Dragon's Back - What All That Was About

I was really happy at the turnout and the results this morning - good job, everyone. Jim ran the eight mile course yesterday, Kellie has tonsilitis, which she thought was very 80's, but then, she's young - I didn't know tonsilitis actually existed outside of fifties TV shows.

Anyway, every Saturday morning, I say a bunch of stuff, you take off, and I realize all the things I didn't say. I kind of mentioned it this morning, but when I wrote a race plan for my runners for this year's AT&T Half Marathon, I used the analogy of a dragon, and it really sort of works for the marathon course, too. The course is challenging, but it's all about managing your race properly.

The hill on South Congress, which was in the first mile this year, but will be in about the second mile in 2008, is the mouth and head of the dragon. People will get all excited and charge crazily at that hill, and, like an overzealous knight, get immediately burned to a crisp/bitten in half.

Where we started this morning was at about mile seven of the 2007 course, and probably about mile eight of the proposed 2008 course. Marathoners are settling in for the long haul, half marathoners are over halfway done.

Then, you hit the dragon's back at Enfield. It bucks and undulates, and essentially, you just stay relaxed, and hold on through the hills.

That's what you all covered today. The 2008 course, as currently proposed, is a little easier on the half marathoners than the 2007 version, because you'll keep going straight on Enfield, like you did today, rather than turning on Exposition and hitting another long, grinding uphill to Windsor.

For the marathoners, you get that hill, then the super steep one you saw up to Randall's and Casis Elementary, then another one up to 35th, then another over Mopac - then the course changes dramatically, and you're just a couple of miles from the start of the Northern 7 run that we did a couple of weeks ago.

Today, you rode the Dragon's back, and got some flat and downhill for a while, then had another beast of a hill coming back up Windsor - you won't see that or really a hill like it past mile 10 or 11 of the marathon. It was a tough run today, but you've seen the worst the course will throw at you in terms of a stretch of hills.

We'll be running that portion several more times, as well as other parts of the course. Again, nothing flattens hills like familiarity. Get to know the neighborhoods, the hills, the street itself over the next few months, and on race day, the dragon will be a lot less intimidating.

Good job today, everyone! I'll be populating the rest of the calendar soon, but we'll be doing some moderate speedwork this week, either on the track or on the road. This coming weekend, full marathoners will hit double digits - 10 miles, the half marathoners will go six, and the upstarts will go five or six, all on a relatively flat course. Rest tomorrow, and get your other runs in this week - DON'T SLACK.