Archive for December, 2011

It’s funny to think that at two different times since I started running that I went more than a year between 5ks. Now I can say I have run four 5k races in four weeks. It’s not something I highly recommend, but it’s been fun.

The fourth 5k this past Saturday was similar to the first one in this series — my main goal was to help pace Josh, a co-worker of mine, while still getting in a very solid run at the Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis in Roanoke. I was hoping to push Josh to a PR on Saturday, but he just couldn’t quite hold the pace for the final mile.

Josh ran a 24:23, just shy of his PR this past summer. His PR was when I set my PR at the Fab 5k; this course in Roanoke on Saturday was completely different with rolling hills and a couple of tough bridges.

I ran with him for about 2.5 miles, then went ahead with a strong finish myself at 24:08. I would have liked to have gotten to under 24 minutes for the both of us, but on this course I am more than pleased with what we both did. I think with the right conditions on a flatter course Josh is poised to break 24 minutes.

The past four weeks have been a tremendous learning experience for me, as I not only set a personal record for races in consecutive weeks, I also added the Runner’s World Holiday Run Streak into the mix. Here are some things I’ve taken from this:

• It’s perfectly fine to leave something on the course. Yes, I’ve done that before, but it’s been way too long since I ran a race for the fun of running a race and enjoying great company.
• If you’re going to run races in consecutive weeks, make only one of them your “A” race. This approached worked well for me with setting my course record in the Christmas Classic.
• Pacing another runner is an awesome opportunity to take the pressure off yourself. I hope to do more of this in the future. Saturday was fun for me because I didn’t care about my time. Thinking about the “what could have been” element of race like the one on Saturday was quite enjoyable and presents a challenge should I do this race next year.
• Lastly, these four 5ks have made me realize that the distance of 3.1 miles is the hardest distance to race. I used to think it was the 10k, but it’s now this for me. Those precious seconds you may lose at the beginning weaving around slower runners or not hitting a hill exactly right are the make-or-break points with setting personal records for a 5k.

Now that this challenge is done, all that is left is 13.1 miles for 1,000 running miles this year …

For the final 11 things post of the year, I thought I’d take a look back at each of the previous 11 things posts and pick my favorite item from each. I think it’s a good way to close out these posts because a 12th 11 things post of new items wouldn’t fit that whole “11″ them from 2011.

1. January, 11 things you may not know about me: My grandma used to live on a farm and some guy used to keep cows there. My sister and I got to name two of them once. Pete and Itchy. Why Itchy? Because he was scratching himself.

2. February, 11 places I’ve been: Hershey, Pennsylvania. My wife and I made a stop on our honeymoon in 2004 in Hershey and we’ve been back twice for Dave Matthews Band concerts. (For the record, I’ve spent the night in several places for DMB concerts in addition to what’s already been mentioned: Cherry Hill, N.J., for a concert in Philadelphia; Roanoke, Va.; Blacksburg, Va.; Virginia Beach; and Greensboro, N.C.) Anyway, Hershey is a must-see sometime in your life if you like chocolate.

3. March, 11 random thoughts: If you work for me and I give you a deadline, don’t miss the deadline.

4. April, 11 things my grandpa taught me: The most important lesson my grandfather taught me — how to be happy. In all of his pictures throughout his life, he always had a genuine smile on his face. Life is a lot easier when you can put a smile on.

5. May, 11 songs on shuffle: Black Rock, O.A.R.

6. June, 11 things, Birthday edition: Camping gear. I haven’t been in the woods in a long time and sometime in the next year I’d like to take my son camping. New sleeping bags would be nice.

7. July, 11 things, Anniversary edition: We wanted to have a fairly non-traditional song for our first dance. We chose Elton John’s “Your Song.”

8. August, 11 things I’ve learned from my son: Ice cream is better when you make a mess.

9. September, 11 things, long run edition: I saw a deer poop for the first time ever. (It was still dark then. And she had the audacity to do this in front of her two kids, me and Duke.)

10. October, 11 things, Baltimore Marathon edition: I listened to this song a lot on my long runs in the last month or so. To hear it when the sun is coming up often gave me a sense of peace and helped me find strength when I needed it most.

11. November, 11 random thoughts: I haven’t had a Magic Hat in a while. Somebody go buy me a winter variety pack please.

I’ll admit that I used to be difficult to shop for when it comes to Christmas. I’ve realized in the past couple of years, though, that I am in fact VERY EASY to shop for.

Simply put, I’ll like pretty much anything to do with running. Fortunately, through my various races that give out moisture-wicking shirts and my bargain shopping with shoes, my “need” for things may be at an all-time low. That said, there’s nothing wrong with having a wish list, right?

I got a head start a few weeks ago through the Brooks website to create a wish-list of Brooks products. I did it to initially enter a chance to win a shopping spree, but once I was on the site I actually found things I could use. You can click here to check it out.

I have several things on there I don’t own — arm warmers and nightlife bands to name a couple of things — and some other bigger wish items, such as shoes. Anything else on there would be fine with me, too. That’s really about it except for a Garmin.

One of these years my Garmin 205 will die and I’ll be on the prowl for a new one. These days, I think a Garmin Forerunner 210 would be the perfect fit for me.

