Race Reports

Pamplona Running of the Bulls Race Report

Guest post by “Ferdinand”

I was super-jacked about finally making it to greatest race in bull running – Pamplona. I got my “PQ” last year at Cuellar and have been training very hard.

I brought some extra cud gels (“cudgels,” get it? LOL!) to keep me going through the most difficult parts of the race – the bashing into the barricades. The race doesn’t start until 8, but they herded us into the starting corrals before 7:30 – and not a porta potty in sight. The stink was incredible. This is bullshit.

To pass the time, we had a bull session. Finally we had the invocation of Saint Fermin, the rockets were fired, and we were off like a bull at a gate. We were all caught in traffic near the first turn, right by the china shop. I headed for a likely looking Aussie. I thought he was going to have a cow. I nailed him on my first try. Bullseye!

There was one competitor in front of me, and since the race is only 826 meters long, I decided to take the bull by the horns and go for it. He had a slight lead, but I was bullish about my chances. I bulled my way past and entered the bullpen first. Victory!

While I could write about my win until the cows come home, but I don’t want to overdo my cock-and-bull story.

Sacramento Zoo Zoom 5k Race Report

They forecast heavy rain, 20 mph winds and general mayhem for race time this morning, but it all held off until this afternoon, so we ran in pristine conditions.

My training has been going well, so while I’m not in top form I knew my time would be respectable. The only downside was no timing mat at the start, so gun time is your only time. I started my Garmin at the line, so these splits are chip time equivalents. My Garmin is also set on auto-pause, so it stops whenever I come to a full stop (which came in handy, as you’ll see).

Mile 1 – 7:41

Mile 2 – 7:47

Mile 3 – 7:53

.1 – 0:45

Finish – 24:06

My official time was 24:31.5, the difference being due to the 30 seconds or so I (and several others) spent checking on the young woman lying face down in the grass about a mile and three-quarters into the race. Fortunately there was a police officer nearby and the ambulance was immediately dispatched. So congratulations to those who PR’ed while running past her prone body. Good job!

I finished 139th in a field of 1,350, and 11th of 56 in the 50-59 age group.

This was my first race since last October and it was good to get back at it. And we got a free entry to the zoo, which is a nice treat.

I won’t be racing again until Memorial Day, and I’ll spend the interim increasing distance at target marathon pace (8:12) and getting some longer long runs in.

Apocalypse Now: Global Warming, My Ass! 6.66 Mile Run

I went forth from my home to compete in the virtual Global Warming, My Ass! 6.66 Mile Run at a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon.

There were arrayed the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man. The number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.

Behind me, someone spoke, and I turned to see the voice that spoke with me.

His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as though they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters.

He said unto me, “Razz causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to run the distance of the Beast. Here is wisdom: Let him that hath understanding count the distance of the Beast, for it is the number of six hundred threescore and six.”

He continued, “If any man fail to complete the distance of the Beast, he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, and have no rest day or night.”

The trumpets of heaven sounded, and the race commenced.

Mile 1 – 9:08

I began last, though I said unto the runners of the earth to beware: “I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”

Mile 2 – 8:48

I came upon the hindmost group, and they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots with many horses running to battle.

And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stingers in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months.

Mile 3 – 8:38

Though they were swift of foot, I swept pass them, and they shall bewail and lament when they shall see the smoke of their burning.

One woe is past; and behold, there come two more woes hereafter.

Mile 4 – 8:37

Then past the next slowest racers I ran. The first being was like a lion, and the second being like a calf, and the third being had the face of a man, and the fourth being was like a flying eagle. And each of the four living beings had six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within; and they rested not day and night.

Mile 5 – 8:35

As I overtook them they gnawed their tongues from pain. They were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God.

Mile 6 – 8:39

The second woe is past: and behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

I swept into the lead. I was weary, and I looked behind, and behold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

Mile 6.66 – 5:25 (8:13 pace)

And lo! I recalled the Word: “Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”

They could not overtake me, and they blasphemed because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Finish: 57:54 (8:42 pace)

And the Beast was taken, and cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone.

I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.

And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that had gotten the victory over the beast standing on the sea of glass and having the harps of God, along with the merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls; and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; all scented wood, all manner of vessels of ivory and most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble; and cinnamon, and perfumes, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat; and cattle, and sheep, and horses, and chariots; and slaves, and the souls of men.

And the voice from heaven said unto me: “Write the things which thou hast seen. Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

Sacramento Cowtown Half-Marathon Race Report

I really had no business running a half-marathon yesterday. I’ve run a total of 7 pain-filled miles over the last two weeks. But I’m a stubborn bastard, and after stupidly registering for a bunch of races in advance, I simply forced myself to run them. I toyed with the idea of running the 5k, but I figured it would hurt just as bad for less payoff. So I went for it.

