sunday, september 13, 2009
I Did A Green Run 5K
Race: I Did A Green Run 5KOfficial Time: 21:26
Actual Time: 21:29
Comments: This was my first race in quite some time. Initially, I didn't even plan to do this one but when I was cleaning up the website a few weeks ago, I realized I didn't have a 5K personal best time. Hell, I can't even remember ever running one. This one, part of the Arizona Road Racers summer series fit well into the schedule so I signed up.
I got out there about an hour early and Rob met me. He later blamed me for making him do this race but I have a hard time believing he wouldn't have been out there anyway. We got the chips and numbers and then headed out for a warm up run around the course. This turned out to be a good idea since the course was mostly a kind of trail run with small washes and lots of sandy dirt.
This was a pretty small field and both the 5K and 10K runners - just more than 500 - started together. We got started pretty well and the first half mile on pavement was about enough to even out the pack to handle the narrower track on the trail portions.
I got going pretty strong - the first mile came in at 6:23 - but could tell my recurring issue with lack of stamina was going to be a problem. But I wanted to keep the pace as strong as I could as long as I could.
The second mile was where it started getting hairy. I was able to get it in at 6:50 but I could tell I was pushing myself but I didn't want to give so much I couldn't finish. I was getting passed by the better runners who had started back but not by folks taking advantage of my fatigue, yet anyway.
Mile three was a battle. A lot of it I was wrestling with the just-let-it-end mental stuff. Something I don't need to mess with when I'm in good shape - suggesting that I'm not where I need to be conditioning-wise. The progressive slowing continued with a 7:14 effort for this mile.
The end was a nice push but nothing crazy. I was severely overheated. The overwarm temperatures and relatively high humidity really jumped all over me. I missed the 20-minute target by quite a bit, dampening my hopes for the run. But, now I've got a PR target to knock down.
Conditions:
Start: 7:15 a.m.Injury update: Just this beastly fatigue.
Surface: dirt/asphalt
Weather: night/clear
Temperature: 81 degrees
Humidity: 45 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Horse Lover's Park, Phoenix, Arizona
Shoes: Pearl iZUMi Surge+
more: Archive | Race Reports | Races
wednesday, december 31, 2008
Midnight Madness 3 Mile Run
Race: Midnight Madness 3 Mile Run/WalkOfficial Time: UNK
Actual Time: 19:20
Garmin link
Comments: Another year, another NYE Midnight Madness run at Rose Mofford Sports Complex in Phoenix. This even has become a downright tradition with me since I did it in 2006 and last year.
Happily, each time I've run it I've been significantly faster as well - cutting 50 seconds off last year and a solid half-minute this year. But there was a lot of work behind that achievement - a total of 519 miles run in 2007 and a whopping 918 miles last year.
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One thing I did different this year was to put in a two-mile warm-up or so. Essentially, this race is a really fast 3-mile tempo workout so it made sense to treat it like I would any track workout. Did it help? Possibly.
Past experience has taught me this is the worst race to get caught in the crowd since it's got so many novice runners and it's at night. So I was right up front with all the high-school track kids and guys in running flats at the start.
So, of course, I got passed by tons of folks as we zipped off but I pushed right to the side of the road and stuck with it to the turn. No problems at all.
While I don't know if I am any faster today than I was a year ago, I certainly have more stamina. Although I was running at a pretty good clip - all of my mile splits came in under 6:30 - I never got that 'dear god let it end' feeling these short/fast races do to me.
(Also, I was wearing my Alabama shirt and a few people yelled out "war eagle!" as I went by - I made it a point to smoke them as bad a possible. They should be used to that this year.)
The non-lit back side of the course was a struggle as always. I got blinded by the lead vehicle as I neared the turnaround and stumbled pretty bad but caught myself. A NYE race injury would be the last way I'd want to cap my running year.
Coming into that last stretch I turned the juice on and passed three runners. But I did it a bit early, losing steam with 100 yards to go and giving up the lead to two of 'em. Oh well. I wanted the time and I AIN'T a short-distance runner.
Overall it was, as usual, a great little race but there was one gripe with the organization this year.
Usually I try to get in the truck and outta there pretty quick in order to beat the drunks moving between parties and bars after midnight. But they said they'd have the finishing times up quick so I hung around.
Well, they did have the times up but they were missing tons of runners - including me of course. The race director first said he could check the numbers, then he said they were printing new finishing sheets (which also omitted us) and finally he announced we had to visit the timing company's website to get it sorted.
Whatever. It not a real biggie for me but there are a ton of younger runners who do this race and most aren't going to get any award. Seeing that number on that list is huge to them and this crew let them down. I hope they sort it out for next year.
Conditions:
Start: 10:30 p.m.Injury update: Nothing, and I mean nothing out of the right calf/shin that has been pestering me the last few weeks. It was so completely absent that it wasn't until I was doing my cool-down laps that I noticed it hadn't been there all day.
Surface: concrete/asphalt
Weather: night/clear
Temperature: 51 degrees
Humidity: 55 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Rose Mofford Athletic Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Shoes: Nike Equalon2
But, on the other hand, my left hip has been... uneasy all day. It didn't give me any kind of a problem in the race but I could tell it felt a little stiff doing the cool-down.
more: Archive | Injury | Race Reports | Races
sunday, december 07, 2008
Holualoa Tucson Marathon
Race: Holualoa Tucson MarathonOfficial Time: 3:24:48
Gun Time: 3:25:04
OK. The first point to address is the unvarnished fact that this race was a major disappointment. The goal was to qualify for the Boston Marathon and I missed it by three minutes and forty-nine seconds. To get that close and come short was a massive gut punch and I’d be lying if I said otherwise.
Now, aside from that there was a lot of progress here. I bested my previous PR (set at the Sydney Marathon last year) by 6:49 - an improvement of about half-a-minute per mile. More importantly, despite my knee and hip problems this year, neither was a serious issue during or after the race.
So I’ve clearly made a ton of progress. . . just not quite enough to achieve the goal I’m hoping to reach quite yet.
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The morning of the race I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and lay in bed for an hour before just deciding to get going. Most of the pre-race routine was taken up with useless nattering about just to keep busy and not freak out too much.
Before leaving I looked up the 3:15 race split times for the halfway and 20-mile mark and wrote them in ballpoint pen on the back of my hand.
I got on the bus at 5:00 a.m. and took the ride up to Oracle. The trip took almost an hour but we still had a good hour-and-a-half till the start of the race. I sat on in the relative heat of the bus until 6:30 or so then got out and wandered around the start area.
At about 7 a.m. I finally found the rest of the guys and we took the final piss-break and ambled to the start. The temperature to get going was pretty chilly but not abnormally cold. Pretty ideal, actually.
They started the race on time and headed down the hill into the "historic" town of Oracle. As expected, this section was pretty up-and-down as well as narrow. There wasn’t anywhere to really go in the pack but the relatively small field - we had just more than 1,000 runners in the marathon - meant it wasn’t too crowded. And it slowed us down about right.
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The three downhill miles here went really well. We made up a bit of our time but didn’t push too hard. As we made the turn at mile 10 into the Biosphere our banter was upbeat and we were feeling great. Of course this is where the wheels fell off for me.
Approaching the Biosphere meant we were heading back toward the Santa Catalina mountains and thus uphill. Add to that there were three actual hills involved and this was a more formidable stretch of the course than it seemed from just a drive over the roads.
The guys were pushing to keep to the pace and I really started to feel it by the middle of the second long hill - dropping F-Bombs intermittently as the suck of the stretch got significantly worse. Since it was two miles in and two miles back, I knew it would be easier once we got to the turnaround but I gave a lot to get there.
