Weekend Update

The Road Runner Akron Marathon is this weekend. I will be busy along with my helpers Jo and Logan handling the Invited Marathoners as well as the 8K National Championship Women. I hope it will be a good learning experience for Logan, and an exciting time for Jo and I. Here is a link to the list of Women running the event.

Logan and I went on our campus visit to Ohio University this past Monday. Man has that place changed. I felt like I had time travelled to the future. Looking down at the bricks on the road, I remembered nearly everything about how it used to look. Lifting my head...the landscape quickly changed to new buildings, old buildings with new facades, and nice green space where heavy brush and trees used to be. I really hope he can get in there. It will shape his life nicely.

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Word of the Day: Quandary

I ran the 5th annual Falls Natatorium 5K today. My goal going in was to set the masters record. It stood as 17:40, which was going to be very doable. The problem was how to get there. I won this race for the first three years with a best time of 17:19. Problem was that since I was in the top 3 I was never eligible for the masters record...even though I won the races as a masters runner. So here was the quandary. The only way I could get the masters record was to finish 4th. Anything higher would put me in the top 3 overall and I would be excluded from any masters consideration. Now the right thing to do is to award the masters prize to the first over 40 runner after the top three, but if you have a masters runner in the top 3 and they have run faster than the record...they should get the record. Anyway...here is what happened.

I knew that I would be somewhere between 2nd and 6th today, depending on how others did. We got a good start and went through the mile in 5:14. The first mile is usually fast as most of it is downhill. I was in 5th position at that point. The next mile saw a little bit of jostling for position and as we came past mile 2 there were three of us side by side, with the leader about 12 seconds ahead of us. At that point there was one masters runner behind us. I felt pretty good that I had the record at that point. As we headed to the final hill the two guys next to me started to slow down. Here was my quandary - I could have moved past the two guys and finished in 2nd overall, but I made the decision to stay with them and try to finish 4th. I blurted a "come on guys" to them and hoped they would respond and get up over the hill with me. They did and we made the final turn towards the finish line. I tucked in behind the 3rd place guy and came over the line in 16:55. So I met my primary goal of setting the masters record, but was bummed that I had to settle for 4th in order to do so. I know I could have been 2nd and chopped a few more seconds off of my time. The photo is me sitting on 4th.

Unfortunately the woman who finished in 3rd place overall was a masters runner and ran way faster than the current masters record. She was awarded 3rd overall, but was not credited with a new masters record.

This will be my last race where I do that. Whether I did the right thing or not is a matter of opinion. I am rarely selfish in life, but I really wanted to put my name in the record book for this race.

I have three weeks of marathon training before Columbus. A hard workout on Tuesday (5 x 3 mile repeats) and a marathon pace run on Sunday.

At the mile mark with Curt Bachus

A ridiculously sized trophy. Maddie will eat popcorn out of it!

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Weekend Update

Agenda for the weekend: Copley High School football game with Jo and Maddie, Copley XC meet at Malone, help out at the Hudson Chili Run 5K, run the Natatorium 5K and try to establish a new Masters course record, head to Athens for a campus visit with Logan. Yes...we will be checking out Ohio University on Monday. I will get a good easy run in on my old stomping grounds early Monday. Photos to follow!

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Marathon Shoes

I love getting new shoes. Here are my Fall Marathon shoes. The Nike Lunar Racer. Very lightweight. They have a spongy feeling and some kind of crazy fabric for the upper. The tennis ball green is actually brighter than the photo. I also noticed they match the colors of this blog. Hmmm? Coincidence? Maybe.

My final week of running prior to the half has been good. Very nice workout of 10 x 400 meters on Tuesday. A good run with Damon and Nilesh on Wednesday morning. A final group run with the Lock 29 crew (Seymour, Benesh, Brawn, and Dobos) on Thursday, feeling very light on my feet. It looks like rain for Sunday which is OK with me. Just keep the winds away.

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Busy September

I finally have the Buckeye Half Marathon & 5K behind me. This was my 6th year as the race director and it has become easier to manage over the years. We had a great turn out and the new course was well received. I have bigger and better plans for 2009...so all of you have one year to train!

The next three weekends are as follows: Sept 14th - Erie Half Marathon, Sept 20th - Chili Bowl 5K timing, Sept 26-27 - Road Runner Akron Marathon. I am on the USATF Womens 8K National Championship race committee. I will be very busy at Akron escorting the Elite 8K Women as well as the Invited Marathon Runners.

Columbus is also on the horizon and I am really looking forward to the new second half of the course. I have always done well at Columbus for some reason, and I have high expectations this year. I am down to my fighting weight as well. I weighed 142-145 pretty much since the Burning River 100 last year. I was still at 142 in April for Boston and Cleveland. I am now at 129 which is my optimal racing weight. I also turned 45 a week ago...so Columbus will by my first 45-49 age group marathon.

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