Learning to Walk

I've been spending the past few weeks experimenting with race walking. Well, actually, it is more like fitness walking. It started when Susan and I entered the Kilgour 5k as walkers instead of runners. Susan was going to push Will in the BOB stroller and I was going to walk with her dog, River. We really had no idea what to expect. I thought it would be nice if we could at least break an hour.

Well, the gun went off and we found ourselves racing even though we were walking in the back of the pack. When we saw our time for the first mile was in the 15 minute range and we weren't pushing that hard, we got into it. Despite the hilliness of the course, we finished in about 47:22. I won my age group and Susan placed in hers.

The following weekend we decided to take it more seriously and see how much faster we could go. We entered the Armed Forces 5K in Crescent Springs, KY, which was a new race for us but looked like a good choice. I wasn't sure how fast the course would be because it is a hilly area, and I wasn't sure how we would do in our age groups because the previous years' times looked fairly competitive. But the race was put on by Greg McCormack, and he usually does a decent job.

The course was easier than Kilgour. It was more rolling hills than anything especially steep. The start and finish was in a pretty park with a nice shelter area where we could hang out before and after the race.

Again, Susan had Will in the stroller and I had the dog. We started in the back again, but this time we did not try to stay together. Right away at the start I pulled ahead of Susan. But I knew there was one really fast walker ahead of me, at least---a woman that I saw at the start. She was walking what to me seemed to be amazingly fast, and with seemingly very little effort. But I pressed on, and was rewarded with a time much faster than at Kilgour: 41:05. Susan finished about a minute behind me, also much faster than at Kilgour.

it was indeed a relatively competitive field for walkers. I was only 3 of 6 in my age group, although I was 4 of 21 women and 4 of 30 walkers overall. Susan was 2nd in her age group, 5th woman and 7th overall. Susan was beaten by a 93 year old man!

We decided to keep on with the walking thing and see how fast we could get. I also decided to start "training" a bit. What I began during that next wee was incorporating more fast walking into my regular short runs. Those runs are already so slow, it didn't seem like the walking would make me much slower. And in fact, I found that walking all of the uphill portions of my regular routes gave me a faster time then I have recently gotten "running" the whole way. I've also thought about trying to walk the downhill and run the uphills so I get some practice walking downhill, but I haven't tried that out yet.

The next weekend, we went to the Mariemeont 5k. I was expecting we would be faster still at this race, because there was only one hill  (down at the start and up near the finish) and the rest of the race was flat. We did go a bit faster. My time was 40:41. But it was not as much faster as I had expected.  At this race, Will got a little cranky about half way through and Susan had to feed him before we drove home, and we all got a little cranky. We missed the awards ceremony, even though we were still there while it was taking place, beause we were so busy cranking at each other. We didn't think that we did very well, but later when we looked up the results, we found out that we were the second and third women overall in the race, and we would have gotten $20 and $15 gift cards if we had been present.  From this race, we learned that we really need to get to the races early enough so Susan can feed Will before we start, so he won't start screaming during the race, and we will be able to stay for the awards after.

After the race last weekend, I started doing some research online about race walking technique Because what I have been doing is fitness walking, and I think that formal race walking technique would ultimately be faster. Turns out, the technique is harder to do for any amount of time or distance than the casual observer would imagine. It's that whole keeping the leg straight in front thing. But if you compete on the track at formal, judged race walk events, you can be disqualified for the kind of fitness walking with a bent knee that I am doing.

I tried some during the week to work on my technique on my treadmill workouts. But it's hard. I think maybe it would be good if I had a clinic I could attend where somebody knowledgable could give me advice on my form and on training techniques. In the meantime, I guess I am going to practice a little but mostly what I'll still be doing is fitness walking.

So, finally, this weekend I did a 5k walk by myself. Susan and Will are out of town, so if I was going to race I had to do it alone. I could have brought River along, but I wanted to see if I could go faster without the dog. With River, I can't pump my arms efficiently, and I use up some injury restraining her and also trying to keep her from reacting to other dogs we may see during the race. Plus I have to actually stop at the aid stations so she can drink some water out of a cup, or at least I feel that I have to offer it to her.

I was not as much faster without River as I expected, but I am still just learning the game, and the course I ran on yesterday was also not dead flat so it doesn't reflect my true potential. Or so I am telling myself.

The race I did was June in Olde Williamsburg. This was my second time at the race. I did the 10k there a couple of years ago. It is a very nice community event, also put on my Greg McCormack. Although it is a small field, many of the competitors approach it fairly seriously. it is a mix of high school and college runners, parents of younger children and the children, and some old geezer types who were formerly fast. I knew to expect to face Nancy Z. In the race walk. She's a nice lady whom I have known for years through the running clubs I used to be a member of.

When I arrived at in Williamsburg, I was feeling bad about not bringing River, because the weather was relatively cool and overcast, with just a touch of rain even, and I could have done it with her. She loves it so.

I decided to go for a little warm up jog. Even though I was going to walk the race, I did a jog for my warmup. Instead of my usual mile, I only went about a half mile. Then I hung out and stretched a little while I waited. I said hello to Nancy and chatted her up a bit. When I told her I was walking she asked me if I was injured. I explained about how I had been trying out this race walking thing. And from the somewhat determined attempt she made to make it sound like it was no big deal and we were all out there together and we were just competing with ourselves and blah blah blah, I sensed that maybe she considered me just a little bit of a threat.

She told me that she was not in as good shape as previous years (sandbagging?) and that she barely broke 40 minutes at her last race. I reflected on how I had yet to break 40 minutes ever in a race walk.

A nice thing about this race is there was a separate start for the walkers, so we could get right up to the start line and see who we were competing against. Although as far as "competitive spirit," it was really just me, Nancy, and a guy who would be the overall winner.

The gun went off, and Nancy and the guy took off like they were shot out of a cannon, so ok, I knew I probably was not going to beat Nancy. OTOH, in most races I do start off a little more conservatively than other people. Still, I was moving my legs as fast as I possibly could without breaking into a run and the distance between me and the two leaders was substantial before we had even gone a quarter of a mile.

Well, I really was just out there to see how fast I could go. It was not about beating Nancy. I did notice, though, after about a half mile, she slowed a bit, and looked over her shoulder to see if I was coming, and she was passed by the guy who would eventually win. I wondered how close I would get to her and if she would continue to slow down. 

The second half mile of this race drops down hill to a mixed use trail. The downhill is fairly steep, and I remembered that I still need to practice walking fast downhill. I did the best I could. At turns where we ran into volunteers, I made jokes about how I would not be catching Nancy. She is from the area, and everybody knows her, so they laughed. And I laughed.

Mile one was a 12:34. I had a cup of water at the aid station, taking a few sips and then dumping it on my arms. Mile 2 was mostly flat, so I was a bit disappointed when my time was just 13:07. Maybe I have the same problem that has plagued me in all the 5k races I've run, which is remembering to focus in the second mile. I had given up on catching Nancy and had no other competition, so I slowed down.

In the third mile, I tried to estimate how far Nancy was ahead of me by looking at my watch when she passed a certain object in the distance, and then checking my watch as I passed the same object. It was well over a minute when I first checked it. But as we approached the finish, I could see that the gap was narrowing. But I didn't want to beat Nancy, really. Maybe next time, but not this first time we race each other. So I was hoping she wouldn't slow down so much that it would be an issue. And it wasn't. She crossed the finish line and turned around to wait for me and cheer me on. She even held out her hand for a high five as I crossed the line. This was a bit bothersome because what I really wanted to do was stop my watch first. Anyway, what a sportswoman. She beat me by about 30 seconds. She said that if we'd gone another half mile I would have caught her. I agreed, but didn't say it out loud.

I said something about this walking stuff being really hard, and we laughed and she gave me some pointers on technique. Or really, she said to be careful as I work on straightening the leg because it could really screw up my hips, and maybe it was better to just stick with what was comfortable. Although I don't know about that, because I know I can really never take this experiment as far as I might wish to if I don't work on perfecting proper race walking technique. It is pretty funny how much more important technique seems to be in race walking versus running. So maybe I will give it up after awhile because we know how disinterested I am in aiming for perfection in anything!

My last mile was a 12:38, and then 1:18 for the last .1, for an official time of 39:38. I stayed for the awards, and I did win the age group (Nancy is 11 years older than me) and there were seven women in my are group so that is something, although none of them were really competitive. I was 2 of 21 women and 3 of 39 walkers overall.

