RACE: Dog Days 5K
DATE: 07.12.08
PLACEMENT: 3rd Overall. 1st 25-29
TIME: 17:12 *** PR ***

First - Hats off to Mitch for yet another race that I look forward to every year. The guy can barely type an email, but somehow he has the organization to put a race together. Round of applause.

Being a 6pm race in July (which is Cruel by the way), I cannot throw away an entire day of training, so I had a tough Brick workout (http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/enrico%20contolini/Introduction_to_bricks.htm) this morning with 4x intervals of 10 minutes, and then a 1 mile threshold run. These tend to work you pretty well, so by the time I showed up for the race… I was about as enthusiastic as Old man Alyasiri.

It put a smile on my face to see soo many team members, everyone in high spirits, we are a kick ass team everyone…. dont forget it. (And our jerseys look 1000 times better than that team from the little shop in peoria.

Brandon was warming up, so we can safely say, we are fighting for the overall 2nd place win… hooray. My goal was very simple, run with Chris until I felt I was out of my comfort range, and then run at that level until AT hits.

Gun goes off…. well no , actually mitch gave a 3 second warning, which included, “GO” … We took off, and an 8 year old girl led Tom Smith, Friedman and Basketball shorts guy. (Brandon was well gone…) First half mile felt extremely slow, basketball shorts guy finally moved, and Chris led the way. Came up on mile 1 comfortably at 5:09.. .a bit fast for someone at my pace, I know. Alas, my gameplan was simple. I continued to stay as close to chris (Rock throwing distance I once mentioned), and we hit the turnaround where Carol’s mom did a hell of a job of standing :).

Mile 2 came by in… well there wasnt a mile marker (Mitch ???), but we all know where they are. By this point chris starting pulling away, and I looked back hoping for someone to fly by me. Unfortunately, no one. I ran a crap last mile, but due to a solid first 2, came home in 17:12, a PR , still not where I want to be, but given the workout, I still feel my goal of a 16:59 this year is possible.

I was that guy wearing the wrong jersey by the way.. for future reference, men where green, women wear blue… case closed.

Thank you Mitch for not biting my head off about the outfit, thank you for the support, and thank you Adidas for helping a newbie runner with a chance.

I loved seeing everyone, thanks to everyone for rubbing my head for good luck (some better than others….).  Congrats to those that ran, thanks to those that helped out, what a group.

Had a nice cool down with carol and melisa, and enjoyed every moment of it. I thank god I am alive every day.

Sub 17 club, here I come…

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Jubilee Trail Race

Jubilee College State Park

June 28, 2008

10 kilometers

39:13

3^rd overall

1^st Master

Results: http://www.ivs.org/Results/2008/Jubilee%20Trail%20Race%2010k.htm

You can push the time to be just free

Shake your body feel the beat

Take your shoes off and feel free

- Cheeky Girls

I arrived early to a cool, quiet, sunny Jubilee State Park.  The race director took me on a virtual tour of the course via the posted map.  Bike trails, single track, creek crossings, jeep trails, open fields, narrow paths, roller coaster hills.  I live for this stuff.

My only pre-race decision was whether to wear my trail shoes or my spikes.  I took a couple test drives through the woods and opted for the spikes since the recent rains had left the trails pretty sloppy.  I’d worn them only once, way back in February at the IWU indoor track meet.  I hoped they would be okay for a 10-km trail race.

This was race #3 in the Central Illinois Trail Running Association (CITRA) series.  Wunning won run one.  (Say that 3 times fast.)  Back from med school, he was coming off a 52-minute 6^th place performance at Steamboat.  I had won race #2 – Wunning did not run that one.

Nice to see Carol and Mitch arrive following an early morning orienteering session on their way to the start area.

