July 29, 2017: Red Top Roaster, 9.9 mi trail run

What are the differences between street runners and trail runners?  You can test by the answers to the following questions: 

1) What does the abbreviation DNF mean? 
      a) Did Not Finish 😞
      b) Did Not Fall 😄

2) Which photographed runner has the best body art? 

My last trail race, the Thrill in the Hills 21K, wasn't a great experience.  I actually went to Urgent Care the next day to get X-rays, and was relieved to learn that I only had bruised and not broken ribs.  But I also knew that I was going to try at least one more trail race.  My first trail race was the Red Top Roaster in 2015, and while it was physically the toughest race that I had run to that point, I had also enjoyed the experience of running in the forest, and appreciated the excellent organization of the Dirty Spokes Productions.  Tim Schroer takes great care of all the details, from grooming the trails to greeting virtually every runner as they arrive for his events, and I highly recommend his events. 

As before, the race was held at a state park overlooking Lake Allatoona, near Cartersville, about 1 hour drive from our home (without any traffic at 6 am on Saturday).  I arrived early enough to thoroughly stretch, jog easily to warm up the legs, and take a few photos of the lake at sunrise.  While waiting for the race to start, I ended up eating the protein bar that the organizers had given us with our bibs at the check-in, even though I had eaten a good breakfast at home, and also had a banana with me to eat a few minutes before the start of the race.  

My only goal for this race was: DO NOT FALL!  I was hoping to finish in less than 2 hours, improving on my time from 2015, but the time wouldn't matter if I failed to stay on my feet for the entire race.  So with the mantra DO NOT FALL! firmly in my mind, I joined the other runners at the starting area.  When I ran this race two years ago, the 9.9 mi and 3.1 mi racers began together, with a volunteer directing us at a split point about 1/2 mile into the race.  Today the 9.9 mi runners got a 5 minute headstart - a nice change that made the start a little less crowded, and undoubtably also avoided confusion between courses.  The course would have essentially three loops of similar length: a loop on the Homestead Trail near the summit of Red Top Mountain, a loop on the Sweet Gum Trail to the south (which was the 3.1 mi route), and another loop on the Homestead Trail, before a short dash to the finish line.  

Tim started our race at 8:00 on the dot, and we took off across the field toward the lake, then made a right turn onto an asphalt trail, through the parking lot, and onto the Homestead Trail.  DO NOT FALL!  I remembered that I had run the first loop of the Homestead Trail much too quickly in 2015, and so I took it fairly easy today, taking plenty of walk breaks as we went uphill, not worrying about anyone passing me.  DO NOT FALL!  It had rained the night before, and so the humidity was relatively high, but the path was relatively dry, no standing water anywhere, and I felt I was off to a decent start, finishing the first mile in 11:40.  DO NOT FALL!  I was determined to finish the first loop of the Homestead Trail without feeling tired.  I had settled into a good rhythm, looking out over the forest 

all of a sudden my toe caught on a root and i began to stumble trying to keep my feet under my body just as i was thinking i was going to have to take a roll i saw nice big pine tree ahead of me slightly to my right and i managed to gently bounce my hands on the tree trunk to brake and regain balance oh thank goodness i didnt fall heart racing catch a few breaths start up again dont look around the forest look straight ahead DO NOT FALL!  

I was lucky that I didn't blow it in the second mile.  I resolved to pick up my feet continuously for the rest of the race, taking short staccato steps when I was running uphill, very cautious short side steps heading downhill, not letting my guard down again on more level ground.  DO NOT FALL!

Unfortunately I began to develop another problem that I had never before experienced in a race: some lower gastrointestinal discomfort.  Then the protein bar that I had foolishly eaten before the race started to bother my upper gastrointestinal.  I was carrying a bottle of Nuun that was still ice cold and was accepting water at every aid station, so it wasn't a problem with hydration, in fact that probably helped to keep the protein bar and any other undigested breakfast safely in my stomach.  But I was uncomfortable for the rest of the race.  I knew that the discomfort would only distract me if I tried to run faster  DO NOT FALL!  and so I just took it easy for the rest of the run.  From the Homestead Trail, we crossed a road and were immediately onto the Sweet Gum Trail.  This was not quite as hilly as the Homestead Trail, but not as scenic, as we couldn't see the lake, not that I was looking around  DO NOT FALL! 

Homestead Trail until about 39 minutes in,
Sweet Gum Trail until 1:12, then Homestead Trail again.
Since the graph is elevation vs. time, you can see from the
breadth of the tallest peaks that it took me nearly twice as long
 to get to the top on the last loop.  

As we came off the Sweet Gum Trail, we passed through the parking lot.  We ran right past my car - there was an empty spot next to my car, the truck that had been parked next to me before the race had already left, I guess they were 3.1 mile runners.  I could hear the awards ceremony to my right, then realized that was for the 3.1 mi race.  As we approached the beginning of the Homestead Trail, a young woman was dashing downhill toward me.  I realized that she was going to be the first female finisher, I clapped my hands and said "Great job!" as she raced to the finish line.  She was followed a minute later by another woman, and then several men also quickly moving downhill.  I was careful to stay to the right side of the trail - and was congratulating the faster runners as they passed, until we reached a water station where our trail crossed to the left.  Looking carefully to ensure that I would not be run down by a speedster, I started heading up the mountain again.  Despite my plan to save energy from the first two loops to run the third loop strongly, my GI problems were still with me  DO NOT FALL!  and I decided that I wouldn't worry at all about my time.  I did recognize many parts of the trail on the second loop, but felt that I had much of the forest to myself.  On occasion other runners would catch up to me and pass me, no worries today, let them go.  At one point, I heard my Garmin signal and saw "run paused" on the watch, even though I was still moving my feet, I think.  That forced me to speed up a bit more than any concern about other runners passing me, strangely enough.  Around the 8 mile mark, I caught up with a man around my age who was walking - I was still doing walk/run  DO NOT FALL!  and we chatted for a moment about how tough today's race was.  It turns out he had suffered the flu in June and had not yet recovered his strength.  He asked if he could pace off me, not that he needed to ask permission, I wasn't even sure of what he was asking or how I would help, but I said "Sure."  I doubt that he got any benefit if he was trying to draft off of me, as slowly as I was moving!  He caught up with me a few times, I didn't mind and wouldn't have cared if he had moved ahead of me, but he seemed content to stay with or just behind me.  

As we passed the 9 mile marker at 1:58, I knew that I would be much slower than last year's time, but  DO NOT FALL!  was still my focus and was still realistic.  I decided that I would probably have enough energy to speed up a bit at the very end, when the trail would be smooth and would then turn into the road to the finish line.  As we passed the last water station, about 0.2 mile from the end, a woman in just front of me stubbed her toe on a tree root but managed to catch herself.  I said "it would be a shame to fall so close to the end" and was careful myself as I reached the same point, but the same root did not try to catch me as I passed.  Remarkably the woman in front of me sped up and was soon out of sight.  I simply stayed with my plan, running slowly and steadily, and then began to speed up as I could hear Tim announcing that the awards ceremony was about to begin.  I emerged from the forest, sped up a bit more - hearing my heart rate monitor sound for the first time - and made a good finish, although I think I was only running about a 9:30 minute/mile pace in the last few steps.  I could have been disappointed to see 2:10 on the clock (official finish time, 2:10:32) but I allowed a little fist pump of victory, because I DID NOT FALL!  and acquired NO NEW BODY ART!

The other runner who had paced off of me finished just after me.  He introduced himself as Chuck and thanked me for letting him pace me into the finish.  Frankly I didn't think that I was able to help but if he felt that it was beneficial for him, I'm glad that worked out.  It turns out that we were in the same age group, men 55 - 59; ages were based on October 2017 as this race was part of a series.  We were the last two in our age group to finish.   165th out of 197 finishers was pretty slow outcome for me, but given my GI problems, it was the best that I could do.  I just wish that I had saved that protein bar until l had finished the race!  

July 27, 2017: In memory of Janet Bradley Pickney

On Tuesday evening, I was devastated to learn that Janet Pickney, a regular in the Sunday 7:15 am runs with Tucker Running Club, had passed away after being severely injured during her morning run.  Janet had started her day with some exercise shortly after sunrise and before the temperature had gotten too warm.  Unfortunately a terrible chain of events unfolded, probably within just a few seconds.  And it really didn't have anything to do with running: it could have happened to any of us with the misfortune of being in that place at that exact moment, walking a dog, pushing a stroller, waiting for a bus.  Runner's World has posted a story about Janet that I encourage you to read (link). 

I've run with Janet on dozens of occasions.  She was a regular participant in the 7:15 am Sunday morning runs with the Tucker Running Club.  In the month of July alone, I found five photos (taken by others) in which I was with Janet.  

This was a subset of the large contingent of Tucker Runners taken 30 - 45 minutes
before the start of the Peachtree Road Race, on the morning of July 4.  Janet had run the
Peachtree Road Race many times: just this evening, I read an account from one of
Janet's friends remembering when she ran the 1986 Peachtree Road Race. 

