Running for the second half of my life

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

January 1, 2019: Resolution Run, 1 mile and 5K races

For 2019, my running goals are to improve at all of the distances shorter than the marathon, and then return to the marathon in spring 2020 in better shape and hopefully mentally stronger. I'm training with Coach Carl for the Publix Atlanta Half-Marathon in mid-March, aiming to set a new personal best. This morning's Resolution Run would be the first checkpoint run, to see what I'm capable of running. Last year I set my 5K personal best at 23:30, in 20 degree temperatures. Today it was 40 degrees warmer!

I wasn't expecting to break this record today for a couple of reasons, including:

I've gained 5 pounds since the marathon; and
Bonnie and I just returned from a wonderfully relaxing 5-day cruise, where I acquired an additional pound-per-day, thanks to:

too many delicious chocolate croissants at breakfasts
a few loaves of delicious bread with lunches and dinners
several afternoon ice creams

free vanilla ice cream on deck 11
Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia in a waffle cone on deck 5

it would have been worse if I hadn't run three times on the cruise:

5 miles speedwork on day 2 on deck 12
4 miles on the treadmill on day 3 in the fitness center on deck 11, as it was far too windy to run safely on the top deck 12
3 miles on day 5 on deck 12

totaling 12 miles running
and at least as many miles walking and taking the stairs whenever possible.

Independence of the Seas, docked in Cozumel.
Notice the Atlanta Track Club caps,
and I'm wearing the Peachtree Road Race shirt from 2015.

My first New Year's resolution is to strictly track everything that I eat, so that I can shed the excess weight. As I recently ran a low 25-minute 5K in early December, taking it relatively easy given that I was running a half-marathon that I really cared about the next day, I felt that I could break 25 minutes.

Tucker Running Club at 9:30 am

But before the 5K at 10:30 am, there was the 1-mile race at 10:00 am. In past years, I haven't run the 1-mile race, but at the Atlanta Track Club end-of-year breakfast, I heard that we could double up for the same registration fee. After jogging the 1-mile course to get a sense of where the quarter-mile, half-mile, and three-quarter mile marks would be, I warmed up with a second mile of strides, meaning that I would alternate 60 - 90 second jogs with 30 second "strides" accelerating to faster than my 1-mile pace. I made it to the starting area, making sure that I was in front of the children and not directly behind the man with the stroller.

The 1-Mile race route

The race began at 10:00 sharp. In contrast with other 1-mile races that I've run, I started fairly cautiously, gradually accelerating to what I felt was about a 7 min / mile pace. For the most part, the first half-mile was a gentle but steady uphill along the eastern side of the Active Oval, which afterwards I saw was a net 50 foot gain. At the north end of the Active Oval, the road leveled about: this was about 3 minutes in. I began to speed up as we ran downhill, moving ahead of several other runners. I checked my watch and saw that my pace was around 7:04, and decided to try to stick with that pace. For the last third of the race, the route was relatively level, along the north side of Lake Clara Meer. But with about 0.2 mile to go, I suddenly felt very tired. I coasted for about 100 meters, then pushed again as the mile 3 sign came into view. Only 0.11 mile to go! Nonetheless I couldn't find a higher gear. I heard my watch signal 1 mile completed about 15 seconds before I reached the finish line, seeing 7:25 on the clock, and according to my watch, finished in 7:21.

Pace vs. elevation for the 1-mile race

I was a little disappointed with my time. But overall, I was happy with my pace discipline. Only after the race did I realize that some of the runners wore two bibs: one for the 1 mile race just completed, and a second bib for the 5K to come. Ooof, I should have realized that I would need a second bib! Nonetheless, since I didn't set any kind of record, I didn't really care about that. But I discovered when the results were posted, I would have likely finished second in my age group if I had worn the 1-mile bib. Something to remember for the next time!

Bonnie captured my finish in the 1-mile race

Actually my bigger mistake on the day was ... running the 1 mile race before running the 5K. I was so tired when I finished, yet I needed to recover for the 5K, to start within 25 minutes! After eating half a banana and drinking most of a bottle of water while I walked to the starting area for the 5K, I still didn't feel 100% ready. A few rounds of leg swings helped with leg soreness, but my heart rate was still above 100 beats per minute. As I waited for wave B to begin, I thought through my plan: run the first mile at 8:00 flat, then try to maintain that pace for the second mile (two big hills), and see what I could do with the third mile (net downhill) and the finish.

