Category Archives: Race Review

Other’s Thoughts about Twin Cities Marathon

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You’ve read my thoughts about my race during the Twin Cities Marathon, but I thought I would share what other people have said.

First, here is a list of other bloggers:

Have you heard about Marathon Guide? They are a great resource I’ll have to right more about sometime, but for now, they let people comment on a race.  Here are a couple highlights:

Outstanding race, year after year (about: 2008)
Course: 5 Organization: 4 Fans: 5
S. W. from St. Paul, Minnesota (10/14/08)
6-10 previous marathons | 4-5 Twin Cities Marathons

I love the Twin Cities Marathon and have now completed the marathon four times with this year (despite the rain and 48-degree weather), achieving a PR time. As is the case with Minnesota weather, you should be prepared for almost anything. In 2007, it was 80 degrees with 70% humidity, so if you do not train for varying conditions, the TCM can become a challenge very quickly. Overall, though, the fans were outstanding and seemed louder than ever, given that they must have been freezing while standing in the cold, rainy weather. The course was organized with plenty of volunteers at the water stops. Although, the event achieves a near-perfect mark in my opinion, I think the TCM fails miserably with post-race refreshments. Compared to Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, which is stockpiled with goodies, the TCM should look to get more food sponsors and thus give runners a real treat when finishing. It seems like this area of the organization continues to decline every year.

TC Marathon – Thumbs Up! (about: 2008)
Course: 5 Organization: 4 Fans: 5
Ryan Nied from Plainfield, IL (10/9/08)
11-50 previous marathons | 1 Twin Cities Marathon

Twin Cities 2008 was marathon #13 for me in 7 short years. I recommend you run this race.
I’ve read a number comments about the weather. I ran Chicago last year in 88-degree weather, so although I did fear hypothermia at one point, it was much better than last year.
The reason? The spectators were downright awesome. I couldn’t believe how many weathered the storm along with us runners.
The finisher’s shirt is great.
I set a 55-second PR despite the challenging conditions, and I am totally ecstatic about how the morning went. It was an extremely memorable, positive experience for me.
Couple of minor suggestions:
1. Aid stations need to be more frequent earlier on – not a fan of having to wait until almost mile 2.5 for a drink. Later on, they are in good frequency.
2. Check mile marker #3’s position for accuracy. Had an unusually fast mile – and it felt short.
Overall, great job by the organizers.

Holy Hannah! (about: 2008)
Course: 5 Organization: 5 Fans: 5
L. Y. from Southeast USA (10/7/08)
3 previous marathons | 1 Twin Cities MarathonWow, what can I say. The weather was AWFUL!!!!!!! But the race was fabulous!

As everyone stated previously, the fans were amazing. Hats off to the guy dressed up as the televangelist with the “BELIEVE” sign. You definitely were the best out there!

I keep reading these comments about the hard hills from 21 to 25, and I’m thinking, “Really?” Seriously, they were not that bad. Very slow and gradual. Totally doable.

I have to agree with the comments about the porta-potties. There were definitely not enough. Sadly, I had to stop twice, and each time I did, it cost me about five minutes off my time. And since I’m a woman, I don’t exactly have a choice but to wait in line.

The post-race support was great and the food was adequate. I appreciate the simple things, so I was psyched when I saw the rolls!

Overall, no complaints about this race. The weather was terrible but the city, support, and beautiful route more than made up for it! Kudos to Minneapolis!
Thank you, Twin Cities (about: 2008)
Course: 5 Organization: 5 Fans: 5
Gregory Ruthig from Iowa (10/7/08)
6-10 previous marathons | 1 Twin Cities MarathonPros:
1. The course is as nice as advertised. The lakes and neighborhoods in Minneapolis and St. Paul were pretty, even in the pouring rain. Running over the Mississippi was a cool experience.
2. Crowd support (considering the weather) was phenomenal. I never got tired of hearing: “Goooo!” being shouted with thick Minnesota accents.
3. Volunteers were equally as good. Not only were they friendly, but they were clearly well trained by the organizers. For a runner who only wants to think about running on race day, they really made everything run smoothly.
4. Despite never having visited the cities before, my wife was able to drive around town and see me five times along the course. I can’t imagine that this is possible at most urban marathons.
5. I was worried that with only two corrals that slower runners would clog up the front of the starting line. This was not the case at all. From what I could see, everybody in the first corral was very conscientious about starting with similarly paced runners.
6. Finisher’s shirt. I usually don’t care about this sort of thing, but putting on the dry finisher’s shirt after running in the cold rain was heavenly.

