The Long Run

43:29, 5.43, 8:00 avg

Planned shorter run before 50 mile race tomorrow to try and feel faster and loosen up.  Warmer this morning and a bit humid, loop around the neighborhood then out to Heritage Springs and back.  Pretty steady througout with last mile at 7:24 and last 0.4 at 6:51

Croom Fools Run 50 Miles - a very late and very abbreviated race report

50 mi, 9:33:20, 11:28 avg pace

10th overall, 3rd AG (40-49)

I've always loved this race and this was also 4th time running (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016), it was also a redemptive race after the very challenging time I encountered at the Georgia Death Race just two weeks earlier.  I felt like I was actually running this time.  So, while 11:28 is not blazing fast, it is definitely faster than walking.

The race starts out on a paved road, and mostly downhill for 0.7 miles, then goes onto a dirt forest service road before turning onto single track for a short loop (about 5 miles) back to the starting area.  First couple of miles felt nice and easy as did the whole first 5 miles.

Then, we start the first of the three big loops, running down tucker hill through the heavily rooted sections, up and over some small hills and through a narrow glen that I heard another runner refer to as "beaver gulch", first time hearing that name.  The first loop overall was uneventful and mostly pleasant.  Temperature wise, things were not so great but fortunately would not get worse.  Start temp was low 70's and humid.  Fortunately some light rain kept things feeling kind of nice (and made the air in the controlled burn areas a little more tolerable).  Towards the end of the first loop I could see a pine tree near the trail, burned at the base and smouldering, with its trunk slowly getting smaller.

Finished the starter loop and first big loop in about 3:40ish.  For the start of the second big loop it felt like the rain was on its way (along with some lightning).  I prefer running without lightning but there is also a feeling of figurative electricity in the air that makes me want to run faster (this is what I felt at the start of loop 3 right before the big storm hit).  But unfortunately it was only the start of loop 2 so I still had to conserve.  Lightning got a little bit closer but soon passed.  Light rain was on and off for a good part of the race, not nearly enough to soak, just enough to cool.  Also, I had insurance, brought a cheap rain poncho with me just in case things got bad - so, they never did get bad and the poncho stayed in its packaging for next time.

The start of the 3rd loop was my low point, I had trouble getting going back to a running pace, extending my walk break more than planned and then when I did start the run pace was not much faster.  Overall, pace was not super fast and hopes of breaking 9 hours were gone.  Two secondary goals - finish under cutoff (12 hours), finish under 10 hours.  For the cutoff I'd just have to keep walking, to go under 10 hours I'd have to actually run (i.e. not walk) most of it - average faster than 15 minute pace.  So, eventually I got moving again and looked at each mile under 15:00 minutes as minutes I'd be under 10 hours.  They have an aid station just after going through the "pits" with about 4 miles left in the race.  Passing through there for the last time, thanked the volunteers and told them that this was my favorite aid station to go through for the third time (although the one on Croom Road was pretty entertaining).   Did miles in the 11:00 and 12:00 pace range, one mile at a time until finally was heading back up Tucker hill for the last time.

Last year and 2012 I was under 9 hours, but 2013 my time was 9:38 - that was the year I was training for Western States so my training was pretty serious and I had an annoying nagging cough that day.  No cough today, just a little worn from the Death Race two weeks earlier but I did it, kept on moving - past the looming storm which never really got bad (they did get hit pretty bad more towards home), past the low point until done.  The race just sort of progressed.

And as always, the race director here, Andy and his volunteers put on a top notch event that feels like family and coming home.

5.39 mi, 49:35, 9:11 avg

Ran at Longleaf with the Striders, started out with Anthony and ended up sticking together.  We ran out to the water stop and back.  My legs felt pretty reasonable today, much better than yesterday.  Not bad for just having run 50 miles on Saturday (race report to come shortly!).

It was back to cool again this morning, very nice.

5.66 mi, 55:49, 9:52

6:00am (ish) run with Jamie in the neighborhood and out past golf course.  Nice and cool again this morning.  Easy pace but legs might have felt a little better yesterday, but still not too bad today.

AM 4.33 mi, 36:27, 8:25 avg

Slept in a little bit, feeling very tired, was going to start at 6:00 instead of 5:30 but then there was a tornado warning and some very heavy rain, so started my run at 7:30 and just did a shorter one, was nicer out by then.

PM 2.19 mi, 17:30

Did some weights and then a quick run on the treadmill at the Y while Thomas was at swimming.

6.09 mi, 58:09, 9:32 avg

Easy paced run in neighborhood with Jamie.  Nice cool morning.  Run felt pretty good and it felt like I was running a lot faster than I was but at least it was nice out and it didn't feel slow.

