Sunmart 50K Race Report

Very, very, very slow run, which I ran deliberately so! I ran cautiously since I'm unfamiliar with trail running, there were numerous hazards throughout the course, and finally since I treated the run as a training run - with the Houston Marathon scheduled for 1/18/09.

The final 9-miles, though, I felt strong, so picked-up the pace and I absolutely loved the feeling of passing many runners while feeling much more confident about the trail!

1 10-K loop, followed by two 12.5 loops. Ran first 10K well (probably too fast), and finished strong. Weakest part of run was the first 12.5 mile loop, as I walked essentially every up-hill, and slowly and deliberately ran every down-hill being vigilant for hazards.

Official Race Results: Time: 06:30:57; Age 50-54: 29/45; Male: 159/278; Overall: 220/481.

2008 Turkey Trot 10K Race Report!

10K PR!!!! 16th Annual Turkey Trot event, occurring at Uptown Park.

Official result: 43:52 (7:04 per mile), Age Place (50-54): 11/94; Male place: 129; Overall place: 153.

Chicago Marathon Race Report!

Chicago Marathon! 4-minute P.R.!  The improvement was especially noteworthy since I'd last P.R.'d four years previously (on a then downhill course in Austin, TX), and as my interim marathons showed NO signs of improving - until this one!

Batavia Sprint Triathlon Race Report!

I ran my FIRST triathlon on 6/8/2008, and TREMENDOUSLY enjoyed it! It was a sprint type (i.e. 400 meters swim, 14.7 miles biked, and 4.1 miles run), and I made the incredibly foolish decision to neither prepare for the bike portion (other than a couple of laps through my neighborhood) or the swim! While these mistakes were somewhat understandable (I was on the swim team in High School, and always was strong on my bike) I bonked severely even swimming the simple 400 meters distance, and labored tremendously with my (new) bike. Despite my competitive disappointments I tremendously enjoyed the variety of the swim/bike/run formats, and vowed afterwords that I'll eventually do many more triathlons - i.e. once I achieve my Boston Marathon dream goals!

Official Race Results: Time: 01:44:18; Age 50-54: 17/24 ; Male: 266/350 ; Overall: 349/520

Madison, WI Marathon Race Report

I really enjoyed this marathon! Although I was horribly conditioned, with tremendous need for quad strengthening to better prepare for the hills, I found the course to be beautiful! The support was tremendous, and the course was fairly unique among marathons I've run in that it was a mix between running on streets and running on trails.

Official Race Results: Time: 04:24:58; Age 50-54: 49/75; Male: 538/739; Overall: 792/1194

Quarryman 10-mile Race Report

I ran the Quarryman 10-mile challenge in downtown Lemont today. It was a great run! I really was challenged by the huge change in elevation along the course, but surprised myself in that despite my lack of focused training on hills I did well! One of the funniest verbal exchanges was when starting the first of the many near vertical hills happening to see a policeman guarding traffic on the street I jokingly said "what.... they promised me there'd be no hills on this course", to which the officer immediately responded with a grin "...well, son, they LIED to you!"

The people of Lemont were extremely supportive and loudly cheered on the runners. At one point at about mile 6 there was a group of elementary school kids providing fluids to the runners. Seeing me pour water over my back and chest a 3rd grade boy asked if he could splash me too. When I said yes the whole group of kids happily poured their cups of water on me (somewhat to the frustration of surrounding runners, who were looking to get a drink themselves!)

Afterwords the organizers of the event handed out incredibly cool trophies chipped from the original stone which was dug along Lemont's quary. Hope some day to have a chance to receive one of those trophies!

Official Race Results: Time: 01:26:31; Age 50-54: 14/23; Male: 104/196; Overall: 137/317

Ultra-slow Houston Marathon

Completely forgettable Houston Marathon.  Sadly, my first to exceed five-hours.  Yuk!!!


Official Race Results: Time: 05:04:32; Age 45-49: 485 out of 580; Male: 2836 out of 3482; Overall: 4319 out of 5595