Race for the Light - Race Report

I really had no intentions of doing any more races in 2014.  I thought I was done racing at least until 2015.  To be honest, I really haven't been doing much since the Whistle Stop Marathon back on October 11th.  Well, I take that back, I should say that I really haven't been doing much swimming/biking/running.  Because honestly, I have been doing a lot of stuffing my face with treats, candy, and beer - not that I am even remotely proud to admit it.  But, none-the-less, I have been in full-fledged off-season mode.  A couple weeks ago, I received an email at work about a local 5k in Oshkosh, WI, and our Sheriff's Office was looking for some people to run in it as part of a team.  I jumped at the opportunity as a way to get out the door for a race since it has been nearly two months since my last race.  The race is called Race for the Light and is run through the Oshkosh Celebration of Lights in Menominee Park.  The race was run in the evening, starting at 4:30pm.  That way, you get the opportunity to run through the park when it is fully illuminated with Christmas lights.  We have made it a family tradition over the past 3 years to bring the family and our parents to Celebration of Lights and then go out to dinner afterward.  We decided to use this race as a way to combine the lights with some good old fashion exercise.  I also wanted to try out something completely new during this race.  One of my impending Christmas gifts this year is going to be a Contour Roam2 action video camera.  Basically, it is the cheaper comparable version of a GoPro.  I ordered it from Amazon during Black Friday and wanted to try it out to see how it works during a race.  You can see the resulting video below.

Training for This Race

As I explained above, I have done more training similar to that of a lazy sack of potatoes.  Since the Whistle Stop Marathon (60 days), I have run a total of 146 miles.  In comparison, I ran 199 miles in the month of September alone (just 30 days).  So, to say that I actually "trained" for this race is just a lie.  I guess I did a couple runs to help prepare for running a hard 5k.  On the 27th, I did a 5 mile interval run consisting of 4x800m and then on the Wednesday before the race I did a shorter interval run with 4x400m sprints.  

Prerace

First off, the race started at 4:30pm...yup I said PM.  I hate afternoon races.  Well, actually, I don't mind racing in the evening, but I hate the preparations of racing in the evening.  It is something completely different.  Something I am not used to.  I work out in the mornings.  I train and race every morning.  So, when I'm asked to race in the evening, my entire "race day routine" is thrown out the window.  I was originally scheduled to work both Friday and Saturday, but after Sarah and I agreed to do the 5k, see the lights, we decided to make a full holiday weekend of it, so I took off Friday and Saturday.  We finished our Christmas Shopping and went to the Mall so our girls can see Santa.  It was a nice weekend.  On Saturday, I tried my best to avoid all cruddy foods, but still had a turkey sandwich on wheat bread for lunch and had a bowl of Cheerio's for breakfast.  I at least finished eating any meal by 1:00pm, about 3-3.5 hours before the start of the race.  We picked up my dad and were at the race start by 3:30 and picked up our race packets.  I was really pleased with the race shirt, which was a nice long sleeve t-shirt with a nice design.  An added bonus was the pair of running socks with the race logo on them!

Nutrition Plan

My nutrition plan was simply to stick with what works and try not to destroy my race with piss-poor nutrition throughout the day leading up to the start of the race.  I feel like I (kind of) stuck with my goal of eating decent before the race.  Then, an hour before the start of the race, I took, Hammer Anti-Fatigue Caps, Race Caps Supreme, and Mito Caps.

Gear/Equipment

New Balance 890v4

Nike Element Thermal Tight

Hammer Wind Cycling Jacket

My brand new Contour Roam2

Miles 0-3.1

My Splits

1 - 5:36

2 - 5:57

3 - 6:04

 

I truly had no clue what to expect with this race.  Obviously, my goal was hang with the leaders and contest for the win.  I had no clue if that was too ambitious or not.  As I mentioned above, I was participating in this race as part of the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office Team and part of that obligation was taking a team photo before the start of the race.  I didn't want to be a turd at the start of the race, but I really wanted to get in a decent warm up before the start of the race.  We ended up taking a team photo about 5-10 minutes before the start of the race...NOT conducive to a thorough warm up.  Immediately after our team photo, I darted out the door to get in a quick warm up.  I ended up getting in a 3-5 minute warm up, not great, but it was going to have to do.  I nearly missed the start of the race, but just made it to the start line in time.  I ended up way too far back for my liking at the start and was forced to duck and dodge between all the other racers in front of me.  I took off as fast as I could knowing I was starting behind the 8-ball.  After the first 400 meters or so, I knew I was in the top 6-8, but really couldn't tell.  By mile 1 I felt as though I was in the top 3 or 4, but knew I was running at a pace I couldn't sustain.  I did my best to hang on though.  By mile two I was breathing way too hard and because of that I knew I was going too hard.  I ended up losing 2 places, putting me in 5th or 6th in my mind.  My goal was to just hang on to where I was at this point.  I was able to hang onto my place and finished with a surprising 18:03 (5:49/mile) which was good enough for 6th place overall and 2nd in my age group of M30-39.  My video from the Contour Roam2 turned out pretty good.  Obviously, I sped it up about 8x faster, just to speed up the video from 18:00 to 3:00.  I think I just need to work on the positioning of the camera to focus more parallel to the horizon, because as you probably noticed, the video is angled up a bit too far. 

Post Race

After the race, my dad and I jogged the course backwards until we met up with Sarah and the girls.  Maya had been walking the entire distance to this point.  I started walking with Sarah and the girls and talked Maya into running the final 0.5-1 mile of the race.  She agreed to do it, and did pretty darn well for a 5 year old.  She finished under and hour, and I was thoroughly impressed.  After everyone had finished, we piled back into our car and then drove through the Celebration of Lights and stopped at The Elf's Workshop and to see Santa's Reindeer.  After checking out the light display, we stopped at a local Mexican restaurant for dinner and to watch the last half of the (terrible) Badger-Ohio State football game.  It was a great ending to a great day.

The Day in Music

For my second installment of my "Day in Music," I chose Run Run Rudolf by Brad Paisley & Steven Tyler.  Again, the goal of this section is to summarize the race in a single song, just for shits and giggles.  

What's on Tap

I'm going to leave this pretty open.  All I will say is that I have high aspirations for 2015 and will delve into my goals, resolutions, and hopes for a future post!  I will just say that my initial rough draft of my 2015 race schedule has me nearly as excited as I was going into my big Ironman year!

The Christmas Tree

My mom's family growing up, at the tree farm.

I'll admit it, I have been spoiled throughout my nearly 30 years of life.  You see, my grandma and grandpa have owned a Christmas tree farm since before I was born.  For as long I have have known, there has been a direct relationship with my mother's side of the family and Christmas trees.  I honestly have no idea, how or why, or even for how long they have had this relationship with Christmas trees, all I can tell you is it's there.  Every year in the late fall, early winter I recall driving up north to my grandparent's tree farm to harvest trees for that holiday season.  Each and every year my grandparents would sell trees from their home, hundreds of them.  Just as going up north to harvest the trees was an annual tradition, so was spending nearly every night at my grandparents house helping grandma and grandpa selling and flocking the trees, making wreaths, and keeping their yard stocked with trees.  It's memories like this I truly cherish, especially now, as I age, with children of my own, and also since my grandfather is no longer with us.  My grandma still sells trees from her yard to this day, with help from her only son and other members of our family.  The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the busiest time of year for my grandma, as she spends most of her time making some of the most beautiful wreaths you will ever see.  She has made wreaths for many business and churches throughout the area.  A tree from her tree farm was even selected one year by the Green Bay Packers to be in front of Lambeau Field.  She still makes her wreaths from hand from hand trimmed branches from her tree farm up north.  As far as trees, she doesn't sell nearly the volume of trees they had in the past, but continues to enjoy the social aspect of selling a Christmas tree.  Selling Christmas trees isn't about making money to my grandma.  Hell, for the amount of time and effort she and the family puts into the act of selling trees, it's hardly worth it.  But it's not done for money, at least for our family.  A Christmas tree is apart of your family and it has been this way with my family for as long as I can remember.  My family has made it a point to travel around to each and everyone's home just days after seeing everyone on Christmas Eve simply to see their Christmas tree.  We usually do this within a week of Christmas and have always called it "Tree Hopping."  The simple Christmas tree has always meant so much more to my family then most.

My Grandma, her children, and her tree at Lambeau Field

Yes, Christmas has become very commercialized, there's no denying that.  On nearly every corner you can find some commercial Christmas tree lot, looking to make a quick and easy buck.  But, that's not how it should be done.  See, buying a Christmas tree is like buying a pet.  Each and every tree is unique, there is no other tree quite like it.  You have to care for it throughout it's stay in your home.  As much as some people don't like it, there is work involved with putting up a natural Christmas tree.  Buying one, should take time.  Everyone looks for "that perfect tree."  THIS is why my grandma sells Christmas trees, the social aspect of it.  She enjoys talking to the regular folks who have been buying Christmas trees from her since they started.  She enjoys meeting new people each and every year come in to find their "perfect" tree.  I imagine she enjoys seeing their faces light up when they inevitably find that "perfect" tree.  This is what buying a real tree is all about.

The tree farm during summer.

It bothers me when I hear people say they have made the change from real trees to artificial trees.  Truth is, more and more people are making the change to artificial trees.  From 2001 to 2007, artificial tree sales went from 7.3 million to 17.4 million, just over a 238% increase.  The reasons are usually the same; real trees are too messy, real trees are too expensive, real trees are too much of a hassle, or artificial trees are just easier.  Sadly, I think this is just another case of an easy decision to take "the easy way out."  All to often I see people opting for the easy, short cut option; such as premade food options, magic diet pills, get rick quick schemes, even professional athletes take steroids as a get fit quick option.  It's sad because, you miss out on so much during the process of getting what you want.  Most of the times, the process is when you learn valuable lessons, and more times then not, its the more memorable aspect of the end result.  It's been said that, "How you reach the mountain top is more important then reaching the top."  The same can be applied to life, and opting for the easy way out to avoid the quote unquote "hard work."  You see, when you purchase an artificial tree, you're missing out on so much more then you are gaining.  Buying a real Christmas tree is a family event, it's something you should bring the entire family out to do.  Everybody has their own visions as to what kind of tree they are looking for.  It's an adventure looking for a tree to bring into your home, to be apart of your family.  You're missing out on the smells a single pine tree can bring into your entire home.  I also believe there is a Zen like attribute to having a fresh tree inside your home.  It almost makes you instantly in a better mood.  The unique shape of a real tree gives the tree character, it seems to give it a personality.  I have never owned a tree that reminded me of a previous tree.  Each tree is truly unique.  You just can not say that about artificial trees.

If you're even more ambitious then most, I would HIGHLY recommend taking a trip to your locally own tree farm to cut down your own tree.  This is something my family has done for years and a tradition Sarah and I have continued to share with our daughters.  Each year, usually on the weekend following Thanksgiving Thursday, we make the trip up to my grandma's tree farm and spend the day as a family walking through the rows and rows of fresh pine trees to find literally, our perfect tree.  What is even more special about it now that we are older, is that many of the trees we are cutting down now are the same trees my cousins and I planted as kids years ago!  I find spending the day together as a family walking through nature is a relaxing and peaceful way to kick off the holiday season.  I'll admit that I am not your typical Wisconsin outdoorsman who hunts, fishes, and camps.  My idea of getting outdoors is usually a quiet bike ride on a county road or a quiet trail run at a local state park.  So, any time I get the opportunity to just get out into the woods with my kids, it's a pleasant change of pace.  It's as though time slows down, just for a moment.  Plus, on top of simply getting back to nature, I get to share my same passion and love for Christmas trees as my parents and grandparents did with me as a child.  It's for these reasons alone, I will never own an artificial tree and I urge you to opt for a real tree, opposed to an artificial one.

It's simple really, buying a fresh cut, locally grown, real Christmas tree is not only a great family friendly activity, it supports your environment and your local economy.  On average, for every Christmas tree purchased, that farmer will plant 1-3 additional trees to replace that one tree.  Christmas trees are truly all American, where majority (if not all) artificial trees are produced over seas.  Most often, Christmas trees are grown on soils which are unable to support other crops, better supporting the environment.

If you are interested in starting a new tradition and putting up a real Christmas tree in your home this holiday season, here are some websites to help you locate local Christmas tree farms and farms that will allow you to cut your own Christmas tree.
www.pickyourownchristmastree.org
www.christmas-tree.org
www.realchristmastrees.org

Below are some tips learned from my grandparents on having a successful real tree last.

1. Pre-measure your floor to ceiling height, then find a tree that is slightly taller than that height.  Cut your tree as close to the ground as possible.
2. When you bring your tree home cut at least a 1/2-1" section off the bottom of the tree (if not more) before putting it in the stand.  This will allow the tree to better absorb water and thus live longer.
3. Allow the tree to "fall" before fully decorating it.  By giving your tree 12 or more hours will allow the branches to fall and the tree to open up.
4. Water your tree every day to ensure proper hydration and prevent it from drying out.  This will ultimately keep the needles in tact and lessen the mess around the house.  
5. Place a small tarp or garbage bag underneath your tree stand to make clean up easier at the end of the season.
6. Do not place your tree in front of or near your heat registers...see below.

   

   By setting our tree up directly next to our heat registers,
   the warm, dry air completely dried out our tree.