2014 Horsetooth Half Marathon: Hell Freezes Over

About 1500 runners paid their dues today. There should be a new rule for running in bad weather: you should only have to run in crappy conditions once a year, and then you're done, the rest of your races will be on nice days.

This morning's race was everything you hope you'll never have to run in: rain/snow mix, face dermabrasion from sandblasting sleet, cold temperatures, damp, wind, puddles, mud, slush, and icy bridges where you almost wipe out and risk tearing your groin muscles out of the attachments.

But it was fun anyway. I ran my slowest time ever at this race, I'm pretty sure of that. Even two years ago when I was slow and heavy I ran faster. But that wasn't at the end of a 100 mile week.

I actually didn't do so bad, considering I powerwalked up all the hills and averaged faster and faster average splits for each segment of the race. The course does get faster as you go along, but if you're tired, that doesn't matter. I didn't slow down, and I ran my last 5K at a faster pace than I was able to run some of those mile repeats the other day!

It's not your average half-marathon. You start near Hughes stadium and immediately start going uphill, climbing 500 feet in about the first 1.8 miles. Then you go up and down big rolling screaming hills until 5 miles, slightly downhill to flat until mile 7, then you climb two more hills, a big long hill and a small hill, on Bingham Hill road. Then you turn down Overland Trail briefly and get on the Poudre Trail bike path going east toward Old Town, for a flat to ever so slightly downhill last 4 miles. It finishes by New Belgium brewing.

First thing this morning I was texting with my friend Jen, who needed a ride to the start. She already had her number, so she was happy to get there at the last minute. I stopped by and picked her up and we made it to the start just in time. The gun went off and I was happy to not be standing around in the cold.

Today was not the kind of day people wanted to stand around and drink beer. When I got done all I wanted to do was find Dennis and go home to take a hot shower. All those volunteers who stood out there in the cold and wet conditions should get beer for life.

I finished in 1:54:27 and my final 5K split was 25:32. 9:02 pace for the first 5 hilly miles, 8:44 pace overall and 8:14 pace for the last 5K. It was tough, I pushed hard with everything I had left. I would say after 7 miles I was feeling it...but somehow I got a small second wind around mile 10. At that point all I could do was watch for the milemarkers, gasp for air, and think about how many miles I had left: 97, 98, 99...to reach 100.

It wasn't too bad in the first 5 hilly miles, it wasn't until we turned east onto Bingham Hill Road that I started to notice the cold wind.

I have no idea how I did relative to other people, I really wasn't concerned about that, since this was one of those survival training runs. Hearing everyone else, it sounds like a lot of people had slower times this year. All I know is that when I run ultras, I never want the race to end. In these shorter races, I can't wait for it to end. Those last 4 miles took forever....

In true Fort Collins tradition, we got beer glasses, and a poster with a print by my friend and local running artist Tom Riggs.

So now it's taper time. I will do a fairly high mileage week coming up, something between 70 and 80, and then really taper for the two weeks leading up to Cornbelt. I've been hitting it hard and I want to get some good rest.

Rule of Twos for Tomorrow

Sixteen miles today, a loop around the south part of town, finishing up on the Power Trail. I saw this fox crossing the railroad tracks. I saw the same fox in the same place earlier this week. He's a deep red color, but his long gray tail looks rough and broken.

I didn't push it at all, did some fast walking during the run, and realized I haven't been doing much walking. Walking always saved me in the past on my longer runs, but I haven't been doing it except as breaks on the track. I think that's a good thing, but I feel like my walking pace has suffered as a result. I won't worry about it, I'll see how it all comes together at Cornbelt.

I felt crabby and annoyed today, I didn't feel like interacting with people. I was trying to find the route that would keep me away from the places where there would be a lot of traffic. I just felt irritable. When I got home Dennis took me out for lunch to try to cheer me up. I did laundry and took a long nap.

We have this one neighbor, every neighborhood has one, who thinks he's the only person who lives here. He decided to do some project in his back yard, I think he got a friend to help him. They had one of those really loud annoying ditch witch mini-backhoe things with a backup horn. Nobody would be doing this on a Friday night except for this guy.

I'm not sure what they were doing, but they started Friday around 5 pm and were doing it maybe until 8:30- it was such a beautiful evening and it would have been nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy the warm spring air before mosquitoes take over. But instead there was this jerk and his friend- they sounded drunk the way they were hooting back there, and driving that thing like a maniac, even after it got dark.

