Top-Times for 2008
Mile: 5:21 PB (previously 5:27)
Two Miles: 11:59.68
5K: 19:22
5 Miles: 33:00 PB (previously 33:39)
10K: 41:30 PB (previously 42:06)
Half Marathon: 1:39:21 PB (previously 1:43:23)
Course Bests
AMA 5K/Run for Hungry Children: 20:12 (previously 20:23)
Abe's Amble 10K: 41:30 (previously 42:06)
Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon: 1:39:21 (previously 1:44:45)
Races I Executed to Perfection
Sizzling Mile: 2.09, 1:20.90 (1:22.99), 1:21.45 (2:44.44), 1:20.01 (4:04.45), 1:17.11 (5:21.56)
Abe's Amble: 6:40.56, 6:47.45 (13:28.01), 6:41.31 (20:09.32), 6:46.67 (26:55.99), 6:43.87 (33:39.66), 6:38.83 (40:18.69), 1:11.95, (41:30.64)
Heroes Run for Hope: 6:33.34, 6:52.87 (13:26.21), 6:39.37 (20:05.58), 6:43.12 (26:48.70), 6:12.92 (33:00.62)
Future Plans
I have no "A" races planned for the foreseeable future. Kim and I have a baby due in March and he has Down Syndrome and will need heart surgery this summer. I plan to continue working on my masters degree through this so I will only race when the mood strikes me and when I have the time. I am tentatively planning on running the 2010 version of the Illinois Half Marathon in Urbana-Champaign that April. When I complete graduate school in June of 2010 I will set my sights, if all is well, upon the 3rd annual Illinois Marathon in the spring of 2011.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Catching Up
I didn't do a race report for the Jingle Bell Run 5K last week. I've been busy with house repairs and getting said house ready for people to look at it. I've also had the regular business with school, grad. school, family, etc.
Last Saturday was cold as a well digger's ass in Ohio. It was only about 35 degrees with very chilly winds coming out of the NE at close to 20 mph. That was fine on the way back in on the out-and-back course but really sucked on the way out. Once we hit the tree line around the 1K mark it was fine.
I drove to the race so I had about 90 minutes to sign-up and warm-up. I'm glad I did because it was a huge SNAFU. You had to sign-up and pay at one table, get your bib number at another and then get your goodie bag and t-shirt in another. It was a ton of standing in line. To make matters worse when I got to race and went to grab my gloves and hat they weren't in the car. Luckily I had a raggedy old stocking cap in my car that was covered in dead leaf fragments from the yard work I'd done in it the previous weekend and an extra pair of socks in my dry clothes bag. I eventually found my hat and gloves on the floor of my garage upon returning home.
I got in about a two mile warm-up and stripped down to a long sleeve shirt, light vest, tights, glove/socks and lawn detritus covered hat. I lined up with my friend Emily (the girl I beat at the Run for Hungry Children 5K in April and then almost puked on her shoes). Emily was planning on running 20:00 or faster as I was. The plan was to egg each other on to get under that mark.
The gun went off and Emily shot away. I yelled at her, "What's the hurry?" She said "C'mon!" I stayed where I was because I didn't want to go that fast.
I tucked in behind a few fool-hardy high school kids until we hit the tree line and then I started picking them up and putting them down. I hit the mile, which I think was off, in 6:17 and hit the turnaround in 10:30 with my buddy Nyle. I'm not sure if the turnaround is really the halfway point or not but it has to be pretty close. 10:30 at the halfway doesn't equate to a sub-20:00. I surged pretty hard with Nyle and we passed even more people heading toward the 2 mile mark. Nyle and I go back and forth quite a bit. I'll beat him a few races after passing him late and he'll get me the next race or two. We have a pretty decent rivalry but I think I have the edge because I'm about 20 years younger and have a better kick. He is pretty fun to race though and we pushed each other pretty hard the last bit of this race.