Cons (these are very minor and more like constructive criticism):
1. The layout of the receptacles for the warm-up bags made dropping them off pretty chaotic. If they were placed in a long line, or just more spread out, it would have been easier.
2. Getting up to the first corral involved waiting in a slow-moving line that made me get a little panicky about the race starting while I was in line. In the end I was able to make it up there with several minutes to spare.

Breaking my PR by three minutes may be affecting my comments, but after running six marathons in four states, this was among my favorites, despite the rainy weather. This race combines much of the excitement of the mega marathons, especially the fan support, but lacks many of the logistical headaches. This was my first trip to Minnesota and I found the people made the visit and the marathon a great experience.
Wonderful first marathon, despite the weather (about: 2008)
Course: 5 Organization: 5 Fans: 5
J. W. from Savage, Minnesota (10/7/08)
1 previous marathon | 1 Twin Cities MarathonThis was my first marathon and I had a wonderful experience. The logistics of signing up for the race, to picking up my racing bib and chip at the expo the day before the race, to getting situated at the starting line all went extremely smoothly. Despite the pouring rain and 47-degree temperature, there was fan support for the entire length of course. I had an overall wonderful experience and plan on doing it again next year.

That’s enough random thoughts.  Did I miss your post? Let me know in the comments and I’ll add it to the list.

[tags] Twin Cities Marathon, Twin Cities, Marathon[/tags]

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Marathon Charts

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1896 Olympic marathon

Image via Wikipedia

Are you tired of hearing about the marathon yet? Well after Twin Cities I am pretty much pain free by now!!! YAY!! Thanks for all the congratulations, comments, and insights about my race.  They are appreciated.  Below are a few charts I’ve pulled out from SportTracks.  They give a nice visual reference for the 26.2 mile journey called a marathon.  In case you missed the more detailed race reviews, look back at Grading the Race Plan and Race Review.

You can get a better glimpse of the images by clicking on them.

First up is the pace chart, you can clearly see the 4 walk breaks and I would say some early inaccuracies (pace dips at beginning).  There is no way I ever ran at 4 minute pace, even for a split second!

This next chart shows my pace per mile. For some reason SportTracks really thinks I ran a 6:40 mile, but I showed you yesterday that it was more like 7:27. I should also note that the miles it shows at the bottom (1.08, 2.11, etc) that is based on the splits I took after passing each mile marker.

This is the first time I’ve ever viewed this chart before.  It shows the pace per mile in comparison to the overall average pace.  My average pace was 7:51.

In the past the elevation chart has tended to be the most inaccurate part of the Garmin data.  You can look at the marathon’s official elevation chart here (PDF)

Is this too much data? I’m really intrigued by the discrepancies within the data.  I’ve never noticed it before. What do you think?

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[tags] Twin Cities, Marathon, Twin Cities Marathon, Garmin, GPS[/tags]

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Race Review: Twin Cities Marathon

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So here is a more traditional race review.  It won’t be as long since I’ve already talked about most of the race yesterday: Grading the Race Plan.

Pre-Race

I was going to jog/walk the mile to the start but when I awoke to rain, I scratched that idea and had Christy drop me off at the Metrodome. I dropped my bag and hung out with my fellow MDRA classmates.  Nathan and I did a short jog before getting into the corrals.  I would agree with his assessment that the corral was really narrow and oddly laid out.  The Star Spangled Banner started playing as we were walking through the narrow area.  Some people had stopped to respect the song while others barged past.  I think there was a little confusion because I heard several people ask what was happening.  I don’t think people realized that the wheelchair event started 10 minutes before the marathon.

Race

I won’t go over too much more since I covered most of it yesterday.  But here are my splits.

Here is the official data:

bib number: 430
age: 27
gender: M
location: Minneapolis, MN
overall place: 728 out of 7966
division place: 188 out of 977
gender place: 631 out of 4803
time: 3:25:54
pace: 7:51
chip time: 3:25:42
5k: 22:48
10k: 44:53
half: 1:34:58
30k: 2:16:42
20 mile: 2:27:26

Now here are my splits from my Garmin uploaded into various software Sportstracks on the left Motion Based in the middle and Garmin Training Center on the right (more on this at a later date):

Mile Sporttrack MotionBased Garmin TC
1 7:11 7:27 7:27
2 7:28 7:29 7:29
3 6:55 6:53 6:53
4 7:30 7:30 7:30
5 7:00 7:00 7:00
6 7:03 7:03 7:03
7 7:11 7:10 7:10
8 7:11 7:11 7:11
9 7:16 7:18 7:18
10 & 11 14:19 14:21 14:02
12 7:30 7:29 7:29
13 7:17 7:17 7:17
14 7:25 7:25 7:25
15 7:19 7:20 7:20
16 7:29 7:29 7:29
17 7:28 7:28 7:28
18 7:41 7:42 7:42
19 7:50 7:50 7:50
20 7:56 7:56 7:56
21 9:28 9:31 9:31
22 9:05 9:04 9:04
23 10:17 10:17 10:17
24 & 25 19:37 19:32 19:32
26 8:16 8:15 8:15
26.2 1:49 1:36 1:36
3:25:43 3:25:43 3:25:42

I’m sure some disparities jumped out at you.But overall it gives you a good idea of how things went.  I’m not sure if I missed the mile markers or if I pushed the button, but not hard enough.  It was cold enough that I had trouble getting my hands to function!

I was amazed at the crowd support all morning – even through the torrential downpours.  I caught up to the 3:10 pace group right around the mile 7 water stop.  This was a narrow area on the trail and it was a huge walls of people cheering and lining the course and then bam into the back of the pace group.  It felt really crowded and almost claustrophobic. This was the only time that I really felt the largeness of the marathon.

I think the loneliest parts were around Nokomis, which is around the 1/2 point.  I think that is also the point that I started realizing that I was in a little pain.  Summit Ave was agony, but I expected that! I also wasn’t expecting how much pain I would be in at the very end. I thought the adrenaline rush of the final hill and straight stretch would carry me… everything hurt and every inch of me wanted to stop running – except for the finish banner up ahead.

A friend suggested that I say a prayer at every mile and since I am running in honor of my African friends that I say a prayer for them.  It was a good idea and I did pray off and on at different mile markers.  I should have done more in the second half when I was in pain and hurting – but that didn’t come to mind then.  It may have helped some, if nothing else it would have reminded me that my pain is temporary and in a few days I’ll feel no ill effects of the marathon.  But the pain that my friends feel each day is real with no end in sight.  An interesting thought…

Post Race

After crossing the finish line I remember getting my medal and foil blanket before shuffling around towards the food.  I grabbed a bunch of the random and good food that they had.  I talked with Steve who had finished 20 minutes before me but was still standing around talking to people in the finish chute.  He recommended the hot chicken broth to reheat and re-salt me a little bit.  I felt pretty terrible but was pleased that I must have looked good enough that the thousands of medical staff weren’t that interested in me! Many people looked a lot worse than I felt.  I kept wanting to sit down but knew that was bad and kept shuffling… got my finisher’s shirt and picked up my clothes.

Changing into a dry shirt and getting pants on was a little bit of a chore, but it felt oh so good.  I wore my Teva sandels after struggling to get my shoes and socks off!  I finally got everything together and meandered out to find my wife and friends.  They were all excited to see me and we slowly made our way to the cars – which were in the Sears lot.  That seemed like a pretty long little journey as I shuffled around trying not to make any sudden moves!

So I guess that is the review.  TCM did a great job all around making sure there was plenty of support along the course and at the finish line.  The people of the Twin Cities really came out in full force to make sure we felt the love.  I missed much of the beauty of the course due to rain or tiredness, but it is pretty dang pretty!

