Spooky Sprint Race Analysis

A couple couple hours ago, I finished my first half marathon - the Spooky Sprint! Here is my analysis:

• The preamble was a little hectic; I only got my bib on about 2 minutes before the race started; there was a long line for check-in and I had to run over half a mile back and forth to the car beforehand. That alone represented one of my longest runs of October.
• Breakfast was excellent. I had most of my donut before the race and finished it off during the first mile. There was a garbage can conveniently located next to the path to throw away the bag. 
• I spent the first few miles averaging a tad slower than 8 minute pace, but I felt like I needed to lay it out there a little bit so I left the 1:50 pace group.
• I hit halfway almost precisely at 52:30, so I decided to go for sub-1:45. However, my efforts were hampered by having to turn into the woods to pee about a mile later.
• I spent the next 4 miles catching up to the guy I had been running with before my bathroom break. After the break, I was averaging around 7:40 per mile to catch back up.
• I finished in 1:43:17, or 7:53 mile pace, in 21st place. I thought I was top 20 but must have miscounted. 
• The main limiting factor was my calves, which were hurting even before halfway. Thankfully they did not cramp up and I was able to sustain a strong negative split.
• The course was nice, very flat, with long straight sections and mostly on the Little Miami River and Ohio River bike paths. It was an out and back, run concurrently with a 1 miler, 5K, and 10K.

Overall, I'm very happy and blessed to have made it through the race without too much trouble. The winner was about 34 minutes ahead of me, so I'm sure he was feeling the pressure.

I'm not sure if I'll pursue another half marathon in the near future. I'm interested by the prospect of running much longer but slower, or much shorter but faster. The half marathon distance was very painful, exacerbated by the fact that my training, while excellent, was also almost nonexistent. I'm interested in perhaps a 5 miler next spring, and a 50 miler a few years down the road.

Spooky Sprint Preview

 

In just three days, I'll be out on the roads running my first half marathon! I've raced both longer and shorter, but the 13.1 race distance will be a new experience for me.

Training has been going excellently. I've run well over 0 times over the last three weeks, and at least twice in the last couple months. It's hard to comprehend the level of fitness I've reached, but I'll let the legs do the talking on Saturday. I've completed a rigorous periodized cross-training program, including occasional walks around the block and and often typing very fast at work. The nutrition has been dialed in as well, with plenty of calories coming in to replenish the body, including protein sources like ice cream and peanut butter cups.

Speaking of nutrition, I'd like to give a shout out to my sponsor for this event - the Butler County Donut Trail. I will be repping this great organization with their official t-shirt at the race. It's been a real treat working with the Donut Trail, and their products are sure to be my primary post-race recovery supplement.

In terms of time, the question is not whether I can break the course record, but by how much. I wouldn't say sub-60 is out of the question, but odds are are we won't push it that hard for a casual Cincinnati saunter in the park. We'll just have the front pace group set the tone at 2 hour pace and see how the morning unfolds. We do have an IAAF representative on standby in the case of a world record run, but like I said at the press conference, it's still probably about an hour out of reach for me. 

With temperatures around 49 degrees at race start, I may or may not bring along a cup of hot tea with my donut to help get through the first few miles. We are going to have a personalized pace biker giving me splits every 2-3 seconds, and donut holes every 2-3 minutes or on request. 

In terms of footwear, I'm continuing my long-standing partnership with Saucony, who have custom-shaved nine ounces from my shoes to make up for the nine pounds I gained while training. I'll be using a prototype of Saucony's proprietary HyperSpring technology in the midsole foam, which provides a 3% increase in running efficiency. This will be key for my race plan, effectively cancelling out the 3% slowdown that will result from trash-talking the competition during the race. I've prepared some solid one-liners, including "You're only beating me because I had to throw out my donut bag" and "Just wait till I get out of the bathroom."

We will report back with an in-depth analysis following the race - wish me luck.

Welcome to Cleveland

 

Just another October in Cleveland...

