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Race Week

Wow, last week was a busy one.  Between Saturday and Saturday, I ran 2 races, a PT test, and a fun "race" with Mila, I'm a bit sore (achilles and right hip, specifically) but hey, it was worth it!
On Saturday, March 11th I ran Trail Racing Over Texas' Crazy Desert Trail Race 5k.  They also had races ranging from 10k-100k.  Plenty of my fellow Road Lizards ran the half marathon and even the 100K, but I couldn't go that far due to the PT test on Thursday.
photo taken by Trail Racing over Texas

After a poor showing at Shannon Trail Series 3, where I went out too fast trying to catch up after having to retie my shoes, I was determined to run better.  Again, in trail races, it is hard to gauge a race based on time as courses can vary so much..  So, I had to measure how well I felt about my run.  Turns out - pretty good.  Since it was a chip timed race, I didn't push my way to the front.  I stayed in the back to make sure that my shoes were well tied.  Not making that mistake again.  OK, so it was a chip timed race, but shortly after the part you see in the above picture, the course narrows down to single track.  I had to carefully pick spots to pass and wind my way through the field. After close to a mile, I found myself in 3rd place with 1st and 2nd in sight.  I caught them, but not exactly the way I wanted to.  Instead of crossing a dried out riverbed, they followed the bank to the left.  I followed them and we all found ourselves searching for the correct way.  Luckily it only took us a short time and we were back on our way.  It turns out that the kid in front of me was actually just 13 and had a side stitch.  I'm pretty sure he's the one that won the 7th grade boys 1.5 mile from the track meet the other day Strap on those spikes.  We chatted a little as we ran, him more than me, and traded the lead for a mile or so.  Eventually, he took charge and I dropped off a bit after we started catching up to some of the 10K runners that had started some 30 minutes before us.  I did almost get outsprinted by the 3rd place finisher but was able to manage 2nd overall.  On gun time, the little guy beat me by 12 seconds, but a 3/4 second on chip time.  I got a neat handmade craft made by the Tarahumara, a tin cup, and a finisher's medal to go with a time of 24:49 (5k trail PR!)
Luckily for me, Trail Racing Over Texas had a photographer on the course and he got some good shots of me and some of my SARL and RWB crew.  All of these photos are from AJ Stasulli/Trail Racing Over Texas.
SARL president George Orr on the half marathon course

Going downhill around mile 2

Another SARLer, Wilma on the 1/2 course


This was around halfway, right after we found the right way to go.  We stayed fairly bunched throughout the rest of the race, all finishing within 15 seconds of each other. In contrast, 4th place came in 2 minutes after 3rd place.

Race Director Rob of TROT


Cliff and Kent on the 100K course.  Both finished!


One of my training partners, Blanca, on the 1/2 course


Thursday I had my Air Force PT test (1.5 mile).  Since the Houston Marathon, I've been concentrating on my short distance speed to try and go under 10 minutes for the first time in my Air Force career.    
The test went well overall.  I woke up and had that familiar sucky feeling that I get on big race/test days.  At least it's happened enough now that I know to expect it.  I got a 31.5" waist measurement, my best ever (thanks Primal Diet!), then did 46 push ups.  Push ups are always my weak point and I generally shoot for 45-50.  After maxing the crunches, it was run time.  I've been training to run a 6:35 pace, knowing that I'd probably have to run further than 1.5 miles.  The group was actually pretty quick and that forced me to spend the first 200m or so in the second lane.  A couple things about the group I ran with made me happy.  There were people there that are faster than me, pushing me to chase them, and everyone ran well enough to pass their tests easily.  When I finished, their clock had me at 10:04, good enough to finish with a 97.6.  However, my watch had 1.5 miles at 9:57 (since I was pushed out to the 2nd lane and lapped a few people, I ended up running 1.53).  So, I both met and didn't meet my goal.  I'll take it.
Sorry, I don't have a picture of the my shirt, but for those of you keeping track, I was "Orange Jersey #4."

 Friday was the Goodfellow Air Force Base St. Patrick's Day Run.  There was some construction on the normal course so they had to switch things up a bit.  This ended up adding half of a mile to the 5k distance, brinigng it to 3.6.  It was hot.  Damnnn hot.  At least 85.  I ran it with Mila and I can say that the heat definitely affected her.  We had a good time though.  There were a couple kids run/walking aorund us that were pretty cute.  The base commander and his wife even came out, saying that he showed up only because of my weekly running e-mail.
It looked like some of the fire students were there for their PT session.  This was pre-race registration

We got Jon to come out.  No Jammie though

pre-race stretch

getting lined up

Go!

that little dude took off sprinting

there were a few strollers in the race

Well, you can see how Jon feels

Mila trying to catch up to the colonel

the "hill" in the race...

...and Mila charging it



the course took us down the flight line

This little girl and her dad were also at the 5K the next morning #foreshadowing

Mila making her move on those students


Action shot!

Huarache Turbo shot for Ceci
 Saturday morning was the Habitat for Humanity Bunny Run.  They had a 1 mile, 5k, and 10k.  The race was small, only 81 runners between the 3 distances and 23 in the 10K with me.  The course is a popular one here in San Angelo, alongside the Concho river, and included a loop around the golf course.  At the start, a lead pack of 4 guys surged ahead and the rest of us strung out after them.  I recognized some of the guys in that front pack and decided to hold back, working my way from 12th to 7th over the course of the first mile.  However, at the 5k turnaround, that lead pack all turned around.  That left just Jen and me.  I kept her in sight and was about 30 seconds behind at the halfway point.  I never could close the distance any more than that and she beat me by exactly 30 seconds.  Officially my time was 44:55, but on my watch I was at 6.1 miles.  I ran through the finish line so I could get that watch official time (yeah I know) of 45:36, a huge PR.  My previous 10K PR was 47:57, which I set at the 2016 Detroit Turkey Trot.  Anyway, I was the 1st overall male!  I got my first race win even though Jen crossed the line first.  I'd say we repped the 316 TRS pretty well.

 All in all, it was a great run week.  Sorry for such a long post!
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