Noob Runner

Back pain

2009-01-20T13:30:00.001-05:00

So I haven't been running lately... last Friday I somehow pulled something in my back. That day was the worst, but now the pain is manageable. This coming Friday, depending on how I feel I will probably head out for a short run.

After all, training for the '09 Mini Marathon begins in February!

2008 Mini Marathon (My First Half!)

2008-05-04T22:46:00.006-04:00

I did it! I ran my first half marathon! I finished the 2008 500 Festival Mini Marathon in 2:29:04.

Click here for a slideshow of pics. (There are less than 30 pics, and it switchs fast, so it's easier to just stop it and move forward at your own pace.)

I will be updating this later on...

Rain and the desire to cycle

2008-03-18T09:01:00.003-04:00

OK, so last week on Thursday, it was the most georgeous day ever in March... slightly sunny with a light brezze and in the 60'Fs. I just had to go out running, so I got my 6-mile long run in. Also, during that day, I passed a cyclist on the road while I was driving home. Suddenly I have this HUGE itch to get out on the roads on my bike.

My friends (Jake & Gabe) in Illinois have been out biking for several weeks now, training for the mountain bike racing season. This week I wanted to get out an older road bike and get new tubes and tires for it, but so far this week has been raining!!! :(

Also, my schedule never seems to empty a little... college, high school, running, and my current job search is taing up most of my time. That's not including family, and the computer certification that I'm studying for...

Anyway, I just needed to rant about the weather a little...
Take care ya'll!

2008 Get On The Stick 5K

2008-02-18T21:16:00.004-05:00

So I ran my first 5K of the year, the 2008 Get On The Stick 5K on Saturday (Feb 16th). I was hoping for a PR, but my week of training leading up to the race was lackluster and it was below freezing when the gun went off.

It was at a local high school, and part of the course was on a popular rails-to-trails running/biking/walking trail, so I knew the area well. It was advertised as a flat course, and it was pretty flat, but there were a few easy hills...

I ran the first mile in around 9 minutes, I was at 19 minutes by the 2nd mile and I finished in 30:22. I will break sub-30 next time! I've done it before, I think I just need decent weather for breathing to pull it off.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and I feel great heading into week 2 of my training for the Mini!

Sub-30 on a 3.2miler

2008-02-04T21:31:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty pumped today... my run was a 3.2 miler. I ran the first 2 miles easily, but fast, and then the last 3/4 miles I cranked up comfortably, and broke 30 minutes on a run longer than a 5K! 3.2 in 29:45! This is great for me, and I'm pretty happy! I have a 5K in two weeks, and PR might be possible...

2008 Bop to the Top - 37 floor stair climb

2008-02-03T23:11:00.001-05:00

Well, I made it! All 37 floors of the Bop to the Top, a "run-walk-crawl" up the stairs! Let me tell you, it was quite the experience...

I get to the One America Tower about 8:45AM with my Dad. I turn in my form which basically said that I died or something my parents couldn't sue the race organizers for forcing me to over-exhert my body. (OK, maybe not) I got my bib and chip, #260, and left my running pants, long tech tee and jacket at the gear check. I opted for gloves, running shorts and a short sleeve tech-tee, which is what most of the other racers chose too.

I headed to the restroom, then towards the waiting area for runners. After stretching and warming up I headed back the restroom to eliminate any need during the race. The "Now Serving..." number went from 250 to 300 and I headed towards the start. I was walking next to a guy with the bib #261 wearing the shirt from the Race to the New Year that I did. Coincidence?

The nervousness hit me when I saw that line was very short, only two people in front of me! Then I was on the mat... 3...2...1...GO! And I was off! I wildly stabbed the play button on my iPod Nano to start my 10-minute power song playlist, but it didn't start. I kept flying up the stairs and tried again. This time the songs started right up, much to my relief.

