Weather conditions for the Battle of the Boulevards 10K in Arlington were not favorable for the spectators but I actually kind of liked it. It was a cool morning and a light rain fell throughout the race. I went back and forth before the race on if I should wear a jacket. My teeth were chattering as I waited for the start so that decided it for me. I had plenty of time to get my NY marathon jacket out of the car since the start was delayed by about 10 minutes.
I ran the inaugural "Boulevards" last year. Until then, I had absolutely no idea how much of an elevation change there is between Rosslyn and Ballston. It's huge! The first 1/3 of the race is all downhill. I remember looking at my watch at the 1 mile mark last year and being shocked by how fast I was moving. The middle section of that course between Arlington National Cemetary and the Potomac levels out but there are no fans there so its pretty boring. What goes down must go up so that last 1/3 of the race feels like you are climbing a mountain...maybe because you are.
I REALLY struggled with the 2nd half of this race last year so I kept telling myself to slow down throughout the first half of this race. I obviously accomplished my goal because I was only in front of a few people at the 5K mark. Barry Goldmeier, our local joggler, passed me just as I got to the turn. Man, I hate it when he passes me. I know he's faster than me but...he's juggling 4 balls for Gosh sake! I really should be able to at least run with him.
The rain had eased at this point and I had warmed up so I, like many other runners, shed my jacket and tied it around my waste. It was time for the uphill climb and I didn't need to sweat anymore than I needed to.
I passed a few people during the 2nd half of the race...always a good sign for me. Unlike last year, I was actually able to run portions of the uphill...though for most of the hill I just tried to walk quickly.
There was a 64 year old gentleman by the name of Mark Farber that passed me at about 2 1/2 miles and that I stayed pretty even with as we approached Ballston. Unfortunately, I let him get a little too far in front of me on the hills and he beat me by 9 seconds. He beat me 8 seconds using teh chip time meaning he and I ran pretty much beside one another for the entire 6.2 miles. Pretty cool.
As we approached the finish a woman by the name of Roya Talezadeh decided she wanted to beat me to the finish. I wasn't going to have any of that so I shifted into another gear. She then found another gear and got ahead of me again. I found some last reserves and accelerated one last time. We both finished with the same clock time (1:21:04). However, my chip time was more than a minute faster than her so I came in 1461st out of 1477 finishers. My chip time was 1:19:39...which was actually faster than last year (though it was much warmer last year). I'm starting to think I might be getting closer to my fitness level from last year.
Notable finishers in this race were:
Steve Crane 31:45 (male winner)
Caroline White 37:49 (female winner)
Michael Wardian 32:41 (extraordinary ultra distance runner)
Jay Jacob Wind 44:41 (former DE marathon winner and great guy)
Lou Shapiro 44:51 (66 years old!)
Karen Young 47:26 (50+ runner)
Jim Scarborough 49:07
Barry Goldmeier 1:16:11 (the joggler)
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The Hills of Cabin John
OK, I wish I could say I didn't know what I was getting myself into with this 5K held by the Montgomery County Road Runners on May 4. Unfortunately, with a race name that includes the words "The Hills", its hard to say that you didn't realize it was going to be a difficult course. I had also run the race a couple of times before so I certainly had no excuse.
The race stats out easy enough. We begin in a parking lot and then take a few turns on a paved pathway. For the real racers in the group, this is where you want to jockey for position because once you are on the trails passing is tight. I held my position near the back of the pack for about 3/4 of a mile. Then we encountered a short but steep billy goat section of the trail complete with exposed roots and rocks. I had an 8 year old boy nipping at my heels at this point so I pulled over and walked down the hill rather gingerly. The last thing I needed to do was rebreak my foot. The kid blew by me on the hill and the remaining trail runners passed me during the next 1/4 mile.
