March to the Mini

I Hate The Cold!

2010-12-08T13:37:00.001-05:00

Like it says, I am not a big fan of the cold. I don’t mind it when it gets into the upper 30’s and low 40’s, but this teen shit needs to go! I mean there is nothing like heading out for a run and having sweat freeze on your face. I guess that’s just part of living where I do. Not moving, so I guess I’ll just live with it.

Ok, enough bitching. Since running my first marathon just over a month ago, I have managed to increase my weekly mileage quite a bit. One of the main reasons is to hopefully avoid the feeling that happened at about the 18 mile mark of the Indy Marathon. I would like to not feel like I’m just looking to the next mile marker so I can walk for a few minutes. Luckily for me, I run with season marathoners who are helping me get where I want to be.

So every long run since then has been over the 18 mile mark and just about every run during the week has been around 8. So I am averaging around 50 to 60 miles a week now. Hope that does it.

Last Saturday was another day of firsts for me. When I woke up to head out the door there was snow covering the grass and plenty more falling from the sky. The plan was to do 24 miles, so this was going to be interesting. I have been out before and had a few flurries fall, but nothing like a steady stream falling from the sky.

In order to get in the 24 that Shawna and I were planning to run, we decided to meet at 4 am so that we could get 6 miles in before everyone else showed up for the 18 mile loop we ran a couple of weeks ago. We knew that Tom and Jen were definitely coming with Dave being a possibility. Dave has been having some heel trouble and has missed a couple of run because of it.

So when we got back there was no one else there. Kind of a surprise, since it was almost 5. But within a few minutes they started to roll in. I think it was Tom, then Jen, followed by Dave. As everyone started to get out of their cars and get ready we saw another car turning into the parking lot. I looked and was surprised to see Chris, my favorite Yeti, pulling in. This made us have to come up with a game plan kind of quick. So Shawna and I devised a plan without really letting anyone else know.

The plan that we came up with was to run the route we had planned thinking that when we got to the 5-6 mile mark Chris would need to head a different direction and we were 100% sure that Dave, and possibly Tom, would head back the same route. This is where I encountered another first, and it was not a good one.

As we approached the point where the turn would have to be made I let everyone in on the plan. At that point it suddenly became like a grade school game where people had to choose sides. Not a good thing. I knew Chris had to turn back, but was completely shocked when no one else did. So, Chris bid us farewell and off we went along our separate routes. He was just heading on his alone.

So we finished out the run, which ended up taking over 4 hours because we had to take quite a few walk breaks. I know towards the end my hands were freezing.

When I got home I felt like a complete ass. I really couldn’t believe I had left Chris out there alone. So I texted him and apologized. At first I thought this was going to be a really bad thing for our friendship. Luckily Chris is a bigger person than I may have been if it had been me on the receiving end of it. We seemed to get things smoothed out, although I don’t know if he’ll run with me again, not that I would blame him. I really hope that’s not the case.

So that is how things are going right now.

Later

2010 Fast Freddie 5-Mile Foot Feast

2010-11-27T14:36:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving morning I ran in my second Fast Freddie 5-miler. What made this one so special was that my daughter, Jade, had decided to run it with me. How cool is that?

The day started off pretty early for me. Tom, Shawna, and I had planned on meeting at 6 am to put in a few miles before the race. Mainly because Shawna was going to her families house near Indy and couldn’t join us and I was running with my daughter, so I wasn’t going to be pushing too hard. But unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. About 5:30 am I received a text from Shawna and she had been watching the weather. She said that we were getting ready to get hit by a storm any minute. So we scrapped the early run.

After that I just kind of checked out blogger and Facebook to kill time before heading out to pick up everyone and head to the run.

Before I knew it I needed to get ready. I had told Tom that I would pick him up at about 8 and then head to pick up Chris. Which is just how it played out.

By 8:30 we were at the 4-H fairground. Unfortunately it had started raining just after 7, so where we had to park we ended up walking through puddles of water. I knew my feet would be wet once the race started, but I wanted to keep them dry as long as I could. No such luck. We headed inside and hung out until it was time to head out to the start.

Tom’s goal for this race was to beat his friend Traci. She had told him that she was going to beat him, but he wasn’t planning on letting that happen. Chris had never really said what his plan was, but I really didn’t expect him to stay with us. It really wouldn’t be fair to him.

As we walked out to the starting area everyone started to run! It wasn’t even time to start the race, so I have no clue what that was all about. By the time we did reach the starting area it was time to get things underway. I told Tom good luck as he headed towards the front of the pack. Chris stuck with us for about the first quarter mile and then was off.

I stayed with Jade for the entire race. She did great! The only time she needed to walk was almost 3 miles in, and that was just after climbing a decent hill. We only walked for a few minutes before she said she was ready to go. We never stopped again until we crossed the finish line. Tom came back and ran in some of the last half mile with us. He was so happy because he had beaten Traci! What made it even better was that Traci was receiving help from Garry and still couldn’t beat Tom. He beat them both. Chris was near the finish line and was awesome enough to take a few pics of us coming in. He even ran to the finish line and snapped a few there. Thanks Yeti!

I have to say that this was one of my proudest moments since I started running. It was really awesome to see Jade cross that finish line in front of me. Some people think they have to make a statement and beat there kids across the line. Not me. I think it shows so much more class to let them get that feeling of finishing a race, without having you tell them that you beat them. This run was not about me at all. It was all about Jade.

Chris had an awesome run as well. He was very close to his PR for that distance.

So that’s how I started off my Thanksgiving. I really hope it becomes a tradition.

Later

Another First

2010-11-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was another first for me. I went out for a run in the rain on purpose. I wasn't out for a run and it started raining, I knew it was raining when I headed out the door!

I guess I have been what is called a fair weather runner when it comes to rain. Yeah, I've been in a couple of races where it has rained briefly. But for the most part, when it is raining I stay inside. I think I am over that now. I will say that it was made much easier because I knew someone else was going to be out there in it with me.

Shawna was planning on running, so I decided to join her. I will say that once we got going I kind of forgot about the rain. Now the wind was a different story. It seemed to be in our faces for over half of the run. Other than that it was a pretty good run. It usually is when you run with good friends though.

We did have one of my neighbors roll down her window as she passed and tell us that we were "hard core". I always thought the same thing when I would see people out running in the rain. I just never imagined that I would be one of them. Live and learn.

I will say that I won't be shying away from running in the rain in the future. Unless there is lightning, that's a definite game changer!

Later

2010 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon

2010-11-09T14:46:00.003-05:00

This past weekend I ran my very first marathon. It was an amazing event. I just hope that my recap can do it justice.

The adventure started Friday night around 5 pm. I headed to Tom’s house to pick him up and then headed to the Y to meet everyone else. When we arrived Dave’s car was already in the parking lot, but he was no where to be seen. A few minutes later Shawna was there quickly followed by Jeff, Jen’s husband, and then Jen. After Jen did the kid handoff to Jeff and we managed to get everyone’s things packed into my car we were on our way.

The drive only took about an hour and a half. We were heading to Carrabba’s for dinner and would be meeting Carole, who was awesome enough to head to the race expo and pick up all of our packets. Before we knew it we were there. Since Shawna had thought ahead and made reservations for us we only had to wait for a few minutes before we had a table. Dinner was awesome and the company was just as good.
After dinner as we were heading out into the parking lot we were greeted with snow, yeah you heard me correctly. I knew there was a chance of snow, but it was still a bit of a shock. We then said goodbye to Carole and headed to Shawna’s sister’s house.

When we arrived at Shawna’s sisters house I was very impressed. Shawna and Jen had talked about how big her house was, but until you actually see it you have no idea. It is one of those houses that just seems to go on forever. I think that I could have hidden in there and they still wouldn’t know I was there. We then all settled into the living room in front of the television and watched Talladega Nights before heading to bed. I will say that it took me quite awhile to fall asleep. Not sure if it was the third shift schedule or just some pre-race nerves, but it took awhile.

Morning seemed to come pretty quick. I had set the alarm on my phone for 6 in order to get us up and give everyone time to do what they needed to do in time to leave by 6:45. We wanted to be to the race area by 7:30 to meet Carole and do our bag drop off.

As we arrived near the race area the traffic was insane. There were cars and people everywhere and I felt like I was surrounded by idiots! No one seemed to know how to drive and the traffic lights didn’t seem to help things. We did finally manage to make it to a parking garage and to the bag drop to meet Carole.

We then headed for our corrals. Tom was planning on running a 3:20 – 3:30 so he was in a corral in front of us. The rest of us jumped into the 9 minute mile corral. Before I knew it we were off.

I had given Shawna my Garmin before we headed to the start so that she could pace me and also so I wouldn’t keep looking at it. Basically all I had to do was stick with her and she would do what needed to be done to get me in under 4 hours, which was my only goal other than finishing upright.

We quickly seemed to loose Jen, Dave, and Carole. The first 3 miles just seemed to fly by. A couple of times Shawna looked at the Garmin and said that we were running in the low 8’s. But since we run so much together she knew where I would need the extra time and was banking time for later.

Miles 3-17 seemed fine. It is really awesome to run with someone that you are great friends with and to be able to talk with and take your mind off of what you are really doing. It wasn’t until about mile 19 that I felt like I really needed to walk. So we walked for a few seconds and then were on our way.

I made it 2 more miles before walking again. Then it seemed to be every mile after that. It probably became more mental than anything, but I seemed to suddenly be looking for the mile markers and they seemed to be getting farther and farther away. When we hit 25 I stopped to walk again. It was at that point that she told me that when we started again we weren’t walking again until we were done.

At about a half mile from the finish I was really wanting to walk. I told her and she said that I didn’t. She told me that I could walk all I wanted once we were done. She said I could walk home if I wanted, but I wasn’t walking now. She was so awesome in the last mile. She kept telling me different things to try and take my mind off of wanting to walk. It must have worked, because I didn’t walk. As we turned the last corner and I saw the finish, I suddenly found myself picking up speed. From behind me I heard Shawna say that she knew my legs had some left in them. She then let me cross the finish line just ahead of her. I told her that she should have crossed with me, but she told me it was my race, not hers.

I ended up with an official time of 3:56:01. A time I would not have if I hadn’t had such a great friend to run with and motivate me when I needed it. All I can say is thanks.

After we finished we saw Tom standing in the finishers area. We got our medals and our free hats, which was a bonus, and then headed to the bag check for warmer clothes. After I got my bag I sat down on the ground and I felt terrible. I just felt completely sick so I just sat on the ground with my hood up trying to stay warm while Shawna changed. I must have looked bad because she kept asking if I was ok. I finally got up and decided I needed more to drink. So we headed back to the finishers area so I could get a Gatorade. After drinking that I did feel a little better. But then I was freezing. We found a spot out of the wind so that we could watch for Jen and Dave. I know it wasn’t that long before they came across, but it seemed like forever because I was freezing and my legs were done.

Soon enough we saw them cross, which was awesome to see. We then got everyone together in one of the recovery tents. Then it was on to gear check to pick Jen and Dave’s stuff. Then it was on to the car to head back to Shawna’s sister’s house for a much needed shower.

I thought I was fairly prepared for my first marathon, but I know now that I definitely need to do more long runs. I don’t like the feeling that came during the 20’s. I am looking forward to the Disney Marathon in January. I will just have to make sure to get in some long runs.

Marathon Week

2010-11-02T15:37:00.001-04:00

After weeks of training it is finally here. This Saturday I will be running in the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. I am very excited and nervous all at the same time. I think that I should be able to do this, but there is always that shadow of doubt that creeps in when you tackle something completely new.

I have been following a training plan that Chris and I had found in a Runner’s World several months ago that was designed to get me across the finish line in 3:59:59. I did my best to hit all of the runs, but there were times when life got in the way and I missed a few. I managed to hit all of my long runs though, and I think that is all that really matters.

Chris was planning on running this one with me, but life got in the way. He had to make the choice of either being a good parent and coaching his kids volleyball or being a runner. The choice in my eyes was extremely easy to make and the same one that I would have made. Kids always come first!

I will be running the marathon with Shawna, Jen, Dave, Tom, and Carole. I look for Tom to take off and leave us at some point, since he is planning on racing this one. Shawna is going to stick with me and make sure that I get across the finish line alive. I don’t have any idea what Carole’s plans are, since I don’t really know how fast she is or what her goal is. Dave and Jen plan on sticking together.

As far as this week goes, it’s going to be an easy running week. I ran 4 miles yesterday and may get out today or tomorrow, but that will be it until race day.

So hopefully everything I have done will work in my favor. Wish me luck!

Later

Bourbon Chase 2010

2010-10-25T19:51:00.001-04:00

Dave, Tom, Carole, Shawna, Jen, Me

This past weekend I took part in the Bourbon Chase 200 mile relay which runs from Clermont, Kentucky to Lexington, Kentucky along the Bourbon Trail. I will say that the best part of this event was running it with a great group of friends.

This all started a couple of months ago when we were having our pre race meeting for the Red Eye Relay. We found out that there was a spot open that we could take, we just had to have the entry money right then. We made it happen. Next thing you know, it’s 3 months later and your running 200 miles across Kentucky!

The day started off pretty early for everyone, I think. At least it did for me. We had planned on meeting at the Y at 9. So I was out of bed around 6:30 am in order to make sure that the kids were up and ready to head out the door for school. After that it was time to double check and make sure that I had everything that I needed. I was planning on heading to Panera Bread to pick up a dozen bagels for us to munch on as we ran. So I was not too surprised when I got a text from Jen requesting a Pumpkin Spice latte. It was like she was reading my mind! After having breakfast with Autumn we made our way to the Y to meet everyone.

When I pulled into the parking lot I didn’t see anyone else. So I started second guessing myself and thinking maybe I had misunderstood where we were meeting. I had already made the mistake of thinking that we were meeting at 8:30 instead of 9. Luckily I asked Shawna and she told me the correct time, only after asking if I was drunk during our meeting. I was only there a few minutes before everyone else showed up. Then it was up to Brad, Shawna’s husband and driver extraordinaire, to figure out the jigsaw puzzle he had to put together in order to get all of our gear into the back of the Suburban. So we stood around and watched as he made it happen. Next thing you know, we were on our way.

Not sure exactly how long it really took to get there, but it seemed pretty quick to me. We made a quick pit stop for gas and fuel for Brad before heading to the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont. Once we were there it was time to check in. We had a little under an hour until our start time. Suddenly you would think that we had never done this before. I headed to the check in with no id, so as I ran back to the car to get it I handed Dave my waiver. When I got back, Shawna said that I was checked in and that she was my emergency contact because she couldn’t find my waiver. I thought I had actually given it to her. It wasn’t until Dave turned in his that we realized what I had done. Then it was on to the start, at which point we realized my number was in the car! Again, are we new at this? Shawna took off for the car for me.

I finally had my number when I realized that I had left my water bottle sitting on my kitchen counter. Not sure where my head was when getting ready for this one. The only good thing is that for whatever reason I don’t usually drink a lot when I run. Not sure why, but I don’t. My first leg was only 7 miles, so I knew I would be fine.

Before I knew it we were off! The first leg ran along a very nice trail for almost 3 miles. It was pretty awesome. I could get down with running on those type of trails, but the ones that involve climbing mud banks and crossing streams don’t appeal to me at all. I managed to finish my first leg in a little under an hour. Then it was up to everyone else to get there legs done, which they did in awesome fashion!

Me at the start.

The rotation went me, Dave, Carole, Tom, Shawna, and Jen. This went on for the rest of the night and into the next day.

As we arrived at the half way point we got a bit of a surprise. Jen was coming in to hand off to me. As she approached the hand off and called out our team number they told us that we had to stop because we had a 2 hour hold. When we asked why, they told us that we were running 43 seconds faster than the times that we had submitted when we signed up. Now mind you, these times were submitted almost 3 months ago. Don’t they think that just maybe we might be a little bit faster? Or that because the weather was great we were running great? Brad immediately called Shawna and told her that her and Tom needed to head over there. Before I knew it Shawna and Tom were by my side. They then began to argue our case. Tom said that he was not waiting 2 hours. He said that we were either running and getting DQ’d or going home. So we headed back to the van to see what everyone wanted to do. We decided to run it and let them DQ us if they wanted. Tom and I headed back to the hand off and when Tom told them that we were going anyway they said that it was fixed and we were good to go. They said that they would add our time back. If they did or not, I’m not sure. I do know that at that point we were less than 2 minutes behind the leading men’s ultra team. It was definitely a momentum killer.

At that point everyone only had 3 legs left. I ran my 4th leg with a lady from Cincinnati. It was kind of nice to have someone to talk to over the next 5 miles. It kept me from running too fast. I ended up averaging about 8:45’s for this leg, which was good. Before we knew it the sun was coming up and we were coming in to the home stretch.

I think that everyone was just about wiped out before starting there final leg, but everyone dug deep and pulled it out. We ended up finishing 200 miles in 29:48:07. I think we kicked major ass!!

Me coming in on my final leg. I was ready to be done!

Next on my agenda is the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. This will be my first. The awesome thing is that everyone from the relay, with the exception of Brad, will be running it with me. How awesome is that. I can’t wait. I am sure there will be more relays in my future, because they kick ass and we have an awesome team.

Congrats to our team, wearejustdoing9:40s! Can’t wait until next time.

The Farthest I've Ever Gone

2010-10-10T07:33:00.000-04:00

This past week was kind of weird. It was one of those weeks that I just didn't have the motivation to run. Maybe that was due to the fact that most of my runs would have to be done on my own. Not sure. But for what ever reason, I only managed to put in 3 runs this week.

