My Running Journey

2008-10-15T14:27:00.002-05:00

Were does time fly?

Well it has been almost 4 months since I have posted a blog. Wow where to start?

To say life has been busy would be an understatement. Work and being a full time single dad has been sucking the life out of me and fortunately I have manage to keep up on some running. No correct that, I have been running a lot lately.

Since I have posted last I ran several races including the Twin City Marathon where in less than ideal conditions I did manage to qualify for Boston. My official time was 3:27:24. I finished 76/580 in M45-49 age group and was 711 overall out of 7800 or so who completed it. I am fairly pleased with the results.

The big highlight was going to Running Amy's wedding. To say she was a beautiful bride is an understatement. She and her husband Troy were fun and we had a great time at the wedding. I hope to post a few pictures up in the next few days.

I am going to get caught up on Blogs and start to post again. I should be past the busiest time at work now and have more time to stay connected.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2008-06-26T10:54:00.000-05:00

Wednesday Night Track workout

Last night I did my weekly track torture session. I did a 2 mile warm up 6 x 400 with 400 recover runs and 2 mile cool down. Bad news was I was pretty inconsistent still on pacing. Good news I was running fairly well.

Splits for each of the 400's

1) 78
2) 85
3) 90
4) 90
5) 86
6) 85

Not sure why I flew so fast on the first lap but I was trying to pull it down after the 200 mark. I burn the first 200 a little to fast. Each lap seem to go well. I think one of the differences was I was running on a real track vice the gravel track I use at the local middle school. That along with the torture plan my coach has me doing (Jack Daniels type of plan) seems to be finally paying off.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2008-06-23T08:51:00.001-05:00

Running Update

I have now been working with my running coach for a month and have found it to be an interesting experience. I find that the mileage isn't much different than what I was doing but she is pushing me more with increased speed work. I do more intervals, more fartlek and strides than I have ever done before. While my legs are feeling it I am getting more consistent in my speed work for a change and running smoother. Times haven't dropped much but I do expect by fall the times will be back in the range I am expecting out myself.

On days I would sometimes bag a run I find that having to be accountable to someone else has made me get out and do the run. It is giving me more motivation and once I mentally get back into racing again I will be pulling it all together and looking to set new Master's PR this and next year.

One of the little things I have been doing is after my long run on Saturday's I go to the beach here on Long Island. The nice thing is the water is really still cold in the low 60's. Usually it is me and a bunch of kids in the water until I can't stand it anymore. Still it beats doing an ice bath and helps the legs recover quicker.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2008-06-16T09:09:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I had a fun filled day with my youngest daughter Maddie and Marsha for fathers day. The day started off with my favorite race on Long Island, the Deputy Chief Ray Downey 5K who died in 9/11. This is
a big event with lots of things going on. This year was no different with over 1600 for the 5K and another 500 in the family fun runs.

The only downer it was warm (84) and very humid (storms last night).

Race started and 10 am and off we went. I had done a 2 mile warm up and was soaked before we even started. Hit the 1st mile comfortably at 6:15, mile 2 I felt good but started slowing down due I think to the humidity and did that in 6:37, Mile 3 more of the same ran a 6:41 and passed 2 guys in my age group at the 2.5 mile mark who normally are a bit faster than me. I hit the final .1 in 42 which was good considering it was on wet grass. Final time was 20:17 or about a 6:22 pace. Not as fast as I had hoped but then you take what you can go
with. I finished 41/1639 overall and 3/133 in the M45-49 age group so another piece of hardware for me. The main thing is I felt comfortable this race than the past few and didn't get sick at any point in the race. Asthma constricted me but I was able to run through it easier.

So after that we went to see the Hulk. All in all a great day!

Now from my favorite bride to be here is my response to your blog tag!

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago? Faster with less injury issues but at the same time less fun. It was all about running and placing in my age group versus enjoying the running. I am less competitive internally than I use to be.

2. What is your best and worst run/race experience? It is both from Gasparilla doing the Jeep Challenge. I did a 15K, 5K and half marathon in less than 24 hrs. Hot one day and cold and wet the next. Most challenging run I have ever done. Finished 2nd Masters out of 500 or so who did the whole 3 events.

3. Why do you run? So I can eat cheesecake, chocolate and enjoy staying sane (more or less anyway)

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you’ve been given about running? Best advice that I listened to and actually followed through with: Enjoy the running and if your serious about it then make a plan and work the plan. Only by doing both (having fun and working hard) will you get better.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know. I hate blueberry's. I despise them. I wish they would be eradicated off the face of earth.

