On the road again...
Sorry about being late - I got caught up in all the Boston excitement and just thought about it!
Good running from the group last week. I guess thi swould be a good time to say welcome to the group, amlinz, and here's your first gold star for running the most weekly miles. I'm thrilled to have one more person to look up to in the standings. Mike ran Boston today, right? Hope that went well. I need to go stalk look up his time.
I got out late tonight and did a quick 5 miler.
nanxin: Han went to RaceFest in very windy conditions and turned in an 11 minute PR for a HM, finishing in 1:40:45.
I write. I read. I run. One time, I ran a lot on my 50th birthday.
Paul
Congrats to nanxin on the blue ribbon and the PR!
Special welcome to amlinz, the esteemed president of the Charlotte Running Club, Aaron Linz! Glad you joined us Aaron, and I hope some of the other 400+ members of the CRC will find their way over here eventually.
Richard Hefner Past Race Results (Athlinks)
Welcome Aaron, our little group has just gotten a bit awesome.
Congrats to Mike on his Boston performance.
Awesome to have you here, Aaron! I love the running community that's growing in this part of our state, and you've got a lot to do with that.
Mike, you ran an AMAZING race in Boston. I had fun tracking you and living vicariously through it. I took some time to write about the whole Boston deal this morning if anyone's interested. Yesterday was an unbelievable race to watch!
The difference between disappointment and regret
Welcome Aaron.
Nice blog Paul. I had thought about watching it also. I look forward to hearing Mike's update!
And, I'll try to quit being lazy and record my runs again again. It almost makes me want to buy a GPS watch again.
Haven't seen a report from Mike and I'm too lazy to hunt one without a link here.
Nice break in the warmer weather we've had. Got to run 4 easy miles this morning in cloudy, 70F weather. Beats sunny and upper 80s any day!
8 miles in an unexpected, steady drizzle. Glad it didn't fry the iPod that I rarely use but took today.
Are we there yet?
Good job at Boston ChakaKahn! Great write-up too. It took me only about 90% of the time to read it as it took me to read Tolstoy's "War and Peace." It was worth every hour of it though just to read the comment about Octomom, and her photo was even better!
Nice AG win this morning, Richard. Looks like you rac a nice consistent race.
Lynwood,
how was the "Miracle Mile" this morning? Did it go off in waves and were you running with people of similar ability or by age group? Was the course relatively flat or?
Rob
Thanks Paul! We did the Bunny Run 5k in Concord. Funny name but a good race! With 500+ runners on the greenway on an out & back course it got a smidge crowded but it was a lot of fun.
I saw Lynwood's results on the Miracle Mile and he did a good job.
Hey Rob, thanks for asking. I forgot to post.
They divided the race up into M/F groups, @ 8+ min miles, 5 - 8 Min, then the elites, but gave awards for age groups similar to other races. They had a woman's 6 - 8 min group, and all the women below 6 ran in the elite group. It was very informal, and small being the first year. I think 200 signed up and I think about 130 raced.
I had asked if it would be ok if my daughters ran behind my group, as I didn't really want them standing a mile away, without me around. The race director was totally fine with anything and really wanted to make it a fun, family event. My daughters had decided they didn't want to run with 5 - 8 min men, which I can understand, so we rushed in for the 7:30 Women 8+ start, just as they were leaving. We all waited together with about 30 others and ran the 7:50 start with 8 min milers, quite a few kids and anybody who was there and was ready to go. I didn't have time to warm up, but decided to run the same heat with my girls anyway. We raced individually.
I took off, with the police and pace truck with the timing clock on top, leading me out in front for the first half mile, and I have to say that was a blast. It will probably be my one and only time for that to happen. The course was pushed north, so we had to run up a decent hill to start, then Tryon climbs all the way to Trade street. So roughly, the 1st half is uphill or climbing. It then goes downhill somewhat.
By the half, I was slowing down due to the climb, and some guy goes by at a 6:15 pace ( I looked to see where he finished) and he looked like he was jogging. He did smile as he went by so that was nice of him. heh I had no gas left for the big sprint and ran a 6:49. I didn't die though, just no sprint in me. My plan was terrible. I should have run easy up the climb. But I had a great time and will definitely do it next year. The race director said he will be able to move it closer in and take the big hill out at the start. He had approval a few days ago, but would have had to re-certify the course.
Missed 3rd by 12 seconds. My daughter got 3rd in the 14 and below girls, and was so excited. My youngest had a blast too. That definitely made it all worth while.
The race directors father built a little podium for all the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place runners to stand on and get their picture taken like the big races. He said eveybody had to or his father would be offended, and it was funny to watch all the embarrassed runners be guilted into it.
I watched guy who won come by at his 4:23 pace and couldn't help but think about the Boston Marathon winner running about 19 seconds per mile slower for the whole 26.2!
Sounds like everyone had a great time, Lynwood. Congrats!
Lynwood, sounds like an awesome race. Running the mile takes practice. I tried a time trial a couple of time and slowed down a lot in the middle third of the race, and think Ieft a few seconds out on the course. Keep running the mile every once in a whie and you can slice off a significant chunk in a short time.