What can I say? I love to run. I've run 4 full marathons and 6 halfs. But I love God more and I'm determined to run this race of life for Him to receive the ultimate prize of Heaven. I'd like to share my thoughts with you. You can agree or disagree. Comment or don't. You can read or not read. But it's here if you want it. Enjoy! .
I know, I know. I haven't been on here in 2 weeks. It is incredible how busy I am. The beginning of this school year has been CRAZY - to say the least. I'm hoping it'll slow down or at least even out soon. I apologize for not updating. My goal was at least once a week. I don't even have a lot of time right now. But here are some quick updates:
1. I ran 16 this morning. Good run. Had to stop and ...you know...toward the end but otherwise, good run. Averaged 8:07 per mile which I'm happy with. I'll do 16 again next week. Did it on Monday this week because we were out of town all weekend. Had to get up at 3AM which was a killer. Back to Sunday next week.
2. Still training for Chicago coming up on 10/10/10. So excited about that trip. Would love to break 3:30 but not sure if it will happen. My time to train is limited as well. But I am working out a lot with my CC team so that helps.
3. Speaking of....Cross Country is going well. We've had 3 weeks now and I'm enjoying spending time with these awesome runners. Our first meet is about 3 weeks away. Tonight is our beginning of the season party. Looking forward to that.
4. So I was looking around at the results of the Zoo run I did this year back in January. Not sure what made me look, but if you'll remember, I was a little upset when I saw the results the first time. They had my gun time and chip time the same which I knew wasn't right but I accepted it and decided to use it (19:55) so I could better it later. Well at some point (not sure when), they corrected it. My chip time now says 19:46. 9 seconds faster!! I didn't think it was quite that much but I'll take it. So my new 5K PR is 19:46. That'll be tough to beat. But I'm excited about the new PR.
5. I've done a couple of 5K's the past two Thursday nights with the CC team. Both have been in the low 21 minute range. It's a tough course and not on a road so I expected it to be a little slower. I'll try to break 21 this Thursday if I run.
Ok, out of time. Much more to talk about but it'll have to wait. Hopefully within a week.
I ran 14 miles on Sunday. Hadn't run that far since April. It went pretty well. I ran it a little slow - 8:40 pace. I like to keep it closer to 8:00 but I had no pains. I was tired of course. Ready to get home. I hosed off real quick and got in our redneck pool. It felt sooo good. I think I'll make that a weekly tradition for these long runs. I'll do 14 again this Sunday and hopefully get my time down a little. I'll try a different route as well. I was very happy when I weighed myself after the run. That's when I do my weekly weigh-ins. 152!! Hadn't been that low in a while. It's been high 150's or even low 160's. I chalk it up to cross country starting last week so I ran more plus I ate less due to my busy schedule. I'm going to try to keep it in the low 150's.
Speaking of cross country, we did start last Monday. Last week was great. It was challenging and busy but I enjoyed it. I'm really going to enjoy this team. Our first night was eventful. A storm hit and we didn't get to even run. So instead, we cleaned out our field house which was on the schedule for later anyways. It now looks great and I'm enjoying my new office there. That makes 3 offices for me. The highlight of the week for me was Friday. It's a Friday tradition to play Ultimate Frisbee and I joined the guys. It was so much fun. They really get into it and I really enjoyed playing. Can't wait for this Friday. I'll keep you posted on our season. It's still in the beginning stages right now.
Now to the Chicken thing - I'm officially registered for my first 10K!! The Run-Chicken-Run event put on by Chick-Fil-A in Murfreesboro, TN will be Sept. 11. I was on the fence and waiting to see my CC schedule, but I'm good to go. One of my goals for the year was to do my first 10K and it looks like it's going to happen. I've updated my next race countdown above. Looking forward to it. It'll fit in nicely during my marathon training that I've started.
That's about it for now. I meant to update this sooner but again - so busy. What else is new? :)
Got injured by a bug last night. Yep, injured by a bug – you heard me right, or read me right. Whatever. How you ask? Or even if you didn’t ask. I was running 6 miles last night. It was going okay. I didn’t eat the best of suppers and it was still pretty hot with little or no breeze so the run was just okay. I was about a mile from home and feeling good. I love approaching home. I guess I had my mouth open too wide. I definitely breathe through my mouth when I run. Does everyone? Anyways, a bug flew right in there. And before I could help it, the bug became protein for my body. But it caught me off guard and I swallowed it. That made me cough for several seconds which totally messed up my breathing. And since I wasn’t getting the oxygen I had been getting, it literally made my lungs hurt for a couple minutes. I guess I wasn’t “injured” for a long period of time, but for a couple minutes there, I felt injured, all from a bug. Ok, took too long to tell that story.
Anyways, the interview with Dick Beardsley went great Tuesday night. I actually got to ask him several questions including asking him advice for my own camp coming up. I asked him for advice for my high school runners as we are about to begin our Cross Country camp on Monday. His main advice was to build those core muscles with things as simple as push-ups and crunches . He also said running during the summer to build up endurance is very important. Hope they have been running! Anyways, Dick seemed to be a very nice, down-to-earth guy with a great attitude and kind heart and I really enjoyed talking with him as well as a couple of the campers at his camp.
Speaking of running camp – Monday I officially begin my stint as a high school Cross Country coach and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. So I also have bugs in my stomach for this reason. My nervousness is dropping though and I really am very excited as well. I have finished making out a camp schedule of workouts and I’m really anxious to get started. I know it will go great, but I think everyone would have some hint of nervousness beginning a new job or position. I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going. I went to our “fieldhouse” yesterday to check it out. This is the building that belongs to the team. It is used for team meetings, changing, etc. It’s a wreck to say the least. I think with the flooding back in May, it was used for storage. Anyways, I’ve gotten the ok to throw away all the junk so we’re going to have a major cleaning day(s). I’m actually looking forward to getting that place cleaned up.
Well, that’s it for now. Planning to run 12 again Sunday. Hope it goes better than last week. I promise to eat a good dinner tomorrow night. Have a good weekend.
