ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?
I finally put together a 10K in line with what I'm capable of, overcoming a stiffer-than-expected breeze and a horrendous on-course traffic jam to finish in 40:32, a good 1:48 below my previous PR.
DID YOU WIN?
I was pretty sure I was 5th overall, but the results have me at 7th (out of 573). The results are wrong in a huge way that I will get into later, but either way I won my age group for the 2nd race in a row, out of 59 this time. I was the 6th male of 286, supposedly.
HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?
The 1-mile run that was supposed to start at 8 was 10 minutes late, setting off a chain reaction of confusion and agitation. We finally got sent off 15 minutes past our scheduled time, and I paired the ensuing bitterness with a tailwind for most of the first 2 miles that ensured the struggles of a couple weeks earlier would not be repeated. I was in 8th place at the first turnaround at the 2-mile mark.
Turning back south, I was confronted with the familiar wind that was blowing a good bit stronger than the 10 mph I expected. The 5th through 7th runners were smartly tucked in, single file, behind the guy in 4th, but I was a couple seconds behind them and couldn't risk speeding up into the wind to try to catch them. Besides, they were way out on the outside curve of the road so I was doing just fine to stay to the inside and save a few paces. This came in handy when I picked a couple of them off half a mile later. I crossed the 5K mat in 20:01.
Everything was humming along just fine until mile 3.6 or so, when I hit the wall. No, I didn't bonk; I hit a wall of humanity as the 10K course rejoined the 5K course right as the thickest crowd of mid-packers were coming through (the 5K started 15 minutes after the 10K, or was scheduled to, anyway). The two 10K runners in front of me jumped onto the sidewalk, but I plowed right on through the crowd, dodging folks like Adrian Peterson. We caught a brief break when the courses split again, but then the last 2 full miles were again clogged with hundreds of other runners.
I bumped a few folks and called out for the 5K runners to stay to the right, but it was pointless. Things thinned out as I caught up to the speedier 5Kers, but at the expense of nearly throwing up twice from a combination of the added effort to get around people and being generally pissed off at the whole mess.
WHAT ELSE?
I'll say the nice things first. My wife came along (she's associated with one of the race sponsors) and brought our little girl, who just loves to watch her daddy run. Seeing them on the course a few times was a big lift and helped me relax a bit.
Now, as for the need to relax.... This was the 2nd running of this event and the 1st time a 10K was offered in addition to the 5K. It is not difficult at all to sit down and do some quick math to determine if you're going to have runners colliding on overlapping courses. Clearly, no one did that in this case. If anyone wants to call me to fix this, I can have it done in minutes. This race got a positive mention on one of the local newscasts in part because of its huge growth (doubled in size from last year), which is only going to make things worse next time.
And about the results.... I was certain I was 5th. The results show 2 runners just a couple seconds in front of me. No one passed me until the very last short stretch before the finish line, and I believe those were 5K runners in their final sprints. I checked the names on Athlinks and while it's feasible their times were legitimate (though at least one would be a big PR), I still have little faith in the accuracy of the results. Part of that comes from another runner a couple spots behind me who also told me he was listed too low. And part of it comes from the handling of the 5K "winner".
A runner (who shall remain nameless to protect the possibly innocent) appeared to sign up for the 5K, start with the 10K and run the 5K course. She finished in 31:02, a believable time for 5K but not 10K. The first printing of the results had her listed as the 10K winner. I pointed out this impossibility to the timer, who said he had "forced" her into the 10K results, I guess because her chip went live with the 10K start but she wasn't entered in the event (maybe he was thinking she switched events that morning). I told him that either way, she didn't run the 10K course so she didn't win the 10K. This was corroborated by the actual 10K winner.
So the timer took the runner out of the 10K results and put her in the 5K results. But in doing so, he changed the start time of her chip as if she had started with the 5K group 15 minutes later, giving her a 5K time of 16:02 (again, no) and the win. She did not step forward at the results ceremony (because she reasonably assumed she hadn't won anything) so sometime next week, an envelope with a medal and a Sports Authority gift card is going to show up in a Carrollton mailbox to a giant question mark over someone's head.
If all that was too long to read, just take the entirety of the results of this race with a grain of salt.
SPLITS?
6:19
6:23
6:34
6:36
6:38
6:34
6:34 pace last .22
OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?
You get a shirt. The winners, like I said, get a cash card to Sports Authority and a medal:
WHAT'S NEXT?
Isle du Bois 54K, Dec. 8.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Frisco, Texas
WHEN?
