Why Outrun The Bear?

Tag: Scioto Miles

  • First 2013 race(s) is now paid for.

    Well I took the plunge today and signed up for the 2013 Scioto Miles races that should hopefully get me ready for the Capcity half marathon in May 2013. Check out the teamnames below.

    Cookies and Crumpet team

    These two races also come with a pair of “free” shoes that retail for the cost of the race itself. Although the Brooks Pure would probably not be my first choice in shoes, it does mean I get to try out a new pair of running shoes pretty cheaply. I’ll be torn about wearing them in training for the race though as I don’t want to ruin any training for the race so maybe I’ll end up using them after the half or on the treadmill.

    In the meantime, my running has been slacking – I enjoyed last weeks Turtle Thursday but have been too tired to run this week – must squeeze a run in somehow this week. I think the weather will be nice on Saturday so maybe a longer run and maybe even get up to 5 miles.

    (Cookies and Crumpets is the nickname that the Turtles have given Brandi and I and I think it’s a great name)

     

  • 4 mile run!

    Yesterday was a pretty significant milestone. I went running with my usual Thursday night friends – the Turtle Thursdays group. It was the first time I have run over 4 miles since July 22nd which is an incredibly long, long  time ago. Although I had run part of last nights route before, we had turned around at the 1.5 mile point so there were a couple of points on the trail last night when I realised just how long ago it has been since I last saw that piece of scenery. July 19th is actually when I last saw the 2.5 mile turn around point and had done the entire route.

    It was also the first time I had been there since Brandi (another runner from the group) and I started dating so naturally there was a little bit of teasing which was fun, although it was a good job it was dark out so the blushes weren’t *too* obvious. It was really nice to see the rest of the group happy for us both.

    My knee seems to be healing up nicely now – I’m nervous about overdoing it and doing damage so I’m being very cautious in increasing the distance. It didn’t hurt at all yesterday and I felt like I could have carried on at that pace for several miles further but I had to keep the distance in check as I’m only increasing about 1 mile a week. Currently I’m not bothered about speed as I’m more focused on slowly bringing the distance up to double digits and also I want to ensure I run with Brandi where possible. However my solo runs will be faster than last night – I’ll just consider them my speed workouts for now 😉

    We do have a goal of a 10 mile race in March and will be signing up for the Scioto Miles training plan (This year you get “free shoes” instead of last years jacket) as this was a real confidence booster in preparing for the half marathon and if the first run and the 10 mile race goes well, I’ll be signing up for my second half marathon – the 2013 Capital City Half Marathon that will be held in May.

    Have you signed up for any 2013 races yet or should I say do you have the budget for any more races in 2013?

  • Scioto Miles 15k runcap or I ran 15k and all I got was half the chocolate?

    [wprunkeeper activity=”83272114″]I was a bit anxious going to bed on Saturday night as my legs had been a bit sore all day despite not running since Thursday. I woke up bright and early on Sunday morning from a dream where I had somehow bashedbut it does look rather peculiar. the back of my head in and it was covered with maggots… Not a very nice way to wake up and I hadn’t eaten any cheese the night before -honest. It was a bit of an ominous start however I soon cheered up when I checked my email and had a great offer from Groupon – Weightloss Hotpants…err no thanks – I’ll think I’ll go for a run instead.

    I got to Cosi nice and early and saw Tina and Heather by their car and honked my horn giving Tina a fright. Thankfully she didn’t jump too much and did not bang her head on the roof of the car (maybe that is what the dream was all about?). I parked up and discovered that the meters were free on Sunday (after I put the first quarter in) – a nice perk.

    I headed into Cosi and picked my race packet up as I hadn’t gone to the store beforehand. Then back inside the warmth –  a great perk of having the race held from the back of Cosi is being able to hang out inside the building in the warmth and with real toilets is a nice treat. Unfortunately for Tina I had drunk all my coffee at this point – if they had a stand selling coffee before the race I think they’d make a killing.

    I met up with Heather, MelanieI think this is me next to the blue lamppost, Tina, Heather and Mike, posed for the usual shots inside and then headed out to the race. I think you can see me just to the left of the blue lamppost in this picture but that might be someone else, especially as I don’t see anyone else from the group.  Mike and I were running in shorts and a tshirts – after all – it was above freezing and I get too hot when running if I don’t wear shorts. I was surprised at the number of people who were wearing leggings, full trousers and jackets – it wasn’t that cold (at least not at the start).

    A couple of minutes before the start of the race the inflatable starting line started to collapse much to my amusement – for a moment it looked like the start might be an obstacle course but it didn’t take long for them to fix the issue and a few minutes later the horn sounded and we were off.  Like last time I immediately lost contact with the rest of the group but I couldn’t find them despite hanging back for a while so in the end just got on with running.  The first few minutes is pretty intense – a flock of people all around you – most of whom are treading and running in the exact same space you want to be, you have to ensure the garmin is started, the itunes started, the run/walk timer started and runkeeper started…..or at least I did on the last race.  This time I ran with just the Garmin. My original intention was to use the run/walk time on the third loop but in the end I ran the whole way – including all the hills. Initially I didn’t start the ipod as I was waiting for the others to catch me up and then I was enjoying the running with no music so just left it off.

