Rock n Roll St. Louis

Brooks ID program sent a notice early in the year letting us members know that they had "x" number of comped entries to the various Rock n Roll Marathon races around the country.  It was a first come first get scenario, and I didn't jump quick enough to get my first couple of choices but on the third try got the go ahead for St. Louis.  The date worked well as it was a few weeks after the Bourbon Chase and it was a Sunday so was feasible during the height of XC season.  So, directly following a Saturday morning XC meet, it was off to the Gateway to the West.

The goal was pretty simple - PR.  My best of 2:44:59 (sounds better than 2:45) was an eight minute improvement achieved in April on a fairly challenging Derby Festival Marathon course in Louisville.  Looking at past results and hearing the horror stories of how hilly this St. Louis course was had me thinking it would be a tough day that might yield a top ten result if I was lucky.   

Coming off the line with the 1/2 marathoners is always tricky business in terms of keeping yourself in check, but I stayed well under my threshold and, despite a tight hip/hamstring combo, the miles ticked off pretty easily.  I was feeling strong fitness wise and made the turn at the 1/2 mark in the 1:21 range, and was curious to hear for the first time what position I was in now that we had left the halfers.  I saw my girlfriend right where she was supposed to be she said "you're fourth!"

Fourth?  I double-checked my watch to make sure I hadn't gone out stupid fast.  Nope.  Right where I should be, but I knew more hills were coming and just kept my focus up the road ahead and on running efficiency.  Probably over-compensating for the leg tightness, I was drinking at every aid station and eating lots.  It was working.  My energy levels were high, and I was getting used to the fact that I had a personal bike escort showing me the way.   Then, running through Forest Park, I saw a strong looking guy coming the other way on a two-way section of course.  A minute later, I was rounding a 180.  That meant the guy I just say was right in front of me.  Could this be happening?  A shot at third place?  Finally we exited Forest Park, my bike guy told me that it was a straight shot back.  I looked up the wide rolling highway and saw the third place guy and his bike escort.   Maybe needing some conversation, I told my bike guy "it's a hard place to be - just wanna make it all up at once."  To which he replied, "man, you look better than he does - just keep doing what you're doing."  I took his advice.

With about 5k to go I pulled even with my target then rolled away.  My bike guy went with me and his stayed with him.  It was a little surreal.  Was I really running 3rd in a huge city marathon being escorted by a medical bike?  The legs were really really tight, but my head felt good so I just concentrated on not blowing up.  A couple twists and turns downtown and I was looking at the shoot.  One more look over my shoulder and a glance at my watch.  2:43!

Shortly after crossing the line, a lady with the promotions company Competitor Group handed me an envelope and told me to make my way to the VIP tent.  Was this happening?  There were umpteen thousand people on the street and we were headed to the VIP tent?  Sure enough, catered food, private porta-potties, a clean up station and chairs - crazy!  A quick interview with the MC, then it was off to the main stage for the awards presentation.  On stage I was handed my award by Frank Shorter.  This was just too surreal.  I woke up that morning thinking a PR would be nice - then there I stood holding a boquet, in front of thousands of onlookers, and next to Frank Shorter.  Not as prepared as my fellow podium placers, I didn't even have a Brooks shirt with me.  While I was prepared to go out and battle, I wasn't ready to be wishing I had my Brooks podium shirt.   I'm not an elite runner by any stretch, but some days it's kind of nice to feel like one - if even an unprepared one.

2012 Bourbon Chase

The Speakeasies.  Four for four. 

The Bourbon Chase (sponsored by Brooks) is an overnight relay event that sees teams of 12 runners (6 runners per two vans) leapfrogging one another from just outside of Bardstown KY all the way to Lexington following the backroads of Kentucky's historic Bourbon Trail.  Each person races three segments each for a total of 36.  Following a year of doing battle with the Speakeasies,  Haulin' Oats (my team from last year) joined forces with them for this year's edition of the Chase.  This is my fourth year running it, and it's the fourth year that the Speakeasies have won.  The Bourbon Chase is hands down the most fun and challenging race that I do all year.  These eleven guys and the two drivers are amazing.  It was tight for the first rotation of 12 runners with runner-up team Runnin' a Still, but late in the night, experience took over and the gaps grew at most every checkpoint (well, not following my legs - their guy that I had to race against as the #6 hammered me every time - he blew my doors off going to Maker's Mark and brought back at least two minutes every other leg - OUCH).   See leg maps and comments below.  While not quite as fast as I hoped to be, my contributions were strong times, consistency and a wealth of know-how from having raced this course three times prior (I've been a leg  2, 7, 1, and now 6).  For anyone that hasn't had the opportunity to run a relay event, it's a blast.  Don't judge by my frowny mutt chops in the picture - I was just too tired to smile.  

