NFL Week 12: The Guangzhou Marathon

Well, I made it! Today was the big day - my first half-marathon at the Guangzhou Marathon. I blogged a few weeks back about the qualification process and what a disaster that was. Today's race was just the opposite - fairly well organized with nothing too much out of the ordinary.

I have to admit, I didn't train very well for this half marathon. I kept jogging 3-4 times a week, but never built up the endurance I needed for the run. The longest I ran during the training period was about 12K. (For those of you that are metric-challenged, the half marathon is 21.1 K). But - what could go wrong? I felt halfway fresh after that 12K; I could push through that final 9K (!) on race day.

The day was hot and muggy - the sun was out at 7:30 coming through the haze and pollution; the weather felt fine at the 8:00 start time but we all knew it would get worse quickly. This sign near the start was ominous....

I planned to run at a 6 min pace per KM; I set it a little faster on the treadmill when training, so a 6:00 pace seemed doable - for a while. The first few splits came in at 6:05, 6:10 - uh oh. I knew we would have some sort of problem.  It wasn't getting any faster, and my legs weren't responding; my legs felt tired already at the 8 km mark. My upper body - head, chest, lungs - were all fine. The legs just weren't there.

The crowd was into the race; there were plenty of groups of spectators lining most of the course. One notable group was a group of 15 old ladies doing Tai Chi next to the course. Not sure if this was meant to help the runners, or if they were pissed at all of us disturbing their Sunday morning routine.

I hit the 10 km mark at about 1:04 - not bad, but I did feel unexpectedly spent. I made it to the 12.5 km marker before I had to stop and walk for a bit; I resumed running at the 13 km mark. But I was no where near the pace I had set before. Now I was doing 7:30, 7:45 minute km's.

We turned to go over the Pearl River at about the 15 km mark - and that's when I started to get a slight second wind; this picture of the bodies running over one of the iconic bridges in Guangzhou will be a keeper for years to come. However, the minutes crawled from 16 km - 19 km; won't this race ever end?

It was now about 10:15 am, the temperature was 85 and climbing with the trademark humidity. I had to stop one more time - at about the 19.5 k mark - for another walking session. Feeling a little better, I "ran" (if you could call it that) for the last 750 m or so to the finish, completing my first half marathon in 2:24. I did not feel an immediate sense of relief or elation. All I wanted was a banana, Clif bar or water. The P&G nurse was there, seeked me out, and asked if I was OK multiple times. Did I really look that bad?

Nothing too dramatic happened during the race; I did see a stretcher being rolled past me going the other way around the 11 km mark; no idea what was going on behind me. Almost all the runners had appropriate running outfits on. It felt like any normal road race in the US.

I got home, crawled upstairs, laid down on the bed - and was out for 90 minutes. I woke up - of course my whole body was sore - and pains in places that never hurt. (Is ass cheek chafing a thing for runners?) . Now that I've been done for 10 hours, I feel better and there is a little sense of accomplishment. Give me a couple weeks and I will probably want to do that again.

Will Josh Gordon be this sore after his first game back with the Browns? Lord, we need the help on offense....and I hope Atlanta is just the right opponent for Flash to ease into the league. Big game here.....should be a close one; Hoyer needs to have a steady game and we should be in it at the end.

On to the games:

TB 24, Chi 23: I think TB has the passing attack to exploit the weak Bears' secondary.

Hou 20, Cin 17. Well, I'm even more convinced at the strength of the Texans' D after last week; I think they will pressure Dalton into multiple turnovers.

Ind 27, Jax 17. How many big games can the Colts have in a row? This has to be a bit of a letdown for them.

GB 24, Min 20. Outdoors, on the road, the Pack have not been that impressive. Taking the points here with the improving Vikes.

NE 23, Det 20. The Lions have the D line that can dominate the Pats O-line and cause Brady to rush his throws. The reason I'm not calling the outright upset is because Detroit has limited offensive potential.

Phi 31, Ten 17. Tennessee threw everything at Pit last Monday; I expect them to have nothing in the tank for this road game.

SD 27, StL 13. Yes, Rivers may be hurt - but the Rams can't score at all. I expect the Chargers to get into the 20s, and that will be enough.

Sea 24, Az 17. The last stand for the Seahawks; I expect multiple trick plays from Pete Carroll.

Den 34, Mia 20. Peyton will be determined to fix the offense here at home vs. a decent Miami team.

SF 23, Was 17. You all know I hate the Niners, but I can't predict the upset here.

Dal 27, NYG 16.  I know, this is a huge trap game for the Cowboys. Why am I falling for it? Because the Dallas O is multi-faceted. The pass will set up the run.

NO 31, Bal 20. The Saints will have fun, at home, against a still banged-up Ravens secondary.

NYJ 19, Buf 16. I think Buffalo is imploding now after some horrible recent losses. Hope the implosion continues into next week as well!

Best bets: 13 of them. Last week: 7-8; overall: 67-86-3. Wow.

TB +5 1/2
Cin/Hou under 43 1/2
JAx +13 1/2
Jax/Ind under 50
Min +7 1/2
Det +7
Phi -11
SD -6
Den -6 1/2
Mia/Den over 47 1/2
Dal -4
NO -3
NYJ +2 1/2

Supercontest picks: Last week: 4-1; overall: 32-23
NYJ +4 1/2
Min +9 1/2
Det +7
SD -4 1/2
NO -3 1/2