World Record Running Debut!

Well, not everyone who does their first official, timed, race breaks a world record, but the Kazology Team did just that!

Three runners, three miles, three world records!

Don’t think so? Well there is proof!


Guinness 03x3
NAK Guinness 2013x3PK Guinness 2013

So, what was this for?
Well, back in June of 2012 the town of Canton Michigan sponsored the “Liberty Run”, a 5K (3.1 Miles) race.
These three highly trained and highly motivated sub-elite runners took up the challenge and blazed through the course in record time! Two of the three set PR’s for the 5K distance, and all three made it into the Guinness World Book of Records.

2012 Liberty Festival 5K

2012 Liberty Festival

2012 Liberty Festival

Lots more pictures were taken and posted in the race photo page.

A day to remember to forget.

August 1, 2010 at 6:30 am was the start of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon. This was my first Rock ‘n’ Roll race, and the course was flat. I thought it would be a good time to try and break the two hour mark, so I signed up earlier in the year to make sure I got in before it sold out.

A hotel room was booked, vacation days signed up for, groceries purchased, suitcases packed, and finally the car was loaded up. First stop, after the requisite quick coffee drive by, was the Health and Fitness Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago.

I picked up my bib and SWAG bag and then wandered around the hall for awhile.

The Chicago Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon bib.

Brooks apparently is a large sponsor and had all sorts of attractions… see the Jesus Lizard and racing pictures. There were plenty of samples available, so I carbo loaded right at the show with energy bars from the major manufacturers. After seeing everything we wanted to see we took off for the next stop. The Chicago Art Institute.

First though we needed some real food, so walked a couple blocks, went down the stairs, and under the bridge to the Billy Goat Tavern.. home of the Cheezeborger. Hopefully some of you will remember the Saturday Night Live skits (Beluschi) that were created from a visit to this restaurant. “Cheezeborger – Cheezeborger – Cheezborger! No fries! Cheeps! No Pepsi. . . Coke!” Well it was an interesting place, the food passable,(having the double cheese burger of course! – one of use having a double double…) glad we went to see, may or may not ever go back. There are just to many places to eat on the trips we make to “double up” to often unless it is something we rate “outstanding”. (Maggianos Italian).

Bellies full, we walked back to the art museum where we spent hours wandering the halls looking at paintings, lots of paintings. Old painting, new paintings, great paintings and those that left you scratching your head. Finally we headed to the hotel for the night, stopping first at… Maggianos for some pasta.

Saturday we visited the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Started in 1972 (?) as a small greenhouse it has grown into a major garden. A very nice place, and certainly glad we went. We were not sure beforehand what it would be, or how long to plan on being there… thinking we may be done in a hour or two and then go do something else. As it ended up we spent the entire day there. We finished the day with the tram ride that circles the gardens. The driver/tour guide was either a) a hoot, or b) annoying…. done in a very folksy style it was more comedy than informational. For me anyway it was cute at first but would have liked a little more substance, history, facts, etc to be presented.

A early dinner at McCormick and Schmicks and then off to the hotel. We had to get up at 4 am to get ready and make the drive to downtown Chicago to be ready for a 6:30 am start time. We are early risers, but 4 is early!

We made it in good time, the traffic was very light, and got into a parking garage with no problems. A couple block walk to the venue and we were ready for race time.

On our way, behind a white picket fence was the celebrity pen. A couple people who I did not know were there stretching and being covered by cameras. Still don’t know who they were, but one was “The Bachelor – Jake” one was… aw heck who cares anyway, we are here for a race not a show.

The course opened about 6 am, and it filled quickly. There were 29 corrals, one of the picture’s in the album shows them stretching far into the distance. Based on earlier half marathon times I submitted I was in corral #8. At 6:30 the horn sounded and the first group was off. Each corral started about a minute apart, so it was about 10 minutes into the race when I crossed the start line. The first couple miles went according to plan. The only issue being the Garmin was showing me as running a lot further than the course was marked. Much later, after the race and back home, I loaded the gps track into Google Earth and zoomed in on the course. It appears the tall building played havoc with the Garmin since the track was all over the place even doubling back on itself, no wonder it showed me running 14 plus miles. This also then affected the pace it was showing… not that I use it for much of anything normally.

