Frostbite Half Marathon Race Report

So it's been awhile, but trust me, you haven't missed much... The last three or so weeks have been marked by the transition to the new semester, which is already proving to be one that will absolutely beat me up... Taking 12 hours, studying for Comps in March, selecting a dissertation committee, trying to get things lined up for the actual dissertation research, and trying to maintain somewhat of a social life all while trying to keep up with this "triathlon thing"... Needless to say, my endurance will be tested this semester in more ways than one...

Anyway...

So I ran the Frostbite Half Marathon a few weeks ago and am simultaneously happy with, and not happy with, the results... I PR'd my 13.1 time by 10:41, but didn't hit my goal time of sub 2 hrs... Frostbite taught, or reminded me, that I've a) come a long way, b) have a long way to go, and c) may not hit every goal the first time I try...

Here's a recap of the weekend and the race:

Loaded up on Friday morning and hit the road to Starkville... Runs had been going fairly well over the previous few weeks so I felt good going into Frostbite (FB from hereon)... A few nights before I left, Kendrick and I were talking and developed a pace plan to put me well under 2 hrs (I woulda come in at like, 1:53 or 1:54)... And leading up to about mile 7 of the race, I felt like it was possible... The plan we came up with was as follows: miles 1-4 @ 10 min, 5-10 @ 9:08, and the last 5k at max effort... The problem was, is that these were "new" paces for me and I had never run with them before... BUT, I figured that with how long runs had been going, that yes, this pace plan would be tough, but I could no doubt handle it...

So anyway, I arrive in Starkville and meet up with my buddy Jason Townsend, who was also planning to run and it was his first Half Marathon... I've known JT for years now- I met him when I worked at MSU and he's the guy who I credit with not only motivating me to change my life, but holding me accountable and not letting me quit... JT has a heart the size of Texas, and arms to match, so when he said he wanted to run FB, I was all for it... Our buddy Mike Grimes, one of the grad assistants in the Rec Center at MSU, signed up to run too... Grimes is one of those dudes that has natural ability that you learn to hate, but respect at the same time... The week of the race, he texted me saying "Man, I just had a bad run, not sure how this weekend's gonna go"... yeah, he finished in 1:58:39... Jackass.

Friday afternoon was spent loafing around Starkville, waiting for JT to get off of work so we could hit packet pickup... We ended up driving the course after lunch and from the looks of it, it wasn't bad at all... yeah, there were a few hills, but I'm a much stronger runner than I was a year ago at this time, so I was confident that the hills would be tough, but that I could handle them (bad assumption, as you'll read later)...

JT was pretty nervous Friday night, and I knew it... and exploited it... I picked at him a little bit (hey, what are friends for?!), but tried to reassure him that the next day was going to be nothing out of the ordinary, nothing he couldn't handle, or just a long training day... Trying to figure out the best way to calm him down and get him to start thinking about the race as "his" race, I asked him, "J, what's your goal for tomorrow? Is it to finish? Is it to run the whole thing? Are you shooting for a particular time?".... "Dave, I'll be honest.... I want a medal"

(sidenote: FB advertises that they only give out medals to the first 200 that cross the finish line)

"I really want a medal... that's my goal"

I kinda laughed, but secretly, I wanted one too... I know it's not all about the medals, or the t-shirts, or the free stuff, and that racing is more for you (or me), but I enjoy getting a finisher's medal, or shirt, because it serves as a reminder of what I accomplished (good or bad) that day...

Off to bed early... even though the race isn't slated to start until noon, we all wanted decent rest...

Race day...

Meet up with Mike, his roommate Brian (who did Heart O' Dixie with me last year), and Brian's girlfriend Rachel at the Health Plex... Brian had opted to not run FB with us, citing that "running wasn't fun" anymore after his finish at the San Antonio marathon a few months back... So he, by default, became the group's official sherpa, timer/leader board updater, and photographer... I think we gave Brian enough shit that he'll sack up next time we decide to do a race...

