2016 NCMC Turkey Trot 5k

I made a jump this year, my third year of running. I made some bold decisions and I pursued some large goals race-wise, putting the local 5ks on the back burner. Still, I decided two years ago that I would make the NCMC Turkey Trot a Thanksgiving tradition. It's great to have the consistency of a race on the same course at the same time every year with many of the same people.

With my focus on longer, steady-paced stuff over the year, including a trail half-marathon less than three weeks prior, I didn't focus much on 5k speed. I did try a little speed work in the fall, but I didn't make it a consistent practice. Then the week leading up to the race I felt a little fatigued. So there was no expectation at the starting line on race day.

I set my 5k PR in 2014 on July 4th, a course that runs along the local 4th of July Parade route, where the whole first and third miles are a steady downhill. Early in 2016 I had brushes with hitting that mark or besting it on a couple of routine training runs. That was before I started training with the goal of hitting the 50k mark in a 6 hour race. It's a vastly different strategy, to the point that I often hear ultramarathoners who can't stand the idea of a 5k race.

At the start line of the Turkey Trot I saw a guy I'm Twitter friends with. He won the Loveland Classic 10k as well as the 10k that accompanied the Longmont Trail Half Marathon that I ran in July. Knowing he's a swift and experienced runner, I got on his heels to get through the crowd as the race started into the first couple of corners. I figure since I was able to stay with him and eventually lose him in the crowd, that he wasn't out to win this race, but this strategy worked out in my favor.

I looked at my watch just once during the race, right as it vibrated for the first mile mark. It was sub 7:30, that's what I recall. That surprised me a lot. I hadn't pushed that pace in a long time, but I felt very strong and relaxed and in control. My stride was good and my breathing didn't feel the slightest bit labored. In previous years I was gasping for air at the halfway water stop, and I'd try to down a little solo cup of water while staying in motion, because my mouth was so dry from panting. This time I kept moving through it, and into a gentle downhill in mile two.

My trail running experience this year has given me a lot of confidence to make up time on downhills. We don't have anything very steep in my city, but it translates well enough. I caught up to several groups, letting my momentum build on the descent, sometimes running outside of the coned off bike lane to pass the congestion.

With less than a mile to go, the course of the accompanying 2k race meets up with the 5k which seemed to add a bit more congestion this year. It got a little tight trying to slalom around a lot of walkers and kids weaving around. I don't think I got slowed down too awful much, but I feel like it's just common courtesy to pick a side of the road and stick to it if your walking on a race course, but I digress.

I made a steady push up the last little hill and pushed the proverbial pedal down for the last two city blocks or so, and really gave all I had left into the crowded finish area. I saw the clock just past the 22 minute mark a few steps before I sprinted across the timing strip. I stopped my watch at 22:18. The official time was a tad bit faster at 22:13. It turned out to be a huge PR. I really didn't expect that when I lined up that morning. Maybe at best, I though I could know a few seconds off of it, not 1:18 faster than my previous best. It was quite a good feeling. All the work that I put in throughout the year translated to so many accomplishments at various distances and surfaces, and to have such a monster 5k at my last race of the year just felt like a perfect bow on 2016.

Black Hawk Trail Half Marathon Race Report

After a flat half marathon in Longmont, I had two weeks to kind of change focus for the mountains of Golden Gate Canyon State Park and the Black Hawk Trail Half Marathon. I hadn't been to any proper trails since the Dizzy Goat in June, and didn't find time or will to do so with the heat of July upon us. I ran repeats on the upper section of my home park in Greeley, Josephine B. Jone Park and Open Space, as often as I could. It's crushed gravel and a relatively mild 40 foot climb, but it's what I had available to me most often. It wouldn't even begin to prepare me for what I was about to face.

On Saturday July 30th I drove down to Base Camp at Golden Gate Canyon, a campground on the outer bounds of the park and near the gaming town of Black Hawk. I arrived a little later than initially planned, having watched most of a weather delayed Colorado Rapids game back home before I left.
It was a pleasant evening in the mountains. The campground had a great view of Mount Thorodin and Tremont to the north. It was a quick walk around the sold out camp ground. There was a general store with alcohol available at the attached Pickle Liquors. (They sold t-shirts, they thought it was so clever.) I did grab some beer, something I normally wouldn't do on the night before a race, but figured it might help me get to sleep early.

Pickle Liquors

Mt Thorodin to the left - Tremont toward the middle

Camp

I don't know if it's true, but it seems that camping before a race is a rite of passage for trail runners. This was my first time doing so. My wife and I bought this ten very early on in our dating life with the best intentions of being outdoorsy people after camping on a friend's family land. It hadn't even been used in the 9 years since. I finally put it up, cheap piece of shit from K-Mart that it is. The bungees holding the hooks on the rain cover weren't all tied, but I got them good enough to hold for one night. I used a crooked charcoal grill on the campsite to warm up some lentils and rice I premade at home. Then I was in my sleeping bag pretty close to sundown, even with the campground noises like a nearby campfire singalong to the greatest hits of the likes of Pink Floyd and John Cougar Mellancamp.

