Take it in Stride!

For the last mile I've been leading the race, and with luck the win would be mine. The runner behind me, a college kid by the looks of him, has been dogging my heels for most of the race, but with less than a quarter mile to go, there's no way I'm going to give up first place. I ease into the final turn and a hill of all things. From the corner of my eye I see Mr. Second Place making the turn, but I think to myself "this hill has got to take him out; I've got this race". On the downside I run, trying to maintain my momentum and my lead.

But from beside me I glance over, and what? This kid is making his move. Oh, crap! Suddenly I'm in a flat-out sprint for the finish - how appropriate for this race. He gears up and matches my push with one of his own. Neck and neck we tear down the remaining stretch of road. Who will give out first?

...before I finish this exciting story, though, I should go back several weeks. It was the Bellaire Trolley Run, and I was feeling pretty good: no injuries to hold me back, my training had been pretty solid, and I felt relaxed (something I hardly ever feel at races). And even better, the race conditions were ideal, too.

I lined up that Saturday morning with hopes of a low 16:00, and came home with a 15:49! I could not believe it. Somehow I was able to maintain a strong pace throughout the race. I lead with a 5:02 opening mile, followed by 5:06 for the second, and then with 5:10 for the final. More than anything, I was inspired by the runners around me. From Jose Lara with his commanding lead, to Drew Prisner, whom I had never beaten before in a race, I was pushed to extremes I could never manage on my own.

So there I was the following Wednesday at St. Thomas signing up for the LP Run. I thought that if I could run strong on Saturday, then I should be able to do the same on Wednesday; plus, I had skipped my Tuesday workout. Perfect, or so I though. Perhaps if I had held back on my pace, things would have been better for me, but instead I decided that hammering the first mile was the way to roll.

I’d rather not relive the painful memories. Let me just say that the crowd had a clear view of the anguish I endured on that track.

Beaten, sore and mentally thrashed, I struggled to regain the excitement I had felt following my sub-16:00 5K at Bellaire. No luck. My only consolation was that I kept my running streak alive: no missed days of running in 2008.

Then came the Bayou Bash Relay. This was surely the even that would charge my waning spirits again. I had assembled a strong team for this year. The Chariots of Striders lineup included Mike Tognarelli, Bill Blancett (who replaced the injured Tom King), John Yoder, and me. We had a few shaky hand-offs, but we kept running strong. In fact, our combined efforts brought us within a whisper of taking third place away from the Harrier's. My final surge just wasn’t enough against the speed of track superstar Jason Sosa. Still, our three second loss didn't hold me down. Quite the opposite; I got my fire back!

And that's why I decided to try my luck at the Sprint for Life 5K. I've run the race several times, even won it once. The course was new this year, but I felt confident I'd do well with it regardless of the changes. There was a bit of a snag with the starting gun, but a moment's delay was all it cost us runners; other than that, there weren't any glitches as far as I could tell. Awesome race; fast course!

Oh, and speaking of fast, I suppose I should check back with how the race finished. Let's see...the two of us, the kid and me, the old guy, are giving everything we have in our dash to the finish. Only one of us could win, and neither of us wanted to back down. I tried to surge forward with one finish push, but he followed through with a stronger, more forceful kick of his own. It was just enough, though, to give him the win...with the same finishing time as my own: 15:56. Less than one second of separation between us!

It was a great finish and an awesome race. I would have been happier had I won, but I'm not disappointed with the experience. I hope my next race is as good as this one was. Till next time (hopefully sooner). Good speed!

Permalink

Most folks who enter a race that's over 2 1/2 hours away will gladly drive to the host city the night before. But where's the fun in that? That's why Tom King, Chris Bittinger and I rolled out of Houton at 4:00 AM to make the 2008 Statesman Capitol 10K in Austin. And thanks to Tom's wife Nicole I was able to catch some much needed rest before the race.

My first shocker of the morning came when I picked up my racing pack. Because of my 10K time at the Bayou City Classic 10K, I had hoped to be seeded in the first corral. However, my bib was purple - 2nd coral? Flashback to the week before to a conversation I had with Chris. It went something like this:

CB> I just got off the phone with the race director of the Capitol 10K. She needed confirmation that I could run around 34 minutes to be seeded to the first corral. I just gave it to her.
BR> I didn't get a call, but I should be seeded, too, right?
CB> Did you give proof of your time?
BR> No, but I listed my expected 10K time at around 34 minutes. Was I supposed to send in my time? Hmmm...I should be okay, right?
CB> Silence (or was that cough a masked laugh?)

