The amazing spring continues with warm temps every day! I keep waiting for things to get back to normal but it stays 20-30 degrees above average every day. I love warm weather.... the hotter the better, so no complaints from me.
Saturday, March 17th brought a St. Patrick's Day that I will remember for a long time. Granted, last year I spent St. Patrick's Day in France so that is also memorable, but for other reasons. This year, St. Patrick's Day fell on a Saturday which is pretty neat, but even better was the fact that the temps were in the 50's-70's all day long when it seems to generally be either cold/windy/rainy or all three this time of year.
For the second year in a row I competed in the Irishman road races in Sioux Falls.
Info Here
The Irishman costs of a 5-mile run @ 9am, a 5k @ 11:30am, and a mile @ 2pm. Each race is timed seperately and you can choose to run one, two, or all three events. If you run all three, they combined your times and call that your "Irishman." You also get a free drink at a local pub if you do the Irishman but I'm not a fan of beer so I gave my drink ticket away.
Last year, the Irishman was run the Saturday before St. Patty's Day, which was the day before I left for France, so I was able to compete in the races. It was around 30 degrees with huge gusts of wind (I'm sure the wind-chill was around 0) and there were numerous spots of ice still on the ground. Not so this year as it was a beautiful day in spite of a fairly strong breeze out of the south.
Here is how my day of racing went: *Note, the 5-mile and 5k courses are out and back while the mile is a point to point race*
5-mile: I ran fairly conservative the first 2.5 miles so that I could draft off of other people as that first half was all into the wind. A couple people took exception to my drafting, but hey, that's what you get for going out so hard! At the halfway point I tried to surge ahead a little and keep a solid rhythm going and managed to pass a few runners without anyone passing me. I finished in 11th place out of 422 runners with a time of 30:48. Last year I ran 33:55 for the 5-mile so an almost 3 minute improvement! My goal for the 5-mile was to break 32 so goal accomplished.
5k: This race ran with the wind for the first half so I really didn't pace myself off of others but rather I tried to run as steady and hard as possible. My legs felt remarkably strong although the wind did create some struggles on the way back. The last 1/2 mile before the turnaround was uphill so I was glad that I constantly train on the large hill just west of Yankton on highway 52. I managed to finish 9th out of 940 competitors in this race with a time of 18:47. Last year I ran 20:15 for the 5k so another substantial improvement. My goal was to break 18 so that didn't quite happen but I was still happy considering the wind and the fact that I had just run a 5-mile race 2 hours before.
Mile: This race starts at 17th & Phillips Ave. and runs straight down Phillips to the Falls Park entrance. It is entirely downhill (only about 50-60 feet of net drop but still helpful) and was entirely with the wind this year as well. It is run just before the parade starts so with the beautiful day both sides of the street were absolutely packed with people five or six deep. They were definitely in the holiday spirit and cheered all of the runners on with great enthusiasm. I can see how a big-city marathon is appealing due to the crowd factor I felt in this race. I went out hard and aggressive but by about halfway I could tell my legs were not entirely pleased with me from the day's events of multiple races so I have to admit I coasted into the finish a little bit. Placed 8th out of 343 runners in 5:14. Last year I ran 5:23 so yet another improvement. My goal was to break 5:15. I accomplished that but went away feeling like I could have squeezed another 5 or 6 seconds out of my legs.
Irishman: My Irishman time was 54:49, a huge 4:44 improvement over last year's 59:33. I know part of that is due to much better conditions but I also feel like I am in better shape than this point last year. I placed 7th out of 243 total Irishman participants. My former roommate, teammate, and coach Chris Heezen won the Irishman (He won the 5-mile and 5k and placed 2nd in the mile) in 48:01.... aka - hauling the mail pace.
A group of fierce competitors, post-5k
One thing that was apparent was how the recent beautiful weather brought out scores of runners that would have most likely stayed home otherwise (I'm sure the event being on a Saturday also didn't hurt). Last year the 5-mile had 213 participants while this year in nearly doubled to 422. The 5k grew from 626 to 940 while the mile was up from 141 runners to 243 this year. The Irishman saw 243 runners tackle all three races while last year only 141 did. It's always fun to run in a bigger field.
This past Saturday morning (March 24) there was a Meals on Wheels Fundraiser 5k just down the road from my apartment on the bike trail. It was just a fun run and was not timed but I thought it would make a nice little tempo run. I ended up winning in around 18 minutes according to the older lady who "timed" the race on her watch :)
Up next will be the MVCA 10k in Yankton on April 7 and the RiverRat 1/2 Marathon in Yankton on April 28.
