About one week ago, I heard that the Five Star FTP group was offering Thanksgiving-themed races in the Atlanta suburbs this weekend, in Kennesaw on Saturday, and Cumming on Sunday. In addition to offering 5K, 10K, 15K, and half-marathon distances for only $21, to thank the runners who had completed an FTP race since December 2021, the organizers waived the race registration fee! I ran the Memorial Day 5K in Marietta, so I qualified for the freebie. I didn't expect much from an inexpensive race, especially if it was free for me and probably many of the other participants. But my marathon training plan had a 16-mile long run scheduled for Sunday. As long as the race route was protected from auto traffic, then it was definitely an attractive venue for my long run, whether or not it was supported with water stations, etc.
My plan was to arrive early enough to run about 3 miles before the race officially began at 8:00 am. Moreover, my warmup would be very easy, I would run the first half of the half-marathon at an easy pace, and then work down toward marathon goal pace (about 10 minute / mile) in the second half of the race.
I arrived at the venue, North Forsyth County Middle School, a few miles north of Cumming, around 7:15 am. I was dressed with two layers, plus woolcap over the ears and a cap and gloves, but I still felt COLD!!! At least I had a large handwarmer for a tiny bit of heat. After picking up my bib and stretching a bit, I began jogging around the grounds of the school. There was cones in the parking lot and I tried to pick up where the race route might be, but didn't quite figure it out on my own. I started with a conservative 2 min jog / 30 sec walk interval, following cones wherever I could find them, in other places simply running big circles around the buildings, making a total of about 4 loops. By 7:57 am, I had covered 2.9 miles and it was time to get to the start. I took a package of UCAN, washed it down with a little water, and picked up a large water bottle with a Nuun solution on a running belt that I had already packed with two more UCAN packages.
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| Race route |
I took a spot about midway in the crowd of 150 - 200 runners, then moved back a little further. All four race distances began at the same time, at 8:00 am sharp. We made a loop around a large parking lot near the school, probably covering a quarter-mile or so. Other runners were streaming past me, but I held onto my pace discipline and just let them run by, staying to one side of the route. I was determined to run the first 5K loop at slower than 11 minute / mile pace. Fortunately experience won over ego, as I patiently followed the route onto Coal Mountain Drive; this must have been a coal mining area in the past. After a few blocks, we turned left onto Smith Lane, which cut through some farmland. The lead runners came back on their return before I had completed mile 1 of the race route, turning onto Fast Lane. I tried congratulating and encouraging the leaders - but that caused me to speed up much faster than I wanted to run this early in my day. I guess that's a good thing in general to be energized by giving encouragement to others, but for my goals today, I had to stop the cheering and just focus on running slowly, mentally "riding the brakes" as I thought about it. "Patience" was my mantra for the first half of the race.
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| Crossing the timing mat for the first time |
I wasn't certain that there would be a water station, after all it was a free race for me, but about 1.5 miles out, at a turnaround, there was indeed a water station manned by a few volunteers. I had deliberately run slowly but continuously since crossing the timing mat at the start, and had planned to walk through a water station, and the location was perfect for my purposes today. I decided to just drink from my own bottle of Nuun, but smiled and thanked the volunteers that were manning the water station. After counting to 30, back to slow running. Around mile 1, I had heard a woman behind me talking with someone else about running the 15K today, and when she caught up to me, she was running with a dog! We struck up a conversation which began with her experience running the Donna Marathon in Jacksonville Florida, when it was cold and rainy and windy. I had heard good things about the organization of the Donna Marathon, a fundraiser to support people with breast cancer, and the other runner confirmed it, then shared that she was "a survivor". She was six years into post-cancer recovery, and had started distance running on the challenge of a friend to train for a 50K race, shortly after completing her last radiation treatment. We exchanged names, she was LouAnne from Rabun County, far northeast Georgia, on the state borders with both Carolinas. She was 61 years old, I shared that I had turned 60 just a couple of months ago. It was an important time for my own re-evaluation, fortunately without ever having a health scare, for which I'm extremely thankful but also consider to be extraordinary luck. Our conversation carried me for the rest of the first lap. LouAnne was comfortable hanging back with my pace, although toward the end of the 5K, her dog was starting to hold back. Still I was impressed that a dog could run a 5K fairly comfortably. As we approached the timing mat concluding the first lap, I slowed to a walk as planned, taking another swig from my bottle of Nuun. Crossing the timing mat, a volunteer was directing 5K finishers to a right turn for the finish line, the rest of us to run straight ahead. Elapsed time in the race, 34 minutes.
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Elevation profile for the 16-mile long run. Carl recommended some hills. These weren't as large as some of the hills on the Publix Atlanta marathon course, but I think it was hilly enough to be legitimate for today's long run. |
The second lap was much like the first, although the route was much less crowded. LouAnne caught up with me within a few minutes and we continued our conversation. On the farm road, I took in more of the view with cows and horses in the field, and some large homes along the roadside. At the turn, I had seen a horse and a smaller animal in a front yard on the first lap, which I now realized wasn't a sheep but was a miniature pony, based on its gait as it briefly scampered around the yard. The larger horse may have been a donkey, although I'm not certain. As we approached the water station for a second time, LouAnne pointed out her husband coming the other way, a minute or so in front of us. This time I accepted a cup of water from the volunteers, and LouAnne and I both slowed to a walk. Just as I reached for the water, a fast-moving man came from behind, grabbing some water as he passed on the inside, nearly colliding with me. Sorry, I wasn't expecting to be lapped at that very moment! After that, LouAnne and I were separated and I continued running on my own for the remainder of the second lap. After my watch had signalled 8 miles elapsed on the day, I took one of the two UCAN packages that I was carrying, to practice fueling while on the run. That went down pretty smoothly, but I washed it down with a little Nuun. As I finished the second lap, the timing mat recorded my elapsed time for the race at 68 minutes, so a nice, easy consistent pace, in the low 11 minute / mile range.
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| This was in the first lap. LouAnne is in the foreground, with her dog barely in the photo. |
In the parking lot at the beginning of the third lap, I caught up with a young woman, who I later learned from the results was 19 years old, although I had assumed that she was a little older while I was running the race. I thought that I might run with her for awhile, but by running the tangents in the parking lot, I pulled ahead of her, and stayed ahead of her for the rest of the race. With only about 6 miles to cover in the race, I could finally stop "riding the brakes". I didn't really try to speed up too much, the goal being now to run in the high 10 minute / mile range. And that was pretty easily accomplished. Out and back on Fast Lane, I used my own Nuun bottle as I walked through the water station. Everything felt pretty good. It was still cold outside, but I would pass the heatwarmer from hand to hand, and that helped a bit. The route was now fairly empty. I was occasionally lapped by a fast half-marathon runner on their fourth lap, but otherwise seemed to be doing well. Working my way around the school near the end of the third lap, I noticed a line of cones to the right that I had followed during my initial warmup miles. A faster woman turned right, and I figured that must be the extra kilometer that I would need to turn four 5K loops into the 21.1 kilometers required for a half marathon. A volunteer asked if I was on my fourth lap, and I said "Third lap" and held up three fingers, so I continued circling to the left toward the timing mat, taking another walk break. Now I was about 12 miles in for the day, so time to take the last UCAN fuel. Crossing the timing mat at 1:40, I had completed the third loop in 32 minutes, so indeed I was getting a little faster.
Now it was time to do some work. Coach Carl had suggested running 16+ mile long runs with a negative split, not necessarily at marathon goal pace for the last half of the run, but I was trying for low 10-minute / mile pace. I filed away the "Patience" mantra for a future race. It had served me well so far, but didn't need it for the rest of today. Mile 13 was 10:12. There were a couple of cars moving slowly on Fast Lane, thank goodness for slowly driving. One car pulled out of a driveway in that neighborhood, and I can hardly complain about residents trying to get around. After the water station, where I accepted water for this final loop, I saw a young boy who had been running ahead of me for the entire race. It wasn't difficult to catch up to him. I didn't intend to make an aggressive pass, but then I sensed that a car was coming from behind me. To avoid taking up more space on the roadway, I decided to pass the boy. And I kept moving quickly. Afterwards I felt badly that the kid might have envisioned that he was passed by someone his Grandpop's age. Sorry about that! I'm really truly impressed that a 11-year-old can run a half-marathon. I was 52 years old before I tried my first half marathon, and it was really tough! Before long, I'm confident that you'll outrun me every single time. But just not today. Mile 14 was 10:19. My legs were feeling a little tired, like I was approaching the last two miles of a full marathon that I had run well. I couldn't push myself to go much faster. I was just determined that I didn't want to be passed by anyone that I had passed in the last two laps - or at least, if they passed me I wanted them to earn it. For the next few turns, I looked behind me but didn't see anyone. I started to think rather brashly that I had "put some hurt" on those kids.
