January Running Summary :
Runs: 11
Avg. Time: 01:09:06
Total Time: 12:40:08
Avg. Speed: 6.2 MPH
Avg. Mi Pace: 9:40
Avg. Dist.: 7.1 Mi
Total Dist.: 78.6 Mi
Avg. Cal. Burned: 627.6
Total Cal. Burned: 5648
Interesting totals for January; my total miles are split evenly between 39.3 race miles and 39.3 training miles. I limped out of January with a pulled TFL muscle on my Thursday lunch run. A visit to Dr Eric that same afternoon has me well on the way to being recovered.
I also had my first DNS race of the year. I did the wise thing listening to my body yesterday morning and not attempting to run or walk the Bill Crews Remission Run 5k with my leg not well. Here's to a healthy February!!!!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Black & Gold Alert
I just received the following email from one of my NOLA friends. I didn't realize that the Super Bowl will be on the first weekend of Mardi Gras parades in the NOLA area.
New Orleans has exploded into a chaotic revelry unlike anything the city has ever seen before. Add in the fact that we'll be in the midst of Mardi Gras during the game and it's almost scary to think what could go down here on February 7, 2010 when the Saints are in Miami.
Here are some things we might see:
1. Alcohol shortages: All groceries, convenience stores and drug stores within a 100 mile radius of New Orleans will completely sell out of beer, wine and liquor. You should stock up at least a week in advance, otherwise you'll be stuck with soda and water.
2. Extreme noise: The sounds of 1.13 million cheering fans in metro New Orleans will reach more than 500 decibels. Hundreds of thousands of stomping feet will create shockwaves and tremors as far away as Houston and Atlanta .
3. Regional smoke screen and CO2 emissions: Smoke from barbecue pits, fireworks and bonfires will create a 250-mile long cloud in the sky that will be seen from satellites and on Google Earth. Tens of thousands of residents will boil seafood in their backyards and CO2 emissions from the burning propane tanks will create a hole in the ozone above New Orleans .
4. Total gridlock: The crowds of people trying to get to the French Quarter will back up traffic all the way to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. If you're driving in from the east, you'll likely have to park somewhere on Judge Perez in Chalmette and walk the rest of the way. The line to get into Pat O'Brien's will end somewhere in the Marigny and the spillover from Bourbon Street will run all the way to Decatur.
5. The city will use parking tickets to fund Nagin's world travels: The City of New Orleans Parking Enforcement will mark the day on the calendar and send out busloads of meter maids to issue thousands of tickets to those having a good time downtown. They'll use the proceeds to send Mayor Nagin on a luxury 13-day cruise down the Nile followed by a jaunt into space with Richard Branson.
6. New Orleans will put out 3 more port-o-lets: In response to the massive crowds, the city will put 3 more port-o-lets for a grand total of 12. This will increase ratio of toilets-to-people to an impressive 1 toilet per 24,000 visitors. The wait time to pee in the French Quarter will drop from five hours to only three.
7. Who Dat migration: Thousands of vehicles, mostly Chevy Silverados with fleur de lis stickers in the back windows, will make the trip down I-10 then head south on I-75 and I-95 to Miami . "Who Dat!" will be heard at dozens of gas stations along the way, which will also subsequently sell out of Bud Light. Much of the 862 miles of interstate between New Orleans and Miami will be littered with beer cans and chicken bones.
8. Thousands of televisions will need to be replaced: Country folk Who Dats on the north shore and in wooded areas surrounding New Orleans will shoot out their televisions in excitement.
BLACK AND GOLD IN THE SUPERBOWL, BABY!!!!!!
New Orleans has exploded into a chaotic revelry unlike anything the city has ever seen before. Add in the fact that we'll be in the midst of Mardi Gras during the game and it's almost scary to think what could go down here on February 7, 2010 when the Saints are in Miami.
Here are some things we might see:
1. Alcohol shortages: All groceries, convenience stores and drug stores within a 100 mile radius of New Orleans will completely sell out of beer, wine and liquor. You should stock up at least a week in advance, otherwise you'll be stuck with soda and water.
