This is Madness! No, this...is...Batavia!

Peapod Half Madness Half Marathon Report - The Short Version

I wanted this entry to say something like "OMG, another breakthrough race for KPH!!1", but sadly, that wouldn't be the truth. It was something altogether different entirely.

For the folks not into word vomit and walls-of-text, I will summarize this post with the following bullet points:

• I made the classic distance runner mistake of going out too fast
• There were three hills on the course and I did not properly manage my effort on them
• A lot of people passed me from miles 6-12, including my buddy Nick who had a great race and that made my race very mentally tough
• The course was very pretty and the organization flawless (and the price was right)
• Even though I had a tough day, I mustered up enough fortitude to run hard at the end
• My wife came out to watch me race and brought the dog to her first ever race which was super cool.
• Paul (screaminzab) gave me a nice pep talk at the end when I was being a whiny bitch.
• I did not have my 'A' game but still came close to PRing

Those are pretty much the main points. If you'd like to skip the gory details, skip over the next section.

Peapod Half Madness Half Marathon Report - The Gory Details

I wake up at 4:30am, get my customary English Muffin with PB and banana, take a crap and all seems OK. Heading out to the race, my stomach is a little iffy, but I think it's just nerves. It is nice and cool outside, weather will definitely not be a factor today.

I arrive near the start just after 6 and I see Paul immediately. We say our hellos and I need to get my packet, so I tell him I'll see him in a few. I meet up with my buddy Tim who was kind enough to pick up my race packet for me. The shirt is pretty sweet: a blue Mizuno tech-shirt with a cool design - finally a non-fail technical race shirt. Great job race organizers.

Tim and I chat for a bit and we head to gear check, where I check my bag and then head out for a warm up. I find a porta potty to take one last pee and do a couple of strides. I'm feeling ready to go.

My plan was to start at 6:30 pace and see what happened. If I felt good, I would pick it up, if not, I would hang on. In hindsight, this was a really crappy plan. Maybe on a pancake flat course running on the lakefront this would have worked, but it made life difficult for me in the second half.

I line up near the front and the starting chute is NARROW, but I still manage to catch a glimpse of Catherine and Rudy. Catherine yells out "Go Tim Hortons!" and I'm thrilled they made it to the start - that was pretty cool. The field thinned out quickly and the race was pretty small so it wasn't too big of a deal. We turn a corner, and wow, already, there's a pretty good-size hill. Fortunately it's early and I'm fresh and it's not too big of a deal. First 1.01 mile clicks off at 6:32. 1.01 miles was quite a bit farther than the 1 mile sign. Interesting. Even this early on it feels harder to hit this than it should, this was an early warning sign.

The next two 1.01 mile splits were pretty flat and I hit them at 6:30, 6:33. The effort feels hard. Should have backed off but didn't. Mile four I see Catherine and Rudy again. Catherine is cheering wildly and I wave to acknowledge her. I look down at the dog and she's just staring at me with a really amusing quizzical look, like "what the hell is going on here, and why are all of these people chasing you?". The fourth mile also had a sharp downhill which partially explains the 6:25 in the next split, but still, way too fast for this stage. We turn onto a path along the river and it is really pretty. Still managing to hold pace but in the back of my mind I am worried about my effort level. I press on, and hit a 6:32. Still ok...for now...

Things start to go south. Sometime between 5 and 6, I get passed by a fast chick and a dude who I think is pacing her, and some other dude. The little mental gremlins start up - I am not used to getting passed. At the water station at mile 6, some other dude blows by me, and the first signs of struggle rear their ugly head - next split is 6:38. I am in full hang on mode already and it's not even halfway through the race. Definitely a bad sign.

Next two splits are both 6:44. I really struggled just to hit that. Just after mile 7, we turn sharply off the path, and BAM, another hill. I slow down to get up it and that took a little more wind out of my sails. Now I am really hanging on - my breathing is very heavy and I still have a ways to go. Around mile 8 I see Catherine and Rudy again, and I don't want to lead on how tired I am, because they are supporting me just incredibly right now. Sadly, I am in rough shape. There is another gentle uphill shortly after that and it seems to go on forever. Next two splits are 7:03 and 7:07. Ugh, I feel like I have totally lost control of this race.

Then, two things happen that lift my spirits. The first, is that I get to mile 10. I know it's going to be easier from here on out as the rest of the race is a gentle downhill. The second, is that I hit mile 10 at 1:06. If I can somehow muster up the chops to run a 5k in the 20s, which I have done before on very tired legs, I can still PR. It's a stretch, but I was trying to cling to anything positive mentally.

Somehow, it works. I get a bit of a second wind. The next split is 6:55 and I am gaining momentum, but I am having to work extremely hard. Sometime between miles 11 and 12, my buddy Nick BLOWS by me. He tugs at me and tries to get me to come with him, and I valiantly try, but I can't stay with him. That was tough, although I really appreciated the gesture. I have to try and salvage what I can out of my own race at this stage. The next split is 6:47 and I am doing the best I can.

