Run for the Melon 10K

Hot hot hot! Just the way I like it!

This is a small running race near my cabin just before the Watermelon day festival. Its always so fun and I consider it a home race. I did the 10k this year as compared to last year where I did the 5k, and by the way got my 5k PR last year here.

10k starts first and right away I am at an un holdable pace. But what can you do, I'm used to all three sports! 6:13 first mile and slowly declining speed until I run mile six at about a 7:55 pace. Can you tell I don't do this kind of thing? 

At the turnaround I start heading back and get Suprised, and see a good friend running towards me that I went to high school with. Did not expect to see him there! Coming back was the struggle, a slog, however you will. I managed a super high heart rate the whole time, like I was going to die.

In the end I won my age group and finally got a placement for the first time in my last 3 races. So that made me feel good. I didn't set a 10K PR but I had fun and my legs are still sore. Just something about only running does me in. 7:10 average pace with my buddy following about 30 seconds in behind me. Mom finished her 5k and cheered me in. Then it was on to eat all the watermelon we could!

Next up, One Last Tri.

Hoot Lake Sprint

So this sprint  is only 6 days after my 70.3 race. That was killer last year. But as I have noticed throughout this season I have been recovering much quicker and having much better performances at each and every race. So I came into this race with high hopes.

This race is also special for me, it is my third year competing and my second year with my mom racing as well. She finished faster than last year and I was very proud of her this year. Its always nice to get fatser!

As for me I only had two training days between races,  so thankfully I was fully rested in time. Its a smaller race, but it's one of my favorites. I know alot of the competitors from the area races and through rides etc. So there are four waves and I am in wave three with all the guys that are under age 30. Yeah,  not a huge field. I should have gone in the first wave like some of my friends did,  they knew they could swim without having to run over people. I did that.

A quarter mile swim goes by super fast and I came out second from my wave. Crawling all over the people ahead of me, I'm sure I could have posted a faster split if I started earlier. But I digress. 1:27/100yd

The bike course is awfully difficult for a 15 mile sprint course. It is by far the hardest sprint I have in my season. There are few flats where you can hammer, it's always climb then descend. I was happy with the bike given that it was so hilly and that it was getting a tad windy. I came into the last mile after following this one guy since the get go and had to pass him before transition. So I did. The transition is at the bottom of a hill, so it's tough coming out but nice cruising back in.

Transition was super fast, so I headed back up that hill again to take on this difficult 3.3 mile run. It was the same case as the bike, hilly. But I was not passed by anyone on the run, which made me very confident I was at a good pace. I wast sure how my run would look after training for longer distances, but I pulled it off. Kept descending pace the whole way and finished running a 4:10 mile pace down that hill. If I can see you and see the finish, god knows I'm going to do my best to catch and pass you.

It was a very pleasing year, cutting 10 minutes off of my time from last year, and every split was faster. Mom finished and I ran down the hill to cheer her in and that was Hoot Lake for 2015!

My next event is a 10K road race near my cabin called Run for the Melon. We will see how that goes, not a huge road racing guy, but it will be fun to do with mom again!