Racing to Read 5k
June 4, Covington, KY
When I figured out that I wasn't leaving for the FCR Specialty until Sunday morning, I realized I could fit a 5k race in that weekend. Of the half-dozen or so races scheduled in the Greater Cincinnati area for that day, this one sounded like the best combination of close-to-home and good amenities. The web site promised a relatively flat course, technical race shirt, and a pancake breakfast---all for $20. What a deal!
Performance shirt from Brooks
The race is a benefit for the Kenton County Library to promote early childhood literacy efforts. The start and finish was outside Gateway Community College in Covington, across the street from the Covington library. There was free parking in the garage next to Gateway.
My GPS led me astray enroute to the race, but I still arrived in plenty of time to pick up my shirt, get a good warm up in, and scope out the competition. I recognized one woman who used to be fast but whom I haven't seen racing in awhile. There was a pretty good crowd, but it seemed like most of the people doing it were not the regular 5k race crowd. Well, with the number of other races taking place at the same time, I guess that was not too surprising. Maybe they were all at some other race that was more generous with the hardware.
The race shirt was nothing too exciting: white with a blue logo on the front in a tech fabric. Still, it's nice to get a technical shirt. Lots of people were wearing them for the race :-). They were also selling shirts from last year's race for $3.
Finished my warm up and took a spot in the middle of the pack, ahead of two guys who said their goal was to beat the Two Men and a Truck mascot. Those black tights did look hot!
It was a warm morning but the streets of Covington are pleasantly shady. I liked the course. It WAS fairly flat. Some slight changes in elevation along the way, but not bad at all.
Who Are These People and Can I Beat Them?
For the first half of the race, I found myself "competing" with a woman in gray, and another woman who was running with a German Shorthaired Pointer. The woman in gray looked like she might be in my age group, or a bit younger. GSP woman was definitely younger. Woman in Gray would pull ahead on the "uphills" but fall behind on the "downhills." I was going to let her go, when she inexplicably faded.
My goal was something in the low 26s, or about an 8:30 pace. Hit the first mile in 8:28. Normally I like the first mile to be significantly under my goal pace, so this could have been a little disheartening, but I just told myself, "right on pace," which is a very positive thought to have.
The GSP and his "handler" looked strong. I would not have minded running this race with Ed, but it was much too warm for him. The GSP seemed to be handling it okay, though. That is, until we got to about the halfway mark, down a slight hill towards the river. Here I noticed that the GSP was walking down the hill, so the woman attached to his leash had to do the same. I don't know if the heat got him or if it was her, or what, but that was the point where I left them behind. And that is why I was not running this race with my dog!
There was a water station at the bottom of this "hill" and I would have liked a cup, but the volunteers were not moving fast enough and there was actually nothing set out. I did not want to wait for them to pour me some, so I just kept running. It was getting hot, and the river looked tempting also, but I resisted the urge to bail on the race and jump in.
Mile 2 took me 8:35. That was a little over my goal pace, but close enough that I did not feel bad about it. I tried to focus. I started my countdown: 9 more minutes, 8 more minutes, 7 more minutes...
I got a little over-excited in here somewhere and almost puked, but managed to recover.
And before too long we were back on the road that led to the finish line. I kicked and passed a couple of people. Mile 3 was 8:27 and it was 48 seconds for the last .1. I did not kick hard enough to throw up. Official time was 26:13, which is 8:27 pace. Yay!
Too Late for Pancakes
I was not ready for pancakes. I walked around, got some water, went to my car to get my change of clothes, decided to go into the bathroom to change rather than the car, etc. By the time I came back out, I was hungry for the pancakes but now there a huge long line stretching around the block. I needed to get home to walk the dogs, so no pancakes for me. Bummer. There were some cool door prizes from the sponsors too, but oh well. I might have stayed if I really thought I had a chance at an age group award, but with the number of people entered it was hard to tell.
In the results, I was 4 of 10 in my age group, 17 of 145 women (not too shabby) and 72 of 279 runners. There were also 123 walkers, and a stroller division with awards to the top 3 men and top 3 women who competed pushing strollers.
Overall, this was a nice community event. I loved the course, and the atmosphere. I will return to this one again. Hopefully with time to stay for pancakes.
French Park Creek Crossings, 3.4 mile trail race
June 12, 9 am
This is another race in the Dirt Days trail series. I did this one last year and I think it was my favorite in the series. French Park is only a couple of miles from my house, but I had never been there before I did this race last year. It is a lovely park, and the trails are less challenging than those in some of the other races.
