one mile warm-up mile in 7:50. After that I hopped in the car and drove to Sherman.
I got to Sherman, grabbed my packet, ran another mile to warm-up with a hard two minute surge at the half mile mark and changed into my flats. After that I stood around trying to stay loose as the race was running a bit behind schedule.
At 0945 we went to the line, got our instructions and got going. I'd been looking at the faces on the line and based on the fact that no one was lining up directly on the line I began to despair that I was going to have a lonely, blustery race ahead of me. As the gun went off I came off the line in the lead with two other people off either shoulder. I took it easy for the first sixty seconds and threw a hard surge off the first turn into a slight downhill. After that it was a race against the clock.
The course wound around a sub-division in Sherman that had a few rolling hills but nothing incredibly intimidating. It was enough to make you change your turnover but not enough to sap you too much and there were enough downhills to surge on that I felt pretty good the whole way.
I hit the mile mark in 6:40.94 but it felt more like a 6:10-6:20. I was pretty disgusted and quit looking at my watch after that. I had two high school kids on bikes acting as my pacers so I made a game of trying to catch them. I talked to them after the race and they said they were trying to keep ahead of me so that I didn't catch them. I would gain ground and get within three or four seconds of them and they would look back and crank the pedals for a few seconds to extend their lead.
Apparently my game made me run super fast the second mile because I hit the two mile mark in 12:20.88 having covered the distance in 5:39.94. I think the mile mark was long.
After the two I pretty much had the wind to my back and two wily high school boys on bikes ahead of me so I tried to keep running strong and maintain my form. I started to hurt a little but before I knew it I could see that I was within a half mile of the finish line and I kicked it in, passing three in 18:54.35 with a 6:33.47 mile split and finished off the last 0.1 in 37.74 with a watch time of 19:32.09.
The second place finisher was right around 21:00 - 21:10.
I drank some water, ate a banana and watched my Hardy Breed pal Jason finish third in the 10K and then I ran backwards(on the course, I didn't actually run in reverse) to catch IronMartha and run the last bit of the race with her. She was the third overall woman in the 10K with a sub-49:00 two weeks after completing her first Full Ironman.
Frankly, I'm astounded that I ran as fast as I did in what amounted to a solo time trial. I thought I would run that fast only if there was more company. Apparently I'm in better shape than I thought I was or the course was only three miles long.
I guess I'll have to come back and defend my title next year.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Weekly Report
I've had a busy week of work and running and tonight is the first night I've had to sit down and catch up on my blogging.
I covered 27.5 miles last week to bring my total for the year up to 366.75. Looking at my log I am almost 40 miles behind from this time last year. I also hadn't run a half marathon in 1:39:21 either. It looks like I was still training with my heart rate monitor too and it looks like it was starting to piss me off quite a bit.
Monday afternoon I got home from work, changed into my trainers and headed out into the 75 degree temps for a set of 2 x 1 mile at tempo pace (6:32). This was supposed to be a "comfortably hard" effort. Usually the problem with the practice is figuring out what the pace feels like and staying with it as it usually feels pretty pretty relaxed.
I ran a mile warm-up in 8:13.50 and then did a mile of eight 40 step pick-ups in 7:40.71. I stopped for 4:20 to stretch, sip some water and change into my flats. I started my first mile repeat on my mile course that winds through my neighborhood and noticed that I hit my quarter split in 1:34. I slowed down, at least I thought I did, and hit the half in 3:12. I apparently mistook what sewer grate is actually the 3/4 mark, AGAIN, and kicked it in with a bit too much mustard and a time of 6:19.18.
6:19.18 is about 13 seconds faster than I really wanted to run and I decided against a repeat performance on the next rep as I didn't want to blow myself out for my 5K this weekend. I didn't feel like I was straining too much but running faster than you really need to too often tends to defeat the purpose of training to race. I'd rather race well than blow my practice times away.
I gave myself 1:09 to recover and sip some water and then basically repeated my first mile up until the 800 when I reined myself in and finished in 6:25.18. That one actually felt alright.
I changed my shoes and sipped some water and them ran a mile cool down in 8:19.
Tuesday, after returning from work, I ran five miles in the 78 degree heat in a relaxed 40:29. I had mile splits of 8:11, 8:12, 8:04, 8:09 and 7:53.
Wednesday, I did some yoga and hamstring presses.
