Fly with the Eagles Half Marathon

Marion, IL -- February 12, 2011
(Results @ River to River Runners: http://rrr.olm.net/results/fly11roa.htm)

I had been wanting to run this half marathon for a couple of years so decided to train through the winter for the race.  Beautiful refuge area half-way bewteen Carbondale and Marion, Illinois.  It was a nice day to race.  Weather was 32 degrees, sunny with a wind of 12-13 mph at the start.  Had snowed several days earlier and RD informed us much of the course, especially the gravel roads/trails, are snow and ice covered.  Also tells us 144 people are running the race. 

Head out on the blacktop at comfortable pace and wanting to run even three mile splits as long as possible.  Three miles splits end up being:  19:03/38:09/57:29/1:16:50 then last 1.14 miles in 7:38, all per garmin readings.  The last .15 miles was a muddy mess of a road by the time we finished as the sun had begun to melt the snow and frost from the ground.  We ran into the snow/ice on the gravel roads at 3.75 mile mark and ran through it until the 7 mile mark in which we then dealt with another mile on muddy/sloppy gravel roads until returning to the blacktop for the final 5.1 miles.  I slipped 3x between mile 5-7 and almost went down the third time.  Had to alter my gait on the snow and got a bad blister on my forefoot along with 2 black toes as a result.  Minor inconvenience for results.  Able to move into third overall by the 3 mile mark of the race and attempting to keep pace with guy ahead of me.  He held pace well and never able to catch him.

Winner was 26 year old Kyle Monroe, an ironman who ran at SIU while in college.  He was gone from the starting mile and cruised to a 1:16:14 finish.  Second overall was Evansville, Indiana's Graham Paxton with a time of 1:23:21.  I finished third overall with a 1:24:29.

Top three Female Winners were:

1.  Morgan Chaffin from Carbondale, Illinois with a 1:30:50.  She finished 7th overall in the race.

2.  Lacey Gibson, 18, from Carbondale, Ill ran 1:32:41

3.  Joanna Bean, 16, from Carterville, Ill finished in 1:36:28

Steve Schmittzehe, 47 year old marathon man from Cape Girardeau, MO ran the race as a training run and finished first in the 45-49 y/o age group in a solid 1:34:22 while placing in the top 15 finishers.  He is currently training for his first Boston Marathon effort.

--KHammes

Memphis Grizzlies House 5K

Memphis, TN -- December 4, 2010
(Results @ http://www.stjudemarathon.org/results/2010/2010_5K_Results_by_Place.txt )

Heartland 8K Run/Walk for Christ

Cape Girardeau, MO -- November 20, 2010

Starting line at River Campus sees over 200 participants for first annual event.

L to R - Brandon Bryant, Kevin Hammes, and Don Brown.

Adam Raines and Steve Schmittzehe.

Kevin Hammes: 2nd Overall.

Miles for Smiles 5K

Cape Girardeau, MO -- November 13, 2010
(Results @ Cape Road Runners: http://www.caperoadrunners.org/results.htm )
(Race photos available from Goddard Photography: http://www.goddardphotographyonline.com/f430416726 )

About 50 runners take off from SFMC.

Overall winners Ashley Schmittzehe and Kevin Hammes.

Run for One More 10K

Cape Girardeau, MO -- November 6, 2010
(Results @ Cape Road Runners: http://www.caperoadrunners.org/results.htm )

First year for this event, and Race Director Shelly Gerard has a fantastic 10K course to challenge the folks who are looking to break away from the 5K rut.  Lots of hills first couple of miles, then leveling off for a trip downtown and back on Broadway.  Re-tweeked my gimpy hamstring during warm ups and it started to cramp up on me climbing first hill on Cape Rock Drive.  The rest of the race is spent trying to run at a pace where the pain is manageable.  Land on about 6:30 minute miles.  Know now that I will not be racing for a while, so just letting the chips fall.  Probably would have slowed down more, but could hear Kevin Dorris breathing down my neck.  He was a big help in pushing me on.  Remember seeing overall winner Chad Sierman going through the first mile split coasting up the hill on Dunklin.  Don't see him again until the awards ceremony.  Chellie Jannin wins the 10K female overall.  5K overall winners were D.J. Priggel and Jacqueline Heath.  Great job by Shelly and her people on the course were real pros.

-KBramlett

Female Overall Winner Chell Jannin breaks away from pacer
Joe Windeknecht with a strong finishing kick.

Shannon "Rising Force" Aldridge.

Kevin Bramlett: 2nd Overall in 10K.

L to R - Chellie Jannin, Shannon Aldridge, Shannon Daniels, Emily Goode and Kevin Bramlett.

Harvest Festival 5K

Corning, AR -- October 23, 2010
(Results @ Ridge Rider Athletic Club: http://www.stearnsracetiming.com/Results/2010/10-23%20Harvest%20Festival/2010%20Overall%20Results.txt )

I had heard about this race for a couple of years. Bramlett verified it as a well organized race and an accurate, flat course. Brandon had a down week of XC so I decided to venture south to run against some ARK boys. Weather 65 degrees, sunny with a S wind of 12-15mph. We run the course before hand. It is definitely flat and appears accurate. My garmin shows 3.13 miles at the end of the race.

About a 100 people line up to run and I take off with the lead pack of 5 HS kids. The leader and eventual winner is easy to spot. He is about 6' tall, has a mohawk, and the words "Pack Leader" on the back of his lime-green shirt. I end up running my fastest 5K of the year with a 17:31, good for 2nd OA. Bramlett also runs a fast race and ends up 5th OA with a 18:30 finish. Two old men were pretty happy with their performances. Topped the day off with an awesome meal at Bram's grandmother's house prior to heading back north. It is a good out-of-state run to consider.

-KHammes



Meeting up "south of the border" this weekend with Kevin Hammes to face off against some Arkansas competition.  This race starts and finishes in front of my old elementary school classroom, and course runs in front of my 96 year old grandmother's house.  It is the only time she gets to watch me race, and seeing me race is the only way I can convince her that I'm this skinny on purpose.  Course is flat and fast, the hardware is awesome, and race usually draws large group of high school runners along with some of the top masters runners from Jonesboro and Paragould.  Today is perfect for racing.  I'd not rested properly after the half marathon, and tweeked a hamstring during my hill repeat workout on 10/15.  Hoping to get through this morning without problems.  Luckily, all the parts worked and things went well start to finish.  We both ran two of our best 5K times in months.

-KBramlett

About 100 runners start from Corning Central Elementary.

Kevin Hammes: 2nd Overall

Kevin Bramlett: 5th Overall

Truman State Homecoming 5K

Kirksville, MO -- October 16, 2010

Travel to my alma mater for the first time on Homecoming Weekend since 1988.  Plan on hitting  Paglias while in town for some delicious ronzas and running their Homecoming 5K prior to catching the football game.  Run the course pre-race and note the second half of the course has some difficult hills.  Talk to Andyman prior to the start of the race.  He is one of the Columbia, MO areas ultrarunners and also a NMSU grad.    Race Summary:  Take off behind the lead group of about 10 college guys;  the pack begins to thin out around 1.25 miles into the race.  Slowly working my way toward the front 5 runners.  Not exactly sure who all was racing as several of the front guys ended up being bandits and peeled off during the last 1/2 mile of the course.  Finish in 3rd place overall with an 18:03 and then enjoy the rest of the day watching the parade, talking with some old friends and enjoying the gorgeous fall weather.

-KHammes