Bay Bridge Run

I had blast running with Bobbi...Despite my worries, it was well organized and we were across the bridge and back to the car before the last wave even left the start line...next time I might have to do it on my own...

The hill up the first Bridge was not as tough I as thought and the weather was perfect. Bobbi ran really well and as usual was very consistent on her pace. After cresting at 185+ feet above the Chesapeake Bay  to was all down hill and made for a really fast course.

Next up Joint Base Henderson Hall-Fort Myer Turkey Trot 5K...a cutthroat event where the top 3 male and female finishers get a frozen turkey...

Ooh Rah Run Series

Henderson Hall Ooh-Rah Run Series – Final Season results:

Spring Salute 5K – 21:29 – 6:56/mi – 24 of 156 overall

Iwo Jima 8K – 41:14 – 8:01/mi – 24 of 139 overall

Chesty Puller 5K – 20:59 – 6:46/mi – 9 of 78 overall

Devil Dog 7K – 34:32 – 7:40/mi – 10 of 62 overall

Remembrance 5K – 21:53 – 7:04/mi – 11 of 54 overall

Average pace: 7:23/mi and Average finish: top 16%

I'll take it....There was suppose to be a board with pictures of who you were honoring for the run...I posted my dad Clarence Alfred Whisman III ...#RIPCAW3...NAVYLOG Clarence Whisman

 

Ripley Race 5K 2014

This is the 4^th time I have run in the Ripley Race 5K.  The race is in honor of Col. John Ripley, USMC. Colonel Ripley is famously known for his heroics in Vietnam when he was ordered to “hold and die,” against 30,000 North Vietnamese troops and 200 enemy tanks that were preceding toward a U.S. position.  John Ripley scaled the struts of and then successfully blew up the Dong Ha Bridge, preventing the enemy from crossing, earning him a Navy Cross.

It is also the race that supports the Semper Fi Fund.  I was inspired to become a Semper Fi Fund Community Athlete two years ago at this race, when I witnessed the remarkable strength and determination of a dozen athletes who would not let their injuries stop them.

As for this year’s race, I had just come off a lack luster performance at the Marine Corps Marathon and we had attended the Navy-Notre Dame game at FedEx Field the night before.  That game would keep us out till past midnight and sitting in the cold wind most of the night.  In the morning in think it was around 44 degrees when we got to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and the wind was a steady 25 mph with gust up to 45 mph.

I decided I was going to wear the Kilt for the run…not sure why since I usually don’t wear it unless I get $100 dollars in donations to the Semper Fi Fund.  But I braved the chill and wind and headed out.

Believe it or not, this was a fast race.  There was group of runners from a runners club who bunched up the start line and took out like a shot.  My goal was just to run a steady pace.  After leaving the stadium and turning right onto Rowe Blvd, you run down toward the Maryland State House.  There you are at 1 mile. And I hit it at 7:35…nice pace can I keep it up?  Now you head downhill toward Main Street toward the city dock, left on Randall toward the Naval Academy Gate 1 and then left on King George St.  The wind was really hitting me in the face heading up King George and it is back uphill.

You hit the 2 mile mark at the College Creek Bridge. There, I got hit by a gust of wind that must have been 40+ mph, that got the kilt lifted, but more importantly I ran that second mile at a 7:34/mi pace.

The third mile takes you the rest of the way up the hill on King George and then left onto Taylor Ave back toward the stadium.  I was feeling pretty good and felt really good as I hit that 3 mile mark with 200 yards to go and a steady 7:36/mi pace.

I carried that in for a 23:32 finish.  I ended with 7:35 pace.  I finished 57 of 607 overall and 10 of 77 in my M40-49 age group.  Six of the 10 top male finishers were in my age group and all came from the same running group that took out and the beginning of the race.

Jon Brianas, a former Supply Officer shipmate of mine from my time at the Naval Academy, organizes the event.  As usual it was well run and he makes it truly feel like a family event.  Jon is a cancer survivor and the Co-founder of Turning Point Sports.  I encourage you to look into any event that he runs, such as the National Youth 5K Series, he promotes youth fitness and it is a very good program.

I really was happy with my run after the Marine Corps Marathon, a business trip to Bloomington Indiana, the late night football game, and taking a complete week off of running before the Ripley.

