March 29, 2015: The Morningside Mile

but the last half-mile is uphill!

Goal: To finish a one-mile run in less than 8 minutes

One week after finishing my longest distance (13.1 miles), I joined a one-mile race, the shortest contest that I've run.  It's a fundraiser to renovate a historic but still operational fire station in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood.  
Fire Station #19 from North Highland Avenue (above)
and from Los Angeles Avenue (below)

I haven't worked on sprinting, except for very short distances in the context of a longer distance, so I wasn't sure how this would work out.  But I've run some miles under 8 minutes in a few 5K races.  Knowing that I wouldn't need to pace myself to run a second or third mile, I figured like I would treat this as if I was passing the 5-mile sign in a 10K, ready to give it my all for that final mile.  On a warm Thursday evening before the race, I ran the route a couple of times, the second time as fast as I could manage, covering the mile in 8:25.  

When I arrived at the start, it was clear that a big crowd had showed up to support the cause, including hundreds of children, many of whom were filling in the front rows.  I had decided to run light, without my iPhone or tracker, as I felt it would be difficult to start it in time, although in retrospect it would have been fun to get some photos of the crowd.  The day was sunny with clear skies, and the temperature was relatively cool, in the high 40's, perfect for a fast run.  I had warmed up by parking near the finish area and jogging to the start, but then ended up standing around for about 30 minutes until we began.  In the meantime, I enjoyed catching up with someone that I had worked with 10 - 15 years ago, who lives in the neighborhood.  The elite group began their race as scheduled at 12:00 pm.  After they had finished, the clock was reset for the "amateurs and weekend warriors", at our 6 - 9 minute  per mile paces.  I wasn't sure where an 8 minute runner should stand, so I found a spot about 20 feet behind the starting line, in front of the foremost stroller.  Shortly before we began, I looked behind me and saw hundreds of people at my back.  I just hoped that I wouldn't get trampled.  

With little fanfare, the race coordinator lowered his hand and the front line took off!  The start was rather chaotic as we ran around a big tree at the intersection of Virginia with Lanier Blvd, then we had to avoid parked cars on the right side of the boulevard.  Runners started on both lanes of the boulevard, but our lane was still quite crowded.  I was moving fairly quickly in the right lane with the downhill start but also had to run very carefully.  I passed a number of adults who had lined up in front of me and quite a few of the children, but sometimes had to slow down just a bit before finding a safe place to pass.  As fast I was running, there were still hundreds of people in front of me and I couldn't see the front of the pack.  Fortunately I didn't see anyone fall or trampled in my area.  

I ran the route on Thursday evening and recorded the map and elevation profile.
The road leveled out as we approached the intersection with Amsterdam Ave, and then another downhill took us to a big intersection of Lanier Blvd with McLynn Avenue and Morningside Drive.  Somehow we had narrowed to a single lane although I missed where that had happened. But making the diagonal turn onto Morningside, I knew that the hard work was about to begin.  Pumping with my arms, I managed to go uphill fairly strongly, passing a few people on the way up.  Normally I wouldn't have pushed it like that, but knowing that the finish line was less than a half-mile away meant that I didn't need to save much.  The road leveled out for one block, and there a few people caught up and passed me, although no one shot past too quickly.  Then we made a right turn onto Lanier Place.  This was a 25-foot rise in a single block, which was pretty rough, but before I knew it we had made another right turn onto Highland Avenue.  Spectators were lining the road cheering us on, "Not much further!"  I tried to pick up speed but I don't think that I managed it, although I passed a couple of people who were reduced to a walk even in this final block.  
Approaching the finish line on North Highland Avenue.
Look at the beautiful blue sky and the spring growth on some of the trees in the background.
I love springtime in Atlanta - other than the pollen!  
When I saw the clock at the finish line, I couldn't believe it: the time was just clicking over to 7:00, and I crossed the line at 7:03.  Amazing!  Before the race, I was pretty sure that I could finish in less than 8 minutes with people pushing me, if not physically at least psychologically, but I didn't imagine that I would finish so much quicker than 7:30!  Of course I could not have run a second mile at the pace, but it was a great test of my endurance and stamina to this point.  The winner finished in a scorchingly fast time of 4:28, and the 50 - 59 male age group winner ran 5:27.  

 P.S.  My throat was quite sore shortly after the race, and at first I was afraid that I was coming down with a cold.  After drinking my third bottle of water post-race, I realized that it was from inhaling the Virginia-Highland-Morningside spring pollen along the tree-lined race route! 

