Bartram Marathon/50K

I was just told of some bad and good news. Like usual we will go with the bad first and good next.

Bad news: The annual Bartram Marathon/50K race at Bartram Forrest on the Saturday after Thanksgiving has been postponed due to the race director having too much on his plate taking night classes to finish up with his degree.

Good news: Deb Botkin and myself have decided to step up to the plate and become co-race directors for the race this year so it is on!!!!!!!!!

I have never done this before so I know that Deb will help me out. I am willing to do what is needed because this is such an awesome race. It is the only ultra-marathon that I have ever done and will be doing again this year. I have some friends that will be coming with me so the race must go on.

If you are not familiar with the race, it is a cross country course that is on grass, gravel roads and dirt roads. It is a figure 8 course that is about 5.25 miles with 2 aid stations. One which is unmanned and the other has more food than a buffet on Sunday afternoon. It is such a fun race that is low keyed.

I am looking forward to this race cause it will be 2 weeks after our Chickamauga Marathon at which we are training for.

And for my weight loss, well it was not a good week due. I have to say that the loss was zero. At least there was no gain. We just finished week 7 and I am down 9 pounds. I still have a goal to loose at least 1 to 1.5 pounds per week and then by the end of the year, I should be able to be at my lowest weight in many years.

Have a great weekend as I know cause my long run tomorrow is only 8 miles. Yippee!!!!

17 miler done!

Saturday morning and I am up at 3:3o to try and beat the heat and get this 17 mile practice run over with. We were going to go on a new route. At first I thought it was going to be bad but everyone said they liked it. The last 2 miles were up hill but other than that, it was a good route.

We finished with a time of 3:39 at a 12:55 pace which is right on pace for the Galloway method. We are suppose to be 2 minutes slower per mile in our training runs so we are right at a 5 hour marathon pace.

Saturday morning was full of surprises. We got soaked in the rain. We were beside a Nextel tower when it got hit by lightening at which we saw the explosion. It seemed that everyone had the dropsies. One of the runners in the front of the pack dropped 1/2 of his granola bar and the girl in the back picked it up and ate it. It was still in the wrapper. One girl accidentally discharged her pepper spray on her leg and then had rubbed her face with the same cloth that was around it. The day was a great day.

We finished up with a wonderful glass of chocolate milk. It is so good after a long run to help replenish carbs. This week the low temps are suppose to drop in the upper 60's so it is going to help with our humidity. YES finally it is looking as if it might start to cool off.

Have a great week and continue to put one foot in front of the other.

morning run

This morning I tried to go out with some of my FAST running partners. Well it did not go so good. I was able to keep up for the first 2.5 miles but then fell off the band wagon.

78 degrees with 94% humidity did not help either. We were trying to conquer some big hills to try and get ready for The Labor Day 10K. That race has 2 big hills in it.

I was able to get the 5.25 miles in an hour. It could have been a faster pace if we could have cut the hills out. I had an average HR of 140 which is getting better.

1/2 way through training

We are now half way through our training for Chickamauga. We are going to be running a 17 miler next weekend. This weekend was 6 - 1 mile repeats. Well some of us went to the Jim Herring 10K in Centerville. It was Micheal, Eddie, Shaun, Karen, Nicole and myself. We set out to run ratios of 2 minute runs with only 30 second walk breaks at a pace around 10 minutes overall.

Well, we went out as a training run to see how it was going to feel. It was hot and humid. We went out too fast and started to fall off at the end. I looked at my watch and we had positive splits which is not good. The last mile was brutal. I am so glad to be able to rest now.

Congratulations to Karen for placing 1st in her age group and Nicole for placing 3rd in her age group in her 1st 10K road race. I am very proud to be able to run with great athletes.

This race was very special to me because of Zack Pruitt. Zack passed away this year from a brain tumor but was one of my running friends that would run this course with me. This year was the 1st year without him. I was pushing myself through the course and I know that he was looking over me.

Along with a great race, I am now 6 weeks into our weight loss challenge. I feel into 2nd place this week by .01% pounds lost. I am down 8 pounds. I know that it does not seem like a lot. I am trying to go slowly so that it stays off. I am hoping that I can get down about 20-25 by the end of the year. Then I should be able to finally break the dreaded 5 hour marathon.

