More Running...

Well, the Keenan's are still running, and October was fairly busy. On the 22nd, dad ran a 5k and set a new personal best time of 19:24 (6:14 mile pace), finishing 11th out of 226 overall, and 1st out of 11 for my age group division (men 30-34). Here are a couple of pictures from the 5k:


For the record, the temps that morning were in the upper 30's, and my leg muscles don't work very well when they're frozen, which is why I'm wearing the running tights. I'm well aware that my brother John managed to wear shorts all through his high school cross country running season in northern Vermont (where Fall temps are even colder than this), but in my defense, 1 - I'm old, and 2 - I think I've got the legs to pull them off.



Then on Oct. 29th, we all had races. Our dentist's office was sponsoring a 5k and 1 mile kids run. Patrick ran in the 1 mile run and did a great job, finishing in 3rd place with a time of just over 9 minutes (and the course included some hills). Lenny ran in the 5k event. Mom ran with Lenny to encourage him along (and make sure he didn't get lost) and he ended up finishing in 27:30 (8:51 mile pace) - his best time ever! Lenny and I had practiced running 5k a few times, but he hadn't ever finished in under 30 minutes, so this was a huge improvement.

Also on the 29th, I ran in my first half marathon. My official time was 1:30:18 (6:54 mile pace), which was more than 7 minutes faster than my best time from training. I placed 28th out of 1546 overall, and 4th out of 85 for my age group division.

Now I'm looking to train for a full marathon next year. I think I've found one down in southern Georgia at the beginning of March. There is going to be both a full marathon (26.2 mi.) and half marathon (13.1 mi.) race held, and I think Tamra is planning to run the half marathon (she just doesn't know it yet).

Our First Triathlon and Other Activities

Well, we decided to attempt a triathlon and see what it was like. We know a few people from church that are very active triathletes, and it sounded like a fun challenge to try. We selected a "Sprint Triathlon," which is the shortest category in terms of distances. This event was held in Gainsville, Ga and consisted of a 1/4 mile lake swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 5k (3.1 mile) run.

Being new to the sport, we definitely had some need of training. We've been running a lot lately, and we both got mountain bikes this year and have been doing some riding, but swimming was a different story. Tamra has a swim background, so with a little practice she definitely looked the part of a seasoned swim competitor. I had a little more work to do (it turns out the "doggie paddle" is not the preferred swim stroke for races).

Here's Tamra's bike in the transition area. Neither one of us had a road or tri bike to use, so we both just used our mountain bikes. We knew that using mountain bikes for the bike leg would make us pretty slow (as they are twice as heavy and not built for aerodynamics the same was that road/tri bikes are) - but we figured that was OK for our first event. We did at least swap out our regular off-road tires for some smoother ones, which did help.

Tamra did great - she finished 13th out of 117 women for the swim leg, and somewhere around 27th out of 117 for the entire triathlon. Pretty impressive considering it was her first triathlon and the fact that the mountain bike cost her significant time on the bike leg, (though her performance was hardly surprising to me).

I was both slow in the bike leg and the swim leg. However, I was pleased to finish the swim using the freestyle stroke the whole way (no breaks, no switching to the breast stroke to catch my breath, and at no point did rescue swimmers need to be dispatched to come get me). I did make up some ground on the 5k run, finishing 13th out of 152 men for that leg of the race, and finished 80-something for the men in the overall triathlon.

We both had a great time, and plan to do another triathlon next year. Maybe next year we'll find some road bikes to borrow or rent and see how much difference that makes.

In other activities, we've also been keeping up with rock climbing. Our climbing gym is just 15 min. away - which is very nice. I try to climb at least twice a week and we try to go as a family at least a couple times a month. About a month ago, I made a day trip to the "Horse Pens 40," which is a popular bouldering spot in Alabama (i.e. a field of large boulders that you climb using safety pads and spotters instead of ropes/harnesses).

Here I'm finishing up a slab problem (not quite vertical, mostly flat rock face), called Merlin. This is somewhat of a "high-ball" problem (anything ~15 ft. tall or greater). Of course we used multiple pads and spotters for climbs like this.

I don't remember the name of this next problem, but it was a fun climb with good holds. Here's me at the beginning:

The middle:

And almost at the top:

One thing about climbing outdoors, when it's really hot out, you don't get the same grip on the rocks. Consequently, here in the South, outdoor climbing is actually best Fall through Spring. As good as the boulders are here at the Horse Pens, I'm definitely looking forward to making another trip later in the year, when it's cooler and the friction on the rocks is better. Maybe I can get Tamra and the boys to come next time too (and we'll try to remember the camera).

What have we been up to?

For those of you that have been wondering - yes, our Internet connection still works, and no, we didn't forget how to post blog updates. We've just been busy and a bit lazy about taking pictures (which are of course the best part of the blog posts), and therefore have gone silent for a while. But as much fun as it is to read all of your blogs, we've felt a little guilty not doing any ourselves, so here's some info about what we've been up to lately.

First, we had a very fun trip out West back in June for a Keenan family reunion. We flew to Salt Lake City and spent a day down in Provo visiting BYU campus and saw Tamra's brother Kyle.

Here are the boys playing football on the quad:

And here's all of us outside of the football stadium. It didn't occur to us until this picture was taken that we all happened to be wearing red (not the best choice for a visit to BYU).

Next, we drove up to Idaho for the reunion. It was great to visit with family and had a wonderful time exploring nearby Yellowstone and Teton National Parks.

We made the required stop to see Old Faithful:

Tamra and the boys from Lookout Point, with Yellowstone's Lower Falls in the background:

Here's Patrick at one of the many bubbling sulfer pots:

And here's one of the most amazing sights from Yellowstone - not the lake, but Lenny actually somewhat smiling for a picture:

In addition to our summer vacation out West, we've also been staying active here in Georgia. We're still climbing regularly. We got a membership at a local climbing gym and have also done some outdoor climbing trips. Tamra and I also both got new mountain bikes this year and have enjoyed exploring some of the local trails. We've also been doing a lot of running, and participated in our first race events since college (in other words, our first races since the late 1900's).

Here's Tamra after the Georgia Games Run for Life 5k run from July (she won the women's 30-34 age group division!)

And here I am at the end of the Big Peach Sizzler 10k on Labor Day. I did not win my age group division (far from it), but did set a new 10k personal best at 42:55 (6:54/mile pace), and am looking forward to making continued progress.

While the weather is still warm (most days at least), we're now fully into the Fall activities. The boys are back in school (2nd and 4th grade). Patrick is doing Fall baseball and Lenny has started cub scouts again. We'll try to keep taking some pictures and hopefully you won't have to wait another 10 months before our next blog post.