13.1 Dallas Race Recap (by the Karhu Bear)

2 mile w/u
Target: 13.1 miles @goal MP (6:00-6:05)
Actual: 1:19:04 (6:02 pace); 2nd place female
Results; Dallas Morning News article

I could write my own report of this race, but why bother? That's what I keep The Trailer's Jon Gugala around for! His article, which recounts his own experience of racing in the Karhu bear costume and details Karhu Airstream driver Joe Moore's dominant half-marathon victory, is far more entertaining than reading about how I ran marathon pace for 80 minutes. (On the other hand, my efforts netted me $500 and all Jon got was some bizarre head chafing and the punishment of dressing up in Hooter's hot pants, so who's the real winner now?)

Oh, and by the way, my dad ran 1:35:57. He is 63 years old. This is officially more badass than anything your dad has done this week. The end.

Read More

13.1 Dallas Race Recap

~1.5 mile w/u
13.1 miles @1:19:58*
3rd female, $250; Results
Total: 14-15 miles
*includes bathroom break (oops)

As is always the case at 13.1 races, I was up way too early for a Saturday morning to help set up the Craft and Karhu tents. Fortunately my parents arrived yesterday, which means I was able to stay with them at the Marriott mere blocks from the start instead of at the ghetto LaQuinta with the external rooms where I had the pleasure of sleeping with one eye open on Wednesday and Thursday. So I got to sleep in until the indulgent hour of 4:45, which was lovely.

Immediately upon stepping outside into the early morning darkness, I was chagrined to discover that the air was significantly warmer and more humid than any other day since my Wednesday arrival. Earlier in the week I'd run in capris and long sleeves, but with the temperature hovering around 65 and a humidity percentage in the 80s, I was already uncomfortable in my lightweight jacket. This did not bode well for my upcoming race performance, but there wasn't exactly anything I could do about it. I jogged over to the start/finish area and spent the next 90 minutes setting up our space and preparing for a morning of sales. Before I knew it there were fewer than 30 minutes until the start which left little time for dawdling. I quickly warmed up with my friend Andrew, then hustled over to a construction site with the hopes of finding a port-a-potty without a line 30 deep. Victory attained, I stripped down to my skivvies under the Karhu tent and then made my way to the start. I recognized several familiar faces from my previous time in the DFW running community, as well as a few speedy ladies who I knew would be contending for the prize purse. One was Melissa Cook, a multiple-time All-American from Texas A&M and a multiple-time Olympic Trials qualifier as well. She's been around for years and is legit. I also spotted Justyna Mudy, whom I recognized from her 1:17 performance on the horrific hills of 13.1 Atlanta a few weeks ago. No question they were both fit, and likely out of my league. I spotted a few other potential contenders but was confident I could run with anyone else in the field.

Once the race began, it quickly became apparent that the placing would be anticlimactic, at least from my perspective. A relaxed 5:58 first mile put me at least 20 seconds behind Melissa and Justyna and the same distance ahead of all the other women in the field. Though a considerable gap would form on either side of me as the race progressed, my placement would not. Around mile 2 I caught up to a group of guys and inquired if I could tuck in for a few miles. "Sure!" they enthusiastically replied before sprinting off and leaving me alone once again. For much of the race this is how I would remain, though I didn't mind much. Years of living in this area enabled me to recognize almost every street on the course, which was surprisingly comforting. Though my legs were heavy, my breathing felt calm and relaxed, and I made it through the early miles by repeatedly reminding myself that the Katy Trail section would begin at mile 7. This would mean a straight, gradual downhill for almost four miles, and I knew I could use that real estate to make up for some slower early miles as we gradually meandered to the top of the trail.

During mile 9, however, a situation arose. Had my personal race been closer, had a championship of some sort been on the line, perhaps I would have tried to fight through it. Instead, with several minutes separating me from the next woman on either side, I didn't think twice about scampering into a port-a-potty near the side of the trail a few minutes later. Ironically, my split of 6:26 for this mile (including the stop), my slowest of the day, would've actually been my fastest had the brief detour not been necessary. Oh well. Mentally the break did nothing to dampen my spirits as I knew the finish line was within reach, and once we exited the trail near the American Airlines Center I had no doubt that I could push through for two more miles. It certainly didn't help that the last of those miles was almost entirely uphill, the steepest and longest grade in any direction on the course, and with mere minutes to go I got passed by two guys who had been trailing me for the entire race. I desperately tried to latch onto them, succeeding for a few strides, before watching helplessly as they pulled away. Frustrated, I almost shut things down and shuffled in until I rounded the final turn and saw that I could still edge under the 1:20 barrier. I crossed the line just a few ticks under, happy to set a new (admittedly weak) PR and score a few bucks. The last time I raced a half in Dallas was at the 2007 White Rock Half-Marathon, when I was pleased to run 1:26:30 and just barely miss a then-personal best. It's easy to get discouraged now when the top women finish leagues ahead of me, but looking at how far I've come helps put things in perspective.


Karhu Sisu congratulates me, Melissa and Justyna

But enough about me. Let's discuss the real noteworthy Nedlo performance of the day, that of my dad John. Not only did J-Ned win his age group, but he also ran his fastest time in years, a blistering 1:36. Oh, and did I mention he is 62?! Simply incredible. I wish I could've seen the faces of the guys half his age as he left them in his dust. After several years of struggling with injury and motivation, rarely breaking 1:45 in his half-marathon attempts, my dad has finally been able to string together an entire year of solid training (and, not coincidentally, an entire year of solid training in Karhus), enabling him to absolutely crush his goal for the day. Congrats, Dad!


