Candy Cane 10k Race Report

While Coach Ken had put this on my calendar back in October, I didn't actually sign up until the Tuesday before.  This usually means I don't have any grand pre-race plans or goals.  I just wanted to go out and have a good time.  I contacted Erik and he was in to run the 5k with friend Megan.

The temps were going to be around 50 degrees, which aided in the decision to pull the trigger on the race. It was cloudy but really perfect for a race.

Pre-Race
I stopped at Parkville Coffee House right as it opened at 7 so that I could get to Swope Park in time to grab my packet from Erik and do a warm up.

Erik, Megan and I all arrived within a few minutes of each other.  We walked over to Starlight Theatre where they had your standard race booths of food and soft tissue massages.  Once we found that the start line was also the finish line, I decided to take off for about a mile warmup.  This time I stopped about halfway and did some stretches that help open the hip flexors.  I'm trying to do things that help my running form and this is something I've heard helps.  Dynamic stretches during a warmup, who knew?!

I got back to the start line and talked with Erik and Megan for a bit before positioning myself for the start.  I was about 10 feet back from the line.

After the National Anthem, we were off!

Start
The 10k course is 2 loops of the 5k course with a slight modification so that the 10k doesn't run through that start line twice.  The course first has a small decline before a .75 mile incline.  Nothing steep but long.  There is then a mile of flat during the out and back portion before going downhill on the other side of Swope Park.

I decided to not push the hill and kill my race before the first mile is over.  I felt pretty good the entire way and managed a 6:58 first mile.

The crowd was beginning to thin out but there were plenty of people.  We were on the first loop with 5k runners, so that added to the congestion.  The flat section came in at 6:41.  The third mile was pretty much all down hill.  I hit 6:30 while trying to run as long as I am tall.  I was trying to take some long strides and take advantage of gravity.

Now that we were finishing up mile 3, the truth about who was running the 5k was about to be known... nearly everyone.

Suddenly there were only three people in front of me.  We were soon faced with a decision:  I was about 100 feet from a "T" in the road with no markers.  The first of the 3 people turned left, which was toward the start line.  The two remaining looked at each and turned right but a couple seconds later they had turned around and went left.  I finally committed to follow them left when they had turned around to go back right, away from the start line.  I probably lost a second here but they had lost a good 10 seconds or so.  I never did see the first guy again.  He may have missed the 5k turnoff and was going back

I was now running with a female, a guy, and no one else.  It crossed my mind that we may be the top three but I also knew there was a police car as the lead car.  We now hit the long uphill again.  I stayed close with the girl but the guy pulled slightly ahead.  As we started to crest the hill I could see the lead car but couldn't tell how many people were there.  I just assumed that I was forth behind the girl.

Mile 4 was 7:13.  It felt much slower, so I guess that is good.   I passed the girl right as we hit the flat section but the guy was pulling even further ahead.  About mile 4.5 mile I could hear another set of footsteps behind me. It was another guy.

We started catching up with the walkers and stroller people of the 5k.  This added some obstacles to dodge.  I may have used one or two of them to squeeze out my new running buddy.

As we started the downhill again, it finally entered into my mind that I was actually in a race and I needed to strategize my finish.  Based on my assumption, I was now fighting for third place overall.  I wasn't trying to beat a time goal (I didn't think sub-40 was going to happen) but going for an overall podium, which is much better!

During my warm-up I actually ran the last half mile so I knew there was a nasty uphill.  He and I were starting swap positions and by the time we hit that hill, my legs were thrashed.  He began to break away but I knew not to relent.  I pushed it as hard as I could to the finish but couldn't catch him.  My last mile was 6:21.

I didn't mind missing what I assumed was third place.  What I did mind was losing third to a guy wearing the race shirt.... especially since that race shirt was a hoodie sweater.  Doh!

No knocking knees this time but still looking disjointed.

Finish
Time: 40:31 / 6:31 pace
Age Group: 1st out of 6
Overall: 4th out of 194

Yay for 1st place!!  Boo for missing 3rd overall... by less than a second!  He ended up having the same time as me but I don't know the milliseconds.  He must have lined up near the line while I was much further back.

Overall
I generally hate races of 5k/10k distances because they hurt so much.  Sure, marathons hurt but not the same way.  I never really felt that pain, even with the hills.  I think that may have been attributed to my plan to not push the hill but maybe I didn't push myself as hard as I could.

My watch registered a 5.97 miles, so it may have been short.  I'll call this my 10k PR anyway.

I do love the Age Group win!  It's my second one ever and first in a 10k.