Enjoy the week everyone. P.S. Side note to TryPiggy you have speed. You need to run more miles and build up your base to sustain the speed you have.

Kurt

2008-06-05T19:11:00.003-05:00

Coach is killing me.

Last night she had me do the dreaded doctervals. Doctervals are 8 x 200 with the goal to go all out but consistent pace. I need them in order to achieve my goal of a sub 5:15 mile this august.

It had been a very rough week at work so limited sleep, lots of stress and of course I was doing the speed work on the middle school gravel track where it had been raining. I figure the track is adding 1-2 seconds per 200 to my time (I am sticking to that and that will be my story!)

Splits were 34, 35,37, 36,35, 38, 38, 38

Not the fastest I have done but did manage to get sick after lap 6 and lap 8. At least I know I did it right then.

Today was rest day and plan on doing 6 on Friday, 14 on Saturday and 6 on Sunday. Need to work on getting stronger and faster. The coach is pushing me in the right direction.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2008-06-01T16:51:00.002-05:00

Been Busy!

Wow this being almost a full time single Dad, working and running is keeping me busy. Having an adorably cute 10 yr old along with dating is taking up what little free time I may have but no regrets.

My injured hammie is still bothering me but less than before. I am also taking a break from racing for a while to give it more time to recover.

I also have made two big decisions, one I am doing the running camp that I was debating. The second decision is I have retained a running coach to help me get over the injuries, improve my running times and reach the goals I have been chasing. After all I am not getting any younger!

This past week I ran 39.7 miles, nothing challenging other than doing some so called speed work that was slow. The speed work was a challenge. Interesting day for track work out. At lunch from work I ran down to the local track that is a mile away, did another mile to warm up and then was chased off the track by the local police. They said the track was closed to the public even though it wasn't used.

I am also the moderator for an online running group called Joy of Running. Please take the time to join. It is a great group with about 800 runners.

I will attempt to keep more current!

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2008-05-04T15:59:00.002-05:00

I ran the Long Island Half Marathon today and it was less than a stellar performance for me.

Lack of good training and fighting injuries took their toll creating my 2nd worse Half Marathon time.

Weather turned out to be really good with temps in the 50's maybe high on the humidity which could have caused some issues with the breathing but not much.

Splits were as follows:

Mile
1) 6:50
2) 6:42
3) 6:54
4) 7:15 (started cramping in my tush now)
5) 7:20
6) 7:22
7) 7:27
8) 7:29
9) 7:21
10) 7:36 (really hurting in both sides of tush and left knee)
11) 7:42
12) 7:33
13) 7:38
.1) :47

Total official time was 1:36:10 I placed 184/3154 overall and 22/242 in age group If I had run 1:30:00 as planned I would have easily been in top 100 overall and 11th in age group. Knee and leg are fine now but the knot in the left side of the tush still there. I have a lot of work to do before Twin City Marathon in order to both keep up with Danielle and get Boston Qualified.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2008-04-28T10:05:00.002-05:00

Still fighting injuries

Left leg continues to bother me but I am slowly getting over it. Hammie is much better and the knot I have been feeling in my left side of the tush is almost all gone. Just down to a very tender left knee and the spot in my leg where I have been fighting tendinitis. I am trying to find the balance to run and heal and pretty much have stopped the bike for a few weeks. I also am running maintenance miles and not heavy mileage.

One good thing I found out is that I am a good swimmer. I ran my swim times by Tammy and Sara and they both said I was having good times.

Next week is the half marathon. Goal was a modest 1:30:00 but due to mileage (lack of) and ongoing knee I am thinking realistic might be 1:32:00. I will run a 6:45 pace and see what I can hold onto.

YTD Stats:

	YTD Act	Goal	% Accomplished
Swim	14,200	35,000	40.6%
Bike	529.35	2,500	21.2%
Run	439.35	1,600	27.5%

Swim	8.82	21.74	Miles

This week I put in a lot of pool time and swam 4,650 meters. Biking was 0 and running was 32.55 miles.

After this I am looking at doing a running camp in July. It is in state and I have never done one and I think it would be fun for myself to do one. I am also going to get a coach and finally get serious about dealing with injuries and work on running faster and being able to compete again the way I want to. I need to in order to also keep up with Danielle who is also being coached and is a much better runner than she gives herself credit for. She will be pacing me at the Twin City Marathon this October.

