Workout Update and Mill Creek Distance Classic

Let’s start off saying that Monday was a rest day as planned. I usually spin on Mondays but I thought that I would take it off to save my legs some. Tuesday is my normal rest day. Well on Tuesday I got the flu, I came home from work in the afternoon and it was terrible. I think everyone knows how the flu goes. My wife Lyn also came home from work with the flu. To top that off my three children were also home sick with the flu. Wednesday I spent the whole day on the couch with the whole family sick. So I didn’t get to run my 3 mile run in the morning. Thursday I did feel better but I just couldn’t make it up at 5:00am for my 6 mile run. Friday is my normal day off of work so after getting up and getting the kids off to school I decided to get out and run. Normally Friday is a 3 mile run, but I was hoping to make it a 6 mile run since I didn’t get to run all week. The first 3 mile were pretty hard on me I felt really drained and dehydrated from being sick all week. Thankfully Thursday night I returned the large water belt and got a medium sized one. I only filled up two of the four containers to try it out. The way I felt it should have took all four but at least I had some liquids. I pushed through the next 3 miles and finish the full 6 miles that morning. I felt really good after that run, relieved that I could still run after not running all week. I felt that I wouldn’t push it and take Saturday off instead of trying to make up for lost mileage. That way I’ll be really rested for Sundays 1/2 marathon. I really don’t like getting sick.


The ½ marathon was in Youngstown, Ohio, which is about 80 miles away from where I live. So Saturday night I packed up my running gear. The weather said the high of the day would be around 45 but that wouldn’t be until around 3:00-4:00 and the race is at 8:45 so I packed up warn and cold gear and would decide on what to wear when I got there. Sunday morning I got up around 5:00 finished packing up my water and gels and headed out. When I got to Mill Creek around 7:30 am the weather was still very cold around 25, I am so happy that I packed my compression pants and running jacket.

I went to the check in to pick up my race bib and timing chip. When I read my read my race number I kind of laughed it was number four, I hope they went in order of who signed up first, because I know that wasn’t wishful thinking of what place I would come in. After getting dressed and “filling up only two of my 10oz. water containers” I packed up my GU gels and went back to the car to warm up a little before the race began. Around 8:30 I decided to join the rest of the 400-500 people standing around the starting area. When I grabbed my head phone for my iPod I noticed that I lost one of the rubber inserts of the ear piece. I looked around franticly for it but no luck, it was gone. I thought man that just sucks, I guess I’ll just use one ear piece. I did try using it without it for a bit to have sound in both ears but I mainly just upset me more that it didn’t have a spare one to replace it with. Oh well next time I’ll bring the extra ones.

Around 8:40 they called all ½ marathoners to line up at the starting line. The next five minutes went pretty fast, the next thing I know I heard the starting horn and a crowd of runners started to well… run.

The first mile or so was all downhill. It was mainly everyone trying to find there pace and join up in there running groups. I was a solo runner with no real pace in mind I just knew that I wanted to start and finish before everyone went home. Ok maybe that’s a lie I was hoping to finish around 2:15:00.

Here is a picture of me number 4 running down the first hill at the start of the race cool shades and all.

So the first mile I ran in 9:54. I had my Garmin 305 gps watch setup to split every mile so I could see how I did at the end of the race. Second mile I ran in 10:44, that’s when the hills began. I haven’t really ran hills before, mainly the small one around town and also the few at our metro parks. These hills were huge !!!! I mean crazy huge. Up and down rolling hills the whole race. I think that the total flat land that I ran was about 2 miles. The third mile I ran in 10:13. About then You heard the 5K race begin, The way the route was setup there was a few small laps around the roads in the beginning were you ran some areas twice then headed out on a huge loop. Mile four I ran in 11:01, Here some of the 5K racers ran with us. I was thinking man there running fast, they’re not going to have anything left towards the end, but then I remembered that there only going 5K not 13.1 miles. I ran mile 5 in 10:56. I started to fuel up on my GU gel and some Gatorade here. There were some water station along the course, but I wasn’t sure where they were and how long apart they were. I also had my water on my belt just in case. I ran mile 6 in 10:54. About now the main pack is really spread out and everyone is settled into their pace. I was running with a group of about ten runners and we swapped places depending on if we were running up or down the hills. Mile 7 I ran in 11:01. I was really excited for mile seven, because I knew that I had made it at least half way through the race. Whenever I am out on my long runs the half way point always gives me an extra pump, well I wish that it did that here. There were just too many big hills that were draining me. I ran mile 8 in 11:51. Did I mention that I had to relieve myself since mile three? I was afraid of two things, one that someone would see me run of the course to the wood and see me going to the bathroom in the bushes or I would lose too much time. Well there was a port a potty on the course at around mile 8-9 so I had to do it! I couldn’t wait any longer. The funny thing was trying to just stand there and do my potty break after running 8 miles, my body didn’t want to stop moving around. Anyways I ran mile 9 in 10:55. Mile ten was run in 12:42. Here you can see that the hills were really starting to get to me. I just wanted to run this last three miles and stop. I had finish all my GU gels and working on the last few sips of water that I had on me. I ran mile 11 in 12:06. I started to take a few walking breaks on the uphill’s here, my calf’s were starting to cramp up. I made up time on the down hills, I kind of let gravity take over and pull me down the hills. Mile 12 was run in 12:00 flat. Mile 13 was the hardest of them all. I ran out of water and there was only one water station left, I think I grabbed three cups and drank them down while I walked through. I walked up the second to last think that this was it the last up hill, I really tried to push it and start running up the hill but my toes were really hurting and I felt my legs begging to walk. Starting the last downhill I heard the guy next to me grunt out this is it the last one. We turned right and I look up… damn that first downhill and the beginning of the race is now the last up hill. I tried once again to run up it but I just could not run up hill. Half way up the hill I saw the finishing line and the tree lights with the time 2:2x something. So I started to run one more time to the finish line. Mile 13.2 was ran in 16:39, 13.2 was mile 13 and the .2 my Garmin recorded. My official time from the chip is 2:30:39.6. I was hoping to finish around 2:15:00 but I am glad that I just finished. I think that if it wasn’t all hills I could have made my goal time. I think that I am glad that it was a tough course for me, because that just gives me more motivation to keep working harder.

I also earned my black toe nails award in this race. I think that it was all the pounding of the down hills. I will leave you with that wonderful picture at the end of my post.

So this week its back to training, resting on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday 3 miles, Thursday 7 miles, Friday 4 miles, Saturday rest and Sundays long run of 10 miles.