I went out with Kelly and our 1.5 year old Dingo Delilah for a 5k on the CSU campus today. This is a race put on by the CSU Veterinary DVM class of 2014, and pets are encouraged to run with owners. Proceeds go to the Veterinary teaching hospital community assistance fund. This fund helps families in need pay for vet care at the hospital...So a fantastic cause in my book.
It just so happens that Jenn Malmberg (Classmate of Kelly's in the Vet program) was the Race Director for this race. Jenn and her husband Sam are very fast runners who I met at the race I organized earlier this month. In fact, Jenn took 3rd overall Female at the Horsetooth Half Marathon last weekend and Sam routinely podiums at every race I see him run.
It was snowing lightly with temps in the high 30's at race time. In line to pick up our race packet I spotted Nick Clark, a local Ultra Runner who ran our 5k a few weeks back. Nick is a very talented runner who also has an awesome running blog you should follow. Click Here for Nick's Blog. I said hi to him and congratulated him on his 3rd place finish at the American River 50 mile Ultra race a couple weeks ago in California. He said he was running with his dog today and I got the impression this was just a fun morning out for him.
Anyway, enough name dropping....here's my race report...
I had a goal of sub 25 minutes and a secondary goal of of pacing under 8 minute miles for the entire course. I had never seen 7:xx's as an average in a race but I felt good today. I started out quick for me and hit mile 1 at 7:40. I did not think I could hold that pace so I settled down and tried to coast for the second mile. I hit mile 2 at 15:50 so I knew I was right on pace for my goal and I just tried to hold on for the last mile plus. Right around this point in the race I realized that I had never actually run a stand alone 5k race before so I did not have a well thought out strategy except for running as fast as I could without passing out.
This "strategy" almost came back to bite me as I felt awful coming down the stretch. I knew I had 25 minutes beat and I was close to the 7:xx's goal as well, but I really thought I was going to puke coming to the finish line. I had images in my head of how funny it would be to see a middle aged dude throw up at a fun run, so I eased off just a tad and crossed the line in 24:48. Good enough for both goals....a 7:58/mile average!
Feeling pretty good about myself for not losing my breakfast, I cooled off and watched Kelly come in at 28:30...a great time for her as she is even newer to running than me and has been hurt lately so has not trained much. She beat her 5k PR by over 3 minutes! She is a natural and if she starts training more she will be faster than me by next year, so I'm enjoying beating her while I can.
We watched our friend and Kelly's classmate Alexis come in for her first 5k finish and then checked out the expo and went home. A great morning and a great race. A bonus: our Dingo was on her best behavior and only snapped at 1 dog the whole time!
Official Results
Pics to come...
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Colorado Marathon Here I Come! (And I saved money on my car insurance...)
I got a call Friday from Steve at the Fort Collins Geico office telling me I had won a free entry into the Colorado Marathon next weekend!!! I'm very excited about this, as the race has been closed since December and I really wanted a shot at the downhill/flat course after last weekend's suffering in the hills at the Horsetooth Half Marathon.
As I was sitting at work last Monday lamenting my disappointment at my HT time, I got an email from the Colorado Marathon folks telling everyone on their email list how to enter for a free sponsor entry. One option was to go to Whole Foods and enter a drawing. Another was to go get a rate quote at Geico and get entered in another drawing. I actually did both. At Geico I sat down with Melissa Maliki and she got us better coverage than we had with Progressive for $25 less a month. AND I got entered into the drawing. So feeling lucky, I started planning out how I'd run the CO course. Friday came and bingo....I won one of the 2 entries!
The CO Marathon has a full marathon, half, 10k and 5k. I am not trained for a full so I entered the Half. Now the pressure is on, since I've been telling everyone who would listen that I can break 2 hours on a flat course. It will be my second Half Marathon, and I'll keep you posted on the results.
Email Melissa @ Geico for a quote!
As I was sitting at work last Monday lamenting my disappointment at my HT time, I got an email from the Colorado Marathon folks telling everyone on their email list how to enter for a free sponsor entry. One option was to go to Whole Foods and enter a drawing. Another was to go get a rate quote at Geico and get entered in another drawing. I actually did both. At Geico I sat down with Melissa Maliki and she got us better coverage than we had with Progressive for $25 less a month. AND I got entered into the drawing. So feeling lucky, I started planning out how I'd run the CO course. Friday came and bingo....I won one of the 2 entries!
The CO Marathon has a full marathon, half, 10k and 5k. I am not trained for a full so I entered the Half. Now the pressure is on, since I've been telling everyone who would listen that I can break 2 hours on a flat course. It will be my second Half Marathon, and I'll keep you posted on the results.
Email Melissa @ Geico for a quote!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Horsetooth Half Marathon
Last weekend I ran the 2011 Horsetooth Half Marathon. Here's my race report:
Preface: 18 months ago I started running and this is my first race over 10k. I'm 6'1" 200lbs and I need to drop another 10-15lbs.
This is a brutal course. Most say it's one of the hardest road half marathons in the US. So it made perfect sense to me that I should make it my FIRST race at this distance right?
I had run parts of it in training and really thought I had a shot at 2 hours, but that did not happen today. Maybe on a flat/sea level course that would be a goal, but it turned out to be unrealistic today.
