Boilermaker 2012

The Boilermaker 15k - the race that will suck out your soul and make you beg for mercy on the hills.

 Ok so it wasn't that bad. And since it was my 7th time running it in the last 8 years I knew what was coming.  Except that I had this idea in my head that it would be easy.  I thought to myself days before the race "I can run this race just as fast as my PR from last fall" but I was just ignoring the facts.

This race is hilly and my PR was from a pretty flat course.  I tried to reason with myself that I had run a 1:09:16 back in April during marathon training so I thought I could at least do better than that, but a PR would most likely be out of the question.

Below is the elevation chart from the HILLY 15k I ran in April during marathon training.

And this is the elevation chart from the Boilermaker on Sunday.

Hills = Death.  Downhills = fun.

Anyway, just wanted to prefice my race report with those details.  Now onto the rest of it.

Saturday around noon we rolled into Utica, NY and arrived at my college roommates parent's house.  There were a total of 18 people staying in one little house with one bathroom.  13 runners and 5 spectators.  It was a little insane.  It wasn't long after we arrived that we piled back into the car and went to get our race bibs at the expo.  Every other year the expo has been outside, but this year it was inside at a local college.  It was cramped and crowded and just not as fun as it used to be.

We arrived at the area to pick up bibs and I wandered over to the correct letter for my last name.  I told the guy my name and then he proceeded to look and look for my bib.  I was slightly scared because they changed the bib colors for the corral starts and I didn't see the color I was expecting.  But the guy finally found it and I was excited to see that I was a teal bib.  I wouldn't learn what this truly meant until the next morning.

Then we piled back into the car and headed to the Brewery that sponsors the race.  In all the years of running this race, I had never been inside the brewery and the tour was tons of fun plus the 2 free beers post tour was awesome.  The brewery has a bar inside it and you can taste any beer and drink they make!  I shared with Brian and we got the Blueberry Blonde beer (also the beer served at the post race party) and a Shandy (Lager and lemonade!).  I also got a water - had to stay hydrated for the race.

By the time we finally got out of there it was close to dinner time and I was starving.  A home cooked pasta dinner with meatballs never tasted so good. After inhaleing dinner, I had my fair share of cookies and then settled in to relax the rest of the night.  We watched a few TV shows and then set up bedding arrangements.  Brian and I were in the living room on the air mattress.  Soon everyone was asleep - I woke up twice to use the bathroom which wasn't ideal but good that I was hydrated.

5am came too soon, actually 4:30am came too soon when my bladder woke me up.  After using the bathroom, I settled back into bed to try and get a few more minutes of sleep.  By 5:20am I was up and in line for the bathroom.  Shortly after that I was dressed and ready to go.  I heated up my pre race breakfast of maple brown sugar oatmeal and waited for the rest of the runners to get ready.  We headed out around 5:50am with the spectator crew leaving shortly after that.

This was most likely the earliest we had gotten to the shuttles in a long time.  I remember the last time I ran this race I was worried we wouldn't make it to the start in time.  We parked at the finish and took the shuttles to the start.  The start area was so deserted and there was no one around.  No lines for porta potties or anything.  We were definitely early.  All 13 runners settled in our usual spot (in the last corral by the stop light) and waited and waited.  Slowly the area around us began to fill with runners.  At 7am the announcer started to talk and count down the time until the race started.  At 7:15am I did a little warm up with one of the other runners (this was a first for me, I usually never warm up for this race since there is no room), hit the bathrooms one more time and then said good bye to my friends.

The boilermaker is so packed with runners (14000+) that they have a pretty nice corral system set up.  This year they changed the color system, but from my experience with times for the race, I think it goes like this:

White/Pink Bibs - Elite runners (white for men, pink for women)
Brown - Fasties but not elites, running fast than 60 minutes
Teal - Runners who will take longer than an hour to run, but less than ~68 minutes
Purple - Slower than 69 minutes but faster than ~73 minutes
Navy Blue - Slower than ~74 minutes but faster than 79 minutes
Golden Yellow - Everyone else

In the past I have always been in the Navy Blue corral (formally the yellow coral) and I thought I would be moved up in to the Purple corral (formally the Green coral) so I was very surprised to see my teal bib.  I don't even know what the teal color bib used to be because I never even looked that far up in the starting area.  I never thought I would get there.

