Race Reports/Encouragement/Kudos - 4 and 5 August
- Thread starter Big Vic
- Start date
Disfan11
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2007
- Messages
- 387
Late posting!
I ran the Tacoma Narrows 1/2 marathon on 8/4.
Finished 5th in my age group. Not to shabby for a 51 year old!
Nice race over the Narrows bridge and through Cheney stadium.
It was a hot day so I was glad to be done in 2:04.
After the race, I cheered on my sisters, cousin, neice and all the rest of the runners with the signs I had made for the Seattle Rock and Roll 1/2!
I ran the Tacoma Narrows 1/2 marathon on 8/4.
Finished 5th in my age group. Not to shabby for a 51 year old!
Nice race over the Narrows bridge and through Cheney stadium.
It was a hot day so I was glad to be done in 2:04.
After the race, I cheered on my sisters, cousin, neice and all the rest of the runners with the signs I had made for the Seattle Rock and Roll 1/2!
jmasgat
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2006
- Messages
- 5,215
I totally forgot to come here and post my race report... I've now got three different running related boards that I post one including this one. Need to keep them all straight somehow. Well, anyway, here is the belated race report:
This is a long post some background and lots of detail I want to capture for my running journal.
We have been fortunate to have spent many weekends at the Jersey Shore since weve been married.
The same year we got married, my parents purchased a house in Sea Isle City, NJ and my wife and I spend at least 4 or 5 weekends a summer there swimming in the surf and lounging in the sun. This has been especially enjoyable the last 10 years once our daughters came along.
My parents house is across the street from the beach and on the first weekend of August, around dinner time, we would see a race being run on the beach.
Well, this year with running becoming a part of my life, Ive been looking for races to run whenever and wherever I can find them and a few months ago, this race occurred to me.
When I looked it up, I found out that the race is actually 10 miles long. I was daunted at first, but once I started extending my runs, I thought I could do it.
As my training continued, Ive become much more confident in my ability to run long distances, but even though I knew it might be tough, running a 10 mile race at 5:30PM in August didnt really sink in.
So, as the day wore on yesterday I was getting pretty concerned about the race. I figured I would be able to complete the distance, but the heat and humidity were building throughout the afternoon.
After my 10 mile training run a couple of weeks ago, I originally wanted to run the 10 miles in 2 hours that is what I had done on a hilly course that day. Always trying to negative split and not go out too fast, I planned on a simple three-step pace schedule 2x 13:00 miles, 6x 12:00 miles and 2x 11:00 miles. My brother and I arrived at the starting area (on the promenade in SIC think boardwalk but with asphalt paving instead of boards) and made our way toward the back of the pack. Hes been running a lot longer than me and is a lot faster, but hasnt been training for the longer distances as much yet he had never run more than 8 miles before yesterdays run, so we both figured we might as well just let everyone start ahead of us instead of making them pass us. The race was about as big as previous years just about 1250 entrants.
They started off the race and off we went. Chip timing showed that it took us almost 90 seconds to make it to the starting line but then we both took off. As continues to happen for me with races, my slow plan went out the window and I was running much, much too fast I ran the first half mile in 5:08 and I tried to slow myself down but had little success at first.
Mile 1 finished in 10:47 over 2 minutes faster than my target.
Mile 2 was complete in 11:52 a little better, but still over a minute ahead of where I wanted to be. I was overdoing it and I knew it. Those first two miles might have been okay for a 5k race, even in the heat, but they were way too fast for 10 miles.
Part of the reason that I was overly excited on this day was that my whole family (well all of them that were at the shore) was down on the beach to cheer us on as my brother and I ran by. This may not seem like that big of a deal, but the fact is that my father, who has spent the whole summer at the beach house for 18 years, NEVER goes to the beach. I mean this literally I have never seen him on the beach in my adult life and he decided to take the walk over the dunes and spend an hour on the beach to see his two younger sons run this race. It made me proud and it made me realize just how proud he is of what Ive accomplished with my weight loss.
It was awesome to see them there waving and cheering me on and I kept on running north. At 2.5 miles, the turn around point, I did a u-turn and headed back down the beach. I reached a water station and got a cup and took my first walk break I checked my HRM and my heart rate was well into the 170s already there was no way I could sustain that so I forced myself to walk for several minutes until the heart rate went down. But as I would find out a few minutes later, the damage to my stamina had already been done by running too fast to start and by the heat and humidity and sun. When I started running again, the heart rate went right back to the 170 -175 rate within seconds any chance of running near my 12 minute miles was really out the window, so I gave in, gave up on the 2 hour mark and did some mental arithmetic.
