PLANET3RRY

2009 Flying Monkey Marathon Race Report

Date 11.22.2009

Location: Percy Warner Park, Antioch TN

Abstract

This was my second consecutive running of this race, and while I was excited about the event, I was grossly undertrained. With low motivation in August, when training was supposed to start, to a sliced heel in September and then in early November, a mysterious chest congestion which produced some amount of phelghm, I hardly was able to train like I wanted, or how I should! Regardless, I was signed up, even pleading after the race had filled up to capacity to be an entrant, so I was going to run the race even if was the death of me. [ed. Note since I am writing this, I did not die, although I would have been nice monkey fodder if they knew my state on the course]. The race was a nice tie-in to our trip to California, we were flying out of Nashville and so we would be in Nashville the day before our flight which, in theory, should make the flight easier for the whole family.

Pre-Race

Having the advantage of running this race previously, I knew when and where the race start would take place. This logistic point would be very important, as when I go to the race site, I had about 4 minutes until race start. We used reward points to stay at our hotel, which was actually the second time that I had used points to stay at a hotel for a race.

At the hotel, I got ready for the race and did most of my pre-race ritual. I tossed my clothes that I was going to use in the race near my race bag. I pinned my gels (4 ACCEL gels 2-Key Lime, 2-Orange) to my shorts. I found that I had to do this the night before, because doing that when you are rushing around doing this leads to getting poked with the safety pins!

Race Morning

There’s always anxiety and anticipation on race morning… and for a while, I had convinced myself that I wasn’t under trained for this race. I was having delusions of grandeur of coming in under my bib number (#438) at 4 hours sub-38 minutes. Then I was distracted with having to get the kids ready to take me to the race. I felt pretty decent about the amount of food that I ate for breakfast… which was mainly oatmeal, but I had saved some chicken for some protein.

Even though we “sorta” knew where the race was, we still used the GPS to get us there. I was getting pretty nervous as the estimated GPS arrival time was getting dangerously close to the race start time… and I had to use the bathroom (just #1).

My Lovely and Talented wife drove me through the parking, up to where the bridge was which connected to the race festivities. I hopped out of the van, said a few quick good-byes and headed to get my stuff.

I somewhere around 4 minutes from the time that I left the van until the race gun went off. I hurried to the registration table, got my goods and my bib number. Being in a state park does hold some advantages. There’s basically hundreds of places to use the bathroom.

The weather wasn’t fore-casted to be all that great, possible rain, but it was surely overcast and the temperature not all that warm… just about perfect for a marathon. The race director was warning us runners (although he is foolish to run as well) of all the hazards of the park and running… so I knew that it would be just a few seconds. And it was, because we were off!

Mile 1 “Who is the more foolish? The fool or the fool that follows?”

I probably had one of the best starts to the marathon that I ever had. I wasn’t shooting off like a rocket, since I wasn’t planning on making any crazy attempts at a course PR. The first ½ to ¾ of a mile is long reprieve of being relatively flat, that probably helped too.

Mile 4 “Battling against that is more like… suicide”

I had another delusion since I had started off so well, that even up the first section of hills, I felt steady in my pace. I knew that the split times would vary from mile to mile, given the hills, but I felt great. At least for the first 8 or 9 miles

Mile 13.1 “Will he finish where he begins?”

As the race started, I decided that I would make race strategy would be to run the first half of the marathon as best as I could, trying to keep a 10:30ish pace. I had even factored in some time buffer time so that my goal time to cross the half-way time would be near 2:30. Then, I would change strategies and switch to the run-walk.

Crossing at 2:34 and knowing that I was past the point where I would be able to hold up my desired pace. I decided to do a 4 minute walk/ 1 minute walk and somehow, I was able to set my watch’s interval timer to do this. So, there I was… 4 minutes run, 1 minute walk and I was still in great spirits even knowing that I would be past 5 hours.

Mile 15 “Curse my blasted circuits, I wasn’t fast enough”

There’s one difficulty with the run-walk method… when you are really hurting, it’s hard to transition from the walk back to the run. I’m not a huge fan of switching from running to slowing down to a walk, especially on a hilly course, because it makes up hills longer and down hills harder on the knees. However, I wasn’t not going to deny myself of any walk breaks… so if I was in “run” mode and came to a water stop, I was walking through to refill my bottle… and if my watch signaled that it was time to walk just after the water stop… oh well.

Mile 20 “I won’t give up! I am not afraid!” “Oh, you will be, you WILL BE!”

The proverbial Wall of Mile 20 had come much earlier, but still there is something special about reaching the 20 mile mark. It’s the end of the warm-up for the 10k that you are running! And while this spot of a marathon has it’s own evil influence over the psyche of runners, I look to a different sci-fi movie as my mantra for Mile 20, The Matrix.

When Neo is finding out if he is “The One” (a similar title that Qui-Gonn Jin heralded Anakin, in The Phantom Menace) , he is an apartment room which children who see to have some special abilities. One of the kids is bending a spoon with their thought which leads to the phrase “There is no spoon”. Hence, at Mile 20, “There is no Wall”.

Mile 22 “The circle is now complete, when I left you I was the apprentice. Now I Am the Master!”

The Mile 22 marker is one of my favorite signs. Double-Deuce! Only 4 miles away… and it’s at this point that you can start to estimate finishing time. I knew that it wasn’t going to be anything to write home about, but still a refreshing sight.

One thing that I hadn’t expected was that I was well hydrated. Despite being deep into the race, I had an urge to use the bathroom that did not go away after a mile or two. Again, I took advantage of being in a State Park.

Mile 24 “Help Me Obi-wan Kenobi, you are my only hope!”

This was probably my worst mile from an attitude point of view. I knew the terrain ahead, I knew how I was feeling and was starting to lose focus on the race. At this point, I was alone on the course, with no runners ahead that I could see. I started to get myself focused on the finish, despite the fact that I wasn’t going to finish with the time that I wanted, I was still going to go through my normal finish ritual.

Mile 25 “The Force is strong with this one”

There’s one volunteer that you pass twice that you enjoy seeing. He gets to see you early and at the end. So when you see him the second time, you know that you are close to the finish line. It also helps

Mile 26 “Echo Base, this is Rogue 2, I found [him]. Repeat, I found [him]

Mile Splits

1 – 10:19

2 – 10:45

3 – 11:46

4 – 12:14

5 – 10:58

6 – 12:41

7 – 10:22

8 – 12:05

9 – 11:16

10 – 12:16

11 – 11:55

12 – 11:58

13 – 14:23

13.1 – 2:34:35

14 – 13:17

15 – 14:00

16 – 11:59

17 – 13:38

18 – 14:37

19 – 12:56

20 – 16:17

21 – 13:52

22 – 13:39

23 – 13:05

24 – 11:22

25 – 11:57

26 – 13:14

26.2 – 5:31:58

There is a podcast version of this in the works. It’s just that I have been migrating my computer stuff at work from a dead WinXP machine to a new and speedy Windows7 machine. So, my processing power quadrupled! Which means that I can work easier, but I have been in the process of getting stuff to the “way I like it”. One thing that I have been doing is getting the programs that worked on a legacy OS like WinXP to work on Windows7. Thankfully, working with Windows7 is a WHOLE lot easier than Vista! Almost all of the programs that I used to use are working just fine. One program/device that I have to install is my iRiver ifp895 which is my main podcasting device. It’s not so Windows friendly, mainly because the driver isn’t in the device and you have to install manually. Also, the proprietary iRiver Music Manager sometimes has “issues” with seeing the device. Dunno why… I should look into recorder that records directly to MP3 and will drag and drop when plugged into a computer (windows or linux).

Anyway, this past weekend was the FOURTH ANNUAL World Wide Festival of Races! It’s hard to believe that this was our Fourth Year, but it was! Once again, I chose to do the Half Marathon distance despite the fact that I had a TOTAL of 6 miles in 2 different running sessions (4 miles on 9/12 and 2 miles on 10/2)! I figure that I was stoopid enough had enough experience with running that I could tell if I was getting ready to die breaking my body getting into some trouble. This year, I didn’t have the kids, which is nice not having an extra 100lbs to push along the 13.1 mile course, especially when I was a little severely under trained. Also this year, I was thinking about the course that I would run, as if I went the traditional out-and-back course that I had done the previous times, it would leave me pretty far out, if there was any “emergencies” (such as severe cramps, or exhaustion). Also, there was a UT home football game, which would cause some issues because my Course of Choice would take me through Volunteer Landing and behind Neyland Stadium. With the Vol Navy and 100,000 spectators in the general area, this be way too much traffic to negotiate… TWICE.

