USATF State Age Group Championships/Maple Ridge 5K and more

Cameron competed in the USATF State Age Group Championships in Jenks this past Saturday, running the 800, 400, and 1500 in the Bantam age group (10/under). Cameron's time for the 800 meters was 3:16.17, which placed him 10th out of 18 runners. His 400 meter time was 1:32.52, which placed him 19th out of 26 runners, and his 1500 meter time was 6:42.92, which placed him 7th out of 11 runners. The 6:42.92 in the 1500 was a new PR for Cameron, eclipsing the 6:49 he ran last year. Cameron ran a 1200 meter warmup before his events, so his total distance run was 2.4 miles. This brought his monthly total to 30.3 miles, and his yearly total to 217.7 miles.

Monday morning, we ran the Maple Ridge 5K race in Tulsa. It was a warm and humid morning, and the course for this race is a rather hilly double loop through the Maple Ridge neighborhood. Cameron finished with a chip time of 24:59, placing 1st out of 2 in the 8/under age group, 71st out of 188 males, and 88th out of 340 overall. We jogged a 1K warmup prior to the race, so Cameron's total distance run was 3.7 miles, bringing his monthly total to 34 miles, and his yearly total to 221.4 miles.

Tuesday evening, we made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 1500 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 3x250 meters/500 meters, with a 90 second rest between each. His times for the 250's were 60, 54, and 59 seconds, and for the 500's, they were 2:07, 2:06, and 2:01. After a few minutes rest, he ran a 1000 meter cooldown, followed by 3 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. Cameron's total distance run was 3.1 miles, bringing his monthly total to 37.1 miles, and his yearly total to 224.5 miles.

Wednesday evening, it was back to the ORU Aerobics Center for another PB practice. After a 1500 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 3x500 meters/1000 meters, with a 2:30 rest between each. His times for the 500's were 2:08, 2:12, and 2:03, and for the 1000's, they were 4:36, 4:32, and 4:20. A 1750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 4.8 miles. This brings his monthly total to 41.9 miles, and his yearly total to 229.3 miles.

Catching up

It's been awhile since the last post, mainly because we were out of town for nearly a week due to the death of my wife's grandmother, so it is time to get caught up on Cameron's recent runs. Late Monday afternoon, May 11th, we were at the Jenks High School track for PB practice, since the ORU Aerobics Center was closed for the week due to ongoing renovations. After a 1 mile warmup and stretching, Cameron ran 2 sets of 300 meters/200 meters/300 meters, with a recovery walk to the next start line between each, and about a 5 minute rest between the sets. His times for the 300's were 1:09, 1:08, 1:03, and 1:09, and for the 200's, they were 45 and 46 seconds. A 600 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 2.4 miles. This brought his monthly total to 22.7 miles, and his yearly total to 210.1 miles.

After a week off for our emergency trip, we returned to the ORU Aerobics Center this past Monday evening for PB practice. After a 1500 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 4x200 meters/400 meters, with a 60-90 second rest between each. His times for the 200's were 47, 48, 44, and 48 seconds, and for the 400's, they were 1:40, 1:40, 1:41, and 1:31. After a few minutes rest, Cameron did 5 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 3.2 miles. This brought his monthly total to 25.9 miles, and his yearly total to 213.3 miles.

Tuesday evening, it was back to the ORU Aerobics Center for another PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran a 400 meter time trial in 1:30. After a few minutes rest, he ran for 10 minutes, with a target running pace of 1:15-1:20 per 250 meter lap. He easily beat this pace, as he averaged 1:10 per lap. Cameron's total distance run was 2 miles, bringing his monthly total to 27.9 miles, and his yearly total to 215.3 miles.

Ready...Set...Run! 5K plus a couple other runs

Cameron and I ran the Ready...Set...Run! 5K race held at Hunter Park in Tulsa Saturday morning. Before we get to that race though, we need to get caught up on a couple of runs prior to the race. Thursday evening, we made our way to the ORU Aerobics Center for PB practice. After a 750 meter warmup and stretching, Cameron ran a hill workout, sprinting up the hills, and then walking back down. He repeated this several times, for a total of about 1050 meters of running uphill. A 750 meter cooldown brought Cameron's daily mileage to 1.6 miles. This brought his monthly total to 14.7 miles, and his yearly total to 202.1 miles.

