tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31339333961176111222011-12-22T06:36:52.917-08:00Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.comBlogger981100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-27218257533152187112010-03-15T14:31:00.000-07:002009-03-15T14:37:47.796-07:00<div align="center">This is a blog of race reports from fast runners, slow runners, serious runners, party runners. It's only Arizona foot races. No bike races, no triathlons, just running. Whether you want to read race reports of past races or find your next race, you can start on the right sidebar. RR is for race reports, find the one you want and read all the reports for that race. Or search by month, county, city or distance.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">To find a race, click on the month you are interested in. It'll look like this:</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">Or you'll find the current months list of races at the bottom of the newest post.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2721825753315218711?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-21026323315379423092009-12-15T08:34:00.000-08:002009-12-15T08:35:36.483-08:00I made it to the aid/water station just past mile 20 and asked the lady in charge to call a shuttle to pick me up. I was done. One of the bike patrol offered to make the call about a mile back and I said, "no, I only have a bit more than six miles to go." But, then I thought six miles of walking. What will that be for? It won't help me with my PF Chang's Marathon in January. It won't make me a stronger runner. All it will do is get me a medal and my third marathon completion. At the time it made perfect sense to throw in the towel.<br /><br /><br /><br />The lady in charge of the water station offered me a chair, while she called. As I sat in it, Vince happened to run by. "No way buddy. You're not done. Come on, run with me." I didn't know Vince at this point. He was just a helpful fellow competitor. I told Vince I was done and he went on. I sat. I became a non runner. I hit the stop button on my garmin. The shuttle was a green jeep cherokee and the driver took 5-10 minutes to get to me. So, I sat and watched as runners stopped, got a drink and hurried on their way. I never volunteered at a water stop, so this was all knew to me. A runner would come by, the volunteer would give them a cup and say how great they looked. I was waiting for her to point to me and say, "you're doing way better than that guy." She didn't.<br /><br /><br /><br />In the meantime, I massaged by calves.<br /><br /><br /><br />My day started at 4 am. Actually 3:44. That's when I awoke at the Best Western Innsuites Hotel. I wanted that extra 16 minutes of sleep, so I closed my eyes. Figuring I got the extra rest, I looked at my clock again. It was 3:45. For the next 15 minutes I kept looking at the clock figuring time was up only to see a minute had gone by. Finally, I got up and got ready for the <a href="http://www.tucsonmarathon.com/site3.aspx">2009 Tucson Marathon</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br />It was going to be a good day. The first 8-9 miles are ups and downs with a net elevation drop of about 400 feet. Starting at 4800 feet in Oracle, AZ. The plan was to run the downs and walk the bigger ups, but to conserve energy for state route 77. SR77 is where you go from 4400 elevation to around 27oo over the final 17 miles (little did I realize it would also be in the face of a pretty strong wind). The plan worked for the first 10 miles. All my splits were under the 12 minute per mile I planned. All except for mile 8 that was over 15 minutes and was the biggest up hill on the course.<br /><br /><br /><br />As I sat at aid station 20, I watched runners go in and out and I knew they'd finish. My time to that point wasn't horrible. I was behind where I wanted to be, but it was the calves and feet that were the reason for me stopping. I'm not good with pain. I tried to pretend I liked pain, but that didn't work.<br /><br /><br /><br />Miles 12 thru 20 were my undoing. I wanted to do these downhill miles in under 11 minutes. My plan was to get to the finish under 5 hours. The hardest part of the course was behind me and I expected to do negative splits. Around mile 12 I could feel the pain from the Oracle hills in the beginning of the race. The walk breaks became longer. I wasn't sure if I was developing blisters on the pads of my feet. I did realize that I should have trimmed my toe nails the night before. I could feel that one or two of them were slicing into the neighboring toe. Turned out my feet came out ok. No blisters and only one toe got bloodied. My splits in these middle miles were in the 14 to 19 range. Any split over 15 is a mile in which I could only walk. Today, it's hard to imagine I couldn't run. But, from mile 16 until the water stop after 20 I walked. I watched my garmin and I thought how could I ever be able to go another 10 miles? I saw the <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wildnatureimages.com/images%25203/060315-065..jpg&amp;imgrefurl=http://www.wildnatureimages.com/Coronado_National_Forest.htm&amp;usg=__iYm0f7Y5ysNQabD-OaCmYjjAf4U=&amp;h=600&amp;w=400&amp;sz=119&amp;hl=en&amp;start=7&amp;um=1&amp;tbnid=oFFZoRGdJf_MkM:&amp;tbnh=135&amp;tbnw=90&amp;prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcatalina%2Bmountains,%2Baz%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLJ_enUS307%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1">Catalina Moutains</a> way to my left and I knew the road would curve back to them.<br /><br /><br /><br />I became a non competitor at the water stop. Vince couldn't get me up. It's weird watching a water stop activity as a non competitor. So, I continued to massage my calves and then I stood up. I walked to the street and said, "I'm not done. Thank the shuttle driver. I'm going to head on down the road." Yeah, I thought about what I was going to write in my blog. I thought about what my fellow bloggers would think. I guess you're my enablers. No, there was no Rocky music with this decision. I just decided my legs felt better after the rest and I could run/walk to the next water station and then see how I felt.<br /><br /><br /><br />I had a new plan. Survival to the finish line. I was going to count my running steps. 20, 30 or 40 right steps and then I could walk. I did this a few times and passed 3 runners that I watched pass me at the water stop. I did it a few more times and then saw the green jeep. She had her window rolled down and asked how I was doing. I tried not to look at the plush leather seats or feel the heat escaping from the car window. I told her I was fine and that I was going to soldier on. Little did I know that Vince, my 'enabler' was a soldier.<br /><br /><br /><br />After a few more running segments I passed a <a href="http://www.solesportsrunning.com/team-chances.htm">Team Chances </a>runner from Ahwatukee. Practically a neighbor. She was laboring with her two sons to get to the finish. I was in the middle of one of my running segments, so I kept on moving. Up ahead I saw a guy in a white shirt. Could it be Vince? After a while, I caught up to him. He was walking with a hiking stick. Never seen that before in a race. I tapped him on the shoulder, which scared him to no end. He was glad to see me and congratulated me on returning to the race. We talked for a while. He's in the army at <a href="http://www.huachuca.army.mil/site/Visitor/index.asp">Fort Huachuca</a> (wa-chu-ka). This is where I learned his name and that he almost quit on a 100 mile race. At mile 93, someone got him up and running. He was just paying it forward. I thanked him for his service and we walked for a while. Then, I told him I needed to get running. I didn't think I'd see him again. But, around mile 25 he passed me. Said I inspired him to finish strong and he finished ahead of me.<br /><br /><br /><br />Then, the Ahwatukee lady caught up to me. We walked and talked. Her boys still with her. I told her she was doing great and she said I was too. The comradiere at the back of the pack is nice. Everyone supported each other, except for the two 'Paris Hilton' wannabes that were running and wouldn't even talk to me. More on that in another post.<br /><br /><br /><br />Miles 22 thru 25 were 14:09, 13:56, 14:30 and 15:56. The last hill up Hawser Road slowed me down at the end. I was making a lot better time than in those middle miles. Not fast, but at least there was some running involved.<br /><br /><br /><br />My attitude wasn't very good. I was upset that I didn't properly train for a marathon with this much elevation change. I was a bit naive to think that a couple hill workouts would suffice. I was embarrassed that I wasn't doing 11 minute miles. I had friends that told me, I just didn't listen.<br /><br /><br /><br />By mile 26 I was toast again. I was walking and people that I had past were now passing me. I was glad for them (not the paris hilton girls). They all passed me, but by then I knew I would finish. I did in 6 hours and 9 minutes. It felt like 60 hours. But, I finished and for that I got my third marathon medal.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyatKBFP0oI/AAAAAAAAD3g/9sfYAGuMrUU/s1600-h/P1020796.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415205989560341122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyatKBFP0oI/AAAAAAAAD3g/9sfYAGuMrUU/s400/P1020796.JPG" border="0" /></a> Tucson - Twin Cities - Rock N Roll Arizona</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">Below are pictures I took. I didn't take many during the last half of the marathon. I was not in a good frame of mind then.</div><br /><div align="center"><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyatJiCaYQI/AAAAAAAAD3Y/ONIVg6FKLAA/s1600-h/P1020778.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415205981226950914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyatJiCaYQI/AAAAAAAAD3Y/ONIVg6FKLAA/s400/P1020778.JPG" border="0" /></a> The expo was at the <a href="http://www.hiltonelconquistador.com/">El Conquistador</a> in north Tucson.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyatJMykIRI/AAAAAAAAD3Q/jxfXIaSlNs8/s1600-h/P1020779.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415205975523336466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyatJMykIRI/AAAAAAAAD3Q/jxfXIaSlNs8/s400/P1020779.JPG" border="0" /></a> The expo was small, so I sat poolside and looked at all the brochures they give you. The El Paso Marathon had a booth, so I spent a long time looking at info for West Texas and Big Bend National Park.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyatIxXBHNI/AAAAAAAAD3I/npzLI30TQPI/s1600-h/P1020781.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415205968160038098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyatIxXBHNI/AAAAAAAAD3I/npzLI30TQPI/s400/P1020781.JPG" border="0" /></a> The race director had two school buses at the start. You find the window with your race number, put your extra clothing in a drop bag and toss it in the bus. Then at the finish line, they had your warm clothing for you to pick up.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Syasfvuh0zI/AAAAAAAAD3A/CFHUb3o-YeM/s1600-h/P1020784.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415205263347143474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Syasfvuh0zI/AAAAAAAAD3A/CFHUb3o-YeM/s400/P1020784.JPG" border="0" /></a> Me at the start line. The start is in the middle of the Coronado National Park in Oracle, AZ.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyasfDX5ijI/AAAAAAAAD24/zto5vY1jFRU/s1600-h/P1020785.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415205251441068594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyasfDX5ijI/AAAAAAAAD24/zto5vY1jFRU/s400/P1020785.JPG" border="0" /></a> A beautiful start area, surrounded by boulders and unbelievable views.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Syase1NF4GI/AAAAAAAAD2w/v-UhV5nPgdY/s1600-h/P1020788.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415205247637643362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Syase1NF4GI/AAAAAAAAD2w/v-UhV5nPgdY/s400/P1020788.JPG" border="0" /></a> As luck would have it, a bunch of porta potties too. I chose to use the tree on the right instead. I'm sure the women appreciated less competition for the seats. However, I did see a few women squatin' in the desert.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyaseC7AKfI/AAAAAAAAD2o/i_tfBzwbqyI/s1600-h/P1020790.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415205234139998706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyaseC7AKfI/AAAAAAAAD2o/i_tfBzwbqyI/s400/P1020790.JPG" border="0" /></a> Before the sunrise. We had to ride buses to get there and then we sat for over an hour until the race start time.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Syasd55A24I/AAAAAAAAD2g/37Cnext2LKo/s1600-h/P1020793.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415205231715736450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Syasd55A24I/AAAAAAAAD2g/37Cnext2LKo/s400/P1020793.JPG" border="0" /></a> A close up of the rock climbing runners. I took several pictures from atop similar rocks.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyarrvS6q6I/AAAAAAAAD2Y/Z-waBgYUuOI/s1600-h/P1020794.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415204369878133666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyarrvS6q6I/AAAAAAAAD2Y/Z-waBgYUuOI/s400/P1020794.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The start.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyarrP1MpXI/AAAAAAAAD2Q/md78T1RMyiU/s1600-h/P1020795.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415204361431983474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SyarrP1MpXI/AAAAAAAAD2Q/md78T1RMyiU/s400/P1020795.JPG" border="0" /></a> Miles 5-9 are an out an back. They are also a down and up. I liked it, because you got to see all the other runners. The views were great at this point. I even saw<a href="http://www.marathontags.com/tracker.html"> superman</a> running by.<br /><br />Now I have 35 days to train for the flat PF Chang's Rock N Roll Marathon in Arizona. Yeah, yesterday I would have cancelled my registration.<br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2102632331537942309?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-50852748106580481132009-09-28T22:57:00.001-07:002009-09-28T22:59:22.399-07:00The Jerome Hill Climb Photos for 2009 are in. Check them out, it is one of the most scenic races in Arizona.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://mapphotography.smugmug.com/Running/Jerome-Hill-Climb-2009/9566925_h6VoP#643393413_o3SE3">Jerome Hill Climb 2009</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-5085274810658048113?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-53707682877415046702009-09-26T21:01:00.000-07:002009-09-26T21:08:37.899-07:00<div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7RhMp2ijFz4/Sr7e4Q_AOUI/AAAAAAAAA0w/rl1rwYGJl4w/s1600-h/screen-capture.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 197px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7RhMp2ijFz4/Sr7e4Q_AOUI/AAAAAAAAA0w/rl1rwYGJl4w/s200/screen-capture.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385987262594955586" /></a>Last Saturday, was the first annual Laveen Fun Run put on by <a href="http://trsphoenix.com/home">The Runner's Store</a>. The event was held at the <a href="http://www.bvgolf.net/golf/proto/bvgolf/">Bougainvillea Golf Club</a>, and it was a beautiful morning for a run. I was excited to get a couple of my cross country kids to come out and run it as well. They were excited to be there too (although I think they were most excited about all the freebies). The course started out in the parking lot and headed out to a dirt road that ran alongside the golf course. After the first mile, which seemed very long, we entered the golf course, ran along a few fairways, and then followed cart paths to the finish. <br /><br />After a quick start, I settled into 3rd place and watched the top two guys quickly vanish from sight. I knew there were several high school kids right behind me (unfortunately, they weren't my high school kids--they'll get there though!), but I managed to stay ahead of them for the next 1.9 miles. After making my way through the fairways, and heading down the path, I started wondering when this thing was going to end. It kept going and going. I finally rounded a corner and could see the parking lot off in the distance. It was then that one of those high school kids caught me. I thought it was a little early to start my kick, so I just stayed with him. Then, to my frustration, I saw that the finish was not where we started, but much sooner. And there wasn't enough space to catch him again. Fourth place overall aint bad though. I knew I'd still be getting an age group award. Turns out that the top 2 guys were both in my age group, so I still got third. (Age groups were kind of odd. I was in the 24-30 age group rather than they typical 30-34. I probably would have been 1st had it been the typical division. Oh well.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7RhMp2ijFz4/Sr7foG1H0eI/AAAAAAAAA1A/HZlEBV4_Vbs/s1600-h/IMG_0548.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 360px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7RhMp2ijFz4/Sr7foG1H0eI/AAAAAAAAA1A/HZlEBV4_Vbs/s400/IMG_0548.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385988084502876642" /></a>After the race, awards were given, and a Garmin was even raffled off. I ran into some friends who confirmed my suspicions with their Garmin that the course was quite long. I later mapped it out online and found it to be closer to 3.25 rather than 3.1. Knowing that, my 19:40 wasn't so disappointing. Had it been 3.1, I likely would have finished in about 18:40, not to mention a third place overall finish.<br /><br />Race shirts were very nice tech shirts. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten mine yet. Only 100 shirts were ordered, but over 200 runners ended up registering, so another order was placed. They should be available this week. I can't wait.<br /><br />The Runner's Store is currently planning a 10k relay series in the near future. Check out the <a href="http://trsphoenix.com/events">Events page</a> for details.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-5370768287741504670?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Axhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743270867535718397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-45788965459788146902009-07-24T22:08:00.000-07:002009-07-24T22:16:50.099-07:00After the <a href="http://lifestrides.blogspot.com/2009/07/provo-freedom-run-5k.html">Freedom Run</a>, I was dying to run another 5k, so last Saturday I got to. This was the Kiwanis Park in Tempe, Part of the <a href="http://arizonaroadracers.com/">Arizona Road Racers</a> Summer Series. I ran this race <a href="http://lifestrides.blogspot.com/2007/07/race-report.html">a couple years ago</a> and remembered how humid it was. This year wasn't as humid, but quite a bit warmer. <br /><br />A few minutes after I finished my last race, some passerby made a comment that I wasn't even breathing heavy. That got me thinking... I ran that first mile under 6 minutes. How would I have done if I hadn't known that? Would I have run the last 2 miles harder? What time could I have gotten? So, this time around, I was determined to not look at my watch, and just run by feel. That took some major will power as I'm pretty anal about my splits, but I was able to do it (aside from there being someone at mile 1 calling out times).<br /><br />As I was getting ready at the start line, an announcement was made that there was a big puddle of water about 30 yards from the line, and that we "will get wet." It wasn't as bad as the announcer made it sound. The course was a little different this year, with no running along the canal. There were a lot more hills around the lake than I remembered, making this course a little more difficult than my last race. <br /><br />There were some really speedy runners out there, so I was not expecting an age group award at all, I was just approaching this race as an experiment, and hoping to beat my most recent 5k time. When I got to mile 1, where the guy was calling out times, I was a little disappointed to hear 6:35. Was I really going that much slower? Once we got around the lake, there were fewer hills. As I approached the 2nd mile marker, I was sorely tempted to look at my watch. But I stayed strong. Unfortunately, I was so focused on not looking at my watch, I didn't think to hit the split button, so I don't know what that mile was.<br /><br />From there, the course looped back around retracing our steps around the lake and home to the finish. I was able to pass several people along the way, and finished definitely breathing hard (and avoiding the puddle). My watch read 19:37. Not bad at all. Twelve seconds faster that a couple weeks prior on what I felt was a more difficult course. <br /><br />I grabbed some Gatorade, watermelon, and bagel and hung out until results were posted. I finished 72 overall, and, much to my surprise, 3rd in my age group! Sweet! <br /><br />So, when's the next 5k? Check it out <a href="http://trsphoenix.com/events">here</a>.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-4578896545978814690?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Axhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743270867535718397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-71342790310582001562009-05-29T14:06:00.000-07:002009-05-29T14:46:42.830-07:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SiBXRAbGZfI/AAAAAAAADpA/UKzC1XTfEGc/s1600-h/ss09.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341365107744466418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 218px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SiBXRAbGZfI/AAAAAAAADpA/UKzC1XTfEGc/s400/ss09.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">The Arizona RoadRacers put on a 5 event summer series every year and the first event was on May 23rd in Papago Park. It starts just north of the zoo parking lot. Plenty of parking.</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">This is a unique race because, while it is chipped timed, it has a staggared start. The oldest runners start first, then in the next 15 or so minutes runners are released to run based on age and gender. Don't worry kids, the youth don't start last.</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">The goal is to have different winners based on chip and gun times. <a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Results/race_results.php">How did that work out?</a> The overall gun time winner was Sara Slattery (27)with a finish time of 29:16. Her chip time was 16:47. That means she started when the clock was at 12:29. She beat Andy Lawrence (58) by 22 seconds. She was also the overall chip finisher.</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">The challenge with this format is that between 11 and 17 minutes there's a boat load of folks starting. I started several minutes late due to the crowds. It looks like Andy may have started at about the right time. Not sure when Sara was supposed to start. I was in the 48 year old group and our start time was 12:39. It's really hard to start when you are supposed to, so I don't blame any runner for starting sooner than their race bib allows. I was about 2 minutes late starting, but I didn't want to get in the way of any runners that had a chance to place. I would think it would be really hard for race organizers to figure out the time for runners to start.</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">Anyway, the race overall was a fun one. It's mostly on the canal heading north past McDowell Road. You turn around and head back against the slower runners. I think the speedy runners probably felt like salmon swimming upstream. I always enjoy seeing the faster athletes run by on the return leg. In this race I also got to see the older runners race by.</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">At the end as you enter the park again there is a slight downhill which is fun to race down. I didn't notice it at the beginning of the run, but I sure needed it at the end. </div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">ARR did a great job with the after race food. Bagels, chips, cookies, soda, water, peanut butter and cream cheese. They did a good job putting the spreadable stuff on a separate table. It sure did make the line go faster. Tee shirts are an option during the summer series. The theme is "Run like it's Hot".</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-7134279031058200156?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-45071725095474030532009-05-11T19:29:00.000-07:002009-05-11T19:42:24.772-07:00I ran the 3rd Annual <a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Calendar/luck-of-the-draw.php">Rio Vista Luck of the Draw 8k</a> on Sunday, May 10. The race was well-organized by the <a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/">Arizona Road Racers</a> club. Unfortunately since I’m horrible at committing to races (being the first to sign up for the <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/04/as-soon-as-i-read-about-fireside-at.html#comments">Fireside at Norterra Adventure Run</a> was a complete fluke), I couldn’t take advantage of my ARR membership to get a discount on the race. Race day registration was $25. Instead of a t-shirt, we received a participant medal. I thought it was a little weird getting the “medal” when I registered instead of after finishing the race. Participants also got a discount coupon ($10 off a $20 order) for Buca di Beppo, who seemed to be a major race sponsor.<br /><p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SgjgnACRuVI/AAAAAAAAAFg/5ifU_LmHi7U/s1600-h/IMG_1630.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334760719249422674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SgjgnACRuVI/AAAAAAAAAFg/5ifU_LmHi7U/s320/IMG_1630.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The race was at Rio Vista Park in Peoria. The park facilities were very nice with plenty of parking, a group ramada area, and clean bathrooms. The 8k course was different than the 5k course that I vaguely remember from last year’s ARR Summer Series #3 race. For the 8k we started off running south along the edge of the park, and I think for the 5k we ran north. There’s a <a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Calendar/rio-vista-8k-course1.pdf">course map</a> on the ARR website.</p><p>The 8k started at 7:30am and there was also a 2 mile fun run that started 15 minutes later. I don’t have a lot to say about the run itself. With only about 150 participants there was plenty of room and I just settled in to run at my own pace. I managed a 10 minute pace for the first three miles, then ended up slowing for the last two miles. There were a couple small hills, but overall the course was pretty flat.</p><p>After crossing the finish line, every participant was handed a playing card which was our ticket to a possible door prize. The post-race refreshments were handed out in pre-packaged brown paper lunch bags with a choice of an apple or banana. The other items in the bag were Pringles, a Nature Valley granola bar, a slice of raisin bread, and Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies. The bags made it easy to grab and go (no waiting in line for food), but I think I prefer being able to select my own snack.</p><p>Awards were presented at 9am, then it was time for the door prizes. So the fun thing about the race was that door prizes were given away, as the name of the event implies, by the luck of the draw. For each prize, a playing card was drawn. Everyone who had that card came up to the front, and then they drew another card from the deck, with the high card winning the prize. The door prizes were pretty awesome. The ones I remember are: two prizes worth $100 at Buca di Beppo, $25 at Texas Roadhouse, $20 at Sprouts, and a free meal for two at Sweet Tomatoes. Unfortunately the five of spades wasn’t a winning card for me that day.</p><p>I’ve enjoyed all the ARR events I’ve been to and this race was no exception. Assuming I’m not busy, I’ll be back next year to try my luck again. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-4507172509547403053?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Lisanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-86112342300744863452009-05-09T13:53:00.000-07:002009-05-12T08:44:59.168-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7RhMp2ijFz4/SgXsibpWSQI/AAAAAAAAAxI/na35bn066JA/s1600-h/screen-capture-7.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 334px; height: 230px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7RhMp2ijFz4/SgXsibpWSQI/AAAAAAAAAxI/na35bn066JA/s400/screen-capture-7.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333929409971112194" /></a>Ever since the first time I visited the Phoenix Zoo a couple years ago, I thought it would be an awesome course for a race. So, when I saw <a href="http://www.phoenixzoo.org/events/special_events/special_events_detail.aspx?ARTICLE_ID=100064">this event</a> a few months ago, I got real excited and knew this was a race I wanted to do. I was also excited to participate in the first annual event. I've never been able to do an inaugural event, and I definitely had a good time. <br /><br />The 5k course consisted of <a href="http://www.phoenixzoo.org/visit/zoo_map.shtml">two laps around the entire zoo</a>, and took me on a little desert trail I had never been on before. There were quite a few hills on the course. That's something I grown unaccustomed to considering most of Phoenix is pretty flat. I enjoyed it though, simply for something different. The course was also pretty well shaded, which was especially nice since temperatures are on the rise here in the Valley of the Sun.<br /><br />I didn't see too many animals. Guess they were all sleeping, or not interested in all the people running and walking by. I had to laugh when I saw the flamingos. They were all standing together in a group, on one leg of course, with their heads under their wings, apparently sleeping. After the race, I also saw an ostrich running across the hill. I thought that was appropriate.<br /><br />I finished with an unofficial time of 22:07. Not bad, considering the hilly course and the sea of walkers I had to wade through on the second lap. That was pretty poor planning on the organizers part, if you ask me. Not a big deal though, since I wasn't running for time.<br /><br />This being my first time participating in an inaugural event, I don't know how it compares to others, but I did notice a few things that could be improved on. Only 30 minutes into the registration and packet pick-up, they only had large shirts left, and they were out of safety pins. I had to carry my bib relay baton style. There's gotta be a better way to make this a run/walk. My suggestion, have the 5k walk go at the same time as the mile walk (which started an hour later). That'll save a lot of congestion on the tiny trail and the rest of the course. There was no timer, and no one taking our bib numbers, so no official results. That's my biggest complaint. I don't care to much about the shirt or the safety pin shortage, but I would like to know how I faired with the rest of the field.<br /><br />This was definitely a nice run though. I loved the course. Plus, it's always fun to go to the zoo.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-8611234230074486345?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Axhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09743270867535718397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-46423871881984882632009-05-03T11:19:00.000-07:002009-05-04T17:11:23.028-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org/Night-Run_Web-Graphic.gif"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 283px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 265px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org/Night-Run_Web-Graphic.gif" border="0" /></a>During Ragnar Del Sol, I was lucky enough to have a 17-mile leg starting at 2am. I use the term "lucky" because it was really a magical experience. By that point in the race, the teams were spread out so far that I only saw 3-4 other runners during that whole run. Since then, I've been looking for a reason to run at night again, and the Night Run for the Arts seemed like a good one!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mofnboZp9Yo/Sf3jArPYYWI/AAAAAAAAADU/vSyibJgBRQo/s1600-h/100_4320.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331667134623277410" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mofnboZp9Yo/Sf3jArPYYWI/AAAAAAAAADU/vSyibJgBRQo/s320/100_4320.JPG" border="0" /></a>Any race that has been around for 24 years has to be doing something right, and this was a very well-run event. The location couldn't have been better; the start was on the grounds of the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts - a little park with with a grassy hill and a live blues band on a stage set up... over water. As for amenities; there was plenty of water, a long row of clean port-o-john's and vendor booths with free samples &amp; stuff. I was especially pleased with the Honest Tea bottle after the race was over. My only knock is the registration was a bit slow and the race-day reg had 1 woman that was really on the ball and two older ladies that probably weren't too familiar with the registration process. They actually slowed the organized woman down as she continually explained what to do. I'm only bringing this up as a kudos to her; she kept a smile on her face while she did all the work. :)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mofnboZp9Yo/Sf3nDpYsTBI/AAAAAAAAADc/k4P-nbTCq4M/s1600-h/100_4327.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331671583711579154" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mofnboZp9Yo/Sf3nDpYsTBI/AAAAAAAAADc/k4P-nbTCq4M/s320/100_4327.JPG" border="0" /></a>The event had a 3 mile and a 8k; I found it a little strange that they would mix the units of measure like that when they clearly could have billed it as a 5k &amp; 8k or 3 mile and 5 mile. I had to google "8k" prior to the run to see how far it actually is, I've never run an 8k before. The 3 mile kicked off at 7pm on the dot, and there was plenty of time to relax and stretch to get ready for the 8k - they even had a yoga instructor take the stage and lead a stretching clinic at 7:40. Aside form the distance, the difference between the 3 mile &amp; 8k was the sunlight slowly fading, by the 8:05 8k start it surely felt like a night-time race.<br />The mood at the start line was pretty festive; this didn't seem overall like a very serious race. There were a few gazelles up front, but I saw quite a few recreational joggers at the very front of the pack. There were a couple guys who caught my eye for different reasons; one was the mid-70's guy wearing only a pair of flag-covered running short-shorts and matching cap. It seems every established race has one or two characters like this that become part of the local running fabric - I knew a few of these who I ran with back in CT. I'm not sure what twists my life would have to take for me to turn into one of "these guys". The other runner who I noticed at the start was a 60+ guy who was in the very front of the pack (also shorts only) and was doing some warm-up sprints before the gun. I've seen elite runners do this pre-race ritual, and figured this guy was a serious runner. When I caught him from my mid-pack position before mile 2 I was really surprised. Another running style I'd never seen before was the dude in front of me running with his hands clasped behind his back - he actually looked like a cuffed perp running from the cops. I wondered if he was doing it as a bet: "<span style="FONT-STYLE: italic">I can beat you with my hands tied behind my back</span>" and he kept it up for almost 3 miles and then ran with arms at his side about the time I passed him.<br />The course was great; it was fun to run through Old Town Scottsdale in the dark and take in a couple sections of a park on the way to the finish. Every mile was marked and water stations were well stocked. I didn't happen to see the mile 2 marker, but I think it was at a water station where I had a drinker step right in front of me; it was actually my hardest collision to date in a road race. We both apologized - no harm, no foul. My only question about the course is whether it was truly an 8k / 5 mile distance.<br />Here are my splits:<br /><ol><li>6:43</li><li>13:20</li><li>20:20</li><li>27:35</li><li>Finish: 36:45??</li></ol><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mofnboZp9Yo/Sf3saab8BqI/AAAAAAAAADk/R0sg6SuLKPA/s1600-h/100_4342.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331677472393791138" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: pointer; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mofnboZp9Yo/Sf3saab8BqI/AAAAAAAAADk/R0sg6SuLKPA/s320/100_4342.JPG" border="0" /></a>I know I didn't bonk in the last mile; I was pretty sure by the number of people I passed that I was moving along pretty well and still on a 7:00ish pace. I was really hoping to break 35:00 for a 5-miler, and was on pace for the first 4 and never let up... maybe my legs were playing tricks on me. I'm still trying to find the results online; but they had a big screen with instant results scrolling -- a very nice touch. Kristen said I was a 7:0-something pace, but I was just really disappointed with the "36:45" and didn't check out the mile/pace. I was 20/99 for the 30-39 age group, and as a 38 year-old guy I guess that's ok. I'd like to see where I would've placed in the 35-39 group. The blurry photo above is me sprinting to the finish alongside Eric, 14 year-old I ran with for the last 2-3 miles. It wasn't my intention to sprint with him to the finish, there was a 3rd runner (not in the picture) that tried twice to pass me on the home stretch and once I got sprinting I wasn't backing off till the finish line. Eric's dad was really cool, he offered to email us the picture he took of us finishing together. We're going to surprise Eric with free entry into our next race. :)<br /><br />No matter when you normally run, this race is a great excuse to get in 3-5 miles at night in beautiful Old Town Scottsdale. A very well-run event, and I'm looking forward to the 25th anniversary next year!<br /><div align="center"><br /><br /><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-4642387188198488263?