March 17, 2019: The Publix Atlanta Half-Marathon

I wasn't certain if I would even make it to the starting line for this race, due to the persistent leg cramp that has bothered me for the past six weeks.  The past week was spring break, so I had some time for additional medical treatments:

Monday March 11: 

1) Physical therapy in the morning, including dry needling, to induce spasms in both calves to loosen up the muscles

2) previously scheduled annual eye exam in the afternoon: the young ophthalmologist pronounced my eyes "awesome" - so at least I knew that I could see where I would run!

Tuesday March 12: 

3) previously scheduled weekly therapy: we spent most of the session talking through a strategy for stopping if the pain grew too severe, taking the sting, actually the stigma, out of the word "quit".  We discussed what pain level I should endure before I stopped.  I couldn't argue that I shouldn't stop if the pain was 6 out of 10.  After all, I couldn't run at all for five weeks after the marathon last spring.  I didn't come to a decision at that moment, but the next day I told Bonnie: 

"When I see you in the fourth mile, if I can't smile and give two thumbs up, I'll stop." 

Thursday March 14:

4) sports chiropractor session: he pronounced that my hip alignment was improving, but I think the doctor was also relieved to hear my plan for stopping if the pain was too severe.  He made a very good point: if you have to stop on Sunday, you're doing it so that you can run your next race sooner. 

Friday March 15: 

5) physical therapy: more dry needling, but this time it seemed to have more of an effect.  

The running that I did this week: 

Tuesday evening March 12: four miles, easy pace, not limping too much

Thursday evening March 14: three miles, easy pace, pretty difficult

Saturday morning March 16: two miles walking, but I tried running for short distances, and my legs felt much better than Thursday.  I was concerned about my conditioning, however. 

In the car before 5 am, "ass o'clock"

Lining up near the
mile 13 sign

On the big day: Sunday March 17, 4:00 am alarm: got dressed, ate breakfast, lots of stretching at home.  We left the house before 5 am, and arrived at Centennial Olympic Park by 5:30 am.  All of the race tents and security fences were up, but other than the volunteers and security, there weren't many people around.  But the plan was to arrive early enough to walk around a lot to thoroughly warm up.  Starting around 6:30 am, I jogged a bit around the corrals.  I felt the soreness in the right calf, but I could run without limping.  As the crowds filled the corrals, I took a position near the front of corral C, where the 2:00 pace group was supposed to start.  But they were nowhere in sight!  The 2:15 pace group was behind me, more-or-less in the middle of the corral, the 4:00 marathon pace group was in front of me in corral B, but the 2:00 hour pace group was missing.  Oh well, I wasn't really going for a time goal today, as I wasn't even 100% certain that I could finish.  In the corral I saw Carl Line, with whom I typically run on Thursday evenings once we're in Daylight Savings Time - but I hadn't seen him in a few months, as I stopped running in the darkness after Daylight Savings Time ended last fall.  He was running the full marathon.  Carol Gsell also said hello - she was standing where she thought the 2:00 pace group should have been, and confirmed that they were missing, or were badly out of position. 

The Olympic Rings, recently installed at Centennial Olympic Park.  Before ....

Wave C began at 7:07 am, with the sky still pitch-black.  The air was cool but not uncomfortably cold, and the chance of rain was practically 0%, so it was a perfect day for running!  The announcer did a great job of getting everyone excited, and with the first steps over the timing mat, my legs felt OK.  I didn't quite keep up with most of the people around me in the first mile, but by starting near the front of the corral, it wasn't too crowded.  I just kept a close eye on the road in front of me to ensure that I didn't twist an ankle in one of Marietta Street's many potholes.  After turning onto Piedmont Road, I reached mile 1 in 9:15, and mile 2 in 9:45 for 19:00 elapsed.  My plan was to run between water stops, then walk through each water stop.  I took both water and Powerade at each stop, so ended walking a full minute through most of the stops, but had no difficulty getting back into a running rhythm.

The half-marathon route was identical to past years.  However the marathon route turned right (to the southwest) after mile 13, for 13.2 more miles on a new route. 

By the end of mile 3, it was nearly sunrise, and the street lights were beginning to shut off.  I was still running fairly well, not all that fast, but maintained decent form without limping, as far as I could tell.  Mile 3 in 9:45, 28:45 elapsed.  I crossed the 5K timing mat at 29:48.  Decision time was coming.  Was I ready to continue?  As we turned onto Jackson Street, heading toward the Martin Luther King National Historic Site, I knew that I would see Bonnie in just a moment.  I tried out the signal: two thumbs up and a smile, not difficult!  And making the turn onto Auburn Street, I was happy to see Bonnie's smile.  I called out my pain scale: "2 out of 10", and flashed the signal:    

Decision time: TWO THUMBS UP AND A BIG SMILE!

Mile 4 in 10:30, 39:00 elapsed.  I calculated that I was on pace for a 2:08 overall finish.  I had taken a long walk through a water stop right before the mile 4 marker.  Around that time, Colleen Curran with whom I had trained for the 2018 marathon caught up with me.  Liz Mann passed on the left wearing her 2017 Boston Marathon shirt - she ran the full marathon today.  Colleen and I ran together for the better part of a mile.  As we approached Little Five Points, I saw Coach Carl standing in front of the Variety Playhouse, and worked my way to the right side of the road.  I called out "I'm doing OK so far!"  He asked "Two thumbs up and a smile?" and I responded with TWO THUMBS UP AND A SMILE.  Mile 5 in 10:00, 49:00 elapsed.  At the next water stop, I walked and Colleen kept running.  There was a lot of crowd support through Little Five Points, and before I knew it, the mile 6 marker appeared in 10:00, 59:00 elapsed, followed by the 10K timing mat on John Lewis Freedom Parkway, which I crossed at 1:01:07.  And at this point, the 2:00 pacers caught up with and passed me, two women carrying flags followed by a dozen or more runners, moving at a good clip.  They must have started far behind me!  I thought about trying to keep up with them, especially since we were running downhill, but I gave up on that pretty quickly.  After another water stop on North Avenue, I reached the mile 7 marker in 10:00, 1:09 elapsed.  

