December 31, 2011 – Great New Year’s Eve Run (Ohio)

On New Year’s Eve 2011 I ran my last race of the year with NB, my good friend Keeley, Keeley’s sister and their mom. Keels’ boyfriend Dave, photographer extraordinaire, was kind enough to take pictures.

It was a 4 p.m. race, so fueling was interesting, especially given that my mom’s fiance bought a TON of bagels and pastries. But I still had a small amount of oatmeal a couple hours out, and brought along a GU roctane for pre-race. We drove about 25 minutes to the race site, a rival high school to where I went – also the biggest high school I have ever seen. It was basically a caste. Packet pick up and a mini-expo were in the cafeteria, which was replete with flat screen TVs and high ceilings. Seriously. Swank.

We had a lot of sitting around time, and eventually whiled it away with Keeley and Dave, the latter of whom started to go nuts with the camera (like I told him to).

Keeley, sporting her knit earphone covers Christmas present

Nerdy Boyfriend demonstrates how NOT go eat a GU.I demonstrate how NOT to give your game face

Most important part of pre-race routine: locating the facilities. And using them.

About 10 minutes to start, we took our fuel, readied our Garmins and iPods, and headed outside for a very short warm up jog before lining up at the start. I had been sorta-kinda hoping for a PR (previous PR is 23:42, on a course with a huge downhill at the start, the rest a flat out-and-back) but the city where the race was is notoriously rolling, so I wasn’t holding my breath.

So limberSmile, everybody! I'm sure the course is flat and fast ... right?

The race began, and off we went. NB took off, and Keels, her mom and sis enjoyed the sights will I was somewhere in between. I went comfortably hard for the first mile, taking note of a pretty significant downhill in the first half mile that I knew would really hurt on the way back.  This course was definitely rolling. I was making up for the uphill slowing by cruising the downhills and the flats, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t PR, but still hoped I could go sub-25. At the top of a cruel hill, we turned off into a development and saw the lead bike and frontrunners churning in singlets, shorts, armwarmers and gloves, kicking along at 5 and change minute miles. NB and I (badly) high-fived as we passed each other in the neighborhood, and after I made the turnaround (and had to stop to tie my shoelace just before – damn new shoes!) I waved at Keels and her family. Mile 1 passed in 7:47, with mile 2 slowing to 8:05. Damn. No PR at this point, but I kept charging on.

Mile 3 was starting to hurt. By the time I got to that hill I’d been dreading, I gave in: I walked. Just before the top I kicked back in and then pushed until the end. I pushed, and pushed, and ended heaving and gasping for breath, ending in 25:15 by my watch.

NB finishing strongMe finishing ugly

Keeley and her mom finishing happy

Keels' sis bringing it in fierce

We all ended with smiles, feeling significantly better after than we did during (isn’t that always the way? Especially with 5Ks). Not a bad way to end the year.

A little sweaty, but pretty happy

January 8, 2012 – Frigid Five Miler (PA)

This was our second running of this race, and our third timing having to run the Dreaded Hill (we’d run it at the start of that Halloween 10K we did. Sucks no matter what, but being at the end, when you’re tired, it REALLY sucks). It’s a very hilly course, but the first three miles are rolling with a net downhill. Mile four is a bit rough, and then mile five has the last 2/3 mile straight uphill. You don’t even get to crest and come down a bit to the finish. You’re still charging it as you cross the line.

We drove with our race buddies Rob and Cas, and met up with a couple other friends, Matt and Maria, as we warmed ourselves in the cabin. Last year it had been about 11 degrees, and the year before (when we weren’t there to race it. Or at least I wasn’t) it had apparently been a -7* windchill. This year it was mid-30s and sunny. Not really “frigid” by most standards. Last year I took it easy and enjoyed it (48:03 by my garmin). This year I wanted a course PR.

As usual, I took my pre-race Gu Roctane about 15 minutes to the start. We did a little jogging to warm up, and jumped around to keep the blood moving. It wasn’t that cold, but standing around it got to be so. Before we knew it, it was time to roll!

My plan was to try to stick to my cruising speed, which is about 8:30 miles, so I could have some room to crash and burn on the last uphill. The first mile was pretty rolling but I felt good, cruising it at a perfect 8:34 (btw, I think the course was a bi short. Or the first mile was. If memory serves, seems like the start line was farther forward this year than last, so my garmin was beeping after the mile markers, rather than before as is typical of GPS devices. At most it was short .05 mi, but still). There was one girl I tried to keep with since she seemed to have a metronome inside her and was cruising along very smoothly. We passed and re-passed each other at intervals, occasionally drafting off one another. It was a strange, companionable competition, yet teamwork. I enjoyed it.

Mile 2 has some intense, quad-crushing downhills, and I tried to cruise and enjoy them, clicking off the second mile in 8:17. I worried about my speed, but still felt pretty good. Mile 3 was also a lot of downhill, and I crushed it in 8:04. Shit.

At mile 4, as with last year, I started to hurt. Last year I thought I was bonking. This year I recognized that it was because I”d gone from two miles pretty much downhill to flat and slightly climbing. There is a decent-ish hill halfway through the fourth mile that killed me, and I walked a bit, then told myself to stop being a sissy, suck it up, we had the big hill and we needed time in the bank for that one. Mile five was respectable, but slower: 8:47 (my goal HM pace).

Mile 5 began with dread. I had a third of a mile to try to cruise and enjoy, but my mind was already grinding up the hill. As it came into view and we curved onto it, I pulled down the brim of my cap and told myself: here we go.

I kept my arms low, tried to focus on my breathing, keeping my knees up so I didn’t trip, staying relaxed. I made it farther than last year, but I walked. My pacer girl came into sight, and we both took alternating walk breaks. Passing and catching up with one another. Once when our breaks overlapped, I gasped out to her, “this hill” and she gave a tired smile and nodded. “Yeah,” she said seriously. “This hill.”

I kept pushing. I kept taking breaks, but I tried to keep them short, and as I saw we were rounding the final curve and Rob came into sight (he’s a good sport and cheers everyone else up. He’s wicked fast) cheering me up, and NB just past him, I knew I couldn’t give in. I just chugged and chugged, not able to muster much of a kick at all, just glad to pass the line with a weak celebratory smile, pushing STOP to see my glorious course PR: 43:41.

I don't know how I was able to lift my arms at this point

And I managed to get some swag! I snagged 3rd in my age group (20-24), though the first two gals put me to shame, both in the 37 minute range, so I felt a little sheepish about claiming my award. I also won a raffle prize: two reflective slap bands, which I’ve been loving on my dark winter morning runs.

Anyone curious about the elevation profile should check out my garmin stats. Pittsburgh hills are unforgiving bastards.

Next race is at he end of February. I promise to be better about updating between now and then!

But what else have I been up to? Well, mostly I’m enjoying the last few weeks of my off-season. Yeah, I’ve been racing, but no real training since I ran the Air Force half, which has been nice. I’ve been trying to get in occasional speedwork and tempo efforts. I even did my very first 800s workout a couple weeks ago on a drizzly evening. I warmed up with a 1200 m jog, then did 4×800, trying to stay between 3:35 and 3:45 for the splits, with 400 jog rests. I nailed it! It was actually pretty fun. I still hate mile repeats, and 800s are harder speed-wise, but the “dark zone” is shorter. For a 1600, the first lap usually feels good, then somewhere in the middle of the second lap, the reality of your pace and how much farther you have to go hits you. This feeling worsens and doesn’t let up until the beginning (or even halfway through) the final lap, when it’s give-it-all-you’re-almost-there time. With 800s, the first lap felt great, second lap started feeling hard, but by halfway through that lap, I was nearly done, so why quit (though I did a little. I made up for it though)?