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tenacious Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05828916551074178020noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-18749035853789807942009-04-30T16:50:00.000-07:002009-04-20T11:25:42.830-07:00April<br />4: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/havasu-half-5k.html">Havasu Half </a>- Lake Havasu, AZ<br />4: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/run-through-history-4-miler.html">Run Through History 4 Miler </a>- Vail<br />4: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/sabino-canyon-sunset-run-2009.html" target="new">SAR Sabino Canyon Sunset Run</a> - Tucson<br />4: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/run-for-your-life-5k.html" target="new">Run for Your Life 5K run/walk at The University of Arizona</a> -Tucson<br />4: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/dam-good-run.html" target="new">5th Annual Dam Good Run, Walk, Hike</a> - Phoenix<br />4:<a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/thunder-mountain-rc-10-5-milers.html">Thunder Mountain Running Club 10 Mile/ 5 Mile Run </a>-Sierra Vista, AZ<br />4:<a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/pioneer-days-5k.html">Pioneer Days 5K Run/Walk</a> Peoria, AZ<br />4: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/emmas-run.html" target="new">Emma's Run at Anthem Days</a> -Anthem, AZ<br />4: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/ahwatukee-foothills-ymca-5k.html">Ahwatukee Foothills Family YMCA 5K Run/Walk &amp; Betsy Rodiles One Mile Family Fun</a> - Phoenix, AZ<br />4: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/full-moon-5k.html">Full Moon 5K </a>-Phoenix, AZ<br />5: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/2nd-annual-alport-syndrome-5k-for.html">2nd Annual Alport Syndrome 5K</a> -Tempe, AZ<br />11: <a href="http://www.mountainmilers.com/">Skull Valley 10K</a> -Skull Valley, AZ<br />11: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/catalina-state-park-trail-run.html">Catalina State Park 5.5 &amp; 10.75 Mile Trail Race</a> - Tucson, AZ<br />11: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/hunters-runners.html" target="new">Hunter's Runner's 5K</a>- Phoenix, AZ<br />14: <a href="mailto:info@arizonaroadracer.com" target="new">Arizona Road Racers Westside Open Mile</a> - Phoenix<br />18: <a href="http://www.patsrun.com/">Pat's Run</a> - Tempe, AZ<br />18: <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/brian-mickelsen-memorial-half-marathon.html">Brian Mickelsen Memorial Half-Marathon, 10K, 2mile run/walk</a> - Cottonwood, AZ<br />18: <a href="http://worldcultureclub.org/Half_Marathon___5K.php" target="new">World Culture Club's 1st Annual "Run For Fun" Half Marathon and 5K Run/Walk</a> - Tucson<br />18: <a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Calendar/Gila%20Ridge%205km.pdf">Gila Ridge HS Spring Challenge 5K</a> - Yuma, AZ<br />19: <a href="http://www.azfrontrunners.com/">Phoenix Pride 5K Run &amp; 3K Walk</a> - Tempe, AZ<br />19: <a href="http://www.komensaz.org/race.html" target="new">11th Annual Komen Southern Arizona Race for the Cure</a> -Tucson<br />22: <a href="http://www.runningmasters.net/Upcoming_Events/upcoming_events.html">Earth Day 5K Run/Walk</a> - Tempe, AZ<br />25: <a href="http://www.zanegrey.info/Highline_Trail_50/HOME.html">Zane Grey Highline Trail 50 Mile Endurance Run</a> - Payson, AZ<br />25: <a href="http://www.runforthecheetah.org/phoenix/index.htm">5th Annual Run for the Cheetah</a> - Phoenix<br />25: <a href="http://azroadrunners.org/events/springxc.html">Spring Cross-Country Classic</a> -Tucson<br />26: <a href="http://triphx.com/">Fireside at Norterra Adventure Run Series</a> - Phoenix<br />26: <a href="http://www.cabrinigreentutoring.org/pages/home/cgtp-events/legs-for-literacy.php">13th Annual Run For Literacy</a> -Glendale<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-1874903585378980794?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-37601869819961665262009-04-27T10:47:00.001-07:002009-04-27T11:22:00.792-07:00As soon as I read about the <a href="http://www.triphx.com/events.html">Fireside at Norterra Adventure Run</a>, I knew that this was a race I wanted to participate in because of the unique concept. Instead of all runners following a set course, we got to choose our own course to get to all five of the checkpoints. There were options to do the adventure run solo or in teams of two or three, with unique rules for the teams. The <a href="http://www.triphx.com/events.html">website</a> explains this much better than I can, so check it out for the exact details of the event.<br /><br />The home base for the adventure run was the Fireside at Norterra community center.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwS51GgBI/AAAAAAAAAFU/1qM9xqHpGHw/s1600-h/IMG_1513.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329429941614706706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwS51GgBI/AAAAAAAAAFU/1qM9xqHpGHw/s320/IMG_1513.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I couldn’t make it to the packet pick-up on Saturday, so I made sure to arrive early the day of the race. The race directors wanted the adventure run to be a green event, so all participants received a reusable water bottle in addition to the requisite t-shirt.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwJPZVAFI/AAAAAAAAAFM/Ob-ICNtwHcQ/s1600-h/IMG_1550.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329429775605104722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwJPZVAFI/AAAAAAAAAFM/Ob-ICNtwHcQ/s320/IMG_1550.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Participants were encouraged to bring the reusable water bottle on the run since there were no cups at the checkpoints/water stations. I did see some people running with the event water bottle, but a lot of people also brought their own camelbaks, fuel belts, and handheld water bottles. I used my Nathan fuel belt, although if I had known ahead of time that the “course” was so short (more on that later), I probably wouldn’t have bothered with wearing it.<br /><br />While waiting for the run to start, I checked out two of the event sponsors who had tables set up. The first was Mountainside Fitness where I “won” a three month free membership. They look like nice fitness centers, but unfortunately none of the locations are very convenient to my house. The other table was offering samples of Verve Energy Drink. I didn’t want to drink something new before running, but took a can to try some other time.<br /><br />I knew <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/search/label/Reporter%3A%20Chad%20Sayban">Chad</a>, another reporter from Arizona Foot Races, was also going to be at the adventure run because of a recent post on his own blog. I made an educated guess as to who he was and introduced myself. Luckily I was right and with the start running late we had a chance to chat.<br /><br />The start to the event was very informal. I’d guess there were about 50-60 participants and at about 8:20, the race director Brett Stewart spoke a few words then gathered us at the parking lot exit. With a three, two, one, go… we were off.<br /><br />Prior to race day the course map was posted to the website with four of the five checkpoints shown. The fifth point was revealed on race day. I’ve added it to the map below. (Click to see the full size map.) I was a little surprised that they didn’t have maps available to hand out. I understand it was a green event and all, but unlike with the water they didn’t tell us to bring our own maps. Luckily I did have a print-out of the map with me.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwIwcUejI/AAAAAAAAAFE/dxbAKZdLZXs/s1600-h/april26_map.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329429767296154162" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 260px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwIwcUejI/AAAAAAAAAFE/dxbAKZdLZXs/s320/april26_map.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I headed toward the purple/orange checkpoints first. The purple was at the top of an uphill climb. My tactic was to just run half the hill at a time. I veered off to get the orange mark first before combing back to the purple. Each checkpoint had two or three volunteers ready to mark our bibs with a colored marker. The participants were spread out enough that I never had to wait in line to get my mark.<br /><br />Next I ran over to the other half of the course. I started with the red mark first. The green checkpoint was a little hidden. I got to where I thought I was supposed to be and didn’t see any volunteers. I actually stopped dead in my tracks to look at the map. (It's a bit hard to read a map while running... try it some time if you don't believe me!) Luckily another runner was behind me and yelled out to keep going. The checkpoint was just around the curve in a little park. I found out later that Terrance is a community director at Fireside at Norterra. No wonder he knew the course so well!<br /><br />After getting my final blue mark, I ran back to the community center. Instead of a finish line, there was a finish table. The volunteers verified that I had all five marks and wrote down my name and time. I finished in a little over 37 minutes. The run was advertised as being about 5.5 miles, but my Garmin had it as 3.7 miles. Of course that would differ depending on which route a runner chose to take. I’m not complaining about the course distance. I thought the checkpoints were well spread out. Any farther away and it could get frustrating to run so far between marks.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwI-YRbkI/AAAAAAAAAE8/IGWKdJqX2-o/s1600-h/IMG_1520.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329429771037273666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwI-YRbkI/AAAAAAAAAE8/IGWKdJqX2-o/s320/IMG_1520.jpg" border="0" /></a> <em>One of the teams checking in at the finish table.</em><br /></div><div align="left"><br />The post-race spread included muffins, cookies, fruit snacks, and bananas. Once all the participants had finished, it didn’t take too long until the awards ceremony. There were medals for the top three two-person and there-person teams. They also had something special for teams with kids under twelve, but I didn’t catch what it was. </div><div align="left"><br /> </div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwIg8hrMI/AAAAAAAAAE0/HhP74YpHruU/s1600-h/IMG_1535.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329429763136269506" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwIg8hrMI/AAAAAAAAAE0/HhP74YpHruU/s320/IMG_1535.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div align="center"><em>The winners in the two-person team category. They were also the fastest finishers overall with a time around 20 minutes. In addition to a medal, winners received a $20 gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Goods - one of the event sponsors.</em><br /></div><div align="left"><br />Then it was time for the solo participants. There were a lot of speedy runners, but they were all male. So I was waiting anxiously to see whether they’d break up the awards by gender… and they did! There were only two solo females and I was lucky enough to place first! Here’s a close up of the “medallion of awesomeness”. (Sorry it's a little blurry.) </div><div align="left"><br /> </div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwILzl_FI/AAAAAAAAAEs/Df69l8L9LbQ/s1600-h/IMG_1553.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329429757461658706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfXwILzl_FI/AAAAAAAAAEs/Df69l8L9LbQ/s320/IMG_1553.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />I had a chance to speak with Kristen Stewart, one of the event organizers. Originally they were planning to do a 5k, but were having a hard time getting road closure permits from the City of Phoenix. So they changed to the adventure run format, which ended up being a perfect fit with the Fireside at Norterra community. From my perspective, the first adventure run was a success and I had a great time. I hope that the word gets out and Kristen and Brett see an even bigger turnout for the next adventure run on November 15.</div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-3760186981996166526?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Lisanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-72164415848373004772009-04-25T21:06:00.000-07:002009-04-25T22:35:14.193-07:00<div align="left">The 5th annual <a href="http://www.runforthecheetah.org/">Run for the Cheetah</a> was held on Saturday, April 29, 2009 at Papago Park in Phoenix to benefit the Cheetah Conservation Fund. It was a special event for me because I also ran last year as my first race ever. So this year’s event marked my one year anniversary as a runner. I did the 5k, but there was also a 1 mile run/walk and free kids dash.<br /><br />I arrived at Papago Park about 6:40am and got through the race day registration process quickly with just a short wait in line to get my t-shirt. Registration was $25 for the 5k and well worth the money. (Early-bird registration was $18 before 3/6 and $20 before 3/27.) The goody bag had samples of Clif Shot Blocks and organic Popumz multigrain crisps, as well as coupons from REI (15% off), P.F. Chang’s (free appetizer), Red Robin ($1 coupon), and Jamba Juice (BOGO free). Participants also got free entry into the Phoenix Zoo on race day.<br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328848327856011314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPfUhvKuDI/AAAAAAAAACY/ymUSIL0pXI4/s320/IMG_1509.jpg" border="0" /><br />Papago Park is a beautiful location for a race and offers plenty of roads and trails for warming up.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPgK6o4SzI/AAAAAAAAACg/7g7n66VIs5U/s1600-h/IMG_1451.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328849262253460274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPgK6o4SzI/AAAAAAAAACg/7g7n66VIs5U/s320/IMG_1451.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a><em>I just had to stop in the middle of my warm up jog and take this photo. </em><br /></p><p align="left">The 5k started at 7:30am and the 1 mile started about 10 minutes later. The 5k course was an out and back, starting in the park near Ramada 16 and then running out along the canal for the majority of the race. It was crowded for the first quarter mile or so on the park roads, but the pack spread out once we got out to the canal. </p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPhPbowFJI/AAAAAAAAACo/Eilz5w7n4_k/s1600-h/IMG_1452.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328850439342396562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPhPbowFJI/AAAAAAAAACo/Eilz5w7n4_k/s320/IMG_1452.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a><em>Waiting for the 5k race to start. Race director David Bluestein is on the left with his trademark sparkly "hair".</em></p><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPhPh0FjBI/AAAAAAAAACw/MdRg_o9unyI/s1600-h/IMG_1460.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328850441000553490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPhPh0FjBI/AAAAAAAAACw/MdRg_o9unyI/s320/IMG_1460.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><em>If you look closely, you can see the line of runners snaking up along the curve of the canal.</em><br /><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPhP91TIUI/AAAAAAAAAC4/pFH_pcjDwhQ/s1600-h/IMG_1463.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328850448521830722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPhP91TIUI/AAAAAAAAAC4/pFH_pcjDwhQ/s320/IMG_1463.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a><em>The course had two water stations. The first was just past mile one. The second was here at the turn around. Thank you volunteers!</em></p><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPhQNQvhWI/AAAAAAAAADA/ABctZD3O8So/s1600-h/IMG_1470.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328850452663469410" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPhQNQvhWI/AAAAAAAAADA/ABctZD3O8So/s320/IMG_1470.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a><em>This tunnel passes under E McDowell Road. Earlier in the race, I was in the tunnel heading out as the lead runners passed on their way back. This photo was taken after the turn around as I was heading back.</em><br /></p><p align="left">I had another event the next day so I wanted to take it fairly easy. My goal was to finish the race in 30 minutes. As I approached the finish line, I saw the clock read 29:50 so I sprinted hard to try and beat the clock. I think I finished at exactly 30:00. Race timing was done by Arizona Running Events Company and they use the method of collecting the tear-off strip from the bottom of the race bib for timing. This is the only part of the event that I would say needs improvement. For a 5k, the time it takes to cross the start line can make the difference in a PB for some runners. Also, with manual timing it takes a lot longer to get the race results out.<br /><br /></p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPjAuIcZzI/AAAAAAAAADY/H71d56NLjNE/s1600-h/IMG_1482.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328852385632380722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPjAuIcZzI/AAAAAAAAADY/H71d56NLjNE/s320/IMG_1482.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a><em>The finish line is near the blue tent. The clock is at 29:49. Right after this photo, I took off and sprinted for the finish.</em><br /><br /></p><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPjA8jINkI/AAAAAAAAADg/3C70UGQHdew/s1600-h/IMG_1493.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328852389502400066" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPjA8jINkI/AAAAAAAAADg/3C70UGQHdew/s320/IMG_1493.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"></a><em>Another shot of the finish line from a different perspective. I love when it's a downhill to the finish.</em></p><p align="left">There was plenty of water (thanks to sponsor Watermill Express), bagels, oranges, and bananas available after the race. For the early finishers, there were also extra samples of Clif Shot Bloks and Popumz. The Run for the Cheetah was a great event for the whole family. A lot of kids were carrying plush cheetahs from the Cheetah Kids booth and there seemed to be a constant line for face painting. The Red Robin mascot also made an appearance for photos and to cheer on the kids dash.<br /><br /></p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPkSSJNN8I/AAAAAAAAAEA/3-graY_dcf8/s1600-h/IMG_1484.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328853786868660162" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPkSSJNN8I/AAAAAAAAAEA/3-graY_dcf8/s320/IMG_1484.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPkSA3iOLI/AAAAAAAAAD4/oh4XtJUI1HU/s1600-h/IMG_1488.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328853782231136434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPkSA3iOLI/AAAAAAAAAD4/oh4XtJUI1HU/s320/IMG_1488.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPkRLyeLGI/AAAAAAAAADw/FSSsQ8vG0LI/s1600-h/IMG_1499.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328853767982820450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPkRLyeLGI/AAAAAAAAADw/FSSsQ8vG0LI/s320/IMG_1499.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328853761289131042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SfPkQy2klCI/AAAAAAAAADo/maRKGgKWRN0/s320/IMG_1502.jpg" border="0" /><br />Two free raffles were held. For participants under 21, the prize was a one year family membership to the Phoenix Zoo. For participants 21 and over, the prize was two bottles of cheetah wine from the Cape of Good Hope Wine Co. There were two grand prize winners in each category. A few other people also won cheetah posters.<br /><br />Overall, it was a fantastic race experience and I look forward to my third Run for the Cheetah next year.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-7216441584837300477?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Lisanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-3027255531895484552009-04-24T10:28:00.000-07:002009-04-20T11:12:46.307-07:00<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SetihY1IGgI/AAAAAAAADoU/OmOAeJE1a6s/s1600-h/cheetah_header_phoenix.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326459310036228610" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 107px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SetihY1IGgI/AAAAAAAADoU/OmOAeJE1a6s/s400/cheetah_header_phoenix.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">I wasn't going to run this event. No way. Until I read that it's 'Run for' not 'Run From the Cheetah'. Now, the ideal sounds pretty cool.</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">It's a benefit to ensure that Cheetahs don't become extinct. Money goes to the <a href="http://www.cheetah.org/">Cheetah Conservation Fund.</a></div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">You choose between the 5k or 1 mile run and the kids have a dash of their own. I wish race directors would have the 1 mile first and then the 5k 20 minutes later. I'd run both. Anyway, the beauty of this race is the location. Right outside the Phoenix Zoo in Papago park. You'll get to see the unique rock formations in the park, the canal and maybe some fishermen reeling in a big catch. After the race, stick around for music, raffles, food and awards. Then, with your bib you can get into the zoo for free. Here's a tip - if you don't plan on going into the zoo, give your bib to a family that does.</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://www.runforthecheetah.org/phoenix/index.htm">Run For the Cheetah </a>is Saturday, April 25, 2009 at Ramadas 9&amp;10 in Papago Park.</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"></div>This race is sponsored by <a href="http://www.phoenixzoo.org/">The Phoenix Zoo,</a> <a href="http://www.harkinstheatres.com/">Harkins Theatres,</a> <a href="http://www.watermillexpress.com/">Watermill Express</a> and more. Please support those sponsors that support your sport.<br /><div align="center"><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html"></a></div><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/00dSQawNdHo&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/00dSQawNdHo&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-302725553189548455?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-77441418928572765792009-04-20T17:46:00.000-07:002009-04-20T17:55:09.241-07:00<div align="left">6- <a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Calendar/Run-for-the-creeks.pdf" target="new">Run For The Creeks</a> -Presscott</div><div align="left">6- Globe Rotary Round Mountain Sunrise Challenge -Globe</div><div align="left">6- Circle the Peak" National Trails Day Race -Payson</div><div align="left">7- <a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Calendar/Brochure_Vania_Race.pdf" target="new">Run For Vania</a> -Tempe</div><div align="left">13- <a href="http://www.taggrun.com/" target="new">Second Annual Colossal Cave 5k Road Race</a> -Vail</div><div align="left">14- <a href="mailto:info@arizonaroadracer.com" target="new">Arizona Road Racers Summer Series #2</a> - Scottsdale</div><div align="left">18- Summer Solstice 5K -Metro Phoenix</div><div align="left">20- <a href="http://www.flagstaffnordiccenter.com/gaspin_summer.php" target="new">Gaspin' In The Aspen Summer Trail Run</a> -Flagstaff</div><div align="left">27- <a href="http://www.northlandhospice.org/subjects/currentevents/runorwalk.htm" target="new">Northland Hospice Run/Walk 5K &amp; 10K</a> -Flagstaff</div><div align="left"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html"></a> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-7744141892857276579?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-29468998750811662242009-04-20T17:33:00.000-07:002009-04-20T17:43:38.741-07:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Se0U8zIq0AI/AAAAAAAADog/PtGnWZt76Ms/s1600-h/Adventure+Run.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326936969000439810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 310px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 355px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Se0U8zIq0AI/AAAAAAAADog/PtGnWZt76Ms/s400/Adventure+Run.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">Have you done an adventure run lately? At all?</div><br /><div align="center"></div>Our own Brett Stewart brings this race series from back east to north Phoenix. It's part running, part treasure hunt. Brett can explain it better than I can, so check out <a href="http://triphx.com/">the website</a>. Just know this, if you like unique races that test your legs, heart and mind you need to run this race on the 25th of April and again on November 15th.<br /><div align="center"></div><br />Race by yourself or in teams of 2 and 3. But, don't bring your ipod. You'll need to stay alert on this open course race.<br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2946899875081166224?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-90070880880697590782009-04-20T11:26:00.001-07:002009-04-20T11:32:37.179-07:00<div align="center">You can expect about 300 runners at this event on the shores of Tempe Town Lake. It's the <a href="http://www.runningmasters.net/Upcoming_Events/upcoming_events.html">Earth Day run </a>and it's Wednesday night. It's great for runners that can't make a weekend event or rather run in the evening. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">It's only $20 if you sign up at <a href="http://www.solesportsrunning.com/">Sole Sports</a> in Tempe, <a href="http://www.runnersdenaz.com/">Runner's Den </a>in Phoenix or <a href="http://www.runaz.net/">Run AZ </a>in Gilbert and Ahwatukee. But, you have to do it by tomorrow. Otherwise, it's $25 at the door.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">A Green Expo is starting at 5:30 pm right near the start line at the Tempe Arts Center.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-9007088088069759078?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-68740521393859734392009-04-19T13:04:00.000-07:002009-04-20T10:32:24.952-07:00As a runner there are certain races in certain states that you "have to do". Some events are even "have to do" for non-runners too -- Pat's Run is one of these events.<br /><br />Sunday, April 18 marked the 5th running of Pat's Run, benefiting <a href="http://www.pattillmanfoundation.org/">Team Tillman / Pat Tillman Foundation</a> and showcased how much an event like this can grow. 20,000 walkers, runners, stroller-pushing joggers and first-time runners participated along with an army of yellow-shirted volunteers. To put it simply, the city of Tempe is transformed by the number 42. (Pat's number with ASU). Tempe, AZ and ASU are one in the same. The university's campus is directly connected to the main artery of Tempe -- Mill Street -- and ASU students (not to mention parents and visitors) are the life blood of the city. On the Spring day of Pat's Run, Tempe bleeds ASU burgundy &amp; gold and the number 42 is everywhere you look.<br /><br />Most races it's considered a rookie mistake to wear the event's T-shirt during the race; experienced runners know that race day is not the time to wear anything new (chafing anyone?). There are a few times when that rule can be broken - Pink race shirts during a breast cancer run (Nike women's marathon and Komen Race for the Cure come to mind) - and Pat's Run is one of these times. Packet pick-up is available for days before the event, so everyone has the latest "42" on their backs, and multi-year runners have any of the previous 4 years... although there are very few from year 1 before the current TT / Pat's Run logos. I guess those are collector's items of sort. Pre-race it was fun to point out each of the previous year's shirts to my running partner while we were waiting in line at the port-o-johns. Even with a huge mass of people, the wait wasn't that bad, as the organizers did a tremendous job of making sure there was enough of everything to accommodate 20,000 bodies.<br /><br />Speaking of my running partner, this was his first running race. He's done a few tris and even an ultra marathon relay -- yet never toed the line for a running race. I got to provide some advice and see the event through the eyes of a newbie; that's always fun to remind you what it was like on your first time. My sage advice wasn't always on the mark though; we picked a corral that had the big #8 on it and I failed to notice it wasn't 8-minute miles (as we'd planned to run) it was corral #8, 11:00 minute miles! Since this is an "event" and less of a running race, I didn't care about time, and settled in with this pack. There were plenty of walkers &amp; runners of all shapes &amp; sizes, and the mood was light - whether they were there to run, walk or just be a part of the event. Aside from the tight quarters at the start (OK, for the first mile) it was a blast to navigate around the rest of the pack. Jason felt it was a great confidence boost to pass ab out a thousand other runners during the race!<br /><br />As far as courses go, the route is pretty nice; I have run or biked the same area several times for different triathlons or marathons so I know the area well. You start between Sun Angel and Sun Devil stadiums, and end - get this - on the 42 yard line of Sun Devil Stadium. The run into the stadium can be a little tight, but coming out of the tunnel onto the field is an amazing experience. For the last 2 years I've made it a point to all-out sprint the 60 or so yards as soon as my feet hit the turf. Finishing on the field is incredible, the stands are filled with spectators and runners who've already finished and some runners even get their names called over the PA system. The huge crouds work their way up the stadium steps and the concession area is very well stocked with water, bananas and bars.<br /><br />(I just realized it took longer for me to write this than to run the race!)<br /><br />All in all, it's a great event. If you're a runner, walker or athlete and live in AZ (or San Jose for that event) then you need to do this race. Period. There's a reason 20,000 people showed up this year and left happy!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-6874052139385973439?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Tenacious Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05828916551074178020noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-63372235236373838162009-04-18T13:38:00.000-07:002009-04-18T13:39:40.397-07:00The first of two <a href="http://www.patsrun.com/">Pat's Runs </a>take place at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. The school that Pat Tillman played his collegiate football. Next week there will be another Pat's Run in San Jose, Pat's hometown.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SeozHX8vTdI/AAAAAAAADoM/zrufroFCnGw/s1600-h/P1000970.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326125711099907538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SeozHX8vTdI/AAAAAAAADoM/zrufroFCnGw/s400/P1000970.JPG" border="0" /></a> This was the fifth annual run that started soon after <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman">Pat Tillman</a>, an American hero, died in Afghanistan fighting for America. Just in case you may not know, Pat played professional football for the Arizona Cardinals. When he was offered a new contract, he passed and joined the military. Today we celebrate Pat Tillman and raised funds for <a href="http://www.pattillmanfoundation.org/">his foundation</a>.<br /><br />The race featured 20,000+ runners and walkers running from the parking lot of ASU's Sun Devil Stadium north across the Mill Avenue bridge and through Papago Park along Curry Road. As you head south down Scottsdale Road you loop around the athletic fields and up into Sun Devil Stadium. It's 4.2 miles and you finish high fiving ASU football players on the 42 yard line. Yes, you get to finish on the field and you're not rushed off. You can stretch on the grass after your run. Plenty of seating in the stands to watch your fellow runners come in.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SeozHBMPBkI/AAAAAAAADoE/vZ236tWI0qQ/s1600-h/P1000945.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326125704990885442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SeozHBMPBkI/AAAAAAAADoE/vZ236tWI0qQ/s400/P1000945.JPG" border="0" /></a> Why 42? It was Pat Tillman's number when he was a defensive hero for the Sun Devils. This race is unique, in that 70% of the participants wear the technical shirt you get with your registration. Families will also love the play area for kids and the festival where you can get something to eat, drink or even a message.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SeozG8s8_uI/AAAAAAAADn8/iHVSvXrZ31w/s1600-h/P1000951.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326125703785938658" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SeozG8s8_uI/AAAAAAAADn8/iHVSvXrZ31w/s400/P1000951.JPG" border="0" /></a> Look to your right around the half way point and you'll see the stadium. The finish line looms big just a few miles away.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SeozGRDeCLI/AAAAAAAADn0/U6bPF5rz4ug/s1600-h/P1000968.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326125692069218482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SeozGRDeCLI/AAAAAAAADn0/U6bPF5rz4ug/s400/P1000968.JPG" border="0" /></a> Football fields are marked every 10 yards, but at ASU, the 42 yard line is also marked so that we can always remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman">Pat Tillman</a>. If you'd like to learn more about Pat click on his name.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SeozGBd5AXI/AAAAAAAADns/Ygyfaii-H2A/s1600-h/P1000971.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326125687885070706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SeozGBd5AXI/AAAAAAAADns/Ygyfaii-H2A/s400/P1000971.JPG" border="0" /></a> As for my race? I planned to run 9 minute miles, or closed to it. Finish under 40 minutes and stop for just a few pics. My splits came in at 9.08, 9.33, 9.33 and 10.41. Not sure what happened at the end. But, I finished with a 9.11 for the last .2 miles entering the stadium. <a href="http://www.runningahead.com/logs/26ac7b9e5b854406a0dea424ec20da44/workouts/0b0fdff7f0654f93a12c98eae06902e4">Final time: 40.09</a>. It was a crowded race, but not so much to slow me down. I did a little weaving, but I was able to <a href="http://runninginjuryfree.org/2008/10/run-tangents.html">run the tangents</a> without much interference. After the race, I went back to the stadium entrance and ran back in to take some pictures. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=2022754&amp;id=1386480932">Here's where you can find more pictures.<br /></a><br /><a href="http://www.runningahead.com/logs/26ac7b9e5b854406a0dea424ec20da44/workouts/0b0fdff7f0654f93a12c98eae06902e4/map">Race stats and map<br /></a><div></div></div></div></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-6337223523637383816?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-26029755105800927932009-04-06T21:26:00.000-07:002009-04-06T21:34:34.508-07:00<img src="http://www.nickelandanail.com/MillerBlog/images/damgoodrun0409b.jpg" class="alignleft" alt="Lake Pleasant Dam Good Run" align="left" /><br />There are a lot of things that make the <strong><a href="http://www.maricopa.gov/parks/lake_pleasant/damgoodrun.aspx">Lake Pleasant ‘Dam Good Run</a></strong>’ one of our favorite local running events. It is sponsored by, takes place in, and of course supports the Maricopa County Parks. Between Kimberly and myself we use “our local parks” multiple times every week and much appreciate having them. So to me when they get a chance to showcase (if you will) a Park it’s a great thing. Plus the fact that the Rangers and folks who work for the Parks are all really great people who do one of heck of a job with the resources they are given. This event is one of the places this is highlighted for sure and I love to see the passion they bring to what they do.<br /><br />I also really like the course. It combines many way cool aspects that most local runs don’t share. The biggie for me being about 2 ½ or so miles of the 7 Mile course is Trail. And cool trail at that. Aside from the <strong><a href="http://www.cactuschacha.com/">Cactus ChaCha</a></strong>, and a couple of long ones by the <strong><a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/index.php">Arizona Road Racers</a></strong> there are just not that many organized local trail runs. You also get to run across (and back) the <strong><a href="http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/dams/az82929.htm">New Waddell Dam</a></strong> as part of the course, and it is the only day of the year that you can do this. <br /><br />Kimberly and I got out to the Park about 8:00 to check in. The race did not start until 9:00 but they have a nice little setup and it’s always good to have a few minutes to check in and say hello to some of the folks you have come to know from other races (or friends in general – Hi there Coulson family :-) ). They have a nice little setup for the races including some cool birds, snakes, and lizards which you know the young runners dig.<br /><br />There are 2 courses, a 7 Mile and a 4 Mile. While the 4 Mile does get some runners, for the most part I think a lot of the Hikers do the 4 mile and Runners do the 7 Mile. Overall there seemed to be about the same amount of people as last year, maybe a little more. As a quick side, I think this year they would have gotten a ton more runners had it not been the same day as <strong><a href="http://www.4peaksracing.com/event.php?id=76">Emma’s Run</a></strong>, the <strong><a href="http://www.peoriaaz.gov/uploadedFiles/5KRunFlyer.pdf">Pioneer Days Run</a></strong>, the <strong><a href="http://www.havasuhalf.com/">Havasu Half</a></strong>, and the Sabino Canyon Tucson event (see report from running friend Pat <strong><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/04/sabino-canyon-sunset-run.html">HERE</a></strong>).