I'm wondering if these walks will prove fast enough to get me ranked in the local listings that the running shoe store puts out. They do rankings for walkers under 60 and over 60. Nancy gets ranked but she is in the over 60 group. It does seem, after looking at who shows up for these events, that most of the competitions are at least over 50. Do we run until we just can't and then, loathe to give up competing, become walkers?

I don't know how many more of these I will do. I might do the 4 1/2 mile walk instead of the 10k run on July 4. it would be fun to see if I can finish 4.5 miles faster in a walk then I could run the 10k. Otherwise, I don't think I would want to do anything generally farther than these 5k races as a walker. I didn't feel too tired after the Kilgour race but I am finding that these faster walks leave me feeling just as depleted afterwards as I feel after a hard 5k.

My Trip to Iowa

KAs part of my attempt to turn my blogging life around, I'm coming back to this one now in May 2015 to get it done. Almost a year later but I'm getting it done.

I finished my Iowa marathon on June 28, 2014 in Dubuque. It was a little race, entering its sixth year, called the Run4Troops. The event is a fundraiser for local military families, and includes a relay event along with the marathon. Actually, the relay is more of the big deal, which is one criticism you might launch against this as a marathon. But overall it was a nice race and the kind of intimate marathon experience that I prefer.

But mostly, I picked this one because it fit my schedule and I could drive to it myself. Dubuque is about 7 1/2 hours away if you don't stop, or more like 8 hours if you do, and who doesn't have to stop on an eight-hour drive? For one thing, you at least need to stop for gas!

Never been to Iowa before, let alone Dubuque. From my little bit of research, the main thing it looked like there was to see would be the filming site of the movie, Field of Dreams. Also, I learned that the course would be on a relatively flat limestone trail, but the city itself is quite hilly. I was not going to be surprised if there were hills on the course, but I was a little unprepared for the limestone trail part. Kind of hard to be prepared for that if you never have a chance to train on that surface.

In order not to have the big drive the day before the race on Saturday, I decided to depart on Thursday afternoon and stop in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois (another place I had never visited before). This was just about half way to Dubuque.

And I was quite ready to stop when I got to Champaign, and not really looking forward to getting back in the car for another four hours the next day! But I would be getting an earlier start so it would be a bit easier.

In Champaign, I stayed in a newish Comfort Suites that was right off the highway. It was nice and clean and fresh. I had a microwave and fridge and a little minisuite with a couch in addition to my king size bed. I took the recommendations of the front desk clerks and headed downtown to a craft brewery/restaurant called Destihls. Turned out to be an excellent recommendation. I had a sampler of three beers: their double IPA, a rye IPA, and something else that I don't remember but maybe it was on the dessert side. They were all quite good. I was bummed that they were out of their session ale. I would have bought a six pack of the double IPA but they were not selling them at the restaurant. They said that they are distributed in northern Ohio but not yet in Cincinnati.

Oh yeah, almost forgot about the food. I had a mac and cheese appetizer, and an entree of salmon over a bed of roast vegetables and mashed potatoes. Oh, and chocolate mousse for dessert that was accented by maple bacon coated with cinnamon. I thought the mousse could have been more chocolately but otherwise it was excellent,

Friday morning I was up bright an early. I skipped most of the breakfast bar except for a carton of yogurt, and ate my leftover mac and cheese and the chocolate mousse. That was enough.

The ride from Champaign to Dubuque was uneventful. When I could not find local NPR stations to listen to, I plugged in my Shuffle and listened to NPR podcasts.

In Dubuque, I first headed to the packet pickup, which was at the offices of the Hodge Company. Connie Hodge is the race director, and her family business is logistics and distribution, located in a big office park outside of town. Along the way to the office park, I passed by the Best Western, where Connie had arranged a block of rooms for out-of-town runners. It was basically your generic suburb that could have been anywhere. I was also worried that I would get stuck with a noisy poolside room like I so often do in those convention-type hotels. So I wasn't staying there.

After I picked up my race packet, I headed downtown to find the bed and breakfast where I was staying. The Redstone Inn is located in the historic district of Dubuque, and was actually a couple miles closer to the finish of the race. It was too early to check in, so I parked the car and went out looking for lunch.

Okay I am now back writing on this almost a year later and I am quite saddened to see that this is as far as I got. I wonder how much I can still remember. Okay, I had lunch at a Jimmy John's, no big deal. Then I think I did go over to the B&B to check in. It was a very interesting old residence that was built in 1894 by a man who made his fortune building wagons as a wedding gift to his daughter.

The proprietor of the inn was a very nice Asian gentleman, but as I look over the web site now, it looks like it has changed hands. Anyway, lots of ornate old Victorian-style artifacts and decor. Maybe you can picture it. I chose this place over another B&B primarily because I was certain that I would be able to make myself some pre-race coffee at 4 am, which seemed to be an issue at the other place I looked into.

My room was a couple floors up. It was quite spacious and comfortable, with a private bath and a little mini fridge and microwave. I had no complaints.

After settling into the room, I decided to drive out to the race start so I'd have an idea what I was facing in the morning. It was about four miles away in a park, and I did manage to get lost for awhile but I got there in time to take a little walk and scope out the gravel trail.

For dinner, I found an upscale, trendy  Italian place a short walk from the B&B. Can't remember the name of it now. Had a craft beer (wheat) that was new to me so I could log it on Untappd. I had a pasta dish with a very rich sauce, and these delicious little fried bread bites that seemed to be a specialty of the house.

Race Morning

After my typical battle with the unfamiliar coffee maker, I was ready to head out to the start. Good thing I drove it the day before, because that makes it a lot easier trying to find your way around an unfamiliar city in the dark. I got there just at the right time. That is, I wasn't first and I wasn't last. Parked the car and joined the other runners walking to the buses that would shuttle us up to the start.

I sat next to a young woman whom I don't remember much about now, except that she was a lot faster than me. She reminded me a lot of the woman I sat next to on my ride to Leading Ladies the year before. I think we had a pleasant conversation but a year later I cannot remember it at all.

Our start was out in Dyersville, which is where Field of Dreams is located. It was sort of a small park with a connection to the military of some sort. I remember there was a tank there, and a bunch of us Maniacs climbed on the tank and took some group pictures. There were also a few RWB folks, not surprising since the race was to support military families

We had a bunch of time until the start, so I got on the portapotty line.

Do I remember the weather at all? I think it was basically summer in Iowa. It was warm and a little muggy. Was it raining? No, but there had been rain in the days before so the trail was kind of soggy, and this became an issue for me later in the race.

I think there were some speeches. Was it Connie Hodge's son? Or brother? One of them had been in the military. And I think there was another guy, a disabled vet maybe? Jeez, I really do not remember much of it now.

Because the event also included a relay race, and a lot of those people were slower than I am, I did not immediately fall to the total back of the pack at the beginning of the race.

The Race

What kind of shape was I in? Better than I am today, certainly. I had done a 15 miler two weeks before the race. Other than that, I was not very well trained. I was just going to chug along and finish it somehow.

The course, being an old rail trail, was almost entirely flat. Despite this, the softness of the gravel tended to slow you down. I did manage to hold close to an 11 minute pace for the entire first half. Then I was a little bit slower for miles 14-19, but still sub-12. And then around mile 20 I guess I hit the wall, with some 13s, 14s, and even a 15:39 in mile 23. Part of the problem was the soggy gravel had made my shoes soggy too, and my feet were really squishing around in there. I was surprised that I avoided blisters.

I chatted with a few people over the course of the race. One young guy, fellow Maniac, who had been to Cincinnati but was working in Louisville. I think he was even slower than I was. One old guy who was really struggling whom I managed to outkick at the end, if you can call 2:14 for the last .2 a kick.

The scenery was pretty. Lots of woods and farmland and occasional livestock. There was a nice canopy of trees. Because of the rail trail set-up, they couldn't offer the traditional and regularly spaced aid stations. So what they did instead was have volunteers driving golf carts up and down the trails handing out bottles of ice cold water and sports drink. This worked well and was much appreciated, except occasionally those volunteers went a little crazy on the golf cars and it was a little scary to try to get out of their way, especially later in the race on tired legs.

I finished in a time of 5:13:12, or an 11:57 pace. I was 6 of 8 in my age group, 23 of 38 women and 83 of 121 marathoners overall.

Things were starting to wind down at the finish area by the time I got there, but I didn't mind too much since I didn't have a big reason to linger anyway.

