Downfall race

I jinxed myself.

To get to the point, I came in 5th overall. Oh well. Between me & 3rd place, 9 seconds however.

Here's a few things about the race.

• It was still very humid at 7pm.
• I was getting bit like crazy by knats or flys at the start of the race. I kept stomping my legs around like a damn horse.
• I didn't properly hydrate myself that afternoon for an evening race.
• I also didn't eat anything after work ended (4pm) before a 7pm race.

I got a stomach cramp in the first mile. I stayed with my friend Andy but he soon took off, while I decided to slow down in the first mile. I took water at both stations but it didn't help. The third station (also the first) I ended up just pouring it on me.

Right at the end, around 2.95 miles, a woman's over the ear headphones dropped and broke on the ground. I passed her. Before the end, she passed me again. I was so mad. Then this other woman zoomed past me like I was going backwards. It was at that time that I saw Luke and my friend Joe cheer me on. Joe was saying catch her, you can get her. I just shook my head. I didn't even have anything to sprint at the end.

After the race, I couldn't even stop and turn to look for people. I just kept on walking out of the chute and down the road away from people. I had really bad lower stomach cramps, like menustral cramps but a heck of a lot worse than I usually get. So I'm sure that was from dehydration.

Still ran it in 26:55 (Garmin), 26:58 (clock). Good news is that I finally came in the top 50%.

And yes, I still don't know what I did with my Garmin USB thing so still no stats.

Next race will be Geneva Sunset Viking 5k. Luke said he ran it under 18 minutes. But I'm not expecting any different time for me. It's again at night and on a Wednesday of all days of the week. I'll take my lessons learned here and apply them for that one. And there were 3 girls running fast 20's in the 30-34 age group. I know better than to expect anything in this race. But at least this one is chip timed. I'll be off on a conference the Monday & Tuesday before that and then the Thursday & Friday for a wedding. That'll be interesting.

Categories: Windmill Whirl 5k

Holiday racing weekend

Well, howdy. I'm still alive. The past weekend, running 2 races (with not running in 2 weeks), getting little sleep (3 hours on Wed night, 4 hours on Thursday and 6 on Friday & Saturday) and moving from a 2nd floor apartment to another 2nd floor apartment, seemed to not damage my racing times at all.

Saturday morning I ran a 5k in Warrenville. This was my first race with my city's name of Geneva beside my name and on my bib. Very weird for me. But it was cool only having a 20 minute drive to the start as opposed to a little farther commute had I been in DeKalb!

I also ran this with my good friends Wes and Joe. We all had different times. Wes wore his standard jeans & cotton shirt. And still finished in front of me! :-)

It was a very warm race. The start was very odd. Joe and I were talking and then bang goes the gun to start the race. No "Runner's on your mark" or anything. The first part was on the Illinois Prairie Path and was shaded then we went onto the city streets and got a lot of sun. That's when I really warmed up.

But I was happy with my time. 26:17 avg pace of 8:29 min/mi. This was the clock time. My Garmin clocked me in at 26:10 (only because I forgot to stop it once I crossed the line, really it was 5 seconds before I noticed). I came in 9th in my age group. Had 450 people in the entire 5k.


Sunday's race was with Luke in Rockford. It started earlier at 7am luckily. It was still warm & very humid at that start. I left Luke at the front of the pack as usual. Then wormed my way to the back. I started Saturday's race in the back so I could be slow and then speed up. This was the same, I stayed in the back letting people pass me so that later on in the race I could pass them and I did. :-) But the humidity got to me.

This was an out and back course so I got to see Luke run by me! I called him "hunny" which hopefully didn't emasculate him while having another runner on his heels. I was approaching the 2 mile marker while he was approaching 3 miles. He has a very hurried look of concentration on his face. And only after I said "Go go go" a few times did he realise that I was the one talking. He didn't even see me. But it's easier for me to point him out since he's usually near the front and I'm a mid-packer. He probably passes a ton of people not knowing when to start looking for me. Plus, he didn't have his glasses on. He needs them to see distance.

Anyway, so then on the way back, there was a strong wind from the south. I knew I was going to slow down. Surprisingly, I didn't. I still sped up and passed a few people. I saw Luke standing right before the finish line and saw him putting down the bottle of water and starting to clap but I didn't look over at him cause by that time I was passing him and concentrating on the girl in front of me that I just could not pass! I was trying to remember my previous PR in an 8k and I couldn't. I thought it was 45 minutes so when I saw that I had .2 left to go and I had almost 43 minutes, I thought that I couldn't make 43 (as my previous unofficial training run PR was) but I could beat 45. And I got 43:44 according to my Garmin. Unfortunately, as I looked up later, my previous PR time in a race was 43:17. So I was off by 30 seconds. But still that's good considering that I felt like I was swimming out there with the humidity. I kept clearing my throat & coughing to try to clear my lungs. On a side note, a guy aged 71 finished 2 people (3 seconds) ahead of me.

For a few days weeks before the race, I was actually debating running the 2 mile option of this race. I have never ran such a short race before and they were also handing out medals for that in the age groups as well. I thought it would be interesting to see how fast I could run in such a short race. I decided against it saying that I'd really have no idea how to run it. In that how do I judge how fast I go out in that first mile and still have enough to turn it on again in the 2nd mile. Anyway, now I look at the results and had I run 8 minute miles, which I very well could have done in a 2 mile race, I would have placed 2nd in my age group. Maybe next year.

But I've officially moved out of DeKalb and living in Geneva. However, as you all know, now comes the part of unpacking the boxes and putting everything in a new place that has some sort of resemblance towards the old place. And I know that I won't be able to run until I have that place figured out. It'll be on my mind too much (like now even at work!). So I'll get back to running soon. Just don't know when. I don't have any races scheduled nor am I looking to find any either, unless friends make plans with me (like Wes or Joe). See Below. I'll probably get back to the gym even before I get to running. I quite enjoy putting my hair up and seeing "bulging" biceps!

Here are the stats from my two races. OK, so I don't have the stats just yet. I seemed to have misplaced my tiny USB dongle for my Garmin. It's somewhere in the many boxes that are still around my apartment. Once I find it, I'll edit this post. Stupid moving.

And as for the get back to running thing; a friend of Luke's, Andy, emailed me asking what I was doing Friday night. Apparently, there's a 5k in Batavia that evening at 7pm. How could I say no to that?? It's a hop, skip & jump away from me now! Plus, when I was looking at the results from last year, I could possibly win my age group. Only if the field doesn't get any larger and I run the same time as I did last weekend. There was no one age 29 last year that ran faster than 26 minutes. Now whether or not I still run 26 minutes will be determined, it could possibly be quite humid for a run. So I'm not counting my chickens and even mentioning this feat is probably jinxing the hell outta it.

Categories: Firecracker 5k, Rockford Meld 8k, Windmill Whirl 5k