3:10:59: Houston 1/2 Marathon/Olympic Trials Recap

Kara, Meb, Amy, Gotcher, Wardian, SI pics, Ritz, Desi, US Men, Mens race analysis, Women's race analysis, Nick Symmonds selling ad space on his shoulder, US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Jenny Simpson, competition can be kind, great places to train, Blake targeting Bolt, and Kenyan Olympic marathoning teams.

Back after a long week of travel. One of the biggest weekends in running ever so without further adieu, here we go:

Monday, January 9^th – 4 miles. Ran the Big River Monday group run with Crystal, Pat, and Timmy. Kept the pace honest, nothing crazy here. 9-9:30 pace, I believe.

Tuesday, January 10^th – 5 miles. Ran in Tower Grove Park with Tim after work. Pretty cool park to run in, and have never ventured in that area. Chilly outside, and we looped around the perimeter and through the park. Had a nice pond, and some cool light displays. I’ll be back there. Last mile, was looking for my car – felt like it was taking forever to find it, and I was pretty pooped. Back was still pretty sore.

Wednesday, January 11^th – 0! Plan was to run mile repeats early. To my defense, I was up and ready to go, but rain in the morning killed any chance of running, mainly because of the fear of slipping and wrenching my back even further. Time to take some time off to heal up. Bring on some Advil!

Thursday, January 12^th – 0! Feeling about the same as yesterday.

Friday, January 13^th – ~2 miles. Travel day to Houston. Flew out of Lambert in the morning with Pat, Crystal, Tim, and Megan. Got settled in during the afternoon, then Tim and I stepped out to get in an easy 20 minutes. We were staying downtown, very close to the start and finish of the races. Ate lunch at the Grove (yummy), then went to go do packet pickup. Tim and I squeezed in a quick run, and looped around downtown. Ran around Minute Maid park, and hit about a billion stop lights. Seemed like an ok part of town, and the architecture reminded me of STL a lot (little big city).

Got dinner at some small bar at our hotel bartender’s recommendation, then met up with Ben and the rest of the Big River crew over at the Hilton, where all the athletes were staying. Had a few adult beverages to celebrate Ben’s birthday, then hung out with Adam before he turned in for the night. Sounded like he was amped and ready to go for the marathon on Saturday. Went out to the Flying Saucer for a quick nightcap, and hung out with some of the BRR crew. Ran into Brian Sell over there – super cool.

Saturday, January 14^th - ~2 miles. Looped around downtown with the group during the afternoon. Nothing crazy to note, and felt ok but still sore as heck. Woke up bright and early to meet up with the Big River crew at the Hilton. Waited for the group to come down, when I noticed Bill Rodgers standing behind me. Super cool! Went over and talked to him for a few minutes about the Trials, saw Joan Benoit and Meb’s brother walking around the lobby, before we left.

Walked over to the convention center, where we literally ran into Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan doing some dynamic stretching. Totally in heaven now! Made our way to the start, and watched the men’s start. Kind of cool where they released the men into the corral right before the start of the race, which sort of reminded me of the running of the bulls in Pamplona. After the start, made our way to the 2 mile marker, where we watched Ryan Hall lead the pack of men through. Amazing how fast those guys are in person! Anyways, ran back for the women’s start, then set camp around the 10/18/26 mile mark where we could watch everything. With the staggered start between the men and women, we saw people every 20 minutes or so, so it was virtually nonstop.

Coolest things I witnessed were (a) Meb passing a group of women on his way to the win – the women cheering for him as a group, then him cheering right back and pumping his fist. Gives me goosebumps just writing it. (b) towards the end, Adbi checking over his shoulder at what seemed to be every other step, looking for a charging Ritz who had closed a 30 second gap to 8 seconds. Ritz gave it everything he had, and you could totally tell given his body motion and his face, which was absolutely contorted because of the effort he was giving. (c) Watching Adam, who was a machine. We got an “Adam” chant started on his last lap, and it was great to see him run a PR and finish in the top 40. Very thrilling to watch, and an amazing accomplishment. Went to dinner at McCormick and Schmidts, and had a good meal of stuffed salmon. Watched the NFL playoffs, then turned in early.

