Zab's Marathon Blog

Go Over Here

2010-03-29T10:26:00.001-05:00

Here's the new running blog. Enjoy. Please see the previous post on 12/24 for further details.

Thanks for reading,
Paul

An Update on Running and this Blog

2009-12-24T22:03:00.012-06:00

Well, it certainly has been a while. Hopefully you haven't come here a million times over the last two and a half months only to find the same post about the 2009 Chicago Marathon. I give you my apologies if that has been the case. I truly appreciate everyone that chooses to visit my blog. Here's an update on some things that have been going through my head and my legs since October.

Running

I have taken it pretty easy since Chicago. I have done basically zero speed work besides the Lincolnwood Turkey Trot at the end of November. I ran it in 18:42, a new PR. I ran it pretty terribly, went out too fast and struggled the last half of the race. Oh well. It's only my second 5K. I'd like to work on that time in 2010, but we'll save that for another post.

I did manage to hit 2,000 miles for the year this past week. That was the last of my goals for 2009. I don't know the exact number of miles I ran in 2008, but I'd guess it was in the 1000-1100 range. I'll have some goals for 2010 in the very near future.

This Blog and the Future of Running for Cru

Running for Cru was hatched in late June of 2008. If you want to read the story of how it came to be, click here.

Over the past year and half, the supporters of Running for Cru have raised over $42,000 for Families of SMA. It's still amazing every time I think about it. I really can't thank all of you enough, whether you contributed, visited the blog or spread the word about SMA.

FSMA is a great organization and is making strides towards finding a cure. Please visit their site to find out the latest information on their research. The goal of this blog and of the fundraising was to help FSMA find a cure so that other families would be spared what the Fanaro's have gone through when they found out Cru had SMA and eventually lost him to it.

Here's the tough part and I hope it comes out sounding like I want it to: I really think we could do more. I really do. I mean, $42,000 is a ton of money. But we basically raised it through this blog, word of mouth and sending out emails to our friends, families and acquaintances. It's incredible that we have had that type of success with our grassroots-type effort in a weak economy over the last 18 months or so.

In the airing of the marathon every year, they highlight several human interest stories and even do it on the local television news in the weeks leading up to the race. I DVRed the 2008 Chicago Marathon and watched it later that day. There were so many heart-warming stories. The whole time, I was thinking to myself (and out loud to Tiffany) that should be me and they should be telling the audience about Running for Cru and SMA.

I contacted FSMA again early in my 2009 marathon training cycle and let them know I was going to run for Cru again. They were excited and why wouldn't they be? It's not everyday a guy randomly contacts you and proceeds to raise over $33,000 for their organization. I told them I didn't expect to be able to raise as much in year two, but that every dollar counted. I also offered to go on local news or do anything to help spread the word about SMA and FSMA. Of everyone I know, I'd say 99% of them hadn't heard of SMA prior to hearing Cru's story. I'd say ignorance is a pretty large part of the battle. If people don't know about it, how can they help?

Anyway, it's pretty normal to see local groups and charities on the news spreading their message. There's no reason FSMA couldn't be featured on the news. Needless to say, there was never any appearances on the news. I am not sure if FSMA tried, but I never heard anything from them after the initial couple emails that started the 2009 fundraising campaign. And every weekend, I'd see random groups talking about the fundraisers and charities, including a bunch of dudes growing mustaches to raise awareness for prostate cancer.

And those are the main reasons I think we can do more. Barely anyone knows about this disease. Seeing the pictures of these kids stricken by this disease is heart breaking. And they always have these huge smiles, while their body is being attacked and killed by this disease. They'll never know which Christmas will be there last or sometimes if they'll even make it to their first. Many may never play catch with their dad or even ride a bike.

And I then think of all the people who know someone who have or had cancer. It's crazy. Just today a running acquaintance of mine lost his step-mother to brain cancer. And my friend Ron who ran 40 miles on his 40th birthday in memory of his cousin who died from cancer. My dad is currently battling prostate cancer. Everyone knows someone who has had some type of cancer. How can you not want to help that effort? I make it a point to watch the Jimmy V speech every year. It still gives me goosebumps and a lump in my throat.

My point, in a roundabout way, is that I think deep down, people want to be inspired and be a part of something that does something good and helps others. I don't really know what the next step is for me from here, but I have several ideas. Among them are starting my own charity to fundraise and raise awareness about SMA. We'd have events, running teams and all sorts of good stuff. It's a lot of work to flesh out an idea of this magnitude, so I will most likely be focusing my Cru and SMA efforts towards that. I honestly don't have a ton of knowledge about starting something like this, so if there's anyone out there that does or knows someone that does, please send 'em my way. I really hope doing something like this is possible. So, Running for Cru as it currently exists, well, will no longer exist in this format. I am not sure when or how the next Running for Cru will make it's debut, but I will be sure to let you know about it.

In the meantime, I'll start training for the 2010 Boston Marathon early in January. I'm entertaining the idea of starting another blog (why not, right?) that would be pretty similar to this one when training is going on, along with any additional thoughts that may pop in my head that I wouldn't feel bad about sharing. I'll be sure to give the details about that on here so you can follow my Boston training efforts as well as any new information about how Running for Cru will proceed.

Thanks for reading, have a Merry Christmas and I'll be talking to all of you soon. Best wishes to all of you and yours in 2010.

Paul

The 2009 Chicago Marathon

2009-10-13T22:58:00.002-05:00

Let's start off this Race Report by saying that it's not often you feel like you just ran the race of a lifetime. That's where I am at and if that influences the rest of this post, this is your warning. You are certainly entitled to skip the background portion gibberish and get to the race details. But I do think it's the background that made this race possible.

Background
I think the story of my 2009 Chicago Marathon started when the 2008 Chicago Marathon ended. That was my 7th marathon and I posted a then PR of 3:29:58 after what was then my toughest training cycle to that point. Sure, the heat cost me a few minutes, but I'd only improved one minute from my 2006 time. I had a conversation after the marathon with my friend Ron who posted a 3:40 that day. I'd met him on the Runners World 3:20 thread, which has become my on-line home since September of last year. He said, let's meet in Boston in 2010. I said sure, thinking that there's no way in hell I could shave 19 minutes off of my time and left it at that.

After the marathon, I decided I was going to try something a little different. Instead of running a day or two or three times a week when I had a few free minutes, I was going to consistently keep running 3-4 days and keep my mileage in the 25-30 miles/week range throughout the winter. I do not train on treadmills (although that could potentially have to change), so I'd get out in the Chicago winter and run. Didn't care about pace, just ran to run.

I ran a Turkey Trot 10K in November where I put a 41:48, shaving 2+ minutes off my PR set a couple months prior. It was at that point where started thinking I could really make some huge improvements if I actually trained the right way. I thought I wasn't cut out to run 5-6 days a week, so I'd always run 4 days a week. I also never had any recovery runs. Every non-tempo or interval run up until 2009 was always in the neighborhood of an 8 minute mile. In a nutshell, I was doing a lot of things wrong and not running enough. I was a marathon hack and never really trained for it the right way. I asked for and received a Garmin 305 and a copy of Advanced Marathoning (2nd Edition) for Christmas.

I stayed in the 20's for December and took a week off at the end of January when Isla was born. At that point I came up with the plan to ramp the mileage back up to get me ready to go for training to start on June 8. I stayed in the 20's in February, the low 30s in March, the upper 30's to low 40's in April. I ran my first-ever 5K at the end of the month and put up a 19:09. I ran 177 miles in May, touched the 50's and got in an 18 miler.

With that, I started the Pfitz 18/70 plan on June 8th with an eye on a 3:10. I figured I might as well train my ass off and see if I can Boston Qualify. I figured if I went 1:30 or better in the half and 40 minutes or better in the 10K, I'd have a chance. I didn't think BQ-ing will get much easier in the years ahead as our family continues to grow and the time I can give to running potentially shrinks. Week one had me running 55 miles, which was ironic, considering I had peaked at 54 my previous cycle. I wasn't too concerned about the miles because of the recovery runs. I ran my recovery runs as slow as I could 9-9:30s, although they got a little faster near then end of the cycle. I ran my marathon paced miles between 7:10 and 7:15 throughout training.

I told myself that if at any point I needed to back off of the plan, I would. It turned out I never had to. I followed the plan pretty closely. I'd usually hit the miles, but usually ended up juggling the days around quite a bit. The only times I didn't hit the total weekly miles were when I didn't have enough time to get in enough additional miles after the 10K (39:07) 6 weeks out and the half (1:28:25) four weeks out. I also didn't run a 10K two weeks out.

As I mentioned, the two races were important for me to see if I actually was on the right track. If I wasn't, I wouldn't stupidly go for a 3:10. I managed to shave over 2 and half minutes off of my 10K PR and over 10 minutes off of my Half PR, which was set in September of 2008. Both showed me I was ready and it was full steam ahead for the 3:10 on October 11th.

Other Changes
I made tremendous gains in my HR, as my last 13 miler one week before the marathon came in 15-20 beats lower than a few similar paced and distanced runs earlier in the cycle and in the month before training started. I felt like I was as ready I as I could get. Also, I weighed 178 pounds on June 1st before training started. I stepped on the scale the Wednesday of marathon week and it read 161. So I basically averaged losing a pound a week throughout the cycle. And a couple weeks ago, the top number of my blood pressure went below 120 for the first time that I can ever recall.

Marathon Week
I also took the week before the marathon off of work. I used it to catch up on sleep and spend some quality time with my family - not in that order, of course. I think this helped tremendously as the 6 hour nights of sleep, the alarm going off at 4:45 and 5 A.M., the middle of the night work calls and the miles over the previous 17 weeks did finally wear me down a bit. I got 8 hours of sleep during the week Sunday-Friday except on the dress rehearsal Wednesday morning.

I ate pasta on both Friday and Saturday night and followed the Australian glycogen loading technique the day before the marathon. Instead of mixing in some strides, I went with the three minute burst and pounded a giant plain white bagel and some gatorade as soon as I walked in the door.

Marathon Day
I got 3 hours of solid sleep before I woke up at 2:30. I laid in bed and tried to get back to sleep but it wasn't happening. I finally got out of bed at 4, showered, bodyglided up and got dressed - armwarmers included. I ate what has become my breakfast staple - two pieces of wheat toast with peanut butter and followed it up with a banana and some Gatorade. Tiffany snapped a few photos and I bundled up and took the train on down to the starting area. She wished me luck and told me I could do it. I told her I knew I could do it to. And for the first time in my running career, I really believed it. She did tell me that she knew I could run a 3:10, but wasn't so sure about the 3:07:25. I was pretty much with her, but felt confident the 3:10 was going down.

It was 30 degrees when I left my house. I ended up getting down there just after 6, so I had an hour and a half until the horn sounded. I wandered around, used the facilities and sucked down a couple Gatorades. I made my way in the B Corral by 6:45 or so. I met up with a few pals from Runner's World On Line - Chad, Walter, Jay, Carl and Kevin. There were six of us shooting for a 3:07-3:10 (Chad, Kevin, Carl and two of Carl's buds and me) that would be pacing pretty similarly. They were in the A Corral, so I kind of felt like the little brother staying up past his bed time hanging out with the older kids. We shot the breeze for a bit and we all started throwing off our excess layers about 10 minutes before the horn sounded. I ate three lemon lime Clif Blocks at about 7:20.

At about 7:25 they removed the gates and we moved on up. Chad and I had planned to run the first 2 miles at 7:15, miles 3-20 at 7:10 and hopefully hit 7:05's from 20-26.2. This would get us to the finish line in 3:07:25. I figured that was my best case scenario and wore that on one pace band. The other pace band was called the "If the Shit Hits the Fan Band" - straight 7:15's to get me a 3:10 and the BQ.

The horn sounded and we were off. It took about 45 seconds to hit the start line. The four other 3:10 or better hopefuls took off into the crowd in front of us.

Miles 1 and 2- 7:28, 7:05
Okay not exactly how we drew up the 14:30 through 2 miles, but effective.

Miles 3, 4 and 5- 7:01, 6:46, 7:09
What? 6:46? We were trying to dial it in, but the fired up crowd and seeing my support crew for the first time caused Chad and me to run the fastest mile of the day. We decided to make a conscious effort to back it down for mile 5 , so we actually backed it down - to our goal pace. Hmmm...Chad mentioned something about if we qualify for Boston and then quickly back-peddled and said WHEN we qualify for Boston. I told him that sounded much better.

Miles 6, 7, 8 - 7:02, 7:16, 7:01
Yo-yo-ing again on 6 and 7. A little too fast, then a little too slow. Mile 8 brought a 7:01 and at that point Chad turned to me and said, "At what point do you just accept it (the pace)? " I said, "Mile 20." I took a blueberry-pomegranate caffeinated Gu Roctane at 8. Somewhere between 6 and 7 I started feeling a little weirdness in my ankles. Never felt it before, so I tried to just ignore it. It went away after a few miles and it never popped up again.

Miles 9, 10, 11, 12- 7:04, 7:02, 6:56, 7:03
Okay, so we're hanging right around a 7 minute pace. I am feeling good, breathing is perfect and everything is cool. I know, I should have more to say but at this point, it was just a 12 mile run at a pretty good pace. That's exactly where my head was at. I wasn't thinking about mile 16, 20 or 26. Everything felt fine and Chad said he was feeling good, so we just went with it. We also passed the Zab support crew for the second time at Mile 11.5. We were a little ahead of pace so for the first time ever, we snuck up on them.

Mile 13 and the Half - 7:07, 1:32:52
Okay, I have to admit I was temporarily a little nervous about seeing a 1:32:XX at the half. I had thought the fastest I wanted to hit the half was 1:33:30 and 3:07:25 plan was a 1:34:03 at the Half. So we were about 1:10 ahead of our 3:07:25 best case pace. I decided to let it go and did think of everyone tracking me at that point. I am sure there were a couple "What the hell is he doing's?" We had a pretty good laugh thinking about everyone saying we were running too fast. I clearly stated my plan in a few places and I was not following it. Even more interesting is that we still hadn't caught up to the other four guys.

Miles 14, 15, 16- 7:01, 7:03, 7:05
Nothing too crazy here, just averaging 7:03's for the first three miles of the second half. Gulp. We actually caught the other four guys in mile 15 and ran with them for a few miles. Carl commented that we looked great and fresh, which is always great to hear in the second half of a marathon. I remembering laughing a few times about random things with those guys. I think the first thing I said to them after exchanging hellos was asking how their nipples were doing. They all chuckled a bit and I think it was good for them. They seemed pretty focused and in need of a mood lightener. I took a non-caffeinated strawberry-banana Gu at 15. We hung with them for a few miles. I am not sure when we pulled away but I know it wasn't before 17. I felt a little niggle in my right hamstring here and there in this stretch, but it wasn't anything to get worked up about.

Miles 17, 18 - 7:04, 7:06
Those guys were right around 7:05's the whole time, so I am pretty sure we were with them through 18. I had a few good conversations with Kevin and Carl in there, which was nice. Sometime right around 17 , one of Carl's friend's inexplicably stopped and bent over. In the middle of the street. At mile 17. Of a fricking marathon. Chad basically had to hurdle him to get over him and put his two hands on this guy's back and leap-frogged him. After things calmed down in the next quarter mile or so, it comes to light that the guy saw a 20 dollar bill and stopped to pick it up. No bullshitting. He stopped to pick up a 20 and almost took a guy out. Chad told me in the next few miles that if the guy would have taken him out he would have punched him in the face. I started laughing pretty hard, which may not be completely advisable at mile 20 of a marathon when you are putting paces of:

Miles 19, 20 - 6:57, 6:58
Weird. Didn't feel much faster. But two sub 7's? Interesting. People talk about mile 20 signifying the beginning of last part of the race and I was feeling good, with the exception of an odd feeling behind my right knee. It felt like a ligament (purely a guess, could have been a tendon or muscle) was rubbing against something it shouldn't be. It went away by 21ish.

Miles 21, 22, 23 - 7:01, 7:00, 7:05
Took my last gel, an orange-vanilla Roctane GU w/caffeine at 21. This is when I briefly first started thinking about beating the 3:10 (and 3:07 for that matter), but quickly re-focused to that mile. Started feeling it in my legs just a touch at 22. Nothing too bad. I saw the support crew at 21.5 or so and it was like a shot in the arm. I love seeing them. I loved seeing them even more on Sunday because I was feeling great and was well on my way to running the best race of my life. I had Tiffany make sure my brother Nick was ready with a hat and a Gu in case I needed to make a change or switched up my Gu strategy. I didn't need either one, so I waved it off, gave 'em a couple thumbs up, a smile and told them I was doing great. At 22, Chad told me he had to stay around 7:05-7:10. I asked if he was okay and he told me he was fine, he just need to back off a bit. We put up a 7:05 at 23 and the thoughts of just about a 5K remaining started entering my head. Chad told me to go ahead and go for it. At 23, there was a giant screen that was showing video of us as we ran by. He told me he'd hold up the number 3 and I should hold up 10, for the 3:10 we were attempting to run. I did and had a nice laugh as I saw us on the screen. Just past 23, I see a couple friends cheering us on - Kris and Maryann. I didn't expect to see them at all, so it was an awesome surprise. The 3:07:25 pace band pretty much became worthless in this stretch. It ended up being a "feel" race all day and the last 10K was no different.

Mile 24- 7:02
I left Chad at about 23.3 miles as we made the turn north up Michigan Avenue. This was the first time I could really feel the wind in my face. Crap. Not good. I saw another set of friends late in the 24th mile - Justin, Alicia and Adeline. It was awesome. Adeline just turned 2 and was bouncing on Justin's shoulders. Alicia is 36 months pregnant and was wearing her Running for Cru shirt. Another shot of adrenaline!
I did some quick math and though I finished really, really strong I could have a shot coming in right at 3:05.

Mile 25- 7:14
No, no, no, no! While a 7:14 for mile 25 is nothing to sneeze at, it didn't fit the plan anymore. Sure it was right in my marathon training pace, but it wasn't good for me on Sunday - that wasn't my pace anymore. The wind was getting in my head a bit. Remarkably, I only got passed by two people. They looked like they were out for a nice Sunday jog. I thought to myself, someday that'll be me. I told myself that if I didn't run this race so well to throw it away in the last couple of miles. I know a little drastic, but I had to do it. I thought of the people who were tracking me and all of them who were so surprised that I was running this race. I had to keep it up. I thought of a bunch of random comments I had stashed away over the past few months "He set an aggressive goal, just like you." "You should be able to put up a 3:15." "Why do people keep on trying to PR at Chicago?" I thought of Tiffany telling me I could do it before I left the house that morning. I also thought of my friend Matt Rauls who was the first runner to believe in me last year and told me I could be much faster. He left me a simple note on Facebook that was the last one I read before I left in the morning - "Go dominate." I also thought about Cru and all of the people who helped support my Running for Cru. I used all of these things and whatever else I could muster up to get me to the 26th mile marker as close to a 7:00 minute mile as possible.

Mile 26- 7:04
With about a half mile to go, I suddenly felt amazing. I was passing 1400 South, knowing that Roosevelt and the "hill" were right there. My feet felt light, my legs felt fine and the crowd was pumping me up. I took a great angle around the turn and saw people wasting steps. I made the right turn onto Roosevelt and headed up the hill. Everything started to hit me then. Holy shit. I was just over a quarter mile away from the finish line. This was it. This was what I worked so hard for. This is why I set the alarm for 4:45 and ran 15 mile mid-week runs. And peaked at 75 miles in a week. And it was finally there for the taking and I had this thing by the balls. Sure, I could have thought this several miles ago and was a little bit, but knowing where I was on the course and the five previous times I have struggled up that hill was a lot to take in. I powered up the hill and was passing people with ease. I got a little choked up as I crested the hill. My goals were coming into realization. I regained my composure to see the 26 mile marker and make the final turn onto Columbus. I took the turn really tight and stayed on the very inside part of the course, wasting as few steps as possible. I was just focusing on the finish line. I looked at my Garmin and saw I was not only going to qualify for Boston, but I was going to run a 3:05:something.

Mile 26.2- 1:26
As I was kicking down the home stretch, I felt like I was floating. I felt like I was the only runner on the course as I was giving it all I had to get to the finish line. Really, I took another great angle while everyone else split out pretty wide. I didn't see the other runners. I was about 50 yards from the line and I started doing some fist pumps and yelled "Yes!" a few times. How about some more with 25 yards to go? You bet. After I crossed the line, I stopped my Garmin, stopped running and was just smiling. No yells, no screams, no primal, "BOSTON!" I just couldn't believe it. I just ran a 3:05 marathon. Me. Paul Kapellas - a 3:05 marathoner? Did this really just happen? You are flippin' right it did. Wow! What an amazing feeling. Everyone who was tracking me and following had to shit themselves a little bit. A PR by 24 minutes? Holy Crap.

Post Race Thoughts
As I made my way through the finishing corral, I grabbed a beer and some pretzels, bagels and stuff. I made my way toward the meeting point with Tiffany, Isla and the rest of my supporters. Tiffany finally saw me and came sprinting towards me. She was already crying as she was approaching me and I couldn't help it but cry too. We qualified for Boston. For one day, I slayed the beast that is the marathon. She told me my official time came in via text at 3:05:18. We hugged for a minute and went over to meet everyone else. It was hugs and congratulations all around. I changed my clothes, we took some pictures, got back on the L and headed home for some pizza.

Numbers and such
Half Splits: 1:32:52/1:32:26.
5K Splits: 22:19/21:48/22:04/21:52/21:58/21:56/21:42/22:05
Finished 1069 overall, almost 1000 spots of where I did last year
Heart Rate by Mile:
First Half:166/169/167/171/163/163/159/165/165/166/167/169/171
Second Half: 170/171/171/175/178/178/181/182/184/184/188/188/191/195 for the last .2

Yep - on top of clearly underestimating my abilities, I ran a very solid race and negative split the thing. Unreal. I really don't encourage the racing by feel in a marathon, but everything just aligned for me on Sunday. I am big into numbers and planning, but it just felt right the whole time. I wasn't dead afterward, I just felt like I executed the race how it was supposed to be done, which was a very new feeling for me until this cycle was well underway. One of the toughest parts of the cycle was mentally letting go of the runner I used to be. I didn't have to fade at the end of races, I learned I could execute a plan in both the 10K and Half and I was actually becoming a pretty solid runner.

The marathon kind of felt workman-like. I felt like I had a job to do out there and I was just doing it. And don't think I didn't have fun either - I gave out some high fives, was waving my arms at times to get the crowd up and have never laughed as much during a marathon as I did this past Sunday. As far as fluids, I think I had my first Gatorade around mile 4, and grabbed one every 2-3 miles or so. If I had taken a Gu, I went with water instead. There were also a couple stops where I grabbed a water instead of Gatorade just to rinse my mouth out a bit.

Thank you's
First and foremost is my wife, Tiffany. I couldn't have done this without you. You and Isla are my inspiration. The moment of you running towards me and hugging me after it was over will be a moment I cherish and remember forever. Thank you for putting up with this habit of mine that started so innocently back in October of 2004. And it was so awesome to see Isla after the race. I know it wasn't the easiest thing toting around an 8 month old in 35 degree weather. Being able to hold my smiling daughter after the race is another moment I'll never forget.

My other supporters this past Sunday: Nick, Mike and Lynn, Aunt Barb, Blake, Libby, Joe, Melissa, Kris, Maryann, Justin, Alicia and Adeline. You guys are awesome and I can't thank you enough for coming out and cheering for me in 35 degree weather. Many of you have seen me run a few of these before. I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for me. An extra special thanks to Mike, my father-in-law, for holding up the "ZAB" sign. Again. For the 6th year in a row. Good thing you hung on to that thing after I told you to burn it after the 2007 Chicago Marathon and said I'd never run a marathon again. A few of the guys on the course I was not running with said they saw it. How cool is that?

My other supporters who chimed in with kind emails, phone calls and words of encouragement over the past 18 weeks. Gail, Jerry, Michael, Aunt Denet, Kim, the Wills and Johnsons...there are simply too many to list here. Please know that all of you are appreciated very much.

All of the Running for Cru supporters: over the past two years we have raised over $42,000 to help support FSMA and try to help them find a cure. I can't thank you enough for your kindness and generosity. A very special thank you goes out to the Fanaro family for letting me continue to honor Cru and his life. We are so excited for the arrival of Gianna Marie and couldn't be happier for you.

Chad Gruett- what can I say? It was an awesome time running those first 23+ miles together. I think we helped each other stay calm and consistent and relaxed. I look forward to seeing you in Boston in April.

My 3:20 threadmates: Ron, Amy, Steve, Walter, Nick, Greg, Flo, Rich, Brian, Clay, Carl, Chris, FB, Jim, Dave, DLSMD, Jeff, Justin, Kevin, Tommy and Joe. I hope like heck I didn't miss anyone. My deepest apologies if I did. You guys have helped me become the runner I am today and it has been amazing to watch our group improve. Thanks for the support and thanks for keeping me honest over the past year or so.

Steve from NY- Thanks for helping me re-structure the two weeks of the 10K and Half and for your knowledge. I have learned a ton from the people on RWOL and you are one of the best voices on there.

That's it. So next up is Boston. I guess I have to figure out how to train to run "The Boston" in the winter in Chicago. Any advice is welcome.

Thanks for reading,
Paul

One Goal, One Plan

2009-10-10T20:39:00.002-05:00

It's time. In 11 hours or so, I'll be well on my way to my 8th marathon and first attempt to really get after it. I wanted to thank everyone who has supported me in any way over the past year and a half since the inception of Running for Cru. Your kind words, support and well wishes are incredibly appreciated.

The 3:10 Boston pipe dream was born back in April or May and it's been a fun and challenging journey to get to this day. As I have said many times in the past, the beauty and awfulness of the marathon is that 16 or 18 weeks (or the better part of a year, in some cases) comes down to one day. I feel like I have done everything I can to be able to hit that 3:10. The weather is looking awesome for tomorrow although not so much for my faithful followers - Tiffany you really are the best and I appreciate everything that you do. The challenge of toting around an 8 month old in 40 degree weather to four different places across 26.2 miles deserves a medal in itself.

So, I mentioned it before but there's one goal for this race - a 3:10. There's no "B" goal, no "C" goal, just a 3:10 and the BQ. No excuses will be acceptable. I have put in the work and it's my time to step up and get this thing done.

Here's the plan, and it appears as if I'll have a couple guys from RWOL running with me.
Miles 1 and 2 : 7:15's - if it's a little slower, that's fine too.
Miles 3-20: 7:10's - that puts us at the Half at 1:34
At 20, we'll reassess (individually) and see what we have left. We'll decide if we keep running 7:10's or pick up the pace to 7:05's or 7:00's. Worse case scenario, there's a 2 minute and 59 second cushion in case the last 10K gets a little rough. I'll do my best to make sure I don't need it.

That's it. Talk to all of you later.

The Shirt

2009-10-10T09:06:00.004-05:00

I'll be back later with some more details on pace plan and such, but here's the shirt:
Front/Back

Recent Photos

2009-10-06T08:54:00.006-05:00

Here a few pictures from my runs the past two Sundays.
From September 27th:

And from October 4th:

Almost Here

2009-10-05T20:18:00.003-05:00

Before I get into my normal weekly recap of sorts, I'd like to go off topic. I'd really like to thank everyone for the continued support of Running for Cru. Whether it has been through supporting the fundraising effort or visiting this blog regularly, I truly appreciate all of the support and kind words that have been sent in this direction.

With that being said, every once in a while something happens in life when I think you have take a step back and realize that life is a precious thing. Too often, we get into a routine and sort of take life for granted. If you have been reading this blog since its inception, you'll know that I am a believer in getting off of your ass and taking the bull by the horns. Go attempt the goals that you are afraid to make. And that can be related to anything in life from your career to your living situation to losing weight. Or running a marathon. Just go for it. You owe it to yourself to make the most of life. You don't have to dig too deep on this blog to realize that life can be all too short. Too many terrible things happen to good people. Live it up while you can and try to make every day filled with as many laughs and smiles as possible. Being pissed off and angry is no way to live. If there's one thing you take from this blog, please let it be this: make the most of life.

***
As I sit here on Monday night, we're 6 days away from the marathon. It's pretty hard to believe it's almost here. And wouldn't you know it (and I am knocking on wood right now), Mother Nature appears to finally be giving me and 40,000 of my closest friends some great running weather for a Chicago Marathon. I think the forecast right now appears to similar to that of 2006. It's looking like mid-40s right now with a very minimal chance of precipitation. There are a couple guys on the Chicago Marathon thread on Runner's World who are getting me more information than Tom Skilling ever has.

I finished up with a 17 week low of 43.6 miles last week as the taper was in full effect. My legs are starting to feel pretty fresh and I have a very easy week of running this week leading up to Sunday. The one weird thing about the taper is that you will have some strange minor aches and pains. It's pretty crazy because you can't help but be pretty paranoid about getting healthy and you'll wake up one day with a sore knee or a tight hamstring. It may not have bothered you at all for the entire training cycle, but these things pop up and then go away pretty unceremoniously.

