Firefly 5k 2012

This was a first:  a nighttime race the night before a long run (every so often I have a race the day after a long run, like the Father's Day 5k this year or the Cherry Creek Sneak for the last 2 years).  Thanks to the Runners Roost Team, I got a free entry to this inaugural (for Denver at least) glow-in-the-dark party run at City Park.

I told myself going into tonight's race that I would race hard, and not let myself keep anything in the bag for tomorrow's scheduled 22 mile long run.  I had a couple of decent warmup miles that left me feeling like I could have a very solid race.  But for whatever reason, it wasn't to be.  I started off at a decent enough clip, averaging 7:00 and 7:30 mile pace for almost three quarters of a mile!  Then I had to walk (I'm not quite sure why) for a little bit.  I rallied for the second mile, though my pace slipped to between 7:30 and 8:00 minutes.  And, again, at about three quarters of the mile, I took a walk break.  I think I was telling myself (despite the fact that I'd previously told myself I wouldn't tell myself) to relax because I had 22 miles scheduled for the next day.  At least I managed to keep myself from walking during the third mile.

I've found that I sometimes do well with short races the day after a long run.  Doing that the other way around (especially with less than 12 hours' rest) doesn't seem to work out as well.

Official Time: 25:03
YTD Race Miles: 81.5
YTD Total Miles: 906.8
Shiny: Thanks to all the glow stick necklaces and other lightup costumery, the place looked like an 80s neon paradise bar.  Pretty cool, though.

Georgetown Half Marathon 2012

As in 2011, this year I paced the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon, this time the 2:05 runners with my friend Todd.  We had a good-sized group of runners with us at the start, and I'm glad to say that most of them stayed with us for the first 10k of the race.  By the halfway point, that number was down to about 8.  As we increased slightly for the next few miles, before pulling back again in the last 5k, some of those runners pulled ahead of us and some fell behind.

Todd and I were exactly on pace for the entire race, according to our respective GPS watches.  I was pleased by this, since we both had different kinds of watches--I have a Garmin, and Todd was using a new Polar.  Every couple of miles, I would double-check with him, and our respective distance markers were exactly the same.  We were also in line with the mile markers on the course, which was a nice improvement over last year when that was not the case (the only mile marker that was off this year was the 8-mile, which was at 8.25 on the course).

As we ran, I counted on Todd (who paces the 4-hour group in Runner's Edge) to keep us honest pacewise, while I took it upon myself to try to entertain those who were running with us.  I didn't keep up a running commentary for 13.1 miles--not enough wind for that--but I like to think my occasional observations, jokes, and trivia provided either a distraction or some entertainment for the runners who were with us.  Coming in to the last half mile, I thanked those runners within earshot for joining Todd and me on the journey, and putting up with my speechifyin'.

The weather for today's race was pretty much perfect:  slightly cloudy and cool as we started, with a fairly steady breeze through most of the race.  The sun really only came out for a few miles late in the race, and was considerate enough to disappear behind some clouds as we entered Idaho Springs.

Official Time: 2:05:06
YTD Race Miles: 78.4
YTD Total Miles: 881.7
"Run Forest Run": This was scrawled on the road in Gtown, courtesy of Clear Creek High's Cross Country team.  I decided it was either a misspelling of a movie quote, or a sly reference to Fangorn Forest from The Lord of the Rings.  Naturally, I prefer this more nerdly explanation.