Gumtree 10k – Tupelo, MS

Sunday, Most of our college buds are out of town after the semester ended last week. Figured, Joseph and I would be on our own Sunday afternoon, especially with it raining. But, surprise, surprise, our tall artistic running friend Kamau Bostic showed up just as we were starting. We ran about 7 miles today, at just under 7 minutes per mile thru downtown, the Greensboro District, Cotton District, and back thru the campus to finish.

Monday, Yep, raining again. Go figure! Joseph and I showed up at McKee Park just as Kamau was pulling in. Two days in a row with wonder boy. Cool After 9 minute warmup jog, we did a structure fartlek workout on the damp roads of Longmeadow neighborhood. Today, it was 2 sets of 4 minute hard/3 min easy, 3 min hard/2 easy, 2 min hard/1 min easy, and 1 min hard. Pretty good workout all in all. Of course I could not really keep up with those punks, but felt like I did ok! Then jogged back to park , stretched a bit, and took off. Did some pushup, pullups, and ab stuff when I got home. Should have done more, but pretty lazy after the running workout!

Found out that some of Joseph’s high school friends who are have run with us in the past and who are running track at SHS did well at the North Half State Meet on Saturday. Our good friend Ethan Musser, who is a senior this year, qualified for the state meet this coming Saturday in the 1600m run placing 4th with a times of 4:43. This was a phenomenal performance by Ethan, who had not run track since the 8th grade. Unfortunately, he did not compete in the 3200m event. Unfortunate, because I think he would have done even better at that distance. This past fall, Ethan made the All-state XC squad as well, and was the third SHS finisher behind Joseph and Damian, so he has proven stamina and good enough speed. Either way, in this 1600m race, Ethan was only 3 seconds behind his speedy teammate Damian Grady, who placed 2nd. Damian won the 800m race with a 2:02. Alex Ross, a junior, put in a stellar performance in the 3200m race placing 1st with a 10:17, which was by and far his best time ever. Of course, the Mattox girls did well as always. Eighth grader Kate Mattox stole the show in the 3200m race running 10:56. Her older sister Walker was 2nd with a 12:01. Similarly, Kate was 1st in the 1600 race with a 5:26, and her sister was 3rd with a 5:41. In her final year of high school, Mary Elizabeth Stringer placed second in the 800m race with a time of 2:31 qualifying for the state meet.

Tuesday, Brent, Kamau, Joseph and I today. Hit the South Farm gravel today. Had not been out here much. Easy run today. Kamau and Brent got in about 6; me and the kid did closer to 8. Probably  about 7 minute mile pace. On the way back, we passed by a feller named Nick Petit who we had recently met. He was running with some other joker, and they seemed to be cruising along well. In fact, we saw several folks running the gravel today. It was pretty nice out at 5 pm, maybe a little warm.

Wednesday, Same crew again today. Did a 6 mile downtown, etc. route. Pretty freakin’ warm today! Started out a regular type pace, then we picked it up. I wanted to go a little faster today. Not fast, but faster than my normal 6 mile everyday run. After about 1.5 miles, I started speeding up. At about three or so, I found myself ahead of the others, who apparently not as interested in going faster today. So, I finished up at 37:57. Kamau and Joseph dragged in about two minutes later, and Brent was probably 3 minutes behind them. Kamau and Joseph were pretty hot! Guess we have to get used to it being warmer.

Thursday, Kaman, Joseph, and I did an easy run thru and around the MSU campus this afternoon. Pretty warm again. Probably around 5 miles. Nothing crazy.

Saturday, Got up early and headed to Tupelo for the Gumtree 10k. Man, did not sleep well last night! Wait, that is every night! Oh well. Pretty nice this morn, about 65°F, but super humid and cloudy. Actually rained during most of the race, not hard, just drizzly stuff. Holy Moly! Some fast jokers here today. Even the old guys! Yeah, first place in the Masters division (40 and over) was 32 flat! The overall open male winner was 30:21! Not bad for a humid morn with slippery roads. Add to that the route was likely a bit long, at least according to folks with GPS watches, which tend to measure courses short. Most I talked with had 6.3 miles. Not significantly long, but that could mean 30 seconds for the fastest person and up to a minute or more for slower ones.

