Just a Little Fun Vacation Race

From April...

The wife and I scheduled a little trip to Kentucky to see her family, so of course one of my first steps was to check the local race calendar to see what kind of race I can find on that weekend. It was still two weeks before Flying Pig unfortunately, but there were a couple of little races. One was a color run - no thank you! The other looked perfect. Small 5K fundraiser, very close by, 9AM Saturday start, $25. Sold!
I figured it would be small and I had a good shot at a medal. But when I checked the results from last year, I found there were only 68 finishers, and 21:00 would have placed 6th overall. So, REALLY small! AG categories were ten years, and they had medals, but only for first place in each AG. Just hoped no fast geezers showed up.
I of course alerted the local Loopvillian, Alisha, who has left the Loop but hangs out in Loopville sometimes. And she was excited to come by for a Loopmeet, and to do a little speed work before her Flying Pig race.
So DW and I got to the local high school on a cool morning, and found a good crowd of charitable folk who had come out to raise money for a local hospital hospice or something. Looked like lots of walkers and joggers. The course ran through a suburban neighborhood of nice homes and big lawns. Out and back, with some little rolling hills. Inclines really. No traffic control needed.

DW set up in front of a house down the street, and the homeowner came out and asked her if she needed a chair or a drink or anything. Real nice folks around here.
I warmed up about a mile and felt OK. The low-key atmosphere didn't have me feeling very competitive. I figured to just run hard and see what happened; A far cry from the commitment needed to push the pain meter to eleven and go for a PR. Whatever. This was more just a fun race.
As we neared race time, nobody was daring to go to the starting line. And I didn't want to be the first one. Finally some young guy moseyed in, and I followed. Then a couple others. Maybe ten people wanted to be near the line. The rest were just hanging back. I had only seen 2 or 3 people doing warmup runs of any kind.
So the starter said "Go!" and we started running. For the first 100 yards I was in front, running side by side with the young guy (he was 22), and a few others with us in a little pack going the same speed of maybe 6:45. It felt like a group run workout. Then a young girl (age 20), burst through and ran out ahead by ten yards, and another girl (16) followed her. The 22-year old guy followed too and they started to pull away from me and the others. This was the first 200 meters.
Here I am leading the 2nd pack after 1/4 mile or so. You can see Alisha a little behind me there.


So by 1/2 a mile I was alone in 4th. The other three were pulling away in a group, and I couldn't hear anyone behind me anymore. I was running at a good solid pace, but it felt hard enough. Didn't figure I could catch the younguns, so I settled in and just ran for a spell.
Mile1 6:50. It felt pretty hard, so I gave up on sub-20 and hoped to beat this year's PR of 20:45. But mile 2 was 7:07 and felt harder, so by the turn-around I didn't really care about time and was just running. The familiar pain was back. How do I forget this? Running 5Ks hurt. It takes strong will to keep going once that pain is on board. I needed motivation.
Luckily the return trip provided some. As I came around the U I realized there was a guy pretty close behind me, and several more not too far back. By the time I reached mile two I could hear the guy behind catching up to me. And that really helps the adrenaline kick up. I pushed a little harder and held him off. At the same time I noticed girl #2 had dropped off and was coming back to me. I reeled her in, and focused on the lead two. They were still close together, but they were coming back to me now too. Racing!
With 1/2 mile to go, they were maybe 100 yards ahead. I was red-lining, but, hey, it was the end of a 5K. So I dug down and found a little more speed. I was definitely moving up on them, but didn't think I had enough time. But maybe...


The last 1/4 was slightly downhill so I gave it my all. The girl was ahead, but I figured the guy would have a better kick and not get beat by a girl. And if I caught them, they would probably both have the youthful kicks to hold me off. Didn't really matter, as I ran out of road. The guy surged by the girl and won by two seconds, and I came in three seconds behind the girl.

Mile 3 was 6:53 and the last .13 was 5:43 pace. 21:32
You can see the winner on the left with his hands on his knees, and the girl on the right in blue. The guy was on his knees for five minutes. I think he was dry-heaving. I didn't even realize the guy behind me was so close.
I felt fine...

So now I wonder if I had pushed harder to stay with them at the beginning, would I have been able to win? Or would I have blown up from going out too fast? You never know. But my gut tells me I could have run faster. Oh well. Fuel for the next one (May 21st).
Alisha came in strong.



