TT Running Club

“Oh, yeah, race report from yesterday.

Cold day, foggy, windy - perfect for running! It was a lot of fun, as usual, although I didn't run as fast as I had hoped. I did everything I planned to do in terms of staying focused on trying to keep up a fast pace, trying to pass people when I had the chance, etc. The time was just slow. I'm convinced that all of this long distance running training for the marathon has really affected my speed. I ran a 41:30 10k before I started training for the marathon, and I doubt I could match that now. So after I recover from that I need to work on my speed again.

BowlderSon also ran yesterday and again did great. He was thrilled that he was able to run "Hernia Hill" without stopping to walk. After I finished, I was able to hook up with him and run the last 3/4 mile or so. He got smoked at the end by a kid a year or so older, but he looked really good and definitely enjoyed himself.”

“Awesome!
Here's hoping it's a tailwind for you on marathon day.

The parade I went to tonight had a 5K prior to it's start. Made my heart ache watching all the folks shuffling through it. I can't get over how much I'm missing the running!”

“I ran a 9-miler yesterday, with 3 miles starting at the halfway point at my target marathon pace of 6:50. It wasn't easy, which might be a sign that it just isn't going to happen at that pace, or it could have been the 20 mph headwind I had for most of the workout. Takin' it easy for my last week before the marathon....”

“Looks like the rain might be more spotty than orignally forecast for Sunday, although they are still keeping precip in there for now. Wind is forecast at around 10mph coming from the northwest - the course runs roughly northeast to southwest, which would mean a crosswind. The temps are supposed to be pretty cold though. Usually in CA it warms up when it rains, except for the occasion cold front zipping down directly from Alaska. Like this one. Snow levels down to 2,800' (about 30 miles east).

Given the uncertainty of the weather, I will have 2 or 3 possible wardrobe configurations, all of which I may take with me to the start to either leave in my sweats bag that they will transport to the finish, or that I can take off and give to BowlderGal at 10 or 20 miles....”

“Bowlderman,

I hope the race goes well! Its a love/hate thing for me to pick what to wear before a long run. I tend to sweat VERY heavily but also get a chill from time to time,throw in 26.2m and its that much tougher for sure. I hope the winds are mild and the day is perfect!”

“go back to bed, birch, it's 5am!”

“Hey, maybe it's not really birch, since sass admitted she sometimes posts as birch. How would one know?!”

“I'd bet that one was Birch - I know he gets up pretty early for work!”

“yeah, Sass is slacking now since she isn't working.”

“I heard that EWKER! I am not slacking. I do get to go to bed earlier though. =)”

“Scorchie, I wish I could sleep in...”

“That was posted mere moments before he went to take a nap, lol.”

“Sass, was that you posting as Birch again..hmmm wondering if Birch is really a troll”

“No it was really him. He came home, messed up TT for me and went to bed!”

“Sass, tell Birch I'll see him at the gym in the morning. (Maybe. I'm awfully tired right now! I might just be lazy in the morning too!)”

“Okay.”

“OK, now that the topic has changed to being tired, wanting to sleep in, etc., the Google ads on the right are all for sleeping bags!”

“New forecast for Sunday: Most of the rain should occur overnight, tapering off so that it will be mostly dry Sunday morning. But snow levels as low as 1,000 feet - yikes! I will be taking about 5 wardrobe combos with me on Saturday and probably 2 or 3 Sunday morning with literally a last minute decision....

Oh, and I feel a cold coming on....”

“It's probably just an earthquake you're feeling.”

“Guess I won't live that one down for a while, huh....”

“Latest from the Nat'l Weather Service: "Partly Cloudy" on Sunday, with 5-10mph wind from the north, i.e., a tailwind! Yahoo/Weather.com disagrees, they say rain through 9 AM and 42 degrees. Hmmmmm....”

“I always pick the report I like best.”