 Leg 6 started with me getting the baton (slap bracelet) about 30 seconds in front of the #6 man from Running a Still.  I went out way to hard trying to hold him off, and when he shouldered up to me, he calmly said hello and good job and then motored by.  I went with him for a couple of miles then completely imploded.  So much for consistency and know how, huh?  I knew enough to simply let his little blinky light vanish into the night and concentrate on getting myself back together.  I just tried to limit the damage and got myself to Maker's Mark without incident.

Leg 18 was much less exciting in terms of topography and competition.  It was a straight shot all the way into Danville and I had a few minute cushion on my new nemesis.  Running my own pace, it was back to what felt more familiar in the Bourbon Chase - picking off runners and in control.  5:50's felt better.  After a very short cool down, I found my guy jogging around.  He had been running 5:20's.

The final segment for me was the net vertical loss of 6.4 miles into Woodford Reserve Distillery.  At this point we had built a pretty sizable lead on the next closest team and I enjoyed picking off about 30 - 40 "road kills"  (the slowest seeded teams start first thing Friday morning and the fastest start about eleven hours later so the faster runners are catching people all the time, hence the name road kills).  I felt strong and enjoyed the rowdy crowds of Woodford.  By that point in the event, people are getting pretty loopy and it's a really gorgeous place to drop in to.

By early Saturday afternoon we were safely in Lexington and in less than 20 hours (with a mile wrong turn!).  The Speakeasies rocked it, and I was honored to be a part of it.

1/4 Marathon?

 

Never heard of one?  Me either until I ran the Big Hit 1/2 last year, which was a few weeks after the Bourbon Chase (BC) and where I set my most competitive PR a 1:15:15 (5:45 for 13.1 miles).  But, this year the Big Hit was a week prior to the Chase. So, as the BC was my primary focus for the fall, I decided to only race the 1/4 and just make it a pace training day for the BC.  Since I wanted to be able to run well under 6 minute pace for the enitre relay a week later, I went out at about 5:45 in the 1/4 marathon (6.55 miles).  Within a few minutes I was pretty much alone at the front.  This is a really nice event that just hasn't gotten very big in its first two years.  In fact, last year 1:15 was third, and this year it would have won handily.  It's a terrific venue, big promotions company, and they give away sweet custom Louisville Slugger bats, but it just hasn't gotten really competitive.  Which was fine with me, since I was using my free entry to get a good training day in, not race shoulder to shoulder burrying myself a week before the BC.  In the course of the race, I ran past the police lead-out twice and got to the stadium before the organizers had even set up the cones to tell you to turn in to the center field gate (luckily my friend Tom Nielsen is the head grounds keeper at Slugger Field and I knew where I was going).  If you look at the start of the video, you'll see the guys scurrying across the bottom of the frame looking for the microphone to announce my arrival. 

It IS a really well done event.  And, the 1/2 is a blazing fast course (even faster this year than last) and how many of you have a 1/4 marathon PR? 

Check out the Brooks gear in the video:  Distance Singlet, Infiniti III Shorts, and T7 Racer shoes. 

 

 

TNHSXC Course Preview

From my blog on tnhstrackxc.weebly.com:

Your typical cross country meet flyer has a course description saying "our course is this, or our course is that." Indstead, I wanted people to actually see what the TNHSXC course looks like. I know, the still looks more like a picture of a barn, a soccer field, and a tennis court. Well, it is, but in and around lies the home of TNHSXC which is developing into a permanent fixture on our campus. The other permanent fixture, that little neon green speck, is me.

