What a way to start out the new year. Nothing too fancy. Nothing too long. My last two runs have only been 3 miles each. I'm glad I decided to go longer today, because it wasn't until after 3 miles that my shins began to loosen up.
And what would the start of a new year be without me giving props out to my fellow bloggers? Let's hear it for Lyns who just this last week learned she would be cast in the Michael Bank's workout DVD. She's also been quoted as saying, "I am a different person after a workout." She's right.
Today I went running with my Ragnar team at Tempe Town Lake. We went once around the lake which was about 4.8 miles, but I wanted to get at least 6 miles so I kept going and turned around. We started out running comfortable together for the first 2 miles. Then three of us started to pick it up a little while the other two stayed back. (The whole team didn't come.)
I've been trying to get new blogger Coach Cara to make a blog entry. All I've got out of her so far is this YouTube video showing her alter egos. After seeing what a goof she is, I think she's going to fit in nicely with this blog.
Today I wore the same outfit that I wore when I ran Pat's Run (except for the shoes.) I stepped outside and it felt a little cold for my liking - 37.4. Luckily all the extra holiday weight helped me warm up pretty quickly. I did a 0.2 mile warm up to the mailbox and back. Then I stretched out. I started running and my legs felt really good, so I decided to do a tempo run. It was nice to do some speed work, since I haven't run that fast since the last 5k I did.
I'm trying to be a smarter runner. The problem is, I don't really know what I'm doing. Since I had a couple of fast miles yesterday I figured I should do a recovery run today. Is that smart or no? Sandy Dune, what say you? Or should recovery runs be after long runs only?
Whew! A nice little run home from work. I was all decked out this time with my MP3 player, headlamp, Garmin, cell phone, chocolate GU, and orange GU chomps. I forgot my reflective belt, but oh well. I know this is going to open me up for some harsh scrutiny, but below is a list of songs I went through during the run:
Take It on the Run - REO Speedwagon, Right Now - Van Halen, Jump - Van Halen [there's something about Van Halen that just makes you feel good inside.], Believe it or Not - Mike Post, Total Eclipse of the Heart - Stevie Nicks, Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel, I Think We're Alone Now - Debbie Gibson, I Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon, Footloose - Kenny Loggins, Foolish Heart - Steve Perry, I Love Rock and Roll - Joan Jett, Our Lips Are Sealed - The Bengals, Maneater - Hall & Oates, Entre Dos Tierras - Heroes Del Silencio, I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor, Shine - Collective Soul, Good Love - Cindy Lauper [think Goonies, very hard song to find.], More Than a Feeling - Boston, Shot Through the Heart - Bon Jovi, Staying Alive - the Bee Gees, Hazy Shade of Winter - the Bangels, No More Tears - Ozzy Osbourne, Eye of the Tiger [a very timely song due to the rough terrain] - Survivor, Bust a Move - Young MC, The Final Countdown - Europe, Winds of Change - Scorpions, Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N' Roses, Bang Your Head - Quiet Riot [they're not quiet, but they are a riot.], Blue Collar Man - Styx, Karen Wonders - The Fabulous Strader Kids, Love is a Battelfield - Pat Benetar, Lady - Styx, Separate Ways (World's Apart) - Journey, Come Sail Away - Styx, You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC, The Last Mile - Cinderella [I love this song. Ironically enough it played during the last mile.], Paradise - Tesla.
Well, my baby wouldn't go to sleep last night. She's not feeling well. Shortly after 1am she finally did. Then I found myself not sleeping. I didn't even feel tired. I was tired from the run, but not sleepy tired. I didn't take any water with me this time. Before I left I drank this 4 oz. Apple Slam Energy drink I got at the Mesquite Marathon. (I hope it didn't have an expiration date.) Then I drank 6 oz. of water. Since I didn't have water I was worried about taking the GU's. I've heard myths that you'll throw up if you don't drink anything when you take them. But, that's what I'm guessing kept me up 'til 1:30 in the morn.
Today I went running with Bruce RUN2DAY for the first time. He's quite a bit faster than me, but he stayed with me the whole time. PF Chang's R&R is next weekend. He's going to be the pacer for the 3:20 group. Bruce is a teacher at Dobson High School. He's over 50 and he is going to retire after this year. We had a nice conversation about Ragnar, getting hit by cars, marathons, basically all things running. It was enjoyable.
