Getting Caught Up...

Wow, where did the fall go? I just pulled up my blog and realized that I never checked in with the results from the Columbus Half Marathon that I did and have basically taken about a two-month hiatus from posting anything. The job of a small college sports information director has a way of taking over one's life.

After months of training, the Columbus Half Marathon took place on a perfect morning for a race and I started out great. At the 10K mark, I was running at a 7:21 pace which was faster than I had planned to go. That soon caught up to me and I had to basically grind out the final four miles to the finish including what seemed like an endless hill before the turn to the finish. However, I was able to sprint (at least it felt like a sprint to me) to the finish line and finished in 1:45.36, which was an 8:04 pace. Not shabby at all for my first-ever half marathon and considering that I had issues with shin splints over the final month leading up to the race. I was really proud of my friends, too. They all posted great times and within a few days were already talking about the next race we were going to run. Oh, and I did get my Krispy Kremes at the finish line. (See photo above of me and Chad Sims)

The next race for me took place on my 39th birthday - November 13th - when I ran in the Mount Vernon Nazarene University Homecoming 5K with my wife, Carla, and my daughters, Ashley and Kylie. My mom also agreed to do the race and was responsible for walking with Kylie. This was the first race ever for my two girls and we had them run the course three times in preparation for the race so they would know what to expect.

The race was great! I turned in a 21:14 (6:50 pace) to finish 11th out of 149 people. It was my best 5K time to date and I really couldn't have done it without being constantly pushed by my buddy, Donald Cobb, who finished eighth overall in 20:26 (6:35 pace). Carla ran a really good time and Ashley ended up beating 50 runners with a time 31:39 (10:12 pace) as the second-youngest runner in the field at 9 years old. And Kylie, who at 5, was by far the youngest participant, did a great job of finishing the 5K with my mom. (Note: My mom, who is 63, has since started running so that next year she can run the race.) All in all, what a great way to spend my birthday - running in a race with my entire family.

Well, now that the cold weather has hit, it's getting tougher and tougher to stay motivated to get outside and keep running. I am within 25 miles of my goal of running 500 miles in 2010, so that should help me a little. I need a couple of nicer days so that I can get that knocked out because I am not much of a treadmill runner.