"Send me your race review. You've got some valuable information. This is the kind of stuff people want to read."Was something my Ate Joy said to me as we talked about my race. She wanted to post the review on her ever popular blog and share how proud she was of me with her followers (or how much she hated my time). I thought it was a nice gesture as she is infinitely better at this blogging thing than me, but what the heck! I'll go ahead and give it a shot here.
Just to recap how this running craze in our family started. Ate Joy finished her first marathon last November. Our family can be competitive so naturally trash talking eventually ensured. We lightly debated who could run the fastest, who could run longest, and who would look best in a pink tutu. It was decided a family challenge be laid out so everyone could put their running where their mouth was (I know it doesn't make sense). We decided that a year be allowed for training and that we would meet up at the following year's (now this year's) Richmond Marathon. Ate Joy's advice to all the men?
"Shave your legs. Pink tutus look better on smooth legs."Since then, I've already:
- Gone through two pair of shoes.
- Completed my first 10k.
- Joined the Richmond Marathon Training Team (MTT).
- Fully converted to all aspects of running gear (shorts, technical tees, technical socks, a garmin, GUs, a palm holder water bottles, body glide, and a road ID).
- Given Ate Joy a preview of what the Richmond Marathon would be like if we ran together.
Day Before
I went out to Ashland, the day before the race to pick up my packet. Ashland is a small town a little North of Richmond, which gets really country, really fast once you get out of the town. Since I was going to be all the way out in the cut, I decided to take the time to drive the course. In the process, I had the ingenious idea of recording notes to myself as I saw hills and other particulars about the course. Sure, the course and elevation was available online but this way I could record1 all the details I would find beneficial or hazardous to me during my run. The other benefit was that by the time I was done driving through the course and recording my notes, I found I was actually really excited about the race. It was like a weird epiphany; for the first time I actually admitted to myself that maybe I was into this whole running thing after all.
I got home that night and did all the stuff I learned from my previous race. I put my bib number on my shirt, tagged my shoe, and laid out everything else I would need for the next day: shorts, socks, my Garmin, a GU, and course map.
Race Day
I woke up at 2:30 to eat breakfast. I used to eat an hour before races/training runs but when it started to get humid, I started cramping up in the middle of my runs. To alleviate this problem, I stopped eating before the shorter runs. For the long runs (10+ miles) and races, I wake up 4 hours prior to the run to eat a carb loaded meal2. I learned this from a nutrition clinic I went to earlier in the training.
This morning in particular my goal was to take in about 200g worth of carbs. I had a bagel (50), a banana (27), an orange juice (26), an almond butter and jelly wheat sandwich (60) and a hand full of pretzels to round it off.
As I ate, I listened to my self recorded notes for a couple of chuckles and made a couple of key notes about the course. Where the SAGs were going to be, where multiple porto-potties were going to be, the major declines in the run, the major inclines in the run, and where the rolling hills were going to be. I noted all this information so I could have a mental strategy of where I could pick up the pace or cut it back in case I needed to do so. After all the planning and the food settled in, I went back to bed for another hour.
The wife and I woke up at 5:15 because 1) we were carpooling with James (a MTT buddy) and his girlfriend and 2) Ashland is in the cut, despite its claim that its in The Center of the Universe. On our way there, our suspicions were confirmed, because of the parking limitation and the back country roads, the 25 minute trip there was actually taking more than an hour. We were on pace to be late to our first half marathon race! At quarter till race start time, James and I decided it was best to bail the car and do our warm up jog to the start line. This was at the assumption that our just introduced significant others would be fine parking the car, get along for a couple of hours and be able to find us post-race.
Fortunately when we got to the start line, the race coordinators acknowledged the problem with traffic and the start time would be delayed a good 15 minutes. I decided to take the time to get one last bio break before the run. It was funny, while in line for the porto-potty I heard a lady say (I'm gonna paraphrase this):
"This sucks, because all of these men in line are not waiting to go pee!"Just to confirm her suspicion, its true. If the race is in the middle of the cut, where there is plenty of room to stand and drain, then we are not waiting in the line of the porto-potty to go pee (sorry ladies).
As I stood in line, I started remembering all the things I had forgotten in my haste to get out of the house. I forgot my camera, which blew, but this is why I'm writing this very descriptive blog post (sorry again ladies) but more importantly I forgot my body glide! Now I have never had the pleasure of severe chafing or bloody nips but those are experiences I plan on living life without. I know we still haven't figured out why men have nipples, but I'm pretty sure no kind of liquid substance should be coming from them. With this logic very engrained into my identity, I decided to run bare back for the first time. After getting my shirt off and hastily attaching my bib number to my shorts, the race was starting.
The Race Itself
You would think this is where the meat of my post happens but as you've noticed, I'm a preparer. Once the run starts I just let the mind loose and do it. But I do have several thoughts about my race strategy and specifically about the Patrick Henry Half Marathon itself:
- The race actually starts, with a canon. Did I already mention we were in the cut?
- On races and this one in particular I take it reeeeeeeeaaaaallllly easy in the beginning. I think this particular strategy upset some people because someone actually told James and I, "you guys are having way too much fun" around mile 6.
- I always grab the last cup at a SAG, quickly get to the side and start a fast walk while taking my time with the water. My thinking is that we're doing long distances here, so the time I loose making sure I take in good drinks of water, far outweighs the couple of seconds I loose to walking. (No, I don't do Galloway Running)
- Another thing I learned at the previously mentioned nutrition clinic is that once you start providing your body with carbs (ie - GUs or sports drinks), you have to constantly provide (like every 20 mins) it to your body afterwards. So on training days I don't GU until an hour and a half into the run, so my body is learning to more efficiently use its stored glycogen (which comes from the carbs). On race days I start a little after the one hour mark.
- The way I like to run is to change up the pace depending on the environment (ie - hills, crowds, etc) and to always have a reserve for my last kick. I also save some in the reserves because I just don't like the idea of dying to finish. This is actually evident in my splits. You'll notice where I'm taking it easy (M1 - M4, we hit the major decline and incline at M4), where I'm picking it up (M5 - M9, this is where it flattened out and ran through downtown Ashland), where I'm kicking it back (M10 - M11, had small, frequent rolling hills here), and where I'm using my kick (M12 - End, with a max pace of 4:57).
- My splits. M1: 9:52, M2: 9:08, M3: 9:13, M4: 8:58, M5: 8:53, M6: 8:46, M7: 8:36, M8: 8:41, M9: 8:30, M10: 8:38, M11: 8:32, M12: 7:53, M13: 6:52
- For me, running is a humbling experience. It is a sport that does not discriminate against race, gender, size or weight (these last two matter more when you're elite). Anything can happen on any given run that can mess you up (ie - weather, potholes, bad sleep, etc) regardless of runner status and preparation. I saw some elites walking on race day. So just enjoy it.
1What would have been even more awesome is if I somehow put my camera on the dashboard of my car and took of a video of the course while recording my notes. Maybe we'll do that for PDR!
2The Nutrition Clinic recommend high carbs, low fat, and low fiber before races (you don't want to have your tummy grumbling in the middle of a race). The number of carbs you eat is dependent on the number of hours you eat before you race.
