Running Flats

Looks like things have been fairly quiet with all the other authors holding their tongue.  My rehab continues with my hammie getting better each day.  During our east coast visit I have been able to get some running in with my traveling running flats.  They are thin soled shoes with thin uppers that travel well ... light weight taking little suit case space.  Proabably the closest I will ever get to going bare foot.

Running in Chatham the last three days has been great.  I'm up to six easy miles with no twinges or soreness.  Janet says that's good, especially since I couldn't run at all a month or so ago.  Now in Nantucket, looking forward to some longer runs, but not too far, before we return home later this week.  I still have to watch my distance not to increase it too quickly.  Maybe I will be able to increase it up to the magic 26.2  miles to get a Parrot Predictor Time.

New England Racing Update

Hello to all of those west-coasters! The New England race circuit is going strong. Yesterday I completed my fourth triathlon of the summer, posting my best results. I placed 2nd in my age group (out of 33) and 41st overall (out of 636) in an Olympic distance tri in southern MA. I'm happy with my results, but was aiming for a bit faster pace on the run - shooting for 6:50 pace and was at 7:04. The swim is by far my weakest of the three, and I'm taking masters swim classes over the winter with the goal of getting my Olympic distance swim time down to around 22-23 min (from current time of 26 min).

The prior week was a 7 mile race in Gloucester (or for those of you familiar with New England, pronounced as 'Glosta'). Went 47:07 and 68th of 841.

Next up is a 25K on the 'North Shore' on September 6th, then a half marathon on the 25th, and a duathlon on October 17th. I'm shooting for 1:49 in the 25k and really hoping for 1:30 - 1:32 in the half. My plan is to build to a marathon in the fall of 2011 with the hope of qualifying for Boston - I'd need a 3:10:59 or less! I'm only running around 25-30 miles per week now, so with building up my mileage I feel that qualifying for Boston is definitely feasible.

Uncle Todd - hope your recovery is going well!

Rehab with envy

Rehab continues ... this morning I went 4 miles and still felt well at the end. It took everything in me to limit it to only 4. I already broke by 10% rule, but I have to think that 26.2 is too may 10%'s away for little jumps. I now have changed my rule to 10% or 1 mile, which ever is greater ... increase then hold steady for a while, that's the ticket. A slow steady return will hopefully be the trick to get the hammie back in shape.

As Alexa gets ready for her September trail race, I watch with envy as she goes out the door to do some real running. She is visiting for golf with Janet and needed to get nine in tonight ...  lucky for her, too many for me to even think about.  She is really enjoying her trail training.

I added a page to the blog with "Upcoming Races". It can be found with clicking on the page name to the right (but don't click yet). Links to the web sites are attached and will hopefully work ok (this web stuff is confusing). If you have never done trails before, it really seems interesting to me. Todd Y, "the little, big one", runs the Tahoe Trails Ultra in 2 weeks; Alexa and Katy do their Marathon in 4 weeks. So as I continue to ice, run on! (try that click to the right now).

Ice - My New Best Friend

Half committed!

Big thanks to Todd for putting together this blog. He's been our inspirational leader over the years. His interest, knowledge and communication has helped many of us progress as marathoners. I'm excited for a strong fall running season in spite of the fact that last week was one of my worst weeks in a few months. The Saturday before yesterday I got sick after a strong 50 mile week. As a result last week I logged only 6 miles. I'm ready to get back after it this week. No running injuries - so I should be all set.

I'm going on the record... I will try to qualify for Boston this CIM. I know this is a long shot given my current fitness. In order to have a chance I need to focus on the following 3 things over the next 16 weeks.

1. High Mileage - average 55 miles per week.
2. Lose Weight - shed by about half pound per week so that my CIM weight is at 174.
3. Avoid Injuries - sleep a minimum of 7 hours per night.

Time will tell if I have the discipline to stay on goal. I'm looking forward to reporting my progress over the fall and using this blog as a vehicle for personal accountability. With that, here are my weekly Goals.

1. 55 Miles.
2. Parrott 3:59.
3. 182 Lbs.

Keep moving forward!

As my dad mentioned, I am busy training for my first trail marathon with my running friend Katy. We both PR'd last year at CIM and she is also an accomplished 50-miler! We are running the Sierra Nevada Endurance Run marathon on Saturday 9/25 and I am looking forward to it. I just started running on the trails a month ago and I love it so far. It is slower, tougher, more beautiful, you get really dirty, and I love my new Nathan hydration backpack! I have also learned to do a rub-down with Technu to prevent poison oak after my runs! good times. This will be my 8th marathon and we are also signed up for CIM in December.