We hit the second mile mark in 11:57 but I'm gonna go ahead and say that their's no way I ran a 5:39 mile and ran within one second of my post-married life PR. Nyle got the best of me heading out of the treeline but only after we passed another three or four people. We were running with two other teenagers at this point and Nyle attacked and built up a lead of no more than five seconds with about 800 to go. Out of nowhere I got a second wind and could see Emily only ten seconds ahead. With about 600 to go I started sprinting. I dropped the high school kids and started gaining on Nyle. Right around the three mile mark we turned into the final straight and I kicked past Nyle and came within a whisker of getting Emily at the finish. I didn't puke though.
I stopped my watch as I crossed the line in 19:59.59. Emily must have run 19:58.xx as her time was 19:59 and mine was 20:00 in the official results, these were the same guys who did the timing for the Parade Run (11:59.68 but 12:00 official). Nyle finished one place behind me in 20:05. I ran from the turnaround to the finish in 9:28.
I placed 19th overall, 17th overall male and finally completed my collection of age group medals with a win in the 30-34 age group to go with two second place finishes and a third in 25-29. The after race party was crazy busy and when I finally decided to brave the line for food there was NOTHING left! No coffee, no bananas, no muffins, nothing.
I went home, drank coffee and did homework.
Last Saturday was cold as a well digger's ass in Ohio. It was only about 35 degrees with very chilly winds coming out of the NE at close to 20 mph. That was fine on the way back in on the out-and-back course but really sucked on the way out. Once we hit the tree line around the 1K mark it was fine.
I drove to the race so I had about 90 minutes to sign-up and warm-up. I'm glad I did because it was a huge SNAFU. You had to sign-up and pay at one table, get your bib number at another and then get your goodie bag and t-shirt in another. It was a ton of standing in line. To make matters worse when I got to race and went to grab my gloves and hat they weren't in the car. Luckily I had a raggedy old stocking cap in my car that was covered in dead leaf fragments from the yard work I'd done in it the previous weekend and an extra pair of socks in my dry clothes bag. I eventually found my hat and gloves on the floor of my garage upon returning home.
I got in about a two mile warm-up and stripped down to a long sleeve shirt, light vest, tights, glove/socks and lawn detritus covered hat. I lined up with my friend Emily (the girl I beat at the Run for Hungry Children 5K in April and then almost puked on her shoes). Emily was planning on running 20:00 or faster as I was. The plan was to egg each other on to get under that mark.
The gun went off and Emily shot away. I yelled at her, "What's the hurry?" She said "C'mon!" I stayed where I was because I didn't want to go that fast.
I tucked in behind a few fool-hardy high school kids until we hit the tree line and then I started picking them up and putting them down. I hit the mile, which I think was off, in 6:17 and hit the turnaround in 10:30 with my buddy Nyle. I'm not sure if the turnaround is really the halfway point or not but it has to be pretty close. 10:30 at the halfway doesn't equate to a sub-20:00. I surged pretty hard with Nyle and we passed even more people heading toward the 2 mile mark. Nyle and I go back and forth quite a bit. I'll beat him a few races after passing him late and he'll get me the next race or two. We have a pretty decent rivalry but I think I have the edge because I'm about 20 years younger and have a better kick. He is pretty fun to race though and we pushed each other pretty hard the last bit of this race.
We hit the second mile mark in 11:57 but I'm gonna go ahead and say that their's no way I ran a 5:39 mile and ran within one second of my post-married life PR. Nyle got the best of me heading out of the treeline but only after we passed another three or four people. We were running with two other teenagers at this point and Nyle attacked and built up a lead of no more than five seconds with about 800 to go. Out of nowhere I got a second wind and could see Emily only ten seconds ahead. With about 600 to go I started sprinting. I dropped the high school kids and started gaining on Nyle. Right around the three mile mark we turned into the final straight and I kicked past Nyle and came within a whisker of getting Emily at the finish. I didn't puke though.
