Every year the biggest race in Kansas is the River Run in downtown Wichita. The race is a blast and attracts thousands of runners, the streets are overflowing with people ha.

The race usually attracts lots of great competition from the region, with runners posting some great times. That, combined with the amount of people makes it one of the premier races for the year. One thing you can never be sure about is the weather. Mother’s Day tends to be the point where the hot weather in Wichita starts. This year we got lucky and had some of the best weather in years for the River Festival. It was cool and just a little windy.

The race went really well for me. I ran six minute miles till mile six, then I got a little slower ha. I ended up finishing right behind my buddy Jess McNeely and Peter Kretch. It wasn’t the fastest River Run ever, but a good one with a time of 37:30 for the 10K race. I got second in my age group and 17th overall. It definitely indicates that I’m in better shape this year and hopefully means that there are good things to come in the near future.


Below are some links about the race.

Article from the Wichita Eagle
http://www.kansas.com/sports/story/400354.html

Race results
http://www.wichitariverfestival.com/
or
http://www.runwichita.org/race_results.php
or
http://www.kansas.com/sports/other/story/400343.html

Just Win Baby

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten some more information posted. The past few weeks have been pretty busy. A few weeks ago I had a great experience at the the Dillons Hutchinson School Run. I was the first person to cross the finish line for the four mile race. It wasn’t a super fast time, but it was a good one.

Leading up to the race it looked like the weather might not be too cooperative. The previous day Hutchinson and Wichita got hit with 40 mph winds. Fortunately, the winds calmed down and were just gusty the morning of the race. The weather was also a little warmer than it had been, but still cool enough to get in a hard race.

The adventure really took off at the starting line. While warming up, I noticed that none of the usual suspects who normally dominate the local races had shown up for the race. When the gun went off I knew that I needed to push the first mile hard in order to either capture the lead or to get with the lead pack. Fortunately, things worked out well and I was in the lead after the first mile.

Around the second mile and just before the turn around I started to get a side stitch. I had been working on getting my diet correct coming up to the River Run, and I could tell that the pervious night’s meal was definitely not sitting well. Fortunately, I was able to struggle in, side stitch and all. My final time wasn’t smoking fast, but it was good given the conditions and how early it was in the season.

After the race the staff from the local paper interviewed me. It was a lot of fun and they ended up publishing an article about the race on the front page of their sports section. Here’s a link to the article. It’s got lots of great quotes ha.

Into the Big Blue Chilly

Two weeks ago the Kansas River Valley Triathlon Club hosted its first open water swim event. It was a very sunny, windy and chilly afternoon. We met at Lake Afton at 2:00 and got into the water about 2:30. It took a while for everyone to get their wetsuits on, with one member of the club discovering that he needed to return his wetsuit for a size larger.

Walking out into the water, I quickly noticed that my wetsuit must have a few holes in it. I got about waist deep and started to feel a chilling sensation oozing around my body. After lots of yelping and hollering I finally settled down and decided to immerse myself in the chilly lake waters. I got about two strokes into my swim and had to pull up short. It took a few more seconds to catch my breath, my breathing was racing out of my chilly chest from the few seconds in the chilly waters.

Before long I was swimming behind the other club members. I didn’t go nearly as fast, nor as far. However, it was still great workout. It will take many practices in the open waters to get used to swimming in the cloudy sediment loaded waters. It’s difficult at first to get your bearings when you can’t see the line at the bottom of the pool.

After finishing the swim we stood around for a while at the shore discussing our plans for the bike ride. I quickly headed up to the open air bathrooms searching for the nearest hot showers. I was shivering uncontrollably from the cold lake waters. My core temperatures had dropped far enough that even the hot shower wasn’t able to restore them to normal. It took about eight miles on the bike ride before I got warm.

The bike ride lasted about 25 miles and covered some great hills. Bike riding in Kansas is always a fantastic event. The open fields, hills, and small towns are like something out of a movie. The bike ride was short and evenly paced. We rode through the small town of Cheney, Kansas and up the big hill outside of Garden Plain, Kansas. It was simply a great time.

I followed it up with a quick mile or two in the Lake Afton park. From there I made the quick drive home for dinner. Elizabeth was working on the front porch with the electric sander. I can see painting the front porch in the near future ha.