Where’s the peanut butter?!

Today was the Jingle Bell 5k run in Seattle and it’ll be the last big race for me this year. After yesterday’s long run Rolando (aka the-runner-formerly-known-as-Fast-Joey) and I went to register for the race at the Arthritis headquarters. I was massively psyched when they handed me bib #3. Three! How does that happen? I thought the low numbers would go out to special people who were either affiliated with the race, the cause, or the dudes handing out bibs. I’m going to start keeping track of my “bib PR” and 3 is now the number to beat.

The wind from my sails deflated a little when Rolando finally finished scrawling his contact information on a registration form (I came prepared and had mine filled out) and he got 1. At least I didn’t use up too much of my 15 minutes of fame on the whole episode.

The race got me to thinking about the past year in running. I tend to get sort of obsessive about my new hobbies and I realized I’ve logged over 100 miles this year in races. Here’s a recap along with some observations on things I learned along the way and a bunch of thumbnails of pictures I don’t have permission to distribute…

May 20, Beat the Bridge 8k

This is a huge and very fun race. The gimick is that it crosses the University bridge about half way through the course and they raise the bridge some time after the race starts, so if you aren’t fast enough, you can get stuck behind the bridge. You’d really have to be astonishingly slow for a runner to not clear the bridge. This was the last race I would ever wear headphones to. In hindsight I wished I stopped that earlier. Runners are either associative (focusing on their physiology) or disassociative (focusing on surroundings or distractions) when running and headphones are easily the biggest distraction ever. The USTAF just banned them for their sanctioned races (which I think is bogus) but this year I’ve become far more of an associative runner in my races and I think it’s helped me improve significantly.

Finish: 697th of 3911 in 38:15 for a pace of 7:42.

June 9, Sound to Narrows 12k

This is the race where I could have died, rectal thermometer, yadda yadda yadda. I’ve told this story a million times.

Finish: 431st of 2892 in 58:49 for a pace of 7:54.

June 10, Furry 5k

When I looked at these dates I couldn’t believe this. Did I really walk out of an emergency room and walk back to the starting line for another race 24 hours later? What could I have possibly been thinking? Still, Tanya and I ran this with Io at a pretty relaxed pace.

Finish: 127th of 295 in 28:33 for a pace of 9:11.

July 3, Firecracker 5k

I consider this my first race as a runner. I’d joined ChuckIt and wore my shirt for the first time, done a couple of their long runs, started to get a (very) vague sense of how training works (if I didn’t understand yet how I should train personally) and I considerably improved my 5K time. I joined Club Northwest with my registration fee, which has to be the biggest running community in the region (they publish Northwest Runner magazine and sponsor a couple other races) and finished right behind who I would later learn was Shelly Neal, one of their officials.

Finish: 100th of 879 in 21:09 for a pace of 6:50.

July 15, Bare Buns 5k

What happens at bare buns stays at bare buns.

Finish: 14th of an unknown number in 23:14 (second in my age group when my not-yet-existant kick got dusted at the finish)

July 22, Gold Discovery 16.5 mile run

Outside Fairbanks with Running Club North - my first trail run. This was hugely, hugely fun. The day and views were stunning, I’d never done a trail run, and it was only the second time in my life I’d ever run that far, but the incentive of Silver Gulch Brewery at the finish may have helped! This was also the first time I’d networked with runners while traveling, which I definitely intend to do in the future.

However at the time I just naively thought “OK, so given where I am in my marathon training this is a *little* further than the mileage I’m supposed to pick up this week but that’s no big deal, I’ll just go out and run this 3000′ elevation loss, 16 mile race and keep right on truckin!” I’ve basically avoided injury all year but it’s not for lack of making dumb decisions about taking rest.

Finish: 40th of 168 in 2:12:43 for a pace of 8:03

August 11, Cougar Mountain Trail Run 13.2 miler

My second trail run and a completely different beast from the one in Fairbanks. This had a similar amount of elevation loss (2700′) but had a net gain of 0′ which meant a lot more climbing. I remember going in thinking “well, if I just match my pace in Fairbanks I’ll be close to setting a course PR!” Ha ha - yeah, right. A bunch of the climbs were way steeper than anything on the course in Fairbanks and the course itself was technically far more challenging. On almost the entire route it was impossible to see what was coming ahead of you on the next switchback, around the next tree, or over the next log. I managed to finish without biting it, but learned a lot about pacing and expectations (and also that trail running rules).