Turning onto Highland Avenue, the road turned noticeably downhill north of Ponce De Leon Boulevard.  I knew that this was the last stretch where we would enjoy sustained downhill running, but simply couldn't move any faster.  I heard my name and looked up - there was Kristin Wagner, who is often assigned the same workouts with me on Tuesday evening track workouts, cheering us on.  I picked up a full bottle of water at the Clif Gel table, but passed on the gel, as I was taking Shot Bloks as my preferred fuel.  I started to think that taking a full bottle of water was a mistake because I would have to carry it for awhile, but the cold water tasted good, and I decided that staying hydrated was important while nursing muscle tightness.  With a left turn onto Virginia Avenue, past another large cheering group, I cleared the mile 8 marker in 10:00, 1:19 elapsed.  More easy downhill running on Virginia Avenue, where typically I could fly at a sub-9 minute per mile pace, but another 10-minute mile was all that I could manage.  For the most part, people continued to pass me, but I was just grateful to move forward without giving in to walking.  The pain wasn't too bad, maybe a 3 on a 10 point scale.  Then we turned onto Park Avenue, and I definitely slowed down heading uphill.  Nonetheless the blocks passed quickly, and before I knew it, Piedmont Park came into view.  I passed the mile 9 marker, another 10:00 mile, 1:29 elapsed.  There were dozens of enthusiastic spectators on the bridge leading into the park.  By this time I had finished the 16 ounces of water, and dropped the empty bottle into the first recycling barrel in the park. 

Elevation (green) vs. pace (grey).  The spike at the beginning is not real,
probably signal bouncing off of a building downtown.  But I definitely slowed down heading uphill after mile 9. 

In past years I remembered a large tent and a DJ in the park, but didn't see them.  Then I heard the sounds of a drum corps on the left of Charles Allen Parkway near the front entrance to the park on 10th Street.  Right turn onto 10th Street, uphill - oh my, that was tougher than I remembered.  But I just kept moving, albeit slowly, successfully fighting off the temptation to walk.   Shortly after turning onto Juniper Street, I passed the mile 10 timing detectors, at 1:39:15, finishing mile 10 in 10:15.  With 5K to go, this is where I typically begin thinking about what I need to run to finish in less than 2 hours.  But a sub-21-minute 5K will never ever happen for me.  And heading uphill on Juniper Street, it was ridiculous to consider trying to speed up.  Turning onto 5th Street, crossing Peachtree Road, the road finally levelled out as we approached the Georgia Tech campus.  We made a left turn onto Techwood Drive, where a volunteer warned us about potholes.  Ha ha, we've been dodging potholes for 11 miles!  I needed 10:45 for mile 11, 1:50 elapsed.    

As we ran by Bobby Dodd Stadium, Brian Minor caught up to me.  What a surprise to see him behind me!  He told me a few days ago that he was aiming for a 1:55 finish.  He found the 2:00 pace group in corral D, and then had to stop in the early miles for a bathroom break, which took 7 minutes due to a long line.  He ran with me for a few minutes and asked how I was doing.  Once he was assured that I was doing OK, he sped up, I wished him a "Strong Finish, Brian!" and kept moving at my more modest pace.  This was where I was really glad that I knew the race route very well.  My legs were really bothering me now: in addition to right calf tightness, I felt left quadriceps tightness whenever we ran downhill.  "Fortunately" there weren't many downhill sections for the remainder of the route.  Heading along Ferst Drive, I decided to pass the orange station and took one more Shot Blok, finishing the package, washing it down with a cup of water and a cup of Powerade, then resumed running, looking ahead for the street sign for Means Street, which would mark 12 miles elapsed and just 1.1 miles to the finish.  Mile 12 in 11 minutes, 2:01 elapsed.  

Once we were on Marietta Street, I resolved to speed up as best as I could.  Enough people had passed me in the first 12 miles of the race, so I passed some of them as I picked up a modest amount of speed.  For the first time in awhile, my watch recorded a pace just under 10 minutes per mile.  Then the road went slightly uphill.  After a moment, I regained my concentration and started pushing again.  I remembered Coach Carl's words, "Be ready to push hard at the end!" and maintained a decent pace, although probably no faster than I ran this section at mile 26 of the marathon in 2017.  Crowd support picked up as we drew nearer to the finish line.  Crossing Ivan Allen Boulevard, I gave one more surge, and the mile 13 marker came into sight, at about 2:11 elapsed.  The last 0.1 mile shouldn't have seemed as far as it was: we made a left turn into Centennial Olympic Park, and I could see the finish line banner in the distance.  People around me sped up, I tried to keep up, and made a beeline for the finish, crossing with 2:19 and change on the clock, 2:12:08 chip time.

Bonnie photographed me in the last 0.1 mile

I will finish before the gun clock reaches 2:20:00

And nine minutes before the winner of the full marathon! 

Official finish line photos

    

Olympic rings, After ...

It looks like I won the race! 

Celebratory lunch at Brezza at
Ponce City Market

I was so grateful to finish, I celebrated like I had just set a new personal best!  It was among the slower of my 21 half-marathons, but I've run worse.  I was proud that at least I ran fairly consistently.  I slowed down in the last four miles where the route was mostly uphill, but I didn't give in to walking for any prolonged period beyond the water stops, which were planned.  I don't think that my pain level ever reached a 6 out of 10.  Probably I was at 4 out of 10 near the end, but I was also pushing myself to finish strongly.  I wonder how much of the struggle was a loss of conditioning, since I had to cut way back on my mileage and pace over the final month of training.  

I have a lot of people to thank: Bonnie for her support and assuring me that it was OK if I needed to stop, Coach Carl Leivers for recommending a sports chiropractor when my leg cramp seriously interfered with running, Dr. Josh Glass for beginning chiropractic treatment and writing a prescription for physical therapy, and Chip Hewgley for two physical therapy sessions in the past week that got me to the stage where I could run 13.1 miles.  My legs are really sore this evening - I almost feel like I ran the 26.2 mile marathon - but at least I don't think that I made anything worse.   

March 2, 2019: Road to Gold 8.2 mile race, in the midst of a setback in my training

Atlanta will proudly host the next Olympic Marathon trials on February 29, 2020, to select 3 men and 3 women to represent the United States in the marathon at the close of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.  To test out the final loop of the marathon course (three 6.0-mile loops concluding with an 8.2 mile loop), the Atlanta Track Club launched a new race, the Road to Gold, announced with great fanfare last fall.  

A few days after running my second-fastest 5K time four weeks ago, I developed some soreness and tightness in my right calf.  I had trouble beginning a 16-mile training run three weeks ago, although managed to settle into a decent pace and finished.  However I started limping when I walked, and so Coach Carl recommended that I get a sports massage.  Corey Dobyns of Core Balance + Wellness worked out a really tight spot in the upper part of the calf, which took care of my limp, but I still struggled with running.  Carl then recommended that I see a sports chiropractor, Josh Glass of Georgia Sports Chiropractic, who diagnosed a hip misalignment that might be the root of my problems.  In fact as he showed me how my right foot splayed outwards, I realized that I've had that for decades.  It's particularly evident in some of the videos that Bonnie has taken of me running, but I remember one of my graduate school buddies commenting on how she could pick me out from behind in a crowd.  So now it's caught up with me!

And the culprit is ... SITTING!  That's right, I'm suffering from a desk jockey injury.  Believe it or not, a lifetime of dutiful studying, reading, writing ... this physically brutal work has taken a significant toll on my body.  Back in my early teens, I remember a band director telling us that the human body was meant only to stand or lie down, and that we were injuring ourselves by sitting.  But I didn't believe him.  Now I'm living with the regret.  Sitting is the new smoking.  

The good news is that there may be a cure, if I regain full range of motion for the sacroiliac joint, by promoting blood circulation to the ligaments.  Dr. Glass gave me an adjustment to the right hip.  To my surprise, this involved a few full body weight impacts on the hip while I was curled up in a couple of positions.  I have trouble describing it without it sounding awful, but it wasn't inappropriate nor was it painful, but certainly forceful.  Dr. Glass also gave me a list of exercises to work on after exercising and every evening, and a leg swing exercise to do every HOUR (his capitalization) with increased frequency with prolonged sitting.  I walked out of his office feeling great!  I didn't try to run at that moment, as I needed to get back to work to finish grading a stack of midterm exam papers.  

And, you guessed it, I sat at my desk for the rest of the afternoon, completing the second half of a grading marathon in about 4 hours.  

I DID stand up every hour or so, working through the leg swing exercises.  But by the time for the Tuesday evening track workout, about six hours after the adjustment, the soreness in the calf had returned.  I couldn't get loose, and decided to skip the workout in favor of going to the gym.  I did all of the exercises using a shower towel and adding some foam rolling.  I jogged about 1/2 mile on the indoor track with less discomfort, and probably could have run for longer, but the gym was about to close.  

If any of the handful of students who didn't do well on the exam happen to read this, you are forgiven for thinking that I've received my just reward.  

But please believe me when I insist that ethyl acrylate is an electrophilic alkene consistent with a relatively low energy LUMO.  And the para-chlorination of benzoic acid is the most exergonic pathway even if the evidence reveals that meta-chlorination is kinetically favored, with the lowest energy of activation to the transition state for the rate-determining step.  

Back to running: I struggled through a Thursday evening run, cutting it off after 3 miles of jog-walk-jog.  But I kept doing the exercises as much as possible.  Friday was a rough day of meetings (sitting), taking a Lyft to pick up my car from the auto hospital (more sitting), driving back into Atlanta (one more hour of sitting) to meet Bonnie, to attend the hilarious Hari Kondabolu show (two more hours of sitting) before driving home (30 minutes of sitting).  With all that sitting, I wasn't well-prepared to run a race on Saturday morning. 

Yet when I awoke, I felt relatively good.  Perhaps four straight days of doing the prescribed exercises had helped.  I drove downtown to the start of the race (30 minutes of sitting) but had plenty of time to warm up.  The coaching plan was to run 2 miles before the race and 2 miles after the race, but I chose instead to do a lot of walking alternating with short easy jogs (2 blocks or so) and dynamic stretching in the hour before the start.  Through all of this, I was watching as elite runners warmed up, easily flying past me while effortlessly chatting with each other. 

