Thursday, November 27, 2008

2008 Thanksgiving Day Pie Run

Hugh, Dan, and I ran the course as a warm up which had changed this year. It was almost all on the road since $2 million in liability insurance was required to run on the trail. The 10K had to run the course twice and the 5K would run it once. We got back and waited for the race to start. It ended up starting about 15 min late due to the people still signing up.

Hugh ran the 5K and Dan and I ran the 10K. Dan had a really fast and impressive start. I wondered if I could catch him, but eventually he slowed it down to a reasonable 10K pace. Dana and Paul, who also run about my pace in this race in past years, were both ahead of me. Eventually caught Paul and stayed with him for a few miles. The pace felt fast, but thought I could stay with him and then pulled ahead after a mile or so. I didn't feel like I was working too hard, but just tried to keep the pace steady fearing everything was surely going to fall apart at some point. I found it hard to believe at points I was running the pace I was running but the splits confirmed.

First loop clock said 19:18 so I figured I would start to slow at some point. I continued to feel strong and passed Dana in the second loop and then another guy before mile 4. I maintained same pace and position until the end finishing in 38:42, a 10K PR for me by 1:15. Every 10K PR, I have set has been in this race. I probably could have run harder, but was not sure whether I could keep it up. The pace I ran is often a good 5K pace for me so running a 10K at this pace was new for me. I finished strong and felt good. I guess a couple days rest, and being unmotivated is good for my running. I don't think that Dan felt sorry for me any longer since I ran well. He had a 10K PR as well.

Hugh placed first in the 50 - 59 age group and I placed first in the 40 - 49 age group. This was the first time I ever got a medal in this race. Hugh got his first last year. There is a lot of good competition at this race and the 10 year age groups makes it very difficult. It is a good course though to shoot for a 5 or 10K PR being so flat. Hopefully, this race has given me the motivation to try to shoot for 3,000 miles by the end of the year.

m1 - 6:07.....m4 - 6:09
m2 - 6:13.....m5 - 6:15
m3 - 6:12.....m6 - 6:09
0.27 - 1:36 (5:59 pace)

Sunday, November 09, 2008

2008 Cranberry Crawl 5K

Hugh and I arrived at the food bank about 7:15 to run the course as a warm up. Warm up did not feel good until about 2.5 miles. Ran the warm up miles at about 9 min pace. It was good thing I signed up for the race ahead of time since based on the warm up I am not sure I would have run the race. I felt achy.

I decided to do my best and start out with the intention of trying to run a good race for my first 5k in my new age group. I started out fast and passed Chris C. and John H. before we got to Vandiver. I knew John was running the 5K and in my age group. I assumed Chris was running the 5K but found later he ran the 10K. He passed me around 2 miles and Bill S. passed me as well running the 10K. I am glad I am now not in their age group for a few years.

This was not a flat course and not a fast course in my opinion. I pushed pretty hard up the hills and even harder on flat and downhills. I was a bit tired of the hills but managed to have decent mile splits for the 3 miles. Finished in 18:49 which surpassed my goal. I figured running a 19:30 would be possible on this course, but really no clue where my fitness is on 5Ks right now. I ended up enjoying this run more than I expected. Felt much better than the warm up miles.

I was first of 5 in my age group 40 - 44 and 4th of 104 overall. We got to pick a prize from the table and I chose a reflective yellow New Balance running vest. Hugh ran the 5K as well and placed 3rd in his age group, 13th overall and also got a prize from the table.

Splits:

m1 - 5:58
m2 - 6:17
m3 - 6:13
0.07 - 0:21

2008 Cranberry Crawl Results