Okay, so I wasn't seeded, but it wasn't going to be the end of the world. I'd just have to ease my way to the front of the purple corral. That actually wasn’t too hard; and from our position at the front of the purple corral, Tom and I could see Chris warming up. We even spotted John Yoder, too, who was a bit surprised to see us on the other side of the seeded barrier. All I could do was smile sheepishly at him. Next time I suppose I should read the sign-up instructions a little better.

But enough musing; it was time to get mentally ready for the race! But what's this? The start was minutes away and the race hadn't dropped the corral barriers yet. What gives? Eventually we were allowed to move forward, but the race officials cut it pretty close. The natives were definitely restless. I tried to catch an opening at the front, but I ended up getting stuck behind a group of high school. So much for being in a good position at the race’s start.

I didn't have much time to dwell on my lineup. All too soon the start gun was fired, and the race was off. I tried to surge with the leaders, but I was cut off by a few runners who had eased in front of me. But with a zig here and a zag there, I was finally able to cut through the crowd to tuck behind the next grouping of runners behind the leaders.

The first 2.75 miles of the race was nothing less than an uphill climb. Some sections were easier than others, some worse, but regardless of how you look at it, it was a mother of a challenge. The run toward the capitol building, though not very mild, was the easiest for me, but only because I was pumped up on adrenaline. Rounding the capitol brought me to another hill (go figure), and it was on this next rise that I powered past a few more runners. I knew I was going to pay for this push later, but I wanted to attack the hills for as long as I could.

Next up was a short, but steep downward pull, followed by a very hard climb. It only lasted a 1/2 mile, but that was enough to sap what strength I had. Just when I thought my race was going to start lagging, I now found that the worst of the hills were now behind me. In fact, a set of steep downhills helped to push me through my fatigued state back to something more inline with racing. Only 2 miles to go!

It was on the hills that I established my overall position. At one point I had been in 8th place, but by the time I exited the hills I was in 9th, and it was this position that I kept as I worked to regain my pace along the flats. However, with one mile to go I heard the sound I was dreading: footsteps trailing me. I tried to keep my pace steady, but I knew I was losing ground to this runner. Strangely enough, he refused to pass me; he was simply content to let me control our pace on our approach to the 1st Street Bridge and the quickly approaching finsh.

And then with .2 miles to go, the guy shot right around me. There he went; it was all his for the taking...at least that was what was rolling through my mind at first. I turned to see how secure I was from the runners behind me. Dang, someone else was tight on my shoulder, too. Well, enough of this! I wasn't about to let someone else take me in the last steps of the race. I picked up the pace and hammered down the remaining meters to the finish. And there he was: the guy who had so smugly pulled around me at mile 6, just steps away from me. I kept the heat on and tore past the guy to hit the finish in 34:46 (chip time of 34:42) - 3 seconds faster than this next guy!

It was a hard run, but totally satisfying and worth getting up at 4:00 A.M. Both Chris and John had good races, but it was only Chris and I who came away with any awards, both of which were 2nd place in our age groups. I only wish that Tom hadn't had to pull out at the 1/2 mile. He had been suffering with foot pain all week, but it was here at the race that it forced him to make a hard decision. He’s been grounded ever since, but he’s on the mend.

It was only later that I found out that the guy who won my age group did it on his chip time, which was 1 second faster than mine. I always thought that the gun time determined positioning and prizes, but I guess that's not the case with the Capitol 10K. Can you imagine if the winner had to give up his or her trophy to someone who finished behind them, but had a faster chip time? I can't either.

Oh, well; it was still a good race. Good speed!

Permalink

With less than five hours of sleep, I found myself moving lethargically throughout the house much like a zombie in a George A. Romero flick. But instead of brains in the fridge, I found a chilled banana and Gatorade - nourishment enough for this dead-brained runner at 5:00ish in the morning.

Why am I up this early? Oh, yeah, that's right, for some reason I wanted to get in some hill running with Wills Hills before Sunday's Capitol 10K in Austin. I was going to run today anyway, so why not do it in style.

