Category Archives: Sports

The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.

Running, Sports

Race #72 – Running Outatime 5K

Yesterday, I went back to the future.  Well, I guess technically, I ran a virtual race that celebrated the arrival of a fictional character to the future from a real film from thirty years ago.  Or something like that.  🙂

I’d signed up for this race from Virtual Nerd Runs quite a while ago, and pocketed the medal, with plans to run it on the day Marty McFly was to visit 2015.  Well, he didn’t show up on October 21st, and neither did I.  Nursing a re-aggravated minor foot injury suffered at the Go! Halloween race two weeks ago, I’d taken it easy for these last two weeks, only breaking my rest to run in the Rock ‘n’ Roll 5K last weekend.  After two weeks, it was time to hit the road again.

And I had a carrot in front of me to get me out… new shoes.

In one of the Facebook running groups I belong to, someone mentioned getting new shoes from Hoka One One.  I asked what made them so special, and got some answers I liked.  I hit their website, and started looking at men’s road shoes.  They had selection criteria on the website, to help narrow the field.  I selected my weight (and yep, they had a category for big guys — good for them!), a plush ride and a wide fit.  The listing was narrowed to two shoes, and from that I dug into the Bondi 4 Wide.  I started looking at reviews in print and on YouTube, and folks just raved about this shoe, especially if you “carry some weight on your frame.”  This suited me perfectly, and I ordered a pair.

They arrived on Wednesday, but I couldn’t carve out time until yesterday at lunch to try them.  I went up to the Greenway, and jogged a little bit in them followed by some walking.  I really like the comfort of them, but man, they are tall!  Part of that really comfortable fit is a tremendously thick sole, well over an inch high from heel to toe.  I was a little nervous that extra height might feel unstable, but surprisingly, I never noticed it.  Despite being wide, these shoes were snug, but in a good way, kinda like a really good glove.  I felt sure-footed throughout both walking and running, and found that my knees, calves and shins were really comfortable after five kilometers.  I think part of that is the way the sole is shaped.  It has a upturn at both the front and the back, so you land on a flat surface under the heel, rather than the edge of the sole, and then roll through the step until you come off the toes.  I think other shoes probably do this to some degree, but this is a pronounced shape, and I believe it really helped.

So, another virtual race is in the books, on a rather cool day (finally!), and with what appears to be a wonderful new pair of kicks to keep me on the trail!

This race benefitted the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #71 – Rock ‘n’ Roll 5K

In the second of my back-to-back downtown weekend runs, today I completed the Rock ‘n’ Roll 5K here in Da Lou.

This race started out with some crunky packet pickup woes.  For some reason, the folks that run the race only had the expo open on Friday from 1pm to 6pm, with no same-day packet pickup… for a race that started at 8am on Saturday.  To say the least, this was pretty inconvenient, given that I work for a living, and live about 30 miles away from America’s Center, where the expo was held.  However, knowing I wanted to get this one done, I took off from work a little early, drove to the train stop, and rode Metrolink into town.  The only nice thing about having to deal with this on Friday was that it allowed me the opportunity to pick up train tickets for this morning, and to fill up the Jeep in preparation for the race.

The clock went off this morning at 5:20, and I started my normal race day routine — big glass of water, and an English muffin with peanut butter and honey.  I’d gathered everything up last night that I’d need, and got on the road at 6am, knowing that I had two hours to get to the race site.

I arrived at the Brentwood Metro station, and waited for the train.  And waited.  And waited.  Eventually the train came, but only after I learned that there was track maintenance going on downtown, and that I would have to change trains in order to get there.  This made for some long delays, causing the other runners on the train to wonder if some runners conspired against us by sabotaging the train system so there’d be less competition!  🙂

I got in place in my corral just about 7:30, which was cutting it a little closer than I’d care for, and I awaited the start of the race.  I’d re-aggravated a minor foot injury this week, and with that in mind, I knew I was gonna take it easy today, so I went over my game plan for the day.  I was gonna walk a lot of the course to lower the potential for really tweaking my foot, and be happy with anything just above fifty minutes.

Sunrise on the Start Line
Sunrise on the Start Line

Quickly, the race start time approached, and just as the National Anthem began to play, folks began to move up in the corrals.  I stood still, hat over heart, and facing the flags around us.  I know this is the grumpy old man in me rearing his ugly head, but it really bothered me that folks weren’t respectful of the anthem and flag, and were walking around, chatting among themselves, and carrying on.  It wasn’t exactly like the recording was being played softly!