I picked up my bib from an Atlanta Track Club volunteer.  This was a very good omen for the day:

which I subsequently corrected to read:

A group of about a few dozen men, who I suspect had already all met the Olympic marathon qualifying standard, started their race shortly after 7:00 am, covering one block in less than 30 seconds!  Bob Wells, a fellow age-group competitor, was vigorously cheering them on and enthusiastically blowing a vuvuzela.  Five minutes later, a similarly large group of women started, nearly as fast.  After cheering on the "Olympic hopefuls", I jogged to the starting area, without much pain.  I decided to line up in the middle of wave D (11 min / mile or faster), and kept moving before the start.  My legs were limber enough to manage "butt kicks" on each side, which was promising.  I took my first steps across the starting line with some trepidation, but the first few blocks were fine, and I just kept going.  The calf was sore but it didn’t get worse. 

Part of the Tucker Running Club contingent at 6:45 am.
 It was a little chilly outside (50 deg F with a mild breeze), so we gathered
for the pre-race photo indoors at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Unfortunately the volunteer kindly taking our photo cut off most of our feet.
How can we run without feet?!

Bonnie tells me that practically every race report includes the sentence "I planned to start out conservatively but after the first mile I was running better than expected."  So I don't need to repeat it today.  My Garmin watch wasn't accurately measuring, and afterwards I could see how erratic the map function had been, showing me running through buildings and generally weaving quite a bit from the designated race path.  Coach Carl had originally suggested running the first six miles at an 8:45 min / mile pace (my goal half-marathon pace), but I doubted that I could manage that today, even though for one moment my watch indicated that I was running at a world-record pace of 3:40 min / mile.  In reality I reached the mile 1 marker and race clock just a little more than 9 minutes after I had begun, and maintained a similar pace through mile 2.  As I ran northbound on Peachtree Road, I enjoyed watching the lead runners in the open race returning southbound (the elites had passed much earlier), and then calling out to a few of the faster runners in my circle as they ran strongly ahead of me on the race route.  Congratulations Josh Mann and Matt Dickinson! 

As we circled the Margaret Mitchell House at the intersection of Peachtree Road with 10th Street, I could imagine the television commentators during next year's Olympic marathon trials intoning: 

"And now the runners approach the century-old boarding house where the famous albeit controversial novel Gone with the Wind was written in the 1930's.  Did you know that this intersection is also where the Peachtree Road Race on the Fourth of July makes a left turn toward the finish at Piedmont Park?  What an interesting juxtaposition of race routes, this is the only point at which the two most famous races in Atlanta will touch." 

In the meantime, my Garmin was still not functioning properly.  When I checked the map after the race, it showed me overrunning the turn by a full block.  Fortunately there was a race clock at every mile marker, and accounting for a 7-minute delay in my wave D start, I crossed the mile 3 timing mat at 28 minutes even, corresponding to an average pace of 9:20 min / mile.  And it was fun to continue to see more friends running in the other direction, as the group of runners tapered more toward walkers in front of the sweep group.  Great job, Priscilla Hammond, Becky Caldwell, Carolyn Weber, Lindy Liu - and I know that I missed seeing others!  I had wondered earlier if my calf would act up to put me at the back of the pack, trying to stay ahead of the 17 minute / mile minimum pace, but so far I felt OK.  My calf was sore but I wasn't running with a limp, and the soreness wasn't getting any worse with the miles.  The route was a little hilly, but knowing Atlanta and also that we would finish near our starting point, I just kept reminding myself that for every uphill section, we gained a correspondingly easier downhill section.  I was running throughout, instead of the Galloway run-walk method that I had used in the past, other than taking a few 30-second walk breaks at the water stations.  I also carried a bottle of Nuun to make sure that I stayed hydrated between water stations.  

About midway through mile 4, we turned off of Peachtree Road onto Ralph McGill Boulevard, and then a quick turn downhill onto Piedmont Road.  I thought to myself, this will be a great place to watch the Olympic trials next year, watching the elites race downhill.  Midway through mile 5, we climbed the overpass on Jackson street overlooking the John Lewis Freedom Parkway, looking toward downtown Atlanta.  In the marathon, runners sometimes stop and take a selfie with the city at their back, but today everyone around me kept running.   

Next year the commentator might announce: 

"Here the runners approach the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, passing Ebenezer Baptist Church as they cross Sweet Auburn Avenue.  What tremendous history this great city has seen, rising up from the ashes of the Civil War to become the cultural and business capital of the southeastern United States."

Or to quote Hari Kondabolu from last night's comedy sketch:

"I'm glad to be in Atlanta!" (applause) 

"The one city in the south where I'm not afraid!" (laughter and more applause)

Just past the mile 5 marker on Edgewood Avenue, we crossed under the Interstate 75-85 Connector heading back into downtown Atlanta, the underpass where a dozen or more people have made their home.  I wonder what they were thinking as we ran past.  And I'm concerned what will happen in a couple of days when the temperature is forecast to drop below freezing.  I won't speculate what the commentators may or may not say about this next year, but I guess the Olympic hopefuls are getting an honest look at our city.  

One concern that I had throughout the race were the large number of potholes, missing water caps, and other pavement hazards that could inflict a badly twisted ankle, or worse.  They were easy enough for me to see moving at only 6 - 7 miles at hour, but for an elite runner running at faster than 5 minutes per mile pace, I just hope that this doesn't lead to an injury, today or next year.  

