January 14, 2017: Livvy's Love 8K

Each year on the Saturday before the Martin Luther King holiday, the Livvy's Love Foundation sponsors a 5K / 8K fun run / walk at Stone Mountain Park.  I've run the 8K race the previous three years, finishing in a fairly narrow range of times from 42:04 (2016) to 43:59 (2014).  As I've been nursing the calf strain and recovering from the Red Nose Half Marathon last weekend, I didn't run at all this week.  With the first week of classes, the challenge of developing a new angle on the organic chemistry course, blending in some elements of physical chemistry, and some frustration with a new system for posting course materials and pre-class assignments on-line, and Bonnie's birthday on Wednesday, it was difficult to work in any mid-week runs. 

This morning was a perfect day for running, 50 deg F and mostly clear skies, with a little light and scattered fog that began burning off shortly after sunrise.  Brian, Bonnie, and I were the only representatives of Tucker Running Club this year.  Beverly chose not to run this race but did her own 3-mile workout while we were running around the mountain, and took many of the photos on today's blog post. 

Brian and I before the start.  The other runner in the photo
with bib #1331 said shortly after this was taken,
"Is this the Day-Glo running team?"

This race is always a relatively small field.  Brian and I lined up close to the starting line, but left room for a row of faster runners to toe the actual line.  But no one stepped in front of us!  After the Tucker Middle School choir did a very nice rendition of the National Anthem - beautiful and rather challenging harmonies - Nikki Hayes gave the signal "on your mark,.... GO!"  I simultaneously started my watch and pushed off on the sore leg - ouch!  But then we were off.  We settled into a group where there were 5 or 6 runners in front of me.  In the first mile, I caught up with Brian for a moment, as he was taking it easy at the start.  When he saw me on his left, he started to speed up, to which I called out "Seeing me means that you must not be running fast enough!"  I kept him in view for the first couple of miles but he eventually pulled away.  A few runners passed me in the second mile, and I estimated that I was in about 10th place in the middle of the race.  

At the start: can you pick us out in the crowd?  I thought so.  Those Day-Glo yellow shirts do stand out! 

My race strategy last year had been a run-walk approach.  This time I decided to approach the race as a tempo run, trying to keep my heart rate within a steady range, 155 - 170 bpm.  I had done a training run a few months ago in the 150 - 160 bpm range and had managed that fairly well, although when I looked back at the data this afternoon, I see that I took about 50 minutes around the mountain.  Unfortunately once my heart rate rose into the range, I reached the maximum before finishing the first mile, and never dropped under 165 bpm for the race.  I ran the first two miles in 8:18 and 8:04 (long downhill in mile 2), but the later uphill sections were a real battle, turning in mile splits of 9:05, 9:18, and 9:27.  

Inverse correlation of elevation slope with pace, not surprising!

The last runner to pass me was wearing all black clothes and orange-red shoes, somewhere in the middle of the third mile.  He gained a lead of about 50 - 100 feet but I managed to keep up with him for next couple of miles, even up some of the most challenging hills from ca. 3.5 - 4.5 miles, near the Old Stone Mountain Inn.  Finally cresting the top of the last big hill, I picked up the pace a bit heading downhill, reaching the big intersection at Old Hugh Howell Road where we had turned in to the last one-third mile to the finish line.  The runner in black went straight at the intersection!  Did he miss the turn?  Perhaps he wasn't part of the race, as I couldn't see if he was wearing a bib from the back.  A policeman was manning the intersection, and as I approached I pointed left with a questioning look on my face.  However he was on the phone and so I decided to make the left turn.  I realized later that it really wasn't the policeman's job to direct the runners.  There really should have been a volunteer at that intersection, as the policeman was there to protect the runners from any automobiles turning onto the street.

The hills were definitely higher this year. 

