SANDERS' Racing Blog

Philly Marathon (26.2 Mi)

2006-11-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia, PA

A near-death experience on the infamous Chinatown bus, an entire landscape of hotties, & full-body soreness would all describe my 1st marathon experience down in Philly. Not having raced anything farther than a half marathon, my plan was to go out conservatively hitting consistent 7-7:15 min miles for the 1st 20 or so and then hang on for dear life!

I was definitely spent by the end but had a great race and enjoyed the historical aspect of the course. Running through the streets of Philly just blocks from where the declaration of independence was adopted and where our constitution was signed added some significance. Can you imagine how peculiar it would have been back in 1787 to look up from the constitutional debate in independence hall to see some 6000 people running down the street?!

I was a little disappointed they didn’t start the race in waves, but as they say, pura vida. All I remember was being stuck right in the middle of this mass herd of people as we practically walked up to the starting line. Packed like sardines, it was a good minute into the race before I could even start weaving around other runners. Wouldn’t it make more sense to at least line the runners up by projected finish times? Sure there were signs but it turned into a big free-for-all which didn’t help me after I spent an hour trying to check my bags.

The course timing didn’t make any kind of sense either. None of the mile markers seemed to be right on. How is it that I ran mile 6 in 4:19 and mile 7 in 9:15 when my pace remained consistent? I guess it’s about as random as the runners who decided to stop on the side of the road to take a leak in broad daylight 500 feet from a police officer.

Just when I thought I had seen the last of my timing dilemma, I was cheated out of an extra 66 seconds at the finish. Apparently the USATF takes the “gun time” as the official race time. This doesn’t even make sense to me though when every runner is issued a timing chip so your time is clocked when you cross the starting and finish lines. So my official time according to USATF standards was 3:09:59, 66 seconds slower than my chip time but still fast enough to break the 3:10:00 qualifying standard for Boston next spring with a whole second to spare! Overall, I placed 376 out of 6179 runners and 56th in my age division. Not bad for a high profile race that draws world-class competition.

I qualified for Boston, but barely and could have run a better race. I probably made about every mistake that you could possibly make in pre-race preparation. Tapering was an issue for me in that I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was so apprehensive the week leading up to the race…an 18 miler the weekend before and short steady state runs up through Friday pre-race.

That in combination with the rest factor hurt me competitively. Friday night I stayed in NYC with a good friend from Wyoming. Clubbing and the other festivities I partook in that night left me pretty drained the day before the race. Not only that but I went cheap in Philly and stayed at the Bank street youth hostel. Let's just say the drunken German boys who came stumbling in at curfew didn’t help my cause.

Besides the few gripes I had about the race logistics, it was an all around good time. I plan to run Boston next April but after that I’m not so sure if I’m going to be up for racing many more marathons. I think I’m more of a 5k/10k guy. Not only do the long runs eat up half your Sunday but I really didn’t enjoy the race itself past mile 20 or so (besides the guys standing on the side of the road pouring their own version of race-aid from a Sam Adams keg!). We’ll see but I think I’ll enjoy some cheesecake and cheap wine for now!

Brighton Mass 5k

2006-09-30T22:49:00.000-06:00

Brighton, MA

I made the trek down to Brighton on Saturday to get out and to run something at race pace. This was a great community event put on by the Samaritans of G reater Boston to support their suicide prevention programs.

This was a USATF certified course that started at Artesani Park and ran along the Charles River. I finished the course with a time of 17:54 which wasn’t bad and good enough to place me 4th overall. Like I said, I just wanted to get out and run something at a fast pace.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be making the trek up to Philly to run the Philadelphia Marathon in November. If I end up racing, it’ll be my 1st marathon ever so I’ll get to test that out. It’s also a qualifier for Boston next spring which is the whole reason I’d run it in the 1st place. We’ll see how things pan out over the next couple of weeks.

Ollie 5 Mile Championship

2006-09-09T00:57:00.000-06:00

Boston, MA

After some great runs up in Maine last weekend and a powerful speed workout on the track Wed, I went into my 1st road race out here on the East Coast pretty well prepared. The course itself was on the South Boston Waterfront and offered spectacular views as we ran along the coast looking out over Pleasure Bay. The entire course was flat with exception to one hill that was more of a knoll in comparison to anything back West.

I think this was the 1st year that the race had become a USATF sanctioned event meaning that there was some great top-level competition in a near-world-class venue. It was really interesting because the pro athletes and the “average joe’s” (aka me), all started at once off the same starting line. I think it goes without saying, 3-time Boston Marthon Champion Uta Pippig kicked my ass!

I went into the race with the goal of running sub-30 min for the 5 mile course. I think I got just a little too excited starting off the same line with all of the pro athletes and blazed my 1st mile in 5:24. A little too fast and it actually cost me in the long run. Had I gone out slower I could have run negative splits and would have faired a lot better. In the end though, I clocked a 29:35 exceeding my goal and had a blast running my 1st race here in Beantown!

Lander Half Marathon (13.1 Miles)

2006-07-04T15:24:00.000-06:00

Lander, WY

After a hard week of training and some tapering right before the race, I fared really well in this year’s half marathon. I have horrific memories of running this race for the 1st time last summer not knowing what I was getting myself into and bonking out at mile 10. This year I went into it well prepared and with somewhat of a strategy.

For the first 6 miles I hung with the pack of 4 front-runners who took us out at a pretty good clip. It was Joe from the ski team, a couple of Lander women (who apparently had qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon last spring), and some other dude I didn’t know. The 1st half of the course was mostly uphill with more of a rolling hill succession. I thought it was kind of funny because I would eat away at them on the strong uphills and then let them pass me on the downs until we finally hit the 2nd to last climb around mile 6 where I opened up a spread between us.

So there I was, taking off with the race not even half-way through the course. Once I hit the downhill stretch, I was hauling ass! I couldn’t help but opening up even more with Adam, Kelly, & Ashley cheering me on as they gave me “feeds” along the course. What can I say, I felt great and I went for it! Towards the end of the race, as I looked back I had put at least a ¾ mile spread between me and the 2nd place finisher. My legs were numb but damn it felt great!

I finished out with a time of 85:37 which handed me the race title though I know I could have finished a few seconds faster. GI problems at about mile 8 necessitated a 5 second pit-stop on the side of the road…if you know what I mean! All of my roommates where there and Tess even finished her 1st half marathon! Quite the step up from the TJC 5k! In all, I had a great race and can’t wait to start training for the next one!

Sunrise Stampede 10K

2006-06-10T20:48:00.000-06:00

Longmont, CO

This was the 3rd year that I’ve run this race. The views of the front-range along the course are amazingly beautiful and keep me coming back every year! This year I finished in 39:02 which was faster than my time last year but 5 seconds slower than my Boulder time 2 weeks ago.

All in all, I had a good race though. There were a few things that factored into my sluggishness. Namely, not getting off work until 11 the night before and driving down right after that. I pulled into Longmont around 2am leaving me 5.5 hours of sleep in the back seat of my car. Not exactly the best pre-race strategy but sometimes you have to make sacrifices to make things work. My finish was good enough for 3rd in my age division and 23rd out of 505 10k finishers.

Bolder Boulder 2006 (10K)

2006-05-29T16:27:00.000-06:00

Boulder, CO

Well after only 1 week of good training in the states, I faired pretty well for this year’s boulder. I just got back from spending two weeks in Costa Rica where I didn’t run much at all. For one, every time I went out for a run, I was so miserably hot that I couldn’t run as intensely as I needed to and secondly, I was on vacation. After all, how could you pass up $1 beers and $.50 happy hour? ¡Pura Vida!

The race actually turned out pretty decent and I shaved 43 seconds off my time from last year. I ran a 38:57 which isn’t very fast comparatively to other runners in my age division but it’s pretty fast for me. The racing conditions were optimal this year as there was a little sun and no rain to speak of. I actually arrived a little later than I wanted to and started in the back of my wave. Things ended up turning out alright though.

The house I stayed at the night before was definitely pimped out. Boulder at its finest. This pad had to have been worth ½ a mil easy. Everything was brand new and I was just amazed with the size of their plasma TV in their living room. Wow! It reminded me of the show “Cribs” on MTV. It’s great when you have connections through your friends! Jake’s parents are awesome! Nothing like shooting pool and carb-loading, drinking beer that is, before a race! We also had a fabulous spaghetti dinner in Longmont with Rachel & Christi. Those two have great taste when it comes to selecting restaurants. ¡Buenísimo!

Injury Puts Me on the Sidelines...

