I didn’t have high hopes for today’s Shamrock Shuffle. My recent workouts haven’t been so great and I weigh a lot more than I should. I also haven’t been pushing myself in runs. If I could finish in under 40 minutes, I would be happy. In truth, I would’ve liked to run a 35.

The race started off with a handicap. I forgot my Gballz. A joggler without juggling equipment is not much of a joggler. In fact, a joggler without juggling stuff is just a runner. Fortunately, my friend John Kelly who’s house I was staying at, had a bag full of new oranges. They were the perfect size so I took them and used them for the race.

The oranges were a little heavy but you know what, they felt pretty good. If you are ever in a pinch for joggling equipment, oranges are a good substitute.

I made it the whole way without a drop and in a pretty decent time. 36:13. The first mile had me breathing heavy. I even thought of stopping. Funny how when you don’t train for a race you start to think about stopping. When I saw the first timing clock, it just turned over to 8:00. I knew it took me about 1 minute to get to the start line so I felt pretty good about my time. In mile two, there was the first water stop but I skipped it. The weather was perfect for running 50+ degrees and cloudy. No water was required for the rest of the race.

My time in mile two was just around 15. Another 7 minute mile. I knew I couldn’t keep it up but I felt good. When I passed the 5K mark, I clicked my watch but didn’t look at it. I see it now says 22:30. Not bad. It’s clear that I slowed a little but I was feeling good and the “stop running” demons stayed silent. I don’t remember what mile 4 said (I think 28+) but I was just happy to have only one more mile to go. My sister hadn’t passed me so I had to keep pressing. There have been a number of races where my sister stayed behind me the entire race only to pass me in the last mile.

When I went up the hill on Roosevelt road and made the turn I felt the extra kick of energy. The speed left in my legs took me passed dozens of runners and I ran right through the finish before it clicked 37.

Whew! I made it the whole way with no drops and not no stops. I love when that happens in the Shamrock Shuffle.

In the end, my watch time was 36:13. A bit faster than I thought I would do. I was happy and set a PR for my 42 year old self. Sure, it wasn’t the fastest I’ve ever done but I don’t race against my past self. I race against myself now. And this day, I was a faster 8K joggler than I’ve ever been.

While I was joggling the Miami Half Marathon, joggling speedster Michal Kapral was besting his world joggling record for the half marathon in Canada.  Best of all, he was wearing a head camera so you get a first person perspective of what it looks like for a joggler during a race.  It’s pretty cool.  Looks like a fun race.

Congratulations Michal!

You can see snippets of the race here. Michal appears a number of times.

This is a continuation of a long post from yesterday. Go here to see part 1 of the Miami Half Marathon review.

I lined up for the race at 6:00 am still amazed that I had made it at all. I can’t count the number of times I had decided to abandon the idea. Friday when I learned there was no expo to register, Saturday when my foot injury throbbed, and numerous times on Sunday. But I was there, packed into the crowded corral looking over the ocean, watching the sun rise and waiting for the starting horn. I continued to listen The Jungle hearing the woes of the poor Lithuanian immigrants and the horrors of Chicago’s late 19th century meat packing business. Not quite the pick-me-up that you seek when starting a half marathon.

And they’re off

The horn went off at sun rise and a 5000 legs began the 13.1 mile march that would take us in a mostly square path over two bridges, passed cruise ships, through down town Miami, before winding our way back to the start on South Beach.

My plan was to stay with the 1:40 pace group and try to kick it in the last few miles. At that point, a sub-1:40 would be a nice accomplishment, not a PR but not bad for an untrained race. It took me 2 miles to catch up to the pace group and I was only able to keep up with them for about a mile. The heat, humidity, and steep hill on the bridge conspired to slow me down. Of course, the fact that I hadn’t done a run of more than 7 miles in the 5 months since the marathon did not help with my endurance. Four miles in, I revised my goal to 1:44.

While I learned of the way Jurgis and his family were swindled out of their life savings by buying a house they would never be able to afford, I passed a gigantic cruise ship docked in a Miami harbor. And as I heard of their struggles to make enough money just to survive, I saw pennies, nickels, dimes and even a dollar bill on the side of the road. If I didn’t think that stopping would have ruined me for the entire race, I would have stopped and picked up the money which would have amounted to about $2.

