Old Race Reports

I rescued some of my old race reports from my pre-blogging days. Note: there is some “group slang” being used; we had a small group called the ESOB aka “the bastards”. It was an offshoot from a group dedicated to heavyweight runners (Clydesdales); we split off because there were a group of Clydes who were offended if we dared to talk about setting standards and failing to meet them. “Heidi” was a fictional character who spent more time “talking” about running than actually running; you know, the “I want a finisher’s medal for finishing a 5K run in 1 hour” type.

September 1999: Morton Pumpkin Fest 10K (running)

Today was the Morton Pumpkin Fest 10K. Weather was perfect! Sunny, no
wind, 50F (10 C).

Time: 42:27 First 4 miles (6.4 km) were ok (26:58), but then I
struggled to hold 7 minute miles the rest of the way. I got HAMMERED in
the last 2 miles or so and lost lots of places.

I started off with a 6:35, which is too fast given my lack of speed
training. Mile 2 was 13:12; in that mile I passed some folks, made a few
comments, etc. Miles 3: 19:49 and 4: 26:58…well the mile 4 looked slow,
but there is a long incline so I expected that. But I really started to
struggle; I was 34:01 and really trying to hold on. At the end, a couple
of buddies passed me by; one who had beaten me by a few seconds last week,
and another who I beat by 9 minutes last week in the half ‘thon.

Anyhow, I am a little bit bummed that I did not get under 42, but
nevertheless, it was a decent bit of speed work. I’ll have to do some
long intervals after I recover from the marathon to build back this type
of speed.

Indianapolis Marathon, October 2000 (running)

I started the fall as the slowest non-injured Bastard,
and nothing has changed over this weekend. But, at
long last, I managed to do a marathon in which I did
the last 10K in….gasp…..under 1 hour.

And yes, Damon, I’ll say it: it is a sign of how
pathetic I am that I am actually pleased with this
race.

Day: sunny, slightly breezy, 32 F (0 C) at the start,
with temperatures in the low 40′s (5 C) at the end.

Time: 3:38:03 (my watch); official was something like
3:38:1X. PR is 3:33, set in December 1980. Post
morbid obesity best was 3:45, done last year.

Grade: Happy Maggot. Why? Last 10K was 53:21, which
is more than 10 minutes faster than any last 10K I’ve
done in a “post morbid obesity” marathon.

Yeah, my time was not great (corresponding to roughly
a 1:44 half marathon, and I am a better runner than
that) but it was much better than my recent times and
an “old fart” PR. But, it was how I ran the race that
made me feel good.

The race itself is on the small side; there were
roughly 800 half-marathon runners and 300 marathon
runners. We started concurrently. A good feature is
that you get a seeded number if you have done *any* of
the following within the last year: sub 42 10K, sub
1:40 half marathon, or sub 3:30 ‘thon. But, given the
small start, it was not necessary.

I had no trouble with the start. I wore a HRM again
and decided to try to shoot for a HR of 150 to keep me
from buring out (that is about 75-80% for me). There
was some guy running in SANDALS!

The first 3 miles were taken in 25:15 (roughly 26:00
for 5K) and it felt easy. We wound through parks and
neighborhoods for much of the first part of the first
“out and back”. I made an effort to hold back on the
next 7 miles and reached mile 10 in 1:20:26 (16 km).
It still felt easy, though my legs felt some fatigue.

I had to resist the urge to go with the half-marathon
runners who were starting to “kick” it in; that is
where the HRM really helped. We went back towards the
start and we kept going straight through a state park
as the half folks turned off.

I had to chuckle at mile 14. Up a ways, I saw a woman
who had passed me on the side of the road. She was
bent way over with her hands on her knees and her face
pointed to the ground. I thought that she might need
help so I looked at her. But, I then saw that she had
pulled her tights and underwear to her ankles…she
was urinating!!! Right *in front* of the trees! I’ve
never seen a woman peeing before; at least in the open
like that.

Anyway, mile 15 (just before 25K) came at 2:02:06 and
I felt ok. A headwind had slowed us a bit.

Then we ran through a park on a bike path. Very
pretty. I got to yell for the folks already on the
way back. The pace settled in at roughly 8:20-8:30 a
mile, and then my HR started to “creep”; higher HR for
the same effort. So, eventually, I let the HR slide
to 155 then to 160.

At 19 miles, we turned around and headed back. At 20
miles (2:44:39) I still felt reasonably good, though I
was 7:30 behind my pace from the year before.