The remainder of the week, I'll continue with my pre-race preparations. I have selected my shirt, shorts, socks and shoes. I am still deciding on gloves, hat or cap and possibly some arm warmers. I made some custom arm warmers out of an old pair of white tube socks on my 13 miler this past Sunday. They worked pretty well. I just have to decide if I want to wear some on Sunday. If so, do I want to buy a real pair or make another custom pair that I wouldn't feel bad about tossing at some point in the race?

As I mentioned last week, I'll try to check in a couple more times this week before Sunday. I'll be sure to include a picture of the race shirt after it's completed. Thanks for reading.

Tick...Tick...Tick...Two Weeks to Go

2009-09-28T12:34:00.003-05:00

As this training cycle winds down, so do things to talk about. In a lot of ways, this week of the cycle is the toughest. The miles are reduced, there is only one tough run to look forward to and the excitement that comes with marathon week is still a week away. With that, let the rambling begin.

Last week ended with a total 0f 55.1 miles. Nothing too fancy. I commented to some friends that it was kind of a boring week. Pretty amazing, considering I gimped my way to a peak of 54 miles last September. I did put in a 17 mile long run yesterday. It was pretty uneventful, minus covering the last half mile or so the marathon course in the middle of the run. The run started a little after 6 in the morning on the lake path. If you like to run (even a little bit) and live close to Chicago, I'd encourage you to wake up early on a Sunday and hit the lakefront path. It was pretty empty for much of the first half of my run. You kind of feel like you own the city and wonder why everyone couldn't be out there enjoying the fresh air, the sunrise and the view out over the lake. I put a ton of slower-paced songs on my shuffle last week to try to keep my paces in check. Combine that with the general peacefulness and it was borderline religious.

As I was down near Soldier Field approaching my turn around point, I decided to head to over to Roosevelt so I could run the last bit of the marathon. Now, it's not new to me as this will be my 6th time running Chicago. Wow. That last line makes me feel kind of old. I would have never imagined that my running habit would be born after I laced up my running shoes that fateful day just about 6 years ago. Back to the run - I headed west over Roosevelt and hit Michigan Avenue. I stopped on the corner, kind of peeked south, looking at the part of the course that precedes the final 0.3 miles or so. I turned around and started running. I remembered one of the other times I ran over that stretch in the marathon. The sidewalks packed, runners all around and digging as deep as humanly possible to make it over that bridge and make that final left turn up Columbus. It's very odd to see it pretty close to empty. At 7 something in the morning, there's hardly anyone out and I was able to actually run that stretch on the street. Pretty bizzare, as I have played out this stretch hundreds of times in my head. What will the giant clock above the finish line read as it slowly comes into focus? Despite my heart rate jumping up a tad, I was able to keep my pace pretty even despite knowing that in two weeks to the day, I'd be giving it all I had in that very spot and hopefully bringing home a 3:10 or better. Overall, the run went well, as I was able to average an 8:20 pace across the 17 miles, with an average heart rate of 145.

This upcoming week will feature only 43 miles, but will include a 13 miler on Sunday. I am considering trying to make that 13 mile run cover a good chunk of the last half of the marathon course. If I can figure out the logistics of either parking or taking the L down, I'll do it. I also have my last tough workout on Thursday. It will be an 8 mile run with 3x1600 at 5K pace in the middle. Fun times.

Besides that, I am trying to rest the legs and not overdo the eating over the next two weeks. I have been in the mode of eating whenever I feel the urge over the last 16 weeks and have not had to think about the ramifications because of the number of miles I have logged. That obviously has to change with the reduced miles the rest of the way. I'll probably check in a few times next week with some pre-marathon excitement posts and will put up a picture of my race day shirt. Until then, see you later.
***
Oh, if you are planning on coming out either with my regular support crew (which appears to be a little thin) or on your own, please let me know. If you are on your own, I'll need to know where you'll be and I can give you a pretty good idea on when I'll be passing that area.

Also, you can track me here on race day:
http://live.activeresult.com/msg/MSG-signup.tcl?event_id=37
You can sign up for texts or emails letting you know of my splits. For the record, I am bib number 2033.

It's All Downhill From Here

2009-09-22T20:33:00.007-05:00

I mean that in a good way. I am now less than three weeks from the marathon. The remaining weeks will hopefully get my legs re-charged and I'd love to catch up on some sleep. In a way, I'll miss the 5 A.M. or earlier alarm going off. I usually start reminiscing about the training cycle in the week of the marathon, but it's starting to hit me a little earlier this year.

As those of you that have been around for the last 15 weeks or longer, I've trained smarter and harder this cycle than I ever have. I know in two and half weeks or so, I'll be toeing the line for my 8th marathon as prepared as I could possibly be. It's a good feeling, but at the same time, I know I need to stay focused and realize that I still need things to go my way on the 11th for me to hit my goal. As the saying goes and a few people have told me, the hay is the barn.

Speaking of goals, there is one goal for the 11th. 3:10. That's it. Anything slower than that will be a disappointment. As I mentioned back in May, I know the jump from a 3:29 to 3:10 is huge. But I have hit every goal that I set back then and everyting points to me being able to hit my goal. Here are the goals I set back in May:

Train my ass off
Get down to 165 pounds
Run 6 days per week
A sub 40 minute 10K
A 1:30 Half

I fully expect to run a 3:10 on October 11th. As of now, the strategy is to hit the first half somewhere around 1:33:30-1:34:00. An even split would net me a 3:07 to 3:08. It will give me a couple to few minute cushion in case things get a little rough in the second half.

I know it may be a tad early to talk of strategy, but I think that will help me focus on the task at hand and get me through these next couple of weeks without going crazy. I have about 55-58 miles planned for this week after hitting 66 last week.

Last week was kind of a jumbled mess as life threw the ole' running schedule a curve ball. I recovered pretty well, but did have to a run 10 miler on Saturday and my final 20 miler on Sunday. The original plan was to run the second half of the 2o miler at goal marathon pace, but I found myself running upstream into a few thousand runners after I hit my turnaround point.

This group of runners was participating in the Chicago Area Runners Association's Ready to Run 20 Miler. It's really kind of ridiculous. I can appreciate a Gatorade and water supported final 2o miler run, but signing up (which cost a good chunk of money - as much as $50 - for a training run) doesn't give you a license to run wherever you want. The lakefront path in Chicago is pretty congested as it is. Add to that groups of runners running as many as 7 and 8 wide in spots. I really was afraid I was going to bump shoulders and get knocked into the lake between Oak St. and Ohio. Anyway, I ended up getting away from them with 7.5 miles left and turned it on for those miles. I ran all of the first 7 miles in the 7:11-7:17 range, so I was pretty happy with my last really long run. I still have a 17 miler on tap for this coming weekend.

I did manage to take a few pictures on the first half of Sunday's run. Here they are:

2009 Chicago Half Marathon

2009-09-14T23:16:00.005-05:00

I made the annual pilgrimage down to the south side on Sunday to run in the Chicago Half Marathon. This was my fifth time running this race. They did change up the course a little bit this year, so at least it had that going for it. I am really not a huge fan of this race - it's a pain to get down there and park and the course is pretty boring as a good 2/3 of it takes place on Lake Shore Drive. Over the years, I have learned that the best bet is to get down there early and park a mile or so away. Anyway, I got down there about an hour before the race. I was planning on running a nice warm-up to the start area before I checked my bag, but as I was coming up the Metra stop, a ton of people were exiting, clogging up the sidewalk. So much for that part of the warm-up.

Before I go any further, I'd also like to throw in a few details about the two days leading up to the Half. Tiffany woke up on Friday at about 1AM with a pain in her abdomen. After a trip to the hospital and several tests, we found out that she needed to get her appendix removed. By Friday afternoon, her appendix was out and she was recovering. Needless to say, Friday and Saturday we not very much fun (especially for her). She has been recovering at home since Saturday morning and is getting better every day.

So back to the warm-up. I walked it to the area near the the gear check and ran into an old high school classmate and his wife. She was running her first half. We chatted for a couple minutes, wished each other luck and I headed over to the gear check, swapped out my shoes and got in line for a port-a-potty. By the time I walked over and grabbed a water to wash down a Gu, I had about 20 minutes before the race was scheduled to start. I couldn't really see a good path to run, so I headed to the start area and proceeded to run mini-laps in the start area. I put in about a mile. I would have felt pretty stupid if not for another 20 or so people doing the same thing. I wasn't one of the weirdos doing incredibly high knees or power skipping, but hey, whatever floats your boat. In my warm-up mile, my heart rate was high. I was about 15 beats higher than I would normally put up for such a slow pace. I was slightly concerned, but didn't put too much weight into it.

I made my way up to the "B Corral, " which was a small area roped off by those flags people use for garage sales and such. I ran into my pal Walter in the Corral. He said he was going to start out a 6:50 or so pace. I said, "How about 6:45?" He said deal, and we were off. Actually we weren't. The start of the race was delayed 10 minutes. Eventually the race started.

The first mile went by pretty quickly we hit the marker at 6:44. Pretty damn spot on. The first couple miles of any half or full marathon are always a little tough to gauge. Your adrenaline's pumping and you're trying to get in a rhythm and not get too excited. It was kind of weird, because I wasn't really excited. That's a good thing. I think the adrenaline and excitement have gotten the best of me in the past and that then leads to me putting extra pressure on myself. The biggest difference in this race heading in was that I expected to run it well. I knew I could run a 1:30, barring something catastrophic. The question in my mind was how could I pace myself to ensure my best possible time. The fact that I had enough confidence in myself to run a 1:30 at this point is pretty amazing in retrospect. Back when I threw down the BQ gauntlet in May or whenever, I honestly thought my chances at a 1:30 half and hopefully subsequent 3:10 full were maybe 50-50.

Back to the race - I was still trying to find my groove and we hit the second mile @ 6:46. Very nice. As we were running the third mile, I was still searching for a rhythm and still coming up empty. I glanced down at my HR and I was in the mid 170s. I made a mental to ignore it because it was already running higher than where I wanted to be. Miles 3 and 4 were both 6:50s. I got a few seconds back in mile 5 with a 6:40 and I was really close to my pace plan as I hit the marker.

Mile 6 was a nondescript 6:43 and while I still was not feeling good, I was hitting my splits really well. Things got a little interesting in mile 7. It measured slightly short (.99) on my Garmin and I put up a 6:32. At that point I let Walter go ahead as he seemingly started to pick up the pace. I really wanted to put up a 6:45-6:50 for mile 8 after mile 7.

The good news is that I did slow it down. The bad news is that mile 8 measured 1.04 miles and my Garmin said I just put up a 7:03. Crazy thing is a 7:03 for 1.04 miles is a 6:45 pace. Oh well. Regroup and forge ahead. I looked at my HR for the first time since mile 3 after that 7:03 split. My HR was at 191 with 5.1 miles to go. Not so good. Mile 8 did end on a very slight uphill, so I am sure that didn't help.

I ran mile 9 in 6:36 as there was a very slight downhill at the beginning of the mile. I still wasn't feeling good. I know, the race is almost over at this point. There's just over 4 miles remaining. If I am not feeling good by now, it's probably not happening. Mile 10 was a 6:42.

The original plan was to reassess at the tenth mile and see if I could turn it on for the last 5K. I decided to just try to pick it up to the 6:30s or so. I hit the 11th mile in 6:28. Upon further review, it measured .97 miles. I can understand being .01 over here and there, but I and still not sure why there can be .03 and .04 variances both positive and negative. Anyway, only 2.1 miles to go.

I hit my 200 max heart rate in mile 12 and put up a 6:50. I tried to start to dig down deep and turn it on, but I couldn't find anything when I was digging. The familiar feeling a race slipping away from me started to tickle my stomach. I had a brief moment of weakness where I considered slowing it down for a quarter mile or so and then finish strong. I decided that was absolutely stupid and I was dumber for having thought of it to begin with. I hunkered down and sucked it up.

At that point I start doing the math to see what I'll need to run the last 1.1 miles in to get me a 10 minute PR (1:28:35). I bargained with myself throughout the mile, reminding myself how much more is left. I finally hit the 13 mile marker and I had a 6:53 to show for it. All things considered, not bad as it measured a 1.03.

I got a nice rush of energy after I hit 13 and could see the finish line. I ran the last .1 (.12 on the Garmin) in 40 seconds, a sub 6 minute pace. Final finish time: 1:28:25. A PR by 10 minutes and 10 seconds.

I was really happy with my time. I never got into a solid rhythm and didn't feel like I had my best stuff. I do think I ran the fastest race I could have on Sunday though. That's a huge step for me. You never know how you're going to feel on race day. Often times, I have given in on those days that I didn't feel the greatest in the past. And the fact that I could overcome my moment of mental weakness at mile 12 makes me feel good that I'll be able to gut it out in the latter miles of the marathon if I need to. I do think I could pick up another 1-2 minutes in a half, but that's obviously not my focus.

This 1:28 confirms for me that I am in great position for a 3:10 at the Chicago Marathon. There are just 4 weeks remaining until the big day. I have one more big week left this week. I'll come close to 70 miles for the last time in this cycle. All that's left is to get these miles in, stay healthy, don't do anything stupid and be patient waiting for October 11th to get here.

Final Splits / AHR
1-6:44 /169
2-6:46 / 174
3-6:50 / 174
4-6:50 / 178
5-6:40 / 181
6-6:43 / 183
7-6:32 / 186
8-7:03 / 186
9-6:36 / 191
10-6:42 / 191
11-6:28 / 196
12-6:50 / 198
13-6:53 / 202
.1- 0:40/ 206

Spirit of 75.5

2009-09-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

The peak week of training is in the books as is the worst pun for a title of a blog post yet. 75.5 miles last week, a new career high. A scheduling shift also had me run 12 day in a row, also the longest in my career. Here's what this past week looked like:

M-7.3 @9:20pace, 133AHR
T- 7.3 @8:59, 132AHR; 5.1 @9:19, 126AHR
W- 14.85@8:13, 149AHR
R- 10.4 w/6x1000 repeats @5:52 pace
F- 8@8:33, 147AHR; 4@9:36 ,132AHR (with jogging stroller)
Sa- 18.5 total. First 13.5@8:27, 143AHR. Last 5 @ 7:11, 170AHR

I am feeling pretty good overall. I took it easy early in the week following the 10K from last Sunday. It took a couple days to get my legs back under me, but was able to finish the week strong. I was contemplating ditching the GMP miles at the end of Saturday's Long Run, but I figured simulating race pace on a tired set of legs on a long run is about the best practice you can get. I think I can bounce back from the 5 miles easily, which is important considering I have the Chicago Half Marathon this upcoming weekend.

I've lost at least 14 pounds since training started in June. Two weeks ago (the lats time I stepped on a scale), I was 1 pound under my race day goal of 165. I am not sure how far my weight will drop, but I definitely will have to watch what I am eating the last two weeks leading up to the marathon. I feel like I am eating constantly but the weight keeps coming off. I guess that's one of the benefits of averaging 62 miles a week over the past 13 weeks.

I am not really going to taper for the Half. Here's what I have scheduled this week:

M- 7 Recovery (done)
T- 8-10 Miles, with 3-4 400m repeats@5K pace
W- 14 MLR
R- 8-10 GA
F- 6 Recovery
Sa- 3 Recovery w/ a few strides thrown in
Su- Chicago Half Marathon with a couple warm up and cool down miles
Total- 60-67 miles

As was the case for the 10K two weeks ago, I am looking to have a significant PR in the half. My goal is to run it in 1:30, which would make me feel really good about my attempt at a 3:10 for the marathon. My previous best half was last year, when I ran a 1:38:34. So we could be looking at an 8 minute PR or so.

The half is also a good opportunity to practice some other things like drinking on the run, running in some congested areas and most importantly, trying to pace consistently. I'd like to run the first 10 miles at a 6:50-6:55 pace. If I am feeling good when I hit the 10 mile mark, I'll crank it up and see if I can bring home the bacon with some 6:30s. I'll be sure to a race report up here as soon as I can after the race.

Windrunner 10K Race Report

2009-08-31T08:55:00.008-05:00

Let's cut to the chase, here's the lowdown on yesterday's race. Whoa! Don King got a hold of my keyboard for a second.

It was a really cool morning, right around 60 out in the Western Suburbs. I got down to the course at abour 7:25 for the 8:00 race. I went and grabbed my bib and talked to my former boss (from a previous job) for a few minutes. His running club puts on this race every year. The race is really well run, the course is nice and they have the best post-race food I have ever had. Fresh fruit, bagels, pizza, and a restaurant also provides some finer foods like brie cheese, roasted duck, roasted chicken breast and some fresh salmon. It's really amazing.

So, I had some time after I went back to my car and pinned on the bib and changed into my shoes. Then I took down a nice vanilla Gu, did an easy warm up mile and was running by the start line area when I heard that the race was going to start 10 minutes late. No problem, I thought, it'd give me enough time to get another easy mile in. So I finished my second mile and headed over to the start line.

I was chatting with a couple guys at the start line as we were waiting for the race to start. The younger of the two was wearing some nice, tight, blue shorts and a running club singlet. Pretty serious stuff. The other guy was a bit older, but was a nice guy. As we were chatting, the younger mentioned that he blew up in the last six miles at Grandma's Marathon and ran a 3:0X. I suppose blow-ups are all relative. The other guy said he was trying to hit a 1:19 half the following weekend. I decided at that point to make sure I did not run with those two out of the gate. Just before the race started, I asked the younger guy if he was going to win this race. He replied, " Don't know, that guy (nodded to his left to some other guy) is pretty fast." The results are not officially posted yet so I don't know his time, but the younger guy did finish first overall.

With that, the horn sounded and we were off. The first and last 75-100 yards of the race are in grass. It was a very wet at the beginning, so I was trying to make sure I didn't lose my footing. After the grass ends, there's a sharp left turn. As we're coming out of the turn, a group of guys pull away. I am being very cognizant of not going out to fast. I look down at my Garmin and see 6:0Xs, so I back it down a touch. I wanted to hit a 6:25 first mile. This allows a decent group of guys to pass me. Before the passing stopped, I think I counted about 22 guys in front of me. As I get to the half mile mark, I see I hit it at 3:05. Whoa, slow down! So I am reigning it in at this point. I feel like I am holding myself back the rest of mile 1, running very easy and hit the 1st mile marker at 6:24. Nice. Right where I wanted to be.

Somewhere near the end of that mile, I started running in a group of two others. One was about 40 and the other was 12 or so. No lie. This little dude was motoring. I made a mental note to myself that I will not lose to him. I think this is probably the equivalent to losing to someone dressed as a superhero in the marathon. I ran with these two for all of mile two. Again, it felt nice and easy and my breathing was very under control. I have found that's the key for me in these shorter races. I hit the 2nd mile marker at 6:27. I was thinking I'd try to be in the 6:20-6:25 range for miles 2 and 3. There are definitely some turns and slightly narrower parts in this section of the race. There was a lot of single file running as guys were trying to run tangentially as much as possible. I was feeling good and my breathing was still very solid.

Somwhere during mile three, I picked off a couple runners from the pack and my little friend fell off the pace too. I felt I was holding this 6:25ish pace. As I hit the 3rd mile marker, my Garmin (manual lap) read 6:30. Hmmm. I wasn't disappointed, just wondering a little bit as I felt my effort level hadn't changed. Maybe it was turns and curves on the course. At that point, I decide it's time to pick up the pace a bit. Not a ton, but I need to start putting up some 6:20 miles here. I basically have a 5K left at this point, so I am feeling good.

So I start passing guys, without really using too much effort to go around them. I'd sneak inside when I could or just follow the natural flow of the course. I think I passed 5 or 6 guys in this mile and hit mile marker 4 with a 6:21.

Okay, that's more like it. Still feeling pretty strong, although I am focusing more on my breathing. The last thing I need at this point is a cramp or my breathing to get out of control and I fall off of my pace. There's a guy in front of me that is hugging the inside of every turn and I am breathing down his neck. He won't give me an inch. So after about a quarter mile of these shenanigans, I bite the bullet and pass him on the outside. Still focusing on my breathing as it's becoming slightly more labored. I made it a point not to look at my HR throughout the race. There's nothing I can do about it, so why even bother?

Somewhere around mile 4.5, the course turned and I was running into the wind. I was starting to feel it a little bit as I saw my Garmin go back up from the 6:1Xs to the 6:2Xs. I hunkered down and decided that there was only about 1.75 miles left, so any pain I was feeling was only temporary. I hit the 5 mile marker with a 6:11. Nice!

Just about a mile and a quarter to go and there's no one anywhere close behind me and a shirtless guy off in the distance in front of me. I decided to see what I have left in the tank and run it as hard as I can. As if I would have considered anything else. My breathing is becoming very labored by the 5.75 mark. I hit the 6th mile marker with an even 6:00 on my watch. Awesome.

Just .2 to go and I have made up considerable ground on the shirtless guy. As we make the final turn into the grass, I am giving it all I have. So is this guy, so I never do catch him. I think I finished a second or two behind him. I ran the final .21 (Garmin measured) in 1:11 (a 5:36ish pace) and hit the finish line with a 39:07!

What a great feeling. I remembering struggling my way to the finish line last year in a 43:54. Yep. That's not a typo. I beat my time on this course from last year by 4:47. And beat my November PR of 41:48 by 2:41. I am pretty sure my days of 10K 2 minute PRs are over now, but it was fun while it lasted. I finished 2nd in my age group and received a nice fancy medal for my efforts. I am not sure where I finished overall and I did lose track of how many guys I passed. I am guessing somewhere in the 10-15 range. I think I may have left a few seconds (10-15?) on the course in miles 2 and 3. Not positive though. No regrets here at all.

I also learned my max Heart Rate is 200, not 195. I hit that in the last .2. Here are the splits and AHR for the race:
1-6:24 (176)
2-6:27 (182)
3-6:30 (184)
4-6:21 (187)
5-6:11 (189)
6- 6:00 (194)
.2- 1:11 (197)
The 39:07 translates into a 6:17 overall pace . Average HR for the race was 186, or 93% of my new max. I'll make another post over the next day or two chronicling last week and previewing this upcoming week.

Thanks for reading,
Paul

10K on the Horizon

2009-08-27T11:38:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the second consecutive mid-week blog update. We had a really busy weekend with Isla's blessing (baptism). And sometime on Monday, it appears as though she came down with something. She's had a rough couple of nights. Hopefully she'll start feeling better soon.
***
So, I have my first race since April this Sunday, the Windrunner 10K. I have run this race three times in the past, posting my best time last year with a 43:54. I am hoping to crush that time on Sunday. I did run a 10K in November, as some of you may remember. I put up a 41:48 at the Lincolnwood Turkeytrot. Ideally, I'll go sub 40 on Sunday. The weather is supposed to be very cool, maybe in the 50s or 60s for the race, which is awesome.

At the same time, I am not intentionally cutting back for this race, so I'll take what I get and keep my eyes on October 11th. It should be a very good measuring stick to see how much I really have improved from last year. I don't think a 2 minute or so improvement is out of the question. I'll try to post something here on Sunday night.

Last Week:
Monday- 6.5 Recovery @ 9:06, 125AHR
Tuesday - 12.1 Miles, middle 7LT @ 6:53, 175AHR
Wednesday - 13.3 MLR @ 8:18, 141AHR
Thursday - Recovery Double of 5 in the morning and 5.3 at lunch
Friday- 21.5 Miles @ 8:20, 151AHR
Saturday - kind of a recovery run, but kind of GA - 5.5 miles, 8:27, 143AHR
Sunday - Rest Day
69.3 Total miles

This week:
Pretty much up in the air at this point as I have had to move things around and try to get in some running whenever possible. I have a few target workouts I'd like to hit, but other than that, I am hoping to still be in the low 60's for the week. If not, it's not the end of the world. Sometimes life can throw your running a curveball.

M- Unscheduled Rest Day
T- Somewhere between 8 and 9 miles with 4x400m and 2 hill sprints
W- 7.15 miles @ 8:21 pace, 130AHR
R- 4.2 Recovery in the AM and and somewhere around 6 in the PM
F- 13 MLR
Sa- 3-4 easy w/some strides mixed in
Su- a couple warm up miles, the 10K, a couple cool down miles and hopefully a few extra later in the day to get me to somewhere close to 18 miles for the day.
Total of 60-ish

How's Your Intestinal Fortitude?

2009-08-19T21:34:00.000-05:00

I don't really have a clear direction for this post, so bear with me as I try to find one. In the middle of my 12 mile run yesterday, I had 7 miles planned at Goal Half Marathon Pace, or somewhere in the neighborhood of 6:52/mi. I have pretty much nailed all of my previous GHMP and Goal Marathon Paced runs in the cycle. After those runs, I now kind of expect to hit everything as I feel great and have quite a bit of confidence with where I am at. We are just under 8 weeks away from the big day. Plus, I am in better running shape than I was at the beginning of training and have dropped about 8 pounds since the start of this cycle. I hope to be at 165 by the time the horn sounds on October 11th, so I have maybe another 4 or 5 pounds left to shed.

Anyway, back to the run. It was 71 degrees with 91% humidity when I left the house. Not really ideal. At all. I knew my heart rate would be elevated. Oh well, you never know what kind of weather race day will bring, so you have to suck it up and knock 'em down. I started with 2.5 nice and easy miles before I started my attempt of 7 at 6:52. The first mile is usually tough to gauge as I typically work down to that speed and then surpass it. I'll end up somewhere in the 6:15-6:30 range before I then start to get closer to 6:50, which will invariably take me closer to 7:00. By the time the Garmin dings Mile 1, I have no idea what the pace will say. On Tuesday it said 6:55. Not bad. Not too fast, just a touch too slow.

I figured I could keep right around there and avoid any major pacing swings for the next few miles. I figured wrong. Mile 2 was a poor 7:04. At that point, I started to let doubt creep in to my head just a bit. Compound the 10+ seconds over goal with the fact that I felt I was working harder and my heart rate reflected it. My HR zone for HMP miles is 159-177 and I was already up to 170. Crap.

The mental aspect of training (and more importantly, racing) is one that probably gets too little attention. 15+ seconds over goal two miles into a seven mile tempo run on an extremely humid day in the middle of August is a decent test. It's not mile 23 of the marathon when your legs are starting to feel like lead and your 7:15 pace (here's hoping) is on the verge of becoming a 7:30, but it will do.

How do you overcome this? Mental toughness will get you to a certain point. How much can you really will your body to do something? Can you? Does it hurt too much or is it just physically impossible?

I don't have the answers, but I like to think that the training I am putting in right now will allow me to dig a little deeper if(when?) the shit starts hitting the fan on October 11th. I'd really like to believe that my training is going well enough that the shit never hits the fan, but I am a realist. Things happen. For those of you newer to the blog, I am shooting for a 3:10 at Chicago this year. It would qualify me for Boston. It would also represent an improvement of 19 minutes over last year. 19 minutes is a huge number. I'd be a an idiot if I told you it wasn't. I'll be testing where I am at in a 10K and half marathon in the coming weeks to see if the 3:10 is a possibility. I have made several large changes in how I train from previous years to this year and hope they will get me the result I am looking for.

And now back to mile 2 of the GHP run. I decided to keep on trying to hit that 6:52. I was beginning to doubt it could happen, but wussing out at this point would do no good. I wasn't hurting. Just couldn't hit my pace. The phrase "intestinal fortitude" popped into my head at some point soon after the third mile started. I remember my brother Michael frequently referencing it during some sporting event back in the mid-to late 90's. Was it Mike Fratello - "The Czar of the Telestrator" - that used to say it back in the days of the Bulls championship runs? Or maybe it was Matt Millen before he turned the Lions into the worst franchise in the NFL. Maybe both of them? Either way, you could count on at least one a game from whoever it was.

So, it was time to see what kind of intestinal fortitude I had. As I was nearing the end of mile 3 and my Garmin would soon show my time, I figured I'd be sub 6:50 for sure. I was working even harder at this point. No luck - I put up a 6:52 and my AHR for the mile jumped to 174. I still did the math in my head to try to figure out how fast I would need to run the remaining miles to hit 6:52. I would aim for some 6:48-6:50's and hopefully turn it on the last mile.
That didn't happen.

Mile 4: 6:54, 175AHR
Mile 5: 6:53, 177AHR
So, after five miles, I was at the top of my HR zone and I still couldn't hit my goal pace.
Mile 6: 6:55, 177AHR
Jesus, now I was getting slower.

With one mile to go, I decided to see what I had left. I didn't pay attention to my heart rate either. I was sopping wet at this point and could feel sweat dripping down my legs. I managed to put up a 6:41 mile with a 183HR. Garmin claims this run averaged a 6:53 pace with a 175AHR.
I didn't feel bad after it was over and ran the last 2.6 home at an 8:20 pace.

