Well they talked me into running this years first of three Mud on the Mountain obstacle races.

6 days after the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, it was time for my first obstacle style mud run. If you’ve met me, you’ll quickly realize this is not an event I’m made for.

I’m respectable at the 5k or 10k.

I can run for hours in a marathon and love every minute of it.

Upper body strength? Notsomuch.

But a good friend is the brains behind the Mud on the Mountain race held at Seven Springs Mountain Resort so I took the leap. I watched the first running last year, and at the time, I wished I had run it. Now I had my chance.

In case you’re not sure what these races are all about, here’s a good introduction:

Mud On The Mountain May 11th, 2013 – Recap Video from Seven Springs Mountain Resort on Vimeo.

You can spot me at 1:15 sliding at warp speed…

I started the race in a chilly 50 degree foggy day at 8 am. This was the third running of the event, and the first time they added a timed “elite” heat. I wasn’t concerned about time (finishing in over 2 hours) but was happy to start first before the mountain was jammed with hours of heats and nearly 4,000 participants.

The course begins at the bottom of a ski slope and immediately turns straight up a stupid steep slope. In theory you can run the entire hill but you’re gassed at best. Regardless, the first obstacle sits at the top of the hill and is a wooden wall with a half pipe on the top. Thankfully real men scaled it in front of me and reached back to pull me up. Again, notsomuch on the upper body strength…

You then run down through the woods and towards the “Cheese Grater” – an adult slip n’ slide. I watched this obstacle last year and remember most people ran at it and slide as if into 2nd base. Here was last years version:

Little did I know that they doubled the length of the obstacle. I hit the deck and immediately spun around twice before shooting straight down the slide. They had pipes under the tarp “creating lanes” which only served to destroy my legs below my hips. The shorts on my right leg were ripped badly, and this was my left leg:

Yup, that hurt

I didn’t feel it at the time, but my tailbone was bruised (or broken) on this obstacle. Three plus weeks later and it still is a little sore. Michael Sally was right…these races are risky!

I later heard that a friend was cut badly on her backside, and they also saw a lady whose leg was cut down to the bone! Good thing their waver is a page long!!

Here’s my expression on this obstacle:

Cheese Grater

It was a blast, but damn it was painful!

After this, we turned up a relatively mild grade hill with snow makers blowing water full blast making it a slippery trip. This eventually led to the steepest climb on the course. So steep they needed to leave ropes down to pull yourself up:

Baby Crawl obstacle

This led to my first sighting of Christy and Aubrey. After watching me go through these two obstacles, they just stared at me with stunned looks on their faces;

The Head Banger

Dunk, Dunk, Goose….50 degree water!

The rest of the course was a blur of running straight uphill, multiple crawling on my stomach under things obstacles, and running straight down hill through mud. I was pleased I was able to get over all of the wall obstacles, including a 12 foot monster.The only fail I had was the monkey bars.

No chance!

For your amusement, here are the rest of the pictures of me in pain:

More effing crawling

Blitzen’s Block

Cave Conundrum…didn’t smell like mud

Claustrophobic but out

Totally out of control

Trout Line

Pole Land

…and I’m spent

They waited in the rain all day for me to finish.

I reconfigured I don’t know how many plans to get to the starting line before deciding to do the half instead.

I’ve run 2 other half marathons (Wheeling WV and Myrtle Beach) and Pittsburgh is my favorite. There’s just something about running around this city that does it for me.

After hitting the expo early on Friday, we came back to Pittsburgh to stay with my aunt for the race. We did lots of running around Saturday, which is a nice change from a full when you really can’t do much before or after the race.

As usual, I got up much earlier than necessary, and was in corral C over an hour before the gun went off. For me, there is enough stress leading up to race day not to want to worry about getting there right on time and finding parking etc.

After attempting a warm up in the corral, the gun finally went off.

My plan was to use the race as “just another” long training run. That’s easier said than done, but I didn’t want to push the pace and wind up injured.

