Running Again

I'm pleased to announce that after a long and mostly unexplained hiatus, I have finally gotten back to doing some consistent training again. I'm once again at the point where I can run six miles or more in the blistering heat while maintaining a comfortable, negative-splitting pace. That, to me, signifies that the motor is running and, if consistency is upheld, I should be well on my way. 

Before we start recapping the runs again, let us do a brief synopsis of why the running stopped: after cramming too many big races into a short period of time, I came down with tendinitis in my adductor last spring. I kept in decent enough shape and rehabbed myself well enough to submit and *ok* performance at Blue Ridge, but I was feeling somewhat satisfied at the time and clearly needed a break. Around October, my business started surging ahead, and as of this writing that surge continues (thankfully). 

In January, I proposed to Adrienne and she said yes. I am a lucky man. We'll be married in November. 

Add all this together and you essentially get an explanation that says, "I've had a lot going on."

Now, however, I'm back, hungry and motivated as ever to prove to myself all over again that I can race and race well. It's going to be a long road out of the darkness but I am well-prepared. 

Stay tuned. 

2012 Hit the Brixx 10k

Distance: 11.7 mi.

Warmup: 2.1 mi.
Race: 10km (6.24 mi.) in 40:53.27/6:34 ppm.
Cooldown: 3.4 mi. in 27:39.

Splits: 6:09; 6:25.6; 6:42.4; 6:45.3; 6:46.3; 6:26.8; 1:37.9.

Map and Elevation

What, a race? Already? Damn right, people! I waffled about this one the latter part of the week, but late Friday morning I got a text from Chris Lamperski saying he was going to relinquish his free entry from Greenapple, and wanted me to have it - what a guy! I knew I was not in great shape, especially for a 10k, but was splendidly excited about toeing the line again.

The race would start at 7:45 so I awoke around 6:15 to get ready. There would be no eating, but I've eaten exceptionally well all week by anyone's standards (more on that later) and packed on the nutrients late last night. Febreezy was up and at 'em as well, but headed out for an easy run in lieu of the race. By 7 a.m. I was parked in the 7th Street garage and began warming up. Since Greenapple wasn't there yet, I dropped off my stuff at the RFYL tent (thanks, Emily!) and found my friends: David Brinkley, Brian Baum, and Jeff Schmidt. I had already warmed up for over a mile at this point so I let them go when I found Dr. G and gladly retrieved my race entry. I made sure he knew I was grateful for the free entry, turned it in, and finished warming up.

Back at the start line, I found a spot behind Baum and Jeff and asked what their goals were. Baum is pretty fit at this point and Brinkley is very fit, but Jeff seemed to want to break 40, like me, so I figured I would try to keep him in my sights.

A glance at my splits would indicate I started off way too fast, and I probably did, but the first mile is downhill so it wasn't as bad as it looks. I got dropped by the initial chase pack, though, and just tried to keep Jeff in my sights as he would remain about 15 meters ahead of me for the next few miles. My heels were rubbing raw against the back of my flats and I would later find them to be bloodied up after the race. I tried to put that distraction behind me for now and worry about it later.

We wandered through the Elizabeth area, near the hospitals, and made our way back towards the Brixx Pizza on 6th Street. Seeing the clock at the 5-mile mark lit a fire under me and I took off, catching Jeff and two other men, but I was well behind my goal. I got passed back by one guy going up 7th Street and stumbled into the chute just under 41 minutes.

It's hard to know what to think about this one. On the one hand, this was 6:34 pace, and I was doing tempo runs at 6:15 pace back in March. On the other hand, one can't always be in marathon shape so it's important to keep these things in perspective. On the other other hand, I knew full well that I would lose fitness while trying to rest this summer, and I think this is a pretty good effort for a rust-buster.

Most importantly, I'm glad to be back out on the roads and racing again. The atmosphere was outstanding as I got to see all my friends and enjoy more free stuff, such as pizza and beer. Fun times.

Steady Does It

Distance: 6.5 mi.
Time: 49:06.
Pace: 7:37.

I felt good today, running a little bit further than planned. I made sure to do all my isometric drill work more than usual after the relay, and I can tell it helped. I deal with a lot of tightness in my adductors if I don't do the wall sits enough, so I've tried to stay on that! 

BRR Shakeout

Distance: 5.25 mi.
Time: 40:51.
Pace: 7:47.

Three days after coming home from Blue Ridge, and my legs are tired, but not terribly sore. Since I don't have anything in particular for which to train at the moment, I decided to take some extra rest instead of getting back to work right away. It's time to set my sights on something, though, if only so I'll have a reason to stay focused. I see too many runners either slack off or get burned out when they don't have a goal or target race, and I won't let that happen to me. My nagging aches are still there, but much better, so I feel pretty good about taking so much time off this summer.

Side note: running hills sure seems a lot easier now!