It started off pretty good with an afternoon run on Monday. Nothing crazy or particularly memorable about his run except good company and a pretty decent pace. After that I seemed to get lazy. I knew that I should run, I just didn't. It happens. Tuesday and Wednesday came and went without me lacing up the running shoes one time. Thursdays I always head into work on second shift, so I use it as a rest day. Not that I needed it to be at this point.

Friday morning came and I was back on the streets. I met Shawna and Dave for an early morning run. It was another good run. As we ran we discussed what we were planning on doing Saturday morning. I wanted to run 20. Of course Shawna, the overachiever, was wanting to do 24. Dave, who is now the newest member of the Bourbon Chase team, was down for whatever.

Saturday morning came with a 4:30 alarm. I managed to drag my ass out of bed and get ready so that I could meet everyone at the Y at 5. I was the first to show up, but was soon joined by Dave and Shawna. Before I knew it we were on our way. As we started out Shawna reminded me again that we were doing 24! There was a chance that another runner, who no one really wanted to join us, would be showing up around 6. So we came up with a scheme to stay out a little longer on our first loop to try and miss them. Our first loop was just under 8 miles. Unfortunately, as we were making our way to the cars to refill water bottles and GU, we saw the runner in the parking lot. Oh well. We quickly came up with a plan to head out on a route that would add about 12 miles to our run. I was happy with this.

As we headed out Shawna came up with the plan to add miles to the route by heading across the bridge into Kentucky. I think that is where she got me, I love running across the bridge. I have only done it a couple of times, but it is a very cool experience. On a good note, we were able to let the other runner leave us by slowing down. Before I knew it we were crossing the bridge.

Once across the bridge we made our way along a few streets near the river. We took a few walk breaks, which were very welcome at the time. Then it was back on the bridge for the return home. Dave was beginning to slow down and have to walk more. This was completely understandable. He has made a huge leap in mileage over the past couple of weeks. As we approached the 19 mile mark, I mentioned that I would be entering virgin territory. Once the Garmin alerted me to 19 miles I began to say, with every step, "This is the farthest I have run." I don't think it took too long for that to get old, but it was fun while it lasted.

As we were making our way into what I thought was the home stretch Shawna tells me that we are making a turn. Dammit! I could see where I wanted to go! So we made the turn, which ended up adding almost a half mile to the run. I did have to stop and walk for a few minutes along the way. But in the end I ended up running 23.4 miles, and that is the farthest I have ever gone. I was very glad when we were done, but I am glad that Shawna pushed me to go the distance. I think I have an idea how I will feel after my first marathon, which is now just 4 weeks away!

So, that is my tale of the farthest I have ever gone. It is still hard for me to believe that I ran that distance.

Later

Marathon Training: Week 11

2010-10-02T20:08:00.000-04:00

Well, week 11 is in the bag. I can't hardly believe that I am only 5 weeks away from my first marathon. I will say that I am starting to get a bit nervous about it. Everyone that I run with keeps assuring me that I can do it, but it is still 26.2 miles!

As for this past week I had some very good runs. So let's recap, shall we?

Monday

I headed out with Shawna for an afternoon run. For what ever reason I felt like pushing the pace, so we ended up running 8:12 per mile for 5 miles. I was very happy with this. I feel like when I run with her I can push the pace without the fear of it being too much for her. That's one good thing about running with people who are faster than you.

Tuesday

When I woke up I knew that I had 7 miles in store for me. I had told Shawna that I had planned on running if she wanted to join. Unfortunately she could not. So I decided to head out alone, which I hate. As I was getting suited up I grabbed my Garmin only to realize that it only had one bar of battery remaining. I was optimistic and thought that it might hold out for the run. Man was I wrong! It only lasted for about a half mile. Luckily I had looked at the clock just before heading out the door. I ended up running 7.2 miles in 58 minutes, which was a n 8:07 pace. Woo Hoo!

Wednesday

This was hill day. I met Shawna and Tom at my favorite running store for this one. We headed out towards Moser Knob at a pretty descent pace. As we reached the hill I decided to push and see what I could do. I ended up hitting the top of the hill first, which was a first for me. I will say that I welcomed the brief break while waiting for everyone else to finish the hill. We then tacked on a mile or so to make it 4 miles before the turnaround. Then it was back to the store. With about a mile to go Shawna started to push the pace. I decided to see if I could keep up. It wasn't easy, but I did it. Our last mile was a 7:46! She constantly amazes me with her endurance and ability to push no matter how many miles she has already put in.

Friday

Long run day. I started off my day with Shawna, Jen, and Dave. Jen was heading out of town for the weekend and wanted to get in a long run, so we ended up doing 10 miles. Everyone kicked ass! Dave ended up heading in after 8 so he could get to work on time. Shawna, Jen and I finished off our run by heading through my neighborhood.

Later that evening Shawna and I headed out for an evening run once I got home from work. We ended up putting in an awesome 14 miler. I will say that the highlight of the run was when I scared the shit out of her near a cemetery. As we were walking up the hill near the cemetery she said that she was seeing a red light in it. So as she was walking and looking into the cemetery I grabbed her shoulder. She jumped pretty damn good before punching me. I deserved it, but it was well worth it.

So that is how my week went. Today was filled with my daughters Cross Country and my sons Band Competition. I am glad they are involved in these things, but I am also glad that I am done for the day.

Monday starts week 12. I will keep you posted.

Later

2.5 Miles with The Yeti

2010-09-22T16:06:00.000-04:00

Since I have started this whole marathon training thing, I have not had the extra energy to head out on those lunch time runs that I really enjoy. Yesterday was a different story. Lately I have felt like I haven't had very much time just to sit down and relax and enjoy and evening with my family, with all of the cross country meets, band competitions, marathon training, and extra hours at work.

So yesterday I decided to skip my 10 mile run and just hang out and do nothing with my wife for a change. Man was it awesome! So as the evening went on and the time to head out the door approached, I decided at the last minute to grab some running clothes and toss them in my backpack before heading out the door.

I didn't say anything about this to Chris. So, at lunch time I suited up and headed out to the parking lot to wait for him. When he walked out I think he was a bit surprised. He asked me if I knew what was about to happen. I said yes, and we were on our way.

We ended up covering the 2.5 mile loop in just over 20 minutes, which was good. But man it felt awesome to be back out there on an evening run with a great friend. I know that I have done this to myself with the tasks that I have decided to undertake, but there is something to be said for running for the fun of it.

With that said, today is hill day. I will probably end up putting in about 6-7 miles later today, which may actually leave room for another 2.5 this evening. We shall see.

Later

Marathon Training: Week 10

2010-09-20T19:31:00.000-04:00

Today was the beginning of Week 10. On tap for today was a 4 mile run at a 9:52/mile pace, which I knocked out with ease. I have found that when I run by myself that my pace is quite a bit quicker than when I run with any of my friends. I guess that is because I am not running my mouth! I ended up averaging just over 8:30's for my run. I am very happy with that, since the pace felt pretty easy. Tomorrow is calling for 10 miles with 8 of those at marathon pace. It shouldn't be a problem, but who ever knows how a run is going to go until you are a few miles in?

As for the rest of the week, I plan on running hills on Wednesday with Tom and Jen followed by a couple of rest days. Saturday will be my very first 20 miler. I am not too concerned, since I ran almost 19 last Saturday and felt pretty good afterwards. But it will still be the farthest I have ever gone. Every weekend has been pretty busy with running in the morning followed by my daughter's cross country meets and my son's band competitions. But I wouldn't miss anything my kids do for any reason. They take priority over everything, even running!

So that's what this week looks like. I'll try to post a little more frequently. I know, I've said that before and haven't done it.

Later

Late Night Run

2010-09-12T11:24:00.000-04:00

This weekend we changed things up a bit. We normally put in our long run on Saturday mornings, which for about the past month meant getting up around 3:15 - 3:30 am for a 4 am run. It has worked out, but not as much fun as it sounds. So, when we realized that we may have to get up earlier or cut our run short something had to change. Shawna and Jen came up with the idea to run Friday night. Worked for me since I am a third shifter.

I had planned on working Friday night on second shift for a bit of overtime, so that I can enjoy my Disney Marathon trip to the fullest. So the plan was for them to meet me at work and run from there. Shawna said she would put together a route, which I knew meant heading up Moser knob weather we liked it or not!

At 10:30 everyone was there and ready to go. The route was pretty awesome. It headed up into the hills that overlook Louisville. So the views of the city lit up at night were awesome. The hills were definitely a good challenge and I am a big fan of not running the same route over and over. I think that changing it up actually makes the miles go by faster, just like good company.

We ended up putting in 15 miles in 2:34:55. I was very happy with that considering all of the hills. I will say that at the 15 mile mark I was done. As soon as my Garmin hit 15 I started walking. We were still about 3/4 of a mile from work, so it made for a nice cool down walk.

Yesterday I was a little bit sore, but not too bad. I may try and get out for an easy run later today. We shall see. Tomorrow starts week 9 of training and longer miles through the week. I envision very tired legs!

That's all I have for now.

Later

Marathon Training: Week 7

2010-09-05T06:32:00.000-04:00

Good morning faithful readers. Sorry it has been a bit since an update, but life has a way of getting in the way.

Yesterday wrapped up week 7 of training. I have to say that it went pretty well. I only missed one run, which I think I have consistently done for the past few weeks. One of the best things about week 7 was that everyone is back. I am pretty sure that I got to put in miles with everyone of my friends this week. I call that a win!

Week 7 also brought a couple of awesome accomplishments my way. One being my second successful attempt at 18 miles. I have learned a lot from running with my group of friends. They have a vast resource of knowledge and couldn't be more supportive. Accomplishment number two was that I hit 1000 miles for the year yesterday! That is very hard for me to believe! I honestly thought that it would take me all year to even get close to that. Now it looks like I will probably get close to 1500, amazing!

On to week 8. Hope everyone has a good holiday weekend.

Later

18 Miler

2010-08-29T10:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my second attempt at any mileage over 15. I had only attempted tackling 3 loops 1 other time. And although I made it, there was plenty of walking and leg pain involved in that run. Not the case on yesterdays run.

Due to having to be at my daughter's cross country meet by 9 am, Shawna and I decided to start running at 4 am. It was early, but not too bad. The first loop went great. Once we made it back to the Y and realized that we were the only ones running, we decided to not continue looping. We headed out on a route that I had mapped out a couple of years ago while training for the Mini Marathon. It was roughly 12 miles. We had to head into my neighborhood to pick up the last 3/4 of a mile to make it to 18.

I will have to say that I think I was more prepared for this one that last time. The run went awesome. It really helps to have a good friend along the way as well. I don't think that I could have pulled that one off alone. This run gave me a little more confidence that I will be able to pull of a full marathon. It was a nice way to end the 6th week of training.

Next weeks long run calls for 16, but I don't think that I want to look back from 18 unless I just can't keep going.

That's all I have for now.

Later

Marathon Training: Week 5

2010-08-19T13:52:00.000-04:00

For what ever reason week 5 has been the hardest to get all of my runs in. Part of that is that my partner in crime for the training is dealing with having to try and juggle his sleep schedule and coaching duties for his kids volleyball. This has caused him to not be able to run yet this week. I completely understand, kids always come first. Luckily for me, we run with an amazing group of friends who are always willing to get out for a run. So I have only missed one run this week, and that was due to attending my sons freshman orientation. Damn, I can't believe both of my kids are in high school.

Last night was hill night. I met Tom, Shawna, and Jen at our favorite running store. We then headed out for Moser. Of the two hills that I have ran with them, I will say that this is probably my favorite. It kills you at the beginning and then just gradually heads up. The other hill we run is just one long climb, which I think sucks. We ended up doing 8 miles. Everyone kicked ass! It is a rare occasion for all of us to be available during the middle of the week to get together, so that was nice.

On another note, I signed up for the Walt Disney World Marathon! This will be the second marathon that I run, but it is the first one that I have signed up for. Shawna tells me nothing but good things about this run, so I am very excited. I think it will be an awesome time.

So that is where things are now. I know that over the next couple of weeks the miles are really going to start adding up. This is where I think the challenges will happen. So wish me luck.

Later

With Week 4 Come New Challenges

2010-08-09T15:56:00.000-04:00

Week 4 of marathon training is now upon us. It is hard for me to believe that in 12 short weeks I will be lacing up and toeing the starting line in my first marathon. Time is seeming to speed up!

Now that week 4 is here we have encountered some new challenges. The biggest and maybe the hardest to work around will be rearranging our schedules to get the runs in. So far we have been able to get most of our runs in after work in the mornings. This has been good, since it means cooler temps and good sleep throughout the day. But now with the kids going back to school and all of the activities that go with it things are gonna get interesting.

Chris will be coaching both of his daughters volleyball teams again this year. What this means is that his afternoons and possible weekends will be occupied elsewhere. I on the other hand have a daughter running cross country and a son in the marching band. This means being a chauffeur for my son and not missing an event for my daughter. The only negative thing is that the majority of her cross country meets are on Saturday mornings, which is long run day. We have already adjusted hill day. I just hope that everyone else we run with can adjust too. If not it won't be a deal breaker. It is just fun to get everyone together for a run.

So that is how things are shaping up for now. I am sure we will figure it all out and get the training in. It may just take an algebraic formula to do it.

We did run 4 miles this morning in just over 37 minutes. It was a bit faster than prescribed, but it just felt right.

Later

Marathon Training: Week 3

2010-08-02T13:18:00.000-04:00

Today started week 3 of marathon training. So far, so good. But we haven't really gotten into anything that we haven't done before. I will be week 7 before the long runs get into new territory for us.

This morning Chris and I headed out for an easy run. Training called for 3 miles, but that is so below us! We ended up doing just over 4 miles while covering some different scenery. That is one of the great things I have found about having my Garmin. We can just head out and kind of adjust as we go to meet the mileage we are wanting to hit. Totals on this run were 4.03 miles is 38:40. A little faster than what was on the plan, but again we are already past that level at this point in our running.

I did get to take my new shoes out for their inaugural run this morning. I was lucky enough to pick up what I think is the last pair of Asics Cumulus 11's on the planet. I was even able to get a pair in black. That should help out with keeping them looking descent after a few months of running. As opposed to the white ones I had that now look gray.

So that's how things are shaping up at this point. I am sure things will get harder and I will whine about it at some point. But for now all is good.

Later

100 Posts!!!!!!

2010-07-26T12:58:00.001-04:00

Tom, Shawna, Jen, me

It's hard to believe that I have finally made it to 100 posts. Considering that I am a very bad blogger, this is an accomplishment. With that being said, post 100 will be my recount of the 100 mile relay that I ran this weekend. Seems kind of fitting, if you think about it.

So here goes.

This past weekend I participated in the Red Eye Relay. What an amazing and tiring experience. It consisted of 21 legs that covered 100 miles. These were not your average flat miles either. There were plenty of hills along the way.

We started our journey by meeting at noon on Saturday at the local YMCA. After everyones gear was loaded we were on our way. It took us a little over an hour to make it to Columbus, Indiana. We then stopped at the local Subway for our last meal before the run. Then it was off to the Indiana University track for check in.

As we arrived in the parking area I was greeted with the site of the Upland Brewery van. What made this even better was the fact that the beer on tap was FREE!!! Nothing like starting off a run with ice cold Upland Wheat straight from the tap. So I grabbed a free beer and then headed to the check in area. We grabbed our gear and watched a couple of teams start their race.

Then it was back to the van to get everything ready to go. Once everything was ready to go, we headed back to the track to wait for our start. One thing that sucked was the heat. It was in the upper 90's at the start of the race.

Jen had the first leg, which was just over 2 miles. She did an awesome job. Then it was on to Tom, who is an awesome runner. To had to run just under 6 miles for his leg. This meant that I had just over an hour from the start of the run before I was up. It was kind of nice to relax for a bit longer. But before I knew it, I was up.

My leg was 5.9 miles. I told Brad, Shawna's husband and driver extraordinaire, that it would be about an hour. I knew there were some hills and it was hot! So I was amazed when I came in in 53:08. I will say I was glad that leg was over. I handed off to Shawna, who had probably the hardest legs for the entire event. Her total mileage was over 30 and they were not easy miles.

That's how the rotation went throughout the night. After each leg the person who just came in would grab whatever they needed to drink out of the cooler and then hop in the van. We then covered up with towels and got out of the nasty clothes we had on. I don't think I could think of anything grosser than wearing and sitting in the same clothes leg after leg. The smell would have probably killed us. Luckily they have done this for the past couple of years and have a system down. Get out of your wet clothes, tie them up in a plastic shopping bag, cool off, then put on fresh clothes and be ready to go. The system worked well.

The rest of my legs were as follows:

3.99 miles 33:35
2.22 miles 17:12
3.81 miles 33:52
3.18 miles 31:03*
3.23 miles 31:17

The leg with the asterisk is the one that I finished out for Shawna. I had to damn near wrestle the slap band from her since she wanted to keep going. She is an awesome runner, but sometimes I think she pushes herself too far past what her body wants to let her do.

We ended up finishing the relay in 15 hours and 31 minutes. We won our division, granted we were the only ones in it. But we still won.

After the run we all got a much needed and deserved shower before heading home. Before making the journey home we stopped by Denny's for some food. All you can eat pancakes for $4 was amazing. Once we got back in the van I don't think I remember a thing until we were getting off the exit to head back to the Y.