On July 9, Bonnie and I joined the Sunday morning run with Janet and 13 others,
at 7:15 am.  After I had warmed up in the first mile, I remember with some chagrin
that I passed Janet near Northlake Mall, thinking that I was going to run a slightly faster pace.
Unfortunately I had not yet recovered from a cold.  Somewhere in the fourth mile
when I ran out of energy, Janet caught up with me going up the long hill on Midvale Road.
She asked if I was OK and ran with me for a moment, until I took a walk break and I told her to go on. 

We had a great turnout of the Tucker Running Club at the Decatur-DeKalb 4-miler on
Saturday July 15.  Janet was front and center on that warm morning!  After I finished the race,
I went to cheer on some of the other runners along Clairmont Road, and got there just in time
to see Janet.  I don't remember exactly what I said, it was probably something like
"Go Janet! Just 100 feet to the finish!" but I do remember that she looked up and smiled at me
 when she heard her name called. 

Janet won an age group award at the 4-miler!  She was so tickled to win an award.
I'm glad that I was invited to join this photo with a few of her closer friends
in the Tucker Running Club. 

My last run with Janet, Sunday morning 7:15, July 16.  Unfortunately I don't remember
a conversation with Janet that day, I was more focused on having a good recovery run,
and sweating off a few pounds over the course of 9 miles total. 

This is from Janet's last run with Tucker Running Club, on Sunday July 23.
I had run 12 miles on Saturday, and decided to rest (meaning I slept in)
instead of running on Sunday, so I'm not in this photo.
A couple of the women in this photo, Becky and Teresa,
have recounted how much they enjoyed sharing that day's run with Janet.  

What I regret the most is that I didn't get to know Janet better.  I knew her only through the single dimension of running.  And while running was an important and enjoyable activity for Janet, I wish that I had learned about other parts of her life: her family, her work as a teacher, her volunteer work in the community, her earlier life and childhood.  Janet was always gentle, kind, friendly, upbeat, and generous.  And sadly, I did not realize how extraordinary of a person she was until she was unexpectedly taken from us.  

My resolution is to be more like Janet, to be more consistently gentle, kind, friendly, upbeat, and generous.  That doesn't always come easily to me, but in difficult moments, I hope that I can summon my memory of Janet and strive to be more like her. 

One of Janet's good friends has recently set out some water on
Wednesday evenings, for any of the dogs that occasionally
join their people on the Wednesday evening runs,
when I'm more of a regular participant.  Last night,
her friend added a small sign in memory of Janet. 

July 15, 2017: The Decatur DeKalb 4-Miler (year 4)

My last good run was a 5-mile jaunt around the Stanford campus on June 30, about two weeks ago.  Since then, 

     July 4: I suffered from a cold during the Peachtree Road Race;

    July 9: I set out to do a 6-mile run, but was out of energy after 4 miles and walked much of the way back;

     July 11: I was relieved to finish a 4-mile run in evening heat, hills, and humidity;

    July 12: On a 6-mile run, I felt like I was developing blisters on my toes, and walked the last mile back to avoid making the soreness worse. 

But when I awoke for this morning's race, I felt rested, and was optimistic for a good run.  I stretched before we left the house, and again when we arrived at the Decatur YMCA well before the start of the race.  In a 2-mile warmup jog, my legs were sore for the first mile, but as the blood began to circulate, I was able to get loose and was pain-free in the second mile.  

Another good turnout by the Tucker Running Club! 

Last year, I started much too quickly in this race, and was exhausted by the 2-mile mark, struggling to get through the hills in the later part of this route.  Despite my difficulty, I was pleasantly surprised to cross the finish line having improved my time on the route by 35 seconds over the previous year.  So my goal for this year's race was to take it easy for the first 2 miles, running slower than an 8:00 min / mile pace, and then see what I could do for the second half of the race. 

I started near the front of wave B this morning, for runners between 7:30 to 8:30 min / mile paces.  In the first mile, I was passed by most of the people in my wave.  When I took a quick look behind me near mile 1 marker, there weren't many runners behind me.  But I finished the first mile in 8:05, right on plan.  The first half of the second mile was uphill, and I took it fairly easy heading up the hill to the Fernbank Elementary School, probably around a 9 min / mile pace.  Fortunately I knew from running this race several times before that I would enjoy a mile downhill once we passed the school.  Indeed I started to speed up on the level stretch and took advantage of the downhill legs, passing the mile 2 marker in 8:25, 16:30 elapsed.  