I was taking the steps two at a time using my hands to help haul my body up. Before floor 10 I passed a guy sitting down on one of the landings. He looked exhausted. About floor 10 I had to slow down and start walking up the stairs. I began to run up one floor than walk one; then run one and walk two floors. I came within one floor of passing another guy, but he stayed ahead of me.It was nice and cool in the stairwell from all the open doors, but my lungs were on fire and my legs were screaming and tired. About floor 20 I was breathing as fast I could, but it was getting hotter in the stairwell. I began hearing voices at floor 34, and I thought it was somebody coming behind me, but it wasn't. I powered up the last floors and finished running; my time was 8minutes and 11 seconds (8:11).

At the top I got my chip cut off, grabbed a cup of water and sat down on the floor. I was tired and experiencing some slight dizziness and nausea. After about 10 minutes I got my long sleeve tshirt and got into the elevator line. I had to sit down in the line because I thought I really might throw up. The guy in front of me did the same and when he got up, he must have blacked out for a second because he just walked into a wall and seemed to snap out of it. Once we were in the elevator, I came pretty close to loosing what remained of my breakfast, but I made down to earth. Once I started walking I felt much better.

Well it was a very fun, but tortuous experience, one that I probably will end up repeating. If you have never done a stair climb, I recommend you try at least one.

Here's some pics of the race (I'm not in there).

37 floor stair climb tomorrow!

2008-02-01T21:48:00.000-05:00

So tomorrow I will be running, walking and crawling up 37 floors worth of stairs! It should be exciting... I put together a 10-minute power saong playlist on my iPod Nano to help me get though it.

I'll be leaving here around 8AM... I'll let ya'll know how it goes!

3.8 in 39.05

2008-01-15T19:24:00.000-05:00

A nice run today with my cousin, Jamie. We are running together every once in a while in training for our first half marathon in May.

I want the new Garmin 405

2008-01-10T12:38:00.000-05:00

Garmin released a new watch, the Forerunner 405. Awesome!

Here's an article about it... it goes into much more detail.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/01/03/garmin-forerunner-405-and-i-just-bought-the-205/

Now, excuse me... I have some more drolling to do...

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T20:24:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

In 2008 I plan to run at least 500 total miles, run my first 10K, and my first half-marathon!

Run to the New Year 5K race report

2007-12-29T17:28:00.000-05:00

Currently being edited, check back soon!

Final 5K of the year!

2007-12-28T11:45:00.001-05:00

Well tomorrow is my final 5K of the year, the Run to the New Year. I am really hoping to get a PR or at least run it in under 30 minutes. Tomorrow's high is 33'F and cloudy. It's raining right now, so I hope we won't be running on ice. That would not be cool!

Yesterday I was pretty busy... I visited two local colleges (Ivy Tech and IUPUI) and enrolled in one. One of the Couselors at IUPUI was Matt M. and he'll be running the 5K tomorrow as well. It really nice to meet him, and hopefully I'll be able to say hi after the race. I got home after dark so I cut my scheduled 1.25mi run down to 0.7mi, which I slow jogged and walked in 8:59. I wanted to go slow, because I will really have to push myself during the race.

My mantra? P...R...! P...R...!

My goal for 2008

2007-12-17T17:16:00.000-05:00

I know that it's a little early to be making New Year's resolutions, but I've been thinking about it. This year I finally started running seriously, and I want next year to be a 500+ mile year. I kinda got the idea from Marathon Chris of The Extra Mile Podcast fame. She just finished the Tinkoff 1000, running over 1000 miles in a year! Congrats Marathon Chris! The Tinkoff 1000 was created by Adam Tinkoff, the Zen Runner, by the way.

So anyway, I went to the logo site that he used and made one for myself. I hope he doesn't mind...

We'll see what happens in 2008!

My training has been OK... I've been trying to run every-other-day, for about a week now and it's been going well. All of this snow and wind is killer though...

First run in the snow

2007-12-06T10:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went out for my usual 1.25mile loop run in the snow. It had already fallen, but the siudewalks weren't cleared. So I had to either run in the icy street or on the sidewalks. I alternated based on which of the two looked less icy. It was very cold, but it was nice to get out there.

