And then there were two...

Today was my 2nd running of the Blacksburg 10 miler. I was so lucky to be joined by my wife and sister-in-law for this run. They hold a 5k run along with the 10 miler. It was an absolutely beautiful day. Really you could call it the first day of spring in a way. Mostly sunny with temps well in to the 50's. Well to get to the reason for the title of this blog. I'll tell you about the start of this race. There were a little more than 350 people there. So you have this mob of almost 400 people that make their way down the street near the school we had assembled at.
I really didn't ask them to come with me on this trip they just sort of talked about it and thought it would be fun so they agreed to it about a month or more ahead of the event. My Sis-in-Law has been walking a lot over the last several months. My wife has been doing aerobic style tapes for quite some time in an on again off again manner. I knew neither of them would have any trouble walking the 5k (3.1 miles). Of course last year I had ran the 10 miler and didn't see the 5k finish or stick around for any of the awards.

So it was time to start this mob of people racing down the road. I went back to them and wished them good luck and we joked about how they asked over the bullhorn for the faster runners to get up to the front. I knew they were going to walk most of the race. I thought they might run a little but not much. They were in the very back of this big pack. I made my way up near the front of the pack. I think I was probably about 15 rows back or so. "On your mark"... "Get set".... "Go". I was far enough back in the mob that we walked a few steps or so before we could get running. It was crowded but after a few hundred yards the crowds started to thin down. I was trying to make sure I got on my 7:40 pace.

Meanwhile back in the "rear" A and Em were ready to go. When the race started they kinda looked around to see who would be walking this race with them... EVERYONE TOOK OFF RUNNING! Leaving the two of them to watch the mob of runners go down the street and quickly out of sight. I think my sis-in-law said "Well I'll never believe Mark again!" There was a bicycle volunteer out on the course who kept doubling back to check on the "walkers" and the race volunteers were pulling up the traffic cones behind them as they walked by. "Two more coming" they would yell down to the next volunteers. I think they had a good time even if they were a little embarrassed. I had no idea nobody walked! I am proud of both of them and they finished somewhere around 47 minutes.
Back out on the course. I was having gizmo problems. I didn't wear my ipod because I've found in "shorter" races I really don't want it or need it. Part of the race is run on a paved trail that has lots of trees down each side. My gps got blocked really bad at one section of the trail. I don't know if was the trees or what but I could tell something was really affecting it. It was right on till mile 3 and then about mile 4 I realized it was 0.11 miles off. This through my overall pace reading off. I was trying to hold a 7:40 mile.

By mile 5 I figured out I was already behind pace. I felt like I was doing as good as I could. I felt a little tired and a little bloated in the stomach. At mile 6 one or my running acquaintances, Bruce, passed me. Bruce is an exceptional individual who is tall and dresses to be seen during races. It would be nearly impossible to go to any race of less than a 1000 people and not see Bruce in the crowd. Bruce is 53 years old and if he's not hurt, usually runs faster than me. So at mile 6 he goes past me wearing a tuquoise "dew rag/turban" a light pink sleeveless shirt and purple shorts. Don't ask me why but his wardrobe is a much debated topic in running circles.

He got about 30 yards ahead of me and it seemed I was able to hold him there. He didn't say anything to me when he passed me. There was a turnaround at mile 7 and I said hey Bruce as we passed each other and he said hey back. By mile 8 I was starting to feel really good and I caught him and passed him and said "C'mon Bruce here is your rabbit, Let's go!" I could hear him drop farther and farther behind. I was doing really good running about a 7:30 mile. The only problem is the last two miles are mainly uphill and I knew it from last year. I pushed hard and was breathing just about as hard as I could. There was really no one around me, behind or in front. I knew I pushed my way back up the hill to the school and kept the hammer down. I finished officially in 1:18:52 which was about 2:12 slower than I wanted but it was just a goal. I was 39th out of 121 under 40 years old. I finished 8th out of 15 in males 30-34. You can check out the race results here.

http://civic.bev.net/striders/classic_2007/results_2007.html

I improved a whopping 27 seconds from last year. Hmm. I don't want to talk about that. I can't explain it. All the running I had done over the last year, the marathon, the speed work... I don't know. Anyway it was a fun day and I feel good about my effort and thanks to Bruce I had a really good push at the end.

