1000 miles and a New Year

I woke up yesterday morning super early to get out for a morning run of 5.4 miles to complete my 1000 mile year. It was cold, windy and even my dog didn't want to be out there after a while. But, I did it.

Then, I went directly to work. At about 10:30 our office manager yelled over the cubicles at me, "Hey, I thought that was you over there. Do you know you scheduled a vacation day today?" D'oh. I wasn't even supposed to be at work. Oh well... so I took a half day. I was going to meet Melissa over lunch to sign up for the new gym (Universal Athletic Club) anyway. So, now I didn't have to come back to work after we were done signing up.

The gym is an entirely different story. It's like we're going to be able to totally change our lifestyle there. They babysit from 6 weeks old and up. So, Meliss can go in and work out when she is home with the kids and get her "fitness queen" status back. She really loves to be in shape and after two kids, she is going to start having more time for it. I'm really happy for her.

And... the kids benefit from this too. They can take swim lessons and the kids area at the gym is absolutely ridiculous. It's got a big apparatus inside of a huge gym that includes ball pits, climbing, big slides, tubes to climb around in and much more. Sophie is going to have a blast (already did yesterday). Check out the kiddo place by clicking on the photo below.


And finally... as I said, it has a pool. One of the things on my 2009 calendar is to start "training" for a triathlon. I haven't picked one and I'm not sure how comfortable I'm going to be with the swimming part. But, this will be my opportunity to try. My first swim is today... Wish me luck.

And This Is Why I Run...

I went in to work early this morning because I had a lot to get done. After only a couple hours of plugging away, my wife called and told me that she was feeling worse then she did last night and didn't think she could hack two little kids all day. Very understandable... but up goes the stress meter.

Then, I get home and get some things done. I dropped my oldest daughter, Sophie, off at my sister's house and Melissa and Juliana (my youngest) slept most of the day away. That allowed me to get my work done without too many interruptions. Not perfect, but probably as good as could be expected.

All that said, I still feel way behind. So, instead of getting too wound up about it, I decided to go on a run. And... darned if that didn't clear my mind. I feel 100% better now. Funny how that works, huh?

You want em? You got em (baby pics)...

I'll be back to regular posting shortly... But, until then, enjoy the pics.

The Girls...

Juliana Sucking Her Thumb..

Sleeping...

Minutes old...

Weekend at the Beach...

I had a long weekend this past weekend in Rehoboth Beach (and a night in OCMD). It was a good time and we really enjoyed ourselves. On Friday night, my daughter got to go on rides for the first time in her young (2 years old) life. Here's two pics from the rides..


As you can tell, she had a blast... We also normally travel as a group (my parents, sister's family and us), and it was nice to have a mini vacation with just the three of us. I think it's especially cool for Sophie (and us) with the new baby coming next month that we got the opportunity to travel with just her.

I woke up early on Saturday morning to do my scheduled 7. It was kind of out of sorts since I really didn't know where to run in the area I was at. So... I ran about 3 miles of what seemed to be pretty normal running and then another 4 miles just running in circles trying to get the miles in. This is definitely one of those situations where the Garmin came in very handy. I wouldn't recommend running this way, but it took the hassle out of it. All in all, it was a good run and I negative split a majority of the run.

Then, we went out to the beach and hung out building sand castles and swimming and enjoying the nice weather. I spent two summers living in Ocean City, MD, when I was younger so I wanted to make the hour long drive to visit some old haunts. We did that on Saturday night... I have to say that it's not as impressive to me anymore. I still have that "I loved that place" feeling. But, it's definitely not a family friendly kind of place.

After a night in OCMD, I woke up at 6 am to get on the road and do my 10 miler. I promised my wife that I would get up early so that we wouldn't miss any beach time. That may be the only reason that I got out of bed. Man, it was tough. But, after I was up it wasn't really all that bad. Then, we went to the beach and enjoyed incredible weather until early afternoon.

After that,we came back and Sophia might have had the most fun I've ever seen her have at the hotel pool. In lieu of a baby pool, the hotel had a fountain area that had water shooting out of the ground (think Disney World on a much smaller scale). Anyhow, she was chasing around the water and we were spraying her. It was a blast. Great way to end the vacation...

Anyway, I got in two great runs... The 10 miler was actually my best long run in a long time despite running down route 1 for a majority of it. And, the family had a blast. Sounds like a winner to me.

Run recap Saturday- 7 miles, 1:06:13, 9:28 pace
Run recap Sunday- 10 miles, 1:33:32, 9:22 pace

Rough Weekend (and Marathon Training)

This is becoming a trend for me. This summer has been very busy and I've had a really tough time getting my runs in. Yesterday was no different. I woke up in the morning and Melis had to go over to the hospital for a stress test for the baby (short story, everything is fine). At any rate, that took a majority of the morning and I wasn't able to get my run in.