2. Extreme noise: The sounds of 1.13 million cheering fans in metro New Orleans will reach more than 500 decibels. Hundreds of thousands of stomping feet will create shockwaves and tremors as far away as Houston and Atlanta .
3. Regional smoke screen and CO2 emissions: Smoke from barbecue pits, fireworks and bonfires will create a 250-mile long cloud in the sky that will be seen from satellites and on Google Earth. Tens of thousands of residents will boil seafood in their backyards and CO2 emissions from the burning propane tanks will create a hole in the ozone above New Orleans .
4. Total gridlock: The crowds of people trying to get to the French Quarter will back up traffic all the way to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. If you're driving in from the east, you'll likely have to park somewhere on Judge Perez in Chalmette and walk the rest of the way. The line to get into Pat O'Brien's will end somewhere in the Marigny and the spillover from Bourbon Street will run all the way to Decatur.
5. The city will use parking tickets to fund Nagin's world travels: The City of New Orleans Parking Enforcement will mark the day on the calendar and send out busloads of meter maids to issue thousands of tickets to those having a good time downtown. They'll use the proceeds to send Mayor Nagin on a luxury 13-day cruise down the Nile followed by a jaunt into space with Richard Branson.
6. New Orleans will put out 3 more port-o-lets: In response to the massive crowds, the city will put 3 more port-o-lets for a grand total of 12. This will increase ratio of toilets-to-people to an impressive 1 toilet per 24,000 visitors. The wait time to pee in the French Quarter will drop from five hours to only three.
7. Who Dat migration: Thousands of vehicles, mostly Chevy Silverados with fleur de lis stickers in the back windows, will make the trip down I-10 then head south on I-75 and I-95 to Miami . "Who Dat!" will be heard at dozens of gas stations along the way, which will also subsequently sell out of Bud Light. Much of the 862 miles of interstate between New Orleans and Miami will be littered with beer cans and chicken bones.
8. Thousands of televisions will need to be replaced: Country folk Who Dats on the north shore and in wooded areas surrounding New Orleans will shoot out their televisions in excitement.
BLACK AND GOLD IN THE SUPERBOWL, BABY!!!!!!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
My Resolve for 2010
As I missed out on making any New Years Resolutions this year (by this time in years past my resolutions were pretty much toast) I came across a simple line that will fuel my training for this year and maybe years to come:
The person I have to beat is the guy I was last week.
Simple yet challenging. If applied properly, I should see slow and steady improvement from week to week. We'll see how it goes. That means I need to eat fewer chips and salsa at Rico's tonight than I ate at Rico's last week for starters. Sounds simple enough.
The person I have to beat is the guy I was last week.
Simple yet challenging. If applied properly, I should see slow and steady improvement from week to week. We'll see how it goes. That means I need to eat fewer chips and salsa at Rico's tonight than I ate at Rico's last week for starters. Sounds simple enough.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
2010 Walt Disney World Marathon Character Pictures
The pony express arrived with my disposable camera pics from the 2010 Disney Marathon today. All 22 pics came out.....pretty awesome!!!!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Houston Marathon Baggage Claim
I was asleep before 8 last night; my alarm woke me at 4 this morning so I could make it to the convention center in downtown Houston for my 5:30-11:30 baggage claim shift. This was only my 2nd baggage claim shift. This was much larger than the 5k event that I worked at DisneyWorld back in January 2008. There was a steady stream of runners checking bags from the very start at 5:30 until around 6:15. After that time, we got completely mobbed by tons of bags being checked. There were just piles of bags everywhere. Bags were all sorted by the time the lead marathoner finished.
Most runners were very polite and thanked us for being there. Unfortunately, with thousands of bags being checked, a few bag tags were separated from the bags and some bags were filed in the wrong numerical location. One runner got really upset when we couldn't locate his bag and directed him to the lost and found section. Dude, don't check a bag if its that important to you. Heck, even the airlines lose a bag every once inawhile.... and you pay them to lose your bag.
I have no plans for any 2011 Disney races so should be back to running the Houston 1/2 next year.
