Annual Birthday Run

It happened again: I lived another year without dying. To celebrate, for the fourth year-in-a-row, last month I ran one kilometer for every year I've survived on this harsh planet. For those keeping score, that's thirty two kilometers.

I have a few friends who do a mile for every year, but I prefer to take a more international approach to my birthday running. Sure, it may be seen as "unpatriotic," but I prefer to use a system of measurement employed by the vast majority of the planet, mathematically easier to use, and the global standard for track and field. It also doesn't hurt that kilometers are shorter than miles and running thirty two miles in one day seems a little much.

But I digress. My birthday run went well. I started out by running around six miles before pacing the Chocoholic Frolic 10k. After the race, I had a little post-race chocolate refreshment with Laura, then finished up my 32k by heading back toward Eagan.

Unfortunately I misjudged the distance from the race finish line to my house, so at 32k I was still almost two miles from home. I've been taking it easy since the Chicago Marathon, so after running almost 20 miles, I didn't really feel like running another couple miles. Plus, Laura and I had a lunch date at Godfather's buffet that I really didn't want to miss.

So, I asked a nice biker (the kind that wears spandex, not leather) if I could borrow his cell phone, and I called Laura and told her to come and pick me up. The phone rang about seven times. I really did not feel like walking, or what was quite possibly going to become run walking, so I was super relieved when she finally answered.

I'm glad I've been able to keep the birthday run tradition alive. Next year will be the first year with the run being over twenty miles long, so I'm going to have to keep staying in shape.

Happy Running!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a wonderful day to all my readers. I hope everyone got some time today to spend with family, relaxing, or going for a nice Christmas run.

Here's a lovely photo from a couple years back when Laura and I went for a Christmas run:

Christmas run with drinks (I think we drank them after the run)

Happy Running!

Pace Report Spectacular

I'm going to get back at this blogging thing--I really am. I'm now three pace reports behind, so I'll just write about all of them in one post. How exciting are they really, honestly? I could probably just copy and paste from one race to the other and change the names and times a little bit rather than writing something extremely similar anyway.

Of course, if all writers thought that way, there'd be no more romantic comedies. Honestly, how many of those films could you just change the main characters' names, a couple locations, and have another romantic comedy.

But I digress. On to the pace reporting:

Rochester Healthy Human Half Marathon

 Wow, I'm way behind on this one. It was so long ago I barely remember it. This was the first time I did this race, and it was a fun change from the Med City Half Marathon. Though Rochester's not overly scenic, having lived there for about a year, it is familiar.


I thought the race was pretty well organized--the expo was decent, the mile markers were pretty accurate, and the aid stations were plentiful and well-stocked. I also got the bonus of seeing an old friend and a co-worker from last school year.

If you live in Rochester and want to run a half marathon later in the summer, the Rochester Healthy Human Race would be a good one.

Mankato Half Marathon

I can't really say anything different about this race than I did last year, other than this year there was beer at the finish, which was a nice bonus. This is well organized race, they have a nice expo, and they offer distances from the 5k to the marathon over the course of the weekend.

If you're interested, you can see me in the video from the 2013 race. I finish the 1:30 pace group and then get interviewed about the 3:40 mark in this video.

The other big bonus about the race this year was that the hotel we were staying at opened its breakfast early, so I got to eat for free before the race. Then, a big double bonus was that the breakfast was still open when I got back to the hotel. I pigged out on eggs, potatoes, and a nice Belgian waffle.

Chocholic Frolic 10k

Again, there's not much new to say about this race that I didn't say last year. The course was a little different this year, and with a very tough hill at mile three, this is definitely not a PR course. I take that back--it could be a PR this year because the course was about a quarter of a mile short.

There are, however, a couple of different "aid" stations with chocolate, so I'm guessing there's not a ton of people taking this race super-seriously.

Well, there it is--three pace reports in one post. I hope it was as exciting for you to read as it was for me to write. Stay tuned for the report on my 32k birthday run.

Happy Running!

Pause

I apologize for the interruption in blogging. I have several upcoming posts that were written in the past months. I've been waiting to add pictures to them, so expect them soon!

My running has been going quite well. I've been averaging about 40 miles per week and am getting ready to ramp up my training in order to have a good mileage base coming into the spring running season. I've done a good amount of mileage on the treadmill and indoor track--it's already that time of year.

I've been toying with the idea of doing the Rochesterfest Triathlon for the third time. This means I need to start adding some swimming and stationary cycling to my workout routine, probably after the new year. On the other hand, I really don't like swimming, so maybe I'll try a duathlon next year instead. I'm hoping I'll be able to be efficient with my time so that I won't be taking away any time from my running.

Thanks, readers, for your patience as I've failed to write a blog entry for over a month.

Happy Running!