NC USATF 8K Champs

Goal:
Run strategically to win

Actual:
3 mile warmup with Marley
8k Race in 28:40 w/ splits of (5:32, 5:42, 5:47, 5:45, 5:49)
1st place, $1000
2.3 miles warmup for 10.3 total

Garrett and I headed to Greensboro on Friday afternoon for my first road race in Greensboro ever.  I've basically run in all the other major cities of North Carolina, but for some odd reason Greensboro never came onto my radar for other races.  The Gate City 8k event director is trying to create North Carolina's premier race here in the heart of the Gate City, and they did not fail to impress.  The race provided all the elites several perks besides just a deep prize purse:  Garrett and I shared a king size room on the 23rd floor of the Sheraton.  We attended a dinner banquet at the Sedgefield Country Club, where the ACC was founded.  They cooked us made-to-order spaghetti with all the vegetables and sauces you could imagine. The best part was the three-tiered dessert table with an assortment of sweets including, but not limited to:  chocolate chip cookie bars, cheesecake, key lime pie, boston creme pie, pecan pie and more cookies. Finally, they gave us picture books from a famous NC water color artist for awards.

After conversing with USATF LDR Chairs, Andrew Allden and Molly Nunn at the country club lobby, Garrett and I seated ourselves with Marley, Brock and his girlfriend, and Joel Tull, my former massage therapist from WFU.  We ate the delicious food and had too much of the delectable desserts  while the Mayor of Greensboro, an accomplished runner himself, talked to us about the event.

Race morning came and went without a hitch, with my trusty sidekick Garrett along for the ride and for general assistance.  He waited in the car while Marley and I warmed up for the race together, discussing our race plans and just catching up.  After putting on my race flats (I opted for my Nike Marathoners instead of the Flyknits so that my legs wouldn't feel so fatigued like they did two weeks ago), I headed to the start line.  I ran into John Hinton and asked him what pace he was looking for because he typically beats me at these things, but he said he wasn't in as good of shape.  Then, I spotted Bill and asked him the same thing.  He said quite frankly that he just didn't know.  Well, he did just run a 2:46 marathon a couple weeks ago!

The Mayor of Greensboro said "Ready, Set..." and then a girl sprinted off for what they would call a false start in track..and then he fired the gun, where everyone else took after the girl.  One of the elite women took off hard, and I settled in a safe distance of about 10 feet behind her.  Marley and two other girls were on my shoulder, as well as John Hinton and Bill.  The first mile was entirely downhill and after I passed the first mile mark, I made a slight move to drop my female counterparts and continued on the rest of the exceptionally hilly course, side by side with Bill.  I pushed on the first big uphill, and on the corresponding downhill, let out an audible sigh of relief, to which Bill responded, "Don't give up and Don't give in."  I grunted in response.

Bill and I continued to play cat and mouse for basically the rest of the course.  I would push on the uphill, settle on the downhills, as he pushed past me on the downhills.  The whole race I felt rather terrible and by mile 3 I just kept repeating to myself: Race hard and race fast.  Mile 3 passed by and I wished we didn't have another loop before heading back downtown.  I could already see the big buildings and wanted to take the direct route rather than the loop around a small park.  During the fourth mile, we went up yet another large, steep hill and Bill really gapped me here.  I truly thought I was going to die here, but I think my repetitive mantra inspired me to speed up and tuck in right behind him.  With less than a half mile to go, it was all uphill to the finish.  Somehow I powered past Bill even though I felt awful.  My stomach was hurting bad and I just felt tired.  I crossed the finish line a mere 2 seconds ahead of him and was so grateful for the finish.  Had Bill not been there, I definitely would have been hard pressed to run sub 29:00.

The next female racer, Ginny Cronley, wasn't too far behind in 28:56 and then 3-5 were very close together at around 30:xx.  It will be exciting to compete with Ginny at other NC USATF races as she may be inclined to participate in the Endurance Series, like I am.  What I really love about this series is that it brings out new talent that I can compete with.  Sometimes I'll lose, sometimes I'll win, but either way, I know that there will always be incentive for younger talent to come out and compete hard.

Overall, I'm pleased that I executed a race strategy that allowed me to win and bring home $1000 for the family slush fund.  I am not thrilled with my mentality during the race, which was rather negative through miles 2-4.  Hills are definitely not my strength right now, which is understandable, but I need to be tougher on those types of courses.  Looking forward to my next one!

Kinston 8000m Race

Goal:
8k race in sub 28:09 + win prize money

Actual:
3 miles warmup + race drills
8k race in 27:45 w/ course marker splits of 5:33, 5:56, 5:34, 5:22, 5:16
1st place, $500
3 miles cool down with Kris Vegh for ~11 miles total

The small field of sub-elite runners in the state of NC take care of each other and make sure that we know where the prize money races are throughout the state.  A couple years ago, Devin Swann informed me of a fast race, the Kinston 8000m, in Eastern NC that paid three deep.  My friend and former NC resident, Heather Magill, had won the Kinston 8000m three times in a row and so had Devin, so I figured that I would finally take a stab at running it as well.  After all, Garrett's parents only live 40 minutes outside of Kinston and I needed a flat course to help boost my confidence.  I was in!

