Back Out There

Back on Saturday I laced up and headed out to Bishop, GA to run my first race since returning from my injury-- the annual Will Chamberlin Memorial Santa Stroll 8K. This is only the second 8K race I've ever run, and it's about the right race distance for me at this point.

Pregame carb load started the night before at the Mellow Mushroom, an awesome pizza joint. The First Lady and I shared a cerveza and a Red Skin Potato pie, just like we did before I ran so well at the Huntsville half in 2012. It would be an omen.

It rained some during the night, so it was damp and a little chilly. The crowd was good-- about 150 competitors, and some of my running friends were there and it was nice to see them, since I don't get out to running groups much these days. There was no wind, which was nice. I can handle wind or cold, just not both. I went with wind pants over tights, and Brooks arm warmers underneath my red Athens Road Runners long-sleeved tech shirt. My Nike Pegasus 30 shoes have not let me down yet, so I stayed with them instead of my Asics Gel-Lytes.

The course is mostly flat, but there are a few curves and a couple of gradual hills to remind you of Georgia. I'd hoped to get in under 40 minutes, and maybe set a PR (under 39:20) if I was lucky.

My Garmin watch is on its last legs, so I had no idea of my pacing. It had the time of day flash up periodically, so I was able to crunch numbers and figure out my pacing went from 8:30 to 8:15 to 8:07 average pace for the first three miles. I don't really know when I put the hammer down, but I must have realized that I had about 15 minutes to go if I wanted a PR, and I'd planned on going out easy and picking it up as I went. I red-lined it over those last two miles, doing about 7:30 and 7:30, and getting in at 39:08 for a new PR at this distance. There's just something satisfying about giving a ton of effort and then seeing the results. Those 400 and 800 repeats I'd been running paid off.

The night before the race, I looked at the 2013 race results and did not expect to place in my age group, since I'd have needed 36:26 for third in 40-44. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw I took second in my AG! My time would have placed me 7th in my age group last year, but this time it was good enough.

Race swag:

Santa bobblehead SMO for placing in my age group.

So I had a great reason to stick around for the awards ceremony. It was a great run for me, and I was pleased at how I did. The next goal is the Chilly Dawg 5K in about a month, where I'll work on getting in under 22:00 on a course that's pretty flat. This is the course I ran 22:11 on back in January when I was in decent shape. Now I need to drop about ten pounds, but I'm planning on more 400 and 800 repeats. I won my age group at this race last time, and missed out on winning the master's championship by about 22 seconds. I hope to fix that this time around.

Athens Half Marathon

A few months ago I'd planned on running the 2014 Athens Half Marathon (which ran this morning) with the idea of setting PRs at each race distance in 2014. All I needed was to check off the half marathon and 8K boxes and I'd have set records at each distance from 5K to the marathon.

However, my goal got derailed by a herniated C6-C7 disc in my back, suffered in early August. Wanna know how much we take for granted? Try getting out of bed with this condition. It's like 50,000 volts shooting through your body. I tried chiropractic care, which had worked in the past but not this time, and I went to the orthopedic clinic in order to get turned around. The MRI confirmed things, and I'm now on the downhill side of this. Excellent physical therapy has me back to putting weight on my left arm, I can get out of the couch, and I can sleep comfortably at night.

My chiropractor is the one who told me to lay off running, and I did, for seven weeks. I figured it'd be difficult, the not being able to run thing, but when you hurt like that, the pain is the only thing you can see.

So I laid off until last week, when I ran two miles on two separate days. It felt wonderful to get back out there and get my engine running. My back felt OK during and afterward.

Now I'm starting to chomp at the bit, since I feel much healthier. I am a Fleet Feet Sports employee a few days a week now, and I worked our booth at the race AthHalf expo yesterday. It was great to see my running friends and to hear their well wishes for me, since I didn't really say much about my back on Facebook. Anyhow, so many folks were wearing race t-shirts that I started to get really excited about running again. I want more race shirts. I want to place in my age group, which is possible for me. At least it has been in the recent past.

