Cold As Ice [Freescale Marathon 2006]
-Entered 2/27/06-

Okay, Bob Wischnia used this same song as his title, but I thought of it, too. Really.

This was one of those race days that my anal-retentive nature worked for me. My habit is to allow way more time than I need to get to a given race start, so Frank, Alex and I had planned to meet at the Palmer/RunTex bus stop at the finish at 5:00 for our trip up to the start. So, I woke at 4:00, quite refreshed. I had gotten 5 very solid and peaceful hours of sleep on Saturday night, no nightmares, no other getting up in the middle of the night, nothing. Ahhhhh.... I wasn't nervous or excited or anything, really, just sort of weird inside about the day to come. Maybe that was nervousness after all. :-) A last check of the weather confirmed that we were going to have 32 degrees all morning long, overcast skies, so I stayed with my plan to wear tights, two long sleeved Gazelles shirts, gloves and warm cap. My race number was already affixed to my outermost shirt, and over that I put on an extra t-shirt and a jacket for pre-race wear. I also had on my warm vest, just for fun. No sense being cold before I had to be. I gobbled a Clif Bar, started my Accelerade, and took a banana with me for the journey down to Palmer parking.

I had no problem getting to Palmer Center heading south on Mopac, but I did take care going across the Town Lake bridge, just in case there were some icy spots. It appeared to be gravelled and sanded, so it was no big deal. I rolled into the parking deck and backed into my spot at probably 20 minutes to 5:00, just two spots over from Alex, who was similarly early. We did a quick "Did you decide to wear shorts or tights?" question and answer (I had shorts in my bag, just in case I had a change of heart), and then returned to our vehicles to wait a few more minutes. Frank called Alex to tell him traffic had caused him some problems, and to go on without him if he didn't get there on time. 5 till 5:00, we figured it was time to mosey on over to the bus line. We ended up in the second bus going up from RunTex, and despite taking mostly frontage roads and some weird traffic choices, we made it up to the Freescale parking lot at 10 till 6:00. The traffic snarl getting into the Freescale parking lot was something to behold a full hour before the scheduled start time!

As Alex and I exited the bus, we took advantage of the free access to the port-o-johns and adjusted fluid levels. On the way there, we heard that the start had been delayed 30 minutes. So, after the rest stop, we moseyed inside the Freescale building to seek warmth. Ended up in the cafeteria there, and hung out with a few Gazelles (Liliana, Amy, Roger, Alex, Bob) as we whiled away the minutes. I went ahead and packed up my extra clothing in the drop bag, got out all my race gear, and changed into that stuff. Put on the custom made trash bag vest and strapped on my GU belt, and sipped on my water bottle (this was a store-bought water which I planned on dropping along the course).

About 6:45, Alex and I moved out into the cold. We dropped our post-race clothing (well organized and fully staffed), took yet another hydro stop, and walked over to the start area to see what was what. Basically no one was in line yet, but we found the DC corral, and after chatting with Liliana and a few other folks, Alex and I decided to do a modest warmup jog. We saw Gilbert jogging along for warmup, but he had his game face on, so we didn't bug him. We discovered quickly that the sidewalk and curbs and rocks along the paths were slick and frozen, so we jogged along the grass and found a nice crushed rock trail that winds around the Freescale campus. We covered somewhere around a mile at a mighty 10-12:00 pace, just loosening up, and finally found some interesting shrubbery to investigate (hydro stop three). I took my pre-race GU, and we were ready to go. About the time we got back to the corrals, they had started the National Anthem, which was pretty neat. The mic glitched in the middle of the song, and everyone waiting to run stepped in for her and sang until the mic came back on. That was a cool moment.

It seems that most of the 400 or so DC runners chose to run back in the pack, so there was plenty of room in the DC corral. I picked a spot with Amy about 10 yards back from the line, and held that position as they opened the fence behind us to allow the sub 3:00 and other fast runners move up for the start. I had a weird feeling of nervousness and unreality as I waited to go, ready but sort of disconnected from myself. I guess the horn sounded, and we were off.

The initial half mile or so was in the parking lots around Freescale. It was tight, but starting up front, it was no big deal getting out of there onto the wide streets for the rest of the race. We were about 18-20 seconds to the start line (more on that later). The 3:00, 3:10, 3:15 pace groups all passed me in the first mile, but I let the crowd surge by me while I tried to find my happy pace spot. I saw Amy just up ahead of me for a while, but then she disappeared. Whether that was behind or ahead of me, I wouldn't know until the race was over. On Anderson Mill, it was easy running with lots of room to run. I saw the first band at mile 1 playing guitar with gloves on both hands, with his drummer. I admired them for getting out there. I also ditched the trash bag right at 1 mile.

At the turn onto Pond Trail, there was a band at mile 2 out there, too, gloves on hands. They were tough hombres, too. The 3:20 pace group got me in here somewhere. Sipped water again from my disposable bottle. Tossed the t-shirt in this mile, by the elementary school.

During mile 3, Rich, Shannon, and Kelly all passed me in a happy little pace pod, along with the 3:30 pace group. By now, I was more or less among similarly paced people, as the faster folks had rolled by. I saw a woman bust her butt badly on a short little bridge when she went on the left side of the bridge where there was no gravel and sand spread. She went down hard, but geez, didn't she have a clue?

Mile 4 took us to the part of the course we'd run before a handful of times, so it would be familiar turf from there on out. I was strangely disconnected with things in this part of the run. I felt fine, I'd check my splits, adjust a little if I was too frisky, but mostly I was sort of drifting this early in the race. First GU at mile 4 or thereabouts, and I strolled through that water stop to do that. Pulled the GU packet from my glove where it was stashed. Finished off my water bottle here, and tossed it. I started the countdown of miles at the mile 5 marker (21.2 to go...), and at that point, I got a bit of nervous dread thinking how many miles remained. It went away, but your brain does funny stuff to you on these journeys when you're running without a partner. So far, so good. 5 miles done.

Splits miles 1-5: 9:00, 8:31, 8:31, 8:24, 8:25. Overall, 8:34 pace, right on schedule. I was a little concerned that I had those fairly sprightly 8:24 type miles, but just took it in stride, since I was feeling just fine.

Miles 6 through 8 were nice, flat and pretty uneventful. I got a sip of Powerade at the mile 6 waterstop and moved on. During mile 7, it seems that there was a musical act on Great Hills, a country swing act, the first music since mile 2. They were actually pretty good. There were lots of spectators around that stretch, presumably because it offered easy access and lots of parking. It made a difference, and sort of boosted us along Stonelake going towards Burnet. I saw another guy bust his butt on Stonelake trying to step off the course onto the curb and into the woods for a rest stop. The curbs were still frozen, obviously. I took my second GU at mile 8 or so, walked through that stop too, maybe 10 seconds. We made our way carefully over the couple of bridges on Braker, which were still slippery and frozen in spots, despite the gravel. I was just tooling along, clicking down the miles. The 3:35 group, if there was one, passed me somewhere in the 7-8 mile range. I had settled down into my planned routine of sipping Powerade at every other water stop, doing a GU with water every 4 miles, through mile 12.

The stretch through the industrial park off Burnet was disconcerting because it was slightly different than the published course map. I got a little upset at first, but settled down when the next mile marker split tallied normally. This was not a 3M situation. :-) We were through 10 miles now. So far, so good.

Splits miles 6-10: 8:23, 8:51, 8:41, 8:28, 8:35. Pacing all over the place, but overall, I was still right on 8:35/mile pace. I think the 8:51 mile included a water stop, but mostly I just sort of overcompensated for the 8:23 mile before it.

Under 183, onto Shoal Creek. There were a lot of spectators through to the half marathon split point. I saw Brian's parents, and I only knew them because they had a sign with his face on it, saying "Go, Brian, Go!" I called out to them. Saw Margaret, a Gazelle who's going to Boston, and it was fun to see another familiar face. As the half marathoners surged to the finish at the 12 mile marker, I had to focus hard to stay at my pace and keep my mind on my job.

Half marathon split was 1:52:51 on my watch, more or less right on 3:45 schedule. Once the half marathoners split off, the course thinned out a little bit, I guess, but the roads narrowed a bit from there on out, so it stayed cozy. There were always people around to run with or to slowly chase after. The long stretch along Great Northern was about like normal, with plenty of hardy spectators out in the bitter cold, and the bagpipers were out this year again, too. They played the Chariots of Fire theme and then that standard bagpipe song that I just don't know the name of. There was a rock band at the softball/baseball fields just before we turned. I continued to be surprised and grateful at the large numbers of spectators and volunteers who had showed up in terrible conditions for them. All the water stops all day long were fully staffed and extremely well done. Very nice.

Turning to head towards Shoal Creek, I thought back to last year, and how miserable I was at that point, even though it was 8 miles earlier in the race. There was steam coming up off the pavement last year, and the glare was so bright from the unforgiving sun that I lost all hope in 2005. This year was quite different. I was still chugging along, pace slowing just a touch, but I was running how I felt, trying to keep comfortable with so many miles to go. The 3:40 pace group caught me during this stretch.

I was surprised to see the usual Shoal Creek neighborhood crazies out there, heckling us and cheering us on while sipping their mimosas. Granted, at some of the houses, there were empty chairs out near the curb, but that probably meant that they were coming in and out, trying to get warmed up for their next round of cheering.

Splits miles 11-15: 8:25, 8:45, 9:00, 8:32, 8:40. Overall, 8:37/mile. The first modest hilly section is coming up. I still felt pretty good, and "only" 11.2 miles to go.

Turning onto North Loop, we hit the hilly section. I throttled back, as planned, and rolled through this bit in pretty good fashion. My pace fell off a little more than I had expected, but I didn't want to go crazy with the only inclines so far. Took my first Enervitene, a whole packet, at or near 16 miles, and got through the hills without much grief. Turning onto Duval, I started to get a little more tunnel vision. As Gilbert said, it was time to "foh-kus." My quads were talking to me a little by now.

Saw Christina, Rich's wife, cheering on Duval with a big "Go Gazelles" poster. That was nice. The 3:45 pace group caught me right at the 30K mark, and Jason was nice enough to check in with me as they passed. He didn't press me, but suggested that I try to keep them in my sight as we finished this thing. He told me that Richard was somewhere behind them, and then they moved on. This downhill bit was pretty restful, and I sort of spent that time checking out how I felt and giving myself a little pep talk. It was such familiar ground, and that helped a bunch.

I had shifted to about a 4:00 pace during these 5 miles, which felt pretty good. I passed Alex during the UT campus, right at the stadium. He was not having a great day, so after a few words of encouragement, I shuffled on. My new gear was working pretty well for me.

Splits miles 16-20: 8:50, 9:12, 9:08, 9:11, 9:18. I was sliding a little, but I still felt just fine except for my quads, which were getting beaten up. Overall, 8:45 pace. I had a huge cushion for my 4:00:00 goal, and I calculated that I could run somewhere around 10:30/mile pace to the end and still get under 4:00. That relaxed me.

Exiting campus, I did another Enervitene. I walked up some of the nasty little hill before the Capitol during mile 21, and then got back to running around the Capitol. This was the only other place where the course was slightly different than the published maps, but again, it was correct. We went a little further north before turning back south and Congress Avenue.

I got a boost going down Congress, but then got passed by the swiftly moving Jennifer, who looked like she was out for a fun little stroll. It was awesome watching her fly by, but I had nothing in reserve for a chase gear. Just 5 miles to go! I calculated that I could collapse to 11:00 miles from here on, and I would still break 4:00:00, so things were pretty good. I felt fine, cardiovascularly, but my quads were truly cooked by now. The legs weren't as useful as I remembered them.

I had a decent shuffle going on Second Avenue, just in case Mary Anne and the kids were there, but alas, they were not. Turning onto Cesar Chavez, I knew this race was almost done. I took some walks in here on the inclines, modest as they were, and Richard caught and passed me in this stretch, somewhere around the mile 22 or 23 marker. I gave chase, such as a "chase" could be described given both of our conditions, and we played yo-yo for the rest of the race. I found that I was a much faster walker than he was, but his shuffle was better than mine.

I saw Frank, Shannon, Patrick, Sean, Rich and Liliana, among others, kicking it in for their mile 25 or 26 going the other way on the out and back. It was good to see them doing so well, and it gave me some comfort knowing that we were getting close to being finished ourselves.

Pete was in the median some 500 yards ahead of the mile 24 marker where he could pep us up coming and going on the out and back, and that was truly great to see him out there under these conditions. He was advising us about where the turnaround was ahead of us, and warning us about the potentially slippery conditions. What a Gazelle! I picked my pace up when I saw him, out of some pride. Down and up the overpass and underpass, hit the turnaround, and I was ever closer to finishing this thing. I just wanted to be done at this point.

Richard and I teamed up on the return leg, and ran/jogged most of the rest of mile 25 together. We were even chatting as we went along. It may have annoyed some of those struggling around us, but it made sense at the time. I kept calculating where I was, making sure I wasn't blowing my sub 4:00 goal. Just after the mile 25 marker, I heard the Hash House beer people telling us there was just a mile to go. I glanced at the watch, and panicked, thinking I was cutting it just a little too close, so I picked it up into a pretty decent run. Richard hung back at that point, with his 2:00 chip time advantage in hand (he ended up just 20 seconds or so behind me on gun time, so it wasn't that big of an acceleration, I guess). I'm sure my face was a pretty determined one as I turned onto the First Street bridge. I had previously scouted out the mile 26 mark on one of our training runs, so I knew I was going to make sub-4:00 as I crossed that marker. I accelerated again for the last 385 yards, getting everything I had out of the day, and was relieved to see the clock ticking 3:56:00 as I was coming down the stretch. By now, I wasn't hearing individual voices, or even seeing individual faces in the crowd. I had eyes only for the finish, and the noise was just a wall of sound which faded into a continuous Nascar-type sound in my head. As I got closer and closer to the finish, my eyes teared up with emotion as I realized that the elusive 4:00:00 barrier was going down today. Of course, the cold wind dried those tears up pretty quickly. Hitting the finish, I raised my fist in celebration, enjoying the moment. Finally!

My watch time was 3:56:07, subject to later correction by a second or two (apparently, there was a problem with the chip time situation, so I'm not sure how that's going to be resolved).

Splits miles 21-26.2: 9:52, 9:37, 9:49, 10:43, 10:04, 9:32, last 385 yards in 1:40, a 7:37 pace for my killer sprint. :-) That mile 24 wasn't so great, but I got it back together after that, for which I was grateful and proud.

I waited on Richard for a few seconds, and we went to get our clothes together. The medal was, as usual, fantastic. They do a great job with that at Freescale. We picked up our Finisher's shirt, a nifty tech shirt, and then I made my way over to a clear spot to get all my warm clothes on. That mylar blanket had helped, but it was time to get bundled up! Emily, Brian, Amy and Leslie were all around while we got dressed, and everyone was plain giddy about how their races had gone. Jennifer joined us, too, and literally everyone had PR'd today. That's unbelievable! Jennifer had crashed during the race and had torn her tights, along with a skinned up hand, but she obviously bounced right back up to finish great, around 3:48, to qualify for Boston (so did Leslie!).

I started sipping my Endurox, and we got out my phone to make some calls. I had left it on in the clothing bag, and I guess the cold had hammered the battery. It lasted long enough to find that Mary Anne and the kids were in the Distance Challenge corral, and I also got a message from Jeff in North Carolina, congratulating me on the race. That's really fast congratulations!

Aaron joined us, and he had apparently had a bad car wreck on his way to the start of the race, but he ran a good marathon nonetheless. The conditions were probably worse for drivers and spectators than it was for us.

I picked up a bagel and some snack bars in the first food tent, along with a red Powerade (I had had enough of the blue stuff!), and then we finally found the DC corral after some craziness negotiating the crowds and fencing to find the way over there.

I was happy to see the kids, who were frozen, and Mary Anne, who had on all her warmest clothes. I gave my mylar blanket to Jake, and wrapped it around him under his sweater. I shared my post-race food with them, because I was thirsty, not hungry just yet. The Distance Challenge tent was packed with folks, and they had lots of good food for us. I picked up my DC finisher's shirt and yet another fabulous medal.

It turns out that the kids and Mary Anne had been right on the rail in the DC corral as I finished, and they screamed at me as I went by, but I didn't hear a single thing as I powered to the finish. They said they almost didn't recognize me because of the look on my face. I guess that's a good thing?

We saw Richard and his wife, Alex (briefly), Frank, Kenny and a bunch of other folks. I even saw Sara Fisher, who was just visiting after the race. There were lots of smiling faces now that we were done. Everyone slowly dispersed, due to the elements. It sure wasn't like last year, when we just collapsed to the ground in the bright sunshine!

The kids and Mary Anne left after 15 minutes or so, and after a while, I left, too, when there was no one around that I knew. Later found out that the Palmer Annex Center was opened up for runners so they could get warm after the race, but I didn't know that at the time. I guess with the temps as they were, it wasn't much fun to hang out. After much confusion and bumping into fencing, I finally found the way out of the post-race area, walking way around to my car. It was probably just as well that it took so long of a walk, just to help my legs in their recovery mode. Sinking into my car seat, I was a tired but happy guy. It wasn't too awful getting out of the Palmer Center parking garage, and soon enough, I made my way home.

POST-MORTEM:

I'm happy to have beaten the 4 hour barrier, after all those attempts, so this was a very satisfying run. I was a little disappointed about the walking towards the end of the run, but next time that can be a goal. I probably would have benefited from going slower early, which may have helped later in the race, too. As mistakes go, though, those weren't too bad. My nutrition plan was good, I trained hard, and I executed the plan well. Mission accomplished, and as always, lessons learned for next time. I ran a Masters PR and Freescale/Motorola PR of some 25 minutes, and beat my longstanding lifetime PR by 5:45, set way back in 1993 when I was but a wee lad. I finished the race running, and had a reasonable last mile. It's all smiles, my friends, and now it's time for the Spring Season, looking to run shorter and faster for a change.

I'll continue the weight training to build strength in the legs, hopefully I can lose another couple of pounds, and then it'll be time to try to trim more time off in 2007.

LATER STILL:

After guitar practice (I didn't fall asleep or anything!), I met the Varelas, my family, Jan and Brad, and Alex for the semi-traditional Mangia pizza post-race feast. The pizza was fabulous, and it was great fun talking away as we relaxed now that the work was done for a while. It was a really nice dinner, and it was great to meet Brad, who we've only previously heard about.

After dinner, I took Alex and Frank over to the official Gazelles party at Rich and Christina's house, and we had a grand time there, too. The crowd was mostly people who had run the race, instead of the 100+ people that often show up at Gazelles gatherings. The mood was very good, the food and drink was there in vast quantities, and everyone had a great time. Gilbert was very pleased with how we did as a group, and we were happy to have run to his expectations for the most part. By 9:00 or so, it was well time to be going home, and after one last "attaboy" to and from Sean, I headed home.

What a day, a long day, a successful day! Now, let's take a vacation from running and come back sometime next week!