Glass City Marathon Race Recap

     As I headed out the door for the 41st running of the Mercy Health Glass City Marathon I was both nervous and excited that race day was finally here.  I was excited because it was finally time to start, run and finish the 26.2 miles of this race.  I was nervous because I was going into it with minimal amounts of training and another round of IT Band issues, which was the reason I had to back out of this race the first time.  I knew the pain would set in, I just wasn't sure when, and what I was going to do when it did.

   
     The weather was picture perfect, and other than being just a little to chilly while waiting in the corrals for the gun to go off, almost no wind and clear skies as the sun came up made for a beautiful start.  I told myself over and over as I made my way across the starting line to run my own race and don't let others control my pace.  I knew that if I went out to fast I was going to be in big trouble so I treated this like it was just another long run, I picked a pace and stuck to it no matter what was going on around me.

     Things were going pretty darn well up through mile thirteen until I got greedy.  I was feeling really good at that point with my pace sitting right around a 10:00 mile average.  I started to let thoughts of speeding up and letting my potential finishing time cloud my judgment.  BIG MISTAKE.  I started to push the pace by almost a minute and it took no more than a mile to aggravate my IT Band.  It was at that time I had to come back to reality and slow things back down.  This is also when the walk breaks entered the conversation as well.  Walking usually calms the pain down in my knee so once the pain subsided I returned to a 10-10:30 avg pace.  I was able to grind out a mile or so before I would have to walk it out for a couple of minutes, and this strategy got me through the next few miles.

     Right around mile 19 I had caught up to my fellow race ambassador, Brian, who was taking a walk break just as I needed to take one as well.  Brian is a firefighter in Sandusky, Ohio who runs almost every race in full firefighter gear.  He originally started competing in endurance events because he was 50 pounds overweight and at risk for heart disease.  He found performing the basic fire ground operations became exhausting and difficult, so he knew he had to make a change.  Did you know that 40%-50% of all In-The-Line-Duty deaths on the fire ground are related to heart attacks and strokes, I never would have thought that with all the other dangers they encounter.  Brian is now in the best shape of his life and runs almost every race in full gear to bring awareness to firefighter health and to raise money for the Fireman Rob Foundation .  I hung with Brian for the next couple of miles as we both would push each other to run just a little more.  It was just what we both needed to get us through and finish at our own pace.  

     So at mile 22 I pushed on at a 11 minute mile pace trying to finish this race without walking anymore, unfortunately that was a pipe dream.  By the time I started mile 26 I had only taken a couple of short walk breaks and was getting pretty tired, but I was so close I could taste it.  I switched up my playlist to a group of songs that would get the adrenaline flowing and push me to the end.  The unfortunate byproduct is I always end up cranking up the pace as well and with just over a half mile to the finish my IT band let me know just who was boss at that point.  Walking wasn't even an option I needed to just stop because it felt like I couldn't even bend my knee it was so tight.  I tried a couple of stretches to loosen things up, but wasn't much help.  About another minute went by when a gentleman I had passed earlier came up and stopped his race to check on me.  I was leaned over trying to massage my IT band and all he said was "come on, lets go get our medals".  I looked up at him, smiled and we started to jog it out together.  

     The last 50 yards was amazing.  Running down the finishers shoot lined with people cheering for people they don't even know like they have known me for years is a incredible feeling and a humbling experience.  I crossed the finish line where the race director, who I've known for years and years, was there congratulating all the finishers gave me a hug and a high five.  I ended up with a finishing time of 4:43:40, which is right about what I was thinking before the race began.  After I received my medal I almost wanted to think that all of the shit I've gone through that kept me from this race until now was because this year's medal was so f-ing badass compared to years past.  The medal was huge and featured some great Toledo imagery showing inside the overall shape of the state of Ohio. 

     Once I felt like I had my feet under me again my parents and I headed down to the after party to get my free commemorative beer mug and a little post race chow.  The live entertainment on stage was a band that is fronted by one of my long time friends from high school who I was also in a band with.  Between songs he started picking a few notes from one of our old original songs then he asked if I wanted to hop on stage for old time sake and hit the skins.  It was a blast to get back behind a drum kit again even if I was tired from running a marathon. lol :)

     In the end, I would have to say other than a few minor little things I would change about the race, you would be hard pressed to find a fault with this race.  The race director, the race board that makes all the decisions, the Toledo Roadrunners club, the police and fire and the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers did an amazing job.  The Mercy Health Glass City Marathon may be just a small hometown event compared to a Columbus, Chicago or Detroit, but man this crew treats it like it is one of the marathon majors.  Every year they seem to make it bigger and better without losing that hometown intimate feel.  Oh and if you are looking for a great race to qualify for Boston, this is it.  A little over 22% of this year's finishers qualified and so could you.