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| I'm really happy that I gradually turned up the pace in the race. After the first 2.9 mile run-walk warmup, I only walked for 30-second water breaks about every 1.5 miles. |
Before the mile 15 alert had sounded, I made the right turn for the additional 1.1 kilometers. The cones and signs were pretty clear where we should run, but there were several turns and two loops and I wasn't sure if I should turn after the cone (going long?) or before the cone (going short?). There was another runner about 1 minute ahead of me who I kept an eye on, but I couldn't exactly tell what he was doing with the cones and the turns. I did some of both, not wanting to cut the course, but at the same time I was trying to run tangents to whatever extent I could manage. I started to make up some ground on the runner ahead of me, now I estimated he was 45 seconds ahead of me. At one point on a loop, I could see that the young woman that I had passed a while back was only a minute or so behind me, and then I was happy to see the boy wasn't too far behind her, so he was still in the race. I definitely felt like the other runners would catch me if I slowed down too much, so that kept me motivated to push. Heading downhill on the last part of the loop, the runner in front of me flashed a smile and said "Great job!" I replied "We're almost done!" In the meantime I think that he was now only about 30 seconds ahead of me. I asked myself, "Can I catch up to him? Should I even try if he keeps running?" A moment later I realized that a woman was running with him, seemed to be holding a camera as they ran toward the finish line together. I decided to accelerate although I didn't really think that I would be able to catch up with him. Then I realized that he was running with a young child on his shoulder. That's really cool. I rather doubt that I could have caught up to him in the short distance remaining, and even if I could have done so, I didn't want to spoil a nice family moment by needlessly photobombing their finish line photo when I was out for a long run on a free course. I had achieved all of my goals.
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| Happy to have executed my plan from start-to-finish |
Over the timing mat at the start line, then a right turn toward the finish, and I accelerated as strongly as I could. A little celebration at finishing the half marathon! Then I checked my watch, I had covered about 15.75 miles, so the route was probably a little short. Not that I'm complaining, it was a free race, they didn't promise anything other than a fun race, and I was delighted with the protected route, the water station, and afterwards, the free photos on Facebook! I kept running although I definitely slowed down for the last quarter-mile, running a couple of loops now on an empty course on the parking lots, until my water signalled 16 miles completed, in 2:54. I had realized when I began to speed up in the third lap that I was likely to complete the entire run in less than three hours, and was very pleased how this all worked out for me. Today's solid performance erased a bitter taste from my last half-marathon race in December 2021, when I had walked most of the last four miles.
There were only 34 finishers in the half-marathon, with the majority of runners completing the 5K. When I checked my result online immediately after the race, 2:18:09 chip time and 20th overall, I was pleasantly shocked to see that I was first-place male grandmaster! Grandmaster Flash!! Afterwards I saw that a 62-year-old man had finished in 5th place, and was named first-place male master with a 1:49 finish. It was fun to gloat just a little bit even though I wasn't intending to compete, not really. I finished about 20 seconds behind the 29-year-old man who crossed the finish line with his young child. The 19-year-old woman finished about a minute behind me, and the 11-year-old boy was two minutes behind me. I watched his father take his photo (sharing the same surname, had finished in 1:54) and a few minutes later his mother finished. So that was a really nice family outing for them, three successful finishes, and I hope that they had a nice celebration together after the race.
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| My result online, just a few minutes after I officially finished, while a dozen other runners were still on the course. |
I was pretty sore after the race, despite some stretching before driving home. The next day, early on Monday morning, I dragged myself out of bed for an "optional 3-mile easy run". I bargained with myself, just walk-jog one mile and see how that goes. I felt better after that mile, so I decided to run a loop in the hilly park near the house, felt well enough after that first loop to run a second loop to get to three miles, then even finished off with two strides in a flat parking lot at our neighborhood school before jogging home, fully recovered from the long run the day before. Active easy recovery is definitely the trick for me! With 14 weeks to go until the marathon, I still have some work to do, but I also have plenty of time to get it done. So far I'm really happy with this marathon training cycle!
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