26.2 with Donna (Race recap)

4th Annual 26.2 with Donna (The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer)

Quote of the Race: "This race is great! It's like a Boston Marathon atmosphere! This is what it's all about. I'll see you on the road running (in the future!)" - Bill Rodgers, Four time New York City Marathon winner and masters world record holder for 5k, 8k, 10k and 10 miles - said to Jenny and I after Jenny recognized him in the chute after our half marathon finish and approached him to congratulate.

RACE STATS:
Location - Jacksonville & Jacksonville Beach. Race is an out-and-back that begins and finishes at the MAYO CLINIC.
Cost - Full Marathon: $75-$125 depending on pre-registration date.
Half Marathon: $55-$95 depending on pre-registration date.
Marathon Relay: $250-$300 depending on pre-registration date.
Year of Running - 4th Annual
Sponsor/Race Directors - Donna Deegan and The Donna Foundation, Jeff Galloway Training, The MAYO CLINIC, Publix, Genentech, Amgen, Eisai Oncology, Sanofi Aventis, MENTOR, VitaminID.com, Coffee Perks, 97.9 KissFM, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Macy's, Key Buick, Firehouse Subs, First Coast News, Winn Dixie, GU Energy Gel and more.
Charity - Proceeds go to breast cancer research and care. To date the race has attracted more than 26,000 runners and raised more than $2 million dollars.
Number of Participants - I'm a bit confused about this. According to the announcer at the race start they claimed to have 10,000 participants in this year's race. According to the official race results on the website there were the following:
Full Marathon - 670 Male, 942 Female = 1,612 total
Survivor Marathon finishers - 2 Male, 42 Female = 43 total
Half Marathon - 983 Male, 3,049 Female = 4,032 total
Survivor Half Finishers - 3 Male, 181 Female = 184 total
Relay Marathon - 153 male, 215 Female = 367 total
By my math that's about 6,238 participants not including the 5k runners that raced the day before. Regardless, it's an awesome event with an awesome race field.
Available Races - Full Marathon, Half Marathon, Marathon Relay on Sunday with a 5k on Saturday.
Course Condition - Asphalt paved road with about 2 miles being on hard-packed beach sand along the Atlantic Ocean. This course is flat and about as fast as they come with no hills except for a medium incline bridge that passes over the Intracoastal Waterway.
Pace Groups - Yes, for both Half Marathon and Full Marathon.
Expo - One of the best in the region; hands down. Located at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in downtown Jacksonville, Fla. There were more than 100 vendors and tons and tons of free stuff being given out. First Place Sports was also there selling just about anything running related. The atmosphere is definitely "Female" orientated, but any male runner can find plenty of goodies here.

ORGANIZATION, SUPPORT & SPECTATORS:
To date this is one of my favorite races in terms of superior organization, tons of support and plenty of emotion all around. Being a breast cancer fund raiser and awareness campaign everything is pink from the mile markers to the race t-shirts. This is also the only race I've ever attended of this size where there is never a wait for a restroom before, during or after the race. I suspect because it's a race with many more female participants than males they really score on making sure there are more than enough restrooms EVERYWHERE. From packet pickup to checked bags to race day transportation to checked bag pickup everything flows seamlessly without stress or frustration. For being only the 4th year this race could serve as a model for any other race in terms of organization.
The support is excellent. There are plenty of aid stations armed with more than enough volunteers handing out water, Gatorade and GU gels all along the course. Did I mention there are plenty of bathrooms along the course as well??? Medical personnel roam the course on bicycles and this is a closed road course.
This race has a very big emotional factor for thousands when it comes to breast cancer or cancer in general. Hundreds and hundreds of spectators line the course to watch and cheer on participants. Residents living along the course in different neighborhoods sit out in their driveways playing music and sometimes offering their own aid stations stocked with food, water and I even saw one with beer. Even along the more isolated sections of the course there are spectators along the highway and bridge.

ACCESSIBILITY:
This race is set up for easy access by locals or out of town visitors. Jacksonville is accessible by Interstate 95 from the north and south and Interstate 10 from the west. For those flying in there is an International Airport just outside of town with shuttles to many of the race sponsored hotels that have shuttles to the race start before and after the race.

SWAG:
Oh my God! There's tons of swag to be had at the EXPO. For participants there are long sleeve tech shirts (white for male and pink for female), draw-string race backpacks that double as checked bags on the day of race and the normal race sponsor items and coupons inside these bags when picked up at the EXPO. Race finishers get a super cool medal and two beverage tickets that can score beer in the family reunion area.

POST RACE AWARDS & FOOD:
Plenty of volunteers line the chute after the finish line with everything a finisher could ask for whether it's water, an emergency blanket, ice packs, post race photographs and oh, don't forget the medal. All finishers get a really cool medal. As the chute funnels out into the Runner's Village there's a first aid station and lots and LOTS of food. Panera Bread serves hot soup, Publix serves fruit (bananas, oranges & muffins) and various sponsors give away their products. Runners easily claim their checked bags and then can filter out into the Family Reunite Area where there's more food for sale, beverages and live music being played. Each participant gets two beverage vouchers on their race bibs good for beer or soda or water. A lot of Jenny's friends that don't drink gave me their vouchers so I had a beer or four! At noon they gave out awards on stage. Top finishers in age groups get backpacks!

MY RACE STORY:
This is a race that I will hopefully remember for the rest of my life. It was one of those times when all the planets and stars align just perfectly and create something wonderful and special and memorable.
First off, it's the day before Valentine's Day and last year Jenny and I (only dating for a few months) ran a marathon relay (Five Points of Life) together on Valentine's Day. We decided after that race that we should always do a race on Valentine's Day. Screw going out for an overpriced meal at a fancy restaurant with a long wait and bad service!
Secondly, it's a Team Hot Legs event (a couple dozen of Jenny's female runner friends call themselves Hot Legs) and by my count nine of them are here on race day. Then there's myself and one other male, Don, who happens to be a 50 Stater (has run 1 marathon in each of the 50 states) and is a father of one of the founders of Hot Legs, Katie. So this race is almost a girl's weekend for Jenny, except I'm here and a few other husbands, boyfriends, fathers are too.
Lastly, Jenny and I are both dealing with on-going injuries so this is our first longer distance race in a few months. We're only running the Half Marathon and everyone else is running the full including three girls running their first full marathon.
Jenny asks me several times in the days before the race if I want to run together? My answers were vague, but consistent; I'd like to run with her, but I'm not sure I can keep up with her with my Achilles tendon being a little bothersome and I don't want to force her to run slow (which can be equally painful). The day of the race comes and we're standing in the corral trying to keep warm and Jenny asks again, "what's the plan?"
I answer with let's run together and see how it goes. Let's make this a fun run. No pressure. Enjoy the course. We find Michelle and Tracy in the start corral, but have lost everyone else in the exciting few minutes before the start.
Jeff Galloway and Donna Deegan both give speeches and then there's the countdown. I'm tall enough to see the 30 or 40 yards in front of me where the elites are toeing the line. There's a purse in this race so the Kenyans and Russians are here. There's a countdown and then the gun fires, music plays and pink graffiti goes everywhere!
We're off.
Like so many races there's some weaving and passing for the first few minutes, but after the first mile everyone has spread out into the proper paces. I would later learn that our first mile is our slowest at 8:48 average pace. Jenny and I fall into conversation. We talk in detail about how cold our extremities are, the Intracoastal Waterway we are seeing along the course and many other random subjects. Before I know what's happened we pass the mile 5 marker. I'm feeling really good at this point.
We run down the beach and it's absolutely beautiful. I was worried there might be good waves to surf and that I might feel like I was missing out, but the Atlantic ocean looks like a lake and there are no waves to be surfed. The conversation continues and we're both feeling great. Part of our strategy is to run a "conversation pace." If we're able to have a conversation then we're "taking it easy," and not going at race pace.
We pass the mile 11 marker and I'm almost dumbfounded about how good I feel. I look at my Garmin and become more confused. After doing the math I figure that if we run the final 2.1 miles at an 8 minute or faster pace I should easily beat my half marathon PR. I tell Jenny this and since we're both feeling so good we decide to go for it. We turn on our iPods for the first time. The first thing I hear is a Spanish lesson. Sh*T! I press forward and get another Spanish lesson. I downloaded some basic Spanish lessons before our vacation to Colombia last month and now my iPod is stuck in Spanish lesson hell when I need it to play something hard and heavy. Finally I get to some music. It's Hoobastank's "Running Away." Fitting. . . so I go with it. Right around mile 12 there is a bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway. It's the only bridge and the only hill. Jenny goes ahead of me as she's better going up and I'm usually better going down so I'll catch her. This is a strategy we used during the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll marathon. Only problem this time is there's several hundred high school kids just before the top of the bridge manning an aid station and cheering us on. It's awesome and I give some of the girls high fives as I run past. Only problem is they are accidentally creating a bottleneck and I get stuck behind several runners and once I'm through I realize I'm not to the top yet. This "hill" ends up taking a little more out of me than I expected and Jenny gets a little further away. I pick up the pace going down and pass a lot of runners, but Jenny still turns and slows down for me at the bottom. We turn the final corner and can see the finish line about a half mile away. Jenny says that Kid Rock's "Bawitdaba" just came on her iPod, one of her favorite running songs. My iPod begins to play "Give it all" by Rise Against. Epic! I look over at her and say "let's do this," and we both start kicking it. We cross the finish line a few minutes later running a 6:55 pace and holding hands! I look at my Garmin and I've shattered my half marathon PR by nearly a minute!
I don't usually buy the race pictures, but this one I might just have to make an exception.
This was one of the most meaningful and fun races to date. Everything about it was feel good! Heck, somewhere between getting water in the chute and getting our photos taken Jenny recognized Bill Rodgers standing over to the side all by himself. He had just finished a few minutes ahead of us and was cooling down. Jenny approached him to say hi and that's when I heard the "quote of the race," at the top of my blog.
After getting some food and icing our injuries Jenny and I spent the rest of the day watching her fellow Hot Legs finish the full marathon. There were quite a few PRs to be had and even a BQ. It's a great race and I'll always be up to run it again.


