Turkey Surprise!

Well I ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. My nephew Thomas showed up at the race also. We did a warm-up together and discussed, among other things, how embarassing it would be to get beat by the guy running with his dog on a leash.

Now as I mentioned, Wednesday, I've run this race 8 times in the past. Usually in bad weather (snow, mud, even fog!) but Thursday's weather was brisk but clear. The course was soft but certainly not sloppy. It was a beautiful day to run.

I started too fast (being that I'm still just working my way into shape), but other than getting slowly passed throuhout the race (was 20th at the first turn, about 1/2 mile), I have no evidence because I didn't wear a watch.

Around mile 4 I did indeed get passed by the guy running with his dog. And to add to the embarassment, the dog quickly stopped to squat. I got ahead and then they started running and passed me again. About 1/4 mile later, this squatting - passing - getting passed experience happened yet again.

I did not get passed during the final mile, which was a plus. I finished in 48:59, 46th out of 224. At the awards, I was hoping for 3rd in my age group, but they didn't call my name. Then when they called the 2nd place guy, it was a soccer coach I know, wearing a bright yellow shirt, and I thought, "I don't remember getting passed by that guy."

Much to my surprise, they called me 1st and I won a trophy with a turkey on it!

Five In A Row - Turkey Trot Preparation - Let's Run

Last week I rejoined the fitness center at work (so I could run during the week in the daylight) and now I've run 5 days in a row:

Saturday - 2.75 miles (22 minute Extreme Interval Fat Burner on the treadmill)
Sunday - 2.75 miles (22 minute Extreme Interval Fat Burner on the treadmill)
Monday - 5.5 miles with Rick (Tremont route)
Tuesday - 4.5 miles in Oberlin on the bike path with Greg, Keith, Thomas, Randy, Cassie, Liz, & Geoff
Wednesday - 5.5 miles with Rick & Mike (Tremont route)

I'm doing the Turkey Trot at LCCC tomorrow. The Chronicle had a nice article about the race this week. This will be the 41st annual Turkey Trot! One guy has run 37 of the first 40.

I've only run this race 8 times myself ... most recently 48:13 in 2006. My fastest time was way back in 1986 when I ran 38:47, and my best place was 11th in 1990 (the year it was shortened to 5 miles).

Finally, thanks to Randy I've started following the Let's Run website, which covers elite competitive running and racing. I read a few articles, including this one by Weldon Johnson, which I think has encouraged me to put in a serious attempt at upping my mileage.

I had already decided to run the Cleveland Marathon in May, 2010. My intermediate goals are to run a 40-mile week in November (this week) and a 50-mile week in December.

Stay tuned!

Inland Trail Half Marathon - Race Report

A couple weeks ago I ran the Inland Trail Half Marathon. I did this on basically 1-2 easy days / week of running training, and my overall fitness (P90X in the summer and Yoga Booty Ballet in the fall).

Two years ago when I was running a little more, including 20 miles / week for 3-4 weeks leading up to the race, I ran 1:44. My goal was to match that time.

My nephew Keith came up and ran with me. He wore his fancy Garmin Forerunner that automatically dings off his mile splits. I had declared a plan to run "just under 8:00 / mile" and Keith agreed to run with me.

After a not-so-straight bus-ride to the start, we clicked off our first mile in 7:13. Fast but easy effort. We then settled into the 7:40's through 5 miles, before I slowed slightly more to the 7:50's for miles 6, 7, & 8.

• 7:13
• 7:43
• 7:46
• 7:46
• 7:40
• 7:55
• 7:55
• 7:59

Our pace at the 8 mile mark was 7:45, which put us on pace for a 1:41:30 finishing time. Unfortunately, I was starting to drag. We were passed, Keith kept pace with our new competitor while I fell back even more. Keith then left me in a blur.

I averaged 8:35 for my last 5.1 miles, I'm sure the 13th mile was my slowest. I did pick it up slightly again around 10 miles, but I don't know my splits as I don't have the fancy Forerunner.

I crossed the finish in 1:46:45, 50th overall and 4th in my age group.

Meanwhile, Keith averaged 6:35 for his last 5 miles. What a sandbagger! Just kidding, great job Keith!

Complete results courtesy of Runners High!