Busy week

I am glad this week is over. It has been very hectic. I have been trying to prepare for my wife surprise party that went over without a hitch. She was very happy and did not have a clue. Thank you to all who were able to come out and celebrate her special day.

I have been busy this week also working on the annual Bartram Forest Marathon/50K trail race on November 27,2010. I have run this race before and wanting to do it again. Mandie and I were out eating supper one night and ran into Kevin Hatfield who is the race director. He told me that due to an overloaded schedule of night classes in college that he was not able to put on the race again. I asked him that if we helped out, could we still have it. He agreed. Well now Deb Botkin and myself are co-race directors for Bartam this year. I now have a different perspective of RDs.

I received an email from a very experienced runner this week by the name of Kay Allen. Kay was the national female Carolina champion trail runner. She was wanting to run Bartram this year but heard that it might be cancelled. I quickly e-mailed her back to let her know the race is going to be on this year. It is always exciting to met big name runners that want to come and run our local race. Last year we had the president and vice-president who started the 50 states/ 50 marathon club run with us.

I have been sending e-mails out and answering the ones I have received. I was lucky that Kevin still had some of his contacts from the race. I have been trying to get companies to donate items for our race. I have been trying to get goodies for the bags, tables during the race and for post-race awards. So far I know that RoadID is sponsoring us by donating 100 free race bibs, 6 road ID bracelets and 100 discount coupons for the ones who would like to order a bracelet. I have several other companies that I am waiting to hear from. If anyone has contact information on a company that might be willing to help us with donating items, please let me know.

Yesterday our training group was suppose to go out for a 10 mile run. There was a local 10K race going on so we decided to go out for a 4 mile pre-run warmup before running the race. When we started out, it was about 73 degrees and very humid. We went out for the first 2 miles of the course and came back. OMG it was nothing but hills. The course reminded me of a camel's back. Up and down the entire way.

We started out with a run/walk ratio of 1:30/45 seconds. We have been doing a 2/1 but found this new ratio and I like it. When you compare the two of them, it is the same percentage ratio but a lower number for a quicker turn over.

I have to give a big thank you to the race director of Caring Hands ( I believe that was the name of the race ). It was a very hilly course that was laid out very well. There was a great crowd support along the course with people playing theme music from Rocky while cheering us along. Great water stops with the volunteers bringing the water to us in the middle of the road. Normally they stand beside the table and you have to go to them. Lots of orange cones along the course to help with traffic. Normally you have to watch for traffic and dodge cars along the way. A great race and I will definitely run it again.

I have to take my hat off to our awesome group of runners. Stef and Karen took 1st in their age groups and Sean and Nicole took 3rd in their age group. I think I came in 4th since Sean got 3rd. Well if I have to loose to someone, it might as well be someone I run with. I am most proud of what I heard during the race. As we were running up the hills, I heard "Shorten your stride up the hills". I quickly turned my head and said "Wow, yall have been listening to what I have said". Then about a mile later I heard "Run like you have ski poles in your hands". That is what I have told them to think as they run up hills. For me it makes me think of cross country skiing. If you have poles in your hands, it makes it easier to go up a hill.

A first for first

This weekend we did our 20 mile training run with a time of 4:13 on average of 12:37 pace. We were way faster than what our time pace should have been at. I am so looking forward to Chickamauga. I am shooting for my time goal but if it is not reached, I will be happy for those who finish with smiles and memories in their mind and heart.

For a lot of the runners, this was the fist time that they have ever finished 20 miles. Boy were they happy. Sore yes, but more happy than anything. They were a lot of emotions shed along the way but nothing but smiles at the end with the choclate milk. I am so proud of everyone that came out and ran this weekend. I am especially proud of Micheal who ran the 20 miles after his group quit after only 10 miles. It takes a lot of inner strength to keep going when others quit.

While we were running we discussed about what we would do on our last long run. We are suppose to do 23 but it is on the day of the Jay's Hope race. I had decided that I would start around 3:30 a.m. and continue to run until around 8:15 so that I could make it to the race. I told the group that they could still start at 5 and they said we run as a group and they would join me at 3:30 and they go to the race. I am so honored to have such a wonderful group. I told them that if I had to walk the race it still meant a lot to me. My friend Zack Pruitt died at the age of 14 with brain cancer. I am going to run in his honor and so is his family. His father was my running partner in our first half marathon. It is true that running friends are sometimes stronger than your own family. Thanks guys and girls.

I rested up today with a terrible headache from running 20 miles and then going roller blading at a birthday party. Have a great week and keep up and down with the feet.

Time for some new shoes

I have been having some pains in my left foot and now it is starting to hurt in my outer left calf. I went to Run-Fit to see about if I needed to change my shoes again. I found out that the Asics 3010 that I have actually helped me at first but then hurt me in the end. When the left shoe started to break down, the extra arch support started to push my foot outward which put more pressure on the outside of my foot.

I went out yesterday with a pair of Gel-Nimbus 12's to try and see if it would help my pain. I think it did. I went for about 30 minutes on the treadmill and ti felt so good. I woke up this morning with a lot less pain. Normally when I would get up in the morning it would feel like a knife butting shoved into my foot.

A quick recap of training for Chickamauga so far: 2 Saturdays ago we went for a 17 miler at which I had problems with the end. The last 3 miles were uphill. Still finished with the time goal that we were looking at. This past Sat we did 9 miles of speed work at which we kicked some serious butt. We were about 20 seconds per mile faster than we should have been doing. It helped me mentally to have this run cause it put me back in check for our time goal.

My weight loss is helping me alot also. I have now gotten off 12 pounds in 9 weeks. I am still shooting for at least 1 to 1.5 pounds per week so that I will be able to keep it off and not some quick loss plan where you put it all back on in the end. For every pound you loose, it is equivalent to about 50 seconds in a marathon. I need every advantage that I can find to help me out.

Have a great week and I will re post soon.

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.