Tourist Time in Dubuque

Saturday after the race was all the time I would have for true touristing in Dubuque. I scrapped the idea of driving back to Dyersville to see Field of Dreams. Just did not want to spend that time in the car, and afraid I would really stiffen up. Instead, I walked around downtown Dubuque. There is a casino on the river, but more interesting to me was the natural history museum.

Can't remember what I did for lunch, but I had a fun time checking out the museum, which I could walk to from the B&B. When I was done with that, I headed back over near the B&B and wandered around the historic district, which had some cute little shops. Were they open? Can't remember. Did I buy anything? Don't think so.

One unforgettable part of my afternoon, however, was my ride up the Fenelon Place Elevator. This was a little wooden box that you rode uphill on in order to get from the downtown area up to the residential neighborhood on the hill above downtown. It was built by an old banker dude back in the day who wanted a quick way to go home for lunch. This funny little diversion was one of my favorite parts of this trip!

So I went up there on the elevator, took a look at the view, and then rode it back downtown, just in time for dinner at a place recommended by the B&B proprietor. I also now can't remember the name of this restaurant. How to describe it? Kind of very 1970s-1980s decor and a menu from around the same era, but that doesn't mean it wasn't good. I had their steak and it was delish.

This is just the salad. It was dark in there and the other pics didn't come out.

I think, if memory serves, that I brought my dessert back to my room? Or did I? Anyway, after dinner there was not much to do but go back to the B&B and hang out. Was there a TV in my room? I don't remember. I know there was wireless internet but I don't remember watching TV.

The next morning, I had the full B&B breakfast. This was some sort of breakfast frittata, which was tasty but nothing too spectacular. One thing that was a little weird was that the B&B was opened to the public for breakfast on Sunday mornings, and I got the impression that was more important to the owner than serving the B&B guests. So I felt a little rushed. But no big deal. Anyway, I was in a hurry to get out on the road so I could make it home in one day, which I did.

Overall, I was very pleased with my selection of Run for the Troops as my Iowa marathon. I felt like the B&B and my quick visit around town gave me a good feeling for the area.

A Couple of Weekend Races

I got out there twice this past weekend. First on Friday night for the annual Kilgour 5k, and then on Sunday morning for the Mt. Airy trail race. I was slow and non-competitive in both races, but I don't think I did any lasting harm. Neither race, however, provided a huge shot of encouragement for my upcoming marathon in Vermont. But they didn't go so badly as to make me want to give up on my marathon plans, either.

Kilgour 5k

I must have written about this one before. It's the little community 5k that supports the elementary school my daughter attended. I try to do it every year. At this point, I am one of the oldest people in attendance and, in fact, I didn't recognize a soul there this year. Last year was better because My sister was in town and Susan joined us and I ran into my former coworker and running friend, David. This year, I didn't even see David.

I like to run up early to the start, grab my number and shirt and run home to drop off the shirt, and then run back to the start as a warm up. Wasn't going to do that this year since I'm in such rough shape but I did it anyway. Just slower. It probably helped. I had some idea that maybe I'd wear a throwaway shirt to the start and then switch to the race shirt, but I'm glad I didn't because the race shirt seems hot. And it was a very warm and humid evening.

I found a bench to sit on while I waited. We started pretty much on time. I tried to line up a little further back then usual and resolved not to elbow anybody out of the way. The challenge of the first half mile is to avoid getting tripped up by any of the erratic young kids alternately sprinting and stopping dead in front of you. And sometimes they just veer sideways all of a sudden.

As we ran up,the first hill, I felt comfortable with my positioning. I even managed to pass a couple of younger and fitter looking women. Mile one went by in 10:27. That's about how it goes these days for me.

I slowed for just a few seconds at the water stop. No need for a walking break when I am going so slow. A little boy and girl were just ahead of me. As we approached the intersection of Uright and Ault View, the boy told the girl that the "short cut" was coming up. Yes, if you turn off down Uright you can cut off at least a tenth of a mile.

The little girl said "Isn't that cheating?" And I told them that it absolutely was cheating, and managed to shame them into not taking the short cut.

There are several places on the course where it is possible to cheat, and it pains me to know that the parents are not doing a better job of keeping the kids on the honest path.

I waved to Tommy when I saw him at the trail head. And then I began climbing the hill into the park. I was passing some women pushing huge running strollers, and some little tiny kids accompanied by parents who were trying to encourage them while giving all kinds of bad advice.

The 2 mile mark is in the middle of the big uphill. My time was 10:33, so not much slower, although this was the mile that also contained the most downhill so it was a bit dispiriting to see this time on my watch.

There's one more nice downhill stretch before the uphill finish in front of the school. In this part I was running alongside a little girl and her dad. She was struggling and he was encouraging her. I told her she was doing a good job, and ultimately let her kick ahead of me at the end, because in a race this slow I am not going to shame myself by tring to outlook a kid for no reason. The third mile took me 11:26. Jeez. And then I tried to kick for the last .1 and that took 59 seconds. It's really horrifying.

I grabbed a cup of water from the table after they cut off my timing chip, and immediately started walking home. I didn't want to linger, in case I stiffened up so much that I couldn't get home under my old power. And my bags of frozen peas and glass of chocolate milk awaited me.

My final time was 33:26, perhaps a new PW at this event. I was 2 of 4 in the age group. And 146 of 358 runners overall. Five minutes slower than last year! Although, in addition to my injury I was not helped by the late lunch (3 pm) of wild rice and asparagus with a poahed egg!

My. Airy trail race

Susan joined me for this one. We got there a little earlier than usual, so I got my closest parking sport ever, almost inside the oval.

It was hot and humid already by the time our 5.4 mile race began at 9:15. Susan is trying to make "the Dirtiest Dozen" and she is a good bit faster than me since my recent injury, so she lined up closer to the front while I started from the back.

The back was where I belonged. I passed a couple of people on the out and back before we hit the trail, and then basically held my position the rest of the way. I had to step aside for a few folks and got passed by a couple others (not counting the 3 guys leading the ten mile race who passed me near the end).

It was a little slippery in parts due to some recent rain, but I managed to avoid any mishaps. My foot hurt really the whole way but I survived. Trail running is hard!

I ran much of the second half in front of a guy who was also doing the Rugged Red, and he was telling me how hard that race was. But I just kept thinking, well no wonder it was hard for you, dude, if you're back here with me in slowpoke land. I' hoping that I'll be I better shape by then, but who knows.

I carried my phone, so I got a little audible alert when Susan finished, and I could tell she she ran a good time. I still had a ways to go. When I thought we had a half mile left I asked the guy how much farther he thought it was and he said it was more like 2k😓.

I left the guy behind on the last climb out of the woods. In the last gassy section, I saw a woman ahead of me who was walking, and by keeping my steady pace I managed to pass her. So that was something. Then when I got to the last little uphill to the finish I kicked hard so she wouldn't pass me, although I think she was quite a bit back and not trying.

My time was 1:13:35, and I was 44 of 57 women and 104 of 124 runners overall. Susan finished around 1:02, which would have been a solid placement back in the day but these races seem to have grown in popularity so she's kind of on the bubble. She actually fell down 4 times during the race, so clearly she needs to get better shoes. She might have been a couple minutes faster without the falls, I bet.

Five Way and Other Forms of Mania

I'm going to try to start blogging again. I'll begin by posting this one I wrote last year. Then maybe I'll post about a few recent races. And then if I ever have the energy or discipline I'll return to finish up some I started last year and the previous year and never finished!

This post will be about the races I did in early May 2014 as part of the Flying Pig Marathon events. I participated in something called the Skyline Chili Four-Way Challenge, which involved finishing both the 10K and 5K races on Saturday, and the marathon on Sunday. In addition, I did the Little Kings Mile race on Friday night. This is not an official part of the challenge, but many people do it. The mile race is part of the Christian Moerlein brewery series, however.

I wanted to switch to the Three-Way, which is what they call it if you do the half instead of the full marathon, but they told me that it was sold out. I could switch to the half marathon but it wouldn't count towards the Three-Way. I was confident that I could finish the Three-Way somehow but I was not so sure that extra half-marathon would be a good idea for me. But I really hate skipping races I've signed up for, so I decided to take it one race, and then one mile, at a time.

