Run to the battlefield

After not running Thursday, I decided that I better get a long run in today. I have been enjoying running with someone for the long ones, but today no one else was available. So I headed off around 9 and ran out to Wilson's Creek Battlefield entrance and back. There was a pretty strong wind out of the North which made it chilly when I first started. The sky was very overcast and at times I wondered if it was going to start raining. It never did, however.

Sunday long run

Sunday morning I slept a little later and met Patrick at Panera Bread on South Campbell and we headed out for an 8 mile run. I was a great time for conversation as we kept a very comfortable pace. After the run, we had some coffee and breakfast at Panera. We decided that next week I will run 8 with him and then ride 12 miles while he does his long run in preparation for his marathon. The above picture is from the 2007 Sunshine run last October.

Running plans

From my journaling- I am stuck at 177 right now and would like to get my weight to 160, but I just haven't had the discipline or imagination to get it there. I am comfortable at 177 but I want to be lighter to prevent knee injuries from running. I am planning to run the Bass Pro full marathon this year so I have to make some changes. One change would be to stop eating after 7 at night. That one seems impossible. Thinking about the marathon, I wonder if I can run that far. I think that with the right amount of training I can probably do it.

I ran 3 miles with Patrick yesterday at the Nixa High School track with a strong head wind into our face for one side of the track. Patrick and I are planning on running three days a week together as he prepares for the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon in June. I have about 28 weeks to prepare for the marathon. The summer months can be the most difficult as it gets hot.

another short run

I went out this afternoon for a run. I ran 3.4 and walked .6. I almost quit within the first five minutes but muddled through. I almost got in the car and went to the fitness center to run indoors but I stuck it out. I have to remember to use my inhaler in this cold air. Now let's watch some NFL playoff football!

First run in a long while

I ran 2.4 mile this evening. It was the first time I had run since the first week of December. My lungs were pretty tight because of the cold air, I had to use the inhaler when I got home. I am hoping to get back in shape. I am feeling a little out of rhythm, but I haven't been motivated to run. My incision didn't hurt at all during the run. That was surprising.

A break from the long run

For some strange reason, I woke up yesterday with lower back pain. Not excrutiating but enough to sideline me from my 8 mile run today. It's probably just as well, today is going to be super busy. I have a feeling the back pain was from sleeping too long because this morning I woke up after 6.5 hours of sleep and the pain wasn't as bad as before. I'm a little bummed this morning that Missouri couldn't beat OU last night to make it to the BCS championship game in football. I don't see them getting another chance like this for a long time. With the big SEC schools competing for a national championship every year, Mizzou will probably not be in this position ever again. Oh well, it's just sports.

Turket Trot

From 2007 Turkey Trot

Well, it's very cold in this neck of the woods. For two years now we have gone out as a family to the Springfield Park Board Turkey Trot to benefit the Developmental Center of the Ozarks and the Ozarks food harvest. This is the first year and first race for Emily, so I just ran along side of her as a father-daughter run. The starting temperature was about 28 degrees F, definitely below what I am comfortable with. Emily did really well for her first race. Her official time has yet to be posted but it was around 29:45 or 30 minutes.

Wicked cramp

Today was Veteran's Day so I was off work. I hung out with my buddy Rob this morning a little as we discussed life over a cup of coffee at McDonalds (he actually had a bagel and Coke). After returning home, I did some laundry and straightened up the house, while I awaited the repairman to come and replace the lamp in my DLP HDTV. He came about 11 and was done in about 45 minutes. I decided that I was going to go for about a 4-5 mile run. The weather was about 65 and kind of humid as it had rained all morning. About 2 miles into the run, I developed a side stitch/cramp. I tried slowing down and walking for a minute or so, but when I resumed running the cramp came back strong. I walked about the next two miles because every time I tried to start running again it came back. I usually don't get side-stitches, so this was very frustrating. Later this evening Emily and I went for about a 2.5 mile jog to help her get ready for the Turkey Trot next week, I wasn't planning on running but ran about 1.5 miles in my jeans that I was wearing. Emily kept saying "Dad, you are going to chafe". Hard to believe she is 9. She is the one on the far left of the picture below.

Some running statistics from my half-marathon. Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 1280 ft Location: Springfield, MO Elev. Gain: -13 ft Date: 11/04/07 Up/Downhill: [+426/-439] Time: 06:03 AM Difficulty: 3.3 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 13.16 miles Time: 1:58:07 Speed: 6.7 mph Pace: 8' 59 /mi Heart Rate: 171 bpm (Avg) Calories: 2382 184 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Heart Rate (bpm)   Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 176 - 195 0h 25m 21%  2.78 mi Zone 4 156 - 176 1h 41m 85%  11.30 mi Zone 3 137 - 156 0h 01m 1%  0.15 mi Zone 2 117 - 137 0h 00m 0%  0.02 mi Zone 1 98 - 117 0h 00m 0%  0.01 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0%  0.00 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 36 -0' 23 7.0 +0.3 160 0 ft 2 8' 39 -0' 20 6.9 +0.3 170 +13 ft 3 8' 49 -0' 10 6.8 +0.1 169 -13 ft 4 8' 55 -0' 04 6.7 +0.0 166 -60 ft 5 8' 53 -0' 06 6.8 +0.1 174 +56 ft 6 9' 06 +0' 07 6.6 -0.1 170 -23 ft 7 8' 44 -0' 15 6.9 +0.2 174 -23 ft 8 9' 00 +0' 01 6.7 -0.0 172 -16 ft 9 8' 46 -0' 13 6.8 +0.2 174 -13 ft 10 9' 30 +0' 31 6.3 -0.4 172 +3 ft 11 9' 25 +0' 26 6.4 -0.3 173 +13 ft 12 9' 23 +0' 24 6.4 -0.3 174 +42 ft 13 9' 05 +0' 06 6.6 -0.1 176 +16 ft end 8' 13 -0' 46 7.3 +0.6 183 -10 ft Versus average of 8' 59 min/mile

Posted from runtracker.runnersworld.com

The hardest thing I've ever done.

I woke up early this morning and headed off for the Bass Pro Shops Inaugral Half-Marathon. The race time temperature at 7 a.m. was 43 degrees and was nice for the entire race. My goal for the race was to finish of course and to finish in under 2 hours was my second goal. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't meet my goal because when I did my training run it took me 2:13 to run 13.1 miles. However, I was setting my sights high. Patrick agreed to run with me the entire race because he had just run the Columbus Half-Marathon two weeks ago.


Mile1-6: Felt good, average pace was between 8:33 and 8:45 . Took water and gel at 6 miles.

Mile7-10 Starting to fatigue a little, average pace 8:45 to 9:00. Took water and another gel pack at 9 miles. At Mile 10 I started to get a little tired.

Mile 10-11-Had to cross over Kansas Expressway for the second time and that hill was hard. By the time I got to the 11 mile mark I was getting ready to quit.

Mile 12-More of the same, fatigue pain in my ankle, ready to be done with this.

Mile 12-13.1 Hardest mile I've ever run. The last 0.2 I ran at 7:48 through the finish line. Official time was 1 hour 58 minutes and 19 secs. I had done it. As I crossed the line I almost started crying. I don't know if it was emotions or just exhaustion.

After the race, I thought "I don't know if I could do a marathon". Maybe I was just feeling tired.

The Kitchen 5k

This past Saturday, I ran my PR (personal record) in the Kitchen Run 5k. My time was 24:57 which was 45 secs faster than my last 5k in November. I was really surprised because I haven't been putting in near the amount of days running as I was in November. My goal is to run the Bass Pro Shops Springfield Marathon in November. At minimum I am planning on running the half marathon.

A break from running

As obsessed as I have been with running, I have to take a break. I am on the vege of an overuse injury in my right knee, so I need to take about 10 days off. I am going to cross-train during this time to keep my cardio up. I have to change my perspective about this whole thing. I need to stop chasing mileage increases and work on building a solid base, which means injury free.

What a week for running

The weather has been beautiful here in the Springfield metro area and thus it has been great for running. On Thanksgiving I ran in the 12th annual Turkey Trot to benefit the Ozark's Food Harvest and the Developmental Center of the Ozarks.
They had a record 3300 participants and this time I received an official time of 25:42 which is a minute better than my race on Oct 14th . We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner at mom's and went to my house later that evening to watch the Chiefs game. We watched about 1 quarter then trekked off to Best Buy to wait in line for Black Friday. We were just as far back this year as we were last year at midnight (about 90th in line). Amazingly I was able to stay awake most of the night with the help of my two brothers Brent and Kirk. When 3 a.m. rolled around the Best Buy people came out and started throwing out t-shirts and told us to line up in a single file line. By the time the personal shoppers from BB came to us, most of what we wanted was sold out. I was checked out by 5 after 5 with a two mp3 players and a Samsung mini-dv camcorder that I got for 129.99. Came home at 6 and crashed because I was exhausted. Went to Silver Dollar City Friday night for the Christmas lights and other activities. The weather was so warm that many of the rides were still open and we partook. This morning I got up early and met some guys at Panera bread near MSU and ran 8 miles with them. It was the longest I had ever run without stopping. I'm feeling very encouraged by my progress. Here is hoping my knee stays healthy.

My first 5K...The Sunshine Run

We ventured out as a family this morning so I could participate in the St. John's Sunshine Run. This was my first 5k and I could hardly get to sleep last night. I don't know why I was so nervous but I was. The temperature at the start of the race was a balmy 35 degrees. I was wearing a compression shirt and the long sleeve event t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Considering this was my first race, I didn't really know what I was doing. They gave me a chiptimer that I was supposed to tie to my shoe to keep my time. I didn't know so I ran with it in my pocket. Thus I have no official race result. However, I know that I finished it at 26:46 which I will consider my PR (personal record) for this race. I finished strong and almost threw up after I crossed the finish line. I have to say that I loved every minute of the run and look forward to many more. After watching many kids their own age run this race the girls wanted to get into training right away.

The weather is beautiful...

Spent some time running this morning. Got my 5 miles in and it was a little more effortless than the previous runs of the week. I wonder if running first thing in the morning had anything to do with it, hmmmm.....I just finished reading the book of Acts and Paul's story seemed to jump off the pages. My big buddy Rob turned 35 today and has a blog regarding his paradigm shift. It is amazing to me how someone can keep a journal over all these years. I have journaled in the past and I love to go back and read what I had written, especially in regards to specific requests to God.

My latest run

I was able to run 5 miles yesterday afternoon. I have never been able to
run that far and I felt it last night in my back. I wasn't that sore
this morning but I imagine tomorrow I will really be feeling it.
Interesting thing about the run was how I felt during the fifth mile. I
felt better during the fifth mile than I did during the 3rd or 4th mile.
I could probably run farther if I didn't try to run so fast. I need to
work on my pace to increase my mileage.

That boy is a runnin fool

I wanted to blog my running for the last two days, soo I can look back someday and hopefully see where my running hobby started. I ran 4 miles yesterday evening and 4 miles this evening. Yesterday I ran in about 38 minutes, today it to took me 40 minutes. Chewing gum seems to be the biggest help to keeping my mouth moist. Also walking a minute after every mile is making a difference in my endurance.

The Heat backed off and I started back

to running again this week. Tuesday morning I ran almost 4 miles before I went to work. I read an article in Runner's World about when training you should run a mile then walk a minute. I found that this is a perfect technique for increasing your distance. This morning I ran 2.75 miles. I felt great after both runs. This thing is for life, I'm not going to become a great runner overnight so I have to be patient. I'm looking toward running my first 5k in the fall sometime.

It keeps you running...

Thinking of the old Doobie Brother's tune. "It keeps you running, yeah it keeps you running." Tonight at 8:30 p.m. I went for a run, instantly got a side stitch and gutted it out for the next 3.5 miles over 35 minutes. It was so humid, I wanted to quit. I knew that eventually it would be over. Without my music, I would be toast on a long run. I have to say that is the furthest that I can remember ever running, save my Army basic training runs. I will run again on Thursday night but hopefully a little earlier since I am having trouble getting to sleep now of course. My mind is wide awake. I am beginning to wind down. Good night sweet running prince :)

3 miles tonight

I logged 3 miles tonight on the trail behind our house. I ran it in 28:40 which is sort of slow, but I am starting somewhere. I wondered as I was running, where does endurance come from? Is it a by by-product of something inside of us of our own doing. Is it possible that God gives some people more endurance than others? I wondered that. I have always believed when it came to running that I wasn't born to run, because of my height and flat feet. I would just love to learn to run.