Yardwork love
By Kevin | June 26, 2009
What is it about doing yardwork with my dad that makes the world seem right? With my parents visiting us from NJ, my father and I spent the day cleaning up the yard in preparation for Gillian’s 1st birthday party tomorrow. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about working hard, outside, with my dad, that just feels comforting.
Maybe it’s something related to all the time my brothers and I spent with him working on the yard, or the addition to the house. For some of our time growing up, it seemed that that’s where love was shared with dad.
And while we were outside, my mother was perfecting her famous pasta sauce that we grew up calling “red gravy”. There was something that hit me today when I came inside and smelled that Italian love wafting through the air.
Then, later, to see them smiling and full of pure joy with my kids…they were clearly relishing every moment, and couldn’t have been any more full of grandparent-love.
Despite the stressors and challenges of life lately, it just felt good today to have my parents here, showing love in ways that are uniquely them.
Thanks Mom & Dad, I love you!
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Fire on the mountain
By Kevin | June 23, 2009
The first full day of summer treated us Front Range Colorado folks to an incredible sunset show over the peaks last night. I don’t normally blog like this when I’ve got nothing to say…but, truly, I can’t say anything good enough for what I saw last night. So, I’ll just share some quick pics I took looking over my backyard fence. Oh, how I love our backyard! Follow this link to see a bunch of the photos on my Facebook page.
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3 Best Things About Mondays
By Kevin | June 23, 2009
It’s actually Tuesday now as I’m writing this (just barely). I can’t sleep, and I’m thinking about why people dislike Mondays so much. As if I’m one to comment on that, as an avid disliker of the work-week re-entry myself.
However, there are a few things I do actually like about Mondays. Here they are, in no particular order:
1: rest day - that’s right, in all my marathon training, Mondays are typically a rest day, after a long-run Sunday. It’s not that I like it because there’s no run workout. I like it because it means I’ve earned it.
2: refresh button - like the one you hit when web surfing, Mondays are always a fresh shot at another week. Possibility hasn’t yet been tainted by cynicism or haters. It’s there like a ripe banana, ready for you to peel. What you do with it is up to you, of course. Try peeling it from the bottom up this week…just because.
3: reflection - I find myself reflecting more about the previous week on Mondays than at any other time. That reflection serves me well as I enter another week of the crap that makes me crave the weekend in the first place. My anticipation and readiness are primed and ready, and my patience and tolerance are at their peak. I’m focused and determined, and dreaming with passion…
…then comes Tuesday.
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NYC Marathon, denied!
By Kevin | June 18, 2009
For the third year in a row, I was denied entry into the NYC Marathon coming up in November! Bleh. At least I know I’ll have a guaranteed entry for next year (automatic after 3 denial years in a row), but it really makes me much less enthusiastic about doing NYC for my 26.2 in New York state.
I still want to do it for it’s sheer size and event magnitude, but MAN does it feel icky to get denied 3 years running! I don’t know if there any better way for them to mange it besides the lottery application system. I guess that’s just what happens with such a GINORMOUS marathon.
NYC 2010…here I come! Will I be sub-4 before then?
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New Jersey Marathon, May 3, 2009
By Kevin | May 16, 2009
9 down, 41 to go! Rolled into a whirlwind trip back east, I completed the NJ Marathon in Long Branch on Sunday, May 3rd. If you’ve been following along, you know that I wasn’t exactly well-trained and prepared for this one. Here’s how it all went down.
Thursday, April 30th - rode in an RV for 14 hours from PA to NC with father-in-law and Garrett, while Bethany drove the truck with her mom and Gillian. Lots of stops for kiddos made for a long trip, but it was good to learn that our kids could handle a long road-trip like this.
Friday, May 1st - Lucinda & Jeff’s wedding at Lake Norman, NC. A beautiful wedding, with Gillian as a flowergirl, and a huge candy bar at the reception that Garrett enjoyed all…night…long.
Saturday, May 2nd - after a brunch with Lucinda & Jeff and family, we piled into the truck and drove 10 hours from NC to my parents’ house in NJ. Again, glad to know that our kids are fully capable of making a long road-trip…they did really well. We made it to Marlton, NJ around midnight, and I laid out my stuff for the marathon the next morning. My brother Scott offered to get up early and drive me to the marathon an hour and a half away. We agreed to leave the house at 5am, and I hit the sack for a 4-hr snooze.
Sunday, May 3rd - we left the house around 5:15, had smooth sailing until we got to Long Branch, where marathon traffic was badly backed up on the main access into town. Thanks to Scott’s GPS, we made our own detour and found another way into town, and managed to find parking right at race headquarters, easy walking distance from the start.
I had arranged for a race-morning packet-pickup through a charity organization called Bosco’s Buddies. So, I was able to get my bib and chip and goodies, and was at the start area with 20-minutes to spare.
It was chilly and damp, with a drizzly mist and fog, but the energy and excitement was clear. There was a good crowd of runners and spectators, and lots of good vibes going around while everyone waited for the start. And waited. And waited. Then an announcement: local police were dealing with an accident on the main access road into town, and lots of runners were still stuck in traffic. The start would be delayed by 30-minutes.
Groans and expletives were heard all around. It was cold, and we were just getting wetter and colder by the minute. Everyone just wanted to get moving. I was able to find a portable generator to stand next to, the exhaust of which kept my legs fairly warm. During the wait, I ripped a piece off of a plastic bag, and used it to cover the exposed end of my iPhone (the rest of it was protected by the arm-band case, but I didn’t want any rain to get into the top). I also chatted with lots of folks around me: several first-timers just hoping to finish, a guy who had run every NJ Marathon since the start (one of only a few people who’ve done this), and several folks from other countries (UK, Germany, Romania…just in the 10-foot radius near me!).
Finally, we were given the green light, and the awkward walk/trot began advancing us all across the starting line. I hit start on my watch as I crossed the mat, and tried to move over towards the left side, where I knew Scott would be hanging out around the first turn. While negotiating a “flow-crossing”, I somehow caught a sharp elbow to my forearm from a runner in front of me. He had stopped suddenly to avoid a puddle, causing plenty of disgruntlement behind him, as another runner bumped into the back of me and ran up the back of my leg. I was anxious for the crowd to thin out.
Just before rounding the first turn a few minutes into the race, I looked at my watch. It said I had run 7.1 miles already! Crap! I forgot to reset it after my last run of 6.8 miles! I reset it quickly, knowing that it would screw up my mile-markers and data tracking, but figured I could just adjust for the 0.3 miles lost when I reviewed the data afterwards. Just then, I rounded the bend and saw Scott standing high atop something, camera in hand. I quickly realized how great it was going to be to have him there to cheer me on, and I knew that Bethany and Ryan would be on their way there soon too. It was gonna be a good day.
Early in the race, I fell into pace with two young women who asked me where I was from. Upon hearing “Colorado”, their response of “what are you doing out here?” promtped several minutes of friendly conversation about where we each grew up, jobs, families, ets. One of them has a son whose birthday is 3 days later than Garrett’s, and a daughter whose birthday is 2 days earlier than Gillian’s. We shared stories about the challenges of training for a marathon with two young kids, and how we were both feeling very undertrained. She, however, decided to adjust her registration to just do the half marathon. I began to wonder if she wasn’t the smarter one of the two of us, especially as I was still feeling quite stiff from all the traveling.
As the crowd thinned out, I picked my head up more and more, forcing myself to take in the ocean views and trying to notice what I was passing. This course was a two-loop course, so I really wanted to take advantage of being able to recognize where I was on the course when I got around to the second loop.
We ran through a wide variety of neighborhoods and communities. I was actually struck by how quickly they changed. One minute, I’d be running down a back alley between smallish homes that were not very well-kept, only to suddenly find myself in a neighborhood of million-dollar estates around the corner. Next, I’d be running past a cutesy row of businesses and coffee shops, before suddenly finding myself cruising by some kind of industrial facility with a tall fence topped with barbed-wire.
In the residential areas, spectators were spotty, but steady. Those who were out were really trying hard to have an impact greater than their small size. One home had professional DJ equipment set up to play music from their front porch (I especially liked the house that was playing music from Rocky). Another home had an elderly couple on the porch banging a few pots with wooden spoons, and dancing around merrily. Each time, I tried to applaud for them too, and express my appreciation for their support.
I soon had a group of runners around me who would all join in my efforts to thank volunteers and supporters as we passed. We began to offer them the encouragement that we so often hear, “Looking good! Keep it up!”, or even “You’re looking strong, keep up that pace!”. The spectators who heard that from us as we were running looked extremely puzzled, and amused at our dorkiness…which ultimately served to amuse us too…so we kept doing it, and more and more people joined in around us. For a while, it seemed we had a group who was in competition with the spectators to see who could be the loudest and most supportive of the others. Goofy…but fun.
Several times my iPhone would ring, and I’d answer the call with my earbuds, enjoying the combo of iPod and cell phone in one device. Most often, it was Scott calling to see how I was doing, and report on his next location where I’d see him. Especially in the rain, it was nice to not have to fiddle around to switch functions between iPod and phone. The iPhone does this so seamlessly, it’s great for long runs. I had my music on, although it was barely audible for most of the run. I like to be able to hear everything that’s going on around me, and really get the whole experience…but I also enjoyed a little music during the lonely stretches in the second loop after all the half-marathoners were gone, and the spectators were even more spread out.
The experience changed drastically at the halfway point. Like a false summit on a climb, passing through the finish area that was packed with spectators and half-marathon finishers reveling in their completion was a bit of a tease to say the least. The energy was great, but it just made the second-loop feel all the more quiet after that. There were clearly many more half-marathoners out there than full-marathoners. Well, that and the fact that I was mid-pack to back-of-the-pack among full-marathoners made for a much more solitary second-loop.
Thankfully, this is just about the time that Ryan and Bethany arrived! Ryan called me to see where I was, and chatted briefly about where they would try to intercept me. We said goodbye until then, but he didn’t hang up his phone. Enjoying the company, I didn’t hang up mine either. I just half-way listened to them trying to find parking, asking volunteers about how to get to where they wanted to go, sharing their map with another spectator, etc.
About mile 18, the rain picked up in earnest. Although I was already pretty wet on the surface, it was the first time I felt that my socks and shoes were now soaked too. No need to avoid puddles now, I thought to myself…as I stomped through an ankle-deep “road-pond”.
Mile 19, I was treated to the sight of Ryan doing his best Mary Poppins impersonation. Prancing and dancing with the umbrella high over his head to get my attention. I couldn’t help but smile. Bethany and Scott were there too, and it was nice to see everyone together and get their encouragement. Ryan ran along with me for a bit, giving me a brief respite from the rain with his umbrella. Then Scott traded off and ran with me for a bit, as the wind kicked up and suddenly made me feel quite cold for the first time.
I had been running somewhere between the 4:45 pace group and the 5:00 pace group, kind of hoping to finish under 5, but really just looking to keep it relaxed and conservative. Since I hadn’t trained properly, I didn’t want to risk injury. That being said, the 5hr pace group leader was a guy in a silver tuxedo…and I just really didn’t want to get beat by him.
As if the law of attraction manifested that fear, I got a nasty cramp in my left quad at mile 24. Slowing to a walk, I then got a cramp in my left calf too. I walked it out over the next mile, and the cold finally motivated me to start running again…just as the 5hr tuxedo guy came trotting by. Argh. I just didn’t have it in me to stay ahead of him, so I had to just let go of that. He finished about 6 or 7 minutes ahead of me. My official finish time = 5:11:00, about 46 minutes slower than my PR, but one of the most fun long, slow training runs I’ve done in a while!
After shivering in the finish tent waiting for them to put out more hot soup, I headed back to race headquarters to get my post-race massage and change into some dry clothes. I’m still processing the whole experience, which was a unique one for me in many ways. I’ll attempt to extract my “lessons learned” in another post.
Now, recovery, and recalculating this year’s marathon training calendar to prep for a fall marathon or two. Wow, this was a long post. Thanks for reading!
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New Jersey Marathon finished! - State #9
By Kevin | May 7, 2009
On Sunday, I finished the NJ Marathon in Long Branch, NJ. I’ll post a full race report soon with pictures, but just wanted to put up this quick update. It was more of a long, slow, training run than a race. I stayed very conservative and comfortable until some cramping at mile 24. Official finish time = 5:11:00 (46 minutes slower than my PR). Weather was cool and rainy the whole time, with steady showers beginning in earnest around mile 19. By the time I finished, I was very cold and soggy, but happy to have my brothers and my wife there at the finish. They were good cheerleaders on the course too!