Sunday, January 15^th – 14 miles – HOUSTON ½ MARATHON – 1:28:27 (296/~9400 overall). Woke up early and did a 10 minute shakeout run with Tim and Crystal. Back was very tight, so wanted to loosen up a bit. Walked down to the start, and lined up in place with Crystal not too far from the front. Got very annoyed at the many runners that were trying to force themselves up to the very front, even though we were about to squashed in tightly as possible. Was very cramped up from standing in place like a statue, so the start wasn’t very pleasant. Quickly weaved our way into position, then tried to settle in. First mile, you go up this huge hill over the Elysian Viaduct, then work your way into some neighborhoods. Felt ok on the first mile (fast), then about a half mile further, grabbed some water. Next thing I knew, I was a few seconds behind Crystal, and we hit a fast second mile. She was looking smooth and in a zone, and I wasn’t going to hit anything much faster than what I had been, so tried to get myself locked into pace. Made it through the next couple miles fine (split 19:48 5K, 25:32 4 mile), but started to have some problems with my back. Fell a little off pace, but was still trying to hold on. So around mile 5-6, you weave through a few long rolling hills, and then I started to fall apart. Tried to adjust my form, but really just ended up ruining myself and killing my legs since I was running very flat footed with this adjustment. Split the 10K in 40:34, and it was pretty much over – I couldn’t believe how fast it took to fall off pace. I just couldn’t move my legs the way they needed to at this point.

Contemplated dropping out, but I was so far out that I would have had to walk back anyways, so just tried to hang on for the sake of the team competition. Got passed by at least a million people, and glumly trotted forward in my low 7 minute miles. There is a hairpin turn around the 9.5 mile mark, so you got to see the leaders run by for a mile or so – saw Crystal later on (she was about a half mile ahead of me at this point), which helped perk me up. When I looped around, started looking out for Tim, Pat, and Megan which really helped me concentrate and focus on something positive. Timmy looked great, and I tried to calculate where he was at after we fistbumped, and thought he might be on pace for his goal; missed everyone else, then we took a right hand turn and run towards the city. Made it through mile 11, and was just a mess – quads were shredded, back felt like knives were stabbing me every step, and I just tried to focus on making it through these last couple miles. Calculated that I needed to run the last 2.1 in 14 minutes to break 1:29 – I tried, I really tried. Last mile, I was running to the cheers of the crowd, and did everything I possibly could. I couldn’t feel anything - it was the weirdest feeling ever and don’t know if it was just adrenaline or what. Passed a few runners going in (probably the only runners I passed all race), then finished the race.

Found Crystal, who set an amazing PR (1:23:37 – CONGRATS), and was so happy for her – she worked so hard for this, and ran extraordinarily well. We went back to the hotel to change and grab clothes for the others. Found out that everyone else PRed (CONGRATS Pat, Tim, and Megatron!), and started the celebration! Watched more of the runners finish, then headed to Lucky Strike Bowl – met up with Adam and Brian there, bowled for a while, ate dinner at Guadalajara (Tex-Mex) for some yummy Mexican food, then bar hopped around downtown. Ran into Josh Cox and Amy Hastings at the Flying Saucer which was very cool – both super nice people, and would have liked to have hung out with them all night.

27 miles this week, 80 miles in January, 80 for 2012

Monday, January 16^th – ~3 miles. Last night’s celebration took its toll, as Tim and I were a complete mess. Got up eventually to run around town for a bit. Ran through downtown on a very warm and sunny day (70’s), and just felt like complete garbage. Flew back in the evening – sad to leave Houston, but was a very fun weekend.

Tuesday, January 17^th – 4 miles. Uber cold outside. Ran very slow, and very bundled up. Looped 270 then tacked a little extra.

Wednesday, January 18th - ~5 miles. Ran with Tim around Francis Park after work. Freezing cold. Ran for about 41 minutes - legs were sore, but felt a little better afterwards.

Well, the race was very disappointing on many levels, and I wish I could have done better. I physically couldn’t have done much more, so that is my saving grace. I usually try to take something out of every race, but I didn’t really achieve anything so not sure what to think. I know I’m somewhat fit, and I know I can do better. My legs are still a bit of a mess, so plan on some light running for the next week or 2, then start on the speed block for AOH 5K, Shamrock, and hopefully blaze through a good PR in D.C. for Cherry Blossom. I split high 1:06’s in Houston despite virtually jogging the last 4 miles of that, so I know I can PR there on a decent day. I think I am going to sign up for the USTA Cross Country Championships in February, which is being held in Forest Park – it would be great speedwork, and fun to do the course that the pros are running the next day.

I talked with Crystal today, and going to start working with her on my running plans and training for the next few months with her as my consultant/coach. We train together, so it won’t be difficult to work out, but there are a lot of other areas I need to improve on, starting with doing better corework and nutrition. I need better accountability moving forward in my running and training, if I hope to improve. I’ve been better at being disciplined over the last couple months, but quite honestly there is still a long way to go. I want to PR in the ½ before this year is over – I know I can do it, and just need to work hard enough for it.