As I ran that final stretch, there were no runners in front of me.  Typically there would be a cheering group shortly after the turn, but today, there was no one.  I realized that I had not checked (nor seen) a race map for this year's race.  Did they change the route?  Did I misunderstand the instructions given before the start?  If I ran through the finish line in the wrong direction, would I be disqualified?  I didn't know if I should go back to the corner and run in the direction of the other runner.  But having run the race before and the route many times in workouts, I knew that I would be running exactly 8K in the way that I was running.  While all of those thoughts were going through my mind, the road curved and I could see the finish line in the distance.  There was absolutely no one else running between me and the finish line.  I didn't think that the other runners had opened up THAT much of a gap!  As I drew closer to the finish line I could see that I wasn't going to break the 44:00 minute mark.  The people cheering were all on the other side of the finish line, what did that mean?  Anyway I made it through the finish at 44:12, accepted congratulations from a few of the people cheering. 

I'm glad that I celebrated today's finish, even if I was a little slower than in previous years.

I asked the person running the timer if I had run in the correct direction, and he confirmed that I had.  It turned out that the runners that went straight (which also included Brian) covered nearly the same distance (Brian recorded 4.95 miles, I had exactly 5.00 miles; 8K = 4.97 miles), but they definitely had a tougher hill going into the finish.  I saw the runner in black in the lot - his name is David - and we chatted a bit about the race and the confusion on the last turn of the course.  Later Brian told me that David had decided to turn around and followed me into the finish, although I had not noticed at that time. 

"Less than a quarter-mile to go, you can do it Bonnie!"

After going through the post-run stretches and getting a little hydration (and hot coffee!), I went back to the corner in question to wait for Bonnie to reach that point of the course.  As it was a nice day, there were quite a few people walking and running that weren't part of the race, but when I saw someone with a bib, I was a de facto volunteer, pointing them to make the turn.  As Bonnie came through I jogged in with her, Brian joined us for the last quarter-mile, while Beverly took photos of us coming into the finish together. 

Running with Bonnie into the finish

When it was time for the awards, David Johnson received the second place in our age group. I was thinking that he had finished ahead of me and I would be third place, but then Nikki Hayes called out my name as first place in my age group!  I was surprised but jogged up to accept my medal and pose for photos. 

I felt that my award was a bit tainted!  Although I had hoped to catch up to David at the end, of course the odds were rather slim that I would have made up the ground and passed him at the end, particularly as the uphill finish was a struggle for me today.  But then I decided that runners should be responsible for knowing the race route, and I would accept my prize with pride.  Ironically, today's run was my slowest race performance, 13 seconds slower than my 2014 time, and more than 2 minutes slower than last year's time.  I will go back to the run-walk method for my next race. 

Bonnie, me, Beverly, and Brian showing off his roller for rehabbing calf strains.
 I'm a little surprised that Brian didn't win something,
as he finished 5 minutes ahead of me, and possibly in the top-5 overall. 

January 7, 2017: The Red Nose Half Marathon

This year was the 11th running of the Red Nose Half Marathon in Columbus, Georgia, a free race!  I know a few people who have run it in the past, and they have spoken highly of the route and the organization, so a couple of weeks ago, I registered.  Bonnie was game for leaving the night before and staying at a hotel so that we didn't have to make the 2-hour drive on the morning of the race.  That ended up being a very good decision, because of a heavy rainstorm on Friday afternoon that turned into freezing rain in Atlanta after sundown.  Fortunately we were both able to take off from work in the early afternoon and were on the road to Columbus by 2:30 pm.  

Although I've lived in Georgia for nearly two decades, I've never had a reason to go to Columbus in the past, and did not really know what to expect.  Columbus is on the Chattahoochee River on the border with Alabama.  We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Phenix City, Alabama, literally a few hundred feet from the Georgia border and separated from Columbus by a beautiful pedestrian-only bridge.   It's a new hotel, nice rooms and wonderfully friendly and accommodating staff - and only $99 a night.  

