Air Force Marathon

Race: Air Force Marathon
Date: September 19, 2015
Location: Dayton, OH
Time: 4:54.47
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: 99 out of 183
Results: http:

This was my first full marathon. It was enjoyable enough that I think I’ll do a marathon again. I am so relieved! My main goal was to simply finish all 26.2 miles, but I did have a finish time in mind: 4:30:00. My actual performance was 4:54:47. I’m still very happy with this. Here’s the run-down:

Miles 0-3: I ran with Kendra. She was completing her first 10K race at the same time as my first marathon. Our routes followed the same path for the first 3 miles, so we ran together. I loved it. I am so happy to be her step-dad. Meanwhile, I felt strong on the first and only big hill of the route.

Mile 1: A man passed us by and apologized for drafting off my calves. He is not the first to tell me I have big calves. I took it as a compliment and ran a little stronger for the next half mile.

Mile 4: Another man asked me where my younger companion was. I explained Kendra was doing the 10K and her mom was doing the half-marathon. I was proud of my athlete family.

Miles 5-6: A smaller hill to climb. Others were saying “oh no, not another hill,” and I was thinking “I’ve trained in Pittsburgh; I’ve got this!”

Mile 6: I was running at a 9:48 mile/min pace, which was 3.5% faster than the median runner (male, female, young, old). In other words, I was running just above the average of 2,156 marathon participants.

Miles 7-13: There are official pace runners who hold signs telling others what time they intend to be finished with the race. I started the race with the 4:30 pace runner but steadily gained on the ones ahead of her. It was at mile 7 that I came up behind the 3:55 pace runner I decided to slow down and run with her (and a bunch of others doing the same thing). She was chatty and optimistic and doing a great job of keeping people in good mental and physical condition. I did begin to tire of hearing her say “don’t forget to hydrate!” after the 47th time.

Miles 8-10: These were the most fun miles because the course ran down the main street of the town of Fairborn, Ohio. Lots of people cheered us on, including lots of kids holding signs that read: “Touch here for power!” I made an effort to touch every one of those signs and high-five everyone who held their hand out. This energized me. I also felt very safe, given that snipers were on rooftops and giant snow plows were positioned at crossroads to keep terrorists from entering the town. Gees!

Mile 13: I was running at a 9:54 mile/min pace, which was 7.5% faster than the median runner . In other words, I was running slightly slower than before, but a little faster than average; everyone was slowing down, but I was slowing down less. And I was starting to feel it. It was becoming hard work to keep up with the 3:55 pace runner and I decided at mile 12 that I would ease off the gas at the half-way mark (13.1 miles). The chatty woman’s conversation faded into the distance as I drifted farther back.

Miles 14-16: I was starting to feel fatigued. I had been going too fast early in the race and now I was paying for it. (I do this on every race!). On my long training runs during the previous weeks, I had always found it necessary to walk after some distance past mile 14. I wanted to run the entire 26.2 miles today, but I knew that was unlikely based on past performance. I reasoned with myself that I should be able to do at least another 5K past the half-way point. So I went on, passing a surprising number of people who had started to walk at this point, including a striped-shirted young man who has sped past me at mile 6.

Mile 17: This was the point where I had given myself permission to start walking, but I felt I had another mile in me. I kept running.

Miles 18-20: At mile 18 I stopped to walk for 2 minutes. I was not out of breath. My heart rate was elevated but not abnormally so. I was well-hydrated. I was eating energy gels, bananas, and Stinger waffles, but still hungry…in fact, very hungry. I frankly don’t remember why I needed to stop running and walk for two minutes. Maybe it was the knowledge that I had 8 miles to go (uggh!). Or maybe it was the pain in my left foot that was getting progressively worse with every step. Regardless, I walked for 2 minutes and then started again. The first few running steps after walking were painful throughout my legs. It felt like a sputtering engine trying to get started again after months of inactivity.

Miles 21-22: At mile 21 I stopped running and walked another 2 minutes. I should have been thinking how close I was to the finish line (5 miles isn’t that much, relatively speaking), but instead, I calculated in my head how much time it would take to cover the distance (possibly more than an hour! Uggh). At this point I was running at a 10:37 mile/min pace, which was 8.8% faster than the median runner. In other words, I was running a lot slower now due to the walking intervals, but still faster than average; most runners were integrating walking segments into their runs, and I was doing so a little less than average.

Miles 23-24: At the mile 23 marker I stopped to walk for 4 minutes. At mile marker 24 I stopped to walk for 5 minutes. People were dropping like flies. They were stopping to stretch, walk, and commiserate. A husband told his wife “You beat me. I won’t make it. I’m sorry.” Another person lay on the ground, completely beaten. The stripe-shirt guy and I were alternately passing one another as he would start walking while I ran past, and then he would pass me when I stopped to walk. It was hard to keep happy at this point.

Mile 25: At this point my leg muscles (calves, thighs) were starting to cramp and I lost flexibility in my stride. I was barely running. At least in my mind, I was running for 5 minute periods and then stopping to walk for 5 minutes. Maybe my body was going at the same speed during my walk and run segments, but I was somehow proud of myself for at least attempting to run each time. I remember Kendra had told me to start running before the finish line to give the impression I was still going strong. Fortunately, when I saw Shannan, Shannan’s dad, and Kendra alongside the course before the mile 26 marker I was in the midst of my 5-min running segments. I smiled at them as I “ran” past. My body was really hurting, but it doesn’t take much effort to smile. My mind was still calm and collected.

Mile 26: I knew I had made it when I got to the Mile 26 marker. The finish line was in view and there was just 0.2 miles left. I was “running,” but this amounted to just a shuffling of cramped-up legs. Emotions hit me and I became aware of great pains in my body. I muttered aloud to myself “Ignore it! Ignore it!” I started to get tears in my eyes and as I tried to hold them back, the angst had to go somewhere and it lodged in my lungs, causing me to have the most serious bout of asthma I ever remember having in adulthood. At the finish line, I was not looking for Shannan. Instead, I was looking for a medic to help me breath. But then Shannan was there with a great smile and my asthma disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Emotions are such a strange thing, so integrated with the body’s physiology!

Finished! I finished in 4:54:47 with a pace of 11:16 min/mile. This was 4.9% faster than the average runner, but 5.1% slower than the average male in the 40-44 age group (I ranked 99 out of 183). All things considered, this was a great first attempt and I now have a personal best to try to break the next time.

SVC alumni 5K

Race: 5k run
Date: August 29, 2015
Location: Latrobe, PA
Time: 25:19
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: X out of X
Results: http:

I did pretty well on legs that were still stiff from my long run 3 days before. Shannan and Kendra did it with me, so that added some fun!

Presque Isle Sprint Triathlon

Race: Presque Isle Sprint Triathlon
Date: August 23, 2015
Location: Erie, PA
Time:
Overall Rank: X out of XX
Age Group Rank: X out of X
Results: http:

