Executive Summary

August and September were pretty busy months around the Wade household. Between the end-of-summer vacationing, sending two kids off to college (one to London), sending one kid off to first grade, not to mention dealing with a precocious 2-year old who’s very much enjoying pushing his parent’s buttons at the moment, there wasn’t much time (or desire) to write. There was, of course, time to race. There’s always time to race ...

Below is a quick recap of the races I’ve done since last I wrote:

Carver 5m - July 28 - 32:56 (6:35)

GCS at Carver

A very forgettable race, for the most part. Nice course. Very pretty. But, expecting to run a fast 5 miler just 6 day’s removed from a challenging 4 ½ hour trail marathon was asking a bit too much of my legs. Ran consistently. Averaging at or close to 6:30 pace the entire way. Never bonked. But, never felt fast either. No zip.

Wapack 18m - Sept 2 - 3:13:05 (10:44)

Heading in the right direction

Excellent race! Much better than the last time I ran it - 2009. In that race I had some trouble with my knee and bonked HARD with about 2 miles to go. It was the first race I ever actually had to sit down and “collect myself”. This time was much more enjoyable. Went out fairly conservative on the first pass over the 4 mountain summits. Hit the turn around in 24th place. Pulled back 10 runners on the return trip. Felt a bit tired in the last mile but finished ahead of my expected time of 3:15. Overall very happy with the result & effort.

Reach the Beach - Sept 15 & 16

2012 Mine Falls Milers

This was my 6th time running (and organizing a team for) Reach the Beach. And, probably my last. I like the race. Its lot’s of fun. Particularly with the group of guys I’ve been fortunate enough to have on my team. But, I feel like I’ve gotten everything out of this event that I possibly can. And, it takes a lot out of me too! Of course, I came to this brilliant conclusion as I was sitting in the porto-crapper for the 10th time in less than 24 hours!

Leg 1 (4.8m) - 9:49pm - 29:36 (6:10)

After waiting around forever for the “race” to start. I finally got my chance to run. I find the running at RTB to actually be the easiest part of the whole event.  Nobody & nothing else to worry about – other than getting from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible. This I can do! And did. Clocking the fastest time my team has EVER run for this leg!

Leg 2 (6.3m) – 5:24am - 39:43 (6:22)

Nothing like trying to run a fast 10k after “attempting” to sleep for an hour and a half on the cold, wet ground of a crowded Technical School parking lot. This leg started in the dark but finished at daybreak. Mostly downhill and quick. Felt like crap for the first half. Still waking up, I suppose. Cruised the second half. Within a second of my predicted time. Not bad!

Leg 3 (3.4m) – 12:11pm - 21:39 (6:21)

Best. Team. Ever.

The third leg at RTB has to be, without a doubt, the toughest race I’ve ever done. Every single time I do it! Regardless of distance. By this point in the proceedings, you’ve been up for more than 30 hours straight. Your legs are toast from hammering the previous two runs and it’s typically a mid-day run when the temps are at their highest. A recipe for disaster (and hilarity) really. This year was no exception. And for an added bonus, my lower back was killing me. So every step sent shooting pains down my leg. Good times. 

This years Mine Falls Milers RTB team was probably the best one yet. Certainly the fastest. We finished the roughly 203 mile course in 21 hours and 45 minutes for an average pace of 6:26 per mile. Everyone pulled their own weight – even the new guys! There were no big screw ups. And we beat our closest competition by 22 minutes - as opposed to 22 seconds last year. All in all a good way to go out!

Jack Kerouac 5k - Sept 30 - 18:53 (6:06)

5k's suck

Training for my first 50 miler later this fall I’ve been running close to a marathon a week (22-28 mile long run) for about 12 straight weeks. And, have done little to no speed work – save for an occasional race here or tempo run there. So, expecting to blast a fast 5k off this kind of training schedule would be foolish. That being said, it WAS my fastest legit 5k in over 3 years. And, I never really felt loose. That is, until the last mile of my cooldown. Some 12 miles into my day! Oh well.