Saturday, September 16, 2006
ATC Singleton Stone Mountain Races 10 M
Time: 1:18:59
Pace: 7:54/mi
Two laps around Stone Mountain. A solid run. I was a little disappointed in myself because at the end of the race I did not feel like I had pushed myself hard enough. I ran the race pretty much at the same pace I did the year before.
Pace: 7:54/mi
Two laps around Stone Mountain. A solid run. I was a little disappointed in myself because at the end of the race I did not feel like I had pushed myself hard enough. I ran the race pretty much at the same pace I did the year before.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Fuzz Run
Covington Georgia
#528 5K 22:02.9
Age Group: 4th Overall: 94th
results map photos 1 photos 2 (none of me though)
It was an exceptionally pleasant morning and I had plenty of time to enjoy my Starbucks during the hour drive over to Covington, about 30 miles east of Atlanta. I found parking in a church parking lot just a few blocks from the event, right next to the downtown area.
They gave the T-shirts out when you picked up your number, which for me meant turning right back around and trekking back the car to stow it which gave me the chance to warm up a little bit.
I’ve found that if I line up about ten feet behind the start line I seem to fall in with runners going about the same pace. Although at this race, there seemed to be a lot of kids and other runners in the front who quickly dropped off the pace.
I probably had my best start to a race this time around in the sense that I immediately dropped into 5K pace and was not caught up with passing or keeping up with folks. The only hill to speak of in the race was a slight incline at just over the half-mile point. After the first mile, the course was flat or a slight downhill. For the first mile, my pace was 7:13, when I heard that I was worried that I might be pushing just a little too hard. However, the second mile was mostly a long gentle downhill, and I pushed my pace to take advantage. When they called the time of 13:52 at the second mile marker, I exclaimed in surprise. I have never been under 14 minutes at the two-mile mark and I was excited that I might have a good finishing time. The last mile was hard. I had to fight to keep on my pace and it felt like the race was slipping away from me. At the third mile mark, I thought I might have had a change to break the 22-minute mark, but I crossed the finish line at 22:02.9, a personal best! In my age group I finished 4th out of 67.
The Fuzz Run has a beautiful course winding though neighborhood streets in Covington. There were plenty of volunteers, splits called at every mile, the course was completely closed to traffic, there were two water stations, and plenty of after race sustenance, both water and PowerAde. One of the best non-Track Club races that I have run. It a popular race, with over 1300 runners this year. (But the bobble-head trophies are all for the kids, the awards for the adults were all plaques.)
#528 5K 22:02.9
Age Group: 4th Overall: 94th
results map photos 1 photos 2 (none of me though)
It was an exceptionally pleasant morning and I had plenty of time to enjoy my Starbucks during the hour drive over to Covington, about 30 miles east of Atlanta. I found parking in a church parking lot just a few blocks from the event, right next to the downtown area.
They gave the T-shirts out when you picked up your number, which for me meant turning right back around and trekking back the car to stow it which gave me the chance to warm up a little bit.
I’ve found that if I line up about ten feet behind the start line I seem to fall in with runners going about the same pace. Although at this race, there seemed to be a lot of kids and other runners in the front who quickly dropped off the pace.
I probably had my best start to a race this time around in the sense that I immediately dropped into 5K pace and was not caught up with passing or keeping up with folks. The only hill to speak of in the race was a slight incline at just over the half-mile point. After the first mile, the course was flat or a slight downhill. For the first mile, my pace was 7:13, when I heard that I was worried that I might be pushing just a little too hard. However, the second mile was mostly a long gentle downhill, and I pushed my pace to take advantage. When they called the time of 13:52 at the second mile marker, I exclaimed in surprise. I have never been under 14 minutes at the two-mile mark and I was excited that I might have a good finishing time. The last mile was hard. I had to fight to keep on my pace and it felt like the race was slipping away from me. At the third mile mark, I thought I might have had a change to break the 22-minute mark, but I crossed the finish line at 22:02.9, a personal best! In my age group I finished 4th out of 67.
