Gull Lake Triathlon Race Report

Ah another trip down memory lane with this race.  if you remember from my 2011 RR on Gull Lake, this was my first ever triathlon, back in 1993!  Wow, that was some time ago, but since it is about as close to a "hometown" race as I can, so either way, it is always great to get back and race it.  Just too bad I wasn't in shape enough for the Olympic distance, but next year I will make sure I am rip roaring ready for it, since I have a wedding for my wife's twin sister to go to, just hope the dates are good!

Well won't have any race pictures since I can't figure out how to download the ones from the race photographer (and I AM too cheap to pay for them too!), so I'll have to use "other" photos.  But I promise, they'll be entertaining!

I got up at 0500 to head over from Paw Paw to Gull Lake, about a 30 minute drive or so in order to get their early and get my warmup and transition set up all nice (and get a choice spot too!), so I skipped the standard hot shower and got out the door at 0515, and headed out.  Nothing like no traffic that early in the morning.  I rolled in and found a nice parking spot, got my gear, and rode the 1/4 mile back to the race site.

Got into the transition area, and found that all the good spots were gone.  Bummer!  But I found a spot in the middle, on a post that would work, I set up my area in minimalist fashion (my T times are getting really good, so I'll keep the K.I.S.S. from now on), moved my bag out of the way next to the fence and headed over to pick up my chip and packet.  I ran into the race director (RD), Jim Mishler, who I have chatted with in emails and on the forums at Slowtwitch, so I stopped and chatted with him a little bit, but let him go, since I knew he was a busy guy.  But it was great to chat with him and meet him in person.

After I got my goodies, I headed back to transition, and headed out on my bike to warm up and get ready.  I have been finding that warming up is a key part to getting ready, so I will continue to do that as well.  Nice uneventful ride, and got back and got myself ready.  Headed to the lake to check the water, and it wasn't too bad, so decided to skip the wetsuit this race as well, since it takes me a while to get it off, so no worries.

Well time was about ready to get this thing going, so got my warm up swim in and felt pretty good, so felt like a top-10 kind of day, so figured I'll find out in a bit.

The swim was an in-water start and of course the buoys were past where I could stand up in so I was towards the middle left and we took the countdown and we were off.  I put myself in the 40 and over wave, even though my bib said 39 and under (more on this later), and I could see that I was hanging in there with these guys.  My sighting was pretty bad, but just like in the Topeka Tinman, I was actually passing people in the water.  This is a new thing for me, so I worked to keep on peoples toes until someone faster went by, then jump to them.  So this is how you are supposed to swim!  It felt good not to get blown out of the water.  I stayed in the pack and we actually caught the under 40 crowd a bit (they had a 3 minute headstart) and I poured it on after the final turn buoy and came out of the water with my "death-warmed over" look, and ran up the hill to transition.

Swim - 9:13 (including a long run up to T1), good for 21st overall

I shot thru transition and turned in a blazing :37 sec T1 time!  Again, I kept it nice and simple, shoes on, glasses on, helmet on and bike and gone!  That was good for fastest T1 all day!  Passed a bunch of folks working on their wetsuits there.

T1 - :37, 1st overall

Now on to the bike, one of my favorite events, which helps set the table for a good run most days.  Well I ran past the mount line and conducted the flying squirrel mount and stuck the landing again (one day, I'll miss, and that might not be a good day for me!), but I got going and up to speed and started to hunt down other swimmers ahead of me.  I picked off a few guys ahead of me in the first 2 miles, when I felt a disturbance in the force.  Some guy had pulled up to me and sat on my wheel.  As you know, drafting is a big time no-no and against most every rule book (except when it is an ITU or other race that let's you, written, in the rules).  Most drafters in triathlons are looked at in the same breath as dopers and course-cutters, I think they are the lowest form of pondscum.  Guys who let others do 100% of the work to save their energy for later.

Usually most folks I know will pee while riding, covering the drafter in, um, nasty stuff, but I couldn't (I couldn't pee and never tried it while riding), so I just put in a nice surge to try to shake him off my wheel, which was difficult to do, since he was a bit fresher than me, since he was riding my draft for a mile already or so.  Well that didn't happen, so I just kept up my pace and tried to leave him behind.  Well, guess he got the hint and passed me, so I dropped back the 21-ish feet and kept working hard, while his "surge" must had pooped him out since riding out front is hard work. 

Well I passed him back and bang, there he is again on my wheel!  I wasn't going to let him mess with my ride so I just kept cranking and praying for a pothole to take him out!  But he just hung with me until about a mile from the turn around, and I just let him go.  About that time, the lead sprint racers were passing me, and as I saw, not that many were ahead of me.  NICE!  I didn't really see who was who, since there were two waves of sprinters, so I knew I was top 15 or so, so I put in another push and caught up with, and passed the DB (not douchebag, but draftboy!  But either works for me!)  I outbraked and out turned him and put in one more good surge to try to open the gap up a bit and that worked, for about a mile.  After he passed me with about 2 miles to go, I asked him if he was going to sit on my wheel all day or actually do some work of his own!  I might have tossed in a "cheater" and "asshole" too, but I ended up passing him on the last hill and rode into T2 with 20 seconds on him.

Bike - 28:04 (21.4 mph), 7th overall

Well, I am not sure what happened in T2, since I really gave away a bunch of time there.  My socks took a while to get on (gotta learn to run sockless), my shoes took a while to get off (might try dismounting without being in shoes, ouch!), and getting my running shoes on was slow (I have to run in shoes at least!).  But my T2 was just ugly!

T2 - 1:12 (could have been dead last for all I know, leader went out in :25, uggh!)

Well, my little friend DB headed out of T2 ahead of me and for me, that was game on (cue the video of the kangaroo with the ball!)  So, despite taking my time in T2 (tea and crumpets take time, ok?), I was out of T2 and starting to chase down folks like they owed me money!

The 5K run was an out and back route, which was good since you can keep track of everyone out there.  I caught a few folks in the first half mile and was really feeling good today, so I was just rolling on the power and catching people.  I came up on my little buddy, DB, and was going to ask him if he wanted to draft me on the run as well, but decided against it and just blew his doors off passing him.  I wanted him to know it was me and I was not just "ambling" bye him.  And I carried that effort past the first water stop where I let the volunteers know I was good and thanked them.  Up ahead, I counted only a few more folks and was surprised to see I was in the top 7 overall, with both waves included.  Wow, and the race leader (and overall winner) shot me a thumbs up as he was headed back in and I tossed a shaka his, letting him know I was nice and strong.  After the turn around I just put my head down and kept the legs turning over, and got only one other person before the line, but had a bunch more just ahead of me.  I finished up strong, didn't hurl and got my chip off, and waited for DB.

