Race Report: River to River Relay 2012

If some of you follow my twitter life you would have known I was running in the 25th annual River to River Relay this past weekend in Southern Illinois. Its a very popular race down there that spans the entire state from the Mississippi to the Ohio River. It is 80 miles in distance, and a team of 8 are challenged to tackle it. The course is broken up in to 24 sections and each runner runs the equivalent of about three 5k's throughout the day. So, not all of your miles are ran in a row. Your typically have about 2 hours of rest in between your legs of the race.

80 miles of Fun

This was my second time running this race. Last year the race taught me a few things. The two most important were 1) I was faster than I thought I & 2) that you need to be part crazy to enjoy downhills and subsequently, I am part crazy. We also placed 3rd in the Corp Handicap division last year. So we had an automatic bid into this years race.

So, putting the info I had gathered from last year, I signed up for Leg 1. Leg 1's 3 sections total 10.4 miles and most of the time you are running, its on gravel. Section 1 is 3.6 miles of downhill adventure on a road through Shawnee National Forest.

Section 9 is 3.4 miles of rolling gravel dirt road & cows.

 Section 3 is unadulterated 2 lane rural highway for about 3.3 miles.

So, this year I came into the race more prepared than I had been last year. I have been doing speed work for the last 6 weeks and actually training for the run. Hindsight, I should have done more hills, but I digress... This year my training paid off and I was able to average a 6:53 pace over all 3 legs. It was a hug accomplishment, because I thought I was going to be a 7 min/mile guy. It was a great day for me.

Now, as mentioned before this is a relay. So its not all about my numbers and how I did. It was a team effort and our team "Driving in a Van Down by the River" completely smoked the course this year. We finished the course in 9hrs 12min 40sec (something like a 6:45 pace over the entire 80 miles). With our handicap, our time was dropped by 54 minutes to 8hrs 17min which gave us First Place in our division. Fast times not withstanding it was such a blast. Even though our team all works at the same place, we really don't cross paths much in our work lives. So, its was really great getting together in a big white van with 7 other people, telling stories, and laughing at each other's expense. The bonding power sweat and funk have with human beings is incredibly strong and should be bottled up and sold. Its amazing.

Anyway, that was it. We'll probably be back at it next year and I hope we can put together another winner.

Torn

After looking at the viewing history of this blog, I noticed that my most popular article has been on the SCOTT T2C LTDs. While I thought you would care to read more about me and how I started running, that is not the case. In fact over 10% of the hits on my site are for this one review. So, being the provider of knowledge that I am, I thought I would add on a few thoughts from that previous article and request some help from the running public.

The shoes have grown on me in the last month or so. I don't know why, but they have. So much in fact that with my next race (River to River Relay), I am torn as to which shoes I am going to wear, my SCOTT's or my Altras. When I run in them my legs just want to move and they want to move fast. I made a note to check myself the last time I ran in them and my stride & foot-landing position wasn't any different than normal.

The only difference that I can think of is that the SCOTTs have less miles on them and might be a bit more responsive. I will be doing some more testing in the next few weeks leading up to River to River to see which I feel better in, and which I can flat out run faster in. Should be fun.

Question for you shoe nerds like me... How do you decide what to wear in a race?

Congrats to Altra!

I figure I would do a really quick post about Altra Zero Drop being named "Best Debut" 2012 by Runner's World Magazine in the March Issue. You can read a blog post by Altra about it here.

I have blogged previously about these shoes and they are still my go-to shoe for running. They are incredibly light and comfortable. They have brought my running up to a completely new level. You should buy some... From me...

Also I wanted to point out that If you live in the Mid-West, I am just about the only place you can find these awesome shoes.

See that dot in St. Louis? That's my house/shoe store

Anyway, congrats to Altra. You deserve it!

A Guest Review: Altra Eve

I HAVE MOVED!!! Please visit www.takeitrunning.com or call me at 314-246-9225 if you are interested about the Eve or other Altra Products.

Several months ago I was able to get my hands on a pair of Eve shoes by Altra. Altra is a running shoe
company that takes minimalist shoes, zero drop, seriously. I first became aware of the company thanks
to John. I switched to running in a minimalist shoe in April 2011 and haven’t regretted the decision at
all. So any new minimalist shoe that comes on the market interests me.

I was interested in the Eve but worried that it would be too minimalist for me. I’m not at the complete
zero drop phase in my running yet. I had the chance to try these shoes on at the Rock N Roll STL expo
in October. Once I put them on and walked around for a bit I was in heaven. They were super comfy.
I wasn’t expecting that. I didn’t want to take them off. I do believe I walked around and sat around in
them for a good 15-20 min before finally taking them off. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to purchase a pair
at that point because I had already planned to purchase another pair of running shoes that day.

Lucky for me I was able to get my hands on a pair of these. I decided not to wear them for running, still
think they are too minimalist for me. I suffered from a heal fracture in 2009 that kept me from running
for a while and I’m paranoid of hurting that foot again, still have some issues with it. So the minimalist
shoes that offer a bit more cushioning are still what I tend to go towards (in case I have a bad form day
and I heal strike). That being said, I get a lot of wear out of these shoes. I usually wear them when
walking the dog every night, doing errands on the weekends, etc. I’ve even been known to wear them
to work when foot pain kept me from wearing high heels. I was worried about wearing them for too
long as I do still have heal pain but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I have had zero discomfort with these
shoes. With my other tennis shoes that I wear with jeans I have to wear heal inserts or I’m in pain after
an hour of walking. With the Eve’s, I can go hours and feel no pain or discomfort. For me, that’s huge.

I have to say that to me they aren’t the most attractive shoe, although I do really like the coloring.
However I do think they look fine with jeans. If I want to make a fashion statement I’ll wear something
less comfortable, but if I’m going for comfort I grab these 100% of the time. Oh, and in case you are
wondering, I did wear them to work the other day when we had a small amount of snow/ice and I didn’t
slip once while walking outside. Coming from a klutz such as myself, that’s really good.

In case you are wondering where you can buy a pair of these, just ask John. He’ll be happy to go over
details and get a pair ordered for you.

Rock'n Roll St. Louis Race Report

DISCLAIMER: This will be the first Race Report I've ever done and I know it won't be the best one you've read. However, I will do my best to make it entertaining and keep you on the edge of your seat. Also this will be a post about my entire weekend in regards to RnRSTL, not just the race itself. So, here goes...

This past weekend was one of the greatest I have had in recent memory. It started Saturday (as most weekends do) at the Rock n Roll STL Expo. For some time now I have bee selling Altra Zero Drop running shoes locally and online. Just a side job to produce some income to support my running habit. So far, so good by the way. Luckily the guys at Altra were in town for the Expo and invited me to work the booth them. For about 8 hours I got to talk running, shoes, and all kinds of other random stuff with complete strangers. I had an incredible time and it only confirms my beleif that these shoes are great. The people behind the product really are awesome.

At the expo of course I did a little shopping. Thankfully I was busy at the Altra booth and didn't leave that vicinity much. When I did get out, I bought some CEP Calf Compression Sleeves. I am surely going to review these and from the little bit I have used them, me likey.

As we get into the race report of this, the packet pickup was at the Expo. Now, I will give credit on this one. Rock n Roll knows how to check people in and keep them moving. Packet took less than 2 minutes to complete. This was achieved by having the Race Numbers, Shirts, and Swag Bags all at separate locations as you walked in. It was efficient as hell. The one thing I will say about the check in was that after you got your packet you were dumped into a wonderland of RnR & Brooks Running products. It was massive. A little too in your face for me as the other vendors were crammed into something the size of my closet at home.

Finally just a quick note before we get to the Race part of this. Auditions for America's Got Talent were also being held in the St. Louis Convention Center. That show is the Walmart of Reality Singing & Dancing shows.

Ok now on to the self promoting part of this blog, the race. the last Half Marathon I completed was back in 2007. I was about 45lbs heavier and I finished with a 2:08. I knew going into this I was going to break 2 hours just on weight alone, but I didn't know how much under I was capable of. My runs range anywhere from 7:30s - 9:30s depending on where and who I am with. Most of my long runs where in the 9 range and I had only had one long run under an average of 9 min/mile. So I set a goal for myself of 1:50 with a stretch goal of 1:45. Anywhere in this range would have been suitable for me.

Start your engines and don't pee on yourself

The morning started off  perfectly a bit of cloud cover and 50s. I woke up early (4:15a) in order to give myself plenty of time to use the bathroom the standard 27 times it takes me to deplete my system. I was feeling good and empty by the time I left the house to pick up a friend to drive downtown. We made it downtown with not too many traffic issues considering an expected field of 22,000 people in a city that doesn't have too many large gatherings. We arrived around 7am (30 min before the start), maybe cutting it a little too close, but luckily my friend had a double secret parking pass to a garage at her husband's work so we were able to get into a virtually empty space. This came in very handy when I changed after the race.

The excitement level was pretty awesome downtown. You could tell this by the lines to the bathrooms. I will never understand how my body can literally be bone dry of urine and then when confronted with a race, needs to pee again. It also likes to take miniscule amounts of urine and exaggerate them to my brain. It is incredible. So we spent about 25 minutes waiting in line to pee 4 ounces. We then had just enough time to get back over to the corrals and hop a fence into a mob of people (think cattle) to start the race.

I knew going into the race the first 5 miles where going to be crazy with turns. They were almost every block it seemed. I just happened to read a blog post by @katieRUNSthis on Running Tangents about 4 days before the race that really saved me from running extra distance when i didn't have to and helped me plan my route instead of just following a bunch of runners.

After the first 5 miles the course straightened out and it was relatively uneventful. The course took us through some parts of the city that typically get overlooked during big events like this. Little areas like The Grove & St. Louis Hills have a ton of beautiful homes and are just great little neighborhoods. I am glad that out of town runners got to see these little areas. The crowd support was spotty but the areas there were people, there were a ton of them. It would be great to get folks line the streets for the whole course but I understand that's kind of a pipe dream unless I go to a Chicago, NYC, or Boston.

Here is my only real criticism of the race itself: The Bands. I think its great that there were bands willing to play at 7:30 am probably the night after they just got finished with a gig but the majority of the ones I heard were ok. Mind you I am only running past them for a brief period of time and could possibly hear 1 whole song. So I didn't get to experience their body of work per se. Here's what gets me the most. The Headliner for the even was Sugar Ray. I will admit 10 years ago they were something. They were relevant (arguably). They at least had a song on the radio.

Ok back to the race. As the race was comnig towards an end I was caught off guard. I checked my watch and I had already gone over 10 miles. I knew how much I had left to go and it was doable. I had stuff in the tank. After the initial shock of this revelation, I just pushed myself repeating how much time I had left to run (rounding to an 8 min mile). Finally I checked my watch and there was about 0.3 miles left and I heard a dude next to me try to rally the those around him to make a break for the finish. I was game. There was the final turn in my sites and up ahead (& a bit uphill) looked to be what I thought was a finish line structure... What I really saw was one of the flags lining the street and it was bent over farther than the others. So while  I am realizing this and pushing it pretty good the hill starts to kick my arse. I check the watch and I am running pretty fast but my heart rate was way up in the upper 170s so I had to ratchet back down. So now I am pissed that not only did i think there was the finish line, now I am out of breath for my final charge. Luckily at the top of the hill, the most glorious sight all day was in front of me. The finish line and its a slight downhill to get there. Renewed with whatever, I again pick up the pace and get my kick in to finish strong. I looked at the time when I crossed and saw 1:42 something. Not only did I PR the half, I made it my rented mule. I was so pumped when I crossed the finish line, I let out a big 'ol WOOOO!

I am still in shock that I could keep it up for that long.... That's what she said.

For you nerds like me out there. Here's a breakdown of stuff I used.
Watch: Garmin 305 & HRM
Nipples: Bodyglide
Manspanx: Sugoi (blk)
Shoes: Altra Instincts
Splits From Garmin:

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:42:25.7	13.16	7:47.0
1	7:43.5	1.00	7:43.5
2	7:59.8	1.00	7:59.8
3	7:41.2	1.00	7:41.2
4	7:52.0	1.00	7:52.0
5	7:47.1	1.00	7:47.1
6	7:36.6	1.00	7:36.6
7	7:52.9	1.00	7:52.9
8	7:59.6	1.00	7:59.6
9	7:57.1	1.00	7:57.1
10	7:51.0	1.00	7:51.0
11	7:49.0	1.00	7:49.0
12	7:42.8	1.00	7:42.8
13	7:24.3	1.00	7:24.3
14	1:08.1	0.16	7:13.2

Chip time:

There you have it. I don't know if I did this Race Report correctly but damn its fun to write one when you actually do well in a race.

