Black Earth 2011

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Today was the Fleet Feet Madison Birthday Brick.  Every year, Fleet Feet organizes a ride from their store to the Black Earth 10 and 2 mile and back.  The weather is consistently windy going out and tail wind coming back. 


Fleet Feet Van with everyone's belongings



Our bikes parked during the run

Because my legs were sore from soccer last night at Keva, I decided to only run the 2 mile this year.  It was a good choice.  Friends that did the 10 mile said it was the windest they could remember.  This run costs only $5.00 and leaves for the elementary school.  There is really only one turn on the whole course aside from the turnaround. 


Getting ready to race

The two mile was fun.  I went out hard with the tailwind and not knowing which runners were running only 2 with me.  It was definately a postive split.  After the turn at the one mile, I ran straight into the wind with no one to draft.  I looked behind me and saw a big gap which made it hard to run the second mile as fast as the first.  I ended up first overall-which if you know anything about this race is not real impressive.  All the fast runners do the 10 miler. 

It was fun as usual.  Ride out was windy but we pace lined most of it.  Ride back was a breeze and the cake at cupcakes waiting for us at Fleet Feet helped keep the pace brisk.  Great day. 

Centurian with Dave Scott's signature on it. 

Milwaukee Great Lakes Expo Run 5k

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My first running race of 2011 took place at the Great Lakes Multisport Expo.  There was a 5k and 10k and I chose to race the former.  Although it's winter, I have been doing a fair amount of swimming, biking, and running, mostly indoors.  The weather on race day was chilly but not too windy.  I felt pretty good although a bit tired from staying up late the night before with people we met at the expo including a man who was one of the original Hawaii Ironmen.  He had some great stories to share.

After jogging to the start line (about 1/2 mile from the Expo), I ran into my friend Bill who does a lot of races and recently beat me at the Madison Mud Run.  I told him I owe him one for the Mud Run and he shouldn't be surprised to get an elbow at the finish as I sprint past.  He smiled.

After the gun went off, I sat tucked in behind Bill for the entire race.  I know he is very good at pacing so I decided to run off his pace and then see if I could beat him at the end.  This worked well for most of the race.  Near the end, I saw a sign saying 3 miles.  I assumed it was for us and started to pick up the pace.  Turns out it was for the 10k course which shared the same route.  A little farther down I saw a second sign for 3 miles.  This was near where I expected the finish to be.  When I didn't see the finish, I felt like I sprinted too soon and couldn't hold my speed.  Bill ended up beating me by about 6 seconds. 

Overall, I finished first in my age group and 19th of about 420 runners.  Bill won his age group and both his mom and dad won their age group in the 70-79 year old categories.  What a cool family!  Great start to the year and hope to improve from here and redeem myself at the next race vs. Bill.  Now I have something to focus on when training.