I figured a leisurely 10:45-11:00 pace would do the trick. Because of this, I began at the very back of C to be safe.

After passing the first mile marker passed the Strip, I saw a friend from Wheeling. I sped up to talk to him for a minute, but he was shooting for a 3:40 marathon finish so I let him go on his way (he finished about 3;55 I think). At the 2 mile marker I passed an older man running in jorts who claims he runs one day a year, and it’s always the Pittsburgh Marathon…. His number looked legit, but the outward appearance suggested otherwise!

After the Strip came 3 back to back bridges. The one out of the Strip is nothing special, but the Rachel Carson bridge coming back into downtown, and the 7th street bridge heading back our are pretty cool. This was where I saw my cheering section for the first of two times. Aubrey and Christy were there, along with her sister, my niece and nephew, my aunt, cousin and her daughter all yelling and ringing cowbells for me.

Nothing special happened on the north side or the west end that stands out. Along E. Carson Street, I had the fortune to see my friend Michael who was biking the course cheering for friends. I almost didn’t recognize him, but as I was looking back at him with his bike helmet on he recognized me and YELLED my name. It certainly helped!

After making my way through the South Side it was up the last bridge for the last 2.1 miles of the race. I actually towed the center line as long as I could see the full and half split. I even contemplated how I would text my wife to tell her I went crazy and ran the full instead. I also had visions of calling her around mile 16 begging her to come get me….

I thought better of it and made the left out of the south side.

I knew my cheering section would be stationed near Grant Street and the finish wasn’t far behind.I ran passed them, gave my 4 year old the all important high five, saw Mark from Cranberry on the side, and finished with an 11 minute per mile average pace. Fairly pedestrian compared to my 2011 half finish in the low 1:50′s but that was my plan and I’m pleased to have stuck to it.

It wasn’t easy to stick to my original plan, but coming off an injury, and not being in great race shape, I knew it was the right decision for me. I plan on dedicating the next 3-4 months to rebuilding a nice aerobic base before running the Mt. Nittany Marathon in September.

Race Signs

I complained to someone lately that the marathon signs I’ve seen lately have gone stale. That is I tend to see the same ones over and over. I saw a few new ones this time I liked:

• If this were easy it would be called your momma
• Run faster I just farted
• For a good time tweet @Cprior2 (a twitter friend)
• Run faster the Pens are on at noon
• And one that just said Motivational Sign

I really want to run the Pittsburgh Marathon again next year, and am hoping playing yesterday smart will lead to 12 months of great training leading up to it.

Random

Someone I don’t know took this picture as I was coming back across the 7th street bridge. He posted it on Twitter, WPXIScott retweeted it, and my buddy Chris spotted me in it. I can’t imagine the odds of being captured in the picture all the way to me seeing it, but here it is:

If you’re new here, I signed up for Erie and Akron as training runs for Columbus. I needed to run 20-22 miles those weekends anyway, so I devised a scheme to walk portions of each so I’d get my mileage in and limit the risk of injury.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Columbus. I actually learned something.

And no, it isn’t not to ever do that again!

Lessons from Erie

The plan for Erie was to walk the first 3 miles and the last 3 miles and run the middle 20. For most people, walking the first anything is rough considering that human nature is to go out hard early in a race. The gun goes off, and everyone around you takes off at what seems like full speed. For me, knowing Columbus was the goal, it wasn’t too heard to let the field slowly drift into the distance.

After 3 miles of walking roughly 15 minute pace, I started off in a training pace. The half marathon started 30 minutes after the full, so I was surrounded by runners soon after I started running.

Ultimately, I ran the next 21 miles, before walking the final 2. Running 21 went smoothly as I was surrounded by races, had water stops every mile or so, and many spectators as certain spots. MUCH easier than running 20 in my town alone.

My previous two marathons were filled with more walking than I’d like to remember. Vegas because I was undertrained, and Pittsburgh because it was a scorcher. What I learned from Erie was how hard walking is after running a long distance.

