Cavedog Running

What a weekend running all four races at Gasparilla as part of the Michelob Ultra Challenge.

I am still surprised how well it went and as I had planned even though I was pretty sick for two days before. My goals coming in was to place top 3 in my age group for the 5K and top 10 overall for the challenge. Met both goals!! Here is the overall results for the challenge:

Neil Clements               TEAM# 1138
PLACED    10 WITH A SCORE OF 03:30:30

   35138      Neil Clements              2     in MALES 35 TO 39      00:18:52
   37138      Neil Clements              5     in MALES 35 TO 39      00:34:28
   01138      Neil Clements              36    in MALES 35 TO 39      01:07:22
   36138      Neil Clements              15    in MALES 35 TO 39      01:29:48
The first race Saturday morning was the 15K. I had already planned to just run this one at a easy, comfortable pace because I wanted to run a good 5K. It was nice just to run easy, enjoy the scenery and people watch. Ran about marathon pace and finished feeling like it was a training run. Caught up to my friend Brian in the 8th mile and ran him in. He was trying to run near an hour but had stomach issues early. I was sad to have passed our friend Melanie just before. She was running 4th in the women's race but dropped out.

Start of a long, fun weekend.

After a 90 minute rest, it was time to run the 5K. It was before this race that I learned that the seeded runners were those with yellow on the race bib. Glad I did as there was 11,000 people lined up. So, I just walked right around the whole lot and entered from the front. The race started at 9:30 and it was hot. I started off a hair fast with a 5:43 1st mile. I got hot quick and slowed accordingly. The 2nd mile wasn't bad at 6:08, but the 3rd mile really sucked at 6:20. That last mile was tough as the breathing was getting harder and I was just trying to keep it under control while preserving myself for the next day's races. In the end, I ran a decent time and finished 2nd in my age group only a few seconds out of 1st. Bummer, better pacing at the start may have changed that. Better to start slower and go faster than faster then fade.



With day one in the books, it was time to rest and refuel for Sunday. Plus, it was a great excuse to eat Jenny's Spaghetti!!

So, after a few short hours of sleep, we were awake at 3:30AM and headed back to Tampa for the 6:00AM half-marathon start.

Depending on how my legs felt, the goal was to give it a rip and see if I could get under 1:30 for the 3rd race in a row. Surprisingly, my legs felt really good when I woke up with no stiffness so it was game on.

The plan was to start out at 6:45 pace and see what happens. In longer races, I usually just start comfortable and let my body dictate. The 1st mile was 6:54 so I figured I wouldn't get down where I wanted and figured I would end up a bit over 1:30. As the race went on, I felt fine and the pace was confortable. The mile splits came down a bit and around mile 8-9, I started doing some mental math. I figured I was going to be really close to 1:30. I picked up the pace into the 6:40s and noticed I was picking up time and picking off other runners ahead of me. Each mile was a little faster than the previous and I ran the last mile in 6:33 which was also my fastest mile of the race. I was so pumped that I made it under 1:30. It feels so great to see 1:29 on the clock.

For the first time, I actually beat my friend Chuck in a longer race. He caught up to me 8 miles in and I figured that was that. Some reason, he slowed down, I passed and left him. He ran a much better 15K than I did, so he he still beat me by a couple minutes in the Challenge standings.

Finishing out a strong half-marathon effort.

The last race of the weekend was the new "5+3K". In other words, it was an 8K. I think they were trying to market the race to more 5K people to thin out the herds. The only goal I had for this race was to finish, maybe keep the pace under 7:00 and joked that maybe I would get lucky with an age group award. I started out at what felt easy and was enjoying the run running easy at a 6:43 first mile. The race started at 9:00AM and the weather was already hot and nasty. It was pretty bad that they were warning the crowd beforehand about the conditions. After the first mile, I actually kept pretty even splits around 6:56. Unfortunately, the effort to run those paces was getting harder as time passed. The last 2 miles really sucked running into the sun and the cool headwind from the way out gone. I was happy to cross the finish line and elated with how the weekend turned out. Found out later that I placed 5th in my age group for my 2nd award of the weekend.

Goofing off starting the last race of the weekend.

The walk back to the car was the first time all weekend that my legs actually felt tired, but was fine later and still good today. On the way home, we stopped off at Bo's Ice Cream for a milk shake. I had to reward Jenny and Tommy with something for being such a good crew. I should make them official uniforms or something!

The whole weekend from packet pickup on Friday through the last race Sunday was wonderful. After last year's experience, we easily navigated the crowds and had a great time. The only gripe of the weekend was with the text updates "provided" by Metro PCS during the half-marathon. Jenny didn't get a single update. Same thing happened last year with them as well during the marathon. I don't care how much money Metro PCS is paying Gasparilla as a sponsor, but they need to get rid of them because they suck!!

All the hardware...

These things are kinda heavy!