Run With Garrison

Aloha Everyone,

Today I ventured back into the racing scene here in Hawaii and I am happy to report that things went much better than I thought they would. In the 2 weeks since the Noble Canyon 50k, I have been following the “run as I feel” pattern that I have been on since my return from illness. The mileage for the past 2 weeks has been 52.79 and 69.83 miles per week. Over the past 2 weeks I have also found a great new hill to run up—Sierra Road. It is shorter than Tantalus and plenty steep. More on the new training route to follow..Let’s get ot the race report….

I am finally starting to feel better so my plan for the race was to try to run as even as possible and just go out for a nice, steady run. I was not heading into the run looking for a serious competitive effort, especially since I am running the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 Miler in 6 days. Last year at this 25k I ran 1:49:15 and I was in pretty good shape. Granted, at the race last year I was very tired from months of hard training/racing and the 25k raceday turned out to be the day the wheels fell off. I felt solid for about 9 of the 15 miles and then I just fell apart somehow managed to finish at near 7 minute pace. Today, I was determined to make this day different. During my warmup, I really did not feel all that good and I was simply just hoping to be able to hold 7 minute pace for the entire effort. I specifically did not want to go out to hard because there is a half-mile long hill that we go up-down and then run back over again from about 9-11 miles.

As the race started, I felt surprisingly comfortable around 6:30 pace and I had no issue letting the top 10 take off and I settled in with a few familiar faces as we worked into a solid rhythm. From miles 4-9 I ran with local Boston Qalifiers Shawn, Jeff, and Will and we rolled along at about 6:35 pace. We shared the pacing duties a bit and I felt like we worked well together as a group. Once we hit the hill, we all separated and settled into our own races from that point on. I think I came thru the half marathon around 1:26-1:27 and at that point I was a bit tired and rolled into the finish around 7 minute pace. My overall time was 1:43:33, much better than last year, and the average was 6:41 pace. I finished 13th overall and won the 40-44 age group. I was joined on the age group podium by Jeff and Will. I am very, very happy with my race because this is the first time I have run anything sub 7 minute pace since a mile repeat workout June 10 and the Hibiscus Half Marathon late May. My daily training has been run at 7:55-8:30 pace. I am excited to see what Saturday’s 50 Miler has in store.

I want to give a Big Mahalo to Frank and his team at iRun for not only sponsoring the event, but for also providing me with such excellent support and gear. I am extremely proud to be associated with Frank and iRun. Please check out his site http://www.irunearphones.com

Big Mahalos also to Martina, Kris, and Ryan for coming out to support me and hang out at the finish.

I think that is about it for now and I will post again next week after the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 Miler in Castro Valley, CA. Hopefully, I will see a lot of you there!

Much Aloha

Michael