2006-03-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

A tear in my left peroneous tertious tendon where it inserts into my metatarsal has put me out this last month. I'm hoping to start training once again, FINALLY, the 1st week of April! I'm flying down to Costa Rica for my next race the 2nd week of May and then I'll be back in the states for the Bolder Boulder.

Best XC Race 4 Mi

2006-01-29T14:23:00.001-07:00

Boulder, CO

After stalling in the middle of College Drive in Ft. Collins and losing my iPod in the middle of Saturday morning traffic, I finally made it to Boulder just after the women’s heat of the The Best XC Race started. It was a beautiful day down in Boulder and there were 151 men who turned out for the men’s race.

The course looped around Harlow Platts Park in a figure 8 with one large hill on the entire loop. Each loop was 1 1/3 miles with the entire race making 3 loops total. The course was rolling hills with lots of tree branches! I think I took a few of them in the face as I was rounding the 1st loop. Damn those trees!

The competition was very diverse and comprised of everything from serious runners preparing for the upcoming USATF XC Champs in NYC to locals just getting out to kick around. I sat dead center in this spectrum. I finished with a time of 26:06 which is terrible for me, but yet I wasn’t lapped by the fastest guys either. It was just a great break from studying and motivation to start training again!

Heart Center of the Rockies 10K

2005-11-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Loveland, CO

A chaotic, freezing-ass, cluster fuck would perfectly describe the start of this poorly thought-out benefit race. The race started in the middle of a November snowstorm that was obviously a freak act of nature. The weather is unpredictable and that’s understandable. What didn’t make sense is why the race organizers decided to run all three races (the 10k, 4k, and half marathon) all together, on the same course, and starting on a sandy beach. Come on, this isn’t California! I ran the entire race with little rocks from the beach stuck in my racing flats. They could have just as easily started the race from the parking lot. What’s more, there wasn’t a gun to start the race and the only way I could tell the race had even started was the forward movement of the enormous mass of people.

Oddly enough, about a mile into the race the snow let up and the wind died down. The rest of the race would have been great had I been able to tell where the course went. Usually if I’m not familiar with the course, I can just follow the runners ahead of me…bad mistake. At one point halfway through the race, I was following the guys ahead of me. As it turns out, we were supposed to stick to the road and take the trail on the way back. We ended up cutting back through this field which cost me some time.

Overall I finished with a time of 39:50 something. The results should be posted sometime within the next couple of days. I was happy with that considering I’m out of shape, didn’t have time to warm-up or stretch before the race, and the entire course set-up was confusing. Despite my finish and everything else that happened, I actually had a pretty good time. I drove down with some people from the ski team and that totally lifted the mood. Plus, I’m still running on an adrenaline high from watching The Tangerine Dream last night!

Jelm Mountain Trail Race (11 mi)

2005-09-17T14:22:00.000-06:00

Medicine Bow Nat Forest, Wyoming

Just when I said I would stick to 10K’s I went and ran this 11 mile trail race 25 miles SW of Laramie. This is the only Saturday I have off until the Silent Trails Race in October so I thought I’d take full advantage of it. The run itself was grueling on the way up and equally as difficult coming down. The race followed the Jelm Mt. Road to the observatory at the top and was uphill the entire way. As I hit the 1st hill right off the starting line, I started to think I was in for it but was fine once my body adjusted and kicked in. After the 1st mile, the field was pretty spread out and I was hanging about 9th or 10th which I held the rest of the race.

I hit the observatory (elev 9,656 ft) with a 50:40 split (5th place) and that was all I cared about. A couple of guys passed me on the downhill but I was running down VERY conservatively. As coach used to tell us up at Happy Jack, running downhill is the easiest and fastest way to tear apart your knees. I have bad knees as it is and couldn’t afford to obliterate my menisci. The way I look at it, anyone can run fast down a hill but few can withstand the endurance it takes to run up.

I finished with an overall time of 89:05, a time still good enough to place me 8th overall in a field of 100+ runners. My time didn’t even compare to Dr. Dan Radosevich who finished 1st with a time of 75 something. The guy is an animal and has way too much time on his hands. Rumor has it, he ran the course 3 times before the actual race. You rock my world Dan!

