First off, Thursday night I had to take a friend to the ER because he has 2 new born pre-mature infants and his wife had to stay home with them. I thought for sure he was in for an appendectomy the way he was bent over and writhing in pain. It turned out to be very bad intestinal colic. So I was in the ER with him until 2:30am. Got home & slept from 3-9am. I thought great I'm already down a few hours on sleep.
We left Lexington at around 2pm Friday with our projected start time to be around 3:30pm as we were the second group of runners. Our 6th runner actually had to wait on us for 5 mins as we were late. My first leg(leg 12) started at around 9:30pm. My first leg was a 5.7 miler into downtown Danville which was a slight climb the entire way. Somehow I ended up lucky enough to run in nothing but a few sprinkles which was pure luck. I pickedoff around 18 runners on my first leg. I ended up with an average pace of 6:21 for the first leg which was a touch too fast considering that I still had 14-15 miles to run. However, I felt pretty good nevertheless. We then went to a couple of hotel rooms which we had reserved in Danville, ate a meal, took a shower. and got 2.5 hours of sleep before our first runner was up again. We headed out at about 2:30am, Saturday to make our next exchange point. At this point I was very tired so I tried to catch a few zz's at each exchange point and to prop my legs up to alleviate any swelling. My next leg(leg 24) was at 7:30am or so and it was a hilly 7.6 miler to Woodford Reserve which was probably the most beautiful run that I have ever had. Reminded me of the Pitbull Run only prettier. I passed another 15 teams on this leg. Somehow I averaged around a 6:45 min pace despite the hills and being tired. To be honest, I felt better during this leg than any other leg. Taking off that 25seconds a mile made the run feel alot easier. So then we headed back to Lexington, for some food and rest before our next legs which started at around 12pm. I actually, came back to my house ate and showered. At this point, I didn't rejoin the team though as my last leg and the final leg of the relay was over in Mastersonstation Park which is less than 1 mile from my house. We decided I'd rest alot better at home, and I got my neighbor to run me over to the exchange zone. I arrived about 30 mins before my exchange was to come through so I was able to see every team I had a chance to chase down. When I came in at Woodford we were just the 4th team to come in... granted the times were staggered on projected pace so its not like we were first. Still that made it more exciting to possibly be the first team to cross the finish line. Something was odd about this exchange zone though it was way farther back in the park than the maps indicated. My final leg was to be 6.6 miles, but I found out at the finish it had been 7.8 miles due to misplacement of the exchange. So I ran a total of 21.1 miles which was 2 miles more than any other runner. Anyway, about 9 teams came through while I was waiting. To my dismay 2 of them were elite teams so there was no catching them of course. Anyway, I got my handoff and hoped I had saved something. The final leg went right by my house so I new the course very well. I pickedoff 5 teams on my way to downtown Lexington. I ran a 6:31 paced final leg. I was pretty stoked that all 3 of my legs were under 7 min miles. I figure I averaged something in the high 630s so that's really fast for me.
Another surprise was that we finished second in the Corporate division and only missed first by 3mins and 10 seconds. Too bad we were late on the first exchange or we might have won.
Showing posts with label Race Recap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Race Recap. Show all posts
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Charleston 15 mile Distance Race Report
Arrived Friday night before the race on Saturday which started at 7:30am. I prepped for the race with the traditional pasta in some light marinara sauce. Luckily, we arrived early enough to pickup our race packets to avoid worrying about getting them the next morning. Returned to the hotel room to stretch out and relax to some mindless television. I turned in at about 10:30 which is pretty much my normal bed time these days( I know pretty lame).
I slept better than usual before a race and only woke up once during the night. 5:30am wakeup with a bagel & PB for breakfast. We met up with a few more people who arrived later than us from Lexington and all rode together to the starting line at the WV capital.
It was about a mile walk from the car to the start line which was a good warmup. No sense running 2-3 miles to warmup for a 15 mile race at least in my mind anyway. I lined up in the 2nd-3rd row area behind the Kenyans. This race imports around 5-10 elite racers since they give cash prizes.
