The basics of a relay race is that you split up the 193 mile race into more doable segments.  Ragnar’s Great River Relay is broken into 36 legs which get split up between 12 runners (or 6 in the Ultra division). The average runner ran 16 miles over 3 runs.  I personally ran 13 miles.  At least one person ran in the 20′s.   Several people in my van were in marathon training and this is good timing for “long runs.” The 12 runners are split into 2 vans of who leap frog each other throughout the overnight relay.

I was in Van 1 which was “on” first.  I was runner number 3 which meant I ran leg 3, 15, and 27.

Leg 3 was fairly flat and on wide-open road. I ran on the shoulder as much as possible. The route took a turn off WI-35 (which the runners saw, but many vans missed) onto a country road in corn fields! I had seen a bank sign that said 85 degrees and there was no doubt that the humidity was quite high, but it was very cloudy. This leg had non-supported sections, which meant that in places my van could give me water. I misunderstood the wording of the Race Bible -- legs that were “non-supported” would have water stops if they were over 4 miles. I assumed I’d have a water stop, so I was disappointed after the half-way mark when there weren’t any. With about 1.5 miles to go my van caught up to me (they missed the turn) and gave me some water! I finished the 5.3 miles in 46:56 or 8:52 pace.

The great thing about Ragnar is that you run through the night! Any runner on the road after 7:30pm had to have a reflective vest, a head light, and a tail light on. Any member of the team outside the van after 7:30pm had to wear a reflective vest. After relaxing at Major Exchange 12 in Stockholm, WI our van took back over for our night leg. I didn’t end up running until after 11pm. I woke up at 5am on Friday to finish getting ready and to pick up the van, etc. I was surprised that I didn’t feel too bad -- though there was lots of adrenaline. It was in the mid 70′s and still quite humid, though there was no sun since it was dark!

All geared up I ran Leg 15′s 5.22 miles in 45 minutes for an 8:38 pace. This route ended up being hillier than I had expected it to be. I knew there was one hill towards the beginning, but it seemed like there were more noticeable hills. I could have also just been getting tired! Running in the dark was quite interesting. You couldn’t see very far ahead, behind, or around you and all you could see in the distance was little red flashing lights of runners and Ragnar signs. I did have a water stop this time! The dark also made it quite hard for vans to figure out if you were their runner or not, but mine did find me and cheer me on. As I got closer to the exchange area, I started to see lots of headlights and a glow so I knew I was getting close. On each leg Ragnar posts a sign that says “One Mile to Go” but on this particular leg it seemed to take forever for that last mile. I got 8 “road kills” on this section. In Ragnar language a road kill is a person that you pass from another team. I only got passed by one guy. For whatever reason, the headlamp I was wearing gave the weird sensation of wearing sunglasses. It was something to do with how the light was shaped. It was fun running in the dark!

We were able to shower and eat spaghetti sauce (they ran out of noodles) at Prescott High School (Major Exchange 18) before driving through some very dense fog to get to Stillwater, MN. It was 2 or 3am and I was driving. It was a little nerve racking because there were runners and lots of vans on the road, though fortunately, not many other cars. We decided to stop in Hudson for breakfast at Denny’s. I’m pretty sure I was the only person awake in the van (don’t tell Ragnar that my Safety Officer fell asleep!) After Denny’s we drove to Major Exchange 24 in Stillwater, just North of the Liftbridge. I had to sleep in the driver’s seat of the van and maybe got 30 minutes of real sleep. We had miscalculated our timing and I started waking up the van around 5:45 to get ready. After 6:30am runners and support people were no longer required to be illuminated.

My last leg was 27. Now in Minnesota we switched to more suburban areas for most of the run. Just an FYI that this exchange didn’t have port-a-potties, good thing I didn’t need one. This leg started out on the road and went under I-94 before running on a paved trail next to the roads. This felt like a long steady uphill, but I’m sure my legs were completely exhausted at this point. I’m not sure of the temperature, but it was very overcast and very humid. The fog actually almost felt like a mist at points. I got at least 8 more road kills on this leg. Some guy passed me, which made me mad, then I realized he wasn’t wearing the Ragnar Wrist Band (the baton) so I didn’t feel quite as bad! I got a couple of road kills at the very end and set Mike up to get a few himself! I did the 3.38 miles in 27:15 or 8:04 pace. (Note: each leg was faster than the last!) It felt really good to be done. We didn’t have a lot of time to sit around though, because most of these legs were fairly short. So I stretched a little and off we went.

