Act your age, Borton!

A few days ago, one of the Detroit Tigers' broadcasters injured himself (a torn quad tendon) while jogging, and ended up missing a few games while he had surgery. I was amused in reading this morning's online edition of the Detroit Free Press to read the following statement in one story: "What was he thinking, jogging at his age?" (It cracked me up because the announcer in question is a year younger than I, and I fully intend to keep running for several decades yet.)

Dexter-Ann Arbor Run

The 10K I ran this morning was a very enjoyable event. The weather was perfect - sunny and calm, and warm but not hot. And I was very pleased to finish in 59:39 (this was by my watch, but I later learned my official time was 59:38 ... 901st out of 1677 finishers) ... not only a new personal record (I had run this same race last year in 1:02:29), but even breaking the one-hour barrier, which I had hoped to do, but didn't really expect. There were 3 minor drawbacks: (1) Almost a half-hour in (a little before the 3-mile mark), while pushing for time, I attempted to make my way around a rough stretch of pavement, and instead fell. I bloodied my right elbow, although didn't realize this until the race was finished - at the time, I just popped back up and kept going. (I suppose that, for a Sunday, this "holey ground" was appropriate.) (2) One of the sponsors, Domino's Pizza, was supposed to be providing slices for the runners at the conclusion of the race. But I couldn't find it! (SOB) (3) Afterwards, when Michelle and I were backing out of the downtown parking lot, we heard a loud THUNK as the right front of the car dropped down, and a horrible grinding ensued. Bystanders told us, variously, that it was a broken ball joint, a CV joint, or a tie rod. At any rate, we called AAA, and had it towed to Firestone (where I work) for repair, and got the good news that my employee discounts would save us several hundred dollars on the bill.

Minnesota 5K

This morning I ran a 5K on the St. Olaf College campus which is part of what they call Celebration Weekend (Commencement) - we came to Minnesota yesterday to see my son John graduate tomorrow, and also to enjoy my 30th reunion (as I graduated from St. Olaf on May 27, 1979). Conditions were not conducive to a good time - it had been raining, and the course was all on grass and a few dirt/gravel roads - but at least, thankfully, the rain stopped during the race. So, as opposed to my personal best of 29:14 from May 1, this morning my time was 31:08. But I was just trying to focus on staying upright today, and in that, I succeeded. Christy came, and although she didn't run it, as she had suggested she might, it was wonderful to see her there, cheering me on loudly (WOO, DADDERS!).

Later, Christy's mother sent us this picture which she took immediately after the race.

Shifting plans

Although highly disappointed about this, I have just decided that, due to recent illness, I cannot run the half-marathon I had planned for May 31. So I have switched to the 10K portion of that day's run. First, I was unable to do a long run I had intended for last Saturday. Then, I could not run at all this week on Thursday, yesterday, or today. So, it seems the writing is one the wall. I will rest now as needed, and then should be able to do the 10K without problem, since that is a distance I have done very frequently in training. But doing a half-marathon in 2010 is a BIG goal for me now.

Springtime

I have measured out a 10-kilometer route that takes me past my church (Westminster Presbyterian), and I think of this as the "Church 10K." I ran it this evening, in 1:02:38 (a 10:05/mile pace - not a bad time, but not one of my better ones, either), leaving at 6 PM in very pleasant (a word I tend to overuse) spring weather - 65 degrees. (I just traded messages with a Facebook friend, a former sister-in-law who lives in Phoenix, and said that I bet it was getting warm there. She replied that it is downright "H-O-T" now. Much better for me here in Michigan!

Generally when I run, I consult my watch frequently, chasing down a series of mini-goals ("OK, I want to make that next landmark by x:xx"). But today I purposefully avoided that for the most part, and could not see where it made much difference in the end.

Official times

I have gotten my official computer chip times for both recent races, and in both cases, was just barely behind the unofficial time I recorded with my watch. For Friday's 5K, I had recorded 29:12, and instead was actually 29:14 - clearly breaking my previous personal record of 29:29. I finished in 365th place out of 677 runners. And in my age group (50-54), I was 15th out of 19. For Sunday's 10K, the results were much less encouraging. I had recorded 1:11:07, and the official time was 1:11:08, for a pace of 11:27 per mile, bringing me in #7 out of 7 in my age group. I finished 180th overall - I'm not sure how large the field was, but in the results I saw at least someone having finished in 183rd place, so I know I wasn't dead last. But it's questionable how meaningful this time is, since I don't know precisely how far I ran.

Burns Park Run

This morning's 10K was altogether a somewhat disappointing experience. It was a lovely day for a run - when I left home at 6:45, bright blue skies were in evidence, though at 35 degrees it was a bit cool. But when I picked up my packet, I was dismayed to find I was listed on the 5K, rather than the 10K - I must have inadvertently misregistered. But after I pondered it for a while, I went back and was able to communicate my desire to change, and they switched me with no problem. Then I asked if there was a map I could consult, and they said, "No map," but assured me that volunteers would be in place at every corner to point us the right way. I was running pretty well through the first 4 or 5 miles, but then late in the race was an intersection without volunteers - particularly disadvantageous at this late stage, when we were tiring. I turned the wrong way, and later when I discovered this, tried to add on a few blocks to assure myself of doing at least 10K. But I think I tacked on too much, and ended up running about 7 miles, finishing (by my watch) in 1:11:07. My error was confirmed when I ran by the home of my good friends David and April Wright on Hermitage, which was not part of the course. The mystery continued, though, as the clock at the finish line showed about 1:26, and I KNOW I was not that far behind the official start time. My friend and coach Tom Brown had predicted that, based on my training times, I would "almost certainly" make my goal of breaking an hour, and while I wasn't so sure, I was reasonably certain of setting a new personal 10K race record (my old post-accident one was 1:02:29).

Mason 5K

Tonight I got my big month of racing in May off to a good start, running a 5K in the small town of Mason, Michigan (south of Lansing), where my brother-in-law Chip (Michelle's younger brother) and his family (wife Carla, and children Lauren and Grant, who are our godchildren) live. The course was a mostly flat tour of Mason's residential neighborhoods ... though it did finish with a mildly challenging uphill stretch leading to the downtown area. Chip and his family live right on the route, about a third of a mile from the end, and they watched from their front porch, along with Michelle and her parents, and they all set up a loud cry of support for me as I went by - it was very nice to have my own personal cheering section, especially at that point in the race, as it spurred me on to a good finish. Though I still await the official computer time, my unofficial time by my watch was 29:12, which would handily break my previous personal 5K record of 29:29 from a race in Dexter on December 13. I despaired of doing well, as I was prevented from doing the warmup I had wanted to my being trapped in an interminable line for the porta-potties before the race began ... but I just made up my mind to do the best I could anyway, and enjoyed listening to my iPod as I ran ... the first song was the theme from Chariots of Fire, and the one with which I finished (appropriately) was John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads."