Richmond Marathon (11-15-2014) race report

 Richmond Marathon Race Report

Pre-Race:
The Running Duricks made their way down to Richmond, VA on Friday 11/14/2014 to hit the expo and run the races on Saturday. November, 15th, 2014.  Last year, I had some pretty good tendinitis in my heel and skipped running the marathon so the kids and I followed Heather around Richmond last year.  This year, I had been battling a bevy of small injuries that prevented my miles from reaching anything worth calling good.  Something different for this year was that Heather, Nic, and Zach were going to be running the 8k.  So we would all be running on Saturday which was really exciting.  To give you an idea of my last 6 weeks of training, this is what it looked like. 17, 40 (paced Heather during 100k), 20, 26, 29, 7.  Yea, not exactly getting the Hal Higdon approval however, lets just say I was "FRESH".  Last week, I tweaked my hammy playing basketball with Zach and Nic, and that threw a wrench in my plans for a nice 10-12 miler before this weeks marathon.  Enough bitching! So we headed down to Richmond early Friday, hit the expo at 11am when it opened. The expo is nothing to write home about with your typical vendors and packet pickup stations.  My left Achilles had been aching me the entire week due to a tight calf but no fear, I had my private PT specialist with me:

Nic taking care of Dad who had some issues with his Achilles  a few days before the Marathon.

After the expo, we hit Jersey Mike's like we did the year before.  You can never lose with lunch at Jersey Mikes.  After that we checked in to the Marriott Richmond and chilled for a few hours.    The carb load-up took place at Olive Garden down by University of Richmond...not being a big fan of the Garden, I was pleasantly surprised by how decent the food was.  The last few days I had been difficult to be around given my issues with my hammy and Achilles.  So lets just say, the Olive Garden was not enjoyed by all :) 

The Race(s):
Ok, the day finally arrived.  The 8k was at 7am and the marathon at 7:50am.  Weather a steamy 27F this morning which made my outfit difficult to pick from.  This is what I had planned to wear:

I chose to wear a tight undershirt and my Blue Ridge marathon shirt over top.

So I wish the kids and Mom goodbye and they head outside to the 8k.  I wanted to hangout until about 7:15am in the room, make sure I hit the dumper two more times before I felt cleaned out.  This is me chilling in the room:

No injuries, no injuries, no injuries, break!

I finally headed down to the start of the race but did something I have never done in any of my marathons.  I "assumed" that we would be running after the half marathoners which seemed logical at the time but what I didn't realize is that the marathoners and the back part of the 1/2 marathoners were leaving concurrently.  It was too late at this point and I got stuck starting with the 5:00 hour pace group.  I was unbelievably pissed and couldn't believe I did this because I wanted to go out with the 3:45 pace group.  The first 4 miles consisted of me weaving in and out of people, running on side walks and bumping people.  Some people had to be pissed but I wasn't going to get stuck in the back.  My first mile was a 8:19 and felt pretty good so I knew it was going to be a good first half anyway.  I had a 26:07 at the 5k mark / 8:24 pace and a 52:14 for the 10k split (8:25/m).  At the 20k mark, I was on pace for a 3:40 marathon pace with a 1:45:31 for 12.4 miles.  The first part of the marathon weaved you down broad street and around the city some.  About mile 7 was the "party zone" where I was supposed to meet heather and the gang.  I looked and looked and looked, no one.  Oh well, kept truckin over a small bridge that had a nice view of the james river.  At this point, we are now running along the river.  There were people whopping it up at this point and all I was thinking was "lets see how you feel at 20 brother".  I hit my hammer gel at mile 6 which tasted good.  At the half, I rolled in with a 1:50:52 that had me doing a 3:41 pace.  At this point, I saw heather and the kids for about .03 seconds as I passed them.  The one thing I thought tough was to be a spectator at this race.  Getting from place to place was not easy at all.  After the half point, I was still feeling strong.  However, I hit the wind and the bridge at 15/16 and encountered my first 9 minute mile with a 9:08 at mile 16.  I was actually a little shocked when I saw this and was not sure how I had slowed down so much.   At mile 17/18, I attempted to put in my headphones which sapped the life out of me.  Not only did it take what felt like forever to get them in, I was starting to get real tired.   Little did I know, I would only have about 4 decent miles left in me as I approached the 20 mile mark.  I now had run my fastest 20 miler ever in a 2:53:02.  I was done and I couldn't do anything about it.  From here on out, I was in survival mode, and the Hammer gels were getting more and more frozen as the miles went by.  The water was making me colder and the wind was mentally breaking me down.  It took me 1 hour to go 6 miles and finished the race with a time of 3:54:48.  At first, I was a little pissed that I had such a great first 16-20 miles and shitty last 6 but after thinking that I had done this on 20+ miles a week training, how mad could I really be.

