Josh Writes a Blog

Tag: race

  • Holiday Half

    Location: Portland, Oregon
    Distance: Half-marathon
    Chip Time: 2:31:08
    Pace: 11:31/mi

    Well. This was a rough one. My last race of 2023, the finale of my mission to run run run run run, and this one was … not it.

    Don’t get me wrong. I’m proud that I finished it. I just thought I had more in me.

    Pre-Race

    There was a lot going on in my life prior to running this thing. The most egregious being my car, which was broken into about a week prior. A lot more stress than usual. And then, my company’s holiday party was the night before the run. I had planned to go, not drink, sing a karaoke song, and then leave. I didn’t want to go. Turnover at my office is so bad that I don’t know who is who anymore. I don’t remember anyone’s names, because I only see them in emails. So I can’t put names to faces. I guess this is partially my fault for working at home, but still.

    I ended up bailing because I just wasn’t feeling it. I also hung out with friends at an arcade in Vancouver a few days prior, and then one of my friends revealed later that he had gotten covid after we hung out, which didn’t help matters. The first time I got covid, it was last year, at the company holiday party. The last thing I wanted to do was GIVE people covid the next year! (Note: I don’t have covid. I tested and all that.)

    Anyway, a lot going on, but I ended up staying home and getting to bed at a good hour. Slept fine, woke up, got all my stuff together. It was super rainy so I did something Incredibly Smart: I put big band-aids over my nipples. This was the best idea I’ve ever had (that I stole from someone on YouTube, I’m sure). Had plenty of layers on so no one was like, “Hey, look at that guy over there! He clearly has band-aids over his nipples! Let’s get him!”

    I wore three layers (short sleeve, long sleeve, pullover, all athletic of course) and that was a bad idea, but it wasn’t terrible. I also wore a beanie–the pullover and beanie were both Boise State apparel, and at one aid station some kid was like, “Go Broncos” and I made phonemes that may have sounded like words but were really just me attempting to speak while my body was actively fighting me.

    I had three Clif bars and I ate one in the morning. My pre-run fueling isn’t great generally so I was trying to fix that. I think it helped, but not as much as I had hoped. More on that later.

    Drove to the spot where the shuttle buses were. I’m glad I got on a bus (they were free) but it did not help at all, because traffic was still bad. I think we spent 30-40 minutes trying to get to a place that was 5 minutes away, but if I had driven there it would’ve been even longer. I realized on the bus that I had forgotten A) my water bottle, and B) my gloves. The latter was fine, but the former made me nervous, because I had no hydration now other than fueling stations. Foot Traffic is trying to go cupless for their events, too, so I felt bad grabbing cups every aid station.

    Pre-race face.

    Atmosphere

    The area was very well set up. Everyone was soaked because it was raining like crazy. There were TWO different coffee vendors. Two! Probably a genius move so people don’t get stuck in long lines, but it also felt like a double booking. Two big tents, one for food and one for beer. Tents in these things always feel so weird. It’s like, you walk in, there’s food, there’s sponsor tables with the gaudiest kitsch splayed out that you’ll grab and then throw away a week later (c.f. my first few months this year). Then, standing tables. I don’t know, it just seems so … I don’t know. I wish I was a better writer so I could make a witty comparison.

    Speaking of food, there were a couple of options. A lot of few options, if that makes sense. They had like five big plates full of bagels, but no cream cheese, and the bagels weren’t even cut. Naturally, nobody ate the bagels. We know how bagels work, and this is not how they work, so we avoided them. No bananas, either. I was surprised by that. No fruit at all from what I could tell. A little disappointing, I love eating an orange wedge after a run.

    The Race

    So, right up front, I was disappointed in my performance for this race. I think you can see why from the pace graph above. From about the halfway point onward, I could not get my shit together. I started out in the 2:15 pacer group, and honestly thought I could keep up with them, or at least still have them in my sights by the end. But boy was I wrong.

    At the start of the run, there was a big puddle. A street-sized puddle. Most people ran around it, I ran through it. I had one of those “oh shit” moments where I remembered the rule to never drive through standing water, cause you don’t know how deep it is. I was worried that I would step through a sinkhole and break my leg. I didn’t. But I could have!

    The first 3 miles were business as usual. The course started with a pretty big incline, but I powered through it. Then, as you can see, the rest of the first half of the course was a gradual decline. Easy peasy. But, since I had forgotten my water bottle, I had to use aid stations for water. This meant stopping to drink, because while I wanted to go fast, I also thought it would be fine to walk for a few seconds while drinking water. This wasn’t my downfall, by the way, it’s just an annoyance.

    You can see that basically by the halfway point, my tolerance for running was coming to an end. I walked a lot. I didn’t realize at the time that the course was now going uphill. (I didn’t notice the elevation change that much other than the big incline/decline at the start, really.) So a lot of my fatigue could be attributed to that.

