Edinburgh Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon - TeamREFUEL Goes To Scotland!

Sunday April 14th I ran the Edinburgh Rock 'n' Roll HalfMarathon, without exaggeration; the toughest road race I’ve ever run. The race was the culmination of an amazing trip to Scotland provided by GotChocolateMilk.com TeamREFUEL. I apologize in advance for the lengthy blog post, but considering I got to fly across the Atlantic to run a race; I didn't want to leave anything out.

 

HOW IT HAPPENED: Last spring I won sponsorship from TeamREFUEL. Team members were also eligible for 3 grand prizes after the 2012 season and one was a trip to Edinburgh Scotland to run the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, complete with flight, lodging, free race entry and spending money. Janice and I agreed that Edinburgh would be a cool place to visit and last July I somewhat jokingly said, “Honey, we’re going to Edinburgh”. She of course said, “Yeah right, we’re not going anywhere”. After an active 2012 running season, completing 12 events flying the TeamREFUEL colors, I received the email congratulating me and announcing that I was selected to go to Edinburgh. I couldn’t believe it, but that’s how it happened.

 

GETTING THERE:  I can’t report on this race without mentioning the travel to Scotland. We decided to take our teenage sons Cody and Nathan with us. We got our passports in order, bought the boys' plane tickets, packed their skateboards and with our dogs Mojo and Molly happy at the kennel we were all set to go. The afternoon of departure I looked at The British Airways App and saw that the first leg of our trip (the flight to Chicago) was canceled due to weather. I called the airline and we found a replacement flight to London through Philadelphia. Good to go, right? Nope, they called back to tell us our commuter flight to Philly got delayed and there would be no way we’d make the connection to London. We went to Plan C which was hopping an Amtrak train to Philadelphia. A kind neighbor/friend gave us a lift to the train platform, bought tickets from the conductor and we were off to 30^th Street Station to catch the SEPTA line to the airport. Phew! Yep, we made it and everything was OK, right? As we waited at the gate I noticed that the severe thunderstorm was now bearing down on Philadelphia. We boarded the plane, but it was too late. The driving wind and rain shook the jet and we sat on the runway for more than 2 hours. I’ll spare you the part about us now needing to be re-booked out of London to Edinburgh, but ironically we were now late enough to use the original connection we would have used had we flown from Chicago. Thankfully Janice worked in the airline industry for 16 years and I traveled way too much in a previous career. Rookie travelers would have ended up in a Motel 6 outside of La Guardia, eating bad takeout and left wondering how to get to Scotland.

One Last Hop To Edinburgh

 

BEING TOURISTS: As soon as we hopped on the double-decker bus at the Edinburgh Airport, we were in full-on tourist mode. I think we all said in unison, “The cars are on the wrong side of the road!” We wound through neighborhoods, past small shops and beautiful cathedrals and then the Edinburgh Castle came into view for the first time. Perched high on a hill, it was an amazing sight. Just past the Scot Monument we got off the bus and we were on foot for the first time in Edinburgh, dragging our bags to the lovely ApexWaterloo Place Hotel. “On foot” would become key to the next days. I’ve read guidance to not get caught up in touring while traveling to an exotic place to run a race. Everything we wanted to see and do in Edinburgh was in walking distance. Sure I kept an eye on leg fatigue, but I’m not one to taper for a race, so off we went. I enlisted the advice of on an old friend from Scotland who provided an aggressive itinerary of things we needed to experience while on his home turf. We visited the Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, Grassmarket, The Royal Mile, The Canongate, Cowgate, Calton Hill and Old Calton Cemetary, The Dynamic Earth Science Centre, walked up the Crags, learned the story of Greyfriar’s Bobby, made it in time for the One O'clock Gun, ate Fish n’ Chips at The World’s EndPub, descended Jacob's Ladder wandered in an out of Edinburgh’s countless “closes” and “wynds” and I’m surely forgetting a bunch of stuff. To say I rested my legs for the race would be an out and out lie. We got in some serious mileage; I should have worn my Garmin and logged it. To sum it up, we saw as much of Edinburgh as we could and we had an absolute blast doing it! (I have to mention that because the cars travel on the other side of the road, we found ourselves looking the wrong way when crossing streets. I was nearly whacked by a cab while out for a run and I lost count of the times I yanked Janice from the path of doom.)

Cody, Nathan & William Wallace

             

Janice & Cody High Above The City At Edinburgh Castle

"All done at the castle, let's go get my race packet"

 

EDINBURGH WEATHER: It was spring time in Scotland, a time to shed winter’s layers and admire blooming daffodils, right? This year however the Scots were experiencing one of their coldest wettest springs in quite a while. We arrived on a chilly grey day and that was pretty much the theme of the next day too, with temperatures in the low 40’s and a bit of drizzly rain added in. Listening to the weather forecasts in the UK only made it worse, 5° Celsius sure does make 40°F sound extremely cold.  Amazingly the Saturday before the race the sun came out and other than a building wind, with the temperatures in the upper 50’s it was quite a nice day. Those winds that came to visit on Saturday stayed for Sunday and they invited their friends “Howling” and “Hurricane Force” to join them. That leads me to my real race report.

Packet Pickup At Run4It on Lothian Road

 

ROCK N ROLL SURVIVAL: Race day was finally here. During breakfast I stepped outside to see how hard it was raining. It really was only a drizzle at that hour, but the wind was not to be ignored as it ripped the hotel door from my hand and I watched a cabby chasing his hat down the sidewalk. Janice and I took the 1 mile walk to the start line village as the winds picked up. The winds swirled and subsided and rains poured down just before brilliant sun would then burst through the clouds. I knew it was a bad omen when I saw porta-loos (porta-johns) blown on their sides and smashed. Race crew was scampering. Thanks to the weather, things obviously weren’t going as planned. I looked at the wind-ravaged main stage and I wondered if the event would survive. Janice had to hoof it back to the hotel to retrieve a forgotten memory card for her camera (yes, she made the trip twice) and I sought refuge at the VIP tent. The pouring rain and screaming wind was constant now, but oddly every now and then it would take a break and the sun and a beautiful rainbow would appear. After a brief respite, it would be back to near hurricane conditions. Janice made it back to the VIP tent telling me she had re-instructed Nathan and Cody about where the bands would be playing and what time they needed to be at the finish line. I wondered if they would actually leave the security of the hotel.

Porta-Loos In A Bad Way

 

The MC with the brilliant Scottish accent called for all runners to get to their starting pens (corrals). Janice found a vantage point at the base of Arthur’s Seat and I found my way to corral #3. The weather had created an environment of semi-panic. Runners were streaming into the start at the front and trying to make their way to their corrals through corrals already filled with runners. You’re assigned to a corral based on your forecasted finishing time and your bib number. My number was 3434 and I watched as runners with numbers as high as 8,000, 10,000 and 12,000 hopped over barricades and lined up in the front corrals. I assumed they wanted to get to their race started in hopes of getting out of the driving rain sooner. With all this dire wind and rain, at 50°F it was at least somewhat warm. I wore my TeamREFUEL short sleeved jersey with a sleeveless base layer, arm warmers and shorts. As I waited there hopping from foot to foot to a booming mashup dance mix of local favorite sons TheProclaimers “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”, I had a fun memory of old buddy Adrian explaining their lyric about “havering” (Scottish for talking foolishly or babbling). I was watching Janice juggle cameras and take on the wind and pelting rain on the hill without the aid of a few thousand runners around her and I hoped our boys stayed in bed. We all laughed as a dozen young guys ran up the grassy hill to pee and avoid the scary porta-loos. Just as I was enjoying these rain soaked day dreams, that strong Scottish voice came over the PA system and announced that he had some bad news for us and then he paused. I thought, “oh no, here it comes, the race is canceled due to the conditions, we came all this way…”. Moments after his pregnant pause he went on stating that due to the deteriorating weather, some things needed to be “sorted” on the race course and our start would be delayed. Now I’ve never been delayed by a race director, but I have been delayed by airlines and we all know how that turns out. After about 5 minutes (this guy clearly never worked for an airline), we were told the countdown to start the elite runners was imminent.
 

Never Did Find The Pot 'O Gold - Perhaps It Blew Away

"Hi Honey!"

