Gate River Run 2013 Race Recap

Real original title, I know. But you can’t deny I tell it how it is. J I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to compete in this year’s USATF 15k National Championships which was hosted for the 20^th year by the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, Florida. For those who don’t know, 15k is equivalent to 9.3 miles. Although the race was the focus of the weekend trip, it was not the only notable event to occur. I’ll spare you all the unnecessary account of traveling to Florida and other minor happenings. Really there were three major events I can pinpoint: the charity event with The Sanctuary, the race, and the after-party.

This was the first road race I had ever attended as an “elite” athlete, thus it was quite the unique experience. We had access to a hospitality room, were provided with excellent accommodations, and had an elite “camp” at the race site. Probably things that seasoned elite road runners all take for granted, but to me it all seemed very special. And when I say “we” I am referring to the 129, or so, other elite athletes (that includes both men and women). Upon arriving we were given our race packet which contained an elite athlete guide. This was a little book containing our weekend schedule, race information, and a mini-bio of each elite athlete. And part of our scheduled events was a voluntary charity event at The Sanctuary on 8^th Street. The Sanctuary caters to at risk youth living in poverty. We were asked to visit the facility and participate in activities with the kids, including a 400 meter race. As I said, the event was voluntary but it was encouraging to see how many runners showed up to support the kiddos. And unfortunately, the school where we were supposed to have access to a track had a riot and was on police lockdown. That just showed us what type of environment these kids were growing up in. Regardless, it was such a wonderful experience. Lacking a track, Lee (my coach) took the reins and lead us all in stretching, then organized us for a relay race in the small grass yard attached to The Sanctuary building. The energy from the kids was contagious. There were ecstatic at the mere presence of so many people. Definitely the highlight for me was the responses Lee got after asking “what is the most important part of running?” The first little guy replied, “to have fun!” Here, here little man!!! Kids also said “to go fast” and “to be strong.” It was agreed upon, that the most important part of running was NOT winning! Spending some time with those kids really gave everyone some perspective in terms of how privileged we all are to have the opportunity to compete. And not only to compete, but just simply to run. It was a humbling and heart-warming experience.

Now the race. Ah the race. Well I am going to go into a rather detailed account intended for a select few people who will appreciate my thoroughness (that means you Dad!). For the rest of you, scroll down to the little line of **** (and yes I had to do that because I don’t know how to spell the word for those little stars), which will indicate the start of the actual race recap. Let me begin at the beginning. Laura and I woke up at 5am (3am Colorado time) to start getting ready for the race. The hospitality suite also opened at 5am, so we headed down there for some breakfast. They had bagels, and cereal, and fruit, and oatmeal. I ate, now don’t all be too jealous, two packets of instant oatmeal (brown sugar flavor) with about a tablespoon of peanut butter mixed in and a banana. Super tame breakfast, great for race morning! After we ate, and Laura had acquired some coffee, we went back to our room to finish getting ready. The bus left from the hotel to take us to the race site at 6:45 sharp. So at about 6:30 we headed down to the lobby. Had a little trouble finding the bus at first, but we weren’t the only confused ones and eventually ended up in the right place.

It was quite a short bus ride since the start of the race was only about a mile from the hotel. At the race site, we were lead into a big building, and into a room with chairs and stretching mats. That was our waiting room I suppose. We had a little while to chill before we actually started warming up. At 7:30 we (Laura, Allison, and I) headed out for our warmup. The places to run were a little limited, so we ended up going up and down this little street a bunch of times. It seemed that was what most people were doing. There was a lot of traffic on the end that would have led to more road (I mean 20,000 people were running in this race) and we didn’t want to get caught on the wrong side of the road. We did our jog around and stopped by the port-a-potties. Side note, I swear there could be 7,000 port-a-potties at a race and that still wouldn’t be enough. Anyways, we threw our racing flats on and then at 8am, we were lead out to the start area. Wow, there were a lot of people milling around. It actually took us like five minutes to walk from the building to the start (oh we left all our stuff in that room). I had never run in a race with that many people, honestly I don’t know what all the hype is about. It just seems like it would be really crowded. I guess you’d never be alone though. Well, regardless, when we lined up, it was only the 60ish elite women, so it was not too crowded. The women started exactly 6:23 ahead of the men. One last thing, it wasn’t like a track or cross country race where they give a bunch of instructions and you aren’t supposed to put even a toe on the white line, less all hell will break loose. I was lucky to be paying attention enough to hear the guy say “Go!” And we were off!

