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Mar 31, 2011

Knocked it out....

Four miles on the schedule = four miles running.  Today's run seemed really easy.  I don't have many of those runs but it just felt good.  My pace was slower and that probably has something to do with it feeling easier but I like when I finish running and my legs don't even feel like I ran.

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So I don't know about  you, but I am convinced that if it is before 6am, this:


actually means:



People just do not drive properly before 6am.  I cannot tell you the number of times that I have come close to being hit.  I really don't know what else to do.  I have my road ID firefly(which is flashing):


I have my Black Diamond headlamp on:
I have my Northface jacket with reflective stripes on:

I mean, look at how reflective that jacket is!  I've been thinking of getting this especially when I don't have my jacket on anymore.

I guess that is all I really can do.  Either that or start running after work(which will not happen).  I am always very, very careful and much of my running is on the sidewalks but it's those street crossing that scare me.  I run opposite of traffic and I've even had people get as close as a foot away from me when running on the street in the subdivision.  By the way, the reason I run on the street in the subdivision is that I am running on blacktop on the street but it's cement on the sidewalk so it's easier on my legs.  I guess the best defense is still paying close attention to every car anywhere close to you.  That is what I do.  I'm ready at a moments notice to jump off the street if I need to.

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Question of the day?  IF you run in the dark, what do you run with so you get noticed?




Have a great day and.....Keep Running!!!!!

Mar 30, 2011

Tri a tri?

Today was 8 miles on the schedule.  I did 8.25 but man, this is really taking up some time.  Haha!  Over an hour of running before work will make for a long day.  It's going to make sitting on my butt all day feel good.  Ha!  I went on a new round today and encounter no sidewalks with some running on main streets in the dark.  Not a good way to go.
My run today!


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Yesterday I met with a former client who is training for a full triathlon.  Not an Ironman but the same distance as a full Ironman.  It's through Revolution 3.  I give him a lot of credit.  While it's on my bucket list, I still cannot imagine doing this distance.  Actually I could see doing the distance but the issue for me is having the time to train for it.  Wow.  The event he is doing is the Cedar Point, Ohio event.  Very cool.  I have not heard of Rev3 before but it looks like a great group and tri series.  Check them out at:

http://rev3tri.com



He thinks I should do a Sprint tri in June but it's literally two weeks after my marathon.  I'm not sure I can handle it.  I really prefer to do one event a month at most.  It's the Motor City Triathlon which would be great since I'm Detroit Runner.  Ha!  But still, I wish this was in July/August so I know I'm fully recovered.

The swim is 500 meters, the bike is 20k and the run is 3.4 miles.  One good thing about the event is that the swim portion is in very shallow water so even if I don't do well on the swim, he said you can stand up and walk it(although I would not want to do that).  I know - some of you are probably thinking, jeez, only 500 meters and only 20k bike and only 3.4 miles but it still seems daunting after running a full marathon two weeks prior.  He said at least I would be well trained to do it given my marathon training which is probably true.  I already do 10 miles on the bike the day after my long run so I don't know, maybe I can do this.  What do you all think?  It looks like a fun event(if it were in August!)



I know some of you have been involved in these races.  Tell me some of your experiences.  What do you like about them?  What do you dislike about them?

Have a great day and.....Keep Running!!!!!

Mar 29, 2011

Scared of my shadow...

4 miles on the schedule and ran 4 miles.  Still cold outside but at least there is no snow out.  So today, I'm about a mile into my run when I see a dark figure coming up by some trees.  Of course, it scared the crap out of me because I never seen anyone that early outside.  Plus, even if I did see someone, they would not be lurking by the trees.  It really startled me.....yes, me......my shadow.  Haha!  It's true.

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I have been thinking more about the blog and would like to ask you a few questions.  Please be honest and serious(if that is possible for some of you)  Yes, I know it's not for some.

1) What brings you to the blog?
2) What would bring you back more often?
3) What could be better?
4) Do you ever click on the advertisements?  Why or why not?

I'd really like to try and improve on the blog even further.  I still think it needs more and I'm open to hearing your suggestions.  Thanks in advance!