Mile 3′s split was 13:33 with the fast first half and slow, walking second half, but I started running again just before the 3 mile mark.
I decided 13:30 as the target for the rest of the race, which would get me in at just about the 2:10 mark. With that I eased off and started to feel a bit better.
At just about 3.33 miles, I passed by my family again this time stopping for a few seconds to hug my daughters a good celebration for reaching the 1/3 mark of the race. It had been fast too fast, but it hadnt been too bad.
The only thing of note was a brief moment of annoyance I felt when, after hugging my girls, I came away with sandy hands and no way to wash them. I briefly thought about heading down to the water to rinse them off, until I remembered that I was coming up on another water station in the race I grabbed and extra cup of water and washed off my hands and all was right.
As was mile 4 12:58 pace for that one. Nothing really of note and I was finally settling in to the race, but at about the end of that mile, I was just SOO overheated I realized that I didnt want to run in this heat, but what are you going to do when you are already in the middle of the race? Keep on running, thats what.
Shortly after Mile 4 finished, was another water station, back for the second stretch on the promenade, Approaching it I took out my Sport Beans and downed them and then grabbed two cups of water one went in me and one went on me and a few minutes later, I started to feel much better.
Mile 5 was all on the promenade the 5 mile mark was back across the original start line in front of the Beach Patrol headquarters. Later I would check my 5 mile split, and considering the conditions Im actually pretty proud of a 1:03 time for 5 miles. I was feeling good, having finally settled into a sustainable pace but it was a lot slower than I had been going.
Mile 5 was 13:24.
Mile 6 finished up the time on asphalt and it was back onto the beach, heading south toward Townsends Inlet at the south end of the island. This end of the beach is a lot more populated than the north end where the first half of the race was run, and the beach was pretty crowded. Most people are considerate of the racers and a lot of them are out there to cheer the runners on, but the track where you can run gets a lot narrower and has the added challenge of having to dodge sand castles and trenches that kids have built into the beach throughout the day.
Mile 6′s split was 12:42. Still running strong.
Mile 7 was uneventful more of the same as Mile 6. The split was a bit slower as the fatigue started to catch up to me not just the heat. 12:53
Mile 8 is the last half mile at the south end of the island and then back this part of the beach is on the inlet and the composition of the sand is looser and coarser more like the sand that I had run on a few weeks ago in Lewes, DE on the Delaware Bay beaches this is not as bad as the soft, powdery sand up near the dunes, but it makes for slower going and is tougher on the legs. It took a lot out of me and it took a long time to get through. Mile 8 I dropped back to 13:29.
At the end of Mile 8 I was really flagging. I ended up walking a good bit of mile 9 and even the running portions were slower. Avg for the mile was 14:34. At the end of mile 9, I had just about hit the two hour mark. One thing that I had decided to try out as an experiment on this race was to use a Gu gel for fuel. I wasnt sure how it would affect me, so I wanted to wait until pretty late before trying it so I wouldnt have to run too long with an upset stomach if I reacted badly. At the next water station, I downed the Gu Tri-Berry (not bad in the taste department) followed by a cup of water.
I didnt mind the Gu, and the energy definitely hit me faster than with the Sport Beans just a few minutes and I was able to feel it, but really, I had waited too long to get much benefit.
Mile 10 was just a slog I was totally out of gas and a big part of me wanted to just stop, but thinking about the support of family and friend both in person and on line helped me keep going. I walked almost as much as I ran in the last mile, but as I knew I was only 5 or 6 blocks from the finish, I finally got back to a regular, albeit slow, run and finished out the race.
I finished in 2:13:16. I was disappointed that I couldnt finish in even my revised target, but the more I think about it, the better I feel.
It was really tough running out there. The heat was tough and but also, there was a 10-12 mile per hour wind the whole time. 5 miles running into that wind was tough going in its own right.
But, I did it and its the next step toward half marathon and then the marathon beyond that.
One observation. Teens and tweens dont like being passed by 40-something fat guys. Two different times in the race, I connected with young kids keeping at my steady pace and passing them while they were walking. Both times, the kids would sprint fast a couple of hundred yards ahead of me and then walk while I just continued on doing my tortoise impression catching up and passing them while they walked. Inevitably, the cycle would repeat and just after I passed them, they would speed ahead and then get tired. It was kind of amusing at first, but by the time we got to the ending stages, it was just annoying.
But that was a small annoyance in an otherwise tough, miserable, wonderful race.
Keep on running everyone.
Ted
This is a long post some background and lots of detail I want to capture for my running journal.
We have been fortunate to have spent many weekends at the Jersey Shore since weve been married.
The same year we got married, my parents purchased a house in Sea Isle City, NJ and my wife and I spend at least 4 or 5 weekends a summer there swimming in the surf and lounging in the sun. This has been especially enjoyable the last 10 years once our daughters came along.
My parents house is across the street from the beach and on the first weekend of August, around dinner time, we would see a race being run on the beach.
Well, this year with running becoming a part of my life, Ive been looking for races to run whenever and wherever I can find them and a few months ago, this race occurred to me.
When I looked it up, I found out that the race is actually 10 miles long. I was daunted at first, but once I started extending my runs, I thought I could do it.
As my training continued, Ive become much more confident in my ability to run long distances, but even though I knew it might be tough, running a 10 mile race at 5:30PM in August didnt really sink in.
So, as the day wore on yesterday I was getting pretty concerned about the race. I figured I would be able to complete the distance, but the heat and humidity were building throughout the afternoon.
After my 10 mile training run a couple of weeks ago, I originally wanted to run the 10 miles in 2 hours that is what I had done on a hilly course that day. Always trying to negative split and not go out too fast, I planned on a simple three-step pace schedule 2x 13:00 miles, 6x 12:00 miles and 2x 11:00 miles. My brother and I arrived at the starting area (on the promenade in SIC think boardwalk but with asphalt paving instead of boards) and made our way toward the back of the pack. Hes been running a lot longer than me and is a lot faster, but hasnt been training for the longer distances as much yet he had never run more than 8 miles before yesterdays run, so we both figured we might as well just let everyone start ahead of us instead of making them pass us. The race was about as big as previous years just about 1250 entrants.
They started off the race and off we went. Chip timing showed that it took us almost 90 seconds to make it to the starting line but then we both took off. As continues to happen for me with races, my slow plan went out the window and I was running much, much too fast I ran the first half mile in 5:08 and I tried to slow myself down but had little success at first.
Mile 1 finished in 10:47 over 2 minutes faster than my target.
Mile 2 was complete in 11:52 a little better, but still over a minute ahead of where I wanted to be. I was overdoing it and I knew it. Those first two miles might have been okay for a 5k race, even in the heat, but they were way too fast for 10 miles.
Part of the reason that I was overly excited on this day was that my whole family (well all of them that were at the shore) was down on the beach to cheer us on as my brother and I ran by. This may not seem like that big of a deal, but the fact is that my father, who has spent the whole summer at the beach house for 18 years, NEVER goes to the beach. I mean this literally I have never seen him on the beach in my adult life and he decided to take the walk over the dunes and spend an hour on the beach to see his two younger sons run this race. It made me proud and it made me realize just how proud he is of what Ive accomplished with my weight loss.
It was awesome to see them there waving and cheering me on and I kept on running north. At 2.5 miles, the turn around point, I did a u-turn and headed back down the beach. I reached a water station and got a cup and took my first walk break I checked my HRM and my heart rate was well into the 170s already there was no way I could sustain that so I forced myself to walk for several minutes until the heart rate went down. But as I would find out a few minutes later, the damage to my stamina had already been done by running too fast to start and by the heat and humidity and sun. When I started running again, the heart rate went right back to the 170 -175 rate within seconds any chance of running near my 12 minute miles was really out the window, so I gave in, gave up on the 2 hour mark and did some mental arithmetic.
Mile 3′s split was 13:33 with the fast first half and slow, walking second half, but I started running again just before the 3 mile mark.
I decided 13:30 as the target for the rest of the race, which would get me in at just about the 2:10 mark. With that I eased off and started to feel a bit better.
At just about 3.33 miles, I passed by my family again this time stopping for a few seconds to hug my daughters a good celebration for reaching the 1/3 mark of the race. It had been fast too fast, but it hadnt been too bad.
