Leading Ladies Marathon, August 21

I ran this race back in August but have not made time to write about it until now. I took copious handwritten notes while I was there---did not have a laptop with me---with lots of detail about the trip, including the people I sat next to on the flights and what I ate for every single meal. But I will skip most of that stuff in this report. In fact, I won’t even go back and look at those notes right now. I’ll just see how much I can remember off the top of my head.

The Leading Ladies Marathon is an all-woman race in Spearfish, South Dakota. The race director, Elaine Doll-Dunn, is a Maniac and a 50-Stater and married to Jerry Dunn (race director of a few other races in similar places). I was looking forward to a small but well-executed event, by runners and for runners, and this race did not disappoint.

OTOH, I was a little worried about feeling awkwardly out of place, as I often do whenever surrounded by large groups of women who already know each other or who are really into the female bonding thing. I had hoped that my daughter and sister would be accompanying me to this race, but it did not work out. So I was travelling alone, and I really am a loner at heart, anyway. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to Spearfish. There were plenty of other women there by themselves. I was not made to feel weird at all.

How I Got There
From Cincinnati, I flew into Rapid City, SD via Minneapolis on Delta. I rented a car from Dollar (best price, offsite pickup but there was a shuttle driven by a friendly elder gentleman), and the car rental place was a Subaru dealer, so it was all good. I enjoyed my weekend of driving in my cute little Subaru sedan.

Where I Stayed
I stayed at the Holiday Inn Convention Center hotel in Spearfish, which was the race hotel. The pasta dinner and expo were at this hotel, and the bus to the start line departed from there. Had I known the area better, I might have stayed at one of the places across the street, which I suspect were cheaper---it would have been no big deal to walk up the hill and across the parking lot to catch the bus. There’s also a Best Western (I think that is what it was) in downtown Spearfish that is probably close to the finish line, and if not there is plenty of parking to drop a car at the finish and pick up the bus (which made a stop there) to the start. Holiday Inn was over-priced, but at least I got Priority Club points.

Tourist Attractions
I flew in Friday morning and walked around Mt. Rushmore before driving up to Spearfish. It was ridiculously cold and I didn't have quite the right clothes. Fortunately for me it warmed up a bit by race day.

Friday evening, I had dinner in downtown Spearfish and walked around some. Saturday morning, I had breakfast at Perkins across the street from the hotel, and then wandered the grounds of the historic D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery (in the park near the finish line of the race). Had lunch at a little coffee shop.

Sunday, post-race, I had lunch at a sports bar downtown, then walked around the High Plains Western Heritage Center. Had a chocolate milk shake at Culvers (a chain restaurant across from my hotel). Ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was decent but I wish I had gone there for lunch instead.

On Monday, I drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial before dropping off the rental car. In retrospect, I should have done that on Friday, also, because I only had an hour there on Monday.

Changed My Mind
So I went back and read this over and who am I kidding? Of course, if you are reading this, you want to know about the food. Maybe you don't need to read about the woman who sat next to me on the first flight who wiped down the entire seat cushion with an anitbacterial cloth before sitting down, or the guy on the second flight who had just returned from Alaska, but you do want to read about the food.

So here is more detail about the food:
Between flights in Minneapolis, I had a breakfast sandwich from Caribou Coffee. I was trying to eat healthy, so I had the egg white, cheese and spinach on a wheat bun. Kind of bland. I would not recommend it. And I'm not sure the egg white even makes up for the cheese.

Friday night dinner in downtown Spearfish: Ate at a somewhat overpriced place called the Bay Leaf Cafe. Food was just ok. Ambiance was of a slightly rundown 70s cafe, trying to be gourmet. I know, it is probably somebody's dream I am stomping on here. I had a cup of clam chowder, herb-crusted walleye, and a chocolate mint cheesecake (that last part was a little better than okay). Ordered a glass of wine that was terrible. Served in the wrong type of glass, and did not go well with the walleye. Actually could not finish it. Also, flies buzzing around in the restaurant that I had to fight off. Gross.

Saturday morning: Two cups of coffee in the room before showering. Perkins was Perkins. I had three pancakes with butter and syrup (you have to pick your poisons), 2 poached eggs, fruit instead of hash browns (ate some of it), OJ and more coffee.

Lunch at Common Ground coffee shop. Had smoked salmon cream cheese on a bagel. Read article in local magazine about how owner catches salmon in Alaska over the summer, and that was the salmon in my cream cheese.

Pasta dinner is covered below.

Race morning: two cups of coffee and half a Bobo's Oat Bar.

Post-race: Disappointed (as is mostly the case) in the variety of food at the finish line, and there is no one there to bring me a turkey sandwich. Good thing I got a ride back to the hotel swiftly. Back downtown, I had a burger at a sports bar, the name of which escapes me but that is where the waitress tipped me off to the shakes at Culvers, which I hit later that afternoon.

Dinner at the hotel restaurant. Surprisingly good. Had salmon with an orange butter glaze, incredible cheddar smashed potatoes (would like the recipe for those), and turkey wild rice cream soup (too rich for an appetizer, didn't finish it), and a Ranger IPA draft.

Breakfast on Monday morning: Coffee shop in the WalMart plaze across from the hotel. Nice ambiance inside but the coffee was weak and the bagel was a fluffy roll.

Try to eat "lunch" in the lone sitdown restaurant in the Rapid City airport, but there is just one overworked waitress for all the customers, so after 15 minutes I gave up and had a grilled chicken salad from the carryout place by the gate.

Where I Buy My Souvenirs
Race expo and packet pickup: This was surprisingly good for such a small event. There were a couple of local running stores represented, and they had brought an interesting assortment of products. I bought some stuff, including a running skirt, a couple of tops with running-related designs, and some spicy beef jerky. I also bought a cheap wine glass with the race logo hand painted on it, mostly because I felt sorry for the person selling them as there did not appear to be many takers. The race shirt is a short sleeved white performance top in a woman’s cut. It feels kind of itchy but I haven’t tested it out yet. The half-marathon shirt was in black, which I would have preferred.

Entertainment
Guest speaker: Pre-dinner. Better than expected. Helene Neville is a cancer survivor who ran across America last year. To be a little different and make it more challenging, she took a southern route (CA to FL) in the summer. She showed us slides and talked about the experiences she had on her trip.

I'll admit, I was not expecting much from her talk. I thought it was going to be just another story about some cancer survivor who ran across the country. Ho hum. But it was better than that. Helene was very real and refreshing, funny and sweet. I enjoyed her talk very much. Helene did not seem to be a very experienced motivational speaker (despite what her web site says!), but we were a gentle and welcoming audience, and receptive to her story. Maybe what helped make her presentation compelling was precisely the fact that she does not think of herself as very extraordinary. She is just a regular person who decided to try to do some extreme things.

Helene is a nurse, and her mission is to inspire other nurses to be healthy---to eat better and exercise. She does charity/fundraising work for a Catholic elementary school in the Philadelphia inner city. Her next adventure will be to run 300 miles non-stop, at the end of which she will be announcing her candidacy for the Senate, from Nevada, if I am remembering correctly. Note to self, get her book. Helene was not running in the race, but I remember seeing her volunteering at an aid station somewhere past the halfway mark.

Pasta Dinner
As I expected, the food was decent since we were in a hotel. Rigatoni in plain and whole wheat, spinach linguini, alfredo and meatball sauces, and rigatoni in a veggie cream sauce. And chocolate brownies. (I confess I had to go back to my notes for this part).

Dinner company better than expected. I sat at a table with five other women: Ruth from NYC (by way of Dayton, OH), Debbie from Columbus, OH, and another woman from Rapid City (but by way of Ashland, OH) so we were joking that we were the Ohio table, until we were joined by a couple of women from Oregon. We had some good conversations about the races we had done. The Oregon women were 50-Staters/Maniacs. Ruth was run-walking a marathon a month. She was not a 50-Stater yet, but she had multiple completions in NY and was working on doing it enough times to get a permanent automatic entry.

Debbie was doing just her second marathon and hoping to BQ after a 4:08 last year in Columbus. She said her workouts all indicated that she was just on the cusp, and she had a lot of people back home who were pulling for her. I asked if she had done her Yasso 800s and she didn’t know what I was talking about. The woman from Ashland was going to do the full as her first marathon, but had chickened out and switched to the half. She had just returned to the US from S. Korea with her husband, who is in the military, and they have a young child.

Bus Ride to the Start
I was down in the lobby at 3:45 am to catch the bus, which departed at 4. Yikes! But at least with the time change, it was two hours later for me. I saw next to a woman from the Denver, CO area. We were a little quiet at first but soon started chatting. She had done seven or eight marathons before, mostly in Colorado. She recommended Steamtown as the one for me to do in CO. Like Debbie from dinner, she was hoping for a BQ, but I thought she had a little more realistic idea about it than Debbie did.

At the Start
I hit the portapotty line right away, then took a couple of pictures. It was not too cool at the start, so I went with just my ratty old blue anorak over a technical tee. It was bright enough for my sunglasses, even at 6 am. I had not been crazy about the long ride to the start plus the wait outside once we got there, but I survived. It was not raining. I felt good. The altitude did not seem to be bothering me and I had no niggling aches. My goal was just to finish in under 5 hours, in relative comfort.

The Race Itself
The race begins with a little downhill jog, and then we were on a dirt/gravel road uphill for most of the first mile. People were commenting on how the race was supposed to be downhill, but I just thought that I was used to being lied to by race directors, so what else was new? I was hoping there would not be so much gravel, though!

Fortunately, we were soon on regular asphalt. The race was mostly downhill, but with enough breaks and changes in the cant of the road that you didn’t get fatigue from over use of specific muscles.

I ran most of the race alone, but almost always with other women in sight. Had a little conversation around mile six or so with a woman from New Jersey, who was breathing hard and complaining about the altitude just before she left me in the dust. She had run Boston four times, and she was further along the 50-State odyssey than am I, and she happily shared these facts with me. Is that a New Jersey thing? She appeared to be of Ethiopian heritage, so I decided that would explain how easily she could pass me despite her problems with the altitude.

I felt solidly mid-pack, not a bad place to be. The scenery was beautiful. I carried a camera but did not stop to take pics (except of the Elvis impersonator near the halfway mark). I was going to take pics if things started going really bad, but since I was running pretty well I didn’t want to stop.

I kept a pretty steady effort, slowing down a little in the second half but not dramatically so. Crossed the finish in 4:36:26 chip time, which put me 10 of 31 in my age group and 69 of 155 overall. My time was about what I expected, and it wasn't too much of a struggle. So once again I am left wondering what would happen if I actually trained properly.

I enjoyed this race and my weekend in South Dakota. I would highly recommend this race to any woman who appreciates a small but well-organized marathon in a scenic locale. It's a race that I would go back to again and again if I lived near there, but I don't, so I won't.

Warrior Run 5K

I wanted to race one more 5k before my marathon next weekend. At last week’s race, I was not completely confident that the course was accurately measured, and I know I lost some time when I stopped to mess around with my race number. I’ve been feeling pretty good lately and I wanted to see just what kind of speed I really have.

The Warrior Run, in its second year, is a fundraiser for the suicide prevention program at Children’s Hospital Medical Center (“Surviving the Teens”). The race was created by the friends and family of Jim Miller, who was a runner and active member of the community before his death from suicide in 2008. You can read about Jim Miller here. You can read a newspaper article about last year’s race here.

I picked this race out of the available options for a number of reasons---it was for a good cause, close to home, they said there would be food afterwards, the timing Saturday night would enable me to still get a long run in on Sunday, and I am familiar with the course. It is run almost entirely through pleasant residential streets in the village of Mariemont. And it also helped that when I looked at the results, the times from last year were not that competitive, so I figured I had a chance at another moment of glory. I wanted to finish in the top ten women and win my age group.

Also, I had a fair amount of confidence that the race director for this one would put together an accurately measured course.

