August 24, 2019: Run the ATL 20K

Having raced the Atlanta's Finest 5K last week, and looking forward to the Big Peach Sizzler 10K on Labor Day (Sept 2), Coach Carl Leivers recommended taking it easy in today's race:

I was 100% on board with that message.  After I won the race with Brian Minor in the Decatur-DeKalb 4-miler, we scheduled a big rematch planned in the Big Peach Sizzler in just nine days.  I know that Carl is helping to minimize my chances of injuring myself again, which is probably more likely if I race hard every week.  My plan has had a 12-mile long run four weeks ago and another two weeks ago, with the recommendation to keep the pace easy.  So far I've been very compliant.  To make it a little more interesting, I've tried to make these progression runs, with the additional caveat:

   

That requires literally running the first mile and often the first three or four miles "with the brakes on", for me at the slow end of the 11 - 12 min / mile pace.  That has worked well: by running the first mile extremely slowly, I have some room to gradually speed up by just a few seconds with each mile, so I can still run my last mile the fastest.  I've definitely felt the strength and cardiovascular benefits from this training strategy!  I don't think that the absolute VO2 max value from a Garmin watch is that accurate, but surely the upward trend is real! 

Before the race began, I caught up with several other runners, including Carl Line, who I haven't seen in about a month.  Last weekend, while I was running a 5K race + a 2-1/2 mile cooldown, he ran 18 Miles for Maria in the morning.  And then in the 90 degree heat of the early evening, Carl ran 13.1 more miles in the Alien Half Marathon.  I haven't run more than 30 miles total in a week in this training cycle, much less running that many in a single day!  Back in May, we ran a couple of races together: he won the first race by about 45 seconds.  Two weeks later, I outran him by about one minute!  Afterwards I learned that he was saving his energy for a half-marathon the next day, in his quest to complete 100 half-marathons, which he did on July 4 of this year.  When I asked Carl his goal for today, he said "Trying to beat 2 hours" to which I replied "I'm just doing this as a training run.  I'll run very slowly in the first lap, then will try to gradually speed up."  I didn't have a time goal at all, I just wanted to finish before the finish line closed 2-1/2 hours after the start.  Last year I ran 2:12:30 using this race as a training run, consistently marking each lap at about a 10:45 min / mile pace.   

There were two big differences this year: 1) the temperature was quite a bit warmer, 74 deg F at the start, and 2) we started three or four blocks south of last year's starting point.  I didn't know the reason before the race, but after we ran, I learned that a big section of Ted Turner Drive had been removed, so there was a gaping hole over Atlanta's Big Gulch, near the 2-mile mark of last year's race route.  

Near the start (photo added Sept 1)

In today's race, the main event was the 4 x 5K relay: 105 relay teams started the race, along with 151 running a 10K as a Peachtree Road Race qualifier, and 68 starting the 20K race, so there were over 300 people at the start.  I stayed near the back of the pack and didn't hear the start signal, but shortly after the announced start time of 7:00 am, it was clear that the group was moving forward very quickly.  I planned to wait to start my watch until I reached the starting mat, but there wasn't one!  I just started the watch about where I thought the leaders had begun.  After all, today was just a training run, my time wouldn't matter at all.  

Lap 1: True to my plan, I ran the first mile very slowly.  My watch kept showing my pace tick faster than 11 minute / mile, so I forced myself to slow down, and then braked some more.  At one point I was surrounded by a phalanx of young women.  I wanted to scoot around them to run faster, but I realized that by staying patient, they were helping me stay on plan.  Mile 1: 11:01 minutes.  Approaching Spelman College, my "security detail" split up through a couple of turns, and I sped up just a tad.  However, walking through the water station midway through the second mile brought me back onto a reasonable pace, finishing mile 2 in 10:42.  Instead of turning onto Ted Turner Drive, the police directed us to run one more block to turn left onto Forsyth Street.  Several blocks later, we turned left onto Marietta Street.  Last year this was one short and quick block, but this year's stretch along Marietta was longer.  Then we made another left turn onto Centennial Olympic Park drive, bringing us on the original and familiar route, uphill past the State Farm Arena (formerly Phillips Arena), and then past the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.  I decided to take some photos in this area for the blog post, and that successfully slowed me down a bit. 

