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I ran the 2FGR Race Day for Down Syndrome 5K last Thursday night in Dublin (where we live) and finished with a time of 21:54.  While I was pleased with my time, I was even happier that my family was able to attend.  In fact, my wife took a picture at the event.  Here you go -

 
This was race 13!  18 to go in The 31 Initiative.  June, here I come!

2 More Races Booked

I have booked 2 more races -

Race 16 - on June 16, I will run the Carolinas CARE Partnership 5K.  Race info is here.

Race 17 - on June 24, I will run the Race for Ellie.  Race info is here.

Race 16 is the HALF WAY POINT of The 31 Initiative.  I'll let everyone know how much has been raised when we get to that milestone.

Have a Happy Memorial Day everyone!  Thank you to everyone who is serving or who has served.

The Heat Is On

It had to come sooner or later.  Yes, I'm talking about my arch enemy, the heat.  For those who know me, they know I'm not a big fan.  Considering summer is right around the corner, I guess I better get used to it.

The Little Heroes 5K was the first of many races in which I will have to battle my nemesis head on.  At race time, the temperature was 81 degrees.  I ended up running the race in 22:27 but I can tell it definitely affected the latter part of my 5K.

I haven't booked a race lately but have already identified the races I'm going to enter for my 16th and 17th races.  I'll blog about them soon.

Oh, and this week, my race is on Thursday night in Dublin (it is the 2FGR Race Day for Down Syndrome 5K).

12 down, 19 to go in The 31 Initiative.

An Appreciation

Last Saturday, I ran my 11th race of The 31 Initiative, the JAKESTRONG 5K.  I finished in 22:00, a significant improvement over my previous week's time.  What truly made this race special, however, was the pre-race announcement from Jake's father.  He called up 4 kids who had battled cancer and shared their stories (one little boy was in kindergarten and had a successful bone marrow procedure).  It truly made you appreciate life and put things in perspective.  I've run a lot of races over the years but never started one wiping a tear from my eye until last Saturday.

A Good Run Spoiled

It had to happen sooner or later - my streak of 4 consecutive races with an improvement in my race time ended.  Actually, that is putting it nicely.  To put it bluntly, I crashed and burned.  The Commit To Be Fit 5K started out well - the crowd was energetic and the temperature (64 degrees) was cooler than forecast.  Then I ran a 26:10, over 4 minutes slower than the previous week (ouch!).  What happened?  I won't bore you with the details but I identified multiple factors which contributed to my less than stellar performance.  The good news is that I still have 21 races to go in The 31 Initiative, beginning this week with the JAKESTRONG 5K in Powell, Ohio.

I booked my 15th race today.  On June 9, I will run the Lyndsey and Kyle 5K in Dublin, Ohio.  Race details can be found here.

I'm 1/3(!) of the way through The 31 Initiative.  Thanks again to everyone who has donated to this cause.  I can't express how much it means to me.

Road Race

My 9th race (the Roadrunner Run 5K) was run on the streets of Hilliard, Ohio last weekend.  Overall, I felt it was another step forward.  I knocked 12 seconds off my previous week's time finishing at 21:42.  With the weather warming up, it will be interesting to see if I can continue my downward time trend.

I booked my 14th race today, the MoveMMORE 5K, which takes place on June 2, 2012.  Like the Jay Holdgreve Endowment for Testicular Cancer Research (the cause I'm raising money for), it appears this race will benefit cancer research at Ohio State's James Cancer Hospital.  More info can be found here.

This Saturday, I run the Commit To Be Fit 5K.  It should be a full crowd since the Capital City Half Marathon and The Patron Quarter Marathon are run as well.  13,000 runners are expected to be in downtown Columbus.  Parking should be fun (sarcasm intended).