Nu Shooz: Altra Instincts

I have been pretty pumped for the opportunity to write this post for some time. I really like running and I really like shoes. Several months ago I decided that I would give the minimal running thing a try. I had nothing to lose. I found some New Balance 101's for $65 because I needed a pair of trail shoes. The rest as you can read in that link is history. As I was researching the minimal running technique, a shoe company kept popping up as a somewhat revolutionary minimal shoe, Altra Running and their Instincts. I had never heard of them and didn't think too much of it. A few months of this company showing up on Twitter and after reading some reviews, one in particular from someone who I consider to be the best running shoe resource on the internets, Pete a.k.a. Run Blogger, I thought I might like them. Pete likes the NB 101's and the way he described the fit it sounded like we might have a similar foot shape & preference. I read this review in March of 2011.

Six months later I am finally able to write my opinion of the Altra Instincts. A couple factors got in the way of this review for 6 months: 1) If I bought another pair of shoes in March, my wife would probably kill me. She still may as it looks as I am hoarding them and may need to dedicate a room of my house to running crap. 2) You can't buy Altra's anywhere within 450 miles of St. Louis. I would hate to buy a pair of shoes I've never tried and be stuck with them. So I like to try them on before I make my decision.

Within this 6 month period, I actually became somewhat internet-friends with Jeremy over at Altra. We had chatted back and forth and I even went into a few running stores here in St. Louis to try and get their product in here. It was the least I could do. Unfortunately, like most other things clothing/fashion, it takes new things about a year or two to come to St. Louis. So, that's when Altra and I started talking a bit more about business. To my surprise they were willing to set me up basically as a shoe store here in St. Louis. So, I now have the ability to sell their shoes to the public. Kind of a weird thing if you look at it. I've never stepped foot into one of their shoes and here I am now authorized to sell them, and essentially I have started a small side business because of it. So anyway, I had to buy a pair to make sure I believed in what I was pushing. Funny how life works out.

Ok, back to the shoes. I took them out (today) on a Sunday morning for 5 easy recovery miles. This was going to be a good test of how far I had come as a minimal runner since putting on the NB's. We started running and immediately it stared raining. Well this was definitely going to be a good test for them. The route we took at a local park is a mix of asphalt, dirt, grass, & gravel. The shoes performed well on all surfaces. I was a little weary on their grip with it being wet outside but they held onto the ground quite nicely. The shoes also handled the rain remarkably. In past runs, I had noticed that my shoes (Brooks Adrenaline) would become water logged and heavier. These shoes seemed to take the water in, but more importantly, let the water out which kept the shoes from getting weighed down. They felt really light on my feet and I liked them on the pavement. Since switching completely over to the 101s, even for road running, I forget what padding feels like between my feet and the ground. 

The fit of the shoe is great also. I have large, wide feet (14EE) and my feet had room to move around. I kept the typical lacing pattern that most shoes use, but I think I will switch it up to the hybrid lacing style that Altra promotes on their website. I think I need just a tad bit more room width wise. Well either this or I will slap some Yankz on there and call it a day.

Alternate Lacing

So after only 5 miles, I am a fan of these shoes and incredibly happy with the progress I have made as a minimal runner. I am about a month out from the Rock 'n Roll St. Louis Half-Marathon and I hope I can do it in these shoes as its going to be all pavement and I want to save my feet a bit. 

Oh and I wouldn't be a good business man if I didn't say this... So if you want to buy some of these bad boys or any other Altra products, drop me an email  or DM me on Twitter (@RunShepRun).

Finally, just a disclaimer, if these shoes would have sucked, I would have written so. While I stand to profit from these if I sell them, I wouldn't BS my readers. The fact that I can regard these so highly, strengthens my decision to sell them, I just went about it a bit backwards.