This past weekend was the KCCC 5k race at Shawnee Mission Park. Just to give a brief background, Kansas City has an Olympic style competition amongst all the companies in the area. It is split up into divisions according to company size and its a fairly big deal. Of course I was more then happy to compete for Sprint in the 5k (Free entry fee too).
The race started at 7am and I was actually a little nervous just because my week of training before hand was pretty poor. I caught this nasty cold and I also started getting a little pain under my left foot (which I still have and that's another story). I was hoping the fitness I had was going to be strong enough though.
I did a warm up with on of my Garmin buddies and then it was time to go. There were actually a lot of people and some faces I recongized from local road races. The gun went off a little behind schedule and we were all off on the downhill first mile. (Forgive my inaccurate distance, I did my best to follow the course)
I followed a pack for the start but after about 1000m I just tried to push the pace to get a solid gap. During the second mile I could still hear a set of foot steps. Thankfully, the second mile was just a rolling mile and I was able to increase my gap.
Finally the end was approaching and there was another nice strong downhill. Too bad that what goes down must go up (well, at least in loops) and it was the uphill sprint to the finish. It hurt... a lot. Eventually I made it past the line in 1st place with a time of 15:43. It was a pretty fun race. I did a little cool down then got some donuts for breakfast.
Continue Reading KC Corporate Challenge 5k
Well, since the Trolley Run I haven't done that many massive two a days, but I did increase my morning runs. I did a couple 11ish -12 milers this before work that felt really solid. This weekend my wife and drove to STL and this morning we actually got absolutely amazing running weather. Highs in the upper 50s and just sunny (and forecast said rain HA). I got in a really solid 15 miler that took about an hour and 36 minutes. Its pretty hilly here in St. Charles.
Next week I plan on getting in a few more miles and then on Saturday I have the 5k for the Corporate Challenge. I'm pretty excited about that little 5k. There actually usually is a really good turnout so it should be a lot of fun.
Continue Reading Training update
This past Sunday was the 2009 Trolley Run, one of the biggest 4 milers in the country. It is a start to finish (non-loop) in downtown Kansas City and it was a blast. There was about 7,000 people and a good handful of Kenyans. The race day was perfect, a pretty cloudy and an nice tail wind, which was really nice since the course was almost a straight shot. Oh yea, the best part was the this course is overall downhill.
The race started off and within 800m, the lead back of Kenyans was already pretty much out of my site. I just tried to find someone that wasn't going to fast that I could just pace off. So I picked the first Kenyan woman. I followed her for a bit and eventually pulled away from her around the mile mark. I am not sure what my first mile was but it had to be pretty quick since the majority of it was downhill. After the first mile, I followed 2 local guys for almost the rest of the race. There were going a solid pace and we cruised through the flat next 2 miles. The last mile again was a pretty good downhill and and with a block to go, I was able to pull away from my tiny pack and finish 13th with a 19:21.
Here are the top 15:
| 1. | Eric Chirchir | 17:39 |
| 2. | Ernest Kebenel | 17:40 |
| 3. | Daniel Kipkoech | 17:46 |
| 4. | Scott Dahlberg | 17:59 |
| 5. | Japheth Ngojoy | 18:00 |
| 6. | Anthony Gallo | 18:17 |
| 7. | Kipruto Rotich | 18:23 |
| 8. | Peter Matelong | 18:24 |
| 9. | Paul Hefferon | 18:26 |
| 10. | Daniel Muriuki Mbogo | 18:28 |
| 11. | Mathew Chesang | 18:39 |
| 12. | Geoffery Birgen | 19:10 |
| 13. | Joffroi Holcombe | 19:21 |
| 14. | Aaron Davidson | 19:22 |
| 15. | Matt Dunlavy | 19:26 |
*Keep in mind, overall this course is slightly downhill.
Continue Reading 19:21 4 Miler Trolley Run*
This weekend was a great time. I drove down to Rolla, MO to compete in my old college's home track meet in the 5k. Andrea and our new puppy Zota came along for the ride too. We drove the 4 hours and spent Friday night hanging out with some friends here and there and having a couple cold ones and catching up on old times. Before we knew it, it was already around 11pm and time for me to get to bed.
I ran with some old college friends and did a little over a mile, followed by some stretching. Next thing I new, I was on the starting line where my old college spikes still. I really had no idea what to expect in this race because I really haven't done anything for speed and my mileage wasn't near where I wanted it to bed. But eventually the gun went off and I immediately just sat behind some runner and went into cruise control. The first mile went by and I think we hit around a 4:56. The second mile also went by and then eventually with 5 laps to go, I took off. I was feeling pretty solid and just held onto the quicker pace. I made a 30m gap within a lap and then just knocked out the rest of the laps. I fished with a 15:34. Good day in all.
Continue Reading Miner Meet Champion
Well, I never got around to my Brew2Brew post because I didn't find pictures yet. But I'll go ahead and post a preview about this weekend. I'm going back to Rolla because its my school's home track meet. I'm going back to see what I can run in the 5k again. Last year I won so a lot of little kids at the school have already been talking smack about taking my title.
Quite frankly, it will probably happen. I have been doing just a bunch of distance runs and haven't been getting any speed work out it. The only speed I've done is a 1:11 half marathon and 2 striders.... not really ideal training for a 5k. Either way, its going to be a lot of run and I'm looking forward to it. We are bring out puppy so that will be exciting too.
The forecast shows thunderstorms for the day of the meet but Rolla has a magical way of missing bad weather so lets hope for the best.