Run For Hero's 5K and a PR!

Well, I should of updated this a long time ago but I've been a blogging slacker.

The Run For Hero's 5K went down on the way back  on April 28, 2012. I'll keep this short and sweet. Last year I did this race in 31 minutes and change, this year I was just looking for sub 28. I'm lighter and run more now. Early on I knew I had a sweet pace for me and did the first mile and a half in 12 minutes and change. After that split, I knew I needed to pace an upcoming hill and just push to the end no matter how tired I was. Boy was I tired after the hill.  Anyway, I'll cut to the chase, I ran a 25:34 for a PR big time for me. On another positive, the had Monster Energy and Ice Cream at the finish!

Here is a pic near the end of the race

More info here: http://www.runforourheroes.org/gallery.php

Krispy Kreme Challenge 2012

The Krispy Kreme Challenge finally came and went, this is my little update.

Since last years failure, I have wanted to redeem myself and run the distance and eat all 12 of the doughnuts in under an hour. What gave me confidence this year even with the longer 5 mile distance, I run a heck of a lot better than this year.

So here are the details. On February the 4th of 2012 the Krispy Kreme Challenge went down in Raleigh, NC. The race starts at the NC State Bell Tower. I got there a bit early, but I had to get my shirt, since during my packet pickup they were out. After I got the shirt, I jogged about a 1/4 mile back to my truck, hoping to warm up a bit and to unload the shirt. After getting back to the Bell Tower I ran into my co-worker Jason who is quite good at this race, he finished in the 45 minute range last year. In comparison, it took me 1 hour and 17 minutes. This year I will complete the challenge of running 5 miles, eating 12 doughnut in an hour or less!

So now its 8:30 on a 40 degree morning and the horn goes off. Hey everybody lets run 2.5 miles to the Krispy Kreme and shove a dozen doughnuts into our pie holes.  The run there was straight forward and my Nike+ GPS was telling me 8 minutes per mile, I started to get a good feeling. After about 20 minutes I made it to the doughnuts. One thing I learned last year was to run around the traffic jam at the first table so I could get my doughnuts quick. Once in hand I quickly ate 2 and looked for the water table and grabbed two cups which fit nicely in the spot where the first doughnuts were. You need water to wash them down, especially the last six. After the first 2, I started eating 3 at a time. Soon I ran into my coworker again, I was at 5 left, and he had 6 left. He blew by me and finished his 12 and took off thru the challenger chute. About 2 minutes later I made it thru all 12 of my doughnuts and left the transition with a time of 33.38. At this point I knew I had this done in under 1 hour. One funny thing after finishing the doughnuts, there was this kid offering everyone one more, the way he said it just cracked me up.

After finishing the doughnuts the big deal is running back without loosing your sugary goodness that has rejoined into one giant mass in my belly. Overall, I felt pretty good at this point, but soon saw others that obviously were not. This year the carnage was much greater than last year, maybe it was the longer distance, who knows, but there was lots of vomit. Running back is pretty simple till the hill at St Mary's St. This is were a lot of spectators talk smack as they know a tough hill and 12 doughnuts only leads to one thing. Not me, I was rolling and passing way more people than I thought was possible because I'm not the fastest runner. Once at the top of the hill we had about 3/4 miles to the finish. Here I thought I saw my co-worker, I pushed it some, it wasn't him. Oh well, I finished and reached my goal of under 1 hour. I frigging completed the Krispy Kreme Challenge in 52.34, woohoo. Does that qualify me for Boston?

My official time:

My shirt and bib:

I can not wait till 2013!!!

Here are many links to pictures:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/04/1830380/first-look-krispy-kreme-challenge.html

http://www.wral.com/entertainment/out_and_about/image_gallery/10688058/

Warrior Dash North Carolina 2011

Well first off its been a while since a blog post, but, I hope this one makes up for it, this post is about the Warrior Dash!

It all started last year when I signed up for the race. It has been so long since I signed up for it I almost forgot it. About 2 months ago I was like, when is the Warrior Dash? Once I knew the date it was time to plan a bit. Well, not really but I needed to to decide leave in the morning for my noon start on August 27, 2011 or get a hotel and have a more relaxing event. This is where my lady Stephanie came in, get a hotel she said. Well that was that and I booked a room at the Huntersville, NC Hampton Inn.

Now time for the actual weekend of the Warrior Dash. To start this was a bigger event than I planned, I thought it was just going to be me, but I had company. Stephanie, her daughter Lacey and her friend Stephanie came along for the ride. They were scouting the event as they want to get some of their friends and do one in the near future. I was glad to have them along for the ride.

Anyway, back to the event. We arrived at the Huntersville, NC Hampton Inn and to our surprise, this hotel rocked, very nice. Once we settled it was lights out.

The day of the event Hurricane Irene was in town but we were just far enough west to have great weather. It was partly cloudy with a nice breeze to cool you off. Once at the location the first thing I realized was, a lot of people do this. 1000 people every hour 9 to 4 Saturday, they repeated it on Sunday. We got there a little early to, but that reduced my stress so it was all good. I went straight to packet pickup and got my stuff.

A picture while I am clean



We walked around a bit and watched the fire pit and the mud, here are a few more pictures.





