#2952

Go to this website, let it load, scroll all the way down to the bottom.

I'm #2952.

Then poke around and see just how impressive me running two marathons in 15 days is...it's impressive, don't get me wrong, but not that much when you look at some of the others.

3 miles this morning.  First run since GR.  Felt incredible.

That Makes Two

I've had the last three days to mull over, review, rehash, breakdown, dissect, and ruminate on the Grand Rapids Marathon and my performance.

Overall?

Pleased as punch.

See, I knew going into this that most likely the goal for GR would be to just finish.  But then after my day in the twin cities I thought that a more directed effort might elicit a finish time that would be more memorable than just finishing.  In layman's terms, a PR.

Really, what the fuck was I thinking?

The conditions couldn't have been better - weather was ideal!  Temperature in the low 40s at the start, sunny and warming throughout the day with a predicted temperature at noon of 55F.  PERFECT.

I was properly fed and hydrated prior to the race.  I had a perfectly dialed in nutrition and hydration plan for during the race.  That plan was executed flawlessly (with a MAJOR assist in that department by T).

My pace plan was sound:  go out easy, aim for a 10:30 average pace so I can take it easier on the "hilly" part (there's one small portion of the course that has some rolling hills in it, no major climbs at all, but some rolling terrain), see what you have at mile 22ish and see if a PR would be within striking distance.  Sounds good huh?

I executed that right up until about mile 19.  Nope I didn't see the wall.  Mentally I felt good, but my legs weren't tired.  Nope.  Not at all.  They were fucking dead.  They hurt.  They didn't cramp.  They were just painful.  Feet were okay.  My quads and hip flexors just decided that many miles in that short of time weren't in their contract.

That resulted in a finish that was less than I'd hoped for that day.  But it isn't always, okay seldom, about the numbers on the clock at the finish of a marathon and it wasn't that day.

I took what I learned at Twin Cities and made some changes for GR and had success with those.  I learned some things at GR that I'll apply to the next time I take on the challenge of 26.2 miles.  So what did I learn?  In no particular order:

• My running volume needs to increase.  About 10-15 miles per week in order to have the type of success (it's not always about time) I want to have at this distance.
• I need longer long runs.  I need to cross that 20 mile barrier and get closer to 22-23 at least once in the training cycle.
• I need to make sure my quality runs (e.g. tempo runs, intervals, etc) are of higher quality.  This goes hand in hand with the need to increase my overall volume.
• I need to be taking better care of myself overall.  I need to be doing more ancillary stuff - overall along with running specific strength and I need to address some deficiencies in some specific areas.
• I need to incorporate solid food later into my long runs and will need time to experiment with that.

Old Man Marathon may have beat me about the head and neck Sunday but I'm not done dancing with him yet.  Well I am done dancing with him in the short term.  As of today I'm not planning on running a marathon again until 2012.  There would be two circumstances that would change that, and those would involve two specific people asking me to run with them (and I seriously doubt either one of them doing so, but it's not impossible.)  That makes 2011 the year of the half marathon and I've got some races circled on the calendar and some goals at that distance and some others.  Details to come on that.

There you have it.  I'm very happy with how things worked out and I did accomplish something Sunday that I'll blog about in a few days.

Oh, one more thing?  Today is Wednesday.  It's the first day that I've walked, just walked, without pain. This has been the sorest I've felt after a marathon.  I'm planning on running tomorrow.

One Down

I was informed today that I've been remiss about posting any sort of race report following the Twin Cities Marathon last week, so here goes.  I'm not going to give a mile by mile breakdown (or even post my splits) because that's not as important as some of the overall themes of the day and the lessons I learned.

First of all I'd like to thank Craney and the Original Sherpa for free accommodations and transportation for the weekend.  A big shout out goes to Goon and Moonie for the company during the race itself, but more on that in a minute.

Race day started out totally uneventful.  The weather forecast was pretty much ideal - cold in the hours prior to the race and warming up into the 60s by the early afternoon.  Okay, so not "ideal" but a high in the 60s is so much better than a high in the 70s or god forbid the 80s.  The prerace staging took place at the Mall of America Dome (the dome formerly known as the Metrodome) and you'd be shocked at how small and narrow the concourses in that place are!

