Rock Hall Half Marathon Race Report

It's wonderful when you are able to finish strong. Today was not one of those days. 

But it wasn't completely awful, either.

I've been doing a lot of my training with John Hnat, so it made sense that we ran more or less together through mile eight or nine. This is the most scenic part of the course, through Rockefeller Park. Most of the mile splits had been in the 8:30 range, give or take, but by about halfway, we'd picked it up a little from there.

John kept it going, and he finished strong. I did not. The slightly faster pace was just a bit too much for me, and I had to slow things back down. But I didn't die completely; I managed to keep the last few mile splits in the 8:40's. My time was 1:51:55, good for first in my ancient age group.

It was a perfect Autumn day for running in downtown Cleveland. After Rockefeller Park, the course took us along Lake Erie, and this part was nice as well. It's also fun to start and finish in front of the Rock Hall. It was also nice to see so many friends before, during, and after the race. It's definitely a keeper.

Road Trip Running

We're on a road trip to visit the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Hot Springs Arkansas, and Vicksburg National Battlefield in Mississippi. 

The first run is in Vandalia, IL. It's an hour outside of St. Louis, and there ain't much happening. Not in the small town, or in regards to my brief run. But at least I get a couple of miles in.

Here in Hot Springs, AR, I had planned to get more than a couple of miles in. As usual, I'd examined the charts using Google Maps. As usual, I'd looked for nice and safe, yet adventuresome places to explore. And guess what? The roads around the lakes and rivers actually worked out today. It winds up being a pretty decent, albeit slow, run today. I only hope I can get up to double digits tomorrow.

I'm running in circles. It stinks of 1) a dead animal, 2) diesel fumes from trucks far and near, and 3) some kind of pervasive bad smell from paper mills. The thing I'm running around is dead, itself: the Pines Mall in Pine Bluff, AR. It's spooky and scary in the darker areas, which are many. And yet, it's going fairly well. I've managed to finally get down to something like tempo pace for four of the last five miles, and I'm going to get ten, total today. The pollution probably made the run more health - harmful than - helpful, but I'll just choose to ignore that concern. It's the best run of the bunch.

Vicksburg would probably be a nice place to run. If only I could get down to the river, but I just don't have the time today. Only enough for a short run toward some ball parks. Okay, it'll do.

One final run: Elizabethtown, just a stop on the way home. After I get away from the large assortment of chain hotels, fast food joints, and gas stations, I discover an actual park. Of all things. It's almost as if there's a real town here. I'm only running a couple miles, so I don't do all that much exploring. Maybe next time I come through.

Tooting my own horn again

This marks two consecutive Sunday Hinckley runs, although today it was only one 9-mile loop, compared with last week's two. But today's run follows the long one I did yesterday, so I was happy to be able to run at all. Not only that, but I was able to finish strong. Even though the final two and a half miles are downhill, it still feels great to be able to do it.

The Hinckley nine is run clockwise. Blue is slow; red is fast. The hills help (and hurt).

While I'm tooting this horn of mine, permit me to go on a little further. Someone mentioned in passing that I must have good age-graded running results. I had seen my age-graded percentage in the past, but haven't considered it recently. Until today, that is. It appears that the Akron Marathon calculates this data and includes it in its results.

I'm only near the bottom of their top 50, with an age-graded percentage of 68.5%. Using this factor, my 3:59 marathon equates to 2:59. That's just one minute off my 2:58 marathon personal best. Also, I think my age-graded percentage has been in this same range even in the distant past. So, all in all, not too shabby.

Akron Marathon age-graded results

Okay, enough tooting. I'll go back to my usual humble self now.

The What's the Point Award

It's the early 1990s, and home computing is still somewhat new. Newer still are "windows" with a small 'w', part of a 'Graphical User Interface.' At an Apple user conference, one guy proudly displays his ability to get a screen saver to run within a window. Previously, screen savers would only exist on entire screens. The other conferees subsequently give this person a "What's the Point Award." This takes the form of a six-pack of Caffeine-free Diet Mountain Dew.

During a break between today's six-mile loops on the Lester Rail Trail, my friends see me drinking a Mountain Dew, one that is caffeinated and sugared. They are surprised that I would consume such a disgusting thing. I explain that I don't usually partake; the last time I had one was at the 1996 Towpath Marathon. I don't think they believe me.

