Race Report - Gum Tree 10K

Frank Boettcher said:

The Gum Tree 10K took place on 5/12, in Tupelo, Mississippi. Once

Thanks for the report and congrats on the PR.

Are there really gum trees there ?

Cheers,
--
Elflord

"Frank Boettcher" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The Gum Tree 10K took place on 5/12, in Tupelo, Mississippi. Once
considered one of the top fifty 10K's in the U. S., participation had
fallen in recent years, (something to do with the elimination of the
free beer truck maybe) but was up a little this year to 900
participants.

The race is normally not an easy one (at least for me) because it
starts and runs in the shade for about 3 miles with lots of ninety
degree turns and a slight uphill grade. Then you get the downhill
benefit all at once on a steep, short highway ramp. I suspect the
uphill portion slows me down a few seconds a mile and the downhill
doesn't make it up being too quick and steep to take advantage of.
At that point you are in full sun the rest of the way and at 9:00 AM
in Mississippi, that is hot. Humidity was high and there was no
breeze, so many fade in the last mile. While not achieving negative
splits, I managed to maintain.

Yup, they ought to turn the course around - have the short hill to climb up,
then let you enjoy that slight downhill for a while. I quite hate slight
uphills; For enjoyable running, I'd much rather have steep uphills and
gradual downhills. A side note - in my first 50 miler, there were 3 laps,
and one section had this 4-5 mile gradual uphill. Never ever going back to
that one.

Quoted message said:

Traveling Kenyan's took the top five male money spots with the winning
time of 29:32. Kenyan woman won the female. Masters trio and GM,
also money spots, were all travelers.

I was 69th overall, second in male 60-64, with a personal best 10K
time of 46:31. I was happy with the time, as my 2007 goal is to break
46:00 and I know there are flatter, cooler races late in the year
where that will be possible. I was happy to finish in the top ten
percent. My time was over a minute better than my previous PB and 3.5
minutes better than my finish in the same race last year. I'm very
happy to be sixty and still manage to be on the improvement side of
the curve. How long will that last.........?

Nice PR, congratuations for placing 2nd in your group. I'm in 40's and I'm
about the same speed. You're improvement timewise to <46 will come on a
faster course.

-Tony

Quoted message said:

I'd post a link, but the Tupelo Running Club has not set them up on
their web site yet.

All in all, a fun race that coincides with a weekend arts and crafts
festival. One to consider next year if you happen to be close enough.

Frank

Frank said:

I was 69th overall, second in male 60-64, with a personal best 10K
time of 46:31.

Congrats, Frank - three and a half minutes improvement over last year
is no joke!

Do you have other specific 10k races in your sights, for your assault
on 46?

Hope you remembered to BYOB for afterward. Shame about the truck.

On Mon, 14 May 2007 14:27:32 +0000 (UTC), Elflord <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Frank Boettcher said:

The Gum Tree 10K took place on 5/12, in Tupelo, Mississippi. Once

Thanks for the report and congrats on the PR.

Thanks

Quoted message said:

Are there really gum trees there ?

Yep, place is named for them:

About Tupelo Trees: Water Tupelo , also called cottongum, sourgum,
swamp tupelo, tupelo-gum, and water-gum, is a large, long-lived tree
that grows in southern swamps and flood plains where its root system
is periodically under water.

Location is not the source of Tupelo honey, which is honey from
flowering Tupelo Gums, but comes from just north of Apalachicola,
Florida

Quoted message said:

Cheers,

Charlie Pendejo said:

Frank said:

I was 69th overall, second in male 60-64, with a personal best 10K
time of 46:31.

Congrats, Frank - three and a half minutes improvement over last year
is no joke!

Thanks

Quoted message said:

Do you have other specific 10k races in your sights, for your assault
on 46?

If I don't hit it before, the Pass to Bay 10K held in Pass Christian,
MS, mid December. None flatter and usually good cool running temps.
Only hill is a paved railroad crossing with about a two foot rise. It
is an out and back so you do it twice. A touch boring (the race, not
the party after) but fast. Gives the race director fits scheduliing
around trains, though.

Race used to actually go across Bay of St. Louis and finish on the
other side of the bay, however, Katrina wiped out the bridge.

Quoted message said:

Hope you remembered to BYOB for afterward. Shame about the truck.

Yeah, they eliminated it before I started running the race about four
years ago. I'm told it used to draw about 2500. Amazing what a draw
free beer can be.

On Mon, 14 May 2007 14:59:06 GMT, "Tony S." <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

"Frank Boettcher" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The Gum Tree 10K took place on 5/12, in Tupelo, Mississippi. Once
considered one of the top fifty 10K's in the U. S., participation had
fallen in recent years, (something to do with the elimination of the
free beer truck maybe) but was up a little this year to 900
participants.

