Posts Tagged ‘Richmond’

It’s tough to try and have a race report for a race I didn’t “race.” Instead, the easiest thing I can say is that I ran a comfortable 51:43 in the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k. Things would have been a lot different if I had been able to run in the past few weeks; if it wasn’t raining; if I would’ve been able to wear my new shoes; if I would’ve remembered my watch; and if I hadn’t had several beers last night at the Lynchburg College Alumni Association “happy hour.”

In the end, I ran this harder than I thought I would, partly because I felt I had to after raising $700 for the VCU Massey Cancer Center. I couldn’t just take it easy the whole time knowing that I had done my part. To some, it might not seem like a big deal, but to me it was. In the end, I wish I would’ve done more in the last few weeks. It’s crazy how much endurance I felt like I lost, but I was happy to be consistent the whole time - I had a 25:47 5k split. In the end, the rain wasn’t nearly as bad as forecasted, but the humidity was awful. In the end, remembering my watch might’ve made a difference too. Imagine starting more than 14 minutes after the clock began and trying to do the subtraction every mile on how fast I was going. After a couple of miles, I stopped worrying about it and enjoyed a slower-than-usual race pace, but slightly faster-than-usual training pace. In the end, my new shoes would’ve been nice, but I wasn’t going to ruin them in the rain. And in the end, I could’ve used one less Yuengling last night, but it was mighty tasty. And besides, I had already planned to not “race” hard.

My foot did OK … it’s feeling very indifferent at the moment. I think I’m ready for a solid week of bike riding and not worrying about hitting the pavement. It might not have been the smartest thing to run on it, but it really doesn’t feel any different five hours later. It was awesome to be a part of this huge, huge race. It’s the first race I’ve done that had wave starts, and it was so much better than being in corrals. It was nice to be among a steady group of people running around the same pace as me.

The Richmond Sports Backers do an excellent job of putting together events, and the beginning of this one was suburb. There was ample water on the course, and the finishing area made it very easy to find my wife afterward.

Now, it’s time to make the switch to Magic Hat the rest of the day.

I’ve never been a person to donate anything besides worn out clothes, and I’ve never been one to take part in a fundraiser. That’s all about to change.

Today I signed up for the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k that’s in early April. It’s one of the largest 10k races in America. I also signed up for a 10-week training program that will hopefully help me train for the Shamrock Half Marathon. It’ll give me a chance to meet a few more runners as well, plus give me an opportunity to run with a group once a week. The timing of the 10k works well this year with it being three weeks after the half marathon. I wanted to do it last year, but the two races were too close together. I also signed up for it because I still hate the thought of running a 10k, even after doing a marathon. It’s a challenge I hope to overcome in 2008. Plus I wanted to do it just to do it — everyone tells me it’s an awesome experience.

But this race will bring on much more meaning to mean as I have signed up to do fundraising for Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center. As I have talked about before, my life has been touched by cancer in the past few years with an uncle, my dad and grandfather all having cancer. To me, this is finally a chance to fight the disease. To contribute to my effort, click here. (Please let me know if that link doesn’t work!) I have set a goal of raising $1,000. Every dollar counts, so if you’d like to make a donation, please check it out. If I can give a few dollars ($50 to be exact), anyone can. I plan to give a little more as the race draws closer.

So there you have a second “big” race for me in 2008. My main focus will still be on doing well in the half marathon in March though. I hate 10ks, so here’s to hoping the Monument Avenue 10k will be the beginning of positive comments on that distance. I’m still hoping to do a 10k on Jan. 1, but don’t expect me to be happy about it.

This blog started as something to hold me accountable for the Richmond Marathon. What started as a journey to just another race turned into a story of so much more. Just two days after running 26.2 miles, I feel like I can really do anything I set my mind to … except walking down stairs!

This is my 101st post. I couldn’t have timed it better by having 100 posts ending with the marathon report. Number 101 is like a starting over number … a what’s next type of thing. Back in April when I started this blog, I thought I knew so much about running and was treating the marathon the same way I had approached all other races. But a marathon the first time around is about pushing your limits and taking your body to the edge. It tests you just as much mentally as it does physically. It makes you think about everything you’ve ever done in your life — if you’re a person who has regretted things along the way, it turns you into a no regrets type of person. It puts the “life’s too short” cliche into reality. Life is too short to waste time on a lot of things. Life is too short to have regrets.

Who knows why it takes training and running a marathon for the first time to realize these things, but it just does. Life is like a marathon — there are ups and downs, fast times and slow times, times where you feel the best you’ve ever felt and times you question your own sanity. And it all works out in the end.

