Year of Races

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…

Woodstock Freedom Run Shirt

I decided at the last minute to go ahead and run the Woodstock Freedom Run 5k on Saturday.  I had originally planned to take the day off to rest up for my first Peachtree, but the lure of a close race and a relatively flat course sucked me in.  So, there I was again, 7:30 AM, toeing the line for another race.

The weather was cooler than it had been and the humidity was much lower as well.  My body wasn’t feeling too great though.  I’ve got a few nagging pains going on that I’m trying to work through, so I used most of the pre-race time jogging around to get loose.

The Woodstock Freedom Run is set in Downtown Woodstock.  It’s an out-and-back style course.  It draws a pretty big crowd because a) it offers cash prizes to the top 3 men, women, masters men, and masters women b) it’s on a holiday weekend and c) it’s really flat.  So, there were quite a few folks lined up ready to roll.  I knew that in order to place in my age group and win one of the coveted coffee mugs, I’d have to run like never before.

I lined up about 4 rows deep, just behind the elite runners.  At the gun (really just the Mayor saying “Go”), we all took off at a crazy breakneck pace.  I tried to hang with some of the elites, but eventually I settled into a pace I could handle.  My first mile came in at 6:33.  I was really moving.  I was just hoping I could hang on, but I felt pretty good.  Somewhere in that first mile, I got passed by a group of women who were just flying.  I tried not to let it bother me, but, jeez, how fast were they going?  6:00?  5:45?  Yikes.

The second mile came and went without incident.  I was still moving along, but definitely feeling the pace.  I was able to put down a 6:40.  I did get passed by some dude wearing knee-length plaid shorts and Vibram Five-Finger shoes.  I think he ended up finishing at 19-something.  Amazing.  When he passed me, I actually looked over in shock because I initially thought I was being passed by some ponytail-dude in flip-flops.  I also saw the leader come by me in the opposite direction on the way to the finish.  My God.  This guy was FLYING.  He finished at 15:13 – almost a minute ahead of 2nd place.  Crazy.  He was the defending champ.  I guess it’s an easy $300 for him.

The third mile was tough.  I was struggling to maintain my pace.  The crowd had spaced out and I had less people to pace myself by.  It was just me and my thoughts of dying.  I knew I was on pace for a record time, so I pushed through to my happy place and trudged on.  My split was 7:00.  As I approached and passed the 3-mile mark, I knew a PR was in sight.  I used up whatever I had left in the tank and finished strong.  21:25 official time, new PR, and my first sub-7 minute mile 5k!

I figured I was still probably not good enough for the coffee mug, but I stuck around for the awards ceremony just in case.  In the end, I didn’t come home with the prize, but I still left feeling really great about my performance.  I can’t help but think that the speedwork I’ve been doing with Jason has maybe started to pay some dividends.  Time will tell if Saturday was just a combination of good weather and a flat course or if my training is making a difference.  Either way, I’m going to continue to hit the track once a week to try to get faster.

• Official results (I finished 5th in my age group and 53rd overall)
• The shirt’s not my favorite.  White cotton that looks like something you’d get at a used car super blowout sales weekend.
• Timing antenna inside the race bib.  Yay for electronic timing!  Booo for having an antenna in the race bib that makes the bib about the size of a poster board!
• Garmin Stats — is anyone else fascinated with looking at their Garmin stats?  I really can’t imagine running without this anymore.
• Anyone reading this that lives in or near Woodstock will be happy to know that the downtown J. Christopher’s is FINALLY open.  Sweet!

My first Peachtree Road Race was on Sunday.  I had a great time!  I’ll try to get a recap of that one up here in the next day or two.  Stay tuned…

Magnolia Run shirt

Well, I’m a bit behind on my posting.  I usually try and get my race recaps up the weekend of the race, but here it is Thursday and I still hadn’t written it.  Better late than never I suppose.

Last Saturday, I was down at Perimeter Mall in Atlanta running the Magnolia Run.  It was a 4 mile event and gave me a chance to better my 4 mile PR set last week at the Harris Jacobs Dream Run.  Temperatures were in the 80s and humidity was about 90%.  Luckily the course wasn’t too hilly.

I was surprised by the number of runners that showed up for the event.  In fact, I was happy to see they offered timing chips as well.  Bonus!  I love the races that use the timing chips because it usually leads to quicker results and awards ceremonies.

