18:46
21st overall
3rd in Age

Ok, this race report is less for the race itself, and much more about the symbolism of the race. Ya see, approximately 26 hours before race start, I got married.

Mistique and I started dating back in April of 2009. Our first date was a race in Flushing, MI where I did the half marathon and Misty did the 5K walk. Since then we have done a few more such events, me doing one of the runs, her the walk. We had decided long ago to have our wedding on June 25, 2010 but only a month before I mentioned to her that there was a local race the next day. She was totally OK with it, so we signed up.

The wedding itself was at 6am Friday with just immediate family. The ceremony was only 4.5 min long, and the sunrise and weather were absolutely perfect. The reception was at the house that afternoon. So our race eve dinner was our wedding reception, so the food was really good. By 9:30 we had cleaned up and sent everyone away to start our honeymoon. A 6am wakeup is not was most people get the day after their wedding, but hey, we were trying to be different and we had a race to get to.

At the reception, we had t-shirts that said ‘Just Married’ on them and we asked people to sign them.  It was these shirts that we wore during the race. Having had a few beers the night before and little sleep the week before the race, I was totally surprised I crossed the 1 mile mark in 5:40. I managed to hang on to that pace for another 1000m, and then I started to slow. I was tickled with my sub 19 min finish. 3rd place in my age group got me a nice engraved glass cup.

Without my knowledge, Misty had contacted the race director and asked them to specially engrave a set of finishers medals for us. He found me right after I finished and showed me the medals and told me we would get them when my wife finished. As with other races I do with her, I ran the course backwards as a cool down until I met up with her and then walked with her until the finish. As promised, the race director made an announcement about us to all there and gave us our medals. We were then interviewed by the local paper, the resulting story given below. I consider this our official wedding announcement since we didn’t formally send anything to the paper. The race was an awesome end to the wedding festiovites and start to our honeymoon.

Here is to many more such races and a long and happy life together! I love you Mistique!!

18:52
6/282 overall
2/14 Division

I know, I know. What’s a guy who just last month ran 101 miles in 20 hours doing running a local 5K? Well, it’s because I need the speed work. Truly. In the last 6+ months I have been focusing on getting my mileage up to consistently over 100 miles per week. That involves day after day of 10-15 mile runs at a comfortable pace, usually around 7:30-7:40ish. I have never liked speedwork (usually defined as something like half mile repeats) even when I was racing 5Ks in my younger days. And now that I am an ultramarathoner, I really hate them. But, if I want to be competitive, no matter what the distance, sometimes I need to get my leg turnover going. I should do tempo runs as part of my training, but I just don’t like them. So I needed to register for a short race (5K for me is considered short) to force me to run fast. I am mentally weak when it comes to races, but I do get ‘up’ for them, so I decided to sign up for this one.

Jackson has a good choice of local shorter races (about 1/month), but amazingly I am usually out of town (doing marathons) or busy on those race weekends so when I can do them, I try to. I have been doing runs with a former student/ JCC cross country runner, Joel, and it was he who convinced me to enter the race. Sure, what the heck I said, I need the speedwork. I found him at the race and a few other former cross country runners and we did a ~2mile warmup, I did my stretching, etc. Ya know, what real runners do. This race has one wrinkle, the start time. Most road races are on the weekend starting at 7-9 am. This race is held every year on a Friday night at 7 pm. Pre-race preparation is always weird because it is so different with the night start. I did my best.

My bride-to-be Misty was in town for the weekend and she joined me, her doing the 5K walk. This was the 4th event we have done together, and it reminds me each time of one of the many reasons why I love her as much as I do, she supports my running addiction with her own passion for fitness. We are planning on doing another joint event the day after our wedding, officially starting our honeymoon. That says a lot, I think.

The race started and I ran with Joel for the first mile, coming in at exactly 6 min. I felt pretty good, but knew I could not hold that pace for much longer. Mile 2 was at about 6:10, and mile 3 a little slower. I ended up beating Joel, which made me feel good since he is a one of the better CC runners at JCC. After I finished, I grabbed a sub sandwich (from Southside Super Deli, yum!) and hid it (I thought they would run out quickly) and then did a cool down going backwards on the course to catch Misty. Once I found her, I walked with her the rest of the way. We grabbed her a sandwich and headed home after another good race.

What was really great about this race is that it shook off a lot of rust. It had been literally months since I ran at 6 min pace and it had a noticeable effect starting the next day. Instead of doing my 10-12 mile runs at 7:40 pace, I was doing them at 7:10 and feeling great. My speediness only lasted about a week, but it was enough to convince me that I need to do more of these, just for the workout.

One last point. No matter what I seem to do, I finish in the top ~5% of every race I enter, no matter what the distance. From 5K’s to 24 hour ultramarathons and every distance in between. I don’t seem to be really awesome in any of them, just pretty darn good at all. Considering I just got back into this sport for health reasons and not for competitive reasons, I am pretty happy with that fact.

Clear Lake, MI
28:50
7th overall (out of ~35)
   Ok, I have run 62 races in the modern era, and this one will be one of the most memorable. Yes, you see that right, a 28:50 for a 5K. Well, they admit it is a bit long. Just so you know, the winning time was 24:30. This week I was thinking about looking for a race to run this weekend just for fun. I kept forgetting until 9 am this morning when I checked and found this race that was 20 minutes away and was to begin at 10 am. The description from www.RunMichigan.com made me jump at the oppurtunity:
“Probably the toughest 5K you have ever attempted. Roughly 4 loops of what locals call “the switchbacks”. Dirt, rocks, uphill, poor footing predominately on tight, terrible trails. Hopefully icy, slippery, and/or drift-covered. Also- the course is probably long. The loops cover a section of the Waterloo trail system, and on Green Road, a little-traveled chunk of hills and dirt. Basically, it is the stuff that would make a Mule puke.”
  There is a summer version of this race, held July 30th at high noon. You can probably guess why. This is a fundraiser of sorts for the local HS running club, and 80% of the runners were between the ages of 15 and 19. There were just a handful of us old people.

The cost was a $5 bill. No check, no technology based payment. No pre-registration, no age awards. You got an award if you finished the race without ever walking, which was only half of us. (A nice little keychain) The hill was pretty bad, but the footing was terrible. There was 10″ of snow that was NOT packed down, even after the whole crew had run over it a bunch of times. You could not get a full stride, so it was just plain akward all the way around. The course was 3.5 times aroud a loop that was about a mile long. We started at the bottom most point of the loop and yes, finished at the highest point of the loop, doing the hill 4 times. Oh yeah, the temperature was 9 degrees with a windchill close to zero.
  I treated it as a hill workout, and yes, it was hard not walking. Each loop getting slower and on that short section that was on plowed gravel road, I took my sweet time catching my breath. 
  Exactly 90 minutes after I knew this race existed, I had finished it. The spontineity of the whole thing I think added to the enjoyment of it. It was such a blur, it almost feels like a dream. Good thing I took a picture, which by the way is with my new phone. 1000 times better than my other one, just compare the shot for this race to my last one, just 2 weeks ago.

Portland, MI
20:24 (Hey! It was freaking cold!)
9th place overall (out of 180)
3rd in age (out of ~12)

  A 5k? What the heck? This was the first run (not even training!) in the last 3 weeks and only my second run of any sort in the last 5 weeks. Ya see, I have been nursing my shin splints and knee issues for a while now and this was the first (short) test of my recovery. I knew I was breaking a 14 month streak of running a marathon every month, but I am going to keep the consecutive month ‘races’ streak going. The Portland Winter Run is a fun race, this being my 3rd time running it (2006 and 2007). They have some awesome homemade chili afterward, and is the only race I know that also has Krispy Kreme donuts for after race food. Yum!
  I did a 2 mile warm up, no problem, no pain (nothin’!!) then started the race, with my first mile in 6 minutes flat. Not my fastest, obviously, but did I mention I was running in 8 degree weather with 20 mph winds (wind chill -15) on half an inch of fresh snow? Yeah, that slowed us all down.
  At mile 2.5 into the race (4.5 miles of running) my LEFT knee started giving me (familiar) grief. The good news was that I have been icing my right knee (always the worser of the two) and right shin for weeks now. Those two things gave me no pain at all. Soooo, the experimental scientist in me says ‘Great! Ice your left knee for a few weeks and you might be all better, back ready for longer distances.’
  So that is the plan for now. Keep on the elyptical (or short runs) and ice left knee for 2 weeks, then do an 8 mile test run. Yeah!!
  Oh, so I got 3rd in my age, but had I been 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, or 40-44 I would have won my age group. What is up with my age division being the speedy ones?

Jackson, MI
18:45 (6:02/mile)

Ok, so this is not a formal race (no t-shirts or anything like that, not even numbers) but I raced against a bunch of people and got an official place and time, so I am going to do a race report.

Lumen Christi is local Catholic High School with a long tradition of athletic excellence in this town. 31 years ago, the varisty cross country runners challenged the alumni (as a collective) to a race. The alumni accepted and proceeded to beat the varsity team by 3 points. The next year the varsity challenged them again, and they lost again, but by only 1 point. Interestingly, that year the Lumen Christi Cross Country team went on to win the state championship.

