It has taken me a while to produce this podcast, but finally it is finished! Episode 7 has a short interview with my daughter after she ran a 5k with my wife and my mother. The second part of the podcast is some audio taken the following week as I ran the “The Loop,” a 30k trail race held at Emma Long park here in Austin. The final segment is a conversation I had with Jeff from Columbus, OH, who ran the 2010 Boston Marathon.
Enjoy!
When I ran my first trail race last August (read race report here), I was convinced it was also my last. So why was I at the starting line at 7am on a Sunday for another, longer trail race. Good question. I guess I wanted to give it one more chance. The verdict: read on.
“The Loop” is a 6 mile trail in Emma Long Park here in Austin. The race consisted of a 10k (1 loop) or a 30k (3 loops). Coming fresh of 2 PRs in road races, I was feeling pretty good about myself, and decided 5 days before the race to run the 30k.
The weather was as good as could be expected, about 60 degrees with some humidity. My plan for this race was just to take it easy and enjoy it. I thought I would run the first lap slowly to get a feel for the trail, then run the last 2 laps faster. Like I said, that was the PLAN!
I cruised around the trail with a group of about 5 runners, and was feeling pretty good when I completed the first lap. The trail was very hilly and rocky, and there were portions where it made sense to just walk up the rocks like steps. Not that I did, but it would have made sense to do so! I tried not to pay too much attention to my Garmin pace, but I was a little surprised to complete the first lap in 57:35, which was about a 9:16 pace, which was a little slower than I thought I would run, but no big deal.
During my second lap, I started feeling some fatigue in my legs. At least twice during the second half of this lap I almost fell, and I kept trying to tell myself to take it easy and only try to gain some time on the few (relatively) flat areas on the course. During this lap, I began passing some of the slower 10k racers that started 30 minutes after we did, and I finished the lap in 57:09, about the same as lap 1. One difference - that lap didn’t feel nearly as good!
The third lap was a true adventure! My legs were like jello, and I was starting to run out of gas (bonk!). I wanted to run this lap faster than the previous two, but it wasn’t happening. I finally decided to walk up some of the stair-step like rocks in an effort to conserve what little energy I had left, but I’m not sure it did any good. In addition to the caffeinated Sports Beans I ate before the race, I had consumed 3 GUs through mile 12, but at this point they seemed to be doing no good. So, at the last aid station at the 15 mile mark, I grabbed an Oreo like cookie. (Anybody who knows me knows I do not eat cookies EVER. But at this point, I figured a little sugar would be a good thing.) As I was enjoying my little delicacy, a woman past me and was looking strong. Perfect! I would follow her in and pass her at the end. At least, that was the PLAN. (that is the second time I said that, right?).
One thing became obvious after about a half mile of following her - I would not be able to keep up. Every time I tried to maintain or close the gap, my legs just wouldn’t produce. I almost fell a third time coming down a hill, but managed to stay upright and wound free. I gave it everything I had, but could not knock my pace down at all. I ended up finishing the last lap in 1:00:13, my slowest lap of the three. My total time, 2:54:59.
So, what do I think about these trail races, and will I ever do another. Answer, I don’t know. Well, one thing I know is that they are HARD! I don’t know exactly, but 18 trail miles equals at least 22-23 road miles. The sharp turns and short (or not so short), steep hills really take a toll on one’s body. I have taken 2 days off from running altogether to recover from this race, and will attempt a short easy run later today. There are no cheering crowds (where would they stand) so many of the miles are lonely. I will admit that running on trails is very cool at times, but I don’t believe trail running will ever replace the more traditional “road” style running I have grown to love.
Back in February, I had been eying the Big D marathon as my last legitimate attempt to qualify for Boston if I failed to do so at Cowtown. I knew I was going to have to be in Dallas anyway for a family get-together, so it was a logical race to pick before the local marathon racing season was over. Fortunately, I “took care of business” in Ft. Worth, so I didn’t need Big D to qualify. However, I still had to be in Dallas, so why not run the mini?
