3rd Race In Three Days: The Colonial Half Marathon

I’ve had the Colonial Half Marathon on my list of “want to do” races for several years, but it always falls on the same weekend as the third and final event in the Mud In Your Eye cross country series, and I’ve used that as an excuse not to be part of the prestigious race. This year, however, I decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it.

The course is described as a “scenic and hilly 13.1 miles”, which turned out to be a pretty accurate statement and definitely my kind of race. Living in Virginia Beach there aren’t too many opportunities to run a hilly course, so I was really looking forward to finding out how tough it really was. To add to the intrigue, every time I mentioned I was running the Colonial Half, the reply was something like “Challenging course” or “Wow, that’s a hilly one” or “Watch out for the hills”.

The race starts on the College of William and Mary campus, winds through residential Williamsburg, then out the Carter’s Grove Country Road, with a two and a half mile loop in Kingsmill and the Busch Corporate Center, then back on the Carter’s Grove Country Road to campus and finish inside Kaplan Arena.

The race was due to start at 1pm, which meant an extra hour or so in bed and a leisurely mid-morning drive to Williamsburg. Packet pickup and the race expo were inside William and Mary Hall, and luckily I was able to park right outside my daughter’s college dorm and walk the short distance to collect my race number and t-shirt. The t-shirt was quite disappointing to be honest, and for an established event of this size I would expect to see a long sleeve technical shirt with official race logo and maybe a few sponsors on the back. Not sure I’ll be adding this one to my growing collection of event tees…

Anyway, with 2 hours to go before the beginning of the race, I decided to find a seat inside Kaplan Arena, rest my legs and relax. It was good to “people watch” for a while and see who I recognized, but being an out of town race most of the faces were new to me. Until Charlie entered the Arena right in front us that is. We had a brief chat, he mentioned getting lost on the way to William and Mary, we commented on the perfect weather and off he went to scope things out. We said we’d no doubt see each other at the start line.

One thing that’s strange about an early afternoon race is what to eat and drink. Usually the races I enter are at 8 or 9am, so it’s just wake up, eat breakfast and head to the event by which time the food has been digested and you’re ready to go. I wasn’t sure what to do today, but in the end decided on a “normal” breakfast of toast and cereal around 7:30am. I planned on topping up my energy stores throughout the morning with Hammer Nutrition’s Sustained Energy – a great product that provides 343 calories per 3 scoop serving and one I’ve used in many long distance workouts and races. I was able to sip the concoction from a 24oz bottle during the drive to Williamsburg and in the hour or so I spent in Kaplan Arena, and as a backup packed an extra 3 scoops just in case I needed any extra fuel. Sustained Energy has a neutral taste, mixes well in water, is really easy to digest and is the only breakfast I consume before a long run or race.

Around noon, I made my way outside to start a warm up, spotted my daughter (who would helping out at the race along with her William and Mary team mates) and good friend Charlie Schindler. After a quick chat we headed off to find the start line and ended up running a comfortable 2.5 miles which really helped shake out some of the soreness from yesterday’s muddy cross country race.

Back inside the Arena, it was time to stretch a little, strip down to my race attire (Les Croupiers Running Club singlet, shorts and gloves) and apply Mineral Ice to my legs – a pre-race ritual that may or may not help me when I’m out on the course. I tucked an espresso gel inside my glove, reset my Garmin 305 and made my way outside.

The start line was a short(ish) walk/jog away from William and Mary Hall. Luckily the weather was good and to be honest I would hate to have to make my way to the line in the cold, wind and rain. As predicted, I soon hooked up with Charlie and a few other local runners, before positioning ourselves on the second row behind many of the “elite” runners.

The gun sounded (or was it a horn?) and we were off. A quick right turn followed by a sharp left turn didn’t seem the ideal way to start a race of this size, but who am I to go against tradition? Luckily no-one fell or got tripped although I did feel a couple of nudges in my back as everyone jostled for position. Thankfully the road ahead soon straightened out and I was able to get in to a nice rhythm.

After 2 tough races in 2 days, I didn’t have a good feel for a goal time. I thought I could manage a 1:25 (6:29 per mile pace), but secretly hoped for something slightly quicker. A lot would depend how much I’d left in the mud at yesterday’s 8k!

The first mile was a speedy 6:13, but didn’t feel too fast – definitely due to the adrenaline of the start. The second undulating mile (which would be the “tough finish” on the way back everyone talks about) was a more leisurely 6:29 and I was enjoying chatting to the two Charlie’s who were running either side of me. I didn’t see the third mile marker (apparently it was after we left the paved road and crossed a cool wooden bridge), but my Garmin had me at a 6:05 mile. It didn’t feel that fast, but maybe the downhill to the river had caused me to speed up? I was already breathing quite hard by this point and suddenly realized I’d forgotten to put on my heart rate monitor strap. No worries, I could tell I was working hard and it certainly wasn’t going to get any easier!