Saw lots of folks we knew, of course, including several Starkvillians. In fact, two of the ladies, Tiffany Dudley and Meggan Franks, placed in the top 8, which scored those fast moving chics some cash! In a race like this with folks coming in from all over the place to run, placing in the top few is major awesome! Tiffany was 3rd overall with her 36:27 and Meggan was 6th with her 38:55.  Pretty sweet.

Top 8 females at Gumtree 2013. TIffany Dudley (3rd) and Meggan Franks (6th)

A crazy lady we know, Liz Watkins, who won the 70+ female division today, introduced me to a speedy young feller named Josh Whitehead from Huntsville, Alabama. Josh is a rocket scientist! Really. Anyway, he was fifth overall with his time of 30:40, slap in the middle of a bunch of elite African running jokers! Another Alabama dude, Michael Green,  was sixth with a 31:14! Dudes!

Liz Watkins and Josh Whitehead

Forty-two year old Bo Boatner from the Tupelo area also also had a good day placing 2nd in the Masters Division with a time of 33:15! Drew Kellum, another Tupelo runner we know, won the 20-24 year old group with his 35:12. Drew was sporting some longish hair, said he wanted to be like me.

Drew Kellum and Bo Boatner

Joseph was not sure what to expect today, as he had not run a 10k since this one last year when he ran a 35:48 winning the 14-19 age group and setting the Mississippi 15 year old 10k record. Anyway, he felt pretty good today I guess and ran a 34:40 coming in 15th overall, again winning his age group, and this year easily breaking the Mississippi 16 year old 10k record, which was 36:32. He said he felt like he could have knocked off a lot more and did not seem to tired. I definitely think when he figures out how to run this distance, he could easily run under 34.

Joseph receiving award

Whew, one thing for sure, Joseph killed me today! I was shooting for 39, but actually thought I might get just under that. Felt tired, but pretty good. Ended up with a 39:18, which put me 2nd in the 45-49 division and 32nd out of 513 males. A speedy 45 year old dude who runs with the Tupelo Running Club named Israel Melendez won this division with his outstanding time of 35:35! The only way I could beat that cool cat would be to lose 15-20 lbs! Our bud Terrance Owens from Tupelo, who is my age (48), was 3rd with a 42:01.

Israel Melendez, me, and Terrance Owens

Brad Atkins from Columbus had a good race today with his 36:02, which placed him 2nd in the 35-39 group not far behind the really tall Charlie Dawson! Nice job Brad! Also so our MSU Art buddies Chan Anderson and Bert Hart! These dudes always seem to be happy!

Brad Atkins and Charlie Dawson

Charlie Morris, Bert Hart, and Chad Anderson

Anyway, fun day, lots of speedy people, some light rain, and after, we checked out the most amazing art at the festival!!!Full results from today’s race are at: http://www.besttimescct.com/results/Gumtree13.txt

Will the rain ever stop??

Sunday, Easy run with Joseph and Lucas today.  Cruised around town and MSU. Saw Zach the red bearded wonder boy out running as well. Ended up doing about 6 miles at just under 7 minute per mile pace.

Group shot from our run with Boardtown runners on Saturday. Me, Lucas, Jorge, Joseph, Simone, and Brent

Monday, Joseph and I met  Jorge at the Research Park this afternoon for a fartlek type workout. As we were getting ready to start, Lucas came running by on an easy run. He stopped for a minute, then headed out. Then Joseph, Jorge, and I did about a 10 minute warmup on the North Farm gravel roads, before starting our workout. The pattern today was simple:  5 X  4 minutes hard with 3 minutes easy. Not so easy depending on how fast you go! Gravel and it was warm today! I mostly kept up with them on the first one, which was around a 5:20 mile pace, but the next four, I was probably closer to a 5:45-5:50 mile pace. After, we jogged back and stretched a bit. As we were getting ready to leave, we saw Cleat Morris emerge from the bike trails with his golden retriever who looked beat after their trail run!  Good to see that semi long haired bearded dude!

Tueday, easy run with Zach and Brent today. Mostly around campus and the Cotton District. Lots of folks out today! Pretty day. Managed just over 6 miles at around a 7 minute mile pace. Upper body workout when I got home! More yard work.

Wednesday, Rained all day! Got Joseph after school and we ran through Longmeadow. 10-15 minute jog, then 15 minutes at just under 6 minute mile pace. Started raining too hard, so we cut it short.

