DaShaun

That guy that did that thing that one time

Archive for category Events

Olathe – Oz – Wickedly Fast Half Marathon

Apr 16

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I’m happy, so may things that I don’t want to forget.

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I took it easy this week. I really wanted a PR and I didn’t want to over train. Over training during race week has been a problem for me.

My team at work is awesome.  So may people that I work with participated and it really made a difference.  I feel more connected with my team every day.  Seeing them out on race day really was bonus.  I love my job and I love my team!

I finally think I’m figuring out how to dress for race day.  Having the removable running sleeves made all the difference today.  I got hot around mile 7, pulled off my sleeves, and everything was back to good!

The race packet was great!  I had everything I needed.  I looked crooked at the calendar they packed.  Now, post-race, I think the calendar was a great item to put in the race packet.  It had race information including course, parking and some race day tips.  On top of that, great pictures, tons of coupons, and some pretty cool ads for Garmin. (grin)  They added other local races to the calendar.  The coolest thing is they added start dates for training programs for next years race!  So, next November, when people are thinking about the race, they have a calendar to use to mark off miles!  I’m impressed, is that lame?

The volunteers were great.  Getting parked was easy, the aid stations were awesome too.  The course was also very very spectator friendly.  We saw a couple people at least 4 different times on the course.  I know they were there for somebody else (close to me) but it was pretty cool seeing familiar faces and the same signs multiple times.  To me that says a ton about the community and the event producers.  It was a really smooth running event, from my perspective.  Thank you Olathe!

I had my own pacer the entire race.  Jeff J. was with me from start to finish.  He’s also in the outdoor/fitness division at Garmin.  He really did a great job of keeping me focused.  He kept me slow at the start and eased me right into a personal record!  I’ve been pretty lucky with finding pacers so far.  It has made all of the difference, every time.  We had tons to talk about, and the fact that I was able to talk up until mile 11 really was a confidence booster.  He dropped some knowledge on me too.  I’ve got a couple of cool things to investigate this week.  I also think I might have added something to my birthday wish list.

After the race I felt good.  I didn’t push myself to any sort of limit.  It was a well executed race strategy.  My coaching has been great.  I feel like I get so much attention and I’ve learned so much.  Beyond all of the great coaching I’ve been getting from Ken W., I’ve got a huge supporting cast that keeps me moving in the right direction, keeps me motivated, and makes it all enjoyable.

I knew that Ultramax was doing the timing.  They always have the times available at the finish.  I totally forgot about that until I got home.  Unofficially, my time was 1:58:39.  Previous best was 2:02:52.  I’ll update as soon as I get an official time.

– Update –
Official time 1:58:36.70

Added bonus: I was top half of all men, that’s a pretty big milestone for me. I was also top half of my division.

Gobbler Grind 2010

Nov 21

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We couldn’t have asked for better weather this late in November.  It was in the mid 60s the entire time we were on the course.  We woke up before the sun and headed to the event early so we could pick up our race packets.

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Jillian was doing the 5k with her good friend Laurie.  We met Laurie in the packet pickup line.  After we dropped stuff off back at the truck, we ran into Jacqui. They all ran the first part of the race together.  Jillian had a PR last week at the Pilgrim Pacer.  Today, she beat that PR by 2 minutes.  I’m so proud of her.  She has been even more focused on fitness than I have lately.  She is seeing improvement in so many ways.  Its not that she ran 3.1 miles, its that she ran it better than she’s ever done it before and had fun while she did it.

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I got to see lots of familiar faces at the event.  Steve M. was running with his 11 year old daughter, Claire.  It was great to see.  They have been training for this for several weeks.  Apparently, she’s already setting new goals and looking forward to her next race!

I was planning on running with David C. again.  I started about 20 yards behind him and never caught him.  Ron H. from work was also there.  This was his first 1/2 in a while.  He’s done several marathons and really knows a ton about the sport.  Ron was shooting for a 2:15, so I was hoping to get in front of him and stay there.  Joe H from work was also there.  He ran the 5k and stayed for the entire race.  I think I saw him at 4 different spots on the course and at the end.  Jason D. and his wife both ran the 1/2 as well.  I saw Susanne, but didn’t get to see Jason.  I think everyone from work was happy with their race.  I’m sure we will exchange stories tomorrow at work.

I ran into Sarav K. from Runners Edge at the beginning of the race too.  He was going to be pacing another friend of his, but the friend backed out due to injury.  When I told him my goals, he said he would pace me.  I always run better with a pacer and this race didn’t have pace groups.  I took him up on the offer.  He followed the Runners Edge pace program perfectly.  Sarav was trying to prevent aggravating a nagging hamstring.  He talked to me the entire way.  He kept reminding me of the game plan.  I felt like I received top notch pacing.  I had my own pacer.  When I struggled, he slowed and waited for me and gave me words of encouragement.  When I started to fall off, he quickly changed my goals.  We started off pursuing a 9:09 pace.  I knew I was reaching, but wanted to at least try.  My main goal was a 10:17 pace, or 2:14:59.  Sarav made the event much better than it should have been and I’m very thankful for the individual attention and inspiration.

