Jim's Guts

Race Report - Camel's Back Duathlon...

The Lovely & Talented Mrs. Smith and I were in Boise, Idaho over the last weekend to watch Miss "m" matriculate (with High Honors) from Kuna High School, and when I we knew we'd be there over the long weekend I started looking for a race for us to do while we were in town. The only issue was there weren't any. At least not any straight road events, but I did find a duathlon. Hmmm, I've always wanted to try a duathlon so I asked the L&T about it and her response was that I could do it under two conditions;

1 - Understand that she wasn't going to do it, so don't keep asking
2 - I had to find a bike locally because we weren't shipping my bike (about $200 / round trip)

Those seemed like pretty reasonable conditions, so after finding a rental bike I signed up for the Camel's Back Duathlon - Short Course. A 2k (1.2m) Run, 15k (9.3m) Bike, 2k Run around the Camel's Back / Bogus Basin area.

The weather had been a little iffy, so I was glad to wake up race morning to decent (albeit chilly) weather. The hotel we were staying at served breakfast, so my plan was to go down and get some waffles (a standard pre-race meal for me) only when I got down there all they had available were pancakes! D'oh!! Instead I went with the classics, bagels with peanut butter and a banana.

We (the L&T wasn't going to race, but she was going to go for a run while I was on the bike course so she could get a workout in too) got to the park, found a great spot, and finished with the check in. Like I said, this was my first "Du", but I read enough Tri-blogs to know some of the basics of setting up transition. I think I did okay...
With that all set it was time to line up and get ready to start this thing

Run #1- 13:14.761
I didn't wear my Vibrams for this race (mostly because I was worried about the amount of time it would take to put them on), but I could have! The run started on grass, then went straight to mostly dirt and sand trails on a nice rolling course that had about a total of 200 yards of tarmac. It was fun, but challenging.

Transition 1 - 1:36.763
I thought going in that I'd try to keep my transitions under 2 minutes (clock starts when you enter the area and stops when you leave). So far so good...

Bike - 40:23.771
Two things killed me on the bike portion. Right after the start we began the climb up Bogus Basin Road, spending about the first 2 miles of the bike section climbing up about 1,000 feet, which was bad enough, but that was complicated by the fact that I was on a rental bike that was too small for me (I normally ride a 56cm, the rental was a 54cm) and it was, by my conservative estimate, about 769 times as heavy as my normal bike! It's accurate to say that I didn't really pass anyone who was actively riding while on the climb (I did get by a couple of walkers. Barely), but it's also accurate to say that at no time did I go backwards, so I count it a wash. After we made the turn at the top it was hammer time as I tried to make up for lost clock...

Transition 2 - 2:10.16
I figured this would be a little slower as it's harder to tie your shoes while you can't stop thinking about the hell that's coming up...

Run 2 - 15:03.740
Or, oh my gawd, I'm going to die! So, like I said, I hammered on the bike to get back some of the time I lost on the climb. Apparently this is a bit of a rookie mistake and now I know why. Wow, my legs didn't want to run. It wasn't that I was completely trashed, I was a little, but not completely, it's just that I'd been doing one thing very hard and now wanted my legs to do something incredibly different with no time to adjust. Let's just say that my gait (if you can call shuffling a "gait") wasn't very pretty but I did finish the course, though obviously much more slowly than on the first leg.

Total Time - 1:12:29.1, I was 19 minutes behind the overall short course winner, and 44 out of 75.I really had a lot of fun, and will definitely try other Duathlons as they make a nice break from just running or just riding. Many thanks to The L&T for Race Day support, and M & m for hosting us last weekend.

Race Report - Sun Run 10k...

To me, goals are funny things - They're very personal and in the large scheme of things, they're not  important, but I still focus on them. Breaking 60 at the Sun Run 10k shouldn't be a big deal, it's basically 10 min / mile, which I easily do at the 5k distance, but here's the thing; 60 *seemed* like a "magic number", and I've never broken it (my previous PR was 61:58), so I was a little fired up to see if I could pull it off.

