22 posts tagged “marathons”
Bad news #1 is that as of December 2008 my right hamstring was still bothering me. For a quick recap... In December 2007 my doctor diagnosed a "grade 1" hamstring strain. Six weeks of PT I still had pain but was cleared to run. It never quite healed. My goal to run the Wild West 100K in August 2008 was nixed.
4th of July weekend I set out for the fourth time in my new inline skates; my previous three sorties carried me 7.5, 7.5, and 5 miles. I figured it was time to stretch into the double digits so I drove over to the White Pine Trail and laced up the boots.
Almost three hours later I arrived back at the car after covering 33.4 miles! I felt great - yes, I was definitely tired, and my heart rate had been 150-170 (that's above "easy run" range for me) the whole way - but I was nowhere near toasted. My quads felt a bit crampy over the last half hour but not painful. Before setting out I was confident that I could finish 30+ miles, but I never thought I'd cover it in 2:58 and still have some pep left over.
Last Sunday I talked Amanda into joining me on the White Pine Trail again, but instead of skates she was riding her bike. The night before she kept telling me "I think I only want to go to Rockford" (that's an 8 mile round trip) and I assured her that we'd just go until she got tired then turn around since it's uphill going north and downhill back south.
After riding and skating for an hour I asked her to check her bike computer and it read 10 miles, but we hadn't turned around yet! I knew that Amanda had been selling herself short the night before. We continued on since Amanda felt OK still, but within a couple miles she wanted to turn around. I pressed her on for another mile since then we could say we did a marathon.
And we did, going 26.8 miles in 2:31 although strangely I felt more tired than after my 33-miler. Amanda totally bonked at the two-hour mark and we inched along for about 10 minutes until her system finally rebooted and we cruised back to the car.
As impressive as it felt to be skating along at 11 mph for 2-3 hours, it blows me away that elite runners would've dusted me! I skated a 2:30 marathon and folks out there can run that same distance in less time. Wow.
I can hardly believe that I didn't run at all in December - the first time I've missed an entire month since I started running January 1st, 2004. It's frustrating but hopefully this layoff will fix my hamstring and prevent a recurrence. If you find long lists of statistics to be boring, you can read my brief 2007 running summary. While these stats are posted on Why Run? I've also included them here - the breakdown of my running for 2007, by the numbers:
1018.5 total miles
207 runs
156 hours
4.92 miles average per run
13 races
7 5K road
2 5M trail
1 5K trail with Haven
1 4M road with Haven and Beacon
1 10K road
1 26.2M trail marathon
788.9 miles on the roads
229.6 miles on the trails
193.2 pounds average weight
56 bpm typical resting heart rate
181.7 miles running with Haven
85.3 miles running with Beacon
53.0 of the above miles running with Haven and Beacon together
4.3 miles running with foster dogs
218.4 miles running with dogs
51 runs with Haven
24 runs with Beacon
14 of the above runs were with Haven and Beacon together
2 runs with foster dogs, Raven and Reese
63 total runs with at least one dog
30% of all runs were with a dog
Congratulations if you've scrolled down this far and actually enjoyed reading the stats. The dogs will appreciate your effort since I'm now going to share their own personal numbers, which also include hikes and other walks that I didn't include in my running tally. Note that "swimming" means time spent playing fetch in water or accompanying Amanda and I while we waded in the river.
Haven
327.7 miles total
107.7 miles on leash
220.0 miles off leash
92 outings
65 hours total
9.9 hours swimming
Beacon
226.2 miles total
65.6 miles on leash
160.7 miles off leash
74 outings
52 hours total
15.8 hours swimming
Foster Dogs
7 of our 17 foster dogs went running - Amber, Raven, Honey, Reese, Betty, Annie, Teddy
51.3 miles total
18.8 miles on leash
32.5 miles off leash
16 outings
14 hours total
no significant swimming
If you're wondering why Haven racked up 100 more miles than Beacon, there are two main reasons:
1) Beacon likes running, Haven LOVES running. However, Beacon makes up for it with almost 6 more hours of swimming because while Haven likes fetch, Beacon LOVES fetch.
2) Beacon's pads become sore rather easily and there are several occasions where Haven is taken for a run in place of Beacon because his paws are still recovering. We think the cause is a combination of Beacon's naturally thin pads and his somewhat stiff-legged gait; in comparison Haven is a very smooth and easy runner.
