Gate River Run 15K Recap

I'm still in Florida and want to get back out in the sun for a couple more hours before I leave tonight, but wanted to put up a quick recap of this weekends events while it's still fresh in my mind. It was certainly a great experience overall and I would say I got out of it what I expected. Maybe not the race I was hoping for, but based on what I've done thus far in my current build up, I couldn't have expected anything great. After my first GRR experience in 2009, I have kept this race as a definite on the racing schedule ever since, and have had every intention of being ready for it each year. Unfortunately, the last couple of years haven't exactly followed the plan, so I was forced to stay home in 2010 with a back injury, and almost did the same this year as I was coming off of a foot injury this winter. Not wanting to miss another year, I decided less than two weeks out to sign up and book my trip down. Maybe not the first instinct for someone else at my current fitness level, but I'll say it again, I love this event. So with a couple workouts under my belt and a couple 50 mile weeks, I was feeling healthy enough to at least run hard for 9 miles and that was pretty much the extent of my racing plan. As I talked more with my coach, we came up with the idea of going out conservatively and using it as more of a progression run, hoping to average 5:25-5:30 pace.

I got down to Jacksonville on Friday morning and was picked up by Richard Fannin, the Elite Athlete Coordinator and mastermind behind the planning and success of this US Championship Event. Soon after we arrived at the hotel, I immediately took advantage of the nice weather and went for an easy 50 min run with Lesley Higgins and Betsy Burke from the NYAC. As we talked about various topics, running along the beautiful St. Johns River, I gathered that all three of us were feeling pretty reserved about our performance predictions. I quickly voiced my desire to beat Lesley to the finish line (women get a 6 min head start) and made that my new race goal.

That evening, we were treated to a nice dinner with all the athletes in attendance and were even graced with a motivational speaker, the one and only Dick Beardsley.  I've certainly heard the story of his famous "Duel in the Sun" and have heard all the details surrounding that event and the stories behind the scenes, but I had never heard it told by Dick himself. He certainly knows how to motivate a crowd, as I think we would have heard a pin drop waiting for each detail to come out of his mouth. A very cool experience indeed. I soon went from thinking I didn't belong in that room to thinking that anything was possible.

So race day came quickly as expected and I was both excited and nervous, not really knowing what to expect on the day, knowing I was way out of my league in this race, but also ready to embrace the pain of running as hard as I could. I still had every intention of starting conservatively, but at the same time I didn't really want to hold back at all, even at the start. So the race began and I just ran as comfortably as I could, not really thinking about pace. I hit the mile in 5:15 and quickly realized that it was probably too fast. But it felt good, so I quickly dismissed that thought and went onto the thought of what I might be able to run if I kept that up. This was probably my first mistake ...or I guess second if you count going out too fast. I think I did too good of a job getting mentally prepared for this race, because I had no desire to slow down and I had fooled myself into thinking that this was sustainable. Mile 2 came and went at about the same pace...so far so good. It was around 5K that I started realizing I was breathing fairly heavily, but the legs still felt good. At this point, I tried to focus on relaxing a bit more and make sure not to tense up too much. I was running slower, but the breathing was getting better.

Once I hit 10K, I realized it was quite a bit slower than the first 3 miles and since I was feeling "relatively" good, in the zone if you will, I started to lean on the pace. It was at this point that I realized there was no gas in the tank and the best I could hope for was to stay at that same pace. The legs were jello and I was fearing a rough last 5k. Rough, it was, but believe me, it could have been a lot worse. In fact, I was actually pretty happy with how I "held it together".

The Green Monster was tough at the finish, but I caught a couple guys on it and finished strong. Unfortunately though, I was about 45 seconds short of catching Lesley, which she made abundantly clear about 2 seconds after I crossed the line. Her saying, "haha, you couldn't catch me", as I was just trying to keep myself upright. Thanks, Lesley!