Nice easy run with some of my Ragnar team. Afterwards we had a meeting. It's going to be fun.
I might try to get some more miles in this evening.
I have to give it up to my new blogging friend Steve Piccolo. He started running again last year. He lost 25 lbs and had an amazing race at SGM. I want to be just like him, except for his ears.
I couldn't find my Garmin this morning. Bummer because it felt like a great run. I'm pretty sure I was cruising along at under 8 min. miles. My daughter had put it on the book shelf so that the baby wouldn't get hold of it.
I wanted a nice easy run today. So I took Ginger. She did really good. I haven't taken her forever. When I used to go with her I would try to train her by telling her left or right at the turns. It seems like she was remembering the commands, but maybe she was just getting lucky.
Time - 24:13 (avg. pace 8:21)
Splits - 8:27, 8:22, 8:14
I was kind of letting her dictate the pace. So much for easy.
I didn't run yesterday because my right foot was hurting. It felt better today. I wanted to get a long run in, but I got up way late. I did my crazy attempt at mile intervals instead. Oh, before that I did my 50 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, 2 sets of planks for as long as I could, some side planks (thanks Coach Cara), and I almost did a full pull-up. Woo-hoo!
Time - 44:56 (8:03 avg. pace)
Splits -
8:25 - warm up
6:56 - 5:49 best
8:53 - rest
7:27 - 6:31 best
8:58 -rest
4:18 for 0.58 - 7:23 pace - 6:09 best
(I just saw on the Most Recent Entries board Rhett, Kerry, Burt. Three people who live or have lived in Mohave County.)
I did my favorite run again this morning up Usury Pass with some of my Ragnar team. It was about 4:15 minutes slower than last time but felt like the same effort. That must have to do with the speed work I did yesterday. Before the run I did 50 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, planks, side planks, and almost a pull-up.
There were so many cyclists out this morning. I couldn't believe how many there were. I should have counted them. It would have been funner than counting prairie dogs. I know some of them were the same people I saw going up and coming back down. That's one of the things that makes this run so cool.
50 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, planks, side plank, 2 half way down pull-ups. My right calf muscle is still very much sore from Saturday. Maybe I'll do an easy 3 this evening.
I did not do any run this evening, but I did start P90X. Chest/back and Ab Ripper X. To enter the Puke Zone do you actually have to puke? If so, then I was in the Almost Puke Zone.
I've wanted to do one of these races for a while but have always had something else going on. The forecast called for rain. I asked the race director beforehand if there was a possibility that they might cancel it. She said unless there was lightning, they were doing it.
I stopped working at 5pm and got changed in the bathroom for the race. When I walked outside it was sprinkling lightly. "Here it comes" I thought. As I drove to Scottsdale Community College it got heavier. This should be fun.
I've never been to SCC, but I've driven by it many times and had no problems finding it. However, I didn't know where their track was. So I pulled in a parking lot and drove around. I stopped a student and asked him where it was. He said it was on the opposite side and my best bet would be to go all the way around. So I got back on the main street and on the freeway entrance hoping it was also a way to get to the front of the campus. It wasn't. I ended up having to drive a mile down the freeway and get off at the next exit, get back on the freeway and go back to SCC. This time I took the first entrance to the campus and drove around to the sports facilities. Remember, all this time it's raining.
Now I get myself ready to face the elements. Of course I have no jacket, so I put my towel over my head. I already had my Garmin which was dumb because now I have water trapped in the screen. I took it off, before I ran, but the damage had been done. I hope it doesn't seep in any further and short something out. I'm looking around for the track. I wonder if it's on the other side of the tennis courts. Hard to tell. Let me walk all the way around. There's the gym/wellness center. Oh, there's a lighted field. Maybe that's it. I'll just walk through this mud to get there. And it's a crummy softball field. Well, maybe it's over there. It also looks like a baseball field, but you never know. More mud to walk through? Great. Darn, that's not it either. I guess I'll head south. It's got to be at their football stadium. Doesn't SCC have a football team? Where are the bleachers? Hmmm...now I'm back on campus. Where are all the students so I can ask someone? Don't they like wandering out in the rain? I'm sure they wouldn't mind someone with a towel over his head approaching them. Salvation! There's a campus directory. And there's the track! Right behind the tennis courts after all! How did I miss it?