Does the race route resemble the contour of the continent of Africa?!
And if so, is there any symbolism to the location of the start/finish line in Eritrea?
Eritrean runner Zersenay Tadese is the current world record holder for the half-marathon. 

With the warm weather, I decided to carry a small towel soaked in ice water, wrapped around a few ice cubes, and it felt good to wipe my face with the cold towel in the first two miles.  Approaching the water station around 2.5 miles in, I opened the towel and tucked it around my neck, securing it under the back of my singlet, as I took a short walk break through the water station.  Between the cold towel and the gentle pacing of the first part of the race, running up hill in the last part of mile 3 didn't seem too bad, much better than last year's experience.  Turning onto North Decatur Road, I passed the mile 3 marker in 8:25, just under 25 minutes elapsed. 

At this point, I knew that I could better my personal record for the 4-mile distance (33:30) if I knocked out another 8:30 or faster final mile.  Unfortunately the North Decatur Road hills were a substantial challenge, and I decided that I had better take a couple of short walk breaks on each uphill section, to make sure that i could make my overall goal of a strong finish.  Indeed I was able to get back to a fast pace after each walk break.  It was hard to tell if I was passing as many people after the walk breaks as had passed me when I was walking, but I don't think that I would have covered the distance any faster if I had not taken the walk breaks.  

The overlay shows how my pace slowed going uphill after mile 1,
and how I began working hard (heart rate) after the water station around 2.5 miles in.
You can also see the three walk breaks (blue trace) as we ran uphill,
and a nice acceleration at the end of the race.  

Passing the second water station less than a half-mile to the finish, I was able to get into a higher gear, as we ran through the McDonald's parking lot at the corner of North Decatur and Clairmont Roads.  The volunteer announced "Two minutes to the finish from here!" which wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear, especially when I stole a look at my watch and saw 32:00 elapsed on my watch.  I was thinking two numbers at this point: 33:30, my PR for the 4-mile distance (January 2016), and 34:16, my PR on this course (July 2016).  If the volunteer was right about 2 minutes, I would at least set a PR for this course.  Motivated by this thought, I was passing other runners at this stage, and knew that I had enough energy for a strong finish.  As I was familiar with the street, I knew exactly how far the YMCA would be even before it came into sight, and I was enjoying the sense of acceleration in the final stretch.  Shortly before reaching the YMCA, I saw 33:10 on my watch, and realized that I probably would not finish under 33:30, but ran as fast as I could through the final turn into the finish chute, crossing the finish line at 33:38!  38 seconds faster than last year, and a much better overall experience over last year's struggle! 

I'm really happy that I keep chipping away at my time with each successive year: 

2014, 35:49

2015, 34:51

2016, 34:16

2017, 33:38

I don't know if this is due to getting a little stronger each year, or if it's purely that I'm learning how to pace myself better, but it's very satisfying to see improvement since I began running 4 years ago.  

A more consistent pace has resulted in a better overall time! 

July 4, 2017: Peachtree Road Race 10K

For the first time, this year I was placed in wave B for the Peachtree Road Race, based on my 23:52 finish in the Atlanta Hawks Fast Break 5K back in April 2016.  I had also run a 50:20 10K in April 2017 that would have qualified me for wave B by 1 second, although that was after the registration deadline.  But I was hardly in wave B condition for today's Peachtree Road Race.  We spent the last week in California, enjoying cool breezes along the ocean, eating far too much good food, and seeing old friends and close relatives.  I did run twice while we were in California, 5 miles along the beach in Los Angeles on June 25, and another 5 miles around the Stanford campus on June 30, and we did a few hikes while we were in Big Sur, so we were physically active during our travels.  Then I came down with a cold during our last few days in California.  We returned to Atlanta on Monday morning (July 3) on the red-eye flight, so that we could get to the expo to pick up our race bibs on Monday afternoon, but that left me with a bad case of intercontinental jet lag, assuming that really exists.  We went to bed on Monday night at 9 pm, hoping to get a good night of sleep before a 4 am race day wakeup, but I awoke at 1 am and couldn't get back to sleep.  

In addition to my own lack of preparedness, the race was run under
code RED conditions, due to heat, hills, and humidity. 

