I always think that's cool when they put your name on your bib. You'll do great, Paul!
I have been swamped. Work in Seattle the first couple of days, travel home Wednesday, still digging out my desk but I think I'm close. I just scanned this week's thread and yeah, it seems pretty quiet. Nothing like leaving Paul out alone to chew his fingers off before his race! (Is Perry running the same one??)
Here's the link to my race report, over on the Master's Forum. Warning... it's long.
I ran a little on the hotel treadmill Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Nothing yesterday, I was wiped out. Today I'll head to the gym at lunchtime, then a movie with DH tonight.
Hey Kimmie! You're running the Disney marathon, right? Can't believe that's coming up so fast. That's one I sometimes think I'd like a "do over" on. I had such a great race in me, and left my timing chip in my room. Can't believe I brought that up again, but thinking of the race brings it all back. Oh well. You'll do great. It's a fast course if you can get out of the crowds. I was in corral 2 so up near the front, still got bogged down a bit at the beginning. You go through some pretty narrow spots... watch for cracks in the pavement and such, it's dark at the beginning!
Hey Bryan, good to see you again, sorry about the work stuff. Seems like everyone gets dumped on every now and then. I'm actually catching up on things a bit... from last summer.
Lou, I know I've already said it, but sorry about JD. She had a good life and had loving owners.
Hey Cash!
Pam, I had to chuckle at your race. Almost sounds like something I'd do. So you ended up running the 10k distance anyway, right?
On the road again...
I just scanned this week's thread and yeah, it seems pretty quiet. Nothing like leaving Paul out alone to chew his fingers off before his race!
I like to think of it as my friends at Team Blister making sure that I get the full taper experience.
I write. I read. I run. One time, I ran a lot on my 50th birthday.
Paul
Yes, Disney!
Hope I can actually train at some point in the next 4 weeks.
Erika, I will head over to read your report in a few.....
Paul, you're going to do AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hopefully, I'm loud enough to make up for the slackers who haven't checked in..... Dave?
Lou, I don' think I said that I am really sorry for your loss.
Perry- what race are you running??? Good luck to you too!!!!!
Happy Camper
Have an awesome race tomorrow Paul and good running to Perry also!
10-mile race on tap for me tomorrow morning. Today was sunny and low 50's, tomorrow morning will be 30's and rain. Race is loop course along the river bottoms at McBaine. Course takes you past the 350 year old Great Burr Oak tree twice. It's a prediction race with no sandbagging. Watches aren't allowed. Closest to their predicted time gets a cheese prize. Farthest from their predicted time gets sauerkraut. Most suprising thing I've learned running it is how good sauerkraut brownies are.
Cheese & Sauerkraut
I've never won either cheese or sauerkraut. Think I'll predict 1:22:00 tomorrow.
Determination: The feeling you get right before you try something incredibly stupid.
Bryan - that's a pretty cool concept for a race. I like it. Hope you win some cheese.
Good luck tomorrow, Perry! Think about me when you finish - I should be in the final 10k when you cross the finish line of your race.
Options,Account, Forums
If only my name were 541, then it'd be in big letters on my bib. Actually I've never seen ones with the name printed on like that -- that's great!
PS: I'm not running the same race as Paul. But I probably will run the same race as p2r next March.
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
Wow. Clicked on Erika's link. Wow, that's long. Nice looking blonde in the photos looks like someone on the blister home page. But that's longer than my long race reports (for my local running club newsletters), and I get people making jokes about my long ones. I bow in admiration at your report length!
Hmmm, was looking for a comment on content, not length. I'll take it that you checked out the pictures, and that's good enough.
Good luck tomorrow, you guys!!
I read it after I posted that -- glad you had fun and fun socializing in those crazy conditions -- and congrats on the hardware too. Its about 22F out here now, apparently - coldest morning for me this year. Gonna put on a pile of clothes.
Up, coffee, and out the door. It's 30F at the start and 50F at the end. Good weather!
Shredded wheat for me, and water.
Well, that was more painful than expected.
(My plan was to try to run the first half with Quint -- it was his sub-3 marathon attempt, for which he's been training all year -- and then jog it in, and DW was going to join me at the half and jog in with me.)
