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…

It was a great race Sunday morning in Kennesaw, GA for the Full House 5k.  This was the second race in The Time is Now Series.  The premise of this race was that at each kilometer you would be handed a playing card.  At the end of the race, the people with the best poker hands won prizes.  Pretty cool, huh?  Well, they ended up not handing them out on the course and just dealt you five when you finished the run instead.  Still a novel idea and an interesting twist to the 5k.

Before the race I met up with Nate, Nick, Christina and my mom.  It was great to see everyone out running again.  It had been a few races since I last had some company.  It definitely makes the race more enjoyable.

Mom, Me, Christina

I feel like a broken record, but once again the course was pretty hilly.  I guess if I’m looking for flatter courses I should move.  Atlanta isn’t really the place for fast, flat tracks.  The worst hill came about midway through the race.  Here’s a pic of the elevation changes.

Elevation Chart

I ended up running really well.  My Garmin put me in at 20:56, which is a new 5k PR.  There was some question on whether the course was a full 3.12 miles, but Nate seems to think it was after measuring it on mapmyride.com.  I’ll trust him.

Nate, Nick, Christina and my mom all set new PRs!  Everyone’s been working really hard and it’s starting to pay off with some impressive times.  Nate and Nick finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the 30-34 age group.  I finished 3rd in the 35-39 age group.  All in all, a very successful day for our little group.

Nick, me, Nate with our medals

We earned a nice little medal for our effort.  So far, I’m 2 for 2 in medals in the Time is Now races.  Hopefully I can keep the streak going in August at the Summer Harvest Gallop 5k.

3rd place medal

You may be wondering what’s up with the purple shirt I’m wearing.  Good question.  The Time is Now race series supports Cystic Fibrosis research.  One of my dear friends, Katie, is currently battling CF and she volunteered to make me a shirt for the race.  It turned out great!  Not only did I get to stand out in my purple shirt, but I also set a new PR!  By my book, that makes the shirt lucky.

The Full House 5k shirt is pretty nice….if you’re a chick.  Seriously, what’s up with the flowers?  It’s a nice technical shirt, so I’m still going to wear it.  I’m not afraid.  I just ran a 20:56 in a purple shirt for crying out loud.  What’s a few flowers gonna hurt?

Full House 5k shirt

• OFFICIAL RESULTS
• True Speed Photos was there:  Me #1, me #2, me #3, Nate, Nick #1, Nick #2, Mom.  Christina was apparently too fast for cameras to capture her.
• My poker hand sucked.  King high.  I think the best overall hand was a King high straight flush.
• Reviews of the race.  I always like reading what other people thought of the race.
• I had a great time.  I think everyone did really.  I know Nate, Christina, and Nick are all in for this Saturday’s Holly Springs Memorial Day 5k.  Anyone else running it?
• I’m kind of doubling up this weekend again.  I’m doing the Celebrate America 10k on Memorial Day.  Good way to start Memorial Day.  I can be guilt-free later on as I eat hamburgers and drink beers knowing I burned a good 600 calories.

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:

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.

Jog for a Cause

UPDATE: 10k Official Results

I was in Alpharetta, GA this morning running the 7th Annual Jog for a Cause 10k.  The weather was kind of chilly in the 40s and fairly windy.  The streets were still wet from the rain the past 3 days.  Overall, not really ideal running conditions for me.  I’m not sure if I’m still sore from the Half Marathon last week or what, but I just didn’t have it this morning.  The race was advertised as fast and flat, so I was really hoping for a sub-50 time, but, honestly, I wasn’t even close.  51:42 on my watch.

Alysia and I

Both Alysia and Christina came out to run the 5k, so that was cool.  This was Alysia’s first 5k EVER, and she rocked it coming in at about 32:53.  Christina was aiming for a sub-32, but came up a hair short at 32:20.  Outstanding effort out of both of them.  I love having friends/family out there running with me.  I also got to meet Nate, a co-worker of Alysia’s, who has been running quite a bit lately.  Nice guy and I look forward to seeing him at some future events.

So, the course was a loop around the North Point area.  10k’ers did the loop twice.  I guess it was flat, but there was a long hill on the back stretch that took a lot out of me.  The weird thing is that this was a Peachtree Qualifier event, yet my Garmin Forerunner 305 measured the distance at 6.45.  I thought that maybe it was just a malfunction on my end, but then a fellow DailyMiler said that her Garmin measured in at 6.46?  So, was this a “long” 10k or were both of our devices going wacky?  Not sure.

