tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35386283281474674672024-03-14T09:49:46.288-05:00Hey, How Long Is Your Marathon?Adventures in distance running, from one mile to 100 (and beyond).brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/09722360127141616251noreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-33498678659742284022013-09-27T16:39:00.000-05:002013-09-27T16:39:01.874-05:00Race preview: Lost Loop 50K<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gordonville, Texas</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Saturday, Sept. 28</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Lost Loop 50K<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">I could use a trail race to get my head right for the Javelina Jundred, and even though the two courses probably could not be any more dissimilar, it sure won't hurt to go pick up my feet for a few hours.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />There are 37 entrants for the 50K. A few more than that are driving up all the way up there just to run 12K.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />It's looking pretty gross. The good news is that it should be mostly cloudy to overcast, but it'll still be plenty warm (going from low 70s to low 80s) and quite humid. Storms are on their way; it looks like they won't show up until mid-afternoon but the threat should provide plenty of incentive for everyone to keep moving.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">I've given up making predictions on trail races given that my last several have been grossly optimistic. If I make it through without falling down and I can get around OK on Sunday, I'll consider that a big win.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-55290549475543763322013-09-27T16:25:00.001-05:002013-09-27T16:25:59.810-05:00Race review: Queen City Marathon<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">As you might have guessed by how long it has taken me to post this report, it did not go well. I was on track for 3:05 throughout the first half but blew up on the way home, struggling to a 3:18:34 finish.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YOU WIN?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">As I said before the race, the sole reason for this trip was to lower my Boston qualifying time. I didn't do that, so the trip was a failure. I had a lot of feedback afterward disputing this, but when you have a very specific goal and you come nowhere near accomplishing it, there's really no other way to categorize it. There's no "next time" in this case. Anyway, I was 34th of 666 finishers, 31st of 376 men, 7th of 46 in my age group, 4th American and 2nd Texan.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Honestly, I have blacked out most memories of this event, it was that forgettable. The splits below tell the story. I remember thinking at the halfway point that it was going to be extremely difficult to maintain that pace. I had built a small cushion but by the 18K mark I was already starting to give a little bit of time back with each passing kilometer. I tried to relax by reminding myself that 3:05 was the goal but any PR (under 3:09:42) would still qualify as a success.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I would start the second half of the figure-8-ish course with a little bit of a tailwind, but it hardly did me any good. And the combination of coming back into the wind and tired legs slowed me nearly to a halt. At about mile 21, a runner passed me and, noting my North Texas Runners shirt, shared that he was from Austin. Oh great, I thought, not only am I not the only Texan to come all this way, I can't even cling to the claim of being the fastest.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">WHAT ELSE?</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I spent a lot of time after the race trying to dissect it and figure out what went wrong. Did I log too many miles in training? Did I not run enough miles? Did I walk too much the couple days before the race? Did travel throw me off? Did I not get enough carbs? Was I dehydrated? Did I not get enough sleep? Was the course too flat (73 feet of total climbing)? Any and none of these could be at fault. I think most of all I just focused too much on running in the heat and not enough on doing more work at race pace. I had a couple of race-pace long runs during the summer but they were not long enough and the last one of note was too many weeks before the race. And let's face it, racing a marathon is hard. I don't mind running marathons, but running them as hard as I can is probably my least favorite thing to do.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>SPLITS?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:56</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:01</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:55</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:52</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:58</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:01</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:00</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:55</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:52</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:03</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:05</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:07</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:24</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:09</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:15</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:21</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:26</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:41</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:51</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:49</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:14</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:05</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:14</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:35</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:55</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:50</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:37 pace last .1 (the Garmin cut the corners quite generously)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">This race brought about the welcome return of the actual goodie bag: free samples of granola bars and Advil were among the items tossed into the drawstring bag. The long-sleeve shirt pays homage to the local Canadian Football League team, and the medal reminds you that the number 26.2 has little meaning elsewhere in the world:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHAT'S NEXT?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Lost Loop 50K, tomorrow.</span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-9327496506410467002013-09-02T20:08:00.001-05:002013-09-03T06:26:59.546-05:00Race preview: Queen City Marathon<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada (the city that rhymes with fun)</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b></span>Sunday, Sept. 8<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Queen City Marathon<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b><br />I was pretty <a href="http://42k.blogspot.com/2013/01/race-review-houston-marathon.html" target="_blank">pleased with myself</a> after ducking under</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> my Boston qualifying time by 18 seconds in Houston this January, but between then and now it became clear that 2014 was not likely to be a good year for squeakers. When the mood shifted in late April from rescue to recovery and a client </span><a href="http://www.peregrinefitness.com/" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank">contacted me</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> to write her a last-minute BQ plan (she made it by 35 seconds at Santa Rosa last month -- maybe not enough, but we'll see), I rushed to figure out my own backup plan</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">. I considered Sioux Falls, Skagit Flats, Lehigh Valley and a couple others, but given the unpredictability of finding a temperate location in summer and knowing how I melt when it gets too warm, I went as cold as I could find.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />As with many marathons around this time, interest in QCM was high and the race sold out long ago. The circumstances of all these record fields have to make many of these race directors uncomfortable, but hopefully they are taking the opportunity to put on the best races they can (although QCM is a little different; they've announced a sellout the last 4 years and probably would've gotten there anyway). I believe there are 800 folks signed up for this race.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />Good now, but at risk of changing. It's going to be hot up there this week -- close to 90 -- but there's a cold front coming. The problem is, it was originally supposed to come through on Wednesday. Then the updated forecast had it cooler on Thursday... then Friday... and now it's not expected to cool off until Saturday. The current consensus for race morning is low to mid-50s with a chance of a thunderstorm -- acceptable, but very iffy and not as good as previous guesses has been. My biggest concern had been that the wind would stay down -- and it seems like it will be reasonable -- but if I go up there and it's hot, I'm gonna be pissed.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">No pressure, but if I don't go up there and set a new PR, the entire trip will be recorded as a waste, unless my BQ-:18 is miraculously good enough. No offense to Canadians or the folks putting on the event -- who have a <a href="http://runqcm.com/assets/Documents/2013%20Handbook%20for%20web.pdf" target="_blank">tremendous sense of humor</a> by the way -- but this race would never have been on my radar if not for the bombing. If I lower my time and I still don't get accepted for Boston, well, there's not a whole lot I can do about that. I'm feeling confident. It will have been 8 weeks since I pinned on a bib, the longest stretch in more than 3 years, but my taper has finally helped my nagging Achilles issue subside. I'd like to break 3:05.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-20714749738104933862013-07-18T09:15:00.000-05:002013-07-20T21:15:59.944-05:00Race review: GMM-MIBM Daily Double<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I ran 2 marathons in 2 states in 1 day (mostly). They were vastly different affairs, but the principal goal of the trip was achieved. I knocked out Grandfather Mountain Marathon in 3:33:31, then dawdled and staggered my way to a 5:22:42 "effort" at the Make It By Midnight Marathon.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YOU WIN?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I managed to snag 3rd place (out of 28) in my age group at GMM so I did in fact come home with a trophy! I was 36th of 381 overall and 33rd of 277 men. MIBM was less competitive, so even with a personal worst I was 22nd of 52 overall and 13th of 23 men (no age groups).</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The voyage started Thursday with a little over 11 hours in the car to Nashville. A short run and another 6 hours of driving -- with all kinds of white-knuckle twists and turns going over the Appalachians -- got me to Boone late Friday afternoon, with just enough time to walk the mile or so from the hotel to packet pickup.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The weather on race morning was tremendous: thick fog, low 60s, with the humidity cut by a light wind. Shortly before we lined up on the Appalachian State University track to begin, a couple of runners got married on the football field. We've all heard of engagements at the finish line, but a wedding at the start line? That's some serious business. (I saw them finishing together so if they made it together to that point, they're set for life.)</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">After a lap and a half on the track, we filed out of the stadium and through the edge of campus. I stayed relaxed through the downhill opening section and paid no mind to the folks running past me. As we turned off the main drag and started to head up the mountain, I could feel the increased effort in my chest and legs. I welcomed the chance to walk through the second aid station at mile 5 and take my first gel. I kept this pattern for the rest of the race; the short breaks gave me just the little bit of recovery I needed to get through the next few miles.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">With the uphills came downhills, at least through the first half of the race. I found the drop just before mile 8 to be the most harrowing, ending at a very sharp left turn with the added difficulty of a pickup truck approaching from the right (thank you to the volunteer who caught the driver's attention). At this point I was still under an 8-minute average pace, far below the 10-minute pace I had budgeted.