july recap
it’s hard to believe july is already done. while i didn’t meet my goal of 200 miles for the month, i was able to…
- do longer runs of 13, 10 & 10
- roll my odometer past 32,000 miles
- average 40 miles per week
- get a cool age group award while running a sub-par 10K
- stay injury-free
looking forward to august, i’d like to “be ready” to run a half-marathon at the end of the month. i would also like to get my long run(s) up into the 15-17 mile range which may set me up for a longer race in october.
MTD – 181.75 (25 days)
YTD – 918.25
Odometer – 32,024 miles
went longer
to beat the heat of mid-July, i was geared up and out running shortly after six this morning. thankfully, the sky was overcast which kept the sun from warming things up too quickly. unfortunately, the clouds did bring a light rain as i made my way west along the glacial drumlin. i’m not a big fan of running in the rain. some folks romanticize it but i just don’t dig it. thankfully, it didn’t last long and i could simply focus on swatting the deer-fly’s that were biting my neck & shoulders.
i took my time on my way out to the next town west of us and averaged a leisurely average pace of nine minutes per mile. i stopped for a moment to get some water then doubled back and headed home. one benefit of this route is that it is downhill for the return trip. without much added effort, i rolled eastbound averaging eight minutes per mile and stopped my watch at home with an overall average pace of 8:30 per mile for thirteen miles.
honestly, it was nice to finish a longer run and still feel like i could have run longer and/or faster. it was a bit more humid out this morning, which was my main reason to ease back on the initial pace. regardless, today’s effort capped off my weekly miles just a bit north of fifty miles…which is likely the longest i’ve run in a week this year.
looking back at the month so far, i have taken three days off out of the first sixteen days but have pushed past one hundred miles in that span. scoring a surprise age group win on the fourth has also given me a bit more of pep in my step, even though i do realize my time was sub-par. i did take a peek at the web site for the upcoming North Face event in mid-September and none of the races have sold out, yet. as far as immediate goals, i’d like to see if i can muster two hundred miles for the month of July. at this point, it looks like it should be possible but only time will tell.
MTD – 101.25 miles
YTD – 837.75 miles
Odometer – 31,944 miles
Volksläufe 10K
for the second year in a row, my family and i ventured to Frankenmuth, MI for the July 4th holiday. we had the chance to shop at the downtown stores, eat a family-style chicken dinner at Zehnders, watch the fireworks and spend some time at the nearby outlet mall.
after a short night of sleep (due to staying up to watch fireworks) i found myself standing at the starting line shortly before 8am listening to the national anthem being played by a local band. we were sent on our way with a shot from a cannon and wound our way through an athletic field onto the street. the first mile has a relatively long uphill so i took care not to get pulled out too quickly with folks opting to jackrabbit the start.
my mind must have been elsewhere as i completely missed the first mile mark. i decided not to look too closely at my watch until the 5K split to see if i had the pace dialed in for a shot at getting to the finish line in under 40 minutes. my focus was kept solely on maintaining good form, solid pace and remembering to lean slightly forward when the course was running downhill.
the mark for five thousand meters was painted plain as day on the road and my watch read 20:00 on the nose. geez…that’s good news. i picked up the pace a bit as i figured i’d really have to press if i was going to make a run to meet my goal. the real challenge is that the second half of the course really seems more difficult than the first. it wasn’t too much further along that the constant up-then-down hill sections began to wear on my pace and resolve.
winding our way through the small town, small pockets of spectators camped out in front of their houses shouting encouragement and clapping as we passed by. i especially enjoy the two neighbors who display large inflatable mascots for Michigan and Michigan State across the road from each other.
after carefully traversing the darkness of the covered bridge we rolled up a short section of uphill then made a left turn to roll down the hill we had climbed in the first mile. i didn’t need to look at my watch to know that my time goal was no longer attainable. instead, i focused simply on “racing” and what i needed to do to reel in anyone who was ahead of me.
i found myself gaining some speed and slowly gained on a guy who looked to be a few years older than me. as i neared him i surged a bit more just in case he had any fight and slowly pulled away. a few strides later, the hunter became the prey as i had not one but two other runners (who were about my age) swarming about me. i’d like to say i mustered the resolve to get to the finish before them but i don’t have the speed of my youth and simply followed them a few steps behind their finish.
a nice perk after finishing is that a volunteer will hand you a paper towel soaked in ice cold water. i grabbed one and buried my face in it for a moment between breaths as i began to recover from the finishing effort. next up was a bottle of water, which i drained in a few gulps as i had opted not to take any water during the race. admittedly a bit disgusted with my 41:29 finishing time, i walked around the finish line area looking for my dad and niece who were going to be running the 5K later that morning. my niece spotted me and i shared my disappointment with them as i didn’t feel i had run well at all.
instead of hanging around for the 5K race and the finish of the 20K race, i headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and get the mini-van packed for the eight hour trip back home. i got word from my sister that my brother-in-law had finished the 20K in under two hours, which was especially astonishing as he hadn’t trained for it – – at all. stunning. congrats sean.
