Shenandoah River Front 5 Miler -- A Personal Best

Butch, with SVTC President Rich Ruozzi and I as passengers, drove up over a couple mountains to Shenandoah, Virginia, for a 5 mile race on the 12th. The starting line was the parking lot immediately to the right of this photo. I am mastering the downhills now, and put the hammer down as I went down the hills on this rolling course. A flat stretch along the Shenandoah River was the toughest part; because I run primarily on hills, the steady effort on the same muscles of a flat course tire my legs. I breathed as deeply and slowly through my nose as I could on the return leg; savoring the scent of the river. The scent took me back to the Wapsi (Wapsipinican), Mississippi and Iowa Rivers back home -- riding in my brothers' flat bottom fishing boats, camping trips on sand islands in the middle of the river, and family outings at my baby brother's cabin and various camp sites, and loads of family folk lore. I thought about many friends rebuilding, as those three rivers have swollen to 500-year records and wiped out many of my old stomping grounds. After saying a quick prayer, I discovered I'd reached the end of the section of the course alongside the river and picked up the pace for the last leg of the race.

My lungs were doing well -- didn't even feel them after the first 5 minutes. So I let my legs dictate the pace; and ran as hard as I could. I reached the finish line at 44:09, an 8:50 mile pace, my fastest on a course greater than 5K.

I ran to the nearest tree and puked . . . I reckon I gave this race my best effort.

Pace Setter

Upon arriving at the track meet last night, I signed up for the predicted one mile. "7:58," I noted next to my name. My lungs were hurting, but it was cooler than last week. So I chose the average of my first and second predicted one-mile runs.
To warm up, I ran four intervals, carefully pacing myself to run just under two-minute laps; and then did a couple fast sprints. By then it was time to line up.
"Ready. Set. Go."
We were off amidst calls to one another of, "How fast did you predict?"
Several gave their predictions and I announced, "7:58 for me".
"Follow her," Marlin Yoder said. "Let her set the pace."
He then said something about my predicting my pace right on and winning the predicted one mile a couple weeks before, and of being the winning female two weeks before that. He had predicted an 8-minute mile pace. Ken began by running alongside me. Since he had predicted a 7:15, I said, "Go on ahead. Don't let me hold you up." After the first lap, he did.
I ran fairly steady for the first three laps, and then, on the fourth, I heard Marlin once again say something about my ability to run my predicted times. And he and his group stayed right behind me.
I poured it on during the last stretch, and crossed the finish line just as Lynn Smith called out, "7:58". Right on the money!
The following 5K was another success: 26:01, beating my fastest 5K on that course by 14 seconds. At least five SVTC club members beat their previous records for the year on the course as well. That's when a race is the most fun, when you AND your buddies all do well. And it was also fun to be the "pace setter", a new encouraging experience.

Maggie and the Medals

At her house this morning, Maggie announced, "I'm going with you." Then she ran upstairs, grabbed some clothes and dashed out the door while getting dressed. I asked her what today's blog entry should say and she answered,

"It was a fun day.
It's been a great day!
I had lots of fun;
and now it is done!"
Maggie asked me to get my running medals down. "There are six," she announced. And then donned them all.

She also said, about my apartment, "No strawberries allowed." The girls think it funny that yummy healthy strawberries are poison to me. They often tease me, whenever they see one, "Oh Grammie! Look! Poison! Aren't you scared?"

And so ends Maggie's story on Grammie's blog....

