April 2016 Running Challenge

Congratulations @kristinegift On the new PR and 2nd place AG award. Woo hoo.
You will rock it at NJM.

OK. I think I am caught up on posts. So onto my mini-race report from yesterday.

So yesterday was just supposed to be a fun training run because I have my real HM next Sunday and wanted to make sure I didn't exhaust myself yesterday too much for next Sunday. Yesterday's race was up in Lynchburg, TN right near the grounds of the Jack Daniels Distillery and is sponsored by the town and them. This year is the 7th year they put this HM on, and anyone that knows JD knows that No 7 is a special number. LOL I asked the tour guide yesterday why was that (I took a free tour of the distillery after the race) and no one no's why No 7 is important, but there are many rumors on the Internet. So this is a fun race, lots of bling (pullover long sleeve shirt, choice of hat or visor, Ecosolemax socks (with the Oak barrel logo), and a finisher's medal made out of the actual oak barrels. Plus lots of food: stew, grilled cheese made on the spot, hoecakes also made on the spot, choc milk, soda, Gatorade, bananas and other fruit, cookies, cake, and other stuff that I didn't even bother to go get. Then my big running group (We Run Huntsville not just the Pounders) put on a big picnic. So there was more food (chicken salad, meatballs, pulled pork, salads, lunch meat, fruit, more cake and cookies, and beer). It was basically a bring your own (enough to share) pot luck thing.

Oak Barrel just happens to have this big hill that everyone dreads "Whiskey Hill". (google it or look for my description in March's thread). So it's not really a PR course. Next week's Bridge Street HM is pretty much flat which is why I was just supposed to take yesterday's race easy so that I can PR next week.

So I line up front with the 8:00 pacers (after running a warm-up of 1.2 miles at 7:40 pace LOL). OK, I guess my legs are pretty fresh my week's cutback. There weren't actual pacers, just people holding sticks with pace times at lineup so people knew where to start. They moved off course to the side as the RD told everyone to move forward towards the starting line. Gun goes off and I am trying to figure out what pace I should be running. Usually I just wing it for the first 30-50 yards while I give my watch some time to get a good readout. I think it said like 6:40 or something like that, so I knew I needed to slow down, which I did to a more reasonable 7:20-7:40. Finally after the first half mile everyone started to spread apart and I found a couple of folks to match up with that were maybe running around what I thought was a 7:40 pace which actually felt comfortable. My goal was simply to do a little better than last year which was 1:44:13 or 7:59 avg pace. So the new plan was to keep at this pace until I got to the hill and slow down if breathing was getting elevated. So mile 1 was actually 7:16, mile 2 was 7:30, mile 3 7:34, mile 4 was 7:51. This is when Whiskey Hill starts. (between ~mile 3 to mile 5 it goes from 773 feet to 1124 feet, but the biggest incline is the last switchback which goes up at least 150 feet in less than a 1/4 mile. It starts out as a long slow climb that you don't notice right away. But half way along this stretch a couple people that ran ahead of me started to walk and many others slowed way down. You can hear all the heavy breathing now. I knew to take it easier and if my pace was off, then let it go and slow down. This last stretch is probably about a good 1/2 to 3/4 mile. Then the switchback. The really bad part. After getting to the top and running the rest of mile 5 on a flat straight a way, I finished at 8:39 pace. Not too bad. Just 40 seconds above the pace I wanted to sustain for the whole race, and I can make that up. I made back most of it on the next mile in 7:34. After Whiskey Hill, it is pretty much flat or gentle rolling hills with one more uphill "bump". So I actually felt really confident at this point. I was still at this point thinking that if my legs started to feel weary or my breathing was too hard, then take it slow. Mile 7 was 7:44 then mile 8 was 7:38 and more downhill running lead to mile 9 6:53. At some point, I checked my overall race pace average and it said 7:34. I knew that PR HM pace is 7:35. So I knew that I was actually able to PR. But the idea of PRing today and screw up an even bigger potential PR next week was daunting me. So I thought, as long as it keeps going downhill, keep running hard. Mile 10 was 7:25 and Mile 11 7:28. Then the last turn onto the main roadway.

OK, so the starting line is right in the middle of the town square near the Lynchburg visitor center. Downtown Lynchburg is actually small and cozy and has so many nice little shops. The distillery sits up ahead down the road. The town square itself was closed off to the runners this early in the morning. The race is only open to 1200 registrants because of limited parking and management. You run down Main Street which leads to a main county road (Rt 55). Half of the highway was coned off for the runners. Then you quickly turn off into these cow roads. And yes, you run past cow pastures. So you can smell it on a good day. It's actually quite pretty and peaceful and very well shaded by trees. But it is a regular paved rural road that you can drive on. Whiskey Hill starts off at the end of this cow road stretch until you get to the dreaded cutback. Then it gets more open. But it is pretty much more local farm and rural roads winding around. But then you eventually get back to Route 55 about a mile away from the turn that takes you back into the town square and onto the finish line. So no more downhill, but I felt very strong. So I continued to press on. Mile 12 was a 7:29 split, Now it started to get a little tough as I was smelling PR. So I picked up the pace and fought till the end. Mile 13 was a 7:10 and the last turn I could see the finish line. last .12 was 49 seconds. As I crossed the finish line I could see 1:39:05. I knew that was my PR but didn't know by how much. I knew it was by quite a few seconds. Later looked it up and 1:39:26 was my old PR. My official gun time was 1:39:07 and chip time was 1:39:00 on the nose. Although I thought I read one of the early sheets that showed 1:38:53. I must have misread the person above me. Anyway. It's a PR by over 20 seconds. Technically by 26 seconds. And best of all, I got a 3rd place age group award for males 40-44.

So now, to taper up and rest to do it again next week. Hopefully for an even bigger PR.

I am going to post pictures by I am going to do it from my phone.

A couple more pics. BTW the bottle of Jack I bought myself and they etched that stuff on for me for an extra $5 after my tour at the distillery. That was not an AG award. The AG award is half of the top of an oak barrel.