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Race Report for 35th Annual Holyoke St Patrick’s Day 10K

Word of warning to the reader - this is a longer than normal post.

First, before I get to the race, I just want to catch you up a little on what has been going on with my training. I’ve been dealing with some left tibia pain since mid-January. As a result my total weekly mileage and long run of the week mileage have been way down. I managed to run a half marathon on Feb 21st, but it was a lackluster performance and I could barely walk for the following week. Two weeks ago I finally relented and went to the doctor. I had to argue with her, but she agreed to order an xray. And while it didn’t show a new stress fracture (xrays don’t always catch stress fractures) it did show a callous on the shaft of my left tibia exactly where the pain is. This location corresponds with the fracture that I sustained in 2008. So, what I surmised from the exam was that my fascia, muscle, or tendons in the area of the old fracture are getting irritated by the repetitive motion over the callous.

This past week, I stopped running all together and focused on cross training, which I needed to do anyway now that triathlon season is here. I swam and cycled quite a bit. I’ve been throwing the kitchen sink at this injury (ice baths, massage, rest, stretching, strengthening exercise with the resistance band, Kinesio tape (see below), and OTC pain medicine.

Kinesio Tape Job

Today, I ran for the first time in 10 days. I had signed up for the 2010 Holyoke St Patrick’s Day Road Race and this race was a test for me to see if it was even possible to continue with my Providence Marathon training plan. My marathon is on May 2nd, and I am many weeks behind in my training plan. My leg felt better and the Kinesio taping helped. The sensation is still there, but it is much more tolerable and I am actually going to try to do my long run of the week tomorrow (16 miler). I’m slightly more optimistic about my chances of finishing Providence, although I predict my time will be slower than my last marathon. Anyway, on to today’s race.

I was going to write about this race as soon as I got home today, but decided to wait. I’m glad I did. I had a chance to talk with Justin (Mangorunner) and I also got some feedback from dailymile friends that helped put this race in perspective.

The Holyoke St. Patrick’s Day Road Race is a big local tradition. This year almost 5,000 people signed up to run and many of those runners, I suspect, only run this one race every year. The streets are lined with people from the neighborhoods and many have set up impromptu watering stations. This year two kind souls were nice enough to spray runners down from the garden hose as we ran by (It was in the mid 70s). And a special thank you to the family at mile 5 who set out a “FREE BEER STATION”. I am indebted to you for that sudsy goodness. After the race, runners and drinkers pile into temporary tents and have their fill of Irish music, pub food, and beer. Good times.

Now, the bad part - I was running late, as usual. It seems like I always do, especially when I’m bringing the girls. Note to self - allow extra time for doing their hair in the future. By the time I got to the race, the pack had already formed and I got stuck in the VERY BACK of the pack with all the other strollers. When the race started, we didn’t even move for 2 minutes. It took me 5 full minutes just to get to the starting line. I’ve been stuck in the back because of the stroller in the past and I always hate it. I end up spending the first 10 minutes weaving through walkers and runners, but today was CRAZY. I was weaving through people for the entire race. I got stuck behind families shuffling 4 abreast. I got cut off as runners streaked across the entire road to catch a watering station they missed. I had people come to a dead stop unannounced right in front of me. I had spectators step off the curb right in my path. I had more headphone blaring runners than I can count drift right in my line, completely oblivious to everyone around them. And my personal favorite was the kind gentleman just before mile 1 in the Pierce Celtics jersey who saw me coming up behind him and stepped shoulder to shoulder with his buddy so I couldn’t pass and then said loud enough to hear over his own headphones, “F%$# him, I’m not getting beat by a jogging stroller.” Not a lot of running etiquette out there today.

OK, now the good part - I have never seen so much spectator support for a 10K race. Most people were genuinely warm and supportive. I heard bagpipers, cowbells, and college households blasting their stereos for the runners. I already mentioned the Free Beer Station, but let me say again how cool that was. The whole downtown was alive. I met up with Diane and her family after the race and hung out for a bit before heading back home. Both of the girls were passed out by the time I pulled into the driveway.

Lessons learned - show up earlier next year. Get a sitter and run this race without the kids. This would be a fun race to run and then find a pub in which to carb load.

So, how did I do? This was the slowest 10K of my live. I ran it in 57:21 (compare that to New Year’s Day’s race time of 46:26). I did just get a bit of good news though. When the results were first published I found my name at 2420 out of 4844. Despite the stroller, the congestion, the tibia pain, and my time I felt like I ran better than that. Then I noticed that the place is by gun time and not chip time. So I looked at all the racers who placed ahead of me, but had slower chip times and found out that I got a 522 place bump. I actually finished at 1898, not 2420. That means that in 6.2 miles I passes almost 3000 runners. Just for fun I figured out that on average, over the 10K course, I overtook 1 runner every 11 feet. That’s a lot of weaving and bobbing.