2012 Blue Ridge Relay, Part V: Stache and Dash 2.0 Brings it Home

Adrienne had a rough two-mile opening to her final leg before a descent on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Support vans were allowed during the day, so we would be able to follow her the whole way. She had asked us to stop and cheer her on at the top of the hill. I made sure that was ok with John, because it would mean he wouldn't be able to warm up, and he said he was cool with it.

We found a perch on top of the hill a little over halfway through her leg and waited....and forgot to get out of the van and cheer her on. Oops - my bad, dear. I actually saw her coming in the rearview mirror but my body was so exhausted that I failed to follow through with the signal my brain was sending to get out of the car. She slapped the side of the van and continued on - being helped by a runner from another team who had come up behind her. We carried on towards the parkway, stopping to admire some views as we waited for Adrienne to pass us again. Her new friend came by and let us know she was right behind him and we waited and waved again, weaving our way through motorcycle traffic. I have no idea why it's so popular to ride motorcycles on the parkway. This put a sour taste in my mouth as a friend of mine was recently injured - and his bike destroyed - doing exactly that. Last time Adrienne and I were here - on a vacation in May - we came upon a bad accident in which a biker had lost control and gone into the trees. Yet I digress....

Febreezy needed to get to the EZ, which was surprisingly right around the corner. Julie, Lauren, and Adrienne had maintained the lead over Chick Maggots that had been given to them by Mr. Barringer. We continued to get excited texts from Van 1, but I knew what they didn't: there was at least one mixed team ahead of us. We wouldn't win the title but second place was thought to be within reach.

It's worth mentioning at this point that, for at least the last five hours or so, Fillette had been hanging out and walking around with his orange safety vest on. I have no idea why he did this. Taking that stupid thing off was the first thing I did when I finished my night leg - I think that vest came off before I even stopped my watch. Ironically, he eventually took it off and dropped at the feet of some of the Maggots girls in the middle of his leg - you know, the one time he was actually required to wear it. John Fillette, ladies and gents - how can you not love him?

While Fillette was running, overwhelming fatigue had set in as the rest of Van 2 was done with our part of the Blue Ridge Relay. We were tired and in need of fuel. Unfortunately, so was our van. We had to take a detour off the race course to put some gas in the tan Stache Machine. We easily made it to Mellow Mushroom in time to meet our teammates from Van 1, though. I gave Brewer a huge embrace as we discussed once again how happy we were to be running on the same team again. We bemoaned the fact that we were not in the same van as I made a mental note to put more strategy behind that if I can take charge of the leg assignments for next year.

The Chick Maggots ended up catching and beating us after all. While we were not in the same category, I thought it would have been nice to beat some of the teams that started out at the same time we did. Hat's off to them, though, and hat's way off to the Fast and Pretty girls. I was very impressed that two all-female teams were able to beat what turned out to be one of the best mixed teams (us).

I was very proud to have my friend John as my teammate. Although he wasn't where he wanted to be going in to this thing, he still ran incredibly strong, never complaining and never getting discouraged. He also did more than a fair share of the driving. We were all gentlemen in Van 2 - between John, Jay, and I the ladies in our van never had to drive or worry about navigating us to where we needed to be. We also bought them flowers at Ingles.

I had also been concerned about how our van would handle the logistics of the race - half the battle at Blue Ridge, according to Allen - since we were basically all new to the event. Well, we hit that one out of the park. We worked together beautifully to make sure our portion of the event went flawlessly. The only snafu was me missing Emily at the third transition zone, and I had a pretty good excuse for that.

The steady anchor for this team for the second year in a row, Fillette came blasting through downtown Asheville as we all excitedly cheered for him and ran into the finishing chute together - as is Blue Ridge tradition. What an incredible event. I had goosebumps and tons of adrenaline throughout the whole thing. I think we all did. How else can you survive miles of tough running on minimal food and almost no sleep? I wish I could tell you, the reader, more about what Stache and Dash 2.0 accomplished but as of 11:45 on Monday night the results have still not been posted. We only have an educated guess as to where we finished - according to Emily and Rob, second mixed (co-ed) team and possibly top twelve overall. I will update this post whenever the results are in, but for now I will leave you with some more pictures.

[UPDATE: Stache and Dash 2.0 finished 13th out of 146 teams overall and 3rd out of 13 teams in the mixed category.]

Allen cruising through the park on Leg 1.

Josh preparing to take the bracelet from Allen at the first exchange zone.

Respect the Stache. The other teams had no choice but to do so.

Jay and I had just gotten chased off some farmer's property during our cooldown on Friday, so were feeling a bit mischievous.

Van 2's Three Amigos.

Stache and Dash 2.0 at the finish line. What a great team. I will never forget this experience.

