Race is now run

I have now run my third 8k race and my first outside of Chicago, IL. The day before was a time of preparation but a little bit of fun. I worked half a day, having a salad for lunch and then we had happy hour in the office. I was pretty sure I would have one or two glasses of wine. Well that turned into four along with a Corona and two shots of Fireball on ice. I felt rather relaxed, but by no means did I feel a hangover or headache coming on.

After relaxing for an hour or so, I left at 4:30 to drive an hour from Newport News to downtown Virginia Beach at the Convention Center to pick up my race packet. The drive was typical for daylight, there was a three mile backup just to get through the tunnel. But I got to the Convention Center and got my packet. As an 8 k runner, I got a bright green long sleeved t-shirt. I would have liked a tech shirt, but that's for the crazy runners. I explored a few of the vendors, but there was nothing I felt like I needed to buy.

So I drove straight home and had a salmon fillet with smashed potatoes. I got maybe six hours of sleep and got up at 5:15. The temperature was just above freezing, so I put a Jets hoodie on over my racing shirt and a neon green winter hat on my head. I ditched the hoodie before the race, but I'd need the winter hat for the whole race. I parked about ten blocks south of the starting lane, but it was free and the ten blocks gave me a chance to start warming up. I downed a pre workout drink and it felt like a shot of adrenaline. I felt alert and awake, even though the cold had me shaking just a little.

I probably had about an hour between my arrival and the race. Most of that time I spent stretching and doing a few quick jogs. It actually took me a while to find the starting line; I guess I just had to walk one block west. I was pretty surprised to be placed in the first corral with the fastest runners; by no means did I believe I was worthy of that spot.

At 7:45, the airhorn sounded, signaling our start. I played "Born to Run" to get me started before switching to "Mama Said Knock You Out." After the first mile, I played "Keep On Chooglin'" by CCR. Two things I love about this song. One, it's eight minutes long, so it covers me running a mile. Two, Doug Clifford's drum is perfectly synchronized for me to at 8.0 mph. It's my pace setter.

The first two miles, I was feeling fine, my biggest issue was the numbness in my right hand because of the cold and the steel Ipod in my hand. It took until about mile 3 and switching the device to my left hand for my hand to start to feel normal again. But of all the body parts to not be doing well in a race, I guess hand is a pretty preferable one. I never had an issue with my calves and barely had a side stitch, aside from about halfway through the race, but it didn't last more than a minute. I think it was because I didn't start out springing. I made it a point to find a pace that I could maintain for about four miles after I spent the first mile getting going.

By about the 3.5 mile spot, it was becoming a struggle. I grabbed a cup of water and threw as much of it in my mouth as I could. I wasn't in pain, but I just didn't know if I could maintain running around 8.0 mph, if not faster, for another mile. The longest stretch of the race was running from 2nd St up north to 37th, before running one block east to the boardwalk and then finishing with a six block stretch and ending just before 30th St. On the long run north, by the time I got to about 31st or 32nd  St, I wasn't looking at street signs. I was just praying I would see runners in front of me start to turn right. It could not happen fast enough.

Eventually they did start to turn. I think I was playing "Rock n Roll Is King" followed by Eye of the Tiger." When I made that turn onto the boardwalk, I could see the bright green and white sign that signaled the finish. Those six or seven blocks looked so far away. But after running over 4.5 miles, there was no way in hell I was going to stop. I knew I'd regret stopping. I wanted to kick in a sprint, but I just couldn't seem to get it going. I was letting out screams. I could feel my shins starting to pound. Finally, I found the extra gear. I sprinted out maybe the last 15 seconds, crossed the finish line, and crouched against the metal guardrail to catch my breath.

I grabbed my finisher's medal, water bottle, banana, Shamrock cookie, and drawstring bag before collecting my dry bag which had my phone, keys, and hoodie. Then it was downstairs to the beach and the celebration. I wolfed down a bowl of Irish stew and even had a couple of mini brats which Smithfield was providing for us. As for the Yeungling beer, well, I more than exceeded four. I went through about seven. One regular, one light, and five golden pilsners. A band called Moer played some great jamming music, mostly R&B , but a little bit of country and pop.

Oh and as for my finishing time. It wasn't my fastest race by any means. I finished at 37:49, about 7:37 per mile. Out of over 7,300 runners, I finished 387. As for my division of 35-39 males, I finished 21 out of 329. One of the things I've noticed is that a lot of runners start fast but cannot keep it up. At the 2 mile mark, I was running at 15:36, or 7:48 per mile, good enough for 474th overall, and 28th in my division. But I came back hard at the end to drastically improve those numbers.