The Indians received the gentleman's sweep from the New York Yankees, and will not be heading to their first World Series since their brutal Game 7 loss in 2016. And now Deshaun Watson, who should have been benched weeks ago, who in fact should never have been hired, has now torn his Achilles tendon and forced Stefanski's hand. In the process, the Browns dropped to 1-6 on the season, and they still owe Watson - the worst QB in the league - approximately a million bajillion dollars.

I hope the Cavs' preseason is going OK.

Somehow, it is in moments like these when it feels the most right to be a Cleveland sports fan. This is what's supposed to happen. This is how it's supposed to feel. It's an inevitability. In the last several decades, only LeBron has been able to drag Cleveland out of its long sports nightmare for a brief moment at the top.

Anyway, Nick Chubb is back in action, so at least the Browns have the hope of a good ground game. But it's hard to know what he'll be like coming back from another injury that severe. I'm going to go ahead and briefly predict the future of the three major Cleveland sports teams:

Cleveland Cavaliers: Win 50 games this season, but continue to miss the breakthrough for the next few years. Next title in the mid-2030s sometime.

Cleveland Indians: Fall off significantly next season as everyone realizes it's hopeless to play ball in Cleveland, but experience a resurrection and their first World Series victory in 2040.

Cleveland Browns: This will be the next Cleveland team to win it all - you heard it here first! Let me break it down:

'24-'25: Finish with 3 wins as - shockingly - the backup QB is once again better than our starter. The Haslams finally sell the team to someone competent. Then, in the offseason, that competent someone drafts the future of our team: Heisman winner Ashton Jeanty

'25-'26: Finish with 5 wins as we try to figure out what to do at QB. Jeanty develops and has a strong rookie year.

'26-'27: Finish with 7 wins. We seal the deal on an actually smart trade from the Texans: C.J. Stroud. Jeanty improves further, we lose in the wildcard game.

'27-'28: Finish the regular season with 11 wins. Jeanty is the best back in the league, Stroud one of the best QBs. We lose in the AFC championship game!

'28-29: Super Bowl Champs!!! Finish the regular season with 14 wins, Jeanty breaking all the rushing records as he goes, Stroud best QB in the league. We win the Super Bowl 38-34 against the Ravens, led by 150 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns from Ashton Jeanty, including a game-winning run with seconds left in the 4th quarter to take the lead.

John Flanagan: Strengths and Weaknesses

 

John Flanagan is the best-selling author of the "Ranger's Apprentice" children's book series, along with its companion series, "Brotherband Chronicles". I was really into these books as a kid and have recently picked up a couple again. They continue to strike me as engaging, fun, and well-written.

Strengths

Flanagan's books are fun. He is not at all shy about bringing you action, witty humor, and fun scenarios for the heroes to try to navigate. His books are written with a refreshing lightness and excitement, a mood that fits beautifully with the titular character, Will, of the Ranger's Apprentice series.

Flanagan is an engaging writer. He paints engaging settings that allow me to picture the backdrop and imagine the scenes as they play out. The dialogue is generally witty and compelling, sprinkled with humor and drama.

Finally, Flanagan writes with a refreshing simplicity, which sometimes plays out as a weakness, but in this genre, it's usually a strength. Instead of becoming lost in plots and subplots, or an unnecessarily large cast of minor characters, the stories are straightforward and easy to follow. Some books feel like work to read, and his are the opposite.

Weaknesses

One of Flanagan's weaknesses is the generally godless nature of his novels. In each Ranger's Apprentice volume, for example, the Ranger Corps' mystique and mystery is repeatedly and clearly revealed to be nothing but skill and subterfuge. Likewise, villains who appear to have supernatural properties are found to be well-trained tricksters. It makes one wonder whether the divine has any place in his world.

Another his his penchant for recycling plot devices - especially a couple that don't happen to be my favorites. One is kidnapping; a disproportionately large number of his books involve some protagonist or supporting character who must be rescued. Another is cliffhangers. I prefer for my novels to be able to stand alone as works of good fiction, but Flanagan often prefers to stretch a conflict across multiple novels, without clear resolutions at the end of each. There obviously is a place for ongoing conflict in a long-term series like this, but each book should come to a satisfying conclusion, which I don't always get in his writing.