I passed by the photography team just before the six mile mark, things were still going pretty good at that point, but shortly after that it started to be a struggle.

Excuse List for Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon:

    a) I walked miles the day before at the Botanic Gardens

    b) I was on my feet for hours, and walked miles on Friday at the Art Institute.

    c) It was hot, reaching 80 degrees by the end of the race.

    d) I dropped my headband in the porta pot before the race and sweat kept running down into my eyes.

    e) It has been so hot recently my weekly mileage dropped way off, into the teens, instead of in the 30-40 mile range.

    f) The sun was in my eyes

    g) I didn’t have any coffee before the race

    h) My right shoe was loose

    i) My left show was tight and had a hot spot

    j) My heart rate monitor strap was loose and kept sliding down around my belly.

    k) something else

    l) whine

    m) whine

So I ended up running the slowest half I have ever run, by 15 minutes… ouch.

I don’t want to, but I always add the statistics… so here goes.

The Chicago Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon results.

The six mile time was still pretty close at 1:04 which would be 2:08 plus another 11 for the final 1.1 miles, so 2:20 isn’t far off…. but then I guess 2:28 isn’t that much more than 2:20… very flawed runner logic…

I have to say, this outfit seems pretty efficient. They had the results posted in hours, with 18,000 plus finishers. Some other races I have run it takes days, for only several hundred runners! They also set up a nice finishers certificate which you can download and print out. I think saving it as a pdf is good enough for me.

The Chicago Rock 'n'  Roll Half Marathon finishers certificate.

To make the aching legs feel a little bit better they have a fairly decent finishers medal also.

The Chicago Rock 'n'  Roll Half Marathon finishers medal.

Still, it was fun and I enjoyed it, once I cooled off a little bit. After getting the finisher medal and some water we headed back to the hotel where I took an ice bath to help the legs on the drive back home. Glad I did since the drive ended up over six hours. There was construction on I-94 that held us up quite a while until we stopped for some supper and took the back roads for awhile until we were past the mess.

Finally back home, unpacked, and went to bed… and that is the end of the 2010 Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon.

Pictures of the expo and race!

Until the sun sets over Lake Michigan in Chicago . . . .

George

Places to run – part X

It is always fun to go for a hike/run/walk, whatever you do outdoors for exercise or enjoyment. I recently was in Georgia and did a fun trail in the Georgia Forest system, Unicoi State Park. There are several trails but the one I did, since I was staying in Helen Georgia, was the Helen to Unicoi trail. It was also a good chance to try out the GeoSetter software with some pictures I took. The trail is very nice, from the hotel to the lodge and back was just a shade over six miles. With the gain/loss of elevation, and the temperatures in the 90’s it made for a pretty good work out. Glad I took a bottle of water along with the camera! (Which did make for a bit of a load to carry the entire time.) I have a hand held water bottle (Nathan) **Runners Tip! While the Nathan comes with a bottle with a valve on the top, I find it just as easy to use standard water bottles from the store. No clean up afterwards, you can also (properly recycle) dispose of the bottle if you no longer need it and just stick the carrier somewhere and go “hands free” then.** I also have a SPI belt and travel with small zip lock bags… I can put the camera in a zip lock bag and stuff it in the SPI belt when I am done with photos. The bag is necessary, at least for me, to keep sweat from destroying the camera. You might be surprised at how NON-waterproof digital cameras are… another story for another day.

One thing that is in the album I will mention here since it sounds pretty cool. Georgia State Parks offer a number of incentives to attract people to visit the parks. One is for hiking, running, etc. The
Georgia Canyon Climbers Club. Sign up, give ’em ten bucks, visit four parks and do the specified trail at each one and get the Tee Shirt! Looks like fun. I need to map out where the four parks are in relationship to where I go and see if it is something I could do. Unfortunately I have limited time and Georgia is big enough that getting to the site in time to do the trail may not be feasible.

Hey, try this link to see the trail in Google Maps! It seems to work okay. Click on the link on the left and the picture should show up in the location along the route it was taken.

Until the final State Park is visited,
George

Runs you don’t think about… but should

When I go to different locations I enjoy finding a new place to run. I also enjoy taking photos along the way, especially if I am in a park, or somewhere unusual.

But sometimes our backyards we don’t think about… but should. I go out the back door several times a week and run in a great place, Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor MI. In several years of running there I never took a camera, or even thought about it.

