Parks Half Marathon Recap

Howdy sports fans!  It's been a while since my last race recap (mid-July's boiling Rocketts Landing Tri).  Not surprising, as I spent half of August in Israel.  I remember trying to track down a race, any race, in Israel (just to have competed in a race in another country).  The response from the various track clubs I emailed was uniform: "are you crazy!?!  Do you know how hot it is in Israel in August!?!"

Anyhow, on September 11, I ran the Parks Half Marathon.  While Jordana has run this race multiple times, this was my first time running (although, I have run on most of the length of the course during my various long runs).  I think this may have been the last major running experience that we had not yet experienced together, so I was actually pretty excited to run this just for that reason alone.  Now that we have an au pair, we're not stuck so much doing the tag-team running and racing.  We were able to head out to packet pickup together.  We got our bibs and, the race being on the 10th anniversary of 9-11, our temporary flag tatooes.  Ran into several friends at packet pickup.

Race day dawned clear and a bit humid.  The temperature and dewpoint were the same (mid-60s) giving us 100% humidity near race time -- as the race progressed, the humidity dropped into the 90s, then 80s!  So, yes, it was a bit drippy.

Anyhow, this was one of the most fun pre-race experiences I've had so far.  Normally, I'm pretty much alone pre-race.  Maybe, it is one of the rare races that Jordana is with me.  But usually it's just me. I would stretch and warm-up and wait for the race start - watching the other groups of runners, chatting and joking and hanging out.  But now that I have returned to training in a training program (Boston Bound last spring and XMP now), I was not alone.  It was a great feeling -- running into groups of my friends, joining in the pre-race banter, making jokes and laughing at jokes.  I felt like I belonged.  A feeling I haven't felt pre-race since probably my cross-country days back in high school.  I guess I solo ran for so many years, I forgot how enjoyable the comraderie can be when running with a group.

But I digest...

I found my starting wave (Parks has unofficial self-policed starting waves based on your expected pace) -- the sub 7:00 mile group.  I had two goals for the day:  first, run sub 6:30s; second, run a PR (i.e., faster than a 1:26:50).  The race started ("when I say go go go") and we were off...

Miles 1 - 3
The race starts near Rockville Metro and ends in downtown Bethesda.  Most of the race is along the Rock Creek bike path, but the first 3 miles is along Viers Mills Road.  The road is mostly downhill, so I started out at what was probably a somewhat too fast pace.  But then, I had not raced in a number of weeks.  Further, the last time I raced a 1/2 marathon, I had done a 1.2 mile swim and a 56 mile bike warm-up.  Amazing how much fresher one feels when one is ONLY racing a 1/2 marathon!

As I said, I took it out a bit fast at a 6:22 pace.  Mile 2 was even faster at 6:20.  Around mile three, the course turned off Viers Mill and finally entered Rock Creek.  The already humid air became even more humid as we entered the forested path which runs along Rock Creek.  I hit Mile 3 at 6:37 pace.

Miles 4 - 10
As I said, the heart of the race is the Rock Creek bike path.  I've run just about every part of this path at one time or another during either FTM (in 2003), Boston Bound (last winter), or recently with XMP.  So this was familiar ground.  And it's good to know the course. For example, I knew that almost immediately after passing mile 3, the course would climb a pretty steep hill, known by those in MCRRC as "the Silencer."  The marathon and half-marathon programs use this hill to do hill repeats.  I did not want to waste energy on this hill, so let ran using constant exertion.  I hit mile 4 at 6:43.

After the Silencer, however, the course is mostly level, with the occasional up and down of hills (but these tend to be relatively short, even if they can be steep).  I settled into my pace, running mile 5 in 6:32 and mile 6 in 6:25.  The problem with these mid-miles, especially on a familiar course, is that I sometimes start to daydream. Sometimes that makes me run fast, sometimes slow, and sometimes even.  I ran mile 7 in 6:40, then hit miles 8 and 9 in 6:34, and ran mile 10 at 6:40.