So I was pleasantly surprised and also felt really special.  Especially when the officials pointed me in a special direction for getting to my coral.  I walked and walked and walked and finally was near my teal corral.  And then off to the side I saw a glorious site.  There were special porta potties for the fast people! I had no idea! there were no lines.  You could just walk right up and go! 20 minutes before start time and no porta potty lines for the fast kids. I was impressed - too bad I had already stood in line and gone in the other area.  And on top of that there was an big open area to do strides and warm up! I had really been missing out all these years.

Being in the fast corral also was nice since I saw a lot of my running club teammates who happen to be faster than me.  It was great to see a friendly face when I was slightly nervous about this whole running fast uphill. Soon it was time to go, and the cannon sounded.  30 seconds after the cannon and I was on my way to finishing my 7th Boilermaker.

I had forgotten that the first 4 miles are up hill.  My pace hovered right about 7:25 for those first miles.  My legs felt tired and I was dripping in sweat by mile 2.  Awesome.  Only 7 more hilly miles to go.  We reached a slightly flat area just after mile 2 so I picked it up and tried to recover a bit of my breathing before the next hill.  Mile 3 and 4 were brutal and I dumped water all over myself at the water stops. Once I got to the top of the hill and mile 4, I just started going faster and charged down the hill.  My pace was picking up and I was still feeling good (as good as you can for a hilly course).  I took my Gu chomps at mile 3, 4.5, 6 and 7.5 and I think this really helped to keep my legs moving.

The crowd support really picked up during mile 5 and 6 and I was happy about that because it has seemed really sparse during the first 4 miles.  As I rounded the S curved area before the 10k mark, it was exhilarating hearing all these people shouting and cheering for the runners.  There were still 2 hills to go.

The mile 6 hill is pretty deceiving - you think it goes on and on but you just have to get to the stop light and the turn and its pretty much over.  So I kept my legs moving and happily maintained my pace and reached the top.  Mile 7 was right there and then I began flying down the downhill. This was the point where I wanted to go faster but my legs wouldn't.  I don't think I am a good down hill runner, I am better at the uphills.  I took my last chomp here and hoped that it would help propel me through the torturous mile 8 hill.

Mile 8 is the absolute worst.  You start mile 8 continuing on the downhill and then as you reach the bottom you turn the corner and see this steady incline stretching in front of you.  It can't be more than a half mile of uphill but after 8 miles its the toughest thing ever.  This is where I want to QUIT every single time. Every time.  I hate this part.  I just want to never run uphill again.  But I made it and I didn't quit and once you finish this hill you are just waiting to see the mile 9 marker.  Its always hiding and when you finally see it, you think you are almost done.  But that last 0.3 miles is long.  Thankfully it is down hill.  This is where I see Brian every year and he always makes me smile.  Although he usually catches pictures of me before I see him so he catches my death faces.

This year I guess my death face wasn't as bad as previous years.  I didn't feel too too bad coming down the hill to the finish and I was happy to be done.  My secret goal was to come in at 1:07:59 but I missed that goal by just a little bit.  It was tough race with lots more hills than I remember but I am happy with how I ran it even if I didn't meet my time goal.

Chip Time: 1:08:08 (7:19 pace)
Overall: 818/11359
Female: 109/5378
Age group: 23/965

And the post race Beer, cookies, coconut water, and Popsicles never tasted so good!

It's hot enough for hot shorts

When I first laid my eyes on these hot shorts in the clearance rack at the sporting good store, I knew I was meant to have them on my legs.  We were destined to share many sweaty miles together.  It was love at first sight.

The forecast for this week predicted hot.  Hot and humid and sticky, wear as little clothing as possible to run, pour water over your head, hot.  I knew I needed to wear my new hot shorts.  Perfect.

It was slightly awkward changing into my outfit at work and walking out to my car.  I managed to avoid seeing any people I actually knew but I did get a flew looks from other random employees who saw me sneaking out.

From this - 

To this -

 I was pretty excited to try run in my new shorts. And when I got outside it was hot so I was glad I was wearing them.  Although I love my Nike Tempo shorts, sometimes in the heat and humidity, which is when I tend to sweat the most, the fabric just sticks to me and makes me feel gross and uncomfortable.  None of those problems happen with these shorts because they are spandex and are very fitted. (Plus sometimes I sweat so much in my Nike Tempos, that it looks like I peed my pants. Not Cool.)

Once I got to the track to meet my running club, the sun was beating down and the air was thick.  There may have been an air advisory or something but that really didn't stop me from running.  I did my usual warm up of 2 miles then hit the track for the workout.

