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Monthly Archives: February 2013

RACE REPORT: 087 Gasparilla Half Marathon – 1:26:25

Posted on February 26, 2013 by admin Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 2 Comments

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As we arrived in Tampa on Friday, I was immediately struck with joy once we learned the temperature outside. After dealing with 20 degree weather for the last month I will take 80 degrees any day, even if it means running a Half Marathon in it.

My mom picked Abbe and I up from the airport (she and my step-father Richard live here). After acquiring him, we hit the race expo for bib pick-up. I have to say Tampa, pretty impressive expo! All the big names were there and it wasn’t overly crowded or squished together as some (like the Disney Expo) can be.

That night my Mom and Richard took us out to celebrate our engagement. We went to this place called Oystercatchers and filled on some delicious seafood. It may have even been healthy, which is good because we spent the rest of the night up late playing pool and drinking.

Saturday was ‘Beach Day’! We hit St. Pete’s and ended up in this quaint little beach hood called Pass-a-Grille. It was so chill. We had grouper sandwiches from this beach side shack out in the sun. When I retire I plan on opening one just like it in the Caribbean or Mexico, I’ll keep you posted. Nature was out in full effect. We saw egrets, ibises, spoonbills, pelicans and even a friendly dolphin named.

That night we met up with TJ and Bethaney at a bar by my mom’s called Datz. Its within walking distance to both my Mom’s place and Bethaney and TJ’s. Why is that an important piece of the puzzle? Bethaney and TJ are friends of ours who race Ironmans and oh, you know, the Hot Dog Challenge! They just happened to move like a mile from my Mom and were also running the Half. We conspired on the next morning’s race while having a drink before parting ways to buckle down for the night.

RACE DAY

Up at 4:30AM… ready to rock. (Start time was 6AM as it gets hot quick in Florida.) This is the first ‘race’ of the season and quite frankly I am ready to get the season going. Winter is such a buzz kill for athletes in cold climates. Yes, I know all my Colorado teammates bike in snowstorms and are hard core, I just love hot weather.

Coffee and 1 banana for fuel. That’s all for this one.

My Mom and Richard drove us up to the start and then parked to cheer. It was super easy to jog into the corrals. I was worried because they only had 2 corrals for people, Sub 2 hours and over 2 hours, but it worked out just great. People in Tampa seem to place themselves accordingly to their speed!

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After a strange rendition of the Nation Anthem a minster gave a prayer for us. This was new to me, but hey it it helps improve my time I’ll bow my head. The gun went off and within 5 seconds I crossed the start mats. There were maybe 300 people in front of me and it was tightly packed.

I DID wear my Garmin. It wouldn’t prove too useful until the last half of the race as it was pitch black.

100 yards out we took a hairpin turn up over a bridge to Davis Island. We had to loop the island (5 miles) then come back over and do an out=-and-back on Bayshore along the water. A very straightforward course with very little room for user error. As soon as we entered Davis Island I began the task of flanking everyone and increasing my pace. I function very well when I have people to chase down.

The first couple of miles hurt really bad and the humidity was making me crazy. I often thought about walking or giving up. My feet were on FIRE and mind you I had on my Newts (MV2s) with no socks. Danny, do you think you can alter the MV2’s design to include some kind of air conditioning in the 014 models? Seriously though, the MV2’s are unstoppable, I wore them every race last year.

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Running in the pitch black really reminded me of Reach the Beach, accept I was on overdrive. At each aid station I was taking water for my mouth and my head.

By now I was in single line race formation with my peers and we were holding steady. I didn’t want to push it any harder for fear of not finishing, walking or death by heatwave. I started to just take it mile-by-mile.

Up and over the bridge onto Bayshore, I started feeling good and there was really no one else around me so I was having fun. The guy in front of me was 50 yards out and the guy behind the same. I saw my Mom and Richard (even high fived her) on the way onto the main drag.

Unfortunately, I know Bayshore well. When I signed up for my first running race in 2008 THIS was the place I took my first EVER training runs of like 3-5 miles (in pants)! The unfortunate part is you can see where the turnaround is off in the distance. It is at that point you think, “Wow, it would take a long time even in a car to drive down there.”

I just plugged away as the miles passed, not looking at my Garmin, but easily calculating on the markers my time. I could tell just by the way I was feeling (HOT) that there was no PR today. Even still, I was proud of myself for not quitting and by now I knew I had a finish in me.

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At the mile 9 turn around I had some fire in me and increased my pace. We were on the home stretch and I was ready for some breakfast. I was also excited because I could try and pick out my crew!

First I saw Abbe who yelled hi and gave me a thumbs down. I knew she was going to give me a sad face because I felt the heat and humidity too. Then I saw TJ and then Bethaney.

As the last hundred yards rolled around I saw my Mom and Richard (both with cameras) on a median screaming and cheering. It was pretty cool and they had great seats.

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I finished with a smile and proceeded to shake hands with a guy who had been 10 paces in front of me the last 4 miles. 6 minutes from a PR, but it was a helluva fun time anyway. I live to race.

I walked along getting my water, bananas and then… whats this? There was a coffee truck giving out cups of joe! I grabbed some coffee from the super nice gal and walked barefoot back down to my Mom to cheer.