We hung around for our medals because we both won our AG.

Plus I got a $20 gift card for being 2nd male.

Fun times. The only way to travel.

Why Do I Run?

From March...

Hey. How's it going? It's been 3 weeks since the marathon, so I figured I'd better throw an update up here to let you know I'm still here. Still running. Had a little time to get philosophical, so I'd figure it's something to talk about.

So in these three weeks, the goal was really just to recover and get back to normal. They say it takes 3-4 weeks to recover from a marathon, so I certainly didn't want to push myself too hard and get hurt or anything. Hell, I was still over the moon about getting a surprise BQ, so now I planned to not run another marathon until next April. So nothing to really train for.

But it turns out I just like to get out there. I noticed 6 of my 8 runs in those three weeks were with one of my running groups. So I guess I just like to meet up with other runners and do our thing. And maybe accept a few congrats for my race...

Week one I had the usual post-marathon soreness. It peaked after 2-3 days and was mostly gone by Saturday. So I decided to join the Mountain Goats for a Saturday run. Of course, the goats don't do easy runs. It was the usual ridiculous hill climb. I guess I could have cut it short, but, no, I did the full 11.7 miles. Felt Ok the first 4 miles. Then the quads reminded me that we just ran a marathon. Unfortunately I had a long way to go, mostly on steep downhills at that point. It hurt. A lot. Stupid.

But the trails are so much fun anyway. So beautiful up there away from the city. I never regret the 40 minute drive each way and getting out of bed at 6 on a Saturday, because these runs just make me feel alive and happy and grateful to live in such a place.

Monday of week two I was more conservative and just did a little 4 miler to shake out the soreness. Legs still heavy. Wednesday however I wanted to join the track group. I had a 5K in 3 more weeks, so I might as well do a little speed work, right? I told myself to take it easy and when the legs got heavy and tired after 5 400s (1:40, 1:35, 1:29, 1:29, 1:29) I shut it down. Good boy.

Saturday I joined the goats again. The legs were feeling much better this time, and I ran a challenging 10.5 miles with a group of 3 guys. We do different trails every week, so it never gets old. It was fun to run with the group, fun to push it up ridiculous hills, fun to absorb the fantastic views.

Week 3 had me meeting up with my Tuesday running store group. I cruised 7 miles and felt like I was back to my old self, pushing it down to 7:30 pace for the last few miles. Then I came back Wednesday to the track aiming for a full workout.

After the usual warmups and accelerations, we did 2x1200, with the goal of 10K pace first lap, 5K pace 2nd lap, and Mile pace 3rd lap. I hit the times perfectly and felt strong (1:45, 1:37, 1:30 per lap). Then we did 3x400 at Mile pace and I hit 1:25 every time. Then he had us do another 1200 same way, and I was still hitting it at 4:52.

Finally he asked for a fast 800, and my legs told me to bail after the first 150. too much. Didn't want to push my luck. Still, happy with a solid workout. I just love running fast, competing with others, and hitting goal times feeling strong. Looking forward to one more track workout next week before the 5K.

Took two days off and then joined the goats again for 12 miles of fun over ridiculous hills and some awesome single track. Again, the same feelings...This is why I run. Beauty, nature, feelings of strength and confidence, endorphins, camaraderie...pretty damn blissful.

Today, Sunday I went out locally for 7 on a very blustery day. Enjoyed my wood chip trail and then hit the beach. This time I went down into the sand and ran along the coastline for over 2 miles, where the wind was whipping up whitecaps and the waves were huge. Didn't care about pace, just enjoying nature on a sunny day.

Damn, life is good.

LA Marathon Race Report: Loopfest Magic for the Win

Loopfests are full of joy and fun and positivity, and sometimes that translates into what has become known as Loopfest Magic. That's when loop love carries you to an unexpected peak performance. Well, I was looking for a good dose of it in LA after my training plan went off the rails.
To recap, everything was looking good six weeks before the race. I finished my first 20 at faster than goal race pace, and was planning 4 more solid weeks of peak mileage. Then I strained my calf the next week and had to shut it down - logging only 19 total miles over the next 4 weeks, including re-injuring it while trying to recover. But with a week to go it seemed to be healed. I managed five runs of 4 to 7 miles in the last ten days, so I was ready to test it. I was just worried that it would flare up again at some point since I hadn't gone more than 7 in over 5 weeks.
Then the weather forecast was for record heat. Highs near 90 and race temps in the 60s and 70s. So my race goal was really just to have fun, run with some loopsters, treat it as a long run and hope that the calf held up so I could jog/walk to the finish after the inevitable bonk in the heat. I carried my phone in case I needed to call DW for a ride. I was hopeful about finishing, but I wasn't considering time goals. I figured the BQ I was planning to run before injury would not be possible. If the downtime didn't get me, the heat certainly would. I ran this race last year in the same heat and bonked spectacularly with better training, so I expected a repeat of that - best case. I would be happy with sub-4.
On the other hand, last year there were no Loopsters around. This year was a fabulous Loopfest!
It was fun traveling on the shuttle to Dodger stadium in a big group, and then hanging out at the stadium. Plenty of time, no stress, not too cold while sitting around. I headed to corral B with DeuceDeuce, Mild Sauce and Mr. Bacon, who would be running with his coach, loopster Ghrrfy. It was great to finally meet her after "knowing" her online for 6 years.
 
Sauce and I would start together, but she was out to run fast, and I immediately was going a little quicker than I wanted to keep up. I tried to slow her down to no effect. She just yelled at me to keep up with her. It was downhill and easy, but when I saw the pace was 7:11 in mile 2 I let her go and tried to relax. But the die was cast. Once I get moving it is hard to slow down. And it felt pretty easy. Mile 1 was 7:46 getting out of the stadium (course record!) and the huge downhill mile 2 stayed at 7:11 despite letting Sauce go. Miles 3 and 4 were flatter and I was just fun running, but the pace was 7:34 and 7:30. Oh boy. I know how this is going to end...


Miles 5 and 6 had big hills. I tried to relax and get over them without any extra effort. Mission accomplished with 8:07 and 8:00 splits. Now we were into the easy part of the course, where I normally bank a lot of time. The calf felt fine. Everything felt good. It wasn't hot yet, still lots of shade. Then the 3:25 group came up on me from behind.
Holy crap, what am I doing still ahead of this group? Last year I ran with the 3:30 group in this section. I decided to roll with them for a while, mainly to control myself from going even faster. Same thing this year - different group. Plus there were two of my teammates from track club in the group, so we ran together for a while. I was having fun and it didn't feel like work. By mile 9 I had slipped ahead of the group at a water station and somehow pulled ahead. Just can't help it. 7:38, 7:43, 7:51 through 9.
My dear wife and QCs DH were at mile 10. Originally I thought I might drop here. Instead I was flying by, way ahead of schedule! I gave the thumbs up, and then shrugged my shoulders to say "I don't know what's happening or how long it will last but it's all good for now!"
 
I cruised down Hollywood Boulevard and on to Sunset feeling great. 7:37, 7:32, 7:27, 7:44, 7:40 through 14. The crowds were great. The weather wasn't a problem. I was dumping water on my head every mile and drinking a lot. It was a beautiful, sunny, southern California day, and I was having fun!