Another thing I tried: this workout from Runner’s World. I got stuck working and missed pilates, so told myself I’d do a home workout for 45 minutes to an hour. Let me tell you, it looked hard from the descriptions/videos, but this workout is really not for the faint of heart. And honestly I think the sets/reps expectations for “beginners” are ridiculous. 6×15 jump squats for beginners, 8×15 for advanaced? Five minute super sets for beginners, six minutes for advanced? Something does not compute.

After the warmup (squats, jumping jack, etc.) it starts with the jump squats. I managed to eke out 4×15, and on the last couple reps of the fourth set, I felt my legs begin to collapse under me. I was doggedly NOT using my arms for momentum, keeping them out straight, hands flexed. I was SHAKING by the end. I made it through maybe two-thirds of the full workout, trimming sets back, taking extra breathers. I felt like I was being a sissy but good LORD was this workout hard.

The next morning as my alarm blared, I got out of bed… and my quads wept in pain. I was planning on New Thing #3: spin class. Truth be told, I’ve done spin before, but I HATED it. Actually, I hated the instructor, who was a bitchy little martyr who complained about how he danced all day and biked 30 miles a day waah waah waaah. Oh, and your resistance isn’t high enough so let me up it for you. With any fitness class, it’s about the instructor, so I was willing to try another one. Only issue? The one that fit my schedule was 5:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. So I dragged my butt out of bed at 5 a.m., and go to the gym to witness a sight I hadn’t seen before: the people who are there at open. I’d never been there earlier than 6:30, so it was funny to see the truly dedicated gym rats, shivering in the cold at 5:28 a.m., waiting for the doors to open (we tried to go in to stay warm in the doorway, but they kicked us out). Everyone seemed to know each other, and there was a great sense of camaraderie.

So, the verdict on the spin class? Awesome. The instructor talks a little too quietly given how loud her music is, but you can mostly read her lips, figure out her gestures. She’s more hands-off, which is good and bad, since I need to learn to push, but gave more visual cues (okay, we’re going to do some rolling hills; now we’re riding down the hill; coming up it’s flat, so we’ll do some sprints; one last, big climb, guys!) which I appreciated, since it breaks up the monotony of staring at a wall.

I was hoping the hard workout would do something for the lactic acid buildup in my legs from the previous day, enough for me to do a recovery run Thursday. I stretched when I could, had a couple bananas, and got up to walk around the office as often as possible.

Thursday morning I wake up, and it’s worse. I should have known, because I always get delayed muscle soreness. Day 2 is always the worst, and I was really paying for those jump squats. My glutes were a little sore, noted mostly as I tried to sit down anywhere, but I mainly felt it in my quads, which screamed in agony going downstairs, crouching to feet my cat (who looked up at me when I was taking forever to fill her bowl with a look that said, “why are you teasing me so?”), and standing and sitting from my work desk. Pretty sure my co-worker behind me was wondering why I was walking around like an 90 year old.

Friday was SLIGHTLY better but I could still barely handle stairs, standing, sitting, etc. After a nice massage from NB, I was able to squeeze in a run on that Saturday (this was January 7, btw). It was in the 50s so I ran in shorts (SHORTS. IN JANUARY). I planned on doing about 3 easy miles in Schenley Oval, since it’s super flat. I ended up doing it at half-marathon race pace, and finished up with a few striders on the track (which were about 5:15 pace, per my Garmin). It seemed to get rid of the soreness, which I was relieved about since I had a race the next day (report to come, promise!)

I’ve been keeping up with spin class, and have been enjoying being showered and ready for the day at 7 a.m., giving me ample time to go to a coffee shop for a cup of joe, and read for a good hour (though today I headed to work earlier since I’ve been so slammed). I did some 4×10 jump squats in one of my workouts last week, and hope to do more this week if work allows. I’m figuring on a kick-butt tempo run tomorrow, either in the morning or the evening (I may have to start work very early tomorrow, in which case an evening tempo run will help me shake off frustration; if not, the morning tempo will get me in a better mindset for my work day).

In any case, I’ve been trying to keep things sharp, and keep it interesting. I start training in mid/late February, and will write about my 2012 race plans very soon, in addition to those race reports!

I didn’t run AT ALL when I was in Michigan visiting family for Christmas. I have a number of sad excuses: I sleep in a cave when I’m there. Seriously, this bedroom has no light. So that, combined with vacation sleeping-in, and the way we eat at really random times, meant no running for me.

We got back Monday night around dinner time. I’d still been eating pretty erratically, but had a hearty lunch (we stopped at my Uncle Mark’s, and he’s a chef. He whipped up some leftovers: field green salad and soup with black truffles. And cheese biscuits. Om nom nom). I was catching up on my interneting while my mom and her fiance watched some TV, and started getting antsy and almost anxious. I figured I might be hanging out with friends later that night, and had hoped to run the next morning with Keels, but the forecast was grim (rain/snow mix anyone?).

That’s when it hit me. The urge to run. Right then. It was that now-or-never feeling I like to call the running window. If you get right into you running clothes, lace on your shoes and get out the door within that time frame, you have a fantastic run. If you lolly-gag too long, you won’t go at all. it was do or die.

I ran upstairs, got all teched out (including a brand new UA cold gear shirt courtesy of my mom and fiance for Christmas; it was his idea apparently to get it for me, and it’s awesome), told my mom where I was going, and headed out the door, donning my headlamp and some somewhat emo but still blood-pumping music. I did three miles at half-marathon pace, the third mile edging towards tempo pace. I wore my new Brooks Ghost 4s for the first time (my second pair of the same shoe), and felt fantastic. It completely cleared my head, and I showered up, and met up with friends, pigging out on food and not feeling the least bit guilty.

The end of the year is tight and stressful: I have a big case due at work on Friday, am picking up NB from the airport tomorrow after his trip home for Christmas, and after I get off work Friday we’re heading right back to Ohio to spend New Year’s weekend. And we’re running a 5K.

But I got out the door, and that’s what counts. My mileage will get back up there. In the meantime, I know I can just get out and run: make it feel good, or make it hurt. Whatever it is I need in that moment.

When I first started running, I ran in whatever gym shoes I had at the time. As those of you who have read my first post already know, I started with the mile in gym, and kept going from there when I felt the pride of a job well done. Eventually, as I ran more, and then had a car sophomore year, I started going to Kohl’s to replace my shoes: it was cheap, and I didn’t really know any better. Even then, I was still pretty cautious about what I bought. It only ever cost me about $60, and I’d jog up and down the aisles in the shoes, seeing how they felt. In fact, the other day I was clearing out my car and had several pairs of old shoes (which I hope to donate, or at this point might just throw out given how old they are), including my very first pair of Asics. Back when they made red Asics for girls (seriously – what is with the lack of cool colors for girls’ running shoes? I know a lot of you ladies like pink, but I am not a fan. My car is red. My iPod is red. The best color ever, in my opinion, is fire engine red. Cranberry in certain contexts).

It wasn’t until I think senior year of college that I discovered Jack Rabbit Sports in New York, my very first specialty running store. I honestly couldn’t tell you anymore what led me there, because I really don’t remember. Maybe someone recommended it, maybe I was just googling, but after discovering the concept of getting professionally fit, I was hooked. That day, I walked out with a pair of Asics Gel-Cumulus: cushy, lovely. Cloud-like. A couple months later, I dropped serious bank (and fortunately they have 10% discounts for returning customers) on getting real winter running gear, since I was attempting to run year round, rather than only running when the weather was “nice” and having to start from scratch every spring. But that’s a bit off topic.