“Go with NOAA. =)”

“One year ago, today, I ran my first race in over 15 years, a 5k w/ wolfeyes, le subtil and birch. It was the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis. Since that race, I've run a 10k and a half marathon. I ran this morning's Jingle Bell run to celebrate the year's accomplishments... and set a PR in the process... 26:59 (8:26 pace).

Wish I woulda pre-registered so I coulda had a chip and had my results posted on the web. I know it's not necessary, but sure woulda felt good to see my time up on my monitor!

OK... back to studying...”

“Good job tarabull! Thats a great time!”

“3:12:58


Details and photo of my blood-soaked shoes to follow....”

“Details and photo of my blood-soaked shoes to follow....”
BowlderMan
4:08:47 PM
12/05/04

and you call this fun...lol
congrats on your time. I can't even imagine running for 3 hrs.”

“Bowlderman, congrats on your race!!! That is an amazing time. I hope you arent in too much pain.”

“good time Bowlderman!

Gonna change your name to "BloodyMan"? ouch!”

“Great job on the race, Bowlderman!!

A few hours after my race this morning, I started to get the same pain in the same knee that bothered me for two weeks after the half-marathon. Guess it's time to make a doctor's appt. :-(((((”

“That's one impressive time Bowlderman! Wonderful job. I hope your recovery is quick.

Tara, cool beans on the PR. Good job!”

“Great job on the marathon, Bowlderman! Very impressive!
Congratulations on the PR, Tara!

The Jingle Bell run Tara mentioned was the first race I'd ever run since high school. I don't think I would have ever entered one if Wolfeyes wouldn't have invited me. I didn't consider myself a runner. I had a blast, and after that race I couldn't get enough.
In the last year I've ran 13 5k's, 2 10k's, an 8 mile, 2 half marathons, and a marathon.

Saturday I ran the first of the Reese winter road races; a 5K for me, and a new PR of 23:27. That's around 6 minutes quicker than last year.

So, a million thanks to Wolfeyes for getting me out there, and to everyone else for the advice and encougagement. My life has changed quite a bit in the last year.”

“OK, I'm very, very, very, sore from the marathon yesterday, but I'm in decent enough shape to tap out a race report.

It was a spectacular weekend. BowlderGal and I drove up to Sacramento after BowlderCuz picked up BowlderSon (he didn't want to get up so early to go and watch me along the way). We arrived at the Race Expo and browsed around a bit, picked up my number and timing chip, then went for some lunch.

We came back to see a talk by Dick Beardsley, one of the star US marathoners from the early 80s. He is an awesome speaker, spinning yarns about his first few marathons, then about his later ones when he established himself as one of the best ever Americans at this distance. He specifically described his first dip under 2:10, at the Grandma's marathon. He suckered us all in, as he described seeing several "signs" he was going to do it: a milepost along the road that read 209, the time he checked into his hotel was 2:09, etc. He described how he got on the elevator, looked at his key and screamed for joy - what was his room number? "209!" everyone shouted. "No, of course not!" Beardsley replied, "But it was 902, which is 209 backwards!"

Then he went on to describe one of the greatest marathon races ever, his "Duel in the Sun" at Boston in '81 (I think) against Alberto Salazar. He finished 2nd by 2 seconds, despite all kinds of weird stuff happening during the race. I remembered reading about that and some of his other races, so that was pretty cool to hear it firsthand. But what I took with me was that he just wouldn't give up. When he started dying in a race, he would just convince himself he knew he could run just one more mile.

After the talk, we met our pace group leaders. This race has pace groups with leaders who promise to run an evenly paced race to lead you to a sub 3:00, sub 3:10, etc. The guy for my group, the sub 3:00 group, described how we'd go really slow the first mile - over 7:00 - then gradually catch up to the 6:51 pace needed for 3 hours by running a series of miles between 6:45 and 6:50. Sounded like an excellent plan.

We went over to the Expo after the pace group meeting, and I got Beardsley's autograph on my number, and got to chat with him a bit - what a great guy!

