Shamrock Shuffle 2019 Race Recap

My goal race - The Shamrock Mile - was the day before, so I planned that the Shamrock Shuffle 8k was going to be just for fun. However, as anyone who reads this blog knows, I simply can't just run for fun! Plus I was running for the MRC team this year and I wanted a decent AG finish to score points (or less points!) for them.

Goal:
The only real calculation I did prior to the race was to check my average weekly mileage 12 weeks before the race vs. last year. This year I was at 32 miles per week and last year 30 miles per week (when I ran a 31:08 - remember that number). So, I actually had a tiny bit more base than last year. I really didn't do any more exacting calculations as to what my 8k fitness level was, despite having a 5:36/mile to work with from the race 18 hours before. The 5:36, put me at about a 32:00 8k, but I hadn't bothered to look it up, because you know, I was trying to chill.

Pre-Race
I woke up at 6:00 a.m. and went for a one mile shakeout run around my neighborhood. Temps were hovering around 40 degrees and there was a slight wind. I made coffee, scarfed down bacon, an egg and a banana. After letting the dogs out and getting them back inside, I drove down to the race and to park at a new $10 garage. Unfortunately, Columbus Ave was already blocked off so I had to spend an extra 10 minutes driving west to approach the garage using the bridge over Columbus. I was in a hurry to get to the MRC pre-race photo op and time was ticking. So, I parked quickly and sprinted over to the meetup area with what turned out to be plenty of time to chat with the MRC team.

I checked my bag with about 15 minutes before the corrals closed, so I did a slow jog for 5 minutes then did some fast pickups for another 5 minutes.

Once in the corral, I spotted the MRC group and saw Xaarlin and company. I then made my way up closer to the start line. I spotted John B who hadn't raced in over a year and we shared how good it felt to be back at it for the Shuffle. The national anthem was sung and we were off.

The Race:
Mile 1: The weather was perfect - mid 40s and overcast. Last year, I ran this mile in 6:20, but I figured I 'd be happy with a 6:30. 6:35/Mile

Mile 2: I realized I'd been holding back a lot for the first mile, especially when you count that there is a big downhill after the Columbus St. bridge. I was feeling good, so I opened things up a little. 6:11/Mile

Mile 3: The wind was a factor, and I tried to tuck in behind a runner here and there.  6:14/Mile

Mile 4: I crossed the 5k timing mat at 19:43 which was 21 seconds slower than my time at the same point last year. I guess I had really been holding back. I typically love to step on the gas at this point in the race and since my lungs and legs both felt great, I proceeded with Operation Pass Lots-o-Fading-Runners! 6:09/Mile.

Mile 4.97: I relish the long straight stretch southbound on Michigan Ave. This is where the footrace begins since there are no turns and you can see everyone ahead and you. You can also see where the footrace will end with Mt. Roosevelt looming in the distance. This is where I spotted a guy I knew was in my AG and quickly put him behind me. For extra motivation I told myself that I needed to stay ahead of him. I kept the speed up thinking that he might be on my heels. We made the turn onto Roosevelt Rd and then I flew uphill and then with all my might down to the finish line! 5:59 /Mile.

Mt. Roosevelt

Official Pace: 6:16/mile

Official Time: 31:09

Official Pace: 6:16/mile

Age Group: 6th out of 651

Overall: 470 out of 20,632

Analysis: Almost identical finishing time as last year:

2019 Shuffle

2018 Shuffle

I am proud of the negative split. Unlike last year, when I positive-splitted, I never really felt like I was red-lining until the very end. Despite the "same" finishing time, I even moved way up in my AG standings thanks to the new AG! Fun stat: according to the results, I passed 58 men in the last 1.9 miles!

Post Race: 

I walked down the finishers' chute and got my picture taken;

For some reason, I found myself walking down the chute alongside Deena Kastor, who moments ago set a world masters 8k record. She was talking about how her lungs felt fine, but she couldn't get more speed out of her legs! Anyway, I mentioned to one of the course volunteers that Deena Kastor was walking by her. The volunteer asked me if she thought that Deena would let her take a picture of her. So I asked Deena and she said yes, but that the volunteer had to get in the picture with her. So I took her phone and got a picture of the two together!

Next I took off to the Buckingham Fountain Beer Garden to meet up with the MRC gang:

MRC and Beer (last year)!

I offered John B a ride then we headed back to my car stopping off at Starbucks first.

The Future:
I like where I am fitness-wise and generally feel better rested and less burned out than I have. As for goals, I'd like to make a strong age group showing the day before my birthday at at the Run For the Animals 10k in June. However, before that happens I'll get a tune up at another CARA race - the Ravenswood Run 5k at the end of April! Who knows? I might even be a late entrant for the CARA Lakefront 10 Miler!