Run - 20:03, 1st overall (NICE!)

After he came in, I asked him why the need to draft me almost the entire bike leg, and he told me that it was draft legal today.  I let him know to the contrary and that drafting is weak sauce, and unless the rules specifically state it is draft legal, it isn't.  I told him to do his own work on the bike next time and left it at that.  I headed back and chatted with 1st place guy for a bit (he was in town visiting his parents in the area) and headed down to the water to clean up, cool off and change.  Wow the water was a lot colder the second time around!

After changing and feeling a bit more refreashed I went over and looked at the preliminary results, and looked in the 40-44 and didn't see my name.  I thought that weird til I looked at the top and saw that I was the Master's Champion.  Holy cow!  Ended up 2nd overall, thanks to a good run off the bike.  On the downside, I still haven't won my AG, but I'll still take a trophy anyday!

Overall, I was going into the race with a "I can make Top-10" and came away with a 2nd overall.  In addition to that, I found out that I qualified for the AG Nationals this August in Milwaukee, but I won't be able to go (getting ready to move and overall REALLY busy), but again, I will be working next year towards qualifying for the Nationals in the Oly and doing it in an Olympic race.

I have a nice long layoff till my next race (middle of August), so I guess it is time to get back to training!  I'll try to find some photos if I can.

Victory Week 10 Miler Race Report

Well this past week was Victory Week here for the mighty 1st Infantry Division, the OLDEST active duty division, and each year at around the Division's birthday, we celebrate by holding a Victory Week were the units in the division compete against each other in many different sports, like water polo, basketball, flag football, soccer, and other team events (little known facts: People think that Kansas is known for being a basketball state; WRONG, water polo!  Yup!).  I am not sure about that fact, but hey, why not!

LTC(R) Ted Leblow (center in Big Red One singlet) was the team captain last year.

Well as part of the sports extravaganza, there was a 10 mile race, which serves not only to see who has the fastest battalion level team, but to select the always competitive and fast Fort Riley Post Army Ten Mile Team that races in Washington DC at the Army Ten Miler (Last year was the 8th team, and 3rd Active Duty Army Team!), so the team has dudes who can FLY.

But I lined up this year at 0600 in the morning to take an outside chance for the team (didn't want to go too hard since I have a race this weekend too), but as we started out, I could tell, top 15 was not in it for me.  My first mile was 06:31, and I was about 45-50 people back, yeah, not happening, but will use this as a nice endurance/speed workout for the week.  I am in good shape, but my focus was short, fast races, so the 10 miles didn't hurt too bad, but if I maintained sub-7 minute pace, it would hurt.  With a capital H.

 My two photos near the finish line. Amanda got both with both feet off the ground!  Good timing!

My splits slowly slowed down, which was good, and I kept them in the mid-7 minutes thru 7 miles, and topped out at 08:07, so kept the average for the 10 miles at 07:29, which was good for me, for any distance.  Biggest thing was the wind.  Wind at your back on the way out, everyone was flying, but once they turned back into the wind, the big guys started to shrivle up.  After the turn around, I started to organize "pacelines" of runners to take turns breaking the wind and that really helped, either physically or mentally, but my groups started to move up on folks, where I may have been in the top 50 at the turn around, I finished in the top 30 or so.  Was nice to keep picking people off, but most times, my drafting buddies were shelled out the back, so sometimes I gapped up solo to other runners.  Only one big guy didn't want me to draft him and he ran all over to make sure, so I left him in my dust and told him "See you at the finish line".

But I finished up nicely (route was 10.3, so a little long) but I still PR'd my 10mile time, my 15K time, my 10K (post college) and 5K (post college) times, so overall, it wasn't a bad day at all.  Now on to my notes:

1.  The kid who won the race, WOW, was flying big time.  I think I heard he hit the 5 mile turnaround at 27 minutes or something.  I hit it at 37 and change.  So he put 10 minutes on my, in 5 miles, in a 10 mile race.  Wow, out of my league.
2.  It was hot and windy, water stops were a must, mainly for cooling on the head, not so much drinking.
3.  I figured that we would have about 100 folks out there, Nope!  it was 300 and possibly closer to 400.  Nice turnout!
4.  Wish I would have worn my running stuff, instead of my "PT" stuff.  It breathes better, is lighter, and just feels faster.  Oh well.

Overall, I am happy with my run, shows that my fitness level is good going into these next few races, so I should make some noise this year in the sprints and be good to move to fewer, longer races next year, if I keep my volume up (mainly the swimming).

But looking forward to racing on Saturday in Topeka in the Tinman Sprint Triathlon, in my new age group, the men's 40-44 (I'm still 39 right now, but the age-up rule means I race at 40!), so I am the new kid on the block for this year, good times!

Salina Road Race (Bicycle) Race Report

Or "How not to ride a road race" or "Don't write checks your butt can't cash" or any number of funny slogans.  Well, I decided to venture once again into the world of bike racin', since last time I straight up raced was about 3-4 years ago in a criterium (think NASCAR / F1 racing, on bikes, with folks that CAN crash you), which ended, ironically, with me getting crashed, but I got up, sucked it up and raced the last crit and ended up in 3rd overall, so, meh.

But this was going to be my first road race, sort of like a nice group ride, but with everyone thinking "STRAVA SECTION!!!!" all the time.  But as this was my first RR, I of course had a half baked plan going in, but with luck, I knew one of the riders in my Category, Alex Ardussi, who drove a long way to race.  We said that we would work together since bike racing is not only an individual sport, but team tactics really plays out in these as one team in the CAT5 swept the podium (out of 4 riders on their team) so smarts plays into it and being a one man band isn't that cool.

I'm sooo roooonry!

Things started out nice, got there, warmed up on the first stretch of road and headed back to get ready and lined up for the CAT5 race, of which 11 brave souls signed up for.  As we all looked each other up and down, I noticed a few things about my competitors; A: They are all taller and leaner than me, B: They have nicer bikes and better wheels, and C: They all know each other, making me the odd man out.

Well as we started to roll out the first half mile was "neutral", meaning, the race was not on, but after we crossed the finish line area, it was on and our pace went from 18 to 22 mph, so a nice start to this hilly, windy, 30 mile race.  We stayed in a nice double pace line for the first 5 miles or so, with me tearing ass up a hill to see who could climb (answer: all of them), so I settled back in to the pace line, feeling a little dumb.  But about another mile later, one guy launches out on a break, and he gets about 30 secs up the road, I think to myself, "Hey self, we should chase him down" which was the WRONG answer!  Sure I caught him, but as the rest of the peloton absorbs me, chews me up and spits me out.  Being "off the back", "dropped" or "loosing a wheel" is the worst feeling in the world.  It seems no matter how hard you try to latch back on, you are toast.

