Ran the first annual Go Commando Half Marathon in Clarksville. It was (wasn't) a great experience. The Friday night expo was decent. As I drove home on a route I've been traveling for about 10 years, I noticed something I've never noticed before - how steep some of those hills are. "I've got to run these in the morning!" The "flat, PR setting" course Go Commando advertised was not that flat for the first 7 to 8 miles. The last half of 8 was downhill, then the rest was flat, though.
The next morning was a little chilly at 55 degrees and started off badly. We were told that no more parking was available at the park. We were told this after turning in and with all the other runners driving in, it was hard to get back on the highway. The person should have been at the road not allowing people to turn into the park, because it caused a traffic jam. We were not sure if would be able to get on a shuttle in time, to stand in the port-a-johns line, and be at the starting line before the 7:30 race start for me. (Sherri's 5k was to start at 8:00). There were quite a few people at Big Lots waiting and more cars pulling in, so we walked. I had the idea of using the Shell Station restroom across the street from Big Lots to avoid the port-a-john line. I did so - no waiting! Then we walked - close to a mile - to the start/finish area. As we were walking, we saw that some cars were still be allowed into the park. This did not make me happy. I already had to pee again, so I got in line. The line wasn't too bad.
For the race: The time was based on a gun time, which I did not like. I'm usually toward the back, but today was close to the front, which helped. Before reaching the first 1/2 mile, we had to run around people just arriving off a shuttle. Then after mile 1, it was 2-way traffic on a trail that was way too narrow. (If you want to do something like that, do it at the end of the race when the runners have thinned out). Turnarounds should always be avoided if possible, unless there are officials "really" watching. Sherri said at least one person stopped to tie a shoe in the 5k, and when that runner thought enough people had gone by, jumped right back in going the other direction without having to run all the way to the turnaround. I also heard other people complained about this. It may have easily happened in the half marathon, too.
Traffic was stopped on Highway 48/13, so vehicles were trying to take two back roads - River Road and Salem Road. Runners were having to deal with moving cars on those 2 roads. For people (spectators, finished runners, etc.) coming/leaving, going to the port-a-johns, entering the tent area, they had to walk along the last few yards to the finish line. Most people just walked through the finish line. I don't know how the race officials knew who was coming or who was going. I know of at least 2 people that received awards for being in the top 3 of their age group, but, according to the list on the website, finished 4th or below. The race officials even conceded that they had problems with the timing. (We wore things pre-attached to our bib numbers, rather than shoe timing chips. The "reader" was about 8 feet in the air. I guess it couldn't handle a start time for all the runners, and that's why we had a gun start time.) At the mile 10 turnaround, the was nothing to really indicate that it was a turnaround, except that there was a police car blocking that lane of traffic. There was one paying attention to the runners. The cop was talking to people that were on the side of the road. I ran close enough that I could touch the car and headed back. There could have at least been an orange cone to run around!
I first thought my watch had lost the GPS connection at Mile 1, when I looked down and saw 7:11. I didn't remember seeing Mile Markers for 2 and 3, so when I saw 4, I looked at my watch. I thought the GPS was off, so I just looked at the time. It was seconds past 30 minutes. A quick calculation in my head told me, that after 4 miles, I was under an 8:00 pace. I then thought maybe my GPS was right and their markers were wrong, because I could not be running that fast that long. When I reached Mile Marker 7, I pushed the "lap" button on my watch. I thought I would try to keep up the the mile times that way. The markers said I had been 7 miles; my watch had 6.4 miles. I did not worry with the watch for awhile, because I knew the mileage was wrong which would calculate an incorrect pace. I just ran - feeling each mile was slower than the one before. When I reached Mile 10, I pushed the "lap" button again, hoping I would be able to get some kind of data out of the race somehow. At Mile 10, my time was just under 1:20:00. I thought to myself, "If all this mileage stuff works out and I keep pushing, I can set a PR of under 8:00 per mile." Time kept slipping away during those last 3 (?) miles...
I stopped my watch as I crossed the finish line. Total time: 1:45:21 at 12.67 miles - just over 0.4 miles off. Of course, I thought this was the fault of my GPS. According to my watch, my pace was 8:18. That pace was not fast enough to beat my PR of 8:09 in the 2010 Clarksville Half, but I just ran 13.1 miles and I knew the 1:45:21 was my fastest ever. New Personal Record! Right? Wrong.
When the results were posted online, I had the exact time that was posted. I also decided to look on the course map to see where my GPS may have messed up. Well, it happened around mile 1.5, but it wasn't my watch's fault. We were told to run the wrong way! We were supposed to loop around close to the start/finish line inside the park, before heading out onto the highway, but were directed straight to the road. This was cutting off about 0.6 miles. To try to correct this, when we turned back into the park with less than a mile left, we were detoured to make some of the "lost" distance. It wasn't enough, but instead of being around 0.6 miles off, we were only 0.4.
What I thought was a PR, turned out not to really be a PR. If I go by my "real" pace of 8:18, that is 9 seconds per mile slower than my PR. If I add 3:19 (my 8:18 pace times 0.4 miles short), my total time would have been 1:48:40, which is slower than my 1:46:38.
I was happy with some mile paces, though - well, early on. Now that I know that they are correct. The first 4 miles were under 8:00 - 7:11, 7:26, 7:44, and 7:55. Miles 5 and 6 were close - both were 8:02. Mile 7 was back under 8:00 at 7:54. So, over the halfway point my total time was 54:15, a pace of 7:45. Of course, this is too fast for me, but I'm ecstatic it lasted for that long. It went downhill quickly from there. Miles 8 thru 12 - 8:15, 8:17, 8:40, 9:24, and 9:52. The last 0.67 was 6:38.
I was 10 of 30 40-44 year-old males, 82 of 223 males, and 115 of 433 overall.
No comments:
Post a Comment