Beginners and Beyond

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RR - Garry Bjorklund 1/2 with a cool chance meeting bonus (Read 70 times)

    Quick summary -

     

    Goals:   A: Beat time from last year          B: PR but realizing this might be a stretch as I have been mostly running easy since Boston.

     

    Result:      1:21:20   which was faster than last year by 59 seconds and just missing a PR by 7 seconds

    65th overall out of 6626 runners

    5th AG out of 242 runners M45-49

     

    More details -

     

    This was also the host race this year for the USATF National Half Marathon Championships and they had attracted some big names including Meb Keflezighi, Mo Trafeh, and Abdi Abdirahman on the men’s side and Desiree Davila in the women’s field. I was able to watch them start as the men took off 30 minutes before us and the women 15 minutes. Good stuff.

     

    Trafeh won it in 1:01:16 and Meb was second in 1:01:22.  39 guys went sub-1:05 and 113 went sub 1:10. The winning time for the women was 1:11:18 (Adriana Nelson) and Davila was 7 seconds behind her. It puts “fast” into perspective.

     

    My race was juuuuust a bit slower. Wink Great weather for running but the dense fog added something new for me. I didn’t know what to expect as this wasn’t a goal race but with a course PR in my head and the weather conducive to good running I had something to shoot for. This race starts at the halfway point of Grandma’s marathon one hour before that race begins. I awoke at 4:00am, grabbed a banana, granola bar, Gatorade and took the shuttle bus to the start. I killed some time talking with a couple other runners I knew that were there, watched the elites start and then did a little warm up jog of about a mile.

     

    I ran the first 6 miles in 37:04 (6:11 pace) and the next 5 miles in 31:12 (6:14 pace). I finished with miles of 6:09, 6:07 and a 5:34 pace over the last .14 (per my Garmin). Looking back there is part of me that wishes I had pushed a little harder on miles 7-11 but I have become very good at judging my effort and I'm happy overall with how it went. I actually thought I had slowed during the middle of the race so I was happy to see my splits were fairly even the whole way. I was also very pleased with the way I finished the last two miles. And I always tend to look back on my races and think I could have done more here or there. This gives me a good jumping off point for training for a couple of races this fall.

     

    The really interesting part of this race was the dense fog. I’m glad I had run it before as you could only see maybe .1-.2 miles down the road ahead of you. When we crossed the marathon mile markers you could barely make out the half-marathon mile markers just ahead. This is a really beautiful course along Lake Superior but it was hard to see that today. I’ve never run in fog like this before and parts of the run were kind of surreal.

     

    My daughter met me at the finish with a change of clothes and I made my way over to where a bunch of friends and family had set up a place to watch the marathoners come in. We cheered on runners for the next couple of hours and tried to enjoy the chilly, damp, misty morning..

     

    Then something cool happened. After taking a nap that afternoon we went out to have dinner and then hit a little party that we were invited to near the finish line in downtown Duluth. We were drinking beers and relaxing when a few of the elite runners from the awards banquet showed up. This was pretty cool and I managed to get a picture with Desiree Davila. She was really down to earth and very nice. I love this sport.

     

     

     

     

    hog4life


      Great RR! Damn those are some fast times. Super cool picture. Thanks for sharing.


      Hip Redux

        Great race!

         

        And sweet photo op, too.  What is the kid behind you taking a picture of though?  Somewhere someone is posting about how he got a picture of the back of Desiree's head, I guess. lol

         

        redrum


        Caretaker/Overlook Hotel

          Awesome, fuzzy!  VERY fast!  I think that might be kind of fun to run in that dense a fog.  Especially in a race.  But maybe not.  Hopefully you still enjoyed the heck out of it.

           

          Is desi healthy now?   Seems like she'd been injured forever!  I hold a lot of hope for her.  She runs so relaxed that she makes Shalane & Kara look like they're working overtime when they run!!!

           Randy

            Great race, super fast! Impressive even splits with a nice little pickup at the end.

            Not bad to be 7 seconds off PR with just easy running! New training plan?

            Dave

            Docket_Rocket


              Great job!  Congrats!

              Damaris

               

              As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.

              Fundraising Page


              Will run for scenery.

                That's so cool to run w/ the big dogs, and score a photo-op to boot.  I think it would be cool as sort of a novelty to run in fog, but then again I live in a dry place where stuff just catches fire every summer.

                 

                Also, congrats on your run.  That's pretty respectible to rank that high in your AG and OA.

                 

                MTA : I've also been nicknamed Fuzzy.  Not sure if it's b/c I neglect to shave or on account of being a cat owner with poor housekeeping skills.....

                Stupid feet!

                Stupid elbow!

                  Nice job Fuzzy, great finish time and placement.

                   

                  The fog sounds like it would be neat to run in.  From the photo, I see that you and Desiree have fusion reactors in your shoes, no wonder you're so fast. Tongue

                  Jack K.


                  uʍop ǝpᴉsdn sǝʇᴉɹʍ ʇI

                    Great run, Fuzzy. Amazing... Just amazing.

                    Birdwell


                      Nice race, and super fast too.

                      Dumb question time. Do they not count the elite times when they're doing results?

                      I ask because you said you placed 65th overall, but then there were 110 runners that went under 1:10? Just trying to understand how they figure results as I've never been in a race that large, or a race with any elites (unless you count that one time Cam Levins showed up at the nursing club 5k cause he was bored)

                      Zelanie


                        Congratulations on a super time!  Nice even run, and got to hobnob with the elites too! Smile

                          Nice race, and super fast too.

                          Dumb question time. Do they not count the elite times when they're doing results?

                          I ask because you said you placed 65th overall, but then there were 110 runners that went under 1:10? Just trying to understand how they figure results as I've never been in a race that large, or a race with any elites (unless you count that one time Cam Levins showed up at the nursing club 5k cause he was bored)

                           

                          The elites (men and women separately) ran the US national championship that started prior to the regular half marathon. So basically there were three races with three sets of results.

                           

                           

                           

                          Ric-G


                            that was some field...excellent result! cool that you got to hang with the elites too. nice.

                            marathon pr - 3:16

                            BruceD555


                              What an awesome race you ran ... so steady and even on the splits and danged fast! Having Desiree show up at the watering hole makes it even more of a fun day. Also, that fog really was unreal during the race...people would just disappear into it or emerge from it as you'd head along the course.

                              Train smart ... race smarter.

                              happylily


                                What a great day, full of running related good stuff. I love that picture of you with Desiree. So neat!

                                 

                                Congratulations, Fuz! You ran an awesome fast race and 5th out of 242 in your AG is something to be proud of. Wow!

                                PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013

                                        Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013

                                18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010

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