My first and only triathlon for 2015 is in the books. I went up to Erie with Daniel Pruzinsky to compete in the Presque Isle Triathlon. This was the 4th time we've done this race. The day was absolutely perfect for racing: clear skies, air temperature in the upper 60s, calm wind, flat water. About 30 min before the start of the race, I had what i thought would be a good omen. A green tree frog the size of a fingernail fell onto my head and then onto my arm, and just sat there, grinning, for 10 minutes while I admired it, showed it to people, talked gently to it, and then walked it to a safe place out of the way of the race course. This soothed my mood and made me happy. Later, we entered the water and started the swim. I took off very fast and felt really good during the first third of the swim (total length = 616 yards). However, after rounding the first buoy I began to lose my breath. The wet suit can be constrictive and the colder water temperature (74 degrees) didn't help. I lost my cool and stopped swimming for about a minute. I treaded water and watched half my age group swim past me in their green swim caps. A life guard in a kayak asked if I needed assistance and I shook my head. I just had to catch my breath and push past the mental inertia of staying put. I began swimming again, but stopped a couple more times for shorter periods to calm down. I don't know what happened to me there in the water, but I had started out feeling so good and now I was feeling lost and defeated. Sports performance of all kinds is dependent on a combination of mental and physical preparedness. I think what happened here is that I knew deep down that I was not physically prepared for this swim, but in the first few minutes of the swim I was making use of several years' worth of experience to mentally get through it. Eventually, my mind realized that despite "feeling good," my body was not trained for this swim, and then I panicked and stopped swimming. You see, I have only swum 7 miles within the last 5 months. Before I got busy moving into a new house and getting married, I was averaging 10 miles of swimming per month. OK, so with my swim over, I psyched myself up for the bike ride and did well. I averaged 21.6 mph on the bike during the 13-mile loop. Then I ran 3.5 miles at a 8:37 minute/mile pace. My bike performance was slightly down from 21.8 mph last year, but was still quite reasonable for a lack of training (only 24 miles in the last 2 months, compared to a typical level of 100 miles per month). My run was satisfactory. It was slower than last year but not by too much. I actually have been doing a lot of running lately, and I just set a personal best in a 5K a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, my disappointing swim was still in the back of my mind and there was little reason to push myself harder during the run segment. I always sound a little negative about my races when I write about them, but all is well. I finished 10th out of 20 in my age group and 94th out of 378 competitors. This is great for being so out of shape, coming off a wedding and honeymoon, and recovering from a head cold. I had a lot of fun and I am enthusiastic about beginning earnest training for next year's races.

Turtle Trot

Race: 5K run
Date: July 25, 2015
Location: Turtle Creek, PA
Time: 23:56
Overall Rank: 41 out of 166
Age Group Rank: 3 out of 14
Results: http://www.runhigh.com/2015RESULTS/R072515BB.html

This is a PR for me. I have not had a faster 5K time on any race course. So, this was a great run! The Turtle Trot is full of fast runners so I started off faster than was comfortable. In the first mile, I was running next to someone who expected to finish in 22 minutes. At mile 1, I was running a 7:15 min/mile pace, and I knew this was not sustainable so I let myself slow down a little, but it was kind of too late--I had already spent too much energy and had trouble crossing the finish line without puking. I avoided such spectacle, but it was close.

Under the Lights 5000m

Race: Under the Lights 5K
Date: June 17, 2015
Location: Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rick, PA
Time: 24:30
Overall Rank: 11 out of 13
Age Group Rank: 1 out of 1
Results: http:

Shannan and I did a 5000m race on the track at Slippery Rock University at 9:30pm last night with 13 other runners. So it was us and about 10 university students who ran 5-6 min/mile paces. But we did beat one high school kid who quit early, and one other person our age who miscounted and didn't do the full number of laps. This wasn't my best time, but it was close enough to feel good about.

Pittsburgh Half Marathon

Race: 13.1 mile run
Date: May 3, 2015
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Time: 1:53.13
Overall Rank: 2214 out of 14576
Age Group Rank: 163 out of 627
Results: http://results.xacte.com/?mid=79#

Miles 1-4 were easy but then I started to wonder if we were going at a sustainable pace. We were going at a 8:27 pace and that felt good but I knew there were many more miles to go. I was already starting to feel calorie-deprived or dehydrated (my breathing was good, my legs were fine, but I just didn't feel right). At mile 9, I got grouchy with Dan and told him I didn't care what our pace was...but then I asked what it was. At mile 11, I was lightheaded and groggy, so much so that I wondered what it would be like if I stumbled and fell to the ground. I decided I wouldn't do that, if possible. At mile 12, I knew I'd be ok, because we were almost done and the course was heading downhill. In fact, the last half mile was exhilarating as we picked up our pace and I seemed to float around on feet that no longer felt attached to my body. I set a personal best, lowering my time by 105 seconds under last year. It's not a big difference, but since my training was about the same as last year, it is reasonable to expect a pretty similar finish time.

