Tag Archives: running

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 #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 #61 – Time Lord Charity Run 5K

I’d gotten wind of this race somewhere along the way, watching for interesting virtual races.  An outfit in Utah, Geek’d Out Running Club, put it on, and they seem to have a lot of these science fiction themed races, this one being Doctor Who themed..  In fact, this race also has a “in person” event this weekend in/near Salt Lake City.  I signed up for this, thinking that this weekend was a pretty quiet one for me.  However…

This morning, I kinda didn’t wanna get up.

Darla had an outpatient knee procedure yesterday, and I took both yesterday and today off to help her out.  I slept just a little bit late yesterday, and when sunrise came this morning, I tried hard to kick it to the curb.  However, I’m just a bug compared to the Sun, so it won, and I got up, pulled on my running duds, and went out.

It was hot yet again this morning in Da Lou.  This past Sunday, my race started at 48° in the sun.  This morning, it was 75°, cloudy, and ohhh so muggy.  Not great conditions for this running dude.

However, I drove up to the Greenway, and put my happy face on the morning.  And it really ended up being a pretty good trek.  I kept it slow, knowing that the heat can debilitate me pretty quickly if I’m not respectful of it.  And I put a carrot at the end of my stick…

Starbucks!

I’d gotten a couple of offers from Starbucks, one for a free drink, and another for a free breakfast sammich.  Conveniently, my 5K course ends at their door, so that worked really well.  I picked up a bacon-egg-cheese croissant and a Frappucino, sat outside, and had a nice little reward for morning well-started!

This race benefitted the American Childhood Cancer Organization.

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #58 – Patriot Day 5K

With all the running this year, I began looking for Patriot Day-themed races.  This is an especially meaningful day for me, and I love the thought of doing something in honor of all those lost.

Today, I ran the Frogman Charities’ Patriot Day 5K.  Frogman Charities was formed by a former Navy SEAL, and benefits several Navy SEAL charities.  Add to that a medal and challenge coin (both shown in the header above), and suddenly I found myself signing up for another race!

I couldn’t have picked better weather for today’s run, which I did at lunch.  The beginning was awesome… temps in the 60s, clouds and breeze.  Mother Nature only suckered me in though.  By the time I hit my turnaround point, I was dealing with some sunlight breaking through the clouds, and a crazy amount of humidity as the morning’s rain began to suck back up into the atmosphere.

My first two kilometers were really amazing, and were some of the fastest times I’ve had in a while.  The last three kilometers, and in particular, the last kilometer, were pretty ugly.  Too much speed up front, and worsening conditions (for me, anyway!), and that spelled a tough second half of the race.

But done is done, and every mile matters.  I can live with that.  And I had some time to reflect on the meaning of today.  As I wrote a long, long time ago, I think 9/11 was my generation’s Pearl Harbor, and I know I still think back to that day, and the weeks after, and it’s as clear as day to me.

This race benefitted UDT-Seal Association, Navy SEAL Museum and Foundation for Navy SEAL Veterans.

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #57 – Smile Run 5K

While on our cruise in April, we met a wonderful couple, MaryBeth and Mike, who were deeply involved in suicide prevention causes in the northeast.  After hearing their story, I knew I needed to run this race to benefit AFSP.  This one’s for y’all…

Hot day again, with temperatures about like they were yesterday, but without my nemesis, Mister Sun.  However, his evil compadre, Señor Humidity, made an incredible appearance.  I had great intentions of running more and faster than yesterday, and while I did both of those things, I only ended up with an “average” run.

However, it wasn’t all bad.  I met Becky and our new puppy, Roxy, at Starbucks for a little coffee, and some time to catch up with an old friend.  And lemme tell ya, if you sit outside a Starbucks with a puppy, you will be the center of attention!  Doubly so when it’s a big fuzzy Bernese Mountain Dog.  Roxy loved it, and so did we.

So another tough-ish race in the books, and more miles in this crazy year of running!

This race benefitted the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #56 – RNMP Centenary 5K

This race was the second of three I’d signed up for from Vacation Races, and commemorates the 100th anniversary of Rocky Mountain National Park.

It’s hot here in Da Lou.  Today’s high is 97.  Did I mention that it’s hot?

Fortunately, I got out around 7:30 this morning, while it was only 76. Still hotter than I care for, but things weren’t going to get any better today.

There are some mornings when I get up, and it’s just tough to get out and run.  This morning, however, I’d read some things on Facebook that just inspired me to get out there and move.  Facebook is sometimes the worst of the world, and sometimes the best.  As I drank my morning coffee, I read some of the uglier things I’ve read in a while about my chosen sport and more significantly, about the way I approach and execute my running.  So yeah, I went out the door in a bit of a snit.

Some days, you run for the health and peace that it brings, and some days, you run to just clear the muck, and today was the latter.  I tromped around on the Greenway, and got through my miles, plus a little extra, putting the Facebook-induced ick behind me.

That’s one of the huge benefits I get from running.  I kill my stress.  I clear my brain.  And, I can put things into perspective.

That’s something you just can’t put a price tag on!

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #55 – National Park System 99th Birthday 5K

A company called Vacation Races puts on some great races in our national parks.  They’re largely longer distance races — half and full marathons — and most of ’em have been way far away from here.  However, they also do some virtual races, and I’ve signed up for a few of them.

The first of these is the National Park System 99th Birthday 5K.  This race celebrates the anniversary of the creation of the National Park System, and is part of a trifecta of virtual races from Vacation Races for me.  I’m also running the Rocky Mountain National Park Centenary 5K (next week) and Public Lands Day 5K (in late September).  I mean, why wouldn’t you wanna celebrate all these beautiful places?

This morning, I returned to the Wildwood Greenway, site of wonderful and awful runs of late.  I struggled to get motivated, but walked straight to my running clothes when I got up, and put them on.  Somehow, I knew that donning my “superhero uniform” would help slide me out the door.  An English muffin and part of a bad cuppa joe later, I was out the door, and headed to the Greenway.

It was chilly this morning, with the air temperature around 53 degrees.  With the doors off the Jeep and the roof down, it made for a very cool short drive to the Greenway.  I love that though, and I think that just primed the pump for a good morning.

I stretched, and started on trail.  I had some good music in my ears, and felt like I had a pretty good pace going.  I’ve striving to get below fifty minutes regularly, which is sub-10mins/km.  My first split was a few seconds over ten minutes, and my second was a few seconds under, which put me in a good place.  My third kilometer was slow though, at 10:22.  There’s a long upward slope at that point, and frankly, I slowed my pace a bit to rest as I went.

And then, it happened.

As I got into my fourth kilometer, I glanced at my watch and noticed that my overall pace was sub-10min/km.  I had just powered up a short, steep hill, and it really affected my overall time.  Suddenly, I was inspired, and paid attention to the run/walk intervals my watch was driving me to.  And the running felt good… really good.  My fourth kilometer split was 9:14, which inspired me even more.  My fifth kilometer was 9:08, which is screaming fast for me, especially in the last part of the run.

I don’t know what happened, but I wish I could capture it in a bottle, and use it again.  It all just clicked for me this morning, and gave me one of the fastest times I’ve ever had on the Greenway.  In face, this morning was many minutes faster than most of the runs I’ve had up there since I returned to it.

As the front of my Jeep says, “Happy, happy, happy!”

Race Course

 

 

 

Running, Sports

Race #50 – Phone Home 5K

After my success on Saturday morning, I got cocky, and returned to the Greenway yesterday afternoon.  I thought I’d have a great time of it, zipping through 5km, and maybe even adding a few more miles.  And even more optimistically, I set my Garmin to work through  some interval work to see if I could get my times down.

Mr. Sun, however, had an entirely different plan.

I got out to the Greenway just after work, and noticed it was hotter than I expected.  Earlier in the day, we’d had a small storm come through that scrubbed out the atmosphere, and made things really nice.  Apparently, nature abhors a vacuum, and where the humidity had poured down as rain, it was replaced with vicious crazy nasty humidity with big, nasty pointy teeth.  So, not just hotter, but more humid.  Hooray.

Jumping on the trail, I started moving my feet.  I knew I’d take five minutes or so of walking to warm up, and shortly after that, I started to work my intervals.  By the end of the third interval, I knew I was not landing in a happy place, and quickly, my times fell off, and I was looking at conditions and a pace more like the ugly race in Washington almost a month ago.  This too, had turned in a death march across the desert of pavement.

I slogged on, and on, and on, wondering if this distance would ever be complete.  It felt like some kind of sick Groundhog Day, with the pavement beneath my feet never seeming to end.  I finally got to my three-quarters complete point, and knew I was gonna make it through.  Frankly, there’s really no option but to finish — there’s no way to get back to the parking lot, shy of some kind soul stopping on the side of the road to rescue you and ferry you along.

So, I finished — yay! — but I was toast afterward.  Note to self… heat and humidity DO NOT MIX!!!

Race Course

Running, Sports

Race #49 – Sage Rat River Run 5K

Somewhere along the way, I’d heard of the virtual races at Virtual Run World, but for whatever reason, I wasn’t watching them for  races.  Their medals were kinda large and gaudy, and didn’t trip my trigger.  However, I learned recently that they sponsor a “real world” race, and that they were selling off excess medals from those race series.

That race is the Sage Rat River Run, which is run at a variety of distances, and one of those is 5K — right in my wheelhouse.  The other thing that was enticing about this was the rat on the medal.  Darla’s been chasing rats in tubes as part of barn hunt, and doggone-it, I wanted to have my own rat reward!  🙂

I decided to return to the Wildwood Greenway, and run on it for the first time in a couple of years.  This is a great paved trail, with paths on both the north and south sides of Highway 100 (Manchester Road), and is the site of my PR at 5K back in 2012.  Of course, on a nice day, it’s pretty crowded with walkers, runners and cyclists.  Yesterday was no exception.

I’d intended to just go 5K, but kinda got in a groove, and started exploring the trail, getting into some of the nooks and crannies I’ve never explored.  Before I knew it, I was over five miles for the second weekend in a row.  And once again, I found that I had a nice rhythm going (albeit not the fastest in the world!), which is giving me some real confidence about the upcoming half-marathon in Tulsa come November.  I get it that five miles is significantly less distance than 13.2 miles, but the early returns are looking promising!

So, with this weird course yesterday morning, I have no good way of extracting splits for either 5K or 5mi.  C’est la vie.  Sometimes, it’s about the journey, rather than the metrics!

Race Course