Marissa “Grape Stomp” 5K, 11-14-09

I think this was the first year for the Grape Stomp 5k. I like first year races. My belief is maybe not as many people know about the race so not as many people show up and I might be able to get first overall. Well, that didn’t happen. The high school cross country season ended a week or two before the race so there were quite a few younger people running. I ended up 9th overall. The good thing was I got first in 40-49. My final time was 19:49. I think that was my fastest 5k this year. The race started at 10:30, an odd time, but I liked it. When it started a bunch of guys just took off. I thought they would slow down eventually and I could pass them, didn’t happen. I was able to pass two of them. I got behind one guy that was probably in high school. I never did pass him. Around the mile and half mark I looked behind me and saw no one. I knew the people ahead were way far ahead so I pretty much just ran and didn’t worry about it. Close to the end I got within a second or two of the guy in front of me but then he took off and ended up finishing five or ten seconds ahead of me. I didn’t mind.
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Overall this was a good race. There might be a couple things I would change. I thought the course was really nice. It started going out on backroads, came back to town, ran through the park and finished downtown. I really liked the finish. They were having their Grape Stomp celebration so it was pretty cool finishing there. Overall it was a nice race.

Tunnel Hill 10 Mile, 11-07-09

Woo Hoo! I got my train whistle! But more about that later. Last year I could not make it because I got mandated to work the night before. The bad thing is I got mandated to work the night of this race so after I got home from the race I had to work 16 hours. That was no fun. The race starts at 9:00 but one has to get there early to sign in at Vienna and then get up to Tunnel Hill for the start. Once we got to Tunnel Hill there was a problem, there were only two restrooms. This could be bad considering there are 200 runners for the race. Good thing I’m a guy and the course is surrounded by woods.

During the race, one problem I ran into was with my Garmin. I had charged it and then ran two other times, but when I turned it on that day it said “low battery”. I was hoping to get at least halfway through the race before it died but I didn’t. We were at the starting line, I look down and it was off. I pressed the power button, but nothing. This was pretty frustrating. When I first got my Garmin I didn’t think I would use it too much, but now I think it is my best training tool. When it wouldn’t work, I was worried. My plan was to run between 7:00 and 7:30 minute miles. With my Garmin not working I wouldn’t be able to know my time. All the miles are marked, but now I didn’t even have a watch to let me know how long it took between marks. I just started to run at a pace that I thought was good. After a mile or two I started running with another runner. He had a Garmin that worked, so at mile five I asked him the time. He told me 35:20. If I kept this up it would put me at 1:10:40, which is faster than I thought I would finish. This made me feel a lot better. Somewhere around mile six I saw Marvin ahead of me. I knew if I was catching up to him he had a problem. I ran ahead of the guy I was running with and caught up to Marvin. He was hurting, side stitch and said he even walked a little. I tried to motivate him so we ran until mile seven and then he told me to go ahead. I still felt good, passed a runner and caught up to another. We ran together until a little past mile nine. I was worried he was in my age group so when I knew we had a ½ to ¾ of a mile to go I sped up. This was a gamble because I didn’t want to bonk before the end. I made it o.k. My final time was 1:12:00. I was extremely happy with that time. It was almost two minutes faster than two years ago. I got second in age 40-44 and 20th overall. I got my train whistle! If you place in your age group you get a wooden whistle that sounds like a train whistle when you blow it. I never thought I would get one. I think I lucked out because for a longer distance I am in a very strong age group. I thought at one time I could maybe get third in age, but never second. I was very happy.

I don’t know if it was good or bad that my Garmin screwed up. On one hand I just ran at a pace that I thought was comfortable and did well. On the other hand maybe I could have run faster knowing my time was closer to 7:00 minute miles. I could have tried harder and got under that. Oh well, I am not going to complain. This year I ran a half marathon and now this 10 miler. I never thought of myself as a distance runner but now I want to more of these. I just wish work wouldn’t interfere with it.

Pinckneyville Fall Classic 8k, 11-31-09

There is a lot of work that goes into this race. Marvin does most of the work and I’m not sure how he gets it all done. We got a lot of pre-entries, which helps out quite a bit. One thing that worried me this year was the weather. It had rained most of October and was chilly. We lucked out and got pretty good weather for race day. There was no rain and the sun came out occasionally. We had the usual 9:00 a.m. start and everything seemed to go well. The only problem was a glitch with the time clock where two runners came in at the same time, but it was easily solved and put us behind about five minutes. We had a total of 86 runners and walkers, the most we ever had. It seems like we get a few more each year. Again, we gave out a lot of trophies. Also, this year we were lucky enough to give away a pair of Asics running shoes to the first overall male and female runner. I think that was pretty good. We had some pretty nice door prizes too. Go to www.pyramidrunningclub.com for results and other information. It was a pretty good race.
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In the picture are Marvin, Cara, Sara, Alicia, and Kayla before the race.

Melvin J. Fisher Hills and Hollows Half Marathon, Valmeyer, 09-26-09

This was my first half marathon and also the farthest I have ever run so I wasn’t sure what to expect. My goal was to finish under two hours and thought I might be able to do it around one hour 45 minutes. I didn’t know the course and since it was called “hills and hollows” I was a bit worried. The first seven miles wasn’t too hilly. It was pretty much standard for this area, but with a couple long downhills which was good. The next four miles was pretty much flat because we ran along the Mississippi bottoms. The last two miles or so was uphill. They were not too steep but very long uphills. It was not too bad.

When the race started we were all kind of packed together. I wasn’t worried about starting in front because I knew it was going to be a very long race. It took about half a mile to get the group apart. My plan was to run 7 ½ minute miles the first few miles and then slow to 8 or 9 minute miles. I ran with Brad Warhausen and another guy. I think Brad said he wanted to run 8 or 8 ½ minute miles so I figured I would run with him awhile. About mile four Brad pulled away and another runner caught up to me, later I found out his name was Steve. I was feeling pretty good so I just kept up with my regular pace and ran with Steve while keeping Brad in sight. About mile 5 and 6 there were a couple steeper downhills and I made better time, 7:11 and 7:05 minute miles. Also, I passed Brad at mile 6 but then he passed me back. The whole time I was feeling pretty good. I had a Gu gel pack before the race and took another about mile 5. I think this helped. We got to the river bottom and Steve pulled away a little bit. I caught back up and passed him about mile 10. I also took another Gu gel pack. Steve caught back up to me and we ran together for awhile. At one time I asked when the hills were going to start. Steve then advised me we had been running up one for a little while. I hadn’t realized it. It was a long incline and with me being tired I just didn’t realize it. Later there were a couple hills that I definitely could tell were there. About a mile to go I was able to pass one runner and then another with a half mile to go. This gave me a couple moral victories and extra energy. With 50 or so yards to go I passed Steve and was almost able to catch up to Brad. My final time was 1:37:53. I could not believe it. The whole race I felt good. I’m not sure what I did differently for this race but it worked. Starting off I went about 7:30 minute miles and just kept that pace, more or less. The few big downhills really helped. My overall pace average was 7:24. I also think taking three gel packs helped and it seems I timed them well. This race had the regular 5 year age groups, but it also had different divisions too. They had divisions for years 39 and below, Master 40 to 49, and Grand Masters 50 and over. I’m not sure why the Masters was only ten years but that is ok because I was able to get second in it. I was also 12th overall. I am very happy with my race.

The race was very well organized and all the people were very nice. What really surprised me was that they had water at all the mile markers except two or three. This really helped. They even had bananas and grapes at some mile markers, I passed on them. Everyone also received a finishing medal, which was great. They were also pretty quick with the awards too. They didn’t wait for everyone to be done. It seemed like when they had a bunch of groups done they would present the plaques. I know because I was icing my legs when I heard my name called. Also, Marvin Fisher, the late Melvin Fisher’s twin brother, was nice enough to have his picture taken with me and my friend Rachel. He seemed happy to do it and talked to us for a little while even though he was busy and had other things to do. In the picture are me, Marvin, and Rachel. Rachel by the way ran very well and got second in her age group.

Overall this was a great race. It makes me want to run longer races, even marathons. I have always been a 5k kind of runner, but this makes me want to do more. We had almost perfect weather, which helped, and the course was pretty nice. It seemed everything clicked for me and I was able to maintain a positive attitude the whole race. I could probably never run another long race again and be happy, but now I want to do more. I hope to make it back to Valmeyer next year.

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Here's an update for the race. I just checked the posted race results and my time was actually 1:38:01. I'm still very happy with that. Also the guy I called Steve, his name is actually Scott, sorry. Also, the division was not 39 and below, it was an open division. If you look I was first in 40-44. Good day.

Evansville Days COSLHS 5 Mile Run 08-15-09

(David) This is the third year I have run this race. It seemed like this year there were a few more runners, it is a small race. Last year Marvin came in first and I second. This year Marvin did not run so I was hoping to maybe take first. I finished about 6th. There was a cross country team that showed up. They took off pretty fast so I was hoping they would crash after mile three, they didn’t. Even if they had not shown up there was a guy in the 19-24 age group that beat me. Oh well. My time for this year was over a minute faster than last year. This year I was 33.58 and first in age 40-44. I’m pretty happy with that time because it is under a seven minute pace. They hills almost killed me though. My worst miles were 3 and 4, the hilliest. The next couple days my calves and thighs really hurt. The heat didn’t seem too bad until I started running east into the sun and that wore me down too. This is a nice race with nice people running it. Also, it seems pretty quick. I think I left by 9:30 and it started at 8:00. There are a lot of 5k that take twice as long. Overall a good time.

Cobden Peach Festival 5K 08-08-09

(David) This was the first time I ran the Cobden race. I was not sure what to expect. Marvin told me a little bit about the course, an out and back with a long hill. The hill he was talking about is about 1.25 miles long. For a 3.1 mile race that is almost half of the course. The bad thing is the hill is downhill to the turnaround point and then you run back up it for the second half of the race. It wasn’t steep and at times it didn’t feel like going up hill, but yea, it was uphill most of the way back. I think the heat and humidity affected me more than the hill. Although it was a 7:30 start the sun was really heated things up. Besides all that I did get my best 5K time of the year, 20.08. My one mile times were: 6.08, 6.26, and 6.50. I got 5th overall, but 2nd in age 40-44. It is a little frustrating to do well overall and not get 1st in age. Oh well, what are you going to do? I felt o.k. during the race, the humidity hurt me though. At the finish line they handed out cold, wet hand towels to everyone. I thought that was a good touch and helped cool me down. My brother-in-law Brad also ran, he is in the picture with me. He got 3rd in age 35-39. They gave out door prizes and I was lucky yet again and won a bag of peaches. I have been doing pretty good with door prizes. I like this race. They had it at the park, which was a nice place, and ran down a quiet road, I think I saw one car. Like all races the people were nice and it seemed well organized. The 7:30 start was a little tough, I woke up at 5:30 to get there and we still ran a little late. Thanks to Bill Freemen for taking the picture.