News and Sentinel Half Marathon Race Report
My last three (3) half marathons, including Saturday's RRCA National Championship at the News and Sentinel Half Marathon in Parkersburg, West Virginia, have been hot (San Antonio in June), high and hilly (Flagstaff last Saturday) and hot and hilly!
These are a far cry from the back-to-back 2:16 and 2:18 in Des Moines and Lincoln in April/May! But I'll get back there! (My overall fitness just isn't there yet for anything of endurance. And I need to get there quick!)
The first eight (8) miles of Saturday's course in Parkersburg reminded me very much of the hills in Rosslyn, Virginia that mark the first five (5) miles of the Marine Corps Marathon course. Bottom line is that they take something out of you in the end. This was the prevalent thought in my mind as I began to break down late in the race -- especially from the heat!
Warning ahead! There will be lots of news and notes in this report!
Let's get the standard stuff out of the way:
119th career event! 39th in 2005!
18th career half marathon! 7th in 2005!
10th state to run a half marathon in! (TX, AR, OH, IN, IL, LA, IA, NE, AZ, WV)
16th state to run an event in! (Additional states include OK, PA, NJ, NH, DC, NM)
The flight that Waverly and I were on from Houston (Continental #644) was a little late so our push south towards Parkersburg was a little late. We arrived into town at 2:45 a.m. I got a room at the Motel 6 (no time for a Marriott!) and we got about three hours and 15 minutes of sound sleep. [Bottom line: I couldn't leave any earlier with Waverly and not affect her school attendance. Same thing happened last year in Washington, D.C. with the Marine Corps Marathon.]
We were up at 6 a.m., out the door at 6:15 a.m. and were getting some breakfast for her and hydration (Gatorade and water) and a couple of Fig Newtons and a Nutri-Grain bar for me.
We made it into downtown, found where packet pickup was and meandered around the main square until we found Cassie Cowan and her mother, Sherry. (At packet pickup, I had to weigh in for the Clydesdale competition. I finally confirmed that my weight loss hasn't increased at all. This is now what I need to work on most!)
After visiting with Cassie and her Mom for a little bit, I saw Ira Gardner from Jamaica, New York, who was running a half marathon in his 25th state. He was talking to Linda Doll, a 45-year-old database administrator from Plymouth, Michigan and Diane Himebaugh, a 49-year-old police officer from Dearborn Heights, Michigan, who is a 24-year veteran of her local police force. We are all members of the half2run.com web site!
I ran much of the first mile and a half with Linda and saw the two of them for much of the first four (4) miles before they started to leg ahead of me somewhat.
Ira ran really well and finished second of the five (5) known half2run.com participants. (One member that we didn't meet was 42-year-old Sean McEneany of Hilliard, OH.) Here are our results (place, place in age group, name, age, city, 10K time, half time and pace):
295 27 Sean McEneany, 42, Hilliard, OH 49:05 1:57:51 9:00
387 39 Ira Gardner, 45, Jamaica, NY 58:06 2:06:03 9:37
479 14 Diane Himebaugh, 49*, Dearborn Heights, MI 1:05:45 2:15:26 10:20
517 18 Linda Doll, 45*, Plymouth, MI 1:07:29 2:19:56 10:41
661 65 Jon Walk, 38, Spring, TX 1:10:16 2:42:14 12:23
So you see the time of 2:42:14 (stopwatch, 2:41:53.60) and are wondering what happened? Hills and heat are the answers! The hills were tougher than four (4) courses that I've done in Texas and they are 1.) Blue Bell Fun Run 10K in Brenham, 2.) Capitol 10K in Austin, 3.) Big D and White Rock Half in Dallas and 4.) Huntsville Half in Huntsville.
And it got hot! Although the BB&T bank clock at the race finish showed 79 and 80 degrees, it had to have been hotter. Plus, a majority of the course was run on asphalt - much of which had recently been repaved!
Cassie said that her friend, 28-year-old Christopher Bennon, indicated that he was off his pace here by seven (7) minutes because of the heat. He finished 57th in 1:31:04. She said that he told her that a couple of the elite runners stopped because of it. (I saw two, including what I presumed to be one of the Kenyans, at mile 6 but I assumed that the latter was simply a rabbit to keep the pace fast as the top 8 finishers hit the 10K mat in 30:57.)
My mile splits are as follows:
Mile 1 -- 10:10.73 (I wanted to keep it slow and did.)
