26.2….

I don’t even know where to start really. We have been training so long it seems like but on the other it seems like yesterday came and went so quick! Running the marathon yesterday in Louisville is something that I will never forget! As I sit here on the couch the day after and look back on all of the training and how much time we all put into this event I can’t believe it is over. The training really paid off because I do not feel that bad for having run 26.2 miles yesterday!!! I mean my legs are sore but my joints don’t hurt. I feel like yesterday was just another long training run.

Now a few details from the run yesterday…I started off at a pretty good clip (probably faster than I should have) but I was feeling pretty good. The kinks worked themselves out around mile 3, just in time for the first climb into the park. Well I am guessing it was around there, the first few mile markers we not very visible so I didn’t exactly know my splits until about mile 5 I believe. Either way I was feeling great! The hills in the park didn’t seem near as bad as they did when we ran the 10 miler thru there. I was pretty excited for most of the first half of the run. I just kept thinking to myself…I’m actually running a marathon, 26.2 miles!!! The crowds around the race were great, people cheering and yelling, playing music. There were even the group of guys on the side of the street drinking a beer to celebrate all of us out there running! When we ran into the tunnel at Church Hill I don’t know what happened but it started sinking in a little more, I got chills of excitement! Some runners were yelling and cheering like people blowing their horns when you drive through a tunnel. All of this excitement def took my mind off running! It felt like I could run all day long!

Ok so we get to the split at mile 12, this is where the mini-marathon runners break off to the left to go to the finish line and we broke to the right. At this intersection there were SO many people cheering, yelling and screaming for us and everything still seemed great. However the second I turned that corner it was like someone covered my ears. The cheering, yelling and the music all seemed to disappear. I got the chills again as another wave of excitement hit me. At this point it was starting to get serious and the fact that I was actually one of the few out of this large race that was going for the full marathon. I am trotting on down the road and I get that feeling that if you read about running is one you don’t want to get but it is bound to happen…I gotta go… I know it sounds funny to read but it sucks when your running. Anyway, I go (only a small line to get in) and start to head back out onto the road, OUCH is the first word that comes to mind. My right knee was in some serious pain. I started to tighten up in that short break. I’m starting to ease back into it when Bobby catches up to me. That was a huge help! Thanks B! We started to chat a little and that took my mind off of the stiff legs and everything loosened back up. I think we ran together for about 3 miles or so and I started to cramp up again I just slowed it down and had to bring it to a walk. Rabbit caught up to and cruised on past me at this point and I finally got back into gear and ran again. Rabbit and I ran for a while when I had to stop again…I started thinking to myself, this is getting old and I hope this is the last time! So I stop off and get back on the road pretty quickly.

I am doing pretty good now and feeling great but there is just this thought in my head that keeps coming up…this is a long run, don’t over do it, maybe you should walk for a few seconds then pick it back up…. This thought started pounding into my head pretty strong around mile 17. The next thing I know I am walking. What am I doing!?! So I would start running again. I did this quite a few times over the next 4 miles. I was feeling really negative over this part of the run. Not really down on myself just negative. A side note was that I did great with water and gels over this run after about mile 7. Ok so about mile 21 I decide to take another gel and figured that this would probably be the last one. I get it down and I’m chugging along toward mile 22. The crowd is getting closer and I know that Derek was planning on being there to cheer us on so I’m starting to feel a little of that excitement again. There he was right on target standing on the corner…what a boost that was! I round the corner and head to the bridge. 22 miles down…I’m almost there! The sun was out full force and I was def starting to feel it at this point. I was pounding water and just getting one foot in front of the other. Over the bridge and around the first loop. I think I see a blue shirt, maybe a Mason & Hanger crew member…yup it was Rabbit, he was a bit ahead of me. Oh not good, off to the right there was a younger looking girl in the back of an ambulance being treated…that sucks. I keep going…as Rabbit and I pass it wasn’t so much of a huge greating and def no chatter like earlier, it was more of a hand wave to acknowledge the others presence, it was all about conserving energy for these last few. We are now headed to mile 24, left..right..left..right..left..right and so it went back up over the bridge and by the 24 mile marker! Just a little more than 2 miles to go!!!! EXCITEMENT strikes again!!! I see the crowd ahead and I’m looking for Derek, just wanting that little bit of an extra push…there he is again! THANKS MAN!!!! Ok so I keep on going and get to mile 25 I decide that I am going to take a cup of Powerade to drink and a water. Hmmm harder to drink out of a cup while running than I thought! All over my face. lol so I walk for a second or two to get a few good drinks and away I went. I am def feeling the excitement now and I can hear the big crowd at the finish! There is no picking up the pace yet because I still couldn’t see the finish line so I keep my steady pace. I round that last corner after passing mile 26 and there it is that huge banner….FINISH!!! I kicked it at this point, well it felt like I was kicking it anyway, I may have been going the same pace but I felt like I was at a dead sprint and the biggest smile came across my face at this point!!!! I couldn’t have stopped the smile if I wanted to, all I was thinking was….I DID IT, I DID IT, I DID IT, I JUST RAN A MARATHON!!!!! I have to admit the emotions are very high when you cross that finish line! I can’t really explain it but it is like all of this preparation, all of the pain, all of the excitement that we shared over the last few months of training just hit at one time as soon as I hit stop on my watch (total time 4:17:05). It was awesome!!!! I loved that feeling, and when the lady put the medal around my neck (everybody gets one for running the race) the emotions doubled! That finish def made all of the training worth every second!

