Success With Lots of Support

Ran The Howl At the Moon 8 Hour Run yesterday.  This was my 15th time running this event.  And it was easily the best time I've had.  Two years ago my daughter and her husband came down and camped with me the night before and then stayed and supported me during the race.  Which was great.  But this year they talked my whole family to come down.  All three daughters, two husbands, wife and to grand kids (ages 3 and 1 month).  What a great time we had.  My one son-in-law is really into camping and had everything you could have asked for (canopy, tent, grills, fire pit, food, etc).

After a pretty good night's sleep, the next morning was race time.  Start time was 7:00 a.m. And we would continue trying to move forward over the next 8 hours.  The race is held on a 3.29 mile loop in Kennekuk Cove County Park near Danville, IL.  It is a mixture of trails, dirt, grass and a couple short paved sections.  Not a lot of elevation change, but enough to keep it interesting.  What makes the race special to me, is the people involved.  The race director, Marc Reddy, his wife, the volunteers, the runners and all the people who come down to cheer and support all of us.  It is put on by the Kennekuk Road and Trail Runners.  They have always put on a first class event.  Their slogan is "Train Hard, Race Hard, Party Hard!"

I've had some moderate success in the race over the years, including a 4th place overall back in 1995, and 2004, and placed first in my respective age groups (40-49 in 1998 and 50-59 in 2010).  The last 2 years, I have had good efforts, but have started finishing farther down the list (32nd and 23rd), somI didn't really know what to expect this year, especially with DNF at the Black Hills 100.  I knew I was in good shape and was feeling pretty good this last week, so I decided to go out faster than usual.  The first 3 hours went well with 6 loops done, but then the wheels started to fall off.  I slowed down to almost 10 minutes slower per loop for the next 2 hours.  But somehow, with the support of my whole family, I managed to work through it during the last 3 hours as I steadily picked up a minute or two in each succeeding loop.  I ended up with 45.27 miles which was good for 10th place overall and 1st place in the Grandmaster Division (50-59).

A tough, but absolutely wonderful weekend!!!

Happenings - Part 2

As I wrote in my last post, a lot has been happening.  I covered the big DNF last post.  This time it will be some thoughts on life and death, or more correctly death and life.  Two weeks ago my Fathe passed away.  It wasn't a surprise.  He had been slowly going downhill for a few tears now.  He had diabetes as well as some other minor things, but the one that took him was Parkinson's disease.  What a lousy disease.  No cure and your body slowly fails you.  The hardest thing though is that you are aware of all this happening.  Your mind has to take it all in as you grow weaker and weaker.  My Dad battled through this bravely, but he eventually reached the point where he couldn't even support his weight anymore and his voice was so quiet you really couldn't hear him.  At the end he couldn't swallow, so they had to put a feeding tube that would be connected directly to his stomach.  It was so hard to see a man who was always active in his life and one I admired and loved go down this road.  He ended up going in his sleep a week after the feeding tube was inserted.  For that, I am very grateful.  But I will never understand, that if there is a merciful God, why he lets these things happen.  My father was a great man and I will always be grateful for everything he has taught me in my life.

But less than a week after my Dad's death, my family was blessed with new life.  My youngest daughter gave birth to her second child.  So I now have my first grandson.  In fact, it was the first boy born into our family in 50 years.  My wife and I have three daughters and my first grandchild was a girl as well.  And my sister had a daughter and her daughter has a daughter.  So it was pretty exciting to not only have another grandchild, but for it to be male.  Hopefully,  I will know what to do when the time comes.  Also, my sister's daughter is also due in less than a month with her second child.

So, although we lost Dad, we will now have two new additions the family soon and life goes on.

Thoughts on a DNF

A lot has happened since my last post.  But I will split things up over two posts.  This one is about my DNF at the Black Hills 100.  I've been a little reluctant to get to this one.  I ended up getting to the halfway point (50 miles) and dropping out.  I was pretty well prepared for the race as far as conditioning and even for the climbs.  What did me in was the terrain.  There was no way to get my legs and ankles ready for the rocky, uneven trails that made up the course.  By the 29.5 aid station my ankles were mush and my quads were already trashed with the technical downhills.  To the 50 mile point they just got worse to the point that I was very afraid that my legs would just fold up under me on one of the steep declines.  This was the factor that weighed heaviest in my decision to stop.  In other ways, I actually felt pretty good.  I had energy and my stomach had been fine all day.  But facing the downhills, especially in the dark, just was too intimidating to me.  I really don't know why it was, but something in the back of my mind kept telling me that I was going to get hurt if I tried some of the return downhills.

