A trip, and a fall..... but my own shoe laces?

After a week of driving a lot of miles and spending time with family I was able to get back out for a more normal run this morning. I did run a couple times while with the family but not nearly what I usually do or hoped to do. That is not good considering I needed to start marathon training this week. The running was only part of it, the other part was eating differently than I would normally eat at home, especially the quantities.

This mornings run was not a good 6 mile run. I started off good running from the high school after dropping off my daughter for her Cross Country practice, but then things changed quickly after just 1/2 mile when I tripped over my own shoe laces (yes, my own shoe laces..... and they were tied!) The first time I caught myself and looked down to see my shoe laces tied, but maybe a bit longer loops. I didn't think much about it and continued on when I tripped the second time. The second time I went down on my hands and one knee. My knee took the brunt of it and is now missing a bit of skin and caused a limp for a few seconds.

I continued on and did the 6 miles but had a couple times where I wasn't feeling good and walked a little bit (mile 3 & 5) I did choose a road I had never run before and I didn't realize how hilly it was. That coupled with the 13 hours of driving yesterday and the poor choices in eating over the last week I am not at all surprised.

A funny thing about the trip......

Just Wednesday night we were playing a game at my brothers house. I don't remember the name of the game but they chose me and then pulled a card. The statement read that if I would die a strange death how would I die. There were 6 choices, but one of them was that I would die tripping over my own shoe laces (it was the answer I chose, as well as at least a couple others). I thought of that immediatly when getting up off the ground. I have never tripped over my own shoe laces while running, much less while they were tied! I guess I better go clean this wound. I didn't die falling, but if I died from an infection it would still technically qualify.

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow - virtual4now

Peachtree Road Race 2009 - 48:32

This past Saturday. July 4th was the 40th annual Peachtree Road Race. It didn't disappoint me like it did last year when I had to walk it. One of the things about running with a seeded time (not sub-seeded) is that the cheaters don't start jumping in as much till after we passed.

This was my third Peachtree, the first one just a short two years ago. The 2007 Peachtree was my first 10k after starting to run as an adult. I crossed the finish line in 2007 in 1:03:59. Last year I walked the Peachtree because I was tripped and broke my collar bone just a few short weeks earlier. Well, this year I was once again able to run it and I almost set a new PR.... almost! I came across the line in 48:32 (chip time)

The day started bright and early with the alarm clock at 4:30 AM. I consumed some oatmeal and a piece of toast, lots of water and a small gatoraide and was ready to hit the road by 5:00 AM. I still had a few items to finish getting ready in the morning because I neglected to make sure the clothes I wanted to wear were clean until about 10:00 PM. That being the case I had to wait for them to wash and dry before putting my number on my shirt and having everything laid out neatly. I did get the timing chip attached to my shoe the night before which I am glad I did since it was pretty complicated for a feable mind like mine :).

My neighbors and I left at 5:00 AM and as we were leaving the neighborhood saw another neighbor walking his dog. Funny thing is that I saw this neighbor two more times at the race..... of 55,000 people. What are the odds?

We arrived at the Marta Station at 5:30 and it was not nearly as busy as it was in previous years. I think the fact that they announced the times that each time group would be taking off this year meant that a lot of the higher time groups stayed in bed longer. This was nice because we were able to park right near the station and then walk right onto the train. We made it to the starting area by about 6:15 and had plenty of time to just relax and use the port-o-potties before any lines formed.

When standing around in a parking lot I just happened to glance over and saw my buddy Kevin. He and I have lined up together both years I have run the Peachtree. We didn't have any way of meeting up this year since we both didn't have phones with us, but wouldn't you know we both ended up hanging out within just about 10 feet of each other. While we were standing here talking guess who walked up? Yup, this was siting number 1 of my neighbor that was walking his dog this morning. Need I remind you that this race is 55,000 people?

The morning weather was perfect. Low 70's, with relatively low humidity. We actually made a comment that it was border line chilly. Not cold by any stretch, but nowhere near a July 4th in Atlanta.

We still had some time to waste so we watched the wheelchair races take off. These are true athletes. To be able to power those wheelchairs with just their arms for the 6.2 miles including some decent hills absolutely amazes me.

