Fontana Half Marathon
Best race of the Year
Saturday, June 2nd, 2012
Everything worked today. On Friday I had a fifteen minute back massage, got a lot of rest (even through we had to catch a plane at 6am), drank a lot of water, ate early (8 oz of steak, mash potatoes, and one mile stride at about 8 pm (first mile on the race course). Did about a half mile warm up, got a good place at the starting line and I took in a lot of deep breathes before the start. Ate a Glu, put one in my shorts, put on my Icy Hot, drank a little Gatoraide, some water and I was ready. Photo: just a few yards away from the finish line. I ended up running the best age-graded performance of any race ever! 87.95%... This is my kind of course. The first three miles is downhill, the next three is rolling downhill, and the last seven is straight and slightly downhill with a couple of bumps. It is a fast course but you can easily blow it. My legs were so sore at 10 miles I was actually thinking about walking. But I kept going. I finished 35th overall (first print out said 32) out of 1025 finshers. I was third 50 plus and first 60. My chip time was 1:26:27. I ran 1:26:26 on the same course three years ago. Here are my mile splits: 5:57, 6:06, 6:13 (18:16 three miles - 18:54 5k), 6:30, 6:24, 6:33 (39:01 10k), 6:34, 6:38, 6:33 (59:28 15k), 6:55 (64:23 10 mile), 6:52, 7:10, 7:02. Right after the finish Catherine gave me two bottles of Gatorade and two bags of Fritos. I added a banana, a couple of bottles of water and I was already feeling better. Since then I have been eating a lot and taking in a lot of water. This is very important after a hard race. After the race Diana Pacheco (a new Ujena Fit club member who I met here in 2009) and I shared times. She ran 1:35:22...her 2nd fastest half marathon time. It was nice to see Diana again. This was the 57th Annual Fontana Half Marathon. It was a perfect day for running. About 65 degrees at the start and about 69 at the finish. Plenty of water stops and the times were right on and out quickly. Cash awards to the first finishers and the top three in each age-group got a special medal. The t-shirt was really nice and the goodie bag was filled with plenty of food items. photos by Catherine Cross
Comments and Feedback
|
,,,,, |
Race number 23 in Marin
10k Memorial Day Race
Monday, May 28th, 2012
This morning was race number 23 in Kentfield, CA. It is called the Marin Memorial Day 10k. I have run this race many times and I like the course. This photo is just after the four mile mark. I normally am only a few rows back at the start but not this morning. After doing a good warmup I lost track of time and before I knew it I had to squeeze into the pack. It took me seven seconds to cross the starting line. It was chip timed but it meant I had to weave in and out of people for the first mile. I normally would have run the first mile under 6:30 but this morning I hit it in 6:39. Hans (37) got a much better start and I could see him at least 100 yards ahead at the mile. Hans ran a great race finishing under 41 minutes. I am sure that was the best age-graded performance of the day. Way to go Hans.
This race finishes on the track. The college of Marin just got a new 1.2 million dollar track. It was great. I ran my best 10k of the year and better than my goal (42:30). I finished in 42:16. I think I was 7th in my dvision. I can do better but for racing I do need to loose five pounds as I keep saying... It is always great to see everyone at the races. I wished there was more time to chat. Here I am after the race with Hans, JoAnn and Bill. I have now completed 23 races. I have raced 144.75 miles and my average pace is 6:57/mile. I am ahead by 8:11 minutes. I still have to plan 10 more races. I have 40 scheduled for 279.7 miles. This means I need another 70.3 miles to reach my goal of 7 miles per race. I am on target... photos by Catherine Cross Mike and Waitman got tons of good video footage! Comments and Feedback
|