Race with Grace & RROY

A relatively warm by Thanksgiving standards (47) but extremely windy morning greeted the 1100+ finishers at the annual Race with Grace 10k. The last 1.2 miles, always tough due to its' two small hills and a long incline to the finish, were even harder with a 15-20 mph headwind.

Sal's did well in the races with Eileen finishing 5/19, Jan 8/34, Mike W 4/36, Lou 10/36 (and picking up his first RROY point of the year) and me 17/77 in our respective age groups.

Jan and I finished a respectable 11/50 in the husband/wife team competition, with only one 40+ team and one 50-54 team ahead of us. The other teams that finished ahead of us were at least twenty years younger. Our first time as a husband/wife team the people that made up the winners this year were maybe 12 years old? I guess we've been at this a long time.

Final standings for the Rochester Runner of the Year series also were published yesterday. Jan and Eileen each finished with enough points over the year to end up 3rd in their age groups. I was 6th, one place out of a prize, and Mike W was 7th, which was more by accident than design. If MW cared about the series he would be in the top 2 or 3.

Now it's on to planning our winter training and thinking of goals for 2016.

25 Years of Race With Grace

Race director Bob Dyjak will be completing his 25th and final RWG 10k (as director) on Thursday, November 26. More than 1,400 runners will be at the race. I have had the privilege of completing 22 of those races (assuming I finish tomorrow). Jan will have completed at least 15 of them.

I have never run the race particularly fast, only one year breaking 40 minutes. Usually the race came 1-4 weeks after a fall marathon when I would have a good aerobic base but not the speed. Now my predicted race time won't be much, if any, faster than my marathon pace used to be. Jan is fighting for a Rochester Runner of the Year top 3 spot, so this race, the last in the series, is important to her.

The weather is going to be unusually warm for November, with temperatures between 45 and 50 at the start of the race (9am). We will have a nice headwind of 10-15 mph on the way back up Manitou road for the last 1.2 miles. It's always a pleasure to race into the wind while running on an incline for a mile and being tired from the first 5 miles.

Twenty-two years, that's a lot of races and running. I'm glad to be healthy enough to run the race whether I finish in 47 minutes or 51. I'm not predicting a finish place or beating anyone as so far this year my RROY races have been less than stellar. I do predict I will race, not run, as hard as I possibly can, the Bear will be out and in my mind I'll have the feeling of moving along at a 6:20/mile pace, not the 7:50/mile that it likely will be. In other words, the effort will be there, just in a 59 year old body instead of 39.


2014 RWG start (I am somewhere back there in the masses). 

Race For Race Shape?

Saturday is the 7th annual Scare Brain Cancer Away 5k in Rochester. This race is also a Rochester Runner of the Year Race. Jan is currently in fourth place in her age group and with three races to go has a good shot at finishing in the top three. I am in a tie for ninth place and have little chance to finish in the top five and be eligible for an award.

I've been having an internal debate on why I should race this weekend for at least two weeks. This coincides with the last time I did any real speed training. My guess is I'll run my guts out and finish around a pace that ten years ago I could have maintained for 13.1 miles or longer. Anyone else I would have ready answers for why that is okay, even quite good. The bald guy sitting on my right shoulder hiding his belly fat keeps harping on that fact, whispering in my ear to accept what I am. The skinny, fast, bald guy on the left tells me running that slow is unacceptable and my fate is not sealed, there is still hope.

I'm going with the left shoulder runner. He is even wearing matching clothing and lightweight race shoes. He looks like a racer. The left shoulder guy tells me that this Saturday's 5k will be hard, but great training for the next RROY race, another 5k (the East Avenue Grocery Run), and then, on Thanksgiving morning, the last race in the series, the 25th annual Race with Grace 10k.

Besides, the race Saturday has pizza, Dibella's subs, and more post-race delights. Even if the left shoulder racer is wrong, the right side runner will be fed and happy!

Race with Grace

Congratulations to the awesome team of Mike and Eileen who each finished third in their age group at the Thanksgiving Day Race with Grace 10k. Mike beat 57 runners in his age group. Eileen was 3/28. They were also 13/58 in the husband/wife team competition, which includes runners of all ages. Over 1,100 runners completed the race on a cold 20 degree day.