I have been playing with some new software to do Geo-Tagging of my photos, and was looking for some pictures which I could use. To do this I needed a GPX track recorded to match the camera time against, not having anything like this I decided I needed to go take some photos while wearing my Garmin 305….. so I did. I put on the watch, grabbed the camera and headed out the back door to the park.

There are several outcomes from doing this. The easiest is to create the photo album with the tagged photos using Jalbum. When viewing this album (as well as most of my others) you can click on the word “See Map” below the photos and it will open Google Maps and take you to where the photo was taken. Pretty cool. I have been doing this for some time, but using Picassa and Google Earth to do the tagging. This works great, but is far to time consuming to tag each photo with an individual location so I usually resorted to grouping photos in areas. This method allows every photo to have its own location code. The software also lets you reposition the photo on the map to correct for any inaccuracies in the GPS coordinates that were saved. These are typically fairly close, but not always close enough to suit me. It also allows you to create a “track” or “route” which can then be displayed on Google Earth with the pictures on it in their proper locations.
I need to do a little more experimenting on that function yet before I release it. I did some experimenting way back when, but haven’t done much with this project lately.

Until I get a track laid down I guess this will have to suffice. Update July 25, 2010… I “got the track laid down” and am sharing it here.

As to the photos of the park itself, I actually ended up with a lot more photos than I thought I would, and actually ran a few places I do not normally go, just to see what was there that might be “photogenic”. I hope you enjoy seeing “My Running Park”.

Until the final bridge is crossed,
George

Solstice Run 2010 – Running without the horses…

The second annual (for me) Solstice Run in Northville Michigan has come and gone.
The Northville Solstice Run has several races, 5K, 10K, and new in 2010 a 10 Mile race. They all feature a starting lap around the Northville Downs horse race track. Giddy Up!

Victory at Northville Downs.

Photos were taken of the event by the faithful support team.

The official results for the race. Not what I would have hoped, or even expected, off from last year by several minutes. (2009 was 57:57)
Bringing Home the Roses.

There are trotters, pacers, thoroughbreds, quarter horses, plow horses and nags.
Guess it was the day for the plow horses….,

George

2010 Disney Marathon January 10, 2010 Orlando Florida – wait – I was in Florida?

Almost a year ago I signed up for the 2010 Disney Marathon. Since it normally sells out early I wanted to make sure I got in this year. It sure is hard to predict what is going to happen that far in the future! Who would have thought that on this weekend in Orlando Florida it would in the upper 20 degree Fahrenheit with icy cold winds and even some sleet thrown in! What a race weekend. I had packed for cool temperatures. I had old “throw-a-way” sweats so I could keep warm and then discard. I had gloves, even made some disposable arm warmers our of old – I mean old – athletic socks, the almost to the knee type, quite bulky they were again with the idea they would be tossed along the course when it warmed up.
Mickey is one cool dude, ready to roll in the marathon.

The 2010 Disney Marathon Experience.

What I didn’t pack was running tights, but I did not expect it to be “that” cold. Lesson learned… for the space they would have taken up it would have made it much more comfortable.  The race start is at 5:40 am, so it is an early morning! Up at 3 to start dressing, taping sensitive areas, anti-chaffing lube, etc. I had brought oat meal (instant) to have since I figured there would not be any place to get something at that hour, but what I did not count on was there was no microwave, or even coffee pot in the room. I travel often for work and have found it easy to make oatmeal using the instant coffee makers so that was my plan. Without one though I did the best I could…. ran the tap water until it was as hot as it was going to get, then mixed it up using that…. it was edible and served to get me something in the stomach is the best I can say for that.

We headed off about 4 am to catch the shuttle bus from the hotel (Disney Pop Century resort) to the venue. As we were sitting and relaxing we could see people driving in sitting in miles of traffic backed up. This was one of the reasons I elected to stay on Disney property. The hotel was not that great, but the shuttle service to different activities is great, plus it saves a minimum of $14 parking every trip. Plus you get dropped off a lot closer to the gate/activity than if you parked since that normally requires an additional tram ride from the parking to the gate.