In the days before the race, we had gotten ALOT of rain and Rock Creek had flooded.  The race director sent entrants pre-race emails warning us of a potentially wet and muddy course.  But hats off to the race crew -- if there had been a lot of mud or debris it was mostly gone.  The course was excellent shape.  Especially the part of the course that goes under Connecticut Avenue -- I was expecting ankle deep mud.  I was greatly pleased to run that dry-shod.  Of course, that is not to say that there weren't puddles and mud here and there.  Just before Connecticut Avenue, I misjudged how deep one puddle was and got a shoe covered in mud.  I shuffle stepped several paces, just to get the mud off my shoe so I wouldn't run unbalanced!

Miles 11 - finish
Between miles 10 and 11, the course turns right off of the Rock Creek bike path, up Susanna Lane, across Jones Bridge Road and onto the gravel portion of the Capital Crescent Bike path (known as the CCT) that takes you to the finish.  The path up to Susanna Lane and the road itself up to the street crossing is one long steep hill.  No surprise, then, that I ran mile 11 in 6:55 -- my slowest split of the race.

The CCT is a converted rails to trails.  The portion north and east of Bethesda is still gravel.  One would think it flat because it looks flat.  If you look at the elevation profile, however, it is one steady up hill (not seriously steep -- only railroad grade -- but uphill nevertheless).

They say marathons are a 20 mile warm up followed by a 10K.  Well, half marathons are a 10 mile warm up followed by a 5K.  Time for my tiring legs to pick up the pace (note to self:  best not run back to back 10 milers on the Thursday and Friday before a Sunday half-marathon race).  My Garmin was set to show total time, total distance, but pace for the current mile (I always race in that mode), so I had no way of knowing if I was on pace to meet either goal.  I ran mile 12 in 6:45, then picked it up again to run 6:38 for mile 13.

Around mile 13, the CCT goes under Wisconsin Avenue in a tunnel under the Air Rights Building.  Just before the entrance to the tunnel, and as part of the 9-11 commemoration, Girl Scouts were handing out American flags for the runners to carry over the finish.  I slowed down enough to get my flag (did not want to risk dropping it) and entered the tunnel.

As I entered the tunnel, I could hear footsteps directly behind me.  I did not want to turn around to see how close (for fear of losing my stride) but the noise made it seem the runner was right on m tail.  Well, I'd be damned if someone was going to beat me in the final 1/10 mile.  I started to all-out sprint, exiting the tunnel and making the final right turn toward the finish line.  1:25:57!  And I was not beaten (although as I later discovered, even if he had nipped me at the finish, my chip time was sufficiently faster that I would have still outplaced him).

Post-Race
It was a great race.  I did not meet my first goal -- my overal pace was 6:34.  But I was thrilled to have PR'ed by almost a minute, especially when that old PR was from 4 years ago.  It's a great feeling PR'ing now at almost age 45!

And then I got to experience the same commaraderie, but now post-race.  Meeting up with my running buddies, comparing times and race reports.  Cheering Jordana as she set her own PR as well.

It was a good race.  I finished 48th out of 2,320 (top 2%) and 7th out of 209 in the M40-44 age group (if I had been a few weeks older, I would have won the M45-49 group, oh well...)

When I plugged my time into the pace calculators, it predicts a 2:59 marathon.  So here's hoping...
Marine Corps is just a month and half away.

מפעיל את אש שלי

That's "Running My Ashe Off" in Hebrew!

I thought that in this note I would briefly share my experiences running in Israel.  My family and I spent a wonderful 2 weeks in Israel this past August (a travelogue is forthcoming!) and, of course, I could not let 2 weeks go by with no running.

My Israeli running saga actually began several months before.  Knowing I would be overseas for two weeks and knowing that I could not go without my endorphin fix for that long (hey, there are worse addictions than running, my friends), I began researching running Israel and, specifically, running in Jerusalem.  I located several Jerusalem-based running clubs and (thank you Google-Translate) was able to identify contact persons.  Several email exchanges later, I had a number of running route options.

Our rental house in Jerusalem was on Ein Rogel in the Abu Tor neighborhood.  The most promising running routes I was given was in a nearby park, called Sacher Park.  I got onto Google Maps and traced out the quickest way to get there.

Our first morning in Jerusalem (we had arrived the previous afternoon), Jordana and I set out on our first Israeli run.  With our garmins fully charged and a printout of the running routes folded up in my pocket, we headed out in the early morning.  The air was quite cool and there was little to no humidity -- pleasant relief from the 90 degree/90 percent humidity conditions of Washington, DC in early August!!

