Why does running a mile hurt so freaking bad??? - Grand Blue Mile 2017
For the 2nd year, I decided to give the Grand Blue Mile a go. Being someone who took on the sport of ultra running because I love running, but hate to run fast, running a mile as fast as you possibly can is a little counter intuitive. How bad can it REALLY be?
I was fortunate enough to snag a free entry to the race from my employer for the 2nd time. When we were drawn it was during my 100 mile Rocky Raccoon hangover, but I needed something to train for that wasn't an ultra.
I took a different approach to this event than I did last year and did focus on doing more tempo work leading up to the event. The tempo work tended to fall on the same day that I was doing 250-300 flights of stairs or being at a 15% incline on the treadmill for 60-90 minutes. This was going to attempt to train my legs to turnover when they felt dead.
Leading up to the event, I haven't really been feeling encouraged by my distances of my runs. I've gotten some really good, hilly backroads 20+ milers, but haven't really felt....dialed in. This was going to be a good way to test my current level of fitness and hopefully be the kick in the pants that I need to get ready for the last 4 weeks of training for the Booneville Backroads 100 mile.
This was going to be a really fun event too, because the two oldest girls participated in a program at school called KidStriders which gained them entry into the "Victory Run" by completing 13 or 26 miles over the course of this school year. I was pretty pumped when Lil Red got her 26 miles but Mini Me fell a little short of the 13 required to participate, but still really happy that they both were able to take part.
We arrived a few minutes prior to the KidStriders check-in and were somewhat scrambling as the parking downtown is HORRENDOUS. If I had to make one suggestion to organizers, offer some cash to the businesses around and let participants park in the parking garages. It would make getting around downtown SO MUCH EASIER!!!
Once we got her checked in, I had to pick up my bib and meet up with the others from work who had won entry into the race. We wanted to snap a quick photo to thank the corporate sponsor for giving us the spots.
We hung around waiting for the event to start. I got to say hi to a few friends that were going to be running the womens competitive and the crew from lululemon (who I am still grateful to for giving me the awesome shorts) and 15 minutes after it was supposed to start, the Victory Run began the celebration and Lil Red did a really great job for the 1/4 mile. I think she was a little bummed that it was just a 1/4 mile as she definitely has the long run mentality. She just ran and smiled while looking around and I was really excited to see that.
A few snacks, waters and balloon animals later, I set off to warm up. This concept is still foreign to me since most of the time warming up at my events is standing around drinking coffee and talking BS with people :)
As I made my way over to the race course I bumped into one of my favorite people in the world. So exuberant and excited!!!! Everyone that knows Sara Schwendinger adores her for her positive attitude and her love for this sport. Of course she had to snap me wearing a photo of something that I've never felt comfortable wearing...a singlet...but I made the most of it :)
I've been struggling with what appears to be a manifestation of Plantar Fasciitis for the past week or so and was wearing a new CEP Plantar sleeve on my left foot under my injini socks to try and relieve some of the discomfort. I was instructed that I needed to warm up for a minimum of 10 minutes prior to the event to make sure that it was good and ready for the sprint.
The weather was cooler than last year (70F) and the wind had died off considerably since the morning, but it was muggy and you could tell the humidity was high. I decided to wear the Fitness Sports singlet to appear to be a "legit runner" but with the conditions that had presented themselves I actually was glad to have a cooler shirt on.
I spent the next few minutes running some laps up/down the block on Locust Ave and chatting with some friends who were going to be running as well. With 3 minutes to go, I made my way to the front of the crowd only to find 50-60 middle school students crowding the timing mat. Now, I won't say that I don't applaud their confidence in their own ability, but in the "Competitive Event" this may not have been the best place for them to be hanging out. I said a quick prayer and kept repeating the phrase "Strong and fast....Strong and fast" as I wanted to be as strong as I could and just push myself to the redline.
