Almost Here

The 2013 Memorial Marathon is almost here! I guess everyone who's running it this year is about as ready as they're going to be. If not, it's too late to do much about it! We've had some interesting weather this spring, even for Oklahoma. A lot of rain, a lot of wind and some scattered cold blasts. As of this morning (Tuesday the 23rd), the forecast for Sunday doesn't look bad although a bit cooler would be nice. It calls for a low of 59 and a high of 77. But that can change a lot by the time Sunday gets here so we'll see. I'm hoping we don't get one of the high wind days that we've had a lot of over the past month. Looking forward to seeing everyone and to the race!

2013 Frozen Nose Series: Groundhog Run 8k

The Groundhog Run 8k was held Saturday February 4 at Lake Overholser. Because it's close to Ross' house we all agreed to meet there and drive to the lake together. Since Ross, Rendon and I are running the full marathon at the Memorial Marathon this year Ross suggested we run back to his house afterwards, about 5 miles, so we would get a decent long run in for the weekend then afterward we could enjoy a late breakfast. This sounded good to all of us so that was our plan.

The course started at the green arrow and went to the right around the lake.

The morning of the race, the temperature was in the 30's and the sun was shining. The forecast called for some wind, but when I got in my car to drive to Ross' house, it seemed pretty nice out. After we gathered at Ross' we piled into a couple of cars and drove to Route 66 Park at the lake where the race was to begin. Once we parked and stepped out of the car we found that indeed, the wind was blowing quite a bit out in the open and it went from seeming like pretty ideal conditions to feeling pretty chilly. So we decided we'd just wait in the car until it was almost time for the race to start.

Waiting for the race to start. Cold and windy.

With six or seven minutes until the start we finally got out of the car and hiked over to the starting area and tried to get loose as we waited for the starting gun. We were lined up around the middle of the pack so when the gun went off we had a slow shuffle to the starting line and then had to work through the crowd to find some open running room. I lost Ross and Rendon in the crowd but spotted them quickly, ten or twelve yards ahead of me. Like the Elvis Run, I was finding the first mile difficult. The pace was quick but not enough to be pushing me, but I felt myself struggling to keep my distance behind Ross and Rendon from increasing.

As I got warmed up and into a bit of a rhythm I began working on closing the gap between Ross and Rendon and myself. It took a bit to catch up to them as my pace slowly quickened but I finally caught Ross who was just behind Rendon by a couple of feet. We ran along together and began picking up our pace. We started pulling away from Rendon a bit as we closed in on the turnaround at the halfway point. We made the turnaround and began heading back the way we came.

I was still feeling uncomfortable but figured since we were halfway done now, I could manage it. We continued slowly picking up our pace as the race progressed. About three-quarters of the way through the fourth mile, race volunteers were suddenly waving all the runners to the sides of the road and ahead an ambulance and firetruck appeared, heading toward us. After the race we learned that a runner had collapsed.

With less than a mile to go I began to speed up some more and started pulling away from Ross a bit. There were three high school girls about 30 or 35 yards ahead of us and we had been following them like that for the last half mile or so. As I picked it up I finally began gaining on them. Because of  the way the course is layed out, you can see the start/finish line while you still have quite a ways to go to get there. I felt like I was really straining now and worried that I had picked up my pace too soon and would have to slow down a bit but with the finish in sight I kept thinking I could hold on. With a little more than a quarter mile to go, the three high school girls were suddenly pulling away from me and I glanced at my Garmin to see if I was slowing down. I wasn't, but I couldn't keep up with them.

As I neared the final turn I felt someone closing in on me. As turned the last corner and started the stretch to the starting line, he almost pulled even with me. I kept my pace but I didn't feel like I had a kick in me today. He began to falter a bit though and fell back behind me, then with under a hundred yards to go I managed a short kick to the finish line. I finished in 38:48 (PR! My first 8k so...) and Ross finished 10 seconds behind me in 38:58. Rendon crossed the finish line a couple of minutes after us, running it in 41:06. This race ended up being the toughest for me of the three events in the Frozen Nose Series. I was happy with my performance but it was one of those days where you never really feel your running mojo kick in so it I really had to grind it out.

Rendon crosses the finish line.

My splits for the race were:
8:08
7:53
7:47
7:39
7:22
Another slowish start but another strong finish.

I ended up finishing second in my age group again, behind the same guy who beat me at the Elvis Run. Ross ended up 6th in his age group (a much tougher group than mine) but the fourth and fifth place finishers were only seconds ahead of him and his net time actually beat the guy who finished fifth. Rendon was 9th in his age group. As we compared notes, Rendon had seen the guy who collapsed and said they were performing CPR on him and he didn't look good. Unfortunately we found out later that he had died. He was 77 years old and a regular participant in the area running scene.

Rendon decided to skip our planned run back to Ross' house because his ankle was still giving him trouble and he didn't want to overdo things. So he and the girls drove the cars back while Ross and I waited to collect my medal. Once we got that we began heading back to his house, starting at a slow jog. After a mile and a half or so we began picking it up and finished the 5 miles back at a pretty good clip.

Ross, looking cool after the race.

When we got back, Cara and Molly got busy cooking pancakes then we all sat down and had a great breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs. We visited for a while afterwards before I packed it up and headed on home. All in all a good race and a great morning.

Following Ross home afterward. 

Adding to my 2nd place age group medal collection.

2013 Frozen Nose Series: Elvis Run 10K

Rendon emailed Ross, Sue and I in December asking us what we thought about entering the Frozen Nose Series of races in January and February. DG Productions, an OKC company that runs many races throughout the year in the OKC area produces this three race series each winter. They have two 10k/5k races and an 8k. In addition to the medals for each race they also have medals for the series overall winners.

Ross and I both took Rendon up and signed up for the series. Ross and Rendon signed up for the 10k in both of the 10k/5k races but I signed up for the 5k in the last race so I would be eligible for a series award if I performed well enough. Normally my expectations probably wouldn't be that high, but last year I ran the Elvis Run 10k (the first race in the series) and placed 2nd in my age group so I thought I may have a chance to place in the top three in my age group for the series.

Unfortunately, just a couple of weeks before the first race in the series, Ross and Rendon both came up injured. Ross' knee started bothering him after a weekend long run and Rendon developed a pain around his ankle. Rendon's got so bad he had difficulty walking so he went to get it checked out and was told his Achilles tendon was strained. He was also told he should not run on it since too much stress could tear it and then he'd really be down for a while. Of course since Rendon had already spent $75 for the race series he was determined to run anyway. He told Ross and me he'd run the Elvis run at an easy 9:30 to 10:00/mile pace. Ross' knee was improving rapidly for him so he just cut back on training runs and tried not to overdo things.

The Elvis Run 10k course around Lake Hefner.

The Elvis Run was held at Lake Hefner on January 12th. It was a cold, cloudy morning with temps in the upper 30s and a stiff and very cold north wind that really cut through you. We all met in the parking lot before the race. Ross and Rendon were accompanied by Tayler, Cara and Molly who bravely came along to cheer. About 7 or 8 minutes before the start we headed to the starting area. I stopped at the bathroom lines thinking I'd like to empty my bladder before the race began. While I did that, Ross and Rendon went on ahead. After standing in the line two or three minutes and having it not move at all I decided I'd have to forego that plan and go get lined up.


I worked my way into the middle area of the starting corral and stood on my toes looking for Ross and Rendon. I couldn't spot them though and so I waited by myself for the gun to go off. It finally did and we all surged forward. As I worked my way through the crowd at the start and found some open space, I worried a bit since I felt a bit winded and was only running about an 8:20 pace which I knew was slower than I wanted to run the first mile. I think the cold and the wind combined with no warmup before the start caused the breathless feeling I had early. And the course started out going north, right into the teeth of that wind. I pushed all that aside and tried to pick up my pace as I progressed. I ended up running the first mile in 8:17. I could live with that but felt like I really needed to speed things up.

Freezing runners wait for the start of the Elvis Run 5k/10k.

