Monday, July 25, 2011
You'd think I'd have figured this out by now...
I have fallen off the running wagon again. I did 6 miles last weekend and 50 minutes on the treadmill this weekend. Didn't get any runs in during the weekdays. How am I going to get myself ready for the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half? Sigh.
Friday, July 8, 2011
4th of July race with my sister!
My sister's birthday is July 3rd. On the 4th, we ran the 4 on the 4th race sponsored by Avery Brewing company. Here we are at the start.
It's a 4K and the course is about a mile from the brewery. The first place male and female finishers each win their weight in beer. Here is the female first place winner. The male winner got 5 cases. :-)
Oh yeah! It was a fun time. The top three in each age group (5 year increments) also each won a case of beer. I'm not fast enough to compete, I finished 13th in my age group, but was happy to partake in the post race festivities.There was free cold beer being poured, huge hot breakfast burritos and fruit salad. Yum!
It was really stinking hot too. It was especially hot walking nearly a mile back to the brewery after the race. But, once we got there, it was all good. We got a seat inside and cooled off while eating and toasting our successful 4K. My sister is just getting into running. She did really well, too. We are in the same age group. She finished just 5 places behind me. Yay! It was a fun loop course so we got to high five each other about 3 times along the way. Here's her game face at the start.
Way to finish strong sista!! Woot! When's the next one? :-)
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Do I need a Running Training Group?
Today I did a drop in group run with the training group Runner's Edge of the Rockies. RER gets their runs started at 6:30 in the AM. Today's run was in Greenwood Village, quite a haul for me. They design their runs as an out and back so folks can run their distance by hitting the appropriate turn around marker. I went as far as the 6 mile turn around. The long run was 20 miles. There were 6 new folks, including myself, in attendance. I'm guessing there were at least 150 maybe 200 people milling about at the start. They split the group up into various pace groups and a walker group. I went out with the slowest pace group, the 4:45 marathon/2:13 half marathon pace. That was a bit faster than I was looking to run but oh well.
The run was a mix of neighborhood streets, paved bike paths and crushed gravel trails. The slowest pace group had two pacers so they split the group in half. I set out with the first group at the back of the pack. The second group caught us at the first water station. I'm not sure if they were going faster than us or if we were going slower than the pace. It sure didn't feel very slow. It was a little disconcerting to have all of us in this large group taking up the whole path or sidewalk but the leaders would call out when bikes or other runners were coming towards us and the group would move to the proper side to allow them by. Two folks did get caught behind us for a short time but they were able to pass when we all turned the corner towards the trail.
It was nice to have a supported run. I'd forgotten to bring any Clif Bars so decided against going the 8 miles that I'd hoped for. I think that would have been ambitious considering my lack of runs since Estes. I ate two orange wedges - the candy and sugar kind - that was at the first aid station. I also brought my own water bottle since they try to be cupless on the long runs. So, I was able to also take on some Gatorade as well. That helped a lot. It was hot even that early.
There wasn't a lot of instruction at the start which kind of bothered me. I wasn't sure if I needed to check in or anything. Apparently not. There were some announcements at about 6:15, some stretching after that, and then the group leader started sending out the pace groups. Since I was in the last pace group, I got to finish all the stretching exercises.
Most everyone seemed to know other folks in the larger group. Not all ran together in the same pace groups. Some who ran with the same pace groups didn't all run the same distances. But, our group seemed to like to chit chat during the run. The woman I ran alongside wasn't very chatty which was fine with me. She was going for 10 miles and had a pretty similar pace to mine. She left ahead of me at the first aid station though and I didn't see her again after that.
Once I hit the 6 mile turn around, I ran the rest of my run pretty much alone. I did stop to chat with David, the leader of RER. He was parked near one of the trail heads I think just encouraging folks along or perhaps checking to see when the first runners might make it back to the finish. I didn't know who he was as we'd only communicated via email. When I saw him there next to a RER SUV I asked if he was David. We chatted for a little longer than I'd anticipated but I was glad for the rest and time to stretch a bit.