Once I finished I couldn’t find Farhad or Kai, the two guys I rode up with. As it turns out, these two crazy mofo’s took off running for another 7 miles to “cool down.” Apparently they wanted to make this into some kind of long run. Honestly, I was sore from the race and don’t see how anybody could have kept going for another 7 miles.

Always a Cowboy 8K

2005-09-10T14:41:00.000-06:00

Laramie, WY

This was the 1st year that I was able to run this race due to work conflicts. It was a great event and I was really impressed with the amount of work that Leslie put into organizing it. The course was changed this year from a 5K to an 8k, 1 kilometer for each of the guys.

I finished with a time of 31:42. I don’t think the results will be posted on-line and I’m guessing I finished about 12th overall. My brother finished about a minute ahead of me despite “being out of shape” and drinking beers the night before. I know my time wasn’t great but that just made me feel slower than shit! I did pass Travis Jordan around 6K which felt good knowing he’s a really good runner. I see him hauling ass around town on his fartleks all the time.

The placing for the race kind of pissed me off in that some of the guys on the team this year ran the race and walked away with the prizes. I thought this was supposed to be a race to raise money for the team. What the heck? Needless to say, Ragan walked away with the 1st place men’s prize.

2001. It’s hard to believe it’s already been 4 years. Despite the events that ensued that year, I’d definitely say it was the greatest year of my life. I had transferred in January from Casper College where I was pursuing a fire science degree which I quickly decided was nothing more than a youthful fascination. I transferred to UW and took my academic scholarship for full tuition and mandatory fees. Once I was in Laramie, “Mo,” a guy I had known since junior high, got me involved with the track team. I ran every workout that semester in hopes of proving myself worthy of carrying the cowboy flag and running in a varsity slot that fall.

As it turned out, coach gave me bad news the 1st week of xc practice that August. Apparently there is fine print in the NCAA regulations that states you must be a full-time student at the academic institution to which you transfer for at least 1 year before you can compete on any of the athletic teams. What a load of horseshit! Coach Sanchez saw it that way too and kind of looked the other way when I joined the team for practices. Basically he said that I technically couldn’t work out with the team but if I just “happened to show up” at the same place where they were doing workouts, there wasn’t anything he was going to do about it.

Regardless, I had a blast that year and would give anything to relive the time I spent with the guys. As I ran down Spring Creek today during the race, I took in the views of the Happy Jack area and was reminded of how great those runs with the team were. I would give anything to be there running Aspen repeats with the guys again. Those runs made Mondays the sweetest day of the week. It was awesome!

Race For Hope 5K

2005-08-13T12:31:00.000-06:00

Fort Collins, CO

After taking most of July off to get through Rachel’s BioChem class, I’m finally easing back into it. I ran a 5k in Fort Collins this morning to get my legs moving again. The race was well organized and the course was fair except for having to run around the lake twice. The sky was overcast with light rain but the coolness was great for running.

I actually didn’t even take my watch for this one. It was awkward but nice. I finished 4th overall and 2nd in my age division. This was more of a community event than a race to raise awareness for carcinoid cancer.

Carcinoid cancer is a relatively rare type of cancer that is very slow growing which makes diagnosis difficult. The carcinoid tumors develop mostly in the GI tract but have also been found in the pancreas, testes, ovaries, & lungs. What makes this type of cancer so deadly is it originates in endocrine cells which causes the over secretion of certain hormones like histamine, bradykinin, serotonin, and prostaglandins. This abnormal secretion causes symptoms analogous to other diseases (like Crohn’s or IBS) making diagnosis very difficult. Results.

Lander ½ Marathon (13.1 mi)

2005-07-04T18:16:00.000-06:00

Lander, WY

I made the trek across the continental divide today for one of my worst races yet. I was talked into running my first ½ marathon by one of the ski team coaches. She told me that Joe Howdyshell was going to be running and that right there was all I needed to make my decision to run. Two weeks ago at the duathlon Joe had at least a 5 minute head start on me as his partner came in way ahead of the other bikers. I was pissed that he had such a handicap and that he took all of the glory for finishing first.

Well things started out great today and I was actually leading for the first two miles. Once I hit the hill at mile 2.5 though, things started to go down-hill (figuratively speaking of course). First Joe passed me, then some other dude passed me and some mom right after him. I was starting to feel like shit and by mile 10 I had bonked out! I was dehydrated, my feet were going numb, and my knees felt like they were falling apart. It didn’t help that the course wasn’t marked very well either. I would pass a mark in the road that read “4.5” as in 4.5 miles and not even a mile later I ran over the 6 mile marker. Either I was zoned out or there were some serious issues with the course measurements.