The race is normally not an easy one (at least for me) because it
starts and runs in the shade for about 3 miles with lots of ninety
degree turns and a slight uphill grade. Then you get the downhill
benefit all at once on a steep, short highway ramp. I suspect the
uphill portion slows me down a few seconds a mile and the downhill
doesn't make it up being too quick and steep to take advantage of.
At that point you are in full sun the rest of the way and at 9:00 AM
in Mississippi, that is hot. Humidity was high and there was no
breeze, so many fade in the last mile. While not achieving negative
splits, I managed to maintain.

Yup, they ought to turn the course around - have the short hill to climb up,
then let you enjoy that slight downhill for a while. I quite hate slight
uphills; For enjoyable running, I'd much rather have steep uphills and
gradual downhills. A side note - in my first 50 miler, there were 3 laps,
and one section had this 4-5 mile gradual uphill. Never ever going back to
that one.

Quoted message said:

Traveling Kenyan's took the top five male money spots with the winning
time of 29:32. Kenyan woman won the female. Masters trio and GM,
also money spots, were all travelers.

I was 69th overall, second in male 60-64, with a personal best 10K
time of 46:31. I was happy with the time, as my 2007 goal is to break
46:00 and I know there are flatter, cooler races late in the year
where that will be possible. I was happy to finish in the top ten
percent. My time was over a minute better than my previous PB and 3.5
minutes better than my finish in the same race last year. I'm very
happy to be sixty and still manage to be on the improvement side of
the curve. How long will that last.........?

Nice PR, congratuations for placing 2nd in your group. I'm in 40's and I'm
about the same speed. You're improvement timewise to <46 will come on a
faster course.

-Tony

Thanks.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'd post a link, but the Tupelo Running Club has not set them up on
their web site yet.

All in all, a fun race that coincides with a weekend arts and crafts
festival. One to consider next year if you happen to be close enough.

Frank

Frank Boettcher said:

The Gum Tree 10K took place on 5/12, in Tupelo, Mississippi. Once

....

My time was over a minute better than my previous PB and 3.5

Quoted message said:

minutes better than my finish in the same race last year. I'm very
happy to be sixty and still manage to be on the improvement side of
the curve. How long will that last.........?

Great job, Frank. Congrats on the continued improvement.

Dot

--
"The goal is training and adaptation, not destruction and injury."
- John Hardy
http://www.mountainrunning.coolrunning.com.au/misc/training.shtml

Dot dot.h@#duh?att.net said:

Frank Boettcher said:

The Gum Tree 10K took place on 5/12, in Tupelo, Mississippi. Once

...

My time was over a minute better than my previous PB and 3.5

Quoted message said:

minutes better than my finish in the same race last year. I'm very
happy to be sixty and still manage to be on the improvement side of
the curve. How long will that last.........?

Great job, Frank. Congrats on the continued improvement.

Dot

Thank you.

Nice race Frank. Congrats on the PB and the 2nd place.
Great to still be getting PRs at 60.
How old were you when you started competing?

Anthony.

Anthony said:

Nice race Frank. Congrats on the PB and the 2nd place.
Great to still be getting PRs at 60.
How old were you when you started competing?

Anthony.

Thanks,

About 55. I had run, off and on, for a number of years prior to that
but got serious about it at 55. At that point 30 lbs. drifted off
over the five year period and race times started improving. My first
Gum Tree was 58:33 so you can see what dropping a few lbs., upping
your base mileage, and adding a little bit of speed work can do.

Frank

Frank Boettcher said:

Yep, place is named for them:

About Tupelo Trees: Water Tupelo , also called cottongum, sourgum,
swamp tupelo, tupelo-gum, and water-gum, is a large, long-lived tree
that grows in southern swamps and flood plains where its root system
is periodically under water.

Got it. The reason I asked is because we use "gum trees" to mean eucalypts
in Australia. They are rare outside Australia, though there are some in CA.

Cheers,
--
Elflord

"Elflord" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Frank Boettcher said:

Yep, place is named for them:

About Tupelo Trees: Water Tupelo , also called cottongum, sourgum,
swamp tupelo, tupelo-gum, and water-gum, is a large, long-lived tree
that grows in southern swamps and flood plains where its root system
is periodically under water.

Got it. The reason I asked is because we use "gum trees" to mean eucalypts
in Australia. They are rare outside Australia, though there are some in
CA.

Donovan - we have quite a lot of Australian Eucaplyptus trees here in
Israel.
Brought out by pioneers around the start of the 1900s to help drain the
swamps...

Makes me feel more at home :-)

Anthony.