2012 Blue Ridge Relay, Part IV: Mountain Goats and Legends, Smiling all the Way

I awoke again for good sometime around 6:30 a.m. I slept pretty soundly, interrupted only occasionally by the sounds of Jay and John bickering over Jay's driving. I was sorry I missed that but they successfully navigated us through a tough stretch of the relay that was challenging both for the runners and the vans. We arrived at the final transition zone, otherwise known as the "church that serves breakfast." I got out and started rehydrating as most of our van continued to sleep. I had my final racing costume on with some outerwear and milled around for a bit. We had passed well over 100 teams so far in our journey and so this exchange zone wasn't very crowded when we arrived. I was amused once again at the sight of several runners asleep on the ground, in hammocks, on benches, and even on the side of the road. I found myself a little bit envious of the teams who had enough time to actually get a decent night's sleep but ultimately decided I'd much rather have the earlier finish that comes with being a faster team at this event.

I don't want to gross out the reader, but I made several trips to the porta-jons during this stop. I thought I had had trouble eating food that will stick, but I think I was just really nervous about the task ahead of me: the first mountain goat leg, infamous for its difficulty and arguably the toughest leg of the entire race. The next six legs would certainly be the toughest section of the race, and there was a quiet intensity about Van 2 as we all began to wake up.

I managed to get in a brief warmup but felt horrible. Julie gave me some Marathon bars, which helped ease my stomach, and I spent a lot of time chatting with other runners: Thomas Eggar and Matt Jaskot, Michelle Hazelton, Carolyn Maye, Katie Howard, and others whom I did not know but found to be quite friendly. DURT had been with us for awhile earlier but we eventually dropped them and found out they had some trouble on Leg 23 or 24. Fast and Pretty and Chick Maggots had been with us most of the race, as well; after some early jousting it appeared the former had put us away but we still enjoyed chatting with Mich and the girls at the exchange zones. Jason Martin was their driver and I got to swap war stories with him, as well.

My mountain leg would start off flat for a mile or so and then begin climbing - and not stop climbing. It was a continuous ascent with literally no relief for the last 5.5 miles - for a total of 6.5 miles of running. How does 1,400-plus feet of elevation gain over 6.5 miles sound to you? I knew I was in for a war when the previous legs had been described as "relatively easy" and I had found them to be brutal. This leg was described as brutal, so how would I later describe it? Pure hell?

Emily came rolling into the exchange zone with a look of "this is finally over" on her face. Tears were shed a few times among members of Stache and Dash 2.0 - another BRR tradition that isn't always pleasant. Van 1 had shaken off some soreness, injury concerns, and brutal finishing legs to hand it over to us for one final time. I slapped on the bracelet and let out a primal roar in front of my teammates as I headed off into the distance, about 100 meters behind the woman from Chick Maggots.

Adrienne snapped a picture from the van as I ran by.

You can't tell from this picture, but trust me, I look worried.

Not surprisingly, the "flat" first mile of this leg was a lot more uphill than flat. I felt awful in the first mile but the mental toughness - something I've found to be lacking in recent months - kicked in as I discarded all thoughts from Satan and began to trudge up the mountain. I tried to settle into a slower pace right away and just keep it there, but my first mile went by in about 7:17. This leg featured some long, steady climbs followed by a series of hairpin turns and switchbacks. As advertised, it was like that the entire way with no relief whatsoever. A few times, I stopped to walk for 10 meters or so just to regain my momentum. I was frustrated because the girl from Chick Maggots - clearly a hill expert, as their team is from Asheville - was pulling away from me. But I had come into this leg with a plan and I was sticking to it. Whenever I would start to feel bad I would just re-focus on my form and trudge ahead. Every van I passed shouted out encouragement to me. I also cut distance off this leg by using the constant switchbacks as a way to cut the tangents - brilliant, I say, simply brilliant! I was angry that I couldn't catch the Asheville woman, but no one passed me - no one passed me throughout the race, in fact - and I did catch one roadkill going up a rather pretty, rather twisty section of this leg about 2 miles from the top. I could feel myself getting stronger and pushing through the closer I got to the top of this thing. After passing the "exchange zone" sign I saw a runner up ahead in jean shorts and a purple wig: it was Thomas. I dug in and tried to catch him, but I'm glad I didn't. I would have felt ill dropping someone who had run three times as many miles as me at the finish of a brutal leg. I executed another successful bracelet-slap with Jay and watched him take off. I had run this leg in an average of just under 9 minutes per mile - much slower than if I had been in better shape, but I was very proud of it. I had come into this event feeling like I hadn't enjoyed running in a long time, and this race in general and the mountain goat leg in particular changed all of that for the better. I was in love with running once again.

I could tell my team members were excited about how I had done and encouraged by the fact that we were so close to the finish line. We piled into the van in search of Jay Barringer, who had just gone flying down the mountain that I had just run up. Not long after we saw him, we passed Ashley from Chick Maggots and I felt a little better knowing that her teammate had not run much faster than me on the goat. It wouldn't take long before Jay would catch Ashley and give us a sizable lead over what would turn out to be the second-place women's team. We parked at EZ 32 and I soaked my feet in the cold stream nearby - something Bjorn Norman had told me to look for - and we waited for Jay.

