Triangle Running Group

12 responses so far ↓

• 1 Squeeky // Nov 2, 2008 at 11:36 pm

  Congrats to all the runners! I checked out the times on the CofO website. WOW! A very fast day! Congratulations to all the sub-4s. Great times all around. Looking forward to the race reports from here and from New York.

• 2 fgump // Nov 3, 2008 at 8:54 pm

  I’ll give it a whirl. I’ll warn you; I’m long-winded.

  First, thanks to Squeeky for the offer of modern technology. After spending some time Saturday figuring out how to operate his Garmin without electrocuting myself, I made a late-night decision that I would stick with old technology. Thus, I printed up a pace band, and used the beat-up old Timex. Nothing new on race day, right?

  I won’t bore you with the details of waking up at 3am, afraid I’d miss the race, really freaking out when my planned 5:30 ride to Centennial didn’t show up until 5:50, missing any chance at a warmup, almost missing the start due to the huge porta-potty lines.

  I planned to go out SUPER SLOW. Meaning, let everyone go flying past. Which I felt like I was doing. However, even by the end of mile 3, I was going too fast. Finally I settled into a good pace, and found a group of 4-5 guys that worked well for me. Felt great through Glenwood South, and up the hill past Cameron Village. The half split off, and I commented to a fellow runner “okay, I’m warmed up now, let’s start the race”. It is so eerie when the field splits off like that; my first experience with that.

  I was surprised at mile 14 by a friend of my wife who was a volunteer, who called out “Hey Bill” as I went out Ebenezer Church. Totally random, but it helped urge me along.

  I really was working very efficiently until I turned onto Graylyn, and started heading into Umstead. As soon as I turned and started going downhill, I detected my quads rearing their heads.

  By far, the best aid station was in Umstead. I’ve never been to Boston, but the screams these young folks were giving up brought a huge smile to my face, and really perked me up. It just made me think “Scream Tunnel”.

  By the time I got to the stone bridge on Graylyn, my quads were shredding. Climbing, however, was not a problem. I was passing people going up Graylyn, and up the hill past Reedy Creek Lake, and all the way up the hill to Edwards Mill. Then the course turned flat again, and I slowed down. Too weird. I did love running the Umstead portion. I looked forward to that the entire race, then suddenly it was over.

  At mile 20, I was still on pace to go under or right at 3:15. But, the damage was done, and the pace started to drop, and there was nothing I could do. The miles were not in the legs this time. I passed the HHH stand at mile 21ish I think, and politely declined a beer (maybe I should’ve taken it…)

  Hillsborough is brutal. I was solo pretty much the entire way, and there was a headwind. Not fun.

  When I turned right at the belltower, I was treated to a small uphill. 5 miles before, I would’ve welcomed it, but at that point it crushed me. Thus began the walk of shame. It took me over 25 minutes to go 2.2 miles.

  I did manage some sort of shuffle down the finish chute, finishing the last .2 in about 2:08. Man, I was hurtin’…

  Crossed the line, gave up my chip, got my medal, shook a few hands, and went to find a shady spot to lie down. Somewhere between me finding pizza and the porta-potty, BelkyMD crossed the line. I wanted to see him cross, but missed it!

  A good race. Looking forward to some long runs (in a week or two).

• 3 Belkymd // Nov 3, 2008 at 10:20 pm

  Nice report Gump! Your time was pretty sweet as well! Sorry I missed you! There was a good reason you missed my finish line crossing but I will get to that later in the recap. Having two really poor performance marathons under my belt, I solicited some advice a few weeks ago while meeting up with the mm’s in Umstead. It was dark, but I think the advice came from the “Squeekster”. He said that I needed to better control my pace throughout and eat more. Great advice my friend! I arrived at the parking lot around 6:45 and sat in my car listening to a little Pink. Okay not really! I think I would rather listen to mittdog sing showtunes than listen to that! I think it was Red Hot Chilli Peppers and my stomach felt like I had eaten a jar of them. As I sat there listening, to my stomach that is, I began pondering what clothing I was going to wear. You gotta love NC weather! The news said the low would be 40 and the high 70. I had to decide whether I was going to freeze my b%$@s off early by going skimpy, or to be nice and toasty early and make like a stripper later in the race. I chose option #1! I walked down to the starting line sipping my water and shivering like a Green Bay Packer cheerleader. I arrived at the starting line in the pitch black darkness, to the sounds of Rob Base’s “It takes to” blaring on the loud speakers. I didn’t know whether to get a warmup job in or to start popping and locking on some nearby cardboard. After hitting the citrus smelling porta potties a few times and taking a Gu shot per Squeeky recommendation it was time to start. When the gun went off, things started quickly and I took my eye off the ball and almost tackled the guy in front of me. Great start! Things were pretty uneventful until I was on Ebenezer and struck up a conversation with a fellow runner that had been keeping the same pace with me for a while. Chance, as he preferred to be called, was a newby marathoner from Blacksburg Virginia who was running his 3rd marathon like me. We got into a great conversation and the next thing I knew and hour had gone by and I was still feeling good. After being talked out, I put my headphones back on and zoned out. I zoned out so much that I almost sampled the beer at the HHH stand at mile 21 by accident. After almost getting my drink on, I realized that I was not hitting the wall like I had done in the two previous marathons. I had been eating GU’s and drinking water religiously. After the long Hillsbourough Street reprise the last few miles were uneventful. It wasn’t until I crossed the finish that I realized that they didn’t call my name. Hmmm, why would that be! As much as I would like to think I flew through the chute so fast that they couldn’t make out my bid number, the truth is that it was hidden under my outer shirt. This is really a well organized race! Like Gump, I am also looking forward to some weekend runs in the coming weeks. Take care!