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Somewhere along the way I ran alongside a woman who advised me to look out for the gravel hill at mile 15 and not even bother trying to run it. I still had in mind that I'd be doing plenty of uphill walking in the second half so that seemed about right to me. I hopped onto the Blue Ridge Parkway around mile 11 and enjoyed 3 tame miles to the next aid station. I passed the halfway point in 1:43.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">After that next turn came the gravel section I was warned about. I took a little extra time walking out of the aid station, feeling all the little rocks under my thin-soled Merrells. When the hill wasn't there, I started jogging carefully until I found it, a mile later. She wasn't kidding; it was a steep climb on loose, wet gravel. But it was only three-tenths of a mile, and by the top I was ready to run again.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">It was a steady uphill the rest of the way, but with a few downhill bursts as well. I knew I'd be easily under 4 hours, but as the miles ticked off I realized that 3:50 was in the bag... and then 3:45... and 3:40. I pushed aside the idea of keeping energy in the tank for the night race and went for the best time I could. The climb up to the stadium hosting the Grandfather Mountain Games, a Scottish Highlands festival, provided one last brief challenge before I raced around the track to some generous applause.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I walked back to get something to eat and collect my bag. I needed to get on the road but I didn't want to leave behind an award in case I had won, so I headed back to the finish-line tent, passing the ethnic dancers and the men in kilts throwing telephone poles, to see that indeed, my name was written on the awards sheet. I tried to make the case that I would like my award now, please, so I could get going, but there was confusion about whether the top 3 or 5 overall would be pulled out of the age groups and it would be better if I just waited.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Fortunately the delay didn't last longer than I had budgeted anyway, so by the time I caught the shuttle bus back to another shuttle van back to the stadium, I wasn't really behind what I had scheduled. But when I got to the hotel 6 hours later, I realized I only had time to slap on a fresh application of Aquaphor, change clothes and head out. I wanted to start Make It By Midnight at 7; I started at 7:13, and when it came to trying to finish by midnight, those few minutes made the difference.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">As with the morning race, we caught a tremendous break with the weather, possibly even more so. Normally it would be in the mid-90s with a heat index well over 100, but clouds held the temperature down 15 degrees. Nevertheless, I was already soaked just a few minutes into the run.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I went with the same plan of walking to take my gels and running the rest of the way, and that seemed to be working for a while. The course was more or less a short flat section followed by a short, steep uphill and downhill, repeated many times. I had to stop after the first of 4 6.55-mile loops to tie my shoes tighter, but otherwise I felt pretty good. At the end of the second loop, I took an extra walk up the last big hill, and on the third loop, I mixed in a few more uphill walks, less out of choice than necessity. The tank was running low, but I wasn't totally empty... yet.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">As I finished the third loop, I had 92 minutes remaining before midnight. Normally that would be way, way more time than I would need, but these circumstances were different. I was worn out from a very long day and I knew I would only be slowing further. And, there really was nothing on the line: no age group awards, and what do I care about a plastic tiara? I considered that I had 8 weeks until a much more important race and decided to get an early start on recovery by just walking the last lap entirely. If I had started at 7 and had those extra 13 minutes, then sure, I would've gone for it.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Of course, by walking instead of running I was prompted to realize how very much my feet hurt. I loosened my shoelaces but that didn't help much. In hindsight, the adage "if it hurts to run and it hurts to walk, then run" comes to mind, but I'm not sure I had anything left to run if I had wanted to. I sat for a minute at the mid-loop aid station but my rest was truncated when the volunteer slapped an unwelcome wet washcloth on my neck (I wisely kept my mouth shut rather than risk disqualification for saying what I was thinking). The last mile was not terribly unlike the last steps of the guys you've seen crawling to the finish at Kona. Needless to say, I was never happier that a race was over.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Alas, the weekend wasn't officially over until I got in the car on Sunday and drove about 14 1/2 hours to get home. That was about as tough as the day before.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">WHAT ELSE?</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I hung out for a while afterward and chatted with the MIBM race director. He's a nice guy and so it greatly pains me to say this, but the only reasons to run this race are (A) you're local and up for a challenge, or (B) you're doing something ridiculous like I was. The weather, the hills... I'm not going to complain about these things because they're evident to everyone going into the race and I can't stand when people gripe about things like that. But the visuals are poor -- it's a gated neighborhood but with average houses -- and the streets are pretty beat up (not to mention fairly well-trafficked in places, so you're dodging cars well into the evening). A few residents came out to their curbs to cheer, but not many. And with folks coming and going all afternoon -- the course opens at 3 p.m. and several people were packed up and gone before 9 -- there's little start- or finish-line socializing. Like I said, there might be some appeal, but it's limited.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">On the other hand, Grandfather Mountain is full of scenery with thick woods and numerous waterfalls all the way up. The track start and finish (on different tracks) is unique. The aid stations are pretty sparse through the first half, which wasn't a problem this time but could cause trouble on a warm day. The biggest issue, though, is with the published course profile. Compare their version to my Garmin:</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Mine doesn't look quite so tough, eh? Well, my eagle eyes did not catch the X-axis of the GMM profile, which includes only selected points of the course and is not to scale. It's still a difficult course, sure, with about 2,900 feet of ascent, but most of it is much more gradual than you would be led to believe. (Blue Ridge, by comparison, has only 25% more gain, but its three long, steep climbs keep that race in a category by itself as far as road marathons go.)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>SPLITS?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Grandfather Mountain:</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:22</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:20</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:36</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:11</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:43</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:00</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:43</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:40</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:43</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:44</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:17</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:51</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:43</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:59</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:00</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:29</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">10:30</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:53</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:52</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:26</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:19</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:59</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:47</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:06</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:57</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:47 pace last .82 (excessive Garmin trim on all the twists and turns)</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Make It By Midnight:</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:37</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:25</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:48</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:53</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:32</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:27</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">10:14</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:47</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:08</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:59</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:36</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:42</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">11:16</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">11:26</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">10:47</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">12:29</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">12:11</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">11:28</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">11:53</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">13:05</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">17:55</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">17:32</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">18:25</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">20:47</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">19:14</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">21:57</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">21:33 pace last .38</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">GMM gives you a shirt. The medal is small and kind of threw me a bit since the shirt says "46th running" and the medal says "45th anniversary", which are both true. The awards are simple but elegant acrylic trophies:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">MIBM throws a little more in the bag, adding a water bottle and flashlight to the shirt, just in case you showed up totally unprepared. If you make it by midnight, you get a tiara; if you don't, it's an unmarked plastic pumpkin. I really like the medal:</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHAT'S NEXT?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Queen City Marathon, Sept. 8.</span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-50009716595293496232013-07-10T11:16:00.001-05:002013-07-10T11:16:14.302-05:00Race preview: GMM-MIBM Daily Double<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Boone, North Carolina and Macon, Georgia</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b><br />Saturday, July 13</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Grandfather Mountain Marathon and Make It By Midnight Marathon<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b><br />The Year of Stupid marches on with this little endeavor. Some months ago I started looking for ways to cross off more states on my long, long road to running a marathon or ultra in all 50. The easiest way to do this is with a Saturday marathon in one state and a Sunday one in a neighboring state, but why go easy? I'll run Grandfather Mountain in the morning, hit the road for the 6-or-so-hour drive to Georgia -- pretty much another marathon in itself -- and run Make It By Midnight in the evening.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />Grandfather Mountain hit an announced sellout of 500 runners (though the website only lists 471 names). Make It By Midnight also sold out with 175 total entrants, 84 in the marathon and 91 in the half. Two other Marathon Maniacs beside myself are running both.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />The morning race should be quite pleasant, relatively speaking: 60-70 degrees with a mix of sun and clouds, but humid. Obviously not perfect but for a July race, this Texan will be chilly when the gun goes off. The night race is closer to what I've run in a time or two recently: temps in the 80s with choking humidity that will make it feel 10 degrees warmer.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">We win by finishing, no question. If I were only doing Grandfather Mountain, it would be a tough day. That race starts at about 3300 feet and ends nearly 1000 feet higher, with plenty of ups and a few downs in between. I expect it will be the second hardest marathon I've done behind Blue Ridge, and so I won't be surprised at all if I'm pushing 4:30 to finish (obviously I won't be going all-out, either). The moment I finish, I'll be in a panic trying to catch the shuttle back to the start so I can get on the road to Macon. The race there starts whenever each runner decides, as the goal as to finish at or just before midnight. It's a hilly 4-loop course through a gated neighborhood. I'd like to start at 7 just to give myself way more time than I ought to need -- and before this, I'd also like to be checked in to the hotel where I'll be spending the night. So there's little room for error. Stupid, indeed.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-22890426047977461282013-07-10T09:41:00.000-05:002013-07-10T09:41:06.565-05:00Race review: Liberty 10K<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I surprised myself and came within 4 seconds of a PR, finishing in 40:36. On an age-graded scale considering all distances, this comes in as my 5th best race.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YOU WIN?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I came in 15th place out of 324 runners overall, finished 15th of 152 men and was 3rd of 20 in my age group (only 6 seconds out of 2nd).</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">As I said before the race, I was less focused on running well than on seeing some other friends who were running. The Saturday before, I had tried doing some faster running with one of my clubs; I got through about a mile and a half and my heart was about to explode. So with low expectations, I just set off running until I couldn't take any more.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The 5K and 10K started together, with my group reaching a turnaround about two-thirds of a mile in. I counted about 25 folks in front of me, most of them looking like the high school cross country types who usually rule this race. I was still in passing mode after starting a little bit off the line, and a few cheers from friends going the other direction spurred me on.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The runners in front of me started spreading out, but every so often I approached another one who'd gone out too fast and reeled him in. This kept my eyes off my watch, which was a good thing since it would have told me that I, too, was slowing. I caught a peek at mile 3 and so I made it a point to keep checking until the 5K mark, which I passed in 20:01. At that point I knew my goal of a sub-43 was in hand.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Heading back up the trail around the 5-mile mark, I heard someone closing behind me. He passed me, I passed someone else, and so on the rest of the way. I didn't have a whole lot of kick in me but I wasn't totally dead at the finish either, so I was satisfied with my execution.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">WHAT ELSE?</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">My friends are going to get tired of hearing me bring it up, but training in the heat is clearly doing great things for me. As a beginning runner I did all I could to stay out of the extreme heat. I would get up ridiculously early to get my long runs finished before the sun came up. But the last couple years, I've opted just to take the bull by the horns, diving into acclimatizing runs and getting used to the weather. Last year I ran a 15K PR at Too Hot to Handle, starting a pretty awesome string of races all the way through to the Houston Marathon. With a very important race (Queen City Marathon) just 9 weeks away, hopefully that kind of history will repeat this year.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>SPLITS?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:14</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:21</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:44</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:34</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:34</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:37</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:18 pace last .25</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">You get a shirt. If you finish in the top 3 of your age group, you get a medal:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHAT'S NEXT?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Daily Double: Grandfather Mountain Marathon and Make It By Midnight Marathon, July 13.</span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-90912271872859621522013-07-03T08:05:00.000-05:002013-07-03T08:05:27.288-05:00Race preview: Liberty 10K<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Colony, Texas</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b><br />Thursday, July 4</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Liberty 10K<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b><br />A bunch of friends are running, I needed a race to add to the calendar, and it was super cheap ($17.50 with a Groupon). All excellent reasons.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />Close to 1,000 folks will run the 5K and 10K, with a couple hundred more in the former than the latter.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />It should be a pretty nice morning, in the low 70s with reasonable humidity. Around here that's dang near as good as it's gonna get for July 4.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">This race was somewhat of a late addition to the schedule and as such, I've done very little to prepare for it, given that my more important races are still to come. I'll be hanging out with the above-mentioned friends after the race, so I've decided to leave the car at home and run to the race, the post-race gathering, and back home. That puts the 10K in the middle of a 21-ish-mile training run. Combined with my utter lack of speedwork, I have a hard time seeing myself cracking 43 minutes. That may still be good enough for an age-group award, but that would be purely accidental.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-83585223562112541492013-06-02T09:42:00.001-05:002013-06-02T09:42:25.435-05:00Race review: Texas Threesome<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I ran a 3:26:24 marathon on Saturday and a 4:01:18 on Sunday, but did not start Monday's race because of a couple large blisters on my right foot that would have made 1 mile quite painful, let alone 26.2.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YOU WIN?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This is a tough one to categorize. Technically, I did win Saturday's race, beating 28 other entrants. And I was 2nd of 26 on Sunday (1st male). But the fields were largely noncompetitive (on Saturday, I lapped some folks 4 times on an 8 1/2-loop course), and beyond that, my entire goal for the weekend was to finish my first triple. So though it may seem like I'm beating myself up in spite of a couple of good runs -- I took almost 30 minutes off my previous back-to-back marathon best -- I'd have to say no, I didn't win.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">It took about 5 seconds to get to the front of the pack on Saturday. We ran the partial loop first, out and back, and at the turnaround about eight-tenths of a mile out I already had a pretty good cushion. So I forgot about everyone else for a while and just ran.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">A little over half the loop was on smooth asphalt or sidewalk, but the south side of the lake gave us heavily cracked, uneven asphalt that tested my ankles as much as running on singletrack would. By the fifth time around, I was concerned that my ankles wouldn't make it through one day, let alone three. On the next loop, a pebble got under my foot somehow. If I were locked into a tight race or deeply concerned about my time, I might've just pushed through, but since I figured I had plenty of time, I stopped at the end of the loop to fix my shoe. I asked the volunteer how far ahead I was, expecting to hear something like 20 minutes. "Six minutes," she said.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">A 6-minute lead with 6 miles to go and a warm, humid morning were both uncomfortable, so I got back to work. I figured the guy behind me was catching up, since pretty much everyone in my peer group manages races better than I do, but after another loop, he was now 7 minutes back. With that, I finally eased up and started thinking about Sunday.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I had a couple blisters on my right foot, but they weren't bothering me so I hoped a little extra Aquaphor would keep them from getting worse the next day. The guy who finished 2nd on Saturday wasn't running Sunday, so I was even less concerned about being chased. I was much slower right off the bat, but I was still running all alone out in front so once again I focused on just staying in control.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Nearing the end of the third loop, I looked back to see if anyone was behind me. The female winner from the day before was about 3 minutes back, but looking much stronger than I was. By the same place on the course a lap later, she'd cut the deficit in half. And by the time we got around there again, she was in front.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">At that point the cumulative effect of the two days was setting in. The hot spot under my right heel was the greatest concern, but my tank was low generally. For the last 10 miles I'd walk a tenth and then run the rest of the mile, until I got to the last mile, when I was really out of gas. I really wanted to get in under 4 hours, but it just wasn't there.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I went home and repeated my routine from the day before, resting and eating as much as I could. The blisters from Saturday were worse, but the heel issue was still the biggest deal. I just hoped that staying off my feet would be all I needed.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">But when I got dressed Monday morning, put my shoes on and started walking around, I couldn't take a step with my right foot without wincing. The inside edge of the ball of my big toe was bothering me as well, so it was just impossible to come up with a stride I could manage. I threw together a few sock combinations but nothing helped. It was time to go, and I couldn't go. I went back to bed.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">WHAT ELSE?</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Somehow I'd managed to get through many long runs in traditional running shoes with only minor blister issues, but after running almost entirely in Altras and Merrells for much of the last year, going back to Mizunos was something my feet couldn't handle. I've rarely been a brand loyalist and have generally been able to wear any shoe, but the wide toe boxes of Altra and Merrell might now be something I just can't give up, especially for long runs.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">These are very low-key races, practically unheard of by anyone outside the inner circle of very frequent marathoners who run them. Let's not kid ourselves, they basically exist for people to run up their stats, either to move up in Marathon Maniacs rank (as I was attempting) or just add to the lifetime tally. That doesn't mean they're to be avoided, but there's little use in running just one day if you're not going to run all three. As I said, the course is quite rough on the lower legs; those folks who mosey along at 7-hour pace might be onto something.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>SPLITS?