I ran the Annual Chuy's 5K this morning. It is my first time to run this race and I really liked it. Usually I do the Austin Cycling Association's Armadillo Hill Country Classic, which is a pretty ride, but this year I am concentrating on running and hopefully getting my speed up.
The race course was perfect; it started off with a slight downhill run, then it went slowly uphill for about a mile, followed by a long and gradual descent downhill to the finish. The elevation gain was only about eighty feet in one mile, so it was not something you really noticed, and the elevation change was only ninety feet over several miles.
The weather was almost perfect. The temperature was in the mid seventies, but the humidity at about eighty percent. I was drenched by the time I finished. Here is my chip time.
I finished right at thirty one minutes with a ten minute pace.
This put me at an eighth in my age group out of twelve runners. If I could take off one minute, and get my time below thirty minutes, I could have moved up three places. I was in four hundredth place overall out of three thousand runners and walkers, and eighth in my age group.
I will have to do this race again in coming years, because I really enjoyed it. It was very well-organized by the Special Olympics backers and the course was good.
Next week is the 2008 Puma Congress Avenue Mile, I would like to do it but I will be giving blood on Tuesday and looking at my times from recent events, I think I will be one of the last finishers in my age group.
I've not run a mile since high school, but it would be fun to see what I could do. Nine minutes? No matter what time I do it in, it will be a PR, since high school does not count, that was too long ago. It would be running downhill from the Capitol. I'll see how I'm doing Wednesday on my training run before signing up.
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
ASH Dash Race Report
Today I ran the ASH Dash 5K race. The ASH (Austin State Hospital) volunteers sponsor the race; they are an organization whose purpose is to improve the quality of life of the children and adults who are patients at the Hospital.
The race was on the grounds of the State Hospital, which was established in 1856, with the first patients admitted in 1861. The race started in front of the administration building, built in 1856. It was open for viewing on race day. The hospital was originally called the Texas State Lunatic Asylum but was renamed the Austin State Hospital in 1925. I was planning to visit the administration building and see what it was like, especially since the school where I had my Navy training was an old Civil War era hospital. However, I did not have a chance to do this with everything else that was happening on race day.
The race course consisted of two loops around the hospital grounds with very little elevation change. However, today there was a strong cold wind out of the north.
Yesterday I laid everything I would need out so I would not have to bother Marilyn, as I planned to get ready at 5:30 AM. This included getting my commuter bike ready for the ride down to the hospital. However, when I stepped out this morning I had second thoughts about riding my bike. It was cold (mid 50s) and windy (about 20 MPH gusts.) Therefore, I went back in and turned on the light in the bedroom to find a windbreaker for the ride (so much for my plans not to disturb Marilyn!)
As part of my preparations, I put on my Garmin (the one I was having problems with in my last post) and turned it on. For the most part, it was working okay. However, occasionally it would power down when I would hit the down key (middle button on right). Finally, I stopped using that button and it did not die as much. I successfully got a track down to the hospital, but the track of the race and the ride home were combined into one record.
I used SportTracks to break the track into two tracks, but I lost the heart rate data. Therefore, I have five tracks uploaded to www.Motionbased.com.
The ride down to the hospital went very well, just as it should have been, with a tail wind and riding downhill! At 7:00 in the morning, there is not much traffic on the road so I had trouble getting across some of the intersections because my bike did not trigger the signals. At Koenig and Guadalupe, I had to go over and press the walk button to get the light to change. Also, at the entrance to the Hospital the light never changed and finally, when there were no cars coming from either direction, I crossed.
The race started at 8 o’clock sharp. Since I had run the course before I knew where it went, so there were no surprises. The last time they had us go out to 45th street and then double back. This time we ran along the perimeter of the grounds on the northeast side.
I finished in 103rd place overall, fourth in my age group, with a time of 31:08, which translates to a pace of 10:02.8 minutes per mile.
The ride home was about the same as the ride down. I had trouble getting across Koenig and had to go over and press the walk button. Shortly thereafter, another bicyclist came along and waited at the light. He was doing a track stand while we waited for the light to change. After a bit, I commented that he was doing a very good track stand. After I complimented him I was afraid that perhaps I had jinxed him. However, he continued to do the track stand. Finally, he gave up and made a loop at the stop light. As soon as his back was turned, the light changed. I was quite a ways down the street when he passed me.
The race was on the grounds of the State Hospital, which was established in 1856, with the first patients admitted in 1861. The race started in front of the administration building, built in 1856. It was open for viewing on race day. The hospital was originally called the Texas State Lunatic Asylum but was renamed the Austin State Hospital in 1925. I was planning to visit the administration building and see what it was like, especially since the school where I had my Navy training was an old Civil War era hospital. However, I did not have a chance to do this with everything else that was happening on race day.
The race course consisted of two loops around the hospital grounds with very little elevation change. However, today there was a strong cold wind out of the north.
