I am running the Great River Relay on August 20-21 to help raise money for Drinking Water in Africa. Water shouldn't be a source of pain. Please hop over to my fundraising page and provide a cup of cold, refreshing water to a child in Kenya.
You may recall that the 2010 Get in Gear was held on a rainy (and stormy) morning. I saw some of my friends on Twitter saying how they were having issues with the rain and running the race. I wished Jennifer good luck and she asked if I was running. You can see my response below, but it was in Joe’s response after the race that you can truly see the power of Twitter. This happens all across the Twitter-sphere with people encouraging each other. The crazy thing, I’ve never met Joe or Jennifer in real life!
They both completed the race! Jennifer ran a 33:13 and Joe finished in 49:51.
Do you have a story about when Twitter provided the extra bit of encouragement you needed to do something? Follow me and I’ll try to offer encouragement! And you can offer me some!
I didn’t run the Get in Gear 10k this year, though I would have loved to be in shape to take part in this “Annual Rite of Spring.” It was a cool (low-50′s) and rainy morning (with a spell of lightening and thunder before race time), which was actually better than two years ago when it was in the 30′s with snow on the ground! See my race report from the 2008 edition.
As I mentioned on Monday a friend and I showed up to Minnehaha Falls fairly late, close to 10am or an hour after the 10k and 1/2 started and 40 minutes after the 5k. The 10k race is the main event, even though there is a 2k, 5k, and half-marathon. We got to see the back of the pack runners finishing and then the half-marathon leaders finish. It was sad to see that they haven’t fixed the finish area problem of runners from the longer races merging into the shorter ones and having to dodge runners and walkers. It seems it would be easy to setup cones for at least the last tenth of a mile to separate the races. I’m sure the leaders would appreciate that!
Below is a video montage I created from some of the videos and pictures I took. I’m not sure what the issue is with my cell phone’s video encryption but sometimes Windows Movie Maker doesn’t read the video, while Flickr does. So Kim Scheel, Women’s 1/2 marathon finisher, didn’t make it into the montage, but gets her own separate video!
Kim Scheel finishing the 1/2 marathon in 1:28:23.
Rocco at the MDRA (who finished in 37:21) also found this video by Brett Sall who finished in 45:25, not bad for his first race:
January 30 – Winterfest 5k in Waconia sounds like fun.
Last weekend was the “World’s Most Prestigous Indoor Marathon” the Zoom! Yah! Yah! Indoor Marathon. The Meet of the Miles was also recently held, but I can’t find a link. It also is the first race in the MDRA Grand Prix.
Since I’m not running I won’t be running any of these… will you?
Another great morning dawned on Labor Day for the Victory 10k/5k in north Minneapolis. The Victory races bring in a great crowd of competitors due to its flat and fast course. It is held annually on Victory Memorial Parkway.
The morning began fairly cool in the mid-50′s with humidity. I arrived early to watch the 10k race start and cheered on my teammates and friends. They all had good races on the out and back course. The temperature began to warm-up during our warm-up, largely due to the lack of shade along the 5k course.
The 5k race started at 9:30am and the temps were in the mid-60′s and humid. Asnoted the course is pretty much flat with only mild elevation changes. We headed west on the parkway from Webber Park. I went out at what felt like a slightly uncomfortable pace (which turned out to be 6:11 pace) and tried to stay with a group of runners, which at the time included Kirt Goetzke (who ran the doubled and still smoked me). The mile marker was right on and I came through in 6:20.
John finishing the 10k.
We continued on the parkway now in the full sun and passing the WWII markers and trees, though the trees provided pretty much no shade. The turn around point was a large monmument in the middle of a traffic circle. It was cool to run around the circle instead of just making a U-turn. And then back we went. A MDRA woman runner that I’d never met name, Kate passed me which started a battle of passing each other back and forth (we did meet after the race and I beat her, by 10 seconds). This helped me fight through the pain and tiredness of my legs. I remember seeing the clock say 13 minutes at the 2 mile, but I actually came through the second mile in 6:51 which put me at 13:11.