On the other hand, nearly 2000 runners and hundreds of volunteers of all ages, races, genders, sizes, and varying abilities, but equal in enthusiasm and love for our city, were celebrating the occasion of the Road to Gold.  We turned left onto Piedmont Road, heading for Georgia State University.   Then the gold leaf dome of the State Capitol building came into view.  We were running up a fairly substantial hill, but the street name changed to Capitol Avenue, we headed back downhill, now due south.  Now I remembered that I was supposed to practice hydration and nutrition for the half-marathon to come in two weeks, and I took a couple of shot blocks at this stage.  The taste of sugar helped propel me up the next hill, and then onto the overpass over Interstate 20, where I saw Brian Minor on another out-and-back section.  A couple of elite men ran past me, effortlessly doing their cooldown miles!  

"Our athletes will run under the Olympic rings on the way to the former Olympic Stadium from 1996, which became Turner Field for the Atlanta Braves baseball team for the next 20 years, and now the Georgia State University football stadium.  But before they reach the stadium, they will make a U-turn to return toward downtown Atlanta."  

With about 2 miles to go, Coach Carl had suggested trying to speed up to faster than an 8:45 min / mile pace.  In fact I had run to this point at about a 9:20 min / mile pace, but was really happy with my performance to this stage under the circumstances.  I did manage to speed up a little, but didn't make it to an 8:45 min / mile pace.  Nonetheless I felt strong enough to finish, and started deliberately aiming to pass people ahead of me.  I saw more elite runners on their cooldown miles on the sidewalk in the opposite direction, and after passing the mile 7 marker, a few of the early finishers from the open race were also cooling down, cheering the rest of us on.  At one corner, Michael Reid who organizes the group runs out of Big Peach Running Company in Decatur was cheering for us. 

A couple of blocks after turning off Peters Avenue, I saw Mercedes-Benz Stadium ahead of us, and knew that I was probably within a half-mile of the finish.  I pushed up another hill, beginning to tire but knowing that I could still finish strongly, maybe even finishing in about 75 minutes, which I had not imagined at the beginning of the day.  Tommy Daniels was at a corner cheering me in, and we exchanged high-fives.  Turning in front of the stadium, Rich Kenah, the Atlanta Track Club CEO encouraged us with "Just 400 meters to go!"  At that moment, Donna Roberts from TRC caught up with me.  I said "Hi Donna!" She turned around and then remembering that she recently won an age-group award, I shouted "Go! Go! Don't let me slow you down!!" She sped up ahead, but I decided to try to keep up with her.  Now my calf was beginning to hurt, but it wasn't much further.  I actually caught up with Donna, she saw me, sped up ahead of me, I nearly caught up, she found one more gear as the finish line came into site, and I crossed a few steps behind her, thrilled to realize that I had finished in just over 75 minutes.  Honestly two days earlier, I was just hoping for a sub 2-hour finish. 

I was particularly pleased with my consistency. 

Tucker Running Club subgroup: me, Donna Roberts, Liz Mann, and Josh Mann.
Our relative chip time finishes were 1:15:10, 1:13:07, 1:13:47,
and an amazing 59:50! 

I walked around for a while, stretching and exercising with leg swings, walking some more, then came to the awards ceremony where the Atlanta Track Club announcer recognized the winners among the Olympic hopefuls.  Look at these incredible times: 

                Men                 

       Brogan Austin, 38:06

       Jared Ward, 38:17

       Parker Stinson, 38:25

              Women

       Amy Cragg, 43:23

       Carrie Dimoff, 44:23

       Brittany Charboneau, 44:32

The elite winners congratulating the winner of the women's open division

Now I just hope that I haven't caused myself a problem by sitting for the better part of 2 hours while writing this blog post! 

February 2, 2019: Hearts & Soles 5K

Training continues to go well, preparing for the Publix Atlanta Half Marathon in 6 weeks!  Coach Carl recommended for this race that I could race hard or take it easy.  Of course I wasn't going to jog this one if I was cleared to use this race as a time trial. 

To avoid any chance of "bonking," I had a hearty breakfast at home, and brought two bananas to eat before beginning my 2-mile warm-up, on the Michelle Obama trail adjacent to the race site.  After my legs were warmed up, I began running strides, 30 second bursts at about 7 min / mile pace, followed by slowing to an easier pace for a minute, and then repeating.  I noticed that something didn't feel right in my left foot with the first stride, but after a mile or so, I realized that there was something wrong with my sock.  In fact I started to worry that I had a hole in my sock!  I cut the warmup short to check out the situation: no hole, apparently the sock wasn't fitting quite right, but after adjusting the socks on both feet, I was good to go.  With the late start to my warmup and the unexpected break, I only ran about 1.6 miles before the race, but I was ready to run my best race.  The temperature was about 40 deg F, and the skies were clear; wearing two layers, a cap and mittens, it was a perfect day for a great race! 

I ran in Tucker Running Club yellow this morning, and we had a great turnout, at least 20 for the photo-op.  I didn't take any photos of my own, as I deliberately hid my phone in my car to avoid carrying any extra weight during the race! 

I lined up near the front of wave B, starting 2 minutes after the first wave.  I didn't intend to toe the line but there was a big space where no one else wanted to start up front, and so with 5 seconds before the start, I stepped up to the line, to begin next to a father-son pair.  The airhorn sounded and I began running.  My goal was to run between 7:30 - 7:45 min / mile at the start and see how I felt.  The father behind me said to his son "Don't go out too fast, we won't be able to maintain it" and I took that advice for myself as well.  Several runners who had started behind me darted out in front, among them Willie Bower, one of the speedsters in Tucker Running Club.  (I thought, why didn't they start at the front of the wave?)  From the beginning, my legs felt very good.  The warm-up regime had been perfect.  I checked my watch a few times in the first mile, but I was consistently running about 7:30 min / mile pace, with a fairly comfortable effort.  As I approached the mile 1 marker, was it Willie Bower that I passed on my right?!  Whatever was going on with him, I had found exactly the right pace to begin the race. 

Sizing up the competition before the start?  (Photo by Atlanta Track Club)

In contrast to past years, I didn't see the leaders in the return group until I was about 1.3 miles into the race, which was 1.8 miles for them on the out-and-back course.  I was moving well through mile 2, occasionally passing people, and only rarely passed by others.  I was following a man in a yellow shirt who was just behind another man in a short-sleeved blue Atlanta Track Club shirt, and aimed not to let the gap grow between me and those two men.  Even though the route went slightly uphill to the school, I maintained speed and the gap with my "pacers", without working too hard.  At the halfway point, I made a wide turn and passed a couple of people at that stage.  Now the fun part of the race began, seeing a lot of people that I knew (that were behind me!) and they were cheering me on.   By focusing on the "pacers" ahead of me, I  maintained a strong pace.  I had hydrated carefully before the race, so I could afford to zip past the water station.  The route felt like we were on a slight downhill, so I used that to mentally encourage myself to keep pushing.  I wasn't gaining on the "pacers", but I wasn't slowing down either.  I passed the mile 2 sign with the clock reading just past 17 minutes, knocking out another 7:30 minute mile! 

Now I was beginning to tire, but I was not exhausted - and the knowledge that I was very close to a personal-best pace, with only 1.11 mile to run, that kept me moving forward.  My inner Eliud Kipchoge emerged, as I forced myself to smile between breaths every fourth step: 

smile-smile-smile-breathe-smile-smile-smile-breathe, 

and so on and so forth.  I continued to pass runners who had probably begun with wave A, 

smile-smile-smile-breathe-smile-smile-smile-breathe.  

Then about 2.6 miles in, I began to climb the one hill on the race route.  By Atlanta standards, it's not such a big hill, only about 40 feet high.  It's really just a big speed bump, but still it's always a challenge for me near the end of this race.  The "pacer" wearing the yellow shirt moved ahead of the one with the blue shirt, who maintained a healthy gap in front of me.  Several runners now passed me going up hill.  

Now for my second trick, from Rogue Running: my strongest mantra, "I'm a f------ badass, I'm a f------ badass" etc. etc. and that drove me to the crest of the hill.  Making a right turn toward the finish, I knew that I had only 1/3 mile to go, and now we were moving downhill.  Did I have anything left in the energy tank?  YES!!  I sped up.  

Without thinking consciously at first, I deployed my last trick, one that I learned from Jeff Galloway: the giant invisible rubber band came out of my non-existent back pocket, lassoed over a runner 20 feet ahead of me, and I flew past her as if propelled by a slingshot!  And then I lassoed a second runner, flew past him as well, with my momentum continuing to push me between two more runners.  When I checked my Garmin data after the race, I had reached 10 mph speed for a moment.  But then two runners behind me must have used the same trick on me, as they raced past me on the right.  Looking at my Garmin data afterwards, I had slowed back to an 8 mph speed.  

Nearing the mile 3 marker, I saw 24:45 on the clock (my watch recorded 7:41 for mile 3).  Somehow my brain could still do the arithmetic: subtracting 2 minutes for the wave B start, if I covered the last 0.11 mile in 45 seconds, I would match my personal best!  I didn't know if I could quite manage to finish within 45 seconds, but I did find one last burst of speed as I turned into the parking lot, hearing the race announcer at the finish line remind us that the race is a Peachtree Road Race qualifier: I thought, don't slow down, DON'T SLOW DOWN, DON'T SLOW DOWN UNTIL YOU CROSS THE TIMING MAT at 25:35 gun time!  That corresponded to an official finish of 23:35, my second-fastest 5K time, and just 5 seconds slower than my personal best!!  Today's race was my best run in a full year!  I'm so happy to have recovered, and am back to where I was at this time last year. 

I needed a few minutes to recover my breath after racing hard.  I pushed away from the crowd to run 3 more miles at an easy pace, but my legs felt better with the movement.  I'm back!!  

January 19, 2019: The Southside Dream 5K

We went to Tallahassee this weekend for a family wedding.  Coach Carl had me down for 8 - 10 miles on Saturday morning and 4 miles on Sunday, but noted "Get in what you can in FL".  It was a nice morning, around 60 deg F.  I had scouted out a rails-to-trails project about a mile south of our hotel, the Capital Cascades Trail beginning in Cascades Park, and was not disappointed!  In fact Cascades Park is probably a giant flood control feature, which I hope served Tallahassee well during a major hurricane last summer.  As I set out on the trail, near the campus of Florida A&M University, I saw a crowd gathering at an underpass and then spotted a sports timer!  I asked someone standing near the clock if there was a race today, and when it was beginning. For the Martin Luther King weekend, the Rotary Club of Tallahassee Southside organized the inaugural Southside Dream 5K, due to begin at 8:15 am, about 45 minutes from then.  The organizer assured me that I wouldn't be in the way as I continued my run, but after heading out another mile or so, the trail narrowed to a sidewalk.  I decided to return to the starting area.  I figured, if they accept last-minute registration and if it's not more expensive than the $30 in emergency cash on hand, I could certainly run a 5K as part of my 8 - 10 miles. 

