BibRave's race reviewers (called BibRave Pros) follow a standard of giving actual informative race details. I put my race reviews (like this one here) on Bibrave as well, but as you may have noticed my race details are less informative and more entertainment. I don't describe race t-shirts or event management, I detail being targeted by a race hijacker dressed as Captain America and plowing little girls into puddles of water because they wandered onto a race course with 50 meters to go in a half marathon. You know...the fun stuff.
I figured, for the most part, my reviews were generally ignored because it was just about me being an idiot and avoiding massive injury. Then, near the end of July, I get this direct message on twitter:"Hey Craig! We were having a moment in BibRave HQ for how awesome your reviews are. We’d love to send you an orange package with some fun BibRave gear! Can you send us your size. Preference for a tank or tee. And pref for a visor, trucker hat, or circle style hat? Thanks for being such an awesome reviewer!!"
Be still my beating heart, conjuring up my inner Sally Field - you like me, right now, you like me! It is nice to know my so-called "reviews" are appreciated for what they are...sources of entertainment in the style of The Office. I did select the Bibrave gear offered to me and in less than a week, it arrived in the promised orange package. When I came home from work, like a kid on Christmas, I ripped open the package, put on it's contents, laced up my running shoes and took off to proudly show off my new threads. Gallivanting around Delaware looking like a sponsored athlete of some kind, I received some odd looks from those taking part in the IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio Triathlon around town that weekend, "Does he know it doesn't start till tomorrow?"
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| Sweet! The Bibrave gear matches the color of my Shady Rays . I might even burst into flames! |
With the Amish Country Half Marathon slated for September, I couldn't go without something to focus on for August. Thus, the Blazin' 5 Miler: A Southeast Scorcher seemed to fit the mold of not being super short, or crazy long and a little different. How different, you might ask?
The last five mile race I took part in would have been my final collegiate cross country race for Morehead State on October 13th, 1996 at Eastern Kentucky University. I wrote about this experience on my first blog post ever on March 20th of 2008 (Wow, this thing has been going on for ten years!?). On a random web search, I found stats and finish times for Morehead State that season. It is fun to reminisce and see some names on there I haven't seen (or heard from) in years.
The last five mile race I took part in would have been my final collegiate cross country race for Morehead State on October 13th, 1996 at Eastern Kentucky University. I wrote about this experience on my first blog post ever on March 20th of 2008 (Wow, this thing has been going on for ten years!?). On a random web search, I found stats and finish times for Morehead State that season. It is fun to reminisce and see some names on there I haven't seen (or heard from) in years.
At this race I had my right foot stepped on from behind, pulling my spikes halfway off. It was off far enough that you couldn't just slide your foot back in and since I was doing well I didn't want to stop to put the shoe back on. My conclusion was to kick the shoe completely off (and into a tree we ran under in hopes of not pegging anyone - spectators or competitors - with my flying spikes) and finish the remaining 4-ish miles with one shoe. Flipping my foot forward as if attempting to punish a soccer ball, I add some English with a flick of my ankle to force my metal spike laden footwear into some branches above. Not hearing any screams or audible distress wailing, I assumed the shoe avoided all human contact and continued on with the crowd of collegiate harriers.
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| Morehead State University Eagles |
I remember afterwards, as I sat on the ground staring at my bloody sock with a hole in it and my foot - also bloodied with a hole it - a teammate arrives with my orphaned shoe in hand. And what do you know, it wasn't bloody, but...yes...it, too, had what looked to be an incision made by a preoccupied surgeon in the heel area.
With that, my heel became infected and ended my season. I missed a race at the University of Cincinnati, our conference (Ohio Valley Conference) meet at Tennessee-Martin and the NCAA Regionals at Furman University.
A huge disappointment for me, considering I was a walk-on and had become part of our seven member first team. The amount of work I had put it in for three years at that level (The mountain bike trails of the Appalachian Foothills of Eastern Kentucky, our training ground, can be a b*tch) seemed to be all for not. It hit me hard and I ended up wallowing in it, losing interest and eventually quite the team (and running) a couple of months later - the spring of my junior year during indoor track season.
I never did find out who the foot stabber was, though I am proud I didn't "Neymar it" - which is the major reason why I'm only a casual soccer fan. I was there to compete, not bellyache to gain an advantage.
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Fast forward 22 years later - the Blazin' 5 Miler would be an out and back jaunt starting at the Jerry L. Garver YMCA in Canal Winchester and then a left onto Long Street which runs directly into the Blacklick Creek Trail, which winds along the Blacklick Creek from
Reynoldsburg to Groveport. We would follow the trail past Portman Park and to the right, crossing both Gender Road & Brice Road, before making the turnaround at a roundabout portion of the path at the 2 1/2 mile mark - flat and fast(?).