Home to the upcoming Wednesday Night Warfare cross country meet at TNHS, the XC course is almost entirely visible from the top of our stadium. This video is of me running a tempo 20 minute 5k (in 10 minutes!) on the course as seen from the press box and the runner's point of view taken from the gator. This was shot on a muggy afternoon following heavy rains. While I don't think this will ever be a super-fast course, it's not a slow one. The course will continue to improve and is quickly becoming a hub for fitness activity in the TNHS community. Turn up the sound, take some Dramamine, and hang on. Don't take my word for how great this course is. See for yourself.

Once you get on the bus, stay on the bus

From my blog on tnhstrackxc.weebly.com:

I just don't tire of bragging on this guy. Kevin Castille (pictured with Coach Bradley and myself) is certainly the fastest person I have ever had the honor of meeting. Today saw the start to Nelson County Schools' annual running camp. And, we couldn't have kicked it off with a more charming, motivational and accomplished speaker. I happened to get hooked up with Kevin as I was trying to nail down another speaker while visiting John's Run Walk Shop in Lexington, KY.

A Louisiana Native, Kevin turned 40 this past March. Since then, he has broken American masters records in the 10k, 5k and 3k, And, lucky for us, about a year ago he moved to Kentucky. His 10k mark of 28:57 and a 5k of 14:00 are exceptional by any standard. Now with his sights set firmly on the marathon, his mileage is increasing, and he was nice enough to invite me along for his Saturday workout last weekend. Maybe he was nice enough to agree to my inviting myself along. Regardless, I was looking forward to joining him, if only for a fraction of the workout.

What struck me the most about Kevin was his running efficiency. He chatted comfortably as we rolled along Lexington's Legacy Trail - the rest of us tried to chat and sound as if we weren't under distress doing it, breathing harder all of the time. As one of the younger runners in our group was beginning to yo-yo off the back of our pack, Kevin softly shared some wisdom. He said the Kenyans have a saying. They say "Stay on the bus. Once you get off the bus, you won't get back on the bus." which means stay with the group, because once you're off the back you will stay there. A few minutes later, the high schooler fell off. Shortly thereafter, another runner. Six miles in, I was gone, watching the bus roll away.

I'll probably continue to invite myself along for some of Kevin's workouts especially as I get my training back on track. But, if that by chance was the last time I ever run with Kevin Castille, I'm honored to have gotten to meet him, to see him speak to our kids, and most of all, to have spent that short time with him on the bus.

Back to back and back to back

Between April 28th and June 10th of 2012 I ran three marathons (two on trail) and one ten hour ultra marathon (and a 5k just for kicks).  Back to back were two marathons in two days, a first for me.  Then, a few weeks later, in back to back weeks I scored a couple of wins and course records.

It started with my first trip to the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon.  A late April tradition, "The Mini" as it's more commonly known around here because of the umpteen thousands of people that opt for the half marathon version, it offers a challenging course with the hills of Iroquois Park and a few gnarly climbs in the last 10k.  But, I had adhered to the taper plan and was ready to attempt to push my PR down to a goal time of 2:45.  It had been a spring of near misses - falling off the leaders to place 4th at the LLTH 50k, and missing my goal times by a collective 17 seconds across three races at the 5k, 10k 10mi. Triple Crown events.  This was a day to not let up and not to settle.  Early on I found Bourbon Chase teammate,  Jeremy Burtel, and would spend much of the race running along side him, trying to convince myself that the 6:10's and occasional 6 flat were not too fast - the miles ticked away easily.  Finally we split from the halfers and headed down toward Iroquois park.  Then, shortly after entering the park, we started reeling in a lone runner.  It was Troy Shellhamer, a friend and ultra running stud.  Now our threesome was knocking off climbs, rolling descents closing in on runners. Somewhere between miles 17 and 20, I was feeling too good.  I rolled away from my buddies with a couple mile surge that I would later realize took a bit too much too soon.  With 5k to go, I was toast.  Jeremy passed me back up, Troy passed me back up and I was just hanging on for dear life.  I remember looking up at Jeremy as he crested a climb thinking "man, he's usually so fluid - he looks terrible."  Then it hit me "wait a minute, he just blew by me.  What do I look like?"  But, I kept pushing, and made my goal time by one whole second.  2:44:59.  Finally. 

And, in making that goal, I earned a comped entry into the following day's Backside Trail Marathon (thanks to an arrangement with friend and race director Tim Barnes - if I didn't make my goal, I had to man an aid station all day).  There were many of us "doubling down" and completing our second marathon in as many days.  This was uncharted territory for me, and I was glad to share in the camaraderie with Troy for another day.  Surprising was the general consensus about how bad our legs did NOT feel.  Not that we were feeling zippy by any means, but the tight and twisty trails of Cherokee and Seneca Parks made the miles go by somewhat painlessly and we rolled to a  two-lap negative split sub-3:40 trail marathon.  Although, Troy hammered me in the last mile, it was a really enjoyable day out - not like racing at all.  Here's a link to Troy's blog:
http://troyshellhamer.blogspot.com/2012/05/backside-trail-marathon-race-report.htmlhttp://troyshellhamer.blogspot.com/2012/05/backside-trail-marathon-race-report.html

Troy Shellhamer and I after the Backside Trail Marathon.

Following a short month, which included a surprisingly successful 5k, I was headed to Bernheim for their trail marathon.  Placing 2nd there last year, and knowing the trails pretty well, had me gunning for a strong result.  However, shortly after the players were sorted out, I knew that I had at least one full marathoner in front of me.  It was one of those days where I felt like I was pushing really hard but getting nowhere quickly.  Every aid station had worse news as the time gaps crept up to 2 min, 3 min, 5 min!  So, I just kept hammering.  Not feeling good all day, I simply kept telling myself "don't be a _________!"  (insert chosen word).  Then around mile 20, I saw a figure way out ahead of me walking up one of the gravel road sections.  It was the leader.  He was done.  Apparently, I hadn't been going that slowly, he was just going that fast, and now he was done.  I checked to make sure he was OK as I went by, but he had food and water and just said "I'm done."  So, I told him good job and went on my way.   After a day of feeling pretty dead, I was rejuvenated.  Entering the final section of trail, I realized that my time wasn't even too bad.  I kept hammering.  I was re-entering the arboretum thinking "what was Althaus's record time?".  The I hit the final road section, I was close, checked the watch,  remembered 3:39 was the time to beat.  Hammer down.  Done.  Won.  3:36.  Not bad for day that didn't really feel like it was my day.

Then, the fourth and final installment, in a pretty good month of racing was the Race Under The Stars (RUTS) 10 hour endurance race.  The premise:  run as many laps as you can around a 1/2 mile crushed limestone horse track in 10 hours.  The end result?  Too much time in my own head to relay in one blog post, let alone one fourth of one.  So here goes - I started our very easy and disciplined, stopped every hour, ate food, then went a little faster, then found myself in the lead, then just wanted it to be over, ended up battling with Chris Estes for most of the second half, then wound up winning and beating the course record (as did Chris).  Pretty epic finish to the back to back a month after my first back to back.  Took a nice rest and soon came back again.

Brooks ID Program

I am proud to say that I have been accepted in to the Brooks Running ID Program for 2012.  What is it you ask?  The following is an excerpt from the brooksrunning.com website (which is linked to the Brooks ID logo at the right)...

     "Brooks I.D. stands for Inspire Daily. These two simple words guide the principles of the program. Brooks I.D. is made up of over 800 members who are active in their running communities and share a passion for the Brooks brand. They are runners who are winners in their own right: Winning their age divisions, accomplishing their personal goals, pushing their own limits, and, by extension, encouraging others to do the same. They are coaches, mentors, and leaders." 

... I am a big Brooks guy, I coach, race a lot, and sometimes go pretty fast.  So, I went for it.  It's amazing.  There are sweet perks like discounts all year, a package of free gear that we get to choose for ourselves, as well as a package of goodies that we get to pick for our athletes.  I'm pictured wearing some of my swag that the kids on my team will enjoy (and, no they didn't print their stuff backwards - webcam image).  The program keeps a Leader Board, on which I am trying to claw my way into the top thirty.   Being a member of the program is part of the reason I started this blog (maybe the whole reason).  Look for me in every pic to be wearing my new Brooks singlet, shorts, and Launch, Pure Grit or T7 Racer shoes.  And, while the product reviews are to come, in a nutshell, Brooks running gear is the absolute best you can buy.