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.

State-to-State 2011

Now I will begin writing about some races, not in order. I have been neglecting to record anything about my races lately, and I want to do it and I always have lots of ideas about what I want to say, but I am just not finding the time.

Gotta start somewhere, so starting with the one I did Sunday: the 9th annual State-to-State Half-Marathon. This is one of those races I have done every year since it started, so now I have to keep doing it every year because I have a "streak" to protect.

The race starts and finishes in Oxford, Ohio (home of Miami University) and follows a mostly out-and-back course of rolling hills into Indiana and back. It begins in "uptown" Oxford, passes through some residential areas and then into farmland, and back again. The first and last tenth of a mile or so is on red bricks, with the rest of it on your normal asphalt roadway.

I have a little spreadsheet of my results from this race each year. The data includes my weight, my time, my placement, and any relative details about why things unfolded the way they did. I've never run a very good time here. The first year was just before my knee surgery, when I was already slightly injured but in denial about it. And I've never managed to get back into the kind of shape I was in before that injury.

My best time at this race was a 2:04 in 2006. By comparison, my 1/2 marathon PR is 1:47, set on the much flatter Dayton course in 2002, just before I qualified for Boston. My worst time was last year, when I struggled through a 2:19 (recovering from bronchitis, overweight, undertrained, hot day?).

This year I had an idea about trying to go under 2:00. It seemed possible, though less realistic than something in the 2:03 - 2:05 range. So I decided I would aim for the sub-2:00, but not let myself be disappointed in a 2:04, which would at least beat last year's time. I figured I was definitely in at least 2:04 shape.

Got up at 5 am for my two cups of coffee and one cup of vanilla yogurt. Dressed and in the car by 6 am. Arrived in Oxford around 7 am and found my regular parking spot on Church St. (two blocks from the start) just waiting for me.

Hit the portapotties before the lines start to form. Picked up my bib (# 3, I assume in deference to my exalted standing as a streaker), shirt and timing chip. The shirts this year are a little better than usual---long-sleeved technical shirt, in white, with the race logo (which is rather ugly and uninspired). This is not why I do this race. I do it because I am a streaker!

Yes, as races go, and as half-marathon races go, it is not my favorite. But it is okay. Its charms have grown on me over the 9 years of participating. It is, for one thing, a good value. It is reasonably well-supported. The drive is on the long side for a local event, but easy enough to get to. I know the course really well by now. It has become a very comfortable event for me.

I see a couple of other people with low bib numbers. In most races these are reserved for the elite runners. But none of these people look any fitter than I am. So maybe we are all the streakers. I wonder if they are going to recognize us in some way at the start, thank us for our years of support, or whatever. But nothing like that happens. In the 5th year they gave us all autographed copies of a book about a race across the country during the Depression. I am assuming that they will do something for us in the 10th year. My plan is to keep running this race every year until I am the only streaker left.

I was wearing black capri tights, a black short-sleeved technical top (from the Mason Half-Marathon) and my white cap from Fargo. In a little fanny pack, I am carrying my car key, 2 packs of GU Chomps, a chapstick and a small tube of Aquaphor. It was still a little chilly, and at the last minute I decided to add my blue long-sleeved technical top from Milwaukee. It is light enough to take off and tie around my waist, and would keep the drizzle off if it started again.

Hit the portapotties again. Had to wait on line this time. Went out in the street behind the start line. Did not see anyone I knew. Heard some people talking about a 2:00 pace so lined myself up by them. Not as far back as I usually start. Hoped I wouldn’t get passed by too many people right away.

No National Anthem this year (I think they played it before they started the walkers, a half-hour earlier). No hullabaloo, no announcements. At 8:00 am we are off.

It takes me about ten seconds to cross the start line. I’m in the right place, not getting passed and not having to run around people. I get water at the first aid station. They have them every mile this year. I don’t seem to remember that many in the past. I miss the first mile marker but that’s okay because I know where I am. I take off the blue shirt and tie it around my waist. I think about ditching it but it doesn’t weigh that much. I pass the people playing drums who are out there every year.

A sub-2:00 is about 9:05 to 9:10 pace. My first two miles take 17:54, so I’m just about there. We go through the upscale subdivision, we go through the assisted living complex. I am wondering if I am overdressed, and I hope the sun doesn’t come out. Mile 3 is 9:03, still right on pace. I have some Chomps. I am taking water or Gatorade at every aid station, and walking a minute per mile. Sometimes I walk for 30 seconds through the aid station and another 30 seconds on an uphill. There are a few people who pass me when I take my walking breaks, and to amuse myself I keep track of how long it takes me to catch up with them after I start running again, and when in the race they disappear for good. Disappear behind me, that is.

Mile 4 is 9:12, but I don’t worry about it with the hills. I pass some black cattle chomping away in a field, including one very large bull. Good morning, Mr. Bull! I pass some horses, who come running out towards the fence to greet us and I swear they are smiling. Good morning, horses!

Mile 5 is 8:53. Mile 6 is 8:59. I have some more Chomps. We cross over into Indiana. We hit the turnaround. I think about how I always slow down so much in the second half of this race. You are running into the sun and the wind. I wonder what is going to happen today.

Mile 7 is 9:47. I try not to be disheartened. It is still overcast and the temps are holding steady. I try to focus on how good I feel, how if I can just run the next 6 miles in an hour I will have a sub-2:04 at least. I remind myself about how in the middle of this race sometimes the mile markers seem a little off and also there are the hills.

Mile 8 is 8:39 and that's more like it! Mile 9 is 9:30. I'll be done in less than 40 minutes, I tell myself. I'm skipping the Chomps now and sticking with Gatorade.

Mile 10 is 9:32. The horses and the cows all seem to have gone inside. Mile 11 is 9:24. I look forward to the downhill portion of mile 12. The drummers are still out to lend their support. Mile 12 is 9:01.

