Bayshore Half Marathon Race Report

The blossoming cherry trees of Old Mission Peninsula

Cherry Trees, Vineyards, and Running

And the race reports just keep on coming! After we ran the Hustle Up the Hancock this February (see here), my Honorable Uncle Tom proposed that we come up to Traverse City for Memorial Day Weekend and join him for the Bayshore Half Marathon. Well you don't have to ask me twice to go to Traverse, and to run a race up there... the whole thing sounded perfect.

Growing up my family would drive from Iowa to Traverse City every summer to meet up with my mother's family there. My aunt and uncle had lived there for all of my life, and my grandparents built a house next door to my aunt and uncle's place when I was very young. It was (is) a great summer town, and a wonderful place to escape to for a weekend.

So low and behold, three months later, Melissa and I leave one shore of Lake Michigan for another. We arrived around 11 pm local time at my aunt and uncles, just in time for a quick nap. My alarm went off at 5:10 AM so we could leave the house for TC Central High at 5:50.

The Traverse City Track Club has put on the Bayshore Marathon for 26 years now. The Half-Marathon is relatively new (three years), but a very popular event. They both filled up pretty quickly. I believe they capped the races at 1700 apiece.

The course is about as nice as you could put together. It runs along the east shore of the Old Mission Peninsula just North of downtown Traverse City. It is very flat and has some stunning views. The run the half-marathon as a point to point, busing us out to the start 13.1 miles up the peninsula. The marathon starts near the high school (the finish line), and is an out an back. The fun part (for the half runners), is they start at the same time! Thus you start seeing the marathon runners about half way through your race, and give you the further incentive to run hard as you don't want to get beat by a marathon runner.

As I put my racing schedule together this year, I did pick this as an "A" race, a race where I am looking to get a personal record (PR). I was hoping to run this race under 1 hour 45 minutes, which translates to an 8 minute per mile 13.1 miles. My fastest 1/2 marathon thus far was in Nashville last year for the Country Music Half Marathon. I ran a 1:46:36 there (and was very pleased with that run at the time).

We arrived at the high school around 6, quickly picked up my packet and headed to the bus. The trip was short, but I enjoyed my conversation with some runners from the area. Once off the bus we walked to a starting area complete with a tent and plenty of port-0-potties. The weather was cool, in the 40s, but in the sun it actually felt ok.

I stripped the pants and long sleeves off, I decided I didn't need the gloves so I checked them as well. Once I checked my stuff, I realized I had lost my uncle, and that I needed to make one more stop at the john before I hit the road. Despite the fact it was 5 minutes before the race start time of 7 AM, I convinced myself it was ok because it was a chip race and the race was pretty small.

I actually made it to the start line to hear the gun go off, but I was well to the back of the race. So I spent the first mile somewhat concerned about my pace and trying to pass people as quickly as possible.

Another thing this race does well was post mile markers. Since the marathon was an out and back, and due to the location of the start and the turn around, their mile markers were about a .1 of a mile before ours. This was a good little "heads up" for me to know where I was. While that first mile was a lot more crowded than I expected, I finished the first mile in 7:45. I decided I would try to keep every mile under 8 minutes, that way I would have some cushion in time should I hit a wall at the end of the race.

And then there was the course...

Near Mile 5 on Bluff Rd

I had planned on taking my camera on this race so I could be more like my blogging mentor Donald and have cool race reports, but Melissa convinced me that would be dumb as I was trying for a PR. Of course she is right. Donald is running ultras and stopping to take a few photos won't mess up his time as much as it would mine.

Speaking of times, here are my mile splits:
Mile 1: 7:45
Mile 2: 7:51
Mile 3: 7:57
Mile 4: 7:54
Mile 5: 7:58
Mile 6: 8:17

Mile 6 was kind of annoying, and proved Melissa's point about stopping messing up the times. My shoe lace came undone that mile, so I stopped to tie it and there was a knot that in my labored state could not undo. I guess I lost 15 seconds there just tying my shoe. I was very upset that I had a mile over 8 minutes.

Mile 7: 7:57
Mile 8: 7:59
Mile 9: 8:06

Mile 9 I did not tie my shoe, was just getting tired. In talking with my cousin's husband after the race, that was also the tough mile for him. I knew I would see Melissa at my aunt and uncle's house at the end of the mile, but I did struggle a bit getting there.

Once I reached my aunt and uncle's house, I was surprised that Melissa wasn't there at all. I have to say, I was more than a little bummed out. Then I hear, "Hey Babe!" Turns out my aunt and uncle's neighbor was throwing a party for the race and my cousin had come over and got Melissa for it. Thus two houses later I saw Meliss and my cousin (and maybe 10 other people). I was glad to see Melissa was taken care of, and as always when ever I see someone I know on the side of the road it left me feeling a little refreshed.

