Quick 5K Race Between Monster Mile Days

I had planned to run the Trot for the Troops 5K in East Lansing on Easter Saturday while Kelly and the kids were gone, but a huge mileage day on Good Friday and another huge mileage day planned for Easter Sunday had me reconsidering how I was going to run the race or if I was going to run the race at all. While the family was away, I really increased the mileage and on Friday met up with a couple fellow RUTsters and became an Ultrarunner. I met up Steve and Keith at the Waterloo Recreation Area and ran a 50K. Yeah, 31 miles. That was the furthest I ran in any day. It was a fun day on the trails, but also saw the importance of hydration. On our first 11 miles out and 11 miles back, we ran out of water and one us started getting dehydrated. I was also planning on meeting up with a large group of the RUTsters for a group run on Sunday at Island Lake Recreation Area. 5 or 6 of us were going to shoot for a 50K. I felt good when I got home Friday night and decided that I would wake up Saturday, jog 3 miles to see how I felt, and then decide if I would race.


My 3 mile test Saturday morning went well, so I decided to drive over to East Lansing and race the Trot for the Troops 5K. This race was being put on by the Arnold Air Society, a service organization of the Air Force ROTC, to honor those who have served our country in the past and present. The race was going to take place on the sidewalks along the Red Cedar River on the Michigan State University campus. The race was a relatively small race with 69 runners. We had a quick explanation of the course and we were off. Because I had run so much the day before, I eased into my race pace and did not really hit my stride until a half mile in. It was here that I passed a pack of 4 to 5 runners and settled about 20 yards behind a runner that was keeping a nice steady pace that I thought I could keep up. We had quite a bit of twists and turns, but I could see him and another runner ahead of him. I thought, "Not bad, I will take a third place." I continued to stay back about the same distance throughout the race, had a nice final kick, and finished 12 seconds back of the runner ahead of me with a PR time of 20:02. When I crossed the finish line I met the other finishers. Three of them. Yeah, the winner was so far ahead that I did not see him. He finished with a time of 17:09 and won by 1:31. Now that is fast. I ended up missing out a trophy by one place, but got an awesome dog tag for winning my age division. I was glad I decided to drive over.


I continued the monster mile holiday weekend by adding a 9 mile trail run on the way home and a Fartlek workout with my buddy Brian that evening. The run the next day was a nice slow long run day. 31 miles again at Island Lake with the Rutsers. I finished the week with 125 miles, my first 2 50K training runs, and a lot of fun.

Twinkie Run

Gallup Park in Ann Arbor was the scene for my latest and one of the most fun chapters in my MI Challenge to date. The April Fool's Day Twinkie Run sounded like a blast as I reviewed possible races to run in Washtenaw County. As I drove down to Ann Arbor, I thought about the fact that the race was held on April 1st and what an awful joke it would be to pretend to hold a race on April Fool's Day. I was extremely happy when I got to the race start/finish and saw the race organizers.

As the 30 runners started lining up at the start line, the race director Shawn went through the reason for the race. A friend and employee of Shawn's by the name of Jim Mong was struck with ALS and died last March. Through his passing, Shawn left behind a wife and a son in high school. Earlier in life, Jim was an all around athlete who played college football for Eastern Michigan before going into the army. Some of Jim's passions later in life was competing in triathlons, volleyball, and the senior olympics. Shawn wanted to organize an event that would include having fun and involved running, one portion of the triathlon. The Twinkie Run was born and the goal was to race money to support finding a cure for ALS.

The ground rules for the Twinkie Run were simple. The clock starts, runners eat one twinkie, run approximately 1.5 miles, grab another twinkie at the start finish line, and eat that twinkie on the second loop before crossing the finish line. After getting our twinkies unwrapped and Shawn giving a last few comments about the course, he started the race. By the time I took 2 bites, one of the runners was off. It took me between 15 to 20 seconds to eat my twinkie and I started running in the middle of the pack. I quickly passed most of the runners and found myself in 2nd place by the half mile mark. I was behind the 1st place runner by a great distance barely seeing him and the bike leading him around. I continued around to the start finish line and picked up my second twinkie. I started eating it and I thought that my first twinkie took a while to eat. This one took forever to swallow it all as I made the second loop. Eating also made it difficult to breathe. I finally swallowed the last bite with about a half mile to go. Now that I was able to breathe normally, I was able to pick up the pace again. I finished the the 5K in 20:07 and maintained 2nd place. The first place runner crossed the finish line in 18:36. No wonder I could not see him.

We had an enjoyable time cheering each runner cross the finish line and then enjoed the post race awards. Instead of passing out regular awards, the runners got various awards based on youngest runner oldest runner, etc. I ended up getting a box of Twinkies for traveling the furthest distance for the race. After eating the Twinkies during the race, I don't think I will eat another Twinkie for awhile. So, those little yellow sugar cakes are going to Nick and Jenna. This race is definitely one of the races that I would want to do again. A fun race with a great cause. It was nice to hear that the organizers are looking to hold the race again next year.