So at the 10 mile mark, that was me, off the back.  It sucked.  No, it more than sucked!  It was lonely (as you can see from the picture up there, courtesy of Lanterne Rouge!).  It took me a while to get back any semblance of speed going and by then, I was out of sight, especially on the hills.  So, that was how I "raced" the last 20 miles.  Ugggh!

If you look hard enough, that was they guy I was chasing, waaaaay down there!

Well, to make matters worse, I had to contend with a bit of a head wind on the way back, so I just kept plugging.  I will fast forward to the end, because, no matter what I did, that speck on the road never got closer.  I did sprint the last 2 miles to the end, to get some good intervals in, but I ended up about 10 minutes down to the winners and 2-3 from Alex.  Overall, I was 10th of 11.  And the guy I "beat" was in his 60s, whoohoo!  Uggh, well my lessons learned are here:

1.  Stay patient for as long as you can.

2.  Stay with the peloton.  It saves energy.

3.  You will always overestimate your own fitness.

4.  The wind is not your friend when you are alone.

Could I have done better?  Yup, but I got all antsy in my pantsy, and before I knew it, BAM!  Done and gone!  But at least I learned a little more from this, now if I remember those lessons come next time!  And this catches me up on my race reports and all, but I have a busy next few months up ahead.

Next race up: Victory Week 10 Miler, tomorrow (Wednesday 12 June), to try to qualify for the Ft Riley Army Ten Miler Team, which last year was stacked.  I am looking to break my 10 mile PR tomorrow, so I have an "A" goal of 1:08 and quicker, "B" goal of 1:12 or quicker, and the "breakeven" goal of 1:25.  It is a pretty rolling course, nothing too major out and back, but we will see how this turns out.

I'll be back tomorrow with another RR!

* All photos for this post is courtesy of The Lanterne Rouge (Roger Harrison) (Thanks Roger!)

Fort Leavenworth CGSC Triathlon (Duathon) Race Report

Finishing up Run1 of the DU

Well, since I am on a roll here, might as well get my second race for the season race report out (this one was ONLY a month ago), so I can get back to posting a little more regularly and all.

Well, sorry to confuse folks with the title, but due to weather, the CGSC Tri became a Du, and they dropped the swim and modified the bike (less hills because of wet, possibly icy pavement).  Yeah I said possibly icy, game time temp was a brisk 38, hence the RD didn't want to have folks come from the nice warm pool, and freeze their butts off, get sick, and maybe keel over and have to crawl inside a Tauntaun (token Star Wars reference)!

But really, I was a bit mad because was going to try (no pun intended) my new 2XU trisuit out for the full triathlon, but guess it'll wait til next time.  And I was a little mad about the last minute change to the format, but found out that I actually like the no-swim kind of thing, hmmm, might do some more of these Du's!

Well the wife and dog and I made it a small little vacation the two and a quarter hours from Ft Riley for the race, and it was good to get back to my old stomping grounds at Ft Leavenworth, and no, wasn't in the "joint" there, just the one year school (which was almost the same!).  But got up on race morning a bit later than usual and drove to post and of course, got a crappy rack location, but oh well, I can ALWAYS use a good excuse in case I have a crap day!

Me at my rack, looking bewildered

 

Well, got my bike racked (brought the Jamis since I knew it was going to be wet and nasty) and laid out my transition, I got kinda smart and laid out my racing shoes (Nike Zooms) for my Run2 run shoes (the race was 2.25 mile run, 8.25 mile bike, and 2.25 mile run) and wore my regular shoes (Asics) for the Run1, that way I could kick them off, put on my bike shoes and roll out!  So my transition area kinda looked like Imelda Marco's shoe room, but it worked pretty good.  Plus my rack area was between the Run In and Bike out, but for the Bike In to Run Out, I had to double back, oh well.

Well, it's easy to pick me out (hint short guy in red)!

 

Well after the pre-race brief indoors, went back outside and got lined up for the run, which as always a good time, so I lined up about a row back so that the tall guys would block the wind a bit.  I love that every race I go to, I am about the shortest guy there, but that just means I have a lower center of gravity (which doesn't matter in running!).  But took off at the gun, and kept in the front area with the tall, lanky folks, and latched on to someone who was about my pace.  The course was a loop on sidewalks around the Ft Leavenworth golf course, with a few nice hills sprinkled in at the beginning and end, just to keep you honest.  But my legs felt good, and kept a nice pace and passed a few folks, mainly running up the hills at the end and got into T1 in good shape, and despite this having no swim, yeah I was wet from the drizzle / puddles, so I can kinda count that, right?

 Finishing Run1, not ready to puke yet!

Run1 - 14:54 (10th OA / 3rd AG)

T1 - :53 (10th OA / 3rd AG)



 

The benefits of being small: I can draft a gnat!

 

On to the bike, which I will say, fortune favors the prepared!  Being a guy, I rarely read instructions, but I was bored the night before, and read the rules for the race here.  Tucked down in the bottom of the rule book, was THIS IS A DRAFT LEGAL RACE (not sure if it was in bold but, that is how I read it!).  Hmmm this could be fun, and yup it was, since not everyone read the rules.  But after putting on my bike shoes, I ran past the mount line, flying mounted my bike and was off, looking for a wheel, which I promptly found.  Another guy on a road bike just left T1, so rode behind him for a bit and kept finding someone better and faster until I found a dude who was cruising on a TT bike, so bang, on his wheel.  Which was not an easy chore, we were moving at a good clip, but being small I could tuck in nicely.  We picked up another rider, and became a little train o' pain, I took the 3rd position since I figured I could hide from the wind better back there.  Well despite taking out the REALLY BIG HILL, there were still plenty of rises to keep you honest, but the pain train kept on rolling.  We all hit the turn around, a nice 180 turn, and boogied on back down the hill.  A little after the picture above, we lost our middle man, so it was a two-man show for a bit more.

Our little pain train.

 

 

After we were down to two, and with about two miles to go, I looked down for something, looked back up and my TT was about 20 feet ahead of me.  Just a little lapse in concentration, and boom, lost the wheel.  Well, guess I would solo back, trying to bring him back, but I didn't want to kill my legs for a few seconds on the bike when I might be able to run him down on the second run.  So I still was cranking it out, just not at max effort, since I wanted to have something in the tank for the Run2.

 

Bike - 24:26 (5th OA, 2nd in AG)

T2 - :57 (35th OA, 9th in AG)

 

As you can see, not too big of a gap!

It takes a little skill to run in cleats!