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">(Saturday/Sunday)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:07/7:49</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:06/7:53</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:23/8:11</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:36/8:26</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:33/8:35</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:34/8:41</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:30/8:32</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:33/8:24</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:38/8:22</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:32/8:31</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:45/8:22</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:37/8:42</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:49/8:48</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:36/9:03</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:31/9:16</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:44/9:07</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:57/9:39</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:55/9:29</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:59/9:29</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:04/9:55</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:38/10:06</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:57/9:53</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:07/10:12</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:32/10:23</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:41/10:17</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:54/12:09</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:29/9:08 pace last .37/.34</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">You get a goodie bag with a T-shirt and a few trinkets for entering. The medals are of the spinning variety but the reverse side carries only a generic "we support the Boston Marathon" message from the manufacturer (I assume this is temporary). The male and female winners get trophies:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHAT'S NEXT?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Liberty 10K, July 4.</span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-37594737296451980352013-05-20T15:34:00.000-05:002013-05-20T15:34:11.532-05:00Race preview: Texas Threesome<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dallas, Texas</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b><br />Saturday, May 25 through Monday, May 27</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Texas Threesome (specifically, the MS Marathon, Jim's Goose Chase Marathon and Bachman Memorial Day Marathon)<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b><br />The Year of Stupid reaches a new high (or low) with 3 marathons in 3 days. Sure, it's a thinly-veiled effort to move up a notch in the Marathon Maniacs hierarchy, but if we're going to get into gimmicks, I'd rather be about this and not some electric zombie color run.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />Last year 15 folks ran on Saturday, 27 on Sunday and 21 on Monday. All but 1 of Saturday's field ran all 3 days. Laps around Bachman Lake starting at 5 a.m. doesn't jazz a whole lot of people, I guess.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />I expect pretty oppressive conditions with temperatures and humidity both in the 70s.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">With very small fields of mid-packers and slower -- the average finish time last year was north of 5:40 -- I'll be up there in the standings, which really won't matter for anything because I don't think there are awards. The first goal, of course, is to still be healthy come next Tuesday. After that I'd like to be under 12 cumulative hours, and ultimately under 4:00 each day. I'm hoping that getting a chunk of miles in before the sun comes up will work in my favor.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-42029759287049139262013-05-09T14:32:00.000-05:002013-05-09T14:32:25.336-05:00Race review: Possum Kingdom Trail Run<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My race was nothing to write home about, but I successfully completed a 2nd straight 52-mile Saturday by crossing the imaginary line in 11:48:55.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YOU WIN?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">No, once again you'd have to linger on the results for a bit to find me: 13th of 22 overall, 11th of 17 men. My pre-race prediction of 10 hours will rank as one of my most ridiculous wild guesses ever.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">My plan for the race was the same as it's been for all my other trail races: Go out fast and get as many miles in as possible before it warms up and I get worn down and have to muddle through to the end (maybe I should come up with a new plan). The first loop went along just swimmingly: the sand didn't seem too deep, the rocks weren't too pokey, the climbs were all completely manageable. There were only two stone-steps areas that slowed me to a walk. When I got back around to the start/finish line safely under 3 hours, amid some pretty strong runners, I felt great about how the day was going. A couple 3:30 loops and I'd be ecstatic!</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Well, that didn't last (I knew it wouldn't). Somewhere along the second loop the sun came out and sucked all the life out of me. I'd been continuing to take in calories like I wanted, but my inattention to my water and salt levels was catching up to me. At each aid station I would cram in handfuls of potato chips and wash them down with a few extra gulps of water. I didn't feel much pain -- certainly no effects from the double marathon of a week earlier -- but my heart and lungs were being taxed too easily. After a 4-hour loops, I quit thinking about a finish time.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The last time around was nothing more than a mental struggle to keep moving forward. I wasn't going to quit -- I was way too far along to even think about that -- but making myself run, even a little bit, was tough. Every little rock on the trail was an excuse to walk that section, lest I trip and fall on my face. At the La Villa aid station, the volunteers told me I was in 11th place and there were only 3 people behind me because everyone else dropped. This turned out not to be true, but it was a good motivator to keep pushing (hmm, maybe that's what they had in mind). At the last aid station, I was struggling and took a seat for a few minutes. It was only 2.4 miles to the finish, but I was going to be safely under 12 hours and at that point that was good enough for me. After a few minutes of cold towels on my head and neck, I shuffled off to the finish.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">WHAT ELSE?</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The trail yielded several great views of the lake. On the first loop and part of the second, I made sure to look off to the side whenever I came to a clearing. But after a while, I lost the patience to look at how far I'd climbed (even though it wasn't that far). The hot sun is an evil, evil thing.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>SPLITS?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">1st 17.35 miles: 2:46:00 (9:34 pace)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">2nd 17.35 miles: 4:03:00 (14:00 pace; 6:49:00/11:47 total)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">3rd 17.35 miles: 4:59:55 (17:17 pace; 11:48:55/13:37 total)</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I signed up too late to get a shirt, but I'm sure it's just as high-quality as the one from the other Endurance Buzz Adventures race I've done, Isle du Bois. The finisher award is the same as IdB, too:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHAT'S NEXT?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Texas Threesome, May 25-27.</span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-6543758301448529152013-04-26T17:08:00.003-05:002013-04-26T17:08:58.098-05:00Race preview: Possum Kingdom Trail Run<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Graford, Texas</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b><br />Saturday, April 27</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Possum Kingdom Trail Run (in my case, the 52-mile event)<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b><br />The Year of Stupid rolls on with 52-mile runs on back-to-back Saturdays. This is not a race I'm going to win, but I figure that everything I do will make me stronger for when something comes down the line that means more to me.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />There are 25 people signed up to run 3 17.35-mile loops. The 55K has 52 entrants and the 20K has 123.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />It'll be a warm one, starting in the low 60s and finishing near 80. I presume there will be plenty of shade, or it will be a very long day.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">I can still feel the double marathon in my legs a little bit, but my effort is much lower on trails anyway so it shouldn't make much of a difference. The first goal, as always, is to finish without getting hurt. Beyond that, if I can get through this in 10 hours I will be very, very pleased.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-7067848383757791302013-04-26T16:46:00.003-05:002013-04-26T16:46:49.464-05:00Race review: Blue Ridge Marathon<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I survived America's Toughest (Double) Road Marathon, moseying along with a small group in 4:45 before working my butt off to run the official race in 4:56:52.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YOU WIN?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">No, but I didn't plan to, either. The results won't show the asterisk indicating I ran the double, so my 260th-place finish (out of 429) will look pretty out of place compared to my other results. I was 195th of 286 men and 34th of 42 in my age group (at least 2 of the guys behind me were doublers as well).</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The incredible events in Watertown, Mass., on Friday night let me get a very rare few hours of pre-race sleep -- an effort that was wasted when the alarm went off at 1:30 a.m. to direct me to downtown Roanoke. I chatted with a few of the other 15 or so folks running the unofficial marathon and found a variety of resumes: One had just run Boston, a couple had done Western States, others had never gone past 26.2 miles or 50K.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">We headed out at 2:30 at an easy, non-competitive pace, generously walking the uphills and coming back down at whatever speed was comfortable (I ran the downhills pretty seriously since restraint would probably wreck my quads and make a long day even longer). I took in the views where I could and noted that Roanoke looked a lot bigger than what I expected.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">After mile 20 or so, the group started to break up a bit. I was in between folks, not far behind the 4 or 5 leading the way. I was hoping I might have some extra time between races to tend to my feet and take in some more calories, but about a mile from the finish we stopped to let everyone catch up so that we could run it in as a group. With 20 minutes until the official race start, I only had time to move my bag from someone's car to the bag drop, take a potty break, and line up to go again.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I felt pretty good heading out the second time, but when we got to the first climb I found that my threshold for walk breaks had weakened substantially. Another doubler passed me and I commented that mile 28 was a lot tougher than mile 2. Knowing the course, though, made the climbs a lot easier to manage. I tried to just keep marching and enjoying the view from the mountains.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">My goal for the official race was to finish in about the same time as the unofficial race, and through 15 miles or so I was pretty close to that target. Climbing up Peakwood, though, that pretty much went out the window, and I ignored the watch until about 4 miles remained and I realized I needed to keep moving purposefully to come in under 5 hours. I kept the walk breaks to a minimum, which was easier to do with all the hills behind me, but didn't feel completely safe until I was into the final mile. My wife was waiting for me about 50 yards from the finish, handing my daughter to me over the railing for the last dash to the line.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">WHAT ELSE?</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Running 52.4 road miles up and down mountains is hard work, but it's made much easier with the kind of support we had, especially for the first go-round. One of the runners' wives served as a mobile aid station captain, driving her SUV to various points on the course and meeting us with water, Gatorade, pretzels and so on. A couple residents put tables out in front of their houses with veggie broth, cookies and other items, and a car met us at mile 20 with donuts. That just floored me.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I ditched my gloves early in the official race and then later wished I had them back. Virginia's mountains are tiny compared to the Western U.S. but there's still a noticeable drop in temperature and increase in wind once you get on top of them. I had packed another, cooler shirt to change into for the second 26.2 but was stymied by having to repin my bib. That worked out to my advantage.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>SPLITS?