Month: March 2019

Ohio’s Backyard Ultra

This past weekend I had the opportunity to run in the inaugural Ohio’s Backyard Ultra. If you’re not familiar with the Backyard style race, it’s relatively simple in concept, but very difficult in execution. The race is set up on a 4.1667 mile loop that must be completed in 1 hour. Sounds fairly easy, but here’s the catch, every hour the race starts again with the same 4.1667 mile loop. If you can’t continue, you DNF (Did Not Finish). If you don’t make it back in the hour, you DNF. The race goes until only one remains (and the final person standing must complete a final lap solo. Should they not make it, they, too, DNF).

The Ohio’s Backyard was held at McChesney Ridge Athletic Club, a beautiful space, appropriately, in someone’s backyard. The race would climb about 544 feet in the 4.1667 mile loop. Weather was just about perfect for race morning and 75 racers towed the line.

We would run around this lake and into the hills behind it as well as hills not pictured.

The race started at 7:30AM Saturday, right after sunset. The temps were a bit chilly, but I like cooler temps. The way the race was set up, runners would actually run a 2.08 mile loop twice, for 4.16 miles. The first loop was all about getting into a rhythm and to learn the course. The loop was a mix of running and walking to save energy for later. After passing the start/finish at mile 2.08, I continued on expecting an uneventful second half. Unfortunately for me, disaster struck. At mile 3.75 or so, I took a misstep trying to come off a bridge/ gazebo platform we had to cross. I tripped and fell very hard into the ground below, bruising my knee and really hurting my left shoulder. I told my buddy who was running with me to go ahead as I wasn’t sure if I could even run initially. After a few moments, I knew my leg was fine, but I could tell the shoulder wasn’t good. I was able to get back to the finish line in about 45 minutes for the whole loop and took a short break to prepare for the next start.

The next race started exactly an hour after the first loop ended, 8:30AM. My shoulder was aching, but, since my legs seemed to be fine, I figured I could keep running. I continued to do a run/ walk through the miles and just hoped my arm would stop hurting. At this point, it was aching quite a bit. I had told my buddy, Nicholas, I wanted to fashion a makeshift sling prior to the next loop with my long sleeve shirt (it had started warming up enough that short sleeves were looking good). We continued to run and talk so I could try to forget the pain. We finished the 2nd hour in about 45 minutes again, so another short rest was in order. In that time, I was able to fashion a sort of makeshift sling to try and keep the shoulder from moving to much (which would hopefully ease the pain).

My make shift sling. I do not know who took this pic as it was sent to me.

The next 2 hours were mostly the same, walk the ups, run everything else. The heat was starting to rise and though it wasn’t going to get overly warm, we haven’t experienced much in the 60 degree range yet this spring, so it felt warmer than it was. During the interloopals (the break between hours) I would refill my water bottle with my nutrition of choice, Sword, tighten my sling, and try to keep the legs lose. Hour 5, or approximately 20 miles in, was when the arm became to sore. I couldn’t stop thinking about the pain, so my mental game waned. I decided that 20 miles was a good enough long run prior to my next race to call it a day. I wanted 32, but given the situation with the shoulder, 20 would be fine.

I decided to stick around after my finish to watch some more of the race. Many runners came in and went out, hour after hour. Some would strive to come in about 45 minutes, allowing 15 to rest and refresh, while some had the strategy of only finishing with about 5 minutes to spare, to limit the time they could get “cold”. It was interesting to watch the strategies unfold, hour after hour. After hour 5 (the hour I dropped out), folks would seemingly begin to drop rather steadily for a few hours. Eventually though, I had to head home as my arm was aching to much and another night without a proper bed would not be ideal with the shoulder, so I had to take off. It wasn’t until the next day that a winner was named at approximately 130 miles. All in all, it was a great experience and a ton of fun. Highly recommend folks give this unique event a try.

Ohio’s Backyard Ultra

This past weekend I had the opportunity to run in the inaugural Ohio’s Backyard Ultra. If you’re not familiar with the Backyard style race, it’s relatively simple in concept, but very difficult in execution. The race is set up on a 4.1667 mile loop that must be completed in 1 hour. Sounds fairly easy, but here’s the catch, every hour the race starts again with the same 4.1667 mile loop. If you can’t continue, you DNF (Did Not Finish). If you don’t make it back in the hour, you DNF. The race goes until only one remains (and the final person standing must complete a final lap solo. Should they not make it, they, too, DNF).

The Ohio’s Backyard was held at McChesney Ridge Athletic Club, a beautiful space, appropriately, in someone’s backyard. The race would climb about 544 feet in the 4.1667 mile loop. Weather was just about perfect for race morning and 75 racers towed the line.

We would run around this lake and into the hills behind it as well as hills not pictured.