Taking into account the game, I also decided that it would be best to run DURING the game. Thus if there was traffic around the campus, it would be at a minimum. I would be parking a few miles off of campus, but when you bring in 100,000 people to a football game, the traffic tends to pick up. I made it to the Third Creek Greenway parking area at Earthfare just after 1:00pm. The first quarter to the game was just about over, and so, it would work out time-wise, if I didn’t have any issues. The question was now: what course should I take?

From where I was parked, I could take 3 different directions. The parking lot was close to where the Sutherland Greenway and the Bearden Greenway merged together and so I could take either one. If I took the Bearden Greenway, it would be an Out-and-Back to my location. Taking the Sutherland Greenway could be an Out-and-Back or I could make it a loop where it connected up with Third Creek Greenway. What I decided was to go out on Bearden Greenway and back (2.5 Miles), Go out on Sutherland Greenway and back (2.5 miles) and then go out on Third Creek Greenway (4.1 miles) and then back (4.0 miles).

Bearden Greenway (2.5 miles: 23:22, 23:22)

Heading out initially wasn’t that big of a deal. Despite being 9 days since I had last run, I think the excitement from the Festival of Races was enough to jumpstart my engines. And like in true Terry Form, I started out way to fast! There was a mild threat of rain, but that never bothered me during the run. The nice thing was that the Sun stayed in the cloud and didn’t beat down on me. I did have a water bottle with me and I had routed my course that I would be able to keep my water bottle filled and have some access to food during my run.

During my run, I did have someone stop me and ask me for directions. I was happy to oblige since this was the WORLD WIDE Festival of Races and it was quite obvious that the gentleman lost on his bike was from another part of the World. I made it back to the car in 23:22, where I filled up my water bottle and headed back out.

Sutherland Greenway (2.5 miles: 25:04, 48:26)

The Sutherland Greenway is merely a sidewalk, but a sidewalk with Mile Markers! There’s alot more “action” out on Sutherland Ave since it’s a minor road in the area with a sizable amount of businesses on it, plus a High School and some Off Campus UT housing. This really keeps you aware of what is around you, as you don’t want to get creamed by someone coming out of a driveway or parking lot. Thankfully, it went by pretty quickly and without incident. My time was fairly comparable to the Bearden Greenway section, but the slowing-down had begun.

Third Creek Greenway (4.1 miles: 43:50, 1:32:16)

Running on Third Creek is probably my favorite place to run on asphalt in the area. There are plenty of hills, there’s a park with a bathroom and water fountain and there’s a number of terminus points of other sidewalks/greenways which allows for a customizable route of just about any length. This part of the run would take me out on Third Creek to where I would connect with the Neyland Greenway. This would then take me toward Volunteer Landing and Neyland Stadium, but since I had already gone 5 miles, I wouldn’t have to get into the hustle and bustle of the game traffic. My legs where already pretty sore at this point. I was finding a rising pain in my shins. It wasn’t like shin splits, it was highly localized, but I am sure that it was shoe (degradation) related or an over-use on a weak muscle. Once at the turn around point, I stopped to work out the muscle, plus… very conveniently was a group of tailgators watching the game. I heard the fireworks while I was on Third Creek, which indicates that Tennessee had scored (either Touchdown or Field Goal, but you don’t know which). I wasn’t sure if that was just us trying to stay in the game, or if we were just trying not to get shut-out. It was neither… we were well in control of the game and I got to see a couple plays before I started back to the car.

Third Creek Greenway (2.0 miles: 23:44, 1:56:00)

Working out the pain in my shin turned out to be pretty effective. It did flair back up once again, but working on it a second time and it was fine. I had ran out of water but was able to get refill at Tyson Park, but it would have to last me until I finished, and at this point, I was drinking like a fish. I was trying to avoid having to stop to walk, because I knew that once I stopped to walk, it would be pretty much over for speed at that point. I made it to the 11 mile mark before I had to go into a Survival mode of walk-run.

Third Creek Greenway to Finish (2.0 miles: 31:00, 2:27:00)

At this point, it was to keep my speed around a 4:00 walking 800 meters (1/4 mile). At first, I was able to walk close to a 1/4 mile and then run some, but that drifted down to a “run whenever I felt like I could”. I was able to keep the pace fast enough to keep my 2 miles under 32 minutes, but it really showed about how far I could really sustain a 10 minute mile. I was very happy to finish and running the 13.1 miles despite not having the proper training (i.e. Don’t Try This At Home).

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Congratulations to all those that participated in this year’s World Wide Festival of Races! Once again, we had a bunch of runners in many different countries! Next year will be the FIFTH year! The distances of the World Wide Festival of Races include a Kick the Couch 5k (3.1 miles), The Zen Run 10k (6.2 miles) and the World Wide Half marathon (13.1 miles). Entry fee to this event is FREE. The training programs are FREE (though, you physically have to do them for them to work), the Training Log (powered by Buckeye Outdoors) is FREE! In addition, you can print a customized Bib Number, plus finisher’s certificate… BOTH FREE ( you have to supply the printer). You also get a Goody Bag (PDF file) that’s very similar to the Bags that you get a Packet Pick-up at Race… which will cost you DOUBLE of your Entry Fee, oh, which is again NOTHING! And if you missed the Festival this year, don’t sweat! Next year’s campaign will start shortly after the New Year, which if you have not looked at a calendar in a while is not too far off!

I wasn’t really expecting much out of the race and my finishing time showed it: 26:21

Despite having one of my slowest 5k times in recent memory, I was pleased with my technical approach to the race. The Scholar’s Run isn’t known for it’s gentle rolling hills. In fact, on the tougher part of the course, you past by a cemetery, just in case you can’t make it up the hill and just need to roll over and expire. Funny… another race in the area has the same setup… curious.

So, what’s so special about a slow time but technically pleasing to someone… Negative Splits… bay-beee. And for those that aren’t familiar with Runner’s Jargon, a “Negative Split” is when you run a certain distance (a split) faster than the previous one. Typically in marathons, you’ll say you ran a negative split if you ran the first half of the marathon faster than the first half. In 5ks, you usually have to run all 3 (or 4 if you are counting that last 0.1 and using your average pace). So in my case, I went from 8:42 min/mi to a 8:32 min/mi and to a 8:30 min/mi with the last 0.1 having a kick of 36 sec which averages to a 6:00 min/mi pace.

So although I wasn’t anywhere near the awards for my age group, nor anywhere close to a time that I would find satisfactory for my historical performance, I did walk away from the race with the hunger of racing again. A spark, once again, lighting the fire of focusing on the race and training ahead. I am 13 weeks out from Flying Monkey and still unknown if I will be wearing a bib at that event or not.

I am now more than a month removed from the actual race, but I can still visualize parts of the race. Overall, I did not achieve the time that I was aiming for, 4:15, but rather finished in a 4:36:07, but I am not complaining (too much). Technically, I think I ran the race pretty well, I was well hydrated and it wasn’t until after the race that I realized that I had to make myself eat out on the course, because I never felt really hungry. One thing that will make this race report hard is that I can remember pockets of the race, but am not exactly sure where they were on the course. So, let’s begin.

Swine Flew

Despite the H1N1 Virus media frenzy, that did not stop the marketing of The Pig. Nestled downtown Cincinnati, Ohio housed the convention center and where the Packet Pickup and Race Expo was held. One of the unknowns for The Flying Pig was that this was the largest event that I had ran, ever. I am quite used to and can manage running for large stretches of races with no one around… no runners, no crowd support, no race support… just me and the watch. But this race was different, there were 4,070 finishers, just for the marathon, 661 teams and over 8,000 half marathon finishers. So at race start, there were over 12,000 people there. Slightly more than the 2002 Richmond Marathon where the marathon finishers were around 2500 or so.

The Expo was well marked and with the maze setup, it was very easy to get the essentials (Bib and Chip) before being thrusted into the marketing sty of Flying Pig Marathon paraphernalia. There were a few things that I would actually have liked to purchase, but being a tight budget race, and the fact that I didn’t REALLY need any of that stuff, we passed on everything before going into the Vendor section of the race. Having experience with vendor’s both from MK and other marathons, while the Expo had more people than what I thought was comfortable, it was fairly manageable even with The Elder and The Younger.

Of the vendors at the marathon, I was happy to touch and feel some of the new products from Road ID. I am in need of a spare one and so I was hoping for some sort of race discount, which I got a coupon for, but am not sure that it is any good anymore. We scored a free canvas bag from the Wal-mart area, they had the space of 4 boothes filled with flowers and other silent auction items. There was even a Wii there, you could blow out a knee trying to do the downhill ski game, but it was fun. One of the more interesting things was the knowledge of the mini-Stick, a pre and post race tool… no Runner is complete without one. Actually you don’t “need” one… but they are pretty awesome, especially when you need to knead some lactic acid out of your legs, or back. My Lovely and Talented Wife actually put my name into a contest for a free race entry for the Niagra Falls International Marathon. The kids were entertained with some small Canadian Flags and then got these cool LED lapel pins that flashed lights in the race logo. Exiting the Expo, we were treated to a nice poster of the event and a messenger bag with embroidered race logo and sponsors. Definitely a nice premium for the racers, hopefully ASD Athletes will get to the point of getting super cool stuff for the athletes… but that is a different story.