Mile 15 was a huge downhill and I logged a 7:16. Then to my surprise I saw Mr. Bacon up ahead. I soon caught him and we ran together for a few minutes before he had to back off. What the hell? I had no business catching him. I was still ahead of the 3:25 group. What the hell was I doing? But it was still just long run pace - I wasn't pushing at all. My quads were starting to get sore though. I could tell the pain was coming.
16-18 through Beverly Hills is usually when it starts to hurt. This is my 5th time on this course and I think this is the best I felt through here. 7:30, 7:47, 7:47 The quad pain was getting worse, but the pace was holding up. It seemed like there was more shade than I remember. I guess the early start time, and moving the date to February helped for that. Crowd support was great here, especially the 20 groups of cheerleaders that always boost my adrenaline.
I was calculating times and how far under 8:00 pace I was, and after 15 I started to think I could BQ. (My BQ-3 goal was 3:37) I had over 3 minutes in the 3:30 bank, plus another 7 to fall back on. Still expected major bonking, but if I could keep it under 10:00 at the end it looked like I could somehow pull this off! I was kind of in shock, but just taking it a mile at a time. I was at under 3:25 pace and had no illusions about keeping that up, but felt pretty good about my BQ chances!
Each mile I would check my bank time vs 8 minute pace and recalculate what pace I would need for the remaining miles. And as I kept clicking sub8s the odds kept getting better. Mile 19 was 7:46. More bank. Mile 20 was 7:59 and I hit 20 at 2:35. Five minutes in the bank. Maybe I could even stay under 3:30!
But the fatigue was finally hitting.  I was reaching the wall. During mile 20 the breathing got heavier. The quads were really sore. Now it was work. I figured, well, I am in it to win it now. Time to earn that BQ. Mile 21 is all steady uphill, and I felt like I hit the wall. I finally stopped for some walking to get my breathing back under control. I counted my steps when I walked, and gave myself a 30 step limit. Then I started up again. It helped and I adjusted to a slower gait and kept going.
Then I got another shock as I saw Mild Sauce and Corcorama walking up ahead of me. I greeted them as I went by but didn't want to stop and chat since I was on a timeline! I couldn't believe I had passed 3 of the fastest Loopsters! Maybe the heat was worse than i thought. Or maybe I was just having a great day. I must admit it gave me a big mental boost and kept me going over that hill. Mile 21 was 8:48.
I was able to keep running to mile 22 in 8:26, but then took another walk break.  I let my breathing tell me when I needed rest. For the rest of the way I let myself stop about every 1/2 mile for 30 steps to gather myself and it worked pretty well. By now I knew I had the BQ in the bag and was enjoying the run. Sure the legs were aching and I was tired all over, but there was no cramping and I wasn't grimacing too much. The pain was much better than last year. I was just trying to keep the pace in the 9's and get to the finish. The last 4 were 9:16, 9:26, 9:00, 9:45.
It felt great to finally start the downhill after 24 and roll toward the beach. the fog had come in, so the last few miles were not hot at all. The heat never seemed to bother me. The last mile along the coast was a victory lap. Corc and Sauce flew by me in the last mile at sub-7 pace and invited me to join them to the finish, but that was physically impossible. It was hard to run at that point, but I managed to go the last 1/2 mile without a walk (9:11 pace for the last part) and finish with a smile.


 

3:31:32, 1,024th of over 20,000. 71st AG. Best time in 4 years.
Here's how you bank and bonk for the win.
 
I credit Loopfest magic or good karma for being a good host. Life is good.

A Running Celebration In LA: Loopsters and Olympians

It's too much for one post, so I'm saving my race report for a separate post. But even without the LA marathon, it was a fantastic weekend of celebrating running.
I was hosting ten loopsters at my house, and six others stayed nearby. So Redondo Beach was Loop Party Central! It kicked off on Thursday with morning arrivals of Corcorama (Erin) and Ocean101 (Roger). It was sunny and warm all weekend - great for sight-seeing - not so great for marathons. So Erin wanted to adapt right away with a 5 mile run in the mid-afternoon heat (close to 80). I got to show them my wood chip trail and beach running path where most of my runs go, and we had a nice little run.

That night we picked up Mr. Bacon, Mild Sauce and RunningPlaces (Steve), and made the first of several stops at the Hermosa Saloon. But this party was just getting started.
Friday everyone else showed up. Quadracool (Carissa) and her DH Adam, twentysixpoint2 (Jaclynn), aschmid3 ("code" Abby) and DH Clark, FiftyStater (Omar), DeuceDeuce (Bob), RunningWithMusic (Rebecca), and HotPinkSneakers (Caitlin). But first there was some morning time to kill, so, what else, another run at the beach!

Friday night was filled with running talk, food and beer. Of course it was great to see everyone, and there was much laughter and fun. I spent a lot of the weekend just looking around and thinking how amazing it was to have everyone here at the same time. So many cool friends.
Deuce came in after midnight when everyone was asleep, and crashed on the couch. (Yes, I leave my house unlocked to welcome an internet stranger that no one has ever met - doesn't everyone?) He had never met any loopsters, and he got to wake up and have coffee with me and Bacon and Sauce and QC...etc. etc. He seemed a little wide-eyed and in shock. It reminded me of my first Loopfest over 5 years ago and that amazing feeling realizing that these internet people were actually real and I could talk to them and they wanted to be best friends with me. Now it's just like having a bunch of friends over. Incredibly, awesomely cool friends, but still.
On Saturday, a few went out for a 2.5 mile shake-out before we headed to the Olympic trials.
We made an adventure out of it by riding the metro downtown to the race and the expo.

