Marine Corps Historic Half, part 2

In the days leading up to the half, all forecasts had the race starting out at about 75F, high humidity, sunny sky, and temps rising relatively quickly. Mercifully, not only were the temps a touch cooler (about 72F), but it was a mostly cloudy day -- the sun didn't really peak out until about 2.5 hours into the race, so the temps didn't rise much. While the conditions were far from ideal, they were certainly better than they could have been.

In the few minutes before the gun went off, in between the various announcements, I advised the people around me who had indicated their desire to hit my goal time (1 hour 45 minutes) of several things:

1) If this time was at all a stretch goal, they should drop back to the next pace group (2 hours), given the heat. This was NOT a day where anyone should be attempting any semblance of a PR.

2) Make sure to drink liquids (water and/or Gatorade) early and often.

3) Make sure to douse themselves with at least one cup of water at EVERY single water station. 

The Historic Half has a wicked reputation for its course profile -- mostly because of Hospital Hill, which is actually two steep hills late in the race (about Miles 10.5-11 and 11.5-11.75). Having long, steep hills that late means that for anyone trying to do an "even effort" (which is what I do when pacing) has one not only going pretty well faster than average pace on the downhills, slightly faster than average on flat and slight uphill portions, and quite a bit slower on the steeper inclines. But with the major inclines happening so late, there is little distance with which to make up time if too much was "given up" on the inclines. Being able to run a careful "positive split" is tricky. Even moreso for someone (like me) who has never run this particular race before. My split times were almost exactly what I was planning (slightly faster than what my pace band was telling me for the first 10 miles), only with Mile 2 being about 10 seconds faster than desired. But despite Mile 9 being flat, I unwittingly lost a chunk of time there.

Unfortunately, none of the people in my pack were with me (let alone broke away in front of me) at the finish line. As far as I can tell, all of them wound up trailing off someone around ½ - ⅔ of the way through the race, prior to hitting Hospital Hill. It's always mildly depressing crossing the finish line precisely on pace but not having any of your pace group still with you.

Always nice to have a spinner medal:

In the end, my final results:

 

Certainly recommend running this race for anyone who likes half marathons. The Marines put on a good show, and this lives up to the Marine reputation of making sure you have a challenge ahead of you to complete the race (just like the 17.75k and the marathon both have their own distinct, sizable challenges inherent in the respetive races).

Marine Corps Historic Half, part 1

Day 1: Friday

I started off the weekend relaxed and calm prior to entering the southbound traffic. First off, my regular massage. Definitely a good way to push away the stress of the week and work out some of the kinks that might hinder my running performance. Where I have come to enjoy a sports massage before my full marathons (which is largely a stretching session), this was a more traditional Swedish massage, and focused a bit more on my neck and shoulders.

From there, I went the opposite direction of my ultimate destination to take advantage of the rededication of the LDS temple in Maryland and took a tour. While no photos permitted inside, the grounds are pretty. And the temple is just as impressive up close as it is when traveling past it on the Beltway.

From there, it was south the Fredericksburg. Why the traffic ALWAYS crawls between Quantico and Fredericksburg is beyond me. The hills shouldn't be so bad, and the entrance ramps/lanes are pretty long. After a brief respite at the hotel, it was off to the expo to man the Half Fanatics/Marathon Maniacs table. Alas, I was solo for the whole time (3-hour shift). And there were only a dozen people, maybe, who came up to the table to ask any questions. Of course, that doesn't factor in Miles and McHalf:

Day 2: Saturday

Rather than stay cooped up inside the hotel room the whole time save for meals, I decided to tour some of Fredericksburg, focused on the Revolutionary period. I started off at the Rising Sun Tavern, owned originally by Charles Washington (George's brother).

Next up, a few blocks down the road, Hugh Mercer's Apothecary. Rather amusing hearing the staff recite the script about all the different "treatments" and "medicines" that could be purchased there, and different procedures (chiefly bleeding and tooth extraction) that would be undertaken.

Next up was a stop at the James Monroe Law Office Museum and Memorial Library.

Among the many artifacts that his descendants collected over the years and donated to the museum was the desk where he penned the speech that contained what was eventually known as the Monroe Doctrine.