<br /><br /><img src="http://www.nickelandanail.com/MillerBlog/images/damgoodrun0409a.jpg" class="alignright" alt="Lake Pleasant Dam Good Run" align="right" /><br />We were running the 7 Mile course. The race started on time from the 10 Lane Boat Ramp Parking lot. You head out and almost immediately begin a fairly quick decent down toward the <strong>Morgan City Wash</strong>. While not a true ‘technical trail’ per se, with such a steep decent and the loose gravel, washes, etc you have to be pretty careful running down. When you get to the wash maybe 1/3 mile into the run the next 1/3 mile or so presents a good challenge on the ankles as you are essentially running in the dry river area and it’s that quick sand type of gravel where you sink in some. Good thing this lasts just a bit and soon you are running along water in a true Riparian area. It’s amazing how this seems to come from nowhere. If you drive around Lake Pleasant area you would never guess this type of topography could be there. It’s really nice for the next ¾ or mile or so as you duck branches, cross the creek a couple of times hopping on whatever to miss the water, squeeze between trees and the such. I wish the whole track could be this. <br /><br />As soon as you head out of the Wash you begin an accent that lasts about 2 miles and 400 foot or so of elevation gain. For a bit of this you are still in the dirt before hitting the service road. While 400 feet may not seem like a lot, the steady, for the most part even, climb up sure makes you happy when you see the Dam finally and know the uphill muscles get a rest (1200 ft elevation gain and decent total for the race). Right before the Dam there is a paved quick drop, maybe 100 foot but you do it in about 10 seconds – so it is very steep (umm… nice to fly down carefully, but you know on the return you will have to climb it). You get to run across the Dam for what seems to be about a mile then return, a quick left off the service road and then a nice mostly even trail run for the last 2/3 mile or so.<br /><br />The race is really non competitive, but they did do a ‘trial run’ this year for timing the folks who wanted timed. They also gave out medals for the Top 2 runners in each race (2 is odd I know?). This was nice however because I managed to weasel into 2nd Place overall in the 7 Miler this year. The medal was cool with a Lake Pleasant logo and the year customized it. Kimberly while unofficial I am sure was first among any females close to her age and about 12th overall. <br /><br />We of course will be back next year. I hope the timing lines up different with the other races though as we would have loved to do Emma’s run up in Anthem and hang around with family that live up there or even Havasu would be a riot.<br /><br />We finished the day by heading over to the Glendale Blues and Jazz show for some good Blues, chair loungin’ and a really good caramel apple. That’s what I call a nice Saturday.<br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.runningahead.com/logs/0b77b9db8ac74c6883a05bd4bcbacb10/workouts/00db98e21d4b480084b7340d5422567b">MY RUN INFO HERE</a></strong><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.runningahead.com/logs/0b77b9db8ac74c6883a05bd4bcbacb10/workouts/00db98e21d4b480084b7340d5422567b/map">COURSE MAP HERE</a></strong><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2602975510580092793?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Michael Mnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-78620906701675670082009-04-06T13:29:00.000-07:002009-04-06T13:57:19.967-07:00The second annual <a href="http://www.havasuhalf.com/">Havasu Half</a> in Lake Havasu City, Arizona was on Saturday, April 4, 2009. I was glad my boyfriend agreed to accompany me as driver (and race photographer) since Lake Havasu City is about a four hour drive from Phoenix. We drove up Friday evening and arrived around 10:30, much too late to visit the expo or pre-race dinner. We stayed at the Quality Inn &amp; Suites which was offering special rates for race participants. The Quality Inn was the cheapest of the three race hotels at $72 + tax. For our short one-night stay, the hotel adequately met our needs... the staff was friendly, the room was clean, and the bed was comfortable. I would recommend the hotel for anyone considering the race in future years.<br /><br />On race day morning, we drove over to the designated parking area promptly at 6am. I wanted to make sure we had a good parking spot because the race instructions said there were almost 700 participants (between the half marathon and 5k) but only space for 200 vehicles. It turned out that I didn’t need to worry though because there were at most 30 vehicles parked in the lot. Everyone else must have walked, taken a shuttle, or found some other parking.<br /><br />It was a short walk over to the start/finish line where volunteers were still working to set things up. There was almost no one around and I was able to pick up my race number and goody bag very quickly. The goody bag had my short-sleeved cotton t-shirt along with the usual assortment of flyers and a few other things including a sample of Tylenol tablets, a toothbrush, and a small bottle of E-Lyte Sport Concentrate. I stopped by the Gypsy Running tent to try on some running skirts before heading back to the car to finish my race preparations and grab everything I needed for the race… sunscreen, body glide, iPod, Garmin, etc. Then it was back to the start area again for a visit to the port-a-potty and some last minute stretching.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SdpoQmeB0yI/AAAAAAAAABc/C7_0sMUfe1A/s1600-h/havasuhalf_start.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321680544105354018" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SdpoQmeB0yI/AAAAAAAAABc/C7_0sMUfe1A/s320/havasuhalf_start.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>Despite what the banner says, this is the start of the half marathon.</em><br /><br /><br /><div align="left">The race started promptly at 7:30am. Going into the race, I didn’t have any specific goals in mind other than finishing and earning another medal. My second half marathon ever was a month ago on March 8 and between then and now I’d been dealing with a bunch of issues from trying out new shoes to a minor injury. Most of my runs had been at around a 10:30 pace so I figured if I’d be happy if I finished somewhere near my previous PR around 2:24. But as I crossed the start line I was near the 2:15 pacer and make a quick decision to try and stick with her for awhile.<br /><br />The first four miles were a loop around the island that was created when the London Bridge was installed. Sometimes it takes me a mile or so to get into a groove, but today everything was good right from the start. The weather was perfect for a race. It was in the 60s and sunny with a light breeze. I had my iPod, but didn’t turn it on at first because I was happy enough to just enjoy the view and listen to the conversations around me. Around mile 3 I finally struck up a conversation with the pacer and another fellow runner and we stuck together for quite awhile. Typically I run alone and I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it is to run with other people. This was the pacer’s first time being a pacer, and my first time running with a pacer.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SdpnyRCsIZI/AAAAAAAAAAs/GlaU9W4rsZw/s1600-h/havasuhalf_group.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321680022957466002" style="WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SdpnyRCsIZI/AAAAAAAAAAs/GlaU9W4rsZw/s320/havasuhalf_group.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>I'm in the middle, number 339. The girl to my right is the pacer. The guy on my left is a fireman from Lake Havasu City.</em><br /><br />Just before mile 5, we crossed the famous London Bridge. The rest of the race was an out and back. Since this was a fairly small race, only one lane of traffic was closed for us runners. The volunteers were great at directing traffic and making sure we stayed safe. This part of the course had a few small hills, but overall the course was very flat. Some water stations had just water and some had water and Gatorade. I stuck with the water. Again the volunteers were great and the stations seemed to have plenty of fluids available.<br /><br />I felt very strong and was keeping up with the pacer very well, even though she was actually slightly ahead of pace for a 2:15 finish. We chatted occasionally. I ended up not using my iPod at all during the race. At mile 8 I took a GU, then grabbed some water at the turnaround. I seem to have gotten better at drinking and running and was able to run through all of the water stations, only slowing down just a little.<br /><br />After the turnaround, the other runner who had been with us the whole time started to pull away. But the pacer and I continued on together. Around mile 11 I finally started to feel tired and it really helped to have the pacer encouraging me to press on. By now I knew I was on track for a PR which also lifted my spirits. Luckily it was mainly a slight downhill from here to the finish. After crossing the London Bridge again we had less than a mile to the finish. With the finish line in sight, I somehow still had enough energy to sprint the last 100 meters.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SdpnyJFlUiI/AAAAAAAAAAU/lIzknRJCc4s/s1600-h/havasuhalf_finish.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321680020822118946" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SdpnyJFlUiI/AAAAAAAAAAU/lIzknRJCc4s/s320/havasuhalf_finish.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>Here I am approaching the finish. The woman to my right in front of the sign was celebrating her birthday by running her first half marathon.</em><br /><br />I was very excited when I crossed the finish line... I could tell by the clock that I finished somewhere just under 2 hours and 10 minutes. Woo hoo! Official results have my time at 2:08:45!!! I got my medal, met up with my boyfriend, then went to thank the pacer because I know I couldn’t have done it without her.<br /><br />The post-race spread was just standard fare – Gatorade, bananas, oranges, and bagels. I think my only gripe for the whole event is that there was nothing to spread on the bagels. Once I had recovered sufficiently, I saw that it was just after 10:00 and I had plenty of time to get back to the hotel and take a shower before check-out time at noon. I sort of wanted to attend the post-race party, but my boyfriend wanted to start the drive back to Phoenix and since he was doing all the driving I acquiesced. But we did make a quick stop for a few photos on the London Bridge...<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SdprvyFmkEI/AAAAAAAAABk/DXuJVWEX42k/s1600-h/havasuhalf_londonbridgesign.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321684378334957634" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SdprvyFmkEI/AAAAAAAAABk/DXuJVWEX42k/s320/havasuhalf_londonbridgesign.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>Proof that I've been there, done that.</em><br /><br /><strong>Additional Photos:</strong><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SdpnyQzc3OI/AAAAAAAAAAk/4X5R4O7TJNQ/s1600-h/havasuhalf_firemen5k.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321680022893550818" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/SdpnyQzc3OI/AAAAAAAAAAk/4X5R4O7TJNQ/s320/havasuhalf_firemen5k.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>Firemen from the M.C.C. Fire Academy running the 5k as a group.</em><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/Sdpn6QB_MEI/AAAAAAAAABU/lqPRDh-2sIg/s1600-h/havasuhalf_view.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321680160125038658" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/Sdpn6QB_MEI/AAAAAAAAABU/lqPRDh-2sIg/s320/havasuhalf_view.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>View at Mile 4 of the half marathon.</em><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/Sdpn6EdzYPI/AAAAAAAAABE/wxthjbnjYZ8/s1600-h/havasuhalf_mile4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321680157020479730" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/Sdpn6EdzYPI/AAAAAAAAABE/wxthjbnjYZ8/s320/havasuhalf_mile4.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>Runners passing Mile 4.</em><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/Sdpn6OwDYFI/AAAAAAAAAA8/3JFZOlp5Tek/s1600-h/havasuhalf_mewithmedal.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321680159781380178" style="WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/Sdpn6OwDYFI/AAAAAAAAAA8/3JFZOlp5Tek/s320/havasuhalf_mewithmedal.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>Me on the beach with my medal.</em><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/Sdpnyr2KVTI/AAAAAAAAAA0/bmUWx_X9WBY/s1600-h/havasuhalf_medal.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321680030152676658" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/Sdpnyr2KVTI/AAAAAAAAAA0/bmUWx_X9WBY/s320/havasuhalf_medal.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>Close up of the Havasu Half medal.</em><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/Sdpnyez2H5I/AAAAAAAAAAc/SiypHmsMsI8/s1600-h/havasuhalf_finishersarea.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321680026653302674" style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-jGt_nbqkYQ/Sdpnyez2H5I/AAAAAAAAAAc/SiypHmsMsI8/s320/havasuhalf_finishersarea.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><em>View of the finisher's area.</em><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.havasuhalf.com/HavasuHalfCourseMap-2009-rg.pdf">Havasu Half Course Map</a><br /><a href="http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/Havasu09.htm">Half Marathon and 5k Results</a> </div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-7862090670167567008?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Lisanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-75512739418890295242009-04-05T17:27:00.000-07:002009-04-05T17:29:19.402-07:00You don't see this kind of view at the start of most races. At the Sabino Canyon Sunset Run you get this view and many more that are better. I ran the 2009 version of the race as my first hill dominant run. I say hill dominant because the first 3.7 miles are mostly all uphill. You turn around at the top and return the same way to the finish.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkrD33rFyI/AAAAAAAADnU/KmutaFVMHsE/s1600-h/P1000893.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321331780252014370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkrD33rFyI/AAAAAAAADnU/KmutaFVMHsE/s400/P1000893.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.sabinocanyon.com/">Sabino Canyon</a> is just to the northeast of downtown Tucson in the Coronado National Forest. You might have taken the tram into the canyon as a tourist. You defiantly want to do the run. I drove 2 hours each way for just the run and it was well worth it.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkrDqk0fcI/AAAAAAAADnM/KY7DI0VbkVw/s1600-h/P1000897.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321331776683277762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkrDqk0fcI/AAAAAAAADnM/KY7DI0VbkVw/s400/P1000897.JPG" border="0" /></a> Being in the national forest system, you have to pay $5 to park inside the gates. Here's a hint. There's a small parking lot outside that's free. Then you just walk an extra 100 yards and you'll be at the visitor center/ tram station/ race start.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkrDHiYDjI/AAAAAAAADnE/qWCrGVblHTI/s1600-h/P1000901.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321331767277784626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkrDHiYDjI/AAAAAAAADnE/qWCrGVblHTI/s400/P1000901.JPG" border="0" /></a> It's all on asphalt road, two lanes wide with seven bridges that the runners cross over twice. Once going up and once coming down. There's a dip in the road for each bridge. Here's a hint. When the Sabino Creek is flowing strong, the water will flow over the bridges. So, on race day that means you're running in water to cross the creek. Deep enough to get your feet wet. See the pictures from the <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/SAzRoadrunners/SabinoSunsetRun2008#">2008 race</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkqgUB4iVI/AAAAAAAADm8/1TOcUVLhC5Q/s1600-h/P1000904.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321331169335740754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkqgUB4iVI/AAAAAAAADm8/1TOcUVLhC5Q/s400/P1000904.JPG" border="0" /></a> You'll start out in daylight around 2735' elevation. At the turn around you will have risen about 600 feet to 3375. Half of it in the last mile. But, then you'll get to head back down the canyon. Then you get to fly. I ran down 10 minutes faster than my ascent.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkqgGveZdI/AAAAAAAADm0/XUibv2rrMXo/s1600-h/P1000906.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321331165768869330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkqgGveZdI/AAAAAAAADm0/XUibv2rrMXo/s400/P1000906.JPG" border="0" /></a> The picture above shows you the last mile. The runner is returning, but above him you might be able to see the road and some runners heading for the turn. In many ways this feels like a trail run, without the trail. No rocks or roots to watch for.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sdkqf3L8UoI/AAAAAAAADms/rHyoqJZsD8g/s1600-h/P1000907.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321331161593303682" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sdkqf3L8UoI/AAAAAAAADms/rHyoqJZsD8g/s400/P1000907.JPG" border="0" /></a> But, hurry down the mountain. Because darkness approaches after about 45 minutes of running. Robert Seamon, of Tucson finished in 40:45 to win overall first and Paula Morrison, of Tucson was first female overall with a time of 48:15. Half the runners finished in under 1 hour 6 minutes. The last group finished in 2 hours and in the dark.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkqfUMCx1I/AAAAAAAADmk/FNKkyW_zkRk/s1600-h/P1000909.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321331152198485842" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkqfUMCx1I/AAAAAAAADmk/FNKkyW_zkRk/s400/P1000909.JPG" border="0" /></a> You could say my race was a series of ups and downs. Yeah, pun intended. I had early splits of low 12 minutes per mile. I walked some of the way. Mile five was the first full down hill mile. I did that in 8:06. Miles five and six literally flew by. But, as if by design the race director had one more hill for the runners to climb right before mile 7 ended. Pictured below. By the time I got there, all I could see was the silhouette of the runners as they reached the top.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sdkqe6z-g_I/AAAAAAAADmc/tc9XlXVj-zA/s1600-h/P1000910.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321331145386656754" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sdkqe6z-g_I/AAAAAAAADmc/tc9XlXVj-zA/s400/P1000910.JPG" border="0" /></a> At the top you could see a single light, about a half mile down the road. That's the finish. You can't see runners in front or behind you. Just the single light. If you can finish this race in under an hour, it won't be an issue. But, for the back half of the field, we ran in the dark. Plus, you get signs like this:<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321352007037453010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sdk9dOhHgtI/AAAAAAAADnc/8pe9pl_4AmQ/s400/P1000914.JPG" border="0" />Now that will get you moving. </div><div></div><div>The Southern Arizona Roadrunners put on this race and do a great job. We had entertainment before the awards ceremony with a cowboy doing gun and rope tricks. The parents loved it, almost as much as the kids.<br /><br /></div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkpiIB2Q-I/AAAAAAAADmU/Ql8gBraimDU/s1600-h/P1000913.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321330100962477026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkpiIB2Q-I/AAAAAAAADmU/Ql8gBraimDU/s400/P1000913.JPG" border="0" /></a> The awards for 1, 2 and 3rd places were these great framed photos. I had to get back to Chandler, so I couldn't stay for the awards ceremony. I'm sure it was a fun time.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sdkph2j17NI/AAAAAAAADmM/ZHPJJ5govSw/s1600-h/P1000900.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321330096273222866" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sdkph2j17NI/AAAAAAAADmM/ZHPJJ5govSw/s400/P1000900.JPG" border="0" /></a> SAR also does a good job at having people around to answer your questions. Here's Dave Hill with a great t shirt on. He's in front of the <a href="http://www.performancefootwear.net/">Performance Footwear</a> sign. A great sponsor of races throughout Arizona.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkphVXaPlI/AAAAAAAADmE/5zEXUTwv48Q/s1600-h/P1000899.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321330087362707026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdkphVXaPlI/AAAAAAAADmE/5zEXUTwv48Q/s400/P1000899.JPG" border="0" /></a> Then of course, there's the eats. Peanut butter sandwiches, orange slices, bananas were the fare. A bit light compared to what there sister club, Arizona Road Racers, up in Phoenix does. But, it was fine. Heck, maybe all the fast runners got the good stuff.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sdkpg3mUe2I/AAAAAAAADl8/bXQiWFjTTYM/s1600-h/P1000902.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321330079372180322" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sdkpg3mUe2I/AAAAAAAADl8/bXQiWFjTTYM/s400/P1000902.JPG" border="0" /></a> The volunteers where friendly like always. The weather was perfect. All in all, it was a great day for a run.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.runningahead.com/logs/26ac7b9e5b854406a0dea424ec20da44/workouts/0c0d9d0d411748ba924e5df891998487">Pat's Running Splits</a><br /></div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.runningahead.com/logs/26ac7b9e5b854406a0dea424ec20da44/workouts/0c0d9d0d411748ba924e5df891998487/map">Course Map and Elevation</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://azroadrunners.org/events/sabino/results/09.html">Sabino Canyon Sunset Run Finisher List<br /></a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-7551273941889029524?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-87594855912372096122009-04-01T09:34:00.000-07:002009-04-01T15:53:20.295-07:00<div align="center"><br />A Record Morning on the Mountain<br />Dave’s Run for ALS, March 22, 2009</div><br /><br /><div align="center">by Dave Hill<br /><br /></div><div align="left"><br />This year’s Dave’s Run for ALS had a fresh new look: new venue, new sponsors, new participation in the SAR 2009 Running Shop Desert Grand Prix and a new record field. </div><div align="left"><br />The new venue at Dove Mountain Retail Center was voted a ‘hit’ by the running<br />community, who turned out in force, to more than double last year’s field (362 finishers, compared with 171). A new title sponsor, Comcast, came on board and we are very excited about the possibilities of working with them in future years. We were grateful recipients of some great publicity in the form of public service announcements made by 92.9 The Mountain, who also provided some very popular raffle prizes. The Gallery Golf Club stepped in with some magnificent awards and raffle prizes; Dove Mountain Grill, Arbonne Products and Batters Box all provided additional awards. <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdPwCZLBCLI/AAAAAAAADlw/eg0JpRyI5MI/s1600-h/Dave%27s+Race+1.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319859508762183858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 299px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdPwCZLBCLI/AAAAAAAADlw/eg0JpRyI5MI/s400/Dave%27s+Race+1.bmp" border="0" /></a> In addition to these new sponsors, we were delighted to retain the Running Shop as principal sponsor for overall awards and age-group winners and, as usual, Sharon Bart delivered a wonderful array of prizes. Culligan-Oasis Water once again supplied our water stations and this year we had a new electrolyte replacement drink, provided by Xood. All of the above are local companies, who gladly gave their support to a local event.<br /><br /><div align="center"><br /><strong>Please give them your support in return.</strong> </div><br /><br /><div align="left"><br />Race day was blessed with beautiful weather, perhaps a little warmer than usual for this event, but the promised wind storm did not materialize and running conditions were close to optimum for a 5K. The race itself was an exciting affair up front. After James Miles took out the early pace, Pima Community College assistant coach Robert Seaman, and former PCC All-American Shaun Haley hit the front, then Seaman made the crucial break on the last downhill to prevail by one second from the fast finishing Haley (15:47 to 15:48). Shaun, who is a first-year master, had the consolation of setting a new M40 state record, subject to ratification. A late run through the field by former UA star, Obed Mutanya (16:19) clinched third place, and showed that he is making good progress on his return to training. He was followed closely by Catlow Shipek, James Miles, then Gavin Sosa rounding out the first six places. Behind Haley, the top three masters were completed by William Schaffer and Mike Bradley. </div><br /><br /><div align="left"><br />The ladies race was dominated by Ashley Tousley, a law student in Des Moines, Iowa, who recorded an impressive 17:37 to win by over two minutes from local favorite, Paula Morrison. There was a close contest for 3rd and 4th between Amber Young (20:12) and Christina Hogue (20:16) and they were followed by master’s winner, Barbara Leinweber and Tia Accetta in one of her first races since the birth of her second child, a few months ago. The second and third master’s also put on a competitive race, as Cotah Rose (21:22) finished just five seconds ahead of Merry Dearmon-Moore. </div><br /><br /><br /></div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdPwB2uth8I/AAAAAAAADlo/yoERoActfxo/s1600-h/Dave%27s+Race+2.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319859499516659650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 291px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdPwB2uth8I/AAAAAAAADlo/yoERoActfxo/s400/Dave%27s+Race+2.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="left"><br />The most outstanding age-group performances came in the F65-69 category, where Sandra Heater and Judie Shyman both annihilated the F66 state record, with Sandra claiming first place by 15 seconds (26:22) and thereby becoming the new record holder. I have many people to thank, but I would like to start by saying a big thank you to everyone who turned out to support this race. No matter how much pre-planning and preparation goes into an event like this, at the end of the day it is the great running public who make a race successful or not. Thank you for making this one a success! In particular, I would like to express my gratitude to the IBM team for coming out in support of their colleague Jim Riehl, an ALS sufferer. It was an inspiration to meet Jim and see how much he enjoyed the morning.</div><br /><br /><div align="left"><br />Putting on something like this can be lot of fun but also a lot of work and it wouldn’t be possible without a great number of people who freely volunteer their time, to ensure that things run smoothly. I can’t possibly mention them all by name, but I would like to thank all of the SAR board members who turned out help, especially Sheryl and Steve Felde who did their usual immaculate job of organizing packet pick up and registration on Saturday and Sunday. If there was a hall of fame for volunteers, Sheryl and Steve would be the inaugural inductees. I am also very fortunate to have the support of a wonderful group of runners, known as the Tucson Grinders who not only raced en masse, but also volunteered en masse for setting up and clearing up, both of which were accomplished in record time. In particular, I have to mention my wife Michele and Norris ‘Butch’ Taylor, who in addition to their race day labors, also spent half of Friday stuffing 400 race packets. And, I can’t forget my course set up team of Scott Cole, Glenn Davis and Shawn Jackson who laid and then picked up more road cones than they would care to remember! Thanks too, to the Tri-Girls team who staffed the water stations, to ace photographers Jolene Jones and Ron Lumm, and to Greg Wenneborg and his Pima athletes, Joe Cuffari and Craig Curley, who did a great job with the finish line and timing. Thanks are also due to the Town of Marana for their help in permitting the event, especially for waiving their normal fees; to the Town of Marana Police Department; to site owners Cottonwood Properties for allowing use to use the venue and to Bashas’ Supermarket for granting the use of their café area for pre-race registration. </div><br /><br /><div align="left"><br />Finally, I have to give special thanks to two people who really made this event possible. Jim Irish, who volunteered his time as race commentator this year, was responsible for starting this event in 2001 and for keeping it going for several years thereafter. I was fortunate enough to inherit an event that was already well-established on the SAR calendar and I am truly standing on Jim’s shoulders. The second person will be less familiar to you, but my friend Lance Eldridge, from The Gallery Golf Club, has made a huge contribution to the changes that we made for this year’s race. It was Lance who brought in most of the new sponsors: Comcast, 92.9 The Mountain, The Gallery Golf Club and the Dove Mountain Grill. He was also instrumental in securing the venue, through his contacts with Cottonwood Properties and Bashas’. A monumental thank you to both of them. </div><br /><br /><div align="left"><br />At the time of writing this report, there are only 364 more days until the 10th annual Dave’s Run for ALS. Mark the date in your diaries now and enjoy another Morning on the Mountain, March 21, 2010.<br /></div><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-8759485591237209612?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-7355324498974228952009-03-29T17:58:00.000-07:002009-03-29T18:05:56.076-07:00<div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#ffcc33;">April 18th - Saturday.</span></strong></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdAZRwG_-UI/AAAAAAAADlc/qUS7oboEglQ/s1600-h/Pat%27s+Run.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318778952687286594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 387px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdAZRwG_-UI/AAAAAAAADlc/qUS7oboEglQ/s400/Pat%27s+Run.bmp" border="0" /></a> You can run this race in San Jose or right here in Tempe, Arizona. It's named after Pat Tillman and is put on by the Pat Tillman Foundation to raise money for programs that support civic leadership.<br /><br />It's 4.2 miles because that's the number Pat wore as an ASU Sun Devil football player. You get to run a wide loop around Tempe Lake, into Papago Park and you finish up in Sun Devil Stadium at the 42 yard line with the Sun Devil Football team cheering you on.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.patsrun.com/tempe.php">Here's where you go to sign up.</a><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-735532449897422895?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-32340125180396598482009-03-29T17:42:00.001-07:002009-03-29T17:52:06.202-07:00Race Report: <a href="http://redrockco.com/arizona-safe-baby-haven-5k-run-walk">Safe</a> Baby Haven 5k @ Westgate Center. by Chad Sayban.<br /><br />I woke up this morning to nice temperatures and cloudy skies for the Safe Baby 5k @ Westgate. It's only about a 10 minute drive from my house to Westgate, which is the shopping center than surrounds the Jobing.com hockey arena and sits next to University of Phoenix Stadium - home of the Arizona Cardinals. <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdAWFWbTp4I/AAAAAAAADlM/IA8yAJ75CnQ/s1600-h/Safe+Baby+5k+Chad"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318775441099827074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdAWFWbTp4I/AAAAAAAADlM/IA8yAJ75CnQ/s400/Safe+Baby+5k+Chad" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>I did the race two years before and the course had only changed a little bit. It is flat as a pancake, but it winds around the area through some pretty places and goes right past the football stadium during the first mile.<br /><br />So I did a one mile warmup run and felt good. But I didn't really intend on pushing the pace of this race real hard. This was also the first time I was going to be racing with my Garmin 305. I was hoping it wouldn't be too distracting.<br /><br />About 100 runners and walkers lined up for the race. There was actually a flyover of two WWI-era biplanes, which was pretty cool. The starting horn went off and we were away. My one complaint about the race comes really early. Within 200 yards of the start, they funnel us on to a sidewalk. This is a really tight squeeze so early in the race and if the runners around you are not feeling particularly cordial, things can get pretty rough. I escaped any issues and settled into my race. We ran towards and then past the stadium before turning away to head back into the Westgate area, past some of the condos. I was cruising along, enjoying the beautiful morning when my Garmin chirped to let me know that the first mile had passed already.<br /><br />Mile 1: 8:22<br /><br />The pace just felt right to me and given the paces my training runs have been at, this felt good. Actually, it felt like I could do this for a couple of hours, but I just didn't want to go any faster. One thing I did notice was that there was no mile marker to be seen. I wasn't sure if they just had it in the wrong location, but after several more minutes of running, it was obvious that there were not going to be any. Now I was really glad I had the Garmin or else I would have had no idea what my pace was or if the course was even the right distance.<br /><br />The one aid station was right at the midway point of the race and given the nice morning weather and the short distance, that seemed like plenty. They had Gatorade and water. I grabbed a cup of Gatorade on the way by and thanked the young girls working the table. At this point we crossed a street and got into the least interesting part of the course. There is a section of out and backs through a parking lot, presumably to get the distance right. It certainly isn't the most beautiful of runs in this part, but my Garmin spoke again to let me know that I was through two miles.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdAXTr2OTeI/AAAAAAAADlU/p8K3XooJrwA/s1600-h/Safe+Baby+course.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318776786879663586" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 313px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SdAXTr2OTeI/AAAAAAAADlU/p8K3XooJrwA/s400/Safe+Baby+course.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div><div><br />Mile 2: 8:20<br /><br />Good. I was maintaining a nice, consistent pace and felt really good. My form was staying nice and compact and I wasn't really expending very much energy. We made another turn and made the long run up to the west end of Westgate to the main entry road and turned along it back towards the start/finish line. I was feeling great, although I was pretty alone. There were two people about 300 yards ahead of me and one guy about that far behind me. I was in my own little running bubble and I was really enjoying it. The only problem was that I was feeling too good for it to end so soon. But since I could see the finish line in front of me, I knew it was really going to end.<br /><br />Mile 3: 8:15<br />Mile 3.1: .21<br /><br />Race finish: 25:19 / 8:18 pace<br /><br />My Garmin listed the course at 3.05 miles, but that's well within the margin of error so the course is pretty accurate as far as distance. It is a well organized race for the most part. They only have awards for top-3 overall male and female, but they do have one more interesting perk. If you go back up and look at the photo of me above, you will see the t-shirt they provide. It's actually customized with your race number and first name on the front. I've never seen a race do this before. They were actually there screening the shirts at the finish line, including ones for the people who signed up on the day of the race. Pretty cool, huh? And the race supports a great cause. If you are looking for a flat, fast little 5k that's fun, you can't do much better than this one. I managed another mile cooldown while I was waiting for the awards. I finished 3rd in my age group, but didn't get anything. Oh well.<br /><br />I hope everyone has had a great weekend!<br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />-Chad<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a><br /></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-3234012518039659848?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-66602614721791263472009-03-29T11:39:00.000-07:002009-04-01T16:24:08.531-07:00<img src="http://www.nickelandanail.com/MillerBlog/images/safebaby0309.jpg" class="alignleft" alt="Safe Baby Haven 5K" align="left" /><br /><br />“This weeks race” (almost seems the proper way to say it lately seeing we have been finding a local run almost every weekend the last month or so) was the Safe Baby Haven 5K. We chose this one over some other options for a couple of reasons. First the cause seemed pretty good. Safe Baby Haven is an organization out there to promote the Safe Baby Haven Law that allows protection for unwanted newborns. Basically gives the mother an opportunity to relinquish the baby at birth without fear of legal and criminal consequences. You can check out the site by clicking here at <a href="http://www.arizonasafebabyhaven.com">Arizona Safe Baby Haven</a>. Second reason was the event is really just up the street from us. We can hop on the 101 and be there within 15 minutes or so. Add that to a nice (late) 8:00 start and it meant we could actually ‘sleep in’ until 5:45. We also liked that the event was at <a href="http://www.westgateaz.com/">Westgate</a>, the new(er) Sports and Entertainment complex in Glendale that houses the <strong>Coyotes</strong> and <strong>Cardinals</strong> stadiums and a bunch of stores, restaurants, a movie theater, etc.<br /><br />The event production was handled by <a href="http://redrockco.com/">Red Rock Company</a>. They seemed to do a real good job, it was even chip timed (some old school ones). I have not seen them do this type event, they seem to be more the ‘local triathlon event production company’. Maybe some personal tie-in, not sure? The course was decent, nice and flat for the most part. A great starting and finishing location right by the fountains. You run out to the end of the complex, a little loop back and some zig-zags in the parking lot (the only weird spot) and back. There were no real squish spots save for the first little bit where they wanted everyone on the sidewalk – but you could go out on the street too without compromising the mileage.