Ran a local 5K this morning. Second year event. Last year won my 50-59 division. I ran faster this year, 23:49. but took 3rd in age group as two out of towners were far faster, 21 something...

Pretty happy as I haven't raced since April.

Tailwinds!

fantastic, unreal, 5K times tailwinds and also fellow septuagenarian Roch who would’ve claimed an AG win over me out here too as the oldest other 12K runner was only 68 yo.

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Jingle Bell 12K (Seattle)
I’m too slow for a 5K to do much in the way of the fitness I run for but, with my IM mentor’s GF always talking him into it, the chance to get together made the annual Seattle Jingle Bell 5K a delightful exception.  It’s supposed to be the oldest (1984) and largest (~1,500 runners, 4,000 walkers and hundreds of dogs) holiday run in the country.

Now, with Father Time sidelining Dr. Feman, I was kind of thinking about it anyway to see if any residual fitness from last month’s Seattle Marathon might help stave off the increasing deterioration of my times when, at the last minute, I found out they’ve added the same 12K distance that I missed at this year’s Bloomsday when I stuck around with Dr. Feman while his GF ran and Father Time prevented him from being able to complete the run this time in time for my birthday lunch with him and IM legend Sister Madonna.
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In fact, since I hadn’t run the infrequent (around here in the PNW) 12K distance since the 2012 and 2015 Bloomsdays and probably a lifetime total you can count on one hand, I tried to make up for it by running all the way without stopping at all (even at the aid stations where I can grab a paper cup without slowing down and squeeze it for non-spill hydration while others seem to have to stop and let me pass them to do it) on up-and-down the sloping miles of the same I-5 from downtown out to the UW we’d just run as part of the Seattle Marathon in November and, before that, served as the bike course in the 1990 Seafair Triathlon.  It more than worked with 1:29:37, fastest 12K in more than six years.
 
Though no doubt getting some errant innards stabilized with two big mesh implants last year helped, I think the biggest factor in the unexpected improvement was getting rid of ten excess pounds last summer.   Thanks to running for helping me keep in shape over the last 43 years.

However, sure glad I didn’t do the 5K as, even at an improved 12:00m/m pace. it would have been an extremely discouraging 37+ minutes I used to be sorry for to be over 25:00.   What a difference 7K makes.

^{year        event         age      time       pace
2007    Bloomsday    64    1:14:01    09:56
2012    Bloomsday    69    1:34:34    12:41
2015    Bloomsday    72    1:37:05    13:01
2018    Jingle Bell      75    1:29:37    12:02}

Rehoboth Beach Marathon (here's the Relive link)

As most of you know, I don't usually post race reports, but this was enough of an "event" for me that I thought I'd give it a try. Starting with how I ended up here anyway... I'd wanted to do this race ever since WillRunForBeer and PreDawnRunner did it last year. It sounded nice, and I needed Delaware in my pursuit of 50 states. Plus, we thought we could go spend some time in NYC beforehand to get acclimated to the time change (4 hours), and hope to see Hally. I have a local running friend who is also chasing 50 states, with an added goal of doing them all sub-4, and she needed DE as well. PDR had told me the race offers the best price on either New Year's Eve or New Year's Day (don't recall which now) so I told my friend and we both signed up for the special rate. I'd never signed up for a marathon so early before! Usually, I don't like to commit to something almost a full year away. For awhile there Holly was going to do it too, but unfortunately that didn't work out. Turns out with her foot problem that was probably a good thing.

We got a hotel right by the start (as in, less than a block away), and made our travel arrangements into Newark on Tuesday to spend some time in NYC before heading down to the race. My friend Jane joined us on Friday, and we met up with Hally at the Newark airport to pick up the car. Road trip! Made it down to Rehoboth in time to get bibs and oriented a bit, then dinner and head to bed. Up early for the 7 a.m. start. We all walked to the start, took a few pictures of the sunrise and then the race started. Then DH and Hally went for coffee.   I guess I don't blame them, I would have, too!

[tried to post pictures, but didn't work from my Mac. Might try tomorrow from my PC and see if that works]

Jane and I ran together for awhile, then I lost her at a water stop. Slowed down a bit and looked back but couldn't find her. Oh well, we weren't really planning on running together anyway. This course is pretty flat with a few mild ups and downs, but mostly less than 50 feet at a time. There's a part that's raised like a board walk going over some salt marsh land or something, it was pretty cool but a little stinky. Temps were chilly with 28° at the start, going up to I think 35° by 11 a.m., but there was hardly any wind. I did give DH my jacket just past mile 18 and almost immediately regretted it. Oh well.

It was great to have him out there and I love his skill at finding me on the course, which wasn't easy for parts of this race. Also, Garmin Livetrack helped him pinpoint where I was. Seeing him for the first time just past 10 miles was great and it was wonderful to have a good drink of "room temp" Nuun after all the Gatorade with slush in it out on the course! I felt pretty good and almost thought I'd have even splits, but ha, nope. I did a bit of walking in the last half, and suffered from a really cold right hand that sent tingles up my arm that was really annoying. But still, I crossed the half at about 1:50 and finished in 3:45, so only about 5 minutes off the second half. I'll take it.

Final result was 3:45:17 (chip time), for 2nd in my age group. The winner had a 3:34 chip time, so there's no way I was going to catch her. It's annoying to lose a placing by seconds, but over 10 minutes is fine by me. She can have it. State #22, not sure what marathon number this is, but high 40's. Oh, and Jane got her sub-4 with a 3:57!