When I have fallen into last place in the past I have always tried to stay in contact with the runner in front of me so I could try to pass them with a kick at the end. That was not to be on this day. The last time I saw the next to last runner was about 1 1/2 miles in and she was several hundred yards in front of me. Then the trail cut back into the woods and I never saw her again until the refreshment stand after the race.
As I came out of the woods and starting making my way to the finish line I told a volunteer that I was last and that his work was done (I always try to do that if I know I'm last). He asked if I was OK. I must have looked like Hell. I struggled through that last 1/4 mile and suffered the indignity of having the race announcer welcome me over the loud speaker as the last runner in the race. :) A time of 44:46 qualified the race as my worst 5K ever. I came in 145th out of ...hm, 145.
Notable finishers in this race were:
Chad Young 17:34 (male winner)
Amy Ferro 22:14 (female winner-only 15 years old!)
Kirk Gordon 24:08 (he's suffering from a groin injury)
Peter Blank 26:06
Dee Nelson 27:49
Shirley Sameshima 28:59
Christina Caravoulias 37:10
Tristan Duelge 38:01 (The 8 year old that passed me. Way to go kid!)
Kate Sugarman 39:22 (The next to last place finisher).
In looking at the results, I'm truly ashamed that I finished in last by more than 5 minutes. I clearly quit out there. A time of 37 or 38 minutes would have been acceptable but not 44 and change. Argh!
The race stats out easy enough. We begin in a parking lot and then take a few turns on a paved pathway. For the real racers in the group, this is where you want to jockey for position because once you are on the trails passing is tight. I held my position near the back of the pack for about 3/4 of a mile. Then we encountered a short but steep billy goat section of the trail complete with exposed roots and rocks. I had an 8 year old boy nipping at my heels at this point so I pulled over and walked down the hill rather gingerly. The last thing I needed to do was rebreak my foot. The kid blew by me on the hill and the remaining trail runners passed me during the next 1/4 mile.
When I have fallen into last place in the past I have always tried to stay in contact with the runner in front of me so I could try to pass them with a kick at the end. That was not to be on this day. The last time I saw the next to last runner was about 1 1/2 miles in and she was several hundred yards in front of me. Then the trail cut back into the woods and I never saw her again until the refreshment stand after the race.
As I came out of the woods and starting making my way to the finish line I told a volunteer that I was last and that his work was done (I always try to do that if I know I'm last). He asked if I was OK. I must have looked like Hell. I struggled through that last 1/4 mile and suffered the indignity of having the race announcer welcome me over the loud speaker as the last runner in the race. :) A time of 44:46 qualified the race as my worst 5K ever. I came in 145th out of ...hm, 145.
Notable finishers in this race were:
Chad Young 17:34 (male winner)
Amy Ferro 22:14 (female winner-only 15 years old!)
Kirk Gordon 24:08 (he's suffering from a groin injury)
Peter Blank 26:06
Dee Nelson 27:49
Shirley Sameshima 28:59
Christina Caravoulias 37:10
Tristan Duelge 38:01 (The 8 year old that passed me. Way to go kid!)
Kate Sugarman 39:22 (The next to last place finisher).
In looking at the results, I'm truly ashamed that I finished in last by more than 5 minutes. I clearly quit out there. A time of 37 or 38 minutes would have been acceptable but not 44 and change. Argh!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Spring 5K
Only two days after the Run for Julia 5K, I was back out ready to take on another 5K. Heck, I had to improve - right? This race was the Spring 5K and encircled Haines Point. As any DC running (or biking) enthusiast knows, courses don't get any flatter than Haines Point unless you are on a track.
Today's race was special as I had 2 co-workers that were also running the race. Michael (Femi) Adeniji was running his first 5K. Nonetheless, I was expecting great things from him since he is an avid biker. He has the lean body of a runner and at 42, is not yet over the hill like a certain blogger I know. :)
Also running from Resources (my company) was Rob Neale. He's 33 and I've seen his times in the Army Ten Miler and Cherry Blossum race so I knew he was fast. I knew I would be pulling up the rear for my company today.
