Gulf Coast Half Marathon Race Report

Yes, I ran two half-marathons in 8 days.  No, I'm not crazy.

Let's back up a bit...

My long runs for the past two weeks were 15 and 9 miles.  The 15 mile run fell on the weekend of the Jazz Half Marathon in New Orleans, so I opted to run that instead.  The 9 mile run fell on the weekend of the Gulf Coast Half, and since I haven't run that race yet, I figured I'd give it a go.

One other reason I wanted to run this was a friend of mine from college had registered, and we haven't hung out in a while.  He's also a fan of the Post Race Cheeseburger®, so we made plans to have lunch at the Abita Brew Pub.  Beer and cheeseburgers?  Oh, yes.

I did do a bit of a mini-taper prior to the Jazz Half, opting to forego my 3 mile run on Thursday and the 5 mile run that was supposed to be Saturday.  I kept the light training schedule the following week, doing an easy 3 miles on Tuesday and a 6 mile Tempo Run on Wednesday.  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I loafed.  I'd liked to have gone for a bike ride Saturday, but it was Monster Mash which meant I had to put in some Daddy time with Brynn.  We hung out in the morning while the wife went to the park to set up, then Brynn and I went to piano and had lunch before going to Monster Mash.

Off-topic, but I saw something at Monster Mash that gave me hope for today's youth.  The band was a group of kids between 12-14, playing honest-to-God Rock N Roll.  Guns N Roses, Seether, Bush, Metallica, Green Day, etc.  And they weren't bad at all.  Hopefully they're not the only 5 kids in St. Tammany Parish playing real instruments.  It was refreshing to see them playing instead of some 50 year old guys in Hawaiian shirts and cargo shorts.

As I said in my last post, the weather for the Jazz Half was downright miserable for a long run.  This was not the case for GCHM.  A few days before the race a cool front passed through, and was reinforced a couple days later by another front.  This led to race day temps in the mid-50s at the start of the race, with a breeze out of the north.  It's hard to imagine better running weather.  Maybe less wind, but that's about all I can think of.  It was simply a gorgeous morning.

I started my day out with my usual pre-run breakfast of Froot Loops and some Nuun hydration enhanced water.  After that, we loaded up the SUV with us, the kid, and the poodle and headed to the start at Fountainbleu State Park.  I didn't have any pre-race jitters as my attitude going into this race was "training run".  I did have pre-race bladder though, and ended up standing in line for 15 minutes before I could get into the start corral.

Since I was more interested in being social than I was in trying to squeeze every second I could, I lined up at the back of the corral with John and another friend, and waited the few minutes before the start.  However, when the gun went off I left them and started picking my way through the crowd to find a hole to run in.  It took about the first two miles or so to get a place where I wasn't zig-zagging constantly.  I also was able to find someone to pace off of who was going a touch faster than I intended to, so that was perfect.

At the 5 mile point, we passed in front of the Barley Oak, a lakefront tavern with an impressive beer selection.  For some reason though, they were only giving out water and gatorade at the hydration stop in front of the place.  I inquired about beer, but nobody would help me out.

I'm a water-station walker.  I'll walk the 15-20 seconds it takes to gulp down a cup of water and then start running again.  It's a strategy I picked up in Hal Higdon's Marathon book, and it's served me well.  However, it makes the first few miles of a race comical as I pass and get passed and repass the same group of people over and over.  At this race it was a woman in a red tank top who seemed to be the pass/repass victim.  At least until about the 6 mile water stop.  I walked this one to drink a water and eat a Gu, and finally got ahead of her enough to keep her at bay the rest of the race....

Either that or I had a decent negative split and she faded.  Whatever.

Mile 8 passed in front of the local running store, Varsity Sports Mandeville.  They're conveniently located next door to The Broken Egg Cafe', and there was a decent crowd gathered there to watch the race go by.  It's always better to run in front of a bunch of people cheering.

Somewhere around mile 10 a guy I passed made a comment about how fast it seemed my cadence was.  Short legs like mine and a sub-8:00 pace tends to have that effect.

It's also around mile 10 that I start figuring out about what I can finish at.  I checked my time and saw a 1:45 finish was possible.  I knew the remaining course well, as I run it regularly in my training.  I was feeling strong.  I'd hydrated well throughout the race.  But it was a training run, so I laid back and kept an easier pace to conserve energy and not risk injury.





No I didn't.