And, even when we hit the turnaround, there were the uphills we traversed before to contend with as well. By the time we came up on the half-marathon mark we were running about half-a-minute to a minute behind ideal pace but the worse was over - or so we thought.
Coming out of the Biosphere we got back to Oracle Road for the long 10-mile decline on the highway. The plan was to recoup the lost time from the early miles and the Biosphere as necessary here. Accordingly, we started trying to get closer to the 7:27 mile pace we targeted.
But, increasingly, I was having trouble keeping up. Along the hills in the Biosphere I had a few bad moments but pushing to keep up with the guys got me through the. Out here I found myself constantly pushing to keep up with them and the mental game to keep going was getting really brutal. I was starting to suffer and I knew it.
I kept battling this over the next several miles but when the group sped up to an almost 6:30 per mile pace in order to pass a runner the writing was on the wall for me. Half a mile later - somewhere after the 18-mile mark - I had to let them go.
Now I was in trouble. Out by myself on the course with the pain getting bad and the ability to keep my pace going evaporating by the minute. I knew I had a five-minute cushion due to the difference in our training pace and my actual target but keeping the Garmin pace indicator under 8:00 was getting harder and harder.
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Things kept getting bad and I was doing everything I could to keep moving forward. I gave myself two more short breaks when it got brutal with the hope of finishing strong if necessary. Then the 3:20 pace guy caught up with me.
I dropped a hearty F-Bomb and shucked everything extra I was carrying - my gel belt, my sunglasses and even my beloved Alabama hat. The guy (one of the members of Blue Pants Racing) was really cool and supportive but unforgiving with his pace. I kept up as long as I could but eventually he just started pulling away as well.
Then the coup-de-gras. Turning at the 24th mile there was the slight uphill and then to the section behind the Basha’s grocery store that was one long incline. I made a last effort to put on a push and slammed into the wall. There was nothing - and I mean nothing - left in my legs.
It was obvious that the rest of the race would be simply trying to keep moving forward to the finish line. But I got across somehow. I was completely and totally shot. My legs were rubber and full of pain. I stopped and waited for one of my fellow runners who I passed at about the 24-mile mark but even just standing there was a lesson in agony.
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When I tried to keep up with the group through the hills in the Biosphere section I pushed myself too hard and paid for it down the stretch.
If I had held to a level of exertion similar to the start of the race - even with the substantial decrease in pace - I would have had so much more left in the tank for the second half. Looking at the breakdown of my splits I was almost exactly on the pace for the 3:20 until that final stretch - 1:39:14 vs my 1:39:01 at the halfway and 2:32:40 in comparison to my 2:30:50 at the 20-mile mark.
But, as my heart-monitor shows, my heart rate increased substantially after the Biosphere section and while I was able to keep it somewhat under control with my decision to slow down I clearly had pushed too hard. When I tried to give the final push my heart rate got up to its max and - I assume - my lactic levels probably were redlining as well.
So what now? Hard to say. First up is to let myself recover from this and then take a closer look at what happened. But it seems pretty clear that Boston '09 is not going to be in the cards.
Conditions:
Start: 7:30 a.m.
Surface: asphalt
Weather: sunny/cloudy
Temperature: 40 degrees
Humidity: 57 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Oracle, Arizona
Shoes: Nike Equalon2
more: Archive | Race Reports | Races
sunday, august 31, 2008
Nike Human Race 10K - Lima, Peru
Race: Nike Human Race 10K - Lima, PeruOfficial Time: 44:38
Watch Time: 44:38
Well, to kick off the real running portion of my training I decided to run this big race production Nike put on this year - The Human Race. These have been more common in recent years but I guess Nike decided to kick out the jams and make this one one of their bloated advertising crossover productions.
Whatever, it promised to be a decently organized 10k with lots of people - exactly what I need to get myself motivated for the next three months.
So I went and watched my beloved Crimson Tide wipe the field with Clemson last night and slept a glorious sleep of the righteous. I got up at 6 a.m. - about three hours before the start - because I wanted to at least mimic my marathon preparation.
About an hour prior to the race I ambled over to the Parque Kennedy. The other big advantage of this race is it was being held about four blocks from my apartment. Which was nice of them.
There were throngs of folks around and I guess the final total of runners will be in the ballpark of the 8,500 the organizers are claiming - give or take a thou.
I found a closed off street without too many folks walking around to warm up on. Walk, jog, then run the little course. About ten minutes of this with nice walkarounds between. About 15 min before the race I got into the start queue which, this being Peru, was a fantastically disorganized mess.
But we started on time - a surprise here - and it was a mad ugly crush up the course. Simply put, there were too damn many people. I started almost at a jog, dodging people constantly, and got up to a slow run after the first turn where there were sidewalks and medians to skip around the slower folks.
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Overall, though, folks were real nice and into it. Again though, cutting corners was rampant. When there were curves on the Malencon only a handful of runners stayed on the road while the majority cut across the shorter sidewalk paths. I don't quite understand that.
Weather wise it was a sunny day which have only arrived in the last week or so. Ironically, it would have been nice if this one stayed overcast. The humidity and muggy air worked with the sun to make it pretty rough on the back of the course when things turned uphill.
There was a great spot over the bridge near Costa Verde where kids playing the cajon box drums lined the sidewalks hammering out the rythms. And, right after that, the fire department set up a huge hose to spray runners as they went up the hill. Simply awesome.
At the start of the race I felt pretty good and got into the usual breathing rhythm to keep the pace. On the long downhill of Pardo Avenue I tried to make up some time knowing the hills on the Malencon were coming and the uphill of Larco at the end.
About halfway I started to lag a bit, sort of feeling out of energy but recovered. At about kilometer 7 it got pretty rough. I had to really concentrate to keep my pace up and not lose my form. And when the course turned uphill the difficulty for that doubled. All of this was physical condition, mind you. At no point did I have injury-type pain and that makes me very happy.
Still, I was basically hoping for a sub-45 min race and got it. With the slow start I would even say this was a 44 min effort. With just one month of work and rebuilding my conditioning, I'll take it as a win.
Conditions:
Start: 9:00 a.m.
Surface: concrete/asphalt
Weather: sunny
Temperature: 70 degrees
Humidity: 79 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Shoes: Brooks Trance VI
more: Archive | Race Reports | Races
sunday, march 09, 2008
Valley of the Sun Half Marathon
Race: Valley of the Sun Half MarathonOfficial Time: 1:32:05
Watch Time: 1:32:09
A really good little race. I took five minutes off my last half marathon and a full ten minutes off the one I did in January. More importantly, I achieved my dual goals for this one - I reeled in another negative split and I bested my ideal half-marathon time.
The breakdown of my times suggests I slowed somewhat over the course of the race but not a great deal. My 5K split was 21:27 (6:55 pace), my 10K split was 42:38 (6:52 pace) and my 10 mile split was 1:09:57 (7:00 pace).
Now, the caveat here is that there was a good bit of downhill to the course so these are not likely what I would pull in for a certified race. How much downhill? WHOAH! amount of downhill.
The USA Track and Field Association doesn't allow more than one meter of drop per kilometer over a course to be record certifible. This race's cumulative drop: 9.48 meters (more than 30 feet).
But what matters is I ran it solid and strong to the end and that's what I was setting out to do.
While the race materials say the thing was in Mesa it turned out to be WAY out there in the county. It was near the Salt River so that gave it the sloping downhills. Driving in with pitch darkness we had to follow the second half of the course to get to the parking area. Oh I was digging the downhills but there was one big uphill that made me sad inside.
The buses pulled us out to the starting point but we had to walk a good quarter mile from where we were let off to the staging area and - later - it was another half mile walk to the starting area. You'd think they'd centralize it better being out in BFE but oh well.
