Sunday, February 22, 2009

Another week down.............

Greetings Fellow Runners (I really do owe a thanks to Steve Runner of Phedippidations a big thanks for the opening)

So, another week of February has went by and my consistency for the month continues. I finished the week with a total mileage of 23.64. Now, my mileage for each week in February is: 23.65, 23.51, and 23.64. This brings my total for the month to 70.8 with 6 days left in the month. Also, my year to date total is now at 127.9 as I am on my way towards my goal of running 1,000 miles in 2009.





I also ordered a new book today, which will be my first ever running book and I think my first ever non fiction book (other than a college textbook). I ordered the 3rd edition of Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide by Hal Higdon. I am hoping this book will help prepare me for my first full marathon in January 2010 at the Disney Marathon. This also should help, because I was already planning on using one of Hal Higdon's marathon training plans prior to ordering this book. If anyone else has any advise for me on this ventured, I would love to hear it.





In my podcast listening I have finally caught up. I have now listened to EVERY episode of Phedippidations, 4 Feet Running, Running To Disney, and The Runners Round Table. Now it is on to both Trilogy Running and Running From The Reaper. Unfortunately, Running From The Reaper only goes back as far as episode 79 on iTunes. So if anyone knows where one could obtain episodes 1-78, please advise.

Well hopefully I will end the month on a positive note, and I SHOULD end the month with my highest running total yet.


Til Next Time

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Short Update

Greetings Fellow Runners

Well February is half gone now, and my running has been pretty decent and very consistent so far.

So far for the month I am at 47.2 miles with 8 runs. Each of the 2 weeks have been 1) 23.65 miles and 2) 23.51 miles. This puts me on pace for 94 miles for the month, which would be the most I have ever ran in a month. So far for the year I am at 104.3 miles, which is behind on my goal of 1,000 for the year - BUT I WILL CATCH UP!!

I would like to give to shout out and thanks to Nik and Dan over at 4 Feet Running. On their recent episode of their podcast (Episode 54) they read from my Ocala Half Marathon race report and put a link to my blog in their show notes at www.4feetrunning.blogspot.com. In case you are unfamiliar with Nik and Dan or 4 Feet Running, they are a husband and wife who produce their own running podcast. Their show is great show. The 2 of them are hilarious and there show is very entertaining while also adding insight into the sport of running. If you have not already, I highly recommend that you head over to http://4feetrunning.blogspot.com/ and check out the blog and podcast OR go to iTunes and subscribe to their podcast there - You will not be disappointed!

Well after recently talking to my friends in Tennessee and finding out that they are both planning on running their first ever full marathon in January at the Disney Marathon, I have decided that I too will join them and also attempt to run my first ever full marathon.

If anyone has any training tips or advice for me on my first ever marathon please do not hesitate to let me know.



Well all, that will do it for this entry as I will keep you updated on future training and events.

Til Next Time

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Ocala Half Marathon - "You Can't Take Away My Dignity"

Greetings Fellow Runners

So, I ran my FIRST EVER half marathon on Sunday morning.

On Saturday afternoon, me and the family went up to the Ocala Hilton and picked up my packet with my bib and timing chip. While there, we checked out the SMALL expo that was set up. There really was not a lot to it. I did however pick up another pack of Sport Beans and purchased a pair of Lock Laces. I will say these are nice as now I no longer need to worry about my laces comming undone (which was a major issue with my Asics 2130's - I love these shoes but the laces are horrible!)

I started my morning on Sunday waking up around 5 and with getting ready and driving there, I arrived to the race around 6:30am. I met Grant there who was registered for the 5K that morning. It was cold as could be there (for FL standards anways) as it was only 30 degrees! The Full Marathon was to start at 7, the half at 7:15, and the 5K at 7:30. This is a small town still as there were like 80 people running the full, 225 running the half, and something like 150 or so running the 5K.

The race started pretty much right on time and I was off and running. I finished mile 1 in 8:49, which was to fast of a pace. At about 1.8 miles in (according to my Garmin) I was passing a lady who was listening to her iPod and singing along to it. Actually, it was more like she was belting it out then singing it - it must be nice to have that kind of lung capacity! As i got up to her she was singing Whitney as I heard her singing "I believe the children are the future........" I kept on going and tried to not laugh as I did not want to use extra energy. After having passed her and was a good tenth of a mile beyond her I could STILL HEAR HER singing "....YOU CAN'T TAKE AWAY MY DIGNITY!" I reached the 5K mark in about 28 minutes and was feeling great! I was feeling great still, even though the ENTIRE 4th mile was completely UPHILL! Despite the hill, I kept going at a steady pace and reached the 10k mark in around 57 minutes. At this point I had to go to the bathroom. I will leave out any details for your benefit, and just state that going to the bathroom when you are cold is not a very pleasent thing.

About 8 miles in or so, my stomach started feeling "not so good" Finally around the 10 mile mark, I stopped and attempted to go to the bathroom and "remove" the problem. However I did not want to sit long and nothing felt like it was moving. So, I decided to forget about it and keep going and just deal with the unpleasent feeling. This however was the point where my run went downhill. From this point on I completed every remaining mile in a good 11 minutes or worse. At around the 11.5 mile mark I added a pain in my right hip to my already ailing stomach. I ended up reaching the 12 mile mark pretty much right at 2 hours, which was my goal upon starting the race. This was demoralizing as I had done better than this in preparation. I ended up finishing my 13.1 mile course in a time of 2:14:43 and finished in 173rd out of 225 runners. Not at all as good as I wanted to do, but I could not complain as it was my first ever half marathon, it was not to far off of the goal I had set for myself of somewhere between 2:00 and 2:10, and all the problems that I encountered on the way.

I will say that this was a gorgeous course, especially for anyone not familliar with the area. The course was filled with nice hills and horse farm after horse farm where there were even horses out galloping in the farms. I will say it was a great feeling finishing the race and getting presented with my finishers medal. I will definitely do this run again, and hopefully I can get Grant to stick to his guns and run it with me next year like he said he might do.

So to any runners out there that want to compete in a small, yet very well organized course, with super volunteers (they were even giving out Twizzlers!), and a beautiful surroundings, I recommend you try out the Ocala Marathon or Half Marathon.

Til Next Time