First Half of a full - but fully half – Race Report

First Half of a full - but fully half – Race Report
Oktoberfest Old Boy's Brewery Half Marathon– Spring Lake, MI
By Zetti
So I had been planning on running the Spring Lake Old Boys Brewery Oktoberfest Full Marathon since early April. A foul bout of ITBS however had other plans. After much patients and help from your hooligans, I was able to free myself from the ever persistent jaws of the classic chronic runner’s conundrum and sign up for the half marathon while still maintaining a slight sense of dignity. This is my longest race as I have only run 5ks before this.​
The weekend before the race I went on a 9 miler with a running buddy who was also planning on running the half. After the run I experienced a nagging pain in my right foot just below the base of my 5th met. Here we go, I thought. Just got done swallowing my pride and signing up for the ½ instead of the full, now the running demons are still on my case! A full week off before the race however was just the ticket as from Thursday on I experienced no pain.​
Alright, now I’m really excited to get to get over to the west side of the state for an early morning race. We get my parents place just in time to do a bit of liquid carb loading and core exercise in the form of uncontrollable laughter as my mother’s antics never cease to entertain. We go get a good night sleep and I subsequently forget to turn on my alarm. What a great way to start my first half marathon…..late!!​
Fortunately both my buddy and my mom were up early and they dragged me out of bed. I proceeded to eat an extremely large bowl of Quaker Oatmeal Squares (YUM!) and quickly regret my selection of bowl size. Moving on, we hop in the car as it’s still dark and drive to a pharmacy where we pick up safety pins for our bibs. Our plan was to get dropped off there and warm up to the starting line…being the genius that I am I forgot to leave my stainless steel water bottle in the car, so the friendly clerk behind the counter of the pharmacy graciously offered to hang onto it until later that day.​
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Alright, so 45 degrees outside and dark, so I decide to warm up in my vivobarefoot neo mesh minshoes…good choice as it was cold and wet on the way to the staging area. We meet a few other runners who are doing the same and we get a great scenic snapshot of the race as we run on the bike trail that runs around Spring Lake. Arriving at the staging area I got a surprise visit from my dad who decided to brave the cold temps. Coffee in hand he tells us he can take our gear once we’ve warmed up….everything is going smoothly….5 minutes to race time…….wait…where’d he go?? A quick phone call resolved that communication breakdown and into the chute we go. For some reason this small (400-500 participants ) group of half marathon runners were quite hesitant to step up to the front of the chute so we causally walked up to the very front knowing full well that we were only shooting for 1:45.
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(I’m the small guy on the left)
A casual but chilly staging area chatter kept our minds busy as a few neighbors traded anticipated race paces and offhand comments about the crazy dude with no shoes on. I got the classic, “watch out for glass by the cemetery” and “hope you don’t step on a needle” comments but overall I was well received.​
Out of the starting chute and a guy runs past in a pair of Lunas…..alright! Says his name is Mike….and he ran this race BF last year! He wishes me luck and plows on forward…..cool, now I’m even more pumped. We head out right around 7:45/mi pace and people start blowing by us at the 2 mile mark. I’m thinking, crap…are we running that slow!?!?!?​
Overall people are jolly as they pass and there is a little chit chat about BF running and how it really doesn’t hurt your fee. A few people comment that they want to see my feet after the race, and I’m thinking the same thing about them.​
Most of the race is on a bike path which is actually pretty rough, but we jaunted off onto a few side roads which were brutal. I was able to slide over into some grass for a few hundred yards just to get my whits about me. I didn’t stay on the grass much however as I was terrified that I would step on a hidden ice pick or partially decomposed opossum. This thought process actually started up a conversation with a woman who had apparently stepped on a decomposing squirrel the other week. She did not spare any details….chaser would have been proud…​
My wife and family also braved the chilly fall morning to actually see me running for a grand total of 3 minutes…..I think running must be the best spectator sport ever! ;)
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(My wonderful wife)
Each time I saw them they were cracking some joke about me looking like an ostrich, but their support meant everything! It was nice that they could see me run in an event where I was actually enjoying the race (as opposed to those painful 5ks). My dad was kind enough to take some video and pics of those in front of me who’s place could not be scientifically explained by their form. How do these people do it?!?!?!?! I passed a guy at the 10 mile mark who was shuffling and seemed about ready to Kiel over and die. I have never seen such horrible form with actually decent Half paces.​
At about mile maker 4 or 5 I was feeling really relaxed and decided to pick up the pace, at which point I lost my running buddy. The race was gorgeous as it circled Spring Lake and the trees were already putting on their seasonal wardrobes. Random blasts of red, orange, and yellow and the calm lake were enough to take my mind off the occasional smattering of acorn shrapnel.​
Around mile 6 my feet started feeling like ground meat so I started worrying about what I was doing wrong. At just about this point, a runner passed me with the following phrase on the back of his shirt “the only secret to running is that there are not secrets”….PERFECT.​
That is exactly what I needed to read. At that exact second I realized “hey, my feet don’t actually hurt. I can do this, I actually feel great!” I picked up the pace and thanked the gentleman for his words of wisdom as I passed him and his daughter.​
Up comes the 8 mile mark and the bike trail turns into this marshmallow filled Little Debby (okay not literally but it felt like that….and no, it was not due to drug abuse nor am I from Oregon! J). Apparently this section of the bike trail had recently been paved and it was glorious. Looking at my splits, I dropped a good 30seconds per mile off my pace to right around 7 flat and below for my last few miles. It felt good to be the one reeling in one runner at a time for the last ½ of the race. Around mile 11 my calfs started cramping but pushing the pace a little more seemed to help my form and they loosened right up.​
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(A bit blurry but you get the idea...rough road needless to say)
I pushed hard at 6:40 pace for the last 2 miles and came in at 1:37:18 almost 8 minutes under my goal! Coming through the finishing chute the announcer said….”finishing right now we have a guy who ran so fast he came out of his shoes!” I ended up taking 29th overall and 2nd in my age division. As a brewery put it on, our finishing medals were mugs and trophies were bottle openers! Too bad I forgot my ID at home so I couldn’t have a post-race beer. =( Of course those who wore shoes are the ones who really needed it. I have never seen so many bloody, blister infested tootsies in one place….just glad I don’t have to suffer through that anymore!​
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(Post-Race Glory – and my buddy wished he didn’t wear shoes)
Overall it was a success as my first race longer than 5k.​
My calfs have decided to be made at me for the next few days, but It was well worth it….:)
Many thanks go out to you guys…..BRS is a big reason that I am where I am today in my running.​
PS: congratulations if you actually made it through my rambling!​
~Zetti​
 
Wow.....I haven't been on for a few days and didn't know this was getting posted....you are very sneaky TJ
:)

...and thanks guys!
 
Hee. I was going to email you, but I fell behind. Sorry about that.
 
Hee. I was going to email you, but I fell behind. Sorry about that.
no problems there =)
Thanks for being so amazingly dedicated....you must have had to dig this one out :barefoot:
 
Thank you, Dan! Zetti wrote the article, so I can't take credit for it. :)