Historically I am a slow starter, wanting to make sure I have plenty in the tank for the end of the race, but I knew that wouldn't work at the Sun Run for two reasons - There's a few places on the course where the course tightens and you're forced to slow down due to the massive number of people (the downside of racing with 51,418 other runners is that, even with "waved" starts and starting in the "Yellow" group [45-60 minutes]) there are still a LOT of people on the course) and the Burrard Street Bridge (two words for myself here - Hill. Repeats.).

KM 1 - 5.11 - Not a bad start, there was a lot of dodging walkers (seriously, you're going to walk the course in under an hour?), and general start line stuff, but a good first kilometer.

KM 2 - 5.47 (10.59) - A little slowing as we get to the first turns of the course and enter Stanley Park which features a pretty good constriction.

KM 3 - 5.05 (16.04) - I picked it up a little bit here because I knew what was coming...

KM 4 - 6.31 (22.36) - The start of Burrard.

KM 5 - 6.13 (28.49) - The end of Burrard.

KM 6 -6.02 (34.52) - A little slow for a water stop. I really need to work on drinking and running at the same time (don't be surprised to see me in front of my house one day practicing this).

KM 7 -5.45 (40.37) - Better.

KM 8 -5.55 (46.33) - Maybe I can really do this...

KM 9 -6.04 (52.37) - On the evening before the Sun Run I received a call from a colleague about an issue at work (just part of the job) and so when my phone rang during the 9th kilometer I figured I better answer it. Only it wasn't about work. It was a call from my friend GD, I mentioned that I was in the middle of a 10k and asked if I could call him back. The folks behind me thought it was hilarious...

KM 10 -5.45 (58.22) - I knew when I went through the 9km marker that I was going to break 60 minutes (it seemed unlikely that I was going to lay down a 7.23 kilometer), but the questions was by how much. There's an issue with the end of the run, in that they squeeze traffic down to one lane which leads to congestion. I'm pretty sure I could have broken 58 if I had a little more space, but overall I was pretty happy with the finish.

Totals;
Time - 58.22 (58.23 via chip)
Age group -584 out of 1544
Overall - 9657 out of 51,419

It's always fun to go to Vancouver and the Sun Run is a highlight of my spring. I'm pretty happy with my results and am already thinking about next year's time...

We meet again...

It's Sun Run weekend and time to face my old nemesis...

The Burrard Street Bridge;

Can I break 60 minutes? Check back next week for the race report...

Race Report - Top Pot 5k...

...Or "So Close" - I have a goal for this year to break 27 minutes for my 5k times and I was so close, but we'll get to that in a minute. A couple of weeks ago I participated in the Seahawks at The Landing 5k, but because I was fighting a serious cold at the time it wasn't quite the measuring stick for the upcoming Sun Run that I had hoped it would be. So with the Sun Run only a couple of weeks away, I thought I take the opportunity to really see where I was at. Besides, as the Lovely & Talented noted, "free doughnuts".

The course was around Green Lake, but with a slightly different starting location so that was a little odd, but overall it was a nice morning with a good crowd (about 2,500 people running), and there was the lure of fresh Top Pot doughnuts for the finishers, good enough for me...

Mile 1 - 9.05 - The only problem with running on a trail like the one at Green Lake is that it's a little crowded at the start, so my time was a slower than it should have been. Also I still line up back with the 10 min per mile crowd, I'm probably going to have to consider moving up a bit.

Mile 2 - 8.36 - Better! I actually felt pretty good and got into what I felt was a pretty good rhythm.

Mile 3 - 8.29 - Woohoo! Two negative splits in a row! That said, I didn't fuel very well the night before OR the morning of the race and felt my pace drop off a little bit towards the end. I must get better about that.

Mile .1 - 0.48 - Not bad. The finish was a pretty tight "U-turn" and on uneven grass, but still solid.

Total - 27.00 - SO CLOSE! The probably with coming in just a second above your goal is you can spend hours contemplating where you could have come up with that 1 second (the 9.05 opening mile didn't help).

Still, a good run, a good doughnut, and I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about Vancouver in 2 weeks.

Race Report - St. Patrick's Day Dash...

I realized it's been a while since my last race report (the Disneyland Half). We've certainly done plenty of runs since then (Gobbler 5k [Nov], Jingle Bell [Dec], Resolution [Jan], and Love 'Em or Leave 'Em [Feb]), but for some reason I just haven't written about them so I thought I'd try to get back in the habit with last weekend's St. Patrick Day Dash.

