Year of Races

nice tech shirt

Last Saturday I had my second Dirty Spokes Trail race.  We were in Cumming, GA at the Sawnee Mountain Nature Preserve.  I was immediately impressed with the new visitor’s center.  Everything still seems so fresh and new.  My buddy, Jason, and I got there a little late to take advantage of the small parking area so we were directed down the street to park in a cow pasture.  I dropped the TL into 4-wheel drive, splashed through a couple of pillow-sized cow patties and got us parked.

We walked over to the visitor’s center and got checked in.  The Dirty Spokes series of trail races are so well run.  As I mentioned, this was only my second one, but, once again, I was impressed.  We not only got a quality technical shirt again, but also got our timing ankle strap to ensure quick results after the race.

Jason and I jogged around for a mile to get warmed up and then took our spots at the start.  This being the last race in the series, there seemed to be a bit larger crowd than normal.  The race was supposed to be 3.5 miles.  The first 2+ up Sawnee Mountain and the remaining back down on a different trail.  I wasn’t necessarily excited about the uphill portion of the race.  I couldn’t keep my mind from flashing back to the Boling Park trail run and the steep inclines that had me walking and on the verge of puking.  However, I was excited to get going because Jason and I had been putting in the work on the road and the track lately and I felt stronger than before.

At the start, we did a lap around the small parking lot to get a bit of spacing before we headed into the woods.  The trail up the hill was double-wide so you could pass folks if necessary.  I felt strong early on and was steadily making my way up the hill.  After about a mile, Jason was long gone ahead of me, but another friend of mine, Freddie, was nearby.  We were struggling up the hills making decent time.  About 1.6 miles in, Freddie asked how much farther we had until the top.  Another guy nearby said we were getting close, but the worst was still ahead.  Great.  Thanks pal.  At about 1.9/2 miles, I couldn’t handle it anymore and stopped to walk a couple times.  It was so steep and my calves and thighs were burning.  I’m a wuss.  What can I say?  A bunch of the guys around me were walking too.  We would pass each other over and over as one guy would start walking and another would stop walking.  Freddie pulled ahead of me at this point, but I thought I could possibly catch him on the downhill.

At the top I was actually concerned I wouldn’t be able to run the downhill.  My calves were like jelly.  After a couple minutes though, they chilled out and I was able to start chugging down the mountain.  The problem was that the trail down was so steep that you actually were out of control in a couple of places.  Everyone was forced to go down about the same pace:  breakneck speed.  I passed a few people, but never could catch Freddie.  He ran a great race.  That P90X stuff must really be working!

I finished in 29:29 and the course measured 3.28 according to my Garmin.  I was kind of disappointed in the race.  I did better than Boling Park, but I hate the fact that I stopped to walk again.  Jason and I checked our times and I was surprised to see that I finished 3rd in my age group.  Sweet!  Jason finished in 26-something and 2nd in his age group.  We hung around and got our little Dirty Spokes medals.  The overall winner was in 21-something and was the same guy who won the Woodstock Freedom Run in 15-something.

3rd place 35-39 age group

I really enjoy the trail runs even though both of them have kicked my butt (I was sore until Wednesday evening probably).  I vow to run more of the races in the series next year and maybe even finish top-3 in the season ending overall point standings.  This year by just running two events (7th place & 3rd place), I finished 4th in the overall point standings.

• Official Results (don’t know why they have me at 30:00.  That’s not correct.  Everyone’s time was inflated in their results.)
• Garmin stats
• Photos of me (courtesy of Defiant Photography): #1, #2, #3

This Saturday I’ll be at Cherokee High School for the Etowah River Run.  A notoriously fast course, I’m hoping to really put down a good time.  We’ll see…

Peachtree Shirt

There are certain races I have mentally marked on my calendar as “premiere” events.  The Peachtree Road Race is definitely one of them.  I moved to Atlanta in 1979 when I was 5 years old.  I’ve lived here (with some years in Athens) for 31 years and I’ve never ran the world’s largest 10k.  Quite a shame really.  It was fantastic and I wish I could have been a part of it sooner.