The last mile is mostly uphill, but once you hit the bricks, you can see the finish line. I try to pick it up. And then I can see the clock and realize that I am going to break two hours for sure. I run a 9:12 for the last 1.1 miles, kicking hard at the end. I don't throw up, but have some problems in the other direction, so to speak. I don't care. I cross the line in 1:59:15 on the clock, 1:59:04 chip time.

I get my medal, catch my breath, check out the food. I'm not too hungry, but I have some more Gatorade, and later I go back for a cheese stick. I hang around a little while, and notice that they are posting the results up on a concrete pillar. I debate looking at the results vs. waiting to find out when I get home. Finally I go to check.

I discover that I have gotten second place in my age group. Yeehah! I am pretty excited about this, because I have never placed in my age group at this race before, never even really come close. Woo! I have to look at it a couple of times, walk away and keep coming back and looking at it to make sure I'm seeing it right.

Now I have to wait for my award to come in the mail. Anti-climactic but better than nothing. Not too bad for an old gal. Not super speedy but respectable, almost local-class time. And faster than last year, by a bunch. The little bits of more serious training I have been doing are working.

Race Back to Clark

This is about a race I did on August 13.

Why this race instead of others going on that day: because the start and finish lines were a mile from my house.

Cause the race benefits/celebrates: Clark Montessori High School is ready to move into its brand new building, after several years of operating out of another building in a bad neighborhood on the other side of town.

How I found out about this race: First I heard of it was when I saw some little road signs set out in the grass across the street from the Kroger the week before. That is not the way I usually find out about races.

The course: 5k start and finishes in front of the school. Covers some streets found in both the Flying Pig and the Hyde Park Blast races, and passes by my old house.

What I did the day before: Went for a little jog along the course. Found two different descriptions of which way we would go, so I picked the one that made most sense to me. My take on it had us running against traffic, and on the busiest and least-scenic streets first. It was a mostly downhill first mile, mostly flat second mile, and a slightly uphill third mile.

I picked up the course at an intersection about a half-mile from home, so it makes a nice little four-mile route that I think I will do again. I already run most of these streets regularly and have for years, but not in this exact configuration.

The weather: was supposed to be overcast but turned quite sunny by the 9 am start. But at least it was cooler and less humid than it had been recently.

What I wore: Black shorts, black shirt, pink cap from Charlotte Thunder Road Marathon, Nike Pegasus shoes. Debated wearing bike shorts instead and also bringing Chomps. I was going to try to make this into a 10-mile run by combining a long warmup and cooldown with the race.

What I was expecting at the race: There were two other well-established 5ks and a 10k event going on at the same time in other parts of town. So I was expecting that most "regular" racers would be doing one of those other events. At this race, I expected students, parents, maybe a few alumni and teachers. And chaos, I expected a bit of chaos. Which is not a big deal if you are ready for it.

What I found at this race: Pretty much as expected! But overall a nice community event with just a few glitches that are easy to fix, and did not prevent me from having a nice time. These little community 5ks are my absolute favorite kind of race.

Pre-race: Left house around 8:20 to jog the mile up to the start line. Picked up my race number at the table on the sidewalk. I had thought we would probably start and finish in the school parking lot, but it looked like maybe it wasn't ready/safe enough for us to do that yet in the construction zone. So the start and finish was out on Erie Ave., offset from each other by about .1 miles.

I know from my jog that the loop is slightly less than 3 miles around, so I figure we are going to have to run past the finish line in the beginning or do something a little different to get it up to 3.1. The web site says the race is USATF-certified---except they spell it USTAF-certified. Ohoh. Harbinger of chaos!

I asked a volunteer which way we were running, and he tells me that it is the opposite direction of the way I jogged yesterday. Oh goody, so the last mile is all uphill. Well, it's not like I haven't run up that hill a few times before. But I was kind of looking forward to running down it.

Well, it's still early and I'm bored, so I jog a little more up and down Erie Ave. I run into Ralph B., an old runner guy I used to work with who lives on the race course, on his way to the start. I don't know if he remembers me or not, but he asks me if it is too late to register and I tell him he has plenty of time.

I wonder where David Jones is. He also lives along the race course. Maybe he is at Newtown.

Lots of teenagers and parents around. Everybody is smiling and happy. Some people are wearing shirts that say things like "it's good to be back home" or something like that on the back. It is a very nice atmosphere.

At the start line: There are some announcements and I can hear them but I can't remember what the guy said. I decide to line up pretty close to the start. Even if these teenagers are on the Clark cross-country team (if Clark has such a thing), I don't expect many to be very fast. And there are not too many potential old lady competitors for me in view. Many of the women are not even wearing running clothes, so we assume they are walkers. This does not seem to stop them from lining up near the front.

For example, there are two older women right behind the start line, and if I don't look like a runner to some people, well, let's say these two women really don't look like runners. They don't even look like walkers, despite wearing running shoes. I guess they want to be close to the start so the race will be as short as possible for them? One of them is wearing a backpack. The other one---get ready, this is amazing---is reading from a Kindle! Well, she does have an earphone in so maybe she is listening to an audiobook. But really! She has a giant shoulder bag and she is holding the Kindle, and she is right up at the start line of the race!

So I make sure I am not right behind these two. Having to throw some elbows or run right over their backs just doesn't seem in the spirit of the day. The announcer does say that walkers should start in the back, but these gals don't move.

I am next to Cindy Moore and her husband, who is pushing their toddler in a jogging stroller. Cindy Moore is younger and much faster than I am. I am wondering if she is maybe going to win the race. I think about telling her she needs to get in front of the lady with the Kindle, but I stay quiet.