Initially, I was a little disappointed. After I thought about it a little more, I think this was a good thing. I may have been getting a little too confident. A run like this humbles you and reminds you that there is still a lot of work to be done between now and October 11th. At the same time, I was able to gut it out and pretty much hit my goal pace. So I damn near hit the 6:52 in miserable conditions on what wasn't my best day. I think it's a good sign. A 7 mile tempo run in the midst of summer isn't an easy thing to do.
***
Last Week Recap
Monday- 9.6 GA @ 8:22 pace, 143AHR
Tuesday - 9.1 VO2 w/6x800 repeats @ 2:56 pace
Wednesday - 7.3 Recovery @ 9:16, 120AHR
Thursday - 7.5 GA w/10x100 strides @ 8:08 pace, 147AHR
Friday- 9.2 GA @ 8:20 pace, 141AHR
Saturday - 15.3 MLR @ 8:26, 149AHR
Sunday- Rest
58 total miles

This Week:
Done
Monday- 6.5 Recovery @ 9:06, 125AHR
Tuesday - 12.1 Miles, middle 7LT @ 6:53, 175AHR
Wednesday - 13.3 MLR @ 8:18, 141AHR
Remaining
Thursday - Recovery Double of 6 or 7 in the morning and 4 or 5 at lunch
Friday- Longest Run of the cycle - 22 Miles
Saturday - Recovery Run - 6ish
Sunday - Rest Day
70+ Total miles

Halfway Home

2009-08-10T21:00:00.000-05:00

9 Weeks down, 9 to go. I have enjoyed this marathon training cycle more than most. I don't feel beat up and worn down. There are several reasons, so why not get into them? In no particular order:

The base building I did in the first five months of the year gave me my best chance at a successful training cycle. I don't have the exact numbers (because I didn't keep them year-round), but I am pretty sure I just passed my 2008 mileage total.
Following a regimented training plan has been huge for me. I increased my days running per week from 4 to 6 and am following Pfitzinger's 18 week/70 mile program. I have moved some runs around here and there, but have hit the types of runs and the total mileage within a mile or two either way every week. Mileage-wise, I was in the mid 40's at this time last year.
Wearing a Garmin and HR monitor. I can better monitor my efforts and also go back and analyze my runs. And not going to maymyrun.com before or after each to see how far I went is a time saver and a plus.
Recovery Runs. One great way to add in some extra miles on to a plan is throwing in recovery runs. I have been running most of mine in the 9-9:30 range, so about 2 minutes slower than goal marathon pace. People can debate how fast or how slow they are supposed to be and how much they really help, but I am a believer and they will be a part of every training plan I do in the future. Side note: I just read a book about Neil Diamond. In the first chapter, the author annoyingly started multiple sentences with "I'm a believer that Neil Diamond..." I enjoyed the book, as I do enjoy some Diamond, but this reference of a Neil Diamond song that the Monkees made famous was pretty bad. I thought about making this post in a similar fashion but thought much, much better of it.
Chicago's mild summer has been pretty helpful. It was crazy hot here last weekend, but I have been really lucky with the lack of heat up to this point.
A very supportive wife who doesn't mind her husband's alarm going off at 5:00 A.M. several days a week to get up and run...and then being gone anywhere from an hour to three. Tiffany has always been my biggest fan but our lives have changed over the last 6+ months after the birth of our daughter. Almost all of my runs now come in the morning, with the exception of a few easy runs occurring at while I am at work. I wouldn't be able to do this without her support.
I really feel like I understand running and training more now than I ever have. I do not know everything by any stretch, but I have learned a ton between reading some books and soaking in knowledge on Runners World.

***
This week is a cutback week down and I'll get down to 58 miles. Then the next 5 five weeks will all be in the 60s and I'll hit 70 twice. I may tack on few extra miles on the second week of 70. I also have the Windrunner 10K on August 30th and the Chicago Half Marathon on September 13th. It's really amazing to think that training is half over and these races are nearly here.

Last Week Recap:
Monday- 7.1 Recovery @ 9:09 pace, No AHR
Tuesday - 15 Mile MLR @ 8:11 pace, 154 AHR - steamy
Wednesday - 5.7 Recovery AM @ 9:23, 124 AHR, 4.6 Recovery PM @ 9:11, 122 AHR
Thursday - 13.1 MLR @ 8:16, 143 AHR
Friday- 7 GA Miles w/ strides. Pace for the first 5.25 miles was 8:20, 136 AHR. Last 1.75 was a 7:49 pace, 143 AHR.
Saturday - 16.5, w 12 @ Goal Marathon Pace(7:15). The 12 GMP miles came in at 7:12 with a 167 AHR.
Sunday- Rest
69 Total miles

This Week:
Monday- 9.6 GA - DONE
Tuesday - 9 VO2 w/5x600 repeats at 5K pace
Wednesday - 7 Recovery
Thursday - 8 GA w/10x100 strides
Friday- 9-10 GA
Saturday - 15 MLR
Sunday- Rest
58 or so total miles

Another Brush With Greatness

2009-08-03T21:32:00.000-05:00

Before I get into my most recent encounter with someone famous, I'd first like to thank all of you that have donated to FSMA. We're currently sitting at just under $3,000. I truly appreciate the generosity that has been shown in the few weeks that we have been fundraising. I really can't thank all of you enough for you support.

For those of you that have not yet had the chance to help the cause or are new to Running for Cru, you can get to the fundraising site by clicking the link just above this post. Cru's story can be read by clicking on the link at the top of the right maragin.

Now, on to the brush with greatness. Well, maybe not a brush. More of a breeze. When you compare him to the others (Mr. T, Jeff Tweedy, the Bin Laden look-a-like) I have bumped into over the last few months, it does stand out, especially if you are a runner. On my 20 miler on Sunday, I was on mile 14 or so when a blur of a man passed me. I was running somewhere around an 8:20 pace at the time. I had never seen anyone run that fast on the lake path. I thought, that has to be somebody. The Rock-N-Roll Chicago Half Marathon was going on at the same time, so I thought maybe it was someone getting in some extra miles. After doing some math and looking at my watch, there was no way one could have been done with the half and be that far north. So I waited to see this guy on the way back. Sure enough, despite that fact he was probably running a sub 6 minute pace, I could tell that it was this guy:

Yep. It was Ryan Hall. He currently holds the American record for a half marathon (59:43), finished 10th in the Beijing Olympics and finished third in the 2009 Boston Marathon. He was running too fast for me to even yell out his name after I confirmed it was him. He always looked bigger on TV, but as it turns out, he's only 5'10". I later found out he was in town for the race (not running it though) promoting some things for Nissan.

Besides that, the week was pretty normal. There's a guy at work who happens to be a Facebook friend who has seen a couple of my mileage status updates. He seems concerned that I am running too much and asked me if I was worried that I could break my heel off. Seriously.

Lastly, July was a record month for me, as I finished with 277.1 miles. I am feeling good and am looking forward to August, which should be another new monthly record. I also have a 10K at the end of the month that I am pretty excited for.

***
Last Week
Monday- 7.1 Recovery @ 9:06, 126 AHR
Tuesday - AM 4 Recovery @ 9:22, 131 AHR, PM 6.1 Recovery @ 9:17, 128 AHR
Wednesday - 13.6 Mile MLR @ 8:14, 149 AHR
Thursday - 6.15 Recovery @ 9:32, 123 AHR
Friday- 11.15 Mile LT, with 6 @ 6:51, AHR 173
Saturday - Rest
Sunday- 20 Mile LR @ 8:24, 141 AHR
68.2 Miles total, another new personal nest

This Week
Monday- 7.1 Recovery- DONE
Tuesday - 15 Mile MLR
Wednesday - 4 Recovery AM, 6 Recovery PM
Thursday - 7 Recovery with 6x100 strides
Friday- 13 Mile MLR
Saturday - Rest
Sunday- 16 Mile LR with 12 @ Goal Marathon Pace
67 Planned Miles, although I am currently on pace to go a little over.

He Wears Short Shorts?

2009-07-28T20:24:00.004-05:00

Before I get rambling here, I forgot to mention a few weeks ago was that I was accepted in the Brooks I.D. Program. I am one of over 1500 members in the program that "are active in their running communities and share a passion for the Brooks brand." I.D. stands for inspire daily. One of the perks of the program is that I get 40% off of all Brooks running merchandise. I have been running in Brooks shoes since early 2005 and have worn them in every marathon since then, so I was pretty excited to get accepted by the fine folks over at Brooks. Seeing as how I am racking up the miles in this training cycle, the discount has come in quite handy already.

I also decided I should probably purchase a few new pieces of Brooks clothing to wear on my training runs and my upcoming races. I have never really purchased running clothing on-line before, as I prefer to either eye ball or try things on before I buy them so I know they will fit correctly. I decided to use my 40% discount and take the plunge and order some shirts and shorts through the Brooks site. Both shirts I ordered fit pretty well. The shorts are a different story. They are a little on the, well, short side. As it turns out, most of the shorts I own have a five inch inseam. The new pair has a four inch inseam, but also get shorter the farther you get from the supposed 4 inch measurement. Here's a picture of them:

These babies are much shorter than they look in this picture. So, my initial though was to return them and get a different pair. Then I realized that I'd have to pay shipping to return them and they weren't that expensive anyway... so I have decided to keep them and embrace the 1970's runner that's deep inside of me. Kind of like Prefontaine, minus the moustache:

I nearly wore them on my 21 miler this past Sunday, but thought I should test them out on a shorter run first. Maybe I should wait for my 'stache to come in first. I actually did wear a moustache in the 2005 Chicago Marathon. I'll have to dig up one of those pictures and post it soon.
***
Last Week
Monday- 7.25 GA w/10x100 strides @ 8:03 pace, 142 AHR
Tuesday - 10.1 LT, w/middle 5 @ 6:51, 171 AHR
Wednesday - 6 Recovery @ 9:10, 125 AHR
Thursday - 14.1 Mile MLR @ 8:10, 151 AHR
Friday- 8 Mile GA @ 8:05, 149 AHR
Saturday - Rest
Sunday- 21 Mile LR @ 8:10, 148 AHR
66.5 Miles Total, a new career high

This Week
Monday- 7.1 Recovery- DONE
Tuesday - 4 Recovery AM, 6.1 Recovery PM - DONE
Wednesday - 14 Mile MLR
Thursday - 5 Recovery
Friday- 11 Mile LT, with 6 @ 6:52
Saturday - Rest
Sunday- 20 Mile LR
66 Planned Miles, although I am currently on pace to go a little over.

Running Will Kill You and Ipods are the Devil

2009-07-20T21:38:00.000-05:00

Last week was mildly eventful. Here are couple stories I'd like to share:

On Wednesday, I was supposed to run 12 miles in the morning. I had set my alarm for 5:20. When it went off, I could hear thunder and see lightning, so I went back to bed and decided to run at work and I'd make up the remaining miles later in the week.

I was about 5 miles into a planned 6+ miles at lunch, when I came upon a couple of co-workers (a guy and a girl) that were also enjoying a run. I decided to run with them for a bit to shoot the breeze. After exchanging pleasantries, we began talking about running. I told them I have run a few marathons and am currently training for Chicago Marathon in October. Both were pretty impressed with my mileage despite the fact that the guy thought no one should run more than 6-8 miles per run during the week. Then the guy said that he runs about 30 miles a week of "maintenance" and ran a marathon once. He seemed mildly interested in running more, but he said he stopped after the first marathon because his doctor told him they were bad for you. He even had plans to run another marathon in Paris, but his doctor wouldn't sign a consent form for him, so his marathon career came to an end. Whatever his doctor told him about running marathons obviously made a lasting impression, because he seemed to think his life was in danger despite the fact that his check up and blood work were both great. The doctor supposedly said it just puts too much stress on your body. So I guess the Dr. thinks a healthy lifestyle includes eating like crap and doing as little as possible...because you'd hate to actually run enough to be able to run a marathon. When I saw the guy at work the following day, I told him it was time to get a new doctor. That doctor should have his license revoked.

On Friday, I headed out for a 10 mile run. I left a little later than I had wanted to, so I was going to try to pick up the pace a little bit to get all 10 in. As I was approaching mile 3 at the corner of the running path and Devon Avenue, I slowed down because there is a bit of a blind turn around some bushes before I have to cross the street. As I got to the turn, I saw a guy on a bike coming at me. I jumped off of the path to give the guy some room to get by. Unfortunately, he saw me and freaked out. One thing that people do when they start to panic on their bike is to take their feet off the pedals and stick their legs out straight. This 250 pound guy was no different. He totally panicked and the jimmy-arming of the handle bars soon followed. He started swerving and drove into the bush and then fell off of his bike.

Then he let out a few guttural screams.
"Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
I walked over to the guy and said, "Hey man, you alright?"
He responded, "No! I'm not! I'm hurt!"
I started to get a little closer to him to see if I could help him up. He started talking before I could reach out my hand.
"It's your fault, " he said. "You were on my side of the path."
I was kind of surprised. And I got a little angry.
I yelled, "There is no way you can say I was on your side of the path! I was standing right there when I watched you fall of of your bike. You panicked."
At this point, he was coming to his feet and he started to get a little angry.
He said, "If you weren't listening to that Ipod you'd be more attentive to your surroundings!"
I really lost my cool at this point. It was this guy's fault he had fallen off of his bike and after trying to accuse me of being on his side of the path, he then tries to blame me for listening to my Ipod? Are you kidding me?
I yelled at him, "You know what pal? F-you!"
He yells back, "Well, F-you too!"
At this point, he's back on his bike and is starting to peddle away.
I said one more thing to him. I didn't reference his overweight body...well not directly at least. I am all for people trying to get healthy. I said, "Maybe you should ride your bike a little more (often) so you won't fall off of it."
He was yelling something back but was peddling away from me so I had no idea what he was blabbing about. I continued with my run, albeit with an elevated heart rate.
The rest of the run was not the greatest as I was looking over my shoulder waiting for this guy to come after me.
***
Last Week
Monday- 5.2 Recovery @ 9:37 pace, 122 AHR
Tuesday - 7.2 GA @ 8:22 pace, 143 AHR
Wednesday -6.2 GA @ 8:33 pace, 145 AHR
Thursday - 5.7 GA @ 8:09 pace, 153 AHR, 5.2 Recovery @ 9:14 pace, 129 AHR
Friday- 9 GA @ 8:28 pace, 147 AHR
Saturday - Rest
Sunday-14 MLR @8:27, 139AHR
53.2 Miles total
It looks like the rest day really helped on Saturday as the AHRs were a little high throughout the week

This Week
Monday- 7 GA w/10x100 strides -DONE
Tuesday - 10 LT, w/middle 5 @ 6:50 pace
Wednesday - 5 Recovery
Thursday - 14 Mile MLR
Friday- 11 Mile MLR
Saturday - Rest
Sunday- 21 Mile LR
68 Miles Total - Yowsa!

I did get a new pair of shoes. Here they are:

This is the new Brooks Launch. I am not so sure about the colors, but who cares? It weighs just over 9 ounces. I'll be using them on a few faster paced runs initially and seeing how they feel. If they feel good, it's very conceivable I could wear them in the Chicago Half Marathon in September.

The Story Behind Running for Cru

2009-07-14T21:02:00.005-05:00

This blog has now been around for about 13 months. It looks like there are lot of new visitors coming here on a regular basis, so I think it's time to give a refresher on how and why this started.

Back in early 2008, I had decided that if I was going to run the Chicago Marathon for a fifth time, I was going to run for charity. As June approached, I still had not selected a charity to support. Early in June, my friend and co-worker Ken Fanaro and his wife Michelle's baby boy Cruciano was diagnosed with SMA Type 1. SMA is spinal muscular atrophy and is a devastating motor neuron disease that affects about 1 in 6,000 babies. It's not uncommon for children that have SMA Type 1 to not make it to the age of two. It became obvious that I would do something to support Cru and the Fanaro's battle with SMA.

I then chose to fundraise for FSMA - Families of Spinal Muscular. FSMA is the largest private funder of SMA research. They raise funds to help find a cure for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Shortly after that, I started this blog titled "Running for Cru" to detail my 2008 Chicago Marathon training.

The fundraising went better than I could have ever imagined. We eclipsed the $3,00o mark within the first 24 hours on July 1st. By July 4th, we had surpassed $16,500. By the time the fundraising was completed in October shortly after the marathon, I was able to help raise $33,550 for FSMA with the help and support of hundreds of people.

Cru's battle with SMA was courageous. He fought a great fight and had the love and support of hundreds of people. His life ended incredibly too short on September 7th, 2008, just two days short of being five months old. He was only with us a short amount of time, but he touched the lives and hearts of so many. You can see pictures of him in the right margin near the top of the page. He will forever be missed and will always be in our hearts.

Livin' the Dream

2009-07-13T10:15:00.003-05:00

Kevin Wills, one of my best friends, will undoubtedly tell you that he's living the dream when you ask him how he's doing. And even though things may not always be going his way at that point in time, it never stops him from telling you. I have occasionally taken to telling people that I am living the dream when they ask how I am doing. I strongly encourage you to try it. Most people seemingly go through their days asking people how they're doing and it almost becomes a habit of saying "Good, how are you?" Throw something out there like I am suggesting and I'll bet that 9 out of 10 times you'll at least get a smile with your response.

My point to that seemingly pointless story is that you can do what you want with your life. Go for a walk. Go for a run. Go to the park, a beach, a bike ride, a car ride with the windows down, whatever. Ruby Johnson, the wife of another one of my best friends (Tim), had a great blog post about this the other day. People often ask me how I can run like I do and say "I could never run a marathon." Do you think I came out of my mom's womb with running shoes on? I ran sporadically up until 2003. I decided I'd like to try to run a marathon that year (I was 26 years old then), so I signed up for the 2004 Chicago Marathon. I followed a very basic plan, and think I ran 15 miles in Week 1 and peaked somewhere in the mid- to upper 30's with my mileage. I always tell people that if someone has the desire to run a marathon, than they can do it. It may not be the best time of their life, but with some hard work and determination, I really think that anyone can cross the finish line.

It definitely helps having someone cheering for you along the way. I am forever grateful to my wife Tiffany for supporting me through my first 7 marathons and several half marathons. I have had my family, her family, friends, friends of friends and even people I don't know come out and cheer for me on race day. If I could bottle up that feeling of thousands of people cheering for you as you push yourself to your limits, I would.

As I have gotten older, I have an even greater desire to not be around people who say they can't do something. I guess the same can be said for the people who are constantly negative. If you don't like your situation, do something about it. Move. Get a new job. Make some new friends. Get off of your ass. Your situation isn't going to magically get better unless you take control of it. It's like waiting for that winning lottery ticket. Chances are really good that it's not coming.

All right. Soapbox is put away. Sorry for the topic bouncing. On to running.
***
Last Week:
Monday- 12 MLR @ 8:26 pace, 136 AHR
Tuesday - 5 Recovery @ 9:15 pace, 115 AHR
Wednesday -9 LT, w/middle 5 @ 6:50 pace, 173 AHR
Thursday - 14 MLR @8:23, 148 AHR
Friday- 5.1 Recovery @ 9:14, 125 AHR
Saturday - Rest
Sunday-18.5 Mile LR, with last 10 miles at 7:11. AHR for the 10 Marathon pace miles was 165.
This was a very good run. I didn't know how I'd react to 10 at goal marathon pace at this point in the training cycle. I had a hard time hitting 7:15 on the dot, but here is a breakdown of the 10 miles: 7:22, 7:21, 7:25, 7:04, 7:24, 7:13, 7:07, 7:07, 7:09 and a 6:33 to close 'er out. Throughout the cycle, I will simulate a 25th or 26th mile where I see if I can go sub 7 for the last mile or two in case that will be necessary on race day to hit my time goal. Easier said than done and probably easier done in training at mile 18 or 20 than at mile 25 or 26 in the real deal.
64 Miles total

This Week:
Cutback Week!
Monday- 5 Recovery
Tuesday - 8GA w/10x100 strides
Wednesday - 12 MLR
Thursday - 5 Recovery
Friday- 10 GA
Saturday - Rest
Sunday-15 Mile LR
55 Miles total

4 Down, 14 To Go

2009-07-06T09:47:00.005-05:00

Unfortunately there were no celebrity (or look-a-likes) around this week on my runs. No Osama, no Obama, no Jeff Tweedy and not even a Rod Blagojevich sighting. Hot Rod and his fancy hair helmet actually live less than a mile from us. The ex-gov supposedly puts up 8:00 miles. I am not sure if I'd try to tackle him or run with him for a bit if I ever saw him.

I finished up last week with 62 miles. Here's how it shook down:

Monday- 5.7 Recovery @9:35 pace, 120 AHR
Tuesday - 11 MLR @8:15 pace, 146 AHR
Wednesday - 5.3 Recovery@ 9:14 pace, 125 AHR
Thursday - 9.16 GA Miles w/10x100m strides; 8:21 pace, 144 AHR
Friday- 18.05 Mile LR @ 8:06 pace, 150 AHR. I ran this with Walter and Amy, two of my running friends from the Runners World 3:20 thread. It's definitely nice to have some company on 18 miles as opposed to headphones.
Saturday - Rest
Sunday-11 Miles @ 7:49, 150 AHR. This was a true progression run where each mile was faster than the previous mile. The last three were at marathon pace. Here's what the splits looked like:
8:46, 8:34, 8:24, 7:58, 7:49, 7:45, 7:36, 7:23, 7:17, 7:15, 7:14. I then tacked on a extra 1.75 miles later in the day with Tiffany and Isla in the jogging stroller.

Overall I am feeling good. Maybe just a little tight or sore from the unplanned marathon paced miles at the end of yesterday's run, but nothing terrible by any stretch. Here's how the upcoming week looks:
(I should note that I have been pretty fluid with my schedule. I use this as the outline and adjust when when needed. The main goal is to hit the weekly mileage total and make sure I accomplish the key runs. I have been moving days around quite regularly.)

Monday- 5 Recovery
Tuesday - 9 LT, w/5 @ 6:52 (Half Marathon Pace)
Wednesday - 14 MLR
Thursday - 5 Recovery
Friday- 12 MLR
Saturday - Rest
Sunday-18 Mile LR, with 10 miles at 7:15(Goal Marathon Pace)
63 Miles total

It looks like there are a couple tougher runs in there. The 9 Lactate Threshold with 5 at Half Marathon Pace should be a good test. And Sunday's 18 with 10 at Goal Marathon Pace is rough. I haven't yet decided if I will "Hudson-ize" that run or not. By Hudsonize, I mean break it into two, three or four segments to make it a little more manageable. It actually may depend on the weather. If it's really hot and humid, I most likely will break up the MP miles. If we had the same temps of this past weekend, I think I'd go for it.

Next week is a cutback week (55 Miles) and the end of the first training Mesocycle. The second Mesocycle, which is 5 weeks long, features some 20+ mile runs, some doubles and some longer Lactate Threshold runs and my first ever 70 mile week. Sounds fantastic.

Albany Park, Hello!

2009-06-30T21:00:00.001-05:00

Tiffany and I have lived on the Northwest side of the city in Albany Park for over two years. Our neighborhood is one of the most ethnically diverse in the US. There a very nice bike/running path that runs along the Chicago River through our neighborhood, the next neighborhood (North Park) and then continues north into Lincolnwood and Skokie. I'd say 75% of my runs are on this path. It's pretty normal to see other runners and bikers on a daily basis. It's not uncommon to see people walking, pushing their strollers, walking their dogs or anything that you would see on a normal path. Last Saturday, I saw something else.

I think I was in North Park at that point, but that's not that important. I was coming up on a water fountain and I saw a man "using" it. His back was to me, but the path curved a bit. I was really hoping to get a drink because I was about to start my 4 miles at a 6:50 pace. As I approached the water fountain, I saw the man appear to completely washing his arms and hands in the water fountain. And he looked strikingly similar to this:

No bullshitting. Complete with the beard, clothes and headwear. This guy at the fountain's beard was a little more gray though. As I got to within 20 feet of the fountain. I had stopped my run and Garmin and stopped to see what this guy was doing. Sure enough, he was washing his arms, hands and face in the drinking fountain. He then turned and looked at me. Then he turned around and started to catch the water in his cupped hands and throw it around the fountain, almost in a pattern.

At that point, I turned around and started my four 6:50 miles and have yet to drink from that fountain again.
***
Last Week
I promise not to compare this year year to last year too much, but I think it's appropriate after last week. Last year was the first year of my marathon training that I kept detailed notes on my training log. I still have some old plans from previous years, but not what I actually ran. Anyway, I ran a 16 week plan last year, so I would have just completed my first week. Last year's total Week 1 mileage(16 weeks to go): 30. Yep, that's right, 30. This year's 16 weeks to go mileage: 58.7. And I feel better now than I did when I peaked at 54 miles last year. Here's the breakdown of last week:

Monday- 5.3 Recovery @9:33, 130 AHR
Tuesday - 11 MLR @8:19, 154 AHR
Wednesday - 5 Recovery @ 9:36, 129 AHR
Thursday - 13 MLR @ 8:24, 160 AHR (Hot and Humid conditions made for a very high AHR)
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 8.3, w/4 @ 6:51 pace. 159 total AHR, with the lactate threshold miles at 172.
Sunday - 16 MLR @ 8:11, 148AHR

This Week
Completed:
Monday- 5.7 Recovery @9:35 pace, 120 AHR
Tuesday - 11 MLR @8:15 pace, 146 AHR
Remaining:
Wednesday - 5 Recovery
Thursday - 9 GA Miles w/10x100m strides
Friday- 18 Mile LR
Saturday - Rest
Sunday-14 Mile MLR
62 Miles total

I also set a new personal record for miles in a month with 220 in June. The previous high was last August with 198.2. Because almost every week and month is a new personal record, I feel like this classic scene in Bull Durham after Ebby Calvin "Nook" Laloosh took the mound for the first time. Here's the manager and pitching coach discussing Nook's performance after the game:
Manager: He walked 18.
Pitching Coach: New league record!
Manager: Struck out 18.
Pitching Coach: Another new league record! In addition he hit the sportswriter, the public address announcer, the bull mascot twice...
[Manager laughs]
Pitching Coach: Also new league records! But, Joe, this guy's got some serious shit.

***
So, I am headed into July feeling good and looking to continue the momentum of the first three weeks of training. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great holiday!

Historic Event

2009-06-23T12:38:00.000-05:00

Strike Up the Band?
This is the 100th post on this blog. Where's the marching band? The parade? The trophy? Oh well, maybe they are waiting until I walk out of work today to fire up. Before I start yammering about running, I'd like to thank anyone who has ever read the blog over the past year. I hope you continue to read and share the blog with your friends and family members. The original intent was and still is to raise awareness of SMA. I am lucky enough to have a forum where 50 or more people come every week and read about my running and nonsensical stories.

Which, by the way, I will try to make sure I sprinkle in as they occur. It's only a matter of time before someone else says I "have a belly" on me, "don't look like a runner," or shares explicit details of the time they ran their 10K marathon. For the record, I weighed in at 175.5 pounds on June 1st. Seeing as how almost every week is a new life-time high for me in terms of miles, I anticipate dropping down down around 165 pound by late September. I think I ended up in the low 170s after training last year, after weighing 185 (maybe 190) at the start.

So again, thanks for reading and I hope you come by to visit once or twice a week and enjoy the remaining 16 weeks of the beast that is marathon training. I am hoping to have some FSMA fundraising details very soon.

The Week That Was
I ended up running 55.1 miles last week. Here's how it looked:
M- 5.33 @ 9:31 pace, 121 AHR
T- 8.05 @ 8:10 pace, 151 AHR
W- 12.16 @ 8:02 pace, 153 AHR
R- 5.25 @ 9:14 pace, 127 AHR
F- 8.25 @ 8:24 pace, 152 AHR
Sa- Rest
Su-16.01 @ 7:58 overall pace, 162 AHR ; I mixed in 8 miles at Goal Marathon Pace (7:15).
Here are their splits:
Miles 5.1 to 8.1 = 7:13, 7:10, 7:21
Miles 9.4 to 12.4 = 7:18, 7:25, 7:25
Miles 14-16 = 7:13, 7:20

I backed it down in the second set because my HR was getting too high. It was pretty humid and my body is definitely still adjusting to the warmer temps. Overall I was pretty pleased seeing as how this was only the second week of an 18 week training program.

The Week That Is
Here's the schedule:
Monday- 5 Recovery (DONE)
Tuesday - 11 MLR (DONE)
Wednesday - 13 MLR
Thursday - Rest or 5 Recovery*
Friday - 9Mi w/ 4 @ 6:53ish
Saturday - Rest or 5 Recovery*
Sunday - 15 MLR
*I'll take either Thursday or Saturday off.
58 total

1 Down, 17 to Go

2009-06-15T09:34:00.002-05:00

In case you were wondering, 1/18th is about 5.6%. That puts in pretty good perspective. I always chuckle when I hear someone refer to something like the baseball season being a marathon. So is marathon training the real marathon? I understand the analogy, but the baseball season or things of that ilk are much more forgiving the a marathon. If you don't feel 100% on the day of the marathon, you're pretty much screwed. It's very unusual to be able to suddenly turn things on if things aren't going your way for the first 10 or 15 miles of a marathon. If you don't feel 100% on game day in baseball, you still can piece things together and if things don't work out, you still have 161 other games spread across 6 months.