Bonnie and I at dinner with Beverly and Brian

Our good friends Brian and Beverly arrived a couple of hours later and joined us for dinner at a restaurant in downtown Columbus, 11th and Bay.  It's a southern-themed restaurant, but with many healthy options.  Brian asked the waiter if he could convert the cod fish cakes appetizer into a fish-and-waffles dish (a substitution on a southern favorite, chicken-and-waffles), and it was a fantastic invention that will hopefully make it onto the menu!  For the main course, I ordered a salmon dish with black rice risotto and ginger garnish, which Brian also ordered, while Bonnie had scallops and Beverly enjoyed a halibut special.  Definitely check out 11th and Bay if you visit Columbus!

It was still raining when we returned to the hotel to turn in for the evening, but the rain was scheduled to end around 1 am, shortly before the temperature was to drop below freezing.  Bonnie and I were up by 6 am, I met up with Brian in the lobby around 6:30 am, to pick up bibs at the Big Dog Running Company on Broadway in downtown Columbus.  

Although I had collected my bib Friday evening before dinner, my main interest was to do a warmup run in cold-weather garb and determine what would feel comfortable for the race.  It was about 25 deg F with 15 mph gusts at time, especially along the Chattahoochee River, but the store was less than one-half mile from the hotel, so it was a perfect distance for an easy warmup.  I wore two shirts and a running jacket, running tights over compression stockings, my Olympic yellow Brooks and a skullcap and cap on top of my head.  Bonnie had recently given me a pair of gloves with a mitten overcap, with a pocket for inserting hand warmers.  This is a great invention for keeping the fingers warm, as the tips of my fingers have become painfully cold when wearing gloves simply because the hand warmers only fit in the palm inside a regular glove.  With the cold temperature compounded by gusty winds, I decided that I would run the race with all three layers. 

In the hotel lobby right before leaving for the race

We returned to the hotel by 7 am to warm up, make a final bathroom stop, and then the four of us left the hotel around 7:30 am to return to Big Dog, where the race would begin.   In addition to Brian and Beverly, other runners from Atlanta that I knew running the race were Corey Tanner from Tucker Running Club, Carl Line from Lithonia that I occasionally run with at Big Peach Decatur, and Tes Sobomehin of runningnerds, all of whom had arrived the night before the race.  I don't think that any of the Atlanta runners that had planned to drive early Saturday morning were able to make the trip due to freezing rain overnight in Atlanta.  In fact 1627 people registered, but only 550 picked up bibs.  

The start of the race was delayed for about 30 minutes while the organizers completed cleanup arrangements along the course.  Fortunately there was plenty of room inside Big Dog and an adjacent empty room that had been reserved for bib pickup, so we didn't have to wait outside in the cold if we weren't jogging around and warming up.  Shortly before 8:30 am, the organizers gave us the word to head outside and line up behind the start line on Broadway.  This race had pacers for at least 8 to 10 different finish times, from 1:45 to 3:00.  I started with the 2:00 pacer, Raymond, who was aiming for about a 9:00 min / mile pace and slowing down to walk through water stops.  I planned to run my typical intervals of 3:30 run, 30 sec walk, so I figured that we would be leapfrogging if I managed to run a 2-hour pace.  

In mile 2, catching some wind

After the National Anthem, it was time to start.  There wasn't a timing mat at the start line, but the race was small enough and the starting line wide enough so I crossed the start line within 10 seconds of the official start, right behind Raymond.  Although I've been dealing with some tightness in my left calf and Achilles tendon, I didn't have any trouble getting started, and kept up with Raymond for the first few miles, as we made a few loops around downtown to spread out the runners, before getting onto the narrower Riverwalk.  On the northbound legs, we occasionally were buffeted by strong, cold gusts from the north, and I was glad that I was wearing the third layer and was fairly well insulated.   Just as we entered the Riverwalk, my cap blew off my head!  I had to backtrack about 25 feet to pick up the cap, and pull it down more tightly over the skullcap that was protecting my ears as I resumed running.  (Extra 0.01 mile on the Garmin!) 