Finish: 41st of 204 in 2:17 for a pace of 10:23

September 3, Super Jock ‘n’ Jill half marathon

Considered the last big endurance test before many of us go out to fall marathons. I had three goals and only made one of them, which I still managed to be a disappointed about even though I didn’t rest at all (I climbed Mount Adams over the two proceeding days) and did it on about 4 hours of sleep and it being my first half-marathon. In hindsight, a race I’m really plenty happy about.

Finish: 105th of 546 in 1:31:16 for a pace of 6:58.

September 23, Brew Ha Ha 5k

No pictures from this event. With Portland coming up and in the middle of my taper I thought “I’ll take it easy on this race” but just wanted something challenging. I got pretty shafted at registration since they ran out of t-shirts and timing chips so my final time wasn’t logged but I think instead of taking it easy I crushed my previous PR and ran a time that indicates my track 2 mile time trial PR should be faster, too (I’m pretty sure I was under 19 minutes). Still, without a chip it’s unofficial so I’m convincing myself that if I run a 5K in 20-21 minutes, I can still be happy about that as my PR.

Finish: unknown of 430 in about 19 minutes for a pace of about 6:06.

October 7, Portland Marathon

This was what it was all about. This is why I started running in May, why I’d run all those other races and what got me to buy three pair of running shoes over the summer, put in over 500 miles in training, read a bunch of books, learn the names of runners, learn the results of friends in other races, spend a couple hundred dollars on coaching, and what gave me the courage to go into a store and buy something called “body glide” with a straight face.

Marathons are also incredibly moving events. I can’t explain why but I wept at the finish in the middle of thousands of strangers. I’m enjoying the downtime right now but just thinking about Portland makes me look forward to whichever I’ll do next (and look forward to adjusting my goals and training appropriately).

Finish: 2417 of 7747 in 4:11:12 for a pace of 9:35. First half pace: 7:13. Second half pace: 11:57. Ouch.

November 25, Seattle half-marathon

This was really an incredible amount of fun. Seattle puts on the whole huge marathon-style expo and everybody gets to go to it even though basically everybody just runs the half (this year there were fewer than 2,000 participants in the full marathon and over 6,000 people in the half). I was running as a pacer for the 6:52 pace group to finish in an hour and a half, which was stressful since I’d never paced and my best half marathon was over 1:30 (and you generally don’t pace at a pace where you would set a personal record). But I was only on the hook to keep up that pace through half of the race when I’d hand off to another guy from the club. The weather was perfect and once we got the pace settled in we all just had a good time.

One thing I wish hadn’t happened in preparation: on Wednesday before the race I was out running while it was snowing in Minnesota on a bunch of unfamiliar roads and trails and took a spill on some slippery crosswalk paint. This was no fun and I’m sure it made my coach pretty nervous since the half was four days away and I wasn’t running a pace that it would be exactly easy to find a replacement pacer. The moral is one I’ve been terrible about heeding: be careful and try to rest before big races.

Finish: 151 of 6202 in 1:29:29 for a pace of 6:51.

December 9, Jingle Bell 5K

The last big race of the year. I’ve never seen so many people go totally anaerobic in the first 100′ of a 5K. My second time running on the freeway - the I-90 express lanes are used for the Seattle marathon and half course, the I-5 express lanes are used for Jingle Bell.

Finish: stats aren’t available yet and it wasn’t chipped but the clock was basically exactly 19:00 when I finished and I didn’t start exactly at the gun, so I’m going to say I ran 18:59 for a 6:07 pace. Also a new bib PR with #3!

And that’s the year. There are two short races left in the Grand Prix series that I’ve still got before officially wrapping up 2007 but it’s basically over. Next year I hope to keep meeting runners, get a solid marathon finish in, maybe qualify for Boston or maybe not for another year, do more fun races when I’m not so strictly tied to a training schedule, and just keep on improving. But it’s a little sad that today is probably the last time I’ll ever get to say “I took another 2 minutes off my 5K PR.”