Finished Half of a Half Marathon Last Sunday and Ran Trails on Christmas

This past Sunday, I ran half of the Holly Jolly Half Marathon in Camarillo, ending the year of racing with a thud. So why is there a photo of a Santa to the Sea bib number below? More on that later.

The bib number that I did not wear

Why just half of a half marathon? Why not just run the 10K or 5K? Because I fully intended to run the full half marathon until my right hamstring gave me grief about 3 miles into the race. Not a sharp pain or pull or anything; just a tightness and soreness that gradually shortened my stride and caused some discomfort.

This was a low key local half marathon/10K/5K in Camarillo, mostly flat, about 80% on roads, 20% on a bike path, double loop course. I signed up for the half marathon about 4 days prior because earlier in the year I had purchased an entry into the Santa to the Sea Half Marathon on December 14th. That half marathon I didn't even make it to.

Let's go further back. On Saturday, the 13th, my wife requested that I put up additional Christmas decorations in the front yard. Somehow I managed to tweak my lower back while working on the candy canes. My back is not very forgiving...later that night I determined I would not be able to run 13.1 miles in the morning.

2014: A year that I turned 50 years old and...felt it! A year that had some promise at the beginning, but quickly fell into an abyss of lower back and sciatic nerve problems.

While the year was not a great one for my racing, I did manage a sub 38 minute 10K back in April and for the most part I've stayed healthy and my injuries, although frequent, were dealt with expeditiously.

So, back to last Sunday. This low key race started out fine. In fact, I found myself in the lead at mile 1, where I looked at my watch and saw 6:24. This pace seemed perfectly fine to me. It translates into a 1:24 half marathon, on par with the half marathon time I ran in February.

A younger fellow passed me by shortly after that first mile, and I made no attempt to stick with him. Having not done a wink of speedwork or shorter distance races for many months, I did not feel another gear in my transmission. But soon thereafter the sciatic nerve issue that caused me not to run the 2014 Los Angeles Marathon reared its ugly head.

The beauty of a double loop course is that it gives you the opportunity to call it a day mid-way into the race and move along with your day. That's just what I did. Having experienced this same hamstring / sciatic nerve issue in the past, I took it in (diminished) stride, stopped, stretched and drove off to enjoy the rest of the beautiful day that it was.

I do believe that sitting too much is not helping my problem. So I get up as often as I can, change chairs, sit on a pillow, occasionally work while kneeling on the ground on a pillow, etc. The issue appears to be a chronic one as it has taken me out of a number of races in recent years, so I'm grappling with how to deal with it. I do find my chiropractor is able to help. Perhaps more stretching would help.

BUT...today is Christmas, and after spending the morning with the family, I was able to take off for an hour long run on the trails, injury free. Just getting out there, running without pain, was enough for me to not have a care about the mediocrity which was the last 8 months of my racing, or lack thereof.

Trails like this take me to my happy place, regardless of how my latest race went.

First Day Off Running in Two Months Today

Yes, today, Sunday, September 7, 2014, is the first day I've taken off from running since July 5, 2014. I've been running pretty much every day the entire summer, though my 50th birthday, the longest vacation since my teen years and other summer activities.

My running, however, has been nothing special, just daily 4 to 6 mile runs, mostly on trails, nothing too speedy, no races, speedwork. My fastest runs have been with the local youth cross country running club that my son participates in.

So today my quads are sore as hell. Why? Because yesterday I ran a local 5K cross country race mostly with a bunch of kids (and some adults) who have been training for the last 6 to 8 weeks. I, on the other hand, have not been in race training mode.

You can't fool your body, especially at age 50. Five years ago I could run a 5K on a moment's notice and feel fine the next day. Today I run a 5K and the next day my legs feel like I've run a marathon.

But it's a "good" feeling in that it is just soreness, not pain. No injuries. Just my muscles reminding me that if I want to run fast, I've got to train fast. A pretty basic concept. The soreness is a wake up call.

Getting back to the race, I don't even know my time. I had to bolt out of there to get to my other son's soccer game. The race was at 10am in 80+ degree heat, which is not my idea of fun. But I'm glad I did it and it gave me the excuse today to take a well-needed (and deserved) day off.

