It's over, man. Let her go.

Just a Short Run

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Location:

Bliss,ID,USA

Member Since:

Jan 04, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Recover From Injury

Running Accomplishments:

In late 2008 I decided I needed to get in better shape and started running again.  I ran my first formal road race ever, a half marathon, in late 2009.

(unofficial) Track 1 Mile - 7:32 (4/24/2010)  6:56 (9/27/2010)

5k - 27:31 - Riverview Run on 06/11/2010
22:39 - Gatorade Steelers 5k on 09/04/2010

10k - 50:43 - Riverside Run on 04/10/2010

Half - 2:02:58 - Just a Short Run on 03/27/2010
1:51:47 - IKEA Montour Trail Half on 09/11/2010

Short-Term Running Goals:

2011 Races:

Sept 25 - The Great Race 10k (59:15)
Nov 5 - Dirt Monster 5mi (52:59)

2012 Races:

June 8 - Riverside 5k  (27:49)
Sept 2 - Gatorade Steelers 5k (route) with Steve!  (27:39)
Sept 30 - The Great Race 10k (route)  (53:48)
Nov 3 - The Dirt Monster 5mi (52:55)

2013 Races:

May - Pittsburgh Marathon (started, but DNF about the half way point)
June - Riverview 5k  - Bummed I missed signing up for this one. It's one of my favorites!
Sept - Gatorade/Steelers 5k. (Signed up!)
Sept - IKEA Montour Trail Half  (prob not, but leaving it on here)
Sept - The Great Race 10k (My Running 101 goal race)
Nov - Dirt Monster 5mi (Gotta do it again no matter what!)

Long-Term Running Goals:

Finish recovering from my injuries and build mileage.  That is all.

Personal:

My name is Wes, I'm married with two wonderful children. The nickname BaldNSpicy came from the fact that I have been balding for a (long) while now and spicy for my love of very spicy foods (Thai and extremely hot wings are my favorites).  If eating doesn't bring me near tears and leave me sweating, it's not worth eating.  :-)

Oh, and I'm also known for my doorags.

Favorite Quotes:

"Running without hills is like motorcycling without corners." - rAtTLeTrAp

"Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit.  You are what you do repeatedly." - Shaquille O'Neal

"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else."  - John Burroughs

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
NB 758s #2 Lifetime Miles: 596.90
Brooks Cascadia 7 Lifetime Miles: 165.17
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
18.7113.1031.81
NB 758s #1 Miles: 31.81
Weight: 169.10
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
4.250.004.25

Glad to get it in today.

Splits:
1.0 - 9:03
2.0 - 8:47
3.0 - 8:53
4.25 - 11:20 (9:00)

NB 758s #1 Miles: 4.25
Weight: 0.00
Comments(5)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
6.350.006.35

Whew, just squeaking this one in before midnight!  Didn't get a chance to run during work, so I had to wait until I got home, but I got home late and didn't eat dinner until about 8pm so I knew I wouldn't be able to go run for at least 2 hours or I'd be hurting.  Finally headed out about 10:45pm.  I wasn't exactly sure how long this route was, but it's from near my house down to where I park for work and back.  I knew it was a little more than 3 miles each way, but thought it was closer to 3.25.  Turns out it was only 3.17 so my turn around split of 28:21 wasn't quite as fast as I thought it was.  But even at 8:56 it wasn't that bad considering the hills.  The return trip was slower at 9:48 pace, but not too bad considering I walked twice for about 15 sec.

I'll tell ya, I don't know if it was the yummy lasagna, the asparagus, or the super late start time, but this run felt awesome!  I was honestly dreading going out, and was trying to pick a route that wasn't very hilly (impossible in Pittsburgh), but was well lit.  This route was hilly, but I know the street well and although it goes through a relatively depressed part of the city, it's well lit. 

If I feel this good come race day, I may just have to push my "training run" and run a new PB!  I finished these miles and could have gone further.  Now, I'm really excited about the race on Saturday!

NB 758s #1 Miles: 6.35
Weight: 170.00
Comments(7)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
5.000.005.00

Another squeaker!  Got back a couple minutes before midnight!  I'm starting to feel like Dracula or something.  Anyways, a great run again.  I don't know why, but I'm feeling great about my runs the last few days and that feels good!  Nothing real fast again, but I didn't walk at all which was good.  I kept reminding myself that hills were my friends!  The route - again, starting and ending near my house  :-)

Splits:  9:57, 8:27, 8:42, 9:06, 8:47

Wednesdays are always the hardest days for me to get out with busy days at work then Mutual and scouts right after work.  I keep wanting to run between the time I drop my daughter off for seminary at 6:00 and when I get my son up for school at 7:30 but I either go back to bed for a few more minutes of sleep or I stay up and do some work.  I was determined not to let this day go without getting the run in.

I was all ready to run in the hour between when I got home from work and had to pick up my daughter from a school activity and still have time to get a shower in before leaving for Mutual (according to my family I stink after running). I got all decked out and was going to hit the track for the 4 miles today, but wouldn't you know it, when I got there there was the high school track team on the track!  I would have just went down there and ran, but they had those "keep the not-at-all-flexible old balding guys off the track" hurdles set up. The nerve of them!!!  Who do they think they are??  Shesh!  Go North Hills!