Thursday, Nov. 22
WHY?
North Texas Turkey Trot 10K
NO REALLY, WHY?
I'll be taking yet another crack at a 10K PR, and if this doesn't work I will try again, and again, and again, like some degenerate going all-in on every hand.
WHO ELSE IS GOING?
Among the 10K, 5K and mile, they're expecting almost 4,000 folks to show up. I'm guessing the 10K field will be a very small fraction of the total, given the general goof-off nature of turkey trots.
WHAT'S THE FORECAST?
We'll be in the low 60s with a breeze out of the south posing a challenge on a course that's largely due north-south.
HOW DO WE WIN?
Same expectations as last time: Go at least a minute under my current PR of 42:20. Put it in these terms: If I simply run the same pace as I ran the DRC Half a couple weeks ago, that's a 42:13 (before you even consider this race is less than half that distance and completely flat).
ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?
After a dud the weekend before, I was back to my old tricks, burning a couple laps around White Rock Lake in 2:10:49.
DID YOU WIN?
Almost! I was 2nd of 78 overall and picked up my first career prize money, a $50 check that basically refunded my entry fee. I was 2nd of 35 men and 1st of 5 in my age group.
HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?
I'd run two laps around the lake before, but never in a race, so figuring out my pacing was a little tricky. For a half marathon, I keep the first mile relaxed, turn up the effort starting with mile 2 and hold that level of exertion until mile 10 or 11, when I head full-throttle to the finish. My splits never reflect this because of adrenaline and fatigue, but that's what I aim for.
I decided for this race I would try to stretch that opening-mile phase out to 5 miles and then resume a half marathon effort from there. But I quickly questioned my plan when, not long after the first half-mile, I could no longer hear the footfalls of the third-place runner behind me. My watch told me I was going the right speed, but I figured I'd be 6th or 7th like I've tended to be in these races so maybe everyone else knew something I didn't.
I won't lie to you; I remembered the money long before going up the ramp to go across the Mockingbird bridge (the race started at Winfrey Point with a counter-clockwise lap to a turn-around at the start/finish line). I looked back down the hill to see not only where the next runner was, but the one behind him (since 3rd place got $25 too). Couldn't see him. Meanwhile, the leader was starting to escape from view, but this was not a concern.
Turning left and heading south along the west side of the lake, I was now presented with a headwind. It was nothing like the weekend before, but it got me thinking about the rest of the race and where the wind would be. I'd be running the last couple miles into the wind. Don't worry about it, I told myself, there are many miles between here and there. I had a brief moment of panic at the short out-and-back section at mile 6.6 when a couple runners came up the sidewalk behind me -- kind of an odd place to turn -- but they kept going straight.
Approaching Winfrey Point and the end of the first lap, the lead runner passed me coming the other way at 1:03:53. I turned around at 1:04:41, so I was a little over a minute and a half back. Going the other direction, it was hard to tell which runner was next, since some folks looked to be running hard but didn't have visible bibs. I guessed I was at least 3 1/2 minutes ahead of 3rd.
After the turn, I found myself running just behind another guy out for a training run who just happened to be running just a hair faster than me. I tried to slip in behind him to block the wind, and soon we were pushing each other: he would surge ahead a few meters, I would gradually catch up to him, and he would surge again. A little past the spillway he turned to me and remarked that the last mile was 7 seconds faster than the one before. I kept chasing him until losing him at another out-and-back at mile 12.
Those couple miles took some strength out of me, but my spirit would soon be renewed by the sight of the lead runner way out in front of me. By the time we got back to Mockingbird I could clearly tell I was closing on him, and by the mile 16 marker I was less than 25 seconds behind. But he pulled it together and I ran out of gas, leaving me 43 seconds short.
WHAT ELSE?
Since my DNF at Old Dominion, 5 of my best 7 races ever have come in the past 4 months or so (this one was #2). Funny, I don't feel 37....
I think I mentioned this in my review of the Labor Day race, but I'll bring it up again. White Rock Racing must've gotten an incredible bulk deal on trophies. More than twice as many folks took home age-group awards than not. They can do whatever they want; it just seems silly. Cut back on the awards and give the savings to For the Love of the Lake.
SPLITS?
6:55
6:51
6:57
6:45
6:51
6:59
6:58
7:05
6:57
6:51
6:42
6:47
7:07
6:59
7:05
6:58
7:12
7:23
7:21 pace last .75
OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?
You get a tech shirt for signing up, a medal for finishing, and in all likelihood, a trophy too:
WHAT'S NEXT?
North Texas Turkey Trot 10K, Thursday.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Dallas
WHEN?
Sunday, Nov. 18
WHY?
Big D 30K
NO REALLY, WHY?
This will be a nice supported long run as I get within 8 weeks of the Houston Marathon.
WHO ELSE IS GOING?
Coming 3 weeks before the Dallas Marathon, you would think this race might get some more interest as the last tune-up for some folks, but no, there won't be many more than 50 or 60 runners on hand.
WHAT'S THE FORECAST?
The forecast looks good; it will really be great if the sun stays behind clouds. We should start in the low 50s and finish around 60 degrees, maybe less if it stays cloudy.
HOW DO WE WIN?
Much like last weekend, the field is small enough that an age group award is really not in question. I'd like to be under 2:14, with a stretch goal under 2:11.
ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?
I've had several great races this fall, but this was not one of them. Fully intent on setting a new PR for 10K, a distance I've never run to the best of my ability, I was not even close, finishing in 43:25.
DID YOU WIN?
The results say I was 6th of 102 overall, 5th of 47 men and 2nd of 9 in my age group. Good thing for a small field.
HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?
After my half marathon the weekend before, I came home and almost immediately fell victim to the cold my daughter passed me (further proving what they say about hard workouts punishing your immune system). I had an especially terrible run Thursday, but by race morning I was feeling well enough to turn in a strong effort in spite of warm, windy conditions.
The first mile of the race went as planned. The wind was in my face but not so powerful that I couldn't fight through it. There were 8 runners in front of me, but I figured some were doing the 5K so I was right about where I thought I'd be.
I wasn't paying too much attention to the time on my watch -- I was distracted by the distance; more on this below -- so I didn't notice that my pace was tailing off even as I kept my effort up. I was happy to get to the halfway point and get the wind at my back, but when I finally figured out how I was doing around mile 5, I was surprised to learn that the tailwind really wasn't doing much for me at all, or perhaps was just keeping me from having a truly awful race.
As I neared the final turn with about a third of a mile to go, it was clear that not only would I not hit my goal time, I wouldn't get a PR either. Only one guy had passed me since that opening stretch, though, so it was a lot easier to brush this one off pretty much immediately.
WHAT ELSE?
My ears perked up a little when I passed a fork in the trail just after the 1-mile mark and the course monitor called out "5K this way, 10K this way." Both events had coned turnarounds, I thought, so a turn in that spot would be wrong. Sure enough, after the race the announcement came down that many 5K entrants had only run 2.3 miles (about half of them, based on the results). The folks in charge decided to apply the honor system and allow runners to turn themselves in if they didn't run the full distance, thus making themselves eligible for a whole new impromptu set of age group awards. In short, don't trust the results for either distance when you go look at them later.
The race feebly tried to put itself forth as "green" in the spirit of Arbor Day by telling folks to bring their own water bottles... if they wanted. If not, they could still take cups at aid stations and litter them as usual. I gamely went along and carried my handheld, just like roughly 2 percent of everyone else. Maybe I should blame lugging around an extra pound of water for my slow time.
SPLITS?
6:32
6:46
7:01
7:05
7:02
7:05
7:15 pace last .27
OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?
Each entrant gets a pair of gloves; if you want a shirt, you can pay extra for one when you sign up. The thought process behind that was that most race shirts end up at Goodwill or the landfill, so why make a bunch of shirts that won't be worn? The logic behind this is deeply flawed. For one, it's the ugly shirts that get tossed. Design a clean, simple, attractive shirt and it will be worn. I bought the shirt -- I registered long ago and apparently wasn't thinking clearly about paying extra for a shirt -- and think it's a fine shirt: a brown long-sleeve tech shirt with the tree logo and usual array of sponsors. I don't, however, care much for the gloves, which will in fact probably start on my hands at an upcoming race and end up on the side of the road.
The age group awards, however, took illogic to a new level: plastic reusable travel mugs. Remember, this race was supposed to be green. And yes, the mugs were allegedly made of some kind of biodegradable plastic, but plastic is plastic, and they're still stuff that people don't need (does anyone out there not have a cabinet full of reusable beverage containers already?). The Tyler Rose Marathon gives all finishers a rosebush; how the Arbor Day Run does not give award winners some small living piece of greenery -- you know, a TREE -- makes my head hurt.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Big D 30K, Sunday.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Plano, Texas
WHEN?
Saturday, Nov. 10
WHY?
Arbor Day Run 10K
NO REALLY, WHY?
