Dallas White Rock Marathon
My goal today was to hold a 6:40 to 6:45 pace and hopefully come in somewhere around 2:55 to 2:56. That proved impossible for at least two reasons. One, we made a significant mistake by not warming up. The front came through last night, actually during the pasta dinner. When I was in line to get food the temperature was 73, then an hour later it was 64. At 3 AM this morning it was 54 and at race time it was 49 or so, with significant, swirling wind. I chose to wear just shorts and the Strider singlet. That proved to be just barely enough to keep from freezing my a&* off. I had a trash can liner on, and for some reason someone dropped a sweatshirt at the start before the race even started. I put that on and didn't take it off for the first couple of miles. We really should have done a warm-up run, given the temperatures and biting wind. For some reason we ended up not going out to the start line until about 7:30 or so (8 AM start), and it was pretty crowded already. I guess we just wanted to huddle to try to stay warm. I think it really cost us all early on since it wasn't until mile six or seven that I started to slip into a groove.
The second reason I was unable to hold the desired pace was the wind. All other conditions were ideal (unlike here in Sugar Land this morning!). It was overcast the entire race, no rain, and temps in the 40s. In fact, the temperature dropped to about 40 by the time we finished. But the wind was a bi+ch. I think there may have been a total of about three or four miles where the wind was at our backs. It was in our face going out, it was in our face going to the back side of the lake, it was in our face coming around the lake, and it was in our face coming back in. Lots and lots of turns but somehow the wind always seemed to be coming right at us.
I had planned to run with Doug Schroeder, and take turns leading, so as to block the wind. Doug ended up leading most of the way. At about mile six I got a little too close to Doug and his shoe came down on top of my right shoe. It was no big deal (or so I thought) but it did trip him up for just a second. Little did I know how costly that mistake would turn out to be. I'm just about positive that's where I lost my chip. His shoe just pulled it right off. The only split that the mats out on the course picked up was at mile five. Lance Collins, #2416, is technically still out there on the pavement somewhere around mile six. Yeah. It sucks. Big time. Thank God I had my watch on and got accurate splits. And I have witnesses to every mile I ran.
At about mile 13 I offered to take the lead from Doug. After a quarter mile or so I noticed that he had slipped back. In another half mile or so I saw that he had slipped back even farther. But a welcomed surprise was our buddy Jake Tonge, who was targeting anything under 3 hours. Doug and I hadn't really figured Jake for running with us, but I guess given that our pace wasn't what we planned it's no surprise that Jake was there. I lost Jake for the next three or four miles but noticed him again out of the corner of my eye at around mile 18 or 19.
By this time the lactic acid build-up in my legs was working hard to impact my pace. I didn't have much of a cushion for coming in under 3 hours so I simply told my self I would flat refuse to slow down. I was going to go down swinging if it meant emptying every ounce of energy I had. The miles between 17 and the finish were brutal. Painful. Not fun. Unpleasant. In fact, this entire run today was no fun. My pace was all over the place and I was only in my happy place for about four miles between miles seven and eleven. But again, I decided that I would stare the pain down, may the best man win.
I passed a few people, which felt good. Talked to a few too, just for the distraction. Somewhere around mile 21 or so I started to try to calculate how much of a cushion I had on the 3 hour mark. I was wearing a 3 hour pace band so that made it relatively easy. At mile 22 I noticed that I had just a little over a minute cushion, which ain't much when you can feel your body trying to slow down. Mile 20 had been a 7:18 (the Dolly Parton hills) but mile 21 wasn't great - 6:59. I looked up ahead and noticed a slight downhill in the course. I made the fateful decision that it was time to strap on the hard-hat and go to work. I decided to try to gain some time on the 3 hour mark and was successful, as I posted my third fastest mile of the day, a 6:32. Passed a few poor souls too. So at mile 23 I had a 1:27 cushion on 3 hours. But three 7:30 miles would wipe that out. In fact, with 2.2 miles to go my cushion was down to 1:06 so I couldn't let up for the same reason - two 7:30 miles would wipe that out. I clicked my watch at mile 24 but never saw mile marker 25, which really screwed things up. I had no way to know whether I had eaten into my cushion further. And it's hard to tell whether you're maintaining pace that deep into the race, and with that much pain. All I could do was continue to try as hard as I could to hold pace. At mile 24 the half-marathoners joined us, and they were pretty thick, but not really too much of an obstacle.