I got to visit Jack Rabbit a couple times when it came to shoes, but then I came back home. I think I held onto my last pair probably too long, but I wasn’t clocking all that high a mileage. In September, my first in Pittsburgh, with NB and I about to embark on training for our very first half-marathon, I knew I needed new shoes, and wanted to introduce him to the joys of the speciality running store. In the spring of my senior year, after never getting around to take NB to Jack Rabbit when he was in town (we were long distance for the first 3.5 years of our relationship), I helped him use the Runner’s World shoe finder and shopped on Amazon.com for his first pair of Asics, getting the Evolutions (he has huge flat feet, over-pronates and has bad knees because of it. He said the shoes made an ENORMOUS difference).

So I googled around and asked some running groups, and we wound up at the local store Elite Runners and Walkers – which also puts on a lot of great local races (though the director is kind of a sadist who likes including some really mean hills). This was the first time I was buying two pairs of shoes: I wanted an everyday trainer, and something lighter and quicker for speedwork, which I had never done very much of at all. I wound up with the Asics Gel-Nimbus (they didn’t carry the Cumulus) for every day and the Gel-Landreth for tempo runs and speedwork (I also raced the ATL half in them). NB had to special order his, given his size 15 feet, but stuck with what worked for him, though he was pretty impressed by the overall fitting process.

For any newbie runners, any specialty running store worth its salt is going to watch you walk around, stand, see how your (bare) foot collapses, and hopefully stick you on a treadmill to analyze your gait. And then they will tirelessly fit you into shoes until you find the perfect pair. They’re all runners, so they know how important this is. A shoe that isn’t quite right can spell disaster, and suddenly you’re in agony, eight miles into a 12 mile run.

I stuck with the Nimbus for another two cycles, eventually switching speedwork shoe to the Ghost 3 (racing Pittsburgh in them). Over the summer, I got the Nimbus 13, and started having knee problems. I have no idea to this day if this was a related issue, but the association was there. I still think Asics are great, but by then I had the Ghost 4s, which to my dismay were a bit heavy (having started out as a performance trainer, they have shifted dramatically into the neutral category) and trained in them exclusively. I love them. They’re wonderful, but they are now my everyday/long run shoe. Period.

For weeks, nay, months, I’ve been salivating over one particular model of Brooks. The Launch. I had heard nothing but praise: they were a light, fast, neutral shoe, with some cushioning, and more of a racing flat feel. A perfect hybrid, and comfy enough for distance. Going into the store today, I was already pretty certain Elite didn’t carry them, so I had taken a risk. As part of my Hanukkah wish list my dad had been bugging me for, I included a link to the Launch on Brooks’ website. I know they have a good return policy, and I had a good feeking about the shoe.

The stuff on my list was mostly from Amazon, so it was trickling in. Thursday, I got home late from work since we had our office holiday party, and found a FedEx tag on my door. Confusing, I pulled it, trying to figure out when I’d have time to go. Friday, another tag – second attempt. The package was marked for security concerns so I couldn’t sign for it to be left at the door. I had to be there, or else pick it up at the FedEx office.

This morning, before our errands (which also included lots of Christmas/Hanukkah gift shopping), NB and I made a run to FedEx. I’d checked the tracking number online to insure it was there, and that they weren’t trying to deliver it again that morning or something. It was. As I checked the number, I saw the origin city: Seattle, WA, instantly confirming my first instincts about what the package was.

I was absolutely giddy driving there. NB was sort of laughing as me as I stood there giggling, waiting for the guy to get the box, and seeing the telltale size and shape of a shoebox. I opened it the moment I got back in the car, cutting open the outer box with my car key, and then slowly oepning the shoebox lid, pulling back the paper.

They, are beautiful. I got the light blue ones, and they are just lovely to look at. I pick them up with one finger, feeling how light they were hanging there. And I cannot WAIT to run in them. I’m wearing my new Ghost 4s (also blue. Elite doesn’t carry the green, and I’d gone the last pair at the local Fleet Feet. Darn it) and will try the Launch out on a tempo run this week. For once, I cannot WAIT for this tempo run: to go fast, to push, to feel like I’m flying.

All because of that new shoes feeling.

We got up right at 6 a.m. and I made us some oatmeal and my mom made us coffee (thanks Mom!). It was going to be a gorgeous day, but it was starting off pretty chilly, so we had to sport some layers. By 7 a.m. we were heading out the door to the mall hosting the race for packet pickup.

The drive went smoothly and before we knew it, we were spotting 13.1 and 26.2 stickers, and saw the big “finish” blow up banner laying across the parking lot.  We just beat the rush and were pinning on our bibs and securing our timing chips when suddenly there was a huge line. Phew! But we got to stay inside and stay warm while we prepared, which was nice. Ii actually ran into a former neighbor, Liz, who is a couple years younger than me. I hadn’t seen her in YEARS but knew she was running marathons, and fast (I friended her on Facebook later that day – turns out she ran the Air Force Marathon! Small world we live in).

Pre-race photo op

We took our Gus (chocolate raspberry Roctane for me – yum) and got in a bit of a warmup, looping around the parking lot, and ran into one of my future step-brothers (for whom I can not think of a clever alias yet, so please forgive me for that). Before we knew it, it was minutes to the start, and time to line up. I was a little worried about pace. I hadn’t been doing any tempo runs or speedwork, and had no idea of the elevation chart for the course, but was hoping I could squeak out a sub 32 minute race. NB was hoping for sub-30. I decided my B goal was sub-35, since I knew I could manage this without killing myself and still have fun. The rest would be icing on the cake.

I waved “hello” to a high school friend on the sidelines and readied my Garmin. It was a gun start, but we positioned ourselves well at the star,t near the front but not in a will-be-run-down-by-speed-demons way. With my headphones in and the quiet sound system, I could barely hear the announcer, but knew when the surge started: I pushed ‘START’ on my garmin, having already started my music a few seconds before, and we were off!

Can you see me? A the bottom, slightly left of center in the blue cap with black earband. NB is rocking the black with yellow striping shirt we got in Vancouver and a red hat

That's me in the blue right in the middle

I thought I had heard the announcer say something about the first mile being fast, and he wasn’t kidding. NB wanted to take the first mile in about 7:45 go warm up, and I wasn’t far behind him for that whole first mile. We trotted out of the parking lot and across the main road, tucking into a side road and down a short but nice downhill. We passed some dudes playing mud football (who I think heckled us about not playing football and “only” running. yeah, okay. My sport is your sport’s punishment) and eventually a high school with an actual football team out for Thanksgiving morning practice. I hit the first mile before my Garmin did, so I think the course was short (or the first mile was, since it didn’t seem to get shorter progressively, and stayed the same after that), ticking it off in 7:37. Oops.  A bit fast, but maybe I was just building myself a nice cushion?

The course quickly flattened and we headed into the first out and back about 1.5 miles in. NB still wasn’t that far ahead, and we exchanged smiles and high-fived between the cones as we passed each other. I was confused by not being at 2 miles at the turn around, but we ended up going through a parking lot a bit and winding around more to make it four, so it worked out. In the weird little parking lot turn around, I thanked a boy for picking up a fallen cone, only to hear my future step-bro echo my thanks. Startled and competitive, I unthinkingly picked up the pace, noting it on my garmin, in addition to my elevated breath. I asked him how he was feeling, and after a bit of chit chat, let him go. No sense in bonking just trying to chick him (he ended up beating me by less than a minute, so I can’t complain).

I hit mile 2 in 7:51 somewhere in there, and mile 3 in 8:01. Then the suffering began. I was pretty pleased to see a time pretty near my 5K PR just shy of where 5K would have been, when I came back to that hill from the beginning, and now of course as an uphill. I eased off the throttle, lowering my arms and driving to drive up in a relaxed fashion. As I was still trying to catch my breath, I ran past my mom, who was staked out to see us all passing at about 3 and a third miles:

NB kicking ass and taking names - he was really happy with his pacing overall, and rightly so

Future step-bro is all smiles!

