Progress Report

Ten days straight of at least 45 minutes of running.  I had 13 miler, a seven miler, and an eight miler thrown in there.  Consequently my last week of running brought me 54 miles of running.  A good start.

Starting tomorrow: ten straight days of at least 60 minutes of running.  It all starts tomorrow at 5 a.m. with the blogger formerly known as Nasty Nate.

After those ten days I have a mileage build-up plan that will get me to 70 mpw by mid-January.  This assumes of course that all days between now and then will be free of ice, dangerous windchills, and unplowed snow.

Highlights of the last ten days:
1. I didn't bust my knee open after falling, like I did over two weeks ago, when I was on day eight of my pursuit of ten days of 45 minutes.

2. Running consistently through the Thanksgiving holidays even with family in town.

3.  Most of my runs were solo, but I did get two good runs with Nasty Nate and two runs in with a friend from work whom Nasty Nate is jealous of.

4. I still prefer running alone in the dark than alone in the daylight.  It really is nice to be out in the dark alone.  It is very tranquil at 5 a.m. and River Road is actually very pretty with it's lights reflecting off the river.

5. The problem is nothing funny happens this early.  No one is out but boring runners and cyclists.

Where I've been and where I'm headed this winter:
1. Ten days of 45+ minutes of running.
2. Ten days of 60+ minutes of running.
3. 70 mpw by mid January
4. Sub 5:30 at Meet of Miles
5. Sub 1:30 at the Frozen Half

Lordy I'm 40

My challenge is simple.  On the last day of my 30s (October 8, 2011), I ran a 5k.  I ran that dreaded 18:34 I mentioned earlier and was running all out.  Beforehand I bet my friend our usual wager (a carrot), that no matter how fast my time was, I would beat that time for my next 40 5ks.

So there it is.  The goal is out there.   A tough goal in that I have to stay injury free as well as in shape. It's achievable thanks to my crappy time.  I really did go all out.  Those of you who know me, know I don't like to give my best effort in training but will always go all out in  race.

When is my next 5k, you may be wondering.   I am wondering the same thing.

Running Back to Blogging

I know I have let this blog twist in the wind, but I am going to revive it for the sake of my own running.  The last good race I ran was the Victory 5k in 2009.  I ran a 16:29 5k off a steady diet of 60 mile weeks and weekly hill repeats.  I felt maybe if I pushed up to 70 mpw and added a second quality weekly workout, one final sub 16 was there for me to have in my lifetime.

Since then, life happened.  Emily got pregnant, was on bedrest, then was in the hospital with bedrest, Charlotte came early, we had a newborn in the NICU and then at home, and then just as things were settling down, Emily's mom's health began to deteriorate and we lost her this June and miss her everyday.  So here I am, 20 pounds later with an 18:34 5k from October being a satisfactory race for me.  Unacceptable.

This has to change.  And change has been slow so far.  This morning after running with a couple of friends I got to thinking about how nice it is to have goal races, and to race often.  But then I had itchy skin for 30 minutes, post-run, and I remembered how I need that extra motivation to run in the winter to tolerate crap like itchy skin.  If I want to return to the racing scene at a level I can accept, I HAVE to train through the winter so I need to make running more a part of my life.  I miss blogging about running.  Hell, I miss blogging in general.  I miss reading running blogs.  I miss racing.  I miss being around people who love races as much as I do.

I was up to 60 mpw in early October, but not anymore.  I maybe got 35 miles in a week, once, since then.   So I am hitting reset and going back to the basics: 45 minutes a day for ten days.  And when I get there, I will write about the next step.

The end game right now is simple: to get to 70-75 mpw before the Frozen Half Marathon.  But first I have to get through the winter and come out on the other side of the December's first major cold snap and/or snow storm at 50-60 mpw.

And the big picture is also simple.   I know the sub 15 5ks for me are a thing of the past, but I still think I have a puncher's chance of getting under 16.  Yes I have a lot miles and quality workouts to add and pounds to lose, but I do want to give it one more shot.

I hope that by writing about it, I will hold myself accountable.  So my path to 70 mpw does not start with tomorrow's run.  It starts with this blog entry.

The Frozen errrr... Half--What happened?

Today, I and 1000 or so like minded runners, trudged up and down Shepard Road for the annual Securian Frozen Half Marathon (and 5k and 10k). This is one of my favorite winter traditions. It's a good race to stay in shape for to keep your honest and running through the winter months.

This year the course changed to take us around the farmer's market and then past the ice sculptures at Rice Park, before dumping us back onto Shepard Road. Personally, I love the new course, even though the hill at the end of the race still exists.

But today's race did not go without incident. The half marathon ended up being between 11.6 and 11.7 miles, based on two people with Garmins that I spoke with. So what happened? Well, somehow the turn around point was miscommunicated.

My mom and wife and out infant daughter went out to watch the race. I told my wife the perfect cheering spot would be to go to Rankin and Shepard Road, right around mile seven of the course and just before the turnaround (this was not a pure out-and-back, so the turnaround was past the 6.55 mile spot). However, when they got there they looked down Shepard Road they saw the flashing lights down the road and knew that was the turnaround.

So as I am running up Shepard Road, I like so many other runners was very confused about what was happening. Here was a police officer at a random spot telling us we are at the turnaround. We were nowhere near the official turnaround, but everyone else was turning around, so the informal turnaround would have to do.

My mom and wife said they overheard him saying that he had directions that this was supposed to be the turnaround and he was just following the orders he was given. Hard to blame the guy. So my family watched me go by, heard me say a few choice words about spending $30 for such a disorganized race to anyone within earshot before turning around to head back to the finish. Then they drove back home on Shepard Road (on what was supposed to still be part of the course.)

As they were driving back, they saw a few volunteers with an official clock, a sound system with large speakers, and your token fun music pumping out of the speakers. Ooops, there is the official turnaround. These poor guys had no idea that the race would never reach them because the runners were all turned back over half a mile too soon. So my family let them know, so they shut it down.

Boo.

To be honest, when I got to mile 11, I was kind of relieved to only have less than a mile to go. But I was hoping to get a true half marathon time as a baseline to measure my improvement when I run the Grnamda's half this June. I paid thirty dollars for this race with a certain expectation that was not met.

All in all, the race management company has to do a better job. Where is the redundancy in planning and execution to make sure this doesn't happen? What company doesn't have a system of double and triple-checks in place? All it would have required is one employee on a bike who knows the course to ride out in front of the runners. Or have an employee drive the course ahead of time and assure that each person knows his or her job.

But this did not happen. Because of one communication breakdown, an entire race was marginalized. Anderson Race Management has to do better than this. They make the Winter Carnival and Securian look bad, when really it is their job to make sure this race goes smoothly.

At the end of the day, I will do this race again next year. I love the course, the tradition, and the challenge. But my love for Anderson Race Management is lacking. This is not the first race I've been to where a huge error was made (2009 Go Northside 5k had a 12 year-old girl winning even though an adult woman was the actual winner) and I can point to other races where smaller errors were made. However, this is a numbers driven sport, as are all individual sports. And I am really not all that interested from the numbers that come from an 11.6 mile race.