Monday, November 28, 2011

Southeast Highpoint Adventure

On Sunday, October 30, mere hours after racing in the Run for the Water road race, I got onto my Fat Boy and rode 3,100 miles in seven days. On this cold, crazy, trip I visited eight state highpoints and three capitols. This brings my totals to 35 and 25, respectively. Other than a relatively minor issue with the bike, some rain outside of Atlanta, and trying to keep warm when it was in the 40s, it was a fairly uneventful ride. I did run into a slight problem off the bike, but the only real harm done was a loss of time.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Natural Bridge Caverns Duathlon 2011

For my fifth race in as many weeks, today I raced in the Natural Bridge Caverns Duathlon, repeating the second multi-sport event I did last year. As with the Lost Pines Tri, I improved significantly in the interim. Partly because I wanted a fair comparison to last year, and partly because I thought the best racers would do the slightly longer "T-Rex" distance, I again did the "Woolly Mammoth," which is approximately Olympic distance at roughly 5k/26mi/5k. According to my GPS, however, the distances were more like 3m/27m/2.6m. It seems the run turnaround was a little closer in than last year, and the bike course included Krueger Canyon. Those differences aside, I was pleased to improve from 2:31 to 2:08:46, and to seventh overall, and another age group win (my first being at Lost Pines).

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Komen Austin Race for the Cure 5K

This past Sunday, I participated in Komen Austin's big fundraiser for fighting breast cancer. While I was a little bit disappointed with my time in the 5K race (22:32), it was heartwarming to see the nearly 20,000 people that came out in support of a good cause. I was hoping to improve on my 22:08 from a week prior, but the hilly course and warm, humid weather slowed me down. After the race, I joined some Harley friends who were out in support of Lisa, a breast cancer survivor who is currently in a wheelchair due to a motorcycle accident.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Anything is Possible 5K

I got back from a 3,100 mile motorcycle trip at 4pm Saturday [post forthcoming], but I was so intrigued by a 5K race spanning the end of Daylight Savings Time that I had to do it. Plus it was right down the street from my house, so I didn't have to go far. Thanks to the time change, I started at 1:50 am and finished at 1:12 am, for a -37:52 ET. It's only possible once a year, so I just had to be part of this race. My real time of 22:08 (7:05 mile pace) is a new 5K PR (not that I've done many, my previous best is from the Paramount 5K in February). I wound up 10th overall (of 84), and second in my age group. The guy that won my AG passed me with only about a half mile to go. I might have put more effort into chasing him if I had realized.

The run itself wasn't all that remarkable, although it was something of a different experience running in the dark. Most of the cloverleaf-shaped course was through parking lots, so most of it was well lighted, but there were some sections that were darker. Probably the funniest part of the evening was the UT band's tuba section out en masse, who brought slightly more enthusiasm than I felt was warranted for the hour of night (but then I'm normally asleep at that time).