track fan

So very happy to be reporting this race.  I have to admit that I did not have a lot of expectations going into it.  It has been 18 months since I have raced last, it has been an incredibly difficult year for me, personally, and let's face it, I am not getting any younger.  Greg told me that the best case scenario, for him, would be that I would have a great last 5K and wished I had gone out faster.  Dean thought I could come within 1:30 of my PR (~1:36 or so) - and I thought, "that would be good and still leave me 6 weeks of training for Houston".   Besides, whine whine, I am fighting this cold, I have had this darn niggling pain in my leg ... yada yada.

 Last night we had dinner with my friend from Tucson, Merry, and her family, and then sat around and joked with some of her running group friends (they are part of the Tucson Grinders -- they are a very fast group here in town, coached by a woman named Michele Hill, who has run in the Olympic Trials a few times).   It was  a lot of fun.  Actually, one of the women in the group is from Utah, Paula Morrison (she is the #49 notable St. George Legend from her 2:44:50 time from 2002).

This race was really poorly organized, especially for one that had been known to attract some pretty fast runners.  There were a little over 1,000 runners and yet there were 7 -- yes 7 -- porta potties at the start - actually there were more runners than that because there was a 5K too and these 7 pop's were near the 5K start (over 1/4 mile from the 1/2 marathon start).  There were some more bathrooms near the finish line, but that was farther away, and I did not know about them until the finish.  Anyway, this matters because I was in line to use a pop until about 2 mins before the start -- I had to sprint to starting line, and push my way into the crowd.  Consequently, I started back further than I would have liked.  In the end, it didn't matter because of chip timing, but this was going to factor into being a problem later on ... because, the timing mats were wrong from about mile 3 until I don't know when.  

 My first mile was 7:33 by my watch - which felt slower than I was running to me, but I thought, well, I am just not in good shape, it is ok ... hang in there and let the race come to you. For the next 2 miles I just felt like I was passing a bunch of people who were running slower than me, and it did not worry me, but it was weird.  Then, there was a clock, just out there, with no mile marker, no timing mat, no nothing.  It read 21:43 and I had no idea what it was -- weirdest thing was that the 3 mile marker was up another 1/2 mile or so??  And my watch read 24 mins.  I wondered how I could be passing so many people and be running so much slower than I should have?  At mile 4 my split was 6:05????  yea, right!   My next was 7:59 ... and, well, you get the drift, it went like this the whole race.   At the 10K I asked the guy next to me if he could see the pace group sign in front of us (they were about 200 meters ahead).  He couldn't but he said we just went through the 10K at 42:50 or so (which would be a pr for me) and I said, "shoot, I shouldn't be up here".  

Well, eventually, I caught the pace group, and it was the 1:35 group.  I just sort of hung on them until about 12 and then saw Paula who had run (actually she won) the 5K, she started yelling at me to catch the woman in front of me ... and so I did.  I don't know why, but whenever people yell at me to "dig deep" or "catch someone" (when it is someone I know) it really  helps me ... so I passed the pacer, I passed the woman who was with him ... and then held on to the finish.  I was pretty happy.    Too bad I don't have splits  to help guide my last 6 weeks of training -- but, I really can't complain.  It looks like the 10K and 10 mile splits from the website might be correct (5K: 23:40 (7:38 pace), 10K: 44:55 (7:13 pace), 10 mile: 1:12:15 (7:13 pace)) but I really think the 5K split is off; if I assume the "clock in the middle of nowhere" was mile 3, then it would make sense that my first 5K was in the 7:12 range.  I do feel like I was running a little too fast for the first half of the race (up until I joined the 1:35 pace group -- I think I caught them at mile 8-9) -- but I guess since I was able to hang on it wasn't really that fast.  I just found it odd that I was passing people most of the race.  I passed one of the Grinders at mile 2 who ended up running a 1:40 ... and she ran a strong race ... so it wasn't like she went out too fast and died.  

By the way -- it was 35F at the start, about 41F at the finish, basically a perfect day to race.

My friend Merry, who is 56, ran a 1:32:56!!!!  

The ride home was a little painful, my hamstring is very sore right now. 

 I need to go check the CIM results and see how many people qualified today for the trials, I had heard there were over 100 people giving it one last shot (well, besides those running Las Vegas)!!!  

Happy Sunday bloggers! 

45 mins or so ... trying to take it easy for a couple of days so I get back on track by this weekend.  I might try some strides or a fartlek on Thursday if I feel up to it.