When I made it back to Panera where we started, a few folks were milling about. I sort of hung around a bit as I had some questions for David but others were taking up his time. So, I headed home instead.
My alarm went off at 5am. I hit the snooze until about 5:15. I brushed my teeth, dressed, and hit the road by about 5:30. I got to Panera right about 6:10am. Announcements began about 6:15 and the run started about 6:30. My pace group went out about 6:40. I finished my run at 8am. I got home about 9am. That's a really long day for about an hour or so of actual running. I think that sealed it for me. I don't think I will join this training group. I'm sure there would be benefits and improvements but, that's just too much of my weekend and way to early. I think I'll do a couple of $20 drop in runs when they are convenient and I feel I need some pacing or a particular distance.
Otherwise, I just need to set myself up for early morning runs out my front door every weekend. I've already got a good route to run. I can pick my distance very easily as the miles are marked clearly by the stop lights along the route. I just have to commit and get it done. That's it.
I think I'll spend that money on a motorcycle safety training class. :-)
The run was a mix of neighborhood streets, paved bike paths and crushed gravel trails. The slowest pace group had two pacers so they split the group in half. I set out with the first group at the back of the pack. The second group caught us at the first water station. I'm not sure if they were going faster than us or if we were going slower than the pace. It sure didn't feel very slow. It was a little disconcerting to have all of us in this large group taking up the whole path or sidewalk but the leaders would call out when bikes or other runners were coming towards us and the group would move to the proper side to allow them by. Two folks did get caught behind us for a short time but they were able to pass when we all turned the corner towards the trail.
It was nice to have a supported run. I'd forgotten to bring any Clif Bars so decided against going the 8 miles that I'd hoped for. I think that would have been ambitious considering my lack of runs since Estes. I ate two orange wedges - the candy and sugar kind - that was at the first aid station. I also brought my own water bottle since they try to be cupless on the long runs. So, I was able to also take on some Gatorade as well. That helped a lot. It was hot even that early.
There wasn't a lot of instruction at the start which kind of bothered me. I wasn't sure if I needed to check in or anything. Apparently not. There were some announcements at about 6:15, some stretching after that, and then the group leader started sending out the pace groups. Since I was in the last pace group, I got to finish all the stretching exercises.
Most everyone seemed to know other folks in the larger group. Not all ran together in the same pace groups. Some who ran with the same pace groups didn't all run the same distances. But, our group seemed to like to chit chat during the run. The woman I ran alongside wasn't very chatty which was fine with me. She was going for 10 miles and had a pretty similar pace to mine. She left ahead of me at the first aid station though and I didn't see her again after that.
Once I hit the 6 mile turn around, I ran the rest of my run pretty much alone. I did stop to chat with David, the leader of RER. He was parked near one of the trail heads I think just encouraging folks along or perhaps checking to see when the first runners might make it back to the finish. I didn't know who he was as we'd only communicated via email. When I saw him there next to a RER SUV I asked if he was David. We chatted for a little longer than I'd anticipated but I was glad for the rest and time to stretch a bit.
When I made it back to Panera where we started, a few folks were milling about. I sort of hung around a bit as I had some questions for David but others were taking up his time. So, I headed home instead.
My alarm went off at 5am. I hit the snooze until about 5:15. I brushed my teeth, dressed, and hit the road by about 5:30. I got to Panera right about 6:10am. Announcements began about 6:15 and the run started about 6:30. My pace group went out about 6:40. I finished my run at 8am. I got home about 9am. That's a really long day for about an hour or so of actual running. I think that sealed it for me. I don't think I will join this training group. I'm sure there would be benefits and improvements but, that's just too much of my weekend and way to early. I think I'll do a couple of $20 drop in runs when they are convenient and I feel I need some pacing or a particular distance.
Otherwise, I just need to set myself up for early morning runs out my front door every weekend. I've already got a good route to run. I can pick my distance very easily as the miles are marked clearly by the stop lights along the route. I just have to commit and get it done. That's it.
I think I'll spend that money on a motorcycle safety training class. :-)
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