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Jacksonville, FL, United States
In Life as well as in running the secret is Pace.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Post Marathon Blues?

Not really....

active recovery started less than 12 hours after I crossed the finish line. I forced myself to ride the trainer. Just for 30 minutes.... but getting the blood flowing into my legs again was helpful.

All in all the least amount of post marathon soreness I've ever had. I attribute that to 3 thnings:

1. Better training

2. Easing up in the last 6 miles when I knew that my goals rwere out of reach.

3. Aforementioned post race plan to keep moving.

Post marathon week was pretty close to a normal training week with the exception of having no speedwork.


Last weekend even got in a 9 mile "long" run.
Tuesday of this week... I just had one of those days today. Supposed to be 5 in 45 minutes... Just ran without mind of pace.... just hinking about staying lose and keeping god form.. finished in 42 and change.

I ran again with Kara and the Winn-Dixe folks Tuesday night.... nailed my tempo run 5 mi with 3 @ 7:34 yesterday... it was not "tempo" tho... it was all out and it hurt.

I have a 15K:
http://www.gate-riverrun.com/
and a 10K
http://www.1stplacesports.com/stpattys.htm
on the horizon.

My thoughts, planning, and focus, however, turn to triathlon this time of year. This year will be very different.

I have raced Clydesdale for a decade... okay more than that. The Clydesdale category is for male racers who are over 200#.

Seldom have I gotten over 215# and I'll never be over 5'10" tall

I'm now under 200 and will race age group this year. I'll miss the Clyde category in our local sprint series because I racked next to and raced with the same group of bigger guys every year.

No doubt they (Layne is in my group for example) will make fun of me now... ask me to turn sideways and exclaim "Where'd he go?" or something like that and generally kick sand in my face...

All that said...

The race is what you make it... categories or no. the real race is within.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Running for Joy - Race Report 26.2 with Donna National Breast Cancer Awareness Marathon


First off…. This race needs a nickname…. That’s just too much of a mouthful. But, a great cause to be sure…

I was running because there was a race… but I was also running for Joy… Joy is an old dear friend of mine who is a breast cancer survivor… and one of the sweetest/toughest/kindest people I know.

The plan:
I was going to try to do something like the 10-10-10 plan. I wanted to start out easy and smooth, stay relaxed through the first 10 then run hard for 10 and hold on for the final 10k.

Pre Race:
Had to take a bus to the start… however, for the first time *ever* I went to a race that had too many port-o-lets.

The color coded race numbers were confusing. The literature and pre-race instructions kept saying that the Orange bibs went off before the Blue bibs. From what I could tell the orange bibs were the *ahem* walkers. I found the guy with the 4 hour pace group sign and just followed him to the start…. When we got there we were in the very front… I mean that I could have started in the first row. I decided not to and moved back about 250 places.

The Start:

I did start pretty close to the 4 hour group and kept them in sight most of the first few miles. This was really easy since I leapfrogged them every time they stopped to walk…. Yep… the pace groups were all doing Galloway… all the way.

Around mile 6 we hit the beach. At around the 7 mile mark I passed the 4 hour pace group and said under my breath “that’s the last I’ll see of you, suckers”

I had no idea how true that would be…

You see the half marathoners had been running with us so far and at 6.75 miles or so they leave the beach to head back… the marathon runners stay on the sand… well.. I misunderstood. I thought we all left the beach together then they headed south while we headed north on the road…. So… I left the beach… and ran about .3 miles with the half-marathoners before I realized my error (seeing the mile 20 sign was a giant clue).

So what to do? I’m way off course… way off pace… I thought for a second about flooring it and just finishing the ½ but… I guess I’m just too stubborn for that kind of reasoning. (See map)

I just turned around… and started running in as straight a line as possible to the closest point where I could rejoin the race. I could have run faster at this point but I was too busy kicking myself… all that training… and for what… to ruin it with my idiocy… well… I finally decided that it was what it was and I was still going to run (and finish) a marathon.

Just about this time I can see a cluster of runners ahead and a guy with a pace group sign… I had to laugh a little… but only a little… as I closed in on them I could read the sign… “4:15 Pace Group”

I had another bout of self pity there again. And the last mile on the beach was no day at the beach.

At the end of mile 8 we finally leave the beach for good… that’s when I ditched the 10-10-10 plan… I decided that I had to do everything I could to pull myself back into the race…. So a-la Forrest Gump… I started Running I basically put together eight 8:45s but it really is all a blur.

I shut my mistake out of my mind as much as I could…. I just ran… ate a gel when I felt my pace slip… had a salt tab when I felt cramps coming on… for the most part though I felt nothing… the course… over roads I’ve trained on hundreds of times was mostly ignored… I simply ran.

There were a couple of bright spots… their names are Masey and Kendall. My daughters… they were spending a rare weekend with their mom. I had given them a couple of gels and asked them to hand them to me when I passed the condo where they were staying… they were both there… waiting… I needed the gels… but a kiss on the cheek… way better.

Somewhere between mile 18 and 19 I saw Jessica, Joy’s daughter… although I did not see Joy, I heard later that she was there… cheering and taking pictures. Mile 19, however is when my pace started to slip. When the 20 mile marker came into view (“hey this looks familiar”) I could see by the race clock that I had 54 minutes to break 4 hours…

I knew that it was not to be… no… not that I was defeatist… or under-motivated… I just know my body and it was not going to happen. About that time I heard my name being yelled and turned my head to see my old friend Shawn… running along next to me… urging me forward… Another mile another smile.

So that was my new attitude… To simply run each mile the best I possible could… and smile… and help spread them as well.

My pace kept slipping… 9:30s led to 10s… but I just gave it all I had. Since this was the breast cancer Marathon there were many breast references throughout the race… “save the tatas”, “Save second base”, “lick breast cancer”, etc… somewhere around mile 22 a group of people had many such signs… and one they were waving said “Free Breast Exam”… so I slowed down… unzipped my shirt… and got checked for lumps…

The last 3 miles of the race were long… hot and boring… up a ramp, then over the Intracostal Waterway bridge… it seemed to take forever. The bright spots were passing a number of walkers from the half-marathon… more than a few of which wore the special “Survivor” bibs. I tried to give these brave ladies a smile, a wave, and a word of encouragement.

Finally the finish ~4:13…

No PR… no sub 4… but I finished.

I think I can get it next time… with a little less weight… a little better training… and a little more taper too..

Oh yeah… and not racing like a Dipsh!t…

Monday, February 9, 2009

Winter Beaches Run 2009

I had emergency dental surgery last Wenesday.

Thursday-Saturday my mouth was still in such pain that I was reluctant to eat.

Sunday morning… and I still did not feel like chewing anything…. I managed to down 12 or so mini pancakes for breakfast…


The race started at 1500 so… I never really ate lunch… just had a banana on the way out the door around 1:30…. Masey and Kendall decided to come with me

Had I not signed up for this race already… I probably would have skipped it but… It was already paid for and… I just needed to run an 8:11 pace to get seeded for the River Run next month… sounded easy enough….

We picked up Mark on the way… got to the race site plenty early for packet pickup etc… got in a warm-up mile and a couple of Porto-potty stops before the race started…

I ran in to my old friend Shawn:


Then spent a few minutes looking for Mark....

The gun sounded right at 1500 and we were off…


Just tried to stay relaxed and on pace for the first couple of miles… I wanted for it to feel easy… It did not but… ran a 7:57 and 8:03 anyway…





Settled in a bit on mile 3 but it was beginning to get hard to hold the pace…. 7:54





The beginning of the end was mile 5… I could not lie to myself anymore… this was not easy… it was not a relaxed pace… I had stomach cramps and my legs were very heavy… 8:42





The middle 5 miles was into a pretty stiff headwind… I managed to find a couple of big fellas to draft off of… they pulled me to an 8:26…





I knew that I was done tho… no need to lie to myself… I basically ran ~9:45 pace for the rest of the race





Looking back… I’m not sure if I bonked… or if I was still having dental surgery complications… or if I simply suck…







All that said… we all had a tremendous time… Just hanging out with each other and enjoying the day.
















Thursday, February 5, 2009

thought for the day

"The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching." Anson Dorrance

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Dentist



Well.. I’m pretty much back in the land of the living. It was a very long morning.



I had the stitches taken out from the oral surgery I had last week yesterday afternoon….



I woke up at 0345 with a mouth full of blood… I could not get it to stop.



Only dozed off a couple of times thereafter….



Got up at 0620 to rinse my mouth and fix the girls some breakfast.



Dropped them off at school… then I went straight to the dentist’s office…



When they saw all of the blood they were about as freaked out as medical professionals can be… they tried, unsuccessfully, to get the bleeding to stop.



Then my dentist called his oral surgeon buddy and sent me over to him… He said not to worry about any bills over there he’s take care of everything.



Not 5 minutes after i got there… the office manager from my dentists office came over to check on me and to work out the billing with the surgeon’s office.



The surgeon removed my temporary bridge… cleaned the extraction site… and sewed me back up again… 5 more stitches



When I got home I curled up in the fetal position for a while but I’ll live.



Plan to work from home for the rest of the day… as well as I can on my pain medication.



Monday, February 2, 2009

Weekend update

21 miles yesterday... my last long run in preparation for my Marathon 13 days from now and I finally got it right.... having bonked 3 weeks in a row... I finally took in enough calories to finish feeling good... Even did a sub 9 mile 20 just because.

Race coming up this Sunday. Going to try and run sub 1:22 at the Winter Beaches run 10 miler to qualify as a seeded runnr at the Gate River Run 15k.

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