Granted, I am not an alumni of Lumen Chisti, but the rules are pretty lose, meaning anyone can show up and run as honorary alumni. Having some of my Cross Country students being alumni, I decided I would run it. Once I made my decision, of course, my head coach, Brian Olsen ran it as well. Sure enough he beat me. Again. For the 5th or 6th time, I lost to him in a head to head competition, and he is 47 years old.

It has been a while since I raced such a short distance and it was wierd. I went out pretty fast (first mile split 5:45) but I never train for this distance so I have no idea how to race it. I just go out strong and try to hang on.

Stef and Salacia came to cheer me on and instead of bringing a camera trying to take an action shot of me, Salacia had my little digital video camera and took short videos of me each of the 4 times I passed her by. It is cool because then I can extract still images, and (for the first time!) I have a very short (7 second) video.

It was a fun race, even if not a formal one. A nice little jaunt halfway in between two marathons

Jackson, MI
47:47 (15:23/mi)
83rd overall (out of 101)
1st in age (out of 1)

Yes, that is rather slow for me for a 5K, I admit. My girlfriend was in town for the weekend and she is trying to get into shape. I promised her that if she did the 5K walk, that I would walk with her. She said yes and I kept my promise. I still got a race shirt, number and even won my age group (ok, I was the only male, age 35-39) so it counts as a competition, so it goes in the blog.

It was about 40 degrees and there was a light drizzle in the air all race, but it was fun. Stef was a hoot, getting into the comeptition with occasional ‘lets catch that old woman in front of us’ type of statements.

She did great for her first competition. She was a little sore afterwards, but I think she enjoyed the experience. Now that she has one under her belt, she might do some more. At many of the Jackson area races there is a 5K walk to go with the run. I might walk again with her or do the run and come back after I am done to walk the rest of the way with her as a cool down. We’ll see what happens.

As with every other race, this one will be memorable.

East Lansing, MI
17:28* (5:37/mi)
10th overall (out of 460)
2nd in age (out of 13)
Official Results

     Well I should be excited, because this the fastest 5K I have ever run in my life. The course got changed at the last minute due to some flooding along the original course and was apperently a little short. According to some other runners in my vicinity, we decided it was probably about 10-15 seconds short. Of course, my time was exactly 12 seconds UNDER my all time 5K PR. Argh.

      The race began near the east end of the MSU campus and ran along the Grand River. A gorgeous Saturday morning with the temeprature ~35 degrees. Along the river were many morning walker who actually looked a little annoyed that 450+ people were going to run/walk by them.

      This was a fund riaser for the Tower Guard organization which helps visually imparied students on campus. Hence there were a whole lot of college students entered in the race, mostly walkers.

      A nice, non-descript light and fluffy race for a brisk spring Saturday morning. I get to enjoy this one for only a little bit, for I race again tommorow.

Jackson, MI
17:58 (5:47/mi)
4th overall (out of 112)

        Here, 6 days after my ‘jog’ of the Miami marathon, I had a nice local 5K to tackle. Being 2 weeks away from a PR attempt in Ft. Lauderdale is a good time to race a 5K. I did a 2 mile warmup and treated the race as a 3.1 mile tempo run. I did my 12.5 distance run for the week 2 days ago and did 6 miles yesterday. I guess, all things considered, a 17:58 is a pretty darn good time.
       This race was way better than the 2007 version and better than the 2006 version, both of which had horrible weather. This year the temperature was in the mid 20’s with light winds. The only problem was a patchy spots of snow and ice.
       The winner of last year’s race was there again, and he took off like a shot. I was in the rare place of being with the front peloton (we let the leader take off) from the beginning. There was a group of 5 of us that pulled away from the rest of the pack, then at about mile 1.5 it was just three of us. We hung together until about mile 2.5 at which I drifted back, very satisfied with my 4th place finish. Remember, I don’t train for 5K’s (not at all) and I treat them as speed workouts. I hate doing speed workouts, so I kill several birds with one stone when I enter these short races. T-shirts, cheap age group awards, etc. I have no interest to race any distance in between, actually. It’s either a marathon or a 5K. That’s about it. 
       The age group awards last year were lame, a cheapo plastic computer mouse pad with the race logo on it. This year, it was even lamer, a sweatband (for your wrist) with the race logo on it. At least the t-shirt is nice.
       The race was part of the ’step into health’ mini expo put on by the local Center for Family Health and had a bunch of kids stuff during the afternoon after the race. My daughter was not with me for the race but I picked her up soon after and we went back to the expo. While in line for face painting, the woman behind me in line said ‘you look familiar’. She didn’t look familiar to me at all. After a few sort of weird questions, it turns out she knows me because she has read this silly running blog. Yes, you read that right, she is reading my running blog. That makes me feel a little goofy, as I thought my Aunt Nancy and myself were the only ones who read this silly thing. Now I feel all self conscious. Maybe I should try to be more exciting in what I write…

Tamarac, Fl
18:16 (5:53/mile)
30th place overall (out of 1198)
2nd in age (out of 55)
Official results

 5K races are not normally this big, but for some reason, Thanksgiving day races are. Last year at the Berbee Derby there were over 1200 runners. All those people wanting to work out their turkey-laden meals beforehand I guess.
     In the winter time, many people from the Midwest move to southern Florida because the weather is so beautiful (these people are called snowbirds) Today was a perfect demonstration of why they do such a thing. At race start the temperature was a fantastic 70 degrees with light winds and partly cloudy skies. A wonderful day to be alive and enjoying mother nature. Just as the weather begins to turn cold back home in Michigan, it gets nice in Florida.
     Running a 5K 4 days after a 3:07 marathon, well that might be a little crazy. But I just could not resist the urge to race in southern Florida because people here run so slow. My legs were still a little sore from the marathon and I could feel it. The race started and there were (what seemed like) zillions of people in front of me including little kids. I thought I was going really slow because of that, but it felt fast, but then again, I was trying not to push it to hard because of my sore legs. When I passed the 1 mile mark at 5:43, I knew that it was not that I was running slow, but that this was a really large field, so there would people in front of me. 30th place out of 1198 is pretty darn good, especially right after a marathon. I was supposed to get a medal for my second place finish but apparently, something screwed up, and they were not there. They are going to send it to me later, I guess.
    Had I not ran Harpeth Hills 4 days ago, I know I would have broken 18 minutes for sure. I am realizing that I am getting (relatively) faster still as I continue to run 50+ miles a week. Ok, so that might seem like a no-brainer to you, but I still love the fact that I am getting faster. I guess that is why I race as often as I can. You cannot believe how happy it makes me to do so well. I feel the most alive right after a race, no matter what the distance or my time. The endorphins coursing through my blood just fill me with such joy.

18:40 (6:01/mile)
2nd overall (out of ~48)

I love small time races. I was back in my home town of Madison, WI for the weekend and wanted to run with my nephew again in a road race. This was the 1st Annual Suzy Favor Hamilton Walk/Run to benefit Capital Candlelighters, a local group raising money for children’s cancer research. Now, Suzy Favor Hamilton is a local hero from my home town, just 4 years older than I (but MUCH more accomplished) and is also a babe and a half (in my eyes) and always has been.

She is such a babe that she put out her own calendar in 1997 that included pictures like these:
      My niece and my daughter figured out early how excited I was to meet her and gave me the appropriate amount of ribbing for it.
        She was there in the beginning set of announcements and wished us all well. On the ‘walk’ to the start line she led the crowd and I asked her how fast she was planning on running (Her all time best 5K time is 15:06, mine is 17:40) and she said she was going to run with a friend somewhere around 22:00. I said ‘Oh well, I will meet you at the finish, telling her I was shooting for 18:00.
        Light rain and 50 degrees was our starting conditions. The track was wet, but still fast. The weather probably kept the ‘race day’ registrations down. That and it being the 1st annual.
       The race began and I convinced my nephew to start out slow (as well as myself) and then pick up the pace at the 0.5 mile part. That was smart, as I got into my rhythm early and did not feel tired at all during the race. Since it was such a small race, (less than 50 finishers) my time was good enough to finish in second place. Which, for the first (and should be the last) time ever in my life I finished ‘in the money’. Yes, you read that right. I won $50 for my second place finish. Well, this was a fund raiser for children’s cancer, and my only ‘donation’ was my entry fee, so I decided to give my prize money back to the organization as a donation, but I wanted to get a little out of it. I walked up to Suzy (right after the race) and told her that I was willing to give my $50 prize money back as a donation if she would A) sign my nephew’s and my racing bibs and B) let us take a picture of her with us at the finish line.

       Her first response was ‘Oh, how about a signed glossy photo and a copy of my book?’ I said, well, sure, I guess so. The family and I went to breakfast at the local McDonalds and then we came back for the awards ceremony. Two very cool things happened when I got up on stage to be recognized as the second place finisher. I leaned over to the nice lady who was writing the checks to the winners and as she started to write my name I stopped her and said ‘I am donating the $50 back to the organization, so if you just want to save time and energy, just don’t write the check’. She looked at me like she was about to cry, she was so surprised I said such a thing. Suzy was right there and said (again) how great of a thing I had just done and then she asked me what my shoe size was. I told her and she then said that she was going to send me a pair of Nike running shoes (her sponsor) but it would be several weeks before I got them. As I was leaving the stage she gave me a huge hug and a nice big kiss on the cheek.
      Sometimes, it pays to be a nice guy. In this case, it paid me in spades. I have to say this is one of the most memorable races in my entire running career.