Day before Bburg

Bring on spring man! Last week was so cold and my heart just wasn't in it. I ran twice once for 4.5 miles and once for 5 miles. On Monday of this week the weather started improving greatly. Tuesday I ran 6 miles and Wednesday I ran 5 miles. Yesterday I was supposed to run an easy 2 miles but I had KA join me on a run for the 2nd time. Last time we ran he ran a couple miles and did fine except I think he had some foot pain the next day. Yesterday we took off and things were going so good we decided to do 3. This run involved a small hill and he handled it all fine. We ran it faster (8:37 avg I think) than I was planning to run but it did feel good and I feel good today.

However, for the bad news. Up until this week I was thinking of running Blacksburg (10 miles) in 1:15. I usually do run faster in a race but I just don't see how this goal is realistic. Last year I ran at an average pace of 7:56 and I was sick at the stomach about half the race. I don't see how I can do much better than a 7:40 pace which would put me across the line at 7.66667 * 10 = 1:16:40. Therefore I am claiming that as my goal for this year. My friend G laughs at me for setting goals. He takes a little more laid back approach of what happens, happens. I tend to be goal oriented.

I'm really excited about this race because the weather is supposed to be good (50's) and sunny. But more importantly my wife and sis-in-law are going to join me! I can't wait to get them hooked. I know they are just doing it just for something to do but I hope the bug catches....

Running on Dumplings

Today after church, we had a big family dinner and my aunt made delicious chicken and dumplings. I didn't overdo it and was a good boy. We even had cake. After about an hour or so I had to get running or I wouldn't make it back for evening chuch and beat the darkness. So my tummy was still quite full when I embarked.

I put a new twist on a familiar loop. I ran from PS to Talcott and back and then down to Lowell, crossed the old railroad footbridge and back to PS. It was 16.59 miles total and it took me 2:36 (9:24 pace).This is slower than I had wanted to run it. I wanted to run it at marathon pace which for me is 9:07. It was a balmy 40 degrees when I left the house so I said eh, no gloves needed. Boy was I wrong. In the first minute I had my hands pulled back into my sleeves. I had on shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt and that was it. I was comfortable except for my hands. This meant, I couldn't see my garmin. I guess I could have taken it off and put it on the outside of my shirt but I didn't really care at the time. I just thought I'd run and it felt like I was at my goal pace. Well as I started looking at the garmin, I was behind schedule and with bathroom breaks I was never able to catch up.

I got some really strange looks as I ran because here I was running along the road with a few inches of snow on the ground everywhere and I was in shorts! People were really giving me the eye as they drove by. I would have like it about 5 degrees warmer but it would have really been nice if I would have had gloves. Anyway, I knew I was going to run more than 15 so I toyed with the notion of taking an ibuprofen with me. I decided not to to see what would happen. Well sure enough about mile 14 I started to feel some acidic burning in my legs and by the time I got home I was walking funny and my legs were burning pretty good. I took a 200mg ibuprofen and hurried off to church. That took care of the burning for a while but then a couple hours later some soreness came back. So I am just becoming more unusre about my ability to "run long". I guess I just need to keep trying and keep running long. It just doensn't seem like I can overcome this burning in my legs after about mile 15. I think my next long run I will try to take an ibuprofen with me and take it about mile 13 just to see if and how it helps. I don't want to do that but I want to keep pushing over the 20 mile mark.

I am in the process of picking out a spring marathon. I have four choices right now. Charlottesville VA on 4/21, Abingdon VA on 4/1, Athens OH on 4/1, or the National Marathon on 3/24 in D.C. Right now I am leaning toward the National but I really like the closeness of Charlottesville though I hear the course is killer with a lot of hills. We'll see but I need to decide in the next two weeks so stay posted.

Gearing up for Blacksburg

The next race I am running is the Blacksburg 10 miler. I haven't run in a race since November so I am ready to go. All the 20 milers in January have prepared me well I think and right now I am working on speed. Last year I ran it in 1:19 and change. This year I hope to be sub 1:15. I think that if I run my absolute best I can run a 1:15. We'll see. This will be a special race for me because my wife and her sister will be joining me at the start because they will be running/walking the 5k and the races start together. I'm real excited about this and look forward to seeing them when I finish.