[tags] Minneapolis, Twin Cities, St Paul, Twin Cities Marathon, Marathon, Race Review[/tags]

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Grading the Race Plan

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Feeling good at 2.5

Feeling good at 2.5

Plans are made to be followed, reviewed, analyzed, and improved for next time.  So how did I do on Sunday compared to the Race Plan I published for you on Saturday?  Did I pass or fail?

Obviously, I passed because I finished the race, although there were definitely points in the later stages where I wanted to stop, sit on the curb and wait for medical to come get me.  I looked in the medical tents (they were pretty empty) and they had those pool chairs with the multiple settings to lay back on… you know the ones with plastic webbing?  Yea, those… they seemed a lot more comfortable than the pain I was in at the time, but failure didn’t seem like a good idea either!

A Look at the Goals

1) To qualify for Boston with a 3:10 (7:15 pace),

2) To break 3:30, or

3) To have fun and finish.

I hit my 2nd and 3rd Goals pretty well.  I was told several times that as a first-timer my only goal should have been to finish and then place other goals below that.  My MDRA Coach said that my A goal should have been to finish and my A+ goal the 3:10 and B goal be to break 3:30.  So I’ll do the average of an A-.

This quote may have been a little too arrogant:

The others are plans B and C in case I fall apart out there – but I don’t foresee that happening at all.

Umm, hello the marathon is a beast and I wasn’t treating it with the complete and utter respect it deserves.  TCM humbled me in that regard! As solid as my training had been I shouldn’t have taken for granted how I would respond.

Simply put, my race plan is to go out easy and finish hard.

Well, simply, I didn’t go out easy enough and the finish was hard, but it wasn’t the good kind of hard! On the simple race plan I’ll take a C.

For the more detailed plan I’ll put Saturday’s post in italics and my thoughts in regular font:

In the early miles “Take it easy—take it too easy.” I should have taken it much easier. I was 22:48 through the first 5K which is 7:20 pace. And that includes a sub-7 3rd mile.  Ooops!! I should have been at least a 7:30 pace or slower. I did take it slow up the hill on Hennepin and right after the turn.  I also let the 3:10 pace group pull way ahead of me from the starting line. D

Stay well-hydrated. We got some help on this one with the early middle miles being rain-soaked.  I still took fluid at every water stop.  I was going to take water at every one and Powerade at every other, but often got confused on whether I had just taken a Powerade or not at the last one! I usually compensated by taking the Powerade just to be sure! I had a slight urge to pee at some point but never enough to have to stop and it went away.  A+

Take a Shot Blok every 5k – this worked well in training and past races. This was easier said than done! I did take one every 5K and after the half-marathon switched to every 3 miles (basically the same thing but easier to think about). The hardest part about this was trying to get the shot blok out of the package! Before the start I opened both packs, but my fingers were so cold during the race that I basically had no manual dexterity to manipulate the packages.  It took a lot of focus and determination to make sure I got them out without dropping any.  I don’t think I calorically bonked during the race – compared to previous experiences, so I think this plan worked pretty well.  I took 8 total Bloks and there are 8.4 5K’s in the race so I was right on! A+

“Cruise” around the lakes and enjoying the “Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America.” I guess I should have defined cruise… My splits around the lakes were pretty much all below marathon goal pace, which really isn’t cruising! I probably should have been just over goal pace during this section.  I actually caught back up to the 3:10 pace group around mile 7. I did try to enjoy running the lakes, but I threw my gloves off at 2.5 and the wind and cold started hitting around the Lakes again. It was very pretty along here, until the rain started.  Just as we got to Lake Harriet I saw lightening and heard thunder… shortly after the water stop the deluge began and probably the most scenic part of the course was run while getting drenched by buckets of rain! Sad, but there were still tons of cheering spectators along the course so props to them! B- (I’ll curve up for the weather!)

Part of my support crew!

Part of my support crew!