I know this has been a long post but there is so much that I feel like I left out, the little side stories from along the run, the few scenes that stick out in my mind when I think about yesterday. The uplifting tm’s, the signs, people talking to you and encouraging you along the way. I must say tho that you learn a lot of little tricks and tips along the way to this goal. For example band aides are def one of a guys best friends in a long run, me I had on BATMAN yesterday! Really, did you expect less!?! When you make that split and you begin to run by yourself, try not to go inside too much. I think that is what happened around 17 for me. I talked myself out of running, I wasn’t tired, my legs and knees didn’t hurt or ask to stop running, I just did. Then I had to talk myself into getting going again! Yesterday was a day that I will never forget and who knows I may just be doing it again in the near future! 26.2 miles!!!! I DID IT!!!!!

To the MH Crew….thank you all for being there through the training and along the run yesterday. This is an experience that I am proud that I got to share with you guys! To my friends, family and all of those Bat fans out there…thank you for your support as well. Especially the ones who had to listen to me talking about my aches and pains or how my toe nails were turning black! I really really appreciate all of your encouragement. On top of all of that I would also like to thank everyone who supported our fund raising activities for St. Jude! This was an amazing experience and I am very proud to say once again that we did it guys we just ran a full marathon…..26.2 MILES!!!! Congratulations!!!! 

Kinks work out….

Just remember that the kinks work out after 3 or 4 miles! Well that is what what keeps going through my mind after all of these short runs the last two weeks. It is weird running short runs like 3 miles. I have had some strange feelings about this run Saturday but I had a really good 2 mile run tonight, felt strong, breathing was really good (time 15 minutes even). I think this has given me a little boost of confidence, which was definitely needed. I know it is necessary to ease up these last two weeks. My knees are feeling really good and I’m almost feeling rested also. Still the big day is not far away…just a little over 24 hours now! I am VERY nervous and excited at the same time! It is crazy to think that just a few months ago we all started this training program. A week of 3, 4, 3 and 5 miles and now we have wrapped up with a week of 3, 3 and 2 miles so far this week with a little 26.2 miles to look forward to on Saturday in Louisville. I want to thank EVERYONE who has encouraged me, helped me raise money for St Jude and especially my fellow runners that have endured this training with me over the last few months, gotten up early on Saturdays to get out there and prepare for this big day! I also want to congratulate my fellow runners for making it this far! Way to go guys! Now lets get out there Saturday and DO THIS THING!!!!! See you all in Louisville and for the Bat fans, well you know what you have to do….tune in next time same Bat time….same Bat channel where we will chat about a 26.2 mile adventure through the streets of Louisville!

Another tough week…

Ah yes…hello there! Hmmm let me see what did we last discuss. oh yeah the terrible 21! Well this week continued the not so focused on running trend that I have had over the last few weeks. My focus pretty much shifted completely to studying and getting in runs when I can. I did run my 5 on Monday this week then skipped the 8 on Wednesday hoping to get it in on Thursday. That didn’t exactly play out that way. I was very tired this week mentally and physically, burning the candle at both ends with studying, running and work being very crazy this week I was pretty much spent by Thursday so I decided to just run 5. I take off running thinking of everything except running (small test on Friday). I decided to really challenge myself and take on some very large hills. Mistake. I was spent at mile 1.5. I just kept thinking about the shirt I mentioned before. I just kept running… On top of being worn down the pain came back. Now I’m starting to wonder what is up. I started paying attention to how I was feeling over the next few days and I think it isn’t cramps so much. I think it is a GI thing. Oh welljust another little thing to add to the training story!

