Well here we are.
I am one week away from my A race for the year. And I will say that after taking off a month from being injured I don't feel so bad. Of course, now that summer has decided to show up has really but a damper on things.
My original plan was to hit it hard after Cherry Blossom and go for a 2:05 time, but then the Holy Spirit decided to mess with my plans. Not to get too religious but we recently had confirmation and in the Homily the Bishop mentioned that the Holy Spirit like to mess with your plans. It just seemed to click with me.
Anyway, I will have fun and enjoy myself when I am running in the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon next weekend. Its the inaugural running of this event, plus it is literally almost in my back yard. In fact, I have run part of the route numerous times over the past years. I am sure that it will be a warm day and the humidity will come out, but I don't think there is anything that is going to stop me from having a good time.
The group that I run with be participating in the group competition. Not real sure what that is all about but we shall see. I am glad that my calf seems to be feeling much better now. I have been doing some self massaging as well as stretching some. Last week was when I got back into running. Chose a very hilly course as my first real run. It might have been part mental but I did feel my calf a bit.
Ok so I am rambling a bit and I am all over the place. It has just been such a crazy past couple of weeks.
So in the up coming months I have a half marathon in June (next weekend), nothing in July (yet), my first Duathlon in Aug. and nothing for the rest of the year. I am unsure if I am going to do anything yet. There is a duathlon in Oct that I have been thinking about doing, as well as a couple of half marathons. Oh, can not forget about the annual turkey trot that will happen in Nov. Almost got a PR last year. In fact I missed it by 36 seconds. Come to think of it I probably would have PR'd if it weren't for the fact that the weekend before I ran the Marine Corp Marathon. Oh well. Had a great time though. This year I will try to best that. Looking to get as close to 25 min for a 5 k as possible. That would be an 8 min mile pace. Something to work on.
At any rate that does bring me up to my goals/plans that I have been thinking about. I am going to start focusing on the half marathon distance. Ultimately I want to get under a 2 hour half, and for that I am going to look at "qualifying" for the half fanatics club. It looks like I will have an opportunity to do that by next spring time.
So that would be for 2012.
And for 2013, are you ready? I am putting it down on paper. I will look at running another Marathon. Which one? unsure.
I don't want to try to make too many plans because who knows what the Holy Spirit has in store for me.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Happy Memorial Day weekend
Monday, April 18, 2011
week of firsts
Well it certainly has been a very interesting week.
It has been a week of firsts for me.
To back up a little bit, on April 3rd I ran in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 miler. Had a great time and earned a PR!
I took it easy for the week after before I started getting back into training.
My sites were focused on participating in my first Duathlon and the next day doing a 10k. The same 10k course that I set my current PR on. I was getting excited. However I did have on my schedule a half marathon that I was focusing on as my "A" race.
So there I was a week and a day after Cherry Blossom and I was planning on doing my long run that I put off from the day before. I had time now as I got back involved with the Church Softball team and our games are on Monday nights. So I figured while I was waiting for the game to start I would go for a run. So I drove to the sports complex where the games were held, got my shoes on and off I went.
I ended up doing 7.5 miles on a warm and somewhat humid early evening. I was not out there looking to break any records, just wanted to get some slow easy miles in. I felt good.
So I went to the car to get my softball gear and get more water and to try some Hammer products. I bought some individual packets of the Recoverite to try. It was not bad. It says to mix with water but I am wondering if that is just a suggestion. I have used EAS protein power in the past and it says to mix with Milk or any of your favorite liquid. Anyway, it seemed to agree with me with no issues. Now to warm up my arm for the game.
So we are now into our second game and I am on first. The ball was hit and I was off. In looking at our third base coach he was waving me on to third. I touch second and start moving toward third and that is when I felt the pain. My calf. Now, I am not sure if I heard a popping sound from my leg or from my foot hitting the bag. I was in pain but able to limp over to third. I got someone to run for me and immediately put some ice on it.
The next morning I decided to stop by and see my doctor. Well I could not get in first thing but set up a time to come back later that day. After talking about a few things I guess she was concerned about my having a blood clot so they sent me to the hospital to get an ultrasound done. That was a fun experience. Well the technician came back in after and said that I did not have a blood clot. I thought to myself, duh! I am a little too active and I don't fly so........ anyway, I know that they were just being cautious. I mentioned to the technician that I was concerned that I might have tore something. She said that she could not tell that but that they would be sending the images over to my Doctor and I could discuss with them.