We didn't have to wait long. Along with Josh, Jay lived up to his billing as the stud of our team. He had claimed something close to 15 or more road kills on a section of the course that featured some pretty good teams. His time for the 9.5-mile section? 52:15. !!!

We almost had another miss at the EZ, but Julie saw him and sprinted in his direction in time to grab the bracelet and take off. Julie was our other mountain goat, running Leg 33 aka "the Nipple." This leg would be shorter than the goat but involve one massive uphill and an equally quad-smashing downhill. We passed her as she looked determined as ever and then our jaws dropped as we saw what she had to look forward to: once again, the leg descriptions did not come close to doing this one justice: it was nearly straight-up in some parts and just didn't seem to stop. It's worth putting this one in the hat as well for the title of "toughest leg of the race" along with my goat leg and Josh's Grandfather 10-miler. There was a group of people at the top of this evil mass of land that would cheer on any runners that came through. We were thankful for them and I'm sure Julie was, too. We passed our good friend Katie Howard of Fast and Pretty coming back down the mountain and rolled into the EZ as I exchanged snarky comments with Jason Martin. Julie arrived not much later with a look of exhausted satisfaction on her face - and the announcement that even more road kills were had.

Now, enter Mrs. Tilton. Lauren was clearly excited to be nearly done with this relay as she was smiling bigger than ever while trudging on. When we waited for her at EZ 34, I walked down the hill a bit, telling Adrienne I would signal for her when I saw Lauren. She was wearing our yellow Stache and Dash singlet so I didn't have any trouble spotting her. She was charging up the hill after clearly having passed two men. Road kill, you are! Van 2 had clearly earned its keep. Jay sent word to Van 1 that legs 31-34 had just been destroyed and that we were well on our way to bringing home an amazing time. They sent word back from the finish line that no mixed teams had shown up yet and we might be in line for some hardware. Adrienne was up and John Fillette was on deck. The Blue Ridge Parkway and downtown Asheville were all that stood between Stache and Dash 2.0 and the end of this 208-210-mile journey.

2012 Blue Ridge Relay, Part III: Flying Through the Night

At this point in the day - about 9p.m. on a Friday - I was starting to get tired. The 6 a.m. wake-up call, all the driving and stress of getting our team where it needed to be, and the hard run in the sun were starting to catch up to me. I decided to curl up in the back seat of the van while Jay and John took turns driving us to the next transition zone. We got updates from Van 1 that Allen was rolling on his 7-plus-mile section, picking off several roadkills even though he had claimed he'd be taking it light this weekend (in preparation for an upcoming marathon). I was anxious to see how Josh would perform on the longest section of the race - the grueling 10-mile Grandfather Mountain section that was coming up after Allen was done.

If I was getting sleepy, the rest of the van was getting zany. I only really needed 45 minutes or so and then I felt refreshed again, waking up in time to prevent our energetic navigator from sending the van in the wrong direction. After Josh, there would be two short legs for Siobhan and Sarah and some relatively quick ones from Rob and Emily, so we wanted to be in position. We arrived at Plumtree Presbyterian Church somewhere in....well, I had no idea where we were.

If the Tangier outlet stop was a party, this one was pure chaos. It was pitch black outside but there were vans and runners everywhere. People were lined up in the grass in sleeping bags. One dude came up to our van to ask how things were going, then plopped in front of the door to the post office and proceeded to start snoring. We saw Hovis again and caught wind of how CRC's elite team was doing. We saw Stan Austin and the Three Stooges van as well. I don't think Matt Jaskot remembers much from our conversation, as the event's first-ever three-man team was about halfway through its incredible journey. We would see a headlamp and blinky lights and then a runner would come into view and scream his team's name. I was a bit worried that I might not know when Emily was coming, but at this point I still had plenty of time. I jogged past the exchange zone and into the darkness, trying to get a feel for the headlamp I was using. It was almost completely useless but a requirement. I had a 4.4-mile stretch of 19 East that I was prepared to be pretty fast as the leg description said it was a "gentle downhill." When I came back to the van I caught wind of an epic night performance from Van 1: Josh had annihilated Grandfather Mountain, chalking up 17 - that's right, seventeen - road kills. Wow! His time was somewhere around 65 minutes for the mostly uphill 10-mile section. Siobhan, Sarah, and Rob had also run very well and I would later find out that Emily's dark, grueling Leg 18 would be her top performance of the trip, as well. I remember cringing when we drove up some of the hills she would be running but she apparently crushed it.

Things got a little weird at Exchange Zone 18.

This is the part where things went slightly wrong. I was talking to Josh after Van 1 arrived and soaking in the motivation for what I thought would be a short, fast leg when I realized my safety vest was going to fall off when I ran. He went back to his van and found another one for me to try. As I was jogging back to the EZ Rob came over yelling at me that Emily was standing at the exchange zone waiting for me. I panicked and darted over there to grab the bracelet and yell out my race number. I was embarrassed and knew I would need to apologize to Emily later, but first things first: I had to run! Van 2 was on once again as I took off through the night in search of roadkills.