I took last night off work because I knew I would probably be sore. Man was I correct! This morning I met Shawna, Jen, and Norma for a very easy 4.7 mile run. The first few steps sucked! But I have discovered that once you get moving the soreness fades. At least for that brief amount of time you are moving.

If they ask me to join them again next year I will definitely do it. It was an amazing time.

Later

Marathon Training: Week 1

2010-07-24T03:05:00.000-04:00

This week was the first week of my 16 week marathon training in order to get ready for the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on November 6th. In order to accomplish this goal, Chris and I have chosen to follow the marathon training plan that was in the July issue of Runner's World. It is a training goal designed to get you across the finish line in under 4 hours. 3:59:59 to be exact.

The plan calls for a total of 5 days running and 2 days of rest. We kind of mixed up the way it is put together to meet our schedules a little better. So far week 1 has went pretty well. It call for 3 days of easy runs. Which were 4 miles each at a 10 minute pace. The thing about this is that we run faster than that normally, so it was actually harder making myself slow down. I ran two of these days with Chris and one with Shawna and Tom, since I slept later than I thought I would and could not meet up with Chris.

The other two days consist of a 4 mile hill run and a 9 mile long run. For the hill run we hit Moser Knob with Shawna, Jen, and our surprise guest Garry. Hill work sucks, there is just no way to sugar coat it. They say it gets easier, but I will believe that when I see it. We ended up doing a little over 7 miles on hill day. I know it was farther than prescribed, but we are actually able to do the farther mileage since we are not new to the running game.

As far as long run day goes. I will be participating in the Red Eye Relay later today. The Red Eye is a 100 mile relay ran overnight. My total mileage for this is just over 19 miles. So I will far exceed my mileage for long run day. Chris on the other hand has the unfavorable task of putting in his long run solo, since everyone we run with is doing the Red Eye.

So that is how week one went. I will post a recap of the Red Eye, as long as I live to tell the tale.

Here is looking forward to week 2.

Later

Friday Morning Run

2010-07-17T05:29:00.000-04:00

Since I am about to undertake the task of running 26.2 miles in approximately a little over 4 months, I have been upping my mileage. This means running just about every time that the crazies are. So the past couple of Friday mornings, when I am usually sleeping in dreaming about spending the day with my wife, I have gotten up at 4:30 am for a 5 am run with Shawna and who ever else shows up. So far it has only been Garry.

Yesterday was no exception. I arrived at the Y just before 5 and before I knew it we were on our way. I will say that I had visions of them just bolting and leaving my ass, since they are both a hell of a lot faster than I am. Also, Shawna is wanting to get her speed up so that she can bury another runner in a race just to shut her up. But it didn't happen. We just plodded along at a 9 - 10 minute pace. Shawna had to walk a couple of times as well. I guess all of that mileage is catching up with her. About 3 miles in Garry asked her about picking up the pace and she said not today. Worked for me, but he did sound a bit disappointed. Not sure if he was just wanting to take off and leave my ass or what. But it didn't happen.

We ended up putting in 6.6 miles in just over an hour. Not too bad. Shawna did pick it up for about the last quarter mile. Not sure why, and she didn't say. The faster pace actually felt pretty good though.

Currently Chris and I are waiting for the thunderstorm to get out of here so that we can head out for our normal Saturday morning run. Should be gone in about and hour.

Later

Wednesday Hill Run

2010-07-16T04:18:00.000-04:00

I guess that Wednesdays will be the day that I hit the hills. I think that they unfortunately will be a part of my marathon training since every plan that I have looked at has them incorporated in some manner.

This past Wednesday I joined Chris, Shawna, and Tom for a hill run. Before we made our way to the meet up spot there was a question about which hill to run. After going back and forth, I just said that we should do Spickert Knob since I had only ran it once in the past. I had remembered it as a long gradual climb as opposed to the straight up killer that is Moser Knob.

When we got to the meet up spot, our local running store, we walked inside to mess with a friend of our who works there. As we entered we asked if he was ready. His reply was "To go get a beer?" In hind site, that would have been way more enjoyable than the task at hand. Maybe next time!

After that we were off. From the store to the top of the hill is about 2.9 miles. That doesn't seem like that big of a distance until you figure that at least a mile of that is up hill. As we approached the bottom of the hill Shawna started to walk and said this was our break before the hill. I think that everyone either said or thought, Thank You. After that we were off. Tom took the lead and was like a man on a mission. I fell in behind him but was soon walking. I think that it is going to take a bit for me to get used to the increased mileage that we are suddenly putting in. I made it to the top about a minute after Tom.

This was Chris's first trek up this particular hill. Since Shawna had put in plenty of miles earlier in the day, she ran with him. They made it to the the top not long after I did. Once everyone was at the top, we took a short break before putting in the distance to make it a 3 mile run before heading back to the store.

The downhill may have been the best part. It doesn't take a ton of effort and is gradual so you don't feel like you are going to break through the front of your shoes.

The run back to the store was not pretty. There was plenty of walking, which I believe was welcomed by all. But we made it.

We ended up putting in 6 miles in about an hour. Not bad since it was hill day. Today I will be heading out for a 5 am run with Shawna. Not sure if we will be joined by anyone else or not. At least it will be early enough to beat the heat, since we are still hovering in the 90's. Man I can't wait for cooler temps.

Later

Monday 5 Miler

2010-07-14T14:50:00.000-04:00

As in keeping with what I said, here is another update!

Yesterday I headed up to the Y for an afternoon run with Chris, Shawna, and Tom. We headed out along our normal route. Nothing really exiting happened on this run. I wish that I could tell you that we found bags of money or helped save a little old lady from being ran over by a semi, but I can't. It was just another run with good friends.

We ended up putting in just under 5 miles in about 45 minutes. Not too bad, since there was some walking involved along the way.

Today we are supposed to head out for a hill run. That should be interesting since it is supposed to be in the 90's with high humidity! I will survive. I keep telling myself that these runs will only make me stronger and get me prepared for a marathon. I hope I'm right!

Later

It Sounded Good In My Head

2010-07-13T14:41:00.001-04:00

All last night at work before heading out for our lunchtime run I was thinking that this could be the night that Chris and I break the Samtec Loop record together. The reason being that I did not get in a hill run earlier in the day, so my legs were fresh. I had gotten plenty of sleep the previous night. And I guess I just had that feeling.

Man was I wrong. We headed outside to our "starting line" and waited for the Garmin to get a signal. Once we had we were off. I guess I started out faster than normal, because Chris said "Where are you going" and then quickly caught up. I knew we were running pretty quick, but we were still talking for pretty much the whole way. As we hit mile 1 and I looked at the Garmin, all hopes of this being the night were shattered. We hit 7:40 at mile 1. I will say I was a bit disappointed. That sounds bad for a 7:40 mile, but I thought we were rolling a bit faster.

At that point I suggested that we reel things in a bit. We probably did for about 2 -3 minutes. Then as it always happens on mile 2, the pace slowly crept back up to where it was. Mile 2 ended up being 7:54. Still a respectable time. At this point I could feel I didn't have much left to give.

About a quarter mile from the finish Chris started to pull away and there was nothing I could do to keep up. I was spent. He ended up finishing about 5 seconds in front of me with 19:26 for 2.54 miles. Pretty good pace. The run for me was 19:31.54. It is still hard to believe that the record is sub 18!

I would love to break this one together. It will just take a great alignment of the stars for it to happen.

Later

Man I Suck At Blogging

2010-07-12T15:01:00.000-04:00

You would think since I have two blogs that are about fairly interesting things that I would actually keep them up to date. Obviously I suck at it. For what ever reason I either don't have the time or desire to blog sometimes. And then by the time I do think about it, so much time has passed that who really cares about a run I did a week ago?

So from this point on I am going to try and keep this thing updated as much as I can. This may either be a good thing or a bad thing for the few of you who read this. We shall see.

So on with a bit of an update. Last week was my first week back to running after an 11 day vacation. I won't bore you with the details of each of the runs. Let's just say that the first day back we did a hill run, which sucked, and ended up putting in about 37 miles for the week.

Next week Chris and I are going to have to get serious about our marathon training. We will be 16 weeks out from our first. It is quickly becoming a reality. It didn't seem as daunting several months ago when we said we were going to do it. But it will be only 16 weeks away!!

Hopefully the crazies that we run with will help get us there. I am sure they will. They like to torture us.

That's all I have for now. Today may include a hill run. Not sure just yet. If so, you will know about it tomorrow.

Later

2010 Barnyard Dash

2010-06-14T13:41:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday I participated in our first official 10k. Yeah, I know I ran the Rhodes City Run 10k back in April. But I did that one Bandit! So this was my first official one.

The day started off kind of early. Shawna, Jen, and Tom were planning on putting in a few miles before heading to the run. So I decided to join them. I normally run between 11 and 13 every Saturday, so I knew if I didn't join them for an early am run that I would either not put in the extra miles or I would have to run later in the afternoon in the heat. Which was not what I wanted to do with my Saturday afternoon. I arrived at the Y just before 5 am. Not long after Dave, who has joined us on a couple or runs, showed up. Right behind him was Chris! That one kind of surprised me. Chris had said he was going to take this Saturday as an opportunity to sleep in. Guess 3rd shift got the best of him, because here he was.

We headed out on a kind of random route. We started out by heading into my neighborhood and then onto our normal loop, which Chris and I modified since we only wanted to run between 6 and 8 miles on this run. As we are running along, Shawna asks me if I would be interested in running in the Red Eye Relay with them next month. They had a team member drop out and needed a replacement. After hearing all of the stories of how much fun they have on this, how could I say no? I told her I would have to check with my wife, but I didn't see it being a problem. I checked, and it looks like things are a go. I just hope I don't die!

Chris and I ended up putting in 7.77 miles on our morning run. We then headed to my house to change into some dry clothes and headed up to the Barnyard Dash. We ended up arriving about 30 minutes early. Which turned out to be a good thing. Earlier in the week Chris had taken our registrations to Pacers and Racers to hand them in, since he was getting new shoes and it would save us a few bucks not signing up online. For what ever reason they had his info and not mine. This is where having friends who work there comes in real handy. Tom told me when I walked in that he could not find my registration info but to head to the table to make sure. Of course it wasn't there. So I headed back to Tom who hooked me up in record time. Within no time I had a number and a shirt and was good to go. It turned out that about 30 registrations had been misplaced as well.

About 10 minutes before the start, Shawna and Jen showed up and picked up there swag. Then it was on to the start. As we started the run the sky looked ominous. Within the first mile we were getting rained on. I don't really like running in the rain, but I will say that once it was gone and the sun and humidity hit I would have welcomed it. The course was a bit hilly, but nothing terrible. Chris and I decided to walk the water stops, which seemed to be about every 2.5 miles, just to take a small break. I ended up having to walk a couple of more times as well. My threshold seems to be between 13 and 15 miles right now before my legs start telling me it is time to walk. So, instead of doing something stupid, I listen. Running is supposed to be enjoyable, right?

My only goal for this run was to come in faster that our last one. We succeeded! We ended up knocking about 30 seconds off of our 10k time and running a 52:50. Afterwards we hung out and listened to the awards being handed out while gorging on fresh strawberries, bananas, and free sodas. What an awesome way to end a run.

So now it is on to getting ready for the Red Eye, which I started doing yesterday by doing hill repeats with Shawna and Jen. So wish me luck.

Later

June Already?

2010-06-02T13:34:00.000-04:00

It is hard for me to believe that it is already June. This year seems to be flying by. The one good thing about it being June, is that in about 22 days I will be headed south to Disney again. Can't wait! Speaking of Disney, I am planning on running in the 2011 Disney Marathon. It will be my second marathon, if I don't die on my first in November. So hopefully the first one doesn't suck and make me dread the second. I can't see that happening, but you never know.

As far as running goes, I have been putting in quite a few miles. Last month was my biggest to date. I ended up putting in 142.5 miles! I am at 589 for the year. That is awesome, since my goal for 2010 was to hit 1000. Shouldn't be a problem. I am steadily upping my weekend long run mileage in order to start getting ready to run a full. So far it hasn't been that bad, but I haven't been much past the 15 mile mark. Yeah, I know, there are still 11 miles past that for a full. It will come with time.

Chris and I are planning on running a 10k next weekend, but he may have to sit this one out. He had a mishap with a shampoo bottle and may have broken his foot. I sure hope not. Time will tell. Last week we attended a 3 mile fun run that one of the local running stores put on. Chris had ran one last month and really enjoyed it. So I had to make sure that I hit one. It was a pretty good time. It ran through an awesome part of town and a park. The weather was kind of hot and humid, but I guess it's better than rain.

And if you didn't know, today is National Running Day. So get out there. Even if you only run to the mailbox, it counts.

Later

Lazy Sunday

2010-05-16T15:12:00.000-04:00

As I set here doing nothing while watching it rain and looking at blogs I thought I would post an update. I had planned on getting out for a run this afternoon, but I just don't feel like running in the rain if I'm not in a race. I guess that makes me a fair weather runner by some runners standards. I can live with that.

Training continues. I am averaging about 25 - 30 miles a week at this time. I am very sure that as it gets closer to November and the Monumental the miles will drastically increase. Which will mean I will need new shoes before too long. Fortunately for me, I have found the shoes that I am currently running in on Amazon for $65. That is a great price. I guess since they are getting ready to come out with the new model, they need to get rid last years model. Works for me. I will probably go ahead and get 2 pair while I'm at it.

I had asked Shawna yesterday when I needed to get serious about getting ready for a full. She said probably July. I told her that I wanted a full to feel like the mini, which to me was just another Saturday morning run. She said that I should start increasing my mileage slowly from now until then so that I am running 18 to 19 on Saturday mornings. That is kind of scary, since the one and only time I did that kind of mileage I thought I was going to die. But they do it every weekend and survive. So it can be done.

For now I think I will just relax and enjoy a lazy Sunday with the family.

Later

I Hate to Run Alone

2010-04-29T13:17:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned this before? If not, I do. I guess I am a social runner since more times than not, if I don't have someone willing to get out and suffer with me, I will just not run.

Today I ended up waking up a few hours before my alarm. So after having a quick bite to eat I decided to head out and put in a few miles before I headed to work. The first mile was a relatively slow 8.28. As I began mile two heading into a head wind and uphill, I began to think that I might just turn back and head to the house. I didn't. But that was about the time I started to pick up speed. I am not sure why or how this happens. I guess it just takes about a mile to get my body on board with running. The miles after that were a lot closer to the 8 minute mark. No that is not fast to some runners, but to me that is damn near killing it!

I ended up putting in 5.42 miles in 43:09.29, which ends up being a 7.58 average. That may very well be my best average to date. This is more than likely my last run for April. I will end up finishing the month with 122.8 miles. With getting ready to start training for a fall marathon, I can only see the monthly mileage increasing from here on out. So my goal of 1000 miles for 2010 should be no problem.

Chris and I are working on something that could be awesome. I will keep you posted when I know more.

Later

2010 Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon

2010-04-25T05:31:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I ran my 3rd official half marathon. And in doing so, I beat my 14 year old PR for that distance. My previous best was set way back in 1996 and was a 1:58:54. Yesterday I pulled off a 1:52:19 with Chris right by my side. I am not sure if setting a new PR, or seeing him accomplish what we set out to do was more fulfilling. Either way, we rocked this one!

The day started off pretty early for me. For what ever reason I ended up waking up around 3 am. Not really that out of the ordinary for a 3rd shifter, but not what I wanted to happen on race day. I tried to get back to sleep with no luck, so I just said screw it and got up about 30 minutes earlier than I had planned. After getting some breakfast and just relaxing for a bit it was time to suit up. Before I knew it Chris was in front of the house and we were on our way.

The group of runners that we train with had planned on meeting at the Y around 5:30 am. We drove through the parking lot about 5:20 and no one was there, so we went ahead and made our way to Chris's wifes parking garage she uses for work, which was about 5 block from the finish. I would say we made it there just before 6.

The weather forecast leading up to race day was all over the place. There was a 30 - 80% chance of rain, depending on where your info came from. Tom had told us the day before to make sure and bring garbage bags to cover up with while waiting for the race to start. A great tip from a marathoner. I would have never thought of that. So once we got parked and garbaged bagged up, it was off to the shuttle to the starting line. Lucky for us, there was a bus just getting ready to leave when we got on. I would say it took about 20 minutes to make it to the starting area.

Once we made it to the starting area we found shelter from the rain under a bank awning. We hung out there with plenty of other runners before deciding to look for our friends. We made our way towards the bus drop off area and porta potties. No luck in locating anyone. We decided to make a quick bathroom pit stop and then head to the starting corral.

We made it to the starting corral about 15 minutes before race time. We looked through the entire corral and could not find anyone we knew. Just before the race was about to begin, we saw Garry, Shawna, Jen, and Jeff walking along the outside of the corral. We yelled to them with no luck.

Not long after that we were on our way! We had about a mile before hitting Iroquois Park and 3 miles of hills. As we ran, we were looking for anyone we knew. I seriously think this made the park and those hills fly by. They didn't seem to be that big of a deal at all. At probably 2 1/2 miles in we saw Jeff up ahead. And of course he had already taken his shirt off! We managed to catch up to him fairly easy. He told us that Tom was only about 50 yards ahead. So we bid him farewell and headed after Tom. As we came upon the next Powerade/water stop, I saw Tom standing on the side of the road. We stopped for just a moment and talked with him. He was waiting on his friend Carol to catch up. After finding Tom we settled into a pretty nice pace.