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:59</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:56</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">12:42</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">10:59</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:39</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">14:30</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">14:00</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">10:26</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:43</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">11:30</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">11:33</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">12:46</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">14:27</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:15</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:22</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">12:06</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">12:47</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">15:45</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">13:08</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:30</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">10:45</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">11:17</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">11:26</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">11:37</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">10:44</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">9:51 pace last .94</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">You get a shirt. The "expo", which was just a few tables set up in a small room, had a few giveaway items such as zippered bags and gels. The medal is a good one, though I wish the sponsor name were the size of the race name and vice versa:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHAT'S NEXT?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Possum Kingdom Trail Run (52M), Saturday.</span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-77365506170873585902013-04-15T21:57:00.004-05:002013-04-15T21:57:55.337-05:00On BostonI'm not worried about the runners. There aren't a lot of emotionally weak folks lining up to run marathons, and certainly not to run them fast enough to get to Boston. One after another, tweets rolled in from runners vowing not just to persevere but to focus their energies and redouble their efforts. If you're driven by competition with others, you'd better get your ass in gear.<br />
<br />
What worries me are the spectators, the volunteers, the sponsors... all the people who involve themselves peripherally with running and make events happen. And I worry about the runners' families and friends, whose encouragement allows the sport to flourish. Will today drive these people away, or give them pause, or soften their support for this lifestyle with which so many of us primarily identify ourselves?<br />
<br />
No one runs alone. There's a partner at home watching the kids, or a stranger cheering from the sidewalk, or a finish-line worker handing out medals, or a police officer blocking traffic at an intersection, or a chiropractor with his name on the back of a race T-shirt. There are fifty million people in this country who run, but so many more who make running happen.<br />
<br />
My message to them is this: We need you, now more than ever. Please do not be afraid. The cowards can't touch the runners; don't let them get you either. We will continue to run; we need you to continue to make running happen.brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-72074739529885348612013-04-15T21:34:00.002-05:002013-04-15T21:34:41.503-05:00Race preview: Blue Ridge Marathon<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Roanoke, Va.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b><br />Saturday, April 20</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Blue Ridge Marathon... or more specifically, the Official Unofficial Double Blue Ridge Marathon (a small group of runners, myself included, will gather at the start at 2:30 a.m. to run the course before the actual race begins at 7:35)<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b><br />It's a side trip on a family vacation and will let me cross Virginia off my 50 states list, something I couldn't get done at Old Dominion last year. As a bonus, running the 26.2-mile warm-up lets me claim a considerable discount on the registration fee. Score!</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />The marathon had about 300 finishers last year. It looks like I'll have a dozen or so of them joining me for the warm-up.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />The weather should be pretty fantastic with a morning low of 45 and an afternoon high of 62. There's a chance of a thunderstorm late on Friday; hopefully it won't be any later than that.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Running a marathon makes it tough to run another marathon immediately afterward. It doesn't help that each marathon has 3,600-plus feet of elevation gain, the reason Blue Ridge is called the toughest road marathon in the country. I'm planning on another race the following weekend so my level of success will be determined by whether I enter the 52-mile trail race, the paved trail marathon, or neither.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-18955312477227724272013-04-08T13:45:00.000-05:002013-04-08T13:45:28.604-05:00Race review: Fairview Half Marathon<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Best race ever. No, really, I ran my best race ever, taking down my PR in my 19th half marathon by 1 second to 1:29:12.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YOU WIN?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I was 2nd of 574 overall, 2nd of 211 men and 1st of 29 in my age group. This was my first half marathon age group win since I won the 2010 Boo Run outright. I lamented on Twitter before the race that I'd need an other-worldly effort just to place in the top 3, based on a view of who had registered. A couple guys ran with their wives or paced slower pace groups, but indeed, the guys in M35-39 placed 2-3-4-6 overall.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I started the race way, way too fast. At one point I heard someone behind me, perhaps Paul, note aloud that he needed to rein it in. I thought that would be a good idea too, but no, there I was in the lead. The eventual winner passed me before the Mile 1 marker, but no one else would the entire way. I knew I was running too fast (6:10 first mile?!) but I didn't feel based on my breathing that I was really taxing myself, so I went with it. I was through 5K in 19:33, only 11 seconds off my PR at that distance -- only in this case I still had 10 miles to go.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Mile 4 headed south, into the wind, and my pace slowed to around where it should have been anyway. Then it was back to the north, and faster once again. I passed 10K in 40:15, 15 seconds below the one good 10K I've ever run. At each turn I'd try to get a peek at how far back the next guy was. It seemed he was always close enough that if he were gaining on me, he'd be by me in no time.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">At the aid station at 6.4, I got some encouragement from my Frisco Running Club friends -- well, it was more like all the way down the street, in Hamlin's case. I couldn't falter within view of these guys, now could I? The next runner was 23 seconds back as I crossed the timing mat.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The wind started to hold me up again as I turned back for home, but I was still easily ahead of schedule. I was through 15K in 1:01:35, more than a minute faster than my best for that distance. Mentally I went back and forth between thinking about a PR and thinking about the guy behind me, but both thoughts told me the same thing: Keep running hard.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Turning back onto Greenville at mile 11.5, the headwind hit with its hardest force yet. It was only half a mile to the next turn, but that stretch felt like an eternity. I was running as hard as I could just to keep moving forward. Getting off of that road was a cause for celebration. I closed in on the last out-and-back section of the course and saw the winner go cruising by. As I rounded the turnaround cone, I started counting the gap behind me. Thirteen seconds later, I crossed paths with the next runner. My 26-second edge could still be overcome, so I sped up once again.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">On the last street to the finish, I saw no one behind me and relaxed just a little. When the finish-line clock came into view, it said 1:29-something. I had forgotten all about my time, and when I crossed the line and stopped my watch at 1:29:14, 1 second slower than my PR, I was a little ticked; good thing we went by the chip and not my watch.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">WHAT ELSE?</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The course is unlike most others in this part of the world -- it's by no means in the middle of nowhere, but it is <i>country</i>. Look, houses with actual front yards! The setting is peaceful without feeling lonely, pretty ideal for folks who just like to run.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">This was a rare race that sold out but still felt like it could have been much bigger. It was probably a wise move not to overreach with an inaugural event, but I would expect the field size to grow next year, depending on the consent of the local authorities.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>SPLITS?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:10</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:22</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:18</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:52</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:34</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:39</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:29</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:48</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:09</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:04</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:54</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:14</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:57</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:46 pace last .26</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The race packet included a stylish grey tech shirt, a few inserts for local running-related businesses (<a href="http://www.peregrinefitness.com/" target="_blank">mine included</a>) and, rather brilliantly, a couple of samples of anti-perspirant and Emergen-C, the latter of which I consumed immediately after the race (you know what long, hard runs do to your immune system). The finisher's medal is bold and heavy in the Active Joe tradition, and age-group winners get a pint glass indicating such:</span></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHAT'S NEXT?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Double Blue Ridge Marathon, Apr. 20.</span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-5166558183807626372013-04-02T12:20:00.000-05:002013-04-02T12:20:35.657-05:00Race preview: Fairview Half Marathon<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fairview, Texas</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b><br />Saturday, April 6</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Fairview Half Marathon<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b><br />It's an inaugural race, the race director is a friend, I needed something to do... take your pick.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />The half marathon is sold out with 650 entrants, with another 300 or so running the 5K.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />The temperatures should be good, in the mid- to upper 50s, but a healthy southerly breeze will be a challenge on a course that alternates between long north-south segments and short east-west ones.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">The lost training time from earlier in the year is close to being a non-factor and probably will have less of an impact on my time than the wind. I don't quite feel in PR shape (1:29) but I think there's at least a 1:33 in these legs. Being in a race is motivation enough for me, but this one will have a little extra because there are inserts for <a href="http://www.peregrinefitness.com/" target="_blank">my coaching business</a> in the race packets and a good race might help to make a good first impression.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-56439920329573896882013-03-19T11:48:00.001-05:002013-03-19T11:48:55.203-05:00Race review: Dash Down Greenville<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I did just fine, running my 3rd fastest 5K in 19:49, 14 seconds faster than last year.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YOU WIN?