At this point, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the course logistics of FB... If there were to be an actual 13.1 mile race in Starkville, the course itself might cover the entire city... twice... Starkville is a dot on the map and in my opinion, probably not capable of hosting a race with a huge amount of runners... That is, unless, the whole city got behind it... Which'll never happen...

SOOO, FB is a point to point race... that's right, you heard me, a point to point race... you hop on a bus, they cart you 13.1 miles out, and you run your ass back.... classy....

With our support crew, we didn't have to ride the shuttle out to the starting line, which gave us some comfort before the race.... I (stupidly) ate a sandwich about an hour before the race and it came back to haunt me by mile 1, with side stitches and cramps (come to find out, as Kendrick told me, my body was funneling blood to my legs for the race, not my stomach for digestion, which cause the cramps... hmmph, guess I learned the hard way).... Mike and I jogged a bit beforehand to get loose, but I was already feeling uncomfortable (probably on account of the sandwich I had just eaten)...
The buses arrive and all the runners file off and head towards the start line, which was literally the word "Start" spray painted in neon orange spray paint on the ground... a flimsy plastic (coke) banner read "Frostbite Half Marathon 2011" hung between two sticks in the ground to the left of the starting line... People, I welcome you to Starkville, MS, where the sophistocation knows no limits....

After the inevitable "pushing back" of the front pack, the race director raises the megaphone up to her mouth and signals, "Runners, are you ready?"

We're off... Frostbite Half Marathon 2011 is underway...

As expected, the pack flies off ahead of me... I had started near the front, so as to avoid getting stuck behind slower runners and so that I could settle into my pace... I battled it for a minute, because I knew I could keep up with these people, and especially because I knew that Mike and Jason had taken off quick... I reserved myself to the following advice that I had given Jason the night before: "Run your race"


So I'm off and running, checking the virtual partner on my Garmin every 20 or 30 seconds to make sure that I'm on pace and not falling behind... Legs are feeling good, stomach is giving me problems b/c of the food in it, but overall, I was feeling pretty good.... Clicked off the first mile in the 9:40's and really had to tell myself to slow down and stick to the pace plan... Next mile was in the 10:10's, which again pissed me off because I wasn't sticking to the plan...

(Sidenote: A few days after the race, Kendrick applauded me for the paces I did run, but I told him I wasn't happy b/c I didn't hit each mile exactly on the pace I was supposed to... even if I went under, I was pissed... and that's how I've become with training-- If I'm told to run at a certain pace, I want to hit that pace exactly, not go under, not go over, I want it to be perfectly on time... guess I should probably work on that)

So I'm starting to settle into the race and am battling the mental game that's telling me to run faster, because all these people who keep passing me don't look as strong as I do, they don't "look" like runners, they aren't faster than me, and that they'll get a medal and I won't... Oh, did I mention that it was my birthday? Yeah, so I was gonna be pissed if I ran 13.1 miles, on my birthday, and didn't get a fucking medal for it...

Miles 1-4 were decent... paces were good, but I wasn't feeling as strong as I thought I should have... I still felt tight, a bit jittery, and kept wondering how far up ahead Mike and JT were... Thankfully, Brian (with Rachel in tow- what a trooper) would drive up the road a stretch, stop, get out and take pics of the three of us, and give us reports on where the others were.... I ran according to the pace plan and still felt slow... I kinda hated it, but knew that I'd need to leave some legs for that last 5k at max effort...

The next 6 miles were, well, the best 6 miles I ran of the race... they were also the prelude to the complete meltdown I had at mile 11, then again at mile 12... Running, as a sport, is no doubt boring to watch... Hell, it's boring to participate in.... So I give props to Brian for doing what he did that day... watching us run, taking pics, giving us updates... At one point, maybe around mile 8 or so, I asked Brian "Where's Jason?".... "Dave, he's maybe a minute, to a minute and a half ahead of you"... "How's he look?"... "He's lookin' ok... all of you are lookin strong... go get 'em"... "I'll catch him... he went out fast, I'll catch him!"

By mile 9, Jason was mere steps ahead of me...