So the next day the doctors office called and confirmed that there was no blood clot and that I should rest the leg and ice as needed and to basically stay off until it feels better. I asked about a tear and they said that they could not tell but believe that it is only a bad sprain.
Ok. So I am following the RICE program. Its working pretty good. I am doing some cross training and upper body workouts just to try to stay as active as possible.
I do plan on visiting a physical therapist here in the next couple of days to see what he has to say. Just did not get that warm and fuzzy from the doctors office.
I will update on that later.
So not to cover the firsts that have happened for me.
I feel that I am truly injured, at least I am treating it that way. A little more then a year a go I hurt myself and was only out for about a week and a half. I feel that this is a little more serious then just a sprained muscle. I plan on being out for another week and a half to two weeks just to play it safe.
I was suppose to do my first Duathlon. Well I did not, but as luck would have it I was able to defer until the fall. I have never deferred an event before but they put on a Duathlon in the spring and one in the fall. So now I plan on doing a fall Duathlon.
I was suppose to run in a 10k, well that did not happen either. I was not able to defer on that one so count that as a DNS - Did Not Start. Another first. So I was talking to a couple of people and found out that there was a guy that wanted to run as his wife was running but they could not afford the entry fee. Well I let him run in my place. Was not concerned about getting the money back. It was good to see someone using it, rather then sitting on the couch.
It has been a week of firsts for me.
To back up a little bit, on April 3rd I ran in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 miler. Had a great time and earned a PR!
I took it easy for the week after before I started getting back into training.
My sites were focused on participating in my first Duathlon and the next day doing a 10k. The same 10k course that I set my current PR on. I was getting excited. However I did have on my schedule a half marathon that I was focusing on as my "A" race.
So there I was a week and a day after Cherry Blossom and I was planning on doing my long run that I put off from the day before. I had time now as I got back involved with the Church Softball team and our games are on Monday nights. So I figured while I was waiting for the game to start I would go for a run. So I drove to the sports complex where the games were held, got my shoes on and off I went.
I ended up doing 7.5 miles on a warm and somewhat humid early evening. I was not out there looking to break any records, just wanted to get some slow easy miles in. I felt good.
So I went to the car to get my softball gear and get more water and to try some Hammer products. I bought some individual packets of the Recoverite to try. It was not bad. It says to mix with water but I am wondering if that is just a suggestion. I have used EAS protein power in the past and it says to mix with Milk or any of your favorite liquid. Anyway, it seemed to agree with me with no issues. Now to warm up my arm for the game.
So we are now into our second game and I am on first. The ball was hit and I was off. In looking at our third base coach he was waving me on to third. I touch second and start moving toward third and that is when I felt the pain. My calf. Now, I am not sure if I heard a popping sound from my leg or from my foot hitting the bag. I was in pain but able to limp over to third. I got someone to run for me and immediately put some ice on it.
The next morning I decided to stop by and see my doctor. Well I could not get in first thing but set up a time to come back later that day. After talking about a few things I guess she was concerned about my having a blood clot so they sent me to the hospital to get an ultrasound done. That was a fun experience. Well the technician came back in after and said that I did not have a blood clot. I thought to myself, duh! I am a little too active and I don't fly so........ anyway, I know that they were just being cautious. I mentioned to the technician that I was concerned that I might have tore something. She said that she could not tell that but that they would be sending the images over to my Doctor and I could discuss with them.
So the next day the doctors office called and confirmed that there was no blood clot and that I should rest the leg and ice as needed and to basically stay off until it feels better. I asked about a tear and they said that they could not tell but believe that it is only a bad sprain.
Ok. So I am following the RICE program. Its working pretty good. I am doing some cross training and upper body workouts just to try to stay as active as possible.
I do plan on visiting a physical therapist here in the next couple of days to see what he has to say. Just did not get that warm and fuzzy from the doctors office.
I will update on that later.
So not to cover the firsts that have happened for me.
I feel that I am truly injured, at least I am treating it that way. A little more then a year a go I hurt myself and was only out for about a week and a half. I feel that this is a little more serious then just a sprained muscle. I plan on being out for another week and a half to two weeks just to play it safe.