Well for now, I am going to sit here with my feet up. I am still having some pain in my left foot but with the help from my Strasbourg sock it helps. I would like to have a big shout out to my friend Matt Jenkins, an ultra marathoner in N.C., who finished her journey yesterday. Matt ran 760 miles across N.C. to help raise awareness and money for the non-profit organization he works for. Their budget was cut by nearly $200,000.00 and he was trying to help raise money to replace it. To help go to www.westernyouthnetwork.org

Thank you and have a wonderful week.

15 Miler

Sorry this is a little late but here it goes. We arrived to start our journey bright and early. 5 a.m. and we are off. We had about 7 of us in our group and about 10 or 12 in the other group. I was not good and awake but I was ready for the run.

We were going to go our route that we tried to do 2 weeks ago. This time we would do the whole thing and see if the miles would add up to 15. Well they did. When we started out the temps were in the low 80's with high humidity. It made it aweful to try and get a good run in. We had to drop back a little on our times so that we could breathe and not pass out. I will be so glad to see the cooler temps come back. I miss them.

When we came into the Indian Mounds, we came upon a split in the road. It was very dark and I asked the group if they wanted to have some fun. They said Yes. So we hide around the corner until Brandi's group came around and then we started to run again. It was dark and they could not see us. I think someone said some ugly words when we came out. It was funny and I think personally we all needed a good laugh to start the day.

As the time went by, the humidity slowly got better but the temps got higher. On our first loop of the course, we were holding a 2:1 ratio of run/walk with a average time of 12:47/mile. That is about what we have been averaging on the long runs. Well on the 2nd loop I decided to back it down to 1/1 and the time almost stayed the same. We all agreed that the 1/1 felt better.

After the run I went out for a 1/2 mile walk with no shoes. It felt great o get out of them. Brandi had brought chocolate milk for us. IT WAS SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!! That is one of the best after run drinks you can every have to replace carbs.

Well this weekend I think we are going for mile repeats. I believe it is seven. Seeing that I am one of the leaders you would think that I would have the calender memorized by now. Well I don't.

Until later, have a wonderful week.

Boy it is early

Saturday morning and its 4:00 a.m. I am getting ready for a 15 mile practice run for the Chickamauga marathon. We are going out early this morning to try and break away from all the HOT temps. I just hope that my energy level will stay with me til the end.

Well I need to get off the computer and get dressed and get out the door. I will post later and I come home and eat, shower, and get a nap. Have a great day.

Training for Chickamauga Marathon

I need to start by saying I am going to start posting more often like I use to do. I have gotten caught up in a lot of life activities lately and have forgot to write things down.

I am currently involved in our local Jeff Galloway program that trains runners and non-runners on how to run a marathon injury free. We have ratios of run/walk/run and it depends on how fast or not so fast you run. Our group is trying to finish the marathon in under 5 hours and we run a 2:1 ratio. We run several times a week for maintenance runs and a long run on Saturday mornings.

We are right now about 1/2 way through our training with the race on Nov. 13. I have run this race 2 other times so I kind of know what to expect throughout the race. I have been trying to pass along info to the other runners about the course, hills, 2 loop course and other things. I am having so much fun helping others and it is also helping me out.

Along with training for this marathon, I have also enrolled in a biggest loser program with our club. We started 4 weeks ago and I am just trying to take it slow so that I KEEP the weight off. So far I am down 6.5 pounds and I hope to get off about 20 pounds before the race. If so it will be the lowest I have ever been for a marathon. I have been so close to beating a 5 hour race but so far it has not happened. This has been a burden in my life. It is just weighing heavy on my shoulders. That is one reason why I am trying to loose the weight. I love it when people look at me when I tell them I love to run marathons. I mean normally when you look at someone who is 6'3 and weighing 263 pounds, you would not think he would be out running.

Tomorrow morning our group is meeting for a 15 mile run. I cant wait because some of the runners have never run this far before in their life. I love to see it when people go past their last goal. It is fun to be able to run this far and then go home and do your normal activities for the day.

Well for now I am going to get some rest so that i will have plenty of sleep for tomorrow. I promise to post more often so that I don't get behind. Have a great weekend.