Track Weekend #2 :-)

I knew I'd like going to the track even before I went... Angela did too ;-) So, without jumping off the deep end my plan is, for now, only attend The Drivers Edge events that take place at the local track down in Cresson TX (they go to two others tracks - Houston MotorSport Ranch and Texas World Speedway in College Station). I'd eventually like to try both of those tracks, but right now it's not practical.

So... the weekend of Dec 4th & 5th I went back down to MotorSport Ranch in Cresson to run the 1.7 mile track in the opposite direction from last time.

Even though I'd run the track before, coming at it from the opposite direction makes it a whole new track. The line you take when running the track Counter-Clockwise is definitely not the line you take when running it Clockwise! I also had a different instructor this time, who had a very different approach to things. I liked him just as much as my last instructor. They both offered info that helped me improve! I was a bit more comfortable this time, so I was pushing the car a bit harder, and my tires show it! The good thing was I improved my lap times from the last time by a full 5 seconds! I was very happy with that, plus the kudos I was receiving from the instructor. He, like my instructor last time, was very surprised my car still has it's stock suspension. We were one of the fastest cars on the track. Felt good to pass Corvettes, and stripped down race cars :-) It felt REALLY good when guys I passed on the track would come up to me afterwards, introduce themselves and want to talk.

I took video again of every run. Here's the last few laps of the 1st run on Sunday. These were some of my quickest laps of the weekend, mainly due to the fact my instructor was introducing me to some new techniques during the later runs that day so they weren't as "pretty" (more on that in a moment :-)



During the last run of the day my instructor was trying to get me to downshift during braking instead of after braking while entering the turn. Downshifting during braking (without throttle) is a pre-curser to heel-and-toe. I say he was trying to get me to do it because he was explaining it in pieces, and I didn't know what the end result was that we were shooting for... in other words me no-comprende what he say... So I was trying to figure it out "on the fly" so to speak... while going 100mph :-) Here's when I finally figured it out... well, actually, it was because of this that I finally figured it out ;-)



No harm, no foul... and it actually was kinda fun ;-) No damage done, and the car is fine. And since I learned something from it, it was worth it!!

You know... I gotta mention one thing... notice the instructor's feet during the spin... the guy doesn't flinch! Either he's got nerves of steel, or he has confidence in me... Or I guess he could just simply be crazy... yeah, that's probably it!!!

Half Marathon... CHECK!!!

!!!!Mission Accomplished!!!!

Angela, Keith & I accomplished our goal! All of us finished the Fayetteville Half Marathon! I gotta say, I was a little intimidated... A cold front blew through the night before and winds were about 30mph... not necessarily a big deal... However, the temperature during the race was a BRISK 18 degrees!!! And yes... the winds were still blowing 30mph during the race!!! It was FREAKIN' cold! The Gatorade and water at the aid stations during the race were frozen. I was bundled up like Kenny in South Park, and I ran like that the whole race. I sweat like crazy, but I wasn't cold ;-)

We had a nice treat as well... Angela's parents flew out to cheer us on. We really enjoyed having them there and had a blast the entire time!

Keith paced the field... his goal was to finish in less than 2 and a half hours, which he did. His final time was 2 hours 19 minutes 52 seconds. Angela finished in 2 hours 38 minutes 11 seconds. My goal was simply to finish... with a secondary goal of not finishing last... I accomplished both :-) I finished in 2 hours 40 minutes 21 seconds. The full results can be found here.

The course we ran was 13.1 miles in length. Here's a map:


We started on the University of Arkansas campus (bottom left of the map) then worked our way North through town, back South, then did a loop and repeated part of the course before returning back to the University of Arkansas campus to finish on their outdoor track. The course had some pretty steep hills on it (see the course profile at the bottom of the map) and ranged from some really busy streets to a bicycle path. All in all, it was more fun than I expected, and I had a much better run than I expected! The first 5 miles seemed to fly by, and I was pretty comfortable up until about 11 miles. After that, my right knee really started tightening up. I usually finish pretty strong but it simply wasn't happening this time. If I wanted to finish, I was gonna have to take it easy so I did. The end result... Mission Accomplished!!!

Oh... and to answer the most commonly asked question since the race...

No, I'm not running a marathon next! In fact... I'm going back to weight training.

Running sucks...