<br /><br />For the second week in a row we got to see an amazing young (14 years old) runner tear up the track. Sarah Fakler I believe is her name and it will be interesting to see how she does if she keeps at it. She did sub 6 minute miles again at this race. I’m not sure on the whole age-grade thing but that has to be National Class level speed for her age. She seems to run so easy too. This race had a young man also rip it up. I think his name was Oscar and he had a 5:54 Pace and he is 15! Ahh to be young again….<br /><br />Kimberly and I had a respectable run. Kimberly came in first in her age group and I came in second and <a href="http://redrockco.com/files/03_29_20091sttolast.htm">11th overall with a 6:51 pace</a>. Sadly, there was no "metal bling" at this event (for age group winners) but there was a very cool shirt. The actually customized the event shirts with your name and bib number which I thought was way cool. We also liked the bi-plane fly-overs which was also very cool. Hard to beat the whole thing for a good wake up Sunday morning. Oh and BTW, we needed more miles so we went off and did another 8 after the race. And yes.. there was a nap in the afternoon :-)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.runningahead.com/logs/0b77b9db8ac74c6883a05bd4bcbacb10/workouts/786de38cf2ff49769a1f83536154163f">LINK TO MY WORKOUT REPORT</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.runningahead.com/logs/0b77b9db8ac74c6883a05bd4bcbacb10/workouts/786de38cf2ff49769a1f83536154163f/map">LINK TO COURSE MAP </a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-6660261472179126347?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Michael Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-55861299932292648002009-03-26T18:29:00.000-07:002009-03-27T13:40:00.205-07:00<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/ScwpyCFPyjI/AAAAAAAADh0/9qmsgkMHAQU/s1600-h/Megan+-+2008+Jerome+HC1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317671199546788402" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/ScwpyCFPyjI/AAAAAAAADh0/9qmsgkMHAQU/s400/Megan+-+2008+Jerome+HC1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />What are you doing on September 6th? I suggest you visit the mining town of <a href="http://www.azjerome.com/">Jerome in the mountains of Arizona</a>. Then with 200 of your closest friends you can run 4.6 miles up the mountain to a finish line and food. In 2008, Zachary Thomas did it in a course record of 29:14. Some take an hour and a half.<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Scwpx4HSOrI/AAAAAAAADhs/aAWrfchyVpM/s1600-h/Megan+-+2008+Jerome+HC2.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317671196870982322" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Scwpx4HSOrI/AAAAAAAADhs/aAWrfchyVpM/s400/Megan+-+2008+Jerome+HC2.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />The first photo is from the one mile mark looking back at the start. If you look closely at the second photo, you'll see a line of runners proceeding up the dirt trail. The third photo is right before the finish line.<br /><br />Jerome is called the 'Most Vertical City in America' and now you can see why.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Scwpxw5RoKI/AAAAAAAADhk/Z-eFOd0DSko/s1600-h/Megan+-+2008+Jerome+HC3.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317671194933174434" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Scwpxw5RoKI/AAAAAAAADhk/Z-eFOd0DSko/s400/Megan+-+2008+Jerome+HC3.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Now, this 2009 will be my first year running this race and I was wondering how you get back down. I looked in the race photos and I don't see the bus. But, I do see other photos of people heading down this road on foot. Maybe the bus is around the corner. Or maybe you'll have to run the 4.6 miles back down the trail as a cool down.<br /><br /><div>If you like these photos, check out <a href="http://mapphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/6482185_Mpv7J/1/411481877_MHUBm#411481877_MHUBm">Megan's website</a>. She's a pro that takes pics at many of the ARR races. What's more amazing than the lack of a bus, is that she'll sell you the pictures dirt cheap. So cheap, you'll even want to buy pictures of strangers. </div><div></div><div><a href="http://mapphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/6482185_Mpv7J/1/411481877_MHUBm#411481877_MHUBm">2008 Jerome Hill Climb Pictures</a></div><div><a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Results/jerome_hill_climb/jerome_2008.html">2008 Jerome Hill Climb Results.</a></div><div> </div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Calendar/Brochure_jerome_rev1.pdf">2009 Jerome Hill Climb Sign Up<br /></a><br /><br /></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-5586129993229264800?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-54188878553581082712009-03-22T11:50:00.000-07:002009-04-01T11:53:58.093-07:00<img src="http://www.nickelandanail.com/MillerBlog/images/kidscamp0309.jpg" class="alignleft" alt="Kids Camp USA 5K" align="left" /><br /><br />Note to self – Never plan a get together celebration dinner party thing the night before you have to get up early for a morning race. This is particularly true when the party crowd happens to be <a href="http://thedesertflowers.com/"><strong>Belly Dancers</strong>.</a><br /><br />Kimberly and I ran in the <a href="http://www.kidscampusa.org/index.html"><strong>Kids Camp USA</strong></a> 5K race this weekend. Considering with the above mentioned get together at our house we both ended up with about 3 hours or less sleep, I think we did pretty good. Heck, we did good just getting up at 5:40 seeing our heads didn’t even see a pillow until after 1:00.<br /><br />Anyway, enough of the complaining (err excuses), we had a great time both at the race and of course with the friends at the get-together. Kids Camp USA seems a great cause. We of course found the race, then found the group behind it. Kids Camp sponsors various events for young ones such as (what this event was supporting) a camping trip to Apache Lake for 100 plus kids. There is no criteria per se for the kids to attend, just youngin’s in need of some adult support for a good time. They really seem like a good group and we will for sure see what we can do to help ongoing.<br /><br />The 5K was at <a href="http://www.glendaleaz.com/parksandrecreation/parksandfacilities/ThunderbirdPaseo.cfm"><strong>Thunderbird Paseo Park</strong></a>. One of our favorite venues as it is fairly close to home, is in the SPR canal, and makes for a good out and back track. A couple mini hills up on the course but nothing drastic. The event was run by <a href="http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/index.html"><strong>Arizona Running Events Company</strong></a> and as always, good folks who make these small races as professional and fun as possible.<br /><br />The race itself was fairly typical, although it ended up being a tad short for a 5K. My Garmin showed 2.8 miles and in fact when they posted the <a href="http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/KidsCamp09.htm"><strong>Results</strong></a> they listed it as 2.8. While I do look down on occasion at my Garmin timing watch, I had not for the last mile or so. You can imagine my surprise seeing as I was coming up to the finish line and seeing a little over 19 minutes (I'm not that fast in a 5K)!<br /><br />Again with the qualifiers, the Mrs. and I had good runs. I think I felt as rough as I have during a run for quite some time, but still managed to come in 8th overall (19:30) though I was 4th in my age group (dang old guys need to stay home :-) ). Kimberly took home the “Bling” for the family with a 3rd place metal in her age group. I told she was a rock star – 3 hours sleep and still getting in on the metal action! <br /><br />After enjoying the post race festivities and grabbing the metal, we hung out and did another 7-8 miles or so in the canal – got to keep up with those long runs you know. And of course, as always, there was a Sunday nap…<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-5418887855358108271?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Michael Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-29208106797877999782009-03-15T19:42:00.000-07:002009-03-15T19:49:47.924-07:00Race Report: COTA for Michael Moreno 5k by Chad Sayban<br /><br /><br />It was still dark when I left the house this morning for the COTA for Michael Moreno 5k. The race was held at Kiwanis Park in Tempe. The problem is it is a large park and it took me almost a half hour to figure out where the start was. This is why I always leave myself plenty of time to get to a race and get ready - just in case of things like this. But I got there with enough time to get my number and get my full warmup in. I knew going in that I hadn't done any speed work and I was still just trying to build mileage. But I wanted to do this race if for no other reason than to get back into the race scene and motivate myself going forward.<br /><br /><br /><br />The race started and I found a pace I figured I could hold for the entire distance. The first mile of the course is pretty tough, with a bunch of short, steep little hills that make it tough to get in a real good rhythm.<br /><br /><br />Mile 1: 7:49<br /><br /><br />This was pretty much what I expected for the tough first mile. The second mile really flattens out and I tried to maintain my pace, but I knew I was already beginning to tire since I hadn't run anything like this pace in a couple of months. By now I was searching for the end of the second mile and I still wasn't seeing it. I must have been slowing much more than I thought.<br /><br /><br />Mile 2: 8:25<br /><br /><br />Ooof. I didn't think I fell off that bad, but I really couldn't tell how fast I was running. I didn't get passed by anyone in the last two miles, but I didn't pass anyone else either. The last mile really seemed to drag on for a long time, but eventually I finally made it around the lake and across the soccer field kicking pretty hard to get in before the clock passed 25 minutes.<br /><br /><br />Mile 3.1: 8:41 (1.1 miles)<br /><br /><br />Race time: 24:55<br /><br /><br />Wow, I really slowed down a lot at the end. I have to admit I was kind of bummed after the finish. I knew I wasn't going to PR or anything, but I though I was capable of running a better time than this. As I was getting some water in and cooling off, I overheard several people who wore Garmins talking about how long the course was. The concensis was that the course was about 3.32 miles, more than 2/10s of a mile long. Well that explains quite a bit. So I did the math at the pace I was running and figured my 5k time at about 23:35. That makes a whole lot more sense to me. I had expected to run this race at my current weigh and fitness at sub 24 minutes and that's really what I did. This brings up an interesting question. Until now I have avoided wearing a GPS during races because I didn't want to be distracted by it. I prefer to run on feel. But I'm starting to think it might be better to use it going forward because it is even more distracting to not know how fast you are running or be deceived because race company doesn't know how to measure a course in the 21st century.<br /><br /><br />The big shocker was finding out that I actually won my age group - and yes, I was not the only person in my age group. In fact I was 18th overall, which got me a second t-shirt for being in the top 20. Of course, I wanted to see where I would have been if I had run a PR. I would have been top 10. Something to work for.<br /><br /><br />Anyway, it was a beautiful day in a beautiful park for a 5k and I really enjoyed finally being back out racing. I know where my fitness is and I have plenty of 5k's coming up to watch my improvement.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2920810679787799978?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-81425384991794726022009-03-15T15:29:00.000-07:002009-03-15T15:45:02.512-07:00<div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;">April 18th - Cottonwood, AZ</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#006600;"></span> </div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sb2EX2WNDAI/AAAAAAAADeo/9O5rQ3hy8d4/s1600-h/Dead+Horse+Ranch+St.+Park.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313548680627555330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 281px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sb2EX2WNDAI/AAAAAAAADeo/9O5rQ3hy8d4/s400/Dead+Horse+Ranch+St.+Park.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">If you've heard of the Verde/Mingus Blowout and can't find it. You've found it. A new name and they've added the half marathon. These races run thru Riverfront Park in Cottonwood, Tuzigoot National Monument and Dead Horse Ranch State Park. After your half, 10k or 2 mile run you'll enjoy live music, refreshments and a large raffle. For more info visit the <a href="http://www.ci.cottonwood.az.us/10k.php">city of Cottonwoods website</a>.</div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-8142538499179472602?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-18859707772995210802009-03-15T10:47:00.000-07:002009-03-15T14:46:51.468-07:00It was the annual St. Patrick's 8k (4.8 miles) and 1 mile races in Kiwanis Park <a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2007/03/st-pats-8k-one-miler-kiwanis-park.html">(maps). </a>I've always wanted to do a one mile race and I figured this was my time. I tapered for three days. My legs were tired and I planned to take two days off, but it turned into three. Over 200 runners lined up for the longer race and 39 of us lined up across the street for the mile. It was about half kids and half adults. I figured I could finish in the top 4 or 5. Usually there's some fast kids and one or two fast adults.<br /><br />Luckily, today there was only one fast kid. I got to be the fast adult. Before the start of the race, one dad was giving instructions to two young men next to me. Finally, the one kid looked at me and said, "I'll just follow him." That was the nine year old that lead the whole race. I was right behind and had to give him directions to turn right, go under the bridge, keep the lake on your left and finally to turn right again. Yeah, I was tempted to have him run around the lake again.<br /><br />The finish is up a hill and then a sharp right turn into the picnic area. I tried to kick it, but my tank was empty and his wasn't. His buddy, the 7 year old was right on my tail the whole way. We finished one, two, three.<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sb051ThfYuI/AAAAAAAADeI/tjLf5K1Bq7k/s1600-h/P1000692.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313466723303645922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sb051ThfYuI/AAAAAAAADeI/tjLf5K1Bq7k/s400/P1000692.JPG" border="0" /></a> An 8:10 mile is my best. I think I did an 8:20 first mile at the Goodyear 5k. After the race I got to talk with the kids. For polite and nice. I let him know I didn't let him win. If I could have passed him, I would have. My garmin battery was low, so I didn't get to see my pace during the race. I just tried to keep up with the fast kid.<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sb051APfJAI/AAAAAAAADeA/AXEibJQhqEc/s1600-h/P1000691.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313466718127858690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sb051APfJAI/AAAAAAAADeA/AXEibJQhqEc/s400/P1000691.JPG" border="0" /></a> After our race, I got to watch the longer race. It's entirely inside the park. Around the lake, on the canal and some park road. It was nice that they went one way and the milers went the other.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sb05z-ol8_I/AAAAAAAADd4/_LSFhFT4uL4/s1600-h/P1000698.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313466700516422642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sb05z-ol8_I/AAAAAAAADd4/_LSFhFT4uL4/s400/P1000698.JPG" border="0" /></a> I stuck around and helped with the kiddie dash. The 7 year old that finished third in the mile, won his age group in the KD. The 9 year old finished 4th. Plenty of fruit, cookies and water for the runners. They even had some green beer. They gave out awards to the top three in all age groups for the long run and medals to the top male and female in the mile. I did win my AG (three old guys), but no medal for second place overall. </div><div></div><div align="center"><a align="center"></div></a><div align="center"></div><a align="center"><div align="center"></a></div><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-1885970777299521080?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-36447663106680626082009-03-14T15:27:00.000-07:002009-03-14T15:43:33.269-07:00<div align="center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbwvabCbn8I/AAAAAAAADdI/o0V4sxgC44M/s1600-h/Hunter%27s+Runners.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313173791371403202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 308px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbwvabCbn8I/AAAAAAAADdI/o0V4sxgC44M/s400/Hunter%27s+Runners.bmp" border="0" /></a> April 11, 2009</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">174 runners in last years 5k made this a fun event raising money for the Hunter White Memorial fund. Are you looking for an Age Group win? This might be your race. Only three age groups had more than 11 runners. 11 age groups had 5 or fewer runners. Just looking for a PR? The course is flat and fast. Just want to have fun? You'll see loads of smiling faces and families enjoying a wondeful day.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Sign up by visiting the <a href="http://www.huntersrunners.com/html/register.php">Hunter's Runners Website</a>.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">We're looking for a reporter for this race. Run it and tell us your story. To be an official reporter/runner please contact us.</div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-3644766310668062608?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-21373661429337887972009-03-14T14:57:00.001-07:002009-03-14T15:08:16.889-07:00<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbwqgNPZcGI/AAAAAAAADdA/_mqr-dA3__Y/s1600-h/Catalina+State+Park.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313168393188765794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbwqgNPZcGI/AAAAAAAADdA/_mqr-dA3__Y/s400/Catalina+State+Park.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#6600cc;">April 11, 2009</span></strong><br /></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#993399;">Catalina State Park, north of Tucson, AZ</span></strong></div><br /><br /><div align="center">The first thing about this race that caught my eye was, "including a 92 stair climb". Once if you are doing the 5.5 mile run and twice if you are doing the 10.75 miler.</div><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center">Has anyone run this race before? It sounds beautiful and hilly. I'm looking for a run reporter, so that we will know more about this race. It's put on by<a href="http://www.everyoneruns.net/ERCatalinaFlyr12-3.pdf"> Everyone Runs</a> and is sure to be a great race. Runners get a short sleeve tech shirt and a breakfast with their entry fee.<br /></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2137366142933788797?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-27843367980022414222009-03-13T15:04:00.000-07:002009-03-13T15:12:51.101-07:00<div align="center">Have you run a race in Tempe's Kiwanis Park? It's a wonderful location for a 5k. The course runs along gently rolling hills around the lake and is nice and flat around the ballfields and pool area. No crossing roads. You'll run mostly on the concrete paths in the park, some running on the asphalt park road, you run thru the underpath and some grass running too.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">This is a fund raiser for <a href="https://www.alportsyndrome.org/">Alport Syndrome</a> and is the only race in town on Sunday, April 5th.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Calendar/alport-syndrome-5k.pdf">Sign up today</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2784336798002241422?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-61380384922656881922009-03-13T14:41:00.000-07:002009-03-13T14:59:59.573-07:00<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbrUq144QSI/AAAAAAAADcY/VBRpNHm65rY/s1600-h/FM5KLogo.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312792542922162466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 153px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbrUq144QSI/AAAAAAAADcY/VBRpNHm65rY/s400/FM5KLogo.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">The third monthly (I guess that's right) Full Moon 5k is on April 4, 2009 at DC Ranch in Scottsdale. Run under a full moon with lots of fun people<a href="http://www.sierraadventuresports.com/fullmoon5k.asp">. Sierra Adventures</a> puts on this race. It's been held in different locals. But, always under a full moon.</div><br />The race director does light the course and recommends you bring a flashlight, since it starts at 8 pm.<br /><br />If you are already planning to run this event and would like to file a race report with us, it would be appreciated. Just email me.<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-6138038492265688192?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-89878251382894463832009-03-13T14:35:00.000-07:002009-03-13T14:39:12.520-07:00<div align="center">Saturday, April 04, 2009, 08:00 AM</div><div align="center">Ahwatukee, AZ</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Ahwatukee is the southern most neighborhood in Phoenix, separated by South Mountain it feels like a city unto itself. You'll get to run a 5k or a one mile fun run in the rolling foothills.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1687822&amp;assetId=5827a2a7-c0e9-409a-b2e1-6b5a3779deef">YMCA Active Registration Page</a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-8987825138289446383?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-85494189172528471592009-03-13T14:07:00.000-07:002009-03-14T15:57:10.830-07:00<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbrL8SLl1QI/AAAAAAAADcI/CT_y9MRTmdU/s1600-h/sponsor+We_Care.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312782946969965826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 190px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 107px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbrL8SLl1QI/AAAAAAAADcI/CT_y9MRTmdU/s400/sponsor+We_Care.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbrL8Pd225I/AAAAAAAADcA/FEP18VBZZkk/s1600-h/sponsor+Anthem+Outlets.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312782946241272722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 190px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 91px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbrL8Pd225I/AAAAAAAADcA/FEP18VBZZkk/s400/sponsor+Anthem+Outlets.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc9933;">April 4, 2009 @ 8 AM</span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#009900;">Anthem, AZ</span><br /></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#009900;"></span></div><br /><div align="center"><br />A great run through the streets of Anthem in north Phoenix and two distances to boot. Run either the 10k or the 5k courses for a great cause. </div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">I think this is in conjunction with Anthem Days, but I can't find any online info. To sign up go to <a href="http://www.4peaksracing.com/event.php?id=76">Four Peaks</a>. Click on the map below to see the course. One lap for the 5k, two for the 10k<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbrOgG_SRHI/AAAAAAAADcQ/LjDCVT3HAdk/s1600-h/map+anthem+days.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312785761464108146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbrOgG_SRHI/AAAAAAAADcQ/LjDCVT3HAdk/s400/map+anthem+days.bmp" border="0" /></a> Video of Emma's Run, Year 2<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ln9LHNMpgj8&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ln9LHNMpgj8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-8549418917252847159?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-44746977590652063762009-03-13T11:40:00.000-07:002009-03-13T11:49:33.649-07:00Our mission is to make sure all foot races in Arizona are on our blog. It's free and will get you exposure in the running community. Which, might just get you more runners at your race.<br /><br />If you don't see your race in either the monthly schedule or in a pre race post, please email me your information. Including your website, course map, etc.<br /><br />I'll make sure it's posted.<br /><br />We are adding runner/writers all the time. But, I can't guarantee we can have one at your race. If you know of a runner that wants to be a reporter for your race, let me know. Or have them contact me.<br /><br />If you'd like to request a reporter for your event, email me. I will do everything in my power to have a reporter/runner at your event.<br /><br />The most important part of Arizona Foot Races is the race report. We'd like to eventually have a RR on all foot races in AZ.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-4474697759065206376?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-48842119219520425202009-03-13T11:34:00.000-07:002009-03-13T14:03:20.017-07:00<div align="center">Johnny E. Osuna Memorial Park</div><div align="center">April 4, 2009 @ 8 AM</div><div align="center">Peoria, AZ</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">If you like to run and go to a festival, here's another one right in "Old town Peoria". </div><div align="center">Entertainment, a parade, craft vendors, historical tours, games, make-n-take crafts, pony rides, a petting zoo and more is what the town website says.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">The races is run by <a href="http://www.runningmasters.net/Upcoming_Events/upcoming_events.html">RunningMasters.</a></div><div align="center">Here's some <a href="http://www.peoriaaz.gov/content2.asp?ID=1205">info on the festival</a>.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-4884211921952042520?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-57869314830865864062009-03-13T11:28:00.000-07:002009-03-13T14:03:40.477-07:00<div align="center">This is all I got on this race, it's from the <a href="http://www.thundermountainrunningclub.org/id2.html">Thunder Mountain Running Club Website</a>.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">REGISTRATION IS SAME DAY ONLY AND RUNS FROM 6:30 -7:30 A.M. The course consists of Two 5 mile loops and will have water stops every 2.5 miles<br />IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE CONTACT JOSH SHEFFIELD AT (520)559-0997. </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center">It's only 12 bucks and I bet it's got great scenery.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-5786931483086586406?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-54746439303896496202009-03-12T22:52:00.000-07:002009-03-14T17:42:13.662-07:00<div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#993399;">April 4, 2009 @ 9 AM</span></strong></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#993399;">Lake Pleasant, AZ</span></strong></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbn20HvUvhI/AAAAAAAADbM/HqXt3MOLm0c/s1600-h/waddell+dam.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312548610751381010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 376px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 250px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbn20HvUvhI/AAAAAAAADbM/HqXt3MOLm0c/s400/waddell+dam.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbn2VDgLkiI/AAAAAAAADbE/_u4ToVNVOAA/s1600-h/waddell+dam.jpg"></a><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>Dam, it's time to run over a dam.</strong> Choose between a non timed 4 miler or 7 miler over Lake Pleasant's dam just north of Phoenix. The views are awesome and it's one of the few times you actually get to go on top of the dam. <a href="http://www.maricopa.gov/parks/lake_pleasant/EventsDetailPublishers.aspx?EventID=7617">The Dam Good Run</a> is for runners, walkers, hikers. But, it's not for backpacks, bicycles, strollers, wheelchairs and the like. Security reasons prevail.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/search/label/RR%20Dam%20Good%20Run">2008 Race Report by Mike Miller</a></div><div align="center"></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-5474643930389649620?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-77603653389067544002009-03-12T14:49:00.001-07:002009-03-13T14:04:26.117-07:00<div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong>April 4, 2009 @ 9 AM</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">University </span><span style="color:#3366ff;">of Arizona</span></strong></span></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#3366ff;"></span></strong><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbmDn0fspcI/AAAAAAAADa0/ZEfognyjZKE/s1600-h/Map+-+Run+for+your+life+UofA.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312421955589940674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 306px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbmDn0fspcI/AAAAAAAADa0/ZEfognyjZKE/s400/Map+-+Run+for+your+life+UofA.bmp" border="0" /></a><br />Check out their website, it has a bull and it's called "<a href="http://www.rfyl.arizona.edu/event.htm">Run for your Life"</a> 5k.</div><div align="center">It's run on campus and it looks like a lot of fun. But, my question is - is there a bull or just a lot of bull? I guess you'll have to run it to find out.</div><br /><br /><div align="center"></div>I'm looking for someone to do a race report for this race. If you run (or walk), aren't afraid of bulls, can write and have a camera call me.<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-7760365338906754400?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-78218568898982383582009-03-12T14:18:00.000-07:002009-03-13T14:04:49.749-07:00<div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#009900;"><strong>April 4, 2009 @ 8 AM</strong></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#009900;"><strong>Vail, AZ</strong></span></div><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#009900;"></span></strong></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;color:#000000;">This four miler combined with the <a href="http://betweenthetracks.blogspot.com/2008/06/blog-post.html">"Between The Tracks Festival"</a> makes for a great day down south of the Ole Pueblo. I couldn't find a lot of info about this years race or festival, so I advise contacting <a href="http://taggrun.com/">Steve Taggart</a> to learn more.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;">Now, if you plan on running this race and would like to do a race report for this blog, call me. All you need is the willingness to write, some pictures and the ability to run or walk 4 miles.</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-7821856889898238358?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-42859622708827301662009-03-12T14:00:00.000-07:002009-03-13T14:02:46.793-07:00<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbn6bqpUMiI/AAAAAAAADbk/VDt6riqFNxw/s1600-h/havasu+half+logo.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312552588671201826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 215px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbn6bqpUMiI/AAAAAAAADbk/VDt6riqFNxw/s400/havasu+half+logo.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#3333ff;"><strong>April 4, 2009 @ 7:30 AM</strong></span><br /></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#3333ff;"><strong>Lake Havasu, AZ</strong></span><br /><br />Hey, it's the only half marathon that you can run over the London Bridge and onto a man made island out into a river they call a lake. It's the Lake Havasu Half marathon on April 4th.<br /><br />You know the story. In the early 1960's London Bridge was falling down. Robert McCulloch, the chainsaw guy bought the bridge and then brought it to lake Havasu. They reassembled it over dry land, dug out the earth below to allow the Colorado River to flow underneath. Creating an island. The river is so big at this point that it looks more like a lake. Now it's a spring break destination and on April 4th it will be they place to be in Arizona to run a half marathon.<br /><br />So, do you want to run a half over London Bridge? Go visit the <a href="http://www.havasuhalf.com/">Havasu Half </a>website to learn more. And we are looking for a reporter to run the race and give us a race report. No experience necessary. You just need to be able to write and take some pictures.<br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312551669460023202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 108px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbn5mKUSt6I/AAAAAAAADbc/dfw-h4HPpUg/s400/sponsor+HH+Apothacary+logo.jpg" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.liskasapothecary.com/">Liska's Apothacary shop</a> is proud to sponsor the Havasu Half. Support the sponsors that support your sport.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-4285962270882730166?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-29437653303814224862009-03-10T18:31:00.000-07:002009-03-13T14:05:26.731-07:00<div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc6600;">The evening of April 4th (Saturday), 2009 6:00 PM</span></strong><br /></div><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc6600;">Sabino Canyon, Tucson, AZ</span></strong><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbl_uR8rWbI/AAAAAAAADas/heEGE3v0vEw/s1600-h/sabino-canyon.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312417668528822706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbl_uR8rWbI/AAAAAAAADas/heEGE3v0vEw/s400/sabino-canyon.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div>It's a 7.4 miler uphill for the first half. Sabino Canyon is one of the most scenic areas in all of Arizona. Combine that with it being a Southern Arizona Roadrunners event, run at sunset and you can't lose. I wonder how many runners will race in the morning and do this one at night?<br /><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/k9jhvjDqJLE&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/k9jhvjDqJLE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />To learn more about this race, go to the <a href="http://www.azroadrunners.org/events/sabino.html">SAR Sabino Canyon Sunset Run</a> page.<br /><br /><br /><br />Pat Monahan will be covering this race for Arizona Foot Races.<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312550530042591186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 410px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 49px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbn4j1qAd9I/AAAAAAAADbU/UdirgvFaOFo/s400/Performance+Footwear.gif" border="0" /></div><br /><a href="http://www.performancefootwear.net/">Performance Footwear</a> is a proud sponsor of SAR running events. Please support the sponsors that support your sport. Stores in Tucson and Tempe.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2943765330381422486?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-52930675683235796622009-03-10T17:52:00.000-07:002009-03-10T18:03:25.595-07:00If you like to run and you like to write about it, I could use your help.<br /><br />I'm looking for runners that run 15 or more races in Arizona each year. I need runners that like to write about their experience, have a camera and a garmin.<br /><br />I need runners in Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff and all around Arizona. You'll interview race directors, sponsors, runners and volunteers. You'll write a pre race article and a post race report for each race you run in.<br /><br />It's a volunteer position with an occasional comped race fee. You'll get Arizona Foot Races running tech shirt.<br /><br />If you are interested, email me. Tell me a bit about you and list your race history. How fast you run does not matter. You could even be a walker. You just have to love the race atmosphere and want to promote running in Arizona.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-5293067568323579662?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-63835837970947806832009-03-09T11:53:00.000-07:002009-03-14T15:14:47.474-07:00As the sunrose at Old Tucson Studios, over 300 runners participated in the first annual "Sunrise at Old Tucson". The following is a race report done by Pat Monahan for his personal blog.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRXMA72S0I/AAAAAAAADZw/_2voiAq6tiM/s1600-h/P1000665.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310965724497726274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRXMA72S0I/AAAAAAAADZw/_2voiAq6tiM/s400/P1000665.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRKh3obuaI/AAAAAAAADZo/uU1eCF7XsS4/s1600-h/Old+Tucson+3.8+miler.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310951806306335138" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 302px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRKh3obuaI/AAAAAAAADZo/uU1eCF7XsS4/s400/Old+Tucson+3.8+miler.bmp" border="0" /></a> This was a doubleheader weekend. Yesterday was the Ostrich Festival 5k and today was a 3.8 miler at a movie studio. <a href="http://www.oldtucson.com/">Old Tucson Studios</a> is know for being a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tucson_Studios">filming site</a> for many a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000078/">John Wayne</a> movie, as well as, many other westerns.<br /><br />Here's just a few movies made there.<br />1940: <a title="Arizona (1940 film)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_(1940_film)">Arizona</a><br />1945: <a title="The Bells of St. Mary's" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bells_of_St._Mary%27s">The Bells of St. Mary's</a><br />1957: <a title="3:10 to Yuma (1957 film)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3:10_to_Yuma_(1957_film)">3:10 to Yuma</a><br />1957: <a title="Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957 film)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfight_at_the_O.K._Corral_(1957_film)">Gunfight at the O.K. Corral</a><br />1958: <a class="new" title="The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (page does not exist)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Lone_Ranger_and_the_Lost_City_of_Gold&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1">The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold</a><br />1959: <a title="Rio Bravo (film)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Bravo_(film)">Rio Bravo</a><br />1965: <a class="new" title="The Great Sioux Massacre (page does not exist)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Great_Sioux_Massacre&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1">The Great Sioux Massacre</a><br />1966: <a title="El Dorado (film)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_(film)">El Dorado</a><br />1967: <a title="Hombre (film)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hombre_(film)">Hombre</a><br />1970: <a title="Rio Lobo" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Lobo">Rio Lobo</a><br />1972: <a title="The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Times_of_Judge_Roy_Bean">The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean</a><br />1974: <a title="The Trial of Billy Jack" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial_of_Billy_Jack">The Trial of Billy Jack</a><br />1976: <a title="The Outlaw Josey Wales" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outlaw_Josey_Wales">The Outlaw Josey Wales</a><br />1981: <a class="mw-redirect" title="The Cannonball Run (film)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cannonball_Run_(film)">The Cannonball Run</a><br />1986: <a title="¡Three Amigos!" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%A1Three_Amigos!">¡Three Amigos!</a><br />1990: <a title="Young Guns II" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Guns_II">Young Guns II</a><br />1993: <a title="Geronimo: An American Legend" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo:_An_American_Legend">Geronimo: An American Legend</a><br />1993: <a title="Nemesis (film)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(film)">Nemesis</a><br />1993: <a title="Tombstone (film)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone_(film)">Tombstone</a><br />1994: <a title="Lightning Jack" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_Jack">Lightning Jack</a><br />1995: <a class="new" title="Hard Bounty (page does not exist)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hard_Bounty&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1">Hard Bounty</a><br />1995: <a title="The Quick and the Dead (1995 film)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quick_and_the_Dead_(1995_film)">The Quick and the Dead</a><br />2005: <a class="new" title="Seven Mummies (page does not exist)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seven_Mummies&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1">Seven Mummies</a><br />2007: <a class="new" title="Legend of Pearl Hart (page does not exist)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Legend_of_Pearl_Hart&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1">Legend of Pearl Hart</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRKSYwhHoI/AAAAAAAADZg/Z2kYHDLX31o/s1600-h/P1000678.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310951540320706178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRKSYwhHoI/AAAAAAAADZg/Z2kYHDLX31o/s400/P1000678.JPG" border="0" /></a> It was almost a 2 hour drive for me. My kids and wife passed at the chance to get up at 4 am. The question was, would I be dead by the time I got to Tucson?</div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center">I ran again in <a href="http://shirtthatraces.blogspot.com/">"A Shirt That Races". </a><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJ-dtR3kI/AAAAAAAADZY/pfJEU2iA7dc/s1600-h/P1000679.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310951198051917378" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJ-dtR3kI/AAAAAAAADZY/pfJEU2iA7dc/s400/P1000679.JPG" border="0" /></a> Look familiar? This is one of the sets that we ran past. My legs felt great and I was ready to run, but not as fast as yesterday. One, it's my first trail race with a lot of single track. Two, I brought my camera. The race director, who was pretty funny told us it was around 3.9 miles, unless you get lost. This race had lots of turns, as you can see on the map. One loop around the studio streets, then out into the desert, past the start line with a final loop around town. He warned us about rattlesnakes. He said, "the first runner scares the snake, the snake scares the second runner and the third runner gets bit. So make sure you're the fourth runner." Or something to that effect.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJqAEPuzI/AAAAAAAADZQ/tr3ROBFCbxw/s1600-h/P1000667.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310950846497798962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJqAEPuzI/AAAAAAAADZQ/tr3ROBFCbxw/s400/P1000667.JPG" border="0" /></a> I was running and taking pictures and ran mile splits of around 11 minutes each for the first three. The final .8 was in town and I had already taken pictures there, so I ran my fastest. a 9:48 mile split. I finished in 41:27 and was happy with that.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJpz_Io6I/AAAAAAAADZI/RrvVvZosEwo/s1600-h/P1000664.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310950843255137186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJpz_Io6I/AAAAAAAADZI/RrvVvZosEwo/s400/P1000664.JPG" border="0" /></a> This was put on by the Southern Arizona Roadrunners (which I am now a member) and they had a great awards ceremony. Lots of door prizes for adults and kids, AG awards and the Old Tucson Sheriff added some levity. We had a trail breakfast (scrambled egg burritos).<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJpcwuHDI/AAAAAAAADZA/P_qFCoHAorY/s1600-h/P1000666.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310950837020662834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJpcwuHDI/AAAAAAAADZA/P_qFCoHAorY/s400/P1000666.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Here we are running the streets and below is Horse Poop Alley. Yeah, it's where they dump the waste and we got to run right thru it.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJo7G34vI/AAAAAAAADY4/vAUEayoU-UQ/s1600-h/P1000669.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310950827986772722" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJo7G34vI/AAAAAAAADY4/vAUEayoU-UQ/s400/P1000669.JPG" border="0" /></a> Old Tucson Studios is in the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zoZAu-PQvo">Saguaro National Forest</a>. <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?saguar02.wav=saguaro">SA-war-o</a>. And it is a forest, as you can see. The drive is majestic.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJoWObmEI/AAAAAAAADYw/KS-mRROT6Ik/s1600-h/P1000686.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310950818086361154" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbRJoWObmEI/AAAAAAAADYw/KS-mRROT6Ik/s400/P1000686.JPG" border="0" /></a> Now, it's time to send "A Shirt That Races" to another state. Our goal is to have a different runner in all 50 states and Canada run in this shirt. I'll write on the shirt about the two AZ races, wash it (promise) and then mail it to . . . you?</div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div>If you want to participate, let <a href="http://nikemomof2.blogspot.com/">Nikemom</a> know when and she'll put you on the calendar.<br /></div><br /><br /><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312749412013212866" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 85px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 59px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbqtcSu2hMI/AAAAAAAADbw/SUDJBqLVhSQ/s400/sponsor+runningshop.gif" border="0" /><a href="http://runningshopaz.com/">The Running Shop </a>is a proud sponsor of this race and many of the SAR events. We encourage you to support those sponsors that support running. </div><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312749913647159634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 166px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 106px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbqt5fdtGVI/AAAAAAAADb4/GHTIj2aY70s/s400/sponsor+teamduke.jpg" border="0" /><br />This race was a fundraiser for the <a href="http://www.jwcf.org/">John Wayne Cancer Foundation</a>. Any additional support to them would be greatly appreciated.<br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-6383583797094780683?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-37830338888206256112009-03-08T14:27:00.000-07:002009-04-20T17:25:18.254-07:00<div align="left">May </div><div align="left">2: <a href="http://www.prescottymca.org/" target="new">Prescott YMCA Whiskey Row Marathon</a> - Prescott</div><div align="left">2: <a href="http://www.spinpsycle.com/" target="new">The Spin Psycle, by Mad Mud Run</a> - Scottsdale</div><div align="left">2: <a href="http://www.gotrmc.org/NewBalance5k.aspx" target="new">New Balance Girls on the Run 5k</a> -Tempe</div><div align="left">2: <a href="http://www.eac.edu/cotton/" target="new">7th Annual Best Cotton Pickin' Race</a> -Safford</div><div align="left">2: <a href="http://www.nabihoops.com/" target="new">NABI "Chasing the Sun" 10k &amp; Pow Wow</a>- Glendale</div><div align="left">2: <a style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline" href="http://www.raceplaceevents.com/event.php?event=401013">24th Annual Night Run for the Arts</a> - Scottsdale</div><div align="left">2: <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/sanddevil5krace" target="new">Sand Devil 5K Race/Walk</a> -</div><div align="left">3: Peace Officer Memorial Run - Phoenix</div><div align="left">3: Cinco de Mayo 10K - Tucson</div><div align="left">3: <a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Calendar/Newman5k2009.pdf" target="new">Newman 5K</a> - Tempe</div><div align="left">8: <a href="http://www.24hoursoffreedom.com/" target="new">24 Hours of Freedom</a> - Flagstaff to Mesa</div><div align="left">9: <a href="http://www.phoenixzoo.org/events/special_events/special_events_detail.aspx?ARTICLE_ID=100064" target="new">Walk in the Wild at The Phoenix Zoo</a>- Phoenix</div><div align="left">9: Run in Beauty 5K</div><div align="left">9: <a href="http://www.azkrmc.com/" target="new">Route 66 Race for Hospice</a> - Kingman</div><div align="left">9: S.T.E.P. Fun Run at Kiwanis Park - Tempe</div><div align="left">10: <a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Calendar/luck-of-the-draw.php" target="new">ARR Rio Vista Luck Of The Draw</a>- Peoria</div><div align="left">12: <a href="mailto:info@arizonaroadracer.com" target="new">Arizona Road Racers Scottsdale Open Mile</a> -Scottsdale</div><div align="left">16: Run for the Mountain School 10K - Flagstaff</div><div align="left">16: <a href="http://www.caafaaz.org/" target="new">CAAFA 5K Race For Safety</a> - Apache Junction</div><div align="left">17: Tucson 5000 - Tucson</div><div align="left">21: Memorial Day 5K - Metro Phoenix</div><div align="left">23: <a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Calendar/Brochure_SummerSeries1_rev1.pdf" target="new">Arizona Road Racers Summer Series #1</a>- Phoenix</div><div align="left">30: <a href="http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/Calendar/DevonsRunFlyer.pdf" target="new">Devon's Run</a>- Phoenix</div><div align="left">30: Arizona Trail Close the Gap - </div><div align="left">30: <a href="http://www.azroadrunners.org/events/downtown.html" target="new">Meet Me Downtown 5K Night Run for the Fox Theater</a>- Tempe</div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-3783033888820625611?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-29228273110812315472009-03-08T12:09:00.000-07:002009-03-14T15:12:44.897-07:00This was the first year the Ostrich Festival 5k was held on the parade route in downtown Chandler. The following is a personal race report from Pat Monahan.<br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;color:#ff0000;">The Chandler Ostrich Festival 5k. March 7, 2009.</span></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbKv324Ie0I/AAAAAAAADYg/-5P6IZ3L1ws/s1600-h/P1000641.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310500284781853506" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbKv324Ie0I/AAAAAAAADYg/-5P6IZ3L1ws/s400/P1000641.JPG" border="0" /></a> Today was the debut of the men's version of <a href="http://shirtthatraces.blogspot.com/">"A Shirt That Races". </a>I set my alarm for 6 am and woke up at 6:30 wondering why the alarm didn't go off. I was ok, since this year's <a href="http://www.4peaksracing.com/index.php">Ostrich Festival 5k</a> was being run on the parade route in downtown Chandler for the first time. Just a few minutes from home. I got to packet picket up an hour before race time. Picked up my race tee, which is just the festival tee. But, still good looking and went back to my car to stay warm.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbKv3qF2RlI/AAAAAAAADYY/IWQNqwETxQQ/s1600-h/P1000644.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310500281349719634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbKv3qF2RlI/AAAAAAAADYY/IWQNqwETxQQ/s400/P1000644.JPG" border="0" /></a> There I am in "A Shirt That Races" with bib #149. It's a small race with less than 200 runners. About 50 degrees and sunny. There was a delay of almost 1/2 hour because the barricade guys slept in.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbKv3FXVfFI/AAAAAAAADYQ/fI6Ce-GkbzU/s1600-h/P1000646.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310500271490956370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbKv3FXVfFI/AAAAAAAADYQ/fI6Ce-GkbzU/s400/P1000646.JPG" border="0" /></a> Runners started warming up. This guy wasn't going 15 mph, but I thought it was a funny picture anyway. I started out fast. My plan was to stay around a 9:09 mile.* Three of those plus a fast sprint at the end will give me a PR of around 28:10. My first mile was in 8:45. I thought I was moving pretty good, but there were still plenty of people gliding past me. This course is made for PRs. It's flat and straight. It all takes place on Arizona Avenue with just two turn arounds. Mile two was done in 9:36. I did walk for a drink and to down half a candy bar (much more enjoyable than a GU).<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310501753075729058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbKxNUsrAqI/AAAAAAAADYo/o6c6-BrZ6p0/s400/2009+0307+Ostrich+Festival+5k+splits.bmp" border="0" />Mile three was the most fun. In the finish line picture below you'll see a little kid sitting on the curb. He ran the race. Maybe 10 years old. He cruises past me, looks up, smiles and says hi. I catch up to him, thinking that he's running a 1 mile fun run and it happens to be on the same course. So, I ask. Nope, he's running the whole 5k and it doesn't look like it's fazing him one bit.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbKv2nrZGhI/AAAAAAAADYI/y-Dlr06EROY/s1600-h/P1000650.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310500263522015762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbKv2nrZGhI/AAAAAAAADYI/y-Dlr06EROY/s400/P1000650.JPG" border="0" /></a> Yeah, that little kid on the left. Maybe, he's 7 or 8. So we get to the 2.6 mile turn around and theirs a cop directing traffic. I tell the kid to give the cop a high five and he does. As he does I take the turn and say, "see ya kid, I'm in front". As the kid sprints past me, he says, "Oh no your not".</div><div></div><div>We spend the last bit of the race running side by side and I give him some race advice about conserving energy and saving it for the sprint to win at the end. We match stride for stride and then I tell him at the light I'm going to start my sprint. 100 yards to go and we both kick it up a notch. I did mile three in 9:51, but now the kid and I are under a 7 minute pace. I had some gas in the tank, he was running on fumes. I could have taken the kid, honest. Of course, he probably told his dad he didn't want to beat the old man too bad, so he coasted. But, I like my story better. We both finished around 28:52. The kid won by a nose.<br /></div><div>I stop my garmin, give the kid a fist bump and realize that I missed my PR by 3 seconds. Three Seconds! That's ok. I enjoyed racing with the kid, much more than any PR. There's always tomorrow.<br /></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbKv2InjJ8I/AAAAAAAADYA/B6Ei8NlAwfw/s1600-h/P1000653.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310500255184398274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbKv2InjJ8I/AAAAAAAADYA/B6Ei8NlAwfw/s400/P1000653.JPG" border="0" /></a>Speaking of tomorrow. I hope I have the horsepower for race #2 this weekend. Yeah, I'm taking <a href="http://shirtthatraces.blogspot.com/">"A Shirt That Races"</a> down to Tucson for a special race.<br /><br /><br /><div><em>*9:09 pace per mile would give me a 2 hour HM or a 4 hour marathon. That's why my blog is named after my goal pace. I'm a long way from my goal. </em></div></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2922827311081231547?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-45032577029084249632009-03-07T14:17:00.000-08:002009-04-01T14:24:21.184-07:00<img src="http://www.nickelandanail.com/MillerBlog/images/kiwanis0309.jpg" class="alignleft" alt="Kiwanis Litchfield Park 10K" align="left" /><br /><br />Today Kimberly and I competed in the <a href="http://www.litchfield-park.org/"><strong>Kiwanis Litchfield Park 10K</strong></a>. It was about a perfect race scenario as far as they go. The event was fairly close as we are only about 30 minutes or so away from Litchfield Park. The race was a 10K which is really the ideal length for us as we like to get at least this length run in on the weekend. With a 5K we still need to do another run. With a 10K we can justify ‘good enough’. It was also a perfect day weather wise. A little nippy, but not too cold. In other words, a great day for a morning run.<br /><br />We got to the event with a little time to spare, got a great parking spot and headed over to check in. The event was being held right in the heart of Litchfield over by the Wigwam Resort area. They really had a nice setup with some vendors, a huge food supply and ‘real’ bathrooms even as it was right next to the community park and center for the <a href="http://www.kiwanis.org/"><strong>Kiwanis</strong></a>. We hung in the park for a bit checked out a couple of the vendors, and listened to some Navel officers.<br /><br />The course basically winds through the neighborhoods there and is an out and back. The 10K went off first, as they also offered a 5K, and even a 1 mile fun run afterward. While decently marked it seemed, there was some issues with the track though (covered below). The course was near pure flat, and I mean flat, I think my Garmin showed less than a couple hundred feet net elevation change for the whole race.<br /><br />Kimberly and I both had good runs. Kimberly had a PR time for a 10K of 53:46. She was booking, I was going to take a shot of her crossing the line and nearly missed it (as you can see from the <a href="http://www.nickelandanail.com/Picture_Gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=77580"><strong>photo</strong></a> in our gallery) because she came in faster than I was expecting! I had a 7:12 pace (44:42) which was good enough for 12th overall place and a 2nd place metal in my age group. Sadly, the first 4 or 5 guys were disqualified (I would have been in 3rd instead if they were not) because they missed a turn on the course. I feel bad for them because obviously they did not intend this and put in a good effort either way. I think one of those cases where 1 person misses a turn and the others in the lead pack follow. For those of us back a little and more spread out, less of an issue.<br /><br />In any event, another great local weekend race that we will be sure to attend next year. The shirts were pretty cool too…<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-4503257702908424963?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Michael Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-25232797594518913512009-02-25T16:43:00.000-08:002009-03-26T16:48:27.292-07:00<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/ScwUBgAPuXI/AAAAAAAADhc/IEbKzCSYlXE/s1600-h/Medal+10k.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317647276021102962" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 207px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 206px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/ScwUBgAPuXI/AAAAAAAADhc/IEbKzCSYlXE/s400/Medal+10k.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Lost Dutchman 10k - 2/15/2009 by Lisa Ngai<br /><br /><br />The Lost Dutchman actually has five different race lengths available: a full marathon, 1/2 marathon, 10k, 8k trail run, and 2 mile fun run. The 10k started at 8:00am, and I had an hour long drive to get to Apache Junction so I left the house around 6:15. By the time I got to the park where the race was starting and finishing, cars were parking way out along the street. I turned my Garmin on during the walk back to the car and it was about 3/4 of a mile from the car to the park. So I used the walk as my warm-up. Then I checked my bag, used the restroom, stretched and it was time to start.<br />The course for the 10k was an out and back with a couple turns at the beginning then a long straight stretch. Based on the race brochure, I was expecting a flat course, and I guess for the most part it was. There were a few small slopes that I wasn’t expecting, but nothing that really gave me much trouble. I tried to keep jogging through the two water stations that I stopped at. I was able to get down a few gulps of water, but also spilled a lot of water over myself. I’m still working on how to drink and run. We were running into the wind on the way out and with the wind on the way back which was nice. I was feeling pretty good for the last couple miles except that I started to get the weird tingly feeling in my left foot again.<br />I discovered four pet peeves during the race:<br />1. People who sing out loud to their music, especially when they can’t really carry a tune and don’t know all the lyrics.<br />2. People who wear their music so loud that I can hear it. (Not as bad as number 1, but still rather annoying.)<br />3. People who wear a running watch that continually beeps at odd times. I don’t mind alerts for time or distance, but I’m guessing this was more of a pace alert.<br />4. People who ask others on the course what time it is. If it’s that important, just get your own darn watch!<br />Medals were awarded to the first 300 finishers in the 10k. (Also to all marathon and half finishers and the first 300 of the 8k.) Because of the out and back and the hills, I could see a lot of people in front of me. I was pretty worried but luckily placed high enough to receive a very nice medal. I like the cutout details along the top. Also, it’s hard to see in the graphic, but there are gold sparkles in the pot of gold and on the cactus. They had unofficial results posted at the finish area. My time was 1:01:16 which is just under a 10 minute pace. Not a PR, but one of the fastest runs I’ve had recently.<br />One really neat thing I saw at the finish area was that they seemed to be printing custom finisher shirts. There were about six different sets of graphics/text and you could choose what you wanted on the front and the back of the shirt. The post-race refreshments were decent and there was plenty of water. I grabbed a bag of chips, pretzels, two orange wedges and 1/2 a breakfast burrito. There was also granola which I skipped. Overall I thought the race was very well organized and if the dates are right I’d be open to participating again next year.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2523279759451891351?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-56942625487801769132009-02-25T14:42:00.000-08:002009-03-14T15:14:25.115-07:00Today was the third annual 'Run for the Islands 5k and Beach Party'. It's the second year I've run in it. The Islands is a nice subdivision in Gilbert, AZ. No, there's no island, but a couple lakes.<br /><br />I left the house about 40 minutes before the start of the race. It's nice to not have to get up with the Roosters to run a race. When I got to the park, I realized I didn't brink my garmin. So, no garmin, no ipod, no fanny pack for a water bottle. I ran practically <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://funnyfreepics.com/images/naked_chicks.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=http://www.funnyfreepics.com/funny-437.php&amp;usg=__4kE67q_p-vzULaXP4wAgBAVgiRU=&amp;h=348&amp;w=450&amp;sz=25&amp;hl=en&amp;start=43&amp;um=1&amp;tbnid=3pbOyks-2-aBhM:&amp;tbnh=98&amp;tbnw=127&amp;prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnaked%26start%3D40%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLJ_enUS307%26sa%3DN">naked</a>*. The field consisted of 126 runners, so I was about 3 deep at the start line. Then I got sucked out with the fast runners. Quickly, I slowed down. I did the same thing two years ago and PR'd this race. This time I figured I might do the same. At the turn around I was tired. I walked the water stop. I was running again, but I thought it was really slow and it would be a mid 30's time for me. A little past the 2 mile mark I was walking again.<br /><br />That's when I was <a href="http://www.touched.com/touched05/index.php">'Touched by an Angel'</a> (tv show). A lady came running by and hollered 'only one mile to go, come on' at me (maybe, touched by a drill sargeant). So, I ran. I figured if she was going to yell at me, I was going to use her to distract myself. We talked. Turns out she ran the PF Chang's Full Marathon last week. I was impressed. Last year I skipped this race after running 26.2 miles. She didn't look any worse for wear. It was her second marathon. She ran the Lincoln Marathon in Nebraska last year. We talked about <a href="http://nikemomof2.blogspot.com/">Nikemom</a>. My only Nebraska connection other than, 'how bout them huskers?'. I should have told her about the <a href="http://shirtthatraces.blogspot.com/">Shirt That Races</a>. Darn it. I did thank #211 after the race.<br /><br />Anyway, with about 2/10 of a mile to go. I eyed the two people in front of me and decided I was passing them. Amy Williams was real close, so that wasn't an issue. Brian Watt was further up. I reeled him in and we finished 3 seconds apart. I was in front.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/Islands2009.htm">67/126 PAT MONAHAN 47 13/19 M 29:04 9:22 pace</a><br /><br />My last three 5k's have been: 28:49, 29:20, 29:04.<br /><br />I really do like running sub 30 minute 5ks.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-5694262548780176913?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-3013074371073165252009-02-21T13:38:00.000-08:002009-03-14T15:11:17.115-07:00<em><strong>The City of Goodyear held it's annual Heart and Sole 5k at the new Goodyear Ballpark on February 21, 2009. This is the personal race report from Pat Monahan.</strong></em><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBi8OSKrrI/AAAAAAAADUE/R5sdEfOQd1w/s1600-h/P1000354.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305349147808411314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBi8OSKrrI/AAAAAAAADUE/R5sdEfOQd1w/s400/P1000354.JPG" border="0" /></a> This morning's 5k was at the site of the Brand Spanking New Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, AZ. The spring home of the Cleveland Indians and future spring home of my Cincinnati Reds.<br /><br />Lots of Indians fans, but the home opener next Wednesday is not sold out. Tickets are from $12 to $80. I think ticket prices are way too high at all the Cactus League stadiums. It's cheaper to go to a regular season game. Which is why I haven't been to a spring game since Ken Griffey Jr. was a mariner. Hey, I guess I can go again now.<br /><br />Anyone visiting this blog for the baseball pics, can skip down to them. I talk a lot about running on this blog.<br /><br />I ran the 5k and was about the 10th person over the start line. And about the 100 person over the finish line. My garmin split for the first mile was 8:16, the fastest one mile in my racing life. My first half mile was at 7:46. I tried to keep up with the rabbits, but it wasn't to be.<br /><br />My second mile past the practice fields was at 9:43, much more like me.<br /><br />My third mile was at 10:22. I think I had one walk break during the second mile and a couple in mile three. That first mile was getting to me.<br /><br />But, I rallied to do the home stretch in 7:28. The Scorpion Cheer squad cheered and I got a finishers ribbon. Finish time was 29:16. Just 27 seconds from a PR.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBi8M-OAmI/AAAAAAAADT8/PQjzTpFN7j8/s1600-h/P1000356.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305349147456307810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBi8M-OAmI/AAAAAAAADT8/PQjzTpFN7j8/s400/P1000356.JPG" border="0" /></a> The sculpture outside the stadium. It's 60' 6" tall ( the distance from home to the pitchers mound) and is supposed to looks somewhat like a planes wing. Goodyear/Phoenix airport is right next to the ballfield. This picture makes it look like a bat, but that's not the intention. If they would have made it out of used tire rubber, then it would have represented <a href="http://www.goodyeartires.com/">Goodyear</a> even more.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBi7-PbygI/AAAAAAAADT0/FYbxMu_pqJU/s1600-h/P1000357.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305349143501982210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBi7-PbygI/AAAAAAAADT0/FYbxMu_pqJU/s400/P1000357.JPG" border="0" /></a> Down the third base side of the ballpark are Reds photos. On the left side are the Indians photos.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBigWuhJrI/AAAAAAAADTs/ouYC6r7rM6Q/s1600-h/P1000360.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305348669038470834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBigWuhJrI/AAAAAAAADTs/ouYC6r7rM6Q/s400/P1000360.JPG" border="0" /></a> I asked a stranger to take my picture. He said sure, so I asked him if he was with the city. Turns out he's with <a href="http://www.hoksport.com/">HOK</a>, the builder. They introduced him during the ribbon cutting ceremonies.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBigcXz8hI/AAAAAAAADTk/yaXIzyZVMAA/s1600-h/P1000364.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305348670553846290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBigcXz8hI/AAAAAAAADTk/yaXIzyZVMAA/s400/P1000364.JPG" border="0" /></a> Goodyear Stadium.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBif7fC78I/AAAAAAAADTc/mr2YSJQ-2b8/s1600-h/P1000368.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305348661725818818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBif7fC78I/AAAAAAAADTc/mr2YSJQ-2b8/s400/P1000368.JPG" border="0" /></a> See the ball in midair?<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBifsUz61I/AAAAAAAADTU/wSLIi8XnLlc/s1600-h/P1000371.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305348657656359762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBifsUz61I/AAAAAAAADTU/wSLIi8XnLlc/s400/P1000371.JPG" border="0" /></a> From centerfield. It's a nice facility, but Camelback Ranch, the new home of the Dodgers looks better.<br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBifadPdmI/AAAAAAAADTM/HgrGSKMxGlg/s1600-h/P1000373.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305348652859881058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SaBifadPdmI/AAAAAAAADTM/HgrGSKMxGlg/s400/P1000373.JPG" border="0" /></a> Run a 5k, go to the ballpark and have a dog and a beverage of your choice. It doesn't get any better.</div><div></div><div>*A side note - as I walked around the facility in my Reds attire, about a dozen Indians fans mentioned I was a year early.</div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-301307437107316525?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-66316241370460734352009-02-20T18:26:00.000-08:002009-03-14T15:12:19.434-07:00You learn something at every race.<br /><br />Yes, you do. You learn something at every race you run. I hadn't run for three days and my legs were fresh. Real fresh. This is a tale of what you learn when you go out fast in a half marathon.<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhflTEOGHI/AAAAAAAADR8/yVEGB-7eu7w/s1600-h/P1000304.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303093655606532210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhflTEOGHI/AAAAAAAADR8/yVEGB-7eu7w/s400/P1000304.JPG" border="0" /></a> The day started with a beautiful sunrise over the Superstition Mountains.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhflIErjTI/AAAAAAAADR0/Ug2VtLQpEwU/s1600-h/P1000303.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303093652655672626" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhflIErjTI/AAAAAAAADR0/Ug2VtLQpEwU/s400/P1000303.JPG" border="0" /></a> I got my picture with the Lost Dutchman himself. He wouldn't disclose were the his goldmine is. After all, it's the <a href="http://www.superstitionmountainmuseum.org/LostDutchmanExhibit.htm">gold that's lost</a>, not the dutchman. </div><br /><div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303093150047074162" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhfH3tc93I/AAAAAAAADRc/PxjQ8-Qb-Kw/s400/P1000308.JPG" border="0" />Right around 7:30 the gun sounded and we were off. Actually, we waited as the faster runners were off. At this time I commented to all around me, "there goes my PR." But eventually we did get to run and it was less than a minute wait.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhfIb9FpOI/AAAAAAAADRs/O8ASvP6oN58/s1600-h/P1000310.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303093159776330978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhfIb9FpOI/AAAAAAAADRs/O8ASvP6oN58/s400/P1000310.JPG" border="0" /></a> That's the Superstition Mtns. in the distance. Only about 700 runners in the half, so I didn't have to do a lot of weaving. The first mile split was 9:47. My goal was to see how many miles I could do under an 11 minute pace. 1:13 seconds was way too fast, but my legs wouldn't let me run any slower.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhfIDCPRbI/AAAAAAAADRk/silABf00Yw8/s1600-h/P1000309.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303093153087047090" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhfIDCPRbI/AAAAAAAADRk/silABf00Yw8/s400/P1000309.JPG" border="0" /></a> The second mile was 10:12. More reasonable, but still on the fast side. That made me 2 for 2 goal wise. I was a bit worried that it would get me later on. This course is half paved, half dirt road with lots of small hills. Mile 3 was 10:59, perfect and mile 4 was 10:42. I felt like I was getting in the groove. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Maybe it was the site of the medals before the race that got me in a fast mode.<br /><br /><br /><div><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhfHmdW81I/AAAAAAAADRU/-4sFVdJn7nA/s1600-h/P1000306.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303093145416168274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhfHmdW81I/AAAAAAAADRU/-4sFVdJn7nA/s400/P1000306.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />There were lots of medals. I got the HM one on the right. Before the race I got to meet <a href="http://www.runnersbalancingact.com/">Alissa from Fountain Hills</a>. She's one fast runner and it would be the last time I saw her.<br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhfHUHFkZI/AAAAAAAADRM/Q7kluunMCmE/s1600-h/P1000305.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303093140490916242" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhfHUHFkZI/AAAAAAAADRM/Q7kluunMCmE/s400/P1000305.JPG" border="0" /></a> Mile 5 was done in 9:58. Don't ask me. I have no clue as to why I was going so fast. Mile 6 was done in 10:06 and I was cruisin' to the half way point. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Then came mile 7. My first one over 11. I did it in 11:07. Was the first six fast miles catching up to me? I did the 10k in 1:03:47, which would be the fastest 10k I ever did. I did the 6.55 in 1:08:01. That mean't I had 2 minutes in the bank. I was hoping to do 1:10's each way.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZheiUBxESI/AAAAAAAADRE/WZpoX42K8WM/s1600-h/P1000318.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303092504813441314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZheiUBxESI/AAAAAAAADRE/WZpoX42K8WM/s400/P1000318.JPG" border="0" /></a> Then came mile 8. I was trying to walk thru the water stations. I did it in 10:26. I skipped some stations and this mile most have been one of them. Mile 9 was my second mile over the 11 goal. It was done in 11:27, my slowest mile. I think it was the mile that I saw Lobster Girl. Two years ago I ran behind a girl in a lobster hat for a long time. I even took a picture and she happened to be in it. I recognized her this year. Asked if it was her and we talked for awhile. She's done 8+ marathons and can't even remember how many halfs. And she's young. I was a bit jealous.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhehz4itAI/AAAAAAAADQ8/kbdZPocd89s/s1600-h/P1000317.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303092496184816642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhehz4itAI/AAAAAAAADQ8/kbdZPocd89s/s400/P1000317.JPG" border="0" /></a> Mile 10 was 10:43. Mile 11 was 10:58. Mile 12 was 10:27. During these miles I got to talk with a guy from New Mexico and a gal from Minnesota. We all got in the leap frog mode. When I walked, they would pass me. When they walked, I would pass. Sometimes we would chat. The gal from up north eventually passed me for good. Not sure about the guy.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>But, I still had 1.1 miles to go and my legs weren't as fresh as 2 hours ago. Mile 13 came in at 10:25. I did a lot of walking, but I was running in the 9's and I was holding up pretty good. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div><br /></div><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhehh8FV7I/AAAAAAAADQ0/zvYPTGP1Dk4/s1600-h/P1000313.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303092491367831474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhehh8FV7I/AAAAAAAADQ0/zvYPTGP1Dk4/s400/P1000313.JPG" border="0" /></a> Good enough to sprint to the finish line at an 8:50 pace. I stopped my garmin about 5-10 seconds after I finished.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhehST_IDI/AAAAAAAADQs/h4E_grjiIkY/s1600-h/P1000312.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303092487173120050" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhehST_IDI/AAAAAAAADQs/h4E_grjiIkY/s400/P1000312.JPG" border="0" /></a> It read 2:19:52. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>2:19:52 is 7:17 better than I ran PF Chang's 28 days ago. It was 7:23 better than I ran London's Run 15 days ago. It is the fastest Half Marathon I've ever run. </div><br /><div><br /></div><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhehKdmcoI/AAAAAAAADQk/3rx8jChnetU/s1600-h/P1000311.