So with the packet pick up going down and the bib was secure, the countdown to the race was more real… now only over-sleeping would have prevented me from getting to race start. We had plenty of time to drive around Cincinnati and found ourselves going in the wrong direction of civilization. The Elder enjoyed it because it was next to a train track, I wasn’t all that thrilled because the structures we were passing became more and more delapidated as we went… neat for historical references, BAD for personal safety. So, rerouting we finally made our way to something near civilization and had lunch at Texas Roadhouse.

Our next desination before going back to the hotel, was to find Union Station and check it out. Actually finding it wasn’t that hard, and actually getting to it wasn’t either. But when we started to park, we noticed that people in Tuxedos and Gowns were going up to the entrance. We were feeling a tad under-dressed, but that didn’t stop us from going in to see what the hours were for Sunday, providing that I was still alive.

Getting back to hotel, it wasn’t long before I went back out to get some stuff on the Walgreen’s list and Dinner list. On the way there, I was able to some of the local prostitutes hanging out on one of the corners. Thank goodness that it was daylight, because my silver minivan stuck out like a sore thumb… although I did want to roll down the window and ask “Hey, what can I get for 10 Dollars?” [ed note: reference to the movie Full Metal Jacket, made pop-culture through the rap song by 2 Live Crew]. Little did I know that just about 2 hours later, I would be lost in this neighborhood and be down by the business park where it would be dimly lit and nothing around where a nice out of town boy could be mugged or beaten or worse and no one would find out… it was like the opening scene of CSI.

Talk about motivation! It is times like that why guys don’t ask for directions… EVER! About 45 min later, I made it back to the hotel room, safe and secure. I had a salad with tuna, some almonds, raspberry vinagrette and after a couple of bowls, I was full and content. Next was to get some prerace rituals underway and make sure that I didn’t oversleep.

Race Day, Finally

The hotel that I was staying in was actually in Kentucky, so I had to leave with plenty of time to get to the early start. Thankfully when there are many THOUSANDS of people heading to the race start, it’s pretty obvious where you need to go. A light rain was falling, making it cool, though a little humid. I was just hoping that it would stay overcast.

It was about a mile walk from my room to the race start, so when I got there, I had a little warm-up and seeing that there was quite a number of people, I really was not expecting to take off in a hurry. My personal goal for this race was a 4:15 or better, so I made sure that I found the 4:15 pace group and lined up somewhere in front of them.

The magic of race day is just as exciting and powerful whethere there are 48 people at race start or 4,800. There is so much unknown, each race is different and that is one of the mysteries of the marathon. You never run the same race twice, and although you “plan” to peak at Race Day, you never really know until you are well into the race. And it’s the firing of the gun that sets you free!

Most of the race, now, has faded into obscurity except for a few things that have stuck and so it’s these things that I will share:

It’s doesn’t take Rocket Science (and techincally, I have a nuclear engineering degree anyway) to know that People cheering on the course makes a difference. What I found was there was a long stretch were there were people 1-2 people deep for what seemed like a short time. I noticed that this time passed quickly because there was always something to see, people to look at AND because I wanted people to see my shirt and headband, just in case there was a fellow Dump Runner there, the crowd of people actually made me correct my form… and run more upright. However, the crowd, because it does get exciting makes it seem that you are running a faster pace then planned. It might just be a placebo effect… I’ll have to run more marathons to collect the appropriate data (it’s the Statistician in me).

Despite the positive effect of the large crowds, having run many marathon in near isolation was, tactfully a good thing. Apart from the super-MEGA-MONDO marathons where there are 1.2 million people around (or something like that), in most long distances races there are long stretches where it is YOU and THE COURSE. Having to go through this multiple times, it really makes things easier, when all of a sudden you are by yourself, or are in between pockets of runners. Right after the long stretch of people mentioned above, there was virtually nothing for a stretch… and if you were relying on the crowd for supplemental motivation, good luck! There was also another stretch coming back that was very similar, between water stations, there were some scattered runners and if you were alone at the start, more than likely you’d be that way for most of that stretch.

I could not believe how well I was on food during the race. It wasn’t until a week or so later after the race that I realized that I barely ate any of my own food on the course. In fact, I had to force myself to eat in the beginning. I wasn’t remotely hungry but experience has taught me that during a marathon, you don’t eat whenever, you have a plan and STICK TO IT! My standard plan for eating is eat something every 4 miles, plus take the energy gels on the course and alternate between carb-drink (gatorade, powerade, etc) and water. And not only was I not all that hungry, but I was well hydrated. It did help that it was overcast and slightly misting, although this (in my opinion) hurt me in the end… details to follow. When there are TONS of runners and people in the crowd, it is hard to find a place to ditch for a little tinkle. So, I just did what the professionals do. I went. I went while running. Now, I am sure that I wasn’t prettiest smelling person out on the course, but I wasn’t distrupting my time to stop and use the bathroom. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t the most comfortable thing to do, but after a few times, I had a method to the madness. What a time saver!

My goal of a 4:15 became further and further attainable and finally succumbed to the almightly lactic acid, late in the race. It was some point after mile 20-21, where I went from my Marathon Racing Mode to Marathon Survival Mode. I wasn’t going to let the build up of lactic acid keep me from having, at the very least, a good technical race. I saw My Lovely and Talented Wife and the Dynamic Duo, I think, somewhere around mile 19ish. So after that, I knew that I wouldn’t see anyone (I knew) until the end of the race. I don’t think that I actually stopped running and shifted to walking exclusively. I might have, but I have blocked that from my memory. I would walk when I was either slowing down to, or starting back up from stretching my legs. I set visual goals for myself as I started up each time… making to a particular destination before allowing myself to stretch again.

Another, “We don’t need no stinkin’ Rocket Science” is that Practice Makes Perfect What You’ll Probably Do Naturally In That Situation. I had taken Matt’s 3-2-1 BLAST OFF workout and had made a hybrid of taking that format of 3-2-1 BLAST OFF and converting it specifically for ending a long distance race. For the last segment of the race, the first increment of the plan, I did a self-analysis of what shape I was in for landing (Finishing the Race). My legs were shot, heavy tree trunks just about short of falling over, but mentally I was still On-Point: Engaged and still in The Race. The second increment of the plan, is a race-analysis. Where was I relative to the finish? I knew my energy levels… so, who could I overtake?

The third increment of the plan would be what I associate with the actual launch (of the Space Shuttle). This is the point on the course, where you don’t hold back anymore and go for about 80% of what you have left in the tank. “Usually” this point for me is when I see the clock at the end of the race and can read the numbers.

In the case of the Space Shuttle, there is point where the Space Shuttle has reached a certain speed and the procedure is to go faster to help break Earth’s Gravity. For those who biggest News event (Pre 9/11) was the Space Shuttle Challenger, this is the point that 72 seconds into the mission, that the O-ring failed. This is Throttle up. And my executive function (i.e. Houston) and I have communication on this point on the course.

“Go for throttle up.”

“Roger that, Going for throttle up.”

I am not sure how many people I passed in that last little bit… I was hurting. I felt like I was running a 6 minute mile. I am sure it was closer to a 8 minute mile, but when I got to the end, I was exhausted. At the very end, the Mayor of Cincinnati was there shaking finisher’s hand. My next goal, after crossing the finishing mat was to shake his hand. And breathless, I did.

“Are you going to be okay?” was the Mayor’s words to me. I kinda nodded and moved along. The next guy at the finisher’s line asked, “Are you with us now?” I was at least functioning, but still not that coherent. I wandered around the finish line a little bit with my mylar blanket (BEST THING EVER!) trying to gain some clarity. I was hoping to meet Kevin from The Extra Mile podcast, but I had been running late and missed him, plus I wouldn’t have said anything that made sense… Bumblebee Tuna.

I continued to wander out to the food area. Being a middle of the packer sucks, but not “as” bad as a back of the pack runner because of the scarcity of food. It doesn’t help that being on Gluten Free nixes many of the snacks at the end of the race. I think Oranges was the only thing they had left that I could eat, oh, and potato chips.

My family found me, at some point, and we did make it back to the car (eventually). Now that I had finished the marathon, it was time to go over to the Union Station and visit the Children’s Science Museum. It’s a fine day when you can run a marathon AND have fun with SCIENCE!