Smiling for my support crew/suffering from the hill

Apparently I surprised my mom when I came up the hill – she didn’t expect me to be so close behind the guys!

Okay, I confess. I took a teeny, tiny walk break. I was dying, that hill just clobbered me, but mostly I was a huge chicken. It was like 15-20 seconds, and didn’t really cost me anything. I picked it right back up for a long loop around the mall’s main parking lot before snaking around to the finish and charging it in. Seeing the clock, I suddenly had a huge grin on my face, seeing that I was going to CRUSH my goal. Here are some snaps of all of us finishing:

Nice kick!

Nothing like a short race to bring the pain.

So close... keep pushing...

Managing a smile - sort of

Check the clock! Sub-32!

I zig zagged a little dizzily after the finish, and got stuck in the corral line where people were stopping very suddenly to remove their chips and volunteers pulled our raffle tags (though they drew the raffle before the walkers had finished – lame). We of course snapped some post-race pictures:

Sweaty and tired - but we earned our turkey!

We headed inside for bananas and water and other goodies, and found out that we actually did decently in our age groups. I’d been secretly hoping for an AG award, but honestly I’d forgotten to take into account all the cross-country runners home for break that absolutely crushed it. But I got 6th in my AG and NB got 7th, so we can’t complain!

Here’s the weird part:

Results -

Garmin time (started watch at gun, since no starting timing mat): 31:07

Garmin distance: 3.94 (huh?)

chip time:  30:59

Either way, I beat my goal, and even if the course was short, I STILL would have beat it if it was the correct distance. Plus, it was a turkey trot, so who cares!

One of the funniest parts? NB and I went for an “easy” trail run on Saturday on one of the toughest trails ever – it was four miles, and it took us (read: me) almost 44 minutes. Umm… yeah.

Winter is well on its way, and I had my last run in shorts this morning until probably April. But am I done racing for the season? Not likely – these random fun runs are just too much fun to pass up. And already we have our sights set on a 5K on New Year’s Eve…

As you already know, last week I was in Vancouver. On Thursday NB and I went on a fabulous run around Stanley Park, snapping some great photos and really enjoying ourselves. Friday we woke up to rainy weather, as expected, and decided to check out the hotel gym, which was a bit cramped but did the job. NB put my arms through the ringer and I returned the favor with some pilates side-lying series that shredded both of our hips. Awesome.

We went out to lunch at a Thai place and, having passed a local running store called Running Room a couple times in our travels, wanted to stop there after, as well as scout out bike rental places to hit the Seawall path via bike. As we were coming down the street approaching the running store, we saw a huge line snaking out of it. What was going on? Big product release? Elite runner in town signing autographs? We went up to a couple ladies in line to ask. “Picking up packets for a race tomorrow.”

Say again?

Of course, we had to know more. It was a night race, set to go off Saturday evening, and everyone got a headlamp in addition to the usual tech shirt. There was a 10K and a 5K, and there might be spots still open for late registration.

So what did we do? Of course, we got in line. NB wanted the 10K, but we quickly found it was sold out, and took the 5K instead. The registration price was steep $70 Canadian, but in addition to the VERY swank headlamp, we got black Brooks short-sleeved shirts with reflective yellow strips draped over the shoulders. They only had a large for me, but it ended up being perfect somehow, apparently running super small. The race was to go off along the Seawall in Stanley Park, so we’d only have maybe a half-ish mile or so wall to the hotel. With our swag in hand and excitement in our bellies, we headed out to enjoy the rest of our day, which included the rain ending just in time for a bike ride around the Seawall in absurd winds: 35 mph gusting to 48, according to weather.com. Ri.diculous.

Saturday, it rained. All day. We got up just before 8 a.m. and went to the hotel pool and just fooled around in the water, mostly just talking and goofing around, and spending a few minutes in the hot tub. After a shower and a very expensive hotel breakfast, we walked over to the aquarium for our rainy-day plan. The rain didn’t cease while we were there, and in fact we stood in the rain during the dolphin show. We were preparing ourselves for a pretty wet race.

After a few days of eating pretty unhealthy, we were trying to clean it up a bit. We’d had fruit and veggie-filled breakfasts, and stopped at Whole Foods for soup and salads, which we ate in bed while watching “Tangled” on Netflix. I was a little concerned since we didn’t finish eating until well after 2 p.m., and the race start was 5:15, but I hoped it was light enough that I’d be okay.

A little after 4 pm, we started gearing up. It was in the low 40s, felt like 30s, and raining. I donned compression shorts under tights (in a futile attempt to keep my butt a little warmer), a short sleeve tech shirt under a long sleeve tech shirt, and my rain shell over this, in addition to my Air Force hat, earband, gloves, and, of course, the headlamp. We pinned on our bib numbers, double-checked directions, grabbed a couple Gus and took some pictures before heading out into the fray.

Glad he brought his cold gear for this race.

All teched out and ready to go!

We stepped out into the rain and instantly felt the cold. We walked briskly to the race start, winding through the streets and into the park, which warmed us a bit, but we knew this would be a tough one. We both wanted to try to do this fast – it was a flat out and back – but knew that the nature of the race, being on the narrow path, would make that hard, especially if we didn’t get good placement at the start.

We began approaching the start and saw some other runners (including one wearing his bib on his back – n00b alert!) and then suddenly we were inundated by them: the sun set by 4:30 or so, so everyone was highly reflective, some wearing their finisher’s shirts (bad joo joo), others not, and all donning their headlamps.  We were definitely in the right place. We passed by a lodge and approached some tents, one large one from which loud music was pumping out and an announcer talking excitedly, telling the 10Kers to start lining up. We had to walk through the muck a couple times, first looking for water to take our Gu (I took a chocolate-raspberry Roctane, my current favorite), and then getting on another section of the path to try to squeeze in a warm up. We jogged up for maybe a quarter mile and back, and I felt my stomach clenching a bit. I was hoping it was just nerves and not my lunch.

Because we warmed up, we sacrificed a good start position. We figured, oh well, this is just supposed to be fun anyway. We jumped up and down, rubbed our arms, did butt kicks and high knees and chatted with runners around us, trying to keep warm once we stopped moving, the rain still dripping down on us.

At 5:15 sharp, the gun went off, and the race began! We first scrunched up at first and after a few bottlenecks, we were past the start line, garmins ticking away. But the crowd was NUTS. The path was maybe eight feet across and there were hundreds of runners. We both zigged and zagged, and within a hundred feet I had dunked my right foot in a puddle. Oh well.

The path quickly curved and then we were along the water, running along a section we had only run a tiny piece of at the end of our Thursday morning run. It was like playing dodgems. I was constantly surging and slamming on the breaks, squeezing through tiny holes and saying “excuse me” and “on your left” and “coming through” every other breath. I’m fine with slow runners. I’m fine with slower-than-me runners (and I don’t consider myself fast). I am totally fine with walkers. But can the walkers PLEASE line up at the back? I actually came up against a wall of three people walking ABREAST of each other.  I bit back my frustration and waited for a gap, zipping through as soon as I could. I had my Garmin set to a screen that showed my projected lap time, and it was pretty dismal for a while. I have to say though, one runner was kind enough to even let me through, asking “did you want to go ahead? Go right through!” completely sincerely. I thanked her profusely and zipped along.

I wanted to push and try to make up time, but didn’t want to be stupid and end up blowing up at the end because of it. The first mile wrapped up in 9:15, which was better than it could have been I suppose but much, much slower than I would like (my previous 5K first miles were in the 7:30s and faster). At that point the crowd had thinned significantly, which was good as far as the crowd situation but I realized it had become very difficult to see. At times I was able to avoid puddles because I saw another runner step in one, but other times I totally missed them. Even with a cap on, my glasses were quickly getting covered with water, and no amount of wiping away the water really helped the matter. By the 2K marker (and I laughed at the fact that the marker was in kilometers. Oh, Canada) both my feet were soaked. A volunteer was twirling a huge hula hoop decorated with bright lights and told us of the upcoming water station.

