Boo Run 5K (Peoria, IL)

Today saw a crisp (41 F, or 5 C) day; it was clear and there was a slight wind. I picked up Tracy at the crack of dawn and headed to the mall.

The course: a lap around the mall; a rectangular segment with an out and back spur on local suburban mall-area roads, then a half of a loop around the mall. My question: how was the course measured; one is trained to “run the tangents” (the Mall lap) but was the course measured by the inner curb?

I did get to the mile marker at 8:05; I was just a bit skeptical as I saw others ahead of me who weren’t 7:30 mpm runners. The out and back segment gave me a view of everyone else. I had gained on some; I was following a very tall, broadly built (kind of like a javelin thrower) lady and was able to get ahead of her. My other targets were getting out of reach.

Mile 2: 16:12; this part couldn’t have been incorrectly measured, I think. I was chasing a guy with a cape and eventually he got away from me; my legs started to get heavy. At 20-22 minutes, two guys got me. Still I saw the clock at about 25 and knew I could make it under 26 and so I did.

I talked to two others who had Garmins; one had 3.12 and another had 3.08. Still another coming in had 2.99 with, well, about .1 to go.

Tracy broke 39 minutes which is faster than her previous race (Zoo Run); we’ll have to see about the early miles.

Short (by .02-.05 or so) or not, this was a decent race for me and part of a steady improvement. I had no trouble with my knees.

Remarks
1. Some ran in costume; I was beaten by a gladiator with a cape and a banana.

2. Yep, it was a spandex kind of day. I got some serious eyestrain, especially during the pre-race stretch:

(click to see the full size image at the site). No, this wasn’t exactly what I saw; today it was mostly tights rather than shorts.

3. I can tell I am making progress because the groups I end up chasing are smaller (in terms of body size) than 2-3 months ago. This is almost the optimum speed for viewing as the ladies in sight are fit enough to run an 8-8:30 mpm pace but not as skinny as the 7 mpm and faster runners. Then again the 10-12 mpm ladies are a bit bigger in the caboose and I like that too.

4. A retired physics professor was helping out at the finish line. He and I had an interesting locker room conversation yesterday. He asked me “do you have arthritis?” I said “in the knee and shoulder; why?” He then said that he was surprised that a guy my size was lifting such light weights. I have to admit that this really didn’t bother me; he was genuinely curious and he remembered me from 17-18 years ago when I could bench 300 pounds…I was much younger and I weight a LOT more. He might have also been surprised at my lunges (I use 30-40 pounds), rotator cuff exercises (2.5-5 pounds) and arm curls (25 pound dumbbells for sets of 12; I keep my elbows tucked at my sides).

Still, my routine precludes me from lifting a lot of weight; yesterday it went like this:
rotator cuff (pulley, and light dumbbells; 18 sets of 10 total) 18
rows (Hammer: 3 sets of 10 with 200) 3
bench press: 10 x 135, 8 x 155, 3 x 165, 3 x 165 4
incline press: 10 x 125, 10 x 125 2
pull downs: 10 x 140, 10 x 145, 10 x 145 3
curls: 2 sets of 12 x 25, EZ bar: 10 x 65, 10 x 45 4
lunges: 2 full sets of 10 (1 set is 10 each leg front, 10 each leg back) 4
military press: 2 sets of 15 x 40 lb. dumbbells; seated/supported, 1 set of 8 x 45 standing 3
sit ups: 100 via 50-30-20 (1-2-3 incline; highest is 1) 1
legs: adduction: 3 sets of 10 with 180 3
abduction: 3 sets of 10 with 180 3
push back: 3 sets of 10 with 110 3

Note: I super set everything; for example I’ll often do rows-pull downs, then bench press-leg series, incline with sit ups in between; super set curls and military press. I am also careful to stay in control; I don’t want to re-injure my shoulder. I also rest very little; the above routine usually takes me 55 minutes and I did 51 sets (mostly 10, some 15, some 3).