Then, we have the "fence guys" coming in today, so I had to go out and make sure I pulled the fence out and got it all ready for a new fence to come in. I was right in thinking that pulling the fence out wouldn't be that big of a deal. But, unfortunately, there were 3-4 small tree stumps in the way that I had to dig out. That was a bear (and one of them still remains).

So.... after doing all that, I didn't have the energy for 13 miles. So, I decided I would do it today somehow. The plan right now is to split it up (6 over lunch and 7 tonight). We'll see if I'm able to pull it off.

I also got my six miler in on Saturday, that was the end to a good week.

Run recap- 6.0 miles, 56:37, 9:26

Humid Long Run...

I went out on Sunday to get my long run in after the race. My legs were still a little dead and I wasn't really feeling it. Lucky for me, it was only 8 miles and not next week's 13. I'll try and get a little more rest leading into that run. Anyhow, my wife came out and met me just after 4 miles. Thank you... it was really humid and I was ready for her.

Other than that, the run was pretty uneventful. I actually didn't mind the fact that it was uneventful... a couple of my recent long runs have been "eventful" and it hasn't really worked out for me. So, "I got that going for me".

Run recap- 8 miles, 1:18:36, 9:50 pace

Two Long (ish) Runs for the Weekend

If you thought this was turning into a pushup blog, you are dead wrong. I'm still running and actually turning the corner on my 5k training. I have two more weeks and then I run my 5k on the 4th of July (Preservation Pottstown 5k). That is the day that I will break 23 minutes and put another daunting PR on my list (or so I hope).

Also, I am going to have my biggest mileage month of the year this month (almost 90 miles). Not a huge number, but a sign that things are moving in the right direction. On top of that, I've been running 5 days a week now for a couple months with no injuries. Previously, pushing to 5 days a week was my breaking point. So... that is good news.

As for the runs that I did this weekend, I did 5 on Saturday and 7 on Sunday. The run on Saturday felt longer than the one on Sunday. It was hot and I didn't feel like being out there at all. The run on Sunday was completely the opposite. My wife (son/daughter to be) and daughter went out on the bike and rode along with me for the 7 miles. That was great! I really enjoyed having them along and it certainly made the run go easier. I hope we do more of that (as the pregnancy permits) in the near future.

Run recap Saturday- 5 miles, 45:56, 9:12 pace (splits- 9:32, 9:11, 9:11, 9:02, 8:58)
Run recap Sunday- 7 miles, 1:06:44, 9:32 pace (splits- 9:51, 9:35, 9:15, 9:18, 9:48, 9:50, 9:06)

Lehigh Valley Half, the real race report....

This report is the real deal. The other was just a stopgap until I could get a little time to write this one. Truth be told, I should be working on a presentation for my class on Wednesday night. But, who am I to keep everyone waiting on that? Besides, it's the last presentation that I might ever give for school. I mine as well keep up to the lofty standard that I have set for myself (procrastination till my death).

The Day Before
I had planned to stay with Nate in Allentown at the HoJo... But, I got a disconcerted call around noon saying that he couldn't make the race after all. Major bummer for him... All that training and no outlet. That sucks....

So, instead of driving up the day of, my wife and daughter decided to drive up with me on Saturday and keep me company. That was nice. Although, sleeping in a room with someone who is racing the next day vs. sleeping in a room with your daughter aren't quite the same thing. But, I digress... It was great to have them along.

We tried to go to dinner at Carrabas... but it was pretty darn packed. When you have a 19 month old, you learn to avoid stuff like that. So, we settled for Friendly's (one of my least favorite restaurants in the world). It was close and not busy. Both pluses in the "I've got a hungry kid" column. I proceeded to eat the worst night-before meal ever. Chicken finger sandwich, fries and a sundae. Awesome!!!

Race-day
Finding the race was as easy as pie. It was one turn and we were headed towards the parking. Unfortunately, even though we left early, it was pretty packed around the race (duh). So, I ended up having to jump out of the car to head towards the race for my pre-race routine (stretch, jog, go to the bathroom, repeat as many times as possible).

My wife and daughter made their way back and by some miracle actually saw me before I headed to the start line. Since it was a stadium finish, there wasn't much worry of not being able to find each other after the race.

The Race
Having run only one half-marathon before, I was kinda nervous. But, I wasn't as nervous as the first one and not nearly as nervous as I was for the full marathon. I would have to rate it as regular race nerves. Then, I was chatting up the guy next to me who had run the race on multiple occasions... He described it as a pancake with a couple blueberries (flat with some small hills). That made me much less nervous.

