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Or..."The Idiot's Guide to setting a PR"<br><br>
Geoduck Gallop Half Marathon<br>
Evergreen State College, WA<br>
Time: 1:25:19 A New PR!<br>
Placement 8/58 Overall, 8/35 Men, 2/5 AG<br><br><br>
This was a small race that truly illustrates that there are degrees of fast and that I am still a long way off from the truly fast. This race is put on by the Evergreen College Cross Country team as a fundraiser and an attempt to qualify their top runners for the NAIA national championships.<br><br><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="color:#FF0000;"><b>Idiot Alert!</b></span></span> <i>The following is in no way intended to represent advice on how to reach your own PR.</i><br><br>
Pre-Race preparations: Since I was racing a bunch of college kids on their home turf, I figured that I might as well prep for the race the way I would have prepped for anything important back in my college days. We spent the evening before at the home of Bannon's sister drinking and eating way too much. (Yes, the Bannon sense of humor runs in the family. His sister's turtle is named Flash.) After downing somewhere in the neighborhood of six beers, a bit of wine and a shot of rum along with homemade pizzas, assorted cheeses, and chocolate cake and ice cream, I finally got to bed about 11pm. Six hours later, I woke up to eat my prerace meal and try to get my body back into some sense of normalcy. Potato chips plus my usual peanut butter bagel, a banana, and Gleukos sports drink did the job.<br><br>
The Race: We arrived at the race site with temps hovering right at freezing. The pavilion where packet pickup was located was even colder since its design allowed the coldest air to flow in from outside and settle on the below grade soccer field. At two minutes to the gun I started off to the start line. I suddenly realized that my GUs were still in my clothes bag with Hobey and DS who were heading to the car to get their breakfast. I ran about 200 yards to catch up with them and then ran back to the start just in time to miss the explanation of the course markings. The gun went off about 15 seconds later. Quickly a pack of about 12 runners took off with a few of us desperately trying to keep them in sight. By mile 2, I could no longer see any of the runners in front of me and only occasionaly caught a glimpse of a runner or two behind me. This would be the story for the next 8 miles. At the 4.5 mile point after descending a steep hill only to immediately climb the other side, I saw three runners up ahead. They were a good 45 seconds ahead of me, but at least I had a target. Alas, the 10K runners turned left about 100 yards after I saw them and they were all 10K runners. The runner in red who had been pursuing me since mile 2, didn't turn off and was now only about 30 seconds behind at most. I vowed to stay ahead of him as long as possible.<br><br>
The last 4 miles of the course were an out and back, so finally about the 10 mile mark, I could see the first of the leaders heading the other way. I started counting to see exactly what place I was in. Seven runners passed me, none of whom looked to be hurting excessively and none close enough for me to catch unless someone pulled up lame. As I rounded the cone and headed back for the final two miles, the man in red was within about 50 yards. At this point, I just decided to let it all hang out and push hard to the finish. I missed the split at 11 miles, but I ran the two miles 11 and 12 in 12:44 , about 10 seconds per mile faster than my pace up to that point. I was hurting bad as I reached about a half mile to go. A quick glance behind me showed that I had managed to drop my pursuer. With no one in front to catch and little chance of being caught from behind, I was able to ease up slightly and cruise into the finish. I ended up finishing 56 seconds ahead of the runner in red. Afterwards we thanked each other for pushing us both to PRs. Mine by 81 seconds and his by almost 6 minutes!<br><br>
This was a tough field, especially at the front of the pack. The top four all beat the previous course record, despite some icy spots in the first three miles. I finished almost 3 and a half minutes behind the 7th place finisher. Running alone for so much of the race with zero spectators really forced me to focus on the signals my body was giving and made holding a consistent pace a bit of a challenge. My prerace focus was also a bit lacking. I can only hope that with better preparation and the support of the crowds, my goal of a sub 3:00 marathon in Boston can become reality.
Geoduck Gallop Half Marathon<br>
Evergreen State College, WA<br>
Time: 1:25:19 A New PR!<br>
Placement 8/58 Overall, 8/35 Men, 2/5 AG<br><br><br>
This was a small race that truly illustrates that there are degrees of fast and that I am still a long way off from the truly fast. This race is put on by the Evergreen College Cross Country team as a fundraiser and an attempt to qualify their top runners for the NAIA national championships.<br><br><span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="color:#FF0000;"><b>Idiot Alert!</b></span></span> <i>The following is in no way intended to represent advice on how to reach your own PR.</i><br><br>
Pre-Race preparations: Since I was racing a bunch of college kids on their home turf, I figured that I might as well prep for the race the way I would have prepped for anything important back in my college days. We spent the evening before at the home of Bannon's sister drinking and eating way too much. (Yes, the Bannon sense of humor runs in the family. His sister's turtle is named Flash.) After downing somewhere in the neighborhood of six beers, a bit of wine and a shot of rum along with homemade pizzas, assorted cheeses, and chocolate cake and ice cream, I finally got to bed about 11pm. Six hours later, I woke up to eat my prerace meal and try to get my body back into some sense of normalcy. Potato chips plus my usual peanut butter bagel, a banana, and Gleukos sports drink did the job.<br><br>
The Race: We arrived at the race site with temps hovering right at freezing. The pavilion where packet pickup was located was even colder since its design allowed the coldest air to flow in from outside and settle on the below grade soccer field. At two minutes to the gun I started off to the start line. I suddenly realized that my GUs were still in my clothes bag with Hobey and DS who were heading to the car to get their breakfast. I ran about 200 yards to catch up with them and then ran back to the start just in time to miss the explanation of the course markings. The gun went off about 15 seconds later. Quickly a pack of about 12 runners took off with a few of us desperately trying to keep them in sight. By mile 2, I could no longer see any of the runners in front of me and only occasionaly caught a glimpse of a runner or two behind me. This would be the story for the next 8 miles. At the 4.5 mile point after descending a steep hill only to immediately climb the other side, I saw three runners up ahead. They were a good 45 seconds ahead of me, but at least I had a target. Alas, the 10K runners turned left about 100 yards after I saw them and they were all 10K runners. The runner in red who had been pursuing me since mile 2, didn't turn off and was now only about 30 seconds behind at most. I vowed to stay ahead of him as long as possible.<br><br>
The last 4 miles of the course were an out and back, so finally about the 10 mile mark, I could see the first of the leaders heading the other way. I started counting to see exactly what place I was in. Seven runners passed me, none of whom looked to be hurting excessively and none close enough for me to catch unless someone pulled up lame. As I rounded the cone and headed back for the final two miles, the man in red was within about 50 yards. At this point, I just decided to let it all hang out and push hard to the finish. I missed the split at 11 miles, but I ran the two miles 11 and 12 in 12:44 , about 10 seconds per mile faster than my pace up to that point. I was hurting bad as I reached about a half mile to go. A quick glance behind me showed that I had managed to drop my pursuer. With no one in front to catch and little chance of being caught from behind, I was able to ease up slightly and cruise into the finish. I ended up finishing 56 seconds ahead of the runner in red. Afterwards we thanked each other for pushing us both to PRs. Mine by 81 seconds and his by almost 6 minutes!<br><br>
This was a tough field, especially at the front of the pack. The top four all beat the previous course record, despite some icy spots in the first three miles. I finished almost 3 and a half minutes behind the 7th place finisher. Running alone for so much of the race with zero spectators really forced me to focus on the signals my body was giving and made holding a consistent pace a bit of a challenge. My prerace focus was also a bit lacking. I can only hope that with better preparation and the support of the crowds, my goal of a sub 3:00 marathon in Boston can become reality.
