Masters weekend runs and races

Well, I had a GREAT race in Spokane! I was so excited that I could hardly stop smiling afterwards.

I made a very foolish decision at the start to run in very short SHORTS!!, plus a long sleeved top, singlet, gloves and earwarmers. While waiting for the start, I realized that I was going to be very cold, but there was no time to take off the spikes, put on tights, and re-do chips, so I just thought, "What would Max King do?" and sucked it up.

The wind was very cold, but the snow wasn't bad (and I hate running on snow), with mostly good footing. I was fine in the spikes I had (not 1/2").

As the reputed 7th or 8th woman on my team, and thus holding down the rear on our B team, there was no one else's expectations for my race, except my own. I got out well and found a good rhythm (despite getting whacked in the face with a pine tree branch around the first turn). My mile split was so slow (6:50ish) that I figured either it was in the wrong place, or I just didn't want to know my time! ;-D

At the 3k (end of the first loop), I heard the words that would make my day -- that there were 4 CNW women in the top 10 and 3 more just behind -- our long line of orange was actually happening! I was so psyched! I pushed myself into our #5 position at the start of that lap, and I spend a lot of the 2 and 3 miles trading places with my 50 year old teammate, Regina and helping her push past her competition. Somewhere near the 3 mile mark, and closing on our #4 runner, I saw her stagger and collapse. (She was delirious and spend quite a while in medical).

Towards the end, Regina went by me for good, but I was really, really happy to be our 5th finisher (albeit on the B team) and 19th overall. Much better than anyone expected, but I was thrilled with knowing I'd run as solid a race as I could. We put 5 runners in before almost all the other teams #3 (one of my goals) and in the top 20.

My butt was frozen, but I couldn't stop smiling when I heard them announce our #3 finishing and then announcing and CNW's #4 and #5 are done and that we had won the championship! Even though Regina and I were on the B team (we finished 5th) and didn't get a championship medal, it still was a great run.

I wound up running and running around for the remainder of the day (standing still was totally foolish), with small breaks in the team bus for warmth. It is *great* to be done and watching the others. My club's men's team ran very well as Tony mentioned, but he didn't really tell you what a great race he had -- especially for a "miler."

My *other* favorite masters team, the Bunnies, won in impressive fashion with newcomer Dave Schumacher coming from behind to lead SoCalPete and Christian to the finish. Lots of Bunny jerseys out there, so many that they could have scored either 7th and 8th runners instead of two of the other ones and still won.

I did hit the hot tub eventually and I think my toes will recover (it took hours for my butt to get warm!!)

Although I didn't imbibe after the race (SOMEONE has to drive these guys around), I stayed up *way* too late and am really tired now. The flight home wasn't too bad, but Portland is covered in ice and it took a long time to creep home.

Sorry for the long report, but I was very happy with my race - even though my time sucked -- and you can probably tell that I was bouncy and smiling all night!

Four runs (including a decent track workout and a couple of hill climbs), two bike rides, and a hell of a lot of respect for my fellow old farts. KevinB--nice race, my friend!

Congrats to the Bunnies. Across the board, you're team ran well. This year's XC race was the most competitive I'm seen. The teams continue to get better each year and it's harder to win each year. So this year was most impressive by SoCal, Olds, and the rest of the gang.

We'll be there next year in Lexington. Mark your calendars.

Oh, I'd be remiss if I didn't say "KevinB ran out of his MIND!" He had an awesome race!! (and he was quite the life of the party afterwards! ;-D )

What up kiddies...that race sucked! Or I guess I should say the wind and freezing cold sucked!

The course wasn't that hard...just some loops on grass but the the wind....hard to describe.

I know people come on here and say how great it is to race in the extreme elements..and the harder the better stuff but I was not diggin those conditions at all.

Basically it was drive out there...jog about 5 min...freeze...go back to sit in the car to warm up...jog to the start...run..not race... then basically limp back to my car & took the first flight home. I was in my car at 12:15..and headed to the airport for a 1:45 flight back.

Sounds fun huh?

I would of liked to watch the other races & go to the party but that was not in the cards yesterday. Half the fun of these things is watching the other races (way too freezing for that) and having a post race beer.

The times were way off too...did anyone else notice that?

The time in my team score was 37:37...that was right but on individual 38:42. Not sure why that was.

