Rocket Run 2008

Workout notes I ate some pizza (2 slices) after the walk, so I will wait a couple of hours to do my run.

Update: I went out at 10:40 am to “run” 4 miles. It was 81 F with 65 percent humidity when I finished. I jogged the first two miles in 20:10 and the last two (out and back course) in 18:58.

Fitness wise:

1. I am working my way out of an aerobic valley; I am not completely out of shape but I had bottomed out a couple of weeks ago.

2. My legs are still weak; weights and cycling are helping.

3. My body is still adapting to the running motion; the last two miles almost felt like a training run.

4. I don’t know how to parcel out my energy during a run.

Back to the Rocket Run
But today I walked with Olivia in the Rocket Run (or walk) in Bartonville. We warmed up with one slow walking mile on the nearby track.

In the race itself we were predictably slow (48:48; 15:36, 15:51, 17:22 (1.1, or about 15:50 for the mile)) but enjoyed ourselves; we were in the “no person’s land” of being ahead of all of the other slow walkers but being well behind the slow runners.

Olivia went just hard enough to sweat but not so hard that it was unpleasant for her; I went along at her pace. You can tell that the cycling has helped her endurance; our pace was roughly the pace that Ms. Vickie and I go at when we walk together.

And as I said, the post race breakfast spread was excellent; it featured bottle water, sports drinks, bagels, pizza, bananas, orange slices, watermelon and more stuff that I can’t remember.

Some features: this is a fund raiser for the Limestone High School Alumni association and several groups (band, volleyball team, soccer team, cheerleaders) had aid/support stations along the course and were having a contest; those who placed higher (based on votes from race finishers) got a higher amount.

The (female) volleyball team was dressed in black tops and camouflage spandex shorts; some had painted some of their faces. They sprayed us with water guns. (camouflage spandex, paint, water guns; that was part of the “army” theme)

The soccer team was cheering; one yelled “Obama loves soccer!” (I was wearing my Obama shirt).

As far as the race: the course was an out about 1 mile, a mini-loop (to mile 2) and then back. Hence, we could see the runners who had hit mile 2 in 15 minutes or faster.

There was one guy who was well over a minute ahead of everyone else; he finished in the 14:50’s (college XC runner for Iowa), with second about 16:30 and third in the low 17’s. The women had a tight race with the winner finishing in 20:3X and second being 20:4x.

As Olivia and I finished, Terry Whitehead (runner and ag-lab scientist) joked that he could see buzzards circling over our heads.

I’ve always enjoyed this race; unfortunately it is on the same day as the Whitney walk at Jubilee (also a good event).

It was good to see many of the local runners; one of the reasons I do these things is to see everyone.