I saw my 10 mile time, did some quick math in my head, thought "If I can push a 7:45 pace the last 3 miles, I'll finish right at 1:45"...

So I went for it.

Keep in mind, I haven't run a fast 10+ mile run since last year's Jazz Half.  After that race all my training was for the Rock N Roll Marathon and was focused on distance and building an endurance base.  After RNR, I did a couple sprint Tris which kept my runs under 6 miles.  Then it got hot when I started training for Dopey, so my pace was way down compared to this day.  But I felt good and the weather was cooperating, so I pushed my pace to finish.

Going back into the park, there was a nice crowd gathered at the last water station.  Their enthusiasm was a nice boost.  People were also parking and walking next to the course and were cheering as the runners entered the park.  The last 1.5 miles were fantastic.

My wife, the kid, the poodle, and Denis's family had set up at about the 13 mile mark.  I spotted them and waved as I ran by.  Waved meaning "acted like an idiot yelling at them as I passed".  I'm sure I looked ridiculous.  But it was fun.

I crossed the finish line at 1:45:06, got my water, my bottle opener medal, and took a picture before heading to meet up with the family.  I felt great post race... not at all fatigued or overheated.  We hung out at that spot waiting for Denis and John to finish, then hit the post race party to watch the awards presentation and have a beer.

Overall, this was 100x better than the Jazz Half was the weekend before.  Better weather, better performance, better post-race beer (Thanks Abita), and so conveniently located.  Chances are I'll do this race again next year.

The bad though, was since it had been a year since I ran that hard for that long, I was incredibly sore the next day.  My calves felt like they were on fire and every step hurt.  Even today, 5 days later, my right calf is still not very happy with me.  I cut my mileage back this week on all 3 of my runs and I've been walking as much as possible at work, but the lingering soreness just won't go away.

That's gonna make tomorrow's 6 mile run and Sunday's 16 mile run so much fun.

Not.

Whatever.  Nobody ever said this stuff was easy.



"Face your life, its pain, its pleasure, leave no path untaken." - Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

Jazz Half Race Report

It's amazing how much can change in two and a half years.

It was the Jazz Half Marathon in 2011 that prompted me to try my hand at this running thing.  I was turning 40 that year and wanted to find something somewhat silly to try to commemorate the occasion, and a non-runner running a Half Marathon seemed like the perfect thing.

A year later, I ran the Jazz Half again.  That time, instead of it being a "see if I can" challenge, it was "how fast can I?" A 50 degree overcast morning with a bit of a north breeze was the setting that morning as I broke the 1:40 barrier by 7 seconds, beating my half-marathon PR by nearly 8 minutes and surpassing my target for the day by 5.  I couldn't have ordered a more perfect morning for a race.

This year, however, my mindset for this race was quite different.  Knowing I could go the distance, and not peaking for this race, I went into the race of the mindset to treat it as a fast(ish) training run and nothing more.  Granted, I'd like to get a nice time, but it wasn't a priority.  My taper consisted of not working out Thursday night to instead decorate my wife's branch for her 40th birthday.  I didn't even guilt her and the kid into waking up early to come across the lake to the race, instead opting to drive myself over.  If anything, the race was to be as much of a non-event as possible.

On top of the lackadaisical attitude, I had also been fighting off a touch of a cold or something, so I hadn't been feeling 100%.  It wasn't bad enough to keep me home from work or running, but I certainly had felt better.  It was probably for the better, since not feeling great would keep me tempered.

I wasn't feeling too great at all the night before the race, and went to bed way earlier than I typically do (9 PM) and crashed out despite the wife/kid/poodle mulling about in the bedroom.  I set my alarm for 5AM on my alarm clock and my phone for my wake-up, but I ended up not needing them.  4AM came along and I was awake and unable to go back to sleep.  I got out of bed about 4:15, ate a bowl of Froot Loops, and gathered up my stuff for the race.  I was so unconcerned about the race that I didn't get my stuff together the night before as I typically do.  So lame.  I left the house about 5:15 to pick up my buddy Justin and head over the lake to downtown New Orleans.  

We got to Lafayette Square at about 6:20, which gave us plenty of time to utilize the facilities, figure out what was what, and mentally prep ourselves for the race.  I ran into my wife's boss and talked to him for a few minutes, as well as an acquaintance I know through my college buddies.  As the start time neared, I tried to find myself a slot in starting area near the 8:30 runners, but unlike last year they didn't have any markers up for self-seeding.  Bummer.