So, not a PR race, but I had (what I thought) was a good technical race for myself. Not “only” as a guy, I can pee standing up… but now I know how to do it running. I think what held me back was the lack of miles during training. Looking back at my average weekly mileage during the previous 12 weeks, it was an average of around 27-28 miles per week, with a peak of 32-33 miles one week. So, I know that with “proper training regiment” that I can break that 4 hour barrier, no problem.

Oh, and remember that drawing that My Lovely and Talented Wife entered me in at The Expo? Well, I won… I won a free entry to the Niagra Falls INTERNATIONAL marathon! Seeing that I want to run the Flying Monkey Marathon again, and that’s not very PR friendly, this will be my Fall marathon Race. At the end of June, I will start officially training for it. I am thinking that I am going to make a mash up of Ryan Hall’s Half-Marathon plan with one the Hanson’s Brother’s plans, plans on that later.

I’ll have pictures up… eventually.

There is something different about this marathon. It has extra Savoir Faire, to quote John & John, to say the least. I discovered this right at packet pickup when I met the race director, Trent, and him telling me that I was a fool and didn’t heed his advice.

While standing in line, Trent asked one of the runners if she remembered her number from last year. She didn’t, but that’s okay because once you sign up for the Monkey, you get a race number and that’s YOURS for LIFE. I think I might try to use it for my SSN instead, my FMN (Flying Monkey Number) which is 438. One guy has 3.14159265, another has the infinity symbol and I am stuck with 438.

I get my packet and my timing chip. Oh wait, did I say “Timing” chip? Sorry… they were handing out potato chips as timing chips. i think it was one of the chips with ridges, they should have said it was a course 3D map… it’d be accurate!

Now, the race packet was a few pieces of paper, my bib, with my NAME on it! And the bib even MATCHED the color of the race shirts. Oh wait, did I say race “shirts”? Technically that is a misnomer, because the race shirt was a Long Sleeved Technical Shirt, with the race info on it AND my NAME! The OTHER shirt was a Tshirt that said “My Monkey Made Me Do It”… which is how I have 2 kids, huh.

The race bag wasn’t some cheap plastic bag, nor was it the nicer paper bags that I have gotten. No, it was a Publix (Grocery Store) canvas bag! This did NOT have my name on it, as my legal name is not “Publix”. Although, I think that I may have been called somethings that are close to that word. If there were other stuff in there, I don’t really remember… I’ve run a marathon since then.

Now, before the race start, we had the normal race info meeting and then there were group pictures. Although I think these might have been requested for remain and missing persons identification, they disguised it as a picture of the Marathon Maniacs. Next year, I will be able to be included in there… if I get off my lazy post marathon ass and send in the email application [ed note: which I did as I was inserting links into this post].

The weather conditions were pretty good at race start. It was upper 20s, but it was suppose to warm-up to the 50s, so I braved the cold weather with what I had on in the pictures from a couple of days ago. Usually, if it below 40, I wear my Almost Tights for warmth, but given that the forecast was 50F by the race finish, I stuck with shorts.

Right before race start, I wasn’t all that nervous. I was excited, but I wasn’t overly giddy. Although I wasn’t disappointed, I was glad that I would be in control and not taking off trying to get a PR time, only to create a huge train wreck. I wouldn’t have the “weather” to blame for my poor performance and slow time. Of course, there were the big MoFo hills… and they proved to be formidable adversaries.

The marathon course in Harpeth Hills was definitely the hardest course that I have run. It’s the sheer number of hills that does it. There is little to No flat areas of any notable distance, except for the first and last 0.3-0.4 of a mile. Everything else is UP or DOWN and some even seems to be BOTH at the same time.

The marathon is run through Percy Warner Park, which you can think of all the hills in the Nashville area crammed into a small tract of land and we were running on it! For all practical purposes, there is little to no marathon crowd cheering support, but the few spots there are are rockin! There is plenty of Support (water, food) on the course. I don’t think there was ever time when I was in need, the Water stops were spaced out almost perfectly! In fact, I didn’t even bring my own food.

One thing was visibly missing from the water/food stops and my only rationale is that they didn’t want to excite the flying monkeys more then sacrificial running ritual marathon runners out there in their honor, and those were bananas. Nope… no bananas. Aren’t bananas like communion wafers of marathons?

The course, although sparse of crowds, did have quite a few personages on it that were out there voluntarily. A number of walkers were on the course. There were a few runners on there. I mean, why run on the course for free when you could pay GOOD money for 2 shirts with your name on it? Oh, and a Green Canvas bag? Also saw some hikers and I did see a couple trail runners out there as well. I would imagine that the trails out there would be like running Big South Fork, just longer…

The views were fantastic while I could still focus. The leaves were past their peak and some what fallen off, but that just made the vista view even more gorgeous as the sun beamed through the holes in the yellow tinted leaves. The cooler air clearer in the distance allowed you to see for miles and miles, as we ran for miles and miles…

I can’t really talk about my times, because I was slower up the hills and faster down the hills. Most of the mile split times deviate by over a minute from mile to mile! I felt really consistent in perceived effort (not actual pace) for the entire race. It was the water stop at the top of the hill at Mile 24 that I really started to feel the beginning of the end of my endurance. Up to this point, my legs were HURTING, but with my water bottle in hand, I was still motivated to run. Instead of lasting a number of miles before needing water, I was having to fill up my water bottle every stop. But, I learned that I can withstand ALOT of pain, as long as I can feel hydrated. Which tells me that Rutledge could have been ALOT worse if I hadn’t carried the water with me.

Around Mile 14, I saw a tiny figure in the distance… and then there was another… The monkeys are out to get me. Then I realized that they were MY crazy Monkeys! I ran up to them and stopped and bent down to give both hugs! They ran with me to where My Lovely and Talented Wife was standing. Now, The Elder ran pretty fast and was bragging that he beat me running to mommy… but I KNOW that I could have taken him… I was just saving my energy. The cool thing was that I was not expecting to see them at all.

So at the last water stop around 24.5-25ish, I fueled up as best as I could and tried to manage the pain. The best I could do at this point was just look ahead and try to relax. I couldn’t focus on anything else, just get me to the finish line. I wasn’t demoralized at all when I went past 4:30. I had no expectations on finishing times… or even if I was going to finish. Near 25.5, I finally convince myself… to walk. I had hit the wall. Although I could physically move forward, I had mentally stopped and went to walking. I was also starting to get a tad delusional as well… my head was getting light and I was thinking that I was Batman. I knew that I had less than a mile to go and so I collect myself and realized that I would not be able to make a super mad dash to the end… but I would survive.

I left the asphalt roads of Percy Warner Park to the final approach to the Finish Line on the trail leading to the finishing chute. I stared at the ground looking for large clumps of dirt that would reach out and grab my feet and pull me down to the ground. And there is was! The glorious finish line! There were cameras there and so I needed some good promo pieces and didn’t want it to look how I was really feeling…

With about 50 yards to go, I met up with The Kids and tried to get them to come with me. Had The Younger known the drill, I think the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon Guess My Time, WIn Crap Winner, My Other Running Brother Darrell would have been spot on with 4:43:00. I was able to get The Elder to turn with me and run over the finish line with me… The Younger, clueless, was still following to the finish.

I LOVED this race. I want to do it every year! I think that my “goal” for the race will Beat The Bib! that’s a sub 4:38 marathon which, on a normal course with moderate conditions is pretty doable… on this course, ehhh… not so much.

Okay, so there it is. Most of it has been written, just as a draft. I am glad to get this blog post sent so that I proceed to the normal “quality” content! Pictures of both races are coming shortly…

Normally when I do a race report, especially a longer race report, I use a A-F Grading System for different aspects of the Race, but since the 2008 Rutledge Marathon was the inaugral running, I don’t think it’s quite fair to grade things, especially compared to other marathons that have larger budgets and have worked out some of the kinks of race logistics.

Friday night, I had just about everything packed and ready to go. I was anticipating having to rush around in the morning and having to battle the kids to let me out of the door… only to leave them with My Lovely and Talented Wife in their meltdown mode. However, despite using the microwave to heat up water for my Thermos and other noises in the kitchen, they didn’t wake up and I only left about 5 minutes late.

Rutledge, TN is a Rural City about 35 minutes of Downtown Knoxville and so while everything is right off of Route 11, I was beginning to worry that I had missed the race start location because it seemed like I was driving and driving. And it didn’t help that it was RAINING! Arriving to the marathon start, I proceeded to park and since it was being Staged at Ritter Farms, the parking lot was a field… a wet field. I began wonder if my Civic was going to get out in a few hours, because with the mud pits being generated and the rain not stopping… I might just have to run home.

Not 1 minute out of the car, I received a text from my Support Crew, I Run for my 1.5 Lives Susan, that she was here. I told her that I was heading to get my number and we met up at the barn that was being staged for Race Registration. She told me that her GPS had told her Ritter Farms was at a different location and that she would have been here sooner if she hadn’t turned around. That’s locations in East Tennessee for you…[ed. note: I tried to bring Ritter Farms up on a Google Map and 1) it's TOTALLY in the wrong place, like Susan Said and 2) The Photos for this region do not get very detailed when trying to zoom in]

I can’t thank Susan enough for volunteering on being my Support crew. Not only is she Pregnant, but she was also on a vacation weekend with some friends and her husband in the Pigeon Forge (near Dollywood) area. I didn’t even have to use a Jedi Mind Trick to coerce her get her to come to the marathon. And had not she shown up, I would have TOTALLY understood. Not only was the forecast for low-mid 50s but it was supposed to rain until NOON. But Again, It’s East Tennessee… if you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes.

Now, this was the first time that I used a specific “Support” crew. In past marathons, I have had Cheering Crews (My Lovely and Talented Wife et al) and I have used the aid that has been on the course. This was the first time that I had preplanned to have stuff ready for me. Now, it helped that it was a double loop and that I would be returning to the course start to start the second loop.

In a Canvas Grocery Bag, I included 2 sports bottles: one labeled WATER and one labeled GATORADE. I Can’t remember everything else that was in there except for the very important STROLLER PACK. When I was going over what I had and when I would potential need it, I pulled the Stroller Pack out of the bag and asked,

“Have you heard my most recent podcast?”

“Uhhhhhhhh, which one?”

“About Poop.”

“Oh yeah, I have.”

“OKay, this is “The Stroller Pack”, if I ask for this, things went wrong”, holding up the gallon sized Ziplock bag filled with things that I found useful in my recent rash of unscheduled “Pit Stops.”

We waited around for quite a while, and it was very evident that the 7:35am marathon start was going to pushed back. Susan had overheard that someone received an email saying the marathon would be pushed back(and the website DOES have the updated time). But I never received one. Which was fine because the later start would help with the Sun coming up and although it was still raining would add some ambient light to the course. Around 8am, they herded us (haha, farm reference) to the Race Start.

As we were going over Pre-Race announcements we were blinded by light from the Sun. It had broken through the clouds and I was beginning to question my choice of wearing a wind breaker. However, it was still kind of windy and there were still clouds in the sky… and it was still cold, so having the windbreaker was a good way to 1) Break the Wind, 2) Stay Dry and 3) Regulate Temperature. AND I had a Support Crew, that if I ditched the jacket, it would be retreived!

So around 8:10, the gun, which was VERY LOUD, went off and we started running. In about a 1/4 mile, everyone was greeted with a head wind. A nice head wind. Although the actual weather conditions were erratic, the wind was constant, both in direction and in intensity. So for the first 7 miles we had somewhere between a 10-15mph headwind. It was strong enough to keep flags flapping in the wind and you could hear the metal clasps banging on the Flagpole. I don’t think anyone got video of the wind, I had meant to, but I got distracted with the whole marathon “thing” going on.

The “Official” Support on the course was really good. There were Support tables at Miles 1.5, 6.2, 7.9 and 10.9 which also meant that you got them again at 14.6, 19.3, 21 and 24 (website lists one more spot, but I can’t remember it… but that’s my problem!). At all of the Support areas you had: Water, Gatorade, Pretzels, Bananas, Oranges, PowerGels, PowerBars, and the PowerGummies. With the on-course support this good, I never had to use any of the Gel Packs that I brought, I was able to get everything on the course. And in the later miles when I needed my water bottle filled, they had enough to do it… and at the last stop, did it for me!

Now MY Support Crew had made signs! I don’t have the pictures hereyet , but I will post them when I get them and can get mine together! They were AWESOME. I don’t want to spoil them now, but they we VERY well done, and funny. In fact, the people that I was running with liked them as well.

It was difficult to catch the split times in the first loop, mainly because some of the mileage markers were spray painted on the ground and so if you didn’t see the split, you missed it. So, I know that my first 2 miles were in 19 flat, which was a 9:30min pace. I felt GREAT at this pace and with PLENTY of runners ahead, the wind wasn’t a factor until after the 2 mile mark when runners started to seperate. By Mile 3, I was already in at a 10min pace. The Wind was relentless and I was drafting behind runners to avoid having to battle the wind.

The course really wasn’t all that hilly. There was one very steep, but very short hill, everything else was pretty gradual. So, the hills were really a non-issue. For the 1st 7 miles of the loop, the course was on the side of Highway 11S except for some small sections. The Police presence was very good and there was never a point that I felt like target to the cars, nor did I have anything thrown at me. The Wind made it pretty cold for the first part of the loop and so I was glad to have the Windbreaker.

Around Mile 4, I started running with (after drafting for about a mile) a girl duo. One of the girls it was her 1st half marathon race and she was shooting for a 2:10 time. This was also her first time at this distance and after quizzing her on her current training, i was pretty confident that she would make the 2:10 time, but there was always the wind to deal with.

Unfortunately, I had to stop at the PortaJohn at the Water Station at Mile 4.4 and I lost 4 minutes in there. I have NO idea where the time went, but I was trying to avoid a major Malfunction and I DID! Castrophy Avoided. And now I had a mission… catch back up with the girls that I was running with earlier and get them to a 2:10 finish.

At Mile 7 we had the turn around point and so the wind would be at our backs. YAY! We’d Have a Tailwind! YAY! The Slow first part of the loop would be averaged out with a faster and easier 2nd section of the loop! YAY! The turn around dropped us in a road parallel to Highway 11S and lower by about 10 feet, thus having the buildings and trees protecting us from the wind. BOO! In Fact, on the second part of the 1st loop, it got warm enough that I had to take off my windbreaker because it was keeping me TOO warm! And then it rained for a short spell, then the sky broke open and there were some spots of blue in the sky… but the wind… never let up.

Somewhere around Mile 9, I caught back up with the girls from the first section. They were still running strong, but a little worn down. Looking at my watch, I knew that it would be kinda pushing it to make it in 2:10, but I divulged to them that I caught back up with them to make sure they would make it in their goal time.

I saw Susan somewhere around Mile 10-11 and I panicked! How did she get there? Um, her car. Could she get back to the race start by the time that I got there so that I could get my supplies… the things you think while running. Of course Terry, she has a CAR! Duh! Okay, disaster averted! And I got to see the signs that she had made… YAY because silly me thought she was just going to be at the Race Start/Finish area.

At Mile 12, it was final approach for my new Runner Friends. Of course, she told me her name, but I failed to remember what it was and the results aren’t posted for me to cheat and see what it is. I felt good at this point, so keeping pace for her was easy for me, but the distance had taken somewhat of a toll on her. Although she didn’t ask for it, I immediately went into “active coaching” mode and started coaching her in that last mile. Since she was fatigued, it was fixing her form/posture and breathing. Then to concentrate on the course ahead.

At one point, she said something and I immediately blurted out, “Less Talking, More Breathing.” So she concentrated and then in a Terry-Like move, in the last 0.1 of a mile, out of the blue, she took off and sped up to the finish line. I’m pretty sure it was 2:11-2:12 finishing time… I don’t know at this point.

Now, as I was, coming through the turnaround, there was my Support Crew, taking pictures! So, I should have a number of good Facebook Profile pictures to rotate through! But the best part was when Susan Said,

“What Do You Need?”

“Gatorade.”

“You want to leave your jacket?”

“Sure,” I replied, totally forgetting that I had been pampered with being sheltered from the wind the last 6 miles and just had to deal with some rain and some heat…

So, I had a FULL bottle of liquid and I was ready to go! And it was only 0.2 of mile before I had to deal with the wind again. I caught up with another runner just as I was starting the 2nd Loop. There was a gust of wind and a splattering of rain and she said:

“I’m going to run behind you for a bit”

“Sure, go right ahead, I was drafting behind some runners at the start of the race, so tuck behind me”

We ended up running for a little bit together chatting about which marathon this was and which ones we had done… Joked about the weather… commented on the police presence on the course. But we parted ways, or rather she slowed down to prep for the steep hill and I ran until the base of it before walking up it.

Just before the 17 mile mark, I got “That Call” and for those seasoned Readers of this blog, that can mean only one thing… Awwww POOP! Sure enough. Despite the fact that I had gone BEFORE the race and then made the stop at mile 4.4, I was still getting that “Call of Nature”. I knew the PortaJohn wasn’t too far ahead (with in 0.5 mile) and thought I could make it. I couldn’t.

I scrambled for a secluded part of the woods were I could “commune” with Nature. The advantage to running in rural Tennessee is that you can pretty much do what you need to do without being seen. So, I did what I needed to do… another 4 minutes GONE! But, I was much better and I knew there was that PortaJohn that I could “freshen up” in.

