March In Okarche Du 2009

Well it has been a while since I updated this thing again, so time to catch up.

A couple weeks ago I did the March in Okarche Duathlon (5k run, 18mi bike, 5k run). It was supposed to be on Saturday but a rare snowstorm blew through and the race was moved to Sunday. What a difference in days. Saturday was in the 30's no sun and miserable. Sunday started out nice and by race time it was in the 60's. The only bad thing about the day was the wind that really started picking up as the race started.

The start gun went off at 1:30 with about 200 people racing. The first part of the 5k was nice because we had the wind at our backs for most of the time and the course is generally downhill. I was running a comfortable ~7:30 pace. Then we turned around at the halfway point and were faced by the 20 MPH winds. The 2nd half was a struggle to keep the pace and I was worried that I was going to blow up and ruin the rest of the race. I finally got into transition at 22:31, very respectable.





I grabbed my bike and headed out for the bike. You could really tell the winds were picking up (30mph by now) but it was mainly a cross wind. This was OK, but it was a struggle to keep control of the bike at time. My neck, shoulders and arms were getting very tired from the
constant steering corrections I was making.



We made one turn north and got the wind at our backs for about half a mile and I was doing close to 30MPH without even trying. The bad part was turning around and going back into it. Oh well. I made it to the end of the bike course in just over an hour, not too bad considering.

The second run I could tell I was getting fatigued. I failed to take any nutrition on the bike other than gatorade, so I was missing some calories. I wanted to walk a couple times but I could feel some people catching up to me and I didn't want that to happen. I pushed though and caught up with a couple people and passed them. By now the wind was really a factor on the 2nd half of the run again and I guess I had more in the tank that the guys behind me because I pulled away from them. I finished the 2nd run in 24:52 for a grand total time of 1hr 50 min 3 sec. That was 6 seconds slower than last year, but much worse biking conditions.



Last year I was 64th overall, this year I pulled out 34th with pretty much the same time so vs the field I have improved quite a bit. If I could have had a little better time on the bike I might have been able to place in my age group since I was only a couple minutes out. I have something to focus on now.

Spring is here

Ahh, spring is here. Great weather, green grass and racing season is about to start. My first real race of the season is this Saturday. I look at the weather and what do I see? A low of 30, high of 43 and snow. Huh?


Rain / Snow Showers / Wind


It is going to be a fun day.

Bring on Pikes Peak

Yesterday I was minding my business at work when all of a sudden I get am email from a friend saying along the lines of "Hey you want to run up Pikes Peak?". I must have had a weak moment and after a few minutes I decided, yeah, that would be a good idea. So this August I will be making my way to Colorado Springs to run 13.1 miles up the tallest mountain in Colorado.

From the website

The Pikes Peak Ascent® and Pikes Peak Marathon® will redefine what you call running. Sure, they start out like a lot of races on Any Street, USA. But your first left turn will have you turning in the direction of up! During the next 10 miles, as you gain almost 6,000 vertical feet, your legs, lungs, heart and mind will be worn to a ragged nothingness. But it won’t be until your last three miles, with still over 2,000' of vertical to go, that you will realize where the Marathon got its moniker—America’s Ultimate Challenge.

There’s a reason trees don’t bother growing above 12,000' on Pikes Peak. They can’t! Makes one wonder if trees are smarter than runners. Above treeline most runners take 30 minutes or more, some much more, just to cover a mile. What little air remains can’t satisfy the endless stream of zombies hoping only to survive their next step—a death march right out of a scene from Dawn of the Dead. Adding insult to injury, it might start to snow!

What was I thinking?

Frigid 5

I just realized that it has been a while since I updated this thing. Not a whole lot going on around here, just the same old going to work, run, sleep, eat...

