January 24th - marathon withdrawel sets in

so i am 2 weeks removed from disney and 26 days out from myrtle beach. to big of a gap between marathons. yet i am getting some solid training in so that is one good thing. last week i finished with 94.15 miles on 6 days. very pleased with my week. started off with a strong 18 miler where i finished the last 4 miles at a very good pace. the trend continued the next day when i turned in another solid 15 miler. thrsday i made sure to take it easy and ran 12. friday was somewhat of a disaster as i tried the dreadmill again. did 10.18 outside and 3.43 on dreadmill. should have stayed outide. saturday morning i pumped out a solid 20 miler which involved some good hills,. each 5 mile segment got faster so that made me happy. sunday i did a double: a wake me up 5 miler in the morning and a fantastic 10.41 miler at night. even got the last 2 miles down to 7.49 and 7.05.  this week will be a push to reach 107 miles for the week. i have a chance to turn in another 400 mile month. hitting the 400 will be key to my mentality only that it strengthens my base and confidence in  my upcoming marathons. it was refreshing that miles 93 and 94 of last week felt so relaxed and that i wasnt really pushing hard. good feeling when 94 miles doesnt make you feel exhausted or wiped out.
beginning to formulate my strategy for the next 5 marathons and still cant come up with one. one might be run myrtle beach, balto/annapolis/virginia beach pretty hard and use hyannis and lower potomac as long training runs. i still intend to keep my mileage above 80mpw during this stretch. i want to continue to train my body to run when tired. but part of it will also be an on course decision as what happens. i will see how my legs feel in the first 6 miles and go from there. the main objective is to get to hopkinton on april 18th feeling ready to give my PR a run for its money and to do that i need to have some solid marathons during this 5 weekend stretch. though time will not be the sole deciding factor but how i feel 30 minutes afterwards. i want to feel like i could still run several miles afterwards. the idea is not to drain the tank during the 5. boston is where i will drain to tank and finish with nothing left but a new PR. oh and 7 days till i register for Chicago. january is off to a great start!

January 17th - post goofy and the road ahead.

so i am one week removed from the first marathon of 2011. for the most part it was a solid week: 78:85 miles on 6 days. little fustrated at the beginning of the week because instead of getting home on monday, i was delayed by weather and got home tuesday in time for work. I only got 6 miles in that day which is not my normal run. so be it. managed to get in 15 the next day outside. 18 the following day followed by 15, 11.16 and 13.17 miles to round out the week. today is my SRD which is normal for a monday. its time to look forward. february 19th is myrtle beach. a friend wants me to run it with him and help him hit 3.35. this is one of my thrills is being able to help others reach their goals. in the past i have helped pace 3 friends to 2 BQ's and a PR. this year i again have several marathons where i will be pacing friends. i do not believe you have to run a PR every time out to be satisfied. running is more than just time. i have been given a gift to run and to share that and use that gift to help others is just as exciting and satisfying as running a PR. the following week on 2/27 i will be heading up to hyannis for that marathon. the following week i will run the baltimore-annapolis trail marathon. on 3/13 i run the lower potomac river marathon, then i run the shamrock marathon on 3/20 along with the 8k the day before. so that is what lies ahead. so over the next 4 weeks i plan on training and building the base to prepare for this. i do have a plan and basically everything now is to point towards the Boston marathon. Boston marathon for me is the pinnacle event of the year. my goal is to put myself in the best position to run a new PR this year whatever that be. this week i hope to put in over 90 miles and if things cooperate maybe my first 100 mile week of the year. if you do not do the training then dont expect to run well. so though the weather might not be great, i still get out there and get it done. now is the time to stay focused on the goal and focus on getting the most out of each run each day. let's run!!

january 11th - goofy challenge recap!

goofy has been conquered! the whole experience was totally awesome! i simply do not know where to begin. ok i will begin with saturday. going into this i had set some loose goals. main one was to help get my friend mark to a new pr in the half marathon. as for the marathon it was see how i feel . i knew a pr in the marathon was not a realistic goal. saturday morning i rise at 2.30 to get ready for 5.30am start. meet mark in  lobby of all star sports and catch shuttle to staging area. after normal stuff like stretching and hitting the port a pots, we make our way to the corrals. mark checks a bag (i didnt) we have some great conversations while slowly walking to the start. finally make it to corral A and we patiently wait the start. as for the start all i can say is wow! the fireworks were amazing and really got you fired up. had to remind myself to stop watching and run. lol  the first mile we made our way through the crowd and hit the first mile in 7.22 . mikles 2-8 we cruised between 7.14-7.16 pace. so much fun running through the crowds in the parks. i had fun stirring up the crowds and high fiving the fans. miles 9-10 we slowed to 7.20, 7.20. i could tell by mark's breathing that he was getting tired but he was still going strong. the last 3 miles were challenging but to mark's credit (he is one tough dude) he pushed through and we finished in 1.37.04! a new pr by 3 minuites for him!!! he ran a great race and we had fun. mission accomplished. rest of day i spent visiting animal kingdom and hollywood studios. fun fun fun.
      Day 2: the marathon. again 2.30am wake up and same ritual. back in corral a and waited for the fireworks again which were awesome! this time the first 7 miles were interesting. legs couldnt find a comfortable stride but once i hit magic kingdom they seemed to wake up. for 8 to 20 miles i felt good and comnfortable. came through the half in 1.37.02 and thought a 3.15 was possible. again the course worked its way through the parks which was booming with excitement. music, disney characters and bands lined the course cheering us along! again i was high fiving the characters and fans. i was making sure to have fun. at mile 20 i could feel the fatigue from saturday beginning to settle in . with only a 10k left i hunkered down and held court. as i got closer i began to get excited knowing that i was going to actually complete the challenge. once i saw the golf ball i started to try and kick in. i crossed in 3:18:04 high fiving goofy!!! i was exhausted. a very friendly volunteer guided me to my mickey mouse medal and my goofy medal. the next 2 hrs i spent in the finishing are having grea conversations with fellow goofy runners and marathoners. congratulating everyone i saw. it was just awesome being around everyone.
     sunday i hobbled around magic kingdom and epcot wearing my goofy shirt and medal of course. my legs were not sore, just extremely exhausted as is to be expected. though a 3.18 marathon is 16 minutes off my pr, it ranks right there with that pr because of racing a 1/2 the day before. i wanted to run  both races in a combined time of under 5 hours and i finished in 4 hrs 55 minutes 8 seconds. i was 430th overall in the half and 260th overall in the marathon. this event lived up to all the hype and then some. next to boston this is my 2nd favorite event and this is now a yearly event for me. i love disney. they run a class act down their. everyone there was so helpful and friendly. all the workers congratulated me and thanked me for running. i highly recommend this event to anyone. i cant say anything negative, well yes i can....its over. march 15th registration opens up for 2012 and i will register the very first day!
        so 1st marathon of 2011 is in the books and i am very satisfied. off to a great start. next up is Myrtle beach in 38 days. time to build on disney and go after myrtle beach. also start thinking ahead to 3 months 7 days: BOSTON. i look forward to pounding out some great miles ove rthe next 4 weeks. but that will be for a future blog..........

