Neither rain, nor sleet or snow...

I did two long (for me) runs this past week. I took advantage of President's Day and did a longer run and then again on Saturday. It snowed Saturday night so I put off the running until later, which meant greater opportunity to poop out altogether. Good intentions prevailed however and I ran mid-afternoon. I was going to leave Phoebe at home and really "enjoy" myself but when the time came to go, I took her anyway. She does well. We ran into two dogs at the beginning part of the run who were unleashed. She had to check them out and dearly wanted to play. The first dog which was bigger followed us around the corner and down the street abit. I finally stopped and told him to go home. He looked kind of dismayed, but he turned around and went home. (I assume he went home). The second dog was Phoebe's size and didn't want to play, so we were able to resume running with a minimum of fuss.

I am wondering how I know if I need new shoes. I received a little note from the New Balance store where I bought my shoes giving care advice and about how long shoes last. I have noticed the past week or so that the right shoe in particular starts feeling kind of loose my run lengthens. I keep wondering if I should look into the barefoot shoes that Jay wears.

I ran against the wind on Friday again. The storm was blowing in...

I decided I need to post something. I have been reading everyone's blogs but don't always feel like I have anything interesting to say.

I went running yesterday. I have been struggling the last few months with weather and finding time. I realized like Jay that the marathon is close, so I better step it up. I bought some new running shoes last weekend so I decided I need to try them out. They are Merrell barefoot running shoe...that is not their official name. They are really lightweight and not too ugly. I ran about 3 1/2 miles pretty easily yesterday. I don't know if it was the shoes or the weather...it was a sunny day in the 50's. I like the shoes and I feel like I ran better but of course 80 percent is mental (that's a quote from Curtis).

Everyone...keep up the training. See you guys in April.

Stepping it up

I got a bit lazy after my half marathon back in November. I've kept up the running and even had a couple of pretty serious weeks, but haven't been nearly as consistent as I was back in September and October as I prepared for the Route 66. For most of January my running has been rather sketchy. Some bad weather, lots of cold evenings and a treadmill as the alternative have made it easy to skip runs here and there as well as quit after 3 miles instead of going 4 or 5.

Finally, the weekend before this last one, I started thinking about how much time we have before the Memorial Marathon. I realized it was only about 2 and a half months so I thought I ought to begin trying stay on a more regular schedule as well as start stepping the mileage up. So that weekend I went out to South Lakes Park (a bit south of Earlywine) where I haven't run since last summer. It was a nice, cool but sunny day and there was still some snow here and there (including quite a bit on the south end of the walking/running path). I had a good 7.25 mile run that day and really enjoyed it. It was my longest run since back in December and I was a bit sore the next day.

One of the "lakes" @ South Lakes Park

I only ran a couple of evenings during the week, one nite putting in 4 miles and then 5 miles for my other evening run. Then, this past Saturday, Peggy was taking K. Lee to a birthday party in downtown OKC for her sister's granddaughter. I decided to ride along and check out the trails they've put in along the Oklahoma River (formerly the N. Canadian river for you non-Oklahoma residents) while they were at the party.

I started out at the Chesapeake Boathouse and headed west down the trail. I ran out almost three and a half miles, then turned around and headed back. It was a nice change of pace (always good to run in a new place) and had a few good elevation changes where the path dipped down to go under bridges. They've planted a lot of trees along side the path, and it should really be nice in a few years when the trees grow up some. The only negative thing about the run was that I had the wind mostly in my face on the way back which adds to the work. I definitely would have preferred to run into the wind on the way out, then have had it at my back for the second half of the run.

It was an unseasonably warm day, with the high getting up to 77, so I did get a bit warm. And we had set a record the previous week with a low on Wednesday the 9th of 4 below!  All in all, it was a good almost 7 mile run. I'll have to do one on the south side of the river to check out the path there. Recommended to the Oklahoma runners for some different scenery. Here are a couple of pix I shot with my phone during the run.

Some pretty good rays shooting thru the clouds over the river.