Along the path there were only a few spectators. The heat, humidity and early morning start time likely kept people away. Also, the race was run through some rather desolate areas of the city which weren’t conducive for attracting observers. For a joggler, this is particularly disappointing. I did appreciate the half dozen bands that were peppered along the course and the cheerleading groups at mile 4 and 7. The volunteers at the water stops were also enthusiastic.

It gets tough

The toughest part of the course was the section between miles 6 and 9. It took us along I195 over the long bridge back to South Beach. Unfortunately, it began with a steep hill coupled with a stiff headwind. The sun had risen just over the horizon and was at such an angle that I had to look down to avoid being blinded. Since I forgot my sunglasses, this made for particularly challenging joggling.

At mile 7, a 14 year old wearing a light blue yarmulke and Converse tennis shoes passed me. This was a little annoying and briefly inspired me to pick up the pace. I never like to lose to the sub-16 year old set. However, this kid was pretty strong and I never did catch up to him. When the 1:50 pace group passed me at mile 9, I felt deflated. I stayed with them as long as I could but it didn’t last. I just haven’t learned to run with pacers.

Half marathons are always painful and this one was no exception. The primary pain was the PF in my left foot. Every time it met the ground it felt like someone was slamming a hammer right into my heel. I had to run land on the front of my foot just to ease the pain. After the first couple miles the pain was still there but it was easier to ignore. In mile 5 I felt a stinging pain where my iPhone pouch met my skin. I knew this would probably happen but didn’t do anything to offset the chaffing effect. I adjusted it a bit while going through the water stops to stop the stinging however, I ended up with a large patch of sore red skin. I really need a new pouch.

Finishing the Miami half marathon

The race finished along the beach trail. It was great to run along the winding trail lined with palm trees, sand and an enthusiastic crowd. I felt the typical surge of end-of-the-race energy and passed a half dozen people on my way to the finish. A bean bag tossed over the finish banner caught on the other side and I was done. A dropless effort! A slow effort though at 1:52:30, my slowest ever.

I didn’t mind much though as I was happy to be finished. I took my medal (which had a very cool design) and ate up some finish food which included apples, bananas, bagels and chocolate chip cookies. I liked the cookies and would have had more but I felt a bit sick. I walked around the finish area dazed, in pain, and depressed by the awful things that had befallen Jurgis and his rapidly crumbling family.

After getting my gear and changing my shirt, I made my way to the beer garden and downed a couple of Michelob Ultra drafts. The beer was cold and quenched my thirst in a way that the two bottles of water I downed at the finish line didn’t. I drank my beer, looked at the crowd of finishers, listened to the local classic rock band play hits from the 60′s, and basked in the Florida sun. I felt exhausted but elated. The feeling of finishing a long, tough race is incredible.

When the beer was gone, I hobbled back to my car hampered by soreness in my leg muscles and sever pain in both heels. I longed for the day when I’m not troubled by PF. I changed out of the rest of my wet clothes and made the long drive back home satisfied at my effort and hopeful of better results in the future.

Sometimes running a race makes sense. You have a goal to complete the distance for the first time or you are looking to set a PR. Or maybe you do it because it is a local race, you want to support a charity or because all your friends are doing it. Then sometimes you end up doing a race that makes no sense at all. The Miami Half Marathon was an example of the latter. It wasn’t convenient, it wasn’t a new distance, I did not train much, and it was way too expensive. Still, it was an adventure.

2012 goals

In my list of goals this year, I wanted to run 4 half marathons. There are a number of them in Chicago during the late summer and fall and I know I could have accomplished this goal easy enough, but the fact that there was one in Miami when I just happened to be close had me intrigued. I’d never had the chance to explore Miami and this seemed like as good an opportunity as any.

The first big challenge of this half marathon was that it was located in Miami, FL. Currently, I’m staying in Jupiter, FL so it’s not a huge distance to get there, but at 80 miles it’s not exactly close. However, there is a big highway connecting the cities and it would take just over an hour to get there. That didn’t seem like such a problem. Of course, when I learned that the half marathon would take place at 6:15 am, it seemed a significantly bigger problem. Then when I discovered that I wasn’t able to register for the race on Friday when I had planned, the problem seemed even bigger. To get to the race on time, find parking, and register, I would need to leave Jupiter just before 4:00 am. That would be rough.