I quickly became very angry with whoever described this leg as a "gentle downhill." It was more like a false flat with a couple of steep uphills. I had been determined to go fast, however, and so I churned on. I flew past a couple runners who offered encouragement as I tried to reciprocate it. 1,2,3 roadkills. I went up another hill in the pitch black night, unable to see much of anything until the other teams' vans started flying past me. I looked at my watch a couple times and realized I was turning 6:30 miles - not bad for someone who hadn't done much running this summer, huh? I kept mowing down every set of blinky lights that I saw as my roadkill total reached 8 runners in a mere 4 miles. As I approached the exchange zone I was really moving after coming up yet another hill. This was a small, crowded zone at the Green Valley Fire Department and I couldn't see anyone. I started yelling, "Stache and Dash!!" to the sound of cheers from my van mates. Jay was there and ready and we executed a perfect bracelet slap as he took off up the mountain.

Watching Jay pick off road kill after road kill in this tough seven-mile section was quite entertaining. He was flying. When he got back in the van I think he told us he had passed 13 people. Like me, Jay was pretty motivated by hearing how well Josh had run and didn't want to be outdone! After a quick warmup, Julie was off to run the shortest, fastest leg of the race - 2.4 miles of mostly downhill. She was flying as we passed her - clearly a talented runner who looked motivated and intense. As Lauren warmed up at the next exchange zone, Jay and I started goofing off. It was about 2 a.m. at this point and I was beyond delirious. There was an Ingles grocery store here and so Jay and I went inside in an attempt to refill our nearly empty water cooler. While Julie handed off to Lauren and Adrienne warmed up down at the parking lot, Jay and I stocked back up on supplies. Lauren and Adrienne were about to embark on two very long, very dark and desolate stretches of the course. I think this is the only time in the whole trip that Lauren wasn't smiling as I tried to reassure them both that the course was crowded at this point and they should see several runners as well as other teams' vans. Surely enough, when we passed Lauren on Leg 22 she was smiling again, and running strong. Julie had added quite a few road kills to our team total on the previous leg and it was time for Adrienne to get ready, as well. I was starting to lose it again and in dire need of sleep but I wanted to stay awake long enough to make sure my girlfriend was safe. When we passed her going up a hill, I was worried as it was very dark and we were in the woods in the middle of nowhere. But I noticed there was a caravan coming up the hill behind me and I felt confident there was nothing to worry about. I'd heard stories about weird things happening here during the desolate midnight runs, but we didn't have any problems at all. Jay jogged down the hill to look for Adrienne as she brought it in and handed off to John.

John dominated his short, 3.2-mile leg and the crew helped themselves to some baked potatoes at the transition zone while I crawled in the back seat. Stache and Dash had completed 24 of 36 legs after flying through the night. It was about 4:30 on Saturday morning when I finally fell asleep.

2012 Blue Ridge Relay, Part II: Setting the Pace

Despite some issues with traffic and some insane driving from Rob, Stache and Dash crossed the Virginia border and arrived at Grayson Highlands State Park around 10:45 a.m. This gave us plenty of time to check in and for Allen and Josh to warm up. I slipped on my Stache and Dash singlet as someone handed me a race number that I secured in my "dirt bag."

It's worth explaining at this point a few things about race logistics: There are 36 legs of this relay race, so three legs each per person on a 12-member team, which we and most teams were. The start times were staggered based on predicted time, so the supposedly faster teams would start later. As a faster team, we were assigned an 11:30a.m. start time, whereas some teams started as early as 8:00a.m. Once the running started, the "on" van would grab the runner who had just finished and allow some brief respite before piling back into the van and heading to the next exchange so the on-deck runner could hydrate and warm up. These scenarios would often get hectic depending on the length of the "on" leg and the speed of the "on" runner. The "off" van would simply drive to the next transition zone. The exchange zone was where one runner would hand off to the next; the transition zone was where one van would hand off to the other.

We had just enough time to pose for some pictures, decorate our vans, and mill around for a bit before we took off.

From Left to Right: Jay Barringer, Lauren Tilton, Adrienne Anetrini, Jason Blackwood, Josh Brewer, Allen Strickland, Siobhan Havlik, Sarah Keen, Emily Barrett, Julie Przybyla, Rob Ducsay, John Fillette.

Sarah Keen looks for a space to add some artwork to Van 1. Van decoration is a tradition at the Blue Ridge Relay.

Getting some wise words from Coach Hovis before the race. Ben's team started right after we did and crossed the line before any other team whilst finishing third overall.

The 11:30 starting line. Kicking Ultra Asphalt is third from the left. Chick Maggots is fourth from the left, Allen right in the middle, and Carolyn Maye from Charlotte's all-women Fast and Pretty is third from the right.

We watched Allen cruise through Grayson Highlands State Park. This was it. The Blue Ridge Relay had begun. A shot of adrenaline coursed through my veins as I begun to get really excited. I drove my van on past EZ 1, where Josh was anxiously waiting. I gave him some words of encouragement and then Van 2 got out of the way. It was time for us to make our way to Transition Zone 1.