The bullhorn sounded, and wave B took off! I crossed the starting mat 8 seconds after the official wave start. I thought that I started conservatively (although the Garmin pace chart shows otherwise) but seemed to settle into an 8 min / mile pace. The first third of mile 1 followed exactly the same course as the 1-mile race, then we headed uphill to the Botanical Gardens. This is normally a good hill training venue, gaining about 30 feet of elevation. I shortened my stride and increased my turnover, and felt pretty good as I crested the top of that hill. Out of the Botanical Gardens and onto Piedmont Road, we now enjoyed a long downhill. Several people passed me in this section, but I was committed to coast at an 8 min / mile pace, letting my pulse rate drop a few points. As we turned onto Winchester Drive, I saw the 1 mile sign and my watch signaled 7:57 elapsed, mission accomplished for mile 1.

The 5K race route

Mile 2 continued downhill on Winchester and into the north end of Piedmont Park. Then we hit the sharp uphill section past the Orpheus Brewery. Having run the same route last year, this hill was not a surprise, but all of a sudden, I ran out of steam. Carrying those chocolate croissants uphill required a walk break. 30 seconds later, I resumed running, but couldn't get back up to speed even though the parking lot was level. The loaves of bread threatened to trip me up. Both Ben & Jerry were dragging me down. I took another walk break through the water station, then resumed running with the turn onto Monroe Drive. Heading through the gate back into the Park, I began to chip away at my pace for mile 2, which was above 9 min / mile, then dropped to the high 8 min / mile range. The next hill, running past the Sage Parking Deck, was much tougher than I remembered. At that stage, I was surprised to hear Curt Walker's voice. He must have started behind me. He tried to introduce me to "Kevin" but I was so out of breath I couldn't spare the courtesy of a hello, didn't even have the energy to turn my head. Curt and Kevin passed me and then I slowed down to a walk, again. Shortly after the path leveled out, the mile 2 sign came into view and my watch signalled 8:56. Sigh, last year I managed 8:00 flat in this tough mile.

To have any chance at a 25 minute finish, I needed to really speed up in mile 3. Unfortunately I could hardly manage to stay faster than a 10 min / mile pace, carrying Cherry Garcia around. A light drizzle had begun, although it wasn't really too bad at first. We turned onto the sandy lower level of the Active Oval, which had several large mud puddles covering the route. I thought I saw Bonnie on the outbound leg above (she began with wave F) and then to my surprise heard Brian Minor call out "Frank! Better run faster, I'm gonna catch you!" Of course he was more than a mile behind me, as he was walking the route with his wife Beverly, who was recovering from some soreness from a recent traffic accident. The drizzle increased to a regular rain. At that moment I regretted not wearing a cap, and removed my sunglasses, holding them in my hand. We came off of the Active Oval and back onto the path north of Lake Clara Meer. I wanted to speed up a little, but Ben & Jerry in conspiracy with the croissants and loaves of bread just wouldn't get go of me. At that point, I let go of the race, conceding that today wasn't my day. I needed 9:09 for mile 3.

Everything fell apart after about 10 minutes. I was no match for the hills today.

Enough of this, I wanted to get to the finish line as fast as possible. Ben & Jerry may have slipped off of my back. Whatever the reason, I found a little more speed. I passed a few people in the last 0.11 mile, although two kids passed me shortly before I crossed the finish line mat. 29 minutes on the clock, 26:51 official time.

Well, well, well. This checkpoint run showed me that I'm not in decent shape at this moment. Although I ran during the cruise, it was all on flat surface without any hill work at all, and it wasn't enough to counteract the marathon of eating everything on the ship. I'm confident that I can get back into shape, but it will be much easier if I can lose ten pounds over the next couple of months.

December 9, 2018: Jeff Galloway Half Marathon

A nice note from Jeff Galloway, acknowledging my 5-year streak!

