Race Recap: Foot Traffic Holiday Half

Signing up for a race in December in the Pacific Northwest is always a chancy proposition.  Not only is it in the middle of the holiday season, but also you never know what Mother Nature will throw at you.   It could be sunny, could be mild.  Chances are it will be rainy and cool, with a dose of east winds if you are in Portland.

I knew all of that when I signed up for the Foot Traffic Holiday Half, and thankfully Mother Nature was kind to me and the other 2,000-plus runners who gathered at the Adidas North America headquarters that morning.  There was a nip of cold in the air, but the fog burned off to reveal the sun just before the 8 a.m. start, making my choice of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt the right choice for attire.  The race announcer let the crowd know it was the best weather in the five years of the event. Lucky us!

Unlike my previous runs in 2014, this final run had tangible goals attached to it.  After my Achilles’ injury reprise last winter, I ran the Eugene Marathon half without any expectations and nothing more than base training.  I finished just 19 seconds off my half marathon PR (despite having spent the previous four days on my feet working at the IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championships).  There wasn’t much expectation for Hood To Coast either, except to have fun and enjoy the experience.

The Holiday Half was to serve as a litmus test, to see if I was ready to make another charge at a spring marathon in 2015 and to see how well I could hold a pace that would put me on track to qualify for the Boston Marathon. 

The course, an out-and-back along Willamette Blvd. past the University of Portland and into the St. John’s neighborhood, was flat for the most part.  The part from the St. John’s Bridge to the Adidas campus is part of the Portland Marathon course, which bred familiarity.  While the course set up well, I knew that the winter weather could make a race challenging.  I would give it my best shot anyway.

As part of my test, I planned to do keep mile splits on my watch.  During races I usually just glance down, note the time and figure my pace accordingly.  Somehow, at this race, keeping the splits seemed like a good idea.

Positioned well at the start, I got out well over the first half mile, but had to caution myself not go too fast.  I started into my pacing mantra, “If it feels too slow, it is probably about right.”  Through the first mile I was at 6:56.  Just about right.  The second mile was 6:54, a little faster, but not too bad.  The third mile, at University of Portland, was 6:56.  I slowed a bit on the fourth mile to 7:03, but made up in the fifth mile to go back to 6:54.

I was hitting my pace, but my body also felt right.  In the Thanksgiving 4-Miler I had run three weeks earlier, I felt winded when I tried to push to a 6:45 mile.  In this race, my body seemed to know that this is what it needed to do.

The next two miles were 6:47 and 6:55 before I finally slowed down to 7:03 in the eighth mile.  This mile included the race turnaround (longer out than in) and also saw me take in my race day fuel of gummy bears.  By the ninth mile I cruised back into the central part of St. John’s at 6:54.  While I needed some positive self talk to remember to hold my pace, miles 10 and 11 were right on target at 6:58 and 6:54.

In the 12th mile I could feel my body dragging a bit, but part of that was searching for the mile marker.  Either no mile 12 marker was put out or I missed it, so I spent the last 2.1 miles wondering if I was slowing or hitting my pace.  When we reached the split between Willamette Blvd. and Killingsworth, I knew that I had gone past the 12-mile mark. 

What I didn’t realize was how close to the finish I actually was.  Two more curves and suddenly I was on N. Greeley, with the finish line a quarter mile in front of me.  When I saw the time on the clock, I surged as fast as I could.  I crossed the finish line in 1:30:59…a PR by five minutes!  The fact that I went under 1 hour, 31 minutes, was an awesome bonus.  The fact that I ran 6:56 per mile pace proved that I am ready to tackle a spring marathon and a Boston qualifier.

I knew I was in shape to run well, but I had no idea the Holiday Half would be that successful for me.  The strategy of keeping splits worked well.  The clock kept me honest with myself and allowed me to more accurately gauge my speed and effort.  It may become a regular part of my racing strategy.

Outside of the missing 12-mile marker, the Foot Traffic and AA Sports crews put on a good race.  The start/finish area was well put together.  The aid stations were adequately staffed.  The indoor warm-up area in the Adidas gym is a major plus on a cold December morning.  The bus shuttle, allowing runners to park on Swan Island and take a “big yellow sleigh” up the hill to Adidas did a lot to keep the area around the start/finish uncluttered.  The shirt was one of the best I have gotten from a race in a while and the medal with the Abominable Snowman is awesome.  Both are quite fitting for a race during the Christmas season.

Why I Look Good In Purple

For the past few weeks, I have been walking around town sporting a nice, new purple running jacket.  And I have received my share of grief for it.

Wearing purple in Forest Grove, especially when one works at Pacific University (where our colors are red and black), is like someone wearing a bright yellow shirt in Corvallis.  For the uneducated, Pacific’s primary rival in athletics is Linfield College.  Their colors are purple and red.

Our golf coach nearly called me a traitor, seeing the jacket on the back of my chair.  The story behind the jacket elicited simply two words.

“You’re weird.”

But this jacket has nothing to do with the right or wrong colors, the right or wrong school or whether I am truly weird.  It is about goals achieved, dreams to come and the hard work it will take to get there.

At the beginning of 2013, I accepted the challenge of the Oregon Road Runners Club’s “1,200 Club” program.  A new offering by the club, it challenged members to run 1,200 miles during the calendar year.  This translates to 100 miles per month, or roughly 22 miles per week over 52 weeks.  That’s the same as driving from Portland to Rapid City, S.D.

Running 1,200 miles is a lofty goal to be certain.  Over the first two months, I managed to just meet the required 100 miles to keep pace.  But by the end of February, some amazing things started to happen that proved to be life enhancing.

For starters, the 1,200 Club challenge re-ignited my love for running.  I have always been an avid runner, but had been in a lull after completing my first marathon in 2010.  Accepting the challenge and putting the miles in reminded me of why I love it.  The stress release, the oneness with nature, the focus of being in tune with one’s body.

That reminder encouraged me to drop extra weight that I have carried for so long.  I joined a Weight Watchers group in February and since I have dropped 20 pounds and plan to lose more.  Conventional wisdom says you gain, on average, two seconds per mile for every pound lost.  For a runner, that is like finding a gear you had forgotten existed.

I found that gear over the course of the year, dropping 10 minutes off of my half-marathon personal best at the Helvetia Half Marathon in June and running under 42 minutes in a pair of 10-kilometer races over the summer.

The challenge also made me dust off of my longtime bucket list goals: To qualify for the Boston Marathon.  The bombings that took place at the marathon finish line on Apr. 15, 2013, only helped resolve that goal of sometime soon toeing the start line in Hopkington, Mass., to run that fabled route to Boylston Street.  I took a major step towards that goal by finishing the 2013 Portland Marathon in 3 hours, 23 minutes, a 35-minute improvement over my 2010 marathon.  It is just 13 minutes off the Boston qualifying time for my age group.

That Portland Marathon, that dedicated training, that improvement would never have happened without the 1,200 Club challenge.  And because of that I wear my purple jacket.  Proudly.

As I work my way through an injury that has kept me sidelined for over two months, that purple jacket is reminding me of why I need to keep my focus.  It’s a reminder to myself of the hard work already banked and the hard work I still need to do to make my goals realities.

So I will wear that purple jacket, looking down every so often at the stitching proclaiming me a 1,200 Club member, thinking proudly of the journey experienced and many miles I will still travel on my two feet.

Purple is the color of goals achieved, dreams to come and the hard work it will take to get there.  I’ll see you on the roads.

This story is scheduled to appear in the May 2014 edition of the ORRC's "Oregon Distance Runner" magazine.