7 total miles later, with 6x400m at tempo pace (~7:06 min/mile) and I was soaked with sweat but I felt good.  And the shorts worked out really great - I am even thinking about wearing them in the Boilermaker race in July.

The only downfall (or complaint I have) about these hot shorts (spandex shorts) is that they ride up on me a bit. I seem to have a bit of an irregularly shaped upper thigh/butt area so I don't think that helps much in keeping these shorts in place. But even with that, I love them. And they make me feel fast which is always great, especially when its hot and that usually means running slow.

So even with the heat, I tried to make yesterdays run as awesome as possible.  The heat wave continues until tomorrow, then the temperatures apparently are returning to normal (70F +/- 5F). Either way, I think running in the heat is good practice.  Gets your body used to the heat that is coming in July and August!  Stay cool and stay hydrated!





**These hot shorts are also known as Under Armour spandex compression shorts.  They come in many different colors including black.  I was not given these shorts for any sort of review and the opinion is my own.

Boilermaker Photos!!

I got the race photos in an email yesterday and they are horrible. I mean I look ok in them but they are just horrible pictures! Oh well...thank goodness for Brian and his camera! Enjoy and have a good weekend!!

Me, Kim, Kims sister, Kims dad

(All these photos are from the end of the race or post race!)

Boilermaker 2009: Part II

Yes I know part one was a tease...but I got busy and didn't want to rush through the post just to get it up so everyone could read it! So now I present part two:

Every year I run this race, the 9.3 miles go by in such a blur and this year was no exception.

As I crossed the start line, the chips attached to all the runner's shoes beeped. Its a funny sound and has signaled the start of every race for me the past 5 years.

The first mile was decent - I felt the nervous jitters seep out of my legs and I pounded the pavement at a comfortable pace. I did minimal weaving and dodging around other runners and felt like I had made a good choice to start closer in the yellow area. The first mile is slightly hilly and stretched out in front of me I could see thousands of runners bobbing up and down.

Mile 2 was also uphill and this mile is known as the international mile because of all the cultural bands, dancers and people that stand along this area. I enjoy hearing all the music and seeing all the people as I run but I know that I miss a lot because I am partially focused on running.

I found a group of cross country girls for mile 3 and went too fast and started feeling a little drained but my pace felt good. Mile 4 was in the golf course and this is where my favorite hill is because it also contains the best downhill! As I was climbing the golf course hill I saw a race photographers trying to get people to wave to the camera so I took that chance to be goofy. We will have to wait and see how I look once they post the pictures!! I ran the downhill mile so fast and then continued into mile 5 too fast and by the time I reached the deadly hill at mile 6 I was feeling it.

I mentioned before about my knees and I was feeling them through most of the race. The pain did not start out as badly as it had been on my last run that previous Thursday but it was still slightly present. I think the adrenaline of the race helped to keep it at bay or maybe the two rest days prior to the race.

My knees definitely hurt at mile 6 and onward until the end. I knew I was slowing down on the uphill and picked it back up on the downhill into mile 7 and 8. This is the point in the past races where I have wanted to go faster but my legs just wouldn't do it. I had little trouble until I was halfway into the ninth mile and there was a slight uphill before the "final 0.3 mile downhill" to the finish. It was horrible...I just wanted the race to be over with because my knees were hurting badly.

I finally made it past the nine mile maker (which along with all the other mile markers stands permanently in the ground year round!) and I started looking for Brian. He had brought his camera to take pictures and I wanted to make sure I saw him. He caught a few pictures of me before I noticed him and could smile and make sure I looked happy! The finish line is the most packed during this race...there are so many spectators yelling and cheering, its an incredible feeling!

Crossing the finish line was amazing because I finally got to stop running. I took off my chip from my shoe and received my finishers pin! I had been keeping track of my splits throughout the whole race so I knew I was on course for a PR. The weird part is that I feel like I could have gone faster, except for the whole knee hurting part because I felt good the whole race!

My chip time was 1:13:07 which is a 3 minutes PR from last year! It was amazing running that fast and I totally believe that the longer slow distance running is to blame. I never ran that fast pace for my long runs!

