Race Report: 2013 Jailbreak 5K

May 30, 2013 by Greg Fowler

About 7:15am, I pulled into my parking space at Jailbreak last Saturday.  I was alone, and the anticipated father vs. son battle was not going to happen.  I assume  son was scared of the old man running him down.  The reality is he’s a teenager, and I don’t understand what he thinks most of the time.  He had just decided not to run.

Anyway, since I was by myself, I had the radio on the station I wanted, and as I parked, Freebird came on the radio.  Hope that is a good sign, I thought to myself.  Since this was only a 5K, my playlist for this run did not include Freebird, so I just listened for a minute.

I stepped out of the car and walked down to some nearby soccer fields to warm up on the paths around the fields.  The weather was unusually cool for late May in the midlands of South Carolina – around 50 degrees with low humidity.  Perfect for a run, though.  If I didn’t run well today, I could not use my weather excuses.  Darn.

After warming up, I made sure I was at the starting line early enough to be toward the front, just after the big dogs.  The starter finally gave the go, and I pressed the start button on my watch as I took off.  Uh-oh.  My watch said MEMORY FULL.  This means the run will not record.  In the past I’ve had watch glitches that let me down, but this glitch was totally my fault. It will only hold 20 workouts, and I had not cleared them out lately.

Now I had a decision to make.  “Trust your feelings” came to mind for a split second.  Nope.  Can’t do that.  So, I hastily cleared the workouts from my watch as I ran and restarted the workout, but the damage was done.  My time was now at least 3o seconds off. I could tell my instant pace, though.

We passed the first mile marker, and the lady with a stop watch wasn’t yelling out split times.  No big deal, I thought.  Maybe the mile two person will be.    Just past the half way point, I approached the one water station.  The low humidity had really dried out my throat, so I grabbed a water.  At this point it is a short hill up to the mile two marker.  There was a guy with a stop watch, but he wasn’t calling out time, so I asked him.  13:35 he said.  I was a bit surprised. I was right on target at roughly a 6:47/mile pace.  Unfortunately, the hard part had arrived.

Mile three starts with a down hill, but once we turned left on Church Street, its a decent uphill stretch, and I felt so slow.  We turned left on Gibson, and the course flattened out for the final half mile or so.  I rounded the final curve, and with probably 100 yards to go, I  could finally see the clock.  21:10.   At this point,  I pushed as hard as I could and think I actually passed a couple of people.  As I crossed the finish line, I looked up and saw the clock read 21:30 – a new PR!

I had another problem to deal with now, though – trying not to puke.  I kept walking and breathing deep.  It was close, but I held it in.

Later, when the official results were posted, I saw that my time had been adjusted to 21:26.  This was because of chip time, not gun time.  I’ll take it!

Even with a PR, I finished 4th in my age group, just missing the podium by about 25 seconds.  For final results click here.

POFIFOTO!

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Race Preview: 2013 Jailbreak 5K

May 21, 2013 by Greg Fowler

Just a quick note to let you know I’m still kicking and running.  This year is Jailbreak VII and will be held on May 25, 2012 in Lexington, South Carolina.  The race supports the Lexington County Sheriff’s Foundation.  Last year, an out of towner named Scott Wietecha came in and put a whippin’ on all the usual local favorites with a 14:47.  This year, I hope to see some of the Lexington High cross country and track team guys come out to give the regulars a run for their money.

The Course

I wouldn’t necessarily call this a guaranteed PR course, but in the past, I have PR’d here.  Most of the first two miles is flat to downhill.  The third mile has some rolling hills with a short tough stretch up Church St.  The final half mile or so is pretty flat.  Here’s the map:

In addition, here’s the elevation map:

Personal Goals

I rarely go into a race without at least one personal goal. This race is no different. I guess I have two for this outing. The first is to avenge myself from the beat down I took last week in the Run Hard 5K when my son whipped me by over a minute and a half.  Now, I’m not going to make excuses. I ran an OK race at 22:43 for having some sort of cold/virus bug. I’m over that, and I’ve had good training of late. My plan is to let him go out his usually too fast pace, and catch him on the last mile, as the hills take their toll. This plan assumes that I am immune to the hills.  I have no historical evidence to support that, but let’s just go with it.

The second goal is to establish a good baseline 5K time for my next marathon training. I’m thinking of doing the Outer Banks Marathon in November, so serious training will pick up in July. I plan on going to back to using the Run Less Run Faster book. In this book, workout speeds are based on your 5K ability. Since I want to improve my marathon time and maybe catch a glimpse of a BQ (Boston Qualifier), I would like to set a PR, just to help with the mental edge of training.  My 5K best is 21:36 and the book says 21:06 puts you in the ball park for having the ability to BQ, based on their statistics.

So, it is time to go work on my playlist. Being Memorial Day weekend, I’m thinking of going with a patriotic theme. This will at least allow me to justify Night Ranger’s You Can Still Rock in America. I will not be including Billy Ray Cyrus’s Some Gave All, though, in case you were wondering.

POFIFOTO!

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Race Review: 2012 Jailbreak 5K

May 28, 2012 by Greg Fowler

Event Recap

Everyone knows that Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer.  Most everyone also knows that summer means hot in the midlands of South Carolina.  So, if you are planning a holiday weekend on the lake or at the beach, then bright, sunny and hot are what you want.  If you want to run a race, though, then these are not what you want.  Throw in some very high humidity, and you have the race conditions for last Saturday’s Jailbreak VI in Lexington, South Carolina.  The temperature at race time was 75 degrees, and the humidity was 75%, according to my weather app. Yuck.

The local elites didn’t seem to have too much trouble with the heat. What they did have trouble with was an outsider who rained on their parade. Scott Wietecha from Hendersonville, Tennessee showed up and threw a 14:47 on the field, besting perennial favorite Eric Ashton by an entire minute. Folks, that’s a butt-whippin in my limited 5K race knowledge book.  I could not have run a 14:47 if I’d have turned left at the intersection of Pond View and Gibson and cut 3/4 of a mile off the race.  Wow.

Here is the link to the results to see how the other 500-plus of us fared: http://www.strictlyrunning.com/results/12JailBreak.txt

I enjoy the Jailbreak event, but they can do two things to improve in the future.  First, move the race up to 7:30 or worst case 8:00.  8:30 is too late this time of  year.  Second, provide a technical T-shirt instead of a cotton shirt.  I like the designs of their shirts, but I personally dislike the Haynes cotton tee they include with the registration fee.  Just doesn’t fit well.

Personal Recap

I had two goals for the race.  The first was to break 22 minutes.  I figured that was out the window when I saw the weather.  I kept a dim hope alive for a PR, which would be to break 22:37.  I came up just short of this with a 22:45.  My mile splits were 6:50, 7:21, and 8:03.    I was hurting by mile one, and you can see the crashing progression.  It was painful.  Not even great live ’80’s music on the playlist could help me.

My other goal was to beat my teenage son.  I did that, but he had such a bad race, there was no fun in that.  I never saw him once the gun went off, so I honestly wasn’t sure if he was ahead of or behind me.  I guess the epic neck and neck battle at the finish will have to wait until fall sometime.  He’ll be starting his summer cross county running in earnest this week, so by September, he should be well ahead of me.  Probably for good this time.

That is supposed to wrap it up for my spring racing season.  However, right now next Saturday’s weather forecast looks a little cooler.  Maybe I’ll find one last race, so I can end with a PR before summer!

POFIFOTO!

 

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Race Preview: Jailbreak 5K 2012

May 16, 2012 by Greg Fowler

This year is Jailbreak VI and will be held on May 26, 2012 in Lexington, South Carolina.  The race supports the Lexington County Sheriff’s Foundation and has become quite popular, with over 400 participants last year. The usual Columbia area superstars normally show up and take the overall prizes, but the Lexington High School cross country/track long distance guys are gaining ground quickly (4A State champs in both cross country and track this year!).  Don’t be surprised if one of these young guns  comes out on top.

The Course

The course starts and ends in front of the  Lexington County Sheriff’s Department on Gibson Road in Lexington.  The first two miles are very flat to slightly downhill.  The course bottoms out early in the third mile and there is about 200 feet worth of climb in the last mile to make it back to the finish.   Here are the course and elevation maps:

To register go here: http://www.strictlyrunning.com/gpscrlgnReg-9f.asp

Personal Notes

This will be my 4th time running in this event.   I believe I have set a 5K PR each year in this race.  I hope this year is no different. My current 5K best is 22:37.  Last Jailbreak, I broke 23:00 in a 5K for the first time, with a 22:49.  This year, I’m gunning to break 22:00.  As a bonus to me, it is one of the closest races to my house, and the two non-racers in the family will come out to watch the finish.

And the finish should be a close one – at least in the Battle of Fowler Running Supremacy.  See, I probably only have this one last chance to beat my son in a 5K.  I’ve never lost to him, but those first couple of years of us “competing” really weren’t a fair competition.  He was a little kid, and I was  a grown man.  But things have changed.  Lately, he has not been training as much, but physically he has grown a good bit since we last raced in December 2011 and can almost look me in the eye.  If I don’t get him this go round, I seriously doubt I’ll ever come close to him in a 5K again*.  That’s one of the reasons my target song for the end of my playlist is going to be It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by R.E.M.  If you have any suggestions for the first 18 minutes of my playlist, let me know!

POFIFOTO!

* My son’s 5K PR is lower than mine, thanks to cross country team training, but the times we have run head to head, though, he has not been in the middle of cross country season and in his peak fitness, so I have been able to beat him.

 

 

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