After the race, Heather found me but apparently had lost Zach in the process.  Zach had wanted to run with me down to the end but got lost in the massive crowd.  Eventually she found him but it was scary not knowing where he was.  After the results came, we found out that Nic and Zach both came in 5th and 3rd respectively for the Richmond 8k which is incredible.  Here are some shots of them finishing the race:

Zach (3rd)

Nic (5th)

    

Of course, I couldn't of done so well without my little helpers:

And of course, here is a nice shot of Zach, Nic and after the race warming up back at the hotel:

Again, thanks to Heather for dragging the boys all around Richmond to find me when in fact, I only saw them one time which was at mile 13.1.   Finally, here is a shot of all of us:

Race Stats:

Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 3:54:48
Pace: 8:57/mile
Overall place:1384/5113
Age Group:  161/405
10k split:  52:14
Half split:  1:50:52
20 mile split:   2:53:02 (PR 20 miler)

Splits Mile Pace GAP 1 8:18 8:17 3 2 8:22 8:12 25 3 8:29 8:26 6 4 8:26 8:22 9 5 8:26 8:22 10 6 8:37 8:30 11 7 8:09 8:53 -127  8 8:23 8:18 -0 9 8:36 8:41 -13 10 8:38 8:20 39 11 8:42 8:33 14 12 8:44 8:24 35 13 8:25 8:22 4 14 8:25 8:36 -32 15 8:28 8:46 -51  ---------------------- FELT SO STRONG UNTIL THE BRIDGE 16 9:08 8:25 41 17 8:59 8:42 39 18 9:07 8:57 23 19 9:08 9:18 -25 20 9:44 9:39 8 21 10:17 10:22 -11   ---------------------> WHAT???? 22 9:42 9:38 7 23 9:57 9:59 -5 24 10:04 10:08 -17---------------------> DYING A SLOW DEATH HERE! 25 10:13 10:15 -5 26 9:36 9:58 -61 0.2 7:53 9:32 -59
Reference:  http://www.strava.com/activities/220010670/overview

Right now, the left knee is pretty sore, the right knee is a tad sore but other than that, all is good.  I am contemplating running the Northern Central Trail Marathon to become a Marathon Maniac.  I signed up last night and will do it unless something drastic happens.

TAPS 5K

Yesterday the Running Duricks got out for the second 5K of the season.  We ran the TAPS 5K hosted by Bristow Tri and Swim.  The race was to benefit the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.  "TAPS is the 24/7 tragedy assistance resource for ANYONE who has suffered the loss of a military loved one, regardless of the relationship to the deceased or the circumstance of the death." so we were happy to support this cause.  The course was a new one to us out in the Vint Hill Farm region.  I had done a lot of training runs out there last fall so I knew the area but not the exact course.  It's always nice to run a new course.  The really nice thing about the BRATS races is that they have smaller age divisions for the kids so that the younger kids aren't competing against teenagers.  We thought that Zach and maybe Nic would have a chance at an age group award depending on how they ran. 

Pre-race car selfie while we stay warm

The packet pick up, parking, and porta potty situations were all easy on race morning.  It was a bit cold in the morning, but there wasn't much wind and the sun was starting to warm things up.  The race was to start at 8:30 so we got out of the car around 8 am to start warming up and getting ready.  They had a nice ceremony at the beginning to explain the TAPS program and introduce a few of the families who would be running in support of their lost loved ones.  Some Scouts were there and performed a nice flag ceremony and the priest (who is also a runner) from Holy Trinity Church led the Lord's Prayer.  Then the 10K runners were off.  The 10K runners were going to do two loops of the course while the 5K runners only did one loop.