When things go wrong in a marathon, or it hurts too much, it’s VERY tempting to walk for a stretch. Problem is, it really isn’t. I don’t know why it is, but walking the final two miles in Erie proved to me that it is. My legs seized up. I got pains in new areas. And I doubt I maintained a 20 minute pace after easily walking 13-15 pace the first 3 miles.

This knowledge really came in handy 4 weeks later in Columbus.

Lessons from Akron

Two weeks after Erie, I hit the line for the Akron Marathon. Remembering how rough walking was in Erie, I altered my plan. Originally I was going to do 2-22-2 but flipped it to walk the first 4, and run the final 22.

This made a big difference. It certainly wasn’t easy to walk that long and have the entire field pass me. But it worked.

At mile 4, I started running. In Akron, I made 1 mistake, but learned a valuable lesson.

They’re essentially the same thing.

Erie and Akron were both to be training runs. The same pace you run any other day. But there’s something about wearing a race bib, having perfect weather, and doing the splits in your head that tell you a PR is on the table….

About halfway through, I realized maintaining my pace would lead to a PR over my time in Pittsburgh. This was irresistible to me. I wasn’t pushing it, but a 9:45 pace wasn’t in the plan. But after getting through 20 miles with no issues, I put my head down and plowed through.

I felt it by mile 23, but decided to push on. Who know what Columbus would hold, and a PR is a PR dammit.

What I learned in Akron was that if everything comes together, and I choose an appropriate pace, I can run an entire marathon. 3 previous attempts, and Akron too, included more walking than I wanted. But running 22 miles at pace, including 3-4 final miles in pain (not injury just muscle fatigue) did wonders for my confidence.

I took that pace into Columbus and ran every damn mile.

In hindsight, racing Akron wasn’t smart. It was a mistake, but it didn’t bite me. Just wasn’t smart.

Lessons from Columbus

I’ve documented the Columbus race about as well as any race to date.

But suffice it to say, the lessons learned in the previous 4 marathons came together to result in my best marathon to date. Who knows if my time would have been faster or slower without the 3 in 5 stunt. But what I do know is this:

I hit the start line confident that if I ran my race, I’d shave tons of time off my previous races. And as important of all, when times got tough, and walking would have been an easy break, I plowed through and ran straight from the start to finish.

At this point, I”m not sure if I’d ever do it again. But that doesn’t mean I wish I hadn’t done it at all. Someday I do think I would run 2 back to back, with the same theory as Akron and Columbus. I ran 18 in a race before Pittsburgh and it gave me similar confidence.

What about you?

What’s the craziest race stunt you ever pulled but came out with valuable lessons learned?

The previous week, Andy announced he was going to run the 2013 Pittsburgh Marathon to raise money for St. Judes Hospital. To that end, he invited me on to discuss all things running.

You can listen to the full show here:

Problem is, I ran through knee pain that started around mile 5 or 6. It wasn’t bad, but in hindsight, seems like a mistake.

For several weeks after the race, I had random pain twinges on the inside of my right knee. I know the drill with this type of situation. Rest, maybe some ice, and no running until it subsides.

After a month of the same, I decided to be an adult and call my doctor. Again, I knew the drill from a similar cycling injury about 10 years ago.

1. “Examination” in the doctor’s office, consisting of questions
2. Off for an X-ray that “won’t show anything” but is necessary for insurance
3. 8-10 sessions of physical therapy
4. If no results, an MRI

I’ve been tortured treated at Mountain River Physical Therapy for the last 3 weeks or so. Long story short, my hips and pelvis weren’t functioning quite right, and I likely had an imbalance in my leg muscles. Essentially the quad muscles were overdeveloped from running and hamstrings, hips, and abductors were underdeveloped. All of this combined to cause my knee to stop tracking properly.

You’d think I’d take my own advice, but about 8 weeks before Columbus I stopped lifting, and only ran. Slowly but surely, this led to problems that I didn’t feel until race day.

But back to the torture, I mean treatment.