I am looking forward to an 18-miler tomorrow morning. We are going to run from Twin Rocks in Granite Bay to Auburn, which is the same trail as our upcoming marathon.

Dad, thanks for setting up this blog. I am happy to hear you are "slowly" getting back out there.

Here are some photos that I wanted to share:
1. After a recent trail run
2. Beautiful Folsom Lake where we have been running on the trails
3. Yes, this is dirt on my legs. I was shocked after my first run. I have also purchased black socks, which help because the white ones are hard to clean after that.
4. Here is one of my favorite running photos with my sister Abby (from the finish of Run to Feed the Hungry 10K last year). Abby, I love how much fun you are!
5. And lastly, here is a video from a recent trail run (not the greatest quality, but you get the idea)

Our Newest Member

Eleanor in the hospital.

Gloves On Ready for a Morning Run

With this blog still in it's infant stage, I thought we needed to pep it up a little.  So, of course, I thought about trying to put some pictures on it.  What could be better than to welcome our newest member, Eleanor.  Now I can no way compete with Elizabeth's blog.  I must say that Eleanor is beyond cute (aren't all babies?) and she is more joy than a runner's high (I'm not really sure if I get that).  Anyway Elizabeth and Eleanor have been occupying the heart and minds of many.  After weeks and months of anticipation we Welcome Eleanor.  No marathons for her now.  But ... the other day I was wondering if we just might some day run one together.  How great would that be?  We both will have to do work hard on our training.  Which reminds me.  Since this is suppose to be about running, I thought I might just talk a little about running.

How cute is Eleanor?

Today was my first day out in 17 days.  I last ran on August 4.  Nursing a "hammie" since early July has been miserable.  I tried resting a week but then reinjured it.  Another 9 days off and still no good.  This morning I just couldn't take it any longer.  I decided to do a "walk-jog."  Walking at a 14:30 pace leaving home seemed OK, but when I tried running down the first hill, I felt a slight tightening of my hamstring.  Better back it down to a fast walk!  Seemed like it felt better "running" up the small inclines.  Turned at 1 1/2 miles; still OK.  I followed the same routine to home, jog uphill, walk downhill, with only slight tightening of the leg.  Sitting with a bag of ice under my left leg feels great right now.  What a crazy way to have fun.  Anyway, feels pretty good now.  I may skip tomorrow and try the same on Monday.  The CIM, marathon in Sacramento in December, seems like it is rapidly approaching and it may be hard for me to keep my training at a low enough level long enough not to get reinjured.  It sure is hard to follow my own advise to increase mileage slowly.  All this came about by jumping from 25 mile weeks to 45 miles week as I was getting ready to train for a PR.  Stupid me!

Abby, Elizabeth, Alexa, and Eleanor

You can tell you are a runner by the amount of joy you get when running.  It was a GREAT morning to be out there today.  Leaving home at 6 AM, there was a slight coolness with some clouds in the sky.  Getting ready, I grabbed a long sleeve top and noted it was from the 20th annual CIM in 2002.  It reminded me I have been at this for a while.   Hopefully, I will be able to rehab over the next couple weeks to months.  I started to think about some goals as I was on my way back home and then remembered I just have to get healthy now.  One step at a time.

One of the things I hope to soon add is a page with upcoming races.  I know a lot of us are planning on CIM in December.  Alexa has a trail marathon next month and Todd Y has an ultra 50K trail run in Tahoe.  Not sure what else others are planning.

This blog stuff is confusing.

Finally, this is suppose to be a community blog, and I want the others to WRITE not just comment.  We can give author rights to you.  I look forward to seeing this site grow.  Stay well and I hope to see you at the starting line.

Welcome to the Mighty Marathoners

Six years ago two of my daughters and several of their friends decided to run a marathon with me.  All of them were first timers to the marathon; it was my eleventh one.  As we trained, we sent emails back and forth updating others with our progress.  As the excitement grew to race day we included notes to the support team that grew around us.  We needed a name for ourselves and thus we became the "Mighty Marathoners".   Many years later and lots of runs behind us, we still need encouragement.  The group email just does not seem to work anymore.  This blog, hopefully, will provide a way for us to easily communicate with others, giving information about upcoming runs, training programs, race results, and anything else we want to talk about about.  I hope to set up different sections for results, photos, bios, and who knows whatever.  It's for both runners and supporters.  Blog on.