SEE THE COURSE ELEVATION PROFILE
The race started off on the street south of CSU's Hughes Stadium. The course is all up hill for @ 2 miles and I did it in 19:50. Way too fast, as my training runs on this section were 22 mins. it's a 6.4% grade for a mile then a small flat, then 9.2% grade for the second mile. I got caught up in the adrenaline and crowd and went too fast.
The next 2-3 miles were mostly downhill then a 6% grade up for less than a mile. At the top of this hill I was feeling good and I bombed downhill for the next couple miles where I met my undoing on mile 7. It's a 3/4 mile uphill called Bingham Hill and I started the shuffle up this one. At the top I did not recover like on the last 3 hills and felt terrible coming down. I knew there was one more small up for a 1/4 mile then all flat last 5 miles to the finish.
I just never got back in a groove after the last hill and shuffled/jogged/ran for the last 5 miles except for walking the 2 aid stations. I started enjoying the group I was with and knew my 2 hour goal was gone, so I was in the 2:10-2:13 area and just had fun on the way in. There was a great crowd for the last mile and they helped!
The finish line was a welcome site with New Belgium Beer (Race ends at the brewery!) and an awesome live band (Musketeer Gripweed). I had 2 Fat Tires, ate some BBQ and went home.
I've been running 5 times a week since last fall and am probably in great shape for a good 10k PR. I did a couple 9-10 milers leading up to this race but I mostly run on the river, so most of my training has been on the flats. I need some consistent hill work and more distance runs to really get where I can be on this half which is probably in the 1:5xx's.
Also need to strategize better, which hopefully comes with experience.
All in all, this was a very well run event with a fantastic party at the finish. I heard complaints about not having more aid stations, but I thought it was fine...water and HEED were available every 3 miles or so. This was the 38th year for this race- it's a great course, a hard course and a CO running legend. I can't wait to get out and run a flat half to see what I can do time wise. I feel like running this one will give me a lot of confidence for the summer, and I am really looking forward to running it again next year.
PICTURES (MORE TO COME!)
Official Time: 2:13:51 (13.1 miles)
Preface: 18 months ago I started running and this is my first race over 10k. I'm 6'1" 200lbs and I need to drop another 10-15lbs.
This is a brutal course. Most say it's one of the hardest road half marathons in the US. So it made perfect sense to me that I should make it my FIRST race at this distance right?
I had run parts of it in training and really thought I had a shot at 2 hours, but that did not happen today. Maybe on a flat/sea level course that would be a goal, but it turned out to be unrealistic today.
SEE THE COURSE ELEVATION PROFILE
The race started off on the street south of CSU's Hughes Stadium. The course is all up hill for @ 2 miles and I did it in 19:50. Way too fast, as my training runs on this section were 22 mins. it's a 6.4% grade for a mile then a small flat, then 9.2% grade for the second mile. I got caught up in the adrenaline and crowd and went too fast.
The next 2-3 miles were mostly downhill then a 6% grade up for less than a mile. At the top of this hill I was feeling good and I bombed downhill for the next couple miles where I met my undoing on mile 7. It's a 3/4 mile uphill called Bingham Hill and I started the shuffle up this one. At the top I did not recover like on the last 3 hills and felt terrible coming down. I knew there was one more small up for a 1/4 mile then all flat last 5 miles to the finish.
I just never got back in a groove after the last hill and shuffled/jogged/ran for the last 5 miles except for walking the 2 aid stations. I started enjoying the group I was with and knew my 2 hour goal was gone, so I was in the 2:10-2:13 area and just had fun on the way in. There was a great crowd for the last mile and they helped!
The finish line was a welcome site with New Belgium Beer (Race ends at the brewery!) and an awesome live band (Musketeer Gripweed). I had 2 Fat Tires, ate some BBQ and went home.
I've been running 5 times a week since last fall and am probably in great shape for a good 10k PR. I did a couple 9-10 milers leading up to this race but I mostly run on the river, so most of my training has been on the flats. I need some consistent hill work and more distance runs to really get where I can be on this half which is probably in the 1:5xx's.
Also need to strategize better, which hopefully comes with experience.
All in all, this was a very well run event with a fantastic party at the finish. I heard complaints about not having more aid stations, but I thought it was fine...water and HEED were available every 3 miles or so. This was the 38th year for this race- it's a great course, a hard course and a CO running legend. I can't wait to get out and run a flat half to see what I can do time wise. I feel like running this one will give me a lot of confidence for the summer, and I am really looking forward to running it again next year.
PICTURES (MORE TO COME!)
Official Time: 2:13:51 (13.1 miles)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Hello
Hi, my name is John and I live in Fort Collins, CO.
I just started running 18 months ago and it's become one of my favorite things to do. I'll admit that it took some time getting used to, but now I can't imagine my life without it. I'm not fast, but I'm improving.
I've only run a handful of races, but I love watching my times get better and my distances get longer.
I'll be posting my thoughts on running from a novice/beginner perspective as well as race reports here.
I hope to see you out on the trails and roads!
I just started running 18 months ago and it's become one of my favorite things to do. I'll admit that it took some time getting used to, but now I can't imagine my life without it. I'm not fast, but I'm improving.
I've only run a handful of races, but I love watching my times get better and my distances get longer.
I'll be posting my thoughts on running from a novice/beginner perspective as well as race reports here.
I hope to see you out on the trails and roads!
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