Most runners were very polite and thanked us for being there. Unfortunately, with thousands of bags being checked, a few bag tags were separated from the bags and some bags were filed in the wrong numerical location. One runner got really upset when we couldn't locate his bag and directed him to the lost and found section. Dude, don't check a bag if its that important to you. Heck, even the airlines lose a bag every once inawhile.... and you pay them to lose your bag.
I have no plans for any 2011 Disney races so should be back to running the Houston 1/2 next year.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge
It's hard to believe that its been almost a week now since I ran my longest combined weekend race miles ever. All soreness is now gone as are the arctic like temperatures that were in Orlando both race days.
My race training was not the best that I've had, well it was more like the worst marathon training that I've followed since my first marathon. With that said, I went into both races not trying to set a personal best but rather to have fun, cope with the weather conditions, and complete both events.
For the 1/2 marathon on Saturday, I wanted to run either a 1:51 or 1:54 time or anything under 2 hours but nothing faster than an 8:30 pace in order to keep me able to complete Sunday's marathon. Based on the email alerts I received from 4 points on the course, my pace was as even a pace as I can run. Here are the splits that I received:
5k 27:03 Predicted 1:54:07
10k 53:55 Predicted 1:53:44
15k 1:20:54 Predicted 1:53:47
Finish 1:54:22 net time 8:43 pace
Earlier in the week, I looked up the pace times that I needed in order to finish at 1:51 or 1:54 so I had a 8:30 or 8:45 pace in my mind during the race. As my pace got down to an 8:33 I realized about the 1/2 way mark of the race that I was not taking into account the fact that I wasn't running the tangents on the course and therefore my times would be off. I just decided to keep things above 8:30 and see how the race went.
Running in 37 degree weather and rain in Madison, MS last month helped prepare me for Saturday's race. I didn't even realize that I was wet Saturday until the race was over. The rain mixed with sleet and snow that we got Saturday morning was never really heavy but there was enough to have me wet (along with my own sweat I'm sure).
I waffled quite a bit when deciding on what gear to pack for race day. When the weather forecast was still calling for lows in the 30s and potential rain, I was going to wear compression socks and 1/4 tights with a short sleeve technical shirt. When 20s were thrown into the mix, I opted for full length tights and a long sleeve technical shirt. A skull cap was part of the plan either way. Standing in line at the expo Friday morning with northerners, I decided to run Saturday's race sans tights and just running shorts. That worked out fine; I opted to include the tights for Sunday's longer run.
My post race recovery plan Saturday included me doing a load of laundry with all of the race gear that I wore in Saturday's race in order to weat the same gear Sunday. $5 in laundry costs beat the $30 plus that the airlines are charging for checked bags these days. I also wore an active pair of running shoes as travel/walking shoes this trip as packing 2 pairs of size 13 shoes would not have left much room for anything else in my carryon bag. That part of the plan worked out great as well as I had fresh shoes to run in Sunday.
While I had 2 specific goal times for Saturday's run, in the back of my mind I just wanted to finish Sunday's run faster than what I ran my first marathon in at Disney 10 years ago. Rounding up, I had a goal of finishing in under 5 hours. That goal was 1 1/2 hours slower than my Boston qualifying goal times that I had at Chicago and Houston for my last 2 marathons. Sunday morning started with temperatures in the 20s, a few degrees colder than Saturdays lows. However, while Saturday was rainy and overcast the entire morning, Sunday was clear and the sun helped warm the course post sunrise.
Kodak provided disposable cameras as part of our race goody bag this year. I didn't run with one for the 1/2 Saturday but did for the full. In fact, I stopped and took over 20 pictures along the course Sunday morning. Hopefully they all came out; I'll have them to post early next week. I managed to complete the marathon in 4:55..... 5 minutes to spare in my 5 hour goal. I also managed to avoid using any gel products during the marathon as they have been know to give my GI issues. I used some Clif shot blocks at the 1/2 way point of the race and also chomped on some frozen chocolate that was handed out at mile 23 of the race.