So off we went to check out the 10 and 20 mile points, where BowlderGal would watch me, hand me extra Clif Shots, and take any clothing I no longer needed. This was a smart thing to do, as I got to see parts of the course, and she got to scout the parking situation.

We got to the hotel, then headed out for dinner at Macaroni Grill. I had a giant bowl of spaghetti with an Arrabiata sauce, one of my favorites. Then back to the hotel to watch a DVD. The DVD player didn't work, so we just watched a little ESPN before going to sleep at about 9:30.

Up at 5 AM, I had a little coffee, a banana, Clif Bar, and Gatorade, then a shower to wake up. As I noted before, I had about 4 different wardrobe setups ready, depending on the weather. Our club's in-house meteorologist had reported the day before that the rain wouldn't happen, but I had left before getting the email. So I simply looked out the window to see the dry pavement and stars in the sky - I practically jumped for joy! I called a voice activated info service to learn that the current temp in Sacramento was 36 - perfect! So I chose some lycra shorts, my lightest weight long underwear top with my club singlet over it, some cotton gloves, my usual white baseball cap, and sunglasses. Of course, then several layers for the pre-race standing around.

BowlderGal drove me to the dropoff area and I walked the 3/4 mile to the start area - a nice warmup. I got there at 6:30, hit the portapotty, then found the sweats bag dropoff area and just hung out for 10 minutes and relaxed. At 6:40 I stripped down, loaded my sweats bag into the bus, and went to jog around a bit. Saw one of my teammates, which was comforting, as he gave me some encouragement. One last pee at 6:55, then over to the start. Hooked up with my pace group, in which another teammate was running.

So off we went, a nice easy jog along the downhill start. True to plan, we hit the first mile in 7:17. At that point, the pace group leader picked things up, as expected. But it seemed a little fast. Actually, it seemed a lot fast. I just chalked it up to some early race nerves and my inexperience - surely, this guy knew what he was doing. Unfortunately, I didn't see the Mile 2 marker, but we hit 3 miles in 20:00. I did the math in my head during the ensuing mile, and realized we had just cranked out back-to-back 6:22's!! That idiot! After telling us we would gradually get the first mile overage back, he not only got all of it back in the next 2 miles, but an extra 35 seconds! By the time I figured this out, we were approaching 4 miles. And we did the 4th mile in 6:37!! Aaack!! The main reason I joined the pace group was to avoid going too fast early in the race, and he just did exactly that for us.

OK, at this point, I told myself I needed to trust my instincts, which was the best choice I made all day. I slowed down enough to just let the pace group go. I hit 6:45, 6:50, and 6:47 the next 3 miles. I had to stop and pee during mile 8, and lost about 40 seconds, running it in 7:34. I was almost back on the right per mile pace in 9 and 10, running 7:02 and 6:57. At 10 miles, I was 10 seconds ahead of the time for a 3:00 finish and feeling OK. BowlderGal screamed at me that I was doing great; she handed me 2 Clif Shots; and I quickly told her how the idiot pace guy was going way too fast and I was actually right on time! She yelled after me that my teammates were flying, and that gave me some inspiration, too.

After a 6:53 in Mile 11, I started to fade. The legs just didn't feel like going that fast - maybe because of the early hammering at 6:20/30 pace? So I hit Mile 12 in 7:08, got to the half marathon at 1:30:32, but people started passing me. I averaged about 7:30 pace through 17, during which I frequently urged myself on outloud: "Come on! Come on! Let's go!" People must've thought I was nuts.