AMYMSA Championship Meet

Race: Masters Swim Team Championship meet
Date: April 12, 2015
Location: Spire Institute, Geneva, NY

Another swim season has ended, and I am sad about this! I have now been a Masters swimmer for 5 years, and each year has been different. I remember last year I was concentrating so hard on swimming that I didn’t have a lot of fun at meets. This year I had a lot more fun but didn’t make the progress I wanted in the pool. 

Our Championship meet was at the Spire Institute near Geneva, Ohio. It has a huge indoor pool that is designed for national swim meets at all levels, including Olympic competitions. I expected to feel like an Olympian during my swims, but as the expression goes, “there is only so much lipstick you can apply to a pig.” Plus, there was no one in the stands watching the meet. The facility was so big, it swallowed our ~125 swimmers and their families. It was too quiet. I still had a blast, but next time I think we should kidnap about 500 people and bus them in to be spectators.

Swim Champs Day 1

I swam in 4 events on Saturday:

1.       200-yard Freestyle Relay: The Greensburg men’s team conveniently had 4 members, so we formed a relay. Our respective ages were 40, 58, 67, and 74. We were more likely to break a bone than any pool record! David, Allen, and Doug each swam their 50-yard segments and then I jumped in to finish. I had a dive that was too deep, but I had a pretty powerful swim. I didn’t give it 100% because there was little chance we would beat the other teams, and I needed to save myself for my later swims. My split time of 30.95 was reasonable, being 92% of my top speed.

2.      100-yard Individual Medley: I felt pretty good about this swim, but my turns were still rough (a continuing problem stemming from lack of concentration and practice). I surfaced too quickly after my butterfly-to-backstroke turn, and I started the backstroke-to-breaststroke turn too far from the wall. This latter problem cost me a second as I had to coast in to hit it. My time was 1:14.16, which was 0.40 seconds slower than my personal best (set in February 2014).

3.      50-yard Butterfly: I am in a rebuilding phase this year with my butterfly stroke. I have been working with my coach pretty hard to correct some bad habits and we aren’t quite done with modifications. I knew this going into this race, so maybe my confidence was low. I swam the race in 32.63, which is 1.05 seconds slower than my personal best (set in November 2014). Jim Thorton complimented me on my stroke as I got out of the water, and that made me feel better.

4.      50-yard Backstroke: Disappointed with my swims so far, I took a stroll around the Spire Institute to look at their other facilities. What was wrong with me today? The design of this pool makes it the fastest pool I have ever swum in. It’s the end of my season, and I feel like I am in top shape (though Shannan reminded me that I had to take a week off from training this past month when my college’s pool closed for Easter break). I concluded that I wasn’t concentrating enough. I needed to get my mind thinking about how to swim fast. I have surely been taught how to do it. Now I just needed to put those tools to use. Yes, I can do this! I am ready! So I walked back into the pool area and immediately I see Shannan running towards me. She was running fast. Like hungry-tiger-chasing-her fast. “What’s wrong?” I wonder. Then I glance at the pool and I see people swimming backstroke. I realize that I am about to miss my heat of the backstroke. Shannan is running to me with my goggles and deck card, yelling at me to take my jacket off. All of this is happening in slow motion now, as my brain is attempting to stop time. I strip to my swimsuit underneath my clothes, throw on my goggles, and jump in the water with no time to spare. In fact, the officials waited about 3 seconds for me to get in position, and then the starting signal went off. I completed the event in 38.17 seconds, which is 1.89 seconds slower than my personal best (set in January 2015). So much for the plan to concentrate more during my swim!!

Swim Champs Day 2

I swam in 5 events on Sunday:

1.       200-yard Medley Relay: David started with the backstroke, I followed with the breaststroke, Doug did the butterfly, and Allen finished with freestyle. My split time for breaststroke was 43.86, which is only 85% of my top speed. I am surprised to see how slow I was. Maybe the time was slow because of my start and finish. I had a bad dive because David is fairly tall and I was concerned about jumping into him as he finished his backstroke segment. David was also in the way at my finish. I didn’t expect him to still be in the lane, so it was a distraction. He can’t climb out of the pool without using the stairs, so he had to wait for everyone to be done before leaving the water. I can’t blame David for all of my slowness, though. It was only a relay and I didn’t care much about it.

2.      100-yard Freestyle: If there was any event this weekend in which I had a chance to set a personal best, it was this one. My coach has been having me do timed sets of 100s over and over this year. I’ve been approaching my 1:05.59 record during these practice sessions, even without a diving start. This was it! I was going to kill it! At the start signal, I had a grand dive, my arms felt strong, my first turn was good, and I was not wanting for breath even after 75 yards. I contracted my core muscles to keep my feet high in the water; I was using my triceps to pull as much water as I could with each stroke. I kept my head down. Things were going great, except oops! At my second turn I almost missed the wall during my flip turn. This took away some momentum but I was still doing fine. At my third turn I repeated the mistake, only this time I missed the wall completely. I stopped dead in the water. I turned around, touched the wall, and headed into the finish knowing my awesome swim was ruined. I finished in 1:10.91. My first split was 31.13, and based on past performance, I could have done my second split in 33.83, which sums to 1:04.96. It would have been a personal best by a significant amount.  I was sad. Not angry. Just sad. My friends comforted me, and I felt their love. They reminded me that everyone was having trouble with that far wall, because it really wasn’t a wall at all. It was a movable bulkhead only extending 4 feet below the surface of the water, and with no attachments to the 14-foot deep pool bottom, it was hard to judge where it was. My sadness waned after just a few minutes because Jamie, who swam in my lane immediately after me, did the exact same thing. She missed the wall, too. Thanks for making me feel better! She showed me that anyone could have made the mistake I did.

3.       100-yard Breaststroke. Dan was in the adjacent lane. He got ahead of me right away, but this didn’t diminish my concentration. I was determined to swim this event well. I concentrated on streamlined glides and a spring-like stroke execution.  I didn’t worry about Dan until the very end when I pushed hard to surprise him at the finish. I didn’t catch up, though. I set a new personal best at 1:20.78. My old record was 1:22.54 (set in February 2015), so this was a big improvement. When I got out of the pool, Shannan hugged me with a broad smile. Dan gave me a high-five. It was a happy moment.

4.       50-yard Freestyle. Dan asked me what my goal was for this swim. I said “under 29 seconds, I guess.” I sounded non-committal and unconfident, and Dan pointed that out. I tried to readjust my attitude, and mentally prepared a strategy: do a tight flip-turn, take 3 breaths at the most, do rapid turnover of the arms, kick hard. The starting signal sounded and I was in and out of the water in 28.72 seconds. This broke my old record by 0.26 seconds. It was set in January 2014. I got out of the water and Dan said “See, I told you!” Yes, you did, Dan. Thanks.

5.       200-yard Individual Medley. Shannan had a similar conversation with me about this event. She detected some tiredness in me and tried to get me to step up to this last race of the season. My butterfly segment went well, I felt fast on my backstroke, and nearly finished breaststroke before feeling tired. I tried to ignore that, but by the freestyle segment I had lost concentration and slowed down. I finished in 2:51.76, which was 0.81 seconds slower than my personal best.

I had a lot of fun this weekend. My performances were not what I was hoping for, but that did not diminish the fun in any way. I am so appreciative of Shannan and my friends for their support and love. As for swimming, sometimes I have my head in the game. Sometimes I have prepared enough during my solo practices. Sometimes I can dig deep and push myself beyond perceived limits. I don’t think I had these things with me this weekend, but with swimming, there is always next year.