BlogJanuary 24, 2010 Starting off 2010 After having spent the last few weeks up in Montana I was excited this past week to get back to Arizona and participate in the PF Chang's Rock n Roll Half Marathon. I wasn't too sure how I would do as the trip to Montana contained very little training and maybe too much fun! After Ironman Arizona I took two weeks completely off and did the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Las Vegas with still tired Ironman legs. My time there was 1:11 for the half, which was good considering I hadn't done anything for two weeks and it was a few days post Ironman. Now this race was another 5 weeks after Vegas with basically no training! This was now seven weeks of not much cardiovascular activity, not great for entering a tough event like a half marathon! I did a couple of light jogs and some swimming at the Billings YMCA but for the most part I was chilling with my dad or downhill skiing. I also ate, and ate, and ate, which was fun. My brother Porter and I also got a little serious about table tennis up in Big Sky, the main "hang out" bar at the ski area base has a table in the back, winner stays. I stayed a lot, but I have to admit I lost a few too! I swear, that ball travels differently at 8,000 feet as there isn't as much drag on it. After adjusting to the new conditions I tended to win most games! I do think too that this was good marathon training as most of the time I worked up a pretty good sweat playing after a long day of skiing. I was also throwing around some weights at the YMCA which was helping with my strength, I like to do this in the off season. A little after the new year I hopped on the old scale and it read 173 pounds, quite a bit up from my ideal race weight of 160-165! Time to get back on the program! I headed back to Arizona with exactly nine days before the PF Chang's Half. Race week was cool, I did lots of expo stuff and an awesome welcome dinner Friday night at the famous Biltmore Hotel. I was lucky to get to catch up with Andy Baldwin and Josh Cox at the dinner! These are a couple of friends I've hung out with at times the last couple of years and are always fun to be around! They're doing the famous 56 mile Comrades Ultra-Marathon this June to raise money for poverty stricken kids in Africa, check out their charity website www.comrades4thekids.org Race morning my brother Blair and I caught the Gainey Village shuttle down to the start line and prepared to run fast. The race was warmer than in the past years so I made the mistake of not warming up! I feared running around too much because I figured with my slight weight gain and lack of mileage I only had so many steps in me on this day which was probably faulty logic... I lined up next to triathlon star Matty Reed, I was lucky enough to get to sit next to him and chat for a bit at the welcome dinner Friday night. He and his wife Kelly are really generous and humble people despite Matt's triathlon success. He's a US Olympian and most recently Triathlete Magazine's 2009 short-course Triathlete of the Year. So on the start line I decided to line up behind him and former world tri champ Simon Lessing and do a few stretches before the gun fired. Oh yeah, I also got to meet AZ Senator John McCain. That was pretty cool too considering how closely I followed the election last year. My impression was that he was very kind and he was making time for all of us who were around him at that moment. I can't imagine the pressure and demands put on our high-office elected officials, this was just a quick glimpse into what they have to deal with! (In this case, people like me looking for hand shakes and photo opps!) The gun fired, my legs were cold with little speed, I felt heavy! First mile in 4:45, oops. I was running right behind Deena Kastor who is one of the best US distance runners ever. I figured I would stay on her heals as long as I could. Through three miles in 15:30 and then around mile four I couldn't hang any longer. I think Deena was probably tired of me huffing and puffing in her ear by then so it was probably for the better. I ran mostly alone until just after 10k when 3 guys caught me, one of which was Matt Reed. I had kind of blown up, but ran with these guys from mile 8-10 and then our group disintegrated. At that point the four of us kind of split up and though we could all see each other, we weren't running together at all. By mile 12 I had closed down to Matt and another guy from our group to within 12-15 seconds and just before we were to cross Mill Avenue Bridge I made an attempt to surge. I had nothing and instead decided to just keep my legs moving to the finish. I finished in 1:12 which was a little surprising as everyone agreed it wasn't the fastest day (sort of a tough course, a little headwind). Certainly I think at some point this year on the right day I'll get that 1:07 I'm looking for and in all honesty KNEW it wouldn't come at this event. I've done this race now in 2006, 2009, and now 2010 and this is my best time here by a little over a minute. I also felt like I went into it less fit than ever before so I'm happy about that! I think part of my faster time is just having gained some experience running half's. Though I still don't pace properly or anything like that, I'm more or less used to what happens to my body over 13.1 miles and I can plan and adjust accordingly now. After the race I worked most of the day for PF Chang's at the Wok Truck serving the competitors food. What a good time! It was fun talking with everyone about their experiences during the race and experience their satisfaction with having finished! I too was satisfied with my finish and was happy to be serving lettuce wraps and consuming an occasional Great Wall of Chocolate PF Chang's cake sample. Congratulations to all the participants and volunteers who helped make the 2010 PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon such a success! Lewis « Back to Blogs |
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