Turkey Chase Race Recap

     Now that the zombie apocalypse of a weekend commonly known as black Friday weekend is coming to an end, I had a little free time to recap the Dave's Running Thanksgiving Day Turkey Chase 5K.  I woke up to mild temperatures and wet conditions from the rain that fell overnight.  Once I got dressed and ate a little breakfast I made my way downtown to get a decent parking spot and meet my fellow Mercy Health Glass City Marathon Ambassadors for a group picture.  I had to laugh when Jen, a fellow ambassador showed up in the turkey costume because I had no idea she was the turkey for everyone to chase. 

     After our group picture we all were talking about what times we were trying to hit, I really hadn't thought about it because it was my long run day, so my plan was to run the race and then go run another 7 miles when I got home.  I wished everyone luck and took off to do a little warm up jog.  This is when I noticed that I had forgot my earbuds.  I absolutely hate running without music, but this time I had no choice.  When I got done, our conversation about what time we all were trying for was bugging me so I looked up my 5k PR and remembered that was the day I won the Run the Res 5k last year.  I finished that race in 22:20 and after a little waffling I figured what the hell I'll give it a shot to try and beat it.  I made my way to the front of the pack to ensure I could get a good start with a few minutes before the start. 

     Once the horn sounded I went out like I was shot out of a cannon and feeling pretty good.  Now the weather never was a factor, but there was so much moisture in the air that it was misting the entire run.  The mist made it difficult to see as it built up on my glasses and the roads got slippery where they used tar to patch up the cracks.  When I hit the mile and a half mark, my breathing became a little labored and I noticed my heart rate was pegged close to my max.  I thought about shutting it down, but decided to keep going till I couldn't breath anymore.

     Coming down to the final stretch my breathing, even though was labored, had stayed pretty even.  I used the short downhill to help my legs kick into one more gear for the remaining tenth of a mile.  To be honest when I crossed the finish line I had no idea if I PRd this thing, but I didn't care, all I wanted to do is catch my breathe.  Now that I was breathing easier, I took a look and was stunned that I PRd by 20 seconds, which was made official later in the day when the official results were published.

     When I set that PR last year, I felt like I was in really good running shape vs now when I am 10 pounds over my goal weight and still coming back from my hip surgery.  Needless to say I was proud of myself, but knew I still had some work to do with my conditioning.  After I got home, I hit the road for the rest of the miles I wanted to get in, but I cut it down to five due to how hard I pushed running the other three.

KEEP AN EYE OUT, TOMORROW

MY MERCY HEALTH GCM

GIVEAWAY BEGINS

McQueen's 10K race recap

     

      If you were designing the perfect day for a race, today would be the exact representation of that day.  By the time the race started it was in the high 40's to low 50's, clear skies and virtually no wind at all.  The race was scheduled to start at 9:00am so I made sure I was there about 45 minutes prior to the start so I could get warmed up and check the place out.  McQueen's Orchard has been a staple for the Toledo area for more than 55 years, and plays host to many of fun family events throughout the year.  To be honest I couldn't tell you how many years they have been hosting this event, but it felt like they had been doing this for years.

     

     Once I got there I walked around and checked out the grounds, which were filled with cars, people and small carnival rides for the kids.  I found several of my fellow Mercy Health Glass City Marathon Ambassadors prepping for the race near the start line.  We got together for a few pictures and to talk about what our goals were for the race.  I finally got to meet Brian, the only other male ambassador this year.  Brian is a firefighter in the Sandusky area and is quite well known because every run he does in full firefighter gear to bring awareness for his fallen brothers and passes out stuffed animals to the young spectators along the course.  He has run almost 60 races including several marathons as well.

     Race time came and we filed into the starting coral to ready for the starting gun to send us on our way.  I was planning on hanging with a local running coach, Chris Peiffer who I hadn't met till today, but we follow each other on Instagram.  He was pacing a few people for this run as they were using it as a training run for another race.  They were going to run a 9:45ish pace, however they were feeling pretty good and made the game day decision to push their pace by about 30 or so seconds.  

