Archive for the 'Events' Category

Rocket Run 5K results

Published
by
John
on May 4, 2008
in Events
. 0 Comments

I ran the Harry Smeltz, Jr. Rocket Run 5K yesterday. That’s the same race that I ran last year, and at the time it was my first race ever.

I arrived at the race early, allowing myself more than enough time to pick up my bib, t-shirt (nice one!), and get ready. It was about 54 degrees and damp/overcast, so I made sure I did enough warming up so it wouldn’t be a problem. Then it was 8 AM and we started:

According to my Garmin Forerunner, I ran 3.14 miles in 27:35 (8:47/mi average pace) with an average speed of 6.8 MPH and a max speed of 11.2 MPH. My 1-mile splits were 8:05, 9:22, 9:02, with the last 0.14 mi. at a 7:47/mi pace. Burned about 469 calories. Finished in 23rd place.

For comparison, I finished last year’s race in 30:27. So while I was about three minutes slower than my current 5K PR, I was still faster than last year by about 3 minutes.

Definitely a fun race, and I’ll be looking forward to doing it again next year.

MB | Photos

The Army Ten-Miler is sold out

Published
by
John
on April 21, 2008
in Events
. 4 Comments

I registered for the Army Ten-Miler today, just hours before it sold out. The cap is 26,000 registrants, so it’ll be a big race.

The race is October 5, 2008 and will be the focus of my summer training this year. Right now I’m planning on starting the Hal Higdon 15K Intermediate plan about 10 weeks before race day. For now, I need to just get myself in good enough shape to be able to do the Higdon plan by then.

It feels good to have a goal.

World Media Run results

Published
by
John
on February 24, 2008
in Events
. 2 Comments

I took part in the World Media Run this weekend. Even though I couldn’t be in Florida to run the “actual” race, runners were allowed participate by running a “virtual” race on their own. So basically I ran a solo race through my neighborhood today.

Ran 3.11 miles in 25:52.93 (8:19/mi pace) with an average speed of 7.2 mph and a max of 10.8 mph. My 1-mile splits were 7:31, 8:49, and 8:43, with the last tenth at a 7:25/mi pace. Burned about 460 calories.

The weather was certainly more agreeable than yesterday. It was a sunny 35 degrees out with some light wind. Still, I felt like I worked far harder than I should have to just hit 25:52. Perhaps I took the first mile out too fast? Or perhaps I’m starting to lose some fitness from being a slacker these last two months.

Either way, I’m relatively happy with today’s results… and the race shirt is awesome.

wmr5k-garmin.jpg

Be sure to check out the race reports from Nate, Eric, and Marcus.

MB

Saginaw 5K results

Published
by
John
on February 17, 2008
in Events and Winter
. 4 Comments

I ran the Saginaw 5K on Saturday, the fifth race of the YRRC Winter Series.

The race was an out-and-back on a relatively small road near the Susquehanna River. I had heard that this race was relatively flat, and that turned out to be fairly accurate. That certainly helped, considering it was a sunny but brisk 27 degrees out.

saginaw5k-temp.jpg

I’d say there were about 150-200 people there. As usual, the pre-race “fun run” ran a little long, so we started a little after 9 AM.

saginaw5k-start.jpg

This race was the first time that I didn’t feel like I came off the starting line too fast. In fact, if anything I felt like the whole pack was moving rather slow compared to most of the races I’ve entered. It could have been due to the extremely short but rather steep incline at the beginning of the race. As soon as people crested the “hill” the pace picked up quite a bit and I settled into a 7:30 - 8:00/mi pace.

According to my Garmin Forerunner, I covered 3.10 miles in 25:51 (8:19/mi pace) with an average speed of 7.2 mph and a max of 9.6 mph. My 1-mile splits were 7:59, 8:31, and 8:36/mi with the last tenth at a 7:09/mi pace. Burned about 460 calories. I’m not sure, but I think my official time was about 25:53.

saginaw5k-garmintime.jpg

saginaw5k-map.png

According to Runner’s World, 52 degrees is the perfect race temperature. As the temperature drops below that, you should expect to add some time. For example, at 25 degrees you can expect to add at 2% to your goal time. Considering I was only about 1:12 slower than my 5K PR (24:41), I’m pretty happy with my results. At the very least it gives me some hope that I can get a new PR this spring.

Not the most notable race I’ve ever run, but definitely one I would do again.

MB | Photos

Dallastown Wildcat 10K results

Published
by
John
on January 20, 2008
in Events and Winter
. 5 Comments

wildcat10k-band.jpg

Yesterday afternoon I ran the Dallastown Wildcat 10K, the second YRRC Winter Series race that I’ve entered this year. Although the race was my 12th race overall, but my first ever 10K race… so I definitely had some nerves/anxiety going into it.

Here’s how M.C. Helsabeck described the race in the York Daily Record:

It is time for the third race in the York Road Runners’ Club Winter Series, and I won’t lie to you, this one is not easy. In fact, some local runners make sure to do the course once in a while because it, “builds character,” said Jan Workinger of the YRRC.

The Dallastown Wildcat 10K takes place Saturday, and it will start at Dallastown Area High School. In between there are two tough hills to climb: Park Street (a half-mile climb in the fourth mile) and Blymire Road (a one-mile climb to the finish). That final hill is a beast when you are tired.

Mix in some cloudy skies, slight breeze, and freezing 28 degree temperatures and you’ve got yourself a challenging race.

I’d say there were about a hundred people there or so, a slightly smaller crowd than was at Spring Valley a couple of weeks ago.

We lined up at the starting line in 28 degree weather under mostly cloudy skies at about 12:15 PM… and were off.

wildcat10k-start-8417.jpg

I felt everyone accelerating around me, so much so that I found myself doing a 6-7 minute/mile pace into the quarter mile mark. That’s way too fast for me, so I slowed it down and tried to settle into a reasonable 10K pace. Luckily the first 1.3+ miles were almost all downhill.

The first major hill started at the end of mile 3 and went well into mile 4. That was tough and took a lot out of me. There was a water station at the 4 mile mark that I took advantage of and was able to get a quick burst of speed going downhill to make up some lost time. Unfortunately, the hill that I enjoyed running down at the beginning was also the final leg of the race. By that time I was just about spent and struggled to make it to the top. From there it was a short sprint to the finish.

wildcat10k-garmin-8493.jpg

According to my Garmin, I covered 6.19 miles in 58:29.49 (9:27/mi pace) with an average speed of 6.3 MPH and a max speed of 11.7 MPH. My 1-mile splits were 7:12, 8:47, 9:40, 10:04, 9:53, and 11:07, with the last 0.19 at a 9:01/mi pace. Looking at the finish line photos, it looks like the clock said 58:31 when I crossed. Either way, that’s a PR for me, beating my previous (unofficial) PR of 1:00:26.

wildcat10k-terrainmap.png

Just like at one time running a 5K in under 30 minutes was a major goal of mine, breaking the 1 hour mark for a 10K is a big accomplishment for me. The fact that it was on a non-trivial course makes it have that much more legitimacy for me.

I feel like this one’s a PR to be proud of.

MB | Photos

Spring Valley 5K results

Published
by
John
on January 6, 2008
in Events and Winter
. 4 Comments

sv5k-prerace-8335.jpg

Today was the Spring Valley 5K race which is part of the YRRC Winter Series. It started a little after the scheduled 2 PM start time, but that was fine with me. I met up with Bill H. and was able to get some much needed warm-up time by doing some laps around the park. Then it was time to line up at the (extremely muddy) starting line.

I’d say there were about 120-140 runners there today, under sunny skies and with almost perfect 50 degree weather.

sv5k-start-8346.jpg

Now, I had been warned that this course had some serious hills, so it’s not like I went into it expecting a flat road. I’m not sure any amount of warnings, however, could have prepared me for what I actually encountered during this race. It started on a downhill, which was nice, but then immediately went up a steep hill. A few more turns and we were heading back down an extremely steep incline… and that was the last of the downhills.

From about 0.8 miles to 2.8 miles, it was basically uphill. Check out the elevation graph (green line in the pace graph below).

sv5k-pace-elevation.png

By the way, the pace spike at 0.8 was a turn-around cone.

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sv5k-gearth-terrain.jpg

I’m usually pretty decent on hills, but the hills on this course just destroyed me.

According to my Garmin Forerunner, I covered 3.03 miles in 27:22 (9:02/mi pace) with an average speed of 6.6 MPH and a max of 11.5 MPH. My 1-mile splits were 7:53, 9:32, and 9:45, with the last 156 feet at a 5:47/mi pace. Total ascent was around 600-650 feet. Burned about 450 calories.

I’m not sure the splits and average pace really tell the whole picture. At one point around 1.5 mile mark and trying my best to make it up yet another incline, I actually hit a 13:00+ pace. That’s pretty bad. But at least I can say I was still “running” at that point, no matter how slowly I was moving or how badly I wanted to walk.

sv5k-garmin-8388.jpg

Not my fastest 5K ever, but I certainly worked harder for this one than at any of my previous races. Definitely enjoyable (after the fact). And of course YRRC did an outstanding job of organizing and timing the race. They always do a really nice job with events.

I’m spent.

MB | Photos

Jingle Bell Run 5K results

Published
by
John
on December 9, 2007
in Events
. 6 Comments

Banner

I ran the 18th Annual HealthAmerica Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis today. It started at 1 PM with pretty miserable weather. It was in the 30s with rain/drizzle for the most part, but didn’t stop the holiday festivities…

Cow

Thankfully the rain stopped by the time the race started, but it was still on the cold and damp side. According the announcer, about a thousand people lined up the starting line today (including walkers), many with Santa hats and/or antlers, and almost all with jingle bells either pinned to their shirts or laced in their shoes. Some of the costumes were really amusing. :)

Starting Line

An air horn started the race right on time, and we were off.

Go!

I had heard this was a “fast” course, and I can see why. There was definitely a long, gentle hill in the first mile, but it wasn’t too bad, and the rest of the course was either level or a slight downhill.

As usual, I came out of the gates a little too fast and tried to get my pace under control. Felt pretty good for the first mile, but definitely lost some momentum in the second half of the race. I’m not sure if it was the cold or the dampness, but I felt like my lungs were working harder than usual. Either way, in no time I was heading back to the finish line.

Finish

My final (unofficial) time was about 26:12. According to my Garmin Forerunner (started closer to the starting line), I ran 3.17 miles in 26:08 (8:14/mi pace) with an average speed of 7.3 MPH and a max of 9.7 MPH. My 1-mile splits were 7:48, 8:32, and 8:30, with the last 0.17 at a 7:25/mi pace. Burned about 472 calories, which I promptly regained at Ruby Tuesday after the race.

Race Map

Based on how the finish line was managed today, I don’t have high hopes of seeing any sort of official time being posted. But I’m OK with that. I’ve come to learn that any race that includes people in costume is not a race to worry too much about a few seconds in your finishing time. It was a good race for a good cause, and I definitely had a fun time.

MB | Photos

Clouser/Wildasin Memorial 5K results

Published
by
John
on November 4, 2007
in Events
. 4 Comments

Today was the 1st Annual Zachary Clouser & Jeremy Wildasin Memorial 5k Race in Dover. It was run by the Dover Cross Country team in honor of two local students. It started at 2 PM under blue skies and cool fall weather with a nice breeze, right around 57 degrees at race time. Perfect race weather.

Dover Doug

Originally it was supposed to be a road course through town, but a notice posted on the race website said otherwise:

Due to a last minute snafu with the Dover borough we had to change the course of the 5k race. The new course is the Dover Cross Country course. The link to the course map is below. This will provide a unique opportunity to experience one of the many cross country courses that the kids are running every week throughout the fall.

That’s the best snafu ever, because the race course absolutely rocked.

It was a classic cross country course including jumping on rocks to cross a stream, rickety wooden bridges, looping around trees, and avoiding roots and groundhog holes. Certainly made for a scenic and yet difficult course, especially considering I’ve never so much as run a dirt trail let alone one with hazards.

With my Pumpkin Chase 5K results clearly in mind, I made a concerted effort to not take the first mile too fast. A couple checks of my Garmin showed that I was in the 6:xx/mi range, so I tried to slow it down to the high sevens or low eights. About 0.8 mi into it I found my groove and seemed to be handling the hills well. I think it was not too far past the 1.0 mark that we entered the woods and I had to work to keep my pace. Lots of sharp turns and quite a few things to make everyone watch their step. A couple more loops and turns and we were heading back toward the track. The last tenth or so was on the track and finished into the chute.

