William Foran Colon Cancer Prevention 5K - Pre Race Thoughts

I am only a week and a half removed from my last race, the PA DUI Association's 10K in Harrisburg.  The results for this race were recently posted.  I missed earning a third place medal by thirty five seconds.  I was fourth in my age group. I have come a long way from merely trying to finish races last year.

Ironically, the Colon Cancer Prevention 5K course uses much of the same route as the PA DUI Association's 10K.  The temperatures will be similar, as Saturday has been forecasted to be hot and humid.  This race begins a half hour earlier than the 10K - it is scheduled to begin at 8:30 am.

This course will be relatively flat  although there will be a short steep hill or two to contend with.  These hills will only be about 50 to 75 yards long combined.  I am slightly concerned about course congestion.  Using last years results as a barometer, this race will have over four hundred entrants.  I would like to finish in the top forty or fifty runners.

I don't believe I can run much faster than my 21:37 personal record from just three weeks ago.  I think it is reasonable to expect a 21:25 or about a twelve second gain over this short time frame.  Since there are twelve quarter miles and one tenth of a mile split in a five kilometer race (equivalent to 3.1 miles), I will  need to record  each quarter mile one second faster for this race to match my 21 minute 25 second goal.  Sounds like a fairly easy thing to do, but it will become progressively more difficult to lower my personal records as I become more fit.

My quarter mile splits will need to average 1 minute and 43 seconds to achieve this goal. That averages to 6 minutes and 54 seconds per mile  for 3.1 miles.  Last July at the Millers Mutual  Mile I was only able to record a 6:54 time for the MM one mile race .  Now I am trying to run at that speed for 3.1 miles.  I am grateful for how well my body has responded to exercising.

Colon Cancer Prevention 5k Run & Fun Walk

I had no aspirations of running another race this month but the Colon Cancer Prevention 5k Run on City Island within Harrisburg appears to be a large production with many amenities.  Last year there were over 400 runners who finished the race.

This race will feature chip timing provided by a company.named Applied Race Management Solutions.  This should allow for a very fast race results turnaround.  (In contrast,  the results for the PA DUI Association 10K race I ran last Saturday have not been posted nearly one week later.)  If you look at the Applied Race Management Solutions website, they have no race results posted. I hope everything goes well if this is the first race this company will be managing.  http://www.appliedracemgmt.com/results.html

All pre-registered runners will receive a 'Run Strong' medallion, pictured above.

excerpted from the web page http://live.psu.edu/story/40069

This race is dedicated to Palmyra resident and competitive runner William F. Foran, who lost his battle with colon cancer. Money raised will support colorectal cancer prevention, testing and counseling at the Medical Center.

Judging from the race results from last year, if I run anywhere near my 5K personal record of 21:37 I will again fall shy of finishing in the money (i.e. getting a medal)  at this race. At this point, I have not found the race route published anywhere.  Since this is the fourth year that this race has been run, there should be a race layout available online somewhere.

How much better can I run a 5K in just three weeks of training since my last race of the same distance?  I would like to equal the 21:37 time I ran three weeks ago.  Prior to that run my personal best was 22:48.  I have only run a sub 22 minute 5K race once. The course is touted as a flat course.  Hopefully the course will be conducive to a new personal record.

Spring Chicken

This past Saturday I was talking to another runner after the PA DUI Association 10K race about running in general. One concern I had was how much, if any, water or fluids should you consume for a race of ten kilometers. There were two water stops for this race, and I only took water at the second water stop. He recommended taking water at each water stop to avoid dehydration.

I mentioned I had only started running last year and had set a new personal 10K (=6.2 miles)  record at the PA DUI Assn race. Most runners fall into two categories, those who have been running since they were in high school and those who have recently become runners. My frustration with becoming good enough to win a medal at a race is I am competing against former high school and college track and field standouts.

If a person has been running since high school, he or she is keenly aware of how much slower they have become over the years. An older veteran runner would have to classify their personal race records into pre-Master (40 years old) and post Master's time frames in order to maintain their competitive edge or desires.

The interesting perspective, which emanated from a veteran runner, was I had an advantage as a relative running newbie at my age because I had fresh legs. I  have not accumulated the stresses associated with hundreds of training and racing miles upon my legs.  I am a year or two or three away from reaching the apex of my running abilities. In this case,  being a running spring chicken  may be beneficial in both the short and long term.

Home Made Race Results web page

There are two web sites where I routinely check for race results. One is the Pretzel City Sports website and the other is Run the Day. Run the Day is comprised of races primarily in the Philadelphia area. I decided to create a web page to catalog selected races to determine the competitive level of the entire field.

I segmented the runners into pace per miles and gender. I color coded the race results by gender with the men display with a blue background and the women with a pink background. The URL is http://www.evansnsons.com/RunResults.aspx

If anyone would like to see a specific race listed on this page, feel free to email me at jeffevans@comcast.net

PA DUI Association 10K Results

My commute for this race was a relative short one, as Harrisburg is only a thirty minute drive.   This was enough time to consume some liquids, eat an energy bar and rid myself of some early  morning cob webs. Saturday morning was very humid with the temperatures in the 70's.  In spite of resting for two days prior to this race, I did not feel particularly energetic as I reached the PA DUI Association building on Front Street, adjacent to the Susquehanna river.