Once I got past my little grumpy event, the corrals started being released.  I was in the third (and slowest) corral, and got to watch the expanse of folks in the other two corrals ahead of me.  By the time we were released, people stretched for almost a kilometer, in a head-bobbing mass of running humanity.  Pretty dang cool to see.

I crossed the start line, and jogged as I started.  And with no pain in my foot, I kept jogging.  Quickly, the first kilometer was behind me, at just under nine-and-a-half minutes.  Not wanting to press my luck, I slowed to a walk for the second and third kilometers, each of which were around 10:30.  However, the landscape changed, and began to be mostly downhill as I headed to toward the river and finish line.  And with that slight downward incline, I kicked into a jog again, with my last two kilometers coming in at just a wiggle over nine minutes each.

Finished!
Finished!

I’d expected a slow race, and had prepared myself for something just over fifty minutes.  As it ends up, I cruised into a finish just under 49 minutes, which I was thrilled with.  I grabbed my medal, and started making my way through the “secure” runners area.

There were a couple of disappointments on the course.  First, the one and only water table was just before 4km into the race, which is far too late to be worth much.  The second was the availability of snacks at the finish line.  I had a bottle of water, a bag of pretzels and a banana by the time I’d walked through the line.  Frankly, that was a little disappointing, as I was really expecting chocolate milk at the finish.  The chocolate milk folks had a huge display at the expo, which led me to expect chocolate milk would be lying in wait at every corner.  Ah well.

A Year Ago - Race #17
A Year Ago – Race #17

What’s kinda interesting is that Facebook reminded me that a year ago, I was running the first of two back-to-back Rock ‘n’ Roll 5K’s.  It’s kinda nice to reflect on that race weekend, and contrast it against this one.  That was the first time I’d run two 5K’s back-to-back, and it was tough.  I suffered through that first race, finishing just barely under 51 minutes, and feeling lucky for that time.  The second 5K on Sunday was nearly ten minutes slower.

This year, I cruised through the course, finishing easily under 49 minutes.  And that coulda been much faster, had I not been taking it easy.  I’ve talked about this before, but I think plenty of practice this year has bred some real self-confidence.  By the time of the RnR last year, I’d only run nine races all year.  This year, the RnR was my 50th race of the year.  I’ve learned to be comfortable in my running skin, and know that I can do this.  I’ve figured out a nice pace that works well for me, and I’ve really gotten focused on making a race plan, and running that, regardless of the folks who pass me.  Shedding all that mental baggage has helped me enjoy running, and look forward to every run.  And yeah, it’s nice to see some improvement in my times, although that’s not really the goal!

This race benefitted Our Little Haven, TASK, and Unlimited Play.

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #70 – Great GO! St. Louis Halloween 5K

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a fan of racing downtown.  The roads are rough, with lots of variations in the surface from repeated work and patching, and plenty of ridges from years of traffic.  And, historically, I haven’t done well downtown.  Add all that together, and you have a pretty reasonable set of excuses for my dislike of running downtown.  What possessed me to run back-to-back races downtown is a mystery to me.  (Yes, next week’s race is down there, as well.)

The one thing I have always enjoyed about downtown races is the travel.  I drive about halfway to downtown, park for free, and then pay five bucks for a roundtrip ticket that takes me almost all the way to the start line.  No parking downtown, some “me” time to think about strategy or recover, and (usually) trains full of other runners… that rocks.

It could be worse...
It could be worse…

Today, I got downtown about 45 minutes before the start of the 5K, and wandered around the “runner’s village.”  A little bit of Kaldi’s coffee, and it quickly became time to line up.

This was a Halloween race, so there were tons of costumes.  I didn’t get dressed up — only maybe 20% were costumed — but I enjoyed those that did.  There were butterflies, demons, cartoon characters, and superheroes, all there, like me, to put their feet on the ground.

Indy and his boulder
Indy and his boulder

The horn sounded, and we were off.  I had a pretty good idea that I wasn’t gonna set a PR downtown.  The hills and road conditions just take time for me to navigate, and I knew my history downtown.  With that in mind, I figured I’d be happy with a sub-50 minute finish for this race.  I happened to find a good tune on my iPod at the beginning of the race, and I chugged out onto the course.

I started running, and I just ran into a rhythm — much the same way things have gone the last month or so — and it just came easy.  My kilometer splits were all sub-10 minutes, with the first and last under nine minutes.  It just came together… again… and in what seemed like no time, I was at the finish line.

