Cool Runnings!

PM  - 4 easy miles outside after Webelos Scouts.  I finally got a replacement charging cradle for my Garmin, so I am back in business for knowing the exact distance and my average pace.  Average pace for this run was 8:17/mile, nice and easy as promised.  There was just a hint of soreness in my legs (calves mostly) when I first started out, but that went away by the first 1/4 mile.  Felt good to get out and run.  On a side note, I got my new Grid Fastwitch 3's today, and eager as I am to test them out, I will NOT be wearing them for the marathon, but will be itching to try them out soon after.  They provide a small amount of stability and weigh only 7.4 oz.  And best of all, they are Bright Orange!  I'm talking LOUD, people!  I love them!

AM - drove to St. George for the marathon.

PM - after we checked into the hotel, Lybi and I went for an easy 2 mile run, average pace of around 11:00/mile.  Her hip was bothering her a little bit, so we took it easy.

Let me first start out by saying that this was by far the most physically demanding of the three marathons I have run.  When we got up to the starting line, the wind was blowing and it was starting to rain.  It seemed to have gotten colder from the time I got up there until the start, although this may have just been perception.

Distance (miles)	Split Time	Total Time	Actual Split Time	Actual Total Time	Comments
1	6:50	6:50	6:56	6:56	First mile, we were taking it easy at the start, especially since it was windy and raining.
2	7:05	13:56	7:05	14:02	I think there was a very slight uphill here, in any case, we were still taking it easy, especially because of the wind and rain.
3	6:39	20:35	6:37	20:40	Made good time on this downhill mile.
4	6:40	27:15	6:39	27:19	Right on pace for this mile, sticking with RivertonPaul and Andy.
5	6:52	34:08	6:59	34:18	Had an issue with my left shoe where the sockliner became loose and started to bunch up under my foot.  I stopped to adjust it and lost some time.
6	6:22	40:31	6:38	40:56	Had the problem with my shoe again - this time, instead of trying to adjust it again, I just pulled it out and threw it aside, hoping that wouldn't lead to my getting blisters on that foot.  At this point, I lost sight of Andy and RivertonPaul and couldn't find them again, but I did catch up with Paul Thomas and his friend Nathan.
7	6:24	46:56	6:32	47:28	On this mile, Paul stopped to fix his shoe, and I never caught sight of him again the entire race.
8	8:06	55:02	7:44	55:13	One word - Veyo.  I must admit, I was surpised this mile was as fast as it was, considering we were averaging about 8:30/mile going up Veyo.
9	7:24	1:02:27	7:25	1:02:39	Sucking a little wind, recovering from Veyo
10	7:12	1:09:39	7:25	1:10:04	Still recovering, met up with Tom here.
11	7:31	1:17:10	7:18	1:17:22	Was intent on at least hitting the half in 1:32, so I surged a little bit - no one went with me.  I didn't see any of the the rest again until the very end (when Tom caught me).
12	7:04	1:24:15	6:56	1:24:19	Met up with Marcie here, who was struggling a bit after having taken it out kind of hard.  Towed her along for a couple of miles, tried to encourage her a bit.
13	6:43	1:30:59	6:56	1:31:16	Little slower than I was expecting, but overall, I was pretty happy with this mile.  We ended up going through the half at just about exactly 1:32 by my Garmin.
14	6:45	1:37:44	7:22	1:38:38	I think I was trying to stick with Marcie here and got a little complacent.  She didn't want to start attacking the hill until we had actually reached the downhill.
15	6:31	1:44:15	6:33	1:45:12	Hit the downhill, I was trying to keep towing Marcie along, but she told me to not wait for her.
16	6:22	1:50:38	6:08	1:51:20	Fastest mile of the entire marathon.  In retrospect, it may have been too fast, but I just wanted to get down the hill.
17	6:34	1:57:12	6:40	1:58:01	A little slower than I wanted, my legs were starting to really complain here.  Starting at about the halfway mark, my calves had started to get kind of tight, which was a little cause for worry for me, but I had decided that nothing was going to keep me from running, save an injury.  Took a gatorade and gel here.
18	6:31	2:03:43	7:07	2:05:09	My legs were starting to give out here - I could not muster the turnover to keep up the pace.  I was seeing 3:00 slip away here, and was setting my sights on a new goal of 3:05.
19	7:03	2:10:47	7:50	2:13:00	The last hill of the course really took a lot out of me.  My legs had no pop to them, and I really struggled up this hill.  However, I had already decided that I would not stop and walk.  Started to walk through the aid stations right around here, to make sure that I was getting enough gatorade.
20	6:38	2:17:26	7:09	2:20:09	This was the beginning of the last big downhill, and again, I could not muster the turnover needed.
21	6:24	2:23:50	6:50	2:27:00	I couldn't do any more than this - my legs were really hurting, but I was determined to not stop and walk.  I did, however, walk through the aid station to drink a gatorade and (I think) take a gel.
22	6:55	2:30:46	7:48	2:34:48	Legs were dying here - I was getting passed by other runners and just could not do anything about it.
23	6:30	2:37:16	7:48	2:42:36	Ditto.
24	6:37	2:43:54	7:39	2:50:16	Slightly faster than the previous two because 1) I met up with Dustin, who was having leg and back issues, and towed him along, and also saw Lybi, who took some video and screamed some encouraging words to me.
25	6:33	2:50:27	8:06	2:58:22	Okay, I have to admit that at the end of this mile, I had to walk for a little bit.  My legs were on the verge of giving out.  At this point a police officer on a motorcycle made some comment to me about being so close.  I chose not to reply . . .
26	6:41	2:57:09	10:31	3:08:53	I totally blew up on this mile.  After stating to jog again after my stint of walking, I had to walk again.  I was finding it difficult to even swing my arms.
26.2595	1:50	2:59:00	2:03	3:10:56	Tom caught up to me here with about 0.1 miles to go and told me to get going, so I summoned all of the strength I had left and "sprinted" to the finish.  I think he was surprised I had so much left, as I passed him up.

Afer I finished, I stopped and started staggering like a drunk.  A national guardsman came up to me and asked me if I was okay, to which I replied "I think so". He asked me if I could make it (to the end of the chute), and again I replied, "I think so."  He apparently was not satisfied with my answer, so he put his arm around me and guided me down the chute, and handed me off to another guardsman, who asked me if I knew what day it was as he was guiding me to the first aid tent.  I still had my wits about me and was able to answer correctly, so I just spent about 10 minutes in the first aid tent, where I ate 2 Clif bars, half an ice cream sandwich (call me crazy) and half a bottle of gatorade.  I then made my way out of the tent and staggered out to the recovery zone, where I saw Marcie and Josse.  Marcie had come in just barely behind me, and Josse had run 3:15.  I kept going to the end, where I met Lybi, who remarked that my lips were blue.  I guess I was cold - I certainly didn't realize it until she made the remark, at which point I started shivering like a banshee.  Since they didn't have my clothes when we went over there, we went back to the hotel and checked out, then went to Denny's where I devoured almost all of their Heartland slam - 2 eggs, scrambled, with bacon, country potatoes and cheese mixed in, 2 sausage links, 2 strips of bacon, hash browns and 2 pancakes.  Plus we got some hot chocolate for me.  Then we went back down, picked up my clothes, got my official chip time, which was exactly the same as the time on my Garmin, and left.  Overall, even though the weather prevented me from reaching my original gold or silver goals, I was still able to set a new personal best, and was able to reach my bronze goal of hitting a BQ for the fastest age group, of which I am no longer a part of.  Given the fact that almost everyone ended up running about 10 minutes slower than they were expecting, I am happy with these results.  I enjoyed meeting up with and running with the other bloggers, and a special thanks to Tom for giving me a figurative kick in the butt at the very end.

Oooh, my legs are so sore today still!  All day Saturday and yesterday they were killing me - today it is more tolerable, and I am almost back to walking normally.  Nevertheless, today is a day of rest for me, and possibly tomorrow as well to give my muscles a chance to recover.  Then it is back to easy running for a few weeks.  I am already thinking about the possibilities for a January/February marathon, which would be a first for me.  Here are my two choices, with their pros/cons:

1.  Desert Classic Marathon - pros:  here in Arizona, no travel required, inexpensive entry fee, small field, not on a Sunday.  cons:  more hilly than I would like, small field.

