Pre-Race

I love this race. Half the reason I love this race is that it’s a trail 5K in a community that rallies around the run, and the other half is because packet pick-up is one block from my favorite bar that I never go to. D’[s Six Pax and Dogz|http://www.regentsquare.net/ds6pax.html] does just that… beer and hot dogs. And cheese fries. They have a beer cave with hundreds of brews. I clearly rounded up ten of my closest friends (okay, friends who I knew would be up for several hours of drinking) for happy hour. Beyond just being awesome because I was with friends at my favorite bar, happy hour was also cool because two guys who claim to have been motivated by my running were there:

1. Daniel, a former collegiate runner who signed up for Run Around the Square as his first post- hip surgery race (he was shooting for a sub-3 at Pittsburgh and tore his labrum playing soccer right before the race- ouch!).

2. Dave, who biked across the US and was inspired to run the Spirit of Pittsburgh half marathon in November (still not sure how I motivated him to do that).

As far as I’m concerned, I could have crawled the race backwards and happy hour bringing people together would have made this race worth it.

Race

I woke up and surely felt the effects of 6 hours of drinking, hot dogs and cheese fries. Smart people do dumb things sometimes. Or frequently if you’re me and keep signing up for ultras. That’s a separate point. I needed to run 10 miles and 20 miles this weekend so I made Saturday my 10 mile day and planned a route that would let me run a 7 mile roundtrip route to the race.

Per usual at race start I see current friends (Lisa who I coached with, Sarah who’s one of my classmates, Jen #1 with whom I’m on a treatment grant, and Justin who was my cheerleader at Drake Well) and make new friends (super fast female Pharaoh Hound, Terp Alum) at the start. I’d like to beat my course record (26:49) but I’ve been putting a lot of mileage on my body and all of my runs have been slower than normal recently. We wait for the start, which has been delayed by-- are you ready for this?-- a raccoon on the trail. Seriously? I have now had the following animals interfere with race courses: penguin, wild turkey, ground hog, and raccoon. Once the raccoon has been cleared (when did I think that phrase would make it into a race report?) we get started.

Mile 1: Brick streets and lots of spectators. I see an ambulance a half mile in and think that it is really good positioning because the streets are so treacherous. Right before the first water stop I see Sarah’s fiancé, Scott, who cheers for me like he came to cheer just for me. So awesome. Scott’s a really talented runner but he was out there to support Sarah and did a great job supporting me as well.

Brick Streets in Regent Square 

Mile 2: Going into mile 2 there is the champagne stop that was there last year! But it’s better than ever because it’s manned by my friend Jen (#2) and her husband, Jon. She yells at me and holds up a cup of champagne and I consider taking it since I know today’s not going to be a PR day. I decide against it and tell her I might come back. The men in tutus from last year’s water stop were dressed as Steelers this year- including a Troy Polamalu wig ! There was also a musician playing “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain” (elevation increase for this race: 1,144 feet). As we head onto the trails there is an a capella group AND I see Scott again. Awesome. I finish mile 2 at around 19 minutes and realize that’s when Daniel wanted to finish. Man I wish I was fast sometimes! Ok, I wish I was fast all the time.

One of the only web images I could find of the Frick Trails. Of course this was a flat part that didn't exist in our course.

Mile 3: About 30% of the participants are walking since it’s such a long nasty hill but I know we’re coming up on a killer downhill so I try to encourage people to pick it up. Yelling “it’s all downhill from here!” while true, does not make friends at mile 2.5 of an uphill trail 5K. There are musicians placed at half mile intervals and I hear the bagpiper before I see him. I love this race! I finish and I hear someone yell my name but there are so many faces I can’t figure out who it might be. I’m over a minute slower than last year, and in some ways that’s disappointing, but I also think that my potential for speed would be better accessed if I was a) rested and b) training for speed and not endurance

Post Race

As I go through the chute, they clip my chip, and hand me water and a long-stemmed carnation. I almost immediately run into Sarah, Scott, Daniel and Daniel’s friend, Michael. Sarah didn’t have a strong run, but Daniel had what I would consider a pretty impressive 19 minute finish on his first race post hip-reconstruction. Vendors, dogs and kids are out in force (there were at least three 4 year olds who ran the 1.5 mile fun run- with times around 16 minutes!!) Daniel and I seek out puppies (there was a dog race so dogs abound) and befriend two ENORMOUS St. Bernards. The bandanas for the dog race matched the race t-shirts. There aren’t words for how cute it was.

We grab Rita’s Italian ice, which is the best post-race food that has ever existed in the history of the universe. That good. Panera cinnamon crunch bagels also top the list and wouldn’t you know D’s was there serving beer right next to a grill with hot dogs and hamburgers. We stuck around the after party for about an hour where I also ran into Kasey and David (who I found out was the mystery finish line cheerer) and some other friends.