On the second mile I got my pace to the 8 minutes/mile range. The crowd had thinned out significantly and I spotted Ross up ahead of me so I worked on catching him. I finally pulled even with him and we ran along together. As we neared the end of the second mile we began closing in on Rendon. It took us a bit to catch him...that was a really fast 9:30/mile pace he was running! We finally caught up with him though and all three of us ran along together. Ross and I began picking the pace up some and a quarter mile or so from the course midway turnaround Rendon began dropping off our pace. Ross and I finished the third mile in 7:53, a pretty good clip but at the turnaround we were suddenly running right back into that strong north wind and our pace slowed significantly.

Toward the end of the fourth mile we began picking the pace up again. By now I had settled into a pretty good groove but it definitely wasn't one of those runs where you feel great and your pace feels effortless. I tried to focus on the moment and not think about how far we had left to go. I worried I was on pace to finish with a slower time than I did last year so I tried to slowly pick up the pace. As we began the last mile I started really pressing and began pulling away from Ross. We had been trailing another runner by 60 or 70 yards for the last mile or so and I began gaining on him. I was really beginning to feel the strain of the pace now and looking at my Garmin I was running pretty steady between a 7:20 and 7:25/mile pace, really fast for me. With a half mile left I desperately wanted to slow down but felt I needed to try to finish at this pace. I caught the guy we had been tailing and passed him. Now I just wanted to see the finish line. Finally the Louie's restaurant near the start came into view and I knew the finish was getting close.

By now I was passing some of the slow 5k runners. With the finish up ahead I stepped on it mustering the best kick I could. As I neared the finish I saw Tayler, Cara and Molly beside the course cheering me on. I crossed the finish and slowed to a walk and just walked around for a minute catching my breath. Ross came in around 40 seconds behind me and Rendon finished a couple of minutes later.

They were posting results and updating them constantly so we we went to check them out. We saw that Ross had finished first in his age group! Then we found my name and I had finished second in mine. My chip time was 49:18, about 45 seconds better than my 50:02 from last year. Ross' was 49:57 and Rendon's was 51:53, not bad at all for a guy with an injured Achilles who had planned on running it slow and easy. I ended up with pretty uneven splits:
8:17
8:03
7:53
8:10
7:50
7:23
6:55 pace over the last .2
The 7:23 is my fastest mile ever and I was pretty proud to do that at the end of a 6 mile run.

Rendon, me, Elvis and Ross after the race.

We got our picture taken with Elvis the race director then hung out so Ross and I could get our medals for finishing in the top three in our age groups. Once we collected those everyone went to their cars to get out of the cold and head for home.

My medal for second place in my age group.

R Jay and I met at the Oklahoma River downtown to get a semi-long run in for our training as we prepare for the Okc marathon in April (only 3 months away!).  Rendon was going to join us but he had another obligation with the young men in his ward.  Plus, he is nursing a sore ankle and trying to let it heal so it probably worked out that he didn't put mileage on it this week. 

The weather was pretty good for January.  It was cloudy and about 30 degrees or so with a light wind from the east.  As I drove to downtown on I-40 I can see the river since the interstate runs parallel to it and I noticed several runners on the paths by the river.  This is unusual so I supposed there was some type of running event taking place.  As it turns out, the OKC running club was having a training run in preparation for the marathon, as well.  They started at 7 am so they were already out in full force.  R Jay and I were meeting at 8 am.  No problem though.  The more the merrier and I kinda like it when there are other runners out there.  It's inspiring to see the many different types of runner you encounter.  There are old, young, big, small, black, white, fast and slow.  Gives me hope that not all Oklahomans will die from eating too much fried food. 

Just as R Jay and I were starting out a lady stopped us and asked if she could join us on our run.  It turns out R Jay knows her from Facebook, I believe.  She was uber nice and we just talked to her while we ran the first two miles.  She's probably in her late 40s or early 50s and she has run 3 marathons so far, all of which have been in the last 2 or 3 yrs.  So it is possible to complete this quest!  After two miles she peeled off to talk to some people at a water stand that she knew.  I think she's pretty active in the Runner's Club because there were a lot of people who were waving and shouting out "hellos" to her.  I really enjoyed talking to her. 

We ran slower for those first two miles (about 9:30 pace) but picked it up after that.  We probably averaged closer to 8:30 for the rest of our run other than stopping for a bathroom break or two.  We ran 10 miles altogether so it was a good training run.  We're supposed to run in the second leg of the Frozen Nose series this Saturday (Feb 2) in the event knows as the Groundhog Race.  It's out at Lake Overholser and is an 8k. 

Ouch!

I went on a long run at the Oklahoma River Saturday a week ago with Ross. The plan was to go 11 miles. We've both entered the Route 66 half marathon that's coming up in mid November so we've been working our long runs up to get ready for it.

My left foot had been bothering me a bit for a couple of weeks. I've had some pain on the top of my foot which had concerned me a bit since, as I understand, that's a symptom of a possible stress fracture. However, I had the same thing crop up for a month or so as I was training for the Memorial Marathon earlier this year and it cleared up by itself well before the marathon.

We met at the Devon Boathouse around 7:30 on a cool and misty morning and took off. The plan was to run out five and a half miles then back to get 11 miles. As soon as we started, the foot was bothering me a bit but not enough to concern me. We stopped for a minute around the 4 mile mark because Ross thought there was a water fountain off the trail. I mentioned that the foot was bothering me some because it had progressively got worse as we ran. Ross asked if I wanted to stop but I thought I'd be okay and said no, so we continued on.

We ran around an 8:45/mile pace on the way out. When we hit the 5.5 mile mark we stopped, turned around an walked for a couple of minutes as we both consumed a Gu, then took off again. We picked up the pace on the way back to about 8:30/mile. As we ran my foot began bothering me more and more and by the time we had hit around 8 miles it was really starting to hurt and was affecting my gait as I tried to favor it.

If I had been by myself I think I would have quit at this point and walked it on in, but stupidly, I felt the need to keep up with Ross and I kept going. I know Ross wouldn't have had any problem with it if I'd told him I had to stop so it was pretty foolish on my part. With about a mile left, we crossed the river to the side we'd parked on and as we got back on the trail, a runner was there just in front of us. Ross' competitive spirit kicked in and he picked up the pace to catch the guy. I tried to keep up but as the pace quickened I began falling behind. Finally as we neared the 10.4 mile mark I stopped and began limping back watching Ross and the other runner go off into the distance.

As I limped back I began realizing I was in worse shape than I thought because now, even walking was feeling pretty painful. As I neared the Chesapeake Boathouse I saw Ross walking back to meet me. We walked back to our cars together and discussed how I was feeling a bit before we both headed home. When I got home and out of the car I found I could hardly walk into the house. I had planned on going to the fair with Peggy, Lyndsey and K. Lee after getting home and cleaned up, but after I showered and tried to get around the house a bit I realized there was no way I could do that. I tried to stay off it as much as possible and kept it raised the rest of the day, hoping it would be better the next morning.

Unfortunately it was no better on Sunday and was now quite swollen so we ended up going to an emergency clinic that afternoon. They x-rayed it then a doctor came in to take a look. He told me he didn't see anything on the x-rays but also cautioned that if it was a stress fracture that wouldn't show up on x-rays for 8–10 days. He told me I shouldn't do any running for 7 to 10 days and asked if I'd like a walking boot. Since I could hardly walk and it was very painful to try I told him yes. He also prescribed some pain medicine since I had slept badly Saturday night because it had hurt all night. He told me they would have a radiologist look at the x-rays and let me know if he saw anything. On his diagnosis, he put down that I had a sprain.

My poor foot on Monday evening.

I felt a bit better after seeing him since my impression was that he didn't think it was too serious. And he was a runner too. It was really no better Monday through Wednesday morning, but as the day wore on Wednesday it began improving significantly. Thursday morning the clinic called me. They asked how it was doing and told me the x-rays showed I had a bit of arthritis in the foot and a small bone spur on my heel (which has never bothered me). They said both of those were fairly typical for someone my age. And they confirmed that no fracture showed up. Finally they said if it kept bothering me to come back or see my family physician or they could refer me to someone.

