Blue Points 5k Recap

Time: 72:24
Distance: 11.27 miles
Race: 15:18, 1st

W/u: 22:54 for 3.02 miles
Meagan's Workout: 18:55 for 3.14 miles (6:06, 6:15, 5:49)
C/d: 15:17 for 2.01 miles

I thought today might have been the morning for a sub-15 effort, but in the end I came up well short.

My day started off dark and early with a cup of coffee and some internet browsing. I was out the door with Meagan around 6:00 am because I knew parking might be an issue. We found a spot at the Dowd YMCA and walked the half mile to the Bank of America Stadium. There weren't too many people in attendance yet which made registering and picking up my chip pretty easy. Dr. Greenapple has been kind enough to cover my entry fees for the remainder of the Grand Prix Series. He's been a great (Dr. Duffy and Dr. Clay too) contact since moving to Charlotte and really helped Meagan stay healthy this spring during track.

I warmed up a full 3 miles on the race course. I wanted to see just how bad the final mile was going to be. All week I heard about the climb past the Y. Jogging the hill didn't intimidate me too much and given the cooler temps I had thoughts of running fast. The humidity was still off the charts and the oh so lovely dew point hovered in the low 70s.

Race time was a couple of minutes after the wheelchairs and babyjogging crew were released. I was told that Rocky Falcone would be one to go out hard and he didn't disappoint. I was also sizing up a couple of college kids that made an appearance in Charlotte. I was out fast, but Rocky was out even faster. He charged around the first turn and continued to up the pace. I followed about 10 meters behind and didn't completely close the gap until about 800 meters. We ran together to about 1,000-1200 meters and then I gained a bit of an advantage.

I knew the mile split would be quick and saw the clock tick off 4:43 or so. The downhill continued onto Kenilworth and I tried to maintain my momentum. I know the pace slowed going up to Morehead where I finally passed the lead babyjogger. He would definitely give Mike Beigay a run for his money as he finished in 17:45. I didn't catch the lead wheelchair until just before the two mile mark which I crossed in 9:40-9:41 (4:58 split). He also came back on me just before the final climb up to the Dowd YMCA.

After hitting the split for two miles I was still convinced I could go under 15:00. With a good final mile I'd have things locked up. Wrong. I started to struggle about a quarter mile beyond McDowell. I had a bad 3 minute stretch of running. It wasn't really a loss of focus, but a loss of strength. I just couldn't power my way up the hill and maintain pace. I took a good long look back about 50 meters from the top of the hill and could see the neon green singlet of Matthew Elliot (Winthrop grad with 3:43 1500m credentials). I felt the crosshairs on my back and I knew that the downhill needed to be quick.

Cresting the hill I tried to get a response out of the legs but they were slow to react. I never really got rolling on the descent and crossed 3 miles in 14:43 (5:02 split). I had little motivation to sprint to the line since I looked over my should and saw things were locked up. I brought things home in 15:18 which means my final 200m was a dismal 35 seconds. I think Meagan closed faster than me.

I was pleased to get the win and a little disappointed I couldn't sniff 15:00 today. After the race Meagan had to run another loop as part of a workout. I tagged along and dragged her through the course. Our splits were 6:06 (weaved through finish line traffic), 6:15 and 5:49 (as fast as Meagan's final mile split during the race).

The prizes were decent as I received a signed Panthers mini-helmet. I can't really read the signature but I think it's Matt Moore's. If the Panthers do well this year that thing is going up on E-bay. I also received some sort of bag that Leonard Hilliard joked with me about wanting a prize. I politely passed along the bag and hope it's used well by him.

There were good performances turned in by Jay Holder, Alice Rogers, Paul Mainwaring and Mr. Spada. Big congrats to Billy Shue who cracked 17-flat for the first time ever.

My cool down didn't occur until much later as I couldn't find a ride back home so I walked about a mile over to Inside-Out Sports and stashed my bag. I then ran two miles to Run For Your Life where I waited for Meagan to arrive so that I could drive the rest of the way home.

Dilworth Four Miler Recap

Time: 57:11
Distance: 8.26 miles
Race: 20:26, 1st (5:06 avg.)

W/u #1: 11:16 for 1.43 miles
W/u #2: 10:04 for 1.23 miles
C/d: 15:25 for 1.60 miles

Rough race.

The morning started with an early wake up and a quick preparation of some Starbuck's Via instant coffee. It's much better than the instant crap we used to drink in college. I milled around the house checking my RSS feed for anything of value. I came across a post from Tim Budic's blog about dew point and the effect it has on the body's ability to sweat. Tim makes the point that it might be in a runner's best interest to move a long run or workout from a day when the dew point is above 64 degrees. However, Tim was still running a track workout, and I was still going to have to run the Dilworth Four Miler. By the way, after reading I checked Charlotte's dew point which was 75 degrees. Awesome.

Meagan and I got to the RFYL parking lot fairly early because I wanted to do a mini-warm up prior to the hydration clinic I was giving. We ran the first 1,000 meters of the course before turning back. The clinic went well for the 6:30 am hour. I think people were more interested in getting to the start line than hear about how to keep one's body from being over/under hydrated.

