Door County Half-marathon Race Report

Today Mrs. Team BRAZO and I participated in the 1st annual Door County half-marathon in Peninsula State Park. The weather on the drive from the Cottage to Fish Creek, WI was mostly sunny with winds from the South and the temps in the low 50’s. The forecast for the day was to have the temps in the low 50’s, breezy, and scattered showers through out the day.

The race start was located in Nicole Bay within Peninsula State Park. After gathering our chip timer and taking a short warm-up run, we were ready to go. Mrs. Team BRAZO’s plan was to just enjoy herself (if possible) and keep a steady pace. My plan was to keep a steady pace and finish under 2 hours. We made our way down to the starting line and off we go.

I started out feeling great, no hamstring problems and the pace of around 8:30 miles felt very good. My main concern was keeping my pace in check and not going out to fast. I had my Garmin 305 and used that to keep my pace under the 9:06 that I needed to have in order to finish under 2 hours. Because the 305 will switch pace very quickly depending on the tree coverage, pace, etc – my goal was to always keep the pace under 9:00 minute miles. I tried to find a few people that were running my pace and use them to pace me.

I felt great through three (3) miles and just kept the pace in the 8’s. My first three (3) miles averaged around 8:40 minutes per mile – so I felt good that I was ahead of the pace. My heart rate was a bit of a concern, it would not settle below 155 for the first three (3) miles – but I just kept up the pace figuring I’ll just deal with it later.

Around four (4) miles into the race, you climb a moderately steep hill that runs about ½ mile. I just dropped my head and tried to keep my pace close to the 9 minute mile. I have perfected the “drop the head” and run strategy. I just drop my head, staring at the ground in front of me, and just push through anything. It is kindof my meditation while I’m running – I don’t think of the miles left, the hurt in my legs, or anything – just grit my teeth and get it done.

Around seven (7) miles into the race I was still feeling very good. No issues with my hamstrings and outside of a slight tightness in my left calf – I felt great. Running up a slight hill, I notice an older gentlemen running up ahead. He was sporting a Packers hat and what looked like black socks along with his running shoes. He had a different method of swinging his arms but it certainly was working for him. I would guess that the guy was in the 65 to 75 age range and seven (7) miles into the race he was pushing a 8:40 minute mile – that was awesome. The guy had “old” looking white legs that had very cut muscles – hopefully that is me some day. Thankfully, I slowly passed him.

At eight (8) miles into the race, I had a problem – my left calf was in a ball. I knew at this point that I had the sub 2 hour race in the bag if I could just finish the race running. The calf tightened up so much that I was forced to slow just a bit hoping that it wouldn’t pull and end my day. At the same time, I was very determined to reach my goal and just forced myself to hobble through the pain and try to keep pace with the couple in front of me. I increased my speed and just dealt with the pain – then slowly the tightness got better the faster that I went. It seemed that when I run faster, I run off my toes instead of flat footed and that allowed the calf to loosen just a bit – it still hurt, just a bit less though.

At nine (9) miles into the race, my “endurance” still felt great – so I began to increase the pace even more. I knew at this point that unless I had a major problem – the sub 2 hour half-marathon was done. So, now my goal was to even better the sub 2 hour and see what I could do. My last three (3) miles I averaged an 8:20 minute a mile pace and over the last ½ mile I was in the 7:30 range.

I crossed the finish line feeling very good – 1:56 - 12th place out of 27 in my age group and 119th out of 350 overall. My average pace was 8:55 and my average heart rate was 158 bpm. This was my test to determine my fitness from all the IronMan training that I’ve done over the last 6 months and I passed the test.

After finishing the race, I ran to the car to get the camera to capture Mrs. Team BRAZO’s first endurance run finish. She was still moving when I caught up with her and she looked great (she might disagree). The jury is still out if she has plans to attempt an endurance run again – but hopefully she does.

So, I’m feeling pretty good going into the Xterra that Oldest Mini and myself will participate in on May 18th.