The weather, it was in the mid-30s when we got to the dome, set the stage for the first two lessons that I learned that day:

1. I was dressed perfectly if the forecast called for it to stay in the 30s or even the 40s.  Long sleeve cold weather Nike mock with a short sleeve shirt over top.  Remember though that the forecast called for it to warm up, plus it was a bright sunny day which made it feel even warmer.  Dressed to warm.
2. We stayed in the dome too long before we made our way out to the start corral.  By the time some of the group dropped off their bag at bag drop and we entered the corral we were behind the 5:30 pace group.  We were able to worm our way up to just behind the 5:00 pace group but we were surrounded by people who would be running much slower than us which made it hard to get into a smooth rhythm in the first mile or two.  Too far back in the corral.

The race started fairly uneventful.  I was running with two fellow members of the 30s on KickRunners, Goon and Moonie.  Goon and I were hoping to finish between 4:16 and 4:30.  Moonie was running with us to try and help us to that pace.  The miles actually were clicking off fairly easy.  We were a bit off our pace goal but feeling strong.  I actually caught myself mentally saying "these miles are clicking off almost too easy."  The next lesson came just after mile 11.  I had to stop to retie a shoe - it felt like it was loosening up and my foot was starting to slide around a bit and I wanted to fix it - and told Goon and Moonie not to wait for me I'd try to catch up.  I'd been running just about a 10:30 pace up to that point.  I then proceeded to run mile 12 and 13 in 9:26 and 9:27 respectively.  That is not a pace I could maintain for the rest of the race.  I caught 'em just before the 13.1 mark and settled back into a more reasonable pace.  But the damage was done.  Wasted too much energy catching up to them at that point.

The next 3-4 miles were uneventful but I could start to feel my energy wane a bit and needed to stop just before mile 18 to use the port-o-potty.  How the hell I managed to find the one port-o-potty with no line I have no idea.  In/out as quick as humanly possible.  Again told 'em not to wait for me, but as I exited the port-o-potty I knew there was no freakin' way I was catching them.  So I was on my own from there out.  Just over 8 miles to go.

Crossed over the Mississippi River and headed for home.  My stomach was not feeling great due to the next lesson:  Powerade sucks.  ***Science Note***  Gatorade is a 6% sugar solution.  Powerade is an 8%.  Ever wonder why most people who drink Powerade water it down?  I can tell you - it's too fucking sweet.  But that's what they had on the course.  Combine that with the 4 GUs I had on the course and while I wasn't nauseous I wasn't feeling great.  Which slowed me down as I headed into the toughest part of the course - the last 6.2 miles.

Everyone who has run this race, or who lives in the Twin Cities will tell you about the Summit Ave hill.  It's long, but it's not that steep...more like a really long 2-2.5% incline.  But the real reason it sucks?  Immediately preceding it is the St. Thomas hill where you gain about 100 feet in about a half mile or so.  That sucked.  Even after the Summit Ave hill there were still rolling hills from about mile 23 past mile 25.  Rolling hills that rolled steadily higher.  At least the finish was downhill.  This was one tough course.



So there you have it.  What I learned during 4 hours, 42 minutes, and 16 seconds as I ran from Minneapolis to St. Paul.

Almost Here

Just under 5 days (4 days, 23 hours as I post this) until TCM.  The nerves are starting to kick in...normal business at work but at least T got home safely last night.

Time to start the packing process:  load of laundry tonight, make sure all the crap I need for the race/weekend is ready to go, etc.

I mailed some of my pre-race nutrition to MN on Friday.  As long as it makes it there all things should be good.

Nothing but easy runs this week.

Nothing but easy running and stressing out this week.

60 Freaking Miles

She's made it!  Her text said "exhausted and elated".

Just sucks that she won't be home until almost 10 pm tomorrow!

To say I'm extremely proud would be an understatement!

Komen 3 Day Walk - Day 1 in the books

Talked to T last night and this morning.  22.5 miles in day one.  One blister.  Some tired legs but overall things are great.  She actually sounded like she was having a good time.

21.5 miles today.

She is my hero.

Big Weekend #1

All is quiet in the house.  Well relatively quiet.  The cats are doing there usual night-time-crazy-routine and I've got iTunes open (Shawn Mullins - Lullaby currently playing) but it's just me here.

T made is safely to Seattle this afternoon for her 3 Day Walk.  To all of you out there that donated, thank you very much.  To those that haven't donated - there is still time!

She is supposed to update me at the end of tomorrow.  21+ miles on day one.  20+ on day 2.  15 on day three when they end at Memorial Stadium in Seattle (right by the Space Needle).

(Dave Matthews Band - Why I Am playing now)

I'll post updates from her if I can remember to - probably via facebook/twitter.

But all this "quiet" makes me a bit introspective.  About the last year, about what I've got coming up in the next few weeks, my running in general, life in general, the variety (or what some might say the lack of) in my music.  You know random shit.  But it's nice to spend some time in your head occasionally.  Gives you perspective.

Healthy Respect

I've worked outdoors in some fashion most of my adult life:  caddied in high school, the last 19 years in athletic training, etc.  As a result I healthy respect for what mother nature can throw at us and have a pretty well stocked gear closet to deal with those various conditions.

Rain is no problem.  Heavy rain, who cares.

Lightning?  No fucking way.  Seek shelter.

So today that's what I did.  As we were making the 30 minute drive to Spring Lake this morning it started to rain and lightning was visible in the distance...the distance that we were heading straight into.

Get to the race.  It's raining.  No big deal.  Not the conditions I'd hoped for, but ok.  Then the lighting picked up.  REALLY picked up.  They announced a 15 minute delay.  When that delay ended they announced an hour delay.  I conferred with my personal safety committee, T, and went to registration table and turned in my chip.  The look on the lady's face was priceless - sort of bewilderment and surprise.

See, I know what the current standard inclement weather policies are - and what the race director was proposing wasn't in line with those, IN MY OPINION.  So I came home.

Running is fun...but it ain't worth dying for.

Nerves

Even if tomorrow will be the 9th half marathon (okay, it will really be the 8th, and one 25k, but really does it matter?) I'm still a nervous wreck tonight.

I'm poring over the Hourly Weather Forecast Graph on www.noaa.gov for the race location like an engineer at NASA trying to figure out how to get the astronauts home and all I'm doing is trying to figure out if I need to wear long or short sleeves tomorrow.  Long by the way.

I'm not even racing this!  It's my last workout before TCM and if you have to do a bunch of marathon pace miles you might as well do it in a race if you can:  water/gatorade on the course, a t-shirt (even if the large they gave me is probably a child's large), and a beer mug instead of a finisher's medal.  So there shouldn't be this much race anxiety...should there?

Not As Tough As Expected

August 22.  What's that, three weeks ago?  Maybe it's because I've been so freaking busy at work - sometimes, like last week, too busy to get my runs in.  I don't know, but the whole no-alcohol-until-the-marathons-are-done as been surprisingly easy.  And there is the added bonus of it actually helping me accomplish what I was hoping when I started:  the weight is down.  Consistently down.  Not as low as I've been hoping (thanks to the lack of running) but I've been consistently at 180 the last two weeks.

18 days until Twin Cities...and the nervousness is starting to hit.

I have my last workout this Saturday.  The plan calls for a 15 mile run at marathon pace, so I'm running the Spring Lake Half Marathon.  That way I can do my pace run, and try to hold my goal pace for the half, while having everything taken care of for me...timing, water, gatorade, etc.  Plus I get a long sleeve technical t-shirt and a finishing mug.  All for $40.  Not a bad deal.

After that it's just easy miles for the next two weeks and then Twin Cities.  Have I mentioned the nervousness is starting to hit?

One Week Down...

Not the best week of running.  That's what happens when it's the first week of classes, administrative stuff out the wazoo, and two games on back to back days your schedule gets full and some things take precedence like sleep.

But, I still managed 37 miles (okay, 36.9).  However, 20 of those were on Sunday.  I know, I know, not the smartest plan.  You do what you have to do.

I did have some success this week though.  Not sure if it's the absence of alcohol or the combination of that and a 4 hour run yesterday but the number on the scale was a pleasant surprise this morning.  179.  It's been a good two years since I've seen something like that.  Now if I can just keep it there.

Course Corrections

Everyone does it.  You take a wrong turn.  You miss a turn.  What do you do?  You correct, go around the block, flip a U-turn, etc.

That's what those two weeks of preseason felt like to me.  I got trapped in the left lane and wasn't able to merge quick enough to take the exit I wanted.  Lots of cursing, pounding the steering wheel, etc.  Call it circumstance-rage.

The last couple of days have been totally different.  Even though the pace picked up at work, the amount of time at work has drastically reduced.  I've found a nice person in the middle lane who let me over and I see the next exit ahead.  I'm pretty confident I can find my way back to the road I'm supposed to be on.

Oh, and 39 days until Twin Cities.  That shit is coming fast!

53 Day Challenge

I'm taking on a personal challenge over the next 53 days (or from now until Oct 17th when I finish running the Grand Rapids Marathon).

You see, I've been trying to get my girth down a bit for the last few years - I was at a perfect 175 lbs in the early summer of 2008.  Not sure I can get all the way back there, but I'd like to get close.  So starting this summer I had about 9 lbs to lose.  Well, I'm down to 181 now and I'm in need of a little kick, push, or jump-start to get that number moving down again.

What's the kick?  I'm going dry for the next 53 days.  That's right.  No alcohol.  I had my last beer (hopefully, you never know I might lose will power a bit but I'm setting my goals high) last night with dinner.

I think it will help me cut some unneeded calories out of my diet and help my running (which desperately needs it now) both.

I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

6 weeks until Twin Cities!

Really?

***Warning***

***Warning***

This post will be about overt religious acts and the sporting world, this topic might offend, and please read with caution and the knowledge that this is my opinion, and my opinion only.

So I'm watching the Bengals-Broncos preseason game last night on the NFL Network.  Much better performance by the Bengals, but I noticed something strange.  Every time the Broncos punter, Britton Colquitt, punted he would run off the field pointing both fingers up at the sky.  Now, I know I'm making an assumption here, but it seemed to me that he was indicating some sort of acknowledgement to God.

Really?

Does God care that you just did your job?  Punting.  That's what Pat Bowlen is paying you to do.  Colquitt didn't boom an 85 yard bomb of a punt that was downed at the 1 yard line.  It was pretty routine punt that was returned for a bunch of yards by Shipley of the Bengals.

First of all any type of celebration after the completion of a play annoys me, so I'm not just picking on the Fellowship of Christian Athletes crowd here, but constantly drawing attention to your religion gets old.  Quickly.

Let your actions of every day life be the example.  If someone asks you about your religion, then they're giving you free reign to expound.  But stop the overused, trite gestures.  Please.

Hey, Summer?

Fuck you.

You've worn out your welcome.  I know it's supposed to be warm, but really, this warm?  And this humid?  For days on end?

Sept 22, 2010 can not get here soon enough.

And It Begins Again

It's that time of year again.  August.  The return of college (and high school) athletics.  Why they call it "Fall Camp" is beyond me...last time I checked (about 10 seconds ago) fall doesn't start until Sept 22, 2010.  But I digress.

What began June 1 with high hopes and grand expectations of accomplishing many, many different things (both personal and professional) and segued into accomplishing a few select things (mostly personal...sorry employer!) and a lot of not doing anything but traveling.  But it was a very good eight weeks!

So I've been back to work for 11 days now, and the kick in the shorts comes tomorrow when soccer practices start.  A week and a half later classes start.

I'll do my best to update in that time, but don't be surprised if things are a bit quieter than usual around these parts.

Correct!

Spot on Erin.

You versus them...and great music.  Anyone recognize the music without looking at the comments on YouTube?

Vacation 2010 Recap Part 3

DC here we come!

Again, utilizing the Bolt Bus to make the trip to DC was key. No major problems besides the bus being delayed (most likely due to traffic) about 30 minutes. If nothing else it gave us more of an opportunity to people watch in NYC.

In order to cut costs some we decided to stay outside of DC proper in Bethesda. The hotel was a short (10 minute?) walk from the metro station and made it easy to get back and forth from DC. I know that the cost of the metro fares in now way came close to the $$ we saved on the hotel, plus we got to utilize mass transit again.

In all we had two full days in DC, plenty of time right? Maybe...

Day #1:

Made out way to the National Mall right around the time the Smithsonian Institute opened. We spent a little bit of time in the Castle orientating ourselves before heading over the Museum of National History.

Magically, 3 hours or so vanished. Okay, we're nerds and we spent time in the hall of mammals, Human Origins, Sant Ocean Hall, Bones, Written In Bone, and a brief few minutes in the Dinosaurs. That was the morning.

After lunch we walked over to National Air & Space Museum. Again, we're nerds (however I enjoyed this one waaaaaay more than T) and spent about 4 hours taking in as many exhibits as we could.

Finishing up there we ventured to the east end of the mall to see the capitol building. I know, I know we see it on TV all the time...nope, doesn't compare. WAY more impressive. We then made our way down Pennsylvania Ave just taking in the buildings, eventually stopping at the US Navy Memorial (it was about here that we started to run low on camera battery so we started being more conservative in the number of pictures we took the rest of the day). It's located directly across the street from the National Archives, also an impressive building.

Having been on our feet most of the day, we found a place to grab some dinner, made our way back to the metro and Bethesda - side note: The station at Bethesda is DEEP underground. As in it took us over 2:30 to make it up the escalator and a pretty damn steep angle I might add! I snapped a photo, it's in the gallery.