The Fuzz Run has a beautiful course winding though neighborhood streets in Covington. There were plenty of volunteers, splits called at every mile, the course was completely closed to traffic, there were two water stations, and plenty of after race sustenance, both water and PowerAde. One of the best non-Track Club races that I have run. It a popular race, with over 1300 runners this year. (But the bobble-head trophies are all for the kids, the awards for the adults were all plaques.)
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Midnight Flight 10K
Anderson South Carolina
#73 10K 48:08
Age Group: 9 Overall: 102
results - map
Okay, it was really more like an 11 PM start and I was done with the race before it actually turned Midnight. Still, it does bill itself as the Southeast’s largest nighttime 10K. It was challenging to get in the car after a long week at work and make the 2-hour trek to Anderson. I almost didn’t make it. I left Atlanta dead on eight o’clock and the instructions said packet pickup closed at the same time as registration, 10:15 PM. Mapquest, Google Maps, and everyone else said it was at least a two hour drive and I was not leaving much room for err and those real world conditions that all the map sites warn you. So the plan was that if everything went perfectly, maybe I would make it with a couple of minutes to spare.
Real world condition number was the traffic on I-85 coming out of Atlanta on Friday evening at the beginning of Labor Day weekend. It was discouraging to sit there watching the dashboard clock ticking off the minutes as we crept along at twenty miles per hour trying to calculate in our heads if it had become a mathematically impossibility to arrive in time. This went on for about three quarters of an hour. Despite the pessimism of my co-pilot, we pressed on. It was the better part of an hour before the traffic started to clear up and we were able to start making decent time. When we were about fifteen minutes out and it had become clear that we might make it, suddenly the heavens opened up and it started raining. Not just a little bit of rain, but a full-blown cannot see a thing windshield wipers at max where the heck is my lane/road gully washer. Our speed dropped down back down to about twenty miles an hour and things started looking grim again.
Despite the pouring rain, we managed to find our exit, and then find our way to the Anderson YMCA. We missed the 10:15 PM cutoff by about ten minutes. Fortunately, they were still allowing runners to pick up packets, although they were starting to run low on T-shirts.
As I walked up from the YMCA to the starting line at the corner of Reed Road and Greenville Rd, a light rain was falling. The rain continued right up to the start of the race but lightened in to a kind of a misting drizzle as the race progressed. I enjoyed starting in the rain and running through the darkness. The only lights, streetlights and traffic lights that reflected off the rain slicked streets. Each runner’s footsteps would break the surface tension of the water with a splash and leave a quickly fading footprint as we ran.
The course was a little deceptive in its difficulty. It was an out and back course down Greenville Rd with just a short dogleg onto N. Main St for the turnaround. The first mile and half was downhill, the second mile and a half was uphill, and then the reverse. The grades were not very steep, but were always there. Because the first quarter of the race was mostly downhill, I found I finished the first two miles in about 14:20 despite trying to pace myself. I stayed strong as we climbed the remaining mile or so up to the turn around. After the turn around, I did my best to sustain a good pace on the long downhill, but I was starting to feel that fatigue that hits me in the second half of a race. The rain had lightened to a mist and despite the relatively cool conditions; I felt hot and sticky. The final quarter of the race seemed to last forever. Towards the very end, I had to struggle to maintain my pace. I had terrible side stitches as I crossed the finish line, but my time was just shy of 48 minutes. A time remarkably close to what I managed during the Old Soldier’s Day Race a month ago. However, if I factor in the waterlogged shoes, the race conditions, and the more difficult course, it was not a bad performance.
It would have been ideal to stay in a hotel room instead of facing the two-hour drive back to Atlanta, but that was not in the budget. On the drive back between midnight and about 3 am, we had to dodge one clearly drunk driver. Dodge one idiot merging onto the Interstate and into out blind spot. We saw a terrible accident caused by a tree falling onto the Interstate. We saw two cars racing who were recklessly weaving in and out of traffic. Finally, we saw one overturned vehicle resting on its side on an exit ramp. We were extremely glad to get home in one piece.
Criticisms of the race: No food or water left for folks that ran the 10K. They only offered splits every other mile. It would have been nice to have each mile clearly marked.
Notes to self: Add to running bag post race snacks and beverages in case race fails to provide, ibuprofen, and a full change of clothes (not just a shirt).
#73 10K 48:08
Age Group: 9 Overall: 102
results - map
Okay, it was really more like an 11 PM start and I was done with the race before it actually turned Midnight. Still, it does bill itself as the Southeast’s largest nighttime 10K. It was challenging to get in the car after a long week at work and make the 2-hour trek to Anderson. I almost didn’t make it. I left Atlanta dead on eight o’clock and the instructions said packet pickup closed at the same time as registration, 10:15 PM. Mapquest, Google Maps, and everyone else said it was at least a two hour drive and I was not leaving much room for err and those real world conditions that all the map sites warn you. So the plan was that if everything went perfectly, maybe I would make it with a couple of minutes to spare.
Real world condition number was the traffic on I-85 coming out of Atlanta on Friday evening at the beginning of Labor Day weekend. It was discouraging to sit there watching the dashboard clock ticking off the minutes as we crept along at twenty miles per hour trying to calculate in our heads if it had become a mathematically impossibility to arrive in time. This went on for about three quarters of an hour. Despite the pessimism of my co-pilot, we pressed on. It was the better part of an hour before the traffic started to clear up and we were able to start making decent time. When we were about fifteen minutes out and it had become clear that we might make it, suddenly the heavens opened up and it started raining. Not just a little bit of rain, but a full-blown cannot see a thing windshield wipers at max where the heck is my lane/road gully washer. Our speed dropped down back down to about twenty miles an hour and things started looking grim again.
Despite the pouring rain, we managed to find our exit, and then find our way to the Anderson YMCA. We missed the 10:15 PM cutoff by about ten minutes. Fortunately, they were still allowing runners to pick up packets, although they were starting to run low on T-shirts.
As I walked up from the YMCA to the starting line at the corner of Reed Road and Greenville Rd, a light rain was falling. The rain continued right up to the start of the race but lightened in to a kind of a misting drizzle as the race progressed. I enjoyed starting in the rain and running through the darkness. The only lights, streetlights and traffic lights that reflected off the rain slicked streets. Each runner’s footsteps would break the surface tension of the water with a splash and leave a quickly fading footprint as we ran.
The course was a little deceptive in its difficulty. It was an out and back course down Greenville Rd with just a short dogleg onto N. Main St for the turnaround. The first mile and half was downhill, the second mile and a half was uphill, and then the reverse. The grades were not very steep, but were always there. Because the first quarter of the race was mostly downhill, I found I finished the first two miles in about 14:20 despite trying to pace myself. I stayed strong as we climbed the remaining mile or so up to the turn around. After the turn around, I did my best to sustain a good pace on the long downhill, but I was starting to feel that fatigue that hits me in the second half of a race. The rain had lightened to a mist and despite the relatively cool conditions; I felt hot and sticky. The final quarter of the race seemed to last forever. Towards the very end, I had to struggle to maintain my pace. I had terrible side stitches as I crossed the finish line, but my time was just shy of 48 minutes. A time remarkably close to what I managed during the Old Soldier’s Day Race a month ago. However, if I factor in the waterlogged shoes, the race conditions, and the more difficult course, it was not a bad performance.
It would have been ideal to stay in a hotel room instead of facing the two-hour drive back to Atlanta, but that was not in the budget. On the drive back between midnight and about 3 am, we had to dodge one clearly drunk driver. Dodge one idiot merging onto the Interstate and into out blind spot. We saw a terrible accident caused by a tree falling onto the Interstate. We saw two cars racing who were recklessly weaving in and out of traffic. Finally, we saw one overturned vehicle resting on its side on an exit ramp. We were extremely glad to get home in one piece.
Criticisms of the race: No food or water left for folks that ran the 10K. They only offered splits every other mile. It would have been nice to have each mile clearly marked.
Notes to self: Add to running bag post race snacks and beverages in case race fails to provide, ibuprofen, and a full change of clothes (not just a shirt).