Goal: To finish a one-mile run in less than 8 minutes; Achieved!!




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March 22, 2015: The Publix Georgia Half Marathon

Goal C: To finish my second half-marathon feeling better than I did at the end of my first one;

Goal B: To cross the finish line of the half-marathon in time to watch the winner of the marathon;

Goal A: To run the last mile of a half-marathon faster than I ran the first mile.


One year ago, I was watching the Publix Georgia marathon and half-marathon runners line up for their race, as I was waiting for the 5K race to follow.  I was so impressed with the energy and excitement of the long-distance runners, and at that moment I resolved that I would be in the half-marathon group in March 2015. 

 The big day arrived!  I had run the course twice in the past two months, starting and ending at mile 9 in Piedmont Park, so I had a good idea of the route and the challenges, as well as the confidence that I could run the race.  In fact in my second running of the 13.1 route, I finished in 2:29, without running hard at any stage, and sticking with a run : walk ratio of 4 : 1.  My main concern for today was some IT band pain that had cropped up beginning in mid-February, although it was manageable especially with taking walk breaks.  

 Before the Atlanta 10-Miler in October, my mother-in-law had treated me to a special chicken ginseng soup, to give me strength and energy.  And I had a great race from start-to-finish!  But I didn't have the soup before the Galloway 13.1 in December, and struggled in the last few miles, finishing in 2:19:36.  So weeks ago, I asked for the chicken ginseng soup, and last night enjoyed a home-made meal at my parents-in-law's home.  It was both delicious and nutritious! 

Pre-race meal, with Bonnie, Hwajin,
and Homoon Chung Youn
(photo by Sunny Youn, not in picture)
Delicious and full of good nutrition!





















To start out slowly, I resolved to set an initial pace of no faster than a 10 minute mile, with a run : walk ratio of 4 : 1.  I was also going to walk through each water station.  My tracker was set to give me alerts every half-mile, i.e. no more often than every 5 minutes if I was running slowly enough at the beginning.  I brought three gels with me, planning to take the first one around mile 5, the second after mile 8, and the last after mile 11, to fuel a strong finish.  I didn't really set a time goal, but it would be nice to finish faster than 2:19, which would be an improvement over my first half-marathon time.  Today's main goal would be achieved if I could finish without injury or significant pain, and I would be thrilled if I could reach the mile 12 marker with enough energy to sprint to the finish line. 

The forecast consistently showed a good chance of rain for Sunday morning, and this time the forecasters were correct.  It was drizzling when we left home for the MARTA train at Doraville, which was about 15 minutes late, but we still arrived in plenty of time to take care of business at the porta-potties and gear check.  Fortunately the temperature was about 55 deg F so I wouldn't get chilled, and I decided to run without a rain jacket, remembering how uncomfortably hot I was in the second half of in last weekend's 5K.  I didn't really warm up for the race, other than walking several blocks from Peachtree Center to the start of the race in Centennial Olympic Park.  I figured that I would warm up in the first mile or two as long as I didn't run too fast.  
Fool in the rain
A couple of minutes before the start!


The official photo of runners just after crossing the starting line.
I think that this is a 2015 photo given the number of umbrellas held by spectators.  

We began the race exactly at 7:00 am.  I was in corral F (out of 13 corrals) and crossed the starting line about 2-1/2 minutes after the official start.  I was very careful not to run too quickly, and when I reached the 0.5 mile mark near the Georgia State University campus in 4:45, I moved to the sidewalk and took a short walk break, stretching my arms high above my head, stretching everything from the knees up, hopefully including the IT band.  Even though I was feeling really good at the start, and emotionally I didn't want to take walk breaks at the beginning, I knew that I was risking great difficulty later in the race if I didn't run : walk with some discipline in the early miles.  There were pockets of spectators and small cheering groups along Piedmont Avenue.  The best organized group in the entire race was the first group, organized by 65 Roses (organizers of the Big Peach Sizzler, for cystic fibrosis research), near the mile 2 marker.  There was a small live band playing Cheap Trick's hit "Surrender", which brought me back to high school days in the late 1970's.  I covered the first two miles in 9:56 and 9:59 respectively, exactly as I had hoped.  Slowing down with walk breaks undoubtably helped me execute the plan for the first part of the race. 

