16 posts tagged “race reports”
...is what Vox and I have in common! *
Haven and I ran our fourth Bailey's Doggie Dash 5K a couple weekends ago, finishing with our slowest time ever. Don't worry, we had a lot of fun - the slowness was expected since I've done barely any running lately. The hamstring is feeling much better - and caused no problems at the Doggie Dash - so I've been limiting my running frequency to "just enough to keep me sane" levels.
The race report is over on my other blog. Long ago I wrote about wanting to combine my article-type posts onto one blog rather than a few, which I've done there on Blogger but I've been rather lazy about getting the archives updated. I'm continuing to use Vox as my "personal" blog (not that my other one is "professional" by any means) for fun stories, opinions, family stuff, etc.
The photo above is one of my favorites from this year's Doggie Dash but which I didn't include on the other blog. It seems to have a more calm, reflective tone to it compared to the other shots of Haven and I during the race. Of course if you like great photos of dogs and fall colors, check out Amanda's Flickr album of the Doggie Dash.
* Seriously, is it just me or has Vox been occasionally going retro - as in dial-up speed - in the past few weeks?
A quick update of what I've been up to, set to a "wishful" theme...
1) The simulation baseball league that I run had its annual draft last Friday evening via telecon. Each of the eight members lives in a different state/province (except for two of us in Michigan) - MI, OH, IN, MA, NC, AZ, and ONT. How did we all meet? Well, not all of us have met, except by phone and email! I wish that someday we could all get together in person for the draft like we did in 1993.
2) The next morning I ran my first running event of the year, the Irish Jig 5K. While I wish my hamstring were healed enough that I could've actually raced instead of doing a "training run", I still had a lot of fun by carrying a camera and taking photos during the race.
3) I wish my hamstring would heal more quickly. Nevertheless, it's getting better; in fact it was feeling surprisingly good after the Irish Jig. I ran 5.6 miles Tuesday and 3.2 yesterday and so far, so good.
4) During PT for my hamstring while the trainer was away waiting for the heat pack to warm up my leg, I would alleviate my boredom by grabbing his copy of Netter's Orthopaedic Atlas and flipping through the pages. I was hooked! I'd make great use of a book like that to help understand anatomy, or better yet, I wish I had the newer Thieme Atlas.
5) As long as I'm window shopping, I wish my feet could have a pair of Simple Shoes.
October 13th I ran in the Harvest Hustle 5K, a race in downtown Lowell that goes right past my house! I didn't have any kind of serious plan and apparently that worked - read the race report about my 20:56 PR!
But I wasn't about to call it a season. The very next Saturday, October 20, my dog Haven and I raced in Bailey's Doggie Dash 5K. Haven was every bit as excited as I was; see (and hear) for yourself:
Silly girl! I trained Haven to run in a harness hitched to my belt to help pull me along, and did she ever - we finished 3rd overall in a time of 20:17!! Interesting tidbit about this race was that I met a guy who was inspired to adopt a dog as his running partner after reading about Haven and Beacon on this blog! That made for a doubly satisfying day.
It was fun, but it was frustrating.
Follow the link for the full race report on Why Run?, but suffice it to say I ran a 21:33. I don't know why I can't seem to do any better than mid-21's after my 21:07 in March, and I have to wonder if I'll ever reach 20:08 someday. Even more frustrating was that I missed winning my age group (yes, it was a slow field) by 10 seconds! I wound up 2nd out of 11 in my age group and 25 / 287 overall in the 5K. A few of my co-workers ran the 10-mile edition of the race; below is a photo of Dave fending of some competitors at the finish.
Despite training for 5Ks this year, I managed to finish the Fallsburg Marathon this weekend! I was slow, but I had fun and even got to run with Haven for the last mile. Follow the above link for my full race report on my Why Run? blog.
The race course being so close to home, Amanda was able to meet me at several points on the course. One time she was able to drive alongside me, conducting an interview of sorts as we both cruised down the road. Notice that the video starts with me warning Amanda that she's about to hit a mailbox!
Another 5-mile trail run today, very similar to the Road Ends trail run I ran this spring and organized by the same folks at Running Fit. Check out my race report on Why Run? and let me know what you think!
Another weekend, another 5K! This time I took part in the Michigan Apple Run 5K - follow the link for my race report. Once again Amanda was on hand to take a video of my kick at the finish. I'm amazed at how slow I look! Those long legs don't need to take many steps - compare the girl in pink next to me at the beginning of the video and despite her very fast turnover, I easily pull away.
The full race report is on my Why Run? blog, but exclusive to my Vox blog is the video Amanda shot of me at the finish! Why can't Wordpress and Blogger make posting images and video as easy as Vox does?
What is more fun than running a race? Running a race with my dogs! This morning I was joined by Haven and Beacon for the 1st annual Healthy Paws Healthy Cause Fun Run, a 4-mile event for dogs and their people. I've done two 5Ks with Haven before, but I've never attempted a race while being hitched to both of my wannabe sled dogs! This should be interesting...
The event was organized by the Cascade Hospital for Animals with proceeds to benefit Mackenzie's Animal Sanctuary. There were no age groups, awards, or even official results - it's just what it says, a "fun run" to get folks out enjoying the morning with their dogs. Over 80 people signed up, not bad for the first ever event. The race director I recognized (via her dog!) as Dr. Happel, the runner that I barely out-kicked at the finish of the 2006 Bailey's Doggie Dash (if you follow the link, she's in the orange shirt in the photos on the bottom row of the page).
Going into this race I wasn't planning to run all out; rather, I wanted to maintain a tempo pace as best I could but primarily just have fun with Haven and Beacon. Since most participants were planning to walk, I lined up near the front; there were about 7 runners ahead of me. Dogs and people were still milling about - in fact, one lady was petting Haven - when the race director shouted out "Five seconds!" And we're off!
The guy at the front broke free quickly and Haven and Beacon decided to chase him - hard! I had no choice but to join their pursuit and within 100 yards of the start we had passed everyone except the leader! It turns out that only eight people were running; the rest were walkers. I pulled alongside the front guy and we sheepishly confided that it felt rather weird to be leading a race. We kept looking back for a while, assuming that some fast runners would blow by us.
We chatted for the first mile where I learned that his dog - weimaraner named Bailey (not the one from Bailey's Doggie Dash) - was five years old, just a year old than my two pups. She loves the water and behaves well on a leash; so well in fact that the guy (funny how I know his dog's name but never learned his!) had the handle of his flexi-lead in his shorts pocket the whole time. If I tried that with my dogs they'd rip my shorts right off me!
With Haven and Beacon leading the way we cruised past the first mile marker in 6:45, a very fast pace for me. The course then ascended a moderate hill and Bailey's owner exlaimed "Uh oh Bailey, daddy's not feeling too good!" and sure enough, he began to fall back as my dogs pulled me upward. Going down the hill my feet were burning - I realized that I hadn't tied my shoelaces tight enough and the soles of my feet were sliding along the bed of my shoe.
Mile two was the beginning of an undulating portion of the course, most of which was run on paved pedestrian paths. With nobody to chase, Haven and Beacon slowed their pace and were no longer pulling me up the hills. Around mile 2.5 Bailey and her owner caught up with us and we ran side-by-side for the next half mile. This time we didn't say anything as we all needed to conserve our oxygen.
Somehow I must've programmed my dogs for a 5K distance (maybe they read my blog?) because soon after we passed the third mile marker (in 21:50, not bad!) they slowed waaaay down. Bailey and her runner kept their momentum going and pulled steadily away from us as I was forced to drag Haven and Beacon forward! Those lazy dogs. :) Finally they realized I wasn't going to stop and they ran beside me the rest of the way.
We passed some pedestrians going the opposite way to relayed to me that the guy ahead of me "was very concerned that I would catch him", but I told them he had nothing to worry about. Not only were my dogs worn out, I was out of energy as well and we struggled most of the last mile. After passing Amanda with her camera, we finally reached the finish line! Sure enough Bailey had won and Haven and Beacon shared second place just one minute behind in 30:29. It was about five minutes until the next runners began showing up. Walkers continued to trickle into the finish for the next hour.
