Dances With Dirt - 9/21/13

Leg #1 - The Stampede

I did this leg last year as well, starts out really fast and then slows up as we get to the forest. Hilly with lots of exposed roots and rocks, just to give you that potentially ankle rolling excitement. Conditions were perfect for running. I felt really good at the start but that waned fast, I overtook quite a few people in the forest, but ended up slowing down as we got towards the end. I finished 1:25 faster than last year, though, which was a pleasant surprise



Leg #2 - This Sucks!

Second time for me with this one too, although it didn't seem wasn't quite as bad as last year. this leg involves a short run through a campground and then up into the woods, I saw a number of runners that were finishing the previous leg, coming towards me. but on the whole it was fairly quiet. I passed probably half a dozen people in the woods and only got passed by one girl (now known as the gazelle). I attempted to keep pace with her but she was flying, so I ended up on my own for a bit. After a three miles in I heard some voices, which can only mean one thing, we are at the mud, waist deep thick crappy gooey stuff, followed by a river crossing. I actually saw the gazelle at the river crossing, she and another couple of girls were going down the river, presumably to try and find somewhere better to exit, while myself and another guy decided that straight across would be the least painful method. After about half a mile of complete crap, we got out of the woods onto the bridleway for a long straight run to the exchange. Whaddya know, about half a mile into the bridleway, I got passed by the gazelle again, kinda funny, I guess her short cut wasn't such a great idea after all. I got to the exchange point but my team was nowhere to be seen, so what followed was a couple of minutes of confusion and then I was done.



Leg #3 - Bovine

First time for this one. Last year it involved a really nasty pond crossing, this year a slightly less nasty pond crossing, but some very extreme trails and a couple of very steep hills, oh and not very many people.



Reflections

Would I do it again, yes, I think so, if you'd ask me beforehand I would probably have said no, but it was kinda fun.

The whole timing thing is a joke, let's not pretend that this is really a race, unless you are in the top few teams, all the other teams do so much 'cheating', ie letting your next team member leave before the previous one has arrived.

Before the race, Bells Brewery setting up the beer

More beer setup

Pre-race milling about

Me, after my second leg, 'This Sucks!'

Post run festivities

Relaxation

Slightly busier beer area

The band... done

More festive imbibing

The team

Milford Labor Day 10k, August 31st 2013

Jeez, what a bloody messy start to the day that was...

Woke up at 8:10 am, for a bloody 8:30am race, of course, at that point I wasn't even sure that it started at 8:30, I just got up, got my crap on, found my Garmin and hit the door, swearing all the way. I quickly realised that I hadn't eaten or drank either before leaving the house, which isn't ideal race preparation, but what the hell. I did have a complimentary GU that I picked up at packet pickups evening, so I guess that was now officially going to be breakfast. After driving like an idiot, I arrived at the parking lot just in time to see the 10k start. I was willing to start running without food, but not without hitting the restroom. And with all deeds done, I got to the starting line ~5 minutes after the start, I asked if it was ok if I could go, got the nod and off I went.

I caught up with the slowest walkers after two or three minutes and the slowest runners a couple of minutes after that. I have to admit that it was kind of cool starting at the very back as there was none of the usual jostling for position that goes on further up the field. It was also nice not getting overtaken by anyone, and not feeling the mildly demoralizing feeling that it brings.

This is the third year in a row that I have run this race, so the course no longer contains any surprises for me, even the aid stations are in the same places as before. The hills haven't gotten any easier though, they still suck. This is definitely the most challenging 10k in the local area.

All in all, I enjoyed the race. The usual medal, but with the year on it, free beer, free food, awesome day.

My official time was 57:00, but as the race was using gun time, ie no starting timing mat, I'm taking my Garmin time, 54:24.

Sand Creek Half Marathon

Wanted to run a race with my old buddy and running mentor, Stuart, while visiting him in beautiful Denver, Colorado. The calendar didn't show us too much to choose from, it was either this or an extreme trail race, and what with it already being difficult for me due to the altitude, we opted for this half marathon.

They say it's all about the company and that was the only positive about this race.

Rather unimpressive stalls, mostly not open

Gordon & Stuart

Gordon & me, note he put on his own number

In summary; crap post race snacks, crap course, crap medal, great running with my son and my buddy.

