Zebras Do Exist 5k

We're less than two months away from the 2nd annual Zebras Do Exist 5k Charity race that I direct. This event raises awareness of rare medical conditions ("Zebras") and raises money for the medical bills of Nick and Samantha Napier.

It should turn out to be an great event. This year we have chip timing, a certified course, and $1,000 in cash payouts to the top 5 men and women. All courtesy of the nation's largest triathlon production company: Setup Events!

Last year we had about 280 participants and with our sponsor's help raised $10,000 for the Napiers. Sounds like a great first year and a nice amount of money, but it barely scratched the surface of their needs. These two kids have had 5 brain and spinal surgeries that are "out of network", read: "insurance is not paying for it!"

If you're available to run/walk on April 18th in the Spartanburg, SC area then you need to go to www.zebrasdoexist.com and register. If you can't make it, but want to contribute, then you can securely donate to the cause on the same website with your debit or credit card. See you there!

What's goin on...

Pretty much been putting in some base miles/meters in preparation for the upcoming race season, speaking of, it looks something like this:

3/28 Little River 8K
5/16 Clemson Sprint
6/7 Fest of Flowers Oly
6/27 Go Tri Sprint
8/16 Greenville Sprint
9/6 Hartsville Oly (this one's a maybe)
10/4 SC Half
10/17 Hickory Knob Oly

My swimming is getting better slowly and my bike is a little stronger too. Run is pretty consistent, but I'm not working hard to get faster there yet. I really need to get a bigger bike frame because I'm very closed up/cramped on the 51cm I'm currently on. I think getting the right fit would immediately give me a 5-10% power gain or more.

Green Valley 8k Report

First time I have run this 8k race at Furman University. It was a fairly well done event. My only complaint would be the lack of aid on the course. One water station would have been nice. Pre-race, I picked up my number the race "jacket": this tyvek looking thing that I might do a boiler inspection in but not actually wear in public. I ran about 1.25 miles and stretched some. Then I went looking for the bathroom. I had my Garmin Forerunner on which doesn't show the time in training mode, so I let the race start sneak up on me. There were plenty others in the building, but they were running the 10miler that started 15 minutes after the 8k. When I exited the building, I had to sprint out about 200 yds to the start and the gun went off about 10 seconds after I arrived.

The first mile was faster than I wanted to go at 6:09, but it was pretty flat and it was the start. Mile two was closer to where I thought I would run at 6:32. I was feeling pretty good, but then mile three was mostly a slow uphill climb the entire way. I slowed down to 6:50, but I passed at least 10 people that mile. Around there I met up with Hal Outen, a local tri guy and we talked briefly and then kept each other working to the end. There were three guys within site of us and we both agreed to make sure we brought them back to us by the end. Mile four was 6:29 and mile five was 6:14. We caught the group in front on the last little hill before the flat mall finish. I pushed just barely ahead of the group with about 0.4 to go to see what the response would be. They all responded, but no aggressively. I let them all catch up, mostly just messing with their heads, and then at 0.25 to go I took off and put a big gap between them all. My last 300 ft (after the Garmin autolapped) was a 4:51 pace. HR was 197 bpm at the finish...yikes!

Total time was 32:32 and was good enough for a 2nd place in my new AG 30-34! I was pretty pleased with the outcome since I haven't been doing any real hard or fast running in the last few months.