Race Review: Rite Aid Cleveland Half Marathon

I made some stupid mistakes on Sunday, May 17, at the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon.  Wanna hear about them?  Maybe you can avoid my mistakes in your own races. First, let me start with a review, and then you can laugh at my mistakes later.

The Expo:

I went to the Expo at the Cleveland Convention Center on Friday after school.  I parked in a deck directly across the street, and I heard that many people found free street parking, so that didn't seem to be a problem.  The Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Expo nailed it again this year.  So. Much. Fun!  Some people like meeting up in groups at the expo, but I love to navigate it myself so I can do whatever I want.  And I did!

American Greetings took my picture:

It took like 10 tries because I broke the camera.  I'm not kidding.

I got my nails done FOR FREE!!!

These are press-ons!  They were so fun!

I bought a 13.1 tattoo, but then I put it on upside down, so I had to scrape it off.  Mistake #1?

After picking up my shirt, I headed to a reception, sponsored by Tito's Handmade Vodka, in the old Arcade, where I hooked up with my fellow #runCLE Ambassadors.

We clean up good, don't you think?

Saturday the Ambassadors roamed the Expo, but for me it was cleaning day, so I stayed home and then I tried to go to bed early, but not before I applied another pre-race tattoo:

This is from Ulysses.  #litgeek

Two of my biggest worries about races are parking and bathrooms, and neither were a worry at this race.  I easily got into a parking deck at 5:55, and I didn't notice any terrible traffic jams as I walked to the starting line.  There were tons of porta potties lining the starting corrals, and there were bathrooms at the Q.  The ONLY problem I had was that there was no sanitizer anywhere to be found.  I ended up begging sanitizer off Jamie's mom (Jamie is a fellow Ambassador) because I knew I wouldn't be able to function without attempting to clean my hands after a visit to the porta potty.

Some of the Ambassadors met at the start for a picture:

We are ready to rock this run!

I also had a nice surprise: I spotted Christina, who is a former student and was about to run her first half marathon!

You always remember your first!

As we waited in the starting corrals, the skies opened up and drenched everyone, which wasn't too bad considering the temps were a steamy 68 degrees with humidity around 100%.  I thought this was a good sign because I was starting cool, and I knew I would need to keep cool during 13.1 miles.

The corrals were neatly organized; I lined up with the 4:00 pacers, and there was lots of room to navigate.  Actually, I had very little need to dodge runners because we all were on pace.  That is very refreshing, as dodging and stutter steps tend to sap my energy, and I can't keep myself from doing it if people are too close to me.  Speaking of the pacers, one of them was calling out information about the city as we passed the landmarks.  He was amazing.

The course is soooo fabulous, Peeps.  Some of it was a blur, but I loved running around Tremont, Ohio City, and Edgewater.  The crowd support was nice, although I didn't see as many funny signs as I saw last year.  I saw my friend Ed (who is a super-speedy runner) twice around Ohio City, and that gave me a nice boost for a while.

So, let me fill you in on how I handled the heat and humidity in this race.  I'll give you a hint:  not well.  I did a lot of stupid things during these 13.1 miles, and most of them were during the first 10k.  First of all, I didn't have any true time goals and I should have.  Normally I have a secret goal that I would be ecstatic if  I hit, a challenging goal that I'm pretty sure I can hit, and the "acceptable" goal that I won't beat myself up about if I at least hit it.  I didn't have any of that.  I just said, "Let's see how I feel," and that was stupid because I am never truly aware of how I feel in the moment.

I tried my trick from the 2014 Akron Half Marathon, when I focused only on how I felt during that mile, and so each mile when I asked myself if I felt good, the answer was yes.  Then I hit the 10k mark, and when I asked myself how I felt, the answer was AWFUL.  I realized that even though I was hot and sweaty, I was shivering and wanting to vomit, and that means possible sunstroke, Peeps.  Not good.  After I crossed the 10k mat, I deliberately slowed down and then walked through every water stop available on the course, drinking one cup and dumping another on my head.  Normally I might hit three stops on the course, but I knew the weather was a major game-changer, and I needed to take care of myself.  Kudos to the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon organizers for having so many water stops; I needed every darned one of them.

