The Human Race

http://pictures.thelauves.com/humanrace0808.html

Getting into better shape has its advantages, and for Brandi and me, our increased running schedule allowed us to participate in the world's largest product placement exposition, the Nike Human Race 10K. We first found out about it at Niketown in Chicago---Chicago was one of 25 host cities around the world to hold a 10K on August 31, and Austin was another one. In the following weeks we trained on treadmills, at Town Lake, and in the neighborhood, eventually working our way up to a little over 5 miles.

On the day of the race, our friends Amber and Jed Comeaux and their daughters Kaylin and Madison arrived in their flight from hurricane Gustav. The race was at 6:30 p.m., and we ended up going to Macaroni Grill at about 2:00 for lunch. Pasta is full of carbohydrates, right? (Well, yeah, but apparently Daniel and Brandi can't be trusted to go to an Italian restaurant without loading up on oils and spicy sauces and having a few bites of a few different desserts.)

The Comeauxs dropped us off near 6th and Congress before heading off to Zilker Park. Brandi and I took our places among the 15,000 racers stretched along five city blocks.

Brandi's Race
Daniel and I headed to the start line, and I immediately had the thought that that Nike was genius for creating our shirts as our bibs---Congress was red all over! I also think the race shirt was the best I've ever gotten. It is dry fit material and will be more useful to me than the oversized tees they usually give away.

The race began and for the first couple of minutes we waited to walk to the front of the start line and I could feel the itch to run coming on. Daniel stayed with me to start the race but I wanted him to get going and have a chance at his own personal best. We quickly kissed bye and I had the thought as he sped away "don't go too fast in the beginning baby!" but I resisted the urge and began focusing on the race ahead of me.

Earlier in the afternoon Daniel had helped me create my race mix on my iPod and I have to say it was exactly what I needed. I'll never forget the warm up speed of "Lebanese Blonde" mixed with the hot and steamy Sunday afternoon start. After turning the corner onto Red River I picked up speed to the cheesey 1980s rock song "Hit Me with Your Best Shot". But once I was about two miles in (all uphill by the way) I hit a little bit of an opposition to what began as an otherwise usual run--my lunch. With the Human Race starting at 6:30PM we weren't sure what to eat. Most people have heard of carb-loading before a race. Let's just say that I figured out the reason why runners do that the night before and races start at 7AM.

I was on Dean Keaton with the stadium behind me and crossing Wichita when I realized I could probably walk up the hill faster than I was able to run. With the overcrowded water stations contributing to my dehydration and my lunch weighing me down I walked just long enough to get accross Wichita to reach the water station and waited as the poor volunteers tried to keep up with pouring hundreds of cups as easily packs of 300 runners tried to grab a cup and go.

By the time I got to Guadaloupe I started to feel a little better and the trail started to get a little easier with the turn downhill. I even remember a distinct breeze as Eminem's "Loose Yourself" caused me to pick up the pace a little.

But just before the 6 mile mark I started bargaining with myself to quit. I was so exhausted that I felt emotional and I almost convinced myself that it wouldn't be that terrible if I just walked the rest of the way. As usual I must have been wearing my heart on my sleeve as this guy looked back and saw me struggling. Within a moment he was ready to rally the troops. "No way!" he said, "You are not quiting now, you've gone this far, you can do this! Come on!" as he waved me in. I felt as if he was talking to me, but several people were around all benefited from it. I was able to sprint to the end, moaning in pain the last 528 feet of the race. He gave me a High-5 and I turned around to find Daniel behind me and before I could turn around again to introduce them he was gone.

Daniel's Race
I decided to start the race with Brandi (starting in the 11-minute mile zone), even though I planned on running a little faster during the race (my five-mile training runs were a little under nine minutes per mile). So once things got going, I zigged and zagged through the crowd to get ahead, though I quickly discovered that running past a lot of people doesn't get you in the clear; I was in a crowd for pretty much the entire race.

I started feeling a need for water pretty early, like in the second mile. So at the end of mile three, after the second of two big hills, I decided to get as much water as I could. The volunteers at all water stops, and especially at mile three, couldn't serve water and Gatorade as fast as runners were coming by, and at the third water stop they had simply left jugs of water on the grass alongside Red River. I grabbed a jug from someone who had just finished, drank from it for 10 or so seconds, then got a cup of Gatorade, then had another big drink from another jug. At that point, I knew that mile four was not going to be a terribly fast one.

The fourth mile was where things got pretty painful. I started re-tasting my lunch, and I encountered another decent hill after thinking the rest of the race would be downhill. After about four and a half miles, I was really slowing and looking for water. I walked along Guadalupe for about 50 yards, frustrated that I couldn't see the fifth mile marker yet. At that point, I recognized that my goal of 58 minutes was basically out of reach, and I set a new goal of finishing the race without walking. The last mile and a half were super grueling, as the chart of my race can attest. Compared to everyone else, who sped up through the last quarter of the race, I crawled to the finish. At 1:02:55, I found myself a bit disappointed with the result and regretful about the preparation, but I was elated about the experience.

A minor perk associated with having the Comeauxs in town was that it facilitated a Pickleheads reunion. The Pickleheads were the Rock Band persona that we created the last time we visited Nederland, and this time we shook off the rust, learned some new tunes, and rocked out on Sunday and Monday. Brandi mastered singing Blondie's "Call Me," I got 99% on vocals for Radiohead's "Creep," Jed did double duty on Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man," and Brent learned the ropes on numerous songs, most notably "Baba O'Riley."

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great time with the Comeaux family enjoying Austin, shopping, cooking, and having them join us after we finished the race. Luckily Hurricane Gustav kind of fizzled out and headed north, but it was a great excuse to see our friends again over the Labor Day Weekend.