The Lovely & Talented Mrs. Smith and I have been running the "Dash" for years, it's a fun event with a lot of great energy, good turnout (usually around 10,000 folks), and this year the weather was fantastic - Cool, but not cold and sunny. We were in the "Red" wave, which is chip-timed and for runners (more on that in a second). The start is usually a little chaotic, but it didn't take long before we crossed the start line and were off..

Mile 1 - 9.56 - I love that all sorts of folks come out to events like the "Dash", and I get that not everyone likes to run at a 5k. I also (sort of) understand wanting to start in an earlier wave because you know you're going to walk and want to have a few extra minutes to finish the course. What I don't get is starting near the front of a *timed* wave AND starting in the middle of that wave (and then getting upset when people jostle you as they try to pass). I encourage everyone to come out to these sorts of events, whether you're a walker or a runner, but please, if you know you're going to be slower than those around you, do everyone a favor and line up to the outside (not to mention that it's much safer for everyone too). /rant

Mile 2 - 10.15 (20.11) - A little slow, but mile 2 is almost entirely uphill so I figured it would be a little slow anyway, then about halfway through the mile I got passed but the guy misjudged it and almost took us both out.

Mile 3 - 8.50 (29.01) - What goes up must come down, so just after the turnaround point the incline changed to decline and as the road went down so did my time.

.84 - 7.01 (36.02) - The "Dash" is an odd distance because of the start and finish line locations, and though it's listed as 3.85 miles, my Garmin said 3.84 so we're going with that. Still, not a bad finish.

Overall, it was a good morning and while my time was a little slow I feel like I'm getting closer to where I want to be.

Race Report - Disneyland Half Marathon...

Due to having a giant office move project at work the day after returning from Disneyland and then getting food poisoning, this is a little (okay a lot) late. That said, settle in friends, this is going to be long… As has been well documented, this was my first half marathon, and while I’ll get to good and bad things later in the interest of brevity I will say three things at the outset –

- I had a lot of fun.
- It wasn’t as hard as I had anticipated.
- Yes I’d do it again, and I'm already targeting the Disney Coast to Coast Challenge in 2011

Don’t get me wrong, it was certainly a challenge, but I wasn’t out to set a new course record or anything, so I knew that if I was smart about it I’d be fine physically. But as I’d never done one before, I really wasn’t sure what to expect.

The night before the race the Lovely & Talented Mrs. Smith and I went to one of my favorite spots in Downtown Disney, Naples Restorante e Pizzeria, for a little fuel,  after which we made a quick buzz through the Park and then back to the hotel so that I could lay in bed not sleeping…

On race day the alarm went off at 2:30am (I had to get up to tend to my normal UC issues for the day AND I needed to eat a bit before the run) which was fine because I hadn’t slept all that much anyway. I had some instant oatmeal and a bagel with peanut butter while I surfed around the interwebs and basically passed time trying not to get too excited or nervous.  About 4:45 I got my shoes on and prepared to begin the mile walk over to the starting line. Race organizers wanted runners in their various corrals by 5am, a full hour before the scheduled start, to which I believe my exact response was “they’re on crack”. The L&T and I had debated quite a bit about whether or not she should get up and go to the start with me. She wanted to support me, which was awesome, but I didn’t see any need for her to get up that early and walk over only for me to have to say goodbye (she wouldn’t be able to get into the corral), so instead I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and committed my first mistake of the day. I had two Power Gels with me for the course, and had one set aside to eat on the walk over, which I promptly forgot. I  didn’t have my key with me and no one was at the front desk, so it was either wake up the L&T or eat one of my two now, and use one of the Clif Shots they’d have on the course, I went with the latter.

I got to the start area about 5:20, found my spot (Corral “D” RULZ!) and waited for the fun to begin. I had brought my phone with me (for music and to take pictures) and got a nice text from the L&T before we started which helped calm me down some. I could kind of see the start from our area, but not really well. Mickey & Minnie were there, and Goofy arrived via Monorail Red just before the start. The three waves before mine were on the course when we were moved to the line, and a 6:13am my journey began.