Yes, the medal really was that small

Kona 10 Mile Run, Northville, Michigan

Woke up, bright and early at 6am, the race was due to start at 7:30 so I had plenty time to eat, feed the dogs, let them out and get on the road. I got to Northville Downs about 45 minutes before this start, parking was no hassle (a pleasant change from most races). I wandered in and then went out onto the race track.It was quite a bizarre experience as I have been there a couple of times to watch trap racing, so to actually be put on the track was really quite surreal. I walked once around the track, just to try and stretch out my left calf, which has been bothering me. I was there a while before the start so I got to watch the starting line getting setup and the crowds build. I even had time for a couple of trips to the restrooms inside the racetrack. I met a couple of friends that were running in the 10k, had a quick chat then left them to it as they were getting ready for their start.

I wasn't feeling at all confident about this race due to injuries which led to crappy preparation, my goal was to finish and hopefully still manage to be able to walk afterwards. The race started on the racetrack and we done one loop and then out onto the open road. As usual, even though requested not to, the front of the field was full of walkers and slower runners, and as usual it made a mess of the start - a real pet peeve of mine. I had the usual messing around trying to find a gap and got underway. On leaving the track and car park, I saw a guy leaving and then rejoining the race, apparently he didn't like the surface in the racetrack so kept on his VFF's until he hit the road and was now going barefoot for the whole 10 miles, damn impressive.

The first hill came almost immediately, I decided that I had to try and power up it as I was planning on losing time later, it was a nasty ass kicker but got there. I decided at this point that my usual forefoot strike was going to hurt too much so opted for what I hoped was a mid foot strike with high cadence ¹. Even though I was midfoot striking the pain stayed with me for the whole race, didn't get any better or any worse, just stayed there,as a dull throb, but what the hell.

The race continued very hilly, but I struggled on, hoping  for a sub 1:45 finish, what with injury and dismal training. I cranked it up for the last mile, when I realised that a sub 1:30 was possible, but to no avail, all in all, very pleased with it though.

Snacks and entertainment after the race were great, as usual for a Kona organised run. I really enjoyed the Japanese drum troupe, especially.

The finish line and party

Shirt (tech), number (with QR code for personal results) and medal

Close up of the medal, The darker
blue stripes in the middle
are actually translucent, kinda cool

1 - I really must get someone to take a video clip of my various running strategy's so I can get a feel for what is truely going on down there.

2013 Shamrock 'n' Roll Run

Here's to a quick one. Damn cold morning, Bren's first race. Bren was starting exactly one hour after me but I was hoping to make it back in time for her start. Due to current injuries and lack of training, this wasn't at all certain.

The morning was damn cold, well below freezing, which is really quite bizarre as last year it was in the low 70s at the start, but this is Michigan and the climate is a bloody disaster, and so we move on.  After the usual Kona stuff we got on with it. At one point, ~mile 5, one runner asked if I was carrying an injury as I seemed to be favoring my left foot, and he was right, the pain in my ankle was building and my form was starting to get affected, I just wanted to be done. Crossed the line faster than I hoped for, got the usual snacks and a very impressive medal (they never disappoint). All in all a fun morning, but damn cold.

I have to give a huge shout out here to Kona Running, every race they organize is better than the last. This time, instead of just trying to encourage slower racers to start at the back, they were actually having two different starts, the second 10 minutes after the first in both the 5k & 10k races. Obviously this still doesn't stop eveyone, but it certainly helped.

The bibs also have a QR code that enabled you to get your results after the race, just by scanning it with your handy dandy cell phone app

Finish time of 52:12, 27th out of 100 in my age group and 340th out of 1,818 overall, glad I got it done and legs weren't sore for too many days after.

30th Fifth Third Turkey Trot; 22nd November 2012

Myself & Gordon before leaving home

Up bright and early on Thanksgiving morning for our second Fifth Third Bank Turkey Trot. Myself and Gordon were going to be picking up a friend on the way, but he lives very close by, so no big deal. The forecast was for very mild weather, so I opted for just regular running shorts and a short sleeved shirt, the only thing was going be the waiting beforehand and the walk back to the car after, but I'll take being cold then rather than too warm on the run. The drive downtown was kinda scary due to extremely heavy fog, but it didn't hang around for long.