It is a couple of weeks after the event and although I regret to some extent not trying to finish, deep down I know I made the right decision.  Will I try another 100 mile?  I really don't know.  I kind of would like to, but on a bit of a gentler course.  Unfortunately, my wife is totally against  me doing another 100.  And without her support in the endeavor it will make things difficult.  It is not the ultras that she is against, it is just the 100 mile distance.  She is fine with a 50K, 50 Mile or even a 100K, but she really feels that something will happen to me at the 100 mile distance.  Maybe this was a partial influence on my DNF decision, I don't really know.  All I do know for sure is that I am not done with ultras.  I have the Howl at the Moon 8 Hour run still on my schedule coming up on August 10th.  Hopefully, I will have a bit of redemption there.

In Sturgis

Here I am sitting in my room at the Best Western in Sturgis, SD.  It is the day before the Black Hills 100.  Sergio, my pacer and crew for the run is here as well.  We had a nice, but long, drive in yesterday (about 15 and a half hours).  Had a good night's sleep and a good breakfast this morning.

Picked my race packet and found the Start/Finish as well this morning.  Definitely has us both excited.  But sitting here, I am a bit trepidatious.  Why am I doing this?  Can I finish this thing?  Am I just a little bit crazy?  It is a formadible task,  but I feel I have put in the training and I've finished three 100's before.  So I should be able to do this.  No, I know I am capable of doing this.  But with something of this magnitude, I know anything can happen.  I keep telling myself that I am ready, both physically and mentally.  But it will be the mental aspect that will be the key to this.  Having Sergio here will be such a big help.  I've only ever had a pacer once before and I remember how beneficial it was.  When I am down during hat second have, Sergio will be there to keep me focused and going.

By the way,  Sturgis is  really a nice town.  With these hills surrounding it, it really is quite beautiful. It is, however, hard to imagine over 500,000 people descending on this town in early August fot their annual Motorcycle Rally.  It turns out that this will be the 73rd year for this event.  It has to be truly incredible.

Final Prep

These last two weeks have been my tapering period.  Down to fifty miles this last week and will only do about twenty to twenty-five this coming week.  These miles will pretty much be in the early part of the week, especially with the 14-15 hour drive on Thursday.

Also met with Sergio who will be my pacer/crew.  It went very well and we have laid down the basic plans for the weekend.  I think he will be a great asset to my race.

News and Countdown

Less than two weeks to go to the Black Hills 100.  I am sitting in the St. Joe's Hospital waiting room where my wife is having shoulder surgery.  She just headed to pre-op.  She has been having pain in the shoulder for the last nine months.  After trying a lot of other things, they feel surgery is necessary.  Not totally sure what's there, but it is probably a combination of things.  Some arthritis, cartilage or tendon wear, or at the worst, rotator cuff tear.  Either way, she will be in a sling for a minimum of four weeks.  It will prove interesting.

Been back for a few days from our vacation (including the Lake Placid Marathon) and it is nice to be home.  It looks like we will be getting a new dog sometime next month.  My wife spent quite a bit of time on the Internet during the vacation searching for one.  After several false starts, we have found a female dalmation from a breeder in Waterloo, Indiana.  The puppies are only four weeks old so we have to wait a bit before we can go pick her up.  We will have the third choice out of four females.  Although it has been kind of nice not having to worry about a pet the last six months, I do miss not having a dog around since Harlie passed away in January.  A dog is such a faithful companion, I am really looking forward to our addition.

And, of course,  my daughter, Katie's C-Section scheduled for July 18th, when our new grandson will be arriving.  That will be just fantastic.

Katie and Pat will be closing on their house at the end of this month.  And the move is planned for the first week in July.  I am not sure just how much help I will be after the 100 mile on June 29th and 30th, but I'll do my best.

Had my most mileage of this training cycle last week with a 95 mile week.  This included the marathon which boosted the total.  This week and next will be my taper.  I expect about 45 to 50 miles this week and only 20 to 25 next week.  I have never been one who was comfortable with getting down to almost nothing by the race.  I need to run pretty much everyday up to race day, even if it only a little bit.  It is just my mindset.  And I find it helps to keep the old body and muscles loose with the daily run.  The hardest thing will be the drive up to Sturgis (about 14 hours).  I tend to really stiffen up when I am behind the wheel for long periods of time.  But I will mange.  By heading up on Thursday, I will have Friday to loosen up and relax.

That should do it for now.  Next time, I'll go over the weekend schedule for the 100 mile.

Wonderful Time

It's been a couple of days, but I am still feeling great about my marathon on Sunday.  It was a day for running.  Started out cloudy and cool.  Ended up partly sunny and mild.  Temperatures ranged from about 55 to 67.  The Lake Placid Marathon started at 8:00 a.m.  The start was at the bottom of a pretty good hill, but everyone moved up it at a very nice pace.  Once out of town, the course became rolling and very scenic.  Although this was a road marathon, at times we were in the middle of a forest with a bubbling stream following along beside us.  Lake Placid is beautiful area.  We also went right by the ski-jumps used in the 1980 Winter Olympics.  It was hard to believe that people actually ski down this structure and then jump to the bottom.  You really can't appreciate how these are from watching on TV.  With about 350 starters and another 800 half-marathoners, the course was never crowded.  Support was great throughout the day, with aid stations almost every mile.  It was almost overkill for me, so I pretty much just partook every other one after the first six miles since I had to go to the bathroom three times by mile eight.

Although I was running at a very conservative pace, I never really felt comfortable.  It wasn't until about mile ten that I finally felt the groove.  The first half ended up in about 2:03.  But I was feeling pretty good by the halfway point and really ran well between miles ten and twenty.  With six miles to go, I realized if I could just stay nice and steady, I would have a good shot for a sub-4 hour without killing myself.  I had to remind myself that I was still using this as a training run.  I didn't want to run myself into the ground.  But things went well and I finished in 3:57:33, including a very large hill up to the finish.  Negative splits are so satisfying to me these days.  I ended up 124th out of 327 finishers and 8th out of 29 in the 50-59 age group.  I also added another five miles afterward for a 50K day.

And I didn't overdo it since I was able to get in a very nice ten miler on Monday.

Pre-Marathon Thoughts

Here I am sitting in bed the day before the Lake Placid Marathon in New York.  This is part of a vacation for my wife and I.  We took two days driving from Chicago and arrived last night.  Weather has been cool for June and rainy almost the whole time.  It only reached a high of 58 yesterday.  The weather is supposed to be about the same today.  But tomorrow is supposed to be partly sunny with a high of about 70.  We will spend a good part of today checking out the town of Lake Placid and I think we will be taking in a movie this evening.

Just like the Chicagoland Marathon three weeks ago, I will be using this one as a supported training run.  So I will be trying to go out nice and easy and relax throughout the run.  I need to keep away from actually competing so I don't get carried away and trash my body too badly.  I really want to enjoy the scenery and the people.  It is beautiful up here.  The last hour or so of driving yesterday was through the Adirondack area of upper New York.  My goal is to run the marathon somewhere between 4:05 and 4:20 with even splits.  I also would like to put in an extra five or so miles to get to the 50K mark for the day.  But we will see how I am feeling for that.  It is not a must do.  Went for a short run last night and felt very good.  I am pretty confident things will go well.

Starting My New Blog

Here I am starting a new blog on running as an older gentleman.  It will mostly be about myself and my ups and downs with training and racing.  To start out with though, I am going to include a number of my posts from a former blog that I have closed down because I kept getting tons of stupid spam comments.  These had absolutely nothing to do with running or even my opinions.  Hopefully, this won't happen here.  So here it is. Hope you don't find it too long, but it should get you up to speed.

Welcome to Running From Day to Day

I really don't know if anyone even cares about what I write, but I am going to try to make at least semi-regular posts on my running and any insights that may go with it.  I have never tried anything like this before, so I cannot even guarantee how inte

resting it might be.  But all I can do is try.

Running Plans for 2013

Its been one heck of long time since I added to this blog, but here I am.  I am going to try do much better in 2013.

So what do I have in mind for this year?  Well, I will definitely run a number of PSRR circuit races again this year starting with either the Mid-Winter Cruise or the Frosty 5 Mile.  Most likely will continue with the Tiger 5K and the Rockdale Ramblin' 10K.  But all this will be leading up to my long races in the Summer.  I have already signed up for the Lake Placid Marathon on June 9th.  This will be part of our vacation this year.  I haven't signed up yet, next would be my major event of 2013.  And that would be the Black Hills 100 Mile which is the last weekend in June.

So the plans for this blog will be to report on my progress as I train and prepare for the Black Hills 100 Mile.  Hopefully, you will come along for the ride.

Committed

Had a very good run today.  14 miles.  Trying to maintain the weekly long run so it will be easier to increase it leading up to the June races.  And yes, I did say races.  I went ahead and signed up for the Black Hills 100.  So now I am truly committed.  The only stumbling block that I will have to overcome is the fact there really isn't much in the way of true trails here around Joliet, IL.  But I am confident that I can do it.  This is not my first 100.  I do have considerable experience running ultras.  In a future post, I will cover at least some of my running and ultra background.

Cold Weather Running

Living in the Chicago area means a full year of weather changes.  Anything from highs over 100 degrees to the frigid temps of below zero.

It's winter now and although so far it has been a pretty mild winter with most days reaching at least 25 degrees, it is not my cup of tea.  For whatever reason, I am one of those odd runners who favors the heat over cold.  Give me 80 degrees any day and I am much happier than below freezing.  But even on the very cold days I am out there anyway, since I can't handle running on a treadmill and I don't have any readily available indoor facility.

The hardest part is getting out the door in the first place.  Once I am out there and have warmed the ole' engine up a bit, I find that most days it is pretty enjoyable.  And in the early mornings before the sun comes up, it can be really peaceful.

The hard part this year is that we haven't had any snow yet.  Here it is on the back end of January and no white stuff.   Some of my most memorable runs have been floating along the snow covered trail being the very first one to leave my footprints in the freshly fallen snow.  The snow muffles everything and just brings a quiet peace to the area.  It's easier on the legs and it can just make things so much prettier.  I have really been missing that.  If I have to be running in the cold, I would like to at least get the benefit of snow.

So here's to a wish that we get some nice snowfall soon.

Really Cold Weather

Well, we finally got some snow.  So far about an inch with maybe a little more coming.  Still not a typical Chicago.  But it was pleasant running on the horse trails this morning being the first one out in the snow.  The rest of the week has been rough, however.  Five straight days of sub zero windchill factors.  But I managed to get out every day regardless.  Already starting to look forward to spring.

Missing a True Friend

Just recently, my dog, Harlie, passed away.  Harlie was a Weimaraner and just loved to run with me.  She was a constant companion for over 10 years. Although my wife and I went through periods where Harlie would drive us crazy (such as pretty much destroying a whole couch), she was always there at the door to greet  us when either of us would come home.  And rather exuberantly as well.  Sometimes she would almost bowl us over with her enthusiasm.  At 85 pounds, she was strong as can be and when she was younger she would literally pull me on our runs.  But over the years she got the idea of pacing and would stay pretty much at my side.  Normally, after my run, we would then go out together for her run.  The funny thing was, she was best running in the cold, and I was usually at my worst.  I am best in the heat, and she was at her worst, so the best time for both of us was the autumn when it wasn't to cold yet and the summer heat had run its course.

It has been a month now, and I still miss her.  I couldn't have asked for a better companion.

A Rough Weekend

Last weekend was one of my miserable weekends of my life.  I still don't know if it was something I ate, or something I caught.  But whatever it was, it made things real difficult.  The old digestive system was in overdrive.  Trying to put it somewhat delicately, Basically, I was getting liquid out of the wrong hole.  For over two days.  I couldn't be away from a bathroom for more than 15 minutes at a time.  The only time I had something similar, was when I had to get ready for a colonoscopy.  But that was on purpose and was expected.  A little easier to take.

The only good thing was that it completely cleaned me out and I have been feeling quite good for most of the week as my system gets back to normal.

And the timing has worked out pretty well since I have started into my Lake Placid marathon training.  I just don't want to go through that again.

A Good Week

Had a good week of training this week.  Although it is still early in my training, because of a fairly mild winner and a steady stream of 40 to 50 mile weeks since the first of the year, I tried my first back to back last Sunday and Monday.  Felt really pretty good with 17.5 miles on Sunday and 12.5 on Monday.  Sixteen weeks until the Black Hills 100.

Signed up for another marathon on May 19th.  The Chicagoland Marathon in Schaumburg.  I am using the two marathons that I am running as long training runs, so I am not expecting low times for either of these.  I am hoping to comfortably run in the four hour to four and a half hour range.  And I will have a nice three weeks between each one and the 100.  What is also kind of cool of the Chicagoland Marathon is that it is run primarily on the bike paths around and through Elk Grove Village and Schaumburg.  These are the same paths I had run many times over the years on weekends when visiting my wife's parents.  Their home was literally just across the street from one of the bike path spurs.  It has been over ten years since I have been back there.  I am definitely looking forward to it.

A Great Week

This week it was spring break at school, so I've been home all week and had so much more time to get in some quality runs.  Also, the weather finally is starting to be a little bit more like spring.  I started out the week with a nice 25 mile run at a place called Waterfall Glen.  It has a nice almost 10 mile loop of limestone trails with some pretty good hills.  I've been trying to do some more hill work, including downhills, since the Black Hills 100 has lots of climb and descent.  What I was especially happy with is that I felt pretty good that night and had very little soreness the next morning.  This allowed me to get another long one in on Monday for my second back-to-back of the cycle.

Finally, I finished with a 16 mile run on Saturday (Easter is tomorrow).  This run was at Swallow Cliffs Forest Preserve with twice as much climb as last Sunday.  I've got to keep putting in the hill work at least once a week.

Overall, I am very happy with this week and I really feel I am on track for my spring and summer races.  Next week will be a much easier week to let my body recover a bit and, of course, I'll be back in the classroom.

It's Been Awhile

I know I haven't written anything for quite awhile. It's been busy. Training has been going pretty well, however. Just finished a 30 mile run yesterday. I felt a bit tired by the end, but overall it went very well. Staying under 10:00/mile. A couple of weeks ago, did a my own marathon for my long run and felt good. What tells me that I am getting there, is both day afters, I have felt good and able to run 5 to 7 miles. So daily recovery is there. And this is in weather that has still been pretty cold for this time of year. I still prefer running in the warm weather (I know that is not normal for most runners).

My first marathon this year, the Chicagoland Marathon, is less than a month away now and I have to admit, I am starting to get a little bit antsy to do something besides just putting in the miles. I have run two shorter races over the last couple of weeks, however. The Tiger 5K on the Route 66 dragstrip and the Rockdale Ramblin' Run 10K in Rockdale, IL. Did pretty well in both of them even though I have been doing no speedwork whatsoever. Figured the races would be my speed work. In the 5K, ran 23:28 for 28th place out of 291 finishers. In the 10K, on a very hilly course, finished in 47:58, good for 69th place out of 590.

The last week has been very crazy. My wife had foot surgery and hasn't been able to drive at all, so I am her chauffeur, taking her to work and back and wherever else she wants to go. Then over the weekend, my granddaughter, Addison, ended up in the hopital for a couple of nights because of her asthma. And finally, my middle daughter, Alexis and her husband, Mark, had to evacuate their home because of all the flooding that has occurred in the Chicago area with 5 to 10 inches of rain falling within 24 hours. Fortunately, Addie is fine now and back home. So is Lexie and Mark. The water level just barely reached their home and all they had was a bit of water in the crawlspace. So we are very grateful that things weren't disastrous.

Training will continue with the focus on the Black Hills 100 Mile at the end of June. Still planning on using the two marathons as supported training runs with anywhere from 4 to 6 miles tacked on to each for 50K plus runs. And hopefully, the weather will actually start to turn spring like over the next couple of weeks.

Marathon Tomorrow

It has been awhile again since I wrote anything.  I don't know why.  I remind myself during the daenter enter a few words, but then forget by evening. 

With the Chicagoland Marathon tomorrow morning, I just wanted to lay down what I would be trying to accomplish.  Original goal was to run about4:15 for the marathon and then add 5 miles afterward for a good solid 50K training run.  But I may have to ease off a bit tomorrow because some hot weather has finally rolled in this week.  By the time I finish tomorrow, it probably will be around 80 degrees.  Haven't had time to really acclimate yet to the heat.  So I will just have to see how it goes.  Mostly, the idea is to run easy and relaxed the whole time.  Stay away from racing.  And most of all, enjoy the marathon.

A Hot Race

Whew!  Definitely a warmer day.  The morning started out at about 65 and was up to 82 by the marathon's end.  But I did very well.  Finished in 4:02:41.8.  Well under what my goal was, but did I push a little too hard?  I ran negative splits with the first half in about 2:03 and he second half under 2 hours.  I won't know until the next couple of days as I see how the legs feel.  A little stiff right now, but not too bad.

I ended up 74th out of 286 finishers, which was pretty good since I was 170th at the turn around.  Just missed age group awards with 4th out of 15 in the 55-59 age group.  Overall, I am very happy with how I did and will be even happier if I am able to go out and run 10 or 12 tomorrow.

It was a nicely put on race.  The half-marathon and marathon started together at 7:05 am.  The marathon had about 300 runners and the half had about 500.  Once we got a couple of miles in on roads, we turned on to the Forest Preserve bike paths which consisted of about 24 miles of the course.  A lot of winding in and out of the forests and into open spaces.  Nice and scenic.  The only little complaint I have is the inclusion of 3 out-and backs (2 on roads).  If they had extended the course a bit further on the bike paths, I think the out-and-backs cold have been eliminated.  Although I do admit it must have made setting up a couple of the aid stations easier.  All the aid stations were well manned, mostly with kids, and they did a fantastic job.

Overall, the race was professionally put on.