The eagle Lake Classic was held on March 10th. Jenny and I registered for this race a few weeks ago. It was relatively inexpensive and it ran through a beautiful park so we decided to run it. We picked up our race shirts, bibs and goodie bag on Friday night for Sunday's race.
Sunday was the day of the time change so we had one hour less to sleep, but thankfully they started the race at 9AM which allowed us to have a little more sleep. Unfortunately I forgot my phone which I use for musing and timing, so I was effectively blind for pacing.
The race was well organized. Since I didn't have my phone I knew I would have to really rely on how I felt, but I really wanted to PR this race. Since it was a small race I placed myself about three rows back from the front of the pack at the start line. We were at the starting line in time and we were off right at 9AM. I started out at what I considered a hard but comfortable pace. Some of the kids in the race were a little out of control and cutting people off, but I managed to avoid them for the most part.
I felt good through the first mile. There was a lot of support on the course and people were at every turn and mile marker. When I passed mile one I was informed that the clock was 8:08. This was a little faster than my planned pace, but it was well ahead of my PR time and I felt good so I decided to keep pushing.
The second mile was a little harder. I still felt strong, but I was really starting to feel the burn. I think the volunteer at mile two said the time was sixteen minutes and 24 seconds which meant I hadn't really slowed down much. I really wanted to beat my PR by a good amount so I wanted to keep my pace up.
The third mile was painful. I was trying to keep pace with someone who was running about 40 feet in front of me the whole race, but I was pretty spent. I took a fifteen second walk break and then powered through to the end. I crossed the line in 26:39, which was a 1 minute and 26 second improvement on my PR!
Jenny also set a PR in this race. She came in fifth in her age group and only missed third by 40 seconds or so.
There were only about 150 runners in this race, but it was well organized and well staffed with volunteers. I would definitely run this event next year simply because f the organization, but the course is so great that makes it wort it as well.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
February in Review
February was a tale of two months for me. I ran two races and got a PR in both of them, but my overall mileage was way down for the month.
I started off the month with the Best Damn Race and snagged a new half Marathon PR. I had an official time of 2:11:48, which was an improvement of more than five minutes over my old PR.
The next weekend I ran in the St. Pete Rock N' Roll Mini Marathon, which is a 5k. I completed this in 28:05, which bested my previous 5K PR by 40 seconds!
The rest of the month I didn't run nearly as much. I celebrated my 37th birthday during the month and scaled back on my running quite a bit. I'm trying to hit at least 65 miles a month, but in February I only reached 42. 8 miles. I intend to improve on this in March.
Coming up in March I have two races scheduled. I am running a 5K and a Half Marathon. I'm hoping to continue to PR each race, but I also am going to continue to enjoy each run.
February Miles - 42.8
Annual Goal - 800
Remaining Miles - 686.2
I started off the month with the Best Damn Race and snagged a new half Marathon PR. I had an official time of 2:11:48, which was an improvement of more than five minutes over my old PR.
The next weekend I ran in the St. Pete Rock N' Roll Mini Marathon, which is a 5k. I completed this in 28:05, which bested my previous 5K PR by 40 seconds!
The rest of the month I didn't run nearly as much. I celebrated my 37th birthday during the month and scaled back on my running quite a bit. I'm trying to hit at least 65 miles a month, but in February I only reached 42. 8 miles. I intend to improve on this in March.
Coming up in March I have two races scheduled. I am running a 5K and a Half Marathon. I'm hoping to continue to PR each race, but I also am going to continue to enjoy each run.
February Miles - 42.8
Annual Goal - 800
Remaining Miles - 686.2
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Rock N' Roll St. Petersburg Mini Marathon review 2-10-2013
After running the Best Damn Race the weekend before the RnR St. Pete races I took most of the week off from running and only went out once. I was not sure how my body would handle running half marathons on consecutive weeks so we opted to run the 5k "Mini Marathon". On Saturday we went to the race expo at Tropicana Field and picked up our bib, shirt and goodie bag. I was impressed that we still got a nice shirt for the Mini marathon, but it didn't indicate it was for the St. Pete race. Oh well. We browsed the expo for a bit and got a discount coupon for food at Fergs, so after the expo we went over to Fergs for lunch.
We got up nice and early on Sunday and drove down to St. Pete. We didn't want to pay the crazy parking price for the Trop so we parked in the South Core garage for $3 and walked over to the Trop for the start of the Mini Marathon, which started a half hour before the Half Marathon. I was going to push for a new 5k PR so we positioned ourselves toward the front of the corral. After the anthem the horn went off and I took off. Since I have been running half marathons lately I felt like I could push as hard as possible for a 5k race. I had to bob and weave a little at the start but I soon had plenty of space to run. The course was mostly flat and slightly downhill which was nice.
The first mile went by and I definitely felt my pace was faster than usual, but I wanted to push it out. At about a mile and a half there was a water stop so I grabbed a water and kept going. About mile two I really started to doubt if I would be able to PR. My pace slipped a little, but I just told myself that it was only a mile more so I picked it up a little more and kept going. There was a slight hill during this mile, but I went through it and pushed on.
We came around the final corner and could see the finish line in the distance, but it felt like we weren't getting any closer to it. Finally I saw the mile 3 marker and gave everything I had for the last stretch. I finished in 28:05, which was more than 40 seconds faster than my previous 5k PR!
After the race I got my medal and then was handed Water, Gatorade, chocolate milk, strawberries, granola bars and bananas. I met up with Jenty when she finished and we sat and ate and drink for a few minutes. We then went to the beer tent and I got my free "beer" which was Michelob Ultra. Neither of us felt like waiting for the rap concert so we walked back towards the car and watched the fast half marathon runners for a bit then we went home to enjoy the day.
We got up nice and early on Sunday and drove down to St. Pete. We didn't want to pay the crazy parking price for the Trop so we parked in the South Core garage for $3 and walked over to the Trop for the start of the Mini Marathon, which started a half hour before the Half Marathon. I was going to push for a new 5k PR so we positioned ourselves toward the front of the corral. After the anthem the horn went off and I took off. Since I have been running half marathons lately I felt like I could push as hard as possible for a 5k race. I had to bob and weave a little at the start but I soon had plenty of space to run. The course was mostly flat and slightly downhill which was nice.
The first mile went by and I definitely felt my pace was faster than usual, but I wanted to push it out. At about a mile and a half there was a water stop so I grabbed a water and kept going. About mile two I really started to doubt if I would be able to PR. My pace slipped a little, but I just told myself that it was only a mile more so I picked it up a little more and kept going. There was a slight hill during this mile, but I went through it and pushed on.
We came around the final corner and could see the finish line in the distance, but it felt like we weren't getting any closer to it. Finally I saw the mile 3 marker and gave everything I had for the last stretch. I finished in 28:05, which was more than 40 seconds faster than my previous 5k PR!
After the race I got my medal and then was handed Water, Gatorade, chocolate milk, strawberries, granola bars and bananas. I met up with Jenty when she finished and we sat and ate and drink for a few minutes. We then went to the beer tent and I got my free "beer" which was Michelob Ultra. Neither of us felt like waiting for the rap concert so we walked back towards the car and watched the fast half marathon runners for a bit then we went home to enjoy the day.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Best Damn Race review
On February 2nd Jenny and I woke up early at 4:45 to head over to Safety Harbor to run in the inaugural Best Damn Race. She was running the 10k and I was tackling the half marathon. We arrived in Safety Harbor at about 5:50 and found that parking was already filling up VERY quickly. We were lucky enough to find a space not too far from the expo/finish line and the start line. The morning was very cold in the 40s but we both knew we'd warm up once we started running so we didn't wear much more than we ordinarily would other than to wear a long sleeve shirt.
The 10k started at 6:30 and the half marathon started at 7:15, so I knew I'd have some time to kill. The 10k was about 10 minutes late getting started, but the anthem was sung by a local singer and they were off. Rather than waiting out in the cold I went into the lobby of the Safety Harbor Resort and Spa to stay warm.
After a few minutes inside in the warmth I went out to see Jenny run by and then headed to the starting line for the half marathon.
There was another national anthem sung and we were off at 7:15. I took off much faster than I had previously, but I was determined to have a better run than I did at the Clearwater Halfathon.
The first mile was an out and back and partway out we came across the leader with his bike escort just screaming at us to move over. I think this was maybe a little much! At the turn around to come back there was the first water stop.
After the turn around the crowds of runners thinned out and I was able to get into a good rhythm. At about 2 and a half miles we turned into a residential neighborhood, which was a pretty hilly part of the course. Of course what goes up must come down so we came back down out of the neighborhood and onto Bayshore Blvd. After a mile or so on Bayshore we turned onto another residential neighborhood that was all uphill.
The neighborhood opened onto the Ream Wilson trail which I was very familiar with because it is the trail I generally run on. This is a nice shaded trail, but it has a few large hills that I knew would be a little difficult. There had been quite a few water stops on the race and I felt like I had been hydrating well. My pace so far had been better than any of my previous half marathons. By mile 8 I was seriously thinking I could PR this race.
Well, the thought was short lived because between miles 9 and 10 I started getting a pretty painful stitch in my side. I worked hard to fight my way through it and took on more water. I was able to push through it, but I was worried that I was not going to PR the race. By mile 12 I was struggling with the stitch and stiffness in my lower back. I decided to give it my all for the last mile and I came in with an official time of 2:11:48, which was more than a 5 minute PR!
I got my medal and then went to the food tent. This is a place where this race shined. They had cookies, brownies, fruit, pizza and subs! Add to this plenty of free beer and it was a good time.
They called the race the Best Damn Race and for me it turned into a pretty damn good race! I thought that for an inaugural event it went quite well. I liked the face that there were plenty of water stops and course support. There certainly were a couple of items I would recommend to improve the race in the future. I would advise the organizers to organize the parking better. I felt like that if you didn't know the town parking would be a big challenge because I didn't see any signs directing to any parking. I would also advise the organizers to put a sign out to direct people to the starting line because many people seemed really lost looking for it!
I am pretty sure that this race will be on my schedule next year.
The 10k started at 6:30 and the half marathon started at 7:15, so I knew I'd have some time to kill. The 10k was about 10 minutes late getting started, but the anthem was sung by a local singer and they were off. Rather than waiting out in the cold I went into the lobby of the Safety Harbor Resort and Spa to stay warm.
After a few minutes inside in the warmth I went out to see Jenny run by and then headed to the starting line for the half marathon.
There was another national anthem sung and we were off at 7:15. I took off much faster than I had previously, but I was determined to have a better run than I did at the Clearwater Halfathon.
The first mile was an out and back and partway out we came across the leader with his bike escort just screaming at us to move over. I think this was maybe a little much! At the turn around to come back there was the first water stop.
After the turn around the crowds of runners thinned out and I was able to get into a good rhythm. At about 2 and a half miles we turned into a residential neighborhood, which was a pretty hilly part of the course. Of course what goes up must come down so we came back down out of the neighborhood and onto Bayshore Blvd. After a mile or so on Bayshore we turned onto another residential neighborhood that was all uphill.
The neighborhood opened onto the Ream Wilson trail which I was very familiar with because it is the trail I generally run on. This is a nice shaded trail, but it has a few large hills that I knew would be a little difficult. There had been quite a few water stops on the race and I felt like I had been hydrating well. My pace so far had been better than any of my previous half marathons. By mile 8 I was seriously thinking I could PR this race.
Well, the thought was short lived because between miles 9 and 10 I started getting a pretty painful stitch in my side. I worked hard to fight my way through it and took on more water. I was able to push through it, but I was worried that I was not going to PR the race. By mile 12 I was struggling with the stitch and stiffness in my lower back. I decided to give it my all for the last mile and I came in with an official time of 2:11:48, which was more than a 5 minute PR!
I got my medal and then went to the food tent. This is a place where this race shined. They had cookies, brownies, fruit, pizza and subs! Add to this plenty of free beer and it was a good time.
They called the race the Best Damn Race and for me it turned into a pretty damn good race! I thought that for an inaugural event it went quite well. I liked the face that there were plenty of water stops and course support. There certainly were a couple of items I would recommend to improve the race in the future. I would advise the organizers to organize the parking better. I felt like that if you didn't know the town parking would be a big challenge because I didn't see any signs directing to any parking. I would also advise the organizers to put a sign out to direct people to the starting line because many people seemed really lost looking for it!
I am pretty sure that this race will be on my schedule next year.
Friday, February 1, 2013
January Summary
Yay, its finally February. I get to celebrate my 37th birthday this month and I know it'll be a good month. But this post is to look back at January. Starting on January 1st I knew I had to shake off the lack of running I had for the end of December. I started the month on New Years day running bridge intervals to start to prepare for the Clearwater Halfathon. I realized how much the bridges were going to kick my butt.
I stayed pretty steady with my training runs, but I didn't get in enough speedwork or tempo runs.
I only ran one race this month, the Clearwater Halfathon. I feel like I did relatively well. I was about six minutes over my PR, but it just means I need to work harder for the next race.
Looking ahead to February, I hope to join the Half Fanatics on the 2nd at the Best Damn Race. Following that race Jenny and I will run the mini-marathon 5k at the Rock and roll Half Marathon in St. Pete on the 10th.
January Mileage - 71.0
Annual Goal - 800
Remaining miles - 729
I stayed pretty steady with my training runs, but I didn't get in enough speedwork or tempo runs.
I only ran one race this month, the Clearwater Halfathon. I feel like I did relatively well. I was about six minutes over my PR, but it just means I need to work harder for the next race.
Looking ahead to February, I hope to join the Half Fanatics on the 2nd at the Best Damn Race. Following that race Jenny and I will run the mini-marathon 5k at the Rock and roll Half Marathon in St. Pete on the 10th.
January Mileage - 71.0
Annual Goal - 800
Remaining miles - 729
Monday, January 21, 2013
Clearwater Halfathon Summary 1-20-2013
Well yesterday I ran in the Clearwater Halfathon. This race is touted as one of the most difficult half marathons in Florida because there are 4 bridge ascents.
This was only my second half marathon, but I was excited to run a race close to home. We picked up our race packet on Saturday afternoon so we only needed to pick up our timing chip on race morning. When we arrived to the race on Sunday morning we went to the booth where chips were being given out, but there were no signs indicating what line we were supposed to go into. There were actually 2 chip lines and one of them shared a shirt pickup line. We finally got our chips and then moved to the porta potty line. It took us 25 minutes in this line as there weren't enough available for the 1400 runners. So far 2 strikes against the race.
The start of the race didn't have any specific pace markers so we placed ourselves about in the middle of the pack. The race started ell and I found a good spot with some other runners at the pace that felt comfortable for me. We quickly hit the first bridge ascent and after a mile I was running at a 10:30 pace. I was feeling that that was a good pace for me to be starting at. I then crested the bridge and came down the other side. I figured I would let gravity help me and my second mile improved to a 9:50 pace... Uh oh, that's too fast. I realized I would need to back off a little and I thought I did, but by mile 5 I was running as 9:53 mile again. I decided at that point to just go with it and see how it goes!
Well, by mile 10 I hit the wall. I was hoping to beat my previous time, but my last several miles were just painful. My back was hurting and I had blisters on my foot. For the last two ascents I had to walk most of the hills unfortunately. This was frustrating, but my body was just not responding to me.
Thankfully the last 3/4 of a mile were downhill so I just let gravity take over and pushed hard. My final chip time was 2:22:22, which was about 6 minutes slower than my previous half marathon. Given the hills in the bridges I can deal with it. I'll have to do better in two weeks when I run the Best Damn Race!
Overall I liked the race. The course was nice and quite challenging. The course support was great with seven water stops and Gatorade at each stop and a few stops had fresh orange slices.
There were a few items that I thought could have been better. The chip distribution could have been easier with a couple of signs. There could have been more porta potties and I felt like the course from the Sand Key Bridge to the turn around was run in the gutter and didn't have enough level ground to run on.
The start of the race didn't have any specific pace markers so we placed ourselves about in the middle of the pack. The race started ell and I found a good spot with some other runners at the pace that felt comfortable for me. We quickly hit the first bridge ascent and after a mile I was running at a 10:30 pace. I was feeling that that was a good pace for me to be starting at. I then crested the bridge and came down the other side. I figured I would let gravity help me and my second mile improved to a 9:50 pace... Uh oh, that's too fast. I realized I would need to back off a little and I thought I did, but by mile 5 I was running as 9:53 mile again. I decided at that point to just go with it and see how it goes!