We parked at a  lot that my friend Chris uses regularly, it was $10 but the Lions were in town and even the car park guys like to make some money once in a while, that's capitalism for you. We had a ~10 minute walk down to the starting line at Campus Martius, which was uneventful. We decided to hang around inside of the Compuware building and avoid the crowds and the cold.

Hiding with Chris in Compuware,
avoiding the cold.

With about 15 minutes to spare we decided to head down to the starting line, I guess we knew it was going to be busy but didn't quite realise just how busy. We started in the group called 'Blitzen' - expected 8:00 to 9:30 minute mile pace, but there was all kinds of runners around us that it didn't really matter, even more importantly they, it started 15 minutes ahead of the next group. There were an awful lot of announcements going on, but due to terrible acoustics we never understood a word of them. we then got the national anthem, just as the sun was rising over Windsor, which was kinda cool, and then we were off.

The start, as usual with these things was bedlam, with slow people and dog owners deciding that they should start at the front, and fast people that ended up at the back for some reason, the bottom line is that people are flying everywhere, while you try and dodge around others. The few streets at the start are quite tight and wind quite a bit, which makes for an overall interesting and slightly terrifying experience. The route is pretty much three long out and backs, with some messing around at the end. Much as I tend to not like the out and backs, the crowd (waiting for the Thanksgiving Parade) and the variety of runners with costumes, etc, make for an interesting race. Myself and Gordon both had inexplicably sore knees, but that is the joy in running I guess. We did stop at one point to see if Gordon could stretch and get rid of the pain, but to no avail and we kept on going.

Bedlam

What with this being the 30th anniversary of the race, the Parade company, that put on the race decided to give out medals and this was really killing the end. We rounded the last corner only to be met with a throng of people. So much so that we weren't even sure at which point we crossed the finish line, a disappointing end to a cool race. I'd say it took easily 10-15 minutes to actually get our medal and get inside for a snack. Snacks were very underwhelming, with some water, a cookie, a bagel and the worlds smallest banana. Chris was a little behind us a got nothing, again, very disappointing.

I did hear while trying to get to the end that there are more races on Thanksgiving morning in the US than any other day of the year and that the race in Detroit is the biggest of them all, at around 20,000 runners, so I'll cut them a little slack, but not too much.

I finished around 54:44, but to be honest it was a bloody mess at the finish line, I didn't even know where the line was it was so busy. According to the official stats, I was 91 / 384 in my age group and 1224 / 7695 overall, which I'll take quite happily. This race was never about doing a PR, it is just a cool thing to do on Thanksgiving morning and cooler to do with Gordon.

How Endomondo saw it - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/109167489
How my Garmin saw it - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/245685006

Looking up Woodward, to the starting line &
we were nearer the front...

Wicked Halloween Run; 28th September 2012

Very cool medal, nice lanyard

As soon as they announced that this one was coming again and that the medal & shirt designs were going to be different, I knew I was going to sign up for it. Plymouth is a great little town to run around and mid-fall is the perfect time to do so, what with the fall colors, etc. I also asked Gordon if he wanted to run this one with me and he was all over it.

Got up, bright and early on race day as usual. I decided that I'd continue with the shorts, although it was a little chilly, but wear a long sleeved shirt and gloves. We were going to pick up Gordon at his moms so we had to leave a little earlier than usual, but no big deal. We got to Plymouth about 45 minutes before the start, and got parked easily, I didn't get a chance to pick up race packets beforehand, so we headed there first, and it was mobbed, c'est la vie, it's always something. The line went fairly fast and we got them within 15-20 minutes or so. It was still damn cold, so we waited in the food tent until they called us to the start.

The panels are actually purple, dunno why they
came out blue in the picture

The race was running about five minutes late, due to the huge crowds now a packet pickup, not really a big deal but it was good to see the problem getting dealt with. We met up with one of my colleagues from work, just before the start, had a chat and then it was time to begin. One strange thing here was the lack of an actual starting line, sure there was a timing mat, but typically there is a big inflatable archway at the start, all very strange. I also noticed as we were starting to line up for the start that this 10k race was going to have pacers, 4 minutes apart, which was kinda cool. I decided that sitting behind the 48 minute pacer would be a good place to start, I was hoping for a sub 50 minute finish, which would be 1:21 minutes below my current PR, so no mean feat. Plymouth is a very flat little town so I knew that if I was going to PR anywhere, it was here.

