Oak Barrel Half Marathon by Greg

I did it! I completed my first half marathon. 13.1 miles of pavement pounding that was both fantastic and painful at the same time.
The week leading up to the race I had decided that I would not do any running. My shin was still killing me from the run up Bankhead Parkway on March 29. I did my normal swim and bike workout on Monday morning and then rode my bike around Research Park on Tuesday. I was going to do something light on Wednesday, but decided to have an extra rest day instead. I had three full days of rest before the race. My shin was feeling better, but not 100%. I could finally pull my toes up about 75% the full range of motion before the pain kicked in. On Friday afternoon at work, I decided to do a little jog around the lab to see how my shin felt. Surprisingly, it was fine. A little achy, but no sharp pains. At that point, I declared I was ready for the race.
Also, the entire week, I really watched what I ate. I had the same breakfast all week (protein shake, banana, and yogurt). I ate sandwiches and salads for lunch and didn’t overeat for dinner. Oh, and no late night snacking. I believe that really paid off because I didn’t have any digestion issues during the race at all. That’s all I will say about that.
Race Day:
My alarm was set for 4:30, but I woke up at 4:20. Tracey wanted to sleep until 5:00, so I quietly got out of bed and got a shower. I know it seems pointless to shower before race, but for me a shower in the morning is like a big cup of coffee. It wakes me up and makes me feel refreshed. I had a small cup of coffee, some peanut butter on a piece of bread, and some apple slices. We got all our stuff packed up and headed out on the hour long drive up to Lynchburg at about 5:45.
The drive up was really nice. We had some music playing and watched the sunrise over the mountains. I remember this one valley we drove into that was absolutely gorgeous and the sun was just over the horizon lighting up all the dew on the grass and trees in this valley. It was such a beautiful drive up there and got us excited knowing that it was going to be a beautiful day for the race. We got to Lynchburg around 7:00 and had plenty of time to get our packets, get all our stuff together, stop by the porta-potties, stretch, and go for a quick warm-up run.
We lined up near the 9:00 min/mile sign. My strategy was to run 9:00 min/miles until Whiskey Hill. Then, slow down while going up the hill, then just keep a steady pace after that.
The Star Spangled Banner was sung, then the announcer said something (we couldn’t understand him because everyone else was talking, too), then we heard “GO!”. And we were off. Even though there were 1050 participants in the race, it really wasn’t that crowded. Once we got past the start line, Tracey and I just found a nice comfortable pace around 9:10 min/mile. People kept passing us, which was really frustrating me. It’s so hard to hold back at the beginning of a race. I just had to keep telling myself that I had to run my own race and not worry about others passing me. Tracey was reinforcing this to me. I finally stopped letting it bother me and just focused on my race.
About a mile into the race I got a sharp pain in my shin. My first thought was I couldn’t finish the race. I thought I was done. My first ever DNF. However, the pain was short lived. A few strides later, it was gone. This would happen again several times throughout the race. Going downhill was more painful for my shin. I had to slow myself down on the downhills because I thought if I got going too fast and that pain came back I might fall down. Also, there were several parts of the course where the road was slanted so that my feet were uneven. That made my shin hurt, as well. I quickly learned to find the flattest part of the road.
Whiskey Hill
Prior to Whiskey Hill, we were going along at a good pace. There was a good crowd of people running around us. We were probably in the middle of the pack. We were enjoying the scenery and talking and joking with each other. Tracey and I usually don’t get to go on runs together. This was a nice opportunity to get to do a long run together. I remember the first hill was steep but it was short. When we got to the top, there was quite the odor of cow manure. After that was Whiskey Hill. It wasn’t all that steep at first. Just like the hills around Research Park where I have run so many times. Then, out of nowhere, it seemed to me, it got steep. It reminded me a lot of my run up Bankhead Parkway. That’s what I told myself as I was running up it. I told myself I did this two weeks ago and it was a lot steeper and a lot further. I kept on chugging. Tracey ran a few yards ahead of me to keep me motivated. Finally, it started to get even steeper. At this point, we could see the top but it was going to be a lot of work to get there. I kept pushing. I was determined that I did not want to walk. We were passing people that were already walking. I kept telling myself that I’ve been doing hill training for months, just trust my training and get to the top. Just before the last 100 yards of Whiskey Hill there is a switchback. That switchback is really steep. When I got to it, I had to stop and walk for about 10 seconds. Then, I started running again and pushed to the top. I had learned from the Cotton Row 10k last year to take plenty of time to recover after the hill. So, I did. I was doing 13:00 min/miles, but I had to recover if I was going to finish this race.
After that, the race was mostly flat or downhill. There were two more short steep hills and one gradual hill. But, they were not bad.
The Downhill
This race was very well run. There were water stops about every two miles. I took water or Gatorade every time. I sweat a lot and I did not want to carry my own water. So, I’m thankful for all the water stops. The rest of the run was just the grind of going from miles 6 through 13. One of the things I noticed is we saw the same people over and over. They would pass us, then we would pass them, etc. Everyone has their ups and downs. You don’t usually see that in a 5k or 10k. Speaking of downs, there was one guy that had to get picked up by the ambulance. We don’t know what happened, but we expect he was dehydrated. When we passed, they had him on a stretcher rolled on his side and he was vomiting. I hope he’s okay and gets to back to running soon.
Going downhill for the last 4 miles were nice because they were downhill. But, they were also painful for me because both of my calves were cramping. First, it was my left calf. I could feel my toes starting to curl which means my calf wants to cramp up. I tried extending my stride to stretch my calf which worked well. Once my left calf stopped acting up, my right calf started doing the same thing. Then, after a while, both were cramping up. Basically, the last two miles of the race I was doing everything I could to stretch them out short of stopping and stretching. In hindsight, that’s maybe what I should have done. I may have been better off stopping and stretching for one minute than enduring the discomfort.
The Finish
When we got back on the main highway that lead back to Lynchburg, I knew I was going to make it. I was ready to be done. I was actually getting hungry and ready to stretch my calves so they would stop cramping. At this point, I had my music cranked up and was singing to keep my mind off the pain. We started seeing some people that had already finished coming back to watch their friends finish. I knew we were getting close. Seeing mile marker 12 got me motivated. The longest run I had ever done prior to this was 12.28 miles. I knew I was about to break that personal record. Also, I told myself there was only 10 minutes of running left and I would be done. I could do this for another 10 minutes.
I saw the crowd of people up ahead, which I knew meant the end was near. I maintained my same pace until I made a turn and saw the finish line. I sped up as fast as I could go (which was not fast). I heard the announcer calling out people’s names. I didn’t hear my name called, but Tracey said she heard it. I thought that was a nice touch. I crossed the finish line at 2:11:56. My goal was to be below 2:10. However, because I had the shin injury holding me back, I’m not disappointed in my time. I think I did as well as I expected. I never completely ran out of steam. I only had to walk for a very short time up Whiskey Hill and I finished strong. As I ran through the chute, I grabbed a medal and a water bottle and kept walking around. I had to keep walking to avoid the cramping in my calves. When I found Tracey again she gave me a hug and a kiss. I was so glad she stayed with me the entire race. It really helped to have someone to motivate me and to talk to.
Post-Race
We guzzled down some water and Gatorade, got some pizza, pancakes, and brunswick stew. They put on a great post-race party. We stayed there for a little while talking to friends and then headed back home. Tracey’s parents had taken the kids out to lunch, so we got to take a short nap and shower before they got home. That was really nice.
My first half marathon was definitely a great experience. I would love to do the Oak Barrel again. I’m not sure when I will do another half marathon. I don’t think it is something I will do but once or twice a year. It is a very challenging distance, especially for someone as heavy as me. Last year, I kept telling everyone I couldn’t do a half because of my weight. Well, I proved myself wrong.
Stats
Gun time: 2:11:56 (53rd out of 89 in Male 35-39 age group)
Chip time: 2:11:27
Overall pace: 10:02
Splits:
mi, Pace (min/mi), Elevation Gain (ft)
1, 9:10, -31
2. 9:20, -18
3, 9:25, 28
4, 10:04, 86
5, 11:30, 243
6, 9:56, -45
7, 10:09, 61
8, 9:30, -37
9, 10:08, -61
10, 9:58, -106
11, 9:50, -81
12, 10:03, -39
13, 10:37, -18
14, 11:38, 4