Mile 10: 7:58

There are a lot of mind game I use in a races, and I think that is true of all endurance athletes. When I ran marathons I started to break up races into the "pace-yourself" section and the "leave-it-on-the-course" section. This is a pretty natural thing to do in the marathon due to it's "mental half-way point." Half-way in a marathon is of course 13.1 miles, but mentally half-way point is 20 miles. There is a lot of talk about how the marathon is two races, the first 20 miles when you try to pace yourself, and the last 10k when you try to survive.

Since my marathons, I have taken that approach to breaking the race up to my other distances. In the half-marathon, I used to think of it as 10 mile and a 5k (because I really like the 10 mile distance), but for this race I decided to take a different approach. I thought I would keep it under 8 minute miles (on pace) for 11, and then see what we had left in the tank after that. This approach seemed to work.

Another mind game I play when I race is I think of a phrase to motivate myself. Something simple that I can focus on while I run. For the Bayshore I decided I would focus on something Kevin had texted me the night before, "dig deep."

Thus, combining my two little mind tricks, I kept telling myself that if I could just hit the 8 minute mark, I would be fine AND not to go all the way to think about "digging deep" until I needed it late in the race. Once I hit that 10 mile mark, I decided I would make it to the end if I picked up the pace a little and started focusing on "digging deep" and leaving what I had left on the course. I didn't really want to be able to sprint to the end of this one.

Mile 11: 7:39
Mile 12: 7:53 (running out of gas)
Mile 13.1: 8:20 (with the extra .1 mile)

Total time, 1:43:40 on watch, 1:43:37 on chip. Under my goal of 1:45 (and another thing off The List), 3 minutes faster than my previous PR, and I felt pretty good.

My uncle ran a great race (see him finishing above in the blue on the left). And my cousin's husband Than just came in behind me despite not sleeping for the last few months with a new born and not really training!

Post race Melissa and I went the farmers market in TC, then a little wine tasting tour on the peninsula. Traverse City is known as the "Cherry Capital of the World," but I couldn't help but notice many of the cherry farms were new vineyards.

Regardless, I had a great weekend. My hats off to the people of Traverse City Track Club. I highly recommend running in the Bayshore races, but don't tell anyone about it as the size of the race is part of it's charm.

Notes:

Next race: June 1, Run for the Zoo. A local 10k/5k with the Chicago crew.

Since I didn't take my camera with me on the run, I took it with me on my bike ride the next day. It was a very pleasent 27.6 miles along a lot of the same miles as the run.

Since it seems that people have actually liked some of my music recommendations, I am going to keep them coming. We listened to Death Cab for Cutie's new album Narrow Stairs on this trip. There are a couple of songs I really like, I will leave you to sample Bixby Canyon Bridge. It is the first song on the album. Enjoy!

Drake Relays on the Road Report

I apologize this report is running so late with this report. It has been a busy couple of weeks around the house.

Why This Run?

I should probably start in how I picked this race to run. Originally I was was planning o running the Country Music Half-Marathon in Nashville. I ran it last year. It is a very well run race, and despite a hilly course I managed my personal record in the half.  I had a fun time with my friends in Nashville, but I have to leave right after the race and didn’t get to fully honky-tonk it up (I had to get back to for a friend’s wedding).

This year I decided I wanted to lead a CARA pace group in training for a “spring” half marathon. I knew it would get me into shape a little sooner, and I really enjoyed running with groups. Well what I didn’t know is how bad this winter would be in Chicago. It was brutal, and the Winter Training Group for CARA was not very popular this year.

My group (8:30 pace group) consisted of the other group leader, Ellen, and Rob. Yep, there were three of us. Others sometimes joined us for a run, but for the most part it was just the three of us.
Well my group was pretty small, and only Rob was planning on running in Nashville, and I couldn’t convince my other friends to get in gear to train for it. I also realized how expensive it would be to either fly or drive down and hotel it in Nashville.
Then I found out they ran a half-marathon for the Drake Relays on the Road that same weekend, and it would be the perfect excuse to go see my parents and my friends in Des Moines (where I grew up). 

This was actually the 40th running of the Drake Relays on the Road.  It started as the Drake Relays Marathon, but was shortened to a half in 1994.  They have also run 8 and 10ks as well. 

Whenever You're Ready… The Race Report?

