This RR will have some data, facts, mistakes, awful splits, whining, excuses, accomplishments, good things, bad things, and some great pics. After all, we all know that we have bad days, and that’s just part of our running. It wouldn’t be fair to me and all of you if I didn’t post this.

This was my 3^rd year in a row to run this race, and my 7^th half. I had a couple of goals, and figured I would easily get them based on my training cycle. I followed the Ryan Hall 10 week plan, and although I didn’t hit peak mileage any better than last time, my MPW average was higher. Goal one was to beat last year’s time of 1:55:13, and second was to run up the entire Whiskey Hill. I missed the first goal, but made the second one.

Time – 2:21:15

AG – 41/62

O/A – 679/1179

Mistakes;

I had Pizza Hut pizza the night before, instead of Chicken Alfredo.

I drank Powerade instead of Gatorade.

Shoe/sock choice??

I ate a bagel with Nutella instead of oatmeal for breakfast.

I tried to “cram”, hydration into Friday evening instead of the 3 days prior.

Data/Facts;

I was unusually nervous for this race; I had stomach butterflies for 2 days leading into this.

I had some leg cramps 2 days prior to race day, these were off and on, but no cramps during the race.

Tuff hill at the end of mile 5, it has its own FB page, and most people walk it.

No crowd support on the course other than the start/finish line, and the aid stations.

Great race swag, ¼ zip LS tech shirt, hat or visor, socks, wooded finisher medal made from a retired Jack Daniels whiskey barrel.

AG awards are the bomb!

Extremely well organized race, 1500 cap, crowded parking, plenty of bathrooms, good post race party, scenic run through the country side. I highly recommend this to anyone that is willing to travel, you will not be disappointed!

My race, whining, and splits;

The Friday night cramming of the hydration led to peeing way more than I should have. We woke up at 3:30, had coffee, a bagel, packed up some clothes, and called my oldest son that went with us, and then we were off. I drank the Powerade on the 70-75 minute drive. I met Anson in front of the parking and restrooms, and after we talked some, we mingled over to some other friends that I run with. I peed like 6-7 times between 6:00-7:30, and then needed to start the warm up with Anson and Greg. By the time we finished, we needed to line up for the start. I started the race with a full bladder and needed to hit a porta potty at mile 3. Splits were 8:26, 8:25, 8:52.

Before I hit mile 4, my R foot started going numb. I struggle with this from time to time, but it hasn’t bothered me in a few weeks. I tried to adjust my foot strike to see if it helped, which it didn’t. My foot ended up numb up above the ankle, and this is when I called it a wash. I did not want to risk an injury, so I sat down on the side of the road, took my socks and shoes off for a bit to get some circulation back going. I can usually relate this problem to my socks, but cannot pinpoint what or why. What I usually do, is turn them inside out, or swap them to the other foot, and this usually seems to remedy it, but this didn’t work today.

I chose to wear my newest pair of shoes which had a little over 40 miles on them with one 10 miler and other 5-7 mile runs. I had looked through my log to find the shoes that I had most of my longer runs over 10 miles on, which is a pair of GTS’s with about 430 miles. I was iffy on the mileage, so opted for the shoes with fewer miles. Next weekend I will wear the GTS’s.

I started a run/walk with no rhyme or reason of any set interval. When I got to the leading edge of the famous Whiskey Hill, I took off on a run. I powered up this entire hill and passed 30 or more people along the way. I was really pumped that I was able to do this, for the last 2 years, I had to walk up the whole thing.

Splits get real crappy from here at 11:54, 14:13, 10:30, and 13:44. At the end of mile 5 or maybe into the 6-7 range, I started having some really bad stomach cramps. I have Crohn’s Disease, and I think this was my issue. I had gone to the bathroom several times, so it wasn’t that kind of cramping. I had some gas, but nothing out of the ordinary, so I just don’t know….

So the race continued on with me having these foot issues and the stomach cramps. The splits continued on like this, 9:33, 10:33, 10:07, 11:16, 12:06, 9:51, 9:21. I crossed the line and was so glad it was over. I am almost certain that if this was a training run at home, I would have stopped running and called it a day. I’m not so much disappointed in my time, as I am with the fact that I had a decent training cycle, and should have been able to easily run a 1:55 ish, I just felt like crap!

The next day I was not sore at all, so I should be able to carry my training to next weekend’s half. They have will have pacers, so I think I will just try to camp out with the 2:00 group through 6, then pull away if I feel okay.

The absolute best thing about this trip was that my wife, son, DIL, and one GS came with me. Couple this with getting to run with 8-9 of my good friends, and get to finally meet Anson, I wouldn’t have cared if it took me 4 hours to finish. I had a great time, and have some great memories. Maybe next year we can get a few more of our fine RA friends to come down. Here are some pics.

Thanks for reading,

Mitch

Sorry you were a little disappointing but the FE, the medal and the goodies made it all worth while, right?

Great job!

Ya, that hill's definitely a little ugly lookin' to say the least!!!

Congrats to you & Awood both.  You guys did great.  Glad you got to FE & spend some time.

The more FE's, the better!  

It was a struggle and you finished.

That hill looks just as bad as Awoods topo graph made it look. Good job on getting it done and nice swag!

 

I think the liquid in those bottles should be put to good use and refilled with sometime that looks right.  

 

BTW the AG awards are those full sized half barrel lids?   Badass

Yes they are. The overall winners, and masters award is a full size lid.

Jack - I wondered when that question would come up.  We're like twins...lol

Great FE....and nice matching shirts!! I'm sorry you had a rough race nice job pushing through to the finish though. Thanks for sharing!

Dang, Mitch, that is some hill in those photos.  That kinda looks like the '200-ft elevation climb' hill I had in a 5K I did last month.  And you powered up that whole thing?

OMG!

Sorry about the cramps, foot problems, etc.  All things considered, you did darn well!  Congrats!

Looks like an interesting course.  I'd love to do this but can't do distance running anymore.  Is there maybe a half-relay for this one as part of the events?

That must have been the longest 13.1 miles of your life!  I would put that bad boy in the rear view mirror so fast it would not even be funny.

Nice family and really colorful pics.  Although I do not drink liquor much, that whiskey sure looks damn tasty!