Mile 1 – 12:03 – One of the issues I have running is going out too fast so I really focused not doing that, problem was I was TOO focused on it and went out much slower than I intended (I was looking for sub 11 minute miles). Still it was fun to be out on the road and there was a great energy all around.

Mile 2 – 11:32 – Still too slow, but that wasn’t a big surprise. Just after we passed the 1 mile marker we turned into Disney’s California Adventure (DCA) and the next couple of miles were running through the Parks. The course took runners backstage which was fun (back in “The Day” us Cast Members had lockers back there and I got to run by my old building) and I used my phone to try and snap a lot of pictures. Also, the first water stop was this mile and my coach and I had decided on a strategy of walking at all of the water stops. This actually worked really well for me because I still can’t drink and run at the same time…

Mile 3 – 10:58 / Mile 4 – 10:46 / Mile 5 – 10:20 / Mile 6 – 10:41 /Mile 7 – 10:44 – Pretty good.

Mile 8 – 11:05 – I can explain this one! The L&T had asked for a quick update if I got the chance so that she could make an updated guess on when I’d be finishing. Unfortunately the first text I sent wasn’t very clear so I ended up calling her. On the interesting side I wasn’t the only one on the phone, there were some folks having full on conversations…

Mile 9 – 10:51

Mile 10 – 11:29 –The course took us through Anaheim Stadium. We entered through the right field fence and the 1st deck was filled with cheering Boy & Girl Scouts. We ran around the back of home plate and out through the left field fence. It was also my good karma moment of the race – I had stopped on the side to take another picture and someone brushed against me and unbeknownst to me knocked my Garmin off. Fortunately, he realized it and mentioned it to me. Many thanks to that unknown runner!! I also passed a guy who started in the “A wave” and was running the course carrying a 5’ x 3’ American flag. Very cool…

Mile 11 – 10:25 – After 10 miles I felt really good and decided it was time to pick it up a little bit. Maybe if I really kicked I could break 2 hours, 20 minutes.

Mile 12 – 10:05 – Not bad…

Mile 13 – 9:59 – Excellent, my last mile was my best mile! Negative Split City!!

Mile 13.1 – 1:02 – This could have been a little faster, but it there was a bit of constriction on the course and that slowed things down a fair amount. Still, it would have been nice to go sub-1 on that…

And I was done. They had spectator seating available, but because of the location of the finish (between the Disneyland Hotel and the Grand Californian), there wasn’t much of it. The L&T got a picture of me just before I got to the finish, but I didn’t see her (I’m claiming that I was focused). After I crossed the line, I got my finishers’ medal and got a big hug from the L&T. We took a couple of quick pictures and then went over to the Park so that we could ride Space Mountain. There’s a picture of us at the end of the ride with me holding up my medal and the L&T pointing at it.

Totals from the day – My time was 2:22:06.83, I finished 4,454 out of 11,645 overall, 2,467 out of 4,379 in gender, and 299 out of 494 in age division.

Okay, good and bad things. Let’s start with the bad…
I didn’t get the sleep I should have gotten the week before and I certainly didn’t get the sleep the night before. My nutrition wasn’t that good either, I should have focused on that better the week leading up to the event and I let my race day excitement get the better of me that morning, it would have been better to eat more well before the race. I also was at the end of my shoe’s life, and I should have bought a new pair and busted them in before the race. Finally, I have a bad habit of not checking my watch when I’m running distances, and I should have checked it more frequently. I probably could have been able to pick up those 2:06 minutes to put me under 2:20 if I’d have been more aware. 

As for the good – Well, besides having a great time, I think my training was good, as was my on course nutrition plan. This is the first time I’ve flown for a running race, so I packed a lot of extra stuff, but I think that was actually a pretty good idea. Making a checklist and getting everything together and set out the night before is something I’ve learned from bike racing and it paid off well here too. I was pretty smart about pacing the early part of the race which allowed me to have plenty in the tank for the finish. Overall it was a really good day.