I stood waiting for the official start to the race and heard one of my buddies walk up to the the line and yell to one of the officials "Hey, I wish there was something we could do about the 75 kids that are at the front of the corral"...I just had to laugh... :)
With a quick, "Set...Bang!" we were off. As I set into what seemed like a managable pace, I found myself on the left side of the road weaving in/out of the crowd of children who thought they were going to be able to run a 5:00/mile. This was frustrating to me and I found myself pushing a higher gear to try and get around them and had a hard time setting my "mile pace".
A couple of blocks in, I was starting to feel the PF tightening up a bit and looked at my watch "4:45/mile"...NOPE!!! That's not happening. I let off the gas slightly as I knew that the back half of the race has a slight incline and knew I would have to deal with that. I got through the front half in 2:38 and knew that I was going to have to push to make my 5:20 goal.
With two quick turns, I looked down the street and could see the finish line set up but DAMN it was a long ways away. I found myself continuing to look at my watch to see my current pace as I had it set to refresh every minute...5:16....5:18....5:24....5:28.....Once I saw that finish line, I found myself verbally repeating "Strong and fast....Strong and fast..." which I'm pretty sure others around me heard.
With 1/4 of a mile left, I saw my friend Sara who is small but has a MIGHTY voice. I was feeling the effects of the first few blocks at the 4:45 pace and she let out this scream that will probably haunt me for weeks to come, but that small gesture made me push when it hurt to push. After that I picked of 6-8 people. I approached my family to my left and heard their screams, but was so focused on the clock that I couldn't even acknowledge that they were there. I crossed the line, hit my watch and it read 5:22.....the exact time that I hit last year.
As I came through the finishers chute, my legs were Habanero jello.....wobbly like jello but ON FIRE!!! I didn't see stars like last year, but my legs no longer wanted to move. I had literally given everything I had and I got the same result as last year. Although I was happy to see that I hadn't lost anything, I really thought I was more fit.
I walked through the chute, chatted with a couple of people, got a really sweet picture taken and made my way out to find my family. As I was walking out of the finishers area, a co-worker and I made our way over to the timing tent to get our instant printout of our finishing information. As I gave the volunteer my information the slip of paper showed "5:21.12"!!!!! I HAD DONE IT!!!!! I ran faster than last year.....by ONE SECOND!!!!!!!! I ended up 68th out of 1863. Pretty solid performance
I was elated as I approached my family. I couldn't believe it, but instead of a "congratulations" from my kids I hear "hey, where did you get that powerade? I want one!"....Oh....my kids.....They've grown up watching me run in races and the thrill of watching their dad run a PR was overcome by their desire for a Powerade :)
We made our way over to the finish area to chat with my shoe store boss and a couple of others and get prime spots to watch the women's elite field. Talk about amazing athletes to watch run. Amazing. They made every step look effortless and almost like they were holding back. It was a fight for the final 100 meters and Katie Mackey came away with the win.
We left the event due to bedtime quickly approaching and made our way home. The whole walk and drive home, I found myself looking at that sheet of paper...5:21....Never in my WILDEST dreams did I ever think that I'd be able to put forth enough effort to make that happen. Unreal.
As I sit here and write this now, my calves and hamstrings have a pain in them that I haven't felt in a long time, but the tightness and soreness will go away. As a person who used to tip the scales at over 300 lbs, last night was something I will remember forever. We are not hindered by our ability to do amazing things, we are held down by our thoughts that we can't do amazing things.
This event is amazing. Yes, there are some flaws with the kids in the competitive field and the parking, but overall it is a great environment for families to get out and be active. Having the "recreational" category as well as the "competitive" category allows those families to do something together and get to experience some people running REALLY fast. The families are well taken care of with games, snacks, inflatable, balloon animals and face painting. They have a great number of facilities available for the athletes and families and the price is inexpensive for the experience you get to be a part of.
