As I mentioned in my previous "note/blog" I only decided to run this half marathon 3 weeks prior, so the training was really directed toward the half marathon, rather just some normal Fall strength training with the CKelite crew and my Coach Charlie Kern. Don't get me wrong, we have done some really great workouts, one being just the tuesday before, 3 sets of our Fartlek, which are pretty tough. After that workout, I knew I would be ready to take on the 13.1 mile distance.
The goals:
Goal number 1 and 1a kind of go hand in hand. I wanted to get on 5:15/mile pace and see how long I could sit on that pace. 1a was to break 1:09 at the finish line.
Goal number 2 was my back-up goal of being under 1:10 at the very least.
Goal number 3, if I was in contact with the leaders, get into the top 5 and win money, otherwise just be as close to the front as possible!
Goals were met!
Taking you through the race, one that I sure will never forget:
I woke up at 5:30ish, having slept for most of the night. I got up and made myself a peanut butter bagel with banana and just tried to not think too much of my task at hand in T-minus 2 1/2 hours. My awesome girlfriend Beth Johnson was coming to watch and I sent her a little text to see if she was on her way, she replied right away and I knew today was going to be fun! I put on my "Dynamite" Pandora station and did some facebook stalking and had to make sure I got my fantasy football teams set, a perfect distraction!
At about 6:20 I got in the shower to warm the muscles up to go through my stretching before I left the hotel to enter the dark and cool Des Moines streets for my warm up run. Before I left the hotel, I popped in 3 ibuprofren and I took in some Sport Beans to add to my carb intake for the morning and give me a little added energy before the race. I was going to bring another pack along with me, but decided against it, thinking that the fuel I had eaten this morning would be good enough to get me through the morning, plus I had no idea how any added fuel during the race would make my body and stomach feel...
I got outside just after 7am and dropped my bag off at the End Result timing tent and off on my 1.5 mile warm up. The first mile my legs were feeling tired and a little heavy, but after a short pit stop at a port-a-pottie, I felt much better jogging back to the start/finish area. I went through my usual routine of rolling out my muscles again, doing my rope stretches, adding in some more stretches against the wall and leg swings before doing strides. The strides were feeling great and the legs were feeling loose. As I went through strides I slowly stripped down the warm-up gear and put on my Adidas Adios for the final few strides. Timing was perfect, as I was finishing up strides, the National Anthem (Jimi Hendrix version) started playing and I made my way to the start line.
The start was crowded upfront, one starting line for both the marathon and half marathon runners. The sun was peeking through the clouds at this point (so glad I grabbed my sun glasses last minute) and the announcer was giving final instructions. I said a little prayer, looked around to see if I saw Beth and then the commands: Runners on your mark, "GUN SHOT" I didn't see Beth, but knew she was out there!
My 13.1 mile experience had started. I shot out with the leaders and after about a 1/4 mile I checked my Garmin, something that I am so happy I had worn for this unfamiliar distance. I saw that I was running sub 5 min pace, which was fine for the initial beginning push, but I knew I had to back off a bit and settle into that 5:15 pace. We made our way up Locust with a little incline toward the beautiful Iowa State Capital building, the gold dome shining in the now fully shining sun.
As we made our way to the first mile marker I looked ahead and realized I had no idea who was running the half or who was running the full marathon. I didn't want to lose visual of that lead pack before the split off just before 3 miles so I could know approximately what place I was in. We hit the mile mark and I was right on going through in 5:14 and feeling totally comfortable. Right then I thought to myself, this pace seems so much more comfortable than trying to run one 4:05 mile...
As we headed back into downtown and through the bar and pub neighborhood just south of the start finish area. We made a few turns and then headed west toward the 2 mile mark. At this point I was running with two other runners just letting them lead me through the next marker. As a mid distance runner, running races from the half-mile to the 5k, it's hard not to think of the finish early in the race, rather than taking it quarter mile at a time, half mile at a time, etc etc, but today I knew I couldn't do that, I had to be a metronome, and just click off those 5:15 miles, not thinking about anyone else in the race and just worry about what I could control, myself.
Right before the two mile mark I heard a familiar voice shout out "Go Shawnie" and I glanced to my left and blew a kiss to Beth. The race was on! Her being there to support me on this unfamiliar venture just added to my already flaming fire of desire to race. We hit the 2 mile in 5:18.5 (10:32.5), so just off pace, but I was ok with that because I at least had a group to run with. One of the guys put in a strong surge to go after the lead pack, already 100+ meters ahead. at about 2 1/4 miles, the other guy dropped back so I was by myself, which would stay that way for the next 6+miles...
As we broke off from the marathon group, I looked up to see what that "lead pack" looked like, I saw 5 guys in the group and then the guy that put in his surge ahead of me and then me, 7th place. I knew if I could just maintain these 5:15 miles I wouldn't fall off too far and could hopefully use the later miles to chase down the pack...or at least that what I told myself!
As I approached mile 3 there was a slight downhill that propelled me into it and got me back on right at 5:15.9 (15:48.3), but as this happened I noticed that my garmin wasn't matching up with the races markers like it had the first two miles. It had marked the 3mile a little early, but I knew that my pace was where it needed to be, so I was still happy I had the garmin on.
I was in no-man's land, although I could hear one runner not far behind me, but I didn't want to slow down to have him join me, I wanted to keep clipping off my pace. At about 3 1/2 mile mark we entered the Arboretum. Beautiful fall colors and actually a good cheering crowd gathered here. I've been to my fair share of marathons, half marathons and triathlons and am always amazed at the volunteers that come out for the race to hand out water and gatorade or just to cheer on the participants. It was a much needed place to have spectators since I was running alone. Mile 4 was nearing and I felt like I had been maintaining my pace and I wasn't too far off, I went through 4 in 5:18.7 (21:08.0), so pace was off by 8 seconds at this point. I also was starting to feel tightness in my legs so I shifted my legs a bit and started taking shorter strides to use a little different muscle groups and have a little better knee lift. I looked up to the sky and said some more prayers, one for strength to keep going and another for focus on keeping on pace as best as I could. I also took my first water cup at this point. Not feeling I needed any sugars, but I was feeling a little flem build- up so I gargled and spit the water to loosen, it helped a lot!
As I made my way toward about 4 1/2 miles, still early in the race, over loud speakers I heard the song from Mark Schultz, Love has come and it was perfect timing after my little prayerful time..."every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, that God is love and love has come for us all." Even though my pace was slowing, I didn't want to give in completely and just maintain as fast of a pace as I could, even though I was running by myself. As I came into mile 5, I was also about to enter the back loop where I knew I'd have a good view of the "lead pack". At this point I wasn't gaining on the lone runner ahead of me between the pack and where I was at, but I also wasn't loosing ground either. That alone kept me motivated and every mile marker I just kept telling myself, get to the next mile. Mile 5 I hit a 5:21.1 (26:29.1), so far my slowest mile of the day.
One the straight aways in the back loop, it looked to be fresh asphalt, so that helped my body feel a little better than it was feeling at this point. When you are running a road race, you try to take the shortest tangents as possible to help aid in faster times. This back portion was kind of awkward running on. Trying to run on the far inside of the road wasn't feeling good due to the slope, so I jumped up to the middle of the road to stay even. This seemed to help keep me on pace and my body from eventually feeling any unnecessary soreness later in the race. This back loop was also the loneliness part of the course. I could still see the racer in front of me, not gaining, but still not losing ground, the pack ahead looked to be putting a little distance on me, but I wasn't worried about them yet, one guy at a time, one mile at a time. As I come toward mile 6 in the back of the loop, my watch, again taking my split before I reached the mile marker (beginning to see a pattern...), I looked down to see I had just ran a 5:20.5 (31:49.6) mile, so I had maintained that 5:20 pace and not fallen off like I thought I might have been doing.
I went through another water station, but wasn't feeling the need for any fuel (gatorade) or water at this point. I saw our 6.5 mile split up ahead and looked down at my watch thinking that I had run close to a half mile since mile 6 and I was right, we was at about 6.56 miles and still had close to 200+ meters to go before i hit the matts. So, anyone that saw my first 6.5 time in the results (36:03 and avg mile time of 5:33), you can see that was totally off, I was nowhere near a 5:30 mile during any of the race! The marker was probably close to a full 1/4 mile off of where it should have been, very deceiving to a racer in my mind. No fault to End Result, the timing company, they put the timing matts where they were told too...
As I reached the 7 mile mark, I felt like I had maintained the pace through that back loop and as my watched clicked off mile 7 I looked down to see 5:20.5 (37.10.1, again showing that the 6.5 mile marker was not in the correct spot, there is no way I ran 63 second half mile...haha) , so I was beginning to feel that 5:20 pace and it was feeling good. I was off of the original goal of running 5:15's, but I had to forget that goal for now and just maintain strength and focus which as I exited the back loop was hard to do as I had thousands of people running toward me that knocked me off my focus on the race.