I ended up finishing week 1 with 55 miles, a new career high in a calendar week for me. I took Thursday off and ran the following on Friday, Saturday and Sunday:
Fri- 9.3Miles, 8:07 pace, 150 AHR
Sat- 5.02 Recovery Miles, 9:44 pace, 129 AHR
Sun- 15.4 Miles, 8:14 pace, 152 AHR

I feel great with how things went last week. My calves are a little tight, but that is more likely attributed to my lack of stretching. I am making much more of an effort to stretch more and have added in some core work a few nights a week as well. I think of how I felt after I peaked at 54 miles last year and I was beat up. There's definitely something to these recovery runs and training smarter. I know there's plenty of time to feel otherwise, but the base-building in the months leading up to training seem to have made a great impact as well.

Here's the week ahead:

Monday - 5 Recovery
Tuesday - 8 General Aerobic Miles with 10 x 100m strides
Wednesday - 12 Miles
Thursday - Rest/XC
Friday - 9 General Aerobic Miles
Saturday - 5 Recovery
Sunday - 16 Miles, with the second 8 miles at goal marathon pace.
55 Miles total

I am not sure if running 8 miles at GMP right now is either a good idea or doable at this point, so I am going to do it as close to that as I can as long as I keep my heart range in the area it is supposed to be in.

Week 1 Schedule

2009-06-10T11:43:00.003-05:00

Normally, I'll post the upcoming week's schedule on Sundays or Mondays. In the Pete Pfitzinger 18 week/70 mile plan I am using, Monday is normally the scheduled Rest/Cross train day. I will move it around from time to time and felt like doing so this first week, coming off of an 8 and 14 miler over the weekend. Here is what this week was scheduled to look like:

Mon- Rest/XT
Tues- Lactate Threshold Run - 9 Miles, with 4 at 6:53 pace
Wed- 11 Miles Medium Long Run
Thurs - 5 Miles Recovery
Friday- 9 Miles General Aerobic
Saturday - 5 Miles Recovery
Sunday- 15 Mile Medium Long Run
54 Miles total

I know I have some readers who are runners and some who aren't, so I'll try to explain or link some things when necessary. If you aren't familiar with some terminology and wish to learn more, let me know. You'll see most of these terms regularly throughout the 18 week training cycle. Each run has will have a specific pace and/or heart rate to target, so I will add the results in the end of the week recap.

Here's what's in the books so far:
Monday-5.2 Miles @ 9:34 pace, 127 AHR (Average Heart Rate)
Tuesday-9 Miles, 4LT miles @6:50 pace, 176 AHR for those four miles
Wednesday- 11 Miles, 8:10 pace, 150 AHR

Let's Do This!

2009-06-08T22:09:00.004-05:00

This will be a quick one, but I wanted to let everyone know that marathon training for the 2009 Chicago Marathon started today. Woo hoo. I'll get some more details regarding my training specifics and the fundraising to raise awareness of SMA as the week progresses.

Today's run was a recovery run - 5.2 miles at a 9:34 pace with and average heart rate of 127. Learning how to run these recovery runs at a slow pace will take some time getting used to, but should pay off tremendously as this 18 week training cycle starts firing on all cylinders.

Saturday's 18 Miler

2009-05-27T15:31:00.003-05:00

I found another way to share some data with you, courtesy of Garmin Connect and fellow runner
Greg. You can check out his blog here: http://runningandrehab.blogspot.com

Here's my run from last Saturday, completed with a couple of running buds, Waletr and Nick:
18 Miler 5/23/2009
Feel free to click on splits or the player to get some more in-depth analysis like pace, heart rate and calories burned.

I may share some more of these with you if there's anything notable as training gets under way.

Getting Closer to Showtime

2009-05-21T21:49:00.002-05:00

Maybe not showtime, but we're getting close to the official start of training at least. After a little drop off last week, I have steamrolled ahead this week. If you look in the right margin, you can now see a running weekly total of my miles for week, month and year. I am sitting at 32.5 for the week with Friday a scheduled off day. On Saturday, I am supposed to meet up with a couple of my friends from Runner's World for a long run. I am planning a brief (5 miles or so) recovery run on Sunday and should be over 50 miles for a single week for the first time since I peaked with 54 miles last September for the '08 Chicago Marathon.

I am hoping to follow this week of 50+ with two more before training starts on June 8th. The more I think about publicly stating my desire to run a 3:10 in October, the more idiotic I think it sounds. It strange how one's running confidence can waver so frequently. It's pretty common for it to happen during training when you have a bad long run or bad week and your legs just don't feel strong. But I haven't even started yet and I am wondering if I'll be able to hold a 7:15-7:17 pace for 26.2 miles. As I said before, I will only go for the 3:10 if my training tells me I have a decent shot at it.

My friend Ron had a great point the other day. He said, "I have decided that the challenge of marathoning is not actually race-day performance. It's figuring out what our goal should be, not because of what we want, but in light of making a brutally honest (and well-informed) assessment of how the training cycle played out." Ron just ran a 3:17 in a marathon in Maine last weekend, beating his previous best of 3:40. Please feel free to check out his brilliantly crafted race report here: http://gotlactate.blogspot.com/2009/05/sweet-as-sugarloaf.html

I think he hits the nail on the head with that statement. How many marathons have I picked an arbitrary time that I'd like to run? Almost every one. As I put more time into running and training, it wouldn't hurt to be smart and have a well-thought out race plan that I execute. Of the six marathons I have run, I hit my "A" goal twice. And one of those (Vegas '05) wasn't really taking a leap, as I subtracted four minutes off of the time I had posted 8 weeks prior. I did run a nearly even split race in Vegas, running the first half just one second slower than the first half. In 2006, my goal for the Chicago Marathon was a 3:30. I hit that with about 2 seconds to spare. My point is that a 33% success rate isn't very good. But then again, I don't think my four day a week hack training was particularly good either. I would put money on me improving my time from last year, for sure. The question comes down to how much. I should have a pretty good idea of the goal after I run the Chicago Half Marathon in mid-September. Until then, the focus will be on executing the training plan and go where it takes me.

The Holy Grail

2009-05-08T10:53:00.004-05:00

Depending on what you're into, the holy grail could be a number of things. In marathon running, it really only means one thing - Boston. For those of you who aren't marathoners, I am speaking of the Boston Marathon. Runners have a tendency to refer to marathons (especially the larger ones) simply as Boston or Chicago or New York.

Anyway, many runners have the goal of running the Boston Marathon. The thing that separates Boston from virtually every other marathon is that you have to qualify. The younger you are, the faster you need to run to BQ (Boston Qualify). It has always been a long term goal of mine as I seemingly shaved off 6-8 minutes most every year of my marathoning. The reason why it was always a long term goal is that I'd need to run a 3:10:59 or better while I am still under the age of 34.

Things have gone kind of stagnant for me in terms of improving my marathoning times for the last couple of years. I ran an 3:30 in Chicago in 2006. 2007 was a lost year due to a poor training session and the 90+ degree heat in Chicago that day. Last year, I was able to put up a 3:29 in 80+ degree heat while working through a strained calf muscle. I think I was in better shape than a 3:29 and could have put up a time in the low 3:20s. I realize I didn't, but I know what I know.

So how does one go from a PR of 3:29 and get down to 3:10 in 12 months? Here's the plan:

1) Train my ass off. Run 6 days per week (up from 4) and peak at 70 miles in a week (up from 54 last year).

2) I have been running consistently in a non-training season for the first time ever. My past training sessions have included about 2 weeks of 20-25 miles before training starts. I'd basically run myself into shape the first 8-10 weeks and be fried by the time I'd hit week 12. I ran about 150 miles in each of the last two months and should go over 200 in May.

3) Get down to about 165 pounds. I think I was in the low 170s last year when the marathon rolled around. This can only help. I'll start doing some core work, strengthening exercies and will possibly bike to work once or twice a week.

3) I have mentioned it before, but actually follow a training plan that has me running 6 days per week instead of the four I have done in the past. I am "practicing" running six days per week as often as possible right now.

4) Run more races. I have already done an 8K and 5K this year. I ran the Ravenswood 5K Run in 19:09 about two weeks ago. I'd like to go sub 19 for the 5K, sub 40 for the 10K and then:

5) Run a half marathon 3-4 weeks away from the marathon to see where training my ass of gets me. If I can put up a time around 1:30, it's on. If I end up with a time closer to 1:35, I won't delude myself into thinking that will translate into a 3:10 across 26.2 miles. Strategy-wise, I'll have to be able to put up something like a 1:34/1:36 or 1:33/1:37 split to hit 3:10. Jesus, that's fast.

McMillan says you need to run a 1:30:05 half to hit a 3:10 on the dot. Running guru Jim2 says averaging 60mpw (which is where I'll be around in training) and running a 40 minute 10K will net you somewhere between a 3:10 and a 3:14.

So, consider this the gauntlet. I am going for it. I'll need to have a great training cycle, cooperative weather and good health if this pipe dream is to become reality. Wish me luck.

***
Here are a few pics from the race a couple weekends ago. They were probably taken in the last tenth of a mile. It was my first 5K and was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the distance and liked not having to worry about the 5th, 10th, 20th or 26th mile. My time was 1 19:09, a 6:10 pace.

Way Overdue

2009-05-05T12:03:00.002-05:00

Sorry, it's been a while. I'll get something up here soon. Here's the nuts and bolts. Aside from an abbreviated week last week due to jury duty for two days(with Mr. T) and a two day trip to Massachusetts, the miles have been inching up and I am hoping to crack 200 for May. I also ran my first 5K two weekends ago and put up a 19:09, a 6:10 pace. More on that later.

Happy Birthday Cru

2009-04-10T11:42:00.004-05:00

Yesterday would have been Cru's first birthday. I don't really have much to add besides his story is one that often saddens me and still doesn't make sense. It's really too bad that this blog even exists. As I said before, I intend to run for Cru and SMA again this fall. I am also still considering having other runners join the effort in any half or full marathon. Let me know if you are interested in joining the effort. One person did express her interest a few months ago, which was awesome. I'll be getting in touch with FSMA very soon to see what kind of support they would be able to give me and/or my possible team of runners. I'd like to continue doing everything I can to try to fight SMA and help find a cure so no one has to go through what Ken, Michelle, Cru and their families went through and still go through on a daily basis.

For those of you new to the blog, here are a few posts to help you understand the background.

The first post:
http://runningforcru.blogspot.com/2008/06/test.html

Pictures of Cru:
http://runningforcru.blogspot.com/2008/09/cru-pics.html

Sad News:
http://runningforcru.blogspot.com/2008/09/sad-news.html

We miss you Cru.

Last Week Recap

2009-04-06T22:48:00.004-05:00

Nothing too exciting going on here besides my mileage getting up to 37.7 miles last week. It looks like this week will be the first time I hit 40 since September - weather, health, family and work permitting, of course. I was able to hit 150 for the month of March, which was a huge step for me. Obviously those of you that follow the blog and/or my life, know that January and February were pretty busy months. And the weather wasn't exactly overly cooperative. From December 27th to January 24th, I ran 84.74 miles. I did not run at all from the 25th thru the 31st of January. I logged 83.95 miles in February. So, we're definitely headed in the right direction. I don't have monthly mileage goals, but do have weekly goals set thru the week ending June 7th. It'll be interesting to see what I can crank it up to before then.

Here are a couple of the official Shamrock Shuffle photos from last week:

The 2009 Shamrock Shovel

2009-03-29T13:20:00.007-05:00

That line is courtesy of Tiffany. The 30th annual Shamrock Shuffle happened to be my first. My string of terrible weather for races triumphantly continued. The course was very slushy and slick. It was also snowing for much of the race and there were some pretty big wind gusts from time to time. There were times where I felt like I was going to slip and fall running over the bridges and when I'd step on some wet manholes. On other parts of the course, I was constantly getting slush splattered against me if someone was running next to me. I wore my Nike LunaRacers, which most likely was mistake. More on that later though.

I took the L down to the race. Here's a shot out of the window as we went over the river.

I was able to meet up with my friends Walter and Rich before the race in the A Corral.

It was very nice shooting the breeze with these two guys. It was kind of strange, because Walter and I stood in nearly the same spot a just a few months prior for the Chicago Marathon. The only difference was the weather. It was in the 80s that day. It was in the 30s and snowing today. Nice.
Here's a shot of the start line:

I think all of us had frozen feet before the race started. The corral and the first half mile or so were pretty ugly. My heart monitor was sliding down my chest for some reason the first mile, so my HR numbers are a little out of whack. I also forgot to turn off my auto lap, so the five mile race turned out to be 5.24 miles for me. Here are your Garmin splits:
Mile 1- 6:57 - Average 130HR? No way
Mile 2- 6:16 - 176HR
Mile 3- 5:35 - 183HR
Mile 4- 6:31 - 181HR
Mile 5- 6:33 - 181HR
Bonus .24 - 1:34 - 187HR
I did hit a max of 205 sometime in Mile 2. Take away the first mile and my average HR was a 182. My official time was 33:30, good for a 6:42. My watch was a second off the official time, but said I ran at a 6:23 pace for my 5.24 miles.

All in all, I am pleased with the race. My shoe choice was not the greatest. By the end of the race, all of the slush and snow made the top of the back of the shoe rub against my achilles tendon area pretty bad. These LunaRacers have a reputation for doing this. It didn't happen to me until today for some reason. I took a look at it once I got back on the train and it looked a little raw.

Walter finished in 32:19 and Rich came in at 33:52. It's a good start to the 2009 racing season and I'm glad to get this race in the books. Here's a shot of the skyline as I was walking back to the L on my way home. My apologies for my glove getting the way of the top of the picture - I was a little cold.

Slicing it up Differently

2009-03-25T11:40:00.002-05:00

I was looking at my Garmin training log earlier today. Several weeks ago, I had mentioned I was using both Garmin Training Center and SportTracks to log my running. My running week has always been Monday-Sunday, so I lean on SportTracks to give me my weekly mileage. Garmin goes Sunday-Saturday, so there are some differences between the two.

Here's my point: according to my Garmin log, the last three weeks have been seen totals of 29.24, 34.27 and 37.28. Interesting...to me anyway. It does make me feel a little better to see that 37 mile week in there as opposed to the 28 I put up. Unfortunately, I don't think it's the wisest move to be going back and forth when it's convenient for me when my running ego needs a boost. I'll stick with traditional Monday- Sunday week and know that I am inching closer to getting back up to 40 miles in a seven day stretch.

I have 15 miles in the books for the week entering today. If I can get 15-20 in before Sunday, I'll be feeling good entering April. I am currently sitting at 116 miles for March, so I'll be shooting to top 150 miles for the first time since September. Baby steps.

Ramping Up

2009-03-23T16:48:00.002-05:00

I have been trying to ramp up my mileage over the last 6-8 weeks. It's kind of working. I have averaged running about five days a week and have just now crept into the 30s for three weeks now. But I am still struggling with the juggling of everything. But everything I have signed up for I have chosen to do so, so I really can't complain. It's about making things work and sometimes sacrificing things when they don't. I was at 28.5 miles for the week heading into Sunday. Should have been a slam dunk for my goal for the week of 37. I have been logging about 20 miles total on the weekends recently and already had 13 in the books from Saturday. Well, the run yesterday didn't happen at all. We had to leave the house by 9:30 and I had entertained the idea of getting out of bed at 6:oo to make it happen. I didn't get to bed until 3, so that would have been a 3 hours of sleep for the night, so I opted for the 4th hour of sleep. We didn't get home until 8 PM, so I bagged it. 28.5 for the week. Oh well. I am not specifically training for anything. Just have the lingering thought of not hitting my goal for the week...and hoping I can figure this out by the time June rolls around. I guess if three and four hour nights are in the future on my weekends, so be it. I think that may have to part of the sacrifice. Time will tell.

The Shamrock Shuffle is this Sunday, so I may try to front load the week, have an easy Saturday and then run my ass off with 25,000 of my closest friends on Sunday morning. I have no expectations for the race. I have never run an 8K before, so I am guaranteed a personal record. I am looking forward to seeing both Walter and Rich, a couple of my friends who are running the shuffle. I may try to bring the backup digital camera (the one that Tiffany dunked into a margarita a couple summers ago) and take a few photos to post.

Because my running has been more consistent the past 6 weeks, I have started to see some gains with general ease of holding a decent pace as well as running farther and faster at a lower heart rate. I'll share some more of these details as we get into training and I have more numbers to work with.

Lastly, I'll try to update this weekly as we get closer to June. I may just pick a day and have a weekly post until training starts. Or maybe not. Come back and check.

Catching Up on a Few Things

2009-03-06T11:13:00.003-06:00

Back-to-back 60 degree days in the first week of March in Chicago? Am I drunk? I was able to get out for a little over 7 yesterday. Today may be a little tougher unless I go out late tonight. It's unfortunate because I may not see this weather again until mid-April. Oh well. Such are the struggles of balancing life.

One of my running friends told me that life would become much more of a delicate balance and something (blogging?) would get a little less attention with a newborn. It could be a that your house is a little less clean, you don't run as much as you hoped or something else that you used to have so much free time for suddenly gets pushed aside. He was definitely right. I have have taken what I think it is a conservative approach to rebuilding my mileage. I averaged running somewhere in the 20 miles per week range for February. I'll bump that to the 30s for March, which will include the Shamrock Shuffle at the end of the month. April will hopefully see the low 40s and I'll get up in the upper 40s to mid-50s in May. The first week of June will be a nice relaxing week that will consist of whatever I feel like before I start the 18 week training program for Chicago in October. As of right now, I am thinking of following Pfitz 18/70 program.

I feel like I have learned so much in the last 6 months...notably, how to train correctly. I think I can challenge my body to run 6 days a week. I think I last tried running 5-6 days a week in 2005. I decided it wasn't for me and pretty much followed a 4-5 day a week plan in every marathon training program since then. I had a 6 day week in September of 2008 and felt okay. I think it's time to step up to the big leagues and crush my PR of 3:29. I am also staying consistent with my non-training running and will not have to run my self into shape the first 4 weeks of training like I have done the past couple years. Lastly, I am actually going to slow down some of my long runs and have real recovery runs, instead of constantly beating up my body like I have done in years past. Can you hear the hope in my words? I think I am ready to use this knowledge get out there and have the best marathon of my life in October.

Hmmm...I was debating if I should share this, but what the hell. The other day a "friend" and I were talking and I mentioned my daughter's belly was coming in as she gets bigger. He says, "Just like her daddy." Are you kidding me? This guy is not the picture of good health. His exercise is taking the dog for a short walk and quite a few 12 ounce curls on the weekends. He probably is 6'1" and weighs a good 210. Maybe 220. And does he have a belly on him. He often speaks of his ability to eat several pieces of fried chicken, a burger and a gyro in one sitting. Jackass.

I checked in at 177 again early this week. And that was after a Sunday night where I ate enough saganaki to feed a small Greek village. I think I am probably a little lighter than that as I am now on the last hole of my belt.

Yes, I did say I am running the Shamrock Shuffle. I have avoided the annual spring 8K every year until this year. With a little urging from a friend, I used my 10K time to get into the A Corral. He suggested we could push each other to solid times. I think he'll be blowing by me though, as he logged a mere 70 miles last week. The idea of 30,000 or so running 5 miles never really appealed to me. I guess if I don't have to run through 28,000 of them, it shouldn't be too bad. Plus, it fits in with the goal of running more races this year.

I'll leave you with this-
I have realized that if I have a free hour or two, I may as well just go out and run. Sometimes Mother Nature isn't as cooperative, but you do what you gotta do. I went out for 11 on Sunday in a windy 20 degree snow fest. It wasn't really a snow storm, but it was a little rough, especially the first 5.5 miles running into the wind. I took a picture of myself with my phone at the turn-around point. I could feel my facial hair freezing. Here's the shot:

And I didn't even have a full beard. I had a goatee, but the rest was just a couple days worth of stubble. It actually turned out to be an enjoyable run, despite the frozen face.

177; Beard Week Gone Wrong

2009-02-10T13:05:00.005-06:00

So, I stepped on the scale at my daughter's doctor appointment today. 177 was the number. I was going to be pretty happy if I kept it close as close to 180 as possible throughout Tiffany's pregnancy. To be on the other side is very encouraging. Ideally, I'll get down to 165 for the marathon. A little lighter would be fine too, but 160 should be the floor.

In other news, I turned my goatee into a beard over the weekend. On Sunday, I was evening things out and accidentally took a chunk out the hair on my chin. I then had a decision to make. I could scrap beard week and shave everything. Or I could try to even out the error and make an odd looking beard. I went with the latter, thinking that I can get that spot to come back in.

Here are the results:

Pretty handsome, I know. Not sure why it looks like I have a wandering eye in the second one either. And the more I look at the second one, the shittier it looks. Not very even.

Maybe I should just go down to 'stache. Bring back something like this:

This was taken on the eve of the 2005 Chicago Marathon, when I ran with my cop friends. I am kidding. I don't have any friends that are cops. Acquaintances, yes; friends, no. It looks like I could be one, though. I ran with "Moustache Love" on my shirt in '05. Better than "Moustache Rides 5 Cents," I suppose. Nice glasses, too.

Followers?

2009-02-09T09:55:00.002-06:00

I have added "Followers" to the sidebar. I don't think it was an option when I first started this back in June or July. Feel free to join.

I was able to kind of get back in the swing of things this past week. I am going back and forth between using Garmin Training Center and SportTracks to keep track of my runs. I have just figured out how to upload from the Garmin to the Training Center successfully in a timely fashion. I hate the fact the TC's week goes from Sunday to Saturday. But I do like seeing avg heart rate by mile and max heart rate without having to dig at all. Maybe I'll keep doing them both. So, depending on which format I use, I either ran 21 or 24 miles last week. I'll try to get in the 25-30 range this week and tack on a few every week. I'd like to consistently be back in the 40-50 range by May and be ready to go in June when training will officially start.

In It to Win It

2009-02-02T18:06:00.003-06:00

You know it. I registered for the 2009 Chicago Marathon today. I will be running my 6th Chicago Marathon and 8th overall. I am excited and nervous already. I know, it's in October. I feel like I had so much momentum coming out of the '08 Chicago Marathon. Then I ran a 2 minute PR in a 10K in November. Unfortunately, I feel like I have given it all away and will be starting from close to scratch. I had been able to average over 20 miles per week since from October until last week. I wasn't able to get any miles in. So, I basically took a week off and got 7 in on Sunday, so I am off to a decent start this week. Right now, I have to make the decision between getting in a few extra hours of sleep or running, so it's a little tough. I'll try to piece-meal some miles together for the next two weeks to three weeks and then try to get going a little more.

I'm starting to read the new edition of Advanced Marathoning and will pick a plan from there to train for October. I'll most likely have to start building my base very soon and ramping up my miles so I'll be ready to go when the first cycle of training starts. The countdown's on.

Not Much Time to Run

2009-01-28T22:01:00.003-06:00

Wow, it's been a while. And wouldn't you know it, I don't have much time. I last ran on Saturday. I was able to get out for 7 miles. I was planning to get out for 10-12 on Sunday, but sometimes things don't go how they are supposed to. Tiffany started to have somewhat regular contractions at about 4:30 in the morning on Sunday. Isla Mae joined us at 4:04 PM on Sunday. You can follow her (and our) happenings over at http://kapellas.blogspot.com/

This blog is dedicated to running and raising awareness of SMA. I'll also throw in the occasional side story here. Things should pick up around here once it starts warming up some and I start to build up some decent mileage before marathon training starts.

I hope to get out for a run over the next couple days. I am not sure when or how long it will be, but I am looking forward to it.

Off Topic

2009-01-14T20:59:00.002-06:00

As some of you know, I have a dog named Bosley. For the past month or two, he has been escaping from his kennel. Apparently, he wasn't as successful getting out yesterday and managed to get his little paw caught. There are no visible cuts or scratches, but he yelps when you touch his index toenail/finger. Here is a clip of the little guy hobbling around.

Closing the Book on 2008

2008-12-29T07:42:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone' s having a great holiday season. I am not sure when the season starts or ends, but here's hoping yours has been joyous. Or something like that.

The snow here in Chicago has been washed away and I was able to resume outdoor running. I was able to get 6 in on Saturday and 12 on Sunday. I was the lucky recipient of a Garmin Forerunnner 305 for Christmas, so it accompanied on my weekend runs. It's nice to see how accurate my previously mapped courses really were; some mile markers are off just a bit, while a couple others were dead on. Weird. It's also my first time running with a heart rate monitor, so I am kind of swimming in numbers right now. I am excited to track all of this data. I think this officially makes me a full-fledged runner.

I also received a few other running items for Christmas including a new Nike cold weather running hat as well, a giftcard to Nike, a copy of the 2nd edition of Advanced Marathoning (scheduled to arrive soon) and the RW book "Run Less, Run Faster (FIRST). I have never followed the FIRST plan and from what I have gathered, it is more suitable to people who cross train or are triatheletes. I also feel like I already have been running less per se. For much of my training for the Chicago Marathon, I ran four days per week. I am pretty confident I could see better results by running more.

So, that kind of takes us into Running goals for 2009. I have never come up with a list like this before, but here goes:

Run More! How about 2009 miles in 2009?
Improve all of my previous personal records, which were all set in 2008 between September and November:

Marathon - sub 3:20 (previous best 3:29:58)
Half Marathon - 1:32 (previous best 1:38:34)
10K - 40:00 (previous best 41:48)

Incorporate more core work into my regular routine
Do all of this while becoming a father for the first time

I know this may look a little ambitious, but I think I am ready to take a huge step forward in my racing. I feel like I know more about running now than I ever have. I am also going to maintain some level of fitness in the offseason by running 20-30 miles per week. Prior to actually starting training, I will build my runnning base appropriately and actually be ready to go and in great shape for training.

****
I know I said it before, but the fundraising for FSMA that I led this year was one of the greatest things I have ever been a part of in my life. Raising $33,500 dollars was absolutely extraordinary. I think that a wide array of people who were previously unconnected can come together to support a common cause. I think that was the case in the fundraising effort. I can't thank all of you enough for your support.

The thing I have a hard time with is that Running for Cru came to to a glorious peak on October 12, 2008. I am not calling anyone out or anything of that nature, but I think it's part of human nature and to a lesser degree the American way of life that then moves on to the next thing. Meanwhile, the loss of Cru is still incredibly painful to his loved ones. Most everyone, while still remembering him and thinking of what a tragedy it is to lose someone so early in life, has gone on with their life.

So what do we do? I don't really have the answers. Thank God or whatever you believe in that you are fortunate enough to be able to wake up every morning and live life? That may sound a little crass. Make the most of life because while it's a beautiful and precious thing, it can be fleeting? Really, I don't know.

I am 95% sure I'll be running for charity in the '09 Chicago Marathon. And I am 95% sure it will be something related to trying to cure SMA. I am not sure it will be the same organization, but it very well could be. I have also thought of trying to recruit a few other runners to join me and form a Running for Cru team - Cru's Crew maybe? They could possibly raise a few bucks to help the cause as well and we could spread the word about SMA. I am not sure if there'd be interest, but I think it's worth a shot. Like I said multiple times back in June or July or August or September or October, if we could help even one family from going through what Ken and Michelle have gone through and are still going through, this is and will always be a success.

****
Lastly, thanks for reading over the past several months. I obviously like to talk about myself. Thanks for listening. I hope this blog has brought you some happiness, a laugh, some decent running information and some awareness of SMA in 2008. If you have been following along since it's inception in late June, it's most likely brought you a cry as well. Here's hoping 2009 brings you and yours many more good times than bad. See you in 2009!

Let's Go Browns!

2008-12-12T15:18:00.004-06:00

It's again been a while. I'll do better now that the nursery is painted, the furniture is put together and the bedding is in hand. Here a some thoughts that have popped into my head over the last couple weeks.

The title of this post is a reference to my fantasy football team. If the Philly D scores 25 points or less tomorrow night, I'll be playing for the money next week. Here's a fantasy side note for you: I am thinking about hanging up my fantasy spikes. Yes, I know it's hard to believe. And I am talking about baseball here too. I am having a hard time deciding if my time could be spent in a better way. Football is one thing. A monkey can pretty much play fantasy football. And it's basically a one day thing, with the exception of some Monday and Thursday night games. But basbeall is 6 months of picking up guys off the heap, changing line-ups and hoping that your projections are accurate. Don't get me wrong, I love part of it. But the time...it's just so much time. The other factor is that I am not sure the league I currently devote my time and money to is pretty forgiving in terms of guys making huge mistakes and being dumb. I think there's only one or two guys in the league who regularly checks in over here and that's unfortunate. I should probably stop on my rant now.

Ice is not good for running. Cold and rain are fine, but ice is a pain in the ass. It's not a new development, but it isn't really my idea of a good time. I haven't fallen yet this year and hope to keep it that way.

While Blagojevich scandal hasn't been dubbed anything yet, I am asking everyone to start fighting back against putting "gate" on the end of any scandal. The Watergate was the name of the hotel/office building. This drives me absolutely insane. Here's a list of other "-gate" scandals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_with_%22-gate%22_suffix How awesome is it that there is a sausagegate?

