Goodlettsville Classic 4 Mile

I was excited for this race because it's where I do a large chunk of my training. My "A" goal was 21:20 with my "B" goal being sub 21. I'm still in base training mode, with some 10 mile progressions and a tempo once every other week or so and on those, I've been averaging around 5:40 pace. Jef Scott normally comes down for this and while he will smoke me, I'd like to see how close I can get to him so I can see if I can maybe take him out next year.

The race took place at Moss Wright Park in Goodlettsville. The course was honest, if not a little bit on the fast side. You run the first mile around a circular loop, before heading down to the start of the trail, which turns into cinder. After running on the trail for about a mile, you branch off into the "road" inside the park, go up a short, steep hill and then run down back onto the cinder for a little bit over a mile.

When the gun went off, Jef and a former Belmont Kenyan took the lead. A kid from Station Camp was also up there and I hit the mile marker in 6th place at 5:16. There was some guy right ahead of me and over the next quarter mile or so, I reeled him in. After passing him, the course went on the cinder trail and when I hit that, I tried to keep a hard effort to mentally break the guy. Jef and the Kenyan were only about 10-15 seconds ahead of me, so I tried to stay close in case I could pull something out late in the race.

I hit the two mile in 10:29, which gave me a 5:13 second mile. I figured I could make a run at sub 21 if I kept a conscious awareness of the effort and then hammered the last few minutes. We came off the trail and took a right through the parking lot, towards the dog park. I've run this "hill" tons of times and it's normally pretty simple...just about 100 ft. without too steep of a incline. However, I've never run the hill under such oxidative stress and I really felt it, which temporarily killed my pace. Luckily the course went back towards the cinder trail, which took me down a decline. I saw Jef start to make a move on the Kenyan and when I hit the trail, I tried to push the pace in case the Kenyan got mentally broken and got close enough for me to make a run at him.

I hit the three mile in 15:51, which gave me a 5:22 for that mile. I knew the last mile would be flat, so I tried to do a long, extended drive for home to see how close I could get to breaking 21. After being on the trail for just a couple of minutes, I had to run against the people who were about to hit the two mile mark. This messed up my rhythm some because I had to focus on maneuvering around people instead of just focusing totally on pressing down the gas.

I wasn't gaining on the two guys ahead of me and finished a little hard but didn't have a killer kick because I knew I was over 21. I always feel pretty dorky when I run towards the finish line all-out, especially if no one is near me. I crossed the line in 21:16, which gave me a 5:25 last mile. Jef Scott finished in 20:33, with Charles Magut in 20:50. The time was pretty bittersweet because the McMillan calculator only equates it to a 16:16 5k and 33:47 10k. I was really hoping to be in 16:00, 33:00 shape by now and was hoping to make a run at sub 33 on Labor Day at the Franklin Classic, which is a pretty tough course. Luckily this race signifies the end of my base phase and I'll now transition to some hard, fast workouts, which should build up my engine and result in some faster racing.

Independence 5k

Even though it's only been two weeks since the Moon Pie race, I feel like I am much more fit. I feel stronger in my progression runs and my body is adapting to the mileage. My main goal for this race was to win. I'm still in base training mode and I have two races in late July, so I would prefer not to run this all-out. However, if I have to race to win, I'd like to run close to 16:30.

The course takes place down the White House Greenway with the first half being mainly downhill, then after an 180 degree turn, right back the way you came. I felt really sluggish on the warm-up and was just feeling a little bit lazy in general.

When the gun went off, some kid who just graduated high school and will be running for Bethel College shot out. Another kid, who runs for a college in Kentucky followed him, so I just hung behind the young-ans. We probably covered the first 1/4 mile under 5:00 pace and hit the mile together in 5:13. The effort felt tougher than I would have liked and for a brief moment, I got scared I would lose to one of those guys. Shortly after the mile, the guy who took it out hard started falling back. I then ran side-by-side with the other guy until the turnaround. After the turnaround, you only have about 100 meters before starting the hill that stole my soul in 2008.

I was a little nervous but maintained the effort and dropped the guy while running up it. After hitting the two mile, I was pretty sure I had the win, so I relaxed the last mile and won by over 30 seconds in 16:55.

I'm pretty happy with the effort because the course was pretty tough and I wasn't running all out. I'm pretty certain I'm in sub 16:30 shape right now, so I'll take that as a good sign.

