Look what I got

Rest day - no running today.  I got to sleep in a little today which was nice.  5am sure is getting old.

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Look what I got in the mail today.  Another sticker to add to my collection of running stickers:

It was given to me by Suzy over at Running on my time.  Check out her blog.  You will love it.  Thanks Suzy!  I appreciate it!  Runners are very generous, don't you think?

Here's the other blogger stickers I have already:

These are some great stickers.  I keep saying I'm going to go to Build-a-sign and make one of these but really want something original so I'm still thinking of what to put on it.(also secretly hoping that they contact me so I can put it together to give some away)

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Just a reminder that the contest for the Sony headphones is still going on until 3/25.  Go here to sign up for a chance to win one of two headphones I'm giving away.  Good luck!

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Who has a sticker/magnet on their car about running? Perhaps a 13.1 or 26.2 or another saying about running...Will run for Beer!  I've got my 13.1 on my car. Still my favorite.




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

Time to rest

Did my 4 easy miles today.  Now it's time to take a couple days off until my Half marathon on Sunday.  This is the first time I have taken off two days in a row since I started training for the marathon but I really would like my legs nice and fresh for the half.

Do you ever get phantom leg pains before a race?  This happens to me and they usually go away after I sleep but they are really strange.

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

This and that.....

First, please say a little prayer for Japan the tragedy they are going through.  Any of our daily problems are nothing compared to what they are dealing with over there.

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7 miles on the schedule.  You know what I did.  Unfortunately, this one I had to do on the treadmill since it was cold and rainy outside.  I really am Mr. Consistency when following a training program.  They really do payoff in the end.

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Spibelt was nice enough to share the winners of their belts on the Virtual 5k on their Facebook page.  I thought that was really cool!!!

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I really could use a vacation.  If any of you want to put me(and my wife and two kids) up for a week in your warm State, just let me know.  No vacation due until June/July.  That sure seems like a long time away, doesn't it?  On a positive note, my marathon is a Memorial weekend so that will be a fun long weekend!

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Thought this was cool from Dailymile's website.  You can get all distances to put on your blogs.
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My next endurance goal after the marathon!  Maybe not this year, maybe not next year but someday this WILL be on my schedule.  I really need a training partner for this one to keep me motivated. Maybe Team in Training!  Crazy, I know - but then most people think it's crazy to run a marathon too.  Great little video.  Not sure I would get the tattoo though.  Haha!

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Question of the day?  Anybody run a back to back half marathon before?  How did it go?  Not that I have or would but just wondering.



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

Upcoming Half and more giveaways!!!

4 miles on the schedule today - 4 miles is what I did(a little more) and did them outside and it was really cold and....slower....still recovering from the 5k on Sunday.

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The weather is supposed to warm up this week - maybe even 60 degrees but it's going to cool down for Sunday's half marathon.  This half marathon is to combat CF(Cystic Fibrosis) - the person putting on the race, has CF herself and was also featured in a past Runner's World(late 2010 sometime).  I'm really looking forward to this race.  Ha - I look forward to all of them.

As you can see, we basically run around the Island of Grosse Ile, Michigan.  To the East is Canada and to the West is Southern Metro Detroit aka Downriver area.  It should be a fantastic run with a great view.  Weather for Sunday(as of today) 51 degrees for a high and partly sunny; low of 36 so that's looking like excellent weather for this inaugural race!  Over 1,100 runners so far for it's first year.  Awesome!
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You will not believe this.  Yesterday I was going through the prizes for the Virtual 5k and realized that Road ID actually gave me FOUR $15 gift certificates and I only gave out two because that is all I thought I received.  Anyway, sorry to Road ID for not acknowledging the extra two.

This picture is from Road ID website so this code in not valid!!!

The two certificates are going to go to two more participants in the Virtual 5k.

And the lucky winners are.......

1) Kerrie at Mom vs Marathon
2) Jim at 50 after 40

Congratulations winners!!!!  You won because I was disorganized!!! Haha!  Please e-mail me and I will e-mail you the gift certificate code.

Do you use a Road ID?  If not, you should!  One of the best running tools invented.




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

What a great 5k - A new PR!!!

I had an unbelievably great race Sunday at the 2011 Corktown 5k race in Detroit.  There was over 5,000 people running in the race, at least according to the results.  I had heard there was over 7,000 running though.  My unofficial time on my Garmin was 22:24 and 3.14 distance.  It seems the race was a little longer but then I had to run around many people so perhaps that made the distance longer.  The race is certified so I'm sure that's why it was off on my Garmin.  My chip time was 22:18.  A new PR!!!  


Who would have thought I would PR in a 5k the day after running a 14 mile long run?  Now I kind of wish I had rested a little before this race to see if I would have been quicker but you can't skip your long runs.  It's not good for marathon training. Ha! 


This placed me as follows:


Time:  22:18 (a 20 second PR improvement!)
Overall - 311 out of 5,335(top 6%)
Men age 40-44 - 41 out of 363(top 11%)


I cannot image running any faster than that - this one will probably go down in history!  I supposed not having to run around people would have given me a little better time but who knows.  It probably also helped keep me going because my first mile split was 6:58 and I know I could not keep that pace.  In fact, I have NEVER in my life ran under a 7 minute mile so I'm pretty happy!