Twenty-five meters into the race we enter the trails and Adam White was already pulling away.  I’m in 2^nd followed closely by Wunning and some other guy.  Soon Wunning passes and then Other Guy passes.  They begin pulling away but I come back and lock in to them.  We’ve got a nice rhythm going when at about a mile or so my shoe gets sucked off in the mud.  Appropriate time for a four-letter word and I don’t hesitate on that.  I run back thinking I’d just slip on the spike and go.  But it takes me FOREVER to get my shoe back on.  It was seriously like one of those painful dialing the phone dreams and I stand there bent over in the middle of the trail with my thumb in my shoe for eternity, being incapable of (1) getting my shoe on or even (2) extracting my thumb.  I swear I stood there for 45 seconds with my thumb up my shoe.  It was horrible.

Finally the shoe was on.  Wunning and Other Guy were gone.  I run alone through the trails.  About a mile later I’m actually catching Other Guy.  I can’t believe it!  I pass Other Guy and see Wunning a ways up ahead.  We cross the Kickapoo Creek, which is about the size of the Mackinaw River – over knee deep and about 15 steps across.  Soon we come to the second creek crossing and Wunning is just exiting the river (oops, I mean creek) as I am entering it.  Three steps into the creek and my shoe gets sucked off again.  I don’t even remember what I said this time.

I go back and spend a minute looking for it.  No luck.  So I cross the water and climb the mucky hill with a shoe on one foot and a sock on the other.  This isn’t working too well, so I stop and take off my other shoe.  Okay, now I’m running through the trails in my stocking feet carrying one shoe and debating whether to toss the shoe and get it after the race rather than lugging it along for 3½ miles.  20 seconds later I realize that running in socks is not going to cut it.  I stop again and am glad I still have one shoe.  With a bit of a struggle I get it back on.

I’ve lost about 2 minutes now.  Wunning is long gone and I hear runners close behind.  I admit that at some point during this episode I did consider calling it quits, but that only lasted a few seconds.  For one thing I was in the middle of nowhere and the quickest way out was running.  For another thing, I’d paid the entry fee, I was here, and I might as well hold on for some CITRA series points.  Surely the entire field won’t pass me.

My right leg is doing most of the work while my left foot is taking a beating.  The muddy trails help cushion the impact, while the hard-packed surfaces are taking their toll.  My heel is starting to bruise by 4½ miles.  Not many sticks or rocks, but my mid-sole does find a couple sharp objects and now my heel pain has company.  I’ve gotten somewhat used to the off-kilter stride.  I’m just hoping not to slip down a hill or around a corner in my stocking foot, but still prefer the mud to the occasional hard-packed stuff.

We enter an open field and Wunning is in sight but way ahead.  Back into the trails and I finally get up the courage to look at my watch.  36-something is good news: a mile or less to go.  Through the roller coaster and all of a sudden I catch a glimpse of Wunning…and he’s not that far up!  I round a corner, see his hat on the ground, and power up the last hell (I mis-typed that but think I’ll leave it) to finish 3^rd, only 12 seconds behind Wunning.

Adam White and I drove out a ways, found the trails, and ran through the hills, mud and creek.  We searched in vain for the missing shoe.  It was probably a few miles downstream by now.  But it was a nice cool down as we talked about everything from Hood to Coast to our musical backgrounds.  Did you know Adam is an accomplished pianist and cello player?  This was only the second time I’d met the dude, and as soon as I finished (which was nearly 4 minutes after he did) he offered to go wade around in the water in search of my golden shoe.  Runners are great people.

Towards the end of our cool down a strange glow suddenly enveloped the world…as I began to bonk.  By the time we got back to the finish area I was ravenous and scarfed down two giant cinnamon rolls and a cookie.

Wunning & I each have one outright win and one age group win, so we are virtually tied for the lead in the series.  We’re back at Jubilee on July 12 for the Swamp Dogs 10-km, which Wunning is organizing, so I’m sure he’ll have an edge on knowing the course.  I just hope the final outcome of the series doesn’t come down to some sort of tiebreaker situation where they look at head-to-head competition to determine the winner.  He got me at race #1 the day after I ran a 1:15 at the Springfield Half; and had I kept my shoes on here at race #3, I’m fairly certain that I could have taken him.  But so far I’m 0-2 vs. the guy.

