Wednesday, July 30, 2008

A GPS watch

I am finally thinking about getting a Garmin Forerunner 205 GPS watch.

One of my bosses has one and swears by it. Also she said the distance that she ran in the Peachtree 10K was closer to 6.5 miles than 6.2. Hmmm.

I possibly could get it cheaper online ($149 vs. $179) but it would be nice to have for Saturday's 10K race in Alpharetta.

Btw, went up there today to pick up my T-shirt, race number and other goodies -- I was under the first 375 to register so they threw in a cap and water bottle. w00t.

Friday, July 25, 2008

A pretty good deal (Old Soldiers' Day 10K)

I've been looking to run in 10Ks to hopefully qualify for Time Groups IA and IB of the Peachtree.

So I've jumped at the chance to run in a $15 race -- the Old Soldiers' Day 10K in Alpharetta next Saturday.

Seems like a good idea to me.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Biked to work

Today it didn't seem so hot out so I decided to bike to work.

No real fireworks, my legs felt fine. One thing I noticed was that they added a second bike rack at in the parking deck of my building.

Guess people are starting to take the $4 gas thing seriously.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Disc golf and running

ROSWELL, Ga. -- I was at hole 3 at the East Roswell Park disc golf course, about to make a short putt, when I saw an orange disc come my way.

The guy running up apologized. "Just running," he said, grabbing his disc and going on.

Later, with Matt and Collyn and Lisa, we saw another dude with a clear blue plastic disc, also running the entire 18-hole course while playing it.

It saves time and the wood-chip paths are great.

Something to think about.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Peachtree 10K

Yesterday, I ran in the Peachtree 10K, the fourth time I ran it.

I was in the fourth time group and although we didn't start until after 8 a.m., the weather was slightly overcast with a small breeze, so it wasn't hot like I remembered it during my first running of the race in 2003.

Backing up a little bit, because the race ended at Juniper and Ponce, I drove through the neighborhood and parked just north of 5th street on Piedmont Ave. and then walked to the Midtown MARTA station.

I noticed that the end of the race had a huge hill that ran from 10th Street to 5th Street.

When I got on the MARTA train, I was with a small group of older guys who noticed we were on the Rock Springs train. We got off at N6 Lindbergh Station, and I'm glad we did -- that train does not stop at N7 Lenox. So there were dozens of people with race numbers that likely had to backtrack and switch trains.

This year I liked how organized the race sections were. They set up lots of portapotties at Phipps Plaza parking lot, so there weren't big lines until right before the race started. There also was a water station, which was great. I had 3 cups of water and didn't drink any during the entire race.

When I got to the staging area, I was going to while away the remaining 40 minutes or so before the race by listening to my iPod. But it turned out it was completely dead. So that's nice, that I had to carry it and my headphones on the race for nothing.

This year I focused on trying to trim the times from the first three miles of the race, basically up to Cardiac Hill.

I did that and was about 3 seconds ahead of my planned finish time at Mile 3. But then I semi-bonked Cardiac Hill, putting me 34 seconds behind at Mile 4, and then the recovery mile 5 I was all of a sudden 2 minutes 11 seconds behind and in serious danger of finishing past an hour, which is my casual goal for this race, which is basically a fun run.

There were two times during the hilly sections that I thought about walking but was glad I did not. Near the end of the race it got hot so I got soaked by the water spray stations twice. It's a tricky thing because it's uncomfortable to run in clinging clothes but it turned out ok.

At Mile 6 I recovered a little bit but the changed race end on Juniper is really difficult, given the Cardiac Hill/Olympic Mile sections. I am not sure how I puffed through it.

I finished under my goal of an hour, but it was my slowest time for the four races by about 9 seconds. I think my training wasn't so good for the hills, although I felt OK at the end of the race, which is sort of a testament to running every single day for the last 551 days.

The one thing I should add was it felt like I walked a really far way to get Powerade and the race's trademark Coke/Diet Coke. I don't recall seeing any food, maybe I didn't walk far enough. I understand that Piedmont Avenue is pretty narrow, but I felt like I walked forever past corporate tents/private parties without hitting things that I needed.

Next year I'd like to put my time in on longer runs (my legs were sore after the race but I didn't experience the cramping I did in 2004 when I basically ran it without doing much running at all in the month of June 2004) and definitely hill training along the Cardiac Hill/Olympic Mile sections.

But I did the race, so I can't complain.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Spare parts

Yesterday as I was about to go to Susanne's by bike, I noticed one of my straps on my Shimano road shoes would not go in the buckle.

I thought I would have to go to the bike shop today to get it fixed. But then I remembered a year or so ago one of my buckles flat out broke and that maybe I had a spare part- the other buckle.

I went and found it and then replaced it myself. I found that the strap also was worn out. I couldn't immediately figure out how to get the strap off, although I knew that it must come out somehow since there was an extra strap in the buckle kit.

And voila! I found out how and went on my way.

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This week I've been consciously trying to get runs in but not anything that would wear me out for the Peachtree 10K coming up this Friday. I feel ok for it, although my mileage is not what it was last year. I didn't have a chance to run up Cardiac Hill and the Olympic Mile for training. We will see...