Midnight Madness - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - Ames, Iowa

Midnight Madness is a race in Ames, IA that is run in the evening in July. Usually it's super hot. This night wasn't so bad.

 I wanted Amy to sign up because she needed to run 9 miles as a training run for her half marathon training, and this was 9.3 miles, Perfect. The race is a 15K split into 2 races. First a 5K race, then a 10K race. You can do either one or both. The 10K is just a double loop of the 5K course, so if you do the entire 15K you see the same spectators 3 times.

 We started out great. Amy actually PRed her 5K distance. The 10K was a different story. Amy was tired by 7 total miles in (mile 4 of the 10K) which was the 2nd loop of the 10K, she didn't want to run anymore. We did a lot of walking that 2nd loop of the 10K, but got it done!

We might have been tired because we did a long bike ride earlier that day.

Results are here:  The RESULTS

Started the day with a long bike ride with all these ladies.

A picture before midnight madness started with Russell, James,Amy and I!

Driftless Discovery Trail Run - Decorah, IA - Saturday, June 4, 2016

Funny thing about this race is I was told it was flat. Amy said we were doing a race on this brand new flat running trail in Decorah.

Well she was wrong about the location and it ended up being a trail race in the woods that was super difficult.

It wasn't the worst thing I've ever ran, but it was hard.  An experience I won't forget.

Would I do it again?  Maybe, but only after some trail run training  for it'scompletely different from road racing.

It had 1383 feet of climbing and was 6.3 miles long.
My time was long to me- 1:41:01, but given how hard it was and that it was my first 10K trail race, it was fine.  I ended up being 2nd out of 4 in my age group so that's pretty good.

I ran with Amy for just over 5 miles then split off and ran ahead, she wanted to walk at that point and I wanted out of the woods.

Front of shirt

The back of the shirt

Amy andI right before the race started.

EF5K and Ed Thomas 10K- Parkersburg, IA- May 28, 2016

A week after the marathon I wanted to try out this race in Parkersburg, Iowa. I have always wanted to do this race given the town's history, but never made it here.  Here is a news story about the massive tornado in 2008:   News story

Then in 2009 their beloved Coach Ed Thomas was murdered, see story here.

After the tornado the race was started to raise money for the town.  After the coach was killed the race added a 10K.

Here are pictures from that day

The new high school.

Me, Russell and Amy

Garmin stats.

The sign for the town.

Russell placed in his age group.

Russell finishing strong.

Amy set a new PR on a hard course.

Air Force 5K, 10K, Half Marathon 2015 - Dayton, OH - Saturday September 19, 2015

A huge goal I set on January 1st of this year was to run the Air Force Triple. I have been wanting to do this for 3 years, but never had my 10K time under an hour and you have to have that or you can't participate in all three races.  Last summer I finally had my 10K under an hour so I knew I was ready to register for these races.

On Friday the 18th Jason, Tyler and I got up super early and traveled to Ohio.  We arrived around 1p.m. Eastern time which was perfect to pick up our packet(s), got back to the hotel and relax, then get back to the 5k race.  Tyler won the 5K with a time of 17:01.  I took it easy and did 30:26 a 9:49 minute mile pace.  I didn't want to burn out for the next morning.  I was still pushing myself, especially in the 80 degree heat.  I was 9th place out of 118.  If I would have pushed I could have achieved 2nd place given my past average 5k times, so I might push much harder for next year.

The next morning at 7:30a.m. was the 10K, it was 65 degrees and high humidity.  It was only getting hotter by the minute.  I needed to push hard to get this under an hour.  Tyler came in 2nd place with a time of 35:05 which was 2 whole minutes ahead of 3rd place.  I was doing really well until mile 4.  I had a time under 34 minutes at mile 4.  I was set up for a major PR in the 10K, then I fell apart.  I suddenly became hot, I was spinning, felt sick and wasn't sure if I could continue running at all.  Luckily I was right near a water stop.  I poured cup after cup of water on me.  I was in serious distress.  Thankfully all the cold water being poured on my head woke me up and helped me feel tons better.  I walked/ran the last 2 miles for a finish of 59:06.  I was so incredibly bummed to finish 4 second over my PR.  Seriously I worked so hard.  But had to be thankful that I didn't pass out and I was still upright and ready to race a 3rd race within 16 hours, now the Half Marathon.   I did do my best with the weather I was given and I did finish 14th out of 174 in my age group, not bad.  Plus I was 116th place out of 1423 women, so I did do a good job.