The last mile is tough. I am in no man's land at this point, there is a big gap between the group that just passed me and the group behind me, but I press on and just try to keep the person in front of me in my sights. I hear a familiar voice cheering on runners. That's Catherine! I want to look strong passing her, so I muster up what reserves I can and try my best to pick it up. She is cheering like crazy, and Rudy, yet again, has a really funny "deer-in-headlights" look. Then, a sharp left and I cross over two wooden bridges, turn another corner, and suddenly there's the finish. I can see the clock it says "1:26:5x". Shit. So much for a PR. Oh well, this was what I had after the fast start. I run it hard up the chute and finish in 1:27:02.

My immediate reaction is disappointment. I blew my race in the early miles, and I was probably in shape to at the very least run a low 1:26, or a high 1:25, but I didn't. I catch Nick at the end and congratulate him...we are now even after Green Bay. He came in at 1:25:56 I think, tremendous effort for him. I go back to see if I can catch Paul, who isn't racing this, but is using it as a progressive long run of sorts. At the 1:32 mark all of a sudden I see him wildly waving his arms and yelling at the dude next to him like an animal...the whole scene is hilarious.

I'm ashamed to admit that instead of congratulating him on his finish, I basically piss and moan to him, Nick, and Catherine about my race. Like troopers they say what they can to make me feel better, and it works for the most part. Writing this now, I feel really bad for being selfish - they both had great days and accomplished their goals, but it provides more fuel for me to better myself so that my friends don't have to listen to my bullshit. I do appreciate them tolerating me, as the "wound was fresh" so to speak, but I need to be better than that, suck it up and not be such a whiny bitch when things don't go my way.

In reality, this race went better than it had any right to. I was too aggressive at the start for this course and for the state I was in, having run 70 miles the week prior and being on a new sleep schedule from school...and I still had a decent time. I don't know how I pulled it together in the last three miles, I really did not feel comfortable for most of the race. Looking back, I'm proud that I was able to press on and finish as good as I did even though I had a tough day.

Finally, it's amazing that I am disappointed with a 1:27. I have to put this all in perspective - I've made huge gains this year and any gains that come from here on out are going to be smaller, and I have to be OK with that. This race does not define me as a runner, and but I can take the lessons I need from it, and then put it away and move onto the next one.

A new goal

I think I need to be more realistic about where I am at for the Toronto race. I was really hoping this race today would confirm my sub-3 aspirations for that race and I think that's a big reason I went out so aggressively. Certainly things could change, but my confidence was shaken today, and maybe that's what I needed to be a little more realistic. I am thinking that a goal to go BQ-5 (3:04:59 or better) at Toronto might be more realistic right now...the prospect of running 7 minute miles for a marathon seems imminently more doable than sub-3, and I really do not want to have the second half of a marathon feel like the second half of this race. If I really hammer Toronto and crush that goal, maybe I can look at CIM as a first serious sub-3 attempt. I do know one thing - I will run a sub-3 hour marathon someday. It will happen. It just may not happen right away, and that's OK. Rest assured - I will train as hard and as smart as I can to give myself every opportunity to accomplish this goal.  I am still young and I have plenty of miles left in me, I am shaking this off and moving on!

Three Weeks in Review

OK, so I have been incredibly lazy about posting lately.  Well, not so much lazy, as busy with the start of school, so priorities got shifted.  So I decided to put this post off for a while, and a lot of running got accomplished in the meantime.  Here are my weeks since the Batavia race:

Week of 8/29
Monday - 6+4 recovery double (9:20/9:18 pace)  Running slow and easy this week to recover from the race.
Tuesday - 11 mile MLR (8:50)
Wednesday - 15 mile MLR (8:42)
Thursday - 11 mi MLR (8:31)
Friday - 4 mi recovery (9:42)
Saturday - 20.43 LR @ 8:36.  This was a somewhat hot and muggy day and I felt really strong.

Total: 71.59 mi

Week of 9/5
Monday - 9+ mi w/ 10x100m strides (7:59).  Legs coming back and improving weather.
Tuesday - 15 mi MLR (8:24).  3 skunks on this run.  Yuck.
Wednesday - 5+ mi recovery (9:14).  God bless recovery days.
Thursday - 12 with 7 at LTish pace (6:39).  (overall 7:22).  Not too rough at all...would have been faster if not for a few mental lapses.
Saturday - 12+ mi MLR, pacing with CES running group (8:23)
Sunday - 13.1 mi - paced the 1:50 pace group at the Chicago Half Marathon.  This was really fun, it was so great helping runners hit their goal.  Specifically, my wife ran in my group and PRd with a 1:49:12.  Just fantastic!

Total:   67 mi

Week of 9/12
Monday - 9 mi with 5x600m at 5k pace. Ran 2:13 on each repeat, +/- 2 seconds.  First speed work since May, felt great.
Tuesday - 15 mi MLR (8:16)  A little sore after Monday, but the pace was easy enough.  Felt great once it was over.
Wednesday - 7 mi recovery with 6x100m strides (8:50)
Thursday - 6 mi recovery (8:58)
Friday - 11 with 6 at LTish pace (6:33).  (overall 7:14)  Strong tempo.  Got faster over the 6 miles, last 2 were at 6:29.
Saturday - 21.42 LR @ 8:33.  Very strong, felt like I could have run 10 more miles.

Total:  69.7 mi

Well, now that I'm caught up, time to head out.  One more 70 mile week and then it's taper time.  Oh boy!