Kingwood Center 5k

FW and went to the Kingwood Center 5k last week.  Last year, FW ran a personal best at this race.  Her goal for this year's was to beat her time at the Flying Pig 5k last month.  She's been able to get outside more, but she's still getting into the swing of things.

First, we had to fight cicadas.  They're back with a vengeance after a 17 year absence.  And they're really not bright.  Seriously, they fly right into you no matter what you're doing.  They were all over the Kingwood Center, which isn't surprising with all the trees and flowers for them to munch on.

We started out near the local high school for a straightaway and turnaround in the parking lot.  FW surprised me by mixing in some light jogging during the first mile.  It was very warm out, but she's improved by running a lighter pace and lasting longer.  We then went down a grassy trail to hit the nearby bike path where we would stay for the majority of the race.  I could tell FW was feeling pretty good despite the up and down training.  Her first mile clocked in at 17:29.

The bike path portion went on for a while and, thankfully, the cicadas were not bothering us here.  We saw several people we knew heading back toward the Kingwood Center which was nice.  FW sprinkled in some more jogging and was still feeling good.  We then made our way around a long loop at North Lake Park.  The park is very pretty this time of year.  The jogging stopped momentarily, so I grabbed a water for FW at the water stop.  We then made our way back to the bike path and hit the second mile marker in 17:25.

FW was finally feeling the race during the third mile and had to slow down.  We walked most of the mile until we came back to the grassy trail leading us back to Kingwood.  There was one hill here but FW jogged up in a good effort.  We then stayed made our way into Kingwood for the downhill finish.  Our last mile was in 18:10 and FW finished her 5k in 55:48.  This was a bit faster than her effort at the Flying Pig, plus it was much hotter at this one.

FW is planning on running the Ontario Liberty 5k on July 4 which is coming up fast.  We're ramping up her training over the next week.

Next race: BW5k- Pleasant Hill Lake, Ohio

Heartland Series Ohio Half Marathon

This is the fourth time I've done half marathons on back-to-back weeks. I wasn't planning on doing so, but FW convinced me to do the Medina Half on Memorial Day weekend.  This race is part of the Mainly Marathons race series which is becoming increasingly popular.  If you aren't familiar with it, you have the opportunity to follow a great group of people through a different state each day for a week or so.  It's extremely popular for 50 Staters, Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics.  The Ohio race was in Bryan, Ohio, about two and a half hours from Mansfield.  I didn't do the next day's race in Michigan because it was another 100 miles or so from Bryan.  What's nice is the Mainly Marathons group has offered up one free race to anyone who hasn't previously done one of their races.  What great marketing!  The hotel options aren't numerous but they are inexpensive.  It turned into a nice, low-key race weekend.

FW and I showed up the night before and stopped in at Stoney Ridge Winery about three miles north of our hotel.  This was one of the nicest wineries we've visited!  We really wanted to tour the grounds, but it was raining cats and dogs.  We had some samples and bought a couple bottles to bring home.  Highly recommended!  We then had a nice dinner and turned in for the night as the race started at 6:00am.

The race start is at nearby Moore Park which had plenty of parking.  I don't think I've seen so many Maniacs and Fanatics at such a small race before.  The course was an out and back that we ran multiple times.  There was a marathon, half marathon, and 5k going on which made it a bit difficult at times.  Now, this is different from other races because very, very few people were actually racing.  Most folks were doing multiple days and were going at slower paces.  I was setting up for a solid half marathon to finish out the first part of the year.

As this is a loop course, I don't plan on doing my usual breakdown (Miles 1-5, 6-10, 11-13.1).  Instead I'll simply give my thoughts on the race and the splits I have.  My GPS watch conked out at about the 11.5 mile mark and didn't save the data.

We started out from the meager start line and I felt good right away.  It was warm out, but  it felt much better than Medina the previous week.  The eventual marathon winner took off like it was a 5k, so I settled in well behind him and tried to hold my ground.  The course wasn't bad for 8 laps as we ran through Moore Park.  It offered plenty of shade but it stayed a pretty overcast day for the most part.

My race took an odd turn at the end of the first lap.  We had torrential rains the night before, so the first 200 meters or so were a bit rough through the gravel parking lot.  The rest was on asphalt.  I was making the turn from the asphalt trail to the parking lot at the end of the first lap when I spotted FW.  I gave her a quick wave, took two more steps, and slipped on the one muddy spot.  Well, not slipped, more like went flying and landed on both hands and my right leg.  FW was of course scared that I really hurt myself, but I quickly yelled "I'm fine" and ran toward the water station where I assessed my wounds.  Thankfully, I only had some scratches on my hands and right leg.  It could have seriously broken my arm with the way I landed.  I poured some water on my hands and kept going.

FW saw me a bunch more times and asked if I was ok.  I told her I was indeed fine and just had some minor scratches and a bruised ego.  That's the first time I've fallen in a race and I hope it's the last.  The second and third laps were a bit slower as I kept looking at my bleeding hands, but I eventually settled into a solid pace.

As for the people, they're awesome.  I don't know how many times I yelled "Good job Maniac/Fanatic" only to hear "Good job Fanatic", as I was wearing my Half Fanatics singlet.  Everyone was having a good time and, with it being a loop course, you got to know everyone along the way.

I was able to finish the half in 1:40:18 which was good enough for 1/30 overall.  I'll take it but, again, this isn't a typical race.

Tomorrow morning is the next race which is one of FW's favorites.

Next race: Kingwood 5k- Mansfield, OH

Medina Half Marathon

This is only the fourth time I'm running half marathons on back-to-back weekends.  The first was a repeat in nearby Medina, Ohio.  I ran a surprisingly good time at this tough race last year.  It has the highest number of turns in any race I've done and it has plenty of elevation differences.  We had the added bonus of high temperatures and humidity at this year's event.  The early 6:45 start helped some but not enough.

The race is extremely easy to get to as FW and I parked at a nearby school within three blocks of the start.  The organizers were nice enough to offer race day packet pick up for those who couldn't make it the night before.  FW and I could tell it was going to get hot as I went through my warm-ups, though she was looking forward to going to the nearby coffee shop after the start.  I'll leave the description to her in her spectator report at the end of this post!

This race is in its fourth year but it's very well organized.  They even had pacers, which is nice for an event with fewer than 1000 runners.  I lined up near the front with the 1:40 pace group and hoped to stay in that range.  The gun went off and we started our trek out of Medina.

Miles 1-5: This was the easy part of the course as it was a net downhill for the first six or so miles.  I decided to go against typical race strategy and start off fast and try to maintain in the second half.  You'll see by my splits that this strategy wasn't perfect as there was nothing consistent about race.  We weaved north (remember the turns) away from downtown and started heading east.  This part of the course was nothing difficult and I started out way too fast.  I started feeling it right around mile 5 as we started around Lake Medina.  Here are the splits for the first five: (1) 6:57, (2) 6:53, (3) 7:07, (4) 7:00, (5) 7:20.  Well, I guess this was consistent, but it was way too fast!  I actually would have had a 10k PR in this race.

Miles 6-10:  The section around Lake Medina was actually the roughest because there was no shade and the sun was already beating down.  I didn't start walking quite yet but wanted to.  We then headed south and entered a residential area.  I started walking soon into mile 7.  There were a decent number of people out and about cheering on the runners.  That was appreciated, but I just could not pull it together and sprinkled in more quick walk breaks on hills.  My splits started suffering, which I did expect.  Here are the splits for this section: (6) 7:33, (7) 8:17, (8) 7:45, (9) 8:19, (10) 7:53.  You could tell I was up and down during this section and barely holding on to a good time.

Miles 11-13.1: And the wheels completely fall off!  I pretty well gave up here and just tried to hold on for a good time.  The heat and humidity was relentless and I was done.  I got passed by several people here but I was still running a decent race.  We completed our semi-circle around Medina and headed back north to the finish line.  I did have a very good last mile as I was able to finish without walking.  The final push of this race is very tough as it's about half a mile at a pretty good grade.  Here are the final splits:  (11) 8:52, (12) 8:48, (13) 7:20. 

Despite my very up and down race (figuratively and literally), I was able to finish in a respectable 1:40:31.  This was good enough for 7/49 and 52/790 overall.  Not a bad effort considering the horrible heat and humidity.

There's not much time before my last half marathon for the first half of the year as I'm doing a freebie in NW Ohio in a few days!

Next race: Hearland Series Ohio Half Marathon- Bryan, OH