My official stats (Sunday results only):
214th out of 4,032 half marathon finishers
21st in my age division (30-34) out of 110 (top 19%)
Chip Time: 1:48:31 (a new half marathon PR!)
5-Mile split time: 41:10
Average pace: 8:17 (6:55 negative split on the last mile)
26.2 with Donna TallGuySurfing grade = A

Jenny and Team Hot Legs

Do what you say you'll do!

It actually came....



And I thought I should show it to you...

Not because I'm saying "Look at me, look at me, I placed," but ONLY because the race director of the Apalachicola Running for the Bay Marathon and Half Marathon ACTUALLY did what he promised and sent out certificates to all those placing in their divisions. (My race recaps HERE and HERE)

I didn't believe it until I saw it in my mailbox. At the race we were told we'd be mailed certificates for placing. After the snafu that was this inaugural race I doubted I'd ever see such a thing, but the race director actually did it. Oh yes, he did! And I'd like to say that's a good start!

It's a good start in improving this race if there is going to be a next year. Do what you promise. Do what's advertised and deliver. . .

Running for the Bay! Marathon and Half Marathon, 10k, 5k - Apalachicola, Fla.

Update: Keith Brantly was NOT a "no show" (see comments at bottom) and I apologize for my poor choice of words and lack of fact checking. Evidently he was at the expo at the scheduled time Friday night and due to being ill he informed the race director he would not be attending on race day. (update on Oct. 28, 2010)


Quote of the Race: "Ouch!" - The only word mustered up during the first few minutes by Jenny between tears and gasps for breath after crossing the finish line and achieving a Boston Qualification time with nearly 4 minutes to spare.

RACE STATS:
Location - Apalachicola, Eastpoint & St. George Island, Florida
Cost - Marathon ($79-$99 depending on pre-registration dates), Half-Marathon ($65-$85 depending on pre-registration dates), 10k ($49-$59 depending on pre-registration dates) & 5k ($29-$34 depending on pre-registration dates. Day of registration is unknown, but I do believe it was available.
Year of Running - 1st
Sponsor - K-Swiss, Cliff Bar, Culligan, LaraBar, RoadID, Ultra Running Magazine, RRCA and various other local businesses.
Charity - Website claims "Wounded Warrior Project," but unknown if any funds or what amount of registration fees were actually donated or if that was just a suggestion to the participants to make their own donation.
Number of Participants - 681 total participant finishers. 237 for the Marathon, 266 for the Half, 88 for the 10k, 89 for the 5k and 1 for wheelchair division. (According to Active.com results as official results on the race website are not posted as of today).
Available Races - Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10k, 5k
Course Condition - Mostly concrete bridge with a few short sections of asphalt paved road. Most of course is along the road shoulder with little protection from traffic and goes with traffic rather than against (runners on right side of road shoulder). Approximately 1 mile of course was closed to traffic. Overall very poor and dangerous conditions that need major improvements.
Pace Groups - None. When asking the "information" volunteer at the expo about pace groups it quickly became apparent that they had no idea what we were talking about. We were told there would be bicyclist "pacing around" during the race.
Expo - Day before and average for a race of this size. Packet pick-up and expo (1-vendor from what I could tell) was held at the Apalachicola City Hall located at 1 Bay Avenue.

ORGANIZATION, SUPPORT & SPECTATORS:
It's sad and perhaps ironically fitting that in an geographic area savaged in recent years by hurricanes and oil spills and desperate for economic recovery would be destined for this horrible fate known as Running for the Bay! Marathon. The idea was good and on paper it looks great! The turnout was even impressive for an inaugural event. We were told nearly 800 were pre-registered. Weather was perfect with a temperature ranging from 58-degrees at the 7 a.m. start to low 80s by Noon. The sky was clear and wind was light to begin with becoming slightly annoying later in the race. Sunrise was beautiful at about 7:48 a.m. The problem at its core lies with the Race Director and what appeared on the surface as a break down in multiple areas of communications, organization, support and logistics. I was part of a party of 11 visitors to this area, all of us eager to spend some money and have a good weekend. Seven of us participated in the race (One 10k, two Half Marathon and 4 marathon). Judging from the amateur design of the race's website and doing some weather research on average conditions for the area we came into the race knowing there could be some quirks and hiccups. None of us could believe what actually happened. As for organization, the race director needs help. From our point of view (and I spoke with him at a very lackluster awards ceremony) he was not a "runner" and needs a basic education on average runner needs. The idea was good. The execution was lacking. The race clearly did not have enough volunteers and race officials did not adequately warn runners what they were getting into. Minutes before the start it was apparent that there was a communication break down as a voice over a loud speaker desperately tried to gather volunteers on a bus. There were a total of 10 port-o-johns for nearly 800 runners at the start line and they were pretty much limited along the course. I only noticed one while I was running the Half Marathon. Also, while standing in line before the race a heavy duty truck pulling a large pontoon boat forced its way through the lines as it was trying to make way to the boat ramps, which should have been closed. Support was seriously lacking in every facet from water, fuel, volunteers, police traffic support, course markers and medical help. The one saving grace were the volunteer bicyclist that seemed to be everywhere trying their hardest to help despite being overwhelmed. Spectators were few and far between. Family members and friends of runners seem to gather around the finish line. There were a few along side the road in Eastpoint, but other than that it was nada. It was not the welcoming crowd of residents lining the streets that race organizers were hoping for and promising on their website. Furthermore, the race was advertised to feature Olympian Keith Brantly. I'm not sure exactly who he is nor was that a deciding factor of my attendance at this race, but as far as I could tell he was a "no show," or they never announced his presence. It was evident that Dane Rauschenberg was in attendance as he had a booth at the expo selling his book and I saw him cross the finish line with the female overall winner.

ACCESSIBILITY:
There's a small general aviation airport in Apalachicola, but otherwise your best bets are flying into Tallahassee or Panama City, both a little more than an hour drive away. A car is a must to get around as public transportation is not readily available. I suppose you could come in on a shrimp boat.

SWAG:
Not too shabby. This is one part where the race organizers came through with their promises. Inside the race packets were a really nice Zorrell tech T-shirt (white in color) with race logo on the front and sponsors on the back. There was the normal coupons (Road ID order form, etc.) and Cliff Bars, Larabars and Cascadia Farms cereal.

POST RACE AWARDS & FOOD:
The finisher medals for Half and Full Marathon are absolutely beautiful with a spinning center section and even a pearl embedded on the front. Only problem is they started breaking as runners walked around post-race with them around their necks! The center section is prone to falling out! Overall men's and women's winners received K-Swiss shoes. Age division finishers were given various sponsor swag including towels, water bottles and lanyards, but nothing too special. The race director personally told me that certificates would be mailed to all top finishers, but I'll believe it when I see it. The post race food was one of the biggest downfalls of this race. It consisted of soda cans (Coke products), potato chips, cliff bars (which they ran out of toward the end of the race), water in small cups and mixed-from-powder Gatorade in small cups. After catching my breath at the finish line I had to repeatedly go back again and again for additional cups of fluids simply because the portions were too small. Seriously, how hard is it to have some bananas or oranges or bagels at the finish line??? Again, if race officials had better informed runners of exactly what would be provided at the finish line I'm sure more participants would have been better prepared by providing their own post-race recovery food and hydration.

MY RACE STORY:
I'm going to keep this as short as I can as I've already pretty much trashed the race in the above review and I HATE being negative. I hate anything that makes me be negative so I'm going to focus on the positives for a bit.
We got to the race about 45 minutes early and found it super easy to park within a few hundred feet of the start line. We stood in the bathrooms lines for the majority of our pre-race time and almost got run over by a truck pulling a boat! The announcer had all 700-800 runners line up telling us to get in order, fast runners up front and slow runners at the rear. They gave the hand-crank wheelchair dude (he was the only one) a 2-minute head start and then they blew the horn and we were off. It was dark and initially crowded. Kind of a clusterf*ck as we turned the corner to go over the first section of high rise bridge. There was significant camber and while it did not affect me I'm sure it bothered some runners. The next 5 miles were basically into the sunrise and amazingly beautiful. It looked like the horizon was on fire as early morning rays of light breached the bay.
Listening to Metallica's Ecstasy of Gold from the S&M Album on my iPod, I hit replay and listened to it twice as it was totally surreal. I had worked hard in the days prior to this race on my playlist. It has been a long time since I listened to music during a race and I was stoked about my selection of songs. I even calculated the time of where I'd be at different sections of the race to what music would play. Then at mile 3, or near the 10k turnaround spot, I noticed something. It was quiet. Why can I hear myself breathing so hard, I pondered to myself? It's funny how when you're running it takes a long time sometimes to figure something out. A minute or two later I realize there's no music playing. I check my 5-year-old, 20-gig, iPod Photo and it's dead. I play with it, frantically trying to get it to come alive. I do a hard reboot. Then it's apparently obvious that the battery is dead. It was fresh off the charger and it only lasted 20-something minutes. With 10 miles left to run I grunted at the thought of no music.
So be it.
Last month, I ran to a PR finish at the Delta Lake Marathon in New York with no music. I will do it again!
As I arrive in Eastport, coming off nearly 5 miles of concrete bridges with heavy high speed traffic, I'm feeling pretty good. My legs are fine. My breathing is fine. I'm relaxed and on pace by my best mental calculation to finish around 1:45:00. This would be awesome and I celebrate the thought of such an achievement for a few seconds. There is a section of road closed to traffic so the fear of being annihilated by a car temporarily eases up and I settle in with the runners around me. There a few girls behind me, a few guys in front and an aid station on the horizon. I pull out a GU and slam it. I haven't taken any hydration yet and honestly can't remember seeing any aid stations. I think they were setting up around mile 1, but I must have been too early because they didn't have any water out yet. Now it's mile 6 and while I don't feel like I need anything yet, I force myself to take some water and my own personal GU. We were lucky enough to be staying on the beach on St. George Island so we got a preview of the course a hour before the start as we drove in to Apalachicola. All of us were silently horrified by the complete lack of aid stations so close to the race start. The mile marker signs were there, but we saw them there the day before and what's worse is some of them were blown down or blown away. I could tell Jenny was freaked out. She is attempting to Boston Qualify in the full marathon and did not bring a hydration pack because the race's website claimed there would be aid stations nearly every mile.
Soon it's time to split away from the full marathoners and head back to Apalachicola. I turn the corner and realize I'm completely alone. The pack of runners I've been pacing with all continued on with the full marathon. There's a ditch alongside the road. The thought crosses my mind of ripping off my dead iPod and tossing it into the ditch as hard as I can. It's strapped to my arm and bulky. It's providing "mental drag." The only thing that holds me back is the fact that you can get a discount from Apple if you recycle an old iPod when you buy a new one. I need all the discounts I can get.
As I approach state road 98 to make the turn back to Apalachicola there's a police officer that stops oncoming traffic just for me as I'm still alone. I thank her and continue on down the course. It's now that I realize how poorly marked this course is... I'm thankful I reviewed the map before and was familiar with it from driving it, but holy crap you could get lost without any other runners to follow! I can see a girl and a guy about three football fields ahead of me. We're running on the right-hand shoulder of a busy road so it's unnerving not being able to see approaching traffic. So far there's been quite the random collection of road debris including fun noodles, sharp aluminum siding, a headless seagull, a dead raccoon, hundreds of dead monarch butterflies and too many different types of trash to list. If this race was in my city I would be embarrassed of the trash along the course. The scenery is beautiful though as I can see for miles across the bay. Pelicans are constantly flying over and there's now a light breeze at my back. The sun is out, but I'm not hot yet.
I push on and realize I have no clue of how far I have left to run. The last mile marker I saw was mile 6. I'm on the bridges so I know there's less than 5-miles left. There's no water or aid stations and for the first time I start to feel fatigued. The guy in front of me slows and I start to gain ground on him. He's clearly thirsty like me. The girl seems to slow, but speeds up so I can't seem to catch her. Then I feel myself slowing. I feel as if it continue this hard I WILL relieve myself of whatever is residing in my stomach. That would not be fun, so I slow even more.
There's a sign on the opposite side of the road and as I look back I see it's the 10k turnaround marker. Now I can figure that I have about 3 miles left to go and that I've been running for more than 4 miles with no water options. Surrounded by water, water everywhere... but not a drop to drink!
There's a small strip of land, maybe 1/2 mile, between the long flat bridge I'm coming off of and a high rise bridge leading over the channel and down into the city of Apalachicola. This is the final mile or so of the race. At this point there are two, TWO, aid stations set up in this 1/2 mile or so stretch. At the first one I take water and thank the volunteer. At the second one I take water and dump it on my head. I've now got this damn bridge to climb. I almost have to walk about halfway up. I pass a 10k walker and make a commit about who's idea this bridge was and we laugh. At the top I'm about ready to puke, but I can hear the music at the finish line. I manage to get back on pace going downhill (my strength) and cross the finish line under the bridge with a PR of more than a minute!
A few minutes later, Katie (who just ran a full marathon last weekend) crosses the Half Marathon finish line. After catching our breath and meeting up with some of our other friends (including husbands of some of the girls out there running the full marathon), it's not even a question or a discussion. We simply get in one of the cars and drive to the nearest convenient store where we buy lots of cold water bottles and Gatorade. Speeding down the course with great concern for all the runners including our friends somewhere up ahead with no support, we do take note that there are now more aid stations set up than when we ran the course. We find Jenny first around mile 18 and offer hydration. She refuses and we cheer her on. Next comes Michelle, who also refuses, but is happy to see us along the course. Then we find Danielle and Allison. They're all looking good and strong, but some other runners aren't as fortunate. On the bridge to to St. George Island we hand out nearly all the water and Gatorade to every desperate runner we see. They are thankful and I wonder if the knew we did this on our own or if they simply thought we were volunteers in a car? The most horrific thing I witnessed in this race was a large bottle of water and a stack of empty cups at mile 20 on the ground on a bridge with nobody around it. The last thing any runner wants to do at mile 20 of a marathon is stop running, bend over to ground level and pour themselves a drink! At least as we headed back to the finish line there were some bicyclist pouring as much water as they could for the runners.
We are back at the finish line a short while later and waiting for our runners to finish. Jenny needs a 3:40:00 or better time to qualify for Boston and the race clock passes 3:30:00. I run up to the bridge to look for her and she's nowhere to be seen. I check my watch and it's now 3:33:00. I get very anxious and then I see a familiar stride at the top! Will she make it? I think back to my finish and the time it too me to get from there to the finish line and realize she has plenty of time. As she comes down the bridge I yell out that she's doing great! She goes right and I go left taking the short route. We all cheer her in at the finish line. She's a mix of smiles and tears and can hardly talk. After about 30 seconds she manages to get out a soft "ouch."
That pretty much sums up the race... ouch. But hey, she's a Boston Qualifer with nearly 4 minutes to spare.
All the other girls finish strong and we spend the rest of the day relaxing poor side and grilling out along the beach of St. George Island. The environment for this race was great. It was the organization that sucked. It's the first year, but not having enough water, volunteers or medical help is NOT excusable.
I hope they have this race again next year, but realistically, I can't recommend it to anyone. The race director needs to take everything he has and throw it out the window. Wipe the slate clean, forget everything he thinks he knows about running a race, and start over with the help of a strong running organization. There are some seriously dangerous flaws in this race that must be corrected or the race should never be held again.