 



In short order, my corral was at the line and we were off. I knew the opening miles were flat/downhill so I went out quick to get out of the corral crowd and get warmed up. We wound through neighborhoods heading toward Leith, passed by 2 bands rocking on in spite of the conditions and we then came to the water front. We were now exposed to the real winds for the first time as we ran along the Firth of Forth. There was a DJ along there and he was encouraging the runners, but then he decided to announce that sustained winds were 60kph and gusts were maxing out at 110kph. I was running next to a couple wearing Canada shirts and the man converted those numbers to MPH, I didn’t need to hear that, I knew those wind speeds sounded immense. My pace was increasing and slowing based on the winds. I knew now that any strategy of maintaining a steady pace was gone. I changed plans to drop my mile time anywhere the wind allowed and just gut it out in the head wind sections. I knew I was putting out the effort for an 8 minute mile in places, but my watch showed 8:30 or slower. Cross winds were no friend either, I saw smaller runners stumble and fall and twice my right foot was blown into my left mid-stride. Managing my pace based on the winds also meant running the hills differently. Did I forget to mention the hills? Yep, while the first few miles were flat and fast much of the rest of the course snaked through the old city and over the hills it’s built on. Instead of cruising the climbs I was going to need to push up them when the wind allowed. There

was also that downhill on the back side of Arthur’s Seat that many talked about later. There was such a crazy tailwind, you couldn’t slow down. I saw 6:03 on my watch and wondered if I’d have much left after sprinting down this thing. It was nuts, runners were actually leaning backwards trying to slow their pace.

It was very cool to run through historic Edinburgh, but the coolest was to finally arrive at that last downhill which was even somewhat protected from the wind and find Cody, Janice and Nathan around the last turns at the finish line. In fact in the last few hundred meters, Nathan and Cody chased along after me with their iPods filming my last steps between The Scottish Parliament Building and Holyrood Palace towards the finish*. There’s just nothing better than having the one’s you love waiting at a finish line.

 

Soaked To The Bone & Stopping My Watch at 1:47:24

 

It was unfortunate that the winds caused such mayhem at the race expo at Holyrood Park, so much so that the headline band wasn't able to perform for concerns for their safety.
 

*With all my whining about the weather, I was able to manage a 1:47:24 finishing time, just slightly more than 2:24 off my 1:45 projected time. (I secretly told myself I’d be happy with a 1:50 while climbing one of those cobbled hills, so I’m elated with my time.)

 

BOSTON: Normally it doesn’t take me a week to post a race report, but this one has special circumstances. It’s been difficult to write about something so special to me during such an upsetting time in the US and the running community. We arrived at O’Hare on the way home to see televisions plastered with a bomb blast. All we saw was smoke, international flags blowing and crowd mayhem. While overseas, the UK was a buzz about the millions of pounds being spent on Margaret Thatcher’s funeral and we wondered if a protest had gone wrong. We soon found out about the tragic event in Boston that continued to unfold into the week. It was shocking to know that just the day before we were all at a finish line together and I was incredibly thankful we were all safe and ok. 

 

CHOCOLATE MILK ACROSS THE ATLANTIC: Yes I refuel with low fat chocolate milk. It’s been my recovery drink of choice for quite a while now. It is truly “MyAfter” and I recommend it to all. Janice was surprised when I told her it was not likely that there would be any chocolate milk at the finish line in Edinburgh. Accepting that challenge, she promptly froze a container of low fat chocolate milk and packed it safely in her checked bag. While they had all sorts of goodies at the Rock 'n' Roll finish line and VIP tent, chocolate milk was missing, but I had mine thanks to Janice! My TeamREFUEL attire didn’t go unnoticed, even in Scotland. Every race in the US, someone calls me the "Chocolate Milk Guy" or asks if I have any so it wasn’t a surprise that the accents of people commenting in Edinburgh sounded to be more from New Jersey or Ohio. One young Scottish fellow did tell me I was his rabbit and he chased my chocolate milk jersey down off the Mound to the finish. That was cool!

 You Can Count The Rock N  Roll Marathon Folks For The Coolest Medals

 

This was an amazing experience and I can’t thank the kind people at GotChocolateMilk TeamREFUEL and The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series enough for getting us there, hosting our visit and providing me the opportunity to run a race around such a cool city!