I didn't get to evaluate my time again until mile 26. At that point I was at 2:57:27, with just .2 to go, and breathed a sigh of relief that was probably heard all the way down here in Houston. It turned out that I covered miles 25 and 26 in 13:39, a 6:49 pace, and faster than the 14:03 I covered 23 and 24 in. I did the best I could for the final .2, though it sure seemed long, considering that it took me a minute 30 to cross the line, which is a 7:30 pace. Anyway, I watched the gun clock tick ever closer to 2:59:00 and did my damnedest to get in just under that. It was 2:58:58 or 2:58:59. My watch said 2:58:57.
I had done it - sub 3. It was the hardest thing I think I've ever done. Anyway, I picked up my finisher's medal (very nice) and the cap they give to the top 100 finishers (I was 67th), got a mylar blanket, then asked someone where chip removal was. I looked down at my shoe and realized that I wasn't going to need chip removal - it was gone. I'm so thankful that I never noticed during the race. It would have messed with my head something awful, and would have made it easier to throw in the towel. My buddy Wayne Cohen is good friends with Steve Karpas. Karpas is pretty tight with the race director of the Dallas marathon and is going to try to help me out. I think I might have slipped in at #10 in my age group (they go 10 deep) but I don't care about that. I just want to have my time official. It's amazing that this couldn't have happened in some meaningless 5K. It had to happen in my marathon PR, and the one where I finally broke three hours. I have reliable witnesses though for every mile. In fact, Jake Tonge, who came in at 2:59:40, saw me finish. We even got our finisher photo taken together. I did not do my best Rosie Ruiz impression today. Just bad luck. But I thank God for allowing me to do what I did, and giving me the strength to press on. In fact, Jake and I both bowed our heads once we got inside and gave credit where credit was due.
I'm really rather pleased with my time, all things considered. The wind was a real issue, and the temperature was pretty damned cold those last 10 miles. And as I said, I never really settled into a groove, other than for a few miles early on. Every mile was work. But once again, those hard training runs I do in a variety of conditions paid dividends. You find out what kind of runner you are in the final five miles, not the first five. If you never experience real, serious, discomfort in training, you're not going to know what to do when it hits during a race, other than to fold up your tent and shut 'er down.
I'm not going to bore everyone with mile splits (especially since I'm missing a couple) but here are my 5 mile splits, as well as my two 10 mile splits and 1/2 splits:
First 5 miles - 34:18
Second 5 miles - 33:28
Third 5 miles - 34:01
Fourth 5 miles - 34:26
Fifth 5 miles - 34:23
First 10 miles - 1:07:46
Second 10 miles - 1:08:27
First 1/2 - 1:28:55
Second 1/2 - 1:30:02
Now, on to Houston in five weeks. Believe me, sub 3 ain't gonna be any easier. I have newfound respect for anyone who can do it.
The second reason I was unable to hold the desired pace was the wind. All other conditions were ideal (unlike here in Sugar Land this morning!). It was overcast the entire race, no rain, and temps in the 40s. In fact, the temperature dropped to about 40 by the time we finished. But the wind was a bi+ch. I think there may have been a total of about three or four miles where the wind was at our backs. It was in our face going out, it was in our face going to the back side of the lake, it was in our face coming around the lake, and it was in our face coming back in. Lots and lots of turns but somehow the wind always seemed to be coming right at us.