    Regardless, I hit some kind of wall pretty damn hard around mile 9. That was the mile where I thought, “I’m never doing this again.” I had run all these races over the past year, grew so much as a runner, but in the end, I think 10k is my upper in terms of pushing myself. I could be wrong–I’ll probably completely flip on this in a couple of months–but it just doesn’t seem worth it. You ultrarunners and marathoners can keep it. I’ll stick around here, in the 30-60 minute running range.

    So, mile 9 through to the end is a blur of running and walking. A lot of do-si-dos with other runners who are doing run/walk cycles. I feel like this would be a great time to get to know people, if we weren’t all actively dying.

    Then, thankfully, gracefully, the end of the course was downhill. I had absolutely nothing left in the tank, but I was able to push myself a bit heading downhill. You can see my pace pick up. I was also running by the Adidas store and I didn’t want it to judge me. Sorry I’m running in Saucony’s, Adidas! But even the downhill wasn’t enough, and I kept slowing to a walk. I did manage to push myself through the final 10th of a mile though.

    So: disappointed. My time was 11 minutes slower than I wanted. I just couldn’t hang on to my energy levels, which were dipping faster than I could replenish them. I’m proud of myself for finishing and for only being a couple of minutes slower than my previous half, but I still wish I was better than the last one, you know? It felt like my progress has dwindled a bit lately.

    Post-race face.

    Post-Race

    Standing tables and uncut bagels. Delicious hot cider. A Rogue pilsner I drank too fast. A lot of those heat radiator things, like you see outside restaurants, but none of them worked. People handing out Celsius energy drinks. Do people even buy those things? I’ve only ever gotten them for free.

    The wildest thing was that nobody was handing out medals. Instead, the medals were just on a table, all the different course lengths, and people were rummaging through them like a bargain bin at Goodwill. It was a very strange sight, all these exhausted people pawing through metals and lanyards. Oh, and the paint on the medals was peeling. That seemed like a bigger faux pas to me.

    I went through the lines, got the drinks, got the foods (except the bagels, which were Incorrect), then got on the shuttle bus and went home.

    And that’s 2023 folks. That’s the end of my race year. Started absolutely freezing, ended absolutely drenched. What a wild New Years resolution.

    My itinerary next year has FAR fewer races planned, mostly because I would go bankrupt if I did this a second year in a row. But there will be some surprises, I’m sure.

    Anyway, thanks for reading!

  • Running Recap: November

    Running Recap: November

    Since I am running a straight blog.joshbelville.com/ site now, I backed up my old site but forgot to make a proper .xml export of my WordPress posts there. So I have them … in strange, obscure SQL format that I don't want to spent time trying to extract.

    That means I’ve got a couple of race reports that are lost, so I figured I’d just do a recap of the month in general.

    Mileage

    Running: 100.31 miles
    Walking: 25.40 miles

    Happy to surpass the 100 mile mark. I don’t know if I’ll be doing that again anytime soon, to be honest, unless the Holiday Half pushes me over the line. I’m also fine with fewer walking miles. I really only got to 25 because I was logging every time I went to the store.

    Turkey Trots

    I only ran two races in November, and both were turkey trots. The first was a rematch at Portland International Raceway with the Hood to Coast 5k there. That was at night and was very cold. It felt colder than last year.

    My chip time was 32:33 but that was for 3.34 miles, which the course absolutely is, because I double checked on Google maps. Regardless I really felt good on this run and was going at a nice clip for the first two miles.

    The second one was the next morning and was the ORRC Turkey Trot. This was a four mile run at the Oregon Zoo. It started rather abruptly, which was very fun, and the first half was very downhill, with the second half running up that hill (cue Kate Bush here). It was tough, especially after running fast the night before. But we did get to see some mountain goats chilling out at the entrance. My time was 50:31 but it was a fun run and I was dying going back up the hills.

    parkruns

    Three parkruns this month, #s 31-33. Nothing spectacular about any of them, really. I was running them slowly due to my Garmin Coach half marathon training. 11/18 was college themed for gameday or something like that, I don’t know, but I repped Boise State because A) I had some BSU clothing and B) I don’t have any Portland State gear.

    Garmin Coach

    Lastly, I signed up for a half marathon training plan through Garmin Coach, using Coach Amy. This was more or less a bad idea. It wasn’t terrible, but she did bump my “easy” pace to a 10:55/mi average, making all of my runs a little more difficult and basically preventing any of them from falling into my actual Zone 2 easy run heart rate. I’ve since stopped the training plan, but that happened in December so I technically can’t talk about it on this post.

    That was it for November! The only race I have in December is the Holiday Half, which I will of course recap here in ye olde blog. Until then!