The past couple years, the race director would start the half-marathon, then about 15 minutes later the 5K would start.  This year, they opted to start both races together for some reason which just led to an extremely congested starting area.  They also changed the course from starting on Poydras to starting on Camp St. and making an out and back on both Convention Center Blvd. and Poydras in front of the Superdome before heading out St. Charles.  For the record, I was NOT a fan of the course change nor the mixing of the 5K runners and 13.1 runners.  It made for a very congested start and I was dodging people for 2.5 miles before getting some space to run in.

Another change made this year was moving the race up on the calendar by 2 weeks.  I'm not sure what prompted that change, but based on Facebook commentary, it was not a popular choice.  At the start of the race, the weather was clear, sunny, close to 80 degrees, and about 95% humidity.  Or in other words, not ideal running weather.  There was a bit of hope for a reprise from the heat, but by Thursday last week temps were creeping back up and the humid air had moved back in.  Needless to say, the weather sucked out loud for running.

So.. Onto the run...

Like I said earlier, the 5K runners and 13.1 runners were starting together, and people were self-seeding with no guidelines as to pace.  This made for a VERY congested start.  It wasn't until after the U-turn on Poydras (about 2 or so miles in) that I was able to find some space to run where I wasn't going in between or around people.  At St. Charles, the half-marathon split off from the 5K and I was finally able to run unimpeded from that point on.  I felt relatively good up to this point, but the conditions were definitely making for a challenging day.  I was watching my pace every half-mile and was staying in the 8:30-8:45 range which was a bit slower than I was hoping for.  

The second segment of the race (St. Charles to Audubon Park) was solid.  My pace never wavered even though it was slower than I wanted.  I hydrated at every water stop (luckily they were more plentiful this year than last due to the heat) and ate a Gu at the 6 mile mark.  I also seemed to pass a lot more folks than were passing me which was a good sign, but still too early to be a real confidence boost.  

The third segment of the race around the Audubon Park loop was fantastic.  The park makes for a great backdrop to run.  It's heavily shaded by the old oaks, has a wide path, and the surface is smooth blacktop.  It was here, though, that I was passed by Gumby.

Yes, there was a guy running in a Gumby costume.  And he passed me around the 8 mile water station.  I wasn't too concerned because I knew we had to go back downtown via St. Charles and it was going to be miserable for him.

Coming out of Audubon Park onto St. Charles for the last segment, it was apparent this stretch was going to suck.  The temperature was rapidly climbing and the course down St. Charles back to downtown was directly into the sun.  And while St. Charles Ave. is famous for it's oak tree canopy, it doesn't help much when the shadows are cast onto the sidewalk and not the street where we were running.  It was here that I started seeing my pace fade, even dropping into the 9:10 range for a bit.  

The mile 11 marker was a turning point though.  I've always had the attitude that if I'm still on my feet, I can go 3 more miles, no matter what.  Knowing I only had 2 left meant I knew I could push my pace and try to finish strong despite the heat.  First off... Pass Gumby.  Which I did at about 11.25 miles.  Then it was suck up the misery and push pace.  My half mile splits were back under 4:15 at 11.5, 12, and 12.5.  I even skipped the whiskey shots at the 12 mile mark.  Finally on the last stretch down Camp, I cranked up as much speed as I could to finish.  I came across the finish line at 1:55, significantly slower than last year's time, but still under 2 hours.  All things considered (weather, training, motivation, health), I'll take it.  

This year's race, however, seemed to be done "on the cheap".  There was no on-course timing like previous years.  Also, there was no photography anywhere on the course, even at the end.  The shirts this year were cheap t-shirts, not tech shirts like in prior years.  Post race support consisted of a couple cups of water.  There was a small post-race party with a decent band playing, but due to other circumstances I wasn't able to hang out too long to watch.  Overall, it was a bit disappointing compared to previous years.

This race should be a destination type event due to the time of year and location.  It seems that the promoters missed out on that somehow.  Hopefully they'll take note of the criticisms of this year's race and make the appropriate changes for next year.  

And as a final disappointment for the day... My Garmin for some reason crapped out and didn't record my run data properly.  Bah.

As for me... Well, next weekend I'm running another half-marathon.  :)  Supposedly the weather conditions are going to me more conducive to running fast as well.  This one is close to home, which means post-race cheeseburgers and beer at the Abita Brew Pub.  In the famous words of Bart Scott... "CAN'T WAIT!"

“Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.” -Steve Prefontaine