Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon - June 21, 2014

I'm here in Duluth, MN for the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon - one of the three featured races during Grandma's Marathon weekend.  I've run Grandma's Marathon three times, but I seem to be on a half marathon kick this year.  I came to Duluth with two goals in mind.  Run my fastest half marathon to date and make the Saturday afternoon medal ceremony, by finishing among the top three in my age group.  Looking at recent age group times in this race, it seemed like a good stretch goal for me.  However, I've come down with a bad head/chest cold this week and one of the worst coughs I have had in years.  The funny thing is, the only time I don't cough is when I run.  Not sure if it's some kind of natural defense mechanism the body engages when demanding more oxygen, but the race would be out of the question if I had to cough while running, as it would bring me to my knees in no time.  My lungs are clear, so I plan to go ahead with the race despite that my health being less than 100%.

It was 80 degrees and humid back home in the Twin Cities, but the weather in Duluth is strongly influenced by Lake Superior.  As we drove north Friday morning, the temperature gauge on my car kept dropping as we came closer to Duluth.  In fact it was only 50 degrees with thick fog as we rolled into town.  30 degrees cooler than home two hours south.  The fog was expected to lift later in the day, but it never did.  The wind picked up in the evening, making it very chilly, damp and uncomfortably cold outside as we watched the 5k race before dinner - the first of the three weekend races and the official kick-off to race weekend.

I went to bed early Friday night as Saturday morning came with a 4:15am wake-up call, as shuttle buses began transporting runners to the starting line at 4:45am.  It was in the upper 40's and foggy as I woke up, but the winds had died down which helped keep the damp cold from penetrating to the bone.  They run the half marathon on the same course as the full marathon (map below), starting at the half-way point, so they can utilize the same finish line.  Over 7,000 runners ran the half marathon this year, making the start of the race a bit of a logistical nightmare.  The course is run on old Highway 61 which runs along the north shore of Lake Superior.  As buses dropped thousands of runners off at the start, the width of the little two lane highway was all we had to work with as the lake was on one side and thick woods on the other.  The highway had to support the entire process from the port-o-potties, to gear drop, to the starting corrals.  It felt like being stuck in a phone booth while others still attempted to force their way inside with you.  There was nowhere to warm-up before the race with wall to wall people everywhere.  I used the facilities and then began the slow process of forcing my way as close to the starting line as I could.  By the time I made it there, it was almost time for the race to begin.

As the race began, I had a hard time finding my rhythm and pace.  I may have been a bit tentative in the first mile due to my health, but still felt like I was running 6:45 mile splits based on the effort I was putting forth.  Yet as each mile clicked by, my actual splits were 15 seconds slower than what I wanted them to be.  Very discouraging, as I realized by mile 4 that I was already a full minute slower than I needed to be if i was going to have any chance of running a personal best today.  Things did not improve over the next 4 miles either as I now found myself more than 2 minutes off my target pace.  I was running with the 1:30 pace team from miles 4-8, but now they were starting to pull away from me and I could feel the anxiety building inside me as the gap widened.  I knew I should be able to run faster than 1:30 on this course in this weather, but I also knew I wasn't feeling well today.  A personal best was out of the question at this point with just 5 miles to go.  I was discouraged and just wanted the race to be over.  Not sure if it was the anxiety of seeing the pace team pulling away, but I somehow began to pick up the pace.  By mile 9, I was back even with the pace team.  Lemon Drop Hill was looming up ahead.  I fought my way up the hill and was now ahead of the pace team.  My mile 10 split was 6:45, the pace I wanted to run from the beginning.  With 3 miles to go I noticed I was passing other runners ahead of me and my mile splits continued to improve with each mile - 6:40, 6:35 and 6:20 in mile 13.  I was completely spent, but encouraged and motivated by the fact I was running faster with each mile.  The final stretch to the finish couldn't come fast enough.

I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:29:13.  My 3rd fastest half marathon among the 18 I've run, but 1 minute 11 seconds off my personal best.  I was able to finish strong, which meant a lot considering where I was after mile 8.  Overall, I finished 295th among 7,299 finishers and 5th in my age group among 186.  I fell short of both goals I set for myself heading into the race, although my age group field was very strong this year.  Much stronger than last year.  The 3rd pace time in my age group was 9 minutes faster than last years 3rd place time.  I finished a full 7 minutes behind 3rd place, not even coming close to earning an age group medal.  Yet my time would have earned 3rd place in last years race.  My consolation prize was finishing in the top 3 among Minnesota runners.  Two of the top 4 age group finishers were out state runners.  Anyway, it looks like I have a bit of a break now until my next race in early August.  I was going to run a small 5k in July, but the race sponsor pulled out and the race was cancelled.  I can probably use a bit of a mental break from racing after running 4 tough races over the last 10 weeks.          