I had been concerned about icy roads, but in fact the roads were in great shape.  There were a few small wet patches that might have been icy, but they were easy to see and run around or jump over.   As we ran south on the Riverwalk, I appreciated that crews (either from the city or from the race organizers) had put sand on the several wooden bridges over water, and I never felt like I was in danger of slipping.  I had expected a fairly flat route, but in fact the Riverwalk went up and down the banks on several occasions.  But there weren't any big hills, nothing like what we deal with in Atlanta.  And the route along the river was very pleasant, for much of the route like running in a park, and looking across the river to Alabama where there was more wilderness along the river.  One small section of the Riverwalk had washed out in heavy rain last weekend, and the detour had us run up a small ridge up a mixture of mud and gravel.  It wasn't a bad surface but with all of the rain from last night, the surface was very spongy, with my feet sinking in an inch with each step!  Fortunately that was only about 100 feet and was just an interesting experience in this year's race.  

The certified map is probably easier to read than my Garmin map.  Top of the page is to the east.

After the mile 6 marker, some of the lead runners were returning, moving at a good pace.  I felt good about my performance that the leaders had less than a 2-mile lead on me.  The first runner that I knew on the return trip was Corey Tanner (he finished in 1:40) who was the 30th to pass - and then a larger group came through and I was no longer able to keep track.  Brian was next, we exchanged hand slaps as we passed, followed shortly by Carl.  Then I reached the turnaround point, approximately 7.8 miles into the race.  

The plan was to speed up at this stage.  Unfortunately what I had not appreciated on the southbound leg was that the wind must have been blowing from behind.  It was much tougher to run into the wind, especially when the route went up the bank.  My pace was slowing down and I had trouble maintaining even a 9:30 average pace.  I tried skipping a few walk breaks, then thought that might be hurting my performance so I would take walk breaks, nothing helped me speed up.  However for the most part I was occasionally passing more people than were passing me on the return leg.  I was a little surprised to see Tes on my return leg, she is normally a little faster than me, followed by Beverly, running her 10th half marathon.  

On the Columbus Riverwalk, probably around mile 6 (free photo from race organizers)

Around mile 11, the 2:05 pacers passed me!  I said "I was trying to stay ahead of you guys!" and the woman pacer said, "Come on, run with us!"  I appreciated her encouragement but wasn't quite able to keep up, until they slowed for a water stop.  I had carried my own water/Powerade concoction so that I didn't have to stop at water stations - and although my hydration source had cooled during the run, I don't think that it was as cold as the water that had been sitting outside for a few hours.  I was determined not to let the 2:05 pacers catch up to me again, and that was enough motivation to continue running at my best even though I knew that a 2-hour finish would not be possible today.  

Near the end of mile 12, we turned onto a bridge to cross over to Alabama.  I kept trying to find a higher gear and just couldn't run any faster, but everything felt good enough, which was the most important thing.  The Alabama side was mostly through a park.  It looked like we had a couple of miles to run, but in fact it was less than a mile when we reached the end of the Alabama leg, at the corner where our hotel was located!  I checked my watch as we started on the bridge to return to Georgia, 12.8 miles and exactly 2:00 elapsed.  Knowing that I had only three or four blocks to get to the finish, I tried to speed up, and managed to move a little faster.  I was determined to look good when I reached the finish line.  I could see ahead runners turning onto 12th Street where I knew that the finish was just around the corner.  What I didn't expect was the uphill finish!  But I pushed up that hill as best I could.  I could see the time on the clock at 2:03:50, ticking forward, and hoped that I wouldn't see 2:04 on the clock.  

