For Whom the Dogs Bark

Run the Woodlands 5K

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Location:

Cypress,TX,

Member Since:

Oct 10, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K: 24:22 (March 2010); 22:33 (October 2010); 20:47 (May 2011); 21:05 (May 2012); 21:33 (September 2012); 21:23 (November, 2013); 22:31 (September 2014)

5M: 39:22 (November, 2012); 35:54 (November, 2013); 36:03 (March, 2015)

10K: 44:08 (November, 2010); 49:20 (July, 2013); 44:07 (April, 2015)

12K: 56:03 (December, 2013); 58:58 (December, 2014)

10M: 1:11:58 (October, 2012); 1:15:24 (October, 2014)

Half Marathon: 1:53:xx (London's Run 2010); 2:05:21 (Cowtown 2010); 1:37:04 (Gusher 2011); 1:42:19 (Huntsville 2011); 1:33:47 (Baytown Jailbreak 2012); 1:33:50 (The Woodlands 2012); 1:42:52 (Texas 2015); 1:49:17 (Jailbreak 2015); 1:38:34 (The Woodlands 2015)

25K: 2:01:47 (Fifth Third River Bank, May 2014)

Marathon: 5:51:35 (Texas Marathon 2009); 6:21:36 (Ogden 2009); 4:58:29 (St. George 2009); 4:13:45 (Texas Marathon 2010); 4:04:12 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2010); 5:11:14 (Hartford ING, 2010); 3:41:43 (Richmond SunTrust, 2010); 3:39:27 (Texas Marathon 2011); 3:41:46 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2011); 3:30:35 (St. George 2011); 3:41:51 (Richmond 2012); 3:49:15 (Texas 2013); 3:46:59 (Paavo Nurmi, 2013); 3:34:04 (St. George 2013); 3:49:51 (Texas 2014); 3:31:59 (Richmond 2014); 3:28:34 (Boston 2015)

Short-Term Running Goals:

3:20, 1:30, 0:20

Long-Term Running Goals:

I'm 60, there is no long term.

Personal:

I live, work and run in Houston, Texas. I have run 17 marathons, some good ones and some others. I prefer straight, flat, cold, sea-level marathons, still waiting for my first one. I feel like there are more PRs out there. When I have them, I am told it is time to dial it back, run for healthy reasons. I'm sure that's right, and I'm sure it won't happen.

My wife and I are from the mountains of the west. We have five kids, three granddaughters and three grandsons. The kids and grandkids are native Texans but we are not -- you have to be born here.

As for my blog title: I run most of my miles before sunrise, sometimes hours before. On the back road of my neighborhood two hours before daylight, I can depend on a pack of mutts behind the boundary fence lighting up when they hear my footsteps. I have wondered what they wanted; but according to Hemingway I needn't ask.

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00

Sat, Sep 24, 2011

Race: Run the Woodlands 5K (3.1 Miles) 00:20:54, Place overall: 7

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
5.73	0.00	3.10	0.00	8.83

70F to start, not sure of the humidity but it was 87% when I left the house. Wade and I drove out to the Woodlands to run this one dollar race they hold twice a month. They give the money away to various charities, since the sponsor running store absorbs all the overhead. Wade and I decided we need to start giving more than one dollar.

We ran the course once to warm up, then everybody lined up just as one last guy was driving in to the parking lot. The starter asked us if we wanted to wait and the vote was a very loud no. We waited anyway. My plan was to start out at 6:45 then see if I could go faster from there. I got pretty close to that but still missed my PR by 7 seconds. I figured no big deal, it was hotter today, but I looked it up and the last time I ran this race in May I got 20:52, 2 seconds faster than today -- and 10 degrees hotter back then, that was an 80F morning. What the heck?! I seem to have added zero speed this summer, really don't know what is wrong. Wade and I were talking about it and we decided that the 3-mile warmup might be a little much, even at slow speed it probably takes some of the stamina out of us, especially when it is still a little warm. But no matter how you slice it I am not getting faster right now. Still having plenty of fun though, passed several pretty good runners about halfway through the race and none of them caught back up.

