Just do it

Chilly 5K was definitely chilly!  Lots of rain and cold but there were still a good number of people that showed up.  We went out at a good pace (around 5:50) but then the leader started to slow down (a lot!).  We were around a 6:05 pace approaching the first mile when I started to pass.  He just sped up and ran past me again.  At least now the pace was faster.  He held this pace for another quarter mile and began to slow down again.  I passed and kept the lead this time.  At the end of the race I realized that I was too slow through about 1 to 1.5 miles.  Definitely capable of sub 18.  Hopefully next time.

Intervals.  10x400 meter repeats and a 1000 meter at 5:37 pace

Raced with a stroller.  Fun times.

Went camping in San Angelo with the parents to run this half.  It was a pretty fun race.  Wasn't sure what to expect so we went out fairly slow.  I will admit that I thought I was hitting a wall around mile 7.  Luckily I felt better after some goo.  Fun race.

5K time trial 18:26

Awesome 5k!  I was happy to have the opportunity to run this 5K while visiting Boston with Rebecca.  The course was very flat and very fast!  I was shooting for a goal of 17:30 and was very happy with the results.  The course goes out and then back along the Boston Marathon course.  You run across the finish line of the marathon and finish the 5K in the park down the road.  

I always forget that this race can be quite painful.  Rebecca and I both ran.  She pushed the stroller.  I made the mistake of going out at about a 5:45 pace for the first mile.  I got slower and slower from there.  My AP ended up being 6:04 but the last mile was painful.  I felt worse for Rebecca pushing the stroller but she did awesome and was still the first female to finish.  It wasn't a very competitive race as the next guy after me finished around 45.  

4x1 mile 6:11, 6:11, 6:07, 6:01

2x3 mile 6:32, 6:15

3 mile at 6:33

3x6;30, 2x6:15 1x5:48

4x6:09

7 mile tempo at 6:36

2x4 mile 6:40 & 6;33

6x800 at 6 pace and 1 mile at 6

8 Mile progressive tempo.  6:50 start subtracting 5 seconds per mile.

15x1 min on and off at 5:45

12 miles then 4 mile tempo at 6:45 pace.

5 miles at 6:43 and 1 and 5:56

1-2-3-4-3-2-1 progressive tempo

1 hour tempo at sub 640

6x800 at 2:55 and 1 mile at 5:47

5 mile tempo at 640 and 5x 1 minute

5x1 mile.  Splits:  6:10, 6:10, 6:07, 6:09, 5:57

Saw a bunch of LTs out there doing PT.  They were doing 400s with calisthenics after each lap.  They decided it was a good idea to take up the whole track while they were doing push ups.  Awesome.  Miles felt great!

8x1 minute on and off at 5K pace.  Also paced some co-workers on their PT test for my cool down.

Great run today!  Did a 6 mile wu and then 2x5 mile tempo run with a mile in between followed by a 3 mile cool-down.  The temp was amazing.  I only had to change my shirt once and didn't have to change my shorts.  

WU was about 8:00 AP

1st tempo splits:  6:41, 6:46, 6:44, 6:43, 6:39

2nd tempo splits:  6:37, 6:36, 6:27, 6:28, 5:48 (not sure where that came from)

cool down was about 7:30 AP

Overall AP - 7:11

4 mile mp tempo then 5x1 min on and off. Pace for tempo was 640.

Interesting race to say the least. Ran a mile to get there and watched the ceremony. Race started afterward. Plan was to stop us at 746 to observe a moment of silence. Started the race petty dang fast thanks to a young man in a blue shirt. My next friend had a watch that beeped every ten seconds. 

First two miles were right on pace at 5:27 and then we hit a lot of uphill. I fell way off pace but was able to make up some of it. Overall pace was 532. The race was actually 3.3 so it was almost a quarter mile over. I was dead but happy with it. Rebecca was the first lady. Leave it to her to make all base personnel question their life choices. 

Nice easy recovery run after yesterday. 

3 Mile tempo 639, 635, 637

Well I figure I couldn't avoid this race report forever.  Needless to say, this was not one of my best days.  Rebecca and I had been looking forward to this race after much hard training.  Unfortunately the conditions were not great.  When we left the house that morning, the weather felt slightly warm and humid.  Not a good sign if you are feeling comfortable in your race clothes prior to the start.  

Upon getting there we went and checked out the MAJCOM challenge tent and then went to the bathroom a couple of times.  The starting corral was massive which made it nice.  We were able to move right toward the front of the line.  It was awesome to watch the national anthem was played and everyone there was completely silent.  Definitely different from what you see at any other race.  Following that we saw an awesome flyover from a U-2.  After it passed over, it punched it a climbed straight up.  Definitely a good start.

