Marathon

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of strength it takes
to stand before a giant
With just a sling and a stone

Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors
Shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand

But the giant's calling out my name
And he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
Time and time again. "Boy you'll never win!"
"You'll never win!"

But the Voice of Truth tells me a different story
The Voice of Truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
And the Voice of Truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of Truth

The giant in front of me on Sunday, January 14, 2007 was the Chevron Houston Marathon. 26.2 miles. The thousands shaking in fear were the years and years of sedentary lifestyle and obesity that kept me from living life the way it should be lived. My weapon, my sling and stone if you will, was the body that showed up at the starting line. A humble weapon but one that has served me well nonetheless.

That song by Casting Crowns was playing on the radio after my first ever race, the Run with the Saints 5K, in the Fall of 2004. I knew at that time that this would be my theme song. Little did I know after ankle reconstruction, a short regress into the sedentary lifestyle after surgery, losing 75 pounds, and enduring hundreds of miles training for the marathon, that today I would need to listen to that Voice of Truth more than ever before.

I had 3 separate goals for success in this race. Goal 1 was to finish the distance, period. Goal 2 was to finish in time to get all the race goodies like the medal and finisher's shirt, and finisher's stein. From talking to the race officials and to previous finishers, I learned that as long as there was still a steady stream of finishers coming across the mats, that they would keep the goodies coming. So, I figured if I just stayed close to a good steady group of runners, I'd get my goodies and I figured that 6:15 or so, 15 minutes after the official close of the race, would get me there. Goal 3, my if-everything-went-perfectly goal, was to finish at 13:45 pace, a 6 hour marathon and a guaranteed official finishing time recorded for posterity.

The Chronicle in Monday's report the next day called the weather "optimal" but to me, the near 100% humidity was a killer. Still, I'm not complaining as it could have been worse. The forecast earlier in the week called for temps in the 70's for race day so at least it was cool and unbearably muggy instead of hot and unbearably muggy.

When I got in the car on race day, I was greeted by a small balloon bouquet left there by Jan and the kids the night before. Jan must have stayed up even later than I did on Saturday night, waiting till the coast was clear so that it would be a surprise. Guess the kids painted my windows too but it all washed off through the night from the rain.

I picked up June, who parked at the Starbuck's on Memorial, and we rode in to the GRB together. We got off our feet for a while, checked our bags, talked with Striders and other friends and generally tried to chill out before the big dance.

It was getting to be about time so I made my way out to the white corral. Here, I have to confess my disgraceful behavior. Thinking about goal 2 and wanting to maybe save 5+ minutes on my gun time, I shamelessly made my way to just about the very front of the corral. I actually lined up next to the 3:50 pace group. To the several thousand runners behind me, I apologize. I've never done that before and never will again. Still, I didn't hear too many complaints as folks passed me and I had a chance to see many Striders and bloggers that I normally wouldn't see in a race so that was awesome. Pam, Amalia, Jamoosh, Cassie, Bessie, John Dimarco, and many others I can't recall. Just before mile 3, a young man passing me said, "Hello, Sir! Remember me?" I recognized him as the banana boy from the 30K, the young spectator that spurred us all on, dressed as a big banana. He was running the full, though not in a banana costume, at least not this time.

I was excited at the start but stubbornly in patience mode. I've been told enough about going out to fast so I was intent on not making that mistake. I'd heard about guys peeing on the side of the road and kind of blew it off as folklore, but IT's TRUE!!! I saw a dozen or so guys relieveing themselves at the bottom of the Elysian bridge and listened to all the ladies around me talking about how nice it would be to be a guy. At the next opportunity to pee in public without getting a citation from the policeman standing 30 feet away, I decided to take in the full experience and pulled over for my last pee break, in front of God and everybody. I was acutally laughing as the hollers echoed from the hundreds of runners behind me. I'm just glad I wasn't standing there alone or I may have been too embarrassed to go.

Mile 1 was on pace for a patient start with 13:57. Mile 2 was 14:00. Then I eased down to my 6 hour goal pace with an average pace around 13:46 through mile 8. At this point, I still seemed to be in the middle of a big group of people but it wasn't too crowded. I'm feeling good that there are a lot of people ahead of me AND behind me. About mile 6, Dusty Cook caught me and we ran a few miles together through the half marathon turnaround and past the Mecon Fountain. After that, I stopped to stretch a little bit and never quite caught back up with Dusty who finished his 19th Houston marathon in perfect veteran form.

On Saturday night, I had set out an awesome plan for my greatest supporters, my wife and kids, to follow me around the course. They ended up leap-frogging me and popping up 9 different times over the course of the race. The only one they missed was the first intercept planned for the corner of Michaux and 11th street. I think from talking to them that they were acutally there but missed me in the sea of runners passing by and I missed them as well. After that they settled into their leapfrogin' groove just as I was settling into my grove because they hit every other waypoint along the way and even one or two unplanned ones. They really moved around the course like veterans and I was so proud of them.

I felt confident and comfortable through the half marathon turnaround. I was thinking, WOW, I'm right here in the middle of a bunch of runners. At least some of these are bound to be with me at the finish. Then, all of a sudden at the turnaround, the half marathoners did just that. They turned around and all of a sudden, I found myself amongst just a handfull of marathoners. I realized then and there that it was going to be a lonely rest of the race.

The crowd support continued to be unbelieveably incredible, even as the back of the pack was coming through. It's crazy but I think my favorite group was the polka band on University. They were awesome, right on tune, professional, just the right beat and that was a good pick me up. The crowds along University Blvd. were the best. I really enjoyed that part of the run. My pace through the halfway mark was pretty much on target at 3:04:56 but I was starting to feel not quite right. Not good to start thinking about struggling at just the halfway point of a marathon.,

Coming down Weslayan, I started exercising my math skills. I figured for every quarter of a minute (15 seconds) off my average pace, I would be off the 6 hour finish by about 6 and a half minutes. So, 14 minute pace would put me in at 6:06:30, 14:15 pace, 6:13:00, and so forth.

It was an awesome sight at the Weslayan intercept where two additional family members showed up to cheer me on. My mom and our dear friend Ruthie showed up with warm wishes, hugs, and WATER!!! I don't think Mom has ever seen me run before and I got the feeling she was proud. Ruthie, one of the most energetic people I know, ran with me up on the median. The whole family was a sight, all out in the middle of the street with their signs, my daughter on her roller shoes, the little one trying as hard as he could to get in my way. That was a huge boost.

After seeing the fam at the Weslayan intercept just past Bissonet, and just before turning on Westpark, I started to slow to around 14:45 pace. I took my first walk breaks at this point but was still putting one foot in front of the other. I think at this point, my struggle was mostly mental. Yes, physically, I was in trouble but at points where I could decide that I was going to get moving, my body responded relatively well.

I walked the entire way up the Westpart Bridge but ran down and to the next water stop. At that point, things were thinning out big time and I started to see and hear murmurings of opening the streets. Although the water stop volunteers were cleaning up and packing it in, they were still serving the stragglers with a smile and much needed encouragement. I really appreciated that.

On Post Oak, I started to see the first vehicles actually on the course. Race official were driving slowly beside the stragglers/strugglers, checking us out, making sure we were ok. The sag wagon moved past me and I must admit that after considering the 10 or so miles ahead, I did actually give it a thought. Even though traffic was allowed to cross the course ahead and behind the runners, the streets remained closed through Post Oak, up San Felipe, and right on Tanglewood. This really surprised me because at this point, I was well off of 6 hour pace. It seems the reports of strict, rolling street closures on 13:45 pace were greatly exaggerated, at least through mile 17 or so.

Between mile 17 and 18, whatever mental problems I was having, if they were only mental, were manifesting big time physically as I struggled up Tanglewood. Halfway to Chimney Rock, having slowed to a 15:00+ pace, I saw a reflection in the stop sign ahead. It's like some kind of strobe light or something and I thought, oh, some spectators have a disco set up for us ahead. Then, I looked behind me and saw that the reflection was actually the flashing lights of the "pace car", not the pace car you would see at the beginning of a race but the car pacing the last runners that were allowed to stay on the course, in the street, and it was gaining fast. Before I got to Chimney Rock, the car had passed me with polite instructions from the officer inside to move to the side.

Fortunately, there was quite an entourage of various official vehicles, trucks, and race officials who crept along behind the pace car and the street was not open to general traffic so I was at least able to stay to the side of the street. I turned on Woodway and a remnant of high-endurance spectators were still cheering on the stragglers there at Chimney Rock and Woodway. I was still able to stay on the street, to the side as crews continued to pick up equipment and clean up the course. I saw the 30K timing mats and computers being pulled up right in front of my eyes, maybe 200 feet in front of me. That's why friends who were tracking me were worried because my 30K update didn't go out. After Sage, Woodway was open to traffic so I moved up on the sidewalk.

The Mile 19 water stop volunteer entourage passed me on the sidewalk, probably heading back to where they parked. I knew water would now be a long way away. I thought now I won't have water until I see Jan and the kids at Crestwood. Still, that concern was only in the back of my mind as other thoughs dominated my thinking. Serious thoughts about jumping in that sag wagon and going to the GRB to see June and others finish. Thoughts about how unprepared I was for this. Thoughts about how my 20-mile training run was cut short 3 weeks earlier due to abdominal pain. Thoughts about how I was now running farther than I had ever run before. Thoughts about my second goal now being history and my last goal of just finishing fading fast.

One foot in front of the other.

Even the belly dancers were packing up as I passed them at 610. I would have liked to see those ladies dance. Many of the experiences and memories that so many veterans talk about, I knew I would not have, not this year. When I crossed under 610 and continued on Woodway, the office instructed me to stay on the sidewalk. I was in survival mode at that time, walking mostly but shuffling every chance I got. I kept watching my overall pace on my Garmin slip by a second, then another, then another. For each second on the overall pace that slipped, that was 26.2 seconds added to my finishing time. Hey, I may have been near exhaustion, but I could still do the math. Dr. DeLaVina would be so proud. At the Arboretum, I noticed that the course was still not open to general traffic so I stepped back down on to the street, on the course, the course I registered for, the marathon course.

I saw the number 20 painted on the street but no flag, no cool miler marker sign. It had already been picked up. At the entrance to the Picnic loop, I saw the beer truck that I had heard gives out an early celebratory beverage to passing runners. There was ice dumped out on the street as the crew had packed up the truck and were getting ready to pull off. I was so thirsty, I actually ate the ice off of the street. Thinking back, I can't believe I did that. I was somewhere in na-na land.

The urge to quit was overwhelming. I had not respected the humidity early on. I went out too fast. I had nothing left. I was thinking, this is not the wall. This is something else. It wasn't anything that came on abruptly. It was more like the sum of a buch of crap that had been going on since that nice policeman in front of the Galleria said, "Just 10 more miles." Grrrr! I thought, ok, Jan's going to be up at Crestwood, I'll just get her to take me back to the GRB. I quit. I wasn't ready for this. My 3rd goal was gone. I had a new goal, to get to Jan.

Jan recognized a lot of the runners that were running ahead of me around Transco Tower and she saw them go by at Crestwood. She was wondering where I was. She walked down to the corner of Memorial Loop and continued to wait. Finally she saw me around the corner and down the hill on Memorial. She said I was doubled over with my hands on my knees and then I was leaning against a light post, stretching. When she and the kids came within my sight, I ran to them, said hello, got some water, hugs, and some love and kept on going. My head was asking my body, "What in the world is going on? I thought we were going to stop." Jan called our friend Danny who finished around 4 hours and told him that I didn't look like I was going to make it.