I have couple running friends who recently had a couple of events. I met both of them through Runners World On Line and you may have heard me mention them before.

On his 40th birthday, Ron completed a 40 mile run in honor of his cousin this past Sunday. His cousin passed away five years ago from cancer, so he wanted to honor him and raise money to help fight the disease. Here's a link to Ron's recap of his 40 at 40 run:http://gotlactate.blogspot.com/2008/12/40-at-40-report.html I found the run and report to be both inspiring and crazy. I can't imagine 40 miles. 26.2 is about as long as I want to go. I think I promised my wife that I would never run anything longer a few years ago. I feel very comfortable with that promise.

Walter, another friend through RWOL, ran the Memphis marathon last Saturday. This was Walter's 3rd marathon of 2008 and unfortunately, it was his worst. At this point, I hope he's getting over the disappointment of the race not going how he had hoped. Walter had a ton of momentum heading into Chicago, but the heat got the better of him and he finished with a 3:28. All of his training had pointed to a 3:15-3:20. So he decided to make the most of the shape that he had worked so hard to get in and signed up for Memphis. Two weeks or so before Memphis, Walter caught a bug and wasn't healthy for the race. He gutted it out and ran it anyway and posted a 3:55. My point in bringing up his story is that marathoning is hard. And despite your preparation, all of your heart and all of your efforts, it can still bite you. And there's nothing worse than putting your heart into something and not getting the result you think you worked for. Walter's three marathons in one year is a feat. The last two didn't go to plan, but there's plenty to be proud of. Hopefully with a little time and reflection, he'll feel the same way. I was ready to quit running after the 2007 Chicago Marathon. After a little time, I was 100% back on the wagon and was ready to punch the marathon in the gut.

I am begining to think about the CD that I give out around the holidays that highlights 20 or so songs from the 2008 Chicago Marathon playlist. If you are interested in what was pumping in my ears on that day, let me know. I love to share music and will send you one of the CDs. Send me an email at paulkapellas@hotmail.com or leave me a note in the comment section.

I was able to get 26 miles in this week, thanks to a 12 miler today. It was ridiculously windy though. As long as the ice stays away, I should be able to stay in the 20-30 range for the winter. Here's hoping.

Turkey Trot Results

2008-11-23T13:17:00.002-06:00

Here's what I was able to muster up this morning, on a balmy 29 degree morning in lovely Lincolnwood, Il. Let me again preface what my running has consisted of lately; 20-30 miles a week with paces largely going unnoticed. Usually I'd average somewhere in between 7:50-8:30 for my last four weeks post-marathon. I did hit a 6:40 for a three mile stretch in a run about nine days ago. With that being said, I laced up the lunaracers and headed up to Lincolnwood at about 7:45.

I arrived too early and my toes were freezing. I was really planning on racing by feel and if things went well, I could come close to beating my previous 10K best of 43:54 set in August. For those of you not following the blog back then, here's quick recap:

Tweaked a hammy the two days before caulking the bath tub
Came out too fast and ran the first mile in 6:20
Side cramp somewhere in between miles 2 and 3, resulting in 7:30 miles at 3 and 4
Finished with a 43:54, a 7:04 pace
For the original full recap, go here: http://runningforcru.blogspot.com/2008/08/youll-have-nothing-and-like-it.html

Fast forward to this morning. I started about 5-10 seconds off of the starting line, but it was chip timed. I ran through and around some people during the first mile and felt good. It's always a weird feeling coming up on that first mile marker. You never know what it's going to say, especially on a course that you don't really know.

I felt good and felt like I would hit the marker near at a 7:00 or so pace. I hit mile 1 at 6:27. I was feeling good though and found a couple people to run with for mile two. Mile 2 felt pretty good as well. I ran it in 6:37. I lost my little group somewhere in there (not sure if they slowed down or were running the 5K). I came up on the third mile and my watch said 19:51, meaning I just ran the third mile in 6:47. Good news and bad news shortly after that. I was starting to get out of rhythm with my breathing and I just got passed by two people. One guy I had passed in the late in mile 2 and another woman(I think) I hadn't seen. The good news was that I was about halfway done and had two guys in my sights who seemed to be running pretty steady.

Mile 4 felt rough. I must have miscalculated my time in my head, because I thought I put up an 8 minute mile. It turned out to be a 6:57, which perfectly continued the trend of losing 10 seconds every mile. I decided at that point I needed to try to pick it up and finish up strong. There were only 2.2 miles left. I felt better during Mile 5 and ran a 6:50. With just 1.2 miles to go, I decided to run pretty steady for the first 1:30-1:40 of that mile and then try to run the last mile as hard as I could. Some girl seemed to be running at about the same pace for the last 1.2 miles, so I tried to hang with her after she passed me. We were weaving through the 5K runners and walkers at that point. My breathing was still holding up relatively well and I hung with that girl and hit the 6 mile marker. I ran it a a 6:43 pace, leaving just .2 left. I wanted to catch that girl, but she appeared to be putting on a late charge as well. I never did catch her and hit the last .2 in 1:21, giving me an unofficial 41:45 finishing time. The official time was somehow 41:48, which isn't a big deal, but three seconds is a little strange. That translates into a 6:43.6 pace. Very nice.

I beat the Windrunnner 10K mark by 2 minutes and 6 seconds, which is pretty huge. Needless to say, I am very happy with my time and actually think I can do even better. If this turns out to be my last race of the year, I am glad to be ending on a high note. I am not sure I would want to race in much colder weather.

If I don't post again before Thanksgiving, have a great holiday.

10K in the Morning

2008-11-22T22:17:00.004-06:00

That's right, the Lincolnwood Turkey Trot is at 8:45 on Sunday morning. My expectations are not too high for the race. I am just going to go out and run. If I can beat the time I posted at the Windrunner 10K in August, that would be great. But, I really don't know where I am at physically and have only been running about 25 miles per week the past 5-6 weeks. I was able to get three tempo miles in the middle of a 5 miler last weekend at a 6:40 clip. We'll see what tomorrow will bring. I do have some new shoes for to wear. Here they are:

That is the the Nike Lunarlite Racer. I am not what most would call an incredibly biomechanically efficient runner, so these shoes may be a slight stretch for me. I am a slight over-pronator. These things weigh under 6 ounces and don't offer much in terms of support. I did use to run in some Nike Frees. Those even feel like bricks compared to these things.

I'll post a 10K race recap tomorrow or Monday. Tomorrow looks to be pretty busy after the race. Lastly, here's a video that I find hilarious. It's pretty bizzare, twisted and perverted. If this offends you in any way, I apologize. You have been warned.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Back in the Blogosphere

2008-11-13T21:43:00.006-06:00

Hey. It's been a while. I have recently been contemplating if I should keep this blog going. I have have decided to forge ahead. I'll still continue to get the blog out there and hope to continue to raise awareness of SMA. I may have to take down the link to the Firstgiving site because I think it shuts down any day now. I'll probably just include a link to the FSMA site so people can directly donate their if they still want to. Anyway, my point to all this is that if my ramblings can lead to more awareness or funds being raised, than it's definitely worth it.

I am obviously not training for anything right now, but hopefully I can still bring you a laugh or two a couple times a week and give you a little look in to some of the random things that happen in my life. I did recently sign up to run a 10K on November the 23rd. Should be interesting. I am currently running around 25-30 miles per week, but haven't been paying too close attention to my pace. I did run 8 miles this past Sunday at a 7:53 or so. I am going to mix in a few fast miles, a few fast finishes or strides and a few Yasoo-type exercises, although I may make them 5x600 or 800m.

In the last couple of weeks, there's been some excitement in these parts. The country (at least 53% of us anyway) has celebrated a new president being elected. Here's a great time lapse video of that night's events in Grant Park.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/video/?slug=chi-obamatimelapse081105-wn

Tiffany and I also celebrated our second wedding anniversary and my 31st birthday a couple weekends ago. Here a few pictures from the 31st birthday party, also known as the second annual toga party:

That's it for now. Please come back again soon. I'll try to make a post or two every week.

The Post Training Effect

2008-10-27T20:33:00.002-05:00

We're now two full weeks removed from the marathon. It really seems like it was months ago. I ran three of four times last week, including an 8.5 miler on Saturday. I took it nice and easy and didn't really pay too much attention to my pace. I'll continue to try to get out four times per week in the coming months and will try to get in a longer run on the weekend. The goal is to run at least 20 miles a week, but more would be okay too. It's much harder for me to get out and pound out serious miles when I am not training, but I'd really like to not completely lose the fitness level I have worked all summer to attain. I know running only 20-30 miles is not the easiest way to do that, but it will have to do. The weather is definitely beginning to work against me, but I am usually fine as long as it stays above 20 degrees and there isn't any ice.

I typically will run a 10K, a half, and then the full marathon every year. I may throw in a 10K or 5K here or there (in the late fall/spring) to keep me fresh. Also, I would kind of like to take the edge off of the races I do them in the training session. I think I kind of put too much weight on them when they happen and wouldn't mind if they were more of a regular occurrence. Now that I think of it, I have run more marathons than any other race. I have run 4 10Ks, 5 half marathons and now 7 marathons. I think there may be another random Nike race in there as well, but I don't remember the distance. It was probably a 10K, now that I think of it, but it wasn't a timed race.

So I am thinking the more I run the shorter races, the better off I will be and they will seem like much less of an event. Plus, I can fine-tune my strategy and experiment with coming out of the gates really fast, slow or whatever I feel like. Maybe I can set a couple new PRs as well. So, I'll keep you posted and see if there's something in the area in the near future.

Tiffany has also been joking around lately about me running the marathon next year. I think you can pretty much book it at this point. I have recently really realized how much I enjoy running. Even the randomness and chance that can happen during a marathon that can be so frustrating is still appealing for some reason. I know I can post even faster marathon times and feel like I have learned more about training in the last three months than in any three month period in my life. There's plenty of people out there with knowledge and experience who are willing to offer their insight to help you train and run smarter, which should ultimately lead you to an even better finishing time.

That's about it for now. Oh, I should add the toes are trying to heal and the leg is much better. You don't have to ask about the leg/calf anymore. I think rest and the Stick have helped heal my muscles. If you are an athlete of any kind that experiences any type of soreness, I highly recommend the Stick. Feel free to ask me any questions if you are curious about it.

Back in Action

2008-10-20T13:05:00.005-05:00

I was able to get back on the horse over the weekend. I ran 5 miles on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was still a little rough, but I felt like my legs were coming back on Sunday's run. I was able to average about an 8:10 pace on Sunday, a beautiful fall day. Where was this last Sunday?

I brought the back-up camera with me and took a few pictures. That's right, back-up. It used to be the first stringer, but it accidentally slipped off of someone's wrist and right into a margarita sometime in the late summer of '06. After unsuccessfully getting it repaired in time for our one year anniversary trip to Mexico last November, we bought a new one. So now we have two. The older one isn't the best, but it does work. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday running along the river close to our house. During training, I'd usually hit this path for runs of 10 miles or less.

Some Post-Marathon Thoughts

2008-10-17T08:34:00.000-05:00

Now that we've had a few days to recover and get a little perspective, I thought I'd share a few thoughts that I've had over the past few days.

First, one question that I have been getting is, "When are you going to run your next marathon?" The truth right now is that I don't know. Am I done running marathons? Pretty unlikely. I don't really see a reason to stop. The pain goes away, although my run this morning was rough. My toes are still pretty beat up and my legs are sore. The sting that is the struggle of the marathon will leave...sometimes sooner rather than later. And the build up of 16-18 weeks of training for one day can be very frustrating. As I was telling my father-in-law on Sunday after the race, there are so many things that can blow up that day when you have to run 26.2 miles. The more I think about it, the more that makes the marathon both wonderful and horrible.

Running is a great way to stay healthy and stay motivated to get off of your ass. I know, nobody says that to be a runner or stay healthy you have to run 26.2 miles. But there's something about the marathon that makes you come back. For some of us, it's the competitiveness. Other runners do it because it is such a great challenge that not many people choose to ever undertake. And when you do it, you feel like you just did something special.

Or maybe it's that feeling you get when you cross the start line when thousands of people are cheering and making noise. You get goosebumps as you hit the start button on your watch and you're about to endure such a grueling mental and physical test. Even if you've done it before, the adrenaline rush those first few hundred yards never gets old or familiar. And the feeling you get from crossing the finish line isn't too bad either.

Then if you consider the fundraising effort this year, which amazingly hit the $33,000 mark yesterday, it really makes the whole thing the one of the best things I have ever been a part of. It would be hard to ever top this year in so many aspects. But, I think there can be some more good things done through running. And I also think I can run the marathon faster. If the temperature was cooler, I think I would have had at least a 3:22 on Sunday. Being 100% healthy probably would have helped too.

I once read that the optimum marathon temperature is 54 degrees and every five degrees above that can reduce your time up to 3 percent. So, while I don't feel like I have anything to prove, there's definitely reason to go back for more.

Anyway, while I am not committing to when the next one will be, you could probably pencil something in for next October or so. We also do have a special arrival that's due to arrive somewhere around February 14th, so I'll be a little busy and sleep deprived in the Spring.

I've really surrounded myself with more interaction with runners in the training leading up to this one through both Runners World Discussions and runnerslounge.com . In years past, I have usually kept to myself, pounded out some miles, run a marathon and gone home. I have also never joined CARA (chicago area runners association). But I feel like I have made quite a few new acquaintances and even a few new running friends who I can share experiences with and who know what it's like to have this crazy habit. And they are certainly no different about their love of running.

Walter is looking to get back out there and is considering doing a December marathon in Memphis in his quest to hit the 3:20 mark. Ron has a half marathon planned for November and is thinking of doing a 40 at 40 fundraising event for cancer- 40 miles at 40 years old in honor of one of his family members. And Tom from the Runners Lounge just completed his favorite marathon - Chicago- for something like the 12th time. And let's not forget Matt Rauls, who finished his first marathon on Sunday. I asked him if he was coming back next year and he said, "Never again." I have said those words before. I think the last time was after finishing the Chicago Marathon in 2007. Tiffany likes to keep track of how long it takes me go from non-committal about another marathon, then to maybe, then when I tell her that I signed up.
You can't sign up for Chicago until January, so it's going to be at least until then until it's offical.

***
Here are a few excerpts from some other people's experiences from last Sunday that I liked and think that you might as well.

From ESG's gotlactate blog:
It is tempting to write a long, borderline histrionic race report, aggrandizing my marathon effort as if it were some Odyssean battle of good versus evil. Of course, runner and non-runners alike know that the marathon is really a battle with oneself. We battle our bodies' perceived limitations; we battle the obstacles life throws in our way. We battle inertia, mockery, self-doubt. We battle injuries and time crunches, inadequate rest and competing obligations. We battle and struggle and scratch and claw and sacrifice with the hope that on race day, we will know it was all worth it because we picked a goal time we thought we could run and we actually ran it.

From Greg's Runningandrehab blog :
As for my race performance, I was able to go on runnersworld.com today, and hear from all the folks that have been training extremely hard, and hear of all of there experiences. The good, bad and the ugly... and I realized that I am very blessed. But the truth is that, to have a good marathon performance, everything must be right. The weather, your body, and everything else!!! Ironically, yesterday was the Ironman Kona, which is where the best of the world compete to finish the Ironman, and last year's winner??? Was unable to finish.... he obviously has the talent, certainly trained well, but yesterday wasn't his day. Will he quit?? No, just pick up the pieces and try again. As Pat Riley said, "Hard work doesn't guarantee you anything, but without it, you don't stand a chance." I don't know any other way to train and approach my life in all of its various aspects , but to give it my all... and during my training I enjoyed every run, (except for 1), and I wouldn't change anything.... and can't wait to get back out there and do it again.

And from Walter on an RW thread:
I just want to thank each and every one of you for your kind words. I've had more time to think about things since I posted my report, and it's funny how your attitude can change within the span of a few hours. In my process of lamenting, I forgot all about the wonderful things I experienced while on the race course. It was amazing to experience Chicago the way that some of us did this past Sunday; even for someone like me who grew up in the Chicago area, it was a wonderful way to experience 29 different neighborhoods and all of the people who make Chicago such a great place. While feeling sorry for myself, I forgot how I felt as the race started and I was running north on Columbus Drive. I felt a sense of happiness and exuberance that I haven't felt since... back in my wild days. And although I was in a bit of a fog by then, I forgot how wonderful it was to experience the culture in the Pilsen and Chinatown neighborhoods.

So, although I continue to be driven by my goals to run the marathon in a certain time or to earn a BQ, and although these goals are important, to do so while failing to take in everything that goes on in a race, especially in a marathon like Chicago, is an absolute shame. It's important to keep things in perspective.

And Brian on a RW thread:
I am a bit jealous of everyone's weekend experiences. Runners, we are a different breed. I do not think we can be afraid to fail. In perspectice, the Marathon is such a special race with the distance making it so special. It is so difficult to consistantly meet one's potential, putting in thousands of miles of training in an effor to produce at that one moment of time where things have to go perfectly. Again, the marathon is so special due to all the stories it produces.

I am reminded of a quote I have on my fridge though:

"The pain of discipline and or failure far outweighs the pain of regret."

We toe the line. Though we may fail we will not have to suffer from the regret of not trying.

My we all wish for and gain that future perfect day!

The 2008 Chicago Marathon

2008-10-13T18:48:00.015-05:00

It's in the books. The crazy part is that it really is over. It's sad, very sudden and re-emphasizes how much work goes into three and a half hours. Here's a recap of the day's events.

The day started pretty normally. The alarm went off at 5:00 and I did my normal race-day routine. I was ready to go by six and headed out to catch the L down to the loop. Here I am before walking out of the door:

I got down to the "B" corral and was able to run into both Matt Rauls and Walter Martinez. Both of them had solid training sessions and were both hoping to come in around 3:15 or so. One of the things about runners is that they are resilient. Even though we all knew the conditions weren't optimum for posting the times our training had told us we were capable of, we'll most likely still try until our body tells us not to.

The gun went off just before 8:00 and we were off. It took me just about a minute to cross the starting line. I mentioned a couple weeks ago, there were three goals: 3:20, 3:22-3:23 and finally sub 3:30. I needed everything to be perfect to hit a 3:20. I knew that the weather probably ruled that out, but I still wanted to give myself a chance in case the stars aligned. I ran the first couple miles a little fast and hit the 3.1 mile mark at a 7:46. I was hoping to be closer to 7:55 here. The more energy I can save early in the race would hopefully mean more for later when it's more likely you'll run out.

I saw my awesome support crew at the 3.5 mile mark. They were split up on both sides of the street, so Tiffany told me that a large portion of the Running for Cru crew was on the other side of the street. I gave them a wave and they were cheering and yelling. It was pretty awesome.

I motored on and hit the 6.2 mile mark at a 7:40 pace overall, so probably ran those three miles a bit too fast. Somewhere around that point, I started to feel my strained calf a little bit. It was only for a couple miles, but I was hoping I wouldn't notice it this soon. I hit the 15K (9.3 mile mark) at a 7:42 pace overall, so I was able to back down the pace a touch.

At mile 11.5 or so, I hit the Cru crew for a second time. I was really looking forward to this encounter. At that point of the marathon, it's becoming the real deal. Anybody can run 5 or 10 miles. Tiffany was also ready with a Gu and a change of hats or headband. I can always see the support team from a little bit away as Iron Mike (my father-in-law) always holds up a sign that says "ZAB." As I saw the sign, I could also see a sea of white shirts with the Running for Cru logo on them. It was really cool. I have had decent sized crowds out to support me before, but this was something else. It seemed like there were at least 20 people in the group.
Here's a shot of some of them:

I also wanted to get a new hat from Tiffany, so as I was running toward them, I took off my hat, was waving it and begin yelling, "Hat! Hat!" and pointing at my head. I got the new hat from Tiffany, tried to say "Hi" to the crowd and went on my way. Here's a shot of me approaching them:

At that point, I was feeling pretty good. My wet hat had been replaced by a dry one and my legs were feeling pretty good. I soon hit the halfway point at 1:40:59, a 7:42 pace. At mile 14, my calf and hamstring started to get a little tight. I figured it usually goes away, so I just tried not to think about it.

I hit the 25K (15.5 miles) mark holding a 7:43 pace, so I was still hanging pretty tough. Sometime around 16, I could feel my second toe on my right foot. When I say feel, I mean it felt like the nub of the toenail that was left was digging into my skin or something. This was the toenail that I had lost in the half marathon. I had trimmed it down to the cuticle just after the half marathon and popped the blister that was under it. I was surprised that I was having issues with it. I had run my last last 20 miler with it and felt nothing. I think it went away by 17 or so, but I don't really remember.

I hit the 30K (18.8) mark and had dipped down to a 7:48 pace overall. I think I hit the proverbial wall sometime around that point. I was just out of gas. You try to dig deep and there's not much there. You end up having to push harder. Even though you're pushing harder, you're running slower because you're out of juice.

I knew that the Cru crew would be upon me soon again as Chinatown approached. I downed a couple of bananas from the volunteers and was downing Gatorade and water with regularity. I was also dumping water on my head. At that point, you try anything to try to stay cool. I had made up my mind that the heat was not going to beat me this year. Even though it was very much beating me down at the time, I didn't allow it to enter my head. My brain was obviously telling my body it needed to slow down, but I wasn't going to lose the psychological battle and admit it was too hot.

Here I am strolling into Chinatown:

And here I am talking to Tiffany in Chinatown:

I remember grabbing the bottle of water from my mother-in-law Lynn, drinking some of it and pouring the rest on my head.

I hit the 35K mark carrying a 7:53 pace overall. The next couple miles are kind of a blur. You head south down toward the Cell, cross the Dan Ryan then head south to 35th before making the turn back north on Michigan Ave. At this point, I was contemplating going to the bathroom. I was debating whether I could make it to the finish line without stopping to go or if I should finally take the plunge and go in my pants. I was sweaty so you really wouldn't be able to tell, but I am just not sure of the logistics of peeing and running at the same time.

I decided to pull over around mile 24 and hit a port-a-john. I jumped in and it was crazy hot in there. I went and hopped back out. It probably cost me a minute, but I felt a lot better. I was calculating in my head what I needed to hit a 3:29. I was at 3:12:30 or so with 18 blocks to go, so I was going to need to run sub 8s to finish under 3:30. I hit the 40K (24.8 miles) mark at 3:19:12 and hit 25 at 3:20:2o or so. I had 1.2 miles to go and needed to run it in under 9 minutes and 39 seconds. I hit the 26 mile mark at the top of the Roosevelt Bridge at 3:28:36, meaning I had to run the last .2 miles in 1:23 to still come in under 3:30. I had run that last part a hundred times in my head. I just mentally pushed the fatigue and heavy legs out of my mind and sprinted toward the finish. If I finished with a 3:30:01, I would have been kicking myself in the ass. I made it with a second to spare and came across in 3:29:58. In the running world, that is a 3:29. I placed 2100 out of 33,000+ finishers.

As I moved through the finishing corral, I stopped to have the chip on my shoe cut off. As I looked down, I noticed there was some blood on the top of my shoe. My second toe had bleed through my sock and into my shoe. I will put a couple pictures of my toes and shoe. I also have a blister under my big toenail. Notice the purple that covers much of the toenail. That's basically a blister under the nail. Do not look at them unless you really want to know what they look like. The marathon isn't like a stroll in the park. Bad things can happen to you. You push your body beyond its natural limits. If this is the worst thing that happened to me, I can feel good about the effort and luck I had on Sunday.

Here are a few pictures post-race:

All in all it was an awesome day. A marathon is never easy and this one was no different. It was definitely the most special run of my life. There times in the marathon that I told myself that raising almost $33,000 is way more impressive than anything I could do running the streets of Chicago. I really felt like I was honoring Cru and was proud to have his name on my chest. As some of you saw, the marathon is a celebration of life. People dedicate their runs to loved ones. They run it after overcoming obstacles. I think Cru deserved at least 26.2 miles of celebration.

It's very inspiring to see these 33,000 runners come out and do something so simple as running and do so much good. I feel like all of the members of the Running for Cru team came out and Sunday and celebrated the life of Cru. Even though I was the one running, I was just one spoke in the wheel that made all of this happen. So, to everyone who was able to come out on Sunday, I'd like to once again thank you all very much. You'll never know what it's like to have that kind of support when you are undertaking the marathon. I also appreciate all of the support that came from those who couldn't make it. I am just happy I could be a part of it. I really felt like Cru's light was shining bright on Sunday and it's because of all of your love and support.

Thanks again,
Paul

Shirt Pics

2008-10-11T21:34:00.004-05:00

Front:

Back:

The Debacle Known as the 2007 Chicago Marathon

2008-10-11T09:28:00.005-05:00

Last year's marathon was a disaster. Much of my training session was mediocre. I developed a case of vertigo in the midst of training that threw everything out of whack. I basically lost two weeks of solid training and because of it, I was playing catch up for much of the training session.

However, it the last few weeks of training, things started to come together and I had a really good final 20 mile run and thought everything was rounding into form.

Unfortunately, as most of you know, the weather didn't cooperate last year. It was incredibly hot and humid. I was sweating standing in the corral before the race started. That is a very bad sign.

I stayed on pace until mile 6. At that point, I realized that I was going to need to slow it down to finish the race. It was just too damn hot and humid. I saw runners better than me already walking by the third mile.

At mile 11 when I saw Tiffany and the crew, I gave her my pace band and said it was going to take me a while. I also told her to disregard my predetermined times I was supposed to hit the mile markers and that I would make it to Chinatown at some point.

At that point it became a race to just finish. The conditions were horrible and I just couldn't stay cool. I saw several runners passed out, getting medical help and the sound of sirens
was everywhere.

Thank God I ran in another running friend who was running that day right around the 12 mile mark who said he run with me for while. Let's call him Shane Victorino. If it wasn't for Shane, I don't think I would have finished. He tried to get me to pick up the pace a couple of times, but my body body really wasn't cooperating.

Shane was originally going to pull away at mile 22, but he offered to stay with me until 25, when he would finish strong. I struggled much of the second half of the race and walked a good chunk of it. I would eventually finish the marathon in a stellar time of 4:13:33, my slowest marathon ever. I placed 6212. The number of finishers has been in question since that day. As most of you know, many of the runners were forced to stop running.

After the race, I told everyone that I was done running marathons. That obviously didn't hold true and that's where we're at today.

Here are the pics:

Immediately after the race, with ice pack

Michael, me and Nick

Tiffany and me

Pants Party

2008-10-11T09:00:00.005-05:00

The 2006 Chicago Marathon has been my best 26.2 mile race to date. Things just kind of fell into place that for that day in October. I had a really good training session. I felt like I was very prepared and had some confidence after running a race exactly to plan the previous December in Vegas.

The weather was cool and damp. The dampness was unnecessary, but the cool, cloudy day is a marathon runner’s dream. I had “PANTS PARTY” on my shirt, as in "I would like to extend to you an invitation to the pants party.” For those of you unfamiliar, that is a line from Anchorman. On the back, I ironed on “C. Monday,” a somewhat obscure reference to Cleveland investigative reporter Carl Monday featured on the website www.deadspin.com and later the Daily Show. I sent in a couple photos to Will Leitch, then the editor of Deadspin. Here is the result:

http://deadspin.com/sports/marathon/get-away-from-me-marathoners-210021.php

I set out to run a 3:30, or an 8:00/mile pace. I ran a pretty even first half in 1:44:12, or a 7:57 pace. As usual, I slowed down in the second half. At the 24.8 mile mark, I was at 3:20:17. I was going to need to pick up the pace in order to finish at 3:30. Over the last 1.4 miles, I ran a 7:49.2 pace, getting me to the finish line at 3:30:57.

Yes, that counts for a 3:30.

My final pace was an 8:02/mile. I placed 4483nd out of 33618.

Some pics:

Tiffany and me after the race

Nick, me and Michael after the race

The Rest of 2005: Chicago and Vegas

2008-10-11T08:12:00.010-05:00

The 2005 Chicago Marathon was relatively non-descript, besides Gail and Jerry being in town for the race. I trained a little smarter and learned a good lesson in pacing in Green Bay.

In one of my best ideas for a shirt (but worst ideas for a look), I opted to shave the goatee down to a moustache and put “MOUSTACHE LOVE” on my shirt. It was a huge hit with the crowd that day. Here's the freshly shaved 'stache. Cops and '70s pornstars were all very proud.

I was trying to run a 3:35 that day. I ended up coming in at 3:38, so I was pretty close. However, the trend of me slowing down in the second half continued. I ran the first half in 1:46:18 and the second half in 1:51:58.

I think I really started to get a good grasp on marathon running during that race. One of my favorite parts was seeing Justin and Alicia Murphy standing on the raised middle part of the street divided in Chinatown. Justin yelled out something about moustaches or moustache love and pretended he was drawing a moustache on his own face with his index fingers.

I placed 5143^rd out of 33027 finishers. Here are some pictures:

Here's that day's support crew on the Trader Todd shuttle that miraculously showed up in Chinatown to take them up to the finish line.

