2013 Bird-In-Hand Half Marathon Race Report

I returned to the hills of Pennsylvania to run the Bird-In-Hand half marathon to complete the second half of the requirements for the coveted Road Apple Award. I raced the Garden Spot Village marathon back in the spring to be eligible for this unique award. This also was going to be a great tune-up race for my Grand Rapids Marathon training.

My plan going into this race was to run it in 1:45-1:48. Pacing would be to run the first 4 miles with 8:20-8:30/m splits, miles 5-10 around 8:15/m, and finally miles 11-13 around 7:50/m. I figured with my training and the hilly nature of the course, this would be a good plan.

I awoke race morning at 4am and did my normal pre-race routine. The hotel was a couple of miles from the start so getting down there early at 6am to get good parking was not a problem. Weather was perfect with clear skies, calm winds, and 48f temperature. Looking at last years results, I figured I need to line up toward the front based off my pacing plan with 1400 runners signed up for this race. So I worked my way up to the start line with a few dozen in front of me.

Right at 7:30am the race started and I was off heading down the road. I settled into a comfortable pace the first 1/4 mile and took a glance at the Garmin to see I was running at 7:50/m. Runners were passing me left and right, but I decided to back off the pace. I hit the the first mile marker and my split was 8:11. The hills were not as bad as I remembered so I just decided to go off of feel more that the watch.

The next 3 miles was a progressive climb up to the highest point of the course. I found a few runners that seemed to be going at the same conservative pace, so I tucked in with them. I would glance at the watch to make sure the pace was not slowing down, but that was not an issue. The first aide station happen at mile 1.25 and I slowed downed and took in a cup of PowerAide and walked it for around 10sec as would be common for most stations. I quickly got back up to speed and with my "pack". Splits here as we climbed the long, winding hill picked up a bit, but stabilized at a reasonable pace for this early in the race: 7:50-7:56-7:50.

The hill actually peaked around mile 3.5 so I just cruised a bit for the big down hill that begins at the end of mile 4. Another aide station and walk at 3.5 also. With the biggest hill out of the way and steep half-mile long downhill in front of me, I decided to open up the throttle and get to work. As I worked my way down the hill I bottomed out around 6:50/m pace and then backed off the pace a bit concerned I might of overdone it. As I cruised past the 10k mark I glanced down at Garmin and saw I PR'd at that distance with a 48:25. Kind of wondered if that was good or bad. Regardless, correcting the pacing to a good feeling one netted me splits of 7:38-7:39-7:38 for the miles 5-7. Gu, water, and walking happen at mile 5.5 and more PowerAide/walking at the mile 7 station.

Right before the mile 7 station was a short steep hill that actually felt worse than the long winding one to start. It is all about placement on the course and this was well placed to take the will out of runners. It was successful as poorly prepared and paced runners were walking up this, including a guy dressed as Elvis. But what goes up must come down and after a short distance, another big downhill. So I opened up the throttle again to make up for slowing down on the uphill just minutes before. My pace bottoms out at 6:30 and at the bottom I slow back to a 7:4x pace. The next few miles are uneventful as I plugged along slowly passing runners that are beginning to fade. Mile 8.5 has another station that I once again slow down and walk thru getting some PowerAide. Splits are 7:42-7:45-7:42 for miles 8-10. Around mile 10 an Amish family had a water station setup in their driveway so I take my last Gu and down it with water while walking thru again.

Right after mile 10, we go onto dirt farm road that has erosion while being a bit hilly. At this point I am starting to feel the effects of running this pace as my legs start to tired. I take the approach of doing my best effort up hills without pushing it too hard and making up on the next downhill. But as these last miles unfold, the course becomes less hilly and flatter. At mile 11 the last water station appears and I take my last walk break and cup of PowerAide. My weeks of training with a Hanson plan to learn to run at pace on tired legs pays off big at this point as I keep on trucking without slowing. Splits are 7:45-7:45 for miles 11 and 12.

I enter the last mile feeling tired, yet strong. The sun is getting higher and beating down on me. But I see runners ahead still that are slowing so I decide to do a measured increased in effort. My legs response and move ahead of a couple runners here and as I turn onto the last road before the final .1 mile on the field. There are a few runners a hundred or so feet in front of me, but I decide not chase them down as I do not want to blow up or injure myself. But as I approach that last bit the crowd thickens and are cheering loud as I turn onto the field. The footing is not great, but I see that clock is reading 1:41:4x and I give it my all to try to finish below 1:42. My pace gets to 6:25/m but I cannot beat the clock and I cross at 1:42:0x. I walk slowly through the chute getting my horseshoe medal and proceeding to food tent for a banana and some water. My body is exhausted and I feel like I ran a smart race and gave it my all. I exceeded my expectations by a mile, sub-1:44 was not even on my radar. Hard work and consistent training pays off. So yeah, the race plan was tossed out the window early and I listened to my body and I was rewarded with a 15 minute PR. Sometimes that works, sometime not.