As I winded back through the arboretum, It looked like a zoo. The narrow road we were all running on was consumed with runners coming toward me. As much as I wished I had a group of guys to run with, at that point I was almost glad I was by myself because running in a group of 5-6 people could have been hard with the large mass coming toward us. This proved to be my slowest mile of the day, right before the 8 mile marker, I decided to take in my first gatorade of the day. As I grabbed for the cup I brought it to my mouth and before even tasting it knew it was highly concentrated and not at all watered down! It tasted so sweet and by this point in the race I knew my stomach was not going to be able to handle too much sugar so I just took a little in, swished more around my mouth and the other half easily ended up on my hand and my singlet...I ended up passing through that 8mile marker in 5:22.4 (42:32.5) for what would be my slowest mile of the day!
As I was still winding through the arboretum, still overwhelmed a bit by the crowd and feeling like a sticky mess, little did I know that even though I had just run my slowest mile of the day, I was gaining on the guy in black ahead of me "6th place." At that same point I saw Beth on the side of the road with the bike and was ready to again switch my running form just a touch, about the same place I initially changed a bit. I zoned in the guy in black and as I passed through another water station I grabbed the water and just splashed a dumped in on my hands to get the sticky mess off and then wiped away my face. I blew my 2nd kiss Beth's way and gave a little thumbs up and knew it was time to get back to work!
We were closing in on mile 9 and I was gaining on the guy in black as we crossed over to the loop around Gray's Lake Park. Just after clipping off my fastest mile since mile 3, a 5:16.4 (47:48.9) for mile 9, I finally had reeled in the guy in black as we got onto the bike path that led us around the lake loop. As I passed him I gave him a little tap and said "lets get them together" and we started to hit some small rolling hills before the foot bridge over part of the lake. Those rolling hills hit me a little so I backed off and ran with the guy in black. Although I was leading him, I was running his pace, which helped me conserve some energy, although at that point we weren't gaining much on the group yet.
As we got to the end of the foot bridge we were getting close to the 10 mile marker, but before we did, you guessed it, the garmin beeped before the marker. I guess I should make a little disclaimer and say that I don't think that the garmin is a god-send and is 100% accurate, but I do believe some of the markers were off, but I will discuss this more later...back to the race! Since I had backed off to run with the guy in black, I had backed off that 5:16 mile I had run for mile 9 and we went through mile 10 in 5:19.8 (53:08.7), I didn't see my overall time on the garmin, just the split and my mind wasn't in any mode of thinking where my overall time was at, but as we passed through the course marked 10 mile split, there was a course clock that read 52:24...another mistake on the course. Because my mind wasn't thinking correctly I magically thought I was back on pace somehow, thinking that was the time we/I had just ran for 10 miles. I knew I couldn't run 5:20's and catch the "lead group" that looked like one or two guys were dropping off, so, me in "6th" place at this point, started making a surge toward the group. I could see the lead group, one kenyan falling off of them and another guy a little further back of them, but as I looked back at the "lead group" I still saw 4, so there must have been two kenyans in that group the whole time, so I was still sitting in "7th".
Just as I was finishing up the loop around the lake and before I hit mile 11, I again saw Beth on the bike and gave her a firm nod of the head and said "I got this!" I could see her reaction and excitement to see me getting to work and running down the guys ahead of me, my strength was going to be put to the test over the next 2.1 miles to the finish, especially to see if I could have a kick, because if I could, I knew there wasn't anyone in the field that could match my speed....or at least I thought that!
Right before mile 11 I caught "6th place" and tried to get him to come along with me, but that didn't seem to happen. I went through in my fastest mile of the day, a brisk 5:10.2 (58:18.9) and I was feeling like I could do another. Without worrying where the other runners were I just kept saying to myself, "lets get another 5:10, get to mile 12, another 5:10" At this point we were headed on the River Trail headed back to downtown and I was about to clip off another guy, one that I raced and who beat me at the Ryan Shay mile in August, Richard Kandie, a Kenyan that lives in Minnesota. It added to my internal excitement knowing I was going to beat him and in some way get revenge on a pretty bad loss earlier in the year.
As we headed up along Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, I was gaining on the group ahead. Now in "5th" place I knew i was going to be in contention for at least $50, but I wanted more and that drove me to mile 12, 5:10.0 (1:03:28.9) and I got even closer to the "lead group" Just after 14th Street, we hopped off the path and onto the road. I thought we were due in right for 3rd street, but at 11th street we made a turn for about a 80+meter then sharp turn and 80+ meter back to MLKjr parkway. It was a very weird place to have on the course, the sharp turnaround on 11th almost made us come to a stop without going too far wide around it. For as good as the course had been up to this point, this was a sloppy thought out part of the course. Still I geared up for the final push to the "lead pack".