Tiffany and me after the marathon.

***

Just six or seven weeks later, I ran the “New” Las Vegas Marathon. Tiffany, Nick and Jaime made the trip out there with me. My mom lives in Henderson, NV so we all stayed with her and her husband Jerry. It was a small vacation of sorts. Might as well run a marathon if you’re there, right?

We did some gambling, some shopping and some other stuff. Nick, Jerry and I also bowled the day before the marathon and I remember kicking Nick’s ass. I think I bowled a 190 something. This is funny because Nick bowls weekly in a league.

Anyway, seeing as how I just ran a max-effort marathon a few weeks before, I did a simple training program that just maintained my fitness level after Chicago. I also wasn’t trying to run it faster, I wanted more of a controlled effort. I was attempting to run a 3:43 or an 8:30 per mile pace.

The race started at the south end of the Strip in front of Mandalay Bay. It also started at 6:00 AM. And most shockingly, the temperature on that December morning in Vegas was a chilly 35 degrees. Yes, it was that damn cold. I had some gloves and a weird stocking cap of sorts. It almost looked like a wool pilot’s helmet, complete with velcro strap. I brought that to cover my ears. My shirt was short sleeved and I wore shorts. I was pretty cold, but as long as you keep your hands and ears warm, it’s not horrible.

My shirt said “R.I.P. MR MIYAGI.” Las Vegas native and Karate Kid star Pat Morita had just passed away. As you could guess, it was another tough year figuring out what to put on the shirt. It was a hit on the course for all 20 Las Vegans who had crawled out of bed to watch the marathon.

I ran a solid race and actually ran a perfectly even split race. 1:51:19 for the first half and second half, finishing at 3:42:38. I ran the race exactly how I had wanted to and gained a lot of confidence in my ability and my pacing. I took some of this confidence into 2006. I placed 1045 out of 8816 finishers.

The top two are a couple of my favorite marathon pictures:

I don't remember what mile this was, but it was definitely earlier in the the first 15 miles or so, as I am still wearing the wool hat and have two pairs of sunglasses on my head. I was wearing the yellows at the start because it was so dark. As we went deeper into the morning, I went with the regular ones.

Here's the final kick down the homestretch.

Jerry, me and Nick post race. They look pretty warm.

Another Reason Not to Like Green Bay

2008-10-10T10:11:00.003-05:00

2005 brought my most ambitious year to date for marathoning. I ran Green Bay in May, Chicago in October and Las Vegas in December. After I had finished the ’04 Chicago, I looked for a spring marathon that was drivable. Despite my disliking of the Packers, I chose Green Bay. It had received good reviews and somewhere around mile 25.5, you got to do a lap in side of Lambeau Field.

I started training for Green Bay on January 2nd and actually got really lucky with the weather. I only missed one run because of snow. I had to push a run to another day here or there, but it was a pretty decent training session and I had no injuries to speak of.

Accompanying me for the trip up north was Tiffany, my brother Nick and his wife Jaime. We plodded around the lovely town of Green Bay and ate at TGI Fridays or someplace of that ilk. When we got back to the hotel, my brother Michael snuck up behind me in lobby and surprised the hell out of me. I had no idea he was coming and couldn’t believe he was there. So we all hung out for a little while before calling it a night.

When I woke up the next morning, it was pouring. Fantastic, I thought. Well, by the time the race was about to start, the rain had subsided. The GB Marathon was very small and there was also a half marathon that shared the first 7 or so miles of the same course. My bib number was #189 and I went with an orange shirt and put “CHICAGO” on the front and “DITKA – 189” on the back of it.

Because of the lack of participants, the race director and crew let you line up anywhere you wanted. So, I went for it. I lined up on the starting line right next to two Kenyans. It was ridiculous. When I passed my supporters at the .2 mile mark or so, I yelled to them “This is as close to the lead I am ever going to get!”

Needless to say, starting with the rabbits was a horrible idea. Being up there and with the faster half marathon runners made me come out of the gate way too fast. I repeat, way too fast. I hit mile 1 at 7:20. I tried to slow it down, but I hit the 5K mark at 7:27. Not good. Little did I know that coming out so fast would end up biting me in the ass. And when I say bite, I mean devour and leave me without an ass. By the 10 K mark, the clouds were starting to lift and the 60’s were starting to feel warmer. My pace at the 10K mark was 7:46. So I was slowing down, but not fast enough. For some reason my pace had quickened to 7:41 at mile 10. The worst part is that this wasn’t my first marathon, but I was running it like I was being chased by Tina Turner on a horse. I hit the halfway point at a 7:51 which is good for a 1:42:04. I felt good at that point, but that pace really wasn’t my fitness level for a full marathon back then. I was shooting for a 3:43 or so and was on pace for 3:24.

By now, the sun was out, but there was some great shade running along the east side of the Fox River. Unfortunately, the shade was about to disappear and my fast start was about to catch up to me. My pace dipped to 7:55 by mile 16. Then 7:58 by 17. Mile 18 saw a dip of six more seconds down to an 8:04 overall pace. Mile 19 brought the pace down to 8:08. At this point, I was taking in water (both figuratively and literally), and the temperature was rising and that morning’s rain was now wicked humidity. I stopped in a port-a-john before I crossed some huge bridge. I thought about not coming out. I ran miles 19-22 at an awesome 10:05 pace. I am not sure I would call that running. You could consider it me hitting the proverbial wall – repeatedly. I ran miles 22-25 at a 9:59 pace. I finished up the last 1.2 in a 9:34, finishing with a 3:46:28, an 8:38 pace overall.

I beat my ’04 Chicago Marathon time by six minutes, but couldn’t have run it any dumber. I learned a lot in this marathon. It all comes back to not running a marathon with your head up your ass for the first 10 miles. I placed 231st out of 910 finishers. Keeping with the theme describing this race in two (or so) words it would be dumb and dumber.

Sorry for the lack of pictures for this one.

Almost There

2008-10-10T09:50:00.004-05:00

The marathon is now only a couple of days away. I just saw the Dr. Garelick for my follow-up. He says everything is as good as it's going to get and wished me luck. He also told me not to run another marathon right away and to take it easy over the next several weeks. I am headed to my physical therapy session in a little bit, then will run my last few miles before Sunday. My head had been shaved for the last time and everything is pretty much in place besides the playlist. I'll post a picture of my shirt tonight or tomorrow.

I have started to realize that my forum for the the 2008 Chicago Marathon and Running for Cru is about to come to a close. I better use my last few days to their fullest. I will really miss this part of it. I hope all of you have found some enjoyment in my ramblings and stories. I know I have. The most important thing is that we've been able spread the word about SMA and raise money for FSMA. Hopefully it will help them find a cure. Feel free to check out their site www.curesma.org as they post updates and developments on their latest research and breakthroughs.

So, over he next couple of days, I will post my remaining race recaps and that will probably be it. Sometime on Sunday or Monday, I'll give you my best blow-by-blow recap of Sunday's marathon.

Once again, I'd like to thank everyone for their support of FSMA, Cru, the Fanaros and my running. It really has been an amazing thing that we've been able to do here. I couldn't be happier to be a part of it.

If there's anyone out there who is planning on catching the marathon and has not been in contact with Tiffany or Ken, please let me know via email, phonecall, or message at the bottom of any one of thses posts.

Thanks again,
Paul

Quick Hit

2008-10-09T13:27:00.002-05:00

From the Firstgiving Website:

http://www.teamfirstgiving.com/fundraising-tips/chicago-marathon-fundraising-update/

It looks like we're #1 of the all the Chicago Marathon runners who used Firstgiving to raise money for charity. Give yourself a round of applause!

The 2004 Chicago Marathon Recap

2008-10-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

Innocence and ignorance. That’s how I can best describe the 2004 Chicago Marathon. As you may remember in the weeks leading up to the marathon, I was having some foot issues. Two weeks before the marathon, I decided to make my first trip to Fleet Feet and have them help me find a pair of shoes that fit my running form. I walked out of there with a Nike Air Structure Triax 6 or something like that. I took the last two weeks pretty easy, just running enough to break in the shoes. The rest helped, and by race day, my foot was fine.

I had company for the ’04 Marathon. My college friends Matt Hillen and Rob Bowers were also attempting their first marathons. We didn’t really have a plan and didn’t particularly know how fast we would run or even if we would run together. We made our way to the mess of the starting corral and joined the 30,000 runners or so in the Open corral. The Open corral is home to many first timers and in general, the slower runners. After the gun went off, we started the slow shuffle to the starting line. We finally made it and took off together. The first few miles are a blur. There were people everywhere, both on the course and on the sidewalks cheering on the 35,000 runners. People on the sidelines were cheering, clapping, ringing cowbells, yelling, screaming…you name it. As I mentioned before, they also will yell what ever is on your shirt. Rob had nothing on his shirt. Matt had “GOON SQUAD” on his. He tried to curve the GOON on the top of his shirt. He did it pretty well, but some people mistakenly read it as “GO ON SQUAD.” I decided to put “OREGON” on my shirt, in honor of Prefontaine. I put “ZABFONTAINE” on the back – a hybrid of my nickname “ZAB” and Prefontaine. In retrospect, I should have put it on the front, because people were yelling for Oregon and the Ducks throughout the marathon.

Somewhere around mile 5, my week-old Ipod crapped out on me. I was unfamiliar with re-setting it so when I first saw my stellar support crew in Boystown at Mile 7 or 8, I told gave it to them and told them to try to get it fixed and give it back to me in Chinatown – mile 22 or so. Rob, Matt and I stayed together up until the halfway point. Up until then, we were pretty much running three across except when Matt decided to jump around like a jackass. He was waving his arms up and down, trying to get the crowd to make noise, giving high fives, and jumping so he could see the crowd ahead. Rob and I were marveling at his antics because they were both funny and stupid. We thought that the extra energy he used dicking around would lead to him running out of energy later on. We hit the half way mark in 1:50:06. Somewhere around mile 14 or so, Matt pulled away from Rob and me. We stayed together until mile 16 or so, when I had to stop to go to the bathroom. I told him to keep up the pace and that I’d catch up to him. I relieved myself and proceeded to try to catch up to Rob. I finally caught back up to him in a half mile or so and he didn’t look so hot. By mile 17, Rob had told me to go ahead. I ended up going the rest of the way solo. I don’t remember the exact details from 17 to Chinatown. It was all pretty much a blur. I was just looking forward to seeing Tiffany, my family (Michael, Nick) and her parents. By the time I had made it to Chinatown, I saw the crew again. As it turns out, one of the best parts of the marathon are seeing your supporters. In some ways, the marathon almost becomes runs in between seeing the people that are out there to see you. You look forward to seeing them at these designated spots, despite the fact that you’re only spending seconds of a few hours with them. It definitely gives you a boost.

So, when I finally saw them at the corner in Chinatown, the thing that had been in my mind for about 14 miles or so was that they hopefully fixed my Ipod for me. So when I saw them, that’s the first thing I asked them. Unfortunately, they didn’t and basically told me to run the rest of the marathon. Not in a mean way. I think they were more surprised than anything that I just ran 21.5 miles and the first thing that comes out of my mouth was “Did you get my Ipod working?” I was looking forward to having it for the last 5 or so miles. Oh well. It wasn’t meant to be. Matt had passed by several minutes earlier and supposedly wasn’t looking too good. I kept on moving, slowing down every mile until the last 1.2 in the process.

I made the final turn onto Columbus from Roosevelt and could see the finish line. I ran as fast as I could down the homestretch and came across in 3:52:35.

I was gassed. I was elated. I was emotionally and physically drained. I had never done anything like it. And one of the first thoughts that popped into my head was that I think I’d like to do that again, and I think could do it better. I made my way through the the finishing corral to the runners reunite area. I was the first to get there out of the three of us. Soon after my support crew showed up, Matt showed up as well. He had the post-race mylar blanket tied around his neck like Superman and had a beer in each hand. Then he told me he was waiting for me at the beer cart, that's why he got back to the reunite area late. That's Matt for you.

I guess you could say I caught the marathon bug that day in Chicago and my marathon running addiction was born. Matt, despite his antics and looking like hell at mile 22, finished in 3:43 and Rob finished in 3:57. I placed 8,326 out of 33,125 finishers.

A few pics:

(L to R) Matt, Rob and me - before the marathon started

Nick and Michael, anxiously awaiting my passing through Boystown. Yes, Nick is wearing a suit. Not because it was my first marathon. He went to a wedding in the city the night before and stayed in the same clothes from the night before. Nice!

Here I am passing through Chinatown, right around Mile 22. I looked pretty good. My face does look a little swollen though, a theme that will be present in quite a few of the upcoming pictures.

Tiffany and me in the reunite area following the race.

Random Thoughts of the Day

2008-10-08T11:17:00.004-05:00

I had my last run of any effort today. I went 6 miles, running two of them at a 7:40 pace. It wasn't the greatest run, but it doesn't really matter at this point. I'll have a 3-5 miler on Friday at a very easy pace.

Tiffany and I worked on the shirt last night. It's going to be awesome. I may have to post a picture of it here before the race. I now have two practice shirts with the "Running for Cru" logo, one of which I ran in this morning. The race shirt will end up in a frame on the wall with the rest of the previous shirts

My mom recently requested "Simply the Best" by Tina Turner. Mom, as much as I appreciate your kind words and love you, it will not make the playlist. Here are the reasons why: 1) the song, while most likely very meaningful to some, doesn't really do it for me. I'll just tell myself that my Mom thinks I am simply the best a couple times on Sunday. 2) I can never hear that song without thinking of Hollywood Casino, who used that song in their commercials. And 3) Take a look at this video:

Why the horse? Is this about Barbaro? (I know, Barbaro wasn't alive when this was recorded.) Come on Tina. Ridiculous. Now, all of you will never be able to think of "Simply the Best" without thinking of Barbaro running through Hollywood Casino with Tina Turner on his back. I can picture it now. Tina kicking over tables...grabbing drinks and smokes out of people's hands...throwing dice from Barbaro's back...Barbaro's lifting his front legs after winning a game of craps...finally getting pissed off because they don't have carrots...and then putting it all on black the roulette wheel and losing...he raises his front legs in anger (and in slow motion) and just crushes it. Chips and wood just flying everywhere. The camera pans around and people are still, jaws-wide open. Then Tina and Barbaro either run out or you see Barbaro being escorted out by security in shackles especially made for horses while Tina finishes up the last verse. How's that for some imagery?

One Week Remaining

2008-10-05T17:14:00.003-05:00

Well, this is it. One week from today is why I have run 578.3 miles since June 24th. This last week will only be about 15-20 miles, so I'll come in just under 600 miles in training before the marathon. The last run will be on Friday. Saturday hopefully will be very restful and relaxing. I usually don't sleep very well the night before the marathon, so I am going to try to get a good night's sleep on Friday.

The rest of this week will just be finalizing a few things - the playlist and the shirt specifically. Every year, I put some words or a saying on my shirt. Many people put their names on their shirt. It results in some of the one million or so spectators cheering for you by yelling whatever is your shirt. It can be pretty entertaining. If you get tired of people saying whatever is on your shirt, you can move to the middle of the street and a lot less people will be able to see you.

So, I ran a nice 12-miler today. If you a regular reader, you'll know that every so often there are days where the running is just mediocre. I think today was supposed to be one of those days. It was also supposed to be my last longer run with any sustained effort. So, I am glad I got a bad one out of my system. There's part of me that's nervous because it was my last run of any substance. It's pretty normal for veteran marathoners to doubt their training and fitness level at this point. Part of it is because we are tapering and the reduced mileage can create a little stir-craziness. The other part is human nature. One of the frustrating parts of marathon running is that you train for four months for one day. It's only natural to question if you've done enough for that one day.

So, I was trying to run three easy miles to start today. I did and came in at about an 8:08 pace. The next three were supposed to be 7:40s. After hitting the 6 mile mark, I was at a 7:53. The problem is that I felt like I was running harder than that. So, I turned around and decided to try to hit the next three at 7:40. That didn't happen either. I came in at a 7:45 for the next three miles. Again, I felt like I was running harder. So, I took it easy for mile 10 and then picked it up for miles 11 and 12. I ran the last two at a 7:30 pace.

It wasn't a bad run by any stretch, I just couldn't hit my times I was shooting for. I felt like my effort today should have netted me better times, so it's a little concerning. At the same time, I kind of feel like it was supposed to a day where I just didn't have it and I still posted some respectable times. On the plus side, I was getting faster as the day went on.

As for my calf injury, it's still there. It's getting better, but I am starting to doubt it will be fully recovered by Sunday. It's not a huge deal. I can still run with it and there are times I don't notice it at all. Other times I can feel it with every stride. I am hoping for the best, but am still mentally preparing myself if it flares up on Sunday, especially in the final few miles when many of the muscles in the legs are very fatigued. I am getting therapy three days this week and will see the doctor on Friday. I'm not sure what he can say at that point, but what do I know?

Wish for some cool temperatures for the weekend. There are differing forecasts right now. One is calling for mostly cloudy with a high of 64 and a low of 46 the night before. That would be really good. The other is calling for a cloudy day with a high of 57 and a previous evening low of 41. This would also be good. These two forecasts have started to get closer together in the past 24 hours. Yesterday, one was at 68 and the other was at 52.

Have a good week.

Fork, Anyone?

2008-10-02T22:00:00.003-05:00

Well, the Cubs appear to be on the verge of going down 0-2 on the heels of another Manny Ramirez moonshot. If they go down 0-2, consider them down 0-3. These guys were swept last year and barring a miracle, should be known as any or all of the following:

Choke artists

Not-ready for prime-time players

Just plain bad

Nothing like your starting pitching blowing up on you in Game 1. Then your defense blows up on you in game two. How's that old saying go - pitching and defense wins championships? Bad sign if that saying is true and you are a Cub or Cub fan. Disgusting. Good thing Hendry gave Fukodome a four year deal for over 40 million bucks. Most of the deals Hendry has given out over the past three years are back-loaded. The payroll goes up, the talent gets old and the fans end up wondering what could have and should have been. I can't wait to see a 38 year-old Adolpho Soriano (thank you Dick Stockton) patrolling left field in 2014.

***
I ran 6 miles at an 8:20 on Tuesday and a quick 5 miler yesterday at a 7:56. The gastroc is feeling better every day. Not quite 100%, but I am hopeful that it will be by next Sunday. If it's not, it should be pretty close. I have a 8 miler on Friday as well as some therapy. I then may stretch it out a little bit on Sunday. After running so many miles over the past 14 weeks or so, it's easy to get antsy when the taper is in full gear.

I am going to give you some recaps of the previous marathons over the next few days. Here's what you have to look forward to:
2004 - Chicago
2005 - Green Bay, Chicago, Las Vegas
2006 - Chicago
2007 - Chicago

Quick Update

2008-09-30T12:22:00.003-05:00

Not too much going on here. I had my second appointment at the physical therapist yesterday. Things may be getting slightly better with the strained muscle. It's kind of hard to tell. It's definitely not getting worse, so that's a good thing. I'll be going out for 6 miles or so tonight after work. Probably run it right around an 8 minute pace or so.

Keep the song requests coming in.

Since I don't have too much to say today (first time for everything?), I'll give you some quotes I have come across lately:

From the blog "Got Lactate" - http://www.gotlactate.blogspot.com/
As it has in so many ways, running has taught me another life lesson: that by loosening one's grip on something one desperately covets, one may have a far better chance of actually obtaining it.

I think you could apply this to more than running. Feel free to check out the post "Changing Colors, Changing Goals" on that blog. It's a good post about a man's quest to run a 3:20 marathon when he turned 40. Ron off-handedly made the comment on his 30th birthday. He'll be running Chicago on October 12th also.

Other quotes:
The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy...It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed. - Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ

To describe the agony of a marathon to someone who's never run it is like trying to explain color to someone who was born blind.
Jerome Drayton

Get going. Get up and walk if you have to, but finish the damned race.
Ron Hill to Jerome Drayton during the 1970 Boston Marathon

We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon. Emil Zatopek

And here's a trailer of the movie "Spirit of the Marathon." It comes out on DVD next week. I was able to see the movie at the theater last year. It's a documentary about the 2005 Chicago marathon that follows a handful of runners of different ability levels. Try to check it out if you can.

How's Your Gastrocnemius?

2008-09-27T10:55:00.004-05:00

I had to move the Bill Gillis/Shouting and Pointing song over to the right margin. I may periodically put a few other past or potential songs on the marathon playlist back in the player at the top of the posts over the next couple weeks. For now you can still get your dose of "A Little Bit of Faith" on the imeem player.
***
I went to the doctor yesterday. Here's Dr. Garelic's diagnosis on my knee issue. I have a strained gastrocnemius muscle. It basically the part of the calf muscle that starts behind the knee. Here's a picture of the muscle in relation to the lower leg:

I can still run, but he advised me to take 600-800mg of Ibuprofen one hour before running. He also told me to get some physical therapy three days a week for each of the two weeks before the marathon. I was lucky enough to get into Athletico this morning for my first appointment.
My physical therapist there stretched me out and did some analysis on my legs. He then came up with a stretching program to help me try to get the muscle back in good condition. I am also to ice the area after any physical activity, including walking around for an hour.

I am happy with the results and am glad I decided to go get it checked out. I ran yesterday in the early evening after taking a few advils. It did seem to help lessen the pain a little bit, but I could still feel it here and there. I didn't run into any stoplights yesterday, so I was able to keep my legs moving the whole time. That was one of the issues the past week. Any time I'd have to stop, getting started again was really painful. After the legs got pumping for a minute or two, they would feel a little better, but they'd get progressively worse after each stop and start.

Here are the numbers from yesterday:
10 miles total - 2 mile warm up jog
4x1600m @ followed by an untimed 800m
the four 1600 meter times: 6:34, 6:43, 6:43, 6:31
a couple miles at an easy pace to finish out the run.

I'll most likely be running early in the morning tomorrow. I think I am going to push the pace in the middle miles of th 12 mile run. I'd like to put up several consistent 7:40s. I guess while I am talking about pace now I can loosely unveil the goals for October 12th. Here they are:

Best case scenario which would include feeling healthy, good cool running weather, and feeling good that day:
3h:20m or a 7:40 pace
It's a little aggressive and I will make the call that day if I will actually shoot for it. It may be a case where I hang around the 3:20 group for the first 10 miles or so and make the call at that point. Or maybe lag back in the 7:45 range and make a move in the second half if I feel up for it. The downside to that strategy is that if I run a 7:45 for the first half, I'd have to average a 7:35 for miles 13.2 through 26.2. I don't think planning for a negative split at that pace is the best idea I have had. The last 3-6 miles can be brutal. I have run a few sub 8's for the last 5K in the past, so it's possible, but still very tough.

More likely reachable goal:
3:23-3:25 or a pace in the range of 7:45 to 7:50
I think this is possible and would fit in with my natural improvement in times over the years - minus the scorcher last year, of course. I think I have trained pretty hard and very well this season and my level of fitness can support a pace in that range over 26.2 miles. I have been pretty happy with my times throughout training. I do have the minor issue in my leg right now, but I don't anticipate it giving me problems by then. Positive thinking can work wonders.

Last resort goal:
3:29:59
It's still an 8:00 pace per mile, but I have to crack the 3:30 mark. And this year is my best chance to do it yet. I will finish the race no matter what happens - if had to walk on one leg with the other leg that fell off in one hand for a few miles, I'd do that. If I finished last year, I can finish any marathon.

With that being said, no matter what happens on October 12th, the amazing things that we've done here and for FSMA will make this marathon one of greatest successes of my life. I appreciate all of your continued support and can't thank each and every one of you enough. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Enjoy

2008-09-25T13:25:00.002-05:00

Above is one of the suggested songs.

Nine Runs Remaining

2008-09-24T21:12:00.003-05:00

Sorry there haven' t been any posts for the last few days. I have been busy sifting through these suggested songs for the marathon. Actually that's not true. yasoo800 just made the first two requests. Come on loyal readers, I need some music.

yasso800, you'll be happy to know that "A Little Bit of Faith" was on the last 20 mile run playlist. I am trying to figure out a way to post some songs on here. Pictures and videos are not a problem, but I am having a hard time with songs. Hopefully I can figure it out soon so the musical stylings of William Gillis and Shouting and Pointing can be shared with the world.

So, I got in an 8 miler yesterday. I ran the first half at an 8:00 pace and the second half at 7:47. I only went 9 miles today instead of ten because my knee is giving me some issues. I turned around at 4.5 miles because I hit a stoplight. It has really been bothering me when I stop in the midst of a run to grab some water or get stopped by a stoplight. So instead of waiting at the stoplight at McCormick and Howard (which is a long one), I turned around. I ran the 9 miles pretty evenly - 8:01 in the front half and an 8:03 in the second half.

I did run into my buddy Bill again, so I slowed down for about a third of a mile on the way home. I most likely would have come in under 8 in the second half if I didn't run with bill for those couple minutes. Bill did offer me some advice about my troublesome knee and running in general. Bill has to be in his fifties and could be in his sixties. Here was his advice: "The trick is not to think about it. The less you think about it, the less you'll notice it. And the less you think about all the miles you are running, the better off you are. "
***
After reading some more about the pain I'm having in my knee, I think it's actually inflammation in the hamstring tendons where they insert into the knee. My pain is in the back of the knee and as far as I can tell, there's no swelling. So, I think I am going to try to get into a doctor sometime in the next week to see if there's something I can do to help calm this thing down a bit before the marathon.
***
The title of the post is correct. Two more runs this week, four next week and three the week of the marathon. The longest run left will be this weekend at 12 miles. Over the next few weeks as there will be less running to talk about, I'll try to recap the previous six marathons and give people an idea of what to expect with this one.

Talk to you soon.

The Toughest Part is Over

2008-09-21T21:16:00.002-05:00

The last 20 miler is now in the books, wrapping up a tough 54 mile week. I ended up running 5 days in the week and four consecutive days, which is more than I like to do. When this week is in the books every training session, there's definitely a feeling of happiness and accomplishment as you finally feel like you are over the hump. You know there's just a couple weeks left before the marathon and the beating the your body has endured over the previous 13 weeks is now complete. Over the last three weeks, mileage is cut considerably and the minor injuries that have mounted up will hopefully heal in time for the big one.

I ran the first half at about an 8:12 pace and the second half just under an 8:00 pace. It was a warm morning and pretty humid, so I feel good about my time. The hammy felt pretty good, while the knee still felt a little sore at times.
I am beginning to think my knee pain may be caused by my shoes. I have worn the Brooks Adrenaline 6 is the past but finally ran out of miles on those earlier this year. I went to the Adrenaline 8's prior to the start of training. My oldest pair, which I had to wear on Tuesday of this week, now has 305 miles on them. I think they are officially done. I used to be able to get closer to 500 miles in the Adrenaline 6's. Now I am wondering if the second pair is almost done and may be contributing to my knee pain. They now have just 220 miles on them. I ran in the freshest pair today (now with 63 miles on them) and they felt much better. I only have 78 miles left before the marathon, but that would put pair number 2 at 298 miles. So, as of 5 minutes ago, I am thinking about buying one more pair. Although it may have to be my last pair if these bastards are only going to last 250 miles. I may have to move on to a different show in the future. It's not something I would consider doing three weeks away from the marathon though.

The old Ipod took a turn for the worse last night when I tried to update a new playlist. So, I added the playlist onto Tiffany's Ipod this morning and away we went. I am not sure what I am going to do for the marathon just yet. I'll try to swap out the battery in the newer Ipod and see if that gets me anywhere. The last resort is to use Tiffany's Ipod, but as I told her earlier today, I am not sure that's the best idea. I seem to be breaking them lately with pretty good regularity.

Here's what the upcoming week looks like:
Tuesday: 10 Miles @ 8:00
Wednesday: 8 Miles @ 8:00
-I may not pay too much attention to pace on the early week runs-
Friday: 9 Miles, 4 x 1600m @ 6:34 w/800m jogs in between
Sunday: 12 miles @ 8:00 pace, although I may crank it up a little bit
39 miles for the week

***
In other news, the Cubs are in the playoffs, the Bears appear to be in for a long season and the US won the Ryder Cup. Try not to get too excited.

Music, Please

2008-09-20T13:27:00.004-05:00

I'm just about complete with the toughest training week of the year and my Ipod is still on the fritz. The uncooked rice bath didn't help. Rather than go into what else I have tried since then, I will tell you that I have ordered a new battery. I'm hoping that replacing the battery currently in my Ipod will do the trick, but I'm getting pretty close to giving up on this beast.

Luckily, the brick is still functioning, although not without a few hiccups. I have had to reset it a few times over the past few days during my runs. I think the 4th generation Ipods hard drives are much more unstable and the constant jostling it endures while running causes it to lock up with regularity. The improved 5th generation Ipod was seemingly fixed to nullify that issue. Maybe they can work on waterproofing the next one.

