Official Photos from Rocky's Run CC Race

The Sporting Life posted an album of "Rocky's Run" photos on their Facebook page. Here are a few I'd like to share:

All the U of M CC runners ready to go.


Me on the far right, trying to keep warm.


GO!! I'm on the right, and Jeremy is just behind me in the blue.


Trying to catch some CC runners!


Goetzke tracking down a runner (he was 2nd overall in the Grand Prix series in 2012).


Jeremy in his first CC race.


The (eventual) winner rounding a corner.


The winner Daniel Docherty about to finish this 6K CC race in 20:07 (5:24 pace).


All of these people beat me.


Eric, the only Grand Prix runner who beat me at this race.
(I'm 20 seconds behind him, and you can see my black shirt and bright shorts back there.)


Working the final little hill mid-pack with a bunch of CC runners.


The finish line.


Oh, did I mention that we started and finished on a driving range?
See the "nets" in the distance? We got to run through those twice.

- CLICK HERE to see my full "Rocky's Run" 6K race report.
- And CLICK HERE to see yesterday's post about winning the 2012 Grand Prix series!

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IT'S OFFICIAL!

Here are the final results for the 2012 Minnesota Distance Running Association's Grand Prix Series:

That's right!.... I won!

Older, more experienced runners have been telling me all season that the winner is the most consistent. (Many runners told me that multiple times.) And I was able to be consistent this year.

There's a few things to note, and this first one is the biggest:

1. Ben Merchant could have shown up to the race on Sunday, had a nice "jog," and beat me. I won't re-post everything I said before, but CLICK HERE to read my post from last month about the 4 ways I could win the series. The first one was "Ben doesn't show up." Ben didn't / couldn't race, and in doing so, he let me win. There's no way I can compete with someone who can run a 4:27 mile, a 15:36 5K, a 32:43 10K, and a 2:38 marathon all in the same year! (And word-on-the-street is that he was hoping for a much faster time at that marathon.)

2. Kirt, Eric, and Rick (2nd-4th) all gave me a good run for my money. Scott, Nathan, and Michael (11th, 13th, and 32nd) all beat me at least once at a race, and they all could have beat me if they had finished 10 races. Patrick (28th) would have beat me FOR SURE. Even Brian in last place could easily out-score me if he raced the whole series (he MUST have been pacing someone to get those 24 points).


Enough poo-pooing. Here are some good things:

1. I'm just really happy I was able to race 12 races MOSTLY INJURY-FREE! Last year, I signed up for the series but only finished ONE race before my nasty heel injury:

2. Two months ago (in this post) I said, "I'd be lucky to break 9,600." Well I was the 2nd Grand Prix racer at Sunday's 6K, and that bumped my Grand Prix total from 9,586 to 9,623. I'll take it!

3. I thought winning the Grand Prix just gave you "bragging rights." My brother-in-law asked on Facebook what I won, and I said "I think just a firm handshake..." But the MDRA commented on that post and said "You win some really great stuff, you will just have to wait to find out at the 2013 MDRA Annual Party in January!" Sweet!!

4. I'm SUPER proud of Jeremy for finishing 11 races and earning a "complete" score! I don't know if I've told this story before: Jeremy was a student in one of my classes at the U of M a few years ago. Either 1.5 or 2.5 years ago (after he was my student), we bumped into each other while both running along River Road. I didn't know he was a serious runner. We stayed in touch, and I told him about the Grand Prix series earlier this year. He joined in after 2 races, and he ended up finishing 7th OVERALL (3rd in the "open" 34-and-under category) as the YOUNGEST series member!! CONGRATS JEREMY!!

Jeremy's "super photogenic" finisher's photo from the New Prague Half Marathon.
(I want to look that good when I PR.... teach me your ways, Jeremy!)

5. I just have to smile at Kirt Goetzke finishing in 2nd AGAIN. (If you're a distance running in Minnesota, you HAVE to know of Kirt - he races ALL the time!) He won it all in 2009, but he was second in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012. Sorry Kirt! :)

6. I set a few PRs racing this many running races this year, but I thought I'd set more. My only "real" PR is my 1:20 half marathon. My other PRs are "default" PRs because I hadn't raced that distance before: I raced my first "road" mile, my first 25K, and my first 6K CC race. I was about 15 seconds off my 5K PR which I THOUGHT I might be able to get this past year, but I was really surprised I couldn't set a new 10K PR this year - I'd only ran ONE 10K before this, and I raced 2 this year. The first 10K this year was wet and cold, and I didn't race the first half strong enough. The 2nd 10K was HOT, and everyone was off their goal times by 60-90 seconds.