After the clinic, I got in another 10 minutes of easy running a few strides. I spotted that Bert Rodriguez was in attendance for the first time since the first GPx race. We have raced three times before, each time he has kicked my ass. The first was at the Runway 5k, the second at the Shamrock 4 Miler and the third was up in DC at Cherry Blossom 10 miler. I come from a background where I believe if someone has beaten you three times, he/she, simply put, owns you. I was 0 for 3 versus Bert and I needed a victory against him. I had a feeling that he was coming off an injury because he hasn't raced down in Charlotte for a few months and today might just be my day.

My plan was to go out hard. Before previewing the course I wanted to be through the mile in 4:40. However, I backed off that time because of the hill and I should have adjusted it even more with consideration for the weather.

Splits:
5:01, 5:05, 5:19, 5:00

Race:
I got out relatively hard, but not all that fast. I attack the hill like I wanted. Burt was right on my shoulder for the first 800m before taking over the lead. I was impressed with his ability to run hills as I could tell he's strong on the incline. I battled back from a 2 step disadvantage on the downhill along Lyndhurst and we made the turn onto East just about stride for stride. I was running just off his shoulder for most of the way down East. The pace felt honest but not too ridiculous. I also wasn't feeling fantastic and never really forced the issue because it was early. About 200m from the turn onto Charlotte, I found myself with a few steps of a lead. The pace hadn't changed and Bert was starting to slow.

Frustrated after just missing the water cups.

The advantage grew heading back into the heart of Dilworth and I started pressing a little more to lengthen the advantage. I tried to grab water at the aid station but missed with the lady turned away from me and the guy didn't let go of the cup. It was a little discouraging as I could have really used that cold water on my head. I found Worthington to be cruelly long. Every intersection was a tease and the slight incline made my third mile the slowest of the day.

Nice downhill end to the race.

Getting back on Lyndhurst was a bit of a relief, but the hill up to McDonald wasn't kind. It wasn't very long or steep, rather it came at just the right time to make the body hurt. I took a few glances behind to see how hard I was going to have to push down and couldn't see anyone in sight. It was now a race against the clock knowing I had messed things up during the third mile. I finished well within myself and was a little hesitant to fly downhill. Again, I need to do something to open my stride up more.

Approaching the finish. Only a police officer in sight.

I crossed the line a few clicks under 20:30 which was about a minute slower than I wanted to run. I think most people ran slower today than they would have liked for various reason, number one being the dew point (not the heat and humidity). Ben Hovis was out snapping some photos of the Charlotte Running Club (see pics). He also said that I just missed his PR on the course by a couple of seconds. Next year.

Shamrock 4 Miler

Time: 61:03
Distance: 8.92 miles

W/u: 13:31 for 1.58 miles
Race: 20:40. 3rd place overall
C/d: 26:52 for 3.34 miles

I got up this morning to attend the Shamrock 4 Miler with Meagan, but was quick to check my RSS feed where I read everyone's running logs. Tim Budic had a post about the National Marathon that we were supposed to be running this morning and Paul Mainwaring talked about his calf recovery to the point of being able to compete this morning in Ballantyne. Paul stated that he was running simply because if you run all of the Grand Prix Series races, you get a 250 point bonus. Well, how much is a 250 point bonus? It's huge. Scoring goes as such... Runner wins a 5k in 15:00 and you run 16:00, then 15/16 = .937 x 1,000 = 937. The winner takes home 1,000 points. The longest race in the series is a 15k and say the winner goes 48:00, you run 51:00, then 48/51 = .941 x 1,000 = 941. I pretty sure I'm doing the math correctly according to the GPS website scoring table. I'll need more time to explain why this scoring system might be flawed and it will come in a later post. At first glance it looks flawed as beating someone by a minute in a 5k isn't too different from crushing them by 3 minutes in a 15k. Perhaps I'm wrong and I'll figure it out later.

Point being, if I wanted those 250 bonus points then I needed to lace up the flats. Not the best situation considering I'm racing Tobacco Road Marathon tomorrow morning at 7:00 am in Cary, NC.

I drove up to the Stonecrest Shopping Center and registered for the race. Did a light warm up and tried to convince myself to not get carried away with the race. It looked like there was a great local presence for the first race of the GPS. The gun sounded and a group kinda formed at the front. I ran relaxed early on with the course being downhill. When we turned to head back, I was firmly in 3rd place and pushed a little to go after 2nd. I didn't make up much ground and the course became tougher. I didn't want my calves to blow up or my quads to take a beating so I gradually backed off.

Pretty soon I heard footsteps behind me around 2.75 miles and knew someone was approaching. John Compton was running me down and made me refocus the final 1,000 meters. I finished well off Bert Rodriguez' lead and about 15 seconds back from second. I'll take my splits of 4:58, 5:04, 5:21, 5:08 (according to Mr. Garmin. I think race marker splits were 5:01, 10:05, mess up, 20:40).

Running 5:10 pace was fairly relaxed and I don't think I did too much damage for tomorrow. Now it's time to rest up, watch some basketball, nap and refuel for TRM.