Chesebro Race Results

The 2010 Chesebro Half Marathon was a great event.  It's actually just one part of The Great Race of Agoura Hills.  The whole event is made up of two separate half marathons, a 10k, 5k, and a kids 1 mile run.

The Chesebro Half  wanders through Old Agoura, down Chesebro Road and onto the Cheeseboro Canyon Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. (Yes, the road is Chesebro and the trail is Cheeseboro).

I finished the race in 1:46:39

That's an average pace of 8:07 per mile
82nd place out of 1038 participants
10th out of 86 in my age group

My goal was 8:00 minute miles which would have been a new PR. I was about 2 minutes slower than my goal and less than a minute slower than my Half Marathon PR of 1:45:48

It was mostly trail running with a couple miles of street running at the start and finish of the race.  The first 8 miles were mostly uphill, with steep climbs at the 8mile and 10 mile marks.

I'm so close to a PR at this distance.  I'm looking for a flatter 13.1 course in April or May that might be a good candidate for a breaking my record.

Here are my mile splits for the race:

Split Time         Distance
1 0:07:27 1
2 0:07:49 1
3 0:08:00 1
4 0:08:03 1
5 0:08:02 1
6 0:08:47 1
7 0:08:43 1
8 0:10:08 1 (Steep climb here really killed my time)
9 0:07:34 1
10 0:07:28 1
11 0:08:16 1
12 0:07:29 1
13 0:07:54 1
14 0:00:56 0.14
Tot  1:46:41 13.14

Motivational Movie Monday

West Texas piano player Doug Smith has had a passion for music his entire life. This video documents his struggle to once again play after a paralyzing car accident.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA0LoIhjnkc

Half Marathon Race Plan

The Great Race of Agoura Hills - Chesebro Half Marathon is tomorrow morning at 7am.

My race plan for tomorrow is simple.

I'm going to start out at about an 8 min mile pace and try to hold that pace the entire run.  I don't actually think I'll be able to maintain a steady 8 min mile pace over the hilly, off-road terrain, but my goal tomorrow is to be fatigued in the last several miles and see how I'm able to deal with it, and push through it mentally and physically.

If I'm not struggling to hold 8 minute miles on the trail, then I'll pick up the pace.  I really want to struggle in the last several miles and see how well I can hold the pace at the end.

Motivational Movie Monday

More basketball themed motivation in honor of March Madness


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-EyRUgp9Mk

T Minus 8

March 21st - Eight months until race day and about 15 weeks until the real training starts.

The next three weekends are event heavy:

Next Saturday is the Great Race of Agoura Hills Half Marathon.
Saturday, April 3, is the Santa Clarita Century.
Sunday, April 11th, I'm planning to ride in the Stage 8 Tour of California Breakaway Ride.

AND, Congratulations to all my endurance runner friends in LA who finished the 2010 LA Marathon today.  It looks like the new Stadium to Sea course would be fun to run.  Maybe I'll put it on the calendar for 2011.

Motivational Movie Monday

In honor of March Madness, here's a little motivation Bobby Knight style.

(If you don't want to hear profanity, don't click on the link)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw7KijRfU-c

Motivational Movie Monday

Here's part two to complete last weeks Motivational Movie.  This is where the work pays off!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ7ZpLgkVxA

Kids on the Run - 10k

The Kids on the Run 10k charity event was last Sunday, February 28th.

The 5k and 10k events both started at the same time and ran on the same course.  The 5k runners did one loop, while the 10k runners did two loops.  The race started right around 9:15am with roughly 500 runners - most of them (around 375) in the 5k event.

I knew it was a fast course.  It's the same course where I set my 44:01 PR in 2007.

When the gun went off, I started out a little fast to stay ahead of the masses.  I counted 13 runners in front of me, and then tried to settle in at a 7min mile pace.

Here are the splits

Mile 1: 6:56

Mile 2: 6:55

Mile 3: 6:47

Mile 4: 7:08

Mile 5: 7:21 (this one was a struggle)

Mile 6: 7:01

Final .3 miles:  1:59 

(per my GPS reading, the course was a little longer than 6.2 miles)

I took 2nd place in my age group with a finishing time of 44:07 - just 6 seconds slower than my fastest 10k. I also placed 8th overall. 

It's still early, so there's plenty of time for new running PRs before this year is over.  And of course, I'm guaranteed a new PR at Ironman Arizona this year as long as I can finish the race.

Motivational Movie Monday

"You think you can give the same effort day in and day out for the next five months?"

"Sir, I have no doubt"



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnPxOttpVdI