Race 10.5

Posted on October 5, 2012 by chatty

Ran the Microsoft 5K today. Final time, 27:56, a pace 10 seconds slower than last year. Dang it! According to my watch, here were my splits:

mile 1: 9:36
mile 2: 8:39
mile 3: 9:07

That is a slow first mile. I had some things going against me. First, running in the afternoon is not my forte. Second, rushing to the race course after several conference calls and wolfing down a bowl of soup probably not the best way to prep for a road race. But those are just excuses. Let’s face it. If you don’t train, you don’t go fast.

No excuses, but allow me to share my race day pet peeve. Let’s face it, slow runners. It’s quite likely you are aware you are not a 7-min miler. People who are 7-minute milers KNOW they are that fast. Why? Because they work at it. So, then, slower-than-7-minute milers, WHY are you starting with the 7-minute milers? You know what happens, right? You are going at a snail’s pace and slowing everyone down who is forced to pass you. This is why they separate us by time.

There, I’ve said it. I feel a little better. This year was fun. Great sunny weather; skipping work for a good cause; just wished I cold have been a little faster.

race! 6.23

Posted on June 23, 2012 by chatty

Time: 7:30am
Where: Seattle
Workout: 13.1 Miles, my friends!
Notes and observations: I will probably write something longer about this later on, but if I don’t … this race was really great. I had a great training plan and felt really good when I finished Some memorable sights:

Watching two blind runners and their guides
Cheering on the marathon leader as he smoked us around mile 10
The number of weirdos texting and taking pics of themselves while running. I was like, really? put the friggin phone down!
Just the amount of people. like 22,000 of them. just wow.
The Mariners employees who held huge pictures of Ichiro & Felix outside of Safeco Field
While on the viaduct, I saw a ferris wheel on one of the piers. When did Seattle get a Ferris Wheel?

In all, a really great run and a nice course. A few unexpected hills (specifically one that popped up as you turned a corner in mile 5. But I never stopped. Such a difference over the last time I did the half-marathon 8 years ago.

My stats:

Overall: 3798 out of 14089
Division: 333 out of 1618
Gender: 1728 out of 9470

5K:
10 Km – 59:20
10 Mi – 1:35:38
Pace – 9:35
Chip Time – 02:05:36
Clock Time – 02:38:14

Do you see that 9:35. I surpassed my goal of a 10:00 and even beat my reforecasted goal of 9:40. Sweet.

So. Now what’s coming up next? A bit of a breather from the running (though I plan to continue running, not as much as I had been while training for this.). I’m thinking of paying attention to my neglected bike for a few months while the weather is nice. I need to focus a bit more on the strength training, which sadly was dropped as my mileage increased. That is all.

Music: In addition to the plethora of local garage bands playing the route, Foo Fighters, of course. Somehow all of my favorite songs were shuffled to the first few miles of the race. It was nice to have that in my back pocket, figuratively and literally.

run 5.19

Posted on May 25, 2012 by chatty

Time: 8:30am start time
Where: Ran to Hec Ed start line (2 miles); Race Course (5 miles); ran most of the way home (1 miles); walked rest of the way home (1 mile) = 9.
Workout: The goal for this week’s training was 11 but I ran those 5 miles at a 9:05 pace, so I’m ok with skipping out of the last 2 miles. I also spent a 2-3 hours walking around the Zoo later in the day. We’re good.
Notes and observations: My race time was not much different over last year.9:05 in 2012 vs 9:06 in 2011. Total time 45:07. However the difference for me was that I ran twice as much as I did last year. I also learned … and pushed my way towards the faster paced runners so I could having to bob and weave around the slowpokes for the first mile. Here’s what people do at Beat the Bridge. You see, the goal is to run over the University Bridge before they raise it, 20 minutes after the last runner crosses the start line. So the slowpokes try to start with the elite runners so that they have more than 20 minutes to make it over the bridge. No one told me that. You see lots of out-of-shapers huffing and puffing their way through the U-District. Meanwhile us honest runners, the ones who will actually make it within the time limit minimum huffing and puffing, are forced to stop and go around all the huffers. It’s harder that way.

Not that I’m complaining. All for a good cause. Good practice to run with loads of people. Yadda Yadda.

The weather was much nicer, though by the time I was jogging home on the trail it started sprinking and I had become quite cold. Had a little bit of a runny/stuffy nose thing going for a couple of days afterwards. Ah well.

Good race. Glad I did it.

Music: Foo Fighters. Also softly. For no good reason, really.

run 4.29

Posted on May 10, 2012 by chatty

Time: 8:30
Where: Green Lake
Workout: 5 K
Notes and observations: First weekend since I started training seriously that I did not do the prescribed workout. I skipped Saturday and ran a 5K race on Sunday (the top pot 5k doughnut dash). My time: 27:24. My pace: 8:50. I’m sure I could have been faster but I started off near the back of the pack and spent the first mile bobbing and weaving my way towards a comfortable spot. There were people running this race, dressed as doughnuts. I literally chased a maple bar the entire 5K. And the maple bar beat me!

Oh yeah, and we all got a real doughnut at the end. Well, some runners had theirs before the race started, but that’s no way to run a race! Glazed. mmmm ….

Music: Beat the Bridge playlist. It’s a good one!

The agony of …

Posted on April 11, 2008 by chatty

I’ve delayed doing a post on the blog because I’ve been wanting to write about our loss at San Diego, but for a while it was actually painful to think about. It’s heartbreaking and only a couple of days ago did I finally start getting over it. Pretty ridiculous, huh.

I recall how bummed I was when UCONN got knocked out of the NCAA tournament after a thrilling overtime loss to USD.

I was bummed and angry when Tom Brady and my Patriots lost in the final minutes of the Super Bowl (damn that Eli Manning).

In these two cases, I assumed the best team would win. I was wrong.

For all you Giants and USD fans out there, quit yer whining. I don’t want to hear ANY reason why you think your team is better. They aren’t. Except that when it counted, when it really came down to it, my teams failed and your teams won.

That is heartache.

And so it was with the San Diego race. The Womens Master B (final only). Nevermind that actually, we beat five crews quite handily. We were .5 seconds away from first place. See the decimal there? That’s half-a-second. In the time it took me to type this comma, we lost the trophy, the gold medal, the rights to say that we are number one.

In the same vein that I believe Tom is a better quarterback than Eli, that UCONN was better than USD, so did I come to believe that we were the better crew. The fastest crew. The winning crew. What hurts is I was ready. We were ready. We were hungry and we wanted it.

One of the things that helped me get over it (other than friends and family looking at me funny wondering why I was so pissed off to place second in such a competitive event … which, personally, I don’t get. What, you think Derek Jeter WANTS to miss the World Series? Please.) was to watch the video. My mom purchased the DVD of the race and I finally got around to watching it as I was trying to figure out how to upload it to YouTube (which I still can’t figure out. I work where? I do what? And you want me to figure out video file conversion?). I thought I’d never want to watch that thing. Why should I … I know how it ends.

But I watched that finish and for a split-second I thought we won. I showed it to the husband, and he thought we won. The frikkin video editor, who, following the end of the race, showed only our boat and not the “winning” boat, must have thought we won as well.

It took the judges quite a while to determine a winner, 10 or more minutes, which to me sounds vaguely like those yahoos in Florida reviewing a hanging chad during the 2000 Presidential Election. In a sport where it is all about times and absolutes and yeses and nos, this very well could have been a maybe.

No, I don’t have a medal. This year. But I’m feeling better. Looking forward to cheering my teammates on Opening Day. Looking forward to new adventures and new races.

No guts, no glory.

No pain, no gain.

Big Climb: Been there, done that

Posted on March 16, 2008 by chatty

Hey! I successfully completed the Big Climb, with 5,000 other participants. Hooray!

First, a special thanks to those who donated to my fundraising efforts: Ray, Sandy, Claire, and Harv & Judy. The generosity was much appreciated and was a small but meaningful contribution to the total $3,500 that our team, LWRC, raised in total. Also, thanks to those who trained with me on the Howe Street Stairs, whether you climbed a few hundred steps or a few thousand. All told I probably climbed no less than 20,000 steps to train.

The event itself was somewhat low-key and solo. As the majority of my team was rowers, like me, the best way we could describe this was, too long to be considered a sprint, too short to be considered a head race. Something in that murky in-between area. While in the days leading up to it we received constant information and support from our team leader, John, ultimately climbing up 69 floors is an individual venture. Among the 10 of us, I was second to start, as I predicted my time would be somewhat slower than my teammates. Ultimately David, Tyler, Niki, Conor and Howard passed me. I passed one teammate, Rachel; and KC was right on my tail as I crossed the finish line. The flights went much quicker than I expected. And my goal to do 2-at-a-times for the first half and then alternate between 2-at-a-times and 1-at-a-times for the second half fell short about a quarter of the way into the race. I stuck with the 1-at-a-times, except when trying to pass people. And that one guy, at the end, with 5 flights or so to go, who wouldn’t let me pass. Well, shame on you. Granted, I was pretty exhausted and I’m not quite sure if I would have passed but I would have at least appreciated the opportunity.

So, I made it to the top of the Columbia Tower. Hooray! Just my luck, I was so dang tired I didn’t feel like checking out the Observatory Deck to check out the amazing views. Eh. I’ll see them some other time. What I really needed was to catch my breath. The oxygen-getting-to-your-lungs situation was a bit sketchy at the end. Felt very much like the post-race rower’s cough that several of us experience after a frenzied sprint finish. I’m still feeling some wheeziness which I’m sure will subside at some point.

In all, not so bad. My 69 Flights of Rock playlist was quite successful (“Evenflow” was just winding down as I passed the finish line). And the company was great. A light and easy-going environment, with support and good vibes all around.

5,000 participants, I believe, is a record, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society hopes to raise nearly $1 million from the event.

By the way, here is my pre-race meal (eaten about three hours before the event). Maple oatmeal with red berries and a half a banana; plus one egg, overeasy/smashed (as the husband would say):

Update: my time – 13:55. This beats my initial goal of 14:30, which is great! But a part of me wishes I had told that slow guy to move aside for the last few flights. Sigh.

Fremont Four-Miler. Wet and messy

Posted on November 3, 2007 by chatty

Yesterday I posted about and mulled over Drew Ginn’s thoughts on a race plan. Today I raced, and most of those thoughts went out the window. Our race start time was 11:40, which, for the area we were racing, isn’t a good time. By this point, the wind picks up, the rest of the world wakes up and decides to tool around in their sailboats. It’s just messy.

The Fremont Four-Miler, as it suggests, is four miles long. In rowing terms, 6.4K. We weren’t even sure who else was racing in our category. Which means then that you have to row within yourself, imagine a competitor fighting for seats right next to you.

We are first in this flight and start with a building 3 that puts us right at the start line and away we go. We start strong, and take a big lead over the next boat. Following the first turn, towards the south end of Lake Union, some boats start their moves on us. There was still quite a few boat lengths in between us to make it difficult to tell if we were in danger. The danger actually came near the south end of the lake as the water got choppier and choppier. In addition to really bad water conditions, we were forced to fight against the human element as well. Apparently someone was holding sailing classes, so a launch waked us big time, throwing water right over our bow. As we trudged along the east side of the lake, and with these conditions, it really was trudging, Melissa called for us to stop. A sail boat crossed our line and she had to stop us before we hit. We yelled at them that we’re racing … it was completely ridiculous. We picked it up again but the water was continuing to battle us. It was in the bad water that we continued to gain against the other boats, but it didn’t make me feel any better.

The water didn’t calm down until we got past Gas Works Park. At that point it was crucial to forget the fact that I was soaked to the bone, that the oar was hard to handle because it was wet and my hands were wet. That the boat had lost its aggressiveness at the catch and that we had done our best to just continue on. That we were tired and my arms were tired just trying to battle the winds and the wakes. It’s crucial to focus in, leave the rest behind, and pull.

I tried to pull. Did my best to follow the rower in front of me, and to give what I had left to give. Melissa gave the call to raise the stroke rate twice in the last 500m or so. By this time it was obvious we had a huge gap of time before the next boats. Any of them. But we went with the legs and the faster hands to raise the rate, and did it one more time before the final 20 and the loud horn telling us it was over.

Probably the worst water I can remember racing in. There was nothing you can do about it. Just hope that you’re prepared, technique-wise and fitness-wise. As our cox’n likes to tell us, every boat is going to face the same conditions. We just need to do it better.

We did, I think. But man, it was messy. Wet and messy. I’ll update this with results when they are posted online.

In the meantime, here are a few photos I took of the Masters races that happened in the flight before ours. Most of the pics I took turned too fuzzy to bother with. As always, Green Lake Crew took a bunch of great pics.

Update – the results were just posted. In the Womens Masters 8 our crew placed first, with a time of 28:32:61. In the Womens Open 8 we also placed first, with a time of 26:56:03. Our mens team also placed … in the mens masters 8, second. And in the Mens Masters 4, first.

Chatty Cha

dessert first

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