Looking forward to a fall/winter season of cool temperatures and rain. Perhaps wishful thinking here in drought-ridden Southern California, but I think we're about due for it.

Results From the 21st Annual Senior Concerns "Love Run" in Westlake Village

The 21st Annual Love Run to support Senior Concerns' Meals on Wheels Program took place this past Sunday, June 8th, 2014. Meals on Wheels delivers two nutritious, freshly-prepared meals to homebound, hidden elderly in the Conejo Valley community 364 days a year. Funds raised from the Love Run enable Senior Concerns to provide Meals On Wheels scholarships to those who cannot afford the program and ensures that nobody is ever turned away. Learn more about Senior Concerns at www.seniorconcerns.org.

I've run the Love Run from time to time in the past and it is a well organized event. There is a 5K, 10K and a 1 mile fun run.

This past weekend's event had 754 participants in the 5K and 440 in the 10K. Some results:

Top 10 Males in 5K:

1. Sean Gildea  Thousand Oaks 22 15:35
2. Mikey Giguere Westlake Village 17 15:50
3. Cole Anderson Simi Valley 17 16:34
4. Timothy Wells   14 17:32
5. Phillip Wright     58 18:45
6. Andrew Harris   Thousand Oaks 33 19:00
7. James Locher     Ventura 45 19:13
8. Thomas Morley Westlake village 15 19:16
9. Rudy Gonzales Thousand Oaks 56 19:21
10. Steve Arce  Placentia 19:49

Top 10 Females in 5K:

1. Christy Jesson   Simi Valley  18  20:40
2. Bobbi Marie Ellias Newbury Park  17   20:44
3. Nina Greenberg   Oak Park  51   21:37
4. Ashley Alderman  Westlake Village  30  21:42
5. Barbara Ellias Newbury Park 52  21:46
6. Jody Vermeulen   Simi Valley 38  21:47
7. Stacy Mackintosh  Westlake Village 41 22:08
8. Alison Krane  Thousand Oaks 35  22:29
9. Rochelle Moncourtois    Moorpark 29  22:51
10. Sophia Tross Westlake Village  11  23:37

Top 10 Males in 10K:

1. Jerome Vermeulen Simi Valley 47 33:49 (Impressive time for a 47 year old...let alone any age!)
2. Scott Hambly Thousand Oaks 37 33:52
3. Clayton Graham Calabasas  24 35:20
4. Emman Labao  Sylmar 48  37:27
5. Jorge Rangel  Simi Valley 28  37:38
6. Jorge Rebolledo  Simi Valley  20 37:49
7. Teerth Patel  19 39:55
8. Scott Smith  Thousand Oaks  37 40:07
9. Chris Just 36 40:49
10. Nicholas Johanson Westlake Village 34  40:56

Top 10 Females in 10K:

1. Becky Ahern El Segundo 27 35:53
2. Jenny Mallen Newbury Park 23 37:46
3. Katrina Frame Newbury Park 31 42:19
4. Carolyn Smuts Huntington Beach 40 42:43
5. Madison Weinstock Thousand Oaks 17 43:17
6. Kimberly Vipond Westlake Village 34 43:50
7. Evelyn Gonzales Westlake Village 42 43:55
8. Jennie Labao Sylmar 40 44:32
9. Casey Hambly    Thousand Oaks 33 44:58
10. Laura Serrano Simi Valley 25 45:01

The oldest 10K finisher was 86 year old Francis Petracek of Woodland Hills, who completed the 10K in 1 hour, 23 minutes! Wow!

The oldest 5K finisher was 85 year old Jean Gosse of Thousand Oaks, who completed the 3.1 mile course in 41:26, 518th place overall out of 754 finishers. Way to go!

I was shocked to see there were five male finishers in the 75 to 99 age group in the Love Run 5K! Quite an impressive group of youngsters out there!

Gene Burke of Westlake Village, 77 years old, finished in 29:15, 199th place overall! Woah!!

Rod LeGate of Westlake Village, age 80, finished in 35:56!

Irv Cherno of West Hills, age 79, ran a 48:27.

86 year old Richard Ruwe of Thousand Oaks finished in 50:05!

And 78 year old Gil Good of Thousand Oaks ran a 50:14.

