I made my Charlottesville racing debut today at the Pepsi 10K. It was a benefit for the Special Olympics. Thomas had told me that a kid who didn't make the UVA team this year was going to run it, but yesterday he told me that wasn't true anymore. So I had no idea how it was going to go because I don't know this scene yet. Driving to the race this morning, I thought it was strange that I was worried about the race. Aside from the fact that it wasn't important, when I flew to Arizona in January my plan was to win and I didn't know anyone there either. So if I could plan to win in AZ and not be disappointed to lose, I could do that here today too.
Warming up, I saw Matt Resnick! That was exciting and we live close to each other in Charlottesville. He said that I ruined his chances to win. But then at the line, I saw Dave Hryvniak and I conceded that I wouldn't be winning either. I didn't realize that he lived in town either.
The race starting line didn't exist and there was a big delay before we got started, but then we took off. Two bigger (i.e. stronger looking) guys went to the front ahead of Dave and me, but they only stayed there for a little bit. Dave started to pull away and another kid wearing shorts, a t-shirt and trainers moved ahead of me too. Mark and Charlie had told me that the first mile was largely downhill and faster, so I didn't see the need to push it then. They probably had 15-20 meters on me at the mile (5:18) while we turned around a cone. It was all uphill for the next mile against the crowd who didn't stay on their side of the road. We cleared them with a ways to go before the 2 mile and I passed the kid. Dave was pulling further away, and as we got to the 2 mile (5:25) I wondered where Mark was. I wanted him to see me in 2nd place. Our next mile was pretty downhill on mile 3 and 4 as I went past Charlie's old street. I started to gain on Dave after a 5:11 third mile and then passed him probably right after what I'd expect is 5K. He stayed on me for a little bit but then fell off. After going around a cone after the 4th mile (5:15), I saw that Dave was far enough behind me, but I didn't want to let up.
Runners were coming on the other side of the road so I pushed as much as I could uphill. Mile 5 was a 5:11 and I was shocked. A car came up behind me and I tried to let him pass but he didn't take his chances. The uphill just kept coming and I was really getting tired. I eased off a little bit and started making excuses about the hill, but got back into it after getting to the flat. There was a sign that said the school was coming up, so I knew I was getting close. There was no 6 mile mark, but I kicked it in once I got back to the parking lot. I finished strong and closed in a 6:15. That's roughly 5:12 pace for 1.2 miles, so I think I did well enough there. 32:37 for the win. Dave ended up 3rd, getting run down in the last few meters by the guy in the t-shirt.
It was a 22 second PR from the Monument 10K in 2010 when I ran 32:59 on a pancake course with a lot of competition and people to run down the whole time.
Pepsi 10K Results
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
Workouts with @RMRteam
As expected, my day filled up. But I'm still going to make this happen! I've done some pretty fun workouts while here with Charlie, or with Charlie and Thomas and Joel on a good day.
Friday, August 3 - The first workout with Charlie was very different from my normal routine. We did six short hills, then a 4 mile pace run, followed by six more short hills. It was a while ago, but I remember it being a good one. I took it easy on the first set of hills due to the tempo, and then had a pretty good tempo run. The next hills were tough, but despite the effort, I was still making it pretty far.
Tuesday, August 7 - The following Tuesday, I was at the track with Thomas, Charlie and Lee doing 1000s. I don't know that I've done thousands before really, except maybe a long time ago with Matt Boyd, but we were moving pretty quickly. Actually now that I think about it, I'll definitely need to look those splits up from years ago. Anyway, we were supposed to work our way down from 15k pace to 10k pace. For me, that window isn't very narrow. We went 3:20, 15, 14, 14, 11, 08, 11, 07. Thomas was really moving at the end and I felt like we were running really fast. That's a range of 5:21 to 5:01 pace, so good work!
Wednesday, August 8 - The next day we had our first team meeting while I was around. It was a good time to get the whole group together so I could meet everyone and the Board (Mark, Cynthia, Bob, Dana, and Bob). They talked a little bit about the goals of the team and how we can move forward after this first Olympic trials cycle to gear up for 2016. I've got a new goal to hit for the marathon if I want to move into the "Emerging" group of the team from the "Community" group... 2:24:02. It's a pretty challenging time to hit. It works out to be 5:29.6 pace. It had me thinking about my own goals already, but I'll talk more about that another time.
