LaSalle Bank Columbus Distance Classic and Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Well, so: This is my second time running this race, but while the race was more-or-less the same for me this year as it was last, it was also very different. The race course was the same, and the day ended up feeling somewhat similar. But last year I was one of around eight or so different folks from my running club who had all trained together and drove to the race together and then kinda ran together. But THIS year, everyone had an excuse! Running injuries, and scheduling conflicts, and flu-impaired training, and I'm scared of the weather, and yadda yadda whatever. I ended up doing most of my long training runs myself, and ran on race day by myself! (There was actually one other guy I knew there among the 3,500 runners, but I drove in by myself and I never met up with him on the course.)

Add to that the fact that it LOOKED like bad weather for the race start, and I thought that this race was not going to be a lot of fun. Okay, okay, I got a bit fooled by watching the Weather Channel, which was making it sound like the entire eastern seaboard was STARING DOWN the BARREL of a LOADED GUN, and the only thing standing between us and CERTAIN DESTRUCTION from the disaster of the APRIL MADNESS STORM OF 2007 is the BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN of the ACTION NEWS STORM CHASER DOUBLE DOPPLER RADAR TEAM! We're all going to die! First we'll freeze solid from the unseasonable cold, then we'll be blown away in the hurricane force wind, but that will be a blessing because that way we won't drown in the 70-foot flood that will wash away all northeastern cities, leaving us with a shoreline that begins in Indiana, the end of civilization, and the living will envy the dead!

Or at least that's what the Weather Channel made it sound like. I think perhaps that they were exaggerating a bit.

Turned out that it wasn't all that bad. I think it got up around 50 during the race, and there was really very little wind. I didn't really get rained on at all, although it was starting to "spit" a little bit towards the end.

Because I got freaked out by the Weather Channel, I ended up wearing too much clothing. I was anticipating high, gusting winds on the course, so I didn't go with my usual dressing for the temp. A fifty degree run, I would wear just a long sleeve technical shirt and tights, or perhaps shorts and a jacket. But no, I thought it would be raining on me before the end of the race, so I wore tights, a tech shirt, ANOTHER tech shirt, a jacket, and a baseball cap to keep the rain out of my face. And I brought my running gloves and a headband just in case.

Well, I should have known that the Weather Channel were a bunch of excitable, snake-oil selling poltroons. I had to strip off one of my shirts and jam it in the back pocket of my jacket before the second mile mark.

Anyway, on to the running. I had run some good distance pretty regularly in training for this race, but I hadn't been very good at hitting the speedwork and short-and-medium distance runs. I wasn't planning on setting any records; I just wanted to finish this race as a means of insuring that I maintained fitness through the winter, and was well prepared for the beginning of the tri season.

So, really, I hit my goal before I ever began the race, since I was doing pretty good in the fitness stuff. I kept running all throughout the winter, even doing some "Rocky" impersonations in snowstorms. Yeah, go Rocky!

Race start, I planned to hit around 9 minute miles. I started off too fast, and made a specific decision to slow down. I actually STOPPED running to pull off my jacket, shove one of my shirts in the back pocket, put the jacket back on and get going again. And I started slowly walking through the water breaks, with the goal of keeping my energy levels up for the rest of the race.

Even with that, I ran mile 3 too fast, and wanted to slow it down a bit. Miles 4, 5, 6 and 7 were good. I decided that around mile 8 would be a good time to start picking it up, and that worked until mile 10, when I figured it was time to go faster, and I COULDN'T. So, that was where I figured out my limit; if I were in better shape, I would have been able to negative split the rest of the race.

So, the finish was fine; I did more or less the same as last year, and it was nice running the same course for a second year in a row. I felt really confident about the distance and my ability to plan my energy reserves.

So, I finished, ate everything that they gave me, including the BEST GAWDDAM ASIAGO CHEESE BAGEL EVER, got the finisher's medal, got my bag out of bagcheck, and left downtown just as the wind was getting C-O-L-D. Rained on me a bit as I drove home, too.

Oh, and by the way: The race was a tie, and both of the winners were in my age group. It's a pretty competitive AG when you're racing against Daniel Cheruiyot.

Winners:
Clint Verran Rochester Hills MI 31 M 1:06:01
Daniel Cheruiyot

NM 33 M 1:06:01

Ignore the weather channel; after all, being cold will just make you run faster.

Run faster.

Perhaps . . . get a pacer for this race? I know some faster runners; if I could talk them into running the race with me, perhaps it would help me set a FASTER pace?

Walked to the car.


Hmmmm. Laziness? failure to set a high enough goal? Losers in my running club?


Excellent beginner race; John Bingham really does up the beginner-friendly part of this race. LOTS of support, LOTS of water tables, and some crazy fun regular people doing the race. HIGHLY recommended for beginners.