First, PF Chang's Rock n Roll marathon, half marathon, and mini marathon must have over 15,000 people running through the streets of Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe. There were a few social friends (Insta, FB, twitter) that did the marathon, but nobody I could actually talk to about it. I knew a couple of people that did the 1/2, including my buddy John that I kind of coach and mentor in triathlon. My wife did the mini marathon, which was between 5.4 (as advertised) and 5.7 (her Garmin data).
I stumbled out of bed, lubed up like a can of Crisco with my TriSlide, donned by orange "TRIBE RUNNING" shirt which represents my local triathlon/running/swimming/biking/beer drinking establishment Tribe Multisports in Scottsdale, AZ, my Christmas present new-ish Nike wiggy waggy somewhat techno camo black running shorts, my black Swiftwick running socks, my black Zoot calf sleeves (which tore AGAIN...that's the 3rd stinking pair that have ripped and become useless after 10 or so wears...more later), my orange Tribe visor, Smith Optics glasses, and orange Newton Motions. See a trend here? Orange, orange, black, black, orange. I guess I wanted to be slightly inconspicuous or I was in a Halloween mood. Actually, I dress like that so people can easily see me and find me during the race and after. Nothing is worse than a fan or wife trying to find you for 30 minutes or completely missing you while running.
I forgot to eat breakfast. Really. I. Suck. However, me, being the smart person I am, nursed a 1/2 bottle of Perform (leftover from IMAZ...for some reason people don't like it and it manages to arrive by the caseload at my house, free, via Tribe). So, that had to do for some caloric intake. We drove the 35 minutes or so to ASU, then snuck a left turn into the Karsten Golf Course parking area, across the street from the clubhouse entrance, where there were only cones (kinda, sorta, marking it off, but juuuuuust a large enough gap to squeeze the car through) and we parked for free. There were a couple of others that had parked there too...I figured if anybody asked, I would have just said I was too drunk to drive home the day before after my round of golf. Or something like that. As much money as I gave ASU during my 5 year stay there...they owe me free parking for a day. Ironic, though, as we walked back to the car afterwards, it was $5 for parking on ASU property. Money grubbing, low life university that place has turned into. I digress.
We walked the mile to the start line, couldn't find my buddy John, Julie stood in line to pee and managed to move a whopping 10 feet while I threw our bags at the volunteers to store and transport to the finish line. I spotted another HUGE bank of port-o-poopers where the line was moving at lightning speed, so grabbed Julie and we hustled upstream to that bank and took care of the business everybody seems to write about as a life changing experience. I just peed. Nothing of great importance. Sorry.
I was s'posed to be in corral 2 with an estimated time of 1:45, but elected to start back with Julie in corral 5. We squished in there, loitered for 10 minutes while the other chutes started out and then we were off! I took precisely 1.75 steps with Julie and left her...she knew this would happen and was cool with it.
Long race, short, I'll hit the highlights. I was trying to negative split it and start out with a 9:00ish min/mile pace and work my way down to whatever I could muster with THE PLAN. THE PLAN consisted of the first 5 miles cruising it at halfway between a 1/2 mary and full mary pace. Well, that went to shit because, really, my one and only full mary has a pace of a ridiculous 12:30 or worse min/mile pace and my best 1/2 a 8:15 min/mile pace. There was no way I was doing over 10:00 min/mile to start. BTW, I chose San Francisco as my first, and last, marathon with something stupid like 3000 feet of vertical upness in it, and managed to train 50 miles the 2 months leading up to it. That's another story though. My next 5 miles I was to build and then the last 3.1 just let it all hang out.
I did good cruising the first 5 miles. Nothing but girls in yoga pants everywhere. I mean LuLu Lemon, LiLi Lime, GaGa Grapefruit and OrOr Orange have quite this thing going with yoga pants that double as running gear. Yes, I've spent many a hour in LuLu Lemon stores, but geez...it was funny to pass the time label checking yoga pants. Oh, teenagers who wear volleyball shorts with their ass hanging out really out to have their dads check their attire FROM BEHIND before letting them outdoors and especially have a quick looksee to see that their buttcheeks need harnessing while running. Volleyball shorts and running are not a good mix. Creepers might not agree, but really...pony up the $50 cash for a decent pair of running shorts and keep the volleyball muff protectors covered up.
| 1 | 8:52.2 | 1.00 | 8:52 |
| 2 | 8:48.5 | 1.00 | 8:49 |
| 3 | 8:43.3 | 1.00 | 8:43 |
| 4 | 8:49.7 | 1.00 | 8:50 |
| 5 | 8:28.6 | 1.00 | 8:29 |
Around mile 7, my little happy world was shattered. At first, I thought it was a mirage, a bad scene, something airbrushed onto a shirt. Nope...as I came up on him, there he was...Sasquatch! In the flesh. Really, really, hairy flesh flopping around, shirtless. My precious PowerBar gel I had just consumed almost came flying out of my stomach. I did puke a little of it in my mouth, I'm almost sure of it. He was about 40 pounds overweight, a definite heel striker, needed a 12 pack of Bic razors to shave the excessive amounts of hair on his torso, and yet miraculously he plodded right along, enjoying his day. After getting over the crazy running hairball, I continued to mile 9, which is about a 1/2 mile long 100 foot climb, which culminates at a U-turn. My buddy John yelled at me as he was going down (I'm still going up) and I mumbled with a mouth full of Gu (not a big fan of GU, but it was the on course supply because 1 of my Honey Stinger gels I consumed as "breakfast number 2" before the race and the other Honey Stinger gel I popped at mile 4) "GO JOHN". Then realized nobody heard me and I probably spit Gu on no less than 5 people in front of me. I sped on.
I motored up that hill and passed everybody in sight. I channeled my inner Jenn (ultra runner extraordinaire who routinely climbs training runs of 3000 feet on an easy day...in other words she's crazy cool) and dieseled right up that hill. I mean, you could see the top and I was building in THE PLAN, right? Why not build like a Caterpillar bulldozer up that hill then scream down it? Yup...game on!
| 6 | 8:36.1 | 1.00 | 8:36 |
| 7 | 8:39.0 | 1.00 | 8:39 |
| 8 | 8:50.2 | 1.00 | 8:50 |
| 9 | 8:37.3 | 1.00 | 8:37 |
| 10 | 8:15.8 | 1.00 | 8:16 |
The last 3 miles were pretty much uneventful, although I don't think anybody passed me (well, maybe those annoying run/walkers that think doing 2 minute gassers then stopping immediately right in front of you to walk 1 minute, did) on the run in to the finish line. I misread or it was misprinted (read: I didn't read it at all) which direction the finish line was as we came down from Papago. I thought you turned left and apparently you turned right and finished right by Tempe Beach Park. Stupid me...I was really trying to keep my apex on all the corners so I didn't run 13.15 like last year...I ran 13.13, so that last turn really screwed up my OCD problem.
| 11 | 8:03.5 | 1.00 | 8:03 |
| 12 | 8:06.5 | 1.00 | 8:07 |
| 13 | 7:55.3 | 1.00 | 7:55 |
I did see Julie right before the turn and appreciate the boost she gave me. It's always good to see your wifiepoo on the run in on the home stretch.
| 14 | :53.4 | 0.13 | 6:36 |
I grabbed some water, a Gatorade, a Refuel Chocolate Protein Milk (make that 2...I shoved one down in the back of my shorts to carry it...yup, I'm that guy...triathlete trick, admit it, it's cool), and some fruit. John found me and we started walking towards the UPS trucks where Julie was going to meet me and she found me. She totally rocked her 5.7 mile Mini Marathon in 57 minutes. She negative split it as well! That's pretty awesome for her as she's building up to her big race of an Olympic triathlon this coming September and she's not a super fast runner.
Overall, it was a fun race. Too many people to try and PR, unless you are in the front corrals. It is an exciting race with lots of energy. Doctor Dribble was there, the guy that runs all these races while dribbling 2 basketballs, and I passed him and thought that was pretty amazing he does that.
Julie and I walked the mile and a half back to the car and whoa! They were charging people to get in that lot. Haha...winning! We rolled off to eat breakfast and pretty much chilled the rest of the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment