February 17, 2018: Southside 12K, and trying out a mantra for the marathon

The Atlanta Track Club sponsored a new race this year, the Southside 12K, in suburban College Park on the southwest side of metro Atlanta.  I've not previously run in this area, nor have I run a 12K race before today.  The only other 12K that I've heard of is the "Bay to Breakers" race in San Francisco, which has been run for more than 100 years, and is famous for centipede teams of runners.  

As part of the marathon training program, Coach Amy Begley suggested that we should warm up for a mile and then run the race at marathon pace, followed by about 6 more miles in the area.  For today, our Saturday mileage was limited to 14 - 15 miles, a "dropback" week, before our 22-mile long run next weekend.  I decided to test my stamina by setting an ambitious goal of completing the 12K in 60 minutes.  As I recently broke the 50-minute mark for a 10K, this would mean maintaining the same pace for 2 more kilometers.  

On the 45-minute drive to the race, I replayed part of the Running Rogue podcast from January 28, in which coaches Chris McClung and Steve Sisson interviewed a couple of speedsters in the Running Rogue on-line training program.  About 23 minutes into the podcast, the first interview with Lee began.  Lee is a 41-year old runner who formerly ran for St. Louis University, and has run a 2:45 marathon.  He is training for the Boston Marathon in April, and is gunning for another 2:45 finish, with a longer-term goal to complete a marathon in 2:40.  So Lee and I have nothing in common when it comes to speed.  Anyway, the Running Rogue coaches have asked each participant to write a "statement of purpose" for their running.  Lee wrote a rambling but nice statement, saying among other things that his inspirations included remembering "1 and 3 mile runs with my Dad where we would race the last 100 meters, and now I run with my daughters from time to time, and I think that there is something beautiful about that."  When Lee needs to "toughen up I can think of some tough times, if I need to be sappy and soft I can talk about my Dad and my daughters..."  The coaches were polite at first, but around 34:30, coach Steve Sisson took over with "Now the tough part comes."  After pressing Lee for a few minutes, Steve asked what Lee will reach for when things get tough at mile 22, when he is going for the 2:45 time at Boston.  Lee admitted that "at mile 22 on a tough day, I am not thinking about sunshine and rainbows at that point ... and I'm not thinking about my daughters or my Dad ... I'm thinking about a lot of cuss words and try to figure out how to get to the next mile marker ..."   But Lee just couldn't utter a statement that was suitably tough enough for Steve and Chris.  Finally, at 39:30 Steve said, "You do this because, you're a ------- bad-ass, and you know it."  

When I heard that, I realized that was why I so proudly slapped the first 13.1 sticker on my car in December 2014.  And that was what I was feeling, even if those words weren't quite in mind, when I added the 26.2 sticker before I left the parking lot after completing the Chickamauga Marathon in November 2016.  Given how I've struggled in the final miles of the three marathons that I've run, I need a mantra that is that powerful, if I'm going to finish strongly in the Publix Georgia Marathon next month, both psychologically as well as physically.  

The race started and finished near the Wolf Creek Amphitheater.  I warmed up with about 1.2 miles, starting with the training group and then breaking away to push myself up the hill to the finish line.  Whew, that was going to be tough after 7 miles.  Then I realized that we would run this hill twice, as most of the race route was on a two-loop course.  Planning for an 8:00 min / mile pace for as long as I could maintain it, I lined up in wave B, for runners 8:30 min / mile and faster.  We started 2 minutes after wave A, and from the beginning this proved to be a very good decision for me.  The majority of the runners around me were also moving at a similar pace, and there were no walkers ahead of us, so we all ran unimpeded.  About 0.3 miles into the race, we took a left turn out of the amphitheater parking entrance, onto Merk Road.  The map showed an out-and-back section, and I had assumed that we would see the lead runners at the front of wave A shortly after we entered Merk Road.  In fact I didn't see the first runners until I was more than 1/2 mile into the race, even though they had a 2-minute head start and were running faster than a 6 min / mile pace.  Before long, my wave was entering a parking lot for a church, and we passed the 1-mile marker before getting back onto Merk Road.  7:59 for mile 1, perfect start!  However, the return trip was slightly uphill, and I began to slow a bit.  Then I heard footsteps approaching rapidly from behind: could it be one of the lead runners lapping us?  Already?!  then a woman with a blond ponytail passed at high speed!  It seemed that she was a faster runner who had begun in wave C, but about 50 feet ahead of me, she slowed down to a similar pace to one I was running.  She was my "pacer" for most of the remainder of the race.  