Post race with Mom

About 5 minutes later, the 5K went off.  Zach and Nicolas both had a PR goal in mind so for Nicolas I knew that I had to keep right around a 9 minute pace.  Zach needed around an 8:15 pace so he went off with JD.  Zach ran his first mile pretty hard around an 8:09.  Nic and I finished the first mile at 8:42.  Nic was doing really well and running with not many problems.  The second mile was a bit hillier as we got onto the bike path and there was a longer incline and a bit of elevation gain that made them have to work a bit.  Nic and I could see Zach up ahead so we just worked on keeping him in our line of vision and then not losing any distance.  Nic ran the second mile in 8:52.  The faster first mile had taken a bit of a toll on Zach so I think his second mile was around the same split.  JD started trying to push him a little harder in the last mile particularly because a boy passed him at some point, and we weren't sure what age group the boy was in.  Zach gave an all out hard effort on the last mile, but he wasn't able to pull out a PR.  He fell just short and finished with a 26:40 for a pace of 8:36.  Nicolas pushed really hard in the last mile and finished with almost a minute PR at 27:15 which turned out to be an 8:47 pace and a great race with nice even splits.  As Nic and I were coming in for the last mile, I noticed two women who looked to be about my age so I made it a point to pass them "just in case".  I really didn't think my time would be good for anything, but you never know what the 40-44 female age group is going to look like.  Sometimes you need a 20 minute 5K to even get close to top 5, and other times a sub-27 can get you in the top 3.  I hadn't noticed many women my age in front of us so I thought maybe I might be good for 3rd.

Post-race with Dad

We weren't sure where other kids had finished so we had to wait around for the results to print out.  It took a while for the awards to get sorted out so we were all pretty cold by award time.  JD went over to check the sheet, and we found out that Zach had placed 3rd in the 10 and under age group. Poor Nic had just missed a place and was in 4th, but he had a great PR.  We also realized that I had won my age group which I was really surprised about.  This was all thanks to Nic for running a great 5K and staying with the pace the whole race.

10 and under age group winners

Overall this was a nice small race for a good cause.  They had decent post race food, cute small medals for the age group placement, nice tech tee shirt, reliable timing, great course marking, and good organization.  I would definitely recommend this race and will put it on our list for next year.

It's 5K Season!!!!

Finish line photo

With the completion of the big goal ultra in October, I was ready to start back into running with low mileage, and the kids were winding down with fall sports.  We have so many great 5Ks in our area in the fall so we call the start of November the start of our 5K season.

Pumped up for 5K season

November 2 was our debut 5K at the Road Runner 5K  for the 2014 fall season.  Zach and I had done this race last year so we knew that it was challenging.  Nic did the kid's race last year, but he was ready to step up to the challenge of a good cross country course.  Zach hadn't done much running in the fall due to his baseball schedule, but Nic was in pretty good running shape due to his soccer training. This race is fun because it's at the site of Virginia Gold Cup plus all of the proceeds go towards new playground equipment for a local elementary school.

Love this course!

It was really windy and pretty cold last Sunday morning, but we were ready to tough it out and run hard.  Zach had 31:34 there last year, and he really wanted to do under 30 minutes.  Nicolas said that he would like to try for under 30 minutes as well so Zach said that he would pace him.  We got out of the car and got our bibs pinned on and did a warm up jog with about 15 minutes to go before race time and then huddled in the paddock to block the wind until they called us to the start. 

Getting ready to run!

Zach lined himself up at the front with the eventual winner while Nic and I were a little more conservative and lined up towards the middle.  This course is basically small rolling hills and open meadow running pretty much the whole way with the exception of about .25 miles on gravel road to get us started.  Zach took off with the leader and hung off the back of him for about .1 of a mile.  Nic took off too so it took me a little while to catch them, but I did catch them by the end of the first mile.  They were working really well together with Zach leading and checking back sometimes to offer encouragement to Nic. 

You can see them taking off without me!

They went through the first mile at 8:51 which really surprised me because we were getting some wicked wind gusts.  The second mile was better as we had made a turn on the course and had the wind at our back.  It was a bit hillier, but they ended up with an 8:50 split for the second mile.  Nic started to struggle a bit in the last mile as we were back running into the wind, there was a tough hill, and he got a stitch.  Zach turned back and told him to hang in there, and I was running with him encouraging him to keep going because he was really close to a sub-30 finish.  He was feeling pretty rough in the last 1/4 mile, but the kid who won had run back to cheer on finishers so Nic got a big boost from him.  He pushed himself really hard on that last stretch and ended up finishing in 29:50. 

Strong finish for Nic!

Zach got a 29:46 finish so a huge personal course record under some tough conditions. Average pace was 9:33 so you can see how they faded a bit in that last mile.

Great pacing work by Zach!

 I was so proud of both of them for going sub-30 minutes on this course.    They placed 19 and 20 out of 89 runners and 15 and 16 out of 39 males.  Pacing them was actually fast enough to put me in top 5 out of 50 females (2nd in the 40+ group).

Mom just happy that her legs are coming back after the 100K. (and wishing that I hadn't worn the jacket because I got overheated)

 Since the race was small, there were no age group awards, but it was a fun start to 5K season. 

Still highly recommend this race. They had great post-race food from Panera, nice long sleeve cotton tees, gorgeous course, great announcer at the end, reliable timing, free race photos, and much improved course marking this year.