ARR South Mountain 20K Race Report

2:10 on the Garmin 2:12 chip time. Mmmm, last place in my division. Must work hills into routine. Automatic PR because I've never gone this distance in a race. This 20K is an out and back through the hills of South Mountain in Phoenix. You can get a better idea of the elevation with this--

Reminds me of........ except for that growth in the cleave

And the beauty of the course here:

I haven't been putting in that many miles lately and definitely no hill work, so I was not thinking about setting any records. I wanted to make this race within my long slow run range of around 11:00 minute miles. My overall average pace was 10:23 so I'm happy. The hill work was kicking my butt, but it's nice to know that I recovered some time on the downhills.

Mile 1: 9:40

Mile 2: 11:00 up up up

Mile 3: 10:26

Mile 4: 9:20 nice downhills

Mile 5: 9:28

Mile 6: 10:09

Mile 7: 10:59 back up again

Mile 8: 11:43

Mile 9: 12:09 ouch!

Mile 10: 12:15 more ouchy!!

Mile 11: 9:40 glide and stride

Mile 12: 9:59 I said glide and STRIDE!

Final .4: 9:16 that's better

Look at my 15 foot shadow

Typical ARR race starting zone. Well organized, friendly, and efficient.

Then we got a little testy didn't we? This 6 year old and his daddy came by me already past the turnaround and on course to finish in under 2 hours. It took me a while, but I had forgotten that there was a 6:30 start for those who thought they might not finish. Better luck when you get a bit older kid, maybe you'll be able to join the big leagues!

Hey Jimmy! An extra hour?? Growing up as a cheater will not get you very far.

Got to the turnaround and I hadn't really consulted the Garmin prior to that. 

Apparently it's ok to pee next to the cone?

I was surprised to see that I was in range of my goal, but I knew that I had some major uphills to run before the final 2 miles of downhills. These were tough! Made it to the final downhills and ran it in. Nice race ARR!

Oh, and we had an ultrasound Tuesday: Girl!!

Long Run Today

I got in a solid 10 miles this morning, and it felt really good to have all systems working. No bronchial troubles, no calf issues, and only a minor plantar irritation. The weather was perfect and the route is familiar with a slight rise for the first half and a slight downhill trend in the second half. After yesterday's run, I thought I might have a good run today and that's what it was.

Some of those stops were traffic stops, and some were rests, but overall pace is right where it needs to be for a 4:30 marathon pace training plan. I ran the first 7 miles alone then Suzanne jumped in for the last three and drove the pace in that last fraction. My first three miles were too fast but felt effortless so I just went with it. 

Suzanne's plantar is still bothering her and she is wondering what to do for the ARR 20K next weekend. I know what I'm doing: Getting a sassy haircut playing submarine in the bathtub running a very hilly 20K race on South Mountain. I'm a little nervous about the hills. Typically in Phoenix, runners need to seek hills to get that type of workout (or watch hill running videos). South Mountain is a beautiful area and especially this time of year when everything is blooming. Part of me thinks that I won't notice that as I stagger in a forward direction gasping for breath on those hills.

No need for a pre-race report other than to say that I will continue to run this week and see about finishing in less than 130 minutes.

Today's Run

I've wanted to post about a run for a while. Sometimes this Running Blog is about anything but running. I went out this morning with Suzanne, my awesome running partner. She has been suffering from plantar faciitis, and I got over a bad bronchitis this past week, so running has taken a back seat to healing. We took a short run on Wednesday and decided on a faster 5 miles today. The plan is to run long tomorrow and run medium this coming week in preparation for the ARR South Mountain Classic 20K a week from tomorrow. We started off walking and also walked a bit at the 2.5 mile turnaround. Sometime around mile 3.5 she let me go ahead and I turned it on for a strong finish. I was sub 9:00 for a while and finished the mile at 9:15, and had a nice short kick at the end sub 9:00. Felt good to get the lungs open and at full capacity.

You can see the walks and the traffic stops crossing Camelback road. The weather right now in Phoenix is perfect for morning runs and my body feels good again.

Norman the spastic Choc Lab puppy was not in the equation today --he got neutered yesterday and is wearing a surgical collar which is actually nice because he can't dig holes deeper than 2 feet now. We think we'll leave it on and use him as a biological roto-tiller.

Sore nuts?? No nuts!!

We also got the garden in this week and have a nice little plot started. Lots of pepper and tomato varieties, along with all the herbs we usually grow. Mmmmmmmmm, tomato sandwiches!

That back row is for medical purposes only.

The 2011 Northern Virginia Bronchitis 1/2 Marathon Race Report

I'm losing my breath just walking from the kitchen to the living room. Got to the doctor yesterday and I'm on all kinds of meds. The only running I'm doing these days is in my Oxycodone-fueled dreams. Like last night:

I was in my old neighborhood where I grew up in Virginia. I was running in a 1/2 M and it was through the golf course. Something interrupted the race for me and I had to do some other work somewhere else for a while, and then I was back in the race and running pretty fast and easy. But I was mentally wrestling with the idea that I had 'taken a break' in the race and would it be ok to 'extrapolate' a finish time based on the last 5 or 6 miles when I resumed running. Hey, it's my dream so wtf. Finish time was 2:07, a new PR and my first race in Virginia -and with hills. Oh, and negative splits. Recovery has been eventless since it was just a dream, but today I will take it extra easy and drink plenty of fluids and continue my medicine regimen.