Hey all,

I’ve been enjoying these weekends of racing and apparently will continue to!

On Saturday the 2nd I ran the Black Squirrel 5k at Kent State, put on by the KSU Rec. Fun race, I think Kent is wanting to show off its newly completed Esplanade….The race was a fast gradual incline (not the quickest course but not bad) and the weather conditions worked out better than the forecast had shown. There were a good amount of people doing the race and it was definitely a fun time with prizes afterward. I finished at 19:22 (6:14 pace) but for some reason the chip times were off. I actually received a call yesterday from the race director apologizing but that’s okay. The time was good enough for 1st age group and 8th overall. I’m slowly moving my 5k time down, this one was better than the 5k I ran last fall and I’m hoping to keep it going.

On Sunday I ran the Towpath 1/2 Marathon and was able to see Karalyn and her man-friend tear up the course! It was a really well put-together race and apparently the first time they have done it. The course was particularly great for seeing your friends, I saw Karalyn probably four times with all the twists, loops and turns. I felt pretty good and was using this course as a training tool for the Pittsburgh Marathon coming up. I wanted to find my threshold for keeping pace over 13 miles as I feel the middle 13-14 miles in a full marathon is where you make the largest impact. So I headed out and again the weather was cooperating well, lots of sunshine and a fun course with a couple bridges. I felt really good the first few miles and felt I could keep around a 7 minute pace so tried to stay there up until the last couple miles. I looked down at my watch, then up at the two guys ahead of me on the course. I saw I was at 1:20 at this point and decided I wanted to push the pace for the last couple miles….and catch the two guys ahead of me. About a half mile later I passed and said, “keep it up” to this first guy. Then a mile later I came up to the young guy and asked him whether he wanted to push the pace…he said maybe and so I picked it up but he didn’t. I crossed the finish line at 1:33:16 (7:07 pace), about a minute off my best half time but a good time for having a sore calf and coming back from injury. The field was competitive and I finished 24th overall and 5th age group. Fun race with a nice Great Lakes Pilsner waiting for me at the end! Cool medal to go along with it and a great training race to see where I’m at…now I just have to double my half time to make it to Boston again!

This week I’m doing another double race weekend. The Jackson Laughs 25k is in Kent on Saturday and goes to benefit the Fragile X Foundation (a great cause for a childhood genetic issue) and it’s cheap too! Then I’m headed to the Medina Master’s Swim meet on Sunday with the Kent Master’s team to swim a few races. Hope training and everything else is going well.

On another note I’m still waiting to hear from people regarding a run time for the weekends and morning weekdays. If I don’t hear I’ll set something up anyway but wanted to throw it out there!

be well everyone,
Pete

I forgot to mention my results, 22nd overall and 2nd age  in the Shamrock 15k. The season is almost upon us!
Be well,
Pete