Hobby Jogging: 2/13/11 - Raleigh, NC - Run for the Roses 5k

January was an exciting month. I had an excellent training block that was filled with 252 miles (my most ever) and ended with a fast 5k tempo on the track. After a true down week (20 miles) to recover and heal up from some nagging injuries (hamstring), I was back at it this week (48 miles) with a solid mile repeat session on Wednesday and was excited to race. John and I jogged the Run for the Roses course yesterday to get a feel for it and I drove it twice this morning to prepare for the rolling hills and wide tangents that would be presented to us at 2pm today.

Run for the Roses is the longest standing race in the triangle (31 years) and it was also the second race in the Second Empire Grand-Prix. It was also my first race as a once again Raleigh resident (thanks to a new job). The weather couldn't have been better as it was mid 50's at the start with the sun shining down. No gloves, no undershirt; just my Bromar singlet, shorts, flats, garmin, shades and oxysox (as I have been battling some shin splints). Got in an easy 2 mile warmup, some strides, and then got to the line and was ready to roll.

The gun went off and I got out well. Slight uphill to Delway where we headed up towards Blount Street. Looped up to Person and headed into Mordecai. The first half mile was slightly uphill and then we had a nice mile or so of slight downhill. I believe the mile markers were off a little bit as I crossed the official mile mark in 5:23 (my garmin had .96 miles and 5:33 for the full, which was more like it). Towards the end of the second mile, we hit the first big hill. It was a long one that I was able to pick a few people off on before heading down and around the roundabout at the 2 mile mark. Hit the course 2 mile at 11:07, but my Garmin had me around 11:18. This is where it got tough.

The last mile on the Run for the Roses course is brutal. If you take a look at my Garmin dump, you can see we rose (no pun intended) 100 feet in elevation with many ups and downs. What you can't see is the excruciating wind. My last mile (according to my Garmin) was 6:06. Not too sexy considering my other splits, but I continued to gain ground and passed a former Division I runner with about 600 meters to go. Hit the 3 mile in 17:25 then ripped the last .11 at 4:35 pace to finish 12th overall in 17:55 (and 3rd in the strong 30-34 age group). Thanks to Inside-Out Sports for being a sponsor and awarding the gift cards!

The competition was much stronger today than the Run for Young, but John and I held serve against the guys that competed in that race and should hold onto 4th and 5th overall in the overall Grand-Prix standings (when they are tabulated). It felt great to compete again and I felt my effort was 100% the whole way. It has been nice having two excellent training partners in John Simons (Raleigh) and Tyler Pake (Greenville). Strong tempos, long intervals and strong long runs at Umstead are paying off. Looking forward to the rest of the Grand-Prix season and of course, my return to Boston.

PS. On a side note, one thing I noticed today was that the race was a "no headphones" race. When I first started running again in the mid 2000's, albeit slowly and very sporadically, I joined the North Carolina Roadrunners Club (before leaving to help form Bromar). One of the last things I remember was a big fight on the email list about them DQing one of their own for wearing headphones in this race. It was kind of childish, but I thought it was a good stand to take and wish more races would outlaw headphones. Cheers to NCRC for sticking to their guns in iPod friendly times and for putting on an excellent race with great volunteer support.

PSS. To the woman that kept yelling at her approximately 7 year old son to sprint out front at the start so she could get a picture, you are setting a bad precedent. Luckily he didn't listen to her as he would have gotten trucked (as the start area was very small). Let the kid enjoy the race. Get a good photo of him finishing!

For more info, check out: http://patprice.com/running/races/reports/20110213RunForTheRoses.htm

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Hobby Jogging: 10/10/10 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Marathon

The Chicago Marathon has been very popular for its flat and fast route. It is also known for its very unpredictable weather. Last year it was 32 degrees at the start and 2 years ago it was over 80 by 11am. Fingers had been crossed for the cold, but we weren't so lucky. It was brutal!

Ever since Boston last year, I have been dealing with some hamstring issues. They would be ok for the first few miles of most runs, but would really bother me when I was running fast and racing. These issues had been plaguing me all season, but I kept running, stretching, getting massages and hoping for the best. After they bothered me a bunch during the Virginia Beach half, I thought of pulling the plug on Chicago, but I am glad I stuck it out and did it, as it was a tough mental challenge that I was happy to get through.