Treadmill 5k's

I hate the treadmill. I refuse to run more than about 4 or 5 miles on one. I get so bored I can't take it. However, I think they are very good for training. They teach you to maintain pace. You can't be a slacker on a treadmill. You know when you slow down. I decided if the snow and cold were going to keep me from outside I would hit the treadmill at work and go all out for a 5k.

On Tuesday I pushed myself to my limit. My muscles were not exhausted but my cardiovascular limit was reached. It took me about 10 minutes or so to regain my composure. I ran 3.1 miles in 21:28. This is 15 seconds better than my best 5k race time of 21:43. That doesn't impress me much because the 5k had hills.

I took Wednesday off due to the snow. On Thursday I did it again but this time, when I finished I felt much better. I don't know what the difference was other than I didn't eat as much beforehand on Thursday. I ran it in 21:15 (6:51 pace) which is 13 seconds faster than on Tuesday. That doesn't sound like much but over 3.1 miles thats about 4 seconds faster for each mile.

One other little note. I recently left my atm card in the atm machine at the bank. I realized it was gone but didn't know where at first so I canceled it and ordered another. Anyway, today I had to go inside the gas station to pay with cash there were about 3 people ahead of me. They all bought cartons of cigarettes. Not packs but cartons. I was thinking about my quasi-obsession with eating healthy and being healthy and these people were looking for there next cig. They may outlive me but you just realize that these people are slaves to the cigarettes just like I am in a way to running.

I then went to McD to get a salad. The guy in front of me ordered two mcchickens, a cheeseburger, fries and a coke. That's about 2000 calories. Now I don't know what this guy was doing that day but anyway... he was about my size maybe a little heavier it was hard to tell with the coat. Anyway my day out at lunch made me wonder why do I try so hard doing what I do. Well the main reason is shown in the photo below.

Coldest Long Run Ever (for me that is)

This morning against my better judgement the "Greenbriar" County guys went for a cold run. I didn't have my Garmin GPS because it was just going to be an easy run. It was about 18 degrees when I left my house and the wind was somewhat clam. I have never run more than a couple miles below 25 degrees. We were to run 12-14 miles today from the Greenbrier Courthouse to the Lewisburg Airport. The wind was fairly still as we met at 7:30am in Lewisburg so even though L and S wanted to head for the bakery, I was ready to go. We started out and I was afraid that my legs were going to be cold because I only had on my running tights and a pair of shorts, yes that's right I wear tights. Actually, they are Under Armour cold weather pants.

About a mile into it I was starting to warm up and we ran along at a good but leisurely pace. We reached the airport and I noticed my camel bak water hose was frozen up solid so I had to duck into the airport to get it thawed at the sink. L and S ran on another mile and I met them on the way back. I was feeling good and was actually very comfortable.

When we turned around it seemed that the wind picked up plus it was blowing in our face. This made the run back a little more uncomfortable. The total run time was 2 hours and 10 minutes. It is hard then to warm your body back up after it is cold. It kinda makes you feel funny for a few minutes. This was L and S's last long run before their marathon at Myrtle Beach. Good luck guys. Don't have too much fun at the beach and enjoy your taper. I am expecting the "Greenbriar" County boys to be victorious with sub 3:30 performances!

Running the last week of January

After the 23 mile run dished out by my weekend mentors, I have to turn around and face my gung ho running coworkers. Boy don't I have a good attitude. I guess I've spent so many solitary miles I'm not used to running with others. In some ways it is easier in others it is harder. I enjoy it but I enjoy my alone miles too.

At work "R" as we'll call him is totally gung ho. I am just amazed that anyone younger than me likes running as much as me. He is hard core. He and is cohort "B" ran with me Tues-Thurs and they even ran Monday. I showed R this steep road last week that just goes up for about 3 or 4 miles to Elk Knob and he loves it. So this week we ran two miles up it and back down. We then went on Wednesday over and did the Dam Race Course which is a 5k. On Thursday I gave them there first speed workout session. "R" and I ran ourselves till the world seemed to spin around kinda funny. It was the combination of cold air, pushing hard. and stopping fast. It was a good week but it was just about the coldest yet. I can't wait for the 40's...