A nice little section of the trail.

Aghhhh Dogs

I agree with Thais, we haven't been too terribly chatty on the ole blog. Me included. I have intentions to write after a run, but you know, showering, errands, life, get in the way and then I have lost whatever semi-interesting thing I may have said. Nevertheless, I will post for last week. Last Monday to be specific. I can't do anything more recent, because no running has occurred. We had good intentions to run on Thursday and then again today, but it was snowy on Thursday and today the wind is ridiculous (I know we get little sympathy from the Okies).

But last Monday, Curtis wanted to do a long run. I thought, I will go and if I need to I can turn back early. Oh,by the way, Curtis' idea of a long run is 12-15 miles while mine might be 8ish. Off we went. It was about 30 when we started but no wind so pretty nice. It moved up to the mid 30's pretty quickly I think. As I have mentioned, to do a long run, we have to cover a good portion of our little town. So we started off from the house and went south, up some hills, down the hills, just moseying along. About 45 minutes in, my bowels were calling (TMI, huh). During my little break, a couple of dogs decided to greet us and try to be tough. They were barking and Curtis visited with them a bit, then they ran off, then they would come back, then off again. Well, they came back again, barking, and one of them kind of lunges toward Curtis and bites him in the process! This has never happened to us while running so we were a bit surprised. It wasn't a bad bite, more of a scrape but it was bleeding pretty consistently so we decided to run to some friend's about a mile away so he could clean up the bite.

All done with that, Curtis was still ready to run, but I decided it was time to swing back towards home. I knew that I was at least 3 miles from home, and although I felt pretty good, I didn't want to go south for a couple more miles and then still have to turn around and run home. Off I went just kind of plugging away. It is pretty flat for the most part so I thought I was doing okay.

The last mile I was pushing myself to keep running but I did, and in total ran for about and hour and a half. So I was pleased with that. Mileage I am not so sure about. Curtis told me it was almost 9 but when I plot it out, that is not what I get, so hmmmm. I like the 9 cause that means I only need to go 4 more. Oh, and Curtis went like 10.5 or so. He has a bit further to get to 26. Hopefully Monday, will a better weather day here in Sandpoint. I am ready for warm weather running!!

Against the Wind

I found out for myself the joy of running against the wind. A cold front is blowing in and is it blowing in! It was only difficult when I ran south, which was only a fourth of the run. I didn't run at all when I was in Florida although I took my running gear. I ran once last week and had a hard time. The next four days I wasn't feeling very well, which meant I didn't do my Saturday long run. So, I had to run today, wind or not. Considering my long hiatus I did pretty well I think. This blog seems woefully short on new posts. Are you all running?

The Route 66 Marathon report

I first thought about entering this event when I talked to Sue about it on the way home from SLC in April. We both thought it sounded fun, but were concerned with the late November date (weather considerations). I really enjoyed the experience at SLC and then I ran a couple of 5Ks in the intervening months and also enjoyed both of those races. While I have no expectations of winning or even placing highly in races, I find the atmosphere of the events and all the other runners and spectators as well as having a personal goal for the race enable me to run faster and with more endurance than I can muster when I'm running on my own.

I began following @route66marathon on Twitter and in September they alerted followers that the price would be going up at the end of September, so I went ahead and signed up, not sure at that time whether Sue, and/or Kellen may also sign up for it. It turned out that neither of them was able to enter, so I was going to run this one by myself. I also began seriously training for it around this time. I began making sure my weekday runs were usually either 4 or 5 miles and started with 7 or 8 mile long runs on the weekend and pushing that up to 8 or 9 miles over the next month and a half.

