Here is wishing a fun and great success to all our weekend racers!
Go get them!!!
And come back to to tell us all about it!
"Champions are everywhere; all you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard
Kerri Jane Hebert Memorial 5K
This is a community run put on by the family and friends of a local runner who succumbed to cancer at age 28. Today was the 4th year it has been held and I have taken part every year.
Dew point 71, overcast and humid at the 8am start. Not chip timed, but with only 46 runners that makes very little difference.
Three of the youngest runners were ahead of me just after the start and I soon caught up with the 5 year old girl. Next target was her 7 year old brother, who would sprint ahead when I got close and got beyond half a mile before he ran out of energy. Among the youngsters, that just left an 8 year old boy to chase down and he was almost 200 yards ahead of me. My first mile completed in 8:16 and I am holding the gap steady - he must start slowing soon. I am slowing too and mile 2 is 8:28 and the gap remains the same. A lady passed me and I couldn’t respond. A short out and back section and I see that a local ‘Ironman’ is closing - found out later he’d run 10 miles before the race and is tapering ahead of the Ironman world championship in Hawaii, so wasn’t trying to catch me. Mile 3 in 8:38 and still hardly closing on the young man, who I find out later is the Ironman’s son. My race is over in 26:14.5 for 19th overall and 1st (of 2) in the M 60+ AG. Distance appears to be correct this year, so may be my 2nd fastest 5K, nearly 30 seconds from my PR.
Started running at age 60.
AG 60-64 PR - 5K 25:45, 10K 53:28, HM 1:57:39, Marathon 4:32:09
AG 65-69 PR - 5K 26:11, HM 2:02:39, Marathon 5:04:47
MM #5615
Nice!
Quickadder, very nice race. Congrats on your AG!. I really enjoyed reading your race report.
The cooler temps prompted me to sign Avenger Doggie up for a late birthday present 5K.
There were nearly a dozen pooches at the start. 40ish at start but the humidity was still 93%. I love seeing him excited...however, the race started 10 min late and Tag had an opinion about that.
He did well but I held him back too much at the start. We stopped at an aid station at about mile 2.5 and he had a quick drink. We struggled around a lady who kept her three year old dog on a bungee style leash. Call it what ever you like lady, you didn't have control of your dog. She doesn't like me and I'm OK with that. Her dog kept running up to Tag and he'd bounce up and down and try to bump faces and her dog kept panicking. A course photographer was on a bridge with his bike. The dog lady and I were elbow to elbow which also ticked her off. I had hold of his leash up to where it clips to his harness. 18" at the most and her dog was on a 6' rubber band and I'm the a$$? I'll own it. I let her pass until we opened up again and Taggy blast past the dognamic duo and finished hard! I was very proud of him. He got his water but was tuckered out so I put him in the truck.
The RD took a break from the AG awards and mentioned the dog division, best team and costume awards. I didn't see any costumed runners, but so what. I asked how deep they went for the dogs then bolted back to the truck.
He took 3rd!! Yay!!
He got his hardware on and did a ^5. We posed with the top dog. #2 must have been going #2, because the mutt wasn't there. Taggy got lots of attention from other people and we went back to the truck.
I took him out for a nice breakfast and ice cream.
SteveP
Congratulations, Tag!
Well done Quickadder.
Yay Taggie! And yeah, those long leashes, usually retractable but not retracted, are annoying. Well done!
You too, Quickadder! Way to reel in those youngsters!
Congrats, Quickadder, Steve/Tag! Very determined, focused racing.
Lone Gull 10K
I did this race for the first time last year. It is a USATF/NE team championship race, so it brings out the best of central New England's runners. As proof, the first 8 of this year's finishers were all under 5:00/mi. The course, along the ocean in Gloucester, MA is gorgeous, especially on a day like today with clear skies, just enough of a breeze, and temps in the upper 50s - IRC. I wore black compression shorts, a purple Reach The Beach s/s shirt (in honor of Twocat), orange cap, and yellow Topo ST2s. I started very far back in the pack 'cause I didn't want to go out too fast. It took me a minute to reach the start line, and then I had to weave a bit to get to some clear space. My first 4 miles were consistently in the low to mid 10:40s. In mile 5, I caught up to my friend Hank who was mixing racewalking with running. Hank is a talker, and he started in right when I caught up to him, still mixing racewalking and running, When we got to the end of #5, I saw that it was my first mile slightly over 11:00, and told Hank it was too slow, and I had to focus. So I did, and got back down to 10:30 for the last mile +. As best I could tell (only the top 3 AG finishers were posted), I was 6th in my AG which I was fine with, especially with the strength of the field. Given how hard I partied the night before, and that this was my first race in new orthotics, I was pleased with the results.
Thanks,
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.
Great racing, Jay!
There was a small race in Freeport MN on Saturday. It was a quite cold day with temperature in the 30s for the race. I ran it and won it. A nice result, my third win this year and I am now 61. The race is a fun event I have run it the last 6 or 7 years, and I hope to continue running it for as long as I am healthy enough to run.
The race was 5k, and my time was fairly slow, something like 21:20 or 21:30. It was a quite surprise to me because i have had problems recently with my knee. The advantage of this race was that it was perfectly flat, so my knee was bothered too much. There was a drop of 3 foot over about 10 or 15 feet that was a real pain for me in the race, I had to run that spot twice but it was the only going. I think i have a torn ligament in my knee. It is feeling similar to when I had the surgery two years ago.
It was a good race, I am happy.
Jay - Holy fast foot work ! That's very impressive.
Spinach...Good race my eye...That sounds like a greta race!!! Well done.
Marathon Maniac #957
Dognamic Duo....
Well done, all!
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."