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">No and I might need to start lying about my age. I moved up 11 spots overall from a year ago, to 69th out of 4,253, but down 8 places in my age group, to 16th of 285. That's the lowest place of any of the men's age groups for that time and the lowest I've been in my age group since I first ran the race in 2008.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Wary of getting stuck behind hundreds of folks at the starting line again, I took my warm-up jog early and hung around the start, just pacing around. The 8:00 start time passed with an announcement the race would start in 5 minutes. Five minutes later, we were still a few minutes away. Finally at 8:12, the horn went off.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I started a little fast but settled myself down quickly and was around 6:00 pace for a while before tailing off. The brisk south wind presented the same problem as last year; I didn't get the benefit of it on the opening stretch thanks to all those folks behind me, but by the time I got around to Skillman, it was right in my face with no one to shield me. I got a good push from the wind over the last three-tenths of a mile to come in safely under 20 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">WHAT ELSE?</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I think the Run Project folks reached a little too far last year in pushing the field to 8,000 people. The number of timed finishers dropped by about 800 this year and I don't believe they declared a sellout. It's possible that interest declined some due to the rebranding and repositioning of the parade this year, and it's possible that folks were turned off by overly crammed DART trains last year (although that problem was fixed by adding trains this year). But surely some people were unhappy with the race experience last year and decided not to come back. I'm quite curious to hear why the numbers plunged; I highly doubt it was just a matter of folks opting not to wear the chip.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>SPLITS?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:09</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:21</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:36</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:06 pace last .12</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">It's a 5K; you get a T-shirt. Oh, and a coupon for free Chipotle.</span></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHAT'S NEXT?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Fairview Half Marathon, Apr. 6.</span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-86593425659150041282013-03-12T21:42:00.003-05:002013-03-12T21:42:44.256-05:00Race preview: Dash Down Greenville<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Dallas, Texas</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b><br />Saturday, Mar. 16</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Dash Down Greenville<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b><br />This was my first race and is the one race I do every year. This will be my 6th in a row.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />The registrant cap is 8,000, but a bunch of folks don't show up and a bunch of others don't wear the chip (but line up in front anyway). About 5,000 people will show up in the results.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />It'll be in the low 60s with a steady south wind of 10-15 mph -- pretty much exactly what it was last year.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Last year my A goal was to break 19:00 and my B goal was to beat my PR of 19:23, set in this race in 2011. I missed both, badly, finishing in 20:03 coming off an injury. I am returning from an injury this time, too, so I haven't done much fast running. I got through 2 miles in 12:19 last week, though, so I am going to set the same goals for myself this time -- but just to be sure, I'll add a C goal of beating last year's time. I feel pretty good about that.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-60578578638442616232013-03-12T09:56:00.000-05:002013-03-12T09:56:17.467-05:00The Year of Stupid<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">I haven't posted my upcoming race schedule in a while -- in fact, I don't think I ever gave a peek at my 2013 plans -- so after adding a couple races to the calendar today, I figure it's time for an update.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">Last year was quite the big-ticket year for me: Boston, Big Sur, three shots at 100 miles (I even finished one!). This year is becoming the Year of Stupid. It's seemingly not enough for me to go run races anymore. Now it's about doing bits and finding new and different ways to test myself.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">The first such bit is coming up next month. I'll be running the Blue Ridge Marathon in Roanoke, Va., a race that bills itself as America's toughest road marathon thanks to the 7,234 feet of elevation change. While looking at the race website, I found a page for the Official Unofficial Double Marathon. At 2 a.m., a group of runners gathers at the starting line and runs the course, finishing a little before 7. At 7:30, they line up with everyone else and do it again, this time officially. Sounds like a plan!</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">I'll follow that with a Memorial Day weekend tripleheader, running the Texas Threesome at Bachman Lake in Dallas. It's a somewhat flimsy way to boost my Marathon Maniacs rank, as each "race" is just a couple dozen folks doing 8-plus laps around the lake each day. But it should be good training for other things I have planned later on.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">One of those things will be in July, when I will attempt the rare Daily Double, running two marathons in two states on the same day. I'll start in western North Carolina with the Grandfather Mountain Marathon, a difficult race in its own right that finishes nearly 1,000 feet higher in the Appalachians than it begins, with several steep up-and-downs along the way. After I finish, I'll board a shuttle bus back to the start, then hop in the car and drive 6 hours to Macon, Ga., hopefully arriving in plenty of time for the Make It By Midnight Marathon. This unique concept has runners crossing the start line whenever they choose, with the goal of finishing as close to midnight as possible. So if you expect to run a 4:18 marathon, you start your race at 7:42 p.m. It'll be hot and humid, I'll be exhausted, but it'll be a nice resume builder (and will check off another state on the list without having to make an extra trip).</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">All of this will culminate in November with the 72-hour race at Ultracentric (the race hasn't been announced yet; I'm assuming the scheduling and location will be the same as last year). My goal is to top 200 miles over 3 days, which will hopefully make most things I do in future years feel like walks in the park.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">Also, I'm planning on running the Javelina Jundred in October to get my Western States lottery ticket for next year (and preserve the one I carried over from this year). I would have had this done at Rocky Raccoon, were it not for my super-sized Achilles tendon, so I will take a must-finish attitude into JJ and use up every minute of the 30 available hours if I have to. (I don't include this in the Year of Stupid because just doing a regular 100-mile race doesn't seem that stupid by comparison. It's just one race on one day, right?)</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">Obviously, staying healthy is going to be huge this year. I've been very cautious in coming back from injury over the last month and will continue to be keenly aware of anything my body is trying to tell me. And I'm getting back on track with my neglected preventative strengthening efforts. It helps my cause that I got my Boston qualifier out of the way already so I can focus just on finishing and staying in one piece. I won't be shuffling along to 6-hour marathons, but I won't be out there trying to break 3 either.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">Here's the full listing of what's on tap, with asterisks to indicate completed registrations. I have room for 3 more events to get to my usual 20 for the year, but they will surely be shorter, local races.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">*3/16/13 Dash Down Greenville (5K), Dallas TX</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">*4/6/13 Fairview Half Marathon, Fairview TX</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">*4/20/13 Double Blue Ridge Marathon, Roanoke VA</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">5/4/13 Carrollton Trails 5K, Carrollton TX</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">*5/25/13 MS Marathon (Texas Threesome Day 1), Dallas TX</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">*5/26/13 Jim's Goose Chase Marathon (Texas Threesome Day 2), Dallas TX</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">*5/27/13 Bachman Memorial Day Marathon (Texas Threesome Day 3), Dallas TX</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">6/15/13 Dadfest 5K, Frisco TX</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">*7/13/13 Grandfather Mountain Marathon, Boone NC</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">*7/13/13 Make It By Midnight Marathon, Macon GA</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">7/27/13 Cedar Ridge Trail Run (36K), Dallas TX</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">9/28/13 TBA 50K at Cross Timbers, Lake Texoma TX</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">10/26/13 Javelina Jundred, Fountain Hills AZ</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">11/?/13 Ultracentric 72-Hour, Grapevine TX</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia;">12/8/13 Dallas Marathon, Dallas TX</span><br />
<br />brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-91378164685589596712013-03-04T14:51:00.001-06:002013-03-04T14:51:18.640-06:00Race review: Sugar Land Half Marathon<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I taught a lesson either in courage or stupidity, capping 36 hours of incredible gastrointestinal distress with one of my slowest races ever, shuffling across the finish line in 1:41:34.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YOU WIN?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Not even close, though the fact I was even able to get this done was somewhat of a victory. I was 11th of 69 in my age group and 71st of 780 overall.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">It's been a frustrating couple of months since Houston (still worth it to get that BQ, but my patience is waning). The Achilles issue that developed at Houston and was aggravated at Rocky is all gone, but getting over it has left me logging very low miles. So I knew this race would be not much more than a fast-ish long run for me.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Then the stomach bug bit. Friday night I was awakened by the first episode of filthy business. Saturday morning I got up to go do 10 miles with my running club, thinking I could fight through it. But I wanted to pass out just standing there talking to folks, so I went home instead. The drive down was unpleasant, dinner was unpleasant (aside from getting to chat with <a href="http://lifeisarun.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Teal and Beth</a>), and the rest of the night was unpleasant. When I got up for the last time at 2:30 a.m. -- 4 hours before the start of the race -- I was certain I would not run.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">But when the alarm went off at 5:30, I surprisingly didn't feel all that bad. I knew the cold air would combat the nausea, so I got dressed and headed out. I lined up at the back and started running as gently as I could. The near-freezing temperatures were invigorating and the super-flat course was easy on the body, so I was sailing by folks pretty steadily for the first several miles. Then my pace started to pick up as I found I could manage a little more effort, which let me pass a few more people. As I turned back for the second loop on Palm Royale, I started to lap the walkers and back-of-the-packers</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">. If it weren't for a steady hour-and-change of running by people, I might've had a much rougher time.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">My pace actually slowed from the halfway point on, but I didn't really feel the drag take hold until about a mile and half from the finish. I hadn't run longer than 8 miles since Rocky (and even that 8-miler was a struggle) so I wasn't at all surprised to have to battle my way to the end. I crossed the finish line and immediately wanted to fall over, having not a single calorie of energy to spare.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">WHAT ELSE?