Mercedes-Benz Stadium ahead, and a billboard
celebrating our best football team, Atlanta United.
The lighting wasn't that good at 7:30 am, sorry! 

After passing Mercedes-Benz Stadium, it was just two blocks, downhill, to the relay exchange and finish area.  Tim Parker was the first volunteer we encountered, cheering us on and directing the relay runners to stay to the left.  Then I saw Tes Sobomehin Marshall, the race director, cheering us forward.  This was the best part of the race, watching the excitement of the relay runners approaching the exchange area, with the other 300 members of their teams cheering us all!  

Tim Parker (above), Tes Marshall (below).
Tes pointed straight at me as I ran toward the exchange area,
but you may have trouble seeing her arm. 

Teammates / spectators waiting for the third or fourth legs of their relay (above);
I stayed to the right of the lane, away from the excitement and
chaos of the exchange zone coming up on the left. 

(Above) The runner in the blue singlet is completing the first 5K leg,
and preparing to hand off to the woman ahead also wearing blue.
The two women ahead and to the right are running either the 10K or the 20K.
(Below) The exit to the relay exchange, and the timing mat marking each lap.
This clock didn't show the correct time, but there was another clock in the finish area
(not shown, but behind and to the right) that appeared to be correct,
about 33 minutes elapsed when I passed. 

At this point my phone memory was full, so I couldn't take any more photos.  But I was happy with my first lap, 32:55 on my watch for about 3.0 miles.  With the new start area up ahead, the first lap was shorter but the subsequent laps measured between 3.1 and 3.2 miles.  

Lap 2: "Brakes off!"  Nonetheless I was very careful to just run easily, with over 9 miles to go.  The second water station was less than a block beyond the timing mat.  I accepted a cup of Gatorade, walking for about 30 seconds, and then took my first of six ShotBloks, planning to take two per lap for the rest of the race.  My heart rate was still nice and low, below 150 beats per minute, consistent with an easy running pace.  I sped up to a 10:30 min / mile pace.  In a long stretch on Peters Avenue, probably about 1/3 of a mile, the lanes of runners passed each other.  In the first lap, I had only seen a few of the very fastest runners, but on the second lap, I now spotted several friends who were a few minutes ahead of me.  As expected, I saw Liz Mann, Carl Line, Bob Wells, Carol Gsell, among others.  I knew that I wouldn't catch up to them, but it didn't matter, as today was just a training run.  On the return loop from Spelman College, I finally saw the sun in the east, and wore my sunglasses for the rest of the race.  For most of the first two laps, I was just a bit behind Jennifer Butz.  She is training for a 50K race in two weeks.  She had planned to run a steady 11 min / mile pace, so on the return loop from Spelman College, I caught up to her.  She was using run-walk intervals so we leapfrogged a couple of times, but I moved ahead after I had walked through the mid-course water station, taking a second ShotBlok.  On this lap, I began counting the blocks along Forsyth Street (four blocks) and Marietta Street (three blocks), in case I needed that information if I grew tired later in the race.  Working my way up the hill past the sports arenas and then back downhill to the exchange area, I finished lap 2 in 32:50 (data from Strava), estimated pace 10:20 min / mile over approximately 3.15 miles.  

Lap 3: Having run the first two laps very conservatively, I thought that I would speed up just a tiny bit more.  I still walked through both water stations on this lap, taking a ShotBlok at each one, but ran a couple of miles faster than a 10 minute / mile pace.  Hopefully I wouldn't regret that later on.  In the two-lane area on Peters Street, I saw Carl Line, close to the same point that I had seen him in the first lap, but still a few minutes ahead of me.  Coming back from Spelman College, some of the faster runners in the 20K or the last leg of the relay lapped me, moving quite quickly.  I congratulated and encouraged as they passed me.  After all, I wasn't racing, just training today.  At the point where we crossed Ted Turner Drive, a woman nearly crashed into me.  She had been on my right, and appeared to want to make a left turn onto Turner Drive, and must have expected that I would also turn.  Then I realized that she was wearing a laminated tag: she was running the relay.  Since it was her first lap of the day, perhaps she didn't realize that the route had changed from last year.  The police must have assumed that we all knew the route by the third lap, or perhaps after more than an hour, their attention was exclusively on controlling auto traffic at the intersections.  In the final mile of the third lap, I ran about the same pace as a young boy, probably about 10 years old, who was running with his mother.  When I checked the results later in the day, I saw that there was one youth team named "Boys on the Run," who finished about a minute ahead of me.  Late in the third lap, I passed Carol Gsell, walking.  I asked if she was alright, she replied "I'm having a bad day."  Fortunately I knew that we were close to the finish area, and she looked like she could make it.  The boy and his mom moved ahead of me as we all approached the relay exchange area.  I finished lap 3 in 31:50, estimated pace 10:05 min / mile.  As I passed through, I saw Jackie Dean, who has previously trained with Coach Carl.  I asked how her team did, and she replied "We won!"  Obviously her team had finished four laps before I had finished my third. 