It was kinda chilly and I was glad I brought my sweats. As it got light there wasn't much direct sunlight to get warm so I kept them on until the last 20 minutes and actually used the bag drop off. It wouldn't matter if I lost 'em but I figured what the hell.
When we finally got to the starting point there were a bunch of sorta-elites waiting there. These guys were clearly going to put some heat on the street and they let them sidle up to the start right before the horn. No prob, just a little odd for such a small race (828 runners total).
Anyhow, we got going on a downhill and, as a result, folks took off pretty fast. I could tell I was going a bit quick and had to really concentrate to bring it under control. I had no idea how fast I was really going but I tried to keep my breathing from becoming labored.
Folks were blowing by me pretty good there but I was determined not to screw my whole race up by getting caught up in the rush. But, even though I was working to slow it down, I passed the two mile mark at 13:20 or so (I missed the first mile marker). I made it a point to try and slow even more after that.
The first part was through a relatively new housing development with long sloping streets. At about mile three or so there was this long, long, LONG monstrosity of a hill. It wasn't particularly steep but the bastard simply would not end. I just tried to keep my breathing in control while all these folks whipped by me.
Of course, when we hit the crest I tried to ride the downhill, not to get the lost time but to recover and get ahead of my pace again a little before things got bad again. I caught a lot of heavy breathers right quick. One thing I really concentrated on was staying on the straight line in all the curves and turns here.
Before I knew it I had pretty much gotten through the subdivision and back out on the Bush Highway which was the last half of the race. I hit the 10K reader at 48-something and the 7 mile marker at almost exactly 49:00. So I figured about 48:30 for the first half. Now things got tough.
The Bush Highway had a lot more slope on the side and it was a huge number of long declines and inclines. The sun was up now and the temperature was a damn near perfect 60 degrees or so. One thing about this race, the view was simply gorgeous.
Instead of focusing on the breathing like earlier I was more concentrating on pace - pushing myself to that spot where it hurt a bit but not digging too deep. I knew running that negative split was gonna be tough so I didn't want to let up.
Up to this point, I kept hitting all the mile markers at about two minutes under the 7 minute per mile mark. Then came that last monster of a hill. It was not as long as the earlier one but it was plenty long enough and a lot steeper. I just hung on and hoped for the best. Got passed by a few folks here but I wasn't about to start chasing people when I was racing that damned clock.
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The last two miles I kept increasing pace incrementally. There was some guy behind me that I could hear breathing and trying to work his way up on me. I knew he was determined to catch me and I felt really bad that I was going to have to crush him on the last mile.
Following the long runs earlier this month when I was finishing at race pace I hit the final mile marker and turned it on. Not a full sprint but with at least a sub-7 min mile on the menu. The idea being I should have something left at this point given my training and there is no reason to leave it out there on the road.
Surprisingly, I felt I was accelerating the whole way on the last mile. Yeah, it was downhill, but I didn't have that 'just let it end' feeling speed can give you when you are at your wits end.
I was a bit surprised to see the marker on 1:32:something when I came around the last corner but I kept striding the whole way in.
Overall, this was a really satisfying effort. Sure the time was blistering fast for me but I refuse to get too excited about that due to my doubts about the course.
Yes, most race predictors call for at least this half-marathon time to meet my marathon goal (sub 3:20). But I will not repeat the error I made in my first marathon and hurt myself by reaching for an ideal time before my body is ready.
Conditions:
Start: 7:00 a.m.
Surface: apshalt/dirt
Weather: sunny
Temperature: 45 degrees
Humidity: 37 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Mesa, Arizona
Shoes: Nike Equalon +2
more: Archive | Race Reports | Races
sunday, february 17, 2008
Lost Dutchman Half Marathon
Race: Lost Dutchman Half MarathonOfficial Time: 1:37:10
Watch Time: 1:37:09
For a race I swayed back and forth over the past week over if I was even going to run at all I had a phenomenally great finish.
It turned out to be a personal best for the race (besting the Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon by half-a-minute) which is somewhat even more astounding given the hilly layout of the thing.
But, actually, that's probably not the most important achievement for me today. I reached the halfway point at a bit past 50 minutes (forgot to record the split as I passed it) which, in light of the 97:09 finish, means I ran my first reverse split race.
So it's not a real surprise to record that I felt very much in control the whole way on this one. I didn't have that rush at the start or the horrible just-hold-it-together-for-the-last-couple-miles feeling either. I just put it on cruise and held it for just more than 13 miles.
One thing that might have contributed to that was my efforts to carb up during the week. I made a conscious effort to down what I could early in the week and downed two huge waffles last night instead of pasta.
I was poking around the Runner's World forums last night and found a reference to this website's recommendations on pre-race nutrition. Their argument is eat twice in the hours before the race and down lotsa fluids to digest 'em. So I tried it. Sure didn't seem to hurt.
I got out the door right after 5:00 a.m. and drove across the valley to the site. No traffic at all so I made a heck of a lot better time than I hoped. Parked and hopped on the shuttle bus to the start area and then waited.
It was kinda chilly so I was glad to have the throw-away sweats. I slammed my Gatorade and Clif Bar and walked around a bit when I started shivering. After my bathroom break I bumped into one of the runners with RxRunning and we chatted a bit before the race.
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The race was a mess starting out. Gun started everyone tried to crowd the front, even the slow runners. Since I was determined not to do anything crazy I was getting passed pretty solid for the first mile.
We made the second big turn onto the main road and the payoff for this particular race was right in front of us - Superstition Mountain with the sun coming up beside it. Absolutely gorgeous.
But, the pleasure was over quick as the hills of the course started to show up. It didn't have a lot of crazy ups and downs but there was a number of long inclines and descents. Since it was an out-and-back course, each downhill was destined as an uphill in our future.
I concentrated on shorting my stride on the uphills but keeping the footfalls regular, then - not changing my footfalls at all - striding longer on the downhills. It was more of an effort to conserve energy than keep my time in order. My primary goal was to keep my breathing from being labored - to push my pace as much as I could without having to gasp for breath.
One big plus with the race was the atmosphere. The folks running were really into it and cheerful. In addition, there were a lot of bemused locals who came out to the end of their driveways with their coffee in hand to watch us run by.
Now not a single band at the Rock n' Roll half marathon did jack to fill me with enthusiasm to run further but one of the pep crews at the halfway point water station of this one completely got me in a higher gear when I went by.
Their trick? Playing the theme from The A-Team. As cheesy as it was, I swear it was simply amazing the amount of energy that it gave me.
The second half I started pushing myself a bit harder but still without having labored breathing. I made a major effort to concentrate on my posture and stride. I wanted to keep the ball rolling the rest of the way in.
I kept my hill strategy until the one huge bastard at the 10 mile mark. It was a steep monster that I just sucked it up and fought my way to the top. After that, I just ran the hills as well as I could without concentrating on my stride. But none of them really abused me like I feared.
Toward the end I really tried to keep it in control, not slacking off at all but not doing anything crazy either. Turning the last corner I saw I was real close to sub-97 but I let it go since that was not my goal for this race. I kept my stride the same all the way in.
I guess the most surprising thing about the final time is that I suggests I've got a much faster half-marathon in me at my present level of fitness. The 7:25/mi pace is not anywhere near my necessary 7:05/mi target (which would mean I'm at BQ level of fitness) but it is just a shade above what I need for my goal pace. Now I've got a sense on what that should feel like on my upcoming training runs. And that's a huge help going forward the next few months.
Conditions:
Start: 7:30 a.m.