As Brian said...much respect to those of you that were able to race & do well. I just didn't have the motivation to fight the elements. How bout a XC race in hot hot weather..now that sounds good...I would even welcome mud hills and whatever else. That sounds like fun.

I am taking some time off to let the achilles heal up & hopefully get motivated again...not so motivated after that

jog.

How'd my week go? Had a nice set of 3x1200 on Tuesday night, a steady 10 at 6:56 pace Thursday and a 10K race on Saturday in Spokane, at MARATHON PACE!! Oh yea, it was cold & windy, just in case no one noticed.

Congrats to the winners, you Bunnies have got real good thing going on.

We'll give it another shot next year....

Dave

Had a great time at Club Nationals, which included getting to know RUNINTHESUN and the rest of the BAC masters and submasters (those I didn't already know that is). I loved the adverse conditions. The wind doesn't affect we fat guys as much.

I also raced at Spokane yesterday. Quite an experience. I ran nationals at Missoula in the late 80's when it was freezing cold, raced 10 years in Colorado when I lived there, and cross country ski raced for many years, yesterday's race seemed to have the worst conditions I can remember. (Maybe I'm getting too old for this stuff!)

Congratulations to the southern cal boys for handling the cold so well, that was an impressive performance! I am amazed at how well so many people ran in such brutal conditions.

DJ Tiki, my individual time was also a bit more than a minute faster than the official time, but my time on the team results was accurate, like yours.

On our way out of town my team stopped in at Marie Callender's to get warm and eat on our way home. We talked to one of the Fluffy Bunnies, tall with wife and baby, who was that?

I feel our teams greatest achievement was surviving the 10 hour ride back (took us five and a half hours to get to Spokane) to Bellingham, WA without ending up in a ditch. The road conditions were really bad. We saw cars crashing all over the place.

Nice work everyone, see you the next time the race is in San Diego!

muddy girl wrote:

Oh, I'd be remiss if I didn't say "KevinB ran out of his MIND!" He had an awesome race!! (and he was quite the life of the party afterwards! ;-D )

thanks dear, for the braving the conditions to cheer us on! for diving us around when i was a little less than capable of driving (walking proved to be difficult enough). i am currently explaining to Mrs KevinB how the evening/early morning went :)

let me just say i LOVED this race. i wanted horrible conditions and we got them. i forgot to mention that i got a nosebleed before the start from the cold/wind and when i finished the race my nose was frozen shut just like petes.

thanks Ghost....i attribute a lot of my success yesterday to your help for the marathon this fall.

I'm officially old now. Turned 50 this weekend! Although I'm actually looking forward to setting an all-time pr or 2 in my new age group. Still running strong going into the downhill.

I feel almost wimpy posting since I had to "rough it" in Hawaii this week. (Someone had to work the expo so it might as well have been me!)

60 miles this week, 26 of which were run in the marathon...just for fun. I was in a big battle with some Japanese lady dressed in a bumble bee outfit. I went in with a plan to run around 3:15 - 3:20 but my left foot and left hip got a bit sore. Still had a fun time. My legs feel fine as I'm sitting in the Atlanta Airport waiting to catch a connection to San Antonio.

Congrats to all who ran in the cold in Spokane.

Back home now. Time for my morning run. It's pouring rain outside, but that's such a minimal inconvenience after Saturday that it's not even a concern.

Wanted to add to my (brief) earlier post that it was - as always - an absolute joy getting to see all the guy and gal masters from across the country. After 8 years of these races, you get to know so many people in the sport so well - but we're friends mostly because of these meets, and it's the only time we ever see one another. They're just great fun reunions!

The race itself has been described so well already that there's no need for me to add anything else. Except that there are races where you're proud of your times and finish place, and then there are races (like this one) where you get a deeper satisfaction knowing that you challenged yourself with the toughest elements possible, got kicked in the teeth - and then kicked again ... and again ... and again - and never gave up, never quit, just adjusted each time and pushed forward, until finally the finish line was in the rearview mirror and it was okay to collapse and admit how near-impossible and physically devastating much of the journey had been.

I'm incredibly proud of my Bunny teammates for holding up so well under the conditions. We never train in anything even close to that. But I'm also incredibly proud of all the other masters runners who faced the same relentless pounding from Mother Nature. Because NO ONE trains to race on days like that (well, okay, maybe Gutierrez, the overall winner does ... but I suspect Simon would have done just fine on any x-country course, even if it had been held right here in So Cal, say at Santa Monica beach with 75 degree weather and a good cabernet coupled with brie on sourdough baguettes for post-race refreshments).

Okay, that said, I NEVER want to race when it's that cold again! But I will. If we have to. Because that's what we do.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Okay, it's letsrun.com, so I gotta ask - pics?Seriously, great job muddygirl! Having the "B" team place 5th out of 8 speaks to the depth of the Club Northwest Masters women. Speaking of masters women, did anyone else notice these times in the open race:Monica Joyce, 31st overall in 22:52 at age 50Tania Fischer 32nd overall in 22:55 at age 42Not taking anything away from Carmen - she's the champion, but these women kicked some butt.

muddy girl wrote:

I made a very foolish decision at the start to run in very short SHORTS!!

Pete and others, I'm turning 40 soon and am wondering how competitive (or not) I will be as a Master. Can you direct me to a Masters Letsrun? Or maybe a road or track US rankings page? Or heck, just let me know what the guys who finished top-5 at USATF nationals would do for a road 10k? 30-flat? 31? 32?

Thanks!

Hat's off to all of you who braved the elements and raced in Spokane. Tim's right - I'm sure it sucked. But I also agree with Pete - some of my most memorable races or runs (not necessarily my best performances) came from battling elements beyond control, weather it be weather or extreme hills or whatever.

I'm a better cold weather runner than hot weather runner, so I would have liked to give it a go. However, with three surface related injuries this past year, XC was not in the cards this season. Last weekend was my first run off road in 12 months, and no lingering hip or foot problems.

A mostly easy week for me, except for 20x 200 at last summer's mile pace, which went well. I skipped the Christmas Relays in SFO yesterday. I don't mind running in the crap, but driving four hours through the mountains in it isn't appealing in the least, especially when there's a couple local guys ready to run for me.

Oops - "whether it be weather..."

Reno wrote:

...weather it be weather. . ."

Thomas C. wrote:

Pete and others, I'm turning 40 soon and am wondering how competitive (or not) I will be as a Master. Can you direct me to a Masters Letsrun? Or maybe a road or track US rankings page? Or heck, just let me know what the guys who finished top-5 at USATF nationals would do for a road 10k? 30-flat? 31? 32?

Thanks!

Thomas C. - I'll answer your question, but then I'll answer one you didn't ask.

First, the guys who finished top 5 would be pretty fast on the roads (mid 31s for the winner, thereabouts for the rest, though the fifth place finisher, Paul Aufdemberge, has run near 30 flat). But other guys in the race might be even faster, with at least a few (and I'm including myself) capable of sub-31. Heck, my teammate, Christian Cushing-Murray, who finished right behind me, ran 15:01 in a certified not-very-fast-course road 5K just two weeks ago - and probably would have been the favorite to win under better conditions. But this wasn't a road race. It was a cross-country race. And these particular top 5 guys are the ones whose bodies were simply the toughest. While many of us were breaking down in the brutal conditions, they persevered (and I don't give a hoot that they come from colder climates, because that's part of the game ... it's about BEING tough, not about how you got there).

But now for the second question: Should I run whether I can compete with the very top masters runners or not? The answer is that you absolutely should. There's nothing like the camaradery of masters runners. It's a world you don't want to miss. And races like X-Country Nationals really drive that message home - especially because x-country is about every runner on your team, not just the top guys. Seriously, don't miss this opportunity. Give it a try. If your top 5, then great! If your not, you might just discover it was worth your time and effort anyway. In fact, you might discover that it was one of the best investments of time and effort that you've ever made!

Thomas C. wrote:

Can you direct me to a Masters Letsrun? Or maybe a road or track US rankings page? Thanks!

MF

Hello Master Blasters,

Well after reading the freezing exploits of the cross country harriers all I can say is WELL DONE, and a wimpy glad I did not have to face those elements.

I mean wow to have your sinuses freeze! It sounds like it was quite the feat (pun intended) to tackle the weather and wind, so good job one and all.

Much tamer (by comparison) week for me here in up-state NY, maintaining 60 miles a week in 6 days with one off to totally rest.

I am pleased with the progress and hope to add speed elements as the weather conditions allow since I am not big on treadmills.

Hope everyone makes a good recovery from the Spokane trip, Wman looking forward to hearing your report, sorry I missed you twice!