Me, Andrew and my coworker Tinley slinging shoes post-race

Read More

Katy Trail Mile Repeats, or "The Time I Beat Troy Aikman"

2+ mile w/u
Target: 5xmile @5:35-5:40 w/2-3 mins. jog
Actual: 5:41 (2), 5:34 (2), 5:38 (3), 5:34 (2), 5:36
2 mile c/d
Total: 10 miles

Ah, the best laid plans.

I woke up at 6am on Tuesday morning with every intention of completing this workout on the high school track in Marblehead. Only problem was, once I jogged over to the track I discovered it wasn't a track at all, just a football field with nothing around it. Awesome. By the time I realized where the actual track was I didn't have enough time to run over there and utilize it before work. Fail #1. My fallback was the Beverly High School track which is located a mere 400 meters from our office. However, they're currently redoing the infield so when I jogged past on my second run at lunch there were men in hard hats and bulldozers and the like making a mess of the place. Fail #2. This left me with only one option, and that was to attempt to squeeze this in mid-day Wednesday after waking at 5am and flying until noon and before working all afternoon at the 13.1 Dallas packet pickup at Luke's Locker. That the pieces all fell together in such a way that I was afforded a full 90 minutes to squeeze this in was a miracle in itself. So, while feeling as though I'd already lived through a full exhausting day prior to a solo hard effort might not be ideal pre-workout protocol, it was all I had.

Originally, when the workout plan was Tuesday, Jordan had prescribed six faster intervals with two minutes rest. Given the switch to Wednesday and my upcoming half-marathon on Saturday, the decision was made to decrease the volume and intensity slightly with the intention of preserving my legs. But if I'd thought that mid-5:30s would feel easy, I was wrong. The fact of the matter is I'm just a horrible solo pacer, particularly on a completely straight stretch of pavement such as that of the Katy Trail. At least it was marked every quarter mile, though I question how precise some of those measurements are. I'd like to blame my erratic splits on the potentially erratic markings, but the reality is just what I stated earlier. I'm a horrible solo pacer, and traveling for eight hours before working out sucks.

As alluded to in my blog title, the highlight of this working was beating Troy Aikman. (Just in case you, like Caitlin, are one of two people on earth who doesn't know who he is, see here.) To be precise, he had no idea we were racing. We just happened to be covering the same ground at the same time. Although--and I'm being completely honest here--it really wasn't a race because of how fast I blew past him. The first time I thought, "Hmm, that guy looks a lot like Troy Aikman." The second time, when we made eye contact, I amended that to, "That guy is definitely Troy Aikman. And I'm definitely kicking his ass."

So no matter what happens at 13.1 on Saturday, at least I have that going for me. Which is nice.

Read More

Katy Trail Recovery Run

~61 mins.
8-8.5 miles

By Monday morning, the contingent of Team JJJSM+A and our fans had dwindled to myself, Jordan and Scotty. We indulged in sleeping as late as we wanted and then lounged around the room drinking coffee for a few hours before heading out the door. We were in for a shock when we finally got around to checking the weather, as temperatures had dropped over 50 degrees since the previous day. After a Sunday that was warm, muggy and windy, we faced a Monday that was 20 degrees, damp and equally windy. Basically it's the kind of cold that chills you to the bone. Needless to say, we bundled up pretty extensively before heading outside. We passed a guy who was walking to the hotel, presumably from the parking lot across the street, who gave us a look that was one part sympathy, one part disbelief and one part scorn and said, "I'm taking the day off."

But we forged ahead. Since we were just a few blocks away from American Airlines Center and one endpoint of the Katy Trail, we opted for a basic out and back route from there. To our pleasant surprise, the trail was largely protected from the wind, and we never really battled it in either direction. None of us were feeling quite as banged up as we expected (although this will probably set in later), and the easy pace was quite enjoyable. We rounded out the morning with a leisurely brunch at Cafe Brazil and prepared to go our separate ways.


View of the AA Center from the terminus of the Katy Trail, presumably
on a warmer day

Read More

Norman Run/Katy Trail Double

AM: 67:24
9 miles
PM: 25 mins
3 miles

Maybe it was the hour of Wimbledon-esque tennis that Jordan and I played yesterday afternoon, or maybe it was the peach-flavored Lindemans I enjoyed in the shower immediately following, but for whatever reason my legs didn't feel nearly as bad as I was expecting them to this morning. What a refreshing change of pace.

Jordan and I left Campus Lodge circa 8:00 and ran to meet Scotty D for an easy recovery run. We met him along Jenkins just past Lloyd Noble, looped through the neighborhoods, ran back through the OU campus to Brooks and then back to Campus Lodge. The pace was easy and it felt good to run easy after yesterday's workout. Stretched a bit afterward.

In the evening I wogged a very slow 25 minutes in Dallas with my tech rep frienemies: Katie (Adidas), Brittany (Saucony) and Mark (Nike). We hopped on the Katy Trail in the West Village, ran to American Airlines Center on the soft surface and ran back. Capped off the evening with a cookout and a dip in the pool. I suspect my coach will give me a stern verbal lashing for exceeding my mileage requirements today (was only supposed to do a 4/4 double) but running with friends was too tempting to pass up. I'll follow directions for the rest of the week.

Read More