Still had to walk a couple of blocks to the main area… then got “lost” could not find the start area, and even asking several people could not find it… they said they were looking also…. Finally found a person that said you have to go through the gear drop off tents, come out the other side, then walk another half mile (at least) to the start area. Whew… was starting to wonder what was going on.  People there were doing everything they could to keep warm. I saw hotel towels wrapped around heads, blankets turned into serapes, garbage bags, quilts, space blankets (people who ran Saturday) and many other methods to keep warm. NO one actually looked warm though.

Finally could hear the announcer, then fire works went off followed by a roar from the crowd and we were off. I only was about 2 minutes from the start line while I understand others may have been an hour or more (?) before they got to the start line. The race itself went pretty good…up to a point. I was right on my plan, ticking off about 10:30 miles consistently. Heart rate never went up, breathing stayed pretty good, not labored or struggling at all. Stopped a couple of times for some photos to be taken with characters along the route, and a few shots of the park, hot air balloon and other things. (Check the photo album for all these.) Saw Paul several times along the course. He was following the suggested viewing points map and hustling from one place to another. We did see each other at the start, then missed at the four mile mark…. odd since it was the exact same place since it was a loop! Then again at 9 and 12 miles which was the final until the finish. Ran through the castle and got in line to have my picture taken in front of it… unfortunately I still had the old sweatshirt on. While I was in line I was struggling to get it off so my bib number would show so I could find the picture later. I was hopelessly trapped in the damn thing! Finally I got it over my head and off one arm, but it got hung up on the Garmin and it was my turn to go for a picture. I am sure when they are ready I will find myself with a big smile and a bigger sweatshirt ball around my left hand! Oh well.

After the picture I did get it off and dumped in by a trash can. I had been sweating up a storm in it so was happy to have it off…. for about two minutes, then the sweat started to cool off and I got pretty cold again. It didn’t help that at the same time we headed out of the park and onto the road, and in shade. Kept plodding along until about mile 23, then as they say “The wheels fell off”… big time. My HR still good, calves, thighs and hamstrings seemed to be fine, no breathing issues but my hips went completely to hell and back… well not back I guess. The next three miles were pretty miserable, and the pace dropped off to the 15 minute range. I was on pace for under five hours up to mile 23, then with those times there was no way that was gonna happen. I was pretty happy when the finish line came into sight! Managed to get the legs moving for the last several hundred yards and made it across the line.  Got my reflective blanket which felt really good, my medal which looked really nice, and some food. Found Paul and we got pictures with Chip and Dale and then I was ready to head to the hotel and a warm shower, which is what we did.

So ends my first marathon. At 5:13 time I was hoping for sub 5 hour, but this only means the next one will be easy to PR in…. just when that will be is still undecided, so stay tuned.

The official bib has your name on it. This allows the spectators along the course to heckle cheer you on!

The 2010 Disney Marathon bib.

A blanket at the end feels pretty good! As you start cooling down the sweat makes things a little nippy. Temps are still in the low 30’s at this time.

The 2010 Disney Marathon Experience at the end of the race.

Picture that opens when you click above: At this point I think I am actually going to make it, although if you could see a video of me right now you might swear I am really going backwards….

The final stats for the race, certainly not what I thought going in, but still not that big a disaster for my first marathon.
The 2010 Disney Marathon Final Stats.

The course winds through the parks for 26.2 miles.
The 2010 Disney Marathon Experience.

…. and Mickey heads off to somewhere, to do something….
The 2010 Disney Marathon Experience.

They give out one of the better medals… oohhh…. shiny…..
The 2010 Disney Marathon Experience.

At the end we got some pictures taken with the Disney characters. They are in hurry to get everyone through, so didn’t get the perfect picture, but it was still fun.
The 2010 Disney Marathon Experience.

    …. and this breaks down into these numbers for the race:
    a) 26.2 Miles
    b) finished 8842 out of 16883 overall in the marathon mile. (Top 52%)
    c) finished 88 out of 227 in my age group – M60-64. (38.7%)
    d) finished 5397 out of 8731 men. (62% – pretty low, sigh.)
    e) had a 11:47 overall pace, and a 5:13.33 total chip time. (5 hour 13 minute)
    f) You can see the full details on the running stats web page.(Index) or this specific race.
    h) had a great time – which is always the goal right?… Right!

Until Mickeys ears freeze and fall to the ground by the iguanas,
George