NFL Back to Football 5k - Redskins Run Race Recap

It's Saturday morning and it's race day.  I'm always up early on race day... I'm talking 4:30am early.  My family is still sleep and that's ok, because we have some time.  I'm pretty excited because I'm running in the first NFL Back to Football 5k and my boys are getting their first experience running in the Fun Run.  I never did anything like this when I was a kid and I was happy that my boys got to do something like this early in their lives.

Realizing and understanding the benefits of living healthy, has given me a strong  desire to create and mold an atmosphere of health and positive activity into their upbringing. It's extremely important to me that they grasp this lifestyle sooner, rather than later, like I did.

Anyway, I was happy that my boys and I had the opportunity to create a positive memory in their childhood.

I went downstairs to get ready like I normally do before a race. Started putting my gear on and getting my thoughts together about how I would approach this race.

My goal was to race it. I thought about the 5k that I did earlier this year. I finished it in 30:18. Perfect conditions down in Ocean City, MD and that was what I call a flat course. I was shooting for a sub 30 finish on this one.

It was really cool to have 1982 Super Bowl MVP Mark Moseley literally kick off the race!! After the national anthem was sung, he stood in front of the racers and kicked a football similar to how he did when he was playing. Now obviously, it didn't go as far, but it was much further than I could've kicked it. That was a pretty nice touch to the overall nostalgia of being there as a Redskins fan and participating in the very first run of the series at FedEx field. I'm hoping that next year, more Redskins and former Redskins will show up!!

Well we started in waves and I'm a slower runner, so we started in the middle to back off the pack. The faster runners went first and then the slower runners. The countdown from 10 began and we were off!!

I hadn't run most of the week and I was scheduled for a long run of 8 miles on Sunday as I'm tapering for my first half marathon. I wanted to really race this one and remembering the description of the course to be flat, I figured this would be great race to PR.

It wasn't as flat as Ocean City. There were some inclines... nothing really to complain about but I'd have to work to get under 30 minutes. So I felt pretty good and the strategy was to stay around 10:30/mile and really push it at the end.

I looked at my Garmin for my first mile time... 9:33. Agh!! I laughed to myself and said, "well there goes the PR." There was no way I could hold on to that for 3 miles!! But I tried... mile 2 was finished in 10:21. I knew my PR was long gone.

So I said I would make the best of this race and keep pushing. I began thinking about the times that I wanted to shoot for. I wanted to get under 33 minutes and decided to commit to that goal. That would be better than 11 minute miles and I could be happy with that.

My final mile would be done at 10:15, according to my Garmin. I ran 3.23 miles in 32:48... a pace of 10:10/mile. That's not too bad for a dzlrunner.

After the 5k was completed, me and the family walked around FedEx a little. They allowed us to go inside the stadium and see the field. I noticed that the field wasn't even painted yet for the big game against the Eagles on Monday Night Football. I took a gaze around the entire stadium and said to myself, this place is gonna be electric in a couple of days!! I got excited just thinking about it.

They began to announce the winners of the 5k and we started looking for where the kids fun run was gonna be held.

It took us some time, because it didn't seem like anyone had any answers. So if I had to complain about anything, it would have been the circles we kept going around asking about the kids run.

We finally found where the kids were lining up. My boys Kamari and Kameron were participating in this half mile run and I was hoping they would do well.

The kids were split up in two groups, by age... 10 and up were in the first group and anyone under age 10 would be in the second group. My oldest son, Kamari, is 10 and he was lined up right in front. I said to myself, "well would you look at that!" I was happy to see some type of competitiveness from him, since he's pretty low key. My youngest son is 6 and he is naturally competitive. I couldn't see him, but I was sure he would make a good showing.

What was really cool was, the kids were able to run out of the big Redskins helmet!! This was the same one the players run out of at home games!! This was so awesome and every time my kids see the big helmet on the field at the start of a Redskins game they can say that they ran out of the big helmet too!

Well the starting horn went blew and the kids came running out of that tunnel like bats outta hell!! I saw my oldest son and he was going!! I expected to see my youngest son in the next group and my running partner told me that Kam had broke out with the older kids!! I didn't see him!!

I was recording it on my phone. I stopped recording and looked in the tunnel... I didn't see Kameron!! I was pretty bummed, but then I thought to look on my video.

Lol... as the video came to a close, I saw Kameron bringing up the rear!! His face was determined!! I guess he said he wasn't running with the little kids!! He could hang with the big kids. Me and my running partner laughed because that's who Kam is. He loves taking on a challenge!!

Overall the morning was quite enjoyable and I was happy to have my wife and kids there, supporting and being involved in something positive and something healthy. I continue to look back over the couple of years that I've been working towards a healthier lifestyle. I'm happy with the progress I've made and looking forward to continued improvement of myself and my family.