Just more for my records than anything else, here's how I did at all of the Grand Prix races (check out my FULL "race reports" in the sidebar). Below is the race, my place among Grand Prix racers, my time, and then how much faster I could have been to earn some more points (to show how close some of the races were). And I've noted twice where I could have been a little slower and LOST a few points too:

• Meet of the Miles: 3rd in 4:54.
• Securian Half Marathon: 5th in 1:25:23. 0:08 +33 points (would have gained 2 spots!).
• Human Race 8K: 4th in 29:17. 0:02 +12 points.
• Get in Gear 10K: 3rd in 36:52. 0:30 +13 points.
• New Prague Half Marathon: 1st in 1:20:56.
• Brian Kraft 5K: 3rd in 17:28.
• Rice Street Mile: 3rd in 4:56. 0:01 +17 points (0:04 slower -18 points).
• Run for Blood 5K: 3rd in 17:49. 0:07 +28 points.
• Rochester Half Marathon: 3rd in 1:25:45.
• Victory 10K: 4th in 38:02.
• City of Lakes 25K: 4th in 1:39:53. 0:50 +23 points (0:08 slower -22 points).
• Rocky's Run 6K (CC): 2nd in 23:25. 0:20 +30 points.

So right now, I'm just thrilled!!! It's been a GREAT year!!!

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Rocky's Run 6K Cross Country Race Report

Yesterday was the LAST race in the MDRA "Grand Prix" series. I figured I had about all the points I could get (because the series only takes your best 10 finishes from the 14 races, and I'd already raced 11 races), but I thought I try to tackle my first 6K CC race.

Pharmie worked this past weekend, so I got a sitter for a few hours during the race. Before the sitter came, Henry was super "hammy" in his "lumberjack" romper:

I got to the race site (the U of M golf course), and found a VERY appropriate spot to park:

The view from the driver's seat.


Pre-race business.

I ran into SteveQ, grabbed my packet, and looked at the race map:

Looking around, it LOOKED like a CC meet. I got to the race at the same time as a couple of high-schoolers with (presumably) their coach, and the U of M's female CC team was all camped out:

My heel was ODDLY achy, so I thought a good, long warm-up was in order. I took off backwards on the course. The entire course was marked on both sides with white paint, so as long as you didn't cross any lines, you wouldn't get lost. Here's the spot just after the start and just after the 1K mark (see map a few photos up) where the race crossed itself:

A big, green intersection among some small rolling hills.


Some small rollers later on.


Twisting and turning with a "crooked," angled trail in the distance.


Another small little hill. Not HILLY, but not flat either.

I turned around and headed back. This was probably one of my longest warm-ups ever at around 3 miles. Here's the view between 2 U of M flags with the finish about 200 meters in the distance:

I ran into Angie (a friend from the tri-world) who was there to cheer on some friends. So she took my keys and camera for me! THANKS ANGIE! She grabbed a photo before I headed to the start:

Dork.

It was just under 40 degrees, and that's perfect race weather! I wore my good ole' hat, a thin long-sleeve top, some "throw away" gloves (from my brother-in-law who's a meat cutter, so we joked that they were my "meat gloves"), my "Tutti-Frutti" shorts with Under Armor under that, my calf sleeves, and my Injinji rainbow socks. Decked out, baby.

Angie snuck some photos pre-race: here's Jeremy and me among LOTS of U of M runners.


"Oh Jeremy, there's my friend Angie...."


This looks like it was a few of us against a ton of U of M runners!

So I was thinking of my race plan during my warm-up. Being my heel was a little achy and I didn't want to do anything stupid, I wasn't going to "go nuts" at this race. I sure wasn't just going to JOG it, but I wasn't going to suffer HARD for 20 minutes either. I told myself to go out "solid" (but not crazy fast), and then pick-off the runners starting at about the 3K point.

Oh, and we got the best pre-race advice from the U of M CC coach: "Oh, and if you fall down.... get back up." Noted.


"ON YOUR MARKS......" *gunshot*

I SWEAR this is an unedited, uncropped version of one of Angie's photos:

I'm BARELY in there, and it looks like I'm creepin' on a bunch of 20-year-olds!

Do you know what's distracting? Running behind a lot of college runners in "bun shorts" (or less). Coaches and family members along the race course kept shouting "Eyes up! Eyes up!" to the runners, because it's easy to slow down if you're just looking at your feet right in front of you. I half-smiled to myself thinking they were maybe yelling "Eyes up!" to me.......

:)

I held a pretty horrible line through that first km. As that map above shows, the first km is a big clockwise loop, and I spent the whole time running to the left (the outside). I'm not a great racer.

I glanced at my watch at the 1K mark: 3:46. Not bad, but not great.

• MILE 1: 6:10.