Shamrock Mile 2019 Race Recap

To say that this was the best day of the year wouldn't be an overstatement. I finally shook off all of the racing cobwebs that had accumulated over the last 200+ days and had a wonderful experience. The weather was picture-perfect, I got to meet three Olympians and hung out with friends before during and after. Plus, as a bonus, I got to race what is perhaps my favorite distance now - the mile, that heart-pounding, leg draining, adrenaline fueled slice of racing heaven!

Goal: 
I had been doing about two quarter mile sprints 2x a week and I could usually bring them all in under 5:20/mile pace, so I figured that I would try for a 5:25. That meant the following target splits:

1:25, 1:20, 1:20, 1:20

But realistically with the hairpin turns (and four uphills), I knew that it might be a stretch goal. 

Pre Race:
My wave (competitive masters) didn't start in Grant Park until 11:20, so I had plenty of time after waking up to prepare. After a short (1/2 mile) shakeout run, I ate an egg and some bacon, walked the pups, got my stuff together, grabbed a coffee and was out the door at about 10:15. I parked in Grant Park North garage, had some more coffee and a banana. After ascending the stairs, I was pretty much on the course, so it was a well-chosen parking lot! I wandered around wondering where everyone was:

Pre-race near the bag check. Just me and the Green Guys

Eventually I spotted Erica there and we chatted and got a pic.

Me and Erica pre-race

I also noticed the three Olympians (Deena Kastor, Alexi Pappas, and Carrie Tollefson) milling around before the start chatting with people. Eventually Mo appeared, she had come from the Shamrock Shuffle expo with the MRC. She was going to run the wave after mine. The recreational wave started and I watched them start and finish, some of the "Green Guys" ran in that wave.

Did I mention the weather was fantastic? There was hardly a cloud in the sky and it was around 45 degrees. I did another 1/2 mile warm-up before the the announcer called the competitive masters up and I got in our corral with the 37 other men and women. Suddenly Deena, Alexi and Carrie ran along our corral and gave us all motivational high-fives. Once the excitement died down, I was standing no more three feet away from Deena Kastor, so I asked her for a racing tip. She said, "run like hell" and I said I'd try! Anyway, the horn sounded and we were off!

The Race:
Mile 0.25: This may have been the hardest part of the race - an uphill to start running west on Jackson. There are railroad bridges in Grant Park, so everytime we headed west we went up then down a bridge and each time we turned around we had to go up and down the same bridge again. We made the hairpin turn and hit the 0.25 marker. Hit my goal pace nicely. 1:24.9 (5:40/mile)

Mile 0.50: Back up over the Jackson St. bridge and turned onto Columbus Drive for a nice straightaway. I was really trying my best, but fell a few seconds short of goal. 1:23.4 (5:30/mile)

1/2 Mile marker at Columbus and Congress looking uphill

Mile 0.75: Next up was a right on East Congress Parkway just west of Buckingham Fountain. Then we went up and down a bridge with another hairpin turnaround just to head back uphill. I was starting to hurt, but was biding my time for the downhill finish when I would try to catch some of the guys just ahead of me. 1:26.8 (5:43/mile)

Turnaround on Columbus over the RR bridge

3/4 Mile market coming back downhill after the turn

Mile 1.00:  I could see I was in about 6th place at the final marker before the finish. First place was way out of reach but 2nd through 5th were in my sights, just seconds ahead. All systems were redlining at this point, so I figured I would use up any reserves after the last turn downhill towards the finish line. I was going to kick "like hell". Unfortunately for me, all of the other guys had the same general idea, except they were speeding up earlier. I noticed them picking up the pace and separating from me, so I had to speed up just to keep up. Since I couldn't seem to gain any ground using a conventional speed up, I knew I needed to reach into a dark place to propel even faster despite my lungs screaming for mercy. I floored it as fast as I could disregarding any and all pain signals. I could finally feel that I had a chance of perhaps reeling in 3rd, 4th and 5th, but I was running out of time. In the last two strides of the race, I was only able to pass the 5th place guy who was absolutely flying. If the race had been another 20 yards I might have passed 4th and 3rd. Oh well, I kicked too late, but that was that! This may have been my fastest race finish ever because over last 10 seconds of the race, my Garmin hit 4:03/mile pace!  1:20.0 (5:20/mile)

Results:

Master Competitive Group: 5th out of 28

Official Time: 5:36

Analysis:
I was short of my goal by about 10 seconds, but using my finishing time from the Shamrock (the next day) I was actually in flat-minimal-turn 5:26 mile shape, so my guesstimate was pretty good. I just need to find a mile on a track or something!  Also, the Master's wave was anyone over 40, so there were plenty of young whippersnappers in my AG!

