A Home County PR

Well, here it is the end of the third month of my MI Challenge and I still have not run a race in my home county of Genesee. That changed Saturday morning with the Flushing Township Half Marathon. I ran this race in 2009 as my first and only half marathon. My time last year was 1:54:36. I was very confident that I could better that time, but was unsure how hard I wanted to push to better the time. I went back and forth the last couple days before the race on whether I should run a relaxed race and achieve a PR or push myself and make a huge improvement.


I decided that I would push for the best time I could. When I woke up Saturday morning, I was not sure if the weather would cooperate. I left for Flushing and the temp outside was 25 degrees with a forecast of 35 to 39 during the race. But, when I got to Flushing High School, it felt warmer and the wind was not too bad. I met up with Brian and Traci Montpas at registration and we made our way to the starting line. Brian lined up with the 5Kers, while Traci and I lined up with the half marathoners. Matt and Paula Antoniou, fellow RUTsters, headed up for Matt to run the half. We met up at the start line and chatted before the race. Matt was planning for a quick pace, so my race plan was to keep Matt in my sight for as long as I could.


The race started and I had a real good first mile, passing the marker at 6:54. I kept Matt and his white hat in sight for the next few miles. Shortly after the 5Kers turned off for the finish, I saw Paula for the first time cheering on the runners. I passed the 4 mile mark at a little over 28 minutes and that was the last time I saw Matt. I could not keep up the 7 minute per mile pace, so I scaled back my pace to just under 7:30 per mile. I kept the sub 7:30 pace through mile 9. My pace dipped for the next two miles, but I was able to pick up the pace for the final two miles. I closed in on the finish and saw the clock. It was in the low 1:34s and got extremely excited that I would be under 1:40. I made the final turn and had 30 seconds to make it under 1:35. I picked up the pace just to be sure and crossed the finish line at 1:34:44.

That finishing time gave me a PR of 19:52 and I now have my sights set on getting my time under 1:30. Not only did I set a PR, but so did Matt and Traci. Brian bettered his 5K time from last year's race, so it turned out to be a great race for all of us. Next race on the docket is a fun run in Ann Arbor on April 1st. It is a race where runners eat Twinkies in between laps around the park. That should make for a fun April Fools Day!

St Patrick's Race

Kelly, the kids, and I headed over to the west side of the state this weekend so I could run in the Blue Lake Township Fire Department St Patrick's Day 5K. We decided to spend the night with Kelly's brother, Casey, in Grand Rapids on Friday night to break the trip up into 2 parts. It turned out to be a great decision because of the snow we got in Michigan on the first day of spring. It would not have been fun to drive nearly 3 hrs 2 weeks in a row before 5Ks. We arrived at the race and I picked up my bib with about 15 minutes to spare. As we were waiting, I noticed a couple that I recognized from the Mt Pleasant Half Marathon a couple weeks ago. We laughed about the goat on the course and how it really lightened up the middle of the race. According to the local runners, the course was not a PR course with a few large hills. My goal was to just run a strong race and notch up another race in another county.

We started out and a large group of runners started on the downhill first half mile real quick. I settled into a relaxed pace and felt good. As we approached the 1st mile marker, I decided to accelerate and pass the group of 7 to 8 runners that was ahead of me. After I passed them, I set my sights on the young runner next ahead. After passing each other back and forth, I finally put him behind me for good on a long downhill. I then turned to the couple that I recognized from Mt Pleasant. For the rest of the race, I did my best to catch them. With about a half mile to go, we ventured off the road and onto a small trail by a lake. This is where we hit the toughest part of the course. We ran up a hill that killed any momentum I had chasing the couple and I ended up finishing 20 seconds behind them. I finished the race in 20:11 and could not have been happier. I did get a new 5K PR.

I headed into the fire hall and they had a literal buffet for the runners while we waited for the runners/walkers to finish and the award ceremony to start. They posted the results and I ended up with 6th overall out of 90 runners and 1st in the 35-39 age group. The Overall Winner had a finishing time of 18:35, so I was not too far off the winning pace. All of the participants got ribbons, award winners got medals, and the winners got some nice trophies. Next up is my home county of Genesee for the Flushing Township Half Marathon next Saturday.

A Race With A Mission

The latest chapter of my MI County Challenge had me out the door at 5:30 am to get to Alpena for the 9:00 am race. The 5K race, called Running With The Leprechauns, was held at the Thunder Bay Recreation Center and organized by the Dork Brothers Racing Team. As registration closed, it looked like we had 50 to 60 runners and walkers ready to take on the windy and potentially rainy conditions. We walked to the parking lot and the race director gave the pre-race instructions. He mentioned that the race was a fundraiser for a Mission Trip to Thailand. It is always nice to hear when the race fees (or portion of them) is going to a charity. I will talk more about the Mission Trip later, but now back to the race. He finished up by describing the out and back course and it seemed pretty straight forward.