The race is very well organized.  The only thing that I would say could be better is if the starting line had corrals.  For this many people in a race, it makes sense to have timed corrals so that most of the people line up in the right spot so faster runners are near the front.  Other than that, this is a very well run race with as many people that are in it.

Here's a few pictures from the race:

A picture of my brother and his wife

A picture of me and my brother

The crazy crowd of 7,000 or 5000??!!??

Me and my friend Pam

A picture of me showing my Detroit Marathon shirt for a contest

So the winner of this race posted a time of 15:58; a pace of 5:09/mile.  My question of the day is how the hell does someone run that fast?????



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

Virtual 5k winners....

Hi everyone - Here is the Virtual 5k results for the "I just felt like Running" Virtual 5k.  I posted the times next to your name so you can see where you stand.  As you will see, some of the participants did not do their run.  I debated about taking them off but decided not to.  As you will see, it worked out anyway because the winners all posted times.  As far as the prizes, those were chosen from a random generated number.

I think everyone that posted had a really great time with this.  I know that I enjoyed doing it.  Here are some of the posts that people did proving they really did feel like running!

Alma from The average woman proving she has more than the average area to run in.  Nice view!

Kim from Bookworm runs happy with a new PR by over 1:30!  Wow, congrats!

Bobbi from Zero to 26.2 finish.  A nice time given 20 MPH winds!!!

Claire's time at It Takes Two

And's Claire's reaction...Is that happy to be finished?

Rose at Hacker Half Marathon pumping out a good time on the treadmill

The girls of Jamoosh at Last Mile Lounge...his support crew!! Haha!

Jim from 50 after 40 starting right at his front door!

Karen from Just me and my running shoes ready to go!

Pat over a Midlife Newby Runner with her own bib results!

Kerrie over at Mom vs. Marathon sick or happy to be finished.  Haha!

Jennifer and her friend Heather at One Step at a time posing with attitude!

Jess over at Run Jess Run showing that she does sweat when running!

Whitney over at Running with Whit showing her route around the track.  Nice!

Matt from Running St. Paul inside at the dome for 7.5 laps.  Cool!

Johann at Run Tall Walk Tall with a nice view of flowers on his run!

Mallory's time at Sit for your job. Run for your life on the tready!

Molly's time over a I'm a Sleeper Baker.  Great job!

XLMIC from Taking it on at the start in the dark!

Katie at Run for the Bikini with an AG award!!!  Wow!

John from 2slow4boston with a really fast time!

And now for what everyone has been waiting for....

And the winners are......

1) Spibelt #1 - Mallory from Sit for your Job.  Run for your Life.

2) Spibelt #2 - Nej from I think I can, I think I can

3) Road ID #1 $15 gift certificate - Tahoegirl from Got Miles?
4) Road ID #2 $15 gift certificate - Jess from Run Jess Run

5) Extreme Running Book - Colleen from Irondiva

If you are one of the lucky winners, please e-mail me at detroitrunner(at)gmail.com and give me your address so I can send you the winnings!!!  The Spibelts will be coming directly from Spibelt.  The road ID's I have certificate codes and will e-mail the codes to you.  The book is from yours truly.  Thanks everyone for participating in this Virtual 5k.  I'm glad everyone enjoyed themselves!!!!  Also, thank you very much to our sponsors, Spibelt and Road ID for the prizes.

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

Great long run today and blogger meet!

Hi guys - I had a great run today at Stoney Creek Park - 14 miles with my running buddy.  I actually felt really good up to about 13 miles.  The last mile was a little rough but I can see the benefit of slight increases in long runs each week.  Here are my splits for the day:

Overall I'm very pleased with how my run went today - negative split is nice.  I hope that it will go that well for next weekend's half marathon as well.  My half marathon split today was around 1:57.  I'd be happy with that for the actual half next weekend as well.

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After our run, I saw Ken from Eastside Stoney Creek TNT Runner blog.  My running buddy had his camera so we got shot together.

As you can see, Ken's REALLY tall!!!  Actually I'm REALLY short!!!  Hahaha!

I have to give Ken a lot of credit.  It's so much work to be out there every single weekend motivating people to train for their races(especially in the winter) but it's such a great cause as well.  There was quite a few runners out there today he is helping train.  For those of you that don't know TNT is Team in Training - a great organization to help raise money for charity and also motivate runners.  If you have any interest in doing a sport for charity, check out their webpage at www.teamintraining.org  Perhaps if I take on another marathon in the future, I'll go through team in training.  It would be nice to have the support of all the runners out there.

Ken was also kind enough to offer some bagels to us as well after our run.  I had a chocolate chip bagel - Yum!!!  Thanks Ken - you are a real inspiration for everyone!!!

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Tomorrow - Corktown 5k - expected attendance 7,000 people!!! - legs are feeling much better than I thought they would feel so maybe I can even race this tomorrow.  I mean, that is the point, isn't it?

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