I also explain that the only reason I have this one was that it came free with last night's Little Caesars dinner that we shared with the grandkids.

The 1996 Towpath Marathon occurred after that Apple user conference. It is one that I remember well. I drank two 16-ounce high-test Mountain Dews before the race. It was a beautiful fall day, and I ran well. It was the last of seven times that I broke three hours. I'm not sure how much credit I should give to the soda, but it sure didn't hurt. Regardless of its value as a running hack, I hate the stuff; it truly is disgusting. I really believe that I haven't had one during these past 26 years.

Once again, however, I can say that it does not hurt my shot at getting in a decent long run today. With the help of my friends, I get three plus loops done, for twenty miles. It's not super fast, but it's at least decent, and I will take it.

Now, I'll have to recover in time for tomorrow's hilly Hinckley run. I'll do it without Dew.

Those slings and arrows

Slings and arrows of outrageous fortune are the very worst kinds. Today's outrageous fortune includes being still tuckered out after Sunday's Hinckley ordeal, yesterday's two runs, and today's weather. Yup, it's cold rain again. And wind as well.

4:02 - It's my first of 10 800s, and it's not too awful. I thought I'd be alone in this pitiful weather, but Frank Dwyer has made a surprise appearance. Not that he's doing the same workout as me, but it's nice to have company on the track. Except that now I'll have to remain honest.

4:05 - Whoa. That's going in the wrong direction. For Yasso workouts of yore, the first one was allowed to be slightly slower than the rest. Just a few weeks ago, my conditioning was such that, like today, the first might be just a little bit slower than four minutes, but then the next nine would all be in the 3:50s. Looks like that won't happen today. But maybe I can still turn this into a halfway decent workout.

4:07 - Whoa. Slower still! I didn't even think that would be possible.

4:10 - Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I'm dying here, and the cold rain just started back up. Enough suffering these slings and arrows. Better to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them. (That means I should probably quit.) Let me try to at least do five. That would be fairly respectable, right?

4:11 - I think I really got in under 4:10, but my cold fingers malfunctioned when I tried to engage my watch's lap button. I'm still suffering, but now I'm thinking that I ought to at least try to do six today. 

4:14 - Well, I'm slowing down even more, yet I think I may be able to continue this nonsense even a little bit longer.

4:12 - Hey - real improvement. Woohoo. Now that the rain has subsided a little, I'm going to try to finish all 10, and I'm even going to try to decrease the recovery, taking that all the way down from 400 meters to 300. Why do that, you ask? Because it will enable me to finish faster and get the heck out of here earlier. Feels like I haven't left since last week's run here.

4:18 - I guess a 300-meter recovery wasn't such a good idea after all. But let me try another.

4:32 - Now, I'm absolutely sure that shorter recoveries are not a good thing. Not when all the other slings and arrows of outrageous fortune are also against you. But lookyahere: there's only one more 800 to go! I run a full lap along with Frank, and we talk a bit.

4:23 - Somehow, I've done it. 10 800s, in spite of everything. 

Hey, maybe I should keep these things going?

The Second Loop

About a month ago, Dan ran the Hinckley 9-mile loop (the one with the hills from hell) for the first time in over a year.  John Hnat, had joined him then, and later suggested a two-loop attempt. That's crazy-talk, thought Dan, but he nevertheless went along with the suggestion for today's run. That's one thing you can indeed say about Dan: he abides.

The first loop had been run mostly with Theresa Wright. They'd fought the wind and rain/sleet/show mixture to crawl back to the Spillway. Now, along with fellow two-loopers John and Julie Boggs, as well as fresh, new folks Harold Dravenstott and Bob Pokorny, it's time to do it again. Dan had barely completed that first hilly loop; how the hell can he do it again? 

The intrepid group ponders their way up Bellus once more. They're all breathing hard and heavy. This shit is getting real. Despite the pain and fatigue, Dan doesn't fail to notice the splendid fall foliage that's apparent in the morning light now that the sun has risen.

