Race to Robie Creek - Run

Great run for me. Including a new PR (it's pretty easy to PR on your 2nd Half Mary :) ) I beat my first Half Mary time by almost 16 minutes.

Started the run, and walked with the crowd to the starting timer. Started running just as we crossed. I tried to follow Brett through the masses, but lost him within a minute. So I just started picking my way through. It took a good 1-1.5 miles to thin out enough to just run. I felt really good. Passed the 2 mile sign and saw 16:08 on my watch. I was happy with that pace, it was below my goal, but the course was still mostly flat, or gentle slope. I knew it wouldn't last.

About 2.5 I saw Brett ahead of me. I slowly worked my way up and ran a couple yards behind him for the next couple miles. We came abreast, and he said go on, don't wait on me. I laughed and said no way, it would be too demoralizing to have him pass me later. Then I said, it might be just as bad to have you steadily pull away and leave me in the dust.

I was in a good place then. My cadence was solid around 180. My breathing was good. No burning, a little fatigue, overall felt great. I concentrated on my cadence, and just naturally pulled away from Brett.

At each aid station I grabbed water, swished, and dumped it on my back. About mile 4 my legs felt a little wierd, almost disconnected from my concious thought. From mile 5 to 8 were fantastic. It was a steep grinding uphill, but I felt great. Natural cadence, good stride length for the grade, wasy breathing. It just felt natural. 8 to 8.5 was tough, it is the steepest part of the race, and almost everybody was walking. I gutted it out, and kept my cadence high. At times my pace was as slow as 14-15min/mile, but I was still passing people. It was tiring, but I bet I'm one of only a couple hundred people who can say they ran the whole dang thing!

Side note: At mile 8 was the "Table of Temptations" offering all sorts of things to try and get runners to slow down and indulge. They were calling out whipped cream shots, cigars, Bit O' Honey, Marshmallow peeps, BACON, and other such evils. Fortunately for me they bacon girl was reloading her plate, so I managed to get past without succumbing to the temptation. Poor Alison was not so lucky. She ran past and saw the peeps on a plate, turned around, ran 20 ft back and grabbed one. The temptation tragically cost her in the end.

The next two miles after the summit were great. I opened up my stride, and had a good pace going. I passed quite a few people, but unfortunately didn't open up all the way. It was my first time on the course, and I was holding some in reserve for the last mile. Between 9-10 Brett caught and passed me. He gave a good job, and tried for a fist bump, but he wsa moving to fast (or I was too slow). I was dissapointed, because I wanted to beat him, but not that dissapointed. I still had a chance to beat Alison :)

Somewhere around mile 11 the wheels came off just a bit. It was now a mild downhill grade instead of steep. My cadence was still solid, my stride felt good, but I was getting passed by what felt like 200 people. Looking at the results, I was #338 to the Summit, and 417 at the finsih. I dropped 79 places on the final 4 miles. I looked up after getting passed by a large group and saw a blonde in a pink top 30 yds ahead of me. Alison had chicked me! Her stride and form looked great, and I gave up on catching her. Maybe I should have gutted up and tried to race her, but I was worried about the last mile. The last mile of my first HM was brutal, I walked more than I ran. I was not going to walk a single step of this race.

I saw a guy I know from work. i don't know him well, but we had a brief conversation one day as he passed me on my lunchtime run. We had been running about the same pace for a couple miles. I decided for my own ego I would beat him. I stretched out a little more, and caught up to him. I asked him how he ws holding up. He looked a little rough, and said he had a gutache. I told him to finish strong, and completed my pass.

Before I realized it, I came around a corner and saw the finish chute. I really strided out for the last 100 yds or so, running like a cartoon chicken, head back, bald head blowing in the breeze. Raised my arms across the finsih line and tried to slow down. I gave the paramedics two thumbs up as I trotted past them to let them know I was good. I don't think they believed me, because they were staring at me pretty intently :) When I finally stopped I almost lost it, and nearly tossed my cookies :) Focused on my breathing and got it under control.

I had stopped right at Brett and Alison. Fist bumps all around. Brett finished 2:50.3 ahead of me, and Alison 2:30.5. Bret and Alison are a very competitive couple, and Alison really wants to beat Brett in this race. Now go back to the table of temptations. How much time do you think Alison lost, stopping, running back 20 ft, then retracing the 20 ft to grab a marshmallow peep? If it was more than 19.8 seconds then that little peep cost Alison an entire year of bragging rights :)

1. Start more toward the front. It took a lot of energy and I lost time passing a lot of people in the crush of the start. I finished in the top 20% of the field. That is where I need to start from.

2. Toughen up mentally. I felt great after catching my breath at the finish line. Barely felt sore the next day. That means I left a lot of time out on the race course.

3. Speed work. My form and comort level held me back on the downhill. I should have been around 6:30-7min/miles for the first two miles after the summit, then maintained 8min/miles for the last two miles. I think it is equal parts mental and physical at this point.

4. Don't drink. I took a drink at the first aid station, and propmtly got a side stitch. For the remainder I grabbed water, risned, spit, then dumped the rest over me. It worked out well, and I was able to easily hydrate after the race.

Overall I learned a lot this race. It was exciting, and challenging.

Grabbed a gatorade and choc milk. and pounded them down. Then a cold mtn dew (also know as sweet ambrosia). Grabbed another Dew and gatorade. We grabbed our finishers shirts, and hit the food lines. Food was pretty good. Chicken ala King, rice pilaf, cookies, fruit, baked potato with sour cream, butter, cheese, and bacon. We sat and ate while waiting for the rest of the crew to finish.

We waited a bit too long for one of our friends that we ran into at the start to finish. Then we caught the shuttle bus down the hill.

After a Gyro stop, and a grocery store stop we headed up to skinnydipper hot springs for a soak. Yes there was a skinnydipper there. Male, late fifties, early sixties. In other words we would have rather had slightly murky water.

Otherwise it was a great soak. We saw a nice little deer about 100yds away on the hike in. On the opposite slope we watched 3-4 elk browsing in the open. Great way to relax after the race.


Experience. This was my first look at the course. Now that I know what to expect I know that I can do better.

Overall times for the entire field were about 3 minutes slower than previous years. It was the warmest day of the year so far, and there was a noticeable headwind the entire race. Those factors affected evryone, but they need to be mentioned.


Fun theme, well organized. Plenty of food and beverages at the finish. the volunteers were great. Plenty of aid stations and medics. I passed two guys down, one I was part of the holler back chain to the medic of the aid station, and the second was already being attended to when I passed. The response on both was very quick.

Parking is a hassle, but they do a good job with the shuttles and off-site parking.

Quality event. Looking forward to beating my time next year.