Now, I know that’s not the right mindset for this type of race. This was a fun race, and not an ultra-competitive one but I think it’s funny and helps illustrate what kind of running I had to do with the stroller. Next weekend I’m running a half marathon in Westfield with the stroller. Let’s hope that race isn’t quite so congested.

Until then, have a good training week everyone and enjoy the pictures below (click to enlarge):

PS - Forgot to mention the second half of the story with the Celtics jersey wearing guy who dropped the F bomb in front of my kids - after blocking me and swearing he and his buddy sped up a bit. I caught up with him again on the hill shortly after mile 3. He was huffin’ and puffin’. As we passed him, I yelled “Hey, you want to jump on and catch a ride?” Oh, sweet vindication. I realize that wasn’t very sportsman like of me, but next time watch your mouth in front of my kids.

Before the race

Action Shot from the race. Photo Credit: Ted Tyler

Proud Finishers - Diane and I

Kids playing with a worm

McKenna with her favorite babysitter

Aubrey with THE LOOK

I run and they are the tired ones Go figure

Race Report for Half at the Hamptons

Got up this morning after only four hours of sleep, so I could jump in the Jeep and drive out to Hampton, NH for the Half at the Hamptons half marathon. This is the second race in the Will Run for Beer Race Series. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of myself from this race. I don’t feel that my training is quite where it should be at this point in my overall marathon training plan for the RI Rhode Race Marathon in May. So, today was somewhat of a test. It was a test of my fitness and a test of my left leg. So, how did it go?

Well, the race started at 11:00 and in typical Denis fashion I showed up with little time to spare. I ran to the Ashworth Hotel and grabbed my bib number, timing chip, and race shirt. I headed towards to the Men’s room - Holy crap! Look at that line! No way I would make it through the line in time. So I headed upstairs and looked around for a public restroom on one of the hotel floors. No luck. I saw a cleaning lady in the hall and asked her where I could find a bathroom other than the one downstairs. She said something in Spanish, smiled, unlocked a vacant guest room and motioned for me to go inside. I thanked her in my best Spanglish and “took care of business.”

Best thing about running in a series called Will Run for Beer

Justin and I met up with less than 10 minutes to spare and waited for the air horn to sound. When it finally did, it sounded like a dying duck (turned out to be prophetic). The first 4 1/2 miles were straight into the wind. As much as I hated that, it brought me comfort because that would mean we would have the wind at our backs for the last 4 miles, or so I thought. Justin and I were pretty casual. We chatted a good bit in the beginning and talked to some other racers. My leg was achey, but nothing too too bad. More importantly, it didn’t seem to get worse during the race. Where my race suffered was that I just got tired early. My splits were all over the place, although some of that had to do with water aid stations.

Splits - 7:53, 7:53, 8:11, 8:32, 8:26, 8:37, 7:59, 8:58, 9:01, 8:27, 8:44, 8:28, 7:48, 0:53

I ended up finishing in 1:49:56. To put that in perspective, that’s 10+ minutes slower than my PR, and only 2 minutes faster than the last half that I ran in November, but I ran that one with TWO KIDS IN A STROLLER!!!!

So, while it’s not a terrible time, it’s not anything that I feel too proud of either. I’m not competing against the other racers as much as I am competing against myself. And before you chime in with “You can’t run a PR every race” - I know. I’m just whining a little. OK. I’m done now.

I ended up finishing in the top 1/3rd today, so my rank in the series standings should improve. I was ranked 135th out of 528 series racers. We’ll see how much I climb. I’d really like to finish the series in the top 10%

I got to run with some race royalty today. Team Hoyt was there inspiring the rest of us. This was the second time I’ve run with them in the last 4 months. I also met a very nice runner after the race by the name of JoEllen Cameron. She came up to me because I was wearing a Monson Memorial Classic Race shirt and she was there too. Turns out she’s the real deal. Here’s a very nice write up about her. And last but not least, I finally got to meet Chris Russell in person (from coolrunning.com fame). Justin already knows Chris. They ran a Ragnar relay together last year.

Anyway, it was a great way to spend a February morning. I may not have run as swiftly as I would have liked and my fitness probably has slipped a little since last November, but in the big picture I think I’m on track for a successful marathon in May.

Here’s some picture. (click to enlarge):