Just after I saw the family, things got a little better. My body didn't feel better. My energy level didn't go up. I didn't have any sort of surge in adrenaline. I just saw a small glimpse of hope.

I was walking up on the trail, head hung down, when I heard voices calling to me. "There's Vic! Hey, Vic!!! C'mon Vic!!!" I stopped walking and started running. I'll be doggone if it wasn't the remnants of the Strider water stop, packing the truck and cleaning up. My recollection is a bit foggy as to who all I saw so forgive me if I forget to mention anyone here. I remember Carlos coming over to greet me and wish me well. Then my former PIM coach, friend, and Strider, Rose, along with Reuben came up to me with water, with life. Rose said, "Get down here off that trail and onto the street. There's no traffic yet. You're doing great. You're going to finish." Reuben says something I'll never forget or quite understand. He said, "Vic, I've been thinking about you. You are such an inspiration to me." Can you believe that? Reuben, an unbeliveable runner and inspiration to so many. It was humbling and surreal having someone who is such a huge inspiration be inspired by something I was doing.

At mile 21.5, Rose and Reuben ran with me up to Wescott, and hope continued to build. Rose asked me if I needed more water. I told her that, thanks to Doug Spence, I know where all the water fountains were. I almost cracked up as Rose tells all the surrounding stragglers to "STAY WITH VIC!!! He knows where all the water fountains are. OK, everybody? Y'all stay with Vic!" I don't think at that point I really felt like leading the Children of Chevron through the the wilderness for 4 more miles.

A faithful spectator was at the Starbuck's handing out water bottles. I had a drink and a Gu and more hope. I started to really take hold of goal 3 which was to finish. I kept thinking about my promise to SteveB to be there by 2 pm, when he had to leave. Still doing the math the whole way, I figured this was doable.

Turning onto Allen Parkway, which was still closed to general traffic for a while longer, thoughts of quitting started to fade. It wasn't getting any easier to run and my muscles and feet and back were really hurting. Then hope came running across the street. It was Rose again. She had driven over to some apartments on Allen Parkway and was coming across the street to run with me. She said, "Don't worry, Vic. I'm here. I'm gonna get you to the finish." She ran with me for about 10 minutes, ran back to her car and met me up ahead AGAIN to run with me for another 5 or 10 minutes. Rose left me to run back to her car but told me she'd see me up ahead. When she left, I cried because I was so touched. But that's the kind of person Rose is and the kind of people the Striders are.

It's mile 23 or 24 and my tears were just about dried when I saw Christy running towards me, waving her hand, yelling "C'mon Vic!!! You're doing it!!!" Turns out Christy had been parked by herself on Allen Parkway for who knows how long, waiting for me to pass by. Christy had already run a half marathon earlier and drove out to cheer me on after her race. We ran together past her car. Christy encouraged me the entire time, telling me that I was going to finish and what a great accomplishment it will be and how proud she was. Then after 5 or 10 minutes, she said goodbye and ran back to her car. Hope continuted to build.

It was under 2 miles to go and here ca e hope again. I mean Rose. She parked up at Sabine and ran back to get me. Not a lot of hoopla. Not a lot of cheering. She knew what I needed at that point. Just someone to pull me along and keep my feet moving one in front of the other. She stayed in front of me and I just followed. When we got to her car, I thanked her and told her that I loved her and that I was going to make it. I was going to make it!!! That was the first time that thought entered my mind. I said it out loud again as she drove off. Hope began to feel real!

I came up Lamar, into downtown with about 1.2 miles left and Matt Wright was waiting for me in front of the library. Matt Wright, who was voted by the Striders waiting at the finish line as having the freshest legs, met me downtown to run the last mile with me. He phoned the finish line and said, "I've got him. We're coming in." Matt said some other encouraging words but mostly he just talked about how good my hair looked. He just went on and on about my hair. Well, thanks, Matt!!! Seriously, Matt was awesome. He kept me safe and motivated through downtown and I'll never forget it. Oh, and by the way, Matt is my barber.

Matt got me to the train tracks where Coach Steeeve and SteveB, who had just run a full marathon, join us. Coach asked me if I can see the blue finish line "right there." Well, it didn't look "right there" to me but I can see it. SteveB was in his friggin' sandals. Yes, he ran me in the last .3 or so miles IN HIS SANDALS!!! I remember seeing that but not saying anything. I'll never forget that image.

Over those last fractions of a mile, I tried to be tough and gut it out but my effort was relegated to either running or bending over in a dead stop with my hands on my knees trying to recover. You know the drill. The finish line was still standing and the closer I got, I could see that the clock was still ticking. The hope I was holding on to was realized in an instant when I saw and heard the cheers of what sounded like hundreds of fans, but were really my family, my friends, my Striders. No stopping now with the masses watching and just 40 yards to go. I crossed the finish line in 6 hours 48 minutes and 30 seconds. Goal 1 accomplished.

Now, as if it couldn't get any better than the oupouring of support from my family and friends along with finishing my first marathon, the Chevron Houston Marathon had volunteers still waiting at the finish 50 minutes after the official race was closed, handing out finisher's medals. When the beautiful lady put that medal around my neck, the flood gates opened and I balled like a baby, a very BIG baby. My wife came over and held me and I gave her a big ole' wet, salty kiss. The kids were there and I hugged them. Then more high 5's, hugs, tears, smiles, and laughter as the family and Striders shared in my joy. Thinking back, we must have all been a sight, standing out in the middle of Rusk, right under the finish line, just partying and laughing like this was all for us.

Wait, it gets better. After we partied out there on the street, Coach realized the mission was not over yet. If there was a way to collect the rest of my swag, Coach and company were going to find a way. The entrance where the 18,000+ runners entered the GRB Convention Center earlier was locked. Matt knocked on the door so hard it almost fell over. Then he was trying to pry the door open and a face appeared in the window. "This runner needs to get his shirt!!!" exclaimed Matt. The official opened the door and let us ALL in. He said "Runners only!" That's me.

So, moving by adrenaline only, I made my way across to the other side of the Convention center. It was like another race with another finish line but instead of FINISH, the sign said FINISHER'S SHIRTS. Somehow, my walk turned into a bit of a shuffle and I scampered to the counter just before they were about to close. I got my finisher's shirt and my finishers mug. GOAL 2 ACCOMPLISHED!!!

You can keep the tens of thousands of fans, the belly dancers, the bleachers, the cool mile markers, the music, the noise, the fanfare. Just give me my family, my friends, and the Striders there at the end. I'm so glad it turned out the way it did. I doubt very seriously it's going to be like that ever again. If it is, I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. But this one was so special and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I accomplished my goals. I overcame with the help of some special people the overwhelming urge to quit. I AM A MARATHONER!!!

Special thanks to follow this post.

Vic, marathoner! or Bessie, something's missing again!

Well, I just got out of one of Bessie's patented ice baths and I seem to have lost "something" again. Oh, well, I guess it was worth it. Maybe it'll show up later this week, if I'm lucky.

I'll post a bunch of stuff later but for now, suffice it to say, I AM A MARATHONER!!! I finished!!! I did it.

More later after nap and enchaladas and nachos and ultimate cheesburger.

Fairfield Clydesdale shatters 220m record

Arrrgh!!! Teenage boys!!! I wake my son up this morning on schedule at 5:45. He takes his customary yet forbidingly long 20 minute shower, which he's been told to cut back to 5 minutes. Then, he hollers downstairs for me to throw him up some boxers and a t-shirt. Then he asks me what time it is. This is refreshing to me as he is rarely concerned at all with the time, going at his own groggy pace right up until the last moments before the bus arrives. So, I'm thinking, well done. He's trying to stay on schedule, right?

So, I breathe a sigh of pride and relief that my son is being so unusually thoughtful this morning and I make my way to the computer to check the e-mail. After some period of time passes, I realize, I don't hear anything going on upstairs, like my son getting dressed, like the shhhhhhh sound of deodorant, like the swish-swish of a toothbrush so I call out his name from the computer room. So, what do I hear? I hear the sound of a young man GETTING UP OUT OF BED!!! That's why he wanted to know what time it was. Not so he could stay on schedule and "get cracking" as I like to call it. He wanted to get a NAP!!!

So, he comes downstairs, still in his boxers and t-shirt and makes his way to the laundry room to get his clothes out of the dryer. No breakfast yet, hair not combed, teeth not brushed, can't find his key to the house, doesn't know where he put his homework, and the bus is due to arrive in less than 5 minutes. I GIVE UP!!!

So, I just go on about my business. No sense in causing a big scene while the rest of the house is yet to stir. I start in on some chores that I need to get done, like wash clothes and work on my 20 oz., 100g of carb, high-octane ultra fuel beverage. Next thing I hear is the front door close. Well, good. He got off to school by himself. I'll save the blessing out for this afternoon when he gets home. I'm going about my business and then think, "I wonder if he got his lunch." I go look on the table and there it is.

Now normally I would just leave it or eat it myself but I thought I may be able to catch him before the bus arrives.

I know. I know. This is supposed to be a running blog. WELL...I get out the door, and look down through the fog towards the corner and see the bus. Oh well, too late. But I see the brake lights on the bus stay on and a little girl running back into the house right there at the bus stop. I hear a faint sound of another father through the mist saying sternly, "Hurry up!" Well, that's my cue.

Oh, the running! So, I take off in a barfoot high-tail dash down the dead center of the street. About halfway there, I think, "I'm gonna make it." I see DS in the very back seat, asleep, with his head down on the seat in front of him. I give his luch to the bus driver and they're on their way. Oh, yeah, I beat the little girl who went in to get whatever it is she forgot.

So, I got some sprints in this morning. Here are the stats:

Venue: my street
Warmup: none
Distance: down the block
Pace: Fast!!! (but not as fast as Bill)
Cooldown: walk back home

Overall, a good run!

3 days to liftoff!

Man, did I have fun with that last post. That was funny. I also posted it on the Runner's World Discussion Forum and got some hilarious responses. Some people thought I was serious and wanted to make the trip to Houston to jack-slap me. Others knew right away it was a joke. Anyway, it was fun.

I had a couple of good runs the last 2 days, 3 on Tuesday and 4 yesterday. No hard breathing, AT ALL!!! Hard to not giddy-up when you're feeling this good. I thought my schedule called for 3 tonight but Hal only gave me 2 easy miles for 3 days out. Man, talk about going crazy. You know how long it's been since I only ran 2 MILES? Still, I look forward to and relish EVERY mile I get to run. It's been such a blessing to my life and has become such a big part of my life.

Pasta tonight with the Striders at Romano's after my li'l two miler. Should be a blast. My family has been awesome and patient with me this week. I've kind of ignored them around supper time, sticking religeously to my own plan. And I've been early to bed every night. I have been getting up to make my son a good lunch this week. By the way, he joined a neighborhood boxing club and is very excited about it. I was happy when he played football this year but that was a short season. He really needs something to keep him active year-round. Turns out the group runs quite a bit too. I think he said they start every workout with an easy 2-miler so that's awesome. They meet 3 times per week and I'm hoping that on the off days, we can get to run some together. This should work out great for the rest of January and on into February before I start ramping up again for Pig training.

Life is good! I'd like to blog more but Steve's put a limit on the length of my posts. 3 days to liftoff!!!

Now, I'm ready!!!

Well, yesterday was a high point in my training. I've been worrying a lot about whether I've done enough. I really want to get in top form for Sunday so yesterday, I strayed off my plan a bit and did a super-quality workout.