But *this* time, I held the pace. At 22, I was still
doing 8:25′s per mile. I was actually passing folks.
Only one passed me over the last 10K. At mile 24, I
made a mistake; I was at 3:18:17 and instead of
pushing the pace, I went a bit too conservative to
ensure I’d meet my sub 3:40 goal. So, the next mile
(which featured 400 m of a gravel road) was my slowest
(9:02) and I took the next mile (which featured a
moderately tough uphill) in 8:53. I probably passed
at least a half-dozen runners here. I started to
smile at mile 26 (3:36:13)(less than 400 m left) and
picked it up a bit to finish in 3:38:03.

Next time: I’ll be a bit more aggressive in the last
4 miles or so. I probably had another minute in me.
But, if I really want to improve, I’ll have to:

1) get some more speed! (Yassos) and 2) do more
miles; long runs were fine, but I need more medium
length (12-15 miles, or 20-25 km) runs to supplement
the long ones.

So here is my long range running plan: rest, then
start Daniels “Marathon/half marathon program “C”" to
get ready for a pair of half marathons in May;
probably the Quad Cities Distance Classic and the
Madison Marathon Half. Use this base to train for a
mile over the summer (to build up speed); then ramp up
the milage for a fall marathon.

Madison Half Marathon, May 2000 (running)

Hey Bastards.

“Event”: Madison 1/2 marathon.
Temperature: 50 (10 C), a bit wet.
Course: 2nd half of the marathon course, which was to
start 45 minutes earlier. Start was delayed by 15
minutes.

Time: 1:35:25

Report: the course was interesting. It started on
the U of W. campus and ran though back roads, older
neighborhoods, bike paths which circled the large
lakes and went though forested areas. the course was
a bit rolling; a few small hills but also long,
gradual downhill stretches. I’d call the course
“fast”.

The splits didn’t mean too much; some of my “miles”
were 8:00, others were 6:20. I think that happened
because they wanted to put the split signs at the
water stations, and they had a station every mile!
(too often) Good thing that the course was USAT
certified.

Basically, I started slowly, and gradually picked up
the effort throught.

I am finally getting close to “Bastard” standards.

ollie

Lake Geneva Marathon 2001 (running)

This was the Lake Geneva Marathon, 2001. My time was
a Heidi-time: (3:40:24). But my place was ok; I
finished no. 36 overall; and at the time I left no. 80
was in at 4:01. So, it appears to be 36/15X-16X or
so, which is a good place by my standards.

And, to be blunt, I was pleased with my race, though I
wish I could have squeezed another 25 seconds out of
the stumps that used to be my legs. But I had a
really bad attitude on the ending of the race; I saw
how far away the end was and got a bit psyched out, I
think.

Weather was beautiful; 40′s at the start (6-7C), light
wind, lots of sun. I lined up mid-pack (they also ran
the 25K and 22 mile (35 km) cross country lake run at
the same time.

The first few miles were done rather easily; I was a
bit over 40 minutes at 5 miles (8 km) and at 81
minutes at 10. We had moved away from the Lake and
moved through some rolling farm-land. The runners
were in good spirits; very chatty. I kept the heart
rate in the very high 140′s-low 150′s.

I started to move on folks; mostly folks who were
finishing up the much-larger 25K run. The 25K course
ends with a large downhill and I got there at 2:06:02
and feeling good; Barbara was there and yelled “hi”.

But then the crowd thinned out and I hooked up with a
rather attractive red-haired lady and we took the next
few hills together. There were two rather steep
suckers in the next 5K but at 18 miles (30 k) we
passed by Yerkes Observatory.

Then there was a steep downhill (ahhaaaa) and I had
pulled away; I had nailed a half-dozen folks or so. I
hit mile 20 in 2:44 (32 km) and didn’t feel THAT bad.
We were in Williams Bay right along the lake at that
point.

Then came a series of rolling hills and the only part
of the course I didn’t like: a 1.5 mile stretch along
a highway that had minimal coning and some good hills.

We then turned into a residental area at mile 23 (36
km) and took another couple of good hills. I managed
a 8:15 for the next downhill mile segment; but then a
steep uphill slowed me to 9:22. Still, I was at 3:29
at mile 25 when the course hit the Lake Trail to the
finish. We (the red-head and I) were jockeying back
and forth; she’d pass me on the uphills and I’d get
her on the downs. We were essentially together until
40 k.

That last mile of trail just killed me. My legs were
stumps and I just didn’t have the mobility to run well
on this stretch. My companion and another runner got
away from me, and a Euro Course member got me. But
that was it; I wish I had just a bit more left but I
got to watch the clock tick past 3:40 *#@$!!.

But, realistically, this was a better race than last
year’s 3:38 as this course was much harder. Next
time, I’ll do 2-3 22 mile training runs before hand
and I won’t race a hard, hilly 12K the weekend before.

My half-way split was about 1:46:50 (just under 1:46
at 13 miles) so my second half was about 1:53:30.