I don't think I'll be jumping over into the world of track and field anytime soon, but it's good to see that this Ultra runner has some wheels :)
The North Face Better Than Naked 5" split shorts
Injinji Run Lightweight No Show toe socks
CEP Ortho+Plantar Compression sleeve
HOKA One One Huaka (No longer in production)
Nuun Active tab (lemon+lime) before
HOKA One One/BOCO Technical Trucker hat
I was fortunate enough to snag a free entry to the race from my employer for the 2nd time. When we were drawn it was during my 100 mile Rocky Raccoon hangover, but I needed something to train for that wasn't an ultra.
I took a different approach to this event than I did last year and did focus on doing more tempo work leading up to the event. The tempo work tended to fall on the same day that I was doing 250-300 flights of stairs or being at a 15% incline on the treadmill for 60-90 minutes. This was going to attempt to train my legs to turnover when they felt dead.
Leading up to the event, I haven't really been feeling encouraged by my distances of my runs. I've gotten some really good, hilly backroads 20+ milers, but haven't really felt....dialed in. This was going to be a good way to test my current level of fitness and hopefully be the kick in the pants that I need to get ready for the last 4 weeks of training for the Booneville Backroads 100 mile.
This was going to be a really fun event too, because the two oldest girls participated in a program at school called KidStriders which gained them entry into the "Victory Run" by completing 13 or 26 miles over the course of this school year. I was pretty pumped when Lil Red got her 26 miles but Mini Me fell a little short of the 13 required to participate, but still really happy that they both were able to take part.
We arrived a few minutes prior to the KidStriders check-in and were somewhat scrambling as the parking downtown is HORRENDOUS. If I had to make one suggestion to organizers, offer some cash to the businesses around and let participants park in the parking garages. It would make getting around downtown SO MUCH EASIER!!!
Once we got her checked in, I had to pick up my bib and meet up with the others from work who had won entry into the race. We wanted to snap a quick photo to thank the corporate sponsor for giving us the spots.
We hung around waiting for the event to start. I got to say hi to a few friends that were going to be running the womens competitive and the crew from lululemon (who I am still grateful to for giving me the awesome shorts) and 15 minutes after it was supposed to start, the Victory Run began the celebration and Lil Red did a really great job for the 1/4 mile. I think she was a little bummed that it was just a 1/4 mile as she definitely has the long run mentality. She just ran and smiled while looking around and I was really excited to see that.
 |
| Photo from Ken Sherman (via Facebook) |
 |
| His very first race!!!! |
 |
| She's actually really excited :) |
 |
| Waiting patiently |
 |
| Victory Run Start Line |
 |
| There she is (yellow shorts and blue headband) |
A few snacks, waters and balloon animals later, I set off to warm up. This concept is still foreign to me since most of the time warming up at my events is standing around drinking coffee and talking BS with people :)
As I made my way over to the race course I bumped into one of my favorite people in the world. So exuberant and excited!!!! Everyone that knows Sara Schwendinger adores her for her positive attitude and her love for this sport. Of course she had to snap me wearing a photo of something that I've never felt comfortable wearing...a singlet...but I made the most of it :)
I've been struggling with what appears to be a manifestation of Plantar Fasciitis for the past week or so and was wearing a new CEP Plantar sleeve on my left foot under my injini socks to try and relieve some of the discomfort. I was instructed that I needed to warm up for a minimum of 10 minutes prior to the event to make sure that it was good and ready for the sprint.
The weather was cooler than last year (70F) and the wind had died off considerably since the morning, but it was muggy and you could tell the humidity was high. I decided to wear the Fitness Sports singlet to appear to be a "legit runner" but with the conditions that had presented themselves I actually was glad to have a cooler shirt on.
I spent the next few minutes running some laps up/down the block on Locust Ave and chatting with some friends who were going to be running as well. With 3 minutes to go, I made my way to the front of the crowd only to find 50-60 middle school students crowding the timing mat. Now, I won't say that I don't applaud their confidence in their own ability, but in the "Competitive Event" this may not have been the best place for them to be hanging out. I said a quick prayer and kept repeating the phrase "Strong and fast....Strong and fast" as I wanted to be as strong as I could and just push myself to the redline.