Thursday, I worked late and then vegged out with my son.
Tonight I got another fiver completed, before the storm, in 40:42 with splits of 8:23, 8:23, 8:02, 8:10 and 7:44. The wind picked up pretty hard the last mile and blew my back to my house. Within 10-15 minutes of getting back it was storming.
Tomorrow I am going to run the I Care For Residents 5K in Sherman. I don't know how big the race is going to be or how fast the course is but I would like to run 19:30 - 19:59 depending on who I've got to push/pull me. I'm not expecting to win the race but stranger things have happened. . . most notably my victory at the Springfield Housing Authority Turkey Trot 5K in 2006. I was hoping that more people would show up for that one but I think there were about 12 and I led wire-to-wire and won by over a minute. I don't think anyone was more surprised than I was.
I'll try to get a race report up before I leave for Peoria Saturday afternoon but it will probably be brief.
My pal IronTim is running the Country Music Marathon tomorrow with a goal time of 3:20. He ran 1:34 at the Lincoln Memorial and if you double his time and add ten minutes that gives you 3:18 and change for a marathon prediction. I think he can do it.
Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow!
I covered 27.5 miles last week to bring my total for the year up to 366.75. Looking at my log I am almost 40 miles behind from this time last year. I also hadn't run a half marathon in 1:39:21 either. It looks like I was still training with my heart rate monitor too and it looks like it was starting to piss me off quite a bit.
Monday afternoon I got home from work, changed into my trainers and headed out into the 75 degree temps for a set of 2 x 1 mile at tempo pace (6:32). This was supposed to be a "comfortably hard" effort. Usually the problem with the practice is figuring out what the pace feels like and staying with it as it usually feels pretty pretty relaxed.
I ran a mile warm-up in 8:13.50 and then did a mile of eight 40 step pick-ups in 7:40.71. I stopped for 4:20 to stretch, sip some water and change into my flats. I started my first mile repeat on my mile course that winds through my neighborhood and noticed that I hit my quarter split in 1:34. I slowed down, at least I thought I did, and hit the half in 3:12. I apparently mistook what sewer grate is actually the 3/4 mark, AGAIN, and kicked it in with a bit too much mustard and a time of 6:19.18.
6:19.18 is about 13 seconds faster than I really wanted to run and I decided against a repeat performance on the next rep as I didn't want to blow myself out for my 5K this weekend. I didn't feel like I was straining too much but running faster than you really need to too often tends to defeat the purpose of training to race. I'd rather race well than blow my practice times away.
I gave myself 1:09 to recover and sip some water and then basically repeated my first mile up until the 800 when I reined myself in and finished in 6:25.18. That one actually felt alright.
I changed my shoes and sipped some water and them ran a mile cool down in 8:19.
Tuesday, after returning from work, I ran five miles in the 78 degree heat in a relaxed 40:29. I had mile splits of 8:11, 8:12, 8:04, 8:09 and 7:53.
Wednesday, I did some yoga and hamstring presses.
Thursday, I worked late and then vegged out with my son.
Tonight I got another fiver completed, before the storm, in 40:42 with splits of 8:23, 8:23, 8:02, 8:10 and 7:44. The wind picked up pretty hard the last mile and blew my back to my house. Within 10-15 minutes of getting back it was storming.
Tomorrow I am going to run the I Care For Residents 5K in Sherman. I don't know how big the race is going to be or how fast the course is but I would like to run 19:30 - 19:59 depending on who I've got to push/pull me. I'm not expecting to win the race but stranger things have happened. . . most notably my victory at the Springfield Housing Authority Turkey Trot 5K in 2006. I was hoping that more people would show up for that one but I think there were about 12 and I led wire-to-wire and won by over a minute. I don't think anyone was more surprised than I was.
I'll try to get a race report up before I leave for Peoria Saturday afternoon but it will probably be brief.
My pal IronTim is running the Country Music Marathon tomorrow with a goal time of 3:20. He ran 1:34 at the Lincoln Memorial and if you double his time and add ten minutes that gives you 3:18 and change for a marathon prediction. I think he can do it.
Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
What I did this week.