Day #2:

Back to the Mall on the Metro. We only had a couple of hours in the morning because we were going out by the Zoo in order to have lunch with another kickrunner friend and her daughters - just enough time to spend some time in the National Museum of American History. Made it about 1/2 through before leaving to meet R. After lunch though we came back and finished it up.

So, in about a day and a half we checked off three museums in the complex...in other words? Barely scratched the surface.

After finishing up at American History it was time to head to the west end of the mall to see the monuments. Side note: we were there 6/29, 6/30, 7/1, 7/2, so as you can imagine they were setting up the for the big Independence Day celebration, which made navigating that part of the mall challenging.

Washington Monument - Check

Korean War Veterans National Memorial - Check (very impressive)

Lincoln Memorial - Check (yes, we took the time to read his Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address, and the view back towards the Washington Monument? Hard to put into words)

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Check (every bit as impressive, emotional, and moving as I thought it would be)

The Vietnam Women's Memorial - Check

We then headed up Constitution Ave, turned north up 17th and made our way over to Pennsylvania Ave. You know, where the White House is?

White House - Check.

Again, after being on our feet most of the day we made our way back to Bethesda to get ourselves organized for the bus ride back to Philly the next day.

Very impressed with our nation's capital. Remember how I said two days should be enough? Wrong. We needed at least one more day. We missed out on the Marine Corps War Memorial (you know, the Iwo Jima flag raising) and Arlington National Cemetery, plus the rest of the Smithsonian Museums (least of all the National Air & Space Museum's Steven F. Udvair-Hazy Center!). Needless to say this won't be our last visit.

Not much left to tell about this expedition...well a few things that tie it all together, but that will have to wait a few days.

Pictures and more pictures.

Vacation 2010 Recap Part 2

The original purpose of going to Philly was for continuing education. While there spent some time with some friends from Oregon, one of whom evidently had the same idea we did: spend some time in NYC. However our paths there couldn't have been more different.

We're sharing some stories over drinks in Philly when she told us she was taking the train to NYC. I was flabbergasted she paid over $80 for a round trip ticket. She was shocked that we paid $62.50 TOTAL for our travel to NYC to DC and DC back to Philly. How did we manage to be so frugal you ask?

Bolt Bus and Megabus. Phenomenal ideas.

We took the Bolt Bus from Philly to NYC and from NYC to DC. Cost a grand total of $40.50 for both of us. It's operated by Greyhound - wait, stop right there. We're talking new buses and Wi-Fi here! Couldn't have been a better trip.

Arrived in NYC right by Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. Met up with M, a kickrunner friend, and immediately jumped on the subway and headed to her neighborhood (she lives in Hells Kitchen, VERY close to Central Park) to drop off our stuff and grab some eats. Then we hit the subway again and then walked all over the west side of Manhattan. Walked on the High Line, went by the Chelsea Piers, and walked along the Hudson River for a bit. Did I mention it was like 95F? Sweated through my clothes!

Made it back to M's and then chilled a bit before heading to The Stanton Social for dinner with Maria, her guy J, M#2 (another kickrunner friend), her husband and a former student of T's. Phenomenal food. Tapas. Check out the menu.

While we were enjoying our meal, M#2 offered us some water tour tickets that they were unable to use. Jumped at the chance. So that was on the agenda for Monday. But first I got to do something very cool.

I went for a run in Central Park. Granted it was hot, humid as hell, I was running with M (mucho faster) the first two miles and then we both met up with M#2 and her puppy for a few more...thank god M#2 is like 8 months pregnant! Her pace was much more comfortable. All in all ended up with about 6 miles.

That morning T, M, and I walked around a bit - hit the M&M's store in Times Square, T bought her an "I Love NYC" shirt, and then we got a great slice of pizza before T and I headed to the pier for the water tour.

The tour: very informative, learned a lot of history I had no idea about, got to see all the important landmarks of NYC, AND it got us out on the water and away from the inferno of the city. Plenty of pics were taken!

Afterwards T and I successfully navigated our way back to M's on the subway (felt very cosmopolitan!) to chill a bit before we headed to dinner with M and J. Again small plate style but fabulous. Ended up the night with a walk around a bit (unfortunately Magnolia wasn't open) before calling it a night.

Sort of a whirlwind tour of NYC, but with only a limited amount of time we did pretty good.

Pictures.

Next stop, DC.