Run for the Reef Recap

This was my first time doing this race and I can tell you right now that I'll do it again next year.  Before I recap the race, I have to talk about my achilles.

Last week, Wednesday I think, I noticed some tenderness in my left achilles.  Not pain, but definitely discomfort.  Since I was racing Saturday, I decided to not do any running on Thursday or Friday.  I got my cardio on the recumbent and elliptical.

Best Shirt Ever!

Ok, now for the race.  What can I say, this was a great race.  Not really sure why I didn't do it last year, but I can assume it was a conflict with another race.  The weather was perfect.  Well, maybe not perfect, but a heck of a lot better then if it had been hot.  I think the temp was in the high 50s or low 60s.  It was a 7:30 race, so I got there about 6:30.   I like to get to my races early so that I can relax and get my warm up in.  My warm up went really good.  I felt pretty strong and the foot didn't bother me.

The race got off late, but got off none the less.  I always hate that because I'm ready to run and then I have to wait.  I felt strong like I said, so I had a good pace going at the start.  I steadily pasted runner after runner.  At about the end of the second mile, I felt like I was slowing down a bit.  I had to push harder then I was expecting.  By the end of the third mile, I was pushing hard.  I knew my pace had slowed some.  I sprinted as fast as I could to finish the last tenth of a mile.  I crossed the finish line at 24:22.  Not a bad time, but honestly I thought I would was going to do better.  It was flat out and back course.  One that I was hoping to PR on.  Oh well, my time was still good.

Best Award Ever!

I got to meet Karly from Dailymile and her family.  It's great meeting my friends from DM!  This was her first race ever!  She did great BTW!  Her and her family stayed around to see how I did.  The only negative about the race was that they didn't post the results anywhere.   It's not a BAD thing, but I'd like to know how I did in case I had to leave.  Anyway, they stayed around and I didn't disappoint.  I ended up with 1st in my age group.  Yay me!  Oh and they had the best, hands down, award ever

While the race was a complete success, my achilles wasn't.  It was really giving me problems as I left the post party.  Going down the stairs hurt.  I took Sunday as a complete rest day and will not run on it for a couple more days.  I have a 4.8 mile race Saturday and have to be ready.

As always my friends, remember, 'Real athletes run, all the rest just play games'!

Tiger Trot Update and other stuff

WOW, what a crazy week!  Between work, working out, church, and now school, my days are full!  I'm still crazy busy at work.  With all the online testing going on school, my work days have been very busy.  As the technology coordinator, online testing takes up a lot of my time.  I also started a technology class at Pensacola State College.  I was offered training in 3 tech classes for free through a grant.  They are "Security +", "Network +", and "A+".  To top that off, they called me last week and asked if I wanted to take a 3 day cert class on VMware.  Yep, it's free too!  So I said sure.  And of course, I still go to the gym everyday.  We can't forget Wednesday church either.  Oh and I asked my church if I could start a running club and I was given the go ahead last Wednesday.  Can't wait to see who signs up!  That will take up my time Tuesday evenings!

Ok, enough about why I haven't been posting.  Now on to this past Saturday's race, the Tiger Trot to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Pensacola.  This is my 3rd time running this race.  It offers a 10K and a 5K.  Last year and this year, I signed up for the 10K.  It was my first 10K of this season.  The weather was great.  A bit breezy, but cool too!  What runner doesn't like the cooler temps right?  The crowd wasn't as big as last year, but I think they had about 4 other races going on in the local area.  All in all, still a decent group.  This race is put on by the GE Volunteers.  As in years past, they did a great job.  The route was well marked and there were plenty of volunteers at the turns.  The route is fairly flat for the most part.  There's one hill at about 5.25 miles.  Just enough to force you to dig down deep to finish strong.  I pushed myself a bit too much for this being my first 10K of the season.  I keep a 8-minute pace for the first 5 miles. But that last 1.2 miles was tough.  I ended up stopping twice before the finish.  Not for long, but just long enough to get my legs back under me.  I pushed up that dang hill and then had just under a half mile to finish.  There was this lady that I had been running with for just about the whole race with me and she's like, "come on, you can do it!".  I tried, but I had to stop one more time.  Then I gathered my strength and pushed my way to the finish.  I crossed the line at 51:48.  Just about a minute and a half slower then last year.  Considering I stopped twice, I was completely satisfied with that time.

Emily and I after receiving our awards!  All smiles!

I got to meet 2 more of my Dailymile friends.  I meet Emily and Jennifer.  Great ladies.  They both were running their first 10Ks.  So proud of them.  Both Emily and I placed in our age groups.  Emily got 3rd in her group and I was fortunate enough to get 2nd in mine.  This race does the 10 year age groups (which I hate by the way) and I finished behind Gary Lambert just like I did last year.  The medals were awesome this year.

Well my friends, til the next time!  And remember, "Real athletes run, all the rest just place games!"

Riverwalk Run 5K Recap

What can I say, this is one of my favorite races.  It is my inaugural race.  3 years ago I ran my first race ever at this event.  I posted a time of 28:28 that day and thought there was no way I was ever gonna get fast enough to compete in my age group.  Boy how some training and running can change things.

Last year I posted a time good enough for 2nd pace in my AG.  I wasn't sure how I would do this year.  You all know I have had some issues regarding my recent races and my times.  However, over the past couple of races my times have started to come around.  I know, I know, you all keep telling me it's the summer heat and just like every year, you are right.  When the temps start getting cooler, the times start getting better.

This race was awesome.  It actually didn't start off that way though.  After I got there and got my race packet, I was getting ready for my warm up mile and when I put my Garmin on, the dang thing would not power on.  Needless to say I was torqued.  I have come to 'need' my Garmin.  Anyway, I headed out on my warm up and made my way to the start.  This race usually has a good turn out and this year was no exception.

I had told myself that I was going to push the pace a bit on this race and see if I could break the 25 minute time I had set the last couple of races.  Without my Garmin, I wasn't sure how I was going to watch my pace.  I figured I just 'feel' my way along.

One thing I did make sure of this time was to get closer to the front of the pack.  If you remember, at my last race I was hindered by a bunch of young kids at the start.  There are a couple of hills on this race and one steady uphill in the first mile.  I looked at the runners around me and was able to keep a pretty fast and steady pace.  I could tell I was pushing it, yet I wasn't over-pushing it if you know what I mean.

Sprinting to the finish!

At around the one mile point, I could feel this person coming up behind me.  As they came up on my left, I noticed it was this young lady.  She was pretty fit and pushing a good pace.  It was as this point that I decided to go for it.  I picked up the pace just enough to stay right with her.  For the next mile and a quarter we ran pretty much side by side.   At just over two miles, she started to pull ahead of me.  I knew I was getting tired and we still had a mile to go, so I keep my pace nice and steady and kept her in my sights the rest of the way.  At the half mile mark there is a steady uphill climb.  I pushed hard to get up that and then when I made the final turn at .2 of a mile, I sprinted to the finish.   When I saw the clock was under 24 minutes, I ran as hard as I could, but there just wasn't enough time left.  I finished at 24:10.  You can see the determination in my face in this picture.

As I said, this was a great race.  My time was good enough for 2nd place in my age group for a second year in a row.  Ya me!  LOL

2nd Place AG

Oh and I did find that young lady and thank her for helping me finish with a great time. Her efforts paid off for her as well as she also won an award.

The race was a success for the local parks as well as I just read they raised over $18,000!  I can't wait to do this race again in the many years to come.

As always, remember, "Real athletes run, others just play games!"