Saturday, August 11 - The following Saturday, I met with Joel, Charlie and Thomas at the Zion's Crossroads Lowes to carpool to a small little church that they're referring to as "Louisa Church." It's a good thing we carpooled, because there were over 100 people and at least 50 cars parked all over this church's lawn and gravel road. We did a progression long run workout, 5 miles easy, 6 miles moderate, 6 miles hard. Again, this one went pretty well. We did an out and back sort of 3 times, classic VIC style but without the cones. I couldn't get those last miles down quite as fast as I wanted to, but went 5:51, 5:47, 5:41, 5:35, 5:35, 5:40. Those were GPS splits, supposedly they were slower than those taken on the road by other guys watches. I know that my last mile had to have been faster than that because I was really rolling. Looking at my watch at random times my paces were way faster. It was a good run though. Charlie and I went for another 20 minutes or so to cool down and I got in 20 for the day.
Tuesday, August 14 - The following Tuesday I needed to start earlier than 6:30am. Workouts are a lot different than what I'm used to with Justin. Justin started running the second I opened the car door. We started the workout the second we got to the track or the hill or wherever (unless he had to use the bathroom.) With this group, we take our time getting started on the warm up, then we do strides and stretches and bathroom breaks and all sorts of things. I guess that's a given when the group is bigger, but it's taking some time to get used to. Because of that, I knew I was going to have to start early in order to get to Albemarle High School by 9:00am. I started running from my house on the warm up down to Riverview Park. The team calls this place "magic pavement," and I think it's because it's the flattest place in Charlottesville. KC read that in a little book of running routes to confirm it. I did 3 x 2 mile with GPS splits, with 90 seconds rest. 5:37, 5:33, rest, 5:24, 5:27, rest, 5:27, 5:23. Those splits were supposedly LONG, so that means I was doing even better! I was especially pleased with the fact that I did that alone. Good day.
More later, that was about 2 weeks.
Friday, August 3 - The first workout with Charlie was very different from my normal routine. We did six short hills, then a 4 mile pace run, followed by six more short hills. It was a while ago, but I remember it being a good one. I took it easy on the first set of hills due to the tempo, and then had a pretty good tempo run. The next hills were tough, but despite the effort, I was still making it pretty far.
Tuesday, August 7 - The following Tuesday, I was at the track with Thomas, Charlie and Lee doing 1000s. I don't know that I've done thousands before really, except maybe a long time ago with Matt Boyd, but we were moving pretty quickly. Actually now that I think about it, I'll definitely need to look those splits up from years ago. Anyway, we were supposed to work our way down from 15k pace to 10k pace. For me, that window isn't very narrow. We went 3:20, 15, 14, 14, 11, 08, 11, 07. Thomas was really moving at the end and I felt like we were running really fast. That's a range of 5:21 to 5:01 pace, so good work!
Wednesday, August 8 - The next day we had our first team meeting while I was around. It was a good time to get the whole group together so I could meet everyone and the Board (Mark, Cynthia, Bob, Dana, and Bob). They talked a little bit about the goals of the team and how we can move forward after this first Olympic trials cycle to gear up for 2016. I've got a new goal to hit for the marathon if I want to move into the "Emerging" group of the team from the "Community" group... 2:24:02. It's a pretty challenging time to hit. It works out to be 5:29.6 pace. It had me thinking about my own goals already, but I'll talk more about that another time.
Saturday, August 11 - The following Saturday, I met with Joel, Charlie and Thomas at the Zion's Crossroads Lowes to carpool to a small little church that they're referring to as "Louisa Church." It's a good thing we carpooled, because there were over 100 people and at least 50 cars parked all over this church's lawn and gravel road. We did a progression long run workout, 5 miles easy, 6 miles moderate, 6 miles hard. Again, this one went pretty well. We did an out and back sort of 3 times, classic VIC style but without the cones. I couldn't get those last miles down quite as fast as I wanted to, but went 5:51, 5:47, 5:41, 5:35, 5:35, 5:40. Those were GPS splits, supposedly they were slower than those taken on the road by other guys watches. I know that my last mile had to have been faster than that because I was really rolling. Looking at my watch at random times my paces were way faster. It was a good run though. Charlie and I went for another 20 minutes or so to cool down and I got in 20 for the day.