Oak Barrel Half Marathon

First off I want to say how proud I am of my husband, Greg for running his first half marathon!!  He did great and I am so proud of him!  I am also glad that I got to run his first half marathon with him.  I had gone back and forth about whether or not to run my own race or to run it with him.  I thought about it and prayed about what to do, and then the day of the race I listened to my heart which told me to run with him.  Since it was his first I wanted to be with him through the whole course and get to experience it with him.  Also, Greg and I don't get to spend 2 hours alone that often, so that was a big factor in my decision as well!

Another factor was the course!  It intimidated me since the last two half marathons I had done were both flat courses.  This course was a whole other ball game!  I wasn't sure if I could run this course at my usual half pace.  We kept getting emails about this course from the event organizers telling us that this course is full of hills and that there's one hill that even has it's own name:  Whiskey Hill.  They even called it a "character building hill".  A friend of ours had done one of the practice runs for the hill, and he told us that it was no joke!  Here is an excerpt from one email we got:

Hills are your friends
You can probably not do too much hill training for Oak Barrel.  The course has one very challenging hill that is about a mile long and starts a little after 3.5 miles into the run.  This hill is significant enough that it has been lovingly (well, … maybe not lovingly) named Whiskey Hill.  It even has its own facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/OakBarrelWhiskeyHill).  It is reasonably gradual for about the first part of the climb and then the fun begins about half way up.  It isn’t too late to get in a bit of hill training before the race.
The pay back comes at about mile 9 when you have a gradual 3 mile decent back to the highway and from there to the finish where the run is flat. 

Here is some more information about the course that I found on their website:

The course starts just off the square in Lynchburg, Tennessee and winds through rural Moore County Tennessee and passes the Jack Daniel's Distillery.  The course finishes the 13.1 mile loop on the Lynchburg  town square.

Lynchburg sits at the low point of a beautiful, picturesque valley, and because of this, the race course does include a few hills. Since start and finish locations of the race are essentially at the same elevation, any hills that you get to climb, you also get to descend.

Understand, that because Lynchburg sits in a valley, the race course incorporates a few hills.  The scenic beauty of Moore County; however, will far outweigh any of the challenges presented by the hills.  This will NOT be a “flat and fast” personal record setting course but hopefully will be a fun and memorable race.

So Saturday morning we woke up around 5:00 a.m. since we had about an hour or so drive to Lynchburg, TN, and the race started at 8.  My parents had come up the night before to watch the kids for us during the race.  They had planned to come to the race because my parents wanted to see the distillery, but after giving it more thought, we all decided it was probably best for them to just stay at home.  That way they could spend more time with the kids and didn't have to worry about getting them all ready and driving all that way.  My mom also said that she wanted to give us a break and not have to worry about taking over as soon as the race was over and just to be able to enjoy ourselves.  So that was really nice of her to do that for us.  The kids had a fun time with them and got to do some special activities.  Here's a picture of the Easter treats that they made.  They were carrot planter boxes.  My grandma saw the idea in the newspaper so she went out and bought all the ingredients for the kids to make them.  I thought that was really sweet of her. 

We got ready and made sure we had everything we needed like our Gu, ipods, and my favorite item which is my Garmin!  I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which I know is a little heavy, but I ate it two hours before the race.  It lasted me the whole race, and I never needed my Gu.  The drive to Lynchburg was very serene and quiet since there was no one out that early on a Saturday morning.  We took a lot of highways that ran through some beautiful countryside.  We even got to see the sunrise which was beautiful too.

Once we got there we had to head to packet pick-up.  I made a last minute wardrobe change since the shirts that gave out were really nice long sleeve Nike Dri Fit shirts.  It was pretty chilly, and I had planned to run in a short sleeve shirt, but I thought it would be nice to have the long sleeve yet still have the lightweight material.  Then we walked to the town square which was the cutest one I have ever seen.  You can tell they have really fixed it up, and I'm sure it's because it's a touristy area with the Jack Daniels Distillery being there.  It looked like a little town right out of a movie.  We got to talk to a few friends, and then we had to head over to the start which was right up the street from the town square. 