I finished with a time of 94:56 which I can’t say is good or bad for me since I haven’t even raced anything farther than half this distance. In all though, I would have to say this was my worst race ever considering I felt like shit, I didn’t beat Joe, and a frickin’ mom passed me. I think I’ll stick to 10K's!

Laramie Duathlon (2K Run, 25K Bike, 5K Run)

2005-06-18T21:42:00.000-06:00

Laramie, WY

Well I was talked into running this race last week by my roommate, Bret Waldron, who’s a cyclist for the UW cycling team. The weather was great and I thought that we fared pretty well overall. We finished 2nd in the team event next to Clayton Barrows and Joe Howdyshell. Clayton is also on the bike team but he’s quite a bit faster than Bret and he would be considered more pro than collegiate. Bret said that he’s taking off to Europe next week to train and that alone says how serious and fast he is right there.

As for a rundown on the event, it was a 2K run, 25K bike, and 5K run. I ran the 1st 2K at a good pace and came into the transition area 5th. Bret held the pack (except for Clayton of course who was nowhere to be seen!). Clayton rolled into the 2nd transition area about 5 minutes ahead of the 2nd place guy. Bret was 3rd and so I was pretty far behind Joe to begin with. I hung with a guy by the name of Paul Murphy the entire 3rd leg. I would pass him and he would pass me. What’s so impressive is this guy is over 30 years old and was running the entire race as an individual! He was just incredible! I will admit I drafted off of him too; we had a little bit of a head wind coming back on Pierce Street! The time reflects that he beat us by a second but we were really side by side. I would say it was more of a tie for 2nd overall despite what their record says!

Overall, Bret and I finished 2nd in the team event with a time of 63min, 44 sec. I finished the 5K in 18:45 which wasn’t a great time, but it kept us where we needed to be. I had a blast and I especially want to thank Rachel Watson and Christy for cheering for us along the course. At one point I was out in the middle of nowhere and they were sitting by the side of the road doing the wave! You rock my world Rachel! Here are the complete results.

Sunrise Stampede 10K

2005-06-11T22:31:00.000-06:00

Longmont, CO

This was the second year I made the trek down to Longmont for the Sunrise Stampede. This year I ran a lot slower than I ever have and I contribute a lot of this to lack of quality workouts throughout the week leading up to the race. This last week I was volunteering up at Camp Wapiyapi, a camp for kids with cancer. The camp is right across the highway from Longs Peak and there are hills everywhere making a good speed workout impossible.

The race course itself is one of the better courses I’ve run. It has spectacular views of the Rocky Mountain Front Range and winds its way past a beautiful lakefront. I was just in awe as new landscapes rolled into sight throughout the race. I finished 37th out of 535 entries into the 10k with a time of 40:56. Check out the results .

Bolder Boulder 10K

2005-05-30T21:29:00.000-06:00

Boulder, CO

This was the second year that I ran the Bolder Boulder and I must say I had a far better race this year in comparison to last. For one, I was in a qualifying wave which made all the difference in the world. Running in the “AA” wave as compared to the “JD” was like night and day. I wasn’t tripping over people and I didn’t have to run off the road to pass the old grandmas!

Complete randomness would describe the pre-race festivities the night before. I went to Amanda Duckworth’s wedding the night before and was completely stuffed after her reception. After some line dancing and wedding cake, we ended up staying in this completely random trailer house…a friend of a friend of a friend. You get the picture! Anyway, it was cold and dumping rain that night. Many thanks to Linda Keupfer for putting us up for the night in her living room!

All in all, I had a pretty good race. I finished with a time of 39:40 which wasn’t as fast as I wanted to finish (my goal was 37:40), but I was satisfied. Afterall, I placed 17th in my age division. With nearly 50,000 overall entries into the race, that says something! The race felt good and the weather held up. Who could ask for much more? You can check out all of the results here.

Silent Trails Memorial Race 2004 (10 MI)

2004-10-09T19:26:00.000-06:00

Happy Jack Recreation Area, WY

Finished this 10 mile trail race in 82:50 placing me 4th in my age division. See the complete results.