Getting to the race

On the evening before the race I figured that I needed to go to be about 10:00pm. I sleep in about 90 minute cycles which would be 4 sleep cycles, plenty for me. Although I set an alarm for 3:50, it was unnecessary because I spontaneously woke at 3:30 am. I laid in bed pondering the race until 3:45, got up, dressed in the clothes I had laid out the night before, collected my things and was on the road by 4:05 am. It was dark and humid.

During the 80 mile drive, I listened to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and drank a Coke. The roads were empty save for a few cars that drove at or below the speed limit. I imagined they were runners and passed them as I would during a race. As I neared Miami around 5:15am, I was unsure whether I would actually make the race. With parking, registration, and traffic there was a chance it would start without me. Fortunately, the roads were still practically empty. I was astonished.

While driving down Washington in South Beach Miami, there were a few more cars but nothing heavier than typical traffic. The groups of people on the sidewalks were dressed in night clubbing outfits, having just stumbled out of the recently closed bars. I pondered what they would look like at the starting line of the race and laughed.

As luck would have it, I found a free parking space just 2 blocks from the race. My super power parking space finding prowess strikes again.

Pre race activity

The time was 5:30 am and I was still unsure whether I’d be able to get registered and line up before the race especially since I had only a credit card. My backup plan was to use the bib number from the 5K I ran a couple weeks back and bandit the race. This would have the bonus of saving me $95. However, I have only once run a race as a bandit and that was because the race had filled up before I was able to register. For this race, I decided to register for real if I could. It turns out registration was a breeze. There was no line and they happily took credit cards (with a $5 service fee of course). I was both pleased and disappointed.

More tomorrow…

It has been a while since I’ve done a 5k. In fact, I can’t even remember the last one. Perhaps the Bucktown 5k in 2010 October. I’ve avoided 5ks because they seem to cost so much money relative to the longer races, they are so short and are done rather quickly, and I’d rather do the longer race if that is an option.

However, I like 5ks. This race also gave me a chance to get Shannon to run it too. She has been doing more running lately and did a great job in this race.

Race registration

This was a smaller 5k race in Jupiter, FL so race day registration was an option. I could have saved $5 if I registered early but that mad things too complicated as I was traveling in the weeks before the race. Anyway, we got to the race 30 min before the start and quickly filled out the sign up form. The system was set up nicely. We made it through quickly and the walked to the start line.

I juggled a bit and someone asked if I knew fellow joggler Barry Goldmeier. Indeed, I did. They were friends with him.

Racing

When the horn started we were off. I stood about a half dozen people away from the starting line. Shannon stayed a little further back. The first quarter mile was rather painful. I hadn’t run fast in a while plus my PF was really killing me. Blasted injury!!

When we got onto the gravel hiking trails I felt much better. The thing about PF is that once it warms up, it feels a bit better. I started passing people and my confidence built. There were a number of young kids running the race and I made it a point to catch up to (and pass) anyone who looked under the age of 20. There were a lot!

There were no mile markers on the course and I ignored my watch until about 12:30 into the race. Ignoring your watch can keep you motivated to run fast. That way you can trick yourself as to how much time you still have to run. But I couldn’t ignore it the whole time.

When I saw 12 min I started calculating in my head how much time I had left. I guessed at most 12 min. At best 8 min. It turns out it was 9 min.

Finishing

While I listened to an episode of Skeptoid, about Emilia Earhart, I saw the finish line. I also started making progress closing the gap between me and the lone 12 year old who had been ahead of me the entire race. I tapped my final energy reserves and sped past him with less than a quarter mile to go. As I passed he said, “wow, that is so cool!!”. I smiled.

There was a small crowd at the end and they cheered louder when they noticed I was joggling. The guy announcing finishers told people to see the juggler as I approached. They cheered loudly.

At the finish line I threw a bean bag up over the banner and successfully caught it on the other side. Made it the entire distance with no drops.

Final time: 21:53. Not my fastest but not bad.

