Everyone Knows It's W(i)ndy! (RunTex 20 Miler)

What a day! This was supposed to be a controlled race/training run today, with an easy 5 mile start, then a trip to MGP, and a fast finish over the last 3-5 miles. What happened, you ask? Read on, my blogophiles...

I met up with Frank and Peter Martin at the Gateway parking lot, and we carpooled up to the race site up in Round Rock. I had a banana and some bread this morning, as I continue to try and add some more calories to my pre-race feedings. Also drank down the Enervit pre-run drink mix, sort of an Accelerade clone. I was all done with all that by 6:50 when we arrived at the Dell Diamond parking lot. The first thing we noticed on the way up there and at the site was that the wind was howling. 25-30 mph howling. And, it was from a direction that would screw with us the last 5 miles of each 10 mile loop of the race.

We bailed out of the car, and walked over to the Start/Finish area to meet the other Gazelles for the warmup jog and stretch. A quick visit to Port-O-World took care of that sort of thing, and we started the warmup right at 7:00, catching Gilbert coming the other way. We jogged very slowly for about 1.6 miles at 10:00/mile pace or thereabouts, back along the last mile of the race course, and then back to the Dell Diamond into the wind. Spirits were high, but this is such a new race for us, going 20 miles, that there was also some quiet concern. Drills drilled, and a brief stretching session done, Gilbert gave us final cautionary words, and we were left to our pre-race prep.

I made arrangements with my pace group for a meeting spot in the corral, and went back to the truck to ditch my extra clothes and get my race gear. Took down a pre-race GU, washed it down with some water, pinned on my race number, and strapped on my belt with all my GU's. Frank and I visited the woods to observe some particularly interesting foliage, and then we found our way into the corrals. This was a singlet and shorts kind of day, with the temp at the start about 55 degrees. It was bright and clear, and it would warm to the high 60's by the end of our racing day. I lined up with the usual suspects, including Rich, Richard, Amy, Shannon, Jennifer, Brian, and Erine (sort of a guest appearance). We lined up way in the back of the field, since our instructions were to run quite easily for the first 5 miles. Because of that, we basically missed what sounded like a pretty nice live National Anthem. Some 2 or 3 minutes after the horn, we crossed the starting line for our adventure.

We eased our way through the crowds for the first twisty mile of the race, passing lots of folks even though we were just strolling along. The most hilly section of the course was right at the start (and at the start of the second loop, by extension), so it wasn't a bad thing to sort of pick our way through those opening miles. Erine soon left us, after 2 miles or so. The rest of us made a nice little pack, and we negotiated the first bit of the course right on schedule. The Governor was ditching long pants at about mile 3, but he soon caught us again, and we never saw him after that. Rumor has it that he "only" ran the 10 miler today. I took my first GU at mile 4's water stop, and throughout the day, I took water or Powerade at every stop (every two miles). Seemed to work for me. The course rolled into the countryside after about mile 3, and we even got to get up close to a big farm with lots of cows on it around mile 4-5. For the first 5 miles, we eased our pace faster each mile, until we had almost reached our MGP by mile 5. A very good, very casual start, and we were all running together, sharing the workload. But, the wind was coming [foreshadowing].

Splits miles 1-5: 10:03, 9:31, 9:12, 9:05, 8:49. Overall pace so far 9:20, just what we were supposed to do.

Now, turning into the wind, things got interesting. The effort required to maintain pace into the wind was considerable, and it threw off some of our race goals. We tried to take turns blocking the wind, but that wasn't very successful. We rolled through the next 5 miles, and it really got tough for the last two miles of the loop, into the teeth of the wind with no cover to speak of. We had a hard time dealing with the simple act of tossing our used water cups to the side of the road. Poor Richard got hit twice by cups of water (sorry!). It was a huge relief to turn back towards the north and duck out of the breeze. I took my second GU at mile 8's stop. By the time we reached the 10 mile split, Rich and Shannon had pulled ahead a little, and continued to press the pace all the way to the finish. I kept going with my own pace, because I mainly wanted to finish strong, and I knew I'd need all I had once we reached mile 15. The 10 Miler people turned away, and we were left to handle the second loop as best we could. So far, so good. I felt pretty good, and the temperature, while not ideal, wasn't causing me any severe problems. Onward.

Splits miles 6-10: 8:41, 8:28, 9:00 (water stop), 8:36, 8:46. Overall, down to 9:01/mile, well under 4:00 marathon pace. Thanks to Richard for pointing this out during the run. It boosted my spirits to see how quickly we had dropped the pace down to that 3:##:## time frame (we hit that overall pace at the mile 7 split)! 10 mile split total was 1:30:11. Time to work on a negative split.

We pushed through the hilly first couple of miles of the loop again, catching and passing Rachel, who has run the last couple of long runs with us. By now, we were rolling up on lots of folks who had lined up way ahead of us, and were now paying for some early pacing mistakes. That was encouraging. Another GU at mile 12, and pretty soon, I found myself running alone. Shannon and Rich were way ahead, and suddenly, I had lost my running pals. I didn't look back, but I guess everyone was making their own judgments about their running day. I wasn't speeding up too much, but that's the way it worked out. So, I just moved along, finding people to catch while not trying to throw down with a really fast push just yet. Passing the cows again, I made the turn towards the mile 15 marker, back into the wind. There was a tall guy that I met up with here, and we ran more or less together for the next few miles. That helped. As I made that sharp turn, I glanced back to see who was back there, and I just saw Richard, maybe 50-100 yards back. Okey dokey. The wind didn't make me very happy, but I was happy to see the 15 mile marker. Only 5 miles to go. There's no place like home, there's no place like home...

