I am super late in getting this race report out. The Gate River Run 15k in Jacksonville happened in March and I see that it is now July...

This year I was seeded into the front of the first wave, with a yellow 3-digit race number, based on the quality of the half marathon performance that I submitted. It was pretty cool to be right up there at the front near the elites.

The River Run is really just an amazing, huge and well-managed event. I finished 284th out of 14918 total finishers (all genders). There was free beer and chocolate milk at the post-race celebration and this year the Publix bananas were even ripe. The weather was perfect for hanging out until the awards ceremony.

Here is a picture from after the finish with some of my Florida Track Club teammates and Gainesville runners who finished near me:


Photo by Speedy Banana

My RunFlix video of the race:




Speedy Banana was all over the course taking great photos...

The 2015 Gainesville 2nd Annual Summer All Comer Track Meets are coming soon! On Thursday Evenings June 11th, June 18th and July 2nd, Cone Park Track will be host to track and field events for children and adults of all ages.

The cost this year will be $1 per person to offset the cost of the Timing and Starter.

Photo via visitgainesville.com

Questions?

Contact: Coach Larry Holsey of the Gainesville Striders track and field organization

Dates: June 11th - June 18th- July 2nd (Thursday Evenings)

Time: 6:00pm 9:00pm

Cost: $1.00 Everyone to Register at Meet

Location: Fred Cone Park - East University Ave, Gainesville, FL 32641 (Google Map)

The MS Word document provided by Coach Larry Holsey is available for download here: https://db.tt/3mpBQ3HW

I have reproduced the content and schedule below for convenience (as in, I'm not official, I am just sharing the information I have been given)...

Events include Long Jump, Shot put, Mini-Javelin, 100m, 200m, 400m, 1500m, 3000m, as well as a Jogger's / Walker's Community Mile to kick start each meet.

Running events

6:00pm Jogger's / Walkers Healthy Mile to kick Start the Meet 

6:30pm 300meters - 7 and above invited - Males and Females

6:45pm 1500meters - All Ages invited - Males and Females

7:00pm 100meters - All Ages invited - Males and Females

7:45pm 50meters - 6 and under invited - Males and Females - kids receives a ribbon

8:00pm Coaches Relay - 100, 100, 200, 400 

8:20pm 200meters - 7 and above invited - Males and Females

8:30pm 200m Hurdles - 13-14 - Males and Females

8:40pm 3,000 meters - All Ages invited - Males and Females

Field Events

June 11th - Long Jump (11 years under) - Mini Javelin - Shot Put (All Ages)

June 18th - Long Jump (12 years above) - Mini Javelin - Shot Put (All Ages)

July 2nd - TBA

The LGAA 5k and Corporate Challenge is held at Ironwood Golf Course in Gainesville, Florida.

http://www.lgalum.com/LGAA-5K

I have had the pleasure of participating on the Youth Combine race team for the past 2 years, both of which... we won! Youth Combine is a local Gainesville organization that offers affordable, effective fitness programs for youth of all ages.

Here is a photo of the Youth Combine race team with the winning check from 2015:



The 2015 LGAA 5k was held on April 22, 2015. Race Results are posted:

http://georesults.racemine.com/Start-...5k/results

Photo via Five Points of Life (Facebook)

In February I finished my third marathon, the Five Points of Life Marathon 2015. Here's all of the good stuff... Official finish time was a BQ of 3:12:50 (should meet the 2016 Boston Marathon qualifying standards), Masters Winner, PR by over 13 minutes, top-10 overall, and just a few places out of the overall cash prizes.

I had 3 possible marathon goals going into the race, in increasing level of difficulty (always have multiple race goals says John Davis):

1. run a PR (my previous personal best was 3:26:14)
2. run a BQ time (under 3:15 for the 40 - 44 age group)
3. break 3 hours

I am glad that I was able to hit my intermediate goal. I don't think I would have done this without the last 6 miles of pacing from Matthew Howland (thank you sir!). I started getting some cramping in my hamstrings a little before mile 20 where Matthew started running with me. At around mile 22 I was handed a Strawberry Banana gel that tasted amazing and shortly after that the cramping subsided. I never got my pace back down but I was able to keep moving and finish the race.

I was definitely in the best shape of my life going into the race, but wow, the marathon is a beast! Muscle cramps are frustrating since it isn't a matter of mentally "pushing through the pain". The pace calculators / projections say that I can get under the 3-hour mark based on my 1:23:40 Half Marathon, it is just a matter of putting in the training (more miles!), avoiding the muscle cramps, and bringing it all together in a race. I'm pretty happy I was able to run the time I did averaging around 40 miles per week.

I plotted my mile splits (some are estimated) and the following graph definitely looks different than my first marathon attempt where I had severe muscle cramping:

I earned my first "tortoise trophy" at the 2015 Race The Tortoise 5k at O'Leno State Park. This is always a nice event and a fast course.

I just didn't have a lot of racing gumption in me that day but still managed a Masters win. Congrats to the woman and boy who finished ahead of me. Lyubov Denisova and Anton Matchev both ran strong races (also got tortoise trophies!). Here are the top 3 finisher results:

Place	Bib #	Name	Finish Time	Pace per Mile	Gender	Age	Age Rank
1	142	LYUBOV DENISOVA	17:57.7	5:46	F	43	1st Overall Female
2	146	ANTON MATCHEV	18:15.6	5:52	M	11	1st Overall Male
3	135	DAN STONER	18:24.4	5:55	M	40	1st Male Master