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I received a discount code from Sony for the MP3 player I gave away.  If you are interested in purchasing one, you can go here:  www.sony.com/runningmate to purchase one.  As a disclaimer, I get nothing for offering the discount.  I'm doing it just because I'm a nice guy.

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Question of the day?  In a fun race, costume or no costume?  Got any pictures I can share on the blog?  E-mail.  I'm a no costume person but I do enjoy seeing the people.




Have a great day and.....Keep Running!!!!!

Mar 28, 2011

Finally back in order

Today was my cross training day.  10 miles on the bike and also weights workout.  Had to start at 4:30am this morning due to some work obligations.

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Well I finally got the blog back in order.  As you probably notice, I had to add all the blogs I was following from my old profile onto my new profile.  LOTS and LOTS of cut and pasting.  Frustrating.  I'm hoping I will not have to change that for a very long time.

I'm still trying to see the advantage to not having ".blogspot" on the address.  I guess at least I don't have to worry about anyone taking the detroitrunner name since I now own it, at least on the website.  I'm sure I will see advantages as time goes on.  I do get my own e-mail which is nice.

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This is a big week for my training.  It will be one of the highest number of miles I will have to do in my training.  This training stuff sure does take up a lot of time, huh?  Add the time for training into the time I have to put in for my relatively new job and that pretty much sums up my week.  I get a little breather on Saturday's from both work and running which is nice.

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This is a great video of the NYC Marathon course.  I would like this to be the next marathon I run:


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Question of the day:  What is your dream race that you want to do?  Mine is above!




Have a great day and.....Keep Running!!!!!

Mar 27, 2011

Please send a comment

Hi everyone. As you might have seen, I have transferred everything to:

http://www.detroitrunner.com.

Can some of you do me a favor and leave me a comment that you are able to still get into the blog and make comments!

Thanks

Have a great day and....Keep Running!!!!!


No running bud today

Today I had 11 miles on the schedule but actually finished with 12 miles.  Since I missed some miles last week, I figured I up it a little even though this is a cutback week.

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No running buddy today for my run.  I actually like having someone out there with me that will suffer through the miles with me.  Kidding!  Actually, though, it is nice to have some conversation out there to help make the miles pass quicker.  My running buddy is out of town, but frankly, it was so cold outside today that he probably would not have run with me today anyway.  It was like January again this morning with temperatures in the teens.

I almost gave up after two miles to go back home and use the treadmill.  My toes felt like they were bricks of ice.  Fortunately, I pushed forward and my toes warmed up about 3 miles into the run so it was not too bad except for the wind.  Did I ever mention I hate wind?

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Question of the day?  Did you race this weekend?  No races for me - my next race is a half marathon on April 30.



Have a great day and.....Keep Running!!!!!

Mar 26, 2011

Address change

Hi guys:

I'm changing my address of the blog and taking out the blogspot portion of the blog so the new address will be:

http://www.detroitrunner.com

I figured it was time to spend the whopping $10 and claim the detroitrunner website.  It says it takes about three days for the transition.  I thought it was instant but I guess not.  I believe you should still be able to get to my blog at the existing address and it will forward you over to the new one automatically sometime next week.

Thanks for following.

Have a great day and.....Keep Running!!!!

Sony MP3 player giveaway Winners

Rest day today so no running.  I'm kind of glad because it's FREEZING out there!

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Well the Sony MP3 player contest is finally over.  First, I want to thank Sony for giving me the opportunity to review a unit and also give away two units to my followers as well.  So, the moment we have all been waiting for.....the winners are.....

Mallory from Sit for your Job.  Run for your Life.

AND

One Crazy Penguin

The winners were picked from a Random Number Generator.  Congratulations winners!  Please send me an e-mail with your information and I will get them mailed out to you.  Thanks also for everyone that participated in this contest.  Hopefully I will have more in the future!

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Question of the day?  Coffee or Tea?  I used to be a tea drinker but switched to coffee about a year ago and love it.



Have a great day and......Keep Running!!!!!


Mar 25, 2011

Yet another blogger sticker!