    Anyway, as we’re heading down towards the start of Broad Street I’m fiddling with the camera on the phone and almost run smack into the barriers at the end of the road.  Who’s smart idea was it to put barriers in the middle of the course stretching across the width of the road? Thankfully I heard the Woah! from the people in front just before they swerved, giving me enough time to avoid having to do a very bad impression of a hurdle, which I would have failed miserably at.

    Action shot as we start up Broad StreetUp Broad Street we went and I managed to snap an action photo , the only one I took of the entire race – I don’t know how Tina does it. As we turned off Broad and headed (the wrong way) along Wall St, the race felt different from last week – this time there wasn’t anyone yelling at everyone to get off the sidewalk. I checked the Garmin and saw that my pace at that moment was 24min miles…I put that down to the bad satellite reception as there was no way I was going anywhere near that pace.

    I settled into the run and it was pretty uneventful. The aid stations had very vocal helpers which was a nice incentive to hear as you approached the bridges. I still managed to get water all over me and up my nose once despite pinching the cup together.  One day I’ll get the hang of it.  No homeless people on the path this time grunting incomprehensible messages to everyone as we passed them.

    I was running about the same pace as the 10k 3 weeks ago but this time I spent more time looking around and being aware of my surroundings – there is a ton of art and nice views in downtime Columbus. If I wasn’t racing I would certainly have stopped to take more photos.

    The out and back portion of the race was horrible (again). Under a dark underpass and a narrow footpath with people going in both directions and up and down the hills a lot means it’s a tough portion of the race. It was made infinitely better by running down the hill and seeing and hearing Melanie and Heather cheering me on as we approached each other on the second out and back – nothing like your own personal cheer team 😉 On the first out and back I ran past Heather who gave me a high five – with the cold and the combined speed we were doing, that stung for a couple of minutes afterwards to my amusement.

    Towards the end of the race, around mile 8.5 I was doing pretty good. I was running alongside another runner who was about to run a marathon the following week. Scary to think that a 15k is considered tapering… Anyway we talked a little bit as we approached – he wished me luck and then I looked at my watch – about 2.5 minutes to get to the finish line in under 90 minutes.  I started to sprint to the finish line…

    With the occasional glance at the Garmin it looked like it was going to be close but passing people at the end, whilst running fast feels good. The only hard bit is trying to run around pairs of runners and avoid the goose poop.  As I approached the finish line, Michael was standing there cheering me on – a glance at my watch and I gasped “15 seconds to go”. I didn’t have the spare energy to give a high five as I ran past Michael and through the finish line . By the time I slowed down and stopped the Garmin it read 90 minutes and 5 seconds…my official time ended up being 90 mins and 2 seconds – a slight, very slight disappointment but still over the moon that I had run 9.3 miles in 90 minutes and really enjoyed it.  Besides, if I had broken the 90 minute mark, what would I aim for on my next 15k?

    Final results were 1:30:02, 357th out 645 runners, 44th in my age group of 62 runners.

    After grabbing some water and a banana I headed back to the finish line to cheer in the rest of the Turtles.  My hands were freezing and the camera was slow/ I wasn’t really thinking straight, so the photos I got were not very impressive…oops. The photo I have on the left is the best I could do.

    After we all had finished we did some stretches in the warmth of Cosi and then headed downtown to get some coffee.  I can’t believe how hard it is to find an open coffee shop.

    I think we passed about 5 coffee shops before we ended up in Tim Hortons. Food and coffee tasted *really* good but I was totally ripped off when I pulled out the Boston creme doughnut from the bag and left half of my chocolate attached to the inside of the bag.  Adding insult to injury I then watched everyone else tear their bags open and start eating their fully coated chocolate covered doughnut. I was very tempted to go and get another one – after all, I *had* just run 9 miles!

    As usual, thanks to the Turtles for keeping me company and thanks to Tina for the use of some of the photos.

    I’m now less than 10 days away from my first half marathon and very excited – after all I now get to put a 13.1 sticker on the back of the car.  My question is, should I wait until after the race to purchase the sticker or buy it beforehand so I can put the sticker on the car with great ceremony as I get back to the car? – Do you have a 13.1 sticker (or more) and when did you put it on the car?

     

  • Scioto Miles 10k race recap.

    [wprunkeeper activity=”78773965″] The end of March was my second ever race (after failing to start the Flying Feather back in November due to a torn meniscus) and a great result and a race day.

