2011 St. Judes Sweet Corn Festival 5 and 10K race in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Great day for a race. When I woke up and went outside the weather was gorgeous and in the low 60's. I picked up Stephany and we headed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to race our 5K. Before the race some dark clouds were rolling in and it was getting windy. We weren't sure what to expect for weather. I took some pictures of some cool looking divided clouds as you will see later.  The clouds rolled by quickly without a drop of rain and even most of the wind disappeared.  The weather was nice for the entire race and post race activities!  The course was mostly flat with a small gradual hill in the first mile, then it seemed to be downhill the rest of the way to the finish. I finished with a decent 5K time, not my best, but I was happy with my time of 28:49. This means I had a 9:17 average mile time. The stats have already been posted so my official results are these: I was 4th of 32 in my age group of 30-39, 102 of 224 total people and 32 of 121 total women. Had I been only 21 seconds faster I would have placed third. I am kicking myself now because I walked a few times super briefly to catch my breath. I couldn't seem to find a comfortable pace today.

Reasons to do this race:
Chip timed
Race number for your scrapbook
massive amount of food after the race
lots of door prizes
volunteers at every turn
Accurate results that matched my stopwatch
nice shirt, with the option to upgrade to a technical shirt
local race
massage therapists to help you recover quicker
packet with freebies inside
good friends to do the race with you

Me, Waterboy from Z102.9 radio station and Stephany

my race number

Some crazy looking clouds were rolling in and I thought there was going to be a storm, but then it rolled past, cleared up and got hot within a matter of minutes.



Stephany and I taking  our famous picture of ourselves before the race.

massage therapists were there after the race for massage!

post race food!

Chex mix as another option for post race food.

grapes and tons of them.

COOKIES!!!  And whoever made them is amazing because they know how to cook a great cookie.

Stephany's and my shoe with our timing chip.

Almost ready to race, just about to get in line.

My friend Bill Johnson who used to take my Body Pump class was at the race so I had to have a picture with him.

Stephany Coleman, Muriel Naumann, and Me before the race.



Stephany was estatic about her race time. She got a new Personal record of 26:59 and was literally jumping out of her skin.  She was standing on my car while talking on the phone to her Dad about the race.  Stephany not only set a P.R., but she also placed 4th in her age group.

Prizes after the race.  I actually won 3 things! 2 bags and a lanyard from Chick-fil-A!

This is my friend Muriel Naumann who ran the 10K (6.2 mile) race today and placed 1st in her age group of 50-59 with a time of 47:01.  Stephany and I see Muriel at most of the races we do and she always places in her age group.  She is an amazing runner.

Here is my friend Bill Johnson, he ran the 5K.  He won one of the first door prizes which was a bowl full of stuff for a movie night.  AND he placed 4th in his age group of 50-59 with a time of 24:22!  Way to go Bill!




At the end of the race I was admiring the leftover watermelons when the volunteer race ladies said, "Would you like to take one home?"  heck yes, so there I am with a watermelon and my other prizes.



Crossroads Triathlon

What a great race. This was where I ran my first triathlon in 2006. This was the third time I have done this race but the first time since 2007. It is still a very well run race and I had a blast. Unfortunately, with all the other plans our family had this last Saturday, I went up to DeWitt to do the race myself. That means that I have no pictures to post.

I was a little disappointed with my swim time (11:50 for 500 yards) but I had a good bike leg. I actually had the 29th fastest bike time out of 155 competitors, averaging 21.4 mph over the 15 miles course. The course was a little hilly but nothing like Lake Geode. The running leg is always the most difficult for me but I still managed to run a 27 minute 5K which for me is pretty good even without having done the other two events first. My final time was 1:25 which is a new personal best for me by 5 minutes. I'll be back next year.

2011 Swisher, IA 5K race

Another week, another race! This time it was in Swisher, Iowa. I actually did this race last year and it was great to do it again so I could beat my previous year's time.

The day started out in the low 70 degree range, overcast and a little bit muggy. My friend Stephany picked me up at my house since we are down a vehicle. Our van is in the mechanic's shop for repair.

Last year at this race I had a time of 31:45 and I placed 13th of 16 in my age group, and I didn't feel very well.