You can kind of see an exchange in this video.  This is me running into my final exchange handing off to Mike:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYMv3YzUEzs

After my final leg I was triumphant, as seen in this short video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8H90mIVhtU

After arriving at Major Exchange 30 at Lifetime in Woodbury our team started to break apart.  Our van was done with running and a few people needed to head out so we sorted out the van, drove some people to their cars, and ended up with only 2 of us waiting around at the Boom Island finish area.  We got massages, ate some pizza, and tried to relax.  My body was so worn out that it didn’t like the idea of laying down on the grass.  Several hours later I got the call -- we are dropping off the last runner.  A 3rd teammate rejoined us and 7 of us waited anxiously for the final runner to come down the trail.  We joined her about 100 yards from the finish and ran triumphantly across the finish line!! We had done it!

Team Hodge Podge finished 169th out of 286 teams for a total time of 29:46:15 which is an average 9:19 pace! Well done ! (full results)

As I mentioned on Monday a friend and I showed up to Minnehaha Falls fairly late, close to 10am or an hour after the 10k and 1/2 started and 40 minutes after the 5k.   The 10k race is the main event, even though there is a 2k, 5k, and half-marathon.  We got to see the back of the pack runners finishing and then the half-marathon leaders finish.  It was sad to see that they haven’t fixed the finish area problem of runners from the longer races merging into the shorter ones and having to dodge runners and walkers.  It seems it would be easy to setup cones for at least the last tenth of a mile to separate the races.  I’m sure the leaders would appreciate that!

Below is a video montage I created from some of the videos and pictures I took.  I’m not sure what the issue is with my cell phone’s video encryption but sometimes Windows Movie Maker doesn’t read the video, while Flickr does.  So Kim Scheel, Women’s 1/2 marathon finisher, didn’t make it into the montage, but gets her own separate video!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVDBCj3Qin4

Kim Scheel finishing the 1/2 marathon in 1:28:23.

Rocco at the MDRA (who finished in 37:21) also found this video by Brett Sall who finished in 45:25, not bad for his first race:

Get In Gear 10K from Brett Sall on Vimeo.

How was your Get in Gear Experience this year?

Technorati Tags: Get in Gear, 10k, GetinGear

I finished my second marathon. Pretty worse for the wear, but I finished. I had pretty modest expectations going into the race based on my training over the last year. I felt that 3:30 was pretty reasonable since most of my longer runs had been at 8 minute pace.

A friend from college, Pez, was debuting this year and he’s a pretty smart guy and decided to run with me for the first 3 miles around 8 minute pace and slowly build up. He had an excellent race finishing in 3:19. I felt really good during the first 5k, I did stop for a quick bathroom break and had to force myself to not try to catch back up.

I passed fellow classmate Kevin on the north side of Lake of the Isles. Staying pretty consistent at 8 minute pace. The 3:30 pace group was pretty far ahead now, because of my potty break – but they did take it out fairly fast from the start. I passed Deb on the north side of Lake Calhoun and the ran with Anne and her friend for awhile on the south side of the lake. I probably should have stayed with any of them and continued running at an easier pace. But I was hitting my splits pretty accurately.

At some point early on the Minnehaha Parkway part of the course I started catching up to the 3:30 pace group. At which point it got really crowded. Marty was towards the front of the group and we slowly came together as we went through the rolling hills stretch. I was taking it easy and hitting 8 minute pace. Marty and I ran together for a couple of miles. He said he was struggling and right before Cedar he said he would see me at the finish and dropped off.

I maintained my pace through 13 but started to hurt around 12. It started in my hips and throughout the race slowly worked its way down my legs. Mostly on the left side (where I have plantar fasciitis). I got through the half in 1:44 so pretty much right where I wanted to be. I slowed down a bit and I think I stopped to stretch it out before leaving Nokomis. From here my splits slowly slowed down as I struggled with trying to loosen up my legs, staying mentally tough, and not bonking.

As my paces show I quickly deteriorated and never really recovered. Part of me wanted to quit, part of me wanted to walk, part of me knew I had to fight to the finish. I made a mental decision that I would finish, even if I had to walk the rest of the way, but also made the decision that I would run for at least a mile in between walk breaks. I started just trying to walk through water stops, but then gave up on that and just started walking when I didn’t feel like going any farther.

I saw my wife and friend at mile 16 and gave them the thumbs down. I think they knew I was off pace but the thumbs down was a clear sign that I was struggling. I heard a couple of my students cheer for me and a former student gave me a needed/welcome Gu pack around mile 17.

Blood Filled Blister!