Little Kings Mile

This is the second race of three races in the beer series. If you do all three races in one year, you qualify as a "Brew Hog" and they give you a special prize. I don't know what the prize is but assume it is a beer related item. I signed up for all three races, and I did the Bockfest 5k back in March already. Won my age group in that one even though I wasn't really trying. And there were over 40 women in my age group, and that would really be something if most of them weren't smoking and drinking during the race. Well, I didn't actually see that but Susan says she saw people drinking before the race and smoking at the start line.

I love mile races but I was debating the wisdom of this because 1) my knee has been acting up; 2) I am not sure that I will be able to do the last race in the series, and if so then there was less reason to do the mile; 3) I had a lot on the schedule already for this weekend with that ridiculous four-way idea plus houseguests arriving Friday night.

If the weather wasn't good I was definitely going to skip it. Drove down Friday afternoon to the Flying Pig expo to pick up my four-way packet and was thinking about just staying down there even though I would have to move my car to a more convenient lot. But then decided I had time to come home and change.

Packet pickup was 6:30 pm at the Lager House. Could not find parking near the Lager House because there was a Reds game starting at 7:10 and it was a pretty nice night for a ballgame. And we haven't had a lot of those yet. Drove around The Banks for a few minutes and finally gave up and parked under the Westin. Found the ramps a little tight with my wide-ass new cargo van but there was plenty of parking below.

Jogged down to the Lager House to get my number and tee shirt, then jogged back to the car to drop off the shirt. Jogged back to the Lager House and considered trying to take the bus to the start, but decided to just jog there, along with many other runners. The race ran straight down Main Street, from Over the Rhine back to The Banks. I might not feel so comfortable trotting through Over the Rhine by myself in the evening but with dozens of other runners keeping me company it was just fine.

I was wearing a red shirt I had purchased in Grand Rapids that said "Runs on Beer" in big letters on the front. I had my longsleeved red tech shirt from that marathon underneath. On the bottom I wore black capris and a sparkly red shirt that I had purchased that afternoon at the expo. Only one person complimented me on the shirt, and nobody said anything about my skirt. Am I really that invisible? I guess I am.

Because it was somewhat cool out and we were only going a mile, I decided to be more vain than usual and did not wear a hat. Too bad I still need my glasses in order to see, and it was too dark for my sunglasses. But still I was a tad bit less unattractive than usual, maybe. Didn't matter.

Oh yeah, and I wore the iFitness fanny pack so I could carry my phone, so I could log my post-race beer.

I got there far earlier than necessary (so what else is new?). I felt sad that I did not have any buddies there to chat with. I was, as usual, probably one of the only people there by herself. I was not the oldest, at least. It was a pretty mixed bag age-wise. I took some pictures of the Little King and sent whiny texts to Tommy and Susan. I was wishing Susan had come along.

They were sending us off in waves (A-F, plus male and female elites). First they sent off wave A, and then wave B, and finally it was time for we runners of wave C.

By this time I had really lost all the benefit of my earlier warmup. My plan was to run at a comfortably fast but controlled pace. My knee felt okay but I was a little worried about the last quarter mile when we would drop downhill towards the river. But if I still felt okay when we got to that point and the spirit moved me, I was going to kick it in hard. It was only a mile.

Wow I love the mile. I think it is my favorite of all the distances I've tried. So much concentrated pain.

Well, given the shape I am right now, maybe not so concentrated. Okay, so they let us go, and right away I was in the back of the pack. I tried not to let it bother me too much. I always run the first quarter mile a little slower anyway even when I am warmed up. And sure enough by the end of the first quarter mile some of the overly ambitious and inexperienced were coming back to me.

By the half mile, I started catching up with walkers from the previous waves. I concentrated on seeing if I could catch any people just ahead of me. There was a dark-haired woman in particular that I thought I might catch.

We got to the last quarter and the downhill and my knee still felt okay. I picked it up. I was gaining on the dark-haired woman. I kicked it in and passed her comfortably. Did she even know we were in a race?

I was wheezing and gasping for air but I did not embarrass myself by throwing up. I got my medal (like the Bockfest one, another bottle opener) and headed to the beer tent, where I had a Hudy Amber Lager. Was not very good, kind of on PBR level or maybe not even as good as that.

My watch said a few ticks over 8 minutes, but when I checked the official results it said 7:55. Yeah, like almost two minutes slower than my mile PR. But I did not destroy myself doing it and I did have fun. And much to my surprise, I was 1 of 13 in my age group. Was 105 of 544 women and 455 of 1162 overall, not too bad for an old lady. I am not fast, really, but I guess compared to other old ladies who drink beer, I am.

So now I have won my age group in the first two races of this brewery run series, and it will be hard for me to skip the third one by going to Omaha for the marathon. OTOH, there are no age group awards in these races so maybe that is why I am beating the "competition" such as it is. So it's not like I will get anything if I show up for the 14k and win my age group in that one, too.

Toyota 10k and Tri-State Running Company 5k

Saturday morning I was up before dawn and back downtown for the first two races in the four-way challenge. I did not feel any damage from the night before, so that was a good thing. For these morning races, I wore a fresh set of black capris under the red sparkly shirt, but on top I wore one of my yellow Marathon Maniac shirts plus my Maniac hat. I put a thin longsleeved shirt over my top, planning to take it off and tie it around my waist when I got warm. What was that shirt? Oh yeah, it was a red tech shirt from the Milwaukee Marathon.

Decided not to mess around trying to find a spot at The Banks, and was going to just head back to the Westin, but instead pulled into the Queen City lot on third street under the Great American tower. That is a nice new lot and there was plenty of space. It was just about a quarter mile from the start, which was good since I would have to go back to the car in between races to switch my race numbers.

Found the portapotty lines, which fortunately moved pretty fast. I wasn't desperate but it didn't hurt and I didn't have anything else to do while I waited. I wasn't going to bother with a warmup jog. The first few miles would be my warmup jog.

We were assigned to corrals so the faster runners (based on self-reported expectations) could go off first. I was in corral D. I could not remember what I had written down for a time but I know that I was very conservative. I was planning to basically jog the whole thing at a comfortable pace. I would follow that system that worked so well for me recently in longer races that I am not trained for, which is that whenever I find myself breathing hard or exerting any kind of effort to simply slow it down.

The corrals made it a lot better organized than last year. I did not have to run around as many people to get into my planned pace.

The start of the race is in front of the Reds Hall of Fame on the west side of the stadium. The course is basically on the streets around the stadiums and over the river to Kentucky and back. The 5k and 10k use the same finish line as the marathon on Second Street, but the 5k starts around the corner from the 10k and sticks to downtown.

I did the 10k last year. Did I write about it then? Oh yeah, it's here.

The first mile ends on the other side of whatever bridge that is in Newport. Ok, Taylor Southgate bridge, I looked at last year's report. I got there in 11:20, which was just about right. The only irritation in the first mile was the people suddenly shooting off to the side to hit the portapotties when we ran down the ramp to Second Street. What was wrong with those people?

So hey, there is a pretty good course description in last year's report so I won't go into too much detail. Loop of Newport, into Covington, cross the Clay Wade Bailey, up Third Street, around the Eggleston area, and back Second Street to the finih.

Mile 2 was an 11:04. Felt warmed up. Took off the long sleeved shirt. Some people noticed I was a Maniac. There were a few other Maniacs there. Also a surprising number of people doing the three and four ways. In particular I noticed a couple of fit-looking women in bun huggers who I kept passing and getting passed by. I found them irritating. I thought their attire was rude and unneccessary. Maybe they were not quite fit enough or fast enough to justify wearing those shorts with their butt cheeks hanging out.

Mile 3 was 11:35. Somewhere in here I found myself chatting with a woman named Tawni who told me she was also a Maniac although she wasn't wearing the gear. This is what I learned about Tawni: she runs a lot of local marathons so is not trying really to do the 50 states, although she does try to run a marathon whenever she goes on a business trip and there is one available. She travels a lot on business. She recently ran a 2:17 half which was good for her (so she is not that fast). Yeah, she for sure wasn't holding back as much as I was, slumming back there in the 1:10 group. But she was quite able to carry on a conversation at 11 minute pace, nonetheless. Tawni has done the Goofy Challenge at Disney. She is from Akron. And that is all I learned.

Tawni started in Corral C so she must have given her actual average race time rather than a conservative jogging time like I did.

Miles 4 and 5 were 21:58. I missed that 4 mile marker talking to Tawni.

