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Tag: Patrick Durante

How I ran my fastest Broad Street time in 18 years

What went right

This was the first time I had access to a gym to do stretching and mobility leading up to the race.  I used two things primarily, this video 15 Minute Runners Flexibility Routine (FOLLOW ALONG), and this piece of equipment Technogym Flexibility I liked going to the gym to work on mobility because I normally skip that stuff. Doing it at the gym removes all distractions.

Mentally, I felt like I was in the right headspace.  I had a lot of good workouts and had taken 2nd place in a small 5K, this was a huge confidence booster.  I also just heard on a recent podcast about acknowledging the pain, don’t try to distract yourself from it, actually feeling it, and thinking about it.  Listen to where is it coming from and acknowledging its existence.  Why would you do that?  Because most try to ignore the pain, they listen to music to distract from it. It will only keep screaming for attention like an impatient child! I have 3 of them so I know how that sounds. 🙂

What we run from only stays with us longer. Find what you are afraid of most and go live there.

– Chuck Palahniuk

I listened to the pain and tried to live in it.  I felt by doing this I was more respectful of what my body was trying to tell me.  I did listen to it and it was not ignored, but I realized that is where true work begins in the race. 

“Lately, my main strategy has been to stay in it and like fully embrace how much it hurts and how painful that experience is because, in doing that I think it just reminds me that I’m doing something by choice and that, and to get to that physical state where it hurts that bad means, you know I’ve worked really hard to get to that point and to celebrate kinda being in the pain cave.”

– Courtney Dauwalter

I am reading the book the Courage to Be Happy when I came across an interesting concept. It was this idea that “history is written by the victors.”  That same logic goes for the version of yourself today, and whatever story you have told yourself.  Whatever version you are today was the result of wars that were fought inside your mind and events of your past.  That story you tell yourself is what drives your decisions.  The past doesn’t have to matter, the question is, “What should I do from now on?”  So the story I was telling myself is that I should be getting slower and I will be getting weaker.  That didn’t back up all the work I put in this year.  Maybe when I am 60 or 70 that might be the case, but I know a lot of people who are faster and older than me.  A part of me has learned that when you drop your fear of failure and your tension of succeeding you can truly run without limits.  I really didn’t care what happened and I was just grateful to be there with my family. I know there are only a handful of these races left see the tail end. I had 2 fig newtons and some coffee right before the start and got in my corral. During the race, I think I only grabbed 1 cup of water off a spectator.  

What went wrong

I had a complete camera fail.  I tried this new rubber wrist mount and it created footage that was too shaky.  I had to delete a lot of the good clips I recorded, but I did learn how to use this new program to save footage that is too shaky. View the clip in full screen to see the difference.

This will be very helpful for future races where I record my runs for my video journal. There’s a saying that is, “Nothing is learned when everything goes right”. I had no physical issues in the race, everything just felt good and the weather was perfect!

What would I have done differently

Not much, I liked adding the week of downtime for mobility, stretching, and hydration. It makes you feel like you are still doing something.  

Final Thoughts

The mental side of these races always becomes a big factor when it gets painful.  I focused on it instead of trying to distract myself from it, I acknowledged it and didn’t try to ignore it.  Basically, I just listened to my body.

The mind and body are viewed as one, as a whole that cannot be divided into parts. Tension in the mind can make one’s arms and legs shake, or cause one’s cheeks to turn red, and fear can make one’s face turn white. And so on.

– The Courage to be Disliked

I got to run one more time with everybody in my family and for that I am grateful.  I stopped caring about time, I stopped caring about pace, and the magic is once I did that I ran my fastest race…  WTF?

The race through my eyes, running the streets of my youth:

Pine Creek Challenge 100 – Friends make all the difference

I have figured out the formula for finishing a 100-mile race. Pine Creek is the 3rd time I have completed the 100 mile distance. The key to all 3 finishes was one underlying theme. Surround yourself with incredible people! I know that’s not easy, and it can be total luck. Don’t get me wrong, there is lots of training you need to do, but that is just a matter of putting in the miles. If you can make friends with complete strangers on the course, find an incredible pacer, or put together a great support crew, you greatly increase the odds of finishing. I have been lucky enough those things happen each time. You are going to be battling your thoughts in the race. Having somebody there to talk with eases the pain. They are there to help push the pace or slow things down if you’re going too fast.