It's been a week now, and it has continued to improve but is still not completely healed. There is still just a touch of swelling near my toes and I still can't step off on my toes without pain so I continue to have a slight limp. Obviously, this has put a big wrench in my plans for the Route 66 but I'm hopeful I will be able to continue training and run the race. I'm planning on no running until next weekend which will be two weeks off, and hope I'll be able to run on it by then. I still worry a bit that I could have a stress fracture which may keep me from running the half marathon.

I guess the only good thing that has come from this is that I've definitely learned my lesson about paying attention to my body and know I need to call it a day if something is truly hurting.

BTW, I'm still working on a Memorial Marathon report. Obviously, that's been coming along very slowly, but I'll get it posted up here soon. Promise!

More weather

Thought I'd throw another weather update out this morning. It's still early and the variance in different forecasts shows the weather people still aren't real sure what it's going to do Sunday. Depending on what forecast you look at, they have the low ranging from the low 50's to the low 60's. And the highs ranging from the low 60's to the upper 60's. All those temperature ranges wouldn't be too bad, although I hope the low in the lower 50's is the accurate prediction. The rain chances are of much more interest IMO. They are all saying chances of scattered thunderstorms and giving chances ranging between 30 and 40%.

Here's Sunday's forecast from the Weather Channel's website.

Weather Channel...hoping for a lower low temp.

They're tending toward lower rain chances but warmer temps. And here's KOCO tv's forecast.

KOCO channel 5...nice low, but don't like the rain chances.

So, I think it's still anyone's guess as to what we'll end up with Sunday morning. At least it doesn't look like it's going to be like it is today. Warm morning and a high around 90!

Weather

I know it's pretty useless to watch the weather much until a day or two before the race (last year they were unsure about rain until the morning of the marathon), but I can't help keeping an eye on the extended forecasts. Right now, the local weather people are predicting a warm week but cooling off some and chances of rain toward the weekend. Channel 5's extended forecast sounded pretty good this morning. A low of 50 and a high of 68 Sunday. But also a 30% chance of rain. I sure don't want a repeat of last year, but if those temps end up being accurate and it doesn't get rainy, you couldn't ask for much better weather this time of year in Oklahoma.

Countdown....1 week

The marathon is one week away.  I'm pretty excited about it this year compared to last year when I had much more trepidation.  Last year was my first big race at such a long distance.  I did the half marathon but really felt like I finished poorly.  My legs gave out on me starting after mile 10 so the last 3 miles were a chore.  I feel like I've trained much better this year from the standpoint of getting longer training runs in.  Last year I only went 9 or 10 miles in my training and only did that a few times.  This year I've done better about completing long runs in my training.  I have routinely run 8 and 9 miles during the week and often was able to get in a 13 or 14 mile run on the weekend.  I don't think I'll have a problem with my legs giving out on me like they did last year.

Yesterday (Saturday) I met Rendon at the Chesapeake boathouse for a 13 mile training run.  This will be Rendon's first long distance race as he just started running this year.  He and I ran in an 8K race in February so he could experience a race environment but this is stepping up quite a bit.  He has put in at least a couple of long training runs of 13 miles or so but I'm not sure exactly how many he's done.  I know I've been running more than he has but then I'm much older so I need the training worse.

Anyway, we met at the Chesapeake boathouse at 7 am on Saturday.  The weather was ideal for running.  There was hardly any wind at all and the temperature was about 49 or 50 when we started.  We headed west on the north side of the river.  I really enjoy running along the river as it is scenic, you don't have to worry about cars, and you also get to see other runners which always inspires me.  Rendon started out very strong so I let him lead out.  He was probably running at about an 8:40 p/mile pace which is a little faster than I usually start out so I lagged behind a little bit.  Rendon ran strong for 5 miles and then started to slow down a bit.  I finally caught him a little after passing May avenue.  At Portland avenue we crossed over the river and ran on the south side.  We continued west almost to Meridian where the trail ends and you have to turn around.  It had been about 7 miles so we walked while I ate my GU pack.  Rendon had already eaten his.  He had vanilla bean and I had chocolate.  I liked the chocolate and Rendon said the vanilla bean was also pretty tasty.  We probably walked for about a minute to a minute and a half and then resumed our run.  My legs felt strong and I just seemed to be in a good groove so I continued on at about an 8:40 pace which is where Rendon started us at the beginning.  We saw some rowers on the river including the OU women's team.  They were also having some Olympic tryouts this weekend for kayaking so there were some others out there too.  We ran back east on the south side of the river until we got to Robinson and then crossed over back to the north side.  There's a small water fountain in a park by the cross over so I stopped and got some water.  Rendon did the same thing when he crossed over.  DG Productions sponsors several races around the city for runners and they were holding an event for victims of sexual abuse (green ribbon).  As I was coming down the final 1/10th mile to the finish line the race started so I found myself running against the tide of runners starting their race.  I had to move off the path onto the grass in order not to collide with other people.  I guess I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Plus, it was at the beginning of their race so they hadn't really had a chance to disperse very much and were pretty tightly packed.  I finally gave up and stopped my running app with a hundred yards to go or so.  My GPS showed the run to be 13.84 miles.  When I got to the finish line I noticed the track continues around on the south side of the river so I think it's just one big loop.  If I had known that I could have not crossed over at Robinson and just run back to the finish line on the south side of the river and avoided all the traffic.  Lesson learned.  My time was 2:02:54 which felt really good.  I had stopped a few times to look around, guide Rendon since he didn't know the route, and feel I could have run even faster if it had been the race.  So I feel good about next week and I hope everyone else does too.

I know R Jay and Curtis are doing the full marathon so they've got a big test ahead of them.  Maybe I can run a full one at some point but I knew I wasn't ready after trying a 17 mile run back in late February or early March.  I'm excited to see everyone at the race.  I will miss Thais dearly but it makes me happy that we can run in the Memorial Marathon in memory of our sister.  It's neat that Leslie and Elfriede are going to run the 5K too.

Marathon movie

I had hoped to get some video shot last year and put together a little movie of our race at the Memorial Marathon. However, the bad weather kept that from happening. I'm really sorry we couldn't get that done, since that was our last opportunity to get one made with Thais.

I want to try again this year though. Lyndsey is going to try to shoot some video with my camera and we'll see what we can get. Maybe Sherry can shoot some too. Obviously we'd like to get as much video of our family participating as we can, but that will be a challenge with over 20,000 people running. But even some short snatches can be incorporated with other shots of the the event, so I'm optimistic that we can get enough to put something together.

If you have a digital camera, it almost certainly will shoot video. This is awfully late, but if any of you have a chance, it would be great to shoot a couple of short bits of you training. Just something like a shot of the road/trail where you're running and you coming into view then running by the camera. Or a shot of you running off into the distance. Any little bits like this could be used in a movie. Here's a real short example I shot w/my iPhone of Ross during one of our runs by the Oklahoma River.

If we can't get enough shot to make something worthwhile, I can save everything and then try to get some more the next time we're running together...here, or maybe SLC next year and combine it all into a single movie.

The Memorial Marathon is coming up fast.

The Memorial Marathon is less than two weeks away now. I ran my last "long" long run this just passed weekend. I had hoped to go over 20 miles this time (ran a 20-miler 3 weeks ago), hopefully 22 or 23, but ended up just doing 20.

As you know I've been dealing with a chronic ankle problem for over a year now. Usually it's just irritating but when my mileage really starts going up, it begins getting worse and starts making my foot hurt too. After the 20 miler three weeks ago, it was really sore for several days. The following weekend I thought I should cut back the long run quite a bit to ease up on the ankle. Ross and I ran the trails along Oklahoma River, just under thirteen and a half miles. My ankle and foot felt much better after that run than they had after my previous two long runs.

I had hoped to get a long run in while we were all in Salt Lake City last week, but couldn't find the 3 hour block of time I would have needed so I ended up going almost a week with no running at all. I decided that was a good thing/bad thing. It seems taking almost a week off did my ankle a lot of good. It's felt much better and on the two weekday runs I did last week it held up well. I ran fairly hard on those runs too. Of course the bad thing is that I'm running the full marathon and I really need to be getting all the miles in that I can, so a week off, three weeks before the event is not great timing. But considering with Saturday's long run, I've run 31 miles this past week and the ankle feels pretty good today, the time off was probably worth it.

