This morning, I did a last minute 5k.  I’ve done it the past few years, and it has a history of being brutally cold; only 4F last year.  Thankfully, we are in the middle of a winter thaw with temperatures creeping into the upper 30’s.  I didn’t decide to do the run until yesterday when I talked to my friend Carrie and confirmed that she and her dad would be running as well.

Portland is about an hour away, but the race didn’t start until 10:00, so it wasn’t a super early morning.  Nevertheless, I let Jennie sleep in because she has to get up early every day during the week and it wasn’t worth missing a sleep in day for a 5k.

We got to Portland High School at about 9:00 so I could register and make sure I got a t-shirt.  Last year, they ran out of shirts and just handed out shirts from the previous year.  Apparently they got complaints over that last year, so anyone who late registered didn’t get a shirt on race day and will instead have one mailed.  Whatever works, I guess.

I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to do because my right calf hurts like hell after cramping up on me yesterday at the pool.  It actually hurts more when I am walking than running, so I decided to push it as much as I could.

I went out fairly strong with a first mile of 6:13.  There are a lot of high school students who run this race, and they set a fairly quick pace right off the gun.  The second mile was my slowest mile; mainly because of the hills.  There are two hills that suck the life out of you.  I slowed down to 6:53 for this mile; crap.  I knew I would have to push hard to make it under 20 minutes.  As I turned back for the final mile, I was headed right back into the wind.  Not looking good.

Despite pushing out a 6:37 3rd mile and a 31 second .1 mile, I fell 15 seconds short of breaking 20 minutes.  Craptastic.  But it actually gives me a legitimate 5k PR (unlike the Turkey Trot), so I am happy with it.

After finishing, I grabbed my camera to snap some pictures of Carrie and her dad.

 
Dave crossed the finish line before I could grab my camera.

 
Carrie ended up finishing in just under 30 minutes – 29:58. 

Not bad for just giving birth to this bundle of joy 3 months ago.

After the race, Carrie forced politely asked for us to take a couple pictures of us all wearing shirts for 3C’s Fitness (a fitness center in Lake Odessa).

  
Because the name of the fitness center was on the back on my shirt, we had to do one with my better back side showing.

Post Race

Post race is the reason to do this race.  They have great food afterwards; better than a lot of the bigger races I have done.

I started off with a cup of homemade vegetarian chili, oranges, Great Harvest Bread Company’s Whole Grain Low Carb bread, powdered donut (which I ended up saving for Jennie), and a sour cream donut (that I didn’t save for Jennie)

After scarfing that down, I had to head back for more chili.

Well, whatever calories I burned during the run were quickly replenished.

Final Results

I ended up finishing in 20:15, which put me at 6 of 9 in my age group and 38th overall (out of 300-ish).  Last year, I ran slower (21:42) but placed 1st in my age group and 22nd overall.  I guess that is what happens when the weather is a bit warmer – more competition.

Overall, I am happy with my PR, and it leaves me confident that I WILL get under 20 minutes this year when I am 100% and have a bit more speed work under my belt.

Rest of the Weekend

Because of the race, I missed my long run of the week, albeit only a 6 mile run this week.  Probably all for the better as I want my calf to fully heal before I start another hard week of training.  I can’t believe I have to run 20 miles one day next week!!! I may do some easy spinning tomorrow, as the stretching tends to help my calf and that way there isn’t any impact.

Race Morning

I started the morning by running up to the start of the race at Calvin College.  It is a little over 2 miles away, so I figured that I could just turn it into a long run.  When I got to Calvin, I had to get my number and shirt.  It was a zoo there to say the least. There was no pre-race day pickup, so all 800+ runners were getting their stuff.  After getting my shirt and number, I realized that I didn’t have anything to do with my shirt while I ran so I ended up tucking it on a shelf to pick up later.  Thankfully, no one helped themselves to it while I ran.

Because of the long line of people getting their numbers, the race start was delayed a few minutes so that everyone could get lined up.  I lined up pretty close to the front of the pack and talked to a couple of the people around and figured that I was in the right place because we were all hoping to finish around the same time.