I had planned to run with Doug Schroeder, and take turns leading, so as to block the wind. Doug ended up leading most of the way. At about mile six I got a little too close to Doug and his shoe came down on top of my right shoe. It was no big deal (or so I thought) but it did trip him up for just a second. Little did I know how costly that mistake would turn out to be. I'm just about positive that's where I lost my chip. His shoe just pulled it right off. The only split that the mats out on the course picked up was at mile five. Lance Collins, #2416, is technically still out there on the pavement somewhere around mile six. Yeah. It sucks. Big time. Thank God I had my watch on and got accurate splits. And I have witnesses to every mile I ran.
At about mile 13 I offered to take the lead from Doug. After a quarter mile or so I noticed that he had slipped back. In another half mile or so I saw that he had slipped back even farther. But a welcomed surprise was our buddy Jake Tonge, who was targeting anything under 3 hours. Doug and I hadn't really figured Jake for running with us, but I guess given that our pace wasn't what we planned it's no surprise that Jake was there. I lost Jake for the next three or four miles but noticed him again out of the corner of my eye at around mile 18 or 19.
By this time the lactic acid build-up in my legs was working hard to impact my pace. I didn't have much of a cushion for coming in under 3 hours so I simply told my self I would flat refuse to slow down. I was going to go down swinging if it meant emptying every ounce of energy I had. The miles between 17 and the finish were brutal. Painful. Not fun. Unpleasant. In fact, this entire run today was no fun. My pace was all over the place and I was only in my happy place for about four miles between miles seven and eleven. But again, I decided that I would stare the pain down, may the best man win.
I passed a few people, which felt good. Talked to a few too, just for the distraction. Somewhere around mile 21 or so I started to try to calculate how much of a cushion I had on the 3 hour mark. I was wearing a 3 hour pace band so that made it relatively easy. At mile 22 I noticed that I had just a little over a minute cushion, which ain't much when you can feel your body trying to slow down. Mile 20 had been a 7:18 (the Dolly Parton hills) but mile 21 wasn't great - 6:59. I looked up ahead and noticed a slight downhill in the course. I made the fateful decision that it was time to strap on the hard-hat and go to work. I decided to try to gain some time on the 3 hour mark and was successful, as I posted my third fastest mile of the day, a 6:32. Passed a few poor souls too. So at mile 23 I had a 1:27 cushion on 3 hours. But three 7:30 miles would wipe that out. In fact, with 2.2 miles to go my cushion was down to 1:06 so I couldn't let up for the same reason - two 7:30 miles would wipe that out. I clicked my watch at mile 24 but never saw mile marker 25, which really screwed things up. I had no way to know whether I had eaten into my cushion further. And it's hard to tell whether you're maintaining pace that deep into the race, and with that much pain. All I could do was continue to try as hard as I could to hold pace. At mile 24 the half-marathoners joined us, and they were pretty thick, but not really too much of an obstacle.
I didn't get to evaluate my time again until mile 26. At that point I was at 2:57:27, with just .2 to go, and breathed a sigh of relief that was probably heard all the way down here in Houston. It turned out that I covered miles 25 and 26 in 13:39, a 6:49 pace, and faster than the 14:03 I covered 23 and 24 in. I did the best I could for the final .2, though it sure seemed long, considering that it took me a minute 30 to cross the line, which is a 7:30 pace. Anyway, I watched the gun clock tick ever closer to 2:59:00 and did my damnedest to get in just under that. It was 2:58:58 or 2:58:59. My watch said 2:58:57.