The race started nice and fast, due to everyone spreading out next to their expected finish, probably the first time I have really experienced this one. I knew that a 48 minute finish was a little too keen, but if I could at least try and keep it in sight I might do ok. Gordon ran with me, only getting stuck a couple of times, we both felt pretty good, if a little chilly, but I knew that would soon go. Matt, who was running with us, decided to pull ahead after the first mile, but we found a good pace and kept with it, putting in a solid 7:55 for the first mile. The second went even faster at 7:41 and both myself and Gordon still felt good. We passed a couple of aid stations, only briefly pausing to grab a quick drink and keep going. The race progressed better than I hoped and I kept up the sub-8 minute splits, 7:57, 7:56. By the fourth mile I knew I was feeling it, but suspected Gordon still had some pace left in him so said he didn't have to wait back for me, he could get going if he felt up to it - he sped up gradually and was gone. The fifth mile was another solid sub-8, 7:54, but by the sixth I was feeling it, and just couldn't manage another sub-8, managing a 8:08. I attempted to speed up and finish strong, but I didn't have too much left.

PR my 10k by 2:10, also PR my 5k by 1:15 on this race too, kinda cool.

Kinda fuzzy pic of myself
& Gordon

I came in at 49:11, beating my best by 2:10, 25th out of 87 in my age group and 187 out of 1555 overall, a good solid performance and one to be proud of. Gordon finished in 47:57, 5th out of 23 in his age group and 142 overall, a great performance, beating his best by over 12 minutes...

How Endomondo saw it - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/huKKcaso1us
How Garmin saw it - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/237883576

We got very cool medals to go with suitably black and purple long sleeved tech shirts. The snack line was nice and short, and better organised than last year.

Brooksie Way Half Marathon; 30th September 2012

This was another race that was getting arranged with the help of my company, Tata Technologies, in much the same way as last years Detroit Free Press Marathon relay team last year. This year the half was the longest was the longest distance under offer, which suited me down to the ground. My son, Gordon, had also started doing longer distances as part of training with his school cross country team, so he wanted to run it with me. This was going to be our first long run together so I was looking forward to it. Gordon also contacted one of his friends, Yu, from his middle school cross country team and he was going to be running with us as well. The plan for this race, what with it being Gordon's first half and his friends first race since the spring, was to finish and still be ambulatory.

Up bright and early at 6am, grab a quick snack and get ready to head out to pick up Gordon and his friend at his friends house and then a 45 minute up to the Oakland University for the race. The field was going be significantly smaller than at Detroit, so getting parked near the start line shouldn't have been a problem. Hmmm, not so much, one lane into the car park meant that what should have been a leisurely drive up, packet pickup and a wander around for 45 minutes before the race, became kind of hectic and rushed, not the best start, but hey, you have to play the hand you are dealt and not necessarily the one you want, right? Work colleagues wanted all the runners from the company team together for a group photo, which we missed, ho hum. Anyway, off to the start and we were ready to rock.

Conditions we absolutely perfect for the race, a little cool, beautiful blue sky. The course, recently voted one of the best fall half marathons in the US, was apparently going to be a little hilly, with a mix or road and trails with plenty aid stations throughout. We lined up near the back of the pack as it was bloody mobbed and we couldn't fit in anywhere else, it did mean that we were going to have to navigate the walkers, etc, but what the hell.

The first four miles went well, although it took a while for the pack to really start spreading out. I could tell that Yu was starting to feel it but didn't want to let on, he just asked if we could take a very short walk after a water station and kept on going from there. The following miles were interspersed with pleasantly wooded trails and rather long nasty hills. Every aid station became a progressively longer walk, but all kudos to Yu, he stuck it out and kept going, even when it became obvious that he was struggling.

Looking at the elevation profile before the race showed that while the first half was mostly downhill, it did mean that the second was obviously going to be uphill, and it was, quite impressively at some points, but we got there and took pleasure looking back down them afterwards. I felt good pretty much the whole race although I did experience some pain in my left inner calf after about 7 miles, which stayed there for the rest of the race, although didn't actually become debilitating  We got a view of the finish line with about 1/4 mile left to go and Gordon flew ahead of me, which I guessed he would as he had plenty left in the tank, I also cranked it up a notch and finished strong.

All in all a fun day, glad we did it.