</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">In other circumstances, this would have been a great race to crush. The flat, looped course (giving you plenty of rabbits to chase) and near-perfect weather (a touch cold, but absolutely no wind) would've set me up for a very fast time, I think. I also enjoyed the scenery of the Sweetwater Country Club, with its tree-lined boulevard and huge houses. The urban feel of the Sugar Land Town Square is neat, too.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">It didn't affect me much because I was too ill to stick around, but having post-race pizza not show up until more than half the field had finished and having the live entertainment not start until an hour after that were swings and misses. Some aid stations were water-first and some had Gatorade first, a big mistake. And the folks calling the splits were all wrong and all off by different amounts (some were fast, some were slow, by 2 minutes in either direction).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>SPLITS?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:48</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:32</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:40</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:33</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:49</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:33</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:29</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:33</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:39</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:41</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:47</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:59</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:14</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:16 pace last .19</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">There is no race-entry shirt, just a tech tee for finishers. The medal is a sturdy one:</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHAT'S NEXT?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Dash Down Greenville, Mar. 16.</span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-39147538769099963162013-02-25T15:37:00.000-06:002013-02-25T15:37:02.071-06:00Race preview: Sugar Land Half Marathon<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sugar Land, Texas</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b><br />Sunday, Mar. 3</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Half Marathon<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b><br />Back in July, there was a registration blitz that let me get into this race for 25 bucks. That's a great price for a half marathon, so I signed up. Of course, add in a tank of gas each way and a hotel room for the night and it's not exactly a $25 race anymore, but just don't worry about that.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />The race is capped at 1,300 and they're telling me over 1,000 folks are signed up. There were 779 finishers last year in the 2nd edition of the race.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />It's looking awesome: clear skies, upper 40s, just a little bit of a north breeze that should only be a minor issue for the last 10 minutes of the race, if at all.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">If I had finished Rocky Raccoon and recovered well, I'd be looking at this race, with its flat course and ideal weather, as a potential PR. But after taking a couple weeks off to rehabilitate my Achilles, I'm not sure I have more than a couple 6:48 miles in me, let alone 13.1 in a row. Plus, I'm doing 10 miles with my running club on Saturday. So, I'm just going to try to run a steady race, finish strong and feel like I had a good workout.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-37325710109938385152013-02-06T15:41:00.001-06:002013-02-06T15:41:47.701-06:00Race review: Rocky Raccoon 100<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">After resting most of the two weeks before the race to alleviate pain in my right Achilles tendon, I felt ready to go, but 17 hours, 11 minutes and 72.2 miles later, my ankle was swollen to the point I could not flex it in either direction. I did not finish.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YOU WIN?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">No. That's 3 DNFs in 4 attempts at 100+ miles, all coming past the 100K mark. I am Exhibit A of why you never say "only xx miles to go" in a 100 (unless it's like 2). There were 229 finishers of 340 starters for a finish rate of 67 percent, the highest since 2009. Of those, 98 broke 24 hours, a record.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Friday night, I slept poorly, as always. In addition to worrying about the alarm going off, I was worried about not getting to Huntsville State Park early enough and being forced to park far away from the start/finish line (more concerned about the finish than the start). At 3-whatever I was up, getting dressed and out the door, pulling up to the guard shack at the park at 4:00 on the dot, as planned. I sat in the car until 5:15, then walked my bags over to the drop area, chatted with a few friends and lined up.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The early going was as cramped as you would expect for 340 folks funneled 2-across on the trail. This worked in my favor when, maybe 5 minutes into the race, I found a root, reflexively threw my hand out in front of me and broke my fall on the supple left buttock of a female runner. I had a couple other near-falls, but that was the closest. Just for staying off the ground all day, I should've received an award.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The field stretched out rather quickly, a mile or so in, and I settled in, trying just to focus on keeping my feet up. Some sections of trail were rooty as promised, and others were quite tame, but nothing was unrunnable. My ankle wasn't bothering me at all, though after a while I started to feel pain in my heel -- more of a dull annoyance than anything.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I dropped off my headlamp at DamNation (mile 6.2) and said hello to Reece for the first time. His 2 previous 100-mile finishes were in far harder races, so I knew if he were somewhere in the area, I was on track. On the loop out from the aid station I was running and chatting with a stranger, Jody from Austin, who was going for her first 100. She shared her stories of how she was raising 4 kids by herself and last week she worked 46 hours and that was just through Thursday and it was no big thing for her to leave work on Monday and ride 100 miles and then get up Tuesday and do her 20-mile run because that's the only time she could do it and all this sure didn't leave any time for dating and, well, my life of being my own boss and running 30-some miles a week seemed pretty good right about then. (She finished, I didn't, so....)</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Back at DamNation (12.2) I changed shirts and waved hello to Suann as she poured water for another runner. You can't overstate the boost you get from seeing a familiar face during something like this, even just passing through. A few miles on, David Renfro caught up to me and we chatted for a bit before he ran off to his first 100-mile finish.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I finished my first loop in 3:27, giving me 81 minutes in the bank for a 24-hour finish. I grabbed an Ensure out of my drop bag, having decided beforehand to replace some of the calories I would've otherwise consumed through gels or chews. I learned at Heartland that I just can't keep choking those things down all day -- first they bother my teeth, then my stomach loses interest. In fact, I will probably go even further in this direction for future races.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The temperature started to get out of my comfort zone on the second loop, and I slowed down dramatically. I still managed a 4:43 loop to bank a few more minutes, so I now had an extra half hour above plan for each remaining loop. I figured I'd need it for the third loop because of the heat and the last two because of the darkness. Leaving Dogwood to start my third loop, I walked as I ate and drank, and then just kept on walking on purpose. I was plenty willing to spend that saved time to walk through the hottest part of the day, rather than suffer.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">And so I walked, and walked, and walked. I was walking my ass off, blowing right by other folks who were walking the uphills. I got an "I don't know how you do it" from one guy, and another one labeled me "Speedy" (this was possibly the same guy). I ended up power-walking for 8 miles until I actually needed to start jogging to give my muscles a break. Yes, I ran because it was easier than walking.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The third loop took 5:15, which was longer than I'd hoped but was an even split of the remaining time I needed to get under 24. And since I'd intentionally walked so much of the loop, I wasn't really concerned about slowing further. I was counting on the combination of slower walking and a little more running, aided by cooler weather, to get me through the night. For the first 6 miles of the fourth loop, this plan was working just fine.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">But as I headed off on the DamNation loop once again, I started to notice how I wasn't really running with my right leg anymore so much as just kinda swinging it forward. My ankle wasn't flexing my foot up or down. After close to 70 miles of no real problems, or at least much I really noticed, the Achilles had awakened. I was thinking there was a bench at the far end of the loop that I could sit at for a moment to check things out, but either I missed it or had created it in my mind. The 3 miles back to DamNation were incredibly slow and increasingly painful. My day was done. The medical folks got me on a cart, drove me back to the lake and loaded me on a boat back over to the medical tent for some ice.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">WHAT ELSE?</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I'm going to keep doing this. If I hadn't finished Heartland, I probably would've gotten the message from 3 failed attempts and stuck to shorter races. But that bridge has been crossed and burned. I took some of the things I learned and put them into place (such as getting warm clothes on just a little before I needed them), and really would've had a fine race but for the injury. I intend to resolve all 3 DNFs and keep doing whatever else is necessary to get to Western States and get that one done as well. Whatever else is on the horizon, we can talk about after that.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I had few needs from the aid stations beyond water but found them to be well stocked and manned. My bags were very easy to access at the start/finish and at DamNation.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>SPLITS?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">1st 20 mi: 3:27:13 (10:22 pace)</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">2nd 20 mi: 4:43:30 (14:11 pace; 8:10:43/12:16 total)</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">3rd 20 mi: 5:15:11 (15:46 pace; 13:25:54/13:26 total)</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Last 12.2 mi: 3:45:06 (18:27 pace; 17:11:00/14:17 total)</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">My wife will get to enjoy the blue tech pullover that I won't let myself wear (because I don't feel like marking it up with "DNF"). All finishers get a buckle; the sub-24 folks have their buckles noted accordingly, with a splash of red and blue added.</span></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHAT'S NEXT?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Depending on my recovery, Sugar Land Half Marathon, Mar. 3. I had an MRI on Monday morning that showed various mild forms of -itis in my tendons and calf, but no serious damage. I'll keep resting, and since Sugar Land is not an A race on my schedule, I should be ready to just go run it.</span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-70507881726652453642013-01-28T09:03:00.001-06:002013-01-28T09:03:46.868-06:00Race preview: Rocky Raccoon 100<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Huntsville, Texas</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b><br />Saturday, Feb. 2</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Rocky Raccoon 100<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b><br />This is the one all the cool kids run, the biggest 100-mile race in this part of the world and a favorite of first-timers. I signed up the day registration opened 8 months ago, when I still would have been a first-timer.