Splits miles 11-15: 8:46, 8:38, 8:34, 8:15, 8:27. Overall pace down to 8:51/mile. For those 5 miles, I was running MGP for a 3:45 marathon, through the hilly part of the course, but with the wind not a factor. Half marathon was passed in 1:57:00, another good sign. Time to dig for the finish now.

I fought through mile 16 (last GU at that water stop) and 17 in pretty good fashion, using up extra energy just to maintain the pace I had established earlier in this second loop. The wind was really causing me some mental anguish, but I pushed on as best as I could. The last sharp uphill bit was in there somewhere, a short little uphill bump, and I almost gave in to the walking demon once I got on flatter land after that. I backed off just a little, maintaining a sort of "survival shuffle," and eventually found my way again. Mile 18 was a very hard one for me, and it took all I had, mentally, to fight off the suddenly overwhelming urge to walk this one in. I took about 20 yards of walking after the mile 18 water stop, and then with a shake of my head, I got back running. It was a near thing, that's for sure. With a final cup of cold water poured into my hat, it was time to slog to the finish. I was running with a lot of effort, but the wind was blasting me by now. A fast finish was not in the cards, but maybe I could still finish strong.

I passed Leslie during mile 17, I think, and she came back to me during mile 19. We had turned onto Highway 79 for the last time, and the wind was almost intolerable by now. I passed the tall guy one last time, and with Leslie drafting off of me, we pushed to the end of this thing. I had more evil thoughts of walking or stopping, but managed to fight those off by easing the speed back just a little to gather myself, and then getting back to work. It was encouraging that, as bad as I thought I doing, I was still passing people. That helped a bunch in those last 3 miles. I passed 30K in 2:45:00, more on that later. By now, I was counting down the miles in a very methodical way. 1.6 miles to go from the 30K marker. 1.2 miles from the mile 9 marker. 1 mile from the mile 19 marker (duh). Finally, Leslie pulled away ahead of me 5 yards or so, and we finally made the turn out of the wind towards the finish area. I have rarely been so glad to see a corner in a race course. I tried to pick up the pace as best as I could, and made that final turn into the parking lot with maybe .2 miles to go. With the end in sight (and sound...Evel's announcer's vehicle was drawing me to the finish), I picked it up a little bit more, and was actually moving pretty well as I passed Gilbert with 30 yards to go. One last corner, and there was the timing mat. Done! I took a few steps, stopped, took some deep breaths, moved, stopped, etc., until I finally got my medal, and moved out of the finishing chute. Man, that was a hard race!

Splits miles 16-20: 8:41, 8:39, 9:07 (tried to quit here), 8:54, 8:35 (finally back to MGP for final mile). Overall, still at 8:50/mile. 2:56:47.

Finally done with this thing, I found Frank, chatted with a few folks, got a Powerade, and then we made our way back to the truck to get more clothes and post-run sustenance. On the way, we saw all the rest of the gang in their finishing kicks. Let's just say that they all had a very serious look on their faces. I'm sure I looked the same way just a few minutes earlier. I put on long running pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt, despite the warm conditions. It was a comfort thang. Endurox in hand, we walked back around the baseball field to the start/finish area to meet up with everyone else. I saw some Gazelles doing their post-run striders, but I just couldn't get excited about that today. I did do the balance drill moves as we walked, trying to loosen up my quads, hamstrings and hips. That was largely successful.

I saw most everyone I had hoped to see in the post-race hubbub, and generally, the relief of having finished the race made everyone seem pretty darned happy. Rich had a great race, as did Shannon. The rest of the gang did very well, too, with times under 4:00:00 pace. Given the conditions, I'd say that we all earned our medals today.

A quick check of the results board showed that Frank had successfully defended his 2nd place finish in the Clydesdale (or is it Rhino) division, so he got a snappy running cap with the race logo on it. The finisher's shirts, by the way, were pretty cool. Black long sleeved tech shirts (I've got a ton of these by now!). Lots of Gazelles snagged age group awards, and Gilbert won the race overall, with another Gazelle in second place.

Frank and I drove back to his car, and he was off to Costco to do some errands on his way home. I stopped and got a Dr. Pepper and a bag of ice, myself. It was time for a cold soak for the first time in a while. My legs were telling me it was a good idea to chill them down. I did a little stretching at home, first, and then it was time to get in the tub. That adventure was brisk, as usual, but I did feel a lot better after 30 minutes in the tub with cold tap water, then the bag of ice as it joined the party. I don't think I whimpered too much as I eased into the water. Not too much, anyway. At least I read most of the Sunday paper as I chilled out, literally.

Final thoughts: I set a new 30K PR on the way through this race, knocking 6:12 off my best Buda 30K time. Always a good thing. This was also the fastest 20 miles I've ever run, as I've never reached the 20 mile mark in a marathon at 8:50/mile pace before. I averaged 8:40/mile for the last 15 miles of this race, 5 seconds/mile off my MGP, but given the windy conditions, I'll take that as a good sign. I had a decent negative split between first and second loops, too, with a 3:25 drop between the two halves, 20 seconds/mile faster. I also managed to conquer some demons on the course today, getting back to decent, not stellar, running form after a strong urge to quit nearly derailed the whole day. I am happy with my effort today, and I'm cheered by the fact that I got it back together for a decent last mile, fulfilling my main desire today of finishing strong. Last, this was the end of my biggest training week ever, at 56.35 miles. I'm confident I'll do a lot better with a real taper for Freescale.

Now, I'm going to go and try to take a nap. Hopefully, everyone will leave me alone long enough to catch some quality slumber time. :-)