The rest of the race is a blur of struggle and pain but I finished. And I was running at the finish. I finished in 3:56:00 officially. Deb and I passed each other back and forth throughout the last 8 miles. She served as much needed motivation to keep on pushing. A first time marathoner chatted with me a bit as we were getting ready to go up the St Thomas hill. I told him I was doing terrible but he kept talking. As we started up the hill he asked, “Is this the big hill.” I replied, “One of them.” He was caught of guard by that, and I felt a little bad, but I was out of it and didn’t really want to chit chat about the intricacies of the last 6 miles.

One high point of the final stretch was my wife and friend were just in front of the Target Cheer Zone. Summit Ave is already pretty packed with people and can be very encouraging. So I passed them and they were really cheering and the whole block or two was extremely uplifting, especially as you pass through the Cheer Zone. I got a boost in my step, which didn’t last near as long as I was hoping!

Seeing the cathedral top made me happy because I knew it was almost over. Then slowly making the turn and seeing the capital. I dug deep and found something and pushed hard. The crowd roared and I finished. Then I shuffled through the chute getting water, fruit, chips, a banana, a heat sheet, vegetable broth, and finally a finisher’s shirt. Marty and I hobbled and talked for a bit before I tried to find my wife and friends to go home.

It is amazing how much pain you can be in after running that far. My body hurt during the run, but hurt even worse right after it was over and for the rest of the day! When I peeled off my sock I found a nice blood filled blister pictured above!

Thank you to the thousands of people who cheered!! Those who knew my name, those who cheered for “MDRA” (my jersey), my race number, and even those who yelled for “MORA” (because evidently the D looks like an O). Each and every one of you and all of the volunteers helped make this race successful.

Technorati Tags: Twin Cities Marathon, TCM, Marathon

Another great morning dawned on Labor Day for the Victory 10k/5k in north Minneapolis.  The Victory races bring in a great crowd of competitors due to its flat and fast course.  It is held annually on Victory Memorial Parkway.

The morning began fairly cool in the mid-50′s with humidity.  I arrived early to watch the 10k race start and cheered on my teammates and friends.  They all had good races on the out and back course. The temperature began to warm-up during our warm-up, largely due to the lack of shade along the 5k course.

The 5k race started at 9:30am and the temps were in the mid-60′s and humid. Asnoted the course is pretty much flat with only mild elevation changes.  We headed west on the parkway from Webber Park.  I went out at what felt like a slightly uncomfortable pace (which turned out to be 6:11 pace) and tried to stay with a group of runners, which at the time included Kirt Goetzke (who ran the doubled and still smoked me).   The mile marker was right on and I came through in 6:20.

John finishing the 10k.

We continued on the parkway now in the full sun and passing the WWII markers and trees, though the trees provided pretty much no shade.  The turn around point was a large monmument in the middle of a traffic circle.  It was cool to run around the circle instead of just making a U-turn.  And then back we went.  A MDRA woman runner that I’d never met name, Kate passed me which started a battle of passing each other back and forth (we did meet after the race and I beat her, by 10 seconds).  This helped me fight through the pain and tiredness of my legs.  I remember seeing the clock say 13 minutes at the 2 mile, but I actually came through the second mile in 6:51 which put me at 13:11.

The final mile continued to be a struggle of mind over exhausted legs and struggling lungs.  I don’t have to remind you my faithful readers that I haven’t done much speed work and definitely haven’t been under 7 minute pace since this spring.  It helped having people trying to pass me and having people cheering.  There weren’t a lot of people out on the course but within the first and last half mile there was a number of people that grew larger and louder as we approached the finish line.  I didn’t see a 3 mile mark, but I did see the 6 mile mark and about that point you could see the finish line. I started picking it up and ran a 7:25 last 1.1 miles which is 6:42 pace. For a finish time of 20:36 good enough for 49th overall and 3rd in my 5 year age group.

The race was followed by free hot dogs, chips, and lemonade from the Lions Club and neighborhood information from the Folwell Neighborhood Association and the Webber-Camden Neighborhood.  So thanks for a great post-race meal.

It was a beautiful morning in a beautiful part of town that I’ve never really been to before.  I won’t make too many bold pronouncements like Nathan, but this will be a race that I try to keep on my calendar.

Technorati Tags: race review, Victory 5k, 5k, 10k

Monday morning was another near perfect morning for a race. Upper 50′s into the 60′s by race time, overcast, and a slight breeze (a little more than slight at parts!). The sun warmed us up while waiting at the starting line but seemed to disappear as we made the 5k loop around Lake Nokomis.

