Since Last Time, Two 5k Races

Yup. Count 'em. Two. Yippee.

The first was on February 2nd. It was the Mid Winters Blues 5k at Beaver Lake. The course is on the wide open, wind swept country roads near the park. It was in the single digits with wind chills in the negative teens. Overall, a great day for a winter run. They had 70 people show up which, I've heard, is about double from last year. Due to the "small" crowd, I was able to snag a 3rd place in my age group of Men, 40 to 44. There were five overall in my age group, so it isn't a huge deal, but it is kinda cool. The second place male in my age group ran a pace that was something like 54 seconds per mile faster than I, so that gives you some perspective. I did feel pretty good through out the whole run. I might have been able to kick it in a little more at the finish but the road surface was a tad dicey at that part of the course. BTW, I was 28th overall. And, it was one of my faster 5k times and the fastest since the summer of 2005. So it was a good day. All that and I had a great time running with Ed.

The second 5k was the following weekend on February 10th at the Chilly Chili in Cazenovia. As far as participants, it is at the other end of the spectrum from the Beaver Lake run. Caz had 573 finishers. It was a freezing cold, sloppy course. Again, great winter race. My time was way off from the Beaver Lake run and the legs felt very heavy. Could be due to some longer runs during the week that finally caught up with me. Doesn't really matter, cuz I reached all my goals during that time frame: runnin' and funnin'.

Still in the mid-20 miles/week range. After this little "step back" week I'm in now, I'm planning on pushing up to the high 20's mile week range for one week, followed by a low 30's mile week for maybe 2 weeks. I'm kinda planning on a couple spring 1/2 marathons: Skunk Cabbage and/or Utica Distance Hall of Fame.

Well, that's the latest news from here. BTW, we've been getting blasted with snow. So, if I'm not shoveling, I'm at work, running, eating or sleeping. I'm on my way to catching some zzzz's right now.

'till next time:

So let's take the good times as they go
And I'll meet you further on up the road

Faith will be rewarded ...

OK, I know. It's been a long time. Too long. So let's just get that out of the way. Here's the nickel tour of 2005 and 2006: Since my last post back in April of '05, I've kept running except for an injury that sidelined me at the end of 2005 and the first four months of 2006. If you really want more, ask via the comments and I'll tell ya. Or maybe I'll try to provide details in a subsequent post.

So now that the past has been addressed, I'll address the future: I'll try to be better at writing this year. I can't promise anything. But I'll try.

2007 got off to a great start as I ran the Resolution Run on the morning of News Year Day. It was around 5 miles or so this year. I've been pretty consistent through January with somewhere around 23 miles per week.

Biggest running event so far this year: I invited Kevin Collins to my company to talk to some runners about his company 1st Marathon . They have a great program that I'm seriously thinking about.

This morning I went out for a run in some pretty tough conditions. The sun was shining but the wind chill was pretty tough. The temperature was in the low 20's with wind chills down near zero. But the clear blue sky and bright sun were beautiful. The roads were clogged with some recent snow that had not yet been totally cleared off yet. And I do have to say that the vast majority of drivers went out of their way to give me room to run. I waved to every one of them but I wish I could give them a face to face "Thank You".

On one of the roads, I noticed, from the foot prints in the snow, that another runner had been out there prior to me. I obviously have no idea who that person was, but I instantly felt a bond with a fellow runner who was braving the elements to do something that they love doing; just like I was. I purposefully ran on top of the other person's tracks for a short distance. Not to cover their tracks with mine but rather to further share the run. And it felt like it worked. I'll never know who that person was. I'll never know their gender or pace or how far they pushed themselves today. I'll never know where they live or if they enjoyed a sunny, cold February winter day. But today we ran together. Separately. I know all this sounds corny but this is my blog and this is how I felt. So there. Anyhow, I got in a wonderful 8 mile run as I work on gradually adding more miles to my long runs.

OK. That's the post that hopefully opens a path for some more future posts.

'till next time:

So let's take the good times as they go
And I'll meet you further on up the road
- Bruce Springsteen