September 30 the Big Heart Big House 5K took place in Ann Arbor, MI.
Sally ran it in 23:52 for a 7:41 pace to finish 10/182 in her AG. Yes, a top 10 finish! Congratulations!
Now on to October:
October 7 was the date for Connecticut's Ridgefield Half Marathon. Sue and I ran it.
Sue finished in 1:40:46 for a 7:42 pace. That was good enough for first place in her AG! What did the trophy look like? Here it is:
No hardware. Just a $50 bill in an envelope. Probably just as well. Given Sue's already extensive trophy collection this is probably a lot more useful. ;) Matt (I) finished in 1:29:11 for a 6:48 pace and 5/114 in my AG. Best of all that time is good enough to get me a guaranteed entry into next year's NYC marathon! I am running NY in 2008.
October 21 was a busy day for the fan club with 4 miles races in Trumbull and Branford Connecticut.
Sue ran Trumbull in 27:48 for a 6:57 pace. Way to go breaking a seven minute mile! Naturally she was first in her AG.
Heather ran Branford in 32:54 for an 8:14 pace and 7/22 in her AG. Well done!
Matt (I) also ran Branford. My finish time was 25:36 for a 6:24 pace and 9/160 overall but a mere 4/40 in my AG! Tough AG is all I can say! :) Fortunately the overall winner was in my AG so I actually got to collect the 3rd place AG trophy. As with most races competitors are limited to winning at most one award. Hey, I will take what I can get!
Cathy was a member of the founding RRFC team so I am going to include her Branford race here as well. She finished in 35:09 for a 8:48 pace and 13/36 in her AG. Another well done race!
October 28 saw the 32nd running of the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC for which Sue and I have been training these last few months.
Sue what can you say other than she is an amazing runner! Her final time of 3:25:49 for a 7:52 pace put her 2nd (yes you read that right 2nd) out of 439 in her AG! I will get a photo of the trophy once they mail it in to her. Her Age Grade was 79.7% which puts her just 0.3% below what is called "National Class." Basically, it means she competes with the country's best runners. Not too surprising given that she just scored 2nd place in one of the country's largest and most prestigious marathons! Did I mention her MCM time was nearly 5 minutes faster than her last marathon! Details about Age Grading can be found below.
Matt (I) ran the marathon in 3:23:11 for a 7:46 pace. That was good enough to land me in 74/1526 in my AG. I also scored a new marathon PR by just over 5 minutes! My Age Grade was 66.8% which gets me into the category of "Local Class." Heck, I am happy to be in any "class" at all!
Sue and I also want to thank RRFC founding member Cathy for her on course support. We are also grateful to her sister (Patty) and niece (Karin) and our friend Alton who were there with supplies across the miles as well. They were all wonderful and we could not have run as well as we did without them.
If you are wondering about what Age Grade means the following is taken from the MCM results web page.
"AGE-GRADED" results are calculated using tables developed by the World Association of Veteran Athletes (the world governing body for masters track and field, long distance running and race walking). These tables were first published in 1989 and are frequently updated. The tables can be used in two ways: first, by comparing your time to a standard for your sex and age, you can determine your Performance Level Percent. These percentages can be interpreted as follows:
100% = Approximate World-Record Level
Over 90% = World Class
Over 80% = National Class
Over 70% = Regional Class
Over 60% = Local Class
Matt