  • Heart to Start

    Another month, another 5k. This was the Providence Heart to Start, part of the Hood to Coast … family? of events? Collective of jaunts? I don’t know. It took place at Cook Park in Tigard, Oregon, about 20 miles southwest of Portland. It was a lovely day for running, overcast, temperature in the mid 40s, the tiniest sprinkle of rain at times.

    Getting here was easy, so I don’t have to belabor you with any commute issues. Cook Park is lovely and has lots of trails that I would like to walk on someday, but today is not that day! Today we race!

    Atmosphere was chill, not a lot of people for this race. Sometimes races feel like a Big Deal (Shamrock Run) and others feel like a group of folks getting together for a thing (Tar n Trail). This one was kind of in the middle. There was a kids run before the 5 and 10ks, so lots of little warblers running around.

    When I got my bib a couple days before, there was no swag. I think there were free passes to one of the big athletic stores, but neither of the women at the station were like “Here these are free things,” so I just left with my bib. At the event though, they had a few bits of free stuff, which included:

    • Protein bars. Lots of different kinds of protein bars,
    • A stress ball in the shape of a heart (remember, this race is for heart health),
    • A pin that read, “Think With Your ❤️”, which, I’ll be honest, I personally think is a bad idea,
    • A beer or seltzer after the run (10 Barrel Brewing IPAs or Michelob Ultra Seltzer, to be precise). Probably could’ve had a lot of beers/seltzers if you wanted to, I dunno,
    • Bottle openers (there were no bottled beers or seltzers, only cans).

    I think that was it. Not too shabby, but not my favorite group of swag. Again, I really do think you should think with your 🧠, not your ❤️. Lots of bad decisions have been made thinking with your ❤️.

    Anyway, the Big Discrepancy! I started Strava right at the start line and I had this corroborated with two friends of mine who were at the race: the race was likely only 3 miles [but probably was actually a full 5k]. I know, I know. Please sit down. We’ll get through this, together.

    When I passed the finish line, Strava showed 3 miles, so I stopped briefly to grab my medal and then started running again, to pick up the other .11 of a mile, but was flagged down by a guy who needed the chip tag thing on the bottom of my bib, so I gave that to him and then proceeded to run the additional .11 of a mile. Ultimately, what I’m trying to say is that I think my time would’ve been slightly faster if I didn’t have to stop. I’m not mad at the event for short changing us a 5k, but it is frustrating to get your results and see that they are 38:01, only to discover that that’s your 3 mile result.

    Although … if you reverse calculate a 12:15/mi pace (which is on my official results) into a pace calculator, for a 5k, the result is 38:04. So … maybe Strava fucked up on this one. WOULD NOT SURPRISE ME. I wonder if Strava gets nervous out in the woods or something? I mean, chip time is literally just the time between when you cross the start line and when you cross the finish line. I can’t imagine it being out of whack, especially since it’s a company that has set it all up and whose job is to set up chip timers. I think Strava’s GPS just screwed up somewhere.

    Either way, I’m taking the chip time. 38:01! A very good run!

    Running-wise, I think I did pretty good. Obviously we can’t completely rely on the damn Strava app for this, but we’ll use it anyway.

    I really hoofed it out the gate, mainly to get around all the slow people walkers. The “track” was a thin concrete trail, maybe 5ft wide at most, and was a nightmare to deal with for the first 8th of a mile. A lot of us ended up running around in the grass, and I think I ran on some parts where plants usually grow, which probably was a bad idea. The start of the race is always a clusterfuck like this, but this one seemed especially annoying. I appreciate the Shamrock Run, which organizes runners based on their pace, with slower runners towards the back.

    I only stopped three times, with the longest gap being a suddenly sharp hill that I absolutely did not want to run up or down. You can also see that dip at the end of mile 3, where the race ended [which was probably actually 3.11 miles, maybe]. Annoying. Meanwhile, when I run my pace is all over the place, which is something I’d like to work on, but I’m glad that the difference between the first mile and the third mile is only little more than a minute. That’s progress; my first mile pace at Race for Warmth was 11:53, while the 3rd mile was 14:13, a 2:20 difference. Slow and steady wins the race, as they say.

    The weirdest part was at the end: when I decided to run the extra .11 of a mile, I felt like I could keep going. That’s dangerous territory, folks. That’s long run territory. Maybe we’ll talk about that some other time.

    A very good idea I did before the race was massage my feet, specifically my left foot. Doing this virtually eliminated the numb foot I’ve been getting around mile 2. Plus it just felt good! I also moisturized my feet a couple days ago. This was nice, but I think it also made my feet slightly slippery this morning. Could be my imagination though. My feet were happier with me overall though, which was good!

    After the race and the little extra run I chatted with a friend and commiserated over Strava, and then I went to the taqueria truck that was making burritos and ordered a big and delicious chorizo burrito with the works and a champurrado. I always forget how weird champurrado is. It’s good, just different. Could’ve gotten a horchata, but a warm drink felt like a better option.