Post Race:
After watching Mo do awesome in the competitive wave, we got our pictures with the three legends.

As I was getting into the picture, Carrie Tollefson said to me, "I saw you at the finish, that was one wicked kick!" My heart started to soar. That's the first time an Olympian actually noticed and commented on my racing!

 Best. Day. Ever.

Deena, me, Alexi and Carrie

I hear they are going to hold the Mile again next year, despite the very low turnout this year. Here's hoping more people find out about it. I will be there!

Next up: Shamrock Shuffle!

It's Been a Long Time Since I Rock 'n Rolled

It's been a long time since my last race. In fact on Saturday it will be 244 days since I "broke the tape" as my AG winner at the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon.  After taking a few weeks off thereafter, I realized that the major leg soreness and general fatigue from constant training would take more than just a few weeks to recover from. So, I pretty much stopped running in August, September and October and my only exercise was walking the pups and maybe an occasional visit to the gym (hence my absence from here). It's funny that once I started to cut out the miles, I was able to sleep longer and feel less fatigued all day. Did running mega miles cause me to sleep less? Who knows, but eventually the soreness went away too.

I started up gradually in November and December - only running occasionally and keeping my runs between 2 to 5 miles. Currently, I'm running about the same low number of daily miles, but since January, I'm back to running seven days a week. In order to stay limber and strong I am going to the gym every other day, and yoga once a week. So here's hoping that should help keep me on the roads and out of PT.

A few weeks ago at an MRC run, Mo told me about the Shamrock Mile which would take place the day before the Shuffle. So, naturally once I got home I looked it up and figured I could at least race a mile. So, I signed up and threw down the Mile as the marker for my racing "comeback". Then a couple of weeks later, I decided to throw in for the Shuffle as well and contacted Xaarlin and she put me on the MRC Shamrock team.

Anyway, I am pumped for this weekend, although once the course map came out, I had a complaint about a the number of sharp turns in this one mile race! Since there is nothing I can do about it,  I will just try and put forth a decent race and try and hold a nice even-paced effort.

2019 Shamrock Mile Course

So, it looks like I'm back at it and ready to rock. Maybe not as fast as in the past, but I'm looking forward to still competing and seeing where lower mileage, while staying fresher and healthier leads me.

NU Run For Walk 4.1 Miler 2018 - "Pace" Recap

My 10 year old nephew was in town last weekend. He loves running, so I offered to pace him for his first race ever at Northwestern University's "Run for Walk" which would be by far the longest he'd ever run continuously. His previous record was two miles and since this was a 4.1 mile race, I thought a good strategy would be to pace him slowly for the first 2 miles, see how he felt and then up the pace if he felt good. Last year, the youngest age group was 0 to 10, so since he is one of the few age groups where it pays to actually be younger than older, I thought he had a decent shot of at least getting an AG medal.

Once we got our bibs and race packets, we sat down in Northwestern's football stadium and watched them setup the finish line on the 50 yard line. Then we walked over to the start line which was just outside the stadium. There, we bumped into Erica and Brooke and ran about 0.25 miles of warm-ups with them.

We lined up near the back and we were off! My nephew can sprint 100m almost as fast as me (probably by next year he will be faster), so I intentionally held him back. I told him we would take it easy and for breaks we would walk through the water stations. I had to instruct him to stay off to the side while walking with his water. Anyway the mile went by quickly, probably because we stayed chill and just chatted.

We hit mile 1 in 8:54, and he started to complain that "it feels like we're going so slow, we're walking". So, in a moment of carelessness, I thought that maybe I wasn't challenging a potential running prodigy enough and we started to speed up (contrary to plan).  In any case, he seemed to take the increase in pace well. I tried to keep him distracted from the effort by jumping up and running on the concrete benches on the Northwestern campus, and he followed my lead. Near the lake, one of Northwestern's athletic teams was handing out water and we slowed to walk again. The course ran right along Lake Michigan and by the beach full of sailboats, which is on Northwestern's (beautiful) campus.

As we finished mile 2 in 8:23, he seemed fine, so we kept up the speedier-than-planned pace. However, once we slowed to walk through the next water stop, he complained that his legs felt bad and that he needed to walk more. So, we walked an extra 30 seconds past the water station and watched as scores of runners passed us by. I tried giving him a little pep talk about how we were less than two miles away and that if we got going again we could rest all we wanted once we got to the finish line. My talk may have worked, because he started to run again slowly, but after another quarter mile, he needed to walk again for another minute.

