All about that pace.

Boom! Happy new year! 6 easy miles around Lake Union.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/662028628

Just a quick five around Oakbrook before my doc appt. I think I have another kidney stone.

Trying to redefine the term "shakeout run".
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/663857724

Found out I have 2 kidney stones, 7mm and 4mm. It's been 7 years since the last one and I remember it like yesterday.
 

5 easy miles around Oakbrook. That's 4 in a row...

2.75 miles out in a wicked headwind, the return trip was a breeze. Found an abandoned shopping cart right outside the condo complex on my way out and pushed it a 1/2 mile to the store.

Yes, I am tracking shopping cart miles now. I warned you this month would be exciting :)

The plan was to go easy today and run in the 8s. I felt better than expected so I just went with it and ignored my garmin until the end.

Avg. 7:20 

That first step is the hardest. It was so tough to get started today. After wasting 30 minutes of my run time on Facebook, I decided to just get out there and do at least one mile so I could count it as a run day. Less than 1/2 mile into it I felt great and didn't want to stop.

3 miles with Tacoma Runners from Pacific Brewing Co. The run was fun, but the bar was way too loud. No post-run hydration for me this time.

8 miles out Farwest and back.

Oakbrook loop.

Oakbrook loop again. Those stones are not budging :(

3 easy miles with Karina.

9:17

3:45am

The minimum.

3 easy miles with Karina. I go to the doc for lithotripsy on the 27th. Running will probably be out of the question the day after that and getting a stent left in there.

4 star thai food made this a tough run. Feel the burn.

Half way there...

3 easy miles with Karina.

5 soggy miles around Oakbrook.

Oakbrook loop.

The usual 3 mile route + Farwest hill with Karina.

Oakbrook loop. That's 20 days in a row and still nothin'.

It doesn't look like I'll get past 27 without a break. Pre-op appointment ths morning...

3 easy miles with Karina.

One and done :)

Woke up at 5:52 for a 5:50 run with Karina. Out the door and running by 5:56.

First long run in over a month. Harder than I expected. I have some work to do before my next pacing gig.

I had to dig deep to find some shorts under all my winter running clothes today.

3 with Karina. Right on time today.

Just one quick mile before I head to the hospital to have these kidney stones dealt with. Wish me luck.

First run in 2 weeks. 45 mnutes of random hills on the Hotel TM. It felt great to get moving again after such a long break :)

5 mile warm up before I met Karina for our 3 miler.

3 with Karina and then 5 around the Oakbrook loop.

3 with Karina and then 5 around Oakbrook.

Got started early and did 10 before my 3 miler with Karina. Total time 1:48.

I'm feeling a little better about pacing that half at 1:50 in a few weeks now.

3 miles with Karina and 5 around Oakbrook.

Up early for another 10 miler before meeting Karina for our 3 miler. Lots of hills and felt much better than last week finishing a total of 13.6 in 1:49:13.

3.3@7:35 solo and 3.2@9:24 with Karina.

4 miles with Karina. Same route as usual, just a little bit farther to include Farwest Hill. It was cold and rainy today, and the forecast looks great for tomorrow; the long run can wait.

13.1 hilly windy miles with blue skies and bright sunshine! This was not an easy run. I hope adding about 40 seconds per mile will enable me to do it with a smile on my face at the St. Paddy's Day 1/2.

1:41:05

Not enough sleep last night so I skipped the early run and just did 3 easy with Karina. Wednesday I'll be all over those miles!

Karina couldn't make it today so I went out for 10 by myself. The first 8 were around 8 min pace, then I ran into Preston in the park and did the last couple at 7 with him. I need to run with Preston more often!

3 with Karina.

3 with Karina + 5 around Oakbrook.

Easy 1/2 at about 8min pace.