This event hosted by USATF-MN was pretty well organized and efficient. I arrived early was able to get my bib number and t-shirt within 5 minutes and waited around in my car for awhile.  It was cool enough at the time to want to get back “inside” and relax a bit before the warm-up.  Sadly, the Nokomis Community Center building was closed for the holiday weekend.

I did a short warm-up, stretched, and waited for the start. The starting line was approximately 1/4 mile away from the check-in/finish area, which we would run by at the start.  The event had 506 finishers with times ranging from 14:43 – 51:31. This was gun-time only race. This is a super flat race with the longest “climb” being 17 feet over a 1/4 of a mile, so pretty much negligible!

I finally ran into Nathan the only other MDRA athlete competing at the race so we talked and jogged to the start.

I had trouble figuring out where I wanted to line up, because I didn’t want to be too far forward and get sucked out too fast, but I also didn’t want to get stuck behind a lot of people.  I ended up getting a decent spot 5-6 rows deep and had a great start.  It took only a second or two to cross the starting line.  I took off pretty quickly and a lot of people passed me and it got crowded pretty quickly, but then the road opened up and I was able to settle into a pace that was fast but relaxed.    At about the 1/2 mile mark we turned south and picked up some headwind.  It didn’t feel super strong, but it was noticeable.  Not a lot happened in the first mile, a lot of people were getting settled into their pace.  There was some back and forth as we came through the mile in 6:18.  I remember thinking that might have been a little fast, but was pretty close to my race plan.

The miles seemed really long. At least compared to other runs around the lakes.   Nokomis is shaped in such a way that you can’t really see all the way around the lake, or much of the rest of the lake except at a few spots, which makes it seem like forever around.  It may have also been that I’m not used to running at such a fast pace, which tires you out and requires more effort.  This second mile was on the West side of the Cedar Ave bridge which seems really far out there and was pretty desolate.  There wasn’t a ton of cheering fans anywhere on the course, but especially not on this section.  I belive the water stop was here somewhere and I grabbed a quick squirt of water.

The racing was pretty solid through here, not much changes but continuing to go back and forth with a few runners or at least not letting myself fade away from them.  I came through mile 2 in 6:27.  Oops a little slow!

More of the same continued as we came through the third mile. A couple guys fell off and I  started seeing some new people ahead who were fading back a little.  They had jerseys that I recognized from the USATF Team Circuit, so even though we didn’t field a team, I thought I should try and get them!  I was beginning to get fatigued as well so the increased effort really just kept my pace the same.

We should have had a tailwind, but I’m not really sure if we did or not.  As we approached the starting line I remember thinking it was time to start shifting gears a little bit.  I started passing several runners and came across the third mile in 6:24.

I was feeling good, maybe a little too good as I crossed the 3 mile mark and made the final kick to the finish.  As the finish line came in sight, so did a bunch of runners that looked like they wanted to get passed.  I obliged and passed what seemed like quite a few runners.  Seeing the clock in the mid-19′s also helped the urge to kick and I came through the last 0.1 miles in 0:30 which is 4:49 pace for the last segment.  Yikes.  My overall unofficial time was 19:45 and the official time was 19:46.
After regaining my breath and stumbling around a bit I was able to enjoy the post-race bread, bananas, water, and carrot cake! After talking with some of the guys I wandered over to the lake for a nice ice bath. I waded in far enough to cover my knees and enjoyed the cold (but not too bad) water. I felt and feel like I ran a tough race but don’t think I hit 100% effort for the whole 5k. I’m glad to report that my foot and IT band felt fine throughout the race and only a little uncomfortable since finishing.

Overall this is an excellent small race with high quality competition.

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• Race Plan: Brian Kraft 5k (teamcrossworld.com)

The mile is an interesting race for a post-collegiate, non-elite runner. You don’t really do much “race specific” training for that distance. Training for a 5k doesn’t even compare for training for a mile, let along half-marathon training! Yet, on May 7th I lined up with about 2,100 other runners and raced 1 mile down Nicollett Mall in downtown Minneapolis.

The multi-wave start meant that there were probably closer to 20-50 runners in my wave – the USATF-MN Team and Open Wave which went off at 7:53pm. Over an hour after the mass wave. I probably should have raced with my age-group so I would have had more competition around me and wouldn’t have gotten passed by a swarm of almost sub-elite women!

This year’s TC 1 Mile also served as the US 1 Mile Championship, featuring runners like Shannon  Rowbury, Sara Hall, Jon Rankin and David Torrence.Torrence actually broke 4:00, winning $10,000 and Rowbury missed her money mark by 2 second running a 4:30.  Both were great races to watch.  I did see Ryan Hall right after the elite women ran by, but he was on his way to see Sara so I didn’t stop him.  This also means Flotrack was there so be sure to check out their coverage.