Lucas, Brent, and me

Thursday, pretty nice afternoon! I ran 6 miles with Brent Wallace today, as we did our campus, Main Street, historic Greensboro route. Somewhere between 3 and 4 miles it started to rain. Lightly at first. As we hit the Cotton District on our return, the rain became steadier, but felt wonderful. Brent could tell I was getting happy and told me to go ahead and take off. With a bit over a mile to go, I could not help myself and did pick the pace up, greatly enjoying the brick cool rain on my face. I don’t know what my last mile was, but certainly under 6 minutes. Brent came strolling in a bit later. Lucas and Jorge showed up as we were getting ready to leave. They just got thru with their last exams and were heading out for a run in the rain. When I got home, I did a somewhat abbreviated upper body workout.

Friday, a few of us got together and ate lunch at McAllisters before some of our runner jokers left town after finishing classes. Lucas, Jorge, Arash, and Brent joined Audrey Sheridan and me. Lucas was leaving for Atlanta for the summer. He is hoping to run for MSU next fall. Hopefully he will stay healthy and have a great summer of training that will propel him to his goals! Arash was about to set out on a vacation with his family to the Dominican Republic! Jorge was about to head home with his brother Juan to north MS, but will be back this summer and will be running with us again! Anyway, nice lunch!

Did not run today. I was thinking about running the Market Street Festival 5k the next morn, and I usually don’t run the night before a race. Actually, I often take Fridays off in general. Had thought about running the Corinth Coke Classic, but ended up not signing up for that. Both Joseph and I thought two 10k’s in a row were more than we wanted to do, and we had already signed up for the Gumtree coming up next Saturday.

Saturday. Well, I woke up early enough, but really did not feel like running this morning, so went back to sleep until 8 AM! Needless to say, I did not run the 5k! However, Joseph and got a nice workout in with pushups, pull ups, dips, curls, shoulder flies, and ab exercises. Joseph also did some plyometric skips and bounds, and some other drills. I opted for lots of yard work, because that is my way!

Later in the day, about 4 PM, we ran our 4.9 mile route out here in Sessums. Started out slower, but picked it up after the first half mile. Hit the turn around point at 14:15! Never got there that fast before. Slowed down on the way back, but ended up with 29:34, which was the first time I had run this route under 30 minutes. Sweet. Joseph was behind me today, just sort of cruising along.

Saw the results of the Corinth Coke Classic 10k, and our friends Tiffany Dudley and Meggan Franks did not disappoint! Tiffany won the female division with a time of 36:34 and Meggan was 3rd with a time of 37:40! The overall male time was 30:44, 2nd was 30:48, but then the times dropped off a bit. In addition to age group awards, top five overall awards were given. Third was 33:03, fourth was 35:14,  and fifth was 36:30. Kind of wish Joseph would have run this one, as he would likely have placed at least 5th, if not 4th. Actually, Bo Boatner who won the Masters division with his 33:13, was fourth overall, but they don’t duplicate awards at this race, so he took the Masters award. Nice job Bo! Full results are at: http://www.coke10k.com/uploads/result/2013%20Results.txt

In other awesome running news, our buddy at Columbia Academy, Jon Luke Watts, won the 2A MAIS state meet in the 3200m event (and probably other events) and broke the overall MAIS state record in doing so with his time of 9:41! Way to go!

Planning on running tomorrow afternoon at 3 pm, meeting at the South Farm parking area again. Probably won’t be many folks to run with for a while, with the MSU students out fo town, but who knows! Hopefully, the rain will stop for long enough for us to run.

 

just regular running and stuff

Sunday, pretty day, but whew! Joseph and I were both worn out from the long day on Saturday when I was up from 5AM until 2PM Sunday morn. Then got up at 7AM.  We ran in the afternoon at 3PM, but only did a 6 mile loop today because neither of us had the energy to do more! Punk slackers. We did the crazy hilly University Estates loop to make up for it though. Pretty slow today!

Monday, no run, both busy. But, I did get some yard work and gardening in, plus some pushup type deals.

