05.17.08

Get In Gear Results

Tags: 10K, 2008, Get in Gear, Race Reports, Racing, Posted in Running at 11:36 pm by suthsc

Once again, I participated in the Get In Gear 10K on April 26, 2008. Weather this year was.. well, not quite so nice as last year. Unfortunately, my fitness is not where I would like it to be either; but that’s another story. On to the “Official” gory details.

The time is roughly ninty seconds slower then last year though it’s something of a pleasant surprise. I was expecting more in the 46 or 47 minute range. I find it interesting that my place in the field and in the division was basically the same. I suppose the winter treated — or mistreated — everyone roughly the same. The unfortunate part of this particular race was that my minute per mile times were slipping toward the end. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it was somewhat disappointing.

One of the interesting differences for this year was that I was actually warmed up — at least to some degree — when I entered the chute. Warming up was really an effort to keep physically warm rather then for race preparation, but it was beneficial to get a bit of jittery nerves taken care of before the start. You might think that after having run any number of these things that I would be used to it by now, but — truth be told — I have never quite gotten over the feeling (and/or fear) of potential failure while waiting for the event to start. Actually, some of my best efforts were directly related to taping into that fear so I don’t really want it to disappear. Every event is an adventure.

While in the chute, I was standing near a worried mother and a young man of perhaps 10. It was interesting to listen to her advice to him and the things that he was thinking about. I was highly tempted to give him a suggestion or two regarding my own strategy, but the benefit would have been highly subjective. A road race for your typical weekend warrior is always going to be a very personal thing.

Overall — especially considering the weather — I’m pleased with the effort. Get in Gear is always a well run event, and I would recomend it to anyone interested in taking up running in a given year.

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01.02.08

Get in Gear Registration Open

Tags: 10K, Get in Gear, Registration, Posted in Events at 4:27 pm by suthsc

I just received the email announcing open registration for the 2008 Get in Gear. You can find more information about the event itself from the Get in Gear website. The Get in Gear is a great race with a large field and something I look forward to each year. Sign up today! You know you want to..

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12.31.07

New year, new training focus

Tags: 10K, 8K, Get in Gear, Lifetime Triathlon, Marathon, Marine Corps, Personal Record, Pigman Triathlon, Triathlon, Twin Cities Marathon, Posted in Events, Running at 4:44 pm by suthsc

I consider the racing results of the past year to have been successful. A new marathon PR at Marine Corps, a successful run in the tough conditions of Twin Cities, a sprint triathlon finish to use as a benchmark, and a 10K PR at Get in Gear.

For the upcoming year, I have entered my first Olympic distance triathlon. Swimming a respectable 1500m will be a daunting task. Known events for the coming year include:

• Frozen half marathon, Jan 26th — followed by the annual “Drink out of your mug” par-tay at the FRC super secrete hideout.
• Human Race 8K - Mar 19th
• Get-In-Gear 10K - Apr 26th
• Pigman Sprint Tri - Jun 1st
• Lifetime Olympic Tri - Jul 12th
• TNT or Blackdog time trial series?
• Bike club TT challenge (40K)?

The goal will be to work on getting faster at some cost to the longer runs. I’m going to try to actually train for triathlons this year, and — perhaps — I’ll get a new bike.

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05.08.07

Get-In-Gear, Results

Tags: 10K, Get In Gear 10K, Personal Record, Race Reports, Posted in Running at 7:51 pm by suthsc

Due to popular demand here is my Get-In-Gear race report. I’ll keep is short, simple, and sweet.

Get in gear had great weather this year, quite possibly the best weather for this race ever. There was a slight wind, but nothing that was really detrimental to the race. Before the race antics included:

• me forgetting to wear my HR strap and watch on in spite of having brought them to the race.
• me forgetting that Franke wanted to put his fanny pack in with my stuff at bag check which caused him to have to wear it
• Franke breaking the buckle on his fanny pack and having to tie it in a knot to wear it in the race. (wouldn’t want him to be without his juicy-juice)

We lined up in the chute WAY to late and ended up at the butt end of the world. The first two miles were spent dodging the various walkers/runners while trying to move up. It was a user problem, one of these days I’m going to have to get closer to the start line. (and perhaps warm up)

Without the watch and HR monitor to control the effort, I was just going to run hard and see what happened. I’m not really trained up this year, so I didn’t have high expectations. The race went about as expected through mile four or so, then I was stuck trying to decide if I should let off the gas or damn the torpedoes full speed ahead. I sort of wavered a bit between those two options for a while, then I found some motivation. Someone was complaining about how horrible their race was going, then they passed me and kept right on going. This happened far enough from the end that I was worried about having a meltdown in the finishing straight, but it was also right on the verge of where I should be winding it up anyway. So, I sucked it up and tried to keep horrible day lady in sight.

I rolled across the finish line with a time that I knew was very close to my PR. It was a good race; I was happy with the result. Later I found out it was indeed a new PR by a few seconds. My 10K PR now stands at 43:19, down 18 seconds from last years result.

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