57F at start, 81F at finish (low humidity and 7 mph wind from the west). I almost gave up today because of the heat. I seriously considered running it as a training run, but I'm glad I didn't. I got a 9-minute PR but don't know how I placed in my age group or overall. All I know, from a paper posting at the finish line, is that it took about 3:15 to place in the top 10 in the 55-59 group. Totally amazes me how many fast runners enter this race. Other than professional elites, this race has some of the fastest runners around. For my own humble effort, after carefully considering the coming heat, I decided to shoot for a 3:30 finish (close to an 8 minute flat pace), which turned out to be about right.
My brother and I stayed at a hotel that had its own shuttle, so we walked to the office at 5:00 and got on. This happy situation was worth almost two extra hours of sleep, I got 6 hours overall, which was badly needed due to some very busy work and travel this week. I got up at 4:00, did my doo-ty, ate a bagel (no orange juice, big mistake last race) and got on the bus. At the start line we went through the PoP lines twice, finishing the second time just at the gun. I crowded in at what looked like the right spot and we were off.
Splits are as follows (as usual, no HR information until about mile 4):
1. 8:28 -- very crowded at the start, nothing to do but wait it out, but the spot I had was about right so I didn't lose much time. In fact, this is probably the pace I would have picked to warm up up anyway.
2. 8:05 -- starting to thin out a little. I felt good and was taking advantage of the early downhill.
3. 7:31 -- taking a little too much advantage. Don't cheat this course or you will pay. Took a drink at the end of the split. I walked through every aid station that I didn't bypass and I never noticed much of an effect on my overall splits for a particular mile. My strategy on aid stations was to walk at every other one and take a big drink. I stopped more often in the last 10K, and at Veyo I stopped at both mile 7 and mile 9.
4. 7:44 (161) -- heart rate a little higher than I wanted. This was the story all day, but I decided to stick with my plan. I relaxed whenever I could and still maintain my pace, but I didn't worry too much if it went high. Felt like I needed to make one more potty stop, but from UVM experience I knew it was best to wait until later in the race when facilities are more available. Today it turned out to be a non-issue, never had to stop. I heard they were encouraging (ordering?) runners of both genders to stay out of the bushes. Apparently the tarantulas are mating. I missed doing my part for reducing the local population when I narrowly missed stepping on one in the middle of the road. Unfortunately, though, I was unable to contribute to the no bushes decision, and it was widely ignored anyway, at least by the male side of things.
5. 8:04 (160) -- a little bit of uphill here but no worries. Heart rate seems under control. Took my first swig of EFS. Yuck, that stuff has got to go.
6. 7:45 (160) -- Nice downhill for a couple of miles here. Still feeling so good that I toyed briefly with reducing my goal to a 7:45 pace, but had the good sense to stick with my plan. Experience is a wonderful thing.
7. 7:43 (159) -- Last of the early downhill. Veyo looming large in the foreground.
8. 9:00 (164) -- At least I kept my heart rate in range, but this one stunk. This long hill to the half mark was where my heart rate got away from me.
9. 8:37 (165) -- More uphill. Veyo ends but the course keeps going up at a more moderate grade.
10. 8:19 (164) -- I decided to push the pace some even though it was uphill. Started to get the timing back down.
11. 8:26 (168) -- A steeper uphill, just kept trudging up the hill, I knew it would end soon. Really helpful to have run this course once before.
12. 8:08 (167) -- Finally leveling out a little, but by now my overall pace was 8:07 or so. 3:30 wasn't looking too good, even though I knew there was a reason for the slower times. Would have been nice if my heart rate was under 165.
13. 7:58 (165) -- Forgot to look, but extrapolating to the split for the half, looks like it came in right at 1:47 (3:34 pace), but the uphill was over other than a couple of minor hills.
14. 7:51 (168) -- I had been pushing the pace since about mile 11 and from this point until late in the race I was able to take advantage of the downhill, ignore the pain and get some good splits..
15. 7:29 (168) -- Best split since early on, I think this is where the 6% downhill grade was, according to the yellow sign.
16. 7:10 (166) -- More steep downhill. I knew it would cost me after the race, maybe before, but I kept going hard. Missed a mister somewhere in here, you had to pick between misting or tangents. I did the right thing.
17. 7:28 (173) -- Leveled out some but I kept the gas pedal down. Paid for it with a high heart rate. I was starting to realize that I wouldn't be able to maintain this pace until the end, but got the overall pace down to about 7:57 somewhere around here.
18. 7:34 (171) -- ditto, not too many fast splits after this one.
19. 8:12 (175) -- Last significant hill, I think. Heart was protesting but kept beating. The carnage on the road was starting to get pretty bad, even though the runners I was running with were all good runners. From this point on I was battling the heat, but felt fortunate to be within a long 10K of the end, it seemed almost doable.
20. 7:50 (165) -- Last remaining steep downhill if my memory is correct.
21. 7:35 (165) -- Finishing up the downhill. By now I am counting down the miles. I am starting to calculate whether I can keep the pace up or whether I will have to give up on the 3:30. After each mile I added not only the .22 but my Garmin overage (about .09) to calculate how much time I had.
22. 8:27 (162) -- Decided to slow down so I could finish. This probably cost me the 3:30 but I was happy that a slowdown didn't amount to any more than this. I concentrated, tried not to think too far ahead. Someone was wearing a t-shirt that quoted the Apostle Paul, saying to run the race patiently. I found it inspiring and it kept me going. No need to run too fast.
23. 8:14 (168) -- Got a little bit of focus back. Hurting though, really hurting by now. My stomach was starting to protest and I wondered if I would throw up. By now I was stopping at all water stations and pouring as many cups on my head as they would give me.
24. 7:49 (169) -- I was very encouraged by this split, but I couldn't do the math well enough to see if I was on pace. (See mile 21)
25. 8:21 (172) -- Not too bad, but I am heart-rate constrained at this point. I remember many of these twists and turns from 2009, and I was glad I could keep going, even though it hurt. The result today was quite different. My pace wasn't very even at this point though. I would speed up, get queasy, slow down, and repeat.
26. 8:22 (173) -- Almost done, but I remembered how long the finishing chute is. Don't know if they changed it but when I turned the corner it didn't seem too bad. I knew I was going to miss 3:30 by a little but I didn't care too much
26.2 8:10 (178) -- No finishing kick today, but the heart rate indicates I was working hard enough. When I stopped I must have looked pretty bad. Some extremely kind volunteers walked me through the mister, but took my word for it when I told them I would be OK. I wasn't really but I knew there were a lot of other runners worse off than me. I think it was funny that the map of the runners area shows the finish line sequence as timing mat, misters, medals and ambulance. I made my way over to the fence inside the runners area and emptied my stomach. Volume-wise it equated to about the last 3 water stops, meaning I probably didn't need to stop during the last few miles other than to pour water on my head. Nobody even noticed my little moment.
I stumbled around, not feeling like eating anything, but I forced myself to eat part of a popsicle. When I finally gained a little bit of lucidity I found my drop bag with the cell phone in it, looked up the temperature on the blackberry and sat down to put on my compression socks. Took about 45 minutes between cramping and phone calls. Was talking to my sister when a particularly bad one hit, I'm afraid I screamed in her ear.
I ran the very best race I could have run today. The fatigue in the last 10K was deep and thorough, it is possible this one will be a lifetime PR for me. I can feel the years creeping in. If that turns out to be true I will have to decide what shape my running will take going forward, not sure I would want to keep running at this intensity if I am not improving.
As for the heat, I think the effect on runners is exponential depending on their capabilities. Although I haven't seen any finishing times, I am guessing the fastest times aren't too far off historical averages. I think it affects the elites the least because they are out there the shortest length of time, the temperature really hasn't climbed much by 9:15, at least not to dangerous levels -- plus the elites are the best atheletes of course and I think that superior conditions contributes to one's ability to withstand heat stress. But the 4-hour runners I know seem to have bad days. I was kind of on the cusp because I didn't have to deal with significant heat until the last 10K, which was almost manageable. The second thing is that I was able to run today with an average heart rate of 168, which is 87% of my maxHR -- this is a new data point to think about and digest. It is probably the statistic I am happiest about.
Although I had hoped to do better, I was happy to be able to manage today's circumstances and improve my time. Congratulations to all who ran today in these difficult conditions, in particular the ones further back in the pack who had to deal with very high temperatures just as they reached their extremeties.
If it isn't too rude, I would like to add a personal note about this week. I attended my uncle's funeral on Thursday in Spokane, Washington. He lived a long and full life but was ready to exit it, by his own declaration. The stake president (for Mormons, a stake is a broad general area comprised of several congregations, somewhat analagous to a Catholic diocese) spoke at the funeral. He said that at funerals we tend to gloss over the failings of the deceased and emphasize the good, which is entirely appropriate. But in this case there was no need -- with the possible exception of an incident involving a family of raccoons, a backyard tree and a 2x4 board, there was nothing to omit from my uncle's obituary. His two younger brothers, one of whom is my father, were also in attendance. It occurred to me that this trio of men are the finest I have known, I am honored to be a part of their family.
Sorry for the "marathon" race report. | 