The only thing of note was a brief moment of annoyance I felt when, after hugging my girls, I came away with sandy hands and no way to wash them. I briefly thought about heading down to the water to rinse them off, until I remembered that I was coming up on another water station in the race I grabbed and extra cup of water and washed off my hands and all was right.
As was mile 4 12:58 pace for that one. Nothing really of note and I was finally settling in to the race, but at about the end of that mile, I was just SOO overheated I realized that I didnt want to run in this heat, but what are you going to do when you are already in the middle of the race? Keep on running, thats what.
Shortly after Mile 4 finished, was another water station, back for the second stretch on the promenade, Approaching it I took out my Sport Beans and downed them and then grabbed two cups of water one went in me and one went on me and a few minutes later, I started to feel much better.
Mile 5 was all on the promenade the 5 mile mark was back across the original start line in front of the Beach Patrol headquarters. Later I would check my 5 mile split, and considering the conditions Im actually pretty proud of a 1:03 time for 5 miles. I was feeling good, having finally settled into a sustainable pace but it was a lot slower than I had been going.
Mile 5 was 13:24.
Mile 6 finished up the time on asphalt and it was back onto the beach, heading south toward Townsends Inlet at the south end of the island. This end of the beach is a lot more populated than the north end where the first half of the race was run, and the beach was pretty crowded. Most people are considerate of the racers and a lot of them are out there to cheer the runners on, but the track where you can run gets a lot narrower and has the added challenge of having to dodge sand castles and trenches that kids have built into the beach throughout the day.
Mile 6′s split was 12:42. Still running strong.
Mile 7 was uneventful more of the same as Mile 6. The split was a bit slower as the fatigue started to catch up to me not just the heat. 12:53
Mile 8 is the last half mile at the south end of the island and then back this part of the beach is on the inlet and the composition of the sand is looser and coarser more like the sand that I had run on a few weeks ago in Lewes, DE on the Delaware Bay beaches this is not as bad as the soft, powdery sand up near the dunes, but it makes for slower going and is tougher on the legs. It took a lot out of me and it took a long time to get through. Mile 8 I dropped back to 13:29.
At the end of Mile 8 I was really flagging. I ended up walking a good bit of mile 9 and even the running portions were slower. Avg for the mile was 14:34. At the end of mile 9, I had just about hit the two hour mark. One thing that I had decided to try out as an experiment on this race was to use a Gu gel for fuel. I wasnt sure how it would affect me, so I wanted to wait until pretty late before trying it so I wouldnt have to run too long with an upset stomach if I reacted badly. At the next water station, I downed the Gu Tri-Berry (not bad in the taste department) followed by a cup of water.
I didnt mind the Gu, and the energy definitely hit me faster than with the Sport Beans just a few minutes and I was able to feel it, but really, I had waited too long to get much benefit.
Mile 10 was just a slog I was totally out of gas and a big part of me wanted to just stop, but thinking about the support of family and friend both in person and on line helped me keep going. I walked almost as much as I ran in the last mile, but as I knew I was only 5 or 6 blocks from the finish, I finally got back to a regular, albeit slow, run and finished out the race.
I finished in 2:13:16. I was disappointed that I couldnt finish in even my revised target, but the more I think about it, the better I feel.
It was really tough running out there. The heat was tough and but also, there was a 10-12 mile per hour wind the whole time. 5 miles running into that wind was tough going in its own right.
But, I did it and its the next step toward half marathon and then the marathon beyond that.
One observation. Teens and tweens dont like being passed by 40-something fat guys. Two different times in the race, I connected with young kids keeping at my steady pace and passing them while they were walking. Both times, the kids would sprint fast a couple of hundred yards ahead of me and then walk while I just continued on doing my tortoise impression catching up and passing them while they walked. Inevitably, the cycle would repeat and just after I passed them, they would speed ahead and then get tired. It was kind of amusing at first, but by the time we got to the ending stages, it was just annoying.
But that was a small annoyance in an otherwise tough, miserable, wonderful race.
Keep on running everyone.
Ted
Disfan11
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2007
- Messages
- 387
I think you're referring to the Galloping Gerty film.
Yes, I'm that old!
I did recieve a nice ribbon and a coaster with the name of the run on it.
That was a nice suprise!
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