Garrett and I got on the road in the early afternoon in hopes of beating some of the traffic so that we could make an early dinner in Raleigh with Michelle, Thomas, and (surprise) Meagan!  We made it to Raleigh in time to enjoy about 10 different 8-piece sushi rolls split between basically four adults.  Somehow we spent over $150 on sushi and, more importantly, consumed 95% of it.  It's always a special treat to catch up with Meagan and Michelle and I couldn't help but keep thinking of what they looked like in red wigs (flashback to my bachelorette weekend in Raleigh).   After a couple of laughs and a couple of glasses of wine for Meagan, Garrett and I got on the road again.  We arrived at Garrett's parent's house and I basically went directly to bed.

Flash forward to race morning, where Ann and Scott drove me to the race in Kinston in time for a nice warmup.  Immediately, I surveyed my competition.  First, I saw Kris Vegh get out of her car and was both happy and dismayed at the sight of her because I like her very much as a person, but I also knew that she'd beaten me at the USA Half Champs.  I immediately went up to her and asked if we could warmup together, where I discovered that she had just run a 1:16 at Shamrock half six days prior and that she had basically the same race plan as me -- that is, to go out conservatively in 5:40 and gradually get faster.  She also told me that a Kenyan was there and I immediately recognized her name, Divina Jepkogei.  I felt certain that she had beaten me, albeit by very small margins, in past races, and immediately resolved to beat her.  

I finally toed the line next to Kris, and the director yelled "Go!" and we were off on the perfectly flat course.  I settled into a nice rhythm in the middle of Kri and Divina.  We were running three abreast on the wide street, and I just relaxed next to them.  My Garmin had our lap pace as 5:40, so I felt very good about our start.  Then, of course, we came through the course marker in 5:33.  The next mile, we turned down the main street of Kinston, and the three of us were still running side by side.  After I saw the 2 mile split of 5:56, I told myself that I didn't come here to tempo, and immediately began to push the pace.  Kris and Divina stayed with me through about 2.5 miles We rounded a left turn through a neighborhood, and I put on another surge through the turn.  I couldn't help but think that all the practice for a proper u-turn technique for the Olympic Trials Marathon course finally was coming in handy!  I could sense that Divina was falling slightly off and kept going. After that dismal 2 mile split, I stopped looking at my watch.  I did listen for my 4 mile split - 22:27 - which was a 4 miler PR.  I still had no idea if I was going to break 28:00 and honestly, after the 2 mile split, I thought there was no chance.  By the final mile, I could tell that no one was within reaching distance to me unless they unleashed a killer kick, so I tried to use my own motivation to keep me powering through.  There weren't any men within distance that I could use as bait, so I just pushed hard.  Right before the finish, I passed Mother Earth Brewery, and silently thanked them for providing beer for my wedding.  I crossed the finish line in 27:45, with a 24 second PR and earning $500.  

Considering that I've reduced my mileage by about 25%, I am absolutely thrilled that I was able to PR in basically my first real race back since the Army Ten Miler.  For the first time in over 9 months, I felt hungry for competition and enjoyed fighting for a top place.  I'm also very pleased with the faster splits in the last half of the race.  I basically ran some of the fastest mile splits I've seen in a race in a couple of years.  Now I really want to jump into a 5k so that I can break 17:00!!!

Finally - my Garmin splits were a bit more accurate than my manual splits...They were 5:40, 5:42, 5:32, 5:18, 5:16  - which shows a nice progression.

Week in Review

60 Miles
12 Mile Long Run
8k Race in 29:32
7 runs
1 Lift session
1 Deep Stretch Class
1 Mobility Class

I hadn't planned on racing the CRC 8k, but after the gun went off and my legs felt good, I decided to.  I had contemplated running with Anna and holding hands as we crossed the finish line, but my competitive spirit got the best of me and I decided to take advantage of this situation to test my fitness.  I went through the first mile with Ben Hovis' high school star, Emma, on my right shoulder.  We came through in a relaxed 6:01.  I didn't want to run over 30:00 for this race, so I set my sights on the guys in the club that I normally beat and tried to catch them.  Mile 2: 5:57.  By the 2.5 mile marker, I had caught Matt Rich and John Fillette.  Up until that point, I had several men to set as targets to reach, but after that, it was somewhat lonely.  There was a pack of guys about 200m in front of me, so I kept driving my pace to pass them.  Mile 3:  5:54, Mile 4: 5:55.  I passed all the people who were within a reasonable distance of me and continued to pass more in the last mile.  I felt relaxed until the fifth mile and began to feel fatigued before crossing the finish line in 29:32.

While I would have liked this effort to feel a little bit easier than it actually did, I am quite happy with where my fitness stands right now.  Over the past three months, I've averaged under 40 miles a week and haven't done any real workouts.  This race effort only puts me 83 seconds from my 8k PR, which I hope to break this year.

Additionally, I was able to hit 60 miles and still put in a decent race effort.  I plan to stick between 60-70 miles for the next couple of months so that I can stay healthy and avoid overtraining.  I may perhaps do a Fall marathon, but we'll see how this spring training segment goes before making any decisions.