This 1/2 Marathon was not like the others

Today marked the first ever Air Force ½ Marathon and 10K shadow event held at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, Africa.  We were unable to meet the deadline to become a sanctioned deployed event, but the pieces are in place for it to be one next year.  Since it was held entirely on a deployed base, registration was limited to military members, government civilians, and government contractors.  We had amazing volunteer support from all over camp as well as the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) office, so registration was free! 

                I volunteered to come up with the course map, which was a pain in the butt since this base isn’t very big and we couldn’t shut down all of the roads or use the runway, it is shared with the local airport.  Therefore, the bulk of the race was limited to the 2 mile stretch of running trail as you can see below.  I was able to run the route last month to check it out and to give everyone an interactive look at the turnarounds, so it was only natural that road construction would cause us to move our start line.  Luckily it didn’t affect the total distance for the ½ and barely affected the 10K. 

                Packet pickup was held at the camp MWR center on Thursday and Friday.   They handed out Sports Authority bags with random items in them that were donated.  The shirts are a dri-fit material and were paid for by MWR.  Race volunteers received a yellow cotton shirt.  I didn't get my volunteer shirt since I was running, hoping they have some left over so I can take it home to my wife.  The race start time was scheduled for 0400 due to the extreme weather conditions here, so I attempted to get to bed early last night.  Bad idea, I may have slept 3 hours total.  I think my brain was worried I would sleep through the alarm since it was going off so early.

                I finally crawled out of bed around 0310 and got dressed, everything was already laid out and ready to go like always.  I jogged a little bit to get warmed up and made the short walk over to the start area and did my dynamic stretching and put down some Gatorade chews.  The weather at this point is already 88 degrees and 75% humidity, miserable as usual.  Our race director made a few comments, gave the safety brief, national anthem was played, and we were on our way.  There really isn’t much to say about the course, it’s a military base in the middle of Africa.  There is no scenery, there were no spectators, and it was still dark outside.  The ½ and 10K course were the same right up until the 5.8 mile mark, that’s when the 10K runners exited the running trail and headed to the finish line.   The ½ runners stayed on the trail for 6 more miles and exited the running trail on the opposite end and did another 1.1 mi around the area of camp where we all live.  My pace was pretty consistent the entire race, the only real hiccup was at the mile 8 turnaround when I stopped to use my GU and gather myself and make some clothing adjustments, I think I walked for about a minute.  The only other issue was my first ever bloody nipple and the other one almost joined in, which didn't surprise me due to the humidity.  I missed the email yesterday stating that the medics had Vaseline.  I once again barely missed hitting that elusive sub 2 hour finish, but it was a PR and in these conditions, I’ll take it.  It was awesome to be a part of the first event like this on the camp.  Hopefully next year they get to put on a sanctioned event.

This also doubled as a virtual 1/2 marathon I signed up for about a month ago, that is what the bib and medal in the last picture are for.

Quick Public Affairs YouTube Feature

Deployment Running Streak and a lack of decent beer.

Well, today marks one month since I arrived to my deployed location in Djibouti, Africa.  When people use the term "Africa hot" they are referring to this place.  Daily high temperatures are constantly over 105° with a heat index of around 120°, the low only gets around 90° with a heat index of 100°.  I never realized the effect the dew point has on running until I got here, it's almost always over 75°.  I only got out to run twice in the first 2 weeks since I was adjusting my sleep schedule and stuck in a tent waiting on my permanent living quarters.  Once the calendar hit July, I made the decision to run every single day until I leave this place, or until marathon training starts.  I am currently at 20 days in a row and up to 87 miles for the month.  At this rate, I will easily run more miles in this month than any other month, ever.  Some days are easier than others, if the wind is blowing from the desert it's tolerable.  The days it's coming off the water, breathing takes some serious effort.  The other bad part is the scenery, as in there is none.  We have a short running trail on camp, about 2 miles long.  It's the only place headphones are authorized and it runs directly beside the trash incinerator.  On those days the wind is coming off the water it is also blowing the trash smoke directly on to the trail.  Needless to say, on long run days I just have to suck it up and run around other parts of the camp sans music.  Below are a few pics of the camp and the trail.  Oh, the beer selection here is pretty sad.  I haven't had many since I got here, between that and the constant running, I've dropped 20 pounds!

OBX Flying Pirate 1/2 Marathon Recap

Well, had a pretty crappy day before the race, but I'm not going in to that. I made it to packet pick up around 4:30 on Saturday, the expo was small but nice. Race bag including a sweet t-shirt, reusable plastic cup, a pint glass, and bib with built in timing chip. After that I checked in to the hotel and went to get a bite to eat and relaxed the rest of the night. Got up around 4 Sunday to get ready and headed to the finish area to take the shuttle to the start, temps were ideal for race day, 58 with a light breeze and the humidity wasn't too bad. The gun sounded at 7 and we were on our way. I took the first 2 miles at a decent pace and then picked it up. I hit the halfway point at 59 minutes and was feeling great and thought I was finally going to finish in under 2 hours. Unfortunately, at mile 10 I hit a wall right as the course went from road to dirt. There were a few hills, but nothing like what we have in Texas. I hit the last big downhill approach to the finish line and was done in 2:04, still close to a PR. The course scenery was ok, best part was going around the Wright Brothers Memorial. Course support was just right and the finish area and post race area was very well done. At the price I would definitely do this one again, but next time I'll do the 5k on Saturday for the extra bling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Run the Jailbreak - San Antonio

