Touring The Crim Course Mile - 8

Welcome back Crim Runners! Glad to see you have survived the first 7 miles! Today I guide you along mile 8, a beautiful stretch of the course that includes many more wonderful homes, wide views, some shade, and oh, those curves with “gently rolling” hills. I hope you enjoy this mile too!

Mile 8

Yes, mile 7 might have felt short as hopefully you have been able to pick up your pace again as the course is flat to downhill. There are two immediate tangents to pay close attention too immediately following this turn. Along scenic Parkside you will receive encouragement from a high school band and cheer team may get your juices jumping a bit but you still need to pay attention to the curves of the tangents, work the hills (they are all short so run hard and get them over with!) and stride down the hills when given the opportunity. 

There are many twists and turns along the last half of this mile that prevent you from seeing too far ahead. The result is you may think you only have one more bend in the road when in fact another bend and another hill await you. Your pace is likely slower than a few miles ago so your brain teases you by making you think the route is longer and harder.  Remember, a mile is a mile.

As you approach the end of mile 8 there is a large house on the right, you are on a shaded part of the route, and there will likely be a hose spraying water for you to run through. There is another very mild hill to get over and again, your mind begins to play tricks on you. Be mentally tough, don’t slow down, plow through this point and turn the corner onto Miller Rd. only two more miles to race!

However, sneaky mile 8 decides to jump up and steal it all back again!  Enjoy this stretch of road for as you turn right onto Court St, you will be likely be greeted by sunshine with the resulting hot pavement. The sun, the heat from the pavement, the vast width of the road, your tired legs, all combine to make this part of the route this writer’s least favorite. The best part of mile 8 is completing it, for now there are only 2 more miles to race!

Thanks for following me along this long. Come back tomorrow as we prepare for the final push to the finish line!

Coach Lee

PS: Please cruise through the other parts of The Running Architect website while here too!

Thanks :)

Touring The Crim Course - Mile 7

Welcome back, this time to mile 7 of the Crim route. Perhaps it’s my architectural heritage or maybe it’s the welcoming shade covered Hawthorne Dr. but the next two miles are my favorite part of the Crim route.

Mile 7

Just kidding!  Yes from mile 6 to 10 the course drops, but along mile 7 on beautiful Hawthorne and Parkside Avenues you will see your share of rolling hills, mostly shaded route and the many huge stately homes of Flint!  Stay to the left side of the shady Hawthorne Ave.

The views are nice, many neighbors are out to support you, there will be a band playing as you approach the mile mark,  but do not get too distracted. This is a very critical stretch to pay attention to the tangents!  This is especially true once you make the 90 degree left turn onto Parkside Ave. Here the shade is gone as your view opens up to the site of Swartz Creek Golf Course as you run along towards mile 8.

Thanks for following my posts. I invite you to also peek into my other pages of The Running Architect website too!

Enjoy!

Coach Lee

Touring The Crim Course - Mile 5, aka "The Bradley's"

Welcome back to my series of daily posts providing insights to how to run the Crim 10 Mile course. Each day is a new mile. Today is Mile 5, and the first of the famed Bradley Hills! These series of hills are probably second only to the Boston Marathon’s heartbreak hill. Like heartbreak, these series of hill truly test the runners fitness for the race and often are a decisive factor in how each runner performs at Crim.

Each hill is not all that difficult for even the average runner, but the secret to the Bradleys’ is that they do not really allow a runner to recover before the next hill. Hopefully, my brief narrative will help you the runner.

Mile 5 

You are now moving thru a little better area of Flint, not only for the houses but also for the welcomed shade. Most of mile 5 is downhill and meanders thru several streets. Despite the Bradley’s that lay ahead, this is not any time to slow to rest for them!  Keep the faith and keep running hard. To help you keep that faith, there is a gospel choir as you make your right turn onto Sunset before heading to Bradley!  Somehow this group is very appropriately placed J

Up next, the Bradleys’!  You can’t miss them. First, you will undoubtedly overhear other experienced runners talk about the Bradleys’ as you approach them. Second and impossible to miss is the giant blue entry balloon gate. The Crim tracks runners for 1 mile of the Bradley neighborhood. Next, one quick left turn and before you know it you are facing the first of three rolling hills.

The beginning of the Bradley Hills.

The first is actually the toughest, in part because to the uninitiated you mentally break down thinking they all are this bad!  Not really, stay to the left side of the road and use the people cheering you on as motivation, remember the arm and upper body action, keep your head up, and visualize flattening those hills with each foot strike. Pretend your legs and feet are a steam roller rolling down the size of each hill.

As you reach the peak of the first hill you may think, is that it? For it seems like just as soon as you hit the first hill you are headed down and to the actual 5 mile mark.  Congrats you are halfway home!