I arrived at a church on the side of a mountain road and handed the car keys to John Fillette. My driving duties were over for awhile and it was time to hydrate and slap on the running costume. My first leg would start off downhill, then take a big uphill, then a VERY big uphill before a fast finish. It would be about 5.4 miles of tough, rolling terrain. Van 1 was keeping us updated on the proceedings - it sounded like things were going very well so far - and so I knew when to expect Emily to come rolling in.

She arrived and I slapped on the bracelet. I had no idea what I was in for on this first leg. It started downhill, surely enough, but there were two uphills on this leg that were unlike anything I had seen before. After being all alone for awhile, I pressed on up at the sight of another runner, using him as motivation to keep going when my body was feeling shot. It was hot and humid but I managed to nab my first roadkill of the trip with one attempt, and then handed off to Jay.

Preparing to slap the bracelet on Jay's left arm.

I averaged 7:06 pace for my first leg, which pleased me greatly. If I wasn't ready for BRR beforehand, I was now; I think knowing what I was up against and slaying some demons opened things up for me. I chatted with the team and started scarfing down food as Fillette reminded us that we had to get moving to the next EZ. The next leg was relatively short and we had a fast runner on the roads. Surely enough, Jay made it to Exchange Zone 8 awfully quickly (his time was the equivalent to about a 26:30 8K) but we had gotten Julie ready in time. Van 2 was off and running and enjoying themselves. We drove past Julie as she began to pick off roadkills. The roads were starting to get a little more popular as we were beginning to catch some of the slower teams that had started ahead of us. After Julie's first leg, it was time for Lauren Tilton to take over. 

I had quickly come to appreciate Lauren's persona, as she is very sweet and always smiling. It was amusing to drive up a steep grade as we passed and cheered for her and then see her flash a smile. We were all very impressed with both her attitude and her running ability this weekend. After Lauren, Adrienne took over and the van had to take a detour as support vans were not allowed on the parkway during the night hours. This would be the case for Fillette's leg, as well. We waited for Adrienne at EZ 11 as she destroyed her 10K PR, blasting up the hill with a look of steely competitiveness on her face. Then, Fillette was off. The sun was setting on Day 1 of the BRR as we headed through Boone and on towards the Tangier Outlets.

The scene at Tangiers could best be described as a humongous runners party. We saw the Charlotte Runners, with Jade Laughlin, Josh James, Gisele Tlutsky, and others; we saw DURT, Bobby Aswell's and Stan Austin's team; we saw Fast and Pretty with Michelle, Dalena, Anna, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed this stop as it turned out to be my one chance to really bond with Brewer. We talked about how much fun we were having and how great it was to experience something together again. Brewer remarked that the setting sun and the parking lot full of vans reminded him of the high school state track meets. We then started talking about food and realized we could help each other: I was in need of something sweet or salty after packing too much of the same stuff; he was in need of some vegetables after packing too much fruit and peanut butter. And so, I successfully exchanged some baby carrots for some dates, raisins, and a peanut butter-topped bagel. 

Not long after that, John Fillette came cruising into the second Transition Zone. It was about 8:30 p.m. and Van 2 had finished its first session, Allen Strickland had the bracelet, and it was time to move on.

Stay tuned for Part III.

2012 Blue Ridge Relay, Part I: Intro and Arrival

I was asked last year to join team Stache and Dash for what would have been my first experience at the Blue Ridge Relay. I declined, mostly because I was halfway through training for my first marathon and did not want to jeopardize things, but also because I had recently begun a long battle with bursitis in my right heel. This year, however, despite admittedly being out of shape, I didn't dare say no when I was once again asked to be a part of Team Stache and Dash.

The team would be a good bit different than last year. There would be six BRR veterans and six rookies - including yours truly. The original list included Laura Gray, Jess Bilbrey, and Chuck Player, each of whom had to back out for various reasons. When J-Bil decided not to re-enlist I reached out to my good friend and former high school teammate, Josh Brewer, and he thought about it for approximately 2.5 seconds before saying, "hell yes!" Rob Ducsay's friend, Julie Przybyla, eventually replaced Laura. We also needed to find a replacement for Chuck and one of Charlotte's faster runners - Jay Barringer - fell into our laps. Things were shaping up nicely for what turned out to be a mixed team of six women and six men. In Barringer and Brewer, we had two legit studs. The rest of our team could be described as a well-rounded and diverse group of runners, each of whom is capable of taking home an age group award at any given road race. We were, in order of appearance:

(I hope I do not offend anyone with these descriptions...)