The organizers thought of everything, providing water (for both humans and canines), bagels, bananas, donuts, and dog treats for the finishers. Haven and Beacon eagerly helped themselves to some water while I shared a banana with Haven. After eating my peanut-covered donut, the dogs both got some treats and then finally I remembered to drink some water myself. Once we got home Amanda had the three of us pose for the obligatory post-race photo, all sporting our event t-shirt and bandanas. Haven and Beacon are now fast asleep at my feet. :) What a fun race!
*** Cross-posted to my Why Dogs? and Why Run? blogs. ***
Today was the 30th running of the Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The main event is the 25K, which serves as the national championship for that distance and naturally draws some very fast runners. I, however, ran the 5K in my quest to beat my 5K PR from high school, a 20:08.
You couldn't ask for better weather - when the starting horn sounded, the air was 52 degrees under mostly cloudy skies. The weather coupled with the 30th anniversary of the race drew record field participation in all of the events: 25K run, 25K wheelchair, 25K hand-cycle, 5K run, and 5K walk. If my memory serves, the announcer stated that there were about 6000 entrants for the 25K and almost 5000 folks doing 5K, plus 20,000+ spectators!
At 7:50 the wheelchair race started; at 7:55 it was the hand-cyclers' turn. Standing way at the back in the 5K corral a block up the street, I wasn't able to watch them start but I clapped anyway as the announcer kicked them off. At 8:00 sharp the crowd went nuts as the horn blasted off the 25K runners and the street in front of me slowly emptied. It took six full minutes for the 25K field to clear the start line! Finally the 5K legion marched forward and I took my place at the 7:00 min/mile pace sign. Very helpfully, the race organizers set up markers so that runners can start among others of similar speed. My goal was to beat my last race time of 21:07, a 6:49 pace, so I figured I'd be OK starting with the 7:00 folks. I didn't want to line up any further ahead because the 6:00 pace group was the first one!
Finally the clock ticked down to 8:10 and the horn sounded for our start! Right away it was clear that not everyone heeded the pace alignment and I had to pass countless runners in very crowded conditions. The course began on a 4-lane downtown street and it was flowing thick with striding bodies. I thought about mshobe and the difficulty he had weaving among traffic in his Chicago Marathon. It definitely slows you down! Within the first mile I was boxed in at least half a dozen times and forced to slow down and maneuver.
I reached the first mile mark at 6:55 according to my watch, but in 6:05 according to the clock they had stationed there! No way was I running 6:05 and I knew it was wrong; however, two guys next to me saw that and said "Whoa we better slow down" and I felt bad for them. Just after this point a little high school girl got boxed in to the left of me; instead of slowing down she jumped to the right, cutting me off! I nearly came to a complete halt trying to avoid running her over. That ticked me off, and she became one of my "marks" - I wasn't going to let her get away!
At the halfway point there was an aid station with water but I just ran through - I don't need to risk choking when I can barely breathe and 5K is short enough to do without anyway. It was here that I finally passed the last of the "soccer boys". At the start in the 7:00 pace slot was a group of six boys wearing matching soccer uniforms that looked to be about 10-12 years old. I thought they were a bunch of punks, assuming they would run slowly but as a pack and clog up the start. Four of them were indeed slow, but two of them were fast enough that they stayed ahead of me for half the race! I was impressed.
Approaching the second mile mark I was still forced to maneuver occasionally around folks who were dropping off the pace, some of them even walking! I can understand if a couple folks maybe pulled a muscle or had stomach issues, but 95% of they were simply tired. It bugged me that so many people were running a pace way beyond their means, apparently just to impress their friends by starting out so fast. In fact, that little high school girl encountered two such dudes who slowed down and she elbowed her way between them!
Mile 2 finally showed up at 13:50 - good for a 6:55 second mile - and once again the race clock was off by a minute! It's a good thing I started my watch or I would've been very confused. Climbing a slight incline my "mark" was right next to me - she had never been farther than 20 feet ahead - and I picked this point to pass her. I never saw her again! Satisfaction, baby. Cresting the "hill" (it was only a baby hill) I used the slight downgrade to accelerate my pace knowing that I had less than a mile to go. Boy was I feeling like crap, though! I was so tempted to rest for a few seconds but my heart convinced my mind to shut up for the next five minutes. :)
Apparently my mind just shut off instead - I have no memory of passing the 3-mile marker and thus have no clue as to my split time there. I was just trying to run fast - the faster I ran, the sooner the pain would cease! The course turned a sharp corner, ran half a block and then turned again and suddenly the finish line was 100 yards away! I dumped my last drops of fuel into the afterburner and passed several folks. Then I had a decision to make... left or right? There were two finish line banners because of the huge crowd of runners, and I was pointed right at the posts between them. Fewer runners on the right, so I ran right. Official finish time was 21:26.
While I was desperately catching my breath beyond the finish line, a guy next to me puked! Ew. I moseyed ahead to the food table and grabbed a water bottle, a breakfast bar, a bagel and a yogurt, then found a sunny concrete step to sit on while I ate the breakfast I earned. :) Food tastes so good after a hard workout!
Although I felt good speed-wise, I didn't feel great. Maybe having to dodge all the other runners in tight quarters slowed me down some, but even without that I might not have topped my adult-era PR from my last 5K. I'm happy that I maintained my pace throughout despite feeling rather crummy for the last mile; my finish time equated to a 6:55 pace, same pace as each of the first two miles. My legs had more speed than at my last race, but I think with more injury-free time to train properly I can go faster. Always something to look forward to!
Looking at the results online I see that I finished 18/260 in my age group and 204/4867 overall - must be that all the fast runners were doing the 25K. Speaking of which, after I called Amanda to let her know the outcome (she woke up tired and decided to sleep in rather than fight with the crowds) I walked back along the 25K course and watched the finishers for about an hour. Some observations... The top runners all had great form, smooth and powerful. The next batch of runners - fast but not elite - was mixed with good form and a form I call the "leg beaters" who have a stride that seems wildly inefficient. Some look like they're swimming, others stair-climbing, some are leaned so far sideways it makes me dizzy. These folks have the stamina to be top runners but for whatever reason, aren't efficient with it.
I stopped at the mile 14 aid station (25K = 15.5M) to wait for some of the runners I know to come by so I could cheer them on. One of the aid station volunteers was a colleague on my project who sits right next to me at work! I wasn't aware that he'd be there. It's amazingly fun to watch a running race and I'm totally sold on volunteering at one sometime. One of the aid station dudes, rather than handing out cups of water, was splashing it on the runners! Most loved it but a few got annoyed. The faster folks are in general more serious - you can tell that they have a plan and they pretty much ignore the encouragement of spectators. Slower runners more often will turn their heads when a spectator shouts out some good vibes, and some of them are mentally lost in space. Here we were, 1.5 miles from the finish, and some were stopping to rest - not just walking, but stopping! Just keep moving, people.
Many runners were busy wrangling their earphone cords. One guy going very slowly suddenly sprinted through the aid station like Forrest Gump and then collapsed in a pile of jelly legs. Weird. Another guy was dressed head to toe in a Spider Man suit! I encouraged him to use his Spidey Sense. :) One lady was clearly struggling with a look of sheer pain on her face as she reached her arm forward to the lady right ahead of her. The woman in front must've been a friend, as she took the struggler's hand without even looking back and pulled her onward the way she might pull the leash of a stubborn dog! It was a nice show of companionship - clearly they were going to finish together. Less cool was the young woman who took a sip of water and then puked about six times before walking on. She was clearly upset and I wanted to tell her "Don't worry, you'll feel better now!" but she probably wasn't ready to hear that yet. :)
Finally after cheering on almost everyone I expected to recognize (yet somehow I missed a few of them), it was time to go home. What a fun event - both racing and spectating!