Last year I hated running through Churchill Downs. Mainly because of the tunnels you have to use that go under the track. To me they suck! It is a steep downhill followed by a steep uphill. This is about 7 miles in. They weren't as bad this year. On the final tunnel Chris pushed ahead and was flying. I just fell in behind and followed suit. Before I knew it, we were out of Churchill and back on flat streets.

We had set a goal of running this thing in under 2 hours. That meant that a time of 1:59:59 would have done the trick. I knew with 4 miles to go that we had this thing in the bag. We would have run 10 minute miles from that point and still hit a 1:56! Chris was a trooper. I could tell that he was tired, but he never complained. Not one time! The only time he actually said it out loud was when I asked how he was doing. His response was: "Fine, just tired."

I was all over the place with telling him how we could finish. I had told him at mile 5 that when I saw the finish I was gone. Then later I changed my mind and said that we started this together, let's finish it together. That ended up being the one we went with. I am damn glad we did! Finishing the race in under 2 hours with Chris by my side just put the icing on this one.

After getting through the finish area we headed for the free beer. Then it was to the car for a much needed change of clothes. I don't think dry clothes have ever felt so good. Chris had packed a couple of post race Leinenkugel's for us to celebrate with, which we did in true Yeti fashion. We then headed to where the marathoners head across the bridge to Indiana to watch for our friends. We found Jeff and Tom waiting in that area as well. Within a half hour our friend made it to our location. They stopped for just a moment to pick up Tom, who had planned to run the last part of the run with them. After they departed, we bid Jeff farewell for a second time and headed home.

What an awesome race. Up next for Chris and I will be the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon.

Later

Tomorrow is the Day

2010-04-23T20:36:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I will be running in my 3rd official Mini Marathon. I feel like I am ready. Now, if the weather will cooperate things will be fine. As of right now there is a 30 - 70% chance of thunderstorms, depending on where you get your info, for the morning.

Today we did packet pick up at the expo. We met Shawna, Jen, Gary, and Tom at the Y before heading over. It was a pretty good expo. Picked up lots of free stuff, including an extra tech shirt! After that it was off to Olive Garden for lunch. All in all it was a good time.

So wish me luck and do an anti rain dance. I will post a race report this weekend.

Later

5 Days until the Mini

2010-04-19T18:30:00.001-04:00

We are in the home stretch here people! There are only 5 days until I will be running in my 3rd official Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon. The first one I ran is my PR of 1:58:54 set way back in 1996. Last year I was not able to meet my goal of running under 2 hours.

This year on the other hand should be different. The training is in, the shoes are new, and my favorite running partner will be by my side. I don't see anything working against me this year. Yes, I know that anything can happen on race day. But, I feel that I have done everything correct to meet and exceed my goal. All I can do now is show up and run my race.

This week Chris and I will take it easy. More than likely we will do the majority of our running at lunch at work. These runs are easy 2 - 2.5 milers that we knock out in about 20 minutes. That still gives us time to cool off and grab a bite to eat before getting back to making money.

Today I received my new Garmin Forerunner 205 just in time to charge it up before meeting Shawna for an afternoon run. We put in a relatively easy 4.97 miler. She has been having some issues with her stomach, so we weren't killing it. Our time was 41:53 with an 8:26 pace. I had mapped the route before using Runningahead.com and came up with the exact same distance as the Garmin. So, I guess it is pretty accurate.

That's about all I have for now. I do want to give kudos to Chris for putting in a 15 miles on our Saturday morning run. That was his farthest distance to date, and he kicked ass! Way to go Yeti!

Later

19 Miles

2010-04-10T14:42:00.002-04:00

Today I managed to go farther than I have ever run in my life. Like I said yesterday, I was planning on attempting to do a 3rd loop with my Saturday running group. As crazy as that sounds, I set out on loop number 3 feeling pretty good.

At about the 15 1/2 mile mark my calves felt like they were going to explode! So I knew it was time to walk. It was at that time that I had my first GU. Now that I look back on it, I probably should have had one before setting out on loop 3. I am not sure that taking it after the pain had set in was going to do very much.

After a few seconds we were on our way. Luckily for me I had Chris and Shawna at my side to help push me. I don't think that I would have made it without them. I ended up walking about 4 more times before finishing up the loop. I call it a success. There was a time when I thought that walking was a failure. Not any more. I think with more miles comes more of a chance that you will have to walk.

It will be a couple of weeks before I attempt to put in 3 loops again. There are only 2 weeks until the Mini and I don't want to jeopardize that by doing something stupid and getting injured. So 3 loops will have to wait.

Now I am just hanging out at home enjoying this wonderful day looking forward to when I don't think 3 loops are that big of a deal. I know it will come, it might just be awhile.

Happy Running.

Later

April Update

2010-04-09T15:36:00.005-04:00

So far April is shaping up quite nicely. Chris and I ran the Papa John's 10 Miler last weekend and we both set new PR's for that distance! The weather for the race started out pretty descent that morning but turned colder with a bit of rain at about the 8 mile mark. The rain actually felt good at that exact moment, but after the race as we stood around waiting for the rest of our friends to finish it got kinda cool with the wind. All in all it was a great race. You can check out a more detailed run report by checking out Chris's blog. He is much more timely about posting than me.

The weather has also gotten nice enough for us to run almost every night at lunch, which is awesome. We were able to get out 3 of the 4 nights that I worked this week. I had to take one night off since my wife had to head out of town for a conference.

Last Tuesday I bought myself and early birthday present. Here is a pic:

I have been holding off on getting something new for some time. I had been going back and forth on whether or not to get a car payment or just pay cash for something. In the end I decided it was time for us to get a newer car since the van has about 130,000 miles and my daughter drives my old Jeep. So I bit the bullet and got a payment. We had gone 2 years without one since paying off the van, so I guess it's not that bad. I am very happy with my purchase.

Today, since my wife was gone, I was able to get out with Shawna, Jen, and Norma for a Friday afternoon run. We ended up putting in a very slow and leisurely 5 miles. I was cool with that since I plan on attempting 19 miles in the morning. Yeah, you read that right. I said 19! We will see how it goes. I just feel like I want to push myself and see what happens. Wish me luck. If I don't end up sleeping all day after the run I will try and post an update.

So that is how my month is shaping up.

Later

March in review

2010-04-01T13:33:00.002-04:00

Last month was by far my biggest mileage month ever. I managed to drag myself away from life and put in 21 hours running in which I covered a total of 139.6 miles! When we started this running thing back in 2008, I had no idea that this is where I would be heading. I will say that I am happy with the path that I am on at this time. The biggest challenge over the next couple of months will be keeping the motivation after the Mini to do the training for a full in the fall.

March was full of great running moments for me. Here are just a few.

There was the Shamrock 2 miler that both of my kids joined me on. This was there first official race. They both did amazing in my eyes, but how could they not?
Chris's feet seemed to stop working against him, and allowed him to up his mileage.
I did my first "official" hill run.
The weather has warmed up enough for us to resume our OYSTR (Overnight Yeti Seasonal Training Runs) runs. Thanks Chris for coming up with that!

Those are just a few of the highlights for me. Next month will be full of several more with the Mini, my 40th Birthday, and probably making a decision on training for a full.

I will keep you posted.

Later

Last week in running

2010-03-21T18:41:00.003-04:00

This past week has been one of the biggest weeks for mileage that I have had. I managed to put in a total of 39.55 miles. Wow! Now let's recap.

Monday I ran with the Y group. We ended up putting in 10.5 miles. It was a good run at a descent pace. Jen's husband Jeff ran with us on the second lap, so it was a bit slower. Still a good run.

Tuesday Chris, both of my kids, and I headed downtown for the 2nd annual Shamrock 2 miler. This has become one of my favorite runs. It is a quick 2 miler followed by free green beer and door prizes. This year, like last, Chris had my number. Last year he got my by a step. This year he was feeling it and ended up getting me by 14 seconds. It must be the shoes! He beat last years time by a little over 40 seconds. Outstanding! He ended up running a 14:09 with me coming in at 14:23. A damn good run for both of us. As I promised, here are a few pics that Chris managed to get on the day of the race.

Wednesday I had my first official hill run. The new runners that Chris and I have started running with like to run up a couple of hills near where we work. They have been extending the invite for several weeks, but I have either had other things going on or just didn't think I was ready to do serious hill work. I will say that I was a bit uneasy about this run. When I arrived at Gary's office, which is the official starting place of most of the hill runs, I saw his car and one other that I didn't recognize. After a few more minutes, Norma showed up and walked into the office. Next thing I know Gary, Jen, and Norma are walking out and waving me over. How was I to know that I was supposed to head inside? After that we were off. The hill wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Since it was Norma and my first time doing the hill they took it easy on us. We ended up doing a total of 6.3 miles in a little over an hour. I will definitely be back for the hill runs.

Thursday and Friday I took off from running. Mainly because I don't have time on Thursday and Friday I spend with my wife.

Saturday was the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown of Running, which is the Rhodes City Run 10K. The group was going to put in about 13 miles and then run to the start of the race, which ended up being 6.55 miles from the Y. Chris and I had hatched a plan to run with them to the race and then just Bandit the run. We ended up running the 6.55 miles to the start of the run in 1:05:30. There were a few pit stops along the way for bathroom breaks and to pick up others. Once we got the the start of the race, it was only a few minutes before the gun went off. This really didn't matter much, since it took us a good 4 minutes to get across the starting line.

For most of the run we were running in a pack. Then Jeff and Jen started to fall behind. At about the 5 mile mark Shawna fell back to check on them. At that point Chris and I settled into a nice pace. If I had to guess, I would say we were running around and 8:30/8:45 mile. At about 5 and a half miles Shawna come blasting up between us and the pace quickened. We kept up with her until about the 6 mark when we just let her go. I figured we would just cruise in from there. But when I saw the finish line something just kinda snapped. Without giving Chris any warning, I just bolted. Not something that I normally do. It just felt right. I ended coming in just in front of Chris because I got the jump and I never let him know it was on my mind. Hell, I didn't know it was going to happen. I ran a 53:16 and he ended up with 53:30. All I can say is DAMN! We put up good numbers for running 6.55 before the race.

This morning I headed out for another hill run with Gary, Shawna, and Jen. The funny thing is, when I got the text about running with them, they didn't mention running the hill. They took me up a different hill this time. Jen seemed to be struggling with asthma today. We ended up putting in 8 miles in about an hour and a half that included more walking than I had expected.

So that was my week. Next week won't be as big. I am heading to Chicago with the family for Spring Break. So I will be gone until Thursday. I am sure I will be ready to run when I get back. I plan on taking some running gear just in case I get a chance to run while up there. We shall see.

Later

The Training Continues

2010-03-13T04:52:00.002-05:00

With 6 weeks until the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon the training continues. So far it has gone better than I would have expected. I attribute this to two different factors. The first, and probably best, is that Chris is running it with me this year. Being able to get out and run with him several times a week has kept me motivated. The second is the group of runners that we have started running with. They have pushed long runs out of me almost every weekend. Which is a good thing.

Next Tuesday Chris, both of my kids, and I will be running the 2nd annual Jeffersonville Shamrock 2-Miler. Chris, Z, and I did this run last year and it was a blast. I mean really, how could a quick 2 mile run followed by free beer be a bad thing? I will definitely post an update following that one. And if I know Chris, I will probably have a couple of pics to share as well.

The week of the the 22nd will probably be my week of lowest miles this month. We are heading to Chicago with the kids for Spring Break. With all of the things that we are planning on seeing, I don't see that many opportunities to get out an run while I am up there. We will see. I may be able to sneak off for a quick run on a treadmill in the hotel.

I have also signed up to run the Papa John's 10 miler on April 3rd. This will be one of the last big runs before the Mini. I will end up putting in a total of about 16 miles that day, which will be the farthest I have ever ran.

So, that is how things are shaping up. So far this month I have put in 40 miles with another 12 - 13 on tap for this morning.

Later

February Wrap Up

2010-03-02T19:31:00.004-05:00

February was not my biggest month for running, but there were a few things that factored into the lack of mileage. One being the amount of snow that we had, which was more than we have had in quite some time. The other being that I have realized that I am a social runner. My favorite running partner, Chris, was sidelined with foot problems. Since the group I run with meets on Monday and Saturday, that is when I ran with them. I found myself only running on Mondays and Saturdays. Not a good combo for getting in big miles.

With that being said, I still managed to get in 84.4 miles. Not too bad considering I only ran 10 days during the month. Here is how it looked:

Now that Chris is feeling better and the temps are on the rise, I look for the coming months to have more miles. That should keep me on pace to reach my goal of 1000 miles for 2010.

Later

Monday Run

2010-02-22T20:11:00.002-05:00

Today started week 7 off the Y Running group runs. With the temps being a little bit warmer I expected a huge turnout. Man was I wrong! It ended up being just Shawna and myself. Some of the other die hards were out with illness.

Anyway, we ended up putting in 5 fairly quick miles in 41:30.46. A nice pace in my opinion.

So that is how this week has started. I am sure that Chris and I will get out for some runs this week, since he is feeling better.

Later

Long Time No Post

2010-02-20T17:07:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted in so long that some of you may have thought I didn't have an internet connection anymore. That is not the case. I have just been lazy. It happens. But since I have an empty house and an ice cold Upland Wheat, I figured I would get everyone caught up.

The running is going good. The weather on the other hand is not cooperating the way I would like it to. We have had more snow this winter than we have in quite some time. That has made it very easy for me to not run. I don't want to run on crappy roads and take a chance on busting my ass. With that being said, I have managed to get out and run at least two days every week. Usually a short 5-7 miles on Monday followed up with at least 12.5 on Saturday. Both runs are with the running group that I joined at the Y. I am sure that when the Y group ends, I will still show up and run with my new friends.

Unfortunately, my favorite running partner has been sidelined with some foot issues. You can read all about them on his blog. I am glad to say that it looks like he will be making his return very soon. We did get out for an easy 4 miles on Friday, which was nice.

Today I ran the farthest I have ever ran. When I showed up this morning, Shawna said that she was thinking that it was about time for me to go from the 12.5 miles that I run every weekend to 13.1. So, as the run went on I started thinking about where I could pick up that last .6 miles. I decided that when we got close to my neighborhood I would part with the group and run a few blocks in and then return to the Y. I did just that. I ended up finishing my run in 2:03:06. I just wasn't sure exactly how much extra I had tacked on. When I got home I mapped the extra distance and was pleasantly surprised to see that I had tacked on an extra mile! I will say that I was ready to be done with my run by the time I finished. But I finished. I think that I may continue to add the extra mile at the end of my runs, since Chris and I are contemplating the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in November.

So, that is what has been going on around here. There are 9 weeks until the mini. I think I am ready.

Later

Solo Run

2010-02-03T20:00:00.002-05:00

Today I headed out for a solo run. This was a rarity, since lately I have either ran with Chris or the Y running group. So I headed out around 4 with no real plan. I started out by heading around the loop in my hood and adjusted from there.

When I hit the first mile in 7:44 I realized I was going way to fast. From there I tried to reign things in. I ended up putting in 4.83 miles in 38:43.74 which equated to an 8:03 pace. Not bad, but that is what happens when I run alone. I have no one to talk to and end up running way too fast.

I think I may take tomorrow as a rest day, we shall see.

Later

January 2010 Recap

2010-02-01T16:26:00.004-05:00

I didn't run everyday, but the runs I did were quality and full of miles. Chris and I started off the month with a 10 miler on January 1 and finished up the month with a 9 miler yesterday. I say that is pretty good.

My goal for the year is to put in 1000 miles. I think if I continue to run with the local marathoners, that shouldn't be a problem. I managed to put in 97.9 miles for January. Almost every step of those miles was also ran with Chris. There were a few days when we couldn't get out together, but for the most part we ran all of them together. I find that it makes it much easier to put in long runs when I have a good running partner, and I can't think of a better one than Chris. We tend to have the same goals in mind.

Here is how the month wrapped up.

We are also thinking about running the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in November. I had been trying to wrap my mind around running 26.2 miles, but since we have been running with the marathoners it has become easier to believe that the distance is attainable. I will keep you posted on this one.

Tonight will be another group run at the Y. So hopefully the miles for February match or pass the miles for January. Either one will make me happy.

That's all I have for now.

Later

Monday Running Group

2010-01-25T21:01:00.003-05:00

Tonight was the third meeting of the Y Monday night running group. Every time I show up for one of these I meet new people. There are around 30 people signed up for the group, but we have yet to see them all. It is getting kind of hard to keep everyone straight, but I am sure it will come with time and warmer temps.

Tonight everyone agreed to an initial 4 mile route. So off we went. We seemed to have about every pace imaginable. Everywhere from 7:30 - 12:30 per mile. I found myself running with Jen and her husband Jeff, who was with us last Monday. Unfortunately my favorite running partner has to sit out Mondays due to family obligations. I totally understand, family is always first!

After about the first couple of miles I found myself running with a newcomer named Robin. She seemed to be running at an acceptable pace so we ran and chit chatted for the last couple of miles. Soon enough we were back at the Y and waiting for everyone else to come in.

It didn't take too long. Once everyone was in, Shawna, Jen, Gary, and myself headed out for another 3.75 miles. The pace was quicker. I was pleasantly surprised when Jen said that the Garmin said we were traveling at a 7:50 -8:10 pace. Wow! At that pace we were back at the Y before I knew it. After standing around for a few seconds, I was bidding everyone a good evening and heading for the house.