By sitting at home today and getting rest, and unable to do much since I can’t walk normal, I keep asking myself, “What’s next?” I don’t like the term “off season” — once you’re hooked, there’s downtime, where training continues in a lesser way. My approach to 2007 was: run the Shamrock Half Marathon and see how I feel. Well, I ran it, then was marathon bound. All races in between were for training. And that’s the biggest thing that’s changed about me this year — focus on the big event, but keep running races for speed training and running with large groups of people.

Before I worry about 2008 besides the Shamrock again, I have a goal to meet before Dec. 31 this year — hitting 1,000 miles for the year. It wasn’t a goal I had until recently, but it’ll be a great way to close out the year. I’m at 924.3 now and will resume that journey (slowly) on Saturday or Sunday. After I hit 1,000 miles, I’ll fill you in on the rest of 2008.

I can now say what many people never say in their lives - I am a marathoner. Even if I never do one again, I am a marathoner. Yesterday was truly an unbelievable experience. From the start to the numbness near the end, I took it all in.

The weather before the race was nice and cool. It wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be, but cold enough to start with gloves and a thin long-sleeve shirt underneath my Livestrong shirt. I planned to toss those aside when I would see my wife and family and my friend Jon at the party zones creatively set up by the Richmond Sports Backers. After I walked around a bit with everybody, I said my goodbyes and then did a little more walking around, just amazed at the thousands of people getting ready to do this. Then, fortunately, I saw a familiar face — I knew my old friend Travis (in the photo below), who I used to play basketball with, was running, but I hadn’t gotten in touch with him. But among the sea of people, there he was along with a guy he had been training with. Their goal times were between 4-4:30, so it was perfect to run this race with them.

The start of the race was odd — it just started. The speakers weren’t loud enough where we were to hear the national anthem or the gun to start the race. We were suddenly walking forward. No one was pushing or in a rush, but as soon as we hit the start line, the running began. It was nice having someone to run with — we were basically chatting about old times in Bedford and catching up on other things in life. We hit the first mile in 9:15. Everything felt great — the weather was still good and no one around us was running too hard or too slow it seemed. We hit the next two miles just under 9 minutes and kept getting that strong urge to pee. I knew I would have to at some point, but I was hoping to wait until closer to half way. But this couldn’t wait.

About half way between mile 3 and 4 I sped up to get to the port-a-potties and hope that I’d time it out where Travis and his friend would go by as I finished. It was perfect, although I ended up peeing next to the port-a-potty along with about half a dozen other guys. After a quick mile of 8:33 thanks to having to pee, we maintained a good pace by hitting the next miles at 9:16 and 9 minutes. Between miles 6 and 7 were downhill and clocked in at 8:42. I managed to take off my gloves, stuff them in my pocket, then take off the long-sleeved shirt without missing a beat. I then held onto my gloves and shirt until I spotted my group at the party zone. I had an easy hand-off of my clothes to Jon. And to my surprise, my group had made some signs — I should have never mentioned running like a gazelle last week.

The next mile made its way up a small hill to the Huguenot Bridge — the first uphill of the race and everyone stopped talking until we were crossing the bridge. It was the first chance to see the James River, and on an overcast, slightly foggy morning, it was a very awesome view. After crossing the bridge, the course went down Riverside Drive to run alongside the mighty James. It was like running on a back country road — so nice and peaceful, and the miles were just going by so quickly it seemed. Miles 8, 9 and 10 were: 9:15, 8:58, 9:20. It was a comfortable pace — basically about the same as my training pace on normal runs.

After we hit the double digits and strolled through a neighborhood and got to Forest Hill Avenue, I was wishing I had my gloves back. My hands were cold. The sun came out oh so briefly somewhere along there, but the weather, overall, was still good. When we hit the double digits, I was hoping my family made it to the next party zone at mile 12.9 so I could exchange hats. Even though I wasn’t sweating all that much, getting something drier on my head was going to be welcome. Miles 11 and 12 were in 9:04 and 9:15.

In previous races I’ve done, I rarely pay attention to the crowds, but not for this race. Everyone seemed more genuine in their support for this event. This wasn’t a race — it was an experience, and I think for many spectators it was an experience, too, rather than usual clapping and shouting “Go runners!” So, as I was in awe of the spectators, I saw my group at the next party zone from at least 50 yards away. I stopped briefly to make sure the exchange went easily. To my surprise my sister, brother-in-law and dad had made it to this stop as well. I hit mile 13 in 9:22, and hit the half-way point just under 2 hours chip time.