Mike Heffron

Often Running Racing Team

Tri-shark Triathlon
June 7th, 2008
7th Elite/10th overall
53:22

So this will be a short one since my first triathlon of the season became a duathlon after a great deal of rain and delays.  The tri portion was cancelled due to weather and replaced with a 1.5 mile run - 13 mile bike - 1.5 mile run.  Tried to stay steady for the first run…not real sure where I came in but knew I would catch a few on the bike.  Out on the bike I stayed comfortable trying to make sure I could still run the coming 1.5 (I was really stressing about it…not).   I got passed by one guy on the bike, but caught him in the run and got passed by one of the many bikers I passed on the run.  I felt pretty good the whole way…which probably means I could have gone faster but seeing how it really just turned into a fun day, it was all good.

So I headed out Sunday for a 50min bike ride followed by a 13 mile run …it sucked, but I think it was a good training  day for me.  Took a lot out of me, but I felt better that I had accomplished the workout afterwards.  Mental strength is as good as physical strength most of the time.

As for Steamboat, sorry I couldn’t make it.  I missed being there, I just love that race.  Congrats to everyone…you guys rock. I had a slight mishap with a friend’s dog on Friday night.  His dog (who doesn’t do well around people) attacked me when I was leaving his house.  He bit me on the knee and then mauled my thumb.  If it was just the thumb I probably would have tried to run, but my knee was pretty swollen and it took a while to stop the bleeding.

All is well though, the thumb and had are still quite sore, but better than Saturday and the knee is doing very well.  I hope to be back running by Tuesday and able to ride by Thursday.  Swimming will be out for awhile, but hopefully not too long.

Next Race:
July 4th - Park to Park
July 5th - Decatur Triathlon

Next Race: Decatur Triathlon, July 6th

Firecracker 5K

Peoria, IL

1st female overall

26th out of 591

19:20

So it started out a cold morning and i made it over to Peoria with about 15 minutes to spare!  Not enough time to warm up and take all my warm up stuff on! Oh well, that’s the rush of racing sometimes!  I’ve been fighting some anemia issues so I knew I wasn’t going to do as well as I wanted. Can’t get in to the doctor until Monday.

The race was pretty much flat the entire way and there weren’t too many fans to cheer on the runners. That’s ok, I was running with my dad and sister in law today so I was really excited about that.

At the 2nd mile marker I started to realize that I probably shouldn’t have ran today and my body was feeling really weak.  Then from out of no where Chris Friedman shows up!  And simply says, “COME WITH US!” And so I did! And he was so awesome for doing that! Thanks Chris, much appreciated.

So Chris helped me pull out a win for the day, even though my time was slightly embarressing. I’ll take it.  Some pretty good prizes.  Overall, a pretty good day! Hope everyone did good at Park to Park!  Once again, proud to wear my Often Running gear! Thanks Mitch!

Next race:  Rockford State Street Mile

SOrry, guys, I’ll be out of town during Dawg Days! Run fast!

-Nikki

Steamboat race report

Steamboat Classic

Peoria, IL

June 14, 2008

4 miles

21:30

23^rd overall

1^st Master

This was my 19^th Steamboat Classic.  My first was in 1981 and I have run 13 of the last 14 years.  I’ve run up and down the 15-km hills 10 times, and have completed the 4-mile event 9 times.

I didn’t get much of a warm-up in, but felt good.  Less than a half mile into the race I started feeling lingering soreness in my quads.  I had pushed myself a little too hard at Tuesday’s workout.  I missed the mile mark and before I knew it I was approaching the turn at 1.75.  I was unusually close to the lead runners as they didn’t appear until I was turning into the park.  10:44 at the 2-mile mark.

I was hoping for a faster time, but still felt that I ran a pretty good race.  My splits were only 2 seconds positive.  I beat Kevin Martin for the first time – by 1 place / 5 seconds.  And I kicked down the kid that edged me at Chillicothe 3 weeks earlier – getting the better of him by 29 seconds.

My 10-year-old son ran his first 4-mile race.  He ran negative splits, cruising through the finish in 34:54 (8:44 pace), placing 4^th of 21 in his age group.

Mike Heffron