     If I had a complaint about this race, the only one would be how small the starting coral was.  We were packed in so tight and for the first few hundred yards there wasn't much room to spread out.  It took me almost a mile and a half before I caught up to Chris and his group, where I just hung out till we hit the last 1.2 miles.  I was feeling really really good and felt like I could push myself harder, so I slowly started to kick it out and pulled away from the group.  I went from a 8:56 pace in mile five to an 8:21 pace for mile six and was able to finish officially with a time of 55:59 @ 9:01 pace.  I knew at the time that I had PRd my 10k time since the last time I ran a 10k I was well over 200 pounds.  Based on my Garmin Connect account, today's race was 12.5 minutes faster than my previous PR.  

     As far as the race course goes, it was a very flat race on country roads and neighborhoods.  I was a little worried when we hit the end of mile three and made a right turn back where we started from.  I was thinking we were going to run the exact same route we just did, however this was only the case for a mile where we turned off the original route and started through some of the nicer neighborhoods in the area.  We made several left and right turns before getting back on the original route for the last half mile to the finish.  At the end we were treated to cold water, fresh picked apples, apple cider, power bars and fresh baked sugar coated cake donuts.  I grabbed a donut, a power bar and an apple to celebrate my new PR.

 

     All in all, if you are looking for a fun, flat 5k or 10k race in the fall then this race is for you.  If you are one to dress up in your favorite costumes and think, "it would be fun to run dressed like this" then this race is most defiantly for you.  I'll leave you with a few pictures I grabbed off of Dave's Performance Footgear's Facebook page so you can see some of the fun times from the day!  

Glass City Marathon Race Weekend Review

     FINALLY!  I get to sit down and spend a little time talking about how last weekend went.  The short version is, it was incredible.  You couldn't ask for a better race, with better weather and a great time at the expo.

     Saturday was the Health and Wellness expo being held on campus at Savage Arena as it is every year.  The weather was great and this year they had Rosie's, an Italian food Truck, parked out front serving some really good food.  Yeah I splurged and got a mini pepperoni and cheese calzone, it was damn good and worth every calorie.  The expo this year seemed packed with vendors, more than previous years, or at least it felt that way.  Lots of great stuff to look at and shops giving some amazing discounts on gear.  Once I was done looking around I went to pick up my race packets.  Prior to me joining the relay team I was already signed up for the 5K so I decided to pick up the packet anyway.  It had a nice shirt and anytime I can promote this great event I might as well right?

     After the packet pick up I headed to my physical therapist's booth to meet up with the rest of the relay team.  The team was made up of Tim and myself who were both patients of Alisha's, her husband Eric and her cousin Linda.  It was fun getting to know them a little bit since this was the first time meeting all of them.  We finalized our plans for the morning before I split off to start my shift at the information tables.

     The shifts between the Ambassadors were overlapped by about a half hour so we all would be together for a quick photo and have a few minutes to hang out.  My shift also included Jes who writes the blog Running Rogue and Amanda who writes the blog There Are 2 Sides.  We spent the afternoon answering a lot of question particularly where to park and what time should they get here.  It was fun to interact with a lot of interesting people from all walks of life.

    Race morning finally arrived and it is a little weird to wake up so freaking early and not have to run for several hours.  The plan was to meet at the start line and watch Linda take off, then hop in the car and head over to the first exchange point.  Being the type of person I am I got to the parking lot an hour and a half before the race start and was relaxing when I got a text from Alisha.  She had sent out an email earlier in the morning that I missed and she was checking to see if I got it because I didn't respond.  The team decided due to traffic and road closers, Alisha would drop Linda off at the start and meet Tim and myself at a coffee shop a few blocks away.  This turned out to be a great idea, however I was not able to see any of the starting festivities.  I did grab a few pictures that were posted on Facebook of the start for your viewing please however.

     Tim, Eric, Alisha and myself headed over to the church parking lot that is a short walk to the first exchange which also turned out to be a major spot for spectators.  There was a ton of people with signs, cowbells and just simply clapping and cheering on the runners.  I have to say seeing the runners up close from this perspective, there were a lot of unique personalities showcased with their pick of running attire.  One that I missed getting a picture of was a guy wearing a tight tank top with matching spandex pants that had images of cats all over it.  

