Another 4 before the weekend.

I got another 4 in this morning and did about 1.5 miles of that at half marathon effort and felt pretty good about it. I think my calf is about 90% right now. I am not fit enough to run a course best (1:22:42) from 2006. Wow! That is a fast time on that course. I don't even remember being in that kind of shape that fall. I think I was 17th overall and 3rd in the 25-29 AG. Athlinks has me 2nd in my age group but the plaque I received says 3rd.
One of the things I remember most about that race was that I was beat by an amputee with a below knee prosthesis. I had heard CJ Howard's story previously and was excited to meet him. He ran in college but had bone cancer in his foot. When amputation was the only answer he did his research and asked his doctor to take more of his leg so that he could eventually get a better running prosthesis. He broke his own world record at the 2006 Santa Clarita Marathon half-marathon with a time of 1:21:46. He made an attempt at the amputee world record for the marathon in Orange County in 2007 but came up short in 3:24. I have not heard about him since which makes me concerned that his cancer possibly returned.


CJ held the half marathon record until 2009 when Rick Ball of Canada ran 1:20:44 in 2009. Rick also was the first amputee to break the 3 hour marathon running 2:57:47 at the Ottowa Marathon in 2010.


My plan for Sunday is to go out at 7 min pace for 3 miles and then base my last 10 miles on how the calf feels. I am hoping to drop down to 6:30-6:20 pace. That would put me around 1:26.

Goals:
A Goal: sub 1:26
B Goal: sub 1:30
C Goal: finish without calf cramping


The New York Marathon is also Sunday morning. If you are not running a race it would be worth watching as the world record holder will go up against the reigning champion (Meb vs Geb)! The women's race will be equally exciting. The weather could be perfect for course records. Some of the top US marathoners will be out there competing. Mary Wittenberg, NYC race director, has done an amazing job making this race an exciting international sporting event. There has been live streamed press conferences on the web (I got to see Haile's press conference at lunch today), and for you iphone users, there is an app for the NYC Marathon.

My pal Ron is taking another shot at the Silverman half ironman triathlon this Sunday as well. Good Luck Ron. Keep your ears open, we will be cheering all the way from California. Go get 'em!