My official finish time of 5:26 is a 1 second PR over last year’s performance so for that I should be happy.  I am pleased with that.  Asked about my expectations I said “I’m not as fresh as I was last year, but I’ve done more speed work. So somewhere between 5:15 and 5:30.”  I hit that pretty well.

I began feeling by quads about a 1/4 into the race – maybe at the top of the initial incline, and maybe because of my 1:17 split. A little aggressive but I was trying to take it out a little easy!  My body quickly reacted to the pain of moving so fast and then my mouth became really dry and my throat started to burn.  It was 74, dry, with a slight cross-breeze.  I came through the 1/2 mile in 2:39 having run a 1:22 second 1/4.  I really struggled to keep myself together passing through a ton of cheer zones and cheering people.  Half-way through and feeling it.   The third 1/4 was 1:26 and the flow of passing women had stopped except for this one wearing green.  We ran past 3 guys wearing full green suits who let out a huge cheer and screamed for her.   We fought back and forth for most of the rest of the race until I dropped the hammer (albeit a small one) for a final surge into the finish.  My last 1/4 was 1:19.  For a 5:26 official time.

My throat continued to hurt until mid-day on Friday.  We were all coughing and hacking for the rest of the evening we spent relaxing downtown.

Here is a map of the course which is mostly downhill but as you can tell with the below elevation chart it isn’t exactly all downhill.  According to my Garmin it does have a net elevation loss of 6ft!

Updated: In the comments Nathan disputed the elevation data from my Garmin.  So I looked at MapMyRun.com’s data for the mile stretch and it looks pretty similar.  Here is a chart I created from their information.

Check out the Twitter tag #tc1mile for more fun.  And @tcmarathon for more information about TC Marathon related events.

Technorati Tags: TC1Mile, TC 1 Mile, Mile, Hall, Rowbury, Road Mile, Torrence, Minneapolis, Nicollett Mall

Wow. You could not have asked for a much better day to race. Mid to upper 40′s at the start with a slight breeze off the lake.  It was only in the mid-50′s at the finish.  Unfortunately, my race performance didn’t match the quality of the day.  But first some details.

Packet pick-up went smoothly at the Wells Fargo near the starting line.  A spacious and un-crowded room at about 7:15.  Picked up my bib number – 381 and then my timing chip.  Went to pick up some nice looking shirts and they only had smalls.  I’m not sure how you make that mistake when the race filled up ahead of time.  Seems pretty simple to place an order and get your shirts in time.  They are mailing them to us at a later time.  I jogged the 1/4 mile to the lake shore and warmed up a little bit before heading back to the start.  We were delayed for several minutes due to our missing police escort.

When the siren blew we were off.  I started a few rows back and went out what felt really slow.  I let a good number of people pass me and tried to stay very relaxed. I checked my Garmin pace and slowed down even more!  The first mile went along the Lake and then up a little hill where I saw my wife and we came through mile 1 in 6:47. I promise it felt a lot slower (the mile was a little short).  So I slowed down a little and didn’t push as we climbed the steepest and longest hill of the day. We kind of meandered through the countryside occasionally getting a glimpse of the lake through the huge houses. I tried to maintain my pace even with the mostly downhill coming through mile 2 in 7:13.  Ok and even 7 pace that is pretty good.  We continued a little bit before turning on to a main road – where I was expecting to see my wife and be able to toss her my arm warmers.  They had served their purpose and it was time to be done with them.  Sadly I wouldn’t see her again until the finish.  Evidently, she got messed up with some construction and had to turn around and then the cops wouldn’t let her through, so she ended up going all the way around the opposite side of the lake.  This is really odd since lots of cars were on the course and it was advertised as an “open course”.  It is really annoying that there was an apparent double standard.  So a little frustrated I came through mile 3 in 6:43.  I took water at the aid station and came through the 5k in 21:29.

These next few miles were on a random, hilly country road away from the scenery of the lake and pretty unshaded.  There were two large hills in this mile and per my plan I didn’t push the pace up them.  I tried to just stay relaxed.  I came through mile 4 in 7:18.  I felt ok with that and kept what felt like a steady pace.  There was a few small pockets of people cheering along the way but for the most part it was pretty quiet.  Mile 5 was 7:09.  A little disappointed in two mile over 7 I wasn’t too worried, I figured that it would be easy enough to make up.  As we kept going up and down I decided to take one of my Clif Shot Bloks.  I also took water and Gatorade at the waterstop. We came back out by the main lake and back onto the shoulder of a main road and through mile 6 in 7:32. Ok, now I was a little frustrated and given the plan was to run a faster second half I picked it up.  I came through 10k in 43:38 (my PR is 41:28) and the half way mark in 46:00.  It wasn’t marked so I didn’t know where it was, but that would seem to be right on track for where I wanted to be coming out of the first half.