Seven miles on the schedule today.  While it was cold outside(like January temperature cold!), seven miles it was and it sure beats the treadmill.  What is with this weather?  It's almost April and is supposed to be getting warmer out?  I really struggled with this run today and had a hard time keeping any kind of speed.  I'm not sure why I struggled so much.  Oh well, chalk it up as a bad run that, never the less, is done.

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Today I received another blogger sticker.  The sticker is from Jim at 50 after 40 and I think the design is a really great one.  Here a picture if you have not seen it yet:


What a great motto as well.  If you have not checked out his blog, go read it.  He has many interesting blog posts about running and exercise.  It's one of the many blogs that I look forward to on a daily basis! Thanks Jim for the awesome sticker to go with my collection!

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TODAY is the last chance to sign up for the Sony Headphones giveaway.  Go HERE to enter!  I'll be picking winners tomorrow!

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Question of the day:  How much did you spend on running stuff, races, etc. over the past 12 months?  Too much for me.  So much I don't want to even put it in writing! Ha!



Have a great day and.....Keep Running!!!!!


Mar 24, 2011

Three Things Thursday? I don't know.

Today I had 4 on the schedule and banged out 4 on the treadmill. Hoping for 8 on Friday outside.  I hate this weather.  The treadmill is also softer and helping my legs recover still.  I also did a bowflex workout as well which felt good since it's been over a week for weights.

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Three things Thursday.  I have not really been a three things Thursday guy but thought I would give it a try:

1) I'm still trying to decide what race to run in September.  Right now I'm thinking the Romeo to Richmond half marathon is likely.  It's nice and close to home.  There is also the following to pick from:
                      1) Run Woodstock half marathon
                      2) Curamus Terram half marathon(hills)
                      3) Capital City River run half marathon
                      4) Sault Area Chamber Chase half marathon


Anybody from Michigan(or anywhere) do any of these races before?  Your thoughts?

2) 64 days until my first marathon.  Is that it?  Really?  Only 64 days?  Crap!


3) Michigan - the only state to lose population in the Census and over 200,000 in Detroit alone.  Anyone interested in moving to Michigan or moving back to Michigan.  We could use the company.  No?  How about a vacation here?  Lots to do in Michigan!
Detroit Skyline


Question of the day?  Do you carry a camera at races? I'd really like to have my camera for the full marathon but I just can't see carrying it for that long and I don't want the weight in my belt either.  I usually take before/after pictures.


Have a great day and...........Keep Running!!!!!!

Mar 23, 2011

Back at it!!!!

Well, back at it.  Not that I was gone long or anything.  Hopefully back on schedule.  Five miles today but I had to do it on the treadmill since we got snow yesterday and last night.  GO away winter!!!!!  The legs felt pretty good today.  I'm probably 95% on one leg and 85% on the other leg.  I felt a little twing(is that a word?) in my right leg but all is good so far.  With continued stretching and foam rolling I should be ready for my slow long run this weekend.  The key word being SLOW!

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I happen to find that race photo when I waived at the photographer.  That one's a first.  I'm smiling and waiving and looking at him!


I was feeling pretty good when this picture was taken.  Obviously, since I'm smiling.  If you noticed, there are no other smiling pictures before.  Ha!

Since I skipped Tuesday's 4 miler, I really built in a step back week this week and it's also a step back week under the schedule as well.  I just didn't think I was going to step back THAT much.  I guess it's not really THAT much since it's only 4 miles missed.  I'm still happy I took the extra day.  It helped my legs tremendously.  I guess I'm just getting old!  It seems like the legs hurt more than normal this time around but probably I jus don't remember the pain from before.  If we always remembered the pain we go through at these races, we probably would not continue to do them, huh?

I said to my wife they seem to hurt more this time and she says, "How are they going to feel after a marathon then?"  I said, I'm thinking of taking off an extra day of work so I have two days off(after the marathon) before I have to go back to work.  She didn't think that was necessary so I said, why don't you come join me for 26.2 and let's see how you feel then.  Haha!  I'm thinking a couple lazy days after the marathon will probably be in order and since it's on Memorial Day weekend, I only have to take off one day of work.

