Month: October 2025

This was my fifth race on the USATF masters national points circuit this year, following the 8K XC championships in Lubbock, TX in January (2nd), World Masters 8K XC in Gainesville, FL (1st American), 10K road race in Dedham, MA (1st), and the 4 mile road race in Peoria, IL (2nd). Note, there was no 12K, 15K/10 mile, or half marathon this year, but that’s different story.

I came in with 390 points and was second in the standings. I needed to show up in Atlanta to secure second (maybe first if DanK does not race the 5K XC race in San Francisco next month) in the best of five series.

I’m at the end of a marathon block and have averaged about 60 miles a week since July 1, with some peak weeks in the mid-70s. I had no injury setbacks along the way. In August I decided not to give the New York City (NYC) Marathon top priority. That would require training through the fall races, and I decided those would be just as important as the marathon. With that in mind, I ran the half marathon my new city this September and the 10 mile road race in October. Both went well, in course record time and I was happy to check those boxes and to establish some local street credibility.

Regarding last weekend’s 5K in Atlanta, I don’t like approaching a championship race with a heavy training week so cut back after Wednesday, with some easy runs. This meant that I would be starting marathon my taper a little early.

Did You Bring Your Singlet?

We arrived in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon, only to find out that one of the guys forgot his singlet. We had to have matching singlets to compete as a team, so we spent the remainder of the afternoon hunting down a set of jerseys. Traffic in the city was bad, but we got it done in time to do a 25 minute shakeout run in the evening to preview most of the course. The course would have a lot of sharp turns and two big hills.

Race Day

A front moved through on Sunday morning, and it was blustery and cloudy during the warm up. Rain started falling about a half hour before the start and it was a downpour as we did final stride outs and started lining up.

I lined up on the 4th row of the narrow start, which had a right-turn within the first 30 meters. Great. Why do they do this?

The horn sounded and we crossed and I was immediately met with a few elbows as runners got past me before the turn, which I took fairly easily. Within the first 400 m I noticed that my mesh shoes were already saturated and holding water. It was going to to be a squishy 5K.

Splish splash it was a bath.

The goal was to run about 6:00 for the mostly flat (but with many turns) first mile and then handle the hilly second and third miles the best I could. My watch had me right at 6:00 (maybe 6:03 to cross the mile marker), and I was situated in a fairly tight pack with runners from our rival team, plus several more from younger age groups. My chief competition in the individual age group was about 30 meters up. I was right about where I need to be.

As expected the climb was arduous. About 600 meters of steady climb at 4-6%. I did what I could do to hold with the group of five or six other runners, and crested the hill in reasonable condition. We made a right onto a side street and had another short incline. There my arms got a little numb there and I was feeling near the edge. However, breathing was decent and I wasn’t slowing down.

One of the rivals from the other team surged ahead. I crossed the half way timing mat in 9:12. The guy who surged suddenly slowed up and now we were in a pack of four as we made some winding turns and sharp downhills. The course hits a low point at 2, which I crossed in 12:09 on my watch (12:17 by the marker). Les, my rival from Atlanta pulled away as we turned into the wind and up another 600 m (but less steep at 2-4%) hill and I fell back 20 meters. I pulled away from a guy in a younger age group but did not like running into the headwind so eased up slightly and he and another guy went around. I tucked in and saved my energy for the final kilometer or so. We got to the top of that grinding hill and I worked on catching up to Les.

I felt pretty good on the long gentle downhill, and it seemed that Les might be struggling a bit. In hindsight maybe I should have gone all in then, with some 800 meters to go, and tried to get a gap on him. That hesitation may have had some implications in the team race.

Making the penultimate turn.

Instead I just maintained the gap of a few meters back, and decided to wait until the final few hundred meters. We turned past the start line and the course marshal said “400 meters to go!” Les surged a few times and I matched his pace, but did not pass. Instead, I kept a meter or two behind. With about 120 m to go we had a sharp right and then a left to the final 80 or so meters to the finish line. I was a step behind on the turns and then threw in what I had left. I pulled slightly ahead for a moment. But he surged back and half a half a step. One more push to the line! We finished in a dead heat.

Lean baby lean!

So team scoring would come down to how our other runners did.

Results came out, and they determined that I had outleaned Les by less than 0.1 of a second. I finished 2nd in the age class, and he would be fifth in his. The team score came out at the awards and it turns out we were second by just a handful of seconds. Each of us kicked ourselves a little, I think you can always find a place or two where you maybe could have made up a couple of seconds. For me it was on that stretch with 600 or 800 to go. But you also never know, I might have flamed out and lost more time there.

It was all in good fun. We may be rivals on the course, but when the race is over we’re friends. Less and I have raced many times over the years and this year I beat him in cross country, while he was ahead in the 10K and 4 mile road races. So we’re even in this head to head. Kudos to Les. And I was happy to contribute to my new team after a summer of running unattached. We locked up the age group title with our showing, and that was really the main mission.

Post Race

After a rather chilly awards ceremony, in front of a Victoria’s Secret store of all places, we got a good meal in the shopping area and then spent the afternoon touring the city, seeing some historic sites like the Martin Luther King National Park, Carter Library, and many sports and cultural venues. Also took in a tour of the College Football Hall of Fame. We had a late flight and I did not get home until nearly 2 AM, about 20 hours after I had got up on Sunday. Phew. Glad that is behind.

Next up, NYC Marathon in just a week and a half.

September: A Half Marathon Around the Lakes

20225 has been a long year for us, with many months in limbo due to the move. After two months we were still not yet settling into Minnesota, still living out of boxes while living in temporary quarters. Truthfully, I had not felt quite “on” since mid-spring this year.

After moving to sea level from altitude I thought I might experience an aerobic boost, but the humidity was so high and sleep so poor that I never felt that strong in July when I had a couple of okay but not great races. In early August the blood test from my annual physical revealed that my red blood cell count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit were already back to levels indicative of an athlete from lower elevations. So much for the past 11 years (and nearly 40 years in my life) of altitude benefits! It goes away quickly.

With a quick turn-around from the Hood to Coast Relay in late August, I didn’t know how I would feel for the half marathon. After returning I recovered for a few days then got in 70 miles from Thursday to Wednesday before cutting back to recover for the race. Fortunately, I felt pretty good over those two weeks.

Last year I hit 1:24 three times for the half marathon, and arguably four if you count Canyonlands Half at altitude (1:26). But based on mid-year 2025 results and how I was feeling over most of the first two months here I was thinking a mid to low 1:25 might be more likely.

The Race

Although the race is limited to only 2,000, for the local competitive runner this is one of the bigger races of the year for competitive runners around here and the fields are pretty deep. However, the event is also preparatory race for most, not really the main goal race.

The course is pretty narrow in parts (start in particular) and that is why the fields are limited. Some races sell out in minutes or days, the half marathon did not sell out this year.

I got to the race about an hour before the start and started my 2 mile warmup 40 minutes before the gun would go off.

Warmup up just before the start of the race.

The course is a figure 8 that has a long neck between two lakes. Each lake is about 3 miles around and the connecting segment between them is about 0.4 of a mile. It only has a few hills, four per lap, but they can take a toll on the second lap. Otherwise, the course is quite flat and fast. It was unseasonably cool and a perfect day for racing, with temperatures mid-40s at the start and little to no wind. We also had a good field and a fast course.

I lined up in about the 4th row (which was probably too far up considering how many people passed me) and everyone rocketed off the line. I settled into a less frantic pace after about a half mile, just before a couple short hills. Visibility was poor in the shady sections, with the bright sun reaching through the shadows while it reflected off of the puddles on the road in a strobe light effect. Nevertheless, I navigated early miles without mishap.

The first 5K split was just at 20:00 but it felt fast. A couple dozen runners had passed me, but I didn’t fight it. Some local women in the group that I was in were getting lots and lots of cheers from their clubmates and friends. I was Mr. Incognito.

Mid-way through the first lap, Mr. Incognito into the scream tunnel as hundreds of bystanders cheer the runners on.

I was a little over 40 at 10K (40:05 if the marker was accurate). Things got harder on the second (of two) circuits but I was clicking off most miles in the 6:27-6:33 range, so hanging in there. The official 10-mile split was in 1:04:35, and I had promised myself to hold that effort through 11 or 11.2 miles before trying to run hard to the finish. I don’t think that really happened because the early miles had taken enough out of my legs that all I could do was hold on and not lose too much ground.

The finish stretch has a hill just before 13 and then you can sprint the final 0.1 or 0.15, which is downhill. I wanted to break 90% age grade and knew that it’d be close so gave it all I had to finish in 1:24:38 (final 5K in about 20:08), which was enough to achieve that goal. So time-wise I was happy.

This was my best race since April.

I think I could have gone out a little easier over the first 5K and would have spent less time in the pain cave (most of the second lap), but didn’t lose a whole lot of time. It was a great event and I look forward to returning in the future.

October: Across Two Cities for 10 Miles

After recovering from the half I got in another solid mini-block of training through the rest of September. That included my first 20 miler of the year with a friend and that went well. I did a couple tempo workouts at race pace and hilly runs to get ready for the more challenging TC 10 mile course. I was hoping for cool weather and a faster time than I split for the half.

The weather did not cooperate. We hit a bit of a heat spell on the weekend of the race, with highs reaching the upper 80s and low 90s that weekend. At the start of the race it was about 69 degrees. Fortunately, the humidity was not bad and the stiff 10-15 mph (with higher gusts) from the south cooled things down a bit. Still, just warming up it felt uncomfortable.

In the half I lined up a bit too far, this time I was too far back, but after waiting in the porta potty line for 15 minutes I barely had minute to spare the start and no time to move up. I lost 13 seconds just getting across the line.

The first mile was a little crowded as I made my way up the field, not weaving too much and not making any crazy accelerations. Several teammates had lined up more favorably and I caught a couple by a mile or mile and a half.

With the heat and wind the running never felt comfortable on Sunday, and then we had the hills. On this course you are running mostly uphill from mile 2.4 to 7.

The 5K split was 20:15, so already a decent amount off from my split last month. That included the steepest hill of the day, where you climb 80 feet in about 0.4 mile. We had a bit of a respite after crossing the bridge and for a few minutes after before making the turn onto the long grind up Summit. It’s not steep at 1-2 percent most of the time, but it is relentless. My 5 mile split was about 32:20, 6:28 per mile. A few runners passed here and there but I just focused on trying to stay with the group and maintaining the effort. We were passing at least as many runners as were passing us, and were not slowing down.

I was relieved to reach the high point on Summit Avenue at about 7 miles into the race. After that grind it was easy street. I remember running a personal best 5 mile on this route, way back in the early 1980s and how happy I felt that day.

The last 3 miles felt comparatively easy and I was able to enjoy the morning, with splits of 6:28, 6:34, and closing at 6:15 made up a little time to finish in 1:05:29. Although that was short of my goal (to finish under the time I split at the half marathon the previous month, I was still happy with the result and do not think I could have run much faster on the day.

Twin Cities 10 mile and marathon have an epic finish.

The City of Lakes and TC 10 mile were two great race experience and while I do miss aspects of living in Colorado, I’m really glad that we moved here.

Upcoming are the USATF 5K this weekend and NYC marathon two weeks later. These should be a good way to wrap up racing in 2025, which has been a busy and eventful year.