I did do a 5 mile race this Sat up in Edmond called the Frigid 5. All week it had been wonderful, temps in the 60's, lows in the 40's overnight. Then Friday night came and a nice cold front moved in. Woke up Sat morning and it was about 25 and windy. Great. I got to the race picked up my packet and started wish I had worn long pants. It wasn't real bad though since the crowd of runners started gathering around and blocked the wind. Before I knew it the gun when off and we were running. The race itself was pretty uneventful. I had hoped to break 40 minutes, and I finished at 38:55 and outkicked a guy that tried to sprint down and pass me in the last few meters. Ha. Overall I finished 94th overall out of ~950, so I am real pleased with that.

The other running thing I am working on is the 100 runs in 100 days challenge. I am at 61 days and have 55 runs in. I should be able to make those missing runs up and get back on track.

My Upcoming Season

I thought I would take a few minutes and put down the races I plan on doing, so I am a little accountable.

Feb 7 - Dan Man run. This is a free trail run that you can do laps until 50 miles or until you want to quit. This is a maybe and I would do two laps for 13.1 miles.

Feb 14 - Frigid Five. This is a 5 mile race that is right around the corner from me so I pretty much have to do it.

Feb 21 - Sooner State Games. Another maybe race and another trail run. I would do the 10k. If I don't do Dan Man, I'll do this one and vise versa.

Mar 28 - March in Okarche Du. 5k run, 14 mile bike, 5k run. This will officially kick off my season.

April 4 - Lone Star Triathlon. If my sister signs up for this, I'll be headed down to Galveston to do the sprint race, 500m swim, 12.5 mile bike, 5k run. If I do this I will probably stay around Houston and go to Astros opening day.

April 26 - OKC Memorial Half Marathon. I am just doing the half this year just because I want to focus on more of the multi sport and not just running this year.

May 17 - Boathouse Olympic distance tri. 1500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run. 50% I am doing this one.

May 30/31 - Route 66 Sprint and Olympic Tri. Not sure which one I am doing, I may end up doing both who knows...

June 27 - Warsaw Sprint tri in Indiana. If we head up to Ohio this summer, I'll probably stop by here again.

July 11/12 - Draper Lake Duathlons. The 11th is an off road duathlon and 12th is an on road. I had a lot of fun last year doing the off road, so I'll probably do them both again.

Aug 16 - Hillapalooza Tri. Another course that is close to home, so I have to do it. 1500 m swim, 40k bike, 10k run.

Sept 19 - Redman Half ironman. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. This is the race that all the others will be building up to.

Oct 17 - Fall Classic Duathlon. Last multisport race of the year. Short 2mile run, 12 mile bike, 2 mile run.

I will probably end up doing the Tulsa half marathon in the fall, but we will see then. Looking at this I am going to be pretty busy.

Ice Run

Today we got our first winter storm of the season so I decided it was a good idea for a run. On my way home from work today I stopped by a sporting goods store and picked up some Yak Trax.



Basically they are a cleat type thing that you put over any type of show that turns them into snow shoes. Man, they work great. I was able to run a little over 3 miles with no sliding at all while cars and trucks were sliding to stops and around corners. It actually took me about 25-30 minutes to get my truck into the driveway after sliding out and around a few times. Good times.

It doesn't look like anyone is going to work tomorrow, so I'll get to put them to the test again on a fresh layer of ice.

Houston Marathon

I am finally getting around to writing about the Houston Marathon I did last weekend.

We left OKC the Friday before and headed down right after work. The 7 hour drive got us in at about 11pm, so it wasn't too bad. I slept like a rock that night. I'm not used to staying up that late and I was ready.

Saturday morning I went for a nice easy 3 mile run and then headed down to the expo and picked up my bib, chip, got weighed and picked up my t-shirt. I did a little browsing too at all the shops. Luckily, I only picked up a new race belt with a little pouch to put race day stuff in. I headed back home for a great meal of cube steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and some jello. Man it hit the spot. The afternoon was pretty laid back. I just played some cards with the family and tried to stay off my feet as much as I could. For dinner I had my usual spaghetti dinner and not long after that I went to my sisters place that is pretty close to the race start. That allowed me a little longer to sleep in (about 90 minutes) and not worry about traffic around the race site.




