The Old Runner

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 (...

With a couple of 5k races in the local race series over these two weeks and no nearby half marathons, I decided to take a little break from the longer races. I ran this same race last year and it's nice and flat(ish), so I was hoping to run a better time than in the hilly food truck races that I've done over the past few months. The result was that I did better (27:22), but nothing to jump up and down about. As much as I'd like to nudge back down into the 24- to 25-minute range in a 5k, that might not be happening for me. Just like last year, my main age group competitor was a local high school cross-country coach who is a couple years older than me. Also, just like last year, we jockeyed for position several times during the race, and I managed to squeak by him with about 20 seconds to spare.  Last year's race had some great free photographs that I didn't see until I registered for this year's race. Eight days after the race, there are still no photos on the we...

Lord knows I'm not a trail runner, although I've been trying to impersonate one for the last few months. In July, I ran the Harbison Trail Half Marathon, the first singletrack trail half marathon I've ever run. In retrospect, I kind of enjoyed it even though I was slow and spent most of the time just trying not to trip over a rock or a tree root. I did the same thing in this race; just hoping I didn't trip and break an ankle or do a faceplant. Luckily, I came out unscathed and didn't fall or twist anything that shouldn't be twisted.  The U.S. National Whitewater Center is about a 15-minute drive from my house. It has 50+ miles of trails, but I haven't been there in over 10 years because trails have never appealed to me. This week, they had the only half marathon within 100 miles, and since I'm trying to run every half marathon I can reasonably get to this year, I figured I'd give it a go.  From what I've heard, the trail races at the Whitewater C...