Hobby Jogging: 11/1/09 - New York, NY - New York City Marathon

This was the race I had been training all Fall for. After slogging through a marathon last year, I realized to be successful at this distance you really have to train hard! That I did and it paid off. At 30, this would be my first "real marathon." The goal going in was to qualify for Boston (3:10:59 or better), but as the race got going, I knew I could do a little better. I started in the second wave at 10am and had a great starting position (2nd row). The canon went off and I got out comfortably and was in 2nd place until we caught the first wave at mile 3! This is where the fun began; dodging and elbowing my way through the joggers that had gotten into wave 1 somehow or another. It wasn't bad until about mile 8 when the road narrowed to 2 lanes and the easy 6:25's turned into hard fought 6:45's. I hung near the curb and would break through people occasionally, giving them a "coming through" warning, but oft times having to just bust through the iPod wearers. This took a lot of energy out of me that I didn't notice until about mile 15 (I PR'd at the half in 1:25:40). By about mile 18 I was hurting and decided to just control it and get home without blowing up as I was pretty safe for a Boston Qualifier. The hills over the last 5 miles were very tough, but I soldiered through and made it home with plenty of time to spare (3:04:29). A great day in NYC!

More info available at: http://patprice.com/running/races/reports/20091101NYCMarathon.htm

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Hobby Jogging: 9/27/09 - RTP, NC - Anna's Angels Ten Miler

This was my first 10 mile race and I was hoping to use it as a good indicator of fitness for the NYC marathon in 5 weeks. Before the race, it was pouring out in RTP and this went on through the first few miles. This was quite the rolling course. No huge hills, but a lot of them. My garmin crapped out before I warmed up so I just went without. Got out good and stayed close to the front pack from the start. Tried to maintain same effort up and down hills and it worked great as I felt strong throughout. Went through the 10k about 39 flat and kept that pace up throughout. Was hoping for 63:20 (6:20 pace), but was just having a great day and hammered the last mile in about 5:35-45 (to finish in 62:47). Awesome race. Very pleased and starting to think a Boston qualifier is not out of the question.

More info available at: http://patprice.com/running/races/reports/20090927AnnasAngels.htm

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Hobby Jogging: 2/7/09 - Raleigh, NC - Krispy Kreme Challenge

There is nothing like the Krispy Kreme Challenge. I recommend this to anyone who is looking for something fun, yet challenging. This is what makes racing fun. It was like a circus showing up to get my chip and number. People were dressed as everything you can imagine. I actually did a "practice" for this about 10 days in advance, running from my house (1.33 miles) to Krispy Kreme, eating 6 donuts and running back. This was at 7:00 pace and felt pretty good. Race day, I went out hard with all the college and high school runners in 5:50 (at the mile) and hit the 2 mile in 12:05. Then I realized the course "2 mile" distance was off and had another 1/4 mile to go before stuffing myself. I ate 1 donut, felt sick, then dipped the rest in water and made them mush. It took about 10 minutes to eat all of them and then I headed back at a more moderate clip. Watching the people heading towards the donuts as I was leaving made me feel bad for them (but good for me as the pain was over). I cruised back and was only passed by one group with about 3/4 mile to go. With about 1/4 to go, I passed them back as they looked like they had gotten "food poisoning." I got to about 100 yards to go and was about to kick past one more guy when my stomach rumbled and I quickly dialed it down for a "safe" finish. 6:09 pace there, 6:59 pace back. Not too bad. I hope to never do it again :)

More info available at: http://patprice.com/running/races/reports/20090207KKC.htm

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