Congrats to Erik who smashed his PR.  He's been trying to going under 30 minutes and blew it out by over a minute!  Megan got a PR as well as she ran with Erik.  PRs all around!

Proof

Erik and Megan both flying through the 5k course...literally.

New Facebook Profile Photo!

Megan finishing Strong!

Erik mastering the stop-the-watch finish photo.

My race buddy for the last 2 miles... race hoodie sweatshirt and all

Race Report: Kansas Half Marathon

I had originally registered for Kansas City Half Marathon as my race season swan song but our KC High Five Station got an opportunity we couldn't pass up by the Kansas City Sports Commission, so I elected to DNS and run the Kansas Half Marathon instead.  The course had changed from previous years and was setup to be flat and fast.  Sounds good to me.

See you in 13.1 miles (or about 2 thousand words)

I really didn't have a goal.  My PR was set earlier this year at the Lucky 13.1 at 1:30:07.  I didn't feel a PR was going to happen with some items getting in the way of my training.  Apparently those items added a few pounds of stress to my frame as well.  Not trying to make excuses... but yeah, I guess I am.

Leading up to race weekend it was suppose to be 35 degrees and windy.  That really didn't concern me much as I've trained in cold conditions.  The wind was just going to be annoying.

Race Morning
As I got up at 5am, the temps were 50 degrees.  So I happily left the long sleeve base-layer and skull cap on the floor.  I ended up just wearing my shorts, team shirt, visor, calf sleeves, shoes, and socks.  Speaking of waking up, it was so nice having a race the morning after the end of daylight savings time.  We got an extra hour of sleep!

Stopped at the coffee shop to get some go-go juice and arrived in Lawrence about 30 minutes before the race.  A pit stop in the port-a-pots and then did about a mile warm-up jog with some pickups.

About 5 minutes before the start, TKB and I found Dane and also talked with another teammate, Jeff. A work colleague of TKB's was there as well, DeEtta. She just ran one of my favorite races, the Chicago Marathon.

I lined up with the 1:45 group just to help slow me down.   The 1:45 group was about 5 feet behind the 1:35 group, so I guess it didn't really matter.

Start

Me and Dane, ready to run!

A little after 7:30, we were off.  I ran with Dane for a few blocks as we got moving, but I knew that wouldn't last long before he took off.

The first few miles of the race had some hills as we ran through Mass Street and the headed east.  Nothing bad but just enough to make you work.  Around mile 1 a guy in front of me lost his bib.  With the wind coming from the south at 15 mph, I thought I'd do what I could so the guy didn't have to run too far backwards.  I managed to snare the thing, even wearing those white dispensable gloves.    I should have asked the guy what age group he was in before handing it off to him!

Once we got out in the country, it was flat.  Super flat.  The problem with super flat on a windy day, it means super windy.  Fortunately, we were turning north eventually so the wind would be at our backs.  I ended up tucking in with three other guys.  I overheard them talking.  They were all shooting for 1:30.  So I just needed to stay with them but make sure they didn't start to slow.

#poooooopface

I don't like how my knees knock.  Doesn't seem efficient.

The race worked its way back to downtown through the side streets of Lawrence.  We then crossed over the Kansas River and started running through northeast Lawrence.  It was here that we would make short efforts to run south against the wind.

Running down the bridge towards northeast Lawrence.

There was probably a half mile stretch where we ran against the wind.  I could hear Phil Leggitt (Tour de France announcer) in my head saying, "and the wind has devastated the peloton!  We have guy in orange breaking free and two guys in blue fighting to stay.  Scotty B has fallen off the back!  He's going to have to work hard to bridge the gap".  Sigh.

I actually DID get back with them and dropped one of the guys after we turned away.   We eventually hopped onto the levee trail for about 2 miles before turning around (back into the wind) and then back over the river on the same bridge.  By now we were running through the city blocks and the wind wasn't too much of a factor.  The guy in orange was long gone.  I was running about 10 - 20 yards behind the other one.  It stayed that way until the last half mile when he took off.  There was noone behind me and so I enjoyed the last quarter mile of my final race of the year.

Finish

Your standard, mid-air finish line photo.

Time: 1:31:50 / 7:01 Pace
Age Group: 3 of 33
Overal: 22 of 665

No PR but a 3rd place age group finish!  I actually was surprised with a 3rd place finish considering the time but not complaining.

Not only was Dane racing, so was his father, Ken.  We all three took home some mugs.  Dane got first in his age group, Ken with 2nd, and me with 3rd!