Surface: dirt
Weather: sunny
Temperature: 40 degrees
Humidity: 80 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Apache Junction, Arizona
Shoes: Brooks Trance VII
more: Archive | Race Reports | Races
saturday, february 02, 2008
London's Run 10K
Race: London's Run 10KOfficial Time: 42:57
Watch Time: 42:55
I went in to this one with a target pace and target time. While I wasn't expecting to blast through my 'ideal' times I was hoping to show some progress in terms of getting back into running form. Needless to say, I haven't.
I was shooting for a 6:45 per mile pace and a sub 42:00 race. Not even close. I stumbled across the finish line at almost 43 minutes with a pathetic 6:55 per mile pace. I don't think I'm progressing, I'm regressing.
And it certainly isn't the race's fault. It was a bit chilly this morning getting up but not bone cold like it has been. And for the event itself temps were pretty much ideal. Moreover the the flat dirt course should have made for an excellent showing.
But things began on a sour note. I started the day bad by waking at 3:30 a.m. for some reason. This isn't the type of race to cause sleeplessness so that was likely due to other factors.
Queen Creek is a pretty good distance away so I got going a good two hours before the race start. It was not too tough to find just a long way in the twilight on empty streets that float on the border between suburban and rural communities.
The race was at a sort of horse ranch farm out among the cotton fields south of the Phoenix metropolitan area. We parked in a grassy field roped off for the purpose. Seemed to confuse the urban folks but it was right out of any big event in Louisiana.
I went and got my package and returned to the truck to stay warm and get things in order. I pinned the number on my bib, ate a few gummy bears and hydrated. With about 25 minutes to go I got out and started warming up.
Since I was shooting for a decent time I got in a pretty long warm-up run. About 15 minutes at a very relaxed pace. I figured that would be about a two-mile pre-run or so. Enough to have me ready to head out running.
We were scheduled to start 10 minutes after the half marathon so I headed over to the starting area just a few minutes before the first race was to start. And they announced it would be delayed 15 minutes to extend registration. I jogged around a bit more but didn't want to overdo it.
They finally got the first race off and we got in line. Looking around, the group was mostly casual runners and kids. Instead of hanging back from the starting line I got pretty close since I figured the crush to start was not going to be worth it (and since it wasn't a chipped race).
Sure enough, they started us and I had to skip around about a half dozen folks way too slow in front of me. But, once I did, I was pretty much where I needed to be. After the first turn I was eventually passed by one runner and I passed one other. That's it.
I knew I wanted to hit my pace and kept a good pace but not so much I had labored breathing. The one runner I eventually passed wasn't too far ahead but she had a good pace herself and keeping her in my sights helped me push my pace to the point I needed.
I got through the first mile in 6:36 which was a bit faster than I expected but not too bad for a first mile.
The course was the dirt roads in the fields so it wasn't tough on the legs but it was filled with ruts and puddles. A few muddy spots had to be navigated with care but only one or two. Overall, it was a nice change from asphalt and concrete.
At the three-mile mark I was under 21 minutes which was my plan. The key was to keep up the pace but that's where things seemed to go awry. It wasn't that I felt weak or spent - I was running a pretty hard race though - but I ended up running most of the second half solo.
Two reasons for that. First, I passed that one runner and there were only one or two other runners in front of me including the guy who passed me and was pulling away nicely.
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So I had to run the last two-and-a-half miles virtually alone. No other runner was within 100 meters of me. Needless to say, it turned out my ability to set my own pace in such a situation is an area where significant improvement can be made.
I came in pretty strong but didn't really feel like I had made a tremendous effort. It hurt but I do think I could have at least done half-a-minute better.
But there was still a bit of bad news to come. I was waiting for the official times to be posted and decided to have the massage guy give a go on my left leg since my hamstring has felt tight all week. I chatted with the guy while waiting and gave him a quick rundown of my hip history.
He gave the hamstring a nice stretch but then did the whole hip rotation thing as well. And guess who turned out to be lurking about waiting to make my running life hell? Yeah, the left iliopsoas muscle that screwed me so hard a year ago. It's not seriously painful but the unpleasant sensitivity that presaged the weeks of agony was very much in evidence.
So my reaction to the run is not very positive. I'm not only upset I'm having trouble reaching the most basic goals I've now got to worry about this damned hip issue again. Instead of being a solid first step on the way to my BQ I feel like I'm back where I started two years ago.
Conditions:
Start: 8:30 a.m.
Surface: dirt
Weather: sunny
Temperature: 42 degrees
Humidity: 76 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Queen Creek, Arizona
Shoes: Nike Equalon +2
more: Archive | Injury | Race Reports | Races
sunday, january 13, 2008
Rock 'n' Roll Arizona 1/2 Marathon 2008
Race: Rock n' Roll Arizona Half MarathonOfficial Time: 1:41:53
I was considering the idea of bumping up to the full marathon if I was on the ball training-wise. Well, I wasn't and though I pondered it back and forth quite a bit over the past few weeks, I decided to play it safe and stick to the half. In the end it turned out to be the right choice but it certainly wasn't easy (I know I could have survived the full but it would have knocked me down for a few weeks as well).
Anyway, my running companions all flaked out on me and I ended up going solo. That made the pre-race logistics kind of a problem - I was resigned to driving myself and heading out hours early to get parking - but my dad eventually offered to drop me off and pick me up. This actually worked like a charm.
It was a bit chilly in the pre-dawn morning but I had my disposable sweats on and they were sufficient to keep me warm - a very nice change from the hoary hell of 2007. I got a few bagels and water then meandered around for awhile. When I hit the toilets I surprised some woman who neglected to 'lock' the port-a-john while she occupied it. Sorry ma'am but it wasn't my fault.
I watched the marathon start with a bunch of the other half-marathoners and a few creepy homeless guys who showed up at the last minute. Then I went over to the half start area and tried to find a spot in the sun to wait for the start of my race. The creepy homeless guys followed us over to our corrals as well.
After listening to the bevy of panjandrums pontificate as usual we got off and running. I felt pretty good going out but made it a point to slow it down and keep below the heavy-breathing level. I knew I was placed in a corral too fast for me so I was determined not to let the fact folks were passing me prompt me to do something stupid.
I passed the first mile marker at about 7:30 and felt that was a nice brisk clip and I would try and hold it. Turns out I slowed considerably but it was the right strategy. I didn't really feel strong for most of the race, like I was on a half-empty tank and with slightly rubbery legs. At one point the dreaded ass-pain showed up but gratefully eased off.
Talking with my dad and my sister we now believe the Phoenix streets are asphalt paved over concrete. The roadways are simply too damned hard on the legs to be a true asphalt road. This goes a long way to explain why things got so bad for me last year (although, obviously, it's not the only reason).
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The bands were about the same as last year, a mixed bag of locals belting out covers or whatnot. For some reason Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally" was really popular this year - no less than three bands I passed were plowing through a version of this warhorse.
After fighting up and down across Papago Park I got onto Rio Salido Drive and the final mile. Folks really started passing me at that point, cranking it up for the final surge. Again, I held back because I didn't want to make this race more than it was. I'll save the late-race heroics for when I need to make up those last few seconds in order to get a solid time.
Finishing was kind of nice though. After the crippling result of last year it was kind of nice to just wander around a little bit and watch folks. I didn't dally too much though. I wanted to meet up with my dad down the street before the bulk of the runners started coming in and things got really crazy.
(Funny thing. While you hear all the folks yell for you during the race, it really doesn't compare to someone on the street seeing your racing bib and simply saying "congratulations." The handful of folks who did this as I walked back to the truck really made my whole day)
In the final analysis, while I'm much happier with the outcome I don't think I'll be doing this particular race again. To be honest, the whole production of the thing is actually a bit annoying. While the organization of the event is nice you get a little sick of the constant push to sell you shit. I'll do it again only if I'm doing it with other folks, otherwise I'll be looking for a smaller race I can enjoy a bit more.