Race Reflections

• Beautiful course, nicely varied with trails, hills, etc.
• Well marshaled 
• Plenty of aid stations (almost too many, but you can never have too much of a good thing)
• Lots of enthusiastic spectators
• Lots of music, even a bagpiper at one point which was very cool
• Running with my son was very cool
• Extremely cool medal, very cool translucent inlay, the picture really doesn't do it justice.
• Perfect weather
• Parking sucked
• Post race snacks very fairly under whelming

How Garmin saw it - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/228743857
How Endomondo saw it - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/nBZ0xbwvmfw

Myself and Gordon, two generations of McWilliams
half marathon runners, kinda cool

Day glow green long sleeved tech shirt &
a particularly awesome medal

Dances With Dirt, Hell, Michigan - 22nd September

Preview

Going through some of the details for my next 'race', on Saturday. I'm running as part of a 5 man relay team in the 100k 'Dances With Dirt' in Hell, Michigan, an extreme trail run. Each runner runs three legs of between 2.4 & 6.9 miles, I'm running legs # 1 - The Stampede (4.79mi), 6 - This Sucks! (5.75mi) & 11 - Pure Michigan (2.5mi). The disclaimer has the word 'death' in the three times, the info pack, includes phrases like, 'please help the injured', 'decide how to best utilize or torture each runner', 'swamps may need buddy system'. Each leg is graded by what kind of issues you will come across, eg waist deep mud and how much poison ivy you will encounter, ie extreme. I'm a wee bit scared.

The Race

I had been wondering all week quite what I should take with me on this, my first Dances With Dirt. I didn't want to come across as the newbie and end up bringing too much, but the opposite would suck too. After much messing around, the decisions were made on the Friday night. I would bring my waterproof jacket and pants, snacks would be a couple of Milky Way bars, a couple of GU's, some Chomps, a couple of barbecue chicken breasts left over from a mid week dinner and water. I wasn't planning on eating it all, but better to have too much than too little. I also brought a couple of extra shirts, another pair of shorts and a two pairs of socks and a spare pair of running shoes (very old).

The morning looked like it was going to be pretty dank and bleak, the forecast was for storms and general nastiness. I got up, as planned at 5am'ish, got changed, made sure I had all my crap and decided that I may as well head out. I was meeting the rest of the team at a carpool parking lot about 30 minutes away, I knew I'd be a little early, but what the hell, just more time to get into the zone. Once I found the lot, no mean feat for me, it turned out to be extremely busy, just as well I decided to come early as I got one of the last spots, I guess it is a popular meeting area for competitors. A few minutes after I arrived, Jason, the team captain and guy responsible for asking me to take part in this event, pulled up in his van, I met the rest of the team and then were off. 

First Leg (The Stampede) - 4.75 miles; 284ft elevation; 44:38

Still totally unsure about how this whole thing was going to go down, it became time to take off the jacket and pants get ready to rock. I joined the pack at the starting line, about 2/3 of the way down. The rain had stopped for the moment, it was about 48F, so conditions not too bad. The gun went off and away we went. The race was a faster start than any I have run in before, probably due to everyone wanting to avoid the logjam at the back when we hit trails, by creating a logjam at the front. We quickly ran across a field toward the woods, the trail quickly narrowed and the hills started.

The trails were steep, full of exposed roots but dry. There were a few opportunities to pass people and some took them to pass me while I took some to pass other people. One solid place to pass people was on the uphills, I made a conscious decision to run the uphills. You tend to find, especially on the hills, that the really exposed root are in the middle of the trail, so some would walk around the outside, allowing me to use these roots as steps to help me get past fast.

Unfortunately, around mile 4, I started feeling a little pain in my left Achilles tendon, but kept on going knowing that I would be done in under a mile anyway, and would then have a few hours to try and rest up.

Coming from a road running background, I found it very tiring having to constantly look where I was placing my feet, due to the increased chances of rolling my ankle with ever step.

Elevation profile for 'The Stampede'

Garmin - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/225740582

Endomondo - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/hh9EvL_YcNw

Second Leg (This Sucks!) - 5.53 miles; 196ft elevation; 58:36

After everyone had finished their first legs,it was time for me to start my second leg. I was starting at one of the local campgrounds and this was going to be the leg with the dreaded mud. One of my teammates told me not to wear my good trail running shoes and just wear the piece of crap alternate shoes that I brought with me, just in case. he also suggested that I tie them tight and consider double knotting them, just in case, all I could think of was, how bad could it really be.

