That's All Folks!

I'm happy to report that as of now, at least (August 2022), I'm still running and racing at the age of 70. However, I think this blog is ready for retirement so I won't be posting about any more races. I guess I should have stopped at exactly 500 just to keep it nice and even, but who knew? If you're one of the few who have been interested in this blog, for whatever reason, I appreciate it.

Just so I can keep track, I'm planning on updating the "My Upcoming Races" page. If you ever take a look at that and don't see any upcoming races, most likely I'm either injured, retired from racing, or dead. 

Half marathons have always been my favorite distance even though I'm not running nearly as many now, but I'll keep the "My Half Marathons" page updated as well if and when I run a half.

I'll also be keeping all of my race results current at Ujena Fit Club, so if you want to see how slow I am now (or if I'm still running) you can see those results by clicking this link.


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Race #574 - Rocktoberfest Half Marathon - Rock Hill, SC - 10/12/24

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Earlier this year, I decided it would be fun to run 26 half marathons for the year, one every two weeks. I had started the year off recovering from hernia surgery last November 30th, which was followed by six weeks with a Foley catheter. Two weeks after the catheter was removed I ran my first half marathon and felt great just to be somewhat back to normal. At 72, I'm slower than ever, so I felt the need to challenge myself to stay motivated, and I thought it would be fun to at least try to run more half marathons than I've ever run previously in a year. In 2015, I ran 16 half marathons, the most I'd run in any year. This was my 16th for 2024, and I'm registered for two more, so I should surpass my previous record, but the goal of 26 has recently hit a snag. Hurricane Helene devastated the North Carolina mountains, where my next two half-marathons were scheduled. We're not in the mountains but are close enough that the hurricane affected us, and on the morning my Dav
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Race #474 -- Novant Health Lake Norman 15k/5k -- Cornelius, NC -- 09/29/19

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I've run this race several times previously back when it was the Lungstrong 15k and I always ran the 15k until this year. With my self-imposed limit of 10k I decided the 5k would be better for me this time around and when it was over I was glad I chose the shorter distance. The temperature was warm for this autumn race that's usually on the cool side, and the 72 degrees felt fine to me although the 100% humidity made things a little more difficult. It's a pretty big local race with 327 finishers in the 15k and another 349 in the 5k, and when I arrived an hour before the race I was surprised at how many runners were already there. Guess I'll have to leave a little earlier next year. I wanted to run under 23 minutes but I didn't quite make it, finishing in 23:19, but I was happy with being 14th overall. Race Name:  Novant Health Lake Norman 15k/5k Location:  Cornelius, North Carolina Date:  September 29, 2019 Race Rating:  94 Winners: Course (5k
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Race #194 - Spinx Run Fest Half Marathon - Greenville, SC - 10/27/12

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After spending a good portion of last week's half marathon run in Myrtle Beach sounding like I was coughing up a lung, I decided to maybe take a couple weeks off from racing and give my body some time to recover. I had already registered for the Spinx Half Marathon but was about 95% sure I wouldn't feel good enough to run it. I woke up Monday morning with the intention of taking Linda to the doctor to get checked out. After running the Myrtle Beach half she had taken a tumble after tripping over something while exiting the finishers corral and from her symptoms it seemed like she might have a rib fracture. The doctor agreed and for the next six to eight weeks she'll be out of commission as far as running is concerned. While we were at the doctor's office I decided to see if they could fit me in he could shed some light on why I've been coughing so much over the past month. The doc decided to do a spirometry (lung function test) and I wasn't able to complet
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Race #573 - Stampede for Student Success 5k - Dallas NC - 09/21/24

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Another local 5k, this one at Gaston College, was my 5th race in the series, for which I have to run six races to qualify for the end-of-season awards. There weren't any nearby half marathons, so it fit nicely into my schedule. Looking back at my races, I saw that I hadn't run this race since 2021 when I finished in 25:16, so it's unsurprising that I finished about 3 minutes slower 3 years later (28:11). Ouch. Losing about a minute per year in my 5k times. I probably shouldn't complain about being slower, though, and I should just be happy I can still run. Looking back at my Garmin data, I saw that I walked 18 times, which is a lot of walking for a 5k race. Still, the data shows that I only walked around 3 minutes total, so maybe it's not so bad. One bit of data that I haven't paid much attention to is my Heart Rate Zones (on the graph below). Seeing that 62% of my run was in Zone 5 (Maximum) makes me think that if I watched my heart rate and kept it in Zone 4 (
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Race #509 -- Novant Health Lake Norman 15k/5k -- Cornelius, NC -- 09/26/21

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Back in 2009 when I first ran this race it was called the Lungstrong 15k/5k and it was one of the Charlotte area's major racing events. That year there were 929 finishers in the two races combined. Last year (2020) the race was canceled because of Covid and there seems to be a hesitancy for people to come back to the races. In the fall of 2019, just before the pandemic, the race size had fallen off some but there were still about 700 in the two races. Anticipating a packed parking lot, I headed out early to get a good parking spot but I arrived to find an empty parking lot so I had plenty of choices. The parking lot never did fill up, and as we lined up to start the 15k a few minutes before the 5k began, there wasn't a lot of need to jockey for position to get near the starting line. It turns out there were fewer than 200 runners in the two races combined this year (130 in the 15k and 66 in the 5k). That's disappointing, and it leaves me wondering if there will be a next ye
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