I stood waiting for the official start to the race and heard one of my buddies walk up to the the line and yell to one of the officials "Hey, I wish there was something we could do about the 75 kids that are at the front of the corral"...I just had to laugh... :)
With a quick, "Set...Bang!" we were off. As I set into what seemed like a managable pace, I found myself on the left side of the road weaving in/out of the crowd of children who thought they were going to be able to run a 5:00/mile. This was frustrating to me and I found myself pushing a higher gear to try and get around them and had a hard time setting my "mile pace".
A couple of blocks in, I was starting to feel the PF tightening up a bit and looked at my watch "4:45/mile"...NOPE!!! That's not happening. I let off the gas slightly as I knew that the back half of the race has a slight incline and knew I would have to deal with that. I got through the front half in 2:38 and knew that I was going to have to push to make my 5:20 goal.
With two quick turns, I looked down the street and could see the finish line set up but DAMN it was a long ways away. I found myself continuing to look at my watch to see my current pace as I had it set to refresh every minute...5:16....5:18....5:24....5:28.....Once I saw that finish line, I found myself verbally repeating "Strong and fast....Strong and fast..." which I'm pretty sure others around me heard.
With 1/4 of a mile left, I saw my friend Sara who is small but has a MIGHTY voice. I was feeling the effects of the first few blocks at the 4:45 pace and she let out this scream that will probably haunt me for weeks to come, but that small gesture made me push when it hurt to push. After that I picked of 6-8 people. I approached my family to my left and heard their screams, but was so focused on the clock that I couldn't even acknowledge that they were there. I crossed the line, hit my watch and it read 5:22.....the exact time that I hit last year.
As I came through the finishers chute, my legs were Habanero jello.....wobbly like jello but ON FIRE!!! I didn't see stars like last year, but my legs no longer wanted to move. I had literally given everything I had and I got the same result as last year. Although I was happy to see that I hadn't lost anything, I really thought I was more fit.
 |
| I don't think I fully understand where I actually am :) |
I was elated as I approached my family. I couldn't believe it, but instead of a "congratulations" from my kids I hear "hey, where did you get that powerade? I want one!"....Oh....my kids.....They've grown up watching me run in races and the thrill of watching their dad run a PR was overcome by their desire for a Powerade :)
We made our way over to the finish area to chat with my shoe store boss and a couple of others and get prime spots to watch the women's elite field. Talk about amazing athletes to watch run. Amazing. They made every step look effortless and almost like they were holding back. It was a fight for the final 100 meters and Katie Mackey came away with the win.
We left the event due to bedtime quickly approaching and made our way home. The whole walk and drive home, I found myself looking at that sheet of paper...5:21....Never in my WILDEST dreams did I ever think that I'd be able to put forth enough effort to make that happen. Unreal.
As I sit here and write this now, my calves and hamstrings have a pain in them that I haven't felt in a long time, but the tightness and soreness will go away. As a person who used to tip the scales at over 300 lbs, last night was something I will remember forever. We are not hindered by our ability to do amazing things, we are held down by our thoughts that we can't do amazing things.
This event is amazing. Yes, there are some flaws with the kids in the competitive field and the parking, but overall it is a great environment for families to get out and be active. Having the "recreational" category as well as the "competitive" category allows those families to do something together and get to experience some people running REALLY fast. The families are well taken care of with games, snacks, inflatable, balloon animals and face painting. They have a great number of facilities available for the athletes and families and the price is inexpensive for the experience you get to be a part of.
I don't think I'll be jumping over into the world of track and field anytime soon, but it's good to see that this Ultra runner has some wheels :)
Things used for the 2017 Grand Blue Mile
Fitness Sports/Nike singletThe North Face Better Than Naked 5" split shorts
Injinji Run Lightweight No Show toe socks
CEP Ortho+Plantar Compression sleeve
HOKA One One Huaka (No longer in production)
Nuun Active tab (lemon+lime) before
HOKA One One/BOCO Technical Trucker hat
Comments