Relax through the middle hills, feel good, and smile for the camera at the half. I consciously slowed down through the rolling hills on Minnehaha Parkway, even though my splits don’t really show it. I would watch the pace group pull away over the hilly sections and then catch back up again before the next set.  The rain started to slow down and I tried smiling for the cameras but was starting to feel a little fatigued as well.  After each hilly section it became a little harder to pick the pace back up.  I was right on goal pace at 13 miles, with little aches and pains that came and went. B+

Soak in the spectators and stay focused on the West River Parkway. There were a decent number of spectators on the course along the Parkway. I was impressed with the crowd support along the entire course, especially during the deluge.  West River Parkway was one of the thinner spots, but one of my visiting college teammates came from the crowd and ran with me for a few strides to check-in, offer a dry shirt, etc around 17. For the record, I didn’t take the cotton shirt, even though my number was on my shorts so I could have easily done it. My hip was starting to hurt, but I lied and said I was fine, which he relayed to my other friends and wife who were cheering wildly for me! I stayed focused and tried to relax.  A

Cross Franklin Ave bridge feeling good and don’t bust up the hills – stay even and consistent. Well good wouldn’t be the word I would choose to describe my feeling crossing Franklin.  The slight incline of the bridge, which hadn’t bothered me in training, seemed steep enough.  Not a good sign. I was starting to feel the exhaustion and pain set in.  I stopped at mile 20 which has the ALARC Wall to try and stretch my IT Band/hip – to no real avail.  And walked for the first time later that mile on the hill up to Lake Street, but was able to run/jog up the St Thomas hill before trying to finish up Summit.  D

Run the tangents, unless it is really sunny – then run the shade. I felt like I ran the tangents pretty well throughout the first half. I can’t really remember as well about the second half but almost half of that is straight up Summit – so I’ll say it went pretty well.  As a group we tacked on some extra mileage evading huge water puddles.  I’m not sure if it really mattered or not, but seemed like the right thing to do.  My overall Garmin distance ranged from 26.4 – 26.68 (depending on the program) so that wasn’t toooo bad.  There was no sun!  I’ll go with a B.

Stay consistent but start reeling in the runners while cruising up Summit. Hmm consistent is not quite my middle name! In this last section, when I was running my pace was fairly consistent.  The key word being “when.” I walked a total of 4 times during the last 10K and 3 times in the last 4 miles. I took the extreme opposite meaning of “cruise” for this part of the course!! I walked for right about 3 minutes during each of the breaks but only stopped once more to stretch.  That was a mistake – it was really hard to start walking again! Each time I picked a mark on the course and said I have to run when I hit that spot.  I think if I had maintained a slower pace during the running portions I could have cut out a walk break.  I actually did pass people while I was running again each time.  One of my training partners passed me with about 3 to go or so and encouraged me.  This section really really hurt! D+

Kickin to the end!

Kickin to the end!

When you see the Cathedral – bust a move and kick it on the downhill finish. Well I busted something…  Comparatively I was busting a move – even though it didn’t feel like it! Mile 21 included my first walk break and was my first mile over 8 (and actually 9) minute pace.  The last 1.2 miles were all under 9 minute pace, so in comparison that was a kick!!! A group of MDRA runners/friends were at mile 24-25 somewhere in there and I like this quote from their blog, “Nick Cross who did his best to block us out, but couldn’t resist the cowbell.” I was so out of it, that it took me a while to realize someone was cheering me on by name, then I looked and recognized the faces… but had no energy to really acknowledge them.  Did I gesture in your direction??  After seeing them and being so close, I knew I couldn’t walk any more.  The downhill was pounding.  The last 0.2 miles hurt a lot, my muscles were seizing up on me and saying NO MORE, PLEASE STOP NOW.  Eugene, my college buddy from mile 17, yelled “get the girl in yellow”…  so I did, but that was all the energy I had.  Raise my arms for the finish picture and shuffle, shiver, and ache through the finish area! B

And for the record, Halie Gebrselassie’s quote from his recent WR two Sunday‘s ago did not come out of my lips:

“Today, I’m so, so, so happy. Everything was perfect today”

My overall score… Let’s call it a B or B-.  Ok, I know I am being a little hard on myself – this is the first marathon, its a learning game.  Take it and learn…  I will, but I have to be hard on myself to make sure I learn from it.  Yes, I’m disappointed I missed my 3:10 goal.  Yes I’m excited about finishing.  Yes, I’ll take a 3:25 marathon debut.  And… Yes I’ll probably do another one!