As I ran, taking walk breaks every 0.5 miles, approximately every 4-1/2 minutes, I kept waiting for the IT band issue to act up.  But it didn't!  We passed the Martin Luther King Center in the fourth mile, turned into Inman Park in the fifth mile.  I had sped up a little bit, covering miles 3, 4, and 5 in 9:23, 9:33, and 9:26 respectively.  Shortly after the mile 5 marker, I took my first gel and washed it down with water from my bottle, and then with powerade at the next water station.  At almost every water station, there were also a few porta-potties, and a few of the runners that had been ahead of me lost their lead waiting for their turn to go.  I thought of a line from the recent movie The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail."  And let's hope that I didn't need to go later in the race!  

In Little Five Points, I heard my name called - it was Susan from our Weight Watchers group.  She had run with us in the Tour deCatur 5K last weekend, and was there to cheer on her wife.  We passed the Carter Center after the mile 6 marker (9:43 for mile 6) and crossed the 10K timing strip at 1:00:13, which later I learned was a 9:41 minute / mile average pace.  So far so good, nothing was really hurting.  My shirt was soaked by the drizzle, but it would have been soaked by sweat if the weather had been dry, so really it didn't make a difference.  I was wearing my green running cap and that kept the drizzle out of my eyes.  

We were offered cups of red jelly beans right before we turned onto North Avenue.  It was a strong burst of sugar - but fortunately, as soon as we were on North Avenue, there was a water station and I could wash it down.  The carbohydrate jolt helped me run up the steep hills on North Avenue.  I covered mile 7 in 9:51, and the hills didn't bother me too much.  I just shortened my stride and focused on posture, and before I knew it, I had crested the top of the hill.  On North Avenue, the course split, with half-marathon runners directed to the left, and those running the full-marathon to the right.  At the intersection with Highland Avenue, we bid farewell to the marathon runners, which was about 20% of the total runner group that I could see.  Several of us loudly wished them good luck, as they continued eastward to eventually reach downtown Decatur at the midpoint of their race, while we turned north onto Highland Avenue.  They were only one-quarter done, whereas we were more than halfway to the finish line.   
A race in Atlanta means a race with hills.  Look at the uphill finish from mile marker 11! 
The next two miles, on Highland Avenue and then west on Virginia Avenue, were gently downhill.  There were some enthusiastic spectators along Highland Avenue and a small cluster at the corner with Virginia Avenue.  I was able to pick up the pace slightly and without much effort.  I noticed that some of the other runners were slowing down and a few were limping, but I was doing fine.  Although I would lose a little ground every time I took a walk break, I made it up and more when I began running again, re-energized by the change of pace.  I covered miles 8 and 9 in 9:30 and 9:27 respectively, and crossed the 8-mile timing strip at 1:17:21.  At that moment I knew that Bonnie would soon finish the 5K, as that race began well after our half-marathon and marathon starts.  The rain picked up a bit more as we ran down Virginia Avenue, then diminished again to a light drizzle around the time we made the right turn onto Park Avenue.  Quite a few of the residents in that neighborhood were cheering us on.  One fellow was trying to offer runners a couple of cans of beer to slake their thirst!  Crossing Monroe Avenue was a bit of a challenge due to some standing water, and my shoes were thoroughly soaked as I skipped around one small puddle only to land right in the middle of a bigger, deeper puddle.  Before reaching Piedmont Park, the marathon lane joined us on the right (although no marathon runners yet!) and so we were a bit crowded in a single lane.  I skipped a walk break as I felt it wouldn't be safe to slow down that much, although I felt the beginnings of a cramp in my right thigh.  As we crossed the classic Park Avenue Bridge into the Park, a group held a sign reading "We've had 9 mimosas, you've run 9 miles!"  

Shortly after entering the park I took the deferred walk break, ate another gel washing it down with water from my bottle, and the minor cramp disappeared from my thigh as I returned to speed.  We ran through the middle of the park, approaching the main entrance at Charles Allen Blvd and 10th Street.  The water station included an enthusiastic DJ who was encouraging people to smile, telling us how good the powerade tasted, and generally cheering us up.  But I was already feeling great and gave him a big two thumbs-up which was acknowledged by the DJ.  Heading west onto 10th Street, we were going uphill - indeed it was going to be net uphill the rest of the way - but it didn't really bother me.  I just kept plugging away.  I could feel a blister starting to form on the ball of my left foot, no doubt exacerbated by running in wet socks, but it was nothing that I couldn't stand and it didn't slow me down or cause me to limp.  I was definitely running better than many of the others around me.  We passed a cheering group at the Flying Biscuit restaurant before turning left onto Juniper Street, going uphill again.  Nonetheless I covered the 10th mile in 9:39.  The clock was reading 1:39:00 at the mile-10 marker, and subtracting 2:30 for my delayed start, I realized that I was considerably slower than my time in the Atlanta 10-miler in October, which I had finished in 1:31:13.  But I was definitely feeling strong and started thinking, now it's just a 5K to the end.  I managed to speed up a bit, not as fast as I would run in a real 5K, but was definitely moving more quickly.  