The race course was a loop course that started and finished at the Cotton Bowl on Dallas’ east side. This would only be my second half marathon since I started running marathons, so I was kind of excited to see what I could accomplish here. My recovery/training had been going OK for the last few weeks, but the temperatures had been rising and my runs were becoming more difficult. A few days before the race, I checked out last year’s results, and found that if I ran a PR (previous PR was 1:35), I had a chance to place in my age group, something I had only done once before at a much smaller race (Frankenthon 2009).
Race morning, I drove down to The Cotton Bowl with my wife, daughter and mother, who were all going to run the 5k. The weather was OK, but not great. The temperature was around 60 degrees with about 75% humidity. Since this was not a wave start, I made sure I was near the front (Aside: The race website said even though there was chip timing, age group awards would be determined by gun/clock time. Anyone concerned with the awards should start in the first 20 rows. This would become relevant later.)
Just before the start, I saw my friend Frank, who was running the full marathon, and his brother in law, who was trying to qualify for Boston. When he saw me, the first words out of Frank’s mouth were, “Your bib is the wrong color,” pointing out that I was only running the half, not the full. Ha Ha. Frank is a much younger and faster than I, so I told him I would try to keep up with him until the half/full split at mile 4, a strategy that almost killed me!
My initial thought was that I would strategically run this race like I ran my last marathon. First 5 miles, I would relax and loosen up, the next 5 miles, I would press it and get my overall pace down, and the final 3.1 miles I would finish with whatever I had left. However, after following Frank for the first few miles, I realized I was running 7 minute miles, a pace I doubt I could improve on, or even maintain during the second half of the race. According to the Garmin, I ran my first 5.19 miles at a 7:01 pace. Uh Oh!
There was no elevation chart on the website for the half course, so I really had no idea what the course was like. After looking at my Garmin data, I can now see there was some significant “hillage” from mile 5.5 to mile 7.75. My pace from 5.19 to mile 8.75 slowed to 7:21/mile, and I thought I was beginning to crash and burn. I was sweating a ton as the humidity was taking its toll. It was at this point something beautiful happened. The course began going downhill, and my pace quickened. I began passing a few runners that had spent their energy on the aforementioned hills.
I know this sounds cocky, buy something happened to me here that has not happened much in previous races. I tend to be an even negative split runner, meaning I run the last half of the race faster than the first half. When a runner does this, they tend to pass a lot of people, and they don’t get passed by many. However, during the last 2-3 miles of this race, despite the fact that I was passing a few people, I was getting passed by just as many! This is not supposed to happen to me. I will tell you that this affected my psyche a little. But I trudged on.
When I hit the 12 mile mark, I hit the “lap” button one last time on my watch to see how I could do. I saw someone ahead of me that I was even with at mile 4, so I thought I would try to catch her. I managed to catch her during the last 100 yards, but once I got even with her, she sped up and kept pace with me. I finished with a 6:53 mile and an overall time of 1:34:02. A PR!
After a few shaky moments where I thought I was going to throw up, I was reunited with my family and we walked inside to get some recovery food and drink. When they posted the results on a wall, I saw my name. 32 place overall (out of over 2000 finishers) and 3rd in my age group (40-44). I was given a nice little trophy and my Mom, wife and daughter were very proud!
When I got home later that day, I looked at the results again. I had actually been in 4th place by chip time, but 3rd by gun/clock time. This made me feel a little weird about my award, but I got over it quickly!
Episode 6 of my podcast “The Race Report” is now uploaded and ready to be heard! Unfortunately, I was unable to find somebody to interview to tell me about their story. So, this week’s edition is a week of my training and the rambling thoughts I had while out on the road. I hope you enjoy.
If you have run a race recently, and would like to be heard on my podcast, please get in touch with me by commenting on this post, or by shooting me a DM on twitter.
Hey, Seinfeld created an extremely successful sitcom about nothing, so why can’t I create a post about nothing?
Training update. I have temporarily abandon the FIRST marathon training program, mainly because I do not have a marathon to train for. I am no longer running the San Diego RnR Marathon, so without a marathon to train for, I decided to back off a little. I will continue to run 4 times a week, with at least 1 cross training day and 2 days of rest.
As far as racing, I am going to run a half marathon this weekend, then find some 10ks and trail runs to do over the summer. The next marathon I have on my calendar is Frankenthon in October, so I will start a 16 week training program sometime in June (which should not be pleasant in Central Texas).
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