I woke up at 5:15 am, to the sound of steady rain, which had continued for more than 24 hours. On top of that, the temperature today was a few degrees colder than it had been yesterday. Nonetheless, yesterday's 5K race had given me confidence that I could run well this morning. I didn't feel any significant soreness!

I aimed to run just under a 9 minute / mile pace in today's race. I set my personal best in last year's Galloway Half, running an average 8:55 min / mile pace to finish in 1:56:46. Brian Minor challenged me nearly a year ago to race the Galloway Half Marathon. Brian is faster than me, having run a 1:45 half a couple of years ago. As a newlywed, perhaps he doesn't train quite as consistently, and his work schedule is not that conducive to running as regularly as I can. Brian felt that he could run a 1:55 race. To have a chance to outrun Brian, I knew that I needed a similar - or better performance. The other part of my strategy, which I learned from watching the elite men running the New York City Marathon, was for the eventual winner to stay close behind the leader or leaders until the last mile or so, then make a move that hopefully the leader couldn't match. Although I wouldn't bet on myself to actually outrun Brian unless things went badly for him, at least I was confident that I could run well. A sub 2-hour half marathon felt realistic for today!

Almost ready to run, but we still need to shed our outer layer.
My cap doesn't look like it's on very tightly.

I arrived at the Piedmont Park deck shortly after 7 am, stretching and warming up in the lot. Then I jogged at an easy pace to the starting area on 11th Street, about one mile, which was a perfect warmup. It was drizzling and windy at the start of my jog, but by the time I arrived in the starting area, the rain had stopped! I caught up with Brian, said hello to several other friends who were running today, and just tried to keep moving to keep my muscles warmed up, until the National Anthem. Unlike yesterday, when I removed my cap, my head remained dry. To protect my ears for a longer run and the prospect of a windy day, I did wear a skullcap. As the anthem came to an end, I realized that we would begin within a minute. I replaced my cap and hurriedly removed a third throw-away layer, instead of waiting to remove it during the race. There were fewer runners than in previous years, no doubt due to the bad weather, but the camaraderie and energy was high among those of us who showed up to run.

The great contest has begun: mano a mano!

Jeff Galloway gave the signal to start, and I immediately began running. I must have crossed the starting mat within a couple of seconds of the official start. Brian and I crossed the timing mat together, but within a few hundred feet, he moved ahead, so my strategy was on the right foot! Two blocks into the race, we turned right onto Juniper Street, and a gust of wind blew my cap off of my head! I decided to let it go, it was an Atlanta Track Club cap that was sent to all members several years ago - and I had another one at home. I must not have put it on very firmly after the National Anthem.

For the first few miles, I "leapfrogged" the 2 hour pace group. Their intervals were 2:00 run / 0:30 walk, whereas I was on what for me was a more comfortable 3:30 run / 0:30 walk interval. After a few miles, I left them behind for good, and I didn't hear the pacers calling out intervals. This was a nice repeat of last year's personal best start to my race. I crossed the 5K timing mat at 28:03, similar to last year's pace. The only difference from last year was in mile 4: when we turned off of Freedom Parkway onto the PATH trail, we encountered a giant water hazard which forced us to carefully walk on the grass.

Trying to catch up to Brian on the Eastside Beltline.

As the miles ticked by, I remained about 100 yards behind Brian. Brian and I were using exactly the same run / walk intervals, and he stuck with the plan, slowing down within a second of me, then returning to a run at the same time that I did. I thought about skipping a walk break to partially close the gap, but that was probably a bad idea, so I also stuck with my own plan. On the Eastside Beltline, I picked up some speed. At one point, only one runner was between me and Brian. I didn't see Brian turn around, so I don't know if he saw me, but he also picked up some speed, as we both ran in the downhill direction. Mile 5 was my fastest mile of the race, in 8:25 minutes. At the north end of the Beltline, Brian's wife Beverly was taking photographs, next to a water station that nearly coincided with a scheduled walk break. I said to her "I'm not too far behind your husband!" "I know" she replied. After the race was over, Beverly told me: "I gave you up: I told Brian that you weren't far behind!" Brian must have seen me for himself when he made the sharp right turn onto Kanuga Street.

Beverly photographed me near the north terminus of the Beltline,
when I was only 20 - 30 seconds behind Brian.

At the six mile mark, my watch recorded 53 minutes elapsed, about 30 seconds ahead of my position in the 2017 race. After another turn, I crossed the 10K timing mat at 55:06 elapsed, having just run a 27 minute 5K! The gap between Brian and me remained constant. I counted about a 20 second lead based on when Brian passed landmarks. That was certainly surmountable if I kept running strongly. But then we made a left turn onto St. Charles Street. I told Brian yesterday that there was a long hill on St. Charles, and he might not see but he would probably notice the effect on his effort or his pace. It turns out that my memory was faulty: the hill loomed up ahead quite visibly! This was the first mile where I began to tire, when I began looking forward to the 30 second walk breaks. And Brian seemed to increase the gap, running strongly up the hill. Afterwards Brian told me that he had seen me, and knowing that I was close behind spurred him on to turn up the effort! I can say the same, he was my pacer for the first six miles. But mile 7, as in previous JG 13.1 races, was my slowest mile, this year in 9:36, 1:02:30 elapsed. When I compared stats later in the day, I lost 15 seconds in that mile. I never saw Brian again after he turned onto Highland Avenue early in mile 8. At the end of mile 8, 1:11:34 had elapsed: in 2017, I had finished mile 8 at 1:11:36.

And from this point, I gradually slowed for the remainder of the race, running every single mile between 13 and 32 seconds slower than last year. I had leapfrogged Tom Pate for awhile. Tom is a fellow runner with Coach Carl's group on Tuesday evenings. In last week's Eastside Beltline 10K, I passed Tom around mile 5. Today Tom passed me for good around the mile 8 mark, finishing in 1:56:15, with a strong negative split.

With Tom Pate after the race. Tom won his age group!

Running uphill at the end of mile 9 and the beginning of mile 10, I really struggled. Several runners passed me while I was running! I reached the 15K mark at 1:24:14 elapsed, corresponding to a 29 minute 5K. I could hardly wait for the 30 second walk breaks - what a relief when each one was signaled! Fortunately with each walk break, I recovered a bit, so at the beginning of each run interval, I returned to a decent pace. Then around 2 minutes into the run interval, I would struggle again. I really had to dig deep to keep pushing. I fought off the temptation to take early or additional walk breaks. Turning onto Piedmont Road, running uphill past Piedmont Park, I was looking and looking for the mile 10 marker. It took forever to reach it - however my watch signaled mile 10 was covered in 9:28, not that badly! About 30 seconds later, I passed the 10 mile marker at 1:30:30 on my watch. Surely I could run a 29 minute 5K to finish in less than 2 hours! Finally we created the top of the hill, and I began to pick up speed on the long downhill stretch of Piedmont Road to the intersection with Monroe Avenue. Despite wanting to run through a walk break while running downhill, I decided to take the walk break, although it was probably only about 20 seconds, as a group of other runners caught up with me. Mile 11 was my last sub-9 minute miles, in 8:41.

Beverly photographed me again around the mile 9 marker.

The last two miles through Piedmont Park were net uphill, about 40 feet in each mile, although these were small rollers. My legs were really sore. I remembered that the 12 mile marker came before the south end of the park. But near that point, where Bonnie had taken photographs last year, there was a large puddle covering the sidewalk. I had no choice but to slosh through the mudpit along the left side of the pathway. I held out my arms to maintain my balance, and managed to get through the quagmire without falling. Afterwards I heard that some other runners were not as fortunate. Finishing mile 12 in 9:33, my watch read 1:48:13 elapsed. A new personal record was now out of reach. On the other hand a sub-2 hour half marathon was virtually assured, as long as I ran faster than a 10 minute pace for mile 13. The only disappointment was that there wasn't a Phiddippides Cheer Group at the south end of the park. Under the conditions, I couldn't really blame them for not coming out this year.

Bonnie captured Brian's finish. He and the woman immediately behind him
had quite a heated competition for a good part of the race!

