Today wasn’t a particularly bad day by any means.  But, for some reason, I was feeling very pet-peevey on my run today.  Maybe it was just because I was busy at work and had a lot of pent up stress.  So, I thought I would share some of my pet peeves of the day.

#1 Dogs Walking Their Owners

I am a dog person.  I have nothing against dogs.  I like dogs.  But it bugs the hell out of me when someone is out letting their dog walk them. The dog is walking wherever they want and the owner has no control over them.  I’m more afraid of the leash than the dog.  All it takes is the owner not paying attention and the dog to switch sides of the sidewalk and you have yourself a readymade trip hazard.  Today, my favorite was a woman standing in the middle of the sidewalk while her two English bulldogs were each standing on opposite sides of the sidewalk inspecting the bushes.  The only way around her (without trudging through the mud) was to jump in the street.  Ugh.

#2 Large Groups of Teenage Girls

Ever notice the smell when running past a group of teenage girls?  It is worse than walking past The Body Shop.  I think I would rather run behind a car puffing out exhaust fumes.  Yuck!

#3 Unnecessary Bike Paths

The lake that I run around (Reeds Lake) is in the process of adding a bike path around a portion of it.  To do this, they are tearing out a couple hundred trees and relocating wetlands.  It is totally unnecessary.  The entire road around the lake is a 25 mph residential road with wide shoulders on both sides of the road.  Not only that, but it is very lightly traveled.  On my run today, I only saw 5 cars during the 5+ miles I was on Reeds Lake Blvd.  During the portion of the run that was alongside where the bike path is going, I didn’t see a single car.  Another problem with the bike path is that they don’t plow the path in the winter.  So, as soon as we get snow again, everyone ends up walking on the shoulder any ways.

Ok, I am done ranting now.  I will get off my soapbox.

On a positive note, I set a new best time for my 8 mile course.  1:00:36 for 8.04 miles.  I am getting closer and closer to getting under the 1 hour mark.  My fastest previous time for the course was 1:00:50 back in November.  So, despite my pet peeves, I had a pretty good run.

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

Day Before

On Saturday, we headed across the state for our stay with Jennifer’s family.  We hit up the expo on the way and then grabbed lunch at Red Knapp’s in Rochester Hills.  It is a fun old fashioned diner (think black and white checkerboard tiles, red vinyl stools) that has fabulous burgers, fries, and milkshakes.  It was a late lunch, so we were starving and the food disappeared rather quickly.

After lunch, it was time for some Saturday college football.  I was able to catch the tail end of the UofM – MSU game.  MSU somehow pulled out an upset in the final minutes which led to some colorful language.  After that, it was time for the big game of the day; Notre Dame of course.  I was able to watch the first half live before we headed out for B’s soccer game.  Thankfully, I was able to watch most of the 2nd half on my trusty iPhone.  As with their past 3 games, it came down to the wire with ND pulling ahead in the first OT.  YAY!

After the soccer game, we headed to Buddy’s Pizza (one of the top 5 pizza places by the Food Network in 2003).  I probably shouldn’t have had the third helping of antipasto salad.  Or that 4 slice of pizza.  But I did.  And I was stuffed.  Possibly not the best pre-race food, but I never turn down pizza of any kind.

Pre Race

We woke up at 6:00 AM and we were out the door by 6:30 AM.  It is much less stressful to do a running race than a triathlon.  No transition area to setup and a lot less gear.  Despite less stress, my stomach was bothering me from the moment I got up.  Let’s just say that between waking up and the race start, I visited 4 different bathrooms.

Traffic was a little backed up when we arrived at Oakland University, but we got there at about 7:00 AM, so we weren’t in a big hurry.  They had plenty of parking on a grassy field, but this led to walking through the wet grass and getting soggy feet before the race even started.

Weather

The weather was a typical fall Michigan day.  Temperatures were in the mid 50’s and it was overcast.  We had a bit of rain on the car ride, but we didn’t get any rain during the race.  It remained fairly cool the entire race, but there really wasn’t any wind or anything so once I got moving, it was comfortable.

 Trying to stay warm before the race start.

Miles 1-5

I was really worried at the start of the race that I would have stomach issues and have to walk.  So, I decided to just go out fairly easy and play it by ear.  As soon as the race started, I immediately started to feel better.  My stomach still felt a little funny, but not to the point where I felt like I needed to find a bathroom.

About a half mile in and already starting to find a groove.

A “video” of the photos Jennifer took of my as I approached the half mile mark.

Within the first mile, I settled in to a decent pace.  I found a couple running together who were holding a consistent pace and I fell in behind them.  I had hoped to avoid looking at my splits during the race, but it seemed like every time I passed a mile mark, I would hear someone around me calling off their splits.  Thankfully, the times I was hearing were in the 7:30’s/7:40’s which is ahead of what I was shooting for.

I skipped the first aid station and then started grabbing water or Gatorade at every other station.  I probably didn’t get as much water as I should have because I had a headache after the finish, but I was worried about too much fluid upsetting my stomach.

Miles 6-10

Miles 6 to 10 were tough.  It was almost completely uphill.  Long, steady hills.  I was still feeling good, so I pushed forward and paced up the group I had been pacing off of.  These miles were obviously my slowest miles pace-wise, but I feel like I gained a lot of ground and passed quite a few runners during this time.  I ran with a couple of different groups over the 4 miles but didn’t want to settle in with anyone for too long.

Miles 11-Finish

I was feeling absolutely amazing at this point.  The majority of the hills were behind me.  There were a couple of small inclines, but it was mostly downhill.  I ran miles 11 and 12 with a guy from the area.  He helped me push a 7:12 pace for the two miles.  Once I hit mile 12, I took off for the last mile.  I gave it my all and knocked out a 6:48 13th mile; my fastest mile!  Overall time: 1:37:33 for a 13 minute PR!  I couldn’t be happier.

Despite how this picture looks, I really was sprinting (and not prancing) towards the finish.

Post Race Thoughts

I really feel like I ran a great race.  I managed a 2:47 negative split despite the 2nd half of the course being hillier than the first half.  I am almost wondering if I should have gone out a bit faster, but I am glad I took it easy in case I had stomach problems.

I realized that I forgot my race number belt on race morning.  I love the number belt and having the number pinned to my shirt just felt weird at first.  I’ll have to make sure it gets on the packing list for next time.

Course Review

Overall, this was a great course; even with the hills.  The hills definitely made it a challenge, but there was just as much downhill as there was uphill.  The course include both roads and dirt trails.  The dirt trails were firmly packed and well groomed.  I actually felt faster on the dirt than on the road which usually isn’t the case.  The course was well patrolled and closed to all traffic.  They had plenty of aid stations (roughly every mile or so) and some on-course entertainment.

Goodies & Expo

We hit the expo up on Saturday.  We didn’t spend much time there, all I really wanted to do was pick up my packet.  Unfortunately, the expo was set up like the line to a bank teller, and the only way to get to packet pickup was to weave our way through the crowded aisles.  I am sure this was on purpose so that the vendors got lots of traffic, but I just wanted to get in and out.

The goodies themselves were well worth it.  This race actually paid for itself with the coupons in the packet.  There was a coupon to the Hansons Running store for $25 off a new pair of Brooks shoes plus free Brooks HVAC gloves ($36 MSRP).  I was in need of a new pair of my Brooks DYADs anyway.  Goodies also include a great Brooks tech shirt and a cool  finisher’s medal.

As for post race refreshments, they could have better managed the food to ensure that enough was left for the half marathoners.  There was a 5k run prior to the half marathon, and Jennifer saw lots of runners walking off with boxes of donuts, bunches of bananas, and handfuls of vitamin water bottles.  By the time the half marathoners started to finish, they had been cleaned out – very unfortunately.

Other Notables

The men’s winner was former Olympian Brian Sell with a time of 1:06:27.  Brian is part of the Hansons Brooks Distance Project which is located in Rochester Hills, MI and aims to train runners to get the US competitive in the Olympics and International races.

There was also this guy (below) who dribbled 3 basketballs the entire course.  He ended up finishing in about 2:15.  Not sure what possesses someone to do this, but more power to him I guess.  Not everyone can say they have run a half marathon and even fewer can say they did it while dribbling 3 basketballs.

Final Results