The race: starts a couple of minutes late but not too bad. Fortunately it's not too crowded, and unlike at the Kilgour 5k, the kids are older so there is less chance of getting tripped. I feel like Cindy Moore is behind me, and wonder what's up with that.

We run west on Erie and turn right on Paxton for a short, steep climb (but it's very short and early in the race). A pack of three young girls with heavy footfalls are chatting and soon complaining about how tired they are already.

We take the first right onto Victoria. This is a lovely street of homes built mostly around 1920. Our old neighbor when we lived on Marburg used to say that if you had $5000, you built a house on Marburg, if you had $10000, you built one on Portsmouth, and if you had $15000, you built one on Victoria. (Our house on Marburg was where the builder supposedly lived, and where he must have used his leftover windows and doors and all the other mismatched odds and ends. But it is still a nice solid little house).

Anyway, Victoria is a very nice street. There is a water stop a bit past the first half-mile. Kinda early. Doesn't make sense. And the guy manning the water stop is calling out split times. Chaos? Would make make more sense if we were going the other way, close to what would be the two-mile mark.

Victoria ends and we turn left onto Portsmouth, passing Coffee Emporium (one of the race sponsors).

Around this time I realize there are no mile markers. Chaos! Well, I certainly know right where I am, and I'm a pretty good judge of my own pace, so I can deal with it. I would be irritated if I wasn't so familiar with the route.

Portsmouth is a nice street too, just not as nice as Victoria. Both roll just slightly and have plenty of large shade trees. Victoria and Portsmouth find their ways onto all of my neighborhood long runs. When I lived on Marburg, I ran them just about every day.

Portsmouth ends back at Paxton, where we turn right and then make another quick right onto Wasson. This is the "ugly" and "commercial" section of the course. We run by the Kroger and Richards Industries. But the really bad part is that we are running into the sun. Now, if we had my way (and my way is always so much better!) we would have gotten this stretch over early, and we would have had the sun at our backs. Better to run into the sun on Portsmouth. But here we are.

People I am aware of during the race: Okay, the pack of three girls had passed me but then I caught them again and now they are well behind me. There is a young boy and a woman/girl (can't quite tell her age, could be anything) just in front of me for the second mile, and I stay behind and draft off them a bit but then I have to go around them. And I am thinking, what is wrong with you kid that you are letting an old lady "chick" you? Sad.

Another woman comes from behind and passes me. She is tall, and looks to be over 40. I hope she is not in my age group. She puts some distance between us, and I wonder how far behind me she started.

We turn right on Marburg, and we pass my old house and I barely notice, as I am really focused on the race. We make the final turn onto Erie for the last hill, and I just keep telling myself this is my hill, I run it all the time, no big deal. I am running beside a young girl. A woman tells us that we are in the top ten females. I find this motivating but I don't know what happens to the kid, because she drops back.

I would like to pick it up and see if I can catch the tall woman, but I don't want to kick until I see the finish line. She is slowing down. And there it is, so I kick, and I almost catch her.

No finish line clock. Chaos! I look at my watch. No way! I know instantly the course is at least .2 short. Chaos! If we'd had mile markers out there it would be even more obvious. I have not run within two minutes of that time in ten years. Get serious. I did not run a 5k three minutes faster than I did two months ago.

Kinda bummed, because I would have liked to see what my time would be on an accurate course! Oh well.

I grabbed a bottle of water and walked up a little dirt trail to the school’s turf playfield. There was a great potluck spread put out by the parent volunteers, but I wasn’t ready to eat yet. I had some Gatorade and then I went off for a little jog around the neighborhood, then came back and ate some food. There were sandwiches and a great assortment of stuff, but I had some sweet baked goods because that was what seemed most appealing at the moment.

I wanted to hang around for the awards, because there were not that many women in this race and I was pretty sure I was getting something. Also, I was caught up in the warm feeling of the parents and the students and the teachers, who were all so happy to be on the site of their new facility. It felt like leaving early would be dishonoring them.

But, I was just about to leave when the awards started. Well, turns out that not only did I win my age group (1 of 5) but I was also the fourth woman overall (4 of 65). I told you Clark does not have much of a sports program. And I was 36 of 141 runners, and I also beat all but one of the 107 walkers. But many of them were like the woman with the Kindle, so they really can’t be counted!

I beat the trail runner woman again! And most amazingly, I beat Cindy Moore. That has never happened before. Not even close. I wonder if she is sick? Or pregnant? Something definitely weird about that.

Including my jog to the start line, after the race, and then back home, I had a total of 7 miles for the day. Not quite the 10 I had planned on but it would have to do.

Lady Distance Classic 2011

Catching up and writing about some recent races.

Thinking about how it’s kind of funny that although I am not really a fan of women-only events, in running or in life in general, two of the races I ran in August were exactly that.

First, about the Fleet Feet Lady Distance Classic, which I ran all the way back on August 7. This is an annual event that I have done every year since its inception. There is a 10k and a 5k. The last few years I have done the 10k.

The good things about this race are:

• They give you a technical top

• There is a great “fitness festival” after the race that is mostly a “food” festival and not even so much about fitness

• It is reasonably well-organized.

Not much that I don’t like about it, really. It starts pretty early but on a hot August day that is not such a bad idea. The course is not too boring even though half of it runs through an office park. I guess the only thing I’m really not crazy about is all the women who know each other and are part of the same training groups or whatever, so when I show up all by myself I have nobody to talk to. But I don’t have time to join those training groups so what can I do?

Last year I ran a 55:15 for 4th in my age group. This year I am a little thinner and a little fitter, so I was hoping to take a chunk off that time and possibly get a placement. But realistically, I should have been expecting a slightly more modest improvement based on my recent 5k times.

It was warmer and more humid than last year, so that didn’t help.

I “warmed up” (as if that were necessary) by jogging to the start from the parking area (half mile? Or less?) and then jogging around some more.

