Race Report: Lake Geneva 5K

The Lake Geneva Marathon was on Saturday. As a part of the marathon, they have other races including a half marathon, Euro Cross Marathon (22 miles on the shoreline around the lake), a 10K and a 5K. My friends Chris and Paul were running the marathon but since I am running my next marathon in 2 weeks, I opted to run only the 5K and have it a nice fast Tempo run.

The day was cold and windy. I think it was in the upper 30's to low 40's for the start but the wind sure made a bite. I was able to get to watch the start of the marathon/half marathon in the middle of my warm up 2 miles and then change before the start of the 5K.

The 5K and 10K start together and are both on the same an out and back course with the 10K just going further. This course is a killer of a course though. Only the first 250 meters and the last 250 meters are flat, the rest is big hills. The first mile is 150 feet up followed in the next half mile of about 200 feet down and then 100 feet back up to the turn around. Then we have to do it all over again in reverse. It was wet out from the rain the night before and for the first 3/4 of a mile, we ran on a side walk that was occasionally bricks that were rather slippery. This is not necessarily a good course in my mind, at least for the first a last 3/4 of a mile. the rest was hilly but OK.

My goal was to run fast and see if I could place high. In few of the past years, there have been winning times that were achievable by me and other years not. I did not know what to expect this year. The horn sounds and off I go. We hit the sidewalk and I run a conservative pace knowing what is coming. There a quite a few guys a head of me after the first hill but I do not know which of these are in the 10K or the 5K. I get through the first hill without wasting too much energy and cruise down the crest. I begin to feel the next hill as it is a bit steeper than the first one but get to the top and see the turn around. A few guys keep going on the 10K but 3 guys were well ahead of me that turned around and the 5K. I get to the turn around and realize I am in 7th place. (Odd, that is the same place I was in 6 years ago at the turn around of the 10K in this race). I think my pace so far was 7:36, far off what I would do on a flat course which would have been closer to 6:30.

Right after the turn around, I pass one guy and see 2 others within striking distance but the 3 leaders are well ahead out of sight over hill and around curves. Now it is difficult to run a good course as we are running right into all the runners behind us and sometimes they are not looking ahead. The hill down is fast but only for a bit before we have to climb the last 100 foot hill. Again this is difficult but I knew where it ended and I knew it was all downhill after that. By the top of the last hill, I catch the next guy and pass him. I am now in 5th overall and have my sights on the next guy. We are directed onto the sidewalk again but this time we are going fast downhill so I felt this was kind of dangerous. Luckily there are no problems with my footing and I slowly real in the guy in front of me. With 250 meters to go, I am about 20 meters behind him and I see him take a quick look back, I was hoping this was a sign of weakness so I pushed even harder. Not my luck, he just put in a a great finishing kick and I could not catch him. I finish in 22:27. This time would have won the race last year, but not this year. I did win my age group though and was not beat by any one older than me so that was good.

This course was very difficult and I estimate it adds about 2 minutes onto your 5K time. I was talking to the guy right before me and the guy right behind me after the race and we ended up doing a cool down run together. Actually, they joined me for the first mile and then turned back but they seemed like nice guys and we had a good conversation. I ended up running an additional 6 miles along the lake path along the giant mansions on the lake. About 2 miles in, I was looking down at my footing and noticed a piece of paper on the ground. I pick it up and notice it is cash. I pick it up and look around and no one is to bee seen in either direction so I guess it is my lucky day. Ends up it was 2 five dollar bills so my cool down became quite lucrative.

After the cool down and awards, I get in my car and drive the marathon course backwards looking for Chris and Paul. I knew it would be a struggle for them as it was very windy. I find Chris struggling but still on a pace I would be giddy over. He ends up running a 3:24 for 12th place, far off what he is capable of running. Paul is running his second marathon of May already but he still managed to run a 3:59.

The race did offer a nice pizza buffet for all runners so that was a nice touch. When I ran the 10K 6 years ago, my award for first in my age group was a lunch bag that I use ever day. It is not falling apart for 6 years of use and secretly I was hoping to place again this year so maybe I could get a new lunch bag. I did place but this year I got a blue Lake Geneva Extreme Sports beach/bath towel. Guess I need to go and buy a new lunch bag. LOL

Lake Geneva Shoreline Path

I woke up this morning and was going to do a 13 mile run. But after I got up, I just didn't feel like running. So I didn't. I do feel guilty about this but the long walk in lake Geneva makes up for it some.