Conditions:
Start: 8:30 a.m.
Surface: concrete/asphalt
Weather: sunny
Temperature: 50 degrees
Humidity: 63 percent
Wind: 6 mph
Location: Phoenix/Tempe, Arizona
Shoes: Brooks Trance VII
more: Archive | Race Reports | Races
monday, december 31, 2007
Midnight Madness 3 mile Run/Walk
Race: Midnight Madness 3 mile Run/WalkOfficial Time: 20:10
Actual Time: 19:50
I ended my running year last year with the Midnight Madness 3 mile Run/Walk. It was a fun little diversion and given the way things turned out for both the year in general and my running specifically - it seemed kind of obvious I needed to repeat the race again in anticipation for 2008.
Instead of just a diversion of a race, I had a specific goal going in - a sub-20 minute three mile. That would be significantly below the 7-min-mile pace I'm trying to get a full marathon in. It would be a solid bellweather of the work I have in front of me.
I just made it on my watch but just missed it on the chip time. This same discrepancy happened last year too so I'm officially chalking it up to a goof with their equipment. What is clear is I came in fourth in my age group and 27th overall. Not bad.
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Since I knew the routine things went pretty easy. I got the number, chip and t-shirt with a minimum of fuss and then went looking for Father Time to get my obligatory photograph with him.
I then went back in the truck got my shoes on and waited in the cab's warmth until there was about 15 minutes until the race. I then got out and went to the soccer field next to the course and ran three laps very slowly. By the end of that I was pretty warmed up so I hit the bathroom and then walked to the starting line.
This year I got out of the crush of folks at the starting line and set myself a bit further back on the outside. When they started the race it was a congested mess - a total of about 360 folks, all told - but I just got out of the pack on the side and started striding my way forward through it.
I knew I was going much faster than my usual race pace but I wanted to see how long I could hold on. I kept focused on the next runner I needed to pass and worked on keeping my breathing steady whenever it started getting labored. The pace was very uncomfortable but not brutal, by any means.
This is a long dark course and falling is always a danger. This year, though, they didn't mark the mile spots. I kept waiting for mile one to come by but it never did. It wasn't till the turn-around that there was someone calling times and what he had to tell me didn't inspire - 11:40, or significantly behind my goal. Of course, that was from the gun and I started way behind that, but still...
So I pushed a little harder in hopes of making it up in the second half. Breathing was rough and passing folks was much harder. They tended to stick with me and try and see if they could keep up - pushing me even more. There was one person I could hear behind me over most of the last mile that kept me going pretty good because I didn't want to fall behind.
At about the half-mile mark, she pulled in front of me and became the first person to pass me in the race. I let her have it because I knew I wanted to have a complete sprint to the finish, a stretch of about 200 meters. When we turned the corner I turned it on and sucked it up. It was pretty rough but I'm glad I did it since my watch said I only had 10 seconds to spare.
After the race I thanked the girl for helping me push harder that last mile. She said she had been following me since the first mile and I had helped her quite a bit as well. It's always a good feeling to lend a fellow runner a hand doing better.
As an early finisher - coming in before Father Time - I got the free day planner again. I ambled over to the main area and pounded a bottle of water and then had the chili and cornbread. I considered staying around to see if my finish was enough for some hardware but decided against it. I really can't say I care for evidence of my success, just having done it is enough at this point.
Conditions:
Start: 10:30 p.m.
Surface: concrete/asphalt
Weather: night/clear
Temperature: 51 degrees
Humidity: 25 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Shoes: Brooks Trance VII
more: Archive | Race Reports | Races
sunday, september 23, 2007
Sydney Marathon
Race: Blackmore's Sydney Running Festival MarathonOfficial Time: 3:36:59
The second marathon effort this year turned out to be a world of difference from my first disastrous venture back in January. Instead of pushing myself for a specific time I concentrated on building strength for the race. The result was a much stronger effort than I had any reason to expect.
My final time was 3:37 (chip time later proved to be just under that bar), well below the 4 hour race I was expecting and positively obliterating my horrible 4:20 from January.
I started out a lot faster than I expected pulling in a 1:44:40 half. That put me dead on for a 3:30 marathon and I made a bit of an attempt at it but the long, long inclines on the second half of the course got me and my reverse split blossomed to a 1:52:18. There just wasn't anything left in the tank at the very end.
All told I averaged an 8:11/mile pace across the whole course - a 7:54/mile for the first half and a 8:32/mile on the second. Much better than last time.
I got up at 4:30 a.m. mostly to have enough time to run into the walls in the dark while getting ready. My friend Dave - who I am staying with here in Sydney - was kind enough to drive me to the race. We got there at about 5:30 a.m. which was when the bulk of folks started to show up.
I joined the throng of folks heading to the staging area at Bradfield Park at Milson's Point on the north side of Sydney Harbor. The race area was literally underneath the bridge which as either intimidating or awe-inspiring depending on how chilly you were.
Cause it was chilly - about 50 degrees. There were scattered clouds as well. But, again, this was nowhere near as brutal as the 29 degrees of the previous race and, by the end of the run, the sun was shining and things had warmed up to almost 65 degrees. Perfect marathon weather, really.
While pre-race estimates were hopelessly optimistic there was a pretty good showing for the effort. All told, 19,000 people took part in all four events and there were almost 1,400 of us in the marathon itself. A good number but not so much it made things kind of crazy.
I had my cheap chullo on which enabled my running partner on Team ZGeek, Gabe, to find me. We waited as the half-marathon started and made the last minute preparations. I had a big bowl of porridge before heading out of the house and downed a PowerBar twenty minutes before the race.
Some guy with a camera cornered me for an interview - due to the chullo I suppose. "What do you have to do to win something like this?" he asked. "Win?" I responded. "This ain't about winning, it's about survival."
Run the Bridge
Things were very very positive at the starting line, the mood in the queue for the start was downright upbeat. Due to the relatively limited number of runners it was a self-seeding event.
The start was up a pretty severe incline out of the little park and up to the bridge road surface. So when the fired the starting gun the crush of folks heading out was kind of a pain. But we barreled up onto the road and, by the time we passed through the toll-booths there was plenty of room to run.
Now part of the attraction of this race was being able to run over the Sydney Harbor Bridge and I want to tell you - it was every bit as awesome as I was hoping. It's a grand and magnificent structure and I put myself right in lane 4 down the middle. I tried to keep my pace under control but it really was tough given the spectacle of the thing.
A helicopter with a photographer was hovering overhead and, when I got to about halfway over the bridge he brought it down to roadway level. The guy was less than 10 meters off to my right dead even with me and I could feel the whoosh of the blades in the air. Pretty awesome but I kept expecting the sniper shot to ring out...
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The route up to Macquarie Point was downright picturesque and the mood was still very light for the runners. This was the first time the course backed around on itself and we got passed by the front-runners heading the other direction. We all applauded them as the zipped by.
I had put myself at the 4:00 pace section but, by now, I had pushed past the 3:45 group and was trying to settle into my rhythm for the race. I knew I was going faster than probably advisable but my goal was not to think about the speed itself but my physical condition – no heavy breathing or sweating at this point, just a smooth easy run.
Heading into the city again the road started throwing little hills at us. Nothing severe yet but I knew the real ones were lurking a few blocks over. We went through Darlinghurst section and brushed by the Kings Cross. There were a few all-day pubs on the route and folks cheered for us as we went past. It was really good-natured and that was a nice surprise.