Again, I look lost in transition

 

As I mentioned before, my rack was not the best place for the rack-the-bike-and-run-out, but it was a nice quiet neighborhood!  My T2 was a bit sad, but I caught my breath here, put on fresh shoes, and headed out for the money-maker, Run2!

 

Well Run2 was a bit like Run1, but I was alot more tired this time around, but 2nd in my AG (oops, he was in my USAT aged up AG) was just ahead of me, maybe about 15 secs up on me, so I worked on closing the gap early to try to demoralize him.  Not sure it worked because over the entire route, I would close to about 10 secs or less and he would open up to 15-20 again.  I knew he was toast because he kept looking back for me, but I was just not getting the "jump" from my legs.  We cat and moused the entire run, and it was a bit frustrating.  I knew I didn't have anyone behind me, the race was in front of me, but didn't have the gas to catch him, well, maybe if it was 2 more miles, but it wasn't.

The gap early in Run2.  Guy behind me is the speck on the far right.

 

But despite not catching him (behind him by 20secs at the finish), I still finished nice and strong, placing 6th overall in my first DU, and love the fact that my run has really come along after a year of "training only" while in Afghanistan.  But I really think that I like this run-bike-run thing, it eliminates my worse event!  But I still like the swim, somewhat. ;)

 

Run2 - 15:59 (9th overall, 3rd in AG, see a trend?)

Overall results - 57:06 (6th overall, 3rd in AG) with a gap to 5th at :20 and to 7th at 1:12.

 

But I'd like to thank whoever took the photos, was a nice surprise to see so many photos, and to the Leavenworth Tri Club (just might have to join, they are a good group of folks) for putting on a nice race, as always.  And the brave volunteers / voluntolds (CGSC students) for helping make this a great event.  I keep telling myself that I'm going to have to volunteer a few times, to pay it forward/back so might just not race some weekend and help out, we'll have to see.

 

But I am on a roll for these race reports and almost caught up, next one is my disaster in bike racing next, then I can get back to posting how my training is going and other funny tips!  Thanks for reading!

 



Topeka to Auburn Half Marathon Race Report

"I believe I can fly!"



SOOOO, do these tights make me look cold?  Hell, yeah!  Wow, you want to talk about some cold weather, I woke up on race morning and saw that it was only 8 degrees out!  Ouch, this race was so much a better idea last month!  But undaunted, I jumped in the shower and headed out to Topeka for my first ever Half Marathon!  Yup, I joined the 13.1 (+) club!  More on that a bit later!

Well, I headed out to Topeka to pick up my packet, so I got there in about an hour and it had warmed up (!) to 16!  Awesome!  Well, since I was at the start line, I had to drive and park at the finish line, the town of Auburn and then ride a bus back to the start line.  Oh well, at least when I got there, I didn't get blocked in or anything.

After hoping off the bus I naturally went inside (it was still cold, go figure) and stretched and went to pee about 4 times.  Guess I was hydrated for the run!  As I was warming up, I heard a little bit about the course, hills up front for the first half, then not too bad after "Urish" Hill, named for the street.  They briefed us that the photos were going to be at the top of this hella hill (and I used to run the heck out of hills in high school too), so I was somewhat forewarned for it.  Well the best part was for this race was that I was going to PR in it!  That is almost like saying that I am the best writer in the history of this blog, a very small sample size to chose from!

Well all 500+ of us lined up (this was the largest running of this race in it's 30 years), we counted it off and off we went.  I ran for a bit with another Soldier from Ft Riley, Ricky, which was funny since we were standing next to each other at the start line, all 5'4" of me and all 6'6" or so of him, love the contrast!  Well even with a generally downhill first mile, I managed to crank a 6:46 for the first mile.  Uhhhh, I wonder if I remembered that I still have 12 more to go!  I pulled it back the next mile, for a 7:16 and that is when the hills started, a little at first and then as we hit a few subdivisions, steeper and longer.  Ugg, mile 3 came and went in 7:42, as my body was getting the hint that this WAS NOT a 5K!  More hills and the first water point was at the 3.8 mile point and of course I selected the girl who just gave away her last cup of whatever just before I got there, so no soup for me!  Glad I was carrying my fuel belt with some HEED/Water/Mio mix, so I would endure.

"Hang loose, brah!"

The next few miles were up and down, both figuratively and literally with the real fun capped at the Urish Hill, a long, steady climb to one plateau and then a slight break then more hill to the "half way" mark and the photog!  He even wrote “smile” on the side of the hill so you remembered, but as you can see from my picture, I just was able to throw a Shaka and keep going.  The good part was the hills got less pronounced, but I still had 6 and some change miles left.  But after those major hills, the miles seemed to click off and despite running without headphones, I had a single song stuck on “repeat” in my head, so that was fun and all.  At the 8 mile mark, we went “off road” onto the dirt road part of the course.  The dirt road wasn’t too bad, not much loose gravel, just some nice rollers.  Which is at about the 9 mile area, I stopped and walked for about 30 seconds, and once I got running again, I really picked up the pace.  It was like my legs were replaced and fresh ones put on, because my pace per mile dropped back into the low 8:00 mile pace with a few around 7:45!  Nice, might have to do that more often, not!  I felt bummed that I stopped running, but it helped me overall, so it wasn’t so bad to walk and get my mind and body refreshed! 

At around the 12 mile mark, I notice that I might just hit my goal of 1:45 for the half, so I really started to run hard.  I knew I wasn’t going to podium and I was praying just to be in the top 150 runners, so I was really racing the clock now.  I started to power up the hills and glide down them, and after I round the final turn, I found that I still had a ways to go, like almost a half a mile!  Well that last .4 miles really was not fun, because I was starting to feel the rumbling in my tummy, and we all know what that means, so I had to balance on that thin line between red-lining and blowing chunks and slowing down too much, but keeping my lunch.

Well, I kept my lunch and ran fast, finishing in 1:46:33, just a little off my goal, despite having run .3 farther than regulation.  But I guess the finish line was moved because it used to finish in front of a church, but the church had a function, so it was best to move the finish line.  But overall I finished 15^th in my age group (tough crowd, 2^nd overall was in my AG!) and 123^rd overall.  So, not bad.  I realized that I was not passed by any one person the entire race, it was always a group who were working together, so I guess from now on, I will try to latch on to a group and roll with them.

So overall, I loved the run, minus the cold, cold weather (started the run at 20 degrees and barely got above 31 all day!) and the hills, which I will watch out for next time, I really enjoyed my first half-marathon!  The next logical step is the full 26.2 miles-o-pain!  But that will come next year, after I get back from deployment!

Talk to you guys later!