All in all it was a great race weekend. I had fun running 2 events even in weather conditions that were not quite ideal. Running Disney for my final marathon was a nice way to bookend my decade of running marathons with Disney as my first in 2000 and my last in 2010. I look forward to getting back to training and knocking out more states with 1/2 marathons later this year.
Oh yeah, here are my marathon splits as well. You can see that most characters and therefore pic stops occurred after the 10 mile mark:
5 mile 49:23 Predicted 4:18:57
10 mile 1:36:29 Predicted 4:12:58
13.1 mile 2:14:49 Predicted 4:29:38
20 mile 3:34:20 Predicted 4:40:58
Finish 4:55:29 net time 11:16 pace
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Like Shooting Fish In A Barrel
Tapering madness has definetely set in. I'm now over the weather; have decided to run in tights and long sleeves and just deal with whatever we get Saturday and Sunday mornings. Hopefully there won't be any flight issues and I can make it to the ESPN Club at the Boardwalk for the BCS Championship game Thursday evening.
I just got a link to a website that makes doubling up on states on a weekend well ... like shooting fish in a barrel. What will they think of next? Actually running the events for ya?
I just got a link to a website that makes doubling up on states on a weekend well ... like shooting fish in a barrel. What will they think of next? Actually running the events for ya?
Monday, January 4, 2010
I'm So Over Winter
Enough with the cold weather already!!!!
This weather is just a year off for my training. Last year I would've loved this weather for race day. I had completed a fall of marathon training and was ready to attempt a BQ run and got nothing but heat in both Chicago and Houston. Fast forward a year where my training has sucked since mid October and I have nothing but cold weather around me. Not to mention that both Chicago and even moreso Houston were races where you could roll out of bed and be at the start line compared to Disney this weekend where I'll be outside both Saturday and Sunday mornings in the cold for a couple of hours before the races start. Can you say Brrrrrrr.....
Any ice bath required will be as easy as jumping into the hotel pool. No need for ice with freezing weather.
This weather is just a year off for my training. Last year I would've loved this weather for race day. I had completed a fall of marathon training and was ready to attempt a BQ run and got nothing but heat in both Chicago and Houston. Fast forward a year where my training has sucked since mid October and I have nothing but cold weather around me. Not to mention that both Chicago and even moreso Houston were races where you could roll out of bed and be at the start line compared to Disney this weekend where I'll be outside both Saturday and Sunday mornings in the cold for a couple of hours before the races start. Can you say Brrrrrrr.....
Any ice bath required will be as easy as jumping into the hotel pool. No need for ice with freezing weather.
Friday, January 1, 2010
The Decade in Review
Yesterday concluded my first long distance running decade. Prior to or shortly prior to the start of this decade, my longest run had been 6.2 miles or 10k.
My races completed this decade include 4 marathons, 2 25ks, 46 half marathons, 1 10 miler and 1 13k.
Prior to 2006, I have no idea how many miles I ran per year nor do I know how much mileage I put on my running shoes. My old shoe wear test was that if I got shin splints after a run, it was time for a new pair of shoes.
Going with the data I have, my 2006-2009 mileage is as follows:
2006 - 1146 miles
2007 - 1196 miles
2008 - 1298 miles
2009 - 1092 miles
2009 ended in a running slump for me. I'm not sure what the cause of this running funk is, but I am confident that I will work my way through it and get back running in 2010. Who knows, I may become a streaker this year!!!
My races completed this decade include 4 marathons, 2 25ks, 46 half marathons, 1 10 miler and 1 13k.
Prior to 2006, I have no idea how many miles I ran per year nor do I know how much mileage I put on my running shoes. My old shoe wear test was that if I got shin splints after a run, it was time for a new pair of shoes.
Going with the data I have, my 2006-2009 mileage is as follows:
2006 - 1146 miles
2007 - 1196 miles
2008 - 1298 miles
2009 - 1092 miles
2009 ended in a running slump for me. I'm not sure what the cause of this running funk is, but I am confident that I will work my way through it and get back running in 2010. Who knows, I may become a streaker this year!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