Next up the Remembrance 5K, the last of the USMC Henderson Hall Ooh Rah Run Series…Then the Chesapeake Bay Bridge 10K…standby for that post.

MCM #5

Marine Corps Marathon 2014

MCM #5 is in the books. It officially puts me in the MCM Runner Club. I do not seem to have the best of luck with the marathon distance though.

It was a really nice morning. It was 57 degrees when I started and only 66 when I finished. A little windy but all-in-all it was good weather for the race. Bobbi and I parked on Ft Myer and walked off the post back gate right behind where I would finish. As usual the start was full of pageantry and it is one of the cool things about how MCM puts on events. I had trained well and I had my nutrient and liquid intake was spot on. Despite the fact we had a Navy football game and tailgate the day before.  I only drank water for 48 hours prior to the race and carb loaded on Friday.  I did have a baked potato 12 hours prior to the start. I think I got the food thing figured out.

I started off well and was clocking a very nice 9:00 min/mile pace for the first 10 plus miles. My time at Mile 10 was 1:30:14 perfect pace for sub 4:30 marathon. I saw Bobbi at Mile 5 and 10 and I was feeling fine. Then some weird thing happened heading down Hains Point…

First my GPS seemed to my clocking me further than I had actually gone. By mile 12 on my GPS I just past the 11 mile mark on the course and by mile 14 on the GPS I had not hit the halfway point. There is something strange about the little peninsula. So I spotted a bathroom took a quick second to pee, okay maybe it :39 seconds to be exact, and started to hit the pavement again.

As I started back to the run, I had what I only can guess now was a panic attack. I started to hyper-ventilate. Shipmate, something is really wrong. Think, Kevin. I slowed down the running pace. That was it I had started too fast and then tried to start again. Instantly I started to hyper-ventilate again and then I could not figure out where I was or what I was doing despite the fact that thousands of runner are going past me.  Still not cognitive of what was going on I just started to follow the crowd. They seemed to being somewhere? Maybe I should go that way too?

At 10:09 am, I remember looking at my watch why is it 10:09 and why and I am now just a lemming where is the cliff…as luck would have it I then received a message from Bobbi via the Cyclemeter App, “Hains Point sucks, but you got this. I’ll see you between 16 ½ and 17. Run baby run.” I thought to myself damn I am in a some kind of race and I need to keep going. I ran the two next miles, mile 15 in 9:02 pace and mile 16 in 9:24, I was back on track.

I saw Bobbi at MCM 16 mile marker even though my GPS had me a close to 17.5 miles and I still was never able to completely catch my breath. Or should I say I was never able to take a full breath. Everyone breath I took for the next 2 hours was very shallow. Bobbi asked if I was OK I told I was having trouble breathing, I really thought about quitting but I knew that was not going to happen, I finished this.

I trudged to the next water stop (Mile 19 by GPS but only 17 by the course markers) where the Semper Fi Fund ladies were volunteering. To see Elizabeth and Michelle was great and once again I snapped out of my funk and ran 9:03 mile on mile 19.

But it was not long before I was again not taking full breaths. I was worried. I did remember that Bobbi was going to meet me again one last time before the finish at the 20 mile marker. By then my GPS had me over two miles off and I turned down the my music( I should have turned off GPS voice) I then lowered my head and just plodded along. Bobbi was there smiling and cheering and it helped me knocked out another 9:05 mile for one mile only because I knew she was watching me run away toward the 14^th Street Bridge.

When it should be 21 when you cross that bridge the GPS had me at 24 and I lost any motivation at all. Especially when the GPS “Announced that I completed 26.2 with I time 4:14:35. And I looked up and the MCM mile marker is only 22 miles.

I shuffled my feet in the same direction as everyone else seemed to going, with the exception of one guy who ran the entire marathon running backwards, for the next 3 miles. I got the last water stop. I remember grabbing a cup and a Gunner Sergeant looked me straight in the eye and said, “You have one mile left, you will run the last mile, you will run the last mile.” I believe I gave him my best “Ooh Rah” and I did run. I ran the last mile with a purpose a 9:02/mi pace for mile 30 by GPS and 26 on the course. I turn the corner up the hill to the Marine Corps War Memorial , better known as the Iwo Jima Memorial, and finished. I saw  and heard Bobbi at the finish and cross the line. Official time 4:54:55 or 11:15 pace but my GPS had me running 30.24 miles at a 9:41/mile pace.