Sunday morning was a little cooler than the previous few days and a bit overcast. For me, having just returned from 100 degree heat in Maryland, it felt wonderful. I left the house a little after 8 am, and got a good parking spot in the lot near the start/finish area. Picked up my number and sat in the car for a few minutes reading a book.
I remembered that the race started with the long downhill on the grass, so I included that in my 10-minute warm up. I felt really good during the warm up. I was tired from my week at the FCR Specialty and all the driving, but physically it was shaping up to be a good day.
Back at the starting area, chatted for a few minutes with Andy Jones. Andy is (still) the world record holder for 100 miles on the roads. He is not as fast as he used to be but he's still fast.
I looked around at the other women and tried to count them up. For the Dirty Dozen placements, all that matters is how high up you place. So if there are not many women there, it might be okay even if I finish last. What's important is that there are not too many women ahead of me. In this case, it is better to finish last in a small race versus mid-pack in a large race.
My age group nemesis, Brenda W., did not seem to be in attendance.
Last year, I took it deliberately easy in this race. This time I was going to put more effort into it. And being familiar with the course sure didn't hurt, either. I did manage to get lost for a bit in the second half of the race last year, and that probably cost me a little time.
Basically, you run down the hill on the grass (a quarter mile or so, maybe more), then you hit the trails. It's a lot flatter than the Ault Park and Mt. Airy Forest races. The creek crossings don't come into play until the last mile or so. There's an uphill climb to the finish but nothing as bad as in the other races.
As we ran down the hill, it seemed to me like everybody passed me immediately. But looking at the results, that can't be true. Once we hit the trails, I may have passed a couple of people, and been passed by a couple of others, but mostly I just maintained the same position---which was a little further ahead than I thought.
While it was a relatively cool morning, it didn't take me long to heat up, and I was looking forward to splashing in the creek.
The trails were mostly dry, with just a couple of slick spots. This was a big improvement from last month in Mt. Airy!
Dry trails + creek crossings = clean trail shoes!
No Mercy for the Young
During much of the race, I was exchanging places with a tall, young, skinny girl in red. She had a very heavy footstrike for someone who looked so lithe. In the second half of the race, we came out of the woods into a little clearing where there was a water station set up. Skinny Girl got there ahead of me and stopped to run in place at the spot where we returned to the woods. I guess she was waiting for someone. I found this to be just a little irritating.
I knew at this point we were more than half done with the race but I did not know how much there was to go. Kept trading places with Skinny Girl. I was wishing she would just take off, or give up, so it would be settled one way or the other because I was tired of listening to her feet slapping the ground.
And then we hit the first creek crossing. Seems like Skinny Girl did not want to get her feet wet. So I could pick up a few paces on her as she carefully stepped around the shallow edges and I just plowed right through the middle. And she was getting wet anyway, because I was making a big splash. Too bad, Skinny Girl, but we are racing!
So I would overtake her each time we crossed the creek, and then she would pass me again a little later.
Finally, we were running along the bank of the creek, and I remembered Bob Roncker saying that when we got to that point, we only had about 3/4s of a mile or so to go. So I knew when we crossed the creek for the last time and headed up the wooden steps on the other side, there wasn't a whole lot left. I think Skinny Girl was still ahead of me at that point. I heard a volunteer yelling to the woman behind me that "you can catch her" and I don't know if he meant catch me or catch Skinny Girl (who was maybe her daughter or sister?) but it made me mad and I thought, no way you are catching me, whomever you are.
When we came out of the woods, it was just a short run uphill on grass to the finish. I caught Skinny Girl at the top of the steps (where she again seemed to have stopped) and I kicked hard, finishing three seconds ahead of her. It's a race! And I had to stay ahead of every woman that I could. So what if it is a 13 year old girl? And her mother?
I was really happy with my finish time of 36:07, which was more than six minutes faster than last year. I drank some sports drink and water and ate a banana and hung around for the awards. In addition to the top three men and women, they also give out awards to the 10 fastest age-graded times. I couldn't remember if that was ten fastest men and ten fastest women or just ten fastest period. If they separated the women and the men, I thought I might have a shot. The prize was a pair of sports socks. Alas, they did not, so I went home empty handed.
In the results, I was 15 of 44 women and 71 of 119 runners, which was much better than last year. I was also 5th woman based on my age-graded time. This was probably my best performance yet in one of these trail races.
Next trail race is the East Fork Backpack run on July 17, but I'll probably manage to work a few other road races in before that.