After the turnaround, it started getting nerve wracking. The crowd thinned even more, and we actually apparently got off course, something I suspected and asked a nearby runner, but he didn’t hear me since he was wearing headphones (which weren’t allowed, and NB and I grumblingly obeyed. We actually did fine sans music, and I’ve always found hard, short efforts hard to do without music). We ended up going up onto the bike path – since the pedestrian path and bike path are parallel-ish and separate) and up a long-ish, gradual hill and along the road for a bit. The ground and path ahead was difficult ahead, and I tried to keep at least one shiny, reflective-dressed runner in my sights at all times. Eventually we traipsed down some grass and got back on course, not having really lost any time, but losing a bit of confidence. I missed my 2 mile split but figured it was in the 8:30ish range, given everything.

I couldn’t see my pace at all for mile three. My glasses were so coated that I couldn’t check my watch, and I honestly was too worried about where I was going to even really try. So I just tried to keep pushing. I kept passing and getting passed by headphones guy (I think I eventually chicked him at the end), and just listened for the sound of the blasting music at the tent. We passed a volunteer shining a light into a white umbrella, which she spun, lighting our way, and she told us to keep going, we were almost there.

I started seeing more headlamps, and the white of the tents, and hearing the music and the announcer calling out the finishers. As we rounded the corner I started my kick, passing a girl as I drove to the finish, throwing my arms up in the air with a grin and stopping my watch a  couple steps later. NB was there waiting for me.

We were frozen. After the race, we were hot and sweaty of course, but we got our goodies and headed out, knowing we had a bit of a walk and wanted to grab dinner before heading back, and very aware that our core temperatures would drop rapidly. I was shivering badly, but a hot shower and a cup of hot soup later I was happy as a clam.

And the results? My chip time was 26:40, which is almost 3 minutes slower than my PR, but I’m still pretty happy with it. The results page is a little effed up, but from what I can tell I should have gotten 4th in my age group (some of the times are translocated and weird. I can’t figure it out). I could have been over a minute slower than my PR, and won my age group – in ideal conditions of course.  What’s realy hilarious to me is my pace in km/h (5:21) and the fact that they list me as from Vancouver (NB is apparently from nowhere – he got 23:29, 13 seconds faster than my PR and a minute and a half slower than his).

It was not a PR-course, except for being a flat out and back, but we had an absolute blast. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to run a road race in another country, and it was an unforgettable experience.

I headed up to Highland Park, under two miles away, and did both loops inside: the large loop on road and trail, and the inner, reservoir loop. There were dozens of runners, walkers and a few cyclists whipping around the big loop.The colors were magnificent: mostly bright yellows and a few blazing reds. It was Friday evening just before sundown, and I considered it my celebration of the coming of Shabbat.

Sunday, NB and I forced ourselves out of bed and ran to Schenley Park, doing a loop inside and then running back. We knew the distance would be odd (it was about 8.6 miles) and I hadn’t run Schenley in a WHILE, and honestly should have brought a gel since the hills are intense, but it was so gorgeous, climbing up through the forest and then winding back down past the golf course.

This week NB and I traveled to Vancouver. He’s giving a talk at a conference here (for which he is mega-nervous. These are mostly industry/corporate types and he’s a second-year Ph.D. student. But he’s going to do AWESOME and I am so, so proud. Plus either way these are all Huge Nerds here, so he fits right in), and I’m tagging along as a mini-vacation. We got up at 4:30 yesterday and got here at 1 p.m. local, staying up until what was 1 a.m. for us to try to get on local time. I think it worked: when we woke up at 7 local, it felt like morning, and the first thing we did was go for a run. [ed. Disregard the elevation chart. At one point our Garmins were flipping out about our pace, I think because of the mountains, so my elevation got totally messed up. It was pretty flat]

Thanks to this conference, we’re staying at the SUPER swank Westin, and they even have little mini-maps of a couple tracks on nearby Stanley Park, designed by what else?–Runner’s World. It dawned in the high-40s, so we layered up, leaving our iPods in the room and bringing our Garmins (just to track distance) and a camera. Fortunately the fuel belt I got for free from the PGH Marathon station at the Great Race expo fit the camera perfectly, and we took some great shots. We did 6.75 miles at an easy-ish pace, all the way around Stanley Park on the seawall course. It was really stunning. You start along a harbor, and in the background the entire way are huge mountains with clouds cresting over them like waves.

The wildlife was awesome: we saw so many birds. There were of course tons of seagulls and Canada Geese (including one of each that appeared to have an injured foot, and the seagull actually was missing a foot, limping along on the leg. We called him Peg-Leg Steve. Or I did. I felt bad for him, but he was fat so I think he’s doing well for himself). There were plenty of ducks, including some species I wasn’t familiar with (though we snapped a photo of a sign that had some pictures and names of these species, which I will post when I upload those photos), and some kind of species of crane on this random, very tall, rocky little island thing, just about 10 feet from the path, which edged the water.

Every time the path curved, we were greeted by another stunning view: an enormous bridge; a white-capped mountain, cargo ships on the English Bay. We of course saw tons of runners and several cyclists. We plan on renting bikes – weather permitting – on Saturday and going as far along the Seawall path as we can manage.

In the meantime, I want to run here as much as possible. We haven’t done any trails inside the park, but looking in fromt he outside it looked gorgeous. I’m kicking myself for not bringing my Brooks Cascadias (I brought only two pairs of shoes: black pumps for dress-up evenings and my Brooks Ghosts, which I’m wearing for everything else). We’d originally planned on packing only one suitcase but I changed my mind at like 4:45 am yesterday, and didn’t think: well, now I have more room for shoes! Oh well. Hindsight is twenty-twenty.

We’re inside a lot of today for conference stuff, and his presentation is this evening at 5 pm local, but then we’re free to do whatever: attend sessions NB is interested in, and just relax and enjoy ourselves.  This city is absolutely gorgeous, and we can’t way to explore it even more.

Since it was a 9:30 start, we woke at a leisurely 7 a.m., eating our pre-race oatmeal at a relaxed pace and getting into our costumes. I’d been watching the forecast obsessively all week, and was devastated when the worst turned out to be true: it dawned in the mid-thirties, and it was snowing – huge, fat, wet flakes. I don’t recall a Halloween snow since I was little, and I was dressed as Lamb Chop so I was plenty warm. Fortunately the night before I’d gone out to Dick’s to get a black cold gear Underarmour shirt to layer beneath my costume. I put on my tank and warm warmers (with some white striping for added effect) over the shirt on top and tights on the bottom, donning my Brooks Ghost 4s (wishing for once that I had the blue ones for the color scheme, but I love my green shoes). NB also layered black cold gear under his costume shirt and warm running pants with white stripes running down the side. I skipped my wig because of the snow, instead wearing a black ear band and gloves, since it was going to be a chilly one.

A little after 8, our friends Cas (dressed as a bunny) and Rob (dressed as Zombie Steve Jobs… or maybe just a zombie, haha) picked us up and we headed out. Complaint number one: we’d raced in this park before, twice, actually, but the race organizer for those was a local running store that is INCREDIBLY organized. This one was hosted by the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon group, and shockingly, they weren’t that helpful. They didn’t give an address to plug into GPS but luckily they were able to use the address from the other races in this park and we made it there okay.

We had to park pretty far away and slog through the cold and snow. We were all shivering, and Cas was in pain especially since the ground was so soggy and wet from the snow that her Vibrams were soaked through. Not the ideal Halloween run weather.