R.C. Cola Moon-Pie 10 Mile

It was time for the famed R.C. Cola Moon-Pie 10 Miler. I didn't know much about this race except that it's very hot and hilly and takes place in Bell Buckle, TN. To me, it sounded like a brutal race experience but yet, a lot of the people in the Hendersonville Running Club absolutely love the race. I guess they are gluttons for punishment...

My only goal for this race was to break 60:00, which is 6:00 pace. That's my goal pace for the Rocket City Marathon in December and even though 10 miles is a lot shorter than 26.2, I feel that whatever I can average for the Moon Pie race, I can average for Rocket City in December. A few weeks after the Goodnaz 5k, I had a shin injury and lost a few weeks of training. I wasn't too sure on my fitness level but I averaged about 60 miles a week over the last six weeks. During those weeks, I got in a couple four mile tempos around 6:00 pace and some 10 mile medium progression runs. I almost decided to skip the race because I was at the beach in South Carolina and wasn't feeling like leaving a day early.

However, I decided to take a stab at it. I didn't know the race started so early, so Mary and I woke up at 4:30. The drive was a little bit over an hour and we got there a little under an hour before race time. That gave me some time for a 10 minute warm-up with some strides thrown in for good measure.

I started in a pack of about 10 or so guys. Mary thought it was funny because no one in the pack said a word and looked totally serious while people further back were chatting it up. I hit the mile marker in 5:41 which was fast but felt controlled. Warren Adler started to break up the pack some, which got things rolling. I hit the three mile mark in 17:29 and the fourth in 23:27 in 6th place, right behind Jeff Edmonds. I was a little nervous because Jeff ran a really solid 15:48 5k a few weeks prior, so I was hoping I wasn't going out too fast.

Before the fifth mile, there was a really big, steep climb. I'm a terrible hill runner and had a side stitch right before the hill, so needless to say, I lost a lot of time going up it. Matt Pulle passed me right before it, which moved me to 7th place. At the top of the hill was the five mile marker, which also meant I was halfway done. I hit that at 30:00, which was right at my goal pace, which was a motivating sign. However, my last mile split was 6:33 and it was getting hotter by the minute and I wasn't sure how I would respond the second half because the longest race I've ever done in my life was a 10k.

I tried to reel in Matt but I couldn't get any closer to him. I hit the next mile in 5:53, which put me back under 60:00 pace. In the 7th mile, I caught Peter Woerner, who runs at Tennessee Tech with Steven Bretz, a runner I used to coach at Beech. My 7th mile split was 5:51 and despite the increase in speed, I still wasn't having any luck catching Matt. Lipscomb runner, Geoffrey Musick was now in sight, which gave me some motivation to chase. I went by him and split 5:47 that mile, which was the fourth mile in a row I increased my pace.

Making all of the passes mentally tired me out a good bit and not catching Matt frustrated me some, so I was losing some motivation. What made matters worse was that there was another big hill coming up. Luckily I saw Warren Adler, the early leader, walking up the hill. This gave me a revamped my motivation because if I passed him, I would be fourth place and have a shot at finishing in the top three. That sounded a lot better than me to fourth or fifth, so I went after him and made the pass.

With Warren behind me, my next focus was catching Michael Peters. Michael is a very tough runner for Montgomery Bell Academy who just finished his junior year. He is a sub 2:00 800m guy, as well as sub 9:40 3200m runner and he has a good chance of being the best runner in TN next year, regardless of division. I knew he was physically in much better shape than me but I figured he would have trouble late in the race. High school track makes you a little ADD because your races are so short and you only have to focus for a small period of time. Racing ten miles is a whole new ball game and I knew it was only a matter of time before he got mentally distracted and tired out. After passing him, I continued to press the pace because I knew if he stayed close, he would outkick me. I also really, really didn't want to get beat by a high school kid, especially at the end of the race.

My split that mile was 6:02, which was my second slowest of the race so far. However, it was up a decent sized hill, so I didn't worry about it. There was just one mile to go and I was getting really tired. When I race 5ks, the pain is very intense but you can fight through it because you know it won't last long. In this race, I was hurting but it was a different kind of hurt...I was flat out exhausted and just wanted to be done.

I thought about trying to catch Matt this mile but realistically, he was just too far ahead. I was also really drained and was for the most part, racing in "survival" mode. I crossed the line in 3rd place in 59:13, which gave me a 5:47 last mile. Jeff raced a very smart race and had an easy win in 57:41 with Matt in 2nd place in 58:48. I didn't realize he was so close but Geoffrey ended up also catching Michael, finishing in 59:24, with Michael 10 seconds behind.