Mile 2 -- 10:40.84 (Included first steady incline.)
Mile 3 -- 11:58.25 (Came off of a highway overpass only to go back into a steeper one.)
Mile 4 -- 11:14.93
Mile 5 -- 11:39.85
Mile 6 -- 11:41.78
(At mile 6, they said, "1:07" and I did the math and thought that a sub-2:30 would be possible, but the sun hadn't come completely out yet. At the 10K mark, I was at 1:09:52.43, which was my time in 2004 at the Capitol 10K in Austin in late March - run in much of the same conditions.)
Mile 7 -- 11:36.75
Mile 8 -- 11:57.01
Mile 9 -- 12:25.69
Mile 10 -- 12:43.30
Mile 11 -- 13:37.12
Mile 12 -- 15:36.19
Last 1.1 -- 16:31.16
(Honestly, I walked the last 2.1 miles in. Mile 12 included the famed 13th St. hill.) Not proud of the effort - other than the fact that I finished. I've been pushing myself a little bit recently and realize that I can run better than this, even with a little heat.
I was dead last in my age group -- 65 of 65! I was 14th of 19 Clydesdales - men and women included. 2nd of 3 Texans. 19-year-old Lydia Christopher of Spring, TX was first among Lone Star Staters with a time of 1:44:01. (Lydia runs track and cross country for Cassie's alma mater, Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio.) 45-year-old Barry Nutter of Odem, TX (near San Antonio) finished in 3:06:57.
And while Cassie didn't get to run in her hometown race, three (3) of her family members did.
Her uncle, David Faught, 56, of Washington, West Virginia, finished his first ever half marathon in 2:48:54 while his son-in-law and daughter, Todd and Robyn Thomson of Leesburg, Virginia, ages 33 and 30, finished in 2:00:11 and 2:56:53, respectively.
(Check back here Monday evening to see if I've added anything! It is 1:45 a.m. Time for a little sleep!)
These are a far cry from the back-to-back 2:16 and 2:18 in Des Moines and Lincoln in April/May! But I'll get back there! (My overall fitness just isn't there yet for anything of endurance. And I need to get there quick!)
The first eight (8) miles of Saturday's course in Parkersburg reminded me very much of the hills in Rosslyn, Virginia that mark the first five (5) miles of the Marine Corps Marathon course. Bottom line is that they take something out of you in the end. This was the prevalent thought in my mind as I began to break down late in the race -- especially from the heat!
Warning ahead! There will be lots of news and notes in this report!
Let's get the standard stuff out of the way:
119th career event! 39th in 2005!
18th career half marathon! 7th in 2005!
10th state to run a half marathon in! (TX, AR, OH, IN, IL, LA, IA, NE, AZ, WV)
16th state to run an event in! (Additional states include OK, PA, NJ, NH, DC, NM)
The flight that Waverly and I were on from Houston (Continental #644) was a little late so our push south towards Parkersburg was a little late. We arrived into town at 2:45 a.m. I got a room at the Motel 6 (no time for a Marriott!) and we got about three hours and 15 minutes of sound sleep. [Bottom line: I couldn't leave any earlier with Waverly and not affect her school attendance. Same thing happened last year in Washington, D.C. with the Marine Corps Marathon.]
We were up at 6 a.m., out the door at 6:15 a.m. and were getting some breakfast for her and hydration (Gatorade and water) and a couple of Fig Newtons and a Nutri-Grain bar for me.
We made it into downtown, found where packet pickup was and meandered around the main square until we found Cassie Cowan and her mother, Sherry. (At packet pickup, I had to weigh in for the Clydesdale competition. I finally confirmed that my weight loss hasn't increased at all. This is now what I need to work on most!)
After visiting with Cassie and her Mom for a little bit, I saw Ira Gardner from Jamaica, New York, who was running a half marathon in his 25th state. He was talking to Linda Doll, a 45-year-old database administrator from Plymouth, Michigan and Diane Himebaugh, a 49-year-old police officer from Dearborn Heights, Michigan, who is a 24-year veteran of her local police force. We are all members of the half2run.com web site!
I ran much of the first mile and a half with Linda and saw the two of them for much of the first four (4) miles before they started to leg ahead of me somewhat.