Rob made a strategic error before the race even started. Being a DC resident, he decided he might as well just run to the race. Well, he ended up running about 5 1/4 miles before the race even started and arrived just moments before the start. No PR's for Rob today!
I wished them both well before the start of the race and told Femi to be sure to not start out too fast (always a rookie mistake). I then assumed my usual starting position at the back of the pack.
One of the frustrating things about being a slow runner is that occassionally the water stops are out of water by the time I arrive. Such was the case this day. It's particularly disappointing when you are struggling and you tell yourself "Just make it to the water stop" only to find no water.
The "lack of water stop" was at about the halfway mark. One of my little internal challenges in a 5K race is to pass more runners than runners that pass me during the second half of the race. If I do this it probably means I have run about as good a race as possible.Well, I passed a guy (I think he was Paul Millner) with about a mile to go. We were even with each other for awhile but I passed him for good with about 3/4 of a mile left.
At about the same I passed Millner I also passed a young couple that was also using the run/walk method. With about 300 yards to the finish, they passed me as I was finishing my last walk break. She looked over at me and saw my number, and then they started speeding up their pace as they realized that I was also in the race. Well, I couldn't have that so I put the hammer down and charged to the finish line. I finished in a time of 36:04...nearly 2 minutes faster than my time of just 2 days earlier (hey, you have to take the moral victories where you can get them). The young couple finished together at 36:15. I'm surprised that they were that far back given where I passed them. I must have been moving faster than I thought.
In the end, I finished 56 out of 59 men and 102 out of 111 total finishers. Nothing to write home about but I'll take any improvement at this point.
Notable finishers in this race were:
Kevin McHale (No, not the guy from the NBA) 16:35 (male winner)
Ted Poulos 17:25 (male runner up) The original 50+ guy.
Femi Adeniji 23:04 in his 5K debut - GREAT JOB!!! 22nd among Males
Jon Palks 23:34 A 50+ friend
Rob Neale 27:27 (the run from home took its toll)
Christy Sporidis 19:59 (female winner) Good job breaking 20:00!
Dee Nelson 25:31 (64 and still going strong!)
Today's race was special as I had 2 co-workers that were also running the race. Michael (Femi) Adeniji was running his first 5K. Nonetheless, I was expecting great things from him since he is an avid biker. He has the lean body of a runner and at 42, is not yet over the hill like a certain blogger I know. :)
Also running from Resources (my company) was Rob Neale. He's 33 and I've seen his times in the Army Ten Miler and Cherry Blossum race so I knew he was fast. I knew I would be pulling up the rear for my company today.
Rob made a strategic error before the race even started. Being a DC resident, he decided he might as well just run to the race. Well, he ended up running about 5 1/4 miles before the race even started and arrived just moments before the start. No PR's for Rob today!
I wished them both well before the start of the race and told Femi to be sure to not start out too fast (always a rookie mistake). I then assumed my usual starting position at the back of the pack.
One of the frustrating things about being a slow runner is that occassionally the water stops are out of water by the time I arrive. Such was the case this day. It's particularly disappointing when you are struggling and you tell yourself "Just make it to the water stop" only to find no water.
The "lack of water stop" was at about the halfway mark. One of my little internal challenges in a 5K race is to pass more runners than runners that pass me during the second half of the race. If I do this it probably means I have run about as good a race as possible.Well, I passed a guy (I think he was Paul Millner) with about a mile to go. We were even with each other for awhile but I passed him for good with about 3/4 of a mile left.
At about the same I passed Millner I also passed a young couple that was also using the run/walk method. With about 300 yards to the finish, they passed me as I was finishing my last walk break. She looked over at me and saw my number, and then they started speeding up their pace as they realized that I was also in the race. Well, I couldn't have that so I put the hammer down and charged to the finish line. I finished in a time of 36:04...nearly 2 minutes faster than my time of just 2 days earlier (hey, you have to take the moral victories where you can get them). The young couple finished together at 36:15. I'm surprised that they were that far back given where I passed them. I must have been moving faster than I thought.
