New Toy for Tracking Running Stats – Part 2

Posted on May 29, 2008September 1, 2022 by GeorgeK

A really cool new toy! Part Two
Where upon having purchased a new Garmin 305 I put it to use.

During the initial run I bruised my wrist really bad (hard plastic back, flat, and relatively heavy for a “watch”) so I bought some wrist sweat bands and now wear one with the watch strapped tightly on over it. So far I am really enjoying it. Not having a stop watch hanging from a dog leash around my neck is quite nice. I used to have to let it hang under the shirt to keep it from swinging all over, then try to drag it out to stop it without strangling myself, and getting it stopped without adding minutes (it seemed like) to the end of a run. Plus I can now actually see the information while I am running, including elapsed time, heart rate, pace and distance (or other information depending on how you configure it.Continue reading→

Mackinaw Bridge 5 Mile Run

Posted on May 27, 2008May 8, 2022 by GeorgeK

Saturday May 24th, at a bright and early 5 am was the Mackinaw bridge 5 mile race.

Bright and early and 38 degrees out made for a quick race – because I just wanted to get back into a warm bed
and sleep! See some photos of me trying to get to the end and back to bed!

Some stats for the race:

a) Start time: 5:38 am
b) Start temperature 38 degrees Farenheit
c) a 5 mile run
d) finished 248 out of 345 male entrants (72% finished ahead of me)
e) finished 31 out of 40 in my age group (77.5% finished ahead of me)
f) finished 370 out of 611 total finishers. (finished in the top 60% overall)
g) had a 9:38 pace (48:12 total time)
h) had a great time, and chalked up another new PR for a 5 mile! Hey, five races, five new personal records, what’s so hard about this? ?????? ??????

Some general observations. Based on the numbers above you can tell this is a
community of older people… and apparently fairly fit. The participation in the
older age groups is very high compared to Ann Arbor races. Realizing I am
certainly not the faster runner, I still fared much worse, especially in my age
group, than in prior races! With almost 78% of the men in my division finishing
ahead of me, this may be the lowest finishing place yet! Compare this to the overall
finish where I finished in the top 60% and you can see the difference.

The race was fun, a great workout for the legs and lungs! That long grade to
the crest really made the thighs work.

This was followed by three days of sight seeing in the area where we had a
great time.

Note that within hours of finishing this 5 mile race we were on Mackinaw
Island where we rented bikes and rode around the island, and into the interior
to see some others sites, such as Sugar Loaf ~~mountain~~ ~~hill~~ rock pile, we did not get to see on the carriage ride. So we
figured we rode at least 14 miles, then we also walked for hours around town, up to and through fort, and to various ice cream shops, etc.

Now into “training” for the second part of the “Serious Series” 10K (6.2 mile)
trail run June 14th.!

Until the Mackinaw Bridge comes falling down,

Dart Frog Dash 5K at the Toledo Zoo

Posted on May 21, 2008May 3, 2022 by GeorgeK

~~Tomorrow is~~The other day was the next race, down in Toledo Ohio. The “The Dart Frog Dash” so named (I think) in honor of the new exhibit at the Toledo Zoo – which is the site of the 5K race.” at the Toledo Zoo.

Hopefully I will be able to “jump” right on this and get the results posted.

The race went well, and I finished within my goal time. But did I set a new PR? That remains to be seen!

Some stats for the race:

a) a quick “jump” at the start got me going
b) things got really “hopping” at the 2 mile point
c) a 5K (3.1 miles)
d) finished 206 out of 344 male entrants (60% finished ahead of me)
e) finished 11 out of 20 in my age group (55% finished ahead of me)
f) finished 326 out of 737 total finishers. (finished in the top 44% overall)
g) had a 9:08 pace (28:18 total time)
h) had a great time, and chalked up another new PR for a 5K! Hey, four races, four new personal records, what’s so hard about this?

Until the the last person feels “froggy”,

Cool New Toy for Running Around.

Posted on May 16, 2008May 3, 2022 by GeorgeK

Part One, where a purely rational decision is made to purchase a ~~new electronic toy~~ necessary piece of equipment for my safety.

As you can see from the recent posts I have been doing some running to get in shape, relax and enjoy the great out of doors. I have been using a combination of the pedometer I bought in August 2007 when it looked like I might exercise for more than two weeks without giving up, and an antique stop watch I got as part of some training years ago. (I had thought I lost the key to wind it up!) This was working pretty well for walking, but as I ran more and became more interested in “pace” and “miles” logged it wasn’t working out as well.

Continue reading→

Road Ends 5 Miler

Posted on April 28, 2008May 3, 2022 by GeorgeK

Every year the local Running Fit stores hold what is called “The Road Ends 5 Mile Trail Race” also billed as “No Wimps Allowed!” race in Pinckney Michigan. This is the short version of the Trail Marathon and half marathon held the following day at the same location.

Added a nice new T-Shirt to the small, but growing, collection.

~~finished fifth out of five~~

The course is at the State Park in Pinckney Michigan. The area is relatively hilly, and the course takes great advantage of that. There are a couple gentle hills to sort of warm up on, and then a couple monster “never ending grades” that will make the thighs burn, and these come after the 3 mile marker, so ~~you are~~ I am already running on shaky legs! Yeah, I walked part of them, I am sure this contributed to the slower overall pace since I have been keeping it to around 10 minutes on flatter courses. This shows a need to get more hill work in, maybe need to find a stadium with steps to run up… or maybe even enter the annual climb at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center.

I also cannot figure out how the course can gain over 1,000 feet in total altitude, but never descends more that 50 feet total through the course. . . or at least it seems that way.

Update May 1, 2008: I was kidding about the elevation above, but I just got the weekly email from the sponsors “Running Fit” and they had this to say about the race:

“As usual, the weather was spectacular and everyone set a P.R.! (Seriously, we just checked out the vertical climb in each loop of the half marathon and it was over 7,000 ft! For those of you who ran the 5, a very serious 5, it had over 3,000 ft of climb!”.

Now this to me seems like a serious amount of climbing to me! No wonder the legs grew weary!

I did have the old Peugeot 10 speed out awhile back. The tires still held air, and I did a couple miles around the neighbourhood to see if I could still stay upright. Seemed to provide pretty good thigh exercise also, maybe need to get out on it more often. . . or maybe even squats (?) to build them up.

Well, nursing the foot now, resting it a couple of days, then have to get back on the path. Need to keep on track since I have the Toledo Zoo and Mackinaw Bridge races coming up in just a couple of weeks.

Until the final bruise heals,

Holland Michigan – The Awakening

Posted on April 20, 2008September 1, 2022 by GeorgeK

It is spring in Michigan – finally! Daytime temperatures are getting into the 70’s, and making all the living things come alive. Grass is greening up, soon the mowers will need to come out, the Tulip trees have new large buds on them, and in the garden are signs of new life.

The results and long, patient wait after the trip to Holland Michigan is coming to the dramatic conclusion! The bulbs have survived the trip here, the fall planting, and now are beginning to open up. It remains to be seen a) how many will be eaten by the rabbits, and b) what the final colors will look like in the arrangements! Stay tuned for the conclusion.

Until the final bulb is lit,