My training in the first 3 months of the year went fairly well. I was logging regular weekday and weekend long runs. My weekly mileage was between 15 to 20 miles per week. Living in the New Orleans area, my training was all on pancake flat ground. My plan was to start running parking garages and the Superdome ramps in order to get some hill substitute training for the hilly Kansas course. Right around the time I was going to add these faux hills to my training, my training was interrupted by a couple of setbacks. The second of the two setbacks was related to lower back pain. After attempting to run through the pain on a few runs, I scheduled an appointment with a chiropracter. I was hoping for a quick diagnosis and adjustment that would have me back on the road training within days of treatment. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
With my back still hurting, I did not attempt to run while still getting treated multiple times a week. The race date was May 20th; on May 13th, not having run yet in May, I decided to run an easy run to see how things would go. I ran 4 miles at an easy 10 minute pace and felt fairly good after the run. However, I woke up the next morning unable to walk without pain in my back. The pain was actually a little higher up than the source of the initial problem. Fortuantely, after a day and more treatment, I was able to move pain free. However, I would not run anymore until race day.
Being a small event with less than 400 finishers, the race offered packet pickup morning of the event. This is an option that I wish would be available for other events as well. I understand that race organizers want to get you into their expo, but after visiting enough expos, I may as well skip that experience.
I flew out of Baton Rouge to Kansas City, connecting through Houston on United on the trip up and traveling through Dallas on American on the return trip. I had not flown out of Baton Rouge since the early 90's. I am a fan of small airports as well as small races these days. I guess that's the cranky old man coming out in me! :-)
Sunday morning I made the short 30 minute drive from Kansas City airport to Leavenworth to get my race packet and run the race. Morning temperatures were in the upper 60s so no additional clothing was required. With a front passing through, the high temperatures for the day were forecast to remain below 80. On the drive to the race start, I witnessed just how hilly the area was. My back felt good and I was confident that I would be able to finish the race. My goal was to beat my previous worst half time but I would have taken a race finish period.
Race elevation profile
I had seen the race profile months before; knowing that it was hilly, I didn't really focus on how soon the race had us climbing. The course did not disappoint. within the first mile, we were climbing. This was my first run in hills since running weekends in Huntsville State Park last July. My quads reminded me of that fact most of the week following the race.
By mile 4, I found myself walking midway up the hill nicknamed Pikes Peak. There was a bell on a lightpost at the top of the hill that runners were ringing as they passed the peak of the hill. I passed on the bell but started running again near the top of the hill. Being passed by several runners heading up the hill, I was surprised at the number of runners that I passed descending the hill. I learned early on in hill running to shorten my stride uphill and to just pick up my feet downhill and let gravity take over. Leaning forward and picking up my feet, I quickly got to the bottom of the hill. My mile 4 pace went from a high teen pace per mile to an average mile 4 pace of 9:40 thanks to the downhill.
I managed to average between 9 and 11 minute miles for the first 6 miles. My lack of conditioning kicked in at that point and most uphills were walked from mile 7 to race end. Miles 7 to 12 were run at paces from 10:30 to 14:45. The last mile was a big downhill to a finally flat finish. I managed a 9:23 pace in that downhill. Mile 13 was the second fastest mile of the race for me.
Official chip time for me was 2:22:53; 18 out of 20 in my age group; 144 out of 177 among males and 255 out of 379 overall. Post race was in the middle school stadium; a very nice US flag lined finish. They had typical post race food and drink. Yeah, I had a donut at the finish. Add the 2 Shipley donuts while in IAH my weekend donut count was 3!
I headed back to the hotel for a noon checkout and went to a nearby shopping area to keep moving post race. Early evening flight was fine and I got home shortly after midnight. It was a great running weekend to wrap up my 46th state. I ran my 63rd fastest half (out of 65) to keep my Wyoming 1/2 PW finish intact.
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