It's good to know I'm back on pace(hopefully) and I'm actually really happy I only have 11 on the schedule this weekend so I can continue to recover.  I should be ready to go for next weeks push on the miles.  I'll be on for a whopping 41 miles and 44 miles for the next two weeks.  These are unknown territory for me.  I max out at 44 miles on the training plan even though my long run is not 20 for that week.(close though at 18)

I also have skipped out on the cross training(bike) this week which is usually on Monday and I skipped weights last Thursday as well.  I was really feeling lazy so I'm glad I'm back to running and hope to be back to the crosstraining(weights) on Thursday.


Do you guys ever feel like your being lazy when you really have not skipped that many workouts?  Jeez, I remember when I used to sit on the couch every day!



Have a great day and......Keep Running!!!!!!

Mar 22, 2011

Couple race pictures

No running today - another (unplanned) rest day.  I'm hoping to be back to running tomorrow but it's nice to see my Dailymile Widget showing that 7:57 pace for 13.16 miles!  The legs are feeling much better today but I can still feel the IT band on both legs and that is usually not a good sign when you only feel it when walking.  Thinking about another rest day :(  I can't imagine what it would feel like when running.  I'm not sure I would get too far.

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Here's a few race pictures of my half marathon Sunday:

Why is that I always look so - tired, mad, cold?  Where's the picture when I actually smiled and waived at the photographer?

Really tired!!!

Tired but heard them announce my name so push on
Speeding to the finish
Thank goodness it's done!  Haha!

One thing to notice, I pushed myself at the end and finished before #584.  In picture one, I'm behind him, in picture four, I'm finishing ahead and it was not much distance-maybe 1/8 mile.  Actually I never even noticed him when I was running as I just pushed as hard as I could at the end.  I was in my own world at that point.  The only reason I did this is that I was looking at the clock thinking that I was not going to make 1:45:00 if I didn't push it.


Question of the day?  Do you push yourself at races at the last minute to get those few extra seconds?



Have a great day and....Keep Running!!!!!

Mar 21, 2011

Contest reminder

Hi everyone:

Just a reminder that the Sony Giveaway contest ends on 3/25 so if you are interested, go HERE


Resting today.  I'm hurtin'

Someone remind me for my next half on 4/30 to just run this as a training run.  I'm actually glad my goal of 1:45 is surpassed so I will not go for it on 4/30.  A nice easy pace sounds great right now.

Have a great day and.....Keep Running!!!!!

Mar 20, 2011

PR at a price

I had a great run at the Rock CF half marathon.  I was fortunate enough to get a PR and beat my goal of 1:45 by a very close 13 seconds for a time of 1:44:47.

It's been a long day!  I got up at 3:20am.  Got ready, ate my breakfast, and headed out on the 1:20 minute drive to get to Grosse Ile.  I wanted to be there early so that I could get a good parking spot next to the High school.  Mistake #1 - I did not need to show up quite that early, got there about 5:20am and could have gotten there by 6:20am and got a spot.  Not too big a deal.

I picked up my shirt and bib so I'd be ready for the race and then about 6:30, started looking for Stephanie over at Steph's Shoes and Rose over at Hacker Half Marathon.  We were able to find each other really easy since it was not crazy busy.  It was nice that we were able to wait in the High School gym just until the race started and we got a picture too!

Me and fellow bloggers, Rose and Stephanie
I was also able to get a picture of the race sign outside the school before the race too:


The race started right on time which was good.  They played the National Anthem before the race but so many people were talking during it.  Very rude.  I do think some of them probably did not hear it since there was quite a crowd.   The day was cold.  Starting was around 32 degrees and it was still cold when I finished the race.  The run was nice.  It was all flat and it since it was around the island, you saw water most of the time or really nice and big homes on the water.  It's funny because this course was much easier than my first marathon, the Brooksie Way in Rochester but I felt much worse after it.  Either that or I just forgot how bad I felt after the first race.  Haha!

The end was nice because you came back to the school and made about a quarter lap around their track where a bunch of people were cheering you on.  It was nice to have that for a little extra push at the end. Since I was trying to beat 1:45, for the last 4 miles, I kept looking at my watch at each split.  Here are the garmin splits:


Mistake #2, I went out WAY too fast. What the hell was I thinking.  This is almost like 5k pace fast.  I'm lucky I could hold on as long as I did.  Don't ask me what happened on mile 12.  The only thing I can think is I was getting really tired.  I knew that when mile 12 showed that time, I had to kick it back up if I was going to make 1:45.  My thoughts exactly when I saw the time on mile 12 - "I didn't run hard this whole race so I miss my time by a few seconds." and I got back on pace.

What I should have done is paced my run within 10 seconds of 8 mile splits each time instead of going out so fast or just ran slower like I planned.  While I was really excited to finish with my goal in hand, it has its consequences.  My IT Band is screaming at me right now.  I had planned to take off tomorrow which is good but it looks like I'm probably going to have to take off Tuesday as well.  This is exactly what I didn't want to do is get hurt for a good time before my marathon in May.  So I'll do the proper thing and rest my legs - even if that means several days off of running.  It's better to do that then get right back to it and suffer going forward.

After the race, they had bagels, bananas and cookies.  They had more homemade cookies than I have ever seen!  I had a bagel and a couple cookies and stretched out my legs.  I was also able to get a picture with the organizer of the event, Emily Schaller and also a picture with my medal outside the school.  She organized the event to benefit Cystic Fibrosis which she has and she is a runner too.
Emily, the organizer and I; I feel tall!! Haha!
Post race

Medal!

Back of medal
Long sleeve Shirt we got!
In my opinion, the event was really well organized and was a great success!

Have a great night and.....Keep Running!!!!!

Mar 19, 2011

Second rest day...

Today is another rest day.  It feels really strange to not be out there running today but I know I can do better at my half tomorrow with the additional rest.  This is especially true if I decide to go for it.  I'm going against what I would normally do which is follow my training schedule.  I have pretty much followed that thing to a tee until now.  Here's my goals for the half tomorrow:

1) Finish feeling strong
2) Finish in 2 hours
3) Finish in 1:44:59

#1 and 2 are surely within reach but #3 might be a stretch.  I'm thinking an eight minute mile is a stretch but I guess we will see how it goes and how I'm feeling.  My first half was 8:05 pace and VERY hilly and I finished in 1:45:55 but I also did not have any IT Band issues at the time.  Also, if it's windy on the island(like most islands are) then that will not help my chances.  I'll be happy with anything under 2 hours frankly.  Speaking of weather, here's what we are looking at for Sunday here.  Race time is 7:30am.


Looks a little chilly out.  While the wind does not look that bad, when you are facing it, it's worse that in sounds.  Overall, though, I'm really happy with the weather.  No rain.  No snow.  No freezing, well sort of but not 20's.  No 20 mph winds.  Overall, it should be great for the race.  Just have to bundle up a little based on that "feels like" temp in the 20's.

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More mail for me!!!!  I got another sticker from a fellow blogger. Tina from One Crazy Penguin send me one of her stickers.  Here it is:


Always Finish. Always Smile.  What a great motto.  Two things I can actually say that I have always followed through on for races.  That makes me very fortunate in my opinion.  Anyway, please check out Tina's blog and start following her here.  You will like what she shares about running and life!

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So since it's time for my second half marathon, I have come into a little bit of a tradition.  I like to get my hair cut before a race.  Since I race every 4-6 weeks, it fits in with a haircut well.  Yes, I know I'm strange.  I get it cut really short - #2 for guys that razor their hair.  That is really short but I love the feel of it and it just makes me feel faster when I'm out there racing.  I know, dumb but my opinion is whatever makes you think you are faster, you will then be faster out there.  Here's a picture of me this morning.  My daughter and wife think I look bald(unfortunately so), my son could care less and I do it just for me.
Scary short but I like it!  Bald. No. But soon! :(

Question of the day?  What is your tradition before a race?  I'm sure it's got to be more exciting than a haircut!


Have a great day and......Keep Running!!!!!