Morning came quickly and I was up at 5am. I took a quick shower to wake up, ate a banana and a bagel w/peanut butter. By 5:30 I was in the car and my sister was dropping me off. I sat in the expo center for a while drinking some gatorade, surfing the internet on my phone and just tried to relax. When 7 rolled around I drank a Red Bull and headed out to the start. When I signed up for the race, I had never run a marathon and had no idea how fast I would run so I put down 4:45 which put me in the second (last) group. I knew I was going to be closer to 4 hours, so I made my way up to the very front so I wouldn't have to pass as many people. As soon as I made it up there, we were off and running.

The first few miles went by and I was a little off pace, but not by more than a few seconds. Once I made it to mile 2, I was getting into my rhythm. I skipped the 1st water stop like I normally do because there are so many people slowing down to get a cup. At 2 miles in I don't really need a drink.

Things were pretty boring for the next few miles, which was good. A little before mile 8 I found out that my parents, sister and grandma were waiting for me at mile 8.5 so I looked forward to seeing them there. I was having an issue with my MP3/Cell phone holder so I was anxious to get rid of that. I saw them there on the side of the road cheering for me and it lifted my spirits. I felt a little bad because they were there for a while and then I was gone in a couple seconds.



Not long after that the half marathoners hit their turn around. It was a little harder than I thought it would be to go past that. They only had ~4 more miles. I had ~15. Ugh.

Right after that, the crowd thinned out quite a bit and it was kind of lonely. I did get a surprise at about 11 when I saw my family again. I guess my sister saw my compression socks as they were driving by and they got out. Pretty cool.



I was at mile 13 at 1:54 so I was feeling pretty good about my time. I saw my family again not too long after that and my mom handed me a bag of sliced oranges. I found those to be a great pick me up when gu and other energy things just don't.

Mile 16 came and my GPS finally lost it's signal. Without that I didn't have a good guage of my pace, but I was running by feel more at that point. I did keep hearing the pace callers at the mile markers and I was right at a 8:55-8:58 pace.

At mile 17 I saw my wife and a couple friends on the side of the road cheering me on and holding signs. I felt like a celebrity with all the cameras they had pointed at me. That lifted my spirits up seeing them out there.





Mile 20 came and I was still feeling pretty good. I ate a couple orange slices, shot of Hammer Gel and kept running. We were in the shade still so the heat wasn't too bad, but you could tell it was warming up. At the start of the race it was about 55, which was warmer than the highs I have had in OKC for the past 2 months.

Mile 22-23 was where I started to feel the heat. I just kept dousing myself with water at the stops to cool down. It helped, but I was slowing down a bit. I never really hit a wall which means I hit the nutrition pretty well.

Mile 24 and 25 came and all I was thinking about was finishing so I could get out of the heat. It was maybe ~70 but I don't really like warmer weather almost 4 hours into a run.

Mile 26 came and I was so close. I was just barely off the 4 hour pace and I wasn't sure I could make it up, but I was going to try. At the last turn I could see the finish line, but it seemed like it was miles away. I tried to really push the pace but my hamstring was telling me know. I just went to the point it hurt, but not bad enough to stop. I saw my family and wife and friends right at the end and tried to smile, but I'm not sure if I did or not. I crossed the line in 4:01:14. Not too shabby for the training I put in and the heat at the end.




I was disappointed to find out that the chip I had was a dud. I didn't receive an official time, but I know I finished.

I finally got inside the expo center again and tried not to pass out. I got my medal then went into the restroom and washed off and cooled down. I was almost in a daze. I had some ice cream (that was delicious) while I made my way over to get my finishers shirt. After that I met up with my group and we headed out to eat.






The perfect post race meal. Three enchiladas and a tall Shiner Bock beer. I think I had about 3lbs of chips too.



All in all it was a great time. Loved seeing family and friends out there cheering me and the other runners on. I just need to verify my chip next time.