Cowboy Hazel

LVRR Summer Series 5K

Robert James Reese — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:19:41 -0400

I picked up another 5K win tonight, less than three weeks after the last one. For a guy who's only won three races his entire life, that's a nice little streak. I wasn't particularly fast tonight, just lucky enough that nobody faster was out there. I'm happy with my 17:58 – we were running on The Parkway, a gravel trail with a few hills; and it was warm and humid – but normally that time wouldn't have been good enough for the win at the LVRR Summer Series . Tonight, though, it was....

Big Sur International Marathon

Robert James Reese — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:35:25 -0400

Yesterday morning, I found myself sitting in a porta potty placed on top of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, violently evacuating my bowels while being serenaded by the music of a grand piano. I was thirteen miles into the Big Sur International Marathon and thought to myself, wow, this is a moment I'm going to remember for a while. I had no idea what to expect going into Big Sur. I'd heard lots of horror stories about the hills, I'd heard predictions that we'd be facing 20 knot head...

Robert Lasso Memorial 5K

Robert James Reese — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 13:50:39 -0400

Normally I'm not a big fan of 5K's – they hurt too much – but for some reason, this one sounded fun when Jim mentioned it midweek. So, I woke up early this morning and drove out to Bethlehem to run the Robert Lasso Memorial 5K Run . Turns out that it was worth the trip – I won the race! There were almost 250 runners out there, so it was a fairly legit small town win. And, I got dinner for two at a local steakhouse, up to $150, out of the deal too. Not bad for less than eighte...

Moved

Robert James Reese — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:39:52 -0400

It's happened yet again – I decided to move my blog. Ironically, I moved it back to where it was a few years ago, which was two or three moves prior, if I remember right. Why this latest relocation? Well, a couple reasons… Mainly, it was a desire to get everything into one place. I have my photos and reading log over here, and so it just made sense to have my blog here too. The reason I moved it to Running Sphere originally was that I was going to allow other users to cr...

Gansett Marathon

Robert James Reese — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 16:00:44 -0400

"You look really strong still. They're falling apart up there, you can pick a bunch of them off!" This came from a bicyclist riding towards me somewhere in the 18th mile. I waved a thank you, processed what he said, and unconsciously sped up. I felt a tingle, like some primal switch had been turned on in my head, and I was ready to go chase down my prey. It hit me, this moment right here, this feeling, is why I love the marathon. Unfortunately, I never actually did chase down any prey. I ...

Monument Avenue 10K

Robert James Reese — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:52:11 -0400

Just a couple weeks after my trip to Virginia Beach for the marathon, I was back in Virginia, this time Richmond, and this time for a 10K. The other big difference was that this was a "business trip" instead of a vacation. Talk about a perk of the job! I got to drive down to Richmond, hang out with my coworkers, eat great food, drink a couple beers, go for an easy shakeout run with a bunch of friendly readers, and then race a 10K… and that's a business trip?! I'm a lucky guy. The M...

Shamrock Marathon

Robert James Reese — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 20:08:21 -0400

Marathons are always unpredictable. I think that's why I enjoy them so much. I like the mystery, the suspense of not knowing how it's all going to turn out. Sometimes, you get cocky and think that you've figured out the distance, that you know what's going to happen. And, it's at exactly those times that the 26.2 miles slaps you back and puts you in your place. Sunday was one of those experiences for me. Very matter-of-fact-like, I told my friend Victoria the night before the race that I'...

Coogan's 5K, 2012 Edition

Robert James Reese — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 19:40:14 -0500

It seems hard to believe that this was already my fourth running of the Coogan's Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5K. How has that much time gone past already? I looked back over old race reports and running logs today and found that I've been remarkably consistent at this race, never faster than 18 minutes and never slower than 19. 2009 was 18:59, the first time I ever broke twenty minutes in a 5K. 2010 was 18:36, my first sub-6:00 mile race over two miles. And then, 2011 was a disappointing 18:08...

2012 Empire State Building Run-Up

Robert James Reese — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:22:59 -0500

A week ago yesterday, I ran up the 86 flights of stairs that lead to the top of the Empire State Building. After seeing the $100 price tag for the race this year, I had decided that my days of stair climbing were over. But then, our P.R. guy sent me an email asking if I'd like to run in the media heat, for free. Heck yes I would! Note: that was P.R. was for public relations, not personal record… The other kind of P.R. showed up too though – I finished in 14:35, which was considera...

First Light Marathon

Robert James Reese — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:04:02 -0500

I managed to finish 12th overall in a marathon for the second day in a row (yesterday's Mississippi Blues Marathon was the first). Today's race in Mobile, Alabama was much slower; but it was a much smaller race and without the prize money. My final time was 3:16:40. Normally, I could hit that time without an all-out effort, but today was brutal. I'm thrilled with the result and think it was just about the best performance I could have put together. We started with a prayer again today and...