The usual route with Karina at an unusual pace. 9:00 even. She is getting faster :)

5 miles with Karina! She texted me last night asking if we could start early and do "the hill" this morning :)

5 miles again with Karina! She is a go getter! We've been averaging 9:15-9:30 pace for our 3 milers for months. Now out of nowhere, two 5 milers in one week at 8:59 and 8:58! I see another half marathon in her future :)

1:50:00 Pacer

Wind, rain, hills, and lots of enthusiasm on the course today.

Update:

I was a little nervous about this race after taking so much time off with the kidney stones. Running the distance wouldn't be so hard, but keeping it steady with a smile on my face could be a challenge. I did a lot of short training runs with my daughter, Karina, and not so many long ones. And... like I wasn't worried enough already, a couple days before the race, the team captain sent the pacers this little note:

..."PLEASE: The course starts downhill…do not go out hot, finish hot or walk it in. You are a moving time clock and are expected to finish within 30 seconds before your goal time. It’s best to not go by your watch time and miles since courses are marked a bit long and garmins can be off. Get your goal! Help call out water/nutrition and keep them motivated"...

Ok, now the pressure is really on :)

When I picked up my race packet Friday afternoon, I offered to help and spent the rest of the day getting people their stuff and explaining that you can only exchange your shirt for another size if there are any left over after the race. I had no idea how big this race was until then or why it is such a big deal to order the right size shirt when you register :)

1000 1/2

600 10k

1200 5k

I got to the start line early to pick up my sign and meet my co-pacer, Heidi. She is a super fast marathoner and has paced lots of races. We made a plan to trade the sign every other mile and the one without it would pay extra attention to the pace and keep us on time. That way we share the load and the blame if things get ugly :)

The course was a lot hillier than I expected. It started off with a long downhill that got everybody moving pretty fast then it stayed flat for a while and we started to gather a following. The toughest miles were 6 through 9 with some steep hills. That's also where the rain got heavy and a strong headwind decided to join the party. It was tough to stay on pace through that section, but we managed to keep it within reason. Once we cleared that mess there was another flat, easy section before the slog back up the last hill to the start/finish area.

We had a great crowd of runners hanging with us off and on throughout the course. There was one in particular that stuck with us the whole way until we encouraged her to leave us behind for the last mile. I can't remember her name now, but it was cool to see her finish strong and meet her goal.

I had such a good time I signed up to pace another 1/2 in August(1:50) and a full in September(3:50).

5 miles again with Karina. I swear that girl must be training behind my back. 8:46 average pace today!

5 with Karina. She finally slowed down a little and we were still under 9 mnute pace.

8:59 avg.

6 hilly miles with Karina at 8:52, then 5 more around Oakbrook at 7:30.

I started with Karina for 3.25 miles at 8:22 pace. We had planned to run faster than usual for 3 miles on Wednesday at around 8:30 pace. We don't usually run together on the weekends, but she texted me while I was getting ready this morning and asked to join me for the first few miles. When we finished she said tomorrow we should just run the normal distance of 5 miles at the regular pace. Way to go Karina for redefining normal! I can't wait to see what "regular" pace is now. Bonus: I found a shopping cart in the park today, first one in quite a while. No, I couldn't talk Karina into riding in it while we ran it back to the store. 

After we finished I did a lap around Oakbrook and then up Farwest Drive to the highschool and back. Total time 1:44:20.
I think I'm in pretty good shape for the Whidbey Island 1/2. I still need to get some longer runs in before TCM on 5/3.

5 with Karina at 8:34.

5 with Karina.

6.25 with Karina at 5:30am. Then 13.25 with Preston at 8:00am. Lots of hills today!

8 on the trails at Point Defiance, then 6 on the road around the park. Lots of hills again today.

The usual 5 with Karina at "normal" pace: 8:24

5 with Karina. Only 8:34 today.

6.6 with Karina @8:28, then 14 @7:45

The fun was over at 23 miles. I think I set a new record for chafing today. Most painful shower ever!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/737362288

Karina drug me along for an extra half mile today. I had to work just to keep up. 8:24

5 with Karina @ 8:17 avg. Mile 4 was her fastest mile ever at 8:02! High fives and big smiles to start the day!

