My ballroom dance instructor, a dear friend who is like an adopted grandmother to me, is battling cancer for the third time. She’s quite worried and frightened. Prayers for physical healing and emotional/spiritual strength are appreciated.
My training has been going really well lately. On Wednesday, I did twelve 400 meter repeats. I did the first eleven in 2:00 each and the last in 1:20(!). Yesterday, I ran a very hilly course in Frick Park about 10.5K long in 51:00, a ~7:51 pace, which is faster than the 54:00 (8:43 pace) I ran in the Great Race 10K!
I think a really big help I had in both training runs was the 2006 Camelbak Catalyst 28 Oz Hydration Pack
I’m really glad I bought a hydration pak and heartily recommend it to any aspiring distance runners. Just don’t make the mistake I made by ordering from BikeSomewhere.com. I don’t want to trash the company here, but if you want to know the crap I went through, just drop me a line. [muttering]!@#$ing morons…[/muttering]
A couple years ago I sang tenor in the Cardinal Wright Oratory Choir. The choir was disbanded when the Oratorians stopped using Heinz Chapel for Sunday masses. Before we broke up, though, we recorded several of our best songs for a CD. Unfortunately, the guy that did the recording, mixing, mastering, etc. has been dragging his feet about finishing up. Thankfully, I’ve acquired recordings of two of the songs. Enjoy. 🙂
Sometimes it's good when the weather forecast is wrong. For the past couple days, forecasters had been calling for thunderstorms during the Great Race. The most we actually got was a drizzle and some stiff wind. The downside of that was intense humidity, which tends to suck the life out of me. Dropping the towel I'd brought to wipe my sweat at the very beginning of the race was a little frustrating given the humidity.
Despite the less than ideal weather, I have nothing to be disappointed about. I finished in 54:02.28 (8:43 pace) according to my watch (54:01, officially) – 1885/4128 finishers, 181/267 men 25-29. My mile splits were as follows.
The section I need to work hardest on next year is mile 4. There's no good reason for me to be running that slow downhill. My goal for next year is average 8:30/mile or better.
BTW, a funny thing happened on the way to the starting line. A van pulled up next to the sidewalk I was on and honked. The driver wanted to know if I could guide his son to the starting line. I agreed. As we walked I asked him a little about how far he runs, how fast, etc. He's a 16-year-old cross-country runner who'd never raced farther than 5K. He said his 5K times are typically around 19-20 minutes. I knew then he'd be kicking my butt in this race. 😉 And boy oh boy did he. He finished in 44:04 Congratulations, kid. 🙂
On Saturday I ran in the 2nd Annual Run Shadyside 5K. I beat my previous best 5K by 2:30! My new PR (according to my stopwatch) is 24:30 (24:36, officially). Perhaps a sub-55:00 Great Race 10K is within reach after all. 🙂 I placed 154/371 overall and 29/37 among 25-29 males.
Update 09/20/06: One of my running buddies from WPTC (who finished fifth in this race) measured the course with a calibrated measuring wheel and found it to be only 3 miles long, rather than 3.1. That means my pace was actually 8:10 and I would have run a full 5K in 25:19. I didn't break 25 minutes after all (which was my goal). This sucks. 🙁