Tuesday was better, Joseph and I ran 6 miles with Lucas “cool daddy” Muniz on the South Farm. Have not been running out here much lately. Lots of MSU runners out there today including the likes of Renee “the  beast” Masterson. Good run. Had not seen Lucas in a couple of weeks, so we had plenty of catching up to do. He and Kamau ran on some trails at the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge on Sunday, and he was giving us the scoop on the wildlife that he spotted. Apparently, they came across a huge alligator crossing the trail at one point! That will wake you up. After the run we were goofing around a bit with some pullups. I said I had been trying to do a one-armed pullup, but had not yet got there. So, I tried today, and did one! How cool is that. Not the kind with the other hand holding onto the wrist, those are easy, but the actual one-armed one. I almost got two. That was with the right arm. Now to work on the left.

Wednesday, Joseph and I ran the Longmeadow loop several times. Along the way, we picked the pace up here and there for a loose fartlek type session. We saw the Starkville junior high distance runners jogging through the neighborhood as well. Got lucky with the weather, as it had rained all day. Temperature dropped quite a bit, but we still ran shirtless. Breezy but probably in the upper 50′s.

Thursday, close to 6 miles at 3:45 PM with Captain America Brent Wallace. It was a beautiful afternoon as we drifted about the MSU campus and streets of the Cotton District. Did not push it hard today after the semi fast running the day before. Brent seemed happy with that as he has not had the opportunity to run as much lately!

No run Friday. Usually take Fridays off if I am going to take a day off. Needed it today. My right hip (IT band?) has been sore this week. I actually think its from sitting at my office desk too much the last couple of weeks. I have two monitors, and the angle that I sit and type at is slightly awkward. My upper body is pointed to the right and my legs to the left. Need to remedy that. Of course, it could also be just me being an old punk! I do tend to have more problems with my right leg due to its being somewhat shorter than the other. I should probably wear some sort of orthotic to correct that, but generally don’t. Since it was sore, I decided to put a cushioned type lift in my right shoe for the run on Thursday and all day today. I have to say, it made a big difference. Go figure.

Got up early Saturday morn-4 AM. Too early. Ate a banana and cereal bar after doing a few pushups. At 5:30, Joseph got up as well, and we headed out at 6:15 to go run with the Boardtown Running group, which starts at Mike and Marcie White’s house every Saturday morning at about 6:30 AM.  This was a gorgeous morning to run, just over 60°F .  Beautiful. I managed to wrangle some of our running buds to join us. Lucas, Brent, and Jorge Villarreal all showed up for the almost 11 mile route. Additionally, former MSU distance running standout Simone Domigue ran with us the entire way and was great company! The run was very relaxed for the most part, and the only times I felt like I was pushing it at all were on a couple of the hills on the South Farm. But, mostly it was a nice, easy run today, probably just under 7 minute mile pace. Periodically, Joseph, Lucas, and Jorge picked it up. Jorge actually turned around at 4 miles for an 8 mile total, and Brent opted for about 6.5 miles. Had not seen Jorge in a WHILE! He had quite a few injury issues while on the MSU team and finally decided he would be better off not running college track and XC. Probably the right decision for him; at least, he seemed to be healed up and was running well today. Apparently, today was a good day to show up, as it was picture day! We had not been there in quite a while, but somehow managed to make it on the day of a group picture! Crazy. Met several new folks today, and of course, it was nice to see the regulars who we had not seen in a while too!

Boardtown Running Club

Thought about running the Cornerstone 5k yesterday in Louisville Saturday morning, but decided not to for a couple of reasons. One, already done more races this year than the last 3 years combined (or close to it), and secondly, this race, and others as of late, only gives an overall award to the first female and male. Depending on the year and how I feel, I could actually potentially win this race some years, as typically no super fast guys show up, but I think its a bad idea when races don’t have age group awards. It does not bother me so much, but that is the motivation and reason many active runners go to these races. They want to compare themselves to their similarly aged peers. Anyway. Did not go. Local awesome runner Meggan Franks has won this race previously, but she was in Canada this weekend for the Canadian National Half Marathon Championship!! However, Tiffany Dudley, another ridiculously awesome runner from Starkville did run the 5k and won with her time of 18:01! Crazy. She will be running in the Coke Classic next weekend, and I believe Meggan will be there as well! Showdown for these two speedy chics who both ran for MSU! Joseph and I were thinking about doing the Corinth race, but decided not too. We are planning on running in the Gumtree in Tupelo 10k the following week.

Tiffany Dudley, overall winner of the Cornerstone 5k

Old Cotton Mill 5k 2013

Monday- What the heck? Hot today! Crazy. After a warm up jog, did 3 X 1 mile repeats with Joseph today at the Research Park loop. Nothing crazy. I averaged right around 6 minutes per mile, Joseph was faster. We were both tired from the last couple of days.