8.36 mi, 1:16:03, 9:05 avg

Ran with Jamie and Cynthia in Starkey Park, 7:00 am start.  Ran out and back to the 4(ish) mile water stop.  Cool and pleasant morning again.  A little faster on the way back than on the wsay out.   Saw lots of other runners today and spent some time at the Striders social hour which are now about monthly,

12.46, 1:49:00, 8:45 avg

Ran with Cynthia at Spring Lake.  Great, cool morning for running, but I was kind of dragging but Cynthia was going pretty strong so I just kind of followed along.  There was a bike race going on but it didn't bother us too much as they went by quickly.  Cynthia was pretty strong up the hill on Earnest Lee Road, which a few years ago she could not run without taking a walk break.

Finished up with a loop around the actual Spring Lake and picked it up to about 7;30 pace.

Quick snack and then headed home so I could take the dogs on a car ride to get breakfast stuff for the boys.

8.31 mi, 1:04:52, 7:48 avg

Nice cool morning again, ran at Longleaf with the Striders.  I ended up going faster than planned, felt so much better than Sunday, miles flowed together with last mile at 7:16

Dropped off big case of little bottles of water to Clark for my water donation since I didn't run to Costco yesterday.

7.11 mi, 1:03:10, 8:52 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood and out past the golf course.  Started at 7:00, was nice out again today and good to sleep in just a little bit later.  Nice easy pace but not too slow throughout and a little bit faster for the last mile.

7.58 mi, 58:52, 7:45 avg

Ran at Longleaf with Striders, starting just after 5:30.   Ran out to water stop at easy pace for warm up and then did some 400m repeats (0.25 laps on garmin)

1:27, 1:28, 1:26, 1:22, 1:28, 1:27, 1:28

Did a little cool down then did next mile at about 8:00 and last mile at 7:19

Fairly cool out but just a tad warmer than yesterday, maybe about 68 degrees.

They had little cupcakes at the social hour to celebrate what would have been Hudson's 5 year old birthday.  He was a little boy that many in the group had been running for to raise awareness for cancer.

Saw Melanie and wished her good luck at Boston this weekend.  I had seen Claudia before the start of the run but didn't get to see her afterward to wish her good luck.  So, good luck to Claudia, Melanie, Joe G, David J, Ryan, Jacki, Andrea, Jolene and anyone else I'm forgetting.

9.28 mi, 1:23:17, 8:58 avg

Ran in the neighborhood with Jamie, 7:00ish start time.  Ran a little bit extra because she had 10 miles on her schedule.  A little warmer and more humid this morning and felt like rain might be approaching.  Golf course water fountain has been broken now for a couple of weeks so we ran to a different fountain (also on a golf course but the next one over - the "fancier" one).

Robbie's Run 5K today, felt good and happy to improve over last 5K where I did 20:32.

Managed to get 19:49 which was good for 4th place overall (3rd male) and 1st place masters.  Race was put on by Stider Keith who works at Word of Life where the race was held.  My first time being there, it's a beautiful campus with a youth summer camp.  Race was to raise scholarship money to send kids to camp.

Warmed up with some easy jogging and three 30 second strides up to race pace, then had about 5 minutes to hang out at the start line waiting for the race.  Lined up in the second row.  I had one PowerBar espresso flavored gel which I found in my laptop bag (must have been there for an emergency situation) which I took about 10 minutes before the race. 

There was a good sized group ahead of me for about the first 1/3 mile or so as I slowly caught up to the smaller pack that was forming.  Anthony took off quickly and was in the lead for about the first half mile.  I caught up to him just after the end of the first mile but wasn't sure if I'd be able to put any distance on him.  At this point there was a small lead pack of three people up ahead - Jacki Wachtel (who is flying to Boston on Sunday night), Bret (Keith's early 20's son), and a teenager.  I pretty much focused on Jacki and stayed at a fairly even distance back from her for about the first two miles, it was kind of like having a pacer.

At one point I was starting to gain on Bret, maybe around 2.6 or 2.7 miles, but then he got some speed back and put some distance between us.  I was worried about Anthony coming up behind me (he runs a lot of miles, has consistently been getting PRs).  My third mile was looking like it might end up being slower than 6:30 but I gained back some speed as it was drawing to an end and then kept on accelarating as I approached the finish line, doing the last 0.15 (garmin, pretty close) at 5:00 pace (I think that is my fastest kick).

Splits were: 6:17, 6:23, 6:24, 0:45 (0.15 @ 5:00)

Masters award prize was a large jar of Dixie's Honey

13.13  mi, 1:57:30, 8:57 avg

Ran with Cynthia and Renee starting on the Suncoast trail and heading south to where it turns into the Upper Tampa Bay Trail.  Miles were pretty easy, went a little bit faster towards the end and also ran into a pretty good headwind.  Low 60's for starting temps which was very nice.  Legs a little tight here and there from yesterday's race.

7.23 mi, 1:03:39, 8:38 avg

Ran at Longleaf, 5:30ish with Striders.  Out and back just past the water stop, ran with Anthony the whole way.  Back to being cool again this morning (cooler than Saturday or Sunday), about 59 degrees at the start.

