Novi Memorial Day 10k; Novi; 28h May 2012

I had to do a race as the 28th May 2012 is a year to the day since I first started running, but as it was Memorial Day, the pickings were slim, but this was close by and early in the morning, so just about ideal.

Packet pickup was a breeze, at a local gym. There was no line and also no pretense of an expo, just get your stuff and go, so no hassle there.

The forecast was for 'hot, damn hot', which is a technical term used by meteorologists the world over meaning 'very hot' and it did not disappoint. The course, basically, headed south and meandered through a few small subdivisions, in a series of small lollipops (ie, out and back the same direction). The heat became a major factor in the race very quickly, as did the hills, what an extremely hilly race, probably second only to the Milford 10k in nasty hilliness. Now 136 feet/ 41.5m of elevation gain/ loss, doesn't sound like much, but it was very nasty. I pretty much ran the whole race with one particular girl, I would overtake her on the hills, she would then pass me on the flat, she had more left in the gas tank at the end as she left me with a few hundred yards to go, I guess, but shook my hand a thanked me at the end, I suspect we helped pace each other. The 5k walkers were finishing at the same time and seemed to be struggling with the concept of  'get out of the bloody way'. In summary, 'I survived', I went home, worked in the garden, drank beer and watched the sun go down.

Results; 12/ 18 in my group, 59/ 129 overall isn't up to my usual but man it was crappy out there.

Garmin - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/182966991

Endomondo - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/tnsvqSZJOJg

White tech shirt, don't like white tech shirts...

Mission 10k; Indian Springs Metropark; 12th May 2012

So I was looking for a race for this weekend and this one caught my attention, with this high pressure sales pitch;

You just ran 3.1 or 6.2 miles, you deserve a real trophy to declare to the world how awesome you are!  All registrants will receive a custom designed quality belt buckle! The buckles have a antique silver finish to show off the best race swag in the area!

Slowing down at the end and
coming downhill, so there

So how could I possibly resist? There was no pre race day packet pickup, it was just a matter of, get there before the race, grab your stuff, get in the zone and go for it. I got up around 6:30am, which is standard for me on race days. I strolled down to the local 7-11 for a couple of banana, hung around a bit and decided to just get on the road. I arrived at about 8:15am, 45 minutes before the race, the place was pretty quiet and it didn't ever really get busier. The race packet had the usual ads, etc, along with a free GU and the belt buckle. You also put your name into a draw for free goodies afterwards.

The starting line was quietest I have experienced and everyone was just kind of milling about, waiting. We got going and there was very few walkers, etc, for a wee change. We started down and nice big hill, which, due to this course being an 'out and back', turned into as ass kicker just before the end. The course meandered through the park, paved the whole way. It was very scenic and I will definitely be back to run and cycle the trails in the future. What with the field being so small, and the course meandering, there were times when I couldn't see either the person in front or the person behind, it was really quite surreal.

My belt buckle and medal (for coming 3 in my age group)

The heat and humidity were up there during the race and at no time did I ever really feel comfortable, you know, I didn't ever really get in the zone. I finished the race in a reasonable time, although I would have lied a PR, you can't have everything. There was a good selection of snack, banana, cookies, water, Gatorade, etc. I got a medal for coming second in my age group, which is quite impressive until you realize that there were only three people in my age group, and the top three got medals, ho hum. They gave away a very good selection of prizes everything from vouchers for free pizza to, gift cards to local stores and Road ID vouchers. All in all, it was a good start to my Saturday and I may even do it again next year. Incidentally they are also having a 15k race called the Sasquatch Shuffle on the Friday before Halloween, beginning at midnight, the way will be lit by glowsticks, etc, I'm almost intrigued enough to register, maybe.

Official results are in; second in my age group, of three, 11/37 overall. Let's just say it was a small race, but done very well.

Here is how the Garmin saw it - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/177334363

Here is how Endomondo saw it - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/t47APqeEi4E

All signed up for my first marathon - Ann Arbor Marathon, June 17th 2012

In the year 490 B.C.E., Miltiade, a Greek general from Athens inflicted a serious defeat on the Persians in the plains of Marathon, a small village in the northwest of Athens. In order the convey the news of the victory, a Greek soldier, Phidippides, ran at a stretch from the battlefield to Athens. After delivering the news, he collapsed and died.

I finally done, this is it, the big one, the one I've been building up to, I've signed up for my very first marathon. Yup, all 26 miles 385 yards of it, yup, that's 26.22 miles, yup, that's 42.195 kilometers. Yup, I'm running my first marathon in the inaugural Ann Arbor marathon (http://theannarbormarathon.com), as I thought that would be kind of apt. Unlike Phidippides, I'm planning on surviving enough to enjoy a few cold ones later in the day, while I rest my weary bones.

I'm hoping for a sub 4 hour finish, but who the hell knows. According to the various marathon finish time prediction sites, based on my 1:51:51 on the Let's Move half marathon, I should be able to drag my sorry self in around 3:55 hours, but really, who knows. I've also heard so much about the dreaded wall, so the wheels may completely fall off the bus. Most stuff I've read pretty much states that prediction sites are mostly low, but depending on what distance you base them off and how much practice you do previously, they get closer. This one is pretty cool and provides a whole lot of detail - http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/index.php/site/index

Let's Move, Festival of Races Half Marathon - 4/28/12

I signed up for this only a couple of weeks in advance, when I was still flushed with the success of the Martian marathon. The race was in Mount Clemens, Michigan, which is almost due north of Detroit and about 35 miles from our house. I decided to go and get my race packet the night before, just in case Bren didn't want to come to the race and so I wouldn't have to find somewhere to put my crap, while out running.

Bren decided that she would come anyway, but early packet pickup did mean that we could leave a little later on the Saturday morning. One of the things I decided that I was going to like about this race, was that they decided they were going to have two different start waves for the half marathon. People that expected to finish under 2 hours would start at 8:45am and those that would be over 2 hours, would start 15 minutes later, at 9am. If only more races would attempt to do this kind of thing, the stress level at the beginning of races would be greatly reduced, no more dodging walkers, etc, awesome.

The weather forecast, wasn't great, cold cloudy with a good chance of rain. I chanced just wearing shorts and a t-shirt, as I tend to heat up pretty fast while running and I didn't want to be too warm. I did bring gloves though, which was key through the first half, but cheap and I could toss them if I needed to. We arrived with about half an hour to go, a little later than I planned, but perfectly adequate, as it turned out. The start area seemed well planned with adequate porta-johns, readily available.

The run was mostly uneventful, with the exception of a Garmin issue around 5.3 miles in. My gloves were getting wet and kept touching the bezel of the watch, which causes it to beep and change display. This was getting quite annoying, so I decided to lock the display, but somehow I managed to make the thing hang horribly and after a minute or so, I forced a reboot, all of this, which trying to maintain my ~8:33 pace, what a fiasco. The watch came back and had only paused the workout, which I could restart, only have lost a minute or so. This meant that the watch could not longer accurately track my distance or total time, but it would still be able to give me a indication of my pace. Looking at the workout in Endomondo, you can see that all this messing about actually buggered up mile 6 for me, but what the hell. The course was very nice and meandered up and down some rivers and around the edge of Lake St Clair. There were no hills to speak of, apart from right at the very end, a nice uphill before the final straight, what a way to finish.

A huge thing for me is my developing running form, from the two pictures, you can see my horrible heel striking is gone, while I work on my cadence and posture. Cadence averaged out at 188 per minute, with 190 being the desired. The head up, look forward and gradual lean thing seems to be making a difference too, we'll see how it all goes over the coming months. Post race, I never experienced to much pain, either in my calves or the soles of my feet, so really quite chuffed over all.

All in all I really enjoyed this run, way more than the Martian. The marshalling was excellent, there were plenty aid stations, the medal is kinda cool, although my shirt is a little big.

How my Garmin saw it - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/172563219

How Endomondo saw it - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/t2OHkrojQKw

Results; 20/55 in my age group, 194/841 - http://www.raceservices.com/12/letsmove/042812_hm.html

Black long sleeved
tech shirt

March 2012, a great recovery

The one sentence summary for this month would be, most miles run in one month, so far, >50 miles. I'm going to put this all down to the 'Most Running in One Month - March', challenge in Endomondo. Turns out that this simple challenge becomes a huge motivator, so much so that I ran more in March than in any month previously, 54.76 miles, which also took me over 100 miles for the year so far. A lot of this can be put down to starting to try and run at lunchtime while at work and trying to maintain good running form, all in preparation for my upcoming first official half marathon, the Martian in Dearborn, Michigan. I'll leave it at that and get this posted now.