My teammate, John Simons, and I got out conservatively and went through the mile around 6:28. We picked it up slightly in mile 2 for a 6:18 or so. Mile 3 was more of the same around 6:20. At 5k, I felt a big pinch in my right hamstring. Hoping to run it out, I just kept trucking through a good second 5k to hit the 10k in a good, but conservative 39:40 or so. The pace didn't feel hard, I just had no pop in my stride because it hurt picking my right leg up. I continued to slow, but ran effectively through the half in 1:26:30 or so. This is when it got tough.

Chinatown

The second half of the race was outside the comfort of the shade of the buildings and the wind that whips between them. Crossing the bridge at the half I threw in a little surge just to see how my legs would react. It wasn't what I had hoped for. A quick half mile turned in to a slow second half before mile 14. The heat was beating down and I was limping around the south side of Chicago on a bum leg.

This was when I had to toughen up mentally. I knew that a PR was out the door. I knew that sub 3 was likely out the door as well as I had no action in my legs. I then knew a 2012 Boston Qualifier was on the line as Chicago qualifies for 2011 and 2012 because of where it falls in the calendar. With the pain I was in, the thought of doing another marathon to get me through 2012 was too painful to fathom. It was either make it through the last 11 or so at a decent enough clip to get me under 3:10:59 or try again later. I decided at this point to see what I was made of. When I made this decision, I could feel some strength in knowing I had an attainable goal out there that I could accomplish.

Erin, John and I

Now my splits from 30k to 40k are downright embarrassing, but the key was staying up, hydrating, not walking and getting to that next aid stop. It was a death march with a purpose! Luckily, when I hit 40k, my blistered feet and legs had gone numb and I just started moving faster. I was downright competitive in the last 1.6 miles or so and that felt good. I saw someone drop flat on the asphalt with 400 meters to go and I just put my head down, hammered up the last hill, then cruised in. Now my time was far from sexy or a PR (in 3:05:22), but I learned more about my pain threshold here than I did in New York last year or Boston in April.

Sometimes the will to keep going is just as important as the will to finish fast. Some dreams come true and some are nightmares, but the good part is that we get to wake up the next day and gain more fodder for these dreams. Looking forward, I can't wait to get this hamstring right and then run some shorter races. I didn't win the war, but I did win a battle. The marathon is a tough race and they all aren't going to be perfect. I just know next time, that if it gets tough again, I can handle it.

More info is available at: http://patprice.com/running/races/reports/20101010ChicagoMarathon.htm

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Hobby Jogging: 7/17/10 - Winston-Salem, NC - Beat the Heat 5k

I decided to hop in this race a few days beforehand to see what kind of shape I was in and because it was the NC USATF 5k Road Championship. After coming in 8th in the USATF Road Mile Championship in the fall, I was hoping for another top 10. The course was described as "predominantly flat and fast." That must have been a joke. It had plenty of turns and hills and was anything but flat and fast. What was fast was the competition. I lined up upfront and when the gun went off there was quite a bit of pushing and shoving in the first 200 meters or so before starting to level out. The first hill came just 1/4 mile into the race and lasted for a half mile or so. Being on a program that is gearing me towards marathon success in the fall made the first mile in 5:30 seem much faster than it really was.

The second mile started up a hill before flattening out and then headed up that first hill again at about 1.5 miles. I was pretty cooked at running a fast pace at this point and just tucked in behind my Bromar teammate John Simons. Hit the 2 mile about 11:22 at the end of the long hill before a flat stretch before the last big hill heading up to 2.5 miles or so. My recent strength training began to pay off here as I began to roll past people on the last hill. The last half mile was fairly downhill, but I really couldn't get my legs turning over like I did at the Get Your Rear in Gear 5k in March. I was able to muster a little bit of a kick over the last 50 meters or so to pass 1-2 more people to finish 31st overall and 12th in the USATF comp in 17:44. This was only 15 seconds off my best since I began competing again and was significantly faster than my training has been. It was also a treat having my whole club there competing (Bromar Track Club). The race was well put on and the post-race spread was nice as well with tons of water, fruit, pizza and (free) beer. This will likely be an annual event!

Bromar TC (Joe, Erin, Me, Mary Aiken, John)

Video from Mile 1:

Video from Mile 2:

More info available at: http://patprice.com/running/races/reports/20100717BeatTheHeat.htm

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