Psalm 91:1 NKJV He who dwells in the secret place

Ran 14.2 miles in an overall 6:41 pace in 1:35 in a snowing blowing mess. Did some medium MP miles but not a very hard effort 70%. Did some miles in 6:3ish and 6:2ish range. I give more of a report later. Very slick so I had to be careful.

 I did this run with no water or fuel before or during the run which I would usually eat a banana if the run is over 13 miles but I didn't today.  It really didn't affect me in the run.  I don't know why but I was in a hurry to get out the door to run this morning and I really did have anything to do today but Christmas shop later.  This was a very cool and windy run and most all of it was in a headwind and very slick on the roads.  85 miles to end the week is good so I'm happy with that.

While Christmas shopping my work phone sent me a text alert that one of our server hard drives failed so I spend from 6pm to 11:30pm working on that  (this was on a Solaris Sun Fire V440 Server if your a computer geek).  I guess you know now why I'm up blogging so late.  No running tomorrow.

This morning was a warmer morning to run, but we had 35 mph wind gusts.  It would knock me back to below a 8 minute pace. Warmer temperature but we just had to have the wind gusts.  I guess the perfect running days are over with for a while.  Although I was really in no hurry to get out of bed after a issue after yesterday which I will explain more later.

I ran 8.1 miles at an overall 7:14 pace in 58:35.  I had a really bad headache this morning.  Part of it do to the lack of sleep from work.  Yesterday was a rough day on me in a number of ways.  

Lunch I ran 4.6 miles with the last .6 under a 6 minute pace on the treadmill at home.

My wife saved my life yesterday and I'm serious when I say that.   I will explain what happen.  I was eating an apple Sunday morning along with a banana while getting ready for Church, and the apple got lodged in my throat or further down I'm not really sure.  All of a sudden I had a burning sensation in my throat and I couldn't breath.  I went into the bathroom and tried to stick my hand down my throat to try to vomit.  That didn't work I tried this for two minutes.  I struggled  back into the kitchen and throw my banana down out of my other hand (don't know why I still had that in my hand), and I started gasping for breath.  My wife came overr and  said "whats wrong", but I couldn't talk or breath and I was at the point were I felt I was going to loseconsciousness (this is now probably 4 minutes in the choking phase) .  My wife noticed my face and hands were blue so she got behind me and did the choking technique your suppose to use on adults (she and I are CPR certified)  and deposits came out, but I was still choking.  She did it again and more deposits came out.  After the second time I drink some water and I was still not able to breath and she did it again and the water came out and I felt like something drop in my throat and I was fine after the three attempt.  My wife quickly gave me mike to coat my stomach and that really helped. 

I'm grateful for my wife, because I would have been in trouble if she wasn't there.  What would we do without our spouse.  After this event I was really weak the rest of the day and had a hard time putting up our Christmas lights and my breathing wasn't right, but I feel better today except I did feel strong on my runs and still a little weak.  Could by that it was such a shock to my system.

Below is the warning signs for choking and I was on the last stage.

• Recognize the warning signs of obstruction in the throat or windpipe:

an inability to talk

troubled or noisy breathing

the inability to cough forcefully

making the universal "choking sign"

lips, skin and nails turning blue or a grayish color

panic

loss of consciousness

Today I ran 10.11 miles in a 6:34 pace overall in 1:06.

I woke up with a extremely bad headache and almost decided to can the run. But I got out of bed and got the running gear on and headed out the door. It was 39 degrees so it felt real warm, but we still have the famous wind. I really should have put shorts on today rather than tights.

I did a 4 mile tempo the effort felt harder than it should. The old man legs were heavy today

6:15 (trying to get warmed up in a headwind)
5:43 (didn't feel too bad on a flat portion of the course)
5:55 (effort felt harder than it should I stopped pumping my arms .25 uphill and .25 downhill)
5:52 (still felt harder than it should headache wasn't helping any. I was thinking the weekend was catching up with me)
6:01 (I had to stop for a second because I almost got hit by a car that wasn't paying attention and it knock me off my pace and which would have probably put me under 6)

I thought about doing one more tempo mile, but I turned in a strong headwind and gave up that idea fast.