Ira ran really well and finished second of the five (5) known half2run.com participants. (One member that we didn't meet was 42-year-old Sean McEneany of Hilliard, OH.) Here are our results (place, place in age group, name, age, city, 10K time, half time and pace):
295 27 Sean McEneany, 42, Hilliard, OH 49:05 1:57:51 9:00
387 39 Ira Gardner, 45, Jamaica, NY 58:06 2:06:03 9:37
479 14 Diane Himebaugh, 49*, Dearborn Heights, MI 1:05:45 2:15:26 10:20
517 18 Linda Doll, 45*, Plymouth, MI 1:07:29 2:19:56 10:41
661 65 Jon Walk, 38, Spring, TX 1:10:16 2:42:14 12:23
So you see the time of 2:42:14 (stopwatch, 2:41:53.60) and are wondering what happened? Hills and heat are the answers! The hills were tougher than four (4) courses that I've done in Texas and they are 1.) Blue Bell Fun Run 10K in Brenham, 2.) Capitol 10K in Austin, 3.) Big D and White Rock Half in Dallas and 4.) Huntsville Half in Huntsville.
And it got hot! Although the BB&T bank clock at the race finish showed 79 and 80 degrees, it had to have been hotter. Plus, a majority of the course was run on asphalt - much of which had recently been repaved!
Cassie said that her friend, 28-year-old Christopher Bennon, indicated that he was off his pace here by seven (7) minutes because of the heat. He finished 57th in 1:31:04. She said that he told her that a couple of the elite runners stopped because of it. (I saw two, including what I presumed to be one of the Kenyans, at mile 6 but I assumed that the latter was simply a rabbit to keep the pace fast as the top 8 finishers hit the 10K mat in 30:57.)
My mile splits are as follows:
Mile 1 -- 10:10.73 (I wanted to keep it slow and did.)
Mile 2 -- 10:40.84 (Included first steady incline.)
Mile 3 -- 11:58.25 (Came off of a highway overpass only to go back into a steeper one.)
Mile 4 -- 11:14.93
Mile 5 -- 11:39.85
Mile 6 -- 11:41.78
(At mile 6, they said, "1:07" and I did the math and thought that a sub-2:30 would be possible, but the sun hadn't come completely out yet. At the 10K mark, I was at 1:09:52.43, which was my time in 2004 at the Capitol 10K in Austin in late March - run in much of the same conditions.)
Mile 7 -- 11:36.75
Mile 8 -- 11:57.01
Mile 9 -- 12:25.69
Mile 10 -- 12:43.30
Mile 11 -- 13:37.12
Mile 12 -- 15:36.19
Last 1.1 -- 16:31.16
(Honestly, I walked the last 2.1 miles in. Mile 12 included the famed 13th St. hill.) Not proud of the effort - other than the fact that I finished. I've been pushing myself a little bit recently and realize that I can run better than this, even with a little heat.
I was dead last in my age group -- 65 of 65! I was 14th of 19 Clydesdales - men and women included. 2nd of 3 Texans. 19-year-old Lydia Christopher of Spring, TX was first among Lone Star Staters with a time of 1:44:01. (Lydia runs track and cross country for Cassie's alma mater, Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio.) 45-year-old Barry Nutter of Odem, TX (near San Antonio) finished in 3:06:57.
And while Cassie didn't get to run in her hometown race, three (3) of her family members did.
Her uncle, David Faught, 56, of Washington, West Virginia, finished his first ever half marathon in 2:48:54 while his son-in-law and daughter, Todd and Robyn Thomson of Leesburg, Virginia, ages 33 and 30, finished in 2:00:11 and 2:56:53, respectively.
(Check back here Monday evening to see if I've added anything! It is 1:45 a.m. Time for a little sleep!)
posted by WalkSports.com | 1:45 AM
4 Comments:
Jon,
That heat is a killer. I got out on Saturday here in Houston and it was 77 deg. The 92% humidity made it 10 times that hot.
Hey, Jon, I don't know if you've read this stuff before but it may be interesting to you. It may help you squeeze that last bit of toothpaste out of the tube. This website contains the best information on the physiology of training. Check it out if you want. There's a lot of stuff.
Hadd's Approach to Distance Training
enjoy!!
great job!!!!!!!!
-Jessica
Jon- it was awesome to see you in P-Burg! You did great. That clock wsa definitely WRONG. It was at least 85 and the humidity was awful!!
It was a pleasure to meet Miss Waverly as well. Not sure if I will make it out Saturday to RTW due to funeral stuff, but if not this week, definitely next time.
...and now you have to run the Toughest 10k with me next year to compelete your tough race list;)
-Jessica
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