Anyway, for the past few years, I have opened up the playlist for the marathon to my friends and family. I am doing the same thing this year. Here's how it works:

I take suggestions of songs from you. These songs can either be songs you really like, songs that inspire you, songs you workout or run to, songs that pump you up or any song you think would be a good song to run to. I will then check out the song and if I feel it can be one of the 50 or so songs that end up being on the marathon playlist, I will send you a CD of about 20 songs that were on the October 12th playlist. If I don't use your song, don't be offended. The marathon playlist is like a puzzle that has to be put together. Sometimes good songs don't fit and many songs get tossed out. I should also add that "Run" or Running" in the song's title is not a prerequisite. So "Born to Run" (Springsteen) and "Running Down a Dream" (Petty) are fine songs, but they will never make the playlist.

Here are just some past examples of suggested songs:
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
SexyBack- JTimberlake
The Fly, Yahweh - U2
Don't Stop Believin' - Journey
The Stubborn Horse - Mahjongg
Go Cubs Go - Steve Goodman
On the Road Again - Willie Nelson
Look up to the Sky - The Indians
Porch - Pearl Jam
Gimme Shelter - Rolling Stones

Some were used and some were not. Send your requests to me at paulkapellas@hotmail.com or post the in the comments below any post over the next couple weeks. I am hoping to have the playlist finalized by October 10th.

Here's a link to an Irish drinking song that Eddie Vedder recently turned into a song about the Cubs. It's catchy and makes you want to pick up a mug of beer and drink with Ed as he rambles through the verses while you wait for a couple chances to yell "Yeah" with him. If you haven't heard it a million times yet, prepare yourself. It will be around for as long as the Cubs are in the playoffs.

http://hirejimessian.com/wp-content/media/Someday%20We%27ll%20Go%20All%20The%20Way%20(quality).mp3

***

Thursday's run was seven miles. I ran the first half at an 8:00 minute pace. Somewhere in the second half of the run, I bumped into the older gentleman that I see on the path pretty regularly. He stopped me and asked if I was runnning the marathon. I ended up covering a couple miles with Bill and shot the breeze about running and the neighborhood. Bill is a really nice guy and is a vetrean of running some of the many races in the Chicago area. So, Bill's pace was probably about 9:00/mile, but it wasn't the worst thing as my hammy and knee were still bothering me.

Yesterday's run was supposed to be 11 miles with 6 miles at a 7:04 pace. I changed it up a little bit. I ran a couple warm up miles and pounded out three at a 7:02 pace. I backed off the next mile and picked up the pace for the next two miles. I ran those two at a 7:05. I took it easy for mile 9 and then ran a 7:13 10th mile. I closed out the 11 mile run with an easy mile.

The right hamstring became less of a problem as the week went on. It's still an issue, but I think it will be fine as I start tapering. The right knee didn't seem to get better or worse, I guess that's not all bad. I can definitely feel it when I run...sometimes more than others. It's more a a nagging pain than a shooting or sharp pain. I am hoping the reduction in miles that starts next week will give it the necessary recovery time.

The last 20 miler is tomorrow. Wish me the best and hope that my right leg comes out of it no worse for the wear.

What Made Milwaukee Famous

2008-09-17T10:49:00.011-05:00

Beer, for one. The Brewers choking in September is soon to be next on the list. I am going to the Cubs-Brewers game tonight to see if the Cubs can cut the magic number down to 2. "What Made Milwaukee Famous" is actually the name of a pretty good, not very well known band. Check them out if you like indie-ish music.

***
Here what's going on in the peak week of training. There's some good news and some bad news. More bad than good really. The ole' tight right hamstring from the half marathon on Sunday is much worse now than it was during the race. The rest of the legs have mostly usual soreness, although my right knee it a little more sore than usual. Also, my blister issue from the half took a slight turn for the worse. On Monday, I woke up and the two blisters that I had popped the night before were fine. Unfortunately I didn't notice that there was one under the toenail of the second toe on my right foot. In my past experiences, that basically means that nail doesn't have a chance. Through the years, I have lost several toenails because of running. I didn't have any issues with the second toe until the marathon last year because my feet were wet. And now it pops up again because of the aquathon.

So, I popped it to relieve the pressure. Last night, I cut the nail down as far as possible. When it doesn't hurt at all, you know there's not much life left in it. Maybe I'll put up a picture of it in a couple days. Between the hammy, the knee, and the toe, this is all good stuff just in time for the 54 mile peak week.

So, I altered the running schedule this week to fit in the Cubs game and try to lessen the pounding on the legs. I ran 10 last night at just over an 8:00 pace. I was able to get through a slightly unpleasant, not as fast 6 miles this morning. The good news was that the shoes from the half were finally dry so I could wear them this morning, altough they certainly smelled better on Saturday.

That leaves me with 38 miles remaining for the week. I still have 20 down for Sunday and 11 (tempo) down for Friday. That leaves me with 7 for Thursday night. I'll probably do Friday's run in the afternoon/evening as well. Then Sunday's 20 miler will act as a dress rehearsal for the marathon. I will eat a similar dinner to the one I will eat on October 11th, wake up at the same time, eat the same food I plan to eat on the morning of October 12th, consume the same gels, and probably wear the same clothes including my race shoes that currently have just 43 miles on them.

I really don't want to miss any mileage this week and am hoping that not running again until tomorrow evening (and only running 7 miles) will help. We'll see though. October 12th is much more important than any run this week, so there's kind of a delicate balance of staying healthy and getting miles in.

In other news, my Ipod is sitting in a bowl of rice trying to dry out. Don't ask me, I read it somewhere that it helps dry out Ipods that have water issues. Keep your fingers crossed. Right now I am using the old brick that I updated yesterday. Here's what this relic looks like:

***
Thanks for the comments and video after the "Aquathon" post. As far as my nipples, I could have gone Sampras on you.

Here are few other pics, courtesy of marathonfoto.com from the half:

Chicago Half-Aquathon

2008-09-14T21:14:00.007-05:00

I can't take credit for the renaming of the Banco Popular Chicago Half Marathon. That belongs to my friend Rich Cancellare.

Here's your quick recap of the Half Marathon. It should be prefaced that it has been raining in the Chicago area since Friday night. I am not sure it ever stopped until just a few hours ago. There's actually some pretty bad flooding pretty close to our condo, so we're pretty lucky. But back to the race...

Tiffany and I got down there early, found a good parking spot and tried to stay dry until the race started. I was shooting the breeze with the guy who was the 1:35 pace leader. He has run 67 marathons and has only 15 states left until he's run a marathon in all 50 states. My plan was to stick with that guy as long as possible and then slow it down just enough to come in around 1:36.

The plan held together for about 4 or 5 miles, which was also when my water-logged Ipod shut down. The rain never stopped and there was some wind that kicked up every once in a while. Somewhere around mile 2.5 I could feel water sloshing out of my shoes with every step I took. There were some pretty good-sized puddles that the runners really couldn't avoid. So by mile 5, I started to slow down a little bit. I also felt a little tightness in my right hamstring a few times throughout the race. By mile 9, I could really feel my toenails jamming into my pruned toes. At that point, the 1:36 was out and I refocused on finishing at 1:38:00. I tried picking up the pace the couple miles and am pretty sure I did, but couldn't finish strong enough and came in at 1:38:34, good for a 7:31 pace. So it was a couple minutes off of my goal, but given the conditions, I was happy with it. Not high-five happy, but happy that I was pretty close and feel like I would have hit it if mother nature was a little more agreeable. It was easily the worst rain I have ever run in. I have a couple small blisters on my second toe (index toes?) on each foot, but have taken care of them so they shouldn't be a problem in a couple of days.

Here are a few pictures Tiffany took from the day:

Me before the race:

The starting/finishing line before the race:

The "Golden Lady" statue in Jackson Park:

And finally me right after the race:

I took an ice bath after we got home and iced down the hammy a little bit. It feels pretty good. I just need to make sure it doesn't turn into something bigger than the slightly irritating feeling that it is right now.

I also took apart the Ipod. I'll put it back together tomorrow and hope for the best. The week ahead is the last big week of training and looks like this:

Tuesday: 11 Miles, 8:05 pace
Wednesday: 12 Miles, 8:05 pace
Friday: 11 Miles, 6 Miles at 7:04
Sunday: 20 Miles, either 8:00 even pace or an 8:20 first half and 7:40 second half

Total: 54 Miles

Have a good week and stay dry.

Thanks

2008-09-11T22:10:00.002-05:00

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for their comments, emails and phone calls over the past few days. I really appreciate the support shown both to our effort here and to Ken and Michelle and their families. Please continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they get through this extremely difficult time.

I initially felt a little apprehensive about writing about my running here again. It still isn't the easiest thing to do following these previous couple posts. But the more I think about it, the more I think the best way to continue to do things here is to celebrate Cru and continue to spread the word about SMA. Please continue to pass on the word of our efforts to friends, families, co-workers, neighbors or whoever you think would like to jump in and help us support FSMA. So hang in there while I switch gears to talk about my running, which has sometimes seemed inconsequential in the big picture after the last few days. But running is the vehicle that has given us the means to raise over $31,000 for FSMA, so it definitely has proved to be worthwhile. If you're not up for reading about running at this point, I completely understand. The rest of this post is pretty much related to running.

***
So , I was able to run on Tuesday morning. I went 9 miles and finished at an 8:01 pace. I don't really remember too many details of the run besides getting the miles in. When I am out running, I can really use it as time to do whatever I want when it comes to what to think. Sometimes I try to focus purely on my time and pace. Other times I can use it to think about Tiffany or family or friends. Maybe sometimes I'll think about fantasy baseball or work. Or I can just listen to the music and clear my head. Or it can be any combination of those things while still focusing on what my watch is telling me. Other times I will try to visualize different parts of the marathon course and visualize running through those parts and seeing the wonderful people who come out and support me. On Tuesday I really didn't look at my watch much and just tried to get some thoughts together about Cru. The result is what you read here on Tuesday's post.

Last night, it was time for the final installment of Yasso 800s. The goal was a 3:10. I headed over to the track after I threw some dinner together. Tiffany got stuck at work late, so I wanted her to be able to eat as soon as she got home. Why, you ask? For those of you that don't know, we are expecting our first child on February 14th. So it's not unusual for Tiffany to be pretty hungry by the time she gets home. At any rate, I got to the track around 6:15 and posted the following times:
1-3:03
2-3:09
3-3:09
4-3:05
5-3:11
6-3:13
7-3:10
8-3:12
9-3:09
10-3:03
Average time: 3:08:04

Tiffany and Bosley (the dog) walked over in time to see the last couple 800s. Bosley was freaking out every time I'd run by them. He has a little bit of separation anxiety. When I say a little bit, I really mean it's pretty awful. After I finished my last 800, I grabbed his leash and took him on a lap around the track. We walked until the half way point and I decided to see if he would run with me. Oh yeah, I should mention that he is a dachsund. His legs aren't very long. He started to run after I did and he really started to motor. It was really funny to see. I then took him off of his leash and let him run to Tiffany for the last quarter lap or so. He was really thirsty and quite tired afterwards. I'll put up a few pictures of him sometime down the road so you can get a mental picture of him running around the track with me.

Back to the real run: I was pretty happy with my times. For those of you new to the blog, the Yasso 800 is an exercise where one runs 800 meters (a half of a mile) ten times with 400 meter jogs in between. Your average time in minutes and seconds supposedly translates (within a few minutes) to a marathon predictor time in hours and seconds. So according to Yasso, I am fit to run around a 3:08 marathon right. Um, yeah, that's not going to happen. A 3:08 is way beyond my current fitness/talent level. That would be a 7:10 pace across 26.2 miles.

The half marathon is this Sunday and I will have a good idea of what I'll want my pace for the full marathon to be based on my time this Sunday. I can promise you it will not be a a 7:10. I do have a 10 miler to get in on Friday morning before Sunday's Half. I'll be sure to fill you all in about Sunday's race.

That's about it here. Have a good weekend.

Cru Pics

2008-09-09T12:25:00.013-05:00

Sad News

2008-09-09T11:27:00.003-05:00

It is with great sadness that I have to tell all of you that little Cru has left the world. Ken and Michelle lost Cru on Sunday night.

It's very hard to put into words what this all means right now, but I'll do my best.

I'd first like to start by saying it is an honor and pleasure to be able to support Cru and his battle against SMA. When I first started this, I did it with the intention of doing anything I could to help Michelle, Ken and Cru and their families.

As of right now, babies diagnosed with SMA Type 1 don't have much of a chance. I felt that if there was a way we could raise money to help the funding of SMA research, we could possibly prevent even just one family from having to go through what Ken and Michelle and their families have gone through and are going through right now. I sincerely appreciate all of your support and your continued support of my running for Cru.

When a baby is diagnosed with SMA Type 1, it's devastating. The joy and happiness that comes with having a baby turns into sadness after learning that the child only has a limited time to live. This beautiful baby which couples have dreamed about forever won't be around very long. Ken and Michelle and their families have shown incredible strength throughout this difficult time. I am amazed every day to find Ken in good spirits. His strength has been unbelievable. It seemed like Ken and Michelle came to terms with the diagnosis and pledged to cherish and value every day they got to spend with Cru while he was still here.

My wife Tiffany and I had the pleasure of meeting Cru one time. As you can tell by the pictures, he's an incredibly cute baby. He was a glowing little boy that day and I feel extremely lucky to have met him. I know Tiffany feels the same way. It really doesn't make sense why this beautiful child had to get this horrible disease.

As more and more money started coming in to help fight SMA, I got the feeling of being part of something much greater than anything I have ever been a part of. The story and love of this little boy has brought people together. You couldn't help but see the growing dollar amount at the top of the firstgiving site and in the sidebar here. You couldn't help but feel like you are making a huge difference, no matter what size the donation was.

I had accepted the fact that while it was too late to really help Cru and his fight against SMA, this is a great cause and no one should have to go through what he has had to go through. In the back of my mind, I had always naively hoped that Cru would somehow get better and there would be some kind of breakthrough in SMA research that would give Cru another shot at life that he deserved so much. I never expected that to happen, but I always hoped.

It's that same hope that drives people and gets people out of bed to face those tough days or to do things that they though they couldn't. While that hope can briefly leave when the awful news comes that Cru has lost this battle, it has to live in everyone else just like Cru's spirit always will.

And it will. Cru may be gone but his spirit and the memories of him will live forever. Rest in peace little Cru. You're in a better place now, you'll always be loved and we'll all miss you.

Please keep Ken, Michelle and Cru in your thoughts and prayers. And enjoy these great pictures of Cru. Thanks again for all of your support.

Thirty Thousand Bucks

2008-09-07T21:26:00.003-05:00

This week's wrap up is going to be be short and sweet as the Bears are busy trying to get Chicago's collective hope up by looking decent against the Colts tonight. They are winning 15-13 as I type.

First off, I forgot to mention that we hit the $30,000 mark last week. Thanks to all of you for your continued support. The effort by everyone involved has been unbelievable.
***
The week ended slightly different than planned. I did get 11 in on Friday morning. I ran it at an 8:04 pace. My knee was a little sore that afternoon and night, so I put off the doubleheader. I woke up on Saturday and felt fine, so I ran the 9 miles with the middle 7 at an 7:04 pace. That left me with a longer run on Sunday. I decided to turn the long run into a short easy run. I figured the 7:04 tempo was much more important than the miles at that point. I also figured staying healthy is more important than tacking on the extra miles as well. So, with the half marathon scheduled and more Yasso's scheduled for this coming week, I ran only 5 miles today. It felt fine. I only had some mild fatigue because of the three consecutive days as well as the tempo run yesterday, but there were no major issues.

With five weeks to go and two hard weeks left, I am feeling good and am looking forward to the half on Sunday. It will be a good test to see where I am at and give me a good idea of how aggressive I will set my goal pace to be on October 12th.

Here's what the upcoming week looks like:
Tuesday: 10 @ 8:10
Wednesday: 9 @ 8:10
Friday: Yasso's - goal of 3:10
Sunday: Half Marathon - goal will be in the 1:35 to 1:36 range, which is a 7:15-7:20 pace

I may change the days around to run the Yasso's on Tuesday or Wednesday so my Friday run can be less physically taxing.

Have a good week and keep on rooting for the cooler weather to continue.

Welcome to Seattle?

2008-09-04T20:25:00.007-05:00

The remnants of Hurricane Gustav have made it a little tough to run. I worked an early shift on Wednesday and had planned to run last night but something came up. So I was going to push it to tonight. Unfortunately, it hasn't stopped raining here since this morning as the after-effects of the hurricane work its way north.

So, I am looking at three runs in three days or possibly a double header on Friday where I run in the morning and then run in afternoon or evening. This is assuming the rain has let up enough to run tomorrow. I don't even need it completely stop raining, but running in a constant downpour is not really good. Your socks and shoes get wet in a hurry and it can make for a pretty uncomfortable run.

The positive side to this is that my legs are very well rested right now. Probably too rested.
***
Speaking of wet shoes, I'd like to share a few pictures of American marathoner Brian Sell's shoes after the Olympic marathon a couple weeks ago. Sell finished in 22nd place with a time of 2:16:07. He likes to run marathon without socks. Apparently he didn't test them in hot and wet conditions because they didn't look too pretty afterward.

Here's the video of the interview after the race. The pictures are pulled from the 2:23 mark. It's pretty interesting to hear his commentary about his strategy and training. If you have a few minutes, take a look. He does work a nice mustache too.

Tuesday's Run and a Report from the Analytics Team

2008-09-02T10:55:00.002-05:00

I pounded 11 miles this morning. Came in in 8 minutes even. It felt pretty good. Started to get a little fatigued at mile 9, but was able to hold on to the 8 minute pace. I ran the first half @ a 7:54 and the second half @ 8:06. On my longer weekday runs, I do have a slight issue with getting water. I'll run north along the river and hit my last water fountain at about the 2.5 mile mark. Today, I had to run 3 more miles north before I turned around and covered the same part of the path. So basically, I have to cover 6 miles without water. In the morning when it's a little cooler, it's not a huge deal. I definitely get thirsty, but it's nothing I can't handle. If it gets really warm, I stop at a gas station at the turn-around point and grab a gatorade.
***
Here are some new numbers on visitors to the blog:

Over the past 30 days:

96 unique visitors with 245 visits

August 27th had the largest amount of visitors with 15

Overall:

197 unique visitors with 585 visits

July 11th has the largest amount of visitors with 24

The blog has been visited by 5 different countries (the US, the UK, Canada, Italy and most recently, Brazil) and 27 different states.

The top 10 states are: Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Michigan, Hawaii, Colorado, Massachusetts, California, New York, with Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin tied for 10th.

In terms of cities, Chicago has lead the way with 138 visits.

Other cities of note with multiple visits:

Spokane, Washington
La Jolla, California
Henderson, Nevada
Littleton, Colorado
Mansfield, Massachusetts
Brooklyn and NY, New York
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Commerce Township, Michigan
Bloomington, Indiana
Mililani, Hawaii

Firefox is the browser of choice of 60.17% of the visitors

Cancellare, Take 2

2008-09-01T21:35:00.003-05:00

Last week wrapped up on Sunday with an 18 miler. It actually turned out to be a just short of 19 miles - about 18.82 or so. I once again had the pleasure running with Rich Cancellare for the middle portion of 11.32 miles. We rendezvoused at the lake path at Wilson and ran down to Ohio Street beach and then turned around.

Basically here are my splits:
The first 3.75 miles were run at roughly an 8:25
The middle 11.32 miles (with Rich) were run at a 7:43 pace
The next stretch of three-quarters of a mile was probably about an 8:30 or so.
The last 3 miles were also run at a 7:43.

So, it was definitely a very good run. I felt pretty good throughout and Rich is a huge boost to have running right next to me. He set his Garmin to have us run at an 8:20 pace. We slowly started out ahead of pace and picked it up withou much of a problem as we went along. Sometimes you can get in a groove and pace kind of becomes an afterthought. And most importantly, I felt healthy throughout the run. But as Rich said, the true test can be how you feel the next day. That next day was today and I feel good. Just a little regular post long run soreness. So, it was a very good ending to an up and down week.

The week ahead looks something like this:
Tuesday: 11 Miles @ 8:15
Wednesday : 11 Miles @ 8:15
Friday: 9 miles, 7 @ 7:00
Sunday: the original plan is a 20 miler @ 8:15, with the last 9 miles run under an 8 minute pace

I am unsure if I am going to proceed with both the 20 miler this coming Sunday as well as the 20 miler scheduled for September 21st. I am not sure if running two more 20 milers at this point will do more harm than good. I may turn one in a 16-18 miler and focus more on pace than miles. Or I may just do both 20s. I will decide later this week after I see how I feel on Friday night or Saturday.

Only 6 weeks to go! Have a good week.

Foot Pain, Cotton Shirts, Bloody Nipples, Velcroed CD Players and Dude, Where’s My Car

2008-08-29T22:38:00.021-05:00

Sounds like a few health issues, a couple bad band names and a very bad movie. Unfortunately it’s the story of the last four weeks of training for the 2004 Chicago Marathon. Sit back, relax and strap it down - this is a long story.

Up until those last four weeks, I had been running pretty well. I had some soreness in my right Achilles, but it seemed to be doing okay. I was running in some $50 Nikes that I bought off the clearance rack at Sportmart. I am not even sure they were legit running shoes.

Anyway, that last month was a busy one. I had decided to enter the half marathon that year so I could get a race under my belt before I attempted to run 26.2 miles in the full marathon. I also thought it would be a good idea to see what it was like to actually run a race, seeing as how I never had up until that point. The half was on September 19th, which was three weeks away from the marathon. Most training typically suggests you complete your last 20 miler on that weekend. I thought, no big deal, I’ll simply move my 20 miler up one weekend to on or around September 11th. The 11th was already scheduled to be a day and night of drinking and fun for my brother Nick’s bachelor party. So, I decided to pound out my first ever 20 miler on the Friday night before. I decided this at about 3:00 on that Friday after I got home from buying a few hundred dollars worth of food and beer for the impending bachelor party. So I hit the road and headed for the lake path at about 4:00 with a few bucks in my pocket and my $50 Nikes on my feet.
I don’t remember much of the early part of the run. I do remember the halfway point when I turned around somewhere around 39th or 43 rd street. I turned around and saw I was quite a ways from the loop. Regardless, I began motoring along as the sun began to set as I was running out of sunlight. Somewhere around Monroe Harbor, I had developed a sudden and major problem. My feet began to throb. Not only were they throbbing, but every step I took felt worse and worse. It felt like my shoes were pieces of plywood being held on by rubber bands. They weren’t falling apart, but they may as well have been. I had no idea what was wrong, but something was and it was very painful.
I kept chugging along at what had to be a 10 minute pace or so. I tried to walk a little bit, but that still hurt and would just make it longer until I got home. I finally made it up to Fullerton and I vaguely remember taking my shoes off and jogging in my socks on that September night. I ended up exiting the path at Roscoe and put my shoes back on as I would have to run on streets and sidewalks. I was only about a half mile from our apartment, but I was absolutely starving. I think I was gone for over three hours at this point. I stopped for a smoothie and walked it on in the last couple of blocks from there.
I walked in the door and Matt had informed that Tiffany had called a few times wondering where in God’s name I could possibly be. I think I mentioned to him that I was entertaining the idea of going for a 20 miler that night. He was very congratulatory as he had not done his 20 miler yet. I called Tiffany, took a shower and assessed the entire situation. It wasn’t pretty. My feet were absolutely killing me, especially the right one. To this day, that was the worst running injury I’ve ever had. I was walking with a noticeable limp and couldn’t put any weight on my right foot.
I awoke the next day and started getting ready for Nick’s bachelor party. I think his buddy Ryan Lovell showed up at about 9 in the morning still drunk from the night before. The rest of the day involved Ryan Lovell repeatedly yelling to A.J. Burnett that it was a bachelor party, Lovell getting kicked out by the fourth inning for being too drunk, the Cubs beating the Marlins, me cooking dogs, brats, and burgers for about 25 guys and finally leading the same group of nearly 25 guys to see a Cake concert. Sometime between the cooking out and Cake concert, my foot really began to hurt. And this was with a steady flow of beer in me all day. I was hobbling around the park where the concert was and saw Max Konzleman now wearing a recently purchased trucker hat that said “Buzzzzzed.” Nice touch. Here's a photo of my four brothers and me from Wrigley Field that day:

(l to r: me, Michael, Pete, Nick, and Brad)

I woke up the next day to a disgusting mess in my apartment and a foot that I could barely walk on. I decided to take the rest of the week off from running until Friday. I went out for about three or four miles and was in pain pretty much the whole time. It was at this point that I considered both going to the doctor and investing in a new pair of running shoes. I decided to hold off on both until I ran the half marathon that Sunday.
The night before the half marathon, Tiffany and I had to go down to Joliet for something. I don’t really remember what for, but we followed that up with some dinner at Merichka’s. For those of you unfamiliar with Merichka’s, they are famous for their poor boy sandwich. I guess the best way to describe a poor boy is kind of like a long piece or ground sirloin on a buttery garlic bun. I highly recommend stopping by and having one next time you’re going through Joliet. What I don’t recommend is having one of these the night before a morning of strenuous physical activity, such as a half marathon.

Tiffany and I ended up getting back to the city late, had trouble finding a parking spot and got to bed well after midnight. I took what amounted to a cat nap and headed down to the southern part of Lake Shore Drive for the 13.1 mile 2004 Chicago Half Marathon. I had all of the essentials with me: my cotton shirt, some basketball-type shorts, my cd player and accompanying Velcro-able case and my cell phone. One horrible thing about the half is the parking situation. It’s a nightmare. I ended up finding a parking spot on a side street somewhere about a half mile away. As I was getting out of my car, my cell phone rings. It’s a co-worker who is trying to get into the office at 7:50 on a Sunday morning. As I was trying to help her punch in a code on the alarm panel, I decided to run while talking on the phone to her to try to get to the starting line before the gun went off. I got Penny in the building and made my way to the back of the pack of runners and was able to catch my breath for about two minutes before the race began. At that point of my life, I didn’t talk to many runners or even read anything about running. I didn’t know that I shouldn’t start at the back of the pack. I didn’t know cotton wasn’t a good idea. I didn’t know poorboys and a general lack of sleep the night before a race is a bad recipe. I know some of this sounds like it should be common sense, but sometimes a few missteps help get you on the right path later on down the road.

So, the gun sounded and I began the slow procession to the starting line. As soon as I hit the starting line, I fired up my portable CD player and took off. I didn’t have a solid goal in mind. I was thinking perhaps 8 minute miles. My main objective was to see what it was like running a race. I began weaving through these incredibly slow runners. They were actually more like run-walkers. I don’t recall my split times. I do recall my foot really hurting for the first four miles. After that, it seemingly went away. I seemed to be running pretty well by the time I reached mile 4 or 5. I had finally trudged through the slower runners and was feeling okay. I was approaching mile 8 or so and really had to go to the bathroom. I figured there had to be some port-a-johns pretty close by. I was not that lucky though. I had made it to mile 9 and then mile 10 and still hadn’t come across a toilet. For those two miles, I was contemplating the pros and cons of waiting until I found the next port-a-john or pissing my pants. My shorts were completely soaked with sweat at this point, so I am sure it would have blended in quite well. I was unsure about the physical action of pissing and running at the same time. I saw a small bunch of bushes off of the right side of the course and headed for them as fast as I could. I made it to the bushes, relieved myself and made my way back to the course. I felt like the bathroom break had really slowed me down, so I picked up the pace the remainder of the race. I pushed it pretty hard right through the finish line. My time was 1:45:29, good for an 8:03 pace. Pretty impressive for my first half marathon, I have learned in retrospect. Unfortunately, I wasn’t thinking too clearly, didn’t care about my time and was considering seeking some medical attention. I was dizzy, disoriented, wasn’t able to walk in a straight line and was as thirsty as I can ever remember being. I had someone cut off my timing chip and made my way towards some bottled water. I downed some water and tried to get my wits about me. I walked through the finishing corral and started to head towards my car. I began meandering the streets near the course looking for my car. I ended up walking for about thirty minutes around the Hyde Park area looking for my car and still couldn’t find it.

At that point, my feet were swollen and hurting, my nipples were raw and on the verge of bleeding and I still wasn’t thinking completely clear. At that point, I decided to call Tiffany to see if she could borrow Matt’s car and come down and help me find my car. In this conversation, I told her there was no way I could run 26.2 miles if I have no idea what’s going on after 13.1 I kept looking for the car while she made her way down. She finally found me. After a brief talk about what had happened, I hopped in shotgun and told her to make a left turn on the next street. And wouldn’t you know it, there was my car. It took all of about a minute. By this time, I was feeling well enough to drive and hopped in my car and headed home wondering what the hell had I gotten myself into by deciding to run a marathon.

Here are a few pictures I scanned from the company that takes pictures of runners out on the course. I apologize for the lack of quality, but they are still pretty funny.

Notice the sweet Brewers headband, the cotton tee shirt and the general look of pain and desperation in the second picture, which was taken later in the race.

Friday's Run

2008-08-29T21:50:00.003-05:00

Well, today was not a good day running for me. I was supposed to do 4x1600 repeats at 6:34 with 800 meter jogs in between. I felt fine when I left and ran about three warm up miles before I started the repeats. I wanted to run a total of 10 miles, so the plan was to sandwich the repeats around some nice, easy paced running.

