Westminster Main Street Mile

I know i've done the Main Street Mile before. I don't really remember any times or anything, but I have run that course. I feel like it evolved out the old Midnight Mile from the mid 80's, but I have absolutely no proof of that. Anyway, with the team headed up there for a quick mile on a Wednesday night, I was all in.

I didn't take any days off, but Tuesday was a rather easy 6 on the flat but rocky Big Gunpowder trail. I was breaking in my new trail Mizuno Ascends (at right), and wanted something that resembled a trail to do that. So the legs felt great and I was thinking I could pull a nice time.

So I had to get to Westminster before 6:30 and that meant leaving work early. I worked through lunch and left at 4:20, heading home to take the dogs around the block and change. I put the Fall Road singlet with pride and took the tunnel. It took over an hour. So it's right at 6:30 and i'm dashing over to pick up my number, dashing up the hill to the start. But I think I got enough warm up. A few strides and some stretching, the usual. I line up with the other guys from team TWSS looking very racey.

It's been 15(?) 18(?) years since I did a race that short. I didn't know if my legs would remember how to turn over. But once the gun when we all did, and I was hanging with folks probably a tad faster than me. The hill at the start is steep, almost too steep for my taste. It flattens out as you hit the half and maybe even goes a bit uphill before the final plunge to the finish. They were reading out times for the half and I think I was about 2:29. That's under 5 minute pace, but I was starting to fade.

The clock at the finish was reading 5:10 as I approached and I glanced over to see 5:14 when I crossed. I didn't get the watch stopped until 5:20, but I knew I was 5:15 or 5:16 at worse. Considering my 135 pound 15 year-old PR was 4:52 at the similar Market Street Mile, I was very happy. We had our ice cream sandwiches and I headed over to Western Maryland (McDaniel) to do some moderate 800s on the track. Checking the official results the verdict was 5:14.5. Very happy with that time. Good times all around as the winner went under 4, and a cluster of our girls went under 5 (kicking my butt, like ususal).

Coming up: The Mulligan Metric Marathon. I am not going to race it (famous last words) and I have to do at least a mile warm up and cool down to get 18 for the day.

Cherry Blossom

I love the cherry Blossom. I still love it, having only done it twice back in the early 90's and not again until this year. One part of the reason I consider to have 'peaked at age 13' was my Cherry Blossom race in 1992. I can't even remember what training I was doing, I did the Mobil 1 meet indoor, but that was a mile. I stopped doing Knight Striders and any formal stuff. I just went out ran ten miles, and managed 7 minutes per mile. I think I was shooting for 68 so I could submit the time to be 'ranked' nationally. It seemed like a big deal at the time.

Fast forward to this year. After a decent club challenge race I felt like I could break through a bit at this race. And the pancake flat course would mean a PR, if I could just survive the start. I don't know if I would claim I survived the start, but I didn't have a sharp object so no one got stabbed. I used the full course, a bit of grass in places, and most helpfully the area over the yellow line across memorial bridge. I didn't even notice the first mile sign and my best guess is somewhere between 7:30 and 8 minutes. A little more running room meant I could pick up the pace a lot and I passed mile 2 at 14:10 or so. Fatigue was creeping in and I had to settle in a pace. At this point I was concerned about passing, the field was more spread out and I had caught some much faster runners.

All my mile times are from memory (except halfway which had an official split). Also, each 5k was marked and I will list times from those points as well. The first 5k was somewhere around 21:20 after the third mile was under 21, as I started to get back on track for a sub 70 minute race. I saw my sister (with her large Elmo, very popular) just before 5. I was about 27:41 at mile 4 and I think I had settled on a proper pace around 6:50 per mile. Half way split was 34:30, faster than my Celtic Solstice time just 4 short months ago (but hundreds of miles later).

The rest of the course went down to Hains Point and back. I briefly had my brain get in the way. The Veterans Day 10k was over this same stretch of pavement and I had flashbacks of that CF of a race. I fought it off and the miles continued to fall away. 6 was somewhere around 41:21, and the 10k was 42:40, two and a half minutes faster than said Veterans Day race. Come to think of it, that probably helped bust the mental funk as I knew I was cruising and feeling ok. Mile 7 was 48:11 and I started thinking about not just going under 70, but under 69. 8 was 55:05 and I had started to creep closer to 7 minute miles. Mile 9 confirmed this as I was 62:05. But with a short mile to go I picked the pace back up and finished at 1:09 flat. Time for the 15k split was 1:04.12 or so, which would be a PR at that distance as well. The most freaky stat was the second 5 mile split was 34:30 which means I ran exactly the same time for each half of the race. I've never done that.

At this point I should have the woulda, coulda, shoulda conversation. Most PR times beyond 5k should be a big question mark. I didn't run much over 3M/5K while in peak shape during high school. My 3 Mile PR of 16:50 translates to low 60 minute for 10 miles. But I never actually ran that distance, so I can't really claim that PR. The fastest 10 miles, to the best of my knowledge, was the Cherry Blossom in '92 in just over 70 minutes. So it's a PR that doesn't feel like a PR. C'est la vie...

Cherry Blossom preivew

Sunday is the Cherry Blossom 10 miler. I hope to do well, time could be anywhere in a range. I did not get in to first corral, so I don't think i'll be able to hang with my friends before the start. At least most of them. I haven't done this race since 1993 (I did half with my sister and then kicked in for something like 1:16). I also did it in 1992 and set what appears to be my PR for the distance. Since I was 13 for that race, it's a piece of why the blog is named Peaked at Age 13. I am hoping to run under that time. A equal effort to Club Challenge on a much flatter course should mean that is possible. To be continued...

March is going to be an odd month. I had unplanned sick time at the start, then I ran everyday until today. The miles piled up, and i'm sitting at 193. I really want to run a couple quick miles today and tomorrow and keep the streak going and hit 200, but I probably will take the days off and rest for the race. I really don't have another race of emphasis until the Frederick Half, which is more than a month away. A month without a day off is what i'm planning right now. It may not happen, I have a trip to Gettysburg at the end that will complicate. But there is always a way to run if the desire is there, and so far the desire is there. So we shall see.

Weekly totals for the past few - 36 this week, 55 last week, 52 the week before that...

The Nostalgia Tour Continues

2012 as the year of the return continues. I returned to Frederick to compete in not one, but two races. The first was Francie's 5k, which was not a race from my youth, but a race in a place from my youth. The second was the Forest of Needwood 5 Mile, which was a race from back then. Oddly, when I discovered these were both on the same day I was at a loss to pick one. But upon closer inspection the 5k was at 9 and the 5 miler was at 1 I realized I could certainly do both. Neither would be a ground-breaking time or place, but it would be a nice change and good miles as well.

Francie's 5k
Francie Billoti Wood was a student at Middletown High and a member of the track team. She was a couple of years older than me, but we did overlap in tenure. She was also a friend of my sister and a good friend to some of my sister friends. Her tragic passing back in '09 was pretty big news across the state, if you were around you would have heard about it. It's the kind of thing that rocks a small town like Middletown. Francie was getting back into running for fun and training for a marathon, I believe. It was natural that folks put on a race in her memory. This year was the 3rd event, I had wanted to make the previous ones, but circumstances did not allow it (busy or lazy, basically). This year, in shape and training lots, I thought it would work. I let me sister know and she wound up walking it with my mom.

I would have preferred to the 5 miler first and hoof the 5k. But it was the other way around, so I had to try and show some restraint for the first race. It was very popular with the younger kids so they took off, along with some legitimate fast folks in the front. I settled in very early and passed quite a few people as we progressed through the High School property to Green Street. A decent hill that left me ahead of all but one very young girl (the lead pack was off and out of mind by then). The backside of Green Street is a nice downhill, around the corner and through Middletown's 'main' intersection. I knew we were past a mile at this point and I was under 7 best I could tell. The course then went up past the memorial park (site of so many Spring Thaw 5 Milers) and then to Linden Ave. The water stop was near half way and I was around 10 minutes so still cruising a decent pace. Linden has a decent down-and-up that we used to use for workouts back in my school days. That certainly helped me power up and around the loop.

I saw David Schafer coming out of the loop and gave him a cheer. I'm sure he had no clue who I was (a bit of theme). He was cruising to 18 and change, still amazing in his 50's (he was a state champ and Olympic marathon trial qualifier back in the day). I was still trailing the small girl, she couldn't be more than 12. I laughed to myself as that was me back in the day, very young and running with competitive folks. We crossed 40A and back on the school grounds. I knew there was less than a mile and I was feeling quite sore from the miles I had been doing. But I had run hard that far and I wanted to cruise in to the finish. And when I did I was still a bit surprised at the time. 20:51 was only about a minute behind my Shamrock 5k time and that was a net downhill course, this one had both down and up hills. I figured I had killed the Needwood, but I was not all that worried, I guess. I jogged back to where my sister and mom were walking and finished the race with them. They came home in less than an hour, which made my mom very happy.

I saw my old High School coach and some other folks from school. Won a random prize (round of golf at a course they built since I left Middletown) and then won the overall age group award. I figured I was somewhere around 10 overall, checking the results I was 8th (The 12 year old girl won the women's race in an amazing 20:35). I was a bit concerned about the course being short, but I mapped it when I got home and if anything it was longer than 3.1 by a little bit. Well done, Middletown.

Forest of Needwood 5 Miler
I don't know how many times I have done this race. It was the traditional season opener (not counting Club Challenge which I had never managed to do) and the first Grand Prix race for the Steeplechasers. I didn't realize, but this was the 30th anniversary, so it was a good time to make a return to run. I tried to map out the course ahead of time, remembered the main part was running along Lee's Lane, the site of Needwood, home of former Maryland Governor and notable colonial figure Thomas Sim Lee's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sim_Lee) plantation. Yes, he's also one of 'those' Lees...

The course I remembered as fairly rolling. I did not remember it being so open, which meant it was more challenging as the temperature crept up towards 80. I didn't really do much warming up, I figured a slow first coupe of miles would do the trick. But apparently my habitual fast starts know no bounds and I was through the first mile at 6:45 or so. Even if it was aided by some downhill running, that's still a fast start for the second race of the day. I kept it rolling and the second mile was a sold 12 flat. I attempted to drink water at the first stop, but I didn't get much down and I was off. The halfway point was marked (bonus) and I was around 17:30, which would equal a 35 minute race, exactly 7 minutes per mile. But I was fading a bit and was ok with that. I was passed twice, both women. I was a little worried about losing grand prix points (my secret motivation for doing the race), but there was really no one else threatening. At mile 4 was a rather significant hill which I has mostly forgotten. I don't know if I would have done the race if I had remembered. I think perhaps that's a fun Frederick County thing, putting a nasty hill towards the end of races to break the flatlanders that come to race. I may have not noticed having grown up with those hills my whole life. But I digress.

The last mile was fine and I wound up with a respectable 37:25 (officially time was a bit fast, but I think they have the times bumped up one spot for each runner). Celtic Solstice was 34:34 for comparison, but that was cooler, less hilly, and most importantly not right after a 5k. Again, a fun way to get to 10 miles for the day. I also took home an age group award (second place this time). I don't think too many folks from my age group in the Grand Prix ran so I will gain some ground that I lost because Club Challenge didn't count.


Miles for the week were 52, possibly an all-time best for me. I followed up going to Patapsco for 90 minutes of trail and path running (and two trips up Gun Road). Shooting for 54 or 55 this week, before a lighter week prior to the Cherry Blossom.

Shamrock Around the Clock

A bit late for this race report. Shamrock 5k was Sunday in downtown Baltimore. A net downhill course, I figured I would be able to run as quick a time as physically possible at this stage of my comeback.

Shamrock, however, is a very big race. Probably largest I've done outside of the Marathon and Half last season. Luckily Jon ran last year and he had a strategy for getting in front of most of the slower folks that line up. We were about 20 rows back for the gun. I wasn't super satisfied with the warm up, but that's the nature of these type of races. Starting back just a little bit was nice for keeping the pace down, but I probably expended some extra energy getting around the slower folks.

For the first mile Jon was around me. Using his new GPS watch toy he let me know we were at 6 minute pace and it felt pretty relaxed. I know that's too fast but it's unavoidable on the course as the big downhill is right at the start. There is a bit of an uphill before the course turns onto Key Highway, and the first mile was around 6 flat.