There was one “ugly” thing – I asked pretty much everyone who had done a half or full marathon for any advice they’d like to share and I got TONS of great information. That said, how is it NONE of the guys mentioned nipple tape? Have mercy did that hurt…

While I was the guy who did the actual running, you don’t complete something like this without a lot of help and support along the way. Many thanks to all my friends and family for all their encouragement , and to everyone that shared training and race tips with me.

I especially want to thank 3 people without whom I probably wouldn’t have been able to pull this off. First is Nicole Parkhill at 7 Dragons Acupuncture for helping me to recover from my back surgery and keeping me on the road for training. Speaking of training, I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off without a fantastic coach, Tammy Metzger from Cycle U, thanks for putting up with my changes and challenges and for getting me ready for this thing in two months time. 

Last, but certainly not least, thanks to the Lovely & Talented Mrs. Smith, who didn’t flinch when I mentioned this idea at the start of the year and has been nothing but supportive throughout. Thanks doesn’t even begin to cover it, but I’m forever grateful for your love and support.

Race volunteer...

Regular readers of this blog know that I do a lot of races and events around the area, but for that activity I've never actually had the opportunity to work at one. The L&T and I have talked about it volunteering, but we're usually either going to run / ride in the event in question or we have something else going at that time (in any case with all the work we do for GYGIG, I'm pretty sure we're doing okay as far as volunteer karma goes). Anyway, the Cycle U Road Team sent out a ping looking for volunteers to support the 2009 Seattle Danskin Women's Triathlon event this last weekend. As I wouldn't be racing and we didn't have anything going that morning, I signed up.

Our "brief" was that we were to ride along part of the bike course and provide mechanical support (fix flats, chain drops, that sort of thing). Our portion of the course was the express lanes on the I-90 bridge, which was awesome. It's about 6 miles round trip on fairly flat road that's in good condition, floating on Lake Washington. We took the opportunity before the triathletes got there to ride the course, imaging having two lanes of a highway all to yourself and you'll what we were riding on. Very fun, but the work started soon enough...

Over the course of the morning I fixed 4 flats (and assisted in 2 more), numerous chain drops, repaired one seat cover dirt cup on a mountain bike (that was a new thing for me), collected at least 10 dropped water bottles, and generally tried to cheer on and encourage everyone on the course. I also got in 45 miles on the bike, a lot of it in sprints as I'd race up when I saw someone on the side of the road. The athletes were great, and really appreciative of us being out there (one called me her "bike angel"), which was nice. I even got to use a little motivation - A women was suffering a bit and had started walking her bike, I stopped to make sure it wasn't mechanical and she said no, she was just taking a break. We chatted for a minute and she mentioned that she was a little worried about finishing last, so I asked her if she knew what they called the person who finishes last at a triathlon, "no" she replied. "A triathlete". 

Congratulations to all the women who completed or even attempted the 2009 Danskin Tri. It was an honor to be out there supporting you.

Race Report - Run Of The Mill 5k...

When I first started doing Run Of The Mill it was a small (about 500 runners) point to point event. Everyone would park at the finish line and then take school buses up to the top of a neighborhood hill and down we would run. The event has grown up a bit since then, now it caps at 2000 participants and is a loop starting in the Mill Creek Town Center. Regardless, it's still a fun event with great energy.

The L&T and I left the house a little early, as parking can be an issue, and lucked into a great spot! We were parked next to a couple visiting from Saskatchewan and across from a family with a Wheaten Terrier, so the pre-race time went by pretty quick, and soon it was time to line up for the start.

After one last trip to the Honey Buckets (because I know you want to know these things) we got ourselves into the start queue. I hadn't said anything to anyone (not even my coach), but I was really hoping to break 30 minutes for the first time since the troubles with my back started. Still, I was determined not to go out too fast...

Mile 1 - 9.53 - Good start, I actually felt pretty good. Let's see if I can hold it.

Mile 2(.1) - Gah!! No mile marker!!! We passed by the Mile 1 marker and we finish in the same place as we start, so this was actually 1.1 miles. Time 10.45

Mile 3 - 8.46 - Hello!! A sub-9 minute mile and a negative split! Hoody-Freakin'-Hoo!!

Total was 29.25 and my best time in 7 months. Overall I was very happy with the day. As an added bonus, I now run with a Nike+ device and after finishing I got a message from Lance Armstrong congratulating me on my new personal best (since using the Nike+).