At one point we passed a guy who was completely wasted on the sidewalk. He was younger and had passed out or fallen down on the sidewalk and was so frickin drunk he didn’t have enough co-ordination to get up. Not much pity for him on my part – I was going to have my own problems soon enough – but the medical staff following us stopped to help him.
The Blue Line
The race then got into its first real long stretch – Anzac Parade – an here we picked up the Blue Line I had looked forward to running for so long. It was still very bright and clear in spots and I stuck right to it when I could. But not everyone else did. Which I found pretty odd…
The line was painted for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and, as such, indicates the direct course for the race. Stay on the line and you are assured running exactly 26.2 miles (or 42.195 kilometers). When it cuts down the middle of the street, it is for a reason.
Yet folks mostly kept to the side of the street rather than use the whole roadway we had been afforded. It might seem like a little bit extra and not worth concerning ones self over but for a race this long you don’t want to run any further than absolutely necessary.
So my mantra became “trust the blue line” and, by the end of the thing I was damn glad I did.
Things got bucolic again as we had our detour into Centennial Park. This was a large circuit that was a nice change from the regular roads that marked the rest of the course. It was halfway through the park I started to do a solid assessment of my race.
I had gotten past the “danger zone” that laid me low eight months ago. I’d gotten a full third of the course finished and my ass wasn’t in agony. Although I knew I had come out on the first miles a bit quick, I had not ever really pushed myself unreasonably. I was feeling hydrated and with plenty in the tank.
And the real test was the bathroom. This was a brutal ordeal in January but, this time, it was routine. Get in, get done, get back on the course. No horrible feeling of dread for getting back into the race. A very good sign indeed. So I got back out on the regular roads in a positive mindset.
The Halfway Point
The race then headed down a few roads a bit of a way and then reversed itself. The second of these was the halfway point. I pushed to it and saw that I had an incredibly good time and the very real possibility of a sub 3:30 race. I knew it was a longshot and I didn’t start pushing myself for it but I did try and keep my pace even.
Back up Anzac Parade I kept to the blue line and really got into the workman part of the race. The enthusiasm is gone, things have thinned considerably and there is a serious amount of mileage left to go. The weather, I must stay, had taken a turn for the gorgeous. The clouds had pulled off and the sun was bright and pleasant – not too hot.
I had made a decision to run the race without my music but a chance encounter with an early Madonna song had left an unwanted tune in my mind for the days prior to the race. So in my pre-race preparations I made it a point to play a catchy and good song to pull me through - UB40's "Rat in Mi Kitchen." That mantra-like chorus really helped out on this long stretch of the course.
We then got back into the city proper and the first roller-coaster section got started – narrow streets with severe ups and downs. None of these was brutally long just persistent. I tried to shorten my stride and keep my pace constant on the uphills and then stretch things out to take advantage of the downhills. The shade of the buildings was almost chilly though and this was the only part of the course where there was any wind to speak of.
Despite the problems, it was pretty cool running through the streets of downtown Sydney.
At this point the race started its long westward leg that I knew was going to be trouble and it certainly delivered in that respect. We had to go up on one of the flyovers that circled the Darling Harbor to leave the city proper and move over to the next inlet. This was an unpleasant incline and then the road had an irksome superelevation.
Instead of leveling out, it then dropped onto Glebe Island section near the fish marked and delivered another series of up and down neighborhood streets. I was able to keep to my strategy but things were clearly a lot harder than they were just twenty minutes ago.
Go West Not-So-Young Man
The mighty Anzac Bridge was blessedly not on the menu today. As inspiring as the Sydney Harbor Bridge was to start the race, doing this bad boy at this time would have been simply hellish. That’s a long long long long incline to get up… twice.
The Old Glebe Island Bridge, by contrast, was pretty much at street level. But even it had an incline that my legs weren’t keen on. I was really feeling the miles by this point but still felt I had a decent amount left in me and I really wanted to nail the 3:30 time. The City West Link saw the end of that.
This final long stretch led out on one of the main highway connectors for the center of Sydney to the suburbs. It’s a multi-lane road built for relatively fast speeds. That means long inclines and turns. And it was that long rise to the turn around point that kicked my ass. It just kept going on and on and on and drained out what reserves I had left.
At about the 32 kilometer mark I got the ass pains like back in January. The difference was that I knew I could endure them for a 10k but it meant that nailing the 5 min kilometer pace was a slim possibility. I crested the hill at Norton Street and made the u-turn with a hope of making up the pace on the downhill and gave it as much of an effort as I could. The trusty blue line was there to help out as well.
But it was pretty much over for me at this point. My hasty start was coming home to roost and, instead of any kind of strategy it had become a battle of attrition. The 3:30 went out the window (although beating 3:40 was still possible) and hanging in for the final few kilometers was all I could hope for. While I gritted my teeth and got down to the painful final few miles, folks with better race strategies started passing me with regularity.
The somewhat irksome hills around the Old Glebe Island Bridge and the Sydney Fish Market were brutal torture now. On each and every hill the hamstrings and shins were dying on the way up and the quads and calves were seriously unhappy on the way down.
I was very very glad Dave and I drove the route because I had a mental idea of what terrain was left rather than the unfeeling terror of looking for the next kilometer sign. This was particularly good on the Darling Harbor Flyover since I knew the route back onto the city streets and around the rocks was going to be a lot easier.
The run around the shore of The Rocks was some of the most beautiful of the course but, lord knows, it was lost on me. A few folks were pulling up with leg cramps and doing everything they could to get done. I passed one guy being attended my medics with oxygen and a saline solution. The best I could do was commiserate and get on with my own agony.
The Finish Line
Finally I passed under the massive span of the bridge and saw the Sydney Opera House across Circular Quay. Just more than a kilometer to go.
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Turning the last corner presented one final indignity of the course, a sort of wheelchair ramp built up the opera house steps for us. A final incline to get to the finish line. I took the stabby feeling in the calves and then finished the race with a modicum of élan. I was beat and had left everything I had out on the course but I had actually run the race making it an incredible improvement over my first – an achievement even more important that the better time.
Afterward I downed a ton of water and gels and talked a bit with some of the folks I met on the course. It was very warm and pleasant – a reward for the months of crappy weather in Lima. There was a long long walk up a hill to the Marathon recovery area and all of us were ambling slow and painfully up it.
I turned in my chip begging it to have a good time (it let me down by a minute but I’ve forgiven it) and then picked up the ass-ugly finisher shirt that I’ve never been more proud of. I had to then go back down the hill to the reunion area and meet Dave. I lay barefoot on the grass and basked in the sun. Despite the agony, it was blissful.
Dave showed up and I put on my flip-flops and we then set out up the hill to The Australian Hotel & Pub where the rest of Team ZGeek were meeting. The journey took awhile since it was a rather difficult walk up a series of steps and walkways and I made it a point on the section by the marathon course to yell for every person still finishing up their race.
At the pub we all reveled in our victories and I allowed myself the rarest of treats – a beer. Five years ago I sought out this pub to try the renowned Burragorang Bock from Scharers Little Brewery in Picton which they serve on draft. That pint of beer tasted as wonderful and glorious as I remember it did when I first tried it in 2002. And I allowed myself to enjoy it to the fullest.
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Conditions:
Start: 7:15 a.m.
Surface: concrete/asphalt
Weather: partly cloudy/sunny
Temperature: 50 degrees
Humidity: 63 percent
Wind: 6 mph
Location: Sydney, Australia
Shoes: Asics Trance VI
more: Archive | Race Reports | Races
sunday, january 14, 2007
Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon 2007
Race: P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona MarathonClock Time: 4:20:22
Chip Time: 4:20:02
After almost a year of preparation, effort and worry raceday finally arrived. The good news - I was able to finish my first marathon. The bad news? It was a complete and total disaster.
