Milestone Approaching

That's me in the Blue!

It's been far too long since I've posted anything, and I can't believe I've let it get this out of hand. However, over the past month, I haven't been doing anything super exciting.

Back in late September, I ran the Akron Marathon. The course was very challenging, and after minimal running for about 2 weeks in an effort to heal my shin splints before the race, it became apparent to me that I would most likely not make my goal time, but I was still going to give it a shot.

I started with the 3:55:00 pace group, and stayed with or ahead of them for the first half of the race. At the 15.5 mile checkpoint, I was running just over 9:00 miles, and on pace to finish at 4:06:42. I would have been very pleased with that result. However, the reason I was currently at that pace was because my calf had begun cramping, and I needed to stop and stretch to prevent pain down the road. I wish it would've been that simple. After I got the cramp out of my shin, I began to feel some pain on the inside of my knee, so I would stretch that as best as I could to make the remaining miles bearable. That turned into every 3/4 mile I needed to stop and stretch.

At that point in the race, I decided to not worry about time, interact with the other runners & the crowd, and most importantly Have Fun & Finish! Which I did, I crossed the Finish line with an official time of 4:27:20.

The title of this entry is 'Milestone Approaching'...and I'm sure you're wondering what that is..well maybe. This coming weekend is my 30th birthday. I'm not entirely too sure how I feel about it, because honestly, I feel like I'm 25-26, not 29 going on 30! But this is making me wonder, 'What does 30 years feel like??!!' and 'What have I really done in my first 30 years??!!'. Both of those, I feel, are valid questions.

So...What does 30 years feel like? I can't answer that yet, since I'm not quite there yet. :-D But these past 29.9 years have seen a great many things. Just to put it in perspective, my 29th year consisted of:

• A 10 Year High School Reunion
• My first cruise/The Rock Boat XI
• Losing a great friend, and gaining a new one (I'm actually talking about my old and current car.)
• Setting huge goals for myself
• Running 2 Marathons, when I've never ran a race longer than a 5k
• Attempting to run 1001 miles in 1 year
• Starting blogging
• Meeting my first Nephew

I know there are countless other things that I could list, but I'm going to stop there.

I know that the next years of my life will include countless half-marathons & full marathons, qualifying for Boston, countless PR's, striving to improve who I am, and finally figuring out all the things I want with my career, and personal growth.

As far as the future of this blog goes, I'm going to make a strong effort to constantly update it with more than just running. I'm also planning on starting up P90X again in the very near future, changing my eating habits and cutting out most 'junk' foods, incorporating some tech related blogging (technology is a passion of mine), and whatever else people are interested in. 

So, please speak up (via comments, e-mail, or twitter)if you're interested in anything, and I'll do my best.

Injury Update/Vitamin A

With 12 days left until the Akron Marathon, I've found that my last few weeks have been horrid with getting on the road. A major reason is because I've been icing my legs in an effort to make an injury go away.

This weekend was kind of eye-opening for me because I came to realize that I might not get to compete or possibly finish at Akron, which would be a major personal disappointment. The best thing I can do is test it little by little and hope that it'll get me through the next 2 weeks.

On a brighter note, a Blogger Friend decided to do a series of interviews on people who are doing (or in my case, attempting to do) inspiring things. Sillygrrl is doing a series called Vitamin A(wesome), and the best way to describe it is people doing crazy things, like climbing Mount Everest or running 1001 miles. Personally, I think climbing Everest would be a much more difficult task, with much better scenery...and the opportunity to see Red Panda's in the Himalayas.

Red Panda, Frankie, at the Akron Zoo

Mount Everest (from http://travellhappyland.blogspot.com)

Hopefully, the icing will make my legs feel better, and I can get back out on the road this afternoon for a nice 4 miles!

The Long Weekend

I'm soo glad that the long weekend is over. It was good having the time off from work, but with a very rainy and a very hot weekend...and my shin splints came back in full effect.

I didn't get in very many miles, and with less than 3 weeks until the Akron Marathon, those miles are pretty valuable. I hope that the ice, and rest will help heal my legs.

I am getting some shorter runs in this week, in an effort to keep up some endurance while giving my body some opportunity to recover.

We'll see what happens, but with any luck I'll be back out on the road shortly.

