Guest Post - Jason's State to State Story

A Victorious Homecoming
For the last several years, I have had a recurring dream.  It is a simple one.  It is me running through the streets of Oxford, Ohio.  I went to school and played soccer at Miami University in Oxford, but I was not “a runner” back then.  As an adult, running has become such an important part of my life.  I work two jobs.  One is planning and organizing a road race.  The other is at a running specialty store.  My wife is the director of our local track club.  While neither of us were runners when we met, we both typically have similar interests and running has become one of them that has engulfed our life.

Back to my dream.  As anyone who has gone off to college knows, those four years (yes, I was one of the few to get through in four) are special.  I believe that my subconscious is trying to merge a special time in my life, the college years, with a passion that I have developed as an adult. 

Last summer, while researching events to send brochures to, I stumbled upon the State to State Half Marathon in Oxford.  It was created in 2003, two years after I graduated.  My schedule didn’t mesh to run it in 2011, but figured I’d try to keep it on the calendar for 2012.  I looked at the results from 2011 and previous years.  The winning time ranged everywhere from 1:07 to 1:20.  The normal winning time was in the 1:14-1:15 range.  Not only would it be cool to run a race in my old college town, but how cool would it be to have a chance to win it?

Kristy, Jackson, and I loaded up and drove to Oxford the day before the race.  She had been there once before with me, nine years ago.  This was Jackson’s first trip to my alma mater, so a special daddy moment for me.  Believe it or not, we had never shared a hotel room with him before.   I was a little nervous we might not get much sleep, but surprisingly, we all slept pretty well.

On race morning, I snuck out of the hotel room for a quick warm-up without waking them up.  When I toed the line for the start of the race, Kristy and Jackson were there to support me; Jackson in the jogging stroller, Kristy ready to give him a tour of the town while I ran the race.

As the gun sounded, I wanted to take it out fast but under control.  There was a 23 year old male who went out a little faster than me.  I sat on his shoulder for the first half mile and saw that we were running 5:20 per mile pace.  “If this guy can keep this up, he can have it.” I thought, as I backed off a tad.  I had planned to target 5:40 pace for the first 4 miles, then try and negative split from there.  Easing off, I still went through the first mile in 5:32, about 3 seconds behind the leader.  As soon as we hit that first split, I saw what looked like a sudden stop from him.  He had obviously run the first mile faster than anticipated.  I immediately pulled up next to him, and decided to run the next little bit with him.  Keying off of his pace, we slowed to 5:55 mile pace for the next quarter mile.  I decided to put in a surge to keep on pace for my 5:40s.  He let me go and I entered the first turn into a side neighborhood in the lead.  Exiting the neighborhood loop, I hit the second mile in 5:38.  Back on the main drag for just half of a mile, I turned into the second neighborhood which was an out and back section.  Once I turned around, I saw that I had opened a 20 second lead on him, with third place another 20 seconds behind him.  Finally turning back onto the main drag again, I hit mile three in 5:36.  Now the rest of the course was straight out a rural, country road to a turnaround cone in Indiana.  Once turning around, it was a straight shot all the way back to the start line which doubled as the finish line.  I found a good rhythm going out.  5:37 for mile four, 5:35 for mile five, 5:36 for mile six.  I felt comfortable and relaxed as I hit the hilliest part of the rural road.  Mile 7 slowed to a 5:43, but I wasn’t too concerned because of the hills.  As I hit the turnaround, one of the course monitors yelled “He’s 300 yards back of ya!”  Sure enough, when I headed back toward home, I estimated I was a minute ahead.  Giving a smile and a “Good Job” as I passed him, I tried to kick in the next little bit to be sure and crush any idea he had that he may catch up.  5:34 for mile 8.  The next two miles were first back into the hilly section, then a gradual uphill that I then realized had been a gradual downhill on the way out.  5:40 for mile 9.  5:46 for mile 10.  I started to feel a little fatigued at this point and started to reevaluate my race plan.  I had planned to try and hit sub 5:30s for the last 3 miles, but wasn’t completely sure I could maintain that pace (which would have resulted in a half marathon personal best), and determined that staying strong and bringing home the win was most important.  Mile 11 was a 5:42.  At this point, I started to encounter 5K participants who were also heading toward the finish line.  With a shot of adrenaline from their words of encouragement, and the water stop volunteers letting me know that “There’s no one within sight!”, I felt rejuvenated and tried to push the last couple miles.  I also believe that the realization that I was not only going to win, but achieve my first half marathon victory at my alma mater gave me an extra burst of energy.  Mile 12 was a 5:34.  Mile 13 started as a slight downhill, and then culminated with the steepest uphill of the race as we climbed back into “Uptown” Oxford.  I went through mile 13 in 5:31…my fastest mile of the race.  By the time I hit the 13 mile mark, I could see the finish line and could hear the cheers of spectators and most significantly, Kristy and Jackson.  I crossed the line in 1:14:26.  Second place came in at 1:16:02. 

It was an amazing feeling to be back at a place that I spent an important and impressionable portion of my life.  Taking home the victory was just icing on the cake.  Being able to finally go for a run there was like a dream.  I cannot wait to have that dream again.