ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?
I did just fine, running my 3rd fastest 5K in 19:49, 14 seconds faster than last year.
DID YOU WIN?
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.
HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?
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.
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.
WHAT ELSE?
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.
SPLITS?
6:09
6:21
6:36
6:06 pace last .12
OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?
It's a 5K; you get a T-shirt. Oh, and a coupon for free Chipotle.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Fairview Half Marathon, Apr. 6.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Dallas, Texas
WHEN?
Saturday, Mar. 16
WHY?
Dash Down Greenville
NO REALLY, WHY?
This was my first race and is the one race I do every year. This will be my 6th in a row.
WHO ELSE IS GOING?
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.
WHAT'S THE FORECAST?
It'll be in the low 60s with a steady south wind of 10-15 mph -- pretty much exactly what it was last year.
HOW DO WE WIN?
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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).
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.
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?)
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.
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.
*3/16/13 Dash Down Greenville (5K), Dallas TX
*4/6/13 Fairview Half Marathon, Fairview TX
*4/20/13 Double Blue Ridge Marathon, Roanoke VA
5/4/13 Carrollton Trails 5K, Carrollton TX
*5/25/13 MS Marathon (Texas Threesome Day 1), Dallas TX
*5/26/13 Jim's Goose Chase Marathon (Texas Threesome Day 2), Dallas TX
*5/27/13 Bachman Memorial Day Marathon (Texas Threesome Day 3), Dallas TX
6/15/13 Dadfest 5K, Frisco TX
*7/13/13 Grandfather Mountain Marathon, Boone NC
*7/13/13 Make It By Midnight Marathon, Macon GA
7/27/13 Cedar Ridge Trail Run (36K), Dallas TX
9/28/13 TBA 50K at Cross Timbers, Lake Texoma TX
10/26/13 Javelina Jundred, Fountain Hills AZ
11/?/13 Ultracentric 72-Hour, Grapevine TX
12/8/13 Dallas Marathon, Dallas TX
ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?
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.
DID YOU WIN?
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.
HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?
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.
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 Teal and Beth), 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.
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. If it weren't for a steady hour-and-change of running by people, I might've had a much rougher time.
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.
WHAT ELSE?
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.
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).
SPLITS?
7:48
7:32
7:40
7:33
7:49
7:33
7:29
7:33
7:39
7:41
7:47
7:59
8:14
7:16 pace last .19
OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?
There is no race-entry shirt, just a tech tee for finishers. The medal is a sturdy one:
WHAT'S NEXT?
Dash Down Greenville, Mar. 16.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Sugar Land, Texas
WHEN?
Sunday, Mar. 3
WHY?
Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Half Marathon
NO REALLY, WHY?
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.
WHO ELSE IS GOING?
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.
WHAT'S THE FORECAST?
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.
HOW DO WE WIN?
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.
ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?
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.
DID YOU WIN?
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.
HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?
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.
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.
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.
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....)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
WHAT ELSE?
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.
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.
SPLITS?
1st 20 mi: 3:27:13 (10:22 pace)
2nd 20 mi: 4:43:30 (14:11 pace; 8:10:43/12:16 total)
3rd 20 mi: 5:15:11 (15:46 pace; 13:25:54/13:26 total)
Last 12.2 mi: 3:45:06 (18:27 pace; 17:11:00/14:17 total)
OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?
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.
WHAT'S NEXT?
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.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Huntsville, Texas
WHEN?
Saturday, Feb. 2
WHY?
Rocky Raccoon 100
NO REALLY, WHY?
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.
WHO ELSE IS GOING?
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.
WHAT'S THE FORECAST?
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.
HOW DO WE WIN?
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.