After the race, I was by far the most tired I've been in my life. Normally after a race, I like to cool-down for a couple miles but after this race, all I could do was sit on the ground and whine to Mary. I was debating cooling down with Jeff but after jogging a couple of steps, I knew I was done. With the race over, it was time to celebrate with some R.C. Cola.

Goodnaz 5k

After almost three months without racing, it was time to race again. One of my running club friends, Dawn Harrison, was putting on this race through her church, so I decided to run it. However, I wasn't too sure about my fitness level. I decided to not coach Beech during the track season this year and was just going to hang loose and get in my token daily afternoon naps. During the winter, Vance Pounders, a runner from JPII tracked me down to help him with his training some. That ended up turning into a coaching job for JPII, so bye-bye naps.

Anyway, I was running pretty consistently with the JPII kids and got in a few hill repeats sessions with them that Vance would totally smoke me on. I wasn't sure what kind of time goal to set but thought I could break 17 with a good race. I knew where the course was, so I ended up scoping it out and it turned out to be one of my worst nightmare courses...primarily uphill for almost the first two miles, with the last mile being downhill. I absolutely hate hills because I'm so bad at them (I guess most people hate what they are bad at), so I wasn't sure how to race.

Dawn said there was guy running who had a goal of around 16:30. I didn't want to lose, so I had to devise out a good strategy. My plan was to hold back somewhat the first part of the race and hope the guy wasn't familiar with the course, went out too hard and then died the second half. Of course anything can happen in a race, but that's what my plan was.

I met the guy before the race and he turned out to be David Hudson, a coach for Brentwood Academy. We both went out a little bit cautiously, so my plan was to run with him, without pushing the pace and wait to make my move. I don't remember the first split but I definitely remember it being in the 5:30s. That's over 17:00 pace but it was right on the money for me considering the course conditions. The second mile was the toughest of the race and at one point, I attacked a hill to see how David would respond. He gave me about a three second gap, which gave me some confidence, so I slowly backed-off until he caught up.

We hit two miles in around 11:20 and with the last mile being primarily downhill, I decided to make a long push for home. Over the next couple of minutes, I built up a 5-10 second gap. However, the pain was definitely coming in and I was hurting pretty badly and was hoping I could hang on for the next three or so minutes. Shortly before the finish, there was a steep 100ft. or so hill and I knew if I could hold my lead until then and then attack the hill, I could probably take the win. I did my best to hang on and after attacking the hill, I finished the race in a time of 16:50, which meant I ran the last mile under 5:00 (it sounds impressive but gravity made it possible) with David finishing in 16:58.

I was really pleased with this race because David is a legit mid 16s guy, so with a little more consistent training, I could maybe make a run at 16:00 in the Purity Moosic 5k in about six weeks. I feel this effort was around 16:30 or a tad faster on a more flat course.

YMCA Frostbite 5k

This was a race that I was really looking forward to. I've gotten in some good training over the last couple of weeks and after going through three miles in 16:40 during a five mile race, I feel like I could break 16:30 with a good effort. The race took place at the Hendersonville YMCA and ran around the neighborhoods through there. I didn't know much about the course but it turned out to be really tough.

I was trying to scope out the competition before the race and wasn't sure if I would have any company. When the gun went off, I went right to the lead. The first mile was mostly downhill and I had about a 10 second lead at that marker. I thought I would have a little bit of a bigger lead over the guy, so I tried to push again and keep the hammer down as long as I could.

The course was constantly up and down with steep inclines and declines and it was really hard to get in a rhythm. I have trouble with these type of courses but I still tried to throw down a good effort. My lead was slowly increasing but it wasn't as big as I thought it would be. After two miles, I tried to push even more and tried to keep a vision of seeing the clock reading a 16:20ish type time as I crossed the line.

When I entered the final straightaway, I wasn't certain what the clock would tell me because of the rolling hills. However, I was certain it would read sub 17. As I got closer, I could see I was well over 17 minutes, which really frustrated me.

I finished in 17:36 with a win. I don't know how in the world I ran so slowly. I went through three miles in the Thanksgiving race much faster than this and during this race, I was running hard. I spent the rest of the day being frustrated because I don't know how I could run a minute slower than my goal. In 5ks, you can be coming off a really bad sickness and still run within 30 seconds of your "healthy time" so a minute is just unacceptable.