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Oh my, I had my ideal race plan, which my coach kindly stomped out the previous night. I wanted to go out relaxed and chill, then really work the second half of the race and run people down. Here is what actually happened. For one, it was REALLY nice to not feel like I was in a death sprint for the first ¼ mile of the race. Apparently in road races, people feel like they have plenty of time and space to adjust their positioning throughout the race so they don’t have to be so aggressive at the start. So the pace wasn’t outlandishly fast from the beginning. I put myself in the middle of the pack and just waited for any sort of separation to occur. The only really exciting thing to happen for a while was running over this grated bridge; if you looked down you could see all the way down to the water and it was a ways up. It made me a little nervous, but obviously I knew I wasn’t going to fall through the grate holes. That was a first for fears during a race. Now the trouble is I am having a hard time remembering exactly when everything happened. But sometime before 5k, the front group split from the whole pack, and following instructions, I latched onto the back of that front pack. My 5k split was 16:50 (still faster than I have ever run on the track, but hopefully not for much longer). So I knew at that point that it was sort of quick, and my legs were already protesting a bit. But I didn’t lose hope. I did my best to stay with that pack, because I knew if I dropped off the rest of the race would consist of me slowly being caught by one person at a time. Well, low and behold, I did eventually drop off that lead group. And then there I was, by myself, not loving life so much. I didn’t lose my head. I kept chugging away, but inevitably I was slowing down. I went through the 10k in 34:27 (again, still faster than I have ever run on the track). And then things really started to go downhill. My legs were really tightening up. I just kept telling myself to try to relax, not panic, just keep going. It probably slowed me down a bit, but I also think it kept me going faster than I would have if I had freaked out and gone all dooms-day on myself. I knew I wasn’t doing great, but with each person who caught up with me I would put in a little effort to hang with them for as long as I could. I was also noticing that I was uncomfortably warm, like hot actually. I was grabbing water and dumping it down my front and on my head. I finally reached the dreaded final bridge. I knew I was close to the finish, but I also had to lug it up this huge ass bridge. Seriously, it is like a mile of uphill. I know, I know, I’m from Colorado and a little uphill bridge shouldn’t be intimidating. But it just kept going and going, and since it is round, I couldn’t really see where the top was. Well, I did finish the race, so I obviously crested the bridge at some point. Coming over the top, I felt such relief, in front of me was just under a mile of downhill to the finish. Well, me being a normal competitive runner, I thought to myself, “yes, I can use this downhill to my advantage, stride out and maybe catch somebody.” Ha! So thought EVERY OTHER PERSON IN THAT RACE. And we all know my “natural striding out” isn’t going to be breaking any speed records. J I’m pretty sure that I got passed by like 2 more people on that final stretch, and no, I didn’t pass anyone. Cool story folks. But I can’t say I didn’t try. In the end I ran 52:50, a new/automatic PR since I had never run a 15k before (an average of 5:41 miles). Let’s just say it is no more than a starting point to work down from.

Of course, in that moment I was PISSED! I had followed my coaches instructions to a T and had paid the price dearly, as I had felt I would. WTF right? Well instead of ranting on about how mad I was, and especially that I got beat by some people I knew I should be in front of, let me explain to you why he was right and I was wrong. Running in a National Championship road race is not meant to be a confidence booster. If you need a confidence boost, run in some po-dunk local 5k. Don’t fly across the country and expect to chase down some of the best female road runners in the country. Sure, my race could have been slightly more tactful, but who am I kidding? If I had run the race the way I wanted to, I probably would have ended up finishing in about the same spot. It is a lot tougher to come from behind on seasoned, mature runners than it is on locals at altitude. Alright, so I have realigned my expectations of National road races. It is also important to remember that this is all new, and therefore I need to gain as much experience as possible. I learned a lot more by being with that front group and even fighting by myself than playing it conservative and meandering about at a slightly slower pace. By risking it a bit, I was able to see what it will take for me to actually compete in the front in the future. Finally, I would like to give myself a little credit for the fact that once I was told to go out with the front group I didn’t question it or get intimidated. Sure, it may not have been what I wanted, but that doesn’t mean I was scared to do it. I probably should have been, but I wasn’t. I knew I could do it and that I would just hang on for as long as I could. And I don’t mean to be egotistical, but not everyone can completely ignore the statistics (aka all their competitors PR’s and track records) and say I know my running resume doesn’t hold a flame to any of these women, but I belong here, I just know I do. And I do. I’m just not all there yet. So I would like to give myself some guts points, which evens out my less than ideal end result and leaves me with a fairly neutral race. There was some good, there was some bad. I am constantly reminded that I have miles to go. But I’m going there, damn it!

Enough race talk! On to the after party! Oh my gosh, these people know how to throw quite the bash. The first part of the after party, which by the way, was for the elite athletes and then I assume friends/volunteers of the race directors, was actually held at the race director’s house. And it was fancier than my wedding. There was unlimited beer and wine, catered Italian food (the rolls were excellent!), and even an ice cream vendor, all complementary of course. Well we all stuffed our faces, or should I say our bellies. It was great to hang out with all the other runners and eat, drink, and be merry. We were at the race director’s house until about 9pm, when we were shuttled to a bar that had been rented out just for us. There was a DJ, drink tickets, and fire twirlers. Great times people, great times! Honestly, you just had to be there. But I honestly don’t think I will ever find such an epic after party at another race. And honestly that is the truth.

So there you have it. I suppose this is the conclusion of my Gate River Run 2013 Race Recap. I just wanted to make sure I ended it as lamely as I started it. I hope to go back in the future and get my revenge on that course, but I suppose it is cheers for now!

e.

P.S. My "lucky," mostly just awesome sparkly blue sweaty band that I always race in kept falling out of my hair. So, that is the end of that unfortunately. Can't have silly distractions getting in my way.