We arrived in Lake Geneva at about 9:30 or so and started our walk along the Shoreline Path a little before 10. This path goes along the entire shore of Lake Geneva through every one's backyards that live on the lake including all the mansions. It was a very nice walk and almost all the time was on a path that was well maintained. Sometimes it was paved, sometimes cobblestone, other times dirt or grass.

We had cool weather up here today. It felt like late Autumn actually. Upper 50's to lower 60's, cloudy and windy but at least the wind was not crossing the lake toward us so it wasn't too windy on our walk.

The homes on the path are amazing and very well maintained. Beautiful landscapes wonderful views of the lake. Lots of "No Trespassing" signs making sure you remembered to stay on the path. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to walk the 7 or 8 miles from lake Geneva to Williams Bay and enjoyed most of it. I brought along the camera to share some of the homes and some of the path.

This house was actually only slightly nicer than most on the lake. Beautiful yard right up to the lake.

Another beautiful home with an awesome looking deck.

This home was very nice as well but if you look to the left of the picture, they were setting up for what looked like an outdoor (inside the tent) wedding. They definitely would have needed the tent with today's weather.



I believe this mansion is the Wrigley Mansion, first owned by the Wrigley family from Chicago. The same family that owns the Chicago Cubs and the Gum company.


Another very huge mansion along the lake.

Some landscape designs along the lake and visible from the path were really cool.

Here is part of the path, a part that was paved. You can see that we are just along the lake with many boat slips nice landscaping.

Sometimes along the path you had to cross little bridges, some nicer than others.

And sometimes the path is just dirt, grass, or gravel.

1000th Mile This Year

I don't know if you look over at my mileage tracker on the right side over there, but today on my 5 mile run, I passed my 1000th mile this year. As much as an accomplishment as this is, it is not like I haven't done it before. Since I started to track all my workout in an Excel spreadsheet starting in 2006, I have hit 1000 miles each year. More than likely I ran either close or over 1000 miles in 2005 and 2004 as well, but I can't be certain. What is good about this year is that this is the earliest I have hit the 1000 mile mark. In 2006, it was hit on November 11, 2007 on October 7th (During the Chicago "Meltfest" Marathon), and in 2008 on November 2nd (Ironically again during a marathon, Rails to Trails Marathon). Since January 1st, 2006, I have logged a total of 4671 miles!

So I am way ahead of the pace of the past years by close to a month and a half. This is probably because of the 4 marathons I have already ran this year, including the Heart of Texas back-to-back marathons. I have been trying to increase my mileage in hopes that it will help bring own the marathon time. I guess we will see how that works in October and November.

After the Lake Geneva run, I took 2 days off but ran a real nice fast run on Tuesday. It was a little over 7 miles at 8:04 pace. Not quite Tempo pace but much faster than easy pace. It was good. The next day, I ran 4 miles with Mike and was very slow and sluggish. Today was an easy 5 miles to top the 1000 mark. It felt good today as it was cool. It will stay cool here all weekend with lots of rain Friday and clearing up for Saturday.

I hope it is nice on Saturday as I have a medium long run planned. 13 miles at easy pace. Then I plan on hiking with my oldest princess. We are going to go to Lake Geneva again and walk the shore line. I mentioned a post or so ago that the public has a right to walk the entire shore without the neighbors kicking you off, unless you leave the path that is. You actually walk right through multi-million dollar mansion backyards. I have never done this walk before so I am looking forward to it. I plan on taking the camera so hopefully I can get some cool pics to share. We are going to walk about 7 miles of the shore from Lake Geneva to Williams Bay. This is the part with the most expensive homes, so I am told. Melissa is behind on her miles of the Kid's Marathon so we will be using these miles for her log.

Speaking of the Kid's Marathon, things are looking very good for the final event. Most items needed are already on order and plans are coming together. Let's just hope the weather cooperates with us. Please check the Kid's Marathon Website if you want to know more about it, or just drop me a comment and I can tell you more. I am very excited for it and all these kids have done so well in their running this summer as well as all the required reading. Right now my main concern is having enough volunteers on race day so it goes off without too many problems. I may have a high school cross country team that can help and if they are not available, I will ask some other high school students to help out.

I know a lot of you are in your highest mileage weeks of your marathon training. Keep up the great training! You will all do awesome in your fall marathon.

Around Lake Geneva

The Lake Geneva Marathon runs completely around Lake Geneva so Chris decided to run around the lake for a training run. This is Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, of course, not Switzerland.