Well, by mile 10 I hit the wall. I was hoping to beat my previous time, but my last several miles were just painful. My back was hurting and I had blisters on my foot. For the last two ascents I had to walk most of the hills unfortunately. This was frustrating, but my body was just not responding to me.
Thankfully the last 3/4 of a mile were downhill so I just let gravity take over and pushed hard. My final chip time was 2:22:22, which was about 6 minutes slower than my previous half marathon. Given the hills in the bridges I can deal with it. I'll have to do better in two weeks when I run the Best Damn Race!
Overall I liked the race. The course was nice and quite challenging. The course support was great with seven water stops and Gatorade at each stop and a few stops had fresh orange slices.
There were a few items that I thought could have been better. The chip distribution could have been easier with a couple of signs. There could have been more porta potties and I felt like the course from the Sand Key Bridge to the turn around was run in the gutter and didn't have enough level ground to run on.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
December 2012 review
December was a busy month in so many ways. I started the month off by running my first 10K at the Phinley's Holiday 10k on December 1st. This actually went well considering it was only 6 days after my first Half Marathon. I also won an award for finishing in the top 50 men, but since there were only 53 men in the race it was almost a gimme!
On December 3rd we went to see Eddie Vedder in a solo show. This was an amazing show and now I really can't wait until the next Pearl Jam tour!
We then took a 3 day cruise on the Disney Dream with my mother. It was our first cruise on the Dream, but it means we have now cruised on all of the Disney Cruise Line ships! While on the cruise we went to Nassau for a few hours and then we spent some time relaxing on the ship. We got to go to a Mixology seminar and had a great time with it. On the last day of the cruise we ran the Castaway Cay 5k. I found that running a 5K on a cruise is difficult with all of the eating and drinking that takes place!
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When we got off the cruise we spent the day at Walt Disney World looking at the Christmas decorations and experiencing the Osborne Lights. We also were able to meet up with some of our Foolish friends from Canada and the Isle of Man!
We then had to go back to the real world for a day and then back to Disney World for a day to spend more time with our Foolish friends. We spent the day in Epcot riding the new Test Track and drinking at the Tequila bar before having lunch in France and attending the Candlelight Processional.
On December 15th we ran two races. I ran the Say No to Drugs 10k in the morning and then the Santa's Twilight 5k in the evening. I ran a strong 10k and just missed a PR. For the 5k I ran with Jenny as a fun run and ran in a Christmas Tree costume.
For the rest of the month we prepared for Christmas. Jenny's parents came for Christmas and then it was onto new years.
Unfortunately I didn't get to run nearly as many miles as I wanted. I only ran 46.4 miles. That wrapped up the year and now I can focus on a busy 2013 and my first full year of running!
On December 3rd we went to see Eddie Vedder in a solo show. This was an amazing show and now I really can't wait until the next Pearl Jam tour!
We then took a 3 day cruise on the Disney Dream with my mother. It was our first cruise on the Dream, but it means we have now cruised on all of the Disney Cruise Line ships! While on the cruise we went to Nassau for a few hours and then we spent some time relaxing on the ship. We got to go to a Mixology seminar and had a great time with it. On the last day of the cruise we ran the Castaway Cay 5k. I found that running a 5K on a cruise is difficult with all of the eating and drinking that takes place!
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When we got off the cruise we spent the day at Walt Disney World looking at the Christmas decorations and experiencing the Osborne Lights. We also were able to meet up with some of our Foolish friends from Canada and the Isle of Man!
We then had to go back to the real world for a day and then back to Disney World for a day to spend more time with our Foolish friends. We spent the day in Epcot riding the new Test Track and drinking at the Tequila bar before having lunch in France and attending the Candlelight Processional.
On December 15th we ran two races. I ran the Say No to Drugs 10k in the morning and then the Santa's Twilight 5k in the evening. I ran a strong 10k and just missed a PR. For the 5k I ran with Jenny as a fun run and ran in a Christmas Tree costume.
For the rest of the month we prepared for Christmas. Jenny's parents came for Christmas and then it was onto new years.
Unfortunately I didn't get to run nearly as many miles as I wanted. I only ran 46.4 miles. That wrapped up the year and now I can focus on a busy 2013 and my first full year of running!
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