Run Thru History 10k

Got another decent run in on Tuesday at the South Farm; 4 miles this time. Maybe the foot is getting better. It is still sore, but not as bad as it was. Still using the boot at night, and I think it helps. Joseph cruised around for an easy hour or so. Sometime after we started Arash showed up, and he got in about 55 minutes.

Hit the research park Wednesday afternoon with Joseph and Arash. They seem to be pushing each other right now. I rode the bike as they warmed up, then rode along with them as they did a cruise tempo based workout: 3 X 1600m at tempo pace with 1 minute rests between, then 4 X 400m at interval pace with 400m jogs, one more 1600m, then a cool down run. Barely got this in as the weather was getting seriously bad! Pretty good day for them though, so I am glad it worked out. Joseph was 5:13 on the first one (a little too fast for this workout), 5:23 next, then 5:28, with the 400’s being 1:15, 1:06, 1:10, and 1:09, and the last 1600 was 5:28. Arash was 5:23, 5:43, 5:39, then 1:09, 1:13, 1:09, and 1:08 on the 400’s, and 5:42 on the last 1600. Good job guys!

On Thursday Joseph did an easy run on his own, and I ran 3.1 miles at the South Farm at a 6:50 pace. Not great, but a significant improvement over the last few weeks! Just glad to get some running in!

The kid and I headed down to Vicksburg Friday around noon for the Run Thru History 10k coming up the next morning. We got there early enough to drive through the seriously cool National Park dedicated to the Vicksburg Siege of the Civil War. Thousands of monuments in an amazing park. In fact, we truly liked Vicksburg in general. The weather was fast becoming interesting though, with a pretty good storm system moving in. We managed to find a pizza place, eat, and get back to the motel (the Battlefield Inn, right beside the park) just before the skies let loose.  Got to bed semi early and hoped the rain would get out of the area by morning for the race. Got up early and no rain!

one of the monuments in the National Park

The 10k started at the park just under a big archway. Lots of runners, hundreds for sure. I was not one of them. Instead, I was a spectator. Five minutes later about as many people started the 5k walk! Folks in this race were treated to the hilliest course in MS and through a beautifully scenic area! The hills here are not for the feint of heart!

Start of the Run Thru History 10k

As luck would have it, it was not only hilly, but very windy! The temperature was about 50°, but felt much colder with the wind. This was not a spectator friendly course, but we could see the runners as they came back through at about the halfway point. The first three were William Kazery (awesome runner who runs for West Alabama’s XC team), Nathan Davis (who ran for Louisiana Tech and most recently was on the USA team at the International Biathlon Competition, which was held in Scotland), and right behind them was Joseph.

about halfway through...

From that point, I walked to the finish line, which was about 1000 meters away at the Battlefield Inn. The first finisher was William in 34 minutes something, then Nathan in 35 minutes something, and Joseph in third with a time of just over 36 minutes. The posted times for the three did not match the clock or my watch, so not sure of exact times. Joseph said he hung with them for about 4 miles, but the amazingly steep and many hills finally took their toll, and William was able to pull away. Great race for everybody though! Of course, Joseph is still a kid basically, so he went ahead and ran the mile fun run after for a little extra workout. This was open for kids through 15 years old. Obviously he won. The course was short for sure, as he came stroking in around 4:13. Yeah, not this year, and not after a crazy hard 10k! But whatever, he got some speed work in anyway and an awesome cool plaque with a cannon on it. Also got a smaller version of that plaque for placing first in the 15-19 age group.

Nathan Davis (2nd), Joseph MacGown (3rd), and William Kazery (1st)-top 3 at the Run Thru History

After the race, we hung out a while for the awards ceremony, which featured lots of hotdogs and a fun band. Beer was flowing as well. The Americorps kids were in full force, as they were during the race while they worked as race volunteers. They were all very enthusiastic! After the awards we explored downtown a while. Saw some cool murals along the floodwalls of the river. Ate lunch at a seafood place near the river called Rusty’s. Pretty good. Then checked out freaking cool drug store, and an art gallery on Washington Street that was sweet!

All in all, a good weekend. We will start next week off with a run tomorrow afternoon at the South Farm at 3 pm.