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303092485065962114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SZhehKdmcoI/AAAAAAAADQk/3rx8jChnetU/s400/P1000311.JPG" border="0" /></a> It was a great day. No rain. Sunshine. High 40's to start. Mid 50's for most of the run. The third HM in less than 30 days. Two of them for PR's. The 11th HM of my life. 11 of the 13 miles under 11 minutes. A cool medal. A cool t-shirt. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>If only the Dutchman would have shared where the gold is. </div><div><br /><br /></div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312849659616110594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 99px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 69px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbsIneJ5KAI/AAAAAAAADcg/ZvJSu_NEYJg/s400/sponsor+Gold+Canyon.jpg" border="0" /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /><br /><p align="center">Gold Canyon Resort &amp; Golf was a proud sponsor of this race. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-6631624137046073435?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-19856995497701087632009-02-15T14:52:00.000-08:002009-04-01T15:26:28.220-07:00<img src="http://www.nickelandanail.com/MillerBlog/images/dutchmans0209.jpg" class="alignleft" alt="Lost Dutchman's Marathon" align="left" /><br /><br />(Copied from my personal Blog)<br /><br />As of lot of our friends know, Kimberly and I have really gotten the ‘running bug’ over the last year or so. Almost seems to have turned into a mini obsession. I think we both run somewhere between 4-5 times a week now. We do short runs (3 miles or so), long runs (10 or more), trail runs with hills, interval runs, speed drills, hill sprints, and plain old around the neighborhood runs. But our favorite ‘kind of runs’ are races and what we (and others) like to call ‘destination runs’. Destination runs are basically going someplace cool to run. Seeing most of the time you are running in a gym on the treadmill, or around your favorite park hills (cool but still you have seen them before) so when you get a chance to run around someplace new it is great. And if it is a very cool place (i.e. like we did the <a href="http://www.nps.gov/grca"><strong>Grand Canyon</strong></a>, or <a href="http://www.saugatuck.com/index.asp"><strong>Saugatuck</strong></a>, etc) then it is even better. Races of course are just opportunities to run with others and be a little competitive so as to help push yourself on occasion.<br /><br />This weekend we had a chance to combine theses two favorites with a ‘destination run race’ in <a href="http://www.ajcity.net/">Apache Junction</a> at the <a href="http://www.lostdutchmanmarathon.org/"><strong>Lost Dutchman’s Marathon</strong></a> (Half Marathon, 10K, 8K Trail Run and 2 Mile fun Run). The Marathon (and all races too) is considered one of the best ‘small town races in America’. There are lots of reasons of course, the race management team, the city support, the way cool way they treat the runners with campfires and good grub, plus many others. But the main reason being the beautiful <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_Mountains"><strong>Superstition Mountain</strong></a> Course and backdrop that you get to run in whatever race you chose.<br /><br />As we have blogged before, the Superstitions are one of our favorite Arizona locals. We love to hike them hills. The variety, beauty and challenge of the hikes make them some of our most memorable in all of AZ. Plus we really enjoy the old-west-laid-back-we-are-all-family vibe of Apache Junction. Hard to beat sippin’ a cold one on the patio there at the Mammoth Steakhouse and Saloon looking out at those Mountains, or grabbing an ice cream at Tortilla Flats after a long day hike in the Mountains.<br /><br />We decided to stay over near the race because it would have required a little too much of an early morning to drive over race day for us. From up North West Phoenix we are a good 75 miles or so from Apache Junction. We found a good rate at the La Quinta off 60, and scooted over a bit early on Saturday to make a full day of it. First thing was to hit the Expo and get our bibs and race goodies. The Expo was small, but nice and also well organized for an event of this size. The Apache center where the Expo was held is very nice for a community center. After snagging a Cliff bar and our shirts (nice long sleeve race shirts by the way which is kind of unique) we headed over to hang out and walk around <a href="http://www.goldfieldghosttown.com/"><strong>Goldfield Ghost Town</strong></a> where we had a burger on the Patio at the Saloon. We stopped at an Art festival just up the street a piece (notice the old West lingo there) and walk around for a bit. We took some pictures and they are in the 2009 Misc folder if you want to check out the scenery in that area.<br /><br />After a near perfect day we headed back to the Hotel where we had a dinner of our homemade pizza and protein bars for desert. Yep, we packed over the cooler because it’s just the best pre-race night meal we know and we love pizza made like that with the whole grain breads and such. We watched a little tube, then did the old {let’s try to actually get at least 4 hours sleep before 4:30 when we have to admit we are up and can’t sleep anymore anyway mode}. One day I’ll have to Blog on the trials and tribulations of sleeping the night before a race and how early you have to get up to run (with all the pre-race stuff required).<br /><br />Anyway, 4:30 came about, we got up, I got coffee, Kimberly got the Herbal Tea and we started moving. I packed the car, we showered, brushed the teeth, attached the iPods and were off over to hopefully find a parking spot semi close to the race start. By the time we got there it was a little after 6:00. Sadly the parking lot was full as was about ½ mile of the road heading into the park. It was a great morning, though quite abnormally cold (good for running, bad for beforehand), but the sun was rising and you knew it would be perfect. It took us about 20 minutes to walk from the car to the starting area. We were doing the 10K this year. It started in the same spot as the Half, 8K trail Run and 2 Miler (all out and back as best I could tell). The Marathon guys finished here also. <br /><br />With the various races staggered start time throughout the morning, most everything went off without a hitch. Considering there were some 2200 odd racers and more support and volunteers here everything was very smooth – there was even a ‘real’ bathroom with little or no wait most of the morning (umm Chang’s could learn something here). About 15 minutes before the race we checked our gear (the jackets and gloves, etc) and headed over to the start.<br /><br />The 10K is basically out one road and back. You are headed pretty much (at least what feels like) due East into the Superstitions then back. What a great feeling as you run up and down the little hills. Most of the course is fairly easy with the minor little up and downs, with the exception of the turnaround spot that has a nice little hill that while not bad at all will have your heart rate up a bit. With the decent weather we both had a pretty good race considering all. I was ‘out of the metals coming in 5th in my age, but I was 29th overall out of the 540 runners doing the 10K. Kimberly had some aches going in but still had a respectable 10th in her age group out of 44 and was in the top 70 of all woman. We both got a great finishers metal - way cool hardware in this race!<br /><br />There is no doubt we will do this race again. I think next year perhaps the Half Marathon. We sure do hope that it falls on a different weekend than the <a href="http://www.thearizonamarathon.com/mar.html"><strong>IMS Marathon</strong></a> on the West side – we sure hated to miss that this year.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-1985699549770108763?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Michael Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-86304627040387758972009-02-01T18:33:00.000-08:002009-03-14T15:11:53.518-07:00<div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbsJ9iNnbsI/AAAAAAAADcw/EoKihp2D26A/s1600-h/Londons+run_013109_001.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312851138174217922" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbsJ9iNnbsI/AAAAAAAADcw/EoKihp2D26A/s400/Londons+run_013109_001.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />For two hundred yards we ran. Faster than we ran all day. We could see the finish line and as I ran faster, so did she. With a smile, I said to this stranger, "Are we racing?"<br /><br />"Yes", was the only thing she said. We were moving fast, but it seemed as if time had stopped. I was now looking at her feet. Our legs in sync. With about 100 yards to go, I decided to go a little faster and with that I was gone. Crowds yelling for us. A run that had been going on for 2 hours and 26 odd minutes, boiled down to a 'duel in the desert'. This was how I finished a wonderful day of running in Queen Creek, Arizona.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SYTo64b2F0I/AAAAAAAADI0/8w4qRc5ZYI0/s1600-h/P1000242.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297615159973779266" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SYTo64b2F0I/AAAAAAAADI0/8w4qRc5ZYI0/s400/P1000242.JPG" border="0" /></a> This is a charity run to raise money for kids battling cancer. London was such a kid. There was a table (pictured) with pictures of all the kids. The race was held at Schnepf's Farm, an agritainment farm southeast of Phoenix proper. About 50 minutes from my home. I felt like I was going to the county fair as my car was in line to park in the field with less than 30 minutes until race time.</p><br /><br /><p>I had to make a decision. Run the 10k or run the half. I decided 13 miles would be good distance today and I had reason to run it anyway.</p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312851136007805954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbsJ9aJGnAI/AAAAAAAADco/01sBDtXgclg/s400/London%27s+Run+-Nick,Suzy,Billy,+Pat.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><p>As you might know, I visit the Runner's World forum and leave posts and comments. There's a few of us Arizonans that do. One guy is AZ Nick in Queen Creek. We've discussed meeting at a race, but our race schedule never lined up. Lately, I and a few others convinced Nick he was ready to run a HM. He picked this race to run with a relative. Then, that relative bailed on him and he was preparing to run it alone.</p><br /><br /><br /><p>Now Nick seemed like a nice guy, but I only knew him from RW and facebook. Do I want to run for over 2 hours with a stranger? What happens if we can't stand each other? One of us would have to suck it up and run away. </p><br /><br /><br /><p>Nick called right as I was entering the porta potty. I told him I'd call him back. We finally met. I got to meet his wife and BIL. They ran the 10k. I told Nick I'd run with him and we decided to do his 4 minutes of running and 40 seconds of walking pattern for an 11 mpm pace. Nick's 4 minutes were long. And his 40 seconds were short. Seriously, we did skip some of the walk breaks and we settled into doing sub 11 mpm miles for the first 4 and then 11 to 11:35 miles the rest of the way.<br /></p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SYTo65rOdJI/AAAAAAAADIs/mRutyNX78Wk/s1600-h/P1000245.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297615160306726034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SYTo65rOdJI/AAAAAAAADIs/mRutyNX78Wk/s400/P1000245.JPG" border="0" /></a> The course was beautiful. Queen Creek is pretty flat. We had mountains to look at, but for the most part we were running in between farm fields. Lots of dirt roads and a few closed country roads. All straight aways, but lots of turns and in one section you go back and forth three times. The race started with us running past about 5 horses that were running in the pasture.<br /><br />Nick and I talked the whole way. Kinda like when Karen and Lisa run. But, not about pedicures or tissue paper. We talked running. Jobs. Men stuff. After about 2 miles, I knew we would be running the whole race together and that it would be a pleasure.<br /><br />I started running with my Phoenix Coyotes sweatshirt. Nick's a big time Coyotes fan, so he was alarmed that I was going to leave it road side. I did at the four mile point. Never to see it again. But, after the race as I was watching them award medals to the 10k winners, I looked down and saw a Coyotes sweatshirt. It was old and beat up and I'm thinking, "oh, someone has a sweatshirt just like mine. Wait, it is mine." The volunteers picked it up and my sweatshirt beat me to the finish line.<br /><br />The last three miles Nick and I were trying to figure out if we could a) finish under 2:30, b) finish under 2:27:09 (my PR). I kept doing the math, looking at my garmin and telling Nick what we needed to do. Our start was 15-20 seconds late and we did a short stop so I could refill my water bottle. With half a mile left we knew that 2:30 was in the bag, but could I get a PR? As a side note, I wear my garmin really tight. The picture below is what my wrist looked like after the race. I mean 30 minutes after. I guess I plumped up during the race.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SYTo6ps5aII/AAAAAAAADIk/K8PuWJq1lmg/s1600-h/P1000251.JPG"></a>Back to the race, Nick and I had a final turn to make and then it was about 200 yards to the finish. I said let's go and started running hard. That's when I caught up to the 'lady in black' that was a willing racer.<br /><br />In I came at 2:27:15 or 6 seconds over my best time. No PR today. But, a great run anyway.<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/London">Race Results</a></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center">It was great weather (60's), a great location, a great time and a great volunteer group. But, what made it best was running with Nick in his first half. It's the first half marathon I've run with someone. From start to finish. We are close to the same speed and we enjoyed each other's company. I know that if I ran this today, by myself I would have been 2:34 or more. Easy. Nick and I paced each other well.</div><br /><br /><div align="center">So, there it is. London's Run Half Marathon is HM #10 and the second one this month. It's the second fastest HM I've run.<br /></div><br /><div align="center">At lunch I saw this license plate:<br /><br /><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SYTo6XPJgQI/AAAAAAAADIc/zAYrGvxfxfg/s1600-h/P1000252.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297615151062155522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SYTo6XPJgQI/AAAAAAAADIc/zAYrGvxfxfg/s400/P1000252.JPG" border="0" /></a> Back in the day, when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Prefontaine">Steve Prefontaine</a> was running for Oregon and was one of the best runners in America, a rival school had t-shirts made. They simply said, <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/stop_pre_shirt-235735127262318971">"Stop PRE". </a><br /><br /><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312855770159937474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 65px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 51px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbsOLJtEd8I/AAAAAAAADc4/7sXi8xQGLbo/s400/sponsor+CDS-logo.jpg" border="0" /></div><br /><br /></div><p align="center"><a href="http://www.curtisdesignstudio.com/CDS_v4.0/Site%20Pages/design%20services.html">Curtis Design Studios</a> was a sponsor of this race. Please support the sponsors that support your sport.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-8630462704038775897?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-70483988918278392742009-02-01T14:37:00.000-08:002009-04-01T14:40:04.485-07:00<img src="http://www.nickelandanail.com/MillerBlog/images/supersunday0209.jpg" class="alignleft" alt="Super Sunday 5K Race" align="left" /><br /><br />This year’s <a href="http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/43"><strong>Super Bowl</strong></a> at least brought some ‘happy football feelings’. In a season where my team (err umm the err umm Detroit Lions) set a record for futility, my current hometown boys had made the Big Dance. It was a perfect Winter weather day, the sun was shining and the temperature was perfect for a good morning run.<br /><br />Before knowing that the Cardinals were making it to the Super Bowl, Kimberly and I had signed up for the second annual ‘Super Sunday 5K’. It was just up the street at <a href="http://www.glendaleaz.com/parksandrecreation/parksandfacilities/ThunderbirdPaseo.cfm"><strong>Thunderbird Paseo Park</strong></a> and put on by the <a href="http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com"><strong>Arizona Running Events</strong></a> guys. Seemed a perfect opportunity to get ourselves out of the sack and do a little exercise on a Sunday. For me it was all about humping it so I could then eat all the good stuff all day long while I watched the game, the pre game, the pre-pre game, the post game…. you get the picture.<br /><br />Paseo Park really is a good place to run. It’s basically in <a href="http://www.srpnet.com/water/canals/distances.aspx"><strong>Salt River Project's Arizona Canal</strong></a> at 59th Ave and Thunderbird. The Canal is one of the longer ones in Phoenix and makes for great running, biking, etc trails seeing you don't have to cross any roads (all run underneath for the most part). This part of the Canal makes for a near perfect 5K just by marking out a half way point in the sidewalk for an out an back easy 5K. Kimberly and I have even used this area for our long runs as you can go from 75th all the way to Tempe and more!<br /><br />It was of course well ran, and a nice group showed up considering it’s a small local event. The best was they obviously had the shirts made after the Cardinals had won the Championship game, or they decided to have them changed, because the “Super Sunday” race shirts were customized with support for the Cardinals. How cool is that for a race souvenir (would have been much, much better had they won…).<br /><br />We both ran a <a href="http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/SuperSunday09.htm"><strong>good race</strong></a>, I came in 7th overall and 2nd in my age group with a 21:36 time and Kimberly also took second in her age group (we always seem to do that same thing - thing) at just under 27 minutes. We hung out for a good while afterward. First we plopped down and enjoyed the banana’s and Snicker Protein Bars from the race promoters, and afterward decided to do a little more running and biking – so we just did the same 5K two more times. I figured I could now go home and let the eating in front of the TV begin…..<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-7048398891827839274?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Michael Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-83566003101996570562009-01-22T16:40:00.000-08:002009-03-26T16:43:13.427-07:00P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona 1/2 Marathon – 1/18/2009 by Lisa Ngai<br /><br /><br />This was my very first half marathon, and definitely my biggest race ever, both in terms of distance and sheer number of participants. I went to the Expo on Saturday for packet pick-up and spent at least a couple hours wandering the Expo. It reminded me of college career fairs. I picked up some free goodies and entered a bunch of contests. I also sampled a lot of food, from chocolate milk to apples to saffron yellow rice. Although there were a variety of great vendors, the only things I bought were a couple pairs of Wrightsocks and a commemorative RNR AZ pin.<br />On race day morning, I was lucky enough to be dropped off near the start line and didn’t have to deal with parking or shuttles or bag check. I think I got to the start area around 7:15-7:30. It was cold, but I planned ahead and wore throwaway clothing I bought at Goodwill and Old Navy. At the start area, they had water, coffee, Cytomax, and bananas. I don’t remember if they had any other food. I grabbed a bottle of water and ate the Clif Bar I brought with me.<br />I made a trip to the port-a-potty, took a short jog and stretched, waiting until about 8:25 to leave my throwaway clothes behind and head for my corral. The race was supposed to start at 8:30, but with the wave start it went sooo slowly. I had enough time to hop out of the corral and make another trip to the port-a-potty. It was about 9:00 by the time I officially crossed the start line.<br />I skipped the first water stop around mile 1 because it was way too early for me. Other than a slight ache in my left thigh, I was feeling good and the first few miles were uneventful. I guess I’ll throw in here that I really appreciated all the crowd support along the route. Even though they weren’t cheering specifically for me, it was great just to see people out there cheering. There were a lot fewer cheer squads and bands than I expected. The cheerleaders were very enthusiastic, although there was one group who was chanting something like F-O-P-E and I just couldn’t figure out what they were trying to spell. I’m indifferent on the bands. They were a nice distraction but the music didn’t do anything to motivate me. With all the crowd support, I don’t think I would have missed the bands if they weren’t there.<br />The next water station was around mile 3.5. All the water stations were set up with tables lining both sides of the course. The first tables had Cytomax and the last tables had water. I didn’t realize this and thought they only had Cytomax so I grabbed a cup. Which was fine, because I just waited a little longer before having my first Luna moon. I still haven’t figured out how to drink out of a cup and run without spilling, so I took a short walk break through each of the water stations. I think other than the first one, I hit every water station along the route.<br />Throughout the race, I was running with a decent-sized pack of people. I guess that’s what it’s like when there are over 20,000 participants. The organizers did a good job with the water stations. It was a little tricky trying to maneuver, but could have been much worse. It was impossible to avoid weaving around people completely, but the distance recorded on my Garmin was pretty darn close to 13.1.<br />Between about miles 3.5 and 5.5, I felt this odd tingly sensation in my left foot, like it’s fallen asleep. It’s happened before while I’m running so I wasn’t too worried, but I’m glad it didn’t last the whole rest of the race. One of these days I hope to figure out what causes it.<br />Somewhere around mile 5 or 6, I struck up conversations with a couple people. The first was an elderly man who was wearing a shirt stating that he had completed a marathon in all 50 states. He said that he did it between when he was 50 and 70. And he’s 79 now. I congratulated him on the achievement and said I hope to still be running when I reach that age. The second was a young woman wearing a really cute skirt with two layers of ruffles at the bottom. I asked where she got it and she said it was by Nike. She thought it was a running skirt but was actually a tennis skirt. I checked out the Nike website, and their tennis skirts are definitely cuter than the running skirts. Not fair!<br />I saw quite a few people wearing fun attire for the race. Before the race even started, I saw a couple guys wearing bumble bee costumes. Then during the race I saw someone in a cow costume. There was a kid around 12 or 13 wearing a bright florescent green wig who got a lot of crowd reaction. A lot of people who came together were wearing matching shirts with their group name and/or information about the cause they were running for. Reading people’s shirts helped keep me occupied on the course. I guess that’s a plus for participating in such a large race.<br />Around mile 10 my sporadic training caught up with me and I really started to get tired. I no longer noticed the ache in my left leg very much because the rest of me was hurting as well. My pace slowed, but I kept running except through the water stops. I’ve heard and read how the last part of the race is all mental, but never really comprehended what that meant until I was actually going through it. I forced myself to keep running slowly, although actually it wasn’t too difficult because by then it actually hurt more to walk then run.<br />Somewhere after mile 11, I stopped for water than pulled out my cell phone to call my boyfriend and tell him I was getting close. After that, I just focused on continuing to run to the end. I was so tired at this point that I couldn’t think about anything else but finishing. We ran across a bridge from Phoenix to Tempe, which was a nice change from the previous scenery. I smiled and waved as I passed a photographer, but I guess he didn’t catch me because I didn’t see a photo from the bridge among the rest of my race photos. There were so many people lined up along the fences on the way to the finish line. I tried to look for my boyfriend but couldn’t find him. And somehow he missed seeing me pass too! That was disappointing.<br />Anyway, I crossed the finish line and was so happy to be done… sort of. There was still a lot of walking ahead of me. I got my finisher medal then stood in line to have my photo taken. Somehow I missed where they were handing out the mylar blankets. Not that I really needed one because it was warm by then, but I would have kept it as a souvenir. I grabbed some water and a bottle of Cytomax. My left leg was really hurting so I wandered over to a medical tent. I kind of figured there wasn’t a lot they could do for me. I had just run 13.1 miles… of course I’d be hurting. But I did get the good advice to ingest some salt. The medical person put a packet of salt in my Cytomax. I didn’t taste it at all, but I do think it helped.<br />Overall, it was a great experience for my first half marathon. Although there were a few times, when it was annoying to have such a large crowd of runners, for the most part I enjoyed being out there among all the people having a fun time and aiming for the same goal. I’m glad I chose a big race rather than a small one for my first. And I’m very happy with my finish time of just under 2:24:00.<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-8356600310199657056?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-71591152143159727392009-01-22T00:12:00.000-08:002009-03-15T00:16:09.901-07:00The 1st Annual <a href="http://www.paloma-pta.org/">Paloma PTA 5k</a> was today. I, and about 30 other runners toe'd the line on the Paloma track. Then we hit the streets making a figure 8 around the community.<br /><br />It was probably 50 degrees at the start, but dry and a good morning for racing. About a dozen runners started out quick and the winner won in about 17 minutes. A cross country kid from Desert Vista HS. My first mile was done in 9:01. Boy, would I like to keep that up for an entire race. The graph below shows my half mile splits and you can see I ran slower splits almost the whole race. Miles 2 and 3 were in 9:34 and 10 minutes flat. Still very good for me. The last mile I ran, I did not see anyone behind me. Wow, I was going to run a good race for me and finish last, or so I thought.<br /><br /><br /><p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SWjK_14Ep-I/AAAAAAAAC-w/YLc8HewW1NQ/s1600-h/20090110Paloma+5k.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289700960489482210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 244px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SWjK_14Ep-I/AAAAAAAAC-w/YLc8HewW1NQ/s400/20090110Paloma+5k.JPG" border="0" /></a>I poured it on at the finish, but gave the man in front of me too much of a lead. I finished at 29:20, my second under 30 5k and only 31 seconds off my PR. Turns out, after about 2-3 minutes there were more runners coming in.<br /><br />To my surprise, not only did I get a T shirt, but they had finisher medals too. The same medals they give out in the school events. It was a well run event and I thank the PTA. All the volunteers were nice and helpful. The announcer was calling out names when he could. There was even a gentleman that would run down to the next runner, get the bib number, figure out the name, run back to the announcer, so that he could say the runners name. Plenty of cookies, fruit and drink at the finish line.</p><p>If you are looking for a small race in west Chandler, this could be it. This was the first year, hopefully it will become a yearly thing. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-7159115214315972739?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-58685707741824780622009-01-20T14:47:00.000-08:002009-03-14T15:13:56.500-07:00<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SXY3RC76I1I/AAAAAAAADD4/SEQ7VAZpm70/s1600-h/2009+0118+RnR+AZ+HM1.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293479178006045522" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 322px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SXY3RC76I1I/AAAAAAAADD4/SEQ7VAZpm70/s400/2009+0118+RnR+AZ+HM1.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a name="_MailAutoSig">Mile 1 (10:23):</a><br /><br />30 minutes to start and then an air horn. Not very exciting. Candace and I are running together at a 10:30 pace. Just the speed I want, but Candace is chomping at the bit. Not that she’s a horse, just using the metaphor. Lots of runners, but plenty of room to run. Some weaving, as expected. The first mile went great. My feet would hurt all day, but I expected that. What I didn’t expect was a weird feeling in my right knee. It would go away, but later in the day it was tender.<br /><br />Mile 2(10:15):<br /><br />I shed my sweatshirt onto the sidewalk. Then Candace points out the guy collecting the clothes for Goodwill. Oh well. The run is going well. We are still doing 10:30 miles, but everyone once in a while I see a 9:xx pop up and I have to slow us down. It’s Candace’s first half, so I try to be the sage and not let us flame out in the first half of the race. I was glad we were banking some time. 11 minute miles was the plan and I knew I would need these seconds later on.<br /><br />Mile 3(10:18):<br />I suggest to Candace that we take a walk break. I know I told her that was my plan before. She says she plans to maybe take a break at 4 and 8 miles only. I’m thinking, why didn’t you mention this before today? We agree to part ways and I tell her I’ll catch up later. I’m sure she thought, “right, like that’s gonna happen.”. I knew it too. Good luck, Candace and God’s speed. She finished 5 minutes ahead of me in her first half marathon ever.<br /><br />Mile 4(11:01):<br />I did take about a 20 second break at the 5k water stop. I’ve been doing 10:xx miles and haven’t been spending time taking in any of the scenery. Just running. Said, “Go Boilermakers” to a West Lafayette runner. He appreciated it. Then a little while later I saw a central Ohio runner and said, “Go Buckeyes”. She appreciated it too. Saw a Michigan runner and resisted the idea of tripping her. This was the first plus 11 mpm due to the walk break.<br /><br />Mile 5(10:20):<br />Back on track. Running by myself. Two years ago I remembered checking out all the buildings along McDowell. This year I don’t remember doing that as much. I still saw the weird ‘Chinese lettering’ over the street. It’s not really kanji, but everyone thinks it is.<br /><br />Mile 6(11:38):<br />I get to the half way point and I don’t remember any of the bands, except for the Buddy Holly tribute band and the one band that was on break. I’ve passed 8 bands at this point. None of the water stops volunteers had any crazy costumes. At the full marathon last year, the creativity was great. Water stops and cheer squads had themes. Not so much on the half course this year. My pace has slowed and is up in the mid 11’s. This was to be the first of six straight miles over 11. Don’t know why I didn’t do a little self coaching at this point.<br /><br />Mile 7(11:30):<br />Turning off McDowell onto 44th. I do remember seeing the Chinese Cultural Center. Throughout the entire race the Team In Training fans cheered long and loud. I wore my TnT shirt from the 2007 race when I was a member. Now as an Alum, I appreciate them yelling my name, which was printed on the front. This will probably be the last for this shirt. It’s a bit big on me.<br /><br />Mile 8(11:16):<br />Gu city. This is where they hand out packets of Gu. The volunteers do a great job of yelling out the flavors. I took a vanilla and a tri berry. Ate the tri berry and I still have the vanilla. I had a mint chocolate that I didn’t eat either. For the race I had 5 pieces of Power Bar Gel Blasts. I really like them. One Gu. Half a Gatorade before the race. Seemed to be the right amount. Anyway on mile 8 the road is littered with all these gu packets, then all the water cups. I thought about picking up the packets, because Gu will give you free packets for every so many you mail to them. Gu’s attempt at cleaning up the environment.<br /><br />Mile 9(11:35):<br />Van Buren Street. Or the hill. Think of the crookedest street in the world. You know, the one in San Francisco that all the tourist go to see that’s very steep and very crooked. The Rock ‘N’ Roll HM hill isn’t. It’s a nice incline for a quarter mile or so. It’s one of the few spots on the course where you can see the backs of runners in the distance. I ran some of it and walked some of it.<br /><br />Mile 10(11:48):<br />The race director needed to added some mileage to the course when they had to detour out of downtown Tempe. They did this by having us go down a street and up a parking lot (Oakland A’s stadium lot). It’s a small hill with a band and bathrooms at the top. My family was at the bottom, so I got to spend a couple minutes chatting before I made a bee line for the porta potties. I do appreciate them coming out to the race to see me for less than a minute.<br /><br />Mile 11(11:19):<br />You’re in Papago park, but on a road in an industrial section. Not very scenic. In the distance I could see ‘A’ Mountain. Or the mountain next to the finish line. It looked so close, but still 2 miles away. It seemed it wasn’t getting closer. It’s a slight incline too. I was passing quite a few runners at this point. Seemed like a lot of folks were walking and in the ‘getter done’ mode. Two years ago, I was one of them. I was cramping and miserable. I stopped at a porta potty with no success. It was probably the most miserable I have ever been running. That was then. On this day I was starting to get my groove back.<br /><br />Mile 12(10:59):<br />Up and over the Tempe bridge. All I saw was the pavement. I don’t remember the decorative stone sides. I don’t remember the lake below. I’ve run over this bridge many times and it’s beautiful. Today it was just ground to cover and I needed to run if I wanted a PR. All day I was looking to my garmin to keep pace. I needed 11 minute miles. I’d do the math at every mile and I was ahead for the longest time. Here, on the bridge I knew that if I ran I had a shot at beating 2:27:41. My pace was slightly over 11 mpm, but I knew I had a small cushion. Not enough to walk, however.<br /><br />Mile 13(10:42):<br />You come off the bridge and make a left hand turn onto Rio Salado Av. Lots of fans to run past. It’s my favorite part of the course. You know you are close and you can feed off the cheering. I picked up the pace and was under 10 minute miles, but had to slow down. I still had a ways to go. I kept running. I think I ran the last mile as strong as I could.<br /><br />The last .1(8:40):<br />Off the road and into the parking lot. Lots of fans and cheering. Knowing it was going to be close, I was running in the 8’s. I was weaving around folks and I didn’t care about the finish photo or anything but the time on my garmin. I did see the gun clock read 2:5x:xx. My garmin read 2:25:xx and I knew I had a PR. As I’m walking after I got my medal, it hit me. The garmin didn’t account for my family visit or the porta potty. I must have missed the PR. What did the gun clock say. I think it said 2:59, minus the 30 minute late start and my time will be 2:29. No PR. I stopped in my tracks. NO PR! I missed it by a few minutes. I recalculated. No way I spent 4 minutes with the family and in the porta potty. It would be close and I’ll find out at home.<br /><br />The Ride Home: I thought about the race and how I felt like I ran a smart even race. I was ok with it, regardless of the PR question. I planned to stop at Firehouse Subs to get a sandwich and then go watch the Cardinals play for the NFC Championship(on tv). Then I realized the sub shop has tv’s and they’ll be watching the game. I dvr’d it and didn’t want to know the score. I ended up going to Baja Fresh instead. Got home and immediately went to the computer where I learned that indeed I PR’d by 18 seconds. The fish tacos I had couldn’t have tasted better.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-5868570774182478062?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-61034021537691979052009-01-19T17:46:00.000-08:002009-03-14T23:56:49.268-07:00<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbymqZvoceI/AAAAAAAADdg/xwYeYeH72Tk/s1600-h/miller+changs0109.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313304907785728482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 319px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbymqZvoceI/AAAAAAAADdg/xwYeYeH72Tk/s400/miller+changs0109.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Race: PF Chang’s Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon by Mike Miller<br />January 18th, 2009<br /><br />Well… after several months of training and hard work Kimberly is officially a “half-marathoner”. Of course we are talking about the PF Chang Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon held here in Phoenix which she had a great run that was surrounded by a whole couple days of running focused fun. I too actually ended up running the race with her. Originally Clay was going to come into town to race and I was going to be the drop-off man, but he had an injury that kept him sidelined until just recently, so I stepped in.