Heading Home

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Posted By Blogger to Perry's Trails at 4/23/2013 06:51:00 AM

Tune Up For The Edinburgh Rock N Roll Half Marathon With TeamREFUEL - Chambersburg Half Marathon Race Report

Take the energy of a well attended community 5k, add about 10 miles and you have the Chambersburg Half Marathon. The Chambersburg Road Runners Club has a genuine family feel. I live an hour away and only know a couple folks from the area, but felt right at home with this extremely friendly crew. Their volunteers were great and those running were just as cool. I always laugh when I go to a run and the crowd is full of super serious game faces talking about their PR's and their split plans. Those guys were there, but they were out numbered by chatter about families, kids getting tall, the weather, etc. A half marathon in Pennsylvania in March? Sure, why not? It was positioned as a perfect tune up race for me. Truth be told, I had scratched 2 events this year and I was really Jonesin' for a race. I needed to run against the clock to get my year started. When I was looking for races, I couldn't believe the registration was still open on  Wednesday before the event. I asked Janice if we had plans for that day, she said "no" and I was in. 

 

The big story here though, is that the cool people at GotChocolateMilk.com selected me to go to Scotland and fly The TeamREFUEL colors in the Edinburgh RockNRoll Half Marathon. I get to take Janice with me, with our flights, 4 nights lodging and $200/day spending money paid for by TeamREFUEL. I was notified that I was chosen early last month and needless to say it was difficult concentrate on anything else that day. Running the Edinburgh Rock N Roll Half has dominated many of day dreams since. With that said, I wanted to see if I still knew how to run 13.1 miles at my best pace before I ran in Scotland. There's no true test to your fitness and pace management abilities than the atmosphere a race provides.


Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon Edinburgh - mackenzie films HD from mackenzie films hd on Vimeo.

 

I ran into Bill Dann, a co-worker from Chambersburg and he had Danny Mowers in tow. I know Danny through ultra trail running and Facebook. Bill had concocted a contest to see who could make the silliest face to the on-course photographers. I was definitely all-in. I knew Jim Grove would be there too, but I never found him in the crowd before the start. Jim I met in a beer line at a Harrisburg Senator's baseball game. He was wearing a Pittsburgh Marathon shirt and I was wearing a North Face Endurance Challenge 50 mile shirt and we were destined to talk. Jeff Reed, an old friend I graduated from high school with was entered in the same race. I hadn't seen him in many years so I was pretty psyched to see him.I recently found out Jeff had taken up running by seeing a post on Facebook. It's been nice to know that another guy my age was enjoying the same addiction. I was looking for a spot to stand as the race pack formed for the start and I ran into Jeff. We started talking, heard no race instructions and suddenly somebody said "Go" so we hit our watches and took off. I'm a solo runner. I really enjoy the solitude of running miles enveloped in my own thoughts, but when you're immersed in this kind of warm comaraderie that running provides; you realize you can't duplicate it many places.

 

This wasn't an ultra and I told Janice she should probably just wait for me at the finish line, but she wasn't having any of that. Janice was hot on her plan on how she could drive out to points on the course and still make it back for my finish. Heck, I guess she didn't need to worry about my whining for Gels and Coca-cola at aid stations so she must've thought this would be a sinch. I saw her stationed along the course with camera clicking and of course she was right there at the finish line too. 

When I see our Jeep along the course,
I know Janice and her camera can't be far away

 

Speaking of the course, I asked about it and Bill Dann said, it's got some nasty little hills. A
friend of his said there was hill at this mile and that mile so I thought, "ok this shouldn't be so
bad". I had run The Sol Lipton Half Marathon in Pottsville, PA where they have a mammoth hill climb in the early miles so I thought if I survived that with a 1:50, I could do ok on Chambersburg's "couple of hills". Well, I was told about 2 hills, but some how my trusty informant had forgotten about all the other hills. This thing was a roller coaster and I really saw it chew up some runners and spit them out. There were hills throughout, but somehow I found them as a welcome taper to my pace. I had to slow down on the uphills so oddly after I got my breathing back under control, I felt refreshed and even somewhat rested at the tops. In all the trail running I do, hills are a constant so perhaps I was prepared. The race route winds through beautiful countryside, passing numerous farms. There's an out & back stretch and the cows along that section were mooing loudly. I'm certain they were cheering for me in my GotChocolateMilk jersey. We definitely interrupted the country Saturday morning, but many folks were outside cheering us on with their children and their dogs. I did see a guy target shooting with his rifle and wondered what he really had in mind for a target. There was also a guy restoring old furniture in his front yard who didn't even seem to notice runners going past. Children clanging cowbells at the one hill-top was certainly an inspiration. The course wasn't closed to traffic and that got a little dicey in spots. There was even some yahoo in a white pickup truck who seemed hell bent on running over a course marshal and then he decided to see how close he could get to the old guy in the TeamReFUEL jersey. Sorta' reminded me of my lunch-time training runs on the roads around my office. The weather was beautiful and people were out everywhere.