Photos to come soon!

My official stats*:
15th out of 266 total Half Marathon finishers
1st in my age division out of 12
Net Time: 1:49:14 (personal record)
Gun Time: 1:49:37
Average pace: 8:20

Running for the Bay! Half Marathon grade = D-

*As I write this I'm still confused about what place I actually finished. I was announced by the race director at the awards ceremony as 1st in my age division and that's what I'm recorded on the official race results "here." However, according to Active.com results I'm 2nd place in my age division with the 3rd place overall male finisher taking 1st in my age division. He's clearly beaten me and is in my age group, but not listed as in my age group division. This is yet another failure in the organization and execution of this event. All I can say is WTF and it's not a big deal to me as I don't consider myself competitive and all I care about is the PR, which I got.

Delta Lake Half Marathon

I've decided to take a more formal approach to writing my recaps & reviews. Here goes my first shot at it!

Quote of the Race:
"What place is this for," says Jenny after hearing her name and quickly walking up and accepting her award at the after-race-ceremony?
"You got 1st place in your age group," I say to her.
"I got first place???" Jenny says.
"Yup!"
"Whoa!"

RACE STATS:
Location - Delta Lake State Park, New York
Cost - $25 pre-register, $30 day of registration (Can you say "holy crap that's affordable!")
Year of Running - 4th
Sponsor - Roman Runners Club
Charity - Unknown
Number of Participants - 150
Available Races - Half Marathon
Course Condition - Asphalt paved road. Rolling hills and flat stretches.
Pace Groups - None
Expo - None (packet pickup is on race day)

ORGANIZATION, SUPPORT & SPECTATORS
Take this race for what it is; a relatively small and super affordable half marathon organized by mostly volunteers on a course around a beautiful dam lake with only partially closed roads to vehicle traffic and it's one of the most well organized races I've ran to date. There's no official timing chips, but they did an excellent job with results (the official results were only 1 second off the time kept on my wrist watch). There were aid stations every two miles and somewhere between mile 6-8 there was an unofficial aid station with unknown volunteers handing out their own water and candies, or at least it appeared that way to me. There is minimal crowd support, but the spectators that did come out sporadically along the course are a much welcomed treat for runners. The course is not entirely closed to traffic and in some sections runners must run along the shoulder of the road. However, traffic is so little that I never felt endangered (except for the last 1/2 mile, which was my own fault and we'll get to that later). State Troopers on bicycles paced back and forth along the course and firefighters helped close off some roads. I give the race director an A+

ACCESSIBILITY
Coming from Florida this race seems out in the middle of nowhere. A rental car would be a must and the nearest major airport is about an hour away in Syracuse. Pre-race traffic was non-existent and even driving through Rome (the nearest city) at 8 a.m. was a piece of cake. The State Park (start/finish line) had plenty of parking, excellent facilities (with showers) and there was no fee for entrance.

SWAG
A recyclable shopping bag by a local sponsor contained the goodies at pack pickup. Enclosed were a Delta Lake Half Marathon souvenir cup full of chocolate candies, long sleeve high quality cotton Race T-shirt (color is black), bib number, state park brochure/map and safety pins. Not bad for $25 race registration cost. Organizers conducted a free raffle drawing of dozens of prize giveaways from sponsors after the race awards ceremony.

POST RACE AWARDS & FOOD
At the finish line organizers handed out water, Gatorade, bananas & sliced oranges. At the post race finish party area about a quarter mile away there was more food including hot dogs, cookies, coffee, yogurt, apples and more water. Awards were given away to the top three finishers in each age group (10 year age groups) and the top three female and male overall finishers.

MY RACE STORY
Jenny and I arrived about 45 minutes early. This race doesn't start until 9 a.m. How freaking cool is that!?! We had plenty of time to pick up our packets, use the bathrooms and scrutinize over exactly what to wear (it was about 49 degrees at start time). A random gentleman dressed in a suit and tie (probably on his way to church or coming home from a long night out) pulled up to the start line in a sports car, got out and belted out the National Anthem a capella with no microphone. He was awesome. After that and very abruptly, the race director yelled through her bull horn, "on your mark, get set, go!"

And we were off, just as simple as that. No timing chips, no corrals, no fireworks, nada. It's been a long time since I've run in a small race and it was almost comforting to have a simple start. It was only a matter or two or three seconds until I crossed the start line. Jenny and I agreed before the start that we'd go our separate ways. She's faster than me hands down and I wanted her to be free to run it, race it, tempo it or whatever she felt like plus get a longer run in at a faster pace as she's training for a full marathon less than 5 weeks away. I also wanted to try and PR this race. We were told by the race director on the phone that it's a flat course with a few small hills in the first few miles (Warning: this course is NOT flat by Florida standards). I've only participated in two other Half Marathons, both while being injured (Achilles tendon) with times not worth mentioning. In fact, I consider my Half Marathon PR to be during the Seattle Full Marathon in June when I crossed the halfway point right at 2 hours.

Today I'm feeling strong. I'm not injured. I'm well rested and there's very low humidity and favorable temperatures for me. It's time to race. I decide in the first 1/2 mile that anything under 2 hours will suffice. There's a few larger groups of runners to run around in the first 1/2 mile until we find a group at our paces. Jenny runs ahead of me and for the longest time I can see her ponytail bouncing back and forth. I think I lose all sight of her at some point after mile 6.

I'm wearing a L.L. Bean tech T-shirt, Nike running shorts, Brooks running hat and Brooks Adrenaline (with about 250 miles on them) shoes. The temperature is right at that critical envelop for me of almost being too cold, but just right. As we pass the first mile marker I look at my watch and it reads 8:10. "Crap, need to slow down," I tell myself while forgetting that some of the first mile was down hill. The field spreads out and soon there are only a handful of runners around me. We're running through residential neighborhoods. To the left there are lakefront homes - very large and very expensive looking. To the right are some equally impressive looking homes. Occasionally, someone is standing along side the road cheering for us. There's an ever-so-slightly breeze. It feels good on my skin. I'm not sweating. A few runners around me are sweating profusely. I can't help but think of how they'd probably have a heat stroke in Florida.

I pass up the first aid station, but decide to take some water at the mile 4 aid station. I manage to get a mouthful on the run without stopping and discard the mostly full cup near a volunteer with a trash bag (there were no trash cans). Some time after this a group of runners pass me. I begin to ask myself if I'm slowing down. I still feel strong so I keep going at what I feel is a sustainable pace. I begin to ask myself when I'll crash. The last Half Marathon I did, while injured (because I'm stupid), I crashed at mile 8 and actually got passed by a speed walker all because I started out too fast. Today I'm going faster than that "too fast" start last December. This echos back and forth in my mind. It's like some psychological warfare playing games with my subconscious. When will I crash? Will I crash? Maybe if I had some music I'd be distracted. It'd be nice to blast some Papa Roach or Rise Against right about now. . .

At the 10k mark and aid station I'm right around 50 minutes if I remember correctly. This might have been a 10k PR for me, but only mile 6 was marked, not mile 6.2. I decide that I'm a little slower than my 10k PR and that's a good thing because I don't want to crash in a few miles. I see the aid station approaching about a football field away. I reach into my gel pocket and pull one of three GUs out. It will be the only one I feel the need to take during this race despite my going for greatness in bringing three of them. It's "chocolate outrage" with caffeine. Yummy. This time I managed to gobble all of it down in two swallows and just in time to grab a cup of water from a kid that can't be but 7-or-8-years old. He's holding it as high as he can reach and looking up at me with that expression I know all too well; "wow that guy is tall!"
As I take it from him I say, "thanks big guy!"
Then I start to try and drink the water while running. I'm forced to stop and take three or four walking steps in order to ensure I get a LOT of water to mix with the Gu. Just before I resume running I look back at the kid and see him turning to his parents and smiling ear to ear. The giant guy called him a "big guy!"

The next several miles are uneventful. Everyone has kind of found their pace. There are three guys in front of me and one woman. I don't look behind me nor do I care. I'm pretending I'm the predator in this race, not the pray. I never see the mile 8 marker and for a while I start debating with myself of if I'm still in mile 8 or in mile 9... or perhaps I'm approaching mile 10? Soon I see mile 9 and as I pass it I realize I'm still feeling strong and I haven't crashed! I check my watch and then start doing the mental calculations in my head to keep myself occupied. It's a strange thing to try to do time/distance problems in your head while your exerting yourself near Vo2 max. I conclude that at my current pace I will most definitely break 2 hours. In fact, I might be on pace to finish in the low 1:50s. Then I remember the super long downhill stretch that we drove on our way to the race and how basically the last mile is all downhill. Another runner back at mile 3 mentioned the long downhill stretch near the end. If I calculate a long downhill mile into my pace I might be able to finish under 1:50:00. Having a Half Marathon time with the second number starting with 4 sounds a hell of a lot better than 5.