First three miles go mostly around an office park, and then back to the starting area. I went through the first two miles in 17:13. There is a “stroller” division that starts after the regular runners, and each year I gauge my progress by how long it takes the strollers to catch up to me. This year I was almost to mile three before the first stroller passed me, which was better than last year. Mile 3 was 8:56.

I saw Judy Harmony around there somewhere, but she turned off to finish the 5k.

The second half of the 10k is hillier. You run around some subdivisions and then back to the Blue Ash Rec Center. Mile 4 was 9:16 (uphill), mile 5 was 8:08 (downhill), mile 6 was 9:43 (uphill, but at least I didn’t blow up like I did last year) and then 1:41 for the last .2.

My official, chip time was 54:42, which was only 33 seconds better than last year, so I was kind of bummed out about it. But as I said earlier, that was really what I should have reasonably been expecting. I did beat one of the trail running women who always beats me out on the trails, and I beat her by over a minute. I also beat Jennifer Black (sister of my Congresswoman) by about 45 seconds, and it has been a long time since I finished a race ahead of her, so that is something.

Afterwards, it took me awhile before I was ready to eat. They had a sno-cone stand. I had two sno-cones. They were very good. Later I made my way to The Cake by Margo. I told the volunteer that I had been looking forward to The Cake all week long.

Looked like it was going to be awhile before they gave out the age group awards, and I didn’t think I had won anything, so before too long I was jogging back to the car, ending up with about 8 miles for the day. Was 7 of 31 this time around, and 82 of 387 runners overall. Didn’t recognize the names of most of these women, so I wonder where my usual competition went. Numbers are down a bit from previous years, what is up with that? I wouldn’t think the economy would affect entries at this event, and it is the type of race I would expect to keep growing in popularity.

Rant of the day

Had a little time so went up to the Fleet Feet store to pick up my shirt and number for Saturday's race. It is a hike from the parking lot to the race start, so it's good to get this done ahead of time. Things I will complain about:

1) They just don't give out all the freebies like they used to. Remember the year when they gave us the full-sized bottles of John Frieda shampoo and conditioner? This year it is just the shirt. Bummer.

2) The shirt as displayed in the recent emails was an olive green color that was sort of interesting. They were raving about how it was the best shirt yet. The shirt as delivered is a neon green. I don't care, but it is funny that it was so different from the picture. It is a little longer than previous editions (is that the style now?) and the sleeves are a little longer too, I think.

3) Nothing worth buying in the store. Nothing on sale, and not much merchandise overall even for browsing through. So it goes these days.

4) And this, of course, is the most irritating thing. The disgustingly skinny woman at the registration table asked me if I was a walker. And then, when I did not pick up any pins---because I do not need any more pins for my race number, thank you, I have a huge collection of them already at home and I am trying to be green---she felt the need to tell me, twice, that I should take four pins and pin all four corners of my race number.

I guess I should have asked her if the number went on the front or the back. Geez.

How I do an 18-miler

I managed to eke out an 18-mile "run" yesterday (gotta put "run" in quotes because if you saw me out there you really would say I didn't look like a runner!). Actually, it was 18.15. Woohoo for me. But this is the first time since the fall of 2002 (when I qualified for Boston) that I did a "training run" that was over 18 miles. So I'm pleased.

It's true, I have finished a number of marathons since 2002. But since my aim is simply to finish, I really don't need to go over 15 miles on a training run. You do enough marathons, you get to know that completing one is mostly a mental game. Yes, to finish fast or comfortably, you need to train more appropriately. But if you've done enough of them, and you just want to finish, you hardly need to train at all.

Maybe it is not so surprising that I can get by on minimal mileage. I did manage to qualify for Boston while averaging just 25 miles a week. If I can do that, it's not a stretch to aim to merely finish these races with even less mileage.

The knee injury in 2003 forced me into the operating room and was followed by a determined, somewhat frantic rehabilitation that would enable me to finish Boston under the 6-hour cutoff. My longest runs before that one were back-to-back ten milers on a weekend a month before the race, and a horrible half-marathon two weeks before. But one thing I learned is that I could still finish a marathon off that. It would be painful, but I could finish, and actually feel pretty normal the next day, too.

I'd like to do more, of course. But every year, various roadblocks have popped up in the way of me getting those long runs (for me, that would be over 15 miles) accomplished. In 2004, we added a third dog (Maggie). Then Logan got sick. Dog training and dog care began to take up more of my leisure time. And then I started spending more weekends at dog shows---ironically, the cause of the knee injury, and the recurrent bouts of plantar fasciatis---which meant less time to get the long runs done.

I always had the best intentions, and would map out a traditional training schedule that had me building steadily up to a couple of 20 mile runs, even if I did have to fit them in around the dog shows. But my plans never had any margin for recovery if I had a sudden injury flare-up, or caught a cold that kept me from running for a week or more.

Occasionally, I would use a marathon as a long training run for another marathon. The biggest success I had with that was when I ran the Indianapolis Monumental race in the fall of 2009 and two weeks later, ran Chickamauga Battlefield at just about the same pace, to become a member of the Marathon Maniacs club. Since I once again had only managed to get up to about 15 before the Indy race, I started thinking that, wow, imagine if I trained properly, maybe I could qualify for Boston again.

Alas, when my next race (Delaware) rolled around, I was no better trained than I had been since 2002, and I have not been able to get a solid block of training in since. I did get up to 16 while training for Little Rock last March, just before I slipped on the ice while walking the dogs.

And all of this is to say that it is a rare thing for me to get an 18-miler in when I don't have a number pinned on my chest and a finisher's medal waiting at the other end.

Here is how it went Sunday: I got up at 5:30. Had my coffee, used the bathroom, got dressed. Over my vasoline-coated body, I wore royal blue compression shorts, a bright yellow sportsbra, an ancient and rather discolored performance singlet, a fairly thick pair of ankle socks (because my Nike Pegasus shoes are a little big in the toe box) and my black hat from the Milwaukee marathon.

For my route, I had decided on a series of three loops of approximately six miles each. I would wear my old fanny pack with the 20 oz. water bottle, which is just barely enough for me over six miles in this weather. I would stop home after loops one and two, so I could refill the water bottle and take care of whatever else I might need to do to get myself back out there.

Tommy had kindly agreed to feed and walk the dogs for me today. Maybe this is only fair, since he spent all day yesterday shopping at Camp Perry (it's a gun-nut thing). But I am grateful, because I don't think I could get the 18 done if I had to walk the dogs, too.

Ok, first loop: I am out the door about 6:35. It's overcast and very foggy. This loop is my regular 6 mile run, which covers part of the Flying Pig and Hyde Park Blast courses, albeit mostly in the opposite direction of the race. I am doing this loop first so I can run through the square before the farmers' market opens.

I see a surprising number of other people out running. Or maybe it's not so surprising, since this is Hyde Park. I think about how I probably live in the absolute best spot for a runner in Cincinnati, right alongside a park trail, and with multiple pleasant residential routes just outside my front door.

People are friendlier than I've observed lately, as well. It seems like people have gotten out of the habit of saying hello as they pass by on their runs. So many of them stare straight ahead zombie-like, hypnotized by their iPods. But on this morning run, everybody I pass says hello. Even the woman talking on her phone looks at me and says hello. Maybe people are more alert in the morning? It's been a long time since I've run this early on a Sunday morning.

Have a sip of water every mile, and one GU at mile 3.

I finish the first loop, about 6.25 miles, in 1:07-ish. Tommy is just leaving the house to walk the dogs. I wash my face and change clothes, because I can't stand how sweaty I am. I put on black compression shorts, a green sportsbra, a very old performance singlet (maybe one of the first ones ever manfactured?) and a generic white running hat. I don't change my shoes and socks. I have some Chomps and refill my water bottle and am back out the door around 8 am.

It's still foggy, and that is a good thing. For this loop, I head into the park. I follow a hybrid of my regular 3-mile loop around the park and the Kilgour 5k route. Continue sipping water every mile and have another GU at mile 9. As I exit the park and head toward the square, the fog is lifting and it's heating up. I turn away from the square a few blocks before the farmer's market and head back for home. This loop is about 6.5 miles and it takes me about 1:20. I'm slowing down.

Tommy is home and outside working in the yard. I am not looking forward to going back out for this third loop. The good news is I only have to cover 5.25 miles now to get to 18. I don't bother changing clothes or washing my face this time. I have some more water and Chomps. My left achilles is bothering me a bit, so I do change to the Nike Structures, which have a little more stability.

On this loop, I run (using this term very loosely as I am pretty much crawling at this point) down Erie Ave. towards Madisonville. This is a route I use to go anywhere from 3 to 10 miles. I cross Erie Ave. and run down past Hyde Park Country Club. Then I take a little jog uphill through a pleasant residential area (Broadview) for about a half mile. Then I cross back over Erie for an out-and-back on the Murray Ave. bike trail. Well, that is the plan for today. But as I leave Broadview, I remember that there is no shade on the bike trail. It's heating up and I am not feeling so fabulous. I start out on the bike trail anyway but I'm beginning to think that maybe I'm not really doing myself much good any longer. It's mid-morning and I'm worrying about heat stroke, and suddenly it doesn't seem to make sense to keep running farther away from home.

In retrospect, this was a poor choice for the last loop.

So, instead of going out to my regular turnaround point at Settle Ave., I turn early at Germania and start heading home. It's uphill, but at least there is plenty of shade along Erie. Have one last GU at mile 15. When I get home, I do the last mile on the treadmill. It isn't going to benefit me much physically, but psychologically I know it will help me to be able to tell myself that I did 18.

This little misadventure up and down the hill takes me almost 58 minutes, so I really was crawling. I hop on the treadmill in the nice, cool basement and very slowly bring it up to jogging speed, where I stay for a couple of minutes before hitting the cool down button for a nice slow five minute walk. That's a total of 17 minutes to cover less than a mile.

Final total is 18.15 miles in 3:41:44. When I was finishing up outside, I was thinking about taking an ice bath, but after the cool down in the basement I can't bring myself to climb in the tub for that. I don't stretch, I don't ice. I eat. And I eat some more. I don't accomplish a whole lot the rest of the day, but by evening I am feeling pretty much okay, and this morning I was ready for a 3-miler around the park. But I had to switch to my New Balance 1064s, because both pairs of Nikes are still damp from running in the humidity yesterday!

East Fork Backpack Trail Run

This one was last Sunday, July 17. It's another race in the Dirt Days series. For many years, this was the only trail race held in the Cincinnati area. I have done it a couple of times before but it was like 10 years ago, maybe longer.

East Fork State Park lies between St. Rt. 32 and 125, east of Cincinnati. The lake is a popular site for triathlons. The Backpack Trail is a well-established route, supposedly about 14 miles long in its entirety. This race used to be about 4 miles or a little over. Now it is a 5.6 mile and a 10.8 mile. You can use either race to count towards Dirt Days series points and Dirty Dozen standings, but the formats of the race are slightly different. The longer race is just a "normal" race with everybody starting at the same time. The shorter race has a handicapped start. Back in the day, they used to give out special shirts to the top 25 finishers in the handicapped race, but I think they've stopped that.now. I wasn't 100% sure about that so I still wanted to try to finish in the top 25.

I was doing the shorter race. I was just not up for 10 miles in the woods in this heat and humidity. The shorter race was going to be hard enough for me. I had spent the previous two days running the dogs in agility, and I was tired. And I really wasn't much in the mood for this race, but I had to go and get a finish time if I wanted to get those Dirt Days series points.

One of the things about it that I really wasn't looking forward to was getting passed by all those younger and faster people, due to the handicapped start. I had some unpleasant memories from the previous races of getting passed by almost everybody who started behind me, and only passing a couple of people myself. And now I would be starting earlier since I am much older, so maybe even more people were going to pass me, and there really weren't many people starting ahead of me that I could pass. I would have preferred a traditional mass start, like they were having in the longer race.

But East Fork Lake is so pretty that it immediately put me in a better mood. So even though it was muggy and miserable, once I got there I was ready to race. I picked up my numbers (front and back for this thing!), and the volunteers helped me pin the one on my back. I did a little 10 minute warm-up jog around the parking lot. I visited the portapotties, twice. I asked Bob Roncker why the race was so much longer than it used to be. He said that over the years people have cleared out more area for the trails, so it has just gradually gotten longer.

I debated wearing a fanny pack with a GU and a bottle of water. I wouldn't need that for a 5 mile road race but I was anticipating being out there for well over an hour on the trails. Bob said that there was just one water stop, in a parking lot in the middle of the race. Or maybe it was a little before the middle. Or a little after. I decided to wear the fanny pack.

The first runner went off at 8 am with a 30-minute handicap. So, the "open" runners started at 8:30. The rest of us were distributed across that 30 minute period based on age, sex, and "previous performances" (whatever that means, as Bob was doing the handicapping). I had a 24 minute handicap, so I started at 8:06. The first runner was an older guy (he ultimately wins the race), and then there were a few women after him, so there were about 6 people ahead of me. Two of the women I thought I might be able to pass, but probably not the others.

What is Up with This?
I thought I was to start by myself based on the pre-race info I had seen, but to my surprise there was another woman lined up next to me at the start. She had apparently been a late registrant, which wasn't supposed to be allowed but I guess Bob let her in anyway.

No big deal, except I looked at this woman and there was just no way she was 52 years old. She looked like maybe somewhere in her late 20s, early 30s and certainly no older than 35. I'm a poor judge of age, but this woman was way younger than I am!

Even 52-year-old movie stars do not look as good as this chick. Fit, tan, long blond hair, no wrinkles. I hated her immediately.

So, I can't help myself, I have to say to her that I think she should be starting at least 10 minutes behind me, maybe 15. I do mean it as a compliment, sort of, and that is how she takes it.

I was interested to see how fast she would take off. If Bob had done the handicapping properly, this much younger woman has to be very slow. Otherwise, he really should have put her further back.

Well, off we go and guess what, she takes off up the hill---you have to run up a steep hill for a couple tenths of a mile or so before you hit the trail---and it is obvious that either she does not know what she is doing or she is much faster than I am. I catch up a little when we first hit the trail but that does not last long, and soon she is out of sight, and I am alone. For awhile. Ultimately, she beats me by 9 minutes. So much for Bob's handicapping. Now if she had started ten minutes behind me where she should have been, maybe I could have held her off. But mostly, it wasn't fair to the other women her age, who had to start far behind her.

Alone in the Woods, for Awhile
I did not have much memory of what the trails were like at East Fork. Basically, they are less technical than at some of the other races, but fairly narrow. Although it had been dry for awhile in the days leading up to the race, there was a bit of rain the day before, so there were a few slippery spots. The problem was, it was hard to tell where the slippery spots were. When it's all slippery, it's somewhat easier because you just know it and deal with it. When you never know where you might fall, it's a little more dangerous. That's my opinion, anyway.

I found the first part of the race to be the most difficult. That part of the trail was very narrow, and on the edge of a hill. I was glad the whole thing wasn't like that. In this early section of the race, I also heard a tree fall down somewhere close to me, which was a bit unsettling. The tree cover was very dense, so the woods were very shady. Despite the shade, it was still plenty hot and humid. Worse, I was wearing sunglasses. Even worse, they kept fogging up. But since I wear prescription lenses, I couldn't take them off. I am almost blind without my glasses.

It took me about 15 minutes or so to catch the two women that I thought I would pass. We discussed how much faster the other woman who started with me was. They said she was really flying, and I said there was no way she was 52 years old.

(I have been obsessing about this since the race. From the results, it looks like she was actually 43. An extremely well-preserved 43. Bob says he put her where he did based on her previous performances. I still think he made a calculation error.)

About 24 minutes into the race, I was passed by an older (well, he's also in his 50s) guy, somebody I knew was going to pass me at some point, even though he started 9 minutes after me. He went on to finish second overall.

I don't remember it all too clearly anymore and it's only been a week and a half.

I was really glad I had that water bottle. I took a sip from it every ten minutes or so. After about 30 minutes, I was wondering where the little parking lot area with the water stop was. It used to be the middle of the race and now was supposed to be two miles in, or two and a half miles in. I heard a guy fall down somewhere behind me, and then there was some cursing.

Finally we hit the parking lot, and the guy who had fallen came up behind me and he was whining about how awful the race was. I didn't understand what his problem was because it really wasn't that bad, as trail races go. Well-marked course, trails in reasonable shape. And here was an aid station with water. What was he whining about? We passed a volunteer and she radioed in to Bob that # 709 (me) had just come through and was "looking strong." I thanked her for that because it gave me a little lift.

And on and on and on. I think it was flatter after this point. Mostly. More people were passing me now. Lots of guys and a few women. I had thought about counting them but gave up on that. Just wanted to finish and not be last. One of the guys who went by was really fast and I wondered if he was the last to start.

