Skeleton Run - Missed The Start Of The Race!

Today was the Skeleton Run which has been a family tradition for years. George ran the Silly Bone 1/4 mile at 8:45, earning a ribbon.

Next, Luke, Brooke, and Rachel ran the 1 mile Funny Bone Run at 9:15. Luke ran very well, winning the race in about 6:09. Brooke also ran well, 2nd in her age group. Rachel took several walking breaks but made it to the finish.

After their race, I went to the car to drop off my sweatshirt and try (for the first time ever) to hook my disposable timing chip onto my shoe. I eventually got it in place and headed for the starting line when I heard the bell ring and the runners took off!

My first thought was to run straight ahead and just mix in with the runners as they passed me, not 50 yards from the start. But then I realized I needed to cross the starting line to activate my chip! So I made a beeline for the back of the pack, crossed the mats, and started weaving my way through walkers, baby strollers, and costumed runners such as a sumo wrestler, a whoopee cushion, and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

If you don't know much about disposable running chips, check out this article!

Well I continued passing people for the first 2 miles before I ran out of gas (and caught people running my pace). I didn't finish especially well, crossing the line in 21:10.

My mile times were 6:50 and 13:35. My first mile of course included the extra time. My second mile was 6:45. So my last 1.1 was 7:35.

The official results are posted already, and the extra time cost me 27 seconds, so my actual race time was 20:42. My true first mile was 6:23. I was 48th of 415 runners, 6th of 18 in my 40-44 age group (including 3 other LCSL soccer coaches).

Grafton Trails

I ran a nice easy run with Luke on Friday morning (school was off). We went down to Grafton and parked by the bowling alley and ran on the trails back there. We ran to the gravel trail loop and ran once around, the 2nd time around we explored a leafy side-trail that was quite long with a few up-and-down hills. We then repeated (both the loop and the side trail) and ran back.

Target was 38 minutes to hit 4 1/2 miles, but we ended up running 46 1/2 minutes. Definitely over 5 miles, which makes it Luke's longest single run so far.

Barefoot Running and Vibram 5 Fingers

Here is an interesting article on barefoot running and the Vibram Five Fingers shoes. I am hoping to get myself a pair of these in the next few months!