Little disappointed but I'll take it since I've slacked off on the tempo runs. I feel the aerobic miles over the winter will help my speed in the spring/summer.

Lunch: Ran 4.9 miles on the treadmill.  First mile I did at a 8:23 pace I wanted to make sure I got warmed up because of the tempo run this morning.   Did 3 minutes at 5:30 on the last miles. Very uneventful run watching TV and running at home. 

This morning I was woke up by my Cell Phone paging me about a critical web server at 3:20am so I got up fixed the issue and was back in bed by 3:50, but I couldn't go back to slept.

I was so tired on the run and was sluggish. I ran 9.43 miles at a 6:56 pace. I think I will take the rest of the day off from running. There's no gain in training when your tired with not enough sleep.

Ran just enough tonight to reach 10 miles for the day. 

Mostly an easy run this morning. I ran some faster consecutive miles (6:23, 6:08, 6:14) very hilly route. I haven't done this route for a while so it was good. I ran 11.42 miles in an overall 6:44 pace in 1:17. In over 2 miles I went up 300ft in elevation and back down the other side 300ft drop over 2 miles. Good run and different which is nice for a change.

 Lunch:

Ran 5.3 on the home Tread Mill while watching a Christmas show.  Did the first mile in 7:30 and the next mile in 7:10 and the rest under 7.  I basically did a progressive run.
 

Only ran 7 miles for today and will not run at lunch. I want to be fresh for the 5k tomorrow. Right now I have no set goal, because the weather will play a factor tomorrow. I did 6 x 100 strides at the end of the run.

This was a great race.  First off I want to thank Jeff for his friendship.  He warmed me up before the race by running the first part of the course so I could get an idea how the layout was.  He's an awesome runner and a great guy.  He even offered to allow me to take a shower after the race at his house so that I could go see my client.  My wife also went so after I took care of the business I had we went Christmas shopping and then on a date, and ate at the Olive Garden just the two of us.  It was nice to spend time with my wife allow.

Running this race I really didn't know what to expect since I haven't ran a 5k for three years.  I basically started out a little slower at first on the first mile at 5:47 which really wasn't smart and I could have ran it faster, but I wanted to see how I felt.   Jeff and the other 24 year old runner were in first and second and I wasn't too far behind.  Jeff looked really good and in control.  The traction was definitely a factor it was very slippery and you had to be careful on the corners.  The second mile I gained ground on the front two and past the 24 year old runner right after the 2 mile marker.  The third mile I picked up the pace and  realized  I need to start to make a move but I realized I made a distance error and picked it up too late on the third mile when I still had energy left at the finish.  Jeff did great 16:54 and then I came in at 17:00.  I'm not sore and could have ran this race faster since I felt a little conservative in the race.  But it's a good learning experience for me to know what I can do and what I can work on to even get better. 

Going into the race I really didn't know what time to expect since I'm really fairly new at racing so I do need to be more aggressive.  I know thats one area I will work on in the races.  I'm very excited and know I have faster times ahead.

Jeff deserved the win and looked really good.  We ran about a 2 mile cool down together after the race.

Decided to run today to test out my New Saucony Grid Trigon 4 shoes.  Thanks to Jeff  I got  $10.00 off and got an excellent deal (thanks again Jeff).  Their a very nice shoe and I like them.  I ran with the dog for 3.3 miles at a 6:23 pace 21:04.  The dog wanted to run fast so I went with it.  On the last mile he picked it up more and I just decided to see what he wanted to do so we did the last mile in a 5:44 pace.  Shoes are very nice.  I'm not sore at all from the 5k.  Do you think this might be I didn't push hard enough?

My Cowboys win by a close call against the Lions. 

Nice run in the snow today and not really that cold. Really had to worry about traction issues this morning very slick roads. I ran 10.2 miles in an overall 6:51 pace in 1:10. Very easy run. I really felt like I was running slower and the run was done with really not much effort. I like days like these, but could do without the snow.