In addition to teaching you movements that essentially train your body to move functionally again, there are two treatments they apply. The first is called ASTYM. You can read the science behind it here. For the most part it isn’t painful, until they hit a rough spot. Picture a rigid plastic shoe horn digging into your body. Fun, huh?

The second, and less frequent therapy, is called “Intramuscular Manual Therapy” or dry needling. It’s like acupuncture, but deep in the muscle. Essentially it causes a sensation like a muscle cramp at the site. In the moment it either feels like nothing, weird, or actually painful.

Good times.

All of this effort appears to be working, and I’m optimistic I’ll be able to start running again soon. We’ll see….

18 weeks of training came together this weekend resulting in my best marathon in 5 tries.

My first attempt, was at the 2011 Las Vegas Marathon this past December. I was severely under trained, but went anyways. I slogged through 26.2 miles in 5:19:04. Brutal to say the least.

My second attempt, I went in feeling well trained, but was sapped by the 80 degree heat in Pittsburgh. I logged an improved 4:41:45.

I did run Erie and Akron as training runs, and I fully count them as finishes, but yesterday was my third attempt at time.

I’m extremely pleased to report that I ran the entire course yesterday and had my best training to date. I surpassed my goal by 6 seconds crossing the line at 4:14:54!

Here’s how my weekend went:

Saturday

We got into town late Friday, after going to the Oglebay Institutes Home Brew Tasting where I had my Oatmeal Stout. Although sleeping in was the goal, the kids had us up before 8.

My plan for the day was to hit the expo early, do a test drive of the areas I had mapped out for family to watch, and pick up a few last minute supplies.

After a stop for carbs a bagel at Panera, I drove to Mile 2 and confirmed the high school parking lot would make a good stopping point for Christy, Aubrey, my sister in law and niece. It looked great, so I headed into town on the race route so I’d know what to look for when I approached them the next day.

The expo was great, but I suspect my opinion was based as much on it being early and not crowded. It featured the usual suspects of local running shops, and other vendors. I picked up a pair of “throw away gloves” and cheap sunglasses. I grabbed my packet and shirt, and headed back out.

Since the expo was downtown, I drove by the parking garage I had prepaid, and then drove north on High Street to scope out another viewing spot. This spot turned out to provide a story that could only happen to us, but more on that later…

From there, I drove to Grandview where a friend from high school lives, to make sure it would be easy to get to on race day.

After a tour down memory lane at the Bexley W.G. Grinders, and a drive through my alma mater, Capital University, I headed back to the hotel. We had planned for an early dinner, 4:30 or 5, in the Easton shopping area, but that went poorly. By 5, most of the restaurants had 1-2.5 hour waits! Fortunately, we had friends who snagged seats at the bar of an Italian place, and after confirming kids could sit there, we headed in for dinner.

Sunday

And just like that, it was go time.

I couldn’t risk emulating Seinfelds Jean-Paul, so I set 6 alarms, and added a wake up call for good measure. As you’d expect, the 4:15 alarm did the trick, and I was up and wide awake more than 3 hours before the start!

Click here if you can’t see the video

Pre-race

Someone told me before a large race that as soon as you arrive, get in line for the bathroom. Funny thing is I got in so early there wasn’t even a line! Either way, I went and then found a spot inside of a garage that was heated to sit before getting into the corral. One of the smartest things the organizers did was have 10 port-a-johns inside the corral.

I tried to find friends also in corral C but that was foolish among all of the people. I settled in near the back and ended up talking to a guy about my Altra shoes.

They had a cover band playing rock, and after the anthem, and a few fireworks, it was time to run.

First 10k

Having run 4 previous marathons, and a few half marathons, I knew the easiest way to wreck a race plan is to go out too hard. In fact, studies have shown that the fastest you can run most races is when your second half is faster than your first. In other words, you can’t go out hard and “bank time” and cruise to the finish. You’ll likely implode.

Although I didn’t exactly pull that off, I did run the most consistent race of my life.

With that in mind, I ran a 10:00 minute first mile, with 9:44 pace being the goal for the day. It sounds easy to “go out easy” but is complicated when it feels like everyone in the entire race is passing you left and right!