As I consider this I start to feel slightly fatigued. I decide I need to pick up my pace and I need a mantra. If there was ever a time for a mantra it's now! I'm feeling stronger than I've ever felt in a distance race. Without any major catastrophe I will surely PR, but after re-accessing my situation I want more. What would I be happy with no matter what at the finish line? I decide on "finishing strong." No matter what I want to go with negative splits these last few miles and finish strong. Finish Strong.... FINISH STRONG! I yell it in my mind at myself every few seconds as I push myself harder. At mile 10 see a volunteer holding a cup of red liquid. "What is it," I ask as I quickly approach and make eye contact with him. "Gatorade," he replies. "Awesome," I yell as I take it and slam as much in my mouth as I can without gagging. I hear all the volunteers in the background laugh a little behind me. I must look like a maniac. I feel like a maniac! Finish strong bitches!

"Only a 5k left to run," I tell myself. Who's pray? Finish Strong! Those are the only three things floating around in my mind now as we approach mile 11. The same three guys and a woman are still in front of me. They are spread out for about 50 yards with the closest to me being 20 yards away. I pass the first guy on the outside (he was hugging the shoulder) and keep pushing it. Finish strong! Next is the woman. She's wearing long pants, long sleeve shirt and a sleeveless vest over the shirt. God, she must be burning up! She has a gray ponytail and is listening to her iPod. I lay chase for some while and it seems I can't make much progress. I can't believe there's a gray haired woman kicking my arse! She seems to always pull away on any uphill stretch of the course. Finally, there's a long straight flat section and I manage to pass her. What an amazing athlete. I hope she places in her age group!

We reach the mile 12 aid station and all I can think about is the final downhill stretch. Still two guys in front of me, both looking like their in my age division of 30-39 years old. I'm good at downhill. I actually like downhill. Runners always complain about how hard downhill can be and how it'll trash your legs without warning. I have no idea why I'm good at downhill, but I LIKE IT! I take a cup of water and throw it all over the back of my neck and shoulders. It's cold and it feels good and there's no point drinking anything at this point in the race. 1.1 miles to go!

We turn a corner past the "dam" and the aid station and there's a hill that looks like Mt. Everest. I'm sorry for the language, but I belt out the biggest "what the F*ck!" as I look up at this beast before me. Nobody said anything about one of the biggest hills of the race being in the last mile. This is a huge blow to my plan of finishing under 1:50:00. I check my watch, do the math and realize I'm going to have to run something like a 7 minute mile to break 1:50:00 and apparently it's going to be partly UPHILL!

I shorten my stride, lean forward, look down (not to the top of the hill) and swing my arms more violently in an attempt to defeat this monster. There are still two guys within 40 yards of me. They are the only two runners in sight. About halfway up the hill I hear someone huffing and puffing behind me. It's a small short guy and he passes me with an amazing stride. He's new. I haven't seen him the entire race and he's definitely running a sub-7 minute pace uphill! I attempt to pace just behind him and soon realize there's no freaking way! He passes the two guys in front of me and I change my focus on keeping pace with them until we get to the top of the hill. Finish strong!

As we reach the top of the hill I feel myself running harder and keeping my breathing pattern the same. At the top I pass the first guy. Now I can see the long stretch of downhill road leading up to the finish line. Time to finish strong! I don't look at my watch. I just start running faster and faster. I let gravity pull me downhill. I imagine all the increased distance of my stride during that instant in each step where my entire body is airborne and free of the pavement. The machine of a guy that passed me on that hill is rounding the corner and I can barely see him passing the 13 mile marker. He is soon gone. Only that last guy in front of me. He's wearing a white shirt with thin orange stripes on the sides. He's only a few feet away and hugging the shoulder. This part of the road is not closed to oncoming traffic and occasionally there's an oncoming vehicle. Just as I decide to make my move and run on the outside (the only real estate available) and into the road I see a large truck quickly approaching us. I'm shoulder to shoulder with him and I'm in the traffic lane. Rather than drop back behind him I gamble and decide that the truck will probably swerve away from us. Not the smartest decision of the day! The truck passes the point where most drivers would begin a swerve. Crap. No time to get out of the way now! At the last second the truck veers away from us only slightly. The side mirror misses me by an arm's length. I feel the wake turbulence hit my body and with that a huge rush of adrenaline shoots down my spine. I smile, deeply inhale a breath of air and tell myself to "use it."

The adrenaline helps and soon I find myself at a full on sprint. The guy in the white and orange shirt is somewhere behind me.... pray.... I pass the 13 mile marker and can see the finish line. It looks SO FAR away. I can't believe that I'm physically able to sprint at this point! It's really not my style to sprint to a finish line so this is new for me. I can see Jenny standing in the crowd waving and jumping up and down. She's stoked about my time. Then I can hear her yelling my name. Finish Strong, finish strong, finish strong, FINISH STRONG!

As I cross the finish line I nearly collapse. During the last few steps I felt as though my legs were about to buckle. I stared at the clock the entire way through and watched as 49 disappeared and as the seconds behind the 50 ticked away. Whatever, it doesn't matter, I finished strong. Stronger than I've ever finished any race. Jenny is literally jumping up and down. The race director (I forgot her name) comes up and introduces herself as she remembered a telephone conversation with Jenny and thanks us for running her race while visiting "all the way from Florida." I tell her how impressed I am with her race and overall everything. It was a truly awesome moment. Later we find out Jenny (who finished nearly 9 minutes ahead of me and that wasn't even close to her PR time) got 1st place in her age division and was 4th overall out of all females. She's amazing!

My official stats:
40th out of 150 total finishers
7th in my age division
Official time: 1:50:21
Watch time: 1:50:20
Average pace: 8:25

Overall it was a great experience. I finished strong indeed and remained injury free. I can truly say that I left it all out there and now feel freshly energized about running. I'm registered for another Half Marathon next month in Florida with an all flat course and can't wait to see how I do without the hills, although temperature/humidity could still be an issue.

Delta Lake Half Marathon = A+ across the board!

After the race with Delta Lake in the background.

Holiday Halfathon Recap...

25 Days until Disney Marathon...

I am not ready.

I'm aware that I'm not ready, but last Sunday's 8th Annual Florida Gulf Beaches Holiday Halfathon (Half Marathon) was reality knocking on the door. Overall it was a great weekend. I got to see the west coast of Florida, a coastline I've only seen a handful of times. There were no waves, but that's expected. I met up with the Dietitian and seven of her female runner friends the night before at the packet pickup, which I have to say was way more exciting than the Daytona Half Marathon "expo" since Brooks was there, and we all ate dinner at a hotel restaurant on the beach right after sunset. It was interesting seeing every one's dinner choice. How often do you go out on a Saturday night and eat at a table of nine at a nice restaurant and the entire table orders water? I felt like I was surrounded by "speed" and it was great!

Jump to 6 a.m. Sunday morning. The group meets in the lobby of the hotel. Two of the girls are drinking Rockstar Low Carb Energy drinks. Amazing. Maybe I should try this before a race? Since our hotel is at the finish line we decide to all pile into my pickup truck and only take one vehicle to the start line 13.1 miles away. Five of the girls jump at the opportunity to ride in the back of the truck and the Dietitian and another jump in the warm cab. As I drive up to the starting area I think about the massive amount of estrogen-packed running speed I am delivering all in one small pickup truck! We get our chips, use the bathrooms, stretch, warm up, drink more water (some drink more Rockstar) and before I know it the race is about to begin.

The horn blows. 1,099 runners slowly advance across the start line each finding their own pace. The air temperature is 79 degrees and visibility is down to about 100 feet as there is a heavy fog. The group is split up from the beginning. The Dietitian and another runner start near the front while most of the girls start in the middle. I start back from the middle and on the edge. My only goal for this race is to NOT make my Achilles tendon worse. It's been several weeks with no pain. I can still feel a small lump in my Achilles, but my doctor says it could be scar tissue since it is not painful. If I can finish this race today and manage NOT to re-aggravate the tendon like I did at the Daytona Half Marathon it will be a huge boost of confidence for the Disney Marathon.



