alabama master

Snow and cold temps had this race living up to it name. Went out too fast, 5:30, felt comfortable at the time, but of course I payed for it by slowing in the final mile. Thankfully I had built a good lead over the runners behind me and no one caught me. Would have been top Master but they went with 50 yr old as the cut off, still got age group win though.

Kelly paced her Run Like Girl running group which got one of them an age group medal and as a bonus got herself a 3rd place age group finish.

Avy and her sisters raced the 1 mile with Avy winning her age group with an 8:55, plus she beat her older sisters.

Flat run thru neighborhood. Marathon on Sat.  35:25/7:05

Even paced run thru Oak Lea. Will try and run w/Eric S at 6:45 pace for as long as I can in Rocket City Marathon this Sat.   35:16/ 7:03  

Flat and easy thru neighborhood.

 Marathon Sat., weather looking to be inhospitable, possibilty of snow, sleet and then rain.

36:29/ 7:18

Another great race at Rocket City Marathon 2009. This was my 10th official marathon and 6th consecutive RCM. It's nice to have a well run event like this so close to home.

Once again I had the honor to run along side friend and fellow blogger Eric S. Our race plan was to run at 6:45 pace thru 20 miles then see what we could do for the last 10K. I lasted thru 21 miles at goal pace then struggled over the final miles, while Eric stayed strong and on pace. Last year I ran a 2:59:01 and I knew in the back of my mind that I wasn't trained up to repeat that due to the two ultras that I ran in Nov.

I always go into my major races with three goals in mind. In this case; 1)PR(-2:57), 2) Sub 3, and 3) +/-3:05. At 21 miles I knew goal 1 was gone and as I trudge thru the next 2 miles I realized goal two was not gonna happen. Doing the calculations and digging down to pull myself out of my bad patch I knew Goal 3 was attainable.

It was great to have Kelly and my daughter Lily as well as a lot of freinds there cheering me on

This was Race 2 of the Fleet Feet Grand Slam. Next up: Recover from the Holidays FA 50K on the 31st.

Calves still tight, feel like rocks. 70 degree day in mid December, couldn't pass it up. Time to get back into Ultra Mode for next two months.

24:03/ 7:24

Easy run thru neighborhood and Oak Lea. Ran the hill leading to and including the Bells driveway. Hamstrings are still not quite recovered but calves feel fine.

41:08/ 7:29 

Afternoon run thu neighborhood and oak lea.

35:49/ 7:10

Night run, but still pleasent weather. Kept to the flats for first 4 then the rolling hills of oak lea for the last 2.

43:54/ 7:19

Evening run thru neighborhood oak lea and the monte hills.

49:02/ 7:44

50K fun run on the refuge with some great friends. Fellow Bloggers Nevels and Eric S ran also and finished well ahead of me. Since this was a fun run, some of our aid stops turned into BS sessions, total time for me was 32 min. We got a nice surprise at the end from one of the runners who gave us run shirts.

How do you add photos to your blog entry?

5:11:54 / 10:02

Neighborhood and oak lea cul de sac run.

46:43 / 7:11

Neighborhood,oak lea and dunbarton run. Third event of Grand Slam on Thursday: Recover from the Holidays 50K, planning on +/- 8:30 pace which would finish me @ 4hr 30 min.

1:00:59 / 7:25

Race Three of the Fleet Feet Grand Slam. This 50K is a laid back event mostly made up of local runners. The course is a 1 mile out and back then 10, 3 mile out and backs. It had rained the day and night before the race so there were some muddy sections. The temps were comfortable in the high 40's.

My pace plan going in was to run 8:30's for as long as I could. I stayed ahead of it for the first 16 miles building a cushion of 3 mins. That cushion faded fast in my next loop and by 19 miles I came in right at my prescribed split of 2:41:30. After that I gradually faded to 9:30 pace.

The terrain of the course is deceiving, with the first mile of the 3 mile loop a gradual climb that after doing it 10 times starts to take a toll. There is also a short steep downhill/uphill that is repeated 10 times. I choose to walk the steep uphill all 10 times.

I did much better this race in keeping my aid stop times to a minimum, but I know I can shave off 3-5 more minutes by getting thru them faster at Race 4: Mountain Mist 50K.