Lap 4: I intended to make this my fastest lap.  I took water at the first water station but didn't slow down.  Tommy Daniels was handing out cold towels and he offered one as I dashed by.  I wished that I had taken one but had missed it, calling out (untruthfully) "I'm good!"  Well, that wasn't really wrong: I was carrying a Coach Carl towel to wipe off sweat.  The temperature grew warmer as the sun rose into the sky.  I passed Bob Wells, who was walking.  I asked if he was OK: he said that he was, and sounded like he was just tired.  Before reaching Peters Street, I saw two runners with bibs in the opposite lane.  That wasn't the race route, unless the final lap was a different route?  Something to watch out for on the way back.  

I didn't have much trouble banging out mile 10 in 9:30.  But as I checked my watch for my pace, I nearly suffered a collision with an automobile: the driver crossed the intersection at the moment I was entering.  I wasn't watching that closely, and maybe the driver and the police misjudged because perhaps I was running a little faster than the others around me.  Or maybe it was the black singlet that made me invisible to the police and the driver.  I slowed down, threw up my arms and yelled "What the %&X@?!" as the car passed in front of me.  Fortunately I wasn't hit, and even though my arms were up in the air, I restrained myself from throwing my last ShotBlok at the car.    

I got back up to speed, but for the rest of the race, I watched carefully at all of the intersections.  Near Spelman College, I was running alone when another car turned into my lane!  I waved furiously to direct the driver out of my lane, and at least that driver saw me and immediately crossed into the other lane.  When I reached that turn, the policeman working the corner had his back to the road, looking in his car for something.  I decided not to say anything and just kept running.  But at subsequent intersections, where the police were watching, I thanked them for staying through the final lap.  Carol Gsell was still on the course, walking the final lap.  She was certain that she could at least finish.  I congratulated and encouraged her as we passed, glad to see that she didn't need to drop out.  When I checked their Strava results later in the day, I saw that Carol and Bob had both run some additional mileage before the start of the race.  I dashed through the last water station after taking my last ShotBlok, following my plan not to take a walk break in the final lap.  That was around the end of mile 11, completed in a respectable 9:52, but not faster than I had run mile 10.  Although the police didn't direct us one way or the other at the intersection with Turner Drive, the runners ahead of me ran straight ahead on Peters Street as we had in the last three laps, and I just followed them. 

With about 1-1/2 miles to go, I began to struggle.  Turning onto Forsyth Street, a 10 foot hill that I had hardly noticed on the previous laps nearly broke my spirit.  I was hot, tired, sweaty.  My legs ached.  A couple of runners passed me.  I tried to keep up with them, but then I began to feel sick to my stomach.  It had been about three hours since I had eaten breakfast, but it seemed that the ShotBloks were causing some discomfort.  My stomach felt tight against my running belt.  I had never vomited while running, and had rarely felt that kind of trouble in a race - although apparently that happened to the great Meb Keflezighi on several occasions.  Of course I was moving at only 1/2-Meb speed.  After I nearly tripped over a pothole, I reminded myself that this was just a training run.  I needed to save my effort for Labor Day.  It really didn't matter if my last mile today was not my fastest.  I let myself slow down a bit more.  I thought about giving in to walking, but a slow jog helped me get through the four blocks of Forsyth Street.   

