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!

Chicago Marathon: Race Report

Let's start with the end: I finished the marathon in 3:03:17. My streak of sub-3 hour marathons has ended at three.While this race was tough, there was nothing that really surprised me about it, though the end of a marathon is always harder than I remember the last one being.

Chicago is a fun city and Laura and I really enjoyed the Chicago Marathon. Our hotel was out by Chicago Midway Airport, and public transportation to the expo and the start was a breeze. We rode the train and bus to the expo on Saturday afternoon, and after spending some time at the expo getting free stuff and eating free samples, we went with our friends Brit and Jared to grab some pre-race pasta.

The next morning we got up early to catch the train to the start and get ready for the race. The start line was pretty crowded already at 6:45 AM, but it was still easy to get to everything. We took a couple of start line photos, then headed to our respective corrals for the start.

After waiting about ten minutes for a port-a-potty, I made it to the start line with about fifteen minutes to spare. With five minutes to go, I threw off my Goodwill sweats, and shivered slightly until the start.

As the race got going I knew I was dressed perfectly besides not wearing my sunglasses. The forecast said it would be "mostly cloudy," but at the start of the race and for almost the entire time, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

During the fist few miles I chatted off and on with another Team World Vision runner, Andy, about our past race and race goals. I settled into a pretty good pace of about 6:45/mile, and felt really good.

Honestly, for most of the first 20 miles I felt really confident that I was going to get my "A" goal of under 2:58. My legs felt good and the pace felt nice and smooth. Then, around mile 21, I started feeling it. I did a little quick math and knew that if I could run right around 7:00/mile I would break three hours, my "B" goal.

Unfortunately from mile 21 on my pace got slower and slower. I was getting passed by a lot of runners, and every time I tried to speed up I couldn't hang on to a faster pace for more than a minute. My legs were very heavy and I was really hurting.

I tried to pick it up at the end, but even that didn't happen. Oh well. It was a fun race and it was cool to run through the big city with so many other runners. The crowd was awesome, the course was flat, and the weather was near perfect.

Laura also finished the marathon, and I was super pumped for her. She's been dealing with a foot problem for months, and we were both glad it held up and that she was able to finish the marathon.

So far I've helped raise over $1100 to bring clean water to communities in Africa. The Team World Vision post-race party was pretty awesome with pizza and soda and dozens of other World Vision runners. I can still accept donations through mid-November: fundraising page.

Chicago was a great race and I definitely put it up there on my list of marathons. I don't know if I'd do it again, but I wouldn't rule it out.

After running my second slowest marathon (not counting pacing), I will say I'm really motivated to improve my training. I've already got my sights set on a PR next fall. Fortunately I'm feeling completely healthy and I'm headed into winter training motivated and in decent shape.

Happy Running!

Marathon Week

Sorry for the hiatus from posting--life gets busy sometimes. I still have a forthcoming pace report on the Rochester Healthy Human Half Marathon, but this week is race week.

Training for the Chicago Marathon was pretty mediocre. It took me a while to feel like I could start pushing it--I was still dealing with some knee pain and a mild case of Achilles tendonitis, and by the time I started feeling truly healthy, I was over halfway done with training and had a hard time getting motivated to amp up my training.

With a week to go before the Chicago Marathon, here's a little pros and cons list of my marathon training:

Pros
While my overall mileage was low, my average per week was pretty consistently 40 miles with a high of 51 and a low of 28 (week 1).
I had some solid workouts including a great tempo run and a 6 X 1000m workout where I consistently hit my splits.
I'm almost 100% healthy. The Achilles and left knee are slightly sore occasionally, but overall they rarely hurt.

Cons
This is the second lowest average weekly mileage I've had for a marathon.
My training plan was not nearly as intense as the one I followed for my PR marathon in 2012.
The one race (Minnesota Half Marathon) I ran was over six minutes slower than my  1/2 Marathon PR.

So there it is. Here's my traditional A, B, and C goals. I have yet to reach an "A" goal for the marathon, but who knows? Maybe Chicago will be it.

A - Break 2:58
B - Break 3 hours
C - Break 3:05.

Thanks to all my readers for your encouraging words thus far. I am still looking to raise a little over $200 more for my Team World Vision goal to provide clean water for communities in Africa. Check out my fundraising page to find out more!

Happy Running!

Gopher to Badger 1/2 Marathon: Pace Report

Gopher to Badger is one of my favorite half marathons. I especially enjoy the novelty of running from Minnesota into Wisconsin. I know there's people who try to run a marathon in every state, so if anyone's trying to run a half marathon in every state, this would be a good one.

My PR half marathon was set on this course back in 2012, but this year I'm back to pacing after racing the Minnesota Half Marathon the week before. Laura came with me this week again. She really enjoys using half marathons as part of her long runs, and part of why I pace these things is for the same reason. It's nice to get a decent length run in without having to worry about finding water or sports drinks.

I led the 1:35 group this time, and I had quite a few people chat with me before the race. It's always fun listening to people talk about their goals and answering whatever questions I can about the course or about how I plan to pace.

For most of the race I had about 15 people in my group. Some people ran ahead after a few miles, and unfortunately a lot of people dropped off the pace after about 8 miles. I still had a decent size group with a couple of miles to go, and after we crossed over the I-94 bridge from Minnesota to Wisconsin I let them know it was mostly downhill from there and they should pick up the pace.

From there I caught about three more runners. Two of them were able to speed up and finish with me, but one runner couldn't quite stay with me. I felt bad because he looked pretty frustrated that he got passed by the 1:35 group.

When I finished my watch had me at 1:34:59, and the official results had me at 1:35:01. I was pretty happy with my effort -- I wonder if there's a way I could make a living off pacing.

Happy Running!