The leg started by running through the campground for about 1/8 mile and then quickly up and into the forest and more of the same as my first leg, only more so. The Achilles tendon pain came back, almost immediately, but what the hell, I had to keep on going. The hills were steeper, the trails were much tighter with less opportunities to pass people, although when I called 'on your left', people would try and find a gap so they could let you past. There were more exposed tree roots and this time we also had low overhanging branches to contend with, it is a wonder more people didn't fall. After a few minutes on the trail, some Ultras were running in the opposite direction on the trail, and they were flying, after ~20 miles of extreme trails. At one point I fell in behind a couple of other runners that were doing about a 9:30 pace and followed them for a while, which I think helped me quite a bit.

At one point we took a sharp right turn, into some very dense forest away from a more established trail, I heard some voices not too far out and whaddya know, we were at the mud. The trail started getting muddy very fast until we came across a a river that had quite a few very messy people attempting to wade across. The water was a couple of feet deep, followed by another foot or so of extreme mud, very sticky and very nasty. I traveled through the 1/2 mile or so of nasty horrible, sometimes waist deep mud, with the same group, helping each other out along the way.

After the mud we had a mile or so of a 'rails to trails', gravel path and then a run down the side of the road toward a local school. This gave an opportunity to try and get some of the mud off the shoes, but not too much. The school had baths in which to try and clean up and baskets to dump your shoes into, which I duly did.

Elevation profile for 'This Sucks!'

Garmin - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/225740590

Endomondo - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/sGlhZSKBQ2g

Third Leg (Xodus) - 2.68 miles; 146ft elevation; 28:47

My third and last leg of the day was going to be very similar to my first leg only a little shorter with a little bit of a difference. More hills, more roots, more loose rocks, with a wee bit of marshland thrown in for good measure.

Elevation profile for 'Exodus'

Garmin - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/225740595

Endomondo - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/tbwW7CYlZqU

Summary

Leg	Planned Time	Actual Time	Difference
1	49:47	44:38	-4:51
6	1:06:27	58:36	-7:51
11	35:16	28:47	-6:29

General Observations

I loved it, I loved trail running, I loved being out in the woods, I loved the challenge of it, I loved finally having an altitude graph from my Garmin that was actually worth looking at.

Milford Labor Day 10km, Milford, MI - 1st September 2012

This is the first race that I have done in back to back years. I knew pretty much what it was going to be like and what I was going to have to do.

Packet pickup was a breeze, but the expo was non-existent, apart from someone handing out free pizza vouchers. I got packets for both myself and Chris (http://www.endomondo.com/profile/2399200), as we were going to be carpooling in the morning, there was no point in both of us heading out there the night before.

The following morning rolled around and it was looking to be perfect conditions, when I had run the race last year it was extremely hot and humid, this one seemed a lot more pleasant. I wasn't hoping for anything too much from this race, just wanting to run it non-stop and under 1 hour, apart from that nothing special.

Cool, one color tech shirt

We were called to the starting line and I decided that I should switch one my GPS. A wee aside, my trusty Garmin Forerunner 405, decided to die horribly on me a couple of days before the race. I have had some issues before, most notable during the Festival of Races half marathon in Mount Clemens, when it hung then rebooted on me. This timel, I went to grab it from my car, as usual, before my lunch time run and it just kept on rebooting. I had resigned myself to buying a new one, but on the advice of my buddy, Stuart, I thought I'd give Garmin a call. They offered to send me newly reconditioned device for $40, which is waaay less then I planned on spending, so great stuff. So I had a watch for my race, a colleague let me borrow his Garmin 210. Let me just say that the 210 is infuriating, not only did it take a while to acquire satellites, it also kept detecting multiple heart rate monitors, during acquisition, which I had to acknowledge, very annoying. I ended up starting my watch a good 0.15 miles into the race, but at least I had something.

The race started and we got off. I done so much farting about with my watch I forgot to wish Chris, all the best, but what the hell, we were off and running. A first mile of 8:18 was as good a start as I could have hoped for, followed with an 8:16, set me up quite nicely for the himalayas. Miles 3 and 4 were going to be the nastiest on the course and didn't disappoint. Last year, it was around 2.5 miles in that I started walking and I walked on and off for the rest of the race, this year, I wanted to run all of it, which I managed. The rest of the course rolled up and down with one rather nasty hill about 1/2 mile before the end. I felt good and apart from getting over taken by three people just before the end, I was very happy with my performance.