All the runners got set and we were off. As we left the parking lot, we were going to turn onto the sidewalk. This was the only area in the Rec Center area that had ice, so I made a mental note about the ice for the return trip. How embarrassing would that be to fall 20-30 yards from the finish? I made it to the next turn and I guessed that I was around 10th place. 2 younger guys were way out front and then there was a second pack. I followed another runner through this pack and we quickly separated from the rest. I stayed behind the third place runner until one mile in. His pace started to slow, so I decided to pass and attempted to keep up with the front runners. They passed me on the return trip and both runners looked strong...and YOUNG. They didn't look that much older than Nick. I made the turn to head back and ran the second half alone. I looked at my watch and I was on pace to half my best 5K time since high school. I tried to maintain my pace for the rest of the race and did a pretty good job. I made the second to last turn and recalled the ice up ahead. I slowed a bit through the ice and then made the final turn. I crossed the line at 20:30. It was good for 3rd Overall and 1st 30-39 Male.

It felt great to run the time this early in the year. A lot of time and races to improve. I met up with the with the first and second place runners and we chatted for a bit. Both guys were from Alpena High School. Alex Guzman, a sophomore, won the race in 18:48 while his freshman teammate, Jacob Benson, finished only 9 seconds behind him. Over half the participants stuck around for the award ceremony whether they got one or not. Instead of medals, we got awards with an Irish theme to match the "Running With the Leprechauns" title. They were rocks with the word sham on them. Get it...Shamrock. Ha! My rock is proudly sitting next to my other awards and it definitely stands out from the rest.

As I mentioned, the proceeds from the race were going to a young girl who is preparing to go on a Mission Trip to Thailand. Saidee Jacobs is the young lady who will be going on a 25 day journey through Thailand. While there, she will travel through three rural villagers and stay with the villagers. She will visit schools, local clinics, several houses, village water sources, and other areas that need help. She will be teaching, running a camp, working in rice fields, building a library, putting in toilets at a school, and helping to repair the village's water holding tanks.Talk about a busy 25 days. The mission is sponsored by Rustic Pathways, but Saidee does need to raise money to participate. If any of you would like to help her, you can send donations to Dork Brothers Racing Team, c/o Mark Jacobs, P.O Box 301, Alpena, MI 49707.

It is always good to participate in a race with a cause. It turned out to be a great race. I got to help a girl get closer to her mission and run a race in another county. Now on to another 5K on the west side of the state...

A Would Have Been PR and a Goat

Be careful who you are following; they may be lost also!

Those words kept echoing in my head as I ran the last mile of the IceCube Half Marathon on Saturday. I will get into the details of the last mile, but I want to set the stage for you. The IceCube Half Marathon started at the Runner's Performance store in Mt Pleasant and headed out of town. The roads were packed snow and ice once we left the Central Michigan University area. The weather was good and I started out the race on a good pace. Because of the snow and ice, my plan was to run just under a 8:30per mile pace and cruise to a new PR in the half marathon. The bar was not too high since I had only run one half marathon before.

4.5 miles into the race, I was right on schedule with my plan and I felt great. The 10k runners turned around a mile and a half back and the race really thinned out. I was about 1/4 mile behind the next runner and was ahead by about the same margin. This made for a pretty boring race in the early stages. We made a turn for the first out and back and things got better. It was nice to be able to talk to the other runners as they were going by. The next out and back was the best though. At Mile 7, I came across the most unique pacer yet. There was a goat running up and down the road with the runners. The goat would run alongside us until we met someone going the other direction and then the goat would switch and turn around. It was great and made everyone chuckle a little over halfway through.

Around Mile 10, it looked like the new PR was in the bag. I had run a smart race and the plan worked perfectly. A couple miles later, the PR disappeared. The guy ahead of me and I missed the sign to turn into the industrial park and continued straight down the road. I went about 3/4 of a mile before someone came and told us and we went back to where we made the mistake. Now that the two of us were back on the course, we came up on the 12 mile mark. I looked at my Garmin and it said 13.5 miles. I crossed the finish line at 2:01:14 and totaled 14.5 for the race.

All in all, I had a great time. It was fun running the back roads of Isabella County, running with a goat, and getting a few extra miles in during the run. The PR will just have to wait for the next half marathon. And the journey goes on...