Should I Race or Should I Go?

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Lots of food, football and this year my daughter, son-in-law and 1 yr. old granddaughter will be with us in Spencerport, flying from Portland, Oregon. My oldest daughter flies in Friday night from Alabama, so the clan will all be together, which doesn't happen much anymore.

Tradition also has it that Jan and I run the Race with Grace 10k on Thursday morning. I have run the race 18/21 times, missing it for a trip to Disney, a winter storm and the birth of Ellowyn(grandchild). Last night a winter storm hit the east coast, giving the Rochester, NY area around 8 inches of wet, heavy snow and making traveling a hassle. At 9:20am tomorrow the Portland crew arrives after flying all night, first landing in Newark, NJ, then on to Rochester. The RWG begins at 9am.

Jan has already said she is skipping the race to meet them at the airport. I have permission to race, since I would be home shortly after 10am, probably around the same time as the Portland crew. But is running a race the right thing to do? This classic song by "The Clash" seemed to fit into my thought process, though they are talking about a slightly different relationship issue. (you can click off the ads in the video)

So You Say It's a 10k?

Absolutely the race that will get me out of my doldrums will be my old standby, the Race with Grace 10k on Thursday, November 28 (Thanksgiving). This is the 23rd time this race will be run, 20x by me. Race director Bob Dyjak does a great job organizing every detail of the event. Is there a better holiday than Thanksgiving? A great race in the morning at my favorite distance, family, food and football!

With ten weeks to go I needed a training plan, but wanted to keep it fairly simple, yet tough. I found what I was looking for in a 2010 Running Times article written by Greg McMillan.  The rationale behind the plan is in the article. It is important to have a reasonable goal pace/finishing time. If you are struggling at week 4 with the pace, adjustments may be necessary.

Combined with weekly 8-10mile workouts with the last 2-3 miles run a bit quicker, I should feel confident come race morning that I can run well. (M=mile, m=meters)

SIMPLE EIGHT-WEEK WORKOUT SEQUENCE FOR A FAST 10K

Week	Key Workout	Notes
1	6 x 1M	3-minute jog between 1M repeats
2	10-12 x 400m	Run the 400m repeats at 5K race pace; 200m jog between
3	2M + 4 x 1M	5-minute jog between 2M repeats, 3-minute jog between 1M repeats
4	3M Tempo Run or 5K Race	One simple prediction method is to double your 5K time and add 1 minute to get your 10K time. Are you on track for your goal 10K time?
5	2 x 2M + 2 x 1M	5-minute jog between 2M repeats, 3-minute jog between 1M repeats
6	20-24 x 200m	Run the 200m repeats at 5K race pace; 200m jog between
7	3 x 2M	Run the 200m repeats at 5K race pace; 200m jog between
8	RACE: 10K

GREG MCMILLAN is an exercise physiologistand USATF-certified coach who helps runners via his website mcmillanrunning.com.

Recommendations

Just like dentists in toothpaste commercials, four out of five McCulloughs agree running is good for you. Unfortunately our youngest daughter, Stacy, has yet to be fully convinced, though we tried to trick her into it by having her fitted at Fleet Feet sports when she was here last week visiting.

Alas, it appears her fashion sense took over and she went for color over caring whether they would help her run. It is still a victory that we got her in the store though and on a treadmill to have her running form analyzed.

Of course our oldest daughter, Andrea, began running in the last few months for money motives. She is a lab rat, having joined an experiment at UAB to get her vitals checked, blood taken, etc. before, during and after exercising, either by running or biking indoors.

Andrea joined Amanda, Jan and I on the track last week. It was 80+ degrees and the dew point was over 65. Andrea thought these were cool temperatures and ran in long sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt.

Amanda has switched her training and plans to kick her mom's butt at the Race With Grace 10k in November. I have to admire this plan and will be trying to do the same!

Thanksgiving

Top Ten Great Things about Thanksgiving!