My hope had been to at least get in spitting distance of the Boston Marathon qualifying time for my age group of 3 hours 15 minutes. I came in almost a full hour behind that at 4 hours 20 minutes and change.
The mile splits tell the story. I stuck with the pace group starting out which had me reeling in 7:20 min/mile for the first six miles or so. I got to the halfway point at 1 hour 41 minutes which put me at a 7:44 min/mile. By the 20 mile marker, which I crossed at 2 hours 55 minutes, that had slid to 8:46 min per mile. The final tally was 9:55 min per mile.
So what happened? I guess it was a perfect storm of bad luck and bad decisions. To figure it out it would probably be best to start at the beginning.
The Prelude
I spent the night before the race at my sister's house with her and my cousin Erin who were running the half marathon. We watched a few of the battle scenes from The Lord of the Rings to get psyched a bit then went to bed.
Things started off Sunday rather well. I slept soundly. My sister got me up at 4:30 a.m. and we were on the road by 5 a.m. or so. A friend of my sister's and his girlfriend came with us (he also ran the half marathon).
Now the weather last week here in Arizona was perfect. Cool bright mornings. You couldn't ask for better race conditions. Of course that didn't last. Over the last three days a cold front moved through and the temperatures bottomed out to 28 degrees for the start of the race.
We bundled up in throwaway clothes but arriving at the race site and stepping out of the car was brutal. My sister parked at the structure near the finish line but when we got there it was almost empty. I guess folks seemed to have waited a bit before heading out into the icy chill of the morning.
The buses they were shuttling us to the race start were heated so we hopped in and were OK. At the race start I grabbed a bagel to chew on. I had eaten two Clif Bars earlier and drank sparingly. I felt nervous but ready.
I found my corral - disturbingly close to the starting line - and we stood there for half-an-hour or so trying to ignore how cold we were. I waited until they started the elite racers at 7:30 a.m. and then got in the corral and shucked off my extra shirt, sweatpants and light coat. I kept my chullo and gloves on, of course.
The Arizona Road Racers pace guy for the 3:10 marathon was there and I set myself up about 30 feet behind him and waited for the gun. Of course we had to listen to the Phoenix mayor blather for about five minutes and hear the Star Spangled Banner (again, where was the flag, guys?) but they finally set us on our way at 7:40 a.m. sharp.
The Race
The start was chilly to the extreme but the adrenaline rush of getting going was enough to push through that. I felt very good going out. The pace was reasonable and the pack wasn't overly crowded even though officials said the total number of runners in the marathon was more than 10,000.
People were really cool in this one - none of the ego warriors pushing through the pack.
From the very start there were folks on the sides of the route cheering us on, heavily bundled up, of course. That these guys would come out in the cold to root for someone and give a cheer to all of us was really inspiring.
A pack of Jesus freaks were also on the start of the route with these gigantic signs admonishing us that we are bound for hell. I turned to the guy next to me and said, "At least we will be warm again."
The first five miles, a straight shot up Seventh Avenue, went relatively well. I felt pretty strong. I had a good pace and I felt in control. None of the injury issues that had caused me so much worry put in an appearance so I was starting to feel relieved. I actually allowed myself to enjoy the race a little.
The bands, which are such a big selling point for the race, were nothing special but it was nice to hear the music and know you were nearing another mile marker.
Just before mile five I passed what turned out to be the best band on the course, Steelin' The Night Away. They are an all female calypso steel drum band who were playing surf tunes. Great stuff. I was glad to pass them early enough to enjoy them a bit.
The exertion had overcome the cold by that point and when we turned East on Missouri Avenue there was even a bit of sun to warm us up a tad. Overall, I felt pretty good about my performance and my prospects for the race.
So, of course, everything started to fall apart.
The Agony Begins
It began when I started to notice that the pace guy was pulling away from me. At first this was because he didn't stop to drink and I would have to pick it up a bit to catch him after the water stations. But, at about mile six or seven I couldn't seem to get closer to that bobbing green number at the top of the stick.
Which was not good.
Then my ass began to hurt. And it wasn't a minor thing. It was a low thrumming ache that followed the gluteus maximus around the hip. It was not pleasant at all. I shortened my stride and tried to push through the ache like I would do with any pain that develops during a race but, instead of easing off, it started to spread.
Of course now I'm starting to get passed by folks. Not just a few people who were hitting their stride after starting at the back of the corral, pretty much everyone was going by me. I became the rock in the middle of the stream with every runner in the race flowing right on by as my stride began getting shorter and slower.
By mile eight it was clear none of this was going to get better and I was in serious trouble. Of course by that point there wasn't a hell of a lot I could do about it either. So I tried setting a reasonable pace given my situation. I was close enough to the half-marathon point that I let myself get tunnel vision and simply focus on that.
I gave up on Boston when the 3:20 pace group passed me and it became clear my race was deteriorating rapidly. The only thing that kept that from hurting as much as it should was the physical pain I was wrestling with.
The steady ache had, by now, spread across my hips and upper legs. Every so often my soleus or my calf would give a minor twinge but these were the regular muscle issues you get in a race. The hip crisis was an entirely different animal. I could feel every step throughout my lower body and I yearned to get off the hard road and onto a more forgiving surface.
Finally, the building I had scouted as the halfway mark came into view and I felt a weird feeling of relief mixed with total and complete despair. I had run as hard as I could under the worst conditions imaginable and I was only halfway through the thing.
(Quick aside: While it was nice having folks cheering on the sides of the road, yelling out incorrect miles to go is neither original or helpful. Although I did get a chuckle at the guy that yelled "Just 11 more crappy bands to go!")
Pain, Pain and More Pain
From that point on the race was one long interminable torture - an unending agony where every moment seemed completely unendurable except for the knowledge that the moment to come would be worse.
I saw one of the elite racers walking off the course at around the 14-mile mark. He was wrapped in a towel and had a look of pain and anguish on his face (I later found out he was felled by a stomach virus). I completely understood how he felt.
Of course, just when I thought things could get no worse, the race threw another little agony at me to endure. Bathroom breaks.
I don't know if it was because of my slowing pace or the crappy energy drink they chose or what but I had to go to the bathroom pretty bad after passing the halfway point. I finally saw a port-a-potty and hopped off the course to use it.
To stop - to stand still - was bliss. I could barely use the bathroom it felt so so good. And I knew it would cost me. I can still see that plastic handle and feel the amount of will it took to open it again knowing what lay behind that door.
I got out and started trying to run and it was as if my hips and quads were being hit by sledgehammers. I hobbled for a few yards and got to where I could limp along and, after about 50 meters I was "running" again.
And it wasn't getting any better at all. By mile 16 I was at the end of my rope, every step was the last ounce of my ability... and then, somehow, I was putting the next foot forward. The entire race had become reduced to simply putting one foot in front of the other.
But, it turns out, I actually had a decent race up to about the 16 mile mark. It wasn't a stellar time but would have put me in the 3:30 to 3:40 range. Yet, I knew it was completely over. I was shot and everything else would simply be survival.
Just Let it End
Everything beyond about mile 16 was a blur of exquisite pain and anguish. I used every mental trick I could to force my next foot forward and somehow I did it. The problem was that now I was starting to pay for my fast start.
I clearly had been on too fast a pace those first few miles and my glycogen reserves had plummeted. The gels I consumed weren't enough to help and as I got in the 20 mile range what little strength I had started to evaporate.
Despite that, I don't think I hit the fabled "wall." When I figured out I was in trouble I started doing what little I could with my pace and caloritic intake to keep that particular horror at bay. But the effort to take each step became Herculean in addition to the pain.
