My Running Journey

Thanks to another runner, I read the book on Darcy Wakefield, the woman who
had ALS and had to stop running. It is a wonderful book and makes one
appreciate their ability to run much less just live a "normal" life.
She lived in the Portland Maine area and recently passed away. She
was a regular on the Maine NPR show as they did monthly visits with
her.

If you haven't read it I would encourage you to do so.

This morning I braced the cold (30 degrees) and ran the Homecoming 5K here at the local University. No mile splits final time was 19:22, 2nd in age group and 9th overall. Felt good considering no tapering or speed work. I feel I am almost ready for Gasparilla now.

Enjoy the day everyone.

TEN TOP SIGNS THAT YOUR EMPLOYER HAS CHANGED TO A CHEAPER HEALTH
CARE PLAN

(10) Your annual breast exam is done at Hooters. (Hmm, wondering if
I can get that job)

(9) Directions to your Doctor's office include "Take a left when
you enter the trailer park. (North Carolina & Missouri Special)

(8) The tongue depressors taste faintly of fudgesicles. (Obviously
from Masachussets)

(7) The only proctologist in the plan: is "Gus" from Roto-Rooter.
(working in Ohio I hear)

(6) The only item listed under Preventative Care coverage is "An
Apple A Day." (Arizona plan clearly)

(5) Your primary care physician is wearing the pants you gave to
Goodwill last month. (Marty & Steve Knows this all to well)

(4) "The patient is responsible for 200% of out-of-network
charges," is not a typographical error. (DHB accouting method)

(3) The only expense covered 100% is "embalming." (Kathy and Weebs
researched this for dogs and nutty kids)

(2) Your Prozac comes in different colors with little M's on them
(Gina orders this by the bushel)


AND THE NUMBER ONE SIGN YOU'VE JOINED A VERY CHEAP HEALTH CARE
PLAN

(1) You ask for Viagra, and they give you a popsicle stick and
duct tape (Minnesota specialty)

Okay I think I finally have figured out the links (blogged challenged here!) Thanks Jen!

Yesterday I ran my first 15K in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in more than a dozen years. The good news I was guaranteed a Masters PR regardless of my time!

Given the mileage I had been putting in I felt a reasonable goal was 1:03:00 or less.

Weather was nice with temps near 70. If anything it was a bit warm as it was unseasonably warm.

Mile splits as follows:

1) 6:20
2) 6:42
3) 6:57 (construction site and twists)
4) 6:40
5) 6:38
6) 6:54
7) 7:05 (fought with water bottle to get top off)
8) 6:42
9) 9:00 (no mile marker last 1.3 miles)

Total time 1:03:00

The only thing I did not like about the race we had to run through several roads that were under construction and the water stations were unmanned. They had little bottle of waters that you had to twist off and some of them seemed to be super glued on!

Overall 9th out of roughly 200 and 2nd in age group. The guy who won the age group (M 40-44) has never beaten me in a 10K or smaller distance but I had lost to him in the last 2 half marathons. Unfortunately he was able to pull ahead and came in 22 seconds before I did.

I feel still good about the training for the Gasparilla Jeep Challenge at the end of February.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Tomorrow I run my first 15K as a Master runner. It has been roughly 15 years since I have done a this distance. Goal is sub 63 minutes and hopefully closer to 61:30. Still traveling and did not sleep well last night but hope to get a good night sleep tonight.

Race is over 90 minutes away and bringing my youngest daughter with me. After the race we are going to build sand castles! So no matter how the race goes, I will end up having a great day.

I am trying to add a picture to my blog and other blogs to my site. Help Jen! I am blogged challenged!

Gasparilla Update

My goal and target race is the Jeep challenge at Gasparilla in Tampa, FL last weekend of February.

Goal time is sub 3 hrs for combined time.

Races are:

Sat 7:30 am 15K
Sat 9:30 am 5K
Sun 6 am Half Marathon

Tentative plan is to run no worse than:
15K 1:03:30
5K 0:20:30
Half marathon 1:36:00

Right now fighting a sore left calf (still get cramps) and sore left achilles and left heal.

I do believe I can do this!

I forgot to post my results from the half marathon last Saturday (1/7/06). I ran 1:32:13 official time which is 2 seconds off my Master's PR. Good news was I really did not taper for this race at all and ran reasonably hard the week of the race.

Bad news was I had an asthma attack and calf cramp during the race. Not much fun to say the least.

All still going well for my target race of Jeep Challenge at Gasparilla. I plan on running all the 3 races and having a combined time of 3 hrs or hopefully slightly less. Going to be tough to do that but we will give it a real try.

Yesterday I started my new job and find that I am keeping really busy. Amazing people want you to really work! Beats consulting though.

Enjoy the day

Kurt

I am trying to show my running links, Thanks TriGal! Now I need to figure out how to add other athletes blog links like TriGal has done

2005 was a challenging year for me. I ended up traveling 40 weeks inthe year and finding the time for running was challenging. In someways it ended up beneficial for me as I was limited by time and did more 2x a day running than I had ever done before.

The table below shows my change year over year in running:
Year # of Runs Total Miles Avg Run Distance
2005 329 1,825.15 5.547568
2004 285 1,683.90 5.908421


Most rewarding things for me was helping 2 1st steppers completetheir first 5K. Additionally I helped in a small way my friend Jenrun 3 minutes faster in her 5K by having her do more speed work and more importantly convincing her to believe in herself.

I won the Club overall male GP 2nd year in a row and 3rd year for theage group. I set new masters PR in the half marathon and the 8K.

Biggest disappointments were DNS at the Marine Corps Marathon (kneeinjury) and not breaking 19 min in the 5K

I age up to the 45-49 age group this year but feel really good about it. Look forward to the new competition.

Goals for 2006:
Beat DOC in 5K
Run 18:45 in 5K (hopefully before Andyman does!)
Complete Jeep Challenge at Gasparilla under 3 hrs
Complete CMM half marathon under 1:30:00 and beat Marty (side bet is cheesecake)
Stay injury free and continue to have fun running