Monthly Archives: September 2011
Quiet milestones
Tonight’s run puts me at 134.6 miles for the month - a whole tenth of a mile more than August. With inaccuracies with a Garmin, let’s just call it even.
September was a great month — I maintained speed, no run besides untimed recovery runs were slower than 9:30-minute miles. My two 20-milers were more than 15 minutes faster than a year ago, and even then the pace felt fairly easy. My new easy and slow paces continue to get faster.
Also this week, I passed 800 miles for the year, just a little more than a week after I hit that mark last year. With the low mileage at the beginning of the year, I would have never imagined even thinking about 1,000 running miles again. It’s not a goal right now because it’s not important to me. Not yet anyway.
Just like a month ago at the end of the month, I have a choppy post at an attempt to reflect. Actually, all I want to do is look ahead. I have a marathon to run on Oct. 15 …
Taper time
Sore, tired legs. Raging hunger. A bad run. Pains that come and go.
It’s definitely taper time. It’s not that anything is all that different right now, but I think physically my second 20-miler took a toll on me. Thus the reason for a taper, right?
I actually don’t have a problem with cutting back the mileage or taking an extra day off running if I feel like it, but I’m so ready to get to Baltimore and do this. I’d rather not run for a while and just go. It reminds me of being a kid and seeing Christmas presents under the tree waiting to be opened.
20 miles, Polish sausage and hills
As I approached my second 20-miler of Baltimore Marathon training this week, I’ve been doing some reflecting on the past few months, and even years, but I’m also staying focused on the final weeks of training. I’ve been continuously paranoid about a re-injury occurring, but at the same I’ve been extremely excited about my progress.
I’ve made a promise to myself to stay quiet about a lot of things, so don’t expect many deep thoughts from me through my taper. Yes I’ll still post blogs, but I have a feeling there will be some more randomness to things.
So what about that 20-miler?
It was pretty good. I hit the middle miles a little too hard and the humidity got to me more than I was expecting. Overall, though, it was a good run — 2 minutes faster than a couple of weeks ago, no major pains and no crazy animal sightings for once. And with Bedford’s Centerfest setting up, I got to see things like this:
Yesterday’s run also included a road to one of the highest points in Bedford, as you can see below in the spike around mile 7. The hill didn’t seem all that big at the time, but thinking back is was definitely pretty big. Comparing this 20-miler to two weeks ago, yesterday’s had 100 more feet of elevation gain.
Defining progress
Today's route
This past Sunday marked 7 years since my first race — the Virginia 4 Miler in Lynchburg. My time was 34 minutes flat, an 8:34 pace. That experience forever changed me.
Today I had a great speedy run in Roanoke by myself — no co-workers, no dog, no music — and my time and pace put things in perspective to me with how far I’ve come in seven years, as well as what could lie ahead for the Baltimore Marathon. This experience is just part of my growth.
This afternoon’s 4.3-mile run was in 36:17, an 8:26 pace. There were two big hills that could have broken me, but I hit them harder than I’ve been hitting hills lately.
I’ve had several runs this summer that were quite a bit faster than races from the first couple of years of running. Those were races that would leave me sore the next day because I ran them so hard.
Defining progress is hard, and when it actually happens it’s tough to explain how great it feels.
Wordless Wednesday: a rare pre-running photo
Q&A with @bikerly
It’s been a while since I’ve done a Q&A, so as I bottle up thoughts in my head, now is a great time for a break from me.
Meet Jim, aka @bikerly on Twitter; you can also find Jim on Daily Mile here. Jim is a blogger over at Loving the Run (where you can find a guest post by me today about my fundraising experiences), who is also currently in the middle of a run streak to raise money to benefit Feed My Starving Children. You can read more about those fundraising efforts at the Race for Others website.
Q: Tell us, where did the idea come from to do a run streak for charity?
I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of running every day for a year or more. This is actually my third run streak. I started with a 30-day goal and my previous best effort was 112 days. This time I hope to make it for 365+ days.
Regarding the charity, I noticed a blog post last year from Kelly (@chmpgnepolitics), focused around “Racing for Others.” I was moved by her blog posts, struggles with fundraising/training and ultimate success in finishing a first time marathon.
I continued to learn more about Feed My Starving Children and discovered they were based in my home state of Minnesota. I was impressed by their vision and that only 7 percent of donations was used for administration costs with the remaining 93 percent going directly to feeding programs for nearly 70 countries. [Note: Feed My Starving Children has a 4-star rating through Charity Navigator.]
Kelly and I chatted about going big with another fundraiser and joined up with Brady and Matt with the goal of raising $10,000 for Feed My Starving Children. It’s a super big number, but $10,000 feeds a village of more than 100 people for a year. And running every day feeds my soul.
Q: What has been the biggest surprise during your run streak?
Almost every day provides surprises … some pleasant, some not so pleasant (like goose poop on a barefoot run).
The other night I discovered a new alley. For three blocks I saw friends drinking bottles around backyard campfires, kids playing tag, late evening dinners through the kitchen window and friends working on a garage project. This route is now one of my favorites.
One thing I’ve learned by running every day is sometimes it pays to take a new course.
Q: Being from Minnesota where it’s very cold for half the year, what is the craziest weather you’ve ever experienced on a run?
A picture often tells the best story…
I love running in snow and ice. 
Q: Many of my readers are familiar with #runchat, but you also have a cool Twitter chat in #bikeschool. How did that get started, and what should first-time participants expect?
Well, I hope they like beer and tacos because #bikeschool often rolls this direction. It’s true … Darryl (@lovingthebike), Mike (@egggman), and I conspired last year to host the #bikeschool chat every Thursday night at 9 p.m ET. The format is much the same as #runchat and questions vary from gear related to the philosophical taco related question. The school even has a mascot in @tacomakingrobot! You can read more about the #bikeschool shenanigans on lovingthebike.com if you like.
Q: Lastly, what’s one non-running (or non-biking) thing that people may be surprised to know about you?
I grew up on a livestock farm in Iowa.
Thanks to Jim for a great Q&A. If you’re interested in doing a Q&A or guest post exchange, please hit me up on my Contact page.
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