Go, you chicken fat, go away!

30 minutes on the stationary bike.

This morning my wife made her famous sausage and biscuits.  That was the last meal before the start of my New Year's diet.

I'm back.

Time: 23:30 (avg. pace 7:56)

Splits: 7:45, 8:09, 7:37 (7:55)

Finish time: 10:30pm

Temp: 52

I felt oh so much better than I did two nights ago.  My legs felt fresh for the first mile and a half.  The only thing that was lacking was my wind.  But when that comes back, I should be running better than ever seeings how this is tied for my second fastest pace on this loop.

AM running

Distance: 2.94

Time: 24:54 (avg. pace 8:29)

Splits: 8:12, 8:44, 7:59 (8:32)

Finish time: 9:30am

Time since last run: 11 hours

Temp: 48

I'm not sure why it was four degrees cooler at 9:30 in the morning than it was at 10:30 last night, but it was definitely noticeable.  I'm trying to simulate a Ragnar race by running on a Friday night, Sat. morning, and Sat. evening.  We'll see how it goes this week with just running 3 miles each time.  Next weekend I'll increase the mileage.

************************************************

PM running

Distance: 2.96

Time: 25:20 (avg. pace 8:34)

Splits: 8:24, 8:40, 8:16 (8:38)

Finish time: 7:30am

Time since last run: 10 hours

Temp: 61

30 minutes on the stationary bike.

Time: 47:57(avg. pace 8:32)

Splits: 8:09, 8:19, 8:38, 8:46, 8:57, 5:09 (8:17)

Finish time: 6:15am

Temp: 41

The first 2.2 miles felt great.  The I turned the corner and started running into the wind; not so great.   All in all, I felt pretty good and relaxed.  It was nice to add an extra 2 and a half miles on than what I normally run lately.

Time: 37:50 (avg. pace 8:23)

Splits: 8:15, 8:15, 8:37, 8:39, 4:05 (7:59)

Finish time: 11:30pm

Temp: 55

I'm doing the same thing I did last week, simulating a Ragnar relay, by running this evening, tomorrow morning, and tomorrow evening. 

One mile warm up with my daughter Mary.  She wants to do the two-mile race for London's Run at the end of the month.  I set the Garmin to alert me at half mile intervals, but I must've hit the wrong button when we began because it didn't start.  So I ran to where I believed was a half mile away and then started the Garmin.  We ran for a quarter mile and she got a side ache and had to start walking.  We walked for a bit and then she started going again.  As soon as Garmin alerted me that we had gone half a mile, she stopped.  But we were only about 100 feet from our house.  The last half mile including the walking took us exactly 6 minutes.  Then I went and ran a mile alone next to the Queen Creek Wash, turned around and came back.  When I got home my 5 year old was waiting to go running.  I told her we could go to the end of the street and come back.  That ended up being two tenths of a mile; perfect for her.  Below are the stats for my two mile run:

Time: 17:21 (avg. pace 8:41)

Splits: 8:35, 8:47

Finish time: 11 am

Time since last run: 11.5 hours

Temp: 64

0.81 mile warm-up with Mary.  11:12 avg. pace.  I'm hoping she can maintain an 11 min. pace for her race.  Last year she did 13:20.  Below are my splits for the three miles I did alone.

Time: 23:52 (avg. pace 7:58)

Splits: 8:07, 8:02, 7:44 (first time I've done negative splits -EVER!)

Finish time: 7:30am

Temp: 41

It's the 12th today, and I've lost 12 lbs.  If my math is correct, that's a pound a day.  If I keep this up for two months, maybe I'll lose 60 lbs!

I ran with Ginger this morning.  Since we started out so fast, I didn't have the energy to finish strong.  There would be no negative splits today.  I was pleasantly surprised when I let her go at the corner with about a tenth to go and she didn't run off.  I might someday go without a leash if it weren't for the fear of her running out in front of a car.

Time: 24:40 (avg. pace 8:22)

Splits: 8:07, 8:42, 7:53 (8:26)

Finish time: 7:30am

Time: 50:02 (avg. pace 8:55)

Splits: 8:26, 8:44, 8:57, 9:17, 9:05, 5:34 (9:03)

Finish time: 7am

Temp: 41

Decided to take it nice and easy today.  My last 2-1/2 miles were above 9 min. avg.  I'm okay with that.

I thought about changing my blog name to 'For a Brief Moment I was Ahead of Sasha on the Mileage Board', but it sounded too long.

I did a 0.81 mile warmup with Mary.  She took it nice and slow until the kick at the end.  She's got a pretty good kick.  I was having to push it to keep up with her.

Then I decided to run a mile as fast as I could based off a conversation I had with Sasha on his blog yesterday.  I ran it in 7:05.  I was hoping I would be at least in the sixes.  Oh well.  I just haven't trained to maintain that level of speed for so long.  I started out at a strong gait, but it didn't last long.  Some people tell me that I need to do speed work in order to take it to the next level.  Sasha says to work on your base miles.  I've been averaging less than 20 miles a week, so I can't testify either way.

These pictures are from last Saturday when I took my daughter running.  I'm shaving the beard off today.  Although it makes me look rather distinguished and quite handsome, it's pokey.

This morning I went running with three other Ragnar teammates of mine, two of which are fellow bloggers - James W and Camille.  It was a nice run.  We started out real easy for the first 4 miles, then we picked it up.  I ran with James most of the time.  This was the first time I met James.  I've talked to him before on the blog, and I have a picture of us standing next to each other at a race from before I knew him, but it was nice to finally "really" meet him.  He's a cool guy and has a lot of knowledge about running.  Camille and Jared were right behind us most of the way.  They would catch up to us at the stop lights.  Then with about a mile and  a half to go, we picked it up pretty good.  With half a mile to go James was about 10 feet ahead of me.  That's out of my audio range.  He said something that I imagine was, "Is it okay if I leave you in the dust now?"  I yelled, "Yeah!"  He finished pretty strong.  I didn't finish as strong as I would've liked.  I tend to do that when I run with other people.  Below are my splits.

Time: 54:57 (avg. pace 8:41)

Splits: 9:19, 9:12, 9:18, 8:42, 8:16, 7:40, 2:30 (7:43)

Temp: 50

I started my Garmin about a tenth of a mile after we started running.  According to James we did 6.42.  Mine said 6.32.

30 minutes on the stationary bike.

Time: 23:16 (avg. pace 7:45)

Splits: 7:43, 7:53, 7:40

At this pace, I would finish a 5k in 24:03.  My goal for Saturday's 5k (Run for Nie - see Discussion Forum) is to break 24.  I feel confident that I can.  But I've been doing some thinking.  Last week I ran a mile in 7:05.  Shouldn't it stand to reason that I could do 3.1 miles 20 seconds slower?  If I could average 7:25 per mile, I could run the 5k in 23 minutes.  Who knows what could happen in a race?  Generally though I start out too fast and wear myself out.  Then I get complacent with letting people pass me.  Once the first person passes me I think, "Well I'll just run right behind them for a bit."  Before long someone else passes me, and I think the same thing.  Finally I've fallen so far behind that I don't even have the will power at the end to try and catch anyone.  So Saturday I resolve to just run at the pace I'm comfortable with during my training.  I resolve to have the energy at the end of the race to have a kick left.  Most importantly, I resolve to have fun as always.

I haven't been feeling great lately, so no running, but here's a picture.

So much to say today.  Where to start?  Well, I wasn't feeling great last week, but I should've run Saturday.  I used the excuse that my wife was in Mexico with my sister.  I wanted to do either a fast 3.1 miles or a trial run of 6.2 miles for this Saturday's 10k.  So I decided to do the trial run today.  I want to run a sub 50 Saturday.  I set my Garmin to alert me at each kilometer and at 5 minute intervals.  For the first three or four kilometers I was under the pace I needed to be at.  Then it started to creep a little over.  I could feel that I had slowed down a little, but not too bad.  Over all I felt pretty steady.  I finished in 50:22.  Am I confident that I will be able to break 50 Saturday?  One thing worries me.  Today's run was mostly on sidewalk.  I run a lot faster on sidewalk than anything else.  London's Run will be mostly on dirt farm roads.  I'll just have to push myslef a little harder.  I need to go about 4 seconds faster per mile to break the 50 barrier.

Side note:  Have you ever watched the hit situational comedy The Office?  There was one episode where they had an office 5k.  Andrew Bernard had problems with nipple bleeding.  That is totally me.  Now what is the measure of a true friend?  Someone who is not a true friend would just say, "that's gross, dude.  I'm glad that doesn't happen to me."  A true friend will tell you, "Hey, you know what?  If you wear Body Armor, that won't happen."  Luckily I have a true friend that turned me on to Body Armor.  I bear my testimony that it works.  But today I had a bit of a problem with it.  I guess I didn't tuck it into my shorts good enough this morning.  For the first bit, it kept riding up on me.  I also think it has to do with my shrinking gut.  It used to just grab on to my underbelly and stay.  Now (look at the weight loss since Jan. 1st) there's less to grab on to.  I finally got it tucked in good enough to stay.

Time: 50:22 (avg. pace - 8:07 min./mi.)

Splits: 7:49, 7:59, 8:03, 8:18, 8:27, 8:04 1:41 (8:25)

Finish time: 7:30 am

Temp: 50

Time: 22:36 (7:41 avg.) new record!!

Splits: 7:46, 7:53, 6:55 (7:19)

Finish time: 7:46am

Temp: 36

I can tell my diet is doing wonders for my running.  I pushed it this morning, but not too hard, and this was the fastest I've ever ran this loop.  Not carrying around those extra 20 lbs. sure makes a difference. 

My friend Will from my Ragnar team gave me a new pair of shoes.  He said they hurt his feet and he was going to throw them away.  (Kind of like - Ewww, this tastes awful.  Try it.)  Just kidding.  So I wore them today.  They were okay, but a little tight around the toes.  The best thing about them is that they are flashy.  I bet they glow in the dark.  They matched my blue Ragnar shirt quite well.

This was the fourth annual London's Run half marathon, 10k, and 2 mile fun run.  Last year I ran the half marathon.  This year I decided to do the 10k.  London Solomon is a little girl who lost the battle with cancer.  This event is in her honor, and every year they pick a young person with cancer to help them out.

My goal was to get under 50 minutes.  Unofficially I did.  But it was close, and I haven't seen the official results.  I'll update when I do.  I started way back.  They didn't use a chip to time the race, so that was a mistake on my part not to move up.  I also forgot to take my sweat pants off.  We got there way too late.  I only live two miles away.  The half marathon started at 8am, and the 10k ten minutes after that.  I thought if I left my house at 7am, that we would be fine.  We ended up leaving about 7:30.  Then it took a half an hour to get there because traffic was so bad.  We barely got there in time to see the half marathoners off.  Then I turned on my Garmin, and it took forever to locate satellites.  I didn't do my regular stretch routine, so I didn't have my head in the game enough to remember to drop the drawers. 

They started the race, and it took about 15 seconds for me to cross the start line.  That's when I started my Garmin, and that's why I'm worried my official time will be listed as over 50 minutes.  Garmin also told me the course was 6.29 miles long.  Was there satellite error?  Did I weave a lot?  I doubt it.  0.09 miles equates to 475 feet, and if I'm running an 8 minute mile pace, that equates to 43 seconds.  So in my heart I know I did a sub 50, but I will be bummed if it ends up being listed over 50.

Like I said, I started towards the back, and had to weave my way through.  I saw Camille up ahead.  I didn't pass her until we were about 2 kilometers in to it.  She did quite well, so read her blog, too.  The entire first half I felt like I should be running faster, but I kept telling myself, "If you do, you'll die."  I'm glad I stuck to the plan.  While I didn't have a whole lot left at the end, I was certainly alive and was able to pass the girl that was about 5 and a half steps ahead of me the entire race.

I think I got passed only twice in the last mile.  Usually about 100 people pass me, so that was good.  There was one guy that I failed to pass right at the end, and he may have been in my age category.  If I find out that he medaled I'm going to be so upset.  Speaking of medaling, they didn't have times posted by the time I left, but they did the awards ceremony.  They were just calling out names and no times.  So I went up to the announcer and asked if he could read the times.  He said he only had names.  So I listened without really expecting I would get a medal, and sure enough, they didn't call my name.  Then he read the female winners of my age group.  When he got to the first place finisher he was like, "Is this right?"  Then he called my name.  I yelled, "I am NOT a girl."

So that leaves the lingering question:  Did I actually medal??  I still doubt it, but I'll check the results when they post them tonight.  Apparently I beat all the girls in my age group, so I got that going for me.  My buddy from my Del Sol Ragnar team came in third overall.  However, they only gave out plaques to the top two finishers in the 10k.  Then they called his name for second place overall.  He was pretty confused because he was 100% positive there were two guys in front of him.  I told him maybe one of them was a bandit.  Then I saw this young guy from the Queen Creek cross country team with a bewildered look on his face.  Greg had the integrity to go tell them they made a mistake.  So with all the mistake making going on, who knows what place I'm going to take.  I think I remember being listed as a girl in the last race I did, too.

Splits: 7:44, 7:36, 7:51, 8:00, 8:04, 8:23, 2:12 (7:35)

*********************UPDATE************************

The official results are out.  It was just as I feared.  They listed me at 50:03.  3 lousy seconds!!  Oh well.  I know how I did.  So, 46th overall, 6th in my age division.  The next guy up in my division beat me by 1 minute and 46 seconds.  I would've had to run a 47:24 to medal.  Maybe next year.  I also got beat by 11 females.  Not bad.  They didn't post the 2 mile results like they did last year.  So I'm not sure how my kids did.  According to my wife AJ finished around 16 minutes and Mary around 19.