Saturday, March 17th brought a St. Patrick's Day that I will remember for a long time. Granted, last year I spent St. Patrick's Day in France so that is also memorable, but for other reasons. This year, St. Patrick's Day fell on a Saturday which is pretty neat, but even better was the fact that the temps were in the 50's-70's all day long when it seems to generally be either cold/windy/rainy or all three this time of year.
For the second year in a row I competed in the Irishman road races in Sioux Falls.
Info Here
The Irishman costs of a 5-mile run @ 9am, a 5k @ 11:30am, and a mile @ 2pm. Each race is timed seperately and you can choose to run one, two, or all three events. If you run all three, they combined your times and call that your "Irishman." You also get a free drink at a local pub if you do the Irishman but I'm not a fan of beer so I gave my drink ticket away.
Last year, the Irishman was run the Saturday before St. Patty's Day, which was the day before I left for France, so I was able to compete in the races. It was around 30 degrees with huge gusts of wind (I'm sure the wind-chill was around 0) and there were numerous spots of ice still on the ground. Not so this year as it was a beautiful day in spite of a fairly strong breeze out of the south.
Here is how my day of racing went: *Note, the 5-mile and 5k courses are out and back while the mile is a point to point race*
5-mile: I ran fairly conservative the first 2.5 miles so that I could draft off of other people as that first half was all into the wind. A couple people took exception to my drafting, but hey, that's what you get for going out so hard! At the halfway point I tried to surge ahead a little and keep a solid rhythm going and managed to pass a few runners without anyone passing me. I finished in 11th place out of 422 runners with a time of 30:48. Last year I ran 33:55 for the 5-mile so an almost 3 minute improvement! My goal for the 5-mile was to break 32 so goal accomplished.
5k: This race ran with the wind for the first half so I really didn't pace myself off of others but rather I tried to run as steady and hard as possible. My legs felt remarkably strong although the wind did create some struggles on the way back. The last 1/2 mile before the turnaround was uphill so I was glad that I constantly train on the large hill just west of Yankton on highway 52. I managed to finish 9th out of 940 competitors in this race with a time of 18:47. Last year I ran 20:15 for the 5k so another substantial improvement. My goal was to break 18 so that didn't quite happen but I was still happy considering the wind and the fact that I had just run a 5-mile race 2 hours before.
Mile: This race starts at 17th & Phillips Ave. and runs straight down Phillips to the Falls Park entrance. It is entirely downhill (only about 50-60 feet of net drop but still helpful) and was entirely with the wind this year as well. It is run just before the parade starts so with the beautiful day both sides of the street were absolutely packed with people five or six deep. They were definitely in the holiday spirit and cheered all of the runners on with great enthusiasm. I can see how a big-city marathon is appealing due to the crowd factor I felt in this race. I went out hard and aggressive but by about halfway I could tell my legs were not entirely pleased with me from the day's events of multiple races so I have to admit I coasted into the finish a little bit. Placed 8th out of 343 runners in 5:14. Last year I ran 5:23 so yet another improvement. My goal was to break 5:15. I accomplished that but went away feeling like I could have squeezed another 5 or 6 seconds out of my legs.
Irishman: My Irishman time was 54:49, a huge 4:44 improvement over last year's 59:33. I know part of that is due to much better conditions but I also feel like I am in better shape than this point last year. I placed 7th out of 243 total Irishman participants. My former roommate, teammate, and coach Chris Heezen won the Irishman (He won the 5-mile and 5k and placed 2nd in the mile) in 48:01.... aka - hauling the mail pace.
A group of fierce competitors, post-5kOne thing that was apparent was how the recent beautiful weather brought out scores of runners that would have most likely stayed home otherwise (I'm sure the event being on a Saturday also didn't hurt). Last year the 5-mile had 213 participants while this year in nearly doubled to 422. The 5k grew from 626 to 940 while the mile was up from 141 runners to 243 this year. The Irishman saw 243 runners tackle all three races while last year only 141 did. It's always fun to run in a bigger field.
This past Saturday morning (March 24) there was a Meals on Wheels Fundraiser 5k just down the road from my apartment on the bike trail. It was just a fun run and was not timed but I thought it would make a nice little tempo run. I ended up winning in around 18 minutes according to the older lady who "timed" the race on her watch :)
Up next will be the MVCA 10k in Yankton on April 7 and the RiverRat 1/2 Marathon in Yankton on April 28.
Nice job Chris!
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