Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Another Race

It's been one month and one day since I finished my first (of many, hopefully) marathon. Since then I've got a little lazy in my training, taking days off, running shorter distances and loading up on junk food. In order to achieve the goals that I've set for my next marathon, I'm going to have to step it up a notch. Meaning I'm going to have to eat better and train harder. Today I took my first step in that direction. I participated in the 33rd annual Butte to Butte, it's a little 10 k (6.2 miles) that starts at Spencer Butte Middle School and finishes at Skinner's Butte Park. This was the fourth time that I've participated in this Eugene tradition, the last time being 1990. Going into the race my goal was 44 minutes, a very attainable time but difficult, due to my laziness over the last month. I blazed through my first mile in 7 minutes 12 seconds, pretty fast considering that the first mile takes you up the infamous "hill". I ran the second mile which was all downhill in just over 6 minutes. After mile two I settled into the pace that would carry me to mile four. I hit a small wall between miles four and five, but caught a second wind that carried me all the way to the finish. My time was a decent 41 minutes 26 seconds good enough for 103rd place out of 1841 runners. I was happy with the time but a little frustrated that I missed the top 100 by just nine seconds.

2006 Butte to Butte Results

3 comments:

Chris Steele said...

Don't worry, Dennis, I'm still impressed. Maybe next year we'll be running marathons together.

Jon Knapp said...

Dude! You are the man!

Jessica said...

NICE JOB! I'll come cheer for you in the Portland Marathon.