I had an appointment with my cardiologist yesterday. I didn’t tell him I planned to run a half-marathon today.
Between my October appointment and yesterday, I had one day in A-Fib. He had prescribed Flecainide in October. I thought to be taken as needed. He meant to take 50 mg twice a day.
He wants me to start taking it daily. Running the race today, I decided to start with tonight’s dinner. Flecainide is an anti-arrhythmic.
My blood pressure this morning was 94/65, too low to take my beta blocker. However, before leaving my house, my pulse was above 110. So, I took my regular dose of Metoprolol and hoped I wouldn’t faint.
Today was the start of my 2025 racing season, or is that finishing season? The Dahlgren Trail half-marathon is the first race in the 2025 Coldwell Banker Elite Grand Prix, and I have a 58-race finish streak in the series. My goals today were to finish within the 3.5-hour time limit, run 200 paces (a pace equals one leg strike) each 1/2 mile, and not need EMT assistance.
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.
The race start time was 9 am. I arrived at the parking lot at 8 am, which was already full. I parked on Birchwood Creek Road about 300 meters from the start.
Around 8:30, I headed to the porta pot line, where the wait was 15 minutes. Before leaving my car, I had stripped down to the clothes I planned to run in. I was cold and shivered a little while in the line. By 8:50, I was at a picnic table near the start area. The trail brief had finished, the FARC group photo was taken, and the National Anthem played. I took a few minutes to make my final adjustments.
The forecast was cloudy with six mph winds from the northwest and temperatures between 37 and 41 degrees. Rain was expected to start at noon.
With the forecast and the anticipation of walking rather than running, I wore tights, a heavy long-sleeved shirt over a singlet over a 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 wore my double bottle belt, which contained two 16-ounce bottles of UCAN Energy and a raincoat in the pouch.
The race starts in two waves. I was in the slower second wave. We were released 2 minutes after the initial start.
I started out running, counting toward 200. I was feeling good. Then, after 100 paces. I was having issues in the crowd and started to walk. I ran a little more in the first half-mile. Getting to the 0.5 milepost, I started my run pattern. And, after the runs on the .0 mile markers, I drank about a sixth of a bottle of UCAN.
I felt OK in the first half of the race with mile splits of 14:27, 14::48, 14:59, 14:31, 13:58, 14:30, and 8:19 for a first half of 1:35:39. The front runners started coming back at me around milepost 3.5 which gave me a pickup.
After the turnaround, there were five runners behind me and no one in sight in front of me. No DFL today.
My return splits were 8:47, 16:10, 15:40, 14:16, 15:01, 15:16, and 11:40. My second half was 1:36:54. I was dragging that initial return 1.5 miles.
Then, with 5 miles to go, I caught the first glimpse of somebody in front of me. On a long straight, they were probably 600 meters ahead. They gave me a target to chase down. I thought I was moving faster. Each time I saw them, they didn’t seem to get closer.
At milepost 4.0, the people at the Comorn Aid Station gave me a little lift, as did the running surface, changing from small gravel to crushed stone. Though I wasn’t, I felt I was running faster for the next few miles.
After my run at the 2.0 milepost, the group ahead was the closest yet. Just before the 1.5 milepost, I could see the crossing guards at Lambs Creek Church Road, and I was 2 minutes behind the runner ahead. This runner gave me someone to reel in.
At the end of my run at the 1.o milepost, I passed the first runner and had another in sight. I walked to the 0.5 milepost, still behind. To this point, I had kept my heart rate under 140. I didn’t want to push it and end up face-down waiting for help.
At the 0.5 milepost, I was determined to run the last half mile. There are rails in this area, and I ran gently through it. Once clear, I started running the best I could without worrying about an elevated heart rate.
I passed one runner with about .3 miles to go and had another in my sights. He was carrying trekking poles in his right hand and walking on the left side of the trail. Approaching, I gave an “on your left.” He moved enough to his right that I had a solid surface to run on. My last half-mile was 4:59, with a max heart rate of 166 and six additional Grand Prix points. Yes, I ignored the heart rate alarms my Garmin was giving me. Crossing the finish line, rain started.
My time was 3:12:33 (4:33 faster than last year), finishing 141st overall, 87th male, and 8th of 8 in the male 60- to 69-year-old age group. There were 149 finishers.
I’ve finished 217 Coldwell Banker Elite Grand Prix races. This year was my sixth finish at this race. I’ll try to do better next time.
My Garmin Forerunner 245 reported a running distance of 13.31 miles. The GPS is not perfect, and it sometimes mapped me in the woods. The turnaround should be 88 yards from the 6.5-mile post. It appeared closer. When I reached the turnaround, I was at the tree I had wrapped with multiple orange streamers in past years.
Time to start the daily Flecainide. My cardiologist told me if it affected my running or I got repeat A-Fib issues, we should do another ablation. Hoping for the best.