Short Course at Valkyries

It is not that hard to measure a course reasonably accurately, say within 5 or 10 meters/mile. Even if it's not certified, you can: A) measure with a bike, B) use a GPS, C) go old school and use a measuring wheel.

Did they do that at the Run for the Valkyries last weekend, which happens to be on the Flint Hills Series? NO!!! Instead of 8K (4.96 miles) the course was closer to 4.8 miles.

This race was managed by the Ski Club's Comp Group for a number of years, but since 2008 the local Opera Club has taken over. Why I don't know, other than no one else wants to do it.

They charge too much ($25/entry), they are disorganized and don't know what they're doing (we saw a course marshal twice attempt to misdirect the lead runners near the start and finish), and participation rates have dropped to 1/3 of the level of just a couple years ago.

I'll hold off on age graded rankings for this one until they get an accurately measured course.

No Pain Is No Pain

My knee stopped hurting about a week ago. I biked almost every day that we were in Colorado, but mostly easy/moderate and fairly short, averaging about an hour or so. The longest was about 1:40 at a moderate effort up Waterton Canyon.

Flint Hills Mile Age Grade Results

Perfect summer conditions for th The Flint Hills Mile last night. Mid to high 70s and a dry breeze.

Charity Walker ran away with the open title with a comfortable 5:38.5, while Zach Ginn led wire to wire to edge Chris Eversman 4:35.2 to 4:35.6, and they were closely followed by high schooler Gavin Dewilde in 4:38.3.

Tristan won a tactical junior (14 and under) mile in 5:55.1. It was somewhat disappointing not to run, but working as a "plunger" kept my mind busy through the evening.

Once again, here's the link to the age grading calulator
http://www.howardgrubb.co.uk/athletics/wmalookup06.html

As usual were some excellent and notable age grade performances, led by Phyllis Church's 7:59 mile, which grades to 89.65. According to World Master's Association I think anything above 90% is world class.

Greater than 80% is "national class," and we had three accomplish that standard. Jane Lanford and Dorly McWayne had another good duel in the sun, and once again scored in the mid 80s. And Fairbanks' Jim Loftus ran to an 84.95.

The race had seven women and eight men score higher than 70%, a solid standard of excellence.


RUNNER .........[age] TIME; AGE GRADE PERCENT
Phyllis Church.. [74] 7:59.9; 89.65
Dorli McWayne... [57] 6:23.1; 85.66
Jane Lanford.... [55] 6:21.3; 83.73
Erika Van Flein. [50] 6:36.4; 75.42
Norma Haubenstock[56] 7:17.3; 74.01
Dena Doublex.... [60] 7:50.9; 72.73
Karen Nanseth... [46] 6:38.3; 71.32


RUNNER .........[age] TIME; AGE GRADE PERCENT
Jim Loftus...... [60] 5:25.8; 84.95
Jim Madonna..... [74] 6:38.4; 78.32
Robert Weeden... [48] 5:28.9; 76.15
Bad Bob Baker... [52] 5:46.3; 74.69
Geoffrey Ames... [48] 5:35.5; 74.65
Bruce Gard...... [51] 5:37.9; 74.65
Ed Debevec...... [55] 6:00.6; 73.53
Warren Taylor... [55] 6:03.3; 72.99

On the Osteoarticular Rollercoaster, Again

Flint Hills Mile is tonight, and I was going to gear up for a sub 5, but that will be a DNS to go, thank you very much.

After 10 days of knee pain--starting out intermittently, but slowy sliding toward steady--I pulled the plug on running as of this Monday. I can feel a "stress reaction" (aka/formerly known as a stress fracture) building into my knee. Whether it's a hot spot or start of another crack there is no doubt that this thing isn't going to get better until I rest it for (ARGGGHGG!!!!!) five or six weeks.

I'll get a medical diagnosis after we get back from Colorado.

So today I went out on a 22 mile bike ride, up Sheep Creek to St. Patricks and Henderson, and back along the Equinox course to mile 25, before heading back to town. Nice day for a ride and I got in a good workout.