Rain and the desire to cycle

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

Currently being edited, check back soon!

Final 5K of the year!

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

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

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!

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

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...

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!

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

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

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

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

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....