It was annoying. And then today when I got back from my run, they were at it again. This is the same A-hole who shoots off fireworks for nearly a month leading up to the Fourth of July and scares Isabelle and the other neighborhood dogs.

This afternoon I was so irritated when he started it again. I closed all the windows and doors to the back of the house, turned on a fan, and piled pillows over my head to block the noise so I could sleep.

Tomorrow morning is the Horsetooth Half Marathon, and it's supposed to be cold and snowing. I plan to get up there shortly before the start, do very little for a warmup, use the first big hill as a warmup, and then take off when we get over the top of the first big hill at 2 miles. I'll run with whatever I have left in my legs, which will be a surprise if I have anything! And when the race is over, I'm done for the week. I'm not doing anything else. If it's not too nasty I'll go in the hot tub when I get home.

The sky is getting dark and the wind is blowing. It mirrors my mood. I hope there isn't too much snow in the morning. But whatever it is, I'll deal with it. I'll dress in warm clothes, and run for less than two hours of whatever the weather gods dump on us, and I should be done. Rule of twos: I can deal with anything for two hours.

Animals in the Dark

Yesterday was speed day with Wheaties Boy. After taking the day off on Thursday I wasn't sure how I'd feel for speed having done 50 miles in the prior two days before the rest day. My legs felt fine on Thursday but my brain was fatigued. So Friday morning I woke up at 3:27 am when my alarm was set for 3:30 and I was ready to get some miles in.

At the cemetery we got our warmup in and then started on our mile repeats. My first one was a huge struggle in about 7:30 and about halfway in I knew it was rough. Wheaties Boy is so much faster than me that he had plenty of time to recover from his first one, and I went right into the rest jog with him as soon as I finished. When we completed that mile, I started on my next one, and was gasping and wheezing by 400 meters. Then it was all I could do to keep pushing myself to run fast. It was taking forever and Wheaties Boy was about halfway around the cemetery ahead of me. I crossed the finish line gasping and said, "I don't want to see the time" but I looked anyway and it was 8:33!

So I said, "I'll just jog easy the rest of the time. He finished his last mile as I ran easy and then he had to go to work, so I stayed and ran until I had 10 miles in. I did push myself on one more mile and did that one in 7:53. I needed to recover a bit more, but those miles didn't really help my speed at all. I did run faster than I would have if I just jogged easy the whole way, but I am hoping by next week I'll see some faster splits.

We were joined by three deer and some big birds. It was too dark to see what kind of birds they were. I've seen skunks and raccoons, owls, deer and foxes in the cemetery.

I wanted to get at least 20 miles in for the day but I was hungry so I went home and ate, took Iris for a few miles, and then ran out the Power Trail for a final 8 miles which gave me 21 for the day. I had a small amount of work to do so I got that done and then I was ready for more food and a nap.

After my nap it was almost 4 pm and I was hungry again. I thought about what sounded good. I wanted to eat everything in sight. I decided on something different, burgers, French fries and beer. I went to the store to get all the ingredients and stopped by the liquor store for some beer. I found this ginger beer from Left Hand Brewery in Longmont. I love it. You have to like ginger, but it is good! Also has lower alcohol content than most beers, about 4.5%.

When Dennis got home we inhaled all the food. I felt like the bottomless pit.

Today I will run an easy 15 or so and then tomorrow is the Horsetooth Half Marathon. It's supposed to be cold and snowing. Nice. I guess I'll savor what I hope is my last opportunity this year to run in nasty stuff. I wish.

This is Colorado.

Night and Day

Yesterday my sleep was all screwed up. I woke up at 5 am and then I was exhausted all day. I got some work done, but then it was time to run and I didn't have much energy. I took Iris for her 3 miles and then I needed a nap before I could think about doing more.

I got sidetracked by stupid little things and Dennis came home at 6, and I still had not taken a nap. I told him I needed to get more miles in so I was going to sleep and then go run. I got into bed and slept until after 8 pm!

Dennis doesn't like it when I go out for my night runs by myself. I used to be able to take Iris but she can't go that far anymore, and I wasn't running with anyone else this time. I am not about to let fear keep me indoors, so I set out in all my reflective gear and lights and off to the neighborhoods I feel comfortable in.

Iris stared me down by the front door when she knew I was leaving. She wants to run with me but she goes so slowly now, and she might be able to do 7 miles, but with all the sniffing it would take all night.