Over one hill.

                                                                       

Hard right turn

                   .

And over the next.

 

I'm getting better at running within myself and not making the mistake of allowing the excitement of the race ruin my pace. Just before the half-way mark I looked at my watch and decided I felt good enough to maintain my pace at about 8 minute miles and finish under 1:46. There were some considerable hills remaining so this required me picking up my pace at about the 11 mile mark. With one last turn and the finish line almost in sight, I couldn't believe it, I was kicking and with a glance at my watch I thought I may just get that sub 1:46 finish. There was only one thing in my way and that was my own belief in runner etiquette. With just a few hundred meters remaining I was over taking another runner. I'm a firm believer that you don't pass someone as the finish chute appears. I think it's rude, bad form, poor sportsmanship, all of those things. So now I was faced with the dilemma of, "was I far enough from the finish to pass him?" We had a good distance to go and I wasn't changing my pace or sprinting, I was legitimately over taking him so I decided to pass. I thought, "well that wasn't so bad" and with about 50' to go he tried to beat me into the chute. I wasn't having that and I picked up my pace to maintain my position. Long story short and lesson learned(again), not everyone believes in that same runner etiquette.

 

I was happy to see that I finished in 1:45:something - my fastest half-marathon on a pretty tough  course. I met up with Bill Bann and Danny Mowers afterward who had run pretty darned impressive times and I hung out to cheer on Jeff Reed as he pushed it to the line. Later on I found Jim Grove and we laughed about seeing one another on the course and made plans to hookup at Senator's games. I ran into the guys who had been asking me for chocolate milk out on the course and now they wanted to know why my Jeep wasn't a milk truck and why I only had 2 Rockin' Refuels and I wasn't sharing.

2 Fast Guys & Me

 

Central Dauphin HS - Class of '79

I had a blast representing TeamREFUEL throughout 2012 and I hope to rejoin the team with a sponsorship for 2013. I'm especially stoked about running for them in Edinburgh Scotland next month! I've never been there much less run there. I'm hoping I'll be able to handle the excitement of travel and pull off a half-marathon too. I can hear them now, "look at the silly American who just tripped and fell 'cause he was gawking at our beautiful scenery"...I sure hope not. The race is Sunday April 14th in beautiful Edinburgh. Part of my being selected to travel to Scotland The Brave is to blog about my journey so stay tuned for coverage of my exciting trip overseas!

 

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Posted By Blogger to Perry's Trails at 3/11/2013 05:52:00 PM

Team Refuel Hits The Trail - Blues Cruise 50k Race Report

October 7, 2012

Nothing seemed to be going right leading up to this race. I felt as though my training was lacking, I caught a cold 2 days before the race and the weather took a turn for the worse. I didn’t get enough sleep the night before the race and for some reason I couldn’t finish my breakfast on race day. Earlier in the year I had two disappointing ultra finishes and I was hoping for a little redemption here and that idea looked in jeopardy before I even put on my shoes. (So that’s the negative part of this post.)

 

The Blues Cruise 50k is put on by The Pagoda Pacers at Blue Marsh Lake near Reading, PA. Considering the high for the day was to be 52° with rain, the Jeep was packed with various combinations of clothing. The race advertised 7 well stocked aid stations, but I came prepared with hand-helds and a hydration vest. At the last minute the race directors also emailed that they would not provide gels at the aid stations due to racers pickiness for specific gels in the past. It made sense to me, but I think they still could have provided gels by some generous sponsor. (That’s just my opinion & it didn’t really matter to me, I typically carry my own gels) Running caps for those registered & a cool jacket for finishers!  Janice had an area map and planned to make it to most of the aid stations so I was all set for support. I planned to start carrying a bottle and then depending on conditions I would switch to a hydration vest later.