Run/walking got us to through mile 3 in 10:22 and I was afraid that we would be walking the last mile entirely. However, he was able to do a run/walk combo that kept us moving at a reasonable pace. I told him, that once we could see the football stadium (where the finish line was), we would pick up the pace and sprint on in. He let me know that he had actually been saving some energy for the final 0.1, since he wanted to sprint on the football field. Once I realized he had more in the tank than he was perhaps letting on, I gave him pep talks to "just keep moving"  and told him to run behind me and just focus on my feet. That seemed to work for him.

After some high-fives with the Northwestern football team, we got to the mile 4 marker in 10:37, and turned into the football stadium. We weaved around the 5k walkers and shot across the finish line. Our final 0.17 was at 7:23 pace.

Video of us finishing (starting at 19:15)

After sitting and recovering on the field for about 5 minutes, we walked over to the results tent to see if he had gotten an AG top 3. When we looked up his time on the computer it said that the age group was now 0 to 14 (instead of 0 to 10) and he didn't place. I think I was more disappointed than he was. He was happy to get the race shirt and the purple foam hand we got in our goody bag and didn't miss getting a medal too much.

The race was a pretty big positive split, but not a disaster. I was kicking myself afterwards for not sticking to our pace plan, but it was my first time pacing a newbie for an entire race, so lesson learned.

Post-race, my nephew said his legs were sore and he was slow walking up and down the stadium steps. However, after an hour of two he was running and jumping around with the pups at home, his recovery complete. It's nice to be young!

Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon 2018 - Race Recap

Lately, I've been waiting until the week before a race to actually register for it. I have a more relaxed attitude towards racing and want to see how I feel physically and mentally before I commit to doing a race. So, even though I knew that I wanted to run the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon over a month ago, I waited until the Tuesday before the race to register. However, I learned a valuable lesson:  

Never register for the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon less than 7 days before the event.

First of all on-line registration closes seven days beforehand so if you want to run the race you have to register in person at the expo. Second you are forced to travel to the expo to register with no guarantee of spots being available. Third, you have to wait in line to register. Fourth (and the most important reason) is the price!

** Price Not including service fees!

I, unfortunately waited until the Tuesday before the race and was shut out of on-line registration.

Expo:

So, on Friday after work, I took the Green Line 25 minutes and walked about 2 miles to finally get to the expo which was located far inside McCormick Place. Once I found the in-person registration booth I was faced with the decision of dropping over $175, which is about 3x of what the early-bird price would have been had I taken a leap-of-faith last year and registered early. Anyway, I really wanted to run and figured that I needed to seize the moment and hand over my credit card, price be damned. 

After sweating bullets as my card was charged the full amount plus service fees, the woman at the registration desk then asked me what my expected finish time was and I told her 1:28:00. She promptly wrote "Corral 3" on my bib. Shocked, I asked her what was Corral 1 qualifying time and she said sub 1:19:00!! I couldn't believe it, but thought maybe the race was really going to be competitive this year.

After getting my bib and shirt I started to rationalize my decision:

1) I would hardly blink if someone dropped $175 in two hours at a casino  

2) I only have a finite amount of races left in me and I get to do this. Do it now.

Goal(s):

Time goal: I did the calculations based on my 10k last month and the result for a half marathon was somewhere around 6:38/mile or a 1:27:00. I figured with the heat/humidity I would be happy with a 1:28:00.

Pre-Race:

I woke up at 4:00. After a few swigs of coffee, and walking the dogs I packed my race bag and drove my new wheels down to Grant Park. The garage where there is usually a long lines of cars was happily line-free. I think the lines are long for the Shamrock and for the Hot Chocolate. Also, arriving an hour and a half before the race helped too.

After leaving the garage, I walked/ran about a mile into Grant Park  After that I took some pictures:

Pre-race Start Line

I used the porta-potties, then chilled near bag check. I spotted Erica and said hi. Then I ran another mile through Grant Park, doing about four strides. I could tell right away that my legs were ready for 13.1 somewhat fast miles. That's a great feeling. It was about 68 degrees and humid and I started to get hot. I decided to stop my warm-ups and just go over to the corrals and wait. Since I had been assigned to corral 3, I scanned corrals 1 and 2 and spotted a few team jerseys here and there, but not enough that warranted me being in the third wave. In fact, I think furthest I've ever started back was wave 2. So, I decided (thankfully) not to start in corral 3, but the back of corral 2. There was no corral enforcement, so I walked into corral 2. After a few minutes, I realized I should have been in corral 1. I heard people discussing how they wanted to keep a 9 minute goal pace! It was too late, I was hemmed in and it would have been too great of an effort to move forwards. The national anthem was sung, the countdown was on. Wave 1 was sent off than about one minute later, we were off!

The Race:

Miles 1 through 3:  As soon as I crossed the start line, it started to rain. It was a welcome relief and I thought to myself that this was going to be fun! However, soon thereafter I had to do a huge amount of weaving. 8 to 10 minute milers who had started ahead of me were running three of four abreast. There was even a pack of 10 runners with matching t-shirts running not faster than 12 minute miles. No corral enforcement = people all wanting and getting to start in front. I think RnR needs to have some enforcement especially for corrals 1 to 5. Wasted some energy weaving and surging over the first mile. However, on the bright side, it was raining  and it felt fantastic. My sunglasses were somewhat blurred by the rain, so it was difficult to see my watch. I decided to just run by feel. After 100+ races, I am getting more comfortable with "feel" racing!  6:42/mile

Miles 4 through 6: Running through the Loop is so much fun. As for pace, I just focused on how I was feeling and modulated my pace accordingly.  The crowds were thinner than last year, thanks to the rain. Eventually the rain seemed to taper off - unfortunately. A big band was playing. Still passed lots of people.  6:39/mile

Miles 7 through 9: Running southbound along Michigan Ave., I thought Xaarlin may be spectating in her usual spot somewhere during mile seven. I didn't see her, so I continued on down the road. Passed even more of people. We did the out-and-back down the desolate stretch of MLK Drive. At least there was a rock band playing there and I signed the devil horns at them. 6:36/mile

Miles 10 through 12: This stretch is typically the hottest on the course because it is in the direct sunlight as we run between Lake Shore Drive and the Lakefront Trail. Luckily, it was not too hot thanks to the rains we had been having. I was playing cat and mouse with a guy in no shirt as we entered the McCormick Place tunnel. We had caught up with the 10k walkers and had to weave around them since there was no lanes separating the distances. I nearly twisted my ankle in a pothole, but luckily it wasn't too deep. Once I was in the clear,  I floored it and broke free from Mr. No-Shirt. 6:44/mile

Miles 13 and 13.17  Outside the tunnel, Mr. No-Shirt tried to pass me, but I willed myself to not let that happen. We went up and down two hills to get to Columbus Drive. Once safely over the hill, I floored it for the remaining .75 miles straight down Columbus to the finish line. Passed a woman and then hit the additional timing mat that sits just before the finish line and the announcer called my name.  6:20/mile

Almost Finished!

Results:

Official Time: 1:27:14

Official Pace: 6:39/mile

Garmin Pace: 6:18/mile (bad signal)?!

Place Age Group: 1st out of 329 

Place Overall: 83 out of 8,909

Personal Analysis: 1st AG win in a Rock n Roll event! Over a minute faster than last year despite the fact that I was running higher mileage at that time. Maybe it was the rain or maybe I'm just in a better spot right now mentally and physically? I ran completely by feel and almost hit my goal dead-on.

Race Analysis:
Love this race. This is my favorite half marathon course in the world. It would be perfect except for the mile in which we do an out-and-back on MLK Drive. Oh yeah, and the pot-hole filled McCormick Place tunnel.

Post Race: 

I walked down the finishers' chute and collected my medal.

After exiting the finisher's chute it started to rain. So, I grabbed my bag at bag check, changed clothes threw on a poncho and went over to watch the race.  I went back to the course to spectate. I got a video of Wendy who was looking strong (~40 seconds into the video).

Then I went over to the beer garden had a beer and waited for the awards ceremony. It was pouring rain as I heard my name called. I picked up my sweet first place AG trophy.

Sweet Rock n Roll Guitar AG Trophy!

I stayed in the beer garden another few minutes looking for anyone I knew. However, the place was thinning out with only a few dozen people left due to the rain. So I headed back to the car.

Was it worth it?:

Yes.

It's true that on paper that the race was expensive. The higher-than-expected price made me analyze how much an individual race is really worth to me. The days before are fun with all of the anticipation as I "run" the course in my mind. My diet the week before a race is very clean and I start feeling better, making me wonder why I don't eat like that year round. Then the race itself is indescribably fun and tests my limits mentally and physically. It's also a blast to run (nearly) as hard as you can for as long as you can. The post-race endorphins last at least two days and then there are the memories, which last even longer. So how much is all of that worth? To me races are a bargain considering all the other ways I could spend my money.

Up Next:

I'm tired post-race, so best to take a few days off and recover. I have no idea what my next race will be. 10% chance it will be a marathon, which is up from 0% chance last month! Stay tuned...

Firecracker 6 Race Recap

I happened to find myself in Indianapolis on the Fourth of July, so I looked for and found a local race called the Firecracker 6. It's odd that on the Fourth there seems to be all manner of different race distances available. Over the last five years on the Fourth I've run:

2014: 5 miler

2015: 4 miler

2016: 5k

2017: No race
2018: 6 miler

I never specifically train for these Fourth of July races. They're usually just for fun and so it was with the Firecracker 6. Plus if they are an odd distance, they're are usually good for an instant PR!