Once again, I took off too fast and ended up slowing down as the race went on.  First mile was pretty good at around a 6:50 or so.  Eventually the heat and humidity took its toll on me though.  I slowed down and my splits got progressively worse.  I ended up getting passed by a number of folks near the end, but still managed to improve on my 4 mile PR by 10 seconds.  I finished at 29:22 which was good for 6th in my age group and 39th overall.  (official results)

TrueSpeedPhoto was there taking pictures.  I’m here, here and here.  Clearly sucking wind.

This weekend I’m back at another 10k — the 32nd Annual Possum Trot.  It should be fast and flat.  Immediately after the race I’ve got an ALTA Mixed Doubles tennis match.  Immediately following tennis, we’re driving down to Seagrove, FL for the week.  I guess this is my version of a triathlon.  Hope my transition times are solid.

I still haven’t figured out what I’m doing on the weekend of 6/26. We’ll be travelling back from Florida on Saturday, so I may have to do a Sunday race.

Celebrate America 10k Shirt

I wish I had more pictures of this race.  Alysia and I braved the elements and ran a 10k in Alpharetta on Memorial Day.  With the threat of rain looming, we sucked it up and headed out the door.

The course for the Celebrate America 10k was the same course as the Jog for a Cause 10k back in March.  If you recall, the course was long, coming in at 6.45 kilometers.  This prevented me from getting a P.R. that day and also caused me to whine about it a couple days later.  So, I wanted some revenge.

Overall, the race left a lot to be desired.  The shirt is pretty cheap looking – gray cotton.  No goodie bag, not even a box of rice.  This was kind of surprising because the race has a lot of participants.  I would think they would offer a technical shirt and some decent goodie bags.  We got our numbers and Alysia noticed they had incorrectly marked her down for the 5k.  We got that straightened out and we were ready to go.

I think the race directors learned a little about the course from the Jog for a Cause run because this time they started us down the street a bit.  What was strange was that they started the 10k runners further down the street than the 5k runners.  This must have been really annoying for the fast 5k guys.  They had to pass ALL the 10k folks during their race.  Not really great planning in my opinion.

We took off and not even a mile into the run the heavens opened up and it rained HARD for about 15-20 minutes.  My dri-fit shirt wasn’t very dry and, in fact, weighed about 5 lbs.  My shoes and socks were soaked.  It was crazy.  It was raining so hard that I had old sweat that had built up in my hat running into my eyes.  With my glasses fogging up and sweat going in my eyes, it’s  a wonder I didn’t run over someone.  As miserable as this all sounds, it was actually really fun.  I had never run in the rain before and it just turned out to be a great experience.  It wasn’t a thunderstorm, so I wasn’t worried about lightning or hail or anything crazy like that.  Just good old hard rain.  At least we aren’t this guy:

ouch

I ended up running really well despite having to splash through some puddles and carry around some extra water weight in my clothes.  I rounded the corner for the last stretch of road and knew I had a pretty decent time going.  I picked up the pace and passed through the chute at 46:12.  That’s a new 10k P.R. by about 6 seconds.  I don’t have the official time yet, but it should be a P.R. either way.

Alysia also ended up running a new P.R.  It leaves me to think what we could have done that morning without the rain…

There was a photographer there snapping some pics.  Here is one of Alysia and I:

New PR's! I love you. I love you too.

• OFFICIAL RESULTS – They have me at 46:17.  Not happy about that.  The race clock and my watch both said 46:12 at the finish.  Anyway, I finished 5th (out of 22) in my age group and Alysia finished 7th (out of 12) in her age group.
• Garmin stats
• Alysia’s iTouch cut out during the hard rain, but thankfully came back on after she stuck it in her pants.  That would have been an expensive 10k if we had lost her iTouch.
• Neither of us won an award.  They looked pretty nice.
• If you ran the 10k, you were out of luck for post-race refreshments.  No water or food left after the run.  Really poor.
• The course was a double loop.  With the hard rain, it was SUPER tempting to veer off and finish as a 5k.  I know Alysia said she was contemplating it.  I was too.  Neither of us did of course and I felt immediately empowered passing the 5k finish.  It’s like we were warriors.  We didn’t care about the rain.  :)

Next week is Alysia’s triathlon.  I’ll be cheering her (and Nate, Christy & Dave) on Saturday morning.  So, it will be  another Sunday run for me:  the Harris Jacobs Dream Run 4 miler.  Anyone else doing that one?

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.

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:

Run the River 10K shirt

We were in Roswell Saturday morning running the Choate Construction Run the River 10K.  It was a beautiful morning with perfect running weather.  The course was advertised as fast and flat, so I was hoping to finally get that sub-50 monkey off my back.  My PR for the 10K was 50:09 set way back in February.  If you remember, I had a near miss at the Jog for a Cause 10K, but the course measured in at 6.45 miles and I missed my mark.  So, I really wanted to get it done Saturday.  Also, Alysia & Nate were running the 10K as well.  It’s much more fun to have some company with me.  This was Alysia’s FIRST 10K!