Mile 1

I felt awesome for the first mile.  I passed a few people right out of the gate.  Mainly people (including some kids who couldn’t have been older than 10) who lined up WAY ahead of their ability. Before I knew it, there was a guy calling out mile splits.  I passed the first mile at 6:28.  I was very happy to hear that.

Mile 2

The second mile was a bit tougher because it had a couple of uphills.  I felt like I was slowing down, but I kept passing people so I figured I was doing alright.  After the first mile, I was hoping to hit the second mile around 13 minutes. I heard my time called at under 13 minutes and figured that I was going to PR for sure.

Mile 3

At the end of mile 2, I got passed by KP – the #1 girl from my high school XC team.  I did my best to keep up with her and traded places with her a couple times on the last mile, but she out kicked me in the final stretch.  I was feeling a bit better on this mile.  I think this was more so due to the fact that I knew the race was almost over than anything.  It was also the flattest stretch of the course.

Finish

I finished in 19 minutes flat.  My current PR for the 5k was 20:35.  So a 1:35 PR right??? Not quite, unfortunately. After the race, I looked down at my watch and found that the course was short – only 2.93 miles.  It is pretty ridiculous that the course was short because the last stretch was an out and back that they could have easily lengthened or shortened as needed.  After looking at my splits and knowing how I finished, I know that I still would have had a PR if it had been the full 3.1 miles.  Whether or not I would have gotten under 20 minutes though would have been close.

So, for the time being, I am leaving my 5k PR at 20:35.  I’d rather break it officially than on a short course.  Besides, it would take me forever to re-break a 19:00 PR in a full 5k.

After the race, I jogged back home to round out the morning with 7+ miles of exercise.  Then it was off to the in-laws for Thanksgiving.

Overall

Overall, it was a great race. Fairly well organized (except for no pre-race packet pickup).  The fact that the race is so close to home just makes it all the better.  Also, because of the smallish size to the race, it wasn’t too crowded and spread out fairly quickly. I also saw lots of familiar faces; some from high school, others from previous races.

Final Results

*Pace is from the official results page, which must be based on a full 5k course

Details later when I have more time, but I just finished the Turkey Trot 5k with a time right around 19 minutes.  I was 19:00 on my watch, but there was no timing mat at the start so I will probably be 19:05 or so officially.  Even at 19:05, it would be a 1:30 PR!!! It is a bittersweet PR though because according to my watch the course was only 2.93 miles.  Maybe I will buy the race director a ruler for Christmas.

Stay tuned for a full report.  In the meantime enjoy your turkey and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I am finally back home and have a chance to sit down and do a full race report from the marathon last weekend.  Enjoy!

Pre Race

I love me a local race.  No hotel to worry about.  No getting up extremely early.  No parking umpteen miles away from the race start.  And most importantly, no stress.

We got up around 6:00 and were out the door by 6:30.  Parking was a breeze.  We were about 100 yards from the start/finish line.  Can’t beat that.  It was pretty cold out though – in the low 30’s – so getting out of the car was less than pleasant.  We immediately headed into the YMCA where most of the runners were hanging out.  I found a spot where I could stretch, lay down, and take a quick nap.

 
Trying to stay warm

Ready to Go

As race time approached, I headed over to the starting line and found my position between the 3:29 Billy Baldwin Racers and the 3:44 Dubya Running Mates.  One of the cool things about this race is that rather than having regular 3:30, 3:45, 4:00, etc. pace groups, each pace group is based on a celebrity’s marathon finish time. So instead of shooting for a sub 4 hour marathon, you shoot for a Will Ferrel’s sub 4 (3:56).  We had the requisite National Anthem along with the national anthem of Canada.  Again, the race director gets clever.  He makes a wager that if he gets more registrations from Canada than he does from Indiana (which are essentially equidistant from Grand Rapids), he will play their anthem at the race start.  I guess Canada won.

The First Miles (1 – 10)

I felt great for the beginning of the race.  I really felt like I settled into a good pace.  I ran with different groups here and there while trying to keep an even pace.  Nothing really exciting happened, which I suppose is a good thing.  I really don’t want too many surprises in the first part of a long race.