It all started on Monday night. I stayed up until 2 am going over my running logs, trying to add up all the miles that I missed for whatever reason. I thought this would really motivate me for my run that was going to take place in at 4 am. I was so surprised to know that I missed 10 or so runs since June and cut a couple of long runs short. I was also surprised to see that I walked a little on some of my runs so I really needed to push it hard to make up for that.

So, even though the plan called for 3 easy miles, I decided to do 13. And since that's so close to 13.1, I figured I'd just do a half marathon time trial. Fortunately, the weather was cool so I thought I could push a sub-13 minute pace and PR for the half marathon distance. That would be good practice for Sunday.

The run was great. I felt better than I've felt all year. This taper thing is AWESOME!!! I ran a 2:49:12, a 12:55 pace. WOOHOO!!! I was really hurtin' those last 3 miles but was able to hold on and finish with a big PR. My knee and right ankle are really hurting right now and my quads are still burning. It's a strange feeling. Not like any pain I've experienced before. Must have been an awesome run!! Oh, and to be sure I'm ready for Sunday, I ran the run on concrete. I wanted to really get a feel for what Sunday's going to be like. I'm so gonna rock the marathon.

To celebrate my great workout, I stopped at my favorite mexican restaraunt for some cheesy enchaladas. Since I burned all those calories earlier, I figured a little extra cheese wouldn't hurt. Also, I hear Christy and Steve talking about maragaritas and how good they are. I don't really drink but I was curious so I had a few. Boy, did I feel great after that. Bring on the marathon.

I saw my trainer at the gym last night when I took the kiddo to basketball practice and she said that since I've been concentrating on running so much and not doing any strength training that it would be a good idea to get 2 or 3 good, hard lifting workouts in before Sunday. I went ahead and scheduled 3 sessions with her, since I get a discount for paying for 3 sessions at a time. We're scheduled to pump it up on Wednesday, Thursday, and then Saturday so that I can really be strong going into Sunday's race. I thought I'd do Saturday's session AFTER pasta loading since I'll be full of energy. That should really get me in good shape by Sunday morning.

Well, I've done so well with my diet the past week, I think I'll have McDonald's for lunch today. I deserve it. Mmmmmm...Fil-A-o'Fish sandwiches. How 'bout that, Homer?

Rock on!

Hey, we're not thinking!

You know...just because the high for Sunday is forcasted to be in the mid-60's, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Think about it. If the high for the day occurs at 7 am, and temperatures start dropping soon after the start of the race, we could be down in the 40's by mile 15. See? Good news, right? Of course, the bad news with that scenario is that starting the race on the heels of an incoming cold front may mean some nasty winds and thunderstorms. But, hey, at least it would be cold!!!

For Barbara

Barbara, some of us have to work you know. Nevertheless, you are correct. The updated forecast is worthy of delaying my work on this multimillion dollar, enterprise-critical computer system to update my blog.

So, the trend continues. More and more reports are getting on board and agreeing that the cold front that was supposed to come in late, late on Sunday is coming in sooner than previously forecast. June's favorite, click2houston.com, was the first to report the change. The other two networks didn't seem to even have the cajones to post a forecast over 5 days out. This morning, weather.com for zip code 77008 is reporting cooler temps for Sunday as well. Forecasted temperatures for Sunday continue to drop through the morning and afternoon (when I'll still be running), with a high in the low 60's. Of course, a front blowing through on Sunday morning means a chance for rain, even thunderstorms. Personally, I don't mind the wet, it's the temps that I watch for.

By the way, great, funny comments on the last weather update!! I was LMBBO!!!

Now, back to saving lives!

WOAH!!! Look at that!!!

Well, I don't wanna jinx anything but the forecast is sure looking better and better. We're still way out but I'm sure lovin' it. Looks like they're forecasting the cool front coming in a bit sooner than originally predicted. We'll see. Prayers, prayers, prayers!!

edited the very next morning, Sunday, Jan 7

Ok, ix-nay on the better forecast. It just went south real quick. Now, the LOW Sunday morning is around 60. HA!!!

Now, I don't wanna see a bunch of comments about not worrying about the weather and how you don't know what the weather's going to be until you get there, yada, yada, yada. I'm not worrying about the weather. I'm just having fun. This has been a wild roller coaster ride and I want to ride it with my hands in the air, right up to the starting line. Bring it on!!!...all the uncertainty, all the fear, all the miles!!! What a ride!!!

New Rulers of the World

I met up with the Striders this morning for my debut tromp along the famous River Oaks route. The route was ~8-11.4 miles with opportunity to run the full 11+ or take any of several shortcuts for the shorter mileage. My plan was just to do 8 this morning, so I availed myself of each and every shortcut and even added one or two of my own. Total miles - 8.9

Splits - 13:55 / 13:49 / 13:46 / 14:20 (shoe malfunction) / 14:00 / 13:51 / 14:05 / 13:53 / 12:53 pace for the last .91 miles

Average pace - 13:51

It was a beautiful morning, a little warm and humid but the summer weather is fresh enough in my mind that I can still appreciate 65 and muggy. No hard breathing this morning. Just a light pounding to acclimate to the concrete in preparation for the 14th. I played more with average pace on my garmin. Sorry, David!!! I pretty much kept the clock running, even through the shoe malfunction and through water stops. It was fun trying to spot water while running throught the Houston streets. Of course, the fountain at Kirby and Shepherd I knew about. Matt gave me a tip on a popular but obscure water spicket behind the Pilgrim's Cleaners at San Felipe and Willowick. I didn't see the Pilgrim's when I got to the corner but found an outlet behind the gas station there.

Oh, and my vote for the New Co-Rulers of the World goes to Lisa and Jack. With no advanced notice that they were even going to do this, Lisa and Jack spent their Saturday morning serving the Striders water from their own water station that they set up. Then, if that doesn't qualify them for rulers of the world, they packed up and came and found me, about 5 or 10 minutes behind rest of the runners. They pulled over and flagged me down and gave me a bottle of life-sustaining water. They were my angels today. Just goes to show you, you're never alone when the Striders are around. Kudos to Jack and Lisa. You guys blow me away.

Breakfast after was a blast. I talked race strategy with Bessie and Steeve. First timers Hillary and Jessica were at out table too so this is one lucky guy. :o) I'm just trying to soak this all in, all the advice, encouragement, and friendships I've made. I'm frankly overwhelmed with it all. Life is good.

For the most part, that was it. My last long run before the marathon. Just 3 short runs on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday next week. Then 2 day's rest, carb loading, and expo'ing before the big day.

God Bless!!

Pony

I'm assuming since you asked about the Garmin 301, that that is what you have, right? I have a 305 but I downloaded the owner's manual for the 301 and was reading it to figure out how to set average pace.

On page 41, it gives instructions for setting up Custom pages:

1. Press mode to access Menu mode. Then highlight Settings and press Enter.
2. Highlight the sport you want to set up a custom page for. (Are there other sports besides running?)
3. Highlight Set Custom Page and press enter.
4. Press enter to select the Custom 1 field. Select the type of data you want to display. This is where you would select Average pace.
5. Repeat step 4 fore the Custom 2 and Custom 3 fields. Of course, you can select ANY data you want for any of the fields.

When you are training, press the down or up arrow to select the page you want to view.

Hope that helps.

How do YOU use your Garmin?

Since I got my Garmin 305 earlier this fall, my display of choice has been that I set up that shows average lap pace, lap distance, and total lap time. Then I would set the auto lap feature to 1 mile and pace myself according to lap pace. The problem with "chasing" average lap pace this way is that after every mile, you're starting fresh and the pace that you ended the last mile with is the starting average pace for the new current mile.

Let's say you start out on mile 1 and you're watching your average pace. Let's say you're shooting for 12:00 pace. So, it takes a while for the average pace to "settle down." So, let's say you're a little fast and towards the end of mile 1, you're at about 11:50. So, you slow down, then when the lap hits 1 mile, all of a sudden you see your average pace is 12:15 or 12:20 because you slowed down at the end of mile 1. So, you speed up to try to hit 12:00 for mile 2 so at the end of mile 2, your pace is 11:40 or something. Chasing this average lap pace can get be a problem. That's why I tend to ignore it and often find myself off pace by the end of the run.

Well, yesterday, while visiting the best little barber shop in Texas, Matt suggested something that should have been completely intuitive to me but that I have never thought about. He said set the display to show average pace for the whole race. So, a constant average over the entire run. Well, that makes total sense to me. If I average 13:45 for the whole marathon, that is 6 hours. So, rather than chasing lap splits, I'm chasing a very smooth average pace over the entire distance. And, get this. It's very hard to move the average at later points in the race. Once, you've established a 13:45 pace for 20 miles, that's a lot of data and even drastic changes in pace only effect the average by a second or 2.

I practiced this last night on a short 4 mile run at Memorial park and it worked great. I didn't feel so confused at the end of each mile like I usually do when I'm "chasing" mile splits. I even stopped for water just after mile 2 and kept the clock running. Normally, on a lap average, I'd see myself behind goal pace after a water stop by 10 or 15 seconds. With the average over the whole run, I only lost 3 seconds. With 3 seconds, I didn't panic and try to take off after the stop. I just eased back into it and after a half mile or so, I was down to 13:47 and by a little after mile 3, I was back to 13:45 average.

So, my splits were: 13:40 / 13:43 / 13:48 / 13:45.

After my run, I stopped over by the Aquatic Center for a little trash talking with the Striders who were getting ready for a run up to Jackson Hill. Great to see Bill out giving the wheels a test drive. I offered him a creme pie but he wouldn't bite. I'm not worried. Hey, Bill, the registration fee for the Flying Pig is $60. I'm cutting you a break by registering early so you won't have to pay full price, ok?

So, how do others use your Garmin?

Strange Dreams!!!

I wish I was dreaming of crossing that finish line on January 14th but the theme of my dreams last night was just the opposite. The further I get into my day, the less I remember about the 3 dreams that woke me up through the wee hours this morning.

In one dream, I was at the finish line and there was a race official standing by the entrance to GRB. I had already finished and was waiting around for all my "official" goodies like my medal and t-shirt, etc. I see this guy running. He's about halfway down Rusk but the official yells to the guys at the finish mats, "OK, we gotta shut 'er down!" At that point in the dream, for some strange, dream-like reason, I don't know if I made it under the cutoff or not. I ask the official and he shows me my name printed on the list. Something like 6:02:00. I'm ecstatic. I make my way over to the table to pick up my medal and the lady tells me that the medals cost $800 and I can't have a finisher's shirt, no reason. So, even though I finished the race under the cutoff, I couldn't have a medal or finisher's shirt.

In dream 2, I'm running along the marathon course, not the real marathon course, the one in my dream. I'm making good time and I know for sure that I'm gonna make it under the cutoff. The course takes the runners through a neighborhood and acutally through the living room of one of the houses along the way. I go in there and see some friends. After looking at my watch, I see I have plenty of time so I take my shoes off and visit for a while. After some time, I figure it's time to be on my way. I put my shoes on but they won't tie or I can't tie them. I keep trying and trying and the clock starts to move faster and faster but I can't tie the darn shoes. Then I wake up. What a nightmare!!!

I don't remember the 3rd dream but it was along the lines of the same theme.

It's been good eatin' today, so far. This morning, I had my favorite breakfast, steel cut oats, fresh raspberries, and a little skim milk. I made a yummy sandwich to take for lunch with turkey, whole wheat bread, fresh lettuce, tomato, red onion, black olives, and bell pepper. Lowfat yogurt and an apple rounded out the lunch.

I made a trip over the the best little barber shop in Texas over my lunch break and got to talk race strategy with Matt. I left there felling better about the race and about my hair. ;o)

Looking forward to some easy running tonight if the weather holds and 8 easy miles on Saturday, perhaps with some Striders who are running over in River Oaks.