In the end, I finished 56 out of 59 men and 102 out of 111 total finishers. Nothing to write home about but I'll take any improvement at this point.
Notable finishers in this race were:
Kevin McHale (No, not the guy from the NBA) 16:35 (male winner)
Ted Poulos 17:25 (male runner up) The original 50+ guy.
Femi Adeniji 23:04 in his 5K debut - GREAT JOB!!! 22nd among Males
Jon Palks 23:34 A 50+ friend
Rob Neale 27:27 (the run from home took its toll)
Christy Sporidis 19:59 (female winner) Good job breaking 20:00!
Dee Nelson 25:31 (64 and still going strong!)
Run for Julia 5K
I'm obviously way behind in my posting as this race took place on April 24. It was my first race after a 7 week layoff due to both my shoulder surgery and a nagging case of bronchitis. I believe I ran 2 or 3 times before the race. Boy, did my lack of training show. But more on that in a moment.
The race was held on a Thursday evening starting in Bluemont Park. I have run on this path several times so I can't complain about any lack of course knowledge. The course is nearly flat and the weather was close to perfect. However, the course is in Arlington and I was driving there from Tysons Corner so I had to deal with quite a bit of traffic getting there. I arrived 2 minutes before the posted start time. I ran to the starting line to sign up only to find that registration was 1/4 mile away! Off I jogged, hoping I dudnt wear myself out just trying to sign up.
It was an expensive race...$30 for late registration but they fortunately had a "no shirt" option for $20. I got through registration quickly and jogged back to the starting line. I didn't need to rush as a friend of "Julia" was speaking about her life as a runner and as a Peace Corp volunteer. She was murdered while serving in the Peace Corp in the Phillipines. Apparently, she was the victim of a robbery gone bad. It sounded like she was a special person.
I've run nearly 350 races over the past few years. While I used to get nervous before the start of every race, for the last few years I haven't felt that nervousness except for races that were 10 miles or longer. Not today though. My stomach was jumping up and down as I knew I wasn't really ready to run a race.
I took off with the slower runners and kept pace with them for the first 3/4 of a mile or so. I had to stop for my first walk break just short of the 1 mile mark. I had a pretty bad stitch in my right side. I walked for 90 seconds and then started running again. Ooops....not yet said my body. I now also had a stitch on my left side. I was forced to walk probably about half of the rest of the race. I would run for about 2 minutes and then walk for 2 minutes. With about 1/2 mile left some spectators yelled out that I was first among the walkers. I had to tell them the truth that I had run some. Oops there went my props. As always, I ran pretty hard for the last quarter mile as I tried to catch S. Jean Stewart, a 65 year old woman that had passed me shortly before the half way point. I started my kick far too late though and she beat me by 14 seconds. My time was a pitiful 37:58. I came in 138th out of 171. At least I set a number that I should be able to beat next time out.
Other runners of note in this race included
Adam Wytko 16:43 (winner)
Diana Tong 21:48 (female winner)
Bill Stahr 20:08
Jim Scarborough 22:40
Bob Platt 22:59
Shirley Sameshima 25:01
Bob Gurtler 31:49 (so much for my winning streak over Bob!)
The race was held on a Thursday evening starting in Bluemont Park. I have run on this path several times so I can't complain about any lack of course knowledge. The course is nearly flat and the weather was close to perfect. However, the course is in Arlington and I was driving there from Tysons Corner so I had to deal with quite a bit of traffic getting there. I arrived 2 minutes before the posted start time. I ran to the starting line to sign up only to find that registration was 1/4 mile away! Off I jogged, hoping I dudnt wear myself out just trying to sign up.