My biggest concern going into the race wasn’t the course or the distance; it was getting to the starting line.  With 50,000+ runners, it’s no small task getting downtown Atlanta.  I woke up at 5 AM, had my coffee and was out the door by 5:40.  My plan was to take MARTA from North Springs down to Buckhead.  Initially, Alysia was going to go with me and hold my stuff, but I talked her out of it the night before.  I just didn’t want her walking from the Midtown MARTA station to Piedmont Park on her own at 6:30 in the morning.

I crowded onto the train along with a crowd of other eager runners and we started the ride into downtown.  We picked up more runners at each stop and all of us exited at Lenox Mall.  Emerging from the train tunnel, I couldn’t believe the spectacle that was the Peachtree Road Race.  The Lenox Mall parking lot was just full of people milling about.  One section of the lot was roped off and runners were actually running warm-up laps in a continuous loop.  There were probably 50+ just running around and around.  Hundreds of port-a-potties were available, so I hit one early on to get it out of the way.

I was in wave B because I didn’t get my sub-50 time in until after registration closed.  I was pretty bummed about this because I knew that it meant I’d have to pass a lot more folks than I should have to.  I decided to head over to the corral and wait until the start.  I immediately ran into Nate and we hung out in the back of the wave B group until it was time to start.  We had the national anthem and a cool flyover.  Helicopters hovered in the air above us and there was this sense of excitement that could be felt as we waited for the gun.

Wave B started about 5 minutes after the elites took off.  The first mile was TOUGH.  I side-stepped onto uneven sidewalks, lunged through tiny cracks in the moving human wall, jumped off curbs, sprinted, slowed and dodged my way to an 8:06 mile.  Nate and I were trying to stay together, but it was pretty tough.  We found that hugging the left side seemed to give us the best path, so that’s where we lived for the first mile.

Somewhere during the second mile we started to free up a bit.  With so many runners, you’re never really completely clear of people, but we did have some more breathing room and could get into a rhythm a bit.  Mile 2 is downhill, so it’s one of the easier miles and I was able to significantly speed up to the tune of 7:04.  I think this is where Nate and I got separated.  He ran fantastic though and set a new PR.

By the third mile, I was feeling great.  The temps that morning were in the high 60s to low 70s and it just felt fantastic out.  Mile 3 is downhill as well, and I knew I needed to make up more time from the first mile’s problems, so I jetted to a 6:58.

Miles 4, 5 & 6 are where the majority of folks struggle.  After a few downhill miles, the second half of the race is uphill.  The famed Cardiac Hill is here.  For whatever reason, I cruised up the hills.  I passed hundreds of runners going up the hills.  They didn’t bother me in the least and I gained more and more confidence as I climbed.  My splits were 7:33, 7:26 & 7:10.

As I rounded the turn to head to the finish, I knew I was on pace for a near-PR.  As I came into view of the race clock, I checked my watch and decided to finish as strong as possible.  I came in officially at 46:09 and subsequently set a new 10k PR!  I felt great and I’m really looking forward to running it again next year.  Next time I’ll be in Wave A and won’t suffer so much on that first mile.

I walked over to Piedmont Park to get the famous Peachtree Road Race shirt and was in awe at the number of people already standing around.  Lots of them were family and friends, but I can only imagine what that park would look like in another hour.  I finished in 1,808th place and the park already seemed crowded.  I didn’t stick around for long.  I started to walk back to the Midtown MARTA station.  I was surprised at how long the walk was.  I was thankful that Alysia hadn’t come with me because I would have worried about her making that walk alone.  She’ll be there next year though…running.

The experience of running the Peachtree was incredible.  I’ve never run a more relaxing, easy-going 10k.  Time just seemed to fly by.  There was so much to look at.  From costumed runners to sidewalk bands, the entertainment for the entire 10k is great.  I only wish I would have paid more attention to some of the more historic landmarks.  I have a tendency to not really notice my surroundings and just focus on the run.  Maybe next year I’ll pick up on more of the scenery and tradition.

• Official Results
• Garmin Stats
• Photos of me (You can see in the first photo that I’ve caught up to a lot of the wave A runners.  Next year…)

Tomorrow (July 8th) is my 10-year wedding anniversary.  Alysia and I will be heading to St. Simon’s Island for a weekend getaway, but, don’t worry, we’ve found a little 5k to run while we’re there…

Shirt

On Sunday morning I was down in the heart of Atlanta at Centennial Olympic Park.  The event was the Adventist Race for Health 5k/10k.  In these type of events where you choose between a 5 or a 10k run, I normally choose the 10k.  This morning though, still sore from a Saturday tennis match, I elected to do the 5k.  I didn’t really expect too much from the race.  It seemed to be a small-scale affair.  I was surprised to see though that they had around 300+ participants and electronic timing.

