Friday, November 19, 2010

myWorld 5K




On Veteran's Day I flew from BWI to Denver for the 90th Annual NCSS conference. I was really excited to have a professional development getaway.

The flight was flawless and it was an easy trip from door to door.

Friday was a great conference day and Saturday morning I got up for a quick 5K in Denver.

I was excited to run in another part of the country. Despite the 6:15 departure time from a nearby hotel, I was enthusiastic about the race!


Pearson, the publishing company sponsoring the race, booked a minibus to transport conference goers from the hotel to Cheeseman Park where the race was to be run.


As we boarded the bus, it appeared that it would be a small and intimate running group. I loved the professionalism with which the race was run, and was even more excited that it would be a small running group---not thousands of people.

As we arrived at the park, the sun was just starting to come up.

This was our minibus! :)


The race had one (very clean) port-a-john, a ballooned race start arch, and a set up tent.

The race was a loop 2 1/2 times around the park.


The run itself, was VERY deceptive. One, we could not tell that there were undulating hills throughout the park....at least, not until we were off and running.

And for many of us, the altitude was KILLER! My big lesson for this run: ALTITUDE IS NO JOKE! For those of us who were from sea level locations, we really felt the altitude..especially by mile one. I was very glad that the race was only a 5K.

By mile one, my legs were heavier than normal and by mile two my arms were heavy with fatigue--a pretty rare feeling for me. I was excited that there were runners just in front of me...they kept me pushing myself.

But you couldn't beat the view---off in the distance stood the majestic Rocky Mountains.

As we finished the race (on the opposite side of the park) we were greeted by the mountains. It was one of the most scenic finishes I've had this year---in fact, I might have to say that it was THE most scenic finish! :)

I was really happy I had woken up early and participated in the small, but awesome race in the Mile High City.

Woohooo! Race number 22 complete!

And even better--the race raised $1000 for American Indian education in Denver! :)




This was also my best finish for a race this year--5th overall and 2nd for women! I'm not sure of the total field size, but they did say it was bigger than last year's NCSS race of 33 participants.

Results:

Male Participants
1. Kenan Anderson 23:16
2. Craig Ewing 23:39
3. Clay Blazer 24:46
4. Patrick Dorn 25:37
5. Dean Brown 25:51

Female Participants
1. Natalie Corbet 25:01
2. Amy Trenkle 25:10
3. Jen Malchiodi 33:24
4. Sarah Porter 38:00
5. Nancy Brawley 38:07

The rest of the day was as great--that afternoon I gave my poster presentation on the TRT experience.


Denver was a great trip!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Why stop at 20? Marine Corps 10K


Oh yeah! Race number 21! Another Mark and Amy duo race!

We parked in the same spot that Jon, Leslie and I parked at during their visit and walked to the start on the Mall. It was an awesome morning--near 50. We arrived on the Mall as the sun was coming up. It was beautiful.



Several UPS trucks greeted us, ready to take our bags. With 15 minutes until the start, we stripped down to our running gear, and handed over our warm sweatshirts and headed to the start.




It was much more crowded than I had remembered from last year's run, although Mark assures me it was just as crowded last year.

Miss DC 2010 sang the National Anthem and we were off. Well...two minutes later we were off....

Our start was a slow one as all of the people who don't follow the pacing signs were up near the front. But we kept trucking and eventually found our niche in the crowd.

It was wonderful to only have a 10K to do....

At mile 3 I couldn't believe that I was half way over with the race. :) What a nice feeling! A nice way to finish up four weeks of road races--with the shortest one last. :)

I felt good and strong and the cool weather really, really helped. That, and knowing that while I was pushing it for 10K, there were thousands more who had another 20 to go after I finished. It was a good feeling.

Miles 4 and 5 were the hardest...primarily because it's a straight away along the Parkway without many other spectators and just the looming trees where the finish is far, far in the distance.

The last .2 miles are crazy in that a hill, that is deceptively steep is there to greet us all for the final push. Both Mark and I thought we were going to puke when we finished---but we didn't! I guess this is a sign of a race well run. :)

My final time? 50:47.20--a PR, not only for this season but in a long time. It was definitely worth the pain.
Mark and I walked into Rosslyn and met our UPS truck to claim our warm clothes. From there we walked across the Key Bridge into Georgetown to see the marathon go by.