My nemesis...

The L&T and I are getting ready to head to Vancouver for the 25th Annual Sun Run (I think it's our 8th or so) and I thought I'd share my personal kilometer long hell with all of you. May I present -The Burrard Street Bridge;

From the Sun Run course description;

5 TO 6K - The long, steady, uphill push towards the crest of Burrard Bridge is accompanied by the sensational city views and the knowledge there's a nice long downslope coming. You're more than halfway home.

It's the longest kilometer I run all year...

Race Report - Love 'Em or Leave 'Em...

While the 2009 goal to blog 3 times a week already failed, the other two goals were still alive and so it was that the L&T and I ran in the Love 'Em or Leave 'Em 5k around Greenlake last Sunday. Honestly, it hurt like hell, and to answer the obvious question no I probably shouldn't have done it. That said, it wasn't going to make the problem any worse (honest), and I mentally needed the outlet (as the L&T will probably gladly attest), so away we went.

It was a nice morning for a run, not too cold, no wind, and most importantly no rain. I'm horrible at estimating crowds, but there were probably at least 2,500 people. The horn sounded and we were off...

Mile 1 - 10.02 - My original plan was to run a bit then walk a bit, but about halfway into the first mile I figured out that it actually hurt just about as much walking as it did when I was running, so I figured I might as well run.

Mile 2 - 9.28 (19.30) - The run v. walk revelation allowed me to pick up the pace a little bit, hence the negative split. Woohoo! A little slower then usual, but pretty good. This is going well.

Mile 3 - 9.52 (29.23) - That didn't last long. The unfortunate reality that I hadn't done any real training in about a month (only lightly spinning occasionally per doctor's orders) became very evident and I was getting gassed.

Last .1 - .56.20 (30.19) - I (gladly) stopped at about the 3.05 mile marker to wait for the L&T so that we'd finish together, but I didn't have long to rest as she Lit. It. Up. with a great finishing time.

Overall, regardless of the pain, I'm really glad I did it. Mentally I needed the energy and challenge that comes from doing an organized race, and it improved my mood for the rest of the day. I look forward to getting back into running on a regular basis, because I honestly miss it.

BTW - No pictures this time because I deleted them, you'll have to wait till the "Dash" to see my Sea World Trainer pants.

Race Report – Resolution Run 5k...

OR - It was a dark and stormy night... Look, I get it, when you run in Seattle on January 1st you're not exactly expecting 70 degrees and sunny. But damn, this was bad even by Seattle standards...It was cold (about 37) with wind and rain to add to the fun...

It was a dark and stormy night (or New Year's morning)...

The Club Northwest Resolution Run 5k has become a bit of a tradition for us. For the last 4 years, after a wonderful New Year's Eve dinner with the Jones, we've gotten up on January 1st and go run 5 kilometers to ring in the New Year. In previous years it's been a little cold, but this year it was COLD. Still, tradition is tradition (and I can't bust my goal already) so Thursday morning found us at Sand Point waiting for the gun.

See the excitement (and cold) on our faces?

Bundled up we waited for the gun, and not too long after the published start time we were off. Quick note, the Resolution Run 5k offers a chance to submerge into Lake Washington at the end of the 5k run and for this reason they changed the course this year. HORRIBLE idea. In addition to the parking issues, the course was basically a cross country affair run on both pavement and puddle, with some muck thrown in for good measure. Trust me when I tell you that the picture below doesn't begin to show how bad it was.

Good times in the Pacific Northwest...

Still, when the gun goes off, it's time to run, so off we went - The first mile was a little crowded and people were trying to avoid the puddles, but after that it got smoothed out. My first mile went 9.35, not bad, particularly given the conditions. 2nd mile was 9.21 - Woohoo! Negative split! About half way into my 3rd mile my back started to seize up a bit which caused some concern, but I still managed to bang it out in 8.56! Woohoo! Negative split AND sub-9!!

After making the turn for home I held up. 3 years ago the L&T and I started a tradition of starting and  finishing this race and the "Love 'Em or Leave 'Em 5k" together, so with about 50 yards to the finish I held up and waited for Mrs. Smith to join me and we crossed the finish together. My watch time was 28.57, which puts me in good shape to meet my goal of a sub 27 minute 5k this year.

Maybe not the traditional way to start the new year, but it works for us...

A nice start to the new year...

Race Report – Seattle Marathon 5k…

This was not the Seattle Marathon, this was a new event, a 5k run the day before the marathon. Held down at Pier 70 in Seattle, the run was a simple out and back starting north along the waterfront. It was a pretty good morning for a run, no rain and temps in the upper 40's, the only downside was the wind which was in your face for the return.

Mile 1 – 9.03 – This is the first real run that I've done since the Pumpkin Push about a month before, so when I looked down at my watch I noticed I'd started a little faster than usual for me. Time to slow it down a bit.

Mile 2 – 9.42 (18.46) – Okay, that's a little too slow, I was hoping for something in the 9.20 area.

Mile 3 – 9.27 (28.14) – Better, but into the wind a little bit and I had trouble finding someone to draft behind to stay out of the wind, still not too bad.

Mile 3.1 – 1.08 (29.22) – I really need to figure out why I can run 30/10ths of a mile at a sub-1 minute pace but can't run the 31st inside of 60 seconds.

Still, it was fun to get out there, and my time was below 30 which was my goal for the morning, so I'm glad we went. Many thanks to the L&T for running along!

I also wanted to send a quick shout-out congratulation to our friends Ry & El for completing the 2008 Seattle Kids Marathon. It's actually a really cool idea, the kids are responsible for running 25 miles on their own between Sept and the day of the finish and then the last 1.2 miles are run together, with numbers and all the rest of the normal marathon accouterments. Congrats you guys!

Race Report – Pumpkin Push 5k…

Saturday the L&T and I ran in the Pumpkin Push 5k held at Seward Park. There are two big problems with that location - First is that there's no parking, it's all street parking and as a result you usually end up a fair distance from the start/finish. The second issue is the course itself, it starts out on a path that's 10'-12' across so unless everyone seeds themselves accurately (runners should stop laughing, in theory it could happen...) there's a chance you'll get stuck behind people without a chance to pass for a bit so that can throw off your rhythm. The other thing of note there is a pretty good sized hill at about mile 1.3. Did those factors have an effect on my time, possibly, but because of an equipment malfunction I don't have splits, only the final - 30.18, which is definitely a little slow for me, but it's hard to say where I lost time without the splits.

That said, running isn't only about the results! There was a lot of fun to be had and it was a gorgeous morning for a 5k. While we didn't get in the "spirit" of the event by dressing up, plenty of folks did...

These folks were getting ready near where we were parked. The funny thing was that they did a pretty good job of running together (they lost a couple of "O"s)


It's not so much the costumes (though it is funny to think of a Viking dressed in pink) but the stroller that caught our attention. You can see the sail, but can't really make out the shields on the sides or the "bow" of the stroller/ship. Very cool.


Unfortunately this was the only water on the course, still a pretty cool idea


A contingent from Alaska (okay, probably not, but cool "Paulie" costumes anyway)

 
Last year I realized I didn't like running with gloves on, so what to do on chilly mornings? Then I remembered my muff! This race was the first one of the season where I used it, and here's a picture of it in the "race" configuration (turned round the back; before the race it's in front).


Here's a picture of the L&T & I before the start of the race.


The L&T at the line (so fast she's blurry in the picture!)


And to finish out the pictures here's an unhappy Boston Terrier in a lobster costume!

Race Report – Race for Hope…

Back on September 27th I ran in the TTTS Race for Hope 5k in Kirkland. This seems like ages ago, so why am I doing a race report two weeks later? Because I'm still bothered by something…

Let's talk about the event first – It was really fun and the weather was great (about 60ish), and while it wasn't a huge race by any means, there were enough people to give it the right energy. I was able to find good, free (!), parking (which in Kirkland isn't always a given) and wandered down to registration. After getting my number and chip I walked around the booths, but most of them were kids/health related so there wasn't much for me till I saw "Gunner" - A beautiful 8 y/o Golden Retriever hanging out at the Wink Cupcakes tent (shameless plug, they were giving away the cupcakes which were fantastic). Anyway, the rest of the pre-race was great, and after getting my shoes on and ready to go, I lined up for the start. That's where the problem begins…