The first 6 miles or so was pretty downhill and I started out on my course. It felt fast, but I knew that I was in an easy part of the race. So, I wasn't going to sweat it that much. I came through the first mile in 8:51. But, I looked at the clock and it said 9:27. Phew... I forgot that it didn't adjust for me not getting through the start line when the clock started. Duh.

The second and third mile just skated along. I was still enjoying the dating stage of the race (courtesy Nitmos). I kept thinking that I was going too fast. But, it was definitely too early to tell. I was enjoying it so much that I missed the 2 mile marker. Only have a split at three. So, I came in at 16:32 for those two miles (8:16 pace for the math challenged).

From there it was kind of a blur. The next thing I remember is crossing the 5 mile mark and thinking the wheels were most certainly going to fall off (came in at 42:22 or 8:28 pace). I had some tightness in my hamstrings and was getting a little worried that I had gotten out too fast. My PR at 5 miles is 40:16. So, that's pretty fast when you have 8 miles left.

The next mile came in pretty close again (8:28) and mile 7 was even faster (8:06). I started to wonder whether my legs were going to fall off or if I was going to break 1:50. It clearly had to be an either or at this point.

I continued to roll on, seemingly unfazed by the distance. Mile 8 came in at 8:50 and Mile 9 at 8:11. Huh, how about that? Still staying pretty close to goal pace. And, despite a pretty good number of hills in Mile 10, I came in at 8:54 for that mile too.

Then, the unimaginable happened.... I ran a 8:13 eleventh mile... Whaaaaa? I don't know. Really weird. I think this was the mile that they had a violinist and a guy singing Frank Sinatra. I think that was a little late in the race for that kind of music, but anyhow. Just added to a strange mile. Old blue eyes cheering me on? Maybe.

But, the rest of the race became a lot more difficult at this point. I just kept repeating the "you can run 2 miles in your sleep" mantra all the way to the finish. Mile 12 was my first (and only) over 9 minute mile at 9:16. The final 1.1 came in at 9:19 (8:28 pace). The ending was very cool. We ran up a small hill past some asian drums (bum, bum, bum, bum.. ok, i'm not sure if I'm affecting a mental image for you, but I am getting one). Then, into the stadium for 3/4 of a lap around the track. I even had energy to pass 4-5 people at the finish.

New PR!! Official time, 1:51:45. A full 3 minutes faster than my previous PR. Sweet!! I guess I'll have to remember this for my next big race. I do think that it's easy to get a little crazed during the taper. Maybe I'll be a little more optimistic next time.

*** Placing update- 977/2923 overall (Top 33%), 73/148 age group (Top 49%)

Newville 6

Ok... There were only 3 of us (Nate, Bill and I), but we did 6 miles this morning on a trail in Newville. It was a really good effort for me. I did a lot of linoleum work in my basement yesterday and was already pretty sore before we started. It really caught up to me at about mile 4. But, I hung in there. Nate seems to be much fitter than I am right now. And, Bill has always been. So, running with these two will either kick me into shape or shred me to pieces. Here's to hoping for the first.

Meliss and Sophie also came out because Meliss knows that we tend to go get breakfast after our runs. Also, there was an off chance that we would be able to stop and see her friend Jana who also lives in Carlisle (like Nate). Unfortunately, that didn't work out. Jana wasn't back to the house yet, so we just went home.

Run recap- 6.02 miles, 55:49, 9:17 pace

No long run this week...

I've been in Florida since Wednesday and I'm sitting in the airport typing this waiting for my plane to arrive. So... I haven't seen my wife or daughter for a couple of days. I also got word that my daughter was very disrupted this week with me gone. It sounds like she really missed me. The first night she slept fine. Every night since, she has woken up in the middle of the night calling for me. That, my friends, breaks my heart. I will get in very late tonight and have tomorrow to spend with Sophie and Meliss (and the dogs). Then, I'll be right back out the door for Boston on Monday (till late Wednesday).

So... What does this have to do with my long run this week? I decided while I was at the hotel killing time that I was going to run today instead of tomorrow. Since I raced the day before and I was extremely drained from a long week, I decided to can the full 6 miles. I didn't decide this until I was 10 minutes into my run on the treadmill. I don't know how people do long distances on the treadmill. Anyhow, this is going to be a down week for me. I ended up running 3 miles and calling it a day. I am totally wooped at this point. And, if I ran my long run tomorrow, I wouldn't get as much time in with the family. Easy choice in my opinion.

I can not wait to see Sophie and Meliss... Too bad Sophie is going to be asleep when I get home. So will Meliss, but at least we sleep in the same bed. Can't wait to be home.

Run recap- 3 miles, 30:00, 10:00 pace