Flower City Half, 4/29/12

Sunday, 4/29/12: Flower City Half Marathon

Here are my recollections of the Flower City Half Marathon, another excellent race brought to the Rochester running community by Fleet Feet and Yellow Jacket Racing. There are way too many people to thank for such a large event but kudos to every last one of them. Christine ran the Wegmans Family 5K. She had not run since Easter. She was signed up so she ran.

I was up early. Christine's snoring woke me up around 4AM. I got out of bed around 4:40AM. I did some of the dishes that were left from the night before. I had my usual pre-race breakfast of cereal with banana and OJ. I woke Christine up at 5:30AM. The temperature outside was 30F and the winds were calm. We dressed quietly. I paused at 6:15AM to look at the sunrise ... quite a sight. I posted on Facebook that I was aiming for a sub 1:40 race ... just a bit of pressure. We left for the Blue Cross Arena at 6:24AM. There was almost no traffic until we got downtown. We found a parking spot opposite the Dinosaur BBQ, geared up and headed down to the Blue Cross Arena. Christine's No-Bo picture was first, then my Brooks Racing Team picture was next.

I dropped off my drop bag with dry postrace clothes down in the Fleet Feet Recovery Zone ... a perk for Brooks Racing Team members. Then I headed out for a short 1.1 mile warmup run at 7:48 pace.

Garmin Connect Activity for Warmup before the Flower City Half



I got back from my warmup run with about 6 minutes to spare before the start. I lined up and got ready.

I dd turn around before the start ...

The lead pack of runners

Ellen counted us down and off we went at 7:30AM. The race first led us through the Susan B Anthony neighborhood where women in period costumes urged us onward.

I was running pretty well. Then we ran past Frontier Field and onto State St. When we got to Main St we could see the 5K runners up on Broad St starting their race. That was kind of cool. The race progressed up Main St and down East Ave to Brunswick St then back on Park Ave. I ran 5K in 22:52, 7:23 pace. Around the 4 mile mark, I stopped to rub my thighs for a few seconds. I was running well but they just felt off.

Mile 4.5 - East Ave and Oliver St

We turned onto South Goodman. I had a Gu and Gel at the water stop just before mile 6. I ran 10K in 46:41, 7:32 pace. We ran up South Goodman toward Highland Park. The spectator support here was very vocal along with signs and balloons.

The hills in Highland Park were certainly higher after having run 7 miles first. We entered Mt Hope Cemetery at mile 8. The cobblestone hill at the entrance was almost as difficult as a trail hill. The bagpiper at the top of that hill was nice. I ran with Mitch Moore for a bit. I ran very well past mile 9 once the Gu and Gel kicked in. I ran 15K in 1:10:58, 7:38 pace. I admit I used the "blonde ponytail" effect to pull me along before running past them and letting them follow me. We curved left and right, ran up and down for 2 miles before we exited. At mile 10, I saw Bill Beyerbach for a second to say "Hi". Just a 5K from here ...

Running through the U of R campus

Then we ran through the University of Rochester campus on the east side of the Genesee River for 2 miles. I saw Laura Church behind and beneath me as we curled up to the Ford St bridge to cross the Genesee River.

Crossing the Ford St bridge ... just under a mile to go!

I ran 20K in 1:34:07, 7:35 pace, with only 0.7 miles to go. I kept it cranked as I neared the finish line. I saw my darling Christine urging me on at mile 13 with a Go Doug! sign. I tried to pass one more runner, who just so happened to be in my age group, but he heard me and held me off. I closed the finish line ...  tired and thirsty.


Sprinting for the finish!

The bling!

The 1:40 pace leader, Andy Franks, came in behind me so I did go sub 1:40, actually 1:39:23, 7:34 pace. A lifetime PR by 48 seconds!! Woo hoo! I finished 220th out of 2251, link here. I was 16th out of 105 in my M50-54 age group, link here.

Meanwhile Christine did OK in her 5K. She ran a 54:02, 17:19 pace. She was 850th out of 892, link here. She was 60th out of 64 in her F50-54 age group, link here.

Christine and I headed inside the Blue Cross Arena for some grub and to use the Fleet Feet Recovery Zone. We stayed for a bit and swapped running stories with fellow runners. We left, walked slowly to our car and were home by 11AM. Christine took a long nap. Meanwhile, I had lunch and coffee. I uploaded my Garmin to my usual sites and caught up on Facebook. A lot of PRs were set at this race. Dan Giblin ran a 1:28:42 and then went out for a 51 mile bike ride!

Heather Danielson ran 40.785 miles in 6 hours at BPAC, 1st overall female ... awesome!

Others like Heather Danielson and Tom Butler had ultra running fun at the 6 hour BPAC out in Buffalo, results here.
I was just a bit sore the rest of the day. Christine woke up sorer than I was so I ended up going out to KFC for supper. Mmm!

There are still things I need to work on if I want to improve on road races. I need to concentrate more on my stride. I am sure I could push off more if I concentrated on it. I need to able to drink water on the run. I walked through the water stops when I took water. I looked and that cost me about 2 minutes. It is going to look funny but I think Christine and I will have to practice water stops until I figure out a way to drink water on the run without coughing most of it back up.

But still ... all in all, a great day! The Democrat and Chronicle had stories here and here. Hopefully the drivers inconvenienced by the seemingly endless stream of runners were inspired to exercise! It's good for you!