Winter Runderland 5k Race Report

Well, at least I didn't just wear speedos during the race, but felt like it here in cold Kansas. I decided last minute this weekend to not run the High Noon Saloon 7.2 Mile run in Leavenworth, about 2 hours away, and raining cold on Saturday, and decided to run the Winter Runderland 5K in nearby Manhattan, KS, on an equally cold, but sunny day. Hmmm, good call!

The race was put on by the local running shop, Manhattan Running Company, and I think was put on quite well for a non-race producing company. I kinda liked the lack of chips and going all old school with the pull tags on the bottom of the numbers and the elongated coat hanger to keep them, harkens be back to simpler days! LOL But all kidding aside, it was a fun race, just wish I was more up to the task! So, let us begin...

I drove the 15-20 minutes to Anneberg Park in west Manhattan for the race about an hour before the 3pm start time (love afternoon races, especially when there were no good late NFL games on!) and even though the temp was 35 out, I decided to rock the shorts and long sleeve t-shirt, as opposed to the typical hat, three layers and tights that I saw on the start line. Besides, it would be good motivation to run fast so I can put my clothes back on at the finish line! I ran into my old Masters Swim coach, Jess and her friend who decided to come out and run and they were more sensibly attired than I was. Jess had just gotten over a a foot injury, so good job Jess!

But I lined up about 7 rows back, mainly because I figured I wasn't going for the win on this one, but also, I didn't want to go out too fast, so it wasn't too bad of a starting position. The countdown came up and gun went off and off we all (about 118 runners) on the 3 mile tour. The first mile was part in the park, so a bit flat, but at about the 1/2 mile mark, crossed a road and up hill it went. Wow, I missed running hills from running on the dreadmill so much, yikes. But I kept a good pace, cresting the big hill and rolling thru the first mile in about 6:51 with my HR topping out at about 189bpm (thank you hills!). But I didn't feel too bad yet!

The 2nd mile was a rolling adventure thru a housing area, and the hills were manageable, but yikes, the legs doth protest! I was gaining on a few folks and really pushed the big downhill (what goes up, MUST come down! I love gravity!) and made a sharp turn on to a gravelly perimeter trail, which still showed signs of ice crystals from the rain the day before and lack of direct sunlight, which adds up to MUD. But it wasn't too bad, and it was mainly flat, so I huffed and puffed thru the two mile mark with a 7:10 split and again, nice 189 HR, oh well, that is what you get when all you do is spin on the bike when you can't run!

The last mile wasn't so bad, but I had no "GO" in the legs and even though I had two guys in "pick off" range, and no one threatening from the rear, I just couldn't turn them over fast enough. Mind you, I ran a two mile PT test a week and a half ago in 13:12, so I still have the wheels (somewhat) but just the lack of miles leading up to this point hurt me. So I just maintained at a 7:04 pace and gave the young kids some high fives as I crossed the line in 21:59 (22:01 official), and I figured that I was at least in the top 20, which I ended up 17th over all, so not too bad.

The bad part was that both 2nd and 3rd in my AG were the next two guys in front of me, who I KNEW I could have got, but again, that lacking of miles hurt me. Oh well, but I am only talking 15 secs out of 2nd in AG, and if I would have run my goal pace (21:00) that would have moved me up to 14th OA. But that is another good lesson, don't get hurt training and get the miles in, and oh yeah, stop whining! LOL.

But looks like my race season isn't over, there are still a few races here, even if they are cold ones, I guess I will continue to race, with the Junction City 5k coming up in a few weeks. Guess I'd better get those miles in, and NOT on a treadmill!

Hope you enjoyed and sorry for lack of pictures, wife decided to stay home in the warm house, can't say I blame her!

Pinehurst Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Well this was a cold cold day! But I was wearing a wetsuit! And at least it wasn't raining! That's what mid to low 40's will do to a lake that's 75 degrees!

As you can see, I was really excited about this race, since it had been 3 months since my last race and I was really itching to get out there and race! So, I signed up for the Sprint instead of the International, because of my lack of swimming (AGAIN!) and I have the Army Ten Miler next week, so I wanted to go easy (or easier). So, on to the report.

The morning started out early as we drove the 50 minutes to Pinehurst and the temp was hanging in the mid 40's, not a good start, but I got there in time to set up my transition and hit the port-a-poties. After that, got in to my wetsuit (VERY WARM) and headed down to the water to stretch out and get ready. Well the grass was wet and ICE cold (see a theme here?) and the sand wasn't much warmer. But to my surprise, the water was nice. I stood in the water and ran into an old Army buddy and we chatted until it was about time to start, so I wished him and his wife luck and headed over to the corral.

The swim was a beach start and my wave had about a 100 folks, so I let everyone run in before I strolled into the water and started my 18 minutes of flail and pray. With the steam and the sun, sighting towards the first set of buoys was hard, but I found them by swimming with the "current" of the 100 or so bodies in front of me. I did just about every stroke imaginable and I dragged my butt out of the water in 18:57, so about where I was aiming for.

T1 was uphill about 100 meters, so I ran it in a fast shuffle and began to try to take my wetsuit off. That was no fun, I felt like I almost dislocated my shoulder getting the stupid top off, so my T1 time was SLOOOOOOW. 3:03 Slow, but I got it off, helmet on, glasses and a long sleeve shirt and I was out and on the road.

Once I got on the road, I went into attack mode. There was a slight downhill to start followed by a 1.5 mile uphill and folks were stacking up on the climb, so they were ducks in a barrel, since I have been training hard on the hills lately. I also drove the route the day prior (BTW, HIGHLY recommended, so you know where the downhills and uphills are!) and I knew when to lay back and when to chase more folks. I was having a great time on the bike, and it was a 18 mile course. The climbs were in the 11-15 mph range and the downhills were a nice 26-37 (!) mph, and I was loving it. I ended up with a 51:28 and a nice 20.9 average.

T2 was good, racked the bike, shoes on, and out the door. My game plan was simple, go the first half slow since it was almost all uphill for the first half, and rock the 2nd half. The cool temps helped, and I was moving and waiting for the turn around, and then I started to move out. I picked off a few folks until the dam, and I really started to turn it up and reeled in to more when the older dude told me to catch that kid ahead, so I took off after him but just before the line I couldn't get him, all 19 years old of him. Bummer! I did run a nice 22:45 with the hills.

But again this race came down to the swim, and I need to get my swim sorted out if I want to compete for AG podiums in the future. But we will have to see for in the next season, if there are is one for me (I might be deploying for next month). But we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Overall, I think a good learning season for me, so I hope that I can have a 2012 season, if not, I will just keep training and be ready for the next season. As far as the first ever Pinehurst Sprint, I think this was a great race, and a very challenging bike course and hilly run, but it was a fun great race.

Stay turned for next weekend's race!