Late Friday afternoon, it was back to the ORU Aerobics Center for another PB practice. After a 1000 meter warmup and some stretching, Cameron ran 2 set of 4x200 meters, with about a 60 second rest between each repeat, and an 8 minute rest between sets. His times for the 1st set were 47, 46, 45, and 47 seconds, and for the 2nd set they were 45, 45, 45, and 44 seconds. After a few minutes rest, Cameron did 3 laps around the track where he walked the curves and sprinted the straightaways, which were about 50 meters each in length. Cameron's total distance run was 1.8 miles, bringing his monthly total to 16.5 miles, and his yearly total to 203.9 miles.

As mentioned above, Cameron and I ran the Ready...Set...Run! 5K at Hunter Park Saturday morning. Skies were mainly overcast, with just a peek of the sun every now and then, and temperatures were in the low to mid 60s, with a northerly breeze at around 10 miles an hour. The course had a couple fairly significant hills, but was mostly flat otherwise. Cameron finished with a time of 24:29, just 3 seconds off his 5K PR, and over 5 1/2 minutes ahead of me. He finished 1st out of 2 in the 8/under age group, 28th out of 127 males, and 35th out of 291 overall. We jogged a 0.7 mile warmup prior to the race, so Cameron's total distance run was 3.8 miles, bringing his monthly total to 20.3 miles, and his yearly total to 207.7 miles.

Indy Mini

Saturday morning, Cameron and I ran in the largest half marathon in the United States, the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon, more commonly referred to as the Indy Mini. 35,000 runners were registered for the race, and as of this evening, 30,265 finishers are listed in the results. The weather was nearly perfect at the start, with overcast skies, light winds, and temperatures in the mid to upper 40s. The sun broke through the clouds a little past the 8-mile mark, which made it feel a bit warm, but overall we could not have asked for better conditions to run in.

As you can imagine with a race of this size, it took a long time to get everyone past the start line. We finally made it to the start a little more than 12 minutes after the gun, and the last person crossed the start line over 50 minutes after the official start of the race. Once we passed the start line though, we were able to get into our planned running pace nearly immediately. Cameron and I ran together for the first 10 miles, which included a lap on the track around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from about mile 6 to mile 8.5. At the 10-mile mark, I told Cameron to go ahead and run the last 5K at his own pace...he no longer had to stay back with dad. Our 5-mile split was 51:15, and we hit the 10-mile mark in 1:47:44. Once Cameron took off on his own, he was off to the races, and he ran the final 5K in 25:13, to finish with a chip time of 2:12:57, which was over 12 minutes ahead of me. Based on our finishing positions, we estimate that Cameron passed somewhere in the vicinity of 3000 runners over the final 5K of the race.

Cameron's finish time of 2:12:57 placed him 36th out of 113 in the 12/under age group, but only 5 runners in that age group ran a faster final 5K than he did. He was 8557th out of 14,380 males, and 13,333rd out of 30,265 overall. After the race, we were left wondering just how fast Cameron's time could have been had he run the entire race at his own pace, instead of just the last 5K. Basically, he ran the equivalent of a 10 mile warmup, followed by a 5K race. Cameron's total distance run was 13.1 miles, which is also his total for the month. This brings his yearly total to 200.5 miles.

Cameron also became a TV star after the race, as a local Indianapolis TV station that was covering the race interviewed him. This interview can be seen at:

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/500_festival/mini_marathon/2009_Mini_Marathon_20

Cameron appears at about the 3:15 mark of the segment, and then I appear with Cameron at about the 10:50 mark.

Cameron also gets a mention in the following clip at about the 4:30 mark:

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/500_festival/mini_marathon/2009_Mini_Marathon_22

The official race photographs of Cameron can be seen at:

http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=47187&PWD=&BIB=26074