Here are my splits from this year compared to 2009:

2009 Splits: 5:13, 5:10, 5:14, 5:16, 5:12, 5:15, 5:09, 5:22 (hill), 5:25 (hill), 1:33 = 48:53
2011 Splits: 5:15, 5:21, 5:30, 5:30, 5:27, 5:35, 5:33, 5:40 (hill), 5:36 (hill), 1:38 = 51:11

The rest of the weekend was a lot of fun and I continued to meet some great people within the sport and develop some great relationships with others that enjoy these things just as much as I do. I would give more details from the post race parties, but as Richard said, "what happens in Jacksonville, stays in Jacksonville!" So I'll finish up by saying congrats to Jen and Mo on their victories and once again saying thank you to Richard Fannin for his tremendous hospitality and his "leaving no stone unturned" approach; Doug Alred and his wife Jane for having such a great event and opening up their home to all of us; LeeAnn Meyer, Bob Latham, and Bobby Green for having all the answers for us and never letting us feel unappreciated or unattended; along with everyone else that contributed to this event and made my experience a good one! I will certainly plan on being here again next year (running much faster), and I hope all of you consider doing the same.

Back to training for me and hopefully onto bigger and better things.

Believe and Achieve

"I cannot express how HAPPY I am with where I am in my life right now, and how grateful I feel for being able to do what I do. I just wouldn't trade it for anything and any time I am feeling not very motivated, I think about how miserable I feel when I am not training or doing something else I don't LOVE. I totally and completely love this life I'm living and the most fabulous thing is that I know it's only going to get 20 times better by the end of the year. Woo hoo baby!"
-Sally Meyerhoff, Blog post on March 6, 2011

It's very evident that the above words were written by someone with a great deal of character and passion for what they do.  I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to have that same attitude towards life and that same strong belief in what they are doing.  If you are reading this blog, I'm sure you are up to speed enough within the running world to have heard about the unfortunate passing of the outstanding athlete and Olympic hopeful, Sally Meyerhoff ...the same person who wrote those words above just two days prior to her perish.  I consider myself fortunate to have been in Sally's presence on a couple occasions, but I wouldn't say I knew her. Despite not knowing her personally, I was well aware of her presence within our sport and the impact that she had on it, both as an athlete and as a person. In that sense, I knew her very well.

I had already planned on putting up a post this week talking about some other less important things, but after hearing this tragic news, I decided to keep it short and focus solely on the more important things.  As I read through more of Sally's blog, I was very moved by her writing as it both inspired me and saddened me.  This person certainly knew what she wanted and was doing everything she could to achieve it.  At 27 years old, she had achieved more than most do in a lifetime, but she was just getting started.  I have always considered myself a faithful person and stand by my beliefs with great pride.  But more than just believing, I too want to be achieving.  I'm not saying I haven't had achievements ...I have. However, I have a bigger picture in my mind than what I see in my life right now.  I know I am on my way and I have a lot to offer ...that, I believe! Now that I've laid the groundwork through my experiences, I am ready to take some steps forward and start achieving once again.  This applies to all aspects of my life.

In the more immediate future, I will be headed down to Jacksonville, FL this weekend to participate in the Gate River Run 15K / US Championships.  This may seem a bit early to start competing (I agree), but after only one visit in 2009, I consider this race one of my favorites and one of the better events in the country. I knew there would be too many positives in this experience to pass up on it.  So I'm taking whatever fitness I have and will use my experience to get the best out of myself on Saturday.  It would be great to try and run with some of the guys up front, but I know I'm not ready for that.  It will surely be a fun event and I know I will be well taken care of while I'm down there (thanks to the generosity of Richard Fannin). Therefore, I know I will not walk away disappointed.  If any of you reading this will be racing/running this weekend, or know someone who is, please spread the word that runners will be wearing skirts, high socks, and pink ribbons in their hair in memory of Sally.  We all know she would be doing the same!

"I don't like to make the excuse "Oh I'm still pretty young. I have time"...because we don't know how much time we will have in life, and I want to live every day with no regrets ... If your mind can conceive it and your heart believes it, you can achieve it!"
-Sally Meyerhoff, "Keep your eyes on the prize!" February 3, 2011