2011 Gate River Run 15K - Race Report

This is more of a trip report than just a race report.  Since the weekend involved a lot of family time I thought I'd go ahead and include highlights of the weekend and the race.

The 2011 Gate River Run took place on Saturday, March 12th in Jacksonville, Florida.  Jacksonville is my hometown and the River Run is a great opportunity to go home and spend some time with the family.  This was the second year in a row that my family has run the race.  Last year my wife Susan, brother Keith, sister-in-law Diane, and niece Kristen ran the race.  We all did it again this year and added two more.  My twin brother Glenn and his wife Marcia joined us.  This was their first race, so they ran the 5K.  Susan wasn't feeling well so she decided to run the 5K as well.

In keeping with this year's more environmentally friendly theme, several days before the race the directors e-mailed participants a "virtual race bag".  It included links to coupons, sponsor websites, and maps of the pre-race expo, race start and finish, 5K and 15K courses, and post-race festivities, all in pdf format.

I woke up on Friday morning at 3AM feeling pretty bad.  I'd spent the night nursing a sore throat, headache and fever.  It's not easy trying to sleep with a throat lozenge affixed to the roof of one's mouth.  At around 8AM I called my brothers and told them I was sick and we wouldn't be coming to Jax.  Susan and I had intended to leave the house at 9AM.  Susan made me some breakfast and coffee and at around 10:30AM I took a shower and felt much better.  So, at 11:30AM we decided to go after all.  I took our dog Max to Puppy Tubs in Peachtree City while Susan got ready and did some final packing.  I returned home, we loaded up the car and we headed for Jax at 12:30PM.  This was much later than we had planned to leave but, what the hey...

An assortment of medication would help me make it through the weekend and the race, along with an endless supply of Kleenex and paper towels.  I found that using even two Kleenex's to absorb the contents of a nose in full flow was totally inadaquate and resorted to the less soft but more absorbent paper towels.  The Chamois Butt'r and the Body Glide were for my feet.

My Meds

The distance from our house to my brother's house just south of Jax is a 350 mile drive.  By the time we arrived in Jax I was having some pain in my right leg.  Great, one more thing!

While we were driving down from Atlanta my niece was collecting our race bibs, shirts and schwag.  The 15K'ers received an Adidas technical shirt and 5K'ers got a cotton shirt.

2011 Gate River Run 15K Adidas tech shirt

The color of the Adidas technical shirt for the women in the 15K race was a slightly lighter blue.

2011 Gate River Run 5K Charity Run cotton shirt

2011 Gate River Run 15K bib

On Friday evening we all feasted on spaghetti and meatballs, salads, and garlic bread.  On Saturday morning we had bagels and coffee.  I had four GU gel packets for use later during the race. 

We left the house on race morning at 6:15AM, picked up my niece and got to the Jaguar's stadium at 7AM.  We found free parking at the Sun's stadium. 

The 5K charity run was not timed however, the 15K race was timed via MYLAPS bib attached RFID chips.  The bibs had each runner's first name imprinted in large type.  I heard my name called out several times.  That was cool!  Timing mats were located at the start, 5K and 10K points, and finish line.  Water stations with water and Gatorade were located all along the 15K course.  Many of the water stations were manned by residents and volunteers supporting the countless politicians running for local office.  There were also several live bands performing on the course and spectators with music and noise makers of their own.  The course had smooth and flat pavement except for the few minor rises in elevation, and the Main Street Bridge and Hart Bridge, of course.  The bridges are also where runners would find grates on the roadway.  The long downhill run from the top of the Hart Bridge to the finish line is a welcome sight although the last 200 yards to the finish line were slightly uphill.

Before the race started the announcer asked the runners to observe 15-seconds of silence in memory of Sally Meyerhoff.  Ms. Meyerhoff was an elite female athlete that was hit and killed by a car while cycling only a few days before the race.  She had placed 9th amongst the female runners in the 2009 race.

The weather at the start was clear blue skies with cool temperatures in the low 40's.  We stayed bundled up and out of the shade.  Before the race I wore a fashionable ankle length trash bag to keep warm.  I think I looked a bit like Steve Carell in Evan Almighty. 

After the race the temperature rose to the mid-60's.  We took a quick tour of the post-race festivities.  I entered a raffle at the Geico tent and got a free hat and key ring.  There was also a beer truck dispensing free beer.  The beer line grew fast.

Susan and I at the Jaguar, with beer

The results were posted online that evening and the first 680 finishers were printed in the Florida Times-Union newspaper on Sunday.  I placed 43rd in my age-group and 508th overall.  My chip time was 1:04:43 (clock time 1:04:53) with a 6:57 pace. 