Sure enough, registration was simply and inexpensively managed, only $22 to register for the race without buying a race shirt.  I proudly pinned a bib to my Atlanta Track Club shirt, then headed out for another mile or so to stay warmed up.  By the time the race was to begin, I had finished 4.6 miles, and felt good and strong.  There were water fountains along the trail and in the park, but I hadn't eaten anything other than a few pieces of fruit at the hotel over an hour ago.  

It appeared that there were only about 50 people running the race.  I wasn't sure where to line up but found a spot about 20 people back.  We began the race with little fanfare, simply a man saying "Get set ... Go!"  I carefully started at an easy pace.  One man took off at high speed, and about 10 more runners started faster than me.  I settled into what I felt was an easy pace, around 7:45 min / mile.  The trail was straight at this point so I could see everyone in front of me.  About 1/4 mile in, I passed a group of three: a man taking photos of two women as they ran together.  Then I realized that I was in "gulp" fifth place!  Surely that wouldn't last ... but before long I zipped past another runner to move into fourth.  I gradually caught up to a man who seemed to be running at my pace, and decided that perhaps we could run together.  I started up a conversation, "This is a really nice trail ... I'm visiting from out of town and came across this race!"  Unfortunately he was already breathing pretty heavily and wasn't able to say much in response.  I decided to move in front, into third place.  I just hoped that I wouldn't regret this later on!

About 50 feet in front of me was a woman wearing a purple shirt, and far ahead of her was the speedster in a white shirt.  I wondered if I could catch up to the woman, but felt that might be difficult if not impossible, and I wasn't trying to prove anything today.  I reached the water station before the 1-mile mark to a fairly large cheer group.  I took a cup of water and continued running without a break.  Shortly past the water station, we reached a roundabout after which I remembered that the trai narrowed to a sidewalk.  To my surprise, the woman in front of me made a left turn traversing the roundabout, and then I realized that the policeman was subtly waving me in that direction as well.  Good thing I was paying attention!  I might have missed the turn if I hadn't seen the woman in front of me.  Happily, the 12' wide path continued beyond the roundabout!  

Around about 1-1/2 miles in, I could see up ahead where two boys were standing with purple shirt.  The lead runner turned around and raced back toward the start.  He was really young!  I said "Great job" as he sped past.  Then the woman in the purple shirt made the turn, I congratulated her, and then I made the turn, giving the boys "high fives".  Indeed I really was in third place, and the fourth place runner was possibly a full minute behind me! 

Unfortunately I began to feel tired at this point.  The awareness that I had run 6 miles without fuel began to sink in.  It probably would have been fine if I had continued the medium-long run at a 10 min / mile pace, but running faster had taken more out of me.  I began to slow down, struggling to maintain an 8 min / mile pace.  After the race was over, I saw that the route had been gradually downhill on the way out, with about a 30 foot elevation increase on the way back, but I couldn't really see it while I was running. 

As we made a turn at the roundabout just past the 2-mile mark, I dared to look behind me: I could see the fourth place runner in the white shirt but pretty far behind me.  Nonetheless I felt that he could catch me if I bonked.  The woman in front had opened a pretty big lead so there was no longer any thought of trying to catch her, I just wanted to avoid the embarrassment of being passed after having built a strong lead.  About 20 minutes in, I noticed at a roundabout, I lost sight of the woman in front of me for a moment - so when I got there, I thought about taking a short walk break while I could "hide" from the runners behind me - but decided that would be embarrassing if anyone did see me, so just kept on running! 

At 22 minutes, I saw 2.75 miles on my watch, and determined that I can do anything for just three more minutes.  I managed to speed up a little, as the overpass where we had begun the race came into view.  It still seemed far away.  I took another quick look over my shoulder but didn't see anyone behind me.  I wanted to finish strongly, but my legs wouldn't go faster than an 8 min / mile, but it wasn't going to matter.  As the clock came into view, I saw that I would finish around 25:50 as I entered the short finishing chute, smiling for the finish line photo.  There wasn't a timing mat but two women sitting at a desk must have recorded my bib number and finish time. 

First, second, and third place finishers

I tried not to let my disappointment show at finishing slower than 25 minutes - after all, I had finished third!  I congratulated the second place finisher, Ivory, who told me that she was surprised to see me so closely behind her at the turnaround.  I admitted that she opened up a pretty big lead on the way back.  The fourth place runner came in, then more runners trickled in over the next 30 minutes or so.  I gratefully accepted a banana for calorie replacement, followed by some grapes and a couple of large cups of water.  There were plenty of shirts available so I paid the extra $5 as a souvenir of the race.  

No one had recorded my age so there weren't age group awards, but the first place male and female runners received awards, with the promise of trophies to come!  The overall finisher, a high school senior named Malachi, finished in just over 20 minutes.  I congratulated him before the awards ceremony, and learned that his personal best was under 18 minutes, amazing!  He probably would have broken 20 minutes if he had had any competition running at his pace.  

The awards ceremony

With a 1.3 mile return to the hotel, I ran 9 miles for the morning, so mission accomplished for today's workout, even if I ran 3.1 miles of it faster than intended.  I'm glad that I ran a 5K on the spur-of-the-moment.  My only regret is that I hadn't brought some ShotBlocks on the trip, or found some other way to get some quick calories right before the race, otherwise I might have felt stronger in the last mile. 