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />At the moment there are 383 folks on the list for the 100 and 379 for the 50. I have more friends and acquaintances in this race than any I've done before -- I told you this is where the cool kids go -- and expect to meet a few more folks this weekend as well. The out-and-back-ish course layout, with some sections of two-way traffic, will make for plenty of chances to see familiar faces.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />It's looking a little on the warm side by historical standards -- high around 70, low around 50 -- but I'm OK with that as long as it doesn't rain, and it's looking like after Tuesday we'll be in the clear.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Having only completed 1 100 in 3 attempts, my first goal is still just to finish, but getting the last one done under 24 hours (on an easier surface but with a little more elevation gain) obviously has me targeting the same result this time. The stretch goal is to go under 23. Improper recovery from Houston left me with a mild case of Achilles tendinitis, but with a couple weeks of aggressive rest, I should be OK.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-29630501108513365302013-01-17T11:21:00.000-06:002013-01-17T11:21:06.356-06:00Race review: Houston Marathon<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I nearly coughed up a huge cushion under my Boston qualifying time but saved myself in the last mile, running a 3:09:42 to qualify by 18 seconds (and break my PR by 3:13).</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DID YOU WIN?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Absolutely. I was less than fully confident about my training coming into this race, but it turned out to be enough. I'm really excited about proving to myself that my other BQ (Grandma's 2011) was not some wind-aided fluke (well, it might've been, but this race surely wasn't). I came in 225th place out of 6674 finishers, 195th of 4111 men and 41st of 638 in my division.</span><br /><br /><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I was extremely anxious about the weather heading into this race, which was the only one I had planned to try to qualify for Boston 2014. With forecasts calling for a better-than-even chance of thunderstorms on race morning, I was so worried about the race being black-flagged I started looking up backup plans (A2A, Fargo, even Big Cottonwood)</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">. My fears never came to pass, thankfully; there was no precipitation outside of a short shower 10 minutes before the race, a rainy first mile and some mist here and there.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">My plan was to run with the 3:10 pacer, but he was just about the last guy to enter corral A, long after I was wedged in closer to the front. After crossing the starting line, I thought about hanging back and waiting for him before realizing what a mistake that would be (I'd have to make that time up later, assuming he would run a perfect 3:10:00). So I went off by myself.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">I was well under control and on pace for the first mile, but the combination of coming over the Elysian Viaduct and merging courses with the half marathoners sped me up, and I went with it. Turning south at mile 5, I knew I'd have the wind at my back and should take advantage before having to repay the loan later in the race. My 5K splits dropped from 21:46 to 21:30 to 21:26.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Just before mile 11, I turned west by Rice University and started to feel the wind in my face. I slowed a little but was still churning out 7:00-ish miles, going further under 7:15 pace. I crossed the mat at 13.1 in 1:31:11, almost 4 minutes below where I needed to be. But the back half of a marathon is still a long way to go, so I tried to stifle any thoughts that I had this in the bag.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The climb over the bridge on Westpark (after mile 14) was a short but tough one, combining a steep grade with a wicked crosswind. I continued to slow down a little on the trek north through the Galleria area, but the losses were small, and I was buoyed knowing that I'd soon be heading back to the east and should have the wind out of my face the rest of the way.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Only, it didn't work out exactly that way. Running through Memorial Park often meant choosing between taking tangents and lessening the wind's effect (I stuck with the former). As the course snaked through the final miles, each little curve to the left brought a new shot of resistance and a little more of a struggle to keep my tiring legs moving forward at the same speed. I still had a couple minutes to spare, but my cushion was eroding quickly.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">With a mile to go, I re-entered the downtown area and spotted my wife and daughter on the sidewalk cheering for me. I gave them a confident wave, but inside I was starting to panic. I was running as hard as I could, but the wind rushing between the skyscrapers was tossing me all over the place. On one block it would be at my back; the next, at my face. I made the last left turn at the convention center and hustled to the finish, finally able to throw two fists in the air as I crossed the line.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">When I got a first look at my splits later, I realized how close I had cut it to 3:10 (aside, of course, from already knowing the final result). Each mile got slower from 19 through 25. If 26 had continued that trend, I wouldn't have made it.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">WHAT ELSE?</b><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Other than the weather, my biggest concern was my shoes. I've been transitioning to lower-drop shoes over the last year and am finally to the point that I'm logging most of my miles in zero-drop shoes, specifically the original Altra Instincts. I was less than confident about my ability to run a fast marathon in them because they're moderately heavy and I'd read thoughts from some folks who felt they just couldn't run as fast in zero-drop shoes as in ones with a little bit of a heel. But the only other shoes in my closet I'd even consider would be my New Balance 205 or Nike Zoom Streak racing flats that don't have enough cushion for me to wear past 13.1 (and they're really not intended to go that far). I went with the Instincts anyway; maybe I could've run a 3:08 in other shoes, but I did what needed to be done so I'll leave that question unanswered for now.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Someone mentioned course scenery recently and it occurred to me that I tend to pay little attention to my surroundings so the scenic aspect of many races is lost on me (unless I don't really care about my time). Thanks to the combination of puddles and extreme focus on the clock, this race probably saw me pay the least attention of all. I remember bits and pieces of the course, like the stadium at Rice or the Galleria, but enough to say whether it's really a good course? No idea. There are 6 or 7 overpasses or underpasses and the rest of it is totally flat, I can tell you that much, but what it gives you of Houston, I couldn't say.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The race is advertised as having huge crowd support, and while the raw conditions put a damper (get it?) on turnout, there was a pretty good sprinkling of folks along the route. I was pleased with the volunteers as well, especially the guy I slumped on at the finish who helped keep me upright for 50 yards or so. I really would've been impressed by anyone standing out in the rain at the first aid station, but those folks filled the cups and took cover (I have no problem with this; if it's not warm, you really don't need a water stop a mile and a half in). The rest of the aid stations were well organized and predictable, with several Gatorade tables followed by a gap and then several water tables. The aid stations on the joint marathon/half route stretched for 100 yards or more. These were done right.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The post-race food, on the other hand, was a lowlight -- not the quality so much as the availability. After collecting my medal, a bottle of water and a banana outside, I went into the convention center to find a line for hot food that was hundreds of people deep. All the three-hour half-marathoners got to help themselves alongside the front-of-the-pack marathoners. I try to be careful about coming off as a snob when it comes to how fast folks run, but this just wasn't right. The marathoners should have had a separate entry, or a jump-the-line pass, or just <i>something</i> to be able to go in and get some food. I didn't wait; I walked back to the hotel and got a sandwich in the time it would've taken me to get anything.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>SPLITS?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:19</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:49</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:53</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:51</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:54</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:48</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:54</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:52</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:55</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:56</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:51</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">6:58</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:03</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:03</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:11</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:01</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:24</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:24</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:13</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:24</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:30</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:34</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:40</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:44</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:53</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">7:36</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">8:08 pace last .37</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><b>OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The white cotton T for entrants will be donated, but the red tech T for finishers is decent (although I'd prefer long sleeves). I like the medal and mug, which is kind of odd given that I've pieced together a pretty good kitchen cabinet of glassware from races and never taken a sip out of any of them:</span><br />
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">WHAT'S NEXT?</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Rocky Raccoon 100, Feb. 2.</span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538628328147467467.post-47196373913163416102013-01-08T09:04:00.000-06:002013-01-08T09:04:03.203-06:00Race preview: Houston Marathon<b style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">WHERE ARE WE GOING?</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Houston, Texas</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><b>WHEN?</b><br />Sunday, Jan. 13</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHY?</b><br />Chevron Houston Marathon<br /><br /><b>NO REALLY, WHY?</b><br />This is my one good crack at qualifying for Boston in 2014 (unless I don't make it and then I'll probably scramble to come up with something else, but I'll deal with that later if I have to).</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>WHO ELSE IS GOING?</b><br />They claim there are 13,000 marathoners and 12,000 half marathoners, but I see that last year there were only 7,600-some marathon finishers, so I guess the real number is somewhere in between. Nevertheless, the flat course, competitive field, big crowds and (usually) agreeable weather make this one of the biggest second-tier marathons in the country.<br /><br /><b>WHAT'S THE FORECAST?</b><br />My first concern with race weather is usually the temperature, but it looks like we nailed it this time: should be right at 50 for the whole race. The other two legs of the stool are going to be awfully wobbly, though. Rain looks more likely than not, but more critically, a north wind of 15-20 mph appears looming. I'm not worried about the first 2 miles being into the wind; there will be plenty of folks in front of me to do the work. The other tricky section will be from miles 13-18, when the course stair-steps to the northwest. I'm hoping to have a little time in the bank from running south with a tailwind from miles 5-11, if the pacer sees it my way.<br /><br /><b>HOW DO WE WIN?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia;">3:10 or bust.</span></span>brian72975http://www.blogger.com/profile/00347157112382677377noreply@blogger.com1