Not sure yet what my plans are for the next race, but I'm sure I'll find something close. I'll try to run on my lunch hour on the TM today.

Lunch: Ran 5.3 miles on the home treadmill in 35 minutes. Watched how New England destroyed the Steeler's and how my Cowboys beat the Lions which they didn't deserve to win that game the way they played. The snow here is coming down pretty hard.

Evening:

Ran 3.21 miles with my wife in Snow and 15 degrees weather. She wanted to get out and run which really surprised me because of the weather. But she's really determined to stay fit and become a better runner. I'm so proud of her because she's determined to accomplish a goal and I know she will achieve it. We climbed an overpass that was packed with snow and she impressed me how she climbed the hill in the snow. Good run to end the night.

According to the weather this morning it was 0 degrees with the wind chill it was -7. I dressed in three layers on the top and headed out. Didn't feel cold on the run other than my hands at about 40 minutes into the run. I ran 8.2 miles at an overall 7:08 pace in 58.26 minutes. It was very slick so as much as I could I would find snow pack to run on.

The fastest miles I did was 6:55, and 6:53. This was a relaxing run and didn't want to push the pace at all. It's suppose to be really cold all week. I'll probably run some on the treadmill at home on my lunch hour.

 Lunch:

Ran 5.8 miles in 40 minutes on home treadmill.  3 miles at a 2% grade under 7 minutes.  Jeff gave me the ideas after I read how he mixed up the elevation, and I realized I haven't done this lately on my treadmill runs (Thanks Jeff).  I don't feel I've done enough speed work on my uphills and need to work on that. 
 

Nice cold morning again a nice 8 degrees with a 7mph wind. I put hand warmers in my gloves today and that worked very well. I ran 9.2 mile at an overall 6:41 pace. The first 4 miles I didn't look at my splits I just ran by feel. Looking at the splits in the end it was like running a progressive run. On the 7th mile I decided to run a fartlek and did that mile in 6:05. Then halfway in mile 8 I decided to just run the rest of the way as a long fartlek (splits: 6:18, 5:49) overall a very good run.

Did this run in my new Saucony Grid Trigon 4 I wish I would have bought another pair with these shoes being discounted at Sports Authority.

Lunch:

Ran 5.2 miles at an overall 6:38 pace in 34.33 minutes outside at 22 degrees. I didn't have to be at home today on my lunch hour to help my Wife with our daycare business so I did the run from my office. I went up over the hospital which the first three miles is almost all uphill then the last two are flat and downhill. I did the last two in 5:17, 6:23. I wanted to push the pace a bit to end the run, and I only wanted to be away from the office for about 30 minutes today.

Evening:

Run 2 miles with my wife at a 12 minute pace and then 2.5 miles by myself at a 7:30 pace. Then I ran with my 3 year old son who did .42 at a 20:34 pace and his max pace was 11:45. Very good for a 3 year old. Vance loves running and is full of energy. My 8 year old daughter Grace also followed along. My son loves to run and he wants to always do it with my wife. It's fun to watch him get excited about running. Grace I believe can compete when she gets older in running.

I was excited this morning because it was warm 17 degrees and no wind it was great compared to the previous days. Today I ran an easy run with a lot of hills. The longest stretch for all the hills I climbed was .6 of a mile. Very nice run and I enjoyed it. Totals 10.5 miles at an overall 7:04 pace in 1:13. I did some strides towards the end of the run. Ended the last mile at a 6:11.

I still haven't got my fast running blog gear to show it off on my runs yet, but I'm sure it will be here soon.

 Evening I ran 3.1 miles with my 11 year old daughter Dallyce at a 9:32 pace.  Dallyce really has a lot of talent.  This run didn't make her tired at all even in the packed snow at 22 degrees.  She pick the route and wanted to practice her uphill running.  If Dallyce's stays consistent in running she could be very good in the sport in the future along with her love for soccer.

