W and I did our first race together last weekend. We have ran the Kingwood Center 5k together the past few years as this amazing place holds a lot of meaning for us. We had our first date there in 2014 and were married there this past September. It's certainly W's favorite place in Mansfield as the gardens there are spectacular!
W's training has been inconsistent at best this year. She was very nervous going into this one. She did have two things going for her: the heat wasn't nearly as bad as last year and there were no cicadas! If you look at last year's race, the cicadas were dive-bombing us during the whole thing. It was no fun at all.
This year's race was in much better temps, though still warm, and it was just an overall nice day. W had the goal of getting the race in under the one hour mark. I had a feeling she could beat her time from last year of 55:48. We started near the back of the pack, but W wanted to start off with some jogging. That surprised me and she did a good job of starting strong. We did the usual weird loop in the high school parking lot and made our way toward the B&O Bike Trail. W was keeping up a strong pace and finished the first mile in just over 17:00.
We continued walking at a brisk pace. I was walking at a pace just faster than what W was comfortable at, which I'm pretty sure she noticed. We continued on the bike path as the winners were circling back past us. North Lake Park offers a change of pace in this race as we head off the path for a quick lap around the lake. W was still going strong and was doing much better than last year. The geese weren't out like they usually are at the park. We finished our loop and hit the second mile marker soon after getting back on the bike path. W had a slightly slower second mile but was still on pace.
The third mile is primarily on the path. We were both feeling the heat as the sun had come out from behind the clouds. W was trying to slow down a bit but I kept her on pace. She let me know she wasn't pleased with that! We finally made our way off the path to the Kingwood Center for a loop around the east side of the grounds to the downhill finish. W finished hard and came in with a final time of 54:17. She took a minute and a half off her time from last year! With no training!
Needless to say, I am very proud of W for gutting it out. She has earned a break and will walk at the upcoming Liberty 5k in Ontario. I have one 5k between now and then.
Next race: Moving Hearts and Soles 5k- Galion, OH
Monday, June 19, 2017
Monday, June 12, 2017
1LT Michael L Runyan 5k
Shocker of shockers, I am behind on the blog again. W and I just did a 5k this weekend, but I still have to get to my report of the Michael L Runyan 5k in nearby Ashland.
This race was very well done in memoriam of Michael Runyan, who died serving the country in Afghanistan. His family has organized this race at Ashland University for the past seven years. The words before the race were moving and served well to remind everyone of what Memorial Day means. I can't think of a better tribute.
The race itself was challenging and surprising. The temperature was higher than the recent Heartland 5k. I felt great going in and knew I could run a decent time.
We started out with a half lap at the Ashland U track prior to hitting a long straightaway through a residential area. I started with the lead pack of five or so runners. This quickly spread out as the top two runners took off and the third place runner kept a good pace in front of me. There was one small hill near the beginning but not many the rest of the way. That's surprising in Ashland. We headed north at the one mile mark for the lollipop portion of the course. My first mile came in at about 6:15 (I don't have the exact splits). Very fast and I was feeling more beat than the Heartland 5k. We continued around another residential area and headed back toward the start. I kept gaining on the third place runner only for him to speed up any time I got next to him. He eventually sped up leaving me in fourth place. The fifth place runner was still far behind me. The second mile clocked in at 6:40. I was thinking that I *might* be able to come in under 20:00.
The final mile was rough as the sun came out from behind some clouds. This warmed things up quite a bit. I just tried to hang on and hit the last hill prior to turning off toward the university. A quick lap around the track and I had somehow managed another sub-20:00 5k. My final time was 19:42, good enough for 4/119 overall and 1/5 in my age group.
I only had two sub-20:00 5ks EVER prior to this year. Now I have them in back-to-back races. More importantly, I've been enjoying running some 5ks this year. Next up is a race with W.
Next race: Kingwood Center 5k- Mansfield, OH
This race was very well done in memoriam of Michael Runyan, who died serving the country in Afghanistan. His family has organized this race at Ashland University for the past seven years. The words before the race were moving and served well to remind everyone of what Memorial Day means. I can't think of a better tribute.
The race itself was challenging and surprising. The temperature was higher than the recent Heartland 5k. I felt great going in and knew I could run a decent time.
We started out with a half lap at the Ashland U track prior to hitting a long straightaway through a residential area. I started with the lead pack of five or so runners. This quickly spread out as the top two runners took off and the third place runner kept a good pace in front of me. There was one small hill near the beginning but not many the rest of the way. That's surprising in Ashland. We headed north at the one mile mark for the lollipop portion of the course. My first mile came in at about 6:15 (I don't have the exact splits). Very fast and I was feeling more beat than the Heartland 5k. We continued around another residential area and headed back toward the start. I kept gaining on the third place runner only for him to speed up any time I got next to him. He eventually sped up leaving me in fourth place. The fifth place runner was still far behind me. The second mile clocked in at 6:40. I was thinking that I *might* be able to come in under 20:00.
The final mile was rough as the sun came out from behind some clouds. This warmed things up quite a bit. I just tried to hang on and hit the last hill prior to turning off toward the university. A quick lap around the track and I had somehow managed another sub-20:00 5k. My final time was 19:42, good enough for 4/119 overall and 1/5 in my age group.
I only had two sub-20:00 5ks EVER prior to this year. Now I have them in back-to-back races. More importantly, I've been enjoying running some 5ks this year. Next up is a race with W.
Next race: Kingwood Center 5k- Mansfield, OH
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