Wounded Warrior Half & 10K 6/8/14

Because my biggest goal this year is standard distance Duathlon, I have to keep my running shape I have developed earlier this year.  For that distance, I should be able to run 5K before and after the bike leg.  I finished my first 10K in February and thought this race is a good one before Texas heat hits.  Spinervals good friend, Pete Kutheis signed up Half marathon to get ready for his Triple Threat in August. 

I was so concerned about how my Italian dinner the night before is going to behave in my stomach and didn’t check the weather.  At the last I remembered, the storm was Sunday afternoon through Monday timing.  My 10K start is 7am and Half Marathon is 6:45 am.  I have been running early morning and I knew this was going to have plenty light.  The organizers warned us to get there early because of the construction and sure enough, we circled around it to get to a parking garage.  Tony decided to load his hybrid to ride on course to cheer me.  We met up with Pete and Sally at his team RWB tent.  I noticed that there was a little shouting for attention, so I moved very close to the speaker and he was saying the storm is coming with lightening possibility and delaying the start.  They will evaluation the situations and make an announcement at 7am.  The announcement told us to move from the start area to take shelter from possible lightening, but where could all these thousands of people go? I am noticing now that the bigger the events are, fewer people I see engaged in warm-up.  I decided to run towards to the convention center and came back.  At 7am, the announcement came that Half will start at 7:15 and 10K will 12-15 min. after that.  Just about before Half start, ironically, I can start feeing rain drops.  Then Buddy Pete takes off for his official first Half!

It was a while to see everybody off and I noticed three ladies matching wearing pink camouflage and yelled “Looking good, ladies!” As you can imagine, I was antsy to get started and took a place by the barrier being cheered by Tony on his bike.  This time, we had a timing chip on shoe and when I crossed the timing mat, I started my Garmin.

I quickly passed a few people, but the start didn’t feel as crowded as Cowtown.  We crossed a bridge and I was thinking, I should really hold myself until I see this bridge coming back.  We are already on Las Colinas Blvd and I remember driving on it: three big lanes on both directions.  I was hoping this is not causing too much traffic difficulty.  I was expecting water station at 1.5 miles in, but it came before the first mile.  I thought I was not drinking enough before the start, so I took the little cup.  Then I started to hear MC is talking through microphone.  I waved him noticeably big and he said, “Hi!”.  Then he commented a lady behind me was carrying a national flag. At this point, I have been passed by a lot of people, but people are also walking.  I thought walking is good if that is your plan, but this is not 5K you signed up, but 10K.  6 miles is long ways to walk and average American doesn’t walk a mile a day. 

Tony was riding on the bike almost the same pace as I run and cheering me occasionally.  Runners were noticing and talking to him and responding to his cheering.  “Can I get a ride?”, “Can I borrow it for a while?”, “Nice jersey” and so forth.  Two lanes were reserved for runners and one was car passable and he mostly rode on far right.  Traffic was lighter than I thought.  I thanked the police officers, medic and volunteers as I pass them.  I saw huge traffic backed up at Royal Lane.  I was feeling good in the rhythm around 2 miles and I started to see very fast people turning and coming back.  When the course took a right turn to Lake Carolyn Blvd.  I lost Tony, so I figured I would catch him again on Las Colinas.  Buddy Pete should have gone all the way to the park, going south on mixed trail and come up north on Riverside, another heavy traffic road.  Then I saw three ladies and they were walking.  So I talked to them asking if they were sisters.  They said they were best friends.  This meant I was catching the tail end of Half Marathon people.  There were two porta potty and there was a fairly long lines, so I was glad that I didn’t have to stop to use it.  Sure enough, at the turn, I saw fair amount of people going straight. I was feeling strong.  Hey, I am not a good runner, but I have tons of EXCELLENT runner teammates who give me support and advice.  And I am Coach Troy trained.  I am going to finish strong!  I saw Tony waiting at the corner and start yelling, “Tigre, Tigre!”  He noticed and moved to the center of the street and took the video.

For this occasion, I had my Garmin display set up for cadence, heart rate and distance and lap feature off because I didn’t want to know the pace.  Hear rate has been up nicely and my cadence was mostly above 180.  I overheard somebody mentioning 10 min. mile pace a couple of times, so I thought, oh, that is good.  Then my heart rate went all the way up to 180 and then started to drop.  Apparently not working right.  But Tony is cheering again saying I must be having a negative split.  I passed Royal Lane and saw static cars again and wondered how long they have been like that. I was expecting the MC again, but he must have moved to the finish line already and the last water station came.  I grabbed two cups and drank one and poured one on head and forgot to walk through the aid station because now I am so fired up to finish.  GRRR.  I wondered if it was a smart move and thought about walking for a while.  Then I would look like I am having trouble, so I just kept going.  A lady at one corner was cheering saying, 0.9 miles to go! One guy, looking like a really good runner responded to Tony’s cheering and he said go over this little incline and all downhill from there.  He quickly passed and I saw the bridge.  Then Convention Center came in view and then chocolate milk finish line.  I started to push one last time and started breathing like threshold set in Spinervals.  I knew I was not looking pretty by then and I finished!  I saw the clock saying something like 1:16 and thought, oh, no, that is easily 10 minutes slower than Cowtown and I heard my name and crossed the timing mat and stopped Garmin and that was more like Cowtown.  Then I realized the clock must have started with Half start.  Kept walking and took the finish medal.  Sally was at the finish line and took this photo.  You can see Tony in the background with his bike, too.  THANK YOU, Sally!  I am relieved that today's time was not too different from Cowtown!

Tony left for the car to get change and now I am cold!  I worried so much about hot run and never brought warm clothes like other events in winter.  I was thinking Buddy Pete could be finishing soon, but when I got to the parking garage and sat down, the rain started to pour and the heated seat in the car was too tempting to give up to go back.  Sure enough, I get a text from him and he finished in 2:06.  WOO HOO, that is a great time. 

Poor runners must have been rained on and I thought about the best friends ladies.  They were clearly on 13.1 mile walking plan and that is not fun in cold rain.  I found our favorite French restaurant near Pete’s hotel and we met there for brunch.  The restaurant was super busy as it was Sunday morning and I saw fair amount of race T-shirts, too.  We waited to be seated for a while, waited for a while for food, but the time flew talking with Pete and Sally.  I had a very good time.

There is another race in same format produced by same company on the same course in fall.  Once my time trails is done in July, I would start thinking about winter running events.  Maybe we can all (including Tony?) get to do this again?  Great day!  Thank you, Pete and Sally, for coming over and thank you, Tony for cheering on course, Spinervals teammates for cheering online!

Garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/516501667