Good news! I'm able to be off work on Friday, the 12th so I'm planning on doing the Expo with June and SteveB on that day. Anyone else interested in getting that stuff done on Friday, let us know and we'll hook up.

More on race strategy later. God bless!

Happy New Year!!!

I had the pleasure of brining in the New Year this morning with The Houston Striders's at the annual Resolution Run. The turnout was great, so great that we had to rearrange cars to get everybody into the Hwy 6 @ Patterson Parking lot. Good problem to have but beginning to be a common theme with our get togethers (anyone remember the Christmas Party?). Hey, it's just that much more food, fun, and frivolity, right?

The run was very civilized. I did 5.8 miles at an average 13:30 pace. The option to do more was available but as soon as I saw folks on their way back, I turned right around to get back to the party. It was a perfect morning. I think there was a mistake. We should have had the marathon today. I can only hope for weather like this on the BIG DAY!!!

I got to run in the last mile or so with Pony as she's still taking it easy from some tightness still lingering from the 30K. She sure seemed to be feeling better which is a blessing.

Back at the parking lot, we had a great time. Bessie and her bling. David and his "old" jokes. Matt and his drinking while you're running lessons, June and Pony and the bean dip, lotsa laughing and smiles and hugs. It was just the best.

A few of us who were present were recognized with the Striders Iron Head award, a take on HARRA's Iron Foot award. Recipients of the award were recognized for participating in all 5 of the Strider Warmup Series events. I received a way cool gym bag which I really needed. I have a larger bag but the medium sized bag will really come in handy.

Now, really, no more hard running, good nutrition, and lotsa water are the orders for the next 13 days. I'll do a couple of short runs on Wednesday and Thursday, an 8 miler on Saturday, then 2 or 3 a couple days next week and then to the starting line. I'm starting to think I'll make it, to the starting line that is. After that, I'm flying blind. Anything could happen. What a ride this has been!

Before it's too late

While it's still 2006, I'd like to reconsider a couple of 2007 goals that I set in a previous post.

One of those goals is yearly mileage. I previously stated 1200 as a goal for 2007. I think that may be a bit too ambitious so I'm setting that goal to 1008, exactly double my 2006 mileage. That should do just fine.

Also, I stated as my "if everything goes perfectly" goal for the Flying Pig marathon in May a 45 second per mile improvement over my Houston goal. I'm backing that down to 30 seconds per mile. That would give me a 5:47:00 if everything goes perfectly. I'll save the 13 minute pace for 2008.

I just want to be real as these are not just pie-in-the-sky goals that I pulled out of a hat. I really want these to be something that I can grab hold of and accomplish.

In other news, I was thinking. I'm an active guy. I've lost a few pounds. I ran yesterday and burned some calories. I think I'll have an oatmeal cream pie. So, I did. Then I was thinking, man-oh-man, that was good. So, I thought why not just have another. For grins before diving in, I checked the nutritional info on the box. OMG!!! EACH pie has 370 calories. 370 CALORIES!!! How in the world do they pack that many calories into that little plastic wrapper. So, instead of having another, I threw the whole box away. Those things are deadly!!! There was a day when I would have had 3 or 4 of those things, sitting down watching TV. No wonder I got up to 375 lbs. Ain't going back there.

Attn: Garmineers!!!

Thanks to some pretty cool software called SportTracks, I have discovered a very interesting phenomenon occurring with my Garmin.

One of the things that people love about the Garmin 205/305 is that it has a more powerful signal antennae than its predecessor, the 201. This is evident when running in wooded areas and around tall buildings, e.g downtown Houston. It doesn't lose signal. However, I found out today that even though the signal stays strong downtown, it's totally whacked out, looking like you're zig-zagging all over the place. And it greatly affects your mileage. Here is a screen capture of the SportTracks software, showing a short portion of my route from this morning along Rusk.

Each red dot represents a single data point recorded by my 305. As you can see, the dot's and calculated route are all over the place when I am between tall buildings. See, the signal is being received strong enough but because it's bouncing all over the buildings, it really confuses the Garmin and you see the result. My total miles for this run were 12.36 but that is from me running all over the place, into buildings, zig-zagging all over the place.

Now, thank to the edit feature in SportTrack, I can move these dots to be in line with the acual route I ran. Here's what the same portion of Rusk looks like after I painstakingly lined all those points up along my actual route.

With the erroneous zigzagging through downtown, the Garmin gave 6.13 miles from the Tennis Center to the corner of GRB. Everyone knows that it's exactly 6 miles. After moving all the points in line with my acutal route, the point at the corner of the GRB was exactly 6.0 miles. I had an extra .13 miles incorrectly added to my run. After I fixed all of the route, the total mileage for the run went from 12.36 miles to a more accurate 12.18, a difference of .18 miles.

What's funny is that my lap pace from where I entered downtown to the GRB was about 11:15 minutes per mile. I remember looking at that and thinking, I'm not going that much faster. What's going on? Well, you see, the time is constant. I mean the clock just ticks. So, if I'm spending the same amount of time zig-zagging all over the place, it looks like I'm going an extra .13 miles, for example, in the same amount of time. So, my minutes/mile is going to be falsely lower. After my corrections, it made more sense and I actually finished mile 6 in 13:08.

Just keep this in mind Garmineers. It's great to not lose signal, but be aware the signal may not be correct when running about tall buildings.

Ba-aa-aaa-aaaa!

I ran a few goat trails this morning along Buffalo Bayou on the Allen Parkway side as part of my 12 mile run this morning. Is that what you call the trails up and down the bank along the bayou? Well, that's what I call them anyway.

While the SMARTies were cranking out Yasso's, I was treated to an easy 12 this morning. The route of choice was Tennis Center to GRB, of course, covering the last 5 or 6 miles of the Houston marathon. The plan going into this run was to get used to that steady, 13:45 marathon pace that would get me in at 6 hours on Jan 14. But you know what they say about "the best laid plans..."

The beginning of the run found me cruising along at a 13:14 pace, about 30 seconds off my planned pace. I liked it!!! Thank you sir, can I have another? Mile 2, same story, a 13:18. Hey, this feels real good. Once I turned onto Allen Parkway, I just decided since I was feeling my oats, I'd just see how this pace feels all the way to GRB.

Mile 3 - 13:24
Mile 4 - 13:20
Mile 5 - 13:14

I was downtown, turning down the home stretch on Rusk towards GRB and victory. 6 miles exactly to the corner of the Convention center, wrapping up mile 6 in 13:08. I slapped the wall and headed back. I was suppoed to see June out there but I think she passed me real early, when I stopped at Starbucks to take care of some "problems" I was having.

Mile 7 took me to the edge of downtown in 12:52. Water at Sabine and the first of the goat trails along the bayou highlighted Mile 8, clocked in at 13:06. Surprisingly, it wasn't too wet along the bayou, especially considering last night's storms. I would have expected a lot more mud and puddle hoppin'.

More goatin' at mile 9 (13:16), then up out of the muck and back onto Memorial for mile 10 (13:22). I cranked it up a bit for mile 11 and the last 1.18 miles, running 12:47 pace for mile 11 and bringing it home at 12:35 pace. I saw June waiting at her car and I let out a patented WARHOOP!!! BRING IT ON!!! (the marathon that is).

Total time - 2:39:57 for 12.18 miles

Another 13 minute mile and I would have handily beat my half marathon time by 7 or 8 minutes. Not too bad for a training run one week into my taper.

Oh, and I did this run without the fuel belt. I scoped out all the water fountains that Doug mentioned in a comment the other day and stopped for water at each of them. It was good recon for the 14th.

God bless!

Some 2007 goals

I was setting up my 2007 running log, getting ready for Monday and it asked for my distance goal for the year. I put 1250 miles. Considering my total miles for 2006 were 504, that may sound a bit ambitious. I would like to keep a consistent 25 miles per week for the year. So, with a couple of weeks off for whatever reason, 25 miles over 50 weeks is 1250.

I don't know if I would call this my primary goal for 2007 but it is a great springboard for some of my other goals. To keep a consistent running regimen, I will need to continue to drop more lbs. Of course, conversely, dropping more lbs. will certainly improve my running. So, consistent with my mantra, my top goal for 2007 is to live "a healthy lifestyle with running as a key component."

I've been rather self-absorbed this Summer and Fall with my running, trying to accomplish a lot of things and have regretfully not taken enough opportunities to give back. So, in 2007, it is my goal to officially volunteer in some capacity for 5 or more events. Since I don't see myself racing quite as much in the spring as I did this Fall, I would like to avail myself of the opportunities to work CPR/AED at a few of the HARRA races this year, particularly in the Spring.

Another goal is to PR at all my previous race distances. My current records are as follows:

5K - 36:45
6K - 52:04
10K - 1:18:35
half marathon - 2:59:56
25K - 3:38:11
30K - 4:19:15

I guess I need to include as a 2007 goal to finish my first marathon. It's hard to think of the Houston marathon in terms of "next year" but it does take place in 2007 so I'll include it here. I really have 3 goals for the race. I think it's a good practice to come up with 3 goals for any race. Since my main goal is just to finish, I'm not sure what would be the lesser goal. I guess if I had to state one, Goal #1 is to not injur myself. Goal #2 is to finish. And my "if everything goes perfectly" goal is to finish under 6 hours.

For the Flying Pig marathon, my #1 goal is to finish. After that, my goal is to better my Houston marathon time. And my "if everything goes perfectly" goal is to finish in 5:40:00 which is 13 minute pace. That's ~45 seconds off my Houston "if everything goes perfectly" goal pace. I think with the continued weight loss and training that this is a reasonable goal.

Of course, these all hinge and will always be trumped by the single most important goal to me. That is to remain healthy and free from injury. I will continue to train conservatively and to take no chances when it comes to risking injury. That doesn't mean I won't be trying my hand at some speedwork or perhaps tackling some hills here and there. It does mean that I will listen to my body, take care to not overtrain, and continue to train with a humble and thankful mind and attitude. Staying healthy and injury-free overrides any other goal I have set for myself, plain and simple.

There may be more to follow!

Sparse turnout at the Hop!

Only 5 Striders turned out at the Hop tonight. I know the holidays are busy and there are a lot of folks out of town. Still, I was expecting to see Steve B out there. Sure missed you, buddy! Still, fun was had.

I took off about 10 minutes early for my warmup and ran into Yong Collins heading back towards the picnic table. She turned right around and ran the remainder of the 2 miles with me. Think she had already done 8 and is tapering off in preparation for the Kingwood marathon on Monday. I guess Yong didn't mind running 13 minute miles with me. :o) I felt like I picked up the pace pretty good for me while we were running together. Yong is super cool. Turns out she knows my new bestest running buddy, Dusty well. Anyway, Yong told me about her training and about running marathons and gave me a few pointers. Interestingly, Yong, a big-time, fast, veteran of Lord knows how many marathons, does not do speed work at all during marathon season. She said she does speedwork in the summer but none at all during marathon season.

I felt really good tonight. The Hop routine, although still very challenging, is coming a bit easier to me than the first time I did it. I completed all the exercises, including the Greyhounds, in good fashion. Of course, the 2 mile warmup was fun and I was feeling good. I just ran about 15 mintues for the cooldown as it was getting late and I'd like to run 4 or 5 in the morning.

A friend of mine today was talking about pace groups for the marathon. I guess I never really considered it but I looked on the web site today and they have a 6:00 hour pace group. I wonder if that would be a good idea to join them. Alternatively, Dusty said he would pace me to a 6:00 hour finish if I wanted him to. His goal is to finish and continue his streak so that's another option. Wonder what others think about this. Any advice?

