Bearded Runner - Race Report - Frog Hill 5k & Half
Welcome back to my BLOG fellow runners!
That was it... the LAST multi-race weekend in preparation for the I-35 Challenge!
Two 1st place Age Group Awards as well as two sPR's - I'd say I did pretty good :)
Pretty sure everyone reading this knows what the I-35 Challenge is and for me (this year) it is the 'Garmin' Kansas City Half Marathon on Saturday Oct 16th and (just up I-35) the 'IMT' Des Moines Half Marathon on Sunday Oct 17th. It is touted as;
TWO RACES - TWO CITIES - TWO STATES - ONE EPIC WEEKEND
This Multi-Race weekend was the Frog Hill 5k on Fri Oct 1st in the evening and Frog Hill Half was the next morning. Both were in Waynesville, MO about 3.5 hours East of Kansas City. There are faster ways to get there but I chose the scenic route because, why not?
When I returned I was greeted with a festive atmosphere. Happy faces were everywhere! Melissa Martinez was doing Facebook live videos with the larger groups as well as talking to individuals. Had a good time walking around, enjoying the park and the near-perfect weather for a race.
The Fire Department brought in a flag for the Anthem and I took my "9-month" picture
Did a short warm-up as this was going to be just an easy 3.1 miles. Met up with Melissa and Derek at the end of the pack, chatted for a bit and all runners got a "Gun Time" start. Oops, thought it was a chip start :)
Off we went! Love LIVE race starts, weaving in and out, passing and always having a target. The route started on a paved path in the park but due to damage on the trail going under the Hwy., runners were diverted through an alley, around a corner and across Route 66! Gotta admit, that was pretty cool and was handled very well.
The route took us on Spring Road, a gravel road and not my favorite but this one was okay. Plenty to see and there were runners ahead of me to catch! With this Out-and-back course, I got to see (and cheer on) many other runners too!
Went out thinking I would try to get under 30 but ended up getting my best 5k time in 16+ months! Yeah, it was only by 5 seconds but still - I call these a "sPR" (sober Personal Record) because its the best time I have gotten since I stopped drinking. I will take it ! Was just hoping that the extra push would not affect the Half Marathon in the morning
Got this action shot of Melissa rounding the last corner, just about to the finish line - Looks do HAPPY!
Hung out at the finish, enjoyed the festivities and hot dogs before heading to a scenic attraction in the area
End of day ...
5:50am came up early, prepped for race and headed to a different start location (finish line is the same as yesterday's 5k) - Got the packet , quick warm up, found Melissa, Derek and Mark
(photo by Mark)
Weather was not the best but definitely could have been worse. The rain was light, temps were okay and the start was on top of Frog Hill - a 300' drop of elevation on Route 66 in the 1st mile of the race. Thankfully we do not have to run back up it!
There is a huge Frog shaped rock on the side of the hill.
(photo by Derek)
It was about at the Frog, going down the hill and about 0.6 miles in that I remembered that I had a time goal of this Half - 2:10. I said my bye's to Melissa and Mark and picked up the pace.
At mile 1.5 the pavement ended and my time on Route 66 had come to an end, rain picked up a little and we were back on the same gravel road from last night's 5k.
So that 300' drop in elevation at the start - Yeah, we ran up similar around mile 4, on gravel, in the rain.
There were Cows, so it was all good!
We did a nice 5.5 mile out-and-back with a loop (a lollypop) with 3 miles of it paved before heading back down that same wet, muddy, gravel road and to the finish back at Roubidoux park.
With that elevation, the rain, the gravel I had a strategy of getting my goal time. NO, I had no intentions of running the whole thing but I did know I needed an average pace of 9:55. Kept an eye on the Avg pace and never let it get too far out of reach. When I ran on the flats, I was around a 9 and downhill was closer to 8's. Finished with a strong 1.5 miles around 8:00 pace as well.
Got just faster than the average pace I needed (9:53) and my time was 2:09:30
Got myself another placemat
Was a GREAT race-get-away and am looking forward to doing it again!
The drive home was just as scenic albeit with tired legs
That's all for now,
Scott
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Cliff Hanger 10k
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