Yes, I love running with dogs!
Trail runner Paul Charteris wrote a meme-type blog entry (discovered via Scott Dunlap) to recap 2007. I'll play along; however since I'm simply a "runner" and not a die-hard "trail runner" I'm going to be liberal in my interpretation of the term "trails".
1. Most memorable moment on the trails…
When Haven and Beacon encountered a fawn! They chased it to a standoff; Beacon got head-butted and ran away while Haven tried to make friends with Bambi.
2. Best new trail I discovered in 2007…
Sleeping Bear Dunes bluff - perhaps the highest torture:distance ratio of any trail!
3. My best performance of the year was…
...thanks to Haven pulling me at the Doggie Dash. However, "fastest" does not equal "best" since I allowed Haven to do too much work in the second mile, causing her to fade badly in the last mile while I still had some energy. Not only was that unfair to her, it also cost us a shot at a sub-20 time. My best strategic performance was at the Harvest Hustle when I launched my "kick" with a half mile to go, risking total blowup to set a 5K PR.
4. I do not know how I previously survived without…
A canicross-style leash setup that includes a bungee cord:
5. The person I would most like to meet on a trail in 2008...
The meeting would last but a split second as Matt Carpenter zooms past my plodding, gasping self.
6. The race I am most excited/scared about in 2008 is…
The Wild West 100K. Excited because it would be my longest race ever and it takes place in my hometown. Scared because I need to recover from my hamstring injury before I can even start building up a base.
I'd like to tag any runners who feel like answering these six quick questions whether you prefer trails or roads.
Amanda and I had some fun today, spending most of the day at the Grand Rapids Marathon working as volunteers. It was still dark when we showed up around 7am. It took us about 20 minutes to find a job to do; unfortunately the volunteer coordination was a bit lacking. Finally we got the job of unrolling the mass-fabricated space blankets, folding them, and stacking them into piles so that they're ready to hand out to finishers.
The job took two solid hours, during which time I more or less took charge of the volunteers since nobody was around giving direction. Two thirds of the volunteers were standing around doing nothing at one point so I got them all working a "production line" on the space blankets. If we hadn't done that then the blankets wouldn't have been done before the half marathon runners started finishing.
Another frustration was that volunteers were given zero information such as a FAQ to read beforehand. With our bright green shirts runners kept targeting us (rightfully) for questions; luckily I'd run the race in the two previous years so I was able to answer most of the questions. Many non-runner volunteers were simply unable to provide any help, which was rather sad.
Once the finishers were coming in I was one of the folks putting medals around their necks while Amanda was one of the ones wrapping runners in the recently-folded space blankets. It was a perfect view of the action as we could see the entire last half-mile of straightaway while listening to mostly 80's music over the loudspeakers.
Having been in a marathoner's shoes before, I recognized those who were simply tired versus those who were barely holding it together. Medical staff were right behind us so on a few occasions I would alert one of them to keep an eye on certain runners who were pale or cramping or just staring blankly.
One of the coolest aspects of this event is that the race director, "Marathon" Don Kern, stands at the finish line and personally greets EVERY finisher once they cross the line.
Right behind Don were Amanda, myself and the other volunteers. I was lucky enough to recognize a few coworkers and was able to personally congratulate them; one guy when I shook his hand it was ICE cold. Another co-worker ran a very fast half-marathon despite having not slept all weekend due to some partying. Both of them are going to sleep like logs tonight. :)
One runner that I recognized was someone I'd never met before: Simba's Mom blogs about her running and I recognized the outfit that she posted to her Princess Runner blog. I wonder if any other Voxers ran the marathon that I'm unaware of?
Amanda and I stayed long enough that we saw one of the very last finishers cross the line: Neil Sauter, who set a world record by walking the entire marathon ON STILTS in about 7.5 hours! I think I was the only person who could give him a high five without him having to bend over very far. The poor guy had to remain on his stilts for about half an hour after finishing to complete dozens of photo ops.
Finally Amanda and I were done and after 8 long hours on our feet, our legs were feeling rather sore! Oddly enough my favorite aspect was being able to help out other runners; there's simply something enjoyable about doing that. Seeing the race winners was great, enjoying the perfect weather was great, but seeing the look of relief in a marathoner's eyes when I wrapped them in a space blanket or put a medal around their neck topped it all. Especially the one gal who was bawling her eyes out for finishing her first ever marathon and as I put the space blanket around her shoulders she says to me "Yay, I get to be wrapped up in tin foil!"