Camp Lentils

I slept pretty good except for my neighbors waking up at one point and cursing loudly in the middle of the night for some reason. Well that didn't make me feel so bad for having to get up be a little noisy breaking camp at 5.

The alarm I set on my watch roused me, and I put on my run gear. For this race it was my Newton BoCo Sol shoes, my go-to Feetures socks, Reebok 2in1 Shorts, some unbranded tech shirt I picked up somewhere, and my VegRunChat Halo Headband.

It was a little tough getting things going that early in the morning. I couldn't manage to get the tent rolled back up to fit in its bag (Still haven't fixed that over a week later,) the elastic inside one of the tent polls came undone, and somewhere between the tent and my truck I misplaced my wallet. After everything was loaded up I went over by the general store where I could be a little more noisy and dug more for it and walked back to the campsite to give it one last once over, no dice. I didn't worry too much initially. It was perplexing, but I was pretty sure that it had to be in the truck somewhere, and I had to go.

5am

The race was a little ways away from the campground. I found it easily enough, following the signs that Endurance Race Series put up. It was a drive though. I arrived fairly early, and kept looking for my wallet as I ate a little food and used a restroom at the parking lot a few times.  I didn't have a substantial breakfast, I was going a little light on fuel but took a couple of Larabars with me after having felt some hunger in my previous race.

At the start line we were notified that the race was to be 12 miles, rather than the usual half marathon distance. That didn't bug me so much. I had heard of trail races having fluctuations in mileage. I guess you could change the name of the race, but whatever. I felt like I could probably use the restroom one more time, but it was time to start.

This one started really rough. I was not feeling it within the first mile. I knew I was under-prepared, but my brain was foggy, my legs were week, I kept wondering where my wallet was, maybe my camp neighbors came into my tent and stole it, and I knew I was going to need to poop before long. I was able to stay with the same group of people for the first 4 miles, but kind of lost them on a climb and then into the second aid station. After that I was on my own for a couple miles with the occasional person passing me. Just ahead of mile 5 the course begins to climb and climb with no reprieve. I grouped up with a couple of guys ahead of me and a couple of girls coming up behind me and we power hiked these tight, tree-lined switchbacks for nearly 2 miles and 1,000 feet, and when we got to the top: it was fun. I felt good, like this is what this hobby is about. I just fuckin walked up a mountain. The guy in front of me turned over the top and we saw a downhill, and I said, "Well that's a welcome sight."

The misery wasn't completely over. It was a net downhill the rest of the way, but still some steep climbs to be had. I still needed to use a restroom, luckily aid 3 was at the bottom of a hill at a trailhead with facilities, possibly a more welcome site than the downhill in mile 6. After that I took it easy: Hike the steep parts, run the flat and push a little on the downhill. I really enjoyed the last few miles. I came down the final hill and turned to run into the finish at 2:29:23. I figured sub 3 hours on a mountainous course for a half would be a good enough goal. I guess I need to up that as under-prepared, a little hungover, and needing to poop I did 12 miles in 2 and a half.

Start/Finish and this rock

After heading to the finish area and having a post race banana and and IPA, which, I've had beer after races twice now, and my taste buds must be really screwed up after a race because it hasn't tasted good either time. Again, there wasn't much else for the plant based athlete to refuel after the race. The same guacamole company was there as was in Longmont, but they didn't seem to have brought chips or some other guacamole delivery vehicle. So I went back to my truck to snack and find my wallet before I got too far away from the campground. I found that I stupidly left the door unlocked, right by the trail and restrooms, with all my camping gear, a couple of electronics, and my wallet presumably buried inside. I pulled out the tent and felt around to see if I left my wallet in a storage pocket then I saw it sitting on the cup holder for jump seat in the back. Sweat off my brow. 

So everything worked out. Again, I leave a race satisfied, a little wiser about what I need to do to improve. I took a little rest week to start August: just three runs for a little over 20 miles. There's nothing on the calendar at this point. I did turn down a Ragnar opportunity for this upcoming weekend. I'd love to do that, but the timing's not right. I'm going to take some more time for myself, my wife and dogs and see what comes up.

Another little thing here at the end. I've been really heartbroken this morning. A woman named Michelle Walters was killed in a crash with a truck during the bike portion of the Ironman Boulder race yesterday (8/7/16). Michelle was also a participant with me at the Dizzy Goat Trail Races in June, and, though I didn't really make friends with anyone out there, I recognize her photo, and there was so much comradery in this little limited entry race where you're all repeatedly running the same 3 mile loop and encouraging the same faces for hours on end, I can't help but feel some connection to her personally having done that race, somewhat, together. 

We're also coming up on the third anniversary of my brother-in-law's and 5th anniversary of my cousin's deaths in a traffic crashes, and this stuff weighs so heavily on my mind all the time. More than 30,000 people die due to car crashes every year in the US. Most of these are because of little mistakes. There is no excuse for it. Follow the rules. Pay attention to driving when you are driving. Stay between the lines. Stop at stoplights and stop signs and look both ways and down sidewalks and bike lanes. This starts with each of us.

Loveland Classic 10k | Race Report

I’m really building up training for a 6 hour race in June. There are benefits to mixing a couple races into the training, but a 10k is pretty short at this point in training. Nonetheless, my run club set up a team to run the Loveland Classic 10k and we needed three people to get the team discount, so I promised to go. Since I haven’t actually raced anything longer than a 5k and this is the closest race that is over 5k, I knew I could throw that into a Saturday and make up the training miles on Sunday.

Loveland is 20 some miles away from home, but the traffic situation can make it questionable as to how long it takes to get there. I’ve done it in 15 minutes up to 45. I gave myself an hour from leaving home to the time when registration opened, and I arrived in 20 minutes flat. Everything was being set up at that point and I was able to check in right away, so it wasn’t terrible, except it was cold. It was supposed to be a warm day, and it eventually was, but it started out pretty chilly. April has been so unpredictable for that around here. I was shivering in my running shorts and long sleeve shirt with gloves. So I went out on the path the race was to be on and started running to warm up. 

I think having nearly an hour-and-a-half, to warm up and fuel and hit the restroom was actually a good plan. I was able to really get loose and hydrate and greet my teammates as they arrived. As race time got about 15 minutes out, I ditched my long sleeve and gloves, (which I probably could have left on,) and went the quarter mile out from the race expo area to the 10k start line.

This is an area just off I-25 here in Northern Colorado where there’s a strip mall, an outlet mall, some office buildings, a hospital, and some apartments. There are two little lakes with this 3+ mile recreational path around them which is where the 5k and 10k took place. The 10k started a little way down the path and a few minutes ahead of the 5k and took nearly two loops of the course. The course is flat and about half is on concrete with a lot on gravel and dirt. I was worried about a bottleneck on such a narrow path to start, but there really wan’t a problem. 

When the race started I stayed a few feet behind one of my run club teammates who I know runs a strong pace, expecting that she would help me reserve some at the start, as I’m not good at pacing myself early. After about half a mile, I decided I was holding back a bit too much, so I passed her and took off to the sound of her cheering me on.

With my fancy Garmin watch, I kept an eye every couple of miles on my pace, and I really paid attention to my breathing (Something I’ve really been working on.) Going through the finish line area for the first lap I felt fast and my legs felt good and my pace was steady. I looked at the course ahead and had a little conversation with myself about facing another lap saying, “This is what we are here to do, we’ve got nothing else to do. Everything’s good. We’re having a great race. Just keep going,” because running the same thing twice can seem monotonous sometimes. On the second lap, about mile 4, I passed an older guy and put a mental target on the back of another runner who seemed to be going about my pace, thinking if I can stay with him or close in on him, I’ll have a strong finish. About mile 5, I was finally starting to feel some fatigue. I didn’t slow down too much, but I heard footsteps coming up on my shoulder, from out of nowhere I got passed by another guy about my age. I let him go to my left and I focused back on my breathe, instead of my legs, as we turned around a corner to where you can see the finish line. For the last half mile I found some final strength and paced the guy who had just passed me, got up on his heels a bit and we both passed the other guy who I had been reeling in for most of the second lap right as we crossed the finish. I gave that guy a high five and congratulated him for his run. Then I went to go find some fruit and to cool down for a minute before my first run club teammate would finish.

Some two and a half years ago my brother-in-law was killed in a car crash. We spent several days holding vigil in the aforementioned hospital near this race, and I spent some time walking this path around these lakes during those days. The area in the second lap where I got passed is a spot where a dirt access road meets the sidewalk that opens up to see the hospital across the street. This is one of the incidents in my life that has sparked my pursuits in endurance athletics over the past few years. Those memories weighed a bit in the back of my mind. I’m not too sentimental. I don’t believe my brother-in-law is out there looking down on us, but running this race on these paths (where I walked around, trying to get out of the waiting room, to get some fresh air while my family was facing such a horrible situation) now these few years later and how much my life has changed since then and not in a small way because of that tragedy in my family and trying to come to terms with what life should be for me, something felt a little symbolic to be running a race here. As I waited for my teammate I really let myself look back on that again for a minute. Then I got up with camera in hand to snap a pic of my fellow run club member crossing the finish line.

Karla, the run club teammate I started the race with, finished about 4 minutes after I did. We waited then for our third teammate, Sue, (who is awesome, having run her first marathon a couple months ago in her mid 60s.) Though she’s slower than us thirty-somethings, she’s the only one of us three who took home an age group award!

….

The previous Thursday at run club I set a PR on the 10k at just under 52 minutes. That was sort-of race day practice and I had a goal for 50 minutes for the race. The course at the Loveland Classic is flat and fast and the weather was cool and everything just went about as well as I could hope for, and I had a monster run. I kept a pretty steady pace for me, with my slowest mile at 7:45 and fastest 7:34. I turned in an official time of 47:49 to finish 23rd overall. It was just a great race all around. Green Events here in northern Colorado puts on a great event, and I’ll be happy to race one of their many runs again. 

The focus is still on the Dizzy Goat 6 Hour race coming up in June. I’ve got some heavy training weeks between now and then. My running is strong right now. I’m really confident. I can’t wait to see how much I can get out of this body of mine.

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All photos by Green Events, posted publicly on Facebook