Half a marathon... and then some!!

So it's been a couple of weeks since an update. Although I've been keeping up with the smaller daily runs, I've been working the past couple of weekend on the state high school basketball championships. As a result, I missed last week's long run of 18 miles.

Today was the Knoxville Marathon, Half-Marathon and 5k race. It holds a special place in my heart because 5 years ago, it was the first 5k that Sarah and I ran.

Back in '04, we had been on the weight loss/healthy living track for a little over 6 months, when we decided that it would be fun to run a 5k. Had I not traveled to Canada to visit Sarah, I probably wouldn't have know how long a 5k was. It wasn't like we trained for it at all. In fact, I remember clearly being at the local gym and figuring it might be good to get on a treadmill or something to see about running. That night I think I ran for about 10 minutes or so and figured I was ready (as much as I could be). The day of the race, I finished in about 36 minutes or so and didn't do too bad. I do remember seeing all the marathoners and half-marathoners and thought it was something I'd never be able to do.

So the day started for us at 5:15AM. With the weather being wonderful and springlike all week, of course today it had to be 46 degrees, plus add in a cold wind. We made it to downtown by 6:30 and had to wait for the pre-race activities. Perhaps that's the hardest time of the day, staring down the road, knowing you have 13.1 miles ahead of you. When the gun finally sounded shortly after 7AM, with the sea of humanity, we weren't going anywhere fast. In fact, it wasn't until after mile marker 1 that the crowd started to part. My first mile was around11:40. In hindsight, it might have been good since I couldn't get off to a quick start.

By mile marker two, I ran into my next problem, the two bottles of water I had drunk earlier in the day, made themselves be known. The first set of porta-potties on the course had quite a line, so I had to keep on moving. The next couple of miles were good and around mile 5, there were some porta-potties with a small line. Of course, I could have answered nature the way some other runners did and just run over behind some trees.

Just pass the half way mark, my mother and sister were waiting for me to cheer me on. My sister, as I found out afterwards, had a rough evening before and morning; yet she still was determined to cheer me on. Shortly after passing them, just pass mile marker 7, I hit the first real challenge... Noelton Drive. Noelton is about 1/4 mile in length, nearly all at a signigificant incline, only with a small level area about halfway through. I'm proud to say I plugged my way through the inclines, slowing to walk on the level part. The fact that I had the theme from "Rocky" playing in my Ipod during this part of the run really helped out. :)

After Noelton, the next 3 miles were on the greenway. While trying to keep a good pace, it was starting to get a little tougher. The next challenge was after the greenway going into Ft. Sanders, about 3/4 mile all at an uphill incline. Passing mile maker 10 I smiled thinking of a T-Shirt I had seen earlier in the run... "A Half-Marathon is a 5k with a 10 mile warmup." Passing the 10 mile mark during the incline, it was time to start the 5k part :). This area was also part of the course that Sarah and I had observed in years past after we had compelted our 5ks. Seeing people running up the hill, I was amazedat how they could do it. Today, it was my turn and I got to make the most of it.

From there, it was (almost) all downhill to the finish, over 2 hours after starting, I finished.

So here I am, with finisher medal, after crossing the finish line. (Note, this is the best "action" pose I could muster at the time.)

OK, so here is where I would wrap up and say how wonderful the experience was and how much I'm looking forward to Nashville and completing my first full marathon. (All the about is true.)
However, there was still that 18 miles I didn't run last week, and I've only completed 13.1 miles. Yes, I had 5 more miles to run.

We had a break and I dropped Sarah off at the gym and arrived back downtown about 2 hours after finishing the race. All I say is that it wasn't pretty, it wasn't fast, but I completed my 5 addtional miles. I'm not going to call it an "18 mile run" because I know there was a break in the middle. However, I can say that today I did run 18 miles, perhaps splitting hairs, but I'm still proud on my accomplishment for today.

Loop the loop

A new personal milestone on a couple of levels yesterday.

First off, I completed 16 miles in a little over 3 hours and 7 minutes. While the time may seem a bit longer than past times, the second milestone was where the run took place. I ran around the 8-mile loop of Cades Cove... twice!

For those of you unfamiliar with the area, Cades Cove is part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. More information and history could be found here. Given the fact that we ran in the mountains, it was much more intense given hills and valleys than past runs.

A map can be found here. Our route took use down to Hyatt Lane and around. Sarah and I were a little late in arrivin and got there around 7:40AM (I misjudged the time it would take to arrive.)

We couldn't have asked for better weather. The temperature was around 45-50 and a clearing sky. (We were told this was the best weather Team in Training had had for this run in the past couple of years). Two things were clear from when we started. First, this would be unlike any previous long runs with the hills and valley. And, two, we would be treated to some wonderful scenery while running.

I have driven around Cades Cove numerous times and have even rode a bike around it 3-4 times. I had never seen as many deer as I saw yesterday. It might have something to do with not being in an automobile, but, at the closest, we had deer within 10 feet of us. I couldn't help but wonder what was going through their minds as we ran by. Probably something akin to trying to figure out what we were doing.

The first loop took about 1 1/2 hours to complete. The thought of running a second loop was daunting, but we took off. The only problem, besides sore legs, was the rising temperature. The long sleeves I was wearing was getting awfully warm. We stopped for water about 4 miles into the second loop (about 12 miles in). I have to say the final 4 miles kick my butt. There was a lot of walking on the hills. By the end, we had arrived a "mini-goals" (reaching the post at the top of the hill, reaching the next tree). But, like I said over 3 hours after we started, and 1 hour and 40 minutes after starting the second loop, we finished. Our group had a very nice potluck picnic afterward to celebrate our victories. Phil, our team trainer, told us that if we could complete the run, with all the hills, we definitely could complete the full marathon in Nashville.

Perhaps someday, I may attempt to run the full 11 miles. In any case, I will never forget this trip to Cades Cove.

Here Comes the Sun

To borrow a lyric from one of my favorite Beatles songs... "It's been a long and cold lonely winter." Not necessarily lonely, as my beautiful wife Sarah has been training along with me the past couple of months, but this winter has been long and cold for sure.
This morning, met with Bryan and John to run down on the Boulevard. At 29 degrees, the temperature didn't seem to bad as dealing with temps in the teens and low 20s. What was really nice was, as we finished our 5 mile run (all of us feeling good about the run), the sun was coming up. Due to the time change over winter, we haven't seen the sun on our runs since October. Unfortunately, after next week's change, it will be another couple of weeks again.
But I can deal with it, if it gives us daylight longer in the evening. Another passing moment telling us spring is around the corner.