Since I didn't really know where I was and how much was left to run, it was all a bit disconcerting. Around 47 minutes into the race I had the GU. What the heck. At least I was managing to stay on course, which is always a challenge for me in these things. The race was for me a weird mix of lonely stretches, punctuated by having to step off the trail to let faster runners go by. It was hard to stay motivated. I walked a few times, then woke up and started running again. The trail was narrower and the tree cover denser than the trails I run on at home. I found it a little spooky and claustrophobic when nobody else was around. I would not like to run those trails all by myself for very long.

I started to feel a blister forming on my big left bunion. Or maybe it was when it popped that I started to feel it. I was wearing my Salomon trail shoes, that are light and breatheable, but I had pulled the laces a little too tight in the toes.

Bob had said that when we passed by the clearing with the little backpack huts, there was around a mile to go. Maybe. The details are always a bit vague. Finally we hit something that looked like that description. And then there was some uphill. I thought I remembered the uphill from the race years ago. On the last hill, I got passed by a twelve year old boy. And then, just coming out of the woods and back to the road that led to the parking lot, I got passed by a 35 yr. old guy. Later I was wishing I had tried harder to stay ahead of them both. But who am I kidding? They started long after me and they caught me, so it is unlikely I could have stayed ahead once they caught up to me.

I did run fairly hard down that last hill towards the beach, anyway.

Official time was 1:07:43, or just a little slower than I had expected. I was thinking 1:06, so I was close. Maybe if I hadn't walked in a few spots. For Dirty Dozen scoring purposes, I was 13th of 25 women. In terms of my actual finish spot, however, I was 26 of 61 runners (and was thinking that wow, if they still gave out those shirts to the top 25 I would have just missed one!) and 9 of 25 women. My age-graded time was also not so hot, 31 of 61. At least I did not get lapped by any of the 10 milers, the first of whom finished just behind me.

I stayed around for a little bit after the race, anyway, and had a cinnamon crunch bagel and a banana. Took off my wet, nasty shoes and socks, and found the first aid kit in my car to treat the blister.

I am going to miss the next two races in this series, one for a dog show and one for the Leading Ladies marathon. My next race, however, is the Lady Distance Classic 10k on August 6.

Hyde Park Blast 2011

Saturday June 25 was the 10th anniversary running of the Hyde Park Blast four-mile road race. Although it has never been one of my favorites, I have nevertheless shown up to run it for nine of those ten years.

Why is it not one of my favorites, even though it takes place in my neighborhood? One reason is that from the outset it seemed to be organized by people who did not really understand what runners wanted in an ideal race. For example, the first few years when we had to wear those ridiculous ankle straps with the gigantic timing chips. And the screw ups with the results, and the aid stations, and the start time, that they had the first couple of years. But things have gradually improved, and there isn't so much for me to find fault with any more---which will not stop me from dissing it!

Why Don't I Like This Race?
So now, mostly, the problem I have with it is just that even though it takes place in my neighborhood, it is not the kind of friendly neighborhood race that I love. It's too big and there is too much hoopla surrounding it. In addition to the race, there is the block party, the cycling race, the 5k “elite” race.

And when there is hoopla, I have higher standards of perfection. If you are going to make me big promises, you have to deliver. And this race consistently fails on that score.

But I am probably being too harsh. Anyway, this year it was mostly okay.

The event is a fundraiser for various charities involved with cancer, and they say they have donated over $220k since 2001. I am surprised that the figure isn't a lot higher, considering the number of participants in all the events and the level of corporate sponsorship. Seriously, I would be less critical if I thought they were giving more money to charity. Do the math: 3000 entrants in the 4-mile race this year at $30 a head? And all they've been able to donate in ten years is $220k? There are single individuals who have raised more than that running for charity (I think the TNT record is close to $650k by one man over 20 years). I know there are a lot of costs associated with putting on a race, but isn't that what the sponsors are for?

Anyway, I picked up my race shirt, number and chip at The Running Spot on Friday afternoon. One nice thing this year is that we got our chips at packet pickup. In previous years, we had to pick them up at the start, which made for a lot of chaos on race morning. One not so nice thing is that they wanted us to pick up our goodie bags (which have always been quite well-stocked at this race) AFTER the race. For me, the issue is that I am jogging to and from the race, so if I have to lug a bag home I probably won't be jogging.

A Bit of Shopping and More Whining
Used the opportunity to take a little look around the store merchandise to see if there was anything I wanted to buy. After all, I had to pay $1 to park in the lot across the street, and my hour wasn't up yet. They had a sale on Merrill sandals, and I picked up a pair. They were all out on a table so I was able to try them on myself without any assistance. Which was a good thing because all the clerks were occupied with other customers.

After I found my sandals, I stood for a few minutes at the cash register and waited for someone to come check me out. After a bit of waiting, I began to ask myself whether or not I really wanted these sandals. I looked down at my watch and decided I would give them one more minute before I left empty handed.

This is a great store. A couple of years ago it was named the #1 Specialty Running Store in America, or some such thing. The owner and founder of the store does a tremendous job supporting running in our community. But I don't shop there as much as I used to, since the universe created Zappos and Amazon and Road Runner Sports. I don't want to shop online, necessarily. I would prefer to give my business to local merchants. But if I have to pay to park across the street from the store, and then wait around for someone to notice that I am ready to make a purchase (after I have already waited on myself by selecting and trying on the item without any assistance), well, sorry brick and mortar store, but you are going to lose me.

Perhaps I am not really their target market? This is, after all, one of the first places that someone said to me that I didn't look like a runner. This is the place where the sales clerk asked me if I was going to wear the shoes I was trying on "for running." (Yes, it has been years now and I am still not over it.)

Anyway, before the minute was up, someone did come to wait on me. She said they were extra busy because of all the traffic from the race. I thought that was probably the point of having packet pickup in the store, but whatever. The good thing is that she let me use the coupon for an extra $10 off that I had picked up with my race number. But I am whining here on the Internet about it anyway. That is just how it goes.