I’m not sure what’s up with me this past week.  I’m assuming my body’s not fully recovered from the Half Marathon, but I just don’t feel right.  My hamstrings and calves have been tight all week, and, during the race this morning, they felt really tight again.  I think I need to incorporate some better stretching routines into both my pre-race and post-race activities.  I’m getting too old to just go out and run 6 miles without ample warmup.

Jog for a Cause Shirt

The shirt is great.  A short-sleeve light-weight technical shirt.  Just the kind I like.  Unfortunately, Alysia didn’t get hers today due to the large amount of race-day registrants (including Alysia), but the race volunteers assured her they would drop it in the mail.

• Official results
• Garmin stats.
• Reviews of the race.
• Photos from TrueSpeedPhoto (UPDATE: Pic of Alysia and I)
• They had really nice post-race food:  cookies, muffins, bagels, smoothies
• File this in the TMI file if you want, but I had to pee the whole race.  Problem was that the line for the port-o-potties was like 50 people long.  That’s ridiculous.
• No timing chip, which meant for us middle-of-the-pack runners, we had no idea where the actual starting line was and the official times won’t be as accurate.

I have no idea yet which race I’ll be doing next week.  Any suggestions?  There are 2 5ks in Powder Springs that are possibilities.  There is the ING Half Marathon in Atlanta on Sunday.  I’ve been torn on which one to do, but now I’m thinking my body’s just not ready for another long event.  Maybe a 5k is in order…  Stay tuned.  I’ll pick one eventually. 

Berry Shirt & Medal

UPDATED: Photos are here

I ran the Berry Half Marathon yesterday in Rome, GA at beautiful Berry College.  It was my first half marathon, and I didn’t feel adequately prepared.  I hadn’t been diligent enough on my long runs and never built up the mileage I should have.  It worked out ok for me this time, but next time I’ll need to do a little bit more training…

Rome’s about an hour drive from my house in Woodstock, so I got up dark and early at 4:30.  Took some time to relax with some coffee and eat a couple waffles.  Maybe not the breakfast of champions, but it sounded good to me.  Left the house about 5:30 and arrived at Berry College a few minutes past 6:30.  I wanted to get there early enough to park on campus and not rely on the shuttle, and I made it just in time.

Once there, I met up with my pal, Reid, and we proceeded to the registration tent to get our bibs and stuff.  We got our shirts and bags of goodies and decided to head toward the dining hall to hang out inside where it was warmer.  The morning was very chilly at about 30°.  We got to the dining hall, put our race bibs on and thawed out for about 20 minutes.  With about 30 minutes until race time we went back out in the cold and checked our bags.  We did a quick loop around the big field where all the sponsor tents were to get warmed up.  It was go time.

Reid and I decided to start near the 2 hour start group.  We figured we’d shoot for 9-minute miles and see how long we could last.  The race started and we were off.   The race didn’t have actual pace groups, so we were left on our own to determine how fast we were going.  I relied on my Garmin Forerunner 305 to keep me up to date on our pace.  It worked really well, and I’m really loving this little guy.

The Berry College campus is so beautiful.  The morning was cold but sunny and everything looked so peaceful.  During our first mile or two, as we headed down the straightaway towards upper campus, we had no less than 10-15 deer running through the fields on either side of us.  It was really cool and a great way to start the race and appreciate nature’s beauty.

I really don’t have much drama to report on the race.  I kept a steady 9-minute mile pace (with some slight variations here and there) for the entire time.  Reid stopped to re-fuel with some Gu at about mile 5, so I ended up running ahead of him for most of the race.  I stopped around mile 9 for some Gu, which, by the way, reminds me of eating toothpaste.  It was my first time trying it — not too bad.

Around the 10-mile mark I really started feeling it.  My pace never really slowed down too much, but I was really hating it there between miles 10-13.  This also happens to be, in my opinion, the worst part of the course.  It’s not hilly, it’s just flat and straight and boring.  You’re running on part of the Viking Trail and there aren’t really any volunteers out there and it just seems to drag on forever.  I was VERY happy to see the end of that part and get back onto the lower campus.