After that I ran .7 (almost a mile) with my 3 year old boy Vance who wanted to run outside with daddy.   He never stopped once.  He would have kept going but he fell in the snow and started crying and wanted "mommy!".  My 8 year old daughter Grace ran with us and then she ran ahead.  Grace really has a lot of talent in running and was on the Girls on the Run program this last summer.
 

I decide to do a long aerobic run today nothing fast. I ran from my house out to ross park which is going out on main then I turned on 1st street which is a long flat stretch. Than I looped back around and headed back on 4th street which again is a long flat stretch. I took some side roads to add some hills on the long run. I didn't take any water and really didn't need any. I put one gel in my jacket just in case I got hungry which I did at mile 11 (I didn't snack on anything before the run). I ran 17.3 miles at a 7:06 pace in 2:02. Picked up the pace a bit on the last 6 miles to end the run. The snow was packed pretty good on all the roads so it would have been hard to do a real fartlek at the end which I was thinking about doing.

The temperature was 20 degrees when I started at 6:40am which felt very nice other than the 10 mph headwind. I hit the high mileage mark this week, and will do so next week, but not as many. The Christmas week I will run probably half of what I'm doing now so that I can enjoy the week with my family since I'm off all week. Beside that will really give me some fresh legs for the following week.

Lunch:

I ran an easy 3.1 miles at a 12:29 pace with my wife  who did awesome.  She's ran 9 miles this weeks and I'm proud of her.  She at fight through the wind that was blowing.  She needs to keep building the base miles each week.

Then I did a 3.2 mile run on my own (6:48, 6:31, 5:49).  I wanted to pull one fast mile out of the hat today which I didn't decide to do until 1/3 into the mile.  I wish I would have decided earlier because I did one quarter in 4:50 pace.

This morning I didn't have a lot of time. My wife, kids and I were helping the Salvation Army stack food shipments from donations around our city and also sorting toys out that were donated by a local business. We helped do this a few weeks ago also.

I ran 9.01 miles at an overall 6:41 pace in 1 hour. Last few mile splits were (6:28, 6:23, 6:23, 6:21, 6:18) last mile cool down at 6:36. Really an uneventful run in the dark.

Ran 8 miles this morning at 6:47 pace. I got up late so I was in a hurry. I picked the pace up the last few miles on an uphill 4 miles than downhill 4 miles course. Split last few miles (6:04, 6:26, 6:18, 6:28) nothing that really was a hard effort.

 Lunch: I with my wife and the dog on on my lunch hour.  My wife is doing very well, and even when it gets tough there's not quit in her.  We both over-dressed for this run of 3.6 miles ( ran little bit longer than my wife to let the dog take-off at a faster pace).  It was fun and I really enjoy running with my wife.

10.6 miles. Pace: 6:33. Time: 1:09
Good run today little faster than I wanted to run, but I got up late because I'm working on a computer on the side for a customer. The system comes up with "a Disk error occurred" and I replaced the disk and everything works except sometimes it hangs at the window logo with the new disk in place. This only happens on a cold boot. When I just restart Windows ( yes I know the worst operating system made), the system comes up fine.. This had me up till after midnight, and my troubleshooting has led me to believe that it could be a problem with a component on the motherboard. There is a bios upgrade which I'm thinking about trying.. I changed the bios to load defaults. Okay I don't know why I'm rambling about this here, but it's a blog right?

Anyway, I didn't want to get up, but knew I wanted to at least get 10 miles in so I ran a little faster, but the effort wasn't hard. I just wanted to run at a slower pace with the high mile week last week. My plan is to only shoot for 70 miles this week. I ran up and down everyone of our downtown streets this morning which was different and fun. This time of year with the Christmas lights the runs are very enjoyable. Last few mile splits (6:27, 6:26, 6:33, 6:14, 6:23).

I'm hoping to get a run in on my lunch hour.