We continued right next to the lake shore through a little town and my pick-up worked as I ran mile 7 in 6:52.  That was helpful, especially as I was catching up to some people.  More of the same as we kept running next to the lake and I came through mile 8 in 7:02.  I tried to stay focused on pushing the pace a little bit as we dropped down to within several feet of the lake shore for a little bit and then back up a short and steep hill through an aid station.  We were running next to a bike trail then we jumped onto it for a few yards before crossing a timing mat and turning back the way we came and then another turn back towards the lake.  We then hit mile 9 in 7:36.  I came through the 15k in 1:06:04. (My PR is 1:03:24).

As we continued on the lake shore it was almost as if something inside of me fell apart.  It was almost as if I hit a small wall or gotten into a funk.  I took a second shot blok to see if that would help, but the wheels were falling off.  I tried to keep pushing but it was getting harder.  I came through mile 10 in 7:29. I definitely didn’t remember their being so many hills throughout the last half of the race. I was starting to get passed my more and more people now. I came through mile 11 in 7:47.  Crap.  That’s unacceptable.  I remember telling myself I needed to keep it under 8 minute miles. Somewhere along here there was a waterstop – but it was off the course in a parking lot.  I probably should have gone through it but I just wanted to finish and the shorter the course the better. However I did come through mile 12 in 8:03. Yes the wheels were falling off the bus.  My 20k time was 1:30:35.

We turned onto a dirt trail right before the 12 mile mark and I knew this was going to be the way to the finish.  Yes, 1 mile to go pick up the pace a little…  Not happening.  Getting passed by everyone and their brother.  A few runners tried to encourage me and I did try to pick it up I promise. The last mile was a pretty slow uphill grind which wasn’t overly pleasant. As we got closer to the finish you could start to hear people yelling and getting excited.  It was a 6-8 foot wide trail but once we got within the last 1/4 or so it was lined with people on either side – making a lot of noise.  It was a cool tunnel effect.  I could hear someone coming behind me. I tried to open my stride a little.  Then he pulled up into my vision and I thought “I can’t let this happen” and dropped gears and gave it every last ounce.  I pulled away from him and left him in my dust – so to speak!  I came through mile 13 in 7:49 and the last 0.1(or 0.18) in 1:09.  My final time was 1:36:26.  A long ways off my goal, 3 minutes off my PR, and my 4th fastest half-marathon ever.  The course was a little long!

After recovering my breath I shuffled over to get water, Gatorade, and refreshments.  They had quite a spread of fruit, bread, and snacks available.  I found my wife and learned of her plight with the road marshals.  And I just sat down for a little bit.  Exhausted. Frustrated. Disappointed.  It was a pretty tough course though, I will give it that.  And in hindsight – not a PR style course.

As I’ve written this though I’ve realized that I’m in pretty good shape! While none of my splits are super impressive I was pretty consistent throughout the race and even with my wheels falling completely off I didn’t do too terrible!  As of this writing the official results are posted yet – but this is the link they are supposed to be posted at!  The results are posted here (pdf).

As you can see by the chart below – the “official” mile markers were a little bit off.

Technorati Tags: Half Marathon, Lake Minnetonka, Race

I arrived pretty early and got my bib number and start time.  The first runners left the starting line at 8:30 and then every one else’s time was handicapped off of it in 1 minute intervals.  Based on their projections I started at 9:30 with the last runner starting before 9:40.  This gave me WAY too much time to sit around before the race started.  It is a low-key race but I still got pre-race nerves.  Not an ideal race if you have alot of anxiety.  I “gave” my wife the morning off so I didn’t really have anyone to talk with or to take wonderful pictures of me!

As I mentioned due to a bridge being redone on the Luce Line trail the traditional out and back course was modified.  They made up all of the missing miles at the beginning which was appreciated.  Though they added 3 180 degree turns which wasn’t cool.  They are planning on this only being a 1 year diversion so let’s hope that the construction stays on pace!