A quick picture of Lacey and her friend Stephanie.



How did that happen, no picture of my lady, sad face.

On to the race itself. The start was kicked off by flame throwers, very hot! Well I took off! Once we rounded the corner a few obstacles came into view, a big 12ft wall and a raised walking plank. Well our path was going the other way, guess I'll need to save energy for the wall. After about 1.25 miles we came to our first obstacle. We had to go over a 4ft wall and under a wall, about six times. Then a quick jog over to the next obstacle, run thru tires and climb thru a dumpster, about five of these combos. Well off to another 3/4 miles of running. I rested a bit and walked some, as these obstacles tired me out quite a bit.

Now we are back to the 2 obstacles I saw near the start. First was the elevated plank. I walked over those pretty quick and started eyeing the wall. I grabbed my rope and my sweaty hands slipped. I thought don't tell me I can't get over this. Try number 2 was as good as gold, made it to the top, flipped over and jumped down. The 12ft wall was behind me. Water time and about another half mile till the next obstacle.

The blackout box! Here you crawl on your hands, belly, knees about 40ft in pitch black. Near the end I grabbed a hold of someones feet and they jetted out of there lol. Once I was out I had to adjust to the bright light and then off to the elevated net. Here you climbed up one side, rolled on three sections of netted rope and climbed down the other side. While on the net you could see the next task, it was a climb up and slide down a pole for about 10ft.

Now we made it to the nasty part although I was already dirty from a lot of crawling. The swamp! We had to wade thru a waste deep swamp and go over 3 floating logs. It was cool water but nasty water, I'm still worried a parasite now controls me. Finally the home stretch can be seen.

The home stretch is like the money shot in a way. First it was over a 15ft net wall, it was fun and the marine shouting orders to his buddies was cool too. Once off that, it was time to climb over another wooden structure. Then we got to jump some fire, hot! Now the last but the best obstacle. The mud pit. I stopped at the edge and jumped in, waste deep red clay mud pit, I then had to crawl in the mud under several pieces of barb wire stung across the pit, one scratched my back. Once out of the 40ft pit came the finish line. I was a muddy mess but I finished, completed every obstacle, got my medal, and had a blast.

Post race picture



A few more pictures






Well when I was done, I took a shower from a water truck with 50 other people, that was fun. Now it was time to donate my shoes, here is a picture of the pile.



My medal



Official Photos




See y'all next year at Warrior Dash 2012

Susan Komen 5K and more

Well, first off it has been a month since my last blog post, guess I have not felt like typing, because I'm not short on runs.

Pre Race Photo, not sure I'm awake at this point lol



Well back on June the 11th I ran the Susan B Komen 5K. All the proceeds go to fight breast cancer, so you knew I would be there to save all the breasts I can. The run itself was quite good for me although not to fast. I was in my Vibram Bikila's and I'm just not speedy in those, or ever for that matter We started in front of Meredith College bright and early at 7AM. As normal I started near the front of the pack, I really enjoy getting passed by a few thousand people.



Once the gun went off we ran down Hillsborough St for the first mile, I was in the 9 minute range for that first mile. We then turned right into the neighborhood and began the mostly uphill final 3K. I slowed up a bit but maintained a running motion till the end, I even skipped water and mist tunnels, it was a warm morning. I ended up crossing the line in 32 minutes flat but was happy I never once walked.

After the race was done I talked to a few co-workers that participated in the days events. Then I hit all the booths for free stuff and got on the bus to return home. A real positive day for a great cause.

Finish:



Wall of Survivors or something like that:



Now to the more!

The more is really just a brief update on my running. Well it is getting better. Now that it is hot I'm not doing many long runs unless I get a lucky cool morning, haven't had any recently. The heat forced me to change it up, I now run 2 miles in the morning and 2 miles in the evening, every other day (will do this every day, hopefully, in August). So far this has been working out really well. I still get mileage but don't kill myself with the heat.

Next Race: Warrior Dash in August, High Noon!

Till next post, Billy

First 5K with Vibram Five Fingers

A few weeks ago I decided I was going to run the Komen Race for the Cure in Raleigh, NC on 6-12-10 in my Vibram Five Fingers. To get ready, the week before I ran 5 days in a row, gradually increasing my distance to 3.5K. All went well and a few days before race day I ran over at Umstead (lots of big hills) in shoes just to have a 5K run the week of the race.

Saturday morning I got up at 4:45, it's race day. I had to go catch a bus over to the event, they started ferrying people to the event at 5:30 from the RBC parking lot. I got to the event a little after 6.

On to the actual race. The timed race started at 7:00am and I was lined up pretty close to the start. I was quite excited about doing my first race in Vibram Five Fingers. The race was good for me, my best time so far, 32.14. With almost 2800 people in the timed event, it was fun, but even I had to run around people. Can't wait till my next race!

What I have done so far and why a blog?

What is the purpose? Well back in January I started "Couch to 5K." I completed the program a few weeks ago and even finished one 5K race. Finished in 37.49 which is slow, but hopefully, soon, I will get that 5K time under 30 minutes. On a positive, this week I logged 22.5K.

By the way, I'm 40, 250LB and a million times better at racing motocross bikes than running by foot.

So basically, the purpose is to log my running progress.