The race route, with mile markers
After turning right onto Fifth Street, we soon reached the outskirts of the Georgia Tech campus.  Crossing the I-75/I-85 connector, and turning left on Techwood Drive past the Georgia Tech football stadium, I finished mile 11 in 9:18, which was my fastest mile so far in the race.  Susan from WW showed up again at the turn onto North Avenue.  I was starting to feel some tightness in my knees, probably muscle fatigue, but it wasn't too bad, and the tightness eased up with a short walk break.  Overall I was thrilled that my race plan had brought me to this stage in such great shape.  In the Galloway 13.1 in December, I suffered greatly after mile 11, with a sprained ankle giving me considerable pain, and I walked most of the last two miles.  Today, I was doing much better and was still running 4 : 1 intervals.  I thought about taking another gel, but the water station on the Georgia Tech campus offered half oranges to runners,  That was exactly what I needed, and no doubt was healthier than eating a gel.  The knee tightness had completely disappeared, or at least I didn't notice it anymore.  Through the buildings to my left, I could see the runners ahead of us heading the other way for the final dash down Marietta Street.  With a left turn onto Means Street and another left turn I was on Marietta Street, heading downtown.  I finished mile 12 in 9:45.  

At the beginning of Marietta Street, I took a final walk break as I approached the mile-12 marker, to ready myself for a strong sprint to the end.  The clock was reading 1:58:00, so I knew that I would finish faster than 2:10 clock time.  When I started running again, I decided to speed up my turnover rate, taking shorter steps, and I could feel myself gradually beginning to accelerate.  I began to pass quite a few of the other runners.  As the road was gently uphill, and I was pushing pretty hard, I started breathing fairly heavily, and my pulse rate was in the 170s, but I just focused on breathing every 7 steps (instead of every 5 steps), and kept racing forward.  Then I could see the top of the Westin Hotel, my first sight of downtown Atlanta.  But I knew from running this section in training runs that the mile would feel much longer than it looked on the map.  Moving forward as strongly as I could, I began looking for additional familiar landmarks.  Not much further!  I had been able to hear the announcer in Centennial Olympic Park for the past few minutes.  As I neared Der Biergarten restaurant up ahead on the right, I could make out what the announcer was saying.  With some excitement I spotted the Embassy Suites Hotel ahead, where I had lined up with corral F some two hours earlier.  

 Quite a few spectators were lining the left side of the road, where I was running.  When I watched the finish of the half-marathon last year, many of the 2+ hour runners were limping at the end - but this year, in this race, I wasn't!  Then we made the last turn onto Andrew Young International Boulevard, into the park.  The finish line was further ahead than I had remembered, and the road was fairly crowded as we all eagerly pushed forward to the finish line.  A hundred feet before the finish line, I ran up on a group of "Angels" pushing a wheelchair racer, and had to slow down a bit, as I couldn't get around them without getting in the way of the other racers.  But the clock was reading 2:07, which meant that I was going to finish around 2:05 chip time!  I threw my arms over my head as I crossed the finish line, even made a victory pose just beyond the line, although I dared not stop with other runners coming through behind me.  My official time was 2:05:36, a 14-minute improvement over my time in the Galloway 13.1, and quite a bit better than the 2:11 time that I would have run with a steady 10:00 minute per mile pace.  

When I first saw this photo, I thought it looked like I had been shot! 
Even though I was in the middle of the pack, it was a significant personal victory.

What a great race!  I was totally exhilarated, as the endorphins surged through my veins!  I managed to achieve every single goal that I had set for myself, and I had a great time doing it!  

Goal C: To finish my second half-marathon feeling better than I did at the end of my first one; Achieved!

Goal B: To cross the finish line of the half-marathon in time to watch the winner of the marathon; Achieved (and it turns out that the marathon winner is an Emory student!)