Even though, now that I have done 5 MCMs, I’m in the MCM Runners Club, and I get an automatic entry into the MCM, I think I going to take a couple years off from Marathon running. That might change four or five month from now.

There were a couple of good things that came out of it. I discovered a great new product called RaceDots (Racedots.com #RaceDots). They are super strong magnets that hold your race bib to your shirt. The worked great and didn’t move an inch over course of the day.

Secondly and more importantly, I totally believe it the amazing connection that Bobbi and I have had and especially had that day. I really believe I would have stopped and quit without the fortuitous post on Hains Point. 

Waterman's Half 70.3

Waterman's Half 70.3 in Rock Hall, MD

1.2 mi (1920m) Swim

56 mi (90km) Bike

13.1 mi (21.1km) Run

70.3..................................

So I was pretty nervous but ready for my first long distance triathlon.

We got to Rock Hall pretty early around 07:15 for a 8:45 line-up and a 9:04 start (I was in the second swim wave). We set up and headed for the swim start.

The swim was a rectangular course in the protected harbor of Rock Hall. It had rained pretty hard the night before and in fact was still raining when I jumped into the water. There was lots of debris and the wind had started to pick up to cause a current and a some chop. 

Just as I jumped in the PA system was pumping out "Let's go crazy." I danced off some nervous energy in the water and was ready to go.

I'm not a fast swimmer but I had but a lot of time in the pool this year so I was feeling pretty confident that I wouldn't drown.

I swam the 1.2 miles or 1920 meters in just less than 50 minutes...crawling out of the water and headed down the pier to the bike transition.

The bike was a 56 mile ride on the Tolchester Peninsula. The wind really picked up and I found out later that we had sustained winds from the NW of 12-14 mph and gust of up to 24 mph. I seemed to have either a headwind or crosswind for most of the course and the only two times I had a tail wind for a short 2 1/2 mile stretch of road.

I had plenty of fluids on the ride and our homemade nutrient bars were prefect. 

But I did get a awesome treat heading to the run transition. I had these 4 lovely ladies the "Spect-athletes" cheering me on.

I finished the bike in 3:29:02 a very slow 16 mph. The Eastern shore wind really beat me down. Next time I will need to get a lot more time on the bike in tougher conditions.

Next up 13.1 miles (1/2 Marathon). A two loop 6.5 mile course thru town of Rock Hall. The first 3 miles were on pace and I felt pretty good but then I started to shutdown. First my back, then my legs. I ran between most water stops and jogged a lot. I just didn't have much get up and go.

The Spect-athletes cheered me on at first loop at 6.5 miles. This really help get me started on the second loop. I ate another bar and sucked down the last of my fluids.

The picture on the left Bobbi took at the spot with just 2.5 miles left. My back was really hurting? Not sure why? Bobbi really helped get me motivated again and I ran the rest of the way in.

My run time was 2:20:47. A pretty slow 1/2 marathon. I had all my half's this year under 1:50 and I was really shooting for sub 2 hour run.


The Spect-athletes were super loud as I came into view of the finish. So I sucked it up and ran it in finishing with a overall time of 6:47:56.

I finished 22 of 25 in my age group M 45-59 and 177th of 231 Overall.

My real goal was to not drown and finish strong in my first 70.3. I am thrilled and looking to more tri's next year not sure if that will include a 70.3.

Great swag with this race including a another pair of socks since I did 3 Maryland Tri Series events. I ended up 52th of 449 in the MTS for 2014.

Training Numbers

Saturday is the 70.3 and I'm resting till then but here are the stats since July 7th, when I started the 70.3 training schedule in earnest:




Swim: 17 miles in 12.5 hours (2:30min/100m)
Bike: 287 miles in 16 hours (17.9 mph)
Run: 317 miles in 45 hours (8:30min/mile)


If I can pull those averages off on Saturday, I'll be happy...

Waterman's Half

Only 4 days until the 70.3

http://www.setupevents.com/files/Watermans_Half_Course_Maps.pdf

I plan to post my prep stats for this race later this week and or course race results a pics after...

Kevin is proud: Semper Fi Fund Communtity Athlete

http://fundraising.semperfifund.org/TKORuns