Pagoda Pacers Volunteers Were Everywhere

 

It was a damp 50° before the start and all the talk in the Porto-john lines was about what to wear. The chilly air felt perfect for running; but that feeling could go south in a hurry if the forecasted rains came. I wore my Team REFUEL t-shirt with a sleeveless lycra layer underneath with arm warmers and shorts. (Luckily the rains never came and my combination of layers worked out perfectly)

The race started down a short park road before hitting the trail. In the first half mile I felt awful. My body temperature felt like 120° and my lungs felt like cement. Maybe this little cold I had was worse than I thought. I looked down at my watch and my current mile time just over 7 minutes and I thought well I can fix that, just slow the heck down. That became my mantra on the day, “slow the heck down”. My goal was to finish in under 6 hours and I was determined to run the smartest race I’ve ever run to achieve that. Averaging faster than an 11:30 mile wasn’t necessary and I knew I’d blow up if I tried to maintain that for 50k. With all that said, every time I checked my watch, I was still going too fast. It felt great, but I knew I would implode eventually. It’s very easy for me to get caught up in the excitement of a race and run outside my ability and ruin my day. I kept telling myself to just let it happen, ignore the other runners, stop forcing the pace, think more about refueling and the next aid station and the things I needed to do to keep going. Even in the early miles, I was forcing myself to power walk the short steep hills, even if I could run them. If I felt like my walk would be as fast as my run, I walked it. I ran only the hills that I could actually run. I was certain to conserve energy for the finish. I would go back to real running on the flats and down hills making up for the slow climbs.  

Well Stocked Aid Station

 

Everything about the aid stations was perfect. The aid stations were no more than 5 miles apart, so there were 7 for a 50k which may be more than you’d expect, but it pays off for that runner who may be experiencing a bad patch and needs something quickly. I was carrying Gatorade and they had that. I like Coca-cola for energy and they had it. They seemed to have everything a runner could need (except gels). They also had incredible volunteers who would take your bottle as they were asking what it was you needed and it was refilled and back in your hand in seconds. Near the end of the race, my bottle had become an extension of my left hand and this nice guy at an aid station tried to take it from my hand and I guess I wasn’t paying attention. I heard someone say, “you’re gonna havta’ let go” and then I heard (directed at me) “let go!” ~with a laugh. I figured it out eventually and let go and my bottle was refilled and back in my hand in no time. I survived the day on Gatorade, PowerBar Gels (Berry Blast) and Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes tablets, all of which Janice had a supply of in the Jeep. I really only used the aid stations for guzzling Coca-Cola and Mountain Dew. With the temperatures being so cool and the aid stations being so nicely spaced apart, I never did change to the hydration vest. (That’s a big deal to me, that hydration vest is like a security blanket on longer runs.)

The course was like that old wooden roller coaster we’ve all ridden. It had plenty of rolling small hills, with some nasty steep ones thrown in and one big climb that used to be a ski slope. This year the course was run in the clockwise direction which meant we climbed the ski slope from the back and descended the steep face. The treacherous downhill may have been tougher than the climb. My watch recorded 6700’ of elevation gain(unofficial). The trail is rustic and rocky in places and smooth dirt in others, or it was deteriorating old abandoned roads. Running through forest, farm land or along the lake bank itself made for quite an enjoyable 50k loop around the lake.

What a beautiful place! Blue Marsh Lake was created in 1979 by the Army Corps of Engineers when they dammed the Tulpehocken Creek to create the reservoir. With 6100 acres surrounding the 1150 acre lake, it's a perfect place to host a 50k trail race in a single loop. Of course through eminent domain, property was taken so now remains of homesteads and abandoned roads are evident throughout the park. There was a fox hunt the same day as the race so in the first 10 miles of the course we heard baying hounds on the chase. I saw a few dogs on the trail, but other runners said they saw the actual pack of fox hounds. At one aid station there were parked Amish Buggies and Amish girls in their traditional clothing chasing others, out enjoying the nice weather.  

