Meet Camille and my homecoming run

Hello again runners,

Some of you may have caught a tweet from @R3_Running introducing Camille. I thought I'd take a few minutes to expand on that introduction here.

Camille is on a mission! She is attempting to run a race in all 50 states. So far she has Tennessee, Louisiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Alabama, North Carolina and Mississippi. R3 will be tracking her on her travels, so keep on eye on this blog, and follow her progress on Twitter. If you happen to know a great race for her to run (and maybe some nice folks she can stay with, racing all over the country isn't cheap you know!) please let us know.

I actually ran a race myself last week. Not surprisingly, it wasn't all that impressive. Murray State hosted its 28th annual Homecoming Run 5k on Friday. My parents were in town to visit, so I thought it would be fun for them to stand in the rain and watch me run a mediocre race. Who wouldn't love that? Actually, my parents are crazy about running in general and my running in particular (even though neither of them have ever run a race). They couldn't have been happier, and as always, were a magnificent pit crew. Much to my disappointment two of the current pack of Murray State Racer cross country team members were on hand. I had settled for third before the race started. I know that sounds pessimistic, but I was truly only there for fun, and I had eaten Matt B's pizza for lunch a mere two hours before the gun went off. It is my favorite pizza, but a terrible pre-race meal. I knew I was in trouble, and wasn't in "race mode" at all. I didn't even wear my singlet.

I had a cramp within a mile! A cramp!!! I've been running over half my life. I should be well beyond the eating too close to race time and getting a cramp stage! Oh well... My time was terrible even the course is about 2.8 miles. I did tell a few runners about the store, and it was fun to have my parents at a race again, even if I never really planned on doing much racing.

I'm done with PT if I keep improving. The pain in my leg is sort of hit or miss these days. I'm looking forward to maybe running some good races this winter, and hitting it hard come spring.

Keep it up!

Devin

A good day in Hopkinsville

Hello again runners,

R3 was out and about this weekend with some great results! A big congrats to all of the R3 runners who toed the line at the Hopkinsville YMCA Trot for Troops 5k and 10k. You can see the full results here. Kate Hover took home the gold in the women's 5k (and second overall!) while Mike Henchen ran away with the top prize in the 10k. James Holmes picked up a 2nd place age division award, which was good enough for a 4th overall in the 10k. Mike Kelley picked up the win in his age division and netted an 8th place overall in the 10k. Congrats to all of the runners!

It was a nice overcast day, but was a little windy. It threatened to rain all morning, but luckily the wet stuff held off. The folks at the Hopkinsville YMCA did a wonderful job putting on the race. In fact, I didn't hear any complaints at all. Good job guys!

I was there to help with the timing. Timing races can be pretty stressful! First, you always feel like you are missing out on the run. Second, no matter how prepared the organizers are, there are always some issues. Murphy's law in action! Runners want their times in a hurry and accurately. Even the weather can make things a nightmare! These are all things I never considered before I helped with timing. So the next time you are at a race give a big thank you to the timing folks, and take it easy on them. Chances are they have been putting out fires all morning.

As I mentioned in my last post I have been dragging around a nagging injury all year. I actually made an appointment to get it checked out! I'm pretty nervous about finding out what is going on. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one! I've put it off so long that it will be a little embarrassing to tell the Dr. how long I've been trying to run through it. I just hope he understands runners, and doesn't think I'm a complete idiot. I'll give a status update in the next post...

See you on the roads,

Devin