Being a dog lover I've been a regular reader of Itchmo for a few months. A couple weeks ago they posted that they were looking for writers, so on a whim I submitted an application that cited my Why Dogs? and Why Run? blogs as part of my "portfolio" (if you can call it that). Imagine my surprise when Itchmo's co-founder Ben emailed me to ask for a phone interview!
A few days later I was hanging out with Amanda at the Critter Cottage when Ben called. Everything went well and by the end of the conversation I had signed up to write for Itchmo! I was assigned a writing beat focused on keeping fit with your pets and given instructions to get set up on their system.
After being delayed by running a trail marathon and then attending my brother's wedding, I finally got around to writing my first article. On Friday I was introduced and today my first article was posted about a dog park in New Zealand doing the right thing by favoring dogs over kids. Topping it off, the photo on the right taken by Amanda was used for the article, making the both of us "published"!
Despite training for 5Ks this year, I managed to finish the Fallsburg Marathon this weekend! I was slow, but I had fun and even got to run with Haven for the last mile. Follow the above link for my full race report on my Why Run? blog.
The race course being so close to home, Amanda was able to meet me at several points on the course. One time she was able to drive alongside me, conducting an interview of sorts as we both cruised down the road. Notice that the video starts with me warning Amanda that she's about to hit a mailbox!
97 degrees was the air this evening when Haven and I went for a run! Due to the heat, and due to my double workout yesterday (4 mile easy run at work, then 2 miles after work at 5K pace), Haven and I took it easy today. I carried a water bottle that was used as much for Haven as it was for me! We also stopped at the river twice and a small lake twice within our 3.5 miles to give Haven a cooling dip in the water each time.
This past week I've been slacking off with the blogging (although I did manage to compose an article about rental dogs yesterday) but I wasn't slacking with the race planning. I signed up for three events recently:
August 11 - The Legend (5 mile trail run)
August 18 - Fallsburg Marathon (26.2 mile trail run)
September 15 - Bridge Run (5K road run)
The Legend is just going to be for fun; I'll run it hard but not all-out race it, and see how it compares to my previous 5 mile trail run in April, the Road Ends Trail Run.
I signed up for the Fallsburg Marathon on a whim, so I have no idea how that's going to turn out. I haven't done any double-digit long runs in quite a while so I'm counting on my base of 750 miles so far this year to carry me through in somewhere between 5 and 6 hours. The reason I'm doing this event is because the course uses the very same North Country Trail sections and nearby roads that I regularly run - the race is in my backyard, so to speak. In fact, I ran the entire paved portion of the course by coincidence when I explored the countryside near home. Plus, the race director is planning to put on a 100K ultra here next year and I want to see how well this guy delivers as an organizer.
It looks like the Bridge Run could be my last attempt at setting a lifelong PR in the 5K. In October I'm doing the Bailey's Doggie Dash 5K but I don't want to do-or-die target a PR in that race since I'll have Haven and/or Beacon with me. The week after that I'm thinking of volunteering for the Grand Rapids Marathon instead of running it, so it'll be November before I get another shot at a fast and flat road 5K... if I need it (fingers crossed).
The 2007 Tour de France is here! Even though I'm not a hardcore cyclist, as an endurance athlete I can identify somewhat with the sport and it's exciting racing regardless of one's background. One of my favorite aspects to the race is that I can follow it live... while I'm at work! VeloNews provides live coverage of the TdF every day; thanks to the time zone differential each stage lasts for the bulk of my work day. Whenever I need a break from tedious work at my desk, I click over to see how the stage is progressing.
Speaking of breaks, I always wondered why an escape group would gain time on the peloton due to a "natural break". A natural break in traffic? Weather conditions? Then I saw that photo on VeloNews and it all made sense... in a way. I can't imagine this happening in a marathon!
I wonder, though... why can't they just "go on the go" like ultramarathoners?
Thanks to Google I've since learned that the guy who won the race I ran Saturday is a world-class Kenyan runner who now lives in my hometown of Ann Arbor. Here's a good story and interview with Boaz Cheboiywo. Sounds like when he's ready to apply his speed to a marathon, he's going to race in Chicago!
