A little run in the snow

We had originally planned to run the Wish Lemons 5K race this morning, but expected weather conditions made us lean against it all week, and we made a final decision this morning not to go. However, once the snow started coming down fast and furious, Cameron decided he wanted to go to LaFortune Park to run in the snow with JATC at 10 am. Due to horrible road conditions at that time, everyone arrived late, and it was around 10:45 before we finally started running. A couple people went down to the trail and saw that a new lake had formed...we have named it Lake LaFortune...so they decided we should run in the neighborhoods across the street from the park. However, Cameron insisted that he still wanted to run at LaFortune, so he and I headed down to the trail and started our 5K loop. It was an interesting run to say the least, as the snow was coming down fast and furious the whole time we ran. Heavy snow on all the trees caused the branches to be hanging so low that I had to run off the trail to get through...Cameron was short enough to still be able to run beneath them. However, this also had its own hazards, as the above freezing temperatures were causing big chunks of snow to occasionally fall off the branches. At one point, Cameron exclaimed that a branch had fallen on him, and I had to tell him that it wasn't a branch...it was just a big chunk of snow that fell off the branch.

The trail conditions were as bad as I've ever seen at LaFortune, as you would go from several inches of snow straight into Lake LaFortune, and then straight back into deep snow again. This cycle repeated itself numerous times around the park. The result was frozen toes from having to cross the lake every minute or two. Running north was no treat either as a brisk north wind was blowing all the snow directly into us...it was much better running south in the middle of the loop. Considering the conditions, the run didn't go too terribly bad. We completed the 5K in 36:43, so Cameron's daily mileage was 3.1 miles. This brings his monthly total to 38.9 miles, and his yearly total to 132.2 miles.

Friday time trials

We headed to the ORU Aerobics Center late this afternoon for an unofficial PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran an 800 meter time trial, and a 1600 meter time trial. His time in the 800 was 3:30, and after about a 10 minute rest, he ran the 1600 in 7:05, which was just one second off his PR. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.4 miles. His monthly total is now 35.8 miles, and his yearly total is 129.1 miles.

On a side note, Cameron's brother Brandon joined us today, as he was finally able to run for the first time in 5 months. He jogged a total of about 2 miles, and he said it felt good.

Thursday at LaFortune Park

There was no PB practice this evening, so we headed to LaFortune Park to run with JATC instead. Cameron ran two 5K loops around the park, with about a 5 minute break between the two laps. He ran his first 5K in 28:37, but the time for his second 5K is unknown, due to a watch malfunction...he may not have reset it before he started the second lap. I think it was a bit slower than the first lap, but I'm not positive on that. Cameron's total distance run was 6.2 miles, bringing his monthly total to 33.4 miles, and his yearly total to 126.7 miles.

Tuesday

We returned to the ORU Aerobics Center this evening for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 4x200 meters/400 meters, with a 60-90 second rest between each. His time for each of the 200's was 47 seconds, and for the 400's, his times were 1:41, 1:39, 1:39, and 1:28. The 1:28 was a new 400 meter PR for Cameron by a full 3 seconds. A 2000 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 3.2 miles. His monthly total is now 27.2 miles, and his yearly total is 120.5 miles.

Return from Spring Break

Cameron spent Spring Break at his grandparents' house outside of Seymour, Wisconsin. While there, he ran approximately 5K up and down their long driveway on two different occasions...March 16th and 18th. His times were 28:42 and 28:34. The total of 6.2 miles brought his monthly total to 22.1 miles, and his yearly total to 115.4 miles.

This evening, we were back at the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 2 sets of 4x200 meters, with about a minute rest between each repeat, and a 5 minute rest between sets. His times for the 1st set were 43, 47, 46, and 43 seconds, and for the 2nd set, they were 42, 46, 44, and 41 seconds. After about a 10 minute rest, Cameron ran 2 more 200's, running them each in 42 seconds, with about a minute rest between them. A 250 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 1.9 miles. His monthly total is now 24 miles, and his yearly total is 117.3 miles.

Tuesday

This evening, we once again made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron did 3 sets of 10 minutes running/5 minutes stretching. His target running pace was 1:15-1:20 per 250 meter lap on the first and last sets, and 1:12 on the middle set. He ended up averaging 1:19 on the first set, 1:15 on the second set, and 1:12 on the final set, so he hit his 1:12 one set later than planned. Cameron's total distance run was 4.3 miles, bringing his monthly total to 15.9 miles, and his yearly total to 109.2 miles.

Time to catch up

It's been a week since the last post, so it's time to catch up. First of all, Cameron got really sick last week...he had a fever as high as 104 last Wednesday evening. He recovered just in time to join Brandon and I for our annual trek to St. Louis for the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament to cheer on our Bradley Braves. The Braves defeated Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals, but lost to eventual champion Northern Iowa in the semifinals. They will still likely play in the postseason...either in the CBI like last season, when they lost to Tulsa in the championship round, or in the brand new CollegeInsider.com tournament.

Over the weekend, we stayed in the O'Fallon/Shiloh area just east of St. Louis in Illinois. Before heading to the games Saturday, Cameron ran 2.1 miles in the parking lot of the hotel, and his time was 19:32. This brought his monthly total to 5.2 miles, and his yearly total to 98.5 miles.

Sunday morning, Cameron ran a 5K race that started right across the street from the hotel. The name of the race was the "Top of the Morning 5K." The turnout was quite impressive...certainly many hundreds of runners, and perhaps as many as 1000. The weather was unseasonably warm and humid for early March, with a race time temperature of 67 degrees, and a dewpoint of 56. Skies were overcast, with a south breeze of 10 to 15 miles an hour. The official results are not yet online, but Cameron's time was somewhere in the vicinity of 25:54....not bad, especially considering he was just coming off a sickness, and there was a long uphill climb just before the turnaround. The only negative about the race was that the youngest age group was 15/under, so the three awards all went to young high school cross country runners, with no chance for Cameron to compete in that age group. An hour after the 5K, there was a 1/2 mile kids run, and Cameron ran this as well. The actual distance turned out to be closer to 600 meters, and Cameron finished in 5th or 6th place, with a time of 2:36. The top kid runners in this run also ran the 5K, and also finished ahead of Cameron in that. Everyone who finished the kids run received a medal and a stuffed animal, which was a nice touch. Prior to the race, Cameron jogged a 1/2 mile warmup, so his total distance run was 4 miles. This brought his monthly total to 9.2 miles, and his yearly total to 102.5 miles.

This evening, it was back to the ORU Aerobics Center and PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron again ran 4x200 meters/400 meters, with a 1-2 minute rest between each. His times for the 200's were 45, 48, 45, and 48 seconds, and for the 400's, they were 1:35, 1:38, 1:42, and 1:37. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.4 miles. His monthly total is now 11.6 miles, and his yearly total is 104.9 miles.

Monday

This evening, we returned to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 3x40 yards. His times were 6.9, 6.9, and 6.7 seconds. After a short rest, he then ran 4x200 meters/400 meters, with a 1-2 minute rest between each. Cameron's times for the 200's were 46, 44, 48, and 47 seconds, and for the 400's, they were 1:38, 1:38, 1:38, and 1:31. The 1:31 matched his 400 meter PR. A 1750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 3.1 miles, which is also his monthly total. His yearly total is now 96.4 miles.