After Bellus comes the downs and up (big up) of Parker Road, followed by the rollers of Ledge Road, and then, after five miles of torture... ((drum-roll))... Effie. Dan can only manage to run up as far as the MIA flag, and then he has to walk. But he continues to notice the beautiful autumn leaves as he slowly makes his way up.

At the top, he feels surprisingly good. He begins to run again, and he even enjoys it a little. Just a little. Soon though, he's running as fast as he has for the entire day. There are three and a half miles to go, but it's mostly downhill from here on. He catches up with John, and they talk and talk enough to complete the journey without further pain or mishap.

That second loop wound up being much faster than the first. Daylight helps. So does abiding.

Mindlessness

Mindfulness is the self-help topic du-jour nowadays, and it is the subject of many a book and article. But today, the subject of this post is the opposite thing: Mindlessness.

I'm running around on the track, circle after circle. After circle! It's arguably the most mindless of all of my running, and that includes all those mindless mill miles. This beats those because there isn't even a TV to distract me.

Dan Stock had met me for the day's Tuesday Track session. Although we've had several additional folks for some of these runs, today it's Dan and Dan, and that's it. After a warmup, we ran 10 x 400 meters, with 100-meter recoveries. I like this workout because you get to run exactly 5K, and besides the 400s,  you can check this overall time when you're done. We do manage to get through the ordeal, so now, we're truly done.

But done ain't the half of it. Dan left after a mile cooldown, so now it's just me and the track. Oh, did I say I was done after that interval running? Well, I surely was. But... The bad part is that I desired my total mileage to be ten miles or more today, and that means I still have three to go. Three more mindless miles around the oval. Three more miles after I was done.

Somehow, I do it. Now I'm well done. And as mindless as ever.

Moonset - photos on the run

The sun was rising whilst the full moon was setting. I had returned home to get the camera, and was now back out, running around nearby Heritage Farm. To sum the morning up: lousy running, but pretty vistas.

Almost

It was almost a runner's high run today. After everyone else left (we did a couple back-and-forth loops along Lake Medina), I was on my own to get my total up to ten miles. Steam was rising off the warmer-than-air lake and it was beginning to get light. Even though I was running painfully slow, it did occur to me that it doesn't get much better than this. At least almost never. It just don't.

Enough

When is enough enough?

Of course, the answer is, when it's enough.

It was today after about five and a half miles, but I went on to do a couple more. It probably was, after yesterday's morning run, but I went on to meet some folks for a short evening run as well. And it probably was, after yesterday's evening run, such that I hardly needed to show up at all today.

But, it turned out that I did get Something of Substance done on the track. 10 x 400 with 100 recoveries, for a total of 5K of fun. 

SOS. It's better than nothing. And it's enough.

Danielle's run on the Towpath

Hello. Gender-fluid Danielle here. You can call me Dan, Danny, Daniel, Danielle, Daniella, or anything else you wish. My preferred pronoun is Shithead.

A little more seriously, I suppose I’m really binary (male, I think), and not gender-fluid. I do enjoy the company of other binary and non-binary people, although I don’t know very many of the latter. I like to have a little fun with pronouns and such (my spouse provided mine) but I mean no disrespect to anyone having usual or unusual pronouns or genders.

What does all this have to do with today’s run? Absolutely nothing. Here’s that story.

Shithead and Larry Orwin show up at the Station Road parking area at the same time and fight it out for first dibs on the restroom. They then take off toward Peninsula in the early morning darkness. It’s been a long time since they’ve run together, and there is a lot to catch up on. Larry talks about recent travels and an upcoming race. Shithead relates travel and some running stories as well.

After a little more than an hour, they arrive at Lock 29 in central Peninsula. There, as they’re about to turn back, they bump into and talk with Jim O’Connor. Other runners also come and go along the way. It’s now getting light, and Shithead realizes that Shithead is doing most of the storytelling. Too bad for Larry, although he doesn’t seem to mind. Shithead supposes that Larry abides, just like Shithead’s other running friends.

With another race coming up soon, Larry decides that 14 miles is enough for him this day. Shithead bids him goodbye and then continues running. Shithead planned on twenty miles today, so six more will do it. But Shithead’s legs are still sore and tired from last week’s effort. Can Shithead do it?

Shithead does! It wasn’t completely pretty, but twenty miles is twenty miles.

Now, next week starts the big push.