As we turned onto Marietta Street, way up ahead, I saw Carl Line, in his distinctive American Flag running pants.  It took me about a minute to reach the same spot, as the three blocks on Marietta ticked by.  Hmm, Carl has slowed down even more than I have.  I wonder if I can catch him?  Probably not.  But I was no longer thinking of the heat or my stomach.  My legs still hurt, but I wasn't too far from the finish.  And turning onto Centennial Olympic Park Drive, had I gained on Carl?  It certainly seemed like it!  Still, I didn't think that I had a chance to catch up to him.  But after passing State Farm Arena while running uphill, he was less than 100 feet ahead of me.  I started thinking, "Carl, don't look behind you."  I imagined running silently and stealthily, sneaking up on him.  And in front of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, I drew even with him.  I don't think he noticed, until I said, "Carl, this is for our age group!"  As I passed, I would have been happy if he had matched my pace, and we had run the final two blocks together to the finish line.  After all, we were well past 2 hours.  There was no chance of an award at that relatively slow pace.  But he didn't seem to keep up.  I moved into a higher gear, as I crested the final hill.  I took a quick look behind me, Carl wasn't right on my shoulder, now he was at least 50 feet behind.  I kept pushing as hard as I could.  Approaching the finish line, I took one more quick look, didn't see Carl.  Was he on my other side?  No, no one at all was immediately behind me.  And as I accelerated toward the finish line, I was gaining strongly on a young woman ahead of me.  The spectators were cheering: could I catch up to her, I thought as I entered the finish chute just a few steps behind her.  

She crossed the finish line one second ahead of me. 

And then my turn to cross the final timing mat.
(Photos added Sept. 1)

31:35 for the fourth lap, 2:09:08 total elapsed on my watch.  Later I saw that my official gun time was 2:09:31.  

Rolling hills the entire way: the big hill near the end of each lap
 was from Marietta Street past Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
It wasn't a true hill, but the elevated roadway passing over the Big Gulch of Atlanta.  

Heart rate steadily rose from start to the 11-mile mark where I began to feel sick.
Good thing I slowed down just a bit before making the finish push to the end.
Below, a new feature on Garmin Connect provides a bar graph of my heart rate zones.
I ran lap 1 and part of lap 2 in zone 3; the rest of lap 2 and all of lap 3 in zone 4;
and I must have been in zone 5 for the entirety of lap 4. 

I stopped shortly after crossing the finish line, waited for Carl to cross, about 20 seconds later.  Although I had outrun him at the end, I had really paid for my strong finish.  He looked much better than I felt, whereas I was struggling to stay upright.  I collected my medal, just kept slowly walking around until I could pick up a delicious bottle of water and a banana.  I needed several minutes to regain enough equilibrium for some post-run stretches, which helped my battered, tired legs.  

Garmin splits (above) show my numerical times per mile,
but the Strava bar graph (below) shows more dramatically
how substantially I fell off the pace in mile 12.
I was happy to see that the final fraction of a mile
was my second-fastest split of the race. 

I was still recovering from my finish when the awards ceremony began.  It took awhile for Tes to get to the male age group 50 - 59 (no chance to win anything with such a large group).  And then she announced, "in third place, finishing in 2:09:54, Carl Line!"  Wow!! Both Carl and I were stunned, and he told me, "That means you're second place!"  Sure enough, after Carl had collected his award, Tes announced "and in second place, with a time of 2:09:31, I know that he's going to blog about it, please congratulate a good friend of mine, Frank McDonald!"  I walked up grinning from ear to ear!  First place went to Ron Tolliver, finishing in 2:04:55.  We were all present for the post-race photo (which I will add here if it appears on the FaceBook page for the race).      

Unfortunately I followed Coach Carl's advice only for the first half of the race.  I didn't rein in my competitive nature, and sped up more than I should have in the third lap, and then I really suffered in the final lap.  But I did have fun with it, especially with my strong finish.  After the festivities concluded, and I had stretched a bit more, I was relieved to find that I could jog a half-mile to the lot where I had parked my car, at a 12 min / mile pace without difficulty or pain.  Hopefully I will recover completely in the next few days.  

August 17, 2019: The Atlanta's Finest 5K

The Atlanta Track Club hosts the Atlanta's Finest 5K in mid-August each year.  I've only "raced" this course twice, in 2014 and in 2017, finishing in 26:14 and 25:04 respectively.  In 2018 I was training for the New York City Marathon, and ran the race at a slower pace as part of a 10-mile medium-long run.  Although the Track Club advertises the race as one of Atlanta's flattest courses, the summer heat and some hills in the second half of the course have always slowed me down in past years.       