Tuesday, August 14 - The following Tuesday I needed to start earlier than 6:30am. Workouts are a lot different than what I'm used to with Justin. Justin started running the second I opened the car door. We started the workout the second we got to the track or the hill or wherever (unless he had to use the bathroom.) With this group, we take our time getting started on the warm up, then we do strides and stretches and bathroom breaks and all sorts of things. I guess that's a given when the group is bigger, but it's taking some time to get used to. Because of that, I knew I was going to have to start early in order to get to Albemarle High School by 9:00am. I started running from my house on the warm up down to Riverview Park. The team calls this place "magic pavement," and I think it's because it's the flattest place in Charlottesville. KC read that in a little book of running routes to confirm it. I did 3 x 2 mile with GPS splits, with 90 seconds rest. 5:37, 5:33, rest, 5:24, 5:27, rest, 5:27, 5:23. Those splits were supposedly LONG, so that means I was doing even better! I was especially pleased with the fact that I did that alone. Good day.
More later, that was about 2 weeks.
Labor Day
It's Labor Day and for the first time in 6 years, I have to go to work! But I'm going to take some time today to make my first real post since sometime in July when I was at the beach. Rather than making some huge post about my whole life, I'm going to try to break it up into smaller pieces, to keep you on your toes!
We moved here on August 1, a Wednesday. On Friday I "joined" the Ragged Mountain Racing Team and did my first workout. The team is a little banged up right now and it's largely been just me and Charlie doing workouts together. One other marathon guy is healthy, Thomas, but he's been out of town a lot for work and hasn't been making it to all the workouts. Since August 1, I've run 398 miles. Not a lot, but not too bad. I've been doing some pretty good workouts, with one terrible one.
Time to go to work, I'll post some more when I have a break.
We moved here on August 1, a Wednesday. On Friday I "joined" the Ragged Mountain Racing Team and did my first workout. The team is a little banged up right now and it's largely been just me and Charlie doing workouts together. One other marathon guy is healthy, Thomas, but he's been out of town a lot for work and hasn't been making it to all the workouts. Since August 1, I've run 398 miles. Not a lot, but not too bad. I've been doing some pretty good workouts, with one terrible one.
Time to go to work, I'll post some more when I have a break.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Gene Martin
Recently I went to look at Gene Martin's photos on Picasa that he's been taking for FARC for as long as I remember. Bob Lang of the Lion's Club had asked me to share with him some pictures of runners standing around after races for a t-shirt idea, so I sent him to Gene's site. Gene is at most FARC races every year, taking pictures of every one he can. It's not an easy job either. I've tried to take running pictures before with a variety of different cameras, and they usually turn out very badly. Gene has had a lot more success than I have. When I redesigned the FARC website, I included a link to Gene's pictures for all to see.
I remember seeing people make comments on some of the pictures, often times asking how they could buy the photos from Gene. When he replied, he just told people to download them for free! It was amazing. After each race, I would go home and download all the pictures that had me in them. He got around the course too, and I'd often see him in more than one spot getting pictures of me. When he wasn't in a spot or photos of me weren't included, I was happy knowing that it meant he was taking pictures of some of the other runners, those who might not already have pictures of themselves. (I sound very vain!)
Well, it seems as though Gene has finally decided to make a profit from his efforts. His photos have migrated to www.IBGENE.com, a professionally done website that offers visitors the opportunity to buy pictures in print, or just a digital download. I'm not sure whether I think $3 is a lot of money to download the picture or not, but regardless, I've certainly saved a lot of money in the past.
I encourage people to take advantage of this service, and even if it is expensive, get a picture or two from Gene on occasion, when there is a good shot of you. He did it for free for a long time, now we can thank him for his efforts.
It looks as though Gene has allowed people to embed his photos into websites, so I've got some work to do finding all the pictures from my blog that are missing now, to re-embed them with his new website.
I remember seeing people make comments on some of the pictures, often times asking how they could buy the photos from Gene. When he replied, he just told people to download them for free! It was amazing. After each race, I would go home and download all the pictures that had me in them. He got around the course too, and I'd often see him in more than one spot getting pictures of me. When he wasn't in a spot or photos of me weren't included, I was happy knowing that it meant he was taking pictures of some of the other runners, those who might not already have pictures of themselves. (I sound very vain!)
Well, it seems as though Gene has finally decided to make a profit from his efforts. His photos have migrated to www.IBGENE.com, a professionally done website that offers visitors the opportunity to buy pictures in print, or just a digital download. I'm not sure whether I think $3 is a lot of money to download the picture or not, but regardless, I've certainly saved a lot of money in the past.
I encourage people to take advantage of this service, and even if it is expensive, get a picture or two from Gene on occasion, when there is a good shot of you. He did it for free for a long time, now we can thank him for his efforts.
It looks as though Gene has allowed people to embed his photos into websites, so I've got some work to do finding all the pictures from my blog that are missing now, to re-embed them with his new website.
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