Today Amy and I got together with a few friends and did the Jailbreak obstacle run, it's a Texas based series that hits San Antonio, DFW, Padre, Houston, and El Paso.  Packet pickup was quick and simple and we got a pretty nice shirt and the bibs were really sweet.  We started in the 1030 heat and the first 1/2 mile was mostly running with couple quick and simple obstacles which included a shallow pond and some hurdles.  After some more running we encountered some tire runs, over/unders, mud pits, a downhill slip n slide, monkey bars, hay bails, and fog house.  Once we got over mile 2 and through a few more small obstacles we hit the long wait for a huge inflatable water slide.  We literally stood their waiting for 10 minutes.  It's time to start running in competitive heats.  Anyways, after we slid down, which was worth the wait, we got over the cargo net wall and hit the home stretch.  Right before the finish there was a huge mud pit followed by a low crawl (roll) through sand.  Upon crossing the finish line Amy dropped to a knee, mud and all, and asked me to marry her.  I said yes.  Details on that later, but there will obviously be a running event involved.



Scott, Karen, Me, Amy, and Danny after the finish.

Livestrong Austin Half Marathon Recap

We left San Antonio Saturday afternoon and got to the expo around 4:00.  After getting our gear we walked around for about an hour and I managed to get a pair of Brooks shorts on sale.  I have been meaning to try their shorts so I am pretty excited about that.  After we left there we headed over to the hotel, managed to book a room months ago at the Doubletree in the UT area, so we were about a mile from the start which turned out to be perfect.  We decided to just chill there and eat dinner at the hotel restaurant.  That wasn't the best idea, but that is another story.

 

I wanted to get up at 0400 Sunday morning, but Amy convinced me to snooze the alarm 30 minutes.  After we got up and did the pre-race ritual stuff, it was 0545 and time to head out.  We decided to walk/jog over to the start village, which was a good idea because it was about 39 degrees and it got our muscles warmed up.  We went to the military tent to check our gear which may have saved a few minutes, but I heard the standard gear check was outstanding.  We made it back to the start line area around 0645 and finished stretching out.  Now let me say this now, some of my race experience came from starting in the 11:41/mile pace area.  I now realize that was a bad idea, but in the grand scheme of things, it had little to no affect on my final time.

 

The race officially started at 0700 after the national anthem, which we barely heard.  They really need to put a few more speakers out.  We made it across the start line at 0715 and Amy and I stuck together for about a half mile and then I took off.  I took the first mile at a 10 min pace, I saw the course profile and wanted to respect the hills before I got to see them first hand.  Luckily, I was absolutely flying on this course!  I think all of the hill training paid off.  The first 2 miles took a few turns through Downtown Austin before crossing over Lady Bird Lake onto South Congress St.  Even though this was the uphill section of the race it was easy to get lost in all the awesome shops, restaurants, and food trucks along the route.  We actually spent 2 more hours here later in the evening.  I held a pretty good pace up to where we turned to get on 1st St and head back down the hill.  I took off and easily hit some of my best mile paces to date, but had to do quite a bit of passing by using the oncoming traffic lane.  Once back downtown, it was on to some of the less scenic areas of the course, but the Livestrong cheer section was really awesome.  After the full and half course split, the steep hills appeared and I realized my extremely high hopes of sub 2 hours may be in jeopardy.  They weren't horrible since we have some like these on base, but they were challenging.  I never had to stop and walk, but I wasn't exactly sprinting these bad boys.  Luckily, when you go up a hill, you get to go down it and get some time back.  Once through the final hills, it was the final stretch and I kicked it in to high gear and crossed the line at 2:03:44, a full 18 minutes faster than my previous best at shaved 1m22s of my previous best pace.  I was stoked! 

 

The finish line was very well organized.  After getting my medal, which is awesome (even more so when held up to light), I grabbed a bottle of water and a much needed Gatorade protein shake.  There was a lot of post race food, but I just opted for some HEB ranch chips.  Once out of the finish area to the military tent, I was surprised to find them pouring two free beers from local brewer Adelbert's, I went with the Scratchin Hippo and it was damn good.  I gathered up our gear bag and got the race vest off and put the jacket back on since wind hitting sweat is cold.  Once Amy finished (PR for her as well) I got her a beer and we walked/jogged (I'm mean) back to the hotel.  Afterwards we hit up a great place for lunch and amazing craft beers, it was called Hopfields, a must try for beer lovers.  After lunch is when we went back to the part of South Congress we ran to look through shops and visit the Hey Cupcake truck.  The nighttime consisted of grabbing some pizza at Roppolo's on 6th street and swinging by Pete's dueling piano bar.  We checked it out at SXSW last year and had to go back.  Oh, and we got our Hoek's death metal pizza after that, finally! 

 

Here are the pics of the route, elevation profile, and my splits.  I will definitely consider doing this race again next year, but for now, time to get back to training for the OBX Flying Pirate 1/2 in April, that sub 2:00 isn't going to run itself!