I'm really glad that Curtis will be running the full marathon with me. I have a real tendency to start running too fast if I'm feeling good, and I'm hoping Curtis will be able to help me keep my pace down, especially early. On my long run Saturday, I kept the pace between 9:00 and 9:30 for the first 8 miles, but began picking up the pace at that point, running mile 9 in 8:42. I ran at the Oklahoma River and for the first 9 I ran out the north side of the river four and a half miles then back. So after the 9th mile I was at the car and stopped to drink some water and took a 5 or 6 minute break.

Then I took off for another 11 (or hopefully more) miles, crossing over the the south side of the river this time. I was still feeling good...I slowed my pace a bit, to around 8:50/mile, but still faster than I should be running for a marathon. I kept that pace through 13 miles. Finally on the 14th mile everything began to catch up with me. I began to quickly run out of energy and started increasing the frequency and length of my walking breaks. At the end of mile 16 I stopped and rested for 4 or 5 minutes then slogged on. The last 4 miles were really a grind. As I finished the 18th mile I began getting muscle spasms in my calves and would have to stop for a few moments before continuing.

Gray, warm, humid and windy. :P

When I arrived back at the Chesapeake Boathouse where I had parked, I was at 19.9 miles. As mentioned at the top of this post, I had intended to run over 20 miles...maybe 22 or 23, but I had nothing left now and decided 19.9 was all I was going to get that day. So this run was actually worse than my previous 20 mile run. I was definitely feeling discouraged and worried about going 6 more miles in two weeks.

But I'm telling myself I had a lot of things working against me Saturday. The weather was way less than ideal: it was a very warm morning. 72 degrees when I got up just after 5:30. The humidity was high and it was very windy, between 20 and 30 mph. On top of being warm and humid, since I was running by the river and didn't want to carry any water with me, I had to run a 9 mile stretch with nothing to drink, then an 11 mile stretch. I also forgot to bring any Gu with me which may have given me a boost at the halfway point. I can't control the weather we get on race day, but I can control my pace and fuel and fluid intake, so hopefully, better management of those factors will help me. And, in my experience, running with someone makes it easier to push thru when your body starts wanting you to give up.

Mile 18, running directly into the 20+ mph wind.

You're supposed to taper back your miles two or three weeks before your marathon. I'm not going to cut my weekday miles back much if at all since I really haven't been running as many miles during the week as I should be anyway. I will take it easy next weekend though. I'm planning on doing a 10 - 12 mile long run which really does feel pretty easy to me after the long runs I've been doing over the past couple of months.

I'm hoping we get lucky on the weather. A morning like today would be great...low 50s, sunshine and the high for the day only around 70. Really looking forward to seeing everyone again, under better circumstances than a week ago. I hope everyone else is ready!

The 2012 Elvis Run 10K race report

This past December I had the toughest unmotivated stretch I've hit since I began running. I had decided I couldn't afford the Route 66 Marathon and then my chronic ankle issue began really bothering me due to the high mileage I ran in October and November. All month I had a difficult time pushing myself out the door. I intentionally cut back my mileage hoping my ankle would heal up some. I was running one evening a week, four or five miles then putting in a long run of 10 to 14 miles on the weekend. Once I got going on my run I would almost always enjoy it and be glad I went, but was just feeling kind of blah about things. At the end of the month I decided to take a look at the calendar on the OKC Landrunners' website and see if I could find a race or two to enter and hopefully rekindle my recently lagging enthusiasm for running.

I settled on the Elvis Run 5k/10k which was scheduled for Saturday, the 7th (prize for best Elvis costume!). I've wanted to run a 10k ever since I ran my first 5k in August of '10 and I seriously considered entering the Elvis Run last year. I signed up the week of the race and got in one "training" run for it...I ran a couple of fast 1 mile intervals Thursday night at the park and then ran the two mile home at around an 8 minute pace. With that, I decided I was as ready as I was going to be.

I thought about a goal time, and some kind of strategy, but was really unsure about was a realistic goal should be since this was my first 10k. There's a great tool available for free online, the McMillan Running Calculator. It has a large list of race distances. You select the distance of a recent race you've run and enter your time and it will calculate your expected time for all the other distances it lists, as well as give you your appropriate pace for various training runs (long run, tempo runs, easy runs etc.). I had entered my PR 5k time in it after the Susan G. Koman 5k in October. As I was thinking about what I should expect to run the 10k in, I remembered I had printed out the results so I dug them out to see what my expected 10k time was. It said I should be able to run a 10k in 49:22 at a 7:56/mile pace. That seemed incredibly optimistic about my abilities to me. I can run a 7:56 mile. But 6 of them? Without stopping. Seemed pretty doubtful to me.

Next I went to the online pace calculator at coolrunning.com and checked the pace for a 55 minute 10k which came to about 8:50/mile, something I knew I could definitely do, without too much effort. So I knew I could run it in 55 minutes, but doubted I could run it in 50. I formed a vague plan to run the first 3 miles or so a little under an 8:30 pace then pick it up to near an 8 minute pace over the remainder and see how I ended up. I figured that would finish me between 50 and 55 minutes, and a bit closer to the low end of that.

I got up Saturday morning, put on my running clothes, ate a piece of toast and double checked to make sure I had everything. I had originally intended to not wear a jacket because, unless it's really cold, I always get to warm with one on once I've run a mile or two and end up taking it off. The temp was in the upper 30s and there was a bit of wind...enough to make it feel even colder. I knew I'd be standing around for a bit waiting for the start and I'm a wimp with the cold so I went ahead and took the jacket. I pinned my bib to my pants since I figured I'd shed the jacket at some point during the race. With that, I got in the car and headed for downtown.

An Elvis-costumed runner getting ready to race.

I arrived about 20 minutes early and found the parking was pretty packed. There were more people there than I anticipated. I got parked and headed toward the Chesapeake Boathouse where the start would be. I had to pick up my timing chip first since they didn't pass them out with the race packets. That didn't take long though and I headed to the porta-potties to take make sure I could run for the next hour without needing to stop. Finally I headed to the starting area, found a place among the runners and waited for the starting gun.

I got a pretty good position awaiting the race start.

The gun sounded and the crowd surged forward. The paved path along the Oklahoma River is a bicycle/walking/running path, so it's not real wide, maybe the width of a wide car lane on the road, so at the beginning it was fairly crowded with all the runners on the narrow path. Still, I got off to a fairly quick start. I was still unsure how fast a pace I wanted to run. I started around an 8:30/mile pace, but picked that up as the runners began stringing out and the initial crowd thinned.

Since the race was along the river, the course went out and back. As I neared my first mile, I saw a sight I'll always remember. The eventual winner of the 5k had made the turn around and was coming back. He was in full Las Vegas Elvis regalia complete with a wig, running as hard as he could. It was impressive! (He finished in 16 minutes and some change.)

By the end of the first mile I had settled into a comfortable rhythm around an 8 minute/mile pace. I was now focusing on a runner or two in front of me until I'd pass them, then I'd pick someone else. At the mile and a half point the 5k runners were all turning around so there was a bit of traffic there. Once you passed that point though, it thinned out a lot because now there was no one left but 10k runners. I finished the 2nd mile in 8:01. On the third mile there were a couple of guys right in front of me. I finally overtook them and now virtually the only person I could see for a long ways was a girl in a pink tie dye running shirt 60 or 70 yards ahead of me. I focused on her and kept my pace. She was moving along at a pretty good clip so I gained on her very slowly. I was getting pretty warm by this time too, and decided I'd take my jacket off at the turnaround.

As you neared the turnaround you could get a good feel for how many runners were in front of you by the number that were coming back toward you. There weren't a lot, so I thought I must not be doing too badly. I had almost caught the pink shirt girl as we came to the turnaround and she slowed a bit at that point and I passed her. I grabbed a cup of water from a volunteer and stopped and walked for 10 seconds or so as I downed it, then took off again, made the turn and started heading back to the Start/Finish. As I ran away from the turnaround  I pulled my jacket off and tied it around my waist, while mostly managing to keep my pace.