Pre-Race

Left the hotel with the car and was in downtown Indianapolis in about 20 minutes. Found a free street spot and walked over to the historic Indianapolis Market to pick up my bib.

After a two mile warm-up in the humidity, I started to get hot. So, I used the remainder of my time to try and cool down before the start. The national anthem was sung, a prayer was said and then a bunch of firecrackers were lit and we were off with a bang (or lots of little bangs)!

The Race

Mile 1: The race began right in the heart of downtown Indy, as we ran around Monument Circle This is where the tallest buildings in Indy are, so my GPS went in and out. However, I remember my time crossing the one mile mark. 6:20/mile.

Mile 2:  We made our way around the American Legion Mall. Things were getting warm and I started to realize that the heat was getting to me. I started to leap frog runners who were fading, but there was a definite gap forming between the pack I was leading and the lead pack. 6:20/mile.

Mile 3: We made our way past the 100 year old rollicking beer hall and restaurant "The Rathskeller". The heat was starting to take its toll, but I tried desperately to hold pace. 6:17/mile.

Mile 4: Flying solo somewhere between the lead pack and the second pack, I came upon a hill, which normally wouldn't have bothered me, but the heat was draining my energy rapidly. I started to struggle and slowed, hoping for a second wind. I ran by my favorite duck pin bowling alleys in the Fountain Square neighborhood. 6:36/mile.

Mile 5: Once we made the turn to head back to downtown, the uphill of the last mile became a downhill, but it was still becoming less and less fun as the heat and humidity were getting bad. I guess this was my second wind! 6:21/mile.

Mile 6 and 6.1: We joined up with the 6k runners for the final mile. The volunteers were handing out mini american flags to wave at the finish, but I blew on by. I was lifting my shirt to get some air circulation. Thank goodness this race was not a full 10k, because I was out of gas! 6:18/mile.

Finished!
Must stop watch directly over timing mat!

Race Summary: 

• Official Time: 38:19 
• Official pace: 6:23/mile
• Overall Place: 17th out of 629
• Age Place: 2nd out of 33 
• Instant PR!! First time at this distance.

Post-Race:

I was completely spent. Went over to a shady spot and chugged a bottle of water. I didn't hang around for the after party or awards ceremony, despite the fact that they had free pours of a local craft brew. I threw down some dry towels in my car and cranked up the A/C and headed back to the hotel.

Race Takeaway:

Here were my splits:

First three miles: 18:54

Last three miles: 19:26

Positive split, but not too bad considering I didn't factor how hot I would get. Also, it looks like pretty much my entire age group ran positive splits, so I wasn't the only one. This is a good learning experience on pacing the Rock n Roll Half if it is a hot one. Also, no warm-up and I'll pack a towel!

Next up:

RnR Half

Run For the Animals 10k 2018 Race Recap

When I ran the Run for the Animals 10k in 2013, I won my age group despite the fact that I was the oldest person in it - as the race was held the day before my birthday. As I mentioned in my previous post - I would be in a new AG for the 2018 edition of the race. In fact, this time I would be (at least tied for) the youngest runner in my AG since it was to be held on my birthday.

Pre-Race

After a practically sleepless night due to some sudden bug that I had gotten from god-knows-where, I finally gave up on sleep went out the door at 5 a.m. for a shakeout run of one mile in the city. I didn't trust my stomach to do a two miler and be far from home, so I just did one mile. After walking the doggies, I jumped in my car and headed out to the 'burbs. My dad had picked up my bib along with his bib (for the 5k) earlier in the week, so I met up with him at his house, put on said bib, and we headed over to the race in downtown Wheaton. On our way to the start area we met up with my sister and her two kids. My nephew was running his first 5k ever and he was super pumped. My sister was running with him. I did a few warm-up strides, then slid into the corral. The national anthem was sung beautifully, but at a low volume such that runners in the back of the corral kept chatting for the duration. Oh well. The temps which were in the upper 50's were were quite pleasant for early June. The horn sounded and we were off!

The Race

Mile 1: This was a dual 5k and 10k, so I started a little ways back. I'd forgotten that this mile had a gradual downhill for the first half mile, so I was running just slightly faster than plan. I felt okay to start, but once I sped up to pass a couple of runners, my lungs were feeling the effects of a cough I'd had all week. There was a skinny teenager just out in front of me with a bouncy stride who seemed to be running strong and about my pace. I decided to keep him in my sights.  6:15/mile.