Karina and I planned to run 6 today and right before we got to the turn around spot she asked if we could go for 8 miles. Silly girl, of course we can! So we continued out for an extra hilly mile before turning around. All the while, we'd been running a pretty brisk pace around 8:25. She kept that up and even knocked out a 7:56 for the last mile. This is her second one mile PR this week!

I finished with a quick loop around Oakbrook to see if I could still finish 13.1 under 1:45:00.

Mission accomplished 1:42:53

I'm ready for the Whidbey Island 1/2 next weekend!

Up at 5:45 for 5 extra miles with Karina. Our regular days are Mon, Wed, Fri, but how can I say no to a bonus run with my little girl?

Karina wanted to take a day off and I couldn't pass up a chance to sleep another hour :)

Tomorrow we run and I bet she will be on fire again :)

5 with Karina at 8:14 pace.

5 Miles with Karina 8:13 avg pace. The hill didn't slow her down at all today. 9's are so last month, and it looks like 8's are on their way out too.

1:45:00 Pacer
Kym and I left early on Friday and made a weekend of this event. We stayed with friends in Anacortes about 30 minutes away from the start/finish. We always have such a great time with Liz and Mike, I wish we lived closer. After a late night with our friends, I worked the Maniac booth on Saturday at the expo and then had dinner at Flyers Restaurant with the maniac crew. It was a long day and I was a little worried about tired legs from being on my feet all day, especially with all the stories I heard about the hills on the course.

I woke up feeling great and knew it would be an awesome day.
The weather was perfect; blue skies, sunshine, a slight breeze and about 50°. I had around a dozen runners in my group for most of the race. The rockstar in this group was Silas, he was only 12 and running his first official 1/2 marathon. I met him and his family at the expo and they were so happy to learn we had a pacer for his goal time of 1:45. He stuck with me every step of the way! There was also a 14 year old girl in my group named Julia. She didn't talk much at all and I didn't really notice her until about 5 miles in when she got really chatty. These were two of the nicest kids you could imagine. We ran steady 8 minute miles through the whole course and they were smiling and talking through most of it. During the last big hill they got a little more serious as the oldsters in our group started dropping like flies. Once that hill was behind us at mile 11 I could feel their excitment as they knew it was mostly downhill from there and they would surely meet their goals. The course ended up being a little long so our last mile was a bit faster than the rest which didn't seem to phase them at all, then I chased them off once we could see the finish line. They both kicked it in well ahead of me and I finished at 1:44:32 within my 30 second window. I am totally psyched for TCM in two weeks!

3 easy with Karina.

5 with Karina. The usual route up Farwest hill.

I planned a longer run, but my ankle was pretty stiff today. I picked up the pace a little and ran 13 @7:30 instead of 18 @8:30.

5 with Karina. It's starting to get light out by the time we start at 5:30 so next week we'll change it up a little and run Oakbrook loop Monday and Wednesday. Friday we're planning to do the hilly route for 8 miles and keep the pace between 8:55 and 9:00 the whole way. A little practice for my pacer gig at TCM on Sunday.

5:30am Oakbrook loop with Karina. She killed it today! 8:10 avg. with the last 2 miles at 7:59 and 7:56.

Another speedy lap around Oakbrook with Karina.

10 easy with Karina on the hills. Super steady pace.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/761938952

3:55:00 Pacer
All TCM all weekend! I spent all day Friday at the expo working packet pickup and manned the Maniac Pacer booth for a while. During the slow times I had little fun writing funny notes on friend's packets. Saturday I went back and spent the day at the Maniac pacer booth with Bart Yasso and a couple other guys from the team. It was a great time of listening to marathon "war" stories and even sharing a couple of my own.

I also hosted the 4:30 pacer, Eddie Hahn at my place for the weekend. He was up here visiting from CA for his first pacer gig. Talk about some stories... this guy has ran 195 marathons!