All of these things turned out to be true, except this year, the field was a bit more competitive.

Picked up my bib number at The Running Spot on Friday afternoon. The shirt is included. It’s orange, which is okay with me. Cheerful. The volunteer told me they were using chip timing but we had to pick up our chips up at the start.

Red Wine & Gin are Not a Race-Ready Combo
Friday night I made steak for dinner (which seemed to necessitate sharing a bottle of Shiraz). Prior to dinner, it just felt right to celebrate one of the last warm evenings of the season with a gin & tonic on the patio. I should have known better.

I just can’t drink that much anymore, and it is always a bad idea for me to mix gin and red wine in the same evening. I didn’t feel that bad Saturday morning, but by afternoon I was dragging. Had to take a nap. Had to have three cups of coffee. And a cup of tea. Really wasn’t in the mood to race but went over anyway.

Parking was recommended at Mariemont High School, but that is a mile away from the start/finish of the race. I need a mile warm up anyway but I didn’t want to walk that far afterwards. They did have a shuttle bus, but I didn’t want to deal with that. Fortunately, it was no problem finding a spot in the lot behind the Dilly Café/Mariemont Inn, only about a quarter mile from the start.

The race start and finish was on Pleasant St. (remember, I said it was a pleasant neighborhood) next to the Bell Tower Park. There were lots of kids and families gathered in the park, hanging out by the playground. Booths were set up offering the promised food items, including pizza, chili, ice cream, baked goods, and fruit cups. I liked what I saw. I didn’t think I would be very hungry after the race but maybe some ice cream.

After attaching my chip to my left shoe, I stopped at the portapotties. My mouth felt dry, so I grabbed a bottle of water from a cooler and headed out for my warm up. I wondered if I really needed to get any warmer. It was much warmer out than last weekend. I felt crappy but I made myself do a mile anyway. I jogged down the street and saw where the one mile marker was positioned. Good to know that there would be mile markers at this one. I passed by an aid station where the volunteer asked me if the race had started already. No, not for another 20 minutes, I told her.

I did some strides. I still felt yucky. I was thinking that maybe if my first mile was over 9 minutes I would just drop out. I was thinking that if it looked like I was not going to break 25 minutes, I would not cross the finish line. I was thinking maybe it was a stupid idea to be doing this race a week before the Hartford Marathon.

I finished the bottle of water. I made another stop at the portapotties, and took my place behind the start line. We were packed in tight on Pleasant St. I tried to find a spot close to the front and ahead of any obvious walker-types. The walkers are supposed to start after the runners but sometimes they don’t get the message, or maybe they don’t realize that they are walkers until the rest of us start running.

I saw a woman whom I thought might have been my age group competitor, Cyndi K., but I was not completely sure. Otherwise I didn’t see anybody there I knew.

And then we were off, and I discovered that I had not entirely succeeded in getting ahead of the walkers, because I had to elbow a couple of women aside right away. After that it was crowded, but moving at the right pace. We headed out onto Rt. 50 for a few blocks, before turning back into the neighborhood for the remainder of the race. I was passed by one woman who looked like she was in my age group, but I caught up to and overtook another couple of possible rivals before the first half mile.

I felt bad. I did not know if it was because I was running fast, or if it was just because I was still hung over. I remind myself about how I am trying to stop giving in to that desire to quit, in running and in many other parts of life. And dropping out really is not in the spirit of the day.

I hit the first mile marker in 7:47. It was comforting to realize that I felt bad because I was actually running what for me is a fairly fast pace.

Now I knew that I was not going to drop out. I told myself, 16, 17 more minutes, you’ll be done. You can handle that, right?

Picked up a cup of water at the aid station and swished some around my mouth. Walked for just a few paces. Halfway into the race and I was no longer thinking about feeling hung over. I was just racing. Mile two was 8:09. Okay, a bit slower, but maybe there is a slight incline here and also I did lose a few seconds at the aid station.

In 5ks, I always start counting down the minutes until I will be done after I start the last mile. So now I was telling myself, eight or nine more minutes and I would be done. You can do this for eight more minutes, I told myself.