Tuesday- Ran with Joseph, Brent, and Zach today. Pretty easy today, not sure how far, but about 37 minutes total. Along the way we ran through the Old Cotton Mill 5k route, which starts on University drive and meanders through the MSU campus before returning. This  course  is fairly difficult.

Zach and Joseph

Wednesday- Fairly late start today. Joseph and I did 8 X 400m runs with 30 second rests on our trail. Still sort of muddy, and this section of the trail is fairly hilly. Today, the plan was to do the 400′s at 5k pace. I think were both on top of that, so good enough.

Our little buddy Kate Mattox was on WCBI News this evening. They interviewed her as athlete of the week. She is currently ranked no. 1 in the country in the 3200m and 2 miles distances for all 8th graders that have posted times on Milesplit.com. Kate has been running well and is clearly the fastest girl in Mississippi right now in the 3200m distance (11:01). She is also doing quite well at the 1600m distance as well (5:24). Currently, we have several very fast 8th-10th grade girls in the state, at least 3 of which have run two miles in 11:15 or faster! Way to go. Check out the interview here: http://www.wcbi.com/wordpress/run-kate-run-starkvilles-2-mile-champion

Thursday- Ran 5.5 miles with Joseph on the South Farm at 4:30 pm. Nice day, breezy, but warm. Easy pace of about 7:10 per mile. As we finished we saw the dynamic duo of Chad Anderson (mad dog drummer art dude) and Albert (Bert)Hart (trippy art dude/design dude) beginning their run.

Friday- no run today, took it easy and ate some awesome grilled ribeye, with grilled mushrooms and red peppers, and french fries!

Saturday- Woke up at 5:00 AM, ate a breakfast bar, then at 6, ate a banana! Headed out for the Old Cotton Mill 5k at around 7 AM. Chilly this morn. Thursday afternoon it was mid 80′s, this morning was upper 30′s! But, not windy. By race time it was mid 40′s, so we wore shorts and short sleeves. Awesome. Saw a bunch of people we know of course. A bit surprised to see our running bud Brent Wallace there, we thought he was going to do the Warrior Dash, but cool. Superstar Meggan Franks was there, as were many of Starkville’s regular runners such as Peter Rabideau, Meg Henderson, and others. Some of my former high school classmates ran today including the likes of Jeanne Butler, Steve Porter, and Eric Miller. Both Chad and Bert were here for the race. Quite a few high schools kids that have run with us before were also in the race. Some of them were Patrick Bell, Layton Little, and Lake Spradling. Long time friend Andrew Rendon ran the race today. First time I had seen him do one!

Old Cotton Mill 5k

Run went pretty well. Joseph won overall with a 17:18. Not terrible, relatively hard course. He was pretty fast at the mile, then coasted until the finish. He also won this race last year.

Joseph at finish

I ran with Meggan Franks til the mile, which we hit around 5:34, then I slowed down as we started hitting the hilly part of the course. Meggan ran a 18:00 and  was the first overall female.

Overall Winners Joseph MacGown and Meggan Franks sporting Rods Racers shirts

I was the next finisher at 18:46 or so, and being the 2nd male overall, obviously won my 45-49 year old age group today. Felt comfortable the entire way. Maybe I am getting old, but I can’t seem to find the gumption to push myself in a race anymore. Just slog along at a pace that feels comfortable. 14 year old Lake Spradling did pretty well today, somewhere in the mid 19′s. Brent was right around 19:40 and also won his age group. Terrance Owens (from Tupelo), my main competition in my age group, placed second in our age group finishing just under 20 minutes! Winning an age group award often means winning yet another fairly meaningless trophy or medallion, but not in this race, which is a part of the Cotton District Arts Festival. All awards are awesome cool pottery pieces done by MSU Art professor Rober Long. So, yeah, $25 race fee and win a $65 piece of pottery for 1st place in age group. Seriously cool. He does a different design each year. Full race results are at http://www.stearnsracetiming.com/Results/2013/4-20%20cotton/overall.txt

Me and Terrance Owens, 1st and 2nd 45-49 age group

Brent Wallace finishing up

Good race, great awards, refreshments, and a day full of art and music! For me, I left the race awards and headed to the Juried Arts Competition Awards where I had 3 pieces accepted this year. I ended up winning Best of Show in that show ($750!). Also sold another piece, Mayan Awakening! So, good day there. Then I went over and listened to Joseph sing in the SHS choir. Full day for sure! Read more about the juried show and festival on my art blog at: http://joemacgown.blogspot.com/2013/04/cotton-district-arts-festival-2013.html

Back to our run on Sunday afternoon, and will once again meet at 3 pm at the South Farm parking area for a run.