The final mile continued to be a struggle of mind over exhausted legs and struggling lungs. I don’t have to remind you my faithful readers that I haven’t done much speed work and definitely haven’t been under 7 minute pace since this spring. It helped having people trying to pass me and having people cheering. There weren’t a lot of people out on the course but within the first and last half mile there was a number of people that grew larger and louder as we approached the finish line. I didn’t see a 3 mile mark, but I did see the 6 mile mark and about that point you could see the finish line. I started picking it up and ran a 7:25 last 1.1 miles which is 6:42 pace. For a finish time of 20:36 good enough for 49th overall and 3rd in my 5 year age group.
It was a beautiful morning in a beautiful part of town that I’ve never really been to before. I won’t make too many bold pronouncements like Nathan, but this will be a race that I try to keep on my calendar.
It is still 3 months away but it is never to early to plan for race weekend. For 11,000 runners the Twin Cities Marathon will be the culmination of many miles of pavement (and dirt) pounded throughout the summer.
The 26.2 mile race begins at 8am on Sunday, October 4th. Earlier that morning at 7:05am 6,500 runners will take the “shortcut to the capitol” by running the TC 10 Mile. Registration for this “shortcut” is via a lottery system that is currently open. Registration for the 10 Mile lottery goes from Monday, July 6 to Wednesday July 15 at 10pm. 1,000 lucky runners of May’s TC 1 Mile event (including me) won a guarenteed entry into the 10 Mile. I obviously chose not to use it. This is the 11th annual 10 mile race and is again the USA 10 Mile Championship event.
New this year to race weekend is a 10k event. Held on Saturday, October 3 at 7:30am this will be an out and back along the last 3 miles of the marathon course (starting and finishing at the marathon finish area). It appears that there is no limit to the number of 10k participants and offers race day entry. This also is the first event of the 2009 race weekend.
The TC 5k is on Saturday as well starting at 9am. It is an out and back course along the last 1.5 miles of the marathon course, finishing at the marathon finish. It too appears to have no limit to race entries and offers race morning entry. Both the 10k and 5k events will be run on USATF certified courses and are chip timed.
Other family friendly events are scheduled throughout the day on Saturday. All events offer pre- and race day registration. They include:
Diana Pierce Family Mile which starts at 10m and is an out and back course finishing on the marathon finish line.
Half Mile which starts at 10:30 am and is an out and back course finishing at the marathon finish line.
Diaper Dash starts at 11am. Participants crawl from an inner circle to an outer circle, it seems obvious this is for the littlest of “runners” in the family. It doesn’t sound like this one finishes on the marathon finish line but does take place in the same area.
Harry & Shelly’s Mascot Invitational starts at 11:15am and is a race amongst your favorite mascots. I’m not sure which ones will be there, but I’m sure Brutus the Buckeye won’t be. Harry and Shelly are the TCM mascots (in case you were wondering).
Toddler Trot starts at 11:30 and is a 50 yard dash on the capital lawn.
Race fees start at $7 for the Toddler Trot and Diaper Dash and go up to $100 for the now closed marathon.
Last year I was quite happy to visit the Expo, pickup my number and chip, walk quickly through, purchase a shirt, and head home – less time on the feet the better! Some of my non-runner friends have taken their kids to the family events and had a blast.
If you’ll be here for marathon weekend, what event are you doing? Me – I’ll be knocking out the 26.2.
Local runner and cancer advocate Matthew Flory recently created a Facebook group entitled 5Ks that Fight Cancer (Minneapolis/Saint Paul).
In the group he lists 10 5ks that benefit cancer research within the Twin Cities metro area. In the group’s description he say:
Cancer is the number one cause of death in Minnesota, but there are many organizations and causes joined in the fight to defeat this disease. Many have 5k races as fundraisers.
We all know that most races have some charitable benefit to them. Some of the best known national charity running events revolve around cancer research. Almost everyone has been touched by this nasty illness. The Team in Training group is a nationally recognized fundraising machine.