As we approached the three mile mark and the turn for home, I noticed a couple of women that I remembered from the start, who might have been in my age group. I didn’t think I could catch them, but when we turned the corner it seemed like they were slowing down.

I kicked and passed those two women (and a few men) and almost caught one other, crossing the finish line in 24:29 official time. I had the last mile as 7:52 on my watch, and 40 seconds for the last bit.  I was out of breath but I did not throw up. Yay for me.

I was quite pleased with my time, which was about the same as last weekend on a much cooler day. Hangover was gone. I felt fabulous. I love racing!

I walked around for a bit, and then decided to have a little ice cream. And a brownie. Incredible brownie. I went back to the dessert booth to inquire about the caterer who had made the brownies. I was still walking around stuffing my face with brownies and ice cream when Cyndi K. came over and introduced herself to me.

A Little Friendly Competition
She said she thought she had seen me at a few of the trail races, and her name was Cyndi. I had to stop myself from saying her name before she did. I told her I was Monica. We chatted for a bit about how we just do these things for fun, and we really don’t train very hard, and how we just love to get out and run in these different parts of town (that last part is true). Cyndi said that she is really more into triathlons (of course she is). I was surprised that she didn’t know that the Ironman was going on in Kona as we spoke. I told her that I had been watching it streamed live before I left for the race, and the elites were just about halfway through the bike at that point.

“I just love the human interest stories, that’s my favorite part.” said Cyndi.

“Me too,” I said.

Sure we do.

And more like that for a little bit. I was conscious of having chocolate fudge all over my face. I told Cyndi I needed to be heading out, and we said our goodbyes until the next time.

When I tell Tommy this story later, he just has a good laugh about how funny women are! I mean, if Cyndi really doesn’t care that I have beaten her in our last four races, why did she come over to say hello? All out of the blue and at random like that? Tommy asks why we can’t admit that we are competing with each other.

Well, mostly I am competing with myself. But I can’t help but be aware of the others, these people that I see every week and whose names get published along with mine on lists with our respective times next to them. We are racing, after all. We are racing to see how fast we are. But we are also racing to see if we are faster than somebody else.

I went off to look for a napkin. I decided not to stay for the awards, because on the web site they said they were only going one deep in the age groups. I was pretty sure I had beaten Cyndi (note that we did not discuss our finish times or places at all), but I didn’t know who else was there. This particular race director sometimes is a little slow getting the awards going, and I didn’t want to hang around for an hour and not get anything.

Turns out, I was 3 of 13 in the age group, and they did go three deep on the awards. Oh well, I suspect it was not anything I really need to add to my collection. I was 13 of 186 women, and 61 of 237 runners overall. By comparison, last year my time would have easily won the age group and finished in the top ten women. But it was more competitive this year.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable event, and one that I will add to the calendar for the future.

Glenwood Gardens 2011

And now, I will write about the "trail" race I ran on Saturday night, September 17. Glenwood Gardens is a park in the northwest suburbs on Cincinnati. I have never been to this park during the day, but it is supposed to be pretty. It is hard to tell at night!

This was my second time at this event. Because we are running in the dark, and there are no street lights in the park, it helps to wear a headlamp. I purchased one last year just for this race, and I haven't had a reason to use it again since.

Last year I was recovering from bronchitis, and getting ready for the New Hampshire marathon. Still, I ran faster than I expected. So this year, since I have been pretty healthy lately and my training is going well, I was hoping for some significant improvement.

This doesn't really qualify as a true "trail run," even though it is included as part of the Dirt Days trail series. But this is good for me, because I am relatively better on the roads than I am on the trails. The course is mostly flat, but a large part of it is on a gravel path.

And that was the only little hitch in my plans for the evening, because the trail shoes I wanted to wear, the well-cushioned Saucony Xodus 2.0s with the great traction, were missing one of their insoles. The insole disappeared after the last time I wore these shoes, which was to show Zen in conformation outdoors in the rain. I took the insoles out so the shoes could dry, and one of them disappeared. I think Zen got ahold of it and Tommy took it away from her but he doesn't remember what he did with it and she is not telling, either. I have been unable to find a replacement insole that works for this shoe.

