The Old Runner

After having run a 5k only about 12 hours before this one I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to submit myself to that first mile torture again or not, but I figured what the heck... the weather's nice so I may as well take advantage of it. Like many springtime Saturday mornings, there were races all over the place. I'd heard about the Bulldog 5k and it looked like a good race so that's where I landed. Linda decided to sleep in and let me fly solo since she ran the Friday night 5k. As soon as I arrived and hopped out of the car I saw Aaron Linz, the president of the Charlotte Running Club. We talked a minute or two. I had seen on Facebook that he was the overall winner of the Waxhaw Town & Country race on Friday night and he was coming over to see if he could string together two wins in a row. A few minutes later I saw Alejandro Arreola, one of my favorite fast guys and last year's Running Journal Grand Prix Open Champion. He introduced me to Megan Lordi, a fast...

In the first of two races for me this weekend we headed out to Cherryville on Friday night for the Cherry Blossom 5k. This is a small but fun race we ran last year when it was a Saturday morning race. The move to Friday night proved to be a good one with about a 50% increase in the number of runners from last year to this year (72 finishers in 2011 -- 111 finishers in 2012). I enjoy evening races and hope they'll keep this one in the evening. Having said that, however, I don't seem to do quite as well in night races. I did manage to win the 60-64 age group with a time of 21:57 and finished 7th overall, but that's my slowest 5k since October 2010, when I ran 22:01 at the HOP race in Morganton. No biggy really, but after having made a lot of progress last fall and running my best times ever I really don't want to start heading off in the opposite direction just because I'm now in my sixties. Thanks to Karen Gagnon for the photos! Much of first mile in this r...

It was nice to be able to stay in town this week for a race, and this is Gastonia's biggest race of the year. As a fundraiser it's a huge success, bringing in over a million dollars for various organizations in Gaston County. The top two finishers in each age group get to direct $500 and $250 (1st and 2nd place respectively) to the organization of their choice. I won 1st place in the 60-99 age group and was happy to  be able to send $500 towards The Brice Foundation, which supports people with disabilities in Gaston County. There's a lot to like about this race. It generates plenty of excitement for sure and is a huge event for the Girls on the Run of Gaston County. It's possibly the biggest event of the year held in downtown Gastonia, which many of us would never see otherwise. There's more entertainment on stage during the event than I've seen at virtually any racing event. Nevertheless, with so much to like there are a couple of things about it that suc...

This was my 5th half marathon in the past 8 weeks, and while it's probably not the best training regimen for a 60-year-old runner to be following, it's the season when there are a lot of half marathons and since it's my favorite distance I may as well squeeze them in while I can. In a couple months the weather's too hot and just about the only racing distance that exists in the heat of the summer is the 5k. Speaking of seasons, it's also tax season, and that means that a great portion of my weekend will be devoted to doing my taxes. Yes, I always put if off until the last weekend before they are due, and yes, I always owe money. Being pinched for time, this will be short and sweet. I knew I was in trouble when I was talking to Butch Holt just before the race started. Something was mentioned about heart rate training and he asked me what my heart rate was. I looked down at my watch and it read 92. He held his up and it read 61. "I'm real relaxed,"...

It was the second annual grandfather-grandson reunion race for me and my now 24-year-old grandson Ryan. We're hoping to make this a tradition and keep it going for as long as we can. This year we decided to run separately. We started out together along with Bobby Aswell, who was running his 176th full marathon (and his 6th this year). Last year when I ran with Ryan I was more concerned with him just finishing since he hadn't trained much for it so somehow I didn't notice the course was loaded with hills. This year, running on my own, I noticed it's one hill after another. This was my 3rd half marathon in the last four weeks and the 4th in the last six weeks (with another coming up in two weeks). I feel fine but it's a little troubling that I've been a minute or two slower each time. Thinking about it though, each of the races has been a little tougher race than the previous one so maybe I'm not too far off track. The marathon and half marathon started to...