 

As usual, Janice appeared everywhere, even some places where I didn't even see her. We crossed over some old dirt road early in the race and there was the Jeep with Janice waving to me as I passed. Crews weren't allowed at the first 2 aid stations, but I think she was at each, just not with the Jeep and she didn't go where she was told not to (now I'll probablty be DQ'd). Other runners and supporters came to associate Janice in the yellow Jeep with my position on the course. Two men knew there wives were keeping pace near me so if the yellow Jeep was near so were their wives. One guy said, "your maintaining a good pace, your driver's having trouble keeping up". I knew better.

When I reached the aid station after the ski slope, I saw Janice and I told her that the climb “wasn’t nothin’” which means a lot coming from me, I’m the worst hill runner I know. Maybe was it that my strategy of conserving energy was working. I had given her a paper with splits on it and she told me I was 10 minutes ahead of my goal and I now had about 10 miles to go. By my estimations, my pacing was working and with a 10 minute cushion, I even had time if something went wrong. Then I hit mile 26.2. I like to check my watch at the marathon point and when I did it I was faced with mountain bikers coming down an extremely steep hill while I climbed it. Two got by me safely and the third lost control and bailed hard. I saw bike parts skidding by me and when I took a weird step to avoid the carnage, my left thigh cramped.  Oddly having some dude body surfing downhill on his chest helped me to ignore my pain. I was able to walk through it quickly and considering the steepness, I was already walking. I lost minimal time because of the cramp. Was that it? Was that all that was going to go wrong? I hit the aid station at mile 27ish (the one I forgot that Janice had to remind me of), refilled my bottle one last time, climbed some short steep gnarly climbs in those last miles and got to the finish line in 5:50:31. I would have been happy with a 5:59:59 so I was elated to know I beat 6 hours by 10 minutes! I didn’t do stupid stuff and get myself into trouble. I raced within myself and just let it happen instead of forcing it or chasing it and it all worked out in the end.

Another fun day running while flying the Team Refuel colors. By the end of the day, I was answering to "hey Chocolate Milk Guy”. Countless runners asked me about refueling with low fat chocolate milk or they had stories to tell of how that’s their refuel drink of choice now. A woman asked me about my Team Refuel jacket and told me she was a finalist for this month to win sponsorship with Team Refuel. I wished her luck and encouraged her to get all of her family, friends and co-workers to vote for her every day. One runner had to point out his quart cartoon he was drinking from and told me it’s been his refuel drink for many years. Others stopped by the Jeep while I was changing and refueling with Rockin’ Refuel to talk refueling. I’ve been getting the choclate milk word out, one mile at a time.

 

Other stuff I used on race day:

Asics Running Shorts - so old they're no longer sold

Garmin Forerunner 205 Watch - trusty & simple - also no longer sold

Headsweats Running Cap - got it from the nice people at Gu Energy Labs

Injinji Socks - love 'em! Janice got 'em for me at the Philly Rock 'N' Roll Half Expo

Nathan Performance Quick Draw Plus Handheld Bottle - got it from the nice people at Nathan

Nike Pro Combat Compression Shorts - support for quads & exhausted stabilizer muscles

Salomon XR Mission Trail Shoes - simple shoe with great fit

Zensah Calf Sleeves - keep those calf muscles firing properly to the finish line

 

Zensah, Injinji & Salomom - Great Combination

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Posted By Blogger to Perry's Trails at 10/12/2012 07:39:00 AM

TeamREFUEL Rocks The Philly Rock n Roll Half Marathon

Wow what a huge event! From the expo packed with runners to racing around Center City Philly with thousands, this RockNRoll Philly was enormous! Something I've never experienced. I had run a half marathon inHershey, PA a couple years ago that had 2700 runners and I thought that was a huge crowd. This race reports more than 15,000 finishers yesterday. Throw in legions of event staff and volunteers and throngs of spectators and you have a Woodstock-like event in the City of Brotherly Love on a sunny Sunday morning.

 

Got Ready To Rock At The Race Expo

When GotChocolateMilk TeamREFUEL offered me a free race entry to this spectacle I couldn't resist. The course was as advertised, flat and fast. It's too bad I'm not; I'm more slow and lumpy. I've been trail running so much lately, I wasn't really sure how to get ready for an event like this. As a trail runner I'm used to looking at elevation changes and planning what I need to eat and drink as the miles tick by. I knew I can run a road half marathon, but how do I manage a decent pace and finish in one piece. So of course I went out too fast, crumbled at the 10 mile mark and scooted across the finish line with whatever I had left. So there's my race report, now to get to everything else!