23 Mile trail run at Glade Springs

This was a great run. I have never run this far with this much elevation change. There were 5 of us ranging in age from 60 to my age of 33. We started at the bridge at Prince and ran about 6 miles along the new river. That got us to the mouth of Glade Creek. From there we could look down the river and see where we would eventually be. Way up on the ridge at Grandview state park there is a lookout. We then ran up Glade Creek along a trail/road which was beautiful. It was all uphill. Did I mention there was snow? Not a whole lot but as much as an inch or two. So sometimes it was like running in sand.

We walked every time the trail took us over rocks or bad spots where you just couldn't run. We also walked some of the steeper hills because we had a long way ahead of us. I noted several turkey tracks in the snow and we saw some deer along the way. The trail up Glade Creek lasted about 6 miles. So about 12 miles into the run and I was doing fine.

You reach the trailhead where people drive in to and then you are on this steep mountain road leading away from the creek through some farms. It is very steep! I had to walk most of this. Just walking up these hills, I could feel my heart rate skyrocket. I almost had to stop several times just due to my heart rate. It was intense. The other guys were able to run up a lot of this so this put me way behind. This is where my troubles started. The back of my legs were burning and I was losing speed and endurance fast.

You then hit the main road and go straight up even more for about a mile or so to a shell station where we refueled. I was zonked by this time. I almost thought about finding a pay phone and telling my wife to come get me as she was in Beckley at the time. The shell station is at the I64 Grandview exit. So If you are traveling to Beckley and note the really tall bridge just before you get to Beckley that says Glade Creek, we climbed from the bottom of that gorge up to the interstate.

From there we ran towards Grandview park along a two lane road. My friend Lee hung behind with me to coax me along. He was pointing out the nice houses and I was like... uh huh whatever... when is this going to end. I know I must have aggravated him because I kept asking how much farther? We cut through a residential area to avoid the traffic. This was tough as well because it went up and down and up and down. I was really hurting, I would run for about 5 minutes then walk about 5 minutes.

Finally at mile 19, we arrived at Grandview state park. All 5 runners were back together. We went to the overlook and looked down at where we had been on the new river at the mouth of glade creek. I was really hurting by this time. I could hardly walk actually. My legs were burning. That is when Lee offered me some drugs. He had some tylenol and ibuprofen. I took an ibuprofen.After walking around in the park for about a mile and sightseeing the ibuprofen started to kick in. The pain vanished! It was great. I felt good once again! I still couldn't keep up with them but I could run pain free now. We headed down a steep mountain road with ice and snow for about 3 miles back to the vehicles. A few times one of the runners would hit a patch of ice and start skating that was kinda scary but for the most part it was a pretty good trail. I arrived at the vehicle feeling good and ready to eat. The trip took me 5 hours and 10 minutes.

When I told my med student sis-in-law about taking the ibuprofen she made a bad face and said that it couldn't be good to do that. But I tell you, I felt great. Next time I run more than 15 I plan to take one about mile 14 or so. I think it reduces the muscle inflammation in my legs. I'll have to look into this further. Overall it was a great trip and sad to say we took no camera. I've got to look for a tiny one to carry on trips like this. I just didn't want to lug my rather boxy old digital camera around for 23 miles of running! There will be pictures next time I do this!

My mile times were:
1 10:44 Run/walk along New River
2 9:07
3 9:10
4 14:13 Walked a hill along New River
5 9:14
6 18:20 Walking around at mouth of Glade Creek
7 15:21 Walking around Glade Creek starting up trail
8 12:15 Glade Creek Trail
9 14:35 Glade Creek Trail Stopped at Bridge
10 11:56 Glade Creek Trail
11 11:06 Glade Creek Trail
12 23:06 Climbing hill away from Glade Creek
13 14:27 On main road to store uphill
14 15:03 Went into store
15 15:02 Coming out of store
16 9:51 Along two lane road with Lee
17 10:48 Going through rolling subdivision
18 11:54
19 11:25 Coming into Grandview
20 23:19 Walking around the park
21 18:19 Started down mountain - Ice and snow
22 10:45
23 9:51
Back at vehicle

Making Mistakes

Today, I met my buddies Lee and Shawn for another 20 miler on the Greenbrier River Treadmill. Well from the beginning we had said we were going to run 20 miles. Running at least 20 miles is still a fairly new thing for me. I have done it successfully 5 times now including my marathon and this was to be my 6th time crossing that mark. I can generally run about 14 miles without much thought of food or preparation and hold somewhere under a 9 minute pace with ease.

Well to complicate matters, the weather was calling for snow, ice, cold, etc. you get the idea. So prior to the run via email we had joked about possibly running less. This morning when I got up I was very excited about going. Yes I have a running addiction. It was 27 degrees and the snow was flying but I didn't pay much attention to that. Mostly it depended on the wind. I figured it would be bad weather and we'd run about 16 and that would be fine. Without giving much thought to the matter I grabbed a protein bar which is roughly 180 calories and put it in my camel back water pack that was almost filled with water. For once I was going to be on time meeting them for a run. I always seem to forget something and have to run back which makes me late. It's about a 30 minute drive to the trail which goes by fast when you are listening to podcasts about running on the ol' ipod.

When I arrived it was snowing lightly and there was no wind. I had 4 layers on my upper body and two on my lower. I had gloves and my Hokie toboggan just for you Lee. Soon we were ready to go. The wind was still and believe it or not, they were very good conditions for me to run. After about 1 mile I was getting warm and we were cruising along just over a 9 minute mile pace. We were talking and laughing as we normally do and enjoying Shawn's stories.

At about 9.8 miles, we stopped and refueled at the turn around point. I was starving. See, this past week I have started an attempt to lose my last 10 lbs which you can read about at http://cranberryrock-lose-last-10.blogspot.com. So the day before I had had a Grilled Chicken salad and raisin bran for dinner and had swam lightly for about an hour and a half with my wife and kids. I was still really hungry and the guys could tell it. Shawn noticed my hands were shaking. Lee offered a cliff shot which is basically a packet of gooey carbs and sugar. I had the apple pie flavored one with no caffeine. I wolfed it down and soon we were off. It is actually hard to stop running and then start again. Especially when it is cold.

I ran along with them just fine until about mile 13ish. That's when I started to fall apart. It felt like someone had hooked a hose up to me and sucked every ounce of energy out of me. I was not hurting (anymore than normal) and felt pretty good but I had zero get up and go! I was bonked, done, a goner, stick a fork in me, it's over. Just like that. I started jogging really slow. I told them to go on I'd make it but it'd be awhile. The next 6 miles were kind of like a runners bad dream. The idea that you have 6 miles to go and normally could run them in about 50 minutes but it was going to take about 90 minutes at the pace I was going. I would walk a little then run a little.

Soon after I bonked, Shawn ran out of juice too. So we sort of seesawed back and forth one in front of the other for a mile or two. Lee our elder, our leader, our mentor, our trainer, and coach and yes sometimes idol was putting the hammer down on the young pups. He would be back at the vehicle, clothes changed, sipping diet mountain dew and contemplating WVU winning yet another bowl game next year before we would get there. About mile 18, Shawn left me in the dust as well. So there I was, Mark, the marathoner, the long distance runner, capable of running 26.2 miles in four hours and seven minutes, gasping for air and energy at mile 18. I would walk for about 5 minute then try to run. I would run for about 4 minutes then give out again. I had nothing. I made sure and walked up until about a quarter mile from the finish so I could run that last quarter mile and show up at the vehicles still running. How vain of me. Oh well.

I got schooled. When you make a mistake you must learn from it and I did. From my marathon training I knew that I need to eat about every 5 miles to make it over 20. I also need to eat something substantial the night before. Lee would liken this to eating a buffet while running but that seems to be what I need. I didn't do this so my calorie burn rate overcame the easily accessed energy stores in my body. Next time I will not make this same mistake. If I am running 15 or more I must eat often and early.



Picture Caption (WVU spanks VT on GRT)

(Thanks for the pics Shawn!)

My total time and notice I emphasize the "my" is shown below.

Calories burned according to my Garmin GPS 4491 ( I don't believe this, I would put it around 2300 I think)

Total time 3:26:10 (not including rest break at mile 10)
Total distance 19.69
Average Pace 10:28

Mile Pace
1 9:24
2 9:23
3 9:25
4 9:50
5 9:21
6 10:40
7 9:03
8 9:12
9 9:05
10 9:05
11 9:33
12 9:31
13 10:00
14 9:40
15 10:55
16 11:00
17 9:41
18 15:17
19 15:23
19.6 10:33