Back at it...10 miler

I took a two week break, not something I would recommend when you are signed up for a marathon in 6 weeks. I have been struggling with motivation. It is a tough time of year to run early in the morning, and I have NEVER been a morning person. My time to run is any time before 7:00am and it is just plain tough for me to get up before 6! I suppose I could run at night but I am just darn tired after work and getting the kids to bed. I had a bad head cold for about 4 or 5 days, and after that the weather turned ugly with high winds, colder temps, and rain over the past week. I just can't force myself to roll out of bed, get dressed and then get blasted by 30 mph cold wind.

Well, I left the house today at 5:45am. I ran my Rancho Vista loop but added two laps around Marie Kerr Park to make it an even 10 miler. Total time was 74:14 (just under 7:30 pace). I was just under 8:00 pace after 5, so my last 5 were just under 7:00 pace. The wind was not bad and as I came back on Rancho Vista there was a slight mist in the air. It felt harder than it should have but what can I expect after two weeks off.

Race Results

Andi and I after the 2005 LA Marathon. We ran 3:38:42!

There was a lot of great performances this weekend all over the world. Everyone who completed the LA Marathon on Sunday put up with some crazy conditions to get their finishers medal. Some of the times out there were incredible based on the wind and rain that they had to deal with.

9:48:42 Kelly Gneiting broke the Guinness World Record for "Heaviest Person to Complete a Marathon" by crossing the finish at the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday.

5:17:04 Fran Cowart finished her first marathon at Los Angeles. Way to go Fran! See Clay's blog for details.

3:43:53 Chuck Fieland continued his streat of LA Marathons. He has run many different courses in many different conditions.

3:24:23 Dale Lister some how dealt with the conditions better than most and ran a BQ minus 10 minutes to almost certainly secure his spot at the Boston Marathon in 2012.

2:36:14 The McRunner, a man who ate all 3 meals at McDonalds for the past month and raised $27,000 dollars for Ronald McDonald House, also ran a PR at L.A. During this time his cholesterol and body fat dropped! He was also running 100+ miles per week.

2:27:03 Amy Hastings of Mammonth, CA was 3rd at L.A. and ran the 3rd fastest debut marathon for a US female ever! This made her 3rd fastest on the trials qualifiers list and 8th fastest American female of all time! I heard that 6 of the top 8 US females EVER are expected to run at the US trials in January. EXCITING!

2:06:35 Markos Geneti won the L.A. Marathon with a course record and the second fastest debut marathon EVER! How he did that in those conditions is beyond me. There is something to be said for being a first timer in the marathon. It either humbles you, or you are so naive (because you don't know what it will feel like late in the race) that you can go out hard and don't look back. I know I exceeded my expectations when I ran my first L.A. marathon in 2004 in 80 degree weather, in 3:15:12.


Also this weekend, Galen Rupp was 3rd at the NYC half marathon in a world class field with a time of 1:00:30, and he fell at one point in the race! This was ALSO his first time at the distance. Again, I think ignorance is bliss. Salazars group did great with Mo Farah winning the men's race and Kara Goucher 3rd in the women's race. Alberto Salazar coaches all three athletes.

Shalane Flanagan was 3rd at World Cross Country and lead the US Women's team to a bronze medal. This was the first medal by an American woman since Deena Kastor in 2003.

Finally, there was a World Record in the marathon last week! Michael Wardian broke the World Record for a marathon dressed as a super hero when he ran the Lower Potomac Marathon dressed as Spiderman in 2:34:56!

Non-training

I didn't run on Tuesday or Wednesday run while I took my family to Disneyland for my son Matthew's 5th birthday (which also happens to be Andi and my 8th Anniversary). We had a BLAST as it was the boys first trip to Disneyland. Matt's favorite rides were the Buzz Lightyear ride and Pirates of the Caribbean.

I can home with a head cold and congestion that gives me a constant headache, coughing, and sneezing. I had some back pain from my trip to MN which was almost gone but the coughing and sneezing exacerbated that a little.

Needless to say I have not run this week and probably won't run much this weekend as the weather is calling for wind and rain and I want to get rid of this cold.

The Orange County Marathon is 6 weeks away and I am now seriously considering dropping down to the half marathon.

The Los Angeles Marathon is this Sunday so a BIG SHOUT OUT goes to Fran, Dale, and Chuck who will be out there pounding the LA pavement! This video is for you guys!

10 mile easy run

I didn't get up as early as planned so only had time for 10 today. My legs were tired from yesterday so the pace was slow. I was dragging myself up to the aqueduct, then east for 3, and turn around back home. Total mileage was 10, pace was just over 8:30 pace avg.

On the weekend I prefer to get the hard workout in on Saturday and go long on Sunday. Since the long run is typically at an easy pace anyway I might as well already be a little tired. And it usually means I will have a better workout on Saturday. It is tough for me to run fast the day after a "long run," usually meaning over 12 miles.


The big story today was that Lukas Verzbicas broke his own National HS indoor 5k record running 14:06 all by himself, well he was lapping everyone which gave him someone to chase. What makes this even more impressive is that he did it after winning the two mile in 8:40 (second fastest all time) and the mile in 4:10, and he did it all this weekend at the New Balance Indoor HS Nationals! Check out the 5k video here. He is SO SMOOTH! One more minute and he will be world class.

Oh, and if you didn't see NCAA indoor championships, Jordan Hasay was a double champion in the mile and 3k. The mile was good but this 3k finish was AWESOME. Check it out here.

Nutty Runners 5k (18:48)

Karl, Neil (2011 Nutty Runner Champion), and Clay

Clay and I reprised our roll as the "Nutty Runner Peanuts" at the second annual Nutty Runners 5k. The race director is a close friend of ours, Dale Lister. Last year the weather was aweful, cold and windy. I am talking 30+ mph winds, and the peanut costume acted like a huge parachute making the second half of the race tough. I won the race last year with a time of 19:12. I was in great shape from training for LD50 and Charlottesville 10 miler. This year the weather was almost perfect. The temp was in the high 50s/low 60s and almost completely calm. Dale had over 200 pre-register this year! I think another 40 or 50 walk ups the day of! It was a great turnout. I finished in 3rd pace with a time of 18:48, 24 seconds faster than last year and less fit (that tells you how bad the winds were last year).

The race started off as usual, with the junior high age kids taking off as if they were running a 400m race. I think kids have two speeds at that age, on and off. Pacing is a tough thing to learn and it takes years of practice. I started out what I thought was conservative, letting all the kids go. I watched as Neil Small (the eventual winner today) quickly picked off all the kids and then took off on this own. He distanced himself from us within a half mile. There were two other "grown ups" ahead of me at the mile mark that I hit in 5:58. I made the turn around in 4th place and almost got run over by a group of horses! They were preparing for the upcoming parade. At about 1.5 miles I caught Justin Gillen and passed him. I was sure he would go with me but I think I gapped him a little as we continued back to the track for the 1.5 lap finish. My second mile was 6:02 and I was starting to "feel the burn" or "tie up" a little, what ever you want to call it. I was struggling to maintain pace. I peeked behind me as I turned onto the track and noticed Justin a few strides behind me. The way I felt I was sure he would catch me. I had a last surge with 200m to go and held him off for 3rd place in 18:48. My third mile was faster than I thought it would be, 6:13. Neil won and broke 17 minutes (16:53!), Clay ran 22 minutes even and was 5th in his age group! I think the 50-54 age group was one of the most competitive with 5 guys 22min or better, since David, Chuck, Clay and a few others were all there. The 30-34 age group had 4 guys under 20 minutes! Those two age groups had 10 of the top 20 runners above the age of 20!

Everyone seemed to enjoy the "peanut" guys and we took pictures with quite a few people after the race. Thanks to Dale for putting on a great event. The turnout was excellent, the Friday packet pick up was key, and the race went on without a hitch today. Nice work Dale! Can't wait for next year.

I was suprised by my performance today. My training has been sub par lately but today showed I still have some speed. I just need some good long runs before Orange County and I think a BQ should still be realistic.

The USATF 15k championships was today as it was last year, again at the Great River Run in Jacksonville, FL. Sergio was 18th with a time of 44:42. In 2010 he was 19th in 44:54. Justin Patananan was 53rd with a time of 48:35.

Shortest Post Ever

I ran 6 miles this morning. Didn't run with a watch. Felt ok about it. Still need to get up earlier. The weather is getting warmer.

8 weeks until Orange County Marathon. What kind of shape can I get into in 8 weeks?

BIG SHOUT OUT TO DALE! He broke 20 minutes in the 5k for the first time this weekend, on his birthday! Way to go Dale.

8 mile run on the parkway

Updated!

It has been a busy week and I had an hour to run today so I took it. I always try to get a few runs on "the parkway" (see pictures above) while visiting my dad in Minnesota. "The parkway" is a series of bike paths called The Grand Rounds that circles the Minneapolis area. There is close to 50 miles of bike/running paths around the city, it is great. Part of this path runs right in front of my Dad's house. See what it looks like in the summer here and the fall here. I like running south toward the Chain of Lakes area of Minneapolis. The Twin Cities Marathon uses some of these trails as part of the first half of their course.

The temp was probably in the 20s when I left but the wind was fairly calm and the sky was cloudy. I ran out for a half hour, turned around, and came back, adding an extra mile at the end. I am crediting myself with 8 miles for the day.

I left about 30 minutes after a big lunch, which wouldn't be my first choice, but it was my only opportunity today so I took it. I am getting better at running on a full stomach. It used to be a difficult thing to do. When you eat a meal blood goes to your stomach to help digest the food. Then when you start running blood is shunted away from your stomach to the muscles of your legs, slowing digestion. That is why you might feel the food still sloshing around in your gut. If you run after a big meal I recommend keeping the pace easy to avoid cramping and nausea. I picked up the pace a little at the end as it did not seem to be bothering my stomach.