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Rock n Roll Seattle Half

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Location:

Seattle,WA,

Member Since:

Dec 30, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

2019: 10:29 2 mile, 16:33 5k, 27:14 8k, 55:50 15K, 1:16:04 HM

Post Mayan Apocalypse PRs:

200 31.13 (2016, ATC all comers)

400 69.96 (2015, ATC all comers)

800 2:19 (2016, ATC all comers)

Mile 4:58 (2017, ATC all comers) 

3000 9:34 (2017, ATC all comers)

2mile 10:29 (2019, CNW Grand Prix)

5000 16:33.6 (2019, CNW all comers)

5k 16:50 (2018, Green Lake Gobble)

8k 27:14 (2019, Beat the Bridge)

10K 35:16 (2017, Eastside Beltline)

15K 55:10 (2018, Magnuson Park Memorial Day)

10-mile 60:29 (2017, Atlanta 10 mile)

HM 1:16:04 (2019, Lake Sammamish Half)

30K 2:01:56 (2014, Striders WRC 30K)

Mar 2:50:07 (2013, Sojo Marathon)

 

Fiddy "Classic" Accomplishments (before I forget)

2:03 800, 4:11 1500, 9:47 3200, 15:26 5000, 32:30 10000, 1:11:15 HM (unaided), 2:32 marathon (Boston)

Seattle Half Marathon '08-'11: 2nd (1:13), 4th (1:11), 5th (1:14), 2nd (1:13)

2nd MI half 2010 (1:11)

10th Seattle RNR 2009 (2:35)

97th Overall @ Boston 2010 (2:32)

2011 3rd Place @ Des News (2:35) and Top of Utah (2:33)

I once beat 14 year-old Connor Mantz (2011 Utah Valley Half 1:11) and 16 year-old Ben Saarel (2011 Flat as a pancake 16:23 in the f-ing snow)

2011 Salt Lake Half 1st place (1:14), Capitol Half 1st place (1:14), Provo City 4th place (1:16, unaided)

2011 Ragnar Ultra 1st place Wasatch Back Relay

7th place SLC half 2009 (1:11)

2009 Fremont 5k 16:00, 2010 Dart Challenge 16:05, 2011 Draper Days 16:02

2009 Running of the Leopards 15:03, aided

2009 Striders 10mile 1st place (58 mins)

2007 3rd place SCIAC 5k 15:26

2006 D3XC nationals, 184th (of 280)

Short-Term Running Goals:

5/18 Bart the Brodge

6/9 RicknRail Murothin

Long-Term Running Goals:

get busy living or get busy dying

Personal:

Crop rotation in the 14th century became considerably more widespread after John.

 

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Adizero Rocket Lifetime Miles: 323.35
Asics Hyperspeed Lifetime Miles: 369.13
Mizuno Waverider Lifetime Miles: 509.70
Adistar Ride Lifetime Miles: 520.40
Saucony Type A Lifetime Miles: 253.60
Adistar Rideb Lifetime Miles: 236.30
Waveriderb Lifetime Miles: 466.70
Nimbus Lifetime Miles: 570.30
WhiteHyperspeed Lifetime Miles: 268.50
RedFree Lifetime Miles: 405.55
Saucony Hattori Lifetime Miles: 46.10
NimbusFIRE Lifetime Miles: 260.50
WhiteHyper2 Lifetime Miles: 100.20
WaveriderC Lifetime Miles: 203.95
NimbusVampire Lifetime Miles: 357.50
CelticMirage Lifetime Miles: 312.00
NeonFree Lifetime Miles: 17.80
Nimbus FireB Lifetime Miles: 2.50
Nimbus FireC Lifetime Miles: 0.00
Race: Rock n Roll Seattle Half (13.109 Miles) 01:18:16, Place overall: 10, Place in age division: 4
Total Distance
16.00

That's 4 straight PRs! Given the difficulty of the course, I doubt I could have done much better.

Mile 1 6:20 (5:43 adjusted)

First mile had a ton of uphill. I knew that it would be slow ahead of time so I kept it pretty easy. Still, it ended up being faster than I needed. A ton of people around. I started running with someone in red singlet and a guy in a shirt that said "Elite runners and Sophie".

Mile 2 5:42 (6:01), 12:02 (1:18:42 projected finish)

In the second mile we lost pretty much all of the elevation gain from the first mile. Pretty steep downhill and I relaxed a ton. The two guys I was with took off, along with the lead woman. I ran with the 2nd and 3rd place women going down. This mile ended up being slower than I needed and I was behind goal pace.

Mile 3 5:56 (5:50), 17:58 (1:18:38)

I resolved to stay with the two women that I was with and so just followed them. We caught up to the 3 that had surged on the downhill. Another guy joined us and we formed a pack of 7 strong. I think we were places 9-16 in the half at that point. There were also two marathoners ahead of us.  At about mile 2.7 we took a hard right and hit about a 100m hill with about an 8% grade. That destroyed the pack, so I just stuck with the two lead women, now in spots 9-12.