Kudos, too, to the volunteers who cheerfully handed us water, Powerade, and Carb Boom! Gels.  I am especially grateful to the lady who sprayed me with her garden hose (I think I love you), and I think the person who placed a sprinkler on the highway around mile 11 is a genius.

Despite all of these wonderful people, I feel like I just couldn't get my act together after the 10k.  At one point my Garmin shorted out, so I didn't see until I checked my data later that I ran an 11 minute mile.  Dammit.  I just fell apart.  I saw Ed three times on the course, and the last time was on the highway for mile 12.  I was a mess, but I was grateful to see him as I shuffled by like a zombie. When I got close to the chute, Laura and Erin called my name, and I told them I was toast, but they continued to encourage me.  I didn't really have anything left to kick it in the end.

What I should have done was pick a pace that I knew I could consistently maintain in that heat, and I still would have done better than I did by pretending to be Speedy Gonzales in the first six miles and then breaking down in the second half.  It was a dumbass move, and I don't intend to repeat it for the Medina Half Marathon in two weeks.

After crossing the finish line, getting my medal, and chugging some chocolate milk, I found my peeps from The Ohio Runner's Network, and we had some Great Lakes Brewing Company beer together.  This was a welcome change from the crappy "ultra" beer we get at other races, and I really enjoyed mine. . .until I spilled it.

This is really long already, so I'm going to cut it short and leave you with two more positive things I got from the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon:

1.  I made a new bunch of friends, and I'm going to write about them and their support in my next post.

2.  This:

I earned this shirt and medal!

Until next week, run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!

Race Recap: The Perfect 10 Miler

It all began with my innocent question on Facebook:

Are deep fried mac and cheese bites the proper fuel before the Perfect 10 Miler? Hypothetically.

The answers ranged from the funny--a movie clip of a woman on the toilet (which I will not post here), the philosophical (Shouldn't the real question be "Is there ever a time deep fried Mac and cheese bites are a bad idea?"), the empathetic (Pretty sure Hamburger Festival was not ideal.), and the mildly condemnatory (I would say the whole enterprise is flawed, but...).  Do you want to know the answer?  Just wait; I'm getting there.

This morning I woke up at 4:30 am to prepare for the Perfect 10 Miler at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst, Ohio.  I carefully laid out my gear the night before:

I organized this BEFORE I went out for beer and mac and cheese bites. . . er, that is, if I actually DID indulge in mac and cheese bites.  Hypothetically.

I met the other members of The Ohio Runner's Network for a warm up and a picture.

We look so happy to be there before 7am!

So, I have been feeling angsty about this race for several reasons: 1) I had to transfer my bib last year because of the horrible NUT incident, 2) the course changed this year, and I didn't know the area, and 3) I have been trying to figure out what my race pace is for any race longer than five miles (prep for the Akron Half Marathon), and I'm not really good at figuring out my pace by the way I feel.  I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but as usual, my follow-through is kind of lousy.  Let's get to the race review, shall we?

The Good:  

The course began and ended at Legacy Village, which meant that there was plenty of parking.  This is a smaller race than some, but previous years' staging at Brush High School meant that many of us scrambled for parking.  

The bathrooms were REAL bathrooms in the mall.  There was plenty of soap and paper towels!  

The food at the end was plentiful.  I'd like to emphasize this because in the past, there was no more food or water for the runners at the tail end of the race.  There were bananas, bagel pieces, protein bars, and cookies from Eat n Park.  Usually the cookies are the first thing to run out, so I was happy that the race coordinators had supplied many more this year.  In fact, I'm grateful to them because they allowed me to take two cookies on the way out.  My kids love the smiley-face cookies!

The crowd support was minimal, but the people who were out there were fantastic.  My favorite sign said, "Run faster--there's a zombie behind you!!!"  A few people had hoses going, which I really appreciate since it was really hot, even at 7:30 in the morning.

The water stops were at almost every mile along the route, and there were some great volunteers manning those stations.  Many of them were teens, and they served up water and Gatorade with smiles and cheers.

Today Mike earned his SuperFan shirt by taking pictures and cheering for us.

This was the first 10 miler for the Towpath Turtles, who are training for the Akron Half Marathon, and they all finished strong, and they looked outstanding!

Here is our medal shot: We are SOOOO happy to be done with it!