I stopped my watch as I crossed the line in 19:59.59. Emily must have run 19:58.xx as her time was 19:59 and mine was 20:00 in the official results, these were the same guys who did the timing for the Parade Run (11:59.68 but 12:00 official). Nyle finished one place behind me in 20:05. I ran from the turnaround to the finish in 9:28.
I placed 19th overall, 17th overall male and finally completed my collection of age group medals with a win in the 30-34 age group to go with two second place finishes and a third in 25-29. The after race party was crazy busy and when I finally decided to brave the line for food there was NOTHING left! No coffee, no bananas, no muffins, nothing.
I went home, drank coffee and did homework.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
3200 m. Time Trial
In the spirit of the post-season that is going on around me I decided to run a hard workout today. My high school alma mater brought home two trophies and four individual all-state medals from the 1A state cross country championships last weekend and the D-1 regional cross country meets were taking place this morning.
I ran a warm-up around the neighborhood and drove to the middle school track in the drizzle and wind to do another mile of accelerations before ditching the jacket and putting on my vest for a 3200 meter time trial. The temps were in the mid-30s with winds about 16 mph out of the NW with gusts in the 20s. Add a nice drizzle/sleet to the mix and it was a fun time.
I decided to see how 1:35s felt and had at it.
Here are my splits:
1:36.10
1:37.36; 3:13.46 (3:13.46)
1:36.35; 4:49.81
1:35.76; 6:25.57 (3:12.11)
1:35.24; 8:00.81
1:35.63; 9:36.44 (3:10.87)
1:34.75; 11:11.19
1:30.90; 12:42.09 (3:05.65) (6:16.52)
1:35s felt okay after easing into them the first few laps. I got a little uncomfortable the last 600 meters or so but nothing too bad. I think I could have clipped off 1:35s for a few more laps before vomiting.
I'm going to run the Jingle Bell 5K to close out my season next Saturday and more than likely will not race again until Adam is a few months old late next spring or early next summer.
Hopefully we will have a house in the Decatur area before he comes along, I hope they have a few decent races.
I ran a warm-up around the neighborhood and drove to the middle school track in the drizzle and wind to do another mile of accelerations before ditching the jacket and putting on my vest for a 3200 meter time trial. The temps were in the mid-30s with winds about 16 mph out of the NW with gusts in the 20s. Add a nice drizzle/sleet to the mix and it was a fun time.
I decided to see how 1:35s felt and had at it.
Here are my splits:
1:36.10
1:37.36; 3:13.46 (3:13.46)
1:36.35; 4:49.81
1:35.76; 6:25.57 (3:12.11)
1:35.24; 8:00.81
1:35.63; 9:36.44 (3:10.87)
1:34.75; 11:11.19
1:30.90; 12:42.09 (3:05.65) (6:16.52)
1:35s felt okay after easing into them the first few laps. I got a little uncomfortable the last 600 meters or so but nothing too bad. I think I could have clipped off 1:35s for a few more laps before vomiting.
I'm going to run the Jingle Bell 5K to close out my season next Saturday and more than likely will not race again until Adam is a few months old late next spring or early next summer.
Hopefully we will have a house in the Decatur area before he comes along, I hope they have a few decent races.
And the Winner is. . .
After weeks of suggesting names to my wife and weeks of her saying "no, I don't like that" I gave up on suggesting names and told her to pick one herself. She came up with. . .
Thursday, October 30, 2008
It's a BOY!
I guess I'm going to be the father of sons.
We got our 20 week ultrasound today and while I was hoping for a daughter I am happy that I'm going to have another little boy around the house soon.
I was curious to see what a little girl would look like though.
All we know is that the middle name is going to be "Michael".
Any suggestions?
We got our 20 week ultrasound today and while I was hoping for a daughter I am happy that I'm going to have another little boy around the house soon.
I was curious to see what a little girl would look like though.
