Today I ran a 5K road race. This was an event put on by the church we attend when we are in Pensacola. The entire race was run on the campus of Pensacola Christian College. It is really nice to be able to run a race in an essentially closed environment. Traffic is never an issue for races held there at the school.

Like last year, this race was fraught with rain and wind. But unlike last year, we went into this weekend having a week of record low temperatures for the area. Last year the puddles were seen as a neat opportunity to goof around in the rain. This year people were scared to get out in the cold water because we might all get sick and die. Last year the starting temperature was 68 degrees and this year 57. It really was not that cold, but it was cold enough to keep the crowd small.

Because I turned 40 recently I got to move up in age division for this race. Now, instead of being the old man in the 30-39, or 35-39 age group, I was the young whipper snapper in the 40-44 age group. ¡Viva la Grandeza! (Long live old age!)

As we started the race I was not aware of anyone in my age group even competing. There was hope that I would be the only one. In total there probably were not more than 70 people in the whole race. I knew I had a chance to place even if I did not win my division.

This was a three lap race. After the crowd thinned out, but only about 1Km into the race I was passed by a girl half my age. She pulled in front of me, but never too far out of reach. She became the only person I was determined to beat. When I went by the water stops I asked the workers to trip her on the next lap around, but they did not comply. Towards the end of the second lap she and I caught up with another young lady who was apparently her friend. She pushed the friend along and they both stayed just out of my reach until half way through that last lap. They faded slightly and allowed me to catch up. I slowly pulled away from them as the lap came to a close.

I finished the race in 29:30. Not a great time for a 5K, but I am not in my best running shape either. I was pleased with the effort. This was my longest run of the year.

According to the man calling out the splits I ran the first lap/mile in 9:20, the second in 9:25 and the third in just under 10:00 (if I remember right). Then the rest of the time was made up in the .1 miles at the end.

At the end of the race we were given a card and shown the clock. We had to write down our own time and drop it in the box of our age division. I was thrilled when I found the 40-44 year old box and there were no cards in it. But then equally disappointed when I was told that was the ladies’ box. I searched for the men’s box and had mixed emotions about seeing a card already in there. That meant I did not win my age group, but there was only one man in front of me. I took second place. There was at least one other 40-44 year old since they handed out a third place ribbon.

While winning second out of three with a less-than-stellar time may not seem like something to brag about, I feel pretty good about it. I did not go fast, but I went a lot faster than all the other men in my age group from the church and community who did not even make the effort to get out and run with us today. Just showing up guaranteed me a better chance of winning than those who were still drinking coffee at 8:00 on a lazy, rainy, cold Saturday morning.

There has to  be a sermon illustration in there somewhere.

I did not do a very good job of updating the blog each month with how I was progressing on my goals for 2009. Part of that was caused by losing sight of what my goals were.

Running
My goal was to run 1000 miles again in 2009 like the goal was for 2008. I missed it both years. 2009 was thwarted by starting the year with a stress fracture in my left foot. I was able to recover and was doing well by the middle of the year. However when I ramped up my mileage for marathon training in August, I went too far too soon. I had taken the first half of the year too easy and the longer miles caused another stress fracture in the left foot by the end of September. That slowed me down once again.

It was a learning year. I now know to respect the 10% rule a bit more (10% rule=no more than 10% more miles from week to week or month to month). I did not train for any half marathons in 2009. I went from no specific training goals to marathon ambitions thinking that I was physically as strong as I was the year before. I take more experience and wisdom into 2010 because of this.

I also had a goal of 2 half marathons and a full. Since I was injured I scrapped the half marathon plans and just went for the full. That was a mistake. I also planned to set a 5K PR. I only ran one this year and it was on an injured foot, so I did not even try to race it. Only enjoy the experience.

Total mileage for 2009 was 525 miles in 138 runs. That means I averaged a run every2 to 3 days (once every 2.6 days). Which means I ran fairly consistently, but my average run was fewer than 4 miles.

Reading
The goal was to read at least 800 pages a month and not have any month drop below that number. I did not do too poorly on that goal. I struggled a couple of months, but most months I exceeded the goal. Starting in August I somehow fell off the bandwagon of keeping track of my books and pages read. October through December I read so many books that I just had trouble remembering which ones I read to even write them down. If I missed any 800 page months I probably made up for it in those three months. In a 2 week stretch in December I know I read more than 900 pages. I need to do a better job of keeping records this year.

2010?
I am still working on my 2010 goals. I will try to get something written down and shared here in a few days.

I heard a lot about the book Born to Run which came out this summer. Some of what I heard made me skeptical about its claims. One of my biggest concerns was how so much emphasis was put on the evolutionary aspect of how we run. I believe we were designed by God to have the bodies we have and not that we have evolved into the state we are in. Guys like Steve Runner, who I totally disagree with his evolutionary position, made me less interested in the book because of this. However, the book is great. Outside of the fact that it is on a subject that captures my attention, it is extremely well written. Even though I don’t agree with all the process involved to arrive at the conclusion the book makes, I cannot deny that the author, Christopher McDougall, is a master with the written word.

The book is about running. It is presented by sharing a story involving an indigenous Mexican tribe in the Copper Canyon that is made up of extremely gifted athletes. The point was that we can learn their secrets and become better runners as well. The use of a great narrative made a potentially dull book about putting one foot in front of the other much more interesting.

I did not read the book, but rather listened to the audio-book version while I was driving around in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. I have to admit that I was very engrossed in the story. I did not have any close calls by not paying attention, but I did get wrapped up in it a couple of times enough to have to wipe the tears away when certain events were portrayed. Even though I already knew the outcome of some of the races that were described in the book, I was still on the edge of my seat waiting to hear how it would unfold.

My standard disclaimer has to be said here though. I cannot really recommend this book for young people. The language in it was appalling. As I have said before, I know people really talk like that, but that does not mean I want to read (or listen to) all the foul language.

Well written book, but I cannot give it a full recommendation because of the language.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, 2009. Christopher McDougall, Knopf publishing. 304 pages.

Saturday morning I set out for an 8 mile bike ride to one of my favorite places to run. The run is a 7 mile out and back course through the woods on a couple of bays here in Pensacola. Then I would jump on the bike and ride the 8 miles home. A very nice brick workout.

As soon as the morning started I felt the world conspiring against me. There was confusion about when breakfast was going to be ready. I thought I would actually get to eat with the family instead of rushing out before everyone was ready. It was not to be. While breakfast was started in time for me to sit down and enjoy it, it ended up being delayed by more than an hour. I ate alone once again.

A block into the ride I remembered that I had a problem with my bottom bracket (the “axle” for the pedal crank arms). The last time I rode the bike I noticed that one side was beginning to loosen. I did not take the time to fix it after the last ride. I turned around and headed back home to fix it.

After a short repair I was back on the road. It was 52 degrees when I started out. I dressed just like I would for a run at 52 degrees. I found out that running and biking have different clothing requirements for the same temperature. When I am running I am going approximately 6 MPH. Biking can be 20+ MPH (but averages a bit less). That is 3 to 4 times faster wind speed blowing the cold air across the body. It was very cold.

Within a mile of taking off the second time I had already decided to cut the ride shorter and go to my second favorite trail running area. The trail is only 3 miles long, but it seemed appropriate for the shorter bike ride to get there. Shortly after that though I noticed my bottom bracket was coming loose again. I had to stop on the side of the road and fix it twice in the 5 mile ride that I did. I just went back home.

I then parked the bike and enjoyed a 3 mile run on the roads around the neighborhood instead. Wasn’t what I had planned, but since I am no longer training for anything specific I could go out and do the run without any pressure to accomplish any particular task.

Last Monday I ran my half marathon for the World Wide Festival of Races. This is a race I have participated in for the last 4 years. It was also the 4th running in some form or another. It started out as just a half marathon and now includes a 5K and 10K option.

This year I was running from Mom and Dad’s house in Pensacola, FL. I have already called off a marathon later this fall due to a stress fracture in my left foot. It is not serious yet, but I don’t want to do too many long miles. I am still running, but mostly 3 miles or less at a time. However, you don’t run a half marathon at only 3 miles, so there was work to be done.

I got 7 miles into the run when I knew it was time to stop. I walked from that point on. It took me 3 and 1/2 hours to do the 13.1 miles, but I stuck it out.

I had a “first” on this run. A black snake decided to visit with me a short time. I have seen snakes on runs before, but this was the first time while running “in town.” Or, at least on roads and not trails. I also strongly considered a DNF on this run. Even though this was not an official course with other runners around me, I entered this run as a race and felt like I had to give myself my first DNF if I did not finish.

Physically I did fine. It was mentally tough to stay at it. By walking the last 6 miles I did not give any more pain in my foot, but it sure took a long time.

This will not go down in my record books as being a special race/run, but I did accomplish the task.