2014 Chicago Marathon Race Recap

2014 Bank of America Chicago Marathon - 2:21:12, 35th Place.

After an excellent summer of training, the week or two leading up to Chicago was not great. With my hamstring feeling very compromised, it wasn't easy to maintain a high level of confidence. A week before the race, I wasn't even sure if I could race. I decided that if I could run, I needed to be conservative and go out in 1:10 - 1:10:30. That all changed on race morning when I went outside for a short jog at 5:30am. I not only felt somewhat normal for the first time in nine days, but there was an energy along Michigan Avenue at that early hour that convinced me it might be worth taking a shot at the Olympic Trials standard. Chris Sloane (who shared a hotel room with us) and I made our way over to the American Development tent around 6:30am. We did an easy 10 minute jog to warmup, then stood around with some of my Saucony teammates in the corral until it was time to go.

When the race finally started, I immediately set myself up behind Florence Kiplagat's male pacer (who was about 6'3" tall... and maybe 120 lbs) but I could tell within a minute or two that the women weren't going out quick, so I moved past them as we came out of the tunnel and saw my Saucony teammate Jesse Davis up ahead. It took me about 2 miles to bridge the gap to him, and once I did I found myself in a nice pack with 6 other guys. I mentally committed to running with that group and the idea of a 1:10 first half was thrown out the window. I was simply going to race these guys as long as I could. After opening up with 5:17 and 5:19 miles, I missed a few splits, so I was surprised to see 15:38 for miles 3-5. We were moving, and rolled through the first half, hitting 13.1 in 1:08:47. This was my fastest first half ever in a marathon (by far!) which was a little crazy because I did less marathon pace specific work than I have in my last few marathon buildups. I never touched 5:15 pace tempos in training during this cycle but I wasn't afraid to mix it up and see what might happen.

This is a good time to point out that because of the aggressive start, there was no "this feels easy" / "build into it" portion of this marathon. I felt like I was running at a high intensity level right from the gun. Andrea said afterwards that I looked "very determined" and that it was "the hardest I've ever seen you run, especially in the last ten miles" I guess that is both good and bad. On one hand, you sort of want to be relaxed for a good portion of a marathon. On the other hand, I know I gave it  everything I had, even if I knew I was in a little over my head.

Expressing my stubborn Polish determination in Polishtown

Chinatown

I think the pack started to break apart around mile 14 or 15 and I was on my own the rest of the way. My calves were starting to hurt. Andrea told me that my gait was noticeably compromised by the halfway point, which isn't surprising - I made some sort of alteration to protect my hamstring, and the gastrocs had to pick up the slack. I held up pretty well through 30K, but the 20th mile was the first over 5:30, and I wouldn't be able to bring the pace back down. I was hanging on and just trying to keep the bleeding to a minimum.

Michigan Avenue death march

The last 5K was a death march. I still had a chance to PR when I hit 40K, but the wheels were coming off quick. With 600m to go, you turn and ascend the Roosevelt "hill" (which is a measly 15 foot overpass). I could not believe how it absolutely. broke. me. My legs started to wobble, I felt like I had no control over them, and simply tried to stay upright over the last quarter mile... an effort that was barely successful. With about 15-20 meters left, everything seized up... I had to windwill both of my arms to keep my balance as I stumbled across the timing mats. After I got across the second mat, I let a volunteer just hold me upright for 10 seconds while I regained my sense of balance. It was a comical finish and despite being a little embarrassing, I had to smile - I knew I went for broke and didn't leave anything in the tank.

I hope there is a video of this somewhere

Overall I'm very happy. Yeah, I didn't run the smartest race, and likely would have run a bit faster and PR'd had I gone out a little slower. But on a big stage like Chicago, it was worth chasing the OTQ dream. I'll continue chasing it, because I have zero doubt that faster marathons are in my future. Regardless of whether I run 2:17 or not, I simply love this journey. I love that it's hard - that it requires so much dedication with no guarantees of success. I love the training, working towards a lofty goal step by step... sometimes taking steps backwards and figuring out how to deal with the setbacks. I love that I keep learning more and more about the sport and myself in the process - race to race, year to year. And I love that I get to travel all over the place and compete against the best runners in the country (and the world). When you run 2:21 and come in 35th place, you picked the right race. No matter what, when all of this is said and done (which is a long way off), I'll know exactly where I stand (the stopwatch and tape measure never lie) in the running universe. I'll know exactly how good I can be... and that's something I want to know, even if it's a bit scary to find out.

When I look back at my goals at the beginning of the Chicago buildup, getting back to PR shape was at the top of the list. I definitely accomplished that objective over the past 14 weeks, and gave myself a solid platform to build on again. Depending on how quickly I recover, I'm planning to take a short break, rally for a series of late Fall races, take a longer break, then dedicate 2015 to a pair of long, focused marathon buildups (spring and fall).

Odds and ends...

Nutrition: Breakfast - 2 Powerbars. Race - 1 Powergel 15 mins before start, 3 more during race (5-10-16). Really like the Powergels and tolerate them well, mainly because of the liquid consistency. Didn't drink much - I need to run faster so I can get my own bottles at major marathons! Post-race lunch - Venison.

Weather: Sunny (although the tall buildings blocked it in a lot of spots) and ~50 degrees for most of the race. A little windy in spots, but this is Chicago so what can you expect?

Course: Flat. Awesome. [Map / Elevation] Other than the overpass at 26, none of the small inclines broke rhythm. The route has a decent amount of turns. Crowd support was excellent. Maybe not quite as good as Boston, but close.

Shoes: Saucony Type A6. Best racing flat out there. Saucony had a great presence at the expo and hooked us up with some cool Chicago-branded gear. The team was well-represented in both the men's and women's races.

Intangibles: Andrea was unbelievable this weekend. She managed to get my hamstring back into working condition on Saturday, then got a bike the morning of  the race and navigated the streets to be at seven different spots (1.5, 3, 13, 17, 20, 22, and 25) to cheer for me and all of the Saucony runners (and take photos). Her airport nap was well-earned. I had other friends at 5, 6.5, 8.5, 10, 17.5, 23, and 26. I've said this before, but I know I'm very lucky to have such a great support system. I had a lot of family, friends, and puppies supporting from afar.

Mile splits - 5:17, 5:19, 15:38 (3-5), 5:11, 5:11, 5:17, 5:16, 5:17, 5:13, 5:12, 5:17, 5:09, 5:20, 5:14, 5:28, 5:17, 5:27, 5:32, 5:38, 5:32, 5:39, 5:38, 5:38, 5:57, 1:22.

5K splits - 16:23, 16:13, 16:22, 16:21, 16:11, 16:46, 17:17, 17:34, and 8:05 for the last 2.2K.

Comparison to a couple other marathons...

                   Half          20M        Finish
PHL 2011  1:09:33 - 1:46:05 - 2:25:57
CIM 2013   1:09:29 - 1:46:17 - 2:20:41
CHI 2014    1:08:47 - 1:45:45 - 2:21:12

Final thought: next time I go out under 1:09, I'll bring it back under 1:09 too.

2014 Top of Utah Half Marathon

Photo from HJNews.com

2014 Top of Utah Half Marathon - 1:07:37 - 1st Place

I've said this before, but I love running the Top of Utah races! The courses are great, the competition is excellent, and the races are always very well-organized. After a hiatus of nearly four months from racing, it felt great to break the tape today at the TOU 1/2. This is the second time in three years that I've won this race.

Here's a shortened version of my FRB race report (that link has some more details / splits / wolf tattoo discussion) and some snippets from a local newspaper article follow at the bottom of this post.

My goals for this year's TOU 1/2 were:

1. Win

2. Finish the race strong

3. Continue to build overall momentum with my running

I'm not at the fitness level I've brought into this race previously (recent training summary), so I ignored the splits being spit out by my watch, and focused on running a smart race that would put me in position to accomplish all of the above goals.

Going down the canyon, I hung back to see who else would take the initiative. Jason led the early miles, while Fritz and Steve eventually moved up to him. According to the timing mat I was 17 seconds back of those guys at seven miles. I wasn't sure how I felt - not great, but not bad either. Then it seemed like Steve moved even further ahead and had a good sized lead on everyone. At the nine mile mark I was probably almost 30 seconds off the lead and needed to get moving. I passed Jason during the 10th mile, then Fritz during the 11th, and finally got Steve at the top of the Millville hill in mile 12. I had a good amount left in the legs and was able to stretch the lead out to a comfortable margin. It felt good to break the tape.

Obviously the time was a lot slower than I've run here in the past, but I'm not reading anything into that. For where I'm at right now, I got everything I wanted out of this race. One positive that sticks out is my attitude over the final miles. I had the chance (and contemplated taking it for a few minutes) to cruise in and use excuses like "it's your first race in a while" and "you've got a lot of miles under your legs recently" but instead I told myself "go get everyone" and I ran the last 3-4 miles exactly as I planned. I also remembered around that time that I had already spent the prize money on Thursday (another set of Dynafit bindings) so I had better win it back!

Herald-Journal Article: Krong does it again at TOU Half Marathon

Jake Krong loves running in Cache Valley.

In fact, the Salt Lake City resident referred to the Top of Utah Half Marathon “definitely my favorite half marathon.” 

It’s hard to think Krong will change his mind as long as he keeps shining at one of the state’s most popular half marathons.

For the second time in four years, Krong reigned supreme at the TOU Half, which concluded Saturday at Zollinger Park. The 30-year-old came from behind to edge Steve Shepherd by 12 seconds. Krong covered the 13.1-mile course, which starts at the Hyrum Hydro Park up Blacksmith Fork Canyon, in 1 hour, 7 minutes, 37 seconds. 

“It’s my slowest time on the course, but I kind of knew that coming in that I was really just trying to run for the win today,” Krong said. “I kind of hit a low point in my training in May in June and had to take a little time off, and then I’ve been building back up. So, I knew I wasn’t as sharp as I’ve typically been. This is my first race in almost four months ... so it feels good to beat some quality runners, and I feel good about this moving forward to the fall marathons.”

Krong was unable to challenge his personal-best time of 1:05:39 on this course but, considering the time he took off, was pleased with his performance. The champion of the 2012 Top of Utah Marathon, who is currently training for the Chicago Marathon, actually trailed Shepherd, Fritz Van De Kamp and Jason Holt by 20-30 seconds for much of the first half of the course. 

“I didn’t worry about my watch today and just tried to catch guy by guy,” said Krong, who finished with a 5:08-per-mile clip. “And even with about four miles to go, Steve still had probably 25 seconds on me, so I really had to boogie up the Millville hill to catch him. And I finally took the lead in the last mile and ran just under five minutes for the last mile to win it.”

Cache Valley

Top 4 Men

Indianapolis 500 Festival Half Marathon (The "Mini")

1:07:00, 16th place.

This one gets classified as a total BOMB. I've written up a race recap below, and kept it light because this is probably one of the worse races I've traveled for in a long time (ever?). These things happen. I'll make a few tweaks to my training - put in another solid block of training and be ready to deliver next month in Duluth. In a few days I'll post an analysis of training leading up to this race. I figured, even on a bad day, I'd be able to break 1:06, so this sort of came as an (unpleasant) surprise.

My report on Fast Running Blog:

I did not have it today. I could probably find some excuses about stuff going on that affected my performance, but the fact is that I ran 1:07 (on the dot - again!) which isn't something I should ever be doing at this point in my life. It's not acceptable. I am glad I have one more shot at a half-marathon this spring and 7 weeks to train for it before turning my attention to 26.2; I intend to knock one out of the park in Duluth and redeem myself for what has been a disturbing trend of solid training and poor racing. Ultimately, I judge my running based on actual race performances, and don't get any satisfaction about what I could/should have been able to do. The stopwatch and tape measure never lie.

The last time I was in Indianapolis, I got beat by Michael Jordan. On Thursday night I got a text message from a guy named Steve Kerr - "Hey Jake, I'll be picking you up at the airport tomorrow." You can't make this stuff up! Indianapolis-ans must have been secretly rooting for the Bulls during the 90s.



The Indy Mini is a pretty cool event - the biggest half-marathon in the USA with 38,000 runners! In addition to being a bucket list item for the masses, they also put together an impressive prize money purse which draws out a very competitive field of athletes. The course is nice and flat, as you'd expect in the Midwest... and why I keep coming here to run.



Almost 2.5 miles of the race is on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - which I had heard was a very lonely place... but it wasn't too bad - it just reminded me of my boring tempo loop! I actually wouldn't mind doing workouts there.



The RDs were very accommodating, and put me in a nice hotel (with my friend Paul) the night before the race. We burned the midnight oil until the clock hit 8:30pm (6:30pm our time) and then hit the sack.



I felt flat from the start of the race (on our warmup too) and never really got going, despite a more conservative start compared to other half-marathons I've run.

Splits: 5:02, 4:59, 5:09, 4:57, 5:13, 5:08, 5:05, 5:16, 5:05, 5:14, 5:02, 5:12, 5:06, :27 = 1:07:00

I knew going into this that I wasn't going after 65... but I figured I had a good shot at cracking 66 and taking down my PR. That race in Long Beach just doesn't want to give up it's spot on my sidebar!

On a positive note, I was able to beat Michael Jordan this time.

The top pack ran fast - 6 guys under 1:03! [Results]. Kenyans dominated. I think I was the 3rd American - in 16th place overall.

After the race I had a ton of time to kill before a 7:45pm flight home. I ended up at the hotel gym doing a lot of stretching while Frank Shorter was riding the stationary bike. I should have introduced myself, but I was afraid he would ask how I ran. Later, at the airport, Frank kept walking past me in the terminal, rubbing it in! He won the original Indy Mini, back when it started and finished on the track.



The craziest part of the day was the ride from the hotel back to the airport. I got picked up by Bill Cartwright, Stacey King, and Horace Grant. But not the Indianapolis versions... the real Chicago Bulls. I take it as a good omen from the universe that running the Chicago Marathon this fall is the right choice. Like I said, you just can't make this stuff up!



OK I made the last part up.

Cherry Blossom - USA 10 Mile Championships

2014 Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run / USATF Championship

USA 10 Mile Championships (Cherry Blossom) - 50:12 - 26th overall, 16th American.

[Also posted on Fast Running Blog]

I've had Cherry Blossom on the calendar since the day it was announced as this year's USATF 10 Mile Championship back in January. I have a lot of friends in DC and lived there for a summer, so I've been excited all winter about this trip. Andrea and I flew in Friday evening and spent Saturday relaxing and catching up with friends (and did the same all day Sunday after the race). It was a really fun weekend.

On race morning I got dropped off at the Lincoln Memorial and proceeded to warmup around the National Mall. I've run here many times, but its always a cool place to be early in the morning. The elite women started at 7:18, and then we were off 12 minutes later. The field was solid - plenty of high caliber African runners, plus the USA Championship field.

As you can see on the race video (starting ~17:00 for the guys, I'm still in there a few minutes later), I was able to latch to the very back of the main pack for a little over a mile, as the real elite runners were out at a somewhat conservative pace. The pace accelerated before we hit the Memorial Bridge and I knew it wasn't sustainable to be in the back of that group any longer. The two-mile split was 9:51 (plenty fast). I was already running solo - I recognized some of the guys up in front of me (Sean Brown, Ben Sathre - bibs with names on the back of our singlets was nice) but it would have taken a huge effort to close that gap. I tried to keep them in range and focus on maintaining a steady effort.

I came through 5K in 15:21 and 5 miles in 24:55, picking off a few guys during these miles. 

The first half of the course has several 180 degree turns, but the out and backs make it an excellent course for spectators. Andrea was at 5-6 spots during the race with Curran and Baumann, the Merkels (on bikes) were all over the place, Luke (running the race) yelled for me during the out and backs, Big Cat Brett was prowling around in the trees, and the ElliptiGo team with Jeff Caron was out cheering as well. It was almost like a track meet during the first 10K - feedback and encouragement every quarter mile!

I was running well as we came through the halfway point and headed out for the loop in East Potomac Park. Miles 6-8 were 4:59, 4:57, 4:52. Sathre pulled away after 10K (30:57), but I passed a few guys before we got to Haines Point including Sergio Reyes, who was clearly having an off day.

I don't know what happened in the 9th mile (5:22!!!). We were running into a slight headwind at this point (look at the flags on the race video as I finished - 1:06:00 on the video - and yes I had to out-kick a girl - we caught a few of the elite women in the final miles), but I don't feel like I slowed down THAT much. I tried to maintain/close the gap to the guy ahead of me (Brown). It was definitely a shock to see that split. In hindsight, that mile was probably marked a bit long and the previous one was short. I came through 15K in ~46:45 and just like that, I was climbing the final hill and the race was over. Finished in 50:12 - 26th overall, 16th American. Five mile splits were 24:55 / 25:17 (yuck).

After the race I spent some time chatting with the other athletes and coaches (Hansons) - that is one of the best parts about championship races... these are the best athletes and coaches in the country - the ones you want to be competing against and interacting with. Andrea and I ran a cool down from the Washington Monument to the Capitol building and back... again, just a cool atmosphere and great location for a big race. And it's a BIG race (17,000 runners!).

I'll make a strong attempt to come back and run this again next year. Now that my parents will be living in the area, I'll be heading to the East coast for races instead of Arizona. Hopefully they'll be hosting the USA Champs again and I can do the Gate River / Cherry Blossom double. I shouldn't be thinking about 2015 race schedules yet, but I can't help myself sometimes.

Overall I'd say this was a good, but not great, performance. It was my best run of 2014 so far (season bests for 5K, 10K, and 15K en route), but I still feel like I should have broken 50 minutes. The good thing about this race is that it tells me exactly where I'm at... and that means probably aiming for 65:15-30 instead of 64:XX in Indianapolis next month (although things can change with another good month of training). I'm very glad I already made the decision to skip the spring marathon and keep my focus on the half through the end of June. I think that I'm definitely on the right trajectory (steadily improving) but it is going to take some more time (and laser focus on the little stuff) to achieve my goals this spring. I embrace that challenge.

Andrea took a bunch of great photos (scattered throughout this post and below).

Playing with Maggie the puppy and hanging in the sunshine took up the rest of the weekend...

Spring Racing Season

Spring in DC!

The calendar says winter is over, although the Wasatch Mountains have been getting pounded with snow recently, hopefully setting us up for skiing well into June. But in the spirit of the spring I'll be opening up an exciting racing season this weekend at the USA 10 Mile Championships (Cherry Blossom in Washington, DC).

After seeing some excellent progress in my workouts over the last month (I'll post more on the training I've been doing - some HARD sessions - soon), I've decided to keep my focus on the half marathon distance through the first half of the year - which means dropping the Grandma's Marathon and running the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in Duluth instead.

My racing schedule now looks like this:

April 6 - USA 10 Mile Championships
May 3 - Indy 500 Half Marathon
June 14 - Portland Track Festival 5000m
June 21 - Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon

I'm excited about the changes to the schedule. I didn't want to force any aspects of training before the Indy 1/2, but I also want to give myself the best shot possible at breaking 1:05 this spring. Now I know I'll have another full (6-7 week) block of training between Indy and Duluth, giving me another opportunity to step up my fitness a couple more notches. I'll also get a great shot at blasting my 5K PR to shreds in Portland.

Keeping my focus on the half marathon distance and in touch with my 5K speed will help set me up better for the type of training I need to do during a buildup to a fast marathon this fall. On that note, I'm planning to run the Chicago Marathon in October and use the entire summer for a big marathon buildup with only one race (Top of Utah 1/2 in August).

Less racing this year - more targeted, focused training.

You can follow the 10 mile championship race this weekend on Runnerspace.

Phoenix Half Marathon

10th mile of the PHX Half Marathon

 I kept my Arizona win streak going by winning the Phoenix Half Marathon this weekend (1:07:00). Last year I won the marathon here. And on Thanksgiving I won the Mesa Turkey Trot 10K. Maybe I just need to always race in Arizona?

Fast Running Blog Recap

The weather was decent considering we were expecting much worse. There was some rain in the early miles and a bit of a noticeable headwind, but the major storm forecast was greatly exaggerated. The heavy rain actually came down later on Saturday evening... good timing! In some ways the overcast skies were nice (cooler!).

My plan was to run for the win and not worry too much about the time once we knew the weather forecast was looking a little crazy.

Jesse Armijo and I ran the first mile together, then he took the lead and put a small gap on me. For the first 7 miles, I was between 15-25 meters off his lead. It didn't seem like there was anyone putting pressure on from behind us. I kept thinking to myself "make a move at 10" like I did in the PF Chang's 1/2 last year. I started reeling him during the 8th mile and sensed an opportunity to put in a surge and take the lead just before the 9 mile mark. I ran the 10th mile pretty hard to open up a gap, then I had a big enough lead to back off a little the rest of the way. I ended up winning by a comfortable 52 seconds.

Andrea and my parents were out on the course in 5-6 different spots providing encouragement. They are awesome!

The time doesn't really reflect a big improvement since January, but I can tell I'm getting in shape now. The major positive "take home" was that around the halfway point of the race, I knew I wasn't settling for second place. I was thinking about the best strategy for how to win the race, and knew I was going to win the race.

The Phoenix Marathon is somewhat new to the scene, but it has already established itself as one of the best events in the Southwest. The marathon is a great course for Boston Qualifying, and they offer generous prize money to the elite runners in the marathon as well as a $500 bonus for sub 2:20/2:45. The half-marathon only has a few turns and has a slight net drop from start to finish, making it the fastest Olympic Trials qualifying eligible courses out there that I am aware of. Both courses are certified and sanctioned, so you know they are accurate (I've seen people make comments online that the course measured long - they just need to realize that Garmins aren't that accurate).

I've never felt the need to comment about a race t-shirt before, but I feel like I have to say something in this report. The shirt given out by the PHX Marathon this year is definitely the best I've ever gotten at a race. It's fitted and made of some sort of stretchy material that is really cool. That sort of attention to detail is what will help this race continue to grow. I know from speaking to the race directors on many occasions that they are always striving to improve and make the race experience as great as they can.

I'll circle this one on my race calendar for 2015. If I have the OTQ by then, I'd like to run this marathon again. If I don't, then it will be a great spot to go for the OT standard in the half-marathon. Especially since after this year's rainstorm, it is almost guaranteed that this race will have perfect weather for the next 20 years! I'd highly recommend this one as a great spring race destination.

Early miles of the race

Somewhere in the early miles on a rainy morning

With Jesse after the race

Awesome shirts!

Course Map