Goal A: To run the last mile of a half-marathon faster than I ran the first mile. Achieved!!  Here are my mile splits:

9:56, 9:59, 9:23, 9:33, 9:26, 9:43, 9:51, 9:30, 9:27, 9:39, 9:18, 9:45, and the last 1.1 mile in 10:06, which was a 9:10 minute per mile pace, so the last mile was my fastest!  I'm also really pleased with how consistently I ran the race, with little deviation in speed even with the hills.  I first saw the official readout below, which showed that I had sped up slightly after the 10K mark, and even a bit more after the 8 mile mark.  

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March 14, 2015: Pi Day (and the Tour deCatur 5K)

Goal C: To finish the 5K on Pi Day, 3-14-15 before 9:26:53 am

Goal B: To run a 5K with negative splits

Goal A: To break my 5K PR of 25:06


                 3.14159265359...

I picked up the bib and shirt a couple of days ago.
It was a 4-mile round-trip easy run from the
Emory campus to Fleet Feet in downtown Decatur.
Two years ago I would never have considered
 "running" into Decatur for a quick errand. 
Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.  For the nerds of the United States, today is Pi Day, March 14.  Sadly, the rest of the world will miss out, at least those who use the day-month-year combination. 31-4-15 would correspond to the 31st of April, which hasn't made it onto any western calendar.  

The Tour deCatur has typically been held on a Saturday morning in mid-March, so it was a happy coincidence that the usual day happened to be on Pi Day.  The Tour deCatur is a fundraiser and big community event for the Decatur Education Foundation, and the Decatur School District is well represented with student runners and their families from every school in the district.  I ran this race last year, and had a good time, even though I registered on the morning of the race.  This year I registered a few weeks ahead of time, which saved a lot of trouble, a few dollars, and guaranteed that I would get a Pi Day T-shirt! 

It was raining on the drive to the race, so after parking I put on my running rain jacket and pinned the bib to the outside of the jacket.  We would be standing around outside for about an hour before the start of our race, and I didn't want to get soaked before our race had begun.  Fortunately the rain stopped within a few minutes of our arrival, and so we walked to North McDonough Avenue, in front of Decatur High School, to watch the 8:30 start of the 1-mile race.  A large number of children were gathered at the start, and with the signal to start, they went racing down the street, followed by a slower progression of runners, walkers, and parents pushing strollers bringing up the rear. 



  
The boy circled above was the
eventual winner of the 1-mile race.
Hundreds of runners and walkers
on North McDonough Road
  


The winner of the
1-mile race!
After seeing off the last starters, we hurried to the back of the school to watch the arrival of the 1-mile finishers.  In about six minutes, the lead runner appeared, blazing through the gates into the stadium and crossing the finish line at mid-field in 6 minutes, 19 seconds!  As the time ticked past 10 minutes and then 12 minutes, a line began to form at the finish chute!  It was probably because each child was receiving a medal and they were probably giving the awards too close to the finish line.  I just hoped that there wouldn't be a similar traffic jam when I finished the 5K. 

For the start of the 5K, we gathered on Commerce Street near the corner with Robin Street.  We had lined up for a photo with a banner of the race, held by the front line of runners, and then the race director had us move northwards on the street, probably a hundred yards or so, to the starting chute which would record our chip starting time.  (You will see later why this detail is important.)  Although the official time for the start was planned for 9:00 am, we actually began around 9:04 am, so I knew that I would still be running at pi time (9:26:53).  I was standing fairly close to the front, about 20 rows back, but probably closer than in last year's race. 
The race route, with mile markings in magenta
Today's start was just as chaotic as was last year's.  Walkers in front of me, speedy sprinters coming up from behind, children darting back and forth as we started - in short, it was a cheerful mess!  Actually the chaos was just what I needed to avoid going out too fast, although I definitely wanted to avoid a collision.  I ran most of the first half mile with my hands open and out in front of me, so that if I collided with someone, I could catch them and myself to avoid a dangerous body-to-body collision.  It wasn't until we had climbed the hill at the intersection of N. McDonough St. and Howard Ave. that the traffic cleared out a bit.  I heard a half-mile alert at 4:20, which was about right for my plan to run the first mile between 8:30 and 9:00.  But I must have picked up speed in the second half-mile, certainly I was feeling good, because I passed the 1-mile mark at 8:03!  I felt like we might be going gently uphill (later confirmed by the elevation map) but I was moving well.  After a half-mile jaunt through a residential neighborhood, we got back onto Howard Ave. for a few blocks.  I was starting to feel quite warm as we headed uphill on a gentle slope to the highest elevation of the race.  The temperature had risen to about 50 degrees F, and the rain jacket was becoming uncomfortable, but with the bib pinned to it, I couldn't take off the jacket.  But I managed to unzip the jacket most of the way down, working my fingers behind the bib from above and then below, even while running.  That helped to get some cool air against my chest and blowing around inside the jacket.
Decatur is just as hilly as Atlanta. 