This year I was a little bit faster with a time of 30:38 and I placed 6th of 16 in my age group, and I felt pretty good overall.

I was joined by many friends this year to race with or be cheered on by:
Danyel Kolek, Janeen, Andy and Bella VanEtten, Patty Urban, Natalie and Ryan Empey and family and my running friend Stephany Coleman!

I love the Swisher 5K race because it is a challenge for me. It has massive hills and at least 5 of them. There are 2 water stops, lots of volunteers, food, door prizes and massage tables at the end! If you don't like hills then don't sign up, but if you want a challenging course, then this one is great!

Some stats were posted so my stats as of now are:

Time 30:38
Running pace 9:51
1st mile 9:08, 2nd mile 20:50
6 of 16 in age group
81st of 126 overall
31 of 59 females

My friend Natalie and her adorable family.  Her baby was in the stroller nearby

Natalie, myself and Stephany

Stephany and I taking a picture of ourselves before the race!

Running Again

I'm pleased to write that I'm running again. Yesterday I ran 4.05 miles and then today I did 5 miles but it was all speed work (walking, jogging, fast running and sprinting) planned by my friend Stephany. I have a 5k race planned for this Saturday morning that I hope to do as well. I had a couple small walks last week of about a mile each, but no running. I wanted to but just couldn't do it. My heart was hurting and still is.

Last week I didn't run at all because I was sad and grieving my dear little Niece that passed away. Last Sunday on the 24th of July Laila went back to her loving Heavenly Father while taking a nap. She was almost 12 weeks old. I felt a special connection to her because I had the opportunity to hold her when she was just 6 days old and this isn't something I ever get to do with any of my nieces or nephews because I live so far away from all of my family. I think Laila is the only niece that I have held that young. Her parents are amazing and I love them very much. I feel that they have raised their family so well, and I look up to them with great respect.

I was so sad last week and this week that I didn't want to do anything but stay home and in bed. I did manage to get up last Tuesday only because I have children to take care of, and I had 2 Zumba classes last week that I was scheduled to do that I knew that I really shouldn't sub out or cancel. Since I had already cancelled my Body Sculpt class the day before and didn't want to cancel any more classes I did those two classes anyway. Then on Wednesday most of my family traveled to Colorado to see Laila's family and mourn with them.

I'm only sharing this because there are times in each of our lives that we just want to stay in bed, not see anyone, cry, cancel everything in our life etc. These are times when our life can take a turn for the worse and we can then just become sadder, more lonely and distance ourselves from others. Thus only hurting those who are still living around us that love us.

I didn't want to teach Body Sculpt on Monday of this week. It was one of the hardest things to do (go back to teaching with a smile on my face when my heart was so sad and broken). After class I just came home and did next to nothing for an entire day. I think if it wasn't for my wonderful family and my teaching schedule that I might have done nothing for a while. Then Tuesday came again and I had two Zumba classes to teach. I once again smiled when I was hurting and did my classes anyway. Tuesday night I realized that I need to run again and that perhaps might help me heal. I knew running (although not fun at all when doing it) feels amazing when it's over and if you are anything like me, you like to mark down your miles on a chart or in a running log.

So I got up on Wednesday morning (yesterday) and dragged myself to a treadmill at the local community center where I teach. First I just set up equipment for my Body Sculpt class starting in 2 hours and was putting off running by setting up all the equipment super slowly, but I knew deep down I needed to just get started. Eventually I got on the treadmill and started walking which then lead to running. I accomplished 4.05 miles and had tears of joy when I was done. I knew I could run again. Hopefully through running I can heal my pain and feel better. When I run I think about others that are going through trials and I think about ways I can help them. I also think about things I can do better in my life so I can enhance someone else's life and lift their spirit.

Walking, jogging and running have always helped me feel better. I hope that others can find this kind of joy like I am finding in doing things they love as well, and through doing these things their hearts will heal .

Downward Dog 5K in Coralville, IA

This was such a small race that only about 12 people were there. The race started at 8a.m. and I didn't even set my alarm to get there. I guess being a Saturday and being up a little late on Friday night that I technically could have slept through the race. However I didn't sleep through it.   At 7:30a.m. Jason woke and said, "You are going to that race right?" I said, "Yes!" and I got up and ready for the race. I didn't even eat my banana. Usually I do eat a little something before running, but I just didn't feel like eating.