"Ass O'Clock" on the way to the race

In the run-up to today's 5K race, I resolved to try for a sub-25 minute finish.  Everything went well in the week prior to the race, including carefully hydrating.  Then last night, we celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday with a grand family dinner at the Royal China restaurant.  We enjoyed a delicious meal of Peking duck, spicy chicken, salt-and-pepper squid, sizzling tofu with shrimp, seafood chow fun, eggplant fries, snow pea leaves with garlic, red bean dessert, and then a slice of birthday cake from Sweet Hut.  Although I had resolved beforehand to eat selectively, filling up on greens with snow pea leaves and just enjoying small tastes of the other dishes, I ended up eating my full share.  Walking out some pounds heavier, I jokingly dialed back by goal by a minute.  

On race day, we left the house at 6 am sharp, for a 25 minute drive to Pemberton Park near the start of the race.  We had allowed plenty of time before a 7:30 am race, right?  But there was a massive traffic jam downtown, and the parking garage for the World of Coca-Cola was already full.  We needed another 10 minutes to crawl the additional block to more expensive parking at the Georgia Aquarium.  Then the first decision: bib pickup or toilet?  Since the Atlanta Track Club always has efficient bib pickup, I decided to jump into the line for the toilet, which took about 15 minutes, but the line grew steadily longer as I waited, so that was the right decision.  I successfully dropped a pound or so before the race. But I unexpectedly found the longest line for bib pickup.  By then it was 7:15 am, far too late for the planned 2-mile warmup jog (at my pace, anyway).  The announcer was already asking all runners to move to the starting area a few blocks away.  That was my only warmup: an easy jog, a few short strides and skips, on my way to wave B.  

I missed the big Atlanta Track Club group photo,
 but my priority was to wait in the toilet line. 

Fortunately I felt ready enough to run.  The 73 degree F temperature was comfortable compared to recent evening runs, at 20 degrees warmer.  After saying hello to volunteer Lindy Liu - single-handedly holding back a horde of wave B runners - and waving to Kristi Swartz 20 feet away, I just kept jogging in place and staying loose with butt kicks.  As we moved up to the starting line, I reviewed my plan once more: aim to run each mile at a consistent 8 min / mile pace, then make a strong kick to the finish line in the last two blocks.  

Scenes from Pemberton Park:
current exhibits at the Center for Civil and Human Rights (above)
World of Coke (below, left) and the Georgia Aquarium (below, right)

The airhorn sounded!  We ran north on Marietta Street, one of the main roads into the Five Points center of downtown Atlanta.  Marietta Street typically has many potholes, but to spruce up downtown for the Super Bowl earlier this year, the City of Atlanta repaved the street, so we ran on a very nice and smooth asphalt surface this year.  I tried to maintain a very easy pace, and avoided looking at my watch for the first few minutes.  When I finally checked, I was moving at a 7:45 min / mile pace, which was pretty good for a conservative start.  I had let a considerable number of faster runners pass me in the first few minutes.  Kristi Swartz, who typically runs close to my speed, was far ahead, but I decided to stay with my race plan and resisted exerting myself.  The first mile was gently, subtly downhill, and I passed the mile 1 sign at 7:50.  My legs felt good, and my heartrate wasn't too high, in the mid-150 beats per minute, so I kept running at the same pace.  

For the second consecutive year, this race was also the USATF Master's 5K Championship race.  Those competitors, about 160 in total, had a five-minute headstart on wave A, and began seven-minutes ahead of my wave.  I'm sure that there were plenty of speedsters in the 40s, 50s, and 60s age groups far ahead of me, but near the end of mile 1, we began to pass a few of the older runners in the competition, who wore a second bib on the back marking their age group and gender, i.e. M 80, W 90, etc.  One of the regular runners would say "Good job" everytime she passed one of the senior runners.  I wasn't sure if that was patronizing or encouraging, although I'm certain that her intention was positive.  I mainly tried to steer clear and avoid running into any of the slower competitors.   

At Delia's Chicken and Sausage, we made a gentle turn onto Northside Drive, followed within a block or two by a much more acute right turn onto Tech Parkway.  Temilola "Tes" Sobomehin Marshall was course monitor at the corner, cheering us on, giving high-fives to the runners on the inside track.  I had taken an outside track to make the turn without slowing down, and ended up going quite wide, adding several extra steps - like a big truck making the turn.  Something that I need to work on ... 