As I headed back the runners were really strung out. I passed a lot of people still running out to the turnaround. There weren't many people near me going my direction. I was beginning to watch closely for the signs marking each kilometer now, as I was beginning to feel the effects of the effort. Over those next couple of miles there were three girls in front of me that I focused on. I eventually caught and passed the first two, however the last one was going every bit as fast as I was. I followed right behind her for a half mile at least, but couldn't get past her without expending a lot more energy than I wanted to.

As I got to the 8k mark it was getting really difficult to keep my pace. My legs were getting heavy and I was beginning to feel I was running out of gas. I knew I was on pace to finish near 50 minutes though, so between that and trying to catch that girl in front of me I kept pushing. With probably a bit less than a half mile to go, the path went downhill fairly steeply as it went under a bridge that crossed the river. I sped up a bit down the hill, but then as it started back up, I slowed and the girl, who I had almost caught kept her pace and started to pull away from me. Apparently keeping that pace back uphill was a mistake though because she slowed dramatically shortly after that and I flew past her. Finally, I could see the finish ahead. I picked my pace up a bit, as I had slowed some over the last mile. Finally, with a couple of hundred yards left I managed a weak kick and made it to the finish.

My Garmin read 49:59, so I knew my official time would be right around 50 minutes. After walking around a bit and catching my breath I got a bottle of water and watched runners come in for a few minutes. They posted the results fairly quickly and I saw my official time was 50:02. I'd met my (I thought) wildly optimistic time goal of 50 minutes almost to the second! Out of 155 runners in the 10k I had finished 23rd. And in my age group of 50–54 males I finished 2nd (out of 8). That meant I'd get a medal since the top three finishers in each age group received one. That points out the advantage of entering a race with a relatively small number of runners in your age group! I didn't let that stop me from being pretty proud of my medal anyway.

My Elvis Run 10k medal for finishing 2nd!

Here are my mile splits:
8:17
8:01
7:52
7:58
7:54
8:07
Then I managed a 7:23 pace over the last two tenths mile. Much better than I had imagined I could do, especially holding the sub-8 minute pace on miles 3 through 5. Once again, running proves to me that you can almost always do better than you think you can.

Riley Creek Citizen's Race

So Jay motivated me to write about my last little 5K and actually brag a bit. I am not nearly as eloquent as he is though so don't get too excited about reading it.

After most XC races, there is a Citizen's Race on the same course. I don't typically run them mainly cause I don't want to embarrass myself. But, at the home meet this year, I decided to take my gear. It helped that Curtis was able to go to the meet and brought his too and definitely pushed me to do it. He promised he would run with me :)

The kids like this course because it is pretty flat and has some pavement and packed dirt which makes it "fast". It is out in a campground by the Pend Oreille River so you are running by the water for a little bit. There is not usually official timing in the Citizens Race - it is more about just enjoying it. Oh by the way, out coach, Matt Brass, did win in 16 something. Insane! (He was finishing about the time I was at the 2 mile.)

The gun went off, and it is a bit daunting for me cause you typically have a bunch of XC coaches, old HS runners, kids who may not have run the race but are on a team, etc. So they all start off pretty fast, but off Curtis and I went. We were running and I told Curtis I was pretty tired and breathing hard. I thought that maybe it was because I had been standing around for 4 hours at the finish chute, but then we got to the first mile and Curt said we were at 8:15. No wonder I was tired! That is fast for me. We kept going and he wasn't letting me slow down, plus there is that factor of the HS team seeing me and cheering me. You know, I didn't want to appear to be slacking. The second mile, 16:30 so we were at the same pace. You loop twice on this course and probably around 2.5 or more, I was I have to slow down a bit. We came to mile 3 (I have no idea what the time was) and just past that was Sydney and a bunch of the XC kids. Sydney yells "Kick you guys"! Well unfortunately there is very little kick in this girl, but I tried to push myself down to the finish line and hopefully look like I was still running. And we finished! 25:52!!! A new PR! I was exhausted but even with a lowkey race, it felt pretty dang good.

Curtis finished right before me. No PR but I don't think I could've done it without him. He kept me going. It was probably a bit of a fluke, but whatever, not bad for a 50 year old.

The 2011 Race for the Cure race report

I really debated whether to enter the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k this year. IMO, it's overpriced for a 5k (even if it is to support a worthwhile cause) and the race really seems secondary to their whole fund raising effort. And you have to pay an extra five bucks if you want a timing chip in the race. But with over 18,000 participants it is quite an event, although it feels a bit unorganized. Obviously, I ultimately decided to participate and went to the Red Coyote running store the Thursday before the race to enter.

I've been putting in a lot of miles recently, but hadn't really done any real speed work leading up to this race. I did go ahead and take one evening's run the week of the race to focus on running fast, putting in one sub-8 minute mile and four more miles between an 8 minute and 8:30 pace. I felt good that evening, so that was encouraging. Like the Midnight Streak in August though, I went into this race without a clearly defined goal...more of a "let's see what happens" attitude.

We got up early, got ready and headed to Bricktown. After finding a place to park (not easy) we headed toward the Bricktown Ballpark where the race begins and ends. As we walked I realized I had left my sunglasses in the car, but we had gone far enough that I didn't want to turn around and go back. As I was kind of stressing about that, it hit me that I had forgot to bring my Garmin GPS watch when we left the house. Now I was really stressed! I tend to keep a pretty close eye on my pace using my Garmin and have found it really valuable in races, mostly as a check on my early pace so I don't run myself out and end up with nothing left while still having a ways to go. I didn't even have a regular watch, so I had no way at all to check my splits. I would have to run this race totally by feel. I realized there was nothing I could do about it now, so I figured I'd just make the best of it and see how it went.

We got there early enough to cruise around the ballpark for a few minutes, picking up some of the swag being passed out by various groups. The temp was in the upper 50's and there was a pretty good breeze blowing, so it was a bit nippy. I wore shorts and a singlet, but also brought a light running jacket which I kept on until I was ready to go line up in the starting area.

With about 10 minutes until the gun, I gave the jacket to Peggy to keep for me then worked my way into the 8 minute pace group at the start. While waiting to start, I bounced on my toes trying to stay warm and considered asking one of the runners near me who had GPS watches if they were really planning on running an 8 minute pace, thinking if so, I'd follow them early. The races I've run previously have had some sort of leadup/countdown to the gun, but there was no warning on this day. As I stood there fiddling with my iPod BOOM, the gun went off! The crowd around me surged toward the starting line and I quickly popped my headphones in my ears and turned the iPod on as I shuffled toward the start.

As usual in a race, once I crossed the staring line I felt like everyone around me was going way too slow and I began weaving my way thru the crowd, trying to find some room to run. And, as usual, once I did that I thought I was probably running too fast now. I slowed myself a bit, but tried to keep the pace feeling a little uncomfortable so I knew I was going fast enough. After probably about a half mile, the course turned on to Lincoln and proceeded up a long hill. It was very reminiscent of the long hill toward the end of the Midnight Streak. Not exceptionally steep, but quite long, and you definitely knew you were running uphill. I tried to adjust my pace appropriately so I wouldn't kill myself early, but not slow down too much to hurt a good overall time.

Once we topped the hill, it leveled off and I picked up my pace a bit. Shortly after that I passed the 2k marker and the clock there read 10 minutes and something. I began trying to remember what the kilometer to mile ratio was. I couldn't recall, but I did decide I was on a pretty good pace. The course turned off of Lincoln heading West toward I-235 then turned back and wove thru the office parks between 235 and Lincoln. I kept the pace a bit uncomfortably quick but didn't feel like I was overdoing it.