about an hour later my dad, niece and brother-in-law arrived back at the hotel and they greeted me as i was loading our luggage in the mini-van. my niece finished her first ever 5K with a smile on her face and my dad was able to run his 200th race with his granddaughter.
we met up at a local restaurant and while we were waiting for our order to be ready i checked for race results on my smartphone. dialing up the 10K and filtering just on the men’s 35-39 age group i was stunned to see my name at the top of the list. i blurted out a bewildered “i won my age group” to my family and simply stared at the screen a bit longer as it began to sink in.
my daughters and nieces let out a squeal as my dad arrived at the restaurant after getting cleaned up from his race. once he had the chance to say hello to them, i shared the news with him with a wide grin. he said that i should head back down to the race and pick up the award before leaving town. i finished my lunch and my eldest daughter accompanied me for the ten minute ride back to the park.
we arrived late into the awards ceremony and the 10K awards had already been announced and handed out. opting to be polite, we sat and politely clapped as awards were handed out for the 5K run and 5K walk. after the program was done i approached the announcer to apologize for not being present and that i had placed first in my age group. he teased me a bit but he then handed me my award – – a ceramic beer stein.
honestly, i was thrilled. i had first seen rows of these steins back in 1995 when i had run the 20K event. i remember saying to my dad that i’d really like to earn one simply because they were distinctive versus some of the more generic awards given at other races. admittedly, i wish that my finishing time would have been better when earning the stein but perhaps i’ll have to add that to the to-do list for future Volksläufe efforts. regardless, i look forward to filling (and emptying) my award.
chip time: 41:29
overall: 48th of 697
M35-39: 1st of 26
june rewind
honestly, june didn’t start out well as i was sick and didn’t run for the first four days of the month. after recovering, i was able to run an average of 40 miles per week for the next three weeks. more often than not, i’ve been able to roll my rear out of bed during the work week at ~5AM and run for an hour or so. i can likely get more than ~60 minutes worth of running in the morning if i don’t bother checking facebook before gearing up and heading out the door. i’ll have to work on that in july.
my “to-do” list for june was partially completed. i wanted to work on getting more long runs in during june and i only mustered a single 10 mile effort that would sort of qualify. therefore, getting in 2-3 long runs will go on the list for july. the other task was to show up for a 5K and “be humbled by speedy high schoolers” – – check and check.
for grins, i stepped on the bathroom scale and seem to be down a few pounds so i’ve got that going for me. i’m thinking that if i can get the miles up during july and august, i should be in decent shape for some fall racing. time will tell.
MTD – 147.5 miles (22 days)
YTD – 736.5 miles
Odometer – 31,843 miles
St. Mary’s Belltower 5K Run
The Belltower Run holds a special significance to me as the race route passes by our first house. It’s a small race of maybe one hundred participants that is held in association with the St. Mary’s Parish Festival. I arrived an hour early, registered and headed out for a two mile warm up run through the old neighborhood.
I finished my warm up near the start/finish area and met up with my family. I even got a “daddy” squeal from our youngest…which always makes me smile. Even though I was sweating a bit, she gave me a hug.
The time came for the runners & walkers to assemble at the start for instructions from the race director. Our youngest wanted to stand with me in the street but eventually settled with hanging out with mom and her sisters on the sidewalk.
The race started and we headed downhill for a block then a quick left turn then a longer downhill section. I did what I could to not get pulled out too fast and as the route flattened out I began reeling in other races who had went out too quickly.
Glancing at my watch at the one mile mark confirmed that I was out too quick as well as it read 5:58 versus my intended 6:20 or so. I kept the foot on the proverbial “gas” and soldered on knowing I was going to pay for it coming back up the hills we had just run down.
Shortly after the 1.5 mile mark the route turned onto our old street and I took a long look at our house. It’s changed some in the past few years but it still has may happy memories in it for me. Switching back into “race mode”, I could see my daughters up at the next corner waving to me. I mustered a grimace of a smile and a quick wave and turned up a short hill.
At this point I was really starting to feel the effort as I’m mustering a pace that’s about two minutes faster per mile than what I usually lope along at for training. I passed two miles in 12:30-something which confirmed that I was beginning to slow. That said, there was a guy ahead of me that I was slowly reeling in. I pulled within a few strides of him and we were joined by a younger runner.
Having the youngster along must have lit a fire under the guy I was reeling in because the two of them began to pull away from me. Thinking about it a bit more, I think I was pretty much “done” and couldn’t quite keep up. Regardless, we ran up the hills we had run down at the start of the race and headed to the finish line.
Admittedly, I was glad to have reached the finish in 19:32 as I wasn’t real sure if I would have been able to get myself under twenty minutes or not. I caught my breath and said hello to my family before heading out for a slow two mile cool down.
After a change of clothes, I headed back to check the race results and noticed that I mustered 3rd in the 30-39 age group. Glancing at the other runners listed on the results I did a double take as I noticed my buddy’s last name. Turns out his son ran the race and turned in the winning time in the lower 17’s. (His old man couldn’t run a 5K that fast so the speed must be from his mom.)
After the awards were handed out, I headed to the festival food tent for a burger, fries and a gatorade. I then found my family amongst the other festival goers and we settled in for the fireworks display.
