2013 Frozen Nose Series: Groundhog Run 8k

The Groundhog Run 8k was held Saturday February 4 at Lake Overholser. Because it's close to Ross' house we all agreed to meet there and drive to the lake together. Since Ross, Rendon and I are running the full marathon at the Memorial Marathon this year Ross suggested we run back to his house afterwards, about 5 miles, so we would get a decent long run in for the weekend then afterward we could enjoy a late breakfast. This sounded good to all of us so that was our plan.

The course started at the green arrow and went to the right around the lake.

The morning of the race, the temperature was in the 30's and the sun was shining. The forecast called for some wind, but when I got in my car to drive to Ross' house, it seemed pretty nice out. After we gathered at Ross' we piled into a couple of cars and drove to Route 66 Park at the lake where the race was to begin. Once we parked and stepped out of the car we found that indeed, the wind was blowing quite a bit out in the open and it went from seeming like pretty ideal conditions to feeling pretty chilly. So we decided we'd just wait in the car until it was almost time for the race to start.

Waiting for the race to start. Cold and windy.

With six or seven minutes until the start we finally got out of the car and hiked over to the starting area and tried to get loose as we waited for the starting gun. We were lined up around the middle of the pack so when the gun went off we had a slow shuffle to the starting line and then had to work through the crowd to find some open running room. I lost Ross and Rendon in the crowd but spotted them quickly, ten or twelve yards ahead of me. Like the Elvis Run, I was finding the first mile difficult. The pace was quick but not enough to be pushing me, but I felt myself struggling to keep my distance behind Ross and Rendon from increasing.

As I got warmed up and into a bit of a rhythm I began working on closing the gap between Ross and Rendon and myself. It took a bit to catch up to them as my pace slowly quickened but I finally caught Ross who was just behind Rendon by a couple of feet. We ran along together and began picking up our pace. We started pulling away from Rendon a bit as we closed in on the turnaround at the halfway point. We made the turnaround and began heading back the way we came.

I was still feeling uncomfortable but figured since we were halfway done now, I could manage it. We continued slowly picking up our pace as the race progressed. About three-quarters of the way through the fourth mile, race volunteers were suddenly waving all the runners to the sides of the road and ahead an ambulance and firetruck appeared, heading toward us. After the race we learned that a runner had collapsed.

With less than a mile to go I began to speed up some more and started pulling away from Ross a bit. There were three high school girls about 30 or 35 yards ahead of us and we had been following them like that for the last half mile or so. As I picked it up I finally began gaining on them. Because of  the way the course is layed out, you can see the start/finish line while you still have quite a ways to go to get there. I felt like I was really straining now and worried that I had picked up my pace too soon and would have to slow down a bit but with the finish in sight I kept thinking I could hold on. With a little more than a quarter mile to go, the three high school girls were suddenly pulling away from me and I glanced at my Garmin to see if I was slowing down. I wasn't, but I couldn't keep up with them.

As I neared the final turn I felt someone closing in on me. As turned the last corner and started the stretch to the starting line, he almost pulled even with me. I kept my pace but I didn't feel like I had a kick in me today. He began to falter a bit though and fell back behind me, then with under a hundred yards to go I managed a short kick to the finish line. I finished in 38:48 (PR! My first 8k so...) and Ross finished 10 seconds behind me in 38:58. Rendon crossed the finish line a couple of minutes after us, running it in 41:06. This race ended up being the toughest for me of the three events in the Frozen Nose Series. I was happy with my performance but it was one of those days where you never really feel your running mojo kick in so it I really had to grind it out.

Rendon crosses the finish line.

My splits for the race were:
8:08
7:53
7:47
7:39
7:22
Another slowish start but another strong finish.

I ended up finishing second in my age group again, behind the same guy who beat me at the Elvis Run. Ross ended up 6th in his age group (a much tougher group than mine) but the fourth and fifth place finishers were only seconds ahead of him and his net time actually beat the guy who finished fifth. Rendon was 9th in his age group. As we compared notes, Rendon had seen the guy who collapsed and said they were performing CPR on him and he didn't look good. Unfortunately we found out later that he had died. He was 77 years old and a regular participant in the area running scene.

Rendon decided to skip our planned run back to Ross' house because his ankle was still giving him trouble and he didn't want to overdo things. So he and the girls drove the cars back while Ross and I waited to collect my medal. Once we got that we began heading back to his house, starting at a slow jog. After a mile and a half or so we began picking it up and finished the 5 miles back at a pretty good clip.

Ross, looking cool after the race.

When we got back, Cara and Molly got busy cooking pancakes then we all sat down and had a great breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs. We visited for a while afterwards before I packed it up and headed on home. All in all a good race and a great morning.

Following Ross home afterward. 

Adding to my 2nd place age group medal collection.