Finally, I had a brief stop at the Mary Washington House -- Mary being the mother of President George Washington. Some interesting history literally hidden within the walls of the structure, and some interesting anecdotes about Mary and some of the rooms of the house.

Scattered along my walking was a series of otter sculptures. Not sure why, nor how many more there were that I never saw/noticed, but these sure were cute:

And, finally, a rather moving sculpture:

It was blazing hot Saturday, so by the time I finished walking around downtown Fredericksburg (and catching glimpses of the marathon course and where some of the hills would be), I drove back to the hotel by way of the last 5 miles of the marathon course (to be able to see just what was in store with Hospital Hill).

After relaxing for several hours and getting a good Thai dinner, I actually caught a show -- Nunsense!, starring Sally Struthers. I had no idea just what to expect. And while it looked like she was out of step at times (intentional part of the story??) and sometimes dropped out vocally (did she forget the lyrics at spots?), it was a fun show. And buying the ticket at half-price was a nice surprise.

Predictable lack of energy

In advance of today's procedure, I had to be on a liquid diet all day Tuesday and today. There are only so many ways for me to get calories into my system, and basically no protein at all. I'm amazed that I didn't get a headache for the lack of protein.

I still attempted to get a run in this morning at the gym. While the plan was to do my minimum 6 miles, I only got through a little more than 3 miles at my regular easy pace before my lack of energy was blatantly obvious. I finished out walking that fourth mile and called it a day.

Lesson: Having realistic goals at the outset of a workout or a race is is a must. This leads me to the Historic Half on Sunday. I know that I'm capable of finishing it in my goal time of 1:45 (especially since I'm the pacer for that time on Sunday), but I'm certainly concerned about the temperatures -- the overnight low leading into it is 75F, well higher than is normal for a race start. And the sort of heat where I will certainly be advising anyone in the various pace groups to strongly consider adjusting their goal time and dropping to the next slower time. Especially if the pace group they were going to be joining was a tough or stretch goal to begin with; odds are good that it will be over 80F by the time we finish, and it may well be above 90F for the back-of-the-pack.

Unnerving

I've read the prep instructions many times. With the exception of my eating a few egg whites early this morning to get *some* semblance of protein into my body, all of today and tomorrow morning will be clear liquid diet only. This is going to be horrible, not being able to eat anything of substance. (Hmmm... maybe I should make sure to find the orange Jell-o or some Italian ices, as both of those are actually allowed.) And hopefully I will be able to avoid the nasty headache that I get when I don't have enough protein in my system. Lord knows, though, I'll be drinking plenty of liquids.

Talk about getting a diet out of whack days before a race. Wish me luck!

Finally seem prepped

I had been doing some hill work that matches HH's profile on the treadmill since after the Boston Marathon. The last two weeks, I hadn't managed to finish in the time I am set to pace next Sunday. Close, but over time -- never good for a pacer to miss the mark.

Yesterday, I finally managed it, with about 2 minutes to spare, even while walking the "back half" of each of the nasty inclines of Hospital Hill. So, it looks like I can go slightly slower on my earlier miles to preserve some energy to be used in the back 2 miles. This is going to be a really tricky race to pace, having never run this sort of profile before.

Now all I need to do is make sure to get through this procedure on Wednesday and have no lingering side effects (mostly from the prep and the anesthesia). What an interesting week this is going to be.

Will this affect performance at the Historic Half?

I recently turned 50 and, well, I've hit that point in my life where a colonoscopy is highly recommended. I don't yet have my doctor's instructions, so I've looked up a few places online -- most of which are fairly consistent. I knew it was not great, but had no idea just how bad the days leading up to the procedure are.

Diet winds up being adjusted lots. All of these foods that are part of my daily diet will need to be dropped from Sunday through Wednesday (when I have the procedure):

Oatmeal

Broccoli

Tomatoes

Triscuits

Pears

Spinach

Peanuts

Dark Chocolate

And the day before (and day of) I can't have ANY solid food -- only clear liquids (including a liquid laxative, having never before taken any laxatives), and other things like Jell-o and popsicles. And on the day of, no liquids of any sort four hours in advance.

And I'm pacing for the MCM Historic Half Marathon on Sunday! While the same sort of carb loading and monkeying around with diet isn't needed for me for a half marathon, still... it will be interesting to see how this affects my runs on Thursday and Friday, let alone Sunday. 

Most gorgeous marathon

Finally overcame computer troubles that prevented me from posting this blog entry over two weeks ago, as planned.

Big Sur Marathon definitely lives up to its billing as the most gorgeous marathon. We lucked out with great temperatures. While the first five miles had light winds of no more than about 5 mph as predicted, shortly thereafter the wind picked up to at least 15-25 mph steady winds -- headwinds -- making the run more difficult than we newbies were already expecting. At the same time, though, they certainly kept us cool - I never even contemplated dousing myself with water.

Not only is the scenery great, but so, too, are their mile markers.

Given how fast the first place finisher crossed the finish line, I'd say he blew past this speed limit sign.

Not quite THIS soon. But later... yes.

Perfectly placed marker, as it turns out. Very shortly after here, once we saw the ocean, we were slammed by the wind. And it never really let up.

Now that's a sign you don't expect to see on courses that don't show regular 5k intervals. Huh. Not sure why this is even here.

One thing I found out in the days leading up to Big Sur was that there is a bit of a tradition where those people competing in Boston 2 Big Sur (as I was) wear their Boston Marathon bib on their backs, so that fellow marathoners and B2B'ers can distinguish we crazies. While I no longer had the bib by the time I heard about this, I did still have the gear check bag with the number on it, so I cut out that number and put it on my back.

It was shortly after this marker and while running past the base to our left that a few of us were musing as to what the heck the structure was atop the hill.

Turns out, this Naval Facility is a state park nowadays, but back during the Cold War, it was used to eavesdrop on Soviet submarines. Something none of us had a clue about as we were running past. And, amusingly enough, one of the ladies I was slowly passing around here noticed the gear check number on my back and where I'm from. Turns out, the two of them were from Reston, just about 10 minutes from me. Small world!

Sure! So far, it's been great. Not being overly worried about the time in which I finish (I've given myself a huge 1-hour range: 4 to 5 hours) makes it so much less stressful to stop and take all these photos and videos.

It is at this point that we have a nice long, fast descent. Great spot to gain as much time on the pace as possible, because from Mile 10-12, it is a very long hill, with essentially no flattening in it. Nastiest spot on the course, that just keeps going and going.

As if looking at the course profile wasn't intimidating enough, you had to have THIS be your Mile 10 marker? Ha!

Yep, we're still climbing at this point. But, it's about time for another brief break.

Yes! Made it to the top of this hill. Aptly named Hurricane Point -- damn was it windy up here!

And, unfortunately, it was overcast enough where I couldn't truly appreciate the view back down the hill from whence we came:

The iconic Bixby Bridge that spans the half-way point of the race:

Absolutely amazing hearing the piano from this far away (it's about .25 miles, I'd say). Granted, it's coming through a speaker set-up, but still...

Unfortunately, the video I took was too long, and the file size is too large to upload. :-(

Good thing that I had long ago decided to not be overly concerned with my finishing time, because it was at this point in the race that I had to have a considerably long pit stop. It's one thing to have had a quick one once or twice earlier in the course (I always need to go at least once if I'm going particularly slow compared to my normal race pace), but this was... a bit more. ;-)

Finally getting back underway...

While there aren't that many spectators other than at the hydration stations, this guy was having a great time entertaining the runners:

While this is the approximate point in many races where people hit "The Wall," we're one mile away from literally running through a part of the course that is known as The Wall, for what will be obvious reasons.

Shortly after here, we got to the strawberries. Sure, you're not supposed to eat anything new on race day (let alone during the race itself), but I was willing to make this an exception. Damn, the strawberry was great. Huge, sweet, refreshing. Just what I could use at that point, with less than 5k left in the race.

Hallelujah, indeed. Less than 2 minutes later, I crossed the finish line. (4:10:52) What a great race. Even though, typically, I vastly prefer the big races with lots of spectators cheering the runner along, at no point in time was I dragging for lack of that extra energy boost being supplied by a crowd.

Highly recommend taking on this marathon. And for those of you who do Boston, take the opportunity to do B2B at least once. You'll be glad you did!