Mile one flies by and I never see the mile marker. At mile two I check my time and I'm pacing under a 9-minute mile. This is faster than I want to be running. Part of my plan is to experiment with taking a few intentional walking breaks early on to try and keep my leg muscles from fatiguing too early and allowing me to finish strong. During Daytona I ran super slow intentionally allowing many runners to pass me for the first half of the race and then I ran faster each mile to the finish line. For that race I had only taken three weeks off from running, thought my Achilles was healed and it wasn't. In this race, it's been 41 days since Daytona and I've only done short distance runs (4-miles at the longest) since.

Mile three comes and goes and I'm still running at around an 8:30 pace according to my sometimes not-up-to-par math skills. I consider walking, but I'm feeling so damn good that it just seems ridiculous to walk. I'm usually pretty good at pacing myself for whatever distance I'm aiming for so I decide to trust my gut and continue on running to run. I stop looking at my watch until mile six. At this point my amazing math skills tell me that at my current rate I'll shatter the 2-hour mark, beat my Daytona (also my Half Marathon PR) time and not seem insanely slow as all of the group is ahead of me and I haven't seen them since the start. Then I start thinking about how much it will suck to injure myself today and not be able to run Disney at all? I continue on because.... well.... I'm stubborn.



At mile 8 I feel something new. It's a painful stabbing feeling on both sides of my ribs up high almost under my arms. With each breath I take I feel like someone is punching me in the ribs. This is a new cramp I have not felt before. The fog has not lifted and the temperature is now in the 80s. I'm sweating like crazy and decide to take a GU and walk at the aid station I'm approaching. The cramps just won't seem to go away as I stretch and continue on walking at a fast pace. I feel that 2-hour Half Marathon barrier slipping away, but at this point I'm more concerned about getting these cramps to go away. This is the worst part of the entire race. I walk for what seems like an eternity. By my guess, somewhere around mile 8.75 a speedwalker passes me. The official start time for walkers was 35 minutes before runners and I passed most walkers miles ago. I immediately think about the Snickers commerical with Mr. T yelling at a speedwalker and say to myself, "Oh hell no! I am not getting passed by a speedwalker!"

I start to run again, pass the speedwalker (who never passed me again) and continue on for another couple miles until exhaustion causes me to stop and walk again. This time I'm somewhere after mile 10. I tell myself I'll allow for a walk break for one minute after each of the remaining miles. This seems like a logical compromise at the time. The problems I'm experiencing seem to be more muscle related than general endurance. Having an Achilles tendon injury since the end of September has seriously taken a toll on my leg muscles. I've managed to stay in shape by other activities (Surfing, yoga, bicycling, etc.) but I've lost the strength in my legs I had while I was training each week. Each time I walk it becomes harder and harder to start running again. So much for my brilliant "walking" plan!

Finally mile 12 comes along. I check my watch and realize I'm not even going to beat my Daytona Half time. This sucks. I remind myself that my Achilles does not hurt right now and that seems like the one thing I have going for me. The final mile and a half does a huge loop around a lake. Part of the course goes through a disc golf course. I wasn't aware I was running through a disc golf course until I felt a sharp pain in my right hamstring. When I realized it was not muscle pain a nearby runner says, "well, that adds insult to injury." I had been hit by a disc in the back of my leg. No one yelled "fore" or even "hey dude, look out." I stopped and started to walk. I considered throwing the disc into the lake, but that would take too much energy. I have a friendly conversation with the runner that saw the disc violation and then attempt to run again. We can see the finish line. I hear my name being yelled and I can see the Dietitian up ahead. She has walked back from the finish line to cheer me on. She runs the last quarter mile with me and it helps. I cross the finish line and we immediately put ice on my Achilles tendon and my calves, which felt like someone was stabbing with a knife on each step of the last tenth mile.



I'm a mess. My official time was 2:27:55. Absolutely horrible, but at the same time humbling. All of the seven girls finished way ahead of me. They were all amazing. The Dietitian got second in her age division. Another girl made a PR and another finished her first Half Marathon having never run further than 7 miles. Someone mentions free beer and it sounds to me like free medicine. I down a beer and immediately start feeling better. On the bright side, my Achilles tendon is not worse and appears to be unchanged. If I can get one or two more long runs in during the next 25 days before Disney, I might actually have a shot at finishing. I would not have finished a marathon on Sunday. So much of running, like surfing, is based on experience; knowing your body, how to pace yourself, prepare and finish. I've got some serious work to do in the next few weeks!

As or the Holiday Halfathon course I would say it was an "ok" race. The race coordinators need to have at least one more water/aid station. Toward the end of the race I needed water really bad and I wanted to take my last GU. It was at least 2 miles before that water station finally came. At one point it appeared as if an aid station was ahead, but turned out only to be a few volunteers handing out orange slices. If you're going to have a station for orange slices you might as well have water too, right??? The course was flat and fast. There was one small bridge to run across and the only other hills were several sidewalk overpasses. A majority of the race was a long straight bike/running path that was somewhat boring. The food, beer, drinks, snacks and entertainment at the finish line were great. However, there was no more water at the finish line when I arrived and I had to walk to the food tent to find water. I will probably not be running this race again as there are too many other races yet to be run and for me to come back and run it again it has to be extraordinary.

Oh and in case your wondering after seeing that first picture, I did not run the entire race with the Santa hat. I chucked it into a trash can at mile 2 because it was too damn hot! Most of the girls ran with jingle bells on their shoes. I thought this was awesome! The Dietitian even told me a guy told her during the race that he was pacing to her jingle. Ha!

Half Marathon Recap Part 2 (the story)

Warning: I'm probably going to get carried away and write a REALLY long story here so stop now if you're not down for reading my gibber-jabber about my first Half Marathon... The Daytona Beach Half Marathon!

Sometimes I question my own sanity. I think this is completely normal, right? My question then would be am I out of my mind for running a 13.1 mile race without running the entire month before? Four week taper anyone? Here's what I did. Five weeks before the race I hurt my Achilles tendon. I didn't go to the doctor, but I did research it online and decide to give it plenty of time to heal. Four weeks should be plenty of time, right? I did go on several 20-35 mile bicycle rides leading up to the race just to make sure my endurance was on par. So when I ask people that question the non-runners give me the "you're insane" look while the runners including my doctor (we'll get to that story in the next blog) give the nod of approval. So in questioning my own sanity... I feel fine (like the R.E.M. song)!

In fact, I was feeling pretty fine on race day. I had been slowly carb-loading for three days before the race, hadn't drank any alcohol for weeks, was fully hydrated and going on a solid 6 hours of sleep. The day before I eagerly picked up my race packet in hopes of checking out the Asics display at their so called "expo" only to discover the Asics people were a no show. Must have been at NYC Marathon. Honestly, I have to agree with Rachael at Beginning Runner's Blog when she says her packet picket up day is about as exciting as watching a cat lick its butt! The Half Marathon people hyped it up in all the emails they sent out and it really was nothing to write home about and I could have saved the fuel and picked up the packet at 4:30 a.m. on Race Day. I will say the swag was excellent. Every runner got a free admission to the Daytona USA attraction. I haven't used mine yet, but I hear it's like a mini NASCAR theme park with all kinds of racing simulators. I'm not a NASCAR fan despite years of covering races as a journalist so this swag excited me about as much as that cat licking its butt, HOWEVER, the tech shirt did excite me! It's an Asics brand yellow tech shirt and it fits me quite well, I might add!

On to race day!

I have to stop for a second and make a quick list of firsts! At some point during the run I started thinking about all the first time things I was experiencing in this race weekend.

1st time attempting to enter a surf contest
1st time bailing on my 1st surf contest (due to friend's staff infected eye socket)
1st time EVER going to sleep before 9 p.m. on Halloween night (except for maybe when I was an infant).
1st time in at least a decade I haven't gotten drunk while partying on Halloween. 1st time ever laying out my race day clothes the night before.
1st time running a Half Marathon.
1st time ever running a race intentionally slow due to injury.
1st time meeting a fellow blogger I didn't already know outside of the blog sphere (Melissa of I don't Need Excuses)
1st time finishing a race without having someone pass me when the finish line is in sight.
1st time ever getting a blister from running (a very small one of which the Redhead sarcastically said "I hate you" upon seeing).
1st time getting free beer after a race, which kicks ass!