I had my iPod, which I am still figuring out. Somehow I was playing around with it and ended up removing all the music I put on there except for one playlist. I figured out what I did soon after I started running, but I had enough music for my 7 or 8 miles. I was able to easily reload it when I got home.

I just have to remember to check the right boxes when I'm playing with iTunes. I also tried a battery test yesterday but didn't realize what I had done with all the music so I was unable to see what happened because the thing only had 3 hours of music on it. I'll have to try it again tomorrow.

I don't know why I'm struggling with this iPod thing so much. It's not easy to figure out. Maybe I'm just an idiot. Damn Ph.D gets in the way of everything.

Last night it was finally clear enough to see stars. The streets were dark enough to make interesting shadows on the sidewalks and I was having fun playing with the camera. When I get close to the lake, it's darker and I was watching the stars through the bare treetops and listening to trance music, and I was in runner's heaven.

When I got home, it was after 10, Dennis was asleep and the girls were waiting for me, wiggling and squealing.

Today I got my errands done, took some work stuff to the printer, picked up some Salted Caramel Gu at Runners Roost, saw our friend Steve Cathcart there and talked a while, signed up for the Horsetooth Half Marathon because I'm a masochist, and then got a new set of earbuds for my iPod because the old ones off the MP3 player are not working so well. And the ones that came with the iPod, those are made for an elephant. One who doesn't sweat.

I got stared at again by the girls as I began packing for Kansas. It's a pile, I'm driving to this race so I tend to take way too much stuff. The forecast is for high 60s maybe 30 at the start and sunny, maybe windy. But of course I will be prepared for blizzards and heat waves alike. I'll pack three drop bags in case of bad weather, hoping I won't need them at all, I should be able to carry everything for 50 miles in my little pack.

This afternoon I went out on the Power Trail and did fartlek, and saw Holley out there. I recognized her steady powerwalk. I've known Holley for a long time, from the running group I used to run with before we moved to Arizona. When I first met her she was about as old as I am now. She's gotten into ultras and has run quite a few over the past several years. She's strong and I could see her doing multidays if she wanted to. I haven't suggested it yet but maybe I should drop some hints.

I stopped and talked with her. She was in the middle of a 40 mile run! She wished me a happy belated birthday, and we talked about moving forward as we get older. She does 24 hour events these days. I told her about Prairie Spirit, and she said, those races don't have long enough time limits for me. I told her this one does, I think the 50 miler has something like a 28 hour limit.

My fartlek run went well, I feel strong. My back is much better and the only place I still feel it is in this one little spot, and only when I sit in a certain position. Next two days will be short, easy runs. I hope the drive to Kansas won't make it worse, but I can get out and stretch. I'm leaving Thursday and driving part way. I don't feel like arriving there the day before the race exhausted from the drive.

Next week, or as soon as I feel recovered from the 50 miler, I start speedwork with Wheaties Boy. Early mornings. He'll kick my butt, but it's good for me.

Horsetooth Half Marathon

Today I ran the Horsetooth Half Marathon, one of the popular local races that's been around for a million years, or at least as long as I've been running. It's a hilly course that starts by Hughes Stadium and climbs over 500 feet in the first 2 miles. It continues north passing over the dams of Horsetooth Reservoir, along Centennial Drive with views of the foothills, Horsetooth Rock, and Fort Collins, with plenty of challenging climbs until the big descent toward the town of Bellvue.

Then it takes a right over Bingham Hill road, more hills to climb, then turns north on Overland Trail, followed by a turn onto the Poudre Trail bike path for the last 5 miles of fairly flat concrete into Old Town Fort Collins, and ends at New Belgium Brewery (where they brew Fat Tire Ale).

I ran well, I didn't expect to cover the course in much less than 2 hours but I ended up with 1:49 and a few seconds. I powerwalked up all the hills, which was a big advantage for me to pass all the people who went anaerobic trying to run up the big climbs. I flew by them without working very hard on the way down. Then on the bike path I was able to manage sub-8 minute miles without working too hard, leaving me with a feeling of confidence for the upcoming Keys 100 race. I'm feeling a little more fit than I expected to.

I was also happy to beat my time from last November at Boyd Lake, since this is a much tougher course. I did make some progress over the winter. I was sort of dreading the run all weekend and this morning, I'm really not into mass humanity and fast running, but it turned out to be perfect weather, cool and sunny after the fog burned off, and I enjoyed my run.

This afternoon I took advantage of the sunny day to plant the wildflower seeds in the rock garden.

Only four weeks to the Keys!