100 Posts!!!!!!

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

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

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, 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

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

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

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

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