3 Little Pigs Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Well from everything that I heard, this was a race not to miss, I mean, c'mon the name SCREAMS cool! So a few months ago, I signed up for it and boy I am glad that I did.

I was not sure what to expect of this race, given my hip / groin area has made running a real test of will and my swimming workouts laughable (I have spent more time in the bathtub soaking than in a pool this month) so I expected it to be a "well it was fun" kind of day, but it turned out much better than expected.

The wife and I got out the door at 0530 to get to the Smithfield area in about an hour, so we rolled in at 0630 and got a good parking spot, unloaded the bike and gear and headed to packet pick up, which was long, but manageable, and ran in to a guy who was with the 75th Rangers a while ago and chatted with him as we waited. I got all my stuff, tshirt, numbers and chip and got body marked, I was #82 this week (I really am superstitious about double numbers, which means I like 55, 99, 202, etc), but 82 was just fine, it was my roster number at Air Assault School many years ago, so I was happy with it. Funny thing about superstitious and lucky numbers, I know they don't matter, but sometimes puts you "in the perfect" frame of mind. I don't know, I digress...

I set up my transition area, which I am glad I am small and don't need that much room, because my rack mates seemed to have a TON of room, just spreading out and making the late comers suffer with 2 feet of space while they put in the post race jacuzzi in their area. Just a minor pet peeve of mine. But got the numbers on the bike, helmet and race belt, got everything laid out just right, and rehearsed in my mind how the T1 / T2 should go down (more on that later), and headed out to say howdy to folks I know. Ran into my buddy Ken, a fellow blogger, and the LIGHTEST Master Clydesdale you will ever see (the body marker marked him as over 200lbs, when he probably weighs closer to 150 than anything). Chatted him up for a bit, met with the bored wife (yeah, she thinks this is getting old quick) and stretched out, hit the port-o-let and headed in for the swim portion of the fun!

I listened to the briefing as we all gathered around the pool and translated to the ladies in front of me who couldn't hear the guy on the bullhorn clearly (and I'm surprised I did) and started to head to the swim start, as I was the 82nd person to go off. Ran into Sam, a guy from Bragg also, and chatted with him and a few guys from the Fayetteville Area Tri-Warriors and I think I am going to become a member, so that I can have some training partners to work with. I got in the pool, which was chilly to me, got in line and talked to the folks around me and got ready for my "favorite" event.


I purposely went out slower than normal to ensure I didn't burnout too early, and my pacing turned out to be spot on. I loved the fact that the pool was new and the lanes were wide, AND we were only going up one lane and down a different one, so no worries about "head-to-head" encounters. I felt relatively strong and passed three people and didn't get passed myself. Swim Time - 4:07 for 250 meters, good for 50th overall and 7th (!) in my AG.


Out the door to T1, which was very close to the pool, and my rack which was only 5 in to the transition, meant that I should have a quick T1 time; WRONG! Oh dear lord where to begin. I got in and tossed my goggles down, and started on my socks and that was a little hard given my wet feet, then the race number spin-around I did to put it on ate up some more time, then the shoes, helmet and glasses. Yikes! Lucky when I grab my bike, I can haul ass running with bike shoes on, because the transition area is VERY long. SO after a 1/4 mile it seemed, I hit the mountline with my usual flying mount, stuck the landing and off I went! One day I am going to land wrong and DNF (if you get my drift), but not today! But still, T1 took me 1:17, which is well behind the leaders, so bottom line is, going to try running without the socks (which are a soggy mess anyways) and practice my transitions alot more. That 77 seconds in transition had me at 74th fastest overall and 8th in my AG, but in NASCAR terms, I would have been lapped twice in the pits!


The bike is about my favorite event because I pass the most people on the bike and to quote Ricky Bobby, "I like to go fast!" Well my buddy Ken told me the route was a flat one, which I guess means rolling to me! Just kidding Ken! But the course was a rolling one that was an out and back lollipop with one wicked sharp left turn (which I almost blew thru in aero!) But I changed a few things, mainly taking a GU early in the ride and just taking on water instead of the gatorade / water mix. Seemed to be just fine that way. Only thing I regret is that I soft pedaled for a mile at around mile 8, so could have hammered it in, but I was using the Garmin's "multisport" method and didn't have my usual display with MPH, so it kind of messed with me a bit. Maybe next time. But I just kept my head down and legs moving hard and blew by about 15-20 folks on the bike. I ended up with a 37:55 split, which translates to 22.1 mph over the course, good enough for 34th fastest, 5th in my AG (man my AG was stacked!)

Back into the transition area, I had the long run to the rack, which was very foreboding. I hit my area and promptly racked my bike on to my hand, OUCH! Got my hand between the saddle front and the bar, not a good move at all. Just enough to draw a little blood (which ended up on my running shoes) as I tossed my helmet and glasses to the ground in disgust (and pain) and slid into my shoes grabbed my Garmin from the mount and chased two folks out of T2, who they promptly took a wrong turn as I kept going the right way and the volunteers yelled at them. I would have said something, but I was huffing and puffing to bad to make a sound. I need to wear my HRM for a race just to see where my heart rate spikes, I am betting right around entering and exiting the transition area! Well my less than stellar T2 had me giving away 1:20 to the tri gods, which was 141st overall and 19th in my AG. EGADS!


At least I could run away from T2, and I seemed to keep it at a nice even pace the entire run. The run course was an out and back affair on a linear trail, which was luckily shaded, because the sun was now out in full force. The trail seemed pretty flat, but it ended up hillier than the bike, according to Garmin. But the run I kept picking off people while repeating my mantra, "the legs feed the wolf", and I had to make sure I was still hungry. As I passed folks I gave them encouragement, telling them this is the cool down from the bike, and other funny things like that to keep them motivated and smiling. I passed Sam and he gave me a thumbs up and to keep going hard, and after the turn around, I gave him a high five and told him it was time for him to get the lead out! I guess he did pick it up the 2nd half, so good on him! But by about the time we entered the park area, I wasn't sure how much longer it was (the bike mile marks were a bit off from mile to mile), so didn't get to try the final .5 burst that I had been planning on, and by the time I rounded the corner of the woods, the finish line was only 75 yards ahead, so I just eased it on in, and crossed with a run split of 22:11, not too bad given the lack of miles the last month or so. That gave me the 26th fastest run overall and 5th again in my AG.


My overall time was 1:06:49, good for 28th overall and 6th in my AG, so my feelings were mixed. I accomplished my goal of faster than 1:10:00, but the places were a little off for me. Maybe I expected too much, but overall I am happy with the results. That aside, I absolutely love racing, not just for the competition, but for the atmosphere, running into guys like Ken and Sam, and meeting others, that is what it's all about. Sure the racing feeds that little bit of ego I have left, but I LOVE making new friends who are like minded. It is guys like Ken and Sam who make the early morning trips all over North Carolina that much more fun!