About the course: The Ultimate Guide to Marathons
rates this as “7-” (Big Sur rates 6+) on the
difficulty scale; Marathon and Beyond ranks it the
9′th toughest in North America (Big Sur is no. 10).
Anyway, I now really appreciate what the J-boys did a
couple of weeks ago!

The good news is that I am not that beat up (by
marathon standards) due to my 6 50+ mile weeks I did
as preparation.

Anyway, I’ve rambled on (as usual) but, hey, I had fun
today! Next time, I go into the race with some longer
runs under my belt; I had a half-dozen 18′s but only
one 20.

O-spandex-note: there was a 8 min/mile 25k runner on
the course. She wore WHITE spandex shorts; nada
underneath. And yes, she got nice and sweaty along
the way…..:-)

ollie

Quad Cities Marathon (2002): powerwalking

Today: Quad Cities Marathon (road). Time: 4:44:34 (chip)

splits: 2:21:33/2:23:01 (almost even!) Pace: 10:51

That is a time that would generate scorn even on the CVRT!

Ok, I racewalked the whole way, though my form went to sh** in the last 4 miles.

First 5: 53:24: feeling it out, warming up the shins

Next 5: 54:46 some headwind; beginning to think that I bit off more than I could chew

Next 5: 53:37: (half way: 2:21:33) included a stop to take a rock out of the shoe

Next 5: 52:11 (best walking here; had a bit of a tail wind and followed a woman who had a major creeper in her spandex shorts)

Time at 20: 3:33:58

Next 5: 56:07 form went to hell here; hurting, blister, etc.

Last 10K: 1:10:36. Come to think of it, this isn’t all that different than the last 10K that Marty and I did at San Diego.

So, this is a fun race and I ended up very tired and nauseated. I also got to say hi to some of my other friends.

5K: ok, that is a judged racewalk that I plan on doing, but I’d be willing to put my time into a converter that puts this performace on a scale and compare it to a running 5K.

I’m tired, and the U of Illinois football team sucks.

later

Rocket City Marathon, December 2002 (running)
————————————————–

hey, Gordo! I’m glad someone is looking forward to the results. (mawk) I’ll hand this over for a minute to Ollie.

Well, I can’t tell whether this is Ollie or Heidi. Socaially, this is a great trip! Mawk has a beautiful house and a hospitable, wonderful family. I am have an excellent time.

Oh, the race. Let’s put it this way: in the last 4 weeks I had a grand total of 23 running miles, and the sum total of my long runs were 13 and 15 miles in October (last one with Janet).

So, I did 4-1 run/walk the whole way and ended up with a 4:04:20 (watch time). I hit mile 1 in 10 minutes, 10 in 1:31 and 20 in 3:01. I thought that sub 4 was still doable at mile 22, but at 23 I had slowed to about a 10:20 pace (sound familiar, Marty?)

My shin was not a factor, but my non-training was. One thing I noticed: since my longest run in the previous motnth was 4 miles, I started to feel fatigued and tired at 6 miles! I really wondered if I was even going to finish. But the run/walk technique really extends one’s capactity to suffer without falling apart.

I’ll turn this over to Mawk; I can say that Heidi really liked the post-race Moon Pies.

“Mooon Pies”!!! Oh so THAT’s What those crumbs were on my shoulder! And here I thought that was snow flakes! Apparently Heidi was breathing down my neck toward the end and blew crumbs on my back!

Short story: Plan was to avg 8:45 all the way. Started out around 8:20s that felt easy. Saw a lot of sweat dripping off my hat early on during a cold day
that I wondered about. Did hit water/g-ade at every aid station, but I did notice that my lips got dry at about 10miles and I was feeling pretty thirsty despite drinking at the aid stations. Hit the 13 mile mark on pace for a 3:47:00 feeing pretty good. The course turned back north into a 15mph breeze at 15 and between 15-18 there is a slight gain in elevation, that coupled with the wind sapped me by mile 20. Mile 20 my left ham tightened and I stopped to stretch. Hit the 23 mile mark at 3:29:XX Figured I could get in under 4.
Ollie caught me about 1/4 mile later.
About 100 yds before mile 24, my left quad tightened up. I stopped again to stretch however stretching my left quad caused my left hamstring to seize up, causing my RIGHT quad to lock up. So here I am, standing to the side of the course, pointed at about 02 o’clock because I cannot move my legs. Finally, after about 2 minutes of playing statue I shuffled off.
Anyway, the 3:50 goal turned to 4:00, finally becoming 4:08:14.
As I was finishing, the announcer was saying “The next runner is Mark Johnson, from Madison, this is his third marathon..”
I was thinking, “…. yeah, and my last DAMN one too…”
The most fun was after the finish line, was a sweet young highschool thang that held my hand and helped me to the post-race refreshments. I felt like proposing…

Mawk

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