20 miler with Aaron and Justin

This was actually 2 ten-milers with Gu and water in between.

We had a nice group that met at the Dowd Sunday morning including: Paul, Josh, Aaron, Billy, Justin, Carolyn, Richard, myself, and a few other blokes. Great group...

I was interested in making this an honest effort from the start. Before long, it was Aaron, Justin and myself. First lap done in a couple of ticks over 65 minutes. Quick brake, and then right back on it. I worked, and stayed smooth, and struggled, to stay with Aaron and Justin. Finally, after 15 miles they got a little gap on me that they held to the 17 mile mark when they shut it down which enabled me to catch and run past them and I made it back to the YMCA in a couple of ticks over 62 minutes. We were all spent!

The best part of the run was when we were all done and we hung out on the steps of the Y with just our shorts on, probably all pleased with our effort of the morning's run...

Aaron finally broke things up saying that he needed breakfast...a wise choice!

Brixx 10k race recap!

I did not taper for this race. I had a lot of fun at this race and here is my recap:

I parked at the Dowd (Central) Y for this race and ran to Brixx pizza to get my number (thanks as always to Tim Rhodes for comping my entry as I do not take that for granted). The volunteers who help out are always so nice...I like to think that I am too). I continued my warm up by just circling around Brixx and Reid's until it was about 7:30am. At that point, I took my warm ups off and put my singlet on. Went over to a vacant lot to do some easy strides. Felt ok...

I must confess that I was so inspired by what Galen Rupp had done the day before in Brussels in the ten thousand. Paul and I were talking about it right before the start of the race. He for Mo, Me for Galen...oh well!

The gun goes off (I think Tim said go) and strait away we all take off. Paul goes to the front, and then there is pack behind Paul. That pack was lead by Richard, then Billy, Jim, Chad and a few other players. Myself and Chris, and Eric and David and Kent were in a pack behind them. After a half mile, I said to Eric, "let's see if we can get up to that pack", and that is what I did. Eric thought they would come back to us...I wasn't so sure!
I took off and quickly joined the lead pack (behind Paul of course) just past the half mile mark. At this point, I am stoked to be with this group that includes Chad, Billy, Richard, Jim and myself.

We continue to press the pace as we reach the 1 mile mark, no split, still the pace continues. I'm still feeling good when Richard cranks things up ever so slightly, which Billy, Jim, Chad and I respond to. At the 2 mile mark, Richard amps it up a little more which Billy responds to, Jim and I also respond and it seems as though Chad lost the connection (not so fast). At the 3 mile mark and at which point we have been climbing for a while, Richard is in 2nd, he's got a gap on Billy, who has a gap on Jim and I. Jim breaks from me and at 3 and a half miles, Chad goes by me and offers a small word of encouragement (class act). I'm now in 6th place. At four and a half miles and with me suffering slightly, Chris Lamperski passes me. At around 5 and a quarter mile, Doug and David go by me and that was frustrating yet good for them! Just before 6 miles, I see that I'm gaining on Chris and I catch him at the 6 mile mark, we run together til 6.1 at which point he gets a 1 second gap on me which he holds to the finish.

35:40 (5:44 pace) good for 9th place. Fun to be competitive for the first half of the race and pleased with the time. Need to see if I can be competitive longer for the next race. We'll see...   

Remembering the day!

Our daughter turns 10 today. She was scheduled to be born on 9/11 yet because of the sickening (and heroic) events that took place that morning, the delivery date was set for 3 days later. She's simply awesome...

Just finished my mid week medium long run of 14 miles at a very comfortable pace. I have 2 easy/ steady 10 milers over the next 2 days and then a hard 10k on Saturday...should be fun!

Calling Captain Max!

Forgive me for being just a little excited. My son has his first game for the Middle Scool here at CCDS and he was named captain. As you can see from the picture, he is tiny (rumor has it he has a huge heart!) I am not at the game as I am at work getting ready for our varsity game tonight. A friend e-mailed the picture to me and I sent it on to a few people...very cool! I'll report back on the quality of his play...

We had a nice easy 10 miler this morning at the park and I had the pleasure of Carolyn Maye's company (I know, it's tough!) along with Red, Megan and Josh...very nice!

Tomorrow morning, while everyone else is in the heart of Blue Ridge country, I will be running an up-tempo 20 miler. My goal is to keep the pressure on the whole way along with practicing taking in 3 Gu's along the way...

5 mile tempo w/ Chrisman, Bilbrey and Willis!

Cool weather this morning. We all met up at Old Bell. 3 mile warm up to help get the legs ready for some work/turnover. I felt pretty good so I told the group that I was shooting for 29 minutes for the 5 mile tempo (progression run). For some reason, I was very confident this morning.

We started and it was clear that no one wanted to lead. After an opening mile of right at 6 minutes per Caitlin, I decided to throw in a nasty surge (a la Imane Merga) to break the field up. Yet when I made the turnaround at 1.5 miles, they were all close in tow. From then on, I kept the pressure on and my foot on the gas. I hit 3 miles in 17:20 and realized then that I needed 5:50's for the last 2 to hit 29 minutes flat which is just what I did. It was work, and the work was done. I got right in my car and went home to get the kids to school and me to work. My legs are feeling pretty good as I'm running easy tomorrow with Red and then I have a 20 mile up tempo run on Saturday.

Thanks for reading...

Mile repeats w/ Hovis, Beigay, Mainwaring, Chrisman, Bilbrey and Me!

And with a late sleep in, we all met up at the Old Bell entrance to McAlpine for a workout of mile repeats...we would do 4!

The crue included: Ben Hovis, Caitlin Chrisman, Paul Mainwaring, Eric Bilbrey, Caleb Boyd...and Spada!

Aside from hearing that the first one was sub 5:30, I don't know the times...it simply didn't matter!

We had an awesome group, you were never able to settle, so you pushed the whole way.

Mike was pushing Paul, Ben was pushing Mike, Eric was pushing Caitlin, and Spada was just pushing...

We had great support from Meagan, Carolyn, Doug and Jason, Aaron, Tom and the whole crue from Butler!

Great stuff...

3 by 2 mile repeats w/ Caitlin & David

That would be Caitlin Chrisman and David Willis (just met...very nice)

Met everyone out at McAlpine this morning for another Jay Holder pre, pre, send-off...always fun! I actually ribbed him this morning about Nope! Dope!

So we start running easy and all of a sudden we come up on a dead body...crazy stuff! It was Billy Shue and he pulled it off!

After a 3 mile warm up...it was time to get down to business. The workout would be 3 times 2 miles with a 2 minute recovery...fair enough! My plan was to hang out on the first one which we hit in 11:44. My plan on the second one was to open up on the second mile which I did as we hit 11:24. My plan on the 3rd one was to open up early which I did as we hit 11:14. I felt good the whole time even though I was working the second half of the workout. Caitlin was her usual strong self and David was a nice addition!

Got a long one in the morning with a great crue...should be fun!