Thanks again for following my posts. Tomorrow, the balance of the Bradleys’ and what faces the runners afterward!
Coach Lee

Touring The Crim Course Mile 4

Welcome back to the fourth installment of “Touring The Crim Course”. I hope you enjoy.

Mile 4

 If you like long essentially straight routes you will love miles 3 and 4. Mile 4 along Chevrolet Ave may have a gentle bend to it. You need to mentally prepare to run straight line and not become focused on your tired legs. There is a reason they are feeling tired now, beyond the obvious, Chevrolet is also a very gentle but seemingly constant rise to the next turn at Cashew Point.  It also is not perfectly straight either!  About mid way, if you are paying attention and know how to run tangents properly, there is an opportunity to save a few strides here too!

Cashew Point, this is perhaps one of the more recently famous turns in all of road racing?  This is where in the past the tradition was that you were offered free (and likely warm) beer to wash down that Krispy Kreme you had!  But following the 2012 Crim it was announced that the homeowner at this famed corner was going into retirement and 2012 was his last year. The thousands of devoted Crim runners missed this thrill. However, Cashew Point returned in 2014! Be prepared to be greeted by a rowdy crowd, enjoy the crowd for after this point (no pun) the race really begins and you need to rely upon your mental strength too!

This is also the point at which you want to begin to regain your stride and pace for as you turn the sharp left corner you also begin a very welcomed downhill!  It is a very subtle downhill so you might otherwise miss it, but trust me, this is an excellent point to gain some time!

Look forward to mile 5 tomorrow and thank you for following my posts, I hope they will be of help to you on race day.

Coach Lee

The Crim Is Coming, The Crim Is Coming !!

Introduction

The Crim 10 Mile Road Race is perhaps the best 10 Mile race in the entire world! What makes it so great is it’s heritage, the organizers, supporters, volunteers, runners, and all of the people of Flint Michigan!

You can’t truly understand what it means to be from Flint unless you have lived there. I did spend much of my adolescence and early adult life growing up in the area between 1964 and 1977. The Flint Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded me with scholarships that made it possible for me to realize my life long dream of becoming an architect. I likely never would have been able to pay my entire way without their support. The Flint area is also where my running career as a middle school runner from Grand Blanc. More on that later.

Thus, the Crim for me represents a very special homecoming. A homecoming event that began in 1984 and continues through this day. About 10 years ago, I was enjoying my “second” glass of wine one evening and started to write an email to my running buds about how to run the Crim course. It has evolved into an annual publication titled “Touring The Crim Course” . Each year there are unique edits.

This year rather than sharing to a limited number of running friends, I choose to publish sections of this report every day until Crim week. This is the first of such posts as I guide you with some background and along the first mile. Be sure to return each day as I continue to guide you each mile. I hope you will enjoy.

Members of the 501 Running Club line up along the Bricks of Saginaw Street for pre-race photo. Note that everyone is smiling at this point in the morning!

Pre - Race

Normally the pre-race events start for me about a week in advance. I follow the event’s website, enjoy a mild taper, and travel to and from Flint Friday to attend the expo. Race morning begins while most normal people remain in their dream state. I awake hours before the race, enjoy my coffee, toasted bagel with PB and jam, get dressed in my race gear, pack my food and race goods into a bag and head out to meet other runners from our Running Fit 501 group to caravan from Novi to Flint. We arrive in downtown Flint before sunrise and just as the race grounds begin to awake.

If we are lucky, the weather is clear, cool, and dry. However, this is Crim weekend and the weather is rarely ideal for running a 10-mile world class race. Traditionally the weather is hot, sunny, and very humid. Nonetheless, many world and American records have been set for the 10-mile distance on this now prestigious course.

This is perhaps the best place in the racing world to people watch for there are all types of individuals all with one thing on their mind, either finishing the race or to watch their family member or friend finish a race. While this part is fun, it’s also time to get serious. Runners need to continue to hydrate and that of course leads to the inevitable trip to the port-a-john. Get to one soon for it may not be the last time to need to use one! Somewhere about this time you will also be hearing several reports from the PA announcer. They will welcome you to the Crim and remind you who the sponsors are. In the midst of this you will also be aware of the first official start of the Crim 10 Miler. The wheelers will be the first to start a full 30 minutes of your start. This is always an inspiring moment to witness. I highly recommend you find your way to the starting line to experience this event and get your blood flowing a bit before you start your warm-up. 

Next up are the true elite runners, those who will be running their 30th Crim or more! New this year new to Crim will be the first ever class of 40 year runners!  19 inspiring runners have participated in every Crim race since the first back in 1977. This group of special elite runners will be honored with a 15 minute head start ahead of the thousands of other runners. I am very honored and proud to join this group for the first time too! It seems like just yesterday that I was counting down the final few years until I could join this group. Now I can claim being a member of the 30 year club and looking forward to running my 33rd Crim. Think of it, how many other clubs have a 30 year waiting list? 