Even though I said I'd start picking off runners after 3K, I'd already caught a few in the first mile. I wasn't "going nuts," but I was running strong. And I saw Eric P about a half-block in front of me, and I decided to try to keep him in my sights. (Eric and I chatted a bit during the Rochester Half Marathon a few months back, where he beat me pretty solidly.) I really didn't think I'd have a shot at beating Eric, but he was doing the Grand Prix series too, so he was just a good "rabbit" for me to keep in sight.

I nearly biffed it going down a quick steep hill. (There were 2 sharp downhills back-to-back, and being I survived the first, I got too cocky on the 2nd.) My 2nd km was around 3:52 (according to my little glance at my watch), and my 3rd was over 4 minutes. "OK, stop worry about you individual km splits and just run, dumbass."

• MILE 2: 6:21. "Dang, a little slow. But it's a CC meet, and how often do you run CC? Just keep trying to catch runners, and don't worry about your time."

At one point, the CC coach out there shouted at 3 of his girls I'd just passed: "OK now, stay with that guy!!" I gestured back towards them as if to say "Come on! Hang on! Let's go!"

• MILE 3: 6:16. "OK, 3/4 of a mile to go. Goal for the finish: don't get out-kicked by any college girls."

We turned and were now heading straight back towards the finish (although we couldn't see it because of the rolling hills). I was gaining on a small pack of CC runners, and I passed them with just over a 1/4 mile left. I had another bigger pack in front of me, and I was closing in.

Mid-pack with a bunch of CC runners.


Trying to get through a few more runners!


Running past someone I was behind in the last shot.

I think the only one from that group that I didn't catch was the one in the yellow long-sleeve top and maroon tights who was leading the pack 3 photos up. Yes, I'm bragging about catching a bunch of girls. Deal with it. :)

• FINAL 0.78: 4:36. (5:53 pace)

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel, #1807, 31, M
6K: 23:25
6:17 / mile average
22 out of 163 overall
1 out of 5 in the 30-39 age group

As I was walking back towards Angie to thank her and to get my camera, Jeremy came running past to the finish! Nice race, Jeremy! He told me that I must have started out slow, because he kept me in sight for a while. But really, all of these longer runs with Henry lately have REALLY helped my endurance, but they've killed my shorter-distance speed.

We saw SteveQ finish, and then the 3 of us talked for a moment. Then I ran over to Rick Recker who was working by the finisher's chute. I asked him if he saw Ben Merchant at all. Ben's the SUPER speedy runner who was making a late-season run at winning the "Grand Prix" series (he'd only ran 9 races up to this point, so he needed this as his 10th). Rick said he'd talked to Ben about a week ago, and Ben said he might have to miss this race. And Rick didn't see him at the race! Rick smirked and said "He just gave you a big gift! Congrats! The series IS all about finishing off the entire season..." So we've got to wait to make sure I'm not missing something, but there's a good chance I just won the 2012 MDRA Grand Prix series!!


FOUR FINAL POINTS:

• I never caught Eric, but he pulled me nicely. He finished 20 seconds in front of me. That will be enough "Grand Prix" points to move him from 6th to 3rd (I believe), just a FEW points behind Goetzke! Nice work, Eric!

• I caught MOST of the U of M women's CC team after starting behind all of them. Angie told me there were only a few in front of me, and I was surprised to hear that (I thought there were more). Once we'd spread out, I had no idea how many were in front of me. It turns out that 6 women 18-22 years of age beat me. I'm OK with that.

• I got home to Henry shortly after the race so we could go hang out with family, so I didn't stick around for awards. I was surprised to see that I'd placed FIRST in my age group, but it wasn't surprising to see there were only 5 other guys.

• After the race, they had THOUSANDS of cookies to giveaway. They WANTED you to grab a bag and fill it with cookies. Check this out:

Notice extra cookies stacked against the wall to the right,
and the college girl at the upper-left filling her bag with cookies!

I'll post as soon as the final official "Grand Prix" results are posted. Hoping for the best!... :)

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Mavic Neutral Assistance Bike Team at Paris-Roubaix

This video is 3 minutes of some crazy head-cam action from the Mavic support team at the famous Paris-Roubaix 258km (160 mile) bike race. This all looks a little too nuts.

http://youtu.be/sf0GtDP2XmI

That guy getting the wheel at the 2:28 mark? Wowza.

If someone flats in a race like that, can't they just ride like this until they finish?....

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Injinji WINNERS!

So I have FIFTEEN PAIRS of Injinji socks to giveaway (as I noted last week in this post).

Injinjis


My rainbow Injinjis

So the deal was I was going to give 5 pairs to a winner from twitter, 5 pairs from a winner who commented on my blog, and 5 pairs to a winner who "liked" Injinji and Steve in a Speedo on Facebook. Here were the results:

- There were 57 twitter entries, and I drew #10 as the winner. That corresponded with Jessica Grant.

- There were 177 comments on the blog post, and I drew #26 as the winner. That was a comment from Meg T. (The comment was random: she said "Whenever someone says Tiddlywinks it make we want to go and eat a Twinkie. Not sure what that says about me." I'm not sure either, Meg. I'm not sure either. Ha!)

- There were 425 "likes" on the Steve in a Speedo Facebook Page, and I drew #241 as the winner. After counting that high through the likes (that took a while), I saw that 241 was Chris Crocker.

Congrats to all the winners! And a big THANKS to Injinji for the giveaway! Winners, please shoot me an e-mail or a Facebook message so I can get your mailing address. Thanks!

My white "normal" pair before a 13-miler with my son.

- CLICK HERE for the giveaway post.
- CLICK HERE for my Injinji review.

Thanks Injinji!

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Friday Funny 420: Really Cute Story

Adorable.

Related:

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Friday Funny 419: This Guy Can Teach Me To Party

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Friday Funny 418: The (Bi)Cycles of Life

Related: Always be a gentleman and help a lovely lady with her bike:

Always.

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Friday Funny 417: Top 10 Halloween Costumes

Halloween was just 2 days ago, and these are my favorite 10 top costumes:

#10: Kurt CoBANE:

#9:

#8:

#7: Alien Power Loader:

Extra points for use of a Baby Bjorn

#6:

Who says you can't be slutty AND nerdy at the same time?

#5: "It's My D*ck In a Box!"

Nailed it. An oldie, but a goodie. Nice attention to detail!

#4:

#3: "Stupid Sexy Flanders."

(If you don't know what this is all about, we can't be friends click here to find out.)

#2:

This kid's gonna be somebody someday. Sweet costume.

#1: The "leg lamp" from A Christmas Story.

Again I say: nailed it.

Unrelated:

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Night Biking Tips (and asking for advice!)

So about 10 days ago, I went for a nice 18 mile ride at 5 am. I had a tweet after the ride about the best way to ride in the dark. Check out our twitter conversation:

That sums up a lot of what I'm about to say in a few "140 characters or less" tweets.

So my big points are:

1. GET A HEADLIGHT. All I used was a "camping" headlight from REI. You can get lights like that from Target or Wal-Mart or wherever. Mine takes 3 AAA batteries and has 3 LED lights (and is pretty bright when the batteries are fresh). I don't have a "bike light." I just strap the the headlight to my aero bars.

2. GET A BLINKING BACK LIGHT. We have 2 (one that came with some bright gloves, and one that we got free in a race packet), but both were dead when I went to ride last week. Dang. If one had been working, I would have just clipped it to my back of my jersey.

3. WEAR A REFLECTIVE VEST. We have a running vest that is pretty much only made of reflective material. It's super light-weight, so it can be worn over anything. I nearly ran into an older (70ish year old) women on her cruiser who wasn't wearing any lights or reflective material. We were going the same direction, but I didn't see her until I was practically up her butt.

4. STAY OFF THE ROADS (whenever possible). Find a bike trail if possible. I was on side-streets for 2 blocks, a road with a dedicated bike lane for about a half mile, and then I was on off-street bike paths.

UPDATE: My good friend Jamey left a good comment with lots of tips about a long as this post. He reminded people to NOT ride on the sidewalks, which is very dangerous at intersections. That wasn't my meaning about "stay off the road" - I meant to find a bike trail if possible. But check out all of Jamey's comments on this post because he's got some good stuff in there!

5. CHOOSE WELL-LIT TRAILS. I found that unless you have a REALLY bright light, you should stick to well-lit trails. I headed along the River Road Trail (NOT well-lit) to the start of the Greenway Trail in Minneapolis. The Greenway is pretty straight, open, and was REALLY well lit until just after the lakes. I had to turn around shortly after the lakes (around the little "swerve" in the trail when you go over RR tracks) because it got too dark and I couldn't see as much as I would have liked.

6. CARRY A PHONE / ID. You may need to call someone if something happens. And if something should happen to you, you want to make sure people know who you are and how to contact your family. Have your license, a RoadID, or a 1BandID on you in an obvious place.

Here's what the start of the Greenway looks like just after Hiawatha:

Pretty well lit for 5 am in late Oct in MN.


A few blocks farther down the trail, looking through the long, straight section.


My view for most of the ride. That's my headlight strapped between my aero bars shining
on my front tyre. You can see the aero bar shadow on the ground to the left.

And here are 2 photos from previous posts that show the reflective running vest:

Pharmie working her way down a hill 2 years ago just after we found out she was pregnant!


From a post last year as we were out on an evening run with Henry.

So, I don't ride at night much, but these are the things I've learned. What am I missing? What are some other good tips? Please share your advice! Thanks!

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