Lunch 6 miles with the dog.  I wanted to go slow, because I had an ear ache and wasn't feeling the best the dog had other ideas.  First mile 6:39 okay maybe he will get tired.  Not too fast, but I was thinking 7 minute miles.  Second Mile 6:06, its like the dog was thinking we were trying out for the Olympics or something..  Third mile 6:29 okay dog its time to cool your jets (mostly a small gradual uphill).  The last few miles were around high 6:30's for a 6:33 average overall.  He finally seemed to settle down the last couple, and that felt good since we were running in a very strong headwind.

Ran in heavy snowfall this morning with the wind blowing at my face for, 4 of the miles. Ran 10.4 miles at an overall 6:43 pace. Ran the last two miles faster just to have some speed in the run (6:24, 5:57). Good run and the temperature was a toasty 35 degrees that was very nice. Can't decide if I should do a tempo tomorrow or just an easy run.

Evening

ran 3.2 on the treadmill and didn't have enough time to run further.  Our kids had school presentations they were doing tonight. Lunch hour I  had a meeting so the only time I could press any miles in was right after work.

12.30 miles at an overall 6:57 pace in 1:25

Very windy day the miles were sort of tough with the 25 to 30mph wind gusts and a light snow falling. Tougher ran even when I tried dropping my pace to like a 7:30. I did 5 x 100 strides at the end and that felt good. I was tired in this run from staying up to midnight again working.

Lunch:

Originally, I was going to run outside today.  But it was a complete mess of snow/rain coming down.  The wind was blowing very strong, and the streets were just puddled.  I only had my racing flats with me and I didn't want to ruin them.  I went to Gold's Gym where I have a membership, and ran 9.2 miles on the treadmill in exactly 1 hour.  I warmed up for the first two and did a couple in 6:30, a couple in 6:18, and a couple under 6.  Nice run, but I would have rather ran outside.  

I skipped my work's holiday potluck, because I didn't want to eat all that junk.  I wanted to stay disciplined and eat my Bagel,  raw oats with honey, and a thing of low fat Yogurt.  Believe me sometimes you have to have will power.  I didn't want to digest something that would mess up this weeks runs.

Last night we had heavy snowfall so the roads were covered and slick. This morning I decided to run outside anyway rather than on the tread mill, even though the wind was still strong. Most of the roads I ran on were not plowed yet. I did 9 miles at an 7:07 pace in 1:04 which is amazing because it really felt like a 7:40 pace. I didn't pay much attention to my pace, because I didn't care. With the snow and the slick roads all I wanted to do was be careful.

After running 9 miles on my second run yesterday I didn't want to run on a treadmill. There's just something about being outside that makes your run so enjoyable. I really dread running on a treadmill but there are times where it's for the best. I did manage to finish the last three miles in the high 6 minute range.

Lunch:

Still running outside on the wonderful powered snow. I didn't run that great because my energy level wasn't quite where it should have been for this run. I didn't eat enough breakfast after my first run (a bowl of cereal) and I did my second run within 3 hours of the first run. I need to learn that nutrition is important here when you do runs so close together. Anyway the run was 8 miles in 56:10 at an overall 7:10 pace. You couldn't push off the road, because it was either too much snow or icy.

Did a loop around the city area, around several different streets that I haven't gone down before, and loop around the mall. Then I headed back to my house. 12.1 miles at an overall 6:51 pace. I did 6 x 100 strides at the end of the run. Very uneventful other than I almost wiped out on some black ice, but I caught my balance. I was thinking of Sasha when this happened, because of his fall.

Lunch Time:

Ran with my wife it was fun for 2.62 miles at a 12:22 miles. It was slick in some spots. The sun was out and the wind was calm so it was a fun run.

Evening:

Ran .4 with my 8 year old daughter at a fast 8:30 pace for her.

Ran one Mile today and nothing else to say.

9.4 miles at an 6:31 pace in 1 hour.

Christmas Eve and the weather wanted to give us a whiter Christmas than we already were going to have. I ran in a heavy wind (25 to 30 mph wind gusts) and snow today it was really a tough run. I originally wanted to do a tempo run but when I saw the weather I thought no way. I slept in today and left around 10am, because I'm making this a major cut-back week to enjoy the family. I will only be running once a day this week and nothing on Christmas Day.