The course is pretty simple, going out Key Highway and then turns around and heads back. It gave me an opportunity to see the front of the race going by the other way. Lots of the fast Fall Road crew in the first 15. Pretty impressive to see, considering there were some super fast people that were skipping this one. At the turn I was 10 seconds or so ahead of Jon. I was probably still on pace for low 19 at this point. The course has a slight hill and around there is the two mile mark. The folks read off 12:29, but it was closer to 12:20 due to the delay at the start. This means 6 flat followed by 6:20. Heading in the wrong direction...

The last mile is probably all mental, and I think I still struggle with this. Although, I might have just tired out from the hard running and did the best I could after that. But Jon passed me on the turn to Pratt Street and gave some encouragement. I tried to pick it up and hang with him, but there was very little fight. I passed the 3 mile mark around 19 flat and the finish was 19:45. Overall, it was a very good time considering my training and my recent history. First time under 20 since I was 20 best I can remember. Jon was 19:35, very good on the small amount of training he's been doing so far this year.

Next up: a double back home...

Sick

The day after Club Challenge I caught something nasty. It put me out of commission Monday night and then again Thursday through Sunday. I managed a little over 7 miles on Tuesday (on no solid food) at a very slow pace. And I tried to run the Leap Day 4k on Wednesday. But it rained and I felt like crap and managed a pretty pedestrian 17:30.88. Side note: these results are credited to Guy Incognito, the old Simpsons Joke.

I didn't run Saturday and probably could have. I did sleep, a lot. Sunday I was a bit better and ran a slow mucous-heavy run in the morning. And then I did a double with 9 along the waterfront in the even at a decent pace. It was good for the confidence, since I was feeling like I could no longer run after having such a down week. Initially I wanted to put the morning run on Saturday and give me a near 30 mile week, but now I've change my mind. I put both on Sunday and now I can just write off the sick week and this week will be very close to where I wanted to be right now, 15 weeks out from Grandma's.

Onward and Upward from here.

Club Challenge report

I'm not going to lie, I wanted to have a good race for Club Challenge. I know I was nowhere near scoring (even all the scoring females on the team finished ahead of me). But, I spent all of 2011 grinding and I'm OK with that. But 2012 is going to be the year of some drastic improvements, in a last gasp attempt to see what I can do in my 'prime.' I put some nice mileage weeks including a 45 mile week that topped my peak week in 2011. I did a mini taper with two off days and a short shake out jog on Saturday. The race was Sunday morning. I did go out and have a couple of beers the night before, but that was really it.

The race itself is somewhat challenging. Not as much as the Lewis 10 miler a few weeks back, but still needs to be respected. Having done 2 workouts out on the course with my That's What She Said brethren helped a lot. It was nice running weather, somewhere in the mid 30's. I ran in the nice singlet courtesy of Falls Road, which necessitated my purchase of proper running shorts a couple of weeks back. The new pair of Sky Speeds I bought (to replace the exact same pair) were broken in and feeling fine.

Fully aware that I start all my races too fast I tried to start out reasonable pace around 7 minutes. Goal time was 70 minutes, so it would have been nice to start out at that pace. But I was a bit under that. I caught another member of the team and we were running together through 3 (somewhere in the neighborhood of 20:20 pace). At this point I told her something to the effect of 'if I settle in you should go.' Kinda silly, she was running strong and smart and didn't need any help from me...

I don't really trust the mile markers on the course, but I was through 5 at 34 flat. Even if it was off by a minute or so it still meant I ran the first 5 around the same time as Celtic Solstice in December. And that was a good race for 2011. So I can live with that. But two other members of the team had passed me, both on their way to sub 70 minute races. The rolling hills were toughest through 6 and as I climbed Jon caught and passed me. A bit demoralizing, but it did keep me from walking and I kept him in sight for most of the rest of the race. He finished a minute and a half faster in 1:10.30 or so.

I dropped in pace for sure the last couple of miles (a made an attempt to pick up the last mile, but when I went a quarter of mile and saw the mile 9 sign it confused me and broke my spirit a bit). But it wasn't a death march and I came home in 1:12 exactly on the clock. I looked up to see it with about 10 seconds to go before 1:12, so I picked up the last few steps to make the time. Still not as fast as when I was 13 (albeit on a tougher course), so I'll have to wait until Cherry Blossom in April in order to give that time a try.

Next up, however, is the Leap day 4k and Shamrock 5k. I seemed to catch something Monday which put me out of commission so I'm not optimistic about the 4k. Shamrock should see a recent era PR for the 5k, though.