I am super happy with my performance.  A 2:15 was the goal I had set January 1st.  I had finished 2 other 1/2 marathons this year, 2;17:47 at Rock the Parkway and 2:17:54 at Hospital Hill.  My confidence was high because of last weekends 10k PR.  I pushed harder on this race than any race before.  I didn’t leave any gas in the tank.  I finished with 2:02:50 officially.  Very very happy.

I didn’t have much time to celebrate.  Immediately after the race, we had to shower and head to judging at the Midwest Cup cheer competition.  That was also a blast.  It was a very full day.

Official Results

Tags: GCDT, half-marathon, jillian, PR, runners edge

Pilgrim Pacer 10k

Nov 14

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What a great way to start the day. It wasn’t an early start, instead, 9am, perfect for this time of year. Jillian was going with me, so I had that much more motivation.

The course was perfect, just enough hills, rolling, not too long.  It was on a golf cart path for most of the race.  I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable this course was.  The event staff was great just like I expected.  The “Run-Toto-Run” I did in February was also put on by this group.  It was a little chilly, but the staff, the participants, volunteers and the crowd kept it comfortably warm.

I set a goal of a 1 hour 10k at the beginning of the year along with some others.  Going into the race I was 1 of 3 on attempted goals.  My confidence was pretty high, any doubts I had were nullified by Jillian being there with me.  Jillian signed up for the 10k, but decided to do 5k at race time.  Having her at the finish line was great.

I saw David C and David K from work and Dave from MTC at the starting line.  David C was shooting to be around 54 minutes (he finished 54:17) so I figured I would try to keep up with him for as long as I could.  I started with David C.  At the start, David was trying to get through the slower crowd.  The first half mile was a little bit faster than we planned.  We then settled in and found our groove.

My official finish was 53:17.8, easily a PR.  My previous 10k was 1:11:49.  Jillian says because I was hung-over during my previous 10k, that it doesn’t really count.  Either way, this was a PR.  Jillian also had a PR, 34:54.9.

Finish Line

Official Results

At the start

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Branson 70.3

Oct 21

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I started working to complete the Branson 70.3 in February. In the process, I lost 25 pounds, I set several personal records, I upset my wife with my schedule, I annoyed her with hours of conversation about training, I grew, and I learned about myself.

I wasn’t trying to do anything more than beat the cut off time.  My plan very simple and very plain.  I wanted to get out of the water in 1 hour.  I wanted to bike for no more than 4 hours.  I hoped to give myself 3 hours for the half marathon at the end.

I didn’t want to write this right way because I didn’t want my fresh emotions to have too much impact on what really happened.

By the time race week came, Jillian had pretty much reached her limit.  The race was on Sunday.  Bike checking and athlete information meeting was on Saturday.  Going down on Friday was absolutely out of the question.

….I stopped writing for a few weeks….

It’s been over a month and the emotions are still there. I thought I was okay with not finishing, but I’m not. It was a hard race, I felt good until throwing up on the run. I just had another “fail” at KC Marathon. I know now that I need to figure out my diet and nutrition.

It was a DNF. If I want to do better next year, or even be able to do anything next year, I have to get Jillian on board. Last year was so much more fun when I was training with her.

KC Marathon 2010

Oct 16

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I can be honest. My head really wasn’t in the game this week. I had too many other more important things to focus on.

That said, I was hoping to get a sub 5:00 today. I didn’t, but I’m not upset. I’m actually quite pleased. I was forced to walk for 4 miles, 22 through 25. Apparently, I still haven’t figured out how to fuel/hydrate/supplement properly for race day. I was walking as fast as I could without my legs cramping up. I was underhydrated and out of gas. At mile 22, I couldn’t control my breathing. My body wanted to breath faster than I could while running. Thanks to Steve’s race review from Chicago 10.10.10, I had a backup plan ready. I didn’t stop, I knew what my backup goals were (5:23:31, 5:29:00, 6:23:31). My previous attempt at 26.2 was 6:23:32. Today, I was 5:22:23, over 1 hour better than I did April 2009. Even with the struggle, today was a good day.

The coolest thing was that my Garmin 210 time was exactly the same as my official time.

Jackson County Triathlon 2010

Aug 23

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What can I say, I didn’t have the day that I wanted. I had problems with my tires. A flat early in the ride, similar distance to the flat I had during 2009 KC Triathlon. This time I was prepared. I had a spare tube. It took me about 4 minutes to change my tire, not fast, but not slow either. When I was pumping up my tire, my CO2 got caught on my stem and overfilled the tire. The tube exploded. No worries, I was double prepared because I also had a patch kit. I patched the first tube, everything seemed to be working. I got my tire on and started riding. I didn’t make it very far, and realized my tire was flat again. At that point, I stopped. I was upset. I started walking back. Flashbacks of KCTri 2009 kept me upset. In 2009, I just stopped and went home. This time, I made up my mind to do the run.

I did the run and felt alright. It was faster than I would have done after the bike, but not as fast as I would have liked.

I got to see a lot of faces that I hadn’t seen for a while. I also got to see how much some people have improved. It made me realize that I’m not too old to get better and that I’m not so out of shape that I couldn’t be where I want to be by next season.

The race went very well. I felt more prepared than I ever have for a race. The race seemed to be ran very well. I’m much more pleased with the KLM events this year. I think they are improving with every race.

Tags: DNF, race, triathlon