6.54 mi, 53:18, 8:09 avg

Ran in the neighborhood by myself, good weather again.  Nothing too exciting today, started out easy and ended up picking it up on the way back (partially because I was running out of time!)

7.68 mi, 59:16, 7:42 avg

After about 1.4 mile warm up, did a short tempo run which went pretty well

splits: 6:47, 6:40, 6:30, 6:37

The second and fourth miles had a breif slowdown navigating through a closed gate but mostly made up the time.  Weather was good again today and it was nice to piece together 4 faster miles in a row.

PM - ran at the Y on the treadmill briefly after doing some weights.  1.25 mi, 10:30, 8:24 avg

7.03 mi, 1:06:15, 9:25 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood, easy conversational pace.  Started out together but she was running 10 and I had to get home to get the kids moving for school.  Another day of being blessed with good running weather.

20.08 mi, 3:00:15, 8:58 avg

6:00ish start (actually I was 5 minutes late, so more like 6:10.  Ran with Jamie from Longleaf to Diane's house where we picked up Cynthia, ran into Starkey park, brief stop at the shelter then headed out.  Saw Daisy coming back but she was walking.  Talked to her for a second and said she should turn around and run with us to our turn around.  She was supposed to finish her run fast (goal pace) but had gotten into a slump so we said we'd pick it up -ran just under 8:00 for first mile and about 7:40 for the second mile.  Then we continued on, back to Diane's house to drop of Cynthia and then back to Longleaf with last two miles at about an 8:20 average. (few seconds faster than Jamie's goal marathon pace).

Weather was cool and humid at the start (very light fog almost), some of the humidity burned off by the end of the run and fortunately it didn't get too warm - breeze kept it feeling cool.

7.86 mi, 1:14:42, 9:29 avg

Cynthia came over to Jamie's house and I met them there.  Did easy paced run out to golf course and then back to neighborhood where we did a loop.  Coolish morning especially at the start.

8.1 mi, 1:07:19, 8:18 avg

Ran at Longleaf with the Striders.  Ran with Joe for first 2.7 miles (up to water stop).  Took it easy and chatted about his race at Boston.  He did well considering the sciatica issues he battled for most of the month before the race.  After he turned back I picked it up a bit and did 5 MP miles (7:39 - 7:08 range).

7.23 mi, 1:03:56, 8:51 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood, 7:00ish start.

1:03:55, 8.01 mi, 7:58 avg

Started about 8:30 which was much later than originally planned.  Air still felt cool but sun was out so it was in between hot and cool (still nice in the shade).

Warmed up with 1.8 miles easy out to water fountain, then did 4 x 400m with 1:15 jogs between, followed by 1 mile where I tried to stay somewhat close to the pace for the 400's (at least wanted to be faster than 6:10), followed by 2 more 400's

First set of 400's: 1:31, 1:27, 1:25, 1:22

1 mile: 6:06

Last set of 400's: 1:31, 1:29

Didn't want to do too much more than this because I'm going to try another 5k on Saturday.  Workout was copycat of workout that Cynthia did with Tampa Running except hers had 6x400m to start with and I think I took a longer recovery after the 1 mile.  About halfway through the 1 mile portion I felt like I had slowed down to a jog but was more or less holding the pace.  When I say it felt like a jog, I mean my perceived pace, not the effort which felt all out.

In any event it was a pretty good run.

1:26:51, 10.06 mi, 8:37 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood and out over by the golf course.  First 4 miles were easy pace but gradually getting faster and next 6 miles were a little bit faster than her goal marathon pace.  Able to maintain conversation throughout the run.   A little bit wamer this morning and somewhat humid but still cool if you use your imagination.  Good run.

Thought I'd try out another 5K after having good luck at Robbie's run.  Hoping to shave off a little bit of time.  Other goal was to try and run more even splits.

Did not get a better time but pretty happy with 20:24 time.  I was pretty strong through the second mile with the first two mile splits faster than at Robbie's run.  The race was supposed to start at 8:00 but they delayed it a little bit because many people were looking for registration/packet pickup at the finish area.  Race was point to point so start and finish were not very close (about a mile and a half away).  Morning was heating up, so knew it would be a little bit tough.  Race started and I was about 20th place for about the first half of a mile until I slowly gained on various other runners until we were mostly in the finish order.  As I got about halfway through the race I thought I had a chance at meeting my even split goal and was very pleased when I finished the second mile one second faster than the first.

6:14, 6:13, 6:38, and 5:54 pace for the last bit

Not sure exactly what happened on the third mile other than losing focus and not having someone to try and catch (the leaders were far enough ahead that I couldn't see them until almost the end.  The first almost two miles were mostly straight road.  Just before two miles we did a wide turn and then went onto a paved bike path for most of the rest of the race.

Ran some cool down with Cynthia and then stuck around for awards.  There were close to 20 people from the Striders group.  Pretty fun morning.