I said I went to bed before 9 p.m and that's true if you count the time change. While just about ALL of my friends were out partying it up for the almost full moon Halloween Saturday night, I was attempting to fall asleep completely sober and hydrated. I usually sleep well. I'm one of those lucky people that can turn off my brain and fall asleep. Not this night. I kept waking up every 20 to 30 minutes and checking the clock. Finally I had a dream. The dream was simply this.... I wake up and it's 8:30 a.m. Somehow I managed to sleep through two alarm clocks and my cell phone. I realize that I should be done with the race by this time and that poor Redhead is probably standing at the finish line with a motivational poster and I'm no where to be seen. This is such a horrible feeling I instantly wake up about to cry. My heart is racing and I look at the clock. It reads 3:58 a.m. I realize it was only a dream and I only have two more minutes to sleep. Thank God! I'm so ready to get up and do this and I'm happy the time has finally come. Then I check my cell phone and see that it says the time is 2:58 a.m. F*ck! I told everyone to remember to set their clocks back and I'm the one that forgets. Damn it! This means I have to try and sleep another hour. I consider getting up, but decide I need the extra rest and force myself to lay in bed half asleep for an hour. Then 4 a.m. finally arrives. I get up and throw on my Paulie Bleeker costume, fill my cooler with ice and ice packets for after the race, grab my bib number; eat half a power bar, a handful of cashews, a tablespoon of natural honey and start downing a large bottle of really cold Smart Water; and head out the door for the 30 minute drive up to Daytona International Speedway.

The road is completely desolate. It's as if I'm the last man alive on the Earth. That is until I get near the Speedway. All of a sudden I'm surrounded by a dozen cars. It's soon apparent that we're all heading to the same destination. The lights are on at the Speedway and you can see it from a mile away illuminating the sky. It's an odd feeling driving through the tunnel and into the infield of the Speedway without a NASCAR fan insight. The grandstands are completely empty and the only people in sight are totally fit runners. It's a beautiful sight and I start to feed off the energy and excitement of the pre-race atmosphere. These are the people I want to surround myself with in life... along with surfer too of course!

At 5 a.m. I have my chip and have stretched and I'm ready to go an hour early. My cell phone sounds off and it's a text message from the Redhead saying something motivational. That girl is hardcore! Seriously, she doesn't have to be up for at least another hour to have time to drive over and cheer on Melissa and I at the finish line. I smile at the text message and start to pump myself up for this race!

At 5:30 a.m. I still haven't been able to find Melissa. I've never met her before and am not completely sure what she looks like, but then I hear my name. I turn around and it's not Melissa, but two surfers I know from the inlet, Morgan and Austin. They are both phenomenal longboarders and Austin is going to run the race for "extra credit" in a communications course he's taking in college. His girlfriend, Morgan, is here to cheer him on and ride her bicycle along side. I chat it up with them for a while figuring that Melissa will probably spot me since I'm taller than average, duh, and wearing this ridiculous Bleeker costume. Might I add, at this point I'm not seeing anyone else dressed up in costume and am staring to wonder what the f*ck!?! Melissa finally finds me and we introduce ourselves (1st time meeting a blogger = SUCCESS). Austin is wearing some really awesome looking florescent green Nike shoes. I ask him if he's ever run a 13.1 miles before and he says "nope." Melissa asks him if his shoes are Nike Free. Austin says they are and that he's only run short distances in them, but they feel really "comfortable." Not wanting to worry him before the race, I just say that I think they are supposed to "simulate barefoot running" and that it's awesome if he can run long distances in them. In reality I'm thinking, "holy shit, I hope his feet will be ok after this!"

It's time to corral at the start line. Austin, Melissa and I crowd into the pack of 800 runners somewhere near the back. There's some confusion about where the actual start line is located, but then the gun fires or horn blows (can't remember which) and it's mass chaos as everyone starts running. I never see the actual start line, but Melissa tells me we just passed it. Austin blows ahead and I lose sight of him quickly. Melissa and I are both running on injuries and going slow. We hang together for maybe a quarter mile and I lose track of her as well. My strategy is to run the first 3-4 miles really slow until I'm completely warmed up and make a decision of if my Achilles tendon can handle the entire 13.1 miles. I've run this distance before and when healthy I average around 2 hours to finish. All I want to do today is finish. Getting caught up in the race atmosphere will surely tempt me to run faster, which will undoubtedly result in a FAIL situation. To fight this I devise a plan. For the first few miles I will make sure that people are passing me. If people are passing me then I know I am running slow. If people aren't passing me I force myself to slow down until someone does pass me. Does this sound like an oxymoron to the definition of the word "race" or what?

My strategy works and at the first mile marker a man with a stop watch yells out "11 minutes." Holy goat balls I'm running slow! I bet I can speed walk this faster, but the hell if I'm going to let Mr. T shoot Snickers bars at me! (If you don't get that just google or youtube "Mr T and Speedwalking") I do the math in my head and figure out what my finish time would be at an 11 minute pace. Not acceptable. Soon nobody is passing me and I'm not even to mile 2 yet. I slow down and let the Galloway people pass me and while I know I'll just pass them again in a few minutes at least someone is passing me. This will be a trend for the first 8 miles until they can't keep up anymore (Nothing against Galloway. It rocks, but it's annoying when people flip flop pace you while doing it)

At mile 2 I'm still running a strong 11 minute pace. At mile 3 nothing has changed. At mile 4 I'm feeling pretty good although it's very humid and hot. The forecast calls for 66 degrees at the race start time, but in reality it's about 80 degrees and 90 percent humidity. Wearing this 100 percent cotton "Bleeker" T-shirt is starting to suck! The Achilles tendon feels normal. I'm guessing it's at about 80 percent so I decide to start running faster. I check my watch and at mile 5 I'm doing a 10 minute pace. I down my first Gu and chase it with water from an aid station. I feel the urge to pee (stupid caffeine in the Gu), but don't see any bathrooms. I ignore the urge. I fall into a fun little group of runners to pace and decide to keep the 10 minute pace for a few miles and see how the Achilles holds up.

Somewhere between the fifth and sixth mile I hear cheering and clapping up ahead. I hear this over the music playing in my iPod. I look up and see a lone runner going the wrong way. Then I realize he's NOT going the wrong way because he's the leader and he's already on his way back to the speedway! He blows by and I can't help but let out a hoot and clap to cheer him on... this dude was flying! He finished with an average pace of 5:40. It's a full minute before I see the second place runner. Then I realize that this guy has already conquered the high rise bridge not once but twice and is nearly 3.5 miles ahead of me. Amazing! As a few more leading runners including the lead girl blow by I feel myself re-energized and just in time as I make it to the high rise bridge. There's an aid station at the bottom. I take a sip of water, forget my need to urinate and charge that bridge with everything I got. Charging hills I think is a stupid macho guy thing to do, but we can't help it. I conquer that "son of a bitch" and take in the beauty of the pre-dawn sky over the Intracoastal Waterway and Atlantic Ocean off in the distance. Going down the bridge actually hurts more than going up so I take it slow and remind myself of Mr. Achilles as most of the runners I passed going up pass me going down. At the bottom nothing has changed and I'm pretty much in the same place pacing the same people.

At Mile 7 I reach the beach, down another Gu and see Morgan on her bicycle way up ahead, but no Austin. Where is he? This is the official turn around spot and for some reason all I want to do is going surfing at this point so I just start thinking of the fact that I'm on the backstretch now. Ironically, "It's all Down Hill From Here," by New Found Glory starts playing in my iPod. I decide to pick up the pace. BRILLIANT! My lack of running experience begins to show as I can't seem to figure out what my pace is as I see the race clock at the aid station. All I know is I've made up a little bit of time over that shameful 11 minute pace I seemed to have been stuck on for the first few miles.

Just before mile 8 I see Melissa going the other way. She's conquered the bridge and is looking happy as ever. She's also got a pace partner running with a prosthetic leg. If that's not inspirational I don't know what is! Soon it's time for the second go around for the bridge. This time charging it is out of the question. I slumber up the bridge and as I reach the top see the last place runner going the other way. If you aren't making a 16 minute pace by the bridge race officials disqualified you. This guy was probably just seconds faster than a 16 minute pace. He looked older, I'm not sure how much older, but the most kickass thing was his condition. One of his legs was completely wrapped in ACE bandages and his entire knee was enclosed in a massive leg brace; the kind that don't allow any motion in the knee. HE WAS ON FREAKING CRUTCHES! Talk about determination! I was mesmerized by this and all I could think to do was yell, "hell yeah man, you got this!" Now that folks, is HARDCORE! Seeing this gave me another boost of inspirational energy as I conquer the bridge again, fly through the aid station, pass up water or Gatorade, completely lose the desire to urinate and rip off this stupid cotton Bleeker T-shirt and throw it into some bushes (I picked it up hours later as apparently nobody wanted my sweaty shirt).