I. Am. Quite. Impressed!

Top 60 Year Old Runner at 2014 Big Sur Marathon Hails From Newbury Park

A good friend of mine, 60 year old David Louks, finished 42nd overall, 1st in his 60 to 65 age group and 2nd fastest age group performance of all time at the Big Sur Marathon held last Sunday, April 27th. This was Louks' 67th marathon and I'm certain it will not be his last. Big Sur is one of the most challenging, yet most beautiful marathon courses. Congrats Dave!

As for me, a few days ago I signed up for a local 5K, the 2nd Annual Run for Your Health 5K in Camarillo held this morning, along with my son. This was a small 5K, with only about 70 registrants, on a well marked course taking runners from the Camarillo Community Center, up Carmen to Las Posas to Arneill to Ponderosa and back to Carmen. Not the most exciting course in the world but with the help of local police they were able to cone off a lane for us the entire course.

Somehow I managed to win the race in 18 minutes, 22 seconds, slower than I felt I was running, but I was running all alone most of the way. This 49 year old body was followed by a 15 year old about a minute back. Fun stuff. I felt fine other than a bit of a stomach cramp that kept me from "pushing it" in mile three. My strategy with stomach cramping is to periodically breath in and blow out air quickly, though not too much (the last thing I need is to hyperventilate in a 5K). It kinda sorta worked for me, but not completely.

In any case, it was fun going out there on a whim today and my 11 year old ran a solid 22 minute race too.

It was not cool out today after week of hot temperatures but it was somewhat less hot than over the last three days, which was nice.

2014 Boston Marathon Results for Ventura County and Adjacent Area Finishers

Fellow Bruin and American Meb Keflezighi won the 2014 Boston Marathon on Monday in his personal best time 2 hours, 8 minutes, 37 seconds, just two weeks shy of his 39th birthday. Meb took the silver medal in the 2004 Olympic Marathon, broke his hip during the 2008 Olympic Trials but still managed to finish 8th, won the New York Marathon in 2009 and finished 4th in the 2012 Olympic Marathon.

I don't think the day could have been any better from Meb K and there isn't a more deserving person than him. And he runs in Sketchers, which is kind of cool. Learn more about the Boston Marathon at www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon.aspx.

There were 70 local area finishers in this year's Boston Marathon. Congrats! Here they are:

Josh Spiker, Ventura 2:51:34

Randy Miller, Thousand Oaks 2:58:57

Juan Viramontes, Santa Paula 2:59:40

Sara Roche, Ventura 3:08:51

Joseph Jaurequi, Newbury Park 3:09:47

Sergio Aloma, Simi Valley 3:11:05

Emily Boggs, Newbury Park 3:11:16

Curtis Names, Ojai 3:12:30

Michelle Chille, Agoura Hills 3:12:38 (18th in division)

Rob Hennick, Moorpark 3:12:59

Clinton Cates, Camarillo 3:13:50

Justin Shakespeare, Camarillo 3:15:43

Benjamin Atkins, Westlake Village, 3:16:41

Paul Schwartz, Westlake Village, 3:16:47

Christina Lightfoot (great runner name), Westlake Village 3:16:16

Martin Simon, Newbury Park 3:20:28

Joe Herzog, Moorpark 3:24:40

Denise Millar, Moorpark 3:24:58

Shauna Potrawski, Simi Valley 3:26:49

True Randall, Ventura 3:27:35

Steve Arce, Westlake Village 3:27:48

Jason Griffith, Thousand Oaks, 3:28:45

Marla Randall, Ventura 3:29:12 (16^th in age group!)