Nothing too complicated — just push the button and go. (As a side note, the link I used is to Holabird, which has the best deal with a bonus gift card.)

Otherwise, I’m not going to spend time putting together anything else. Brooks makes it simple, as does the Garmin love fest.

Merry Christmas everyone!

After Saturday’s Peaks of Otter Christmas Classic, I didn’t hang out for long. After being out in the cold for a while, my son was ready to go home. I ended up missing some exciting news though — an age group award.

My official time of 22:53 put me 3rd in my age group, which was really surprising considering the top 3 in my age group last year had finishes of 20 minutes or better. So I’d like to thank all the REALLY fast guys 30-34 for staying home Saturday.

My award was the coffee cup above; the inset photo is me and my son showing off our awards — he ended up getting a medal for his race.

I ended up being 60th out of 369 finishers, the largest Christmas Classic ever. My official time puts me at 1:41 better than my previous time from two years ago when I was 100th out of 322.

It always seems like “next year” is so far away, but then it never really is. When it comes to running, I’ve thought about this year’s Peaks of Otter Christmas Classic nearly every time I’ve gone for a run in Bedford. It’s nearly impossible to not run part of that course.

A year ago this weekend, I sat on the sidelines and watched many friends run the race; it was that day that really set the wheels into motion of coming back from my injury that I still have a hard time shaking from my head.

It was that day I felt like I was more determined than ever to get back to running; it was also the same day I had my initial visit with Wimmer Chiropractic and began developing a strategy with how to run more than a half mile at a time.

Today was a special day as I was able to get to the start line of the Christmas Classic healthy, and with a strong goal — break my course record. I did that today with a Garmin time of 22:54, more than 1:30 better than two years ago.

It was such a great race, despite my nose being stopped up again. I actually ran with a Breathe Right strip to help battle that issue.

Today’s cold air felt great — it was in the upper 30s when it started.After last week’s lesson, I finally got brave enough to not wear a long sleeve shirt under 40 degrees.

I hit the first mile, which was a gradual downhill, in just under 7 minutes. I was very happy to battle the infamous hospital hill in the second mile and hit about 7:45. I wish I had some juice left in the final mile, but with a gradual uphill finish and a course record in the bag, I stayed focused on finishing under 23 minutes.

While the focus of this race was about completing my comeback and ending my racing year strong, I also thought a lot about my grandfather who passed away earlier this year. The loop course was his favorite walking loop, and through the neighborhood my grandparents lived in until this year.

I thought a lot about him today, as I often have on runs by myself this year. With Christmas near, the memories of him wearing a “I told you the Schmidt house!” Santa sweatshirt every year are as clear as ever in my head.

To add to today being a special day, my son also completed another race — a simple quarter mile in which he was able to dust another little kid at the end who veered off course. This was after my son’s shoe fell off and he was complaining of his legs hurting.

Seeing him doing this on his own terms is just awesome. I don’t think he quite “gets it” yet when it comes to races, but I’m sure he will soon enough. And when he does, he’ll quickly break all of my personal records.

For now, it’s all about having fun. Something I’m doing a lot of, too.

I first want to say that I am a stickler for giveaway rules, so for my Blue Ridge Marathon giveaway I put the number 6 into the Random.org widget — it could have been 10 had a couple of the entries followed my requirements correctly.

It’s not a big deal though — I’m glad to see interest in this growing marathon that’s practically in my backyard. If you didn’t win, there are several other blogs out there right now with similar contests for this race. Go find them and enter now!

Random.org picked No. 5 — congrats to “settomusic” who won!

I want to give a special thanks to Pete Eshleman with Roanoke Outside for the opportunity to do a giveaway for this race for the second straight year, and for bringing such a great event to the Roanoke Valley.

The Blue Ridge Marathon is truly a special event — an “instant classic” as I called it — and I can’t wait to rejoin the fun in April after sitting it out this year.

November may very well have been my successful running month ever, but not because of a race or certain mileage. The fact that I could run injury-free the month after doing a marathon means more to me than any PR or mileage mark ever well.

After two previous marathons that left me questioning everything about running, my post-Baltimore Marathon experience has me more excited than ever before about what’s ahead.

November was a great month to run just to run, something I haven’t done in a while. It was fun to run however far I felt like going, how fast or slow I felt like going and to do a couple of races with no major pressure.

I ended November with 67.7 miles and now stand at 957 miles for the year. After today’s run I now have less than 40 to go before hitting 1,000 miles.

This month will be somewhat of a transition from running for the fun of it to getting back into training mode for the Shamrock Half Marathon. It’s nice to not be as concerned about building my mileage again — I have a great base that I can just feed off of to quickly get to double digit runs in January. I feel like I can put my focus on quality runs rather than certain miles. That said, I fully expect more mileage for the upcoming training period than I have before for a half.

I also need to get my diet under control this month. December is ridiculously hard to do that, but my biggest focus will be not going overboard. With the Holiday Run Streak in tact, running won’t be an issue — it’s the cross training things I still need to do, as well as putting down seconds of the great holiday meals.

Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net