However, a few days before this race, I started feeling sick and it got worse after the race. This turned out to be the strangest sickness I've ever had. For the next month, I would be completely fine during the day and like clockwork, my fever would climb over 100 with flu-like symptoms before bedtime. A week after the run, I ran a nine miler with the Hendersonville Running Club and even though we were running just under 8:00 pace, I was dead.

That next month, I cut my running in half and lost about ten pounds. I ended up going to the doctor and my blood work showed that my monocytes were way elevated. He then recommended that I see an internal medicine guy for additional blood work but I never got around to it. After about a month, the sickness went away and within two weeks, I unfortunately gained my 10 pounds back. Wow, that was probably the longest excuse for a bad race ever.

Indian Lake Loop 5-Miler

With a really good race about six weeks ago, I was feeling optimistic about the race. I had some really good recent workouts and was beating Miles in some of them, who is a 16:30ish type guy. I've also started doing my long runs with the Hendersonville Running Club, which I've enjoyed. It's a group of 100+ runners on all ability levels, so there is always someone to run with. People think they have to spend tons of money on a personal trainer or gym membership to become more fit but the Hendersonville Running Club is free and the roads are always open.

The weather was perfect for racing....about 40 degrees without any wind. When the race was about to start, I took my spot behind the starting line and tried to scope out the competition. The only person I saw was Charlie Jordan, who is a really good high school runner at Station Camp High School. I frequently coach my runners against him and he's Miles biggest rival, so I was looking forward to racing against him.

When the gun went off, Charlie shot out into the lead and I followed just behind. After a few hundred meters, I took the lead and noticed there was a guy right beside me. I tried to do some random surges to see how he responded and he hung just off my shoulder. We hit the mile in 5:10, which was way too fast for my ability.

When I know I'm not in great shape or am doubting my ability to beat someone, I like to sometimes throw on my best poker face and do sporadic pick-ups or surges to either appear stronger than I am or to mentally break the person. Unfortunately, I couldn't drop the guy and I noticed it was someone I've sporadically seen at Moss Wright Park and every time I see him, he's flying. We hit three miles at 16:40, which was fast in itself but with a 5:10 first mile, it meant I was fading fast.

I fell behind in the fourth mile and continued to fall back with every minute. I would hope I could stay close enough to make a last rally but I was just flat out running out of gas.

I hit the line in 27:41 to finish 2nd. While I would have like to win because it was a low-key local race and I got beat by an out of town guy, I'm pretty happy with the result because it shows I've consistently gained fitness over the last two months. The course also had a lot of gradual climbs, so it most likely isn't a PR type course. Since cross country season is over, I'll have more time to run some more and continue to increase my fitness. I've been running about 40 miles a week or so but I'd like to progress that to 70 or more a week and add in some tempo runs to help my gas tank. I'm going to do a 5k in a couple of weeks, so hopefully that will be another break-out run for me.

Harvest Moon 10k

It's time again for the Harvest Moon 10k and I feel confident that revenge shall by dealt on Bonita Paul if she shows up. I feel more confident in my fitness and want to somewhat redeem myself from the crappy race a few weeks back. I didn't have any time goals really but thought I would be able to break 37:00.

While this race last year had over 100 people, this year's had just 29 finishers. It was cold and misty, which is actually pretty decent 10k weather. When the race started, I got out relaxed and waited to see if anyone would push the pace. Before a race, it's easy to spot the really fast guys but since I wasn't in very good shape, anyone could surprise me.

No one really took the lead, so I took over and got in a groove. There was a cop on a bike leading me and I felt good from the get-go. Luckily this course was downhill for the first 1.5 miles but the course also included a lot of wooden bridges that were really slick. I slipped at the end of the second wooden bridge, which busted up my knee and after stopping to look at it for a few seconds, I was back on my way.

I was running a pretty steady pace but it was hard to push really hard because of all the slick bridges and being out-front alone. At the turn-around I saw no one was really close, so I just kept a steady effort so I wouldn't puke up the hill this year. The bike cop ended up crashing his bike on one of the bridges but I didn't laugh at him because I didn't want to get arrested.

I saw the steep incline sign and had flashbacks from last year where I completely died running up it but I felt surprisingly good. I crossed the finish line in 36:08 with a pretty steady effort. It was a motivating run because I felt like I could have run 35:00 if I really pushed myself and I also got a little bit of street cred from running on my busted-up, bloody knee.

Hopefully I can continue to train and race well and dip into the 16s pretty soon.