Here is kind of what I am trying to explain, but imagine a 6'2" 200+ guy wearing them!

     Anyway, Linda showed up and passed the belt with the bib on it to Tim and the rest of us headed back to the car.  It was quite congested trying to get out at that point because of all the other relay teams trying to leave, but what made it really hard was a really bad accident just in front of the church, which slowed things down.  Eventually we made it to exchange two where Tim would hand off to Eric and we would then just walk maybe a half mile northeast to the next exchange point.  Eric's leg was 3.1 miles and was a loop shape so that is why the exchange points were so close.  The next exchange was a happening place.  Lots of spectators and a DJ pumping up the crowd with some great music.  Once Eric passed off to Alisha the four of us headed back to the car to make our way to the last exchange point and this is where things got a little interesting.

     We followed the driving instructions, however what we didn't plan for is the police that were blocking the road for the runners earlier were still blocking the road now.  According to the instructions they were to have had the road open a half an hour prior to us coming and we were scrambling to find another way to the exchange point.  We started heading a different way, but decided to turn around and see if we could sneak in another way.  Just at that point they opened the road we were suppose to take and headed to the exchange point.  We parked and I headed to use the bathroom quick because we knew Alisha would be showing up any minute.  As we were walking with still a couple hundred yards to the exchange Eric used his GPS tracking on his phone to see where Alisha was.  He said she is just around the corner and sure enough there she was speeding to the exchange.  I had to sprint to cover the ground between me and the exchange point just to meet her in time.  She handed me the bib belt and I was off and running.

     The fifth and final leg of the relay was relatively flat with one long very mild climb that wasn't much of a problem.  Due to the excitement of the race and speeding to the exchange point my pace was faster than I wanted it to be.  I was planning on taking it slow and building my pace each mile, but adrenaline usually changes your plans in the race.  My first three miles went 9:44, 9:36, and 9:25 before I got a side stitch and had to throttle back a little.  I was able to recover and managed a 9:34 in that fourth mile.  What happened in the fifth is something I told myself I wouldn't do, but it happened anyway.  The last 1.3 miles were heading back to the finish on campus and was lined with tons of spectators.  At this point my hip was feeling great, almost like I never had surgery 5 months ago.  Combine that with all the great support and just the right adrenaline pumping songs that I cranked to full blast and took off like I was shot out of a cannon.  Remember mile four was 9:34, well mile five clocked in at 8:42, almost a minute faster.  I was feeling so good I almost missed my team waiting for me me with the .2 left to go.  They fell in behind me as we turned down the final stretch and crossed the  finish line with a total team time of 3:50:53.

     When we started, we never discussed times and what we wanted to try and do, we were just running the race for the fun of it, but we were all really proud to combine for a sub four hour marathon.  We got our medals and grabbed a quick picture before heading down to the after party.  We decided not to wait in line for food because the line was just to long.  We headed to the beer tent so some members of the team could grab a free beer and I stopped over to say hi to my old band mate and friend Zak who's band was the entertainment for the after party.  Afterwords we headed back to the car so Tim and I could get a ride back to our cars at the coffee shop and go enjoy the rest of the day.

     All in all I say this year went really well.  I forgot to mention how good the weather was this year.  When I got up it was in the low to mid 40s and by the time I ran around 10:30ish it was in the mid to high 50s and climbing.  The sun was shinning bright all day and if you asked a runner to describe the perfect weather for a race I would bet most would describe the kind of weather we had on Sunday.

2015 Glass City Marathon Race Recap Part 2

     Once we were all showered, dressed and ready to go, we hopped in the car and made out way over to the UT campus for the start of the race.  The temperature wasn't to terribly bad being in the high thirties since there was no wind to speak of.  With hardly any traffic on the roads we made really good time and got there early enough to get a pretty close up parking spot.  Mandy had a friend from work doing the 5K with her so we made plans to meet her at the expo hall at 6:30.  Once we met up with Annie we hung out in the expo hall to keep warm while I did a few light stretches and some warm up exercises.  With twenty minutes till race start we headed outside so I could get a couple light warmup laps and my dynamic stretches done.  When I was ready to go we snapped a couple pics and I attempted to find my place in the starting corals.