Everything was well organized.  I picked up my race bib, #229.  I often try to attribute some significance to my bib no, but I was drawing a blank on the 229.  I once had planned to run a 4:48 minute pace per kilometer for a race and then drew the bib number 448.   I collect my race bibs so I was glad to see the organizers had customized race bibs.  Many times race organizers buy the generic Runner's World bibs in an effort to limit expenses.  I believe if you had unique and creative bibs made for a race you would find a small contingency of people entering the race in an effort to collect the race bib.

There was a light crowd for this race, I believe about 100 runners.  Hershey's Balloon Chaser 5K was also being run on Saturday.  This race was run entirely on a trail adjacent to the Susquehanna river.  Since the path was only about eight feet wide, the starting line was very congested.

The starter began the race with vocal Runners Set' and then 'Go' commands. I cringe when a real starter's pistol is used to begin a race because the shot results in both scaring myself and being temporarily deafened. I started near the front of the pack. I purposely held back in the first quarter mile because I knew I had a habit of starting races too quickly. I did not want to exhaust myself too early within a 6.2 mile (10K) race. Much to my surprise I knew there were not many runners ahead of myself throughout the race. I had mentally prepared to finish about 60th.I knew there were not 59 runners ahead of me for a majority of the race.I was motivated to not falter at the end and lose my potential medalist caliber position.

As fate would have it, the sun emerged and the humidity climbed throughout the race. I felt very good for the first four miles and hung on for the last two miles. I unofficially finished in 46:07. I was very proud of my effort until someone mentioned the course was short by over a quarter of a mile.  I glanced at my GPS watch and it read 5.92 miles. Convert this time to 6.2 miles and my 10K time was 48:18. I had wanted to finish in 47:40, but I will attribute the deferential to the heat and humidity.

I finished in 19th place, once again just a position or two shy of garnering a medal for my age group.

After the race I met a gentleman named Dave McSherry. He will be also be running in Maine at the Beach to Beacon 10K race in August.

Here are my beginning of the summer benchmarks or personal records;
1 mile - 5:57, 5K - 21:37, and 10K - 48:18.

My next race is the Millers Mutual Mile in Harrisburg on Wednesday July 21st.  It will be amazing if I can finish the mile in 5:45.  I am not going to become laser focused on a mile time.  Wherever my training takes me by then is where I'll be.  I  have to remember to keep the training fun to prevent this regimen from becoming laborious.


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PA DUI Association 10K

I have completed my training this week for my beginning of the summer benchmark 10K run on Saturday. It has been my experience ten kilometer runs primarily consist of veteran runners.  Last year there were about 120 runners participating in this event. Of those runners,  sixty of them were men.  There were only nine men who ran a nine minute per mile pace or slower. Using last year's results as the barometer, I should place about 60th in this race.

I am anxious to run this race because I enjoy running along the Susquehanna river. I believe this will be a trail run along the river as opposed to a road run on Front Street, the street which parallels the river. I am under the impression this is a very flat course.  I am concerned the temperatures may be in the 70's at 9:00 am on Saturday. I will be well rested, having completed no running on the two days prior to the race.  I should have fresh legs.


I would like to hit a 1 minute 55 second split for each quarter mile.  This would yield  a 10K time of about 47 minutes and 40 seconds.  (My mile pace would average about 7:40. ) This is a very aggressive split.  My current personal 10K record is 51:44, which averages about 8:20 per mile.

In order to eventually qualify for the Boston Marathon, I need to average an eight minute per mile pace for twenty-six miles.  I would like to eclipse an eight minute per mile pace for this 6.2 mile run.  My next goal would then be to run a ten mile run in less than an eight minute per mile pace. I don't have any aspirations of qualifying for Boston this year.. Next year I may be in good enough shape to attempt to run a competitive marathon.

Shattered (Shoop, Sha Doo Bee)

Echoes of the 1978 Rolling Stones song, Shattered, from the Some Girls album, could be heard this weekend ringing through my head.  I obliterated my five kilometer personal record of 22 minutes and 48 seconds on Saturday at the 23rd Annual Lebanon VA 5K memorial run.  I finished (unofficially) at 21 minutes and 38 seconds.  The official results have not been posted at http://www.va5k.com/

I was concerned the race route may have been less than five kolimeters (=3.1 miles) but my Garmin GPS watch recorded the race at an exact 3.1 miles.  (I have run 5K's where the actual distance ranged from 3.0 to 3.25 miles.) 

This was one of the best races I have attended to date.  The course was very fair.  It was well organized.  I believe there were dozens of door prizes handed out.  Overall, a great community event.

For the umpteenth consecutive race, I came out of the blocks too fast.  I ran the first quarter mile in 1 minute 28 seconds, a sub six minute per mile pace. Once I read my first split from my Garmin, I adjusted my pace accordingly.

My mile splits were 6:37, 7:11, and 7:13.  I finished the last tenth of a mile at a 6:46 pace.  I wouldn't say I had a strong finish at the end, but I did not crash and burn.  This run has served to boost my confidence in my training and henceforth in my running capabilities.

I typically do not wait for the awards to be presented after a race because my times are not medalist material.  However, this race awarded medals to the first eight finishers in my 40-49 age group.  To my astonishment, my 54th place finish was not good enough to garnish a top eight medal in my age band.

I met a friend from high school at this race. He just began running this year to get back in shape.  I was proud to see him out running and living life.  I did empathize with him.  He had just begun his trek on the comeback trail.  In the beginning, your mind wants you to be further along than your body permits.  It's easy to get disappointed with yourself.  However with both patience and perseverance, he will get to where he wants to be.