Mornings like today make me wonder why people don’t run. Actually running the race was maybe 10% of what made last night and this morning so awesome, but it set the stage for everything else. As I ran home from the race I was floating and running felt good for the first time in a long time.

Readers, feel free to post in comments: What is your favorite part of racing? The competition? The spectators? PRing?

Pre-Race

I signed up for this race because it was two hours away, Dane, my friend and the RD, added a race day packet pick-up (thanks, Dane!), and I like taking advantage of being in shape to run marathons when I want. I’m noticing that as I write these blogs I’m never sure how a race is going to go- there are so many variables- but here’s what was stacked against me this time: 1) three hours of sleep the night before; 2) piriformis syndrome that put me out for the week leading up to the race; 3) an ultramarathon and an Olympic triathlon in the previous three weeks; 4) a lot of work stress that had me burning the candle on both ends; 5) a hilly course; and 6) 85 degrees and ridiculous humidity (although I shouldn’t be surprised. Even if it is NW PA, it is still August).

Race

Me and a half dozen other people (and the Vitamin Water truck) couldn’t find the packet pick-up/finish line. I call Dane who tells me very bluntly that I shouldn’t be where I was and that I should come to the finish where he and packet pick-up were. Thanks, Dane. Titusville isn’t the most urban of areas and the unmarked roads in pre-dawn darkness aren’t intuitive if you’re not a native. Signs would be helpful, but that’s an easy fix for next year. I get to the packet pick-up/finish line where I greet Dane and hear him say “Mom, that’s Kat, can you give her her packet?” His mom was helping! Cute!  Awwww, hometown race!

As usual, I make friends at the start line including a couple from Georgia who were running half marathons in half of the states and a Brit living in State College whose goal was to run every marathon in Pennsylvania. Runners were asked to move to the other side of a single lane bridge because no one knew where the start was. Seriously, Titusville is rural. It made me think of when our clinic director explained during our first year that Pittsburgh was near Appalachia and highlighted the point by putting up a PowerPoint slide of the movie poster from Deliverance.

One I get on the right side of the start line, I see Dan! I love Dan so I was thrilled to see him just because, but I was also excited because the night before the race I realized that for the first race ever, I wouldn’t know anyone (other than Dane) and I would have zero spectators. Dan re-introduced me to his wife, Leslie, and Justin and Justin’s wife (whose name I never got but is super sweet), who I assume are family friends.

We start the race and Dan and I run together for a half a mile until I realize he’s going to have a stronger day than I am and send him off with a high-five. I wore my Laurel Highlands shirt because it’s the only white tech shirt I have (?) and it was supposed to be hot. I regret that decision. I met lots of other Laurel runners which was really cool, but I also think it had the unintended effect of making me seem way more bad@ss than I am. Before Dan and I split up, we passed a girl who commented to someone “Whoa! Did you see that?! She’s an ultra runner!” (the shirt reads, “Laurel Highlands Ultra” on the back). I was probably 4 feet ahead of her and having her talk about me while I was right there made me wildly uncomfortable, especially since I have a complex about being a sham ultra runner until I get a 50 miler under my belt. I’m no different than any other runner- we all put one foot in front of the other.  In fact, as I spoke with runners along the course, I realized how much of a running newbie I still am.

The first mile is a hill on a dirt road. F*** you Dane. People are walking it. I refuse to. It’s not a bad hill, but at mile 1?! I befriend a guy who is training for his first ultra- a 24 hour relay. We have a sharp downhill in mile 2 and I remember that I overheard Dane saying there was a car accident the night before that took out the water stop! I will never be an RD!

Check out the red car on the left. There should be a water stop there!  

We next head into a hill that lasts from mile 3-4. Hey Dane, F*** you, again. Everyone is walking this hill. I run it, and as I pass a guy he looks at me with exasperation and exclaims, “What is wrong with you?!” I continue up the hill and walk towards the top. Not because I couldn’t get to the top but because I’m worried about what this type of hill early on will mean for the rest of the race. Mile 4 water stop I take water from a guy in a Duke shirt. I hate Duke. I can’t hide my hatred for Duke and comment: “I can’t believe I’m taking water from a guy from Duke!” I know I should be nice to volunteers, but my Terrapin loyalty overrides my runner’s etiquette. My saving grace was that another guy at the same water stop yelled in response to my comment, “I’m from Maryland!” I do a little hop, skip and a jump and scream “Go Terps!” to which he responded, “Fear the Turtle!” Oh happy marathon moment! Yay Terps!!!! Fear THIS Turtle!