Well, I am going to have to get my wife's camera and get the photos on here (because everything is better with pictures), so if you read this and I haven't gotten the pictures up yet, stop back later, you'll love at least one that I'll post!

I race again in two weeks up in Michigan at the Gull Lake Triathlon on 2 July. Should be a fun one, hope I get the transitions worked out by then! Take care everyone!

White Lake Sprint I Race Report

Well, I guess you could say that my glass was 2/3 of the way full for this race. The weather forecast was calling for a 40% chance of rain, and I'm glad that didn't come so, I had that going in my favor. And I did complete most of my goals for the race, so overall, it was a good, not a great race, and it left me with a "to do" list of things to work on (which I'll cover towards the end).


Got up early again for the second weekend in a row, not a good habit to get into, but hey, it is good to know what my limits are! But after a quick shower and getting my bag into the car, Jen and I were ready to roll out to White Lake, about 1 hour or so away. I chowed on two bananas while I drove and Jen tried to get back to sleep and sipped my diet rootbeer (getting to be a pre-race ritual) and listened to some tunes on the way there. We arrived a little after 0630, so we drove past the main gate, and turned around and headed back to the roadside parking that was free (and a half mile away), so I got my gear, aired up the tires on Elenor, and we headed down to the race area.

This was the first transition area that was grass this year for me, so I couldn't mark my chalk scribbles, but that was ok, since they were the numbered spots that I really like, so I had my own little area to my self. I set up my transition and headed over to check in, got my numbers (#323) and got my chip, body marked (HUGE numbers this time!) and headed back to transition to finalized my set up and visualize how T1 and T2 were going to happen. After that little mental warm up, I got my wetsuit bottoms on and headed out to the lake to warm up in the "cold" lake. I got the top on at the edge of the lake and walked in, and realized that this was the first time I was in water with my wetsuit, so much for practice! I swam about 200 or so to get use to it and everything seemed good, loved how I floated in the wetsuit, so I came back to shore and ate my GU (more on that later), and headed down to the start line to get ready to swim (I was in the 2nd wave, right after the elites).

Well the count down to start was on and I was getting really amped up, and the horn went off and away we went! I started wide left to avoid the thrashing that I knew would happen, but about 100 meters in, my heart rate went thru the roof and I guzzled lake water, which broke my rhythm and I was in hurt city for the rest of the swim. I knew I had the strength to swim the 750meters, but I couldn't get my breathing and HR back to a manageable level, so face in the water wasn't going to happen, so I kept my head up and swam, which helped my sighting very well. But sighting was the only thing that worked well for the swim. I feel that the GU (with caffeine) had pumped me up too much to relax in the water, and thus I fought the water the entire way, instead of gliding thru it. So my goal time of 15:00 was out the window, and I eventually pulled my butt up the ladder and ran to the mat in 18:49 (YIKES!), which was "good" for 156th "Best" men's time and 23rd of 35 in my AG. Oh boy, guess I'd better make up some time!

And time is what I made up on the bike! Wow, this ride made me completely forget all about the swim, and the "meh" T1, which took me 2:22 to complete, with a stuck wetsuit and all, but at least I didn't stop to have tea or anything! But the bike started out great, a great flying mount and clicked in and rolling like a boss! The course was a nice flat (it had a few "rises") and relativly smooth and a very minor headwind, but nothing to write home to mom about. But I do have a minor gripe (WARNING!!! RANT TO FOLLOW!!! WARNING!!!) and that is about drafting in a USAT race.

How do I put this nicely? Ok, I can't! I passed no less than 7 different pacelines of folks on the two lap, 14.2 mile course. I mean, really? It is only 14 freakin' miles! But there they were, sometimes packs of 2 and even up to 6 folks, and before you say, "well, they were probably rookies to the sport and didn't know any better", I say this, how many rookies have aero helmets, solid rear wheels and TT bikes? Yeah, there were folks gaming the system, but it gave me a big boost to pass them all solo, unaided, NOT CHEATING, and it felt great! Even passed an paceline of 4 and the #2 rider didn't see what the lead man avoided and hit it, flatting his front tire! Man, karma is a biotch! At least they did have moto-officials out there, but with almost half the racers cheating, that was mission impossible. When I was passed (temporarily, of course!), I even came out of aero to drop back out of the draft zone, because I refuse to cheat myself. Ok, I think that is about it on that topic (END OF RANT!).


But the bike was great, I cat and moused with one guy that was about my build, and I would pass him and then he'd pass me back after a mile, I almost lost him when we caught a large group, but I downshifted and put my head down and blasted on by them. Later in the run he high-fived me, telling me he cramped up, I never did get his name, but he seemed like a cool guy! But I came roaring in to T2 with an elapsed time of 37:37, good for a 22.6 MPH average! Nice! Ended the bike with the 35th best bike and 4th in my AG. That's the way to answer back to a poor swim!

After a quick 1:07 in a very large T2 area, I was back on the road again! I really haven't had any stellar runs off the bike, but still my runs are nothing to sneeze at. Right out of the T2 I was passed by a young kid with a "16" on his calf, and I knew the chase was on! So what if I am twice his age, I got the wheels to hunt him down. I just ran my pace for the first half mile, and then started to bear down once we hit the lake side subdivision. Nice roads helped me catch him and another guy, so I rolled with the momentum and took off. I wound my way thru the subdivision and hit the turn around in 11:00, so I knew I need to negative split the 2nd half to hit my goal of sub-21:00. I worked hard those last mile and a half, but got passed for the first time in forever on the run in the last 200-300 meters, luckily he was not in my AG, or I would have lit it up and chased him down, even if I puked at the end. But my mental game was over, and I cruised in for a ok 21:46, good for 48th fast run and 6th best in my AG, so not too shabby, but not where I want to be. The guy that beat me at the line wrote in his race report that he had to pass "a guy with legs like tree trunks." I guess I will take that compliment!

Overall, a good race, beat a bunch of my goals, and learned that my swim still sucks. I think it was a combination of never swimming in a wetsuit (10%), not swimming enough without training aids (40%) and the effects from the caffinated GU (50%). So a lot of lessons learned that I will carry forward to my next race, the Three Little Pigs in Smithfield in about 40 days. That will give me more training time to build on. Let's recap the goals

Sub 1:20 - Failed
Sub 1:25 - Got it!
Around 15:00 Swim - Failed
Sub 40:00 Bike - Oh yeah!
Average over 21mph - Like a boss!
Sub 21:00 run - Almost there
Had fun - Of course!