God Bless!!!

Momma Matt told me there'd be days like this

Last time I visited the best barber shop in town, I remember Matt telling me about a day in the near future where I would feel pretty good and go out for a run. Then after about a mile, I would just feel like I couldn't take another step. My strength would be zapped and I would just walk back to the car and go home.

Well, Matt, I got 3 miles tonight and felt like that. Completely zapped. And what's wierd is I was kind of pumped up going into tonight's run. I mean my legs felt good. My tummy was feeling good. Stretching was great! I felt strong. Then WHAM!!! I just packed it in. Walked a lot of mile 3 but finished it anyway.

I'm not gonna try and figure out what's going on. It's really no big deal. One thing is that it's real easy after doing longer runs to blow off 16.5 like it's JUST 16.5 miles. But 16.5 miles is a long way. So, I'm probably still feeling the effects of that run on Saturday. Plus, yesterday was Christmas and I ate my share of bad food including more sweets than I've probably eaten the whole month. So, I was draggin a bit tonight.

I've eaten well today, though so we'll see what tomorrow's 8 miler brings. I owed 2 miles anyway so I'll give it back to tonight's run and call it 5. :o)

Report from the doc

I went to see the doctor this morning. What a great office visit. I was signed in, saw the doctor and was out of there in about 1 hour. Guess the day after Christmas is a good time to visit the doctor.

So, NO HERNIA!!! No problem other than a possibly a "strain" or some inflammation. He seems to think some heavy duty doses of motrin would do the trick real quick. I guess this doctor, who I've never seen before, thought he would be funny. I told him that I had this pain in my abdomen that was aggravated when running. He said, "Well, you know what I say. Stop running." Then he laughed uncontrollably at his own sick joke. So I said, "Well, I'd like to see another doctor" with a straight face. He realized quickly that I didn't think that was funny.

Now, it looks like the taper is on. Strangely, after a couple of missed runs from being sick, recovering from the 30K, and trying to shake this abdomen thing, this week's mileage will actually be up from the last few weeks. Some taper, huh? My weekly mileages the last 3 weeks have been 21, 13, and 22, down from 25, 29, and 34 in weeks before that. Now, this week, if I follow Hal's week of taper, I'll log 29 miles plus the 2 extra yesterday. Guess I could give those two back on Wednesday if I had to. So, if the motrin starts to work and I feel 80% or so this week, here's the schedule.

Monday - 2 (done)
Tuesday - 5 miles
Wednesday - 8 miles (may give 2 back)
Thursday - 4 (probably HOP'n)
Friday - rest
Saturday - 12 miles
Sunday - rest

I saw a couple of movies this weekend that have me fired up. First, I saw the new Rocky Balboa movie. AWESOME!!! Then, my son got the movie Rudy for Christmas and we watched that yesterday. Talk about a couple of motivational flicks. I think I'm ready for the marathon RIGHT NOW!!!

BRING IT ON!!!

Gathering information

About an hour before a house full of family and friends were due to arrive for Christmas dinner, I decided to go on a little fact finding mission. I donned the cold weather running gear and took off out the front door for a little spin.

I figured one of two things would happen. Either I'd end up after a couple of miles with the same pain that cheated me of my 21 miler on Saturday or I'd feel relief. Although I knew it was still there, the pain in my abs didn't bother my run at all. It was a short recover run at an easy pace but it was a good test. If nothing else, it gives me a little more information to take to the doctor when I visit tomorrow (hopefully).

Total distance - 2.0 miles
Splits - 13:25 / 13:28

That brings me to another minor problem. I don't have a doctor!!! Besides Koala and my podiatrist, I don't really have a doctor. I have a physical exam done every year at the Memorial Hermann Wellness Center but as far as a GP or Family Practice doctor, I don't have a clue who to call. And do I go to a GP for this ab problem or to an orthopaedic? I guess I'll figure it out tomorrow.

This week is shaping up to be good and bad. It's bad because the rest of the family is going to DW's house in LA through the New Year's weekend. It's good because the rest of the family is going to DW's parents' house in LA through the New Year's weekend. :o) Yes, I'm gonna miss them big time but I have a lot going on at work this week and I need to concentrate on my nutrition and my running. This is much easier to do by myself. So, a lonely week but hopefully a good week 1 of taper time.

Major shrinkage!!!

First things first. Bessie, what kind of cruel joke was that? How in the world did I let you talk me into a 15-minute ICE BATH?!?!? You made it sound so fun. IT WASN'T!!! I still don't know where "everything" went to!!! All I know is I'd better feel like a million dollars by this time tomorrow and "everything" had better fall back into place real soon or you're gonna owe me a chocolate milk. :o)

And... let me just say, JUNE!!! YOU DID IT!!! When I saw you coming down picnic loop I was like, WOAH!!! June's bookin' it. I think that's the strongest I've ever seen you finish a run. Oh, wait...I've never seen you finish a run. Seriously, congratulations. You are sooooo gonna rock the marathon. And glad to hear you've finally had a come-to-Jesus about the hills. Whatever Bill said or did, WTG!

And Steve Bezner rocked the house today, finishing the longest Longest Long Run distance of 23+ miles in about 7:25 pace. Can you say BQ? Congrats, Steve

Jessica was all smiles too at the finish. I think that was a distance PR for Jessica. Either way, congrats on a great run!!!

Now, I've been sworn to positive thoughts about today by Coach Steeeve. You're not gonna hear me repeat any negative statements or thoughts about today. So, you'd better be sure and listen close the first time (that's an old Hee Haw line in case you don't remember).

Today's run was fabulous (see? postitive thoughts). Seriously, the weather was perfect and I had the honor of running with 18-time veteran of the Houston marathon and overall incredible person, Dusty Cook. Dusty is a wealth of knowledge about marathoning and running and shared some great tips and stories with me. We talked about running, the Lord, kids, business, running...It was a blast. I think I've made a good friend. Thanks for the tour of the course, Dusty. You are awesome!!!

Dusty left me at about mile 16.5, not because he was tired of running slow but because I had to stop. The spot in my lower abdomen that has been nagging me all week really flared up bad starting at around mile 11. I was gutsy for a while but stopped at the water stop at around 16.5 and that was it. Dusty went on and finished in great fashion. I hitched a ride back with Chris and got to hang around and watch everyone come in, Dusty and June included.

So, I don't really know what's going on with my abdomen. A few people I've talked to doubt it's running related. I don't know anything about that area but I'm kind of suspicious that it may be a hernia. I'm going to get it checked out on Tuesday.

I told Steeeve that it may be a hernia and he admonished me that whatever I do, don't watch this video, which happens to be the funniest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. Thanks Steeeve for the laugh. I needed it.

I received a complaint from SB that my posts were getting too long and when they're too long, he just put's "good job, Vic" in the comments and skips reading the post. So, I'm ending here. :|

Too much, too soon!!!

No, not me. The verdict is still out on me. I'm talking about a world-class athlete, possibly the world's best athlete, who recently decided to have a go at the NYC marathon with less than adequate training. That's right. I'm talking about Lance Armstrong.

I discovered recently a poorly publicized fact that the “shin splint” problem that nagged him during his training and in the marathon is really a stress fracture. He must now avoid impact-related training for 6-12 weeks as it heals.

Lance may have the most well-developed aerobic system in the world but he committed a classic new runner mistake. He did not train to prepare his musculoskeletal system for the pounding it took during marathon training and actually running the marathon. This is why it is almost univerally advised that a new runner run for a year or more before attempting a marathon.

I always say to other noobs, like me, on the RW forums that "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." What I mean is, like Lance, just because you can go out and run 20 miles or do a hard Yasso workout or a tough hill workout, doesn't mean you should. The pounding that you take when you run is immense. And on top of that, like me, many new runners are overweight, increasing the stress on joints, muscles, tendons, cartilage.

If I were reading this post, I'd say, "Well, Vic, you sure don't practice what you preach. YOU just started running in March and YOU're running a marathon. What's up with that?" Well, that would be correct. What I am doing is NOT the smartest thing and probably over-ambitious. Looking back to June/July, I and others would have probably predicted that I would have ended up in as bad a shape as Lance if not worse.

I have, however, done things a lot differently from Lance. I think the one most important thing is that I have not been afraid or ashamed to run slowly. Sure it helps that my aerobic system isn't well-developed and I probably couldn't run fast if I wanted but I always run within myself. Lance probably made a mistake by committing to the sub-3 hour goal. Also, I listen to my body and back off at any sign of trouble. Lance's shin splints were nagging him throughout his training. I know that Lance is a world-class athlete with the whole world watching him. He has sponsors, interviews, magazine covers, and a whole lot of other pressure. Fortunately, I have the luxury of stepping back from the marathon whenever I choose. There's no shame for me in stepping back to the half and living to run a full another day. (No, June, I'm not switching to the half!).

I think Lance, like many new runners, set himself up for this. Was it worth it? Probably!!! Will he heal? I'm sure. Does he have regrets? I doubt it. But I think it's a good lesson for new runners.

Test drive in the jungle

Wow, this morning felt like some scene out of Predator where those guys are traipsing through the jungle, sweating profusely, swatting flies. The mosquitos were back, the humidity was back, and the profuse sweating was back despite temps in the mid-70's.

I was a little disappointed that the doc's at Koala left today's workout up to me. Dr. Doyle, who saw me on Monday, was not in the office yesterday so all I got from the other Dr. Doyle was the standard spiel, "go ahead and run, unless it hurts or affects your gait." So, the plan this morning was left up to me. Although I would have liked to go longer, I decided to do 3 since this was my first run this week after a couple of treatments. BUT!!! Even though I wasn't going long, I needed a little more rigorous test drive than an very easy 3 might give me. So, I kicked it up a notch and boy did it feel GOOD!!!

Splits - 13:25 / 12:57 / 12:19

I felt really good. I knew the abdomen was there as there was still some residual pain but just a little bit. I actually couldn't tell if it was inflammation or just soreness from the hurt that Bre put on me with her deep tissue massage thing. On Tuesday, when Bre "exposed" the area, her eyes got big and her jaw dropped. I'm thinking, well...never mind. I won't tell you what I was thinking. She exclaimed, "Yikes, I bruised you up pretty bad yesterday." At least I have the receipt so I can explain those bruises to the wifey-poo.

June, I don't want to argue about this now but wunderground.com shows 41 degrees at 6 am on Saturday rising only to 57 by noon. Mmmm doggie!!! If that holds, it's gonna be the most awesome day!!! Great day for a distance PR for Vic and June and Bill (I think) and Jessica and ... who else? I'm getting psyched!!! LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!

Oh, and Bill, if you're gonna try to lead me astray, you should know my real weaknesses. KFC, Pizza Hut meat lovers pan pizza with extra cheese, and hot Shipley's donuts. It's making you hungry, isn't it? You're going down!!! I'm going down!!! I will be THE WINNER LOSER!!! Doh!!!

elliptical

I can vaguely recall the last time I tried to do the elliptical trainer. I vividly remember how laborious it was. I remember not being able to do it more than 5 or 10 minutes without a break.

Well, this morning's return to the dreaded trainer after a long haitus was nothing like I remember. I had no problem doing 45 minutes and actually got into what felt like a groove once I got going. The purpose today was to just get a workout in while my abdomen heals. I worked up a pretty good sweat. I got to where I could let go and sort of swing my arms like I was running and it was kind of fun. Of course, afterwards, I walked outside to get my clothes out of my car and I was longing to be OUTSIDE, RUNNING!!! I actually ran to my car, maybe 100 feet. Only felt the abs slightly.