You can do it too!! Just decide to take the first step towards improvement each day, and you're on that journey of success. It's that simple.

This is probably the worst time to be in a funk, right?

The first week of September has passed.  I've been in a funk over the last week or so... My last training run was on Tuesday, the 3rd and it didn't go well.  It was probably the worst run I've had in a long time... and it wasn't due to pace, 4 miles at a 11:07 pace.  This is a pretty good pace for me.  I just really felt like crap that day and it hasn't seemed to let up.  Mentally, it was a struggle and has been a struggle to get out of the door and physically, it's been a struggle to feel as good as I've felt before.  I've never felt like this before in my training and I'm trying to get answers on why this has come over me now... I've got my first half marathon in less than a week!!  I should be feeling confident, excited, pumped, right?

What's even more crazy is, football season has started and I'm happy about that!!  RGIII is starting for my Redskins on Monday Night Football, which is awesome!!  My favorite season of the year, Autumn, will be here soon and I'm happy about that!!  My 30th birthday is coming soon, which should be fun!!  I feel fine and am happy in all the other phases of my life, but my recent running has been, well, blah.  Weird.

I'm scheduled for an 8 miler today.  I'm going to try to push through it.  Right now, it's 7:06am and I'm currently waiting on my wife to get home from work, so I can try to get this run completed and have that out of the way.  It will loom over my head if I don't get it done.

I think what I'm going to do after my half marathon on Saturday is make the next week's training very light and just try to refocus.  The next race on schedule after my half marathon is my first full marathon... The ING Miami Marathon.  So, I will prepare for that and make that the only goal over the winter.

I'm hoping that we'll have a mild winter, here in the DC Metro area.  But, that may not happen, as the last couple of winters haven't been as bad.  So, we'll see how long runs of 20 and 22 miles in the winter will go.

But, let me know... have you ever had periods like this in your training?  I'm still a new runner and there are things that I am still learning.  So, suggestions and thoughts on how to deal with it would be greatly appreciated!!

My First Training Run of Half Marathon Distance... 13.1 miles.

The plan was to use the momentum from the last week's 12 mile race and go into this weekend's long run looking to reach 13 miles.  The week started out with great short runs of: 2 miles, 6 miles and 4 miles.  I knew that by Saturday, I was on track to have a high mileage week.  In fact, it would become the highest mileage week I've ever had.

The plan worked.  I woke up pretty jacked and ready to work towards my newest micro-goal.  My first half marathon, which is the ultimate goal, was less than 4 weeks away and I want to go into that race knowing that I've covered the distance at least once.  I decided to run my normal weekly route for the familiarity.  But then I continued running a few miles further to reach my half way point of 6.55 miles.  The furthest I'd ever run on this particular route was 3 miles out and then I'd turn around to come back.  So, this was even more of a new experience.

My first mile is never a good mile and this is understandable, because I’m running pretty cold at this point.  I do some light stretching of my hamstrings and quads, but other than that I don’t do any warm ups.  Some may say that this is not the best way to go, but, I haven’t gotten injured yet and I pray that I don’t in the future.  I’m all for whatever works for you.

After the first mile and a half, I began to settle down a bit and get in a good rhythm.  I felt strong and just kept working and progressing through my run.  Around mile 4, I was in an area that I’ve driven through many times before… But, I’ve never run through it.  It’s amazing how much you see while running that you don’t see driving.  I saw and took in so much more than I normally would, like the smell of the bacon from the neighborhood IHOP!!  Yummm....

I passed a high school, a few shopping centers and other restaurants between miles 4 -6.  As I got to mile 6, I came upon a pretty steep hill.  In order to reach the 6.55 mark, I had to climb.  I thought about changing directions or choosing a flatter option, but, it’s nothing like testing and pushing yourself in training runs.  I mean, that is why we train, right?







Frankly, I’ve noticed that hills don’t tend to bother me much and I seem to be able to climb them pretty easily.  So, I started trekking up the hill.  While I'm thinking about this right now, I’d like to make a suggestion about hills… The suggestion is: never look more than 5-7 feet in front of you while climbing a hill.  It provides the illusion of the road being flat and it changes the mental challenge of thinking you’re running up hill to a much easier challenge.

Now, back to the run...

I was able to get up the hill and I was reaching the halfway mark of my run.  At this point, I felt fine and didn’t have any major issues.  I had taken my nutrition at the proper times and was able to keep moving forward.

On my way back, I saw many runners who also had hydration vests/packs.  I remember thinking this must be a long run day for them too.  I actually had somewhat of a feeling of satisfaction, because they looked like they were beginning and I was more than half done.  The sun was out at this point and I knew that it would get tougher the longer they were out there.

Miles 8-11 passed right on schedule.  Nothing to report, outside of me trying the Margarita flavored Clif Shot Blocks.  My buddy, who is running the half marathon with me in a few weeks told me about them and gave them raving reviews.  These weren’t bad and came in handy, as I would tend to get little cramps around mile 10.  I took them at mile 8, so that they would already be in my system by mile 10 and didn’t have one cramp at all.  I kept sipping my water and continued my journey.

I didn’t forget to take my final energy gel to carry me through the end of my run.  This was a good thing.  Over the last few training distances of 10-12 miles and even the 12 mile race last week, I had forgotten to take my final energy gel and I always felt the effects of it too.



Just a gentle reminder... Always take your energy/nutrition at the proper times or it can throw your run off schedule.  Extremely important!

I took my final energy gel at mile 10 and was good through my finish.  I felt stronger than I ever have in a previous training run of 11+ miles.

I got back to my car and the distance was 13.01.  I said to myself, there is no way I will have run this 13 miles and not complete that last tenth of a mile.  I ran around the parking lot that my car was located in until I clicked over that 13.1 mile distance.  I had actually covered half-marathon distance!!

I felt so grateful, thankful and humbled that I just did something I’d never done before in my life!!  The feeling is fantastic!!  I’ve never felt this specific feeling of accomplishment before!!  I was confident, that I could definitely cover the distance of my first half marathon.  Now, it’s just a matter of staying focused and getting stronger.  I now need to incorporate some strength training in my schedule.  So, gym… here I come!!

Charles Street 12 Race Recap

My alarm goes off at 4:15 am.  I pop out of bed. It's race day.  My plan is to get to the start line by 6am.  I go down to the basement and hop on the computer to post on Twitter (@dzlrunner) about my excitement and that I'm ready to go!  I start to begin putting my gear on and I figured that I would allow my wife and daughter to sleep a little more.  (This may have been a mistake...  I started to hear my wife walk around upstairs at about 5:30am)  No big deal.  I figure a 45 minute drive to get to Towson from where we live wouldn't be too bad if we left between 6:00 and 6:10.  I mean, we'd still get there before 7am, since the race starts at 7:30.

We're all getting ready and I lose track of time!  I get a text from one of my running buddies, who's running the race with me.  The text asked if I was at the start line yet.  This is at 6:16 and I haven't left my house yet!  I responded that I just left the house.  (Technically, I wasn't quite in the car yet... I had to run back in the house to finish getting the rest of my things.  Oh, you've done it too. That time when you respond to someone about a future location of where you should be now or something that you should be doing now and you haven't quite gotten to doing it yet.  You're close, but not fully there... lol)

Well she said, "Geez... I hope you live in Towson!"  At this point, I knew I was in some trouble.  I don't live anywhere close to Towson.  I live in PG County, a good 30-35 miles from the start line.  I plugged the start location into my GPS and it said 58 minutes to reach my destination!! WHAT?!?!  At the rate I'm going, I'd get there in the middle of the National Anthem, if not after the race begins!!

I load my family in the car and we get going.  My wife and daughter are still pretty tired, so I knew I had to make time.  You can guess what I did... Once we got on the road and they were sleep, time had to be made up some way.  It was after 6:30am when I finally left my house.

I pull up to the starting location at 7:10am and I know I'm in the right place, because of the sea of neon colors in the street.  That's something I like about being a runner and running in races.  So many different colors, different outfits... so many different people! Such a beautiful thing!  I pull into a parking space, so my wife can switch to the driver's side.  I kiss the wife, kiss the baby and set out to look for my running buddy.  We haven't seen each other in a few years... So we catch up a little bit, talk about our training and shortly thereafter everyone's moving towards the starting line.

The National Anthem is sung, the starting gun sounds and we're off!  I wave to my wife and daughter and cross the starting mat.

I was prepared for the first third of the race to be tough.  The Course Information on the website stated that the course was downhill.  But, the elevation map on the website showed the first 3.5 - 4 miles being hilly.  I was mentally prepared for that.  I had already set my Garmin to run 12:30 miles, so I wasn't going to push my pace at all in the first quarter to first third of the race.  I was just going to keep steady and negotiate those hills as gently and as smoothly as possible.  (You can see my Pre-Race Strategy here)

Now these hills were not as bad as the hills I trained on, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, NC.  No where close.  But, consistent rolling hills can take a toll on you.  Within the first quarter of the race, we ran thru some residential areas of Towson and passed Towson University.  The first aid station was around mile 1.5.  I didn't stop, because I had my trusty Camelbak hydration vest and it wasn't a part of the strategy to drink this early. I felt fine through this portion of the race and it was just a matter of sticking to the plan.  I have run 4 miles so many times before, this was no different.