I came in at 54:09, which is about 7 minutes less than last year. I was 57/175, 8/18 in my age group and 43/88 of all males, all in all, a performance that I am proud of.

Post race, there were plenty snacks, free beer and a burger/ grilled chicken for the runners, all in all, a great day.

How Endomondo saw it - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/87723045

Farmington Founders Festival Four Mile; 7/21/12

Me, finishing, just too fast for Bren

I pretty much decided to run this one at the last minute or the day before, which is kinda like the last minute. There was no online registration so I had to just turn up on the morning of the race and register, it was only $25 so no big deal. The course started in Shiawassee park in Farmigton, and meandered through a couple of neighbourhoods, south of Main Street before heading down the parade route, before finishing back in the park.

I don't have too much to say about this one, nice course, ok post race snacks and a very ordinary cotton t-shirt. I did want to stop and walk pretty much after the first half mile, but stuck with it until the end. I came in at 32:30 (8:08 pace), which I was pleasantly surprised with, which put me at 12/ 23 in my agr group and 90/ 222 overall. Why does my age group have to be some damn fast :-(.

It was very cool having my new wife, Bren, and my dad (currently visiting from Scotland), there at the finish line to greet me.

How Endomondo saw it - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/73670775

Ann Arbor Marathon; 17th June 2012

Pre-race

So this is it, the big one. I'm starting the blog posting a little early just so I can post quickly, post race. Right now I feel totally underprepared for this, my training has not gone well and I am hoping for the best on the day. As it will be the middle of June the weather could be anything from mildly pleasant, to hot, sticky and very nasty.

The course looks like it was created by the Ann Arbor/ University of Michigan (UoM) tourist board as it tries to pass everything of note in the city/ university campus. Now don't get me wrong, I would certainly like to see the sites as I drag myself around, but what I really don't like is the classic 'lollipop' run. I really don't like seeing the people ahead of me after they have just run what I am about to and this course is full of them, it even has lollipops inside of lollipops, one lollipop you do at the very start and you get to do again at the very end. I will admit it is nice to see people just starting the bit that you have finished, but, not worth it enough to be on the receiving end. I like variety in a course, I don't like bit straight bits (this has them), running around with nothing to see (for example a shopping mall carpark, yup, you got it, for 1.5 miles), nasty hills (yup, those too). Run details can be found at http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/67930316.

Packet pickup was a joke, What genius decides to do packet pickup inside of a shopping mall, on a Saturday, needless to say it was damn busy. They also failed to say that packet pickup was actually inside of the mall, all in all, most frustrating. The bib was also kind of unusual, it had a detachable section at the bottom, that the timing tab was attached too, seems like a strange place to put it.

The race

I finished, I survived and it was a whole helluva lot harder than I thought it would be, way worse than running two half marathons. I've run three previous half mrathons and a couple of ~10mile races, I thought that there would be a gradual slowing down, I thought the wall was a phrase created by people that under fueled or were badly prepared, and jeez, was I wrong.

The 'Big House' - largest capacity stadium in the US,
third largest in the world at  109,901
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stadiums_by_capacity

So here goes, I woke up bright and early at 5:20am, grabbed a couple of bananas and some water and hit the road, I wasn't completely sure where I was going to park so I wanted to get there early. I managed to get parked right outside UoM stadium, very close to the starting line. I got my crap together, and decided to find the portajohns and, as usual, they were mobbed. Now I don't know what kind of esoteric calculations go into working out how many you should have at a given event, but let me just say that there is never enough, and today it was startlingly 'not enough'. Plus the portajohns, were right round the other side of the stadium, which was really quite annoying. I got in line quite early and I still on made it to the starting line, just in time to catch the national anthem, and then we were off.

I found the 3:55 pace team at the start and decided to see how far I could pace with them for, this was never part of the grand plan, the pace just felt right, so I went for it. I knew I would never stick with them, I just thought it would help me. The race started as a gradual downhill into downtown Ann Arbor, followed by a trip through the very picturesque main campus of the University of Michigan, closely followed by a long slow downhill, through some nice established neighborhoods towards Huron Parkway. Huron Parkway is along undulating four lane highway that was going to be the start of the lollipop phases of the race. I've said before my feelings on running a lollipop, so I'll not say anything more about them, apart from 'bloody hate them'. The lollipops did show off more of the UoM campus and quite a lot of impressive buildings and facilities and I was feeling pretty good, tired but managing.