The course was a loop with the 10k folks doing the loop twice.  It was again hot and humid as has been the norm here in Atlanta.  We got started at around 7:10.  I took off pretty well and ran a sub-7 mile the first mile as the adrenaline was flowing as usual.  I did slow down a bit in the second mile and then the last mile was mostly uphill.  I ran pretty strong on the uphills and passed quite a few other runners (probably mostly 10k folks).  I didn’t quite get to my Big Peach 5k or Holly Springs Memorial Day 5k pace of 7:01, but I did average 7:05 for a finish time of 22:10.  Not a PR, but still a solid run, especially on stiff, sore legs.

I stuck around for the awards because I had a feeling I had placed in my age group.  It seemed, as is usually the case, most of the stronger runners were doing the 10k.  This ended up being the only downside of the event.  It took over an hour (even with electronic timing) to get the awards ceremony underway.  It was worth the wait though.  I finally won my age group.  I’ve had a few seconds and thirds, but that first place trophy had been eluding me.  It feels good to get the monkey off my back.  Please don’t worry about how many people were actually in my age group.  {cough}5{cough} That doesn’t matter.  Forget about it.  The official results are on the Adventist Race for Health website.  I finished 8th overall.

My first age group win

I decided at the last minute to run the Woodstock Freedom Run 5k on Saturday, so that will be my next race.  It was right down the street from me, so I just couldn’t pass it up.  I’ll be doing the Peachtree Road Race on Sunday.  I’m really looking forward to it.  It’s such a tradition here in Atlanta and I’m loving the opportunity to finally be a part of it.

Harris Jacobs Dream Run

I had my first 4-mile race this weekend at the Harris Jacobs Dream Run.  First time running the distance, so automatic PR right?  Gotta like that.  The race was headquartered at Zaban Park in Dunwoody, GA.  I was very impressed with the facility.  Nice, clean community center.  They had baseball fields, a gym, a pool and more.  Really nice place.

I got down there a bit early and got checked in.  I ran around a bit to loosen up and get prepared for the event.  I felt pretty good and had gotten some quality sleep the night before.  I really felt like it was going to be a great run.  I’m starting to see some of the same runners at these events each week.  It reminds me of when I used to play racquetball.  I’d see the same guys at each tournament and we were our own little group of racquetball junkies.  I guess every hobby has it’s own set of groupies.  I suppose I’m one now.

At 8:00 we took off.  This race had a lot of fast runners participating.  It’s part of the Run & See Georgia series, so you had your usual suspects that run all those races, but there were also quite a few Atlanta Track Club folks.  Pretty cool seeing all the ATC unis.  The first portion of the race was downhill.  I ran a solid sub-7 first mile and felt good.  Lots of folks huffing and puffing around me, but I was doing ok.

The second mile we got into some rolling hills and they started taking their toll on me.  It was one small hill after another for the remainder of the race.  My mile splits just kept going up and up.  I had set a goal of breaking 30 minutes before the race and I barely squeaked in at 29:33.  Two runners that I’ve beaten lately both finished ahead of me in this one, so I guess I just didn’t have my A game that morning.  I had one kid try to out sprint me at the end, but I showed him my olympic-caliber speed burst and edged him at the line.  That was pretty fun actually.  Gotta keep those high schoolers in their place.

I hovered around the timing table at the end to see if I placed in my age group, but no such luck.  I wasn’t too disappointed though.  I saw the awards before the race and I think they were mouse pads.  uggh.  Who uses a mouse pad anymore?  I probably finished about 5th in my age group.  Not too bad, but I can definitely do better.  Luckily next week is another 4-mile race (Magnolia Run), so I’ll have my chance to improve on my time.

Great shirt

• OFFICIAL RESULTS – I finished 5th in my age group and 37th overall.  29:32 
• The shirt is really nice.  A blue technical shirt — probably in my top 5 favorites so far.
• In the first .5 mile This guy veered off to the side wheezing and huffing.  He might have been having a stroke.  I hope he was ok.  I didn’t hear any emergency vehicles, so I’m assuming he made it.
• I kept gaining on the runners around me on the uphills and then losing significant ground on the downhills.  What’s up with that?  I guess I’m not letting it all out on the downhills.  Maybe I’m leaning back too much and using too much brake…
• Overall, I really thought this event was extremely well run and organized.  They had a nice indoor facility to hang out in the A/C if you wanted.  I also met Harris Jacobs’s widow when I first arrived.  Very sweet little lady and it made me feel even better about contributing my $$ to her cause.
• Garmin stats.
• The race advertised that they had the best goodie bag around.  I was anxious to see what they considered the “best”. Toothpaste, toothbrush, mints, 2 koozies, chip clip, cup, dandruff shampoo (sweet!), emory board, and a Wheaties Fuel sample box of cereal.  Not bad.  How about an iPad next time?  :)

Nice goodie bag indeed

River Green Run 5k Shirt

On Saturday I ran the River Green Run 5k in Canton, GA.  It was a blustery morning with threatening storm clouds.  For a few anxious minutes before the race I really thought we would get poured on.  Luckily, though, we escaped any rain and got in a nice run.

Let’s cut right to the chase.  I ran a 21:28.  PR right?  Wrong.  My Garmin measured the run at 2.97 miles.  The course was hilly and I knew the whole time that I wasn’t running as fast as last week’s Big Peach 5k PR effort.  So, when I rounded the corner to the uphill finish and saw the clock in the low 21’s, I was surprised and a bit skeptical.  Turns out I was right.  I’m not sure what happened.  Maybe the lead runners turned around too soon or maybe the course wasn’t marked correctly.  The website has the course mapped out and I had verified beforehand at mapmyrun.com.  Based on my Garmin stats it looks like we turned around too soon.  Oh well.  I didn’t deserve the PR anyways based on how I was running.  A full 5k distance would have left me at 22:30 or so.

With all that being said, the race was still a lot of fun.  It was a challenging, hilly course with a steep uphill finish.  The headwinds were strong which made it even tougher.  I did finish 2nd in my age group though and got a really nice little medal to show for it.

2nd place

• Ran into some friends (Freddie & Courtney).  Freddie was running his first 5k and he finished 2nd in his age group.  Very impressive.  That P90X must be working.  Courtney won her age group!   So, it was pretty cool standing around during the awards ceremonies with all three of us having medals around our necks.
• Shirt is white, cotton short-sleeve.
• Some pics of me:  Here, here, here, here, here.  The last three are at the start of the uphill finish.  I passed the dude in front of me.  Just an fyi because I know you were wondering.
• Official Results will be here
• Garmin Stats

The premier race in Atlanta this past Saturday was probably the Big Peach 5k.  I originally had plans to run the Derby Dash 5k near my home in Canton, but after a stretch of races that were slack about putting up race results, I decided to make the drive down to Atlanta and run a bigger, and probably better organized, event.  I’m certainly glad I made the trip.

Runners met in the Brookhaven MARTA station parking lot.  There was plenty of parking and plenty of room to do some warming up.  I checked in, pinned my bib on and attached my timing chip.  I was good to go so I decided to run some laps around the parking lot to warm up.  It was  a warm morning with really high humidity and an ever-present chance of rain.  I regretted wearing the long-sleeve shirt I had on, but at least it was light weight.

The race ended up having about 1600 runners.  Not everyone elected to pay the extra $5 to be timed, so they don’t all show up in the official results.  We lined up.  Here’s a good picture of the start.  I’m somewhere on the left, about 4-5 rows deep.  I lined up in a pretty good spot.  I didn’t have to dodge too many slower runners and I didn’t get trampled by 5-minute milers.  Here’s another good picture better showing the size of the race.

I had looked at the route on mapmyrun.com the day before, so I had a strategy going in. The first half was mostly downhill and the second half was mostly uphill.  I wanted to go out as fast as I could on the first mile so that I’d have built up a time buffer to use on the hills in the second and third miles.  My strategy worked pretty well.  Here were my splits:

Mile 1: 6:31

Mile 2: 7:01

Mile 3: 7:35

remainder: 6:01

As you can see, my pace definitely slowed on the hills.  I ended up setting a new 5k PR though on a fairly challenging course: 21:54.  Here are the official results.  Obviously, I didn’t win any awards. I finished 19th out of 76 in my age group.  In fact, to have taken 3rd in my age group, I would have had to run an 18:19.  I’m a long way from being able to do that.  The overall winner ran a crazy 15:06.  That’s ridiculous.  I was really excited to have gotten in under 22 minutes for the first time.  Maybe if I actually do some more focused training, I can get it down even lower.  Here’s a picture of me sucking wind as I approach the finish line.  I could see the clock and new I needed to pick up the pace to get under 22 minutes.

Big Peach 5k Shirt

• The shirt is very nice.  A Nike-branded short-sleeve technical shirt.  This was another perk of choosing a more popular 5k.
• The race results were up by Saturday afternoon.  That’s the kind of turnaround I like to see.  I know the timing chip helped in this, but it really is nice to see those results posted immediately
• Garmin Stats:

OLA Spring Stampede 5k Shirt

Well, due to some family obligations (my daughter competing in the Academic Bowl) on Saturday, I had to find a Friday evening race.  Luckily, the first annual Our Lady of the Assumption Spring Stampede 5k was right down the street from my office.  So, after work I headed over to get ready for the run.

Things didn’t go as well as I had hoped, but you can’t PR them all I guess.  I really just wasn’t feeling it Friday and ended up finishing a tough race in 24:37 — a full 2 minutes off my recent PR time.  I was trying to figure out what could have gone wrong and it wasn’t too tough.  I’m pretty good at making excuses.  So, here they are:

1. I’ve discovered recently that I just don’t have much energy in the afternoons.  After getting up early to get the kids ready for school, commuting an hour to the office, and working all day, I really am exhausted.  Basically, I didn’t have any energy before the race.
2. I hadn’t gotten the appropriate number of runs in this week.  I tried to squeak one in Thursday night.  I ended up pushing it a bit too hard and woke up quite sore on Friday.  My legs were still feeling it at race time.
3. I’m used to running in the mornings when it’s been 45° or so.  At 6:45pm in Atlanta on Friday it was 80°.  The increased temperature definitely didn’t help matters.

So, there you have it, the pieces just weren’t there to put together a great run.  Oh well.  It was a nice, well organized event.  According to the finisher card I filled out, I came in 25th overall.  Not sure of my placement in my age group.  I’ll update the post with the official results if they get posted online. (UPDATE: Official results – 7th out of 19 in my age group)

A few random items:

• The shirt is cute — white, cotton.
• The winner was the same guy who won the Run for the Children 5k.  By the way, he’s 61 years old.  Dude runs like a gazelle.  Very impressive.
• Some 11-yr old (or so) kid tried to pass me on the uphill about .3 miles from the finish.  He ended up slowing up and puking his guts out.  That’ll learn him.
• My heart rate got all the way up to 188.  Not good.  I ended up running almost half the race in Zone 5.  My body just wasn’t handling the race very well.
• The course was fairly hilly, with the worst hills coming in the loop around the church that we had to do once at the beginning and once at the end.  Really was a killer for me.
• First race since the Fallen Officer 5k where I didn’t have friends or family running with me.  Kind of missed everyone.  It’s a lot more boring running on my own.
• Garmin Stats:

Saturday morning we were in Marietta, GA at the Operation Yellow Ribbon 5k.  The race was being put on by the Georgia chapter of the Operation Homefront organization.  They were raising money to help out the families of our brave troops stationed overseas.  It was a beautiful morning:  sunny, mid-40s.  Perfect race weather!

I had been looking forward to this race all week because I had quite a bit of company.  My wife, son, mom and sister(Missy) were all running!  It was my mom and Missy’s first 5k.  My son, Davis, was participating in the 1-mile fun run for his first race.  My dad and sister, Christina, were there to support the runners, watch the kids for us, and take some awesome pictures.  So, lots to talk about.  Let’s do it.

Pre-Race:

Alysia, Davis and I woke up early and ready to go.  The temperature was a bit on the chilly side, so Davis bundled up in mostly Under Armour gear.  I think the kid was trying to get sponsored or something.  He had on UA shoes, UA socks, 2 UA shirts and a UA beanie.  Looking sharp!  But can he run?

Davis - Under Armour - ya si me?

We met up with the family at the race.  My mom was a bit nervous.  At 59 years young, it’s never too late to run your first 5k!  We all got registered and got hold of our race numbers and shirts.  The shirt is a white, long-sleeve, cotton deal.  Nice shirt.  I especially like the long sleeves.  Not enough races give out long sleeve shirts, IMO.

Operation Yellow Ribbon 5k Shirt

1-mile fun run:

At 8:30, the 1-mile fun run was starting.  Alysia and I were going to run it with Davis since this was his first one.  Turned out there were about 10-15 kids & parents running.  Davis was probably one of the older kids at 8, so it was a light crowd.   The event director counted down.. 3, 2, 1… and we were off.  Davis shot out as if Usain Bolt was chasing him in the 100m.  I’m following right beside him thinking how tired he’s going to be in about 25 seconds.  He did pretty well though.  The first .5 mile was all downhill and he kept a pretty decent little pace and was well out in front of everyone.  At the bottom of the hill, you turn around and head UPHILL for .5 mile.  He was huffing and puffing, and ended up having to stop and walk a couple of times.  I’m right beside him yelling “Come on!  They’re catching up!  Pick it up!  You can’t let Mom catch you!”  He probably turned around 20 times to take a look.  He made it to the top of the hill and sprinted down to the finish for what I think was a blazing fast 9:20 mile.    I was really proud of him.  He won the race and declared himself to be the fastest person in our family.  Very humble child.

Alysia, Davis and I after the fun run

5k:

With the fun run behind us, Alysia, mom, Missy and I all anxiously awaited the start of the main event.  Alysia and I were sufficiently warmed up after running the mile with Davis.  We stood around chatting and took our places at the start/finish line.  I lined up in front.  It was a small crowd (around 150 runners) so I figured I’d probably be top 20.  Might as well get up front.

We took off.  I was immediately top 5 and moving pretty good.  As with the fun run the first .5 mile was all down hill.  I ended up getting passed by a guy and his dog.  This was the eventual winner.  He finished in 19 minutes WITH A DOG.  He’s a great runner and I’ve seen him at a bunch of other races.  It wasn’t a surprise when he flew by me.  At about a mile in, I settled into 3rd place.  I kept up a 7+ minute mile for most of the race and stayed in third until somewhere past halfway, where I got passed by a woman.  It’s ok though.  I’m used to it.  Besides, she was in her 20s.  I could never catch back up to her and I powered (trudged) my way up the .5 mile hill at the end to finish in …  wait for it…  22:23!  A new PR by 36 seconds.

(Christina took this picture of me crossing the finish line.  I have to be honest here.  I hate how I look in this picture.  What am I doing?  Power walking?  What’s up with my big ol’ butt?  What in the world?  Maybe if I stopped race-walking and actually ran I could break 20 minutes????…  ugghh.)

I don't like this picture.

I patted myself on the back and went to stand with my dad to wait for Alysia, mom and Missy.  Alysia came around the corner next.  She saw the clock and started sprinting to the finish.  She already had her PR (30:39) in the bag, but she wanted to finish strong.  Her pictures look great.  She’s really moving!!!

Alysia coming down to the finish line

New PR for Alysia

My mom and Missy came in a little later at 41:34 and 41:37 respectively.  I can’t express how proud I am of these two.  Their first 5k ever!  Good stuff.  I hope they come out and run some others with me in the future.

Post-race:

We all sat around cooling off.  The post-race food was good with bagels, bananas, apples, gatorade and water.  We took a group shot of all the runners:

Great day

Missy had to leave, but the rest of us stuck around for the awards.  They were doing 1st, 2nd, 3rd place awards in 10-yr increments, therefore I was in the 30-39 age group.  I finished 4th overall in the race, with one of those ahead of me being female, so I knew I had won something.  As it turns out both of the guys ahead of me were in my age group.  The overall winner got a trophy though, so I got the 2nd place medal for 30-39.  Not too shabby.  Nice reward for one of my better performances.

2nd place - front

2nd place - back

Unfortunately, none of the others won any awards.  Alysia did finish an impressive 7th in her age group.  Very nice!

Items of interest:

• Official results
• Garmin stats
• I’m so thankful for my dad and Christina being there to watch the kids for us.  It meant a lot to me.  Although, I must say, I could tell Christina was wishing she was running instead…
• There was a photographer out taking photos of everyone, so I’m sure I’ll have more pictures to post when they get them uploaded.  Possibly some cool shots of Davis in the fun run…
• They had clowns there to entertain the kids.  I found them to be extremely creepy.
• I’m really stocking up on those environment-friendly grocery bags.  We got 3 more at this race.  Sweet!
• Some 10 year old kid ran the race in like 23 minutes.  That’s pretty awesome in my book.  Maybe Davis can get to that level.  I mean he is number one in the nation and all. {sarcasm}
• The kids all made signs to support us.  It was really cute!

Wow, that sun is bright!

Next race is the Choate Construction Run the River 10k.  I think Alysia may go for her first 10k!  Stay tuned…

Yesterday, I was <10 minutes from my house running my first trail race at Boling Park in Canton, GA.  Dirty Spokes does a trail running series of races during the year and this was race #2.  It was a 4.5 mile run that had the following course description:

Start at Kiosk.
Parade lap around field for 1.12 miles
Hard left to single track that parallels field
1.68 follow sewer line
1.70 first hill
1.91 take left fork
1.94 left
1.96 first creek crossing (you will get your feet wet it was at about 18″ today)
2.09 Hill #2
2.24 Top of Hill #2
2.26 Hill #3
2.36 bottom of Hill #3 (very steep)
crossroads stay straight to 2.36 “The Wall” (you´ll know it when you get to it)
2.40 top of “The Wall”, turn right
2.45 right onto Yellow blazed trail
2.71 water station, hard right
2.81 right follow Yellow blazed trail (all down hill and single track from here following the “River Ridge”)
3.14 back at crossroads stay straight (don´t go up “The Wall” again)
3.18 small creek crossing
3.27 log crossing
3.28 small creek crossing
3.40 last small rise
3.65 left
3.68 left to Boy Scout Bridge (White blaze trail)
3.70 over Boy Scout Bridge
3.72 right (back onto single track that follows the parade field)
4.33 End at Kiosk.

Sounds fun, right?  Actually, it was a lot of fun and I’m really wishing I could have made it to the first race in the series.  Dirty Spokes puts on a great race — well organized with timing anklets that you just velcro on, a well-marked course, timely water station, and instant race results as they print out updated results every 5 minutes or so.

The shirt is probably my favorite so far.  It’s a light-weight, technical, short-sleeve shirt.  It fits me well and will be great to run in.

Dirty Spokes - Running the River's Ridge Shirt

I ended up doing pretty well considering the challenges the course presented.  I finished at 44:08 and 7th out of 25 in my age group.  I actually ended up ahead of a couple of serious local runners that typically thrash me on the roads.  They may have just been out for a leisurely stroll through the woods, but it still gives me some confidence that I’m improving.

The first mile+ we start out on an open crushed gravel path.  I really started out fast and clocked my first mile right at 7:00.  From there we hit some single track trails and I felt things were going pretty well.  Nate and I had come out earlier in the week and tried to identify “the wall” and the creek crossing, so I had a good idea what was in store and I didn’t think it was going to be too horrible.

We were wrong.

I ran up and over what we thought to be “the wall” without incident and then took a left which was different than the path we had scoped out on Thursday.  We came to the creek crossing and it was a good 4-5 steps across in mid-calf deep water.  It was a blast running through the creek, but, immediately upon exiting, my shoes were obviously sloshy and heavy.  My Asics didn’t drain nearly as well as I had hoped.  Unfortunately, the ill-placed creek crossing was but a mere .13 mile from the first hill which meant I was going to have to run up the hills with heavy shoes.  As soon as I saw the first hill, I thought “holy cow” this must be “the wall.”  So, I trudge up the first hill in heavy and wet shoes and end up having to walk up the 2nd hill.  My heart was pounding and I can’t imagine how anyone could RUN up those suckers.

Next thing I know, we have a decline that is just as steep.  So, in wet shoes, I go flying down this hill doing everything I can not to lose control and careen off into a tree.  There was so much downforce on the fronts of my shoes that I could feel the insoles sliding (another negative for the new trail shoes).  I safely reach the bottom and look ahead to what is actually “the wall.”  Straight up.  I took as many “running” steps as I could and then walked it.  This was probably the closest I’ve come to throwing up in a race.  I had my hands on my quads helping to push myself up this dang hill.  It was so tough I felt like reaching out for small branches to try to help me up the slope.  Even after cresting, I still had to walk for a good minute to calm myself down.  I actually think this ended up helping me in the remainder of the race.  My heart and legs needed that break.

I worked myself back into a nice pace and passed a couple of folks.  I ended up finishing the remaining 2 miles or so at around a 9 minute pace.  I hooked up with another guy and basically followed on his heels for those last 2 miles.  He was laboring too and, at one point, he yells back to me “How old are you?”.  “36,” I replied.  He threw his arms in the air, let out a big sigh of relief, said he was 44 and that he could let me pass without a fight.  I thought that was pretty funny.  I just told him I was good where I was and that I was using him for his pacing. I followed him all the way home, and he finished a couple seconds ahead of me.

All in all, I had a great time.  Although this was the first time I had to stop and walk in a race this year, my body needed it at the moment, and I was able to finish stronger because of it.  I’m looking forward to some more trail races in the future.  Also, after the race, Nate decided to rename our “wall” as “the curb.”  Very accurate.

• Defiant Photography was out taking some pictures.  (UPDATE: Pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, pic 4)
• Official Results
• Garmin Stats

Running the River's Ridge - Crossing the Boy Scout Bridge

I ran the Run for the Children 5k this morning in downtown Canton, GA.  The race was put on by the Cherokee County Service League raising money for local needy children.  Temps were not in my favor as it was in the mid-40s with blustery winds.  Other than that, it was a great race.  I arrived around 7:30 and headed over to the registration table to get checked in.  The shirt is green, cotton, and short-sleeve.  Nice looking shirt.  As a bonus they were also handing out cool little Publix drawstring bags.  Not sure what I’ll use it for, but it’s better than the typical plastic Big Peach Running Co. bag.

Run for the Children 5k Publix Bag

Run for the Children 5k Shirt

Before the race, I met up with Nate, Christina & Trey (Trey was kind enough to come out for moral support in the cold), and Nick.  I didn’t really have a goal in mind for this race, but everyone else had theirs locked in.  Some PRs were destined to be set.  I obviously wanted to break 23 again, but, with the wind and hills, didn’t think I was up for killing myself trying.

The beginning of the race we did a parade lap around downtown and then headed out to see some of the older houses.  Downtown Canton’s a pretty cute little place.  Kind of reminds me of a small town you’d see in a movie.

The whole course was fairly hilly.  You were either going up or down at almost all times.  Some hills were just steeper than others.  The worst was around 1.5 miles into the race.  You’re heading down this stretch of road and the only thing you can see is this gigantic wall of a hill at the end of the road.  I did my best to shorten my stride and pump my arms, but I was gassed at the top.  The nice part was you had a nice section of downhill following.  The only problem for me was that I was so burned from the uphill that I couldn’t fully floor it down the descent.

We made our way back to the downtown district and had a nice steep downhill finish.  I came in at 23:15.  All in all not a bad showing.  I had a miserable stomach stitch for the last mile or so that was really annoying.  I ended up getting passed by a few folks in the last half mile or so which is always disheartening.  I’ve gotten into a bad habit lately of going out too fast and fading at the end.  I need to try to turn that around.

Nate & Nick both beat their goals, so congrats to them!  Christina had some stomach issues and ended up missing on hers.  I’m sure she’ll get it next time though!  I was impressed with the post-race food — bagels, cookies, donuts, etc.  It was actually one of the more impressive spreads I’ve seen at a race.  Well done.  All that food and I think I ate one chocolate chip cookie afterwards…

The volunteers were nice.  The miles were marked.  No chip timing, but the event was organized very well.  It’s really a nice event and great, challenging course.  Maybe next year the wind will be a bit kinder.

• Reviews
• Official results (UPDATE: Page 38 of this pdf)
• Pictures (UPDATE:  Nate pointed out this collection of photos – I’m at about 1:47.  This was right after cresting the nasty hill.)
• Here are my Garmin stats.  (I forgot to stop my watch at the end for a while, so the charts look a little goofy and the time isn’t right.

Downtown Canton:

Downtown Canton Gazebo

Downtown Canton Storefront

More Storefronts

UPDATED: Here’s a pic of me crossing the finish line.  I look tired.

Finishing up

After the race, I headed over to Boling Park to try out some trail running in preparation for next weekend’s Running the River’s Ridge 4.5 mile trail run.