2013 Dam To Dam

I have always said that you can have a great race, but there is no such things as "perfect" race, but this one was DAM close.

I've written in length in the past how much I love the Dam to Dam. The 5k was my first ever race and the 20k was my first ever long distance race so there will always be a special place in my heart for it. Whenever I get the opportunity to speak to anyone about long distance racing, this is the place that I direct them. There are hundreds of races within 2 hours of Des Moines that are over the 10k distance but all of them pale in comparison (on the roads) to the Dam To Dam. Enough gushing about how much I love this race, on to the race report.

This race has gotten so popular in the last couple of years that the window of opportunity to register is becoming slimmer and slimmer every year. Because I am just a person that needs to get signed up, the registration opened at 8:00 and I was registered by 9:00. No questions. Just did it. Now, Mrs. Messenjah has shown some interest in getting into some longer distance running (maybe I'm finally starting to rub off on her) but has some health concerns about it. So I figured that I would give her a call to see if she wanted to run the 5k. During that phone call she almost seemed offended by the question of only asking if she wanted to run the 5k. As I remember the conversation it went something like this "Do you want to run the 5k Dam to Dam?" Her response, "Why would I want to pay to run a 5k when I could run that for free today?" It may have gone a little differently, but that was the gist. When I got home she really surprised me and told me that she was considering doing the 20k and wondered about a training schedule. I was almost a little shocked.

After a long conversation about training, kids schedule, nutrition, blah blah blah. I told her that if she wanted to do it she needed to pull the trigger. That was it. No more pressure. Then she said to get her signed up. There are moments in peoples lives that you will just remember. Your first kiss, your first car, when you get your first post-collegiate job offer, etc. This was one of those moments for me. I have been so enveloped in my own long distance running and her never showing interest in doing it, I've never thought to pursue trying to persuade her. This really shocked me. Long story short, I created a schedule for her. She followed it almost to a "T" and then race day came...but more on that later.

Most people know what my year has been like. I am very vocal on Facebook about my training (probably too much that people just want me to shut down my account) and have posted my previous race reports on here so I will save details. My 2013 was going very well until about 2 weeks after Free State.

I had done a couple of 5 or 6 mile runs, one 10 miler and was doing a 7 miler when all of a sudden I get this insane pain in my calf. I wear semi-minimalist shoes and have worn them for about 2 years so I just wrote it off as my calves were tight that day. The next day I woke up and could barely walk. Huh...that's weird. I tried to just walk about as much as I could that day at work, but nothing was helping. I looked up my symptoms on Runner's Worlds website and with the amount of information out on there one of two things were happening. 1) I was dying because of some problem with my leg or 2) I had developed Achilles Tendinitis. Crap!!! How could this happen 3 weeks before my favorite race. Needless to say I searched a little more, got some suggestions on how to relieve the pain and rested as much as possible. I'm not one who likes to just lay around, but I think it was probably God telling me to spend some more time with my family. OK God. You win.

The next couple of weeks were really tough. Lots of time just resting, time with my family, helping Mrs Messenjah with her schedule and the like. I would get a run in every couple of days, but wold wake up with the same pains the following day. I had a pretty aggressive goal for this years race, but with a week to go had to re-evaluate and pray for healing.

The week leading up to races are really difficult for me. I am very easily distracted and even though this was about a quarter of the length of my last race I was still really jacked up. Friday afternoon I was going to be working the race expo. I love working the expo as a member of the board for my running club. I get to talk to others just about running. I get to sell our club and just be me with other people who share an interest with me. You see a lot at a race expo. You see the veterans who have done this race 10+ times and you get to see the new people who are running the race for the first time. Lots of butterfiles. Lots of emotions.