As I was approaching, I could see Susan’s car… sweet! That meant Stroller Pack! As I was approaching there were other people near Susan’s Car. Huh, that sure looked like our van. And there’s two tiny people holding up signs as big as them! And there’s a hot looking oriental woman standing there… sure enough, it’s My Lovely and Talented Wife with The Dynamic Duo with signs and The Elder was in an ASDa shirt!

But as I approached my Mission was clear:

“Susan… Stroller Pack!”

“Uh-oh,” she said going to her vehicle to get it.

I dashed into the PortaJohn and came out minutes later, feeling clean. I stopped to say Hi to everyone and had took some picture of me with The Kids. The Younger must of had one of the PowerCranky gels because he was NOT a happy camper (could have been the wind). The Elder was very enthusiastic holding up the sign.

But, I still had about 9 more miles to go… 3 of which were with a headwind. I know that my Mile 17 Split included both my Nature Commune and the PortaJohn and it was 20 minutes and change. So it really took alot of time just in that mile.

When I came to the Water Station at mile 19ish, I told the guy, “The Only Weather we haven’t had was Thunder and Snow.”

“Oh, they are forecasting that [snow] for tonight.”

Great. I should be finished by then, just 1 more mile and I will be able to get out of the wind and down in the sheltered area. By Mile 20, I was still feeling pretty good, considering everything (i.e. The Wind and other weather phenomenon). At the Aid Station at Mile 21, I was already done with my water bottle and needed a refill, that was the first sign that I was starting to feel the effects. Just after the Aid Station, I saw Susan and she asked where I was and I was just at Mile 21… and I remember still feeling pretty good.

And Mile 22, I caught up with the Runner Chick that I was running with at the beginning of this 2nd Loop. We caught up on the last 5 miles and chatted about the weather. In the span of roughly 1 mile, the blue skies that was letting the Sun beat down on us, clouded up and some cold rain came down. Only to shortly clear up (this happens when the wind can move the clouds around)… well, at least, rain went away, but the clouds stayed.Until about 15 minutes later when the Sun was shining and the Rain came down again from a dark rain cloud in the North.

I can’t remember exactly which mile it was, but we saw an AWESOME Rainbow off in the distance. It was hanging really low in the sky. Actually it appeared to be just North of us, within the hills in the background.

Seeing that a time anywhere NEAR my Terry Anticipated Time of 4:05 was out of the question. Perhaps it was after doing the math in my head realizing I would need a near World Record performance to make up the time and distance. So, I had decided that I was going to hang with this other Runner. We stopped when she needed to stop to walk and we ran when we could. It seemed that we were on the same Pain Page, because whenever she stopped, I was just about to stop. Her husband was running Support Crew for her, so she was able to get some outside motivation.

I could tell that she was getting bummed about her time. Her previous slowest time was 4:24 and when we passed that she made the comment about it. I tried to console her that the marathon that was my worst experience was the one that I learned the most, so there is hope in races that go poorly, if you can look at from a point of view other than “I failed to get my time.”

I got see Susan again… with a different Sign… She made 2 signs with 4 seperate Messages!

So, with the Motivation of NOT coming in over 5 hours, we decided to focus on the finish and head for home. At the Mile 24.7 or so we came out from the balmy, still area out in the wind-exposed colder section of the race course. In the 1st Loop, there was no benefit in the tail wind, it’s as if it had changed directions for those couple miles, just for me. But now on Final Approach, I was getting a tailwind!

The tailwind was nice for all of about 3 steps until the force of the wind was causing me to run faster than I wanted to run or rather than my legs could handle. Soon enough, I saw the Barn, then the sign for Ritter Farms and then the Clock and then… I was finally finished with this marathon.

Despite the miserable Wind Conditions, I felt pretty good about the marathon. I think that even with my “Calls of Nature” I would have a time that I would have been happy with. I came to terms (as something that I learned in a marathon once) with my finishing time as it is. The 4:50 tells a story, it’s just half of my quest to be a Marathon Maniac. Although all of training (and your Guess My Time guesses) suggest that I should have been on the other side of 4 hours… like 4:20ish (with the “Calls of Nature”) but we can never predict the weather conditions 16 weeks out from when we start training.

The marathon was a very good experience but I don’t get to dwell on it very long. I have another one in a few days, and that one is definitely in uncharted territories… so it’s time to Reload, Recharge and Prepare to battle with some Flying Monkeys!

The 2008 Big South Fork 17.5mi Trail Run Race Report [ed. note: FINALLY]

A Running Play in 3 Acts by Terry Higgins

Act 1 – Nature Attacks

[The Scene opens to a campsite. A lone camper rustles out of his tent looking at his watch, apparently really groggy and needing something. He moseys over to the camp fire to see that it needs attending, there are melted glass bottles that he pokes at and trys to take out.

He slumps into the chair near the fire. Looks through a grocery bag to pull out the utensils needed for coffee. The fire springs to live and he makes his coffee, looking at his watch frequently. He makes his coffee and pulls out packets of oatmeal

After he eats, he starts to pull out what is obvious running clothes for the race that day. He comes out of the tent and heads to Packet Pick-Up]

The Runner: Higgins… Terry

Race Volunteer: Here you go, make sure you bring extra water, there won’t be any on the back loop.

[Terry looks at the sign that says that road conditions have prohibited access to the normal 2nd water stop]

Terry: Okay, thanks, I’m bringing my own

[Terry heads back to his campsite to pin his number to his shirt and get ready for the race]

Terry: (to himself) The logo isn’t that bad this year.

[Terry drops off his new sweatshirt, pins his number to his shirts and tidies up the campsite. He is constantly looking at his watch. In the middle of cleaning up the site, he stands up straight like a gazelle hearing a lion near by and darts to the Bathroom shelter. After a few moments, he comes out with a relieved look on his face.]

Terry: (Looking at his watch) I better get going or I will be missing race start!

[He grabs his water and other items and heads out to race start. He gets to the back of the pack and gets ready to run. No sooner than 15 seconds from getting to the race start, the gun goes off and the mass of runners move forward]

Runners murmur as they start to get on the course.

[Terry runs behind two runner for the first 2 miles or so, figuring out his strategy for the race. He knows that he has constituients who are vieing on his time to be able to win great prizes crap.]

[The now go onto the single width trail which will take them to the rim of the gorge where the Big South Fork Rivers runs. The forest inhabitants come alive! The rocks and roots start to grab at the runners feet to try to pull them down to the ground for a gruesome fate. Poison Ivy stretches to touch the exposed skin of the runners to further The Cause. The Yellow Jacket squadron is alerted to intruder presences in Sector Q.]

{A lone tree stand ready to release it’s golf ball sized seed to strike a runner on the temple.]

Tree Branches: Yeah, Roger that. We have multiple runners approaching from the East. Go to Code Green, repeat, Go to Code Green.

Tree Trunk: Roger, going to Code Green, sending out the signal to start the bombing sequence.

Tree Branches: Bombing Sequences begin- Holy Pine Beetles… there’s too many off them!

Tree Trunk: Don’t sway away from the target Branches… find a mark and launch.

Tree Branches: Listen Trunk, don’t bark orders… Leave this to me.

[The branches release a number of seeds, most of which fall harmlessly to the ground. Terry approaches the tree.]

Tree Branches: Another one is approaching, Ready… wait for it, wait for it… NOW! LAUNCH SEED.

[The seed comes down and hits Terry squarely on the left shoulder blade.]

Terry: OWWW! [His stride is interupted and he rubs his shoulder, apparently irritated]

Tree Branches: DIRECT HIT!

Tree: Did you take the runner down?

Tree Branches: No. It was just a peckin’ on the surface.

[The scene shifts to another part of the race. A squadron of Yellow Jackets has just been launched to defend the nest. The nest is on HIGH alert as multiple disturbances have been felt, shaking the whole Nest.]

G-Tech Squadron Leader: ACC, ACC come in ACC do you read?

ACC Squadron Leader: (weakly): Roger G-TECH, I read you… all attackers hit their mark, wounded are laying out on the forest floor… more intrud-truders… in…………………………..bound.

G-TECH SQuadron Leader: Look Alive Boys, here we go… aim for the ankles, their defenses are on the upper torso. Targets in visual, within range… DIVE DIVE DIVE.

[The runner ahead of Terry does an unnatural jump and yells.]

The Other Runner: WHA! OW!

Terry: YellowJACKETS. OW… FUHHHHHHHHHH. CRAP!

[Terry is hit three times in the ankles. The uneven terrain makes it difficult for a sprint evacuation of the area. The Yellow Jackets disrupt the rhythm of the runners. Terry stops to inspect his wounds.]

Terry: (to another stopped runner) I got hit three times and they hurt. Part of the race ambiance though.

[Terry is back on the course and behind some runners talkng about the Yellow Jacket Suicide Squad]

Terry: I’ve been stung one of times that I ran the race before, but it wasn’t this early in the race. The cooler weather must have made them more active and onery. These hurt.

