The Ave RQ Race Rept

[Robin O]

Avenue of the Giants

I probably shouldn’t write this now because it will sound like I’m on ecstasy, of course if I were I wouldn’t be using a computer, so that’s my defense.  Crazy serotonin love for y’all.  :o)

 

Summary:

This was one of my favorite races of all time. Course, friends, weather, accommodations and event. 2 min PR of 1:34:34, pace 7:13 overall 30/1070, female 8/692 age/sex div 4/136  (I’m only a little pissed that I’m in the toughest division of the entire ½ marathon males and females- because it was such an awesome race)

 

Drive up: Great fun chatting with Rax, though I don’t recommend dinner in Willits, the only reason to stop on that ride once you are outside of Healdsburg is for gas.

Accommodations: Mark found us a surprisingly awesome place in the middle of many crappy places.  Thank you for the research you did, the hot tub was spectacular and any bed I sleep for 10 hours in is spectacular.  Yes, I slept in on Saturday till 10 am in a hotel suite with 5 people.

 

Food:  Eel river brewery rocked!  I love the beer up there!  Lost Coast Brewery wasn’t bad, but I didn’t like how they tried to give us a ½ menu because we were a large group. Return food in Healdsburg rocked- mostly because it was perfect temperature outside and we ran into Steph and Laz who randomly appeared right behind us as we were parking.

 

Conditions: SUPERB! Could not have been better.

 

Course: I’m still trying to figure out how it seemed downhill all the time but was an out and back! PERFECT.  I was worried it might be straight and boring but there were nice twists and turns, beautiful dramatic trees. But I do believe it was 12.3miles – so says my iphone Nike+ and my body pacing.

 

Run: I found Yezin at the start and was glad I did.  Even though it would be smart for me to run slower 7:20/7:30 at the start, I’m much more likely to go out at 6:50 in the first two miles and crash later, so we held to a strict 7:07 diet, devouring 5miles together on exact pace.  Wonderful to have a running buddy.  Sad we didn’t see Rax so that we could pull him along too.  Yezin sped off at the water station after mile 5, and I slowed down a bit, but not too much.  A couple of times when I almost dropped off chatty older men running near me would encourage me on.  It was a very friendly race.  I finished decently strong, I would have been faster if I heard Rax behind me though.  I pushed through pain in the race and I’m limping now, so I would consider that a success! (have i been hanging out with GGRC too long if this is my thought process?)

 

So good to see everyone running strong- we had so many PR’s!  Thank you GGRC, I totally feel the love!  And in return I will seriously consider pacing Mark for his crazy dirty dozen endurance run. :o)

 

 

 

 

[David Raksin]

Congrats Robin and all of our other half and marathoners (especially Amanda who crushed her first marathon and had two ggrc boy toy escorts flanking her the whole way through the redwoods! As if in a dream). Everyone was on their "A" game and I think our two-brewery (eel river and lost coast) day on Saturday helped matters. Nature called me pre race, which got me to the start line a little behind you guys.  When I saw you and Yezin at the turnaround, it was a little too much ground to cover to catch you. 1:38.40 for me (43rd overall) and my garmin said the course was .2 long as well. Next time I'm keeping you guys in sight. Special thanks to robin and Julia for keeping my awake at the wheel to and fro eureka. Rax

[Yezin Taha]

Congrats to everyone who ran at the Ave.  It seems like most everyone PRed, except for Mark Pepper and David, but we all know they are just a couple of slowpokes, so we don't ever expect much out of them.  ;)

 

I had an amazing time at an amazing race with some amazing people on Sunday.  First off, thanks to the Pepper power of persuasion for getting so many of us up to Eureka the night before.  The hotel was great, and dinner was a blast.  I spoke with Robin on Saturday night about my strategy for the half, and she thought I was talking crazy about my plan of starting at 7:20 pace and seeing where I go from there.  My thoughts were that I wanted to speed up during the race without burning myself out at the beginning, but she thought I had more in me than that.  I'm glad I listened to her the next day.

 

So, Sunday morning... cold... especially driving from Eureka to the race on a motorcycle!  We showed up to the race and I handed all of my stuff to my riding buddy so that I could run a little bit to warm up my legs!  I got registered, got a spare block of shotblocks from Robin, and did a short warmup.  Then... we were off.  Robin and I ran together at a pace halfway between her usual 6:50 initial miles and my 7:20 expected pace.  We both felt good, and got to relax and chat for the first half of the race.  It was a strange race in that we thought we were going downhill for the first half, and then downhill as we ran back on the exact same road to return, but I'll take that over uphill any day!!!  We kicked off at 7:07 ish pace for the first three miles, and then settled in at a perfect 7:07 pace coming across at 28:28 and 35:35.  I noticed our distances were slightly off from the markings, and that previous year markings were still visible and different than this year's markings on the road.  Well, whatever, we were running.

 

I hit each aid station and felt good at each one.  I got gatorrade at the first, but then stuck to water at all the others since the shot blocks Robin gave me had enough salt and sugar to keep me feeling strong.

 

By the end of mile 6, both Robin and I were cruising along fine, but I all of a sudden felt a surge.  I told Robin I was going to take off, and started to set my sites on some of the folks who had gradually passed us through the first half of the race.  I started to pick them off, and caught up to a guy who's computer said he was averaging 6:59 pace at mile 7.  We picked it up after that, and averaged 6:55 through mile 12.  He and I ran together well, although he had some strange coughing fits that always ended up with him surging for the next twenty yards... strange... I need to try that.  Anyway, I was feeling good, and had plenty of gas in the tank, and figured I was averaging just over 7 minute miles.  However, the times and GPS tracking on everyone's watches just weren't lining up with the posted distances.  Whatever, I'm just here for fun.

 

So, come the start of mile 13, I figured it was time to pick up the pace and drop my running buddy.  It was nice of him to keep the pressure up on me and tell me our times, but I was there for a PR, not to make lifelong friends!!!  OFF I went, and dropped him pretty quickly.  I figure I was down in the 6:30 range, or less, for the last mile, and actually caught up to another guy who had passed Robin and me around mile 4!  I knew I had to take him down, so I really picked it up and went into a full out sprint for the last 60 yards.  I was up on my tip toes and didn't even look at the clock because I just wanted to pass Mr. Blue Shirt!  Well, I did, and apparently came across at 1:33.06.  That, is a personal best by almost 6 minutes!  Plus, adjusting for the 0.2 extra miles we seem to have run, I figure I actually ran in the high 1:31s, which I'm very happy with. 

 

So, next race, I'm going out at sub 7 minute pace, and I'm going to try to negative split again.  I want to go under 1:30!!!

 

By the way, why is it that the "ex-runner" in the office always has to lower his times whenever you improve yours?  Last I knew, one of my co-workers ran a personal best of 1:31.  Now, he has remembered it as being 1:27 or so.  Well, I think I just set my new target... to beat him!  ;-)

 

Thanks to Robin for being a great pacer and pushing me to carry good speed on the first half of the race!

 

Congrats to all the others who ran on Sunday too, especially to Amanda for her amazing qualifying time.  Oh, yeah, I love hearing the cheers on out and backs when fellow GGRCers pass!

 

Yezin

[David Li]

Robin, Yezin, and Rax,

Congratulations on your race! It was awesome cheering you on when you were blasting by on the other side of the road. You all looked really strong (and it showed in your times!)

Amanda and Mark, it was an amazing experience running with you. Race report is forthcoming.

A huge thanks to Barbara for her photography before, after, and DURING the race. Amazing job.

Congrats also to everyone else who ran. Hope you had a great time!

David