New Shoes....

Asics Kayano Gel 15's.....

We will see how they do. The Nike's had 450 miles on them so I felt like it was time to break in some new shoes.

Candlelight Run

The candlelight run... how should I start. Well it was definitely hot. We ran the 1 mile fun run with the kids and it wasn't too bad because there was a breeze and it was only a mile and we took walk breaks.... For a few moments I thought that the 5K was going to be pretty nice. Then the race started.

The asphalt was still hot and I think the temps were still in the 80's when we started. Earlier in the day, I had hoped to PR but it didn't take long to figure out that wasn't going to happen. First, there was a pretty big crowd. For once in my life, I wasn't too shy and got in the front part of the pack. Not near the leaders, but up front where I was sure several people would pass me. I don't normally like this strategy, but I really didn't relish the thought of the mass of humanity that was going to merge into one lane on an uphill stretch of the race.

The course started out downhill and then had a short uphill stretch followed by a 180 degree turn that was as dangerous as I expected. I went wide since I knew it wasn't going affect my time in any significant way. Following the nice little downhill we started uphill for the last time. Unfortunately is was well over a mile uphill. I did well until about halfway, then I started to falter. One guy sounded like he was about to heave and sped up for a few minutes to get away from that possible disaster. The mulch smelled fresh, and that wasn't very pleasant. There was a little boy balling his eyes out while running at this point. I though he was just hurting, but he was upset because his dad had left him or lost him.... Someone started to try and comfort him, but I think he was upset for a while. As we approached what I thought was the top of the hill, I realized that I had not seen the leaders coming back down yet. That bothered me because I knew that I was nowhere near the leaders so obviously I wasn't too close to the turnaround either. When I finally saw the blue lights coming down the hill on the other side of the median I felt a small sigh of relief.

When I finally made it to the top and turned, I had to remind myself that I had over a mile back down. Even though it was downhill, it was still running. I hit a pretty good stride as I got my wind back and made it down the hill. When I saw my time (24:07 chip time) I was a little disgusted that I didn't push hard enough to come in under 24 minutes. However, given the conditions I was pretty happy.

The race was pretty well organized and since we heeded the warnings and arrived early we had no problems. The hot water at the finish line was a little disappointing, but there was plenty of cold water and gatorade further up the road. Lee said she was going to do the mile with the kids next year and then cheer me on at the 5K. I think she will run when the time comes though...

Chili today, Hot tamale....

That is one of my favorite billboards for South of the Border on I95....

It was chilly today as it was only 88 when I ran. I have no idea what the heat index was. I just did three miles at a fairly easy pace to stay loose for tomorrow nights race.

At one time, I thought I would go for a PR. However, now that I see there will be 2000 runners and a lot of them will be walking, I don't hold much hope out for a good time. We'll see how it goes....

Two mornings in the books....

Wednesday and Thursday I got out and ran early. It felt great. I didn't quite have the time I needed to get my 7 milers in, so I am seriously behind on my monthly mileage now. I wasn't going to run today because of the race tomorrow, but I may change my mind. Running early has been great though, I have really enjoyed it.

I really need to finalize a training plan for the marathon since my 16 week countdown will start on 7/6. I was considering this challenge that Runners World is doing after I read all the hype and articles in this month's issue. Then I went to the site and saw it was $135 to sign up. There are enough free plans out there that I think I will survive without it. I must admit that I sometimes wonder how 'virtual coaching' would work for me. Would it give me some extra accountability and motivation? I'm not sure.

Regardless, I need to set a goal for the marathon and pick a plan to support it. I think that has been my big issue, setting a goal. Part of me really wants to shoot for a four hour marathon and part of me wants to just finish and go buy my 26.1 sticker for the car! We'll see which part of me wins.....

Ahhh... a cool run...

Well, kind of cool. Ok, how about a 'not hot' run. I finally got my lazy tail out of bed this morning in time to run. It was nice and misty out. Fortunately it had not gotten warm enough to be muggy yet.

I enjoyed it so much, I hope to do it again tomorrow! I have gotten used to having the streets and sidewalks to myself during the heat of the day. I almost ran over a lady that was running towards me and I was zoned out. I'm sure she thought I was either a jerk or an idiot... or both.

I plan on running hills tonight and then an easy run tomorrow. Rest on Friday and race on Saturday night. I have no idea how I will do in the 5K and I am not setting any goals for the race. I know it will be pretty crowded and probably have a lot of walkers. It doesn't sound like a recipe for a PR.

Sunrise what?

Saturday morning rolled around and the alarm went off at 5:30. I promptly turned it off and rolled over. Lee and I decided to have a nice, easy downtown run later in the morning. We left the kids with her dad at his store and hit the Swamp Rabbit trail where it crosses Westfield Street near the site of the yet to be built Kroc Center.

From there to Faris Road and back, it was six miles. Six long, hot miles. It was neat to run off the road. I really enjoyed not worrying about traffic, though some cyclists seem to enjoy sneaking up on us. One had a horn that sounded like a wounded animal and scared the fool out of us. Evidently the signs that say 'No wheels on squishy stuff' (or something to that effect) don't apply to bicycles...

