Sweet 15

(check out the far left!)

The too perfect town of Narberth greeted us on Saturday morning for its annual 5 mile race benefiting cystic fibrosis. Coming off of a successful 5k last weekend, I was looking forward to returning to this course, where I'd had a good showing and enjoyable race last year.

Remembering how long I struggled to get my HR under control last week, I went for a about a mile and a half warm-up while Lauren caught up with a few of her friends who happened to be running as well. I got back just in time to change into my racing flats, pin on the number, and wiggle my way into a decent starting position.

Lauren gave me a few final words of encouragement and I did my best not to feel intimidated by the singlet/short-shorts outfits of the fast runners. Finally we were off and I made the beginner's mistake of going out too fast. I think the speed of the 5k last weekend was still in my legs, but when I saw that the leaders were still close by, I knew I needed to pull back a little...but why do that?!

The first two miles flew by at around a 6:07 pace, and I quickly realized that I'd pretty much be running on my own (again) as the leaders were well ahead and the next wave of runners was a good bit behind. I paid for my early pace over the next two miles, as I just tried to maintain a visual of the pack ahead of me.



The Narberth run is known for its hills, something I typically see as a strength, but today I struggled to find that nice rhythm going up and down them. Brutally, two of the toughest hills come within the final mile and a half. At this point I noticed the crowds were cheering quite a bit louder for me...well at least I thoguht for me. It was then that I realized two women were fighting for the women's title directly behind me, and hoping to take me down as well.

Finally with a little motivation and a semblance of a pacer, even though I couldn't see them behind me, I was able to begin pushing the pace for the closing stretch. Turn after turn I heard the footsteps closing in, and each time I did my best to increase my leg turnover and muster any more speed I could. I'd noticed I was able to pull away slightly on the various downhills, so I held onto that piece of hope as the last stretch declines gradually.


The final turn saw a young boy holding a "I Love Fast Women" sign, so I was pretty sure who the crowd would be pushing for! Feeling like a stalked prey I continued pushing down the final straightaway until I saw the clock and my time goal in sight. I really put my arms into a final push, and did manage to hold off the champion and runner-up women and a few others that had joined the chase. I always find it easier to chase other people down, so it was pretty rewarding to keep them at bay.



The final tallies read 32:30 on the clock (under my 33 min goal, even though the Garmin said the course was a little long), 2nd of 35 in my age group, and 15th out of 707. I was thrilled with what looks like my highest finish ever and it hopefully foreshadows a good race next weekend at the extremely bloated Broad Street Run.

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Penn Relays PR

A quick history lesson care of Wikipedia: The Penn Relays is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.



With history and the prospect of a tech tee on our side, Lauren and I had no choice but to sign-up for the Penn Relay Distance Classic 5K and it's 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning start! This event kicks off the festival and though it was a very small field, it had a lot of collegiate and high school cross country teams competing in the team catgeory.

It was pretty neat to be out on the field/track of one the nation's oldest and most storied stadiums (Franklin Field), albeit way too early in the morning. After a few warm-up laps, IT band stretching for Lauren, and watching the Kid's Mile Fun Run, we headed over to watch the 20K race begin and prepare for our own start.

As I toed the starting line I found myself behind the Philadelphia University Men's Cross Country Team, well that is until their coach forced all of his girl's team to move from behind me to in front of me, lest some non-singlet wearing average joe slow these winged-footed athletes down. Lauren slotted in a couple people back of me and we waited out the start. Momentary waves of regret over little sleep and a few celebratory brews for a friend's birthday the night before were quickly washed away when I heard, "Runners, GO!"

The racers were out in a huge pack to start us off and I just settled in to begin a bit of an uphill and do my best to find some kind of pace/tempo. I was breathing pretty heavy early, but I've noticed that's pretty typical with all my workouts. It takes me a bit to convince myself that I can maintain a quick pace. Quick was right though as my watch showed around 6:07 through the first mile. I did my best to let the number pass by as a positive thing and then try to forget about it for fear that I'd convince myself I had started too fast

With the museum (our turn back point) looming in the distance I began trading back and forth with a few guys who seemed to be holding about the same pace. It's funny how you develop an unspoken rivalry or competition with those around you. An older guy in royal blue and a middle-aged guy in tan would prove to be my buddies for the remainder of the run.