10.Several hundred runners at the inaugural Downtown Rochester Thanksgiving Day 8k Race
9. 3,000+ runners at the Webster Turkey Trot
8. 1,000 or so runners at the Race with Grace(which I have run 14 years in a row)
7. Football, between college and pros - four days in a row
6. Four days of not working at MCC
5. Beating all Sal's runners at RWG (maybe)
4. My birthday is always near or on Thanksgiving
3. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy
2. Jan's cinnamon rolls
1. Family time

Leftovers

My favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. A race with 1,000 of my closest friends, daughters all home, two boyfriends visiting from afar, food for twenty though there are only six of us for dinner, electrical and computer issues and swine flu. Can it get any better than this?
Jan, who hasn't run in four weeks due to achilles tendinitis, throws off her body cast and runs sub-9 minute miles to try and secure a top 5 RROY spot. We think she missed it by 3 points for the season. Rats. But she did finish in the top 3 in her age group!
The 10k was my longest run of the month, due to some lingering hamstring issues, but I managed to squeeze by fellow Sal's runner Rick Merritt, who hadn't run in 2 weeks, for a solid 48 minute finish, only 4 minutes slower than last year (insert sarcasm here). Of course Rick, new head coach of the soon to be state champion Byron-Bergen basketball team was wearing fifteen pounds of cotton, Chuck Taylor high top sneakers from high school and dribbling a basketball with each hand the entire course, but a win is a win. We Sals people count them any way we can.
Oh, and then there was the youngster, Jen Katz, the one who told me during the race, "I'm a bit tired from the marathon I ran four days ago, see ya!" Yes, she beat me by at least a minute.
Reportedly Lou, in training to race Boit in the 100 yard dash, hit Mike W with a turkey leg as the gun went off so he could take the coveted 1 mile split honors, a scintillating 6:23! Mike, savoring the turkey for 3 miles, then sped up and ended up the top Sal's runner for the day and secured a top five RROY spot.
Eileen imsofantasticallyfast W ran an awesome time and garnered at top 5 RROY spot, as well as a 3rd place RWG placing.
The computer issues? Well, the boyfriends, who are electrical and computer geniuses, have cleaned up my hard drive, taught me how to download music, erased all my porn (damn) and made a machine I think is an original PC from Bill Gates garage days run a lot faster.
The swine flu victim seems to be Stacy, who traveled from Portland to be with us and brought along the disease. Don't get it. If you can get a vaccine, do it.

Cell Phones

Yes, I'm an admitted cell phone hater. Maybe it's because I work in a library and am surrounded by mindless cell phone users who think their scintillating conversations are worthy of everyone else hearing them.

Well, they aren't. Take the damn phone outside the library fool. Can't there be one quiet place for people to study? Let's see, you can't use the phone in class, not allowed in the computer lab connected to the library, but you think it's okay to talk so loudly that everyone within 50 feet can hear you in the library? Idiots.

Anyhow, I'm in the Race with Grace on Thanksgiving Day. Around 3.5 miles into the race I come up on some guy talking to himself, loudly. I begin to pass him and realize, he's not talking to himself, he's on his cell phone telling someone where he is in the race. I'm not sure if the person he was talking to was also in the race. We live in a sad society if you can't be without your cell phone for 45-50 minutes while you are in a race!

I know USATF rules state this is illegal. But even if they didn't, it's just stupid and sad.

At least it was hands-free and I beat him, by minutes. Maybe he had more conversations that slowed him down?

Race With Grace 10k

When I first ran Race with Grace race I had almost a full head of hair, including a beard and mustache. Think of Forrest Gump ("Now you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows")running across America, but with a little bit more style to his hair. Though the only wind I blow is after a heavy meal and usually clears out a room.

I have had the honor of completing 17 of the 18 times this race has been run. My race times now are what used to be a tempo run (43:22). But, I'm still at it and managed to somehow get third in my age group out of 61 and earning some valuable RROY points. Even better was beating MW and other members of the Breakfast Club!

Mytriathlete wife was 9/43, with a 50:11 (8:05pace). LouImsofastandskinnyK set a 40 second pr, 6/45 in age group. Our daughter Amanda came up from Kissimmee, wore 7 layers of clothes to stay warm and also finished the race.

Of course the afternoon was filled with food, wine and later, a walk to make room for desserts. Yes, desserts. Why have just one?