I told Tawni that the main thing we needed to do was beat the bun hugger girls. She found them irritating as well. She said it was nice to know that even thin people have cellulite. So in the last mile we focused on that. Mile 6 was a 9:09. Or maybe my watch just hit the split on its own, it does that sometimes, because the last .2 came out as a 3:07 and I'm pretty sure we were not going that slow. It is so hard not to kick at the end of a race.

I was hoping for some chocolate milk or some form of protein at the end but they just had sad green bananas and Dole fruit cups. They would not give us four- and three-wayers our medals because we were supposed to wait until after the 5k.

I headed back to the car. The dicey part about this I had not planned on was that I had to climb up the stairs on the side of the stadium and go all around the building to get to the intersection where I could cross over to Third St. This made it more like a half-mile to the garage. And then I got confused about which garage and went to the wrong one first, which added more distance.

When I got there, I stressed out and scrambled around some but finally emerged with my correct 5k bib and a Picky Bar. Back at the start, I decided to get on the portapotty line again. I really didn't need to pee but thought it might help ward off a bladder infection.

I had felt great all through the 10k and immediately after, but by the time the 5k was ready to go things had changed. I didn't have any pain but I was significantly more tired. Those three little miles felt almost like the last three miles of a marathon.

There were a lot more people in this race and in my corral, or so it seemed. I started slower, but so did they. There were a lot more little kids and other possible obstructions to worry about. For instance, a couple of motorized wheel chairs with old fat men in them, I kid you not. Not sure what corral those started in.

The 5k started in front of the residential building across the street from the stadium, and we ran to the west. Here's the course map. You run down Second Street towards the bridge, then back on Third St. basically following the last couple miles of the 10k but it's a longer stretch on Third St.

This time bun hugger girls pulled ahead of me almost immediately and I just had to let them go. I guess they were in my corral. I felt pretty flat and was not going to push at all. Mile 1 was 11:45. I got serious about my walking breaks in this one. I looked around for Tawny but didn't see her. Well, she was in the corral ahead of me and maybe she did not slow down as much for the second race. Mile 2 was 11:59. It was going to be a seriously slow one. I didn't see a 3 mile marker, but the last part was 11:27. Did not feel as much urge to kick it in this time, plus the street was so crowded with slow runners and little kids I really couldn't.

My official time for the 10k was 1:08:09 or 11 minute pace. For the 5k my time was 35:09 and 11:21 pace. I was 30th in my age group in the 10k and 35th in the 5k. Complete results aren't up yet so I don't know how many women were in my age group but I think I was near the back.

Post race I had a near fiasco with my wide ass car when I pulled out of the lot and scraped the outside of my right mirror slightly on the edge of the garage door. I was actually feeling a little flaky after the race so I am lucky it wasn't worse. I think I was bending down to pick up another Picky Bar and didn't realize how close I was to the side.

Jeez, no wonder I was so tired Saturday night. I am getting tired just writing about this.

Anyway, back home I spent some time with the frozen peas as a precautionary measure. I did not have pain, just felt very tired. Had a bite to eat and then felt quite recovered. Enough  in fact to join Tommy and Ken and Robin for lunch at Jersey Mike's followed by a trip back down to the expo! Where I stood around more than I should have! And bought a pair of Sketchers! And a purple skirt for Susan!

Saturday night we dined at Bella Luna. It was not that good. The service was slow and we were seated late. Ken and I both had a pasta dish that we ordered off a special menu for runner and it was mostly pretty bland pasta with a tiny bit of sausage and cheese and tomato. It was terrible. I think we need to rethink this place as our pre-race tradition, because it is really not that good.

I thought about this some more and next year I am making lasagna. Seriously. If I make it the day before it won't be a big deal.

So we got to bed later than was ideal, considering I would be up at 4 am for coffee the next morning.

The Marathon

Fortunately I did not feel any soreness or stiffness on Sunday morning. I was just horribly tired. Still am! It took awhile for the coffee to kick in.

We left a little after 5:30 and picked up Susan on the way. Tommy dropped us off as close as he could get us to the start and we followed the other runners down to Paul Brown Stadium. Susan was assigned to corral E but she joined me and Ken back in G.

It wasn't too long before the race officially began but it was quite awhile, maybe 15 minutes or more, before our corral started moving. And then it was another 1:42 before we crossed the start line, according to my watch.

Ken and Susan took off but I hung back (Susan said her first mile was an 11:02 vs. my 11:41). A highlight of the first mile was passing the bun hugger girls, and I never did see them again (although maybe they were doing the half, I don't know).

Mile 2 was an 11:42, mile 3 was an 11:51. Dropped down to a 10:43 in the fourth mile. Passed Bob Platt, on his way to finishing his 150th marathon. There were messages dedicated to Bob all over the course, and these gave me a little lift along the way.

Then we got into the hilly section of the course. Splits were 12:07, 11:26, 12:56 and 12:23 through Eden Park and East Walnut Hills. I remember being irritated with the people who were slowing on the DOWNHILLS. What is wrong with some people? I was glad when the half marathoners peeled off around mile 8.

Miles 9 and 10 were back to 11:35 and 11:42. I was disappointed by what seemed like really low turnout in Hyde Park Square. But there was so much crowd support throughout the rest of the course that it didn't matter. It was just sort of curious. Anyway, it is always fun to race through the neighborhood you do most of your training runs in. Mile 11 was my fastest of the day, a 10:21.

Mile 12 brought me by our previous residence. People were sitting on the porch and I wanted to tell them that I used to live there but they did not look up. Mile 12 was 11:18. Around the corner, I saw my new neighbors walking down the street but they didn't notice me. I yelled out to the crowd that Hyde Park East is the best neighborhood in Cincinnati but I don't think anybody understood me. And then I felt a knee twinge from the sudden lateral movement and boisterousness, so I decided no more of that.

Saw Tom and Robin at the corner of Brentwood and Erie, with Eddy and Maggie. I threw my Disney shirt to them and continued on my way. At the Ault Park Ave. curve, I noticed that the portapotties did not have a line, so I ducked in there. It was kind of weird to be using a portapotty less than a quarter mile from my house but I got over it. I had a tough time getting my compression tights pulled back up and it probably cost me a minute. Hit mile 13 mark in 12:04.

Just about there I got another knee twinge, almost like a cramp. Damn. I was feeling good otherwise but did not want to continue if I was going to be doing damage to my knee. I slowed down a little and it went away. I think it is a bit psychological, that whole passing the house thing.

At the bottom of the hill there were signs that said "Mile 14 Beer Mile" but there wasn't any beer at the aid station. I was disappointed. But around the corner on Bramble, sure enough there were people giving out little cups of ice cold brew, so I had one. Mile 14 was an 11:39.

The Fairfax/Mariemont/Madisonville sections were slightly different from what I remembered from the last time I ran the full Pig. Seemed like we spent a little more time in Mariemont, and that was nice. In fact, I would say that the Mariemont crowd support is now far superior to what you get in Hyde Park Square. Since I spend a lot of time driving these streets to and from the dog training club, and also traverse them on some of my long runs, I really enjoyed this section of the course.

Mile 15 was an 11:53, followed by 11:52 for 16 and 11:54 for 17. I am so consistent. Then we dropped down to Linwood and the sun came out and things got a little rougher. Miles 18-21 were 12:03, 11:57, 12:48 and 12:47.

Around mile 22, we passed by Susan and Ross' apartment. I was hoping to maybe see them outside because I thought that they should be back from the finish by now, and when they were not there I got a little worried about Susan. Turns out they stayed downtown to have brunch at the Lager House, so I needn't have worried.

Mile 22 was a 12:30. Around this point I was surprised to see Jean Schmidt (our former Congresswoman) and her sister, Jennifer Black. They are generally a lot faster than I am, as they qualify for Boston and run it every year. Even though they are older than me they are still faster. Back when I was at my best, I could maybe beat Jennifer once in awhile in a 5k, but I have never come close to beating Jean. They seemed to be having a rough day. Well, I know they did just run Boston two weeks ago, so that could explain it. Anyway, thought about telling Jean that I always voted for her even if I didn't always agree with her on everything. But she and her sister sometimes seem so cranky I decided to skip it and just passed them by.

Miles 23-25 were my slowest of the day (13:06, 13:23, 13:09). What can I say, the heat was getting to me a little. I knew I was going to be under 5:30 but by how much I wasn't sure. I just didn't want to push it or do anything to mess up my knee.