The first 5 miles were in a headwind and tons of snow coming down and I averaged a 6:45 pace. The last four miles were in a cross wind and I wanted to end them with a strong run. Splits were (6:16, 6:01, 6:24 and 6:16) all in all a pretty decent run on Christmas Eve. The effort was tougher than normal at this pace.

Merry Christmas very one!!!!!!!!!

No run today, but great family time. I consumed enough food that I will need to burn calories tomorrow. I probably won't eat very good the rest of the week. I deserve to indulge, because I've been on a very strict food watch for along time. This week I'm going to enjoy my family, and some fun runs and eat a lot of good food.

9.2 miles at a 6:56 overall pace in 1:03 in a heavy wind and snowfall.  I wore my new underarmour tights and underarmour cold gear mask.  What a great product underarmour is.  I never slipped, but I was making sure that my footing was good.

Was going to run with my wife later, but we got too busy having fun. 

10.33 miles at an overall 6:41 in 1:08. Very snowy windy run again today around 18 degrees. I almost fell once, but I caught my balance. The snow was really coming down hard as well has the wind was blowing good. I did manage to find some traction on the main roads which I mostly did this run on.

Lunch:

2 miles in 12:16 in 24:45 : Went for a run with my wife after about a couple of hours after I got done with my run. My wife struggled a bit with her breathing, but she toughed it out and finished the run.

Today I ran a longer aerobic run of 17.51 at an overall 7:01 pace in 2:02. I ran everywhere. Downtown on Main st, and than uphill on Buckskin Rd. to our Hospital which is a 2 mile stretch. The temperature was 18 degrees with an 18mph wind that was really cold hitting the face. With the wind chill factor the temperature was 8 degrees according to the weather's web site. I ran 10 miles into the head wind then I had to turn around because my forehead couldn't stand the cold wind anymore.

I wanted to test my new mittens out with a long run in this bad cold weather to see how my hands would do (I know I'm a sick person to want to run long in extreme windy, cold weather). These mittens were excellent and my hands didn't get cold like they usually do (Thanks to my Wife's Christmas present to me). Mittens seem to work better for me in the extreme cold than what I've used before.

I didn't take a gel, and I didn't drink water or anything else for the whole run. I wanted to see how my body would handle this. My energy level seemed fine, but I could tell on the last mile that I could have used a little bit of an energy pick-up.

When I walked into our house after the long run my wife asked if I would run a faster mile with her right now, and I said okay. She wanted to see how far she could run at a 9 minute pace. She did .45 before she was out of breath. Than we walked/jogged for a minute and picked the pace back up again and did this one more time before we finished with a total of 1.3 mile 16 :14 minutes. Very good speed work for her, and it was her idea.

8.42 miles at an overall 6:35 pace in 55:32 minutes.  Very windy, snowy run again.  I really sound like a broken record.  I picked the pace of today a little.  I wanted to run a little fast but not at tempo pace.  I do need to put in some speed miles next week.  The wind was a factor again, and the snow was not coming down very hard so that was nice.

8.22 miles at an overall 6:36 pace in 54:20. I ran 5 of the miles in a 25 to 35 mph headwind at 10 degrees. My whole face was covered with my Underarmour cold gear mask. I was surprised how well I did in the headwind. My fastest mile was only 6:27 not even at tempo pace, but this was just an aerobic run before church this morning. Normally I don't run on Sunday's, but I wanted to take Monday off instead, unless I run with my wife.

Night run:

I started to develop a cold yesterday and today it was worst so at about 11:20pm tonight
I couldn't sleep so I decided to go downstairs and run on the treadmill to sweat a little.  I thought maybe it would help me sleep.  I ran 5.25 in 35 minutes probably a stupid choice to run so late, but when you can't sleep running might relax my body.  Now if my wife finds out she will kill me, because she wanted me to get some rest.

  I will not run tomorrow. 

UPDATE: