Monday, May 07, 2007
Sunday I ran my targeted race for the Spring and it was the Flying Pig Half marathon. First I would say it was one of the best weekends with an excellent course (challenging), great volunteers, a very slick expo and this weekend really wonderful weather.
I had almost all of my family with me including my son in law who was running his 1st half marathon.
The night before we met up with several runners from two different running groups including Mike R, Sid, Letty and BK. BK and I were going to compete against each other for a winner to receive a cheesecake. It was nice with 20 of us at dinner enjoying the pleasure of seeing these folks for the first time.
The only negative was I had left my asthma meds back in NY so I was running without them (it would come back to haunt me on the hills) and went 2 days without them.
Sunday morning my oldest drives my Son in Law, my grand daughter and myself over to the start area. I do an appropriate 1.5 mile warm up and run into BK in the Bengals Stadium while doing final stretches and potty break.
Right before the start I see Mike R (who was running the Full marathon) so with that the race starts.
I did a good job on the 1st 4 miles of keeping easy pacing around 6:45 - 6:50 min per mile pace. I had by Forerunner 305 but with all the bridges and buildings it wasn't accurate and the constant beeping was annoying me so I eventually turned it off. Mile 4 I was at 27:30 time saw my oldest daughter. Nice to see one friendly face at that point.
At mile 5 I finally saw all the hills BK had warned me about. This is where the lack of asthma meds really took their toll. As I begin to climb I felt my lungs just tightening up and of course the pace began to falter off rapidly. I kept expecting BK to catch me at any time as I reverted back to my sloth pace and was struggling to just breathe.
Finally mile 10 comes (no more uphills thankfully) and I knew that from here it was downhill and then flat. Mile 10 time was 1:11:50 or about 3 minutes off where I had hoped to be.
The downhill was nice and I picked up pace and started to catch some of the people who been passing me. I also knew somewhere behind me was BK and he was a strong finisher.
At mile 11.5 there is a sharp U turn and for the first time I was able to see who was behind me as I made the turn. I had run about 25 meters when I saw BK and I knew I just had about a 45 second lead on him and he was looking smooth and running well. I on the other hand was totally drained and every step was a struggle for me.
I kept just digging in and kept the mantra of cheesecake is mine if I win. I thought of what kind of cheesecake I would love to have and oreo vanilla swirl cheesecake or banana pumpkin were what I concluded on.
Finally I know I am coming around the bend to the end and with a .2 mile to go I begin to kick some and know that BK isn't going to catch me.
Final 5K I ran in 20:19 so I was okay with that portion (long downhill really helps!)
I finished 1:32:09 97th overall out of 5555 who completed the race, 88th male and 9th out of 246 in the male 45-49 age group. BK came in a minute behind me and we chatted briefly before I went to find my son in law. SIL finished in 1:46:54 and that was great for his first half.
It was a good weekend overall. I enjoyed the whole Pig experience. Today I hurt though!
Enjoy the day everyone.
Kurt
I had almost all of my family with me including my son in law who was running his 1st half marathon.
The night before we met up with several runners from two different running groups including Mike R, Sid, Letty and BK. BK and I were going to compete against each other for a winner to receive a cheesecake. It was nice with 20 of us at dinner enjoying the pleasure of seeing these folks for the first time.
The only negative was I had left my asthma meds back in NY so I was running without them (it would come back to haunt me on the hills) and went 2 days without them.
Sunday morning my oldest drives my Son in Law, my grand daughter and myself over to the start area. I do an appropriate 1.5 mile warm up and run into BK in the Bengals Stadium while doing final stretches and potty break.
Right before the start I see Mike R (who was running the Full marathon) so with that the race starts.
I did a good job on the 1st 4 miles of keeping easy pacing around 6:45 - 6:50 min per mile pace. I had by Forerunner 305 but with all the bridges and buildings it wasn't accurate and the constant beeping was annoying me so I eventually turned it off. Mile 4 I was at 27:30 time saw my oldest daughter. Nice to see one friendly face at that point.
At mile 5 I finally saw all the hills BK had warned me about. This is where the lack of asthma meds really took their toll. As I begin to climb I felt my lungs just tightening up and of course the pace began to falter off rapidly. I kept expecting BK to catch me at any time as I reverted back to my sloth pace and was struggling to just breathe.
Finally mile 10 comes (no more uphills thankfully) and I knew that from here it was downhill and then flat. Mile 10 time was 1:11:50 or about 3 minutes off where I had hoped to be.
The downhill was nice and I picked up pace and started to catch some of the people who been passing me. I also knew somewhere behind me was BK and he was a strong finisher.
At mile 11.5 there is a sharp U turn and for the first time I was able to see who was behind me as I made the turn. I had run about 25 meters when I saw BK and I knew I just had about a 45 second lead on him and he was looking smooth and running well. I on the other hand was totally drained and every step was a struggle for me.
I kept just digging in and kept the mantra of cheesecake is mine if I win. I thought of what kind of cheesecake I would love to have and oreo vanilla swirl cheesecake or banana pumpkin were what I concluded on.
Finally I know I am coming around the bend to the end and with a .2 mile to go I begin to kick some and know that BK isn't going to catch me.
Final 5K I ran in 20:19 so I was okay with that portion (long downhill really helps!)
I finished 1:32:09 97th overall out of 5555 who completed the race, 88th male and 9th out of 246 in the male 45-49 age group. BK came in a minute behind me and we chatted briefly before I went to find my son in law. SIL finished in 1:46:54 and that was great for his first half.
It was a good weekend overall. I enjoyed the whole Pig experience. Today I hurt though!
Enjoy the day everyone.
Kurt
# posted by Kurt @ 9:36 AM 
Comments:
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Always, always, always bring meds with!! :)
Sounds like a great race, even if you weren't quite where you wanted to be, and you won cheesecake. Where did the cheesecake come from and what kind did you decide on? :)
Sounds like a great race, even if you weren't quite where you wanted to be, and you won cheesecake. Where did the cheesecake come from and what kind did you decide on? :)
dang... that's me above. That's what I get for trying to multi-task. Work and play... must keep them separate!! ;)
As always... you are awesome!! So envious of your speed!!
Now, the important question. Did you get the cheesecake? Was it from the Cheesecake Factory? (SO GOOD!!)
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Now, the important question. Did you get the cheesecake? Was it from the Cheesecake Factory? (SO GOOD!!)
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