We arrived just as the race started, and we got to see the men and the women go by about 8 times each, so there was always something to watch.


The thrill of seeing America's best runners fly by was fantastic. It was very emotional thinking about how this was a dream come true for most of them. And a chance for Olympic  glory for some. Loopster RunnerTeal was right there in the middle and we cheered her on. Reading her story helped bring home the personal story that each runner probably had; Just regular runners who worked really hard and realized a dream.

The races were great, and we worked our way over to see the finish. I love this shot JB got where everyone's mouth is open as Meb finishes. We were all screaming with excitement as the group energy was just incredible. You could tell most of the fans were runners and knew what it meant just to be there.

It was great stuff. After that the expo was anti-climactic and I didn't spend any time there. It was a long day and people wanted to get back and rest for the big race. Because, oh yes, we had a marathon to run on Sunday!
But first we got 20 people together for a carb-loading dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Locals AtomBuddy and Alice and Junblack joined the party.

Then it was time to try and sleep before our 3:30 wake up call.
<Race Report coming soon>
After the race the party was back at my house. We were joined by the wonderful Matzes, Kynan and Laura, to add to the Loop all-star flavor. Approximately 100 beers were disposed of, as well as a whole lot of food. Everyone was in good spirits, whether or not they had a good race. Because runners get each other. And Loopsters love each other. It's crazy wonderful and I can't get enough.

2015 - More Epic Shit

These year-end reviews are fun, because they remind me how many crazy good times I have in my life. At first I thought 2015 was meh, because I was partially injured for half the year. But when I looked back, I realized I still managed to compile quite the list of epic happenings; PRs, bucket list races, loopfests...
So let's get started.
January was the best month of the year. 200 miles of marathon training as I was getting into BQ shape for LA in March. The graph below shows that the rest of the year was not so great. Foot pain caused me six months of under 100 miles as I cut back and took time off in fruitless attempts to heal. Gradually it healed anyway, and I returned to form in the Fall. In the meantime I discovered biking and piled up 1,000 miles for the year, tripling my previous high.

February 1st, I raced the local Super Bowl 10K, and managed an AGPR of 42:58. Best time in over 12 years.
 
Then I traveled to Miami to run my first Ragnar with a bunch of strangers. By the time we hit Key West 200 miles later, we were good friends!

My foot was starting to bother me though, so the last few weeks of marathon training got curtailed. And then a heat wave hit, so the LA marathon was the hottest ever. I tried to ease off, but the heat got to me as I bonked big-time.

Still, I finished in 3:53, after being on 3:30 pace for 20 miles. Any marathon finish is a win, right?
Then I took some time off to try to heal, but I was already signed up for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile in DC. I went and had a great time meeting a bunch of loopsters and seeing all the sights, and the race went really well too, considering. 7:14 pace got me a 1:08 on the short course.

From there I jetted up to Boston, mainly to hang with Loopsters, especially these three.

I didn't run, but I got to cheer them on and celebrate.
By late June I was doing some running and did a beach 5K in the sand in 21:40. Fast enough to win a cookie.

Followed that up on July 4th with another 5K in 21:06 with the help of a friendly pacer.

Still mostly biking and wishing my feet felt better all summer. But I had committed to another Ragnar. This one in Washington state. More beautiful views, good times, and new friends made. Ran pretty well too.

Finally the feet got with the program and I was back to regular training in September. Slowly I increased the mileage. In October I did our local 10K. Not quite up to my standards, but I was happy with a 45:07.

In November I squeezed a 10K trail race into my golf vacation in Napa. And won my age group.

By Thanksgiving, I was rounding into shape, and managed to beat my PR at the 3-mile Turkey Trot, in 20:10.

Then it was on to Rehoboth. Loved seeing so many Loopsters. And loved being able to race a half in good weather. Dueled with Ken and finished strong for a 1:37:27. I'm back!

And there was much celebrating...

 So I finished the year today with an awesome 20-miler.  1255 miles for the year. Longest run since March. And I averaged sub-8 with the last 12 at 7:40 pace. Feeling pretty confident for my next marathon in six weeks.
Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to an awesome 2016!