Riverbank Run 2007

Saturday was the 30th running of the Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids, and what a great day it was. There was a record turnout in all the events and the weather was spectacular, especially considering it has rained the last three years during the run. To go along with the great weather we also had a lot of friends and family that participated making it an excellent morning.

This run has become my favorite race and the one I put the most effort into. I feel it is the perfect distance for me where I'm challenged to run the whole thing but am able to push myself the whole way and focus on my time.

I felt very well prepared going into the race and was quite sure I'd break my personal best time of 2:07 from last year. I had an outside hope of joining the prestigious "2 hour club" but was mostly just focused on running as well as I could (and of course hopefully beat Jason and Darren).

This year Jason, Darren, and I got in line on time and started in the correct pace group so we didn't have to dodge slower runners for the first few miles. I started out fast and consistent and was able to hold a great pace for almost the whole race. Unfortunately, at mile 9 I felt my legs start fading and knew 2 hours was going to be unrealistic. I continued to push as hard as I could and miles 10-15 were pretty painful but I never slowed too much. My calves were extremely tight by the end but I pushed through to finish with a personal record of 2:01:18, which is about a 7:50 min/mi pace. Here are my 1 mile splits:

Mile 1: 7:59

Mile 2: 7:34

Mile 3: 7:29
Mile 4: 7:37

Mile 5: 7:36
Mile 6: 7:33

Mile 7: 7:43
Mile 8: 7:38

Mile 9: 7:37
Mile 10: 7:59

Mile 11: 7:49
Mile 12: 7:51

Mile 13: 8:01
Mile 14: 8:14

Mile 15: 8:20

Saturday was also a monumental day for Erin. Erin ran her very first 5k race and did AWESOME! She did some mild training beforehand but always had a lot of leg pain after she'd run so she couldn't do too much. Her main goal was just to run most of the way and hopefully have a decent time.

She ended up running all but about 1 minute and posted a great time of 33:28, nice work Erin!

Marv and Derek ran their first 25k races and successfully crossed the finish line. Marv finished the longest run of his life without walking. Derek bypassed the training and didn't fare so well towards the end, but it is still very impressive that he could do this run at 17 years old.

Last week I harped on our friend Laura all week to sign up and run the 25k even though she had gotten sick during her training and hadn't run for the past 3 weeks. She very reluctantly gave in nervously took to the course. But much to her delight, she ran the whole thing without walking and even had fun doing it. Great job Laura.

It was a great Riverbank day. Here are all the times from our group:

25k Run

Randy Elenbaas - 2:01:18

Jason Schaaf - 2:04:01

Darren Schaaf - 2:06:32

Marv Elenbaas - 2:41:12

Derek Elenbaas - 2:42:27

Claude Bos - 2:43:51

Laura Demann - 2:50:02

5k Run

Jenny Scott - 26:12

Steve Elenbaas - 27:30

Lindsay Elenbaas - 27:32

Doug Elenbaas - 29:39

Mike Johnson - 29:39

Erin Elenbaas - 33:28

Melissa Schaaf - 33:30

Amy Klein - 33:32

Jan Bos - 41:37

5k Walk

Ken Schaaf - 41:16

Cindy Brink - 44:02

Kathy Schaaf - 46:55

One other cool part of the race was at mile 5 I was passed by Bill Rodgers, who was one of the greatest American marathoners of all time.