Virginia Beach and Spring Into Action 5K & Fun Run

Headed to Virginia Beach Sunday morn for a conference on Imported Fire Ants and other Invasive ants. Traveled all day, collected some ants along the way. Finally arrived Monday afternoon around 4 pm. After registering for the meeting, I got a chance to get in a run on the boardwalk along the beach! Awesome weather too. Windy, but about 65-70°. First, jogged a half mile, then ran the 3 mile boardwalk pretty fast against the wind, then ran back faster, then jogged for a half mile. Felt really good today. Had to dodge 500 bikers and skaters and runners and walkers, but it was pretty cool.

Tuesday, easy run today-50 minutes along the boardwalk and through town a bit. Beautiful. 80° at 4 pm when I ran. Lots of cool statuary along the boardwalk and between the hotels. The highlight was an enormous statue of King Neptune.

If I had chosen to run earlier in the day, the boardwalk was much less crowded. Of course, I was in Virginia for a conference on invasive ants, so I was sitting inside listening to talks about ants earlier in the day.

Virginia Beach Boardwalk

Beach

school of land fish

Did not get to run Wednesday because after we left the conference, it was all driving until midnight or so! Thanks to David Cross who was the one driving at night. The next day we got back to Starkville at about 2 PM after driving through what might have been the edge of a tornadic storm system in western Alabama. Crazy stuff! Needless to say, the weather was too bad to run that afternoon. I did get to do some pushups and stuff when I got home though, so not all was lost. I never eat like I should when traveling. Too much sugar and caffeine to add in the driving/staying awake deal. No exception this week. Probably take a week to recover!!

No run Friday either. Had to get some art ready for the West Point Art Walk coming up the next day, and following that I attended the reception for the artists involved.

Saturday, I was at the West Point Art Walk from 10 Am until 3 PM. I had artwork in the office of Gallaway, Chandler, McKinny and Insurance. The Art Walk was great! Met lots of cool folks and other artists. Read more about it on my art blog if you are interested: http://joemacgown.blogspot.com/.

After the Art Walk, there was a 5k race being held in downtown West Point at 5:30 PM called the Sally Kate Winters Family Services 5K (also called the Spring into Action 5k and fun run) . There was also a 1 mile fun run for kids at 5 PM.  This race was for a great cause, helping abused children and other kids in need. All proceeds from the race directly go to benefiting child abuse victims and prevention awareness programs offered from Sally Kate Winters Family Services, Emergency Children’s Shelter in West Point, MS. At some point in the day, Joseph showed up to check out the art. Since we were both there, we decided to run the 5K.

Tim Irvine, an awesome running joker from Meridian did the timing for the race, so we knew that would be done well. If you need his timing services, he has a page on Facebook that talks more about it at https://www.facebook.com/time2runracetiming. I highly recommend him.  Sometimes with these smaller races you never know how things will go with timing, routes, etc., but I have to say, this race was amazingly well done from A to B. The only thing that they could not control was the weather, which turned out great too, although it was very warm! Even the mile fun run was awesome. Lots of kids ran this, and many parents joined them to! As we milled about the start for the 5k, we met some nice folks. One of those was Dustin Ormond, who works at MSU. Judging by his racing flats, we figured he was going to be pretty decent. Several other people that we did not know looked very fit as well. There was a triathlon dude who graduated from Starkville High a few years back who was in awesome shape. He was running this race with a friend. We even met several runners who had already run the Amory Railroad Festival 5k earlier in the day! Met another fellow my age (48 years old), Wallace Sansing, from Maben, MS who did quite well today.

