2010 Watermelon Stampede 5k

Yesterday I ran in my second Watermelon Stampede 5k in Muscatine. There was a huge turnout and the weather was fairly decent. Temp at race time was 72 and the humidity wasn't too bad.

I finished with a time of 22:11, which was 6 seconds faster than last year. Last year's time was good enough for first in my age bracket, but this year there was a new runner from Davenport that took that spot. I settled for 2nd place.

This race also has a 10k division that starts at the same time as the 5k, so the metal ceremony is kind of strung out and there is a lot of waiting by the earlier 5k runners for all the 10k runners to finish. Fifty watermelons were also given out by a drawing. Unfortunately, my number was never called and my grandson, Evan was very disappointed.

Du State Du Duathlon-Loud Thunder

Yesterday I participated in my 3rd Du State Du. The weather was nice, but still a little on the warm side for my taste. Temp was around 72-75, but the humidity was lower than my HNI 5k run the day before.

There was a record turnout for this race, 159 entries. The race consists of a 1.94 mile run, a 14.71 mile bike ride, followed by a 1.81 mile run.

I had a time of 1:14:51, which was faster than last year's race(1:15:55), but not as fast as two years ago(1:14:35). My pace for the three legs were 7:16/mile, 19.5 mph, 7:51/mile.

I ended up with 3rd place. I was satisfied with this effort as I didn't have a rest day before this race because of my participation in the HNI 5k. Doing two races back to back is hard to do when you reach my age without proper recovery time.

HNI 5K Run

The Hon Industries 5k run was held yesterday (Sat.) in downtown Muscatine along the riverfront. It was one of those hot, sticky, dog days of August. The temperature at race time (8am) was 75 degrees and the heat index was already over 80. Needless to say I do not run or ride a bike well in hot weather.

There was a good turn out with 107 runners and several walkers. Last year I posted my best time ever in a 5k at this race doing it in 21:01. This year would be disappointing. My time was 22:28. I had a rest day the day before, but the heat really got to me. I couldn't keep my pace up and had several people pass me in the last 1/2 mile. I finished 27th overall. Last year I was 22nd overall.

Even though my pace was miserably slower than last year, I was still first in my age bracket (55-59).

There may have been a subliminal message going through my brain as I was running this race, "don't expend all of your energy on this race". The reason being I had a much bigger race the next day, I was doing a duathlon.

Bike Ride Across The U.S.

I recently finished my first segment of my bicycle ride across the U.S. I left on June 24th departing from Anacortes Washington and finished in Muscatine Iowa on August 1. I rode 2,743 miles during those 39 days.

It was a week ago today that I rode down the driveway of my home to a well planned welcome home party. Next year I plan to finish my cross-country route from Muscatine to Bar Harbor Maine.

It was great to be back home with family and I have integrated well back into the mainstream. I hung up my bike this past week and re-acquainted myself with running.

I have three races coming up in the next two weeks and need to prepare my running legs for the change of pace. I started out slowly and after resting two days from my bike ride have ran the last four days doing 2 to 3 miles each time.