We're not in Tarsus anymore

At our weekly family Bible study tonight, we were studying Acts 8.  At the end of this particular chapter, Philip is instantly transported 20-40 miles, prompting my humorous (?) reply:

there's no place like Rome

6 days until my half marathon

Today I ran just over 10 miles, but still barely ran two-thirds of what I was scheduled to do.  Perspective, though: it's marvelous progress that 10 miles still misses the mark by almost 5.

A pretty good day

Our five year old daughter had wise advice for me yesterday morning: teach the kids good things today, Daddy.

Later in the day, I ran seven tough miles faster than my training plan called for.

The Dates That Made Our Family

For our 11th anniversary, my inspiration was a friend who mimicked a Pinterest project.  Canvas, textured background and black paint all came from Wal-Mart.  Then I carved the template from cardstock with an Exacto knife.

35 words per post, meet "running blog"

I'm repurposing the blog as a combination of my previous blogs.  In one, I wrote no more words than my age in years.  In another idea, I wrote about my running.  Meet the new blog.

3.63mi easy run 35m39s not as cold as it looks (55F)

3.63mi easy run, 35m39s, not as cold as it looks (55F)

4.57 mile easy run, 45:16

This road was not the road I ran on, but it was adjacent to the main road.  It.  Was.  Cold.

10.06 miles, 28º - 33º, 104m24s

Scott Valley Schools' Turkey Trot - 6.0 Miles

I beat my goal by 18 seconds and was about a minute per mile faster than my July 4 10K.

This race is at a crossroads of the transition between cross country season (where I get fewer miles due to coaching) and the rest of the year where I hope to resume my training schedule.

The threat of rain and/or snow was lingering all week, but as the week progressed the snow level went higher and the rain chances also diminished. By this morning, it was just COLD. It was 38º when I got to the course at 7:30 (racetime was 9am), but it was very humid and there was a slight breeze so it felt colder. Fortunately the propane heater stands were already in place and so I stood in what I called an "alternate reality" underneath one of them when I got cold.

Since I'm friends with the race coordinator (she's my assistant XC coach) she had me and another school employee go mark the course. Together with our Garmins we marked the out-and-back course with some white spray-paint.

I got back in just enough time to get in a warm-up 1+ miles and then get another pint of water for the race. I set the "training partner" on my Garmin to a 9:05 pace, knowing that if I kept up with that, my final kick at the end would help me meet my actual race goal of 54:00. The 9:00 pace would completely obliterate my personal best for a run of 4 or more miles (a 9:45 pace or so is my best on a 4.5 mile run), so I knew I would need to push.

The toughest mile was Mile 3 which includes a pretty good hill for the last half of the mile right before the turnaround. I wanted to get this mile in under 10:00 and I was actually at 9:18 on this mile. At this point I was only about 180 feet behind my goal pace so I knew it was just a matter of maintaining a pace of slightly under 9:00 on the return.

I had a guy running back and forth with me who was in the oldest age category. We see-sawed for a large part of it, and on a slight downhill at the beginning of the 6th mile I pulled ahead of him by a bit but knew he was right there behind me. I hit my final stride in the final 500-600 feet or so and crossed the line well before the clock hit 54 minutes, eclipsing my goal and smashing my PR.

Afterward, I met "Eric" and thanked him for pushing me the whole race. He said the same of me. I didn't want to lose to someone in the 60+ age range, and he probably didn't want to lose to a slightly overweight 30-something guy.

SPLITS:
Mile 1 - 9:02
Mile 2 - 9:14
Mile 3 - 9:16
Mile 4 - 8:54
Mile 5 - 9:00
Mile 6 - 8:18 (final kick hit a 5:22 pace)

10K equivalent would have been 55:38 (my 10K PR is 1:01:51)

Tentative racing schedule for next 12 months or so

11/24/11 - Scott Valley Turkey Trot (10K) - Fort Jones, CA

1/15/12 - Redding marathon relay (9.5mi or 7.2mi) - Redding, CA

(A 5K or something similar between 2/5 and 2/12 or so either a Frosty Fun Run in Redding or something in southern Oregon)

3/4/12 - Bidwell Classic Half Marathon - Chico, CA
**FIRST HALF-MARATHON**

(will be looking for something nearby in late March)

4/14/12 - Pear Blossom 10M - Medford, OR

5/5/12 - Mike Schweitzer 5K - Etna, CA

5/6/12 - Avenue of the Giants Marathon - Humboldt Redwoods State Park, CA
**FIRST MARATHON**

6/9/12 - Dunsmuir Railroad Day Run (2M/5M) - Dunsmuir, CA

6/16/12 - Chris Lopez Classic 10K - Yreka, CA

7/4/12 - 4th of July 5M Run - Mt. Shasta, CA

8/13/12 - Crater Lake Rim Half Marathon - Crater Lake National Park, OR

9/2/12 - Tinman Triathlon (0.42M swim, 10M bike, 4.5M run) - Lake Siskiyou, CA

9/23/12 - Whiskeytown Relays at which I'll again tackle the 6.3M 4th leg - Whiskeytown, CA

10/29/12 - Grants Pass (OR) Half-Marathon

4.2 miles with the jogginng stroller 42 minutes

4.2 miles with the jogginng stroller, 42 minutes

Gearing Up for my Goals - a guest post at trektech

My friend and complete stud of all things outdoors asked me to contribute to his company's website: www.trektechblog.com

It was mid-January.  My brother-in-law sent me an email about a race in the tiny town where I live.  It wasn't so much that he sent an email to me about it, but the tenor he took in the email that got me off my butt.

"Which one are you going to train for?" he asked.  My options: a 5K, a 10K, or a half-marathon.

"Who do you think you are, trying to get me off my duff and into racing?" I said to myself.  "After all, you're running nearly 100 miles per month."

Naturally, then, I chose ... read the rest here

~2.4mi tempo @ ~9:45 (Greenhorn Park Yreka)

~2.4mi tempo @ ~9:45 (Greenhorn Park, Yreka)

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8.41mi through So San Francisco and Daly City 1h34m38s

8.41mi through So San Francisco and Daly City, 1h34m38s

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8 miles on the beach 1h31m45s

8 miles on the beach, 1h31m45s