Tonight, I have the distinct honor of co-hosting the Runners Roundtable podcast once again and we are interviewing Dick Beardsley, one of the greatest American runners in history. His website can be found here. It will be so exciting to talk with him and hear from him. He is mainly going to be discussing his running camps which particularly interests me due to the fact that I'm about to begin my first ever high school Cross Country camp next week. More about that later. Just wanted to post a quick update about tonight's podcast. It begins at 5:30 central time and you can find the link here if you want to listen. I will again be co-hosting with Mike and Lesley. Some of the campers at Beardsley's camps might join us as well. Listen if you can.
Well, I hope this is not a sign of things to come but I did NOT have a good run this morning when I officially began my Chicago marathon training. That's the bad news. The good news is - I know exactly why I didn't have a good run and I can fix it. It all started last night....
As I mentioned in my last post, I was at church camp all week. Yesterday was a long day spent cleaning, unpacking, mowing, etc. I was already worn out from camp and all the "back home-cleanup" work wore me out even more. I knew I wanted to run last night since I didn't run Friday. The boys had a birthday party from 5-7 so during the party, my wife and I went to the grocery since our pantry/fridge were barren from the week away. When we got home, I didn't want to eat knowing that I would then have to wait a while to run. So I decided to skip dinner. MISTAKE! Note to self and everyone - don't skip a meal the night b4 a run, especially a long run, especially if you run the night before as well. I ran 6 last night and it was fine. In fact, it was really good. The empty stomach didn't affect me last night. I pretty much got home from the run and went to bed. I was exhausted. I set my alarm for 4:45 this morning so I could get up and run my long run - 12 miles.
When I woke up, I was very thirsty. I got quick drink of water and thought it would be enough. I was wrong. The first 6 miles were fine. I could tell I wasn't feeling the best ever but I was making it. Around mile 6 though, I got extremely thirsty. And I really wanted to walk. I felt so drained, weak, and tired. I saw a sprinkler and decided to stop and try to get a drink. I've done it before but it's very difficult. Sprinklers are usually too strong to drink from. This one was impossible. It was a spider-type which sprays 8 different directions in a complete circle and spins at the same time. Needless to say, all I got was wet which felt nice, but didn't quench the thirst. I was bummed and still so thirsty. So at that point I made the decision to walk a little bit. I hate that. I don't like to walk unless I'm injured but I just didn't feel good. I walked probably a quarter mile and then started running again when I reached a downhill. I still had around 5 miles to go. I needed water bad and didn't know where I was going to get it. Then I saw it....
Believe what you want, but I think the big guy upstairs was watching out for me. About 50 yards into a neighborhood I was passing was a fountain of water shooting 3 feet up in the air. I don't know if a sprinkler was broken or what but it was perfect. It was shooting out at the exact speed of a water fountain and it was a huge gush of clean water. It looked a lot like the picture to the left. It was Heaven at that point. I needed it so bad. I took several drinks and it gave me a little boost. I started running again and thought I would make it all the way back. I got to within a mile of home and my legs started to go numb. The lack of food in my stomach was really hurting me. Again - I know it was a mistake not to eat last night. I've learned my lesson. I walked a little bit more and ran the last half mile home. My time was around 9:20 per mile average due to the walking, not good for me. But like I put on dailymile - everyone had good runs and bad ones. This was a bad one. Lesson learned. I'm due to run 12 again next week so I hope it will go much better. I think it will.
I'll write again later this week about the RRT podcast on Tuesday and my HS coaching career officially starting next week. Be careful out there. Take care of yourselves. I'll try harder to do just that.
Man! Where have I been? I can't believe I haven't written since July 3. That was 2 weeks ago. I'm really slacking on this blog thing. Summer is just too busy. I was at church camp all this week and had no computer access. Probably a good thing - I'm on here too much as is. But I do need to update this blog more. I guess it's one of those things where you do really well when you first start but then you kindof slack off. I'll try to do better. Camp was good. It was hot. This was our 26th anniversary of camp and I've been to 24 of them now. Not too shabby. I started going when I was 9 years old and only missed a couple of years in high school when I was "too cool" to go. Now I'm a counselor and I absolutely love it each year. I had a great group of guys this year once again. One of them will be on my HS Cross Country team this year and we ran together one day. He ran everyday which I was very proud of. I only ran 3 days. The other days it was either raining or I was too tired to get up and do it. We stay up so late.
Well, tomorrow I start officially training for my 3rd marathon. Chicago. 10/10/10. I can't believe it's time to start training. I haven't trained for a marathon since early December. But tomorrow morning I'll do 12 miles and start working my way up to my 22 max before the race. I've also started to try and do more core exercises (push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, etc.) I've been doing pretty well so I'm going to try to keep those up even though they aren't my favorite thing in the world.
In a little over a week, our High School Cross Country summer camp begins. Monday, July 26 is when we can officially start practice so I'm going to spend this week putting together our "camp" schedule. I'm really looking forward to this starting and I'll talk more about it later. I need to get to bed since I've got a long run in the morning. I'm co-hosting the RRT again Tuesday night. More about that tomorrow or Monday.
Ok, that was a corny joke, I know. Especially since I just realized I twisted my ankle, not my heal. I'm an idiot. But I'm baaaack. I ran for the first time tonight since Sunday's fiasco. Love that word. I wanted to run earlier in the week but figured I better play it safe. I don't think I could've run earlier than Wednesday, maybe Thursday. The ankle was swollen through Tuesday and slightly on Wednesday. It's still slightly tender to the touch and even I roll it a little or stretch it too much, it hurts. But walking on it doesn't hurt, only in the mornings when I wake up. So I decided today would be the day to give it a shot. Not sure what a doctor would've said. Didn't see one. But I went with the feeling. And the good news is that it felt fine. If anything, my lungs and side hurt more than my ankle. But the run was good. 3 miles in 22:30. Just like old times. I didn't lose anything. It wasn't easy. I hated not running. I mean I enjoyed the free time, but that's it. I missed it. I'm still a little nervous about stepping wrong or re-twisting it. I admit I was watching the road pretty carefully tonight. I know it's still healing and so it's still a little fragile. I'm going to try to get back to my routine this new week but I'm going to really try to watch it carefully. I'll try a longer run tomorrow morning, maybe 6 miles. We'll see how that goes. I start officially training for Chicago in 2 weeks! Yahoo. It's good to be back.
It started out great. Today I mean. I had planned to do 10 miles. Had a great running week last week. Ran 28 miles and mostly felt good with the exception of some hot temps, but overall, it was a great week. Especially considering that I didn't run at all the week prior. I wasn't sure how my first week back would go after I took 9 days off for tendonitis. But it went great. Have I said that already?
So I planned a 10 miler. I wanted to try a new route. I love my routes, but every once in a while, you want something different, you know? I wanted the last 2 miles of my run to be through Radnor Lake. I haven't gotten to run there in a long time b/c of the recent floods. The floods destroyed sections of the road at Radnor and the public hasn't been allowed to walk through there since May 1. It just opened last week so I was anxious to go back through there. One problem. The main road to get to Radnor Lake's road is closed this week for construction. I knew this but hadn't seen it. So I had a decision to make....
Do I skip the route and try again next week? Or do I risk it, assume it's only closed for cars and assume I can get through on foot? I chose option B. I knew it would be closed to cars, but I figured there had to be a way through for me, a lowly pedestrian. I mean the construction workers have to get through, right? Even if I have to walk way over in the grass on the side of the road, surely there will be a way through, right? Oh there was a way through all right.
The weather was perfect. Low 70's. It rained last night so it was even a little cool outside. It was going to be a great run. I could feel it. And the first half was. I ran 5 easy. Great pace. Felt good. It was going by fast. Then I approached the construction site. I could see the cones and barriers as I approached. I was kindof excited. It was like an adventure. Was I going to be able to get through? I figured at worst I would not be able to get through and I could just turn around and go back the way I came. The site was at about the exact 5 mile point of this 10 mile run. As I got closer, I could tell that I was going to be able to get through. There were 2 very large machines in the road and the road dipped down a little, but it was passable. My gamble had paid off. Or so I thought. That's when I made my big mistake.
Note to self and all of yous reading.....if you are going through a construction site or even any kind of bumpy terrain, WALK, DON'T RUN!! Why I decided to run it, I'll never know. But I did. I wasn't running fast, mind you, but I was jogging. I got through the first set of barriers, around the first big machine, over the dip in the road. All I had left was the 2nd machine. A giant bulldozer. It was really blocking the road. I was either going to have to go under the "scoop" of the machine or hold on to the scoop and lean around it. There was a ditch on either side of it. I was looking at the machine while running trying to decide which to do when it happened. I must have stepped on a rough patch or a rock. I honestly don't know. But it twisted BAD! My ankle that is. My right foot went up and my ankle went down. In other words, my ankle and foot made an "L" shape in the wrong way. It was quick but it hurt like the devil himself. I yelped and immediately knew it was bad.
This happened to me before. About 10 years ago on a school trip with my students, I stepped wrong and the same ankle did the same thing. I heard the pop then and I heard it today. I almost ran into the bulldozer from the stumble. I quickly decided to hold on to the scoop and lean around it. It worked. But I couldn't keep running. My ankle was gone. I hobbled over to the side of the road and tried to stretch it. It hurt. I thought about calling my wife to come pick me up but quickly remembered I don't carry a phone. I had already passed the site so I wasn't going back the way I came. It was 5 miles either way anyways. I started walking. I was limping. I walked about a half mile and then decided to run a little. After all, we go to church early on Sundays. I had to get home at a certain time. I didn't have all morning to finish this run. I could run but I looked ridiculous because I was quickly trying to get to my good foot so it was a very unbalanced run. I approached the road that Radnor Lake is on. To top it all off, my other foot was getting a blister between two toes (where did that come from - I never get blisters anymore) AND I had to go to the bathroom.
When I got to Radnor Lake road, I stopped to walk again. I quickly hurried to the welcome center at the park praying it would be open. It was. Yay. Bathrooms. "Sorry, bathrooms closed due to Nashville water shortage". What? You have got to be kidding me. I went back outside and spotted the 2 port-a-johns. Oh yeah, I'm going for it. I didn't care. When you gotta go...... I walked up the hill to the lake and walked a little more. I decided to run a little through the park. That's pretty much how the rest of my run went. Walk run walk run. For what it's worth, it was a beautiful run through the park. I saw no less than 10 deer. One was in the road right in front of me and I as I ran up, she casually and calmly walked just out of my range. I could've so easily reached out and touched her. Saw baby deer. Just awesome. Wish my ankle didn't hurt so bad so I could really enjoy it. As you leave the park, you come to a huge hill. Down. I decided to run it. It was getting slightly easier to run, but still hurt a lot. I ran the rest of the way home. About a mile. I got home and had averaged just under 9 min. per mile (after subtracting 5 min. for the port-a-john visit) which I thought was good considering.
I knew what my ankle would look like before I took off my socks. And it was. Huge and swollen. Just like last time. Looks like the picture even though that's not me. It's still swollen right now as I type this. I've been icing all day and have worn a brace (that I got from last time) almost all day. I tried to run a few steps in the backyard tonight just to see. Nope. Too soon. It hurts. This kills me. I can't stand not running. I already did that. 2 weeks ago! I don't know when I'll try again but I can't wait long. I'm sorry. I know I need to take off a while. I'll just have to play it day by day and see. Arrrrggghh! Oh well, I've officially failed in goal #11 over there - "stay injury free". After tendonitis and this episode, I can throw that one out the window.
I'll keep you posted. Pray for a speedy recovery. I am. Again, even though I can't at the moment, I hope you....
I just went for a 5 mile run. Went pretty well. It's been so hot late into the night the last few days. It was 84 tonight and 86 last night when I ran. That's hot. There's a slight breeze but I can still feel the heat and I am drenched when I get home. Makes the runs a little tougher but I guess they are that much better for me. Ate a late dinner tonight so had a slight side cramp and bathroom urge while I ran. Sorry for that detail. Made it fine though.
