Final Race in the Loony Challenge: the TC 10 Mile

Before leaving the house the morning of the race, I tweeted this:

I forgot to leave some cash in our car that we left near the finish line, so I had to stuff a 20 in my crotch for the race so I'd be able to buy some snacks while waiting 4+ hours for Pharmie:

My wife and I hopped on the light rail (which was PACKED with runners - more so than last year) and got dropped off about 15 minutes before my race started. We grabbed a quick photo before splitting up:

I ran to find college buddy Dena who was hoping to run the 10 Mile in about 70 minutes. We chatted about inappropriate things (like we did in college) before the gun went off.

THERE WERE 2 PARTS TO MY RACE PLAN:

First, Dr. Folske said it'd be best to take it easy up the hills and just "let some people pass" me. Running hard up hills would make my achilles angrier quicker. So I have Doctor's orders to be wussy on the hills. Nice. I can do that.

Second, after getting through the worst of the hills and onto Summit Ave, I wanted to up the pace and start running harder. That's around mile 5.5. I noted last year when I first did the Loony Challenge that I could have ran the middle miles harder, but was just a little too timid (unsure of how long my tired legs would hold up).

RUNNER'S TO YOUR MARKS... GOOOOOOOO!

Pharmie saw me just a block after the start:

As I was running, I thought about my overall Loony time goal: "OK, my total is 57:27 after the 10K and 5K. So that means I'd have to run sub-1:02:33 to break 2 hours. And 1:02:30 is 6:15s, so LET'S SEE IF I CAN DO THAT!" I was still planning on starting a bit easier, keeping a solid pace in the middle, and then running hard to the finish - the last 3 miles are usually quite fast for me on this course.

I chatted with Casey from my Y early on in the race - she's never raced with me and she LOVED my shorts. Mile 1 was a good start in 6:19.5. I'd been doing a lot of my longer runs with portions at 6:20 pace, so I'm "comfortable" at that pace. Just after the first mile marker, we crossed the Mississippi River. I ran next to Tom R for a bit, and we chatted as we came to the short nasty hill across the river. Here's a photo from Terrance showing the pack in the 10 Mile Championship race in front of us climbing that hill:

It's steep.


One of the lead females on that hill, and you can see by
the retaining wall in the background that it's PRETTY steep!

Terrance didn't see me until I was just past him, but he tagged me in a photo where I'm in the background:

I'm the one in pink. The one who doesn't appear to be moving at all.

I let Tom pull away up that hill, and I let 2 other runners pass me. Then we enjoyed some downhill under the Washington Ave Bridge along River Road to the mile 2 marker. The hill didn't do much to my splits: mile 2 had half-mile splits of 3:10.4 and 3:10.2 for 6:20.6 total. Not bad.

But then we climbed THEE HILL on the course: the hill behind Coffman Union that climbs for a WHILE! I counted as people passed me: 15 got me on that hill. But I caught MOST if not ALL of them in the next half mile. THAT hill DID show up in my splits: that half mile was the slowest of the race in 3:26.3, followed by a pretty speedy 3:03.1 to make mile 3 6:29.4.

Photo from Marisa just after the 3rd mile marker.

I threw away my throw-away gloves, and I had my hat in my hand. It was a PERFECT morning for running. Mile 4 looked great with splits of 3:08.1 and 3:03.4 for a 6:11.5 total. I was getting ALL kinds of cheers for my shorts, and lots of cheers by name too. I didn't see everyone shouting for me, but of those I did see, I only recognized about half of them. Going under the Lake/Marshall Bridge, Emily shouted for me, and Greta did too. Greta referenced my tweet above shouting "THOSE LEGS DON'T LOOK HEAVY, STENZEL!" Oh, they felt heavy! Brian B grabbed a photo of me coming up the hill after going under the bridge around mile 4.5:

Just after that, I passed a woman saying "Oh, this is starting to hurt." She agreed. Then as I got a few more feet in front of her, she saw my shorts and responded to all the "NICE SHORTS" shouts I was getting by saying "hey, those ARE nice shorts!"

