7/19/2014: Shoreline Half Marathon

7/19/2014: 3 runs of 1.15, 13.23 and 0.5 miles

I was up early at 4:53AM. My darling wife, Christine, had come to bed late and was snoring. Truth be told ... I have been told that I snore too. Anyway ... I got up a bit early. I puttered around a bit, washed last night's dishes and ate my breakfast. I tried to wake Christine up but she wished me a good race and went back to sleep. So ... I geared up quietly.  I put on my Brooks yellow tights and an orange Shoreline tech shirt from 2 years ago. I left around 6:55AM and arrived out at Hamlin Beach State Park at 7:25AM for the Shoreline Half Marathon. The weather conditions (at least according to my Garmin): 61F, 88% RH, calm winds and mostly sunny. It warmed up to around 75F during the morning.

This was my third time running the Shoreline Half. I had run a in 2011 and a 2012. I put on sunscreen and my sunglasses before I headed out for a little warmup run of 1.15 miles, 8:24 pace, link here. I got done about 8 minutes before the race start at 8AM. I carried my 20 ounce hand bottle with a Gu in its pouch. I drank a bit of water as I walked up to the start line. I settled in about 20 feet behind the start. The only person I saw that I knew before the start was Jmac (who probably doesn't know me). It was a relaxed start line so I wasn't too worried about anyone stepping on my heels.

And ... we were off! My plan was to not rabbit at the start and run around a 8 minute pace. I thought I did that with only a 7:24 first mile as we looped on the park road.

The start of the Shoreline Half

Still in the park before mile 1

I caught up to a girl with a brunette ponytail. She said, "Hi, Doug!", as I started to pass her. It turned out to be Stacey Maeir. We talked a bit during the next mile. She said she was still recovering from the Finger Lakes 50 mile run from 2 weeks earlier. I ran with or slightly behind her until mile 5. My mile 2-5 mile splits were: 7:49, 7:49, 7:57 and 8:00. I took a cup of water on the run at mile 5. I gulped a Gu just before the waterstop at mile 6 and took another cup of water on the run. I was happy I didn't cough it back up. When I passed slower runners who had taken advantage of the early start I tried to encourage them all. I said "Hi" to Bill Murphy (3:30:32), Tom Butler (2:48:21) and Courtney Abeln (2:30:36) as I passed them. I heard a rooster at a farm around mile 7. My mile 6-9 mile splits were: 8:03, 8:04, 8:04 and 8:08. I allowed myself a tiny powerwalk of about 100 feet around mile 9. I sprayed some water from my hand bottle into my mouth or took a cup of water at some of the waterstops. My legs were getting tired.  I thought to myself, "It's only a 5K now", as I hit mile 10 on Priem Rd. The miles seemed to be longer and longer plus it had gotten hotter. A left onto Moscow Rd. I knew that we would be turning into the park soon around mile 11. My mile 10 and 11 splits were: 8:11 and 8:00.

Tailing a girl in a skirt as we turned back toward the park just before mile 11 - taken by Brian Hughey

I took my second powerwalk as I went underneath the Parkway overpasses. I passed up the last waterstop and just gutted out the last 1.5 mile. Finally I reached the last mile on the path beside Lake Ontario. It seemed to last forever as it went in and out of the much needed shade. I ran wordless beside another guy too tired to speak ... just running ... trying to hang on until the finish.

Enduring the "endless" mile along Lake Ontario

I couldn't hear the music from the finish line until I was almost there. Eventually I could see it and pushed a bit harder. My mile 12, 13 and last 0.23 mile splits were: 8:14, 8:06 and 7:03. And ... done in 1:45:24, 7:58 pace, according to my Garmin. So nice to hear Ellen Brenner call me into the finish! Officially, I was 62nd out of 341, overall results link here.

I needed water stat so I downed 4 cups pretty quickly. I heard Stacey Maier finish in 1:53:01 as I texted Christine and my kids that I had finished. I checked out the results and noticed that I had finished 2nd out of 14 in my 55-59 age group, link here. So I stuck around for the awards. While I was waiting I ran a really slow and painful cooldown run. It really kind of hurt so I stopped after 0.5 mile, 10:20 pace, link here..

The age group results link is here. Officially, Jason "Jmac" McElwain finished 3rd overall in 1:20:49 for 2nd in his 24-29 age group. Bob Haas finished in 1:35:15 for 3rd in his 50-54 age group. He is 54 so he will be in my age group soon. Ed Housel won my 55-59 age group in 1:30:22, I was a distant second at 1:45:26 and Keith Hadley finished in 1:45:38 (12 seconds behind me) for 3rd in my 55-59 age group. Mark McArdle finished in 1:57:40 to win his 60-64 age group. Bob Dyjak, who was celebrating his 39th wedding anniversary, finished in 2:08:35 for 3rd in his 60-64 age group. Bill Murphy finished in 3:30:32 and won his 65-69 age group.

The well earned bling!

Soon I was home. I woke Christine up and got the coffee on as I put my feet up. Not much happened  the rest of the day. Christine and I just lazed around and enjoyed our Saturday.

A race for the trail runners took place out in Victor, the 0 SPF Trail Half Marathon. I ran this race next year in 2:46 so I knew how hard this race was.

The start of  the 0 SPF Trail Half Marathon - taken from Facebook

The results of 141 runners are here. Lots of runners that I knew ran: Andy Frank in 1:53:24, Liz Matthews in 2:10:43, Mark Monachino in 2:20:43, Andy Ciaio in 2:26:31, Prem Kumar in 2:33:17, Wilt Alston in 2:48:28, Jeanne Herrick in 2:56:23, Tammy Abbe in 2:56:34, Dan Ostrander in 3:13:23, Dave Sek in 3:24:00, Charlie Sabatine in 4:23:39 and Tina Pellegrin in 4:33:09.