Traffic Panther Teammate Gary, who lives relatively close, joined in this venture - but not in the capacity he would have liked. You see Gary attended the Lancaster BrewFest the night before and didn't go to bed till about 2:30 that morning. So, the 8am start time came much quicker than he would have liked with the amount of Ohio beer he consumed Saturday night. "I'm just hoping not to puke," he says through tired weary eyes.
The field is loaded with familiar faces, faces I'm used to seeing finish ahead of me. My thought was if I could tag along with a group of them, or just one of them, I might be able to keep a faster, more consistent pace. Lined up and ready to roll on this moderately warm, hazy August morning we are finally given the green light and head off. The handful of MUCH faster folks do their thing and I try to not keep up, but rather sit in pace among the secondary group which begins thinning just as we hit the paved trail.
One of those familiar faces, Seth, moves forward at a pace I'm more used to and I tag along. A half mile in and we are on the rolling terrain of the metro park thoroughfare and we pass L throwing out some encouragement. The footsteps behind go silent and we can see a couple of those who are a good distance in front of us. We are trucking along at a decent pace, but not one that feels uncomfortable. He drifts out in front a bit and I sit behind this left shoulder and when the trail drifts to the left, we alternate positions. A cat & mouse thing is taking place and at mile one we're at 5:55. It is faster, but not too fast.
He tends to drift in front by a step or two, but I'm feeling good and continue to tailgate. The trail does have a center yellow line painted on to indicate that it is a well used multi-use trail, so we had to keep an eye out for the general public who may be utilizing it that morning. Luckily, the only folks I remember passing from the opposite direction were a couple of gentleman on recumbent bicycles at around mile two. The second split is 6:02 and we are cruising along as the faster folks are now coming back through.
On a slight downhill I move in front and encounter the roundabout at 2 1/2 miles. Seth falls behind as we navigate the turn, but once we begin the return trip he comes back to take the lead with me still riding his shadow. The path back has a bit more incline, not much - but enough to force you to adjust your form to keep pace. Crossing under a road underpass a second time and mile three is 6:06. A little slower, yes, but I will take any split that's off by just a handful of seconds. There is only one other runner I can see up ahead and we will not be catching him.
Seth drifts further ahead, I increase my stride in an effort to keep him from getting too far away. Unfortunately, this was very short lived. Slowly, but surely, the distance between us builds. My legs and arms, I feel, are still pumping away as they were, but I'm not making up ground. At mile four my split is 6:08, Seth has a big lead but I continue to use him to maintain pace. At a half mile to go, I can hear footsteps again as I pass L a second time.
With about 100 meters to go, the footsteps I heard moments before pass me and we cross the finish. We are handed a bottle of water, our finisher's medal and a race logoed towel soaked in ice water - which was welcomed. My last mile was 6:09 and my race chip time is 30:18, good enough for 8th overall and 3rd in the 40-44 age group. I didn't have an exact goal for a finish time, but was ecstatic with 30:18. Seth ended up 6th at 29:56, while the footsteps that passed me at the end finished just a second ahead. I was a bit jealous of Seth being under the 30 minute mark and maybe a little disappointed at how close I came to it. It has been two decades since my last visit to a sub 30 minute five miles, but there will be other opportunities.
Traffic Panther Gary finished 11th at 31:59. Despite his lack of sleep and excessive "carb-loading" the night before, he did quite well. I think he was happy with using the race as a training run. Though, he didn't look like his normal Craig-beating self. And he didn't stay long afterwards, "I gotta go read some scripture", he said as it was Sunday morning. My third place age group finish garnered a reward in the form of a cool Blazin' 5 Miler water bottle.
The results were quite interesting as of the 172 entrants, the top five were 20-somethings - including your winner with a time of 25:25. The next seven finishers were all 40 year-olds. We may be a step behind, but don't sleep on us!
Before heading home, L and I drove to nearby Westerville (the location of the 4th of July 5K) and utilized our free breakfast cards we received from Northstar Cafe at that time. I, again, scarfed down some Prosciutto Toast & Eggs...free food always tastes better. Barring any impromptu sign ups, the half marathon is set for next month and Lauren B. will running the 5K portion of this event - she has been hard at work putting in miles.
It has now been a full two years since I started running again and I can see improvement in regards to times and pacing, no matter what distance I run which is super cool. Though, the improvement - over time - is coming much slower than it did when I was a 20 something. So I'm running twice as much to progress at a lesser rate...damn...time is a fickle beast, isn't it... ;)
The field is loaded with familiar faces, faces I'm used to seeing finish ahead of me. My thought was if I could tag along with a group of them, or just one of them, I might be able to keep a faster, more consistent pace. Lined up and ready to roll on this moderately warm, hazy August morning we are finally given the green light and head off. The handful of MUCH faster folks do their thing and I try to not keep up, but rather sit in pace among the secondary group which begins thinning just as we hit the paved trail.
