Turkey Trot

December 7th, 2008
November 5K November’s 5K, actually a 5-miler, was on Thanksgiving morning and benefited the Madison County Humane Society. I went with some good friends. There were about 4000 people running. The goal was to get in the top 1000 so we’d get a free pumpkin pie. Needless to say I went home pieless, but the race was a lot of fun. One more to go.

AtchyGate 5K

October 27th, 2008
Atchygate1 Atchygate2 Atchygate3
October’s 5K was for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society . The 5K was held at the OSU/Penn State tailgate, officially hosted by the AtchyGate Tailgate crew (Mark and Laura Atchison). The race started in the morning, it was a night game, and wound it’s way through the tailgaters, up to High Street, down the OSU Oval, past the Horseshoe and back down Woody Hayes Blvd. How did I finish, you ask? Let’s just say I finished 2nd in the men’s division, and yes there were only 2 men in the race! In my defense, I was running against a 2-time AchyGate champion. Dawn and Zach joined in the festivities as well, although they informed me that I was on my own for any further 5Ks (at least until the temperature goes back above the 50 degree mark.

Ovarian Cancer Coalition 5K

September 21st, 2008
Ovarian 5K 1 Ovarian 5K 3 Ovarian 5K 2
September’s 5K was for Ovarian Cancer. We know several women that have survived ovarian cancer and much research needs to be done to eliminate this disease. The race involved the whole family, as well as some friends and neighbors. It was a perfect morning for a run. I do have to say, I did beat Zach (by about 2 seconds) with the following caveats; 1) He’s never run a 5K before and 2) he got very little sleep the night before and, 3) I think he let the old man win so I wouldn’t be depressed.
We had an inspiration during the race. We’ve been running a lot of charity races, all seemingly focused on cancers that involve “lady parts”. To be fair, it seems like there should be a guy cancer focused event. We came up with the idea for a 5K to fight testicular cancer. So fair all we’ve done is come up with a race theme/slogan. Here’s what we have so far (feel free to add or ridicule).

  • “The Running of the Balls”
  • “Sack Attack”
  • “Members Only”

Panerathon 5K to Fight Hunger

September 20th, 2008
Panerathon 5K to Fight Hunger 8 for 8. August’s run was for the Paneraton 5K in support of Childrens Hunger Alliance. The event was held in Upper Arlington and kicked off by serveral former OSU football players. There were about 600 people in the race. The race took us through the neighborhoods of UA. All-in-all a great cause and a decent race.

Race For Ellie

August 7th, 2008
July 2008 Run 7 for 7, but nothing like waiting until the last minute…..again. I ran the Race for Ellie in Powell. Ellie suffers from United Mitochondrial Disease. This was a great event which raised about $48,000 for the charity. I ran ok, especially since I was in vacation mode already. I finished the race, wrapped up a couple of things as home, packed up the car and we headed to Mytrle Beach for vacation. It was a great way to start off a much needed vacation.

RadioU 5K

July 7th, 2008
RadioU 5K 6 for 6. Not like I didn’t run down to the wire to get the June 5K in on almost the last day of the month. I did manage to find this small 5K that was local. The bonus, I thought at the time, was that is was not only local, but in the evening, so I wouldn’t have to haul myself out of bed early on a weekend. The run was scheduled for through Alum Creek park, which is a great run along the river. Turns out the run was pretty good, but short. Due to all the rain part of the course flooded. Regardless it was another fun run.

Race For The Cure

May 17th, 2008
Race For The Cure I’m now 5/5 on my 5K a month commitment. It was the Race For The Cure, or as my son called it “The Boob Run”. Nice. The weather couldn’t have been better. These 5Ks are so much better in warmer weather. Dawn and Zach joined me in the festivities and did the 1 mile walk. There were 43,000 people at the race this morning! It was unbelievable to see that many people crowd the streets of downtown Columbus, taking up all four lanes of road for over a mile at a time.

Today’s race was a personal one for me. It wasn’t about time or where I finished. It was in honor of my mother and the race was made even better having my family with me. Luckily I finished the 5K just in time to join them on the 1 mile walk. Thanks Mom, for everything you were and everything I learned from you.

Commit to be Fit 5K

April 12th, 2008
April 2008 5K I’m now 4/4 on my 5K a month commitment. I have to say, today’s race was a close call. The weather was good, the rain looked like it was going to hold out until after the rain and I was just over a bad cold. I really had no excuse, well, actually no good excuse. Thanks to good friends of ours, let’s just refer to them as “Minards”, I accidently imbibed a bit too much last night, so hearing the alarm at 7:00 this morning was a little rough. Needless to say a good run in the cool Columbus morning does wonders to clear up the fog from a night out with the “Minards”.

The “Arnold 5K”

March 2nd, 2008

Arnold 5K
I’m now 3 for 3 on the 12 5Ks in 2008. I ran the Arnold 5K in downtown Columbus this morning. The 5K is part of the Arnold Fitness Fest that descends on Columbus every year. It was a great morning for a run, about 39 and sunny. My time was decent, just under 27, which isn’t bad for not doing any serious training.

Frigid 5K, part 2

February 2nd, 2008
Frigid 5K, part 2 I am now 2 for 2 in the 12 5Ks in 2008 goal. The second Frigid 5K kicked off this morning at 10:15. The temperature was a balmy 31 degrees and the track was an ice rink! That said, I was feeling pretty good before the start of the race until I got to registration. I had signed up for both races so that I could get the t-shirt. I thought it would be funny to wear it during warmer weather runs and have people wonder what the hell is wrong with me. When I get to registration, the registration staff take one look at my number and said, “Wow that’s a terrible number, you can have whatever you want, you’ll need it”. I’m not a superstitious person, but when I had to clip a big number to my chest that falls between 665 and 667, even I was a little unsettled.
All-in-all the run went pretty well. I finished ahead of my time from the last run, so I’m not complaining.