National Marathon

Okay this post is week late but I've been busy...

Last weekend Anne and I toed the line in front of the Wash DC Armory for the National Marathon. We would tour parts of DC I had never been to and enjoy beautiful clear skies and little wind all morning with 34-45 deg temps. The result? A whopping 9 minute PR for Anne and nearly equal 1/2 splits. SUPER!

We began a marathon build up in January switching Anne from 3 days a week of running to 4 and jumped right in with a 13 miler January 1st. Most of last falls Richmond marathon base was still in her legs so we built quickly with long runs coming every 2 weeks. Runs of 15, 18, 20 , 20, and 22 followed with each consisting of a 30sec walk break at each mile marker with an average pace per mile around 10:00. For race day after reading Galloway's suggestion of a 60 sec walk break I decided to compromise and do 45 second breaks on race day. No pre -determined mile pace was set up and we just ran home she felt. This resulted in us running in the 9:30's with the 45s walk break included. The miles ticked by and her freshness remained. She hit a gel at miles 5, 9, 13, 17, and 20 which allowed her to keep from bonking out. Reaching the half around 2:05 gave me confidence that the sub 4:21 and 4:15 goals were a definite possibility and maybe even 4:10. With a couple pit stops and some tough hill miles in the 2nd half we ended up running a slightly positive split but managed to run the last 10k in under 60min and the last 2 miles at sub 9:25 pace.

Officially we finished strong in 4:12:04 which was fast enough to make my own legs hurt.

The house projects have really geared up and my "one focus at a time-obsessive personality" let those take priority over my running. So I only logged 49 miles last week and a mere 35 this week. :-(

For some reason I always fall in to a 3-4 run days a week pattern and end up averaging like 12 miles per run. Not sure why. I did manage a 4 mile AM ---busy work day--- then 16 miler PM run home on Friday which really wiped me out.

Now with March nearly over it is time to get in shape! Higher mileage, more frequent runs, hill work, and some speedier days to come I swear! Next race Bull Run 50 April 18th.

at least the house is looking better :-)

Road Racing with My Buddy

Last week 4 runs- 38 miles
Sunday- off
Monday- 6 easy treadmill

The last two Saturdays I have participated in the areas big road races. My wife and I completed the Charlottesville 10 Miler and Richmonds Ukrops Monument avenue 10K. The former had 2,000+ finishers and this weekends had over 24,000!!!! I believe it may even have been the biggest race I have ever participated in.

Both races were very well done and showcased their cities greatest streets and sights. The huge crowd in the 10k was incredibly well organized at the start with a multiple wave start via seeded corrals. This allowed the super elites competing in the USATF national championships (won by Abdi Abdiraham) to start unimpeded at 8:30, my D corral to start at 8:44 and so on back to walkers going off nearly an hour later. A pretty neat system indeed. I both of our races we managed to beat the majority of the folks AND enjoy ourselves.

The Charlottesville race had cool but clear weather which brought out a good number of fans while this Saturday's race was in the midst of the 8 straight days of rain we have endured. So the cheering sections were down from what I hear is common, but the hearty souls that were out there made it fun.

Pinning a number on for a road race always brings me back to my first ones....some 23 years (and 560-some races) ago when I was a little runt of an 11 year old. Many kids were out running in each race and I can only hope they will end up loving and competing in running races as much as I have over the years.

I also have a small pang of .....hhmmmmmmm you should get some speed workouts going and get competitive again..... playing in my ear.

Next up Bull Run Run 50 Miler!!!! nothing but easy 6 mile runs this week to come in rested and ready.

Wow Impressive Racing!

My wife is a stud!

We raced the NTELOS 8k in downtown Richmond this morning in a stellar 39:32. (7:57 pace). Anne has not raced very much in her life and was able to drop 4 minutes off her last race at this distance (2005). Pretty quick performance considering she runs 3 days/week for a total of 15miles/week ave.

Splits were 8:22, 8:02, 7:59, 7:52, 7:15. The last 0.97 miles was net downhill, but we spanked it. This was a fast enough pace to let me feel my right hamstring that has been a little angry at me the last few days due to the increased steady miles.

The fact that we live and train in a real hilly area is helping both our fitness's.

Thursday- 6 miles easy w/ walk break-59min
Friday- 11 miles hills- 1:26
Saturday 5 miles- 39:32 w/ Anne

Time to rest a bit for next weeks JFK 50 miles.

Anne The Marathoner

Sun AM 2 miles walk PM- 6 miles -48min

A HUGE congratulations go out to my wife, Anne, on finishing the VA Beach Shamrock marathon yesterday in 4:26. Anne runs 3 times a week and puts in 12-15 miles a week. With a gradual progression of a long run on Saturdays she was able to build up and accomplish this impressive feat. I am very proud and only wish I could have been there with her. There is nothing like have a loved one around to dote on you after finishing a big race. "Help me off this curb honey!" - is a favorite battle cry I often use post race. Sorry you had to do this alone! Lord knows you have helped my pathetic self after ultras many many times.

Her fine performance got me thinking about others I have heard that have completed a marathon. So I did a bit of searching and came up with the following list of folks that have completed marathons...some of which are quite surprising.

Mike Malinin (Goo Goo Dolls drummer)- 3:23 he has run 50 & 100 mile ultras too
Billy Baldwin- 3:24
John Edwards 3:30
Michael Dukakis 3:31
George W Bush 3:44:52- I'm VERY surprised by this....
Pat Tillam- football pro, Iraq war casualty due to friendly fire- 3:48
Kim Alexis (Model) 3:52
Will Ferrell- 3:56
Michael Waltrip (Nascar) 3:59
Keri Strug (USA gymnast) 4:12
Puff Daddy P diddy Sean Combs- 4:14:54
Shannon Miller (USA Gymnast) 4:17
Kyle Petty (Nascar) 4:18
Oprah Winfrey- 4:29:30
Mike Huckabee (Arkansas gov) 4:39
Bill Frist (corrupt politician/physician) 4:54
Al Gore- 4:58
Mario Lopez (Saved by the bell)5:41
David Lee Roth (Van Halen) 6:04

Interesting no??