Friday night was spent hanging out with friends that were here from out of town. Byron and I were to be running together, again, and my Mrs and his Mrs were going to be running together as well. We went out for dinner, had a couple of beers, talked race day strategy and had a blast just catching up. It was a great way for us to just take our minds off of the next day. After an amazing dinner at Exile Brewing in Des Moines we headed back home to catch some much needed, but ultimatlely avoided shut-eye. Upon our arrival home, we realized that my m-in-law's fiancee had forgotten to get his bib so the next hour or so was spent contacting everyone that I could find that had anything to do with the race to find out about getting his bib in the morning. Crap! Not this again!!

When you have a brain like mine, you don't get much sleep the night before a race. I get really excited and literally can't think of anything else. Before some big races in the past I have been able to use the visualization technique of picturing myself in a remote mountain looking up at the sky to be able to calm down, but not before this race. My mind was all over the place and I will spare you the details of the weird things that I was thinking about. There was a moment, where I think I was partly dreaming, that I was dreaming about eating the AFLAC duck and it was talking to me while I was cutting into it. Weird.

3:30AM comes very early when you might have gotten 2 hours of sleep and if it was up to me I would have gotten out the door about 10 minutes later, but I had a very groggy spouse that wanted to sleep until 4:00 but couldn't due to the light in the kitchen being just bright enough for her to see. My wife has never really been a morning person but today, she was really not happy about being up at 3:45AM. Around 4:30 we got out of the house and headed to catch the bus.

I love this part of the race. The excitement, fear, anxiety, confidence and worry is all over the place. This is the moment for a lot of people where this day becomes real. Some people have been training for this race for months. The hundreds of miles logged in training leads to today. Once you step foot on that bus, the race is on.

The bus ride out was pretty uneventful. Chit-Chatting with my wife and others around. Looking at all of the places around town that I've run. Seeing the trail my race is on. Getting back some of those anxious feelings of race directing again in 4 months time. Yuck. But once we got out to the dam it was all business.

Stepping foot off the bus is like stepping foot into an athletic apparel store. I am not the most fashion conscious person. I actually told Byron that I couldn't be a girl because I hate to match clothes, but you see it all at the beginning of a race like this. Tights. Arm warmers. Hats. Headbands. Matching shoes with shorts, tanks, and socks. People wearing trash bags to stay warm. Under Armour. Nike. Reebok and everything in between. It honestly looks like the running department of Scheels threw up neon colors after an all night bender of eating shorts and drinking Gatorade. With that said. I don't want you to think that I am a hypocrite because Yes I was wearing a neon green shirt, but in my defense it was our club shirt that we just unveiled.

Before the race we hung out, chatted, went potty, chatted some more, went potty more and just waited until finally people started to line up. Because of some miscommunication of the kybo locations we made our way up to the respective starting areas with just minutes to spare. I was starting to get nervous, not about running, but about "being on time" to our designated location. Even though the race is chip timed I like to be in the area early. I know. It's weird but it's my thing. I gave the mrs a hug and kiss good luck and made our way up to the 8:45/mile area.

As the gun went off there is an electricity that is unrivaled in anything that I experience except for a couple of times a year. There is a wave of walking, turned to jogging, turned to walking and back to running. The beginning of the race is very nerve racking to me. I don't like to run in big crowds and there are always people that start out in an area that is faster than what they plan on running. It's a constant game of bobbing and weaving and that's the way it went for about 3 miles. Byron and I were having a great time. Feeling pretty good and then all of a sudden he stopped talking.

If you've read my race reports before, Byron and I have a great time. We have very similar personalities and do a great job keeping each other moving. When he stopped talking I knew something wasn't right. His breath was labored and he was sweating like crazy. I asked if I was pushing the pace to hard and he said yes. We slowed down a bit and it didn't seem to help. He put his headphones in and just started to zone out. He was having a really hard time keeping his breathing in check and the headphones would take his mind off of it. We had set a pretty lofty goal before the race, that I knew that we could hit if we just kept moving and that's what the next few miles were spent doing. Just keeping moving.