I went out feeling pretty good and was on a 640 pace for the first 14 or so miles.  After I hit the half, I started to feel fatigued and got a bit worried.  I also began to feel a cramp in my side which remained for a couple of miles.  I began to fall off pace and completely hit the wall around 16-18.  At this point I just didn't care anymore about my time and only wanted to finish.  The headwind we hit around the outside of the airfield did not help matters.  I did my best to keep running in between aid stations but I wasn't able to make it a couple of times.  During the last 5 miles there were some hills that seemed massive.  I hit a 9:30 pace on those unfortunately.  The finish consisted of a long lap around a field where you could see the finish stretch the whole time.  It was prety horrible.  I saw my wife being escorted to the med tent so that concerned me.  I found that she had basically fainted as she crossed the finish line.  She did good work considering the conditions.  I was proud of her.

I crossed the finish line and my legs were destroyed.  I was unhappy with my time but relieved that it was over. It seemed that everyone struggled with the conditions as the winner ran a 2:47.  I think my issues were a combinations of humidity, headwind, dehydration and going out to fast. 

We did have a great experience as we stayed with some friends from my work who were doing the half marathon.  It was fun to share the experience with all of them.  

My watch decided to malfunction so I lost my splits.  These are from the results:

10K - 41:34

Half - 1:27:51

35K - 2:31:35

This race was hilarious.  It seemed that the organizers had never run a race in their lives and they just thought it would be a good idea to put one on.  First off it started super early while it was still dark.  No idea why.  I went out for a warm up to see how my legs would feel.  After a half mile I could feel some burning in the legs.  They were definitely not recovered from the race.  

The race started with a safety brief that told us about the course.  There were two different courses.  One was for walkers and one for the 5k.  That also didn't really make sense to me.  I still took a wrong turn at the beginning and had to turn around.  After that I was in front and didn't turn when I was supposed to.  I went for about a tenth of a mile when I looked back and realized that there was no one behind me. I turned around and saw a truck at the turn with a lady directing everyone that had been behind me.  I said, "So the course isn't marked then?"  To which she responded, "It is.  You just went the wrong way."  Definitely the quote of the week.  Come to find out, this lady was attempting to direct the entire course from her truck.  She would drive ahead and point the right direction.  This was very effective.

After about 2 miles, I came to an aid station with a lady sitting down.  I asked her if I was supposed to make the turn or keep going straight to which she responded that she didn't know.  Another genius.  I decided to turn which was a good decision.  I then ran back up the hill toward where we came from.  I saw another woman who had been directing on the way out and I asked if I we just were supposed to go back the way we came to which she responded, "I don't know!  I wasn't briefed on the last half!"  Good thing you're a course director!  The next director said that I was going the right way so that was encouraging.  The race ended up being like 3.4.  Half the runners finished from one direction and the other half finished from the other.  

Definitely best race of the year XLer of the week quality.  I can't complain since it was free but I will say that if you're going to put on a 5K, at least talk to some people who know a little bit about races so it isn't a complete disaster.  Needless to say it was a good memory.  Rebecca came walking toward the start line afterward with Naomi who had decided to sleep in.  I decided that I was done running for the day. My legs were quite sore.

Just found out that I got into the St. George marathon so I figured it would be a good idea to get a small tempo run in.  Definitely did not feel great.  My legs felt heavy and I was feeling a little uneasy about running my goal at the marathon.  

Little run to loosen the legs.  Legs felt a bit sore during the strides.  Nervous.

I have a lot of people to thank for this race.  It's not everyday that you get the opportunity to redeem yourself from a recent crash-and-burn race.  The biggest thing was that I wanted to qualify for Boston so that Rebecca and I could run in 2017.  Rebecca had already qualified and now I still needed to.  Fortunately there were several people willing to bend over backwards to help get me in.  We found out on Tuesday that I had gotten a bib. I was very nervous because I felt pressure to get my time.  I knew that I needed at least a 3:03 or better to actually get into Boston.  A co-worker did put it into perspective saying, "So worst case scenario, you're unable to finish the race and you get to see your family.  Doesn't seem so bad to me."  

Race day was nice.  The weather was cool and we had a tailwind at the starting line.  After throwing our bags into the truck, we went to line up.  I left Rebecca and climbed over the corral gate to line up with the other blue bibs.  Our racing coach Rachelle's text was going through my mind saying to take the first half conservatively and then negative split the last half.  The gun went off and I tried my best to relax.  I could see 3:05 pacer out ahead of me and I was ok with that.  I figured I would just keep him in my sights.  Down to Veio and I slowed down quite a bit.  I still stayed below an 8 pace but knew I had a lot of ground to make up.

