Running Dairy - 2010-02-24

2009 - Fort Worth Cowtown 5k

This Sunday, February the 28th, marks my 1 year anniversary of running in race events. My first race was in the Fort Worth Cowtown 5k. I completed the event in a time of 26 minutes and 08 seconds, at a pace of 8:24 minutes per mile. With a wind-chill of 17 degrees, and a large crowd to "run and weave" through, it was a challenging event in more ways than one.

As I crossed the finish line I had a sense that it was over too soon. I began to think that I should have entered in a longer distance event. Looking back, I'm glad I didn't. This race proved to be a "springboard" that launched me into my first racing year. I progressively increased my mileage and event distances through out the year.

At the begining of the year I could never had imagine running in one race, let alone 18 events by the end of the year. In the last 5 months of the year I had completed 4 half marathons, and 2 full marathons.

So, how am I celebrating this occasion? I feel there is no better way than celebrating than by running in a race!! Not in the same race (5k), but in the Cowtown Half Marathon on Saturday, the 28th of February. The weather is looking great, so far, compared to last year. That alone is worth looking forward to.

My goal for this race is to set a PR (personal record) for the half marathon distance. My Current PR is 1 hour, 45 minutes and 14 seconds. That is at a pace of 8:02 minutes per mile. I have not run on this course before, but I've heard that it is a pretty fast course.

Good luck to everyone in all the events at Cowtown, and may you all set PRs!!

Today's training run results :

I ran an easy 4.06 miles in 33 minutes and 57 seconds, at 8:22 minute per mile pace. The weather was clear, with humidity at 65%. The temperature was around 37 degrees (wind-chill of 34 degrees) with winds from the south at 3.7 mph.

1. 8:41.41, 08:41.41, 1 mi 8:41 / mi.
2. 8:12.36, 16:53.77, 1 mi 8:12 / mi.
3. 8:07.99, 25:01.76, 1 mi 8:08 / mi.
4. 8:21.81, 33:23.57, 1 mi 8:22 / mi.
5. 0:33.77, 33:57.35, 0.06 mi 8:55 / mi.

2009's running stats

Tuesday, I ran an easy 5.04 miles in 43 minutes and 35 seconds, @ 8:39 minute per mile pace. The weather was fair, temperature around 39 degrees.

1. 8:33.32, 08:33.32, 1 mi 8:33 / mi.
2. 8:26.81, 17:00.12, 1 mi 8:27 / mi.
3. 8:26.97, 25:27.90, 1 mi 8:27 / mi.
4. 8:39.10, 34:06.11, 1 mi 8:39 / mi.
5. 9:00.84, 43:06.96, 1 mi 9:01 / mi.
6. 0:28.30, 43:35.00, 0.04 mi 11:40 / mi.

Wednesday I ran an easy 3.13 miles in 26 minutes and 32 seconds, @ 8:29 minute per mile pace. The weather was consisted of misty rain, a slight wind, with temperature around 42 degrees.

1. 8:44.33, 08:44.33, 1 mi 8:44 / mi.
2. 8:50.15, 17:34.49, 1 mi 8:50 / mi.
3. 8:05.75, 25:40.25, 1 mi 8:06 / mi.
4. 0:52.40, 26:32.65, 0.1 mi 6:56 / mi.


I have tabulated all my running statistics for 2009.
HTML tables suck through the blog software. So I've made into images (from note pad).

Not bad for my first year of competitive running. I did not run all of January and almost all of February. I took off the rest of December after running 2 marathons and 1 half marathon within two months time.

It is true what they say about dropping down on distance; you run faster. When I moved from 10k to 5k I reduced (PR'd) my time for the 5k by 1 minute and 21 seconds. When I moved from a marathon down to a half marathon, I PR'd the half marathon distance by 3 minutes and 41 seconds!!

The shorter the distance, the faster I get. Well... except for the 15k distance. The half marathon distance seems to be my favourite distance.
Lets see how I do this year!!