Our route was as follows:  We headed west up Ein Rogel (east led to the Green Line and we did NOT want to go that way) a short bit, crossed over Derech Hevron, at which point the street changes names to David Remez Street.  (Note on street crossing:  no one, and I mean no one, crosses against the lights in Jerusalem.  Those drivers are crazy!!)  Anyhow, David Remez does a sharp right turn and passes the Old Jerusalem Train Station (opened in 1892 it was the terminus of the Jaffa-Jerusalem line, it closed in 1998 and has remained vacant since).  David Remez ends at Keren HaYesod and we turn right up Keren HaYesod.  This is a steady uphill run that passes the lovely little Liberty Bell Park and the famous King Solomon and Dan Panorama Hotels.  We then turn left on Ramban Street -- a small residential street with lots of cross-street curbs (ups and downs).  Ramban Street ends at Derech Ruppin, where we cross the street then enter Giv'at Klor Garden and run along the running path.  This path is a steep downhill switchback path that takes us down the hillside, under a major highway (Sderot Hayim Hazaz) and into Sacher Park proper.  Distance so far, about 1.5 miles.

Once inside the park, we would run along its pathways.  Heading south, we run past the Monastery of the Cross (an 11th century monastery built on the site of an earlier monastery supposedly built by Queen Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, on the site where the tree that was used to make Jesus' cross was located).  Heading north the paths take us just east of the Knesset and the Israeli Supreme Court building.  We also passed a large tent city, where scores of 20-somethings are "protesting" the high cost of living in Israel  (it looked more like camping to me, there were large dining flies erected underwhich the "protesters" lounged on couches and loveseats, TVs were hooked up to portable generators...).  The Park itself has its ups and downs on the terrain.

Our usual route, after making a circuit of Sacher Park, was to take a side trail out of the Park onto Derech Ruppin.  We ran past the Knesset Building and the Israeli Museum, where we would turn left onto Sderot Ha'Muze'onim and to the Hebrew University Stadium complex, where we would run a couple of miles around the track.  Then do the course in reverse back to our house.

That was our staple course.  We usually ran about 8 or so miles in total.  Sometimes, we ran a bit more by running into and around the Hebrew University campus.  We tried a 16 mile circuit run once (where you stay on Derech Ruppin until it hits Sderot Herzl, turn South, and make a big loop), we got about halfway around when we got a bit lost and turned around and headed back the way we came.  Part of the problem is that, outside of the track, there is hardly any FLAT ground to run on in Jerusalem.  You are either running up or running down a hill, and some are quite steep!

Towards the end of our stay in Jerusalem we stumbled upon a linear trail, a converted rails-to-trail on the old Jaffa-Jerusalem rail line.  Only 1 mile had been built, but we'd do some up and backs on that.  Once we took that trail to its southern end at General Koenig Street, turned east on Daniel Yanovski Street, and made our way to the Ha'as Promenade -- with its spectacular views of the Old City (and then ran back).

When we headed up to the resort at Kibbutz Nof Ginosar, the temperature was much hotter but the terrain much flatter.  We took the little 1 km walking path from the hotel to the main highway, and then crossed the street and entered the banana fields.  Some of the sweetest smelling running I've ever done!  We just ran along the dirt roads that ran among the banana plants, doing one or two loops to get out mileage in (although we were typically just running for time).

All in all, some great running.  I never got in a 20 miler -- the most I did was 16 miles (which included 2 miles running around the Hebrew University track).  But did run a steady diet of 8 - 10 milers.  All in all, we ran just shy of 90 miles over our 2 week trip.  In addition to a full day of touring that usually followed our runs.

And, we got to see more of the country than had we either (1) not run and just toured or (2) run only on a treadmill at the nearby hotel.  It made me regret all the times I ran on the treadmill when I was on business travel.  From now on, and to the extent that it's safe, I will try to venture outside for my runs and explore the cities were I travel.

So there it is, running in Israel.  If you ever go there, let me know and I can give you more specific details as to running routes (had we access to a car, there were some great trail runs about 20 minutes South of Jerusalem).

Next up?  Parks Half Marathon...