Sweet Georgia Brown

Here it is 2 days after my 11 and I'm still sore...probably shouldn't have sat in a car for 3 hours after the long run eh? Oh well...here is the tentative plan for this week. It's based loosely on my ability to move.

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: cross
Thursday: 3
Friday: off
Saturday: 7
Sunday: off

The way the schedule works out I added another week of tapering before my 1/2. Mainly because it's not a question of my wind when it comes to distance but more my legs. I want them to be as fresh as possible so I'll do another week very similar to this one then a really little week so my legs are at there freshest for October 18th. Keep on keepin' on.

11 Mile Saturday

Well today was the last building run now I will taper and hopefully be 100% for the big day. Overall it went pretty well. I pushed threw tired legs and was strong for the first 7 or 8 miles or so. The problem is I took Powerade and set it to the side of the course and picked up and drank it to simulate getting fluids at water stops. After that I just couldn't keep going. I would get my legs back but mentally couldn't get back over that hump. Towards the end it was just flat out pathetic but I finished damn it so get off my arse.

As for time it was 11 miles in 2:15:08. Slow? Very. Do I care? Nope. It was around a 12 minute mile pace so if I can do a little better that day I can still finish in under 2:30 which is a legitimate goal for me at this point. Keep on keepin' on.

Ho Hum

3 miles plain and simple. No raccoons or dog chases or other unpleasantries just 3 miles. Boring right? Yeah pretty much. 11 hopefully on Saturday. Keep on keepin' on.

Prerace Nerves

Even though it's still over 3 weeks away I'm already getting nervous. Every soreness immediately jumps to the front of my head...what was that? The last thing that I want to happen after 5 flippin' months of training is a booboo that keeps me from being able to run in the 1/2 marathon. That being said I still have to keep running so my body doesn't freak out at the run. Anywho...what to do what to do. Keep on keepin' on.

My Official Statement for Monday

No comment.

Yeah Not So Much

Today started like almost every Saturday for the past 4 or 5 months. Alarm goes off sometime around 430 and I stumble out of bed and start getting ready. I grab some clothes get dressed. Everything is going fine until I try to find my knee straps. I look and look and look and finally after 20 mnutes I find them hiding on the couch...so I strap up, stretch some more and head out the door.

I have a prerun routine involving walking and stretching until I get to a certain corner and then start running. So I'm walking and stretching my hips and whatnot as I make it towards the starting point. Once I get to the corner I stop and give a good couple minutes of stretching. Sometimes when I am stretching I wonder how stupid I look because 1) I'm not flexible 2) I stretch then take off running like I'm going to be late but not by very much. Just a little tardy like maybe 30 seconds. So instead of being late maybe I can't just slow jog/fat man shuffle to make up that time. Seriously I'm waiting for someone to yell out "You stretched for that".0 Any how I throw on earphones and take off.

Let the drummer kick die
Let the drummer kick die
Let the drummer kick die
Let the drummer kick die

Off in the distance I see ears sticking up in someones yard. Not just any ears...dog ears. Specifically big dog ears. More specifically they are what appear to be German Shepherd ears. Most specifically the German Shepherd dog ears belonging to a neighbor who happens to be a K9 cop. Police doggie? Zoinks.

He see's me runnin' he's hatin' tryin' to catch me runnin' dirty.

"Son of a bitch" I say as if someone besides Ladybird will hear me. We stop running while I try to figure out what my next move is. I decide to double back and head to the normal spot so I can still get my run in this morning without getting chased by a dog. So Lady and I head to a side street to avoid getting attacked by a dog. I turn back a couple of times to see if he is following...yeah of course if not it wouldn't be a good story.

We get to a 2 lane highway that goes behind my house and we start running. I figured with the hill between us and that dog we would have no problem getting far enough away for that dog to leave us alone. Tricked again. I glance over my shoulder to see this dog hauling a$$ straight for us. I instinctively pull the leash back to get between this dog and Lady and assume the Karate Kid stance. You know the one after that coward Johnny swept the Leg?

Kreese: Sweep the leg.
[Johnny stares at him in shock]
Kreese: Do you have a problem with that?
Johnny Lawrence: No, Sensei.
Kreese: No mercy.

As I prepare to rumble the dog starts to walk away and so do I but now we are in the middle of the highway. We started to walk towards the shoulder of the road while still facing the dog when suddenly I fall into a creek bed (I don't know what else to call it)...well not fall entirely more like slide down on one knee. So there I am in the dark, with some strange dog stalking us all the while screaming "Get out of here!". Oh wait I didn't mention that? Yeah for some reason when a strange dog comes near me I always yell "Get out of here". I have no idea why as it does no good at all but instinctively that's what I do.

After 4 or 5 tries I finally scale the little wall and I am out of the ditch/creek bed whatever the hell it is. My knee is all scraped up and my hand hurts to for some reason and the dog is gone. Or at least I can't see it...

At this point I'm done. It was a bad running week already. I had a booboo on my knee and getting chased 7-11 miles by a dog does not sound like my idea of a good time. So that was that. Lady and I went home and called it a day. We probably went a total of 2 miles or at least thats what I am going to call it. So the recurring theme of this week is epic failure.



Next week.

Monday: 3
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 3
Friday: off
Saturday: 11
Sunday: off

Rambling Post

Well the good news is I got up and ran before work...the bad news is it wasn't the 4 miles that I planned. Only had time for 2 because of other pressing issues...I'll spare you the details.

I'm going back and forth between doing 7 or 11 miles this Saturday. I'm still pretty sore from the 9 last Saturday and I really don't want to push myself too hard with the 1/2 only 4 weeks and some change away. I would be wicked pissed if I had to miss it so I'll probably just wait and see how feel. After the first couple of miles I'll just listen to my legs or more importantly my hip flexor which gets louder and louder the longer I run. Or walk. Or sit. Yeah it's sweet.

That's all for now.

Running at Night Sucks...

When I run at 430 in the morning no one is out. I might see like one other runner but usually there is no one out. I mean no one. Over 4 miles I might see 5 cars...running at night is completely different.

It sucks.

There are dogs out, other people walking and whatnot...way too many distractions for Lady. So after about a mile and nearly having my shoulder separated for the 17th time we turned around and walked it in with her sniffing and pulling the entire time.

So as of tomorrow I will be a morning runner again which is a good thing. I always feel better and doing it that way...or at least until it gets too cold for the normal people.

Hope everyone is well. Keep on keepin' on.

It's Official...

Thank you for registering for the Waddell & Reed Kansas City Marathon!

This is your email receipt.

PLEASE BRING THIS RECEIPT WITH YOU TO PACKET PICK-UP.

Packet Pick-up is at the Health & Fitness Expo:
Crown Center Exhibit Hall B (connected to Hyatt Regency, Pershing and
McGee)
Thursday, Oct. 16: 4:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 17: 10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Parking is free with validation.

To begin fundraising for our charities, go online to create your personal
fundraising page:
http://www.waddellandreedkcmarathon.org/raisefunds.html

Your participation in this event will help support two deserving charities:
Rotary Youth Camps, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Association. Visit
www.kcmarathon.org in the upcoming weeks to learn how you can fundraise for
these charities and become eligible to win premiere prizes.


Please visit www.kcmarathon.org for updated race information, packet
pick-up details, training tips, fundraising and volunteer opportunities,
listing of prizes, spectator info, and more.



Ashley
Gender: Male with a girls name
Age On Race Day: 31
Mailing Address:
The Summit, MO

So I officially signed up for the Kansas City Half Marathon on October 18. When this all started I wanted to do the full marathon but since I lost that month with my knee I wasn't able to build up the mileage necessary to run the full marathon yet so this half will have to do...half have get it.

Slept in today so I will get my 4 miles in later tonight. Keep on keepin' on.

Nice...

It was a windy and slightly chilly morning when I stepped out the front door. The first 3 miles where pretty much straight into the wind so once I hit the turn around point the wind was at my back. I kept running and running. My legs reached that point of exhaustion but once I pushed passed it they were fine. I got to my 7 mile turnoff and decided to keep going. I wanted to do 9 at that point so I was adding every side street in he neighborhood to try to get to 9. By the time I was done it was closer to 8.5ish than 9 in 1:35:18 so if I could have added about 1/2 mile or so I would've beet my last 9 by over 10 minutes...f'n a cotton. F'n a. As it was I ran 8.5ish in 1:35:18.

Because I ran on Sunday instead of Saturday this week will be a little messed up.

Monday: off
Tuesday: 4
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 4
Friday: off
Saturday: 11 (sweet moses)
Sunday: off

Bleck

The transition to evening runs started to today. Bleck...I mean gross. It's low 70's with 94% humidity. I mean it was gross. I mean really gross. When I was in REno this weekend I actually thought I missed humidity because it was so flippin' dry. Man was I wrong. Funk humidity.

Just ran 3 miles. Nothing too big just had to get out there. Only 5 weeks til the 1/2 marathon. I'm running out of time to get the mileage up there. Keep on keepin' on.

Back from Reno

Okay so the for the brief absence. I was out of town for work so as Chris says, "Life called" so I had to step away from the blog for a bit. I was only able to get in one run while I was in Reno and I honestly have no idea how long it was. One map said over 8 and another said around 6 so I'm calling it 8. Otherwise I worked too much and couldn't find the time to squeeze in another run.

The plan for the rest of this week is pretty simple. I'll do 3 on Thursday and then somewhere in the 8-10 range this weekend. It may get pushed back to Sunday depending on what happens at a friends bday part on Friday night. Anyway hope all is well with both of you. Keep on keepin' on.

Uninspired Running

It's been rainy nasty blah up here as what's left of Hurricane Gustav rolls through the Midwest. So yesterday got rained and slept out and then today was a shortened 3 miles slog.

I've been in a bit of a fog this week and the effects the desire to run or at least my desire to run. 9 miles on Saturday. Last time I did that it put a hurt on me but this week should be better. Why I don't know but I have a good feeling about it. Keep on keepin' on.

Labor Day

With the holiday and my hangover I decided to push back my runs a day. So here is the schedule for this week:

Monday: off
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 4 hilly miles
Friday: off
Saturday: 9
Sunday: off

I hope everyone has a good week.