    Waiting for everyone else to arrive. Nice and warm in CosiThe race was starting from the same location as the first race that I did which was nice as it meant I was reasonably familiar with the area and part of the race route was actually going to be the same. I got up early and arrived on site way too early. The nice thing was that COSI was open so I was able to go inside and enjoy the warmth (and proper toilets) until the race started.  The cool thing was that some of the other Turtle runners that I run with on Thursday nights were also going to be doing the race so I wasn’t going to be a lone runner in a sea of 1500 other runners.

    We all managed to meet up before the race and the obligatory photos were taken. (Thanks to Tina for taking the photos – I went to take a photo at the start of the race and every time I went to use the camera app on the phone, the application would just close – REALLY annoying and meant I didn’t get any photos throughout the day.)

     

    Another Group shotAfter accosting various other runners to get some photos in before the race started the huddle started as everyone chatted and got excited before the gun sounded. It was quite an experience being in the crowd and I was surprised how loud it was. It was impossible to hear the announcer talking through the megaphone and could barely hear the music that was being played.

    Crowd shot before the start of the Scioto Miles 10kWithin a minute we crossed the line, I remembered to start my garmin AND runkeeper on the phone and we were off. Immediately I lost sight of the group I was running with but they soon caught up and then we were navigating around the 4 walkers who started at the beginning of the pack (mutter mutter) and then it was off to run over the river and down Broad street. Although we weren’t on main roads for very long, it’s pretty cool to run down the road with all the traffic stopped for us.

    It didn’t take long to realise that my shorts were too lose so I spent the first half mile tying and retying the shorts until they weren’t in danger of falling down. Heather and I were going to run the race without stopping and were about the same pace so we settled into a comfortable pace and enjoyed the race.

    About half way through the first 5k  we were actually overtaken by a woman pushing a stroller – with 2 babies in it. I couldn’t believe that not only were we Chicked –  (when a guy is overtaken by a female runner) but we were actually Babied! Props go to the runner who was doing a good speed and navigating through the crowds as she overtook people.

    The rest of the first half of the race was pretty uneventful but enjoyable and we were making good progress – I wasn’t sure how it was going to be when the 5k’ers split off to finish but I still felt good and was running strong and I had to laugh at the guy standing in the middle shouting “5k Left, 10K right” – that was one guy who was going to be sore the following day! It turns out that there were more people running the 10k (810) than the 5k (474) so we were still in good company.  As we crossed over the river again we hit the 5k mile, in 30:16 (I think) which was a PR for Heather who I was running with and a milestone for me – I’ve run 200 miles and yes I threw my hands up and shouted 200!

    Back to the second half – we kept up the sub 10 pace, enjoyed the change of scenery (it was cool that each loop was not the exact same route) and kept pushing each other through the hils. The only down side to this part of the route at the 5mile mark was an out and back loop on a narrow part of the course AND with hills (not major ones but still not flat!) and it was then that I realised I needed to pee -right on the most public part of the course.

    I held it in and we continued to approach the 6mile marker. Pushing each other through the hills  – “almost there, keep going!” It was great to encourage each other and ensure that our pace still held to the sub 10min mark (faster than both of us would normally run).

    We hit the 6mile marker and Heather encouraged to go for it – we were still nicely under the 1hr mark and I started to sprint towards the finish.  It was a cool feeling to go sprinting past the runners in front of me – I think I gave a couple of them a bit of a fright as they heard me coming up behind them, breathing really heavily.  I kept going and then felt that I had started the sprint off too fast, but there was NO way I was going to slow down or walk that last 200′ in.  Hearing spectators cheering me (or someone else but I didn’t care) on gave me that extra push to keep going.  I crossed the line at 1hr and 3 seconds on the clock.  I knew we started way after the gun initially went off so was comfortably under that 1hr magic marker.

    30 seconds later Heather crossed the line – in under 1 hr and  a PR for her too.  We congratulated each other and with Melanie and Mike headed off towards the finish line to cheer in the remainder of the Turtlers – Tina, Heather and Leslie.  Tina got a PR too – not sure about Heather and Leslie.

    Checking the stats it looks like I overtook 13 people in that last sprint and knocked 30 seconds off my time. Final result was 455th out of 810, 61 out of 78 for my age group (yes I’m now a master) with a time of 59:11

    Recovery Lunch - #9 from Lan Viet in North Market - Highly recommendedAfter the race we headed out to North Market and after a disappointing attempt at grabbing some coffee at the vastly oversold coffee roaster, we ended up at the Lan Viet Vietnamese restaurant for a great recovery Chicken Noodle bowl (#9 left). Highly recommended and you don’t even have to run 6 miles to enjoy it.

    All told – a great day, great running, great company and a great time socializing afterwards.  Running with friends really makes the experience rather than just being one runner amongst 1500 others – thanks fellow Turtles for a great race and I’m looking forward to the Scioto Miles 15k on April 22nd.