Pre-race photo with runningnerds.  I've worn this shirt in my second half-marathon
 (my first good half-marathon) and my first marathon, so it has positive associations for me. 

Yes, I'm "out of uniform".  My short-sleeve TRC shirts were dirty.
I brought a TRC singlet, but with 52 deg F temperature at the start,
I was more comfortable wearing short sleeves.
And the runningnerds shirt helped me run faster! 

After we passed the Tom Lowe Skeet Range, the road turned uphill, and I had to work to maintain a decent pace.  The mile 2 marker (finished in 8:15, 16:14 elapsed) was midway up a 100 foot hill.  I had expected that the road would eventually turn downhill, but we made a right turn onto Miles Road and continued going uphill, perhaps not as sharply as earlier.  Shortly before the mile 3 marker, I slowed for a cup of water.  I saw Donna Roberts from Tucker Running Club as the last volunteer at the water station, and accepted a cup of water from her as she cheered me on with "See you again on the second loop!" she said.  I took a 20 second walk break as I drank the entire cup of water.  Only one person passed me while I was walking, and shortly after I resumed running, I caught up with her. I needed 8:14 to reach the mile 3 marker (24:28 elapsed) but then the road leveled out, and then we began running downhill.  I picked up speed as we approached Enon Road, making another right turn and seeing a long gentle downhill ahead.  My "pacer" picked up a little speed, I started to follow at her pace, and then relaxed, knowing that I would have a second opportunity to fly down this section in the second loop.  In other races, I have actually worn myself out running downhill, and there was no point in risking the quality of my race at the midpoint.  I saw the mile 7 marker and then we turned right onto the back entrance to the Amphitheater property, passing the mile 4 marker at 32:16, 7:48 elapsed for mile 4. 

But now we had to run up the hill to the start-finish area, to finish the first loop.  I'm sure that I slowed a little (and the Garmin results afterwards confirmed this) but not too badly.    At that moment I happened to be running in a small pack with four other men.  As the start-finish area came into view, I said to the group "At least we haven't been lapped by the winner!" which was greeted with a few laughs.  As I crossed the timing mat, I noticed that we were at 4.31 miles, and my split time recorded at 34:53.   

I was a little tired but I was confident that I could manage another 5K at a similar pace.  I was some seconds behind where I needed to be to finish within 60 minutes, so I made every effort to run strongly.  We made a right turn back onto Merk Road, heading uphill again.  This time we ran in the left lane, with the right lane reserved for the slower runners and walkers.  We approached the skeet shooting establishment again, and this time we heard the sounds of someone firing what sounded to me like a machine gun.  I thought that skeet shooting was about taking one shot at a flying clay pigeon, not 100 shots at a time - but I think what was disturbing to me was remembering the tragic news from Wednesday of another school shooting in Florida, in which the murderer used a military type of automatic weapon.  Maybe I ran a little faster to get away from there, although realistically it is unlikely that I or anyone else in the race was in danger.  Anyway, near the mile 5 marker, I passed the "back of the pack" sweepers.  8:07 for mile 5, 40:23 elapsed.  My watch was reading that the overall pace was 8:05 min / mile: to finish 12K in 60 minutes, I needed to average an 8:03 min / mile.  So I wasn't too far off the necessary pace.  Unfortunately the hill seemed to have increased in elevation since the first loop.  And I kept expecting the water station to come up any minute, but it wasn't until 5.8 miles and 47 minutes elapsed that I saw the volunteers again.  I ran to Donna for another cup of water.  I don't remember exactly what she said, but she was encouraging, and after a 20 second walk break to finish the water, I took off again.  Mile 6 was the slowest of my race, 8:26 and 48:49 elapsed, but it also had the greatest difference in elevation, 125 feet uphill and only 34 feet downhill.  I was working on an overall pace of 8:08 min / mile. 

Elevation (top); pace (bottom).  The hills were no joke!  

Just in time, the downhill section began.  This time I launched myself forward, pumping my arms hard to take advantage of the favorable downhill slope.  I was easily lapping slower runners in their first loop, and I don't recall anyone passing me.  I even caught up to the woman with the ponytail for a moment, then she pulled ahead.  Nonetheless I passed a few runners that were probably on their second loop - that felt good.  I saw the overall pace number on my watch slowly drop to 8:06, then 8:05.  7:28 for mile 7, at 56:17 elapsed. 

I had hoped to pass the mile 7 marker before my watch ticked over to 56 minutes to get the 8:00 min / mile overall pace.  When I saw an 8:03 overall pace on my watch, I realized that I was exactly on track for a 60 minute finish, as long as I didn't slow down over the remaining 0.45 mile.  All I had to do was get up the hill at an 8 min / mile pace and I would definitely achieve my goal.  At the corner, a volunteer cheered me on by name and said "Curt Walker is just ahead of you!"  Curt is a 71-year old elite runner, one of my coaches in the 2014 Peachtree 10K training course, and an original member of the Tucker Running Club.  I looked for Curt up ahead but didn't see him, just younger and faster runners on the left passing slower runners on the right.  

When I had passed the mile 4 marker a little more than 20 minutes ago, I remembered that I had only 0.31 miles to the timing mat from that point.  A quick glance at my watch: just a few seconds past 57 minutes!  I could definitely get to the finish line in less than 3 minutes if the final section was mostly flat.  But it wasn't flat.  I was so sore and so tired and in some pain from all the hard work that I had done to this point.  Running up that steep hill was so tough.  And then, I remembered that one of my goals for today was to try out my mantra.  To myself, "I'm a ------- bad-ass", and a couple of seconds later, out loud but quietly, "I'm a ------- bad-ass!!"  

Voilà!  I found a reserve of speed.  Or maybe it was just obstinacy and toughness.  Churning my legs as fast as I could up that mountain, passing a few people on the way up, past the porta-potties in the parking lot where we had gathered an hour ago, looking for the finish line, and finally seeing the clock reading 61 minutes and about 30 seconds - with the 2-minute delay for the wave B start, I was going to make it - there is the timing mat - and over the mat - big fist pump - stop the watch - 59:39! 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

59:36 official time, 126th overall out of 756 finishers, and 8th out of 31 in my age group!  

I desperately needed to cool down and stretch after the race.  I waited for the others in the 10 min / mile group to arrive for the final miles of today's workout, instead of taking off with the 9 min / mile group.  That was a good decision, because I had trouble starting up again.  My right ankle hurt, and my legs were so heavy.  I limped for the first hundred yards, but then found a better gait.  We reached a paved trail, to run 1 mile loops.  I lagged behind the others in my group.  After the 3rd loop, I wanted to quit.  I decided to walk for a moment with Ginger, a runner in the 10 min / mile group who might be injured from a recent fall.  Then I decided, "I'm really sore, everything hurts right now, but - I'm not injured."  Today I would be fine within a few minutes of stopping and stretching again.  And I knew then that I would regret not having the toughness to finish today's workout.  I realized that the most important part of today's run was to practice the mental toughness that I will need in the final miles of the marathon.  Yes, "I'm a ------- bad-ass."  I continued for two more loops, completing 5.7 miles after the race, and 14.3 miles altogether for the morning. 

Sure enough, after a few minutes of stretching, even though I was still a little tired and sore, I knew for certain that I wasn't injured.  

Yes, I'm very proud of this result! 

February 10, 2018: Hearts & Soles 5K, followed by a long training run

Week 13 of the marathon training log,
documenting an 18-week program

My running since the New Year has been 100% focused on preparing for the Publix Georgia Marathon on March 18.  I'm training with the Atlanta Track Club marathon program, and also continuing the speed workouts with Coach Carl Leivers at the Emory University track on Tuesday evenings.  I've kept up with the Level 3 long runs, keeping at the front of the pack with the 10 min / mile pace group.  I've maintained a steady schedule of midweek runs, getting off track for only one week in mid-January due to a confluence of work, visitors, and snow.  In short, this cycle of marathon training is going very well.  I'm healthy, strong, and growing in confidence. 

For today, the plan was to join the Atlanta Track Club's annual Hearts & Soles 5K race, followed by a long run to get a total of 20 miles, at least as I understood it.  Coach Amy Begley strongly encouraged us not to run the 5K as a typical race, but to run at about half-marathon pace, which for me is about a 9 min / mile pace.  I needed a few days to give up on any idea of trying to run faster - or even slower, to practice a marathon start at a 10 min / mile pace.  But as we were watching the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics last night, I said to Bonnie, "Coach Amy is an Olympian, who am I to contradict her recommendation?!" 

I arrived at the race site more than an hour in advance.  It had rained overnight, and the forecast earlier in the week had been for rain for most of today.  But with an hour to go before the race start, the short-range forecast was that rain was unlikely to begin before 1 pm.  And the temperature was around 50 deg F, so I was able to run in a short-sleeved shirt and shorts.  After taking a group photo with the Tucker Running Club, I made my way to the Atlanta Track Club marathon training tent, and did a couple of rounds of dynamic stretches until it was time to walk to the start.  I had resisted the strong temptation to warm up with 2 or 3 easy miles as I would typically do for a 5K race.  I did an easy jog for a couple of hundred years to the car to get a couple of sips of water before the race, to make sure that the running motion was comfortable, and then to the starting area.  Since I was not racing today, I started near the front of wave C, for runners at a 9:30 min / mile pace or faster.  I started to feel some excitement as our wave moved up after wave A began, and had to tamp that down: this is just a training run, I kept telling myself.  

With Tucker Running Club, on a foggy morning.
photo credit: Curt Walker

Ray Ganga, the crew chief of the Atlanta Track Club race volunteers, counted down to the start, and blew the airhorn.  As I started my watch and crossed the timing mat, I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to avoid looking at my watch, except as I passed mile markers.  I tried to gauge my pace by feel and by the majority of the runners around me, aiming to run without significant exertion.  As we reached the mile 1 marker, I checked my watch for the first time: 9:03 - Wow, I couldn't have run that better if I had been staring at my watch the entire time!  I suppressed the urge to speed up, just enjoyed looking around, chatting with people that I knew as I reached them.  As this was an out-and-back course, I could cheer the leaders of the race on their return.  After making the turnaround myself, continuing at the easy pace, I reached the mile 2 marker: 9:02!  I was beginning to sweat a bit, but that was partially due to the humidity and fog from the overnight rain.  I remember checking my heart rate, which was 151 bpm, maybe a little high for an "easy" run, but still a rate that I could maintain for a long time.  I passed quite a few runners as we headed up a hill midway through the third mile, not racing, just maintaining pace, and then here was the mile 3 marker: 8:54!!  It had been a long time since I been so excited to be at the 3 mile marker well after the 25 minute mark, but I was thrilled to have nailed my goal.  In my first 5K in October 2013, I had run as fast as I could for 3.11 miles to finish in 28:45, and now I can run that pace fairly easily.  Smiling as I crossed the finish line at an easy jog, here was my official result:

Mission accomplished! 

I picked up a half banana and a bottle of water, dropped my race bib and picked up my water belt and a cap, and jogged over to the marathon training tent.  The 9 min / mile group was about to leave, and I thought about joining them for a moment.  Last week, one of the runners with the 10 min / mile group suggested that I "should run with the 'nines'".  I knew that would be fine for half-marathon training, but not for 26.2 miles, not yet.  Fortunately it didn't take more than a couple of minutes to gather about 10 runners and a couple of run leaders for the 10 min / mile group to start, so we didn't get stiff.  And off we went, to run another 17 miles for a 20 mile day. 

I had not previously realized that the PATH foundation had recently opened a new trail in the area, but the South River Trail began at the end of the parking lot where we had gathered for the race.  And the section of the trail that we were running was recently named in honor of the former First Lady, Michelle Obama.  One of the nice things about marathon training is discovering new parts of the city, and new places to run.  And in recent years, the Atlanta metro area has continued to develop new pedestrian-friendly paths.  The path began through a swamp, then into a forested area, reaching the South River before crossing under I-285.  After about 3 miles, the trail joined the sidewalk along Clifton Church Road, as we passed the new campus of the Barack H. Obama Elementary Magnet School of Technology, which opened last year.  

One of the other groups in our training group posted this photo on the Facebook page.
I wish I had thought to take a few photos of our group!
photo credit: Victoria Nicole Deycard

At the intersection, our group split up.  I was part of a group of a half-dozen trainees.  Andrew and I had each run three marathons, and the others: Alex, Angela, Colleen, and Ginger, were each training for their first.  I've run with most of them in previous weeks, and we had plenty of time for nice conversation along the way, especially since we didn't have to worry about cars for most of the route.   In Gresham Park, we reached the turnaround point about 4.3 miles in, and began our return.  The path had a few hilly sections, but it was a gentler route in terms of elevation than most of the routes that we have run in previous weeks.  After having run the first part at about a 10:30 min / mile pace, we sped up a little to average about 10:00 min / mile for the return trip.  

Running along the Michelle Obama - South River trail

When we returned to the training tent, just past 8.5 miles, we filled up our water bottles, a few people used the Porta-Potties from the race, and then we took off again.  Coach Amy mentioned that we would go a little further on this leg.  At that moment I realized that this run would be longer than 17 miles total.  And now that I think about it, the people in the Porta-Potties may have missed that little bit of information.  Anyway we started out again, running the same route as before.  I had eight shot block cubes left,  which I had been taking an average of one per mile, so I would need to stretch that our just a little.  When we got to the turnaround point from the first leg, I mentioned to Colleen that we were going to cover more than 17 miles.  It appeared like we were going to run 20 miles in addition to the 5K race that we had completed!  Good thing I didn't run a few warmup miles, otherwise I would have covered 26.2 in total.  I was a little concerned that some of the others in our group were making a jump in mileage from 18 miles last week to 23 miles.  I myself had run 20 miles two weeks ago, so I was less concerned about my own legs.  Five of us continued forward, which proved to be another mile or so.  In this section, we climbed a fairly steep hill!  We reached the trailhead and a water stop, waited for a couple of minutes to see if anyone else was coming to join us, and then headed back. 

My legs were starting to get a little sore, but I was managing well enough.  We were talking about pain in marathon running, and if we could tell the difference between just hurting vs. developing an injury.  In the 2017 Chickamauga marathon, I had been in quite a bit of pain for the final 10K, yet within 10 minutes of finishing, I was fine, just a little tired, and was "kicking myself" afterwards for having such a bad attitude just 45 minutes earlier.  Around this point, we felt the first drops of rain, which turned into a drizzle, and then fairly hard rain for a few minutes.  

In each long runs of this cycle, I've tried to speed up in the final mile.  I was more motivated today to get back as soon as I could, to get out of wet clothes.  I had applied plenty of Body Glide this morning, so I wasn't chafing.  Before my watch had signaled completing the 17th mile, I decided to speed up a bit, and there was no chance of anyone getting lost at this point.  As my speed increased, the mild pain of the long run morphed into a more familiar feeling of exertion.  I was thrilled to cover mile 18 in 8:49!  I thought that I was maintaining the same speed in mile 19, but noticed that I slowed a little near the end of the mile, around 9:10.  I tried to speed up to see if I could drive the pace reading below 9:00 before recording mile 19, but needed 9:07.  I wasn't able to speed up any more, but managed to maintain the 9:07 pace for the last 1/3 mile until I reached the training tent, 19.36 miles in 3:17:19.  It was pretty clear to me that I would not have been able to run at the 9 min / mile pace for much further, but I was able to manage the 2.5 mile "kick."  I felt a little badly for leaving the others behind, but three in our front group arrived within the next minute, and the others shortly afterwards. 

This was a great running day for me, especially in terms of lessons learned: 

1. I can complete a 20-mile run at a 10 min / mile pace without much trouble; 
2. I should not attempt to run the marathon at a 9 min / mile pace (so I won't try to break the 4 hour mark); and
3. Confirmed that I may be able to speed up a little in a couple of final celebratory miles. 

Total mileage recorded for today: 22.48 miles, recorded time 3:45:15.  If I can reach the 22 mile mark within 3:40 on marathon day, I will be thrilled, so a 4:20 marathon finish may be a realistic goal.  I have one more 20+ mile training run scheduled in two weeks, for a final test. 

Coach Amy snapped our training group photo a few minutes before we started the 5K race.