• 4 dr seuss // Nov 3, 2008 at 10:43 pm

  Great job, guys! My daughter’s middle school class loved cheering you on as you entered Umstead. You were flyin! Is Boston next?

• 5 Herbs // Nov 3, 2008 at 11:28 pm

  Hey guys! I enjoyed reading the “day after” race reports from yesterday’s City of Oaks…I’m very impressed by Belky and Gump’s performances…Belky, I’m not surprised that you CRUSHED last year’s time by a mile…you’ve been “Mr. Diesel” this year…Congrats…and Gump, you speak of your “walk of shame”, but there’s no shame with a finishing time like that. I couldn’t imagine throwing the hills of Umstead into a marathon…Fantastic job guys…(I still haven’t heard about some of the others….)

  Yesterday’s NYC Marathon was an unforgettable day for me…It had been 5 years since my 1st marathon in NY and it was no less fantastic than in ’03…In fact it it was more terrific b/c I had 2 more cheerleaders there than in the past (my daughters)…

  After the bus from LI dropped me off to Staten Island I spent 3 hours watching the clock and enduring the 30-something degree weather by the bridge. While layering up in the cold I popped the lens out of my glasses and searched frantically until I finally found it…(I used my fingernail as a screwdriver and voila! I could see again)

  I thought of you Squeeky as they played New York, NY at the start. It was exciting to have 5 boroughs of running ahead of me…

  I had a hard time pacing myself again this race…I was running miles 2 through 5 at a sub 7 min pace and then would try to slow down so that I could keep myself even…I think that I was so freakin’ stoked that I just couldn’t feel the speed. Of course, I knew that I would pay for it the last 5 miles (which I did!)

  I had family and friends scattered at miles, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21 and 25 which is what carried me through the race. It was fantastic seeing my little sister with her 9 month pregnancy belly jumping up and down with excitement along First Ave!

  I won’t bore anyone with the painful details of miles 21-26, but my brother’s suprise visit in Harlem kept me chugging away! I ran the last few painful miles in Central Park and was determined to meet my goal of qualifying for Boston even if I had to crawl across the finish line on my hands and knees..Happily I did it with a PR of 3:25:40. It was an awesome experience to take a “running tour” of NYC again and take in all of the music, diversity and spirit that this marathon brings to it NY. I recommend this Marathon to anyone and everyone…(and remember if you do decide to run NYC in ’09, ’10 or whenever, there’s room at the in at Herbs’ house!….anyone up for Boston in 2010?…..

• 6 fgump // Nov 4, 2008 at 8:49 am

  Awesome reports Belky and Herbs. Dr. Seuss, you have a fantastic daughter. Please give her a hug from me, a runner who really, really appreciated her presence at that point. That was a very bright spot in my race.

  Herbs, if things go well in 2009 (and they need to go about 11 minutes better than they did in 2008), I’ll take you up on the Boston 2010, and maybe the NYC 2010.
  

• 7 stabu // Nov 4, 2008 at 11:19 am

  Good lawd you guys are fast!!! Great job to all of you!

  Tommy – the pictures were awesome; it looked like a beautiful day out there and you looked strong!

• 8 Squeeky // Nov 4, 2008 at 11:35 am

  Great race reports. But it would be hard to have bad reports after races like that! Congratulaitons to all of you for some awesome PRs. Looking forward to more.

• 9 terp // Nov 4, 2008 at 1:49 pm

  Great reports. Congrats to all. I signed-up for the City of Oaks Half, but ended up running the full – perhaps you read about me in yeterday’s N&O – just kidding…although that was an amazing story.

  The Half was very well organized…scenic course (and challenging) and good support – I would highly recommend it.

  Herbs – you’ve got me thinking about NYC in a 2009 or 2010.

• 10 litl' bit // Nov 6, 2008 at 9:51 am

  WOW! look was happens when you go on vacation… you guys rocked!
  Congrats to all full & halfers!

• 11 rap master sass // Nov 6, 2008 at 3:49 pm

  Congratulations, Oakies!

• 12 KarenG8r // Nov 7, 2008 at 11:21 am

  As usual I’m a little late to the blog…but….just wanted to say that the City of Oaks Half was a blast! Great couse and well supported. I even got to be an honorary CRAMP for the day! The best part of my run is when I spent 8 minutes at the PortOJon at mile 6 and emerged behind a guy with purple glitter shorts….leopard skin trim and “SUGAR DADDY” written across the butt!! What a sight!