Hudson with his new running buddy, Hank the Saluki
Green #16 for Hudson
I decided to skip the Breckenridge half marathon this year for a few reasons, including trying to move away from always being so competitive with myself and to simply enjoy the race - the social aspect and the seeing of new places. It's also possible that my subconscious wasn't so sure that I was in as good running shape as last year
Anyways, signed up for a local and relatively flat half marathon in Erie. It was perfect; ease the guilt of skipping my "big" race and then enjoy a party up in Jamestown later that evening
I had hoped to get a good sleep - unlike the lousy night before the Jemez - but after only 40 minutes I was awake until 2am. At 1am I had decided to skip the race and turned the alarm off - but woke up anyways at 5:30am
My plan was to run at a sustainable race pace and see how it went. For the first time this year I ran a race with my iPhone and used my GPS apps - MapMyRun will talk to you after every mile in a very robotic female voice and tell you what your pace is. Surprisingly I was running sub 7:30 miles at an easy enough effort so decided to keep it up until I hit a wall. More surprisingly I never did and ran a 1:38:31 - good for 10th place (it was a small town race). It was also a very consistent run, with all miles between 7:06 (mile 2) and 7:42 (mile 13)
On Thursday I went for a run with Leadville Chuck and Woody and we were talking about the Breck half - started feeling pangs of being a pussy. I signed up later that evening
Colts lazing about at Walden Ponds on an easy Friday run
Was tired Saturday night so headed to bed early, dreading the now ritualistic nightmare of insomnia. Sure enough, after 3 hours of nothing I grabbed a beer, a smoke and turned off the alarm. Or so I thought - I had only turned the switch from "radio alarm" to "buzzer alarm". I actually ended up getting a decent enough sleep, so off I went
My plan was once again to run at a sustainable race pace and see how it went. The obvious difference is being above 10,000' with 3,000' of gain, so some sort of strategy was needed
The first section is half a mile on the street before heading up the Burro Trail and then on Spruce Creek Road - all-in maybe 1,400' of the gain over 4.5 miles. As in prior years ran about 95% in 47 very consistent minutes. My first Breck half I had run this section in 48 minutes but faded badly in the second section, whereas last year I had run it in 51 minutes at an easy pace and did much better later
The second section is 2 brutal miles with 1,600' before topping out for a 0.7 mile stretch at 12,500'. I was running in a small group of two guys - one with a serious sounding breathing issue like he may need to be rescued - and one gal. We all ran until the very steep section. I had worked on my hiking this summer - I found out that hiking uses some different muscles than running - so the 1,000' / one mile stretch went from being completely dreaded to somewhat fine (not fun). Ended up finishing this section in 44:15 and was now 5 minutes ahead of last year's time
The final section is essentially all downhill - 3,000' down over 6.5 miles. I passed one guy right away and then only saw one other person. The first mile is a pretty rocky jeep trail but the next four miles are very nice and I was running 7:XX miles (even got a 6:XX mile in). By the final aid station my quads were hurting - and a woman passed me seemingly out of nowhere. I chased her over the final 2 miles - which is a trail system in a rich residential area (all of Breckenridge near the slopes is a rich residential area) - but no luck. Still, did this section in under 50 minutes and came in at 2:21:04 for 8th place
As I was heading out of town I saw a 60+ year old fellow obviously suffering and struggling down the street to the finish. Gave him a few honks and he gave a wave. His effort was much more awesome - good job, Norm Stein...
This is the fellow with the breathing issue - that's me in white coming up behind
Maureen liked this pic but to me smiling isn't acceptable
The best race pic of myself that I've seen was at a race in Colorado Springs with Pike's Peak perfectly framed behind. Even bought it as the money went to Search & Rescue. I wish my pic above was with no smile and this panorama
Thinking about the marathon next year - this is the view they get