I was suppose to do my first Duathlon. Well I did not, but as luck would have it I was able to defer until the fall. I have never deferred an event before but they put on a Duathlon in the spring and one in the fall. So now I plan on doing a fall Duathlon.
I was suppose to run in a 10k, well that did not happen either. I was not able to defer on that one so count that as a DNS - Did Not Start. Another first. So I was talking to a couple of people and found out that there was a guy that wanted to run as his wife was running but they could not afford the entry fee. Well I let him run in my place. Was not concerned about getting the money back. It was good to see someone using it, rather then sitting on the couch.
Monday, April 11, 2011
tough week
“ A road well begun is the battle half won. The important thing is to make a beginning and get under way. ”Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and writer. When I first read this it struck a chord with me. This has been a mentally tough week for me. Not to bore anyone with the details, but it does help for me to write this down like I am talking about it. On April 3rd I participated in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 miler in Washington DC. I had a great run and tore up the course. This was my third time running in this event and I have improved my time each year. Back in 2009 I had just started running for a number of reasons. I remember it so clearly. I was so nervous. All that I had in my mind was "don't let the sweep bus get you". In my training leading up to it the furthest distance that I ran was 8 miles and that was tough. Anyway, I did get through it finishing before the 2 hour 20 min time limit with a 1 hour 54 min (and change) personal best and longest distance yet. Last year I took 10 mins off of that time. This year I completed it in 1 hour 35 min and 58 sec. I was so proud and excited. So were my wife and friends that were down there. Well, our kids were with my parents so my wife and I decided to go to a nice restaurant and then to a winery after we got home and I had a chance to get cleaned up. We had a wonderful afternoon and evening. The kids did not have school the next day so they were spending more time with the grandparents. Monday morning. Here comes the tough part. My wife gets a text from a co-Teacher, "check your group wise''. My wife logs in to her email, and there it is. Here Principal had lost her battle with Pancreatic Cancer and past away the day before. The good news is that she did not suffer that long. She had been diagnosed with it just this past February. The bad news is that my wife's Mom, my mother in law, lost her battle with Pancreatic Cancer in April 2003. Being that we went through this before we knew what was coming, but it is still hard to deal with. With that in mind it has been very tough to get a work out in. There had been days that I felt that I needed one to try to clear the cobwebs from my mind and just try to get some of the emotion out. It pains me to see my wife in such sorrow and pain and there is nothing that I can do to relieve it. Our schedule has been so crazy as well. We both have had different activities come up with our kids that it has been hard to sit down and take everything in and talk about things. Everyone at the school has been crushed. Some were under the believe that she was going to beat this thing. Unfortunately, my wife and I saw the writing on the wall all too clearly. So this has been a really tough week in focusing on exercising in general. This coming weekend I have a Duathlon on Saturday and a 10k on Sunday. Crazy I know. What was I thinking when I signed up for those?!? Well I am still in decent shape from my 10 miler that I know I will complete both events. This will be my first Duathlon that I will be participating in. The distances are 1.9 mile run, 10 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. I don't think that I will go all out at the Duathlon as this will be my first time. I just want to take everything in and be able to complete the course. The 10k I ran last year and it stands as my PR of 59:19. I want to keep the momentum going and try to get closer to 55 mins. I will update next week as to how the weekend went. Thanks for reading. It helped me greatly.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Cherry Blossom 10 miler - Race report
Well another race in the books along with a new PR! It was a great event. I had a negative split and finished with a time of 1:35;58 I am so exicted. In looking in the future, I am doing a 10k in a couple of weeks along with my first Duathlon. I am really excited about that but also a little nervous. Kind of like how I felt when I did my first 5k. I know I won't have any issue with the running part, it is just the transition to and from the bike. I believe it is just a sprint duathlon as the distances are 2 mile run, 10 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. I have signed up for another Duathlon which is 2 mile run, 26 mile bike and 4 mile run. Although I am very excited about how well I did at the Cherry Blossom and very excited for the future races, I am sad today. We found out this morning that my wifes boss past away yesterday from Pancreatic Cancer. This is the same evil beast that took her mother away 8 years ago. This will be a trying time for us as we both deal with the tradegy and try our best to support each other. I would like to write more and I do hate to end on a down note, but it is all that I have to say about this today. I will try to get some pictures up from the race to hopefully add some color. Pancan.org does have a marathon training team. Team Hope. They were just approved to be a charitable organization for the New York Marathon in November. I am thinking about joining. We shall see..........
Monday, March 21, 2011
What a week
Well I have had a wild week.
So for the past couple of weeks my training has been as follows.
Monday rest, Tuesday hill repeats, Wednesday 4 miles, Thursday speed work, Friday 4 miles Saturday Brick workout Sunday long run.
With the every now and then extra cross training days during the week.
My Saturday brick is usually a short run, usually less then a mile, then a bike ride of anywhere from 10 to 15 miles then another short run of about a mile or more.
I am slowly working up to do a couple of miles before the bike then at least 4 miles after the run.
anyway back to my original idea.
Until this past week my training was ok.
This past week something seem to click.
I had a great run on Wednesday and on Friday. Thursday was not so good at the track.
Lets not forget Sundays long run.
It was great.
The goal was to do 7 miles at an easy pace then to do the last 3 miles at race pace.
The 7 miles I averaged around a 10:30 pace. I then kicked it up. Mile 8 was averaged at 9:08 pace, mile 9 was a 8:59 pace and mile 10 was at a 8:47 pace.
I was so stoked.
I am really looking forward to the Cherry Blossom run in a couple of weeks.
Can not wait to see what I can do................
So for the past couple of weeks my training has been as follows.
Monday rest, Tuesday hill repeats, Wednesday 4 miles, Thursday speed work, Friday 4 miles Saturday Brick workout Sunday long run.
With the every now and then extra cross training days during the week.
My Saturday brick is usually a short run, usually less then a mile, then a bike ride of anywhere from 10 to 15 miles then another short run of about a mile or more.
I am slowly working up to do a couple of miles before the bike then at least 4 miles after the run.
anyway back to my original idea.
Until this past week my training was ok.
This past week something seem to click.
I had a great run on Wednesday and on Friday. Thursday was not so good at the track.
Lets not forget Sundays long run.
It was great.
The goal was to do 7 miles at an easy pace then to do the last 3 miles at race pace.
The 7 miles I averaged around a 10:30 pace. I then kicked it up. Mile 8 was averaged at 9:08 pace, mile 9 was a 8:59 pace and mile 10 was at a 8:47 pace.
I was so stoked.
I am really looking forward to the Cherry Blossom run in a couple of weeks.
Can not wait to see what I can do................
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Falling Behind
Well I am falling behind in my New Years Resolution of posting more often.
At any rate, this past week was my first week back in full swing.
I was sick. I felt very run down, low energy and very congested.
It felt great to get out there and be active. I barely had enough energy to walk.
However I will say that it gave me some time to really think about my training.
I am going to continue to do as much cross training as possible. I have an indoor trainer that I have my bike hooked up to right now. Really can not wait until it gets warmer and dryer outside.
I have some weights that I will be using and some different aerobic programs that I will be using to help build up my strength and core muscles.
I also will plan on incorporating speed-work as well as hill repeats through out the week.
I really can not wait to get things going but I have learned enough that I need to take it slow at first.
I also will be looking at earning a spot with the Half Fanatics.
After running two Marathons last year, I am thinking that it is just not the distance for me. I really enjoy the Half Marathon distance and under.
I am impressed at the people who are part of the Marathon Maniacs and just recently found out that there is another group that is focused on the half distance.
I have found 2 that are within 30 days, one of them I am already registered and the other one will open up next week. I just need to find another that is close enough within 90 days of the first one. I believe it is possible but I need to double check the dates.
Well I had a great 7 mile run this morning in preparation of running the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in April. Really looking forward to it.
Well I am going to cut it short for now. I think that is some of my issue. I want to make sure that I have enough to write about.
Thank for reading.
At any rate, this past week was my first week back in full swing.
I was sick. I felt very run down, low energy and very congested.
It felt great to get out there and be active. I barely had enough energy to walk.
However I will say that it gave me some time to really think about my training.
I am going to continue to do as much cross training as possible. I have an indoor trainer that I have my bike hooked up to right now. Really can not wait until it gets warmer and dryer outside.
I have some weights that I will be using and some different aerobic programs that I will be using to help build up my strength and core muscles.
I also will plan on incorporating speed-work as well as hill repeats through out the week.
I really can not wait to get things going but I have learned enough that I need to take it slow at first.
I also will be looking at earning a spot with the Half Fanatics.
After running two Marathons last year, I am thinking that it is just not the distance for me. I really enjoy the Half Marathon distance and under.
I am impressed at the people who are part of the Marathon Maniacs and just recently found out that there is another group that is focused on the half distance.
I have found 2 that are within 30 days, one of them I am already registered and the other one will open up next week. I just need to find another that is close enough within 90 days of the first one. I believe it is possible but I need to double check the dates.
Well I had a great 7 mile run this morning in preparation of running the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in April. Really looking forward to it.
Well I am going to cut it short for now. I think that is some of my issue. I want to make sure that I have enough to write about.
Thank for reading.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Happy New Year - 2010 in review
Well Happy New Year!
2010 sure was a great one. I ran in some good races with no regrets.
Well I am going to start off with a post that should have been put up 2 months ago.
This is my race report for the 35th annual Marine Corp Marathon.
I woke up and was very excited. This was my second Marathon that I was running. The summer was hot and the training was hard. I don't like running in the heat, but I was happy when I saw that the temperature was forcasted to be in the low 50s. NICE!
So I got myself dressed and organized my gear. I had already arranged to hook a ride with a buddy who was running as well. I met him at the local shopping center and we drove to one of the DC metro stops. We talked about the training that we did, how hot the summer was and how great the weather was going to be. We also chatted about what our goals were. My goals were as follows:
Always to just finish - or beat the bridge in this case.
knock it out of the park 4:30
main goal: 4:45
what I would live with: 5:00
So just to cover it, the beat the bridge is getting to the 14th Street Bridge just after mile maker 20 at a quicker then a 14 minute per mile pace. If you are not able to keep that pace then you will be required to board the straggler buses, taken to the event finish area and thus not completing the marathon.
Well that was not going to happen to me! And it didn't but we will get to that later.
So we get to the Metro stop and I felt a little like I had to pee but decided not to for what ever reason. This will come back to haunt me a little.
The ride on Metro was fine. A lot of other runners and spectators were riding so it was empty but not jam packed either. We had to switch trains and that went fine, no issues, except my bladder was starting to feel full. There are no public restrooms available in any of the Metro stops we were at and with the amount of people that were around there was no way to tastefully relieve myself.
So we get to the final stop and I am starting to look for a place to pee. We were let out at the Pentagon and I just did not feel comfortable just peeing anywhere. The good news if you will, was that I was moving and not standing still so I could distract myself a bit.
We walked for a while and then had to go through a check point. No big deal. The lines moved very quickly. Then we got to the runners village and the portapotties where I got in line.
Well I was finally able to get into a portapotty to relieve myself, but not without missing most of the pre-race events. The one thing that I was able to see was the flyovers of the F18s and CH53s. I almost missed the UPS truck that I needed to drop my bag off with. They were closing the back doors as I was coming up to them.
Now on the way to the start line.
As I was making my way there, along with a lot of other folks, I was slowing getting my warm up cloths off.
I had a very baggy sweet suit on that my wife wanted me to throw out months ago. I don't much like throwing things out but I will save that issue for another time.
I was using this as a throwaway/donate outfit. It was keeping me warm but it was now time to get the blood moving.
I discarded the old sweet suit as I was very close to the start line. Music was blaring. Spectators were cheering. Blood was starting to flow. I kept telling myself "not too fast. not too fast. keep it slow."
My last marathon I went out too fast and could not keep the pace going and had to walk a lot of the second half of the race. I was not making that mistake again.
As I am getting close to the start line, what do my ears hear? Justin Bieber singing Baby.
Well my daughter is in love with Justin Bieber. So I crossed the start line listening to Justin Bieber, with A smile on my face as I had a picture of my daughter in my mind. What a way to start a 26.2 mile run in and around our Nations Capital!
So here we go. The first couple of miles were nice. I was going at a nice easy pace keeping in mind that the first 3 miles go up for an elevation gain of about 120 feet. As the elevation starts to go down we come to one of the most secluded parts of the marathon route. This is part of Spout Run Parkway and it is very wooded. There are not many spectators along this part of the route, but there are some. Now we are coming up to mile 4 and crossing the Key Bridge into Washington DC.
We come into the area know as Georgetown. I started looking for my Brother in law who was also running. He is one of the main reasons why I got into running and why I still continue today. Again, this we will hold off for another time. Well as luck would have I saw him. He was coming down from the Georgetown Reservoir and I was going on my way up it. This was just after mile 5.
Now, in my opinion this is one of the harder parts of the course. From mile 6 to mile 7 your elevation goes up just about 40 feet. That is not so bad, but then from mile 7 to mile 8 you go up about 80 feet. If that was not bad enough then you start to come down. From Mile 8 to mile 9 the elevation drop is about 100 feet, then you drop about another 40 feet to mile 10. We are now on part of the course for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, which I have run before so there are really no surprises.
From here on out the elevation change is minimal, however we are now coming to East Potomac Park which is typically the dead zone. Not very many spectators. True to form, there were not many.
Well we come out of East Potomac Park and come around the Tidal Basin and head toward the Lincoln Memorial. This is on the Western part of the mall. We come around the Lincoln Memorial and start heading east down Constitution Ave. Just after mile 17 we pass by the White House on our left and the Washington Monument on our right.
What do my eyes see? My family and friends. What Joy! This was a good boost and pick me up that I needed. I was starting to feel tired and seeing them definitely picked my spirits up.
From here we are making our way on the mall toward the Capital Building. Here we had to deal with pedestrian cross traffic. It was not that bad. I had heard horror stories from some runners about how some people will walk right out in front of you while they are pushing a stroller and not even try to get out of the way. Well I did not see any of that here, of course I was also trying to pay attention so that I did not run into anybody.
Well we round the Capital and start heading back west. I was hoping that I might see some of my family and friends but I did not. The streets were really lined with people now, everyone was really cheering. It finally dawned on me as I turned the corner on to 14th street. We were headed toward the infamous Bridge. Here it is. Mile marker 20 at the start of the bridge. Well it was safe to say I beat the bridge, and no I really did not have any doubt that I would make it this far, but I am also smart enough to realize that anything can happen.
There was a sign that said something along the lines of "this bridge is your bitch". Well I could not help myself. I ran over and high 5ed the sign. I felt great. I accomplished one of my goals. By this point I was around 3:45. With just under a 10k left to go, I could see that my goal of getting in under 5 hours was there. Just needed to get over this bridge.
Well I am not really sure what happened after that. My feet started to hurt. My knees started to hurt. I was getting really fatigued. I did not feel like I was loosing energy, it was my body feeling tired. I tried pushing on but I felt the need to walk a bit. It did not help at all that the bridge was void of any spectators.
Well here I come into Crystal City. I am still hurting and now I am starting to look at my watch and focusing on the time. I was looking at my watch for most of the race, but earlier I was not looking at time, I was looking at my heart rate. I was trying to focus on keeping it as low as possible. For the most part I thought I did a good job at that. But now I was starting to get upset. As I was coming out of Crystal City, I started to see my goal of a 4:45 vanish, but I could still get under 5 hours. Had to press on.
Coming up on mile 25 near the Pentagon and the original start line my legs were really feeling it and I started to see the under 5 hour slip further and further. I started to get really down on myself.
After a brief absence of spectators while we were passing by the Pentagon, the streets started to fill up again. It was helping. I had taped my name on the front of my shirt and people were giving me encouragement. It was helping. There was a time where I wanted to sit on the side of the road and pout and cry like a little kid that did not get their way. I did not. I knew my wife was waiting for me at the finish, and so was my metal. I was going to finish!
Rounding the corner and up the incline to the Iwo Jima Memorial and the finish line.
I DID IT! I finished the 35th Marine Corp Marathon.
My official time: 5:05:37
My wife asked me if I would do another one. I was quick to answer. I said NO. Well, I have since changed my mind. I will do another marathon. I don't plan on in 2011 but I might in 2012.
I am going to change my focus now. I am going to work on improving my speed.
My PR for the 5k is 27:04. I would like to get down to 25
My PR for the 10k is 59:19 and I am really happy with that. Looking at getting under 55.
My PR for the 10 mile is 1:42:26. I would like to get it as close to 1:30 as possible.
My half marathon PR is 2:15:35. My ultimate goal would be to get it down to 2 hours.
So there it is in writing for me to look back at and say WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?!
No seriously. I feel that all of these are obtainable, but it is going to be a lot of hard work and cross training. I will get there.
Look for more posts from me. I plan on posting once a week.
thanks for reading. Any and all comments are welcomed.
2010 sure was a great one. I ran in some good races with no regrets.
Well I am going to start off with a post that should have been put up 2 months ago.
This is my race report for the 35th annual Marine Corp Marathon.
I woke up and was very excited. This was my second Marathon that I was running. The summer was hot and the training was hard. I don't like running in the heat, but I was happy when I saw that the temperature was forcasted to be in the low 50s. NICE!
So I got myself dressed and organized my gear. I had already arranged to hook a ride with a buddy who was running as well. I met him at the local shopping center and we drove to one of the DC metro stops. We talked about the training that we did, how hot the summer was and how great the weather was going to be. We also chatted about what our goals were. My goals were as follows:
Always to just finish - or beat the bridge in this case.
knock it out of the park 4:30
main goal: 4:45
what I would live with: 5:00
So just to cover it, the beat the bridge is getting to the 14th Street Bridge just after mile maker 20 at a quicker then a 14 minute per mile pace. If you are not able to keep that pace then you will be required to board the straggler buses, taken to the event finish area and thus not completing the marathon.
Well that was not going to happen to me! And it didn't but we will get to that later.
So we get to the Metro stop and I felt a little like I had to pee but decided not to for what ever reason. This will come back to haunt me a little.
The ride on Metro was fine. A lot of other runners and spectators were riding so it was empty but not jam packed either. We had to switch trains and that went fine, no issues, except my bladder was starting to feel full. There are no public restrooms available in any of the Metro stops we were at and with the amount of people that were around there was no way to tastefully relieve myself.
So we get to the final stop and I am starting to look for a place to pee. We were let out at the Pentagon and I just did not feel comfortable just peeing anywhere. The good news if you will, was that I was moving and not standing still so I could distract myself a bit.
We walked for a while and then had to go through a check point. No big deal. The lines moved very quickly. Then we got to the runners village and the portapotties where I got in line.
Well I was finally able to get into a portapotty to relieve myself, but not without missing most of the pre-race events. The one thing that I was able to see was the flyovers of the F18s and CH53s. I almost missed the UPS truck that I needed to drop my bag off with. They were closing the back doors as I was coming up to them.
Now on the way to the start line.
As I was making my way there, along with a lot of other folks, I was slowing getting my warm up cloths off.
I had a very baggy sweet suit on that my wife wanted me to throw out months ago. I don't much like throwing things out but I will save that issue for another time.
I was using this as a throwaway/donate outfit. It was keeping me warm but it was now time to get the blood moving.
I discarded the old sweet suit as I was very close to the start line. Music was blaring. Spectators were cheering. Blood was starting to flow. I kept telling myself "not too fast. not too fast. keep it slow."
My last marathon I went out too fast and could not keep the pace going and had to walk a lot of the second half of the race. I was not making that mistake again.
As I am getting close to the start line, what do my ears hear? Justin Bieber singing Baby.
Well my daughter is in love with Justin Bieber. So I crossed the start line listening to Justin Bieber, with A smile on my face as I had a picture of my daughter in my mind. What a way to start a 26.2 mile run in and around our Nations Capital!
So here we go. The first couple of miles were nice. I was going at a nice easy pace keeping in mind that the first 3 miles go up for an elevation gain of about 120 feet. As the elevation starts to go down we come to one of the most secluded parts of the marathon route. This is part of Spout Run Parkway and it is very wooded. There are not many spectators along this part of the route, but there are some. Now we are coming up to mile 4 and crossing the Key Bridge into Washington DC.
We come into the area know as Georgetown. I started looking for my Brother in law who was also running. He is one of the main reasons why I got into running and why I still continue today. Again, this we will hold off for another time. Well as luck would have I saw him. He was coming down from the Georgetown Reservoir and I was going on my way up it. This was just after mile 5.
