For Whom the Dogs Bark

12Ks of Christmas

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Location:

Cypress,TX,

Member Since:

Oct 10, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K: 24:22 (March 2010); 22:33 (October 2010); 20:47 (May 2011); 21:05 (May 2012); 21:33 (September 2012); 21:23 (November, 2013); 22:31 (September 2014)

5M:  39:22 (November, 2012); 35:54 (November, 2013); 36:03 (March, 2015)

10K: 44:08 (November, 2010); 49:20 (July, 2013); 44:07 (April, 2015)

12K:  56:03 (December, 2013); 58:58 (December, 2014)

10M:  1:11:58 (October, 2012); 1:15:24 (October, 2014)

Half Marathon:  1:53:xx (London's Run 2010); 2:05:21 (Cowtown 2010); 1:37:04 (Gusher 2011); 1:42:19 (Huntsville 2011); 1:33:47 (Baytown Jailbreak 2012); 1:33:50 (The Woodlands 2012); 1:42:52 (Texas 2015); 1:49:17 (Jailbreak 2015); 1:38:34 (The Woodlands 2015)

25K: 2:01:47 (Fifth Third River Bank, May 2014)

Marathon: 5:51:35 (Texas Marathon 2009); 6:21:36 (Ogden 2009); 4:58:29 (St. George 2009); 4:13:45 (Texas Marathon 2010); 4:04:12 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2010); 5:11:14 (Hartford ING, 2010); 3:41:43 (Richmond SunTrust, 2010); 3:39:27 (Texas Marathon 2011); 3:41:46 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2011); 3:30:35 (St. George 2011); 3:41:51 (Richmond 2012); 3:49:15 (Texas 2013); 3:46:59 (Paavo Nurmi, 2013); 3:34:04 (St. George 2013); 3:49:51 (Texas 2014); 3:31:59 (Richmond 2014); 3:28:34 (Boston 2015)

Short-Term Running Goals:

3:20, 1:30, 0:20

Long-Term Running Goals:

I'm 60, there is no long term.

Personal:

I live, work and run in Houston, Texas.  I have run 17 marathons, some good ones and some others.  I prefer straight, flat, cold, sea-level marathons, still waiting for my first one.  I feel like there are more PRs out there.  When I have them, I am told it is time to dial it back, run for healthy reasons.  I'm sure that's right, and I'm sure it won't happen.

My wife and I are from the mountains of the west.  We have five kids, three granddaughters and three grandsons.  The kids and grandkids are native Texans but we are not -- you have to be born here.

As for my blog title: I run most of my miles before sunrise, sometimes hours before. On the back road of my neighborhood two hours before daylight, I can depend on a pack of mutts behind the boundary fence lighting up when they hear my footsteps. I have wondered what they wanted; but according to Hemingway I needn't ask.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Race: 12Ks of Christmas (7.32 Miles) 00:58:58, Place in age division: 6
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.007.320.000.007.32

51F, 89%, N 7 mph.  Ran this race last year, out of shape then as well.  It is officially called the 12Ks of Christmas, though the politically correct title is Winter Solstice Moon Howl and Group Hug.  But the course only measured 7.32, so quite a ways off.  Pretty low-key race, only in their second or third year.  About 500 runners, give or take.

Didn't run Thursday (work commitments) or Friday (cold rain) this week, so my plan to tune up my conditioning after my recent cold didn't really materialize.  Wade is working through a knee injury and wanted to run low 8s.  I decided that was the best choice for me as well, and it turned out to be as much as I wanted to do this morning.  We started out at the back of the pack and worked our way through, passing people all the way to the end.  Our splits were 8:25, 8:13 (161), 8:12 (162), 8:11 (163), 8:01 (164), 8:03 (163), 7:46 (175) and 6:39 (180).  Wade was trying not to punish his knee, though it was hard to hold back.  I just stayed with him, until the last quarter mile when a woman whom we had politely passed a quarter-mile before chugged past us.  To me that didn't seem in the spirit of the holiday and I couldn't let it stand.  Hence the 6:39 pace on the stub lap (it didn't stand).  Wade finished 4th in his age group (50-54) and I finished 6th in mine (55-59), I think it was the same odd thing last year.  This is a fun race and it might be worth getting in shape for it sometime.

Comments
From SlowJoe on Mon, Dec 22, 2014 at 14:16:12 from 104.51.208.13

Nice work - a good progressive workout. You did the right thing at the end there.

From Yasir on Tue, Dec 23, 2014 at 15:21:45 from 99.20.240.112

Great race 6:39 no matter how mad you make I don't think I could finish that srong.

From flatlander on Wed, Dec 24, 2014 at 06:18:18 from 76.31.29.220

Joe, thanks for the validation, it was probably the highlight of my running career.

Yasir, thanks! Hope you and your family are doing well.

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