Race Items
The race use to be in the Spring and had a much more elevated course.  I never ran that race course, so can't compare.  I thought this was pretty good course.  There was some gravel in the first half and the levee trail isn't paved, but that's not an issue.  You cross the train tracks a few times, so I always get concerned about getting stopped by a train but I didn't have an issue.

The race had great communication through emails, Facebook, and Twitter.  I also love it when a races have interactive people manage their Twitter and Facebook accounts.  I also asked a few questions about the race not being approved by the city days before the race and they responded without hesitation.

For a race this size, they had good post-race items (massages, bananas, bagels, water, and even hot chocolate).  There was some confusion regarding the awards.  They had communicated through email and even at the site that there wouldn't be an awards ceremony but they actually did have one.

No issues with parking (we actually parked half a block from the start line).  All the volunteers, police, and staff were awesome and supportive.  Even people at some of the more remote parts of the course had spectators to cheer us on.  I even saw were someone had put a box of Kleenex in their open mailbox. Not sure where I would need that, but it's a good gesture!

Proof -- Also known as Scott's commentary of Dane's race photos.

Dane settling into pace at mile 1.  He's trying to hide under his skull cap.  Is it Dane or isn't it?

OMG!  His cap has been removed.  It is Dane!

 Look at that sweet kick.  Almost fully parallel with the road!

Landing on his heel though.  Room for improvement? #ICantTalk

What is this dude doing with his left arm?  Making a left turn or something?

In the next photo, this guy is doing it with his right arm!  OMG!  They are trying to squeeze Dane out.

WATCH OUT DANE!

Squeezed.  Unfair.

Your standard, mid-air finish line photo.

The one photo I found of DeEtta.  She's gutting out that nasty wind.  

Big shout out to Mile 90 Photography and KS Half Marathon for providing free race photos!  I'd gladly pay an extra $5+ per race just to get free, high quality race photos at the end.

Royals: Game 7 #TakeTheCrown

So when I first started this blog, I mentioned I would likely talk about non-triathlony stuff.  This may be my first one.

Last night was Game 6 of the MLB World Series between the KC Royals and SF Giants.  I am a fan of the KC Royals as I've been a resident of Kansas City since day 0 of my life. At the start of the 2nd inning I was sitting on my couch, beer in hand, dog laying next to me, TKB watching intently, and life was great.  No team had scored yet and, yet, I was already euphoric.  This was amazing.  I say this because I can honestly say that I never thought this moment was going to happen in my lifetime.. not without some changes.

In my previous blog (which is now defunct), I made a post about bucket list items in baseball that I wanted to witness in a Royals game.  Items like an inside-the-park Home Run (Thank you, Angel Berroa), Grand Slam (Thank you, Ryan Shealy), someone stealing home, a no hitter, a triple play, a 3 pitch inning, getting a foul ball (Thank you, Detroit player who hit it into the upper deck).  One item that I don't recall if I had one on there is the Royals winning a World Series.  Why?  Simply because from the late 1990s baseball was broken.  The competitive balance of baseball was screwed up.  The economics was skewed to those who could buy a championship team.  In my mind, the figurehead of this were the Yankees but many teams were guilty.

How in the world could a team in a small market be competitive?  Kansas City was the prime example of a small market team.  Players didn't want to come here and why would they?  If they were good, teams would simply overpay for their services.  The Royals couldn't (or, rather, wouldn't) match.  Our ownership literally came from the Walmart mindset (he was previously a CEO of the company).  We got plenty of flack about being a cheap team... and the ownership deserved those comments.  Here are some facts from a hopefully reliable source of information.  It compares the total amount of money spent on baseball salaries since the Yankees and Royals last won their World Series.

In the last 6 years, the Yankees have spent $10.8 million MORE than the Royals in the previous 30 years.  Yes, this is non-adjusted for inflation so it might be closer.  In 2011, the Royals salary was so an anemic 17% of that of the Yankees.  That was a horrible year for the Royals when they lost 91 games.

To be fair, I feel that every person should be paid as much as people are willing to pay them.  I'm not going to stop my company from giving me a $25 million per year contract, so I won't blame the Yankees with their deep pockets; however, from an ownership perspective, I feel it's reckless (ie, my company didn't give me that contract).  Yankees being a prime example.  They have spent $1.2 BILLION dollars and have nothing to show for it since 2009.

In addition, there are plenty of teams who have won the World Series that aren't in the top 5 of salary spenders.  So why do it?!

As you can see, the Royals have started spending money to get some big arms in clubhouse but they aren't overpaying by an absurd amount.  They have also spent plenty of capital (not just financially but in mentoring, training, and grooming) players from their own farm system.  THAT is why I was euphoric.  I feel the Royals have hit the right combination and didn't mortgage the future to get it.

So while I am impatiently waiting for Game 7 to start, I don't know what the outcome will be. I want our team to win and I feel very confident that they will.  Even if they lose, this has been an absolutely awesome experience being a fan of the team.  This entire post-season has been enjoyable to watch.  I hope that if you are a true fan of this sport, you are enjoying the it too. Being a true fan of this sport, I hope your team wins tonight (but only if your team also happens to be the Royals)!

#TakeTheCrown

Next Year's Ironman

As I mentioned in my Race Registration-Palooza, I'm returning to ironman-distance racing with Ironman Louisville.  I completed my first ironman race with Beach2Battleship 140.6.  The goal was to have fun and just complete it (which I did in 10 hours, 24 minutes).  Now it's time to see what I can do.  The planning for this started soon after Beach2Battleship when I signed up with Midwest Triathlon Coaching.  I then started attending the local Master's Swim class for stroke efficiency training.  I have even gone so far as to purchase a Power Meter in September to help with cycling. I feel confident in my running, it's just making sure I can get to the marathon in great shape.

The next thing to do is to pick a race.  This planning started in May with, of course, a spreadsheet analysis. There are a lot of good options out there but there had to be one major requirement before it got a row in the spreadsheet: It had to be an Ironman-branded race.  Maybe I'm one of the few triathletes out there that don't care to throw cash at the World Triathlon Corporation hand-over-fist (WTC owns the Ironman brand).  It wasn't until this year that I registered for a race that was associated with the company, Kansas 5i50.  So why bother?  If you want to play at the big dance, you have to play their game.  The big dance being the Ironman World Champions in Kona, Hawaii.

The remaining requirements are a late summer, early fall race in the US that is an easy commute.  This limited to:

• Boulder:  Brand new for 2014.  I wanted to avoid an altitude race though.
• Wisconsin: A good race that normally sells out fast.  I would have to volunteer this year to guarantee a spot.  Bike course is technical with lots of turns so hard to get in a groove.
• Chattanooga: Brand new for 2014, so not sure what to expect.  I think this would be a good race; however, having the bike course end up long by four miles made me question the race planning.  I'm apparently a good cyclist, so maybe this is a good?  It's close to friends and family in North Carolina, so that is a plus.
• Louisville: Known to be a very hot and humid race BUT it was moved to October 11 for 2015.  Bike course is known to be hilly too. Doesn't sell out.

I didn't want to be concerned about registering for a race that sells out in minutes.  Since Boulder and Chattanooga were new, it was unknown as to how quickly it would sell out. As it turns out, Chattanooga and Wisconsin are sold out; however, I'm not sure how quickly they did.

My good friend Vicki did Louisville this year and she really enjoyed it.  She also did Beach2Battleship with me in 2013.  With the concern of the bike course, it turns out her IM Louisville bike time was 13 seconds faster than B2B.  With the race moving to October AND the fact that we loved Louisville when we were there for the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon, I was sold.  In addition, my coach has done this race multiple times and he qualified for Kona there last year.

The run course for IMLOU follows most of the same roads that I ran for the Louisville Marathon (between downtown and Churchill Downs), which was super flat.  So I'm loving this decision!  The swim is challenging in the first 1/3 of the course.  You swim against the current, but it is somewhat protected by a small island.  You turn around and then can enjoy the current.  The swim start is also a time trial start not a mass start.  You line up and jump off a dock to start the swim.  With 2000+ participants, it's a rather long line.  Some people start lining up hours before and so I'm debating about my strategy.  I have a full year to figure it out.

I went backwards from October 11 and found a good half ironman in Muncie to do in July (another WTC race).  It requires some travel, so I can practice the travel preparation.  I have a couple friends, Kevin (from Chicago Triathlon) and Kristen (who has appeared here multiple times) joining me.  Anyone else?

I mentioned Kona earlier in the post.  Am I doing IMLOU with the full purpose of attempting to qualify for Kona?  In 2014, I would have to complete a 9 hour, 35 minute ironman in Louisville.  That's 49 minutes faster than Beach2Battleship on a less forgiving course.  These are based off of times racing in the heat and humidity of summer.

That being said, every goal race needs to have a purpose.  From here on out, any Ironman race I do will be to qualify for Kona.  It may be years before it happens but I have the tools and trust in the plan.  These races are way too expensive to do for fun... or their overpriced merchandise... or simply a tattoo.