Now it's time to start running seriously. I'm feeling strong and suddenly at mile 9 the finish line doesn't seem so far away. I pass a few runners. The Galloway people are no longer keeping up. I notice a man running with a golden retreiver. This dog is got the biggest stoke look on its face. He's having an awesome time. I tell his master that he's awesome and my dog can't even run 2 miles without pooping out on me and my dog is a lab. At mile 10, to my best figuring, I'm running something like a 8:30 pace? I know I'm dehydrating slightly because doing math is simply not an option and I have no urge to use any of the bathrooms anymore. Nobody has passed me in at least 2 miles. We cross Clyde Morris and I see cops stopping traffic and then hear them whistle on the traffic after I pass. Several cars blow their horns at me. I'm not sure if they're pissed they had to stop or are cheering me on... regardless, I don't care. But as I turn around to look back I notice I can't see any other runners for about 100 yards. Looking forward nobody is in sight. Why does this have to happen to me at mile 10? There are 800 runners and I'm all alone? The 10th Mile officially becomes the "loneliness mile," and fatigue starts to set in again. I lose feeling in my feet. Uh oh, no bueno! I tell myself that I only have a 5k to run and there's no way in hell I'm stopping now! I think of my self proclaimed race motto and say out loud "I'll find a way or I'll make one...... I'll find a way or I'll make one!"

Finally, an aid station appears in the distance ahead. I rip off my last Gel from the fishing line inside my pants (Oh yes I did! I totally sewed my Gu and Gels into my pants with fishing line). It's the 2x caffeinated tangerine flavored Power Bar Gel and I wasn't going to take it unless I really needed it. I need it! I slam it with water and patiently wait for a boost of energy or a jolt or anything! Mile 11 comes and goes and I start to catch up with runners ahead. Some are walking. I'm going strong. A series of Rise Against songs start to play in my iPod and oh man does this help. Rise Against is officially my new Papa Roach for angry-painful running music!

A little after mile 12 I see someone I recognize walking and looking completely defeated. It's Austin. He's ditched his shirt too and looks like he's been hit by a bus. I yell, "Austin!" He turns around and sees me quickly approaching. "Come on man, I'm running slow, like a 9 minute pace or something! Run with me and finish strong," I manage to say between breaths for oxygen. Austin starts running again and I start talking. I can hardly remember a thing I was talking about, but it's helping me to try and motivate him to keep running and in doing this I'm not only helping him but focusing on something other than my own demise. We reach the .5 to go marker and run through the last aid station. At this point someone hands me a Gatorade. I feel as if I'll puke if up if I drink it so I just dump it all over my head and down my back. Austin and I joke about going to the beach after the race and talk, well I do most of the talking, about surfing and other things and before long we're entering the Speedway. The finish line is in sight and only a quarter mile away! I yell at Austin to "come on, we can do this," and pick up the pace. Austin doesn't and I see the look on his face. It's something like, "I've got nothing left except this pace." So I continue on down the final stretch between turn 4 and the finish line of Daytona International Speedway.

I see a short girl in the distance jumping up and down while holding a green sign. It's the Redhead and she's yelling something to me to encourage me to finish strong. At this point I've jacked up the volume on my iPod to a Rise Against song and can't hear what she's saying, but I don't need to because I know what she's saying, "finish strong!" Her sign has my race motto written on it in Latin followed by Go Sylvan Go! "Aut viam inveniam aut faciam!" I pick up the pace to what seems like a sprint, but in reality I'm sure it was a slumber. I pass about 4 or 5 runners in the last several hundred feet and it feels awesome! Crossing the finish line was a blur. Some dude almost tackled me for my chip on my shoe. Then I almost fell over trying to get away from the finish line so other runners could finish. I remember someone grabbing my arm and saying, "are you ok?" I was handed a large Gatorade bottle, which I couldn't open because my motor skills in my hands were not doing as my brain was instructing them. Austin finishes about 20 seconds behind me and collapses on the grass infield. His girlfriend comes up and tells me she got pictures of us each crossing the finish line. Sweet! I shake Austin's hand and we both have the biggest stoke on our faces. I yell to him "Extra Credit!" He laughs and I leave them to walk down to see the Redhead who is a few hundred yards down waiting for Melissa to show up. I resort to asking the Redhead to open my Gatorade. FAIL! I slam the Gatorade like it's a beer drinking contest and collapse on the grass. She makes me get up and walk and stretch. After a few minutes Melissa shows up still going strong. I manage to run with her cheering her on for a short distance before the finish line.
I must say the after race party was super cool. Plenty of food was available and free beer! I managed to eat three chocolate chip cookies and a slice of pepperoni pizza at the same time and have myself a beer. All this before we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Melissa and I ordered massive amounts of food and each drank a pitcher of water. I'm not sure what the server thought of us. I immediately applied ice to my Achilles tendon, which was already starting to swell up.

All and all I'm very satisfied about finishing my first half marathon with no regrets of my decision to run it injured. My official chip time was 2:16:49.8, which is good enough for the Disney Marathon folks to put me in a decent pace group so I won't be stuck in the 5 hour plus corral. For the Half I finished 390 out of 701 finishers and 35th in my age group out of 44. If I had run the sub 2-hour Half that I know I have in me if I'm healthy I would have finished around 20th in my age group. It's a very well organized race and I've already decided that I'll do it again next year. And if you're still reading this you've got to be a real "runner" so thanks and run strong!

13.1 Miles? No Problem!

First, let me say I'm a slacker for not updating my blog the past week. I was in Puerto Rico and just didn't feel like going to the Burger King to use the free Wi-Fi.

So get ready for an awesome Puerto Rico recap post with some seriously sick photographs!

But before that, while I'm still cracked out of my mind on a runner's high, I want recap my first ever timed 13.1 mile run this morning that I rocked in less than 2 hours. Yup, I'm a badass!

Yesterday I planned to take it easy with an early morning surf session, followed by a day spent with my Orlando family at the Bethune beach house while carb loading and hydrating in anticipation of today's run. What really happened was a surfing related injury followed by eating junk food with the family and then being suckered out last night for a few (three to be exact) beers and only getting about six hours of sleep before the run.

The injury happened when I got over eager and attempted to do a "helicopter" move with my 9'8" noserider. The idea is to get both feet up on the nose just as the wave is peaking and be positioned high on the lip while above the "pocket" and reach down to the frontside rail of the board and pop the tail out of the wave. Using body weight and the force of the wave the tail spins around to the forward direction. At this point you are going forward on the wave with the board backwards and you have to walk back down the board eventually allowing the fin to go back into the water and when that happens the board will spin around to the normal surfing position. It really is an awesome sight to see it done on a longboard and takes just the right wave, position and experience to pull off. What happened to me was about half way through while I had the board spun around 180 degrees the wave "pooped" out on me leaving me behind. With no wave I'm now sinking rapidly on top of the nose of my board. I jump off and the board shoots straight up about six feet into the air. Normally this is not a problem, but this time the 30-pound board decided to come back down right on top of me! I quickly dive underwater as deep as I can go, but I feel a pressure on my right leg about halfway between my hip and knee. The 10-inch single fin of the board impacted my quadricep so hard it cut me and bruised me over an area that is at least half way around my leg. So needless to say I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run at all today.

With all that in mind, I set out to run and easy 6-8 miles. Somewhere around the third mile I was feeling amazing. It was still dark and there was a cool sea breeze. Before I officially started training I always ran with no set distance. It was simple. If I felt good I'd run far. If I felt bad I'd run short. Today I remembered that philosophy and pretty much said "F*ck it I feel good," and went for greatness! Two bridges, the beach, a boardwalk and numerous sidewalks later I found myself conquering 13.1 miles in 1:59:06. When I realized that I had just run a sloppy half marathon in under two hours I got even more stoked! My unofficial goal for the Disney Marathon in January is to be under the 4-hour mark. Today was my first attempt at half that distance and I was right on pace and I feel freaking great!

I'm feeling so great that I think I'll head out to the beach, maybe even surf (but no helicopters for me today), enjoy the rest of Labor Day, call my sister to wish her happy birthday and play a softball game tonight! Hope everyone has a great Labor Day!

Puerto Rico Recap Coming Soon!

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures I took with my cell phone from Puerto Rico. I did a 4-mile hill run that was moderately difficult just because I am NOT used to hills! But the scenery was amazing! Ciao everyone!