I arrived at the Downward Dog Yoga place at 7:50a.m. and it was raining. Not a fun way to start a race, but for as hot as it's been around here (in the 100 degree range) rain felt nice. Although it was still muggy and my hands were sticky the entire race.

They started the race with just twelve people. Eight of us were 5K runners, and the other four were 10K. I placed 5th out of 8 with a time of 29:28. Not my best time, however I think that because I didn't eat any food made me have absolutely no energy which may have resulted in this bad time. Either way I finished. This race was only $5.00 so you couldn't really complain that you didn't get a shirt or a race number for your scrapbook. They did have food at the end. Gatorade, water, bagels, cookies, bananas and apples. Bummer is, they had 8 door prizes and I'm so unlucky that I didn't win anything. Even though this race was only 3 miles from my house, I won't run it again next year. I will pick a race that I have to drive further to that has a shirt, race number and possibly chip timed.

Stephany and I after the race was over.

The Downward Dog Yoga place in Coralville, IA where the race started and ended.

I finished

Today was the Lake Geode Challenge. It was the longest race I have ever done. 15oo meter open water swim in Lake Geode, 40K bike ride through steamy Iowa countryside, and a 10K run through the hilliest state park in the world. I am glad this is over. Every part of my body from my waist to the tips of my toes hurt. I also forgot to put on Body Glide so I am severely chaffed where my arms rubbed my tank top. I don't have all my splits yet but my final time was 3 hours and 5 minutes. I was aiming for a sub 3 hour race but at least I finished. The winner finished in 1 hour and 59 minutes. I was about 200 yards into the run, climbing this insane hill when he passed me coming into the finish. Talk about having the wind taken out of your sails.

The swim was a water start with all the men 44 and under starting in the first wave. The water was almost unswimmable due to coliform contamination but the DEQ decided that the water quality was just above allowable limits. Still, the water smelled and tasted a little on the skanky side. I didn't have any trouble sighting for about the first 1000 meters but as I got tired, I started to pull to one side and had to start sighting about every 6 strokes to stay on line with the finish. As I was finishing up the swim, the sun came out from the clouds and I knew that it was going to start getting hot. Running out of the water, up the beach to the transition, I was breathing pretty hard and my legs were a little unsteady. I took a little longer than usual to throw on my shirt, socks, and bike shoes hoping that I would calm down a little. Hopping on my bike out of transition, I tried to get a little speed in the first 200 yards because we had a huge hill to start climbing out of the beach area. As I started up the hill, I was pedaling pretty hard and as I geared down, I lost my chain. I quickly got it back on but it is very hard to get going back up a hill from a dead stand still. Once we got out of the park, I was able to pick up some speed but the hills kept coming. After flying down into the Skunk River valley at 40 mph, I had to immediately climb back out. I was largely able to hold my own during the 25 mile ride but I did get passed a few times. The scariest parts of the ride were during a couple of the descents that ended in blind curves but the speed was a rush. Since this was not a draft legal race, all riders had to be careful to stay away from the other riders. One rider actually got a 2 minute time penalty for riding too close behind another rider. When I dismounted the bike, I actually had to lean on the bike for support so that I wouldn't fall over. I quickly slipped my running shoes on, got rid of my bike helmet, and took off on the run. Right away I had to run up the same hill that I lost my bike chain on. It was incredibly miserable. I was feeling pretty badly and actually ended up walking part of the hill. Unfortunately, the hills just didn't stop. Thankfully, there were water/gatorade aid stations about every 3/4 mile. They also had bags of ice and ice-cold sponges. The ice bags were the best thing. I crunched on ice most of the race. That was the only thing that kept me going. I walked several times throughout the run portion but once I hit mile 4 I ran the rest of the way in.

running towards the finish

Finishing!

The plunge bath was wonderful.

Happy to be done!

I hate pseudoscience

Michelle keeps threatening me that she is going to make this her own personal blog since I very rarely write anything. I guess I had better step up and say something.

One of my big pet peeves is pseudoscience, particularly when it involves health and fitness issues. I saw a short video yesterday entitled "Why Diet Soda Makes You Fat." As a drinker of diet soda and as a 40 year old man that has trouble losing weight even though I put in about 10 hours of hard cardio and resistance training a week, I was interested. Unfortunately, it was a load of dung. The guy in the video started talking about how most of the food we eat these days (including diet sodas) are highly acidic and this "acidification" of our body makes us leach minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and iodine. Iodine is extremely important to our metabolism because it is used by our thyroid gland to make the hormones T4 and T3 which, among other things, help to increase our metabolism and therefore burn more calories. What he over looks is that it is nearly impossible to acidify our body. If our blood pH decreases below 7.35 (normal physiological pH ranges from 7.35 to 7.45) we would be seriously sick. The other thing he over looks is that no matter what the pH of the food we intake, it all gets acidified in the stomach during the process of digestion (stomach acid pH is about 2). As food is released in small amounts into the small intestines, the pH is increased to physiological levels. There is also no evidence in the peer-reviewed, published biomedical literature that supports this body acidification and leaching hypothesis.

Now, I am not suggesting that we should all feel good about chugging vast amount of soda, diet or otherwise. Soda, particularly Mt. Dew and colas, have negative effects on our teeth. One of the traps I fall into is believing that because I am drinking a diet soda, I can eat more. Also, artificial sweeteners (and excessive sugar) are thought to perhaps be able to "train" our brains to crave sweeter foods. If we give into these cravings and eat that extra piece of cake, we increase our blood insulin levels. While good for glucose uptake, insulin inhibits fat metabolism (this is the basis of the Atkins diet).

In short, it is important to limit the over consumption of any one food - particularly those with limited nutritional value. We need to focus on eating nutrient rich rather than just calories rich foods.

On another subject, I am competing in my first Olympic distance triathlon this Saturday. It is a 1500 meter swim, a 40K (25 miles) bike ride, and a 10K run. I am not a very strong runner and am nervous about having to run 6.1 miles after everything else. This is also a very hilly course both for the bike (we climb nearly 14oo feet over all) and the run (700' overall). My goal is to finish in 2 hours and 50 minutes or less.

Tri in July Sigourney, Iowa

You may ask, where is Sigourney, Iowa? I asked that same question. It is 53 miles Southwest of Iowa City. It's a small town with a great mini triathlon.

About a month or so ago my friend Tracy told me about this triathlon race. My first thought was "No way, because I don't swim." My main fear was swimming in an outdoor pond or lake with many others swimming at the same time and pushing my head under as I flail around helplessly and drown slowly. That is the main reason I haven't ever signed up for a triathlon. She let me know that this tri was so much different than the rest. First of all it's a mini sprint (330 yards of swimming, 6 miles on a bike and then a 2 mile run) and you swim in an outdoor pool and everyone starts 30 seconds apart, so your chances of being pushed under the water aren't as likely. I told her okay, but I was worried about the swimming part, plus I hadn't been on a bike in at least 4 years that I could remember, so that would be challenging for me as well. Running isn't strong for me either, but since I try to do at least a 5K race almost every Saturday I felt that I would be fine doing that.

Over the past few weeks I have tried to swim laps, but not knowing how to breathe properly has been an issue, plus not having the right swimsuit or goggles wasn't a good thing either, then lastly the NOT KNOWING HOW TO SWIM can create many issues when trying to swim. My swim portion was rather frightening for me. I started out too quickly because of excitement, then when I saw that the bottom of the pool dropped by 10 feet I freaked out and my head came up out of the water, I then swallowed water and panicked a little. I then decided that I was going to do this no matter what and flipped to my back and did a back stroke for the rest of the swim.

After exiting the pool I ran barefoot to the bike. I quickly put the bicycle helmet on, dried off my feet, put on socks and my shoes, then got on the bike to start the 6 miles. I did well on the bike, especially considering that I don't have my own bike and have only ridden a bike about 5 times in the last year. I was borrowing Tracy's bike and I had only ridden it for the first time the night before. There were hills to ride, but nothing too crazy. I finished the 6 miles in 23 minutes and then ran to put my bike up so I could start running.

The run felt so weird. My legs were like jello and it was extremely difficult to put one foot in front of the other and run. I felt like I was going so slow, but by the first mile mark my time was just at 10 minutes so that wasn't too bad.