Somehow over the last month, I’ve learned to quieten the little voice in my head that tells me I have to walk instead of run.  I’ve squelched the nerves, knowing that if I’m running a 5K, I’ve got it covered.  That’s confidence that’s come from week-after-week of getting out on the trails and courses, practicing, pushing myself, and learning how to manage me during race conditions.

I know and support that if you get out there on-course, you’re a runner.  For the first time since I started doing this almost four years ago, I feel like a runner, and that’s a feeling I can’t even describe.

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #68 – Heart & Sole 5K

I’ve needed to get this virtual race done for a couple of days, but reveling in the glory of my conquest of the Cowbell on Sunday, I slacked.  So sue me.

I went out today to just walk and recover, and as it ends up, take a new path on the Greenway.  Over the summer, I’ve been largely doing my stuff on the south side of the Greenway.  Today, I took to the north side of it.

The nice thing about the northern leg is that there’s very little vehicle traffic that crosses it.  There’s only one big intersection, and one little one.  This is great, as it keeps me focused on the path ahead of me, and keeps me from having to look over my shoulder for cars.

The downside is that it’s hilly.  Much more so than the southern trail only a couple hundred feet away.  Nonetheless, I had a great walk, and explored parts of the trail that I’ve never been on before.  In fact, some of what I explored today will probably be a big part of some longer distances in the future.

Today’s race benefitted the American Heart Association.

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #67 – Mo’ Cowbell 5K

This is the third year I’ve run in the Mo’ Cowbell 5K.  It’s a great race, well supported, and draws big crowds.  This year, there were over 5000 folks running across the four events (5K, half marathon, marathon, and relay).

Parking, however, is a challenge.  There’s plenty, but most of it isn’t close.  Rather than fight the crowds, I park at Ameristar Casino, and walk up to the race course, about a mile away.  It’s a good warm-up and cool-down, and gives me some quiet time to either plan or reflect, depending on which direction I’m headed.

I got to the course a little later than the last couple of times I’ve run the Cowbell, which was fine as far as starting the race was concerned.  I was there fifteen minutes or so before the marathon started, with the 5K starting thirty minutes after that.  No biggie.  But by coming a little later, the lines were amazing.  For example, there seemed to be plenty of port-o-potties, but the lines for those were staggering!  I’m so glad I’d taken care of business before leaving the house.

The organizers had erected a giant cowbell in Frontier Park, with the promise that you could ring it after the race if you did something notable in your race. There were photographers there, posing you with the bell pre-race, and I grabbed the cord, telling myself that today was gonna be something big.

Oddly enough, they didn’t play “Don’t Fear the Reaper” pre-race.  That’s been traditional, with 5000 little cowbells ringing right along.  Not sure what happened there, but I missed that this morning.

The marathoners started, and we began lining up in our corrals.  Of course, there were so few of us doing the 5K (compared to the marathoners), we started to creep up toward the start line rather than staying near our designated pace corrals.  After a group photo by the organizers, we were off!

Now, my last three weeks’ running have been amazing.  The last two in-person events had great finish times with strong splits, and Wednesday, I came within thirty seconds of a PR.  I’d done the math, and figured out what I needed to do in order to PR in the race today.  In fact, I’d gotten myself so worked up about that, that I had butterflies last night before going to bed.  I hadn’t been this nervous before a race in a long, long time.  I even woke up around midnight, not exactly feeling well.  If it’s possible to overthink a race, I did it.

I tried to keep a reasonable pace as we got started, shooting for somewhere around 9:20/km, which would put me in PR territory.  In truth, I probably started a little fast, finishing the first km in 8:52.  I did to myself though.  There’s only one decent hill on the course, and is in the first kilometer.  Historically, it’s kicked my butt, but not this year.  I kicked into a gear that I’ve been working on at the Greenway, and ran my fastest pace of the whole race going up that stupid hill!

Just past midway, we transitioned from the roads to the Katy Trail, a crushed limestone railbed.  There is no question about it, I am nowhere near as fast on that surface as I was on the roads.  My two slowest kilometers were on the limestone, and that had me worried about whether I could get to a new PR.

The last kilometer was back on the pavement, and I started seeing a little faster pace again.  I started crunching numbers in my head as I felt like I was creeping toward the finish line.  As I approached the finish, I noticed the clock at the line, and it said an hour, twelve minutes and change.  Really?  Over an hour?  How’d I screw this up?  And then I noticed that there were two lanes, one for the marathoners, and one for the 5K runners.  I saw my clock sitting below 46 minutes, and I knew I’d done it…

I had the PR I’ve been working so hard for this year!