All that was left along the Key Bridge were empty water cups--and Marines cleaning up the runners' mess....
And at the other end of the bridge, a steady stream of runners....


We got there as the 4:30 mile pace runner went by. The runners looked fresh. This was in between miles 8 and 9 for them.

We stood and cheered for a little bit--admiring the costumes that ran by--yes, some runners did dress up for Halloween and the marathon!

We particularly liked the sign outside of the Georgetown Running Company.

Another water stop and more cups, port-o-potties, and people!


Mark and I walked down the length of M Street...


and admired the awesome Lululemon cheerers...I've seen them in other races, and I must admit, they're pretty energetic and fun. They had music blaring from the store.




The race turned on Wisconsin toward the waterfront. There was a pretty good singer camped out on the corner, who had just begun to sing Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" when we came by. He was pretty good and you could tell he was appreciated by the runners.


Mark and I walked the rest of the way down M Street and stopped for some much needed breakfast and coffee at La Madeline (like we did last year)...and then continued onto the subway to our car.

It was the perfect race morning and a wonderful way to continue our awesome weekend!

Amy's splits:

Mile 1 8:51.51
Mile 2 8:03.39
Mile 3 8:08.31
Mile 4 8:03.09
Mile 5 7:47.40
Mile 6 7:58.98
Mile .2 1:54.52

Total for 6.2: 50.47.20

Woooohooo!


Bib FName LName City State Div Age Sex ChipTime ClockTime Overall SexPl DivPl AgeGrade
45748 AMY TRENKLE WASHINGTON DC FEMALES 35-39 35 F 50:44 53:06 680 160 12 60.4%


Bib FName LName City State Div Age Sex ChipTime ClockTime Overall SexPl DivPl AgeGrade
45626 MARK HANNUM WASHINGTON DC MALES 30-34 34 M 51:14 53:36 748 561 102 53.2%

Saturday, October 30, 2010

#20!!!!!!!!!!!!!!--THE ARMY TEN MILER!

Here it is! In October! Race #20! Race #20! In retrospect, it seems pretty fast! Where did the races go?

Mark and I arrived at the Stadium Armory for packet pick up after school on Friday. Somehow we ended up in different waves...with Mark in the wave behind me. Not sure how that happened.



Saturday night we went out to dinner with Tracey and David at Red Rock, a local pizza place. It was a great race meal--one for the two of us and Tracey as well. We agreed to meet up the next morning at 6:45 am at L'Enfant Plaza to Metro to the start together.

All went well and we got there with plenty of time to go! We went through a check point and it was there that an soldier told me that there were no electronic devices permitted past that point---arg! I had to put my music in a bag and bag check it. Double arg because not only did I have no music for ten miles, but I had to use my bathroom time to wrestle the masses back toward bag check.

I told Mark to hop in line and that hopefully we would find each other at the start. Surprisingly I found him at the port-o-potties when I returned, got in line myself (no, I did not cut) and we walked to the start. We got there with a minute and a half to go before the gun for the race went off! Talk about timing!

The race was a great course. It was pretty packed race---people, people everywhere! It was wonderful to run my 20th race with Mark.

And even crazier, we ran into Tracey at bag pick up and were able to catch up on our respective races as we rode the subway together back to L'Enfant Plaza.

It was a great day for all and a terrific way to celebrate the completion of my New Year's Resolution!


Mark and I headed to the City Diner and celebrated with yummy egg and cheese sandwiches on everything bagels, with double hashbrowns of course. :)

#21 to come next week! :) Yup, you didn't think I could just quit registering for races cold turkey did you?


Splits:

Mile 1 9:18.59
Mile 2 8:57.81
Mile 3 9:11.86
Mile 4 9:09.61
Mile 5 11:46.61 (bathroom break)
Mile 6 8:47.29
Mile 7&8 19:19.63
Mile 9 8:55.59
Mile 10 8:54.58

Total 1:34.18

Official time:
8780 TRENKLE, AMY F35 WASHINGTON DC 9965 2895/9594 512/1682 1:03:53 1:34:18