The second third of the race, miles 4 - 8, was pretty tough.  This wasn't because of the few minor pains I began to feel.  I could deal with that.  But, it was mainly because, I like many other runners were thinking "downhill".  For some crazy reason, when I got to the bottom of a hill or the end of a flat portion of the course, I looked up and there was another incline.  I kept thinking that maybe I read the information wrong... Maybe it said that this was not a "downhill course" and I wanted it to be.  I don't know.  It just steadily frustrated me to think downhill and I am continuously climbing hills.  A pretty sick joke by the race directors, if I do say so myself.

Oh yeah... I didn't even mention the fact that my Garmin only had 2 bars.  In all my excitement, I failed to charge my GPS watch!! Unbelievable!!  At this point, I'm not as comfortable as I would've like to have been.  The race course was not what I mentally thought it would be and constantly hoping my Garmin wouldn't die on me was more than I wanted to be concerned with.  But, just like life, sometimes you've got to just roll with the punches and work through it the best way you can.  Everything won't always be exactly the way we want it... That's a fact.

Around mile 8, I had came up to a runner and said good job.  She was doing well and returned the pleasantries...  We ran about the same pace, so we stuck together until about the 8.75 mile mark, when she said "Ok, you brought me through... I'm gonna walk a little bit."  I bid her adieu and continued my trek.

The final third of the race was where the battle between mind and body began. I was coming up on territory that I wasn't as familiar with.  Sure, I'd run several 10 mile runs up until this point in my training, but only one 12 miler.  This is the place, where pace no longer mattered and I just wanted to finish.  This is the portion of the race where all mantras that have ever been thought of, begin to flood the mind.  Mantras like, "One foot in front of the other" and "a body in motion wants to stay in motion" and "trust your training" all begin coming to mind at once.  These thoughts mixed with the desire to stop, but the desire to finish were becoming annoying.  I remember thinking how much I wanted the finish line to just magically appear in front of me or right around the corner.

But, no... it wasn't going to be that easy.  I'd have to work to get to the finish line.  There were no shortcuts and no magic carpets to get me to the finish.  All there was, was my desire to finish and the training I had put in.  My Garmin, didn't even keep me company as it saved my run at mile 8.49 and showed a blank screen.

I resolved in my mind that I would, in fact, finish this race and I was finally able to quiet the unnecessarily loud noise of mind and body, when lyrics to "She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes" came to mind.  Eventually, those lyrics turned to "He'll be coming 'round the harbor when he comes".  The Baltimore Harbor was where the race ended and not a point sooner.

I was at about mile 9.5 and my new running buddy, that I met at mile 8 showed up again.  She said something like "I told you I'd catch up with you."  This was much needed company at the time.  We ran a little further, talked about our training and at about mile 10.3 or so, she needed to walk again.  I said my goodbyes and kept on trekking.

I knew that I was getting close to the finish.  There were several winding turns between mile 10 and 11 and we were in downtown Baltimore.  At this point, I was wondering why I didn't have much and I was running on fumes.  It hit me... I forgot to take my energy gel at mile 9!  That's why I felt like I was running on empty.  I took the hot Gatorade that they gave at the aid station for electrolytes, but it didn't seem to help.  I was already in a hole that I couldn't crawl out of.  Once again, I had to roll with the punches and work through it the best way I could.

At about mile 10.9, I was feeling like I needed a second wind.  So I decided that I would walk this last tenth of a mile to the 11 mile marker and I would run the rest of the way.  This was slightly disappointing, because in all of my training runs, I've never even walked a hundredth of a mile.  I usually run the entire distance.  But, that's the funny thing about races.  They make you do different things and feel different ways.  It was time to recommit.  I tapped mile marker 11 as I passed and got back on my horse.  I made the choice that I would run from this point to the finish line.  No stopping.

Finally, I could see the harbor.  I had reached the harbor and all there was to do was to get down the boardwalk, past the Maryland World Trade Center Building, past the Phillips and Barnes & Nobles and hang that left into the finisher's shoot.

As I ran down the boardwalk and saw other runners who had already received their medals, a feeling of hope came over me.  I was almost there!  I ran past the Spirit of Baltimore, past Ripley's Believe It or Not, past the USS Constellation, in between the Cheesecake Factory and the Baltimore World Trade Center.  I got to the finishing shoot and guess who's running towards me... My 2 year old daughter.  I couldn't have asked for a better finish to this race.  I picked her up and carried her through the finish line, with my family cheering me through!!  All the pain and lack of energy I had subsided for that short period of time.  It was one of the greatest feelings in the world!!

(Video of race route and footage of my personal finish, can be seen below...)



















My official chip time was 2 hours 29 minutes and 19 seconds.  Thank you Charm City Run for a great challenge in the Inaugural Charles Street 12.  I will definitely come back to finish better and stronger next year!!