In 2003, I started caring about my race times and set a goal to break the world marathon joggling record.  At the time it was 3:20 and my best marathon time was 3:55, so I thought it was possible.  I trained more than ever before and managed to run a 3:25.  This was a full 30 minutes faster than ever but still missed the world record.  I missed it again the next year with a 3:24 and the year after that with a 3:22.  The time has since been lowered to 2:50 so it’s not likely I’ll ever break it.

It’s just a truism of running or juggling.  At some point you will fail to reach your goal.  You will feel awful about yourself and may even doubt your abilities.  So what do you do when this happens?  Here is what has worked for me.

Talk about your race

Figure out what went wrong by talking with a friend who might care.  Did you go out too fast?  Did you run out of energy?  Did someone get in your way?  Or maybe you just didn’t train well enough to reach the goal.  No matter what the answer, you should be able to identify something that prevented you from reaching your goal.  But remember to analyze your performance in a positive light.  This will help you develop a plan to achieve your next goal.  When I didn’t break the world record in 2003, I could have been disappointed but I did break my best time by 30 minutes so there was reason to celebrate.

Plan your next goal

While it’s good to take some time off from training, you should set your next goal soon after your less-than-stellar race.  This will help you forget about your disappointment and let you focus on the next thing.  You might consider a shorter distance for a race goal.  Although longer can work too.  When I failed to break the world record for the marathon distance, I decided to try the 50 miler distance instead.  That world record I broke.

Reward yourself

Alright, you didn’t reach your goal.  But you made a great effort so reward yourself anyway.  Buy some new running shoes, juggling bean bags, or other equipment you might like.  Just because you didn’t get the reward of a goal accomplished doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be rewarded for the hard work to attempt the goal.

Don’t stop

When you don’t achieve a goal, one inclination is to stop trying or to take an extended break.  This is not a good idea.  The longer you take time off, the harder it will be to get started again.  Remember, goals are just temporary challenges which will be either met or not.  If you don’t achieve your targets, forgive yourself, move on, and try a new target.  Stay motivated and eventually you’ll achieve the most important fitness goal there is.  Living a healthy life.

Joggle on

Today was the Race for the Cure 5K.  I stayed out a bit too late last night so I was super tired this morning.  I had to do race day registration (not recommended) which meant taking the el downtown at 6 am.  With travel and completing the registration process, I was ready to race by 6:45 am.  Unfortunately, the 5K didn’t start until 8:30 am.  Ugh.

But being early to a race is certainly better than being late to one.  I walked around the various booths, took some of the free food, did a little juggling, and generally wasted time until the race started.

With no intentions of racing hard, I lined up in the back and turned on my latest audio book (Sister Carrie).  You could tell there were a lot of first timers or non-runners at the race.  It was nice though.  Non-runners are always very supportive of joggling.  There cheers I received made me smile.  It’s always one of the best things about joggling.

Mile by Mile

The first mile was fairly slow.  Exactly what you would expect if you are starting in the back and doing a race with a lot of non-regular runners.  As a joggler these races can give you an extra challenge; maneuvering around other runners.  I was weaving in and out of traffic and just having  a blast.  When I got past the first clock the time read 12:30.  However, I think the clock was keeping track of the 10K runners who went off a few minutes before the 5 K race.

In mile 2, it started to drizzle.  Since the air was relatively warm I didn’t mind the rain.  The only downside was that I was wearing light running jacket and two shirts so I started to get hot and drenched.  This is not a good combination for running a race.  One note to all you would-be jogglers out there.  Start with less clothes than you think you need.  Beginning a race colder is better than getting too hot during the race.

Mile 3 was my fastest.  The crowd thinned out pretty well and I didn’t have to spend time navigating around other runners.  I could feel a lot of extra energy in my legs so I pressed harder.  As I came up to the finish I through a bean bag over the finish line banner, listened to the gasps of the crowd and devoured their applause when I caught it on the other side.  I love that trick!  Especially when it works.

My final time was a modest 24:46.  This is certainly the slowest 5K I’ve done in a long time.  I have to say, a 5K really seems short to me now, maybe too short.  I guess that’s good considering two weeks from now I’ll be doing 26.2 miles.

Finale

Overall, it was a fun race and very well organized.  I appreciated all the booths and support staff that made the race an enjoyable event.  They announced that the race had generated over $1.2 million for research so it sounds like it was a success.

