Saturday, March 31, 2007

Bolt Run race report (mission accomplished)

Today was a beautiful day for a race; mostly sunny, around 65° at the 8am start and low humidity. What a difference between a huge race like Gasparilla and a small race like this one. It seemed a little disorganized, but the start went off without a hitch. It wasn't chip timed, but the field for the 5k was so small that I crossed the start line within 5 seconds of the start.

The race begins right in front of the Ice Palace (I'm old school, I still can't bring myself to call it The St. Pete Times Forum), loops around the building under the plaza, hangs a left on Channelside Dr and heads out to Bayshore Blvd. You head out on Bayshore and the turn around point is a couple of kilometers along. Bayshore Blvd is always a great place for a run; you've got cool looking mansions on one side and a great view of Tampa Bay and downtown Tampa on the other.

I was able to accomplish my goal of sub 30 minutes. I finished in 28:37, almost 5 minutes faster than my last 5k time. I started out a bit fast I think, but settled into a good race pace in the first mile or so. It was a little difficult to figure out my pacing because I didn't know the course before hand and the splits weren't really marked. They did have volunteers calling out times as we ran past, but the guy at the 2 mile point was the only one that said what distance had been covered. Up to that point, I had no idea how I was doing in relation to my goal. I passed him at 18:16 or so and knew at that point, barring any injury, that I'd be able to meet my goal. It was also a bit of a psychological boost to know that I was 2/3 done with the race. I felt pretty good in the last 1.1 mile and it certainly helped that the last half block to the chute was a downhill slope.

All in all, it was a fun race and a different experience than a larger one. I'm very happy with my time and improvement; I can't wait for my next race. I just have to decide what distance I want to do and in which race to do it.

Friday, March 30, 2007

Tomorrow is race day..

Well, tomorrow is race day. The 5k is at 8:30, so I'll need to get an early start. Even earlier than I planned, because I never received my race packet in the mail and I'll need to go to the registration table before the race to get my stuff. That's a little irritating, but what are ya gonna do, eh? I'm hoping to finish in under 30 minutes. I think that's definitely doable.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Africam.com

Africam.com | Popup Player

Got this link from a forum on Bicycling.com. Looks pretty cool, but it's night, so there's been no action so far.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

3 days to go

Had a nice run this morning. My next 5k is coming up on Saturday so I'm taking it easy this week. Keeping the mileage down and taking them nice and easy. Other than that, it was completely uneventful. Getting my running more consistent is helping my back. It feels soooo much better than it has the last few weeks. I'm sure that it's the activity combined with all of the stretching.

Not much to this post, but it's more to get me updating consistently than anything else.

Getting ready for: 6th annual Bolt Run 5k in Downtown Tampa, 31 March 07

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Weekend update

No, Chevy Chase is not subbing for me...

It was another busy weekend. I never made it to work on Friday; about 3 miles from the office, some idiot ran a red light and I had to really stomp on the brakes. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but they've been needing replacement for a little while. About two blocks later, I went to stop at a red light and heard a 'klunk!' from the front wheel and the brake pedal went to the floor. Luckily, I didn't hit anyone or anything and was able to get off the road. Upon a quick inspection, I didn't see any parts on the ground and nothing hanging or leaking from the car. I couldn't get a tow truck, so I thought I was screwed, but when I pulled off the main road and tried to find a more private and hospitable place to freak out, I determined that I still had a little stopping power. I was able to limp home without incident.

I took both front wheels off and saw that in addition to needing brake pads, I needed rotors as well. Went to the auto parts store, picked up everything I needed and then replaced everything on Saturday.

Getting everything done yesterday allowed me to get in my long run this morning. It was a good run. I did a nice, easy seven miles. The weather was beautiful; 60° at 6:30 and a light breeze. Perfect weather for running. The run itself was pretty uneventful, aside from the asshole in the truck who decided that I really should be running in the grass and not on the edge of the pavement and forced me to jump off the road pretty quickly. So, aside from seeing a jackass, I didn't really see any wildlife. Every once in a while, I'll see a hawk or a rabbit out looking for some breakfast. Once, I saw a fox; that was pretty cool. Today, not so much. Yesterday evening, we had a picnic dinner at the beach - Jack loves going to the beach and playing at the playground there - on the way out, we saw a couple of horned owls up on a telephone pole getting ready to hunt. I don't know how much longer we'll be able to see stuff like that around here with the way that they're building houses on any unoccupied patch of ground. It's pretty depressing actually.

Well, that's enough of that. It's getting late and I've got to work tomorrow.

Getting ready for: 6th annual Bolt Run 5k in Downtown Tampa, 31 March 07