Start of the Run for the Animals from last year. I'm in the neon hat and shirt.
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Mile 2: I felt like I was pushing things a little too much early on, but had faith that I was at around the right pace. I could feel the congestion in my lungs which bugged me, but tried not to think about it too much. 6:19/mile.

Mile 3: The masses soon parted ways as half the 5k runners headed for the 5k finish line and I continued on the 10k course. 6:17/mile.

Mile 4: Still followed behind the teenager guy. I leaped frogged him, but then he passed me soon thereafter. 6:14/mile.

Mile 5: The second half of the 10k course is cool because it contains a mile or so loop around a nice little lake. I closed the gap between the teen to about two yards. We ran by three of his friends and they were cheering him on and warned him that "there is a guy literally on your heels!". I made the "shhh" sign at them by tapping my index finger to my mouth! 6:15/mile.

Mile 6: For the final full mile the course heads on a very gradual uphill, which helps to kill most momentum and really made me work when I didn't have the will or the energy to do so. The only thing that was keeping me motivated was to keep contact with the teenager just ahead of me. Suddenly, about a half mile from the finish I urgently had to go to the bathroom. This had never happened to me before during a race. There were no port-potties in the suburban neighborhood we were running through, so the only two options would be to knock on someone's front door and ask to use the bathroom, or "gut" it out to the finish line where I knew exactly where an indoor facility was. I was still behind the teenager and started to slow slightly, not knowing if running fast would give me the fast runs or not. The one thing I was certain of is that I didn't want a picture of my finish to become an Internet meme, so I decided if I couldn't reach the finish line before nature called, I would drop out of the race and drop in some bushes! 6:20/mile.

Mile 6.2: I decided that looking at the finish line in the distance would only remind my intestines of the fact that there were facilities just beyond it, so instead I just focused on the teenager's shoes turning over in front of me. I wanted to do a big kick at this point, but only did a small one as I didn't want to tempt fate. The teen accelerated as well and we flew stride for stride to the finish (according to the results, I beat him by a second, but I don't remember as my mind was focused on more urgent matters)!  I held up five fingers with one hand and made a "zero" with my other hand, thinking there might be a finish line photographer somewhere! 5:37/mile.

Finish line from 2016!

Race Summary: 

• Official Time: 38:58 (only 10 seconds slower overall than last year)
• Official pace: 6:17/mile
• Overall Place: 16th out of 484
• Age Place: 2nd out of 25 (first 2nd place CARA finish ever - thanks to my new AG!)
• Fourth fastest 10k ever (out of 25 races)

Post-Race:

I was completely "wiped" out but kept running past the finish line. I kept running a block and a half right until I got into the indoor facilities. Unfortunately, the indoor facilities were all occupied so I quickly made another dash to a bank of port-potties, praying that at least one was available. There was - and disaster was narrowly avoided!

Anyway, after that was done (whew), I went over to the 5k finish line to meet my sister and nephew. He ran a PR (naturally) and my dad finished 1st in his AG in the 5k. He also found out the joys of chip time vs. gun time when we looked up his results. His official time was a minute faster than he had read on the finish line clock because he had started so far back. Score!

We went over to the kids' race to watch my niece compete in the half miler. After her fast finish and getting her raccoon medal, we all headed over to breakfast at a nearby diner.

Running Family!

Race Takeaway:

Here were my splits:

6:15, 6:19, 6:17, 6:14, 6:15, 6:20

My fastest mile was 6:14 and slowest was 6:20. For some reason my paces have really flattened out lately. Maybe I'm getting a better feel for things now that I'm older? Take a look at my splits from five years ago and see how much I've improved since then:

6:23, 6:18, 6:28, 6:36, 6:45, 6:56

Anyway, my effort in this year's race was about as fast as can be expected, given my persistent cough and the inability to let loose and run a fast last mile due to the "unforeseen circumstances" during mile six! Also, it was the first time I finished 2nd in my age group in a CARA race which is pretty cool. I think I would have finished 7th in my old age group had the race been held a day earlier!

Next up:

RnR Half? 

Ravenswood Run 2018 Race Recap

After the Shamrock Shuffle I took 21 days straight off from running and lifting. About my only physical fitness was twice daily dog walks and twice weekly yoga. A lot went down in the last month and I suddenly found myself with unlimited free time (hint), however instead of ramping up the mileage and doing more intense training, I decided to use this extra time to sleep more and focus on my diet. I am now able to take daytime naps, which has helped tremendously, and I'm starting to feel normal again. As for my diet, I completely eliminated post-dinner desserts which basically was the only time of the day I would eat sugary things. I did lose a few pounds pretty rapidly - probably just water weight, but the carbs/sugars were making me waterlogged just so I could enjoy a few savory cookies a day. I finally feel rested, healthy, and I got to my racing weight without even running!