I pushed it through the turn around just in time to see Lauren strutting beautifully the other way, and most importantly pain-free! This was an odd race though because the whole thing was really thinned out. Not so much packs of runners as a line of runners spaced out.

Mile two hit in a shade under 6:30, and I was happy to see I hadn't really fallen off too much despite the rolling little hills. I typically get a little distracted in mile 2, and it usually proves to be my slowest. Luckily, the rest of the way would be mostly downhill. Around the time I also decided to say 'morning' to all of the volunteers blocking off the cross streets. It's funny how a smile and distraction gave me a boost in speed, confidence, and relaxation.

We finally rounded our last major turn and I could see the stadium in the distance. I slowly began uping my speed and passed mr. royal blue, happily never seeing him pass me again. The final stretch was into the stadium and half-way around the track. I peeked at my watch as we entered and I realized that I was definitely going to break 20 (!) and that if I pushed it, maybe even 19:30 (!!). There were no rabbits to chase down ahead of me, just the clock ticking away.

After the final curve it was just me and the clock. I had 70-80 meters to go as the clock showed 19:17, :18, :19...GO TIME! :20, :21, :22, COME ON!, :23, :24, :25, ALMOST!, :26.....19:27 (6:15 pace)! Wow, how that happened I've no idea, but I'll take it!

I raced around to snap a shot of Lauren outside the stadium and then crossing the finish line. She totally knocked this one out of the park, fighting through knee pain and some crazy guy that made her show up to the race at 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday! We had an awesome breakfast (crepe with brie, walnuts, turkey, and honey) and then went off to celebrate and enjoy the rest of our day!

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2009 NCAA Final Four 5K

A championship run by Villanova had us all headed to Detroit for the Final Four. Ironically enough, the NCAA had its own championship 5k run for all of the fans who made the trek to Motown. I didn't expect a huge turnout...turns out, I was wrong. 8:00 a.m. saw 1,500 fans (1496 from MSU, 4 from Nova) at the event!

After a quick warm-up in the streets of Detroit and the unfortunate news that race day registration wouldn't come with an event shirt (our sole reason for waking up so early!), Meggo (Lauren's roommate) and I headed for a spot near the front of the pack. Determined not to get caught in the masses, we found ourselves amongst the high school racers and hard core runners...oh well.

After the national anthem and some uninspiring words from a local TV personality, the gun went off and we charged down a ramp and into a tunnel that spit us onto the Detroit waterfront. I was happy to still be able to hear the music blaring from the pace car for most of the first mile as the field quickly thinned out. I ended up in an odd no-man's-land about 50 feet behind the closest runner and 50-75 feet ahead of the next closest runner.

I pushed hard through the first mile (6:13 ish) and tried to settle into some sort of pace. Having been sick and missed all my workouts for a week plus, I didn't have too many visions of greatness. I did manage to nearly make two wrong turns on the course, one of which put me amidst the tables and chairs of a cafe along the water. Brilliant. At that point, the second place girl (which I discerned from the volunteer loudly cheering her on to pass me) passed me.

Much to my dismay, I then realized I'd missed the second mile marker along the way and had no idea what kind of pace I was at. This was clearly not my smoothest race of the year! From then on I did my best not to let anyone else catch me and managed to pass a couple remaining runners for good measure. I hit the 3 mile sign around 19:40 or so and realized that without a Usain Bolt like effort over the final .1, I probably wouldn't sneak under 20 minutes again.

The closing stretch along the water (Canada peering at me from the other side) was filled with cheering fans and as much of a sprint as I could muster. Final tallies read: 29th of 1494 overall, 2nd of 41 in my age group, and 20:19 (6:33/mile). Not too shabby following a 10 hour drive from Philly. Meggo managed to finish in the top 10 for the girls and snag overall in her age group.

The race must have been an omen as well, as Nova would go on to finish second in its game later that night...

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