Richmond 8K and Marathon Spectating is Hard Work

Zach had been asking to run the Richmond 8K for quite a while so when JD signed up for the marathon we decided that it was a perfect opportunity for all of us to do it.  Nic was pretty excited to do his first "big city" race as well.  Race morning was pretty cold, but we were staying only about 3 blocks from the start line.  We left the hotel at 6:30 am and had  plenty of time to drop our bags at the UPS trucks and then stay warm near a building until it was time to line up.

Huddling to stay warm before we lined up

We lined up around 6:45, listened to announcements and the National Anthem, and then ditched our throwaway gear.

 Zach had his RoadID bracelet on so the plan was for him to run at his own pace and try for an age group award while Nic and I ran together.  Zach would wait for us at the finish line.

The gun went off, and Zach took off at a pretty good pace.  Nic was pretty excited as well and ran the first mile in a strong 9:24.  His big goal was just to run sub-50 minutes so I figured that we were good as long as he stayed consistent.  He got a stitch and was really struggling with how cold his hands were in mile 2.  He had a really hard time so we slowed down a bit, but he stayed with it and came through the mile at 10:25.  He bounced back big time at mile 3 and ran a 9:25. He was really excited when he saw the three mile mark and didn't want to stop for any water along the way.  I had been trying to talk with him throughout the race, but he asked me to stop talking because he needed to focus.  He saw another little boy that had passed him at mile 2, and he made it his goal to pass him back.  So I followed his lead, and we  picked up the pace a bit through the fourth mile to finish that in a 9:20 pace.  After mile 4, I reminded him that there was a nice downhill finish and that we really needed to get going if he was going to finish sub-50.

Nic locked in at mile 4

  I knew that he was well under 50 minutes if he just held his pace, but he had asked me to push him in the last mile so I wanted to see what he could do.  He really poured it on in that last down hill for an 8:20 pace in the last mile.  He passed a ton of people.  Later we found out that he finished 5/17 in his age group which means that he will receive an age group award since Richmond does top 5 in age groups.  So proud of him for his amazing effort.  He smashed his goal and ended with a 46:42 (851/3177 overall and 488/1129 men).

Nic finishing strong!

Meanwhile, we met Zach at the finish line.  He said that he had been standing there forever.  I was shocked to find out that he had finished in 42:48!!!  He ran almost perfect negative splits (8:46; 8:48; 8:39; 8:31; 7:55).  He ran a terrifically paced race on his own by checking the his birthday present Garmin 10.  His race was good for 3/17 in his age group; 496/3177 overall; 325/1129 men.  Amazing day for both of the boys!!!

Zach racing to an 8K PR!

The boys got cold pretty quickly post race so we grabbed some bagels and found the UPS trucks so I could get them layered up.

8K finishers!

We never did find the shuttle back to the start line so we ended up having to walk back to the hotel.  Zach was really cold, but we kept him moving and shoveled bagel in him until he felt better.  We dropped our stuff off in the hotel room quickly, grabbed some hot chocolate from a street vendor and hit the car to try to make it out to the mile 7 Starbucks party stop to see JD.  We were 1 mile away when we got turned around at the UofR campus due to football traffic.  At that point we were stuck going in circles, and I knew we would miss him there so I started making my way to the mile 13 party stop.  We finally popped out on the street alongside marathon runners.  As I was driving we passed the 4:15 pace group so I told the boys to start looking for dad.  Soon we spotted him and started honking and yelling out the window like crazy people.  Then we had to race through a few lights and squeal into a Walgreens parking lot so we could race across the street just in time to see him run through the party zone.  We exchanged a few quick words, and he looked good.  So back in the car to head to the mile 20 party zone.  We arrived at mile 20 with plenty of time as the 3:15 pace group was just coming through.  We set up and were cheering on runners when a spectator informed me that they were starting to tow cars from the lot that we were parked in even though we had been directed to park there for the party zone.  So the kids and I make a mad 3 block dash back to the car and move it to street parking and then run back to wait for JD again.  I told the kids to hang out at the bottom of the hill while I went to the top to see if I could see JD and run him down to the bottom.  Somehow I missed him coming through in a pack of runners because soon I see the kids sprinting up the hill to me saying that they saw Dad and cheered for him, but that he didn't even notice them.  At that point JD was in the hurt locker with his headphones on and had never noticed the kids. So off we go again to make it to the finish line.  We managed to find good parking near the finish and had plenty of time to see JD come in.

Cheering for the runners at mile 20!

Of course Zach took off to run with dad to the finish and I lost sight of him in the crowd at the end.  Nic and I looked for him for what seemed like forever until we spotted JD and had the announcer at the finish start calling Zach's name. Then I went back out to start searching the crowd for Zach again.  Thankfully, he was a smart and calm little guy and found a mom, showed her his RoadID and asked her to call me on the cell phone.  It didn't take long for us all to get reunited.

Running Duricks and their bling!

We had a great celebration of a really successful race day back at the hotel getting warmed up at the fire over Starbucks and then enjoying a late lunch of burgers.  We really loved our Richmond experience this year.  It was so fun for the whole family.

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.