We got lined up for the race.  I stayed back near the middle of the pack with Alysia.  When the gun went off, I spent the first half mile or so weaving in and out of folks.  Once we got some spacing, I settled into a low 7 minute mile pace.  After last week’s hilly Operation Yellow Ribbon 5K, I had some confidence on being able to maintain that kind of pace.  I figured if I could run a hilly 5K at 7:21/mile then I could do a flat 10K at about the same.

Really the run was pretty uneventful.  I passed a bunch of folks at the beginning having started in the middle of the pack, but I did eventually end up with a group of runners that were at about my pace.  At around 2 miles we veered off onto a dirt road.  This was a bit more challenging with the loose rocks, but nothing to really slow me down.  I hit the 3 mile mark at 23-something.  I was feeling great and knew I could keep it going.  The only challenging hill came just after 3 miles.  It was short but fairly steep.  The good thing was that it marked the turnaround point for the course, so we got to then cruise back down the hill.

I was feeling really strong, so I kept up my low 7 minute mile pace and started passing some more runners the last 1.5 miles.  It was nice to finish strong.  I ended up coming in at 46:09 on my watch.  The official time will be a little off probably.  As I mentioned, I started in the middle of the pack, and they weren’t using timing chips.  Either way, I crushed my previous PR by about 4 minutes.

• Alysia did fantastic in her first 10K.  She only walked 3 times for a minute or so each time.  She crossed the line in 1:04:30.  Really good time for her first and I’m so proud of her.
• Nate also set a PR by coming in at 50:18.  Great Job!
• The shirt is a nice technical material.
• There appeared to be a decent crowd for this race.  I’d say around 400-500.
• There was an 80-yr old guy there trying to set the Georgia record in the 10K for his age.  I saw him cross the finish line as I was waiting for Alysia, but I’m not sure if he broke the record or not.  I hope so.
• Official results (Don’t have them yet).  Not sure where I finished in my age group.  Probably top 10 I’m guessing. (UPDATED:  Here are the results.  46:18.  Turns out it was a weak 35-39 group and I finished 3rd out of 32 and 38th out of 377 overall.  Guess I should have stuck around for the awards…)
• Pictures (UPDATED: Photos are at the Collages.net site.  Username is “Run the River” and password is “19065″.)

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…

With March in the books, I thought I’d take some time reflecting on the first quarter of 2010. I’ve put together a list of some of the highlights & lowlights from Q1:

Proudest Accomplishment: Finishing my first half marathon. I’m proud to have finished in under 2 hours and I’m looking forward to attempting to better my time in the Fall.

Biggest Improvement: Cutting 4 1/2 minutes off of my 5k time.  I went from a 27:35 on 1/1/2010 to a 22:59 on 3/20/2010.

Best Shirt: ATC Resolution Run 5k. It’s a black, lightweight, long-sleeve technical shirt.  It’s also the first shirt I got in this crazy adventure and I think it means just a little bit more to me.

Worst Race: Etowah Soccer 5k. I enjoyed Reid’s company for sure, but the race didn’t even have bibs, the course was insanely hilly, they didn’t publish the results anywhere, and the age groups were dumb.

Best Course: Chattahoochee Challenge 10k. Flat and fast!  It’s still my 10k PR and I could have easily pushed myself harder if I hadn’t been blindly following the pace group leader.

Worst Course: Jog for a Cause 10k. Advertised as a Peachtree Road Race Qualifier, the course measured in at 6.45 miles. How can a course be a PRRQ and not even be an accurate distance?

Best post-race food: Run for the Children 5k. Great spread. Could have easily eaten 5x as many calories as I burned during the run.

Best post-race schwag: Chattahoochee Challenge 10k. Very cool freebies that included free energy bar samples, a tree to plant, earth-friendly bags and more.

Biggest disappointment: Mardi Gras 5k. Because of the snow and ice in the Atlanta area, the race was canceled. This crippled my plan to run a race every weekend in 2010. I’ll still be doing 52 this year, but now I’ll have to double up one weekend.

