100 years? There Must Be Some Mistake

Today is the last Monday in March, Opening Day for the Chicago Cubs. Somehow things have been shifted a little. Usually the Monday of Opening Day is followed that night by the NCAA Final Four Championship game, making this day, probably my favorite of the year. Since they didn't fall on the same day for the first time in as long as I can remember, I didn't take today off for the first time in years as well.

100 fucking years. How is that possible. How could they not fall ass backwards into at least one World Series title in all that time? Statistically, it's next to impossible. Some how, some way, it should have happened. There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball, less than that a few years ago, before the Rockies, D-backs, Rays, and Marlins came along. Three of those teams have played in a World Series, two of them have won titles. During this 100 year stretch over 1/4 of those years can be written off to trophys that reside in Yankee Stadium. For whatever its worth Yankee fans, once every 4 years winning a World Series is pretty good average. Not once every 4 years going, once every 4 years winning. The Colorado Rockies played in the W. S. last year, although I am not a fan, they are the hometown team and so easily followed. They are probably one of the worst run teams in baseball, it's reported and printed all the time, yet they made the Series last year.

The Cubs are favored to repeat as winners of the Central Division, (probably the weakest in baseball again this year), but the 162 game schedule will tell us if they do. The law of averages should tell us that they should probably win the World Series this year, and for a bunch to come, lol, but after all this time, the law of averages don't seem to apply in Wrigleyville. But you gotta love baseball season. Spring oficially starts today people. :-)

From a running standpoint, I did 2 miles this morning and looked like the Mummy for the first mile because I was so stiff from yesterdays 22. I will do 5 at lunch and then take tomorrow off. Funny, I feel better after the 22 than I did after the 20 a week prior. Fairly big week of running upcoming, with 13 days to the half marathon. God bless healthy legs.

Have a great day!

Before and After

Good morning all. It's about 6:45 here in Ft. Collins. I am preparing to drag myself out for this 22 mile run, I am working on a cup of coffee, plotting the course I plan to run. After todays run, I'll begin to settle in a little before Horsetooth. I have 4 double digit runs next week, including a 15 and the Horsetooth course with my friend John Bender on Friday, but next Sundays run is a 10 miler, not a 20 something. And honestly, I'm ready for a little break. I know I'll go crazy during my taper before May 4, I did before Jan 13th too, but a little breather can be a good thing. Yesterday was a great example of that. I picked up my training schedule, which I have on paper, plus keep in my blackberry, right before I left for my run. I had already set my Garmin to 5 miles, because that's what I had always been doing on Saturdays before my LR on Sunday, I was changed into my shorts and Nike's, but I just wanted to double check it. 10 miles scheduled for today it said. "Sweet" I muttered to myself as I rolled my eyes. I reset the Garmin for 10, and off I went, never giving it a second thought. I had a great run, made up the route on the fly and had to run about an extra half block is all to finish right where I wanted to at 10 miles. I had a cup of water, walked up the street to the Trailhead and had a brat and a bud light (3.50 on Saturdays), then made my way home. Bedtime was somwhere around 9:30 I think. Pre LR dinner was a steak and potatoes last night instead of pasta, so we'll see how that goes too.

Ok, I'm going to work my way out for this run now, the rest of this blog will be written after the 22 mile run...stay tuned...

Not a bad 22 miler for me this morning. About minutes faster than the 22 I did before PHX. I could feel it in my legs for sure near the end, but once again, I took no gel packs or anything during the entire run, vs. probably 5 or so on the pre PHX 22. Overall I am very satisfied with the run, although one thing that did happen was that I got through the half marathon point a lot quicker than I did on my 20. By almost 7 minutes. The run was only about 4 minutes longer for 22 miles than my 20 was last weekend. Just a little quick on the beginning for me, I'll have to watch that.

Below are some pictures of todays run. Snowy and cold here today, but hell spring is almost here. Poudre Canyon sure is pretty though. Have a great Sunday everyone. Only 10 next Sunday, then the half the following weekend. Now time for a Bud Light and a shower. :-)

Two a days

It's actually a football practice term, meaning that you practice twice a day. I use it to describe when I run more than once in a day, splitting miles up due to time restraints. If I had my way, I wouldn't have to do it this way. I much prefer a 10 mile run straight, rather than 2 5's or something like that. Some people call them doubles, or split runs, whatever. But actually today I use that term in the title because I have 2 things to cover today. I should save one for tomorrow, lol, but I know that I have the 22 mile run tomorrow to talk about for sure. One came to me during my run, the other while I was having a phone conversation with a fellow runner.

While out on my 13.1 mile run yesterday, my body was sore. Lots of miles, lots of training right now. This and next week are the biggest mile weeks of this training session, and for as well as I'm running, I'm just a little beat up right now. In my mypace blog I wrote about how last Sunday when i did my 20 miler, that 6 months ago, if I had felt like I did before that run, I probably would have taken at least 2 or 3 days off. Now I don't even think about skipping a run, let alone a day. The days preceeding yesterdays run were 15 on Wed, and 10 on Thur, both of them having some intense parts of the workout, not just out eating up miles. Anyways, I flashed back to a run, one that I did about 13 months ago. I used to be off on Sundays and Tuesdays. And as a less experienced runner, having only 1 day in between to recover from my longer run on Sunday, would make it hard. Now remember, my longer run on Sunday then was usually 6 of 7 miles. So I was thinking about this Tuesday run. The Sunday right before it, I had broken the double digit mark for miles for the first time ever. I did 10 that Sunday, so I wanted to follow it up with another 10 on Tuesday. Worst run of my life I think, man it was bad. I remembered walking, cramping, just doing everything I could to get finished. I was trying to get ready for my first half marathon then, and thought for sure I was never going to make it, that I would never finish. Now double digit days are the norm. It just made me smile a little bit. If you read this and think about how you may be doing lower miles, it wasn't that long ago that I was too. Stay with it.