Race results in the Florida Times-Union newspaper (check # 508)

All the 15K race finishers received a medal.  The top 10% of finishers received a hat instead.  I qualified for the hat last year but didn't realize I should have gotten one.  When I went back to the finish line the hat guy was out of hats.  I wasn't going to make that mistake this year.  In fact, unknowingly, I ended up with both a medal and a hat.  Oops!

2011 Gate River Run finishers' medal

2011 Gate River Run Top 10% Finisher hat

The "Don't be a pig" note

The note in the above picture was in the inside rim of the hat.  Since I don't run with my glasses I didn't get the opportunity to read it until I got home.

Expo and race day schwag

The free pizza cutter I didn't get

After the race we ate lunch at Mojo Kitchen on Beach Blvd. in Jax beach.  The service and food were both very good.  The restaurant got pretty crowded by the time we left.  I even had the opportunity to see some folks ride up on cruiser bikes drinking a can of beer.  I miss Florida!

Mojo Kitchen

The family at the table on the right

Pulled pork, coleslaw, and toasted bread

Carolina pork, fries, and toasted bread

Diane with her beef brisket sandwich and baked beans

Susan wanted to get some fresh seafood before we left so while we were at the beach she picked up 4-lbs of shrimp from Mayport at this place.

Beachside Seafood

Susan waiting for her shrimp

After Beachside Seafood we headed south to Mickler's Landing.  This is where we put my parent's ashes back in 1997.  It's a really pretty beach in Ponte Vedra, Florida.  Back when I was in high school people could drive on the beach. 

Beach rules sign

Whale sightings sign

Boardwalk through the dunes to the beach

Beach warning flags sign

The view north at Mickler's Landing

The view south at Mickler's Landing

The brothers Farmer

The girls

After Mickler's Landing we headed back to my brother's house.  I took a picture of their dog, Jake.

Jake

On Saturday evening I was able to get a picture of a 4' long alligator that has made his home in the pond behind my brother's house.

Alligator

About an hour later my sister-in-law called out "there's the otter".  I grabbed my camera and headed into the backyard.  The otter acted as though he'd been waiting for me to arrive and quickly came on shore about 40' away.  He snorted and rolled in the grass coming closer with each passing minute.  Before I knew it I was getting close-up pictures with my 55mm lens.  With my family cooing in the background "ah, he's so cute" I wanted to pet the sweet little fella.  I was...The Otter Whisperer.  As I reached my hand out the monster bit the crap out of my finger.  I ran back to the house with the ferocious beast following close behind.

Hey, who are you?

Do you want to play with me?

Do you have something for me to eat?

When otters attack!

Susan and I packed up and left Jacksonville for Atlanta on Sunday morning.  One thing we noticed in Jax was that the whole city seemed very clean.  Almost no bandit signs along the roadway and very little trash. These define the scenery in Atlanta.  I commented to my wife that the I-95 interchange near my brother's house has better landscaping than the golf course near our home at Lake Spivey.  After a few hours all the signs indicated we were finally close to home.

I'm glad I saw that sign, I almost missed my exit!

A line of a dozen or so billboards

Billboards on both sides of the highway

Susan and I felt much safer during our long drive knowing that Georgia's politicians had voted to ensure that the billboard companies would have carte blanche to cut down those murderous trees along the roadway. 

What a weekend, drive 700 miles, run 9.3 miles, drink beer, eat BBQ, nurse a cold and a bloody finger.  It's good to be home.

Charting Race Results (or Training)

My athlinks.com profile results show that I’ve completed 18 foot races in the past 2 years or so. I’ve run others races but the results were never put online. I used these 18 race results to chart my pace to hopefully identify a trend. The trend I hoped to illustrate was better race results. To create my chart I used Microsoft Excel 2003. I have Office Pro 2010 at home but I haven’t gotten comfortable using it yet.

I started Excel and created a new blank worksheet to enter my data into. I formatted the cells in row “1” for Date (3/14/01). I formatted the cells in the data field for Time (13:30). To do this I selected the desired cells then selected Format, Cells…, Number, and the desired option from the main menu bar. I left the cells in column “A” formatted as General data which is the default option.

In column “A” cell “2” and greater I entered the race Distance. In my case these were 26.2M, 15K, 10K, 8K, 6K and 5K. I chose to enter the longest distance at the top and the shortest at the bottom because my pace for the longer races would be slower and this layout made the chart easy to use. In row “1” cell “B” and greater I entered the Date of each race. In the cells between the distance and date I entered my pace for each race in minutes and seconds on the appropriate row.

After entering my data in the cells I selected all the columns and rows that I wanted to chart. To create the chart I selected Insert, Chart…, and chart type XY (Scatter), clicked a few more options, then hit Finish.