We met at a little after 6AM in front of the library and it was a beautiful morning. Sunny and cool. Lower 60’s with low humidity. We take off at an easy pace and Chris reminds me that whatever pace I want to go it the pace we will run. Chris is a faster runner but likes long slow days as well. He is training to break 3 hours in this October’s Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee.

In the first mile we climb up 100 feet and then right back down in mile 2 before climbing again. This will be the theme of the run, especially in the second half. We started slow at about 9:15 pace but after 5 we pick it up to under 9:00’s. We reach the town of Fontana at about 10 miles feeling good and having lots of good conversation along the way. We stop so Chris can buy a Gatorade at a Gas Station for about 4 minutes before starting again. After leaving Fontana, we experience the biggest of the hills with a few steep inclines and declines going up and down to the town of Williams Bay. From out top elevation to the lake is a little over 200 feet but we do that many times during the run.

These towns on the lake, Lake Geneva, Fontana, and Williams Bay as very nice towns, and when I say nice, I mean there is lots of $$ there. Lake Geneva in the early to mid 1900’s was the getaway location for the rich of Chicago. Trains used to take them here for weekend getaways as it is fairly close. Lot’s of mansions including the Wrigley Estate owned by the Owners of the Chicago Cubs and Gum producer.

One interesting thing about Lake Geneva is that the public has a right to the entire shoreline and there is even a trail around the entire lake. You can walk right trough these mansions back yards though you are required to stay on the path. I have not done this yet but plan to walk the entire lake someday in sections.

Chris and I leave Williams Bay and are past 15 miles now and hit the busy road of Hwy 50 for 2 miles. We get to Snake Road, which by its name, winds a lot and but also has some good hills on it. Chris takes off and does the last 3+ miles at about 7 pace and I just keep up the pace we have been running. I end up finishing the 20.63 miles at a pace of close to 9:09, right at 4 hour marathon pace. I was even able to pick it up the final mile, though it was mostly downhill, so that helped.

Chris had to meet someone close by so he took off and I bought myself a big Chocolate Milk and heard the lake calling my name. So I decided to walk into the lake and cool off the legs. The water was cool but not cold and helped the legs recover a little faster. I know some of you take ice baths after long runs and I know this helps so I thought a walk in the lake would help, and it did. Some of the people in the tourist pleasure cruise boats were looking at me like I was nuts, it was only in the mid 60’s by this time so I am sure they felt it was cold but it felt so good to me. If I were them, I would most likely feel the same. “What is that crazy guy walking in the lake for in his shorts and tshirt carrying a bottle of Chocolate Milk for?”

It was a good run!

Did any of you watch any of the Track and Field World Championships this last week? I did and in my next post, I will try to share some of my thoughts on it.

A Light Week Ahead . . . Until Saturday

I finally got in to see the Chiropractor yesterday. He did some quick adjustments on my back and then started in on my ankle issue. He was poking and prodding trying to figure out what to do. He did a little adjusting while we talked about my long run over the weekend. He is a great Dr. for athletes as he does what he can to "keep you in the game". He suggested I take Monday off of running so I did. I had Volleyball anyways so that was my exercise for the day.

Volleyball went good for most of the match. It had rained some that day and the night before so the sand was harder than usual. This did not help as 2/3's of the way through the final game, after I went up for a spike, I landed hard and flat footed on my right foot with the ankle issue. It hurt some landing and it hurt some the rest of the game. I hope I didn't pop it right out of place again. We will see as I have another appointment on Wednesday.

Today I ran 5 miles with Mike after work. We ran sort of easy as my legs were still tired from the 23 miler and he was a bit tired as he ran 65 miles last week, a big jump for him. I felt better as the run kept going which was good. My legs do feel like I just ran a marathon this past weekend and in some sorts, they almost did put forth that much amount of effort. I have decided that this week will be an easy week until Saturday when I meet up with Chris for a long run.

Saturday's long run should be fun and tough. We will be meeting in Lake Geneva, WI at 6:00 AM to run completely around the lake. Chris has measured it at 20 miles and will will be running at 8:45's to 9:00 pace. There will be hills again and the final 2 miles is on Snake Rd. I ran a 10K on this road once and it is "hillacious". Once again, a true test of running on tired legs. I hope this is helping me for this fall's marathons.

On a different note, congratulations to Melanie for her PR in a 5K this weekend. Great Job, Melanie!!! She writes about how she doesn't like 5K's all that much but feels she needs to do them at times. I like 5K's myself and wish I could do more of them. I have told you all before that the shorter the race, the better I do compared to others. But that is just me.