January 12, 2019: Southside 12K

In February 2018, the Atlanta Track Club offered the Southside 12K race as a new course as part of the Grand Prix series, free for members.  At the time I was training for my fourth marathon, with the Atlanta Track Club training group.  Our coach had instructed us to run the race at "half-marathon pace".  But I wanted to challenge myself at a new distance, and see if I could run the 12K course at my personal best pace for a 10K.  

I succeeded with my ambitious time goal, finishing in less than 60 minutes, but also pulled a hamstring muscle in my left leg.  I tried to insist that it wasn't anything major, and tried to carefully manage it through the last month of training.  But on marathon day one month later, it really flared up after 12 miles.  

I had a miserable experience limping through the rest of the route in order to avoid a DNF.  And that resulted in a CNR (could not run) for the next five weeks.  I needed seven months of physical therapy to recover, just in time to run the New York City Marathon in November.  

With the new year, my legs are healthy again.  I struggled through a 5K on New Year's Day, in part because I was at least 10 pounds over my goal weight, but that got me back into tracking what I'm eating.  I haven't lost much weight yet but I know that the best way is to do so gradually, and at least I'm eating much more healthily, and notice the difference in how I feel.  I've also cut way back on caffeine - just one cup in the morning at home and none at all during the day at work.  As a result I'm sleeping much better and don't feel tired during the day, which was what was sending me to the coffee machine in the front office.  

I was a bit nervous about today's race.  For one thing, I set a personal best in the 12K distance that I may never beat!  And with an extremely hilly course, I knew that I could injure myself again if I ran with poor form.  However, I'm training again with Coach Carl Leivers, hoping to improve on my half marathon performance in the Publix Atlanta half in mid-March, and aiming for a 1:55 finish, which translates to about an 8:45 min / mile average pace.  He advised me to run the race at goal half-marathon pace, which would get me to the finish line around 65 minutes.  Carl knows that I'm working on improving my pace discipline.  To quote: "The one thing that I would caution is let's try to have you hit that pace without any crazy sprinting / pushing the last mile.  Aside from the injury last year (and sprinting downhill is certainly a major issue for hamstrings!), it also doesn't really fall in line with a true measure of goal pace."  With that advice in mind, I was determined to follow his instructions perfectly.  

I arrived for the race about 1 hour early, wearing a cap and two layers, showing off the New York City Marathon shirt for my top layer.  It was windy and moderately cold, 43 deg F at the start, but at least it wasn't raining.  I decided to start near the front of wave C, for runners at a pace between 8:30 and 9:30 min / mile.  As we started, that was a very good decision.  I didn't try to keep up with the half-dozen who sprinted ahead.  We were running downhill at the beginning but I tried to rein myself in.  I checked my watch after about a quarter-mile, and was running about an 8:15 min / mile pace, so I relaxed my pace a bit more.  

I won't go through the mile-by-mile summary this time, but after the 1.2 miles, we ran a two-loop route with each loop approximately 5K.  I managed to run every mile between 8:24 and 9:04, and with fairly good correlation with net elevation gain or loss for each mile.  I decided to run straight through instead of run-walk, other than walking through the water stations on each loop.  This was the first time in months that I had run more than 5 miles or so without using intervals, but at the average 8:45 min / mile pace, my pulse rate and breathing was under control.  It wasn't an easy jog, I was definitely working, and I could feel the lactate burn in my legs as we climbed hill after hill, but the route always crested before I felt that I had to substantially slow down or take a walk break.  

Near the end of the first loop, I began hearing sirens and police horns in the background, then rapidly growing nearer.  Was that the winner coming into the finish?  Shortly before reaching the timing mat, I could see the police car lights about 100 yards back.  Atlanta Track Club personnel were eagerly looking for the winner.  As I passed the timing mat, they began unrolling the finish line ribbon.  Then I heard the announcement of the first finisher, in an amazing time of 42:15!  With a four-minute delay for wave C, I barely avoided being lapped!  When I checked the official result after the race, I finished the first loop in 37:49, at an average pace of 8:42 min / mile (about 4.3 miles elapsed).  

The second loop went smoothly as well.  I wondered if I was slowing just a little, but resolved to maintain a consistent effort and not worry about "making up the time" by pushing harder.  As the mile 5 and 6 markers ticked by, I put the mindset as if I had 13.1 miles to run today, and that helped me settle down with the pace.  Coming into the finish, I was aware that I was very close to the goal pace!  The clock read 69 minutes as I approached, my watch ticked past 65 minutes, but I felt that I had just executed the workout perfectly!  I continued running for another half-mile or so, to gradually cool down and finish 9 miles for the day.  

When I checked my official chip time, I was delighted to see 1:05:05, 8:44 min / mile overall pace!  And I did it without making any "adjustments" to my pace in the last mile! 

When I returned home, I wrote Coach Carl.  He responded quickly, and was also really pleased with the result.  Of course we were both very happy that I finished unscathed.  Carl asked how the hills compared with what I would face at the Publix half.  My feeling was that the organizers had squeezed all of the hills of the Publix half marathon into 7.45 miles, but the scientist in me demanded that I check the data.  It turns out, today's race had an even tougher elevation profile!  

Southside 12K: 827 ft net gain, 828 ft net loss

Publix GA 13.1 miles: 599 ft net gain, 608 ft net loss

To compare with the marathons that I've run outside of Atlanta:

Chickamauga 26.2 miles: 641 ft net gain, 635 net loss

New York City 26.2 miles: 821 ft net gain, 841 net loss