The Luce Line is a great place for a race because it is a limestone covered dirt trail (according to the DNR).  There is some shade off and on along the course and it is more scenic than many road races.  The course included 2 water stations which made for a total of 4 potential water stops (although the 4th was about 1/2 mile from the finish).  I took water 2x’s.  I maybe should have taken some more since it was sunny and a little warmer than we were used to mid-40′s.   The weather actually made for some difficult clothing decisions.  I didn’t pack 9 different choices like Joe but I had 3 shirt options to wear – long sleeve, short sleeve, or singlet.  I had trouble deciding and ended up wearing the short sleeve over the singlet.  This was a decent choice given some slight winds.

I was a little surprised by the elevation chart that my Garmin produced.  It resulted in a net elevation loss and most of the “hills” seemed like long slow grades not the sharper grades on the chart.  But it is close enough!  You can tell there are some inaccuracies because the elevation chart should be like a mirror.  This year’s turnaround point was at mile 6 so it should be a mirror on either side and it obviously isn’t. Hmmm.

In some sense the slow grades are harder than short quick hills.  They wear more on the quads.  I was impressed by the overall accuracy of the course measurement – especially given the changes this year.  My Garmin produced a 10.03 mile race which may be one of the closest measurements I’ve seen.

A few things of note during the race. Three of us started at my time and we went out a little quick but I stayed with them for the first 2 miles and never saw either of them again.  I “caught” the first runner between 4 and 5 miles and got passed for the first time at 6 miles.  I cramped up a little bit around mile 5 and it eventually went away.  I don’t really remember where the water stops were mileage wise but it seemed pretty reasonable.  By miles 7 and 8 I was starting to pass more participants which was a pretty nice feeling.  I tried to keep pushing the pace in the late miles – but wasn’t overly successful with that endeavor.

Here are my splits according to the marked miles:
6:48
6:42
6:44
6:59
7:10
7:07
7:20
7:07
7:22
7:06

Based on the results posted at Raceberry Jam I was 15th overall, 12th male, 2nd in my age division and an official finish time of 1:10:31.

For $5 you couldn’t have asked for a much better race. I would be willing to pay a few bucks extra to use a timing chip and potentially save the race director some post-race headaches, including faster post-race awards.

Technorati Tags: Fred  Kurz, 10 mile, Race Review, Wayzata

It was a gorgeous morning to go for a run, the afternoon was excellent as well.  54 and sunny are pretty nice conditions for a race.  The Human Race 8k is excellently managed by The Sporting Life (TSL) Events, a local race management company.  This year’s event featured biodegradable water cups and lots of compost trash receptacles.  The University of St Thomas makes a pretty nice staging area as well, headquarters are in the fieldhouse and the campus is pretty to walk through.

The starting line is on Summit Ave, home of the famous Twin Cities Marathon hills.  The Human Race starts around the 22 mile mark and goes out about 2 miles makes a square around the William Mitchell College of Law and heads back down Summit.  Summit Ave is split on two sides of a grass boulevard for much of the race.  The start is split with the male and female on two different sides of the boulevard joining together about 1/2 mile or so into the race.

I started a few rows back and planned to take it fairly easy out of the start, especially given that the whole first mile is uphill.  My pace seemed pretty solid without being overly fast.  Blogger Chad Austin ran by me and for some reason I thought it might be a good idea to try and pace off him – he’s definitely faster than me, even coming off ski season! I came through the first mile in 6:35.

The second mile is pretty much all downhill.  It doesn’t really feel like it though.  I was just trying to stay relaxed and using people to help block the wind.  Nothing too exciting happened during this mile.  I was still passing people and getting passed.  Was pleasantly pleased to see an even split time of 6:35.

The third mile includes the little square part around the Law school.  It is a one block square with a water stop on the Summit Ave side.  This square is an easy way to make a fast turn-around on an out and back course. Much preferred to the traditional cone in the road method, especially with this sized event!  I saw the leaders coming back by at this point too.  This is an up and down mile and I was starting to feel pretty tired.  Somewhere in the last half of the race my upper body got really tight and I kept dropping my hands to try and relax it.  I went through mile 3 in 6:49.

The fourth mile is all uphill again, but knowing that the final mile is all downhill makes it a little better!  I really started struggling and was getting passed a lot more.  Thinking back though I recall that my breathing wasn’t labored but that my legs really hurt and I just felt bad overall.  Somewhere around here I got a cramp on my right side.  I came through in 6:53.  Glad to keep it under 7.

The last mile is all downhill with 80 feet of elevation loss at a -4% grade (see chart below).  Before the race started I thought downhill with the wind at your back you can fly to the finish.  I tried turning it on, but that didn’t work too well.  Some people passed me and I tried to stay with them and they pulled away a little bit.  It is a little deceiving because the road makes a quick little jog and so you can’t see the finish line, but then you see it for a really long time.   You also run past the starting line.  Finally with about 1/4 mile left I realized that I had to pass all these people and dropped the gears down.  My final 1/4 was 1:21 (which was almost 10 seconds faster than the previous).  The Garmin records your fastest pace (you only have to hit it for a second) and today’s fastest was a 4:24 pace! The final mile was 6:07.

Overall race pace was 6:35 for a 33:02 overall time.  Which was a little disappointing.  Everyone was pretty encouraging and reminded me that this is the first race of the year, so not too put much weight on it.

You can see the 2008 review here.

Technorati Tags: Human Race, 8k, Race Review, The Sporting Life

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• Race Plan: Human Race 8K (teamcrossworld.com)

Last year was week 6 of training. It was a tough week with hills, 4 x 1200′s, and 2 x 20 minutes at 10k pace.  I joined the USATF’s stretching study – which I believe is still ongoing.  This week we had some air quality warnings which is related to a story about smog and the Olympics, which ended up being not too much of a worry.  I loved writing this post about running strategy and using the idea of baking cookies.  Foto Friday was a picture of my “Olympic Trials” number.

Mileage

Run: 34.0 Miles
Bike: 7.0 Miles

Monday was hard to wake up after the Daylight Savings switch on Sunday morning everything was dark again. I had been enjoying the sun on my runs.  The extra sun also made the motivation a little easier to get up! I did the 3.25 Metrodome loop in 27:30.  It was 27 with no wind.

Tuesday saw another human error operating my Garmin.  You’d like after over a year I’d remember how to use it!  Today I forgot to restart it after stopping it while waiting to cross a street.  So that’s a little frustrating but it could be worse!  I ran about 7 miles total in 57 minutes.  This included an 8 x hill workout on the hill next to the Franklin St bridge.  I ran the exit ramp hill (from West River Road).  It is approximately .16 miles or 257 meters.  The intervals were 1:10, 1:13, 1:11, 1:10, 1:09, 1:08, 1:09, 1:05 The temp was about 34 with a 29 wind chill and a slight drizzle for part of it.  I feel pleased and after I loosened up I felt pretty good.

Wednesday Well so much for the worst of winter being behind us.  It was -2 with -23 wind chill and fresh snow.  I ran 3 miles around Powderhorn with my Yaktrax.  They did really good and I didn’t really slip at all.  Some of the snow had drifted into several inches of powder but for the most part it was maybe 1/2 inch.  It took me 27 minutes to lumber around and get home.  The stiffness went away after the first 1/2 mile or so.  I also ran in my new Mizuno Wave Inspire 4 shoes.  Same brand and model just a different color!

Thursday was even colder than Weds so I was happy to take the morning off and enjoy sleeping in.  Although when I awoke I was actually really tired and groggy.  Oh well – sleep is good.

Friday was a sunny morning with temps rising but it was 22 with 19 wind chill for the start of my run.  I drove to Lake of the Isles and ran around it and Calhoun for my 45 minute tempo run. There were plenty of patches of ice still on the paths around the lakes, though I didn’t fall and they weren’t enough to have wanted the Yaktrax. I felt pretty good for the whole run and managed to lay down a good tempo section hitting 6:30 pace for about a mile.  I finished the 6 mile run right at 45 minutes and almost exactly back at my car!

Saturday was a beautiful morning for a run.  Sunny and 27 (ok could have been a little warmer) with no wind.  We met at the Longfellow Grille and took a new scenic route of Minneapolis.  Cutting across the heart of South Minneapolis via the Greenway, the short side of the Isles heading up into Kenwood on Mt Curve Ave and then under the Walker Art Center through the Sculpture Garden and then through Loring Park up Nicolet to the River and then across the Stone Arch Bridge and down the river back.  This made for almost 15 miles in 1:54:12.  I felt pretty good until we crossed the Stone Arch and then I started really feeling tired and by the time we got to Franklin Ave I had pretty much dropped off the group’s pace.  I struggled through and finished thanks to Kirk’s help.  Overall an enjoyable run!

Sunday my foot had been feeling pretty good all week and was a little stiff so I took it easy and went for a swim.  It was a little hard knowing that the temps were going to be in the 50′s but it was the prudent thing to do.  So I went to the YWCA and swam about 300 yards, sat in the hot tub, and did some stretching.  It felt really good.  The actual swimming part is tough!  I need to work on building my endurance – but I’d rather be running so we’ll see.

Weekly Total

Running – 34.2 miles

Swimming – 300 yards