10k you very much

(Note: if you're only interested in Broncos talk skip to the bottom!)

Sorry for not posting last week but the week seemed to sneak by.  I guess most of my attention was on the 10k race that was on Saturday morning.  There was actually a half marathon walk, half marathon run, and 10k race and, fortunately, the event was in Erie about a mile from my house.  I briefly considered signing up for either the half marathon walk or run and doing it slow to get an idea of what 13.1 miles feels like but finally decided not to burn myself out and stick with the 10k.  Before I get into the race let me back up.

On Thursday night (8/22) I stopped by a local pharmacy in Erie to pick up my race packet (shirt, bib, and other goodies.)  As I was walking toward the pharmacy I noticed there were quite a few people inside the Papa John's next door.  One of the ladies in Papa John's was knocking frantically on the window and I assumed she was trying to get the attention of someone outside.  I continued on my way to the pharmacy.  When I walked into the store I immediately heard someone crying hysterically and talking to someone.  Initially I thought it was a customer talking to an employee of the pharmacy but soon found out it was the employee talking on the phone.  I had a few guesses as to what was going on (fight with spouse, child in trouble, child missing, etc.) but never would have guessed what was really going on.  I stood in the store for about 30 seconds unsure what to do when the employee told the person on the phone to hold on and asked what I wanted.  I said I was there to pick up my race packet but could come back later and she told me she had just been held up at gunpoint and she was talking to the police!  I hurriedly left the store and by now the people in Papa John's were actually telling people not to go into the pharmacy.  (If they were trying to warn me earlier I still don't know why they wouldn't have opened the door to tell me instead of knocking on the window expecting me to know what they were trying to say.)  Anyway, I looked it up on Google that night and found out that some 27 year-old man had held up the store at gunpoint looking for drugs.  He was caught not long after the robbery not too far from our house.  Thank goodness I didn't show up 5-10 minutes earlier.  I can't even begin to imagine what I would have done in that situation.  There isn't much information on the robbery...this is all I have been able to find: http://www.dailycamera.com/erie-news/ci_23920780/dispatchers-suspect-arrested-at-gunpoint-following-pharmacy-robbery

Somehow everything was back to normal on Friday and I stopped by the pharmacy again and picked up my packet.  I give the employees a lot of credit for showing up for work the day after an armed robbery.  I didn't sleep great Friday night, big shock there, as I was thinking and dreaming about the race all night.  At some point in the night I decided that I was going to abandon the interval program I've been following (run the first mile, walk 2 minutes, run the remainder of the mile, walk 2 minutes, run the remainder of the mile, and so on) and either shorten the length of my walk breaks, eliminate some of the walk breaks, or some combination of the two.  I ended up doing a combination of the two.  I ran to the water station (just before mile 2), walked for about a minute while I drank some Gatorade, ran until I passed the turn around point at 3.1 miles, walked for about a minute and a half, ran back to the water station (just after mile 4), walked for a minute while I drank my Gatorade, ran until the big hill that was after mile 5, walked up the hill which took almost 2 minutes, and then ran the rest of the way.  I ended up walking for about 5 and a half minutes and running for 47 minutes which put my time at 52:37 and an average pace of 8:33 min/mile.  My initial goal was 56 minutes so I was very happy to come in under 53 minutes.  I finished 4th overall (out of 29) for the 10k and first in my age group (out of 5.)  It turns out that most men in the 30 - 39 age group ran the half marathon but it's still fun to win your age group.  The best part is that I got a medal for finishing (although I thought they only gave medals to the half marathoners) and my 4 year old L was SO excited about the medal.  In fact, she wore it most of the morning and said things like "I'm so glad WE won the gold medal!"  Sweet girl.

There is no way (at least right now) I could keep that pace up for a half marathon but if I did Runners World calculates that I would finish a half marathon in 1:58:18.  While I'd love to run a sub-2 hour half marathon I'm still of the mindset that I will be happy to finish it without the help of an ambulance and still have a goal of 2 hours 15 minutes.

10k pace and elevation

I have developed a very mild case of Achilles tendinitis and am going to take a couple days off before I get geared up to get up to 8 or 9 miles.  I'll feel really good about my chances to run a half marathon once I can get up to 10 miles.  Hopefully that will be sometime in September or early October.  Yikes, I just checked the website for my half marathon and there are only 83 days, 3 hours, and 30 minutes until the race!  I'd better get back out there soon!

I figure I should write a little something about the reason I started this blog: the Broncos.  Through 3 preseason games the Broncos have looked pretty average.  The offense (when not turning the ball over) looks great and the defense looks sloppy.  I won't even mention the special teams.  This is preseason so I'm not really that concerned about the sloppy play (because they won't waste sophisticated plays in the preseason) but the turnovers worry me.  Denver finished 17th in turnover margin last year (-1 for the season) and that's just not going to work this season with the tough schedule.  Ronnie Hillman has already fumbled twice this year and I hope it doesn't turn into a thing for him.  My Dad and I are going to the final preseason game on Thursday, which will probably be a bore as most final preseason games are, but I'm guessing there will be a chance that Von Miller will play.  I'm also interested to see how Brock Osweiler looks.

Might want to hold on to that Ronnie

Have a great week and please feel free to leave your comments! :)