It took me 9 miles, but I caught Jason... and when I did, he stepped up his pace juuuust enough to stay 10 feet ahead of me... I loved it... Jason is a super competitive guy, not only with himself, but with others as well... At this point in the race, I still thought I was running well enough to go sub 2 hrs and to beat Jason, so I started asking myself questions: "Can I push J to run faster than he wants, but stay within my paces? Can I wear him out before we make a big push? Do I haev enough left in the tank to push him? I wonder what his limit is?"

We ran side by side a few times and I asked him how he was feeling, told him that he was doing good and that he was gonna get that medal... Coming up on mile 10 or so, we saw Jason's wife Alli and his parents on the side of the road... his Dad handed him a bottle of water and J slowed down (maybe he stopped to drink), but I kept running... Jason ends up catching up to me, and resuming his position of 10 ft ahead of me... Then the questions come again, "How am I feeling? (well I feel like shit) J's looking decent, but I know we've got those hills coming up and he'll probably try to hammer up the hills and I don't have enough to keep up, I wonder if I can wear him out on the hills and take the lead by mile 12?"



Catching Jason on a hill... He had no idea I was that close to him, hence, the hilarity of this picture...

We hit the hill... the imfamous "Heartbreak Hill" at about mile 11... and it was every bit as bad as they said it would be... my heartrate skyrockets, my legs shit the bed, and I'm hurting... bad... JT ends up disappearing ahead of me... he's taken this one, but I still have my race to run!!

I'm up and over Heartbreak Hill, with absolutely NOTHING left in the tank, and about 1.5 miles to go... pace plan is shot... hell, it was shot a long time ago... now I'm just hoping for a finish under 2:19:52, which was my time at Mercedes last year... I'm levelled to a 12:35 pace during mile 11... absolutely devastating... I'm practically walking.... and the curse words are flying from my mouth with unabashed intensity....


"Ok Dave, figure out a way to get the fuck across the finish line... don't worry about pace, just run... just cross. the. finish. line."

I'm screaming at my legs to go, and they're screaming right back at me, telling me that they've had enough of this shit and they're about to "take their ball and go home"... Mile 12 was torture, but I had gotten my pace back into the high 9's, so I felt ok about that...

The Garmin chirps at mile 13 and I know my race is almost over... Thank God... at this point, I'm on Hospital Road and know that it's just a short ways to the finish line... I take the right into the Health Plex parking lot and cross over the speed bump and stop, thinking that was the finish line... wrong... dumbass... the finish line is 50 ft ahead of you... dammit...

I finish, and practially collapse... I grab my medal and wander into the Health Plex's pediatric rehab gym... my legs are weak and I'm about to throw up... I elevate my legs against the wall and fight off the urge to paint the gym mats with Powerbar Green Apple gels, water, and the remnants of a Turkey sandwich....

The official race clock has my finish at 2:09:16... Jason came in at 2:08:05 and Mike at 1:58:39... Great day for all of us...

Later, Brian told me that Jason said, "I really didn't think I was going to beat Dave"...

I responded, "It won't happen again ;)"

Overall, Frostbite was a good race for me... I'm back to "enjoying" running again and have gotten over the mental block that I had about double digit runs... I've slowly gotten away from focusing on distance of runs and am instead focusing on time... Now, I know that I can run about 10 miles in 1:30-1:35, "comfortably".... I've been doing double digit long runs for about a month now and it's building not only my endurance, but my confidence as well...

Running is the hardest part of any triathlon for me, but races like Frostbite encourage me... It's getting easier (not easy by any means) but easier for me to run, be comfortable, and push when I need to... I'm still looking to do the 70.3 in NOLA in April and am growing more and more confident that I'll be ok on the run... My swim has improved dramatically over the last month or so (which I attribute to the volume of running I've been doing) and I'm getting stronger on the bike (I think... I've been slacking on riding... blame the cold)

If Frostbite is any indication on how the 2011 race season will be, then I'm excited to get things going! Mercedes Half is in a few weeks and I'm hoping that I'll do well there-- anything less than a 2:09:16 is a win in my book!

And, I got my medal...


Thanks for reading...

Coming into the finish line... absolutely shelled at this point...

Makin's sure our medals were legit... they were...