Stennis 5K Race Report

Half Marathon Race Report

WOW!! I have been extremely humbled. (This is happening a lot more lately as I age)!! I thought I could jump in and just run a half with minimal training. My longest run was about 3 weeks ago with Kily, and since then, I have been so consumed with Hobble Then Gobble, my max mileage for weeks was prob 15 to 20. I was good for about 6 miles. My body shut down after that. I wasn't feeling real good the day before and had some intestinal issues, but felt ok, (or so I thought), the morning of the race. I started emptying the contents of my stomach around 6, then several times thereafter everytime I drank something. I was dehydrated, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Everytime I ran after that, I felt my heart racing like it just couldn't pump enough to keep up. It was a weird feeling. I forced Kily to leave me at around 7 and walked/ran the rest of the race. At around 11 and a half, I found a fellow sufferer and we determined we were going to finish this once and for all. We ran the rest of the race pretty much together, just kind of pulling each other along. When I finished, I didn't find him, I was too miserable just trying to figure out if I was going to lose my stomach again, but I wish I could get his name, just to say thank you for sharing in my misery and keeping me going. This ranks in my top 5 worst races of all times. I hated the flat straight boring course. I haven't walked in any race since I started running again, but truly, I had no choice. I am going to do this again, next year, and watch out, cuz, I will be prepared!! I just have to prove to myself, that I can run a straight, flat, course, and be mentally tough!!

I was glad to see fellow pacers do as well as they did. Ginny did not do as well as she had planned, but considering how muggy it was, she ran a great race. The weather conditions actually got worse for those running the full marathon, I mean it busted loose with a nasty, cold rain. Kelly was steady and stuck to the plan, Charles is amazing!! He is just so strong. Kily used this as a training run, and he looked and finished so strong!! Ray Henderson completed his first half at 1:49:22. Terry and James won age group awards. Jodie, (James girlfriend), suffered along with the rest of us!! Nestor is right, though!! The Nestor training plan does not work with these longer runs!! There were several other Pacers out there, making us look good in the 5K, and the marathon. Congrats to all who ran!!

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Catch you on the run!! © Audrey

Race Report by Terry Lawhead
Saturday: Mississippi Coast 1/2 Marathon in 1:36:40 (7:23 avg.)
After reading Audrey's post Friday night about (maybe) running Stennis I thought that was a good idea. I checked it out and since it was only $25.00 for race day registration I decided to go. My training schedule called for 10 miles total with 5 at planned race pace so I figured 13.1 wouldn't hurt me. I started towards the back of the pack so I clocked the first mile in 8:00. I wanted to average a 7:30 pace, so I spent the next 4 miles trying to get my time back. I was successful and I hit the 5-mile mark right at 37:30. I stayed on a 7:30/mile pace until the 10 mile marker. At around the 8 mile marker I decided I would pick up my pace for the final 3 miles and speed up about :15/mile for each mile. I clocked the last three miles in 7:15, 7:00 and 6:45.

Race report by Ginny Dufrene
First I want to say a BIG congratulations to first time half marathon finishers Sonja Dufrene (sister-in-law), Audrey, and Kelly. Congrats to Terry - sorry I can't remember if he won an overall award or age group award. Kily - shame on you for passing by me so fast, "really way to go." Charles - thanks for getting me "on pace" in those first few miles. Great to see Nestor - he took off like speedy gonzales.

Now for my disappointing race. I finished 1:56 (pr is 1:52 - I had hoped to run that or faster). Originally I had planned to try to run 8:15 - 8:20 pace. When the weather was so humid and hot (for me hot) I changed my plan to try to go out at 8:25 pace. I was pleased with myself for changing the plan before the race to adapt to the conditions. The results - 8:29, 8:24, 8:15, 8:20, 8:24, 8:36, 8:35, 8:52, 8:49, ouch - it get's worse, 9:54, 9:38, 9:29, 9:07 I averaged 8:50 pace, not good. Mind and heart said to run faster, legs said NO WAY!

Who knows??? - I am not sure what's up. Any clues, let me know. Maybe my body is adjusting to upping my mileage??? The weather was not good for me, but I think I still should have run better than this. Yikes! -- 16 miles total with w/u and c/d

Race Report by Nestor Raul Anzola
As always we had a great time at Stennis. The people from the GCRC and the volunteers did a remarkable job. Congratulations to Terry, Ginny, and James for placing in their age groups in the half marathon. Kudos also go to Sonja Dufrene, Kelly Spiers, and Ray Henderson for finishing their first half marathon race. Ray even ran under 1:50! Kily had a very good training session too. First, he ran next to Audrey for a couple of miles, then he started picking his pace up and passed Kelly, Raul, Charles, and Ginny through the course. I guess he is now ready to break his PR in the marathon and half marathon distances early in 2009. It will be an easy task with the endurance and speed he has gotten during 2008.

On the other hand Audrey, Charles, and I had a rough time completing the 13.1 miles. It was scientifically proved with a 99.9% of confidence that the "Raullian CoachPotatus OFF-OFF Training Program" DOES NOT work for long distances. Maybe it is OK for a 5 or 10K but not longer. All of us got PWRs (personal worst record) at Stennis. Charles finished in 2:04, Audrey in 2:17, and me in 2:07 (my worst performance ever!). Anyway, we will be back!!

Remembering what had happened 2 days before the Hobble Then Gobble 5M (I gave up after just 1 mile into the race), I did not have a very good feeling about my performance in the half marathon distance. It was relatively hot (temperature in the 70s) and really humid. I started fine and managed to run the first 3 miles in 24:15, then it took me 9:30 minutes from mile 3 to mile 4. Well... it did not look good and comfortable anymore. It took another 10 minutes to reach miler 5. Then I succumbed to the heat and began walking around mile 5.5... and walked and walked and walked for at least 1 more mile. I lost all motivation, changed my plan, and just wanted to finish. I did whatever I could to keep moving. I ran, I jogged, I walked, I crawled. Finally, when I saw the end line after 2 hours and seven minutes I felt a sense of relief. It was over... YEAHHH!!!

The Gulf Coast Marathon was held on Saturday, November 29 at the Stennis Space Center with a large crowd of runners. Ray and Jennifer Henderson and I left Laurel in a steady rain. We were questioning our sanity in driving in such conditions to run a race, but we got to the race site and the rain had stopped. The race started late because of so many people registering the day of the race. The 5K, half marathon and full marathon all started at the same time. Since Audrey wrote about the half, I will only comment on the 5K. The Pine Belt Pacers were well represented in this race. One interesting item to note is the fact that the first five finishers were all over forty with one well over 50. Bryan Lagg, who is still running with two stress fractures in his foot, was the overall winner with a time of 19.55. Neil Solomon was second and took the Masters. Evie Savage was the first female finisher with a 23.33. Robbie Headrick was the female Masters winner. Phillip Wedgeworth finished fifth overall and took the Grand Masters. Janet Earhart was the female Grand Masters winner. After the race we enjoyed plenty of good food and drink. Much thanks to Leonard, Ed, Denise, and all of the others who worked so hard to make this race a success. © Phillip Wedgeworth

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