I looked at the alarm and it was 1 am. I hadn't been able to fall asleep after the softball game and I needed to get up in 4 hours to run in the Arizona Road Runner's Summer Series race. It was in north Phoenix at Reach 11 Park. There's a part of the park called the Horse Lover's Park with beautiful dirt trails that are well shaded. That's were the race was going to be.
As I was driving north I looked at the temperature readout in my car. 81 degrees at 6 am. Typical for Arizona this time of year. Not a cloud in the sky. This was a great place to run. Lots of parking and the dirt trail was fantastic.
The race results are not online yet. But, I used my nike+ to time myself. It's a chipped time race, so I can expect to see results in a few hours. I keep my Ipod in my fanny pack. The pocket is in front with a drink holder on my left hip. I don't like having the arm band on, so I usually have to take my Ipod out everytime I want to hear my current pace or how far I've traveled. I'm working on a better way to get this info. Today I taped a tic tac to the center button. The Ipod sits in the pocket and whenever I want the information I just push on the pocket. The tic tac pushes on the center button and I get the voice with the info I need. My Ipod and the mile marker were within .01 miles of being in sync. I did the first mile in 9:49. 10 seconds off my personal record for the mile. I ended up taking a couple walk breaks during the second mile and had a time of 12:06. The sun was getting to me. Luckily there were trees and shade thru most of the course. Most running in the valley is wide open with very little shade. I felt like I was in a maze with 8 foot high trees on either side of me.
The last 1.1 miles I ran in 12:58, an 11:47 mile pace. Of course, the last 100 yards or so I sprinted in and past several people. My total time from my Ipod was 34:53, a 11:16 mile pace.
Again, ARR did a great job of running the event. The course was exceptional. The volunteers were plentiful with almost no waiting to get my bib, chip or for refreshments afterwards. The optional shirt is really nice. I would have taken pictures, but I left my cell phone at home.
My next race is on June 30th near the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. We visit the relatives around this time every year. My father -in-law, Harry Potter is a professor at Purdue and my mother-in-law, Cathy Potter used to work at Purdue in development.
As I was driving north I looked at the temperature readout in my car. 81 degrees at 6 am. Typical for Arizona this time of year. Not a cloud in the sky. This was a great place to run. Lots of parking and the dirt trail was fantastic.
The race results are not online yet. But, I used my nike+ to time myself. It's a chipped time race, so I can expect to see results in a few hours. I keep my Ipod in my fanny pack. The pocket is in front with a drink holder on my left hip. I don't like having the arm band on, so I usually have to take my Ipod out everytime I want to hear my current pace or how far I've traveled. I'm working on a better way to get this info. Today I taped a tic tac to the center button. The Ipod sits in the pocket and whenever I want the information I just push on the pocket. The tic tac pushes on the center button and I get the voice with the info I need. My Ipod and the mile marker were within .01 miles of being in sync. I did the first mile in 9:49. 10 seconds off my personal record for the mile. I ended up taking a couple walk breaks during the second mile and had a time of 12:06. The sun was getting to me. Luckily there were trees and shade thru most of the course. Most running in the valley is wide open with very little shade. I felt like I was in a maze with 8 foot high trees on either side of me.
The last 1.1 miles I ran in 12:58, an 11:47 mile pace. Of course, the last 100 yards or so I sprinted in and past several people. My total time from my Ipod was 34:53, a 11:16 mile pace.
Again, ARR did a great job of running the event. The course was exceptional. The volunteers were plentiful with almost no waiting to get my bib, chip or for refreshments afterwards. The optional shirt is really nice. I would have taken pictures, but I left my cell phone at home.
My next race is on June 30th near the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. We visit the relatives around this time every year. My father -in-law, Harry Potter is a professor at Purdue and my mother-in-law, Cathy Potter used to work at Purdue in development.
5 comments:
Wait, wait, wait......your father in law is Harry Potter? THAT has to be fun to answer to!
Congrats on another awesome 5K!! Sounds like a nice place to run.
You are cracking me up with your Ipod and tic tac...you have earned a Garmin by now. :>) Have a garage sale if you need the funds. LOL
yay for the race!
and too cool that you can say your FIL is Harry Potter :)
Nice first mile Pat!!! Now you just need to work on keeping that pace up. Easier said than done, I know as I am still trying to stop going out so fast and evening my pace out. We'll get it though. J-Wim and I are checking our schedules as Purdue is less than 4 hours drive for us. I will keep you posted. Be nice to meet you. Great race, keep it up. Too cool that your FIL is Harry Potter. That totally rocks.
Love the tictac idea! I wear my ipod clipped to my fuel belt or if I dont wear it I clip it to a race belt.
Pat -- congrats on the race! I cringe every time I think about running under that hot Arizona sun.
Happy Father's Day!
Jeff
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