So how big a deal was this?  Well, I’d set my previous PR on the Greenway back in 2012, and shaved nearly 1:30 off that time today.  Compared to last year’s run on this course for the Cowbell — 56 races ago! — I cut just over six minutes from my time.  For me, this really was something big, and a huge accomplishment.

Ring That Bell!
Ring That Bell!

After I crossed the line, I got my medal, water, chocolate milk, and went in search of that big bell.  I found it, told the photographers about my PR, and found a mallet on the ground.  I told ’em I was gonna ring the bell, Thor-style.  I walloped that thing, and let everyone in the park know that I’d beaten the course, beaten the little voices in my head, and began October on an incredibly high note.

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #66 – Race Like a Pirate 5K

For the last day of September, I had one more virtual race up my sleeve, and one I shoulda done a week or so ago… Virtual Run Events‘ Race Like a Pirate 5k!

Weather in Da Lou has just made a move from “too hot” last week, to “just right”.  The temps were in the low 60s at lunch time yesterday, without a cloud in the sky… perfect weather for me!  I went up the Greenway, stretched, and set about to making the course mine.

For Saturday’s race,  I’d planned to go out, and own the course.  And I did, until my knee started bothering me.  Once I “walked it off”, I was able to get back to some speedy splits, and still finished with one of the best times I’d had all year… and that was on a flat course.  That inspired me, though, and I decided that I was gonna put everything I had into this run.

I started my run, and it was like someone else was making the moves.  Everything came sooooo easy, and pretty dang quickly, I found that I’d run the first kilometer, which brings me to a little plateau.  I walked the plateau a bit, and as the trail fell away on the other side of it, I ran down that side.

And that’s how it went for the whole distance.  Way more running than walking, and everything seemed to hold up.  And by the time I was at 5K, I was within 30 seconds of a PR (which was also set on this course).  A fantastic run on a pretty hilly course!

This weekend, the Mo’ Cowbell 5K takes place, and it’s a very, very flat course.  If yesterday’s run was any indication, I may have a PR opportunity come Sunday!

This race benefitted the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #65 – Public Lands Day 5K

After running in Flat as a Pancake this morning, and having some concerns about my knee, I decided a walk tonight would be a good thing for me.

The folks at Vacation Races have put together quite a few virtual races this year that have been related to our National Parks and public lands.  Today’s virtual race was in celebration of those lands.

Since the theme was public lands, I walked my neighborhood, trying to hit public trails that are closely.  Ellisville has a ton of multi-use trails, which is an awesome thing to have so close by.

I walked down our street, and started down Quailwoods Trail.  This trail has a huge downhill on the front side, and winds through a beautiful wooded area.  It’s serene, without too many houses along the way, and a couple of benches, in case you wanna just hang out and listen to the birds.

After exiting Quailwoods Trail, and a little more street walking, I walked down a familiar trail, Wren Trail.  I walk this one quite a bit.  It’s just a flat paved trail, in a generally wooded area, and is used by a lot of folks to cut through the neighborhoods.

All good things have to come to an end, so my public lands stroll wound back through to neighborhood, I finished by going the other direction on Quailwoods Trail, this time climbing the hill, before returning to the house.

In all, a nice stroll!

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #64 – Flat as a Pancake 5K

I’d heard about this race somewhere along the way, as I was scouting new races (to me, anyway!) close to home.  Like the All American 5K earlier in the year, this race promised fast speeds because the course was so flat.  I was intrigued, and went into it planning to leave nothing on the course.

On Thursday, we picked up my bib and shirt from Cabela’s at the St. Louis Outlet Mall, site of the race.  Cabela’s is very pet friendly, so we hauled Roxy up there for a little face time with shoppers in the store.  She did really well with everyone she ran into, and got all the attention a pup of three months could possibly want.

This morning, I headed back to the outlet mall, and got ready to race.  As is pretty common for me, I got there early, and got to watch the volunteers set up.  This race reminded me why “in person” races have such appeal.  There were some vendors, a wall of velcro to stick yourself to, hot coffee… it was a very nice set up.

Old Glory
Old Glory

Race time came pretty quickly.  Someone led us all in prayer.  We released balloons, remembering the losses and celebrating the victories of those with lymphoma.  The National Anthem was played, and we were shooed to the start line.  With the crack of a small cannon, we were off!

The conditions couldn’t have been better.  The sun was just coming up, and temperature was hovering around 60°.  And this place was flat.  We were largely running on the road that surrounds the mall, and from the race results I saw, the course only rose and lost three feet of elevation.  That’s crazy flat!

