Dedicated in memory of Howard William Westphal. My great-uncle died yesterday at the age of 97. He was truly an inspiration to me in so many ways. Most of my memories of him were of him in his retirement from the Navy. I spent many summers at his house mowing his grass, learning about short wave radios, trains, and how to grow old gracefully. He walked 5 miles a day for some 36 years along the same route that I frequently run my long runs. I don't often feel religious or spiritual, but I felt like he was with me today.
This race was truly a last minute call. I had really resigned myself to skipping it and just doing my own 13.1 mile Goal Pace Run next weekend. Even as I went to bed last night I had no intentions of getting up this morning. The weather was supposed to be cold and rainy; not exactly ideal conditions for running a race or so I thought. Then something strange happened. I woke up at 3:30 this morning and just knew that I had to do the race. I don't remember having some dream that prompted the thought or flash of intuition. It was just there. I knew I was going to roll out of bed in a couple of hours and get ready for the race, and so it went. At 5:30, with no alarm clock to wake me, I rolled out of bed knowing full well that it was dark, cold and just crap outside and got dressed for the race. It was the best decision I could have made.
The first reason it was a good idea was that for some unkown reason after a year of fumbling around with my nutritional needs on race day I finally found something that works. And the winner is...good old peanut butter and jelly on toast. Keep it simple stupid. About 2 hours before the race I had a pb&j and a banana. It settled well, and I felt full all morning. During the race I had one Gu about 50 minutes into the race. It was a strategy that I originally tried during my 20 mile long run. It is the strategy that I will carry to the marathon. I'll have a Gu or something similar about every 60 minutes I'm out on the course.
The second reason that it was a good idea to go out today was that it was a brilliant race. It was the eureka moment that I needed to give the confidence for the marathon. Going into the race I had a goal. All I wanted to do was run a solid 8 minute pace throughout the race. In a way you could say that I failed at the goal, but the result made the failure worth it. At the start of the race I forced myself to slow down and let runners go. I was determined not to chase anyone at the beginning, so I fought the urge to give chase.
I set in at a pace that felt comfortable. It turned out to be about a 7:30 pace, but the important thing is that it was comfortable. I felt so good that somewhere around mile 5 I made a deal with myself. If I was still feeling good at mile 1o I was going to turn loose and finish strong. I should mention at this point that it also helped that I fell into pace with another pair of runners that were keeping a similar pace. One fell away within a few miles but it was nice to have someone to watch as the miles rolled. I'd let him pull up away from me, then I'd pull him back in with a surge, and fall back again. I'd do this every couple of miles just to keep him close.
The first 6 miles of the race were on the roads, so the terrain varied. We'd run a couple of hills, through some dips and all the usual ups and downs typical of the roads in the Loveland area. By mile 6 though we dipped down to the river and entered the Loveland bike trail. We reached a point in the course where we turned around, and headed back to the finish on the bike trail. From then on it was a flat straight course on the bike trail. This was perfect conditions to turn it on at the end.
At mile 10 I felt fantastic. Actually it was shortly after mile 9 that I started to pick up the pace. I felt like I was coiled and ready to strike and the waiting was killing me, so I gradually picked up the pace until mile 10 and then turned it on. From this point on the race was pure bliss. I was doing something that I had failed to do in previous races up to this point. I was kicking it and passing people at the end of the race. The end result was an awesome 6:58 pace for the final 5K and a second place finish in my division. This was a race I had low expectations going in, with modest goals, and it turned out to be one of the best races I've run ever, and a great learning experience.
Bring on the Flying Pig!
Avg HR: 165
Peak HR: 176
Min HR: 88
Total Cal: 1410
Lap 1: 6 miles - 44:50 Avg HR: 165 - 7:28 pace
Lap 2: 4 miles - 29:29 Avg HR: 165 - 7:22 pace
Lap 3: 3.1 miles - 21:36 Avg HR: 170 - 6:58 pace
Official Results:
TIME: 1:35:55
PLACE: 16
PACE: 7:19
DIVISION: M3034
ENTRANTS IN DIVISION: 12
PLACE IN DIVISION: 2
GENDER: M
ENTRANTS IN SAME GENDER: 76
PLACE IN GENDER: 14
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