Ok so that brings us to today’s run. 14 miler which was supposed to run yesterday just wanted to get a little rest before going out for 14 after my outing on Thursday. So I get up this morning and head out…nice chilly day, little drizzle coming down. Perfect day for a 14 miler! Today’s run was much better than my last few. No pains, didn’t feel completely drained. Took a few miles to get warmed up and loosened up but finally got into it. Total time today 2:02:18. I will take that after the last few weeks runs. Well I guess that about wraps it up. Remember….Just keep running!!!!

Blog!?! What’s that?

Well I’m back. It has been a while. There have been a lot of runs since the last entry. Let’s see  I have been to Louisville with the gang to run a 10 miler which went pretty well, there has been a few 5 milers, a 12 miler an 8 miler then there was last week. Not sure where to begin on that week. It was pretty tough. It started with a 5 miler on Monday. I got a pain just under my right rib cage that caused me to stop and double over. It was brutal. I chalked it up to a cramp, which didn’t really make sense to me. I mean I was just going 5 miles and I wasn’t even trying to run it fast. Who knows. I tried to fight through it and use the “belly breathing” techniques I have read about but it wouldn’t go away and eventually made it very hard to breath which is when I stopped. It finally eased up a bit so I managed to finish the 5. So that was last Monday’s run.  I managed to run my eight miler that week with no pain which was good. I ended up skipping my 5 on that Thursday to study. Then there was the big 21 on Saturday. I hydrated well on Friday before and got myself pretty jacked up and ready to go. What I didn’t do was eat correctly the day before and I def didn’t take my gels correctly for 21. I had taken 4 with me which I should have used and didn’t. I forgot my water bottle and messed up only taking 2 gels during the run. I was spent and the pain came back full force with about 4 miles left. Taylor and I werecruising along and I mentioned to him that I was fighting one off, not thinking it was the same thing that got me the previous Monday. Yup, it was. Sucked. I managed to fight thru this time and finished the 21 but I felt terrible. Oh well at least come race day I know I can push thru some pain and keep going. There was a shirt that someone was wearing at the 10 miler in Louisville. I followed them through most of the park. The back of the shirt read “Just keep running…”, this was a perfect saying and was def something that I have not forgotten! So with that I will close this nice short entry and remind everyone that we are almost there. Keep that shirt in mind as I have….JUST KEEP RUNNING…

Learning over 20 miles…

Well yesterday the we all gathered at the same park we ran our 17 miler from. I would say the over all run was good. I took 4 gel packs with me. I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going to use each but figured I would start early in the run and space them out to about every 5 miles. I figured with this spacing I would get a gel in for the last 3 miles as I was expecting to run out of steam somewhere around mile 15 or 16. I was right in my prediction. But first let’s cover the miles up to 15. We took off up the road and I was feeling very good. We started the run an hour earlier this week in prep for a 3.5 hour time frame. By mile 5 everything was clicking perfectly, all systems were great! No little pains that I remember, everyone seemed to be in good spirits and chatting every now and then. We cruised on….Now we are halfway through our run (back at the park) and I am still feeling really good. We take off again and just a mile or so into the second loop my right knee started to hurt! I started to get a little concerned but being very stubborn I kept my head up, my posture correct and tried to concentrate on my form. I have a weird stride anyway and I am not really sure if this contributes to the sore knee or not. Either way I kept pushing along, I started trying to adjust my stride, small steps, longer steps changing these as we went up or down hills. I learned yesterday in toying with my stride and form that standing up tall and attacking the uphills feel great! Coming down…hold the phone, this hurts! Time to change my stride, I shortened my steps…hmmm much better. When you run for 3+ hours you have plenty of time to learn just what feels better what feels worse and what you can live with as your moving up the road. So the knee pain went away and we are now back to mile 15. DD asked about a strong finish as we usually talk about on long runs. I just wasn’t feeling like I had it in me yesterday. I took my last gel pack somewhere between mile 16 and 17. I def am glad that I spaced them out like I did. From miles 15 to 18 was dragging. I don’t know if it was the gel pack all by itself that made me feel better or the thought that I had just ran for 3 hours but I started feeling really good around 18. My pace seemed to pick up so I just went with it! I felt like I was gliding through the last few miles! I wasn’t necessarily burning up the road but I felt like I was and that is what counts! I think my last mile pace was around 9 min! Total time:3:20:14. I will take that to finish my 20 miles! I really felt like I had 2 or 3 strong miles (not at 9 min/mile) left in me at the end of this run. It feels really good to have run 20 miles and finished strong like that! Yesterday was a very good learning experience for me!