<br /><br />The whole thing was more of experience surrounding the sport of running than a race per se. In fact, I would say things kicked off on Friday. You are required to pick up your race bib and packet before the race at the fitness Expo that runs Friday and Saturday. Knowing it would way crazy busy Saturday we headed downtown on Friday lunchtime. The expo was at the Phoenix convention center and was actually quite a lot of fun. After getting our bibs and packets we walked around all the booths. It was nice because almost everything was really related to running. The biggest was all the PF Chang’s official race cloths. Sadly most of the items just did not fit Kimberly, so she ended up with just a hat and a shirt that is more to wear than run in (of course you do get a regular t-shirt in your race packet too).<br /><br />Some of the highlights of the Expo was the Cliff Bar booth (hey I got a free bar and you know I live on those), the ‘nutrition designed specifically for you via a DMA profile’ booth (cool), the ‘one more mile’ booth that has a ton of cool saying running gear, and finding some rub on ibuprofen. The show was actually so big a couple of hours flew by before we got out of there.<br /><br />With an early morning wake up coming Sunday, we wanted to have a chilled out day Saturday so we decided to walk around old town Scottsdale. They had a special Art Walk for the Race and I was able to have lunch with a friend and business acquaintance that was in from Portland. It was a beautiful day and I think we spent several hours walking the shops and checking out the art before heading back to our side of town for dinner at Buca Di Beppo.<br /><br />When deciding to do the race Kimberly joined a running group up at our club, and the group was all getting together (I guess as is tradition) the night before the race for a dinner together. They are some great folks on ‘the team that Kimberly has really gotten to know (and me too somewhat) over the last few months. The dinner was early (for obvious reasons), we all enjoyed some ‘pump up’ conversation, carbed’ up on a ton of pasta and bread and called it a night about 7:00 or so. We got home, laid out all our stuff – which is a ton, you would be surprised – and hopped in bed with hopes of actually getting SOME SLEEP before having to wake up at 4:00 tomorrow and head to Tempe. I emphasize try to get sleep because for both Kimberly and me it seems so hard to sleep the night before something like this. Kind of like Kids on Christmas Eve I suppose. But unlike Xmas Eve, we had to run 13.1 miles starting less than 11 hours time we finally crawled under the sheets.<br /><br />Luckily, we both fell asleep fairly early for us and actually got about 4 hours sleep before we decided to get up (15 minutes before the alarms went off – not sure why we even bother to set them). We pounded the oatmeal, packed the car, and did everything else and were out the door headed to Tempe about 5 minutes after 5:00am.<br /><br />Seeing the race is a point-to-point race, you have to park at the end (Tempe) and then get shuttled to the starting area (Downtown Phoenix). We got parked an on the bus without much issue. After a grueling 45 minutes we finally got off the bus in Downtown. We had the stinkin’ heater seats and as cold as it was outside we were about dying of heat on the bus before she turned it off at my request (I was sweating!). Being a little spoiled we headed over to a pre arranged location called Stage Rock. Basically it was a boxing gym with attached tents near the race start. The good was it had heat, bathrooms that you could get into within a minute (versus the 30 minute wait plus around the start line) and a good place to stretch, etc. We enjoyed it for sure and I think it helped having an inside place the last hour before the race to relax and have a coffee.<br /><br />Thirty minutes before the race we started heading over toward the start. I needed to use the bathroom but with 30 minute waits and (was was by then) only 15 minutes before the gun, it wasn’t going to happen. Hopefully next year they get more facilities! Anyway, with 26 ‘corrals’ (places you are assigned from the start based on projected finish times) we darn near were running to get to ours. Kimberly was in 10 and I was in 4. When we got to corral 10, we had a kiss and I reminded her (and myself) to enjoy. This was going to be a riot. Yes it was something that would be tough for old folks like us, but we trained for it and we were going to enjoy soaking it all in.<br /><br />13.1 Miles, a lot of bands, a ton of smiles, and a couple hours later Kimberly and I ran into one another again at the gear pick up area where we planned to meet. Each of us were wearing our finisher medals and a couple of big grins. It was really a special experience. Kimberly said for sure her favorite race that we have done to date. I dug the vibe of Bisbee maybe a little more but this was way special for me too. We both had remembered to soak in the experience of doing our first (of what I am sure will be many more) half marathon. We smiled, slapped the hands of the young well wishers along the run and huffed and puffed our way to some pretty decent times for old folks like us :-). There is no doubt this will be an annual thing for us. So next year, put it on your calendar and come out an join us.<br /><br />BTW have I mentioned: I am proud of my woman!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nickelandanail.com/Picture_Gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=58257">Race Photos</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-6103402153769197905?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-5500826847080252022009-01-11T15:02:00.000-08:002009-04-01T15:04:01.664-07:00<img src="http://www.nickelandanail.com/MillerBlog/images/troopsrun0109.jpg" class="alignleft" alt="We Support Our Troops Race" align="left" /><br /><br /><br />When we did the Frosty’s Race in December we saw a little flier for an upcoming run that was in support of the <a href="http://www.avhof.org/content.aspx?page_id=0&club_id=501042"><strong>Arizona Veteran Program Association</strong></a> scholarship fund. Being it was to be held at <a href="http://phoenix.gov/PARKS/r11.html"><strong>Scottsdale Reach 11 Park</strong></a>, has a dirt track, supported a great cause, and was fairly close meant of course we had to do it. So another early rise Sunday morning it was.<br /><br />The Reach 11 Horse Lovers Park really is a great place to run. Like all races here the run starts out on a little paved loop then heads you out in the dirt. Today the trail had much less water and mud spots to avoid versus the Frosty’s run. Plus it was a little warmer for the start – but still chilly pre-race. Overall a nice sunny day though and great morning for a run.<br /><br />It was pretty cool to see a bunch of current military guys there for the run, including a couple older gents that were obviously veterans. In fact jumping forward for a second I think having the military youngin’s there helped push me as over the last couple hundred yards of the race I was neck and neck sprinting with a Marine.<br /><br />So a fairly typical 5K race, well ran but the local <a href="http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com"><strong>Arizona Running Events</strong></a> folks again, but with one big exception. Kimberly and I of course got the Garmin watches for each other for Christmas that show distance ran among other things. So it was with much surprise that when we came up to the 1 mile marker on the trail and I looked at my watch, it showed like 1.3 miles. This then seemed to be the case the rest of the race. When my watch showed we hit the 5K (3.1 Miles) we were still well out on the trail with another looked like mile to go! This may not seem like too big an issue as we of course run longer, but your body tends to pick a speed based on distance. And at 3.1 Miles my body said ‘hey we gave you the 3.1 mile speed and there is not much more there old man’. So needless to say, the last bit to the finish line was a little more ‘heart beats’ than normal. <br /><br />At the finish line everyone was talking about the distance being longer than a 5K. I figured when they did the awards and such that they would tell us it was longer because the military always “goes the extra mile for us” so we did the same or something like that. Well, not really, seems it was really nothing more than a boo-boo on the distance marking that morning. The total distance ended up being 3.95 Miles so over 6K even.<br /><br />The best news about the race is I finally got my first <a href="http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/Supportour%20troops09.htm"><strong>1st place showing</strong></a> in my group (Kimberly already had one from another). Kimberly placed 2nd too. After the event there was a nice raffle, some good food and a chance to say hello to some of the troops. Hard to beat starting a Sunday morning like this….<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-550082684708025202?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Michael Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-10848961240605848822009-01-01T14:08:00.000-08:002009-03-27T14:13:19.232-07:00New Year's Day 5k by Reid Axman.<br /><br />Sure, it's a little late, but I haven't written a race report for a really long time, so I had to get it in here.After we had registered for this race, I realized that I had only done a total of two races in 2008 (not counting the virtual races). There was Boston in April and the 1 Mile Race in August, and that was it. I did a lot of running, made a lot of progress, reached an awesome goal, but only ran 2 actual races. So, I was really looking forward to racing again. I sort of felt like a newbie again. A little bit of nervousness before the start, but after the gun went off, it was all familiar territory.<br /><br />This race was a lot of fun. We had Lani's sister and her family in town for a visit. Her husband, who has really gotten into running last year (and gotten really fast, and possibly more obsessed with running than I am), also ran it with his 16 year old son. Lani and my oldest both ran the mile, with the youngest in the stroller. My daughter got to try out her new running shoes she got for Christmas (unfortunately, she was a little grumpy that morning and didn't actually do a whole lot of running).<br /><br />The race started in Papago Park and headed out along a canal in an out-and-back course. My goal was to keep my mile splits under 7 minutes. I felt that was pretty attainable despite only returning to running from about a two month layoff about 3 weeks before. That turned out to not be much of a problem with all three splits being around 6:40. I was pretty surprised when I only counted about 11 runners ahead of me at the turn around. A couple sped by me shortly after I made the turn, but I caught both of them before the finish (I also caught up to Lani and the girls as they were finishing the mile. I could tell my daughter wasn't too happy as I got no response to my cheering her on). I ended up with a time of 20:42, good enough for 10th overall and 1st in my age group. Not too shabby. I really wasn't expecting to be first place. But hey, I'll take it. It wasn't too long before my bro-in-law and his son finished. My nephew was obviously feeling it, but his dad enjoyed a nice easy run before his first marathon, which took place on the 3rd. I was actually going to do it with him until I hurt my knee and had to postpone that idea. Sorry about that. That race didn't go as well as he had hoped. He started feeling really sick the day before, and still wasn't feeling good during the race, but he still did it! The first time is always a learning experience. I'm just glad it didn't turn him off from marathons. I still want to run one with him someday. His new rule: "Never eat egg salad sandwich the day before a race."<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-1084896124060584882?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-9515174183532351742008-12-22T00:17:00.000-08:002009-03-15T00:20:46.311-07:00<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQw3iJabI/AAAAAAAAC0o/Af8DaBdOId0/s1600-h/100_3245.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279855676121246130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQw3iJabI/AAAAAAAAC0o/Af8DaBdOId0/s400/100_3245.jpg" border="0" /></a> It's my favorite half marathon, period. Today, I ran the the Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon in Scottsdale for the second year in a row. Most other races, I might have stayed in bed. The weather forecast was for rain. My heel didn't feel 100% or even 80%.<br /><br />But, this was the Fiesta Bowl. Bigger than Texas v. Ohio State. It's my final race for 2008. It was my final race for 2007 (funny, in 2006 my final race was the Holiday Bowl 5k in San Diego).<br /><br />The start and finish line are at the Scottsdale Center for Performing Arts and they have a wonderful sculpture garden. I got a "LOVE" shot after the race.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQoZMGTnI/AAAAAAAAC0g/Xoo_WzgPhXo/s1600-h/100_3227.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279855530536750706" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQoZMGTnI/AAAAAAAAC0g/Xoo_WzgPhXo/s400/100_3227.jpg" border="0" /></a> The finish line festival is around one of the fountains. Here's a shot right after I finished the race. The race started at 7:30 am under clear skies. I didn't feel a drop of rain the entire day. It was cool, maybe 50 degrees at the most. I started with one of my famous 'goodwill throw away' sweatshirts and got to run with Karen and Christina for a bit. I, also, got to see Chad who was running the 5k. We started 2 minutes after the gun (not that we heard it). Karen said I could go on, as I was hoping to get a PR (I always do), so after running a bit with the TRC (Tumbleweed Running Club) I looked at my garmin and headed south of an 11 mpm pace.<br /><br />According to garmin, the Fiesta Bowl course is 94% flat. The other 6% are speed bumps (well, the hills were not an issue). Five miles up Scottsdale rd, across Gainey Ranch (a nice subdivision) and then back home along the Indian Bend Wash (home of the SF Giants, at least in March). I love to look around as I run in new areas, so much to see. I've driven these roads, but you miss a lot at faster speeds.<br /><br />Six of the first seven miles were at 11 mpm or less. Mile 7 was at 9:57. I have no ideal why. My feet felt fine and I wasn't having any issues with getting winded or tired legs. I was taking some walk breaks and conserving my energy. I knew I hadn't logged enough training miles (better to spare the heel, then train too much). But the last six miles were a bit slower.<br /><br />Not to bore you with the details, but my left heel started to be a constant pain and I didn't deal with overcoming it like I should. I would run some, then walk some and watch all the people I pass, pass me by.<br /><br />I ended up finishing the race around 2:32:44, five minutes slower than my PR. I'm ok with that time. It could have been much worse. I didn't stop at the McDonalds for a Big Mac around mile 10 and I didn't stop at the Circle K for a bag of fried pork rinds at my 12 (I don't really like them anyway). I made my way to the finish, just like Karen in the picture below.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQiOFGldI/AAAAAAAAC0Y/LTMerL6sERs/s1600-h/100_3229.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279855424475403730" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQiOFGldI/AAAAAAAAC0Y/LTMerL6sERs/s400/100_3229.jpg" border="0" /></a> Karen, got a PR and was happy. She didn't have any leg issues and you couldn't tell she had just finished 13.1 miles. She did great.<br /><br />Christina ran her first half marathon, therefore she too got a PR. Two out of three TRC runners got PR's today, which ain't bad (ain't ain't a word, so don't use ain't).<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQZUTE5PI/AAAAAAAAC0Q/mUq124Ldl98/s1600-h/100_3232.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279855271525803250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQZUTE5PI/AAAAAAAAC0Q/mUq124Ldl98/s400/100_3232.jpg" border="0" /></a> Here's the TRC - Christina, Karen, Pat. The medals this year are the same as last year, but bigger and thicker. Metal must be cheaper this year.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQTUwmkqI/AAAAAAAAC0I/POkUWHGZn-Y/s1600-h/100_3234.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279855168570430114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQTUwmkqI/AAAAAAAAC0I/POkUWHGZn-Y/s400/100_3234.jpg" border="0" /></a> Christina getting a back rub by the fine folks at Massage Envy.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQMSjxfFI/AAAAAAAAC0A/WKXEQFpyrN0/s1600-h/100_3236.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279855047720664146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SUXQMSjxfFI/AAAAAAAAC0A/WKXEQFpyrN0/s400/100_3236.jpg" border="0" /></a> If it looks painful, it probably is. But, I'm sure it was good for me. Here's Amber removing my bothersome left leg. </div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-951517418353235174?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-68259493974066998332008-12-21T15:04:00.000-08:002009-04-01T15:06:25.944-07:00<img src="http://www.nickelandanail.com/MillerBlog/images/frostysrun1208.jpg" class="alignleft" alt="Frosty's Run" align="left" /><br /><br />They call the race ‘<strong>Frosty’s Run</strong>’ and this morning it felt aptly named. We Kimberly and I first arrived at Horse Lover’s Park (Reach 11) in Scottsdale I think the temperature was in the low 40’s. It was clear and it warmed up real quick, but definitely one of those Scottsdale Winter mornings we get here – clear and cold! <br /><br />The race was the 3rd annual event for “Health and Hope’ and is supportive of a local Hospice for the Valley. The run covers 10 miles and is as of this date the longest competitive run the we have done (a few longer in training of course). The course is basically packed dirt in the park and an ‘out-n-back’ track for the 10 miles. With the exception of some occasional puddle hopping or avoiding and minor up and downs it really is a great trail to run. Nearly like the road, but with much less stress on the knee dirt.<br /><br />About 350 showed up for the two events, there was a 2 mile fun run too, and it was well managed by the <a href="http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com"><strong>Arizona Running Events Co.</strong></a> Those guys always seem to do a good job with these local races and the guy on the mic is also always good for a couple of good morning chuckles which also helps when you are cold and tired still.<br /><br />We were really using the event as our training ‘long run’ for the week for the upcoming PF Chang Half Marathon so we did not push too hard. Still we had a <a href="http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/Frosty%202008.htm"><strong>decent showing</strong></a> as I came in with a time of 1:21 and Kimberly finished in an 1:35.<br /><br />We will be there next year – with scarves and gloves I am sure.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-6825949397406699833?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Michael Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-87713620041227303942008-12-20T19:59:00.000-08:002009-03-15T20:00:47.134-07:00Race Report: Fiesta Bowl 5k by Chad Sayban.<br /><br />I woke up a bit before 5am, dressed and headed out into the cold morning. It was in the low 40s and the air was very dry with overcast sky's. It's funny, the Fiesta Bowl itself is at the new stadium, which is only about 10 miles from my house. But the Fiesta Bowl race is clear over in Scottsdale - about 35 miles away. I'm selfish, but I think they should move it over near the stadium (sorry to all my eastside Phoenix friends.) I dressed in a few layers and I'm glad I did because it felt really cold walking to where the registration was. The wind was blowing and it was really feeling cold in the darkness. I grabbed my race number and packet and headed back to the car to get ready. This race was a first for me because they were using the D-Tags for timing the race. Basically it is a disposable timing chip that loops through the laces of your shoe. You don't have to give it back at the end of the race either. It's the future of race timing for sure.<br /><br /><br /><br />I went for my warmup and felt pretty good. About that time the wind stopped and it felt pretty good. I had a long-sleeved racing shirt and shorts and gloves. The only thing I wished I had was a cap to keep my ears warm. Santa is coming - I might just need one of those. I felt comfortable as I stretched. I then ran into Pat and Pokie who were preparing for the half marathon that went off just before my race. It was really great to talk to you guys and I hope you had great races today.<br /><br />The start was pretty crowded, but it opened up really quickly. We had the entire road to use for the first half mile or so and that let everyone spreadout. I was running along at a pretty fast pace, but my legs felt good. We made the first turn and I tried to settle into a maintainable pace, but kept pushing pretty hard.<br /><br />Mile 1: 7:14<br /><br />I was a bit faster through the first mile than I felt I could sustain, but I knew I had gone out fast initially, so I stuck with how hard I was running hoping I could sustain it. We made another turn and we ended up on a bike path. At this point I had a scraggly looking older guy come up along side of me and then pass me. As the path wound around, I noticed that he kept running off the path onto the grass to 'short' the course. Now, I'm all for running the tangents of a course because that's what the course is measured to, but running onto the grass to cut yards off is bad running etiquette (not to mentioned cheating). Anyway, I kept my effort steady and before the end of the second mile he was behind me and I never saw him again. Karma, baby!<br /><br />Mile 2: 7:35<br /><br />I expected a slower second mile than the first because of my fast first half mile and I wasn't disappointed. At this point in the race, I was still about 20 seconds ahead of my pace from my last 5k. I knew that a PR wasn't going to happen even before the race started. I haven't put in those kinds of training speeds yet, but I was looking at my fastest time since coming back - and I haven't even gotten rid of all the weight I want to yet.<br /><br />I could feel that I was tiring a bit now. I latched onto a lady in front of me and mentally let her pull me along. I figured we could just hold pace together to the end. The course made a left turn on the street and there were about 8,000 cones showing the way to go. This lady decided to cut straight across the cones and ran probably about 20 yards less than I did. What the #$%&amp; is going on around here? Don't these people have any respect for rules. Well, I had figured on letting her finish in front of me since she was helping drag me along, but after that little maneuver I was like 'uh, uh.' See you missy.<br /><br />Mile 3: 7:43<br />Mile 3.1: 0:42<br /><br />Official Race Time: 23:15 (7:30 avg)<br /><br />A really good race, especially since I actually ran 6 miles yesterday. I am still struggling to maintain pace the whole way through the race, but I ended up finishing a full 31 seconds faster than the race on Thanksgiving Day. I knew that sub-23 probably was out of reach today. I was training through this race with my target 5k being next Sunday's ARR Classic race, which will be my last race of 2008. Still, I really felt good out there and raced well, in spite of all the people who seemed to be rule-challenged on the course. The good news is they all finished behind me. More karma, baby.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-8771362004122730394?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-51586175913164537152008-12-10T19:55:00.000-08:002009-03-15T19:57:37.249-07:00Race Report: Desert Classic 5k by Chad Sayban<br /><br /><br />Between the cold I dealt with all week and the tightness in my right quad forced me to change my plan for this race. Originally, this was to be my goal 5k. Instead, it turned into a fun run. It was pretty cold when I arrived (about 38 degrees). Since I wasn't going to run the race all out, I opted to keep my warmups on for the race. The race includes a 30k, a 5k and a 30k relay. I staged myself somewhere in the middle and waited for the start so we could get warm. About a half mile into the race, I was just cruising along, but I had a problem. Loud grunting runner dude decided that he wanted to run right behind me. I slowed down a bit to let him past, but he just stayed right there. If this isn't a good argument to use an Ipod during a race, I don't know what is. So in spite of my sore leg, I speed up for about a minute. No more grunting. I'm at peace again. I make the turnaround at the out and back and just about get run over by a couple of people continuing on the 30k. No problem. I'm not in a hurry so no biggie. Then at the 2 mile mark it's Return of the Grunter. He caught back up to me. So I figure that won't be a big deal. He is obviously running faster than me so he will just go right by. Wrong. He settles in right behind me again. Now I'm starting to wonder if he has the hots for me. My leg doesn't feel like doing anymore, so I practically come to a complete stop and he finally wonders past me in a total haze. The rest of the run was good because it's all downhill on the way back in.<br /><br /><br /><br />I didn't even get an official time when I crossed. I was somewhere around 26 minutes I think. But more important was that I had a nice morning run, saw some friends and had a good start to the morning.<br /><br /><br />I've been spending the better part of the afternoon loading all of my music onto our new computer. I have a ton, so it's taking a really long time. But it's nice to have a computer where I have the space to store all of it and listen to it.<br /><br /><br />I hope everyone is having a great weekend and your holiday shopping is going well.<br /><br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />-Chad<br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-5158617591316453715?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-19300454379674154502008-11-25T20:01:00.000-08:002009-03-15T20:22:14.855-07:00Race Report: ARR Thanksgiving Classic 5k by Chad Sayban.<br /><br /><br />At 5am, long before the break of dawn, I awoke to the sound of heavy rain and lightning. Oooff. Not exactly the conditions I was hoping for. But after 12 years of living in the desert, I have learned that storms have a way of ending abruptly here. Besides, I was going to run the race in anything short of the aforementioned lightning and I figured it wouldn't last long. It were still three hours until the start.<br /><br />After a quick shower, I dressed in several layers of gear. I wasn't sure what the conditions would be so I wanted to be prepared for whatever nature would throw at me. I ate a Clif Bar and a bottle of Gatorade and headed out into the wet morning.<br /><div align="left"><br />It rained some on the way to the Peoria Sports Complex, but by the time I got there it had stopped. In fact, as I got out of the car, there were broken clouds overhead and clearing skies to the west. The weather looked promising.<br /><br />The race includes a 10-mile, a 5k and a 1-mile walk and has been around for more than 30 years, so it draws a big crowd. One of the great parts about having it at one of the spring training stadiums is that there is plenty of parking and full use of the stadium bathrooms. No porta potties needed at this race. I collected my race number, chip and t-shirt and headed back to my car. I had my race singlet, shorts, gloves and arm warmers as I began my warmup. I ran a mile and stretched. By the time I finished, I realized that I wasn't going to need anything other than the singlet and shorts. It was in the mid-50s and plenty warm enough. In fact, it was just about perfect with very little breeze. The 10-milers were sent off at 8 sharp and I did some strides during the 15-minutes before our start.<br /><br /><strong>The race</strong><br /><br /><br />The gap across the starting mat was pretty narrow with such a large crowd of runners (632 finishers), but it opened up onto a wide road. I staged myself near the front to get through it quickly and then went wide and found my pace. The first half mile is on one of the roads leading into the main complex and then out briefly to 75th Avenue. New this year, the 5k route didn't follow the 10-mile along the paved path. Instead, it turned and run along the packed dirt next to the canal. Fortunately, the rain hadn't made it too soft. We probably lost a little time on this mile and a half long stretch, but not too much. I knew I was pushing a pretty fast pace for my current fitness as I hit the first mile mark.<br /><br /><br />Mile 1: 7:27<br /><br /><br />Yep, even faster than my fastest quarter mile intervals to date. I knew I couldn't hold this pace the whole way, especially since I knew we had a gradual uphill waiting on the way back. We had a small pack of runners at the turnaround, but I ended up in front of all of them. I don't know if I have some special talent for getting back up to speed faster than other runners, but this seems to happen whenever there is a change of direction in a race (see my last race report where I left a large group behind at the top of a steep hill.) We headed back and I saw the huge groups of people still headed towards the turnaround. I wanted to make sure they all remained comfortably behind me.<br /><br /><br />Mile 2: 7:43<br /><br /><br />I knew I had slowed from the first mile pace, but I ended up slowing a bit more than I anticipated. I was still under what I needed to hit my goal of sub-24 minutes, but it was closing up quickly and I was now fighting to maintain as we came back out on to the pavement. There were two runners who were passing others right in front of me and I mentally latched on to them, letting them pull me along. I would eventually pass them both near the end, but for now I was happy to let them drag me towards the finish. It was at this point that we began the long circle around the stadium, which includes about a half mile of steady incline. I dug down and tried to find whatever was left to maintain pace. I passed a bunch of fading runners as I spotted the 3-mile marker and accelerated.<br /><br /><br />Mile 3: 7:52<br /><br /><br />I passed my two leaders and a couple of others who couldn't respond to my late surge. As I came up on the finish, there were a few of the 1-mile walkers. Right at the line one of them decided to cut right across in front of me and I nearly wiped out both of us on the slick pavement. Fortunately, I tap danced past her and finished.<br /><br /><br />Mile 3.1: :43<br /><br /><br />Official Race Time: 23:46 (7:39 pace)<br />104 out of 632, 10 out of 39 in AG<br /><br /><br />In all, a really good race for me. I don't think I could have done anything more with my current fitness. The average pace for 3.1mile was the same as my interval pace for 1/4 miles a week before. I will get faster. I have a solid training plan and as I continue to lose weight, my speed will increase and my fitness will get better.<br /><br /><br /></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-1930045437967415450?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-25961448994046807082008-11-25T14:26:00.000-08:002009-03-27T14:29:07.008-07:00<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SS8CAjPbxBI/AAAAAAAACwM/5hbljClTHYg/s1600-h/100_3171.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273435897157370898" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SS8CAjPbxBI/AAAAAAAACwM/5hbljClTHYg/s400/100_3171.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Rain was in the forecast and as I went to get the paper in the morning the ground was wet. But, the sky was clear. Here's a picture of the start of this years Mesa Turkey Trot. Three races were on the schedule. A one and two mile untimed fun run, followed by the 39th running of the 10k race.<br /></div><div>The course is a nice one. A two mile loop around the park on closed streets, then about four miles thru a neighborhood and on Power Road, a busy thoroughfare that is half closed. Thousands of runners make it a fun race.<br /></div><div>My plan was to do 10 minute miles. All six of them and to finish strong to come in under the 1 hour and 2 minute mark. Maybe get under 1 hour. In 2006 I did this race in 1:11. Last year was my PR of 1:07:59 at this race. This would be my fourth 10k race and I was hoping to PR.</div><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SS7_-nhtYEI/AAAAAAAACwE/Nf_jH8y01I0/s1600-h/Mesa+Turkey+Trot_112708_001.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273433664924770370" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SS7_-nhtYEI/AAAAAAAACwE/Nf_jH8y01I0/s400/Mesa+Turkey+Trot_112708_001.JPG" border="0" /></a> You can see it was overcast at the start. But, I didn't think it would rain on us. I shedded my sweatshirt and left it at the start. I felt sluggish in the beginning, but was running in the 9's, so I just kept at it and figured I'd find out what I had. Lot's of traffic, so I ended up weaving in and out and around runners, strollers and walkers. My first mile was done in 9.41. A good time for a 10k race.</div><div></div><div>The road we start on has lots of desert shoulder to run on and lots of runners where taking advantage of it. The problem was that they were also off course and not running the full 10k. I kept on the street and stayed on the course. No big deal. My second mile was done in 9.32. I was actually getting faster. I figured I was banking my time for later. A lady passed me with a jog stroller. Music blaring. Not my choice of artists, but it was nice to hear. Too bad she was faster than me. I never saw her again. </div><div> </div><div></div><div>Mile 3 was done in 10.49. Took a quick walk break around 2.5 mark. I was congested a bit and that left me a bit winded. Mile 4 was done in 11.04. Another walk break and I ate a GU. Vanilla Bean. I've been eating a few more carbs, so running out of gas was not a worry for me this time.</div><div> </div><div></div><div>Being well rested, I cranked it up a bit and ran a 10.37 and a 10.34. I actually ran some 8 minute fartlek's in between some walk breaks. It's nice to run that fast late in the race, but I can't sustain it for a long stretch. I was playing leap frog with about 20 runners.<br /><br /></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SS7_5MK4v0I/AAAAAAAACv8/It2ZLp0ELS4/s1600-h/Mesa+Turkey+Trot_112708_005.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273433571681943362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SS7_5MK4v0I/AAAAAAAACv8/It2ZLp0ELS4/s400/Mesa+Turkey+Trot_112708_005.JPG" border="0" /></a> The last portion of the race is in Red Mountain Park. It has a beautiful lake and lots of grassy areas. I kicked in in gear and did the last .2 at a 7.59 pace. It's tough to do because you're running on a concrete sidewalk (see picture) and there's not much room to pass people.</div><div> </div><div></div><div align="left">Today, for the second race in a row I PR'd. My finish time was 1:04:36. I bettered last years time by 3.23.<br /><br /></div><div align="center">The New D Tags</div><div align="center"><br /></div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SS7_wS08NfI/AAAAAAAACv0/QwZJE5kcnbs/s1600-h/DTag_112708_002.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273433418850121202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SS7_wS08NfI/AAAAAAAACv0/QwZJE5kcnbs/s400/DTag_112708_002.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />This race used the new disposable D Tags. It comes on your race bib and you just loop it onto your shoe laces. No need to collect them after the race. Mine is still on my shoe.<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SS7_nmHlPPI/AAAAAAAACvs/kysM60MZFB4/s1600-h/Race+11-27-2008,+Split+pace.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273433269409758450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SS7_nmHlPPI/AAAAAAAACvs/kysM60MZFB4/s400/Race+11-27-2008,+Split+pace.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;">Here's hoping that any of you with races today had a great day and a great race. And for everyone I wish a Happy Thanksgiving and lots of good health.<br /></span><div><br /> </div></div></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2596144899404680708?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-655065915596031082008-11-22T14:14:00.000-08:002009-03-27T14:17:21.267-07:00Turkey Trot &amp; Dairy Air Dash Volunteer Report by Reid Axman<br /><br /><br />A few weeks ago, I thought to myself, "Maybe my knee will be well enough by then to run this race." I ended up deciding that I didn't want to risk anything, so I thought to myself, "Maybe I'll volunteer for this race." I was also thinking that this race was going to be on the day of Thanksgiving since it is a "Turkey Trot." As it turned out, it was the weekend before, and I had already made plans to go on a campout with the boy scouts, so the volunteering was out of the question. Well, earlier this week, I found out that the campout had to be canceled. Bummer. I was looking forward to that. Then, with other things going on, I had forgotten about the Turkey Trot until last night as I was getting into bed. Then I thought, "I'm gonna go and volunteer." So I set my alarm and got up early and headed over to the race to offer up my services.<br /><br />It was a pretty small race (maybe 50-60 runners), so there were already plenty of volunteers. But hey, the more the merrier, right? I was able to help out at the registration table handing out shirts and goodie bags. I was surprised to see how many people from church I saw there for the race. It was pretty cool to see all their friendly faces. After the 5k started, I was given the task of timing the 1 mile fun Runners--all 2 of them. Once they finished, I went over to the 5k finish and cheered everyone on as they crossed the line. I was kind of surprised to see the first place finisher come in just under 23 minutes. I'm used to seeing the winners of 5ks coming in around 15 minutes. Seeing that made me wish I had run the race. Next year, for sure.<br /><br />This was another great opportunity to help out in the community. This injury has helped me to give a little back to running. I've really enjoyed helping out at these races. I'm planning on another Turkey Trot next week (actually on Thanksgiving Day), and I also signed up to help out at the expo for the Arizona RNR Marathon in January. For those of you running that race, I'll be there Saturday morning. I'm not sure yet what they'll have me doing, but I'll fill you in on the details as it gets closer.<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-65506591559603108?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-86284772157157556322008-11-20T14:31:00.000-08:002009-03-27T14:32:37.957-07:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SSh6XZfxFUI/AAAAAAAACuw/lDHSREU3EBk/s1600-h/100_3104.