First off, Quint was really rolling along, and I couldn't keep up. I thought his plan was sub-7 pace, but I hadn't done the math; turns out sub-3 requires 6:52 pace, which doesn't sound that much faster than 7, but every second gets scarier. And he was going faster than that in the opening miles, and he was comfortable and I was working. I lost sight of him by mile 8, and resolved to jog the rest, and DW joined me at the halfway point (as planned). Unfortunately I was tired and sore, so I wasn't very good company -- quiet and a bit grumpy, and slow -- it's hard for her to run too slowly - it hurts her legs. But we made it, and I finished. I was so glad to be done.
Then she pointed out that my shoe was red. She went out to do a warmdown while I tried to get some food. Unfortunately I wanted something sugary to drink, and they only had water and beer. I settled for beer, and started feeling faint, and sat down, and someone got some nurses to look at me. I think it was probably just being tired, plus my alcohol tolerance is really low, so that probably affected me. The nurses got me a little can of coke and washed my foot off and wrapped it in an ace bandage style thing, and I felt better, and could limp back to the car. We turned the heat up to high and I switched to dry shirts, because I was starting to violently chatter, and we headed home. I've walked up and down stairs several times, to help overcome the soreness, and I'm about walking normally now.
I'm planning a 15K tomorrow morning; will have to see how that goes, and whether I can actually run.
Wow Perry, that is a blazing start. Was the bleeding from a blister? Hope you're feeling better. I couldn't come close to holding that pace for a 5k.
Hope Paul's race went well.
No cheese or sauerkraut for me this year. No time either. I'll have to wait until the results are posted as they didn't them out as we finished. Over 50 ran it this morning. Wind and rain started as we waited for the prizes. Just beat the weather. Tomorrow's run will be a cold one.
I read Perry's first line and thought he was talking about me. There was good and bad for me in the race. Official results aren't posted so I'm not sure what my chip time will be, but Garmin read 4:23:33 which means I took 25 minutes off my first marathon a year ago. That is something I am very pleased with, even though I really had hoped to get 4:15.
The bad for me is that this one mirrored my Richmond race, the only difference being that I ran faster. In Richmond I hit the 20 mile split in 3:27:11 and then had 3 miles of hell towards the end and the last 10k took me 1:21 or so. Today I hit the 20 mile split in 3:09:15 and the last 10k took me 1:14 or so. So, I'm thrilled that I'm getting faster, but I cramped in the last 10k again just like in Richmond. Actually, it may have been worse, and this year I drank gatorade at the water stops in order to help with that. I guess I'm just wondering if that's the normal marathon experience. I don't think so, because not everyone seems to have this stuff happen. Insight is welcome.
I came home and stretched, took a shower, and iced the knees. I feel a ton better than I did after the Richmond race last year, so I know I'm stronger. Also, I TOOK 25 MINUTES OFF MY PR!
Mentally, I'm in a good place. I just want to learn all i can so that I can get better. I figure if I ran 1500 miles this year and shaved 25 minutes off my time, that I can go sub 4 next year by running 1800. So, at some point next week I'll lace the shoes back on and start the slow recovery miles. Next target is sub-2 at the National Half in March.
BTW. I looked back over the goals I had set for 2010 and they were to go sub 25 in a 5k and sub 4:30 in a marathon, so I met my goals in the distances I raced. I should also meet my mileage goal of 1500 (I think I'm about 25 miles short after today's race).
Sorry so long. I appreciate all the advice you guys drop in the stuff you post here. You're making me a better runner. Maybe someday it'll make me a faster one, too.
Way to go, Paul. A good strong improvement over your PR is nothing to dismiss. That you (and we) think you can do even better is just fuel for the next one. You'll get it. Each one is a learning experience.
Sorry about the foot, Perry, but it sounds like it's ok now? I can't imagine you not keeping up.
3.5 miles today on the treadmill with 3 x .25 mile bits at 7:42 pace, the rest mostly easy. Our temps are going to drop steadily through the night, and tomorrow's "high" is something like -20°. Sure glad I'm not training for anything these days.