    And then I drove home! The end. See you at the Shamrock Run!

  • Race for Warmth

    *sports announcer voice* “And oh what a race for warmth it is today, Todd!”

    “That’s right, Jerry, it’s colder than a witch’s tit out here.”

    “It’s colder than the balls on a brass monkey.”

    “It’s cold as fuck Jerry!”

    This morning I left my apartment at around 8:15 am. The Portland air was crisp and cold. I drove to Vancouver, Washington, which took about 15 minutes. I then parked at a high school parking lot. Upon exiting the vehicle, I discovered that Vancouver was WINDY AS HELL.

    And that was my opening impression of the Race for Warmth, a 5/10k out in the Couv, put on by Clark (County) Public Utilities to benefit Operation Warm Heart which helps low-income families pay their heating bills during the cold months (or just in general, I guess). The race began and ended at the Clark Public Utilities building, which is right off the I-5 bridge, making for an easy trek. The packet pickup the day before was a drive through event, which reminded me a lot of when I got the covid vaccine, except this time I got the vaccine of … future exercise. How about that.

    The “swag bag” (remember when swag was a thing the youths would say?) consisted of some free and discount coupons, two tickets to see a Ridgefield Raptors baseball game in June (hell yeah, why not), and one of those emergency blankets and a hand warmer, which I think people used during or before the race but seems to be more intended for an emergency kit for your car.

    The atmosphere of the event was great. It wasn’t too crowded, everyone was fucking freezing, and there were a couple of tents with free stuff. Relevant Coffee provided the morning bean juice, which was very good. They also gave away a $5 gift card in the swag bag, which I fully intend to use in the future. Meanwhile, a tent for Why Racing Events gave away some stuff, including my favorite free thing, some old PDX carpet sunglasses. They had some other stuff too that I totally forgot to grab.

    “I make this look good.” Remember Men in Black?

    They seem to do a lot of triathlon races but also noticed I was wearing my Shamrock Run hoodie and suggested I run sign up for their version, the Couve Clover Run, which happens a week after the Shamrock Run. Maybe I will, Why Racing Events … maybe I will.

    (Side note: I always thought it was “Couv,” not “Couve.” Both are colloqualisms, so who cares, but maybe I ought to trust the Washingtonians.)

    The tent next to theirs was for NW Personal Training, also based in Vancouver. They gave out INCREDIBLY HELPFUL drawstring bags so I could carry all of my free shit. This was very good. Also, some sunglasses and the Weirdest Free Thing, a license plate frame.

    Lastly, there were Franz cookies, which of course were delicious.

    As for the race itself: I did good! I managed to run the entire first mile without stopping, which was one of my two goals for the race. According to Strava, my first mile was 11:44 and I was a 25:33 for two miles, both of which are current PRs. I knew running the first mile like I did would cause me to lose energy toward the end. My pace dropped pretty significantly during miles two and three, which is not really what I want, but I wanted to go faster overall and I guess I made that sacrifice.

    My other goal was a sub 40 min 5k, which I didn’t hit, but I think I was only about a minute over. My Strava time was 40:54, but that was for 3.07 miles because Strava does that sometimes. I thought I started the app with ample time to hit 3.1 but I guess not! Regardless, I think that’ll be about my chip time. If there was a gun time, it will be about a minute or so slower, because the start was a goddamn choke point, and also because there were a surprising amount of people walking. It was a walk/run event but it seemed like most people around my area were walkers. Ain’t nothing wrong with that, except it was like running through a minefield trying to dodge walkers left and right.

    UPDATE: My chip time was 40:44, 10 sec faster than Strava, which is weird. Gun time was as expected, 42:24.

    There were some slight uphills along the way, which I tried to run every time. You won’t get better at running inclines unless you actually run them. My grandaddy told me that once. (This is untrue.) Also a nice stretch along the Columbia River and this Vancouver Waterfront section that I think is fairly new. I don’t remember the drive into Vancouver being so nice. Is Vancouver nicer than Portland now? That would be wild.

    So, for next time, I think the goal is to actually slow down my first mile pace so that my second and third miles are steadier. Like, if they’re all 13 minutes, that would be great, plus I’d get under 40 minutes. I think the adrenaline of running a race with people made me start out a lot faster. But who knows? Maybe in a month or two from now, 11:44 will be my 5k pace. Here’s hoping.

    After the race there was an after party with a live band (god bless you musicians for playing in the cold), some turkey stew which was alright, cans of Michael Bubly, and more cookies. I had a sit and ate my stew and then promptly left. One of these days I’ll make some runner friends, but today is not that day!

    Overall, a nice race that I would absolutely run again next year.

    See you in a couple weeks for the Providence Heart to Start!