I’m happy the folks at Catch it Early suggested I do the race.  You can see in the race photo that I was wearing the shirt they sent me.

Great job guys!  Joggle on.

Do you have questions about various marathons in the United States? Well, this cool compilation (Best marathons) has a listing of all the most significant marathons and even lets you compare the races in terms of the following categories…

1. Number of racers
2. Elevation
3. Average temperatures

They have a listing of 171 different marathons. They even list which ones have a half marathon, 5K and other races associated with them.

US Marathon facts

Here are some interesting things I discovered.

Most racers = New York marathon at 37,000. Although the Chicago marathon is larger than the claimed 30,000.

Smallest race = Ohio River Marathon. Only 150 people ran it in 2010.

Biggest elevation change = Pike’s Peak marathon, Colorado. Elevation change 7815 ft.

Highest peak elevation = Pike’s Peak marathon, Colorado. Elevation maxes out at 14,115 ft.

Hottest marathon = Steamboat marathon, Colorado. With an average temperature of 88F. My friend John Kelly would never run it.

Coldest marathon = Grand Canyon marathon, Arizona. Average temperatures 22F. Yikes!

State with the most marathons = California. Over 20 marathons to choose from!

My only complaint about the site is that the information is a little dated. For example, the participation information for the Chicago marathon is wrong and they don’t list the 2011 and 2012 dates for races. It would be much better if things got updated.

But if you’re looking for marathon information check out the Best Marathon listing.

It’s a great list.

PS.  If you are wondering what marathon is the best for joggling, you won’t get the answer in this database.  However, from my experience running marathons in 20 different places, I would have to say…

Best marathon for jogglers = Chicago marathon!  Great crowds, start and end at the same place, easy to get to the start line.  Hasn’t been beat yet.

Yesterday, I joggled the Waterfall Glen 10 mile trail race. It was the first trail race I’ve ever joggled and it was lots of fun. I particularly enjoyed looking at the trees and nature, running on a soft trail and throwing the bean bags over hanging tree branches.

But truth be told, it was my toughest race since the 32 mile ultra marathon I did in January of 2010. The heat and humidity were just brutal. For some reason I just felt so slow and non-energetic.

Also, we had some incredible rains last night. At 1 am, water was hitting the windows so hard I thought the windows might break. Fortunately, they didn’t. But they did leave lots of water on the running trails. Take a look at the picture of the stream that we had to run through. That was a challenge. I didn’t continue to juggle while going across it though as I worried I might have a drop and never see my Gballz again.

I knew I was not going to be setting any PRs but became really concerned when I felt like walking around the third mile. I didn’t actually walk until mile 8. This was a little disappointing. I thought my walking days were behind me. But that’s running. Some days you can run 50 miles, others you can’t run 4.

My final time was 1:28, significantly slower than the 1:16 I ran in the Quarryman last month. Unfortunately, the Quarryman course was much tougher. I don’t exactly understand why I’m so much slower but it must have been the heat, the trail, and my light training. If I’m going to get back in marathon form, I’m going to have to start running faster. To get faster, you must run faster.

The Waterfall Glen 10 miler was a fun race and if you like trail races, it’s worth doing. They didn’t have any timing chips so the official times will be off a bit. But in these days of watches and GPS devices, it’s pretty easy to figure out your own time. If you’re not going to win the race, your official time doesn’t matter much right?

Anyway, time for me to start getting serious about training. If I’m going to get a PR in this fall’s Chicago Marathon, I’ll need to get better.

I got this interesting email from the people who organize the Chicago Half Marathon and 5K. I’ve run this race nearly every year it has been held and have always had a great time.

Here are some of the interesting stats (according to organizers).

The race generated about $10 million to the local economy.

This breaks down as follows…

a. $5.9 million in direct spending.
b. $1.8 million in inter-industry spending
c. $2.1 million in expenditures by non-local participants

The race was sold out last year and topped out at 20,000 runners.

That sure is a lot of money for a single race. You can understand why race directors keep having them. And the fact that they keep selling you explains why the prices keep going up.

I guess it’s good for running that more and more people do these races. It’s also good for jogglers. More people mean more spectators to cheer for you!

Joggle on.