We reached the top of the hill within 100 feet of turning northward onto Drexel Avenue.  As we headed downhill, I dared to let myself go a bit faster.  The IT band issue wasn't bothering me at all at this stage, and I glided quickly downhill, passing the 2-mile mark at 15:35 (7:32 for mile 2!).  That more-or-less coincided with a valley in the road, but the next section was a gentle upward slope, and before I knew it, I was turning right onto Ponce de Leon, cutting a tight corner to save steps!  Now I knew that it was no more than one mile to the finish line.  Even though we were going slightly uphill on Ponce, I maintained decent speed, and turned a slight diagonal right through a bicycle lane onto West Trinity Place, where another gentle downhill section gave me the impetus to speed up.  As we passed through an underpass for the MARTA tracks going into Decatur Square, I heard the 2-1/2-mile alert at 20 minutes even.  Wow, I've never done that before.  Surely I could cover 0.61 miles (ca. 1 kilometer) in less than 5 minutes, to break the 25-minute barrier.  But we were now heading uphill toward the courthouse.  I could feel myself slowing a bit as we ran uphill, and I could see that my heartrate was pretty high, in the mid-170's.  I thought that I felt a little twinge on the side of my right knee, but nothing too bad.  I could hear the announcer in the stadium, and I definitely knew that I could maintain a fast pace for a couple more minutes.  

At the top of the hill, we turned right onto N. McDonough, downhill!  After a couple of hundred feet, we made a right turn past the school and downhill again into the stadium and onto the field.  This year I was passing a few people on the way in but occasionally was also passed by a couple of children that found the energy to put on an incredibly strong sprint to the finish.  I later learned that I was moving at 9 mph in this section, pretty fast for me.  

As I entered the stadium I was rewarded by the beautiful sight of 23 minutes on the clock - something that I have never seen before in a race!  The time clicked forward to 24 minutes but I was exhilarated that I was going to set a new personal record!!  As I crossed the line I saw 24:10 on the clock, and when the official times were posted in the afternoon, I had finished in 23:57!  Smashed my old PR by more than a minute!!

Then I checked my tracker.  3.04 miles.  Of course a 5K is 3.11 miles, and my tracker usually records a distance for a 5K of about 3.14 miles (no pun intended, really!), so 

I had just run a 4.9 K!  

If only we had started a hundred yards further back on Commerce Street!  

Nevertheless, I ran today's race at an average pace of 7:53 minutes per mile, something that I've never managed before.  My best previous pace on the tracker had been 8:04 minutes per mile to achieve an earlier 5K PR of 25:06.  So I will take today's time as an unofficial PR, and I think that I can realistically say that I've broken through my 25-minute barrier.   

Bonnie and a couple of friends from our WeightWatchers group were also running the 5K, and Bonnie got us together for a few photos after the race. 

Montage of 4 happy and healthy "Sunday's beautiful losers"
- the unofficial name of our Weight Watchers group -
collectively losing at least 150 lbs. in the past few years! 



video of a Dixieland band playing near the finish line 

Goal C: To finish the 5K on Pi Day, 3-14-15 before 9:26:53 am; not possible (for me) due to the 9:04 start, but I'm not complaining, because ---


Goal B: To run a 5K with negative splits; ACHIEVED!! 8:03, 7:32, 7:58.  The second mile had a nice long downhill, so I think that it's a success that I ran the last mile a bit faster than the first mile.  


Goal A: To break my 5K PR of 25:06; ACHIEVED!!! (probably ...)  extrapolating 4.89 km in 23:57 to a full 5.00 km, it comes out to about 24:30.  And while I doubt that I could have run one more full mile at that pace, I'm certain that I could have made it a couple of hundred more meters without slowing down too much, so I'll take it! 

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March 7, 2015: The Chattahoochee Road Race 10K

Goal C: To beat my 10K PR of 54:22

Goal B: To finish in less than 54 minutes

Goal A: To run the second half of the race faster than the first half


Inside the packet containing my bib for the Charles Harris 10K two weeks earlier, I found a post card advertising the following race:
Of course the race that I had just finished was said to be one of the fastest Peachtree qualifiers, but having just fallen a few seconds short of my PR, I was vulnerable to advertising for one more chance prior to registering for the Peachtree Road Race!  I had originally planned to defend my "title" in the Dental Dash 5K (2nd place in age group in March 2014).  But I checked out the web site and the elevation map for the Chattahoochee Road Race, and the downhill finish although significant did not seem to be quite as steep of a slope as kilometer 9 in the Charles Harris, so I felt that I might do better on this course.  The right knee was also feeling better in recent training runs, and so I was hopeful for a good experience in this race. 

 This probably sounds silly to regular folks, but among the runners in Atlanta, it's not uncommon to hear talk about improving one's Peachtree qualifying time.  Obviously the organizers of the Chattahoochee Road Race are counting on that interest to draw a larger field, on a weekend when there are quite a few competing races.  It really shouldn't matter for me - or for the other 99.9% of Peachtree Road Race participants.  My chip time won't be any faster or any slower whether I begin in group B or group E.  Last year I began in group C by submitting a 5K qualifying time, but by mile 5 a substantial number of group D runners were starting to pass me, even though I had a 4-minute head start.  So I decided a few months ago that I would only submit my best 10K time, after all the Peachtree Road Race is a 10K race.  

The latest issue of Runner's World arrived in the mail last night, and two timely articles were advertised on the cover: "The Right Warmup for Every Race" and "Pain-Free Knees".  I read both articles over my pre-race breakfast this morning, and resolved to follow the advice.  On the drive to the race start, I kept reviewing my plan to aim for 9-minute miles for the first 3 miles, so that I would have some energy for a strong finish.  
Getting the last bit of warmth in the car before heading to the starting line!


 After picking up our race packets in a parking lot near the finish line, I jogged uphill to the starting area, about half a mile from the finish.  I took it fairly easy until I got to the parking lot behind the starting area, then ran three laps turning up the pace for a couple of hundred feet in each lap.  This wasn't quite as thorough of a warmup as recommended in the Runner's World article, but certainly it was a better and more purposeful warmup than what I usually manage.  

 We gathered for the start, and I took a position about halfway back from the starting line.  I figured that would help me to avoid going out too quickly.  A couple of minutes before the 8 am start, we heard an airhorn!  It turns out that the race director didn't have a megaphone, but the airhorn got everyone's attention.  He gave a one-minute advance notice (but I thought he had said something indicating that we were about to begin immediately) so I started my tracker and put on my gloves.  I decided not to worry about the early tracker start, as I could subtract a minute from every alert and still follow my progress.  
It was a beautiful morning, if a bit crisp, with temperature around the freezing point. 
Then the airhorn sounded for real.  It took about 15 seconds to get to the starting line, and then we began moving in earnest.  Although the start was a little crowded, I resolved to just move with the pack at least for the first half-mile, even though it seemed a bit slow.  That was a good move, as I covered that first half-mile in 4:20, and mile 1 in 8:51, even though it felt like I was running really slowly.  The route was rolling hills, but none of the hills were very challenging, and I was feeling good.  In fact I think that my legs benefitted from the three different levels: flat, moderate uphill, and moderate downhill, using different muscles for each level. 

 Shortly after passing the mile-1 marker, the lead runner in the 5K passed us on the return leg.  He had opened up at least a 30 second lead on the second runner.  Then a fairly steady stream of 5K runners passed us as we crossed the overpass over the I-285 Perimeter.  I had been running along the left side of our lane so I could watch the returning 5K runners, but when I realized the split for the 5K and 10K races was coming up, I managed to move over to the right side of the lane.  The last thing that I wanted was for a 5K runner to cross in front of me at the turnaround.  It seemed that a majority of the runners in my part of the pack continued forward on the 10K.  

 My right knee started bothering me a bit in the second mile, but the pain wasn't too bad.  I remembered what I had read earlier this morning about a shorter, quicker stride on the Runner's World article on knee pain, and that helped.  The pain came and went during the run, but it was never too bad, and I felt that it might not slow me down today.  From the Runner's World article, it appears that I have a bit of iliotibial-band syndrome (IT-band), which is a common complaint among runners.  I was relieved to read this morning that it's not an injury and simply an indication that I need to strengthen my glute and core muscles, which I've already begun working in earnest over the past couple of weeks.  That probably helped with today's run. 

