All about that pace.

8:00am Isaiah 38 - 60

Sunny and 65° at 8 in the morning! Summer is definitely here. The usual 11 miler up Farwest hill twice and Steilacoom hill once. No misadventures to speak of today :)

The Garmin seems to be back to normal, 1:25:06 and still 4 bars on the battery meter.

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:27
2.00    7:25
3.00    7:17
4.00    7:20
5.00    7:12
6.00    7:18
7.00    7:29
8.00    7:34
9.00    7:16
10.00    7:02
11.00    7:06
11.68    6:51
 

6:00am Isaiah 61 - Jeremiah 14

I was pretty sluggish the first 2 miles, after that I felt good. It looks like I'm going to pace Kym in the 4 miler today before we go out on the boat.

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:34
2.00    7:41
3.00    7:24
4.00    7:18
5.00    7:10
6.00    7:17
7.00    7:27
8.00    7:23
9.00    7:16
10.00    6:59
11.00    7:06
11.65    6:40

9:00am
4 on the 4th with Kym. She did great with an average 10:27 pace!!

Distance    Split pace
1.00    9:43
2.00    10:27
3.00    10:36
3.95    11:06

 

5:00am Jeremiah 15-33

Easy run with the last few miles at MP.

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:41
2.00    7:51
3.00    7:47
4.00    7:46
5.00    7:41
6.00    7:44
7.00    7:49
8.00    7:45
9.00    7:06
10.00    7:00
11.00    7:03
11.66    6:59

5:00pm 82° Jeremiah 34-51

Here I go again... MP effort for most of the run and 10k effort for the last few miles. Today's double and a 23 miler on Friday is going to make this my peak training week for the Tunnel Marathon, which just sold out today. I feel like I'm better prepared for this race than any I've done before. I just need to make it through the warrior dash without hurting myself.

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:24
2.00    7:31
3.00    7:24
4.00    7:12
5.00    7:10
6.00    7:10
7.00    7:14
8.00    7:19
9.00    7:08
10.00    6:48
11.00    6:45
11.69    6:22

I've had this song stuck in my head all day, so here you go...

5:30am Jeremiah 33 - Ezekiel 10

Great long run! Miles 3-16 with Preston.

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:53
2.00    7:39
3.00    7:51
4.00    7:34
5.00    7:34
6.00    7:32
7.00    7:27
8.00    7:44
9.00    7:34
10.00    7:23
11.00    7:25
12.00    7:26
13.00    7:22
14.00    7:42
15.00    7:32
16.00    7:43
17.00    7:30
18.00    7:37
19.00    7:33
20.00    7:14
21.00    6:53
22.00    6:47
23.00    6:31
23.07    5:50
 

7:30am Ezekiel 11-26

Ouch! I think I cracked a rib or something doing some construction work at my daughter's house on Friday. I get a sharp pain if I twist my torso or cough. It's a good thing I'm over that cold. Running was uncomfortable today, like having a side stitch that won't go away. I'm glad I'm supposed to be tapering anyway. Praying it will get better instead of worse over the next two weeks.

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:32
2.00    7:34
3.00    7:29
4.00    7:26
5.00    7:26
6.00    7:25
7.00    7:29
8.00    7:39
9.00    7:01
10.00    6:53
11.00    6:49
11.69    6:38
 

5:00am Ezekiel 27-43

I saw a banana peel on the sidewalk today and ran WAY around it. Ribs are still sore, hanging in there...

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:28
2.00    7:26
3.00    7:13
4.00    7:03
5.00    6:52
6.00    7:07
7.00    7:17
8.00    7:24
9.00    7:05
10.00    6:42
11.00    6:47
11.66    6:35
 

5:00am Ezekiel 48 - Daniel 10

Super easy today. Ribs still hurting, but not any worse than yesterday. That's a good thing right? No bananas today.

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:44
2.00    7:49
3.00    7:30
4.00    7:24
5.00    7:21
6.00    7:25
7.00    7:38
8.00    7:56
9.00    7:24
10.00    7:02
11.00    7:02
11.68    6:40

Every time I read/hear Daniel I get this tune stuck in my head.

6:00am Daniel  11 - Micah 4

This run brought to you by anxiety and ibuprofen.

