OUT FOR A RUN: January 2011

Team Under Pressure 5k Saturday Jan 1st 2011 Clearwater Fl.

New Years Day run to start the year off!! This was the first event put on by this group that is an AAU basketball program in Clearwater. Being New Years day I did not know what to expect as a turnout. I guess most wanted to sleep in since there were only around 60 runners. It was fairly cold that morning thus the beanies to keep our heads warm. With the cooler weather I figured it would make for a nicer pace, but the ups/downs slowed me down. Ran most of the race with the secondary group (two lead runners were well in front, but got lost) and felt good. 4 of them pulled away and I came in 5th with a time of 22:46. First in my age group. If I know the two lead runners were on course and I was in teh lead group I might have pushed it to win overall. Figured they were so far out front they had already finished thou. Not bad for a first race of the year with all the hills, but will want to improve on it.

Couple of "cons" were no map shown for course and no one leading the runners out. You started at Del Oro Park and made your way out and back on the Ream Wilson Trail. The start was at the base of the McMullen Booth Rd overpass so it was a uphill start. Throughout the course there were ups and downs of evrying degree with some very steep. A couple of problems on teh course were no Mile markers or directional signs that I saw. Two runners that were way out front went the wrong way and ended up finsihing very late. When you came back over the overapss you went past the finishline and turned left for another down and back 1/2 before coming back to the finish. This was confusing especially since the Mile race runners started 15 minutes after the 5k runners and were ending with the 5k'ers. They did not turn to the left, but went straight to the finish. The belief is that some of the 5k runners bypassed the lef tturn and went straight to the finish.

I am sure most of that will be corrected for future events. Also improvemnets should be more water/food after finishing and more age group awards instaed of just the first in each age group. The bobblehead trophies were nice thou, but they also gave the overall winners an age group award instaed of one award per person like most all races. For a first time event it was not bad and I am sure it will be improved on in future years. Might do again, but it is on Sunday in 2011 so I will skip it this year.

MADD Dask 5k Saturday Jan 8 Al Lopez Park
This is build as a Resolution Run where you can write down your New Year's resolution and pin it in yourself as you run. I saw a few people that did this. This event is put on by Take...The First Step Club and organized very well. Another cool Florida morning at Al Lopez Park which is completely flat. The course takes you for a loop two mile loop and then comes back around for another loop for the final 1 1/10 mile.

Wanted to bring my time down from last weeks first race of the year. Went out a little to fast (it seems like always), but still felt ok. First mile was 6:35. You go out of the park and run down the sidewalk for as short bit before returning back into the north end of the park. For some reason my mind started to wander in this end of the park. Maybe the quietness or the surrounding woods, but I started to slow. You run around the parking lot making a turn at the 2 mile mark (water station) and then run the final 1 1/10 miles. You basically run the same final mile as the first mile, but you finish by coming back around instaed of going out of the park.
Like I stated I started to slow with my mile 2 mark at 14:10 (7:35), but brought it back somewhat with a third mile of 7:10. Final sprint and came in at 22:04. Should have broke 22 minutes. Still got first age group so 2 for 2 in 2011. Total of 126 runners and I was 26th,

Cotton shirts and ample food/drink afterwards. Nice "flying shoes" trophies for awards. Take..The First Step Club does a great job with events and whave already signed up for this race in 2012. Hopefully I will finnaly run a good race at Al Lopez park.

F.S.U. Bill Duncan 5k Saturday Jan 29 Lakeland Fl
This is the race that goes from Florida Southern University and runs around Lake Hollingsworth. There is review in April 2010 and is pretty much the same. I wanted to run this again since last time I paced my son. Race this year was better attened escpecially since one of the sports teams (lacrosse I think) from the school ran.Goal was to get back under 22 min even with all the ups/downs.

After the start which I held back a little during the downhill beginning I settled in with some of the lacrosse guys. First mile felt good and passed at 6:45. A little uphill stretch going to halfway (water station) and was able to pass a few. Second mile and still feeling good with a 7:05. Final mile of 7:15 got tougher and two of the lacrosse guys passed me back. Sprinted in the final 1/10 at 36 seconds to alomst catch the lacrosse guys and finish in 21:41. Got under 22 and right at a 7 minutes pace.