So, I put on my more lightweight Salomon trail shoes, which are not very well cushioned and don't have much tread left on them either. The tread is not so important but cushion would be nice. At the last minute, I throw a pair of regular running shoes (Nike Structures) in my bag. When I get to the race, I decide that I am better off wearing the regular shoes, because it is not a real trail race after all, and the extra bit of cushion will protect my feet better on the gravel.

After parking my car, I picked up my bib number and one of the little red flashing lights they want us to wear on our backs to aid with visibility. I hook the light on the back of my cap. After a visit to the rest room, I spend a little time in the car. It is too early for a warmup but I get antsy. So I decide to go out for a little walk around the race course. This gets boring pretty quick so I end up jogging anyway.

I'm not good at map reading, so I didn't spend any time looking at the race map, and I also don't remember a whole lot about the route from last year. I remember that we start on the paved path and run that for at least a half mile or more before we hit the gravel, and that we seem to retrace our steps or repeat a loop somewhere along the way. And that's about it for what I remember.

There are little lights set out to mark the course, but there is no signage anywhere you have to change direction. I jog around for awhile, not sure where I am going, until I start to get nervous that I am going to get lost in the park and miss the start of the race. So I head back towards the sounds of the music, and the light on top of the hill near the parking lot. I make it back in time for another pit stop, and ditch my jacket in the car.

At the start line, I line up a little closer to the front than usual, near some of the women I recognize from the other trail races. People are chatting about their standings in the Dirty Dozen. I am thinking about how my standing is going to improve dramatically after this race. The standings are based on your five best times, and this will be my sixth race, which means that my horrific 70th place from the very first race last March will drop off. Even if I am the very last woman in this race---which isn't going to happen---there are few enough entrants that my placement will be much better.

There is a woman, about my age, whom I have beaten soundly in my last couple of road races. who also does these trail races, but I have never beaten her in a trail race. I'm not 100 percent sure I recognize her, and it is dark out which doesn't help, but I want to try to beat her in this one. I figure since this race is more like a typical road race than a trail run, I have a good shot at that.

From the start, I feel like I am further ahead in the pack than I was last year, and I feel good. There are no mile markers in this race, and I am so unfamiliar with the park, that for most of the race I really have only a vague idea of where I am. I find myself running most of the race with a man and a young girl. The course feels different to me than what I remember from last year, but I don't remember it very clearly and it is also possible that our route is actually different this year. The turns and the areas where the path forks are not especially well-marked. There are supposed to be people out there directing us but there don't seem to be as many people as they need.

So I stick with this guy and the girl and try to turn where they do, assuming that we are following the right path. After awhile they pull away, but fortunately for me at that point the remainder of the route is pretty clear.

A young man and woman (younger than me, anyway) catch up to me. The woman is wearing a Boston Marathon shirt. I ask if they know how much more we have left, and the woman says about a half-mile. I let them pull ahead, even though I could stay ahead of them if I really tried. I guess I am intimidated by her Boston shirt and figure she should be faster than I am.

Soon we are approaching the lights of the finish line. I can see on the clock that my time is much better than last year. I kick and try to see if I can catch BQ woman and her friend, but I run out of real estate. Finish the race in 30:08, which is two and a half minutes faster than last year.

I hear that someone has ordered pizza, so I hang around to get some. After I change into dry clothes, the pizza tastes pretty good to me. I sit on a bench, where I am joined by another woman, and we chat about the trail races in general. We agree that they are a fun change of pace. I say that I am happy that I ran so much faster than last year.

Then it is time for the awards. I do not make the top ten women or the top ten age graded, and I do not win a door prize. That's okay. Later, I find out that I just missed placing. I was 11th woman of 47 (43 of 112 overall), and I was also 11th overall of 112 runners based on age-graded times. That is the best age-graded time I've ever run in one of these "trail" races.