Splits were 6:52 (165), 6:48 (180), 6:39 (184) and 6:13 (185), maxHR 192, gun time 20:55, Garmin time 20:54, probably had a little too much left in the tank at the end. I can tell because I didn't want to puke. I got 7th place, same as last time. Interestingly, the winning time was slower than last time, about 18 flat. Even more interesting, 4th place was taken by a 60-year old woman who broke 20 minutes. I saw her drive off in a Jeep Wrangler painted Desert Storm tan, maybe I should get one. I love it how runners never bother to fit in. Anyway, I can't blame my time on my age, which is a good feeling actually, there is still hope.

Once more around the course to cool down.

Comments

From Rye on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 13:42:26 from 174.27.78.215

I still say Congrats! For what its worth, Jeff Shadley, who is in a league all to himself, warms up between a mile to 2 before he races. Still a good time! Maybe you need a small dog snapping at your ankle to break that barrier. You'll do great next weekend. Trust your training.

From Smooth on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 14:27:34 from 174.27.201.64

should've asked that 60 year old lady what she ate for breakfast and if she ran 3 mile warm up and how much over the dollar she paid and where she got that paint job on her Wrangler! :) :) :) LOL!!!

Love your report and GREAT race! Only 2 seconds slower than in May is pretty dang good!!!! CONGRATZ!!!! Very well done!!! :)

From Smooth on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 14:31:45 from 174.27.201.64

Oh, those are AWESOME splits, you got faster and faster and leaving something in the tank!!!! something is wrong with not wanting to puke in a 5 K.!!! that's why I stay away from 5....I don't want to puke and nor suffocate! :)

From SlowJoe on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 15:39:41 from 75.109.104.60

Nice running. Maybe a bit left in the tank based on your progression of splits. All I can say is don't give in to the circling buzzards! Improvements come in spurts so I do believe it's just a waiting game until you jump to the next level. Fall weather might help too, if you ever get it. Good race today.

From ACorn on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 16:19:09 from 24.2.76.146

Still a solid race. The speed will come.

From JG on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 18:28:43 from 71.59.27.33

Great progressive splits Flat! I do think the 3 mile warmup takes off 10 seconds, so consider it a PR with an asterisk! :) I love doing a 5k the weel before marathon, I think things are looking good for you. Nice job today, and nicer to step up the donation to a.good cause, methinks you will be rewarded at Mile 20 next week!

From seeaprilrun on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 21:36:12 from 205.172.12.229

I wouldn't put too much stock into the 2 seconds. You have been training some pretty high mileage as well--it's hard to race a 5k well when doing marathon training. I think you are still set for a marathon PR.

From Mack on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 22:40:29 from 50.39.193.169

Great race Flat. Enjoyed the report. I wonder what the world record in the 5k is for women 60-65. I could be wrong, but I'll bet she's close!

From Mack on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 22:48:20 from 50.39.193.169

Here is the answer to my question:

Bernadine Portenski Age 60 18:51.13 She is from Wellington NZ

From I Just Run on Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 23:54:07 from 71.41.149.142

Good run Flat. I'm believing, since this was just a weekend fun run for you, that mentally you weren't really siked to really push your PR. Put up 20-30 dollars in a "real" race and I bet the outcome would be much different! Hello Mr. PR...!

From Burt on Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 01:06:12 from 72.223.91.148

Did you get that old lady's number for me?

From derhammer on Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 13:09:07 from 70.113.125.159

Nice race, Flat.

From Dan on Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 22:04:55 from 24.209.83.20

Nice race flat and nice report. I too think you are set up nice for your marathon. I 110% agree that it is nice that runners don't even bother trying to fit in!

From baldnspicy on Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 16:23:09 from 72.77.67.247

Hey, I say it's still an awesome race! Way to go, Flat!

From allie on Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 23:20:54 from 24.10.191.18

i agree that it is difficult to build speed on high mileage marathon training. i think you did great -- that's a solid time, and coming within 2 seconds is very consistent. way to go.

jeep woman...ha! she sounds awesome.

From Dave S on Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 09:24:20 from 4.228.192.27

Great job! That fast finish and still having something left in the tank looks like a good sign for St George Saturday.

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