We got to the start and the nerves were flaring up a little.  But thankfully we didn't have to stand around and wait too long because they started the race on time.  So it was like as soon as they finished the national anthem, they said "GO!"  Let me say that this is a very beautiful course!  It runs through the country and I just loved the scenery.  I remember there being this one big open field that was full of yellow wildflowers and a few horses walking around.  We also saw a few old barns, cow pastures, and pretty hillsides.  I tried my best to take it all in because it's rare that I get moments like this where I get to enjoy nature!  I was also enjoying getting to run with Greg.  We didn't talk a whole lot since it's hard to talk while running, but it was great to get to be side by side.

 Thanks to my friend, Kathy for this picture.  Greg said that we were in sync.  I loved that.

Now onto the hills!  There were two small hills before the big one.  Once we got to mile 4, we began to run up Whiskey Hill.  I knew we were there when I heard the song "Highway to Hell" being played!  Greg and I got a kick out of that!  The first part like they said was gradual.  It actually wasn't that bad until you got to the really steep part at the end.  I decided that I wanted to run up it because I wanted to show that hill who was boss!  On the hill's facebook page it would post a lot of smack talk to the runners saying things like, "So I heard the race sold out really early this year! Can't believe they're gonna let 1,050 crazies into Lynchburg April 7. Only crazies run me!" and "Did you know there's a Whiskey Hill blues band? I should invite them out April 7 when you'll be singing the blues!!!!"  It's really silly since I know it's just some guy typing this stuff, but I guess I just wanted to prove that I could do it since I have that competitive nature.

Once we got up to the top of the hill, we were just chugging along.  I don't remember too many details from that point on.  Around mile 10 my legs starting getting tired.  Greg told me that we only had a 5K left to go, and that was a good way to look at it!  Once we got closer to town, we passed the distillery, but we really didn't get a good view of it.  I was hoping to get to see it better.  After that we took a left turn and there was the finish line!  I let Greg go on before me because I wanted to watch him cross the finish. What an awesome moment that was!  I was grinning from ear to ear with happiness and pride for him.

Sprinting to the finish!

With our unique Oak Barrel medals

After we walked around a few minutes to cool down, we went over to the tents where they had all the food for the runners.  I chugged down a bottle of water then a bottle of gatorade in about 5 minutes!  Obviously I was more thirsty than hungry, but I still grabbed some pizza and Greg got a bowl of Brunswick Stew.  We talked to some friends after that, then we decided to head back home. And that was it!  Time to get back to being parents!  But much to our surprise, my parents and the kids were not home.  They had taken them out to eat, so Greg and I collapsed on our bed and took a nap!

Overall it was a great experience, and we hope to get to do the race again. It was definitely a challenging course, but that can be a good thing!  My official time was 2:12:02, and I came in 41st place out of 104 women in my age group.  Oh and here is a link to some professional pictures that were taken of us.  I never take good pictures while I am running, but this time I actually did so I wanted to share them.
http://www2.brightroom.com/98262/751
http://www2.brightroom.com/98262/752

 Here are a few pictures of our medals:

 We think that they are made out of cedar. 

Can't forget a picture of our family on Easter Sunday!  What a busy weekend that was!  

1 Month to Go

*Here is a blog post by my husband, Greg.  He has been training for his first Olympic distance triathlon since January.  He will be contributing to our blog as well.  Enjoy!  He's a much better writer than I am!