And now I had to force myself to stop counting miles and time. If I gave myself the luxury of enjoying the fact there were 6 miles left to go it was also inescapable that I had at least an hour left to endure of this hell as well. (Hey! Maybe those guys at the start of the race were right!)
Of course, after going to the bathroom once, I now found I had to do so twice more. Each time starting up again was more excruciating than the last. I would pass medical tents with runners lying inside and could only think how good it would feel to lie down and let the pain stop.
I also almost stopped to walk on two occasions but, somehow, picked my step back up just as I began to let myself drop into it. I don't know how I accomplished that.
At this point the only motivation that seemed to have any effectiveness were the two "finisher" shirts I bought at the expo. Earning the right to wear them was all that seemed to help push through the pain.
Moreover I knew there was one last horror left to overcome. When my sister and I scouted the course I could tell the long incline for the bridge over the Salt River was going to be a bitch. And it was. A long excruiating hill that never seemed to end. Reaching the top of the bridge and looking across the lake to glimpse the finish area more than two miles away was no relief for me at all.
Every step of the last four miles was an effort of unimaginable proportions. And even that became exponentially worse over the last two miles. I considered giving up each and every step. I was beyond even mental games and trickery and motivation and all of it.
The only thing left in the world was pain. And all I wanted was for it to end.
The Finish Line
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One guy with a cramp in his left leg was limping to his finish in front of me. I sympathized completely. My cousin yelled at me from the crowd but I was too exhausted to wave back.
I crossed the finish line and slowed to a walk and had to compose myself to keep from crying. I'm not sure if that was because of the emotion of finishing or the sheer relief of the pain being at an end but it took me a few seconds to get ahold of myself enough to start hobbling over to the exit area.
The pain in my quads and hips and groin was excruciating. I could barely walk but I knew I had to because simply stopping was dangerous. The guy who cut off the timing chip from my shoe had to lift my leg up onto the short metal bar for me. There was a queue for getting your post race photo taken. I skipped it.
I stopped at the medical tent and got some ibuprofen. I didn't expect it to help tons but I was hoping it would work enough to get me home. I could barely think clearly enough to answer their questions. The volunteers were real nice folks. Very supportive. I never appreciated it more and was less able to thank them.
Standing in the line for the food was pretty bad. I couldn't move along but standing still was not a good idea. Twice when the line started moving forward I couldn't support myself and I almost fell over onto the guy next to me.
I made it out of the section clutching a banana and some cheap sandals they gave us and the plastic blanket thing they give you to stay warm. I had to walk around the speed bumps in the parking lot because I couldn't walk over them.
My aunt and uncle were there in the family area with my sister and cousin. They said we would just go to the car and leave given the shape I was in. I just nodded and tried to keep moving. Lifting my legs, to get over the curb and into the car, was terrible to experience. I just wanted to get home and lie in bed and let this disaster of a race be over.
The Aftermath
Needless to say, I'm not very happy with my performance. I worked too long and too hard to have such a terrible result. I clearly have put in too much effort over the past year for coming in more than a full hour behind my target time and in such a crippled condition.
So what went wrong? Well, the primary problem was the pain that started in my hips and upper quads. My theory is that the efforts over the past two weeks to handle my nagging psoas injury backfired on raceday.
The psoas itself was no more of an issue than anything else when the going started to get critically bad so it seems clear our efforts with it worked. But all the effort to work on the other muscles ended up being a mistake.
Not running in two weeks probably didn't help my attempt but I don't think the layoff itself was the key issue. The problem was having these muscles tenderized and then not working them at all prior to the race. So basically I was asking them to go from nothing to the most stressful conditions imaginable - that's just too much to expect the body to cope with.
Then there was the pacing screw up. I clearly didn't have a good perspective on my condition and going out with a 7:20 min/mile pace set me up for serious problems later on. Instead, I should have gone out with at most an 8 min/mile pace or slower. The bottom line is I refused to accept my inexperience with the marathon was going to be an issue and I paid for it.
I don't know where this leaves me for the future. I'm not going to let this experience keep me from still trying to reach my goal of qualifying for Boston. It is obvious I will probably never hurt to this extreme or perform this badly in the future. But it is also obvious that I need to reassess my training and how I intend to achieve my goals.
Having fallen so far short of what I wanted to accomplish is really a crushing blow. In some ways the physical pain I am in is easier to deal with that that. But the one victory - and possibly the most important victory here - was that out of the 10,224 folks who registered to run this race, I was one of the 8,127 people that finished. And I finished under the absolutely worst conditions possible.
I don't know how I didn't give in to the very reasonable need to stop and cease the agony I endured. I don't know where I drug up the strength of will to keep running after I had pushed through every threshold of pain I possessed.
Yet, somehow, I did. I ran 26.2 miles. I am, now, a marathoner. And that's where the next stage of this journey will begin.
Conditions:
Start: 7:40 a.m.
Surface: concrete/asphalt
Weather: sunny
Temperature: 29 degrees
Humidity: 43 percent
Wind: 6 mph
Location: Phoenix/Scottsdale/Tempe, Arizona
Shoes: Asics
more: Archive | Race Reports | Races
sunday, december 31, 2006
Midnight Madness 3 mile Run/Walk
Race: Midnight Madness 3 mile Run/WalkOfficial Time: 20:45
Actual Time: 20:38
The idea was to get in a nice relaxed little run here a fortnight prior to the marathon. No pressure. No strain. Just enjoy the thing.
So, of course, I found myself pushing it. The pace works out to 6:40 per mile or so. The first one was relatively slow so I'm a bit nervous to think what the mile two split actually was.
I headed out a bit early due to my uncertainty about the New Year's Eve traffic and unfamiliarity with the location. It turned out to be no problem at all so I got there almost an hour before the race. I got my bib and my t-shirt and just sort of waited around.
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One runner showed up dressed like Father Time so I got a pic with him to prove I was there. Ended up beating him too, an effort I am desperately hoping is rife with symbolism rather than irony.
Folks were pretty laid back. Lotsa kids. They mixed the walkers with the runners due to the small field and the use of chips for timing. Even though there were more than 300 of us it really gave the thing a more relaxed atmosphere in comparison to most races where the runners tend to be uptight prior to the starting horn.
I started completely cold. No warmup whatsoever. The idea was to get a marathon start - since every guide I have read says don't waste energy on the warmup. The result was a pretty rough first half mile as my sore legs reacted to every single step.
After mile one I began to warm up and, sure enough, found myself pushing the pace due to the race situation. at almost the two mile mark problems showed up. The right knee ache that makes it sort of lock a little showed up and the soreness in the upper left quad in the hip area was rather acute.
I tryed fiddling with the pace and after about half a mile it eased up enough for me to give it a good stride for the last mile. I didn't kick super hard for the end but tried to stay on that steady quick pace that I fell into on the final mile.
I ended up finishing 23rd overall and 2nd in my age group. They gave all of us who beat Father Time a 2007 appointment book. Which was pretty nice of 'em.
Afterward they gave us a pretty decent bowl of chili, or what they called chili (sorry guys, real chili doesn't have beans.) They also had a raffle and awards presentation afterward but I just got in the truck and headed back to my sister's party for the turning over of the calendar.
Typically, I can't stand New Year's Eve but, I have to say, this was not a bad way to spend it. You finish the year with a sense of accomplishment and you start the next one with sore legs rather than a sore head. I can't argue with that.
Conditions:
Start: 10:30 p.m.
Surface: concrete/asphalt
Weather: night/clear
Temperature: 47 degrees
Humidity: 68 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Shoes: Brooks
more: Archive | Race Reports | Races