Approaching the 11 mile mark.  Still feeling fairly good at this point.

The Second 10 (11 – 20)

The second 10 miles went fairly well also.  At about the 13 mile mark, I started to hurt a bit.  My left knee ached a bit, and I worried that I was relapsing to the knee problems I had 4 years ago.  Thankfully though, the pain wasn’t consistent and by adjusting my pace a bit, I was able to keep it in check.  I kept plugging along knowing that I was over half done and it was all downhill from there.  In my last marathon, the Sunburst Marathon in June, I hit the wall at the 18 mile mark.  I was determined to push further than that before walking this time.  I kept making deals with myself.  “Run until 18, then you can walk a bit.”   “Run until 19, then you can walk a bit.”  And then it was, “Run until 20, and THEN you can walk.”  I ended up making it through to the 20 mile mark without having to walk.

Can you see where the wall was?

The Final Stretch (21 – 26.2)

By the time I got to the 21 mile mark, I needed a break.  I was mentally and physically defeated at this point.  It was mentally the hardest part of the course, a short out and back that took us further away from the finish when there was an obvious shorter path to get to the finish.  I ended up walking for about a quarter mile before plugging along again.

My dad ended up catching up to me at the 22 mile mark on his bike.  He rode next to me from about 22 – 24 mile mark and then again from 25 – 26.  It really kept me going as much as I could when all I wanted to do was walk.  It was a huge help to get me to the finish line.

The Finish

I ended up finishing in 3:47:02 (8:40 pace), a PR of almost 2 minutes from my Sunburst time.  I ended up 39/80 in my age group and 497/1555 overall.  I really can’t complain about how it went.  With as little training as I did for the race, I did surprising well.  My longest run prior to the race was a 17 mile run about a month ago.  Other than that, I had been doing mainly 12 – 14 mile runs coupled with bike rides and swims.  Probably not the ideal training regimen, but with all the triathlons this summer, I didn’t have enough time to focus purely on running.

 
Mustering all my strength to have a strong finish.

Post Race

After the race, I grabbed some ice cream and snacks from the finisher’s food.  They had the traditional chili and New Holland beer at the finish, but my stomach was too upset to even think about enjoying it.  While it was warmer than the  start of the race, once I stopped moving I cooled off pretty quickly and wanted to get home and showered.

 
Relaxing and enjoying my ice cream.

Look at all this delicious beer… and to think, I wasn’t feeling up to enjoying it!

We stopped on the way home to buy a bag of ice for my post race ice bath.

Recovery

As uncomfortable as it was to jump on a plane hours after the race, having the work meetings allowed me to have an excuse to take a couple days off.  In the airport, waiting for my flight, I ran into three guys who had also run the race.  They were brothers from Philadelphia and New York and all three qualified for Boston (one by only 20 seconds).  We chatted about the race for a bit and they gave me some pointers on how to improve my training and bring my time down in the future.

Any ways, after two days of recovery, I was itching to get some exercise in.  So, despite a head cold I picked up in Connecticut, I went out for a short bike ride today.  It felt pretty good and actually helped clear out my stuffed up head a bit as well.  I think my legs are pretty much recovered, but I will still take it fairly easily the rest of the week to make sure they fully heal and to fight this darn cold.

Thanks for sticking around till the bitter end!  As always, stay tuned for more of my adventures.

Official Results

I finished the Grand Rapids Marathon this morning.  I am absolutely drained.  I felt pretty good for the first half and then started to go downhill.  My left hamstring and corresponding knee started to give me trouble at that point.  I managed to keep running through the 19 mile mark, but hit the wall there and had to walk for about a half mile.  My dad joined up with me at about the 21 mile mark on his bike and that kept me moving as much as I could.  I walked a little bit here and there, but ran most of it.

I look WAY better than I feel at this point, but finish line was in sight, so I had to smile.

Unofficially, my time was 3:45:34 – a slight PR over my Sunburst time.

Stay tuned for a full race report coming soon!