I'll be following doctor's orders to the letter and WILL be ready for Saturday's LLR.

Do I have to experience everything?

Well, so far I've experienced long runs, short runs, long races, 5K's, 10K's, a half marathon, a 25K, a 30K, ibuprofen, tempo runs, cold weather, warm weahter, PR's, crashes, group runs, solo runs, hills, Terry Hershey, trail runs, Gu's, fuel belts, night runs, morning runs, Christmas lights runs, epsom salt baths, chafing, hot weather, cold weather, warm weather. Seems like I've done it all in the past 7 months. Guess the journey wouldn't be complete without a mid-marathon-training injury. But I've done the whole injury thing before. In fact, I did it BIG TIME!!! So, I really could have done without this fun experience.

Actually, it's more of a nag than an injury, but enough of a nag to keep me from completing my 14 miler on Sunday. And enough of a nag that I was at Koala this morning when the doors opened. So, where is this nag? Well, you would think I'd have had problems with my ankle or my knees, or my ITB, or shins or PF or achilles. But, NO, it's my lower abdomen. And when I say lower, I mean L-o-w-e-r!!! Like just below my belt but above my...ahem!!!

Don't know how it happened. After the 30K, my whole body pretty much felt like crap. As the week progressed, everything started to feel normal again, except this spot in my abdomen. I really felt it after the Christmas Lighs run. Then again on Friday night. Jamoosh, no, I didn't ditch those miles just for a Christmas party. I think when I posted that, I was in denial. In fact, I've been in denial until yesterday morning when my long run was cut short. It wasn't that I could not have run through the pain. It really wasn't that bad. But I wanted to not do anything to aggravate it more until I could see what the problem was.

So, the kind folks at Koala have agreed to get me back in good form by Saturday's important LLR. After treatment today, I'm confined to the elliptical tomorrow. Another treatment tomorrow and possibly back to running on Wednesday and Thursday. Treatment Thursday and possibly Friday as well. Then the big day on Saturday. Woot!!

I'm down but by no means out. Doubtful I'll be able to brag about my 40 mile week this week like June will but if I can get to the start on Saturday healthy, I'll be satisfied with "just" a distance PR.

What a ride!!!

Not to worry!

I ran 3 miles on Friday. I was planning on running 6 but needed to get to a Christmas party and was running late. I'm not going to fret about the splits.

Splits - 14:13 / 14:35 / 14:26

My main goal this week is to recover from the 30K and it's been tough. One option is to just stay in bed or stay off my feet at least. The other is to get back out there and try to get my legs moving again. I know one thing. There's no way I was going to be able to run the 33 miles that Hal had scheduled for me this week. With 4 on Wednesday, 3 Friday, and 14 tomorrow, I'll be cutting it back to 21 miles by week's end.

In my opinion, I've made a bit of a mistake in my training and it's too early to tell how it's going to effect my marathon. There is a huge difference between a training run and a race. I think it was a mistake to blow my wad on the 30K like I did and not have enough in the tank to continue proper training this week. I really gave the 30K a goal race effort. I went into that race without any sort of taper and now I'm supposed to jump right back into the meat of the final weeks of marathon training? Not a smart plan. I firmly believe that first timers should approach these warmup series races like a training run. Now, for me, to do that would have put me even further beyond the time limit. So, the best thing for me to have done would have been to do an 18 mile training run on Saturday and work the water station on Sunday.

Still, I'll never forget that 30K and do not regret doing it. If I end up trading that hammered 30K for a successful marathon, sobeit. Don't get me wrong. I'm not resigned to a poor performance come January 14. I'm just saying that this whole journey has been a blast and I wouldn't trade any run or race to date for anything.

So, it's tempting to fret about those 14:30 miles but I'm not. Like I said, if it were the week after the marathon, I wouldn't be running at all. Tomorrow is a 14 miler. It will be a confidence building run for me. I don't plan on trying to hammer sub-14 minute miles. I just want to do my thing and try to get my legs back.

God bless!!!

Friendly competition. High stakes!!!

Bill and I have challenged each other to a little friendly competition. No, it's not an ultra marathon or even a hundred yard dash (this makes me happy as I'll never stand a chance against anyone in these events except maybe Barney the Dinosaur). And no, this isn't the something BIG that Bill and I are working on for the Striders. Those details will be coming soon.

Inspired by this week's Biggest Loser finale on NBC, Bill and I are going mano-a-mano with a little weight loss competition of our own. The stakes? Loser buys the winner a registration to the marathon of the winner's choosing. Personally, when I win, I'm choosing the Antarctic Ice Marathon for the low, low cost of $15,000. Not bad, huh? And airfare is included.

The rules are simple. We weighed in today. My starting weight is 295 lbs. The contest runs through the 2nd Tuesday in February. The person (it will be me) with the highest weight loss as a percentage of total starting weight will be the winner.

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!! Bill, I hate to say this but YOU'RE GOIN' DOWN!!!

Christmas lights run

Tonight had to be one of the funnest times I've had since the last time the Striders got together. I don't know what the record is for the annual Christmas Lights run but we had a lot of people turn out. And it seems like a lot of newcomers as well. I think I met 3 or 4 brand new Striders tonight. AWESOME!!!

Our run took us a little over 4 miles through beautiful Tanglewood, between San Felipe and Woodway. Of course the theme tonight was Christmas. Many were adorned with festive items like Santa hats, lighted reindeer antlers, bells and blinkers. John Yoder wore what looked to be an entire string of lights. Not sure where the power pack was. He was a running Christmas tree. Many homes were lighted and decorated. We just ran through the neighborhood, enjoying the decorations and the fellowship. It was an absolute beautiful night. Afterwards, we hung out and talked trash, laughed a lot, and were generally very, very merry!!!

The pace was a little quick for me for my first recovery run after the 30K. Barb, our pacer, punished me pretty well. Actually, I kind of got in a good groove there at the end and felt pretty darn good. And it was just 4 miles so I'm sure no harm done.

Splits - 13:17 / 13:30 / 13:14 / 12:37!!!
Total time - ~53 minutes

I got to talk to coach a little about the rest of the week's training. He stressed that the most important thing right now for me is to stay healthy. The next big run for me is the 23 miler in 10 days. Everything between now and then is secondary. So, for now, I'm supposed to concentrate on recovering from the 30K. I know how to do that. I'll run a little longer tomorrow but not more than 5 or 6. Then, depending on how that goes and depending on which day I'd like to do my long run, I'll either run on Friday or skip it. We'll see.

On the nutrition front, Catherine wants me diligently logging all intake until the first of the year. We're really gonna knuckle down and eat right these last weeks before the marathon.

ok, what's the deal?

Is anyone else having problems with blogger? I'm trying to post commentson some blogs and I keep getting this "Could not log you in. Double check your password or try again later" error. This is only on Joe's, Erin's, Steve's, and a few others' blogs. What is the deal? Is it me or are others having probs? It must be everyone because none of those posts and ANY comments? Anyone know what's up?

What a pleasure

I had the fine pleasure today of visiting the greatest little barber shop in Houston, Bellaire's Original Barber Shop. Master barber and masters runner, Matt Wright, is the proprietor of this fine establishment. Matt's not as cute as Blanca, the girl at Visible Changes that usually does my hair, but he ain't chopped liver either. LOL!!! Seriously, Matt's shop is awesome. Great atmosphere and top quality barberin'. Oh, and this is a REAL barber shop. I mean warm lather neck shave, the whole 9 yards. Just like when my grandpa use to take me to the barber when I was a kid. Why I even had the hair in my ears trimmed. Only a real barber pays that kind of attention to detail. I would highly recommend visiting Matt's shop. It's reasonable, there's great service. Besides, where else you gonna go get a haircut and talk running at the same time?

The soreness from Sunday's 30K is subsiding. I decided to take Monday and Tuesday off. Well, my thighs and hammys kind of made that decision for me. Actually, this evening, I swam some easy laps at the athletic center so put me down for some cross training. I'm looking at doing my full schedule this week starting tomorrow with a very casually paced Christmas Lights run through Tanglewood with the Striders. Then, I'll either run Thursday/Friday/Sunday or Thursday/Saturday. I'll see how it goes. For now, feeling friskier and probably ready to run by tomorrow.

It IS official

I found my official time for the 30K posted this morning and turns out the Garmin was just about correct.

4:19:14!!!

Thanks to the race director for keeping the mat and computers turned on for a few extra minutes. You know, I was pretty much resigned last night to the fact that I may not be scored officially. Actually, I would have been ok with that. I was reminded lately that if I'm doing this just to get my name on a web site next to some numbers, then I'm doing this for the wrong reasons. I should be doing this as part of a healthy lifestyle with running as a key component. I want to live and live better. I want to be a better husband, a better father, a better employee, and a better follower of Christ.

Besides, this will be the last year I'll have to worry about time limits. (I hope!)

30K in the bag

Put me down for another first today. My first 30K race. This morning, I completed the Methodist Sugarland 30K. The weather was cool, the course was flat, but the concrete was HARD!!! I'm hurting pretty good right about now.

I've been proud of my accomplishments to this point but this one was really special. The funny thing is, going into this race, my expectations were not high and I was frankly a little ho-hum about the distance. I was more excited about seeing Steve B nail his race than I was about my own. But this one turned out in the end to be a race that I'll look back on and say that I really performed to my best potential. I know there will be better races in my future and I hope that I continue to get faster but for now, THIS WAS THE ONE!! The one where it really came together.

I got up around 4 am and had my breakfast, and started drinking water. On the way to the race, I stopped at my Starbuck's and got a coffee to enjoy en route. As I was coming out of the store, a guy pulled beside me. He had just gone through the drive-thru. I guess he saw my bib because he said, "I'm going there, too!!!" That was pretty cool.

I arrived in plenty time to talk trash with the Striders under the Strider tent. All the usual suspects, Bill, Steve, Santos, Stacy, Amber, Hillary, Barry, Lee, Miriam, Chip, Jennie, Andrew, and many more. It was a lot of fun and the energy was definitely there. After making my way over to the Marriott to "take care of some business", I did some stretching and started to make my way over to the start. After a beautiful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner and a quick prayer, the horn sounded.

The course took us out about 3.5 miles to a loop in residential Sugar Land, then 3 times around, and about 2 miles back to First Colony mall and Town Square. To me, the 4.2 mile loop added a lot of energy to the race. There were so many runners and friends. Some were passing from behind, some were running the opposite direction on the other side of the median. AND, best of all, the Striders sponsored and manned the most awesome water station at the west end of the loop. It was great to see Jen, June, Erica, Matt, who place 14th overall in yesterday's Sunmart 25K, Barb, oh, who else was there? I can't remember. It was just the best to get to see my friends and the waterstop, and THREE times at that. Thanks for cheering us on Striders.

My goal for this race was to finish. Plain and simple. There was this little thing about at 4:15 time limit which averages out to a 13:40 pace over 18.6 miles. So, with trusty Garmin buckled on my wrist, I just set out to keep that pace. I don't know what the deal was on miles 2 and 3. I was pacing with the Garmin right at 13:40 but when I hit the mile marker, it was 13:56 and 13:50 respectively. The Garmin show 1.02 for both these miles. I suspect that I took the long way (the outside "lane") on some of the long curves through the neighborhood, basically running over by the cones in the middle of the street. So, my bad on the extra .04 there. No worries though.