I've run the Kirkland 5k course a couple of times, it starts flat for a about half a mile then turns upwards for about 3/4 of a mile, nothing too bad, just a long steady climb. Of course the payoff is the descent during the 2^nd mile, and then it's mostly flat to the finish. Just after the 3rd mile marker is a turn to the left, down about 100', then a turn to the right and the finish. The problem is my splits for this race – Mile 1 = 9.48.18 / Mile 2 = 9.04.30 / Mile 3 = 9.30.38 / Last 1/10 = 1.04.70 for a total of 29.27.56.

It's the last tenth that's bothering me – I'm not the math major in the family, but I'm pretty sure that in order to run sub-10 minute miles (as I did for the first 3), I have to run 1/10th of a mile in less than a minute. So how is it that I ran that last bit in 1.04? It doesn't make any sense. I don't think I slowed down, and there's that little downhill, so how did I go from averaging 56 sec. 1/10ths to 8 seconds slower?!?!

Arrggghhhh…

Race Report – Run Wild 5k…

The Run Wild 5k is one of those events that I’ve seen for a couple of years but the timing has never quite worked out, or I’ve been reluctant to drive 60 miles to do a 5k. Whatever the reason, we’ve just never made time to do it. Then The “hook” of this race is that it’s run partly inside of the Northwest Trek animal park, which I thought would be kind of neat, so I convinced the L&T to join me and we headed down to Eatonville on Saturday morning.

At the start (notice the weather)

If we hadn’t pre-registered, I’m not sure we’d have gone. It’s one thing to take a long, early morning drive when the weather is good, it’s another thing entirely to do it when you’re going to get rained on. Fortunately (or un- depending on your point of view) we had already paid our entry fee, so we packed up the Kia and headed south.

The run was smallish, probably about 500 people, but it was incredibly well support with two water stops on the 5k course (pretty much unheard of out here), and teams of cheerleaders on the course to shout out encouragements (the L&T noted that having the cheer squads could have been really hokey, but instead was pretty fun). Despite the rain, the start had all the right pre-race energy, and at the sound of the air horn we were off. I kissed the L&T at the start (our tradition) and away I went.

At this point I feel compelled to give props to someone who has changed the way I run and look at races. I’ve always thanked the on-course volunteers (without them, there’s no race), but with the exception of that, I’ve always been “very serious” about the run. It wasn’t a time thing (my times aren’t that good), but I just didn’t high-five spectators or stuff like that, and I used to think that the folks that dressed up were just showing off. Then I started to read Steve’s blog and I realized that it’s all in good fun (you should check out the 13 miles he did in a grim reaper costume), and it’s totally changed the way I do a lot of races. Of course there will be serious ones (Race For The Cure comes to mind), but now I’m not just trying to run fast but have a good time too. I’ve even started taking pictures (unfortunately the ones from this race were horrible, I’m still learning). Anyhoo…

The course map was a little weird, but as I’m not a front runner I just followed those ahead of me, but just after the start I started to familiar things. That’s odd, I didn’t see a loop on the map, but sure enough, the run started with about a 400 meter loop of the parking lot. D’oh! Anyway, from there it was out on the entry road for about two miles, and then we made the left turn into the park. We were running by animal exhibits, but you really couldn’t see anything, it was more like running in a really nice forest on a paved path. Towards the end there was a descent featuring some switchbacks that I thought was a little hairy, but it wasn’t too bad. My times were 9.32 / 9.04 (negative split, woohoo!) / 10.52 for a total of 29.29.82. Not great, but still a lot of fun.

"Ready...OK!" One of the many cheer squads on the course

I noticed at the finish that a group of the aforementioned cheerleaders were “taking requests”, basically folks were pointing out runners coming up and the squad was make a quick improvised cheer for them. It was kind of neat and probably a little embarrassing for those being cheered, but it was all in good fun. The L&T finished shortly after I did, then it was up to the Blue Star for breakfast.

Not a great picture, but it's what you get when you ask a stranger at the end of a race to take one.