Hoka One One Postal 2M – 2016

November 10, 2016

A special event at Chittick Field was posted for tonight, so I met Laura at the field so we could participate in the rare 2 mile event.  It looks like most of the participants are high school students and they are breaking the race apart into heats based upon likely finishing time.

We aren’t put in the first race since that race is for students that are attending a dance and need to get going.  Our race is the second race and it is Laura, me, a 9 year-old girl, and three high school freshman (probably the “slow” ones).

Two miles is an odd distance and given that I have a hard time pacing in a 5K, I will now have one fewer mile to figure out pacing here.

On the first lap, the three boys went out fast through the first turn, and my immediate thought was that I need to stay with them, but by the end of the first lap, I had not only stayed with them, but pulled ahead and put some distance between us (too fast!).

My goal now was to hold on (not accelerate) for as long as I could.  Even if the boys caught up to me, I had still done well (as long as I didn’t have to stop and walk or fall over).

I came through my first mile in 6:55, but knew I could not maintain that pace for the final 4 laps.  I had also noticed that 2 of the 3 boys had made up some of the initial gap I established in the first two laps. Must… hold… on.

Laura was just a bit behind me (well, behind the boys, but in no danger of being lapped).  All of us had lapped the girl, but unless she was a star, it would be embarrassing if we didn’t lap her at least once.

My energy was flagging on that last lap.  The nearest of the boys was coming on strong and blew by me in the final 100 yards, but it was close, as I came in 14:12.  Laura was only 30 seconds back.  (The little girl came in under 18 minutes.)

The timer/LB Poly coach said to me that he couldn’t believe I had a sub-7 mile in me (my PR is 5:56 and all of my half marathon on down PRs are at sub-7 pace).  I smiled and hoped that he meant, “at age 45,” rather than he couldn’t believe I could break 7 minutes.

Laura got a trucker cap for her time or something about winning her age group (but honestly, we were the only Masters there).

We stayed and watched the other heats.  The best was the final one where they had a ringer (I think the only other one over 21.) who came through (by a bunch) under 10 minutes.  Fast!  (I wonder how he would do in a trail 50K…)

San Pedro Track Meet 800m/1500m – 2008

July 15, 2008

Tim Hickok (and whining kids) and I went back to San Pedro for their free track meet summer running series.  Tim offered to take me to pizza with him and the kids, so I opted to only run 2 races, the 1500m and the 800m.

In the 1500m, I made a decent debut with a time of 6:15 (I have run under 6:00.).

In the 800m, I pushed a bit and managed 2:57 (with laps of 93 seconds and 84 seconds).  That’s under 6:00/mile, but I don’t want to push too hard as I have a second attempt at the Mt. Disappointment 50M ultra in a few weeks.

San Pedro Track Meet 1500m/5000m (2) – 2007

July 31, 2007

The last track meet of the season. =(

Ed Villalobos joined me once again and again, he did the 1500 meters (though this time I did the 5000 instead of the 3000).  Ed ran about the same time (8:22), and I was comparable (terrible) as well (6:15)… at least it was 1 second faster than last week.

At the start of the 5000, my knees felt creaky and my buttocks hurt, but once I got going, I felt better and finished the 5000 in 22:16 – third overall and first in my age group.

San Pedro Track Meet 1500m/3000m (2) – 2007

July 24, 2007

Ed Villalobos and I went to the track meet this time.  I had somewhat lowered expectations after my training run on Saturday at Mt. Wilson.

I was out with Laura and Chuck, and Todd Fanady.  We were doing the Mt. Josephine and Strawberry Saddle section.  I got terribly overheated going up Mt. Josephine and drank ALL of my water to try and stay hydrated.  When I got to the top, I was dizzy.

Chuck was up for doing some extra distance (because we were going so slow).  He said that he would go back down to the bottom (about 2 miles), refill his Camelbak and then refill my water bottle.  I would continue on the trail slowly until he got back.

It took him about 40 minutes to do the 4 miles roundtrip.  In that time, I barely covered a mile.  The 16 miles we “ran” took me nearly 6 hours.  Probably means that I have to hydrate better BEFORE the run.

Ed did the 1500m race with me and finished in 8:18, while I did 6:16 (that’s 21 seconds slower than the time before).  In the 3000, I did 12:21 (a little faster than before).  Who knows what’s really going on with me?

San Pedro Track Meet – 1500m/5000m – 2007

July 17, 2007

Dona McBride joined Tim Hickok and I at the San Pedro Track Meet.  It’s nice to see that we lured another runner to this event.  It’s really worthwhile (I mean… free, but still…)  There are so few people there (and only 8 per race, except the 3000/5000) that you are almost guaranteed a ribbon (and since they really go 8 deep… you ARE guaranteed a ribbon).