Now, in my opinion this is one of the harder parts of the course. From mile 6 to mile 7 your elevation goes up just about 40 feet. That is not so bad, but then from mile 7 to mile 8 you go up about 80 feet. If that was not bad enough then you start to come down. From Mile 8 to mile 9 the elevation drop is about 100 feet, then you drop about another 40 feet to mile 10. We are now on part of the course for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, which I have run before so there are really no surprises.
From here on out the elevation change is minimal, however we are now coming to East Potomac Park which is typically the dead zone. Not very many spectators. True to form, there were not many.
Well we come out of East Potomac Park and come around the Tidal Basin and head toward the Lincoln Memorial. This is on the Western part of the mall. We come around the Lincoln Memorial and start heading east down Constitution Ave. Just after mile 17 we pass by the White House on our left and the Washington Monument on our right.
What do my eyes see? My family and friends. What Joy! This was a good boost and pick me up that I needed. I was starting to feel tired and seeing them definitely picked my spirits up.
From here we are making our way on the mall toward the Capital Building. Here we had to deal with pedestrian cross traffic. It was not that bad. I had heard horror stories from some runners about how some people will walk right out in front of you while they are pushing a stroller and not even try to get out of the way. Well I did not see any of that here, of course I was also trying to pay attention so that I did not run into anybody.
Well we round the Capital and start heading back west. I was hoping that I might see some of my family and friends but I did not. The streets were really lined with people now, everyone was really cheering. It finally dawned on me as I turned the corner on to 14th street. We were headed toward the infamous Bridge. Here it is. Mile marker 20 at the start of the bridge. Well it was safe to say I beat the bridge, and no I really did not have any doubt that I would make it this far, but I am also smart enough to realize that anything can happen.
There was a sign that said something along the lines of "this bridge is your bitch". Well I could not help myself. I ran over and high 5ed the sign. I felt great. I accomplished one of my goals. By this point I was around 3:45. With just under a 10k left to go, I could see that my goal of getting in under 5 hours was there. Just needed to get over this bridge.
Well I am not really sure what happened after that. My feet started to hurt. My knees started to hurt. I was getting really fatigued. I did not feel like I was loosing energy, it was my body feeling tired. I tried pushing on but I felt the need to walk a bit. It did not help at all that the bridge was void of any spectators.
Well here I come into Crystal City. I am still hurting and now I am starting to look at my watch and focusing on the time. I was looking at my watch for most of the race, but earlier I was not looking at time, I was looking at my heart rate. I was trying to focus on keeping it as low as possible. For the most part I thought I did a good job at that. But now I was starting to get upset. As I was coming out of Crystal City, I started to see my goal of a 4:45 vanish, but I could still get under 5 hours. Had to press on.
Coming up on mile 25 near the Pentagon and the original start line my legs were really feeling it and I started to see the under 5 hour slip further and further. I started to get really down on myself.
After a brief absence of spectators while we were passing by the Pentagon, the streets started to fill up again. It was helping. I had taped my name on the front of my shirt and people were giving me encouragement. It was helping. There was a time where I wanted to sit on the side of the road and pout and cry like a little kid that did not get their way. I did not. I knew my wife was waiting for me at the finish, and so was my metal. I was going to finish!
Rounding the corner and up the incline to the Iwo Jima Memorial and the finish line.
I DID IT! I finished the 35th Marine Corp Marathon.
My official time: 5:05:37
My wife asked me if I would do another one. I was quick to answer. I said NO. Well, I have since changed my mind. I will do another marathon. I don't plan on in 2011 but I might in 2012.
I am going to change my focus now. I am going to work on improving my speed.
My PR for the 5k is 27:04. I would like to get down to 25
My PR for the 10k is 59:19 and I am really happy with that. Looking at getting under 55.
My PR for the 10 mile is 1:42:26. I would like to get it as close to 1:30 as possible.
My half marathon PR is 2:15:35. My ultimate goal would be to get it down to 2 hours.
So there it is in writing for me to look back at and say WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?!
No seriously. I feel that all of these are obtainable, but it is going to be a lot of hard work and cross training. I will get there.
Look for more posts from me. I plan on posting once a week.
thanks for reading. Any and all comments are welcomed.
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