Leanne Mohr, Camarillo 3:31:05

Ariane Hendrix-Roach, Oxnard 3:32:17

Emily Stone, Thousand Oaks, 3:34:58

Charles Brown, Moorpark 3:35:58

Janice Hyllengren, Newbury Park 3:37:11

Danny Vasquez, Oxnard 3:40:13

Brett Fuchs, Camarillo 3:41:37

Melinda Casaus, Ventura 3:42:17

David Moore, Moorpark 3:42:45

Marialuisa Vanore, Camarillo 3:44:42

Tom Schmidhauser, Camarillo 3:45:52

Jeffrey Vanneman, Simi Valley 3:45:54

Julie Ungerleider, Camarillo 3:46:56

Amada Garcia, Thousand Oaks 3:48:15

Leontine Shockley, Santa Paula 3:48:42

Sara Jones, Simi Valley 3:48:46

Kent Blankenship, Thousand Oaks 3:50:01

Brett Goldsmith, Simi Valley 3:51:12

Kelly Clark, Ventura 3:53:14

Melissa Hernandez, Oxnard 3:53:14

Wendy Raymond, Westlake Village, 3:53:38

Mallory Ham, Simi Valley 3:53:38

Hugo Ito, Oxnard 3:54:50

Michael Clarke, Westlake Village, 3:55:56

James Dawson, Ventura 3:55:58

Carolyn Talarico, Westlake Village, 3:56:13

Sarah Rossbach, Ventura 4:01:51

Ashley Graham, Oxnard  4:04:58

Joell Quirarte, Thousand Oaks, 4:06:52

Linda Houser, Simi Valley 4:07:51

Patricia Shapiro, Simi Valley, 4:10:09

Amanda Flaum, Thousand Oaks 4:10:12

Andrzej Bieszczad, Camarillo 4:14:32

Susan Duenas, Thousand Oaks 4:23:37

Nancy Aguilar, Newbury Park 4:30:13

Jack Redmond, Camarillo 4:30:59

Tina Burch, Newbury Park 4:30:17

Kathleen Broder, Camarillo 4:35:09

Darleen Hanlon, Westlake Village, 4:39:46

Courtney Kershaw, Agoura Hills 4:41:10

Laura Pedersen, Simi Valley 4:55:20

Mary Nelson, Ojai 5:03:02

Dorothy Baxter, Moorpark 5:06:39

Christine Kam, Ventura 5:07:19

Randy Pentis, Westlake Village 5:35:26

Dennis Silva, Simi Valley 5:43:03

Donald Aguilar, Oxnard 5:59:53

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Pleasantly Surprised at My Time at a Last Minute 10K Race This Weekend

Last Thursday, April 3rd, I decided it would be fun to run the local Aut2Run 10K race hosted by the Autism Society of Ventura County on the campus of CSU Channel Islands.

There were a number of reasons I decided to run the race. My sciatic nerve issue that kept me out of the LA Marathon has subsided and I've been running pretty much pain-free once again. But without any type of race on the horizon, I've been running fairly aimlessly. The race is just miles from my house. And believe it or not I've never seen much of CSU Channel Islands. And of course the Autism Society is a worthy charity to support.

For the last two weeks I've run on the track Tuesday nights with my 11 year old son and some other kids that are part of the local youth track club. My goal was to teach them pacing by running with them, so they could later take that pacing with them when they run 1600/3200 meters in competition. I found it a humbling experience running with these 5th graders as a few were pulling me along with them...until I forced them to hold back a little.

The first night I ran, I was worried about my hamstring issue coming back, but somehow held it together. We were running about 6 min per mile pace, which is still within my comfort zone. Barely. It paid off for my son because he was able to pace himself to a new PR in the 3200 on Saturday and meet the "varsity" standard. His pace was 6:09 per mile.

I was running to help the kids, but on Sunday it was apparent the 400 to 800 meter track intervals I was running with the kids also benefited me as I was able to creep below 38 minutes in the 10K this Sunday in 37:56, good for 3rd place overall. This translates into about a 6:07 pace per mile for 6.2 miles. Damn! Training with these kids apparently helped me!

For no particular reason I don't run a lot of 10Ks. I generally opt for 5Ks. In fact, the last 10K I ran was on August 18, 2012 in 80 degree heat in the San Fernando Valley and before that, sometime in 2010. My 37:56 was faster than both of these. So at age 49, nearly 50, I'm running the 10K distance faster than I was running it at age 45. I guess a little speedwork can pay off...when done in moderation.

The start time of the race was 7:30am, though it was delayed until 7:39am (yes, they announced 7:39, not 7:40, not 7:45, but 7:39). The typical pre-race maneuvering took place. Though I wasn't treating the race like an Olympic Trial or something, I do like to get a decent position at the start so I don't have to worry about maneuvering around people that shouldn't be there at the VERY FRONT. I was standing next to a gal that clearly should not have been at the front of the race, but thankfully she was next to me, not in front of me. I wish everyone would use a bit of common sense at these races. But, time and time again, many do not. They think, cool, I'm at the front. Like being at the front of the grocery store line.  Not cool...unless you plan to finish near the front. Which, in this case, this particular woman finished nowhere remotely near the front of the race.

I digress. After the gun went off, I found myself in 2nd place, behind a young man who, for some reason, turned left after the first straightaway. I followed him, in my race mental zone

But several seconds later, I heard yelling, "HEY! HEYYY! OVER HEEERE! THIS WAYYY!" and sure enough, %^&* ^*%^&, 50 yards or so into the race and I've taken a wrong turn. UGGHH. Immediate mental letdown. A split second I'm thinking %^** it. I'm done. Dropping out. But another split second later I opted to ignore those lost ~8 seconds as we backtracked towards the group. I went from 2nd to around 40th but heck, this was just a fun run. Keep going. Get over it. I did.

As the fuming in my brain settled down, I was able to pick off runners like target practice. A mile into the race and I was still back in around 7th position, but I felt decent and it was actually kind of fun gradually reeling in people. I had figured that the lead runner would be out of range, but I could still clearly see him. He was not extending his lead.

If I had any "beef" with this course, I could not recall seeing a single mile marker on the course. Whether or not there were any, Near the 15 minute mark I had pulled back into 2nd place overall, within seconds of the lead runner. But at this point I felt unsure of how much to push this old body, not knowing how it would hold up. So for the next few miles I traded spots with one other runner, until roughly the 4.5 to 5 mile mark of the race.

As I pulled up next to the markedly taller (than me) runner, I said, "We can catch him." He didn't say anything back. I put the gas on a little, but the guy in front had a pretty significant gap on us. I was slowly narrowing it, clearly in 2nd place, but not quite knowing how much further we had to run. This knowledge gap is a problem when you're trying to compete.

Before I know it, an even TALLER guy passes me by, looking strong. It was a DIFFERENT really tall guy, even taller then the other really tall guy. At that point I was not able to respond. I was still pushing the pace, but I didn't trust my body to trail this guy. In hindsight, perhaps I should have tried. But without knowing how much further we were running, and with no recent 10Ks under my belt, I just kept my pace as the gap between us grew.

Minutes later I crossed the finish, feeling fine, about 20 seconds behind the winner, and 19 seconds behind Really Tall Guy. I am about 8 years short of equaling these guys' combined ages, so I felt pretty good keeping them company.

The day before, I volunteered to work the long jump pit at my son's track meet. I tweaked my lower back being one of the sand raker guys. So I gave that up and became one of the measurer guys. Little did I ponder at the time that bending down 200 times to measure long jump distances would make my quads sore the next day. That soreness was there with me on Sunday, but the Advil I popped in that morning seemed to take the edge off. My advice: THINK about what you're doing the day before a race or suffer the consequences.

I'm a happy camper that I can run a sub-38 10K race with the type of low key training I've been doing.

On that note, the Autism Society of VC did an outstanding job, had an amazing turnout, handed out outstanding looking medals and shirts to all, and raised $100,000. Very impressive. All while sharing useful information about autism. To learn more about the race and the organization, visit aut2run.org and www.autismventura.org.

2016 Women's and Men's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials to Be Hosted by the City of Los Angeles on February 13, 2016

Today USA Track & Field, the U.S. Olympic Committee, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and LA MARATHON LLC announced that the City of Los Angeles will host the Women’s and Men’s 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon.

The 2016 Olympic Trials will be held February 13, 2016. With separate starts, the men’s and women’s races both will be carried in their entirety on NBC. The 2016 Olympic Games will take place in Brazil.

In winning the bid, LA MARATHON LLC proposed a February race date that accommodates an NBC broadcast and ensures athletes optimal time to recover should they choose to run in the 2016 Olympic Trials for Track & Field in June.