By the time my car pulled into Spotts Park – just like Kit from the original Knight Rider - I was once again human...and ready to run! A sizeable group was slowly gathering in the parking lot, chatting about the weekend's events; I was at the right Spott at the right time. As a group, we train hard, but you gotta socialize, too, and those moments before and after the workout are an excellent way for us to catch up with running (and other) events. Anyway, a short jog later and we were ready to hit two sets of 3x short, but painful hills (4 minutes of steady running with 1 1/2 minutes of rest between each hill).

I thought about holding back, but with Will hammering down on me, I worked those hills like nobody's business; still, I don't think I ran in such a way that I pulled or strained anything, but maybe it had more to do with my pirouette super-maneuver I used on the third hill that saved my hammy from crumpling. Regardless, 24 minutes of running later we were done with our trice dose of hills.

Best of luck to those running the Law Week 8k, the SCOPE 5k and the Husky Hustle 5k on Saturday and the Capitol 10K on Sunday. Good speed!

Permalink

8 mile recovery run, 4 of which were run on the Green Trails.

Even though I started my run a little late, just around 6:45 PM, I still managed to hit the soft trails on the south side of Memorial Drive. It's been over a year since I last ran these trails, and it's an experience I've sorely missed. Because of yesterday's track workout, I held back from hitting the trails hard; but for me I was happy just loosening up my stiff muscles and working out my kinks. I had planned on running a little on the bike loop, too, but that part of the park was closed in preparation for the Arts Festival this weekend. Still, the 30 or so minutes I had were enough to tide me till my next foray onto the trails.

The trails, an often forgotten part of the Memorial Park system, offer something for everyone. If you're interested in rolling hills and sharp climbs, there are numerous sections of the trails that will give you that challenge. But if you'd rather take it slow and easy, you'll find plenty of miles that fit that description. This is an awesome time of year to make the occasional trip to the trails. As you become more familiar with the various routes and shortcuts, you may find that the trails offer an exciting twist to a typical speed session, such as a tempo run.

The color marked trials are the easiest to navigate, but the real excitement is when you go “off-running” onto the runners’ only trails. The best thing you can do is just run into the brush, get lost, and have fun finding your way out.

Yesterday was I was at Rice University for my weekly track session. For the last few weeks we've been working through long interval sessions of mile and 1200 repeats, but yesterday we moved back to a short, quick session (but still painful all the same): 3 x (5 x 300 meters) with a 100 meter walk between each 300 - at least we got 4 minutes rest between each set. This type of workout is deceptively hard. You'd think that 300s would be easy...and they are, but wait till you try stacking 15 of them together.

But the guys and I hung on pretty strong throughout the workout. The first set was hard, but we eased into it without any problem. The second set was a little harder still, but again we worked through it alright. The last set was the real challenge, and it did take more effort for us to maintain our steady pacing. But in then end, we finished this set well within the times that Jon had us down for.

While running each set, I tried to work on my leg turnover. The idea was to keep my feet on the ground as little as possible. It's harder than it seems, and I was only successful for as long as I actively concentrated on moving my legs quickly. As soon as my focus slipped, I reverted back to my old ways. One of these days if I persist at this, the muscle memory will take over, and I'll be that much quicker (yeah, right).

This Sunday it’s time to run the Capitol 10K. Good luck and good speed to everyone running it!

Permalink

Dodging a Bullet

I hit the trails along the bayou early this morning for a nice and easy 7 miler. The wind was a little chilly at first, but as I eased into the run, it turned out to make the moment all the more enjoyable. It would be nice if the weather stayed like this a little longer, but I can't see that happening too much longer. All too soon the humidity and then the heat will be here – this is Houston, after all. Six strides later, and I was ready to head back to my car.

I was in for quite the surprise, though, when I made my way back to Spotts Park: two cars had been broken into (one right next to mine)! Apparently the thieves made their move sometime between 5:30 when I left the parking lot and 5:50 when the ladies who were victimized returned to their cars. They were working out in the bowl just below the lot, but they were still too far to see or hear anything. The police showed up a little later, but there wasn't much that could be done at that point.

Going forward I'm either leaving my valuables at home or I’m locking them in the truck; no more keeping my keys in the center console! I'm not going to stop my early running, so the only thing I can do is make my car a less attractive target.

Good speed!

Permalink