Complaint number two: there was only race day packet pickup. It wasn’t too bad – there wasn’t a huge line – but it’s still a pain when that’s the only option. Rob kindly ran our packets back to the car as we pinned our bibs on, tied our timing chips to our laces and prepared ourselves. We went iPod-less because of the weather, carrying only our Toys R Us identity discs.

Before we knew it, it was minutes to the start, and the organizers were telling everyone to head out to the start line. It was freezing. We moved to the back, figuring we could avoid the congestion for the chip start (WRONG. It was a gun start. Complaint number 3). We saw FANTASTIC costumes: there were lots of Mario and Luigis (including two idiot girls in overall shorts and t-shirts. Seriously, ever hear of layering? It’s like those girls that insist on dressing like whores. LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME I look like a moron), Tetris pieces, a limo with a “celebrity” in the back, even Mario Kart cars! We saw one frozen looking guy stuffed into a little bo peep dress with several (girl) sheep around him, shivering his butt off.

The start was apparently delayed by cars driving on the closed course and a fallen tree in the 5K route, but 15 minutes late, we were off! We wanted to take it easy, just have fun and see the sights, but were hoping to run about 55 minutes, which would give us a sub-9 pace overall.

The two courses split immediately, and we were never able to determine the exact start given the lack of timing mats (we thought maybe they had some other contraption but were of course wrong). We both started our Garmins several seconds late as a result, but no biggie. The 5K course split right, and the 10K course split left… right up an enormous hill. Oooh that hill. It was the same hill that caused me to wheeze, just getting over a nose cold, at the very end of the Frigid Five Miler in January. We trucked up it, trying to focus on the costumes and staying relaxed, arms low. One by one we saw people start walking, some sooner than others, but we kept on as the path wound and wound and wound up the hill, until we finally saw the senior center that had warmed us before and after that Five Miler, and we knew we’d made it. A little while later our watches beeped the first mile: 10:17. Slow, but not nearly as bad as it could have been, given that gnarly, 2/3 mile hill.

The snow continued to pelt us. Oddly, it was behind my glasses that seemed to cause more issues, and I kept wiping and wiping and wiping. It was difficult to see, and I knew the road was slicked. It was all making me a litlte grumpy, but I tried to ignore it.

A couple miles in (mile 2 came in the low 9s, closer to our desired pace), we passed a Mario and Luigi, with the Mario theme playing (on a cell phone maybe?). NB and I of course cracked a couple jokes (f***ing Goombas! How did that hhappen? I was inside of the tyube!) as the course rolled on. It really was pretty, even with all the snow, with all those yellow trees lined with white.

The miles began to tick by in 8:30s, and we ignored all the aid stations (I think NB may have taken something at one. I couldn’t stomach the idea of cold water in that weather). We reminisced about the Frigid Five as we followed a similar track, remembering the moments where we cruised, and where we suffered. Some of the hills carried us a bit fast, and others we had to slam on the brakes so we didn’t go careening down and wind up hurting ourselves.

As we went, I felt like I was slowing, but our pace remained fairly even in the 8:30s. Since our distances were a little off (not by a huge amount, given the mile markers, but when we finished it was a fair amount) we were a little unsure of how much further we had to go. We rounded a bend and could see the arch of the sign, and heard Rob (who finished in absurd sub-40 time that I don’t recall and at the moment am too lazy to look up) cheering for us. We looked at each other, discs in hand, and knew: time to kick. We flew across the line, and I was gasping for breath: 55:49

We jogged it out a few steps before walking loopily over to Rob and watched as Cas flew in under 60 minutes, feet soaked.

After the race the real party began, complete with cheap, terrible beer, food from Spaghetti Warehouse, and other typical fare (bagels, bananas). I just had some Doritos and Cheetos and a beer, which I only drank half of since it was pretty bad. We hung out a bit before heading out, freezing our buns off on the walk back to the car and grateful for the heater.

So what was our actual finishing time? Well, our guntime was like 56 something, and apparently it was good enough for 9th in my age group. I wondered to myself how I’d have done if I wasn’t in costume (though that didn’t make much difference), it wasn’t snowing and I’d actually been “racing” it. But I was still glad we didn’t.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for – taken at the party we went to that night (I was drunk):

The strap across my chest is from a Rock Band guitar

Trying to remember what the movie poster looked like. Backwards. Also - I was quite drunk here, and losing my wig.

Probably our last race for a while, but never fear! I’ve been running a ton, enjoying the fall, and this week we travel to Vancouver, aka running Mecca! Stay tuned.

As had become our habit from racing (too) many weekends in a row, NB and I rose bright and early and had our usual pre-race grub: oatmeal with brown sugar (if I remember correctly I also had some black coffee). I decided to go without any water, bringing only a throwaway bottle to take  a pre-race Gu with, and my brand spanking new running belt from the Pittsburgh Marathon folks at the Great Race expo with my car key and an extra Gu, in case I felt like I needed it. We picked up our friend Rachel and headed downtown to catch the busses near the finish line. Unlike last year, we knew to ask which line was which, since there was also a 5K option, and managed to just walk around the block and get right on a bus.

And then wait for an hour for the race to start (after blessing the port-a-potties, of course).  We chatted with Rachel and a couple of Shannon’s friends from the program that we bumped into near the start. Finally, we took our hats off for the National Anthem and a few minutes later, off we were! To the notes of “Shout!” same as last year, which was just the boost we all needed, roaring down the downhill start, and slingshoting immediately uphill.I knew this was the worst part – ignoring the section on Boulevard of the Allies, which is basically a long, slow uphill, with a spectacular view – and just pushed up, trying to keep my arms low and relaxed. As we passed through the main drag of Squirrel Hill, I said hi to a girl in my pilates class and wished her a great race (laughing at my own accidental pun a few strides later). There were some more rolling hills as we approached the big curve on Forbes Ave., before it spits us out on a massive downhill. I had hit the first mile, which was all rolling, in 8:34. With the help of that downhill, I got the second mile done in 8:02 (as a sidenote, despite starting my garmin before the mat and stopping it after, my time was a few seconds FASTER than my chip time, so if the math doesn’t make sense at the end, that’s why).

The rolling hills returned as we passed by Carnegie Mellon’s campus and tucked onto Morewood to get on Fifth Ave., which was when the slog really began. I was pushing, but not too hard, I knew I still had a ways to go. It felt like a fairly comfortably hard pace; I wanted to slow down, and sometimes felt like I was, but every time I glanced at my watch, I was keeping the same, solid pace, somewhere in the 8:20s to 8:30s. I took a couple sips of water at each stop, but mostly just dumped the water down my back as the sun was beating down on us. The temperature was generally good,  but it was still a tad toasty after a while.

I hit mile 3 in 8:25, and a little while later we ran down the entrance ramp to 376 to get on the Blvd of the Allies. I tried to just ignore how much farther we had to go and just focus on reeling people in. A guy in a blue shirt just a few strides a head, reel him in, pass him; girl in the red singlet, reel her in, pass her. Mile 4 only had a little bit of that slog so I managed it in 8:20, but mile 5 showed that sections true colors, my pace dropping to 8:56. I knew I had a comfortable cushion, though, and kept on.

The overpass section mercifully ended, and I knew we were in the final stretch. I kept on pushing, wondering if I could even manage this in sub-52 (but knowing this was unlikely). I managed to bump into a fellow racer when I got distracted by the scenery (aka was starting to weave a little out of being tired). I took the last water stop to once again dump water down my back, since I can’t seem to race a shorter distance and drink water from a cup without getting a bunch up my nose.

I could hear the crowds at the finish as we hit mile 6 in 7:59, checking my watch as I started to push for the last 2/10s of a mile.

