Today I ran the ASH Dash 5K race. The ASH (Austin State Hospital) volunteers sponsor the race; they are an organization whose purpose is to improve the quality of life of the children and adults who are patients at the Hospital.
The race was on the grounds of the State Hospital, which was established in 1856, with the first patients admitted in 1861. The race started in front of the administration building, built in 1856. It was open for viewing on race day. The hospital was originally called the Texas State Lunatic Asylum but was renamed the Austin State Hospital in 1925. I was planning to visit the administration building and see what it was like, especially since the school where I had my Navy training was an old Civil War era hospital. However, I did not have a chance to do this with everything else that was happening on race day.
The race course consisted of two loops around the hospital grounds with very little elevation change. However, today there was a strong cold wind out of the north.
Yesterday I laid everything I would need out so I would not have to bother Marilyn, as I planned to get ready at 5:30 AM. This included getting my commuter bike ready for the ride down to the hospital. However, when I stepped out this morning I had second thoughts about riding my bike. It was cold (mid 50s) and windy (about 20 MPH gusts.) Therefore, I went back in and turned on the light in the bedroom to find a windbreaker for the ride (so much for my plans not to disturb Marilyn!)
As part of my preparations, I put on my Garmin (the one I was having problems with in my last post) and turned it on. For the most part, it was working okay. However, occasionally it would power down when I would hit the down key (middle button on right). Finally, I stopped using that button and it did not die as much. I successfully got a track down to the hospital, but the track of the race and the ride home were combined into one record.
I used SportTracks to break the track into two tracks, but I lost the heart rate data. Therefore, I have five tracks uploaded to www.Motionbased.com.
The ride down to the hospital went very well, just as it should have been, with a tail wind and riding downhill! At 7:00 in the morning, there is not much traffic on the road so I had trouble getting across some of the intersections because my bike did not trigger the signals. At Koenig and Guadalupe, I had to go over and press the walk button to get the light to change. Also, at the entrance to the Hospital the light never changed and finally, when there were no cars coming from either direction, I crossed.
My Garmin data.
The race started at 8 o’clock sharp. Since I had run the course before I knew where it went, so there were no surprises. The last time they had us go out to 45th street and then double back. This time we ran along the perimeter of the grounds on the northeast side.
I finished in 103rd place overall, fourth in my age group, with a time of 31:08, which translates to a pace of 10:02.8 minutes per mile.
My Garmin data.
The ride home was about the same as the ride down. I had trouble getting across Koenig and had to go over and press the walk button. Shortly thereafter, another bicyclist came along and waited at the light. He was doing a track stand while we waited for the light to change. After a bit, I commented that he was doing a very good track stand. After I complimented him I was afraid that perhaps I had jinxed him. However, he continued to do the track stand. Finally, he gave up and made a loop at the stop light. As soon as his back was turned, the light changed. I was quite a ways down the street when he passed me.
My Garmin Track