I had done it - sub 3. It was the hardest thing I think I've ever done. Anyway, I picked up my finisher's medal (very nice) and the cap they give to the top 100 finishers (I was 67th), got a mylar blanket, then asked someone where chip removal was. I looked down at my shoe and realized that I wasn't going to need chip removal - it was gone. I'm so thankful that I never noticed during the race. It would have messed with my head something awful, and would have made it easier to throw in the towel. My buddy Wayne Cohen is good friends with Steve Karpas. Karpas is pretty tight with the race director of the Dallas marathon and is going to try to help me out. I think I might have slipped in at #10 in my age group (they go 10 deep) but I don't care about that. I just want to have my time official. It's amazing that this couldn't have happened in some meaningless 5K. It had to happen in my marathon PR, and the one where I finally broke three hours. I have reliable witnesses though for every mile. In fact, Jake Tonge, who came in at 2:59:40, saw me finish. We even got our finisher photo taken together. I did not do my best Rosie Ruiz impression today. Just bad luck. But I thank God for allowing me to do what I did, and giving me the strength to press on. In fact, Jake and I both bowed our heads once we got inside and gave credit where credit was due.
I'm really rather pleased with my time, all things considered. The wind was a real issue, and the temperature was pretty damned cold those last 10 miles. And as I said, I never really settled into a groove, other than for a few miles early on. Every mile was work. But once again, those hard training runs I do in a variety of conditions paid dividends. You find out what kind of runner you are in the final five miles, not the first five. If you never experience real, serious, discomfort in training, you're not going to know what to do when it hits during a race, other than to fold up your tent and shut 'er down.
I'm not going to bore everyone with mile splits (especially since I'm missing a couple) but here are my 5 mile splits, as well as my two 10 mile splits and 1/2 splits:
First 5 miles - 34:18
Second 5 miles - 33:28
Third 5 miles - 34:01
Fourth 5 miles - 34:26
Fifth 5 miles - 34:23
First 10 miles - 1:07:46
Second 10 miles - 1:08:27
First 1/2 - 1:28:55
Second 1/2 - 1:30:02
Now, on to Houston in five weeks. Believe me, sub 3 ain't gonna be any easier. I have newfound respect for anyone who can do it.
posted by Lance Collins at 7:43 PM
10 Comments:
That my friend was some write up! I got the email on my blackberry close to 10pm from SS about the times (and the chip). Was with GID and showed him. That sucks he says. :o)
Way to go superman, way to go. Chip or no chip you rocked Dallas, and given the conditions...well thats just awesome.
Get some rest!!!
oh I meant that it sucks about losing the chip, not about the time!
Great job Lance!
My favorite part of your write-up is this, "If you never experience real, serious, discomfort in training, you're not going to know what to do when it hits during a race, other than to fold up your tent and shut 'er down."
I do not believe I have ever read truer words out here in blog land. Your sub 3 marathon is a testiment to your work ethic and dedication to training...congratulations!
I'll 2nd June and David.
Amazing how the weather turned from hot and humid to cold and windy for race day.
Nice work, couldn't happen to a harder workin' guy. Those Greatwood loops pulled you through.
Is the chip similar to the "timing tag" that Houston is going to use for January?
See www.chevronhoustonmarathon.com/Technology/Tag_Timing.htm
It could easily be detached if it is laced near the toebox.
Just tell the Dallas marathon folks how many Dolly Partons you saw at mile 20 and your time will be certified.:-)
Congrats again. Good job staying focused in the last 9 miles.
Congratulations Lance!! Nothing tougher than running into the wind. I was a bit worried when I didn't see you in the finish list. Good job on toughing it out to go under three hours. See you at Houston.
Tuan, they used standard issue black timing chips like we're all used to. Houston will be using RFID tags. Not sure how best to attach them. I'm gonna dang sure find out though!
Congrats Lance!
I have an extra velcro-chip holder with your name on it next time I see you (which will be Houston).
Here is to new PR's!
Awesome job, and great write up.
congrats on the PR, the sub-3, and overcoming the pain.
See you at the marathon!
yo Lance, this just in:
The Chevron Houston Marathon, Aramco Houston Half Marathon and EP5K will once again use ChampionChip timing technology to record your race times. This marks a change from the previously announced switch to the RFID timing tag.
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