2.  Los Angeles Marathon - pros:  on president's day, close enough to drive, have friends that live in LA that we could probably stay with, appears to be a pretty fast course, may have a large FRB contingent.  cons:  under new management, huge field (17000 runners), first two miles are uphill, LA traffic is horrible.

Right now I am undecided and will have to talk to Lybi about each, but would appreciate any comments regarding both.

AM - 2 very slow (and painful) miles with Sparky.  My calves were tight as all get out, my quads were still sore, and I was basically stumping my way around, which caused my lower back to feel sore by the end of the run.  However, I am glad that I got out.  This is the quickest I have ever started to recover from a marathon, and I take that as a good sign.  I am hopeful that tomorrow will be better because of today.

I may also have just had my mind made up for me about which marathon to run - The Arizona Desert Classic Marathon is on January 31 next year, which is the same day as London's Run, a half marathon benefitting children's cancer charities.  The story behind this run is tear-jerking, yet heart-warming to see how the family of the young girl whom the race is named after has handled her loss from cancer and has turned their loss into an event that helps others, and I am determined to run this race every year I can.  So that means that, if possible, I will be running the LA marathon, which is just over 2 weeks after London's Run.  That should give me enough time to recover, since it is only a half marathon.

Update #2:  I just got an email from MarathonFoto with a link to my photos.  Some of them don't look half bad (I just took screenshots of the large thumbnails and saved them to jpg's and cropped them - one of them is my new blog photo), and some of them look extremely dorky.  But I guess that's the way it is . . .

No running yesterday, my body was feeling pretty worn down, and I wanted to avoid getting sick after having just severely taxed myself at the St. George marathon.

PM - ran 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:25/mile.  He slowed down a bit after the first mile, which he ran in 10:15.  Then another 1 mile with Joseph, average pace of 11:35/mile.  He did a great job too, no whining, no crying, no complaining.  Then another 0.2 miles with Adam, which I didn't count against my total mileage.  Afterwards, I ran 3 miles with Sparky, average pace of 8:35/mile.  I was somewhat surprised I was able to run at that pace, and my calves were pretty sore, but I think that it will help to get all the toxins out of my muscles and help them to recover more quickly.  I am already looking at a few races I can tack on before doing another 1/2 marathon or marathon in January/February.  There is a 5K around here called outrun the FBI, and the cause is to help shut down internet predators.  They also offer national child fingerprint ID'ing, which sounds pretty cool, and special awards for beating the FBI agents.  It is on November 8.  Then when we are visiting my brother and his family over Thanksgiving, I would like to run in the turkey trot there - it is apparently the largest of its kind in the country (at least that is what they are touting).  That one is an 8-miler.

PM - ran 1 mile with Joey in 10:50 - he gets his "fancy food" goal.  My calves were pretty sore for this mile, probably worsened by the fact that I was running in aquasocks.  I stretched out my calves after running with Joey.  Then I ran another 1.5 miles with Sam at 10:18 pace.  Felt much better - calves were not as tight.  I also wore my running shoes for these.

I created a course for the Outrun the FBI 5K race in early November.  Although there are a lot of turns, the course is flat as a pancake, with all of about 5 feet of elevation gain/loss.  I am shooting for a goal in that race of 17:30.  I think that it is definitely attainable, but will need to get in some speedword prior to the race.

AM - 3 miles with Sparky, average pace of about 8:35/mile.  Legs are feeling better, still some tightness in my outer calves - doesn't actually feel like my gastrocs or my soleus, more like my peroneus longus, which is just in front of the soleus.  That's what was getting hammered on the downhills when my feet were slapping down on the pavement.  Makes sense, now that I think about it.