One of those familiar faces, Seth, moves forward at a pace I'm more used to and I tag along. A half mile in and we are on the rolling terrain of the metro park thoroughfare and we pass L throwing out some encouragement. The footsteps behind go silent and we can see a couple of those who are a good distance in front of us. We are trucking along at a decent pace, but not one that feels uncomfortable. He drifts out in front a bit and I sit behind this left shoulder and when the trail drifts to the left, we alternate positions. A cat & mouse thing is taking place and at mile one we're at 5:55. It is faster, but not too fast.
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| Seth to the far left, my orange self right behind less than a half mile in. |
He tends to drift in front by a step or two, but I'm feeling good and continue to tailgate. The trail does have a center yellow line painted on to indicate that it is a well used multi-use trail, so we had to keep an eye out for the general public who may be utilizing it that morning. Luckily, the only folks I remember passing from the opposite direction were a couple of gentleman on recumbent bicycles at around mile two. The second split is 6:02 and we are cruising along as the faster folks are now coming back through.
On a slight downhill I move in front and encounter the roundabout at 2 1/2 miles. Seth falls behind as we navigate the turn, but once we begin the return trip he comes back to take the lead with me still riding his shadow. The path back has a bit more incline, not much - but enough to force you to adjust your form to keep pace. Crossing under a road underpass a second time and mile three is 6:06. A little slower, yes, but I will take any split that's off by just a handful of seconds. There is only one other runner I can see up ahead and we will not be catching him.
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| Quarter mile to go, the gentleman behind would pass me just before the finish |
With about 100 meters to go, the footsteps I heard moments before pass me and we cross the finish. We are handed a bottle of water, our finisher's medal and a race logoed towel soaked in ice water - which was welcomed. My last mile was 6:09 and my race chip time is 30:18, good enough for 8th overall and 3rd in the 40-44 age group. I didn't have an exact goal for a finish time, but was ecstatic with 30:18. Seth ended up 6th at 29:56, while the footsteps that passed me at the end finished just a second ahead. I was a bit jealous of Seth being under the 30 minute mark and maybe a little disappointed at how close I came to it. It has been two decades since my last visit to a sub 30 minute five miles, but there will be other opportunities.
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| Traffic Panther Gary and I |
The results were quite interesting as of the 172 entrants, the top five were 20-somethings - including your winner with a time of 25:25. The next seven finishers were all 40 year-olds. We may be a step behind, but don't sleep on us!
Before heading home, L and I drove to nearby Westerville (the location of the 4th of July 5K) and utilized our free breakfast cards we received from Northstar Cafe at that time. I, again, scarfed down some Prosciutto Toast & Eggs...free food always tastes better. Barring any impromptu sign ups, the half marathon is set for next month and Lauren B. will running the 5K portion of this event - she has been hard at work putting in miles.
It has now been a full two years since I started running again and I can see improvement in regards to times and pacing, no matter what distance I run which is super cool. Though, the improvement - over time - is coming much slower than it did when I was a 20 something. So I'm running twice as much to progress at a lesser rate...damn...time is a fickle beast, isn't it... ;)
Can't Run Forever -
I stand here, dressed in my devotion
Trying to rule my world
But if I drift out deep into the ocean
Am I the fallen thoughts
I can't run forever
I can't run forever
We watch them bad girls
Walking with their eyes closed
Open, they break them more
When that I swallow
All of my own pride, girl
Am I the typical?
I can't run forever, I can't run forever
I can't run forever, I can't run forever
I stand here, dressed in my devotion
Trying to rule my world
But if I drift out deep into the ocean
Am I the fallen thoughts
I can't run forever, I can't run forever
I can't run forever, I can't run forever
I can't run forever, I can't run forever
I can't run forever, I can't run forever
Are we folding or are we just resorting
To what we know is better?
Are we folding or are we just resorting
To what we know is better?
Are we folding or are we just resorting
To what we know is better?
And it was better before
Photos Courtesy of Lauren B.
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| Lauren B. taking pics, waiting for the race crowd |
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| Lauren B. taking pics, waiting for the race crowd |
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| Lauren B. taking pics, waiting for the race crowd |
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| Lauren B. taking pics, waiting for the race crowd |
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| Epic less-than victory pose |
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| Post race breakfast inhaled |
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| Yours truly & Lauren B. |
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| Race SWAG & finisher's gear |
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| Goofing off with my post race cool down towel. |
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| Results |
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