Why is it that in an ultra can you make friends with complete strangers? Is it the fact that you are facing a common goal and you both want to succeed? You create an instant bond because of the shared suffering. So the biggest thing I did RIGHT was to make new friends. It has helped me EVERY SINGLE time in a race, except for Vermont 100 where I was gifted the ultimate pacer by chance.

The other thing I really liked about this race was having a pace chart handy. From this point out, if it is a 100-mile race, it is critical to have every single detail of your race in an easy-to-look at Excel-like grid that is laminated. I am going to create one of these cards for every race at this distance.

Race charts like this make you feel like you are actually making progress in a 100-mile race. Somehow, Michelle, had the entire thing memorized!

The other benefit of running with a friend is you hear about new podcasts and books that are worth checking out. You learn about books and podcasts that might interest you and would never be exposed to. You hear about the most impactful material that is in that person’s life.

Michelle, Amy, and myself at mile 50.

I wouldn’t say I helped Michelle as much as she helped me. We completed it together. In my first hundred, 2 people stayed with me to get me to the finish. I remembered how much of a difference that made to have people to chat with. It helps with your mental state and I couldn’t imagine doing it alone. It was nice to go through the night with someone on their journey.

I am 100% sure Michelle was more than able to have completed it alone, but she was also kind enough to share the experience. Having someone to run the race with also keeps you honest about the pace. We would take turns alternating between a run-walk when combo in the later miles to keep under our pace target. It’s one thing to run 100 miles on your own, but an experience shared is so much more enjoyable.

Some of the things that I would say went wrong in the race were little slip-ups.
I skipped a shoe/sock change at mile 30-40 miles. There was gravel and dust that was getting in the top part of my socks that started to cause a rash. I should have cleaned and swapped socks sooner to prevent that. I also didn’t have enough caffeine intake later in the race and I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I finally got a cup of coffee at mile 90 and it made a huge difference. Maybe I can bring my own instant coffee?

I should have had a drop bag at BOTH aid stations, not just the Blackwell. There is something about having access to YOUR stuff that gives ease of mind. Something in the bag you can look forward to that is not at the aid stations. I struggle with knowing what to put in each bag so I opted to put it all in one, which really didn’t work out.

I ran out of water between the longer aid stations, be mindful of a hot hundred and ONLY using handhelds, they actually might not be able to hold enough water if it’s greater than 8 miles between aid stations. I am just grateful the weather wasn’t too intense that day.

What would I have done differently? Not too much, my feet took a beating and I am glad I went with the shoes that I did. I switched out 2 pairs of Altra Torin 5s which felt great and caused zero hot spots. 100s can be extremely lonely, and if you get lucky enough to find a person running a similar pace it is worth staying together. You motivate each other to push when the pain can be unbearable. If I had to do anything different I would have lowered my expectations of a finish time when on a new course.

How would you know what to expect? My “A” goal I realized was going to be almost impossible to hit. My “B” goal was under 24 which I achieved. My “C” goal is to make friends and have fun, but my “C” goal was actually the most important goal. I am GRATEFUL for the experience and will be smiling for the next few weeks with the wonderful memories replaying in my mind. I still feel new to the 100-mile distance and feel like I have a lot to learn. Finally, don’t put your number on your shirt, I was an idiot and switched shirts and forgot to move my number. It should always be on your pants! How could I forget that!

Michelle Goldberg and myself right after the finish.

Final thoughts: I should have never told people it’s going to be easy because it was all flat. I completely underestimated the distance and the terrain. The course was beautiful as you can see from the photos. Would I do the race again? I am not sure… I think I enjoy a more rocky and technical terrain over the endless flat roads. It was great, don’t get me wrong, but I enjoy an actual hill every now and then.

More videos and photos can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/eA6UWL9FSdMsfC1F6