It was an expensive race...$30 for late registration but they fortunately had a "no shirt" option for $20. I got through registration quickly and jogged back to the starting line. I didn't need to rush as a friend of "Julia" was speaking about her life as a runner and as a Peace Corp volunteer. She was murdered while serving in the Peace Corp in the Phillipines. Apparently, she was the victim of a robbery gone bad. It sounded like she was a special person.
I've run nearly 350 races over the past few years. While I used to get nervous before the start of every race, for the last few years I haven't felt that nervousness except for races that were 10 miles or longer. Not today though. My stomach was jumping up and down as I knew I wasn't really ready to run a race.
I took off with the slower runners and kept pace with them for the first 3/4 of a mile or so. I had to stop for my first walk break just short of the 1 mile mark. I had a pretty bad stitch in my right side. I walked for 90 seconds and then started running again. Ooops....not yet said my body. I now also had a stitch on my left side. I was forced to walk probably about half of the rest of the race. I would run for about 2 minutes and then walk for 2 minutes. With about 1/2 mile left some spectators yelled out that I was first among the walkers. I had to tell them the truth that I had run some. Oops there went my props. As always, I ran pretty hard for the last quarter mile as I tried to catch S. Jean Stewart, a 65 year old woman that had passed me shortly before the half way point. I started my kick far too late though and she beat me by 14 seconds. My time was a pitiful 37:58. I came in 138th out of 171. At least I set a number that I should be able to beat next time out.
Other runners of note in this race included
Adam Wytko 16:43 (winner)
Diana Tong 21:48 (female winner)
Bill Stahr 20:08
Jim Scarborough 22:40
Bob Platt 22:59
Shirley Sameshima 25:01
Bob Gurtler 31:49 (so much for my winning streak over Bob!)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
I'm back!!! Again!
While at the DCRRC 1 Hour track run last night, I was reminded by one of the areas most prolific runners, Shirley Sameshima, that I hadn't updated this blog for awhile. I didn't know anyone was actually reading this thing!! Given that news, I need to get focused and catch up. I have run 5 races since my last post. I'll break up the race reports into a few separate blogs but first I want to mention some of the things I have been dealing with during these past few months. I may want to fall back on these as excuses for my terrible times in my subsequent races.
This has truly been a pretty miserable 8 months or so. I had gone for an initial assessment of my stiff right shoulder back in early October 2007. I found myself right back in his office less than a week later with a broken right foot. I fell during the DCRRC predicted time 5 miler. I slipped on some wet leaves about 1.5 miles in. I hobbled my way around the rest of the course since I was on my quest for 100 races for the year. The break was unfortunate in a few ways. First, it came at a time when I was just starting to see a glimpse of the runner I was in 2006. I was finally starting to be able to put in 10 minute miles over longer distances. That was shot when I took a month off of running to rest the foot. Second, the foot never has really healed. I now have a fairly bad case of plantar fasciitis. I also think I have some issues within that ankle. I doesn't bother me much when I run but I can barely walk for a couple of dats after a race. We're going to have to look into that.
Next up was my shoulder. The first diagnosis was a small tear of my rotator cuff. However, after a month of physical therapy that diagnosis was changed to frozen shoulder. I went to physical therapy 3X a week for 4 months but saw little to no improvement. So...it was time for surgery. I went in for surgery on April 10. They knocked me out and then twisted my arm all around so that the adhesions would break. I understand it was pretty loud in the operating room as they tore apart.
I kept the shoulder on ice for most of the next 3 weeks and went to physical therapy every day for 3 weeks. I started seeing improvement immediately. I'm no longer going to physical therapy but I need to continue to stretch that shoulder on my own. I would say I currently have about 90% of my former range of motion back. I'm hoping to get back 100%.
With all of that, I think the thing that has really hurt my running is the case of bronchitis I came down with in March. After antibiotics, cough medicine, vitamins, and nose drops, I'm still not better. My sinuses are a mess (the pollen isn't helping) and I'm having trouble breathing. When I cough it sounds like a mix between a barking dog and a quacking duck. I clearly still have gunk in my lungs. Until I get over this, I don't expect to get close to a 31:00 minute 5K.