Yesterday I laid everything I would need out so I would not have to bother Marilyn, as I planned to get ready at 5:30 AM. This included getting my commuter bike ready for the ride down to the hospital. However, when I stepped out this morning I had second thoughts about riding my bike. It was cold (mid 50s) and windy (about 20 MPH gusts.) Therefore, I went back in and turned on the light in the bedroom to find a windbreaker for the ride (so much for my plans not to disturb Marilyn!)
As part of my preparations, I put on my Garmin (the one I was having problems with in my last post) and turned it on. For the most part, it was working okay. However, occasionally it would power down when I would hit the down key (middle button on right). Finally, I stopped using that button and it did not die as much. I successfully got a track down to the hospital, but the track of the race and the ride home were combined into one record.
I used SportTracks to break the track into two tracks, but I lost the heart rate data. Therefore, I have five tracks uploaded to www.Motionbased.com.
The ride down to the hospital went very well, just as it should have been, with a tail wind and riding downhill! At 7:00 in the morning, there is not much traffic on the road so I had trouble getting across some of the intersections because my bike did not trigger the signals. At Koenig and Guadalupe, I had to go over and press the walk button to get the light to change. Also, at the entrance to the Hospital the light never changed and finally, when there were no cars coming from either direction, I crossed.
The race started at 8 o’clock sharp. Since I had run the course before I knew where it went, so there were no surprises. The last time they had us go out to 45th street and then double back. This time we ran along the perimeter of the grounds on the northeast side.
I finished in 103rd place overall, fourth in my age group, with a time of 31:08, which translates to a pace of 10:02.8 minutes per mile.
The ride home was about the same as the ride down. I had trouble getting across Koenig and had to go over and press the walk button. Shortly thereafter, another bicyclist came along and waited at the light. He was doing a track stand while we waited for the light to change. After a bit, I commented that he was doing a very good track stand. After I complimented him I was afraid that perhaps I had jinxed him. However, he continued to do the track stand. Finally, he gave up and made a loop at the stop light. As soon as his back was turned, the light changed. I was quite a ways down the street when he passed me.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Ran the Trail Of Lights 5K
I ran the Trail Of Lights 5K this evening, but I just about didn't make it.
I left a more than an hour before the race, but I should have known something was wrong when I hit the heavy traffic at about 45th street on Mopac. I was moving only about 35 mph on the freeway, so it took about an hour to get to Zilker Park, a ride that should have taken 10 minutes. I finally found a parking spot on a steep hill in Rollingwood, grabbed my things and started running for the start line.
I finally made it to the start area just as they finished the Star Spangled Banner. (I found a port-a-potty first, then went over to start the race.) Several minutes after the official start I managed to get moving with my part of the crowd. The going was slow, as I was in the walking section rather than the running section, but I made as good time as I could, without running over someone or falling on my face in a dark stretch of the course.
When I finished the run, I knew I'd felt strong during the whole run; unlike in previous years where I have had to walk for brief stretches to catch my breath. I finished in about 39 minutes according to the official clock. (My GPS later told me that this was one of my slowest races ever--no wonder I felt good!)
After I finished there was a huge line of people waiting for water. I went to another line and picked up some tiny sandwiches, but that made me really thirsty, so I just had to join the water line!
In conclusion I feel I did pretty good, but next year I will have to leave earlier so I can get a better start location. Perhaps 1 and a half hours early.
Finally motionbased has finished processing the GPS data, it is here. (It took forever, finally I had to download the data again.) My times were not as good as I would have liked. No wonder I was running so strong. I guess when you get behind someone who is walking it slows you down a lot. Oh well, I still enjoyed the outing--my first after the trip to Switzerland, where I gained 5 lbs.
I left a more than an hour before the race, but I should have known something was wrong when I hit the heavy traffic at about 45th street on Mopac. I was moving only about 35 mph on the freeway, so it took about an hour to get to Zilker Park, a ride that should have taken 10 minutes. I finally found a parking spot on a steep hill in Rollingwood, grabbed my things and started running for the start line.
I finally made it to the start area just as they finished the Star Spangled Banner. (I found a port-a-potty first, then went over to start the race.) Several minutes after the official start I managed to get moving with my part of the crowd. The going was slow, as I was in the walking section rather than the running section, but I made as good time as I could, without running over someone or falling on my face in a dark stretch of the course.
When I finished the run, I knew I'd felt strong during the whole run; unlike in previous years where I have had to walk for brief stretches to catch my breath. I finished in about 39 minutes according to the official clock. (My GPS later told me that this was one of my slowest races ever--no wonder I felt good!)
After I finished there was a huge line of people waiting for water. I went to another line and picked up some tiny sandwiches, but that made me really thirsty, so I just had to join the water line!
In conclusion I feel I did pretty good, but next year I will have to leave earlier so I can get a better start location. Perhaps 1 and a half hours early.
Finally motionbased has finished processing the GPS data, it is here. (It took forever, finally I had to download the data again.) My times were not as good as I would have liked. No wonder I was running so strong. I guess when you get behind someone who is walking it slows you down a lot. Oh well, I still enjoyed the outing--my first after the trip to Switzerland, where I gained 5 lbs.
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