I think the pool is going to work! We moved it into the flattest part of our yard we could find. I transferred the dirt to make it even flatter. It's still not perfect but I think it'll do. It's about 2/3 full of water right now and I've stopped it for the night. I'll fill it the rest of the way tomorrow and we'll see how level it is. But it looks good so far. Needless to say, if it doesn't' work this time, it's over!
Last thing. Meant to put this on here earlier. Many of you have heard about this so you can ignore, but Disney is allowing the public to vote on this year's marathon medal. The choices are below. You can click on it if you want to vote. You can vote as many times as you want until July 28.
It's a tough choice but personally, I am voting for #1. I like them all and so I really won't care which wins. I'd love #3 if it didn't have the chain and date hanging down. I don't like that detail. And I don't like that #2 has no color. So #1 is the best for me, but again, I'll be fine with any of them. Again, feel free to vote if you want. That's it for tonight. It's late and I'm tired. Good night.
Ok, this has nothing to do with running but I'm about to go drain our new above ground pool after we've almost filled it up. It's very lopsided. I thought we got the ground level underneath, but apparently not. Arrrrgggh! Very frustrating. Apparently we have zero level ground in our yard b/c this is clearly the flattest piece and it still didn't work. I have spent hours today setting it up and it kills me that we have to start over. Oh well. Life ain't fair I guess. I'll live. Back to running....
I ran this morning for the first time in 9 days. I wasn't sure how much to run. I probably should've started out smaller but I decided to do 8 miles. I was going to do my normal Sunday 12. Then I thought that would probably be way too much to start out on so I went to 10. Then I smarted up a little more and settled on 8. Again, I probably should've just done 3 or 4 to start back up but the 8 went fine. The good news was that my ankle didn't really hurt at all. That was what I was worried about. It was a little bit of a tough run though just because I could feel that I hadn't run in a while. My legs were a little tight and I got tired pretty quick but I knew I'd make it. Overall, it was a good run and I ran it in an average of 8:30 per mile which is a little slow for me but not bad. One thing I need to do more of is to stretch AFTER my run. I don't usually do that but I'm going to try to start. Or even at random times. I think that will help my ankle to not start hurting again.
Last thing - I think I found my 10K. One of my goals this year was to run a 10K since I've never run that distance. At our Memorial Day 5K, I found a brochure for the Chick-Fil-A 10K on September 11 (my birthday coincidentally). It is in Murfreesboro, TN which is only 30 min. away. As long as my team doesn't have a Cross Country meet that day, I should be good to go. And I don't think they will. A few days after I got the brochure, a friend mentioned that I should run it and that she had before so that was a sign that I've picked the right race. I'm still gonna wait a little while to register to make sure I don't have conflicts, but that should be my next official race. Too hot to do any this summer! It's supposed to be 99 degrees here tomorrow. YUCK! Too bad we don't have a pool to cool off in. Arrggghhh - again!
Well, I'm going to Disney. Again. I booked my flight yesterday to travel down on Jan. 7 for the Goofy Challenge!! I'm very excited. I could only book my flight down because Southwest opened up their flight schedule yesterday through Jan. 7. I couldn't book my flight home. But I didn't want to miss out on the flight and wait several months for them to open it up more. So I know I'm going. Hopefully I'll get the flight home. If not, I could stay there for a while. Nobody at home really needs me, right?
I'll be traveling down to WDW on Friday, Jan. 7. I'll check in and head straight for the Wide World of Sports to register for the races. I'll run the half on Saturday, the full on Sunday, and then stay Monday to enjoy the latest Disney perk. Disney just came out with a new deal for this year's race. Anyone who runs the full on Sunday (not half - sorry halfers) gets to enter a park of their choice on Monday. Nice deal. I was thinking about getting a one day pass, but now I won't have to. Now I just have to decide which park to go to on Monday. I'll fly home Monday afternoon/evening so I won't have a full day in the park but a few hours will be fun. So now I'm officially official. I have to go. Don't want to waste a flight. Can not wait for this trip.
Not running this week has been weird but like I said, I have enjoyed the extra time. I've been living it up on this vacation. Naps. Reading. Playing games with the boys. Next week it's back to the grind. I still plan to start back Sunday and run. My ankles still hurt a little in the mornings. Hope I'm helping them by taking this week off. Not sure what I'll do Sunday. Time will tell. That's it for now. I also posted a similar report on the "Goofy Running" blog. Hoping more will post there as the race approaches. More later.
I'm not going to run for the next week. Say what? Yep, that's what I said. It's been a while - 3 years maybe - since I've taken a full week off. I usually take it easy after a marathon or half but I've never not run at all. I'll usually at least do a couple of 3 mile runs. But I'm taking the full week off. Actually, the last time I ran was Thursday so I'm taking 9 days off. I won't run again until Sunday, June 20. The reason??? Tendonitis. Tendinitis. Tinden... my ankle hurts. I went to the doctor during the last week in May and explained that my ankles often hurt, especially in the morning. And it's right on the bone. Especially my left one. He said it's tendonitis. He said of all the running injuries, that's the "best" one to get, but he recommended taking some time off. He said 2 weeks. I'll give him 9 days. I wasn't going to do it. My son and I had that race on Memorial Day so I knew I couldn't do it before that. And then, summer really began and I had more time to run. But the last few days, they've been hurting more than usual. Plus, I'm on vacation, so what better time to take off. I ran 21 miles this week and it was fine once I got going, but the first mile for each of the runs was tough. And the mornings after were ouchy. So I'll give it a shot. It's gonna be tough. I feel weird not running. Especially since I'm on vacation and we're eating a lot! I need to run. We will be walking some and swimming, but I enjoy running here. I'll be honest and say I'll enjoy the extra time away from running and not dealing with the heat, but it'll still be tough. I'm a little worried about losing my training, but I guess 9 days isn't too bad. Not sure how I'll start back, but I'll have to get back into it quick and start eating well again b/c I'm sure I'll gain a little weight. I actually already have since summer began.
But I'll get back into it. And I'll take the weight off once again. Gotta start thinking Chicago training for October fairly soon. Well, that's it. Quick update. Not sure when I'll post again b/c I won't be running. But I'll try to soon. Even though I won't, don't forget to...
I mentioned in the last post that I'd put some pictures up from our trip to Disney, but to be honest, I'm too lazy to upload them on here. So I'll put the video I made instead. It's better than any pictures can do. Check it out - then read below.
Monday morning, my 8 year old, Carter and I ran in the Memorial Day Dash 5K here in Nashville. It started at Greer Stadium where our minor league baseball team, the Sounds, play. It started outside the stadium but during the first half mile, we were ushered into the stadium and got to run the perimeter of the field. We then ran up to Fort Negley which is a pretty big hill top fort in Nashville. I'm assuming it has some Civil War history to it. I teach World History, not U.S. Sorry. Then, we ran past the Adventure Science Museum and into the Nashville City Cemetery which does have a lot of Civil War heroes buried there among other famous Nashvillians. We knew the finish was going to be in the cemetery, but you get to it at mile 2 so they wind you around A LOT inside the cemetery. We could see the finish a half mile before we got there.
I had no idea what to expect. This was Carter's 2nd 5K race. We ran 26:23 in the first one. I never thought we'd beat that for 2 reasons:
1. We had not trained for this one like we did for the last. Plus, we were at Disney last week and he didn't run at all. Just walked a lot. 2. The first race was FLAT. No hills at all. This one had several. The downhills were nice, but that meant there were several uphills. Personally, I like to keep pace or go a little faster on uphills but not the boy. He told me a few times to slow down and it always seemed to come on the uphills.
So I was not expecting a PR. I was just trying to do our best. We hit our first mile at 8:17 which was really good. Last race our first mile was 8:30. We hit our 2nd mile around 16:30 which meant we had run faster for the 2nd mile. I knew at this point that he could PR if we kept pace but I wasn't sure if we could. It was hard to read him. He said he was fine but he wasn't talking much or giving me any good/bad signs. I tried to keep pace as much as possible. When we saw the finish with .1 left, I told him to give it all he had and he sprinted. He sprinted like crazy. I was so proud. We came in at 26:01 - a 22 second PR for him. I was so impressed. I don't know how we did it.
We stuck around for the awards not sure if he had placed. There seemed to be a lot of kids there but it was hard to know if they were in his 0-9 age bracket or not. We had passed a boy around mile 1 1/2 that I thought was in his age group. They went from oldest to youngest so we had to wait around until the end. They announced 2nd place - the boy we passed. Then they announced first place - Carter Thweatt. He won his age group! Again, I was so proud. He got a certificate which is now hanging on his wall. He was all smiles all day.
It was a great Memorial Day and a great race. If I had gone all out and run my hardest, I think I would've placed 3rd in my age group, but who knows. I don't care. I enjoyed running with Carter. I can't wait to see him race again.
I need to apologize to all my fans. Ok, to the few people that read this. Ok, ok, the one person that happened to stumble upon this blog. Sorry, dude. I know I haven’t written in a while. The end of the school year was absolutely crazy and I found myself with no spare time to sit down and type the last couple of weeks. Any time that I did have was at night and I was so tired. I found myself having to get up super early every morning and I was just too tired to write anything. Plus, to be honest, I didn’t relaly have anything worthwhile to say so I would’ve been just rambling about something unimportant. But now that summer is here…..I’ll still be busy. It’s a full one. BUT, I will try to find time to keep this thing updated at least once a week. And at this very moment, I have several things to write about, the big one being Disney. We just got back. Disney 2010 is officially over. What follows is the report. What we did. What we saw. Blah Blah Blah. If you’re not interested, skip to the last paragraph for some running news. But if you are interested in all that Disney stuff, here’s what went down.
Our flight left at 8:30 last Wednesday morning. We got to the airport and caught the bus to our hotel. We stayed once again at the Sports. We love our All Star Sports. We were meeting Susan’s parents this time. They were driving to Daytona anyways for their annual trip and we asked them to join us a couple of days in Disney. What’s funny is our bus arrived at our hotel and the exact time their car arrived. I mean we literally saw them getting out of their car as we pulled in. What are the odds? We didn’t plan it at all. We checked in and had great rooms. Close to the main building. First floor. We were there by 1:00 Wednesday afternoon and so we had the whole afternoon to do whatever. We swam in the pool for a couple of hours and then caught a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge (via the Animal Kingdom park). We had reservations at Boma in the lodge. We loved it so much last time, we wanted to go again and let Susan’s parents experience it. It was great again. We got there a little early so we went out back to see the animals and search for hidden Mickey’s. Loved doing that again this time. Found some I had been looking years for as well as some of the same old favorites. The boys really got into it too.
The next morning, we were up waiting at the bus stop at 6:40 to catch the first bus to the Magic Kingdom. We got there a little after 7:00 and were the first ones at the turnstiles. The park would open at 8 for resort guests. We had a great day at the MK. It was hot as it would be every day. We were worried about crowds for this time of year and they were worse than in October when we’ve been going, but it was still manageable. We followed our regular plan and never waited longer than 25 min. the entire trip. We rode everything there that we wanted to ride, several things more than once. I got an amazing score on Buzz Lightyear. Wish I knew how I did it. My score just kept going up but I’m not sure what I was shooting. We rode the “new” Space Mountain. Seemed the same to me. We ate at the Crystal Palace that night. Great meal but I was not super hungry. The rest of the family decided to leave around 8:00. I wanted to stay for the fireworks. I hadn’t seen “Wishes” in a long time. When they left, I decided to ride a couple of things that we don’t usually do. I did the “Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor” and “Stitches Great Escape.”. The laugh floor was good, pretty funny. Stitch was terrible as I expected it to me. There is just nothing to that “ride”. But I’m glad I got to try both. It started raining right before the fireworks were to start so they did an abbreviated show. Bummer. Tinkerbell didn’t fly and the show was obviously shorter. But it was good anyways. I got back to the hotel around 11:15 and went to bed knowing I would be getting up in just a few hours for Epcot.