The Lovely Mrs. A. and I got to William Land Park in plenty of time (she ran the 5k – without a chip, because she just likes running. I should learn from her.) and sat in the car until about 15 minutes before start time. Except as we approached the start, I realized I really, really needed to use the latrine. So I got in the humongous line. People in front of me started to freak and bail out of the line because the race was about to start, and I was fruitlessly trying to explain to them that there was a timing mat at the start, so it didn’t much matter when the race started. There were more than 3,300 half- and full marathoners, so it was going to take awhile anyway.

I finish my business, trot out to the start area, and guess what? I’m by myself! I begin my run, and as I cross the timing mat, my friend, race director Rich Hanna, announces over the loudspeaker, “And there goes Mike Antonucci, giving the rest of the field a head start.” Awesome.

So, here I am, absolutely dead last, running behind 2,863 other half-marathoners. It was a weird and wonderful experience. If you’ve never done it, you should try it, but not in a race in which you hope to PR. It’s a whole different scene back there. For one thing, there’s a LOT of chatter going on. It’s more like a party than a race. People spread out and there isn’t much jockeying for position. I tried not to waste energy dodging people, but when they’re strolling nine abreast, having a great old time, well, you’ve got to work around them.

In the first mile I passed people right and left, and since the race had pace leaders, I soon caught up to the 2:30 leader, then the 2:20 leader. At mile 2 I caught the 2:15 group. It was great fun speeding by everyone but I realized I was eventually going to find my peers and then run an actual race.

Mile 1 – 9:13
Mile 2 – 8:52
Mile 3-5 – 26:34 (8:51 avg.)

I found a pretty steady pace, and things were going much better than I had anticipated.

Mile 6 – 8:44
Mile 7 – 8:50
Mile 8 – 8:52

The best part of the day was hitting the turnaround point and while running the next stretch, seeing a LONG, LONG line of people, all of whom I had passed to get to where I was. It made me feel terrific even though I was running a very sub-par race.

Mile 9 – 8:51
Mile 10 – 9:09

All good things must come to an end, and while my leg held up pretty well throughout, my poor conditioning began to take a toll. I took two three-minute walk breaks on the home stretch.

Mile 11 – 10:45
Mile 12 – 10:32
Mile 13 – 9:23
.1 – 1:03

I thought I had an outside chance at breaking two hours, but I couldn’t move them any faster. I was struggling at the finish, but got a good laugh when the race announcer called my name over the PA system, then added, “That’s the guy who gave everyone the head start. He must have passed a lot of people.”

Finish – 2:00:50
986th out of 2,864
53rd of 111 in 50-54 age group

They loaded us down with food, then gave us the coveted Cowtown cowbell medal (my fourth one). I located the Lovely Mrs. A. and she led me over to the Fleet Feet tent, where I sat and chowed down. After about a half-hour, I had some trouble getting up, then I limped my way back to the car. I iced the leg for a long time, but this morning it hurts to put any weight on it.

So I’ve managed to go more than a month and run four races in three weeks on a bad leg, but the silliness must stop. I’m out of commission until this gets better. It puts my targeted marathon in the extremely unlikely category, but I’m used to that. In the meantime, I can soothe myself with thoughts of those 1,879 people I passed.

Maui Half Marathon Race Report

Let me begin by saying I’m THRILLED with how my race turned out. You may wonder why I say that because it was my third worst half-marathon time of the 12 I’ve done. The only two that were worse also took place in Maui. That’s because Maui may be the best place on Earth to relax, swim, snooze or meander, but it’s not that great for quality distance running. Just for context, the winner of the women’s marathon ran a 3:14 – seven minutes ahead of the second-place finisher.

The half-marathon begins and ends at Whaler’s Village, in the middle of hotel row at Kaanapali. The course is flat and much of it is along the shore, making for a very scenic run. We all lined up in the dark, and while the clock started at 5:30 (which is when the marathon began on the other side of the island), our race didn’t begin until five minutes later. Also, they didn’t use chip timing, which meant clock time was different from gun time, which was different from individual time. Needless to say, I started my watch when I crossed the starting and finish lines and relied on it exclusively.

My goal was to go sub-2, which should have been a piece of cake considering my training runs leading up to the race and my mile race on Saturday afternoon.

Mile 1 – 9:49
Mile 2 – 9:21
Mile 3 – 8:38
Mile 4 – 9:45

The first four miles take you down the highway to Front Street in Lahaina, and two things became clear very early on: 1) the sun had just come up, but it was already hot with no breeze; and 2) at least a few of the mile markers were off. I had grape Gatorade with me, and there were plenty of aid stations, so I figured it would be fine.

Mile 5 – 9:14
Mile 6 – 8:46

I hit the turnaround point at 59 and change, so I was right on target, but I was soaked to the skin and I knew my heart rate was way up. I resolved to keep mucking along until mile 8 and then see if I needed to revise.