Now for the other interesting news in the announcement...the LA Marathon will follow a day later, on February 14, 2016. For those of you who have followed the LA Marathon in the past, this should sound unusual to you. In the history of the LA Marathon going back to 1986, the LA Marathon has never been run (literally and figuratively) in February. In all years with the exception of 2009 (when the marathon took place in late May), the LA Marathon took place in March.

Start times and specifics on the criterium courses for both the men’s and women’s races will be determined in coming months

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the country’s #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States. For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org.

LA MARATHON LLC is a leading U.S. running organization dedicated to inspiring the athlete in every runner and connecting communities through health and fitness.  The LA Marathon is among the largest marathons in the country with more than 25,000 participants, thousands of volunteers and hundreds of thousands of spectators. The “Stadium to the Sea” course, starting at Dodger Stadium and finishing near the Santa Monica Pier, is one of the most scenic in the world, taking runners on a tour of Los Angeles past every major landmark. The race has been named Best Big City Race by Runner’s World.

Signed Up For the Inaugural Ventura Marathon This Sunday...But Should I Run It?

The Inaugural Ventura Marathon is this coming Sunday, September 8th. This 26.2 miler starts on Harbor Boulevard near the Ventura Pier and will take runners to the Port Hueneme pier and back. The course is roughly 95% on roads, included approximately 18 miles on Harbor Boulevard and the adjoining Channel Islands Boulevard as the course past Channel Islands Harbor to Surfside Drive near the Hueneme Pier.

A long time ago I signed up for the race, well before my latest spate of injuries, namely a hamstring issue, that has basically eliminated long runs from my training for quite some time. I could easily just skip the marathon or perhaps change over to the half marathon or 5K. I'm not in particular speedy shape and I have done very few runs of any distance on the roads, so running a full on marathon solely on roads is probably a bad call for me.

But, what can I say, I'm a stubborn runner. Although I have no delusions of a speedy time on the course, I'm intrigued by the fact that the course is flat as a pancake, with course elevation ranging from 20 feet to 56 feet (I suspect that must be the bridges on Channel Islands Boulevard). I can't remember a flatter course than this one other than the graham cracker flat Chicago Marathon.

While there are no 18, 20, 22 milers in my logbook this entire year, I do have a couple recent hilly 15.5 milers on the Bulldog 25K course in the last 6 weeks. So my legs are reasonably strong for climbing and descending hills on dirt trails, but I've done pretty much diddly squat on the roads. That could be a major problem for me lasting through the entire 26.2 miles on the hard pavement. I did do a 2 hour, 20 minute trail run on April 7th and about 17 miles in Hidden Valley on March 17th, but that was a long time ago. I will have to think carefully about my choice of shoes for this run. No racing flats for me this go-around.

So let's see how it goes for Sunday. Perhaps I'll run with my camera and just take it easy and have some fun.  The weather in theory could also be a factor as we are currently in a heat wave, but it is supposed to crescendo by Friday (two days from today), then taper off over the weekend...not to mention, this run should have ocean breezes much of the way.

Happy With My Performance at Bulldog 25K in Agoura Hills Yesterday

Yesterday I finished my 6th Bulldog 25K (and previous 30K) course in a respectable time of 2 hours, 56 seconds**, good for 9th place overall. I had some tough competition in the 10 year 40 to 49 year age group, with a 44 year old 2 1/2 minutes (7th place) ahead of me and a 45 year old a minute (8th place) ahead of me, the 49 year old geezer, at the finish.

** Due to an unexpected illness the original times across the board were adjusted by 1 minute, 31 seconds for everyone in the race, so the time has been changed to 2 hours, 2 minutes, 27 seconds. Still happy with it.

The picture above was taken when I jogged this course a few weeks. All summer long there's a marine layer but, wouldn't you know, no such luck on race day. It was clear blue skies and fairly high temps the whole way, with some reprieve with ocean breezes after cresting the 2,528 foot Bulldog peak. The course has over 4,000 feet of elevation climbs over its 15.5 miles. Equally brutal are the pounding downhills, which brought grief to my big toes, particularly my left big toe, yesterday. I'll need to revisit my choice of shoes next time.