VAN 1
1. Allen Strickland - a Blue Ridge veteran and one of the older, wiser members of our team. He also had an incredible mustache. I wish I could have shared a van with Allen as I always enjoy talking sports and joking around with him, but oh well, you can't win them all.
2. Josh Brewer - an incredibly talented runner with a knack for conquering mountains; Josh recently ran 3 hours flat at the Grandfather Mountain Marathon. He was the only BRR rookie in this van, though.
3. Siobhan Havlik - I don't know Siobhan very well but had a great chance to bond with her and her husband, David, at our "team meeting" on Lake Wylie. Siobhan is a dedicated and talented runner who frequently trains with the "My Pace or Yours" running group in Charlotte. She was also a member of last year's team.
4. Sarah Keen - too tough for the local 5Ks, Sarah likes to stick to longer races and tough mudders. She was on the team last year and frequently trains with the Davidson runners.
5. Rob Ducsay - along with Allen, Rob was one of our team leaders and more experienced veterans. He was also on last year's team and was coming into this thing having recently set a personal-best in the 5K.
6. Emily Barrett - Emily was the first person in the Charlotte running community to really reach out to me as a friend. She was on last year's team and, along with Adrienne and Rob, spearheaded the logistics of putting our team together. She was a bit concerned going in after spending a week in bed with illness, yet still fired up about having one of the tougher running assignments. She also trains heavily with the "My Pace or Yours" group.
VAN 2
7. Jason Blackwood - despite my fitness level being a far cry from where it was earlier this year, I was coming into this thing healthier and stronger than I've been in awhile. I was pretty nervous as I had one of the tougher assignments - including mountain goat 31 - but my concerns were negated by excitement.
8. Jay Barringer - Jay is a beast who ran in college at UNC Asheville, so while he was a BRR rookie, he knew the ups and downs of mountain racing better than anyone on our team. Jay is very fast - capable of running a half-marathon around 1:15 or so when fit.
9. Julie Przybyla - I did not know Julie at all going into this thing, but would soon get to know her very well and develop a great deal of respect for her toughness. We were more worried about having fun than anything else, but Rob assured us that Julie was as fast as he is - a bold statement considering Rob is pretty damn fast.
10. Lauren Tilton - I did not know Lauren at all, either, but had heard from Adrienne and Emily that she was a very tough runner. I would soon get to know her better - as we all would!
11. Adrienne Anetrini - my girlfriend was coming into this thing in arguably the best shape of her life, after recently destroying her 5K PR. She also had a large hand in organizing our team, with help from Emily and Rob.
12. John Fillette - my roommate and one of the most talented runners on the team was coming into this thing on a downswing in the training and was a bit nervous about how he would do - but hey, a slower pace from Febreezy is a fast pace for most people. We were not the least bit worried about how John would run.

Myself, Julie, and Lauren packing Van 2 as Emily supervises.

After some motivating Facebook posts and exchanging of messages, we were all ready to get going. We met at Emily's and Adrienne's apartment at 7:30 a.m. sharp on Friday, September 7. Everyone was there on time so we were off to a great start. I felt like I had everything I needed: three sets of full running outfits, including outerwear; trainers and racing flats; a pillow; enough healthy food to piss off most of America. I grabbed the keys to Van 2 and hopped in the driver's seat, and we were off! Stay tuned for more.

Summer in Review

I owe the loyal readers of this blog an apology as I have not updated it since early May. I have not suffered a new injury; however, I did drastically cut down the training in order to finally kick the chronic heel bursitis that has plagued me for almost a year now. For the most part, the down time and some hardcore isometric drills have healed me, but I am also a far cry from the fitness level I displayed on March 10. I do want to update every run - per the usual for this blog - and describe in better detail what I've been doing, but first I want to recap the most incredible experience of my running career: the 2012 Blue Ridge Relay. So, if you want, check back later for some extremely depressing posts about the Summer of Down Time, and enjoy the Blue Ridge Recap. Thanks for reading.

Pre-BRR Shakeout

Distance: 5.18 mi.
Time: 40:23.
Pace: 7:48.

I set off for the Blue Ridge Relay tomorrow, and since I (sort of) did a workout yesterday I thought I'd shake the legs out today. I wanted to see what uptown (yes, I've given in) looked like before the Democratic National Convention skipped town. I got turned around on the light rail path because of construction but got back on it later and cruised around the center city. There wasn't much to see - Charlotte is literally dead except for the convention. Many people have taken the way off to avoid dealing with the mess of traffic and roadblocks that they would otherwise encounter on the way in to work.

As for the run, I felt pretty good - maybe a little tight but nothing too bad. I'm as ready as I'm going to be for Blue Ridge, so we'll see what happens.

Decent Tempo Effort

Distance: 7.3 mi.

Warmup: 2.3 mi.
Workout: 3.9-mile cruise run.
Cooldown: 1.1 mi.

I didn't work tonight because my car is in the shop, and so I did manage to get in a brief run. I wanted to test the legs again to make sure I could survive Blue Ridge. I'm not really sure what I was hoping to find but I wasn't terribly disappointed with the effort.

7:00, 6:36, 6:51, 6:28 (for 0.9). 6:55 ppm.

