What A Little Discipline Can Do

Some of you have been asking where my running updates have been.  So, for those of you who are interested, I'll hit the highlights from this summer and early fall. (Sorry, it's still going to be long - I race nearly every week.)

I had to come back from an injury (IT band) again this Spring. It was so severe, that I missed running the Boston Marathon in April. Bummer. (But, I'll be there next year!) After taking an entire two weeks off at the end of the month, I resumed running in May - careful to build up my mileage and frequency slowly.

Training went well and eventually I was ready for some shorter races in early summer. My times slowly improved during June and soon I seemed to be running even better than last year. Comparable to 2006 when I set most of my PR's. Maybe the forced rest did me some good. (Notice I said forced!)

The race I was focusing on in July was the Volcano Marathon on the Big Island. I felt I had a shot at winning it. But, first up I had a shorter, fun run. Well, at least I think it's fun. Many of you probably wouldn't agree with me. The Kailua Beach Run is one that I look forward to every year since it is the only race that takes place entirely on sand. All four and a half miles of it! I ran a very inspired race this year and out hustled a former college runner visiting from Colorado to finish first.

http://www.mprrc.com/r08kailuabeach.html

Feeling rested and ready, I was confident going into the Volcano Marathon the following week. And, it showed, as I pushed the pace, and led all other runners for the first 20 miles, by over two minutes. Unfortunately, I didn't get enough long training runs in - so I wasn't able to maintain that pace, and wound up fading to fourth place just before the finish. However, my time was nearly 15 minutes faster than last year, so I was very pleased with my effort.

http://www.volcanoartcenter.org/PARTS/Runs.raceresults/2008/M-ovl.txt

photos:  http://public.fotki.com/ebeling/volcano-marathon/

I had to recover quickly, as the following weekend there was a 22 mile trail run. I competed in the HURT Maunawili Trail Race as a relay with Andrew Taylor, and we easily won first place overall.

http://hurthawaii.blogs.com/MaunawiliOutBack22mileswithhandicap2008.pdf

I raced several weeks in a row after that, some going well, others not so well. However, my focus for the month of August remained the Tantalus Triple Trek 50K Trail Run. Last year, I finished in 5:01 and this year wanted very desperately to break 5 hours. A challenge laid down to me by Paul Sibley, and a barrier that few runners have ever broken. And, up until that point, I had been training hard during the last four months almost exclusively to run well at this race.

I would have liked to also challenge for the lead in this race, as I placed third last year. However, it was not to be. Matt Stevens had an unbelievable race, and Paul Hopwood ran extremely well also. I hung with them for the first 10 minutes, and after that would never see them again. So, I just had to run my own race. Turns out, I paced it extremely well, and was able to power through the final uphill section of miles 24 - 28, and finish the 31 miles in 4:53. I did it! I broke the 5 hour barrier by 7 minutes. This was definately one of my best races ever.

http://hurthawaii.blogs.com/TantalusTripleTrekResults2008.pdf

I think the next weekend in September would be one of the few that I didn't have a race, so I was able to recover a little bit. However, not too much rest for me as the Maui Marathon was up next. I ran this race the best that I could. And, even though I did not ever seriously challenge the sub 3 hour mark, I was pleased to finish 10th overall, in the 3:08. What shocked me, was it was that it was only good enough for a fifth place finish in my age group. Talk about a tough division!

http://www.pacificsportevents.com/Races/Maui%20Marathon/2008/Overall_Full_08.htm

I followed up Maui, by winning my third race of the year at the MPRRC Old Pali Road Run. A 4.4 mile race which takes place on a hilly, rugged, closed down section of the old Pali Highway, and led us through the rainforest. We had a brief downpour before the start of the race, but it cleared up nicely and we had beautiful, hot, humid conditions. :-) I once again had to dig down deep to make a charge up the last hill, to overtake, and then put some distance between me and a young, fit, 20 year old Marine.

http://www.mprrc.com/r08oldpali.html

 A couple more races later and we are now in October. I just finished running my favorite race - the Tantalus 10 Miler. It is another hilly run. Ok, I lied. There is actually only one hill. 2000 feet of elevation gain over the winding, 5.5 mile, Round Top Road, followed by a 2000 foot descent down the winding, 4.5 mile, Tantalus Road. And of course, all of this is through another rainforest. I briefely led the charge, before Pete Boksanski, one of my teamates with Team Niketown Honolulu, took an insurmountable lead, and became the eventual winner.

The most hotly contested race was for 2nd. Between Bryon Etta, the young, fit, Marine that I battled with at the Old Pali Road Run; Matt Pitts, a former UCLA runner; and myself. I remained mostly in fourth place, while Bryon and Matt exchanged blows. My strategy was let them wear themselves out, then overtake them on the last push up, just 3/4 of a mile before the summit. I had run this route in training so many times over the past couple of weeks, and years, that I knew every corner and where to attack. My plan would have worked out perfectly, except I didn't know that exactly at the point where Matt started fading fast, and I was about to overtake Bryon, that it would be a dog that attacked. Literally, a four legged German Shephard came straight at us. He stopped us in our tracks and rattled our nerves. And, the owner did little to remedy the situation. As it turned out, the dog was just interested in playing around with us, but by the time the three of us had recovered, we all had been slowed down, and reached the summit pretty much as a group together. Safety in numbers, right?

On the descent, I just could not match the turnover of Matt and Bryon. My legs were just not as fresh as the other two, most likely because of all the racing that I have done recently. I was defintely not able to keep pace with Matt, who would go on to finish 2nd. And, I trailed Bryon most of the way down. However, with around 1 mile to go to the finish, I was able to draw on some energy and inspiration from a Greek godess, named Maria. (This will have to be a story for another time.) I overtook, and pulled ahead of Bryon, to finish in third place. This was the hardest and fastest, I had ever run to finish a race.

http://www.mprrc.com/r08tantalus.html

Which brings me to this point A weekend of rest. (Saturday - 20 mile trail/road training run, followed by a Sunday - 24 mile road/trail training run; finishing off a 5 day/ 83 mile week.) So, I guess I should have just said - one of no racing!

This week, I am only planning on running once or twice, real easy, so I can rest up for a race on both days of the weekend: Saturday is the HURT Peacock 54 Mile Trail Run in the Waianae Mountains. And, Sunday is the Niketown 30K at Kapiolani Park. If you get a chance come out and join us in the fun. If not, and I survive the 73 mile weekend - then I'll post a follow up to the website to let you know the results.

Saturday:  http://www.hurthawaii.com/2008/10/peacock-54-race.html

Sunday:  http://www.mprrc.com/raceschedule.html

Happy running, David.