LCS Varsity Track Kick-Off

Stephen ran in the Leon County Schools Varsity Track Kick-Off Meet today at Rickards High School in Tallahassee, Florida. The weather was terrible with a driving rain during both of his races. Despite the rain, Stephen ran PR's in both the 1600 meter and 3200 meter. In the 1600 meter he came in third with a time of 4:55.

He came in second in the 3200 with a time of 11:00. He was trying to run the 3200 by running each mile in 5:30. As it turns out, his first mile was 5:19 and his second a 5:41. He has been working with Coach Gary Kenny on pacing himself. Coach Kenny has trained some of Tallahassee's most successful runners.

Sorry, no pictures as Aim and I were at Jacob's soccer game while Stephen was racing. Nana and Papa took him to the race.

You can view all of the race results here.

Run for the Cookies - Tallahassee, FL

Stephen, Jacob and Kappy ran in the Run for the Cookies 5k and 1 mile runs today. Kappy's race was first. Hundreds of kids ran in the race and Kappy ended up somewhere in the middle of the pack. Kappy's mile time 9:47. Great job Kappy!

We didn't realize there would be over 800 runners at the race. We were expecting somewhere between 100 and 200. Stephen started out the race right behind Coach Droze with the idea that following him might lead to a sub 17:00 finish. At the 1 mile mark Stephen's time was 5:17. He was right behind Coach Droze, but that is not a pace Stephen can continue for 3.1 miles. Stephen said about the 1.5 mile mark he started to gas. His second mile was around 6:08. He picked it up at the end to finish 10th overall in 17:20. Oh well, maybe next time.

Jacob ran the race in 23:32; a PR! He was at 8:08 at the mile mark and seems to have picked up speed as the race went on. He hasn't trained in over a month so we were all surprised to see him run a PR. 

The weather was more windy than cold. It seemed to have an affect on Stephen but not Jacob. After the race we chowed down on Girl Scout Cookies. We took some home and froze them. I like them better frozen.

Gulf Winds 15K - Tallahassee, FL

Stephen ran in the Gulf Winds 15K on Saturday at Bradley's Country Store. That's 9.3 miles for non-runners. The morning started and finished extremely cold. Our thermometer read 28 degrees when we left Cairo. It warmed up to around 30 degrees by the start of the race. Over 170 people ran in the 15K and another 150 people ran a 30k that started at the same time and ran along the same course. Stephen started out in the top 10 and ended up 7th overall with a time of 58:47.

He looked like he would freeze to death at the beginning of the race, but must have warmed up as the race got going. The runners ran up Old Centerville Road about 4.5 miles then turned around and came back. As the runners came into sight around the 8 mile mark Stanley Linton was leading several Leon High upperclassmen in a pack of 4. Following the lead pack were Coach Droze and another Leon upperclassmen. About 4 minutes after the leaders came through Stephen, Sukhi Khosla (a freshman from Leon) and Jarod Hoffman (a sophomore from Godby) came into view running almost side by side. As Stephen hit the 8 mile mark he began to pull away a little from the other two runners. In the end, he beat Khosla by just 3 seconds and Hoffman by 16 seconds. After finishing the race, Stephen came over and there was frost on the top of his sock hat from the sweat rising to the top of his hat and freezing. Crazy weather to run in.

You can view all of the 15k race results here.

Billy Bowlegs 5K - Tallahassee, FL

On Friday night Stephen, Jacob, Caroline, Kappy and I went to watch my nephew, Tyler Beyer, play soccer at Leon High School. Stephen decided to run a 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles; 52+ laps) around the Leon High track while Tyler was playing. We watched as Stephen ran round and round the track for almost an hour and a half.

The next day Stephen decided to run in the Billy Bowlegs 5K at FSU's College of Engineering. Stephen finished third overall behind Stanley Linton and Chase Harris. Chase had not run since before the holidays so both of them were a little slower than usual. A nice day for a race though. You can view all the results at Gulfwinds.  Also, read Herb Wills' article about the race.

Last Gasp 5K - Dothan, AL

Stephen, Caroline and Kappy ran in the Last Gasp 5K in Dothan, Alabama today. We thought it would be an easy victory for Stephen as last year's fastest times were in the 20 minute range. The main reason we went to the race was to see if Stephen could run a race in the 16's before 2011 ended. That was one of his goals this year. One of the Cairo runners who often runs in the local races was there. He found Stephen shortly after we got out of the car to register and told him there was a high school kid who runs in the high 16's who had entered the race. The kid's name was Sean Kent. That sounded like good news for helping Stephen get into the 16's.

The race started and the lead runners were quickly out of sight with Stephen in 4th place. The next time I saw him was at the 4400 meter mark. Stephen was in 2nd place about 15 meters behind Sean Kent. As the two runners passed me Stephen said "Dad, I have to pee." I told him "Later!" The two runners sped past me and toward a short (but rather steep) hill. Unlike a lot of runners, Stephen loves to see a steep hill coming. He seems to have really figured out how to power up the hills. Today's race was proof of Stephen's burgeoning hill running prowess. When the two runners reached the hill, Stephen picked up his pace and ran past the lead runner. He ended up winning the race by 10 or 15 meters. He was a little disappointed to see his race time of 17:40. We were told that the course they ran on is traditionally a difficult course. It would be a good one to train on. You can view all of the race results at the Dothan Runners Club site.   For a more objective article on the race you can also read Herb Wills' blog. 

Caroline and Kappy were also in the race. Kappy told us the whole trip over to Dothan that she didn't want to run. When she saw all the people signing up to run she changed her mind. Jacob ran with her. Aim signed Caroline up as a "walker" against her will thinking she might end up with a medal. Aim was right. Caroline finished 3rd overall.

Enjoy the pictures:

Tannenbaum 6K, Tallahassee, FL

Stephen ran in the Tannenbaum 6k on Saturday. He finished 11th overall out of a very strong field of local Tallahassee runners. His time was 22:10. What that means I have no idea as this is only his second 6k ever. There aren't many around. For a summary of the race you can read Herb Wills' blog.  You can also see all the race results at Gulfwinds.

Enjoy the pictures:

Red Nose Run 5K - Thomasville, Georgia

Stephen, Jacob and Caroline ran in the Red Nose Run 5K in Thomasville, Georgia on Saturday December 10, 2011.  Stephen took off fast and ended fast winning the race in 17:07.  Jacob and Caroline got to the race about 1 minute after it started.  I handed each of them their running numbers "bibs" and they took off to catch the already departed crowd.  Jacob finished 42nd (24:38) out of 242 and in 206th (40:58). You can see all of the results here.

We rushed out of the house the morning of the race and forgot to bring our cameras.  Fortunately, a number of other people were taking pictures.  You can read Herb Wills' article and see his pictures at Trouble Afoot.

Also, a number of pictures were taken by the Thomasville Junior Services League.