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! |
No comments:
Post a Comment