Mile 7 & 8 – 16:37

My average pace to this point was 9:01, which I was pretty happy with, but I was boiling over and dialed it way back for the home stretch. The mile markers on the return were massively screwed up, since the half-marathon markers should have been 0.1 further down the road from the marathon mile markers, and they were more like a half-mile down the road. I crossed the finish line 6:25 after I crossed the 12 mile marker, to give you some idea.

I took it nice and easy the whole way back, enjoying the supportive crowd and the view. My only complaint is there were no ice-cold sponges this year, and we could have used them in the 74 degree heat and 83% humidity.

I took 54 minutes to cover the last 5.1, giving me a finish time of 2:06:12. As pathetic as that was, it was a Maui PR of more than 11 minutes, and good enough for 278th of the 1,020 finishers (18th of 37 in age group).

I got my plastic lei and medal, then posed with my grape Gatorade tongue.

Then I availed myself of the freezing cold shower.

One large Americano later, and I’m almost human.

If you ever get a chance to run in Maui or any other Hawaiian island, don’t pass it up. It’s a terrific addition to any vacation. But if you want to run for time, train in the heat and humidity and keep your goals realistic. Apparently there were quite a few heat-related problems for the marathoners.

Over the Puke Threshold with Maui Tacos

It was quite a week.

I won’t lay it out in one post, but it was a great experience all around. We arrived in Maui on Wednesday afternoon. The three-hour time difference led me to wake up at 4 a.m. on Thursday, so I had a little breakfast and got out there just before sunrise. I had a terrific run of about 8.5 miles along the coast, but the heat, even at that early hour, let me know what we’d be in for.

I’ll skip ahead to Saturday afternoon and the Front Street Mile in Lahaina. I’ll give you the photo-essay treatment. We checked in at about 2:30 and I got my T-shirt.

There were dozens of kids of various ages and the old dudes had to wait for all their heats to finish.

It was almost 5 p.m. and 83 degrees before we toed the line. Then we got our instructions from Forrest Gump.

And we’re off!

It isn’t always true for longer races, but standing at the start of a mile race, you can pretty much tell right off who’s going to be in front of you the whole way and who’ll be behind you. And I was right. I held a pretty good pace the whole way but the shirtless winner came in at 5:21.

Here I am at the finish. Though it looks like I’m moseying along, I came in fifth with a 6:46.

 It was good enough for a medal.

Unfortunately for me, there was no water or sports drink at the finish line and I was feeling a bit queasy. I sent the Lovely Mrs. A. to buy some. Fortunately for her and you, I was alone and unobserved as I retched up my lunch – fish tacos, rice and beans from Maui Tacos. While I was spewing, I could only think about how proud Viper would be. I’ve run a mile faster, but it was an excellent effort under the conditions, and the vomit just proved I gave it my all.

I felt immensely better afterward, and once I drank two liters of cold water, I was ready for dinner. After a shower and a change, we headed to a pizza place where I had an excellent dish of tomato-basil pasta. And I had less than 12 hours before the start of my half-marathon.

Buffalo Stampede

It was time to pay the price for pre-registering for all those races. I’m less than 100%, but I’ve been aggressively treating my leg with ice, rest and, when necessary, Advil. So I got up on Sunday morning for the Buffalo Stampede 10-miler, put on by the Buffalo Chips Running Club. I love this race because it’s a great distance and instead of a generic t-shirt, we got a fleece vest. Cool! Or should I say, Warm!

The race also has an unusual arrangement: If you travel slower than 10 minutes per mile, they start you out an hour earlier. It had little effect on middle-of-the-packers like me, but the front-runners probably ended up dodging a lot of walkers on the way back.

Anyway, it is a well-organized race on a flat course. The weather was breezy but pleasant. My only complaint was I failed to spot – if they existed – mile markers at 4, 5 and 6. I don’t have a Garmin, so there was an extended period where I wasn’t sure how I was doing. As it turned out, it didn’t matter much.

I ran the first mile in 8:57, then ran the remaining nine miles within the 8:26-8:34 range. It’s rare for me to find a pace and hold it so closely for that length of time. I felt pretty good the entire way and the leg wasn’t much of a problem. I would have liked to have been about 20 seconds per mile faster, and I had no extra gear at the end, but considering how I felt just seven days ago, I’m pretty happy with my performance.

I finished in 1:25:17 – more than 7 minutes off my PR, but a decent improvement over a similar distance just two months ago. I should probably give up looking at positioning. We have many, many amazing runners in this area. My time placed me 265th out of the 836 total participants, and 35th of 69 in my age group. Normally it would be a bummer for me to finish so low in my age group, but if I had PR’ed, I would have only moved up to 21st. These old guys are nasty fast.

No rest for the leg weary. I have two more races this week. I’ll explain tomorrow.