But I digress.

What's Good About this Race
There are some things that I do like about this race. As I mentioned, they usually provide pretty good swag. Over the years, they have handed out assorted and occasionally useful small tote bags, various hot and cold beverage containers, little covered canisters that I still use to store dog treats and nuts, a key chain (I still use that, too), and socks. Lots of good stuff.

This year there was to be a cold beverage container and an insulated tote bag. But we weren't getting them until after the race.

They also have better race t-shirts than average. The last couple of years, we've gotten technical tops. This year, the women's shirts are hot pink.

And, for me, oh yeah, the start and finish is about a mile and a half from my house.

The Race
On Saturday morning, I left the house around 7:30 am. The race was to start at 8, so that would give me plenty of time to jog down there, and I wouldn't have to hang out for too long waiting. It was a pleasant morning, a bit cooler than usual, but sunny.

I got to the start just as they were beginning to encourage people to line up. There was a good crowd---about 3000 people registered, and ultimately, 2517 finishers. And as is often the case at the bigger local races, I didn't see anybody I recognized! It is kind of funny how at a 200-person 5k I can look around and recognize almost everybody there, but at a 2500 person race I don't see anybody who looks familiar.

There were a lot of people wearing the race shirt. What is up with that? Don't they know it's bad luck to wear it before the race?

Found a good spot on the left side of the street, not too far back. There is chip timing but I didn't want to get stuck behind a bunch of walkers.

Still, it takes me 30 seconds to reach the start line. Good thing we are using the chip!

My goal is 35 minutes, or about an 8:45 pace. That will be a few minutes faster than last year, and is a little slower than predicted by my recent 5k. I am a little lighter than last year and in a little better shape. OTOH, this race is hilly and that 5k a few weeks ago was flat. So 35 minutes sounds just about right.

The race starts with a gradual climb, followed by a shorter, steeper hill but you also get to go down the other side. The second mile is a long uphill. The third mile is mostly downhill. And the last mile starts with about a quarter mile up hill, and then it is mostly downhill to the finish.

So my race strategy based on my experience at this race is to run comfortably hard for the first two miles---but not to flip out if I am over my goal pace, especially in the second mile. Then I make up time in the third mile, try not to push too hard on the last hill, and run hard to the finish.

And that is about how it goes. Mile one takes me 9:12, which still manages to get me worried until I remember the 30 seconds at the start. So it's more like 8:42, or right on pace. In the second mile, we pass by my old house. The new residents are maintaining it well but I do wish they would paint the tool shed. Mile 2 is 8:57. No worries, this is the uphill mile.

In mile 3, I come upon someone I recognize for the first time in this race. It is Judy Harmony, whom I know from dog agility. She used to run a Miniature Poodle. She put a MACH on it. I have not seen her at a dog event in several years, but I still see her at the occasional road race. She used to be faster than me but she is slowing down. But she is still fast for her age---she will win her age group. On an age-graded basis, she is still faster than me.

Later, I will see in the results that my friend David Jones was also at the race, and will win his age group, but I did not see him at the start. Also a couple of other dog training friends were there, but I didn't see them either. That makes just four people I knew in a crowd of over 2500 runners and assorted hangers-on. At a race that takes place a mile and a half from my house. Amazing.

I think about saying hello to Judy but I don't have that much energy. I pass Judy somewhere near the three mile mark. Mile 3 took me 8:38.

Now we're climbing the hill. There is always a lot of whining about this hill, but it is really no big deal. It is steeper than the hill in mile two, but not that long. I decide to time myself going up the hill. It takes me just about two minutes. I'm not even that fast, and I get up it in two minutes. Everybody quit the whining!

Now I am starting to regret the feta stuffed olives I had the night before, however.

I run down the hill and back out to Erie Ave. I decide I will not start to "kick" until I can actually see the finish line. When you turn the corner onto Erie, there is just a little rise for a block or so until you start downhill.

I accelerate and start passing people. I do not understand these people who slow down when they are approaching the finish line. It is a race, people! So at the finish, I do have to slow down because there are all these people around me just coming to a dead stop and I don't want to run them over.

Fourth mile time was 8:31. I let them cut my chip off my shoe, and I grab some water and Powerade. I am thinking about picking up the promised swag---the drink bottle and the little lunch bag---but then I see a big long line for them, same deal with the food. I just can't stand this waiting on line thing after a race. So I just start walking home with my water and Powerade. I don't really need another plastic drink bottle and I certainly don't need another tote bag of any kind.

I was not sure of my official time because I didn't know exactly how long I took to cross the start, and I did not stop my watch as soon as I crossed the finish line. But later in the afternoon I saw in the results that my chip time was 34:49, or just about what I expected as a reasonable goal, 8:43 pace.

My time put me 4 of 98 in my age group (sounds better than it is), 252 of 1501 women, and 686 of 2517 finishers. My age group placement sounds better than it is because a lot of those 98 women were walkers, and it looks like most of the fast women in my age group weren't there. Remember, I didn't see anybody I recognized at the start line. Where they went, I am not sure. I checked the results of a 5k that was happening the same day, and I didn't recognize the names of anybody who ran that one either. And, get this, I would have been the FIRST overall female in that race. Seriously. So are all the fast old ladies on vacation?

Fourth out of 98 would surely win you some sort of prize in most road races. But not in this one. They don't do age group awards. They give prizes to the top 50 men and top 50 women. This unfairly penalizes us older folk. Unfair! I guess that is another reason I don't like this race. I would feel better about it if they actually gave more money to charity, instead of promoting themselves as a charitable event and yet spending most of the money, on what, I am not entirely sure. I would hope that most of the swag and all of the food was donated by the many corporate sponsors.

But I will show up and run it again next year anyway if I do not have anyplace else to be that day!