I hit the 5 mile mark in 31:59 and I was a little bummed with that split. I was HOPING to negative split the race (as I've done 3 out of the 4 years I'd ran it in the past), but I was worried that I was currently on pace for about 1:04. (Mile 5 was 6:23.9, which was slower too.)

I hit Summit and upped the effort. I was really working hard. But it wasn't showing in my splits: mile 6 was 6:27.9, and mile 7 was 6:26.2. My goal of 1:02:30 was slipping away, but I had to keep reminding myself that I was still having a decent race AFTER racing a 10K and 5K the day before, and that 1:02:30 was a pretty lofty goal.

Also, with around a 5K left, my left calf started getting a little tight. My right calf followed suit just after. They both got sore/tight and stayed there, so I was never in fear of having to stop. I actually thought that if I had to stop and walk ever, I might be done running in this race all together; my heels would probably tighten up too much right after stopping to walk that it'd be too painful to start running again. I knew I'd be pretty tight post-race, and I tried to keep thinking about my form.

Nipply bright photo from Terrance at mile 7.5.


Confused-looking, double-chinned, super un-sexy looking photo from Joshua at mile 8.

Mile 8 was FINALLY a bit faster, but still was only 6:10.3. And then mile 9 was a bit slower again at 6:17 (last year, I was sub-6 at this point). This race was harder than last year's; I can't say "Oh, I could have pushed more around mile X." Nope. This was appropriate suffering all the way through. I just wasn't in as good of shape this year.

At mile 9, I realized that I could break 1:03 if I ran a sub-5:40 final mile. It's a downhill finish, so I thought it was possible. My final mile has been 5:40 or faster each of the previous 4 years I've done this race. I gutted it out. But the first HARD half of that mile was 3:01.9. Dang.

At the Cathedral, I heard some cheers for me. Pete was there to get my yearly "running past the Cathedral" photo:

Thanks Pete!

It's a traditional shot, see:

2014


2009, 2010, and 2011. Now I have a photo at that spot from all 5 years. :)

The second half of the last mile was fast (as it always is down that hill towards the finish): 2:40.4 for a 5:42.3 final mile.

Marisa's photo of me suffering down the final hill with 0.2 to go.


Tom R sent me this photo of me in the finisher's chute saying the
"camera got focused on the crowd, perhaps an American Flag bias?"

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel, TC 10 Mile
1:03:05, 6:18.50 pace
106 out of 9150 overall
15 out of 537 in the 30-34 age group

31:59 first 5 miles, 31:06 final 5 miles.

At the 5 mile mark: 129th overall, 18th in my age group. (So I caught a few people on the way to the finish.)

I passed 165 runners, and was passed by 6 runners between the start and mile 5.
I passed 22 runners, and was passed by 2 runners between mile 5 and the finish.

Guess who was waiting for me just across the finish line? Evan was RIGHT there! I never saw him all race, but he just finished 14 seconds faster than me! (Remember, he was doing the Loony Challenge and had a 0:03 lead after the 10K and 5K the day before.) I had NO idea I was so close to him! But I raced a good race and could NOT have made up those 14 seconds, let alone made sure to finish at least 4 seconds in front of him to beat him in the Challenge. He had a slower 2nd half of the race, so I apparently was catching up to him (he ran a 31:19 and 31:31, so I was 25 seconds faster than him over the last half of the race).

I chatted with LOTS of "race buddies" in the finisher's area, and got an official post-race finisher's photo with Dena who was 33 seconds over her goal. I was 32 seconds over mine:

Instagrammed just after the race: "Happy with my 'personal worst' 10 mile time at the
#‎TC10Mile today. Calves were screaming with 5k left. 2:00:00 was my best possible
outcome for the #‎LoonyChallenge, and with my 38:33 10k and 18:54 5k yesterday,
I'm unofficially at 2:00:32. Now, who wants to massage my legs?..."

Post-race, I NEARLY headed into the medical tent because my calves hurt so bad. But then I realized it was far from a medical emergency, so I just toughed it out. But I DID get in line at the massage tent! I laughed when I got to the front of the line and could see in the tent: there were plastic-lined tables and mattresses on the floor all over the place (maybe 60 in this tent?), and it looked like a make-shift medical tent from World War II. Really. I immediately wished I had my camera. I got a great lower-half rub-down by a nice woman who's name I'm forgetting. THANK YOU MASSAGE WOMAN!


4 FINAL RACE THOUGHTS:

• NEVER have my calves been so sore after a race. My quads were sore and tired (which is to be expected), my hamstrings felt just fine, but my calves were SUPER tight. I couldn't properly walk down steps the next morning, and they were bad all day. Yesterday (2 days post-race) they were better, but far from perfect - they maybe went from an "8" on Monday (just shy of limping) to "6.5" yesterday on a 1-10 pain scale. And maybe they're a "5.5" today. As long as they keep feeling better, I'm not worried. If they stall out, I might have Dr. Folske rub them out.

• Never felt good/fast in this race. My legs were slow/heavy from the start because of the 10K and 5K the day before. I just never fell into a rhythm. I'd feel good 1 mile about a good split, and then crappy the next.

• I ran the 10 Mile about as good as I could have. I think my slowest final mile ever at this race shows that. And the fact that I perceived an "up" in the effort around half-way, but my times didn't drop at all. I was not being too timid - I raced about as good as I could have throughout. And I don't say that often.

• The cashier at Nina's Coffee Shop had no idea that I paid for my hot chocolate with a sweaty crotch $20. (See first photo in this post.) That $20 stayed put nicely. And there was no odd chafing.


I went up the hill past the Cathedral to cheer for the marathon runners. I walked back and forth a lot (covering nearly 4 miles) which was good for my tight legs. I stretched them out really well twice too. Soon, I spotted Pharmie:

Looking focused in the pink.




Running off towards the finish! (Right in the middle.)


A photo I Instagrammed yesterday from mile 26 of the Marathon.

She finished with a 10K, 5K, and Marathon time that were ALL better than her times last year when she first did the "Ultra Loony Challenge!" She still had hoped her marathon was even faster, but she was OK with her time in the end.

We got home, put the boys (and Mama) down for a nap, and then Charlie showed off his fresh haircut that night as he looked like a pimp with beads and a snake in the playroom:

Post-race pizza.

I'll end this race report with a photo my wife posted Sunday night:

"Twin Cities Marathon #15 is in the books! This one hurt early, probably secondary
to the 9.3 miles raced yesterday as part of the Ultra Looney Challenge.
Thanks everybody, for your well wishes and a special thanks to those who
came out to cheer! The spectators truly make this race special."

Back with the conclusion of the "Loony Challenge" series shortly! (Here's the link to my first 2 Loony Challenge races if you missed it - I ran the 10K with a camera and took a few photos throughout.)

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Loony Challenge Weekend: RACE REPORTS for the TC 10K and 5K

My lovely Pharmie and I raced the TC 10K and TC 5K on Saturday. We did this last year with her brother and (then) fiancée Angela (now wife).

From last year's race report.

In the past few months, they bought a house and had a lot of overseas work trips, so they bowed out of the Loony Challenge this year. So it was just my wife and I:

Pre-race selfie.


We witnessed a forklift deliver this massive rack of finisher medals.


Blurry (because it was dark-ish) traditional potty shot.


We chatted with some buds in the starting area - here's fast
swimming buddy Aaron G. who was also doing the Loony Challenge!


2,300+ people with me in the starting chute ready to start the 10K!


Welcome to Minnesota: it was a little breezy and 40-45 degrees.

One of the guys who lined up next to me was runner buddy Evan. We met a few years ago, and he's a pretty fast runner. AND HE WAS DOING THE LOONY CHALLENGE! And so was this other guy wearing a Boston Marathon jacket, and that's never a good sign. I was ready to RUN HARD.