When I finished I felt amazing and I'm glad I did this race. I highly recommend this race to anyone who likes to do triathlons, but to those especially who need a good first time tri!

My first goal was to finish. My second goal was to do this entire thing in under an hour, my third goal was to do this race in 50 minutes or less since last year's top 3 in my age group all had 51 minutes or less so I figured I could have a chance at placing in the top 3 if I just had a 50 minute time.

My final time was 55:18 and I placed 4th out of 6 in my age group of 30-39! I was 4 minutes and 13 seconds away from being 3rd place. Not bad for a first time out.

13 is my lucky number and when I saw this sign on the way to the race,  I just had to have a picture!

There were big painted rectangles on the grass and this is how I laid my stuff out for the transition between events.

Here I am in Tracy's triathlon suit that she let me borrow,  showing off my number that was written on my body for the race.

A really awesome triathlon bike that I was sure Jason would want, so I took a picture.

Tracy and I before the race!

Just before starting the race

Getting ready to start the race.  You can see a variety of swimsuits and triathlon suits in this picture.

Tracy took this picture of me through the fence of me waiting in line getting ready to start my swim

a picture of me struggling to swim.  I'm so glad I was able to finish this part of the race.

running to the bike

getting ready to ride

just finished the biking portion.  

some of my first steps of the running portion of the race.  My legs were so heavy.

Running in for a great finish!

After the race!

Amazing post race food.  There was breakfast pizza from Pizza Ranch, cookies from Subway, then bananas and water from a local grocery store were all donated for us!

After the race and a shower, Tracy and I posed in our race shirts!

If you double click on this picture you can see some  of the race results bigger.  

2011 Heritage Days 5K in Mt. Vernon, IA

Today I woke up nice and early before my alarm at 5:30a.m. I felt great, so waking up so early wasn't the worst thing. It was my turn to drive and I picked up Stephany at 6:30 to go to Mt. Vernon. We arrived right on the dot of 7a.m. and went inside the high school to check in and get our shirts.  It was nice and slightly breezy outside and 70 degrees. At 8a.m. the weather had become a bit humid and hot. I'm not sure of the temperature, but it was definitely much hotter than when we arrived. The race started and the first mile went ok. It was really hot to run in. My first mile was 9:44 and that is slow for my first mile. I had thoughts of not running, but knew I would because I came to finish. There was this massive steep hill at the end of mile one. It was so steep that it was taking all I had to run up it. At one point I must have been running so slow up it that a power walker walked right by me, so I started walking instead up the hill.

I picked up the pace a bit in mile 2 and felt like I was running at a fast pace. However by the end of the race my time was a disappointing 29:50 I received a popsicle stick that had my place number on it. I was place #130 out of about 300. I ended up placing 6th in my age group which at the time I looked at my age group sheet it had 24 people in it. It's not the worst race I've ever done as far as time goes, but it's definitely not my best. I'm glad I finished given how hot I was.

Positives of this race:
Low Cost
You get a shirt
Bananas, watermelon, granola bars and water after the race
Indoor bathrooms!
5K and a 10K so if you like to go to longer races, then here you go.

Negatives and reasons I won't do this race again:
No doorprizes
No prizes for top three in age group
No medals of any kind for top three in age group.
No race number
Popsicle stick timing--I don't like this because it is so inaccurate because there are always people that don't turn them in, so you may think you have one time, but then get recorded as another.
The race organizers seemed a bit frazzled at the beginning of the race and not organized. They didn't have the 30-39 5K Women's registered sheet.
At the end you run on the high school track, but people were actually exiting the track so it was a little confusing where to go, they needed one of the volunteers at that turn.
Only one water stop on the course. Usually that is fine, but for as hot as it was, they needed two water stops and they needed gatorade or something equivalent.
I like bagels at the end and there weren't those.
No packet of goodies
Not chip timed.

Next year if I have to do a race on the 2nd weekend of July I will be glad to travel further for a better run race.

A picture of my shirt, that I can't find currently.

Stephany and I before the race.

Eating watermelon after the race.

Stephany and I after the race.

Lots of watermelon to eat, it was amazingly good!

granola bars too!

Stephany and I about an hour after the race waiting for results.