Right. WND Gal and I drove to Des Moines from Chicago Friday night. Up early on Saturday, my dad drove me to the start area at 6:50 for a 8 AM start. I got there, registered (only $30), looked for the gear check (there wasn’t one, used a bush in the parking lot), and tried to find the rest room.

I have run a few of these races in Des Moines on my “vacations” home at my parents’ house. They are a refreshing break from the gigantic races in Chicago. This race had 1900 participants, half of which ran the 8k that had the same start. No chip, no crowd, just a bunch of people out for a run.

Not that everything went smoothly. I did not feel well from before I went to bed, and didn’t shake whatever it was when I got up. I was tired and had stomach issues. It was a about 37 degrees with a decent wind. The hour before the race I was really wondering if I should really go out and run it.

And that feeling didn’t go away…

The start was right in front of the Drake Stadium, where they were holding the rest of the Drake Relays. The first couple of miles did not feel good. My legs felt heavy and it was cold. Maybe it was just that I was not awake yet and cranky, but I was not having a good time.

Then comes the 8k turn-around. No, I didn’t do it, but I sure thought about it. 

About a half mile later, around mile three, I saw my sister, father, and WND Gal. I decided I was warming up enough that I could lose the pants. At that time I told my dad that I wasn’t feeling well and that it was going to be a long day.

“Well you are on pace, so keep going.”

Yep, sure enough.  OK Pops.I felt a lot better in shorts. I also knew the roads for the next mile or so (having gone to high school in that neighborhood). Oh, and it was also the downhill portion of the run.

I also met a nice guy from Northeastern Iowa running in a distinctive cowboy hat.  Turns out this was my kind of fellow.  He had done some pretty cool ultra runs and we were about the same pace.  We ran for a couple of miles together and swapped cool running stories to pass the time.

Of course, what goes down must go up, and once we started back up the hills around mile 6.  I wasn’t really in the condition to keep up much a conversation, but still was not too overwhelmed by the hills.  I kept thinking of the bike ride I had done the week before where the trend had been to work hard up the hills and coast to get your breath going down.

WND Gal and her two chaperones for the day (my sister Patricia and my father) did show up at miles 6 and 9. It is always nice having support like that on these runs. I keep thinking with all the training and races I do, that one day WND Gal will get sick of it, but she seems hanging around (as long as I don’t make her run them).  

I had read some stuff on the internet about a big hill near the end of the race, so I knew right after I saw Team Dave at mile 9 (see photo with the three other guys) that I would have to do one major hill then I would be home free. As we ran up a hill at Beaver Rd towards Forest Ave, I assumed was the big hill everyone talked about near the end. Of course, it wasn’t. It came right after mile 10 going up Forest towards 46th Street. Not only was it a pretty good size hill, but it came with a pretty strong head wind.

But by this time I knew I had enough gas in the tank to get home. My game plan for the day was to run a strong 10 mile race, and then see what I had left for the last 3.1 miles. I wanted to run an 80 minute 10 mile run, and at the 10 mile mark I was just under 1:22. So I was pleased. So while I was tired, I tried to push the last 3 miles to see how I could finish.

I finished with a pretty quick mile. It was nice to see WND Gal at the end. Right after I finished I went into a pretty big coughing fit, but after I caught my breath I was fine.

I finished the race in 1:46:47, which is only 10 slower than my PR in Nashville last year. I still think I have a lot of room to improve, and I think the Bayshore Half in Traverse City on Memorial Day weekend will be the perfect time for a quick PR.

Later that night we had dinner at my parents house with my folks, sister, WND Gal and my best friend Charlie, his wife Catie, and their newborn James. It was really a great evening and fun weekend overall.

Another Fun Weekend!

Running in Des Moines

I am off to Des Moines this weekend to do my first half-marathon of the season, the Drake Relays on the Roads.  It has cooled off a little bit, race weather looks to be in the 40s.  But the sky should be clear, so I won't complain.

Best of Luck to Liz

My good friend Liz Berls from college is participating in the St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Petersburg FL.  It is an olympic distance tri and it is Liz's first.  She has been a swimmer her whole life, and a natural athlete, so I am sure she will do great.  

The best part is Liz is doing the tri as a part of Team in Training, raising money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  

As my father actually had lymphoma a few years ago, and I am happy to say he is doing very well now, this charity is a special one for my family.  So way to go Liz, have fun on Sunday.  And for any of you looking to donate to a great cause, see Liz's site.  

Way to Go Silvia

One of my favorite pastimes is convince people what they are capable of doing.  This week my cube neighbor at work, Silvia, signed up for the Soldier Field 10 Mile race over Memorial Day weekend.  It will be her first race anywhere near that distance, and she is a little bit nervous, but I know she will do great.