The race started at 7:30AM Saturday, right after sunset. The temps were a bit chilly, but I like cooler temps. The way the race was set up, runners would actually run a 2.08 mile loop twice, for 4.16 miles. The first loop was all about getting into a rhythm and to learn the course. The loop was a mix of running and walking to save energy for later. After passing the start/finish at mile 2.08, I continued on expecting an uneventful second half. Unfortunately for me, disaster struck. At mile 3.75 or so, I took a misstep trying to come off a bridge/ gazebo platform we had to cross. I tripped and fell very hard into the ground below, bruising my knee and really hurting my left shoulder. I told my buddy who was running with me to go ahead as I wasn’t sure if I could even run initially. After a few moments, I knew my leg was fine, but I could tell the shoulder wasn’t good. I was able to get back to the finish line in about 45 minutes for the whole loop and took a short break to prepare for the next start.

The next race started exactly an hour after the first loop ended, 8:30AM. My shoulder was aching, but, since my legs seemed to be fine, I figured I could keep running. I continued to do a run/ walk through the miles and just hoped my arm would stop hurting. At this point, it was aching quite a bit. I had told my buddy, Nicholas, I wanted to fashion a makeshift sling prior to the next loop with my long sleeve shirt (it had started warming up enough that short sleeves were looking good). We continued to run and talk so I could try to forget the pain. We finished the 2nd hour in about 45 minutes again, so another short rest was in order. In that time, I was able to fashion a sort of makeshift sling to try and keep the shoulder from moving to much (which would hopefully ease the pain).

My make shift sling. I do not know who took this pic as it was sent to me.

The next 2 hours were mostly the same, walk the ups, run everything else. The heat was starting to rise and though it wasn’t going to get overly warm, we haven’t experienced much in the 60 degree range yet this spring, so it felt warmer than it was. During the interloopals (the break between hours) I would refill my water bottle with my nutrition of choice, Sword, tighten my sling, and try to keep the legs lose. Hour 5, or approximately 20 miles in, was when the arm became to sore. I couldn’t stop thinking about the pain, so my mental game waned. I decided that 20 miles was a good enough long run prior to my next race to call it a day. I wanted 32, but given the situation with the shoulder, 20 would be fine.

I decided to stick around after my finish to watch some more of the race. Many runners came in and went out, hour after hour. Some would strive to come in about 45 minutes, allowing 15 to rest and refresh, while some had the strategy of only finishing with about 5 minutes to spare, to limit the time they could get “cold”. It was interesting to watch the strategies unfold, hour after hour. After hour 5 (the hour I dropped out), folks would seemingly begin to drop rather steadily for a few hours. Eventually though, I had to head home as my arm was aching to much and another night without a proper bed would not be ideal with the shoulder, so I had to take off. It wasn’t until the next day that a winner was named at approximately 130 miles. All in all, it was a great experience and a ton of fun. Highly recommend folks give this unique event a try.

Rock n Roll DC half marathon

This past weekend I ran the Rock n Roll DC half marathon. This was the second time I had run a Rock n Roll type event, so I was curious how it would be. Having run around DC previously, during the Marine Corps Marathon, I had at least some idea of the sites we might see.

I would be remised if I did not mention that I had the opportunity to meet some running friends from the Runner’s World Run streak group I am a part of. Sadly, I did not get any pics with them, but they’re a great group of individuals. They were running the various races on race weekend, the5k, half, or full. We all had a chance to meet up the night before the race for a nice dinner in the DC area and talk.

The race morning, Sara and I were up early so we could walk a short distance to the DC metro. When we got to the station, they hadn’t even opened the gates, but we wanted to be sure to be one of the first on the train, so as to make sure we were at the start in plenty of time. Once the gates opened, the train arrived, and we were off. A few stops later, we hopped off the subway, with about 1000 others who had also hopped on the train, and headed towards the start.

The start area was laid out nicely. Lots of porta potties near the metro station, and many more near the actual start line, about a block away, made finding a pre race restroom pretty easily. Since Sara and I had arrived early, we took a warm up run around the National Mall and out to the Washington Monument. After our brief warmup, we headed to the start corrals.

The corrals aren’t anything fancy, about the same as any race. The start is right off the National Mall, near some of the Smithsonian Museums, so it was a pretty neat starting area. As the race takes off, you run a mile or so near the National Mall, so you can see a few of the sites, though it isn’t exactly easy to see all the Monuments as you never really get close enough. After that first mile, you end up on what I will describe as the highway, but I am not sure that’s exactly what it was. The race winds under road ways with no real views for a few miles until it gets into some of the DC neighborhoods. The houses in the DC area are quite nice, once you get to them, and many people came out to watch. We also ran through a very nice park nearby. I will warn anyone doing this race, the roads aren’t in the best shape and we were always watching for potholes, but overall, the course was nice and support was good.

The race ends at the RFK stadium, near the DC armory. The stadium isn’t much to lookout and appears to have fallen in disrepair, though it is still in use. The post race party, which is usually one of the things Rock n Roll touts as a main reason to do their races, was just ok. They did have plenty of post race food, but the setup didn’t really make me feel like I had actually finished a race. I feel it could have been done better.

Overall, the experience was a positive one. DC is a fun area to run in, seeing the monuments, even if only briefly. I wouldn’t say the race itself was my favorite ever, but I wouldn’t say it was bad either. If I were to grade it, I’d say C+. That said, meeting some running friends and running the race with Sara was definitely worth it.