Mississippi Blues Marathon

Robert James Reese — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:27:52 -0500

This morning's marathon went as well as I could have hoped for. I managed to run a 2:59:37 and ended up 12th place out of 756 overall. I wasn't sure what kind of shape I was in going into this thing as I haven't been doing any quality training lately, and was pleasantly surprised by how things turned out. In my mind, the race neatly fit into a few neat little chapters: 0 - 3.1, Starting with the Halfers - The race was giving out $30,000 in prize money, so there were some super fast East ...

2011 Philadelphia Marathon

Robert James Reese — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:43:19 -0500

I ran my fourth consecutive Philadelphia Marathon yesterday morning. It was the fastest of the four, a 2:53:42, which was good for 154th place out of 10,082 overall. It was also a fifteen second P.R. and the third sub-3 for me on that course. So, was I happy with it? To be honest, not really… I was shooting for sub-2:50 and was on pace until about mile 15 when the wheels came off. It was eerily similar to what happened to me in Boston earlier this year, in fact, except that I didn't slo...

New York City Marathon

Robert James Reese — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:29:05 -0500

This year's NYC Marathon was quite a bit different than 2010 for me… a lot less running and a lot more photo taking. The cool thing about working for a running magazine was that I had a very legitimate reason to head into the city for marathon weekend. So, I caught a bus Wednesday after work and stayed with Helen through Monday morning. I spent Thursday and Friday at Rodale's NYC offices, but snuck in a couple fun field trips. We stopped by the expo on Thursday, when Lauren Fl...

Atlanta Marathon

Robert James Reese — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:24:00 -0400

Fairly recently, I decided to add running a marathon in each of the fifty states to my list of goals. I don't want to become compulsive about it, flying to places I don't want to be, running races that I don't want to run, and missing out on those that I do because they're in the wrong state. Instead, I want to use this goal as an opportunity to visit new places that I wouldn't otherwise ever have occasion to see. I really don't mind if this takes me ten, twenty, even thirty years. I'm in no r...

Emmaus Halloween 5K

Robert James Reese — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:30:20 -0400

Over the weekend, Helen and I headed "downtown" to run in the Halloween 5K . My new town does not mess around when it comes to holiday spirit – although the total population of Emmaus is only around 11,000, an estimated 20,000 people showed up for the 5K and following parade! I decided to break out my old gorilla suit for the occasion and subsequently convinced Helen to buy a banana costume that we found at Target. I failed to account for how difficult it would be to run wearing a s...

5th Avenue Mile

Robert James Reese — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 13:43:36 -0400

I finally broke the five minute mark for a mile yesterday at the Fifth Avenue Mile , running a 4:58. That's a seven second P.R. for me and was completely unexpected. I'd only done one speedwork session all summer in Colorado and although I'd gotten in a couple quality workouts in Pennsylvania, I didn't think it would be enough. Looking back on it, I think there have been times that I've been in better shape, but I just ran my smartest mile yesterday. I didn't get caught up in the rush at the b...

2011 Aspen Backcountry Marathon

Robert James Reese — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:53:12 -0400

After the last aid station, right around mile 24, we were sent up the steepest hill of the day, a trail switchbacking up a ski slope. I hadn't read the race packet well enough, I suppose, because I wasn't expecting a hill at all. But, what you might imagine was the worst part of a grueling race ended up being the best – I dug deep, found some energy that I didn't know was left, and passed seven people in those final two miles. I kept repeating a cheesy saying to myself over and over, "Pa...

Fourteeners

Robert James Reese — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:42:55 -0400

As of last week, I had never climbed a fourteener despite the fact that I have lived in Colorado over half my life. Then, this weekend, I made it to the top of both Mount Bierdstadt (14,065 feet) and Quandary Peak (14,265 feet). Helen and I had been on both mountains earlier this summer but never made it to the top because we ran out of time – once because we were late for dinner and the other because of approaching storms. Realizing that our stay in Colorado was almost over, we decided ...

Three Good Runs

Robert James Reese — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:32:33 -0400

I don't know that I've ever had three runs in a row end up so good as the ones from this weekend. They were incredibly different from each other, but all three were very enjoyable and helped to boost my confidence. On Friday night, Helen and I planned a stop near Georgetown on our way down to my parents' house. So glad we did. We detoured off the highway and up to the top of Guanella Pass. There was a parking lot there at 11,600 feet and immediately after leaving the car, we were surround...

Heat Stroke

Robert James Reese — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:02:22 -0400

When I was a kid, I remember adults saying to me, "Your eyes must have been bigger than your stomach," when I couldn't finish all the food on my plate. Well, yesterday, when planning out my run, my eyes were bigger than my stomach once again. My best friend from from school, Matthew, was up in the mountains visiting us and yesterday morning we all headed out to Green Mountain Reservoir, the site of many shenanigans from our youth. We looked on the map and a lap around the lake was about 1...