After the course crossed back over 235 toward downtown I picked up my pace a bit more since I knew we had to be on the last mile. The race finishes coming down the steep Walnut bridge (you may recall the OKC Memorial Marathon went up that bridge early in the race). Last year, by the time we hit this point I was completely gassed, having gone out too fast and I ran down the bridge putting the brakes on all the way. This year I still felt pretty good and really let myself fly down the hill. Once you hit bottom of the hill you're left with about 200 yards of level straight away and I broke into a full sprint toward the finish line.

I crossed the finish and almost immediately spotted Peggy. I walked over toward her as I caught my breath. I was definitely tired, but felt better than I did when I finished the Midnight Streak in August. I felt like I had run a pretty good time, but wasn't sure it was my best. I told Peggy I forgot to look at the clock as I crossed the finish and she said it read 23-something when I finished. I was rather disbelieving of that and thought she must be mistaken.

We hung out at the ballpark for 30 minutes or so and collected a bit more swag before walking back to the car and after a bit of hassle found our way back to the highway and headed home. Once I got home, I checked onlineraceresults.com and was surprised to find they had already posted times. Then I was even more surprised to find Peggy had been correct and I had broken the 24 minute mark. By over 15 seconds!  I had run the race in 23:44 beating my previous 5k PR of 24:49 by over a minute!

After the Midnight Streak, I had been really proud of my time, but was also a bit disappointed, because at that time I felt like I may have just about reached my limit for a 5k. I was so spent at the finish of that race that I wasn't sure I could run one any faster. I felt at best I may be looking at shaving a few seconds off that time occasionally. And now I felt like I had blown it away. And I think I can still improve.

As I've mentioned before, after the extreme summer we had, I've been surprised this fall how much difference the cooler temperatures make when running. I think that was the biggest factor in my time in this race versus the Midnight Streak. However, I also think running without the GPS contributed quite a bit too. I suspect I ran the first couple of miles faster than I would have if I'd had the watch on and been tracking my pace. The biggest reason I now wish I'd had the watch on is that I would like to know what my splits were. My average pace for the race was 7:39/mile. I'm sure I didn't run the first two miles that fast, but I did probably run them under 8 minutes. And I probably ran the last mile close to 7:30.

Over the almost two years I've been running now, one truth I've seen is that you can almost always run harder and longer than you think you can...your mind is as much of a limiting factor as your body and physical ability are, if not more so.

New look for Mondo Marathon

If you're checking out the blog, I guess you noticed the new design. I took advantage of Google's Blogger layout tools and changed the look of our blog. Got some runners in the background now as well as some other subtle design changes. I like the new look...I guess I should since I picked it. As a side note, you can add your own background image rather than use one that Google provides, so if I come up with an appropriate running image...or if one of you have one you'd like to send my way, we can change it out.

Feedback on the new design is welcome.

The 2011 Memorial Marathon

Note: Like my SLC Half Marathon report, this took much longer to finish writing up than it should have, but finally, here it is for posterity. Hope everyone enjoys it.

Last year while Sue and I were in Salt Lake City for the SLC Marathon, I told Sherry, Curtis and Thais they needed to come to Oklahoma this year and we could all run in the OKC Memorial Marathon. Ever since I started running, I've almost felt obligated to run the Memorial at least once due to my personal connection to the OKC bombing. They all agreed that would be fun, and a good excuse for a family reunion so they would see if they could make it happen.

As last year progressed, more of the family got on board. Ross committed to it and it looked like Lyndsey, Kellen and maybe Ashley would also run in it. Then on Thanksgiving last November, Thais or Sue (I don't recall for sure) mentioned to Sarah and Johnny that they should start running and do the Memorial with the rest of us. And right after that Sarah and Johnny started running with the intention of doing the half marathon. Unfortunately, due to various reasons none of those "young" people were able to participate. However, one of the Foster kids, Luke, did end up running it (with virtually no training!) and Karla and Ryan Smith's daughter Chelsey made a last minute decision (with some urging from Sherry and Curtis) to join the fun too.

The reunion/race weekend began on Thursday, April 28th with the arrival of the non-Oklahoma residents. The next day most of us were able to meet at Zio's in Bricktown for a great lunch and visit. In addition to our race running family members (Karla, Ryan and Chelsey excepted), Lyndsey, Kellen, Ashley and Abbie also made it and we enjoyed a good lunch and visit.

Sherry, Luke, Dad, Thais and Sue at Zios.

After lunch, Dad, Thais, Sue, Sherry, Curtis, Luke and Peggy and I all walked over to the Cox Center where we met Ross to pick up our race packets and attend the pre-race Expo. We all quickly picked up our packets then headed to the Expo room. Ross looked around for a bit, but had to get back to work before long. The rest of us browsed the various vendors and spent some money. Curtis decided to check out the minimalist shoe movement and bought a pair of Vibram FiveFingers which he enjoyed wearing as much as possible the rest of the weekend. Finally, we all left to get a small jump on rush hour traffic as we headed home.

At the Cox Center to attend the Expo.

Saturday Sue, Thais, Sherry, Curtis and Luke got up early and headed out to the Arts Festival. A bit later, Peggy and I met them at the Academy store on the Northwest Expressway as Thais wanted to check out some cold weather running clothes since the forecast was looking down for the race on Sunday. We all met at Dad's house Saturday evening, joined by Karla, Ryan and Chelsey to have a pasta dinner. We all enjoyed a great meal and had a good visit. We spent a bit of time discussing the weather forecast and what appropriate clothing would be as well as making plans on where to meet downtown in the morning. Eventually, the gathering broke up so everyone could get to bed and, hopefully rest up for the race the next morning.

I slept fitfully that night and woke up at 3:30. I had my clock set for 4:30 and I tried to go back to sleep, but finally gave up and got up around 4:15. I pulled up the weather on my iPod and saw the temperature was 56 degrees. I stepped outside and thought it didn't feel bad at all and began to rethink my clothing plans. I woke Peggy up and she reminded me that the local news came on channel 5 at 5AM. I tuned that in at 5 and found the weather man assuring us that it would begin raining by the time the marathon was scheduled to begin at 6:30. He seemed really sure about it, so I went ahead and dressed for the colder temps I expected if it rained.

Peggy and I were ready fairly quickly and we left the house by 5:20. We made good time and, seeing the exits off of I-235 to downtown were already backed up, we went on down to 23rd Street and exited there, jogged over to Robinson and took that back toward downtown. As we drove down Robinson, some raindrops began hitting our windshield. We pulled over to park on Robinson around 10th Street. By now the rain was getting pretty steady so my worst fears about the weather appeared to be coming true.

We were pretty early so we decided to sit in the car for a bit before heading for the Journal Record building where we were all to meet. As we waited, Sherry called and said they were still on their way. She told me Thais and Sue were already there and they said the start had been delayed until 7:00 because of the lightning. Peggy and I stayed in the car until around 6:35 before we finally ventured out into the rain to head for the starting area. As we walked by the Methodist church at Robinson and 8th(?) Street, there was a gentleman telling people the church was open for people to use their restrooms and they had hot coffee available. We went ahead and ran in so I could use their bathroom. With that taken care of we ventured back out.

We got to the Journal Record building and headed down 6th Street, and saw the family in the parking garage across the street. We jumped in there and everyone took the opportunity to pose for a photo before the race started.

Before the fun begins!

After we took the photo, the girls headed to the starting line. Ross and I thought we should hang out in the garage as long as possible. So we ended up almost staying in there too long. As he, Curtis and I tried to get to our starting area the crowd on 6th Street leading in to Harvey was almost impassable. We squeezed thru the crowd and a small opening in the fences blocking Harvey off and finally got into the starting area just minutes before the gun went off.

The crowd slowly shuffled to the starting line and finally we crossed it and began a slow jog down the street. When course turned by Leadership Square, Curtis jumped up to the sidewalk to get around the crowd. Ross and I followed suit and soon we were running at a sub-8 minute pace sprinting around the crowd. We kept this up for the first mile or so before it thinned out enough to have a bit of room to run the pace you wanted and we slowed down some.

After the first couple of miles, Ross settled in to a fairly quick 8:30ish pace. This was a bit quicker than I felt comfortable with this early in the race (and I found out later Curtis agreed), but I really wanted to keep up with Ross as long as possible. I worried this would probably bite me late in the race but decided I'd just go with it and see what happens. We had what I thought were rather impressive splits on miles 3 thru 6: 8:44, 8:52, 8:19(!), and 8:21. Despite that pace and the miserable weather conditions I was still feeling pretty good at this point.

On the 7th mile I stopped for a bathroom break while Ross and Curtis kept going. It was a pretty quick stop (my Garmin said the 7th mile time was 9:45) and when I took off again, I kept a pretty fast pace thinking maybe I could catch back up with them. I ran mile 8 in 8:28, but I was beginning to feel the effects of the distance and effort. I also realized Ross and Curtis probably had at least a one minute lead on me from my stop so I slowed the pace a bit and when I came to the next watering station I walked thru it like I had done at all the water stations during the Route 66 marathon back in November.

This was the long straightaway down Classen. My legs were definitely getting pretty tired now, I was only on mile 9, my fingers were numb from the cold...I was beginning to feel a bit discouraged. I was thinking I didn't feel this tired at this point of the Route 66 so I was beginning to wonder how strong I would be able to finish. Then as I neared the turnoff from Classen I spotted Curtis up ahead! I pressed a bit in order to catch up with him.

Feeling the burn as I run down Classen.

When I caught him I asked him where Ross was. Curtis said he thought he was long gone. The pace had caught up with Curtis like it had with me and he said he had begun walking for a minute during each mile...a pretty good strategy, especially if your legs are crapping out on you. That sounded good to me, so I stayed with him, taking a couple of minute-long walk breaks.

When we came to another water station Curtis slowed to get a drink and I kept on going. Right after that I thought I saw Ross a hundred yards or so ahead. I looked back and could see Curtis not too far behind me. I kept the pace I had been going and slowly gained on Ross. When I got close I stepped on it and went flying by. I turned and waved as I passed him. As I passed I noticed he was jogging rather slowly (for him). I slowed down after I passed him and fully expected him to catch up with me momentarily. When I he didn't catch up with me after a minute I looked behind me but couldn't see him or Curtis.

The course was now going through the historic neighborhoods north of downtown. It was really getting to be a chore to maintain my pace and these neighborhoods are on the hilly side. I began walking up hills that any degree of steepness to them. I still had a couple of miles to go and I felt like I was really struggling now. My splits over the last three miles were 9:18, 9:11 and 9:23. That means when I was running I was still keeping a pretty good pace because I walked several times over these last few miles.

Finally I found myself on 13th Street, heading for Broadway. This helped me find the energy to press on with no more walk breaks since I knew the finish was down Broadway, not too far away. I made the turn onto Broadway and shortly, I saw the finish ahead. I began picking up my pace and finally, when I thought I could maintain it to the finish I began kicking it with everything I had left. Despite feeling like I my legs were totally wasted I managed a 7:44 pace over that last 10th of a mile! I stopped my Garmin as I crossed the finish, and when I looked at it I saw 1:59:34. Unbelievably I had broken two hours unofficially. This was a surprise to me because I felt so much worse and walked much more over the last couple of miles than I had during the Route 66 in November where I finished in 2:03.

Despite everything, Peggy got a shot of me about to finish.

I attempted to cover myself with the blanket I was handed when I finished and worked throught the crowds around the drinks and food tables for the finishers, trying to stay under their tarps to avoid being rained on. Within 5 minutes of finishing I was beginning to get cold, and after ten minutes I was really staring to shiver. Curtis spotted me and asked if I had seen Ross. He told me when he caught up with Ross, Ross told him he just had nothing left in his legs. We both began walking back toward the finish to see if we could spot him, but I gave up fighting the crowd pretty quickly.

I was now beginning to actually worry a bit about hypothermia as I was really getting cold and shivering pretty seriously. I managed to dial Peggy on my phone despite my frozen fingers and after a bit of difficulty we finally found each other. I asked her where the car was and she told me she had some bad news. We had a flat tire. Not what I wanted to hear! We began heading toward the car. As we worked our way up Broadway we ran into some familiar faces trying to hide from the rain.

Chelsey, Sue, Luke, Molly, Cara, Tayler and Sherry hide from the rain.

Peggy and I finally made it to the car and after a lot of warming up  and several warming-up-some-more breaks, I got the tire changed and we headed home. We had recorded most of channel 4's broadcast of the marathon, so we watched that Sunday afternoon and watched for official results to be posted online.

Every one of us had a good race...especially considering the miserable conditions. Here are all of our official chip times:

RJay: 1:59:31
Curtis: 2:01:50
Ross: 2:04:02
Sue: 2:21:28
Sherry: 2:21:36
Thais: 2:44:19
Luke: 2:24:01
Chelsey: 2:23:45

To top it off, I think everyone set a new PR. Of course, Ross, Thais, Luke and Chelsey did because it was the first half marathon for all of them. Maybe the bad weather played to all of our advantage as far as time went, i.e. the sooner you finished, the sooner you could get out of the cold and rain!

The following day, I met up with Sue, Sherry, Curtis, Thais and Carla and we ran around town a bit together, enjoying each other's company, finishing with a light supper in Bricktown. It was a great finish to a great weekend. The out-of-towners all tentatively planned on making it again next year, so we'll see how things shake out.

I can run for miles and miles

I've been increasing my miles slowly. I slacked on my weekday runs early in September...had a couple of weeks where I only ran once during the week, but I've been pushing my long run on the weekend up steadily. And I've managed to get a bit more on track with my weekday running over the past couple of weeks.

I ran 13 miles yesterday. The previous weekend I ran 12 miles. I felt good on that run until about the ten and a half mile mark when my legs suddenly felt really heavy and tired. I had to push to finish 12 that day. Then on my run yesterday I finished much stronger. I've been trying to keep my pace between 9:00 and 9:30/mile on my long runs since going out too fast will wear you out a lot quicker and a fast pace is also supposed to contribute to more soreness. I did a good job with that yesterday but pushed it hard over the last three miles, running them in 8:53, 8:47 then a strong last mile in 8:26. My legs were definitely tired, but felt much better than the previous weekend's run. And they are hardly sore at all today where last week they were pretty sore for a couple of days after my long run. So it looks like the slow increase is paying off as far as building up my endurance.

Despite that, I'm still undecided about entering the full marathon at the Route 66 this year though. I probably have just enough time left to get my long run up to 20 miles before a taper, but it's close. And I'm questioning whether I should be spending the money (an absolute minimum of $200 for entry fee, gas and food...and hotel?) for it that close to Christmas. If I decide not to do it at the Route 66, I'm still going to try to keep my mileage up pretty high so maybe I can find a marathon after Christmas to  run instead. We'll see how things go.

September Running

I decided to write on the blog although I don't think anyone is reading it except for Jay. I have been running at least 1-2 days a week during the summer and now am at least going twice a week now the weather is cooler. A friend from work is training for a marathon she is running in January so about once a week I go with her. Friday she was planning on running 7 miles so we went down by the Oklahoma River which I had never been to before. She ran her 7 miles and I ran about 5 1/2. It was my first day off after working 3 twelve hours shifts so that is my excuse for not doing as well as her. It is a lot easier to run when it is not so hot and it is also easier to make myself go for a run when I am training for something.

I have been struggling with hip pain and yesterday talked with a friend of mine who is a nurse practitioner. She said it may be my IT band and suggested taking naproxen twice a day for 10 days so I guess I will try that. Any other suggestions from anyone?

The cool weather difference

After three months of unrelenting outer-circle-of-hell temperatures, we finally got a break in Oklahoma beginning in the middle of Labor Day weekend. That Saturday the temperature reached 103. We woke up the next day to cloudy skies and a North wind making a surprisingly cool-feeling 70ish degree morning. It felt like you went to bed in Oklahoma and woke up in a different state. The low for Labor Day was predicted to be around 54 so I had decided that was the morning I would do my long run for the weekend.

I got up around 7 on Monday morning and found the temp was 56 with a pretty good breeze blowing out of the north. I got dressed, ate an English muffin then took off. Needless to say, it felt pretty cool to me after running in hot temps all summer (79 or 80 was about as cool as it got), but I knew I'd warm up soon enough so I resisted the urge to put on more than just shorts and a singlet.

We were housesitting for Peggy's sister last week and when we've been staying there, I just run around their neighborhood because it's a big loop that's about 1.1 miles around. I had a great run that morning. I ran six miles with a couple of quick stops for a drink. After six, I stopped at the house and rested for about 10 minutes, then ate a Gu packet and took off again finally finishing at 10.4 miles.

I followed that run up with another long run this weekend, putting in 11 miles this time. So, let me finally get to the point of this post. I know running in hot weather is harder than running in cool weather, but until these last couple of long runs I didn't realize how much it difference it really makes.

I've been wanting to run a full marathon and have been thinking I'd like to try it at the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa in November. But I've had doubts about actually being able to accomplish this. In the three half marathons I've run, by the time I finished each one, I knew on those days, there was no way I could run another half, to equal a full marathon. Of course I also knew you have to train to run a full marathon, building up your long runs week by week until you know you can go at least 18-20 miles before attempting 26.2 in a race.

I've tried to keep up my long runs over the summer to keep a good base so graduating to a full marathon wouldn't seem to big of a step (hopefully). My long runs since the OKC marathon have been anywhere from 6 to 9 miles, with 7 miles probably being the average. As the summer progressed I kept thinking I needed to start extending my long runs if I was going to run a marathon this fall. A lot of weekends I'd think I'm going to run 10 miles this weekend, but then I'd end up running 7 or 8... I'd manage 9 if I really pushed myself. And even worse, I'd have to stop and rest 3 or 4 minutes before each of those last couple of miles and it would still be all I could do to run them.

I wondered what the problem was. I knew the heat didn't make it easier, but I didn't think that was the basic problem. I figured out that if I ran too fast in the first 4 or 5 miles I pooped out a lot quicker, so I'd work on keeping my pace close to 9:30 miles. But I'd still be dying by mile 8. I thought maybe I'm not eating well enough and running out of fuel. But it didn't matter how much I ate or if I took a Gu halfway through my run. I still had the same result.

Finally, with the cool weather the last couple of weekend mornings I understood that the heat and humidity were taking a bigger toll on me than I was aware of. I did those last two long runs with many fewer breaks than I've been taking all summer and I ran further and finished much stronger than I've been able to over the summer. After my 11th mile this past weekend, by legs were definitely getting tired, but I still could have run another mile or two. Now I've got hope that I can run a full marathon! We're not done completely with hot weather this year, but it looks like they'll be fewer and further between. I've got a bit over 2 months until the Route 66, so I'm going to keep working my mileage up a bit each week and we'll see how it goes.

2011 Midnight Streak race report

This year's Midnight Streak fell on August 13th—Dad's birthday and the date of Tayler's wedding reception. Because of the wedding reception, Sherry and Thais were both in town that day and originally, they had both intended to run the race that night. Unfortunately, due to Thais' recently diagnosed melanoma, she wasn't able to run the race and Ross couldn't do it because the reception didn't shut down until 11:00. However Sue and Sherry were both able to participate this year.

We all attended the wedding reception and had a great time. It was a beautiful event and we all got to see some familiar faces we hadn't seen in a long time.

The proud father and new bride.

The Hansen siblings pose for a photo op.

A bit before 10, Sherry, Sue, Thais, Peggy and I all changed then headed out to the Fairgrounds for the race. We arrived around 10:30 so we didn't have long before they began gathering at the starting area.

Sherry and Sue discuss their race strategy before the start.

Showing off my great runner-body type.

Sue, Sherry and I headed to the start and then stood around and talked for a few minutes before I left them to line up in the 8 minute/mile starting block while they lined up in the 9 minute block. It was significantly cooler this year than last. We've had a record breaking summer heat-wise in Oklahoma this year, but we got a break the week of the race and the high that day was "only" in the 90's (vs. last year's 103). I didn't get to see the temp around race time, but I'd guess it was in the high 80s.

I was lined up to start probably about 5 minutes before the gun and I really felt good and energized as I waited. I bounced up and down on my toes in anticipation. In my previous 5k's I've had a strategy for how I would run the race, but for this one I really didn't. I intended to just go be feel and see how it turned out. Finally, as the start neared, a girl sang the national anthem and then they fired the starting gun. As I crossed the starting line I worked over to the side a bit so I could get around the crowd and hit a good pace.

The course was almost the same one as last year, but traveled in the opposite direction, leaving the Fairgrounds almost immediately and going down May Avenue for a stretch before turning back into the Fairgrounds. I settled in to an 8 minute-ish pace and really felt strong. I found myself behind a guy who was keeping that pace so I decided to follow him for a while. I stayed behind him until he began falling off that pace as we neared the first mile mark. I went past him and after the first mile I was still feeling strong. This was a good sign to me since an 8 minute mile tends to wear me down.

On the second mile the course goes down a road for probably a bit over a quarter mile then turns around and comes back the opposite direction on the same road. This is where they have water tables set up. I went ahead and downed a couple of cups of water on this stretch while trying to maintain my pace. After the turn around I tried to watch for Sue and Sherry in the line of runners going out on the road. It was difficult to see the oncoming runners though because of lights by the water tables shining in my eyes. Suddenly Sherry popped into view and she waved as she spotted me. A couple of hundred yards later I saw Sue but she didn't see me as she ran past.

In the last mile, the course had a loooong uphill stretch. The hill wasn't particularly steep, but it was definitely uphill and of course by this point you were starting to get tired. And did I mention this uphill stretch was really long? I consciously slowed my pace a bit as  I ran up the hill, trying to reserve some energy for the finish. About halfway up the hill I looked at my Garmin and saw my pace had slowed to a bit over 8:40/mile. I thought I had slowed too much and didn't want to keep that pace the rest of the way up the hill so I pushed myself to speed back up.

There was probably about a half mile left at this point and I was really beginning to wear down. I finally topped the hill and now had a good stretch of downhill. I was tired but really let myself fly down the hill hoping to make up any time I had lost going up the hill. Even doing that though, I saw a couple of runners I had passed going up the hill fly by me on the way down. When I reached the bottom there was a bit over a quarter mile left. It was getting difficult to push myself now. My chest was hurting and my body was screaming at me to stop. I had the feeling I was on pace for a PR though and kept telling myself I only had to keep this up a bit longer.

I finally saw the finish line ahead, but didn't want to start my kick too soon. I waited until I was about 150 yards away then gave it everything I had left and really managed a pretty good kick considering how tired I was. I hit the stop button on my GPS watch as I crossed the finish line, then spotted Peggy and Thais and nodded at them as I walked around a bit trying to catch my breath. I looked at my watch and it read 25:14. This would be a new PR (my previous 5k PR was 25:30), but I was a bit disappointed since I felt like I had run even faster than that.

I walked back to Thais and Peggy to watch for Sue and Sherry finish. As we waited I glanced at my watch again and it read 29-something. I realized then that when I hit the stop button at the finish I must not have got it pushed good and it had never stopped. Now I would have to wait until the times were posted to see what I finished in. Shortly, Sherry crossed the finish and came over to wait for Sue with us.

Sherry at the finish, probably glad she went on a
training run in the heat with me back in July!

About a minute later Sue finished and we decided to wait for them to post finish times before we left. As we waited, Sherry ran into a couple of people she knew from when she and her family still lived in Oklahoma! I thought that was curious since neither Sue nor I saw anyone we knew.

Sue, looking pretty good for just finishing 3 miles in the heat.

They posted times pretty quickly and we all looked to find our names. I found mine and saw I had finished in 24:49, 8th out of 38 in my age group. I was really happy about that since I had broke 25 minutes and beat my old PR by 40 seconds! Sherry finished in 28:12 and 7th out of 37 in her age group and Sue finished in 29:36 and 5th out of 35 in her age group. A great showing I thought as we all finished top ten in our age groups. With that, we headed back to our cars and headed home.

It was a fun race and I had a great time with my sisters. I was really glad they got to run in it with me. Maybe Ross can make it next year.