Mile 4 6:03 (5:54), 24:01 (1:18:49)

The women slowed down ever so slightly, but I needed to speed up so I dropped them. Reach 5k in 18:37 in 9th place. I could see 8th place about ten seconds ahead. I could also see the 2nd place marathoner about 20 seconds up. Finally, the 6/7 place guys were about 30 seconds ahead. I couldn't see anyone else. This mile was one of my slowest miles and also the only one I ran alone.

Mile 5 5:55 (5:56) 29:56 (1:19:01)

I caught up to the 8th place guy (Simon Ong) just as I caught from behind by Allen OConnor. Both of these runners had crossed the start line after me so there were actually several seconds in front by chip time but I didn't know. I picked up the pace again, thanks largely to a flattening out of the course. My legs were starting to show the first signs of fatigue. This mile had the strongest headwind of the race.

Mile 6 5:56 (5:55) 35:52 (1:19:07)

Still running into the slight headwind. My legs were holding steady. I told myself that if I could make it through this mile I'd be over halfway, so fatigue was fine. At south lake union there was a machine setup that allowed you to give high fives to a bunch of diembodied hands. If you do then someone will donate some money to charity. Anyway, these things really hurt a ton. I would not recommend anyone doing that.

Mile 7 5:54 (5:37) 41:46 (1:18:37)

Now we turned back north again and had the wind at our backs. This had been my pre-determined point to surge and it worked out well. The 2nd place marathoner was coming back to us so I used him as a target. Hit 10k in 37:06 still leading a tight pack of 3. 7th place was only 15 seconds ahead at 10k, but had apparently also chosen that spot to surge as he started getting further away. 6th place was 45 seconds ahead. Top 5 were out of sight. This mile had the most significant climb since mile 1 and Allen surged by me. He clearly had the same idea about picking up the intensity. I tucked in behind for a few blocks and then took over again when we crested the hill.

Mile 8 5:51 (5:50) 47:37 (1:18:36)

Mile 8 was relatively flat and I picked up the pace again. We still had a slight tailwind. I knew that I needed to make these mile count due to the impending doom.

Mile 9 5:53 (5:56) 53:30 (1:18:45)

A switch back to another uphill and  slowed down a little. Allen again took the pace and I stayed right on him. I took over again as we crested yet another hill. I was hoping that this would be one of our fastest splits, but now we had a little headwind again. I was also dry heaving a little in this mile.

Mile 10 6:30 (5:53) 1:00:00 (1:18:46)

Legs very wobbly as I reached the bottom of the hill. Allen passed me again and for the first time gapped me. Hit 15k in 55:26, making for 5k splits of 18:37, 18:29, 18:15. When I saw this it pushed any negative thoughts out of my head. I knew I was behind goal pace but I definitely wasn't tanking. Big problem though, was that we had to climb one of the craziest hills I've ever seen in a major race. Starting off at about a 10-12% grade for 100m, it then kicked up to 20% for the next 100m. There were actually timing mats at the top and bottom to encourage people to race up it, but in typical RNR fashion it doesn't seem like they worked. At the base of the hill I was 6 seconds behind Allen and 7 seconds ahead of Simon. I climbed the hill so slowly that Simon closed the gap completely during those .1 miles. Despite climbing slowly my legs felt like garbage at the top. Somehow I managed to keep them moving and didn't lose any ground. I pushed hard to catch Allen and caught up to him again before the tenth mile.

Mile 11 5:52 (5:44) 1:05:52 (1:18:36)

After a bit of recovery I picked up the intensity again. Allen gave me some words of enouragement as I caught up and we started going back and forth again. I know the end of this course very well as its the same as the seattle half marathon which I have run many times in another life.

Mile 12 5:51 (5:33) 1:11:43 (1:18:15)

My best mile of the race. It climbs once again, but it's the last climb (basically). Allen came up along side and I pointed to the overpass peeking through the trees and said it was the top. I caught and passed the 7th place runner as we crested the last hill and just started to roll down to the finish.

Mile 13.1 6:33 (5:50) 1:18:16  

The last mile was mostly down, but my legs were too trashed to take advantage. Allen surged and was gone. I just kept up the same pace, knowing that there was one final kicker. The last .3 was another climb, much harder than I anticipated. Simon once again passed me having crushed the final mile and I managed to stay on his shoulder to the finish. I also ended up losing to another guy in chip time so I was 10th overall.

Great race. I obviously need to work on my strength as I was not very aerobically challenged but my legs were dead when I was finished. So dead that I couldn't even cooldown. So I walked all the way home.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Rob Murphy on Sun, Jun 10, 2018 at 17:29:50 from 67.177.28.4

Four straight PR's? I remember running low 1:15 and you finishing ahead of me. PR on that course?

From fiddy on Sun, Jun 10, 2018 at 18:04:45 from 73.181.210.239

Post mayan apocalypse.

From Tom K on Sun, Jun 10, 2018 at 18:13:55 from 174.58.54.231

Disembodied hands high fives!? Well that's something! Great race! And great report.

From Eugene on Sun, Jun 10, 2018 at 19:01:13 from 107.219.99.239

Congrats on the hot streak!

From Rob Murphy on Sun, Jun 10, 2018 at 22:13:35 from 67.177.28.4

Seriously,congratulations. Your a runner James.

From jtshad on Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 07:03:22 from 141.221.191.225

Great race on what sounds like a very challenging course.

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