Dexter to Ann Arbor Half Marathon

Posted on June 10, 2009May 3, 2022 by GeorgeK

Every year the Ann Arbor Track Club holds the “The Dexter to Ann Arbor Half Marathon” race from Dexter Michigan to Ann Arbor.

The Team ToeJammer Bib.

“A few photos from the race.” The photo crew had to hustle from the drop off in Dexter back to Ann Arbor to get set up for finish line photos. The good news is that with my speed they did not have to rush to fast…. actually had time to do some shopping before I got there!

They present the finishers with a nice medal.

You can see the full details on the running stats web page.

The course starts at high school in Dexter winds through town, then runs along the river until you get to Ann Arbor. Mostly gently rolling hills, until you get to A2 and the final hill leading to the finish line.

Until I breeze up hills like they weren’t there,
George

The “Flying Pig” Marathon – Cincinnati Ohio

Posted on May 6, 2009May 3, 2022 by GeorgeK

Down near the bottom of Ohio, in Cincinnati they have a spring marathon every year. “The Flying Pig Marathon” also billed as “The funnest marathon in North America!” race in Cincinnati Ohio. This year I ran the Flying Pig half marathon for the first time.

Some scenes from the race.

With almost 9,000 people it is crowded at the start, they were lined up far behind me…..

…. and I was not close to the starting line! Far off in the distance ahead of me was the starting line.

“At the end of the race everyone got their finishers medal, which you can see in the photo album”, and then an insulating blanket to keep the chill off while you were cooling down. I disposed of mine to early! A 3/4 mile walk back to the car from the finish line while I was still sweaty did get a little cool, but not all that bad either.

I am not sure why everyone else lined up to get their sneakers shined after the race, but I started to bypass this activity, then noticed they were also cutting off the timing chip. I decided I would go ahead and let them do it so I would not have to chew it off with my teeth later.

You can see the full details on the running stats web page.

During a race I periodically check the distance and pace on my Garmin FR 305. Several miles into the race I noticed an “error” show up between the signs on the race course and the distance shown on the watch. Every mile was marked with a digital timer beside the road, and ever mile on the half mile were the water tables. Suddenly the watch started showing the mile half way between the water stop and the digital timer. I couldn’t figure out what happened, but assumed the watch someone added some distance. After I noticed the change it stayed very consistent through the remaining miles. When I returned home and was looking for the results I found the following announcement!

Mystery solved, the accuracy of the Garmin remains unquestioned.

The course starts at the stadium in Cincinnati, crosses a bridge into Kentucky, then back into Ohio before winding around the local streets.. The “hills” are bridges and overpasses, except the one street which seems to grind on and on for a mile or more before there is a long down hill relief.

Until the final “Never ending Grade” is conquered,
George

Shamrocks and Shenanigans 2009

Posted on March 19, 2009May 7, 2022 by GeorgeK

The second annual running of the Running Fit “Shamrocks and Shenanigans” race, 2009 edition is now history and in the books.

The weather was great for a race, cool enough to be comfortable, but not so cool as to be frosty either. A new course this year eliminated the previous years four lap race, only two now, much better.

e) Had a great time, even got a new 5K PR.

Until the last Lucky Charm’s box is stolen by the leprechaun,
George

Super 5K Race – Super Bowl Sunday 2009

Posted on February 12, 2009May 3, 2022 by GeorgeK

The second race of 2009 is now history and in the books. The Running Fit Super 5K is run on Super Bowl Sunday “The Super 5K” gets your metabolism moving in the morning so you can indulge in Hot Wings, Pizza and Libations quilt free later that night!”

Held in Novi Michigan it is an out and back on Eleven Mile road. Nice course, with a few easy hills on it to keep you working.

I also volunteered to work the packet pick up the day before the race. This was the second time I have done this, the first being for the Holiday Hustle back in December. I have also volunteered for the Shamrocks & Shenanigans 5K Run & Walk on March 15, 2009. Hey, you get a free race shirt and free entry in a race of your choice, pretty good deal for not so much work. The Shamrocks & Shenanigans packet pick up will be from 3-5 PM on Saturday march 14th… at Connor O’Neils (a popular local Irish Pub) so may even be able to get a brew while working! I will sign up for the race then also using the coupon I get for volunteering.

The race itself was a little windy and a little cool. A running jacket would have been nice at the start. I had decided on only a winter compression shirt with tech shirt over it, and while pretty chilly waiting to get started, once on the road I warmed up pretty well. Gloves were appreciated as was the head band. Some time I should do a review on stuff… I use several different “Halo” brand head bands which have a rubber sweat gutter/guide in the inside front of them. The idea is the sweat from the head and forehead, instead of running into your eyes is directed back along the guide to about your ears, where it is free to run down. It works too! I have lightweight for summer and another with ear flaps for the winter. They are also tech knit fabric, but they get water/sweat logged anyway, but it does keep it out of my eyes. Which can be especially annoying if I leave glasses on when running.