[tags] Marathon, Twin Cities Marathon, Twin Cities, Race Review[/tags]

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Race Review: City of Lakes 25K

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Yes, that is a 25K or 15.5 miles.  My longest race ever and before this training cylce my longest run ever was a 15 mile hike/run in Yellowstone, when I worked out there one summer.  We could not have asked for a much better day for this race.  The temperature was in the mid-50’s with overcast skies.  It was pretty humid and actually rained while we were eating breakfast shortly after the race. The sun was out during my warm-up but disappeared for pretty much the entire race. The race appropriately loops around 2 of the many lakes in Minneapolis and makes for a great spectator event.  My official time was 1:48:49 while my watch was at 1:48:40 (this was not a chip timed race).  That was good enough for 131st overall and 27th in my age group.

This is the 27th running of City of Lakes and is a pretty fast course.  Four men’s age group records and 2 women’s records were broken today. The race is billed as “a middle distance trial for those running the newly created Twin Cities Marathon and other fall marathons, or for those looking for a fall, middle distance running event.”  It lives up to its name with 984 total finishers.

Pre-Race

I received my bib number in the mail a few days before the race.  I was a little surprised, but I didn’t really do a lot of research about the race.  With a mile seperating the start and finish lines and registration at the finish line this was pretty helpful.  I didn’t have to go to the registration table.  We parked on a street about half-way between the start and finish and my wife went towards the finish and I went to the start. I wore gloves for my warm-up but decided not to wear them. I waited in line to use the bathroom for 15 minutes and never got to use it so that I could start the race on time (see below). I wore my singlet with shorts.

Race Time

I thought long and hard about the race plan.  I have been pushing my body pretty hard for the past month or so – taking my “recovery” weekends and racing over them.  So I thought that my body could handle a nice marathon pace effort and it would give me a good chance to see how the pace felt for a longer distance.  That means that I would run at 7:15 pace or 1:52:38 overall.  I thought that if I ran that pace and felt strong in the last 5-10k then I’d pick up the pace and anything under 2:00 would be acceptable for this distance.

The race directors had setup two signs on trees next to the starting area one for 7 and the other 9 for people to self-select a starting place.  I started right behind the 7 marker and went out at what felt like a pretty easy pace. The start has a quick series of 2 hills and then flattens out.   The crowd was pretty thick so I was suprised when I came through the first mile in 7:05. Okay, not too fast “slow it down a little”.  I felt like I had slowed down and was suprised again to see mile 2 come at 6:58. Ok, so still a little too fast – let’s try slowing it down again…  A quick uphill, waterstop and down to Lake Calhoun – still feeling comfortable.  Mile 3 6:53 and through the 5K in 21:32.

Ok so I’m still running faster than planned, but the 2 guys next to me are talking about their pace being dead-on their race plan.  Hmm… I’ll run with them I guess and see what I can do.  I had taken water at the stop and was a little suprised to see another water stop so quickly – so I skipped it.  The 2 guys took water so I waited for them to catch back up and fell back into rhythm with them.  We came through mile 4 in 6:59. Still feeling good, but it felt really cold running in this stretch and I never really warmed back up.  It wasn’t cold enough to worry – just enough to make your hands cold. Mile 5 was in 6:58. At the 5 mile mark 3 runners from some of the “fast teams” were standing around talking – can’t remember if they were wearing numbers or not, but strange.  Back through the waterstop and up and over the hill back on Lake Harriet.  Still Mile 6 was 7:04 and 10k in 43:07 – this 5k was 21:34.

Around and around we go heading past the starting line. I continued to run with these 2 guys and we came through mile 7 in 6:59. Passing the starting area we hit the 2 quick hills and going up them I seperated from the guys I had been running with.  I was planning to catch their race numbers so I could look them up later, but was expecting to drop them here.  I don’t think the pace was comfortable anymore, but it wasn’t strenuous either so I decided to continue with the rhythm.  I came through mile 8 in 6:57.  Overall crowd support was pretty good.  There was a lot of people in the area between the two lakes and a smattering of people around the course.  Passed the finish line again and back into the area between the lakes.  The mile marker was right before the waterstop.  Mile 9 was 7:00 and through the 15k in 1:04:41.  This 5K was 21:33.