I clearly let that get to me, when I turned in a 9:10 second mile. This was partially motivated by pride, and partially by knowing I had my cheering section waiting just past mile 2. I saw them, and chucked my gloves at their feet, and headed towards Bexley.

I went to school in the area, but hadn’t seen the palatial homes until mile 4. Not only are they massive, but each seems to have 3-4 acre front yards! But I digress…

Sign watching is often an amusing way to pass the time, but it feels like there must be a website with 4-5 slogans that EVERYONE uses. For example, I must have seen these phrases dozens of times:

• Worst parade ever
• Chuck Norris never ran a marathon
• Run like you stole something
• Run like you’re being chased

All amusing, but I guess I’ve seen them too many times. This one get’s my vote as the best:

0.0 But seriously….good for you

Snarkiness at it’s best.

Right before the 10k split, anyone who isn’t a girl darted towards the woods for an unofficial break. I heard many girls yelling it wasn’t fair. It isn’t, but it’s helpful…

I hit the 10k split mat at 59.47, which was a touch fast, but not awful.

Middle 13.8 miles

We left Bexley, and doubled back on E. Broad Street, the road we spent the first 3 miles on. I knew I’d see my pit crew around mile 7 and that was helpful. My right knee was starting to ache, and I had no clue why. I had zero issues in training, and certainly nothing that early in a run.

I ignored it, saw my crew, high fived Aubrey (who yelled at me after for not doing that the other 3 times…) and dropped off my arm warmers.

I had over-reacted to the weather reports of full sun, and went with a sleeveless shirt. I wasn’t cold, but it was unnecessary. After Pittsburgh, full sun at any temperature wigs me out.

These miles traveled through parts of Columbus I hadn’t been to before, and for the most part were uneventful. Someone was cooking bacon near German Village, I donated $5 to two soldiers running while carrying a gurney with fallen soldiers information on it, and got the “WE ARE…PENN STATE” chant going with a random guy at mile 11 wearing a PSU shirt. Outside of that, not much to report.

That is, except for around the halfway point I voice texted Christy to get me a banana at mile 15.5 when I’d see her instead of the Gatorade and gel I’d planned on getting. I think eating 3 hours before the race was good for digestion, but left me hungry at different times.

Since she’d be seeing me at a Kroger, I figured a banana wouldn’t be hard to pull off.

I was mistaken.

I passed the Kroger with no sign up them on either side of the road. I called her to see what I missed, and they were stuck in traffic. I didn’t realize it at the time, but here is the ridiculous chain of events that unfolded to make a banana hand off an epic ordeal:

1. They hadn’t had any breakfast, so they stopped at a McDonald’s to get food at the drive-thru. There was a brief power outage as they pulled up, so they had to wait until the system kicked back on. When it did, they tried to pay, but the total seemed too low. They tried to question it, but to no avail. Of course at the food window, they were given the wrong order, and had to wait until it was fixed, and paid for.
2. By the time this was done, they headed towards N. High Street but it was too late. Apparently they could see me, but couldn’t get around traffic.
3. At this point, my sister-in-law Julie (who was driving) stopped in the middle of traffic and tried to run after me! Christy took over the wheel Chinese fire drill style until she caught Julie, who didn’t catch me…
4. They got a little further, at which point Christy jumps out of the car to run after me. I heard her screaming and turned around in time to see her racing after me waving a banana! Quite the site I tell you. I took the banana and gel, and headed towards Ohio Stadium.

Traffic let up a little and they drove by with windows down. It was great to hear my daughter yelling “AWESOME” out the window, although I was later told she was yelling “RUSSELL.” Awesome….Russell…same difference I guess.

Anyway, back to the splits.

I hit the halfway mark in 2:06:09, about a minute ahead of pace. Unlikely to negative split, but not too fast to risk an implosion.