Now that I have a visual on the field, I start to run to it. Luckily I had plenty of time still. I see a couple of people on the bleachers. I think, "That's odd. What, are they making out?" As I get closer I realize it's a couple of garbage cans, but luckily I see some more people getting there at the same time as me. They look like students. Athletic students. I ask someone if I'm in the right place for the open mile. They say yes, if they even have it. I don't see any lightning, so I guess so.
I did a couple of warm up laps and stretched out really good. The race director finally got there, but I have no idea if they were late or on time because I don't have a watch. All I know is I'm soaked. I took off my cotton shirt and was down to my Body Armor. I think I left my shirt there. We lined up for the race, and I told the race director that I was going to get lapped. I was so happy when it didn't happen. The race director's name is Terri Antonino. I met her on Athlinks.com. She's nice and really fast. I ran behind her the whole time. My first lap was 1:28. 2nd lap was 1:37. The third lap is where the rain and my receding waist line caught up to me. My shorts starting falling down! Man! I couldn't go more than 50 feet without having to pull them back up. It slowed me down considerably, and my final time was 6:31. I can't remember my third lap split.
They always do two miles. I wasn't going to do the 2nd mile because I was tired and obviously, I knew my shorts would be around my ankles in no time. But then I thought that I should tough it out, and I got the brilliant idea to roll them up about three times. That worked for about half a lap. I spent most of the race after that rolling and tucking. Nothing seemed to work. I thought about ditching them, but that would have been bad. Anyway, I came in dead last this time and even got lapped by one guy. My time was 7:12.
I'm going to have to do that again sometime. I really hoped that running with other people would help me set a post HS PR. But with the rain and the loose fitting clothing, it wasn't meant to be. However, I did have fun, and that's the most important thing.
It just so happens I was in Southern California a couple of weeks ago watching Britta run her half marathon. There's a couple of details she left out of her race report. I, for one, thought they were worth mentioning. First of all, between miles 9 and 10 she actually ran while balancing a cup of hot cocoa just because she could. For a whole mile!
The other cool thing she did was to pace her twin sister for the first 5 miles. Her sister's not quite as athletic as her, although they are completely identical.
I went for a 2 mile jog this morning because after doing day 3 of P90X last night I could hardly drag myself out of bed. It felt good to run though. And there was a nice drizzling rain. The Garmin seems to be working fine.
Time - 17:44 (avg. pace 8:52)
Splits - 8:58, 8:46
I have a friend who has started running so that he can strenghten his muscles to start playing basketball again. He's up to a couple of miles. I was telling him how proud I was of him because it was quite an accomplishment for me to get up to that distance, but then I made the mistake of telling him that now I feel like anything under 3 miles is a waste of my time. I don't think he's ever going to let me forget I said that.
This was a nice work out. I've done the Ab Ripper X three times now and I actually did all of it and kept up for the most part except at the very end. Ouch. And there's this oblique thing you do that you lay on your hip and get your legs 30 degrees from your body line and come up. I'm probably not doing that right because it hurts my hip real bad.
Since everyone's running the St. George half today, I felt it necessary to at least get double digits this morning. I waited until 11am and it was still kind of cold with the breeze, but actually quite nice.
I have to admit. This has been my least favorite workout of the P90X series. It takes coordination, like a dancer. I do not have that. No, I don't think I can dance.
I woke up this morning and did not feel as good as I did Saturday. I had what Sam would call a bad case of the niggles. I wanted to do some speed work today so that I would have all week to recover. But I don't think I was recovered from Saturday, so I decided to take it nice and easy. It was cold and dark out this morning, and I wore sweat pants. I also wore my long sleeved 2008 Ogden Marathon shirt which I didn't actually run. I didn't even go to it, but I had my friend pick it up for me.
After a half mile I see this figure quickly approaching me on the sidewalk. The stride was so relaxed and fast I thought for sure it was a dog. I was getting ready to take evasive action, but then I realized it was a person. There's only one person in my neighborhood that could be that fast. I called out, "Is that you Bruce?" Sure enough it was Bruce RUN2DAY. We stopped and set a running date for Wednesday. Right before we stopped a bunny hopped out of the bushes. Then as we were stopped and talking a cat jumped over the wall. They couldn't have been more than a couple of feet apart. I wonder if the cat was going to pounce on the bunny. I saw three bunnies this morning.
I decided not to go the full 5.6 miles because I was running so slow and needed to get my daughter to school. I'm glad I did because my back got to hurting real bad. I stopped and tried to bend over to stretch it out, but that hurt worse. So I walked a little bit 'til I was ready to go again. I wonder if the P90X spine stretches had anything to do with that. Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow and can get my speed work in.
Time - 33:29 (avg. pace 9:15)
Splits - 9:05, 9:15, 9:23, 5:46 for 0.62 (9:23 pace)
I can't believe I had to scrape ice off my windshield this morning! What the heck mother nature?!
Little Emily's in the hospital. Sunday she wasn't feeling well at all. She wouldn't eat and she barely drank anything. She was throwing up neon green mucus and had diarrhea. I called my high priest group leader, and we administered a blessing to her. Yesterday she was so dehydrated that my wife took her to the ER. They hooked her up to an IV to get fluids into her. She was doing a lot better, but her white blood cell count was high because she has an infection somewhere, possibly her ears. So they decided to admit her. She and my wife spent the night there. Hopefully they'll figure it out and she can come home today. Anyway, no P90X last night and no run this morning. That's okay, though, because I need to give my back a rest.
I was supposed to run with Bruce RUN2DAY today, but I forgot to email him last night for obvious reasons. I tried to call at quarter to nine hoping it wasn't too late. After about 5 rings I just hung up. I really wanted to push the pace but decided against it. Instead I threw a 10k mile in the middle. The problem was that I was really laboring to maintain that pace. Truth be known, I was probably way faster and way slower. I don't think it was a constant steady 7:14. I started to wonder if I could do that for 6 miles on Saturday, but I think there was a reason for it. I did P90X last night; Chest and Back/Ab Ripper X. I did not hydrate well after the workout. And I hardly ever have any water before I go out in the morning. So I'm hoping it was just a feul and hydration problem. I really want to maintain a 7:14-7:15 pace. If I would have done that last year, I would have come in the top 10.
I found this picture of Walter with his grandparents. Can't you ever be serious in a picture Walter?
It was raining again this morning. I hope they don't cancel the race this Saturday. People from Arizona freak out when it rains. Actually, the race is on farm roads. So if there's a lot of mud, they very well could cancel it.
If they do, I'll have to hit the slopes with Vinh.
2 miles? What a waste of my time! Just kidding. I only wanted to loosen up the muscles and stretch them out. Nice even 9 min. mile pace.
Time - 18:24 (avg. pace 9:00)
Splits - 9:00, 9:00 (told you they were nice and even.)
Metcalf Running said she was daydreaming that she was in the lead of the Tour de France. Perhaps her memory is just bad. I know for a fact that she was.
2010 London's Run 10k (....errr 11k?) (6.75 Miles) 00:52:03, Place overall: 41, Place in age division: 6
Total Distance
12.50
Sorry that it's taken me all weekend to write this race report (Mikelle.) The thing is, I don't consider it a race report since I quit racing around mile 4. Let me explain. I'll start at the beginning.
We've been getting a lot of rain the last couple of weeks. A lot for us Arizonans. So much so that we began to panic. There were rumors that they might cancel the race. Of course we wouldn't cancel if it were merely wet drops of precipitation falling from the heavens no matter the force, but the London's Run 10k is run all on farm roads. Farm roads = dirt. Rain = water. Dirt + water = mud.
There were no emails sent out that they were canceling, and the skies were mostly blue, so we were good to go. I got up at 5am. I did P90X's Stretch X which is about an hour's worth of stretching everything. Then I got myself dressed for success, had a banana and some Gatorade, and jogged over to the race. It's only 2.5 miles from my house, and I thought that it would be a nice warm-up. I jogged at a 9:35 pace trying to avoid any sinkholes that Queen Creek is famous for. As I got to Schnepf Farm, there was some nice slick mud I had to go through. I arrived about 15 minutes before the start of the half marathon.
I took off my long-sleeved shirt and mud-on-the-bottom-sweat pants and started to stretch some more. My wife found me and gave me a kiss for luck. If you haven't noticed, I've added two names to the blogger's I've met in real life section under my profile. I knew flatlander was coming to run the half marathon, and I went to look for him as they were lining up. I couldn't find him. I guess I was looking for the guy with the pixilated face. His sister, lightitup, also came, but I didn't know that until after his race.
The 10k started 10 minutes after the half marathon. I made sure to get up towards the front this year. Last year I made the mistake of starting near the back. We watched the clock tick up to 10:00:00, and we were off. I took my first look at the Garmin about a quarter mile into it and noticed I was running at a 6:30 pace. I knew I needed to slow down even though a lot of people would pass me. I was confident that I would pass them back if I stuck to the plan. The plan was to run 7:15's. The first mile came in at 7:12.
The second mile was a bit slower than I wanted at 7:25. We started to hit the walkers and stragglers of the half marathon. We were also going slightly uphill and against the wind. The third mile was even worse at 7:43. The fourth mile is where the fun began to start. At this point I'm passing half marathoners right and left, literally. There's a fork in the road where the HM-er's turn left and the 10k-er's continue straight. Because I was in the middle of all the HM-er's I went the wrong way. Luckily I looked to my right and saw people running on the road less traveled. Noticing I was the only one with a blue bib, I had the pleasure of turning around. I couldn't even cut the corner because of a big irrigation ditch that I was too chicken to try to jump over. I started waving at everyone asking them how they were doing. I heard someone say, "Oops." I think I only lost about 10 seconds, but there was a sizable gap between me and the pack ahead of me. Now I was heading downhill so this mile was a bit faster at 7:27. I started to curse Brent for questioning if I was ready for 7:15's.
Around mile 3.6 the faster HM-er's rejoined us. Now I couldn't tell who was who again, so when we reached another turn I yelled out to the volunteers, "10k?" The volunteer says, "10k that way (signaling to my right) half marathon that way (to the left.) I turned right with around 15 people following me. After a couple hundred yards I see someone booking my way who I believe must be the leader. "One." I count. Then two, three, four, five, six....Six. Where's everyone else? Hmm...there's quite a gap there. Last year they had a little 180 turn. This must be it. Okay, but there's no one else. That guy sent us the wrong way. Well thank you jerks that figured out you were going the wrong way and didn't say anything. 'preciate that.
As we got to the next set of volunteers who were out where the 2-mile fun run was, we were met with puzzled looks. They told us to go left. I looked at my Garmin and knew I'd be running more than I bargained. Runners started to pass me and I didn't care. Some were saying, "Does anyone know where we are?" I told them they'd sent us the wrong way. My hopes and dreams were smashed. This is where I stopped racing and just ran to the finish line. Garmin measured it a 6.75 miles. My last mile splits were 7:54, 8:13, and an 8:23 pace for the last 0.75. Only a little over a half mile extra, so not too bad, but here's the kicker. I talked to my friend who finished third. He said that his Garmin measured 6.0 miles. That means the little 180 that we were supposed to do, didn't get done by them either. Well, it did get done, by the HM-er's. And actually, they were supposed to do another quarter mile further before they turned around.
Why all the confusion? The rain. They changed the 10k race at the last minute due to mud. But they didn't do a good enough job at telling the volunteers what was going on. So, the 10k-er's did distances ranging from 6 to 7.5 miles, and the HM-er's did 12.6 miles. I was upset after the "run", but as they say, what are you going to do? I told flatlander I would run him in, so I drank some vitamin water stuff and headed back out. I stopped at the last aid station and they were nice enough to let me have an orange slice. Where were all the aid stations when I was racing? Oh yeah. I remember now.
At the 11 mile mark I found flatlander. I saw his famous orange shirt and knobby knees. I knew it was him. I'd never met him, but nonetheless it was a joyous reunion. I gave him a low five and paced him home. I told him he needed to hug the bank of the canal because that's where there was less mud. I even got in front of him to let him draft on me. We talked about his trip and his other family that was running. He had a nephew that did quite well. Read about it in his report. He also told me that lightitup had come. I met her afterward and she told me it was okay to make comments on her blog. I was relieved to hear that. Everyone should go do that now.
Here we are. Me, flatlander, and lightitup. Despite the lack of organization this year, meeting fellow bloggers makes it all better.
Final Results - 41st out of 621. 6th out of 42 age division.