I decided to pick up the pace to put some distance between myself and a few women I just passed! I also thought, I feel good let’s see what I can do.  It felt like I picked it up a lot so I was a little disappointed(?) to come through mile 10 in 6:53, but I knew that the clock was still under 1:10 – so I was sub-7.  That small pick-up hurt more than I expected it to and I soon realized that 10K is a long way to pickup the pace! Examining my pace chart, I did it the hard way – hitting 6:28 for a few seconds and then slowing down and yo-yoing a little bit around 6:45 pace.  The next mile I continued to speed up and slow down – hitting 6:36 but never slowing below 7:15.  Another water-stop, around the top of Lake Calhoun and through mile 11 in 6:57. I don’t remember much from the next mile except thinking that I still had a long way to go! Mile 12 in 7:01 and through 20k in 1:26:19 and this 5k in 21:38.  Interesting that the 5K I tried to pick-up the pace in was actually my slowest 5k up to this point.

The last time through the waterstop and over the hill and less than 5K to go.  Just hold it together Cross and you’ll do great.  I saw a clock somewhere in here (may have been the 20k sign) and realized that a half-marathon PR was in reach.  Mile 13 was 7:04. I got a half-marathon PR!!!!! in 1:31:something. They had an official clock there and I don’t remember the exact time.  I can’t get my Garmin to given me the time either – but it was faster than my 1:33:22 from 2 weeks ago.  Credit to Chris Taylor for saying I’d hit the PR! Excited about the accomplishment I knew that I just needed to hang in here and not blow up.  Up to this point I had been taking a Clif Shot Blok after each 5k, however I decided not to after the 20k (rookie mistake!) and Mile 14 was 7:13. Stay calm, you are doing great. Relax and stay focused.  At this point one of the guys I had run with earlier caught back up to me and encouraged me to stay strong.  We came through mile 15 in 7:06. Ok, that’s good pick-up the pace and give it everything.  I don’t know, something magic happened – I guess knowing the finish was so close it was like a jolt and I picked up the pace – hitting 6:22 pace according to the Garmin.  That hurt – backed off a little and got passed by a guy wearing headphones.  Can’t let that happen surge to catch him and try to pass – hitting a 5:28 and he switched gears and took off.  Crap I can’t keep this pace to the finish anyway so I eased off and finished in 1:48:40 for a last half-mile in 3:25 (6:25) pace.  I was a little tired, excited about my time and overall performance, and disappointed for a second about getting out-kicked at the finish.  The last 5k was in 21:49.

Post-Race

I stumbled through the chute letting them take my number, getting a few dixie cups of water.  The big prize at the finish was a “beer stein” or a glass mug with the race logo and sponsors on it.  And picked up my cookie from Great Harvest Bread Co. of Linden Hills and it was delicious.  Other post race food included banannas and apples. Booths from Saturn Cars (got a cow bell) and Sister Kenny Sports & Physical Therapy Center (got a little band aid holder) rounded out the party! I picked up my bag and got some dry clothes on.  We waited around for the rest of our team to finish and went out for breakfast.

A Few Criticisms

This was a great race pretty much all around.  I was very surprised that a race of this size and caliber didn’t utilize timing chips.  I know it saves a few bucks and I only lost 9 seconds from my official time and watch time, but I’m sure the people at the back of the pack would appreciate knowing their actual time.  If you want to be a tune-up for the marathon, people should get to know their official time for 25k.  The other minor criticism is the amount of porta-potties.  There was still a line at the start of the race (another good reason to use chips).  I was waiting in line, but decided to skip the bathroom to make the start (I was in line for 15 minutes).  Ok, so another little nit-picky detail but the plastic cups weren’t the easiest to drink from while running (not easy to squeeze the top) and they were pretty small to be drinking fromat the finish.

[tags] City of Lakes, 25K, Race Review [/tags]

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