Pushing the last .2 (in green-yellow)

The course seemed to bottleneck a bit at the end, and I knew I wanted to really empty the tank to the finish, so I started seeking holes to slip into, skimming past people and churning on. I felt like my pace was dropping and my legs started to feel like jello.

Checking my pace... which of course I couldn't see since I was pushing too hard for my brain to function

Am I there yet?

My lungs felt about to explode and I knew I would be fighting some serious stomach lurching, but I flew across the finish, throwing my hands up in the air victoriously (and no one else around me did so I look like a Huge Dork) as I nailed a 4+ minute PR.

Victory is mine! (all the way on the right)

As with my recent 5Ks, it took a bit for my stomach to settle after the race. I focused on seeking out water and food and finding my companions as I felt like I was about to throw up from the exertion of sprinting that last quarter mile. It took a bit, but I finally found Rachel, and NB eventually found me. NB missed a PR, but still did great (49:22) and Rachel absolutely spanked it (51:01). Did I mention she has to run with a huge knee brace? Girl is pretty much a badass.

As for me? Well…

Last year’s time (aka my PR): 56:39

This year:

Garmin time: 52:26

Chip time: 52:29 (see what I mean? strange)

Average pace (from chip time): 8:27

I was pretty happy with it, considering my low expectations. And as always it was a fantastically fun race. A wave start wouldn’t kill them, considering it’s a big race on a decently small road, but I still had a blast. I’ll be doing this race every year I live here, barring extenuating circumstances.

So what’s next, well, I ran a 10K – a costume fun run -  today as well. Maybe I’ll blog about that later this week, or maybe just later today… stay tuned!

Are you ready for this? It’s long.

Friday

I took the entire day off work Friday in anticipation of leaving for Dayton SUPER early. Unfortunately, schedules did not cooperate, and NB had his first stats exam of the semester that day, letting out at 1:20. But I had a blissful sleep in, some lounging and last minute list-checking and packing before I picked him up from campus and drove him back to his place so I could leave my car there and we could grab his stuff. Rob picked us up at about 1:45, and we headed to Mellon to pick up Cas. Traffic was a little messy getting out of the city, but once we were on 79-S, it was fairly smooth sailing. We chatted, snoozed and listened to NPR as we all buzzed with excitement about the race.

We headed straight for the expo, which was held at the Nutter Center at Wright State University (Wright State, wrong college – hey-o! Sorry, like I said – I’m from Ohio), near Wright Patterson Air Force Base. It just so happens that my dear big brother (aka Captain Cyclist, or CC, from the post about Cycle Ops) went to the University of Dayton and was in Air Force ROTC at Wright Patt, so I was doubly excited just for that reason. As we walked from where we (illegally) parked the car in a strip mall parking lot, we saw two F-15s flying overhead, which we were pretty sure was for the 5K that was going on just then. After getting our packets, including bibs and race shirts (they’re RED with big B-1 bombers emblazoned on the back!) we split up and headed out to explore the expo. Unfortunately the Pittsburgh Marathon table had run out of their free gifts for those wearing PGH marathon regalia (luckily they made it up to us at the Great Race expo the next weekend, since we got there MUCH earlier since it was on, you know, a Saturday) but I bought myself a Brooks “Run Happy” shirt that is soft and cuddly and somehow still a technical running shirt.

I had gotten in touch with CC for a dinner recommendation – Italian in particular – and he recommended Spaghetti Warehouse.

If I made one mistake regarding this race weekend, it was this. I had been eating super healthy all week, increasing my carbohydrate intake with lots of wild rice, brown rice pasta and cous cous, and tons and tons and tons of veggies. I ordered vegetarian lasagna, which in retrospect, was really dumb: lasagna has a SHIT TON of cheese, and restaurant lasagna even more so. I only ate about half since it was gargantuan, but I think it still did me in. You’ll see why later on.

Anyway, we still had fun. Service was slow, but the food was tasty and we all gabbed about the race and work and school and guinea pigs (some happy and some sad moments, true) before heading back.

There are few things more amusing that four runners bunking in a hotel room together. When we got back we all pretty much got straight to work prepping for the race: packing energy chews and gels; filling water bottles; pinning on race numbers (timing chips were on the bibs); laying out clothes and triple-checking it was all there; prepping a drop bag for bag check (okay, that one was just me) and obsessing about the weather the next day. It was going to dawn in the low 50s, maybe even high 40s, so we were a little concerned. I brought a throwaway zipup hoodie I’d bought at Target a couple days prior, so I hoped that would be okay. I also waffled on water: it wasn’t going to get that hot, did I really need a fuel belt? But I hadn’t packed my handheld, so I figured I’d just go through with it how I trained.

Lights were out well after ten, and our alarms were set for 4:45 a.m.

Saturday

Pre-race
Nothing is less pleasant than the sound of your alarm clock/ring. But holy mother of heaven, Rob’s ringtone was RIDICULOUS. It scared the absolute shit out of me, and I was UP right away. We all started slinking out of bed at intervals, emptying our bladders and starting to get dressed. I put on most of my running clothes and NB and I headed down for breakfast, Cas and Rob soon to follow. I hadn’t been sure what the breakfast situation would be, but given that it was a Hampton Inn, I figured they’d have coffee makers, so I packed some oatmeal in tupperware containers for both of us and figured I’d add hot water from the room’s coffee maker if necessary. Fortunately, when checking in, the woman at the front desk told us that breakfast started at 5 a.m., just for the race, and it was a really nice spread. They had instant oatmeal, but I stuck with what I packed, since it’s what I always had. Their coffee was just okay, and I had one cup black (with some sugar) as we all shoveled in food, bleary-eyed. By 5:35, we were in the car and on the way, since the marathon start was at 7:30, the race was 25 minutes away from the hotel, and they recommended getting to the site 90 minutes prior.

It was kind of a clusterfuck getting in: we exited the highway and saw a line of cars facing the other direction. We pulled a U-turn and were able to get in line for one of the gates going into the base… and then were somehow driving on grass, we weren’t sure how. It actually went decently fast, and we were parked in pretty short order. It was a pretty decent walk, but there were plenty of sites as we approached, passing the museum and several aircraft they had sitting out near the course. We passed on the first few porta potties, since we had time, and I checked in my bag before we discovered THE most massive porta potty corridor I had ever seen. There were SO MANY. They were decently clean and fully stocked. The lines had maybe one or two people in them at a time. It was incredible.

We spent some time wandering and trying to keep warm, standing under the tent, which blocked the wind, and checking out Boeing’s booth with its models and video of its aircraft before we got too cold again.

Around 7:15, the opening ceremonies for the marathon started, and Rob headed out to the start. He had PR’d a half marathon in 1:29 and change the week before and therefore wasn’t really shooting for a time goal, even though the course was flat and fast. He figured if it happened, it happened.

The ceremony was amazing. They had a young woman – I can’t recall if she was a cadet, an enlistee or an officer – sing the anthem, and she sang it straight (thank you!!) and in a gorgeous alto. I was wiping tears from my eyes the whole time (yes, I took off my hat. OF COURSE). There were some speeches that we could only sometimes hear, and then, there was this. The heartstopping, chest-rattling B-1 flyover. It was the most adrenaline-kicking thing I had ever experienced. I wanted to take off! But it was the marathoners turn, and NB, Cas and I clapped and yelled as they started their race.

B-1 Lancer: "This is the sound of freedom."

We had exactly an hour until our race (and it really was run with complete military precision) and we took the time to walk around, bless the porta potties once more and get nervous. Or maybe that was just me. Fifteen minutes before the start I took a Gu and did some warm ups, including leg-swings, high knees and butt kicks, praying my troublesome knee would behave itself. So far, it felt okay. I was a little chilled when I deposited my sweatshirt inside the tent (I was actually able to get it back later – no one touched it) but knew I’d warm up quickly. The weather was perfect.