"RUNNER'S TO YOUR MARKS... GOOOOOO!"

The rising sun lighting up the Cathedral.


Behind the "Loony" runner in the Boston coat. "Well, gotta keep up with him, I guess..."

My first half mile up the hill by the Cathedral was 3:02.7, and my next was 3:05.1 for a 6:07.8 first mile. I was hoping to hold 6:15s-ish, so not a bad start.

Still behind the Boston guy on Summit (before the first mile marker).


Still behind the Boston guy heading downhill and then back up to Dale Street (around mile 1.3).

Mile 2 was surprisingly fast: I ran half-mile splits of 3:03.5 and 3:05.8 for a 6:09.3 total. I knew last year, I had a slow mile 3, so I was REALLY happy to see a 6:15.9 mile 3! We turned back around and realized that we were being slightly pushed by the breeze on the way out.

Finally NOT the Boston guy in front of me! I passed him somewhere around mile 2.
This is just after the turn-around near Hamline Ave.

I tried to draft behind this tall man in yellow, but I wasn't behind him for more than a block before thinking I should/could be going faster. So then I hopped out from behind him, only to run right next to him for a long time. Pointless. I'm not good at the finer points of racing. Or lovemaking.

A half mile later, the blvd between the 2 directions of Summit Ave came together, and
we were running towards the rest of the runners who were still heading out.


Still just hopping around with the tall guy in yellow.

My 4th mile got a little slower, but I was trying to make sure I had some reserve for the upcoming 5K and then the 10 Mile the next day. I told myself to not worry about running FAST, but instead concentrate on running WITH GOOD FORM. Mile 4 was 3:06.7 and 3:10.6 for 6:17.3 total.

Then it got lonely:

Looking down from Dale Street, with our final hill in the distance.

YOU KNOW WHAT I GET FOR COMPLAINING THAT IT WAS LONELY? I GET SOME COMPANY. FELLOW "LOONY" RUNNER EVAN PASSED ME UP THAT HILL.

Evan in front of me.

Serves me right.

But the funny thing is (and this is totally true) that I had the thought "Well, if someone beats me, I'd much rather have it be someone that I know."

Mile 5 was even slower: 6:21.3. I was pretty pooped from going out at a decent pace to stay with Boston guy, and now I wanted to try to stay with Evan. I hope I wasn't being dumb.

On Evan's tail on the freshly paved part of Summit with less than a mile left.


Still with him heading down the hill by the Cathedral.


Still with him crossing Kellogg Ave.

My final mile was 6:04.3, and the final 0.23 miles to the finish was at 5:41 pace. I finished just behind Evan, 7 seconds faster than last year. But this race was very different from last year's: last year, I was slow in the middle and gently/easily added speed near the end. This year, I was faster at the start, and just slowly died throughout.

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel, TC 10K

38:33
6:12.24 / mile pace

21 out of 2324 overall
21 out of 878 men
8 out of 145 in the 30-34 age group

I had to wait around for an interview that I was going to do for a local live morning show, so I grabbed a selfie with the 2 hilarious Medtronic cheerleaders:

Totally channeling Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri.


Post-interview with Todd Walker from Fox9. Pharmie finished her 10K FIVE minutes faster
than she thought, so she was pulled into the interview too! I'll share a video link if it surfaces.

When TC in Motion asked if I could be interviewed between my races, I mentioned that I was planning on going back to my car to get a foam roller to roll out of my legs. I asked if they had a spot I could store a roller during the races, so I got access to their HEATED media tent. Nice. I grabbed the roller and hit my butt and heels well, and then got ready for the 5K.

"5K RUNNERS: ON YOUR MARK... GOOOOO!"

I didn't run with my camera for the 5K (just like last year). I was hoping for around 6:00/mile pace like last year, but after that pretty fast 10K, I didn't know what would happen. My first mile was right on: 2:57.3 and 3:04.3 for 6:01.6.

