Patrick Henry Half Marathon
13.1 mi

Organized in partnership with the Richmond Road Runners Club, the Patrick Henry Half Marathon is named after Hanover County's famous Colonial-era patriot, Patrick Henry, who proclaimed the Revolutionary War's rallying cry, "Give me liberty or give me death." The 13.1-mile race starts and finishes in Poor Farm Park in Hanover, traversing both rolling countryside and Ashland's scenic railroad district.

On a cool, August morning my wife and I toed the starting line in Poor Farm park. We met up with a colleague of mine at the start line and prepared for the race. After a playing of a live Grateful Dead rendition of the National Anthem the cannon blasted and all 1,000 runners were off. For a minute I swore I was in San Fransico.

The first mile of the course led us through the park and out to the country side. The line of runners probably stretched at least 1/2 mile at this point. The first mile was a slow 9:50 due to this congestion. The next few miles I picked it up and at the 5k point my split was 27:39 or 8:55 min/mi pace.

Oh how fast things can change. Around the 4 mile mark we hung a left at a Y onto Blunt's Bridge Rd. For the next 1.3 miles the road resembled a roller coaster, only the majority of the profile was in the vertical direction. With grades topping out at 9%, Ozzy's Crazy Train, blaring from event's soundstage speakers pre-race, entered my mind.

I know that things are going wrong for me
You gotta listen to my words
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train

It hurt. But a few small rollers later we made it to the 10k aid station in 55:20 or 8:55 min/mi pace. The mile spilts show I was more consistent in pacing for the second 5k, with a range of only 9 seconds bewteen mile times.

It was welcomed sight to see my buddy at the aid station. You can read this account here but the water he gave while volunteering at the stop was great! Thanks bud!

The next few miles took us through historic Ashland, around Randolph-Macon College and back out to the countryside. Not much to mention. It was warming up. The sun came out. The miles ticked by to double digits.

A set of 4 annoying rollers started at mile 10 and I was happy to see them go at mile 11. Mile 12 was marked with a steep 9% grade and at this point my knees were complaing something audible. Rice Krispies had nothing on me.

Around 12.5 mi we re-entered Poor Farm Park and race toward the finish. My HR steadily climbed 7 bpm over the course of the previous 8 miles, from the start of Blunt's Bridge Rd to the park entrance. In that last 1/2 mile by heart increased its cadence another 6 bpm. Sight of the finish. Adrenaline. Final kick. All these factors propelled me to pace faster than any of the previous mile splits.

I had done it. It did not hurt nearly as much during as the days after and it wasn't slow; actually it was a mid-pack time. I crossed the line, grabbed the technical shirt and grabbed my finisher's medal.

02:03:09
09:24 min/mile
506/916

Mission Accomplished.

I wouldn't call myself impulsive by nature. At work, my decisions are driven by data. Just the facts. My weekends are planned, detailed. By the book. Rational. Controlled.

So, of course, I signed up for a half-marathon two days before said event. Brilliant. It will hurt. It will be slow. I am number 1109 and I will finish.

Just count this as the first official step in my Long Road to Ruin: the 2009 Patrick Henry Half-Marathon.

Hunger

I love to eat. I eat 4 meals per day plus 3 light snacks between meals. If you bake it, grow it, or grill it, I'll eat it.

According to the Harris-Benedict or Schofield formulas my Base Metabolic Rate falls within the range of 2093 - 2231 calories needed per day to simply exist. Including those calories burned during the normal activities of the day (walking, talking, tooth brushing, etc) I am in a deficit of:

(2162 BMR + 1103 daily activities cal) x 7 days = 22855 cal/week

Add in the average number of calories depleted during exercise:

4016 avg training cal/week

And the total deficit becomes:

26,871 cal/week

or

3,839 cal/day

Now where did I put that take-out menu...

Culpeper Sprint Triathlon
750m swim - 15mi bike - 5k run

Located in the Appalachain foothills, Culpeper, VA is a small community with a great view of the mountains. I awoke at 3:45 AM and left by 4:30 arrive at the race site by 6:15. Traffic was very light so the journey was quite relaxing. The swim was located in the man-made lake, bike course on rolling hills (not much flat at all) and the run included three hill climbs as well. Here's the run down:

The Good:
5/10 in division on swim: 18:20

The Bad:
Bike mount/dis-mount was a good 100 yards from transition. What, run in my cycling shoes? I think not!

All the liquid consumed pre-T2 was ejected - at full force - after the major hill climb on the run course. This is becoming a trend...

The Good (part 2):
I felt MUCH better after the spewing and turned on the running legs. I must have passed all those who passed me. It wasn't that I was overworked, but had way too much volume in my stomach after the bike. It doesn't help that the temperature maxed at 80 and not the 90 they were predicting. That is, I didn't need to replace e-lytes and water that would be needed on a hot, humid day.

The Ugly:
A woman I passed on the bike was wearing her helmet backwards. I wasn't going to slow down to tell her, it's a race after all.

My feet held up very well for not wearing socks on the bike. I could feel hot spots but nothing that lead to blisters.


I could have kept going but they made me stop. I could have raced 2 loops per event that day. They gave out a cool shirt so it was a good race and one I'd do again. This race was a good confidence builder for the Olympic distance in September.

I needed a cleaner look. That green was just too...pond scum.


Como se dice, the cat's out of the bag? I wore the Yorktown Triathlon shirt to work today. Imagine Clark Kent sans tie, shirt unbuttoned, glasses off after a hard day tracking down the daily beat, all the while exposing the slightest blue hue from his superhero suit, still on underneath it all - enough to warrant inquisitive looks from co-workers, but not enough to provoke questioning. Yes, I am mild mannered, soft spoken engineer by day - endurance enthusiast by night, complete with gadgets, gizmos and technical clothing that would make even Batman jealous.

As you will notice, this blog not only has a new look, but now a purpose.


Ironman.


No, not him:

What I am referring to is 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running. Consecutively. Without stopping. I've been meditating on this notion for some time now. The night I went for 1600m at the pool I knew what must be done.

This journey, well...whatever it is, will last 2 years, ending Fall 2010.

Join me as I rant, rave, ramble or otherwise waste time (both yours and mine) on this pursuit that will most likely end with by being administered an IV by an under-paid EMT in a medical tent late at night.

And the inevitable why? you ask.

But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not only because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

...Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."

Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

President John F Kennedy
Rice University - Houston, Texas
September 12, 1962