Next up will be some running through the week with Chris.

That's all for now.

Later

Another Saturday full of big miles

2010-01-23T21:07:00.002-05:00

Today was the second Saturday meeting of the Y running group that Chris and I have joined up with. Last week with put in 12.6 miles with them to our surprise. It seemed like a quick jump in the mileage that we had been putting in, but it felt right.

I had arranged for Chris to give me a ride, since he would be heading this way any way. We had received an email from the Shawna, the lead crazy runner, that they would be starting out at 6:00 am. So Chris picked me up at about 5:50 am and we were on our way. The drive from my house to the Y is only about 2-3 minutes, so we were there in plenty of time. When we arrived there were already 3 cars in the parking lot, but no occupants in them. As we waited, two other cars showed up. One was driven by Tom and the other was driven by Traci. Within minutes of there arrival we spotted three bodies running into the parking lot. It was Shawna, Gary, and Jen. They had arrived at 5:0 am and had already put in one lap on the 6.3 mile loop.

After standing around for a few minutes while everyone got ready to go, we were off. We started off at a pace that felt a bit slow, but I had to remember that they had already put in 6.3 miles. Tom and Traci had decided that they were going to head a different direction and put in 18 miles, so we soon parted ways. As we headed along our route we had to make a pit stop so that Gary could answer the call of nature at the local IHOP. After that quick break the miles seemed to fly by as fast and effortlessly as they had last week and before we knew it we were heading back to the Y.

As we approached the Y Linda, one of the ladies who had ran with us last weekend, was heading towards us. I guess she just couldn't wait to get going. Chris and I had pulled away from Shawna, Gary, and Jen at some point. So we were the first ones back. As we entered the parking lot we were greeted by a newcomer to the Saturday morning crew. I can't remember her name, but I am sure if she keeps coming I will learn it. Anyway, as we stood and talked with her we saw Shawna, Gary, Jen, and Linda heading into the parking lot. After standing around for a few minutes to figure out just how far the newcomer was wanting to go, we were on our way.

As we headed out, Chris, Linda, and myself kind of pulled away from the rest of the group and soon we were on our own. All I can say of Linda is, she is a talker. I think she learned more about Chris and I in the 6.3 mile loop than most people do in weeks. At some point I could feel myself slowly pulling ahead of Chris and Linda. I think that Chris was just being polite and hanging with her, since she wouldn't stop talking to him. As we headed along the last leg of the run, we could see the rest of our group ahead of us. They had cut part of the route off in order to make their route 5 miles.

I am still amazed that we were able to put in another 12.6 miles and that it didn't feel too bad. We hung out and chit chatted for a few minutes before Chris and I were off.

We ended up putting in 12.6 miles in 1:58:22, that's with about a 5 minute potty break by Gary. Another awesome run. I think if we keep up this amount of training, we will be able to pull off a marathon at some point.

Next up is the group run on Monday. I'll try and update the blog after that.

Later

Running with Marathoners makes the miles add up

2010-01-19T15:22:00.002-05:00

Two weeks ago Chris and I headed up to the local Y and sat in on a meeting about a Triple Crown running group. Since then we have been running with the local marathoners and putting in some serious miles.

The group meets on Mondays and Saturdays and the leader of the running group will run at any time. Last week was the first Monday night meeting. Since Chris had family obligations, he could not make it. We ended up putting in just under 5.5 miles that night. On Saturday Chris and I headed up to the Y and met the running group for and early morning run. The group mainly consisted of the local marathoners and their friends. The official time for the running group was 8:30, but the main group meets anywhere from 5:00 - 6:00 am and heads out on their 6.3 mile loop, returning to the Y at the end of each loop to pick up anyone who has shown up to run.

We headed out on the first loop at a very comfortable 8:40 pace. I will say that I was a bit surprised. I had figured that they would be faster, not that I am complaining. Everyone in the group that we ran with on the first loop are Boston Qualifiers, which is just amazing. We ended up finishing the first 6.3 mile loop in just over 56 minutes. After standing around for a few minutes to gather all of the new arrivals we were off on lap 2. I will say that starting lap 2 kind of sucked. It was really hard to get going again, but after about the first half mile things fell back into rhythm. We ended up completing the second 6.3 mile loop in just over 55 minutes. Not sure how we shaved an entire minute off the pace, but we did. After 12.6 miles Chris and I were ready to call it a day.

Last night Chris had things to do at home, so I headed up to the Y and met the running group without my favorite running partner. When I arrived there were two new faces for the running group, which would only consist of 5 people for the evening run. One was returning to running and the other had only done indoor training. We decided to run 2 miles and bring the first runner back to the Y and then head out for some distance. The first two miles were not that enjoyable, we had to stop and walk a couple of times and the pace was quite slow. But everyone has to start somewhere and being part of a running group isn't just about me. After returning to the Y and dropping off the first runner, we were off. We put in another mile and a half before parting way with the last member of the group. Then myself and the 2 marathoners were on our way. We ended up putting in a total of 8.2 miles, according to the Garmin the leader was wearing, in just over 82 minutes. The average pace was slow, but I would say that the last 4 miles flew by.

I will say that I have been wrestling with the idea of running a marathon, but since heading out with the marathoners I have a clearer vision that it could actually be a feasible possibility.

We shall see.

Later

50 Degrees, how could I not run?

2010-01-14T17:37:00.000-05:00

Today was planned as a rest day in the training schedule. Chris and I had both put in several miles already this week and planned on taking it easy today. But when I woke up and headed outside to grab the mail, I quickly realized that it was just too nice not to get out for a run.

Since Chris had said yesterday that he was taking today as a rest day, I had planned on waiting until my son got home and seeing if he wanted to head out for a run. He has been running some, and actually headed out with Chris and I yesterday. I had planned to let him dictate the pace and see how far he could go. But as I was checking email, I received one from Chris that simply state "You thinking what I'm thinking?" The answer was a resounding "YES!"

After confirming with my daughter that she was not going to need her car for a bit, I suited up and headed to Chris's hood for what was planned as a nice easy 2-3 mile run. We started out at a nice easy pace, hitting the first mile right at the 9 minute mark. From there we gradually picked up the pace on the second mile. As we hit his house at the end of the second mile we were at 17:41. We decided to go ahead and do another 2 mile loop. We ended up finishing the second 2 mile loop in 16:46 for a grand total of 4.06 miles in 34:28, which ended up being right at an 8:30 pace.

Tomorrow is definitely going to be a rest day. I plan on heading out on Saturday morning and putting in a long run with the running group if I can drag myself out of bed early enough.

That's it for now.

Later

2010 Mini Marathon Training has officially Started

2010-01-13T18:39:00.000-05:00

Like the title says, I have officially began training for the 2010 Mini Marathon. Last week Chris and I headed up to the local YMCA and sat in on a meeting for a Mini Marathon/Marathon training group. There were people there that will be training for everything from a 5k to 26.2. After leaving, I went home and signed up online for the group. Couldn't pass up the $10 shirt.

The group was scheduled to do the first group run on Monday, but I wasn't sure if it would go off as planned since the group leader had just done the Goofy in Disney. For those of you who don't know what that is, it consist of running a half marathon on Saturday and then following that up with a full marathon on Sunday. CRAZY!!! Anyway, earlier in the day I received an email that the run would go off as planned. So at 7 pm I headed to the Y. There were only 4 of us total, including the leader and one of her running partners. We ended up putting 5.41 miles in 57 minutes. It was a slow easy pace.

Yesterday I was supposed to get out and run with Chris, but I was never able to pull myself away from things around here. Oh well. He did get out and put in a good 6 mile run.

Today we got together and put in a 6.5 mile run in about 56 minutes in my hood. We are actually kicking around the idea of training and running a full marathon later this year. We shall see.

Anyway, that is what is going on right now as far as training and running. I will try to update this as the process goes along.

Later

Hangover Classic 2010 Recap

2010-01-02T04:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Chris and I participated in what I am sure will become an annual run for us. We ran in the Hangover Classic 10 miler. It was an awesome run ran with a great friend.

The day started off for me around 3:30 am. Not sure why, but I just did not sleep worth a crap New Years Eve. The bad thing was that it was not due to partying, I just kept waking up. Oh well, I've ran with less sleep. After finally giving in and just getting up I headed out to the computer and checked out all of my favorite haunts, Facebook, Woot.com, Passwird.com, and a few others. Then I threw on a pot of coffee and tried to relax for a bit.

After posting a pre-run entry on blogger, I decided to watch District 9. Pretty decent movie, especially for the budget that it was produced on. While watching the movie I jumped on the Iphone and checked to see if Chris was on Facebook, he was. We chatted for a bit about the upcoming run. He then graciously offered to pick me up a Pumpkin Spice Cappuccino on his way over, which was awesome. He was planning on picking me up about 9:00 am. The run started at 10:00 am.

Then it was time to suit up and head out the door. I had found a few web sites that had very good advice on dressing for the cold. Since we don't normally head out when it is 20 degrees or less for a run, I wanted to make sure that I didn't over or under dress. The advice worked, and my new under armour gear was awesome!

Chris arrived right about 9:00 am and we were on our way. We made it to the start of the run within 20 minutes. It may have actually took that much time to find a parking space. There was a great turn out for a 10 miler on New Years Day. We then headed inside to see if we recognized any familiar faces. We saw a few of the hard core runners that we don't really know, just have seen at most of the runs we have participated in over the last year.

Then it was time to head out in the cold and do this thing! We took our spot near the end of the pack, since we didn't need to be near the front. The great thing about this run is that it was chip timed. We never heard a official start, everyone just started going, so we followed along.

The first mile was really slow, 9:08.30. Mostly because of the huge group of people all trying to find their groove. After the first mile we settled into about an 8:40 -8:45 pace, which was what we were planning. Our goal for this one was to finish in 90 minutes. After about the first 5 miles the cold didn't even matter anymore. I did find it kind of crazy that I had ice forming in my goatee!

The course was everything that it was billed as. We ran through parts of Louisville that I hadn't been trough in some time. It was a very nice, well marked flat course.

We ended up finishing up the run in 1:27:30! We met the goal that we had set for ourselves. Chris also ran the farthest he has ever ran. Way to go Yeti! We celebrated the run with a few Upland Wheat Ale's that I had brought along. It was a nice way to end the run. We then headed inside to see if we had won any door prizes. Within the first 3 names called, I won a fleece blanket from the 2009 Louisville Marathon, which I used to shield Chris's car seat from the sweat that was coming off of me on the ride home. Unfortunately Chris did not take home a door prize.

After all of the prizes were handed out we were on our way. All I can say it that it was an awesome way to kick off the new year. So if you ever find yourself in the Louisville area on New Years Day, I highly recommend this run. And if you look close, you just might see a few Yeti's in the pack.

For a great recap and photos, check out Chris's recap of this run. Well done!

Later

Gonna usher in 2010 with a cold 10 miler

2010-01-01T06:43:00.000-05:00

Like the title says, I will be heading out for the first run of the new year with my favorite running partner and good friend Chris. We will be tackling the Hangover Classic 10 miler in a little over 3 hours. The weather bug on my computer is telling me that it is a balmy 18 degrees outside at this time. I think that weather.com is saying that it will be 22 at race time, but feel like 11. We have the gear and the desire, so it should be a good run and new tradition. I will post a recap later today.

In 2009 I put in a little over 500 miles. For 2010 I would like to hit 1000. We will see. I have a couple of half marathons that I will be training for, so that will keep the miles up.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year. Here is to making 2010 even better.

Later

Two awesome runs

2009-12-24T08:15:00.000-05:00

Tuesday and Wednesday Chris and I put in two awesome runs. One of the reasons that they were so amazing was that the unpredictable weather around here decided to throw us a couple of 50 degree days. That meant not having to deal with the cold, which I am not a huge fan of. Another reason was that I have been on vacation since 10:30 pm Monday night. That means plenty of sleep and a desire to run.

Tuesday I headed over to Chris's hood and we headed out on a route that we had not ran in the past. Our thinking on this one was that if we didn't know where we were going we would probably hold back and run farther. It worked! We ended up putting in 5.87 miles in 50:02. Awesome!

Wednesday he headed over here with a route in mind. This was another route that we had never ran, so it worked out just like the day before. We ended up putting in 6.54 miles in 55:40. I am not sure, but that just may be the furthest that Chris has ran, I will have to check. Another awesome run.

With today being Christmas Eve and the chance of rain ever increasing, that may very well be the last run for the week. If the weather holds out, we may try and get out either Saturday or Sunday. We shall see. We do have the 10 mile Hangover Classic coming up on January 1!

With that I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Hope everyone has a great holiday.

Later

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

2009-12-16T21:03:00.000-05:00

Today my plan was to head out and put in around 5 or 6 miles since the weather looked decent. But when I went to "Suit Up" I found that all of my cold weather running gear was in the washer. Damn it!

So instead of putting in some decent miles on the streets of my neighborhood I headed to the YMCA and hit the treadmill. I jumped on one of the one that I thought was not set for 30 minutes, but I was wrong. So instead of changing treadmills after the time on mine counted down, I just did the 30 minutes and called it a night.

Now for the totals:

3.68 miles

30 minutes

Probably won't get out again until this weekend. Hopefully the weather holds out.

Later

Last few runs before heading to Disney

2009-12-02T12:10:00.000-05:00

It is almost time for me to head to Disney for a week of nothing but checking out the sites and eating really bad things. I don't think I will have time or the desire to run. Well I may have the desire, just not the will. So Chris and I will be getting in a few runs at work as long as the weather is kind to us.

I talked to Chris on last nights 2.5 mile run, which we completed in 19:14.66, about the possibility of hitting a local 5K or just getting out for a good solid 5 -6 mile run on Saturday afternoon. That way I can at least leave town knowing that I put in some extra miles before over indulging for a week.

I do have the fear that when I return, my week off from running will make me slower. Not sure if it is a mental thing or not, but this always seems to happen. After taking that much time off from running and eating like a sloth, I feel like I am always chasing the Yeti.

On another note, last week Chris and I did a couple of local shoutouts for a friends site. I thought that they went pretty well. Check out the one below we did of a local running store.

So hopefully the mouse won't slow me down. We shall see.

Later

Fast Freddie 5 Miler

2009-11-27T06:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Chris and I participated in the 21st annual running of the Fast Freddie Thanksgiving Day 5 Miler. This run turned out to be one of the most fun runs that we have done is some time. We saw a few familiar faces. Our friend James also joined on this run. When I say joined, I mean ran in front of us and waited at the finish line.

The goal for this run was to come in between 40 and 42. Before I had actually looked at the course, I told Chris that I thought 40 would be no problem. Then he mapped it. The course has several hills, so we told ourselves that we would be happy anywhere under 45. With a field of over 700 runners the start was a bit slow. From the gun shot until we finally walked across the starting line, it took just at 19 seconds. Then it was a very slow first mile before things started to open up a bit and we could find our groove. We hit the first mile at just around 8:37. From there we were able to pick up the pace and let a few of the downhills help us out. By mile 3 we had erased that 37 seconds from the first mile and were traveling at a comfortable 8 minute pace. We figured that if we kept this pace we would definitely finish in the top 500. That is the cut off point to have your name listed on the back of next years shirt. Another of our goals for this run. We ended up finishing the run side by side with a clock time of 39:40.71. The official Yeti time was 39:21.71, taking off the 19 seconds it took us to walk to the starting line. Awesome run!

After we finished the run we hung out near the finish line and talked with several other runners that we knew. After cooling off a bit we decided to head to my van and grab an extra layer of clothing and a celebratory Sam Adam Octoberfest. After enjoying possibly the last two Octoberfest in the area, we headed inside to see the drawing for door prizes. While waiting Fred introduced the overall winner who finished the 5 miler in 23:54.04, which is a new course record!

Fred made things interesting with his lack of patience for people who had filled out door prize cards and then chose not to stay around. I am pretty sure he wanted to get out of there and go enjoy some turkey like the rest of us. Chris and I did both manage to win door prizes. Mine was a gift certificate to a local restaurant and his was to Dick's Sporting Goods. After the last door prizes were handed out we were out of there.

I did manage to take my camera with me this time, but after a short video of the crowd before the run and a few pics, the batteries decided that they had enough. So for an awesome video, check out Chris's recap of this run. It sums up the day quite awesomely!

Not sure what run is on our horizon, but I will keep you posted.

Yeti Out!!

Allie

2009-11-22T20:34:00.000-05:00

Today we had to make the hardest decision that a pet owner has to make. We had to make the decision to stop being selfish and be fair to her.

Let me tell you how Allie came to join our family. In the summer of 96 she chose us. The reason that I say she chose us, is that we were not looking to get a new dog at the time. We already had two. But on a warm summer day, my wife allowed a then 3 year old Jade head out to the mailbox to get the mail. As Autumn stood with the door open waiting for Jade to return, a black blur ran past her and into our house. Once inside Allie made herself at home. I remember coming home and saying, "We're not keeping her." That was 14 years ago. We tried to find where she had come from with no luck. So she became ours.

Like any other family member or pet there were times when we wanted to ring her neck. But the good definitely out ways any bad. Pets in this house are family, not just pets. We got to spend 14 wonderful years with an awesome dog, who provided tons of wonderful memories.

With a heavy heart, I say goodbye.