Saw Robin and Tom waiting at the usual place near the Eggleston lots. Managed to pick it up a little and mile 26 was 12 minutes even. And then I picked it up a little more for the last .2 in 2:03, which is just about 10 minute pace so pretty good for me at the end of a slow marathon.

Got my medal, had a few pictures taken, and caught up with Tom, Robin and Ken just outside the finishing area. Ken had finished just a minute or two ahead of me. I hustled over to the 4-way awards table to get my special medal and my plaque. I was actually kind of worried about it because I had not heard any beeps when I went over the timing mats along the course, and I had not bothered to get my chip checked at the expo. I knew my earlier races were recorded but I was worried about this one.

My official time was 5:14:59 or 12:02 pace. I think I might have been as much as ten minutes faster if it hadn't gotten so sunny in the second half. I was 35 of 68 women in the age group, 1155 of 1703 women. Don't know how I did overall because they don't give that summary stat on the web site.

They did just publish results from the 3-way and 4-way, and I was 98 of 148 in the 4-way. I am satisfied with that considering I really didn't train for it!

Grand Rapids Marathon

I guess I have to write about this one now to make it complete. Oh well, here goes.

I picked this one because Tommy had spent some time up in Grand Rapids a few years ago on business and he was always going on and on about what a nice town it is. So it seemed like a nice little weekend getaway and by doing the race it would give me an excuse to plan the trip. I can't remember if I found this one first and then scheduled backwards for the others or if I was just looking for some "nearby" races to do in a short span of time and I found this one.

Recovery went well after Prairie Fire and I was psyched for the last race. We drove up on Saturday morning and headed straight for the expo when we hit town.

On the way up in the car, I read the Race Director's book "And the Adventure Continues." It's about his quest to get into the Guinness Book of World Records by completing a marathon on all seven continents in the shortest span of time. But mostly it's about how he became a runner and then a marathoner and then a Maniac. Note: this book will really make you feel like a slacker.

I was hoping to get Don to sign my book at the expo but when we got there he did not seem to be nearby and we didn't feel like asking around.

Not sure what I was expected but the race and the expo overall were larger than the previous two (Mill Race and Prairie Fire), although smaller than Air Force. The expo was at the downtown YMCA, which is very nice and new and spacious. Would be a great place to belong if you lived in Grand Rapids. Start and finish of the race is at the same location.

At the expo, in addition to picking up my packet, I bought a shirt that said something about running for beer, a pint glass, a hat, and a pair of thong underwear (guess whose idea that was).

Post-expo, we headed for our lodgings, at a bed and breakfast. The Leonard at Logan is where Tommy always used to stay when he was there on business. It is a big old house in a neighborhood of other big old houses. We had the Princess Cecile room, which is spacious and full of light, and which has a bathroom with a heated floor and a jetted tub (nice for after the race!). There is a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed place across the street that we were able to walk through the next afternoon after the race.

For dinner, we had pasta at a sports bar downtown named Peppinos. It's a noisy place but they had a pasta special for the runners and it was pretty good. It was choose your own pasta and sauce, and the servings were generous. I actually couldn't finish it. They also have good craft beer on tap (I guess this is maybe required by law in Grand Rapids?) and the price was right. So, although this is not a place I ordinarily would have picked for dinner, it worked out just fine.

Race morning, I got up early and had a bite to eat and some coffee. I was the only one down in the breakfast nook at that hour, so no one was there to help me figure out what to do when my coffee mug started leaking all over the place. Was a bit disappointed in the breakfast offerings. They did not have any real yogurt, just soy crap. The English muffins were not Thomas's. Anyway, I had a cinnamon raisin English muffin and a hard boiled egg and some orange juice and coffee.

We left for the race around 7 am. Even though we were only staying a couple of miles away, it was good we left early. We took the highway to avoid the street closures, and it took a bit of time to get off the exit. Tommy dropped me at the Y and headed back to the B&B to enjoy the full breakfast experience.

It was a bit chilly in the morning so I headed into the Y. The lines to the bathrooms were pretty long so I decided I would just risk it, and hope to find a convenient portapotty out on the course if need be. I found a chair to sit on in a conference room they had open to runners, and I just closed my eyes and meditated for a bit.

I was wearing CW-X capri tights, and my pink Maniac Diva shirt with my old longsleeved-tech top from the Disney half under it. On top I had a thin, old blue nylon jacket (not the shredded anorak but another oldie). I had a pair of gloves that I could pitch if I wanted (ended up keeping them) and an old cotton longsleeved shirt from the 14k race (the year that they made it just a 10k before it took a hiatus). On my head, I had the black cap from Delaware because it it fairly waterproof and I was afraid we might have cold and rain. When it was time to walk to the start, I threw the cotton shirt in the trash. I ditched the jacket at the first aid station.

The weather, BTW, turned out great. It was in the upper 50s or so and sunny most of the race. Really nice.

Outside, I lined up behind the 4:58 pace team. A few words about the pace teams: instead of normal pace teams, with times in 15 minute increments (2:30, 2:45, and so on up to about 5:00), at Grand Rapids they have "Celebrity Pace Teams." That is, the teams shoot for times achieved by various celebrities who have finished marathons. And the pace team signs had pics of the celebrities on them. The Sub-Three Lancers, for example, had a pic of Lance when he was with Sheryl Crow. The Oprah team had a picture of fat Oprah on one side and skinny Oprah on the other. There was a team for P-Diddy and George W. And then there was my 4:58 team, the "Inconvenient Pace" team, in honor of Al Gore.

I lined up just behind the Al Gores. There were a lot of half-marathoners back there with me and they all knew each other. It was irritating. I was hoping to run faster than the Al Gores but I wanted to start off real conservatively.

It took us four minutes to cross the start line. That part was pretty amazing. I had not expected this race to be so large. That was more time than it took to cross any of the other marathon start lines in my "series." Lots of half-marathoners.

I don't remember when I passed the Al Gores, but once I did pass them I wanted to stay ahead of them. Still, I had learned from the previous three excursions that I had to keep the pace very comfortable. Here are my splits from the first few miles
:
1) 10:50
2&3) 21:49
4&5) 22:25
6) 11:06

The first five miles take you around the downtown, most of which was not that interesting to me, and then you head into a park-like area and out to a really nice stretch along some lakes on a shaded bike rail and some small roads.

Mentally, the way I have really settled into thinking about these races is that I have a ten mile warmup, followed by a 16 mile long run. Since I pretty much don't go over 16 miles in training, or at least I haven't since last fall, this works really well for my mental state. The other thing I think about is the percentage of the race completed, which requires a little bit of math and is sometimes a good distraction, and even a little bit cheery as you reflect on the percentage completed and how quickly it changes. Well, anyway, that's how I look at it. I don't hit the wall like a normal person. After mile 15, I just feel better and better. It's getting through that first half of the race that is the challenge. But this ten mile warmup idea is really working for me.

Ok, so here are the splits up to the first half:

7&8) 21:51
9) 11:24
10) 10:50 (and remember, this is the end of the warmup and now the real race begins for me)
11) 11:05
12) 10:57
13) 12:18

The reason that mile 13 is a minute slower is because I found a portapotty with no line, and I thought that it would feel really good to have a pee, even if it cost me a minute. There were some people who passed me while I was in there whom I still managed to pass back again in the next couple of miles. I came out of there feeling really good. One of the best parts was I asked a volunteer if I was still ahead of the Al Gores and he told me I was. That was very energizing!

Mile 14 was a 10:55. I was very happy to be keeping it under 12s.

There is a little bridge crossing just before mile 15 at the start of an out-and-back along a bike trail where you can see the faster runners coming back. I guess it was the three hour runners on the way back when I was going over the bridge. The turnaround is at mile 18.5 or so.

Here's some splits on the out-and-back:
15) 11:00
16) 10:50
17) 11:08
18) 11:12

Just past the mile 15 marker there was an aid station where they had pickle juice, which I have never tried before. Wow, that's salty. I don't know if it helped or not. I think I would have preferred some alcohol. I did hit the pickle juice again on the way back but that time I diluted it with water and that was better.

On the back half of this section, I ran a little with a woman who told me that she would be joining the Maniacs after she finished the race. She had run Wine Country in NY a couple of weeks before. But, she said, she was really a triathlete and this was her training run for Ironman Wisconsin. Well, la-dee-dah. That certainly puts me in my place. I'm nothing compared to a triathlete. She seemed to have more left in the tank than I did and I figured she would be taking off ahead of me, and she did for a little bit. But then just before we crossed back over the bridge it seems like I pulled away from her.