Thanks to chip timing I did end up finishing below 1:42!

Time: 1:41:54
Pace: 7:47/m
OA Place: 131/1277

AG Place: 12/118

Reed's Lake 10k Race Report

This was my first 10k ever despite running 7 previous marathons, a few halfs, 25ks, 5ks…you get the drift. This 10k race has been around for 35 years and is very well run and organized. Crowd support is great, plenty of aid stations, a rocking finish chute, and decent size field.

I awoke race morning early at 5am to do my usual routine of prepping for the race. Including a small cup of coffee and half a bagel with PB. Watching the local news, the weather was looking to be warm and moist with starting temps around 67 and a dewpoint of 62f. I arrived about an hour early and parked a ½ mile away so I could loosen up a bit by jogging before/after the race. After getting my bearing of where everything was, I proceed to do my warmup mile from the start line. I ran at an easy 10:00/m pace for a mile and turn around to do a few strides at my planned pace of 7:50ish. Everything felt good so I chatted with fellow runners I knew.

With 5 minutes to go, I made my way to the start corral and lined toward the front, figuring my pace would fairly fast for the field. So the horn blew and off I went rocketing through the mats and starting my Garmin. Within a quarter mile, I looked at my pace and saw I was doing a 6:45/m! So I put on the breaks and slowed it down to an 8:00/m pace. I kept that pace for the first mile and was so glad after the race I did back off.

The next few miles were as expected, I kept my pace around 7:50 as I worked my way through the first 5k full of hills. The first aide station was a mess, the first volunteer I tried to get a Gatorade from messed up the hand off and I got the cup all over the front of me! That was a sticky mess that would be with me all morning! But I was slowing down to walk at this station so I just got the next cup, drank it, and got back up to speed. All this happening within 10-15 seconds. I then quickly got caught back up with the “pack” of runners I was in. This group would pretty much stick together for the first half. Though we occasionally lost someone who was going too fast for their fitness.

At the end of the first 5k was the Hall Street hill, which by Michigan standards was a big one. My paced slowed to around 9:00 halfway up this hill, but started to pick up as I crested it. My breathing was heavy and fortunately, an aide station was nearby for me to walk through and recover my HR and mental state. Just as fast as the first station, I was back to running, but with new zest. I quickly came across the 5k split sign and saw on my garmin I was at 24:15 roughly. Just :35sec off my 5k PR, so I wondered if I was in trouble! But that was not to be the case this race.

The remaining miles I focused on runners ahead of me and tried to pick them off as they began to slow. Or if they passed me, determined if it was for good or a challenge for my position. It helped keep my mind busy and not thinking about how tough this pace was! I just kept on getting a little bit faster each of these last miles. As I made the final turn and saw the Finish line, I pour my heart and soul into my legs to just get going. I really think I was at my limits for the day, I was hovering at these last minutes in the sub-7 pace range. But the crowd was electric and I kept it up until I passed the finished and came to a complete stop, bent over and caught my breath for a minute. My legs were cooked, but still agreed to let me walk.

My splits for the day were: 8:00-7:49-7:51-7:42-7:38-7:46-6:58 Avg pace of 7:46 and a finish time of 48:35. I placed 160/2261 overall and 21/112 AG(35-39).

Now here are my takeaways from this race:

      I walked three aide stations, taking about 10-15 seconds at a literally walk. This had pretty much no effect on my split time in comparison to non-aide station splits. So I loss nothing and I gained a reduced HR and mental break. I will be incorporating this in races 10k and longer.

         I am following the Hanson Advance training plan based off their new book and stick to its workouts very closely. This includes pacing, which means 80% of my runs are easy and in the 10-10:30 range. This was a full 2:30-2:45/m slower than my race pace today. So training at a slower pace does not mean I cannot get going fast. So this was a huge thing to overcome, since I struggled with pacing in the past. Granted, I do get my taste of speed with this plan during track work and tempo days, it is a balanced and smart approach.

      The last half of a race is 99% mental for me. I won the mental battle and really did well on the second half when many others were folding up. It is hard to describe how it felt or how I won the mental battle, I just know how inside.

So if you made it this far, thank you for reading all this! It is rather long for a 10k, but it was big for me.

-Pete