PM - 1 mile with Joey in 11:35.  His stomach was hurting him.  Another 0.33 with Adam, pace about 15:30/mile.  Then I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to do a couple more miles by myself.  It was kind of gusty out, but I decided to see what my legs could do while still feeling good.  2 miles, average pace of 7:36/mile.  Legs are definitely MUCH better than they were on Tuesday, when I could barely run at all.  I take that as an extremely positive sign.  I think that after a day of rest tomorrow, I will be able to slowly get back into a routine - maybe 30 miles next week, bumping it up to 40 the following week.

AM - 3 miles by myself, average pace of 7:30/mile.  Legs feel tons better.  I feel somewhere between 90-95% recovered.  Not 100%, because there is still some lingering soreness in my legs, but otherwise I am feeling pretty good.  After I got back, I took Sparky out for another 3 miles, average pace of about 8:05/mile.  I think that he likes the cooler temperatures much more - he wasn't panting at all during the run.  It was between 40-45 degrees this morning when I first started running, as it was 45 degrees when I came back and got Sparky.  Ran in shorts and a short sleeve technical tee - felt marvelous.  It was a bit chilly at first, but then my body started to warm up, and I was able to just enjoy the cooler weather.  It was actually nice for a change to not be sweating buckets even in the early morning.

3 miles in my new fastwitch 3's. faster than I had intended, but it felt good to see what they felt like. I like them a lot. good fit, just enough support.

PM - 1 mile with Joseph in 11:25 after dinner.  He ate too much, and his stomach was hurting him. 

Later on, 6 miles by myself, with my mp3 player, average pace 7:35/mile.  It felt very good.  Legs feel completely back to normal, no soreness at all from my fast miles last night, now I need to work off all the junk I ate last week after the marathon and get my weight back down.  Time to start eating healthy again (today was a good day) and getting to bed on time.  Lybi and I have decided to re-institute our 10:00 pm bedtime curfew, with consequences attached if we miss our curfew.  Lybi has to smell my smelly running shorts, which is probably enough to gag someone with the strongest stomach, and my consequence is yet to be determined (we have to think of something suitable).  I am so excited that I feel 100% recovered less than two weeks after St.George - this is the fastest I have recovered from my 3 marathons, even though I count this one as my hardest.  I think that running quickly after (as hard and painful as it was) probably aided in the recovery by helping my muscles to flush out all the toxins and getting the blood flowing to the areas to speed up the rebuilding process.   Whether I do the LA marathon is still dependent upon whether we will be able to stay with Lybi's best friend or not.  If that doesn't work out, I will probably just go ahead and do the desert classic marathon.

PM - 1 mile with Joseph in 11:40.  He had another bad day today - he might be getting sick, as he has run much faster than this before.

Another 3 miles with Sparky, average pace of 8:05/mile.  Legs felt good, but I could still feel my dinner, even though I consider it to have been pretty healthy - tomato soup and a grilled chicken/baby swiss sandwich.  Could have been the tomato soup . . .

AM - 3 miles with Sparky, untimed.  Woke up feeling kind of congested in my chest, took me a little while to warm up.  I have also had a stuffy nose for the past few days, which made breathing kind of difficult.

Then another 7 miles by myself, first 6 miles in 44:00 flat, average pace of 7:20/mile.  First three miles were done in an average of 7:30/mile, then I apparently picked it up some to average 7:10/mile for the last three.  I didn't have the Garmin, but I ran this route the other day with the Garmin, so I know it was 6 miles.  Finished strong, then cooled down for a mile, untimed.  Legs felt a little tired afterwards, but that is to be expected.

On a side note, it looks like I won't be able to do the Outrun the FBI 5K as originally planned, as a much more important event is going to take place - Samuel is going to be baptized!  My parents will be coming into town from North Carolina, which is very sweet of them, and I know it will mean the world to Samuel.  I am very excited - he is our first child to be baptized, so it seems to be more of a big deal.  I actually hope that we can have all of the other baptisms be a big deal as well (for them).

AM - 3 miles with Sparky, average pace of 8:02/mile.  It was a balmy 68 degrees when I went out - felt pretty nice, but I certainly wouldn't mind if it was a bit cooler.