I was not looking forward to this run at all except for the fact I was running it with Preston. I knew I would keep on pace with him and I was looking forward to having someone to talk to. Yesterday Kym and I drove 600 miles round trip to drop our 16 year old son off for a stay at Jubilee boys ranch. It was one of the hardest things we've ever done as parents. Unfortunately Preston couldn't make it today so I was on my own and for some reason chose to make it extra hard on myself by doing hills at MP. The flats and downhill parts came pretty easy, but the uphills were brutal! Especially the second trip up Farwest about 8 miles in. I almost threw up at mile 12 when I stopped for a drink and then again when I was finished. In the end I averaged better than my goal of 7:03 per mile, but not without a lot of effort and pain in my ribs.

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:01
2.00    6:58
3.00    6:55
4.00    6:52
5.00    6:40
6.00    6:41
7.00    6:48
8.00    7:02
9.00    6:47
10.00    6:36
11.00    6:52
12.00    7:00
13.00    6:45
14.00    6:47
15.00    6:42
15.02    6:26

10:00am Warrior Dash

All the kids bailed out for one reason or another(all very good reasons) so it was just me and my friend John with a few thousand warrior strangers(some stranger than others). We had a great time with no worries about speed whatsoever. If you've never done one of these you are missing out on a great time! Here's a few pics from our day. John is the one in the Hawaiian shirt and headcam. I should have some video from that pretty soon too.

5:00am Micah 5 - Malachi 2

Dead legs, sore ribs, high heart rate. Not my best run. I replaced some faucets in our bathrooms last night and managed to renew the pain in my ribs while straining to get the drain assembly off one of the sinks. In the end I had to put the pipe wrenches away and use the the Makita 4" grinder to cut it off instead. If only I had done that about two grunts sooner...

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:14
2.00    7:19
3.00    7:14
4.00    7:03
5.00    7:04
6.00    7:09
7.00    7:22
8.00    7:43
9.00    7:21
10.00    7:01
11.00    7:05
11.67    6:56
 

Moses Lake 5:30am Malachi 4 - Matthew 15

10 miles at a semi-easy pace, 8 of it on gravel/dirt road, last 3 at MP. I saw what I think was a drug raid in progress during the last mile. Helmets, body armor, assault rifles, the whole bit. Two cops were standing by an unmarked van as I ran down the sidewalk right in front of the house before I realized they had the place surrounded. There were 2 or 3 more on each side of the house and in the neighbor's yards. I can't believe they let me get that close. They should have directed me to stop or at least cross the street. Needless to say, I did not slow down to talk to them about it.

I'm not feeling super great about Sunday. This is the most I've ever tapered before a race and I feel like I'm "losing it" rather than getting rested. I don't know if I should just rest for the next 2 days like usual or maybe run a few miles to put my mind at ease.

7:00am

I was not prepared to run a marathon today after spending most of last night (2pm to midnight) helping a stranded biker we found on I-90. My best friend Roger and my wife and I were coming home from a CMA rally in Moses Lake when we found "Mad Mike" on the side of the road between George and Vantage. He is an elderly guy and had been stranded there for hours in the hot afternoon sun. There was a fair amount of traffic and I'm still amazed that nobody else had stopped to help him. We picked him up and took him and his battery into Vantage to get his battery charged up and buy him some lunch only to find out his battery was completely shot. Mad Mike also seemd a little "shot" but we were not sure if that was his typical self or not. He wouldn't order anything to eat and kept throwing up every time he tried to drink some water while we were calling around to find a new battery. We found him a battery in Ellensburg and decided to get him to the hospital when he kept throwing up on the way to "E-burg" as they call it in Vantage. While Mad Mike was in the hospital being treated for heat stroke and pneumonia we got his new battery and went back to George to fix his bike and bring it back to the hospital in E-burg for him. Of course, it was getting dark by this time and his headlight was burned out so we also had to fix that before I could ride it. It was a very shaky 46 miles getting his old '86 Sportster with bad shocks, and no turn signals or brake lights into E-burg (we didn't know those were out until it was too late to mess with them).

Me revisiting the origins of my road name "rattletrap" with Mad Mike's bike. Funny how both his bike and I look so much better from a distance :)

Me and Roger with Mad Mike in his hospital room.

