My race season has finally begun! After what seems like forever, I finally got to participate in an organized race, the half marathon in Dublin, Ohio with fellow POR team members, Rohn & Kat Amato, Sprout, Jeff McClellan, and the Florian twins. It was great to finally have a race to compete in, and it was even better since we had such a good cast with us. It was Kat and Sprout's first half marathon, and it only took a short dinner at Panera to convince cousin Jeff that he should join us the next morning. Overall, we could not have asked for a better weekend. Kat and Sprout both finished under 2 hours, Rohn's
knee didn't hold him back, and I had my first career victory.
knee didn't hold him back, and I had my first career victory. I came into this race hoping to qualify for the NYC marathon. It's different from Boston because you can qualify for the marathon with a half marathon time of 1:23. I thought it would be perfect timing to get out and race hard with the all the training rohn and I have been doing together. Haha - i still think its funny that I got first place, with a time of 1:21. I started in the front because I wanted to push the first coupe miles as hard as I could because I knew I could just suffer throug
h the remaining 10 miles or so. I led the first 3 minutes of the 
race, and thought "well, at least I can say I was winning for 3 minutes of the race." At that point, some giant of a man passed me and was well ahead of me the whole race. I could see him most of the time about 300-400 yards ahead of me because he was about 7 feet tall. I ran with some 40 year old stranger for the first 8 miles. He said he was pushing it hard the first 7-8 miles before he fell back to run the rest of the race with the friends he brought along. I t
hink he really he
lped me out, keeping me up on my pace and just having the luxury of running with someone makes a big difference. With about 2 miles left in the race I still felt pretty good. Given, I didn't feel amazing the whole day. I had my biggest week of training this summer leading up to this race, so I was just concerned about getting the time I wanted. But, once I saw that there was an outside chance of placing first, I just kept thinking about all the training i have been doing this summer and wouldn't let myself coast into the finish. I finally passed the golly green giant around mile 12. I
really didn't want him to put up a fight the last mile because I was dead at this point, so I just pushed it even harder when I got next to him hoping he would be discouraged. Thankfully, he didn't chase and I had a clear lead over him going into the finish. It was weird being in the front. It wasn't a large race, and there weren't too many serious runners in the field. but still, I was more than excited about winning a race and getting my time I was shooting for. It was a hot day in Columbus, and I think all the Spartan training has finally paid off!
race, and thought "well, at least I can say I was winning for 3 minutes of the race." At that point, some giant of a man passed me and was well ahead of me the whole race. I could see him most of the time about 300-400 yards ahead of me because he was about 7 feet tall. I ran with some 40 year old stranger for the first 8 miles. He said he was pushing it hard the first 7-8 miles before he fell back to run the rest of the race with the friends he brought along. I t
hink he really he
lped me out, keeping me up on my pace and just having the luxury of running with someone makes a big difference. With about 2 miles left in the race I still felt pretty good. Given, I didn't feel amazing the whole day. I had my biggest week of training this summer leading up to this race, so I was just concerned about getting the time I wanted. But, once I saw that there was an outside chance of placing first, I just kept thinking about all the training i have been doing this summer and wouldn't let myself coast into the finish. I finally passed the golly green giant around mile 12. I
really didn't want him to put up a fight the last mile because I was dead at this point, so I just pushed it even harder when I got next to him hoping he would be discouraged. Thankfully, he didn't chase and I had a clear lead over him going into the finish. It was weird being in the front. It wasn't a large race, and there weren't too many serious runners in the field. but still, I was more than excited about winning a race and getting my time I was shooting for. It was a hot day in Columbus, and I think all the Spartan training has finally paid off!
POR vs. Food: The Thurmanator
Before the race sunday, I stopped by Matt Tober's place as he explained to me a lovely place called "Thurman's." Man vs. Food visited this burger joint for one of his shows. After he explained to me the challenge, 1.5 lbs of burger, .5 lbs of bacon and ham, all the toppings, and fries - I could barely even concentrate on the race. Lately, I have become an eating machine. Rohn kinda just sits around the house and watches me eat all the time. I think he just watches for entertainment because I just have been devouring all kinds of food. So, once this idea was put into my head, I knew it was going down.
After a hard fought race by team POR, we headed straight to Thurman's for our victory laps. It was a monstrous meal. Rohn and I were the only members to order the Thurman-ator, and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole darn thing. Rohn looked a little sick after he struggled through the last few bites, but it was as great an accomplishment as any that day.
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