The speeches were repeated for our opening ceremonies, and this time, the singer did the Air Force song, and I sang along to the little bit I knew, and looked up to see an Airman parachuting down with a HUGE American flag. A few minutes later, two F-15s flew over in formation. They weren’t as low, and the sound wasn’t as impressive since they were farther away, but it still got me pumped and ready to go. I didn’t really have a time goal, considering my injuries of late, but hoped I could at least better my previous PR (2:09.58 at the ATL half, which was a soft PR – or so I thought until I ran almost 2:12 at Pittsburgh) by even just a few seconds.

F-15s

Before I knew it, the gun went off, and the race was on.

The Race

I went out strong, trying to keep my excitement and nerves at bay. I took stock of how I felt: breathing, heart rate, my knee. All felt fine. I kept an eye on my pace, making sure I was breathing easily and not pushing too hard – not yet, maybe not at all. Each time I looked down at my watch, I was surprised: I was managing to keep a sub-9 minute mile pace. The first mile passed quickly with maybe a slight hill, but a second flyover by the F-15s gave me a jolt up the hill and I pressed on with a huge grin on my face. When the first mile beeped at 8:52, I figured it wouldn’t hold, and told myself to just enjoy myself, keeping an even pace.

We started down a path that I recognized as being circuitous to the base, a path I’m fairly certain is the one CC used to cycle (and said was “way too short”) when he was a cadet and later stationed briefly at Wright-Patt. My miles stayed fairly even. Sometimes I felt I was slowing down, that I was struggling, or that it was getting too easy, but they stayed right around 9 minutes. Mile 5 dropped off to 9:17, but I picked right back up for miles 6 and 7 at 8:55 and 9:04, and I had room to spare.

I have to say, the aid stations were fantastic. They were all themed, and the volunteers were very encouraging, shouting out clearly what wares they had, and calling out people by name when they could. I gave them all big smiles, and “thank yous” when I could manage it. They were truly superb.

I kept an eye on my surroundings as we passed in and out of shaded areas of the base, smiling at onlookers and fellow racers. A few of the same people drifted ahead of and behind me at different intervals. At some points I was near the 2 hour pacers, other times ahead, and then they sort of strung out (apparently this pacer wasn’t as solid as the pacer for NB’s group: he hung on with the 1:50 pace group until mile 11).

Can you see me? I'm in the yellow shirt on the left.

It as during mile 7 that I encountered my first problem: I realized I was developing a blister on my left baby toe, a bad one. I tried to ignore it at first, shift my toes around, adjust my stride. I stopped briefly to retie my shoe, which fixed the problem temporarily. I managed mile seven in 9:04, still on pace.

The next mile was when problem number two happened, and I’m fairly certain it was due to an overly rich dinner: I began getting intermittent but bad GI cramps. I was able to just slow at first, adjusting the tightness of my fuel belt, but during the 8th mile I had to stop and walk out a bad cramp. I was frustrated, but didn’t get down on myself, since I knew I was only stopping because I had to; I wasn’t giving up like I had in the Pittsburgh half.

Mile 8 also  happened to have the only cruel hill of the course. It wasn’t bad, especially for being used to training on the hills in Pittsburgh, but it was an overpass, and it was long. I slogged up it, only walking when the blister became bad again and the cramp returned. As the hill finally sloped down, I had to change my gait to a heel strike. I knew I was taking a risk, altering my gait in the middle of the race, but I wanted to press on. The walk breaks made my overall pace suffer, but I was otherwise running at the same clip, so it could have been much worse.

Miles 9 and 10 I got my pace back under 10 minutes, but at the slow end of my easy pace. When i hit mile 10, I was hoping to push the last 5K, but my gut would not cooperate. I power walked as best I could, and pressed on, trying to ignore nagging disappointments: I was on sub-2 hour pace for so long (a 9:09 pace will get you in under 2 hours) and KNEW I had it in me that day to smash my PR. I focused on the positive: I made it so long at that pace, and it felt really, really good. I could do it, and I was still going to get a PR, I knew it.

I look like crap, but kept on rocking

I walked in the last 5K a couple times, which was frustrating, but I walked out one last cramp before I was in hearing distance of the finish, listening to the announcer call out the finishers, so far, yet so cruelly close. I managed mile 13 in 9:09 – back on pace. I came barrelling around the last turn, and the last tenth of a mile seemed to lengthen… and lengthen… and lengthen… and then… there was the mat. There was the banner. There was the clock. I threw up my arms with one last bit of energy, crossing and nearly collapsing, reaching for the “stop” button my Garmin.

Crossing the finish (in yellow)

Stopping my Garmin after the mat

Post-race

My legs felt like jello and I was absolutely wrecked, but THRILLED. My watch read 2:04.19, and I knew then my chip time should be a bit faster, given when I stopped and started my Garmin. I made my way through the finisher’s chute to multiple lines to get my medal from an Air Force officer who, unless I was really that out of it, was a colonel! I thanked him profusely, or tried to in my daze, before making a beeline to the food and water. I grabbed a water, a Gatorade, a banana, crackers, and a piece of pizza I later threw out because I couldn’t stomach even looking at it. As I hunted around for NB, disoriented, I grinned at the various aircraft that kept flying overhead. I was able to pick up my sweatshirt and wandered over to the bag check, eventually finding NB, who had finished in 1:53! Soon after, Rob found us, and he’d qualifed for Boston in 3:08 and change (he applied for the race last week when it was open to all 4:59 and below qualifiers and he got in! He’s going to Boston!), and Cas, too, joined us, also with a PR: 2:30 and change in the half. Four PRs, four runners – what a day! We headed over to the results tent to get our chip time print outs, and I practically squealed: 2:04.14. I had smashed my PR by over five and a half minutes! A sub 2-hour half was officially within striking distance, and who knew what else?

So, what after that?

Well, we went back to the hotel to try to recovery. We intermittently dozed, stretched, elevated our legs, drank, ate, watched crappy TV (someone tried to remake Moby Dick with dragons, which I found really amusing) and eventually muscled up the appetite to get Chipotle at about 3:30 (the race had siphoned all our appetites until then if you can believe it). NB and I hung out at the hotel pool for  a bit, soaking our limbs and kicking ourselves for not packing swimsuits. We got dinner at a place whose name I cannot remember unfortunately, but they had great food and great beer and we stuffed our faces before crashing hard.

Sunday

The next day we took our tired legs to the Air Force Museum, which was just as cool as I remembered, even if I lacked my tour guide brother. NB bought a die cast model of a B-1 and I bought a postcard. Mid-afternoon, we hit the road to head back tot he ‘burgh, thoroughly exhausted… and successful. As we were driving away from the base, we heard the distinct roar of jet engines, and I craned my neck up. Two A-10s flew overhead in formation, a perfect way to end the perfect weekend.

*

My recovery went as well as I think it could have. My knee still seems fine (I raced on it again on Sunday, and that report will come soon). I didn’t work out at all Sunday, Monday, or Wednesday, and only went to pilates on Tuesday. By Thursday, I was able to do a three mile run without a problem. The blister is still an issue, but I’m working on that.

I learned so much from this race: about what NOT to eat the night before (lasagna), about fueling and water (I don’t need a fuel belt for half marathons in cool weather. Seriously), about pacing (sub-9s feel GOOD) and about my own ability and potential. Maybe it was those two 5k PRs. Maybe it was the fact that I went in with lowered expectations. Maybe it was the flyovers. Maybe it was the amazing organization of the race, and the fantastic course: the flat, fast, inspiring Wright-Patt AFB. But I will definitely be doing it again. And not to give away anything, or jinx myself, but it just may be a tune up for something… bigger later next fall.