I was on track to finish in 154th place (out of 550, not bad) but in the last 50 feet, I heard footsteps rapidly closing in on me.  A few steps before the finish, a young woman dashed past.  I could only smile and laugh as I crossed, settling for 155th place.  I congratulated her as we slowed to accept our medals, a bottle of water, and a foil blanket.  When I checked the results, I was consoled to see that she was only 34 years old, so hopefully she was proud to outkick the old dude by 0.2 seconds at the finish!  

Showing off our free medals after brunch

I jogged back to the corner to watch Tes and Beverly finish while I went through the big-5 post-run stretches that we learned in the marathon training program.  The stretches certainly felt good.  Although the Achilles tendon was a bit sore throughout the race, I was pleased that it didn't get any worse, and that I was able to run the half marathon at a decent pace.  I think that the wind probably slowed me down a bit on the return trip, so I wasn't too disappointed to finish a few minutes slower than my 2-hour target.  

This was a nice event and a great route.  The race was better organized than quite a few of the paid races that I have run.  I was particularly pleased with how well the organizers managed last-minute weather issues with sanding sensitive areas of the route and accommodating the small detour where the Riverwalk had washed out.  I've heard that this is a race with many personal records, and I think that I might have had a chance at a new PR if the weather conditions had been ideal.  This is definitely a race that I will run again, maybe not a "must-run" due to travel and the January scheduling, but one that I will probably run more often than not.  And did I mention that it was a free race?!

Delicious! and fairly healthy!

The unfinished portrait of FDR, Apr 12, 1945

We joined Brian and Beverly for a celebration lunch at First Watch on the north side of Columbus, where I enjoyed salmon eggs benedict and shared an order of lemon ricotta pancakes.  First Watch is a chain but in fact I had never eaten there, but appreciated that the menu had many healthy options.  

Before turning to Atlanta, we took a small detour to Warm Springs and the Little White House during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency (1933 - 1945).  The cottage where Pres. Roosevelt occasionally vacationed has been nicely preserved with many of the original furnishings, books, and pictures, and is very close to the Warm Springs Foundation where he received rehabilitation and treatment after contracting polio in 1921.  Although we could spend only an hour before the grounds closed for the day, we enjoyed our quick tour of the museum, the Little White House, and the grounds.  And I didn't have too much soreness as we walked around!

6th best out of 11 half-marathons; official time will be close to 2:04:00 (forgot to turn off watch at first)

P.S. January 8: The official results were posted, officially 2:04:00.83, 155th out of 462 finishers, 14th out of 42 in the 50-59 age group.  I was very pleased to see that I moved up a net of 25 runners from the timing mat at the turnaround to the finish.  (The woman who rocketed past me at the finish line passed 83!)  

It appears that virtually everyone ran the last 5 miles slower than the first 8.  It shows the challenge of running into the wind, in addition to the northbound return being about 25 feet net uphill. 

January 1, 2017: Resolution Run (4 mile race)

2016 course result: 33:30, PR for the 4-mile distance

The Atlanta Track Club hosts a couple of 4-mile races, one in mid-summer and the other on New Year's Day.  It's just a little longer than a 5K, but trying to run at full speed for that additional 0.89 mile can be rough, especially on the hilly courses that the track club has mapped out.  Eventually I would like to run a 4-miler in sub-32 minutes, under an 8:00 minute/mile pace, but today wasn't going to be that day.  

Since finishing the marathon in November, I've gained at least 5 pounds that I haven't found the discipline to shed.  That is probably what slowed me down in the Galloway Half Marathon three weeks ago.  I've also developed some soreness in the left Achilles tendon in the past couple of weeks.  Fortunately (I think) it appears to be linked to some long-standing tightness in the left calf, as careful use of the foam roller on the left leg is helping relieve the soreness in the Achilles.  I'm trying to run through the full complement of active stretches twice a day, even on rest days.  I've cut back on the frequency, intensity and length of workouts, and it doesn't seem to be getting worse.  I've also focused on landing mid-foot and not fore-foot, which is much more comfortable.  I just hope that it will improve in time for me to work in some long runs before my next marathon, the Publix Georgia Marathon on March 19.  