The route continued downhill past the Georgia Tech campus.  Stealing another glance at my watch, I was still running just under an 8 minute / mile pace.  As we approached a water station, I decided to take a cup, although I didn't feel particularly thirsty.  I was determined to maintain pace, but had trouble finding an open spot with a volunteer.  A woman just ahead had taken a cup, and I tried to guess whether I should dash past her on the left or on the right.  I guessed wrong and bumped into her - fortunately I didn't knock her over, but many apologies - running isn't supposed to be a contact sport.  Something else to work on ... 

The big divot in my pace running uphill in the last few minutes
was the only real glitch in today's race.  

I managed to grab a cup of water from a volunteer, promptly spilled half of its contents onto my right shoulder, which cooled me off a bit, gulped down the rest, which slaked any incipient thirst.   Reaching the mile 2 marker in 7:49 elapsed, I realized that I was likely to break 25 minutes today after all.  We were in a section with gentle rolling hills, which I managed going uphill fairly well without maximizing my heart rate.  By maintaining the same pace going downhill, while exhaling heavily trying to blow out as much carbon dioxide as possible, my heartrate would recover downwards a few points.  Then uphill again, repeat on the downhill.  I saw Kristi Swartz up ahead, and wondered if I could catch up to her.  

With Bonnie and Tes after the race

At 19 minutes, midway through the third mile, we crossed North Avenue, past the Coca-Cola Headquarters Building, onto the long steady uphill section named Luckie Street.  At first I ran well, maintaining the pace.  I had followed Kristi for much of the way, but couldn't close the lead - she wasn't slowing down.  Further ahead, I looked for the Georgia Aquarium Garage, the landmark the top of this final hill at Ivan Allen Boulevard.  But the only building that I could make out was a Hyatt Hotel, and I didn't recall its location.  I asked myself, do we have to pass the Hyatt before we cross Ivan Allen?  20:30 elapsed, it seems much farther than 4 minutes from the finish line.  Afterwards I checked my Garmin stats, which showed an abrupt drop in my pace around that time, slower than 9 minute / mile.  I wonder if my mental strength failed in that moment - something else to work on ...

Bonnie's finish, with commentary

On Luckie Street, we passed a wheelchair racer that had stopped on the side of the road.  A man tried to encourage her, but she seemed OK.  Hopefully it was a mechanical breakdown rather than a physiological problem, perhaps a flat tire.  As we drew nearer to Ivan Allen, I finally realized that the Hyatt Hotel was beyond the Aquarium, in fact at the corner for the last turn to the finish line.  The combination of knowing that I was close to finishing and cresting the hill gave me the strength to return to a faster pace.  Time to put on the final kick, I thought, especially as we began running downhill past the Aquarium.  I was shocked to see a younger runner just ahead of me slow to a walk.  As I flew past, I wanted to shout "Why are you walking?  We're running downhill and near the finish!"  Good thing that remained an invisible thought bubble, because a moment later he passed me, and I couldn't match his kick.  

Passing the mile 3 marker (8:13, 23:52 elapsed, although I didn't notice at the time) I saw David Bloomquist, who cheered me forward with "Just 50 yards to go!"  I thought, 50 steps to the finish, is that all?  I kicked hard through the left turn onto Baker Street, kept running as fast as possible toward the finish line.  Afterwards, I wish that I had thought of the technique of strides, speeding up a bit in consecutive 5 second increments.  In the heat of the moment, the only thoughts in my brain were "run run run" and "I hope that no one is about to pass me at the very end!"  I was relieved to clear the first and then the second timing mat without hearing footsteps immediately behind or next to me.  I stopped my watch, to see: 24:48 elapsed!  Mission Accomplished!!

My official time: 24:44, 20 seconds faster than my previous best on this course.  Although I was briefly winded, I quickly recovered, and set out for an easy 2+ mile cool down, during which my legs and everything else proved intact.  