Sex/
Age
Bib Overall Place Age
Place
Finish
Time
Pace/
Mile
AG %
M35 122005 35 7 1:26:25 6:35 69.04%

Once we all came in we made our way to Brunchery to eat a hearty breakfast!

Great race and great hardware! Pirates=awesome.

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That night my Aunt Janice, Uncle Rob and Nana came over to dinner to not only celebrate the race but also the engagement. It was so great seeing all of them and sharing stories.

Thanks for hosting us Mom and Richard!

 

 

 

Gasparilla Half Mary

To Garmin, or NOT to Garmin… that is the question

Posted on February 21, 2013 by admin Posted in All, Running 7 Comments

This Sunday marks the start of the Spring racing season for me and I cannot tell you how excited I am. The doldrums of Winter are finally dissipating to make way for warmer weather and better outdoor conditions.

I will be racing the Gasparilla Half Marathon in Tampa under a sunny sky with temps in the low 80s. The question I have been toying with is… should I go raw and not wear my Garmin?

Last October I went without my Garmin at Grete’s Gallop and came within seconds of my Half Mary PR. Perhaps having a Garmin would have made me push harder?

I leave it to you , the readers, to help me make the decision.

Garmin or no Garmin?

BD_lex

13.1 Gasparilla Half

History with Baker: Vol. 2

Posted on February 10, 2013 by admin Posted in All, Running 2 Comments

Every runner should know Cleopatra’s Needle. It sits off to the left of the East Drive as you head North around the Park. I kind of thought it was just some random obelisk for years until I did my homework.

I chose to write about her today as she sits covered in snow, something that is relatively new to her.

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Cleopatra’s Needle (misnamed… and having nothing to do with Cleopatra in fact) is made of red granite and was built around 1450BC. That means it’s like 3500 years old!!! So awesome right? We run by this ancient artifact daily!

It was 1 of 2 erected, the other is in London. It took 4 months to move the obelisk from the Hudson River to Central Park where it sits today. The opening ceremony held on February 22, 1881, was conducted by Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York and over 9,000 Masons were in attendance.

Another fun fact per the Central Park Conservancy’s website:

“A time capsule was buried beneath the Obelisk and included an 1870 U.S. census, the Bible, Webster’s Dictionary, the complete works of Shakespeare, a guide to Egypt and a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence. A small box was placed in the capsule by the man who orchestrated the purchase and transportation of the Obelisk. He will probably be the only person in history to ever know its contents.”

CLEO_old

 

NYC History

Run for Love

Posted on February 9, 2013 by admin Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 10 Comments

Tuesday morning’s snow was exactly what I had been waiting for. It was peaceful snow, quiet snow that you could actually hear hitting the ground.

Abbe and I were enjoying our morning run around Central Park as I suggested we explore the Mall, her favorite part of the Park.

There, at the perfect place at the perfect time in perfect conditions, I asked her to marry me and she said yes.

 

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Thanks to Erica for being my stealthy photographer!

Thanks to Newton Running for helping our engagement to go global!

Run for Love!

4th Annual City Bakery Run

Posted on February 5, 2013 by admin Posted in All, Fitness, Running Leave a comment

Do you like running? Do you also happen to like the most amazing hot chocolate ever created? Do you like arctic Winter weather? If you picked 2 out of 3 then the City Bakery Run is a must.

In true crazy runner spirit I planned on using the 5 mile City Bakery Run as the tail end of a longer run. My Marathon Sandwich starts in a few weeks and I would like to be a little bit ahead of the competition.
THE MARATHON SANDWICH:

February 24- Gasparilla Half Mary = BREAD
March 17 – NYC Half Mary = LETTUCE AND TOMATO
April 07 – ConneMarathon = FRESH TURKEY
April 20 – Blue Ridge Half Mary = PROVELONE CHEESE
May 05 – Long Branch Half Mary = BREAD

Guess what? It snowed the night before so it was awesome out.

My 7 miles pre-CBR went pretty smooth aside from rolling my ankle at mile 5 (I decided to try running on the pretty rocky trails) and almost took myself out for the season. I quickly jumped back onto solid pavement, the cold numbing my ankle. Did I mention it was cold? If a magic Genie had told me in 2008 that not only would I be running and doing triathlons, but that I would be running in 15 degree weather I’d have thought him ONE CRAZY GENIE! Genie you crazy, back in that bottle.

Where was I? Right, so I meet up with our gang promptly at 11AM. We had quite a group!

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Setting off for our 5 mile run I was not bone cold from hanging around sweaty waiting for people. Using my Bear Grylls instincts (as my fingers were on the edge of frostbite) I ran with my hands buried in my chest. It totally worked too.

I mostly ran with my friend Elizabeth chatting about running and life. It was a blast catching up. By the time we got close to City Bakery I was so hungry. Like, almost didn’t make it hungry which is ironic as I had been telling Eliz that I don’t need much nutrition during my races these days. Not today! All I could think about was bacon and eggs.

Our group of 4 (Me, Eliz, Joshie, and Robin) were first to arrive and we jumped in line, grabbing food and yes, the infamous hot chocolate. The rest of the group trickled in and we took over the upstairs of the establishment. It was really fantastic to see everyone AND get a serious workout in at the same time!

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Until next year…

 

City Bakery Run Hot Chocolate New York Rogue Runners
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