 

    
     This year was a growth year for the race as far as participants go, so when I tried to get in my assigned starting coral, it was so jam packed there was no room for me.  People were climbing over the bike rack barricades to get in and the provided doorways in were full and spilling out into the spectator area.  I ended up finding a small hole to get in to the coral ahead of mine, which worked out fine because I ended up running faster than I originally anticipated.  I was in the corals with about 5 minutes to spare before a couple of guest speakers said a few words and then the horn sounded and we were off.

     The race course quickly takes us off campus across a major road and into some of the nicest neighborhoods in Toledo.  What is nice about running through these neighborhoods is the fact that the community embraces the race and people come out of their homes to clap, cheer, hold signs or simply just to watch while not being upset with street closers or disrupting their daily routines.  

     Around mile 2 I started to have some GI issues and had some gas pressure building up that also was putting pressure on my bladder.  From that point till almost mile 7 or 8 I felt like I had to pee, which made me think maybe I should slowdown and maybe hit a port a potty.  I almost did when a runner a little bit ahead of me made a B-line right for it, so I decided to just press on.  Slowly I was able relieve the gas pressure (sorry runners who were behind me) and my need to pee subsided.  As the race went on I kept a close eye on my Garmin trying to maintain a steady pace, all while telling myself to run my own race and not worry about people passing me or me passing others.  I would have to remind myself that just because someone passed me doesn't mean I am slowing down and my Garmin confirmed that.  

     Through the first half of the race I was holding a steady pace between 8:10 and 8:15 so I thought if I felt good at the half way point I would slowly increase my speed and try to get a negative split for the second half.  Mile 7 I started to speed up and I must have hit a mini wall because I was feeling a little tired in mile 8 and struggled to even get an 8:15 pace.  I pushed through it and got back to around an 8:06 pace for miles 9-11.  At mile 10 they had a timing clock that read 1:21 on it when I passed and I quickly did the math in my head, three or four times to be sure, that if I held my pace I was going to hit a sub 1:50 time and even had a shot at a sub 1:45 time.  When I hit mile 12, which was mostly an up hill climb, I decided to not push to hard and save my legs for the last mile, so my paces plummeted to an 8:21.  Just before the last mile I looked at my time and thought If I want a sub 1:45 I need to get a move on, so I threw on some loud fast rock in roll and cranked up the pace to go as fast as I could without burning myself out too early.  Unfortunately I just didn't have enough time to do it, but I wasn't disappointed at all because I crushed the shit out of my PR by more than 12 minutes.

     After I crossed the line I got a water and my medal and met up with Mandy, who showed me her shinny new medal.  I was more proud of her for completing the race and getting the medal than I was of my new PR!  Mandy always said she doesn't like running and who knows if she ever will, but the fact that she got out there and did it was the best part of my day.  We took a few pictures and headed to the post race party to get some food and to relax.  The Glass City puts on a hell of a spread with fruit, pretzels, cookies, candy and my favorite Gino's pizza and bread sticks.  Of course the beer was flowing as well for those that like to partake in a nice cold one post race.  We sat out in the warm sun listening to Zak Ward's band play a few tunes while we enjoyed our little feast.  When we finished I stopped over to talk with Zak, we are buddies from high school and were in a band together for a few years before school and work took precedence and we had to call it quits.

   
     For me, other than the race organizers needing to reevaluate the starting line and corals for the growth in participants, I don't have anything else bad to say or to criticize about the race.  I can't speak to the full marathon, but for the half all the water stops, but one were fully staffed and well stocked with fluids, all the timing mats except for one had either a clock or someone there calling out times and the spectator support was great.  My two favorite parts of the entire race is the view of the University Bell Tower as your are coming down Drummond road (sorry no picture, I was trying to crush my PR) and the finish when you come through the gates of the UT Glass Bowl football stadium and run the finishing shoot on the 50 yard line.  

     We will see what next year brings, but I would really like to complete the trifecta and do the marathon next year, but we will see.  I want to give a big thank you to Amanda Kessler for asking me to be a race Ambassador for this year.  I had a lot of fun writing about it and to be asked to represent my hometown race was truly an honor.  I also want to thank friend and Race Director Clint McCormick for another wonderful Glass City Marathon event.  Even though this is only my third year participating in the event I have to say you and the other organizers are a class act providing Toledo with an event we can be proud of!