Firsts: 10k & Half Marathon

Race Miles: 59.2 (7 5k, 4 10k, 1 HM)

Race Time: 8 hrs 14 min 52 sec

New gear:  Garmin Forerunner 305 & Asics Gel-Trail Attack 5 WR

Friends/family I’ve had the pleasure of running with:  Alysia, Christina, Nick, Reid, Nate, Tim

I’m still loving this challenge and I’m grateful I’ve been able to stay healthy so far.  I hope I can hold it together and make it through Q2.  Maybe even set some new PRs.  I’ve got at least 2 new distances that I’ll be running this quarter:  a 4.5 mile trail run and a 6k.  Here’s my schedule.  I’ve got quite a few “TBDs” on the board, so, if you know of a cool race coming up, let me know.

I get asked all the time “why are you running a race every weekend?  Why not just go out and run on your own?”  Well, the short and pathetic answer is that I’m too lazy to get out and run on my own.  I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work.  By registering (paying) for a race, I’m locked into running it.  I can’t make an excuse not to run, I’ve already signed up.

Hope to see everyone out there!  Tomorrow is the Dirty Spokes Running the River’s Ridge 4.5mi trail run.  Wish me luck!

UPDATE:  Official results here.  (6th overall but I’m 36 years old, not 35.  I’m happy my sub-23 came through on the official times — 22:59.6)

Wow!  What a beautiful day in Atlanta today.  I was in Powder Springs, GA running in the Fallen Officer 5k.  This was going to be a small-scale event, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  Turned out to be a nice run for a great cause.

Fallen Officer 5k

The morning didn’t start off too spectacularly.  I’m not too familiar with the Powder Springs area, so I was relying on my ol’ Garmin to get me to the race on time.  Apparently my ol’ Garmin can be a real jerk sometimes.  After driving around for about 20 minutes, I finally pulled over, pulled out my phone and used Google Maps to get me to where I needed to be.  I arrived later than planned, but still with plenty of time to register, hit the bathroom, and stop thinking destructive thoughts on what I was going to do to my Garmin when I got home.

It was a small crowd with, not surprisingly, a lot of off-duty law enforcement professionals running.  We started off from Lost Mountain Baptist Church and wound our way through some back roads, finishing back where we started.  It was a nice loop course.  We passed some farms, and, with so few participants, I was kind of running on my own most of the race.  The toughest part of the course was a huge, long hill right near the end.  This was a killer, and I got passed by one guy who, unfortunately, ended up being in my age group.

Fallen Officer 5k - killer hill

I knew I had made fairly decent time, so rounding the corner to head to the finish line, the clock said 22:14.  I pushed just enough to cross (according to my watch) at 22:59.  I’m psyched about breaking 23 minutes for the first time and setting a new PR.  Here are my stats from my Garmin Forerunner.  The course measured out at 3.08 miles, so it was just a hair short, but still longer than the Polar Bear 5k that I had gotten my previous PR in.

I stuck around for the awards ceremony.  I knew that I had probably placed in the top 3 for my age group.  I think I finished 7th overall, so the odds were good that 4 of the 7 wouldn’t have been in the 30-39 age group.  Luckily, I was right and I got a nice little 3rd place medal for my efforts.  The post-race food was good:  sausage biscuits, bagels, bananas.

Fallen Officer 5k - 3rd place 30-39 Age Group

Fallen Officer 5k - Shirt

One of the reasons I chose this race was because is was organized by a Sequoyah High School student as her senior project.  My kids will be Sequoyah students one day, so, in a way, I was supporting the Chiefs too.  Besides, the race was for a great cause…

Officer James Fredrick (Freddie) Norman was part of the Cobb County Police Department until his death on February 14, 2009. Officer Freddie Norman succumbed to injuries sustained 21 years earlier when his patrol car was struck by a teenage drunk driver as he responded to an emergency call. The accident left him as a quadriplegic. His death was determined to be a direct result of the injuries sustained in the crash.

In May 2010 the Cobb County Police Department Honor Guard as well as Freddie Norman’s family would like to honor fallen Freddie Norman during National Police Week in Washington D.C.

All proceeds from this race will be distributed through the Chaplain’s Association to the Cobb County Police Department Honor Guard and the family of Freddie Norman. We would also like to make this an annual race with proceeds being distributed through the Chaplain’s Association.

Incidentally, I did meet a guy, Glenn, who is also doing a race each week for a year.  His year started in February.  He’s an experienced runner, unlike myself, and ended up winning today’s race.  He has some sponsors that are supporting him in his efforts during the year and he hopes to raise a ton of money for breast cancer awareness (he was decked out in bright pink: shirt, shoes, Oakleys).  Nice guy and I hope he realizes his goals and stays injury free for the year!

All in all, another fun Saturday morning.  Next week is the Run for the Children 5k in downtown Canton, GA.  What are you waiting for?  Sign up!