February 28th - redemption!

Marathon #24 turned out to be exacty what I needed in many ways. After a disappointing marathon in Myrtle beach and outside events, my mojo and confidence seemed to be rattled. Hyannis was crucial in turning the ship around. A friend wanted to run a 3:15 so we went out at that pace which felt relaxed. 1st half we were pretty much on pace and I seemed to be in a groove. It was a two loop course so we started out for the second time, this time we were alone for the most part. At 17.5 my friend fell off pace and as agreed prior to race I kept going. I was a little tired but pressed on. Splits for the last 10 miles were: 7:18/7:12/7:14/ 7:06/7:12/7:07/7:09/7:07/7:10/7:15. Overall I finished 27th out of 357 runners with a time of 3:13:35! I am very satisfied with this. The fact that I was able to stick and hit my pre-race time goal was very good. But what I am most thrilled about is I have seemed to find my groove after 2 weeks of trying circumstances. I have been reading the book 'the long run' about NYFD firefighter matt long who was run over a bus and nearly killed. Given a 5% chance to live, he survived and after a grueling 3 years came back and ran the new York city marathon ( he BQ'd 1 month prior to his accident) reading this on the plane put things in perspective: losing a job is serious and stressful but I was not close to death. Matt is living proof of how resilient the human spirit can be! I have nothing to complain about. Yes there is stress about not having a job but I will rebound and I am determined to turn this into a positive! No excuses! It's just an obstacle that I will overcome! Eye of the tiger!

February 25th - marathon #24

So I haven't been to happy with my runs over the past 10 days. There have Been some bright spots a 10 miler last Wednesday and a 15 miler this past Tuesday but the other runs have felt flat and uninspiring. I recovered fairly well from Myrtle beach and feel no residual effects. I am looking forward to Hyannis on Sunday. This time I am pacing a friend who's goal is to run 3:15 or better. Hopefully I can get him to that goal and not feel like I have exhausted my tank. Next week at B&A I have a faster time goal in mind. Also helping a friend to a PR hopefully. All of this is pointed to giving me some good training runs and some hard races to better prepare me for Boston. For some it seems like an awlful lot but this is exactly what makes me tick. It's the challenge and my body responds better with high mileage. That is the beauty of running, no training plan is right for everyone and there are no right or wrong training techniques. My biggest issue over the past 10 days has simply trying to deal with the outside world and not let it affect my training. It has been difficult but I do think slowly it's getting better. Looking forward to getting out on the course Sunday and just finding my stride and rolling! Need to find my mojo. As survivor sings in Rocky 3 - "it's the eye of the tiger"!

February 20th - rough waters

So the last two weeks culminated in a somewhat disappointing marathon in Myrtle beach. What i had hoped to be a run at my current PR turned out to be a slow march to the finish. Things started out good though legs seemed out of sync. Hit 5 miles in 34:29 then hit the next 5 in 34:28. 10 miles @ 68:57. I then found a groove and hit the next 5 in 34:06. Held court over next 3.5 miles then the wheels started to fall off. Mentally couldn't stay focused. Unfortunately the week started off horribly as I was unexpectedly fired from my job that I strongly feel was unwarranted. I have been distracted the whole week. My runs Wednesday thru Friday were lackluster at best. I really pride myself on being very mentally strong and focused yet this has rattled my cages. As for the future I really have no clue nor a plan. I have one week to get out of this because I head to Hyannis to pace a friend to a 3:15. Short term memory as one would say. Running is usually my therapy but even now I feel the stress is to much and seems to burden my runs. Maybe as the days go by it will become easier to cope. Boston is in 57 days!

February 6th! - 13 days till myrtle beach!

this was a good week overall. finished with 80.73 miles for the week. though the runs were up and down. biggest fustration is that all my running routes are ruined due to snow and ice. tuesday run was a solid run up in deleware. 11.02 miles. ran 1st 7 miles at a comfortable pace then for the last 4 miles i kicked the pace up! splits were: 7.34, 7.01, 6.28, 6.37. overall pace was 7.51. wednesday run was a nice recovery 10 miler. thursday i had a nice surprise another kick ass 13.18 mile run at night. took the 1st 6 miles out at 8.21 pace then found a groove and kicked last 7 miles at 7.27 pace. splits: 7.59, 8.00, 7.41, 7.38, 7.28, 7.02, 6.31.  followed that with a good 16 mile recovery run @8.21 pace. saturday was simply fustrating, only managed 4.18 miles due to tired of running in circles in neighborhood. sunday was a whole different story. met up with my friends dave and zach and we tore up loch raven damm for 26.2 mile training run. nice pace 3.49.10 @ 8.44 pace. best part was each 5 mile segment was faster than prior 5. today was an awesome reminder on how great it is to be a runner.
13 days out from MB and i am chomping at the bit to get out there and get a  sense of how my training is progressing. 71 days till boston.starting to think strategy and up my training. my juices are beginning to really flow as i get into the heart of my marathon schedule. stay focused and train smart. no excuses. HTFU! no risk, no reward. my reward will hopefully running down Boylston street headed towards a new marathon PR! this week my goal is to hit around 85 mpw.

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..........