Can anyone see how nasty it was?

OK, so where did it all start to fall apart, well that would be around mile 10, when the hills started to take a toll on my legs and I started the run/ walk. Another running blogger once said that walking during a long run isn't a weakness, it's a strategy, and now it was mine. The hills started coming thick and fast and the introduction of walking took my pace from ~8:40 up to about ~9:30, not great, but manageable. What really did it was the hill on mile 14, the route was taking us through the UoM Nichols Arboretum, which then meandered up the side of a fairly nasty hill, I shortened my stride, kept my pace and tried working my arms, but 2/3 of the way up, it got me and my race changed drastically.

This was followed by another fairly pleasant section through the campus, before an long (~1.75 mile) lollipop down Washtenaw Avenue. Washtenaw Avenue rolls along quite pleasantly when driving and kicks your arse when running. The little hills just kill you when you knows there is a turnaround, at some point, and constantly seeing people coming toward you, knowing that have already made the turn and you still don't know where the damn thing is, gnaws away at your very being.

The next part was a long slow drag down South State St, towards, what was going to be probably the most boring part of the race, running around the outside of the car park at Briarwood Mall, the location of the previous days packet pickup fiasco. It was whole approaching this that I hit the 20 mile mark and for reason realized that I still have about 10k still to go, ie typically I run 10k's and today, after having just run 20 bloody miles, I was just about to start a 10k, mentally, this wasn't a high point for me... The mall run, at about  ~1.75 miles around, was fairly demoralizing, more and more runners around me were starting to take longer periods of walking, I was long past running on empty, but just kept on going.

Sweaty, sore and done

Leaving the mall I saw the poor sods, still going in, but I had my own problems to deal with right now, more damn hills, but thinking that I still had a chance to break 4:30, I broke out another GU, tried to focus on form  and decided to try and up my pace a little.  I could see the Big House in the distance and stopped feeling quite as crappy as I had done. Passing the stadium people were shouting that we were almost done, we started on a little downhill and I knew that I could do it, until I realized we are heading back up Main and up another bloody hill, and another lollipop, I tried to keep my momentum going but I was toast, and beaten. I climbed the hill and anxiously looked for the turnaround and had hoped it would be right there, but knew, in my heart, that I wasn't going to be that lucky. Main St is a very pleasant little stretch, when out bar hopping and socializing, but I will forever remember watching people sitting outside at lunch, while I try and convince myself that I'm not going to die trying to finish a marathon. But still only half a mile to go, I turned a corner and someone shouted 'it is just around the next bend', which it wasn't quite - hmm I must try and track him down and punch him, really hard. Still one bend later, there was the finish line, there was quite a gap between myself and the next person in front or behind, but I wanted to finish strong, which I did, and survived marathon #1.

Lots of good snacks, crappy pizza and lots of water.

Post race reflections

I fell into step with another runner around mile 13, a veteran of 20 marathons, who had another 2 planned this year, she said that this was a very nasty marathon and one of the worst she had seen for hills/ route, etc.

Sunday afternoon was fun, but sore. I took a long bath with a nice sandwich and a cold beer. I went out with my eldest son for a short (~3.5 mile) bike ride, which I think was a good idea.

Between Endomondo measuring high at 26.95 miles & my Garmin measuring low at 26.15 miles and the course being USATF certified (MI 12029 SH), hopefully at 26.22 miles, who really knows how far it truely was, but I'm taking it as my first full marathon.

Results

Overall 312/ 605; 22/ 42 in my age group; first half I was #274 with a split time of 2:00:38.7 (9:13 pace), whereas the second I was #338 with a split time of 2:32:13.8 (11:37 pace), total time 4:32:52.5 (10:24 pace). It does take Einstein to see I dropped 64 places in the second half, jings 'n' crivvens.

I suspect the field was nearer 800 but the results only go up to 6hrs. Full results at http://rftiming.com/raceresults.php?RaceID=120

How Endomondo saw it - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/ihLAtHV6_7U

How Garmin saw it - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/190258760

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