My 10K PR is weak and it's bugged me that I haven't really gone out of my way to fix it. Here is my first of two chances this month.
WHO ELSE IS GOING?
It would surprise me to see 200 starters. They've been in the 170s 2 of the last 3 years.
WHAT'S THE FORECAST?
It's looking rough: mid-60s, humid and very windy. The strong breeze from the south should make for a lot of negative splits.
HOW DO WE WIN?
The magnitude of my happiness will correlate to how far I go under my PR of 42:20. Given the conditions I'll probably be happy with 41:30 and save a sub-41 for my next 10K on Thanksgiving.
ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?
Three weeks after a 100-miler, on an arch strain that's not fully healed, I set a new PR of 1:29:13. It was easily the highest age-graded score I have recorded; in other words, my best race ever.
DID YOU WIN?
Obviously I won on a personal level, and in a smaller race I might've actually gone home with something. But an age group prize at this race is still a ways out of reach. I was 5th of 147 in my age group (more than 2 1/2 minutes behind 3rd), 54th of 917 men and 61st of 1968 overall.
HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?
When I found out just a couple days before the race that there would be a 1:30 pace team, that became my plan. I went off with a pretty big group of folks, which made it harder to run the tangents for the first couple of miles (why the majority of people continue not to do this is one of the great mysteries of running).
The group thinned out a little as several folks went on ahead. I felt like I could move in front as well, but since we were already on a pace that would put me close to a PR, I stayed with the pacers rather than risk a late fade. Here and there I wandered off, such as at the top of the hill on Sperry (mile 5.4), but each time I eased up to fall back to the pacers. I crossed the 10K mat in 42:23, 7 seconds under my very soft 10K race PR.
The pacers had been hammering the downhills somewhat, so coming down White Rock Road and turning onto Winsted I did the same, once again getting a little out in front of the stick. I stayed in front this time, figuring they would catch me going up the hill by the spillway, possibly my least favorite hill in all of Dallas. But they never overtook me, and turning north to head up the east side of the lake I decided to push on without them.
Seeing Lesley and Adam watch me pass a couple guys at Winfrey Point (9.6) was a big boost. I looked back a little later to see the pacers only about 10 seconds behind me, but I ran the numbers in my head and figured they were going under their target so I would be OK... and in the end, I was.
WHAT ELSE?
Not sure what it was about the day but I heard of many other folks also setting new personal bests, many by several minutes. Most of them were like me in that they've been doing these for a while, too (this was my 17th half marathon, I believe). It's inspiring to see your friends bringing their times down, but it's also a good reminder that when you're sitting around feeling like not doing anything, someone else is out there out-working you.
The winners of the race got cash prizes, but I will be kicking myself for weeks for blowing a chance to make some money on myself. This was my first chance to try HealthWagers, a new site that gives you a time to beat based on past performances and pays out (pari-mutuel style) if you beat it. I was given a time to beat of 1:32:15, which seemed like a piece of cake, but I held off because I wasn't fully confident in my foot. Looks like I missed the boat; they've set a challenge time for my next race that is way out of reach.
SPLITS?
6:44
6:50
6:43
6:53
6:39
6:45
6:49
6:53
6:48
6:46
6:40
6:46
6:48
6:36 pace last .18
OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?
You get a long-sleeve tech shirt for entering. Lakewood Brewing Company provided the post-run local beer, and Freebirds served up some tasty breakfast burritos. For the medal, the glitter option was checked, circled and highlighted:
WHAT'S NEXT?
Arbor Day Run 10K, Saturday.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Dallas
WHEN?
Sunday, Nov. 4
WHY?
DRC Half
NO REALLY, WHY?
I've run the 5K at this event, and volunteered, and now it's time to take part in the headliner.
WHO ELSE IS GOING?
There will be more than 2000 of us, and as with all races that start at Norbuck Park, I sure hope those folks join me in taking DART to White Rock and making the short walk over.
WHAT'S THE FORECAST?
We should have pretty great weather, with cloudy skies and temperatures in the upper 50s to low 60s. There's a small chance of rain but it's looking like that will be done before the race.
HOW DO WE WIN?
This is kind of a tough one to call. Coming 3 weeks after my 100, I should be able to run fast. I certainly felt very strong just a few days after I got home. But then I spent an afternoon standing around in unsupportive shoes, which screwed up my recovery and gave me an ache in my left foot that's still hanging around. I took 5 days off from running and am only running 5 miles every other day this week, so it's possible I've lost enough fitness to take a PR (1:29:51) out of play. I'll try to get as close as I can.