I think I have found another 5K race to run, the week before Samuel's baptism.  It is the Arcadia's Pride 5th Annual Run for Pride 5K.  Also a flat course, it appears to be run entirely on the bank of the canal.  Last year's winning time was 18:34, so I might even be able to win the thing.  Only 255 registered participants last year, so fairly small.  It was either this one or the Undy 5000 (5K) where they were asking people to run in their underwear.  That doesn't sound too appealing to me . . .

PM - 4 more miles outside by myself, kind of a harder pace. Started off with the first mile in 7:30, then progressed from there. Second mile in 7:17, third mile in 7:03, and the last mile at 10K pace in 6:20. It felt good to open it up a bit - I hit 5:20 pace at some point during the last mile.

PM - 3 miles with Sparky outside, average pace of 8:05/mile.  Then another two miles by myself, average pace of somewhere around 7:15/mile.  Not 100% sure, don't have my Garmin with me so I can't check.  I just know the first mile was 7:30, and the second was right around 7:00.  I wore my old Trigon Guides for the 3 miles with Sparky, and put on my new Fastwitch 3's for the last two miles to get used to them for when I race in them.  I am still not sure if I will be able to use them for a marathon, or if they do not provide enough cushioning for that much pounding, but I should at the very least be able to use them for races up to 1/2 marathon in distance.  I am definitely planning on using them for the 5K I am going to do next weekend.

PM - 6 miles total, broken up into 3 segments:

1 - 1.5 miles from home to the church for Webelos scouts.  It was actually a bit shorter, so I added some distance by running past the church and then doubling back.  Average pace of 7:34/mile.

2 - 1.5 miles from the church back to home.  Wind was at my back, subsequently my pace was a bit faster.  Average pace of 7:22/mile.

3 - 3 miles outside with Sparky.  Started off nice and easy and gradually increased the pace throughout the entire run.  Average pace of 8:02/mile.

After some discussion with RivertonPaul, I feel it will be most beneficial to incorporate some of the Tinman training concepts into my training as I prepare for the LA Marathon.  Especially the tinman pace.  At the same time, since I would also like to improve on my shorter distance PR's, I will be incorporating some speedier work into my runs, as time permits.  I am excited for what this new year will bring in terms of new records.  I feel confident that I will be able to continue to improve this year.

PM - ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill after volunteering in a call center for 3 hours making calls for Proposition 102 here in Arizona (the "marriage amendment").  I would have run further, but the treadmill was making these awful screeching sounds that made me worry something was seriously wrong with it, and every step I took was inflicting more damage on it.  Warmed up the first mile, gradually speeding up to 7:30 pace, then launched into what was supposed to be 4 miles at tinman pace (6:40/mile).  Unfortunately the treadmill did not cooperate today, and I can't run outside because Lybi is out with some friends watching a movie.  Such is life.  Hopefully I can get in some miles tomorrow morning.  However, I have learned from experience that I am not going to try to "make up" the miles I was unable to run tonight.

PM - 3 miles with Sparky, average pace of 7:45/mile.  It was cooler out, so he was able to handle the faster pace without any problems.  I think he is more of a cool weather dog, with the type of fur he has, based on my observations.  Nevertheless, we are getting him groomed tomorrow.

PM2 - 4 more miles by myself.  Weather was absolutely beautiful.  Average pace of 7:17/mile, mostly due to the last mile.  Started out with the first mile at 7:28, second mile in 7:21.  Third mile in 7:17, and the last mile in 6:59, with a nice strong finish the last 1/4 mile or so.  Hit 5:25 pace during the last segment.  Felt good to stretch the legs out, so to speak.  I am excited for my 5K next weekend, and also just got an email about a 10K on the 15th, which benefits the Boy Scouts.  Since I am a Webelos Leader, I will only be too happy to help out . . . :-)

AM - 3 miles with Sparky, average pace of 8:00/mile.  Legs were dead.  Lybi and I stayed up pretty late last night working on downloading and starting to burn music CD's for her piano students.  It took longer than we expected, and as a result, I am very tired this morning.  As a matter of fact, I am going to go take a shower and lay back down and see if I can get some more sleep.  I let Lybi sleep in until 8:30, but I woke up at 6:30 with the boys.