I got my hips low and was able to glide across the sidewalk, as I tend to try to do, for the flat mile two as I ran this on parts of the Charlotte Runners' Tuesday night loop. That's not a very good description of my ideal stride but perhaps you get the idea. It was hot and humid and I felt tight, again, but I think I did all right. I didn't want to push too badly in anticipation of Blue Ridge. Really, I understand there's nothing I can do to help my fitness level at this point; I just want to get my body somewhat used to hurting and pushing through it.

Distance: 8.9 mi.
Time: 1:07:50.
Pace: 7:38.

Distance: 3.67 mi.
Time: 29:06.
Pace: 7:56.

Distance: 7.2 mi.
Time: 53:59.
Pace: 7:32.

Week in Review

Distance: 35.5 mi.

I showed up on race day again, and once again acquitted myself rather well, but I am not well. Lack of consistency and fear of the unknown are a concern right now.

2012 Twilight 5k

Distance: 8.9 mi.

Warmup: 3.00 mi.
Race: 5 km (3.14 mi.) in 18:59.22/6:03 ppm.
Cooldown: 2.73 mi.

This race wasn't fun. I hate running in the evenings, let alone racing in the evenings. I'm almost retro-posting here so forgive me, but this recap will be short (eh, maybe you like that, huh?).

After a short shakeout run earlier in the day I parked at the Dowd around 6 p.m. and began to get ready. On the bright side, I got in a 3-mile warmup, which is about what I prefer but something that almost never happens. So long as I'm reasonably fit, I prefer an extra half-mile or so in the warmup to get the legs moving and I accomplished that today.

This race would be held in uptown Charlotte, starting off relatively flat or downhill and getting rough near the end. I didn't really have a goal; as previously stated I'm a little banged-up but wanted to participate in all the Grand Prix races and see what happened if the points accrued.

5:47, 6:02, 6:23, 0:46 (5:35 pace).

The fast finish up a hill after utterly blowing the third mile would lead one to believe that I saved too much in this thing. I don't think there's much question that I'm still relatively fit, but I'm clearly hurting. I don't like admitting it but it might be time to seek another opinion when it comes to the achilles and the resulting compensation ailments (mostly in the groin/adductor and hamstring areas). I enjoyed racing with Franklin Keathley, though - I think seeing him pass me kept that last half-mile from getting away from me. He got me in the final quarter but I was at least able to break 19.

I would soon be on the shelf for awhile, though...again.

Pre-Race Jitters?

Distance: 3.6 mi.

Time: 27:38.

Pace: 7:37.

I felt good as I cruised around the neighborhood around 4 p.m., trying to get the legs moving in anticipation of a rare nighttime race. There was some tightness in the adductors again but I was hoping the afternoon shakeout would cure all that.

More Effort

Distance: 8 mi.
Time: 59:12.9.
Pace: 7:25.

Today, I actually did put a little more effort into running a faster pace. I turned things up a notch towards the end of this one to get things moving a little bit. The body falls apart on easy days but comes together a little bit when I push, as is often the case with many of us. 

Feeling Good

Distance: 7.75 mi.
Time: 58:20.9.
Pace: 7:32.

Since I'm not doing any speed work, I have only my medium-long days as a barometer to test fitness right now - which is dangerous. We're not supposed to do that. Haha. Nonetheless, without much effort I felt very comfortable at a higher speed today than I have lately. This should not suggest I was trying; merely, it suggests my muscles up in the hips and glute areas are getting a little more loose. I feel comfortable that I'm getting back there but am leaning towards getting a second opinion about my heel pretty soon.

Shorter...

Distance: 7.2 mi.
Time: 56:19.2.
Pace: 7:50.

I took off for the greenway again today, but made a point to just loop back around to it instead of going all the way through town.

I decided to just keep doing my drills and icing, and see if I couldn't get back closer to normal training again. My heel does feel a bit better. Technically, I almost obeyed doctor's orders. Maybe it's time to test things.

Week in Review

Distance: 18.7 mi.
Time: 2:24:23.

There just isn't anything close to consistency in my training right now. I either need to dial it back or just park it altogether. I'm reluctant to do the latter, because my heel seems to be getting better, but I'm not gaining anything by just running for the hell of it right now.

Too Long

Distance: 9.1 mi.
Time: 1:10:25.
Pace: 7:43.

I feel like I've taken Dr. Price's orders by not doing long runs - but then I realize I just haven't been doing them on weekends. Ha! I enjoyed the weather and the scenery today, but ran about four miles too far. I tried to compensate by taking it easy the rest of the week. 

Fun Cruiser

Distance: 9.6 mi.
Time: 1:13:58.
Pace: 7:42.

Not too much to report here, other than I ran too far for an easy route and I had loads of fun. I went from home down the greenway, through downtown, and then back through Dilworth to home. I was really able to get my form down and cruise for a good bit of it.

Week in Review

Distance: 25.8 mi.

I got in a nice tempo with the Charlotte Runners on my favorite tempo route, and I ran a decent race at 80% effort on Saturday. The mileage is low, but that's by design. This was an alright week.