Sunday: Kym drove us to the start so we didn't have to take the 0'dark:30 shuttle bus from downtown. On the way, we picked up Preston who semi-officially co-paced the 3:35 group with Dave and will qualify for Marathon Maniacs in two weeks at Capital City!

The weather was absolutely perfect again this year; 50°, blue skies, and 1 mph wind. It warmed up quite a bit for the last 9 miles after we left the shade of Point Defiance Park, but was still cool enough around 60°

I started with a huge group of runners and sadly lost a lot of them on the hills in the first 6 miles when they raced ahead on the down hills and predictably slogged through the uphills. Only about half stuck with me at an even(and pretty easy at the time) 8:55 pace. I did vary the speed a little, but tried to keep it as even as possible just like we discussed back at the start line. Half way through the course in the neighborhood before entering the park there is an unofficial hydration stop at the "Half Way House" where they serve ice cold PBR. Last year Deb drank it all before I got there. This year she was waiting there for me with a cappucino crunch donut next to a fully stocked beer table. I have some of the coolest friends! The group dwindled a little more going through the park and eventually it was just me and Georgia hanging in there going for her first BQ. I was so sad when she dropped off at 23 miles around the same place I lost Estrelita last year. That stretch along Ruston Way as you approach the overpass is tough. I need to figure out a way to get folks through that area next year; maybe I'll carry along a 6pack of RedBull or something :) I waited at the finish line for Georgia and medal'd her at 4:05. She wasn't even bummed about bonking since it was a 20 minute PR for her. After the race I had a few other runners tell me they were following me on the course and thank me for pacing. This is seriously the best job ever! See you at the Tunnel Marathon next month. I'll be carrying the 4:15 sign unless I can trade up and lead Georgia's group again. She is already registered and committed to get that BQ! I'd love to see her cross the finish line.

3 quick miles with Karina at 7:44 avg pace. Karina's fastest 5k ever, even including the extra .1 on the end.

Another quick 3 with Karina. 7:46 avg pace. This time without the warm up mile. She just took off right away.

Looking forward to a longer and much slower run on Friday.

5:00am 10.5 with Preston at 7:53

7:30am 9 with Karina at 8:45

Great run today followed by more great news. I got the 3:50 pacer spot for the Tunnel Marathon next month.

An hour on the hotel TM. I'm guessing about 7 miles. It said 11, but you can't ever trust those things. I should have brought my new footpod for the garmin.

30 minutes on TM

One sweaty hour on the TM.

5 with Karina.

Quad buster workout. 2 hours on the TM with -3 decline. I did this before my last Tunnel Marathon and finished feeling much better than the first time in 2011.

I also picked up a foot pod for my garmin so I can have pace info in the tunnel. Calibrated yesterday and it is either slow or the TM is fast.

4 with Karina. My quads are sore, but not as bad as expected. I used the footpod today and it seems to be a little slow. 4 miles even on a route that should have measured close to 4.2 I need to get this thing dialed in before the race.

10ish with Karina and Preston, my two favorite running partners. I tried to manually adjust the calibration on my foot pod and I it was still off by about 3%. I think I adjusted it the wrong way.

A little over 3 with Karina and Ryan in the Park. Then a couple 5 mile loops around Oakbrook to get my footpod dialed in. One at 8:00 and another at 8:45 pace. Syncing it up with the GPS is super easy and gets it pretty close, but the calibration number can still be adjusted manually to fine tune it by running a known distance. I think I finally nailed it. I'll get to test it out with a practice run on the Tunnel Marathon course Monday morning. It's supposed to automatically switch to the footpod when it loses GPS signal and then back again when the signal returns. We'll see...

23 at race pace for the most part.

The footpod worked like a champ in the tunnel!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/785081455

Day one in S Korea. 10 miles along some river I haven't figured out the name of yet, then a visit to Suwon Fortress and some shopping.