AM - 3 miles with Sparky, average pace of 7:54/mile.  Started off nice and easy, about 8:30/mile, then slowly warmed up.  Had a bit of a rough night - Adam woke up croupy in the middle of the night and it took me a while to get back to sleep after that.  Although Lybi was actually up for a couple hours with him - what a sweetheart!  He was finally able to settle down after eating a popsicle and drinking some ice water.  I have some work to do tonight, so I am really hoping I will be able to get out for some more miles tonight.  I am going to register today for the Arcadia Run for Pride 5K, which I am very excited about - it is a flat course, basically out and back - out on one side of the canal, and back on the other.  Then I am also going to register for that 10K on the 15th as well, unless I do really crummy on the 5K, in which case I will do the 5K there as well.

PM - 3 more easy miles, average pace of 7:32/mile.  First two miles at 7:28 each, then the third mile eased up a little bit and ran it in 7:37.  All three miles felt nice and easy.  I think that I am really benefiting from the increased fitness right now, and am seeing it with my faster easy miles. 

AM - 3 miles with Sparky, average pace of 7:54/mile.  Each mile was faster than the previous.  The first mile was about 8:17, second mile was something like 7:56, and the last mile was about 7:20.  Not 100% sure of the splits, but it felt pretty good.  I need to do some speedwork either tonight or tomorrow to get a better idea of what I might expect to do on Saturday.

PM - 3 more miles, hard workout.  1.5 miles at CV pace - average 6:08/mile.  Then a quick break, then headed back, next mile felt easy compared to the first 1.5 - hit it in 6:45.  Then sped up again for the last 1/2 mile at CV pace again, hit the last 1/2 mile in 2:56.  Average pace for the entire run was 6:17/mile.  I was puffing pretty hard after this run, and it took me a long time for my body to slow down.  As a result, it took me longer than normal to fall asleep.  No more hard workouts at night - they keep me up!  I was glad to get this workout in, though.  Now I will have to see what I will be able to do on Saturday.  I am sure the adrenaline spike from racing will help me to run a little faster than I did this evening.

PM - 3 miles outside after dinner, average pace of 7:18/mile.  Felt good, no soreness from my CV miles last night.  I will probably be a little sore tomorrow.  Then 1.2 miles to the church for Webelos Scouts.  After Webelos, we went to help a family move into a house in the ward.  There were a lot of Elders there, so it went very fast - only 40 minutes.  Then I ran home from the move site back to home - 1.5 miles.  So not quite 6 miles, but I am satisfied with the mileage today.  Average pace to the church was 8:42/mile (I was running with a big old backpack, which really slowed me down).  Average pace coming back from the move-in was 7:28/mile.  That felt nice and easy too.

PM - 6 easy miles outside later in the evening.  Average pace of 7:45/mile.  The pace felt nice and easy, it was actually interesting to me to see the difference between 7:30/mile, which sometimes feels a little more strained to me, and 7:45/mile, which felt quite relaxing.  After I got home from work, I helped the boys carve their pumpkins and then we made dinner.  I didn't get to run until about 9:00, and then I had to run to the store afterwards and pick up a few things to make a chili for our ward's trunk or treat tonight.  I really love this idea - instead of the kids going around the neighborhood, where there are more dangers, we all pull into the church parking lot open up our tailgates or trunks, and the kids march around the parking lot to trick or treat.  There are always fun and games there, and we are having a chili contest.  This will be the one time of the year when our kids will get to load up on candy.  I'll have to go easy on the chili tonight since I am running tomorrow in a 5K I am hoping to win . . .

PM - 3 easy miles with Sparky at 8:24 average pace.  Took it nice and easy so that I didn't take anything out of the legs for tomorrow.  It was still fairly warm out - in the upper 70's.  The boys had a grand time trunk or treating this evening - Sam dressed up as a skeleton, Joey as a dinosaur and Adam as Superman.  There were 3 wards at our trunk or treat, so the entire parking lot was packed.  Lots of food - chili (of which I did not partake), hot dogs, root beer (and water), and, of course, lots of candy.  We had all had our fill after an hour, and I still had lots of chili left - there were tons of people who brought chili - so we just brought it home and will freeze some.  Looking forward to the race tomorrow.