I wish I would have seen this cartoon before tonight when my 9 year old Bear Scouts were making fun of my bald head.  (BTW, it's 2 Kings 2:23-24...there is no 4 Kings...duh):


NB 758s #1 Miles: 5.00
Weight: 169.00
Add Comment
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.000.000.00

Scheduled rest day.  Did nothing today, but did talk about the race with another runner.  He hopes to PR (his current PR is 1:16 I think).  I'm thinking maybe I'll hurry through the first 8.1 mi then wait a few minutes to when he comes across the finish line.  I was mentioning how I thought it was weird that I wasn't lapped last year (the course is a 5k, then two laps around the lake - 5mi each) by the winners.  But then I realized that I must have passed through the lap/finish line mere minutes before the winners hit the tape.  I should have stopped and watched the finish!  Had I known....  Unless I'm on pace to go under 2:00, I may just do that this time.

So my debate right now is whether to get a Garmin 305 or not.  Anyone want to weigh in on it?  :-)

Weight: 166.50
Comments(4)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
2.110.002.11

Did my couple of miles before the "race" tomorrow.  Thanks to my newly purchased Garmin 305 :-) I averaged 9:01 pace.  I'd love to average that tomorrow to put me under 2:00 so we'll see!  Felt pretty good after the first mile so I think I'll need to make sure I warm up with a mile or so before to feel good right off the line.

Yes, I looked at the watch several times in those two miles, but that's mostly to see if it was handling the curve where I hug a cliff and see what my heart rate was up to.  I have to admit the auto split at 1mi was nice.  I didn't have to worry about hitting the lap button or waiting until I got back to see what my split time was.  I'm a total data nerd, so once I get used to using it and the software, I'll be loving it even more!  I doubt I'll look at it a whole bunch during my runs after a week or two of using it only because I know it's working and getting all the data so I'll be able to analyze it when I get back.

Anyways, I'm going to leave the HR monitor at home for the race tomorrow. It was fine today, but that was just 2 miles and I don't need chafing issues or wanting to take it off half way through and not being able to put it somewhere.  Maybe next time.  This time, I'll focus on the race and keeping my paces below 9:05 if possible!  Gotta get to sleep!

NB 758s #1 Miles: 2.11
Weight: 170.00
Add Comment
Race: Just a Short Run (13.1 Miles) 02:02:58, Place overall: 289
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
1.0013.1014.10

This was a pretty good run.  I'm happy with my finish time since it was a PR (by about 5 mins), but I was well on my way to a sub 2:00 finish until about mile 10 when my feet started killing me.  It's a known problem that I'll need to get fixed now that this race is over.  But I was getting a little fatigued too, so I know my endurance wasn't where it needed to be either.  When the 2:00 pace group passed me about mile 12, I was upset, but they finished about 2:01:30 so my chip time may be closer to 2:00 but I'm sure I didn't beat it.  Either way, it wasn't bad considering my training up to this race was recovery from my achilles pain.  I really only had 3 weeks of decent training that didn't include any speed work or any real distance.

The course was great.  There's a hill shortly after the start, but I was surprised it was over before I realized it had really gotten started.  When it leveled out, I figured there was more too it, but then I realized instead of heading up the next hill ahead, the course took us around the corner and down the other side.  I took it slow out of the start.  I stuck with what I thought was the 2:20 group, but turns out it was the 2:10 group, so when I left the group and caught the next, I was surprised to see it was the 2:00 group!  I passed them in the 2nd mile since my pace was comfortable and I figured if I gave myself some space I'd still be OK if I had to slow or needed to make a pit stop.

Through the 9th mile, I was doing great.  The last 3 miles were increasingly painful, and I was disappointed when I couldn't keep up with the 2:00 group as they passed me.  But I hung in there the best I could.  I didn't have much of a kick at all at the end.  I was just glad to be done.  The PR is great, and I'll be so excited to crush the 2:00 goal in October when I run this course again!

I know some people like Garmins and others don't, but for me, I love it!  I got a 305 yesterday and used it on my 2 mile run that day.  Today, using it for the race was awesome.  It was so nice to just focus on running and not worrying about where the next mile marker is to make sure I hit my lap button, then trying to remember the previous splits to see if I was on track.  I could just run and as I heard the beep, look down to see my split time.  I had the average pace displayed too, so I knew that as long as I kept that under 9:05 I'd beat the 2:00.  Granted, I looked at it a few times, but I looked at it less than I do my regular Timex.

Thanks to my Garmin, here are my splits:

1 - 10:06
2 - 8:19
3 - 8:35
4 - 8:51
5 - 9:03
6 - 8:49
7 - 8:53
8 - 8:49
9 - 9:23
10 - 9:28
11 - 9:16
12 - 10:22
13 - 10:16
.3 - 3:46 (12:22) - forgot to stop the Garmin...

Had to plug the blog even though I'm no where near "Fast"  Hoping I won't embarrass the blog...

 

Looking good at 3.5 miles...declaring victory early!

 

 Part of my fantastic pit crew giving me some much needed Gatorade!

 Dang, missed my 2:00 goal, in pain, but glad I'm done!!

 

 

Posing with my two wonderful kids!  

And posing with my wonderful wife!  Thanks for all the awesome photos, honey!

2010 will be a great running year!!

 Update:  Official time is updated now.  Not the 2:00 I was looking for, but closer!  451 total HM runners, so about mid-pack.  26 out of 37 in my AG.  Splits were 5k - 28:00, 5mi - 45:04, 5mi - 49:55.  So, I definitely slowed down the second 5mi but I wasn't too far off.  Had I run that first mile in the 8:15 range I would have been very close to my 2:00 goal.  Next time, I'll be going out faster!

NB 758s #1 Miles: 14.10
Weight: 170.00
Comments(12)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
18.7113.1031.81
NB 758s #1 Miles: 31.81
Weight: 169.10
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