Celebratory brunch at West Egg: chicken chilaquiles

August 3, 2019: The Decatur-DeKalb 4-Miler

Since my last race in early July, my heat acclimatization has improved, and my training has gone well.  I've finished week 7 of a 38-week build, guided by Coach Carl Leivers.  This long training cycle will culminate in the Publix Atlanta Marathon on March 1, 2020.  The workouts have mostly focused on very gradually increasing the distances of my long runs, and working in some light speed work elements, including strides on Monday runs.  Most of my recent runs have been progression runs, following the mantra "First mile slowest, last mile fastest".  The great thing about deliberately starting very slowly is that the majority of the run is a warm-up, culminating either in a fast (and fun) final mile, or in four quality fast (and fun) strides. This has also greatly improved my pace discipline.  While I haven't run fast for any significant distance, my physical strength has improved, and the easy runs are building my capacity for oxygen utilization. 

The Decatur-DeKalb 4-Miler is a good checkpoint for my fitness to this stage.  It's a tough course due to some significant hills, but it's also a very familiar course.  Not only have I run the race for the past five years, I've run the route dozens of times on mid-week workouts beginning on the Emory campus.  In the past month I've run the route twice, refreshing my memory of every hill and dale.  

In the weeks before the race, Brian Minor and I discussed racing each other.  In the past, he has outrun me on the course, but recently he hasn't trained as rigorously.  Nontheless he holds a course personal record of 32:00 flat, whereas my best time on the course is 33:38, in summer 2019.  On that day, I started too quickly, and then needed several walk breaks to climb the long hill from miles 2.5 to 3.5.  I was determined not to go out too fast this year.  In short, my goal was to get to the bottom of the hill at mile 2.5 in good enough shape to run strongly uphill, and upon reaching the crest at mile 3.5, push myself the last 800 meters to the finish, equal to two laps on the track.  And with that strategy, I felt that a sub-33 minute finish was realistic.  This was my pace plan:

mile 1:   8:20 - 8:30

mile 2:   8:10 - 8:20

mile 3:     8:00 even

   mile 4: sub 8:00 finish

Arriving more than an hour before the race, I had plenty of time to warm up, running close to 2 miles, including three quality strides.  I lined up in the middle of wave B, and then Brian walked up, shook my hand and said "Mano a mano."  "We're on!" I replied.  Waiting to begin, Brian and I both discussed not starting too quickly.  Personally I was hoping to use him as a pacer; likewise he was planning to follow me.  The problem with that strategy, from my standpoint, is that Brian has a finishing kick that I just cannot beat.  If he isn't too far behind me with the finish line in sight, I ezpect that his younger legs will likely propel him past me.  So I hoped that he would run fast enough to stay with me, or perhaps just in front of me for much of the race. 

After wave A began, wave B moved up.  The airhorn sounded, and Brian and I slowly jogged up to the line.  And as soon as we crossed the starting mat, Brian took off!  Well, if he could run the entire race at that pace, I would never catch him, so I just stuck with my conservative strategy for mile 1.  

Beginning the race in the middle of the wave was a good move for me.  It was a little crowded, so I just settled in with the group to run their pace, which was just under a 9 minute mile for the first few blocks.  As the route on Scott Boulevard began to descend, and the runners spread out a bit, I sped up just a tad, but I refrained from passing anyone just for the sake of passing them.  I could see Brian's yellow Tucker Running Club singlet and yellow visor up ahead.  While I kept an eye on him, I didn't try to close the gap, committed to staying on plan.  At the end of mile 1, I checked my watch, very satisfied to see 8:27 elapsed, just as I had intended.  

Completing mile 1, with less than a 5K to go to the finish, I felt powerful confidence that I would have a great race today.  Crossing under the railroad bridge, the road began to go uphill.  I saw Brian turn onto Artwood Road - and then he began walking!  I counted the seconds: about 30 seconds later I was in the same spot on Artwood Road, heading uphill but on familiar territory.  And within another 30 seconds, there was Brian, still walking.  "Hey bro, how are you doing?" I asked.  Brian started running again, but said "I started too quickly."  After running together for a minute, he began to open up some distance on me again, but I just stayed with my pace, sticking with the plan.  And making the turn onto Heaton Park Drive, I caught up with Brian again at the top of the hill in front of Fernbank Elementary, which marked the highest point of the race route.  

Now we began running downhill.  I just relaxed and let gravity carry me along.  I was watching both my pace and my heart rate, around 160 beats per minute, which was sustainable.  Left onto Coventry Road, more downhill running, but I fought off the temptation to press.  Another left turn onto East Clifton Road, I passed the mile 2 marker registering 8:17.  This race was proceeding perfectly for me.  I even caught up to Brian again, and passed him, trying to sneak by.  However he picked up his pace and caught up with me.  I joked "We're in a no-trash-talking zone - actually I was hoping to sneak past you!"  He didn't say much, it was clear that he was struggling a little, but he didn't want to fall behind.  As East Clifton joined the main route of Clifton Road, I shouted out "Brian, they changed the route this year - it's all down hill the rest of the way!  Don't save anything for the end!"  Hopefully the other runners around me knew that I was joking.  I myself was amazed that I had enough lung capacity to talk at this stage of the race. 

At the water station, Brian and I nearly collided - he took a cup of water from one of the first volunteers.  I slipped by and accepted a cup of water from the next volunteer, and kept running.  Brian accelerated to catch up and pass me as I tossed the empty cup toward the last garbage box.  And now we reached the lowest point of the course, near the intersection with Oxford Road.  As the route began to go uphill, I caught up to Brian.  My legs felt good, my endurance was strong, and I began pushing up the hill.  Time to drop Brian, I thought, and I put on another burst of speed.  But I wasn't reckless - the hill training and endurance workouts gave me strength.  I passed quite a few people in this section, all the way up to the intersection at North Decatur Road.  Making the right turn, the road leveled out a moment, just long enough for me to catch my breath without significantly altering my speed.  Mile 3 covered in 7:57!  Wow, this race was going really well, having run easily downhill for the first half of mile 3, and strongly uphill for the second half of mile 3. 

Now for the toughest part of the race: the road began going uphill again.  I was determined not to walk this year, and in fact I didn't feel an urgent need to walk.  I felt a little pain in my upper chest, but recognized it as pectoral muscle pain from pumping my arms, nothing that would cause danger or harm.  Most of the runners around me were running just as strongly.  A young woman with a blond ponytail passed me: I sped up to keep up with her, and she didn't open much of a gap.  This part of the race route did seem to take longer than I expected.  I didn't check my watch at all, just running with determination.  Every once in a while, I quickly glanced behind me, looking for Brian's yellow singlet and yellow visor, but didn't see him.  

Elevation vs. pace.

Finally we crested the top of the hill, past Princeton Way, approaching the bridge crossing the railroad.  I passed the water station, not wanting to slow down, not needing water.  I took a look at my watch for the first time since the mile 3 marker: 29:30.  Hmm, at the time I thought that I had 1/2 mile to the finish line - I definitely wouldn't finish in 32 minutes, and wondered if 33 minutes was actually possible.  We turned through the McDonald's parking lot, I passed someone as we came around the corner. of the drive-through lane.  Emerging onto Clairmont Road, speedster Jordan Eison called out "Just 400 meters to go!"  I glanced at my watch: 31:30.  I can run a 400 meter race on the track in 1:30, but not after running 3-3/4 miles.  If Jordan's distance estimate was accurate, a sub-33 minute finish was now unlikely, but I definitely felt that I could finish in less than 2 minutes.  I was tired, but deployed the mantra "Mind over matter"  and kept up my speed.  

I had followed the woman with the blond ponytail after she passed me around
 the mile 3 marker, but I surged past her in the final block of the race.
Thanks to Kalpana Patel for the photo! 

My watch signaled 4 miles done as we approached the turn to the finish line: a sharp right turn, over the timing mat, and done!  33:09 official time, 8:29 for the final 1.05 mile (as measured on my watch).  By any measure, I didn't cover the last mile in less than 8 minutes, but that was probably from the first half-mile being uphill - so I had a strong enough finish to be satisfied for today.  

Brian finished a moment later.  (Credit: Kalpana Patel)

I waited in the finish area for a moment, and then saw Brian approaching the turn, and greeted him after he crossed the timing mat.  I tried not to gloat.  While I was happy to outrun him on this rare occasion, I was even happier with how well I had managed the race!  Not only did I set a course personal record, but I had saved enough energy in the first part of the race and didn't suffer too badly going up the long hill in the final stage.  

Maybe I was gloating a little, holding up a finger for #1.
Brian was a great sport for second place! 

Moreover, I can see some room for improvement - but that's not a self-critical statement. I'm actually very optimistic that I'm on track for additional improvement in the coming weeks and months.  And Brian and I will have our rematch on Labor Day, in the Big Peach Sizzler 10K!