Irving Marathon 2019/04/27—newbie pacer.

Irving Marathon would be part of my race-into-shape plan to regain fitness when I overestimated my recovery ability.  I unregistered the marathon race when event date changed.

Meghan organized half marathon pacer.  Seemed like a good alternative to solo training the week before Hachie.  I liked helping others to reach goal. 

_goal
Wrist watch time 1:49:10 ~ 1:49:30.
Chip time 1:49:59.
Run at 8:20 GPS pace.  Adjust as necessary.  Build 30~60-second cushion for mile-10 climb.  Then more cushion for Texas Flyer Hill at mile 11.8.

_photo op
The pacer T-shirt waited for me was a youth L.  Didn’t work.  I wore the regular event T-shirt thinking I probably should’ve taped nipples.

I knew the group photo would be 7am but incorrectly assumed the location would be obvious.  I walked with another pacer Matt and missed the pacer group photo.

_race
I stood a few rows in front of Ben’s pacer group, noticing 3:40 full-marathon in front of us—that’s exact same speed.  Olivia Coco took race director’s pacing duty.  I also had 2 Garmin Forerunners and a mile mark band.  I refused to be under-prepared.

_pacing
We were losing ground the first 400 meters then made up lost ground and reached the first mile marker at 8:23—a perfect start.  We gained couple seconds every mile for the final climbs.  A few in the group struggled to stay behind pacers.  I gave them space.  Only Sarosh looked good.  I was envious of his small calves and relaxed strides.

Head wind was mild.  I warned the group about climbs for the return trip.  Everyone was in good spirit.  Conversation reduced after mile 2.

The top guy behind the lead vehicle looked fantastic and had a huge gap on the next racer, who was female.  I wished I look that good.

_mile 6
The 2 hard breathers disappeared on the mild climb before U-turn.  We reeled in several racers; they couldn’t stay.  We had 30-second cushion against mile markers.  Sarosh no longer looked jumpy.  Olivia seemed to struggle to contain herself.  It’s a lot to ask a 6:30-pace racer to run at 8:23 in a race environment.

_tail wind
Mile 6.5~9.9 was flat.  Tail wind intensified.  1:50 pace group dwindled.  We bank time anticipating the final miles.

The group didn’t seem ready for the final 5k except Kevin.  Kevin stopped for pastry.  We made fun of him.

_the “hills”

Predictably, no one held the pace at mile 10.  Olivia persisted and ran alone.   Head wind came at the left turn.  All seemed lost.  I went sub-8 to catch Olivia on the descent.

[I slowed to 9:16 pace; still no one hung on]

_mile 11
This was the first mile marker farther than Garmin 630 expected.

I wished I taped nipples.

I was delighted when the bearded guy caught up to me before Texas Flyer hill.

I told him “we have 15-second cushion; we’re almost there.”  I didn’t tell him chip sensor didn’t know what time my timing devices started.  I just hoped he could climb with me; he couldn’t.  I hoped he had excellent closing speed; he did.

Olivia couldn’t help herself.  She built a gap then stayed with the group in front of us.  Maybe her GPS felt my GPS was too old.  Maybe she didn’t believe the mile splits.  I suppressed the urge to catch up, wishing there’s better technology.
"This is not about you, Johnny."

Head wind was rough.  Everyone was doing the best he could.

_#’s
GPS--Garmin Forerunner 630
Distance: 13.12 mi
Time: 1:49:13
Pace: 8:19
Heart rate: 162/177 bpm

GPS--Garmin Forerunner 910XT
Distance: 13.15 mi
Time: 1:49:18
Pace: 8:19

Chip
Distance: 13.1 mi
Time: 1:49:12
Pace: 8:20

_post race
I hoped Rob would do well at London Marathon the following day England time.

My Hachie 50k would be in 7 days.

Texas Big Star Half Marathon 2019/04/13—canceled after a negative week

_goal
Stay with 1:45:00 pacers.
Practice for Irving Half pacing: 2 GPS: Garmin 910 right; 630 on left wrist.

_Sunday before the race
I was mad at myself for getting sick to skip 15k race.  I also felt negative for getting mad—my 2019 resolution was to be forgiving to myself for mental lapses.

The weather turned bad at noon for Ironman Texas 70.3.  A few friends were pulled off the run course for safety.  The slowest finishing time was just over 5.5 hours.  Reminded me of all the DNF’s due to Boston Marathon Bombing.

_Trishop
My heart sank watching Raul’s FB monologue attempting to be positive about store closing.  His shop had been the centers of my social circles.  There were hints during my last few visits: Conner was often lonely; Lonnie was let go; high-end Cervelo’s weren’t moving quickly.

Memories at the shop: I held Michellie Jones’ Olympic medals, Dan Empfield apologized to me about Lucero’s floppiness.  Matt Fitzgerald ignored my tears answering my flexibility vs. speed question the day dad passed away.

_Alex
Few weeks after learning of metastasis, Demma decided to organize the group video.  My mood plummeted when I learned Alex hasn’t been well enough for gaming for a month.

_Kisha
Tendonitis instead of fracture.  Could be worse.

_Mark
After his 8-year-old passed away, his faith considered suicide a mortal sin; that seems to be the only reason Mark stayed.  Finally received his status email on Wednesday.  His world was still bleak.

_Wednesday
My waking heart rate resumed.  Training run was a struggle.  I cut it short.  I watch Gary Robbins video on 2017 Barkley Marathon where he missed the 60-hour by 6 seconds.  I was overwhelmed by the desire to help him.

_Italy
I continued to lag behind George, who’s doing all the logistic work for August trip, and I had the audacity to run out of mental space to read his research.

_Friday
Weather.com said 100% rain for Big Star.  I visualize each step required to minimize rain exposure.  I studied the parking map so I could get into shower quickly after the race.  Race director emailed reassuringly: rain or shine—more email to come that day.  I didn’t see the follow up email ‘til after race day breakfast.

_Saturday
I could use another hour of sleep but followed the race script.  Race email notification from 12 hours ago was blocked by Gmail’s own junk mail: “are you sure you don’t want to use gmail phone app?”  The race was canceled long ago—I could’ve slept in.

I ran 7.5 miles in the rain, remembering “Texas Tough” was canceled for a few drops of rain.  Hypocrites!  Hail started after shower.

_Sunday
8am.  I wasn’t motivated to run in 45F wind.  I postponed the run and skipped crawfish boil.  Tiger Woods won his 15th major.  The weather was perfect by the time I finally got out the door for the make-up half without 500 of my best friends.

I was excited to watch Boston Marathon the following day.

My life is so mundane.

Tal Morrison Classic 15k 2019/04/06--skipped

In 2014, I raced Tal Morrison mostly to have breakfast with friends.  I saw Kisha for the 2nd race.  It was hard not to notice the blonde with Paula Radcliffe movement.  Casey and I raced the same age group.  We were all about Montreal skate that year.  New faces appeared at social skates.  Rob was approaching my half-marathon speed.  Kurt was crazy fast on wheels.  Father was in and out of hospital but seemed destined to live forever.  The stock market did so well, I debated whether it was time to pull everything out.

5 years later, Kurt struggled for time to exercise among his obligations.  Skating was "something we used to do" for more people.  Rob surpassed his sub-3 marathon goal.  Casey married Voon and is a Leadville finisher.  Kisha didn't know what to do about her foot pain a week before Texas Big Star Half.

I signed up for the race to take advantage of my very first senior citizen discount joining DRC.  It's a free race for the members.  I would lead a group skate to White Rock after race.  I imagined beautiful sunshine.

I caught cold on Tuesday before the Saturday race.  I considered racing 5k.  Weather forecast predicted unsafe skate.  I chose to stay home and binge watch World Pool Masters 2019 matches.

I'm feeling like an idiot for catching cold by not wearing enough cloth doing house work.

9:03am race morning.  Plano, TX