On the morning of race day, I even considered not running the race, due to my cold.  But with this being "The Peachtree Road Race", the event around which the Atlanta running year revolves, it seemed unthinkable to miss the race.  Before leaving home, I fortified myself with enough cold medicine to disqualify the entire Olympic team in a drug test.   I also carried a 16 oz bottle of ice-cold Nuun, to ensure that I could stay hydrated throughout the race.  Although carrying a hand-held would probably slow me down, I wanted to ensure that I didn't get dehydrated during the race, especially battling a cold.  

Emory chemistry colleague Simon Blakey saw us as we were walking to the start.
He finished in 44 minutes, just outside of the top 1000 finishers! 

It was amazing how much more of the start I could see from the vantage point in wave B, vs. my starting position in previous years in wave C.  The organizers had placed a large video screen in the middle of our corral from which I watched the finish of the women's wheelchair race, and the start of the elite women's 10K.  The race officially began at 7:30 am with the elite runners, with wave A participants hot on their heels.  After the military race began at 7:33 am, it was already time for wave B.  I started in the middle of the corral - I probably should have started near the back due to my poor conditioning - but with the start at 7:35 am, I was able to get off to the desired pace.  My plan was to run fairly easily for the first three miles, no faster than 8 min / mile pace, and hopefully save some energy to run strongly up Cardiac Hill.  I covered both miles 1 and 2 at an 8:20 pace, a little slow for wave B but that was about right for me for today.  Shortly after the mile 2 marker, a woman passed me moving fairly quickly, wearing a wave C bib.  Considering that I had a 5 minute head start, she was probably running at a 6 minute / mile pace.  

I skipped the mile 1 water station but walked through all subsequent water stations, supplementing the Nuun I was sipping during the race.  The mile 3 marker appeared after we had begun to climb Cardiac Hill, 8:50 for mile 3, although my Garmin was registering miles about one minute before I actually reached the marker.  As I approached the timing mat for the 5K split, I deliberately took another walk break, to gather my strength for a strong push up the rest of Cardiac Hill, crossing the 5K mark at 26:57.  But as I tried to push myself up the hill, I realized that wasn't going to happen today.  I was carrying the residue of the giant ice cream "banquet" cone in Los Angeles, and the complementary breakfast donuts at Big Sur, along with too many delicious macadamia nut cookies at the symposium at Stanford.  I barely noticed when I crested the first hill at the Shepherd Center, wiping sweat from my eyes, as the road briefly leveled out leading up to the mile 4 marker, 10:19 for mile 4, 35:49 elapsed.  At this point I was taking 30 second walk breaks every few minutes, and was grateful for the well-stocked water tables, taking a couple of sips and then pouring the rest on the back of my neck, to stay cool.  I was running low on Nuun by this stage, and was glad that I had not elected to rely solely on the water stations.   Mile 5 was even slower, 10:57 and 46:46 elapsed on the Garmin, but actually around 48 minutes had elapsed when I passed the marker.  

At that point I realized that I still might be able to finish in less than 1 hour, but had to run the last 1.22 miles faster than a 10 minute / mile pace.  Normally that isn't a problem in a 10K race, but I wasn't sure if I had it in me today.  But fortunately I had taken it easily enough to this stage, so I found a little reserve of energy.  I began to speed up after passing the high point of the race at 12th Street, and turned the corner onto 10th Street at 54 minutes on my watch.  This is about 1 km to the finish, which I can normally easily cover in 6 minutes or less.  I was able to find a higher gear in the final stage of the race.  A few speedsters (probably from waves D or E) passed me in the last half-mile, but I also passed several people that were struggling at the end.  My heart rate monitor had not sounded at all until the last half-mile, which left me wondering if I could have worked harder today, but then I passed a runner who was getting assistance from a medic on the side of the road (fortunately he was sitting up and was conscious as I passed) and was thankful that I wasn't a victim of heat stroke.  As I crossed the finish line, I saw 59:30 on my watch (59:23 official time), gave a small fist pump of celebration, and staggered into Piedmont Park.  I had run mile 6 in 9:42 and the last 0.36 miles (as recorded) at an 8:28 pace.  It took me awhile to recover from the heat, but a couple of bottles of cold water and standing in the shade at the Atlanta Track Club post-race party helped.  

Bonnie found great amusement in snapping this candid photo
(above) as we were returning from the race on MARTA.
As did our friend Deb, who took another photo (below):

I had bib #5156, but finished in 9515th place.  If I were to submit today's time as a Peachtree qualifier, that would have put me in wave F.  I decided to spin today's disappointing performance as a personal record of sorts, my slowest 10K to date.  I had too many factors working against me today, a couple of which were under my control.  So I have resolved to work on getting my weight back down and my conditioning back up - once I have fully recovered from this cold.