 It was 27F today, and believe it or not, there is snow in the mountains -- not my mountains, but the ones on the East side of town.  

I hope you are doing well bloggers!! 

Just in case you haven't heard, there were 25 women and 8 men who obtained Olympic Trials Qualifiers at California International on Sunday!!!! Amazing. 

On Sunday night, I was riveted to the computer watching the Las Vegas 1/2 marathon that also had a bunch of men trying for qualifiers based on the 1/2 marathon time (1:05) and women who were using the race as a tune-up (McGregor and Hastings were the favorites).  This was a seriously fast race with the top guys going through the first 5K in 14:30!!! and the women in 16:45!!  The first 10K for the men still had nearly 11 guys in the 29:40 or faster range ... wow.  Very exciting -- I was seriously hoping to see some 1:01/1:09 times (the projections at 10K), but the uphill near the 15K mark put the kabosh on that.  Regardless, it was an exciting race.

about 1:03 or so ... felt really good the first 40 mins or so, but the uphills home were a little of a stretch.  This morning on the radio, "the temperature is flirting with freezing," and then in 15 mins, "temperatures just fell below freezing."  Apparently, a little flirting can sometimes lead to naughtiness ;-).

I have been going merrily along thinking that the snakes were asleep for the winter, apparently, this is not the case since I came very very close to stepping on a diamondback this morning. Luckily he was too cold to strike ... 

Happy last day of classes bloggers.  I am such a dweeb.  For some reason my syllabus is one week off, and I thought I still had one week of lectures ... much to my surprise one of my colleagues told me last night that TODAY was the last day of classes.  It was 7:30 PM, and I had to write my final ...whoops.

Stay warm and happy!! 

AM: (~ 6 miles but who knows, 56:03)

PM: easy 4.

No snakes today, I got out a little later so it was warmer (~41F) and beautiful in the sun.  So so so lucky.

I have a bunch of friends from Nashville coming into town tomorrow to race the Tucson Marathon!!  It is going to be fun fun fun!! 

1:02:29.  Easy run, again.  My legs are still a little sore, but we have an appointment to see John-of-the-ART next week so hopefully I can torment them a little more until then.  I saw the Diamondback again today, he/she was in a slightly different spot, but very close to where he/she was on Wednesday -- and he/she looked a little more alert today.  I am afraid for it, I don't think it is going to survive - there must be something wrong with it, because it was 27F this morning, likely colder overnight, and all "healthy" snakes must be hybernating by now... sad. 

Today, I met a two new horses, and got a name for a horse that I have been giving treats to!  The one I have been giving carrots to Dover, he is a draft horse (big body - he weights 1400bls!).  Then I met Thunder (a quarter horse) and Nutmeg (a painted pinto) -- yes, I learned all of this when I stopped by and the owner was there.  Actually, I learned a lot more, I just didn't want to write it all down ;-).  When you come and visit me I will show you where these horses live and tell you all about them ;-).  What I will say is that Nutmeg is pretty awesome, and he had a winter coat that was very soft and cuddly, he also sort of acted like a dog ... it was interesting.  I really like my neighborhood, on my way home I ran by a couple of "cowboys" (seriously) who had stopped on the side of the road to talk -- one was carrying a load of fresh hay (for his horses probably).  It reminded me of a couple of months ago when I ran into this couple - they were each riding a horse and they were walking another.  It was pretty funny looking, so I said something about 'walking your horse' ... this couple was 65 if they were a day ... they explained that they had to exercise them every day (and rotate who they rode) because they were actually working horses.  Apparently, this couple were working "cowboys" who spent ~ 1/2 the year actually rounding cattle in Montana!  cool huh?  I thought so.

Anyway -- I have a couple meetings and then am off to find my lost friends from the South (they aren't really lost ;-)).

Have a wonderful weekend bloggers!   For your reading pleasure - and because it has to do with running - here is an awesome interview with Kara Goucher ... Also, if you haven't seen them yet, a series with Greg McMillan's athletes (the scroll at the bottom shows more videos) ... enjoy. 

AM: (1:04:24).  Easy 7 ... I was going to 8, but my leg that was hurting before the race last week is really hurting now.  I want to conserve my strength (and pain threshold) for a long run tomorrow ;-)

PM: easy 4.

Busy day, we were out too late last night catching up with my friends who are in town for the Tucson marathon and 1/2 marathon ... they are all coming over for pasta tonight too -- it should be interesting as our house is pretty small for dinner for 12 ... but we are all friends so it should work out fine!

Have a great day bloggers.