We will definitely do it again, though probably earlier in the day! This Saturday is the Candlelight Run, so hopefully we will be up for that.

Two extremes....

The Sunrise Run is tomorrow. One week and 13 hours later is the Candlelight Run. I'm doing both and will be interested to see which I enjoy the most....

I have run the Sunrise before and it was a fun race. I missed the Candlelight last year but did run the Midnight Flight in Anderson for a taste of nighttime racing.

I like the 8K distance in the Sunrise Run. 5 Miles is good workout but short enough to not need any hydration or gels. I would like to run faster than last year, but speed hasn't been my strength in the last month.

Look for a report tomorrow sometime!

Man it was hot today....

I went out for 7 but decided to run hard for 3.2. Running hard was a relative term.... as I barely made 9 minute miles. I will say that it felt pretty good and I enjoyed breaking a sweat. I think I would have enjoyed a long run if didn't feel pressed for time. We have been covered up the last two weeks and it won't get any better until this weekend. End of school, end of baseball, start of swim team... blah blah blah...

The bottom line is that I need to get out and run BEFORE work. When school is out, that is more likely to happen. Yeah, thats the ticket....

King of the Hill?

I ran five miles at lunch yesterday. Since I am still not acclimated to the heat and humidity, I didn't break any land speed records. When I got home last night, young son's baseball game had been cancelled and Lee was heading off on a run before dinner. I was left with an unexpected 45 minute hole in my schedule. What to do with that time?

I could have cut the grass, but it was too wet. I could have taken a nap, but my father in law was at the house waiting on dinner and watching the news and don't want to look lazy in front of him... :) I could have sat down and written a blog entry, but I didn't have much to blog about. So that left me with no choice but to run a hill workout. I have never done that, but I have made some noise about adding speed work and this seemed to be as good of a day to that as any other.

Next I needed to find a hill. Well, I looked out my front window and saw a steep hill that is about 1/10 of a mile long. That should work. As I walked to the bottom of the hill while setting my Garmin for the interval workout, I tried to decide how many intervals I should run. I didn't want to overdo my first hill workout, but I didn't want to look too much like a wimp either. I settled on 10 intervals of 1/10 mile up and 1/10 recovery down. That would be two miles added to my daily total and be a good introduction to hill workouts.

As I stood at the bottom of the hill, I began to realize that 1/10 of a mile looked a lot longer that I had imagined. Before I suffered a bout of paralysis by analysis, I pressed the start button and started sprinting (well, it seemed like a sprint to me anyway) up the hill. I started hearing some beeping as I approached the top and slowed down to look at my Garmin to make sure it wasn't about to self destruct. It was only the warning that I was approaching the end. Finally, I heard the 'end beep'. I look down and see the screen on my wrist telling me to recover for 1/10 of a mile. Buddy let me tell you, I took advantage of every step of recovery. At the bottom of the hill the beeping started again, warning me it was almost time to turn around and repeat the process.

Beeps are a funny thing. When you don't expect them, they can be alarming... Is it a fire? Is a truck about to back into me? Is someone making popcorn in the microwave? When you expect them, the reaction may be positive... I'm almost at the top of the hill... I hear the beeping. Or, the reaction can be negative.... What? I'm almost at the bottom of the hill and it is time to turn around and run back up the hill like an idiot?

10 times I went up the hill and 10 times I went down the hill. In the end, my legs were shaking as I approached the crest. My neighbors were amused and confused. Or maybe they were just amused and thinking that I was confused. Either way, when I was done I was happy. Happy to be done and happy to have finally done some sort of speed work. As bad as it was, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined. As much as it hurt at times, it also felt good. Most, ok ALL, of my running experience to date has been distance running on the road. This felt different. I don't want to say it was fun, but it was different. So different, that I think I will try it again next week.

Time to get back to blogging....

Glad I ran earlier today, looks like the thunderstorms are about to kick up!

I am amazed at how fast stuff grows around here. Kudzu, I'm used to. When I was a kid, we would measure it daily and see it grow 10-12 inches each day. Lately though, I am noticing how fast weeds, trees and other vines grow as well. Today I counted 8 limbs that I either had to duck or dodge on East North Street that were not in my way last fall before the leaves fell. I kind of enjoy the distraction on those hills, but when I am not paying attention and take a limb to the face it isn't much fun.

The bugs have come out recently too. It is amazing the variety of insect life you see while looking down as you run. We've got some nice bugs around here... Some that I change my stride to avoid stepping on because they are so big. I've also seen a couple snakes (2 alive, 1 dead) so far this spring. Add in the normal loose dogs, field rats, chipmunks and squirrels and I feel like I am running out in the country.

I have been running, but not as much as I would like. I should still hit my 100 miles for the month though. I am going to take it fairly easy in June so that I get acclimated to the heat without risking injury or fatigue before I start marathon training in July. The sound of that 'marathon training in July' just really doesn't get me too enthusiastic right now.