My cardiologist told me when I was recovering from AFIB in the fall of 2022, “On a run, if you need to sit down, call 911.”
Today was the start of my 2024 racing season. Until I resolve my current persistent AFIB, today was the start of my 2024 finishing season. The Dahlgren Trail half-marathon is the first race in the 2024 Coldwell Banker Elite Grand Prix, and I have a 46-race finish streak in the series. My goal today was to finish within the time limit, running for a minute each 1/2 mile.
When I was up and in the bathroom at 3:30 am, I had difficulty standing. Getting up at 5:40 am, standing and walking were not an issue.
I founded the Dahlgren Trail half-marathon in 2010 and was the race director from 2010 through 2020. Arsenal Events took over race management in 2021, and the Friends of the Dahlgren Trail seem happy with Arsenal’s efforts, looking to keep this event going for many years.
The race is run on an old railbed trail. The Navy built the rail line in 1942 to supply their Dahlgren Base.
There are still trains running from Fredericksburg to the King George County dump. The portion after the dump was abandoned and purchased by a private party, leaving a 15.7-mile-long trail through nature in King George. The Friends of the Trail removed the rails and ties, leaving a nice runnable trail. This race used the 6.55 miles on the trail’s west end, starting at the Rt 605 trailhead.
The Friends have been hard at work maintaining the trail, which resulted in an excellent running surface. However, with the wear on the trail, some buried rail ties are coming to the surface.
When going to bed at 10 pm, overnight rain and snow were forecast, stopping by 6 am. The predicted one-inch snow never materialized. Though rain left puddles in the parking lot and a few rough spots on the course.
With my heart condition, I asked the race organizers for an early start. Leaving an hour early, I would have many runners near me during my last 6 miles. If I were to have an issue, somebody would be close.
The race start time was 9 am. I arrived in the parking lot at 7:45 and was ready to go at 7:54. After Arsenal synced their timing devices, I started at 7:56. The forecast was sunny with six mph winds from the northwest and temperatures between 37 and 42 degrees.
With the forecast and the anticipation of walking rather than running, I wore tights, a Gore-Tex jacket over and a heavy and light long-sleeved shirt, a knit hat, a neck gaiter, knit gloves, and my Nike Pegasus Trail shoes. The heavy, long-sleeved shirt had built-in hand covers. I used the one on my right hand, and a fleece mitten on my left for access to record splits on my watch,
The time limit was 3 hours and 30 minutes. I wanted to maintain a 15-minute-per-mile pace.
I started out running. I was feeling good. Then, after 50 seconds, my legs started to weaken, and I began to walk. Even my walking stride felt shakey, A reminder of my 3:30 am issue. After 30 seconds of walking, my strength was back. For the remainder of the race, I did not have any problems with my run breaks,
I felt OK in the first half of the race with mile splits of 15:15, 15:28, 15:01, 14:58, 15:08, 15:25, and 8:02 for a first half of 1:39:33. The front runners caught me around 6.4 miles and were running a 1:07 half-marathon pace.
Somewhere between miles 5 and 6, my left shoulder tightened and hurt. I may have been holding my left arm in a strange position.
After turning around, I refilled my water bottle. Filled initially with UCAN Energy, I topped off what I drank in the first half. I was drinking every 1 1/2 miles.
My return splits were 8:42, 14:46, 14:43, 14:13, 14:55, 15:36, and 14:31. The company of runners near me may have sped me up. My second half was a 1:37:33.
My left arm and shoulder continued to hurt the rest of the race. I could not shake it out or loosen it. Some of the pressure was relieved by hooking my left thumb in my water belt.
My time was 3:17:06, finishing 171st overall, 104th male, and 12th of 12 in the male 60- to 69-year-old age group. There were 180 finishers.
After finishing, I didn’t notice issues with my left arm or shoulder. The last time I had problems with this arm was the San Juan Island Marathon in June 2022.
I’ve finished 205 Coldwell Banker Elite Grand Prix races. This year was my fifth finish, and slowest, at this race. I’ll try to do better next time.
Recently, I bought a Garmin Forerunner 245 with a chest strap. I want to use these during my recovery to keep my heart rate down during workouts. I wore the watch today and used the built-in optical heart rate scanner. The GPS indicated the course was 13.26 miles, with each mile shorter than the posts on the trail. I ran the shortest possible route—the trail heads in a northeasterly direction, which may account for part of the error.
For some reason, the heart rate monitor did not start recording until 10:30 am. I’ll have to play with the device some more.
After the initial wobble in the first minute, I did not feel a need to sit down, nor did I wobble again.