Sunday, July 31, 2011

Post-Deadline Buccos & Junkyard Jaunt

The Pirates wrapped up their road trip today by getting swept by Philly. Their key stretch against St. Louis, Atlanta, and Philadelphia didn't quiet goes as well as hoped as the lost 2 of 3 to the Cardinals, split with Atlanta, and the aforementioned sweep by the Phillies (3-7). Meanwhile, the Cardinals and Brewers took turns beating up on the Astros and Cubs to put a little gap between them and the third-place Pirates.

So, the Buccos stand 2 games over .500 and 4.5 games out of first place heading into the final two months. ANY fan would've taken that back in March. Hopefully with the additions of Derek Lee and Ryan Ludwick (and playing the Cubs and Padres the next 7 games), the buccos will climb back closer to first place.

Today, I ran the Junkyard Jaunt 5k with my cousin K. Why didn't Beth run it too? Oh, because she was in the middle of a 6 hour bike ride, that's all. She was nice enough to take a break during her ride to see the actual race. Then she went back on her way for another few hours. Things went well. K was the first female (and there was some $$$ involved). I ended up in 4th place, but only 9 seconds out of first.


Out of the gate, one runner took off and I followed about 10 seconds behind. I split the first mile in 5:19 and figured I should reel it in a little. While the first place guy stayed out there a little ahead, three other guys were literally breathing down my neck. The guy out front came back to us around the 2 mile mark (my split was 10:52, so 5:33 2nd mile)

It was a fun last 0.6 miles from the 2.5 mile turnaround. As we did the 180-degree turn, all five of us were line up in a row. Unfortunately, three of them had more left than me. But, I'll take a 17:21 on a rolling/fairly flat course and get ready for my next race. A couple of other notes from the race, the winner was 51 years old!! I just hope to be completing 5k's in my 50's. Second, the race was 1.16 miles from our driveway (according to mapmyrun.com) making it the shortest commute to a race I've ever done. It was nice after the race to just drive up the hill and be home.

Congrats to the many fine performances at the Pittsburgh Tri today included
Chad's overall win and Ben's 5th place finish (with the fastest bike split).

How did it get to be August already?

3 comments:

Beth said...

You failed to mention our "re-calculating" of the course distance - IT WAS LONG!!!! ;) Congrats. Very inspiring mid-ride to see you and Karen crush it.

Charlie Ban said...

Crush it AND someone else

runningyankee said...

smokin time O! great job out there.