CTM5K2010

Day 598 - August 21, 2010

Today it was clicking! I intentionally let all the kids sprint out ahead at the start of the race and waited for the path to widen before getting up to race pace. The last thing I wanted to do was knock an over ambitious youngster down at the bottleneck. At the half mile, I was comfortably in the top 15 and working my way up through the pack. I hit the mile mark in 5:50 and was in 6th place and right on the heels of the lead pack as we started the first climb of any length. I quickly passed the next two runners to move into 4th and set my sights on 2nd and 3rd place. The climb was a little over a quarter of a mile, and when I reached the crest and made the turn back down, I managed to get the inside angle and slip past those two and move into 2nd place. First place was about 5-10 seconds ahead and looked to be running comfortably, but wasn't really accelerating on the down hill which allowed me to close the gap and pull up on his shoulder. I thought for a second that he was going to fade, so I made a move to get into first. My expectations for this race was a solid top 10 finish and at the halfway mark, I was leading. Probably the first time in a race with over 100 people since I was in college.

We started back up the hill toward the 2 mile mark and unfortunately I surrendered first place back. We went through 2 in 12:02 - much better than I had expected. I wish I could say that I put on a furious charge and managed to regain the lead, but the leader was able to pull away. I did hang on for second place and finished in 18:46, which is over a minute faster than last year. I also received a $35 gift certificate to my favorite running shop for my effort. All in all, a much better day than I was expecting.

Turkey Trot

Day 330 - November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone got out to run this morning before the parades and eating festivities begin. I started the day at the first annual Earlysville Turkey Trot 5K and kids half mile. I convinced my girls this would be a fun way to start Thanksgiving. Both girls came with me and they did great - they even showed a little competitiveness passing some other kids in the last 100 meters.




























As for me, I'm pretty pleased with my performance. I ran my fastest 5K of the year, in 19:22 (unofficial watch time). I placed 6th overall, and 1st in my age group. I felt pretty good right up until the last hill at 2.5 miles. What a nasty place to put a hill. I have to admit that I probably gave up a few seconds there.

For a first year race, it went pretty well. The race directors were completely overwhelmed with the registration and sign in, but to be fair, they only anticipated ~90 runners. Everyone was surprised when more than 275 people showed up. I'll plan on running it again next year and hopefully my girls will too.

Fall Foilage 5K

Day 311 - November 7, 2009

Today was the Fall Foilage 5k trail run at the Blue Ridge School. All I can say is I forgot how much harder cross country is than road running. What a course. Not only were there two stream crossings, but there was also a hill so steep that I doubt many cars would have been able to make the climb. It was so fun, they had us run it twice.

I got out with the lead group of runners and we hit the first stream crossing as a group. The first three all tried for the same rock and ended up ankle deep in water. Being older (I was going to say wiser)and a bit less willing to be wet the entire race, I took a slightly longer approach to the stream and made it across dry. The group stayed together until we reached the hill. The first 30 yards are like climbing out of a stream bank - I'm talking steep and the third place runner just stopped to walk. I felt pretty good the first time up the hill and managed to work into second place and was gaining on the leader by the time we reached the summit. After that, he destroyed me on the downhill.

The race was pretty uneventful after that - I did make a challenge to close the gap on the second time up the hill, but I think the leader was just taking it easy because I never saw him again after he crested the hill. I held on to finish second, comfortably in front of third place.

I've only run this race one other time and that year I finished in 4th place in 22:17. Today I was a bit faster in 21:40, but they did extend the course, so pace wise I think I was even faster.

It was a fun morning and the weather was beautiful for November. I look forward to running it again next year.

Carl Tribastone 5K

Day 227 - August 15, 2009

This morning was the 5th annual Carl Tribastone 5K, a race to benefit organ and tissue transplantation and donation. Carl was a local runner who developed a benign brain tumor. A sad twist of fate led to some unfortunate complications and Carl passed away leaving behind his four sons (age six and under) and wife, Andrea.

But Carl's passing was just the beginning for four other people. Carl was an organ donor. In his passing, he was able to save the lives of four individuals desperately waiting for a transplant.

Today, over 400 runners and walkers came out to support Carl's legacy and raise money for organ donation. I was fortunate enough to participate and had a pretty good race, finishing in 19:52, good enough for first place in the 30-39 age group.