The bummer is that if I had not let that woman in the Boston shirt pass me, I would have placed as 10th woman and 10th age-graded. And won, I think, a pair of socks? Another lesson in not slacking off too soon. I did not have to let that woman pass me, but it just did not seem worth staying ahead of her at the time.

However, I did manage to beat the woman I had never before beaten in a trail race, and by several minutes. So that was pretty cool. Still not sure who she is. I must have been ahead of her almost the whole way, because I didn't really pass anybody after the first quarter mile.

And my 11th place finish does significantly improve my place in the standings, by wiping out that awful 70th place from the first race.

One more trail race to go on October 23, the Stone Steps 27K. I'm hoping to improve on my time from last year at that one, even if I don't manage to finish any further ahead. Last year I was second to last, but it is such a small field of runners I could be faster this year and still be almost last.

Aviator Flight Fest 5k

I did this race on Saturday morning, October 1. After running so well in my last trail race a few weeks ago, I wanted to see what kind of 5k speed I have right now.

This is the first year for this race. There were actually quite a number of races going on last weekend in Cincinnati. Something like 8 or 9 5ks, plus a trail half-marathon up at Caesar's Creek. I would have gone for the trail race, but Tommy was going to be at an all day shooting match and I didn't want to leave the dogs home alone for that long.

I picked this race because they promised technical tops and pancakes afterwards. So it sounded like the best value of the morning 5k races. I might have done the Reggae Run in the park by my house on Saturday night, but that is such a tough course and my chances of making it into the top 50 women to win a coffee mug are not great. I did sign us up for the Reggae Run anyway so we would get race shirts and tickets to the party (which I did attend on my own but that is another story).

The race starts and finishes at Sycamore Junior High (whose team name is "The Aviators"), and follows a loop course over almost entirely residential streets. There is an aerial video of the course here. The only difference in what we ran was that we entered the track in a slightly different place, ran a little over a half lap, and then came up the middle of the field to the 50 yard line for the finish.

Left the house at 7:30 am for the 8:30 race. I'd never been to Sycamore Junior High before. Never had any reason to go there. It is a 1960s era structure in very good repair. Parked in the side lot of the school, and walked through the school to a back parking lot where they were having a fitness festival (to start after the race).

I was able to do my warmup on the track. Pretty nice facility for a junior high, I would say: Turf infield and tartan-type track. It was supposed to be sunny that morning according to the weather forecast from the night before, but instead it was overcast and drizzling. And cold! Temperature in the 40s. I was wearing capri-length tights and a long sleeved shirt, and I added a water-repellant pullover. Kept the pullover on for my warmup.

And here is where I made a crucial mistake. Usually, if I am wearing a jacket during a race, I still pin my race number inside on my shirt. Because I know eventually the jacket is coming off. For some reason, this time, I assume that I am really going to keep that pullover on. Which was ridiculous. In a 5k, where I was going to be really booking it? I seriously thought I was going to finish the race with that pullover on? But for some reason, on this day, I decided to pin my number on the outside of the pullover.

Lined up for pre-race announcements in the parking lot. This went on for awhile, because they wanted to thank every possible person who contributed anything to this first time event. Most runners were wearing the technical top, which was that garish yellow-green color that seems to be popular in race giveaways this year. But it was a pleasant community atmosphere, similar to the Clark 5k from a few weeks ago, although I was assuming there would be some more competitive runners among the young people at Sycamore. I was wrong about that.

We all walked out to the start on Cooper Rd. in front of the school. I lined up pretty close to the front. I didn't see anyone I recognized, and I wondered which of the 8 or 9 other races my regular age group competition had selected this time.

The course is a nice one. It is fairly flat with just some slight rolls along the way---can't even really classify them as hills, but just enough variation to keep the legs from getting fatigued. There were two aid stations, or maybe it was just one aid station that we passed by twice. There is a part of the course where we do retrace our steps.

My only real complaint about the actual race is that, just as in the Clark race, there were no mile markers. I don't understand what is up with this. I know a lot of people are now wearing Garmins or other tracking devices, but still it would be nice to know where the race director thinks the miles begin and end when I am really trying to figure out my pacing.