So tomorrow I'll probably meet the Monday evening Fleet Feet group run crowd and run the shorter three-mile route. I haven't gone in a while, partially because of my injury and partly due to my now being a graduate student with limited free time.

Can't wait.

Shoe Review, Hoka One One Clifton

Hoka One One (pronounced hoka owe-nay owe-nay) is a phrase from the ancient Maori language that means, roughly, "now it is time to fly." This is also a relatively new brand name in the running shoe market.

Our Hoka shoe rep showed (shoed?) at our Monday running group with some demo shoes to try. They look bulky, a little gimmicky, and definitely grab your attention as they sit on the wall. But you've got to take these shoes for a spin.

Hoka Clifton

I'm using my laptop and having trouble getting pictures to post here.

The Hoka Cliftons have 29 mm of cushion in the heel, 23 in the forefoot. This gets away from the standard of roughly 24-12 in many shoes (with a differential of about 8 mm between heel and forefoot). It makes for a very smooth ride and a very smooth transition through the stride.

You might think these shoes would be bulky and awkward on the road. This was not the case for me. I never felt off balance during the five miles I ran in them, I believe due to the deep heel cup in these shoes. They're also very lightweight, 7.8 ounces, which doesn't jive with how much cushion these shoes have. After a mile or so, I hardly noticed what I had on my feet.

I even think that if you treat the shoes well, they could stretch well beyond standard shoe life. I don't own a pair, but they are fantastic and I would recommend them.

Life Cycles

I hear it's common for old running shoes to become yard shoes when they've aged out. So once the mileage is up, they begin a new life as mowing/edging/weeding shoes.

This is what's become of my old Brooks Adrenaline 12 shoes, the ones I got while I worked at The Athlete's Foot in Tuscaloosa, when the Brooks types had a monthly contest. Sell X pairs of their shoes and they'll hook you up. It was easy work-- those shoes sold themselves.

So my first run in these guys was in November, 2011.

My log shows I ran 602 miles in these. They didn't always have insoles.

Their last run was back in February of this year, when I hit the treadmill for 8x800 at 7:30 pace. It got to where I'd run longer distances on a forgiving surface, and only shorter outdoor distances every other week.

Now I know 500 miles is the generally accepted number when you start thinking about a new pair, but stretching things out is easier when you've got several pairs to rotate though. Cost is important to factor in, and I've been fortunate that I've not paid a lot of money for shoes in the last few years.

My favorite memory of these shoes is my first marathon-- the 2012 Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham. They carried me to a 4:12:35 finish.

They're great shoes and they did right by me.

Race Report, St. Patrick's Day 2007

I've been blessed with excellent health during my running life. I've battled one bout of Achilles tendinitis and pulled a calf muscle during half marathon training. Both happened early in my running life and were due to overtraining. That sore calf will announce its presence (though not with authority) from time to time, which is where my body was for the St. Patrick's Day 10K and 2-miler in Manhattan, Kansas in 2007.

Our race was run in conjunction with an army unit in Tikrit, Iraq. Fort Riley Army base is right down the road from MHK. 

I was on the back side of healing up, so I chose not to run the 10K, which included a trip up Manhattan Avenue and back. Instead, I ran the two miler that wound around City Park. The First Lady used to live near the park, so I'd go run there often. The race started and ended in the Aggieville bar district, but the 10K went right toward the big hill and the short race hung a left toward the park.

This was one of the harder races I've run, since there were so many entrants on such a narrow course. Lots and lots of kids, since one of the purposes is to get them tired so you can take them home. Part of the way through I started to realize my calf wasn't going to be a concern, so I worked on getting around people, but the big crowd made it tough to get around other runners. My finishing time was a solid 17:54. I even scored a ribbon for my effort. I don't remember why, since I finished 155th out of 360. Ann had her own cheering section, as she had friends who lived above a bar near the start, and they cheered her as she started the race.

