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Comments: We got into the very crowded corral at the 10 minute mile pace, and our little group headed out together with a loose strategy of sticking together for the first several miles, then finding our individual paces after that. I was planning on running 9:45 or slower for the first 2 miles, then try to bring that up to 9:10 by the 5 mile marker (9:10 being average pace necessary for a 2-hr half-mary), then keep that or speed it up through the 2nd five mile section, and step on the gas for the last 5k. The garbage bag was perfect for the first two miles, and I ripped it off and was plenty warm from that point on. All in all, I was very happy with my choice of run clothing and strategy. As I started to run the second five mile stretch, I kicked it up to just under a 9 minute mile, attempting to average out my slower first five miles and hit an average of 9:10/mile by the time I hit 10 miles in (which I think should have been 1:32 hours in if I was going to hit my two hour target). This section felt reallt, really, really good. Like Superman good. I was picking it up a bit from my previous pace, and still walking through all the water stations. I loved it. Oddly enough, after running this pace up to around the 8.5 mile spot, I saw just in front of me one of the other runners from my group, who had told me that he was going to run a slow pace. I caught up with him and asked how he was doing -- he told me that he was sticking to his plan and had been running the last several miles at a ten minute mile pace! I told him that since I had last seen him at the five mile marker, that I'd been running a sub 9 and he was in front of me! He was shocked and chagrined, and although I passed him up, I later heard that he blew up and ran out of gas at mile ten. Plans, enemy. Of course, my plan didn't come off perfectly. I did really well through mile 10, then was planning on picking it up through the last 5K and sprinting at the end. That didn't entirely come off. I was able to speed it up to an eight minute mile for the last four, but by the time I could see the finish line, I had no sprint left in me at all. Nothing. Nada. I reached for it, I had planned for it, there was nothing in the fuel tank. But I guess that's okay. Sub-2hrs, had fun, no injuries, no hurling. What would you do differently?: Not get injured in training? Train with some gels so I can hit one at Mile 10 and have something for a sprint? Other than that, nothing; I made great choices today.  Post race
Warm down: After the finish line, I ate everything they gave me. There was a Panera Bread Asiago Cheese Bagel that was apparently made of cocaine, because it tasted better than anything I had ever eaten in my life. Lots of stretching. What limited your ability to perform faster: Injury in training. Lack of being Kenyan. Event comments: An excellent race for beginners, as John Bingham events are supposed to be -- very flat, very well organized, lots of volunteers. Comparatively expensive for a race, but you get a cool medal. Last updated: 2006-04-01 12:00 AM
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United States
John Bingham Racing
50F / 10C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 939/2665
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 118/226
This race had been a goal of our informal little running club for quite some time, so we had a nice little contingent of people planning to go -- eight in all. Our whole little crew had been training together, particularly doing long Sunday runs together. This worked out fairly well for us, except there was a fairly high incidence of injury in our training group. I myself had the heart cut out of my 12 week Hal Higdon training schedule when I went to the podiatrist and was diagnosed with a Lisfranc injury (a ligament sprain in my forefoot) and was banned from running for three weeks, taking an additional three weeks after that to come limpling back. So, overall, I was just hoping to finish, and to have a fun race, and to be happy. An additional time goal of around the 2 hour mark was a negotiable, race-day goal -- and I was pretty optimistic in the week leading up to the race, since I was feeling much better coming off the injury. I chose to run in one orthotic for my injury and without the matching orthotic, which had been hurting my uninjured foot.
I volunteered to drive in to the expo/packet pickup the day before the race to pick up our club's packets (and with a secret hidden agenda of shopping for cheap gear (I love cheap gear)). This allowed us to meet at a godly hour on Saturday to drive in together (6:50 AM rather than, say, 5 AM) on the hour and a bit necessary to get in to Columbus.
I woke up at 6, had coffee and a whole wheat bagel and a banana, grabbed my bag and met the folks to drive in -- seven of us in a seven-seat mini-van.
We arrived, parked in a city park parking lot, and walked in to the race start area -- less than a 1/2 mile walk. it was overcast and cool, and I was having difficulty making a race-day decision about wearing clothes. Since it had been overcast and rainy the day before, and since I'd seen a few forecasts of wind, I took lots of clothes in my bag -- sweat pants, short sleeve wicking shirts, long sleeve wicking shirts, warm shirts, wind jacket, waterprooof hat for if it was raining, kitchen sink, Bebe Rebozo. Eventually I chose to dress cool, even though it was cool and overcast. I wore shorts, a long sleeve wicking shirt, and borrowed a garbage bag from a friend to run in for the first couple of miles, just to keep the chill off.
Walked to the start, stretched a bunch while everyone else was dropping off their bags at the bag check, ran a few sprints in the street, was ready to go.