Anyway, the race started right on time and we took off through residential areas of West Point. A police car lead the way for a bit over two miles before we turned onto a walking path sidewalk deal, which lead to the finish chute. Every intersection was manned by police. Volunteers were along the way cheering us on. Even the folks at their homes were out in the yard cheering us on. Amazing. The race was actually harder than I thought. Of course, I thought it would be somewhat hard because I had done a lot of driving all week going to and from Virginia Beach, not sleeping much, eating the typical food and caffeinated cold drinks commonly associated with driving, and not enough water. Of course, today, I was standing all day for the Arts Walk. By mid afternoon I was wiped out. Joseph seemed to feel much the same way after spending much of his week staying up late working on his junior English Thesis project. We both felt dehydrated and worn out before the race even started. So, yeah, things were not optimal to begin with. The first two miles of the race were on the road in the sun. First mile was pretty easy, but the second mile was harder with wavy hills. At the first mile split Joseph was first, pretty fast, probably around 5:10, and Dustin Ormand was fairly close behind. I was about 5:29. We all dropped off on that next mile. I felt completely dehydrated and dry mouthed by about 1.5 miles. Joseph told me later he felt the same. Actually, Dustin also said he was felt dehydrated as well. I guess none of us were really ready to run today! Joseph said he was 10:43ish at the 2 mile. I was about a minute back by then. The last mile on the walking path would have been pretty easy, but an added difficulty factor was thrown in. Much of the sidewalk was super curvy and had trees growing out of the center in places that you had to run around. So, basically, you had to slow down and speed up continuously. But, that section was shady!! Anyway, Joseph won with a time of 17:10, Dustin was 18:22, and I was 18:35. We talked to Dustin later, and figured out that I had actually given him and his family a tour of our Entomology museum a while back. Cool. At 29 years old, he is getting back into running. Apparently he was quite fast in high school. He said his best high school time was 15:36! So, yeah. Nice.

Dustin Ormand

Almost immediately after the race, Joseph and I were both interviewed by WCBI television. Of course, we were tired and not  coherent, but that’s cool. They aired that later in the evening. The WCBI writeup and video are available online at: http://www.wcbi.com/wordpress/sally-kate-winters-host-5k-run-in-west-point. Our last name was spelled wrong in the article. 

Top three girls were Jamie Murrell (23:12), Peyton Hunt (24:40), and Katherine Ernst (25:22). Don’t know any of these girls.

Jamie Murrell, 1st place female in the 5k

In lieu of trophies for awards, they gave out various gift certificates. Joseph got some kind of massage deal, which he gave away. I got a $50 gift certificate for a restaurant called the Ritz in downtown West Point. Even the age group awards were cool gift certificates. Not to be outdone, kids in the fun run received a variety of cool toys, sports equipment and gift certificates. Very cool!!

giving out fun run awards

Anyway, this was a GREAT 5k. Started right on time, cost was reasonable-$25, the route was never in question, the route appeared to be fairly accurate, the timing was done well, awards were great, top three awards and age group awards were given, the volunteers were great, and the police did a wonderful job! And, they told me that all entry fees would go directly to the local charity. Nice work to the folks that did this race. They covered everything in my opinion.

Full results at:  http://time2run.yolasite.com/resources/Spring_Into_Action_Complete_Results.pdf

But, wait, the day in West Point was not yet over. The sweet sounding bluegrass band Hanalena performed at a local school. As an artist in the Art Walk, I received free tickets to this, so we hung around and listened to some great music! The two main girls in the group, Hana and Caroline Melby, are from Starkville. Now, they are nationally known recording stars!  They, along with the other musicians in the band are great musicians. After the show, I bought their newest CD. Everybody signed it. Already listened to it twice!

Woke up Sunday morning to more rain!! So, we did a core/upper body workout to start the day. During a break in the rain, I planted some vegetables that I had going in my cold frame. Transferred them to my raised beds that I recently started. Later in the day at 3 pm, got in a nice 10.4 mile run with Joseph and Zack Marsh, who recently joined our Starkville Striders Facebook page. Zack is a crazy red-haired, red-bearded freshman joker at MSU. He ran in high school in Huntsville, AL. We all just ran together today and finished up in about 1:08. Zach actually needed a bit more, so he ran another mile and a half or so, although he said he was going to slow it down. Steve Shaffer also stopped by today. He has had a sore hip as of late, which he thinks may be a result of too much running on the crappy Starkville High track (painted concrete). If there was ever a track made that was likely to cause injury, its this one! But, you can’t hold Steve down. Can’t run? Walk, and so he did! Keep moving baby!!