This whole time I had not gotten caught up in my time or trying to figure everything out with finishing at a certain time. My #1 goal was to finish and somewhere in the 4 hour range would be all the better. But it was the half-way point when I started hitting distances in a race that I hadn’t done before (that 30k just doesn’t count in my books), I realized what an experience this was turning into. This wasn’t like a 5k or the half marathon where I was worried about goal times — this was becoming a life-changing day, on top of the already life-changing training. That all being said, at halfway, I briefly thought that if I kept that pace I’d be under 4 hours, but I pushed those thoughts aside knowing that this wasn’t a race against time.

After a 9:14 mile to mile 14, I began to pull away from Travis. Conversations had pretty much stopped anyway, as the mental part of the marathon started to take over. At mile 14, I grabbed two Clif gels that were being handed out. I chewed one (I really don’t like Clif gels, but they seem to work the best) and put the other in my pocket that I took a few miles later. Up to this point I had taken two PowerBar gels at mile 2, and somewhere around mile 8 or 9. Plus I had taken an Advil at the same time of the second gel.

I did mile 15 in 9:30 when the weather started to change. Coming across the bridge back into the city, the wind was in my face. Wind? That wasn’t in the forecast, but sure enough that wind kept going and going and wasn’t in our backs for the rest of the race. It was always coming from the side or directly in our face. Between miles 15 and 16 seemed so long. Was this bridge ever going to end!! It was a great view — the James to the left, the city skyline to the right. The sun was trying to poke through again, making for some cool rays of sunshine. But along the never-ending bridge, there were no spectators, just cars whizzing by, with a few occasionally honking their horns. Surprisingly when I hit mile 16, I was just under 9:30 for the mile. That was the longest 9-plus minutes of running I had ever done.

The next few miles were nice because I was in familiar territory running by VCU and my office. As I hit mile 19, I could tell I was slowing, but everything seemed to be in check. (Mile 17-19 were 9:37, 9:46, 9:49.) My feet were hurting just a bit, but nothing major. And just before mile 20 was a hill — I dreaded that hill. It was at this point I began to see people stopping to stretch, or just flat out walk up the hill. I had come that far that I was not going to walk until the next water stop. I hit mile 20 in 10:30, then slowly walked through the water stop. Even though I had gotten lots of water or Powerade at every stop, and I was feeling great as far as thirst went, I took this water stop for all it was worth. Two cups of water and a cup of Powerade to go, please. I walked about another 100 yards taking every drop of fluid in those cups. About 10 other people were doing the same thing. And this is the point that everybody talks about — after mile 20.

Every block or so, at least one person was stretching or rubbing their legs. It was at this point, the numbness started in my legs. Nothing hurt really, except my feet just a bit. It was at this point when I started thinking about everything in my life, looking for things to push me the final few miles. My feet were hurting — my grandmother who passed away earlier this year always complained about her feet. Was this her way to keep me going? That’s what I thought.

With the walk break for the water, I hit mile 21 in 11:14. I thought it would be 15 minutes. I wasn’t looking at my watch except at the mile markers. I didn’t want to know my pace at this point. I felt like I was pushing myself, except I hit mile 22 in 10:18. I hadn’t ran a training run that slow since I was running the hills in Lynchburg. But I kept running, not looking too hard at the people stretching. I didn’t want my mind to force my legs into a cramp. I don’t remember if it was mile 22 or 23, but I walked through another water stop, grabbing two cups of water and a Powerade. I also kept cursing the wind. Miles 23 and 24 were in 10:19 and 10:17.

Less than a 5k to go, I was telling myself. I’ve ran plenty of 5ks, I can push myself through this. I had all kinds of thoughts running through my head. I thought a lot about my late Uncle John and wondered what he would’ve thought of this. It was kind of eerie, but a single ray of sunshine was poking through the clouds when I was thinking about him. It was proving the point to me that running a marathon for the first time wasn’t about what the final time was, but about this experience of putting your body through something amazing. It’s just so hard to describe.

I was trying to go faster, but I hit mile 25 in 10:40. What!?!? I was pushing myself, but I just wasn’t going faster. By this time, the numbing had spread to my arms and hands and I was freezing. Between miles 23 and 25, I was running with arms to the side, moving them up and down and squeezing my hands trying to get rid of this numbing feeling. It was like someone else was inside me doing the running, but it was my mind carrying the body along. You hear how much running is a mental thing — the final 6 miles of a marathon is 90 percent mental.

When I hit mile 25, I knew it was a little more than a mile, with much of it downhill. “It’s all downhill from here,” is what the spectators were saying. It’s easy for them to say. But as I rounded the final turn, I started seeing people who had already finished and they were showing their support for us who were finishing an hour after them. So truly the marathon does end! The final mile they kept saying … I can run faster for the final mile can’t I? Sure, I was flying, or so I thought, going down that hill. Mile 26 was 11:04. At this point, I knew I had less than a lap around a track and I wasn’t going to stop now. The last .2 miles, I managed an 8:13 pace, so yes, finally, my body was doing what my mind asked it to do.

At mile 25, I knew I wanted to beat 4:15. Finishing within 15 minutes of my ideal time would be great after 26.2 miles. I managed to have a chip time of just under 4:13. As I cross the finish line, there was no standard arms-in-the-air celebration. I think I tried, but seriously, my arms were numb from the race and the coldness. After I crossed, I just stopped for about 30 seconds and thought, I did it. I really did it. I thought maybe I’d cry, but I just didn’t have the energy to. On my first step after stopping, I was like, I can walk! I got a Mylar blanket, which immediately helped the cold feeling. I got the chip snapped off my foot — I couldn’t even lift my right leg to help out the guy cutting them off.

I grabbed my finisher’s medal, and looked back for a second — I really did it, I kept thinking. After getting the medal, I opted to skip the photo op with the SunTrust logos all over the place. I wanted to talk … or at least see a familiar face. It had been a couple of hours of silence, except for a few comments with other runners along the way. I quickly saw my wife and my dad and they asked how it was. I didn’t have an answer. I was hungry … and cold.

The unfriendliest part of America’s Friendliest Marathon is after the race. You have to walk downhill to get some food. I got a slice of pizza, a banana and a Powerade, then walked back up the hill. I warmed up briefly in the host hotel lobby, and I was ready to go home. I still didn’t know what to say about my experience. I briefly looked for Travis afterward, and for fellow blogger Jason, but it was just too cold and windy to stick around. I think most people around there felt the same way.

So, while I could still walk reasonably well, I took a shower while my wife ordered pizza for my mom and stepdad and Jon (and me). I came downstairs and rolled The Stick over my legs. I began telling a few stories about my experience, but it was still hard to put into words. More than 24 hours later, it’s still hard to come up with the proper words as to what it meant to me and what it was like. The physical parts are easy — I can barely walk. I slept downstairs just because I didn’t want to walk down them early this morning. My elbows are actually sore — after running for 4 hours, I guess it makes sense. I actually am less sore than I thought I would be, but it’s still not pleasant. Last night I would sleep for a couple hours, wake up, physically pick my legs up and put them in a different position and repeat 2 hours later.

But as far as what this does to me mentally … it’ll take a while to put into words. I want to again thank everyone for their support these past few months, and for coming out yesterday. It means so much to me.

So, now what? At one point this summer, I swore off training for a marathon again. But that was when it was 90 degrees and had a horrible long run. Training is the hard part — the experience of the marathon is priceless. It’s a time commitment that I don’t have right now or next summer. I miss my weekends, and I have a house that I’d like to spend time on next summer. I really like half marathons from a racing standpoint, and that’s what I’m focusing on next in March. Like I said last year at this time, any decision on a marathon is going to have to wait.

I’ll take this PR and this experience for all its worth. If I never do another one, I have absolutely no regrets on what has happened in the past few months and yesterday. If I could do yesterday all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing (except for keeping my gloves). I can’t ask for anything better than this feeling I have right now. I am a marathoner.

4:12:51. What an experience. I’ll give a full race report soon, but I wanted to get my time on here. And after 26.2 miles, it’s definitely not about the time. Those who have done this probably know what I’m talking about. For now there is pizza to be eaten, beer to drink and … more beer to drink. Maybe I’ll catch a nap in between the beers. It’s time to enjoy myself and to celebrate.

One month from today is the marathon — ONE MONTH!! Instead of reflecting on where I’ve been over the past few months, today is a day about looking ahead, staying focused on the big goal. I’ll have plenty of time to reflect in another month. I emphasize again that there is no “freaking out” or getting nervous going on right now — I’m focused and determined.

In honor of the one month to go mark, I went out and ran a solid 7.5 miles this morning, including 4 of it in a slightly more than 8-minute mile pace, at least according to my Garmin. I swear it seemed like I was running faster, and maybe I was. Much of that run was on the flat trails of nearby Huguenot Park, where the tree cover in mid-October is still very heavy. Either way, I was very happy with my run as my warmup and final 1.5 miles were under a 9-minute pace.

Last week, I brought up weight for the first time in a while, as well as 40 foods I won’t touch in the 40 days leading up to the marathon. It’s amazing what writing about it will do. This morning my weight was at 178.8, down 2 pounds from last week and actually slightly less than my weight for the Shamrock Half Marathon in March.

So, what’s left this month? I hope to have a couple of more long runs in nice weather before the tapering begins. While I’m not overly concerned about my time for the marathon, I will continue to work on speed and tempo runs. There may be a 5K or two included solely for that reason. When my taper begins, I will take advantage of the fewer miles by continuing to run hard. (I think too many people think taper means cutting back mileage, as well as slowing down - I disagree.) And I’ll continue to try losing a few more pounds.

September was a very interesting month when it comes to everything in my life. With moving and being busy at work and getting sick all in the same week, I experienced one of my worst weeks of 2007. The 8 miles I logged between Sept. 3-9 was the lowest since March following the week of the Shamrock Half Marathon in Virginia Beach. But in the end, I stuck to a plan, didn’t force any extra miles and finished with 119.6 miles for the month - exactly 10 more than August, but probably about 15 short of what I wanted to do. It’s sort of a good news/bad news thing, but more good than bad really. My year total is 744.9 miles.

September included three “longest run ever” distances of 15, 16 and 18. Next month - the last full month of training before the Richmond Marathon - will likely see long runs of 20, 14, 20 and 14. The week before the marathon I’m shooting for 8 or more. My weekly goals hover in the mid- to upper 30s range, with a taper sort of beginning on Oct. 22. Recent Runner’s World articles have me questioning how much to cut back and what exactly to do. (Click here to go to the site, then do a search for “Taper.”) My plan is to be in the upper 20s to near 30 miles between Oct. 22-28, mid-20s Oct. 29-Nov. 4 and about 10 miles the week of the marathon.
I appreciate any advice more experienced runners may have. I’m basically following a plan I created from three other plans.

One thing missing from my workouts since moving to Richmond has been speed/tempo runs. Much of that is due to the move - I went from group workouts once a week that took care of that to running solo all the time. I know Richmond has many group runs, and I look forward to that, but I haven’t had the time to join one yet. Evenings have been spent trying to get settled in and I just haven’t had the energy to get up earlier in the mornings. Today, though, I decided I’d do a 6-mile run with the two middle miles under an 8 minute pace.

The first two warmup miles felt good. I hit those two miles in 18:22. I headed over to Huguenot Park for the two-mile tempo run. Everything seemed to start OK, but it had been a while since I’ve pushed myself. I did the two miles in 16:04, just over 8 minutes a mile. Had this been a year ago, I would have been pleased. But instead I was pissed that I didn’t do better. I know these past few weeks have been rough, but I know I can do much better. So instead of a final “easy” two miles, I did a very easy half-mile jog, then ran an all-out mad-at-myself mile in 7:23. That’s probably the fastest mile I’ve ever done by myself. It felt great and it helped me realize that I don’t need to pay to run with a group to run that hard. The next seven Wednesdays I am planning some sort of tempo run to get ready for Nov. 10. I’m determined to not let this lack of daylight in the morning get in my way.

This week was all about just getting back out there after having a week full of being sick, working a lot and moving. All in all, things went pretty well, but having a week like I did last week just set things back just a bit. However, I think that this week set me up for having a great week next week.

I finished the week off today with a 13 mile run. When I first wrote down goals for my long runs about a month ago, today was set up to be 16 miles. I was hoping to have my first 20-mile run in two weeks. I think what I’ll do is go 16 next week, 18 on Sept. 28 or 29, then 20 on Oct. 7 (see below for details of that day). I finished just shy of 26 miles for the week. I’ll get back to 30-plus next week. I feel like I could have done more this week, but after having the figure 8 last week, I didn’t want to overdo it.

There’s a 30K on Oct. 7 that’s “organized for those that want a long training run for the Richmond Marathon,” according to the Richmond Road Runners Club Web site. I think it’ll give me a good chance a little more than a month before the marathon to have a long run with other people and to push myself just a bit. It’s so hard on these long runs to push myself harder.

As I get more settled in and less busy at home, I’m looking forward to what these last seven weeks are going to bring me. I’ll have at least three more “longest runs ever” before the 26.2.

I do not want to become an evening runner again, but with being worn out from my move and trying to get unpacked, getting up this week has been tough. So yesterday after work I headed out for about 6 miles along Richmond’s Monument Avenue and its nearby streets. Talk about a different experience - while the time was different, there was also the city traffic to deal with. Today I will run in the evening, but wait until I get home. My neighborhood is much more peaceful, although I did enjoy something completely out of my realm yesterday. I’ll probably do it again.

Another problem I’m starting to have is the daylight missing in the morning. It’s going to get tougher and tougher to push myself out of bed when it’s dark, but I really don’t want to transition to evenings full time with less than two months before the marathon.

On another note, it seems the intense summer heat is finally gone. I couldn’t be happier!