The Bad:

The course changed this year; in the past it has been an out-and-back, with one looooong road making up most of it.  I used to complain about that course; now, I think I won't anymore.  The new course had many turns in it (Shelby said she counted seventeen?), and there were HILLS!!!  The hills were in the first two miles, which were also the last two miles.  While I really didn't mind the turns, and I thought the neighborhoods were really nice, finishing on a hill is NOT COOL AT ALL.  

Some of our Turtles lost their way during one of the turns.  I had seen course marshals along the way, but I'm guessing that they left their posts a little too soon.  That isn't very safe, and in this case, it really threw off our Turtles.

The Ugly:

Well, that would be me again.  Don't get me wrong; I PR'd this race.  It's just that I realized a few things in this race, and it was a bit frustrating.

1.  I need to come up with a plan and stick to it.  My original plan had been to run my race, starting at a ten minute mile to warmup, switch to a 9:30 pace, and then try to run the last two miles at 9:15 or faster.  Because the first half-mile of the race was all downhill, I thought it would be stupid to waste that opportunity, so I went out fast.  Again.  Here are my splits:

Mile 1:  9:14
Mile 2:  9:06
Mile 3:  9:14
Mile 4:  9:20
Mile 5:  9:17
Mile 6:  9:46 (fuel with GU)
Mile 7:  9:33  
Mile 8:  9:32
Mile 9:  9:49
Mile 10:  9:41

Ok, now that I'm looking at my splits, I don't feel so bad.  The mile 6 slowdown was because I was fueling.  I do think that everything fell apart after mile 6.  I kept looking at my Garmin and trying to get it together, but my legs wouldn't cooperate.  It could have been worse, but I think I could have done better.  Sheila, my coach from OneLife Fitness, thinks that I am too distracted by music and chitchat.  In fact, she posted this picture on Facebook with an admonition for me:

I am on the left, adjusting my earbud.  Sheila's caption:  Get RID of the distractions, Steph!

I admit that music is important to me during runs; it keeps me from killing people.  For more info about this, read my post about running without music.  There may be a day when I can do a long race without music, and do better, but that day was not today.  As for the chitchat, I am puzzled.  I think I remember that Shelby and I had about three short exchanges in the six-plus miles we ran together.  They were something like this:

A.  Shelby:  Watch out.  Stroller.  Me:  Ugh.  I hope she gets disqualified.

B.  Shelby:  Is that man carrying a shirt or his underwear?  Me:  I feel better believing it's his shirt.

C.  Shelby:  Just relax.  Take it easy.  Me:  Dude, YOU'RE the one who's going fast!  I'm trying to keep up with your pace!!!!

I may have been a little snippy with Shelby.  Sorry.

Anyway. . . 

2.  The course was short!  My Garmin measured it at 9.78.  Now, I know what you are thinking:  Garmins aren't always predictable, blah blah blah.  At least four other runners around me came up with the same distance.  This makes me angry because now I feel like I don't deserve the official pace on the webpage (which I will share in a moment)

3.  This race just messed with my head.  I actually did a lot of smart things:  early bedtime (although I didn't get to sleep early), morning fuel with Panera bagel and coffee (can't break the ritual), plenty of water before, during, and after.  I know I talked about the mac and cheese bites, but really, I had TWO BITES along with a grilled cheese sandwich and a salad.  Ok, and two beers, but I drank a LOT of water with all of that.  Anyway, I've had some stuff on my mind lately, and it didn't allow me to be satisfied with my results.  Peeps, learn from my mistake:  Take your successes when you can.  Be thankful for them.  Keep that attitude of gratitude.  After all, this time last year I was on crutches.

In keeping with my attitude of gratitude, I'd like to thank Sheila for pushing me to try harder, Shelby for coaching me through six miles of this race, and the Towpath Turtles for allowing me to run with them on their long training runs.  This is a great group!

So. . . Are deep fried mac and cheese bites the proper fuel before the Perfect 10 Miler?

Judge for yourself:

Perfect 10 Miler 2012:  1:45:27, 10:32 pace, 46 in age group

Spring Training 10 Mile (March 2014):  1:43:04, 10:18 pace

Perfect 10 Miler 2014:  1:32:34, 9:17 pace, 11 in age group

Major, PR, Baby!

This is EXACTLY how I look when I'm happy about a PR.