So what's next for racing? I really don't know. I'm sure I'll do the Crawlin' Crab 5k in October. I will definitely get another race in by July. With my cruise in late August, training will be especially difficult then. Ultimately, I want to complete a 10k, which is 6.2 miles. I know I can do that, I've done it a number of times on the treadmill. The key, again, is finding a pace I can keep. But I believe I can build up more speed. And if the Lord has it for me to run this race again, I'm definitely going to beat 37:49.

Seven days left

Well I hit the peak of my training and now I get to start dialing it back a little bit. Last Monday I ran 6.25 miles in just under 49 minutes, or 7:48 per mile. That was a heavy pace, but I got through it without too much difficulty. The next day I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and then on Wednesday I ran 5 miles in 40 minutes. So that pace was about the same as Monday's. After taking a day of rest on Thursday I ran 5 miles again, and I did it two minutes faster on Friday. That was where I ran a little bit faster. As I remember I ran 8 miles per hour for two of the miles before getting incredibly fast for the last mile. I think I picked it 9 miles per hour for the last minute. I did beat 7:30 a mile on that last run. And then today I ran a 5K in 25 minutes and 30 seconds, I purposely ran a little bit slower.

At this point I think the key is going to be finding a pace that I can maintain to start off for at least the first half a mile and maybe even the first mile. I want to run at least 7.5 miles per hour throughout the whole race because that would enable me to run the race in under 40 minutes. My ultimate hope would be to be able to run at 8 miles per hour throughout the whole race, but I don't know if I quite have that in me right now. I know I can pick it up as I go. But I feel like I'm in a pretty place of physical condition; about the only issue is needing to ice my left shin down. I only have one tempo run left, and that's for 20 minutes on Tuesday. But I'm going to run that one pretty hard to make sure that I can maintain that fast pace. The one thing I will definitely do is rest my body on Friday. Some people like to get a workout in the day before a race, for me I prefer to just rest and if I do anything physical, it would just be stretching myself out.

MLB Predictions

American League

East

NY Yankees    96-66

Boston             88-74

Toronto            80-82

Baltimore        76-86

Tampa Bay      74-88

Central

Cleveland        90-72

Kansas City     82-80

Minnesota       81-81

Detroit             76-86

Chicago           75-87

West

Houston           94-68

Anaheim          84-78

Seattle             79-83

Texas               78-84

Oakland           72-90

National League

East

Washington     91-71

NY Mets         83-79

Philadelphia    78-84

Atlanta            75-87

Miami              62-100

Central

Chicago           93-69

Milwaukee      84-78

St. Louis          82-80

Pittsburgh        76-86

Cincinnati        72-90

West

Los Angeles     90-72

San Francisco  84-78

Arizona            82-80

Colorado          80-82

San Diego        72-90

Playoffs

Wild Card Games

Boston over Anaheim

San Francisco over Milwaukee

Division Series

Houston over Cleveland

NY Yankees over Boston

Chicago over San Francisco

Los Angeles over Washington

LCS

NY Yankees over Houston

Los Angeles over Chicago

World Series

NY Yankees over Los Angeles

Two weeks till raceday

I rarely got sick in the last five years or so. Maybe one time a year on average. I think I missed maybe two days of work due to illness over those five years, but no more than that.

Well I've been sick twice inside of three weeks. First the flu and now a touch of a cold. I don't know what's causing it, but maybe these dramatic temperature changes have something to do with it. In Chicago it was miserable weather from Thanksgiving through maybe...Memorial Day. That's right, the weather ticked you off, but at least you knew what to expect. Not here. 60 then 40 then 55 then 35. It's crazy.

So this is not helping me with my training. I hit my biggest obstacle on Friday when I ran seven miles in 56:25. I was an absolute mess by the end, but I got through that run very well. My confidence was growing. But then two days later, I struggled to do three miles at a faster pace. I don't know if it's because I used a different treadmill or maybe my illness was inhibiting my ability to breathe.

But it's Sunday right now and after this coming Wednesday, I start to dial back my intensity. At this point, I really don't think I have the speed that I want to have. the past, In I have run 5 miles in just over 35 minutes before and as recently as a year ago, I did it in under 38 minutes. This time, I don't know if I'll beat 40 minutes. Having flat ground on the shores of Virginia Beach will help since I won't have to deal with elevation. I really need to get myself right and find my ideal pace.