So I started the Half and it was like I was in a fog.  My bad was done running and yet I still had 13.1 miles to run.  GRRR  Not a good thing given how hot it was getting.  I finished that race, but it was one of the hardest races I have ever ran.  I couldn't really find a pace or run until mile 5.  I did a ton of walking up till that point.

All of my Race bibs.  

At the expo at the Nutter Center in Dayton, OH, ready to see all the vendors and check into our hotel.  We were standing in front of the race course maps.  

Right before the 5K I found Sid Busch.  He is a friend on facebook that runs a lot of marathons.  The next day he was scheduled to do his 200th marathon.  Wow.  The special thing about Sid is he always runs in honor of a fallen friend or soldier.  Their picture and story is on his back.  He carries the American Flag for the entire run.

After finishing the 5K.  Tyler Sullivan, my friend that came with us won the 5K by almost a minute.  He is holding his award here.

After the half marathon.  Happy to be done.

After a nice long shower with the new race shirt and all the medals on.

A large towel we received in our packets.

All three medals.  5K, 10K and Half Marathon.

The back of the medal.

The front of the medal.

Dam to Downtown 10K,April 18, 2015-- Iowa City, IA

The night before this race I posted on Facebook that I knew I could beat my last personal record of 59:23 in the 10K that I had just set the summer before.

After I posted my public goal I panicked a little because I realized that this course the next day was super hard for 10K's.
I knew I had to do my very best then I could achieve this great goal. The problem was this course is not race friendly.  It has at least 5 LONG STEEP HILLS and the entire course is rolling hills and harder than I had remembered.

I have ran this course twice in the past.  First in 2010 and my time was 1:05:58, then in 2012 when I was 39 I ran again for a time of 1:01:28.  So then I started to doubt myself.  I am 3 years older, have I gotten faster?

I warmed up with a very slow 2 mile run, some stretches, and leg exercises.

We all walked across the bridge over the Dam and waited for the start gun.

I started out faster than my comfort pace and hit the first hill.  I ran the hill just fine.  The 2nd hill happened And I was able to run it just fine.  Then the 3rd long hill.  Somehow I had blocked that hill out.  I did well until near the top and then walked it.  My legs were on fire.  I wasn't sure that I could run another 3 miles.  Those hills were bad.

I really struggled through the next 2.5 miles.  Dubuque hill really kicked my butt.  Then there was Tyler Sullivan at mile 5.7 on the side of the road.  He started to run with me to help me finish strong.  He talked to me and pushed my pace.

I ended up getting a new PR by 21 seconds.  I know to some this isn't much but on this course it was a lot.  Plus it was a 2 minute 26 second PR on this course 3 years later.  I feel that a 56 minute 10K is within reach on a flat course.

Here are the results for this year:2015 RESULTS.  Now for some pictures

My watch that shows my recorded time.

A picture my friend Susan took before the race.  I look scared to death which I kind of was.

Jason got this picture of me almost at the finish line!

Caleb, his girlfriend Megan and a sign Caleb made.  Too funny

My good friend Tyler Sullivan who helps me run faster.  Tyler placed 3rd overall in the race.  He is super fast.

My bib

Front of shirt

Back of shirt.

2012 Dam to Downtown 10K--Iowa City, Iowa

The race was at 8a.m. and it was called Dam to Downtown. So you had to go to downtown Iowa City and catch a bus to the Dam. The race provided the busses. The packet pickup was the day before at Scheels (a sports store) over in Coralridge Mall. Packet pickup was super organized. At first I couldn't find a place to park downtown. You would have thought I was late, but I was early enough to catch the first bus, just no where to park. I think finding a place to park on a side street took me longer than my bus ride to the dam.

I arrived at the Dam around 7 a.m. and the race started at 8a.m. and since it was freezing out, around 39 degrees, I thought I should warm up a bit by running. I wanted to get in 8 miles for the day anway so off I went. I ran out about .6 miles and then back to the start, then across the dam and then back to the start, total before race was 2.20 miles. Then the race of 6.2 miles so I had 8.40 miles for Saturday.

The race went well, it was massively hard with big hills, when I say big hills I mean going from 500 feet of elevation to over 700 feet and then back down, so we were climbing and desending. However even with 4 big hills that I remember I was able to finish this race with a new 10K personal best time of 1:01:28 which beats my time on this course 2 years ago by 4:30 minutes. I almost beat Jason’s personal best which was 1:01:06. Here are the full results if you care: RESULTS  and here are pictures if you want to see what they took: PICTURES   If you want to see me, I'm picture #270 of 334 pictures.  I'm in others, but that one is of just me.

Front of shirt

My number.

My friend Bill and I just after finishing the race.

All the fabulous sponsors listed on
the back of the shirt.