After the banana handoff, I rounded into the stadium area of OSU. We ran passed the basketball arena, before looping back towards Ohio Stadium. I’ve been to State College, and seen huge stadiums, but this one looked more massive for some reason. We wound around the end, down the players tunnel (I think) and behind one end zone. I shot some shaky video:

Click here if you can’t see the video

I hit mile 20 in 3:13:31, exactly 1 minute ahead of the split chart pace of 3:14:31.

Final 10k

The last 6.2 miles wandered through the suburb of Upper Arlington, and was mostly neighborhood running. It wasn’t good or bad, just not the most exciting part of the course. My knee that started to ache around mile 5, had continued to hurt all day. I wasn’t hitting the wall in terms of energy, but my legs were screaming around this time.

I knew I had one more chance to pass the girls just before mile 23, and really needed it by then.

I was fried.

I was starting to need more and more liquids, and the 12 oz Gatorade bottle handoff made a gigantic difference. Water stations help, but you only get a few ounces at a time.

Starting at mile 21 or so, a lot of people started walking. This reminded me of my experience in Vegas. No matter what I felt, I wasn’t going to walk. Although many people questioned my sanity in doing 3 marathons in 5 weeks, I did learn a valuable lesson in Erie.

There I walked 3, ran 21, and walked 2. Walking the last two was the most painful experience thus far. I don’t know why, but once you shut it down and start walking, your body revolts. I knew if I even walked a water stop I had no shot at hitting 4:15.

Click to create your own

The team at Cliff Shot provided pace bracelets to help you gauge your progress throughout the race. This proved critical, as calculating splits as you go just isn’t possible. You’re just too fried.

When I hit mile 25, I looked at my watch, and realized I had to finish the final 1.2 in under 11 minutes or so. Miles 22-25 ranged from 9:45 to 10:20 so dropping the hammer was my only shot at a sub 4:15 PR.

If I remember right, mile 25 was run in 9:30, nearly a minute faster than mile 24. I hit the final .2 not knowing exactly what I had to do to beat 4:15. But I knew it was everything I had left.

Thank god the final turn into the finish is downhill. I hit it and just lost it. Hopefully there wasn’t a finishing video, because I know I looked like a lunatic. I was essentially yelling at myself with incoherent grunts and F bombs along the way.

I ran through the finish line, and made sure not to hit my watch until I nearly ran over a woman in front of me. Can’t ruin the finish photo, eh?

Since my watch wasn’t official, I grabbed my phone and got the auto-text that sends out when ever you hit a timing mat. I almost collapsed from exhaustion and the numbers 4:14:54.

Finishing Village

I used the Gatorade table for support for a minute, and drank a few cups while I was there. I got a bottle of water, and was covered with the mylar sheets by a volunteer. There wasn’t a line, so I did get a picture in front of the race backdrop.

Who knows what that looked like….

When I was walking away, I heard my name from a buddy who’d finished a few minutes before me. We hung out for a minute, but both of us had to start moving again or risk locking up.

A few minutes later, I found my family, and we drove out and around the course to get back to my car.

Splits

The two things I’m most proud of in Columbus was that I didn’t walk a step, and my splits were about as even as I could make them. I walked a ton in Vegas, and a lot the last 5 miles of Pittsburgh. I’m sure nailing an entire training plan, and cool temps made that possible.

My official splits are these:

• 10k – 59:47 – 9:38 avg pace
• 13.1 – 1:06:22 – 9:39 avg pace
• 20 – 1:07:22 – 9:46 avg pace
• 26.2 – 1:01:23 – 9:55 avg pace

The first half was almost exactly the same pace. I faltered from around 18 through 25, but saved it at the stretch.

Click for my runmeter app splits and map

If you’re still with me, you must know me, or reeeeally like running. A 2,300 word recap is a bit absurd, but honestly I wanted to capture what I remembered about the weekend for future training reminders. I know at some point I’ll forget what went into knocking over an hour off of my Vegas time, and more than 26 minutes off of my Pittsburgh time.

For posterity, here is what things looked like in past races:

Vegas

Pittsburgh

Erie

Akron

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