Epcot wasn’t an extra hour morning so we didn’t have to catch the bus until 7:30!! Wow – got to sleep “late”. We were first in line once again at the turnstiles. There were a few people there when we got there but luckily, there were several turnstiles. When they dropped the rope at 9:00, we ran to Test Track and were the 2nd family on it. Always a fun ride. Then we ran over to Soarin’, got fastpasses, and rode it. This is when we waited about 25 min. – our longest line of the trip, but it really wasn’t too bad. We ended up riding Soarin’ later in the day as well and I’ve decided this is my favorite at Epcot and one of my favorites in all of WDW. I really love that ride. Definitely saw the hidden Mickey on the golf ball this time. We got to ride everything in Epcot and several things multiple times. We ate dinner at LeCellier – soooo good. I was so full when I left. I always eat too much at Disney. I’m afraid to get on the scale right now. I decided to leave when the family left around 8:30 and not stay for Illuminations. I just saw it in October and I was tired. Plus the next day was another early morning hour at the Studios.
Susan’s parents went ahead and left for Daytona the next day so they didn’t go to the Studios with us. I am very glad they went with us though. We enjoyed having them and I think they had a good time. It had been a while since they had done Disney and I don’t know if they’d ever stayed on property. We got to the Studios early for an 8:00 opening for resort guests. First again. We got to the rope ready for the most stressful part of the whole trip – TOY STORY!! Our plan is always for me to get fastpasses while Susan and the boys wait for me. We ride it immediately so we get at least 2 rides with the FP’s. It worked beautifully. I threw the stroller who knows where and walked around the crowd and was first at the fastpass booths. So important. By the time I got the 4 fastpasses, Susan and the boys were just going into the ride and I hopped the rope and joined them. It was perfect. We ended up getting FP’s one more time and so we got to ride 3 times that day. Fastpasses were gone by 10AM. Such a popular ride, but one of the best. We again got to ride everything we wanted and several things more than once. It was Star Wars weekend there which made the park crowded, but a lot were doing that and so the other rides weren’t bad. We didn’t care a thing about Star Wars – thank goodness. Susan got picked AGAIN for Indiana Jones, however, the show was cut short due to storms so she didn’t get to do much. Bummer. It did start raining on our way to dinner but it pretty much stopped once we came out so we didn’t get too wet. The best surprise of the trip was that they added Fantasmic back into the day. It wasn’t on the original schedule and I was upset b/c it’s my favorite show by far. But I guess b/c it was SW weekend and so crowded, they put it back in. We were afraid they might cancel with the rain but it stopped about an hour before and so the show went on as scheduled. It was great and the boys loved it too. It was the perfect end to our trip.
We didn’t do Animal Kingdom this time and while I missed it, it would’ve been hard to do a fourth day. Being the end of the school year, I was worn out before we started and Susan and I agreed that we’ll try to go a different time in the future. It’s hard at the end of the year b/c you are worn out plus it’s more crowded than we like. We may try February in the future.
Overall, it was a great trip. I’ll post some pictures and our video soon. Quick running news – one of my 2010 goals was to run at Disney. I learned that was a bad goal to make. I was way too tired to run any morning or night, but I didn’t want to back out on my goals so I ran 3 miles this morning before our flight home. It was hot but fine. I’m glad I did it. It got me thinking about the Goofy challenge in January and I cannot wait. Also, tomorrow morning, Carter and I are running in our next 5K here in Nashville. We haven’t trained as much as we did for the first so we’ll see how it goes. I’ll post about that this week at some point.
Sorry for the long post but it’s Disney you know. Hope everyone has a good week. I’m worn out and am going to bed early tonight. Yeah, right.
I just ran to my parents' house. I needed to borrow their truck and I hated to leave my car there so I just ran the 5.5 miles there and drove home. I didn't want to carry my liscense whilst I ran so I drove home without. Sorry. I know it's illegal. But I drove really slow and safe. I promise. I need to get some mulch tomorrow. That's why I borrowed the truck. I guess after I'm done I'll drive it back to them and run home. If I feel up to it. I hope I do.
It's almost Summer Time! I can't believe this school year is only one week from being finished. It has flown by. It's been a great one but I'm ready for a change. I am really looking forward to all the exciting things we have planned for the summer.
Speaking of time flying, I am already looking to 2011 and what races I'll run. You know if you run in these marathons that you have to plan early. I know I'm running Disney in early early 2011, but I need to soon plan out my other big races during next year. I am thinking towards a Spring Marathon and a Fall Marathon again. For the first time in 4 years, I don't think I'm going to do the Nashville marathon or half. I may volunteer. I'd love to do that. But here are my thoughts at this moment which are very subject to change:
Spring: 1. Atlanta - during Spring Break so timing is good but I've heard the course is tough. Also, I have family there so that would make it easy. 2. St. Louis - this is one of my goal marathons. I would love to run it. It would be early April so the timing would be pretty good. 3. Little Rock - This is also on my to-do list but it's early March. Almost too early. 4. Cincinnati - I'm really leaning toward this one. It's the week after Country Music. Heard great things about this race and it's definitely on my goal list. However, it does conflict with our annual church retreat I think.
Fall: Not much thought here yet. It's quite a ways off. Maybe D.C. I would LOVE to do that one. Also Huntsville in December or Chickamauga in November. I'll think more about this one later.
That's all for now. It's past 10 and I'm tired. Hope everyone had a good week.
So I co-hosted the "Runners Roundtable" podcast this week. I thoroughly enjoyed helping out for the third time. The topic as I mentioned in my last post was "Avoiding the Medical Tent". I, along with Steve Runner, told our stories of recent races where we both suffered medical-type issues. After telling our stories, we discussed what we did versus what we should have done as well as how to avoid it happening again. There was a lot said and I can't possibly sum it up here, but I thought Steve made a great point toward the end. He said we all know there is going to be pain in these long distance (and even short distance) races. That's part of running. And that's true. I love running, but I can't say it's pain free. I am always glad to be done with a workout. Sometimes when I'm done, I feel great and feel like I could keep going but other times, I can't wait to see my driveway. But it's never as comfortable a feeling as sitting on the couch relaxing or sleeping in my bed for that matter. I think we could all say that.
So when we run races, whatever distances, we are going to have pain or uncomfortableness. Is that a word? Anyways, these races are endurance events. If they were easy, everyone would do it. They are supposed to be a test of our endurance and strength. So I expect pain every time I race because I'm pushing myself. That's why the finish feels so good. Not just the sense of accomplishing the race, but the feeling of the pain going away. I think the feeling at the finish is one of the big reasons I keep doing the races.
So here's the big question: Where's that line between pain and danger? And we talked about that on the show and the fact that it's hard to see. At this most recent half marathon, I knew I was having pain pretty much the whole time. I could tell it was going to be a tough race and I wasn't going to feel as good as I have in other races, BUT I didn't know I was in TROUBLE until around mile 12. By then, I felt I was close enough to the finish line to keep going even though I knew I might be in danger. So I ask the question again:
Was I wrong??? Should I have stopped and at least walked or should I have done what I did and kept pushing to the finish knowing it was close and also knowing I had a chance at a PR? I think I made the right choice, but some might disagree. My plan is always to push myself to the limit until I physically can't go on. I was hurting but I could still go on so I did. I'm still not sure what exactly happened but that's another topic and this post is already too long.
I ran a mile last night with both boys. The 5 year old wanted to go too so we did. We all made it without stopping. Still looking toward the 5K on Memorial Day. Hoping they still have it despite the flood damage. I think they will. 2 more weeks of school!! Can Not Wait until Summer Vacation. I have a lot to do this summer but it will be a nice change. Plus - it means Disney is coming up. Yahoo! Have a good weekend and....
It's been quite a weekend. One I will never forget. Granted this has nothing to do with running, but it's important enough to post. This weekend we experienced the biggest disaster that I ever remember Nashville having. The great flood of 2010. I was on a church retreat Saturday early morning when the rains began. We knew rain was coming but had no idea how much. The rain did not stop until Sunday night. Over 13 inches in Nashville. The retreat was in Kentucky but we got almost as much rain up there. We were packing up Sunday to leave when a fire truck and emergency management vehicle came roaring into our camp. They told us to stay put that the roads were impassable. Our leaders determined that if we couldn't leave before 5PM, we were going to stay another night so as not to risk driving at night. I called my boss and told him I might not be at work Monday. He said I wasn't the only one stuck. We finally did decide to leave around 2PM but it took an hour longer to get home than it did to get up there. We were diverted 3 times by police. We finally made it home only to see it get worse.
The videos and pictures I've seen on Facebook, internet, TV, and newspapers have been overwhelming, unbelievable, and devastating. So many homes and possessions destroyed. Some very close to home. People at our church and at the school where I teach. So hard to hear their stories. Thank God that we only got a little water in our garage but nothing serious. We were spared. But much prayer is needed and it will take months to clean up the mess. I put one of the most amazing videos below. This was just floating down the interstate. You don't see that everyday.
As far as running news - I didn't get to run from Friday-Sunday due to the rain and retreat. I finally ran 6 miles last night and 10 this morning. My first long run since the 1/2 marathon. My legs are sore today, but I'm glad I got the miles in. I'll try my normal 12 mile long run next Sunday morning as usual.
I will again be a co-host tonight on the Runners Roundtable podcast. We are discussing "How to Avoid the Medical Tent" which apparently I don't know how to do. I'm sure I'll be sharing my recent 1/2 marathon story (below). I think it will be a great topic and I look forward to talking with Mike and Lesley again. Steve Runner will also join us which is awesome. It begins at 7PM and you can listen here or download it later.
Sorry it's been over a week since I posted. I'll try to post again later this week. Hope everyone has a good one.
OK, here goes. Very long race report ahead. You might want to go get a snack to enjoy while you read this one:
First of all - last night. The YMCA Country Music Kids Marathon. Carter had run 25 miles one at a time in the last couple of months and the final mile was at LP (Titans) Field. We (actually just me, he really didn't care too much) were hoping to get low 8 minute. We had run an 8:33 during our 5K so I thought if we pushed it for just one mile, we could get the low 8. I secretly had a hope of breaking 8 but I didn't want to push it. We lined up at the starting line at 6:30 when the 2nd grade boys were supposed to. There were 15 boys from Carter's school. They started us and 14 of the boys took off in full sprint. I knew we had to pace ourselves and not burn out too quick so we hung back. We had a good pace and I did have to really encourage Carter to keep up. He said he was fine but I could tell we were going pretty fast b/c he was having a little bit of trouble keeping up. He asked me to slow down at one point. We ended up passing all but 3 of the boys at his school. They all ran great and I saw some future Cross Country runners for my team. When we turned the corner and saw the finish line, I told Carter to sprint but he didn't have much left. To his credit, he was giving it everything he had and he ran a great race. I stopped my watch as we crossed the line. 7:25. Wow. We busted all hopes and were way under where I thought we'd be. I was so proud of Carter and he was certainly proud of the time. It was a great night and a very fun event.
Ok, now to today. My first half marathon in a year and a half. I wanted so much to break my PR of 1:34:44. That was my goal. It was one of my year goals as well. I woke up at 4AM, showered, ate breakfast (bagel, peanut butter, banana, water). I headed to LP field at 4:45. I got there a little after 5 and sat in my car debating. Do I take the Ipod or not? There was a storm on its way. They had already made the call that they weren't going to allow any marathoners to go past 4:30. If they weren't on 4:30 pace at mile 11.2, they would divert them to the 1/2 marathon course. I really didn't want to lose another Ipod, so I decided to go without. I never got rained on. I could've run with it. Not sure if it would have made a difference in my time.
I got in line to get on the shuttle bus to the start line. All of the sudden there was a tap on my shoulder. My sister. My older sister Allison was going to run/walk the 1/2 marathon as well. Her first. I had just been thinking in my car how cool it would be to see her but thought the chances were slim at best. But she found me and I'm so glad she did. We rode the bus together, and spent the next hour+ talking before the race. It really helped pass the time and I enjoyed being with her for a while. By the way, she ended up finishing strong and had a great first 1/2. Congrats Allison! When we were in line for the port-a-johns around 6:15, we heard the announcement that the race was going to start at 6:45 instead of 7. They were really trying to get everyone done before this storm. By the way, as I'm typing this, it's storming pretty bad. Hope everyone's done.
I went right to my corral and stretched really well. I saw Ryan from church. He would end up getting 5th in the whole thing. Congrats to Ryan as well. I was a little worried when the race was starting in 5 min. and the 1:30 pacer, Greg, was nowhere to be seen. I finally saw him hurrying to our corral with just a few minutes to spare. It was my plan to try and stay with him as long as I could. I would've loved to stay with him the whole time and get 1:30 but I didn't know if I could do it. I couldn't.
We started right at 6:45. I stayed with Greg really well at the start. We were hitting our 6:50's right on. I was still with him at the 5K where we were right over 21 min. Around mile 5, he started to get a little bit ahead of me, but I wasn't worried yet. The pace was good and I still knew that I didn't have to stay with him the whole time, just as long as I could. Right after mile 5, I saw my wife and boys. Always my favorite part of the race. I gave them 5 and enjoyed their smiles. Susan tried to take a picture of me. It was decent. Todd also took a picture. He's a friend from church and I know he'll read this so just wanted to give him a shout out. Miles 6-9 were tough. Greg was getting further and further away. I knew I had lost beating 1:30 which was fine but I was starting to doubt getting a PR. At mile 10, I started thinking what I would have to get on the last 3 miles to PR. I was going to have to run close to 7:30 min. miles to do it which was going to be tough. I was really slowing down. I don't know what it was. It was very humid. It wasn't super hot, but hot enough where I was sweating a lot. Also, my feet were starting to hurt and I could tell I was getting blisters. Not sure why. Haven't had any in a long time. I think my feet were just really hot. At mile 11, I started feeling pretty bad. Not nauseous, just light headed. I decided during mile 11 that I was going to visit the medical tent when I got to the finish line. If nothing else, to attend to the blisters that I knew I had. Free medical help - why not? Then it went from bad to much much worse.
At mile 12, I could tell I was in trouble. I was still running a good pace, but I was feeling very weird. I've never passed out before, but I'm 98% sure that I was very close to doing so. I could hear people cheering but it was hard to make them out. My vision was different. I was just hoping and praying that I wasn't going to pass out. I knew I was close so that was motivation to keep my pace but I was not feeling good at all. Now I know mile 12 was only a mile but I promise it seemed like 3. It seemed so long. I finally got near the finish line. I tried to speed up, but I honestly couldn't. I felt like I would fall if I did. I barely remember crossing the finish line. I had sense enough to stop my watch and look down. 1:33:06. I beat my PR by 1 minute 38 seconds. But I had no sooner looked at my watch then I was pulled to the side.
The medical people grabbed me. I later asked and they said they could tell I was close to passing out. They said I was extremely pale, I was walking funny, and my eyes were glazed over. They took me to a cot that was right by the finish line and had me lay down. They started asking me questions and I stayed conscious the whole time even though I felt terrible. I could barely move. What's weird is, I was talking a lot. I'm kindof a quiet guy but for some reason, I wanted to keep talking. I started asking them questions. I said some weird things also. I told them I was sorry for taking their time. Also, I thought one of the helpers was one of my former students so I called her "Leah". She looked at me kindof funny and said "I have no idea what you're talking about." I would later apologize and tell her that she looked just like a former student. She really did. I know a lot of what I said was just babbling, but I don't remember everything. They had me eat 2 packs of salt. They took blood to check my blood sugar. They looked at my feet which were indeed blistered. They propped up my feet. I lost all feeling in my hands which scared me. They told me to keep making fists with my hands. I ended up staying on that cot for about 15-20 minutes. I finally started feeling better and slowly sat up. When I finally stood up for the first time, I almost fell back over. I was still a little dizzy. They had me sit down again and I just watched them in action for a while. It was incredible watching so many people get medical treatment. I saw people passed out, vomiting, crying. It was a hectic place. I flagged down one of the guys who wasn't busy and asked who was in charge. He told me Matt. I found Matt and thanked him. The medical staff really did do an amazing job and made me feel so much better. They were so nice to me even though I was a babbling idiot. Matt seemed genuinely grateful for my thanks.
I was feeling close to normal again so I decided to leave. I walked through the finish chute and got my medal. I was still feeling a little weird so I walked pretty slowly. I got to the food section which was Heaven. I needed food. I ate a lot but it all tasted so good. I sat down on the curb and ate and watched people. I ran into another friend an we talked for a while. I finally left the finish section and very slowly walked to my car.
It was a weird day. I'm very happy with my time. My goal was to PR and I did. I don't know what happened to me or why I almost went down. It was just a very weird feeling. From miles 9-13 I swore off half marathons. I couldn't imagine ever running one again but of course now that I'm feeling better, I can start imagining it again. I would love to break 1:30 but I just don't know if I could. Maybe if the weather was a lot cooler and it was a slightly easier course. Maybe. Nashville's course is pretty hilly. We'll see what the future holds. For now, I'm looking toward a 5K on Memorial Day and my 2 marathons in the Fall/Winter.
I know this was long and I apologize but a lot has happened in the last 24 hours. It's been incredible. Not always great, but certainly incredible. Thanks for reading. You know, there were a couple of times today when I thought about walking. I can't help that thought when I'm hurting. But I'm proud to say I didn't. I stuck to my signoff and I encourage you to....