10 miles the other direction along the path next to Geum River. The bugs were thick this morning!

10.6 miles around the neighborhood. Tour de rice paddy. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/789712632

5 miles along the Geum River on the way out, then a more scenic route through some neighborhoods and rice paddys on the way back. The bugs are a lot easier to deal with when wearing sunglasses.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/792586456

Long run with Roger and Kevin. Lots of bridges and bugs today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/795186133

Quick 5 @7:03 pace before work.

3:50:00 Pacer My first pacer fail. Months of training, planning, and prior experience on the course is no guarantee of success. A lot of things can go wrong in 26 miles and today I fell apart on the home stretch. My day started at about 3:00am with a chilly motorcycle ride to North Bend to catch the 5:20 shuttle to the start area. When I got there about 5:45, I jumped right in helping with bib pickup and worked until the start at 7:30. I had another great group of runners with me including Georgia from TCM back in May. She PR'd by 20 minutes and nearly qualified for Boston at that race and was running with me again today for another BQ attempt. A few people in the group were pretty talkative and the miles went by quickly. We were right on pace all the way through mile 25 and I felt great aside from being a little hungry. My BQ runner fell back during ths mile, but we were close enough that I knew she would still make it. I fell off pace a little duriing mile 26, then completely fell apart for the last bit. I got dizzy and started swerving all over the trail and had to walk/stagger to the finish. I have never felt that bad during a race, one minute I was fine, then BAM! I was a mess. If a medic had seen me, I'm sure I would have been pulled off the course. I recovered pretty fast after getting some food in the finish area, so considering I missed breakfast and ran this one on empty, I'm guessing it was just a poor fueling issue. I'm happy that I didn't blow up earlier in the race. So... Train, plan, practice, pray,... But don't forget to eat your Wheaties! The good news is that Georgia did hang in there for the BQ this time.

Distance Split pace
1.00 8:50
2.00 8:50
3.00 8:49
4.00 8:43
5.00 8:46
6.00 8:37
7.00 8:42
8.00 8:43
9.00 8:40
10.00 8:39
11.00 8:44
12.00 8:48
13.00 8:42
14.00 8:46
15.00 8:33
16.00 8:34
17.00 8:32
18.00 8:33
19.00 8:44
20.00 8:34
21.00 8:37
22.00 8:43
23.00 8:40
24.00 8:46
25.00 8:48
26.00 9:01
26.63 15:12
 

1/2 hour on the TM. I got sent to Spokane for work again.

11:3am

10 miles in the sun. Happy Father's Day!

4.5 with Ryan in the park, then a lap around Oakbrook.

Started at 7:50 and worked my way down to 7:00 dropping about :06 per mile, hills and all.

3.75 with Karina.

Nice run considering I almost got blown up by a sparkler-bomb.

4.75 mile warmup with Ryan at 5:45 before he went to work.

8:30 "Race"

I ran this just to participate in our community thing. At first I planned to run it super easy with some friends that were visiting for the weekend, but they decided to sleep in instead.

Since I was on my own I decided run it at 8:00min miles(my 1/2 marathon pacer speed). The steep downhill start made the first mile fly by in 7:15 before I knew it so I just kept it steady until the end. It was a fun run with lots of flags, kids and strollers moving much faster than I was.

My 3rd place AG finish was totally unexpected.

3.15 with Karina, then 13.1 around Gravelly Lake.

5 with Ryan.

Been having some achilles pain 8n the mornings for a while that is getting progressively worse. Finally went to the doc and got put on a 6 week break. Achilles tendonopathy and a little bone spur on the back of my heel :(

After 3 months of rest, PT and nitro-glycerin patches, the doc did the dry needling thing to my achilles and heel on Tuesday. OUCH!

Another week in a boot and some more PT after that should make me good as new.

I would do it all over again on the other foot for the blessing I received this week. I got to meet my sister for the first time. Words can't describe how happy I am right now.