january 6th / the goofy challenge

today at 3pm i will leave work, jump into my car and make the 15 hr drive to disneyworld! this weekend is stop #1: the goofy challenge! i have known about this for years and never thought i woul get the chance to run it. several friends from my running group have done it so i have heard their accounts. one thing about me is don't tell i cant do something because that just makes me want to do it. the crazier the better.yes i want to run back to back marathons, want to run pikes peak marathon, the 7.7 mile run up mt washington and would even consider running the 'quadzilla' (4 marathons/4 days) i love the challenge. the only bariers are the ones we set up ourselves. no one thought the 4 minute mile would be done but May 6, 1954 changed that. i could go citing evidence that alot of things were never thought possible and were accomplished! so this is a year in the making. i signed up for goofy last january and had to wait a whole year for this. i really cannot think of a better way to kick off the 2011 season. one thing you all should know, i will not divulge in time goals. i will not be stressed about an arbitrary number, running is much more than that. i will stick to my philosophy that i run hard and give it my best. yes, there will be marathons where i will be pacing people, others will be training marathons with a certain purpose and how i run it. Prefontaine stated one time: "some people run races to see who is the fastest, i run to see who has the most guts" i firmly believe that and that is my mantra the last 10 miles of a marathon. saturday i have the pleasure of pacing a friend in the half to hopefully his PR.  then sunday will be all out and see what is left in the tank. a good sign is that my legs have been lackluster the past 3 runs. anytime i have run a good race my legs have never felt good during that weeks run. prime example was boston 2010. the 4 runs prior to boston felt like crap yet i PR'd. cleveland was the same along with akron and kiawah. so i am not concerned. i know i have trained more thasn enough as i have reguarly done back to back long runs including back to back 20's. the key for me is to stick to my strength: go out conservative and turn it on the 2nd half. putting the hammer down in the latter stages of a race is my strong point and i attribute this to running my 80+ mile weeks along with 100+ weeks. my father told me this week that he is convinced that i am happiest when i am out running, he is absolutely right. when i am running i am at peace. so this weekend is going to be a blast. not only is it disneyworld but i get to race 39.3 miles and be in my element! 

january 3rd (part 2)

here is my current marathon schedule:

January 8/9th: goofy challenge,  February 19th: Myrtle Beach marathon,  February 27th: Hyannis marathon,

March 6th: Baltimore/Annapolis marathon,  March 13th: Lower Potomac marathon,  March 20th : Virginia Beach marathon

April 18th: Boston marathon, May 1st: Gettysburg north/south marathon,  May 15th: Cleveland marathon,

June 11th: Hatfield-Mccoy marathon,  July 10th: Missuola marathon,  August 13th: E.T. marathon, 

September 3rd: Pecatello marathon,  September 17th: Air Force marathon,  October 9th: Chicago marathon,

October 15th: Baltimore marathon,  October 30th: Marine Corps marathon,  November 12th: Richmond marathon,

November 20th: Philadelphia marathon,  December 4th: Las Vegas marathon.

so that is my schedule. i am looking forward to the challenge set forth. i do not run to lose weight. i do not run so i can eat whatever i want. why do i run? i run because i want to challenge my body and push the limits of the human body. for me running is a way of life. i run because i absolutely love it. its the passion that drives me to run these marathons. there is a feeling i get while running the marathons that is not matched anywhere else. and this weekend the journey starts in disney with the goofy challenge. let the fun begin!

january 3rd

so i am going to attemt to blog about my journey this year as i run 20 marathons and run 4000 miles. in 2010 i ran 4072.87 miles and ran 13 marathons. i Pr'd in Boston with a 3:02:37. 8 marathons were ran 3:13 or faster. i have run 21 marathons all together. hopefully those who read this will be inspired to run more or push themselves to reacg goals they never thought possible. i do not believe i am any different from anyone else, just want to share my love and passion for marathons to those who will listen/read. As Joan Benoit Samuelson said: " Running is 20% physical and 80% mental." very true. i will try to not only give narratives of each marathon but also on how training is going, the ups and downs. noone masters the marathon so it is always an ongoing learning experience. i hope those of you who read this enjoy it and maybe even get something out of it. share your own experiences and comment on mine.