I truly intended to update this more often throughout my training for the Rev3 Olympic tri, but I just didn’t make enough effort. Maybe it’s not too late. Here are the highlights of my training so far.
Swimming
Not long after I started going back to the pool, the water heater broke. This was in January. The water kept getting colder and colder every time I went. I don’t remember how long it took them to get it fixed, but it was at least three weeks. I only skipped one swimming session because of this. I decided I had to tough it out and go in the cold. Heck, the water temperature at the race is going to be in the 60s. The pool only got down into the 70s. I could take it. Honestly, just getting in and swimming that first 50 yards was the hardest. After that, I was warmed up enough so that the cold water didn’t bother me.
I have been working on building up my endurance. The main workout I have done is a pyramid (100/200/300/400/300/200/100) with short breaks in between. I start out with some quick swimming drills and then go into the pyramid. I think all that work has finally paid off. This past Monday, I swam a total of 2050 yards. The last 1600 yards were 4×400 with 20 second rests in between. That has been my goal as far as endurance. I figure if I can do that, I can do the swim in the race. Now, I’m going to start mixing in a little speed work with my endurance swims.
Running
This Saturday is the Oak Barrel Half Marathon. I’ve been training for it along with the triathlon training. I have not done a lot of speed work. Mostly, I’ve been working on building up my endurance. For my long runs on the weekends, I increased my run by about a mile a week. I took some weeks off and some weeks I didn’t go further. My last two long runs were 11.88 miles and 12.28 miles. All that is left is to go the full distance on Saturday. Because the Oak Barrel is a very hilly course, I have been running up hills whenever I can. Tracey and I talk about good hills we have found so we can each go run them. I ran over Eastview a few times, which is a monster of a hill. It’s short but very steep. Last Thursday, a friend of mine and I ran up Bankhead Parkway. This was a two mile run up to the top of a mountain, and then two miles back down. I thought the run was going well until we stopped running. I started having a lot of pain in my shin, like a shin splint. It’s still bothering me a bit, but it is getting better. I’m running the race on Saturday no matter what. I’ll load up on Advil before the race.
I figure if I can run a half marathon, then I am more than ready to run the 10k in the triathlon. I will not be doing any more long runs before the triathlon. I’ll try to do some speed work and do plenty of bricks.
Cycling
This is where I really need to work a lot. I have been riding the stationary bike at the gym for 30-60 minutes once a week. But, that’s it. I have been acquiring new equipment to help me become more efficient. I got some clip-on aero bars and some cycling shoes for using the clipless pedals that came with my bike. I’m still working on getting my bike adjusted correctly. I just need to get on it more and try different positions and get used to riding in aero position. This will be my main focus over the next month. Instead of doing long runs, I’ll start doing long rides and then running for a little while afterwards. This is the only portion of the triathlon I am nervous about. Like I said, I have a lot of work to do here.
With one month to go, I am feeling confident I will be ready for the race. The triathlon class has started back at the YMCA which is always a great workout and I always get great advice from Lisi, the instructor. This should be an exciting few weeks. This is it. The last few weeks of training. I’m looking forward to crossing the finish line this Saturday so I can fully focus on the triathlon.

Changing Times

This is just a quick post but I wanted to share about how Greg and I were talking the other night about how just last year we were training for our first 10K and how things have changed so fast!  I remember when I started thinking about training for a 10K, the distance seemed a bit daunting.  Running 3 miles seemed to really tire me out!  But running has taught me a few things that I did not expect to learn from the sport, and that is determination, persistence, and confidence.  Once you get to a certain distance that you never thought you could run before, you realize, "Hey, I really can do this!"  So I think it was back in January of 2011 I started training for a 10K.  I remember the day I ran 6 miles for the first time....I was struggling!   I was pushing Gracie in the jogging stroller which was making it even harder, and then around mile 5, the wind started blowing at us SO hard like it did NOT want me to finish that last mile.  But I told myself to power through it, so I gripped the handlebars really tight and just gave it my all.  It was one of those moments that I'll never forget because at the time I truly felt like giving up.  But something inside of me told myself to keep going and to not give up.  After that run, I seemed to gain even more confidence in myself.  In March I ran my first 10K which was the UAH Spring Road Race!  I had done it!  Another goal achieved!  Now just one year after doing my first 10K, I am about to run my third half marathon!  My how things change in such a short amount of time!  Greg and I will be running the Oak Barrel Half Marathon in Lynchburg, TN this Saturday.  This will be Greg's first half marathon!  We are both really excited and can't wait for the race!  The thought didn't even occur to me just one year ago that I would be able to run a half marathon!  It's almost like 13.1 miles seemed impossible!  But look where we both are now.   Running really has been a blessing in my life by teaching me to be more persistent which has yielded confidence in myself to do things that I never thought were possible.   Who knows, maybe I'll be training for my first marathon this fall?