Summer Review 2011

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted. Pretty much the entire summer has passed. This summer has been one of challenges and extreme weather. In June we had one day below 90 and we are currently at least over 45 plus days of above 100 degree weather. As I am writing this, it is 105 and we are only a few weeks from Fall. Needless to say, training has been hard to muddle through in these conditions.

The last post I had was the OKC Half Marathon. A couple of weeks after that, I ran the Full Moon 5K and set a new PR of 18:28. That really hurt. I don't have any pictures as we left the camera at home and realized we did not have it on the way to the race. The race had decent weather, but it was kind of muggy and a lot of speedsters came out. I was really happy with the new PR, but I would still like to get under 18. Is it possible?
During the month of June, my legs pretty much felt dead and I did not do any races. This usually does not happen. I still kept running, but did some cycling and swimming. I thought about doing a Tri, but it never happened. We headed back to Illinois around the 4th of July for vacation and on the 4th, we headed to E. Moline, IL for the Firecracker Run. My legs were not expecting much, but the entire family wanted to do it and who could resist. The race has a 5K and 10K option with the same start time. The 5K is really flat and the 10K is really hilly. Of course I opted for the 10K and everyone else did the 5K. I knew I was not going to be able to have a great race, but I still wanted to get under 40. I managed to squeeze in at 39:57. Not a great race, but with dead legs and hills, I was pleased.
Wyatt ended up 3rd in his age group in the 5K and I was 2nd my age group. We both got a neat little trophy and memories that will last.
After the race it was time to relax. After all, we were on vacation. We spent the rest of the time on the farm, doing very little but chilling. Shannon likes driving the 4-wheeler and I was brave enough to join her. It was a good visit and great time to see my mom and family again. It is a very nice place to do nothing.
At the end of July, I did the Chris Brown Duathlon, 5K run, 30K bike, and 5K run. Race time temps were in the low 80's, nice. Nothing like sweating just standing in place. I ran a decent first 5K with a decent bike, but slowed down on the 2nd 5K. I won my age group by close to 5 minutes, so I was pleased with my time. Phillip West was the overall winner, but ended up getting disqualified for taking his bike out of transition early. I am not for sure what that was about, but it was really strange how it all came down.
Yeah, another mug. I know mugs are cheap, but race director's need to really start thinking outside the box for awards. I still appreciate it and I am glad to get it.
Last weekend was the Riverside 5000. A great race put on by Tulsa Runner and good friend, Trani Matthews. The main concept of the race is to have an elite division that races for money and have an open race for the rest of us. Trani tried hard to talk me into doing the elite race as there was money for the top 3 Masters, but once they announced that it was age graded, I stayed in the open. It would have been neat to race in it, but the winning time was 14:51. I would have finished several minutes later, but I would not have been last.

The open race is kind of the opening of the cross country season for the schools and as you can see, I am up front and I think I am the only one able to shave.
Here I am sprinting towards the finish. I ended up 19th overall, but I was the second Master. Everyone else was a lot younger than me that ended up ahead of me. My final time was 18:43 and Trani was 18:35. I have some work to do, but Trani look out, I am gunning for you! LOL.

Hopefully it will not be so long before I post again. I need to write a review on some running shoes, so maybe this weekend I can squeeze it in. In the meantime, I am thinking about switching back to strictly running in preparation to go sub 3 hrs in the Marathon. That would be pretty cool to do, but I don't know if I can just run? This is my first full week just running and it already driving me nuts. I am used to cycling and swimming and not just running. The jury is still out on this.

I should end up around 60 running miles for the week. Not monumental, but decent for the first full week. I may add a double run one day next week. We shall what happens. The lure of triathlon and the Ironman always looms in the background. It is just too bad I am not that great of swimmer. I need to improve on the bike also, but the swim is where the majority of work is needed. I guess there is always Duathlons? For now, I will just keep putting one foot in front of the other.