Rest in peace Allie Dog.

DASH 5k 2009

2009-11-07T20:10:00.000-05:00

Today Chris and I ran the DASH 5k in our home town. This was the first time we had ran this one. The temps were great, the course was flat, and the times ended up being pretty damn good as well. It was a good day!

Both of us had purchased new shoes yesterday, so the plan was to try and maintain an easy 8 minute pace. At mile 1 we were at 7:35. Mile 2 was 15:10. At that point we decided to real things in just a bit so not to burn out towards the end. As we made the last turn Chris felt the need to stretch his legs and pick up the pace a bit. He ended up finishing 4 seconds in front of me with a time of 23:18.63, which was a PR for him. Way to go!! I ended up finishing up at 23:22.68. I had originally thought that this was a PR for me, but I was wrong. My PR for a 5k is 23:16. I think if either of us knew how close we were to breaking into the 22 minute barrier we would have probably stepped it up a little bit sooner.

After the run we hung out for a bit and talked with a few of our fellow runners. Then it was time to head home.

Next up is a 5 miler on Thanksgiving morning. Hopefully the weather is as good then as it is now.

Later

New kicks just in time for a run

2009-11-07T06:55:00.001-05:00

Good morning blogosphere!

It's been a while since my last post, but I really just haven't had the time to put any thoughts out there. Sorry.

Anyway, I had the feeling that it was time to replace my running shoes. Over the last couple of weeks I have been back and forth with wanting to go and get analyzed at the local running shop, Pacers and Racers, and being cheap and just picking up a pair on sale from any number of big box sellers that would get me through these cold months of training ahead.

After looking at several pair of shoes at the big box retailers and on ebay. I decided that it would be in my best interest, not my wallets, to head to the local running shop. Man am I glad I did. It turned out that I was totally running in the wrong shoe! I am a neutral runner and I was running in a shoe that pushed my ankles in. It was also nice to meet some really cool fellow runners.

I ended up with a new pair of Asics Cumulus 11's that set me back around $100. We will see if it was worth it.

Today they will be going out for their first run. Chris and I will be running the DASH 5k. Should be a cool run and it is in our town. I will try and post a recap later on this evening.

Later

Weekend Camping Trip

2009-10-26T15:36:00.001-04:00

This past weekend my family headed out for our first camping trip in almost 7 years. I will say that I was a bit skeptical at first, but had a great time. This trip came about due to some friends of ours wanting to head to Camp Rudolph near Holiday World for one of their Halloweekends.

So we armed ourselves with all the necessities. New sleeping bags for everyone, old faithful tent, plenty of food, and a case of Sam Adams Winter Classics. And off we went.

We headed out on Friday and arrived a little after 1:30 pm central time to our destination. It probably only took us about an hour from arrival to beer in hand. The tents went up without a hitch. Then it was down to just relaxing and taking it easy.

As we settled in, we noticed that there were several campers around us that were participating in the site decorating contest. There was one set of campers that were actually constructing a haunted house. It was a pretty impressive site.

Friday was awesome. Just sitting around the fire hanging out with good friends. We all called it a night around 11:00 pm, I believe. I will say that I was surprised that sleeping on the ground wasn't that bad.

Saturday it seemed like everyone woke around the same time. I would say that it was around 8:00 am, but I am not exactly sure on the time. Then it was another day of hanging out by a nice fire and enjoying spending time with good friends.

That night they had Trick or Treating for the kids and the judging of the sites. Needless to say, the Haunted House took first place. There were also lots of cool costumes. I believe it was around 11:00 pm when we called it a night this time as well.

Sunday morning we had to pull up stakes and return to reality. But I will say, that we all had a great time. It was nice just hanging out with the family, without all of the distractions of TV and computers. We will definitely be doing this again.

I will leave you with a few pics. Enjoy.

Christian Academy 4 Miler

2009-10-18T06:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Chris and I ran the Christian Academy 4 Miler. Chris had told me about this run a couple of weeks back and it sounded like a good run. Someone in his family goes to school there, so that is how he found out about it.

The day started off fairly early for me. I ended up waking up a little after 3:30 am and could not seem to get back to sleep. So I just watched a little tv and tried to get myself ready for running in 40 degree weather. Now I know that some hardcore runners might think that sounds warm, but it has just started to turn colder around here and we are still adjusting.

After having a bagel for breakfast, I got suited up and waited on Chris to show up around 8:00 am. He was right on time. We then headed over to Christian Academy to get signed in and pick up our swag. As we entered the campus we saw tents near the football field, so naturally we headed up there thinking it was the sign in. It was not. We were directed to the gymnasium area, which was cool with us since it was inside.

After getting signed in, we stood around for awhile looking for an old classmate who had decided to join us on this run. At almost race time we found him. Shortly after we were instructed to head to the starting line.

I had told Chris that my goal was to run the 4 miles in 32 minutes. He was a bit skeptical that he would be able to maintain the 8 minute pace the entire way. I was confident that he could.

As the run started, our classmate left us behind. He had mentioned that his goal was to run a 7:30 mile. So we let him go and settled into what felt like and 8 minute pace. At the first mile we were at 8:02 and right on track. The second mile we were at 15:30, so we had picked up the pace a bit. We realized that we needed to reign it in a bit to finish in 32. At the third mile we were at 23:40. We had managed to slow things up a bit. The course had quite a few hills in it. One being a downhill at the beginning that we knew we would have to climb before the finish. That last hill sucked. As we made it to the top of the last hill Chris had to walk for a couple of seconds. He told me he would see me at the finish. The race finished up with a lap around the track. I ended up finishing in 31:02 and in 16th place over all. Chris ended up with 31:28 and 18th place over all.

After the run we made our way to the food, which was awesome. There were chicken biscuits, bananas, muffins, and giant cinnamon rolls. NOM NOM NOM! We hung out for awhile to see some of the awards. But after cooling down, the cold got the better of us and we headed home.

It was a great run with great friends. That's what makes it enjoyable for me.

You can check out pics by heading over to Chris's blog. They are awesome.

Later

Down Syndrome of Louisville 5K

2009-10-05T15:28:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning I ran in my second Down Syndrome of Louisville's annual 5k. This event is used to raise money and awareness for Down Syndrome. It was an awesome event.

The morning started off for me around 5:30 am. This was due to the fact that I wanted to get up early enough to try and score some University of Kentucky Big Blue Madness tickets that were going on sale at 6:00 am. I was lucky enough to get some. This event sold out in about 10 minutes. The tickets are free, but due to the fact that I had to go through ticketmaster, they cost me about $7.

After that my wife and I headed over to the event. Unfortunately due to work and other obligations, Chris was not able to run in this event. That kinda sucked. I would have to say that next to my kids, he is my favorite running partner. Once I arrived at the waterfront I found Z, who was running, and headed to the sign in area. Shortly after I got signed in Sam showed up. I think that Sam has only ran in a couple of official runs, but he runs every day at lunch. After meeting up with everyone we made our way to the start. There were probably around 200-300 participants. Sam said that his goal was to hit 26 minutes for this run. I told him I was shooting for 24. Z just wanted to finish before Sam, who beat him last year.

At 8:15 we were off. Z stayed with me until just after the first mile. I tried to motivate him to keep up, but he just didn't have it. So I was soon on my own. I ended up finishing the run in 23:53. Which ended up being about 1 minute faster than last year. Z was up next and finished in 24:50, I think. Sam finished up with a 26:06. I think that all of the times would have been a little bit faster if the course had been different. At the start we were really bunched up due to the lack of running room on the sidewalks near the river. Still good times and everyone hit their goals.

After the run, we hung out and checked out the booths before participating with Double D and his family in the walk.

All I can say is that it was a great time.

Up next for me will be the Christian Academy 4-miler in a couple of weeks with Chris. Should be fun.

Later

And I thought because I ran I could eat anything

2009-09-30T14:05:00.000-04:00

Man was I wrong! As anyone who has followed this blog at all knows, last year I dropped about 40 pounds by changing my diet and running my ass off. It started with getting ready for a run at Disney and was helped by a workplace biggest loser competition. Although I didn't win the competition, I regained my love of running and lost the weight, which is a win!

Since then I have slowly be returning to my bad eating habits, all while thinking that I am putting in around 10 to 15 miles a week so it will be ok to have that piece of cake or a burger from McDonald's. Well guess what. I WAS WRONG!!!! I have slowly picked up about 10 pounds over the last couple of months. So I guess I need to re-dedicate myself to eating right. It has just seemed to be a lot easier to just pick something up that to actually make dinner at home. That has to change.

My goal is to get back where I was by Christmas at the latest. I figure that is enough time to not be to hard on my body by losing too much too fast. We shall see.

As far as runs go, I am signed up for the Down Syndrome of Louisville Buddy Run 5k for this Saturday and a 4 miler later in the month. Due to work Chris can't join me for the Buddy Run, but will be at the 4 miler. Should be fun. I will post a recap on each run for all to enjoy.

So wish me luck!

Later

Now I know why I am a nocturnal runner

2009-09-21T13:49:00.001-04:00

Due to a slight detour I did not run at lunch last night with Chris. It sucked, but I was given info about what could be this years hot toy, so I had to go see if I could get some. I did. Enough about that.

So, when I got up this afternoon my mind quickly went to "I need to run" mode. So I jumped out of bed, checked a few things online, and then headed out the door. My goal was to take it easy and just let the road dictate the distance. As I rounded the corner toward Gibby's house I glanced down at my watch expecting to see a time close to 8:00. To my surprise, it had just passed 7:00. Kind of a shock to me, since I didn't feel like I was running that fast. The first mile ended up being right around 7:30. At that point I just tried to keep the same pace and see what happens. Mile number 2 was right around 15:00, but the heat from running during the daytime was starting to catch up. I ended up finishing a 5k in 23:43.44, which I was happy with. The only thing that sucked was that I felt like I was on fire the moment I stopped running. Damn sunshine!

On another note, I think that I may be ready for some new kicks. I have noticed the last couple of runs that my shins are hurting a little at the beginning of the run. It usually works itself out, but these shoes have over 300 miles on them and they were not very expensive. Not that the price of a shoe makes it any better than any other shoe. So I will keep you posted on the shoe hunt.

Later

Awesome Weekend

2009-09-14T13:20:00.000-04:00

To say last weekend was awesome is damn near an understatement. Sit back and relax and let me tell you how I spent it.

Let's start with a bit of a recap. Earlier in the week Chris had mentioned that he had heard something about a local fun run/health fair that was completely free, but could not remember exactly where or when it was. So the search was on. We both checked the local run calendars with no luck. Then as I was driving home from picking my son up from tennis practice I happened to hear the ad on the radio. It was for the Kohl's Family Fun Run. So when we hit the driveway I immediately ran into the house, jumped on the computer, and there it was. My next move was to email the link to Chris. By the next morning we had both signed up along with our kids. Which kicks ass!!

So Saturday morning rolls around and I am once again wakened by the 3rd shift beast around 3:30 am. Oh well, it happens. I tried to go back to sleep with no luck. After watching about 3 hours of worthless tv I decided it was time to get my lazy ass out of bed, grab a bite to eat and make sure the kids were up. The plan was to pick Chris and his daughter up around 8.

Picked up Chris and his daughter and we were off. After a brief detour, thanks TomTom, we arrived at Iroquois Park. I was a bit surprised at the turnout. It took a few minutes to find a place to park. We then headed to the health fair area. There was everything from Radio Disney to a Hot Air Balloon ride. The best part was that everything was free. The plan was to hit the first 1 mile fun run a 9 am. But once the kids saw the balloon, we were in line for that. So we missed the first of three runs. No big deal, this was about the kids anyway. Also, it was my first time in a hot air balloon. Pretty cool. After the balloon ride it was time for the second run. We headed over to the starting line and found a good spot about mid crowd. There was no need to be in the front, since we were planning on running what ever pace our kids set. Since I had both of mine with me, I decided I would stay with who ever was running the slower pace. As I expected when the countdown hit zero, my son shot out like a bullet. In my head I thought, he will be walking before too long. It was a 1/2 mile out and a 1/2 mile back. The bad part was that the first half was mostly up hill. I ran with my daughter the whole way. I had told both of the kids that morning that the goal was to set a pace that you thought you could run without stopping. It worked. To my complete amazement my son ran the whole run without stopping. He probably finished about 45 seconds in front of my daughter and myself. She did stop for about 2 seconds. I told her we were almost done and she jumped right back in. I couldn't be prouder of both of them. I forgot my camera, but as always Chris remembered his. Here a a couple of pics courtesy of him.

After the first run Chris and I decided we would hit the last run without the kids and see what we could do. As were standing in the crowd waiting for the start, we decided we would try and hit 7:30 for the mile. As the run started we made our way to the front, where we stayed most of the time. As we got to the top of the hill and the turn around I noticed that we had an older lady not too far behind. The down hill part of the run was nice. As we got within about 1/3 of a mile from the finish we were passed by the older lady. I was content to let her have it, but Chris had other plans. Next thing I know I'm chasing him. We overtook her and Chris finished about 3 seconds in front of me. He said he wasn't going to give it up after leading the entire way.

We then let the kids check out the booths and then headed home. He had a volleyball game to coach and I had some shopping to do. So I dropped him off and headed home.

Later in the afternoon my wife and I headed to the Disney Christmas Carol Train that was in town for the weekend. Another free event. We had to stand in line for about an hour, but it was worth it. The train is like a traveling exhibit for the upcoming movie. They also had a blow up theater. It was a first for me. They showed several clips from the movie in 3d. It looked good enough that I might have to go see it.

After that it was off to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Awesome food and a nice way to end a great day.

Sunday we headed to my aunt's house to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday. It was nice, since my brother and his family came in. I don't get to see them too often.

All in all it was a great weekend. And to top it off, today marks my 18th Wedding Anniversary, and I couldn't be happier.

Sorry for such a long post, but I had a lot to say.

Later

Long time, no blog

2009-09-04T08:40:00.000-04:00

I know that I have been slacking on my blogging, but life has a way of taking up ones time. We are still running almost every night with distances ranging from 2 to 2.6 miles. All of our times are right at the 20 minute mark or below, depending on how we feel on that evening. One thing that I have started noticing is that as the temps have started to get cooler, the times are getting faster.

Chris and I have only put in 2 5k runs so far this summer. I am hoping that we can add to that before it gets cold and there aren't as many runs to choose from. He is also very busy with being a good parent and coaching his girls in there sporting activities. So that ties up some of his weekends.

I need to get back in the habit of putting in some longer runs on the weekend. A couple of weeks ago Chris and I put in a little over 5 miles on a Friday and it felt pretty good. I know that I have until April before it really matters, but I would like to increase my mileage. Who knows, I may run a full marathon some day.

Later

Chuck's Kiwanis 5k recap

2009-08-16T19:48:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Chris and I ran in the Chuck's Kiwanis 5k. Chris had told me about this run last year, but we for whatever reason didn't make it. It is supposed to be know for it's unusual trophies. I will say that they were unusual. They were everything from fire engines to sword fish trophies for the first 100 finishers.

The other unique thing about this run was that it was a 5k for the men and a 4k for the women. Everyone started at the same time and who ever came in first won. No men's or women's division. It was pretty cool.

We started off way too fast, it happens. We hit the first mile in 7:10 and the second at 15:07. I ended up finishing up at 23:41. Chris crossed just a few seconds after me at 24:31. Don't know how we managed to just reverse our times but it was cool.

Up next for us will be the Utica run followed by the Down Syndrome of Louisville Buddy Run.

You can check out trophy pics from our run at Chris's blog.

Later

Finally quit talking about it and did it.

2009-08-01T06:16:00.000-04:00

I feel like every week I say that if I get time over the weekend I am going to put in a long run. Well, consider it done. After waking up around 3:30 am Friday and not being able to go back to sleep for a couple of hours I headed out for the first long run I have put in since April. Not sure what motivated me. Maybe it was the fact that the new Runner's World was staring at me from the coffee table. What ever it was, I will take it.

When I headed out I was not sure how far I would go. My goal was to put in at least 5 miles at an easy pace. I ended up putting in 6 miles in 47:50.16. I am pretty happy with that. I do like the fact that I am now running around an 8 minute mile and calling that an easy pace. When we put in our nightly runs at work we are now hitting around a 7:30 - 7:45 mile.

I may try and put in another long run this weekend, but who knows. There is a lot of yard work that needs to be done around here now that the rain has stopped. Maybe it will even be warm enough to jump in the pool.

That's all I have for now.

Later

Sorry for the absence, but I've kinda been busy

2009-07-23T23:43:00.000-04:00

I know it has been about a week since I last updated my blog. And I can only imagine how the few of you, who take the time out of your day to read this, must have been on the edge of your seat waiting.

Anyway, I have been a little bit busy. Last weekend my son and I took on the task of swapping the engine in my 1989 Jeep Cherokee. It was a grease and dirt filled couple of days, but it is done. Here is a pic for your enjoyment.

I just have to figure out which of the sensors on the engine is making it run like crap. I am pretty sure I know which one it is, just need to replace it and see.

As far as running goes, I set a new PR for the 2 1/2 mile loop that we run at work. As I had said before, I was wanting to match the 19:04 that we had ran last year. Well, consider it done! I ran the 2 1/2 mile loop last night in 18:27.49. Not sure what got into me. It may have been the fact that I took the previous night off from running, or that I was running by myself. Not sure. I also don't know if I will be able to repeat that.