The running time on my 9 mile runs was coming in around 1:20 to 1:25 and I began to wonder if I might be able to run the half marathon in 2 hours. I knew I could run a pace that would get that time, but on my training runs, I never run the entire distance non-stop. I will generally run between 2 and 4 miles then stop for 2 or 3 minutes for a water and/or bathroom break, catch my breath then take off again. That consideration, along with the memory that the first time Sue, Sherry and I stopped at a toilet during the SLC Marathon, we were there for almost 10 minutes waiting in line and taking care of business made me think 2:10 to 2:15 was probably a more attainable goal. So I had a "stretching" goal of 2 hours and a secondary, but what I thought was a more realistic goal of 2:10. On the entry form for the half marathon they asked for your anticipated running time and I put 2:10 on that.

I made my last long run of 10.75 miles two weeks prior to the event, then ran about 75% of my normal distance the following week. The week prior to the marathon I only did one 3 mile run although I ran it a a fairly quick pace...all 3 miles betwee 8:40 and 8:50.

Finally the race weekend was here. Peggy and I headed to Tulsa around 1 in the afternoon and arrived around 3. We checked in to the hotel then went to the race expo to pick up my race packet and look around. After that, we went to a Cracker Barrel near our hotel and had dinner then went back to the hotel and watched TV before going to bed. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep well at all that night. I slept restlessly early then woke up around 2:30 and COULD NOT go back to sleep. Finally dozed some before the alarm went off at 5:30. Once I got up and around I really didn't feel too bad for as little sleep as I got, and I thought about SLC where I also didn't sleep well but that didn't seem to bother me during that race.

I ate a banana in our room while getting ready. We loaded up the car then stopped by the hotel's breakfast bar where I had boiled egg and a couple of bites of a muffin before we headed downtown to Veteran's Park where the race would start and finish. We parked 3 or 4 blocks north of the park and walked down to the starting area. Weather-wise, it was unusually warm for November (the opposite of what I feared), the temperature being 64 when we got up at 5:30. It was also overcast and humid, with a strong south wind blowing 20-25 mph. In my mind though, the wind was a good thing since it would help keep the humidity from feeling uncomfortable. With the wind and the 60 degree temperatures it felt rather cool when you were standing around.

The had divided up the participants into 3 starting corrals depending on the projected time you put on your race entry form. I was put in the "B" corral. As I walked to the starting area I saw a sign that said 9-minute pace and began to get in that area, before I realized it was in the back of the "A" corral area, just in front of the "B" corral. So I moved behind the rope that separated the corrals and ended up at the front of the "B" corral. There was a general party atmosphere going on and as the 7:30 start time neared I could feel the adrenaline and excitement build.

In the starting area, about 10 minutes before the gun.

Finally, after the preliminary ceremonies they sent the first group off with a shotgun blast and a couple of machines shooting confetti into the air. It was pretty exciting and impressive! Then we waited... They would let each subsequent corral go 5 minutes after the preceding one, so I had another 5 minutes before my race would start. They moved us up to the starting line then finally, with another shotgun blast and a blizzard of confetti we were off!

And they're off!

As opposed to the other races I've been in, being at the front meant I didn't have to spend the first several minutes trying to find room to run. Our group fired over the starting starting line and almost immediately people began running past me. After a minute or so, I looked at my Garmin and saw I was moving along just over an 8 minute pace. As usual I was going too fast, especially this early and I forced myself to slow down to the 9 minute pace I planned on running. Of course this caused even more people to pass me, but I kept telling myself that I would be passing most of them later on.

The first mile and a half of the course was uphill with a significant portion being pretty seriously uphill. Not wanting to trash my legs this early I didn't push too hard and found my pace a bit over 9 minutes per mile for much of it. Despite that, I finished the first mile in just under 9 minutes, so I was feeling pretty good about my goal at that point.

Near the 2 mile mark, I saw the first port-a-johns and unlike SLC where all the toilets seemed to have long lines for the first several miles, there were no lines! I quickly ran over to one to take advantage of the opportunity. I continued on from there, and even with the stop, my time for the 2nd mile was still under nine and a half minutes. So I'd gone two miles and taken a bathroom break and was just a bit over my goal pace for the race.

Finally on mile 3 the biggest mistake I made as far as wasting time caught up with me. Operating on the theory that it's better to overdress for warmth and then shed clothing as necessary, I wore shorts, a running singlet top and then a hooded pullover top to keep me warm. Rather than pin my bib to my shorts, I went ahead and pinned it to my pullover and figured when I needed to take it off I'd take the bib off the pullover and pin it to my singlet. I was probably only a half mile into the race when I realized I probably shouldn't have worn the pullover because the body heat from running quickly overcame the chill from the wind blowing. After my bathroom break on mile 2, I decided I needed to shed the pullover at the next water stop.

When I got to the water stop, I moved over the the sidewalk and stopped to remove my pullover and switch my bib to my singlet. I had to undo the safety pins, then I replaced each pin in a hole in the bib so I wouldn't lose them while taking my pullover off. I had my iPod in an armband so I had to take that off. Then I removed my pullover put my iPod armband back on then pinned my bib to my singlet. Whew! My time for that mile was 11:39. Since I ran most miles a bit under or a bit over 9 minutes, I figure the change took me about two and half minutes! Eliminating that stop puts me within a minute of breaking 2 hours.

After the first three miles I was almost three minutes over my goal pace. . After the initial mile and a half of almost all uphill, there were a lot of downhill stretches along with a few, shorter uphill stretches. I began to take advantage of the downhills, figuring I could make up some time. Some of them were fairly long and steep. I allowed myself to go with gravity and really picked up the pace on them. There were downhills where I hit a sub-7 minute pace for stretches. I found this allowed me to make up some time without really expending much energy. It also made me feel really fast since I would be passing a lot of people on the downhill stretches. :-D

Mile 3 winding around Swan Lake Park.

The first 8 miles of the course were really beautiful, winding through really nice neighborhoods with large, old houses. The trees were full of fall colors, vivid yellows, oranges and reds. The scenery really helped keep my mind off the exertion and I was able to maintain my planned 9 minute/mile pace fairly easily. In fact I ran 5 of the first 8 miles under 9 minutes and two of the three miles that were over 9 minutes were because of a bathroom stop and the shirt change.

Peggy shot this photo that gives you a taste of the
beautiful neighborhoods the course wound through.

My pre-race plan was to run the entire race, with the exception of walking through the water stops. This gave me 30 or 40 seconds of walking every mile and a half to two miles and that worked pretty well for me. The first 6 miles or so passed easily and it wasn't until mile 7 that I began to feel a bit of fatigue in my legs. Even so, I still felt strong and in fact, mile 7 was my fastest mile coming in at 8:39!

As the course approached the 8 mile mark it crossed over the Arkansas River. We suddenly broke out into the open and hit the bridge. At this point you were greeted by the strong winds and I really felt a chill. Near the end of the bridge I stopped one last time for a bathroom break, but found I felt like I needed to go much more than I actually needed to. The course only covered about a mile and a half on the east side of the river before crossing back over. That short stretch was the most uninteresting part of the course scenery-wise so I was happy to get back over to the other side.

By the 9 mile point, I was definitely beginning to tire and the fatigue in my legs continued to worsen as the race went on. At around nine and a half miles, the course crossed back over the river. the last three and a half miles ran down the East side of the river then turned 180 degrees and went back along the river in the opposite direction before a short jog to the east and back to Veteran's Park and the Start/Finish line. This final stretch seemed interminable to me.

 Feeling worse for the wear around mile 10–11.

I was really wearing down as I progressed along this last stretch. My legs were hurting and my energy was flagging badly. It was becoming difficult to keep up the pace I had been running and the temptation to stop and walk for a while was growing. However, keeping an eye on my time and the distance I had left, I knew I was still close to the 2 hour goal I hoped I could achieve. This kept me going. When I got to the water stop around the 11th mile, I broke into a walk as I had at all the water stops. I downed a half cup of sports drink and a half cup of water, then as I got to the end of that stop, it took some mental effort to make myself start running again.

During this stretch along the river, there was a stream of runners going the opposite direction. They had reached the turnaround and were heading back toward the Start/Finish line. For some reason this made the stretch I was on, going away from the finish seem even worse! Finally though, I saw the turnaround ahead and that helped my mental outlook.

As I was running along the river on the stretch back to the finish a guy running barefoot and holding a pair of VFFs in his hands that I'd noticed when I passed him a couple of miles back caught up with me. He asked me how long I'd been running in the VFFs. We ran along together for a half mile or so, comparing notes on running in VFFs. He'd begun developing a blister around 9 or 10 miles he told me and that's why he was running barefoot when I saw him.

Finally, the course jogged to the right, away from the river and I could see the 13 mile marker a couple of hundred yards ahead. By this point, due to physical and mental fatigue (remember I had gotten very little sleep), I was a bit confused and thinking I still had a mile to go rather than a 10th of a mile. However once you passed the 13 mile sign, the course went around a curve and suddenly the Start/Finish line was in sight. I was so happy when I saw it and realized I didn't still have a whole mile to go! I was still able to muster the energy to give a little kick for the last 150 yards or so and sailed across the finish line feeling really good about things. I stopped my Garmin as I crossed the finish line and as I slowed down to a walk, I looked at the watch which read 2:03:32!

RJay sets a PR! The lady behind me wonders
what that blue streak that just flew past her was!

MarathonFoto had people at the finish and someone asked me to stand in front of one of the big banners behind the finish to take my photo. After that, I began looking for Peggy. She had not realized the marathon finish was the same place as the starting line and was waiting at another finish line (for the 5K maybe?) that was in Veteran's Park too, but about a quarter mile from the "real" finish line. I called her on my cell phone, and after 10 minutes or so we finally managed to find each other in the crowd.

By now I had cooled down and there was a pretty good wind blowing (still) so I was beginning to feel chilled. They had been passing out the big mylar blankets at the finish so we went to that area and got a volunteer to get one for me. I made a quick trip thru the food tent to grab a bit to refuel with. Then Peggy and sat on the grass in the middle of the park for a little bit while I ate a banana and a cookie. Finally, we got up and headed for the car. We drove back to the Cracker Barrel by our hotel and had some breakfast then loaded back in the car and headed back to Oklahoma City.

Chilling at the park after the race.

I really enjoyed this event and felt like I learned some good lessons that will help me in future races. First, if you're wearing extra clothes that you anticipate shedding during the race, try to make sure you find a place to pin you bib where you won't need to move it during the race (my biggest timewaster in this race, as noted earlier). Secondly, I think the walking thru the water stops was a good strategy that allowed me to run the entire race with no extended walk breaks. I also think having a specific time goal helps keep you motivated to continue when things begin to get tough.

I was really sore after finishing the race, and continued to be sore for a couple of days afterwards. You wouldn't think that was unusual, but after my long runs on weekends leading up to the race, I would be fairly sore for the rest of that day, but feel pretty well recovered by the next day. Granted, I wasn't running 13 miles on my long runs, but I was getting close to it. I think the degree of soreness I had was due to running down the hills so hard and fast and from running a fairly quick pace (for me) the entire race with only 30 to 40 second walk breaks every couple of miles or so.

I also wonder whether keeping my pace a bit slower in the first few miles (say 15-20 seconds/mile) would have helped me have more left toward the end. Looking at my splits, I ran 5 of the first 8 miles under 9 minutes, the fastest being 8:39. And a couple of those first 8 miles entailed bathroom/clothing change breaks. My actual running pace for them was probably under a 9 minute pace too. But for the last 5 miles, I only ran one under 9 minutes, and it was barely under at 8:59. And 2 of the last 3 miles were run over 9:30 (mile 11 was almost a 10-minute pace--9:50).

It was really a nice event. Things were well organized and they have a great atmosphere with live bands and entertainers scattered around the course, as well as good community support. And the medals are first rate!

Cool finisher's medal. It spins!

 All in all, I really enjoyed the experience, I'd definitely recommend it to others and I'm really thinking about running the full marathon next year, as my first marathon.