Before I went out, I recorded my training update for episode 15 of the Extra Mile Podcast. My last update is in the beginning of episode 14. If you have not checked out the Extra Mile Podcast yet, I highly encourage you do do so... it is a fantastic running podcast!

Anyway, I'm going to be trying to get in 5mile+ weeks to build up for another sub-30minute 5-K attempt near the end of December. It would be a great way to end my 2007 running year with a new 5-K PR.

Vacation!

2007-11-23T20:15:00.000-05:00

I write this hurried post in the midst of packing up for a vacation... we are going to be staying at a resort in Illinois through next week. It should be a lot of fun, and I hope to do some running on the trails the resort has. (They don't have a treadmill.)

I'll try to update my training logs on Buckeye Outdoors and Runner's World with my out-of-state jaunts when I can.

Keep on running, and I'll see you later!

Happy Thanksgiving! - The Drumstick Dash

2007-11-22T13:54:00.000-05:00

Today I ran my longest race to date, The Drumstick Dash, a 4.5 miler. Over 5,000 people signed up for this race, which benefited Wheeler Mission Ministries, a mission that helps feed and give shelter to the homeless.

I finished in 48:13 at a 10:43 pace. I was hoping to run it in about 45 minutes, but I didn't. Here are my reasons *cough* excuses *cough*: It was 38'F, I had a cold, and I had never raced that far before. Pretty lame excuses, I know. But, I did have a cold, and I found out quickly that you cannot blow your nose while you're running. At least I can't. Anyway, I had to take quite a few walk breaks. The hills on the course were not very long or steep, but I felt them a lot in my lower legs.

Here are my splits:
Mile 1: 9:24
Mile 2: 10: 30 (19:54)
Mile 3: 12:01 (31:55)
Mile 4: 11:02 (42:57)
Finish: 48:13
I took along a small pen and a map of the course that I printed out while I was racing. At each mile, I recorded my splits as best I could while running. By the end of the race, the paper was a crumpled mess.

I finished pain-free, but tired. Happy to have raced longer than a 5-K. For a lengthy description of the race course, check out the post for the Drumstick Dash on the Run Central Indian blog.

I like the race shirt. It's a black technical tshirt from Brooks with the Drumstick Dash logo on it. It's me second long-sleeve race shirt... I wore the tech tee from my last 5-K during the race, and the ventilation was really nice.

Now, time to go eat some turkey with the family and watch some football. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

No treadmill on vacation...

2007-11-21T15:56:00.000-05:00

Today I called the resort that we'll be staying at and found out that they do not have a treadmill. Kinda annoying, but they do have trails, so we'll see how those are. Now I wish that I had purchased the Nike+ iPod sport kit for my shoes since now I won't know how far I will run. Hopefully they will have some sort of idea how long the trails are. We'll see...

Also they have limited internet connectivity so I'm not sure how much I can update this blog, or my training logs...

In advance, have a happy Thanksgiving! :)

Woohoo! '08 Mini, here I come!

2007-11-19T14:56:00.000-05:00

Well, today I signed up for the 2008 500 Festival Mini Marathon! Last year I did the 5-K, and after a lot of training this summer, I hope to complete my first half in the spring.

This weeked I took a break from running, and hung out with friends. I should get back out there this afternoon though... I have a little cold & sore throught today, hopefully that'll clear up soon!

The Drumstick Dash is in 3 days, and should be fun!

EDIT: Here's a video by somebody else about the '07 Mini for your enjoyment:

Signed up for a Thanksgiving race

2007-11-15T19:54:00.000-05:00

Today I mailed off my entry form for the Drumstick Dash, which is on Thanksgiving morning. It's 4.5 miles with a kids' run later, which my little brother will do.

Today's run of 1.25 miles went well.