Second thought...running has made me a rock star. Far greater than I could have imagined. And far more than what I deserve for my ability level. But day in and out, it's what drives me, my life, hell even my love life here lately, all of it based around running. There is another person who posts on Runners World that I am friends with. He is a better runner than I am. Some people like him, others don't because he's opinionated, pulls no punches, speaks his mind. I have a lot of respect for him, but actually very little of that has to do with running, don't get me wrong, I would love to be able to run like him, but I'm talking more about the other things in his life. His S/O, family stuff, and work are all very importaint to him. When I hit the big time, I rode the wave of popularity, I'm still riding it. To the demise of a lot of other things. My marrige, my job, friendships, relationships. I've damaged or ended everything in that list. And it's all fleeting, here today, gone tomorrow. The Entertainer by Billy Joel, check it out. Is the difference that he was always a runner and I am just becoming one? Or is it more about the kind of person I am? I guess here the last few days, I have been wondering who I'm running for? Am I running for myself, or for the accolades of people that with the exception of one or two of them, I could give a fuck less what they think. I don't mean to be harsh, but on race day when I line up, I look around and want to whip ass on everyone who is around. Just people I want to finish behind me. So the question is...Springsteen or Axle Rose...Is it really better to burn out, then fade away?

So I did 10 miles today. I thought it was only supposed to be 5, but did all 10 and with a 22 on the schedule for tomorrow, it'll make 5 days in a row of double digit miles. 15, 10, 13.1, 10, and 22. That's 70.10 miles in 5 days. Tomorrow makes my May 4th marathon in my opinion. My strength and resolve will be as closely tested tomorrow as it will be in May. We'll see tomorrow.

Goodnight all :-) May your evening be as good as mine.

13.1 Friday

It's Friday morning, about 7:30 here in my little corner of the world. My Friday routine is pretty much normal most weeks. I don't have to work today, so I get up and go to the gym, stop by work and make sure that the day starts right for the people who work for me, (actually it usually equates to very little work, lol), then I do a 13.1 mile run. There is a course that starts less than a quarter mile that they use for the Crossroads Half Marathon here in September, so it works perfectly. I had my worst half marathon I had ever run on that course, and I actually don't care much for it. It's partially streets and partially bike trail, but there are way prettier places to run in Ft. Collins. You would figure that a guy armed with a Garmin might be able to find something different, but I also like the challenge of running it over and over. Making it a tedious actvity. I feel that it makes me stronger. Takes away the distraction of looking around, and makes me concentrate on my run, listen to my body.

Running is one of the most enjoyable things I do in my life, probably THE most enjoyable. Training is not. It gives me satisfaction, it makes me feel undescribable, it builds my mind and body into what it is. But if the act of training is enjoyable, I'm not training hard enough. Not preparing myself for all possiblities. I was deadly afraid of my last 21 mile run before PHX. I was afraid it would go bad, leaving me with shattered confidence and no time or way to bounce back. My running guru told me the opposite. If it goes bad he said, then see how you react, how you respond, how you are able to push through. Bad dress rehearsal, great opening night I've been told too. Racing is fun, running for the sake of running is fun too. Speedwork, hills, intervals, not so much. Ha, ha, ha.

Off I go for todays standard 13.1, same course, same scenery, same music probably too. Have a great day everyone.

5 weeks out, time to make a marathon

Well, it's been an interesting stretch since Jan 13th and the Rock and Roll Marathon in Phoenix AZ. I sit here, Thursday, March 27th, right in the middle of my highest mileage, most intense week of training for my upcoming May 4th marathon. Right at about 77 miles is where the week will peak out at. I started my real training program for this marathon about 12 weeks out from the race, I will taper for 2 of them, and actually cut back the week of April 7-13 for a half marathon that I am running here in Ft. Collins. 9 full weeks, that will include a 20 and 2 22 mile training runs. From 2/17 I will do miles per week of 61,62,60,72,42,56,75,74,32,65,50, and 26. My recent 20 was almost 5 minutes faster than the same 20 mile run before Phoenix, and it was done with very little water and no gels or anything. My runs get more and more encouraging each day at this point and the prospect of what I might accomplish begins to creep in to my head with each good run. I continue to push those thoughts away. I always think to the scene in the movie Tin Cup with Kevin Costner, on the first day of the US Open when he tees off on the first hole. He whispers to himself "be humble" as he swings the club and drives the ball down the fairway. A lot of words have been used to describe me in my life, everything from "hidden treasure" to "strong willed" to "sweet and smart".

Humble is not one that I've ever been called. Probably never will. I used cockiness to mask insecurity when I was young and overweight. As I grew older and became who I am today, I find that I am very good at a lot of things now, but really not great at anything. I play a decent round of golf, swim, bike, basketball, all that stuff I am ok at. I'm good at running, it's probably what I do best. Personal life stuff my track record continues to speak for itself. Family and relationship stuff, maybe we'll go into that another time, not today. None of us have that kind of time right now.

From a running standpoint though, I feel better than I ever have, and this is the week that it happens. The past 4 and upcoming 3 days are the ones that will put me in place to do what I couldn't in Phoenix, coming to a head with my 22 mile run on Sunday. Each LR before Phoenix, I worried. Now I can't wait for this 22 mile run on Sunday, I can't wait to prove to myself I can do it, I can make it happen.

Not much here besides a guy who is wound up about a big week and his job is not keeping his mind from wandering. More later...