My wife left for a conference in Florida at 0300 on Tuesday morning. I stayed in Chatham and became Mr. Mom until 1230 Friday morning when she got home. Nathan and I had a good time doing guy stuff: shoe shopping (okay, that isn't manly but I needed new shoes for work), getting DVDs at Best Buy (Juno for me and Toy Story and Thomas the Tank Engine for him), burgers at McDonalds, watching TV in our undies, and going for a hellishly tough four mile run in 20 mph winds while pushing 50 pounds of child and jogging stroller. We had a good time but we were both happy to see Mommy (Kim) on Friday morning.
I managed to get a six mile run on Monday in 48:51 and the four miles with the jogging stroller were covered in 33:19. I even managed to drop a sub-8 minute mile mostly because the canopy on the stroller acted as a sail and drug my ass the last 3/4 of a mile through our sub-division. Friday I ran another four miles in 32:30 in the pouring rain and went to Ruby Tuesdays with Kim and Nathan for another cheeseburger and salad. I ate three or four cheeseburgers this week, it usually takes me a month to do that.
Yesterday I ran 5 x 400 with 400 meter recovery jogs at the track. My intention was to run them in the 1:24-1:25 range but I have no sense of pace for the fast stuff anymore. After running two miles in 16:32 to warm up I ran the following:
1. 1:24.02 (2:18)
2. 1:23.84 (2:23)
3. 1:23.39 (3:19) changed into my flats.
4. 1:22.56 (2:16)
5. 1:16.63 (2:21)
I ran the last one as fast as I did because I just wanted to see how fast I could go. I'm impressed with the whole practice but I would be happier if I ran all of them in 1:24 like I did back in January.
This morning, after Kim woke up, I ran an easy eight miles in 1:03:29. I ran splits of 8:06, 7:52, 8:06, 8:06, 8:05, 7:58, 7:39 and 7:38. I didn't want to run that fast and I think that miles seven and eight are short but I'm happy with how easy it felt.
I think the only reason I ran as well as I did at my half marathon a few weeks ago is because I ran most of my long runs at low-eight minute pace or slightly under because even as I was crashing the last two miles of the race I still managed to run 7:58 and 7:44 splits which is what I'd been used to running.
Nate, I have a muscle question that I need an answer to. What muscle has an origin or insertion on the ischial tuberosity? When I stood up from changing into my flats that muscle gave me a twinge in my first few strides. I remember getting that feeling in high school a few times but never worrying about it. It feels like it is closer to the perineum than the femur if that helps.
I managed to get a six mile run on Monday in 48:51 and the four miles with the jogging stroller were covered in 33:19. I even managed to drop a sub-8 minute mile mostly because the canopy on the stroller acted as a sail and drug my ass the last 3/4 of a mile through our sub-division. Friday I ran another four miles in 32:30 in the pouring rain and went to Ruby Tuesdays with Kim and Nathan for another cheeseburger and salad. I ate three or four cheeseburgers this week, it usually takes me a month to do that.
Yesterday I ran 5 x 400 with 400 meter recovery jogs at the track. My intention was to run them in the 1:24-1:25 range but I have no sense of pace for the fast stuff anymore. After running two miles in 16:32 to warm up I ran the following:
1. 1:24.02 (2:18)
2. 1:23.84 (2:23)
3. 1:23.39 (3:19) changed into my flats.
4. 1:22.56 (2:16)
5. 1:16.63 (2:21)
I ran the last one as fast as I did because I just wanted to see how fast I could go. I'm impressed with the whole practice but I would be happier if I ran all of them in 1:24 like I did back in January.
This morning, after Kim woke up, I ran an easy eight miles in 1:03:29. I ran splits of 8:06, 7:52, 8:06, 8:06, 8:05, 7:58, 7:39 and 7:38. I didn't want to run that fast and I think that miles seven and eight are short but I'm happy with how easy it felt.
I think the only reason I ran as well as I did at my half marathon a few weeks ago is because I ran most of my long runs at low-eight minute pace or slightly under because even as I was crashing the last two miles of the race I still managed to run 7:58 and 7:44 splits which is what I'd been used to running.
Nate, I have a muscle question that I need an answer to. What muscle has an origin or insertion on the ischial tuberosity? When I stood up from changing into my flats that muscle gave me a twinge in my first few strides. I remember getting that feeling in high school a few times but never worrying about it. It feels like it is closer to the perineum than the femur if that helps.
Trials
I've been watching the Women's Marathon Trials for the last hour or so. Lewy-Boulet is way ahead and Deena just dropped Blake Russell and Mary Akor.
Deena looks good.
Blake just gapped Akor by about two seconds.
Interesting race, lots can still happen.
Blake has about a 7 second lead on Akor. Barring a huge meltdown in the last 9 miles it looks like Lewy-Boulet, Kastor and Russell representing the U.S. in Beijing.
UPDATE:
Davila from the Hanson's/Brooks team is making a run at Blake Russell and is only about 10 seconds back. Russell looks like she's laboring a bit.
At mile 20 Lewy Boulet only has a 1:17 lead over Deena.
Davila is right on Russell and is looking good. Russell looks like she's falling apart.
Lewy Boulet just ran mile 21 in 5:57, her slowest of the day, and has had her lead over Deena cut to 1:03.
Lead now down to 40 seconds. Blake looks like she's gained a little more ground on Davila.
Deena only 32 seconds back with less than four miles to go. Lewy Boulet looks BAD.
Deena 22 seconds back. Russell has a 23 second cushion over fourth place. Lewy Boulet could crash and miss out.
Deena only nine seconds out at mile 23.
Deena takes the lead at 2:14:50.
A former Illinois runner, Tera Moody, is in 4th place, 53 seconds behind Blake Russell. Mooday ran a 2:46 to qualify for the Trials and is on pace to take about 10 minutes off that time.
Deena 24 seconds ahead at the 25 mile mark.
Deena wins in 2:29:34!
Lewy Boulet second in 2:30:18.
Blake Russell third in 2:32:41.
Zoila Gomes is fourth in 2:33:53.
Tera Moody is fifth just a few steps back in 2:33:54.
Deena looks good.
Blake just gapped Akor by about two seconds.
Interesting race, lots can still happen.
Blake has about a 7 second lead on Akor. Barring a huge meltdown in the last 9 miles it looks like Lewy-Boulet, Kastor and Russell representing the U.S. in Beijing.
UPDATE:
Davila from the Hanson's/Brooks team is making a run at Blake Russell and is only about 10 seconds back. Russell looks like she's laboring a bit.
At mile 20 Lewy Boulet only has a 1:17 lead over Deena.
Davila is right on Russell and is looking good. Russell looks like she's falling apart.
Lewy Boulet just ran mile 21 in 5:57, her slowest of the day, and has had her lead over Deena cut to 1:03.
Lead now down to 40 seconds. Blake looks like she's gained a little more ground on Davila.
Deena only 32 seconds back with less than four miles to go. Lewy Boulet looks BAD.
Deena 22 seconds back. Russell has a 23 second cushion over fourth place. Lewy Boulet could crash and miss out.
Deena only nine seconds out at mile 23.
Deena takes the lead at 2:14:50.
A former Illinois runner, Tera Moody, is in 4th place, 53 seconds behind Blake Russell. Mooday ran a 2:46 to qualify for the Trials and is on pace to take about 10 minutes off that time.
Deena 24 seconds ahead at the 25 mile mark.
Deena wins in 2:29:34!
Lewy Boulet second in 2:30:18.
Blake Russell third in 2:32:41.
Zoila Gomes is fourth in 2:33:53.
Tera Moody is fifth just a few steps back in 2:33:54.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Notice of Silence and one more "wow" moment.
I will not be posting over the next few days as my wife is going to a conference in Florida tomorrow and taking the laptop with her. She'll be back late Thursday night so I probably won't post again until sometime this weekend.
Don't miss me too much.
The other "wow" moment I am speaking of is that of Chris Derrick, the Illinois 3A state champion from Naperville Nequa Valley High School who ran 13:52 at Detweiller, just ran 5000 meters at an in-season high school track meet (Arcadia Invite) in 13:55. His two mile split (9:03) would have placed him 6th in the open two mile race, and then he closed with a 4:22 mile and ran the last 200 in 30 flat.
Stanford is going to be pretty good next year.
Don't miss me too much.
The other "wow" moment I am speaking of is that of Chris Derrick, the Illinois 3A state champion from Naperville Nequa Valley High School who ran 13:52 at Detweiller, just ran 5000 meters at an in-season high school track meet (Arcadia Invite) in 13:55. His two mile split (9:03) would have placed him 6th in the open two mile race, and then he closed with a 4:22 mile and ran the last 200 in 30 flat.
Stanford is going to be pretty good next year.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Wow.
Ryan Hall just ran 2:06:17 for fifth place overall at the London Marathon this morning. That means that he has run marathon times of 2:08:24, 2:09:02 and 2:06:17 to go with his 59:43 AR in the half marathon, all within the last 18 months. I am in awe of this guy.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Thank you Dan B.
These were taken by my friend Dan at today's race. Check out his website. Congrats on your 3:32:47 at St. Louis! Jason, congrats on your 3:33:11!
The guy in the gray is Ben and the other guy in the red Hammer jacket is John. They're fast and, unfortunately, in my age group. They're still nice guys despite the fact that they kicked my ass today.
AMA 5K
Seven days after running my brains out in the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon I ran a very sedate 5K race in Washington Park. The temps about an hour before race time were in the high 30s/low 40s with rain and 20 mph winds in the area. I ran a mile warm-up before leaving my house in about 8:03 and ran another mile when I got to the race with Patty and Molly. I felt loose as I stepped to the line but when the gun went off I just wasn't feeling it. I ran the first mile with my friend Matt who was running his first race since July 4th of 2007 due to some Achilles tendonitis. We went through the mile mark in 6:39.52 after which I remarked, "6:39? I thought we were running faster." I threw down a hard surge after that and passed six or seven guys before the two mile mark. I hit two in 13:17.70 running a 6:38.18 mile split. I was feeling pretty good as I headed down the big hill toward the Carillon but was in a huge "no man's land" between packs. I tried to make up as much ground on the two guys ahead of me as I could but wasn't able to get within 20 seconds of them before the finish. I crossed the line in 20:35.08 running the last 1.1 in 7:17.38. According to the pace calculator I use I ran the last 1.1 in 6:37 pace which means that I ran a very even paced race.
I never felt terribly uncomfortable. In fact, I felt very relaxed and in control the whole race. I ran 20:23 last year two weeks after crashing hard in the half marathon and coming down with bronchitis and after having spent the night in the ER with my son and his ear infection. I placed 13th overall today but only 5th in my age group.
I need to go now because my son just covered himself in the adhesive from one of those sticky mouse traps.
I never felt terribly uncomfortable. In fact, I felt very relaxed and in control the whole race. I ran 20:23 last year two weeks after crashing hard in the half marathon and coming down with bronchitis and after having spent the night in the ER with my son and his ear infection. I placed 13th overall today but only 5th in my age group.
I need to go now because my son just covered himself in the adhesive from one of those sticky mouse traps.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Pain and anoxia
I ran the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon this morning in beautiful Springfield, IL. Gun time was at 0730 after a speech by Abraham Lincoln, the National Anthem and a volley of musketry. I was lined up with my good pal IronTim and a newer pal, Ben. After the muskets went off I didn't see either of them until I finished.
My preparations for this very challenging course have been lacking the last five weeks due to IT band pain and an upper respiratory infection of some sort. I think I put in about 12 miles in the two weeks prior to today and I wasn't liking my chances of running 1:35 like I had hoped.
My goal for the first mile was to start slow in the neighborhood of 8:00. I let tons of people pass me the first few blocks and whenever I would feel myself speed up I would rein myself in and slow down. Mile one came in a very relaxed 7:37.28 (gun time, not chip). Usually when I say mile one felt relaxed it comes back and bites me in the ass so I made myself slow a bit more the second mile and started talking to a girl who was running beside me for the next mile, which we passed in 7:40.10 (15:17.38). I was starting to get into a groove but kept making myself slow down as it was still a bit too early for me to start knocking down faster and faster splits as the hills wouldn't start until the sixth mile. Mile three came and went in 7:44.37 (23:01.75). It should be noted that I was walking through the water stops so I could get the fluid in my gut instead of on my shirt, this will explain why my splits seem a bit up-and-down.
Mile four was still pretty flat and I decided to stretch the legs a little to the tune of a 7:32.68 (30:34.43) split. Mile five was more of the same in 7:38.15 (38:12.58). I took a Power Shot at the five mile mark and decided it was time to get rolling. I dropped a 7:24.48 (45:37.06) sixth mile through the first of our hills and followed up mile seven with a 7:34.86 (53:11.92). I passed a friend around the 7.5 mark and Tracy would come back to haunt me in the last mile and a half.
Mile eight gave us a brief respite from the bigger hills but presented us with a few rollers. I passed the eight mile mark in 1:00:35 with a 7:23.88 split. I knew that all I had to do at that point was run the last 5.1 miles in about 39:00 to go under the 1:40 Promised Land. I followed up with a 7:31.99 (1:08:07) ninth mile and was starting to feel the burn.
I knew if I could make it through Oak Ridge Cemetery and up the hill past Lincoln's Tomb to the ten mile mark without being in too much distress I could put myself in a good position to reach my Promised Land.
I had started the race wearing two shirts, sleeves, a headband and a pair of socks that were disposable gloves. I ditched the shirt a mile and a half in, the socks got dropped around three, the sleeves came off somewhere around seven and my awesome Nike headband came off a mile later and was stuffed down the back of my shorts with my sleeves.
As I headed into Oak Ridge I discovered that my good friend Patty (who likes to talk a lot of crap about how she is going to beat me in the longer stuff) was only about 30 seconds behind me with a bit over three miles to go. I smiled and yelled "good job" at her and headed down the long downhill into Oak Ridge. Once the bottom of said hill was reached you have to pull a u-turn and run up the hill past the Tomb and back out of the grounds. This is where I started my long and disastrous breakdown last year.
As I was powering effortlessly up the hill I felt a slight "twang" in my waistband about halfway up. Without breaking stride I looked back to see my beloved Nike headband laying forlornly in the middle of the road.
I left it where it was.
I ran the tenth mile in 7:24.68 and went through with a total time of 1:15:32, 22 seconds faster than last year and much more in control. I refused water at the next stop and ran up the last big hill into Lincoln Park. I ran too hard up the hill and felt my form start breaking up after cresting the hill and heading to the 11 mile marker about a quarter of a mile in. I tried latching onto a guy and having him pull me through and we went through the mile in 7:27.90 (1:23:00). I knew I was still in good shape to go under 1:40 and all I had to do was run 2.1 miles in 16:59.
As a final insult there is one last little incline heading out of Lincoln Park after which was a nice long, gentle downhill to the 12. I staggered up and out of the park, carrying my arms and starting to gasp and was unable to do much but put one foot in front of the other as I lost contact with the guy I'd been running with and was passed by Tracy and two other guys.
I ran my slowest mile in 7:58.80 and passed through 12 in 1:30.59. I had NINE minutes left and I knew that I'd need almost all of them. I spent the last 1.1 trying to get my arms to relax and to get my lungs to take in air and I willed myself to a 7:44.53 (1:38:43) split for my 13th mile.
I started graying out the last 0.1 and barely had enough presence of mind to hit my split time as I crossed the finish line in 1:39:25.
Once I finished I was held upright by Martha (who probably would have been the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen at that point IF I could have focused) and another finish line marshal who together ushered me into a chair and gave me one of those space blankets.
After sitting there for a good five minutes I staggered to my car for my dry clothes and into the post-race party for food and drink. My pals all ran well with Ben running 1:30:50, the Bionic Woman running in the 1:33 range, Tim finishing in the 1:34s, Tracy gunning me down by a minute and dear, sweet, crap talking Patty finishing not quite ten seconds behind me.
My official time: 1:39:21. Official place: 107th. Time improvement from last year: 5:25. Place improvement from last year: -4. That's right, I actually finished four places worse than last year.
I am VERY happy with my race. I think I could have done better if my training had been more consistent but I'm not going to complain about improving my PR by 4:02 on such a difficult course.
Next year I'm going to see if I can't drop another 4:02.
My preparations for this very challenging course have been lacking the last five weeks due to IT band pain and an upper respiratory infection of some sort. I think I put in about 12 miles in the two weeks prior to today and I wasn't liking my chances of running 1:35 like I had hoped.
My goal for the first mile was to start slow in the neighborhood of 8:00. I let tons of people pass me the first few blocks and whenever I would feel myself speed up I would rein myself in and slow down. Mile one came in a very relaxed 7:37.28 (gun time, not chip). Usually when I say mile one felt relaxed it comes back and bites me in the ass so I made myself slow a bit more the second mile and started talking to a girl who was running beside me for the next mile, which we passed in 7:40.10 (15:17.38). I was starting to get into a groove but kept making myself slow down as it was still a bit too early for me to start knocking down faster and faster splits as the hills wouldn't start until the sixth mile. Mile three came and went in 7:44.37 (23:01.75). It should be noted that I was walking through the water stops so I could get the fluid in my gut instead of on my shirt, this will explain why my splits seem a bit up-and-down.