Tucker Running Club before the race.  It was still drizzling,
so rain drops on the camera obscured a couple of people. 

To complicate things a bit, it rained for most of the evening, dampening our interest in going out for a New Year's Eve celebration.  It was still drizzling this morning when we left the house for the race, but fortunately the rain started to taper off after 9 am, and had stopped completely before the 10 am race start.  I wore my oldest pair of shoes (about 11 months old) in case they got soaked.  Brian Minor and I warmed up with a couple of laps around the block, and the Achilles tendon didn't feel too bad, especially as I began to warm up and blood circulating through the legs.  I will take that as a good sign that the injury isn't too serious.  

We started much too fast! 

My expectations for today's race were fairly low.  I planned to take it easy with my pace if things became too painful, so I decided to start with wave C, four minutes after the fastest runners in wave A.  I felt good once I had warmed up and so I moved up to toe the starting line.  It was rather exciting to be in front at the start of the pack, and when the airhorn sounded, I flew onto the course in an adrenaline-fueled sprint, along with one other fellow.  For a short distance I was running at about a 7 minute / mile pace, and everything felt fairly good.  Before long we had caught up to the back of the wave B runners / walkers, just as the race route was narrowing.  I had to slow down quite a bit to work my way around the others, but my heart rate monitor was already sounding as early as one-half mile into the race (>170 beats per minute).  As there were no automobiles moving on the road in this first mile, I found that running along the left side of the course, occasionally stepping to the left side of the cones, was working out alright for me.  I finished the first mile in 8:20, and the Achilles soreness had not gotten any worse.  

The race route

In the middle miles we had to be a bit more careful about slow-moving automobile traffic in the left lane.  At one point we came up onto a driver that had apparently given up on waiting to pull out of her driveway, and as her minivan slowly reversed onto the street, the cry of "Car up!" rang out.  Fortunately the driver was moving slowly enough so that everyone got around the car without incident, but then the chatter was whether the car was in the left or right side of the road behind us.  In any case the car didn't seem to pass me and I just kept on going.  

I had definitely felt some tiredness after the first mile.  For the remainder of the race, it was difficult for me to run faster than 8:30 pace, even with miles 2 and 3 net downhill, 8:39 and 8:35 respectively, 25:30 elapsed after 3 miles.  As I made the final turn onto Dresden Drive I felt like I had a shot at matching last year's time, except ... the final mile was mostly uphill.  Around that stage of the race, I caught up with Steven Freedman, who had run the Chickamauga Marathon with me (considerably faster).  I wasn't able to stay ahead of him and ended up chasing him for the remainder of the race.  

Is that pain or concentration
on the face of runner 2228?  

A few minutes before reaching the finish line, I saw speedster Corey Tanner from Tucker Running Club doing his cooldown jog in the opposite direction.  I congratulated him as we passed.  As we turned from Dresden Drive onto Apple Valley Road to the finish line, I tried to accelerate past Steven Freedman in the last sprint, but he also noticeably sped up.  I could manage no faster than 8:35 for mile 4, and finished just over 34 minutes total (34:09 official).  

Fortunately I immediately knew that the race had gone much better for me than I had expected.  Today's run was the second fastest out of my five 4-mile races.  After crossing the finish line, I walked for about 1/2 mile to let my heart rate gradually slow down, then did the "big five stretches", which really helped. Although the Achilles tendon was sore throughout, I'm confident that I didn't do any additional damage despite running as fast as I could.    

Mile 1, 8:20, 69 feet uphill, 44 feet downhill

Mile 2, 8:39, 4 feet uphill, 38 feet downhill

Mile 3, 8:35, 40 feet uphill, 70 feet downhill

Mile 4, 8:35, 80 feet uphill, 51 feet downhill

Race results