So, there you have it, now I just have to get my photos posted, for all to see. Take care and remember, the legs feed the wolf!

USO Run for the Troops 5k Race Report

Well, this is my last 5k for a while, which means I can sleep in a little on Saturdays, but I am a sucker for running for a cause, so go figure! Luckily this was a local race also, so that would help!

Saturday turning into a busy day with a race in the morning, then went to the Gun Show (not the "Gun Show", a real one), took the wife to the range to fire her new pistol and then dinner and a movie at night (She went to a play with a friend and I went to a movie with the friends son!), so that was a fun day. Well, on to the race report.

We got to the race somewhat early, since it was 15 minutes from my door, so we got there so I could pick up my packet, stretch and all that good stuff. The temps were a bit on the chilly side, right around 39-42*, so a bit cool, so I opted to wear the long sleeve shirt to race in, but it was nice and sunny.

The race was to benefit the USO of North Carolina, which was the first USO ever, and since they do not accept federal funds, they have to take donations, which is an awesome cause, because they do so much for the troops, both home and deployed. But the turnout was really good, with 320 runners and probably twice that walking, so a rather large race for the area. Nice!

Well I wasn't in my comfort zone since I forgot my heart rate strap and sunglasses, so I wasn't all warm and fuzzy, but I would get by. Glad I took my Claritin, because the azaleas, dogwoods and pine were a polinatin' and with out it I would have been a big, snotty mess. But I warmed up and headed to the start / finish line.

Well the line up was interesting, I was sandwiched between a bunch of bunnies (sorry guys, not Playmate bunnies, dudes with bunny ears) and a lady with no pants (she was old and wearing the "Speedo" style bottoms). Well the gun went off and I bolted out with the lead pack of about 20-30 and we cruised thru Fayetteville Tech's campus until we got to the first turn, which the leaders (about 15-18) went straight and I was in third (briefly!) until the lead pack figured it out. The lack of direction and course marking was going to be a reoccuring theme, so get ready for it!

I was feeling not bad and keeping within eyesight of the leaders on the winding roads near the campus and hung tough when someone passed me, I would get back with them immediately. I was moving well and not feeling too bad. I saw the leaders pass the waterpoint / turn around point (it was briefed at the pre-race) but I guess the volunteers didn't know to tell folks to turn around, and the two leaders blazed by them and most everyone turned at the waterpoint as the leaders came running back. Well, at least we know that there were no more surprises on the way back!
At around mile 2 1/2, I was getting a bit tired and lost my focus for a bit, but quickly regained it and kept motoring on. I figured that I was going to make my final push at the last turn (about 1/2 mile to the finish) until I passed the 3 mile mark. I really got confused then. So I went a bit early, and figured that the course was mismarked a bit, so I eased up to save that last match for the kick at the end.

I slowly rolled on the steam after the corner and passed a few more folks, but couldn't catch that last guy in front of me (he ended up being the 1st place in my age group), but I hit stop on my watch and looked at the time, 23:22, and thought, "Wow, I thought I was faster than that!", then looked at the distance, which was 3.54 miles. Whoops, just a little long there! A bunch of the guys that finished in front of me were bitching and complaining, but I looked at the map before the race and knew the turns, and even knew the turnaround point (race briefing), so even though the race was longer than advertised, they had all the information about the race, if they had paid attention. But oh well, I ran my race.

I jogged over to the port-o-lets and then back by the vendors, MuscleMax and the Spa, who was giving massages (which of course I took!) and then waited for the results (20th overall, and 2nd in my AG, by 5 seconds) and collected my medal and thanked the volunteers (USO, Purolator Employees, and the Red Cross) and headed out.

So not too bad of a race, just a little long, but like they say, everyone had to run the same distance. Guess I am not going to race until the end of the month at the Riverwood Sprint Triathlon in Clayton, so I can work on training and getting my ride and swim up to par now. But all is well! Take care everyone and I'll post a weekly workout list later today!

Raleigh Run the Ridge 5k Race Report

Well not sure what happened to the heat, but this weekend was REALLY cold, but that didn't stop me from racing this weekend. I ran the Run the Ridge 5K with a friend of mine, Kindra Arthur and it was for a great cause, the Pretty in Pink foundation, which supports cancer patients by paying their hospital bills if they can't afford it with insurance. I love good causes and I think this one ranks right up there. Well I got up early (for a weekend) and drove over to Kindra's house, forgetting my breakfast on the counter, and got there at about 0630, so we could drive up to Raleigh together. Got to meet her pups (which were hyper) and her friend, Wendy, who was on the mend and didn't race. Well we loaded up and got on the road. It didn't take us too long to get up there, but we started to have problems with the GPS and took a few extra turns to get to the race site.

Of course, since I didn't get my breakfast, I had a breakfast burrito and a Slim Jim for my meal, yum! We got there and got out, noting that it was colder here than in Fayetteville, and got our race numbers and chips, I ended up with #13 (not too forbodding or anything!), so we stretched, warmed up and went to the big blue church to worship, and we were ready. One of the locals told us that this course was hilly, beginning with a 1/2 mile up hill stretch and that you were either running up hill or downhill, no flat spots, awesome! Well, that turned out to be true, as I started the race about in 10th or so, and hit the first of many hills, and wow, it too the wind out of a bunch of folks sails. But I powered up the hill and noticed a tiny female ahead of me, so I had my eyes set on her to pick off and she was hanging tough until about the 1 mile mark, where my strength up hill and my body weight downhill overcame her youth, but she was tough to catch and pass. After passing her, I had just two guys ahead of me, so I wanted to keep them in sight and hope to make up some ground on them. But with all the up and down hills, I couldn't close the gap fast enough, even when the guy in second kept looking back for me, I knew he was hurting, but I couldn't quite get there. The best part was the end of the race, with a nice half mile downhill, which was very welcome. I ended up setting a new PR again, with a 20:54 despite all the hills, so I can't wait until I hit some flat roads again, and best yet, got a podium finish (3rd, but they didn't have a podium, sad face). But again, finished 2nd in my age group, so 3rd overall and 2nd in age group, oh well. It was a fun race, and Kindra ended up winning her age group, despite everyone after 6th place took a wrong turn. But the tiny girl that I passed, she was age 12! And the guy behind her was 13! Man, makes you feel old, since their combined ages still don't equal my age! Yikes!

But I talked to her father (who was originnaly from Michigan) and she is getting ready for high school cross country. Me thinks she will do just fine if she runs like that. But the even better part was post-race breakfast at O'Malley's Pub. Some of the best pancakes that I have tasted in a while, yum! And like always, I didn't hurl at the finish line! Yea me! Well guess I have to keep training to keep dropping that time down, but I hate the cold wet weather of spring!