Here are my mile splits from my watch:
Mile 1 - 8:10
Mile 2 - 7:57
Mile 3 - 7:43
Mile 4 - 8:08 (favorite uphill)
Mile 5 -7:02 (favorite downhill)
Mil e 6 - 7:34
Mile 7 - 8:20 (uphill)
Mile 8 - 7:29 (downhill)
Mile 9 - 8:17 (almost dead)
Last 0.3 - 2:20

Here is some more stats for you:
Chip Time - 1:13:07 (7:51 pace)
358th female finisher
Age group - 95/725

Gun time - 1:14:54 (8:03 pace)
338th female to cross the finish line
Age group - 89/725 to cross finish line

First 5k - 24:44
Second 5K - 23:37 (48:21 10k split)
Third 5k - 24:46

This post is already long so I'll post pictures tomorrow for an early photo Friday!!

Now that the race is over, I am resting. I took Monday and Tuesday off and tried to run this morning (Wednesday) and I almost didn't make it the 1.8 miles I set out to do. My right knee was in so much pain and after the race I had trouble bending my knee and going down stairs. I think its runners knee but I have never had this much pain before so I am slightly worried. I have been icing and taking the "drugs" and I am going to wait until Sunday or Monday to try running again and hopefully be pain free!

Thanks for reading this race report. This Boilermaker has to be the best one yet!! But I say that every year!! Happy running!

Boilermaker 2009: Part I

** To check out last year's mini race report post click here which contains the past 4 years finishing times **

This is a multi-post race report.

Brian and I left Saturday morning and headed to Utica to stay with my college roommate's family. This is the 5th year in a row that I have run the Boilermaker 15k and I was excited to see my roommate Kim again. Shortly after arriving and scarfing down lunch we headed to the expo. It was pretty disappointing this year as we only received our traditional Saranac beer glass and nothing else. In past years, the goodie bags have been packed with a box of spaggetti, free samples and hair ties.

A few of the vendors were packing up when we got there because it was looking like rain and so sadly we did not get the traditional Boilermaker tattoos. Shortly after leaving the expo, the sky opened up and it rained and thundered! The storms lasted into the night but eventually cleared in the early morning.

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early (around 6am) and got ready. Kim and her father have been running this 15k for the past 11 years! This year her younger sister also decided to run and so at around 6:30 we headed down to the finish line. We always park at the finish and take the shuttle to the start. We boarded a bus quickly and before I knew it I was walking a mid thousands of people!

Brian, Kim's boyfriend, and Kim's Mom left the house at around 7am and went to the finish line. This was Brian's first year of seeing the race and he brought his camera to capture all the action! Kim's mom always stands right before the finish but I have never been able to spot them when I come running by because the finish area is a mad house!!

The start area for the race is broken up into color groups; White bibs are for the fast people and the elite runners, then it goes blue, orange, green, yellow, and gray with each color increasing the time you put in that it would take to finish the race. I had a yellow bib and before I went to my designated area I saw a former college basketball teammate. I had no idea that she would be running the race and it was such a coincidence that I happened to run into her. After talking to her for a bit I headed to my area. Last year I had a yellow bib as well but decided to stay with Kim and her family so this was the first year I started closer.

It gets REALLY crowded at this race wtih 12,000 runners and so I was glad to start closer. In past years I have had to dodge runners for the first few miles in order to run the pace I want.

After the national anthem the cannon sounded and we stood still. Usually it takes me about 7 minutes to get to the start line but this year I had the rare treat of only waiting 2 minutes and I was off and running...

Part II tomorrow.

Boilermaker 2008

This was my 4th year running the Boilermaker 15k. I ran it after my first year in college and i instantly fell in love with it.
The atmosphere is great, so many people and I usually stay with my roommate and her family as well as some other friends which makes the whole experience that much more enjoyable. I had never run 9.3 miles before that first race and I wasn't sure I could do it. The whole experience helped to lead me down the path of realization that I am actually a distance runner.

My previous times:
2005 - 1:23:33
2006 - 1:22:15
2007 - 1:19:55
2008 - 1:16:15

This year i think that my shoes were ready for sneaker heaven because usually my knees/legs don't start to hurt until about mile 8ish but this time i was having trouble at the end of mile 5 into mile 6. I usually forget my watch but this year i didn't and its a good thing seeing as how the chip timing didn't work and all i had was a gun time.

It always takes us about 7+ minutes to get to the start. My goal was to run it in 8 minute mile pace and i was close but i think that the legs hurting caused me to slow down a bit at the end. Without my watch I would have been stuck doing math the whole race and thats really tough! The race always go so quickly, its like i get into this zone, i see people cheering but I feel like I miss a lot of the little details. Overall though a great race, and I cant wait till next year!