Helping out my parents and volunteering for the City of Alexandria's Sister City Committee has also taken time from running. And, of course, work and a 1 hour commute each way doesn't help either.
Anyway, because of all of this my goals for the year are evolving. I'm still planning on running in over 50 races but I don't think I'll be able to average 2 miles of running every day (I'm averaging just less than 1 mile per day as of today). That means I'll need to average about 3 miles per day, or 21 miles per week for the second half of the year. That might not sound like much to people training for a marathon but thats a lot for this old body. We mighr be changing the goal to something more like 500 miles for the year. We'll see how my lungs and foot feel in a few weeks and set a new goal then.
OK, thats it for this report. Subsequent blogs will cover The Hills of Cabin John 5K, The Battle of the Boulevards 10K, the Annandale Atoms 5K, the aforementioned 1 hour track run, and the May 2008 edition of the Tidal Basin 3K. Stay tuned. Oh...and go David Cook!!
This has truly been a pretty miserable 8 months or so. I had gone for an initial assessment of my stiff right shoulder back in early October 2007. I found myself right back in his office less than a week later with a broken right foot. I fell during the DCRRC predicted time 5 miler. I slipped on some wet leaves about 1.5 miles in. I hobbled my way around the rest of the course since I was on my quest for 100 races for the year. The break was unfortunate in a few ways. First, it came at a time when I was just starting to see a glimpse of the runner I was in 2006. I was finally starting to be able to put in 10 minute miles over longer distances. That was shot when I took a month off of running to rest the foot. Second, the foot never has really healed. I now have a fairly bad case of plantar fasciitis. I also think I have some issues within that ankle. I doesn't bother me much when I run but I can barely walk for a couple of dats after a race. We're going to have to look into that.
Next up was my shoulder. The first diagnosis was a small tear of my rotator cuff. However, after a month of physical therapy that diagnosis was changed to frozen shoulder. I went to physical therapy 3X a week for 4 months but saw little to no improvement. So...it was time for surgery. I went in for surgery on April 10. They knocked me out and then twisted my arm all around so that the adhesions would break. I understand it was pretty loud in the operating room as they tore apart.
I kept the shoulder on ice for most of the next 3 weeks and went to physical therapy every day for 3 weeks. I started seeing improvement immediately. I'm no longer going to physical therapy but I need to continue to stretch that shoulder on my own. I would say I currently have about 90% of my former range of motion back. I'm hoping to get back 100%.
With all of that, I think the thing that has really hurt my running is the case of bronchitis I came down with in March. After antibiotics, cough medicine, vitamins, and nose drops, I'm still not better. My sinuses are a mess (the pollen isn't helping) and I'm having trouble breathing. When I cough it sounds like a mix between a barking dog and a quacking duck. I clearly still have gunk in my lungs. Until I get over this, I don't expect to get close to a 31:00 minute 5K.
Helping out my parents and volunteering for the City of Alexandria's Sister City Committee has also taken time from running. And, of course, work and a 1 hour commute each way doesn't help either.
Anyway, because of all of this my goals for the year are evolving. I'm still planning on running in over 50 races but I don't think I'll be able to average 2 miles of running every day (I'm averaging just less than 1 mile per day as of today). That means I'll need to average about 3 miles per day, or 21 miles per week for the second half of the year. That might not sound like much to people training for a marathon but thats a lot for this old body. We mighr be changing the goal to something more like 500 miles for the year. We'll see how my lungs and foot feel in a few weeks and set a new goal then.
OK, thats it for this report. Subsequent blogs will cover The Hills of Cabin John 5K, The Battle of the Boulevards 10K, the Annandale Atoms 5K, the aforementioned 1 hour track run, and the May 2008 edition of the Tidal Basin 3K. Stay tuned. Oh...and go David Cook!!
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