It was after midnight before I finally put my head on a pillow and it seemed like only a few minutes had gone by when the alarm went off. We were still about 45 minutes from the start line so I was up at 4am as planned to manage some very unpleasant and unplanned bathroom business and get out the door with enough time to find some pepto bismol on the way to the race. The race was very well organized for such a small event. I had no problems getting my race packet with my number and two drop bags, one for stuff left at the start and another for flashlights and any other shed gear after exiting the tunnel. There was also a very cool tech shirt in my favorite color, "biker black"! How cool is that? They even had giant inflatable start and finish arches and a PA system at each end with lots of great music to get us pumped up! I did not expect anything that official looking for a marathon capped at 300. I started right up front and ran with Walter and Jake through the tunnel where I instantly lost my GPS signal. They said they were aiming for 3 hours so I figured they would keep me on pace for the first couple miles until we got out in the daylight. There were 4 other runners ahead of us who must have went out in the low 6s. I stayed with Walter and Jake until the 6 mile mark when I got a false 7:30 reading on the garmin, panicked and picked up my pace thinking we had all slowed down. My next reading was 6:30 after I left them a ways behind me so I slowed back down a bit and continued to run by myself until Jake caught up and passed me at the self serve water station at mile 10, they had 8 aid stations with 5 of them being sef-serve. Once Jake was back out in front of me I tried to keep him in sight as we got back down in the 6's. We both passed the number 4 guy in mile 16 and then I passed Jake again in mile 17, I still don't believe I was running that fast(5:38) and was back by myself until I turned onto the Snoqualmie Valley Trail at mile 21. It was there that both Walter and Jake caught up with me and told me to hang with them as they passed. Jake quickly faded and I spent the last few miles chasing Walter and fighting sleep. I was literally dozing off while I ran! My head kept leaning back and feeling very heavy and I had to fight to keep my eyes open, lean forward and get my chin down to snap out of it. It was a lot like driving long distance at night with no coffee. Every couple of minutes I'd find myself repeating this process and just could not get back under 7s. I was maxed out and my calves were also starting to cramp up. At one point my right calf cramped so bad that I almost stopped, but I knew that would be the end so I just kept going and it eventually loosened up after several limpy strides. I think it was in mile 25 where Walter and I both passed the number 3 guy. Walter was so far ahead by now that I didn't even consider trying to catch him and settled for 4th place(in the 7am wave). There was another wave at 8am so I'm sure that 4th place will end up being more like 14th when all the results are up.

That's me on the right in the gray shirt next to Walter.

My Beautiful wife waiting for me at the finish 

Me approaching the finish. I wish I could find the picture that Kym is taking of me in this picture

I wish I felt half as good as I look in this one.

Oh, that's more like it.

Finishing with a BQ in the 18-34 AG was my primary goal going into this, and anything better was just a dream. I'm thankful for the opportunity to put my plans aside for God's work and that He still sustained me to meet that goal.

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:04
2.00    6:51
3.00    6:50
4.00    6:52
5.00    6:45
6.00    6:54
7.00    7:01
8.00    6:41
9.00    6:41
10.00    7:06
11.00    6:47
12.00    6:39
13.00    6:37
14.00    6:59
15.00    6:39
16.00    6:47
17.00    5:38
18.00    6:18
19.00    6:33
20.00    6:55
21.00    7:04
22.00    7:08
23.00    7:16
24.00    7:14
25.00    7:12
26.00    7:22
27.00    7:44
27.12    7:27

Ending with 27.12 miles, I must have either been running terrible tangents or my garmin just got very confused after losing the satellite signal in the tunnel.

I walked a mile and a half during lunch today in an attempt to convince my quads that they want to run a 5k with me this weekend. It will not be easy to win them over...

5:00am Matthew 16-25

I had to get a little more stern in the negotiations with my quads about that 5k this weekend. They are still resisting.

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:33
2.00    7:36
3.00    7:29
4.00    7:14
5.00    6:54
6.00    6:55
6.22    6:14

7:00pm

Went for a nice easy run with Kym after work. Quads are starting to calm down.

Distance    Split pace
1.00    10:58
2.00    11:49
3.00    11:38
4.00    11:59
5.00    11:18
6.00    12:02
6.43    12:12

5:00am Matthew 26 - Mark 12

It felt good to get back to my regular route on this foggy morning. I love running through Steilacoom Park when it's like this.
My quads didn't complain at all until the second trip up Farwest hill at about 8 miles so I think I can knock out a fast 5k on Saturday before they even know what hit 'em :)
My legs had a lot of spring in them on the flats and downhill stuff. The uphill sections didn't come as easy, but they were still much better than Tuesday. I'm excited to crank it up a notch after another day of rest!

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:38
2.00    7:40
3.00    7:28
4.00    7:16
5.00    7:05
6.00    7:14
7.00    7:30
8.00    7:29
9.00    7:05
10.00    6:52
11.00    6:47
11.66    6:30

6:30pm

Thursday night Pub Run with the Tacoma Runners. This is the first time I've ran with this group since last winter when it snowed and I spiked my asics with sheet metal screws. Today was a LOT warmer and uphill both ways. The run started and ended at the Parkway Bar and Grill in North Tacoma this week. There was probably 80-100 people there tonight and I followed the leaders just close enough to keep them in sight so I wouldn't get lost on the route. I don't think I could have run much faster this late in the day with the heat and having 11 miles in already this morning. With another day of rest and a little race day excitement I might be able to muster up a 6:05 average pace for 5k. We'll see soon enough...

Distance    Split pace
1.00    7:04
2.00    6:37
3.00    6:38
3.01    5:50

 

9:00am Run4US 5k

I don't know what I was thinkin' trying to PR on this course! There was a wicked hill in the second mile that took us to the highest point in the park, of course we also got to run down the other side, but that never seems to balance things out. Shooting for 19 minutes, I started out a little slow with a 6:17 mile and then tried to pick it up from there not fully knowing what was to come. I knew there was a hill, but it was much, much smaller in my mind. There were only 7 runners up ahead of me and my lungs were burning up as I passed a few of them going up the hill. On the down side of that climb I also caught and passed the number 4 guy who I traded places with off and on through the last mile. In the end I just couldn't hang on and he ended up gaining about 20 seconds on me. Most of the course was on dirt trail and paved path around Woughop Lake in Steilacoom Park except for the final stretch that was on freshly cut grass. The surface looked smooth and flat across the top, but underneath it was uneven and pretty lumpy. I managed to pull out a wobbly 5:50 kick for the last .1 and felt pretty good about it. Paul and John ran this with me and Lois took lots of pictures so I'll add some to this report later.
While it wasn't even close to the PR I wanted, I'm very happy with the time and I'll be ready for that sub19 at the FSRC Turkey Trot this year!
Distance    Split pace
1.00    6:17
2.00    6:41
3.00    6:27
3.13    5:49

Kym did the 10k finishing more than 6 minutes ahead of her expected time and looking good at the end! 1:05:16 I am so proud of her! She is going to rock next Saturday in the Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon.

My grandson Jamie who just turned 5 did the 1k fun run(his first race ever) at 11:30am and didn't walk a step of it! There was probably 100 kids crowded in at the start line and he busted out in a sprint for the first 50 yards or so. I ran along side of him and had to keep telling him to slow down. He was so excited! (I have to admit I was excited too; I planned on timing his run just for fun and I completely forgot about it until we finished.). I finally got him to slow down a little even though he didn't like the idea of other kids passing him. I told him it was ok because we'd be passing them as soon as they all got tired out from running too fast. Sure enough, about half way through we started passing some of the kids that had ripped by us earlier. We were sure to tell them all good job and encourage them as we passed by and after each pass he would look up at me and say "we're winning" with a big grin on his face! At about 3/4 of the way through he got really tired and grabbed my hand for support, but he kept running and saying good job to the other kids. Once we turned the last corner and he could see the finish line he let go of my hand and ran as hard as he could to the end with a huge smile on his face.

Getting laced up.

Off to a fast start...

Coming down the finish chute he spotted Lois with the camera.

Look at the joy on that face! That's how I feel on the inside when I run, but I never look that cute on the outside.

He's a winner!

Calling mom at work to tell her all about the race.