All we know is that the middle name is going to be "Michael".
Any suggestions?
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Heartbeats
Kim and I got out the stethoscope this morning and attempted to find the baby's heartbeat. When Kim was pregnant with Nathan we heard his heartbeat with our 'scope for the first time around 15 weeks in but we haven't had the same luck with this one. We are nearly 18 weeks along and I was able to find the heartbeat this morning. I guess the baby was feeling cooperative because I think it rolled for me because I could hear "swooshing" sounds and then the beat got louder.
We go in for the 20 week ultrasound on October 30th so hopefully the child's spirit of cooperation persists so we can discover if Nathan is going to have a baby brother or a baby sister in March.
We go in for the 20 week ultrasound on October 30th so hopefully the child's spirit of cooperation persists so we can discover if Nathan is going to have a baby brother or a baby sister in March.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Heroes Run for Hope
I ran the Heroes Run for Hope 5 mile in beautiful Chatham this morning. I LOVE having a race in the town where I live and I was heartbroken when the Race for Brazil/Race to Cure Lymphoma dissolved two years ago.
I love racing in Chatham because I know the streets, I know the hills and I like to do well on my "home" course. This morning dawned sunny and cool with temps in the mid-50s by race time. As I stood on the line I did not see any of the big horses from the SRRC and was wondering if the race was going to turn into a lonely slog in the lead. I didn't have anything to worry about though because when "go" was yelled a guy next to me on the line shot to the front. I let him go and focused on finding my rhythm as the race headed north on Rt. 4. As we passed Walgreens heading to the one mile mark another runner passed me. I didn't feel like chasing and hit the mile in 6:33.34 which was a bit faster than I wanted to go. I didn't feel over-extended and I tried to stride out on the downhill heading toward the railroad trestle. As I crested the hill heading toward the high school I felt like I had quite a bit of life in the legs and attempted to run the tangents as Plummer Rd. wound its way to Gordon Dr. I hit mile two in 13:26.21 with a mile split of 6:52.87.
After rounding the turn onto Gordon I knew that it was a long, straight shot to the three mile mark. Luckily for me the course basically mirrored the first three miles of my six my training loop that I have completed numerous tempo runs on. I settled into a rhythm and hit mile three in 20:05.58 with a mile split of 6:39.37. I ran up the next to last decent hill on the course and wound through the Breckenridge sub-division heading toward the four mile mark. As I rounded the corner with the four mile mark in sight I heard the scuff of shoes right behind me. I snuck a peek over my shoulder as I turned and saw a guy not quite ten seconds back and gaining. I noticed him at the two mile mark when he was about 30 seconds back. It seemed apparent that he was gunning for the bronze medal.
I surged hard at four which I hit in 26:48.70 with a 6:43.12 mile split. I cut a tangent heading to Park St. and swooshed around the corner into the last 3/4 of a mile and the last two hills on the course. I easily crested the first of the bunny hops and surged on the downhill side. As I approached the last hill a block later I lowered the arms and shortened the stride and gave it all I had. As I turned into South Park I dug deeper and sprinted as hard as I could to the finish. I could hear myself whimpering with effort and crossed the line in 33:00.62, having covered the last mile in 6:12.92. I managed to hold off my shadow by 11 seconds and just barely avoided vomiting on his shoes as he came over to congratulate me.
My shadow started running seriously this past spring after spending years on an elliptical machine. He is in his forties and knocked down five miles in 33:11 today. Personally, I am glad he didn't start running seriously a month or two earlier than he did or I would have had to settle for first in my age group instead of third overall.
The race was won by the guy who passed me at the mile mark. He caught the early leader with about a half mile to go and triumphed in 31:45 (I think) to 31:59. I remember when I could run that fast. . . on hilly, solo tempo run days even. Those days were nice. Those days were also about 13-14 years ago. Hopefully those days will come around again.