I thought I was going to be under five hours but I wasn't doing the math to figure out how much. I wasn't going to catch the Oprahs but I was staying ahead of the Al Gores.

And here's the next set of splits:

19) 10:37
20) 10:52
21) 11:04
22) 11:31
23) 11:02
24) 11:03

I was passing people and that is always a great feeling.

25) 10:41
26) 10:24 (was that my fastest mile of the day? I think it was!)

and I am not sure what I got for the last .2 because I forgot to stop my watch, but it was probably less than two minutes because I kicking.

So the finish line clock read 4:52 but because it took me so long to get across the start line, my chip time was 4:48:39. It was not great in the age group or even midpack in the race but it was my fastest of the four in my personal series, and I was happy. Was 29 of 36 in the age group, 485 of 563 women and 1282 of 1413 runners.

After the race, I had some chocolate ice cream from Culver's, then met up with Tommy and we went over to the beer tent where they were serving New Holland. We had some of the Mad Hatter IPA which is good but didn't go too well with the Culver's, and I was more in the mood for ice cream. So ended up dumping most of the beer.

Tommy had parked in a garage that was quite a hike from the finish line, but at least it was flat. And frankly, I was moving better than he was. Because 26.2 is nothing for me anymore.

Back at the B&B, I had a couple of hardboiled eggs which they keep in the fridge 24/7, and a chocolate chip cookie. They keep those out in the dining room, also a nice touch. After I got cleaned up, we headed out across the street for a tour of the Meyer May house.

Here's some pics of it. It is an authentically restored and very well-preserved FLW house in the Prairie style. There was some kind of FLW conference of afficionados going on in Grand Rapids that weekend, and the people who volunteer at the Meyer May house had been told that many people considered it to be the best preserved FLW house they had viewed. For sure it is in better shape than Fallingdown Water, if you catch my drift.

We liked it. One of the things I liked is that it was built for someone my height, since Mr. May was just 5' 3" tall.

Story of the house: Meyer May was the heir to a department store fortune. Well, maybe it was not a fortune but he made it into a fortune. He commissioned FLW to build him this house out in what was then the suburbs of Grand Rapids, for his wife and the two children they adopted. Sadly, his wife died not long after. He remarried and had an addition built on to the house (not approved by FLW!) for his new wife and her two kids, but that marriage didn't take. He did live the rest of his life there but after he died the house went through years of neglect.

That period between the 1930s through the 1970s were rough times for grand old midwestern houses. But in the 1980s, some people interested in restoration and FLW took over the enormous job of fixing the Meyer May house up. They were supported in this, and continue to be supported, by the Steelcase corporation. That is one of the reasons they have been so successful. Steelcase or someone at Steelcase loves this place and sees it as an asset to the corporation, so they have put in the cash to keep it in pristine condition.

One of the things they use it for is for corporate executive functions. They host dinner parties in the dining room. Pretty cool.

Oh yeah, they tore that addition off and were able to use some of the bricks in the restoration. Mr.Wright is probably not satisfied but at least he stopped spinning in his grave.

So, the little tour of the FLW house was the major part of my touristing in Grand Rapids. It is just a couple of houses down on the other side of the street from The Leonard and you can even see it from the window of the Princess Cecile room.

We also drove around East Grand Rapids, past all the little shops and restaurants and the high school. Tommy thinks, and he is right, that if we lived in Grand Rapids this is the neighborhood where we would live. I told him that it reminded me some of the actual race course at Prairie Fire, with all the nice shade trees and pretty houses. But in Grand Rapids they have that large bike trail/park area, and so they can design the course around that instead and avoid road closings.

After our tour was over, we headed to Founders brewery. The plan was to have some brews and maybe dinner. It meant we didn't make it to The Green Well, one of Tommy's favorite restaurants there, but I think we will have to make another trip! Also need to hit Hop Cat, which is supposedly one of the best craft beer pubs in the country.

We also did hit the local Costco on our way out of town the next morning, which seems a little weird but its a good place to buy beer. Oh yeah, and we stopped at a little bakery that Tommy was fond of and I had a scone.

Anyway, we did have a great time. It would be a good race to run if you were trained for a fast one. They have a pretty high percentage of runners qualify for Boston each year. I think it could even be a fast course for me if I ever get fast again.

Yellow Ribbon 5k (Run for the Troops)

For some reason never published this one but putting it up now, belatedly.

Did this one on Saturday, November 2. Wanted to do a local 5k to get an idea what my training paces should be for the next marathon cycle. There were literally 5-6 races going on locally at the same time. This one offered proximity, reasonable start time, and a cause that did not make me want to throw up.

The Yellow Ribbon Foundation was started by Keith Maupin, who is the father of Matt Maupin, a local soldier who was killed in Iraq. The foundation puts together care packages to send to the troops, and also has a scholarship fund. The race has taken place for several years but has changed locations. This was the first year at Otto Armleder Park.

I have done some training runs through the park as part of my long runs at Lunken Airport, so I thought it would be fun to do a race there. It's just a couple of miles from home and there's plenty of parking. The price was right to and the tee shirt was included (although it is kind of hideous, pink camo with a red white and blue logo so I don't think I will be wearing it in public).

I forgot to bring my phone so I didn't get any pictures. Well, anyway, the race started and finished near the parking lot and the little shelter area. I have found that I can add about four miles onto my Lunken run by adding in the park, but the park loop itself is probably less than two miles around (part of my run is an out-and-back) so during the race we did have to double back on our path a bit. But they had a volunteer at every turn so it was not confusing.

It is a very flat course on the paved trail. Not terribly exciting but racing provides its own excitement, yes?

I looked around before the start for my potential competition. There was a formal presentation of the colors and a girl sang The Star-Spangled Banner. Did a decent job of it. Better than at Prairie Fire. A man who was somehow associated with the race or the foundation or one of the sponsors (unclear which) thanked us for coming and blah, blah, blah. Then we all walked down to the start line.

They were using chip timing, and I noticed that the people who lined up in the front started right on the mat. Had never noticed that before. Guess I have not been at such a small race that used chip timing. Anyway, I was a few rows behind them. There were three women on the start line. One sort of youngish (40 years old and would go on to win the race on the woman's side), one older (I had spotted her when she parked next to me, a skinny, grizzled vet) and one who appeared to be about 35 (she was actually 61!) with long blonde hair pulled into a pony tail, wearing black bun huggers and a sports bra.

Oh well, I was just going to give it my best shot.

So here was the funny thing, we started the race, and I almost immediately caught up to blondie. And I passed her, even while I was slowing down to remove my tyvek jacket and tie it around my waist. So that was surprising.  I knew that there were not many women ahead of me. Passed a few guys along the way as well.

I was thinking that anything in the 27s would be okay and it might even me in the 28s considering the horrible shape I am in. First mile: 8:13. Far better than expected. Second mile: 8:32, more like what I expected. Third mile: 8:16. Then I had a watch malfunction but it took me almost a minute supposedly for the last .1 so I wonder if the 3rd mile marker was off. Anyway, final time was 25:57, with which I was quite pleased.

Hung around because I thought I had a good shot at an age group award and it seemed like they were getting them out pretty quick. They had some good food, too, better than the usual. There were some tasty pastries with some weird name that I didn't recognize. And Starbucks coffee.

So, the got to the awards and I did happen to win my age group, or so they said. I swear I heard them call my name and I went up and collected my medal. Then they took a big group picture. The guy in charge said that they had gotten pics of all of us running and they would put them on the web site maybe even later in the day (but I'm still looking for those. It would help if I knew what web site he was talking about! But I've checked the race site, the race director's site, the foundation's site, and a few of the sponsors and haven't seen anything).

Anyway, later in the day I got a look at the final results, and I didn't win my age group after all. There was another woman who finished far ahead of me. In fact, she was second overall in the race. So I don't know why they called my name, except maybe she hadn't turned her chip in yet or there was some confusion over the results. I know that they did have our ages wrong on our bib numbers, but they were only off by one year so I don't think that was the problem but who really knows. Anyway, feel like a fraud and an impostor and a little weird for accepting the medal. Gosh, would have felt even worse though if I had waited all that time and they didn't give it to me. Yeah, next couple of races I am not staying for the awards. I would rather win and not know until later than be there and not win.

They also had door prizes but I didn't get one of those.