[Terry comes up to the Water stop at Mile 5 in ]

{INTERMISSION}

Act 2 The Loop that begins to come undone

[After water, half a banana and a gel, Terry gets back on the course. He is obvious pain from the yellow jackets and shortly into the run he has to stop and take his right shoe off and rub his socks. After a few moments, the shoes back on and he continues on.]

[The course comes around to the vista of the cliffs over looking the river.]

Terry: (to another runner) That is so beautiful.

[By mile 9 Terry has slowed down considerably. He also looks around as if he looking for more yello jackets to attack.]

Tree Branches: We have runners approaching!

Tree Roots: Stretch out boys!

[One of runners in front of Terry goes down hard. A rustle of leaves is heard.]

[With about 2 miles to go, Terry is forced to begin to walk. The course has worn him down. Mentally, he is still alert, but his legs are shot and knowing of the hills yet to come, he is forced to change his race strategy to a run-walk styled pattern.]

[He stays pacing behind a runner who seems to be running the same speed. He doesn't have enough energy to pass and allows other faster runners to pass. Fatigue is setting in and his body is beginning to slouch and his form is deteriorating. Finally, relief is seen at the water stop a mile 12. ]

[Intermission]

Act 3 The Race Failure becomes a Training Success

[Terry is seated on a rock knocking back a couple of watersm lounging around. He takes a GU pack of a flavor he has never had before, looks at it, shrugs his shoulders, opens it and eats it. A few other runners rest on the rocks where Terry is sitting.]

Race Volunteer: (To the group of runners) You know, if you stop and sit, that’s immediate disqualification. I’ll need your race numbers. (then proceeds to be thouroughly pleased at entertaining himself)

[One of the runners proceeds to challenge his false accusation. Terry rolls his eyes and proceeds to look down the course, thinking about the 5.5 miles left to run.]

[Terry starts out toward the finish by himself. He's obviously very tired and he seems content running at a slower pace.]

[After running for a short period of time and then having to stop to walk, Terry holds up his hand with his index finger extended as if to say "Eureka"]

Terry: Eureka!

[For the next 40 minutes or so, Terry is erratic in his running. Instead of running at an even pace, he's sprinting for a short period followed by short stints of walking. He's seen sprinting up the hills. This continues until he finally comes out of the forest and into the campground with roughly 0.3 mile to go]

[His eyes focus on part of the course that he saw when returning from picking up his race packet. This is his spot that he has designated as the "All-In" spot before the race, it's at the beginning of the last little crest in the race course with close to 0.2 mile to go.]

Terry: (as he hits the spot) GO!

[His posture straightens and his eyes narrow down as he looks down the course. His picks up his pace and he begins to build speed, as much as he can muster. He can now see the time clock.]

Terry: SURGE!

[Terry runs the fastest that he can for the last few meters and proceeds to find a nice green patch of grass to collapse upon. He is happy to have just survived to finish.]

[Fade to Black]

3:34:32

129th out of 156 finishers

When it comes to the History of Terry’s Running, the Scholar’s Run 5k is the last race that I have done every year since 1998 (when I officially became a Runner). There have been births, deaths, pulled hamstrings, weddings, etc, but yet in the later part of August, I have been able to make it to the starting line on the Maryville College campus for the Scholar’s Run

The Scholar’s Run is part of the Ruby Tuesday’s Triple Crown of Running, and that’s the restaurant Ruby Tuesday, their headquarters is in Maryville. And having such a great sponsor is great for the runners because in the Goody Bags/Race Packets they always have good stuff. This year it was a sports bottle… I thought I would hate it, but I LOVE it. It’s made from hard plastic so I can squeeze it, so I have to use vacuum action to get liquid out, so I get a small amount each drink time and so the drink lasts a long time.

Anyway, this year’s race, as in years past, is the Fall debut race for me. I don’t expect a whole lot from my race time, but I give it a good effort to “kick off” the fall training season. This was also the first race in 2006 that I made a podcast from my running. Oh, and this year, this was the debut race for ASD Athletes!

I am going not going to go into great detail on every aspect of the race. It wasn’t my fastest race but it was MUCH better than the Fireball 5k race. And even though I wasn’t really trained for the race, and that I have been running for sometime now, the thought of running this 5k race still got me excited. I went from just wanting to finish the race, to making it into a speed workout, to actually thinking about race strategy and finally to running it with the intent of attacking the course (lots of hills) and making a good workout of the event and if by the Mile 1 split, I was doing well, I would actually “race” the race.

My Split times for the Scholar’s Run were

Mile 1 & 2: (I seem to have misplaced my times – my new watch isn’t that high tech)
Finish 24:58
average pace: 8:04

This finishing time was good enough to put me in the Top Half of Finishers 103 out of 262, but in my Age Group, I was forced back to 16th (out of 26)! The first top 7 were faster than my PR and the top 11 in my age group were faster than the Terry Anticipated Time of 23:35.

Although I wasn’t all that excited at the 24:58, I did leave everything out on the course and so I couldn’t have really asked for more. So that gives me an idea of my base race pace and from there I can expand on my training for the two marathons this fall.

The Fourth of July race for the Knoxville area is called the Fireball Moonlight Classic. When I first started running, it was just the “Fireball Classic” and was held on the 4th of July. Well, things changed and although the venue did not, the date and start time did. It was moved to a night race held on the 3rd of July and has been this way for some time now. Back in the good old days, they had a small bunch of fireworks before race start. However, when there was no wind, this created a plume of smoke that the runners had to run through and caused some problems. But since this was the first time that I had ran the Fireball in some time, the race start was moved to 9pm, which in Tennessee is about dusk during the summer months.

The Fireball 5k was a last minute (couple of days) decision. I wasn’t planning on running the race, but it would give me a chance to see how I was doing on my running. This way I would know how much I needed to work on in preparation for the fall season. However, I didn’t realize that I had something in me that was keeping me down, but not out. So I really was tricked into thinking I was going to have an awesome run, when I had a limiter on myself that would cause me to have another poor performance at a road race.

I was going into this race very excited. In fact, I was having major race jitters: I was nervous, my stomach was up and down. So I knew that I would have a good showing at this race. Based on some of my workout times, I was thinking that a 23:30 target would be about perfect and with some of the guess for Guess My Time, Win Crap contest, I knew that was achievable. But I kept over looking a cough with phlegm that I had.

During my pre-race warmup, I looked over the finish line. It hadn’t changed locations from years past, so I was happy. I knew what to expect at the end and how to tweak my strategy at the end. As I continued to warm-up, I got a Nature’s Do Not Call signal and I decided it best I go over and wait in the porta-potty line now and not try to “hope for the best” during the race. Thankfully, there were 10 porta potties and the line, although long moves quickly.

Just after I was “finished”, the pre-race announcements and national anthem began. The KFD had one of their big trucks with a large boom ladder up over Neyland Drive, holding up a HUGE American flag as the national anthem played.

Fireball always attracts runners and this year was no different. I knew that it was important to position myself at race start to be up with runners of my ability and not hang back and try to make up the time during the race, the traffic would be immense. I had learned my lesson well at a crowded race at the deteriments of weaving through traffic, and so I wanted to place myself strategically to succeed.

The gun went off and the race started. I had placed myself pretty well. I was on the outside edge and up far enough that the people around me were running the pace I wanted to run. I still had to dodge some people who may have thought they were faster than they thought or just wasn’t using a Race Day strategy at all. Regardless, by the first 1/4 mile I had secured a location in race and felt good.

Mile 1: 7:44

I was feeling pretty decent at this time. I was running comfortably. I had established my lane and knew in 1/2 was the turn around. I avoided the traffic of the lone water station and held my pace.

Like I had mentioned before, this race and Expo 10k turned out to be almost exact in results. Good first mile, then everything falls apart, reduced to walking and regrouping. The only difference in this race was there was no cool slip and fall.

As I rounded the 1/2 way point, the running went from okay to labored. I could tell that I was starting to slow down in my pace and things were becoming difficult. I tried to analyze what was going on with my running, but nothing was making sense. I decided to get some liquid at the water stop.

Mile 2: 8:26 (16:10)

I’m actually starting to feel tired as I get to the water stop. Not fatigued tired, but sleepy tired. I feel like I could just lie down in the road and nap. When I got the water, I stopped to walk, something that I have rarely done in a 5k race before. I finish my water and move along.

The water helped some, I feel refreshed and running feels good again. But now, my head is starting to feel funny. I actually am starting to feel lightheaded, so I stop to walk. Very strange that I feel woozy while running, that had never happened before, so I was confused about what to do, so I want to experiment and see if I can replicate the feeling. Yes, I can. I start running again and sure enough I am starting to feel lightheaded and almost like I could pass out.

I reduced my pace to the point where the lightheadedness did not exist. With all the walking and slowing down, I had moved over to the left so that all the runners could pass me, and it’s just a 5k too.

With 1/4 mile to go, I start to think about how I was going to finish. Would I push it at the end (like normal) or just mosey in and call the race a loss. I didn’t really know until the final turn at the Mile 3 marker when I am behind this father-daughter pair and I am hearing the dad encourage the daughter to run ahead to the finish line without him and finish strong. She’s about 10 and she’s very tentative about it. Right after the turn she gives in and starts to pick up speed and pulls away from her dad. I pick up speed and chase her. I did this for a couple of reasons:

1)I can let her pace me so I don’t kill myself at the end
2)She’ll know someone is behind her and this will keep her going
3)If she does start to falter at the very end, I can be there to encourage her runner-to-runner to push it to the end

We pull away from the group with about 40 yards to go. I kept to just 1-2 steps behind her and began to run coverage for her. Even though I could out kick her to finish line just based on stride-length alone, she had worked hard during this race and deserved the finish. Although it wasn’t necessary, I was running right behind her, looking over my should to make sure that if any runner was going to sprint at the end, I was going to run in that space to protect her finishing place. It’s like we were team mates with her knowing.

Mile 3.1 10:13 (26:31)

The best part of the race was the cold race logo towel that they gave finishers at the end of the chute to help cool off. That was awesome.

So what went wrong? Why did I feel mentally that I could run a 23:30 but physically managed only a 26:23? The first clue was that I realized pretty quickly after finishing that Expo and Fireball had the same result, start okay, but finish poorly. Fireball had been different because I felt woozy, while running.

I finally admitted to myself that the productive coughing I was having was something in my lungs. In fact, it very well could have been allergies because I didn’t feel “sick” at all, but I would cough. This junk in lungs was causing a lack of oxygen to get to the lungs, even though I had Breath Right Strip on and had taken an Abuterol hit before the race.

Despite a bad performance on my part, my stats didn’t look all that bad. I finished 404 out of 1064 runners and place 39 out 75th in my age group. Percentage wise, those were about right on. But the fact of the matter is that I could have done better! I should have finished closer to 28th in my age group!

This year’s Expo was the first 10k distance in 2 years since the 2006 Expo 10k. I don’t remember why I didn’t run last year, perhaps a look in the archive would shed light on the details (oh yeah, pleural rub!). I was coming to this race fairly confident that I would have a good showing and although I would not reach a PR time (48:06 10-07-2000) I would feel that the speed work that I had been doing this spring would finally pay off. However, that did not happen and although I would really like to just put this in my History annals and move on, I am obliged to write a race report while it’s still fresh. I can’t see it right now, but there are clues to my running in this race that I won’t be able to see until sometime later, so I need the details to be fresh as possible.

Like most of my KTC races, I volunteer for pre-race duties, usually whatever is available. In the winter months, registration is desirable to have some shelter from the elements. This race, I was to help setting up the vendor and food tables. I showed up just after 6am (race start 8am) to help with tables. I ended up cutting oranges, cleaning tables, filling ice buckets, and hanging signs. Nothing too taxing, and I even did a little pre race warm up as I was running from place to place. However, I noticed that my legs felt heavy.

With 10 minutes to race start, I headed over to the starting line, hanging out off to the side by myself so that I could gage how people were lining up. Since I was here by myself, I was looking for racers that I knew by face and performance on the ideal place to line up. The start on Gay Street was narrow for the number of people, but the 0.75 straight away really allowed the runners to separate without running over each other.

After the National Anthem, the Wheelchair racers started and a about 2 minutes later, the runners. Like I mentioned, the congestion at the start wasn’t that bad. Sure there were plenty of people who were too far ahead than their pace would suggest, but I found a running lane on the right side of Gay Street and tucked in behind another runner to get through the crowd.

At the first mile, I realized that something was wrong. Although I had found my pace that day, it seemed somewhat labored. I had planned on running between 52-53 minutes and to keep that time goal, I was going to have to keep this pace… somehow. By mile 2, I had actually sped up by about 15 seconds, not sure how I did it but I did. Perhaps it was the almost flat course the first 4.7 miles follows before a decent hill at mile 5.

The Expo course shares some of the same roads as the Knoxville Marathon and the Run for the Deaf. I’ve run both, so I knew what to expect. However, just after the mile 3 mark, I was going to experience something I had never done in a road race before. My split time at mile 3 told me I was slowing down. I was now much slower than my first mile and keeping pace was getting difficult, although not impossible.

We ran past the Tennessee School for the Deaf and headed down to the Island Home Airport for the turnaround point. I must have been daydreaming about something other than running because as soon as I started around the cone, I slipped. I fell straight down onto my belly, my hands catching me as I fell.

I couldn’t believe that I slipped and fell! I had slipped a few times during trail runs, but that’s part of trail running, if you aren’t slipping and falling, you aren’t doing it right, but this was a road race. I have mentioned before, something with my Aspergian mind can detect force vectors while I am moving. This is why I always had great body awareness when I was playing soccer, but couldn’t miss the wall walking down the hallway. The millisecond that my foot started to slip, my mind was already communicating to my legs to layout straight and hands to catch my fall. The next command, half way down to the ground was to start churning my legs as soon as they hit to start to propel me forward. I fell in such away that I landed prone, but with a quick flip of my legs, I was in a sprinter’s stance ready to move forward, so I did.

The volunteer called out to me if I was okay and I muttered a reassurance that I was indeed fine, although I hadn’t done a full body scan yet to make sure that I was indeed intact. Sure enough, I seemed okay. I was most surprised that I wasn’t winded from landing on my stomach. Neither was I winded NOR did I have any abrasions from the road. I had only lost maybe 1-2 seconds of time, but I knew that it would catch up to me in my already ailing race performance.

Thankfully, there was a water stop close by as well as the long straight roadway out of Island Home. The nice thing about Island Home is their support from the running community. There were tons of people outside of their home cheering the runners on. However, I needed much more than cheering for me to race. Somehow, I proceed to continue.

I started to get a second wind around 3.5 mile mark when I attempted to do a submission for The Extra Mile Podcast. That was an utter failure and caused me to conserve all energy. I had nothing to share at this point. I was in a survival mode that was unfamiliar to me. Typically in my marathons, it’s fatigue in my legs that prompts me to switch from Running to Survival. Today, my legs felt fine, it was my cardio levels that wouldn’t cooperate, and I was at a loss.

I physically stopped at the next water stop to catch my breath and to regain my composure. I wanted to know WHY I was running as poorly as I was and try to fix it… I did have a hill at mile 5 that’s not too runner friendly… and after all I eat hills for breakfast and I didn’t want the tide to turn.

I had a good mile to think about possible causes on my predicament. My hypothesis is that I was too worn down from my workouts this week. I had run a 7 miler on Tuesday at a good 8:30-9 minute pace. It had felt good, but left my legs pretty sore. So instead of running on Thursday, I decided to work the soreness out swimming 800 meters, but my split times for the swimming were faster than my previous swim times. So in an effort to rejuvenate my legs for the race, I did but at the cost of sabotaging my cardio levels. It made sense why I felt like crap, but my legs felt fine. After another couple of days of thinking about the race, I think that volunteering disrupted my pre-race eating/drinking routine and that I need to rethink when I eat on days that I volunteer because I will ALWAYS volunteer when I can.

I shifted to a slower gear while running up the hill. This allowed my legs to do the work and my lungs to not work as hard. In the last mile, I started to think about the finish line and my kick at the end. Just because I was having a crappy race, doesn’t mean that I stop thinking about strategy during the race. With 0.5 mile to go, I determined that indeed I had enough for a kick at the very end, but I wasn’t sure how big that burst of speed was going to be and how long I could sustain it.

Knowing the course, the last 0.2 is a straightaway shot to the finish line. Typically, when I see the timer clock is when I go into “Finisher’s Mode” and begin my shift from running to final kick. Judging my energy level, I was going to have to be much closer to the finish line before I started my kick. Another change I had to make was instead of looking at target runners to overtake before the end of the race, I was just thinking of making the kick near the end, if I passed people great, if not, no big deal.

Just inside 0.1 of a mile is when I began my kick, I did manage to pick off one runner before I made it to the chute, but I was hurting. I could barely breathe, but in effort to not be a nuisance to the Finish Line Crew, I had ripped off my bib tag and held in the air as I desperately gasped for air. I finished in 55:50. The clock ticking away closer to 56 minutes was enough motivation to keep my kick alive. This was my slowest 10k to date, but not by much, my 2006 Expo 10k were I was under trained and took off too fast was a 55:21, so this wasn’t “terrible”… maybe Expo just isn’t my race.