Unfortunately while there were camera crews on site, I seem to have gotten missed by them, so there are no action photos. Only a few taken the day before at the packet pick up, and some before the start and at the end of, the race.

Until the final buffalo hot wing is consumed,
George

Update on Houston EP5K

Posted on January 26, 2009May 3, 2022 by GeorgeK

They just sent an email with updated stats. I had not been able to calculate the actual places within division and age group. They must have discovered that so sent the info out to everyone.

The percentages look really good, and I am really pleased with the performance.
Stats:
Chip Time 27:22
Pace : 8:49
Division: Male 55-59
Division: 13 out of 57 (Top 22%)
Gender : 379 out of 1230 (Top 30%)
Overall : 503 out of 2840 (Top 17%)

Time: 27:22 & Pace: 8:48

So overall a very positive start to the 2009 season. Next up is the Super 5K in Novi Michigan on February 1, 2009… back to the cold and snow. Have been running this week in 10-15 degree temperatures. With a good head cover, insulated compression shirt, light running jacket and tights I still work up a sweat and keep warm. Only issue I had… I have gone to really heavy weight gloves to keep my fingers from going numb. Maybe some windproof mittens are on the shopping list!

All the pictures are now posted on the photo album page!

Until frosty fingers are abolished,
George

Software and Running = Part 4

Posted on October 18, 2008May 3, 2022 by GeorgeK

Okay so I love the Garmin and it makes recording the results of training and races such as tracking mileage, time, pace, heart rate and so on so simple.

. . . but it seems I ~~often~~ ~~sometimes~~ once in a blue moon forget to hit the “stop” button at the end of the race/workout. I am usually so excited that I made it to the end without passing out that thinking about stopping the watch doesn’t occur until my brain gets oxygenated enough to think of things like that!

I just ran the greatest race of my (very short) running career! All the stars, moons and planets were in perfect harmony with Mother Nature and my circadian rhythm. When I crossed the finish line and saw the timer and heard the beep of the timing mat I knew I had just officially set a new PR!! Elated I get the timing chip off the shoe without falling over, I stagger over and grab a bottle of water, a banana, a ~~handful of cookies~~ single very small sized cookie, and start to regain focus in my eyes. Dang it all, the watch is still running, and now the pace appears to be super slow, and the GPS track looks like a drunken ant has crawled around on my computer screen. Now, what to do…. The Garmin Training Center software is useless, it will grab the data from the watch, record it and that is about all. I can download the data from the watch to SportTracks, see all the data and the map UGH!! Look at that mess! Ah HA! SportTracks will let me split an entry! So I lop off the extra data based on a careful analysis of the time or distance looking at the expanded map, delete the overage “split” and now I have my official time and the run in SportTracks looking pretty good. But that doesn’t help me in either Garmin Training Center or Runners Studio, since I can only export in Fitlog or CVS and cannot import anything other than a TCX file into Runners Studio.

TCX Converter to the rescue! I found a reference to this software on a blog and tried it out. After several false starts I got the combination of exports and imports down to where it is not all that difficult to edit and save a file.
• Import run data into SportTracks.
• Split the run at the correct point.
• Delete the extra split that shows up now.
• Export from Sport Tracks as a “fitlog” file. (Which seems to be the one that saves all the data including Heart Rate information.)
• Import the new XXX.fit file into TCX Converter.
• Save as a new TCX file.
• Import the data into Runners Studio as a new run.
(Oops problem here is right now I cannot import as a “Race” which is different than a workout, and a workout apparently cannot be converted to a race once it is in Runners Studio.) Hopefully there will be a cure for that in the next release of Runners Studio. It may just be an oversight that only CVS files can be imported as a Race, since there isn’t much difference between a workout and a race.

In the following picture I have removed the course name so it is blank, I have selected the “Export” tab and then the “Export as TCX”, which then gives me the option to select the Activity Type from a pick list.

Net result is that I am happy all the way around, thanks to the TCX Converter utility. Now, if they would only add the ability to trim a file right inside of TCX Converter I would have “the perfect solution”. Since it can already read the data from the Garmin FR 305 directly, it would make it a import, trim and export operation which could be used by the other programs!

You can check out TCX Converter at
Unless you read Italian use the “Convert to English” button.

UPDATE: The latest version of TCX Converter is 1.7.1, it now has the ability to cut off the excess time! It can also change the type of activity since it seemed like I was getting a default value that I did not want.
Looking at the points find the time you want to end the track at, and just right click and select the “Remove the points below this” option from the drop down.

Until the last time I forget is forgotten,

George