My quads were really burning by this time, but I started to think like Beardsley had suggested, and told myself, "I know I can run just a couple more miles to get to Mile 20 where BowlderGal will give me another boost." I also realized, as I got to Mile 20, that I wasn't really feeling any worse than I was at 16 or 17, so I just needed to keep moving. BowlderGal handed me a Clif Shot shortly after 20 and screamed at me that I could do it, and I started thinking "I just have to run one more mile - just get to 21 [then 22, 23, etc.]. People had been passing me left and right from about 16 on, but by the time I hit 22, I started to pass people. The 3:10 pace group guy passed me at about 22, but he was behind schedule and was telling people to push ahead if they wanted to beat 3:10. Then, after an 8:10 mile in Mile 24, I started to pick it up. I ran 7:56 for Mile 25, then it started to sink in that I was almost done.

In this marathon, there's a countdown of sorts, as you're crossing numbered streets down to the final turn onto 8th Street. I was avoiding looking at the signs, though - I didn't want to know how far to go. I passed the 3:10 guy at about 25, and he encouraged me. I must've had a pretty good adrenaline rush, because I ran my "best" mile of the day in Mile 26, a 7:09. I didn't realize I had done that at the time, but later, that was probably my most remarkable feat of my race. Wow.

Shortly after the 26 mile marker, I spotted BowlderSon on the street, cheering me on. I high-fived him, then turned at 8th Street. BowlderGal, BowlderCuz, and her mom & dad were all there screaming for me to kick it in! And I did. I raised my arms in victory as I crossed the finish in 3:12:58, a 6-minute PR, beating my time set almost exactly 20 years earlier. It was also almost a half hour faster than my time from '87. Not the sub-3 or even sub-3:10 I had hoped for, but not bad for a 43-year old, I thought.

After the race, I ate & drank stuff, changed into dry clothes, then hobbled to the car and rode home. It was all kind of a blur. I had developed some blisters that bled through my shoes, but they weren't very painful. Indeed, I didn't seem to have any "injuries" at all, just sore muscles.

Don't know my place yet - I'll report later. Photos of me and my bloody shoes can be found here.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/217482297/227642774feYbzu
http://community.webshots.com/photo/227642242/227642242YCVFaN”

“Excellant report Bowlderman! Thank you for taking the time to put your race into words. Again, congratulations!”

“bloody shoes, holy crap! congrats on the marathon, Bowlder, you crazy mofo.”

“Thanks lyra; I always wanted to be known as a crazy mofo!

OK, results are in. I always look at overall results, as well as results for people moving at 12:00/mile or faster. I think slower than 12:00 pace is really walking, not running, which is fine, but not really relevant to how I fared against other runners.

Overall: 298th out of 2,965 total, or 2,700 runners (top 10% / 11%)

Men: 260th out of xxxx (don't know men total yet) (that means 38 women beat me)

Men aged 40-49: 63rd out of 614 total, or 580 runners (top 10%/11%)

Men aged 40-44: 41st out of 343 total, or 330 runners (top 12%)”

“awesome race! Great results!”

“"Bowlder-You-Are-The-Man" I couldn't be more impressed. What age group were you in? BTW, when you started to fade, if you flipped over and ran on your hands you'd have shaved off at least 10 minutes. Have a strawberry shake, you deserve it.”

“Bowlder, what a great trip report and race! I am inspired big time. I would love to run that fast one day.”

“Your bloody shoes remind me of a wall of pics we had in the army. The caption read " But he made it" all the pics were pics the medics had taken after prospective Rangers had completed the mandatory 12 mile road march (less than 3 hours full combat load and 35 lb pack),lots of raw bloody things formerly known as feet.”

“Ouch!!”

“Woo-hoo!!

Photos of me at the marathon are in!!

http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=4393&PWD=&BIB=284”

“Lookin' good Bowlderman. Congrats again.

Snake Eyes”

“Oh, that's you!”

“You mean this time I fooled you...for 5 seconds (trailname for my AT hike).”

“Ooh la la! Nice pics, BowlderMan.”

“OK, one "ooh la la" so far....”

“Hubba hubba! Way to go!”

“Great! One "ooh-la-la" and one "hubba hubba." I feel so admired....”

“Add a WOWEE! =)”