I jogged the first mile.  I know that doesn’t sound like much, but that’s a big deal for me.  It’s probably been a year since I’ve done that.  The body is capable, but my brain always sabotages me, telling me I need to rest my legs.  At a jogging pace (~9 min/km or so), there’s no reason my body needs to rest, because I’m just gonna walk at ~10 min/km — not that big a difference!  I was thrilled, and started to do the math, and it looked like I was on pace for a PR.  I slowed to my walking pace for the second mile, thinking I would save some energy, and plan for a third mile streak.

The course had a little pylon-made cul-de-sac through an intersection to help put the extra distance in to get us to 5km.  Coming out of the cul-de-sac, I found my left knee was in excrutiating pain.  I adjusted my knee brace, which provided no help. I removed my brace, and again, there was no relief.  I stop against a tree, and rubbed my knee, and still, there was this awful pain.

I kept walking, but my pace had dropped from about 15 min/mi to about 22 min/mi, and I was facing the second half of the race taking almost twice as long as the first half.  And I really thought that I was facing my first DNF since I started doing these events over three years ago.  And after a few very awkward moments of walking a major hitch in my giddy-up, my knee settled down, and I slowly increased my pace, and was back to my normal walking speed of ~10 min/km.

As inexplicably as this pain came on, it was just as inexplicably gone.  i still don’t know what happened, but I was able to knock out the last two kilometers not too far off my jogging pace.  Obviously, this has me concerned, but I’ll just keep an eye on that for now.

Breakfast of Champions
Breakfast of Champions

Post race, the organizers had arranged for Chris Cakes to provide an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast for the runners.  The guys on the griddle were flipping pancakes onto plates, and saw me coming up, and flipped four pancakes on my plate.  Obviously, they’d dealt with my kind before.  🙂  Add to that some sausage links, orange juice and chocolate milk (YES, THEY HAD CHOCOLATE MILK!!!!), I sat down at a picnic table under an awning, and inhaled my breakfast.  I know I coulda done more pancake damage, but I also knew that I really didn’t need to do that.

All told, this was a great event, and one that’ll be back on my calendar next year.  Flat course, breakfast provided, and the potential for some speed… how can I go wrong?

This race benefitted Race to End Lymphoma.

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #63 – Garden of Reflection 5K

Twenty.  It’s a great number.  The number of sides on a gamer’s die.  Almost the age to drink. A score of things.  And twenty degrees makes a miserable difference between my last run and this one.

The weather sites this morning indicated it’d be about 73 at 11am, and I vowed I would do this race at lunch.  I got myself ready, and jetted out of the house just past 11am… and realized that I’d been lied to.  It was well over 80°, with a nary a cloud in the sky.  Nonetheless, I kept on keepin’ on, and made my way to the Greenway.
I ran for a while, and then the heat caught up with me, and it became a pretty slow walking slog.  Still, finished is finished (I say that a lot!), and I was happy to put another virtual notch in my virtual race belt.  🙂
Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #62 – Beat the Blerch 5K

What a difference a day makes!

Last year, at the Hospital Hill 5K, I saw someone sporting a shirt that read “I Believe in The Blerch”.  I had no idea what that meant, so I hit up Uncle Google when I got done, and found a webcomic about The Blerch.  Essentially, it’s the amalgamation of everything that sabotages your running.

There are “in person” Beat the Blerch races on both coasts, but they’ve added a virtual, and I couldn’t resist jumping in.  It’s kinda pricey, but you get a medal, shirt, real bib, stress ball, snacks, stickers… a Blerchucopia of goodies.  🙂

Last night, I committed to running my Blerch race, and this morning, when the Sun started to peek out, I got up.  We’d had thunderstorms come through over night, so this morning, instead of facing 75° and icky humidity, it was about 64°, sunny, and slightly windy.  Great conditions!

I took off, westward, with the Sun at my back, and enjoyed some quick splits, and hit the halfway point, turning around into the Sun.  it was around this time that I decided to try another energy packet.

Last weekend, I tried a Gu root beer pack, and liked it quite a bit.  This morning, I took a Huma mango gel with me.  Unlike the root beer, this stuff was nasty.  I love mangoes, but this was pretty awful tasting stuff.  Of course, YMMV.  Part of what I’m having to learn to get past is the texture of some of these.  The root beer Gu was like the stuff you squeeze out of a bug, and this Huma was like baby food.  Frankly, the texture may be the thing that drives to using one brand versus another!

All that said, another 5k is in the books, early in the day, leaving me with the rest of the day to fight the Blerch!

Race Course