The race was started by a civil war era cannon which was unpredictable when it would fire so the start time was a little off. The first 3 miles I spent trying to get into a rhythm shooting for 6:45 min miles skipping the initial water stops. The only challenging part was crossing over a bridge during this span which was a dramatic change in elevation. At mile 4 the climb began, with the infamous 1.2 mile Capitol Hill. I kept my pace steady focusing on being consistent through the climb. At the top of this monster, there wa a switch back for yet more climbing for another .25 miles. People were dropping like flies going through the climb. After the switch back, there were several more steep rolling hills all resulting in more climbing through mile 7 at which point I walked through a water station and took my first GU. From miles 7-8, we had about a 1 mile descent back to the river and bridge we had prueviously crossed. Actually, this was the most challenging part of the race to not shred my quads during the descent which I witnessed many people doing. I crossed the 8 mile marker at 56:57 which I wasn't very pleased with as I was hoping for a sub-7 min pace despite the difficult course. For hydration, I implored a walking thru the water stations to make sure I got plenty of water since I made the mistake in my first half-marathon of getting de-hydrated and dying in the last 2 miles(literally should have went to the hospital for fluids during that one). Miles 8-11 were uneventful as I picked-off several people who passed me in the hills. At mile 12, I took another GU which I probably should have took at mile 11 as I was feeling tired at this point. The course was flat with a few rollers until the end. I continued to pick people off as I went along, but I must say I got passed by one person during this span to my dismay. The finish of the race was at Laidley Field with the last 300 meters being around the track. Of course, I picked it up for the last 300m.
I ended finishing with a time of 1:46:27 which was about 2 mins slower than I had hoped for. The course was the most challenging I have ever run with about a 800-1000ft elevation change. I do feel like I could've ran a bit harder in the last 7 miles, but with my previous experience I was more worried about finishing. My walk-thru the water station tatic was something new which of course added to my time, but I was never worried about being de-hydrated at least. I ended finishing 50th overall. I must say I normally can barely walk after a race so either I'm in better shape or I held-back some during the race. Either way I'm happy about not being beatup like I normally am.
I slept better than usual before a race and only woke up once during the night. 5:30am wakeup with a bagel & PB for breakfast. We met up with a few more people who arrived later than us from Lexington and all rode together to the starting line at the WV capital.
It was about a mile walk from the car to the start line which was a good warmup. No sense running 2-3 miles to warmup for a 15 mile race at least in my mind anyway. I lined up in the 2nd-3rd row area behind the Kenyans. This race imports around 5-10 elite racers since they give cash prizes.
The race was started by a civil war era cannon which was unpredictable when it would fire so the start time was a little off. The first 3 miles I spent trying to get into a rhythm shooting for 6:45 min miles skipping the initial water stops. The only challenging part was crossing over a bridge during this span which was a dramatic change in elevation. At mile 4 the climb began, with the infamous 1.2 mile Capitol Hill. I kept my pace steady focusing on being consistent through the climb. At the top of this monster, there wa a switch back for yet more climbing for another .25 miles. People were dropping like flies going through the climb. After the switch back, there were several more steep rolling hills all resulting in more climbing through mile 7 at which point I walked through a water station and took my first GU. From miles 7-8, we had about a 1 mile descent back to the river and bridge we had prueviously crossed. Actually, this was the most challenging part of the race to not shred my quads during the descent which I witnessed many people doing. I crossed the 8 mile marker at 56:57 which I wasn't very pleased with as I was hoping for a sub-7 min pace despite the difficult course. For hydration, I implored a walking thru the water stations to make sure I got plenty of water since I made the mistake in my first half-marathon of getting de-hydrated and dying in the last 2 miles(literally should have went to the hospital for fluids during that one). Miles 8-11 were uneventful as I picked-off several people who passed me in the hills. At mile 12, I took another GU which I probably should have took at mile 11 as I was feeling tired at this point. The course was flat with a few rollers until the end. I continued to pick people off as I went along, but I must say I got passed by one person during this span to my dismay. The finish of the race was at Laidley Field with the last 300 meters being around the track. Of course, I picked it up for the last 300m.
I ended finishing with a time of 1:46:27 which was about 2 mins slower than I had hoped for. The course was the most challenging I have ever run with about a 800-1000ft elevation change. I do feel like I could've ran a bit harder in the last 7 miles, but with my previous experience I was more worried about finishing. My walk-thru the water station tatic was something new which of course added to my time, but I was never worried about being de-hydrated at least. I ended finishing 50th overall. I must say I normally can barely walk after a race so either I'm in better shape or I held-back some during the race. Either way I'm happy about not being beatup like I normally am.
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