The Dowd Y Half Marathon

I ran the Dowd Y Half Marathon this weekend. The company was nice enough to sponsor runners from work for the event so my entry was paid by the company. All I had to do was show up and run.

It was a perfect day for racing, one of the chillier mornings we have had. It was in the high thrities to low forties at the start and close to 50 by the time I finished. I’m not in great shape, coming off the Portland Marathon so I didn’t ‘race’ the event, I just went out, had fun and ran a solid time.

Out of five or so folks from work running, I came in first. My splits are below.

Mile 1 7:41
Mile 2 8:01
Mile 3 7:52
Mile 4 8:10
Mile 5 7:38
Mile 6 7:33
Mile 7 7:33
Mile 8 7:54
Mile 9 7:40
Mile 10 8:09
Mile 11 7:53
Mile 12 7:55
Mile 13 7:31
Mile 14 7:18 (partial)

Splits from the Dowd Y Half Marathon

I ran fairly even splits, picking it up towards the end and not crashing or having any major problems. There were a number of fairly serious hills, not terribly steep but long, slow grades. I was pleased with the way I attacked them, particularly the hill coming up East Blvd. I dropped a few runners and picked up a few places on that hill.

I finished 110th of 521 finishers, 87th of 278 men and 7 of 36 M25-29. I crossed the line in 1:43:13 averaging 7:54/mile. Not my best effort but I had a good time and felt a sense of accomplishment after it was all said and done.

Also, Mom and Dad were able to come out and see my running in a race for the first time. that was nice to see them at the 8 mile mark and have some crowd support in an otherwise crowdless race.

Another one down.

The Norva

The Norva is frankly, the worst venue I’ve been to on the East Coast.  I found out that Maylene and the Sons of Disaster were playing there at the last minute.  I didn’t really want to see Poison the Well or Every Time I Die or UnderOath.  I wanted to see Maylene in all her glory.

When I surfed over to the Norva’s website and found out Maylene was playing about 5:45, I gave them a call to see what time they would go on.  I was told they were the second band and would go on about 7.  This mad sense s the show was advertised as starting at 6:30.

After a pat down, showing my ID twice and paying 21 hard earned dollars, I was allowed entrance to the venue.

Maylene was into their first song.  Even though they didn’t go on at the advertised time, this wasn’t too big a deal as I was still seeing them play.

I worked my way up to the front.  As an opening band, you don’t expect them to get much crowd energy.  As a paying customer, I was determined to make some.  I jumped around, I slammed myslef into others, I tried to get a decent pit going.  Nothing.  Nothing.  Nothing

In the course of trying to have a good time, I got scolded twice by Norva security guards.  I told them I’d be leaving after Maylene.  Truth is I hung around.   For Poison the Well, I just watched.   For Every Time I Die, I got wrapped in and got back in the middle of things.

I was just having fun, dancing, banging into folks, enjoying myself when I got grabbed by the neck.  Like a kitten being pulled up by its mother.

I don’t begrudge the muscle bound, roid raged bouncer from doing what he was told.  Apparently, it’s a club policy that no crowd surfing (which I saw none of) and no moshing is allowed.  I guess in retrospect, I was warned and I was wearing a green shirt in a sea of black (making me and easy target).  But that doesn’t excuse the fact that I was acting just the same as I would act in the Masquerade in Atlanta or Amos’ Southend in Charlotte or Irving Plaza or BB King’s in NYC.

I’ve been to many shows.  I know how to act and how not to.  Apparently the Norva doesn’t want you have fun.  The Norva doesn’t want you to have a good time.  The Norva doesn’t know what you are supposed to do at a rock show.  The Norva does not know what it means to be young, to mosh, to slam your sweaty body into another in tune with the music.  The Norva doesn’t want you to crowdsurf.  The Norva doesn’t want you to feel the ROCK that the band is feeding you.

The Norva wants you to spend money with them.  The Norva wants to you to support them.  The Norva wants your money.  They don’t want you to have a good time and to do what comes naturally.

That’s why I got kicked out.  That’s why I’m here in th hotel, rather than watching rock happen.  That’s why I’m not sweaty with the sweat of others from the pit.  That’s why I’m thankful I dont’ live in Norfolk.  That’s why I’m thankful I dont’ have to frequent the Norva.

The Norva is simply the WORST venue on the East Coast.  Avoid it, boycott it at all costs.

On the road…

On the road five of the next six weeks…

NFK, then Charlotte, then NFK, then Denmark, the holiday in Europe.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, just saying.

It could be worse..  I suppose.

Weekend Photos

Auburn lost. Clemson won. Tailgates were attended. Josh got antiqued. Except for the Auburn part, it was a dang fine weekend.

Photos here.

Home improvement, red doors.

I recently completed the first phase of my ingagural home improvement project, painting my doors a nice deep red. I finished the front door, now it’s off to finish the (outside facing) laundry room door and the back door.

Pictures here.

The Portland Marathon

So here we are. Tuesday night and the residual soreness has almost been worked out my my most recent marathon. Another marathon down, 48 to go.

I completed my second marathon, the 2007 Portland Marathon on Sunday. It was a lot of fun. The weekend was about far more than just the marathon though. I got to walk through my past, visiting places I frequented when I lived out West in highschool. I got to catch up and renew bonds with old friends and I got to experience the surreal beauty of the Pacific Northwest once again.