'07 Spirit Run 5-K race

2007-11-03T10:57:00.000-04:00

This was my first race since being injured and not really running for 2 months. I forgot my watch and realized that right before the start. I felt great as we started off on a 40-something'F beautiful sunny morning.

Mile 1: 9:30
Mile 2: 19:14
Finished: 30:06

All of these times are "official."
This particular race, they only had timing mats at the finish, so everybody's time started at the same time. The starting gate was only like 10-feet wide so it took me about 10 seconds from the start to actually cross the start time. I'm thinking that my actual time would have been a few seconds under 30 minutes. My one-time PR of a sub-30min 5-K, was a result of a lot of training, so I think I ran quite well today!

I placed 15th in my age group. Since I run 30 minute 5-Ks, and since I'm running against every high school track star who showed up... it wasn't too bad. They had cool origami cranse for the age groupers. I finished about 134th out of about 450 or so runners and walkers.

I had a great time, and it was fantastic to be out racing again!

Watch the Olympic Marathon Mens Trials live on the Internet

2007-11-02T17:52:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is the Olympic Marathon Mens Trials. and they will be broadcast live on the internet in addition to TV.

Here's the story:
http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/about/coverage.php

Here's the Internet streaming site:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/marathon

I'll be running the Spirit Run 5-K race tomorrow... results will be up afterwards!

My first run in my new shoes

2007-10-26T17:28:00.000-04:00

This afternoon I went out for a short run in my new shoes. I ran the LL loop of 1.25 miles in 13:24. I wore the shoes around the house for a few hours yesterday to break them in. I don't think I wore them enough though. The outsides of my feet were hurting mid-run. I think that the sides of my feet have forgotten what is feels like to be supported.

But, my leg felt good. Now, after about 2 hours my leg muscle feels tighter than the other leg. The good thing is my shin splints are gone and the leg muscle isn't hot or sore.

I'm going to try to take my training slow, and alternate runs with biking.

I tried to enter my run into the Runner's World Training Log, but it kept crashing Firefox. I had gotten my old shoes down to $0.34 a mile, and I was about 25 miles from getting to 200 miles on my shoes.

Anyway, if my training goes well, I want to run the Spirit Run 5-K on November 3rd. We'll see how it goes down....

I got my new shoes today!

2007-10-25T19:01:00.000-04:00

So today I finally got my new running shoes!

They are Nike Air Structure Triax 10+. And one of the best things is that they are Nike + iPod compatible!

Here's a video I made about the shoes:

I can't wait to get out there and start running again!

Little brother's first race today

2007-10-20T17:38:00.000-04:00

Today was the Indianapolis Marathon. Originally I had planned to run the half marathon, but my injury brought my training to a screeching halt.

So, my little brother (who is days away from turning 7) ran his first race today, at the event. It was a miler and he ran it in 10:23. I ran along with him the whole way, helped him regulate his speed, take short walk breaks, and not let the other running kids make him run too fast.

He got a medal for finishing and he had a great time. He doesn't like training very much, but as you probably know, racing is much more exciting. Already he's looking for another kid's race!

My leg felt, and I was wearing my wornout running shoes. I think once I pickup up my new shoes, my training can resume. I'm excited!

P.S. Pics or links to pics should be up in a day or two...

Phedippidations WWH Tshirts

2007-10-14T21:18:00.001-04:00

For all of the runners out there who are running in the Pedippidations WWH or the Kick the Couch 5-K, Japanmike on the WWH forums created some tshirts on CafePress for the WWH. (It it non-profit, so all the money goes to the CafePress.)

Here's the link:
http://www.cafepress.com/pwwhm

Check them out!

P.S. Hopefully after work tomorrow I'll have enough money for my new running shoes... the official 5-K that I'm running for the Kick the Couch 5-K is this Saturday...

Entrant 1103 in the Kick the Couch 5-K

2007-10-10T13:52:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally went and signed up for the Kick the Couch 5-K! I was planning on running the Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon and the Indianapolis Half Marathon at Ft. Harrison, but shin splints in my right leg have had me not running for a few weeks now. My half marathon training has been halted. I'm sorta glad that I didn't sign up for the WWH when I first heard about it...