Cool sculpture outside the hotel.

I know Philadelphia pretty well and I was psyched to run through the city. Running past City Hall where traffic is usually crazy was very cool. Here I was in the center of the cheese steak universe running right down the middle of the street and no one was blowing their horn at me. As I ran past Logan's Circle and Eakins Oval I couldn't help but think of the annual pro bicycle race and the late Jerry Casale.  After that, it was like a scenic tour on foot up and down the Schuylkill River. I was really looking forward to running across the Falls Bridge; unfortunately that’s where I started to feel like crap. My last time on that river loop I was toddling along as a pacer for my buddy Jeff Thompson on his Back On My Feet 20 in 24 Ultra Run last July. The memories of many fun times in Philly came back throughout the run, even through the cloud of pain in the final miles. 

This wasn't the first event of mine where Janice volunteered, but this one was a bit different.  She needed to be at Eakins Oval at 5:30am to get her assignment(s). Our hotel was just a few blocks away, but as a volunteer she now had a most excellent parking pass to park behind the Art Museum.  Arriving with her at that hour was no stretch considering I'm used to start times before sun up, so I went along for the pre-dawn ride. With roads blocked off, the Rock N Roll Marathon folks were hard at work building their event.  Janice got her t-shirt and waited for her day to start. Little did she know what would be on her schedule.  She built cardboard trash cans, unpacked medals, controlled corral #5(which I never knew darn it) and rounded out her day handing out medals to the exhausted runners as they finished. I started a few minutes after 8am and finished before 10, while Janice worked her tail off from 5:30am till about 1pm. At a previous race, volunteers worked shifts while yesterday the volunteers signed in before dawn and got a break when they were done 8 hours later. Yep, she was exhausted. Every race has its “Janice moment”.  For Philly, I had a dream that she got the job handing out medals and she was the volunteer who met me at the finish. Dreams apparently do come true, at the finish there she was and I made sure to get my medal from her. While other family and friends of runners were behind barricades, I was stealing a hug and a kiss along with getting my finisher’s medal.  Pretty cool! 



Janice With Her Arm Load Of Medals

 

I did prepare for this race. I now own an actual pair of road shoes, I studied the course and I even had an idea of a finishing time I could deliver. What I couldn't plan for was running in a pack of thousands, but let's back up a bit. This race had its own shopping mall disguised as a race expo/packet pick up. While I'm used to running through the woods with guys from PA, MD and NJ; The Philly Rock N Roll Half attracted elite runners from around the world. Janice packs a cooler when we go to race with low fat chocolate milk. This event had a TeamREFUEL chocolate milk refueling station at the finish line. I'm usually the "chocolate milk" guy at races. Yesterday I got to meet other TeamREFUEL members and staff. That was very cool to find out that Facebook and Twitter friends actually are living beings.  

TeamREFUEL Pre-race - Me, Julia, Steve & George

 



 

Low fat chocolate milk has been part of my workout recovery routine for 2 years. Jam packed with vitamins, protein, carbs, electrolytes and other good stuff I'd probably just spell wrong, low fat chocolate milk rocks as a refueling recovery drink. I recommend it to all. It was cool to have so many other runners ask me before, after and even during the race about refueling with chocolate milk. To top it off having the opportunity to help hand it out at the finish was very cool. One runner told me "this is my savior right here" as she held up her bottle of low fat chocolate milk. I hate to keep repeating myself, but I had an absolute blast being part TeamREFUEL at RockNRoll Philly!

 

Refueling The Runners

 

Next up for me, The Blues Cruise 50k Trail Race around Blue Marsh Lake just outside Reading, PA. Back in the woods with a hundred or so other trail crazies, Janice will be back to chasing me in the Jeep from aid station to aid station and yep, I'll be the ONLY "chocolate milk' guy at the event. Right now I’m gonna’ go for a run.

 

 

 

 

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Posted By Blogger to Perry's Trails at 9/17/2012 07:21:00 PM