RACE REPORT – PHILLY DISTANCE RUN

The sun rose above the Philadelphia skyline near the end of our warm-up. We were wearing pants, jackets and hats, but could now begin to feel the warmth on one of the last days of summer. It was a quarter after 7 and it was still cool. I felt good.

Tendonitis in my lower left leg had cut down my training over the past few weeks. On weeks when I was supposed to run 80 and 100 miles, I ran 46 and 16(!) miles respectively. Red Fox doctrine states to “stand down and then attack” so I did just that. In that time frame I missed 5 days. First, I took 2 days off, ran (realized I hadn’t nixed the injury), then took off 3 additional days before easing back into training. After a 3 day hiatus, I ran 20 minutes (was hoping to run more, but decided to walk home). The next day I ran 25 minutes and I continued a trend of running 5 minutes more a day until I reached one hour. In a sense, I ran the injury from my legs. This is the 4th time in 18 months that this strategy has worked – time off, then gentle, easy, consistent, running. The last time I felt my tendonitis was after a semi-hard 10-miler last Sunday ending a 61 mile week – I was back on track. However, I hadn’t run 13.1 miles since my 21 miler with the team about 4 weeks ago. This, though, is simply a statistic. I had a great base of summer running under my belt with a few races peppered in for speed work.

The goal for the Philadelphia Distance Run was to run somewhere around 1:08:30. This was a projected time from two websites based off my spring 10 mile times. I adjusted the goal mid-summer to 1:07:59; an ambitious goal, but doable…or at least I thought. If I can run 5:07 (Broad Street) and 5:09 (Cherry Blossom) pace for 10 miles, why couldn’t I run 5:11 pace for 13.1 miles (or 5k more)? I thought this was realistic especially after a good summer of training. After the problems over the last month, I altered my goal back to 1:08:30…but hoped I might have a good day. Either way, the plan was to go out slower than pace (5:18 was the goal for mile # 1) and build up to goal-pace after I warmed-up.

Teammates Dickson, Dylan and I got to the starting line 5 minutes before the gun. There was a traffic jam of people trying to wedge their way through the gate and into the corral. Someone in the crowd yelled “let us in”. Someone else screamed “push back”. The sea parted and we wiggled our way into the cattle car known as the starting line. The gun boomed and I found myself well back behind a number of chuckleheads and jokers who I immediately had to dodge and swerve around. Without expending too much energy I worked my way up to the lead women’s pack and in the process tripped up 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Constantina Diţă. I apologized and then continued on my way. 5:17 for mile one – right on schedule. The first 3 miles are filled with 90 degree turns, so it’s best to keep your cool and not make any major moves. I did just that. Dylan came up along my side around mile 2 and together we tried to get into a pack ahead of us. Dickson soon replaced Dylan by my side. Just before mile 3 I turned and said “Let’s slowly work up to that pack”. Ahead of us was a group of 8 guys donning an assortment of colorful singlets. We were clicking away even splits and by mile 4, once we got out of the downtown area, had clearly set our sights on that pack. No more turns, just a long straight-a-way. Dickson powered ahead and I trailed in his wake. Dickson muttered “work off them until the bridge (roughly mile 9) and then we haul ass back to the finish”. I spit out an “okay”. We were now running 5:15s like clockwork and inching closer to the pack…ever…so…slowly. The pack was likely running 5:18s. It was great motivation to have that big pack ahead of us, but we wanted to get there before the pack split up. As soon as Dix and I got to the pack, it would splinter. We knew this and we wanted to be there before the splinter. The problem was that we didn’t want to expend too much energy getting to the pack as that would leave us struggling to go with them once someone in the pack did decide to move. It was all about strategy and I was loving every minute of it. Dix did a stellar job pushing along the Schuylkill River until the pack was within reach. However, just as expected, 3 of the guys made a break leaving 5 of their comrades in their wake. The break also caused 2 of the 5 to fall back just a bit. I glanced at my watch at mile 8 – 42:17; a 5:20 mile. Shit! We were slowing down! It was time to make a move. I was running well within my capability so it was time to up the ante and drive ahead. If I died in the next 25 minutes, so be it. I took the lead from Dix, but he came back quickly. Together we surged ahead and caught the first of the pack. As we started up the hill to Falls Bridge, I opened up my stride, caught the second man in the pack, and began to close the real estate between me and the trio ahead. It felt like I was finally starting to race, but I still had over 4 miles until the finish line. I hammered the bridge and then surged the downhill on the opposite side of the river. Now I was just a single surge behind the pack. I eased back a bit and told myself not to get too ambitious, but the pace seemed to be slow. The leader of the pack appeared to make a move, so I knew I had to try and follow. At 10 miles (52:54) I silently crept up along the other two runners. Both threw in a couple of surges, but I seemed to be running at a faster pace. I broke away and began to hammer my way towards the pack leader. I thought to myself “this is the smartest race I’ve ever run”. I had started out conservative and now I was crushing the pavement…only I wasn’t. I stopped looking at my watch, but after the race I realized (after looking at my splits) that I really wasn’t running all that fast (see splits below from 9-11). In fact, I was basically maintaining pace while the other guys were falling off pace, but it FELT like I was picking it up. By 11 miles I had passed the last of the pack and then set my eyes on the Moroccan, Khattabi, who was way ahead. It would take a Herculean effort to catch him but I had to focus on someone. I ran in tangents but began to feel the effects of 11 miles under my legs. My arms felt as if they were carrying 45lb bench press weights…in another mile it felt as if I had two of those weights on each arm. I was slowing down. I had no one to run with and I was losing my focus. My knees weren’t driving as they had 10 minutes earlier. Damn it. I needed companionship. I needed someone to get me out of my funk. To my right came the former pack leader. I quickly snapped out of it and surged ahead, but again faltered backward. Someone in orange came blazing by me with a mile to go. I responded but it was too much. My legs were beat and my arms were tired. My cardio begged to be worked, but the physical demands over the past 12 miles had done my body in. I crossed the line in 1:09:32. My leg muscles were rocked, but my stomach felt fine (something I secretly feared all week and all race morning). I had run well off my goal, but my goal was out of reach today. If I had gone out harder, I would have ended up in a world of agony. My lack of fitness showed during my last two miles (5:23 & 5:24) and it’s clear I am NOT in as good a shape as I was during the spring. I did feel I ran the best I could have run today and sometimes that is what is important.

It was great to have Dickson by my side. We were virtually by ourselves from miles 3-8 and without him, those would have been lonely miles and I would have almost certainly fallen off the pace. Together we closed that big gap while running as close to even splits as you can get. We worked the course well and ate up the asphalt.

The sun was high in the sky and the air warm by the time we started our cool down.

SPLITS

1. 5:17 - 5:17
2. 10:35 - 5:18
3. 15:52 - 5:17
(16:23 – 5k)
4. 21:09 - 5:16
5. 26:24 - 5:15
6. 31:40 - 5:15
(32:43 – 10k)
7. 36:56 – 5:16
8. 42:17 – 5:20
9. 47:36 – 5:19
10. 52:54 – 5:18 (5:17 pace up to now)
11. 58:12 – 5:17
12. 1:03:35 – 5:23
13. 1:08:59 – 5:24
13.1 = 1:09:32

1:09:32 - 5:18 Pace, 26th place