I did the 1500m in 5:55… so a little over 6:00/mile.

Then I had a bit of a break and then did the 5K in 22:54.  That was good for 3rd overall and first in my age group (maybe out of 1).

San Pedro Track Meet – 3000m – 2007

July 10, 2007

Tim Hickok joined me this week (he ran the previous week without me, and I ran last week without him).  He ran his favorite distances – the 800 and the 1500.  He has such an unconventional running style… but he is pretty fast (like 2:24 for the 800).

We made our usual plan to have pizza afterwards, so I ran the 3000 so that I would be finished sooner (and all of the races last week that made me “slow”).  12:24 was my time.

San Pedro Track Meet – 5000m – 2007

July 3, 2007

Went out to the annual summer July series San Pedro track meet, and I opted to only run the 5000 (aka 5K).  The shorter distances wear on me a little bit, and I usually have a better result in the 5K if I DON’T run the shorter distances.

Unfortunately, about half of the race I had side stitches and pre-cramping.  I guess it was like a simulation of running the shorter distance races before!  I finished in 22:27, roughly equivalent to my June Boeing 5K time.

LAUSD 1500m/1600mRW/5000m/4x400m – 2006

August 1, 2006

The last track meet of the season, and a whole group of my friends came – Tim Hickok, Tam, Dona, and Brian Conboy.

For the first (and probably last) time, we have enough people to do the 4 x 400 relay race (that’s a lap per person).  Tim joins up with some ringers and us other 4 do a sub-6:00 minute mile (that’s mostly Conboy that gets us there).

1500 – 5:38 (right around my “average”)

1600RW – 10:00 flat

5000 – 22:23  (probably slower due to the extra lap in the 4 x 4)

LAUSD 1500m/1600mRW/5000m (2) – 2006

July 25, 2006

I repeat all of the same races I did last week.  Tim, of course, is there, and this week we have drawn Tam P. into the insanity.

In the 1500, I ran 5:35 – a PR!

In the Mile Racewalk, I did 10:20 (I’m getting slower.).

And in the 5000, I did 21:27.  I wonder if I should be able to run faster on a track, since I don’t really have to watch my step, but maybe the boredom slows me down.

LAUSD 1500m/1600mRW/5000mR – 2006

July 18, 2006

A strange week.  It started out with attending a Mensa activity in Pasadena on Saturday afternoon/evening.  I decided to take the Metro, to save on gas and not drive drunk.  I timed the schedule out so that I could make the last train back.  (I scheduled it so I would make the second-to-last train back, and not miss the last train.)

On the Gold Line ride, something happened and we sat on the track for a while… so I missed the last Red Line train.  However, I knew that the Blue Line ran for another 2-1/2 hours, and was just a couple of miles away.  (Apparently, there were also buses running, but I couldn’t figure out that schedule.)  I figured I would just walk back downtown and catch one of the last Blue Line trains (In case you don’t know about the LA Metro, to get to Pasadena from Long Beach (where my car was parked), you take the Blue Line to downtown LA, transfer to the Red Line which goes to Union Station, and then the Gold Line goes from Union Station to Pasadena.  I was taking the Blue Line regardless, but the Red Line doesn’t run as late as the Blue Line.  Very frustrating.)

Anyway, I got disoriented and walked the complete opposite direction, and by the time I realized my mistake, I had walked about 7 miles into East LA, and it was 2:30am… so I had no choice but to continue.  (I should also mention that I called all of my local friends and no one answered their phone (around 12:30am).  There were not a lot of other options, anyway.)   I continued walking until 5:45am when the local buses started running again.  The total distance was around 22.8 miles and I did it in khaki pants and a polo shirt.  That’s REAL endurance!

Anyway, a few days later, I went back to the San Pedro HS track meet for the second week in a row, with my buddy Tim Hickok, and also convinced Dona McBride to participate as well.

I opted against doing the really short races (less than a metric mile) as I don’t have real speed.  The first race was the 1500m, which is technically less than a mile (some call it the Metric Mile).  I manage 5:41.

The next race is my second attempt (in a few weeks) at the 1 mile Racewalk.  I am a little self-conscious about keeping to form, as I had previously received a warning during my race.  This affects my speed somewhat and I do not improve upon my time, but still manage 10:08.

The last race is a 5K around the track – 12-1/2 boring laps – but I still manage a 21:39.

A result of these multiple event races is a change in how AREC scores its Grand Prix.  After this year, we say that all races less than 2 miles are worth one point.  This is because in a track race, you usually don’t do worse than 8th place… and in these races, there are not a lot of age group variations (usually one of each division in each race).  Tim and I basically ruined the accumulation of beau coup points by doing too many of these events.