I kept up with the walk breaks at 1:51:30 and 1:55:30, conceding that I couldn't get through the rest of the race without the 30 second walk breaks. Nonetheless I managed to record a time of 9:23 for mile 13, 1:57:36 elapsed. Not much further, I told myself. Keep pushing, keep pushing, KEEP PUSHING! As I passed the True Speed Photographer, I wondered what look of pain he would capture on my face. A runner wearing a red jacket caught up with me, and for a moment I thought I could stay in front of him. Then he found a strong kick as the finish line came into sight, and I couldn't match him. I could hardly see as I made maximal effort to get to the finish line. I heard Bonnie, Beverly, and Josh Mann cheering as I approached the finish line. At least I would beat 1:59!

Gritting my teeth as I powered through the last 0.1 mile.
Were my eyes open?!

I was totally dazed for the first minute or two after finishing, but gradually regained some equilibrium around the time that Jeff Galloway handed me the medal. I felt better after a banana and a little post-race cool-down jog and stretching. My official time was 1:58:53, good for 77th place out of 563 finishers, and 7th out of 30 in my age group. Brian finished in 1:55:57, 58th place and 8th in his age group.

My finish (above), and
pace vs. elevation profile for today's race (below)

The medal was so heavy, Jeff Galloway had to help me hold it!
I'm smiling so the post-run endorphins must be kicking in.

Although I didn't win the race with Brian, I am very proud of today's performance. This has been a tough year for my running, after getting injured in February and needing seven months of physical therapy to recover in time for the New York City Marathon. Not only was this my best half marathon of 2018, this was my second fastest half-marathon on a certified course. I'm really happy to finish the year on a strong note, and I look forward to improving in 2019!

Bonnie left a little later, but made it to the finish line in time
to capture several finishers including her hubby!

Beverly Minor took several photos for this blog
throughout today's race. Thanks Beverly!

Standing with champions, from left-to-right:
Anna Calcaterra, Female Masters Champ and 23rd overall;
Brian Minor, 58th overall; Daniel Yee, 17th overall and 2nd age group;
and yours truly, 77th overall

Total bling this weekend: Double G, for running both the 5K and half-marathon;
Barb's 5K medal; and JG 13.1 medal

Analysis, 2018 vs. 2017, faster this year in blue, slower in red:

mile 1, 8:52 vs. 9:01

mile 2, 8:55 vs. 8:48

mile 3, 8:51 vs. 8:55

5K, 28:03 vs. 28:11

mile 4, 9:09 vs. 9:12

mile 5, 8:25 vs. 8:37

mile 6, 8:43 vs. 8:53

10K, 55:06 vs. 55:50

mile 7, 9:36 vs. 9:20

mile 8, 9:03 vs. 8:50

mile 9, 8:57 vs. 8:32

15K, 1:24:14 vs. 1:23:36

mile 10, 9:28 vs. 9:14

mile 11, 8:41 vs. 8:28

mile 12, 9:33 vs. 9:01

mile 13, 9:23 vs. 8:51

13.1M, 1:58:53 vs. 1:56:46, 9:04 min/mi vs 8:54 min/mi

Celebrating and bragging with Brian

Calorie replacement programme: crab and scrambled eggs hash,
and chocolate chip pancakes (I took half of the pancake home).
Thanks Brian for treating us to brunch!

December 8, 2018: Barb's 5K

Last year, Brian Minor told me that he would register for the "Double G", the Saturday 5K named for Barbara Galloway, and the Sunday half-marathon organized by Jeff Galloway. As I've always enjoyed the half-marathon - and the registration fee for the next year is half-price in the days following each year's races, I decided to join Brian and registered for both races in the Galloway weekend. In the past I've resisted, largely because I've believed that running a 5K on Saturday is a good recipe for a bad half-marathon on Sunday. But I resolved to run the 5K conservatively, simply as a shakeout run.

Rain began Friday evening and continued throughout the night, and during my drive to Ansley Mall in midtown Atlanta, where we gathered at the Phiddippides store before the race. But fortunately the rain diminished to a light drizzle as the 8 am starting time for the race approached. Brian and I made our way to the start, about a half-mile south of the store, which was a perfect warmup jog. I looked around at the small group gathering for the start, and said to Brian "I might have a chance for an age group award: not too many old guys here today!"