Full race report coming soon!
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Post-work tempo
By Kevin | April 21, 2009
After a work-day that was highlighted by spending the final day with my Pioneer Elementary school “interns”, I headed out for a pre-dinner tempo run. I have to say, I was impressed with the 5th graders who joined me for a couple days to see what it’s like to work in a Police Department. Today, they went through a mock bank-robbery, and practiced their detective skills. I don’t think I was as observant as they were when I was that age!
I prepared for the post-work run by cramming down a granola bar, banana, and water around 4:30pm. Got out on the run about 30-min. later, and wished I had downed my snack earlier. It was still kinda sitting there, and I felt under-fueled from the start of my run. But, I went on anyway, hoping it would get into my system soon.
It was quite warm too, and I found myself sweating pretty early, which is something I’m not used to because of the dry air at altitude. I tried to crank out a classic tempo-run, in which the mile splits are kind of a bell-curve: starting slow to warm up, and speeding up a bit more each mile to the middle of the run, then gradually slowing down again towards the end.
I nailed the bell-curve pretty well, but screwed it up by stopping to water a tree just past mile 5. You can see that stoppage on my Garmin graphs. But otherwise, the splits were decent: 9:53, 9:22, 9:11, 8:54, 9:42, 12:25.Â
I’m also getting several comments from folks at the Active.com running community that they think I’m some kind of freak for doing the NJ Marathon without extended training. They may be right, but I’m doing it anyway…and I’m gonna enjoy it!
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Confidence run
By Kevin | April 19, 2009
With two weeks until the NJ Marathon, I decided to replace the Sunday long-run today with something that would instill a bit of confidence: a speed-play intervals run. After an easy mile warm-up, I alternated 4 minutes of 7:00-8:00 pace with 4 minutes of recovery around 9:30-10:30 pace. After the fourth speed interval, I slowed for the final 1.5 miles of cool-down. In all, the run covered 6 miles in around 57 minutes.
It did feel good to push my pace a bit on a shorter run, and I was pleased to discover that it didn’t take me the full 4 minutes to recover in between. By the last speed interval, I also felt like I had corrected some running form issues that I had been struggling with at the faster pace. I have a tendency to get my hands really high, and begin over-striding at faster paces. Once I got back into a quicker cadence, shorter stride, with hands more relaxed by my hips, I found the flow pretty easily, and decreased the “bouncing” too.
See the run as captured by the Garmin Forerunner 405 here.
Feeling good when I got home, I also tried to get a jump on Week 6 of the Hundred Pushup Challenge. Instead of waiting until tomorrow, I went after it soon after the completion of my run. It probably wasn’t the smartest move, as I struggled to complete the last TWO sets, but squeaked ‘em out with some longer-than-normal rest breaks between (and during) sets. Scheduled for Week 6/Day 1 was: 31, 34, 28, 28, max (I did 42). I think I’ll be feeling that tomorrow.
I’m excited to follow the Boston Marathon tomorrow! You can follow it online by clicking here. Kara Goucher (CU alum) and Ryan Hall are both well-prepared and entirely capable of becoming the first American winners since the 80’s. It will be worth watching!!
Also - can’t let today’s post go by without remembering Columbine…ten years ago today. I was in Colorado for a 3-day stay to interview for a job at University of Colorado when it happened. The impact was palpable. In the years that followed, working at C.U., I had several students who are Columbine alum, and who cannot ever forget that day. I remember too, and wish them all peace.
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Wind? eff u.
By Kevin | April 14, 2009
I successfully squeezed in a run after work, and before dinner. I aimed for 6-miles in an hour or less, and ended up with 6.5-miles in 63 minutes, for a 9:40/mi. avg. The big story of the run, however, was the wind. It was nasty.
Although I wasn’t wearing my HR monitor, it would have showed my added exertion to fight the wind. I’m guessing my avg. HR was probably around 175, much higher than it should be for this manageable pace. I felt like I was fighting the whole way. There were a few short stints where the wind was almost at my back, but for most of the run, it was either head-on, or coming from one side or the other.
I’m convinced that side-winds are harder than head-on winds. Head-on is difficult, to be sure, but side-winds had me fighting for balance the whole time. My running form was all over the place, and it shows in my erratic pacing graph as captured by the Garmin Forerunner 405. My pace was anywhere between 6:18 and completely stopped…though, not including the warm-up first mile, it averaged around 9:25-ish.
I decided to tack on an extra half-mile just to prove to myself that the wind didn’t win. Then, came inside and, after stretching out, tackled Week 5-Day 1 of the Hundred Pushup Challenge. I barely squeaked out all the sets: 23, 24, 22, 22, 26.
So, my weekly mileage is up to 18 now, and I hope to get in two more runs this week. This is the highest it’s been since May of last year, when I was doing 50-60 miles a week. Just 19 days now until the NJ Marathon (May 3). I feel like I’m cramming for an exam or something.
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Easter morning long run
By Kevin | April 12, 2009
Click here to view today’s run as captured by the Garmin Forerunner 405.
5:35am, 38-degrees and damp, 11.5 miles in 2:20, avg. HR = 149, avg. pace = 12:14
My goal this morning was to get out the door early enough to complete my long run, a slow 14-miler, and make it home in time to see the kids wake up and see what the Easter bunny left for them. My alarm was set to 4:30am. I had some oatmeal and water, filled up my water bottles on my Fuel Belt, put on my gear, made the obligatory bathroom stop, and was out the door by 5:30.
This morning was chilly and damp. It felt like east coast weather. The overcast skies hid any light from the moon and stars, so I had my headlamp on for the first 45-minutes or so. After two miles of trail, there is a dog park, with a restroom, where I stopped to answer nature’s call again. Back out on the road, I noticed a runner about a half-mile ahead, and the thought crossed my mind that maybe I should try to catch him or her. I quickly realized that he or she must be out for a short run, because I wasn’t moving anywhere near that pace. In fact, I was going quite slow, really.
But, I wanted to stay relaxed and keep my heart rate around 150 or less. So, I was right where I wanted to be. By the time I got over the next rise in the road, the runner ahead of me had picked up another runner…and they were cruising. Buh-bye.
Around mile 5.74 (approximately), nature called again. No dog park with restrooms out here running through rural Erie farmlands. But, there was nobody else up at this hour, soooo…let’s just say I added some fertilizer to the edge of a field and began searching for a few large leaves.
Thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail often speak of “trail magic”, when an important supply suddenly appears along the trail (usually left by other hikers who wanted to lighten the load). It’s often some kind of non-perishable food, or a roll of duct-tape, or…whatever you happen to need at the moment. This morning I had my own “trail magic”.
As I was reluctantly yanking up my pants again, having been less than effective with my leaves, I noticed a small roll of toilet paper on the branch of a tree nearby. I kid you not. So, I thanked the trail magic gnomes in the middle of nowhere and quickly moved on.
Soon, I realized that my pseudo-calculations about how far I was running were a bit off. I know, I know…you’re thinking, “but what about that fancy-schmancy GPS watch you got there?”. Well, I knew exactly how far I had already run, but I was only estimating where this loop would take me, and how far it would be once I finished. Based on other runs I’ve done near here, I thought I had a pretty good idea…but I was off by a bit. AND, my pace was pretty darn slow this morning, even without the “trail magic” breaks.
So, it became evident that I would be cutting it pretty close to get home before the kids woke up. At that point, I just made a beeline (well, a slowly uphill plodding bee) for home, even though I knew I’d be short of my 14-mile goal.
I got home just in time. Garrett and Gillian were both awake, and being sequestered to Garrett’s room until I got home. He had already discovered that the Easter bunny had left a little trail magic of his own outside his door. No! Not THAT kind of trail magic! I’m talking about the chocolate that must’ve dropped out of the bunny’s pockets or something!
Anyway…it was a nice quiet long run, that has me feeling a bit more confident about going into the NJ Marathon on May 3rd without a full training cycle. Still, I haven’t covered even a half-marathon distance since my last marathon, the Wyoming Marathon, on May 25th of last year. NJ might end up being my slowest marathon yet…but I’ll finish it.
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