So, with about .3 miles to go, Reid catches me.  At the exact moment he’s passing me by, I get a quick little calf cramp.  I’ve been prone to calf cramps when playing racquetball and tennis, so I’m kind of used to the feeling.  I’m glad it came late in the race and I’m really glad it was just a quick lock up and release.  I was able to keep going without slowing down too much, but Reid had pulled ahead of me.  On the final stretch to the finish line, I decided to give it all I had and catch him.  I pulled up beside him just as we both crossed the finish line.  Officially we both had chip times of 1:58:16.

He and I were both ecstatic to have broken 2 hours, and I thought it was all the better to have finished with a good friend.  We grabbed our finisher’s medals and I had to sit down to let my heart rate slow back down.  Sprinting (or running as fast as you can after 13 miles) took a lot out of me at the end.   My legs were so tight after the race that I was seriously wondering if I could drive home or not.  After a banana or two and chilling out for a bit, I started to feel a bit better.

After the race, we hooked up with some friends from church — Tim & Maureen.  Tim had just set land speed records with a blazing 1:42.  Really proud of him for that time.  That’s amazing.  It was really great to see Maureen out cheering us on during the race.  My wife, Alysia, ended up not being able to make it because of my son’s basketball tournament, so having at least one person there saying “Go Tony!” was cool.  Thanks Maureen!

I ended up getting home ok and taking some Advil.  I’m feeling better now and already thinking about how I can improve on my time for the next half marathon.

Items of note:

• Here are the official results.  I finished 31 in my age group and 221 overall.
• Don’t have any photos, but if I find any I’ll put a link up
• All the volunteers were amazing.  They really raised my spirits during some of the more hilly areas of the course.
• Post-race food was the best I’ve seen:  cookies, mini-muffins, bagels, bananas, etc.
• Here is a link to my Garmin stats.  I ended up averaging a 9:02 minute mile.  Really proud of staying on track with that.
• One of the more challenging components of the race was the different terrain.  We ran on asphalt, dirt road & gravel.  I found this to be pretty tough.  It takes a bit more out of you physically & mentally to run on rocky dirt roads & gravel.  You really need to pay attention to your footing.  I’m looking forward to running some trails this Spring, so I’ll learn all about this I’m sure.
• The shirt is a short-sleeved technical shirt.  It’s not the light weight technical shirt that I got at the Tartan Trot or Resolution Run.  It’s a bit heavier.  Not sure I’d actually run in it, but I’ll definitely wear it around.
• The winner was at 1:07.  How someone can run 13 miles at that kind of pace is really beyond me.  Truly amazing.
• Never stopped to walk except to take about 30 seconds to re-fuel with Gu & water.
• Reviews from Active.com

Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better first half marathon.  Finished under 2 hours, didn’t kill myself, had a good friend with me, admired the beauty of Berry College, and enjoyed the sunny day.  I hope the next one is just as good.

This week I’ll be doing another 10k.  The Jog for a Cause 10k/5k in Alpharetta, GA.  My sister, Christina, will be running the 5k.  Anyone else doing this event?

Resolution Rush Shirt

It was a beautiful morning here in Atlanta for the Resolution Rush 10k.  With all the miserable weekends we’ve had so far, this was definitely a needed change of pace.  I was excited about this event because it is literally 3 minutes from my front door in good old Hickory Flat, GA.  I was able to sleep in a little later than usual and still get over to the starting line in plenty of time.

The 5k runners took off at 8am while us 10k folks had to sit around until 8:30.  This was kind of a bummer, but ended up being pretty cool seeing the 5k winners come through.  I don’t usually get to see that since I’m normally in the middle of the pack somewhere.

The course was an out-and-back type that we did twice for the 10k.  Some rolling hills but nothing too steep.  I haven’t been running as much the past couple of weeks, so I knew this race would be tough for me.  I’ve had a bit of a cold and some nagging injuries that have kept me off the pavement.  I NEED to get back into the swing of things or I might actually die during the Berry Half Marathon on March 6th.

Garmin Forerunner 305

This past week I took the plunge and dropped some cash on a Garmin Forerunner 305.  This was my first run using it.  I’m soooo glad I bought this little gadget.  It was really nice knowing my pace, distance, and heart rate as I was progressing through the race.

Here are my splits courtesy of the Forerunner 305:

Resolution Rush Splits

As you can see I kept a pretty even pace throughout – about 8:15/mile.  I need to get that down to 8:00 even or just below if I want to get a sub-50 10k.  Today I finished in 50:14.  Not too bad considering my lack of miles recently.  I had to work a lot harder on this one though than I did during the Chattahoochee Challenge.  My heart rate was definitely up there in the 180s quite a bit.  I never stopped though and felt fairly decent afterwards.

Also, as a bonus, I took advantage of the smaller crowds and finished 3rd in my age group.  This was a pleasant surprise and I received a nice little medal for my effort.  I’m proud of this guy:

Resolution Rush Medal

Other interesting tidbits:

• the shirt is short-sleeve moisture wicking.  Kind of plain.  I still like the technical long-sleeve shirts best.
• plenty of post-race food – chocolate chip cookies, bananas, smoothie samples, bagles
• no chip timing this time, so the award ceremony was delayed a bit, but I’m glad I stuck around
• traffic situation was kind of sketchy as they had to let cars come down the middle of E Cherokee Dr with runners going both directions on the sides.  Wasn’t too bad, but a tad annoying.  The police officers did a great job stopping traffic at intersections for runners.
• I’ll link to the official results if they post them online. UPDATED: Here are the results.
• TrueSpeedPhoto was there again.  I’ll link to any photos they took of me.  UPDATED: Pics 1, 2, 3, 4
• Here are some reviews on active.com.

Polar Bear Shirt 5k

Wow!  What a fun run!  I had a blast running the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church Polar Bear 5k.  Let’s jump right into the details…

First of all, the weather was cold and windy.  Temperatures were in the 40s and, with the wind, it felt even colder.  This would normally be a big downer, but luckily all the check-in tables were set up in the gym, so we got to hang out in the warmth of the gym until we were ready to start.  I got my number quickly and was happy to see that it had the timing strip on the back.  This typically makes the post-race awards ceremony get started much quicker.

They had the starting line set up out on Johnson Ferry Rd.  Now, those of you that aren’t familiar with the area, Johnson Ferry is a busy 4 lane road.  We were set up in the 2 lanes heading south.  Obviously they can’t hold traffic for the entire race, so immediately after crossing the starting line we were herded into just the right lane.  This was pretty tight and I know from a lot of the Active.com comments that the racers in the middle to back of the pack were severely hindered by this.

I’m not sure why, but I decided to try a little bit different strategy for this race.  I normally line up near the back of the pack, but today I went up close to the front.  I decided I would go out fast and see how long I could last.  This strategy really ended up paying off because I wasn’t as affected by the crowds getting pushed into 1 lane.  The real problem I had with the start though other than the tight grouping was that they didn’t have a starting mat to trigger my bib timing system.  So, even though the race advertised the timing system, we were still measured by the finish time only.  Luckily, I chose to start closer to the front and only was behind by a few seconds.

I took off faster than usual but felt pretty good and found some similar runners to pace myself by.  My splits were: 7:25, 14:49, 22:58.  I never stopped to walk and kept up a pretty fast pace for me.  I’m definitely improving as a runner and I’m thrilled with my time!  The course was fast and flat with just a couple rolling hills.  After last week’s Etowah Soccer 5k, I felt like I was running at the beach it was so flat.  I finished up and had my bib scanned with the wand to record my time.  So, with the seconds it took me to cross the start and the time it took me to slow down enough for them to scan my bib with the wand, my official time was 23:06.  I bettered my previous P.R. by >2 minutes!  Even though I ran a 22:58 by my watch, I’ll use the 23:06 as my new P.R.  Besides, I plan on beating that again soon…

They had lots of food available at the end.  All the volunteers were really nice and helpful.  I stuck around for the awards presentation (also in the gym) to see what kind of times the winners in my age group ran.  This race was pretty popular and had around 1500 entrants, so I knew I hadn’t placed, but I was curious.  The third place guy in my group ran an 18:11.  Dang.  I’ve got lots more work to do.

A couple of interesting things:

• My pace was 7:27/mi and I got passed by a woman pushing a stroller somewhere after the 2 mile mark.  Awesome.
• For the second week in a row, saw someone puking after the race – this time a woman.
• Finished 15th in my age group out of 87 guys.  Pretty proud of that and I hope I got a few points in the Run & See Georgia Grand Prix Series.
• The shirt is really nice.  Technical long sleeve shirt with the polar bear logo.
• The race director said the course was 260 ft short of a full 5k.  This clearly helped my time, but I still would have P.R.’d.
• UPDATE:  Here are 2 pics of me from the race.  Pic 1, Pic 2

Next weekend is the Tartan Trot 10k.  This will be my first ever 10k.  Kind of nervous about it.  I’ll have more about that race later.