I want Testudo to be my boyfriend, he's so handsome

At this point I pick up Rick who has run 212 marathons and this month visited Pittsburgh; he stayed at an inn a quarter mile away from my condo- remarkable considering he lives in Toronto! We chat about Pittsburgh, races and careers and I enjoy his company until I lose him when he sees his wife at mile 8.  I banter with a policeman who tells me I look great: I tell him to check back in 20ish miles. He groans at the thought!

At mile 10 we leave the streets of Titusville and head towards the bike trail. The bike trail is every bit as boring as it is beautiful.

There are no spectators. There are only water stops every two miles. Some observations of 18 miles that were difficult to differentiate:

• I liked cheering for the runners who were coming back, particularly Dan who said he would wait for me at the end and we would finish together. He lied and finished a few minutes ahead of me, but it kept me going when I wanted to slow down.

• A guy on a bike passed me and cheered for me by name. I was so confused. For miles I was trying to think of who this mystery man was and what sounds like “Kat” that he could have shouted at me. He passed me again and said my name again. What?! Am I hallucinating!? The fourth time he passed me and cheered for me I finally asked who he was. It was Justin, Dan’s friend! He had changed shirts and had a helmet and sunglasses on- oh!! YAY friendly face that I can place!

• A guy in a white shirt kept leap frogging me and I HATED him for it. He wasn’t doing a run/walk, but every 5-10 minutes he would stop and walk, blow by me when he started again and then stop. It was annoying, distracting, and demoralizing. As I came up on him in the last mile, I was thinking about how much I hated him this entire race and he clapped for me as I passed him. Cr@p. I spent all race hating a decent guy who cheered for me as I outkicked him. I also spent all race hating Dane, but that’s a little different

• One guy ran by with a headband to hold back his flowing hair. Note to self: get Lucas a headband

• Mile 11 water stop there was a volunteer wearing a Vermont City Marathon relay shirt. I yelled “I ran Vermont this year” and he asked where I was from. When I responded Pittsburgh, he yelled “Wait! Come back!” and I instinctively started to run back towards the water station before I realized that it was in the wrong direction!

• Water stations had tiny itty bitty little miniature cups the size of thimbles. I am only slightly exaggerating. It was VERY tough to stay hydrated with less than a gulp of fluid. This was compounded by volunteers who didn’t know how to man water stops, so they ended up being self-serve stations.

• I thought of my mantra, “Relentless forward motion” which makes me giggle because it makes me feel like I’m a renegade on a mission (which is so far from anything I actually am)

• A phrase that I read somewhere popped into my head: “(S)he who runs for pleasure never gets tired” It was so appropriate for a day like today. It was a beautiful day, I wasn’t shooting for a PR and I was running through the woods and making new friends. Running can bear great gifts and today was one of them.

I crossed the finish line and Dane gave me a hug. Anyone who knows me knows I have very expressive features (you always know exactly how I feel) and anyone who has studied with me knows that I grumble when I’m working through something, often unaware of my vocalizations (seriously, I wish I was making that up). I think about how bad I feel for Dane that he is hugging my sweaty post-marathon self and he asks if I was okay, looking concerned. Cr@p! I grumbled out loud and he thinks I’m injured. I tell him I’m fine, just that I feel bad for him that he needs to hug me when I’m so gross. I tell him that we need to have a talk about the hills and the cups. He told me he took out a hill. WTF?! I’m still convinced he’s a sadist which is the only reason anyone would host a hilly marathon in August. And that makes me a masochist because who in their right mind would run a hilly marathon in August?!

I finished at 4:37, 4th of my 7 marathons and 15 minutes slower than my PR in May. I’m neither happy nor disappointed; I’m truly ambivalent. Marathons have stopped being races for me and are now training runs to help maintain my fitness. I noticed that on this run when I was slowing down I wasn’t slowing down because of my cardiovascular fitness or pain in my legs. I felt good, I was just moving much more slowly; no juice. Not sure if it was a hydration issue, general fatigue, nutrition or something else, but it was interesting for me to note that it was different than what usually slows me down in a race.

All in all it was a great training run. 24 hours later I feel great, walked a few miles and spent some time on my new bike trainer (thank you, Craigslist!). What’s next? Run Around the Square 2009. As far as marathons, I’m not sure. I’m speaking with Raytomorrow about the camp in October which may influence my ability to run the Baltimore and Marine Corps Marathons. There is so much I want to do in October, but even if all the events are on separate weekends, I’m not sure if I’d be able to juggle three weekends away in the middle of what will be a crazy semester. I’m good at maintaining a work/play balance, but I’m nervous about what I might need to sacrifice come October. I'll keep you posted.