The newly created chart popped up below my data.

The program automatically assigns a different icon and color for each distance.
I edited the chart by right-clicking the mouse on any of the 3 areas of interest and choosing the appropriate menu of options. The 3 editable areas are the plot area, chart area, and legend. Change the size of the chart by selecting the chart and dragging the edge to the desired size.

There are probably many other options to chart races and training but this one seems pretty easy to me.

After writing this blog I found a site called BreakingTheTape.com where users can log and chart their workouts and add this information to their Blog.  I hope to review the features of the site after I've had some time to use it. 

How Much...Are you freakin kidding?

Just so you know, this blog relates to fitness, running and triathlons because with these activities along comes injuries that aren't always just a blister or twisted ankle.

The often over-hyped milestone of 50-years on this earth nears for me with the speed and ferocity of a asteroid with mass extinction potential.  I'm fortunate enough to meet the assault in good health.  My health was less good last year when I fought and won against a bout of gross hematuria.

This year my wife is experiencing her own medical issues.  She went to a specialist and was given three prescriptions.  A second visit afforded the doctor the opportunity to write two more prescriptions.  Keep in mind that NO tests have been done and no diagnosis had been made.  The second set of prescriptions is where the are you freakin kidding comes from.  These are words I said to myself and not my wife's doctor.

The physician that treated me last year was Dr. Orland Lopez at Urology of Greater Atlanta.  He was awesome...spent time...spoke with my wife about my ailment.  My primary care physician, Dr. Elliot Royston has also been awesome.
Susan's experience has been less awesome.  I think her doctor is a deaf mute.  She enters the room like a wisp of wind in a scary Hollywood movie.  What was that...I heard it too...followed by the odd prescription of unknown origin for unknown results.

My sister-in-law is a Harvard educated pharmacist currently working at a large south Florida hospital.  My brother-in-law manages a hospital lab and their son is a medical student.  Another brother-in-law sells medical equipment and his wife is a registered nurse at a hospital on the north side of Atlanta.

I took the two latest prescriptions to the local pharmacist.  She was able to fill one prescription but not the other.  I brought the drugs to my wife and called around to locate the second prescription.  Unsuccessful, I returned to the original pharmacist later that day and the pharmacist ordered the drugs.

With both drugs in hand Susan was ready to continue her treatment and recovery.  That's when she noticed the cost.  I have health insurance and I pay a $40 co-pay for prescriptions.  On the sales slip for the first prescription it said that I save almost $300.  My insurance company picked up that tab.  The second sales slip said that I saved $720.  Do you mean to tell me that my insurance company had to pay over $1,000. for two drugs!  The second drug cost over $27 each.

Here's the kicker, these were labeled as "NEW" drugs.  Maybe this was to indicate that it was a new prescription or a new drug, I don't really know.  My sister-in-law had not even heard of the second drug. 

Can you say KICKBACK!  Prescriptions are like frequent flier miles, but better.  How many Braves tickets can I get for one prescription of ALINIA?  I spend 5 years accumulating credit card reward points so I can get a new coffee pot.  A doctor writes a few scrips and the next thing you know he's on vacation skiing in Vail, Colorado.

If you've seen the movie Love and Other Drugs you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

Thanks for reading my rant!

Footprints in the sand

I have always prided myself on having perfect feet. How can you argue with someone when he tells you he has perfect feet? You can’t do it, it can’t be done! The rest of me I’d consider as being so-so, but my feet, now there’s true perfection! Imagine my surprise when I realized that my greatest attribute, that which has carried me through so many races might not be so perfect after all.

There I was at home after a long run wondering why my right foot hurt all the time and my left foot never did. Later that day while taking a shower it hit me like a ton of bricks. My feet aren’t perfect after all, they’re different. They aren’t even the same feet. Keep in mind that I realize that like most people I have a set of feet which includes one left foot and one right foot, except when I dance. I noticed that my pinky toe and the two bigger digits next to it on my right foot are shorter than their brothers on the left. To correct this mirror discrepancy I suppose I could cut off the ends of the longer toes. Wait; there must be a better way. I think I’ll just leave them alone and pretend that they’re still perfect. Like the adorable child that grows up to become a hellion I will always remember the good old days when my toe children and I frolicked on the beach with the sand flowing evenly through my perfectly symmetrical size 8.5 4E hobbit feet.

Like two 5 headed lepers I will hid my feet from view with a veil of Asics Kayano II low cut socks and New Balance 758 running shoes, or equivalent. Lest I forget, some future paleontologist might find footprints and surmise that two individuals of similar height and weight, traveling in the same direction, one missing his left foot and the other his right…

Thanks for reading!