I was feeling great. My legs felt good. My breathing was good. I was nice and cool (probably because of my hideously bright shirt) and was fueling and hydrating according to my plan. This was going to be a great time. I knew it.

I kept hitting my watch every mile marker. 8:44. 7:53. 8:13. 8:38. 8:17. 8:18. 8:50. etc. We hit the pedestrian bridge and I could almost smell the finish line. 801 Grand was in sight and people were slowing down A LOT!!! I felt like I still had a lot left in my legs and knew at this point if I was going to make a move now was the chance. That's me in the bright green and Byron in the black shirt.

I yelled back to Bryon, who was a few steps behind me, "You good?" Now this is the point where I thought I heard him grunt or make some kind of noise, but in retrospect not sure if he heard me. By the grunt that I heard I thought he was giving me the OK to go ahead, but now I don't really know if it was him. I wish I would have been wearing the GPS to see what my actual split was for the last 1 1/2 miles. I felt like I was flying because I was picking people off left and right. Maybe they were just slowing down and I was going the same pace...either way I felt fast.

The final 1/2 mile of any long distance race is emotional. This was my year to beat my old PR by nearly 10 minutes. I will not cry! I will not cry! I will not cry! Are the words that kept repeating in my head. As I crossed the finish line I threw my hands up in the air and gave thanks to God for getting me to the finish quickly and relatively pain free. I turned around and kept my eyes pealed for Byron. As he crossed the finish line I gave him the biggest bear hug that I could. This year I was not going to punch him in the chest out of excitement. We had done it. 1:46 and some change. What a great day!!!

We got our medals and raced around the outside of the fence to wait for the ladies. I was really keeping an eye on Byron because I knew how he was struggling during the end. He showed some great composure when I knew he wasn't feeling great. He had some stomach problems for the last 5 or 6 miles and really showed how much of a badass he is by gutting it out (no pun intended). I saw a lot after that. Joy. Excitement. Pain. Frustration. Limp bodies. Everything. It is one of the few places that I love to be, but one of the places I hate too.

About 15 minutes after we had finished I saw her. The love of my life crossing the finish line. I scared the crap out of the surrounding spectators as I let out the biggest scream. I was so happy for her and yep, I teared up for her. I spent the next couple of minutes scanning the crowd for her. Where had she gone? Did she pass out? Is she OK? Panic was starting to set in since I knew some of the problems that she has had medically. Needless to say, she was right next to me looking for me. It's one of those moments that you never forget because I looked at her with so much pride that she had accomplished such a big thing in her life. On this day she did something that only about 2 million people will do in a single year, but today was HER day.

After finding our friends again we decided to partake in the festivities before we headed home. Beer. Pulled pork sandwiches. Nachos (a great addition to the menu). Fruit. After getting our fill, we went home to hang out with our "biggest fans".

We came home to something we weren't expecting. Wonderful handmade awards from our daughters. They were so excited.

I want to send a huge congratulations to Mrs Messenjah. She is one of the most amazing people that I've ever met. She was the motivation for me to start this dumb hobby/lifestyle and June 1, 2013 was an incredible day for me to share with her.

Overall the race day didn't disappoint. As I stated in the opening, There is no such thing as a perfect race, but this was probably as close as I have ever been. Aside from a little pain in my achilles and about 2 miles worth of slower than desired pace, it was flawless. I ate well. Hydrated well. Ran hard when I needed to and held back when I wanted to. It was an overall great day!!

Congratulations to my friends Bryon, April, Dennis and all of my friends and Capital Striders Club members.

Thanks to my God for pushing me when I needed him. Thanks to Him for healing and the ability to do the stupid things that I do.

Items used during the 2013 Dam To Dam 20K
New Balance MT 101 (no longer in production)
Brooks Versatile SS shirt
The North Face Reflex Core Shorts
Nathan Hydration QuickDraw Elite handhelds
Injinji Performance Midweight Socks (Yes...toe socks)
CEP All sports Compression Calf Sleeves
Clif Shot Gels