Ach, Du Lieber! It's Oktoberfest!

I know, I know... I said I would write over the weekend on how my Oktoberfest race in La Crosse went, but after the race, I was just enjoying relaxing at my parents farm and really didn't feel like writing. The race went great, though. I didn't necessarily expect a great result especially since I had a two hour drive after work on Friday night, didn't get home until 1am, tossed and turned in bed for four hours and then was up at 5am to head to La Crosse for the race. Not the most ideal pre-race rest plan. Oh well, I did it anyway and everything was fine. I was very appreciative that my dad also woke up early to drive me into town and cheer me on at the race. Having family members supporting me at running events has always meant a great deal to me, so thank you dad. The morning of the race was pretty much ideal. When my dad and I got to Riverside Park in La Crosse, it was still pretty much dark out but you could sense that it was a little overcast. It was also nice and cool and a little breezy. After picking up my timing chip and relaxing for a bit, I went for a mile and a half warm up just to loosen my legs up and get my heart pumping a bit. After stretching a bit and getting my thoughts together, I stripped off my warm up pants and shirts and laced up my orange Saucony racing shoes. I was ready to go. The race started promptly at 7am, and after a mad dash by everyone at the starting line, I settled into a comfortable pace. It had been awhile since I had done this particular race, 2002 to be exact. At that time, I was a neophyte to long distance racing and it was my first half-marathon. I ran well back in 2002, finishing the 13.1 mile course in a little over 1:28, averaging 6:45 pace and finishing first in my age group. Kind of a nice start for a "greenhorn" long distance runner. Since then, I had done a few marathon relays where my part of the leg was the half-marathon distance, but I hadn't run just a half-marathon since 2002, and in the relays I did, I hadn't come close to equaling that time of 1:28... until last Saturday. I was a little nervous heading into the race because it seemed like forever (early August) that I had a race of any distance. This was to be a nice test for me with the Whistlestop Marathon only a couple weekends away. I had put in the base miles and my legs were hardened and strong with close to 1,600 miles of training already logged this year, but I wanted to see what kind of race shape I was in... and I wasn't disappointed. Like I said, the race started off with runners running like there was no tomorrow... people tearing out of the starting line, running at a much faster pace than most would finish in. I don't get caught up in that "start of the race" madness... never really have. It's a long race and I like to settle into a comfortable pace early so that I will have more left for the end. I've learned that if you do that, you can reel in a lot of runners who are gassed because they went out way too hard. A lot of runners may pass me at the start of a race, but as they whiz by me, I always say in the back of my mind, "I'll catch up with you a little later"... and I usually do. I had a goal in mind of averaging 6:45 pace throughout the race but deep down I thought I could even run a little faster and possibly run 6:30's. When I approached the first mile marker, I was right on that pace... 6:29. It felt easy and comfortable but I still had 12 more to go. The next few miles, I bounced around between 6:30 and 6:40 pace, but I was still feeling very good... and confident that I might be in for a record setting day. The nice thing about this particular course is that it's an "out and back." You run a little over 6.5 miles out for the first half and come exactly the same way back for the second half. The nice thing about this is that it allows you to see who's ahead of you, and at the half way point there were only 14 runners faster than me. That's a pretty neat feeling to know that. It's also a little unnerving when, as your heading back, you are seeing just the throng of people that you are ahead of. It is a little overwhelming to say the least, and you have to calm yourself down a bit knowing that you are one of the race leaders. Even though it is a little overwhelming, I wouldn't trade that feeling for the world. It's a pretty cool feeling knowing that you're cruising along ahead of pretty much everybody else. Another one of the neat features of the race is that the last couple miles are on the Oktoberfest Parade route so you have quite a few spectators sitting on the sidewalks watching you run as they are waiting for the parade to start. Even though there were a ton of spectators out there, they weren't the most enthusiastic group. The adults were just lounging about, partaking in a few Oktoberfest libations (beer), and a lot of the kids were throwing footballs back and forth to each other, just passing the time. Maybe it was just too early in the morning for them too... who knows. Anyways, despite the lack of enthusiasm from the parade crowd, I was still able to finish up strong and pick off a few other runners in the process. With the finish line in sight, I picked up even a little more steam and crossed the tape in 1:25:30, finishing 11th out of 483 runners and first in my age division. I really couldn't believe it. Not only did I average a 6:31 pace for the 13 miles, but I shattered my 2002 time by three minutes and got my fifth P.R. (personal record) of the year, and all of them in different distances. Pretty incredible. I guess those 1,600 miles of training have really paid out some good dividends. When I think about it, I'm really at a loss for words. All I can say is "Ach, du lieber!" Whistlestop, here I come!

Saturday's race: 13.1 miles > 1:25:30 > 6:31 pace

Miles last week: 41