Lots of Miles Over a Long Weekend

It's about time that there's a long weekend! The only thing better than having a long weekend, is having good weather for it to get lots of miles in.  But when it's very humid out, it isn't as much fun. Saturday is going to feel like 100° while Sunday will feel like 85°, so the earlier I get on the road, the better. Saturday I have a 20 miler scheduled, and Sunday I have a 5 miles scheduled.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, and it's not too hot! Just think, we're less than 60 days from Snow here in Ohio!!

The Buckeye Half Marathon

2011 Buckeye Half Marathon Finish Line

Well...the weekend is over, and another race is in the books. I can't say how much this past weekend meant to me.

I entered the Buckeye Half Marathon primarily because it could be bundled with the Akron Marathon, which I've been planing to do all year. It turns out, it would be a great measuring stick for how things could turn out for Akron. In the past week I haven't been following my training plan very closely, due to a start of my shin splints resurgence. Taking some pain meds, and running under 9 miles the previous week, I wasn't sure how I was going to fair with this race.

My primary goal was the finish at 1:40:00. So, I lined up with the 1:40:00 pace group before the race. Once the horn sounded, everyone took off in a fury. This start was a lot different than at the Cleveland Marathon. There were far fewer people, and it was much easier to move around.  For the first mile or so, I hung out near the double yellow line in the road, keeping about 20 feet behind the pace leader, Greg. All I needed to do, was keep him in my sights for the next hour-forty, and I'll be on target. After the first turn, we hit our first water stop, right by the Blue Heron nests. I passed on the water, and I got a little in better position with Greg.

For the next few miles, I somehow found myself running side by side with Greg, and we began chatting. One of the first things he said to me was "Quick, you're iPod died...sing us a song." I replied with "What do you want to hear?" Next thing I knew, I was singing Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams to the 1:40 pace group. Shortly after my horrible singing, we hit the next water stop. Before I knew it the 1:40 pace group went from about 30 people to 3...including Greg. At this point I begin running side by side with a girl, who looked like she was in much better shape than I am. We begin chatting it up, trying to pass the time. Her name was Sarah, and we pass the half-way point of the race, side by side, almost dead on pace.

After the next water stop, Sarah fell back, and it was Greg and I running the pace. When talking with him, he noticed that my upper body was getting really tight. I was running basically with my arms and shoulders in a boxer's stance. I asked him how I could loosen up, and he said to relax my arms. For the next few hundred yards, I ran doing some ballistic stretching and also let my arms hang by my sides, which was a really weird feeling. But before I knew it, my upper body did feel looser, and even though my legs were bothering me, I knew that I was going to finish close to my goal.

With about 4 miles left, Greg turns around and Sarah catches up to us, and she had got her second wind. She keeps pace with us for about a mile, and then she put her kick in. I was keeping pace with Greg, and he tells me to run with her. So I catch up and run with her until my legs begin to feel heavy, and I begin to fall behind her a bit, and Greg catches up to me. He's encouraging me, and doing all he can to get me to keep the pace.

With about 3/4 of a mile left, the pain in my legs was great. I had to stop and stretch for about 30-40 seconds. Once I got a little stretch in, I began running hard again. I start to go down a hill and around a corner and I see the turn off to the last 2 tenths. I pick up the pace to the mile 13 marker, and take a hard left. I then see the finish line in the distance and look at the clock. 1:39:40. The only thought in my head was '20 seconds to get my goal!' I begin to run as fast as my body will take me. I get into a full out sprint...well, I consider it a sprint, but it was after 13 miles.

I cross the finish line as the clock turns 1:39:51 meeting Sarah and Greg who beat me by about 20 seconds. We were all extremely happy with our times, Sarah even managed to win her age group!

After the results were posted, I finished 73rd out of 443 people overall, and 9th in my age group. These are things I took about 10 mins off my half marathon time from the Cleveland Marathon, which makes me very happy!

As a surprise, I found out that the finish line was being recorded, and would be published in the next few days. Once the video is posted online, I will publish it here and let you know exactly when you can see me.


Keep Running Everyone!

8-28-11 - 13.04 mi http://go.nike.com/06q1d4t4
8-24-11 - 04.19 mi http://go.nike.com/srnmni
8-23-11 - 04.42 mi http://go.nike.com/0341fodk
8-22-11 - 09.12 mi http://go.nike.com/5h4418
8-21-11 - 03.00 mi http://go.nike.com/4v6g9j5
8-20-11 - 06.39 mi http://go.nike.com/0roo5r7
8-18-11 - 12.20 mi http://go.nike.com/09so48u1
8-16-11 - 05.05 mi http://go.nike.com/01mfdgm6
8-14-11 - 16.01 mi http://go.nike.com/33armfu
8-13-11 - 05.16 mi http://go.nike.com/13evbi3
8-12-11 - 06.51 mi http://go.nike.com/08jk56ks
8-11-11 - 09.01 mi http://go.nike.com/8f9idgu
8-10-11 - 05.40 mi http://go.nike.com/23jigql
8-05-11 - 10.15 mi http://go.nike.com/061gbio3
8-02-11 - 05.23 mi http://go.nike.com/09n4evdg
8-01-11 - 05.13 mi http://go.nike.com/4vquhbk

Buckeye Half/It's Good to be Blue!

Tomorrow morning I will be running in the Buckeye Half-Marathon. I'm looking forward to this event because it is going to be a nice relaxing run in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, with some really nice scenic views along the Cuyahoga River. I'm going to try to take a camera with me to get some good pics of all the Blue Heron!

This Half is basically 2 laps around a stretch of road at the bottom of a few big hills. I've ran it for fun earlier in the year, and it was very enjoyable. Saw a lot of nature, animals, and very small rolling hills. Here's a link to the course map. I know that I'll be able to complete the race, however the past few day's I've been taking it easy on my legs. It feels like my shin splints are starting to rear their ugly heads again. I've taken an Ice Bath, and been icing them for the past few nights, trying to alleviate the pain. It's working a bit, but not enough for me.

So, you may be wondering why this has a two part title, and 'It's Good to be Blue' doesn't entirely make sense...but, I've made it to the Blue Level in Nike+! The blue level is 1000 K or about 620 miles. If only I actually ran the 620 miles this year, I'd be much closer to 1001! So, as of tonight I've run 584 miles, after tomorrow it'll be about 597 miles!

 

Well, it's time for me to get some sleep, so I'll be ready for tomorrow morning and the Buckeye!

Keep Running!

Where is this year going??

I started writing this post halfway through June, and it's now August. I haven't forgot about this, but things have been very busy for me.

I'm currently still behind where I should be, but am gaining ground pretty quickly. As long as I stay on my training plan, I won't be behind for long.

I've been working on putting together a review for the Nike Air Pegasus 28+ Breathe shoes, that I've put aprox 120 miles on so far, and the Apple iPod Shuffle 2gb that I received as a gift from my brother for being his best man. I have used that on every run, replacing my phone for music, for nearly 6 weeks.

Not to mention, that coming up I have the Buckeye Half Marathon, and the Akron Marathon creeping closer and closer. I hope that I'm prepared for those once the time comes.

So, for right now, here is a list of all my runs since the last time, and I'll be back with some more posts real soon!

7-31-11 - 14.02 mi http://go.nike.com/03bf1164 7-28-11 - 05.01 mi http://go.nike.com/053n4obq 7-26-11 - 05.07 mi http://goo.gl/UMFQd 7-19-11 - 05.01 mi http://go.nike.com/05ms6s5c 7-15-11 - 04.01 mi http://go.nike.com/07d88c6h 7-13-11 - 05.41 mi http://go.nike.com/088vfh1s 7-10-11 - 07.15 mi http://go.nike.com/012v8a0o 7-06-11 - 08.01 mi http://go.nike.com/03mopn2f 6-29-11 - 05.21 mi http://go.nike.com/0142aaic 6-23-11 - 04.17 mi http://go.nike.com/03eh27p3 6-20-11 - 08.39 mi http://go.nike.com/6ktdv4m 6-15-11 - 06.02 mi http://go.nike.com/16qsku4

7-29-11 - 05.21 mi http://go.nike.com/079fln51 7-27-11 - 09.31 mi http://goo.gl/vq6cT 7-20-11 - 10.38 mi http://go.nike.com/0hfrna1 7-17-11 - 05.01 mi http://go.nike.com/9r0oi4a 7-14-11 - 08.06 mi http://go.nike.com/2db81ej 7-12-11 - 04.20 mi http://go.nike.com/05en25q2 7-07-11 - 04.18 mi http://go.nike.com/5eks29p 7-05-11 - 05.05 mi http://go.nike.com/3b7i7h5 6-28-11 - 05.00 mi http://go.nike.com/02ectlm9 6-21-11 - 03.01 mi http://go.nike.com/0glpo25 6-18-11 - 04.25 mi http://go.nike.com/07g8tic1