I almost forgot to mention, at around the 2 mile mark a runner approached from behind and asked “Are you Steve Speirs?” I was a little shocked but replied “Yes, I’m Steve”. It turned out the mystery runner is a regular reader of this blog, who’d stumbled on it by looking for Garmin Forerunner reviews. Small world eh? Great race mystery runner by the way and thanks for introducing yourself!

Mile 4 was slightly uphill (actually the whole course is either downhill or uphill the whole time!) and came in at 6:42 – the slowest of the race, and possibly a GPS error? It certainly didn’t feel that slow and it was at this point in the race my legs started to feel heavy and I wondered what the next 9 miles had in store. I wanted to take my emergency gel for a boost, but not knowing where the water stops were, decided against it. Gel without water to wash them down is not a good idea.

Halfway through the fifth mile, however, I remembered I’d placed 2 Energy Surge tablets inside my shorts pocket. Energy Surge is touted as “Instant energy right when you need it” and based on the few times I’ve used the tablets, the product works. Energy Surge contains the chemical compound ATP (adenosine triphosphate) – the “energy currency” of the cell – that provides the overwhelming majority of the energy needed by your body. When your body is stressed, ATP stores are rapidly depleted, but Energy Surge can restore some of these stores and give you an “instant boost”. You can read more about this amazing (legal) product here.

I removed my right glove, fumbled in my shorts pocket for the tablets and popped them under my tongue to dissolve. The glove was replaced and I settled back in to a rhythm just behind good friend Charlie Schindler. Mile 5 and 6 were 6:14 and 6:16 respectively, and now we were leaving the trail, crossing a soft, soggy mulched area (wasn’t Mud In Your Eye yesterday?!) and entering the Kingsmill loop. My friend Charlie kept on surging to either (a) catch the guy ahead, (b) drop me or (c) a combination of both. Each time I let him go, but gradually clawed my way back to avoid surging myself. These surges helped lower my mile split to a 6:06, but the Energy Surge wasn’t working and I was really struggling trying to hold on.

Leaving the Kingsmill loop, Charlie pulled away – 3 yards, 5 yards, 10 yards, maybe more. My head was down, I couldn’t hang on but come on Steve, there’s still over 5 miles to race – don’t give up yet. I dug deep, crossed the mulch and noticed I’d closed the gap to maybe 5 yards once again. Maybe I could still come back? Mile 8 was a 6:10 so at least I hadn’t slowed too much and now I was almost level. I gained another yard on a slight uphill and for some reason, at that moment, decided to make a move on Charlie. Two younger runners were on a charge and I tried to stay with them – their momentum carried me along and I felt like I was flying. Maybe the Energy Surge had finally kicked in?

At mile 9 I heard one of the younger runners shout 6:04 and smiled at the quicker mile. Still four miles to go though. I knew Charlie would be right behind me and it would probably psyche me out, so I didn’t look back and kept the charge going as long as I could. We crossed the wooden bridge and the kids accelerated again and surged up the incline. I dug deep and muscled up the hill, sure that Charlie would be level at any minute. Mile 10 was a slower 6:12 and I was starting to feel the effects of the quicker mile. I tried to convince myself there was only 5k left to run, but I also knew how painful a 5k can be and we still had the tough portion of the course to run.

Despite the ups and downs of the next couple of miles, I managed to maintain my pace and even passed 4 or 5 runners. One guy was cramping/walking at the side of the road and another was throwing up in the bushes – the tough race was taking it’s toll. Mile 11 came in at 6:10 and mile 12 a quicker 6:09. I was strong up the hills and despite burning quads, fast on the downhills – still running scared from Charlie.

Back on campus in the final mile there were several sharp turns to navigate, but I kept the momentum going, passed a couple more runners and sprinted around the back of William and Mary Hall to the ramp and the finish line inside the Arena. I crossed the line in 1:22:00 and was immediately hit my a huge wave of thick, warm air. After being outside for over 80 minutes, the sudden change in air temperature made me feel quite sick, but it soon passed as my body adjusted to the indoor air. I treated myself to some coffee, Gatorade and a banana (pizza or soup would have been nice) and looked around to see if I’d missed the people handing out medals (I didn’t – there were no medals). Good friend Charlie crossed the line less than a minute behind me and was well pleased with his race. I thanked him for pushing me the whole way and forcing me to run strong in the middle miles where perhaps I would have faltered.

Blogger Charlie also had a great race after yesterday’s 8k and was only 30 seconds slower than his Norfolk Half Marathon time earlier in the month. Charlie – imagine what you’ll do when you’re fresh on a flatter course? Well done!

The published results confirmed I finished 3rd in the 40-44 age group and 26th overall – a very pleasing performance in a quality race with a quality field.

My quads are still sore, but I’ll probably go for an easy run tomorrow to loosen them up a bit. The last 3 days have been tough with the World Media Run 5k on Friday, Mud In Your Eye 8k on Saturday and today’s Colonial Half Marathon. The Shamrock Marathon is only 3 weeks away, but I’m feeling better about my level of fitness and looking forward to logging at least a 20 miler next weekend.

Happy Miles everyone…..

–Steve