I think it was the mac and cheese bites.

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout.

Payday Hooray!

Today is the day I reveal my running payday.  Woohoo!

Last year I decided that I would log my miles run and as an incentive, I decided to pay myself for running.  The catch is that I had to also log the money I spent on races and babysitters hired for my Saturday races.  My goal was to make a profit.  I got the idea from another blogger (and I feel TERRIBLE that I didn't save that information).  Thank you, Forgotten Blogger!  You are awesome!

Here's the deal:  I decided to pay myself  $.50 for every mile run or walked, $1.00 for every racing mile, and I awarded myself a $5.00 bonus for every PR.  The beauty of this plan is that you can use whatever amount inspires you, and it doesn't just have to be running.  Wanna reward yourself for biking miles?  How about swimming yards?  Zumba hours?  The possibilities are endless.

Let's get to it, shall we?

I logged all of my running miles on Dailymile.com.  This site does an excellent job of helping you keep track of fitness.  Not only can you log your miles, you can also log time, pace, conditions, routes, and how you felt about your experience.  It doesn't have to be just running, either.  I have friends who log spinning, biking, yoga, hiking--you can do whatever you want.  Also, this is a social media service, so you can choose to "friend" people and encourage each other with comments and badges.  You can see my miles on the right side of this post.  In 2013, I ran 645 miles.  Boo.  My original goal was to run 1,000 miles, but my broken foot put the cabosh on that idea.

Modified piggy bank for my circumstances

I logged my racing miles on a spreadsheet.  The credit column was the number of miles, and the debit column was entry fees and babysitting fees.  Now I am going to subtract the number of racing miles from the total on Dailymile:

Total Miles         645

-Racing Miles       37

New Total Miles 608

608 (.50) = $304.00

+ Racing        37.00

                   $341.00

+PRs (4)         20.00

                   $361.00

- race fees   $130.00     

                   $231.00

-babysitter   $100.00

Grand Total = $131.00

Not too shabby, eh?  I know I could have done even better had I not broken my foot in August.  I missed out on at least four races, two of which I am certain would have been a PR.  Oh well.  I am just happy that I can start again this year.

What will I do with the money?  Hmmmm. . . I will need more shoes in a few months.  Maybe a set of capris for the Spring?  How about some more songs for new playlists?  Again, the possibilities are endless, and I EARNED THIS MONEY!  I look forward to earning more money with my feet in 2014!

How do you reward yourself for running?

Like what you see?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout !

Pre-Race Tradition

Shout out to my peeps!  Remember my post about pre-race traditions?  This is one of them:

This is EXACTLY how I look when. . . well, this is how I look.

Before every race we are in together, Julie, Deidre, Teresa, and I take our picture.  We sometimes have pre-pre-racing photos, too.  Those involve booze.  Ahem.

I just found out that I missed a PR in the Mother's Day 5k by five seconds.  I am not at all upset.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I miss a PR by five seconds.

  This race was about establishing a tradition, and this time I got to participate in starting a new tradition for some of the Towpath Turtles.  There will plenty of other races, and I have lots of PR's to chase.

PR!!!

Holy Shmoly!  I just compared my finish times in the Columbus Hot Chocolate 15k and the Shamrock 15k, and . . . I PR'd by three whole seconds!!!!! Woohoo!

Reasons why I am amazed by this:

1.  The Columbus race was relatively flat, and the Shamrock was all hills.  Painful hills.

2.  I deliberately held back because I didn't want to die on the hills.

3.  I spent at least two previous posts bitching about the fact that I wasn't going to PR.

4.  I spent my last post bitching about the race itself,  and

Finally,

5.  I did it without music!  

This is EXACTLY how I look when I run a 15k without music.  Right now, the Voices in my head are saying, "Punish them.  Punish them all."

Among other things, running teaches me that I am stronger than I think.  I do know that I often try to sabotage myself with negative thinking (hence the music), but obviously my spirit is telling me something completely different.  Now I'm pissed because I'm wondering how I could have done if I hadn't held back.   Ok, enough.  A PR is a PR.  I will take it.

Thanks again for your kind words of encouragement (and of course for the Turtle calls on the course).  I will definitely run this course again, and I will start with the right attitude.  FEAR THE TURTLE!!!