New Age Group Debut

It feels weird to say this, but I ran my first race as a 45-year-old and finished 4th overall and 1st in the 45-49 age group at the Twinsburg Turkey Trot. My time was 29:34 on the hilly 5-mile road/trail course, which was designed by my Second Sole Rocky River masters teammate Jim Chaney, who timed the event. Check out his new events management site: www.chaneyevents.com . I was really happy with the race and especially pleased that I could keep a good rhythm going after repeatedly trashing my legs on the climbs and descents. An excellent cross country simulation, though I think the Kentucky course in December will be pretty flat, but most likely muddy from rain/snow. Training has gone well. This week I'm bumping the volume up to around 70 with a few longer runs and some hill repeats on Thursday. The plan now is to do a 5K road race on Thanksgiving as my final tune up before Nationals on Dec. 12. Ok, off to the metro park for a 12 miler before work.