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

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    

I just finished the Brooksie Way half marathon this morning. Despite feeling ill at the start of the race (stomach issues again) I had a great run. The stomach pain subsided and I was able to finish in 1:37:15 for a 7:26 pace. I am very happy with the time. This was actually only my 2nd half marathon race and my last one was around the 1:50 mark so I had a pretty substancial PR. I’m still deciding on whether or not to do the full Grand Rapids marathon in two weeks. Stay tuned for a decision on that and a full race report with pictures from the lovely Jennifer.

Pre Race

This morning started at a more reasonable time than most of the races I have done this year.  Because Reeds Lake is so close, I was able to sleep until 6:00 before heading up to the lake.  I had packed everything up last night, so it was a quick ride.

I was surprised at how many people were already getting setup and ended up not getting the end spot on my rack.  After setting up, I walked around a bit and relaxed while I waited for Jennifer to arrive.  She biked up around 7:00.  I was in the first swim wave at 7:30 after the charity groups started.

All set up and stretching out before heading over to the water.

This duck was very unhappy (verbally so) that she had to share the lake with all the swimmers.

Swim

Wow.  I don’t know what else to say.  My swim was absolutely amazing.  It was my first swim in my new wetsuit, and it made a huge difference.  As soon as I got in the water, I knew it would be fast.  I was so buoyant that my back almost stayed dry the entire way.

And we’re off!

The course was a U-shaped half mile in the 72 degree Reeds Lake.  The beginning of the swim was a little more physical than some of my races have been.  I think this was due to a lot of first-timers who got wrapped up in the excitement and started further ahead than they should have.

I swam nice and straight towards the first buoy and made the turn close enough that I could reach out and touch it.  Likewise, I managed to stay tight to the buoy line on the back stretch.  I even was able to draft for a bit, but I never found someone that I could draft off of for an extended period of time.  However, for some reason, just like Ludington, I wasn’t able to swim in a straight line if my life depended on it during the final stretch.

Trying not to slip on the algae-covered boat launch and starting to peel off my swim cap and wetuit

Nevertheless, I was back to dry land (albeit slippery, algae-covered dry land) in no time.  My swim time was 11:37 (1:27 / 100 yd).  This was a 6:20 improvement over last year.  I’m sure most of this can be attributed to the new wetsuit, but I am sure that my increased swim workouts helped a bit as well.

T1

I’m too sexy for this… wet suit???

When I got back to the bike rack for T1, I was the first one from my rack out of the water.  This has never happened to me before.  Usually, half the bikes are gone already and mine is easy to find because it is the only one left.  I pulled on my shoes (sans socks), clipped on my number, grabbed my bike and helmet and was off.  Surprisingly, removing the new wetsuit was far less difficult than I thought it would be; it slipped off very easily.

Bike

  
Headed out on the bike.  Unfortunately, the bike mount and dismount areas were very loosely defined today and not marked at all.

As I headed out on the bike, I was starting to regret not putting on socks.  It wasn’t quite 8:00 and the sun was still rising, so it was still a bit chilly out.  Last year, I went sans socks and my feet went numb on the bike ride.  I thought today was going to be warmer than last year though.  Thankfully, my feel warmed up, and I was glad I didn’t take the time to put on socks (for now).  I was pushing as hard as I could for the entire bike.  Every time I started to feel pain and back off, I told myself that it was only a 17 mile course and to HTFU.

I did some passing on the bike, but was passed by more people than I passed.  That is the one frustrating thing about being the first swim wave – there aren’t any groups ahead of you to try and catch.  The first half of the bike course is mainly downhill with a few uphills that are easy to climb because you gain so much speed on the preceding downhill.

The second half of the bike course is the harder half.  All of those downhills are now uphills.  Despite my legs feeling tired, I charged up the hills as hard as I could.  On the biggest hill, I even managed to catch a few riders and leave them behind me after reaching the top.  I checked my speed a few times on the way uphill and the lowest I saw my speed go was 14mph, which is better than last year when I dropped to 10mph.

After reaching the top of the hill, I knew the worst was behind me and it was only 5 miles to go before the run.  I really picked up a lot of speed on the final portion and was cruising at 24mph+ for the last couple of miles.

On the home stretch

In the end, I pulled off a 21mph average – my fastest race pace yet.  My time was 6:14 faster than last year, so again, nothing to complain about here.

T2

T2 this year was slower than last year for some reason.  I can’t figure out why.  I have been doing so much less in the transition area as I get more races under my belt and focus on just getting in and out.  Today, it was just bike shoes off and run shoes on and leave the bike behind.

Run

As I was running, I really didn’t think the run would be as fast as it was.  It took the first two miles to get my legs back and I figured that I was doing 8:00 min miles at that point.  However, I must have been going much faster than I thought.  After I settled in to the run, I started to catch a few people.  I got passed by a handful of people during the first two miles, but was able to catch a few of them.

After about 3 miles, I was starting to regret going sans socks.  The tongues of my shoes were starting to rub on the tops of my feet, and it was quite uncomfortable.  I think that some Body Glide (which I keep forgetting to pick up) would solve this problem in the future.  Despite the chafing, I pushed ahead as much as I could knowing that there was less than 2 miles to go.

I finished the run 3:58 faster than last year with a time of 34:35.  I pulled out an amazing 7:03 /mi pace, which completely shocked me.  I barely manage a 7 minute pace during a 5k, let alone over 4.9 miles.

Overall

Overall, I couldn’t be happier with how I did.  A nearly 18 minute PR works for me any day.  Plus, I finished in the top 100 (out of 914), which is probably one of my best overall finishes.  On top of the overall finish, I moved from 42nd to 14th in my age group.  Getting closer to that podium stand, although I still have a ways to go.  I would have had to go 1:31:20 to get a podium stand in my age group, and at this point, I can’t imagine doing this course any faster.  Still, you won’t hear me complaining.  This was a great way to end my 2009 triathlon season.

With the lovely Jennifer and celebrating my great race!

Other Notes

On another note, one my co-workers made his triathlon debut today.  DB had a great race finishing in 1:45:02, which is an amazing time for a first-timer.

Great finish!

Final Results