Mile 1 - 13:39
Mile 2 - 13:56
Mile 3 - 13:50

By mile 4, I was "warmed up" and feeling really good. One new tactic that I employed was walking through the water stops. This is really a no-brainer and I should have been doing this all along. It really turned out well, I did not lose that much time and I left each stop knowing that I had completly drank all my water and feeling refreshed. The short 30 second or so walk really does me good. So, mile 4 was a little quicker AND included a potty break and a water stop. But like I said, I left that water stop feeling quite frisky and the next 4 miles show that.

Mile 4 - 13:59
Mile 5 - 13:27
Mile 6 - 13:38
Mile 7 - 13:39
Mile 8 - 13:24

At this point, I remember saying to myself, "Ok, just an easy 10-miler left, and some change." I'll admit I was tired but not so much that I had to let up at all. I was still running as well as I can run, strong and confident but still patient. About this time, I start playing this little game in my head. One side of me feels good and wants to knock out a couple of 13:10's or maybe a 13 minute mile. The other part of me respects the remaining distance and says, "Easy, big fella!" Good thing my rational side won that debate because I could have really blew it right there at about the halfway point.

Mile 9 - 13:53
15K (Halfway there) - 2:07:52, right on pace
Mile 10 - 13:35

I just beat my 10-mile race PR by about 6 minutes

At this point, I'm patient at the water stops. Each walk break leaves me feeling a little rejuvenated. So, I walk through a stop, resulting in ~14:00+ mile, then the next mile is in the mid-13's.

Mile 11 - 14:00
Mile 12 - 13:35
Mile 13 - 13:53
Mile 14 - 13:52
Mile 15 - 14:18

Somewhere in here, I bettered my 25K race PR. I don't know by exaclty how much because I didn't take a split at the 25K marker. Oh, well.

Mile 16 - 13:40
Mile 17 - 14:16

About a mile and a half to go but I'm hurtin'. Also, it's gotten really lonely out there. No more water stops. No more shout-outs, no more exciting loops with friends passing. At this point, it's just me on that last busy stretch of road. The runners had the right lane as the cars zoomed by. The good thing was that the Town Square was in sight, towering over the mall. I couldn't see the finish but I could see the buildings by the finish. My first and last moment of weakness came as I walked a good 1 minute and 15 seconds. Then, I just decided that I was goign to finish this thing running, even if it was 14:45.

Mile 18 - 15:35 (with the extended walk break)

After turning left into the mall complex, and making a right with just about .2 to go, I'm surprised to see my whole family, screaming and cheering for me there at the end. This is the first race my family has ever seen me finish and it was a total shocker. Fortunately, the course was cleared out so the little one and my oldest ran along with me out in the street and then on the sidewalk. A few seconds after spotting the fam, Coach Steeeve appears on the left side of the street to bring me in with some awesome words of encouragement. Steve said, "There's your fan club!" And sure enough, many friends waited around for me to finish and were hootin' and hollerin'. Bessie's smile shined through the whole group. Steve B was cheering. My bud, June cheered me on at the end of yet another race. James, Matt, Barb, Jess, Erica, it was just AWESOME!!!

Last .6 or so - 9:06

I hobbled over to shirt pickup, hung around a bit talking trash, loved on the fam, and made my way over to the pizza. Then, we went over to Baker Street pub for some lunch.

I don't know yet if my official time will be posted. I came in a few minutes over the 4:15 time limit. They were taking the structure of the finish line down when I crossed but the mats and computers were still on. Thanks to whoever made that happen. You know who you are and I appreciate it. Still, I don't see my time on the results so I'm not sure if it got uploaded to the results page in time. And, in all the excitement, I failed to hit stop at the finish. How about that. I diligently recorded ever single mile split and even hit the lap at the 15K mark but I didn't get the finish. As near as I can tell, after deleting all the points where I wondered around after finishing, my finishing time was 4:19:15!!! I'm very happy with that. Of all the warmup series races so far, that's the closest I've come to getting in under the cutoff.

Thanks and congrats to all the Striders who raced today and volunteered. Special congrats to 2006 Strider Most Improved Runner, Steve B who averaged an incredible 7:27 over the 30K race. Also, my hat's off to Bill who despite some back and hip problems and a lot of pain, turned in a gutsy 3:18:13 and Jessica, that was a distance and race PR for you, right? You were smokin' out there, girl. Nice race. I know there are many other notables and I will not try to name them all. Of course our own Brett Riley took overall winner today in what I believe is his first warmup series appearance. It looks like the Striders brought home some serious hardware.

So much to say!!

This blog often presents me with a dilemma. Do I ramble on and on with all my thoughts and goals and milestones and roadblocks for the day or week or do I organize my thoughts into separate, well-organized, well thought out posts, each with it's own theme or idea? I mean just the fact that I'm thinking about this may merit it's own separate post. Actually, that I'm thinking about this at all probably means I have too much time on my hands (or mind). I know that can't be the case as this is the first time I've sat still all week. Anyway, let the rambling begin!!!

I have mixed feelings and a few fears about this week. A lot of these fears could very easily be allayed with a good 30K race tomorrow. Nevertheless, I can't help this morning wondering what this week has meant to my marathon training. My head and my coach say not to worry but my heart says that I must have lost a step or two. On Monday evening, I felt a decent head cold coming on. By Tuesday morning, my nose was rotting off my face and my body felt weak. At that point, I had to make a decision. The decision was to not run until I felt better, not wanting to aggravate my condition and prolong it any longer than need be.

Three days later (Thursday), almost fully recovered and starting to feel frisky again, I finally got out and ran 2 easy miles around the neighborhood. The easy effort turned into a 5K effort after a quarter mile and I finished with an average 12:20 pace. It felt good to get the cobwebs out. I felt like I could go another loop at that effort but stopped there as I planned on getting up on Friday and doing 3-5 easy. I got up at 4:00 but got paged a couple of times while I was getting ready. By that time, I needed to get into the office. So, here I sit, with a whopping 2 miles logged this week after an easy and fun 11 mile trail run last Saturday.

However, here I also sit, rested, well fed, hydrated, and feelin' pretty darn frisky. Not a bad place to be less than a day before a 30K race. None of my long races to date have been on the heels of any kind of significant rest or anything like a taper. I know. I know. This week isn't exactly what you would call a taper and with my first full marathon staring me in the face just 32 days from now, it's not the time to take a week off. But I just can't see myself in my mind looking back to this week and saying, "if I'd just not been sick that week, I would have done better." I'm CERTAINLY not going to start looking for excuses before I even toe the line on January 14.

For what it's worth, I know that some of you more experienced runners out there may be worrying about this noob trying to make up for missing some miles this week. Well, just don't worry your pretty little heads. I ain't stupid!!! Where I am today is where I am today. Ain't no makeups!!! I'll pick back up where I left off on Tuesday and finish this thing strong.

Lastly, the scale's reading 293 now, well below the 300 mark and I ain't going back. (that's the 3rd use of the "ain't" word in this post. Sorry, Erica!) I predict my marathon weight will be around 285-289. I believe that's just about all the help I'm getting from physics. Now, Lord, please plan on good running weather in Houston on that Sunday. Please! Please!

I'm in love...

...with trail running!

Well, 2006 continues to be a year of firsts for me. As Steeeve says, "I got my first trail run ticket punched" yesterday at Huntsville with the Striders. We could not have asked for more beautiful weather to run at what must be one of the area's most pristine state parks. Huntsville State Park is the site of the Sunmart 50K/50mile ultra trail race coming up this weekend and the trails were in great shape.

My first inkling was to arrive early, ahead of the group and get a head start so that I would finish with the other faster runners. That idea was quickly squelched and for good reason. Even though our planned run looked simple on the map, there were several opportunities where a wrong turn could turn a 12 mile run into a 24 mile run. Fortunately, I was with some experienced runners, several of whom know Huntsville and the Sunmart route like the back of their hand. Special thanks to master trail runner, Barb, who hung back and guided me to a successful, enjoyable completion to my first trail run.

It was a welcomed escape from a tough month of training in November and I enjoyed not worrying about time and splits and pace and miles and distance. I just enjoyed running and romping through the woods, taking in the sounds and scenery and enjoying His creation.

When we met up for instructions, Steeeve started describing our route. He said stuff about this part being "technical" and that part being "just jeep trail" and some parts being "less technical." What in the world is "technical?" I'm not sure I know yet but I think it means a section of the trail where you need to navigate and plan each step carefully, thoughtfully executing your path down the trail. It really requires some concentration as I was constantly looking down, planning my next move. It's not at all like the thoughtless groove you get into when running in town at the Memorial Park loop. It really takes a lot more out of you than running on the road. Coach predicted that of the 20 or so of us, 4 would take a fall yesterday. Guess how many fell. Exactly 4. No harm done as the ground is for the most part pretty soft.

I may not know what "technical" means but I do know what hills are and I must say that the route took us over some pretty hilly terrain. Not the short, steep kind but the long, gradual kind. Of course, what goes up, must come down and each downhill section was a welcomed sight. I did end up walking a lot of the hills but maintained a good effort.

So, the 10.5 miles left me feeling pretty good. It's nice to cut back and not feel like I've totally destroyed myself. Still, it was a good workout. This morning, I feel it in places I don't normally feel soreness, like in the glutes and lower legs. I think the cutback this week on the long run is setting me up nicely for a good 30K next Sunday. I can't wait.

God Bless!

Ramping up!!!

Another month of fairly consistent training was brought to a close this morning with what was supposed to be a 5 mile run. I DID end up giving back 2 miles to Hal. That was the 2 miles I 'borrowed' this last Saturday to complete the full Tour de Memorial. I was nearing the end of the Memorial park loop this morning when I ran into an old friend (not literally) and we just had to stop and catch up a little. Oh how I look forward to the day when I can actually RUN WITH FRIENDS!!! at a pace where I can actually keep up. Patience!!! This was the same friend that kept me from cheering on June at the Turkey Trot 10K finish. We haven't seen each other in 14 years and now we've accidently run into each other twice in less than a week (not literally). Anyway, we talked for 15 minutes and by that time, I didn't feel like doing the last 2 miles so I cut it short after 3.

Now, I can finally post November's totals. Drum roll please!!! This month, I passed the century mark for the first time with 117 miles. I almost got there last month but was 6 short. Here are my monthly totals since July when I started using this log:

If all goes as planned, I should peak in December at around 145-150. Makes for a nice little graph if you ask me.

There may be something wrong with my Garmin. Lord, I hope not!!! It was very disconcerting running without it this morning. I had it on the charger all day yesterday but when I turned it on this morning before my run, the batteries were still dead. I hope I just need to wipe off the contacts on the cradle or something. I'm not too worried about it because I know Garmin will stand behind their product but to go without it is kind of annoying. I've really gotten addicted to it. On the other hand, it was kind of freeing to run this morning without it. I had no idea how "well" I ran but you know what? It really doesn't matter what the pace was. If it makes you breathe hard, it must be good for you.

Lastly, I'm having a hard time getting my "calculated" weight that my spreadsheet figures out to catch up with my acutal daily weight, measured on the scale. My measured weight this morning was 293 but the spreadsheet says 297. Who cares I guess. I'm still headed in the right direction and seem to be well past the 300-305 plateau that I was at for the better part of October. I don't want my energy and nutrition to suffer between now and January 14th but I'd like to lose at least another 10 lbs by then. So, I'll continue to walk that tightrope between taking in the right amount and kind of calories to lose weight and eating enough that my running doesn't suffer.

Quick post

Ran 8 miles.