As I turned onto 3rd street, Beth was just up the way and I asked her how far back the next place was from me. I just wanted to worry about getting the guy in front of me and not a kick from anyone behind. Later I found out she didn't totally catch on to what I said at first, but after I went by she yelled "there's no-one there, go get him" There was a group of 3 that I wasn't sure I'd get, but a lone runner that, as we hit the railroad tracks and my garmin's 13 mile mark 5:12.1 (1:08:41.0) I as on his heals. He seemed to have a nice cheering group, but that didn't sway me to let him have the win over me, I charged on and passed him and got to the line in 1:09:38.6 according to Garmin, finishing in "the $ and in 4th" place.
I was astatic! Kevin Jaunt, a friend from End Result, the timing company from the race, yelled great job as I crossed and I proceeded to go through the finish area, all hyped up. They guy I passed the final stretch came over and congratulated me and asked me if I was Bill Lucas' brother. Turned out that he married an old teammate of ours, Annie Corken. Marcus Murphy was his name so it only added to my excitement that I could add to my first half experience and story.
I grabbed some mini cupcakes after getting my medal, got a yogurt and some chocolate milk and was very surprised to have my legs feel as limber as they were feeling. I didn't feel at all as sore as I thought I would and was so happy for that. After catching up with Annie Corken Murphy, I gave Beth a huge hug and kiss thanking her for coming and supporting me, she was and is a big reason I was able to push through the race and end up where I did.
Now, you may be wondering why I kept using parenthesis around "lead group" or the place I was in ("6th place"). Well, as I went to gather up my gear at the End Result tent, I was being congratulated by Brad Fox, Tim and Kevin and was chatting with them. I mentioned since I was officially registered as an elite racer, I hoped that I still got the payout for 4th place. Kevin kind of looked at me and said, "dude you were 10th". I felt the feeling of, " you gotta be shitting me" and embarrassment at the same time. Ended up that the "lead group" was the CHASE GROUP. The winner actually had crossed the finish line in 1:03:45, a huge course record, the 5th and final money spot was 1:06:29....I was over 3 minutes off and guess I never looked that far ahead in the back loop to see the real lead group, probably well over a half mile ahead at that point.
As deflated as that feeling was, I was still 10th place. My first half marathon, one that turned out to be pretty darn fast and competitive, and I was top 10...or at least I thought so for a bit. As It turned out, 2nd place's chip didn't register him at the finish line originally, so it officially dropped me back to 11th place overall, so for those of you that I text yesterday saying I was top 10, I apologize!
Now, before I end this blog/not, I want to say some thank you's and clear up a few things. First and again, many many thanks to Beth for coming out to support me, she drove quite a few miles to come watch me race and she truly has a heart of gold!
Thank you to Kevin Jaunt and End Result for helping me get an entry into the race and for boarding me in the hotel right on the race course, which made everything so much easier.
Thank you to all my viral supporters, friends and family that couldn't be there to watch me race, but I know your thoughts and prayers helped me a ton!
Thank you to Chris Burch, race director of the Des Moines half and full marathon, the course was a beautiful course, a race I highly recommend.
Thank you to the Judson College Men's XC team for letting me join you guys on your easy runs, having people to run with makes those slower easy miles much more pain free!
Thank you to Brooks running, specifically Mike Billish, for providing me with the apparel to race in, I looked good out there!
Thank you to Eric Ott and Geneva Running Outfitters for providing me with a seeded pair of Adidas Adios, they felt great!
Thank you Dr. Mike and Olympic Chiropractic staff Elmhurst for keeping everything turned on and keeping me running, without you guys I don't know where I would be.
Last, but certainly not least, thank you to Charlie Kern and the rest of the CKelite crew for helping push me on my workouts
To clear up a few things. I know in my writing I bitched and moaned a bit about the markers being off. I have never raced before with my Garmin and I know that it is not 100% accurate, but saying that, I have run my fair share of races and always try to legally make the course as short as possible, so when a curve comes up, you take the best/shortest tangent possible, always trying to run on the "inside" of the road. It was one thing having some of the markers not match up with my watch (although most were early beeps before the markers, mile 12 beeped after I passed the marker...), to be over 200 meters long seems a bit off to me. I really think that it would have been a dead on accurate course if we didn't do that little sharp loop on 14th st. with under a mile to go. On top of that, having the 10mile clock 34 seconds off and the 6.5 mile markers close to a quarter mile late, it just doesn't add up. My overall time was right on with my official time. I also talked to numerous elites after that were confused and wondering the same thing as I was. Hopefully they will go back over the course, make the "runner's tangents" and truly have it correctly certified.
All in all it still was a great race, great course, and beautiful day to race my first of possibly many half marathons. As for the question "is this your new distance" or "maybe this is your new distance" I am still heavily focused on the mile and 1500 meters, but I will admit I had more fun that I thought I would at this distance.
I have been writing this note/blog since about 11am...it is now 1:56...time to get ready for my recovery run and have some lunch...
Find your passion and go do it
Shawn