My legs felt pretty good after having felt dead every time I ran for the last month or so. I started doing the Core Secrets workout with Gunnar Peterson again the last two weeks and I think that is helping me out immensely. I think I'll have to keep that up.
I am getting ready to start two ten week long grad classes on Monday after finishing my first one a few weeks ago. I expect the blogging to go on hiatus for awhile, though I will post updates about our pregnancy toward the end of the month or beginning of next as we'll be discovering the sex of our child then. I'll also try to get a race report up if I decide to run the Jingle Bell Run 5K in the middle of November.
Take care and have a nice autumn!!!
I love racing in Chatham because I know the streets, I know the hills and I like to do well on my "home" course. This morning dawned sunny and cool with temps in the mid-50s by race time. As I stood on the line I did not see any of the big horses from the SRRC and was wondering if the race was going to turn into a lonely slog in the lead. I didn't have anything to worry about though because when "go" was yelled a guy next to me on the line shot to the front. I let him go and focused on finding my rhythm as the race headed north on Rt. 4. As we passed Walgreens heading to the one mile mark another runner passed me. I didn't feel like chasing and hit the mile in 6:33.34 which was a bit faster than I wanted to go. I didn't feel over-extended and I tried to stride out on the downhill heading toward the railroad trestle. As I crested the hill heading toward the high school I felt like I had quite a bit of life in the legs and attempted to run the tangents as Plummer Rd. wound its way to Gordon Dr. I hit mile two in 13:26.21 with a mile split of 6:52.87.
After rounding the turn onto Gordon I knew that it was a long, straight shot to the three mile mark. Luckily for me the course basically mirrored the first three miles of my six my training loop that I have completed numerous tempo runs on. I settled into a rhythm and hit mile three in 20:05.58 with a mile split of 6:39.37. I ran up the next to last decent hill on the course and wound through the Breckenridge sub-division heading toward the four mile mark. As I rounded the corner with the four mile mark in sight I heard the scuff of shoes right behind me. I snuck a peek over my shoulder as I turned and saw a guy not quite ten seconds back and gaining. I noticed him at the two mile mark when he was about 30 seconds back. It seemed apparent that he was gunning for the bronze medal.
I surged hard at four which I hit in 26:48.70 with a 6:43.12 mile split. I cut a tangent heading to Park St. and swooshed around the corner into the last 3/4 of a mile and the last two hills on the course. I easily crested the first of the bunny hops and surged on the downhill side. As I approached the last hill a block later I lowered the arms and shortened the stride and gave it all I had. As I turned into South Park I dug deeper and sprinted as hard as I could to the finish. I could hear myself whimpering with effort and crossed the line in 33:00.62, having covered the last mile in 6:12.92. I managed to hold off my shadow by 11 seconds and just barely avoided vomiting on his shoes as he came over to congratulate me.
My shadow started running seriously this past spring after spending years on an elliptical machine. He is in his forties and knocked down five miles in 33:11 today. Personally, I am glad he didn't start running seriously a month or two earlier than he did or I would have had to settle for first in my age group instead of third overall.
The race was won by the guy who passed me at the mile mark. He caught the early leader with about a half mile to go and triumphed in 31:45 (I think) to 31:59. I remember when I could run that fast. . . on hilly, solo tempo run days even. Those days were nice. Those days were also about 13-14 years ago. Hopefully those days will come around again.
My legs felt pretty good after having felt dead every time I ran for the last month or so. I started doing the Core Secrets workout with Gunnar Peterson again the last two weeks and I think that is helping me out immensely. I think I'll have to keep that up.
I am getting ready to start two ten week long grad classes on Monday after finishing my first one a few weeks ago. I expect the blogging to go on hiatus for awhile, though I will post updates about our pregnancy toward the end of the month or beginning of next as we'll be discovering the sex of our child then. I'll also try to get a race report up if I decide to run the Jingle Bell Run 5K in the middle of November.
Take care and have a nice autumn!!!
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