Perhaps one of the most important things a runner can do prior to a race such as Crim is to warm-up those cold muscles. There are plenty of opportunities to jog along the city streets that parallel Saginaw St. Mix some slow running with a few quicker strides, stretch a bit, get loose, get your heart rate up, and then find your place in your starting corral at the last possible moment (3-5 mins ahead of the start).

A cast of thousands cross the starting line for a journey through Flint on the 4th Saturday of each August.

The Start

After weeks if not months of training there you stand in a crowd of people on the bricks of Saginaw St. between the Citizens Bank Building and the Flint U-M Student Union.  Several years ago they started the race in waves. This means the elites and faster runners (approximately 7 mins per mile pace or better) are the only ones who now actually start at the official start time. Other runners will be held back a minute or two for each corral or group of corrals. There is very little time and distance between each wave. It will not take long for the entire mass of 10,000 or so runners to blend as one long parade line running through Flint.

The weather is probably sunny with a bit of an over cast, deceptively humid, and warm. Not to bad for the 4th Saturday in a Michigan August. The air is still as the PA announcer finally realizes there is nothing more to say, nobody left to recognize, and turns the mike over to Riley McClincha to sing the nation anthem. There may be a hot air balloon over the near horizon, perhaps a television helicopter, and certainly at least one drone hovering above you!

Finally the Mayor of Flint will ask the runners and walkers to get ready, pause, then announce the runners and walkers to START. The gun! or more accurately the horn sounds! You begin to move from a being anxiously still for the past 10 - 20 minutes or so to a mild shuffle that quickly turns into a walk, a jog, and a slight run. Before you know it you are stepping over the chip mat, you click your watch, the crowded field begins to disperse, and you are a Crim participant!

Being a participant is nice, but you want to succeed! Success in the Crim is a very individual measurement. Whether it is to simply finish without walking, win a medal, set a PR, or even a national record makes no difference, it’s all about knowing that you achieved your best today! To help you achieve your best the following is a brief outline of what to expect, perhaps suggest a strategy to attain it, and hopefully help you celebrate your Crim success!

The start of the 2017 Crim. As a member of the Crim’s 30 Year Club, we receive a 15 minute head start on the field of thousands! A truly unique experience!

Mile 1

Despite the shoulder to shoulder start, you will want to be sure to line up on the right side of the street. Within the first two hundred feet or so there is a traffic island barrier in the road. you will remain on Saginaw St. for the first quarter mile and then the course will take a 90 degree turn to the right. If you take the left side of the traffic island you will be adding unwanted distance to your very first mile. It may not sound like much but the Crim course gently winds in many places and you need to run all of the tangents as efficiently as possible to help ensure your best finish time.

Think of the first turn in the route as a giant hair-pin turn for before you know it you will make another 90 degree right turn and head once again over the beautiful Flint River as you run south along Harrison St. That 9 story tall office building on your right brings back many memories for this writer as I was the project architect for the State Office Building in 1980-81 and oversaw much of the construction activity as well.

Harrison St. parallels Saginaw St. and will offer the opportunity for spectators to line the street and cheer you along the start of your Crim adventure for 2019. The newer route no longer crosses over Saginaw St. where the crowds previously gathered, but like earlier years, you need to be very careful along this part of the route and not to get too excited, avoid any adrenaline rush, and keep running nice and relaxed. It’s very OK, in fact it is even very smart to run slower than your intended pace at this point in the race. Begin to work your way to the left side of Harrison as your next turn is onto Kearsley St.

Kearsley St. also brings back many fond memories for this writer for where the route turns left once stood the old Palace movie theater. I saw many movies here as a kid, the last one being “Woodstock” way too many years ago. Kearsley was also the name of a Flint area school that was the nemesis of my high school track and cross country teams, again too many years ago. Like years fly by, so will you along this portion of the route. It is straight with a very gentle slope that you will likely not perceive but one that will affect your pace. Keep relaxed, the cheering crowds are likely to extend along Kearsley St., the border of Flint U-M’s campus as you begin to approach the 1 mile mark.

Take this mile easy and relaxed.  Remember 10 miles is still a long way and you likely did not have much of an opportunity to warm your muscles, including your heart!  Focus on being relaxed, don’t work too hard by passing too many too soon. The crowd will soon begin to spread out. Keep your head up and look ahead at the mass of runners, look for how the mass will turn, you will want to move to the side of the street where the next turn will move you. Smart racers focus on running the shortest distance possible!  Be aware of the next tangent ahead!

Before you know it you are out on the wide open Chavez Dr. you approach the one mile mark.  Odds are that you will run your first mile faster than you would like too, do not fret too much, this is a race and the beginning of mile 2 will quickly reel you back to reality.

Thanks for following me this first mile, be sure to check back tomorrow for Mile 2 !

Coach Lee