As I hit the track, it was a struggle to hit the 1:38 mark for each lap. I came pretty close and hit the first mile in 6:37. As I started my 800 meter jog, my thighs were in bad shape. You may recall they were quite sore earlier in the week. I though, okay, I''ll jog it off and hit this next 1600 and keep it going. No such luck, my friends. I finished my 800m jog and started my second 1600. I had no juice in my legs and I'd get a pretty unpleasant feeling in my thighs with every foot-ground impact. I decided to pull back after one lap and just get the miles in rather than doing something really stupid and getting hurt.

I am no doctor, but I don't think the muscles in my thighs have made enough of a recovery from earlier in the week following the 10K. I am hoping they will be fine for Sunday's 18 Miler.
***
That was a great argument for not running with an Ipod following the previous post, Matt. That's probably the most intelligent reasoning for not wanting to run with an Ipod that I've ever heard. I certainly respect your opinion. I also appreciate that fact that it doesn't bother you if someone wants to run with an MP3 player. I don't fault anyone for not wating to wear one, I just think each runner should what he/she feels works for them.

I do listen to music at a much lower volume in the Chicago Marathon than I do in training. I love the crowd and like to hear people cheering on all of the runners. The people of Chicago who come out and support the runners are awesome. I do like to crank it up a little bit in the less crowded stretches of the course when it's you and only you. And a few hundred others runners, of course. And at the end of the race, I love to play the songs that get me fired up, for a little extra boost. Thre are a few marathons where I have posted an awesome last couple miles or kilometers that I attribute to a few things: the music, intestinal fortitude, and visualizing that last stretch of the course in my head for the previous few months.
It's not quite Pavlovian where that song comes on and all of a sudden I start running a minute faster per mile, but I think anything that reinforces positive energy and feelings is a bonus.

Music and Running

2008-08-27T11:08:00.003-05:00

I am huge fan of listening to music while I run. It started back in '04 with a CD player and later that year became an Ipod. There are some running traditionalists that frown upon the use of MP3 players and such while running. To them, I say put on your short shorts and mind your own business. If listening to music makes running more enjoyable for some, who gives a crap? I would personally find running 40-50 miles a week without music rather mind-numbing. The only time I haven't run with my Ipod this training season are when I have done my Yasso's. If you prefer to run without music, feel free. Some people find it distracting. I think it should be up to each individual what he or she wants to do. I find it helpful. Some marathons are now not allowing them to be worn in the race. They cite communication issues among other things. I obviously disagree with the stance taken by some of these marathons.

On a side note, I have just about finished writing the long-awaited story of last few weeks of the 2004 Marathon training. I had to dig deep into the memory banks to pull out this wonderful tale.

Anyway, my point is that one song that has become somewhat of a staple on most of my marathon playlists is now featured in a commercial by Nike. The song is "All These Things That I've Done" by the Killers. This song carried me home during the last mile of the 2005 Las Vegas Marathon as I was passing people. You can go to http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/nike/en_US/courage to see each individual person on the video and get a brief description of why Nike feels they have displayed courage. Some are a little more inspiring than others, but is pretty awesome nonetheless. Take a look:

The mustachioed man at the 26 second mark is Steve Prefontaine. I am not a huge Lance Armstrong guy, but the shots of him in the hospital (at 34-36 second mark) receiving treatment for cancer followed by the shot of him peddling his ass off and winning the Tour de France is remarkable if nothing else.
***
I pounded out my 11 miler this morning. I came in right at 8:00/mile. It felt pretty good. My legs are still sore, but I feel good about posting back-to-back 8:00's after the 10K on Sunday. The reality is that I need to be able to put up 8 minute miles in my sleep to run the kind of marathon I am hoping to run in several weeks. Those 8 minute miles basically have to be the worst mile I put on the board that day. An 8 minute mile over 26.2 miles gets you to the finish line in 3:30. I need to beat that. A 7:50 pace gets you home in 3:25:14. A 7:40 pace will net you a 3:20:52. I am not sure exactly what I will be shooting for on October 12th just yet, but I will need to running consistent sub-8's for sure.

One site I frequent is http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm. On this site, you can find plenty of useful training tools. The page I linked to is the running calculator. It's not an exact science, but it does allow you to enter in a time for a recent race that you ran. It will essentially extrapolate your time across different distances while also including a multiplier in to factor in the added distance and fatigue. Based on my 10K time, McMillan suggests my current fitness level to be a 3:26:01 marathon. I think a 10K is a little short to judge one's performance for a marathon, but it looks like I am at least headed in the right direction. I will be very interested to see what time I can post at the half marathon and what McMillan says about my equivalent marathon time based off of that. In 2006, I posted a 1:39:56 in the half. McMillan said that should have translated into a 3:30:46 marathon. My time marathon time in 2006 was 3:30:57. So McMillan was within 11 seconds. Pretty amazing. Again, it's not the gospel, but it's pretty interesting.

Switcheroo

2008-08-26T21:46:00.002-05:00

Just thought I'd drop in with a quick update on the aftermath of the 10K on Sunday. I had my first run today since the race. My legs were very sore yesterday and today, particularly my thighs. Not my quads so much, but the surrounding muscles. I thought I was supposed to run 10 miles today and 11 tomorrow. Well, it was supposed to be the other way around, but it's no big deal. I ran 10 this morning and will do 11 on Wednesday.

I came in at a 7:59 pace over the 10 miles. I was very surprised. I figured I'd be lucky to hit the 8:15 goal and it would be a struggle. It felt pretty good despite the heavy legs. I think the cooler weather probably helped. Tomorrow should be pretty interesting as I have 11 miles coming on the heels of today's 10 miler with sore legs. Sounds like fun.

You'll Have Nothing and Like It

2008-08-24T21:31:00.004-05:00

Week 9 is in the books, friends. It wasn't a banner finish to the week, but it is over and I'm feeling okay.

I decided to take Thursday off and not make up the extra four miles I skipped on Wednesday. I figured a day of rest would do me better than four miles and four days of running in a row.

I did run a bit extra on Friday to get the legs loosened up. I went somewhere between 11 and 11.5 miles. I ran miles 2 and 4 at a 7:20 pace but decided to take it easy the rest of the way. After my run I re-caulked my bathroom tub. Exciting, I know. Why I am I mentioning it, you ask? Well, I woke up on Saturday morning and my right hamstring was tight. I don't think it was from my run because I wasn't really pushing it too hard. I am thinking it was from the tub, but I really have no idea. I was hoping it was just a little soreness and it would go away.

I woke up on in the middle of the night on Saturday night and I could still feel it. When I got out of bed at 5:45 to get up the 10K this morning, I was still feeling it. It wasn't awful, but it was definitely there.

I got to the course and did some stretching and ran for a couple minutes to try to loosen it up. It seemed to help a little bit, but I was still feeling it at the starting line. Now heading in, I had mentioned I was looking to crack a 7:00 pace per mile. I had actually come up with a 6:51 for the goal. Matt Rauls, fellow 2008 Chicago Marathon participant and veteran triathlete, suggested my Yasso times and medium length runs paces indicated I could hit a 6:30 pace. I appreciate the comment and the kind thoughts. I don't think your ideas are too far off, Matt. However, today didn't turn out to be the day to test it.

I decided to give it a shot early on and see how I could come out. I felt okay in the first mile and thought I found a few guys running in the 6:30-6:45 range. I hit the first mile marker at a little too fast. I hit the marker at 6:20. I was feeling pretty good and my hammy was doing okay at this point. I wanted to back it down a bit to the 6:40-6:45 range for mile two. I was pretty successful with that and hit the two mile mark right at 13:00. As I got started on mile three, I was aiming for somewhere in the 6:45 range. I was still having a hard time getting in a good rhythm though.

Somewhere in between the second and third mile marker, I started to get a wicked cramp in my right side that kind of wrapped around to my back. I hit mile three at 20:30, meaning I just ran a slow 7:30 mile and my overall pace was up to a 6:50. I knew I was in a bit of trouble at that point because the cramp seemed to be getting worse with my pace. I knew 6:30 was an afterthought and a 6:51 was going to be tough. I hit mile four at 28:00 even, meaning I ran another 7:30 and my overall pace was now 7:00 even with 2.2 miles to go. So, the cramp was still there, although more bearable than it was the previous two miles. I should also add that the cramp in my side made me completely forget about my tight hamstring.

I hit mile 5 at 35:20. That was good for a 7:20 mile, but my overall pace had dropped to a 7:04. My original plan was to turn it on at the five mile mark and try to put up a 7:45-8:00 for the last 1.2 miles. Unfortunately I didn't have it in me. I decided to wait another quarter to half mile to leave whatever I had left on the course. I also like to pick people to pass in the home stretch and finish strong. I started to pick up the pace with slightly more than a half mile to go and passed the guy who was in front of me. At that point, I didn't see anyone else in front of me and almost felt like I had made a wrong turn somewhere. I came out of a turn and saw some people a good 100 yards in front of me. I was pushing as best as I could and hit the final turn before the 200 meter (just a guess) final straightaway. Two guys were right behind me. I surged ahead of them, and looked over my right shoulder with about 50 yards left. I saw the two guys pretty far behind me and realized that I was going to be able to come in under 44 minutes. Out of nowhere, a different guy goes streaking by the left side of me and passes me with about 25 yards to go. Nice. Nothing like a punch to the groin as you're finishing up a slightly disappointing race. I finished at 43:54, a 7:04 pace. I ran the last 1.2 miles at a 7:04 pace.

I finished 5th in my age group. 4th place would have netted me a 3rd place medal because the overall winner (34:58) was in my age group. I ended up 23rd overall out of about 313 finishers. My hamstring is still a little tight and I am anxious to see how it feels in the morning.

***

The week ahead:

Tuesday: 11 miles @ 8:15

Wednesday: 10 miles @ 8:15

Friday: 10 miles, 4x1600 @ 6:34 w/800m jogs in between

Sunday: 18 miles @ 8:15, last 5-7 sub 8:00. I may even slow down the first 10-12 miles to an 8:30 and crank up the last 7 or so.

Total: 49 Miles

Bobby Knight Says Have a Good Wednesdey Night

2008-08-20T20:47:00.002-05:00

Bob Knight really has nothing to do with this, but you can't help but notice his pronunciation whenever he says a day of the week. The "a" in day magically becomes an "e" and Monday becomes Mondey. Next time you get a chance, listen to Bob say the days of the week. Who knows when that will be, but make a mental note of it. Maybe commenter Yasso or one of the anonymous commenters can dig up some good youtube of Bob Knight. Here's the best I can do. Check out "Wednesdey Night" around the 49 second mark. Go Mizzou, by the way.

***
This week is shaping up to be a bit different than planned. I ran the 7 mile run on Tuesday at an 8:17 pace on a goal of 8:20. This morning, I ran half of the 8 mile run. I will run the other half (4 miles) on Thursday. Then , on Friday I will run 10 miles with 8 of them in the 7:10-7:20 range. So it will be four days in a row, but the reduced mileage this week should make it manageable. Then we'll complete the week with the 10K on Sunday.

I am feeling a bit fatigued this week. I seem to be a little more tired than I have been and my legs don't have much spring to them. One factor is that I had four weeks in a row of increasing mileage. The last four weeks (in miles) looked like this: 39-42-45-47. In most plans, runners have three weeks of increased mileage and then reduce miles in week 4. I have followed that theory in most every training session. So, I think the four week increase probably has something to do with the fatigue. Throw in the 20 miler on Sunday and the Yasso's on Friday night and you could probably come to the conclusion that it makes sense to be a little tired right now.

I'll run an easy 4 on Thursday and make the call on Friday on how many hard miles I want to do. I will be running all out at the 10K on Sunday. My previous Windrunner 10Ks were 44:41 (7:12/mi pace) in 2005 and 44:26 (7:09/mi pace) in 2006. I'd like to crack the 7:00 mark this year, which would be a 43:30. In '06, I came down with a wicked cramp or side stitch at about mile 4. I struggled through the last 2.2 miles or so and was still able to beat my time from the previous year. I am looking forward to getting back out there this year and beating the 7:00/mile pace.

Halfway Home

2008-08-17T17:57:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I'll try to catch up this week. I have a a few idea that I may trot this week as well. Just a couple things to break up some of the "I ran this fast this week" kind of pattern I have fallen into.

Most importantly, today was the completion of the first half of marathon training. That's right, eight weeks down, eight to go. The next five weeks are the last push before the three week tapering up until the marathon. As I mentioned before, I have a few races coming up pretty soon. This coming Sunday, I am running the Windrunner 10K in the western 'burbs.

How about some results from the week?
Wednesday: 9 Miles @ 8:04 (goal of 8:25)
Friday: Yasso 800s (goal of 3:20)
#1- 3:14
#2- 3:14
#3- 3:13
#4- 3:13
#5- 3:15
#6- 3:13
#7- 3:12
#8- 3:15
#9- 3:14
#10- 2:56
Average: 3:12

Sunday: 20 miles @ 8:24 (goal of 8:20)

Thoughts:
Wednesday's run went pretty well, especially considering it was the second of two back-to-back nine milers.
Friday night's Yasso's went very well. They went much better than last time. The goal was a 3:20, but I came in with a 3:12. It seemed to be a little easier than the first time and it seemed like the right speed for me to run.
Sunday's 20 Miler was not the best run I have had lately. I had an abnormal 20 mile course and had a crowded lake path to deal with because of the air and water show. I also didn't get as much sleep as I probably should have which also resulted in me getting out later than I would have preferred. So, all thing considered, an 8:24 is fine. Because my course was not my usual 20 mile route, I didn't really know exactly where my miler markers were. This also led me to not being able to accurately run the last five miles hard. I kind of lost track of where I was supposed to be when, so I just tried to come in around 8:20 to 8:25.
***
The week ahead is a reduced mileage week.
Tuesday: 8 Miles @ 8:20
Wednesday: 7 Miles @ 8:20
Friday: 10 Miles, 8 @ 7:15
Sunday: Windrunner 10K - I will talk about my goal for this race later in the week. I also my swap the Wednesday and Friday run so I can be fully rested for the 10K on Sunday.

Have a good week!

Did I Catch a Niner in There?

2008-08-12T19:50:00.002-05:00

Good news. The great weather over the weekend has carried over well into this week. The extended forecast looks like a little rain mixed in with high temps right around 80.

It was about 65 this morning when I went out for another nine miler. The goal was still an 8:25, but I came in at an 8:00. It felt pretty good and the cooler weather really makes a big difference. Let's hope this cooling trend continues all the way to October. I'd love an overcast 50 degree day on October 12th.

I have another nine miler to run tomorrow morning. On Friday, Yasso and his 800s enter the picture once again. I think I'll be doing them in the early evening so I can have Tiffany keep track of my times and provide support. She's the best.
***
People have started asking me what my goal time for the marathon is going to be this year. It's kind of hard to say right now. Some people say you should have three goals when you enter a marathon. The first is to finish. The second is a reachable goal if you feel decent. The third goal is if everything breaks right and you have that day where you feel great.

I usually skip the second goal. Barring a major disaster or injury, I will finish the marathon. So, I am training to beat my previous best time of 3 hours and 30 minutes. To run a 3:30, you have to average 8 minute miles over the 26.2 mile course. Not to state the obvious, but I'll need to average sub-8s to beat 3:30. I'd be pleased with anything under 3:30. I will later determine what my goal will be. Right now, I am thinking a 3:25 may be within reach. That would be a 7:50 pace, which honestly looks pretty scary to me. I'll have a pretty good idea of how aggressive I will get with the goal after running the Windrunner 10K on August 24th and the Chicago Half Marathon on September 14th. I'll obviously keep you posted.

Solid Running Weekend

2008-08-10T21:01:00.003-05:00

For those of you in the Chicago area, you know this weekend's weather was great. For those of you not in Chicago, this weekend's weather was about as good as it gets in early August. We had high temps in the upper 70's and lower 80's. It's not quite perfect running weather, but it beats the heck out of the 90's.
***
Friday's run was scheduled to be a 9 miler with the middle 7 at a 7:17 pace. I struggled through my first mile, which basically is the warm-up mile. Sometimes that first mile is really hit and miss. It can feel good and your run could turn out to be bad or mediocre. Or it can feel bad and your run could turn out to be good. I guess it's kind of like the stories you hear about starting pitchers warming up in the bullpen before the game starts. Once I hit mile number 2, I picked up the pace. My right knee was a little achy, but I decided to give these tough 7 miles whatever I could muster. If I only made it 5 or 6 miles at the hard pace, it'd be better than nothing. I started to feel pretty good by mile 3. I made it through miles 4, 5 and 6 feeling strong, while still running a few seconds under my pace. At that point, I only had two hard miles left and picked up the pace even more because I was feeling really good. I ended up completing the 7 mile stretch @ a 7:01 pace. It was probably my best run of training yet.
***
Sunday's run was scheduled to be a 17 miler. Because I had the pleasure of having my first guest runner accompany me for about 10.5 miles in the middle of the run, I upped it to a round 18 miles. My friend and fellow marathoner Rich Cancellare met me on the lakepath at Wilson Ave. this morning. Rich has run several marathons including Chicago (a few times), Houston, Tulsa and the Paris (yes, Paris, France). He is not running the Chicago marathon this fall, but will be running another one in Texas in several months. Rich and I run at a pretty similar pace, so it makes for a good run whenever we can get out togther, which is not very often. We started out with a goal of an 8:20 for our 10 miles together. We ran the first two miles too hard. According to Rich's Garmin, we were somewhere around an 8:00 pace. I think we slightly backed it down and hit our turnaround point. We actually ended up running about 5.25 miles before we turned around. As we turned around at Chicago Ave on the lakepath, we both felt the force of a 20+ mph wind blowing directly at us. As it turned out, we had a strong tailwind the first half that we really didn't notice. I read a while back that running into the wind can add 8-11% to your time, while running with it only increases your speed by 2-4%. I don't know how accurate that really is, nor do I remember where I read it, but I think it's pretty believable. Anyway, we completed the second half slower than the first and came in around an 8:18. I ran the first 3.75 miles at an 8:00 pace, so I was looking pretty good heading into the homestretch. I backed it down a little in preparations for my strong three mile finish I had planned. I was trying to run the last three miles under 24 minutes. I hit the 16 mile mark in 7:45, then the 17 mile mark at 16:00. So I was right on pace for a 24 minute last three miles. I put everything I had into the last mile and brought it home at 23:04, good for a 7:41 pace over the last three miles and a 7:04 the last mile. I know the numbers are starting to get a little much at this point, so I'll wrap it up. Total pace for the 18 miles was an 8:10. I am very happy with that and feel good about being able to finish strong.
***
The Week Ahead:
Tuesday 9 mi @ 8:25
Wednesday 9 mi @ 8:25
Friday: Yasso 800's with a 3:20 goal
Sunday: 20 mile run, number 2; goal pace of 8:20

Two 9's

2008-08-07T07:29:00.002-05:00

I don't have much time, but I wanted to fill you in on the Tuesday and Wednesday runs. They were both 9 milers to be run at an 8:25 pace. Most of my short runs from now until the last two weeks will be in the 8-12 mile range, with the longer runs still coming on the weekends. It can get tough, because the length of the runs means I have to be out for at least an hour every run. One way around that would be to add a fifth day of running, but I don't want to do that. I have done five day training weeks in the past. I would usually end up with one mediocre run because you're always running at least three days in a row in a five day a week running plan. Some people will tell you that you have to run 5 or 6 days a week to train for a marathon. I feel you have to find the right plan that you can tailor to your own individual strengths and weaknesses, as well as time constraints.

So the runs went well. I came in at a 8:03 on Tuesday and an 8:16 last night. Everything felt good, which is a huge plus coming off of the 20 miler on Sunday. It's not unusual to be sore for a few days after a 20 mile run.

We're looking at another 9 miles again on Friday, although the pace will be picked up for the middle 6 or 7 to a 7:17. That one is going to be tough. That's pretty close to my fastest 10K time. I should add that I have only run two 10Ks, so there's not exactly a huge pool to draw from. I am going to do the same 10K on August 24th.

I also signed up the the Chicago Half Marathon on September 14th. I like to get a half marathon in before the full marathon. It's a good practice run and can pretty much tell me where I am at in terms of physical and mental race shape. It also gets me some practice of running in a larger crowd, drinking and running at the same time and helps me pace a little more evenly.

20 Miles of Pleasure

2008-08-04T20:29:00.003-05:00

That's right. 20 miles in the books on the first of the longest training runs. As I mentioned before, the 20 milers are pretty brutal. It's kind of like running a marathon without the adrenaline, the support, the other runners around, the water and Gatorade every couple miles...so I guess it's like a marathon without the perks - if there is such a thing.

I came in at 2:49:46 or an 8:29 pace. That's only a few seconds off of the goal pace of 8:25. I got out early enough to at least minimize the heat. It was still a little warm, but there was a breeze from time to time. One tough part of the long run along the lakefront is the stretch that goes from Fullerton south. There's little or no shade during the stretch until you get down near Navy Pier. All-in-all, it was a pretty successful 20 miler and I am happy to get the first one over with.

Buster Poindexter? Actually, Hot Hot Heat was a reference to the band of the same name, not Buster's wonderful 80's hit. Here's a video of theirs:

Not the greatest band or song ever. The video isn't bad though.
***
Here's this week's schedule:
Tuesday : 9 Miles @ 8:25
Wednesday : 9 Miles @ 8:25
Friday: 9 Miles w/7 mi @ 7:17
Sunday: 17 Miles @ 8:25 with a Fast Finish - Fast Finish is running the last 3-5 miles @ an 8:00 pace

Hot Hot Heat

2008-08-01T17:15:00.002-05:00

I think I am done running in the heat. I ran today right around noon and it was miserable. If the forecast calls for anything around 90 degrees, I am getting up early in the morning to run. It's just not worth running when it's this hot. Your energy level is just sapped after a short amount of time.

I ran today's nine-miler under the goal pace of 8:25. I came in at an 8:15, but it was a struggle. All things considered, I'll take it though. 85 degrees and coming in under goal is something to be happy about.

Wednesday's run also was actually much worse than today's. I was supposed to run 7 miles with three of them at a 6:38 pace. I only made it 2 miles of the 3 at the 6:38 pace. I just didn't have the energy or stamina that day. I know I said it much earlier on, but there are some day when you just don't have it. I feel pretty good about the fact that they are only coming every three weeks or so.

I am seriously considering changing my hard run day from Wednesday to Friday. I have had a few instances during this training period where I get fatigued on the back-to-back runs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I am not really sure how much the heat has to do with it, but I am not really sure I want to find out if that's the reason. The Wednesday hard runs are designed to push my body and further prepare myself to run faster for a longer amount of time. In theory, the more times I do it and more miles I can add on, the easier it should become. I want to be able to give the hard runs 100%, so it may be best to swap them with the Friday run.
***
So, I have a big 20 miler on tap for Sunday morning. I am going to try to get up and get the run in before it gets really hot. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Damn Hot

2008-07-29T21:07:00.003-05:00

Marathon training in the summer in Chicago is fantastic. I guess it could be worse. I could be in Las Vegas or Phoenix. I only had a six-miler on tap today. Goal pace was again 8:25/mi and I came in at an 8:08. It felt pretty good despite the wicked heat and humidity at 5:00 P.M. Sometimes the first run after a very long run (18-20 miles) can be a little rough, but it really wasn't bad. If it was 10-15 degrees cooler, it probably would have been really good.

So the rest of the week looks like this:
Wednesday: 7 miles, including 3 1600 meter runs @ 6:38 with 800 meter jogs in between them.
Friday: 9 miles @ 8:25
Sunday: The first 20 miler of the training season. Goal pace of 8:25/mile.

Total for the week: 42 Miles

In the past, I have done anywhere from one to three 2o mile runs in training for one marathon. I have four penciled in this time. I may change that to three depending on a few things like black toenails or general fatigue in the middle two quarters of training.

I may try to get up very early and run on Wednesday to beat the heat. Or I may decide the extra hour and fifteen minutes of sleep is more valuable. We'll see.
***
I also upped the goal to 30K tonight. I received a very generous off-line donation from one of my long-time best buds yesterday. Here's a special thank you to the Johnson family. They won't get to see their name on the site, but that's okay. That pushed us over $26,000 tonight. You can see the running total of off-line donations at the bottom of the Firstgiving site. There have now been 5 checks that have either been sent to me or directly to FSMA. The total of the checks are combined as one total number. Thanks again to every single one of you who has contributed.

Weekend Runs

2008-07-27T13:03:00.002-05:00

First off, we're over $25,000! Thanks again to everyone. We'll talk about the next goal a little later on in the week.

I was able to get a run in on Friday morning. It was an 8 mile run that featured 5 miles at pretty solid pace. I ran miles 2 through 4 at a 7:14 and miles 6 and 7 at a 7:18. I was only a few seconds off of the 7:13 goal pace for those 5 miles. I felt pretty good while doing it, so it was pretty encouraging. I am not too far away from being able to run a really strong 10K (6.2 miles).

This morning, I had an 18 miler on tap. The 18 mile run is the last stop before the longest run of training, which is 20 miles. The 18 and 20 milers aren't a whole lot of fun. It means you are out on your feet and in the sun for two and a half hours or longer. They get you mentally and physically prepared for being on your feet for the three plus hours on the big day when 26.2 are on the docket.

So this morning's goal (8:25/mile) was to finish the run in 2:31:30 (hours:minutes:seconds). I came in under at 2:28:56 or an 8:16 pace. I felt decent throughout, but did get a little fatigued somewhere around mile 15. I also ran the first half faster than the second half. It's not uncommon for this to happen, although it's not really recommended. Ideally, you'll run the second faster than the first and kind of get your body used to running while fatigued. The splits were 1:13:25 (8:09 pace) and 1:15:31 (8:23 pace). So the second half was still better than goal, I'll need to work on picking up the pace during the second half of the longer runs. It's something I'll focus on after I complete my first 20 miler next weekend.

Have a good week.

$25,000 in Sight

2008-07-24T07:31:00.002-05:00

It's crazy really. We're have almost reached $25,000. If you would have told me we'd be able to raise this much money when we were just getting stated, I'd have called you a lunatic. So, I'd like to send out a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to the cause. It has truly been remarkable what we've been able to do - in just over a month! Thanks again to everyone. I really can't thank all of you enough. You're all amazing.
***

So, I had runs scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Tuesday's run was supposed to be 8 miles at an 8:25 pace. Tuesday happened to be one of those days where you feel like you could run forever. I have these days about once every three weeks or so, when I feel like that ,I try to make the most of it. I really didn't have time to add any miles onto the 8, so I picked up the pace. I ran the 8 at a 7:55 pace. And I wasn't pushing it at all. I felt great during the run and really good post-run as well.

I did have some minor soreness yesterday, so I decided to swap the Wednesday and Friday runs. This would basically give me a slightly easier recovery by swapping the 6 @ 8:25 and the 8 with 4 to 5 miles @ 7:13. Plus, I'll be able to knock out the Friday run in the morning. The temperature should be close to perfect.

I ran the 6 miles yesterday @ an 8:05 pace. Maybe I turned a corner after doing the Yasso's. The two runs since doing the Yasso's on Sunday have both been very solid. It was definitely more of a struggle than Tuesday's run, but I was happy with considering I wasn't feeling great before I headed out for the run.
***
Lastly, I have a little soreness in my left foot. I don't think it's anything serious, but it might cause me to push a run back a day here or there to get a couple of days of rest in row without missing any miles. Or not. We'll see how it feels on Friday morning. As I mentioned before, it's not uncommon to have a variety of maladies throughout training. I think will probably pass as well. Here's hoping.

This Week's Schedule

2008-07-21T21:50:00.002-05:00

After the bevy of posts last night, I just wanted to post this week's schedule.
Here's what we're looking at in what's shaping up to be a much nicer week temperature-wise:

Tuesday: 7 Miles @ 8:25
Wednesday: a tough 8 Miler with the middle 5 or 6 at a 7:13 pace
Friday: 6 Miles @ 8:25
Sunday: 18 Miles @ 8:25

39 Miles total. Enjoy. My legs are feeling much better than I thought they would after the Yasso's, so it will hopefully be a really good week.

Mike Murphy's Stat of the Day

2008-07-20T22:15:00.006-05:00

Okay, it doesn't look like I am going to get to story of the last four weeks leading up to the 2004 Chicago Marathon this weekend. It happened almost four years ago, I am sure another week won't hurt.

I do want to share some of the analytics from the blog. I started the analytics program on July 10th. Here are some interesting numbers:

There have been 183 total visits.

The highest amount of visitors came on July 11th with 24.

The have been two visitors from outside the U.S. One from Canada and one from London, UK.

Here are the top 4 States in terms of visits:

#1 Illinois
#2 Indiana
#3 Nevada
#4 Massachusetts

Other states to visit at least once include: California, Washington, Colorado, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey.

Average time on site: 1 minute, 50 seconds

53.55% of visitors use Firefox as their browser