Venue - Memorial Park
Total distance - 8.0 miles
Total time - 1:49:30
Mile 1 - 13:47
Mile 2 - 13:50
Mile 3 - 13:44
Mile 4 - 13:45
Mile 5 - 13:45
Mile 6 - 13:29
Mile 7 - 13:41
Mile 8 - 13:26
Avg pace - 13:41

Saw Amalia, Felix

It was humid but cool

How do I feel? Like I just ran 8 miles.:o)

46 DAYS!!!

Giving Back ... NOT!!!

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I would like the opportunity to give back to the running community. Well, that's not what I refer to when I say...NOT!!!

This morning, I seriously thought about giving back a mile to Hal who gave me 4 to do. But, at this point in the game, I ain't giving back ANY miles. So, 4 it was. Nice and easy. I seem to be recovering faster after these killer long runs. I remember after the half, I was toast for pretty much the whole week. Now, yes, I still feel like I'm in recovery mode from Saturday's 18-miler but I'm not sore and I felt pretty good this morning during the run. Here are the stats:

Venue - Memorial Park
Total distance - 4.0 miles
Total time - 54:50
Mile 1 - 13:53
Mile 2 - 14:05
Mile 3 - 13:40
Mile 4 - 13:10
Average pace - 13:42

God Bless!!!

TdM

Well, I have officially entered into the world of overtraining according to Coach Steeeve. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Today was the Houston Striders Tour de Memorial, a training event, with runs of varying distances through West Houston. Runners choose from:

The Lad and Lassie Stroll - 3 miles,
The Brawny Rumble - 8 miles,
The Awesome Studly Run - 14 miles,
or the full Tour de Memorial - 18.4 miles

The highlight of the Tour was the water station contest, where various club members compete for the best water station along the course. The 18.4 mile course was planned to pass by each of these homes with opportunities for shortcuts back to the start along the way for the shorter runs. Then, we all ended up back at the start for fun and frivolity and a little trash talking.

This was a tough week for me to run a new distance PR following last Sunday's 25K race. Hal called for 16 not even knowing that I RACED last week's 15+. With the 30K race in 2 weeks, I'm running the risk today of overtraining a bit. Because of this, I took it very easy today. Not that it matters...18 miles is 18 miles, no matter how easy you take it. But I took my time at the water stops and visited with the peeps. Also, you had to be careful and follow the map or risk getting lost. So, there were frequent, short walks for mapreading.

I didn't even time this run or keep my mile splits like I usually do. I basically used my Garmin just to monitor my pace. It's really easy for me to slip up over 15 - 15:30 min/mile pace so I just used the Garmin for a check. For the most part, when I was running, it was running around 14:00 - 14:45. At around mile 14, Bill caught up with me and I ran a 12:25 minute mile with him to the next water stop. So, one tempo mile, done. If you're sharp, you're wondering "How in the world was BILL catching up to VIC?" Well, to finish with the rest of the runners, I had a 3 mile head start. I started about 45 minutes before everyone else which worked out really well. I ended up finishing just behind June by about 5 minutes. As I came around the last corner, I see Bessie waiting there, clapping her hands and sporting that beautiful smile. Then I hear the cheers of my fellow runners as I come up the sidewalk. I know I've been accused of being a finish line snob and not recognizing cheers from friends there at the end. I wanted to do away with that reputation today so I actually ran hand-in-hand for some yards with Bessie, like Jack and Jill but with no hill. Then I acknowledged the rest of the awesome group by waving my fist in the air and finishing with really cool handshakes for everyone. I hope that was better.

I can't stop thinking about how lucky I am to be a part of the Houston Striders. These people in this club have meant the world to me. My blogger friends as well, some of whom are members of the Striders, have become such a wonderful part of my life. Thank you all for your friendship and your encouragement and your inspiration. Anyhow, let me save the rest of this speech for January 14th. :o) Thanks Striders for such an awesome event.

I think so...

I think I saw Erin out there. In a flash, I saw a very colorful shirt fly by me. Erin, was that you. Sorry we couldn't stop to chat! We MUST catch up and talk some time. After meeting Christy, I think you're the LAST of the awesome blogger-types I haven't had the pleasure of meeting personally. :o)

Thousands take wrong turn!!! or It's nice to be a Mid pack 5K'er!

Ok, I have no idea what the correct turnaround for the TXU Turkey Trot 5K was but I know it wasn't Fountainview, where thousands of 5K'ers turned around today. That made the 5K 3.59 miles. I didn't believe my Garmin but when I got home, I mapped it on MapMyRun and it was exacly what the Garmin said, 3.59. What's even more interesting is that the course "map" on the web site says the turnaround is at Bering. Well, that would have made the course ~2.9, way short. MapMyRun puts the most accurate turnaround a few feet before Augusta. Augusta would have made it a close 3.13 or 3.14.

Someone told me once before that sometimes it's fun to just stay at the finish and look at all the people that come in behind you. :o) Well, normally that's not a problem as I am often the LAST person to finish a race but today, I became a middle of the pack 5K'er. There may have been a couple thousand runners finishing after me. LOL!!! I can go on kidding myself but the fact is that this was not a competitive 5K race and was billed as a walk/run/fun run. So, it was a lot of fun dodging and weaving, with people getting in my way as well as trying to get out of the way myself. At one point I got caught in a bit of a groove, just settling into a pace and I hear a SHOUT from behind, "OVER TO THE RIGHT, VIC!!!" It was Steve Schroeder so rightly getting me to move my big arse over for the fast 10K runners to get through. Hey, Steve, seriously. Thanks for the reminder. I really want to be courteous and have good etiquette. Sorry I missed you after the race. Oh, and by the way, the coverlets bandaids work well. Thanks, bud.

Well, I'm dead set on having a full tank going into Saturday's 18-miler, Tour de Memorial so I decided against the 10K and went with the fun, easy 5K training run. It's been a good week as I continue to recover from Sunday's 25K. I felt pretty good this morning after yesterday's 8 mile run. Hal had 4 on the schedule today. I wanted to get a mile warmup in before the 5K began to round out the 4. I ended up running along the boulevard until I got to the feeder. I didn't want to journey down the feeder road so I just headed back to the starting line. This ended up being about .6 miles. Then, as fate would have it, the 5K was long, making it a little over 4 miles. Yipee!!! A full weeks training according to plan. Here's the run:

Total distance - 4.2 miles
Warmup - .63 miles - 8:21 (13:15 pace)
"5K" - 3.58 miles - 43:42 (12:12 pace)
Average pace for total 4.2 - 12:24

Now, looking at that pace, I'm inclined to slap myself on the wrist for pushing a "training run" too hard. How am I supposed to have anything left in the tank? BUT, I really didn't feel like I was hammering this run. It was a little harder effort, sort of like that tempo effort where I'm breathing hard but not gasping for air, but if I ran any harder, I would be gasping. So, the fastest I've ever run a 5K was average 11:51 back pre-ankle surgery and about 35 degrees. I have no doubt that record is gonna fall the next 5K I get to run, probably some time in February.

This was a huge race. I think they ran out of water. I guess if I were really racing, I'd have had a bit higher expectations but my goal this morning was just to have fun and get in a good workout. Mission accomplished!!

Great to meet Marianne and Christine. Also got to chat again with Christy. Manny, I hear you're running faster than Cassie. How can that be? Wow, Manny, all I can say is I'm impressed. And June...what kind of friend am I? After all those times of June cheering me on at the finish, waiting around for hours for me to finish...I finally get a chance to be there at the finish to cheer her on and I blow it. While waiting for June and Erica and company to finish, I see a long lost friend of mine that I haven't seen in 15 years. I leave my post and chase my friend to the finish to say hi. I was surreal seeing my friend after all these years and I got lost for a few minutes talking about another time and place. By the time we said goodbye (again) and I made my way over to the finish, there was June taking her chip off. Trouble!!! Let me just say in front of God and everyone, I'M SORRY!!! I'm such a bad friend. I owe you one...or two.

Late from 8!

These long(er) mid-week runs are getting longer and longer, putting me later and later getting to work. Guess I'll just have to run them faster and faster. No, bad idea.

8 miles at Memorial Park on tap this morning. My legs are still sore from Sunday's race. The pain was subsiding but is back after this morning's run. It's not a bad kind of sore. It just feels like I ran 15.5 miles on Sunday and 8 miles this morning, which I have! So, it's a normal kind of crappy feeling, right? I must be crazy.

Speaking of pain, I did my 3 miles yesterday. Back in the day (what? a month ago?), I would have just skipped the first run after a race like the 25K, but I wanted to get out and just get a little blood flowing. I played it smart and I'm proud of that. Not that I COULD have run any faster. I just jogged very nice and easy and did 3 instead of the 4 that Hal scheduled. I don't think he knew about the 25K or he probably would have given me the day off completely. Here are the stats:

Total distance - 3.0 miles
Venue - Memorial Park
Mile 1 - 14:36
Mile 2 - 14:49
Mile 3 - 14:42
Total time - 44:08
Average pace - 14:43

Mission accomplished on those 3. It may seem strange but I'm quite proud of those 3. My thinking in the past was if I'm sore, I'm not running. But there comes a time when you're going to have to run sore. I'm in the final push of marathon training and it's going to be tough, so I have to be. I still must be smart to meet my primary goal of getting to the starting line, injury-free. But, I don' think a little soreness is justification to skip a workout. If I'm sore, I'll just run easy.

If sore, run easy? Well, that went out the door this morning. This morning's 8 miler was wonderful and just slightly uncomfortable. This may sound strange but one of the things I wanted to work on this morning was water breaks. I didn't really increase the frequency of my breaks but when I did stop, I drank plenty of water, probably the equivalent of one and a half cups at a regular water station. I've mentioned before that I've gotten in the habit in races of getting a cup, taking a sip or 2 and then pouring the rest on my head to cool off. So, I'm concentrating on drinking plenty when I stop. Must've worked because I was sweating considerably by the end of the run. It was sure a beautiful morning. Just PERFECT!!! Here's the run:

Venue - Memorial Park
Total distance - 8.0 miles
Mile 1 - 14:06
Mile 2 - 14:02
Mile 3 - 13:37
Mile 4 - 13:18
Mile 5 - 13:21
Mile 6 - 13:13
Mile 7 - 13:22
Mile 8 - 13:10
Total time - 1:48:12
Average pace - 13:32

For fun, I went back to the last time I ran 8 miles, August 21, and looked at my splits. The run that week was my long run. Here are the splits.

Mile 1 - 15:55
Mile 2 - 15:55
Mile 3 - 16:48
Mile 4 - 16:44
Mile 5 - 15:55
Mile 6 - 16:45
Mile 7 - 17:18
Mile 8 - 15:00

I posted "finished strong" for that last mile. Wow!!! What a difference God and physics have made lately.

Anyway, I know one thing. These tired, sore legs ain't hammerin' out no 10K tomorrow, that's for sure. When I went to packet pickup yesterday for the Turkey Trot, I stood there for a while trying to decide if I was going to do the 10K or the 5K. If I did the 10K, was I going to "really" race it or just mosey? If I chose the 5K, I was definitely going to hammer it. But the 5K isn't timed officially so why waste a PR on a FunRun? So, I took the 10K bib. Now, this morning, after careful thought and waddling back and forth to the coffee pot, FORGET THAT!!! I'm going over to Luke's at lunch to switch to the 5K. And I'm gonna jog it too. Besides, it will be fun to cheer June and Erica on at the finish for a change. I'm open to cheering more friends on (Pony, Jon, Miriam, Chip, David, Andrew, Jennie, or whoever else is going to be there) but the fact is that most will finish 6.2 before I even finish my 5K. It should be fun, though!

Lastly, I was just thinking about something. I've been consistenly averaging 20+ miles per week for the last 6 weeks or so. Now would be a good time to start marathon training. :o)