Anyway, I signed up for the Kick the Couch 5-K, and I'm entrant number 1103! My goal is to get new shoes and start running again in October. I wont be running an "official, organized race", but I'll be running 3.1 miles around the neighborhood. I mapped out a 5-K route during my earlier training.

I need to call Athletic Annex today and see if they do pronation tests, to see if my leg pain is caused by me, and/or if they'll check my shoes to see if they are wearing out. My shoes have over 150 miles on them, but they are on the low-end side.

Well, Entrant 1103 has to go work on a narrative essay... keep running!

So much for my first 10-K...

2007-09-15T06:41:00.000-04:00

AFter a very short run to limber up for today's 10-K, my righ tleg was hurting a little bit. Over 10 hours later it's still hurting. So now I'm going to have to do a 5-K walk, instaed of run my first ever 10-K! Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh!

I hope I can still run the half marathon in October....

Legs got very tight today

2007-09-10T19:52:00.000-04:00

Today's run of 4.5 miles was cut down to 2.4. My legs were getting tight, and I had to take quite a few walk breaks. There are a few reasons that might have helped me cut my mileage... I was running in 80'F weather in the afternoon, instead of early in the mrning. Also, I was listening to a podcast, Buzz Out Loud, my favorite technology podcast, while I ran.

It's strange, but I think when I listen to my iPod while I run, I don't run as well. Maybe it's because I'm expecting to zone out, and I don't, or I run faster because my mind's somewhere else, I don't know.

The one reason that might make actual sense would be, because I did the 20-mile Tour de Carmel last Saturday.

I hope my legs feel better to get in some decent training before my first 10-K this Saturday.

Buckeye workout stats

2007-09-06T21:14:00.001-04:00

In addition to entering my training workouts into the Runner's World Training Log, I am also entering the info into the Buckeye Outdoors Training Log. The Buckeye Log has much better display boxes for blogs, and the RW Log one never seemed to work for me.

So, look for a new box on the right, with my weekly training stats inside.

Running in WI, longest run & week to date

2007-09-04T22:37:00.001-04:00

We had a wedding in Wisconsin on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. We were staying with afamily that has several girls that run. I was going to ask Alisha if she wanted to run, but before I could do that, Melissa asked me if I wanted to go running. It was cool. We started out by warming up on the trampoline. We headed towards the horse barn for our first mile or so that would be mostly on grass and in the woods. It was kinda dumb to do that in the dark, but I made it out with only a few scratches, and nothing twisted. We did that in 16 minutes. We went past the house, the started doing laps around the church parking lot, which is about a mile. I ran with Alisha for the first lap to map out the course, then started walking 20-30 feet per lap to give my legs & feet a break. Our goal was to do 70 minutes, and we did. At the end we sprinted up a short, not-too-steep, paved hill. That felt great! We then removed our shoes, and walked home. It was weird, that's the longest and farthest I've run in my life, and I went the whole way without water. It was a good long run!

That wrapped up my week, and gave my month a good jumpstart.

17.4 miles this week

Volunteering at the Indianapolis Sprint Triathlon

2007-08-25T16:31:00.001-04:00

Today I volunteered at the Indianapolis Sprint Triathlon. It was a lot of fun! Since I've never participated in a triathlon before, (at all) it was neat to see all that goes on, both from the athlete's side and the worker's.

I was dropped off about 6:30AM and it was drizzling a bit. Once I checked in as a volunteer, and grabbed my t-shirt, I searched out the race director who was going to give me my orders for the day. I was going to be his gopher, doing odd-jobs, and whatever needs helped with.

One of my first jobs was to clean then fill the Gatorade and water dispensers, and take them to the various liquid stations. Then, I connected 5 hoses together, and stretched them out to the water's edge, where the athletes would be coming out after their 500 meter swim. I filled the little kiddie pool for foot-cleaning, then got ready to spray off the swimmers.

There was some algae in the reservoir that some of the athletes would want washed off. Or, they just wanted to get sprayed down with hose water.

It was pretty cool watching the different group waves start out, swim around all the buoys, and then come out of the water. Once the last swimmer was out of the water, I went to keep the finish line Gatorade station supplied with water. I also helped the director bring down the PA system from the watch tower to the finish line.

During this time, there was a little girl wandering around, not talking to anybody, and looking scared and lost. I went to tell the security, but, by the time I told them, her parents had found her, and all was well.

Once the race was over, I helped with all of the tear-down, which was hard and dirty.
Overall, it was really fun getting an inside look at a triathlon, and I hope to do one soon!

View the pictures here.

Running Podcasts

2007-08-07T10:20:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

I just wanted to post about some good running podcasts that I have found.

The Extra Mile Podcast

Steve Runner - Phedippidations

Both are great podcasts, with quite a bit of recording while running, which is great. Steve Runner has a unique perspective, and good, fun, clean humor.

Anyway, check them out...

Oh, BTW, last week I PRed at the 2007 Heather Hills (church) FunFest 5K. My time was 29:18, totally beating my previous PR of 32:23. My first sub-30 minute 5K, I'm pumped!
Here's the picture:
http://www.yourrunning.com/picture-pring_at_the_2007_heather_hills_funfest_5k

Take care ya'll!

Used my pedometer for the first time

2007-03-09T17:36:00.000-05:00

I did the 1.25mile Laurel Lakes loop today since it was 65'F today. The warmest it's been in a looong time.

Time: 15 minutes
Steps: 1525

40' weather means I get to jog finally!

2007-02-19T18:17:00.000-05:00

I did the usual 1.25 miles run, tho I didn't time myself.

10.4 mins

2006-11-03T22:32:00.000-05:00

a mile

11min mile!

2006-11-02T22:47:00.000-05:00

woot!

trail jog

2006-10-07T22:49:00.000-04:00

more later

New Balance shoes

2006-10-07T09:30:00.000-04:00

I got a pair at Meijer today. Woot!

Actual stlye and pics coming.

15 mins of jog/walk

2006-10-03T21:45:00.000-04:00

I did 1 mile in 15 minutes of jog/walk .

2006 Walk for Life

2006-09-30T11:28:00.000-04:00

I walked 2 miles today with over 1,000 other people in the 2006 Walk for Life. It was really fun and I got a neon-green tshirt. I'm thinking about volunteering next year.

1 mile in 15 mins of jog/walk

2006-09-28T19:00:00.000-04:00

I would jog for 1-2 minutes then cool down by walking for about 2 minutes then repeat and repeat again. I just need to take about 5 mintues off my time

Second outing

2006-09-25T20:09:00.000-04:00

Today's outing was similar to Saterday's. About 20 minutes; (walking 4, jogging1) My shins have been slightly painfull for the last two days... that's a good thing. (I hope LOL)

Yesterday, I talked to Jon and Micah about the '07 Indy 500 mini-marathon. So far Jon hasn't really started jogging. Micah has, and he did 4 miles on Saturday. He has been jogging with a group every Monday night. So I think we are on a good start.

First walk/jog

2006-09-23T19:31:00.000-04:00

Hey! I am the Noob Runner. LOL, actually some friends and I have recently decided to run in the 2007 Indianapolis 500 mini-marathon. This blog will be where I record my jogging jaunts.

I also am a mountain biker, be sure to check out my biking blog: http://robo-mtn-biker.blogspot.com/

Today I went around Laurel Lakes, about 1 mile or so. I walked for 5 minutes, then jogged for 1, and repeated that for the entire 20 mintues. I'm trying to follow a 8 week beginning jogging plan from Running Planet. I skipped the first few days of just walking... if I can ride 20 miles (of road) in a little over an hour on my mountain bike I dont need to walk for 30 minutes.

See you on the road or sidewalk!