2007 Big Spring Jam 5km

Big Spring Jam 5km Downtown Huntsville, AL



Coming into this race I was in the middle to late stages of training for the Huntsville Half Marathon and Rocket City Marathon, which were 6 and 8 weeks away respectively. My long runs were about 13 miles and I had a 15 miler planned for the day after this race.

It was cool in the morning with temps around 68, but heated up by 8am race time. This was the first race in quite some time that I felt really good the whole race. The small ups were tough, but the long slow downs were great to stride out. I lead Joe Francica the whole way and held him off at the end, with a win by 4 seconds. With a flat course, I think that I had sub 18 in my legs. I finished 8th overall and 2nd in m30-24 of 558 total runners with a time of 18:10.

Not a bad performance considering the top 7 included names like Volinski, Dewitt, Bowman, Clarke, Meyer and Betts. This was also the first time that I can remember that I beat Mr. Dink Taylor:)

Splits
(251+256)=547
(254+258)=554
(252+255)=547
43 secs

2007 Monte Sano Road Races

Monte Sano 5km Road Race., Huntsville, AL

I felt pretty confident going in feeling good and knowing many top runners would do the 10km early and not run the 5km race afterward.

The weather was hot, pushing 80+ by race time. I went out in about 50th but ran strong and settled into 10th after the 1.25 mile cone turn around. Then I just felt like crap. I stopped at 2.25 for water (10 seconds) letting a kid pass me. Then after the loop at the lookout tower, I mustered through, finally motivating Conrad Meyer to pass me also as he had been running stronger than me.

My time of 19:08 was disappointing. I need more track work out to be fast at this distance again. Finished 12th overal, 3rd in m30-34 of 352 Then did 2 mi of cool down with Suzanne and then ran the 1 mile in 6:50 with the first place kid.

I am excited for the cooler weather for racing again.

Splits
(256+259)=555
(304+258)=602
(310+306)=616
45s