Results:
http://www.mtecresults.com/race/show/2165/2014_Grandma%2527s_Marathon-Garry_Bjorklund_Half_Marathon                  

Lola's Lake Waconia Half Marathon - June 7, 2014

Today was Lola's Lake Waconia Half Marathon.  The third race in this year's Minnesota Running Series.  A new race for me, but one I was expecting to be similar to the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon I ran last month, with rolling hills throughout the course.  This race course starts with a three mile jaunt through the town of Waconia, followed by a counterclockwise loop around Lake Waconia, before finishing back where we started in downtown Waconia.  Race morning greeted us with thunderstorms which lingered throughout the morning hours.  Lightning in the area forced race officials to delay the start of the race for 30 minutes.  It was an unpleasant morning generally speaking, with air temps in the mid 50's and a strong north wind.  Mid 50's is warmer than many of my races, but the strong winds and wet conditions made it very unpleasant. 

I arrived early as usual and gained a prime parking spot just one block from the starting line.  I stayed in the car to keep dry, waiting for word on the start of the race.  I reluctantly decided to forgo my pre-race warm-up routine to stay dry and warm.  Reluctant because I was sacrificing the chance to run my normal race pace from the start.  My warm-up would now be the first coupe miles of the race at a slower than normal pace.  I also brought a cheap rain slicker to keep me as dry as possible once called to the starting line.  You can see me in a few of the pictures below.  I'm the one wearing the fashionable red hooded slicker.  My plan was to keep it on for a mile or two and then toss it once my body began to perspire.  With no warm-up and weather conditions as they were, I realized this was not going to be one of my better half marathon times.  I have a bigger race just two weeks away and I didn't want to injure myself going out too fast and cold.  

The heavy thunderstorm passed by the time the race began, but it was still raining as I waited for the start.  The rain persisted throughout the race.  I didn't like wearing the slicker in the early going, but it did help warm my body faster than if I were wet, cold, and exposed to the wind.  I tossed it in the second mile.  My early race pace was about 40-45 seconds/mile slower than normal as we wound through the small town of Waconia.  I was hoping to ease into a faster pace over the last half of the race.  What I wasn't expecting though, were several stretches that took us off-road onto soft dirt trails.  The first one in mile four was only a few hundred yards, but the second one in mile five was over a half mile long.  The heavy rain turned the off-road sections into a muddy mess.  I could feel the ground trying to suck the shoes off my feet with each stride.  When we hit the paved road again in mile six, my legs were a bit "spaghetti like."  Way too early in the race for that.      

I said earlier that I was expecting the course to have some rolling hills, similar to the Lake Minnetonka course.  I was partially right.  There were hills, but these hills were much longer than Minnetonka's.  As the race went on I realized this course was the most difficult half marathon course I've run so far.  Yes, the weather made it even more difficult in the off-road sections, but weather conditions or not, some of these hills were killers.  As we began making our way around the lake, I became aware of a young female runner nearby.  She would pass me, then I would pass her.  I also noticed the local spectators were all cheering her by name, even the firemen on the rescue vehicles.  I later learned she was a local runner from Waconia.  Runner traffic thinned out as we got deeper into the race, but we continued to run side by side.  Then it happened.  Her friends began noticing we were side by side each time they saw us and started cheering against me, or so it felt.  "Don't let that older guy beat you!"  That did it.  My competitive juices were now ignited and the race was officially on in my mind.            

After running the first nine miles around a 7:15 pace, I began to push the pace.  I improved to a 6:45/mile pace in miles 10, 11 and 12.  I was in front of her, but just barely in miles 10 and 11, then in mile 12 I thought I lost her.  I could no longer hear her footsteps behind me.  There was just one mile to go, but it was a tough mile.  The town of Waconia greeted us with a nice hill coming back into town where the race finished.  My legs were burning as I struggled up the last hill.  Suddenly and much to my chagrin, she passed me once again!  Now there were only about six blocks to go.  I caught her again on one of the final turns and managed to cross the finish line about one second ahead of her.  The race was chip timed of course and although I crossed the finish line ahead of her, I also crossed the starting line five seconds ahead of her.  So my net time was four seconds slower than hers, meaning she did officially beat me.  But it was a moral victory just crossing the finish line ahead of her!  We congratulated each other after the race and she thanked me for pacing her the whole way.  I thought, great, so when I retire I can become a pacer for younger runners!  

Anyway, my race time was 1:31:38, finishing 26th among 908 finishers and 2nd in my age group of 30.  Jim Boatman (who I got to know at a race two years ago) finished one minute ahead of me.  I didn't notice him at the race, or would have sought him out afterward.  This was a "middle of the road" time for me.  My 9th fastest half marathon among the 17 I've run.  However, I am leading my age group in the Minnesota Running Series standings with 2,301 points after three races.  The next race on my calendar is June 21st.  The Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in Duluth - one of the feature races on Grandma's Marathon weekend.  Entrance into this race is by lottery only, so I was fortunate to get in.  The Duluth race will be a tough field on what can be a fast course, if the weather cooperates on the 21st.

Race results:
http://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-8786?lc=en