Dammeron Valley just sucks.  That's all there is to it.  I felt great through it but it's still a long uphill with little scenery.  Over that hill and into the half I knew it was time to start picking it up if I was going to reach my goal.  Fortunately I had saved my legs so I was able to do this.  Through the next miles I was able to negative split by quite a lot.  I got a bit nervous approaching 18 worried I might hit the wall again but this time it didn't happen.  I was able to maintain pace through it.  I then saw the last overpass hill and knew I was going to be fine.  I did have one slip up with a charlie horse in my foot.Some nail pain caused my foot to curl in my shoe and I had to stop for a few seconds to stretch.  Fortunately it went away.

As we descended into the city it was unreal.  I had never felt so good in the last 6 miles of a marathon that I was racing.  I was able to see my parents and daughter as I rounded the last corner to the finish line.  I gave a little wave but that was all I had time for.  I knew I wouldn't break 3 hours but I also knew that I was going to be well under 3:03.  Nothing compares to running a marathon without hitting the wall and hitting a goal like that.  I was floating.  I saw Rebecca cross and gave her a big hug.  It was a good day.  Lots of people believed in me when I didn't and I was glad it worked out.  Big thanks to Rachelle for all her great coaching and selflessness to get me into the race.  I'll also expect gratitude to Adrian for working to get me a bib last minute.  Lastly my wife for actually convincing me to do this race and telling me I could do it.

Interesting fact from results.  Before 19 miles I passed 218 runners and 50 passed me.  After 19 I passed 60 runners and no one passed me.  That's awesome.

Splits:

5K - 21:52

10K - 42:56

Half - 1:33:11

30K - 2:09:21

6:57, 7:10, 6:53, 6:45, 6:56, 6:48, 6:55, 7:47, 7:16, 7:07, 7:19, 7:11, 6:51, 7:00, 6:35, 6:31, 6:24, 6:35, 6:57, 6:41, 6:29, 7:00, 7:00, 6:33, 6:51, 6:49, 2:01

AP: 6:53

4x800 at 2:45

3x1 mile at 5:30

8x400 @ 5:20

This was our 5th and final time running this race.  We've always loved Running with the Bulls but this year wasn't my favorite.  I went in hoping to run a sub 17.  Unfortuately there was some confusion during packet pickup because multiple people were given the wrong bib numbers.  I guess they were just handing them out randomly for the 5k runners.  This caused a big problem and the race ended up starting very late.  They decided to change the course this year and I was not a huge fan of it.  It started out with lots of zig-zagging on wet roads which was not fun at the start of the race.  The course also had the addition of a decent uphill about a half mile in.  It used to just be very flat the whole way.  I was by myself most the time just following the biker.  I managed to break 17 but only because the course was a tenth of a mile short.  Guess this is what normally happens when the organizers change annually and when they're not runners.  Still fun.

Fun race as always.  It's always the same course but at least it's reliable.  I had one guy go out behind me for the first mile but fell off after that.  I was able to win a turkey again so we left happy.

Another base race.  We had the opportunity to win a ham.  Rebecca ran with the running stroller.  There was a guy at the beginning that did some kind of weird pretend yawn.  I don't know if he was trying to make it seem like he was hot stuff but he wasn't yawning 200 meters down the road.  We enjoyed the race but I found it strange that all of the award winners were male.  I then realized that no females were recognized in the age groups.  I approached the directors afteward to inquire as to why.  They said that they just grouped everyone together in the age groups and didn't separate male and female.  They said that was last race but not this race.  I was a bit taken aback and I told them that they can't just combine male and female into age groups.  They became defensive and one said "We'll take that into consideration."  Umm really?  I guess they can contact Olympics and let them know that there shouldn't be separate categories for male and female.  That makes sense.

Paced one of my co-workers on his PT test.

This was the first time I did an evening race.  The race started at 5:30 in front of the JW Marriott in the Hill Country of San Antonio.  There was also a 5K and a 10K so there were definitely lots of runners at the beginning.  At the start line there were two guys who definitely looked competitive but the rest looked normal.  I tried to go out fairly conservative since one of the guys at the start said the first half is pretty hilly.  It definitely was.  The first mile was down toward the entry to the resort and back up.  Unfortunately all of the 5k runners had just gotten to the golf course paths by the time we got there.  We had to run past all of them on the left so it was a little annoying.  The course was marked by hundreds of glow sticks but it was still very dark.  I ended up running almost the whole race with a guy named Mitch.  This definitely helped a lot.  He's a contractor that lives in San Antonio.  He took up running again only a year ago and he gave me a run for my money.  I was impressed.  We almost took a couple of wrong turns along the way but we made it eventually.