Mile four was still pretty flat and I decided to stretch the legs a little to the tune of a 7:32.68 (30:34.43) split. Mile five was more of the same in 7:38.15 (38:12.58). I took a Power Shot at the five mile mark and decided it was time to get rolling. I dropped a 7:24.48 (45:37.06) sixth mile through the first of our hills and followed up mile seven with a 7:34.86 (53:11.92). I passed a friend around the 7.5 mark and Tracy would come back to haunt me in the last mile and a half.
Mile eight gave us a brief respite from the bigger hills but presented us with a few rollers. I passed the eight mile mark in 1:00:35 with a 7:23.88 split. I knew that all I had to do at that point was run the last 5.1 miles in about 39:00 to go under the 1:40 Promised Land. I followed up with a 7:31.99 (1:08:07) ninth mile and was starting to feel the burn.
I knew if I could make it through Oak Ridge Cemetery and up the hill past Lincoln's Tomb to the ten mile mark without being in too much distress I could put myself in a good position to reach my Promised Land.
I had started the race wearing two shirts, sleeves, a headband and a pair of socks that were disposable gloves. I ditched the shirt a mile and a half in, the socks got dropped around three, the sleeves came off somewhere around seven and my awesome Nike headband came off a mile later and was stuffed down the back of my shorts with my sleeves.
As I headed into Oak Ridge I discovered that my good friend Patty (who likes to talk a lot of crap about how she is going to beat me in the longer stuff) was only about 30 seconds behind me with a bit over three miles to go. I smiled and yelled "good job" at her and headed down the long downhill into Oak Ridge. Once the bottom of said hill was reached you have to pull a u-turn and run up the hill past the Tomb and back out of the grounds. This is where I started my long and disastrous breakdown last year.
As I was powering effortlessly up the hill I felt a slight "twang" in my waistband about halfway up. Without breaking stride I looked back to see my beloved Nike headband laying forlornly in the middle of the road.
I left it where it was.
I ran the tenth mile in 7:24.68 and went through with a total time of 1:15:32, 22 seconds faster than last year and much more in control. I refused water at the next stop and ran up the last big hill into Lincoln Park. I ran too hard up the hill and felt my form start breaking up after cresting the hill and heading to the 11 mile marker about a quarter of a mile in. I tried latching onto a guy and having him pull me through and we went through the mile in 7:27.90 (1:23:00). I knew I was still in good shape to go under 1:40 and all I had to do was run 2.1 miles in 16:59.
As a final insult there is one last little incline heading out of Lincoln Park after which was a nice long, gentle downhill to the 12. I staggered up and out of the park, carrying my arms and starting to gasp and was unable to do much but put one foot in front of the other as I lost contact with the guy I'd been running with and was passed by Tracy and two other guys.
I ran my slowest mile in 7:58.80 and passed through 12 in 1:30.59. I had NINE minutes left and I knew that I'd need almost all of them. I spent the last 1.1 trying to get my arms to relax and to get my lungs to take in air and I willed myself to a 7:44.53 (1:38:43) split for my 13th mile.
I started graying out the last 0.1 and barely had enough presence of mind to hit my split time as I crossed the finish line in 1:39:25.
Once I finished I was held upright by Martha (who probably would have been the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen at that point IF I could have focused) and another finish line marshal who together ushered me into a chair and gave me one of those space blankets.
After sitting there for a good five minutes I staggered to my car for my dry clothes and into the post-race party for food and drink. My pals all ran well with Ben running 1:30:50, the Bionic Woman running in the 1:33 range, Tim finishing in the 1:34s, Tracy gunning me down by a minute and dear, sweet, crap talking Patty finishing not quite ten seconds behind me.
My official time: 1:39:21. Official place: 107th. Time improvement from last year: 5:25. Place improvement from last year: -4. That's right, I actually finished four places worse than last year.
I am VERY happy with my race. I think I could have done better if my training had been more consistent but I'm not going to complain about improving my PR by 4:02 on such a difficult course.
Next year I'm going to see if I can't drop another 4:02.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