But it was not too big a deal because at least I had watched the video, and when we were running back towards the school I had a good idea how much race was left.

It was about halfway through the race that I decided to ditch the pullover. Now, what I should have done, if I had been thinking clearly, was simply to remove it and tie it across my waist. There was no real reason that my race number had to be pinned to my front for the entire duration of the race. It is not like there was a photographer out there taking pictures along the way and the only way to identify me would be by my race number.

But no, I decided that I should unpin the number and re-pin it to my shirt. I have done this before without breaking stride but it has been many years. Many years since I have been quite this stupid. So, I try to unpin and re-pin it while running and that doesn't go so well. No blood shed, but I end up having to stop and walk for a bit, during which time I am passed by several people that I had passed easily earlier in the race. I end up with the number pinned very awkwardly to my front, with just the top two pins, before I give up.

I tell myself that after this little rest, I can recover and run faster. I spend the rest of the race chasing down all those people who passed me during my mental lapse. I achieve this, but I still wonder what my time would have been if I had just run properly the entire way.

My finish time on my watch was 24:34, which was my fastest 5k in a number of years, so I was pretty pleased---although without having those mile markers along the way I do find myself wondering about the accuracy of the course. It felt more accurate than the Clark race did, however.

I walked around for a few minutes, drank some Gatorade, and had a pancake with butter and syrup. I figured out that if you roll them up, these post-race pancakes are easy to eat with one hand while standing up! I have learned from my last post-race pancake experience that it is good to get on the pancake line before the bulk of the field has finished the race!

So, two good things: ran a decent time and got to eat a pancake.

I heard them announce that the awards would not take place until 10 am, when the fitness festival was supposed to start. It was only about 9:20 then, so I decided not to stick around. I can understand that they had to wait until most people had finished, and that they wanted to encourage people to stay for the festival, but it was a cold and miserable morning and I needed to get home. Plus I knew they were only going one deep in each age group, so it didn't seem worth hanging around on the off chance that I had won.

So, that is my second complaint about the event: I wish they had started the awards at 9:30 or even 9:45. Then I might have hung around and even visited the fitness festival afterwards. Or, I wish they had posted results as we had finished. If I knew I had won an award, I would have hung around until 10 am to collect it.

When the results were posted online, I found out that I had won my age group after all (1 of 8 in the age group, 8 of 90 women, and 40 of 180 runners overall, not too shabby). They had my time as 24:22, which was 12 seconds faster than my watch. I know that is wrong but I'll take it! I'm pretty sure the placement is right.

Planning to run one more 5k this Saturday night to get one more take on what my current speed is at, before next weekend's marathon, and then starting all over again with some new goals.

I am kind of excited

I have been thinking about making requalifying for Boston my goal for the next year. But I am a bit dismayed by the realization that even if I do manage to run a qualifying time, there is no guarantee to get in due to the increased demand of the last couple of years. The new system they have instituted makes things a bit more fair, but it still will fill as soon as it opens.

I knew about the Gansett Marathon in Rhode Island, that was started a couple of years ago as an alternative for people who were closed out of Boston. It's the Saturday before Boston, and unlike Boston, you absolutely have to run a qualifying time to get in (Boston has spots open for charity runners, celebrities, foreign tourists, what have you---if you want to run Boston that way, you can get in). It's a little race without all the hoopla, or in other words, precisely the kind of thing that I really like best anyway.

But I had assumed the qualifying times were more stringent. I thought everybody had to run under 3:20 orf 3:30 or something like that. Turns out, Gansett has the same standards now as Boston. So that means, 4:00 right now for me until I turn 55, when I get an extra ten minutes. And just like it does for Boston, my April birthday gives me a little bonus in that I can run that 55 year old time while I am still just 53 years old. Even better, it looks like they give you a two-year qualifying window, so I could actually run that 4:10 anytime after next April 21, and I could use it in 2014.

And if I run sub-4:00, I could go sooner.

But the big thing is I feel pretty confident that the way things are going right now, I can get a 4:10 next year. It is nice to know that I can use it for something prestigious, even if I do get closed out of Boston.