Before the race began, the National Anthem was sung and I dutifully removed my cap. Until then, my head was dry, but I could feel my hair getting soaked with the drizzle. The singer delivered the anthem at a patriotic, majestic, slow tempo, holding the high note ..... drawing out the last stanza, not wanting to end the anthem. Finally I put my cap back on, now that I was evenly wet, in 39 deg F temperatures.

A line of about a dozen runners gathered at the start line, including Brian. There was a big gap between them and the second line. We were waiting for more fast runners to fill the space! As Barb Galloway counted down to the start, with about 5 seconds to go I began walking toward the start line. Immediately upon hearing the starting command, I began running, crossing the start line with no more than a second delay.

And I kept running, fast, fast, fast. Attaboy Frank, way to throw away the conservative race plan in the first five seconds of the race! But, I felt really good! Fast, fast, fast, and then downhill on Winchester Drive, across Piedmont Road and then more steeply downhill, even faster! The road seemed a little slick with leaves pasted to the asphalt, so I was careful, but kept going fast, fast, fast. At the bottom of the hill I finally slowed a little, to avoid wiping out on the sharp right turn into Piedmont Park.

Having safely negotiated the turn, I just kept running. My Garmin data showed a sub-7 minute pace for much of that initial sprint. At 3:30, my watch sounded, and so I took the first 30 second walk break. At least I stuck to that part of the plan. Normally I would feel silly taking a walk break in a 5K, but in a Galloway race, that was 100% appropriate. When my watch sounded again, I sprinted ahead of the people that had just passed me. Then a little boy passed me at incredible speed! But 100 feet ahead of me, he slowed to a walk, panting heavily, weaving in the walkway. I passed him on his left, barely staying on the path, but avoiding contact as I passed. I may have outweighed him by more than 100 pounds: it would have been criminally bad if I had collided with him.

The second walk break coincided with a water station and the 1 mile marker, so I took a cup of water as the watch recorded 7:46 for mile 1, 67 feet net downhill. Continuing through the park, we now ran over some gentle rollers. At the south end of the park, we turned onto the same path that we had taken late in mile 4 of last Saturday's Eastside Beltline 10K. I expected to see a big puddle at a dip in the path that would force us onto the muddy grass. Today, the puddle did not extend across the path. Unfortunately, a maintenance truck was very slowly moving in the opposite direction. That truck threatened to drive onto the dry half of the path: don't you dare! I stared down the truck and stood my ground on the dry side of the path. Potential collision #2 avoided.

No wonder I ran so fast at the start!

In mile 2 I had slowed to 8:38, 16:24 elapsed, but I believe that I would have slowed more if I hadn't taken the walk breaks. I ran a sub-8 minute pace for most of the second half of mile 2, 32 feet net uphill. Now to the finish! As one of the few runners using run-walk, I leapfrogged runners with every run interval, then a few people would pass while I walked. But overall I gained ground on more runners than I lost. I took a walk break at 19:30, resumed running at 20:00 even, but calculated that I would finish in more than 25 minutes. Around 23:10 elapsed, I decided to take a short walk break, then when the walk signal sounded at 23:30, I resumed sprinting, for what turned out to be 100 seconds. My watch recorded 8:11 for mile 3, 24:35 elapsed, 20 feet net downhill. In the final 0.11 mile, I passed two runners but couldn't catch up with a couple of others who had moved ahead of me earlier in the race. But I wasn't really racing, right?! I saw Bonnie just past the finish line as I crossed in 25:12, running a 7:03 pace for the last 0.11 miles, 19 feet net downhill. Overall the Garmin data recorded that the race route was 75 net downhill!

I saw the preliminary results on Sunday: Brian finished in 23:49, 8th out of 282 finishers (6th male), and I finished 18th, 16th male. I was third in my age group, and wasn't surprised as I thought that there were a couple of older guys immediately in front of me. This was a fun experience, even with the drizzle and cold. I took care to cool down with an easy jog to the store, and stretched immediately afterwards, and throughout the afternoon and evening. I didn't feel any ill effects from the race. Despite a lot of excitement in the evening - Atlanta United won the Major League Soccer Championship Game - I slept really well that night!