I had a blast this weekend.  Running three races in three days tested my legs, but my focus, patience, and stamina.  Thank you to everyone that came out to the events, sent text messages (Thank you Twitter Twerps), and general support the past weeks of training and the events. I thought Sports backers and the Richmond Road Runners Club did awesome work and did their damn thing!  I cannot wait to do it again next year.  Here is a recap of this past weekend’s festivities:

Friday Filthy Mud Run 5K

Unfortunately, the brothers were not able to accompany me on the mud run.  This was my first mud run and I was psyched. I met many cool runners and many first timers like myself. I was not there to pull a record, but to enjoy the concept of getting filthy.  I am not so much a trail runner, so this posed a minor threat to my running. Prior to the 6PM race start, I saw some runners that stood out from the norm including a group of girls in prom dresses, a guy with a long beard, another guy in a suit, and a group of ladies known as the “Dirty Divas!” …  Interesting…

The course started at Browns Island and took you on the dirt path then road to the suspension bridge to Belle Isle.  Running up the suspension bridge was tedious.  You felt like you were in a fun house and tipsy.  I am just glad I did not fall over into the James River.  It was on to trails after departing the bridge.  There was a surprise where we had to run a couple feet in the semi-icy waters of the river then crawl through the dirt, the rest was trails then back up the suspension bridge to where I dove in head first into the mud pit before running to the finish line. Based on gender, I was the 112th (overall rank 172) male to dive in head first in the filthy mud pit and run across the finish line at a time of 33:26.  I did well, not bad out of a count of 654 or so participants.

Time for drinks, and onto the Scramble!

James River Scramble 10K

Alright, this was the second day of racing and fortunately, my legs were still fresh. A bit humid, I met up with my Sigma Phi Epsilon Brothers Jim Thompson (James), Ben Kimball, and Steve Lessick.  Since I had an estimated time of 50 minutes (red), I decided to pace with the boys and start in Jims heat (purple, set to run last at 0924).  So the course started off flat through Canal Walk then onto the grass and onto the road on Hull St. We then turned and walked up a flight of stairs across the floodwall to Belle Isle.  Before hitting the trails, we had to climb up I’d say 50 ft wall of rocks, that was the highlight for me until we had to cross a creek and run up a muddy incline.  A couple people fell and I gave Steve a hand.  Jim made it all right after being in the back awhile.  I held back and ran with him while Ben led the pack ahead until we got to the suspended bridge over the James less than a mile to the finish.  Steve, Ben, and I continued to run and we finished in an estimated 59 minutes and 01 second, followed by Jimmy.  

Quoted from Jim "We got Scrambled..." I thought that was hilarious. I wanted a beer right after.

The site said these results but I started in Jim’s heat, so timing was off, too bad this wasn’t a chip countered race, but the Carytown was… Male / Overall / Name / Age / City / St / Time
577     910    Jay Yu      22    Richmond VA    1:23:01

Carytown 10K

I cannot believe I woke up in time for the Carytown 10K!  I thought the race was at 9, apparently, it was at 8AM.  I got a text message from Ben and said he might not be able to make it because of Milligan's birthday, I kind of figured that one out.  I sent Jim a message and could not get a hold of him.  I took my one-a-day, vitamin d and c, and half a stix of Diesel and I drove vigorously to Carytown.  I got there a couple minutes before start time Richmond Road Runners need to have bag check next time!  I had to run with my keys.  Oh well

We had a huge rain storm the night before which brought the temperatures down and more showers were in the forecast for the morning.  58/60-degree weather was great running weather and with the rain coming down it did not stop me or anyone from completing the race.

I started good, the legs were still alive, and I was in the zone.  I figured I was doing 7-8 minute splits and once I hit the 5k half mark, I could pick up the pace.  Too bad the rain was in my face and my headphones popped out of my iPod; I forgot to bring my extension.  Thank God, I was running with my new Nike Vapor headphones versus the Apple headphones – I have a huge issue with headphones and sweat. Well in the end…

My overall finish place was 192, age group finish place was 21, and your gender finish place was 156.  My finishing time was 47:34.47 giving an overall pace of 7:40 per mile.
My 5K split time was 24:14.67, with a pace of 7:49 per mile, Overall place 210, Gender place 171 My Finish split time was 23:19.80, Giving me a pace of 7:31 per mile, Overall place 171, Gender place 138.

I took a look at my results from the 2007 and here it is – Keep in mind I was 20 at the time and I came in 15th in my age group, 163 in the Male Group and 198 overall with an overall time of 48:24 and pace of 07:47. This meant a PERSONAL RECORD!  Not quite a Monument Avenue time of 44 – 45 minutes, but there is always next time. I had an awesome time this weekend, quite memorable as I expressed in earlier blogs. I never thought I would participate in a series of events like this and let alone complete them all and receive a medal for two.  I had a blast this weekend and an extra plus with my brothers.  This is why I love running, not just the free bagels and PowerAde at the end, but interacting with the public, running with a bunch of people, and finishing!  That is all that matters - just having a good time and finishing the course.

Pictures coming soon!