If I get time this weekend I plan on heading out for a longer run. I haven't put in more than a 5k since the mini. I need to start logging some longer runs.

Later

A couple of fast night time runs

2009-07-15T13:48:00.000-04:00

The past two night have been met with some of the fastest running I have done this year. As I mentioned earlier I am on a quest to match last years personal best of 19:04 for the 2 1/2 mile loop that we run during lunch at work.

Monday night was just 14 seconds shy of doing just that! Chris, Z, and I headed out for our nightly run. We were also joined by the Drake. He may or may not be a new addition to the crew, we will see. Anyway, as we started off I jumped out pretty quickly. I was immediately joined by Chris, who will never let me get out ahead of him without being right there. About 1/3 of a mile or less into the run he started to pull away on the slight downhill on the way out. All I could do was to try and keep up. When it was all said and done, he ended up finishing the 2 1/2 mile loop in 19:03. Amazing! I ended up finishing in 19:17. I was giving it all I had, but there was just no catching him on this night. Z ended up being about 45 seconds behind.

Last night was more of the same. Only this time it was Chris who took the lead and kept it the entire way. He ended up covering 2 miles in 14:07, with me finishing in 14:20. Z was an entire minute behind me. Which is kind of funny, since he was actually in front of me heading towards the end of the first mile.

We shall see what tonight brings. I think Chris may have found his stride. It will be all I can do just to try and keep up.

Later

No running, but one long ass bike ride!

2009-07-12T21:32:00.000-04:00

As I set here enjoying the last few minutes of my weekend, I will have to say it was pretty full. It all started off with me getting everything together to swap out the engine in my 1989 Jeep Cherokee. This Jeep was bought as a toy. I knew that if I got everything done to it that I wanted to, when my son started driving in two years he would want it. But after lending it to my mother in law it now needs a new motor.

Amazingly everything came together quite nicely. I found a motor on Craigslist for $150 and was able to borrow all of the items needed to swap engines. This will be done with the help of my brother in law and my son. Should be interesting.

The weekend continued on Saturday morning with the Yeti's heading out for their first bike ride of the summer. I think that we bit off a little more than we could chew for our first ride. We ended up covering around 36.5 miles, according to Chris. We headed out to Henryville, Indiana and back with a very much needed pit stop at Dairy Queen on the way back. I am pretty sure that the pit stop made all of the peddling worth while. There was the most interesting guy sitting behind us. He was with a couple of people and telling them stories about alien abductions, the overseerers of the earth, a woof, and a brand new luxury van. You would have had to be there to see the extreme humor in all of this, but trust me, I thought I was going crap myself laughing.

Today was spent picking up the engine for the Jeep and doing the outdoor chores around the house.

All in all it was a full weekend.

Later

4th of July

2009-07-07T12:43:00.000-04:00

The 4th of July turned out to be a pretty damn good day spent with damn good friends! The day started off early for me, around 4:00 am. The life of a 3rd shifter! Chris had found a 5k that was being run in the Crescent Hills neighborhood, so we decided to give it a shot. This would be his first official 5k since getting back from his injury. I think that the run went well. We ended up finishing in 26:40. The goal on this run was to maintain a nice steady pace and just enjoy the run. As long as we finished under 30 I was happy. To my surprise Chris held himself back and didn't let the race get the better of him. I am sure that he wanted to break out at different times, but didn't. Made for a nice run. I did not carry a camera, but Chris did. So check out his blog for pics and a great recap of the day as well.

After the run I headed home to get things ready for what Chris has dubbed the First Annual Yeti Independence Day Festival. I do like the sound of that, and think it is a great idea. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate the way I would have liked. For whatever reason it decided to be around 70 degrees and rainy. Not that big of a deal, it just meant that the kids were not able to take advantage of the pool or the yard. I think that everyone had a good time.

Things wrapped up a little before 9 pm. Just in time for Harper's Island, which if you haven't been watching, you are just missing out on one of the summers guilty pleasures. I would recommend finding the first 11 episodes and watching them before this coming Saturday's 2 hour finale.

With all that being said, it was a great day and will definitely have to be repeated some more throughout the summer!

Later

Tuesday night run

2009-07-01T07:02:00.000-04:00

Tuesday night marked the return of Chris. Which is a good thing. As far as the run goes, we took it pretty easy. The reason being that Double D has managed to cover the entire distance without stopping for the last couple of nights. Which is awesome! We ended up covering the distance in 19:38. Chris did 2 miles and Double D and myself did just short of that.

As it stands right now, Chris and I will be running a 5k Saturday morning. It will be interesting to see if Chris can make himself hold back during the initial miles to keep from burning out at the end. He has a tendency to get caught up in the run and head out faster than we usually plan on. What ever happens doesn't matter. It will be fun to actually get a 5k under our belts. So wish us luck. I will try to post a race recap over the weekend if I get time. If I don't, I am sure that Chris will.

Later

Sunday night run

2009-06-29T07:10:00.000-04:00

Last night Double D decided he was going to join me for the run. Since he is just getting back into running after not running for awhile I stayed with him. We put in 2 miles in 19:05. He ended up having to take 3 very short breaks. Not bad.

Tonight Chris should be back from his trip, so I would anticipate a bit of a faster pace.

Later

Over my cold, time to pick up the pace!!

2009-06-28T18:59:00.000-04:00

As I had noted in my previous post, I had been fighting a cold. For whatever reason the cold seemed to last longer than it usually does. This made for some rough runs over the past couple of weeks. I am pretty sure that Scotty Z and Chris finished before I did on every run we did. The only times that they did not is when they decided to take it easy and run at the pace that I was traveling.

With that being said, the cold is gone! Chris had mentioned a couple of weeks ago that last year we had covered our 2.5 mile loop we run in the evenings in 19:05. That is faster than we have ran the same route this year. I thought I was kicking ass running that route in the upper 19's. So my plan is to at least finish the loop in 19:05 if not faster. It may mean pushing myself harder than I have been, but I am willing to put forth the effort. Wish me luck.

Later

Back from Vacation

2009-06-16T14:55:00.001-04:00

The vacation is over. It was awesome. Check my other blog to see.

With that being said, I am back to work and running every night again. For whatever reason, it seams that every time I return from vacation I am slower than when I left. These last two nights of running have not been very fun. Chris is almost back to form and Scotty Z just seems to be getting faster.

Sunday night was the first time that Scotty Z has finished one of our nightly routes before Chris or I. He should enjoy it while it last. I know Chris or myself will not let this continue! At the end of Sunday nights run I began to feel like I may be getting sick. For me, getting sick just means that I loose my voice and become a bit congested. It usually happens about once a year in the weirdest times, like the middle of June.

Last nights run was a little harder. I guess due to the fact that the air at night seems to be getting thicker and that I am now pretty much sick. Scotty Z finished in front again, but only because Chris chose to slow up and finish the run with me. Thanks Yeti.

Hopefully this won't last too long. It usually never does. I can't have Scotty Z getting a big head.

Later

Return of the Yeti.

2009-06-01T12:55:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't know, let me give you a little background on what I mean by Yeti. Last year Chris, Gibby, and myself set out to run the Inaugural Expedition Everest Challenge at Walt Disney World. This was an amazing event. As we started our training in mid March last year we dubbed ourselves the Sweaty Yetis after several evening runs coming in drenched. That is where the name originated.

So last night was the first run for Chris after his foot injury, which had him sidelined for around 12 weeks. I would have to say that he is probably my favorite running partner, since we tend to feed off of each other as far as competitiveness. I was very surprised with how quickly we covered the 2 mile run last night. Way to go Yeti!

Next week I will be heading to Walt Disney World for a week, which will probably not include a single day of running. I am sure that when I return I will be more amazed at his progress. Can't wait.

Later

Just some random thoughts......

2009-05-27T13:54:00.000-04:00

As I have posted before, I am back to running almost every night at lunch. I can only say that it is very nice to be able to do this. The temps are cool, the traffic is light, and on clear nights the view is awesome.

We have been running anywhere from 2 to 2.6 miles every night. That is about as far as we can make it and still have time to eat. I seem to be getting faster. Not sure how this has happened, but I like it. I have been covering the 2.5 mile route that we take under 20 minutes almost every time out. I think it may be due to running with Scotty Z, who has a bad habit of heading out way too fast only to fade later. I try, but don't always succeed in keeping the pace that I start at. We seem to cover the first mile in around 7:15 - 7:30. Works for me. I would love to maintain that pace over a longer run, meaning more than 3 miles. I guess I will have to run during the day and see if that is doable.

In about 11 days I will be heading on vacation. Hopefully when I get back I will see the return of one of my favorite running partners, Chris. His foot should be mended. I know he is ready to get back out there.

I tested out blogging from the iPhone yesterday and it seemed to work ok. I will just have to watch and make sure everything is spelled correctly. I plan on doing a little blogging while on vacation.

That is all I have for now. Getting ready to watch it rain.

Later

2009-05-26T18:51:00.001-04:00

This post will be a test of blogging from my iphone. We will see how this goes.

Regardless of what you may think...The Blog is not dead.

2009-05-11T14:53:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the absence from blogging since the mini, but sometimes life just gets in the way. There always seems to be something to do that takes up my time.

I am now back to running just about every night on lunch at work. Double D and Scotty Z have been joining me on some of the runs. We can only cover about 2 1/2 miles in the 30 minutes that we have and still have time to get a quick bite to eat. I had almost forgotten how nice it is to run at 2:30 in the morning. The weather is usually pretty good and you don't have the sun beating down on you. Not that I don't enjoy a run during the day, but for sheer comfort you can't beat running in the middle of the night.

As far as future runs for this summer, there are tons of options around here. It seems like every weekend there is a 5 - 10K somewhere close. I am probably going to wait until I get back from my vacation at the first part of June to actually participate in a run. That should be about the time Chris will be back in action after the now famous hand soap debacle.

So for now I will continue to put in the miles at night and try to work in some longer runs on the weekends. I am toying with the idea of running another 1/2 marathon later this year. We shall see.

Until next time......

Later

Mini Marathon Recap

2009-04-27T14:43:00.001-04:00

My second official half marathon is done. I will do my best to re-cap the days events. I am not sure that I will be able to do it the same justice that Abby & Brenda did for the Boston Marathon (Congrats by the way!) but I will do my best. So here we go.

The day started off for me a little after 3:00 am. I had managed to get to bed Friday night around 10, so I guess my body figured that I had enough sleep. I attempted to go back to sleep with no success. So after laying in bed thinking about the day before me I decided to get up. Once I was up I jumped online and checked email. To my surprise there was one from Chris. He had also woken around 3:00 am, the life of a 3rd shifter like myself, and wanted to know if I wanted to have him drop me off at the starting point for the run. I had been planning on having my wife drop me off and catch a ride home with Chris, since he was to be handing out finisher medals. I took him up on his offer. He is now my wife's Hero, since it kept her from having to get up on one of the few days she gets to sleep in. After all of my travel plans were arranged I decided to grab a bite to eat. Nothing too harsh, just a bagel and some coffee followed by plenty of water.

Chris arrived around 6:15 am and we were off. It probably only took us around 20 minutes to reach the nearest drop off point for the start of the race. Once I had determined that we were as close as we were going to get, I thanked Chris for the ride and hopped out of the car. It was only a small walk to the starting area, which was easy to find following the sea of runners heading that way. Once I made it to the starting area I began to look for Scotty Z who was also running. After a phone call to his cell, which his wife answered, and a little luck I spotted him. We then made our way to our starting corral. I was happy that we would be starting in corral B. That would mean fewer runners ahead of us.

By the time we made it to our starting area there was probably only around 20 minutes before the start. As the time went by more and more runners entered our area. With about 5 minutes left it was time to fire up the iPod and get in a running mindset.

Then we were off. I had made it my plan to head into the first couple of miles easy, knowing that we would be running through the hills of Iroquois Park after about 3 miles. With this plan I had opted to start off with more laid back tunes to get me started. So I let Eddie Vedder tell me the story of Crazy Mary as I headed into my first mile.

Miles 1-3 seemed to go by almost effortlessly with an average 8:45 pace. To my surprise Scotty Z was staying at my side. In the past he has had the urge to pull ahead, only to fade later. Around mile 3 we entered the park, for what would be close to 3 miles. I found it almost fitting that Hells Bells began to fill my head as we entered. I knew that this would be my test. I had not done a lot of hill training, but figured I was ready.

Miles 4-6 did not seem that bad. At some point through the park I lost Scotty Z. I was a little bit surprised when I looked back and he was not there anymore, since where he runs and trains is all hills. As I exited the park I had Axl Rose welcoming to the jungle. I felt pretty good at this point, still averaging around an 8:45 pace. The park was mostly shaded, so the higher temps didn't seem to be bothering me.

Miles 7-9 were nice and flat. They took me through lots of spectators supporting not only the ones they came to see, but all runners who passed. That alone makes you want to keep going. When we had started the run, I had noticed that we were close to one of the Marathon pacer's who would be running at an 8:47 pace. My goal was to keep him in site. As we neared the 8 mile mark I found myself running right behind him. I felt like I was holding back. So I decided to go ahead. As we entered Churchill Downs I still felt pretty good. The only thing that sucked was that we had to enter and exit through a tunnel. The tunnels had downhills to enter and uphills to exit, as they went under the track. As we exited the last tunnel I could feel some fatigue.

Mile 10. As I reached mile 10 I could feel myself working harder and slowing some. The pacer that I had passed earlier had now caught and passed me. I told myself as I passed the 10 mile mark that I only had a 5k left to run. Unfortunately that did not help. A little after the 10 mile mark I had to walk. I only walked for about 30 seconds, but I still had to walk. The 30 second walk did wonders. I was off again.

Miles 11-13.1 were some of the hardest miles I think I have run in a long time. They rank right up there with the first half mile I ran over a year ago after a 10 year vacation from running. I ran as far a I could before having to stop and walk again. I think I had made it to the 12 mile mark this time. I almost feel like I should have never let myself walk the first time. After walking for close to another 30 second I was off again. The pace had gradually gotten slower. As I rounded the last turn and headed for the home stretch I was greated by the cheers of many onlookers. No they weren't there for me, they were there for every runner who had chosen to take on the task of running 13.1 or 26.2 that day. There cheers were enough to get me over the line. I finished in 2:02:46. Missing my 2 hour goal by 2:46. Oh well.

As I crossed the line I immediately heard my name being called. It was Chris. He handed me a power aid and told me that he had been moved from Medal distribution to time spotter. I then headed into the sea of finishers to receive my Medal and grab some much needed food. There was an abundance of sport drinks, bagels, bananas, and granola bars to be had. I then headed back to the finish to wait for Scotty Z. He finished his run about 10 minutes behind me.

I then walked through the medal area with Scotty Z. He then headed off to meet his wife and head home. I hung out and watched all of the people finishing the race, while waiting for Chris to get done. After about an hour he was done and we were on our way home.

I can not say enough about the people who volunteered there time to had out water and all of the other thankless jobs that go along with helping out with an event like this. All I can say is THANK YOU!!

I will be back next year. I think Chris will be running that one with me. I will definatley take the time to do several runs through Iroquois park before that run. I still call this run a success, even though I didn't hit my goal. It just gives me something to strive for. If all goals were that easy to achieve, what would be the point of setting them?

I am sure that my summer will be filled with several runs, so this blog will live on.

Later

Today is the Day!!!!!

2009-04-25T04:53:00.000-04:00

Well, it's finally here. This is the day I have been working towards for the past couple of months. I think that my efforts should pay off the way that I want them to.

The weather is going to be a little warm, but that is ok. The temps are starting off around 73. It is a little windy. The temp is supposed to hit 85 by the afternoon. I don't think this will affect what I am wanting to do.

Chris will be at the finish line handing out finishing medals, so hopefully he will have some cool pics to share.

I will post a recap in the next couple of days.

Yeti Out!!!!

Less than a week....I think I'm ready!

2009-04-19T05:58:00.000-04:00

Well, there is a little less than a week before the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon. I have been training for awhile and I think that I am ready. Yesterday around 5:00 am I set out to cover the distance of the Mini. I ended up making it the whole way without stopping or walking in 1:55:08. I am happy with that time, since my goal is to make it under the 2 hour mark. I think that I may be able to have a little bit of a better time on race day. When I headed out yesterday I didn't want to take off too fast and burn out. So the first couple of miles were slow and steady.

Yesterday was also Thunder Over Louisville, which is the big kick off for the Derby Festival. Although the weather was wonderful, we decided not to head down to the river and get in all of the traffic and crowds. I think there were well over 600,000 people who attended this year. We did head up to one of the overpasses near our house that has a great view of the Louisville skyline, where I took quite a few pictures. Here are a few for you to enjoy.

I will probably only take a short easy run during the middle of this week. Hopefully I am as ready as I think I am. If this one goes the way I want it to, I may sign up to run the 2010 Disney Half Marathon. I am planning on running that at some point, just not sure if it will be this coming year.

I would also like to wish all of my blogging friends Good Luck in the upcoming Boston Marathon.

Later

No Running on My Birthday!!

2009-04-15T00:05:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my 39th birthday. So I decided that I would take a day off from running. On Monday I put in 6.2 miles, so I didn't feel too bad about not running. With the Mini only 10 days away, now is definitely not the time to stop training.

So today I will be back to running. I feel that I have trained better this time than when I ran the Mini so many years ago. That time I didn't train very well. I was about 13 years younger though. This time I have definitely put in the miles. As long as the weather holds out for tomorrow, I may try to cover the distance of the Mini. We shall see.

