New Castle YMCA Thanksgiving 5k - 2019

After battling foot issues and just not having time to train, Heather and I finally ran a small 5k while visiting her mother up in New Castle, PA called the New Castle YMCA Thanksgiving 5k.  We have been training for a 1/2 marathon on December 7th, 2019 so we figured we would just use this as a decent training run.  We get there around 7:30 to get bibbed up given they said it race was starting at 8:30am.   Hit the dumper and ran a 1/2 mile around 8:15am, got back and found out the race was not starting until 9am.  Apparently the fun run for the kids was going to happen before the actual race - not sure why they did that but oh well.  Neither one of us was going to run hard so we just wanted to get the run done.  So we get to the line, queue the National Anthem then they have some crazy lady come out and have us do stretches before the race.  Before the race started, heather and I got a shot of us:

It was around 33F with 15 mph winds but the course was relatively flat.  I used the race as a decent tempo run running the following miles:

Mile 1:  7:49
Mile 2:  7:59
Mile 3:  7:56
Mile .1:  53
Conditions:  33F and Windy as hell
Elevation:  89 Feet, lol
Course type:  road through the town of New Castle, PA
Issues:  Right ankle rehabing, out of shape
Bathroom situation:  Plenty of shitters at the YMCA so I give this one a A!

The race was kinda cool as I have done this before finishing 29th overall out of 159 running a  24:38.80 7:53/M coming in 2nd in my age group.

Heather ran a 9:47 pace for the race but again, was not really trying to race as we are focusing on the upcoming race.  Heather snagged some pics of the race while running and here they are:

After the race, she got another one of us:

We have a 10 miler tomorrow (12/1/2019), then the half marathon next week.  Hopefully my right ankle holds up!!

Beaufort, NC Resolution 5k - 1/1/2019

The family was scheduled to run the Carolina Beach 5k down in Carolina Beach, NC on 12/29/2018 but we decided to bail on the 5k since it took about 2 hours to get there and the weather was finally nice that day.  So we said we would do the Beaufort Resolution 5k instead, it was close, flat, and easy for the whole family.  They finally got their act together and hired runtheeast.com timing company instead of doing it via a chalkboard like they had in previous years.  The race course did not change and was about 1.5 out and back, flat, and windy.  My right hamstring had been giving me issues all month and decided to take it easy on the run.  Zach and Mom decided to run together and Nic wanted to just go out hard and see what happens!  The race provided no real excitement and I ended up running a 25:21/8:06 coming in 6th out of 19 and 19th out of 93 in the race.  Nic, on the other hand, came in 3rd in his age group running a slower than normal run at 27:46.  Mom and Nic took it easy and jogged the race out given most of us were not in shape at all to run hard.    Yes, I was out of shape and slow since I have not been training like I had in the past:

Splits:
Mile 1:  8:07
Mile 2:  8:11
Mile 3: 8:05
.13 - 1:00
Conditions:  70F and Windy as hell
Elevation:  34 Feet, lol
Course type:  road, out and back
Issues:  Hamstring rehab and out of shape :)

Carolina Beach Trail Race - 12/30/2017

After we ran the Thanksgiving 5k in New Castle, PA this year, we decided to setup a race in Carolina Beach, NC while on vacation to Emerald Isle, NC.  Carolina Beach was about 100+ miles from Emerald Isle so I roused the family up at 4am, in the car by 0430 and on the road.  Traffic was obviously light due to it being a Saturday and it being North Carolina.  Got there around 6:30am after a visit to the Marriott to drop the kids off and see if I could snag something to drink before the 5k race before it started at 8:30am.  So we finally got to the beach and parked - this was the first annual 1/2 marathon and 5k and surprisingly things ran smoothly.  Shitter update - 4 port of shitters and 2 more inside dumpers to handle 250/300 people so yea, it was crowded.  I decided to only run the 5k given this was my second race back after the Thanksgiving race plus was having left achilles issues for two weeks.  Placing for these races was a non-factor to me for several reasons, out of shape, only been running 10 miles a week, left achilles been tight and achy for about a week and it was a 40-49 age group where only the top one in your group won.  That said, I figured I would run with Nic and hope all would go well.    After the 1/2 marathoner cleared out, we got setup and were off.  Most of the crowd was filled with either people who ran trails alot or they had never run them at all - and they were way overdressed for the 35F temps, some had full coats and face masks.  That said, we were off.  The first .9 miles was on pavement, yes, pavement.  I was wondering if there was going to be any trail in this race.  Welp, after the 1 mile mark we mov into the trails which were nice and flat.  Nic and I ran together for the first 2 miles, he pulled away and my left achilles was not feeling BUENO so I just let him go.  Most of the trail was flat, some roots and a small wooden bridge.  Below are our splits which were slow but ok for not running at all:

In the end Nic ran a 26:58 and I ran a 27:07.  Mom and Zach took it easy on the trails and I probably should of done the same thing.  All in all, it wasn't a bad time but if I would do it again, would only do the half.  Not sure how much variety was built into the 1/2 however any run is a good run.

Nic:

JD:

Hopefully, I can start building up my miles and move up to a 10k next and marathon by summer/fall.  Below are the stats on the 5k race which was 3.29 miles:

Distance:  3.29 miles
Final Time:  27:07
Pace:  8:16/min
Elevation gain:  33 feet, lol
Avg BPM:  155

Onto the next race!