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271597906236872002" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SSh6XZfxFUI/AAAAAAAACuw/lDHSREU3EBk/s400/100_3104.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>What the heck. My 5k race I was going to run was cancelled. So, I thought I'd run the Arizona <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Ironman</span>..<br /><br />What, you say. You can't do that without training. It's 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running.<br /><br />Sorry, I guess I got you confused. I ran the Arizona <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Ironman</span> 5k. It's the charity race the day before the triathletes take the stage.<br /><br />It was pretty cool. We started at the new Tempe Arts Center and ran along the Tempe Town Lake. There were about 225 runners and the weather was ideal. Maybe in the 60's. I think most of the runners were family of a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">triathlete</span> that will be racing tomorrow.<br /><br />I got to meet Paul from Houston. His daughter and son in law are racing tomorrow. He and I ran this morning. I told him I really wanted a sub 30 minute race. But, I've been having <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">tendinitis</span> issues with my left foot. The good news is my legs are well rested. The bad news is, I'm not sure how my foot will hold up. My plan was to do a 9 minute first mile, followed by a 9:30 and a 10 minute mile. That would get me under the goal of 30 minutes. I, in fact did a 9:10 first mile followed by a 9:41 second. I was feeling really good and ran the entire way, except for a water stop around 1.6 mile mark. Maybe 20 seconds worth of walking and drinking. The second mile was rolling hills (three of them - just like Boston). Just kidding, the hills were maybe 30 yards in length and were not an issue.<br /><br />In mile three I watched as a man about my age was in front of me. I figured I better get ahead of him if I wanted any hope of a medal. Heck, it's just good practice to race against the closest runners to you. I tracked him down and was within 40 yards of him when we started the final portion of the race. I did mile three in 9:15 and as we turned onto Rio Salado and saw the finish line I pour on the gas. My pace for the last 1/10 of a mile was a blistering 6:57. I speed past bib # 99 and finished at the same spot the triathletes will be finishing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">IMAZ</span> tomorrow. Turns out #99 wasn't in my AG, but was 2 groups older.<br /><br />My previous PR was 30:16 and today I finished in 28:49 (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">garmin</span> time). A new PR and under 30 minutes. You can click on the graphs below to see a map and my splits.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SSgzgByQnuI/AAAAAAAACug/jLqkGBxngW0/s1600-h/Ironman+5k.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271519989165235938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 246px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SSgzgByQnuI/AAAAAAAACug/jLqkGBxngW0/s400/Ironman+5k.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SSgzGKwMC_I/AAAAAAAACuY/KWzBWHDPEAo/s1600-h/Race+-+Tempe+Town+Lake+11-22-2008,+Split+pace.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271519544895867890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SSgzGKwMC_I/AAAAAAAACuY/KWzBWHDPEAo/s400/Race+-+Tempe+Town+Lake+11-22-2008,+Split+pace.jpg" border="0" /></a> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271595675270418642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SSh4Vif6kNI/AAAAAAAACuo/q3En1k5iZKQ/s400/Race+-+Tempe+Town+Lake+11-22-2008,+Pace+-+Distance.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>Good luck to all those athletes competing in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Ironman</span> Arizona tomorrow. I'll try to stop by to see you in action.</div></div></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-8628477215715755632?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-34147750080933514532008-11-14T17:51:00.000-08:002009-03-14T23:57:30.364-07:00<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbym1GVqLfI/AAAAAAAADdo/t-2oC-VY03A/s1600-h/Miller+learnlife10k.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313305091555077618" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/Sbym1GVqLfI/AAAAAAAADdo/t-2oC-VY03A/s400/Miller+learnlife10k.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a title="Permanent Link to Race: Learning For Life 10K (Peoria, AZ)" href="http://www.nickelandanail.com/MillerBlog/2008/11/learning-for-life-10k-peoria-arizona/" rel="bookmark">Race: Learning For Life 10K (Peoria, AZ)</a> by Mike Miller<br />Friday, November 14th, 2008<br /><br />For those who maybe didn’t know, Kimberly has been training very hard over the last few months for her upcoming <a href="http://www.rnraz.com/home.html">PF Chang Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon</a>. The event is getting very close now and her run schedule is ‘amping up’. As part of her training she works with a team up at our Country Club that all practice and train together. This week for one of their training runs they decided to all do an organized event together. Seeing it was local and on a Saturday morning, I decided to participate as well.<br />The event called <a href="http://www.learningforlife.org/">Learning for Life</a> has a 10K and a 5K. We did the 10K because the Arrowhead group was looking for about that many miles today. It’s a great smaller event that is focused on supporting youth groups. A lot of the adult runners seemed to be local police and fire officers (as it was also part of the event). In fact, Kimberly ended up running a big part of the race just behind the local SWAT team.<br />We had a great time. It was right up the way from us at the <a href="http://www.peoriaaz.gov/springtraining/spring_home.asp">Peoria Stadium</a> where the MLB players do spring training. The course ran along 83rd street to the viaduct, down past 75th a little then back for the 6.2 miles. After the run they had a magician and other activities for the participants. I got Kimberly a charity Police Bear.<br />For the first time of any run we have done together Kimberly and I both got a medal. I came in 6th overall and second in my age group a little over 49 minutes. Kimberly was FIRST in her age group! This was of course something she pointed out to me a few times… . Then again, I had to remind her that this was my second top 10 overall in the last 3 races!</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-3414775008093351453?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-10866679136489467892008-11-10T14:45:00.000-08:002009-03-27T14:47:41.116-07:00The Phoenix 10k &amp; 5k by Pat Monahan<br /><br />It's been a busy weekend. Mostly work, which is a good thing. But, I did get to squeeze in 'The Phoenix 10k' formally know as the New Times 10k. The last two years it was run in downtown Tempe due to our metro area building a new light rail line. I ran the 5k in 2006 and I ran both the 5k and 10k last year. This year, they lost their sponsor but are back on their home course in downtown Phoenix. The 5k is run at 7:45 am. The 10k is run at 8:30 am. It costs $20 to run either race and for an additional $8 you can run them both.<br /><br />It's like Ernie Banks says, "Let's Play Two".<br /><br />I decided I was going to run the 5k as best I could. My PR of 30:25 was not a real goal, no way can I do three consecutive sub 10 minute miles. But, I wanted to get as close as I could. It's chipped timed, so I didn't worry about getting across the starting line quickly. The temps were around 55-60 and we had clear skies. No wind, although it got windy and rained later in the day. According to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Garmin</span> I had an opening split of 10:21. I was pretty happy about that. The course is a 3.1 mile loop around the state capitol around downtown streets. The <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">asphalt</span> felt really hard this morning. My left heal has been bothering me lately, so I held back a bit. I passed four different bands and we had people cheering all along the course. My second mile was a 10:32 pace. I was pretty happy about that. Around the 2.5 mile mark I was getting pretty tired trying to keep the pace. I had a choice, I could take a quick 1 minute walk break and finish strong or end up limping home with a 12 minute split. The walk break did me good. My third mile was done in 10:54 and my .1 was at an 8:15 pace. After the walk break I ended up passing 27 other runners. I counted to keep myself distracted, more so than out of vanity. Well, maybe a little of both. I didn't count the guy in the wheel chair. He was inspiring. It was an everyday wheelchair and he was alternating powering his wheels. Kind of like a someone in a canoe paddling on the left and then the right.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Garmin</span> told me I finished in 33:06 for 3.14 miles. I don't have the official times from the race yet.<br /><br />That gave me 10 minutes to rest before the 10k event. The bathroom lines were long. I looked for a private corner to pee, but none where to be found. I ended up waiting til after the 10k.<br /><br />My plan was to do the best I could in the 10k. But, plenty of walk breaks were anticipated. This race would require two loops of the same course I had just run on. We passed the same bands, the same buildings, the same corners. At one point I was coming up to a corner and there was a man with his shopping cart and all his worldly possessions looking at me to see if he could cross the street. He was willing to wait. I was still 10 yards away from him and there weren't any runners behind me. I gave him the sign to cross and I ran just behind him. Lives cross sometimes in interesting ways.<br /><br />I was about 2 miles into the 10k or 5 miles in, counting both races when I got a bit disoriented. I thought we had to go further out and we were turning around. heading back to the capitol grounds. I even asked the runner next to me if we had made a wrong turn. This has never happened to me before, but we were further along than I thought we should have been. I was OK and we continued on. This 10k had over 1000 runners. I wasn't going to race it, as much as just run it, so I started in the back. How far back? The very back. I tried to be the last runner to cross the timing mat. I wasn't even in line when the gun went off. When I crossed the line, they were ready to start taking up the mat and pulling down the balloon arch. I say this because it was a double loop, so during the race we hear police on motorcycles telling the runners to move to the right. I didn't know why, until a few seconds later the leaders of the race come running past us (like we were standing still). So the last half of the race I got to watch all the leaders run by at 6 and 7 minute paces. My splits were 10.49, 11.59, 12.08, 12.22, 13.03, 12.39, 10.40 and I had a time around 1:18:xx. 10 minutes off my PR for a 10k.<br /><br />Last year I ran both races in Tempe in 1:48:15. This year I ran both races in 1:48:17. When you run both races (and yes, they give out awards for combined time), it's called the Five and Dime. I missed my PR by 2 seconds.<br /><br />I did get a nice looking black baseball cap for free from a domestic <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">violence</span> group, but didn't see much else at the various vendor booths. The rest of the day was filled with showing homes and writing offers. A good but tiring weekend.<br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="color:#ff0000;">48 by 48</span></div><div align="center"><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="color:#ff0000;">I'm still working on goals for my 48th year on this planet. </span></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-1086667913648946789?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-19566072816924377052008-11-09T20:06:00.000-08:002009-03-15T20:08:50.714-07:00Race Report: Outrun the FBI 5k by Chad Sayban.<br /><br />I awoke to a perfect morning for racing. It was cool with no wind and a clear sky. I ate a Powerbar and had a bottle of Gatorade and headed out for the event. I arrived about an hour before the race, picked up my race number and t-shirt. This is the third race since I started racing again, but it was the first one that I actually treated like a race instead of just a tempo workout. That means I went in with a goal. I knew that a PR is out of the question at this point (22:24 twice), but I wanted to push my current fitness level. My goal was to run 8:00 minute miles to come in between 24:30 and 25:00. Treating it as a race also meant that I would go through my whole race routine. I went for a 10-minute jog, followed by a full round of stretching. Then I did 4 x 100 meter strides followed by some more stretching. I start this about 30 minutes before the start so I'm done about 10 minutes before the race. I placed myself very near the front since this was not a chip timed race. Now, this race had an additional wrinkle in it. There were 5 FBI agents running the race. They were given a 30 second head-start over the field. As you passed each one, they would give you a sticker on your bib number. Interesting, but I was more interested in my time than anything else. Besides, the five of them looked like they were legitimate runners.<br /><br /><br />A police siren blew and we were off. The course wound around a park near downtown Phoenix. When I saw the route on the website, I was worried that it was going to be so confusing that runners would be going in every direction and shorting the course. It turned out to be a really easy course to follow and a lot of fun. It isn't a really fast course because of all the turns and a few other surprises. I founds a rhythm pretty quickly and settled into a pace that felt about right.<br /><br />Mile 1: 7:20<br /><br />Hummm... I wasn't too sure about that mile marker. I didn't feel like I ran the opening mile that fast, but I really couldn't be sure with my current training. I decided that I felt like I was running a good pace, so I kept at it. About halfway through the second mile, we came to a grass field with rolling hills that was an out-and-back section. On the return leg I caught two of the FBI agents as I hit the 2 mile marker.<br /><br />Mile 2: 8:32<br /><br />I think that answered my question about the first marker. I know the rolling hills slowed me down a little, but not a minute's worth. At this point I was with a pack of about ten who were jockeying back and forth on the narrow sidewalk. A woman in the pack said 'oh shit' and I looked ahead. The cones had us going to the top of a large mound about 50 feet high. At the base of it I chopped my stride with the idea that I would hit the back side of it hard and push in the remaining half mile from there. It worked like a charm. I never saw any of the other ten people in that pack again. I caught the third FBI agent with less than a tenth of a mile to go.<br /><br /><br />Mile 3: 8:01<br />Mile 3.1: 0:46<br /><br />Finish time: 24:40<br /><br />Given the fact that the course was not a very fast course at all and what my goals were, I can only call this race a big success. I had no pain at all - before, during or after the race. I cooled down, ate and stretched and felt wonderful. I have not seen the results yet and pictures are supposed to be posted tomorrow. I managed to catch three of the five FBI agents along the way. I heard that the fastest agent was only passed by two runners. I'll post an update with them once they are available. For my first 'real' race back, it went as well as I could have hoped for. I'm still a long way from my 5k goals - break my PR and eventually go under 20 minutes - but I'm making good progress. I just wonder how fast I'll be once I shed the 20 pounds I want to get rid of. I'll just have to find out.<br /><br /><br />Until next time...<br /><br />-Chad<br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-1956607281692437705?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-74072918027368342962008-10-30T14:48:00.000-07:002009-03-27T14:49:35.390-07:00<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SQN9-xyC9BI/AAAAAAAACm8/3wDqjDv1bIw/s1600-h/100_3005.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261187307167478802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SQN9-xyC9BI/AAAAAAAACm8/3wDqjDv1bIw/s400/100_3005.jpg" border="0" /></a> That's the long sleeve tee you get and my bid number. I paid the morning of the race, so getting a two digit number was pretty cool. There's probably 300 halfers and the same number of 5k'ers running. I saw bib #1 on his way back in. I was jealous. Sort of.<br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SQN95ExpDtI/AAAAAAAACm0/o5gaEcddW0U/s1600-h/100_3004.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261187209186840274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 266px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SQN95ExpDtI/AAAAAAAACm0/o5gaEcddW0U/s400/100_3004.jpg" border="0" /></a> This picture doesn't do the line to get into the park justice. It was a bit of a traffic jam and I was afraid I was going to be late. I made it with time to spare. At the registration table, the lady said my name and <a href="http://lifestrides.blogspot.com/">Ried, Life Strides</a> was sitting next to her. He said Hi. I knew he was going to be there, but I was already in the zone. I wish I could of had more time to talk with Ried. I'm not conversational right before a race. Check out Ried's report, it has pics of the start. </div><div></div><div><br /><div>The YMCA Half Marathon bills itself as the oldest continuous footrace in Arizona. Going on 40 years now. Wyatt Earp starts things off with a real shot gun start. Wyatt is a great great great (I don't know how many greats) grandson of the famous <a href="http://www.wyattearp.net/">Wyatt Earp</a>.</div><br /><div>I started in the back with a gentleman that had a Aramco Houston Half Marathon shirt on. We discussed that race and how wonderful it is. He really recommends it. </div><div></div><div>This years race had about 1 mile of double track trail running. Much better than the park road to start things off. I tried to take a picture but it was still too early with not enough light. But, to see that long string of runners on the desert trail was pretty cool. We started the race at around 57 degrees. We'd finish around 75. A nice pleasant day for running.</div><br /><br /><div>I knew this wouldn't be a PR day. I was hoping it wouldn't be a PW (Personal Worst) day. And as you can see with the splits, the downhill and my speed work lately paid off. The first five miles were all under 11:24. I ended up eating a GU at the 3 mile mark and the 6 mile mark. My gut told me that I didn't want to eat anything else on the back end of this race. My split at 6.2 miles was 1.09.22. Just one minute and 23 seconds away from a PR for the 10k. I continued for the next three miles to get splits just over 12.</div><br /><br /><div>Then slowly, I took longer walk breaks and the splits crept up into the 13's and 14's. Mile 11 was the start of the hill back up to the finish. It's not a steep hill. I kept telling myself it wasn't a hill at all. But, I ended up walking a lot of it. With about 1 mile left there were two other runners near me. One lady was running her first half. I told her she need to do the Rock and Roll half in January. She looked at me like I was crazy. Do this Again? </div><div></div><div>The other lady went off course twice. We had to yell at her to keep her running on course. She kept ahead of me and would run whenever I would run. It was one of those things, if you walk I'll walk, but I want to beat you. With about 100 yards to go, I broke out into my finish kick. A full sprint. Garmin said I was under a 3 minute per mile pace at the end. I passed her, but I just like to sprint at the finish and would have even if no one was in front of me.</div><div></div><div>My final unofficial Garmin time was 2:43:25, about 6 minutes faster than last year, same race. I'm ok with that. It's a tough finish and I'm not really prepared to run a half at this point. This is all part of my training for the 'real half', The PF Chang's Rock and Roll Half in January.</div><div></div><div>So, this was a great race to do for the second time. So, in 22 months time I have done one full marathon and 7 halfs. Half Marathon #8 is early December and it will either be the Fiesta Bowl Half in Scottsdale or the Tucson Half about 1.5 hours from home. Then #9 will be the Rock and Roll Half.</div><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SQNzZbgubCI/AAAAAAAACms/kwd0071kh8A/s1600-h/102508YMCAsplits.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261175670417812514" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 253px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 400px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SQNzZbgubCI/AAAAAAAACms/kwd0071kh8A/s400/102508YMCAsplits.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /></div></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-7407291802736834296?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-55996401234239436282008-10-25T14:18:00.000-07:002009-03-27T14:21:39.831-07:00YMCA Half Marathon &amp; 5K (Volunteer) Report by Reid Axman.<br /><br /><br />I've never written a volunteer report before. This was my first time volunteering for a race. I've wanted to do one for a long time, but never got around to doing it. So, I was excited to have this opportunity, even though I had to get up super early. I was assigned to the race-day registration table. It was kinda fun to be on the other side of the table. I got to meet a lot of people, including fellow RBF, Pat. We didn't have much opportunity to talk because there were a lot of people registering, but he seemed like a real nice guy. After he walked away, I thought, "I should have gotten a picture with him." Maybe next time.<br /><br />When it was time for the half marathon to begin, I happened to be bringing some supplies over and got to see the unique start. Wyatt Earp, complete with shotgun started the runners. With a BANG, they were off. It was pretty cool to see all those runners fly by! Something I'd never experienced before. I've always been one of those runners.<br /><br />My next assignment was to keep the 5K runners in order as they crossed the finish line. I really enjoyed seeing the runners cross the finish and be the first to congratulate them. This didn't last too long as I was given a new assignment of running the results over to the results board. After my first run over, I was given the new assignment of official timer. And I spent the rest of my time clicking a button when the participants finished. That doesn't sound too exciting, but I really had a good time seeing everyone as they reached the finish. It was interesting to observe them. Some were completely exhausted, some were as thrilled as can be, some were relieved it was over. There were families running together. I think the youngest finisher (not in a stroller) was 5 years old. And I was surprised to see how many people were running with their dogs! I guess the "Family 5K" includes pets.<br /><br />Volunteering was so much fun! There really is a lot going on that we don't really see as runners. The amount of work it takes to organize, set up, direct, take down, etc. etc. is incredible. I really respect the race directors and everyone behind the scenes for doing what they do for runners. Race day must be a crazy day for them. This was a great experience, and I can't wait for another opportunity to volunteer again. I highly recommend it!<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-5599640123423943628?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-75469879814258789402008-10-20T23:59:00.000-07:002009-03-15T00:01:38.353-07:00<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbynZv-zIrI/AAAAAAAADdw/0kvwRnnjReU/s1600-h/miller+komen081.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313305721208775346" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 275px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbynZv-zIrI/AAAAAAAADdw/0kvwRnnjReU/s400/miller+komen081.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="color:#993399;">Komen Race for the Cure 2008<br />Sunday, October 12th, 2008</span><br /></span>by Mike Miller</div><div align="center"><br />Last year’s Komen Race for the Cure was about as special a day as can be in life. It will be a day that stays with me forever. We talked a little about it in THIS BLOG. There was something special that day and I doubt there will ever be another one like it. But having said that, every Komen Race day is pretty amazing and special for us, and this year was no exception.<br /><br />For those maybe not as familiar, the Susan Komen Race for the Cure is one of the biggest events that support the foundation. They have many of them throughout the US in the bigger cities. Phoenix this year had near 40,000 runners and walkers, including about 800 plus Survivors (woman who have had Breast Cancer). It’s a day of celebration and remembrance. Everything is based around the run, but they always have a neat setup of ‘walk around’ activities and vendors at the Race location. The vendors all really do a great job, as does the Komen group, of making the Survivors feel special. This year even included a Survivors parade before the race that Kimberly participated in (in the 10-14 year Survivor Group!).<br /><br />A couple things made this year very special as well. Mostly because this last year my mother was diagnosed and treated for Breast Cancer. In fact she really just finished the radiation treatments about the time for the Race. So we both of course were ‘running for Mom’ this year. As you would expect the runs are really about celebration and remembrance too – in fact we always wear the signs that say who’s survival we are celebrating (and others who are being remembered).<br /><br /><br />Kimberly was pretty pumped up for the day. She had the added motivation of celebration for Mom to add to her Race. In case you didn’t know the Misses is pretty competitive. And while the Komen is ‘non-competitive race’ (not chip timed) they still give awards and recognition to the top 3 finishers overall and among Survivors. Having finished 7th or so last year, and knowing she now is a couple of minutes faster on her 5K time, there was a decent chance she could move up paces and maybe even had a shot at Top 3. She of course did amazing improving to 5th overall and cutting a huge amount of time off her last year results. I was so proud again, it’s pretty cool to have a wife with that kind of drive, strength and commitment.<br /><br />The day started way too early – about 4:30, in order to get ready, get down there, walk around, park, do the parade, etc (so little sleep of course). The rest of the day beside the race was walking around, getting the pink goodies, eating some banana’s and taking lot’s of pictures. Kimberly even got to see a couple of her Racer/Survivor friends she met last year (pretty cool). She did an interview with Channel 12 just before the Race (she’s quite photogenic you know). Speaking of photo’s I was the camera man again and had to quick run over to the car to drop off the bag so I could run the race as well when the rest of the group started. I had a good run considering I ran in the ChaCha yesterday morning as well.<br /><br />We of course are already looking forward to next year’s race. We will raise more money for the great cause, celebrate 12 years for Kimberly and 1 for Mom, and we will have better race times </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-7546987981425878940?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-20898107921113039342008-10-20T23:50:00.000-07:002009-03-15T20:23:22.797-07:00<div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbylXBQzp6I/AAAAAAAADdY/vKOV3GURPGI/s1600-h/miller+bisbee10081.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313303475284846498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbylXBQzp6I/AAAAAAAADdY/vKOV3GURPGI/s400/miller+bisbee10081.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;color:#996633;">A Perfect weekend in Bisbee - The Great Stair Climb<br />Saturday, October 18th, 2008</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">By Kimberly Miller<br /></span>Bisbee Arizona is located not too far from Tombstone, AZ and is a great little place to visit anytime of the year. It is full of unique art and antique shops and even more full of history as an old mining town. There are cement stairs all though out the city that the copper miners used and most of the steps are still in working conditions thanks in part to the Bisbee 1000 Stair Climb Event. The event is a unique combination of running 4.4 miles and climbing the aptly named 1000 stairs.<br /><br /><br />This was the 18th year of the event which had us and other runners trekking through the streets of the city and up 8 separate sets of stairs totally actually 1037 steps. Although the mileage is not huge the elevation of the run and the steps and just the fact that the city is at a high elevation makes for a challenging but thrilling run. The first (almost) mile is a downhill run (nice due to what is to come) and then the first set of steps makes one realize that the run will not be too easy. Mostly on the steps due to the amount of runners, individuals are walking briskly upwards and then taking off when reaching the top until getting to the next set of steps. The steps are old but well managed and since there are houses situated at all levels in the city so most of the time the runners are going past homes as they rise upwards. Many of the city’s “eclectic” citizens cheer on the runners from their yard offering words of encouragement and smiling faces. As a participant in this year’s race I really appreciated and enjoyed the kindness of everyone, not only the people putting on the race but also the other racers – it was a great vibe. This was a very competitive event and chip timed but there was no pushing or rushing one another on the steps. People allowed others to pass if they desired and if one had to step aside to get a breath they were given easy access back to the steps when they were ready. What a great race. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313303475792566322" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 225px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SbylXDJ22DI/AAAAAAAADdQ/4EFFx8QCd6A/s400/miller+bisbee10083.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />Michael and I both did very well. We both came in 11th for our age/gender category out of 61 in my group and I think 64 in his (RESULTS HERE). Michael was 116th overall with a time of 44:32 and I came in 321st with 52:37 – out of a total of over 1100 runners. It was not only a great race but also a great weekend. We enjoyed being able to eat our own food (our old hotel had a kitchen), we meet some great folks from Phoenix (Bill and Greta – and their Aunt too), and Oh By The Way if you get to Bisbee eat at Cafe Roka! It was the best meal Michael and I have had in a very long time! I had the artichoke and mushroom lasagna and it was a flavor explosion! Michael had the Chicken and said it was better. Great service and outstanding food.<br /><br />Overall Bisbee is a great little weekend trip anytime, but for sure was a special weekend for the Stair Climb. We will be back next year – and Michael says look out Ice Man Competitors (this is another event with 155 stairs and a 10lb block of ice….) </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-2089810792111303934?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-34757024019599500022008-10-18T14:50:00.000-07:002009-03-27T14:52:43.727-07:00Chandler Challenge 10k by Pat Monahan<br /><br />The Chandler Challenge is a first time event and I was expecting around 200 runners between the 10k and the 5k. There were three times that many runners and both races started at the same time. All the runners ran on the same course, so until the 5<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">k'ers</span> crossed the bridge at the 1.55 mark, it was crowded. This canal is the same canal that the Tumbleweed Running Club runs on, so it was familiar territory.<br /><br />I started out fast, but comfortable and as you can see my splits went from the 10's to the 12's after mile two. That's when I started taking walk breaks.<br /><br /><br /><p><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SPonsUB3YzI/AAAAAAAACl4/pIhDeFfbYS0/s1600-h/101808Race.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258559157152736050" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SPonsUB3YzI/AAAAAAAACl4/pIhDeFfbYS0/s400/101808Race.bmp" border="0" /></a> This was a fund raiser for Chandler schools, so each elementary school had a team of teachers, parents and students walking, jogging and running. Most did the 5k, so once I was passed the 1.55 mark it got much less crowded. Unfortunately, more people were passing me on the back half of the course, than were being passed. I traded back and forth with a few people, but eventually they pulled away from me too.<br /><br />I did have enough gas to kick it in gear for the final .2 and did that in a 10:50 <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">mpm</span> pace. I ran 89% of the race, so I just need to improve on that a bit. This was also the lightest I've weighed for a race (216), so that's got to help.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SPonoN1-1XI/AAAAAAAAClw/PjmcthjFu2Q/s1600-h/101808Racepace.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258559086772802930" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SPonoN1-1XI/AAAAAAAAClw/PjmcthjFu2Q/s400/101808Racepace.bmp" border="0" /></a> This is the third 10k I've run and the 30<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">th</span> race overall since August of 2006. As you can see in the graph below, it was my slowest 10k. I'll do the Mesa Turkey Trot again next month and hopefully will have a lot more stamina and get closer to my PR. At last years turkey trot I walked .26 miles of the course. Today I walked .67 miles. </p><p><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Edit:</span> <span style="color:#ff0000;">It's actually my fourth 10k. I forgot I ran the New Times Five and Dime last November. That's where you race the 5k and then the 10k event back to back. I got about 10 minutes to rest in between events. I did the 10k portion in about 1:16:xx. So that would be my slowest. I'm doing both races again this November 9th.</span></strong><br /><br /></p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SPonhKgqVQI/AAAAAAAAClo/nwg2Hi-SMUo/s1600-h/10k+races+101808.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258558965618988290" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bCyOdKBRSgc/SPonhKgqVQI/AAAAAAAAClo/nwg2Hi-SMUo/s400/10k+races+101808.bmp" border="0" /></a><br />On a personal note, my kid <a href="http://crazycrashes.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/van_crash-1.jpg">Tyler got his drivers license</a> yesterday. He couldn't <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">parallel</span> park my Honda Pilot last week and had to retake the test. Yesterday, we took Amy's Toyota Sienna mini van and he did it on the first try. Then out on the road and after a long wait (it was the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">DMV</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">after all</span>) he got his new license. We celebrated by eating sushi for lunch, which accounts for my slight weight gain from yesterday. That darn white rice.<br /><br />Good luck to anyone racing this weekend!<br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/runnerreporters-needed.html">Runner - We'd love to include your race reports. Learn more here.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/race-directors.html">Race Directors - Send us your race info. It's free to promote on AFR.</a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><a href="http://arizonafootraces.blogspot.com/2009/03/april-2009-races.html">April 2009 Races</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3133933396117611122-3475702401959950002?l=arizonafootraces.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582990912598134354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3133933396117611122.post-17375738635681512102008-10-15T20:13:00.000-07:002009-03-15T20:16:23.458-07:00Race Report: Cactus Cha Cha trail run by Chad Sayban.<br /><br /><br />Anyway, Eric, Lori and I arrived at the parking lot about an hour before the start. The wind was blowing pretty hard off of the mountain side and it felt pretty darn cold. I know, all of you northerners are going to say 'cold, what are you talking about?' True enough, but when you have just lived through an Arizona summer of 100+ degree days and all of a sudden it's in the 50s, that is a big change...and cold.<br /><br />Lori headed off first running the 3 mile race and did very well. Eric and I got ready to toe the line for the 7-mile race. I had some anxiety going in. Not only hadn't I raced in more than six months, I was 15 pounds heavier, had only been back running for three weeks and hadn't run anything longer than 4 miles on flat pavement yet. Ok, now that I have laid out all of the excuses, on with the race.<br /><br />I staged myself towards the back, not wanting to get in anyone's way. I ended up passing a whole bunch of people early as I tried to find space on the narrow trail. I ended up running with Eric for a little while. The first mile and a half are a gradual uphill and was right into the teeth of the wind. I decided about halfway to back off my pace because I knew that the effort of this course was closer to running a 10-miler than seven. Eric was feeling good and continued ahead. I never saw him again until after the finish. He has made such amazing strides in the last two years, it is hard to describe. I settled into a conservative pace and really thought of the run as a long workout rather than a race. I knew I would even approach the 1:02 I ran last year. I was just happy to be out with all of the other runners. The group I ended up with was very quiet, which was fine because I was doing a lot of thinking about where my running had gone and where I was now heading. I had no real trouble with the largest climb and cruised through the first five miles. The last two miles were more of a struggle. Nothing hurt, I was just really tired. That