This race was similar to how one of my Tuscaloosa Mayor's Cup races went. Go in with a balky wheel and just see what you've got, then realize all is well and put the hammer down. Both events became good efforts for me.

Marigold 10K Race Report

Two Saturdays ago I drov out to Winterville for the 39th Annual Marigold 10K, hosted by the Athens Road Runners. This race used to be put on by the Athens Track Club, a group that has really declined in recent years. I know the hierarchy of ARR (a group that has only existed a little over a year) has worked to honor the work of ATC. The race is part of Winterville's annual Marigold Festival, which featured a parade, crafts, and food.

I committed to running the race during the week leading up to the race, since it looked like numbers were down. I arrived at the race site with about 20 minutes to spare and got signed up and pinned my race number onto my ARR black and white team singlet. Forgetting my race belt turned out to be the worst thing that happened this morning.

It was also really nice to see so many of my ARR and running friends. I'm not a regular attenddee at group runs anymore but I show up when I can. I used to show up at races before where I didn't know many folks and it's not as much fun when there isn't anyone to talk to. I liked seeing my friends before, during, and after the race.

Race temperature was mid-40s, unusual for the second week of May. There was no wind, so the conditions were favorable. Race shoes were the Nike Pegasus 30. My previous 10K PR was 49:20 two years ago in Tuscaloosa, and I felt like I could beat that. The goal was to finish somewhere in the 47 or 48 neighborhood. The course was basically three out-and-backs, so it was weird to pass by the finish line and keep going. The advantage was seeing my friends and feeding off their energy.

My first quarter-mile split was 1:48 so I wanted to idle back just a little bit, since I am always careful of going out too fast. The course was very flat and there was not a whole lot of traffic, so the splits only went up a few seconds. I still felt pretty good, so I kept the hammer down and focused on holding an even pace. I may see other runners ahead of me and concentrate on them without necessarily wanting to pass them. It just helps me to have something to focus on.

The only real hill was at 3.5, and it was a 50-foot incline over a half mile, so the runs through my neighborhood are a lot more challenging. My splits were no worse than 1:53 for the whole race. I was working hard but still felt pretty good as I clicked off miles right around 7:15.

I don't do much speedwork, and that's the only reason I had to wonder how I'd do, but my last six splits were 1:47 or better. In fact, the finish line kind of crept up on me, because I didn't sprint for the finish until the last 150 meters or so to finish with a time of 45:04.

bib number (sans race belt) and Shiny Metal Object for a
 third-place finish in my age group

The time broke a 10K PR by over four minutes. I was 30th overall out of about 250, and third in my age group. Bad tactic notwithstanding, I was very pleased with my race, which averaged 7:16 per mile. That number is still hard for me to grasp-- it's hard for me to believe that I can run that fast. I remember lumbering at 10+ milepace at my first 10K, and to know this is what I'm capable of is remarkable.

I scored two t-shirts-- one from the Athens Running Company types who had a Brooks putting green set up. I had three shots (but with a right-handed putter), and made the first one (with a purple golf ball,of course) and scored a Brooks Transcend tee, which is pretty snazzy. I felt like I was playing a pricing game on the Price Is Right.

The other shirt is the official race shirt, which I very nearly forgot to stop by to check on after I ran.

ARR sponsored the race-- no sponsors on the back of the shirt.

So the whole race experience was very, very positive. There are no races on the immediate horizon, though that is subject to change at a moment's notice. In addition, my right knee pain is gone. I've been running without any soreness for a few weeks now. This is a good thing, and it pleases me.

Live Team Trivia

Last night I made it back to my Monday night running group for the first time in a month. It's one of the joys of being a retail employee-- you can't really say no to hours but the downside is the schedule can be somewhat erratic. So I made it out for a sixer on a mid-70 degree evening, an evening where you can't *not* go out for a run, especially since the temps won't be cooling off any time soon. I ticked off an easy four in the morning to make it a double and felt really good during both runs.