I reached the mile-2 marker at 17:52 (9:01 for mile 2).  I commented to a runner next to me that I had achieved my first goal of passing the 2 mile mark before the 10K leader had completed 4 miles.   Things continued smoothly through the mile-3 marker at 26:42 (8:50 for mile 3).  At what was probably the 5K mark, I saw a clock reading 27 minutes, then spotted a timing mat in the right part of the lane.  I moved over to cross the mat just as a runner ahead of me made a quick piroutte to return to the mat, which he crossed just in front of me.  He apologized although we didn't collide, and I mentioned that we probably didn't have to cross the mat, but perhaps they would post our 5K times along with 10K results.  According to my tracker, 27:38 at the 5K mark meant that I was on a pace to finish in just over 55 minutes.  Hmm, I was definitely going to have to speed up to achieve my goals, but of course that precisely fit my A goal and the overall race strategy, to run the second half of the race faster than the first half. 
The route was a partial out-and-back, taking a spur in the final mile to give us a downhill finish. 
I made a sharp 180-degree turn at the turnaround point.  I was still feeling good but had to push myself a bit to maintain some speed.  By focusing on staying with the runners around me, I continued at a good pace.  There was a water stop shortly before the mile-4 marker, which I ran through but pulled over a couple of hundred feet past the water stop to take a couple of sips of water from my bottle, while taking a short, 15-second walk break.  As I returned to speed, I reached the mile-4 marker at 35:46 (9:04 for mile 4).  

 The short walk break really helped me as we began the fifth mile.  At this stage, I began to pass a few runners.  I was listening to the breathing cadence of the other runners around me, and I was definitely breathing better, usually exhaling every 7th or 9th step.  At that moment I realized that my musical training might be helping me to think in 7/4 or 9/4 time!  I recently learned that one should not exhale on even step counts, as one tends to step harder when exhaling, and repeated exhaling on the same foot can lead to injury.  I found myself passing more runners, and no one was passing me. As we crossed the I-285 overpass again, I saw the mile-5 marker, passing it at 44:32 (8:46 for mile 5).  This was about the same time that I had run in the Cartersville 10K, my first sub-55 minute race. 

 I decided to take one more short walk break and a couple of sips of water, to fortify me for the sprint to the end.  It's amazing what a 15-20 second walk break does, lowering my pulse rate just a bit, and giving my leg muscles a momentary break.  I felt really strong and ready to run fast as I went back up to running speed.  
The course features a downhill finish, for the final 0.7 miles.
I began the tracker too early, and crossed the starting mat at 1:06.
Look at the paces that I was running on the downhill sections near the end of the race! 

At the turn onto Hammond Drive, I could see the road ahead drop rather sharply in elevation.  I started to build up some speed, lengthening my stride, and I zipped past another runner.  I was flying down the hill, it seemed that my feet were only occasionally touching the ground, and gravity was doing most of the work.  Hopefully my running looked impressive to any spectators.  At one point I was concerned that I might fall, at another I wondered if my left shoe was coming untied, but I just kept moving as fast as I dared.  But this wasn't the end of the race!  To my surprise, we went uphill again, although I managed to maintain a decent pace, back to 9-minute mile pace, and passing a few runners.  Then we went downhill again, and I started flying again, passing yet another runner.  The road levelled out briefly as we made the final turn onto Sandy Springs Circle, with one more steep downhill section.  Having gained some confidence from the first two downhill sections, I rocketed down the final stage at full speed, passing several other runners.  I was shocked afterwards when I saw that my pace was faster than 6 minutes per mile, hitting 11 miles per hour going into the finish.  And the clock clicked over to 54 minutes shortly before I finished, with 54:07 the last number that I saw on the finish line clock.  When the results were posted, my official chip time was 53:54!! 

Looking back up the final hill
Shortly after the race, high on endorphins! 
It took me awhile to slow down after that blazing fast finish, and I could feel it in my legs when I was walking immediately afterwards, hoping to keep from getting stiff.  But I was exhilarated with the race!  Subtracting a few seconds for the start, I knew that I had definitely achieved all three of my goals!  The downhill section at the end definitely helped, but I'm sure that I would have been unable to take full advantage if I had been too tired after 5 miles. 

Goal C: To beat my 10K PR of 54:22:  Achieved, 53:54!  28 seconds better than my previous PR!!

Goal B: To finish in less than 54 minutes:  Achieved!!!

Goal A: To run the second half of the race faster than the first half:  Achieved for the first time!  First 5K, 27:38; Second 5K, 26:16

Mile splits: 8:51, 9:01, 8:50, 9:04, 8:46, 7:58; 6:03 pace for the final 0.22 mile


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