I was 2 of 2 in the age group, 6 of 49 women (in reality, probably only the 6 of us were even trying) and 19 of 85 runners overall.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

Could not resist that title after my 5k this morning.

Have fallen behind on writing about my races. Need to write about Grand Rapids---was putting off finishing it because I thought I would be ordering photos to use but have had some trouble connecting with the photographer. Time to give it up and just finish that one. Also need to write about my Thanksgiving weekend races.

But first, while freshest in my mind, little reports (hopefully little) about Jingle Bell 5k last weekend and Egg Nog Jog today.

Jingle Bell---The Art of Racing in the Freezing Rain

I chose this one over my preferred Reindeer Romp out in Crosby Township because of the later start and shorter drive, which could mean less time away from home if Tommy went shooting and I needed to walk the dogs. In the end he stayed home :-(.

I wasn't entirely sure I would go down for the race given the bad weather. Picked up my shirt the day before just in case, plus it would save me time if I got down there late as happened to me last year.

I am just phobic about driving to this one after the time a few years ago when we had the major storm that morning and I couldn't even get over the bridge and had to white knuckle drive all the way home. Also, the Indy Marathon from 2012 put me off running in the freezing rain.

Decided it was okay so I went down. This one starts and finishes in Covington at the Northern KY Convention Center. You run across the bridge to Cincinnati, make a loop around the mostly industrial area, then back across the bridge to the start. It is a fast course for me. Set my PR on it years ago or close to that.

Goal was 26-ish or faster. Expected to be slower than last year when I just missed placing in my age group. But noticed immediately that the crowds were way down from recent years. I guess if you were the type to sign up on the spur of the moment you might have decided to skip it. Got a spot in my preferred parking lot. Did not recognize any of the fast women.

Cut my warm up short because of the rain. Thought about how ironic it was to be doing a race that is a benefit for the Arthritis Foundation in weather that is just terrible for arthritis.

At the start, tried to line up a little further forward than I have recently. Hard to figure out who was really going to run my pace and who was a walker. Saw the Ben-Gals. Think I was ahead of them.

Was good positioning and got off to a good start without too much crowding. Was mostly running beside an old guy in a kilt for the first mile. Hit first mile in 8:35, which was just about right.

I tried hard to focus during the mostly flat second mile. I was hoping to make that one a little faster. Skipped the water stop but thanked volunteers for being there. Second mile is 8:38. Not faster but not bad. Kilt guy has pulled ahead of me.

Pushed it hard on the last mile, which seemed like it would never end. Kilt guy is still ahead. Kick hard for the last .1 and pass kilt guy and a few other slackers. Third mile was another 8:38---is that amazing pacing or what? And 46 seconds for the last .1

Inside, I had some coffee, a cinnamon bagel, an orange and a banana as I waited for the results. From a distance, it looked to me like dark blue coffee mugs on the awards table. I thought I was in a good position and not many women finished ahead of me. The convention center was pretty empty when I first arrived back there.

Finally got to see that I was, in fact, second in the age group. Woohoo. At the awards table, realized my prize was a Christmas ornament in a blue box, with a pair of socks rubber banded to the back. I have gotten worse. The ornament is a glass ball and there is a little wooden disc attached to it with the race logo that says second place. That's a nice touch.

Official time was 26:24. I beat a lot of women in the age group but had hard time figuring out exactly how many. Maybe 50 or more? I was also 62 of 860 women and 171 of 1339 runners. And although I would always like to be faster I am reasonably satisfied to be running times that are not far off what I have been running for the past 25 years.

Egg Nog Jog---The Art of Racing in Warm Rain

This weekend we are having freaky weather. It's getting up over 60 today with lots of rain. For most purposes this is better than snow or ice, although it is kind of yucky.

I picked my shirt up at the Running Spot yesterday just in case, but I was actually looking forward to this one. No need to worry about slipping on the ice as in previous years. And I am feeling good. And maybe the rain would keep some fast people away, like the cold rain apparently did last week.

(I am really having a hard time figuring out where all the fast women have been the past few weeks. It is strange. There are not a lot of other races going on. Where are they?)

Had an easier time parking than ever, which was a promising sign for my potential to place high in my age group. Got a spot right next to the finish line. Last year I won but I didn't know that so I didn't stick around for the awards. They also give out a Grand Master award to the fastest man and woman runner over 50, and I was harboring a small hope that it might go to me.

Stayed in the car for awhile so I didn't get too wet. Had a little trouble deciding what to wear. It was in the mid-50s but pouring rain. Kind of wanted to wear a poncho or jacket to stay dry before the start but knew I wouldn't need it during the race. Ended up doing a short warmup jog in my windbreaker (not even a running jacket!) and then put it back in the car before heading to Longworths to hang out.

Was wearing thin longsleeved shirt from St. Louis marathon (because it is red but also nice and thin) and capris. Went out to start line at 9:55, which would have been okay except they didn't start the race until after 10:05. This was a little longer than I wanted to stand out in the rain.

Did not really see anybody I recognized. Not just the fast women in my age group missing but almost nobody who looked familiar, except one guy who I remembered from the running club.

Noticeable smaller crowd at start. Like last week, tried to put myself further forward. Could have been a little further forward still because did have to weave around some people for the first block.

This is a tougher course than Jingle Bell, but at least there was no risk of slipping on the ice this year!

First mile takes you out of Mt. Adams and around the Playhouse and down into Eden Park. Second mile takes you to just below the Krohn Conservatory where you do a little out and back on the grass (fortunately just a small one and also nice to only have to deal with mud and not icey slush on this one), then you go back up the hill towards Mt. Adams. The finish line is right by Rookwood Pottery.

First mile was an 8:09. This was faster than I expected and somewhat heartening. Expected to be faster in the second mile but ran 8:36. This was still okay. Course had changed some from the past few years when we ran around Mirror Lake. This made for more uphill in the last mile, I think. Last mile was an 8:55.

I was breathing hard and making a lot of noise those last two miles. Also had to spit a lot, something I have just started doing in the past year. Feels good. Gives me a weird lift. So now I am not just a fat old lady running slow, I am a fat old slow lady who does gross things like spit and wipe her nose on her sleeve.

Kicked hard and passed a few people at the end. Last .1 was 48 seconds. Final time on my watch was 26:28---started it when I crossed the start line.

Grabbed my gear bag out of my car (which for some reason took me a ridiculously long amount of time) and headed for Longworths. I had tried to get a cup of water at the finish but they seemed to be out of cups. Figured I would at least have something to eat and drink then maybe stay if the awards looked good or if I really thought I might have won something. I knew there were not too many women ahead of me.

At Longworths, lots of people drinking beer. I had some water, then a little egg nog (not as good as remembered), half a Panera cinnamon bagel, and half a banana. I stood in a quiet corner by the Duck Dynasty video game (really). Was gonna take a picture but thought better of it.

Decided to go in the bathroom and change my shirt. Bathroom quite stinky. Tried not to touch anything. Did wash my hands with soap, dried them on my shirt.

Back out to wait in bar, realized I could log a beer on Untappd. They had free pitchers of Miller Lite. Did not taste bad. One more beer to go to earn my Lite Weight badge.

Saw the Race Director's wife---the woman I see in my neighborhood sometimes who tells me that she also sees me out running and it creeps me out a little bit and also makes me feel bad because she is so skinny and fit looking and I am sure she can run faster than I do or else she must not ever eat, and I feel like a water buffalo compared to her---standing by a box of trophies. I was hoping prize would be something nice and not just cheesy medal. But mostly hoping that I did not stay around for nothing. That is always the worst.

So they finally do the awards and guess what, I did get the Grand Master. Where were all the fast women? Woohoo for me. But the prize was just a cheesy medal after all.

Stayed around for remaining awards (to be polite) and also for door prizes (good odds because a lot of people had left by then) but did not win any door prize.

They had my official time as 26:43, which I don't really understand because it did not take me that long to cross the start and I know my watch should be accurate for my chip time. So not sure if 26:43 is supposed to be gun time or what but it seems a bit off. Does not really matter, though because even 26:28 would still put me in same place among women and masters and age group. So was 1/18 in age group (and first Grand Master), 19 of 177 women, and 95 of 395 runners overall. This was about 75 fewer runners than last year. Not sure if there were a lot fewer walkers but I would guess so.

Maybe if my diet is successful I will lose some weight and pick up a bit of speed before the winter is over. We will see.