Finish 58

Official time was 24:41 (PDF), crushing my previous PR of 26:05 from the SGACC 5K. That put me at 22 out of 57 runners. Definitely in the top half and fourth in my age group, missing a third place award by only about 16 seconds. They are supposed to post official results on the website in the next week or so.

Garmin GPS had me covering 2.97 miles in 24:41 (8:18/mi pace) with an average speed of 7.2 mph and a max of 9.9 mph. My 1-mile splits were 7:53, 8:49, and 8:13. So according to that the course was a little short, but considering it’s an official PIAA course, I’m going to blame some of that on tree cover and GPS accuracy.

Dover XC Course Map

Dover XC Pace Graph

There was a FOX43 film crew there, so I’m assuming the race will be on tonight’s news. I’ll have to check that out. :)

Awesome race today. I’m pumped.

MB

Great Pumpkin Chase 5K results

Published
by
John
on October 29, 2007
in Events
. 3 Comments

Saturday was the St. Stephen’s Episcopal Cathedral annual Great Pumpkin Chase 5K in Harrisburg.

City Island

It was absolutely pouring rain and about 55 degrees when I woke up. By the time I arrived on City Island and picked up my race packet it had slowed to a drizzle, but everything was wet and people were already looking a bit soggy. I would estimate there were just under 200 people there, undeterred by the weather. After a few words from one of the race organizers, the Great Pumpkin (heh) had the honors of starting the race… and we were off.

The paved path/road loop on the island was pretty much flooded in places. It ranged from large puddles in some sections to areas with well over an inch of standing water. Nate and I traded positions back and forth as we splashed through the water and looped the island. Definitely a blast, but I ended up coming out of the gates way too fast. The first split was just after a hard left onto the Walnut Street Bridge. Considering my 1-mile PR stands at 7:45, I was a little surprised to have a 7:47 first mile.

Walnut Street Bridge

Crossed the river and made a right onto Front Street, heading South along the river down and under 83. Turned-around and headed back up Front Street through the park, ending across from the cathedral.

Finish

My unofficial time was 26:58 (8:41/mi pace) according to the clock. According to my Garmin, I covered 3.13 miles in 26:56 (8:35/mi) with an average speed of 7.0 mph and a max of 10.6 mph. Splits were 7:47, 8:39, and 9:18. Last tenth (0.13 mi according to GPS) at an 8:44/mi pace. Burned about 467 calories.

Pumpkin 5K map

Pace

I’m admittedly rather disappointed in my time because I was hoping for a PR.

But overall the race was really good. It was well organized, had a fun atmosphere, awesome shirts, and a dude dressed like a pumpkin. Not sure what else I could ask for. :)

MB

Tunnel to Towers 5K results

Published
by
John
on October 1, 2007
in Events
. 4 Comments

Tunnel to Towers 5K - Flag

The Tunnels to Towers 5K was amazing.

Last year, they had about 15,000 participants. This year I saw bib numbers above 18000 and, according to the news, they had well over 20,000 participants. Hundreds of firemen, police officers, military personnel, were there… many in full gear.

According to my chip I finished in 27:49 (8:57/mi pace) which, while not my best ever, was certainly a respectable time. I lost quite a bit of time weaving in and out of walkers and basically just trying to keep moving through the course. Also, I obviously lost my GPS signal after I entered the tunnel, and it never really recovered. So I don’t really have much data for the run and, as you can tell from the map below, the run track isn’t quite accurate:

Tunnel to Towers 5K - GPS Map

But then, getting a PR wasn’t the point of this one.

Here’s how the Staten Island Advance put it:

There are plenty of road races for runners who want to post a fast time, or go head-to-head against the best in the neighborhood.

Stephen Siller’s race just isn’t one of them.

There were plenty of athletes fidgeting in the E-ZPass lanes on the Brooklyn side of the tunnel earlier today, and no shortage of competitors. But for one day a year, most of them stuff their egos into their knapsacks and load them onto the UPS trucks headed for the finish line, for the chance to be part of something bigger than themselves.

Indeed.