I want to congratulate everyone on the run yesterday! Great job guys!!! We are almost there!

Monday 5

Ok so where to start!?! Seems lately that this training has taken an unexpected twist for me. I seem to be having crazy dreams and trouble sleeping! I am not sure if it is totally from all of the miles or not. I have tried to do a little research on distance running and sleep patterns. From what I have read a lot of people do have trouble sleeping after long runs (17 miles or better). Most articles I have found actually say that you sleep better when you are a runner or exercise regularly. They also say that over training will impact your sleep in a negative way. Who knows maybe I am over training or over exerting myself on my runs. I am going with the theory that my body is just getting adjusted to this distance thing! The sleeplessness is like my minor aches and pains it will go away. Who knows maybe I’m trying to sleep too much! I have talked with a few of the other guys running and not everyone is having the issues I am but the crazy dreams have happened to a few. Anyway, I just thought that was an interesting twist to this whole running experience and wanted to share with the few readers I have out there!

 Now on to the important stuff. Last nights run. We have already gotten the sleep thing out of the way and from not sleeping well you can pretty much assume that I’m a little tired. Nothing to be alarmed about it isn’t like I’m falling asleep while sitting here! Just a little tired. So I get on the treadmill last night (Monday, March 17) and I take off. The run was not going bad I felt pretty good actually. I had just ran 6.2 this past Saturday at an average pace of 7:55/mile so I figured I might as well keep in that groove and run this 5 at an 8:00/mile (nice round number for the treadmill). I was good to go until about mile 4. If you have been reading regularly (when I keep up with my posts) I usually like to try and pick up the pace at the end of my runs…yeah not last night. I was going to try but I was pretty much spent so I just kept on trucking at my same pace and finished up the run I am now calling the Monday 5. Total time 40:06. So that pretty much does it for this little entry! Ya’ll tune in next time where we will be exploring an 8 miler (hopefully not on the treadmill)! haha

5 and 6.2….

Running and running and running…..Seems like we are doing a lot of that lately! So I had skipped my scheduled run on Thursday evening because I needed just a little more time to get over the knee bothering me and I knew we were driving to Louisville for the 10k on Saturday. Anyway, Friday rolls around and I am feeling pretty good. We had a company outing Friday afternoon and I went back to the office to study for a while after that. I was feeling great after the company outing and started thinking about getting in the 5 I missed on Thursday night. This running thing is addictive! So I leave the office and head to the gym. I get on the treadmill and take off. Feeling really good I decide to pick up the pace around mile 3.5. I stroll on at the faster pace for the next mile and then decide to kick it up another notch! I’m thinking…it is just a half mile let’s see if I can run at a sub 7:00/mile pace for the last bit so I kick it up and take off! I’m cruising along feeling surprisingly good still and the treadmill tells me that it can’t hold the target pace any longer! huh!?! I didn’t know what to think so I just kept running…I had about a quarter of a mile left so I def wasn’t going to stop plus I was curious just what the treadmill was going to do. Wasn’t very exciting actually it just slows itself down. The speed did jump around a little up then down then up then down a few. It finally started dropping and settled on about a 8:00/mile pace. I was pretty pleased with the run I have to say.

 Saturday morning…nice and early! I head to da Fort and pick up Z and Derek around 6:30am. We drive up and pick Chuck up on the way meeting T at the same time. We all cruise into Louisville and get our stuff for the run (well minus a few shirts because the event was not very well planned out!) So we get our numbers and head to the starting line. T decided to move on up closer to the front of the group so he didn’t have to weave and dodge so many people and Derek, Chuck, Z and I hung back a little. As we are standing there talking I realized I didn’t put on my time chip! The gun goes off for the race to start…hmmm now what, did I drive all the way to Louisville to not have an official time!?! NO! So I run to the car and get my chip, lace it up in my shoe and run back to the starting line. If you have ever ran in a large race you know how long it takes for the crowd to get moving. I squeeze my way back in and take off over the starting line! It was a nice cool morning, perfect for a 6.2 mile run. For just having ran 5 miles the night before I was feeling really good. I get to mile one…7:30, slow down, I had to pull on the reins a little that was way too fast! I didn’t want to give out before the end. So I tried to slow it down and just kept weaving my way through people up the rolling hills down the hills moving right along…ran down one street I recognized from when I went up to a baseball game last year…very cool a place I had been before! I just keep trucking along…mile 2, mile 3, mile 4…wow I still felt pretty good! Did I mention I think the training is working!?! So I am rounding the last corner and it was really cool of them to finish the race running up hill! lol ummm yeah, I still felt really really good! Even later in the day I still felt great couldn’t even tell that I had ran 5 miles one night and 6 the next morning! Total time for the 6.2 was 49:06. Everyone from our group did a great job on this run! Way to go guys! Keep up the good work and we will see you all out there on Saturday for our big 20 miler!!!

Wednesday 12.26

Wednesday evening….I take off from the office for a quick 12.26 mile run. I head through campus then to the arboretum wonder my way through the neighborhoods and over to Richmond Rd then back downtown. Sounds pretty quick saying it like that and it seemed that way when running. I had my map with me so that I could tell which mile I was on and roughly calculate my pace. I get through the arboretum thinking I am at about mile 4 check my map…I was wrong already at mile 5! I’m going through this run like it was nothing. I was feeling great! I keep moving and the next thing I know I’m almost back downtown! I know it doesn’t sound very exciting but to be this far along in the training and be able to actually feel how much stronger I am and how much more stamina I have is very exciting to me! The program is actually working! This isn’t to say that I don’t have pains because believe me I do. If you have been reading the other guy’s blogs you have probably heard about some of the pains they are having also. T said it best with his football season analogy, not sure if anyone is 100% or not but we are still out there giving it our all! I am really excited about my 12 mile run if you couldn’t tell and I am really looking forward to next weekend and the next longest run I have ever completed…20 miles!!! Time to man up! Aches and pains welcome as long as I finish the 20 running and not crawling! Alrighty then until next time, you know the drill! Same Bat time…same Bat channel!

Little 5

Howdy! Ok so Monday after the big 17 miler…do I run or not!?! Well of course I ran! I mean I am training for a marathon! (which is quickly approaching by the way guys!) I walked over to the gym across from work and picked out the perfect treadmill to stomp around on for next 40-45 minutes (perfect being the only one that was open)! So I get started, set it at a nice easy pace of 8:34/mile. Not bad just trucking along with my music playing “lose yourself in the music the moment….” You know a little M! haha Anyway, I’m running a long looking out the window in front of me my mind wondering and listening to the tunes. I decided to pick up the pace for a half mile or so. I crank it up to a 7:30/mile get my breathing right and go the half mile, back it back to my 8:34/mile pace and cruise there for another mile or so I think I managed to get one more of those cycles in during the run. Total time 41:14. Run felt good. Next up 12 miles on Wednesday night.

3 hours of running!!!

Ah yes here we are again! So where to start on this one!?! lol So the weather was def the buzz on Friday! Will it snow, if so how much, will it be icy out….Taylor and I were talking and pretty much decided to run Saturday morning no matter what just because of our schedules. The only reason we wouldn’t have run was if it was solid ice out pretty much making it impossible. Ok so get up bright and early on Saturday morning to a winter wonderland in March! Everything is covered with snow! Everyone didn’t get to make it out for the run but there were still 5 of us! This run was great! We took off running up the road in tire tracks as much as possible to stay out of the deeper parts of the snow. My feet were cold for the first mile but they seemed to warm up. It wasn’t that they went numb or anything either the actually did warm up. I felt really really good during this run. I don’t know if it was the snow that provided a little more cushion so that my joints didn’t take the pounding of just straight pavement but I didn’t have knee pain at all! Everything felt really good. I must say that I am very glad that I had a mask to run in. The wind was brutal! I think Chuck def said it best in saying that this run wasn’t so much about running as it was a quest! I am glad we went ahead and ran in the snow! I think it is going to be things like this that will keep this training interesting! I mean it is very exciting to think….”hey I just ran for 3 hours and 5 minutes!” or “I just ran 17 miles!” but the change of scenery and terrain def kept this run from getting boring and just being one of those “on foot in front of the other” runs! I can’t stress how pumped I am about this training after running in the snow like that! This was def one of my favorite runs so far! I do feel bad as DD and I sort of took of on the other guys and we had the map with us. Really sorry about that guys. I def will not do that again, that is for sure! Well that about sums it up for this weeks 17 miler! Tune in next time same Bat time…same Bat channel!