Future Plans

 

Great news! We will be participating in the 2010 Route 66 Half Marathon on November 21! The race will be in Tulsa OK, about 3 hours from here. We heard about it from one of my dad’s co-workers. This will be our first half with pace groups and if my mom sticks with the 2 hour group she will make it for sure. I think I will try to stay with the 1:45 pace group for as long as I can. We will be doing a run/bike event this weekend. We will start a 25 mile bike ride at 7:30 and then a 10k at 9:30. The whole race will be on McConnell Air Force Base so you have to be military to participate. Then next week, on October 30^th, we will be participating in a Halloween 5k. (They also have a 1 mile run for kids.  My younger sister is going to participate in it.) We are so excited because we have not done a 5k for about a year! In this run you are encouraged to run in a costume for Halloween! I am going to be a clown! We have a few other fun 5k’s planed throughout the winter including the Resolution Run on New Years Eve were you can drink 8oz of beer at different points throughout the course (For people 21 and over of course!) We hope to have lots of fun.

A spectacular half

As close to perfect as it gets. There is very little if anything I would change. Packet pickup at the expo was very fast and easy.  They had lots of food afterwards: donuts from Krispy Kreme, pizza from Papa John's, coffee and lots of fruit. The weather was 100% perfect, no wind, about 50*-60*F through out the whole race. They had a good amount of aid stations but I hope next year there are more volunteers to hand out water and gatoraide. The spectators were amazing. Some had picnics out front to cheer us on and they had some of the funniest signs like, "Your feet hurt from kicking so much ASS-fault" or "Hey random stranger, I'm proud of you" and "Run like you stole something." One family even had a home aid station for us.  It was a rather flat course with wonderful sights to keep you from remembering that you are just about to die.
They had a lot of port-o-potties by the start and never had to wait in line. Once we finished they had water, gatoraid, emergency blankets and a wonderful running shirt along with our cotton shirt in our packet. The awards for the half were about 30 minutes late but they gave awards for the first five in each age group and we had lots of fun eating pizza and watching people finish. They had the results posted for the half and 5k by the time we got home.  Full marathoners were still on the course! The photographers are still posting all the photos on the website. The overall male winner in the full was Tim Marshall with 2:42:26. The overall female winner was Kris Huff with 3:14:16. In the half the overall male was Nathan Wadsworth with 1:09:12. The overall female was Raquel Stucky with 1:25:01. My mom and I ran together in the half and we were hoping for less than 2 hours. We had just a few set backs like just .1 miles into the race everyone was so packed we had to stop and later had to jump the curb onto the grass to get ahead of everyone. Later going down Douglas everyone had to stop to let an ambulance cross. We stayed side by side keeping a great pace until just before mile 9 when my mom slowed down and I had to keep going. I slowed down a little and kept looking back at her trying to see how far behind me she was. I couldn't see her anymore after the 11 mile mark and thought since I had extra energy I would kick it up, that I did. I ran the last mile in about 7 minutes. I finished at 1:55:31 and my mom finished in 2:02:18. All around a wonderful race, we will both definitely come back next year.

Our Last Long Run

My mom and I ran 12 miles this morning, Our final long run before Prarie Fire Marathon. We finished in 1:50:01, a 9:11 pace. We ran 3 loops around Augusta Lake. Each loop is 4 miles so it worked out nice. I took a gu chomp before we ran and my stomach started hurting. After 2 loops when the chomps started wearing off I took a gu and felt fine. I think the reson why my stomach started to hurt is because I do not drink much caffeine, and both the chomps and gu had caffeine.  My body used the caffiene from the gu better because I was 1/3 of the way through my run and it needed more energy. However my body did not need the caffiene from the chomps and I felt terrible. I have decided to take 1 gu without caffeine and 2 more with caffeine durring the race. The race is now only 7 days away, and we can't wait.

YMCA Inside out Triathlon

     The NorthWest YMCA held a wonderful triathlon yesterday. The results were posted as soon as we got home. They had wonderful homemade desserts and fruits aferwards. They gave a plaque for overall 1st, 2nd, and 3rd male and female, 1st in each age group, and fastest swim, bike, and run. All other awards were medals. One really cool thing they did was give a special medal to everyone there who did there first triathlon that day. They sent out a swimmer every 15 seconds. The pool was only 25 yrds. therefore you had to swim there and back in one lane then switch to the next. They had the transition well organized with designated spots for each pearson. The bike racks were the perfect height wich is more important than you think. The worst part about the race was the wait for the awards was a little long but they had a free massage afterwords to pass the time. The distances were shorter than advertised. The overall male winners were Andrew Alexander 00:54:26,Jeff Keele-Lien 00:55:50,and Jimmy Adams 00:58:52. The overall female winners were Gina Carnley 01:11:24, my mom Becky Hall 01:11:41, and Kimberly Garcia-Bebe 01:13:10.  The first place female and male overall won a $100 gift card to Go Run. The first of 4 teams was Team James with a 01:01:08.

ymca inside out triathlon

This Sunday the Northwest Wichita YMCA branch will be hosting an inside-out triathlon on 9-19-10 at 7:00A.M. In this inside-out triathlon you swim 400 meters inside, bike 13 miles outside, and then run 3 miles outside. It is chip timed and they give age group awards in incriments of 5 years instead of 10.  I will not be in this tri because the minimum age is 15 years old, however my mom, Becky Hall, will.  I have not watched a triathlon in a while and I am looking forward to cheering my mom on.

Prairie fire Marathon coming soon

As you may already know the Prairie Fire marathon is coming up soon. It is held in front of the Hyatt Hotel on 10/10/10. The race starts at 8:00 A.M. My mom and I will both participate in the half. This will be my first half and my mom's 3rd. We will both shoot for under 2 hours, a 9 minute 9 second mile pace.We have been training for about 10 weeks and hope that pays off. Sadly only the full marathon has pace groups so we will just have to push it. The age limit for the half is 12 and 16 for the full so I just made it. The course takes you through the heart of Wichita showing off some of it's wonderful landmarks. It also takes you through a little residential area. They have an elevation map on the website, http://www.prairiefiremarathon.com/. It rises about 60 ft in the first 5 1/2 miles then as we start back for town it levels out. One of the good things about the larger races is that you get a finishers medal which is great for people who are just going for a life accomplishment. Good luck to all who are participating.