We hit the turn-around, and I noticed Evan wasn't far behind me. Like "just a few seconds" not far. My legs were pretty tired, and I started thinking about the 10 Mile the next day. I concentrated on form like I did near the end of the 10K. No heel strikes. Mile 2 was slower: 6:14.6.

I finally cracked 6 in the final mile: 5:58.4. And my final 0.11 to the finish was at 5:43 pace - that's fast, but far from "all out sprinting" fast.

Oh, something gross happened in the final 2 blocks of the 5K. The woman who came in as the 2nd female was running just in front of me to my left. I saw her cock her head back over her left shoulder for a second, and then bring it back to the front again. "Ummm, I think I better get a little farther off to her right side," I thought to myself. Sure enough, a second later, she cocked her head back again and barfed over her left shoulder. And then again. And then again. Three little chucks over about 5 seconds. She NEVER slowed up or broke stride, and that was the final 0.11 where my Garmin at me at 5:43 pace. Solid work, speedy barfing woman!

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel, TC 5K

18:54
6:05.00 / mile pace

32 out of 2696 overall
31 out of 980 men
4 out of 115 in the 30-34 age group

I turned around as soon as I finished, and guess who was RIGHT behind me. Yep. Evan. And he started a few seconds farther back, so he actually beat me. TC in Motion shared this photo of the female winner on their Facebook page:

LOOK IN THE BACKGROUND - that's Evan and I about 40 seconds after we finished:

I SWEAR I'M NOT PISSED HERE! I must have been "in between" faces and just caught at a
weird time. I wasn't pissed that Evan finished right with me. I swear. Pretty funny, though.

JUST before I was going to grab my camera out of the media tent so I'd be ready to get a photo of Pharmie finishing, THERE SHE WAS crossing the finish line! She beat her 10K time by nearly 5 minutes compared to last year, and her 5K time by nearly 2 minutes! Way to go Pharmie!

Lots of 5K runners heading down the hill toward the finish.


The finish!

5 RACE NOTES:

• Pharmie was a few MINUTES faster at these 2 races than she was last year, but I was just a bit slower. I was 7 seconds FASTER in the 10K compared to last year, but I was 16 seconds SLOWER in the 5K, so I was 9 seconds slower overall at this point. That was quite comparable, so I was fine with that.

• Evan had a 0:03 lead on me after these 2 races. He was 0:01 faster in the 10K and 0:02 faster in the 5K. But I knew he was a better distance runner, so I wasn't holding my breath that I'd beat him in the 10 Mile the next day. Still, we were both ready to RACE on Sunday!

• My achilles held up OK over these 2 races! The day before, I finally was able to see Dr. Folske for some much-needed A.R.T. on my heel. He didn't work a MIRACLE, but I was happy with how well it still felt after the 10K. Here was the scene the day before in an Instagram of mine:

Caption: "Wrangled these 2 during a final Dr. Folske visit before racing this weekend.
#DadLife #TC10Mile #LoonyChallenge"

• Even though my achilles didn't act up, my legs were HEAVY the rest of the day. I ran pretty hard. In fact, most people doing the Loony said something like "yeah, I wasn't planning on running that [the 10K or 5K] THAT hard/fast!" I figured my 10 Mile could suffer a bit the next day, but I did what I had to stay close to Evan.

• I was glad I wore my wind-proof briefs under my shorts. It was in the lower-to-mid-40s, and I didn't want to worry about Pepé getting too cold. And really, when do you ever overheat and think "oh, if only my junk and ba-dunk were cooler." Never. You never say that. So I added that extra layer of warmth down there and happily went on with life.

We got home, relieved the babysitter, and Henry sat to stretch with me:

I love this guy.

Then we went out for breakfast:

And to the park. (And then both boys got haircuts too.)

Back with my TC 10 Mile report soon, as well as how the Loony Challenge ended up!

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Three Quick Pics from the TC 10K/5K (and Loony Series Standings!)

Well, Mama, Henry, and Charlie are all sleeping upstairs right now. Pharmie and I had some decent runs this morning at the TC 10K and 5K as part of the "Loony Challenge." We were also BOTH interviewed on live TV between our 2 races by Todd Walker from the Fox9 Morning Show. (I'll share a link to the video if they put that segment online later.) Here are 3 quick pics:

Pre-10K photo with the Cathedral of St. Paul in the background.


I ran the 10K with my camera like I did last year. This is just before mile 4 for me
and the guy in red on the far right as we're heading back towards the finish,
and ALL these people heading out are around mile 2.5. Quite the scene!


Breakfast with the family post-race.

As far as current "Loony Challenge" standings go, I know I'm NOT leading like I was last year! A friend showed up at the start line who I didn't know was doing the Loony, and he beat me by 0:01 in the 10K, and then by 0:02 in the 5K! And there may have been more Loony runners in front of him. He and I might have a good (painful) race tomorrow! I place my chances at about 8% to beat him because he's more of a distance runner - I thought I'd be a few seconds faster in the shorter races where I tend to be stronger, but he's already got the lead! (At least he's got the lead on me; who knows how we stand in the series overall.)

TOMORROW SHOULD BE FUN! I've got the TC 10 Mile left, and Pharmie still has to run the Marathon!

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Friday Funny 988: Making a New Friend (at the TC Marathon)

This is a different sort of "Friday Funny," and it's timing is appropriate because this weekend is the TC 10 Mile and TC Marathon.

Over a year ago, I started chatting with this tall, skinny, 40-something runner from my Y. She was always there on a treadmill when I was there. We'll call her "L." Turns out she's pretty fast: a bit after we got to chatting, she went off and ran a 3:18 marathon. Nice.

L and her hubby.

I first mentioned my blog to L shortly after last fall's "Kitten Mile" because I knew she'd get a kick out of my race report. Since then, she'll sometimes *like* a post or leave a comment on a link on the Steve in a Speedo Facebook page.

One time after she liked something on Facebook, I thought I'd snoop through her profile. I wasn't her friend, but I was curious to see her boys, because we've shared lots of "raising boys" stories.

I got to one profile picture, and I laughed SO hard. I couldn't wait to tell L what I saw in her pic!

I found her back at the Y a few days later, and practically ran over to her. "L, do you know that I'm in one of your profile pics on Facebook?"

She gave me a sideways glance. "Are you in the background of one of my race photos or something?" she asked.

"Nope," I said. "I'm POSING with you, and our arms are around each other!"

L was stunned. "WHAT?!?"

Then I told her what pic it was:
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That was back when my wife's family and I would cheer in farm animal costumes for the marathon runners. And that was 6 years before I knew L. I'm the chicken. Too funny! Her photo was captioned like this:

Here's links to lots of FARM ANIMAL photos from years past if you want to take a look: 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

L's racing this weekend, but not at the TC Marathon. Good luck, L!

Stop back for updates on Pharmie's and my races tomorrow and Sunday. I'm doing the Loony Challenge (the 10K, 5K, and 10 Mile), and Pharmie's doing the ULTRA Loony Challenge (10K, 5K, and Marathon). My heel has really been acting up this week, and I saw Dr. Folske earlier today for some last minute A.R.T. work on it. He told me I can run through some pain on Sunday in the 10 Mile. Yikes! I'm worried!

I hope to have a quick 10K and 5K post-race update tomorrow afternoon, so stop on back! Happy weekend!

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Friday Funny 987: Protest Signs

More funny stuff posted all week long on steveinaspeedo.tumblr.com!

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Friday Funny 986: "There... I Fixed It!"

More funny stuff on steveinaspeedo.tumblr.com.

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My Dead Toenail is Fully Dead

Last week, I posted that I had a toenail turning purple. It was a bit sore on my next 2 runs, but not bad.

Now, it's FULLY dead and doesn't hurt, so it won't be an issue for the races this weekend:

Oh, but my achilles is still achy, so I'm still hoping for the best for race weekend. I'm seeing Dr. Folske tomorrow for some A.R.T., so hopefully that will loosen me up nicely.

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