I was quite pleased with my performance as aside from running trails and some hills in training, I've done nothing noteworthy, no tempo runs, speedwork, etc. Just plodding along, 40 miles a week, holding my camera to take pictures. My right hamstring is still a bit touch and go but it is manageable. The time was about 5 minutes faster than my time in last year's 25K. If I enter next year and stay healthy, the 50+ crown perhaps can be mine! :)

The unofficial results show the winner, 23 year old Geoff Burns coming in a mild boggling 1:35:48, which would be a course record by over 6 minutes! I believe he recently ran a 15:22 5K, so he definitely has the speed. He was 6 1/2 minutes of the 2nd place finisher. Pretty spectacular performance.

There's another good reason for me to run again next year. The 50 year course record is 2:05. If I maintain my current fitness level and don't get run over by a bus in the next 12 months, that record will be mine...

Learn more about the Bulldog 50K/25K races at www.trailrunevents.com/bd.

P.S. Thanks to K.K. for the positive inspiration :)

2013 Boston Marathon Results for Ventura County and Adjacent Area Finishers

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the today's cowardly Boston Marathon bomb attacks along with their families and the entire city of Boston. It was really a challenge trying to get anything done this afternoon as the news reports rolled in.

I've run two Boston Marathons, had to cancel my third Boston Marathon last year and having passed on the opportunity to run this year's race, this attack was particularly troubling for me. We are all in mourning and in shock. But let's take a brief moment out of all the chaos to recognize those from our local community who completed the 2013 Boston Marathon.

I noticed that Jack Redmond of Camarillo finished just seconds before the first explosion. This Ventura County Star article talks about the aftermath and the stories of some local runners. The article notes some runners were diverted as a result of the blast and thus were unable to cross the finish line. Stacy Stapleton of Camarillo falls into this category. Contact us if you are aware of other locals who were unable to finish due to the attacks.

Benjamin Atkins, Westlake Village, 2:48:15

Jay Loppnow, Camarillo, 3:00:51

Scott Hambly, Thousand Oaks, 3:02:51

Bobby Scott, Ventura, 3:07:56

Christopher Eldridge, Malibu, 3:08:00

Daniel Greider, Ventura, 3:12:08

Rob Hennick, Moorpark, 3:12:11

Jason Griffith, Thousand Oaks, 3:13:34

Glenn Fout, Ojai, 3:20:05

Rafael Gonzales, Camarillo, 3:21:36

Leanne Mohr, Camarillo, 3:23:14

April Lecroy, Ventura, 3:25:54

Jeff Hager, Camarillo, 3:26:24

Jenny Loppnow, Camarillo, 3:29:38

Becky McClintock, Calabasas, 3:29:54

Janice Hyllengren, Moorpark, 3:31:01

Lauren Matzuka, Oak Park, 3:31:15

Mallory Ham, Simi Valley, 3:32:31

Randy Miller, Newbury Park, 3:32:52

Karen Faulhaber, Thousand Oaks, 3:33:26

Lane Desborough, Thousand Oaks, 3:33:30

Rachael Parent, Moorpark, 3:35:02

Amada Garcia, Thousand Oaks, 3:36:55

Julie Ungerleider, Camarillo, 3:37:23

David Moore, Moorpark, 3:39:16

John Wheeler, Simi Valley, 3:39:40

Wendy Raymond, Westlake Village, 3:41:23

Christine Powell, Thousand Oaks, 3:42:35

Sara Jones, Moorpark, 3:43:19

Kirk Waldron, Westlake Village, 3:43:29

Jackie Jones, Newbury Park, 3:45:13

Lisa Mcclellan, Simi Valley, 3:45:52

Steve Arce, Malibu, 3:46:00

Melissa Hernandez, Oxnard, 3:46:00

Rosa Cameron, Oxnard, 3:46:34

Nicholas Duca, Simi Valley, 3:48:10 (Nicholas is 70 years old and finished 6th overall in his division!)

Stacy Galer, Westlake Village, 3:49:57

Susan Duenas, Thousand Oaks, 3:53:15

Laureen Friedman, Oxnard, 3:54:54

Timothy Giller, Simi Valley, 3:55:03

Amy Kupic, Newbury Park, 4:06:43

Jack Redmond, Camarillo, 4:08:10

Lisa Jones, Thousand Oaks, 4:21:07

Dave Czerwonka, Thousand Oaks, 4:22:12