Not lugging around excess pounds, more rested and a race looming on the horizon, I decided that it was time to ease back into training last weekend. So, I did three four milers Monday Tuesday and Wednesday, which were rough, but I felt that I had retained at least some of my post-Shuffle fitness. I lifted three times and quickly felt stronger.

By the end of my comeback week it was already time for my annual neighborhood race, the Ravenswood Run 5k. How would I fare? I only had a slight hunch. In any case, I decided just to run by feel (no pace goals, no GPS) and see what happened. I ran it in 18:16 last year, but this year I guessed I was in 19:50 to 20:10 shape since I had hardly run in April.

Pre-Race:
I woke up at 6:15 a.m. for a one mile shakeout run around Welles Park. It was about 38 degrees, but I wore shorts and a long sleeve shirt just to test out how I would fare in the chilly temps. I felt like I could handle the things if I only wore shorts and singlet since the wind was minimal, so once I got back home I changed into my race gear, pinned my bib on, walked the doggies and then left for the race with my dad and brother at 7:35 for the 8:00 start. All three of us ran/walked over to the start line. By the time we got there there was about 10 minutes remaining until race start. My brother was spectating and my dad and I made our way over to the corrals. The "A" corral entrance was blocked by runners just standing there so I went around to in front of the start line ducked under the fence, then made my way back to the middle of the corral.

Anyway, the national anthem was sung, a prayer was said, and we were off!

The Race:

Mile 1: Since this was a CARA Circuit race, and there were tons of speedier runners present, I started about 10 rows back. Once the gun sounded, just past the start line, I saw a kid had tripped and fallen on his face and I swerved to avoid him, I yelled back at the crowd to watch out and a woman behind me stopped and swooped him up. Maybe the corrals should be more strictly enforced for the safety of the kids. Every kid wants to start the race right up in front, but it's a recipe for disaster if they fall. Anyway, I was running by feel, and I felt astonishingly good, but I was not sure how much residual endurance I had left, so I held back a little. I still passed about 30 runners in this mile. 6:08/mile.

Mile 2: It was odd not to be periodically glancing at my watch to better modulate my pace, but I guess having run a few dozen 5ks in my lifetime must have ingrained the feeling in my lungs and legs of my maximum 5k pace. At the start of mile two I felt like I could finish at the same pace I was at even though I had approximately over two miles to go. I spotted a guy with grey hair who was about 10 yards ahead and running strong. So, I made it my goal to stick with him and then pass him near the finish. We were mostly running into the wind the second mile, which is why I had the three second slowdown from mile 1. 6:11/mile.

Mile 3: Right after passing the two mile marker, we ran into the quaint shopping area of Lincoln Square and I said my goodbye to the now shuttered Chicago Brauhaus. I kept my head down, just focusing on the guy-I-was-gonna-leap-frog's legs turnover. We made the turn onto Damen and ran under the Damen Brown Line stop. 6:07/mile.

Hamming it up under the Damen Brown Line stop (src)

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Mile 3.13: I kept thinking about making my move to pass the guy I had been trailing, when suddenly a young guy sped by both of us. I noticed the guy in front of me didn't make a move, so sensing he was redlining, I floored it. In fact, I ran so fast I even sped by the young guy and ran solo to the finish line.

Finish line (src)

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I came in with hands held high and I was finished!. 5:24/mile.

Stats:

Official Finish Time: 19:06

Official Pace: 6:09/mile

Garmin Pace: 6:07/mile

Place Overall: 63rd out of 2,306

Place Age Group: 8th out of 155

Analysis:

AG was tough since this was a CARA circuit run, combined with the fact I was probably the oldest guy in my AG, so 8th isn't that bad. This was my first 5k over 19 minutes in a long time, but I ran to my fitness - so that's the best I could hope for. Since I actually would have been happy with a 19:59, I was smiling pretty large at the end. My splits were 6:08, 6:11 and 6:07, so basically completely even despite the fact that I was running without looking at a device for feedback!

So, taking the three week run/strength break didn't really hurt me too much running-wise. Maybe the weight loss made up for some of the fitness loss? 

Post Race:

I ran backwards through the course (using the sidewalk) and tried to find my dad, but missed him in the masses, so I ran back to meet up with him and my brother at the finish area. We then walked home.

I'm not going to race for another month, but in the interim, I hope to continue to ramp up the mileage and continue workouts. I will be at the very least tied for the youngest person in my new age group next month at the Run For the Animals. The Ravenswood Run was probably my last race in my old AG.

Next Up:
Run For the Animals in June! New AG!!