Will Louisville improve my chances?  Not sure.  Being an October race likely means I need faster than a 9:35 to make it; however, it is the day after Kona, which means all the fast freaks will already be in Hawaii that weekend!

Hopefully I'll be active on here posting about my training in the next year leading up to the race.  Work has me crazy busy right now and into the foreseeable future, which means the time to blog suffers.

Thanks for reading!!

An End To The Suspense!

So about 3.5 weeks ago I recapped my Race Registration-Palooza with quite the cliff hanger.  I had to wait over a week to find out if I got accepted by the Boston Athletic Association's Marathon.  And the result:

Success!  I made it by 45 seconds.  So happy!

Race Registration-Palooza!!

Monday was a big day.... for my Southwest Airlines Visa card.

I registered for the following races:

• Bringing Up The Rear 10k (Oct 5, 2014) -- Returning to this race for the 3rd year.  They added a 10k!  This will actually be my third 10k too and the first that I really race it.
• Kansas Half Marathon (Nov 2, 2014)
• Ironman Louisville (Oct 11, 2015)-- Returning to ironman-distance racing!  
• Ironman 70.3 Muncie (July 11, 2015) -- After 3 years of triathlons, I'm finally putting money in WTC's pockets.  They have big pockets too (read: $$$$).
• Boston Marathon (April 20, 2015) -- The real driver for September 15 being race registration-palooza.

I'll write more about about the Ironman races in a future post but for now, let's chat Boston.

Registration opened at the same time I had a meeting. Even though there was no true benefit for registering the minute it opens, I did anyway.  In my rush to get to my meeting, I managed to flip-flop entering my First Name and Last Name in their respective fields.  While this was my mistake for being in a hurry, WHO DESIGNS AN ONLINE FORM IN WHICH YOU ASK FOR LAST NAME THEN FIRST NAME!?!?!?

As soon as I noticed that, I called BAA (Boston Athletic Association).  I didn't want the reason I didn't get in was because they couldn't validate my race results because they couldn't find my name!  Unfortunately, the person I talked to on the phone didn't have access to the registration data yet (it "uploads" at the end of the day) but she assured me they would correct it.

Even still, nerves got to me so I called on Thursday to confirm that they would fix my name.  They, in fact, did fix my name and had confirmed my 3:08:13 marathon time.  Whew.

Another reason I wanted to validate it was because when registration closed on Wednesday (the last day of 2nd week registration), BAA confirmed that they received enough applications to fill the race!

So the next big date is Wednesday, September 24 when they said they will have completed verification and will notify applicants of their final status.  Regardless, I'm going to be checking the Entry List hourly until then in the event they finish early!

Other Purchase

I also made another large triathlon purchase. I put in an order for Garmin Vector power meters.  Anxious to get those puppies installed and start analyzing some of that wattage data!

Two Weeks to the Next Big Day!

2014 triathlon season is officially in the books.

"Winterzied" the Tri bike.  Basically reinstalled the stock wheels and put my normal seat bottle cage back on (took it off for the Chicago triathlon as I used my Speedfil system).  Cleaned the 'transmission' as well!

The doesn't mean I'm taking the rest of the year off.  I'm planning to race the Kansas Half Marathon in November.

I will be participating in the Bringing Up The Rear 5k or 10k.  They added a 10k this year, so that is tempting and will probably be worth while given my Half Marathon training.  I've raced this both years it has existed to honor Andrew Somora. In those two years I've done Bringing Up The Rear, I got 1st place age group in 2012 and 5th overall in 2013.  The 10k was likely added because the park added nearly 2 miles of trails this year, making it easier to add the additional race.


Two Weeks!

Technically, my registration day is Monday, September 15, which is a little more than 2 weeks.  The week of Sept 8 is for people who qualify by 5 or more minutes.  If there are any spots open after that week, then September 15 will start three days of of registration for everyone who qualified (no rush to register as it is not first come, first served).  If there are still slots available after week 2, then on Sept 22 it will open to everyone who qualified again until it is sold out.  The third week is first come, first served.

They announced the fields size of 30,000 participants for 2015.  From 2009 to 2013 the field size was 27,000.  Last year the expanded it to 36,000 to allow for 5,600+ marathoners who didn't finish in 2013 to participate in 2014.  I'm still expecting my 1 minute, 43 second cushion to standup and make it through the registration process because I would have made it every year so far and they even added 3,000 participants over the previous field size.

I'm not sure when I will confirm that I got accepted; however, if on Sept 22 the registration re-opens, it's almost assured I made it since it is first come, first serve.  Make sense?