Keep to the right except to pass

Daryl Watkins, a teacher at Broadway and owner of an ice cream stand in New Market, organized The New Market (Virginia) Firecracker 5 Miler yesterday. Butch has run that race every year and pronounced it his favorite. Now I know why.
Race packets for pre-registered runners were arranged alphabetically on a table; runners were entrusted with the task of selecting their own. No volunteer needed to ask repeatedly for a runner's name, or the spelling of that name, and then attempting to find it.
The course itself was marked with easily identified squares painted on the asphalt roads with three-color logos on them, and arrows showing which direction to go. Officers stopped traffic efficiently, letting runners actually race (At one race last winter, the officers stopped the runners and let the traffic go through).
And the course itself wound through historic downtown and then, at mile 3, challenged runners as they climbed a hill 9/10 of a mile long through a canopy of trees. But there were just as many downhills as ups...a truly rolling race course.
The runners, too, were unusually polite, and minded well the etiquette of a race. At water stops they grabbed their water and kept moving, or at least they ran to the end of the table before stopping at the shoulder out of the way of other runners. Too often water gulpers grab their water and stop -- blocking other runners awaiting a quick grab-and-go drink.
This group also ran single file except to pass. Climbing that hill I could see a line of runners ahead of me, mostly single file, occasionally double, except to pass another runner. I remembered another race where pods ran together filling the entire roadway, blocking anyone from passing. I wish I'd worn my track shoes as I spent most of that race on the gravel shoulder trying to maneuver around the yakking pods.
Efficiency. Well-marked course. Gorgeous scenery. A challenging hill. Running single file -- sometimes double -- except to pass. Respectful runners mindful of the fact that others shared the road.

May mulch, mud & blood pour down like water. . .

In the shower yesterday afternoon, I watched mud and mulch running in rivulets across the tub and into the drain, and thought, "May mulch, mud and blood pour down like water. . ."
I scrubbed some black spots, and found skin beneath. I scrubbed others and found bruises; from whence they came I do not know. Blood from numerous scrapes and scratches had actually solidified into scabs, and I carefully scrubbed them clean so as not to reopen the wounds. Pink insect bites, looking an awful lot like measles, dot the entirety of my left leg . Why not the right as well? I don't know. Ahh well. . .all that marked the end of an unusual Wednesday, usually a cross-training day.
My calendar called for mulching at The Plantation, and getting things ready for the owners' return on Saturday. But because of a Fourth of July race on Friday, I also needed an easy run-- that way Thursday, the day before the race, could be a rest and recovery day. Since I was already at the Plantation, I opted to run that trail again and was grabbed by a few blackberry bushes, briars and weeds on the narrow trail. Then I weeded the gardens, cleaned the house, grabbed a snack and headed to the church, where I weeded and mulched some more and got nabbed by a Japanese maple, an evergreen creeper and other weeds and plants. And so, at days' end, mulch, mud, blood and water poured down. But so, too, did joy -- from a job well done, anticipated flowers, a well paced run and a day spent in the sunshine.

Mid-year Stats & Eval

The proverbial "they" say that a person can beat themselves for about six years straight and then they peak. I am nearing the end of my fifth year of running, and not getting any younger. So I won't be setting many more all-time personal records. Thus I must savor every one. So with that in mind, here's my tally for the year-to-date:

June 30, 2008
Mileage goal for year: 600. Miles run as of June 30 - 422.
Number of races: 21

PRs set since first quarter's end (April through June):
1 mile: 7:57
10 Mile (hilly, Mountain Valley Run, Keezletown, VA): 1:32:00 (9:12 pace)
(this beats the Staunton 10 Miler record of 1:47 set last fall)
20K (flat, Dam to Dam in Des Moines IA): 1:58:31 (9:31 pace)
Half-marathon (hilly, Charlottesville VA): 2:01:45 (9:24 pace)
(Until this year I hadn't run farther than 10 miles, so the 20K and Half are a distance and pace record)

Plantation Trail Run

I ran at "The Plantation" yesterday -- through the woods, under a canopy of shady vines and trees, on a trail that, at times, was barely visible (as you can see in the above photo). It sure beat running on hot asphalt, in the sun, dodging traffic, and watching for motorists looking at anything but the road -- which I did on Brocks Gap Road Saturday.
Before actually running, I went through with a pruner and cut back a few vines to widen the path a bit (I knew the owners were okay with that; they mowed the original path and try to maintain it when they're home). Nonetheless I didn't get it quite wide enough. A couple times the vines reached up, grabbed my ankles and tried to trip me; and a couple blackberry prickers scratched me. There's a branch that even I have to duck under. The soft ground is easy on the feet, but the uneven surface requires a bit of hopscotch-type dancing to prevent a fall. The first leg of the out-and-back with a loop at the top is uphill, and at the top you can see the mountain if you turn and look back. Once you reach the top, the path widens and it's all downhill.
So this is a great hill workout on trails, and an opportunity to toughen up the ankle muscles.

Stop at the top and turn around, there's a great view of North Mountain in the distance.