We decided following the wheelchairs that we should take another pit stop. We walked back down to where the 600,000 (slight exaggeration) port-o-potties were and lined up. We quickly realized with the lines, how fast they were moving, and the time, that we were not going to make it and decided to forgo that plan.

We lined up in our time group 1A about mid way back in the pack and waited for the start.

I was very fortunate to again be in time group 1A. You have to have a qualifying time from a qualifying race of less than 50 minutes to get in time group 1A. In March of 2008 I ran the Shamrock and Roll 10k in 48:03. This was my first and only sub-50 10k. It qualified me to be in 1A last year (when I had to walk) but was also still within the timeframe so I was able to use that time to qualify again this year. Since I had been off running for 8 of the last 15 months due to the broken collar bone I had no chance to re-qualify so this was a blessing.

The horn blew at 7:30 right on time. The elites took off and the sub-seeded were right behind them. It took us a little bit to cross the starting line, but I later compared my watch time with the clock time and we only took 30 seconds to cross the starting line after the horn. This made it nice the rest of the way because I didn't need to keep looking at my watch, and I could just add 30 seconds to whatever time they were yelling out at the mile markers.

The first couple miles felt good, but felt slower than they actually were (as is always the way it goes) My buddy Kevin was not too far in front of me, and I think I subconsciously tried to keep up with him even though I know he is faster than me.

My first mile was 7:45 which I was happy with, but then I started to speed up too much. My second mile was 7:19 and the third mile was 7:01 according to my watch. I am not so sure about this third mile. At some point in the race I think my MyTach GPS watch measured one of the miles a little short, and this may have been that mile. That coupled with the fact that my MyTach GPS watch ended up measuring the entire race as 6.3 miles tells me that something went wrong in one of these early miles.

It was sometime in the second couple miles that sighting number 2 of my neighbor occured. He ran past me and I quickly yelled at him for passing me. He turned around and smiled and took off through the crowd. Just a few minutes later I saw Mike Beaudreau fly past me weaving in and out of people trying to make up some ground.

Somewhere during the middle of the race I heard a bump and scrape.... and then a "runner down" and then "are you ok?" I turned around to the left and I saw someone picking themselves up off of the ground and walking to the side. My heart dropped, I felt so sorry for this person. I know too well what that feels like, and I just hope that they didn't break anything like I did when that happened to me.

I was able to continue at a good pace and did cardiac hill without too much problem and my 4th mile clocked in at 7:50. It was after the 4th mile that I started to feel it. I have two reasons that I can think of that I started to feel it at this point. 1. I had run the past 9 days straight without a day off, including the day before the race & 2. I ran the 2nd, and 3rd miles a bit too fast.

During the 5th mile I did the dreaded, I gave in a walked a bit. I had trouble slowing down because everyone around me was running a steady pace and so if I ran, I tended to run with them at their pace. I didn't walk long, but ended up walking about 3 times for a total of about 1 minute. This can be seen in my time for that mile of 8:42, a good minute + slower than all my other miles.

I finally got myself going again for the last mile. Mile 6 clocked in at 7:16 and then the last .2 (.3) clocked in at 2:40........ Here is where the whole splits thing kinda messes up again, because my MyTach watch showed .3 (and a total distance of 6.3) so the last .2 at 2:40 was probably more actually .3 at 2:40. I would guess that the watch marked one of the earlier miles too early and it threw the rest of it off. I could transfer 1/3 of the final .2/.3 (about 53 sec) to mile 3 and this could all kinda make sense.... would it? (OK - sorry I got a bit geeky)

The end result was 48:33 according to my watch, and 48:32 according to the official chip results which can be found at the AJC's results. According to those results I finished 2,725 out of just over 50,000 timing chips that crossed both the start and finish lines. 55,000 registered runners, some probably didn't show up, but some also cheated and didn't start at the starting line.

My actual splits can be found on my Running Ahead Log and are:

Mile 1 - 7:45
Mile 2 - 7:19
Mile 3 - 7:01*
Mile 4 - 7:50
Mile 5 - 8:42*
Mile 6 - 7:16
.2 (.3) - 2:40*
* see above for explainations

***A fun additional bit of information. Each registered runner gets the Peachtree Road Race Magazine a few weeks before the race. Mine sat for a couple weeks and then my neigbors mentioned that I was on the cover. I didn't believe them, but went and looked. Everything I recall from what I wore to where I would have been (because I was walking) points to that actually being me. Here is a link to a scanned image.

Peachtree Road Race - Tomorrow

I don't know a lot of the history, but I do know that 40 years ago it was run for the first time by 110 runners, one of them being the one man that has run every race for the past 40 years - Bill Thorn. I know that the field is limited to 55,000 runners, and it is not the easiest race to get into (although I have been able to get in the last three years without any issue)

Two sayings that Bill Thorn shares with his runners at Landmark Christian: “When it’s hard to run, run hard.” “In running, you’ve got to deal with three things — sweat, discomfort and heavy breathing. If you can’t deal with those three things, then running isn’t for you.


The other things I know about the Peachtree Road Race pertain specifically to me. This will be my third year running (more appropriatly - doing) it. The first year, 2007, it was my first 10k race and I ran it in 1:03:59 after just 6 months of losing weight in which I would eventually lose 90 lbs.

The second year I participated in the Peachtree Road Race was just last year. I had a qualifying time from the Shamrock & Roll of 48:03 and was looking forward to running in Time Group 1A. I ended up not being able to run it because of being tripped in the S.W.A.T. Trot 5k just a few weeks before the race and breaking my collar bone in two places. I did end up planning for and then just walking the Peachtree last year.

I am really looking forward to the Peachtree Road Race again this year. I am excited because I am able to run it again and also because my qualifying time of 48:03 at the Shamrock & Roll was still within the timeframe and I was able to use it to get my Time Group 1A again this year. I have a time goal of sub-50 which I know I can do, it just depends on a lot of things one of them being the big crowds and getting around them.

This will be my first 10k back since returning from the broken collar bone injury, but I have done a couple 5k's and have trained well for it with plenty of 10k + distance training runs.

Well, that will be it until I put up the race report. I am off to get Pizza for the family for dinner. I am going to be eating some left over chicken and pasta from last nights dinner. I don't need the pizza on my stomach for the race tomorrow.

Till tommorrow!

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow - virtual4now

Cross Country Time Trials - Payton did Awesome!

As you are already aware if you have been reading here lately, my 13 year old daughter, Payton who is going to be a freshman this upcoming year is going to be running Cross Country. As you can imagine that makes me very happy and very proud. Both because I am a runner, and because that was my favorite sport when I was in high school.

This past week was the first time trials for her team. She has been training with them ever since school was out three days a week. I am not 100% certain what the time trials are completely for, but I am sure it is to help see where everyone currently is. The other thing the time trial is for is to determine who will be going on their summer running trip to Myrtle Beach. This trip is only open for the "Top 20" and the top 4 freshman.

Going into this time trial I told her she had a pretty good chance at getting in the top 4 freshman and encouraged her that way. She was not sure she wanted to go on the trip since she didn't know anybody and is quite shy. I told her not to throw the race just so she didn't have to go, that we wouldn't make her go.

The time trial was for 2 miles. I told her I had in mind what I knew she could accomplish, but I didn't tell her incase she didn't hit it she wouldn't be upset. I knew she could come in under 15 minutes which would mean a 7:30 pace. I knew this was doable considering the times we had run together and the 5k race she had just run with me a couple weeks earlier.

She was nervous the night before, she was worried she was going to let me down. I told her that as long as she ran her hardest and didn't stop to walk I would be happy and very proud of her. Now, if she "had" to walk I would be OK, but I told her she needed to keep running and not give up.

Well, the morning came and she went to run it. We were not aware that parents could be there so we missed the race. She was very excited and called me when she was headed home. She said that she came in 7th and her time was 14 something. As you can imagine, I couldn't believe she didn't know the "something" and it about drove me crazy.

I had to wait till the official results came out which stressed me out having to wait, but the results finally came out later that day. There were some of the girls that ran the time trial the week before because they would not be able to be there on the time trial day. This messed up her original finishing place, but only by a couple places.

The final results were in and she finished 9th out of 89 girls!!!!!!! That was all grades freshman through senior. Her official time was 14:06 - yes OH-6! She ran a 7:03 pace and finished well into the "Top 20" She immediately told the coach that she was going on the trip.... I guess finishing as well as she did changed her mind about the trip. :) She was the second freshman, she had one other freshman beat her by 15 seconds.

I am so proud of her, she exceeded my expectations by almost a whole minute - for two miles!

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow - virtual4now