I learned today that a single person can save the lives of up to 7 people. Seven people! To learn more about how you can become a donor, check out Save7lives.org and learn how you can help up to 50 people with the organs and tissue you won't need any longer. I can't think of a better gift or legacy.

Camp Holiday Trails 5K

I woke up plenty early for the 5K this morning only to be greeted by 22F on the thermometer. Brrr. But, I put on plenty of layers and drove into Charlottesville ready for my second 5K of the year. Other than the chilly temps, it was a perfect morning for running - sunny skies and no wind.

When I got to the race, I found out that there would be a minor last minute course change - apparently UVA was doing some construction on the main road through grounds and there was a huge crane parked right in the middle of the road. Not a big deal really, but it did mean that we would now have to run several sets of steps as we maneuvered around the crane. The other problem this presented was that now the course was not measured and there would be no mile splits. That meant I would be running the entire race on feel and hoping I was on pace. Not ideal, but hey, it could be worse.

I intentionally held back a little bit the first half mile. I've found that it is much more encouraging to be passing people through the race than to be getting passed when you go out too fast. The plan worked pretty good as I steadily picked up places for the first two to two and half miles. After that, things had pretty much settled out and I remained in 9th place for the rest of the race, a good 30 seconds out of 8th and probably even more than that ahead of 10th. The finish of the race was pretty tough as you have to climb 20-30 feet of elevation in the last 100 yards and it didn't help that a car pulled right out in front of me and stopped on the path as I was trying to make it up the hill. But what's a couple of seconds anyway right?

When I initially crossed the line, I was disappointed to see that I had failed to break 21 minutes (21:18). I figured it must have been all the twist and turns and stairs that we had to run to get around the crane. But a few minutes later, a friend with a Garmin let me know that the course was actually 3.33 miles. Now, my time makes more sense. At 3.3 miles, 21:18 puts me at 6:27 pace, which would have been a solid 20:00 5K - cool. Way better than the 22:10 I ran on January 1.

When they announced the age group awards, I was happy to hear that I had finished first in the 30-39 age group - I will enjoy my free burrito and water bottle from Ragged Mountain Running Shop.

Day 78 - 3.3 miles

I've decided to run a 5K this weekend - the Camp Holiday Trails 5K. Camp Holiday Trails is a camp for children with special medical needs. The camp itself is in a great little location, practically right in Charlottesville that you'd never know was there if you didn't stumble upon it. There are some great running trails in that area and Reservoir Road is a wonderfully quiet gravel road for anyone at UVA looking for a long run.

The race will be run on the UVA neighborhood course, a hilly, but familiar route. I've never run a particularly fast time on this course, but it will be good to get out and see how much I've improved since the beginning of the year. I'm really just hoping to average 6:40 or 6:45/mile.

I decided to take it easier today and will do the same tomorrow. I want my legs to be as fresh as possible. Even with a couple of easy days I should still log 35 miles this week. I'm hoping this will also give me some clue about where I am in my preparation for the Charlottesville 10 miler. I finally signed up for that race as well today, so I'm all in. It should be a fun two and half weeks.

2008 in review

Well, as you all know, the streak ended in September. What you probably don't know is that my running fell completely apart after that day. I was assigned to business travel for 2 months straight in an area where it was barely safe to run on a treadmill, let alone the street. But in 2009 I am vowing a comeback. I won't say I'm ready to attempt 1000 straight days again yet, but I did run the New Years Day 5K today. What a mess. I am so slow and I even had to stop and walk. Yep - in a 5K, I had to stop and walk. I am so ashamed. I guess it was the cold air and 20 pounds I gained traveling. The good news is, there is only one direction to go from here. Teh improvements should come fast in 2009 and I'm looking forward to being more consistent on the roads this year.

So, here are the stats from 2008 - not the greatest year considering a I ran every day for 8+ months, but still not that bad.

Days run - 287 (78%)
Total miles - 880
Total time run - 108 hours, 45 min, 37 sec
Average pace - 7:25/mile

In 2009 I hope to get that mileage back above 1000 and the average pace back down near 7:00/mile. I'm off to a good start with 5 miles in today. Just wish I could have run a little faster.