Cross Country

17 Sunday Nov 2013

Tags

2014 US Cross Country, Caolan MacMahon, Cross Country, Melody Fairchild, Revolution Running

Not running all week due to a cold takes some of the excitement out of this event for me. But then I thought the same way about last weekend’s Turkey Trot 10K and I ended up running fairly well. It’s not like I need to run fast to enjoy this cross country 6K race. This is my first cross country event in 30 years. Coming in last place won’t take away the fantasy of reliving my youth. Simply smelling the earthy grass takes me back. Those high school meets racing against Killeen’s Carlos Quiñones. Those intense mile interval workouts along the San Marcos River in college. Six mile repeats averaging a 4:30 pace. Despite the downer of thinking I’m not 100%, I feel like a kid again! I did run 7 miles yesterday at an 8.5 minute per mile pace. Felt so good to run again. I’m not worried that I fell out of shape. You can’t in a week. The callouses on my feet aren’t any thinner. It is possible I lost some racing edge but simply being here running a cross country race at any pace is priceless. This is going to be a good day.

Unlike a road race where everyone launches together, the women start first at 9am. I see Caolan MacMahon, aka the Chronic Runner. She’s about my age and a badass. I passed her in a half marathon a year or so ago right at the finish line. From the subsequent email exchange where I let her download the race pics of us finishing together, I got the impression she thinks I’m a douche bag for passing her like that. She’s leading her team of 50 year olds named Women Who Run the World. I see Melody Fairchild, local star runner and coach. Wasn’t too long ago she was setting national records at Boulder HS. This park is quite literally her backyard, under the shadow of the flatirons. She finishes top ten and wins the individual award in the masters division.

They call us guys to the line for a 10am start. I queue up near the middle of the pack where I notice a clear division between 20 year olds and 50 year olds. This will be a fast start and I don’t want to be in front of the stampede. Despite the 39° starting temperature and 16 mph wind, few in front of me are wearing tights. The guys behind are dressed more for comfort with gloves and tights. I pocketed my gloves but am wearing black Under Armour tights and a white Under Armour, long sleeve, compression-fit turtleneck top. The wind is gusting well over 30 mph which can make the air feel well below freezing. There’s a pack of kids lined up in front of me who look like they might be in grade school. I’ve already accepted that I’m going to be seriously smoked by some of these older kids. The millennials who wear their sister’s pink fleece pajama bottoms for warmups. My new goal for this race is to not get passed by any of them during the 3 laps. I wonder if I should be concerned over these little ankle biters. Surveying the field of runners lined up in front of me, I think back to my registration form. Did it ask me my age, or what grade I’m in?

We start and I settle into a pace that is pushing myself yet feels sustainable. My first mile is at a 7:20 pace. Slower than my typical 10K pace but I don’t expect to run as fast on the grass. Those little ankle biters swarm around me during this first loop. Their team is the Boulder Warriors, managed by Melody Fairchild. Ellie read the Warrior series in grade school so that confirms their age. They come with a huge cheering squad along the course which I’m quick to co-opt. Still, these pint-sized harriers annoy me because they can’t run a straight line. I endeavor to surge ahead of them. About half their team end up beating me. They cut a sharper turn around trees because they can duck under the low-hanging branches. They sprint down hills immediately after cresting them while my legs are still considering recovery from the fatigue of the climb.

I maintain close to the same pace on the second loop but a few runners catch me. I fail in my goal to not get passed by the leaders as two of them pass me within 10 seconds of the finish line. This is not the time to let negativity creep in though, I have another loop to complete. I don’t put on a kick necessarily but I run this final loop faster than the second. I finish in 29:07 for a 7:38 pace. I’m happy with my effort and want to do this again. It would be fun to field a team. This pic is of the 50 year old men’s team, Revolution Running, that won. I think a couple of them beat me but I know my neighbors would be competitive. The next race is in January. This series leads up to the U.S. National Cross Country Championships in Boulder in February.

Timing

09 Saturday Apr 2011

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Boulder Half Marathon, Caolan MacMahon, Lil L

Timing’s everything. Checkout these two pics of my run in the Boulder Half Marathon. You might have to click on them to see this, but both feet are off the ground in each shot. It’s the same spot, the one with gloves is 2 miles out and the one without gloves is with 2 miles left. So same lucky cameraman I assume. The first pic has me stunned as I am running uphill, and considering I’m running so slow the odds of that photographer catching two shots of me airborne are unreal. The dude has some incredible timing.

See the chic a step behind me at the finish in the 3rd pic? I put on a small surge at the end. I looked up her results from her bib number 1655. Her name is Caolan MacMahon. Turns out she is in the same age division as me – for women of course – but the really amazing thing is she ran only 3 seconds slower than me. I finished 241st overall, Caolan finished 242nd. Sort of rare to finish so close to someone who ran essentially the same pace, considering you both could have started anywhere apart from one another in the pack. We must have started standing fairly close to one another. I spent a full minute in a port-a-potty at mile 4, and ran the second half of the race 4 minutes faster than the first; she ran the second half 1.5 minutes faster than her first half. We even registered at nearly the same time as our bib numbers are only 4 digits off. Weird timing.

I ran my first track workout of the season today. Technically, my first track workout in about 25 years. I ran 6 quarters, which is to say I ran 6 loops around the track at 75% full speed and maintained a controlled rest interval in between. I used a 1 loop jog as my rest interval, and recorded the pace of that along with the quarters themselves.

1 mile warm up

Q1: 1:43 rest 2:15

Q2 1:59 rest 2:20

Q3 1:43 rest 2:29

Q4 1:44 rest 2:26

Q5 1:42 rest 2:26

Q6 1:40 rest 1 mile cool down

Maybe I’ll post another blog on some of the granular details of those splits after I’ve analyzed them. Just getting them published for now before I reset the stopwatch app on my iPhone. Or better yet, to any coaches reading this, feel free to comment. I don’t normally time myself. I don’t wear a watch, not even in road race events. I used to have such a good feel for my pace that I didn’t need to. I’ve lost that inner timer though and I’m using timing now as a tool to relearn my experience. After a quick look at the splits, I find the timing interesting for several reasons. My splits are oddly even for both the quarters and the rest intervals. That’s not surprising on the rest, I’m jogging around the track at a standard pace. It is surprising that my quarters are so even considering I’ve forgotten how to run interval workouts. Then, notice that the 2nd quarter is the most off from the others. If I recall, this is not unusual even for experienced runners. It must be a norm. Although I think more in-shape athletes tend to run the second quarter as their fastest rather than their slowest. That’s because the first quarter serves as a warm-up of sorts. And then they, as you, settle into a pattern. Synchronous timing.

Timing is everywhere. It’s timing when they tell you your baby will be on the waiting list to receive a new heart for 4 to 6 months – and that’s how long it takes for another one year old baby boy to make his little heart available to Lil L. It’s timing when Susan comes home a day early from the week of work in Austin for a date night – courtesy the grandparents – and that puts her in bed with her husband when they receive the call at 2am letting them know the heart is being flown to Hobby International. It’s timing when Lil L’s sad heart varies wildly in rhythm, and his new heart – after it’s been disconnected from the machines and is organically part of the living Lil L – beats solid, steady and even. God’s timing.