This Monday evening group has taken on some of the feeling I had when the First Lady and I went to play trivia in Tuscaloosa. It was a way to check in with our friends and see how everyone was doing. It almost was like church for us-- that circle of friends is an awesome group of folks and we always looked forward to seeing them and playing. So the running group has a little of that mojo to it. I like the people who work at the Fleet Feet store where we meet, I like the folks who show up, and I like the guys who stop for a beer afterward. Good stuff.

One of the previous times I ran with that group, I guess it's been six weeks or so now, a New Balance shoe rep showed up with some Fresh Foam 980 shoes to try out. I never say no to a chance to run in a new pair of shoes, and I have never tried running in NB. Well, there was that one time when I first started running and ran in their (improper, for me) shoes and got plantar fasciitis. So it didn't work that time.

This time, however, was different. I thought the 980s were incredible shoes-- lightweight and comfortable.

NB Fresh Foam 980. Also available in blue.

 If I can't even tell I have a pair of shoes on, it's a good sign, and I could hardly notice these dudes on my feet. Great run, and a great feel on my neutral feet. It was unusual in that there was no noticeable guidance line on the sole of the shoe, but it made me no difference. I've seen reviews that were lukewarm, but I sure wouldn't mind adding them to my rotation.

Aftermath

Things are starting to return to normal around here, though things never go as we want them to.

During marathon training, I noticed some pain on the outside of my right kneecap. It felt like I'd bumped into something. I'm a klutz, so it made sense. I kept on running on it and it didn't get any worse, and I ran my marathon.

But the pain never went away, so I idled back a little bit. I ran Wednesday as my first time out after the race, (31 for that week), and 26 the next, which included a Saturday 8.5.

Digression:

That Saturday run came after I volunteered at the inaugural Chick-Fil-A half marathon here in Athens. I didn't plan to run this event since I'd just come off running in Atlanta. I pitched in at the Fleet Feet water stop at mile 8 handing out water, sports drink, energy gels, and pretzels to all comers. It was much more fun to do this than to stand as a course marshal at mile 13 on a cold day as I did in Tuscaloosa (ironically, as that half marathon made its debut). There were about a dozen of us on the job, and it made for light work. I enjoyed helping, making new friends, and encouraging other friends as they ran past. I'm told the course was hilly, so I doubt I missed anything. I did score a big-ass bag of leftover pretzels though. Hey, somebody's got to eat them, right?

Anyhow, my 8.5 miler came right after the race, and my knee wasn't feeling any better. So I laid off until last Saturday's fiver. The downtime seems to have helped, as I haven't had any problems since. May have been an overuse thing. It's one of those times where something has gone wrong and you feel better, but you're still looking for it. And when you focus on a dinged knee and can't find anything, it's definitely a positive.

This week I'm up to 12 miles, as running takes a bit of a back seat to other things in my life. I'll still get out there and hit my running groups as I can, plus there is a whole new neighborhood to explore, but I'm reorganizing my priorities just a bit.

2014 Georgia Marathon

A quote attributed to Winston Churchill, and more recently in a Rodney Atkins 2006 song says that if you're going through hell, keep on going. That's pretty much how I felt over the last eight or so miles of the Publix Georgia Marathon in Atlanta.

Outside the race expo, at the Georgia World Congress Center. We didn't stay long, since I never really need to buy anything. I did *want* a lot of stuff though. I settled for a hat.

First, the backstory. The First Lady got us a wonderful hotel a few blocks from the starting line. We took MARTA to get to the race expo, but realized it was easier to walk the few blocks to the race start. It was my second race as a member of the Athens Road Runners Developmental Team, and my first wearing the team singlet, white letters on a black tank. I opted for an older pair of Nike shorts because they had pockets for the Clif bar I brought. I also went with compression shorts underneath, which was a late addition that worked really well. Thicker Feetures! socks, Nike Pegasus 30 shoes, and my headband completed the outfit.

The sun hadn't risen for the 7:00 am start, and temperatures were in the low 50s, with cloudy skies. Rain was in the forecast, but I stayed dry for the most part. I woke up at 5:15, and my body did what it could at that time. Prerace fuel was 2/3 of an apple, 2/3 of a Clif bar, and 2/3 of a bottle of Powerade. Felt good about that.

I was in corral E, and we crossed the start line just a few minutes after the elites. A vivid memory from Mercedes in 2012 was that I went out too fast and paid for it later on, so I spent the first several miles listening to chatter from the other runners, weaving through other foot traffic, and trying to stay within myself. There really wasn't anything special about the first hour or so, but getting started before the sun rose was unusual and fun. I did thank the girls for the tunes when I passed by a house that was blasting Carry On My Wayward Son, by Kansas. That's a little thing that, to me, is a big thing. Kansas (the state) has been very good to me over the years, so hearing this song was very meaningful.

The first big event was when the half marathon split from the full, near the Carter Center just past mile seven. An eerie sort of quiet took over, and it suddenly felt like very serious business. There was one quick pee stop at mile eight, but things continued OK. My quarter splits weren't quite where I wanted them to be-- a few were 2:05, many were closer to 2:15, which is north of the 2:10 splits I hoped for. I chose not to carry a bottle for the race as I had for my 20-milers, and splits were 2:25-ish when I stopped to drink. I may rethink that tactic in the future, since I saw many folks with belts for fluids. These seconds added up in the long run.

The first time I really started to hurt, ironically, was on probably the best-supported part of the course. The elevation map told me there was a solid downhill through Decatur for miles 11-16, and my Garmin supports that, but my legs did not. Part of the plan was to conserve energy and maybe make up a little time through here so that was the first sign of trouble.

On the bright side, the city of Decatur really got on board to support the running community, with church marquees sharing positive messages and townsfolk coming out to encourage us at 9:00 on a Sunday morning. But the thing I carry with me (and will remember for a long time) is their signs-- similar to the small wire signs that people put in their yards to support a political candidate. The difference here is that the signs were takeoffs on the old Burma Shave rhymes from many moons ago (ex:Y’all look great...Strong and smart... Running a marathon...Takes lots of heart. DECATUR! ). The theme was very positive, and apparently residents have been writing them for several years for the race. Some talked about what a great place Decatur is, others supporting runners, several made fun of their bad limericks, while a few said come back and spend money. They were all great fun and I laughed out loud at just about each of them.

I've said it before-- support like this (and anywhere on a race course) cannot be underestimated. We're all fighting our individual battles out there, and the positive vibes that are sent our way mean a lot even if they don't last long, and even if we can't really acknowledge much. Emory College gals ran a drink stop (mile 19?) a few miles from the actual college and were really loud and very supportive. The Morehouse College drumline was out there at mile 24 pumping out the energy. Residents of the Old Fourth Ward were out with signage and great support. Even little kids with a table set up in their front yard with free water for runners. I thought that was really sweet, so I hope those who came after me stopped to thank them. And cowbell. It seemed like everyone had one and was ringing it. All of this support was wonderful and I can't be more appreciative.

Meanwhile, about mile six I noticed my GI tract acting up. By mile 16, as we ran through Emory College, I had to deal with it. That quarter was closer to 5:00 for obvious reasons, and the time added made a difference. I felt I'd addressed this back at the hotel, but there's nothing you can do. This was also the time where I really started to feel rough. Quarters were mostly over 2:15. I'd abandoned my 3:50 goal and refocused on 4:00. What didn't help was that my GPS was about .25 ahead of the actual distance, so my Garmin thinks I actually traveled 26.47. It skewed my thinking a little, but by then you can convince yourself of just about anything. It's the point where it becomes dangerous to think of how far is still to go. There were a few MARTA stops that were starting to look pretty good.