While we were in the Portland area, Steven, Kermit and I went to Mt. St. Helens, watched Auburn/Vandy with the Pacific Northwest Auburn Club, drove up the gorge, crossed the Bridge of the Gods, felt the cool mist from Multnomah Falls and ran across the St. Johns Bridge, 205 feet above the Willamette River.

My race went ok. I knew going in that my last long run (one I cramped on) was on Sept 1. Endurance would be an issue and cramping would likely pose a serious threat to a solid time. I knew going in that I wasn’t going to run the whole thing through. I knew I’d probably cramp on a level not seen since the Richmond Marathon. I knew my time would likely be at or over four hours. While not OK with that, I could accept it for what it was. The idea was to have a good time. I’m proud to say in that, I succeded.

I started our running with the 3:50 pace group. At three miles we were a bit ahead of pace, I could see the 3:45 pace balloon, the group I really wanted to run with so I headed on up to join. Once I did, I was content to settle in and see the race out. The pacer was running a bit fast. When I caught her about 5 miles in, she was at 8:08 pace rather than the prescribed pace of 8:34. I told her she needed to slow down. Over the next miles, we did just that but were still ahead of pace with some money in the bank.

I didn’t realize it but the pacers only did half the race and at the halfway mark, with us already about 2 minutes or so ahead of pace, a gentleman took over the pace group. As he was just starting to run for the day, the took off like a cannon, way too fast and way above pace. I knew I wasn’t going to be able or want to hang with him so I let him go.

My legs were starting to fatigue but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t run through. About mile 15, I felt the first twinges of spasms and cramping and I new my race was over. I slowed it down a bit and stopped to stretch. From there it only got worse, degenerating to the point where I could run a tenth to a quarter of a mile and have to stop to walk and stretch. By the end I was mostly walking.

I didn’t get upset, I didn’t get down on myself. The most frustrating thing was seeing all the people I would normally leave in my dust running past me to better times than I’d get.

I did everything I knew to do to fight the onset of the cramps. I ate bananas, I hydrated on Gatorade, I took salt tablets, I at a salty meal the night before, I took Gu, I took hydration at each stop.

Oh well, no matter, I went to have fun. I went to run with friends. I did both and I came away with a decent medal and some cool giveaways.

My split times are below.

Mile 1 8:58
Mile 2 8:00
Mile 3 8:12
Mile 4 8:02
Mile 5 7:31
Mile 6 8:05
Mile 7 8:26
Mile 8 8:21
Mile 9 8:42
Mile 10 8:45
Mile 11 8:28
Mile 12 8:28
Mile 13 8:34
Mile 14 9:19
Mile 15 8:50
Mile 16 8:52
Mile 17 10:39
Mile 18 11:44
Mile 19 11:33
Mile 20 12:39
Mile 21 13:23
Mile 22 12:29
Mile 23 10:53
Mile 24 13:14
Mile 25 12:11
Mile 26 12:27
Mile 27 10:48

Here is a comparison of my split times between last year’s Richmond Marathon and this weekends Portland Marathon.

Pictures and a video to follow.

Marathon Weekend

Gameday might be on TV and college football might be getting rolling on the East Coast but here on the Left Coast, the day is just starting. 23 hours and 54 minutes from now I’ll be running in the Portland Marathon. It’s going to be a challenge. Training didn’t exactly go stellar in September, I haven’t run long since Sept 1 but I’m going to take it slow, have fun and get a finishers medal.

Mt. St. Helens

Yesterday was spent at Mt. St. Helens, today we are going to the expo/packet pickup. Then we’ll hang out with the Northwest Auburn club to watch the game, go to Multnomah Falls, then retire to the hotel for more football, hydration and relaxation.

I’ll report in tomorrow how it goes.

Home improvements.

I had the day off today. It was nice to be off during the week with nothing in particular to do.

I had lunch with Mom, my treat. That was nice. I started my first home improvement project today as well.

I’m painting. Starting with my front and back doors. I’m using this color palette. I wanted to do my doors and possibly a wall in my house the deep red but it’s going to be hard to get exact matches from the paint guy. My door won’t exactly be the color I want but it will be a custom version of a color called cottage red. A bit deeper than regular cottage red. I hope I’ll like it.

I got primer on the door today and I’ll get the first coat of paint on it sometime this week, then it’s on o the back door. Then onto my room.

Sunrise over Hunting Island.

Sunrise over Hunting Island.

Photoset here.

In the last week, I’ve…

In no particular order, I’ve done the following in the last week.

Slept in three different cities of largely different geographic location.
Sat on the beach and watched the stars pass by.
Run tip to tip on a barrier island.
Driven about 10 different vehicles.
Suspended 25 people a foot off the ground in a harness.

Lashed and unlashed a bank of containers.
Eaten at the nicest restaraunt in a city.
Driven through the night.
Watched football for hours on end.
Not run nearly enough.

Brought a Seersucker suit.
Shaken hands and dined with real live communists.
Taught a training class on fall arrest/protection.
Walked miles on the beach.
Made several new friends.

Impressed some folks.
Spent money in questionable ways.
Practiced my manners.
Not gotten enough sleep.
Procrastinated.

Oysters on the half shell.
Pulled against Bama and for Georgia.

How was your week?