I KNOW exactly when I peaked. It was July 21, 2011, at 6:58 p.m. The finish of Race 7 in the DSE Summer Race Series. You see, last year, I built to one of those periods where my running was fast and comfortable, with fast recoveries from each race. It started with the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon in July 2010. The fall portion of 2010 PA/USATF Road Grand Prix Series benefited from races that equaled some of the best I have ever run. The first half of 2011 continued to produce great results. I did too many races in the summer and fall. That lead to the initial signs of injury and caused me to pull back on training. Although my times fell after July, I thought I did a good job of managing the risks and pulling out a respectable finish to the 2011 Grand Prix Series.
I didn't really intend to run the full PA/USATF Road Race Grand Prix Series in 2011. As I commented previously there are many great running events and it is hard to resist the draw of each one. By the end of the year, I had run all of the Grand Prix Series -- in addition to my first ultra -- in addition to a full summer series -- in addition to fall cross-country. At the top, left, I am finishing the Humbold Redwoods Half Marathon. Actually, the Grand Prix includes two series for individuals, divided by the distance of the races: a long series of 12K and over and a short series of 10K and under. Teams are ranked based on all races in both series. I prefer the long series, which is made up of five races. For 2011, it was one race at 10 miles, one at 12K (just under 7.5 miles), two half marathons (13.1 miles) and one marathon (26.2) miles.
NorCal John Frank Memorial 10 Mile (Redding): This was the first race of the series. Emerging from the California International Marathon at the end of 2010, I was recovering and then returned to my normal training. I had good but not extraordinary races at the DSE Waterfront 10 Miler (January) and the Kaiser San Francisco Half Marathon (February). I went to NorCal in March both to use my complementary race entry and to do better than the 2010 race. It turned out that NorCal was extraordinary. The full 2011 race report is HERE. I set a new personal record for the 10 mile distance by over one minute: 1:03:22. My average pace was 6:20 per mile.
Emerald Across the Bay 12K (San Francisco): This race is a major event for the Pamakids Racing Team, so I signed up for it. We had a very large "green" contingent at the race. As extraordinary as NorCal was, this race was a disappointment. Fortunately, it was just an off day and not a sign of things to come. After this race, I ran well in The Relay, ran my fastest Bay to Breakers ever and set a new 10K PR (based on chip time) at the Marin Memorial Day Races. The night before the race it rained and there were heavy winds. I considered abandoning the race but the weather settled down as sunrise approached. I ran to Aquatic Park to meet the buses that take runners to the start near Sausalito. I visited with people and had a good time before the race. The race started well and the first half, over the Golden Gate Bridge, also went well. The photo at the right is just after I got off of the bridge.
The wheels started to fall off in the second half. I struggled in the section where I felt in total sync the year before. My overall time was slower than the year before, probably my only race like that for the spring. I got elbowed at the finish line by another runner. If I had thought about it, I probably could have filed a protest, but did not. As I was walking between the finish line and the expo, a runner I had never met came over to tell me that even though I beat him at NorCal, he beat me in this race. Hmmm, nice to know. It was not the normal friendly exchange. It was more of an "in your face" statement. I do this for fun, I just can't get that worked-up about it. It started to rain on the run home from the finish. All runs are good, some are just better than others. This was not in the better category. I finished in 48:26, an average pace of 6:29.
Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon (Weott, Humboldt County): This race runs through the middle of an old growth redwood forest. It was so spectacular that my support crew and I returned to see the trees, again. We even took an extra day to do it. On the way, we stopped at my favorite Highway 101 road trip lunch spot, Old Mission Pizza in Willits. We set up our command center in Garberville and did our best to avoid the stoners. (This is the unofficial capitol of the "Emerald Triangle," known as one of the best marijuana growing regions in the country.) The forests were just as grand as we remembered them. We drove the entire length of the Avenue of the Giants on the day before the race. 
We returned to one of the groves we had visited in 2010. There was a tree that had fallen since our last visit. It must have been a colossal crash. When it fell, it struck the Founder's Tree. The Founder's Tree was once thought to be the tallest coastal redwood in the world. A couple of taller trees have since been found in remote areas, but it is still among the tallest. At the right, you can see the scrape marks on the Founder's Tree, toward the middle/top of the photo. The tree fell across the path through the woods. To restore the path, they cut a section out of the fallen tree, as you can see below. In the second photo below, I am standing next to the tree where the section of trunk was cut out. Otherwise, fallen trees are just left as part of the natural eco system. After a day of marveling at the trees, it was time to race.
The long races in the Grand Prix Series take a pause after the two spring races and resume with this race in mid-October. I knew I was not as fit this year as I had been in 2010. So, I took a more conservative approach at the start of the race, aiming for 6:25 miles. This race is so remote, Steven P. and I were the only Pamakids at the race. I saw a few other runners I know from The CITY.
The start of the race was crowded (photo below), but opened up quickly so that I could run the pace I wanted. This is a mostly flat course, but there are three bridges that create hills. One is at the start and the second is toward the end of the first mile. Since this is an out-and-back course, you encounter the other side of each bridge on the return. I was able to stay at or a couple of seconds under 6:25 for each mile in the first half of the race. I had the same problem of slowing near the turn-around as I had last year. 
Somewhere past mile 7, I fell in with a group of three other runners and we were all running about the same pace. That probably helped to keep me on pace for a couple more miles. Somewhere after mile 9, I could not hold the pace any more and let them go. Mile 10 ended up my slowest mile of the race. I was able to pick it up again and get back on pace for mile 11. Mile 12 has the biggest hill of the race and that cost me some time. Mile 13 also has a hill and it is, after all, almost the finish, when you have spent what you have. I came off the bridge, made the right turn and pushed for the finish (photo at top of this blog). I finished in 1:25:11 gun time/1:25:07 chip time. With the time l lost at the turn-around and in miles 10 and 13, I averaged around a 6:30 pace. I was about a minute slower than the prior year. Realizing I was not at my peak, I ended up about where I thought I should be. I had hoped to be just under 1:25, but I was just over, instead. This is an extraordinary, well organized event that everyone who is up for the distance (driving and running) should do at least once.
Clarksburg Country Run Half Marathon (Clarksburg): Clarksburg was the race I was least likely to run in the Grand Prix Series. It comes late in the season, close to many other events. It is a nice race, but it has no equivalent of the giant redwoods. The drive back to The CITY from Clarksburg is a drag. Sometimes the traffic is slow. Even if it moves, it takes too much time. I just want to be home.After Humboldt, I looked at the standings. I was actually sitting pretty well on both the seniors and masters rankings. I checked the registration lists for Clarksburg and CIM. I realized I would probably move up the lists and qualify as a comped athlete for another year if I ran both. Even though it was ill-advised, I decided to run Clarksburg.
I got up early to make the roughly two-hour drive. My support crew took a pass on this one. Clarksburg is located South of Sacramento, in the Sacramento River delta. It is flat agricultural land. This course is even flatter than Humboldt. It has one hill in the first mile, repeated from the other side on the way back. As hills go, it is not much. It has more turns than Humboldt and that requires some attention to avoid losing time.
A handful of Pamakids made the trip: Markham, Nakia, Eduardo and me. We all met up before the race to compare goals and observations. I intended to start the race at a 6:20 to 6:25 pace. I ended up running the first five miles a little under 6:20. I came through the turn around in good shape. Somewhere around mile 8 or 9, I developed some cramps and had to slow down. I still kept a respectable pace, but it was in the 6:35 to 6:40 area and that was it for the race. With a strong start and weak finish, I managed 1:25:00-even for gun time and 1:24:56 chip time. It was a race I ran as an extra and treated as a train-through for CIM. Consistent with my fall running, I was about a minute behind my time from 2010.
California International Marathon (Sacramento): I was also ambivalent about this race. Earlier in the fall, when I got into the Boston Marathon, I decided to run it as preparation. That set marathon training as the overarching training framework and goal for the fall. I was working to prevent minor injury problems from becoming major injury problems. By mid-October I was able to return to Lake Merced for long runs. I always felt that I was about a month behind in the training. I had fewer long runs, but accelerated the long run mileage. In the end, I was able to hit the mileage I wanted. There was nothing extra in the training and no speed work, other than the two half marathons. Anything more would have sent me flying over the injury cliff.As I was approaching CIM and considering my race plan, I checked an equivalent performances table and found my 1:25 Clarksburg Half finish translates to a sub-3 hour marathon. So, I was confident going into CIM that a sub-3 was still possible. My racing plan was to duplicate what I did in 2010.
So, we stayed at the same hotel. My support crew and I left The CITY at the same time and made the same stop at The Bagelry on Polk Street for the same pre-race food. We checked in and went to the same place for lunch, the River City Brewing Company in the K Street Mall. We made the same trip to the expo so I could pick up my race number and attend the keynote speech. This year it was Greg McMillan, M.S. of the McMillan Running Company. He is a noted runner and coach It was a more practical and motivational talk than the science based speech of 2010. My support crew found it easier to stay awake. There was relaxing, dinner and the same early bedtime.
I did not wake with the same drama as last year. I got up around 4:30 a.m. I had the same bagel and coffee. I headed out to make the bus that was scheduled to board and leave our hotel between 5:00 and 5:15. We got to the race start in Folsom where there is a row of porta potties that stretches for as far as the eye can see. Some people stood in line. All you really needed to do was go farther down the row. I walked around to loosen up and watched the sunrise.
For reasons that I do not know, about half an hour before the start of the race I decided I needed a cup of coffee. Maybe I was just bored and it was something to do. There is a gas station at the start and I had a little money with me, so I bought a cup. After that, I dropped my sweats at the sweats truck and found the 3 hour pace group, just like last year. The gun went off and we were on our way. We had the same pace leader as 2010 and he did the same great job of setting the right pace. Somewhere around the third mile, my left hamstring started to feel a little ragged. I decided there was no need to slow down, but I realized I would pay for that decision after the race. The first half was pretty quiet. Markham was on pace to set a personal record and running about half a minute ahead of the group. I talked with him at the start, but that was it.
I came into the half way point at 1:29:18, 42 seconds ahead of the 1:30:00 goal for a three hour marathon. In 2010 we had similarly hit the half way point ahead of schedule, but the pace group gave it all back by mile 20. That meant I had to struggle to stay exactly on pace if I wanted to finish in three hours. I only made it by a couple of seconds. The one variation on the race plan I was considering was to push a little of ahead of the group and preserve as much of the cushion as I could. At the half way point, I decided that was the plan and I stayed ahead of the pace group for the rest of the race.
Mile 20 was 2:16:26, 58 seconds ahead of the 2:17:24 goal. I had actually picked up a couple of seconds per mile. Somewhere a little after mile 20, I matched up with a guy who had been running about my pace for the race. He billed himself as "Mr. 2:59." He is the guy in the lime green shirt just behind me in the finish photo at left. We kept each other on pace and focused to the finish. That was a great help to me and he said it helped to him, too. I was still tired and had to push the last six miles to the finish, but I felt better and more confident of the sub-three hour finish than 2010.I finished in 2:59:25 gun time/2:59:19 chip time. It was a new PR by about half a minute. I did end up losing time in the last six miles. That is something to note for Boston. I was not as fit as I had been in 2010, but I had a better race plan that benefited from the prior year's experience. We also had ideal conditions for the race: cool temperatures, overcast (no beating sun) and almost no wind.
My support crew met me at the finish with the same double dose of Endurox R4 recovery drink. I did not feel nauseous, as I had in 2010 . My legs, though trashed, were not in immediate revolt, as in 2010. As we passed through the K Street Mall on the way back to the hotel, I could smell cinnamon rolls. I looked inside Spinners and informed my support crew they were to buy me one of those massive, warm, gooey ones with the walnuts. It went into a Styrofoam clam-shell container. I felt like such a rebel, those containers are outlawed in the The CITY (as are single use plastic grocery bags and, soon to be, all shopping bags). It is a good thing I do not live near-by. This should be a rare, special occasion experience. Not a regular undertaking. The roll was so rich it took me the rest of the time until we left Sacramento to finish it. After the Sunday race my legs were totally trashed. The first run I tried was on the following Saturday. I had to stop because my hamstrings hurt too much. As expected, the left hamstring was the worst. I switched to the elliptical for a couple of weeks and gradually started running again. It took a month before I was back to anything approaching my normal routine.
I finished 347 out of 5756 total finishers. I was 6 out of 247 in the 55 - 59 age group. My 2:59:19 chip time was an average pace of 6:51 per mile. The graphic of the very large and colorful finisher's medal is at the left. I finished the Grand Prix seniors competition (over age 50) in seventh place, the same as 2010. I was tied for 13th in the masters category (40 and over), only one point from 12th and two places ahead of 2010. Just like 2010, I qualified as a comped athlete with free entry to all of the long series races for 2012. Owing to the way that ranking is done for comps, I did not qualify as a senior, but ended up qualifying in the masters. On to Boston.
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