Tag Archives: race

2007 Brentwood Firecracker 5K

On July 4th, I volunteered for and ran in my first Brentwood Firecracker 5K. It was very well organized, especially considering how large it was (~1300 runners). Registration went smoothly, the race started on time, there was plenty of food (and beer!), and the door prizes were well worth sticking around for. Kudos to race director (and West Penn Track Club secretary Janice Boyko).

I finished 36/74 in my class and 462/1319 overall with a time of 25:24 (8:11 pace). I have high hopes of finishing this year’s Run Shadyside in under 25:00. I have plenty of time to train and the Shadyside course is a lot flatter (and therefore easier) than this was.

2007 Us Too Fathers’ Day 10K

Well, this year’s Us Too Fathers’ Day 10K wasn’t entirely as bad as last year’s (which, BTW, seems worse in hindsight than it did at the time). It wasn’t great, either.

Pros:

  • It was a lot cooler than last year.
  • The walkers started at different time and didn’t collide with the runners.
  • I finished 4:12 faster than last year.

Cons:

  • There were only 2.5 water stations. That .5 is for a stop where bottled water was handed out. Who the hell wants/needs bottled water during a 10K?!
  • The 5K and 10K runners started at the same time. Consequently, the starting line and the first mile of the course were ridiculously crowded. The course is just too narrow to accommodate both races.

I finished 14/23 in my class and 178/321 overall with a time of 54:17 (8:44 pace). My good buddy Kevin crossed at the same time as me, which is pretty impressive since this was his first 10K ever. Also, congratulations are deserved by fellow West Penn Track Club members Larry Van Dyke and Carl Hubel, who finished fifth and eighth, respectively.

2007 Race for the Cure 5K

Yesterday, I ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K. I finished in 25:34 (8:15 pace). I placed 531/2236 overall and 61/134 in my class. That’s not my best 5K time to date, but it’s a lot better than my time at last year’s Race for the Cure. I finished that in 27:30 and by the end of the season I was about 2:15 faster, so I’m hoping I can shave another 2+ minutes off at this year’s Run Shadyside.

BTW, this was my last race in the 20-29 and 25-29 brackets. After May 29, I’ll be in the 30-39 and 30-34 classes. 🙂

2007 Run With HAART 5K

On April 21, I ran the Run With Haart 5K in Schenley Park. I’d have posted an entry about it sooner, but the results only recently appeared on the web. Anyhow, I finished in 26:18 (8:29 pace); I placed 69/155 overall and 28/42 in my age/sex class. It certainly wasn’t my best 5K performance to date, but considering I didn’t train for it and drank 4 beers and a glass of wine the night before, I can’t complain. 😉

2007 Just a Short Run Half Marathon

On March 31, I ran the 7th annual Just a Short Run in North Park. My goals weren’t lofty since I’m more interested in my performance at this year’s Ikea half marathon. I wanted to run at faster than a 10:00 pace and finish without walking at all. I’m pleased to say that I achieved both goals. 🙂 I finished in 2:07:53 (9:45 pace), 429/636 overall and 41/46 males 25-29.

Not all went well, though. At about mile 11, which is where I started walking for a while at the Ikea, I hit a wall. It was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. I dropped from the 9:30-ish pace I’d been running to close to 11:00. I felt there was a possibly I’d pass out – a rather unpleasant feeling. I didn’t start walking, though. In fact, I still managed to tap into reserves to sprint the last 100 meters or so. I was really beat at the end, but within a few minutes felt pretty good, perhaps due to endorphins kicking in. By about an hour after the race, though my feet were killing me. They really hurt like hell, forcing me to walk like a feeble old man. Walking was quite painful for a few days, but thankfully the pain went away. I suspect I had developed peroneal tendonitis as a result of switching insoles.

My goal for this year’s Ikea is to finish with an average pace of 9:30 and not bonk. I paced myself this time using my heart monitor. I maintained an average heart rate of 90% (85% by the Karvonen formula), and until mile 11 that seemed to work out quite well. I’m hoping that with good training my heart rate will drop and my overall fitness will improve sufficiently to make that heart rate correspond to a faster pace.

P.S. I used my iPod. What are you going to do about it? 😛