3/4 Tang's Cox Half Marathon Race Report

Questions to be answered:

-Will everyone PR?

-Will I beat Troy Aikman's 1:49:47 half marathon pace?

-Will the course feature hills galore and heat aplenty?

Night before: rotini pasta (thanks to Souksanh liking that style) and a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats (thanks to Knapp's warehouse of it).

Watch the first 10 minutes of Without Limits (I know, I have gone from all of the movie to a quick shot of it)

Load up on fluids and last week's episode of Community.

Sleep: rocking the futon for 6 hours thanks to my vacation sleep style of passing out at 12:00 AM. The dream before waking up consisted of me with the whole team in a car, convincing everyone to run it which must have been my subconscious trying to convince myself to run the half. (End psychoanalysis here)

(3 out of 4 Tangs) Cox Half Marathon Race Report

After a carousel of bathroom visits and the usual english muffin with pb and banana, the walk down Broadway to the race started around 7:15. The forecast was perfect for running, 45-54 during the race.

With all this royal wedding buzz, I decided to wear something old (Rhody Rams basketball t-shirt) and something new (Nike gloves and shorts from the Lauren-approved Wrentham Outlets).

Thanks to the success of carrying TP during the Dallas half, I employed the TP utility belt as we immediately hit the porta-johns and it was definitely a must. I made sure to designate the fountain near Kennedy Plaza as the spot to meet up and we squeezed our way in to the crowd of 7,000, near the 10 minute pace area as the DJ played "Sirius" to pump us up along with other Jock Jams favorites.

The countdown began and the crawl to the starting line was expected this time, along with other nuances that I noted from my first race experience like the pedestrian pace at turns as people try to take every tangent.

The first two miles were crawling near the water and towards India until the marathon racers went their separate ways and the march up Gano Street began. Of note, it was nice of the race to avoid College Hill and take the gradual hill up to Blackstone. Also, the experience of Dallas meant I just accepted the crawling paces in the beginning and did not weave in and out, wasting energy but instead waited for gaps and shot through them to pass other racers and only once ran in to someone which is a far cry from previous races.

Along Blackstone, I ran right by my Dad and gave a wave as the first four miles set in and I realized that the runners shouting their paces aloud meant I was around an 8:45 pace (although I started way back). Towards the end of Blackstone, we took a right in to Pawtucket, the 2% of the race that I had never set foot in and looped back around in to the neighborhood Knapp, Kevin and myself had ventured in once when it was all ice that shot back out to Blackstone. There was a steep downhill in the neighborhood that ended with a 90 degree left turn that was pretty dangerous and cringe-worthy for heels as everyone had to slam the breaks here Fred Flintstone style. At this point, I wished I had gotten more sleep because my legs felt heavier and I usually am OK at mile 8.

Experiences gained from the Dallas half:

I swigged some water and dumped the rest on my head at pretty much every water station as I learned my lesson to not take the Powerade/ Gatorade. Training, I never took water.

I held back on the hills. In fact, I was passed so many times on the hills. I ran my race instead of blowing up.

The race shot down to the actual Blackstone Park that touches the water (and was mostly downhill, bye bye quads) which was a bit windy. There was a clock planted around mile 9.8 which definitely confused myself and a couple of other boisterous runners trying to calculate their pace since there wasn't a mile marker. I made the decision to run even and see how I felt around mile 10 to see if I could hit another gear. Since I started looking for mile markers and water stations as salvation, that gear wouldn't be seen here.

An older bald gentleman and I basically went back and forth from miles 10-12 and he told me to pass him around the Salvation Army on the east side after the uphill curve. Buddy, if my knee was 100%, I'd of hit 1:45 pace.

Gano was all downhill so I caught some speed there as the walkers became abundant and began to psychologically mess me up because my main goal was to not walk at all during the race. Whenever I see walkers, I have to fight the urge to walk. The last 3 miles were spent reminding myself I have done this distance before ( and more repeating 15 miles over and over ) and had run these streets many times before.

I knew I was around a 1:23-4 at mile 10 so I definitely had the PR in the bag unless my knee blew up so I continued the pedestrian pace. I hit the Providence River with less than a mile to go and heard some green shirted runner's iPod blaring Empire of the Sun's "Walking on a Dream" and told him awesome pick since that and Grand National's "Talk Amongst Yourselves" (in a Kara Goucher BM vid) were my songs to pump me up for the race. Note to self: BUY A SHUFFLE.

So with that odd but awesome musical choice, I knew I was 2 minutes away from the finish line and tried as much as I could to pick up the pace without pushing my gag reflex over the limit. The last 100 or so meters, I decided to lay it all out there (aka went easy the other 13.0 miles) and sprint to challenge some other runner as we put on a bit of a show. Guy owes me for shaving a couple seconds off his race since he was going to jog it home. This was the only "racing" I did; the 13.0 miles were a warm up. Once the pictures come out, I will check to see if technically I beat his time because I am sure I started back further.

Post-race notes:

Thanks for the support. It really means a lot. Shout out to Pat, Knapp, Kevin, Lauren, and Nikki for coming.

3 weeks, another half? Why not, after a better half than the Dallas half, I want that 1:45 soon.

tang clan running club dri-fit shirts? Awesome Pat, put me down for 1.

Dallas vs Providence:

kilometer markers vs. mile markers (advantage Providence, USA)

Gordon Biersch beer, breakfast burritos, vs. coconut water (kind of), Ronzio's pizza, and Narragansett beer (advantage Dallas, obesity capital of USA)

Boston Marathon shirt cheerer in Blackstone Park let us know it was mostly flat. His idea of flat is quite different from ours.

Apparently, Mom took pics during the race. Dad wore the race shirt for the second straight race. Christ. At least everyone PR'ed by a couple minutes.

For readers that come here often, isn't it time for a new blog pic? Yeah, it'll be up soon.

Seen on the run: tons of Charlie Sheen Winning posters.

Tons of pot holes. They should have thrown down those traffic cones on top of some of those craters.

Body:

Right knee started clicking on the walk over pre-race. Hopefully when I start working out my legs at the gym I haven't joined yet, it'll get better. Around mile 8, the left ankle felt odd along the top of the foot, most likely due to the 3 week hiatus. The usual sore shoulders after a race was to be expected after the sprint.

Overall, I'm pleased with the finishing time. I could easily be upset at my knee for costing me a shot at 1:45 due to the 3 week lay off, but understanding that going in, I just wanted to PR. It was probably as even as I could have run it and I was able to throw in a finishing kick. Basically, the race I ran relied more on the mental aspect of racing than the physical aspect.

Earlier post:

Troy Aikman, sent via text from Mom, threw down a 1:49:47 in the Dallas Rock n Roll Half. Whether you love him or hate him (or don't watch sports/ are not American), my ultimate goal is to break 1:45 so for all intents and purposes. I will give you a breakdown:

Aaron Tang versus Troy Aikman :

Super Bowl losses: (0-0) Draw

Concussions: (0-10) I win, 1-0

described as a "mobile qb": (0-0), still 1-0

Pharmacy Degrees: (1-0) I win, 2-0

So yes, by these non-running metrics, you can see there's an ... OK chance of me beating him.

rare Quad Providence City PRs:

Aaron Tang 1:48:40 <1:49:47 Troy Aikman (shed 6:06 from last race)

John Tang 1:55:51 (newest sub 2 and shed 7:29 from last race)

Jess Ouellette 2:04:02 (shed 1:32 from last race)

Lisa Tang 2:08:52 (shed 1:10 from last race, moving up one spot to #4)

Rhode Island is basically PR for almost all the halfs now (check the list).

1:45 tips:

-iPod

-rest

-fluids

-not getting hurt before