I even recognized a few areas-- the course went through Piedmont Park, where I had an eight-miler on a sunny Saturday a few years back when I came to town to meet the wife, who was in town for work. I also ran through the neighborhood at mile 23 where we had a wonderful pasta dinner the night before.

Second musical note-- I heard Take the Money and Run by The Steve Miller Band, running right by the boombox when they were headed down to Cool Ol' El Paso. I took it as another sign of something special, since I am a native. I clapped right along with the beat which was probably not a wise choice, but I would've regretted not doing it.

Once we got past the Morehouse drumline, running through the Georgia Tech campus was next. My memories here involve focusing on finishing, and not on the positive vibe that was present. I'd driven through the GT campus before so I recognized parts of it, but I was on lockdown at this point. I also realized I wouldn't beat four hours. It took all I had to keep running, and my first goal was to run the entire race. Those last two miles felt like the longest two I'd ever run-- I thought the race would never end.

Admiring my victory swag. 

I did eventually find the finish line, and I met the goal of not stopping to walk. I was completely spent. There was nothing more to give. I got my finisher's medal and found my friend Alan who is also an Athens Road Runner. Actually, he found me. We took a picture and I went looking for the First Lady. I was just so happy to not be running anymore, and that we had a plan to find each other afterwards (another lesson from Mercedes). After accomplishing this feat, she is the one I want to share it with, since she is such a big part of this with me. It was a good thing I found her, since I was in no condition to do much other than be supervised. She brought my purple K-State hoodie and wind pants, which both became necessities (along with the space blanket) since I was so cold and tired. I was in such lousy shape I didn't even want a cup of postrace coffee. We sat for a bit and then I felt like walking around. I was never so happy that our hotel was so close, but the two blocks were also hilly, so it took much longer to get back than it did to get there.

Things improved steadily once we got back to the hotel-- crawling under the covers, hitting the ibuprofen, a hot shower, and Clemson/Illinois NIT basketball all helped me start to feel human again. We stopped for road burgers and went home. I'll say here what a big fan of ibuprofen I've become. I took a couple after my 20-milers to help me get through long shifts at work, and two postgame tablets really made a difference here as well.

I am very, very proud of the effort. 4:02:03 on a very hilly course. 9:02 was the pace through the first 10K because I was so wary of not going out too fast, and sticking to that plan helped at the end, even though my pace fell to 9:13 per mile overall. 59th in my age group, 339th man to cross, and 434th overall finisher. Not too shabby.

I know I can improve on this, and I will. Someday. For now, I am pleased. Very pleased with the race.

It's Getting Real

A few months ago, I signed up to run the Publix Georgia Marathon on March 23.

As was the case two years ago (Mercedes Marathon, Birmingham), I did all the training runs with the feeling that the big day was still out there somewhere-- something abstract, like chasing a cloud.

But right around noon today, I finished my last training run. It paced out faster than I wanted it to, since the plan was for an easy run to follow yesterday's tempo effort.

This means all the hay is now in the barn. The next time I put on a pair of shoes will be when I toe the line in Atlanta in about two and a half days, and I am starting to feel it. What was 'out there' not long ago is directly in front of me. I suppose it's a little nervousness, but I'm not bouncing off the walls or anything.

Perhaps it's focusing in on what I want to do. The goal in 2012 was merely to finish, and the only reason I made it then was because it hurt less to keep running than it did to stop and start again. Now that I have a benchmark and a solid training base, I want to run well.

So now we think about things like carb loading and terrain maps. We have a hotel near the start, so that is a nonissue. The hardest part is that I'm even staying off booze until after the race, since it would affect my sleep patterns in the next few days. However, I have decided ice cream is a good and wonderful thing.

Race goals:
-- run the entire race
-- finish in under four hours
-- break 3:50 (about 8:45 pace)