Flory limited his list for this group to just 5k races – they are the most common and most accessible for average people. Here is his list:
Get Your Rear In Gear, Minneapolis, April 19, 2009 http://www.getyourrearingear.com/
Proceeds benefit the Minnesota Colon Cancer Coalition
Monday morning was another near perfect morning for a race. Upper 50′s into the 60′s by race time, overcast, and a slight breeze (a little more than slight at parts!). The sun warmed us up while waiting at the starting line but seemed to disappear as we made the 5k loop around Lake Nokomis.
This event hosted by USATF-MN was pretty well organized and efficient. I arrived early was able to get my bib number and t-shirt within 5 minutes and waited around in my car for awhile. It was cool enough at the time to want to get back “inside” and relax a bit before the warm-up. Sadly, the Nokomis Community Center building was closed for the holiday weekend.
I did a short warm-up, stretched, and waited for the start. The starting line was approximately 1/4 mile away from the check-in/finish area, which we would run by at the start. The event had 506 finishers with times ranging from 14:43 – 51:31. This was gun-time only race. This is a super flat race with the longest “climb” being 17 feet over a 1/4 of a mile, so pretty much negligible!
I finally ran into Nathan the only other MDRA athlete competing at the race so we talked and jogged to the start.
I had trouble figuring out where I wanted to line up, because I didn’t want to be too far forward and get sucked out too fast, but I also didn’t want to get stuck behind a lot of people. I ended up getting a decent spot 5-6 rows deep and had a great start. It took only a second or two to cross the starting line. I took off pretty quickly and a lot of people passed me and it got crowded pretty quickly, but then the road opened up and I was able to settle into a pace that was fast but relaxed. At about the 1/2 mile mark we turned south and picked up some headwind. It didn’t feel super strong, but it was noticeable. Not a lot happened in the first mile, a lot of people were getting settled into their pace. There was some back and forth as we came through the mile in 6:18. I remember thinking that might have been a little fast, but was pretty close to my race plan.
The miles seemed really long. At least compared to other runs around the lakes. Nokomis is shaped in such a way that you can’t really see all the way around the lake, or much of the rest of the lake except at a few spots, which makes it seem like forever around. It may have also been that I’m not used to running at such a fast pace, which tires you out and requires more effort. This second mile was on the West side of the Cedar Ave bridge which seems really far out there and was pretty desolate. There wasn’t a ton of cheering fans anywhere on the course, but especially not on this section. I belive the water stop was here somewhere and I grabbed a quick squirt of water.
The racing was pretty solid through here, not much changes but continuing to go back and forth with a few runners or at least not letting myself fade away from them. I came through mile 2 in 6:27. Oops a little slow!
More of the same continued as we came through the third mile. A couple guys fell off and I started seeing some new people ahead who were fading back a little. They had jerseys that I recognized from the USATF Team Circuit, so even though we didn’t field a team, I thought I should try and get them! I was beginning to get fatigued as well so the increased effort really just kept my pace the same.
We should have had a tailwind, but I’m not really sure if we did or not. As we approached the starting line I remember thinking it was time to start shifting gears a little bit. I started passing several runners and came across the third mile in 6:24.
I was feeling good, maybe a little too good as I crossed the 3 mile mark and made the final kick to the finish. As the finish line came in sight, so did a bunch of runners that looked like they wanted to get passed. I obliged and passed what seemed like quite a few runners. Seeing the clock in the mid-19′s also helped the urge to kick and I came through the last 0.1 miles in 0:30 which is 4:49 pace for the last segment. Yikes. My overall unofficial time was 19:45 and the official time was 19:46.
After regaining my breath and stumbling around a bit I was able to enjoy the post-race bread, bananas, water, and carrot cake! After talking with some of the guys I wandered over to the lake for a nice ice bath. I waded in far enough to cover my knees and enjoyed the cold (but not too bad) water. I felt and feel like I ran a tough race but don’t think I hit 100% effort for the whole 5k. I’m glad to report that my foot and IT band felt fine throughout the race and only a little uncomfortable since finishing.
Overall this is an excellent small race with high quality competition.
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