Motivated to Succeed

7:00 PM - Ugh! 75 and about 100% humidity. Horrible. You could see the clouds in the air. Air was so damp you were sweating just sitting in the car! Went to the track with my sister, Su. I didn't know what to expect. Just wanted to go for a run to have some fun! She walked on the track while I jogged. I felt pretty good. Legs are a little tired. I am still perseverating about strengthening my left quad. Going to try double leg squats or something maybe? Splits were:

• Mile 1: 8:46
• Mile 2: 8:45
• Mile 3: 8:13

Total Time: 26:30 Total Distance: 3.11 miles Average Pace: 8:32

"When I'm out on a long run it's just me and the movement and the motion. That's what I love - just being a barbarian, running through the woods." - Jenn Shelton (the "Jenn" from McDougall's  Born to Run)

"It's at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys."
          - Emil Zatopek

6:00 PM - Ew. Temperature of 86 at the start. So humid! After work I zipped home and got changed and then picked up my friends Will and Jeremy at work. Jonny was there too, and Jonathan from work got a ride with a couple of his friends to the race. Drove over to Wilton and registered. I knew it was going to be a hard run today, as all day at work it was miserably hot. I was sweating at 8:30 this morning when I was putting out remainders! Walked over to the table and signed in and then got ready for the race.

WARM UP: No one really wanted to do a warmup except Jonathan and me. We jogged a .5 mile warm up. Went out to one of the corners of the course and back. It felt good. We talked about race plans. I told him to go for it, and that I was just going to try to do a respectable time as I do not do well in the heat. Weigh in before the run was 191 pounds (185 after!!). Did .5 mile warm up in 5:06 (10:12 pace). Stretched afterwards and got ready.

THE RACE:

MILE 1: (7:29) Went out conservatively until the first hill. Thought Jonathan and Jonny were far up ahead, but then I heard Jonny come up alongside me, so I pushed to stay with him. Chatted with him a bit. It was nice. He hadn't run in three weeks so we didn't know how it was going to go. Cruised along stride for stride. So cool to run with my younger bro!

MILE 2: (7:53) Some hills in this mile that really take a toll. Could feel the tiredness in the legs from the longer runs the past couple weeks. Jonn told me to push to stay with him so I tried to stick with him as long as possible. Passed the same young man that I passed last race and we exchanged some words. I told him great job! He's doing great, and he said "Hey! This is the same place you passed me last time!" I responded, "Yeah, but it will be much harder for me to beat you this week!" (He ended up only finishing about :15 seconds behind me in the end.) Going to look at the race results to learn his name so I can talk with him next race and get him to push to stay with me :).

MILE 3: (8:00) Ouch. A tough mile. I pushed to stay in contact with Jonn, but he ended up beating me in about :30 seconds. Just didn't have it today. Just don't have the speed I used to have, although I wasn't really tired at the end and went for a cool down, while almost no one else at the race did that. So that was a small victory in and of itself for me anyways. Jonathan ran 10th place (21:48), Jonny I think got 14th in about 23:30, and I was 17th in 24:01. Will ran 27 and change, and Jeremy ran nearly three minutes better than last race in about 32 and a half minutes. We moved down to the end to cheer him in, and it was nice to see him beat a decent amount of people! I'm sure he will beat 30 minutes in the next race!

Total Time: 24:01 Total Distance: 3.10 miles Average Pace: 7:44

COOL DOWN: By myself. No one wanted to do a cool down. Jonathan and his friends left to go home. I went out on the road by myself. Felt good, but then I heard cat calls and I was expecting Jonny and them to be making fun of me and whatever for being an "overachiever", etc. etc. I turned to say something and saw three punks on bikes. I say punks because they kept saying stuff to me and I was getting prepared to mention something about how they would do well to show some respect to other people if they wanted it themselves. They passed me and were weaving in front of me in the road show boating and then sped off. I had a surprise of my own. I kept plugging along and eventually caught up to them, much to their surprise. They turned and sped off as I stared them down with my sunglasses. It's interesting that I can run a long while at a slower 8:30-9:00 pace, but the sub 8:00 pace seems to wipe me out! Total cool down was 9:38 for 1.12 miles (8:38 pace average).

Total Time: 38:44 Total Distance: 4.72 miles Average Pace: 8:12

8:50 AM - Drove to Saratoga and went to Spa Park for a run. Slept a full eight hours last night after the race. Felt pretty good. My quads and hamstrings were a bit sore, but that is to be expected after the conditions yesterday. I stretched at the car. Brought a water bottle and thankfully, filled it with Gatorade, although that didn't even last a full loop! During the course of today's run I drank 8 full 20 ounce water bottles, 20 ounces of gatorade and 140 ounces of water because I didn't have any more gatorade on me. I eased into the first loop and felt good. There were some other runners out, but it was already 80 degrees and sunny and most people had decided not to go out like me, and/or had already run early this morning (what I should have done!). I did a 3-3.05 loop each time and stopped about .6 miles into each loop to refill my water bottle. I would  not have made it through the run had I not had access to the free flowing spring water! Felt pretty good until the last mile or two. They were rough. My legs were starting to tighten up and I just wanted to be done with it already. On the third loop I was running around the perimeter of the public pool which has been closed for almost a year, and there was a green bus with prisoners there doing all the yard work. I didn't know if I was allowed to run between their work detail but I did, picking up the pace. The guard with the gnarly shotgun kind of scared me a bit! Saw a lot of dogs on the trail today, most not on leashes which I don't really like because the owners just "assume" that they have good dogs. The last thing I want to deal with is a nasty dog bite! Also realized one of my pet peeves: Smokers. Have never really liked smoking, and its fine if you want to smoke, but don't dirty up nature for the rest of us! Saw a couple leave at the same time on the nature trail as me and I almost lapped them, as they were walking the trail. Both of them were smoking, and by the looks of the dudes popped-collar pink polo and Birkenstocks they were totally the Horseracing people that infiltrate Saratoga in the summer time. I saw three separate cigarettes on the trail, still smoldering as I ran past, and I just hoped to catch them to give them a message: "HEY! NATURE ISN'T HERE TO BE YOUR ASHTRAY!" If I were a cop man I would bust smokers left and right for throwing cigarettes out their windows.  Maybe this is my calling in life, to be an enforcer of Clean Earth Policy! Splits today were slow but that is to be expected with the humidity and temperature. Afterwards I got a fruit smoothy and three bagels from work and a coffee to wash it all down. Weight was 187 after eating three bagels and all that and then having another cup of juice when I got home. Splits:

• Mile 1: 9:25
• Mile 2: 9:28
• Mile 3: 10:13
• Mile 4: 9:32
• Mile 5: 9:29
• Mile 6: 10:10
• Mile 7: 9:36
• Mile 8: 9:31
• Mile 9: 11:43
• Mile 10: 10:11
• Mile 11: 9:51
• Mile 12: 10:39

Total Time: 2:00:02 Total Distance: 12.02 miles Average Pace: 9:59

8:30 AM - Overcast and temperatures in the 60s. Had a huge torrential rainstorm yesterday. There was a river going down Emma's street! I told her mom I might have to get in a kayak and see if I can navigate down to the bottom of the hill if it keeps up. Took a day off after the 12 miler. Felt really great. Sent out my registration for the Curly's Trail 1/2 Marathon yesterday. It was about thirty dollars cheaper than the local road half marathon in October and I think I will have more fun on it as I have been doing more trail running this year. Went to the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail over in Lanesborough with Emmy this morning. We ran together and did an out and back 5 miler on the bike path and then stopped to use the restrooms and did a .5 mile cool down. Felt pretty good. Quads are still a bit tired from the long run and race! I can't believe it's only Thursday! I've done a lot this week! After the run we went to eat at a retro 1950s style diner called Misty Moonlight. I got three pancakes and egg whites. Mmm those were awesome! Emmy got an egg white omelet with spinach and mushrooms. She is the best date ever! Great company, easy on the eyes, and never complains! ;) Splits were: 

• Mile 1: 10:07
• Mile 2: 9:55
• Mile 3: 9:50
• Mile 4: 9:24
• Mile 5: 9:00

8:20 AM - Sunny, blue skies. Temperature 69 at the start, 73 at the finish. High humidity so it was muggy. Was nice in the shade though. I went to the nature trails at the school and hit them for an easy run before work all day. I really hate the midday shifts because I can't get anything done. Working noon to nine tonight will stink, especially now that they are assigning us bathroom duty since the store got a bad rating by mystery shoppers. (Well, what do you expect when there is no other place in the city that has public restrooms but us? They should really make it for paying customers only and/or get a cleaning staff. I shouldn't have to clean the bathrooms unless I get a raise!)

Running on the trails was awesome today. I felt pretty good, although halfway through I had to stop because had stomach cramps probably from the milk in the coffee this morning. Had to make a pitstop in the woods but I was fine afterwards. Am anxious to hear back from the organizer of the trail half in September. Right now there is a list of a dozen or so for the half and about half that for the marathon. I can't wait to have fun out on the trails in my first major trail race! Splits today were slow, but it was recovery day and I was running in the woods so probably lost the signal a few times.

• Mile 1: 10:41
• Mile 2: 11:00
• Mile 3: 10:41
• Mile 4: 10:23
• Mile 5: 10:02
• .41: 3:45 (9:11)

Total Time: 56:34 Total Distance: 5.41 miles Average Pace: 10:27

Some pictures from the other day after we went to the farmer's market in Lanesborough and made yummy veggies!:

Emma's "baby", aka the yellow bell pepper she has spent the last two months watering religiously and watching grow:

Emma, talking to her "baby" right before she picked it to become our dinner!

Our yummy veggies waiting to go in the oven:

Goofing around: "Big Kids Only Table!"

8:30 AM - Sunny and temperature was about 72 at the start. Today is my dad's birthday (his 59th!) so I woke up early and made coffee. Sat outside with Aggie (our St. Bernard) and my sister Su and him. Dad told me all about his excursion to the Polish Meat Store in Utica yesterday with a friend from church. It sounded like a blast. I got him a carrot cake last night after work (his favorite) and hopefully we will go for a bike ride today before I have to work tonight! Went to the school and did a run on the nature trails. Legs are a bit tired and sluggish. Blah. I haven't been getting enough sleep. Didn't help last night that I couldn't sleep because it was hot and because all my brother's stuff was in my room because they're putting a new floor down in his room. Ran on the nature trails a bit, then switched into my Vibrams for the cool down. Felt good. A great run! Saw two turkeys afterwards! Gobble gobble! Almost forgot. Did 8 x 20:10 on:off accelerations (aka the Furious Four!!). I am able to go farther than when I first started these workouts. Splits were:

• Mile 1: 11:00
• Mile 2: 10:30
• Mile 3: 11:06
• Mile 4: 10:02
• Mile 5: 10:23

Total Time: 54:52 Total Distance: 5.24 miles Average Pace: 10:33