I will say that I gain motivation from all of the running blogs that I follow. I feel that running has it's own community where no one is excluded. You just have to lace up and hit the road. It's not about how far or how fast you are, just that you make the effort.

Later

Longer miles, no pain

2009-04-07T17:18:00.000-04:00

If you have been reading this blog over the past month, you know that I have experienced some pain in my right knee. Well, I think that due to some proper stretching and lower mileage runs I have slowly returned to where I was before the pain began. I can only assume that I was putting in way too many miles too soon.

Last night I headed to the Y, due to the fact that it was 8:30 pm and around 38 degrees outside, and put in 7 miles on the treadmill. Everything felt good. I had that feeling that if time would allow it, that I could run forever. Unfortunately I have to leave my house a little after 10:00 pm in order to make it to work. So I had to stop, which to my surprise the runner on the treadmill next to me did not want me to do. As I slowed the treadmill down to a walk, she looked over at me and said "You can't stop now, just 10 more minutes. You are helping me keep my pace." Unfortunately I had to go. I know that I enjoy running with friends when we are outside, I guess I never thought that running with someone on a treadmill would provide the same motivation. I always thought it was just you against the machine.

As far as my training for the remaining couple of weeks. I plan on trying to cover the half marathon distance. I would like to have that in the bank, just so mentally I know I have and can go the distance. I would like to try and attempt the run this weekend. But with it being Easter weekend who knows. Probably my best shot, weather permitting, will be Easter Sunday. We shall see.

Later

23 Days and Counting

2009-04-02T23:24:00.000-04:00

It seems hard to believe, but there are only 23 days left before the Mini. I haven't been running as far over the last couple of weeks trying to let whatever was bothering my knee work itself out. I have been running though. This week I put in 2 5K runs and a 4 1/2 miler. All of these were completed with little or no pain from the knee.

If the weather becomes what it is predicted to be for tomorrow I am planning on taking a longer run. Not sure how far I will go. I will just go where the road takes me. We shall see.

Well it is off to bed for me.

Later

And We're Back!!!

2009-03-29T11:36:00.000-04:00

Since it was Spring Break around here we decided to take the family to St. Louis for vacation. I won't bore you with the details on here. If you want to know, check out my other blog. Anyway, I took about 4 days off of running during that time. I think that was a good thing since my knee has been bothering me some. I think that the stretches that I have been doing have helped.

Anyway, the weather here today is pretty crappy. So I decided to head to the Y this morning and check out there new Matix treadmills. Not bad, but they all have 30 minute time limits. That sucks for trying to put in long runs. I ended up doing 5 miles in 44:05. I did have to stop and reset the damn treadmill after the first 30 minutes. By the end of the 5 miles I felt pretty good. I had a little irritation in my knee, but nothing that would have stopped me had I been 5 miles from home on an outdoor run. With being only about 27 days from the mini I need to make sure that things don't get any worse with the knee. I will just have to take it easy and stop if any real pain appears.

Later

Sunday's 9 miler

2009-03-23T06:01:00.000-04:00

As I woke around 5:30 am on Sunday morning, which kinda sucks since I'm on vacation for Spring Break, I turned on the local news. All they could talk about was how nice of a day it was going to be. They kept telling me that it was going to be in the mid to upper 60's by midday. The current temp was hovering near 40. Knowing that I had a lot to do, and needing to run I decided it was now or never.

So I drug myself from my warm bed and "suited up". With no real plan of where or how far I wanted to run I headed out the door. I started out by heading toward Chris's house. Things were feeling pretty good, so I decided to tackle the route that he had run about a week ago, which would bring me back toward his neighborhood. As I neared the turning point where I could either cut my run short, meaning 7ish miles instead of 9ish, I opted for the longer route. This may have been a bit of a mistake. For whatever reason, be it not enough stretching, upping the miles too fast, or some other reason, I seem to be having some ITB issues on longer runs. At probably the 8 mile mark I began to have some slight discomfort in my right knee. Not bad enough to stop me, but discomfort. By the time I reached my house and stopped I was hit by some pain. I then headed inside and stretched my ITB followed by a round of icing. Things are feeling better this morning, but I think I will probably lay off of the running for a couple of days. Espcially since I am planning on heading to St. Louis with the family tomorrow morning for a couple of days.

Anyway, here are the numbers and route from yesterday's run.

9.09 miles in 1:17:50
Average pace was 8:33/mile

iMapMyRun Mar 22, 2009 9:23 AM
Find more Runs in Jeffersonville, Indiana
Later

2 miles, 14:52, Green Beer, and Good Friends!

2009-03-17T21:04:00.000-04:00

What more could you ask for? Today was the 1st Annual Jeffersonville Shamrock 2-Miler. With this thing being in our home town, how could we not run it?

Unfortunately I forgot my camera. So you will have to check out Chris's blog to see the pics. With that being said, on to the recap.

We arrived to the sign it about 5:45. Then we waited around for the rest of the people we knew who were running. At approximately 6:30 things were underway. It was a very fast start. Scotty Z took off like a bat out of hell. Not sure what he was thinking. After about the 1st block, Chris and I settled into a good pace. We ended up running the 1st mile in 7:30. Not bad. About 1/2 mile from the finish we caught and passed Scotty Z. I think I need to tell him the story of the turtle and the hare. With about 50-75 feet left Chris and I ended up racing to the finish. I am pretty sure that he got me this time. DAMN LONG STRIDE!!! We ended up finishing in 14:52. I was very happy with the time and the lack of knee pain.

After the run they had green beer, snack, door prizes, and Irish Dancing. We participated in the beer and snacks. Not the dancing.

I had a great time and hope that it happens again soon.

Later

Took some time off, now back to running

2009-03-15T21:22:00.000-04:00

Last week I only ran two days. Then for whatever reason I did not run another day until today. I was either too tired or too busy to either make it outside or to the gym. With a little over 40 days til the mini, I need to get my ass in gear.

So from this point forward I am planning on running everyday if I like it or not. Today I only ran 3.1 miles in a little over 25 minutes. At about the 2 mile mark my right knee began to bother me, so I decided to stop at the 5k point. I am planning on running tonight at work. Should be a relatively easy 2-2 1/2 mile run.

I may be running a half marathon the weekend after the mini with Chris. We shall see.

Later

Back to the 2:30 AM Runs

2009-03-10T21:25:00.000-04:00

I am very glad that the weather has warmed up. It has given me and my friends at work the opportunity to resume our 2:30 am runs. I have really missed these runs over the winter months and hope that the weather holds out so we can continue. There is a chance of rain tonight.

We have ran the last two days. Here are the distances and times.

Sunday Night: 2.5 miles 20:31.82
Monday Night: 2.6 miles 20:35.29

I am not sure what got into us, but we were hauling ass last night. We were averaging a 7:56 mile.

So here is hoping for warm weather and future runs.

Later

Nothing Beats Running With Friends

2009-03-06T19:38:00.000-05:00

When I got up this morning around 9:00 am I checked my email to see if Chris had responded to my email about running today. He had not, but he had sent me and email letting me know that one of the local radio station morning shows was going to be at a McDonald's in our town. He was planning on biking over and wanted to know if I would like to join him. Unfortunately I had slept too late to join him. That sucked, since I would have definitely gone. Oh well.

So around 9:30 am I got a call from Chris. He was home and wanted to give me the run down of how his McDonald's trip was and set a time to run. He said how does 2 sound for running. I thought he said 10. When I questioned him on this he said sure, why not. I'm awake. So I headed over to his house for a run.

I ended up putting in 4 miles in 35:34.20. Since he had already biked a couple of miles he only did around 2.5.

Since the weather is going to be in the 70's here this weekend I can definitely see some outdoor running in my future. We will see if I can possibly find an opportunity to run with Chris again this weekend. Not sure what his plans are. We shall see.

Later

Didn't Run, But Got a New Toy

2009-03-03T20:17:00.000-05:00

Last friday I ordered a new iPhone from At&t. Today it was delivered. So instead of heading out for a run I spent most of my afternoon setting it up. So far I am loving the 3G and the GPS. I downloaded the MapMyRun app for it and am anxious to try it out. The weather tomorrow is supposed to be nice, so maybe I can try it out then.

My wife inhereted my old iPhone and is very happy so far.

Later

Another Monday, Another Run

2009-03-02T16:00:00.000-05:00

Today I woke up around 12:30 pm. Not too bad, but I would have liked to have slept longer. So after checking the weather and having a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios I decided to head to the Y. The temps outside were hovering in the upper 20's with the windchill making it feel around 16. Yuck.

As I arrived at the Y, I was happy to see that one of the treadmills that does not have the 30 minute time limit was open. So I jumped on only to be disappointed (TWSS). The thing was not working. So I had to settle for one of the ones with a time limit.

I ended up covering 3.41 miles in 30 minutes. Not a very fast pace, but a nice easy run. I checked the weather for the rest of the week and it looks like it will be gradually getting warmer. Hopefully it is right. I would much rather run outside. We shall see.

Later

Running Update

2009-03-01T13:32:00.000-05:00

The weather last week was pretty damn nice for running. With that being said, I did not run as much as I wanted/should have. After Tuesday's 9 miler I ran another 4 miles with Chris. Unfortunatley when I thought I had started my watch, I had not. So when we reached the 2 mile split point I was not very happy to find that out. I ended up starting the timer at that point. We just doubled the time, which put us right around 35 minutes.

As far as the rest of the week, I ended up working 2nd shift on Thursday in order to end my week and not be tired all day on Friday. It is very nice to be able to do this, since my wife is off on Friday and it makes for a long weekend. Friday was spent doing the weekly errands, which included the grocery and some shopping. Saturday night we had Gibby and his family over for a little Wii gaming. Turned out to be pretty fun. We will definately have to do that again. It beats the hell out of just sitting home doing nothing. Gibby mentioned that we needed to get all of our group of friends together some time. That would be awesome. We will see if we can get it worked out.

I did manage to make it to the Y today and put in a 5k with a time of 25:07. Unfortunately all of the treadmills without the 30 minute timer were taken. I did not feel like having to restart or move to a different treadmill, so a 5k is all I did.

I did get signed up for the Shamrock 2-miler on the 17th. I know Chris is running this one, not sure who else. Should be fun.

The weather for the upcoming week looks pretty good. So we will see how the outdoor running goes.

Later

9 more in the bank!

2009-02-24T21:18:00.000-05:00

When I got out of bed to day and looked outside it looked very inviting. That being said, I was not sure whether or not I wanted to head to the gym and hit the treadmill or head outside. The temps were hovering a little over 40, but it appeared to be windy.

After my wife got home, she told me that she would be heading to the gym with my daughter to take a class. She also said that it was pretty nice outside. So I decided to run suit up and head out.

I ended up running 9 miles in 1:16:55. I ran the same route as last time. The 3 mile splits were as follows:

25:45.81 Lap 1

25:37.30 Lap 2

25:32.65 Lap 3

Tomorrow Chris and I are planning to head out for a run. Not sure how far we will be running. I will leave that up to him. No matter how far we go, it will be nice to have a good friend to run with.

Later

Hit the Y with my son....

2009-02-22T15:40:00.000-05:00

Today my wife and daughter were going to be gone most of the afternoon, so Grant and I decided to head to the gym. I told him that he should jump on a treadmill and see how far he could run without stopping. I was very impressed. He ended up running 2.51 miles in 30 minutes. I may have a new running partner.

As far as my run, I did 6.82 miles in 60 minutes. I don't think that I am going to have any problem with the mini. We shall see.

Later

Look what I earned...

2009-02-20T21:42:00.000-05:00

Today I headed to the Y for my run because I just didn't feel like running outside in the cold.

So I ended up running 6.93 miles in 60 minutes. The only reason I stopped was that my wife was on her way home and we had some things to do.

The funny part of this whole run happened when I got home. After I walked in the door and was talking to my wife, she looked up at me and said "Are your nipples bleeding?" I looked down at my shirt, and this is what I saw:

The bad thing is that I didn't even feel it. I do now! I can only imagine what the people at the Y were thinking. I then took the shirt off and snapped the pic for all to see.

Later this afternoon I headed out to Target and picked up a compression shirt. Hopefully this will eliminate this problem in the future.

Later

New Shoes = More Miles

2009-02-17T20:09:00.000-05:00

I took the new Phoenix's out for their first official run on the streets and was extremely pleased. The shoes feel like running on pillows. They are amazing. It might just be that I have been running in all terrain New Balance. Not sure.

I ended up running my longest run in years, 9 miles in 1:16:45. The route that I run in a 3 mile loop near my house. The splits were as follows:

25:55.02 Lap 1
25:14.38 Lap 2
25:36.38 Lap 3

The average mile was 8:32.

Like I said, I am very happy with the new shoes. I may try to add some miles over the weekend. We shall see.

Later

You know what they say about excuses...

2009-02-16T20:05:00.000-05:00

For one reason or another I did not run one time over the weekend. I could list any number of reasons, but I won't.

I did manage to get a new pair of Asics Gel-Phoenix's though. Check them out.

As for today, I did manage to make it to the gym to try out the new kicks. I did 3.1 miles in 27:26. As long as the weather holds out, I will hit the road with them tomorrow and see how they do outside. So far I love them.

On another note, check out my blogging buddy Jrod's new pup. Awesome dog.

Later

Wanted to run, just didn't

2009-02-13T05:01:00.000-05:00

The running that I had planned on doing this week did not happen. Yeah, it started off pretty good. I did 5 miles on Sunday. Followed that up with 6.39 miles on Monday. Then I chose to take Tuesday off.

On Wednesday there was a pretty nasty wind storm that produced winds near 70 miles an hour, according to the news. So I decided that I would head to the Y later that evening. So I run suited up and headed for the gym with Grant in tow. As I pulled into the parking lot I was surprised to find that they were closed. I could see some lights on inside, but those could have just been security or auxiliary lights. Who knows. Anyway, I headed back home. That night I made sure to throw my running things in my backpack in case the wind died down enough for Chris and I to head out for a run, which we did. We ended up running 2 miles in 15:34.46. Not too bad. There was a little more wind that I would have liked, but we made it.

Yesterday I worked 2nd shift so that I could end my week early, so there was no running on Thursday.

We will see what the rest of the weekend holds. I may try to go and get some new kicks. If I do, I will definitely have to give them a go. We shall see.

Later

Warm weather means outdoor running

2009-02-08T19:09:00.000-05:00

The weather around here has become wonderful. The last two days have been in the upper 50's. The week ahead looks to be just as nice with a few chances of showers.

So, when I finally drug my butt out of bed around 2:30 this afternoon I headed out for a run. I did not have any pre-determined mileage in mind. I just figured I would run until I felt like I was done. I ended up running 5 miles in 41:19.79. Not bad. There is such a big difference from running on a treadmill and running on the road. Hopefully I will be doing longer runs in the weeks to come.

Later

Weekend Running Update

2009-02-01T14:29:00.000-05:00

Like I said in an earlier post, we have had a lot of snow and ice over the past week. So I headed to the YMCA for the two runs that I did this weekend. The first one was on Friday night. I covered 6.89 miles in 60 minutes. I was happy with the distance and the pace. The second run was earlier today. I covered 3.59 miles in 30 minutes. Happy with this one too. I would have ran farther, but I guess everyone is at the gym getting their workouts in before indulging during the Super Bowl this evening.

I was happy to find a couple of the treadmills at the Y don't have the 30 minute time limit set on them. As long as I can get on one of them I won't have to use two different ones or stop after 30 minutes.

As far as my running for January, it started out good with me running almost everyday and then became a little less frequent. On Friday I signed up to run the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini Marathon, so I hope that February's runs are more consistent. I saw the extended forecast and it is calling for 40° to 50° degree temps. So I will try to do most of my runs outside.

Here is a graph showing my January running:

This came from www.runningahead.com. It is a wonderful site for tracking your progress.

Time to get ready for the game.

Later

Couldn't run if I wanted too.

2009-01-28T19:53:00.000-05:00

Due to a severe ice/snow storm that has descended on the Ohio Valley dropping about 6" of snow on top of about an inch of ice there has been no running for the last couple of days. As I headed outside today to clear the cars off I stepped into the street and sank up to about the middle of my calf in slush. Not good for running.

After getting both of the cars uncovered I headed in and called the Y to see if they were open. I was not surprised when the recording told me that due to weather they were closed. So that meant that there would be no running for me. The news today said that there is a chance of 40 degree temps by the weekend, so hopefully I can get out for a run. I will be willing to bet that the Y will be open tomorrow. So I will definitely be able to at least get a run in on the treadmill.

I will leave you with a few pics that I took today of the snow and ice.

Enjoy...

Later

Cold weather, indoor running. BOO!

2009-01-25T12:09:00.000-05:00

Like the title says, it's back to the Y and the treadmill. I guess I need to stop being a wuss and just head outdoors and run. I know it won't kill me and after about the first mile I will no longer be cold. It's just that first mile that seems to keep me from doing it.

I would like to be like the people whose blogs that I frequently follow, who live in Massachusetts, but I just can't seem to find the correct motivation. Maybe it is the fact that I know in about a month the weather will become much more bearable and the outdoor runs will become the norm. Until then I guess I will just complain. We will see.

Anyway, today I headed to the Y and did 3.1 miles in 26:09 on the treadmill. And since the weather is calling for about 6 inches of snow this week, most of my runs will probably be on a treadmill this week.

Later