Enjoy the week everyone

P.S. TriShannon kicked butt on her recent Tri!

2008-04-22T12:38:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday I ran the St. Charles Rehab 4 miler race today. It was to be part of
a 12 mile run with me running the race in the middle of it. Perfect
weather, challenging course and some twists that I had not seen before.

I knew where the race began and finished and also knew the course
would be a 4 mile loop with the 1st two miles headed downhill and the
2nd two miles coming up hill.

There were roughly 250 runners in the race as there are 5 races this
weekend in the Long Island area.

I did my first 4 miles at a very easy comfortable 8 min pace and felt
good.

Mile splits were:
1) 6:09 nice down hill
2) 6:33 gentle down hill and then flatten out. I also felt my
hamstring tighten up in my left part of my tush.
3) 6:57 gentle uphill
4.1) 8:03 (all uphill)

Official time was 27:34 or a 6:44 pace for 4.1 miles

The finish had moved after we started the race. Apparently the police
decided it was a hazard where it was located so they made the race
director move it into a parking lot. This added a .1 mile onto the
race. That was a first for me.

I finished 10/250 and 2nd in Age Group (M45-49). However no hardware
as they only gave the age group winners a medal. How cheap is that?
I will let the race director know next year I will run one of the
other races and try for hardware where I can possibly win something.
I can be a materialistic guy at times but do like to win the medals!
Due to the sore tush (it felt like a huge knot in my left cheek and
Gina/Nora any ideas what to do for it?) I cut my cool down to 2 miles.
I also canceled my bike ride following it and went to the pool and
swam an easy 500 meters instead.

This was the last race for me before the half marathon in two weeks.
Now one more long week and then I can taper and get hopefully some of
the niggles I am having out of the way.

As of Today I still am not able to run but have continued to swim. I have swam 2,250 meters in the past 3 days and will be swimming more and more as I continue to recover.

Enjoy the day everyone.

P.S. TriShannon did very well on her recent half marathon. Check out her race report.

2008-04-13T16:45:00.003-05:00

Today I ran the inaugural 10K at Stony Brook University today. Much like last week I did hill work the day before and was planning on running with tired legs. All this in preparation for the half marathon in a few weeks. I had less road mileage this week overall due to work and taking care of my daughter but more bike mileage. I also was out last night at a Bar Mitzvah party and drank more beer than I probably should have (3) and was running on about 5.5 hours of sleep last night.

Race was very well organized, accurate and mile splits were right on course. I knew this would also be a hilly course.

Small race with 90 runners and only a half a dozen of older runners with the rest being primarily college students.

Mile splits were as follow:

Mile 1: 6:27 gradual down hill
Mile 2: 6:51 gradual up hill
Mile 4: 14:09 (missed mile 3 marker) and rolling up and down hills but going mainly up
Mile 5: 7:03 more hills
Mile 6 6:33 down hill
.2: :42 seconds

Overall time was 42:28 (6:50 pace) which is what I would have hoped for. Ran my planned half marathon pace (which will be basically flat) and felt pretty good. I was 7/90 Overall and 1/3 in M45-49 age group. Great medals and nice goody bag also.

So go figure I ran a minute faster than last week and enjoyed this race much more. I attribute it to mentally being more into this week thanks to TriShannon and her kind words to me.

YTD Stats:

	YTD Act	Goal	% Accomplished
Swim	9,550	35,000	27.3%
Bike	508.75	2,500	20.4%
Run	381.85	1,600	23.9%

For a graphic representation of my by month mileage. Yes I track all of my own mileage and make by month charts since 2004. January of this year is down due to the injury.
Enjoy the day everyone.

2008-04-06T17:05:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I ran another 10K and lets just say it took me a day to post my results as I didn't even want to look up my final placing. As you can tell I ran very poorly on what should
have been a very good race. I did the 10K race as part of 13 mile
run and expected to run easily under 43 minutes during the race and
keep the 7 miles at an easier pace. I ran 3 mile before the race and
did finish the 3.8 mile after the race to do the run. I should do a 10K closer to 40:30 when I really get motivated.

The day was perfect for racing. It was mid 50's, sunny and only a
gentle breeze. Course was pretty flat and basically a big rectangle.
Lot of water stops and all the intersections were blocked. It was
the first real nice day we have had on the frozen north.

Race went off and I could tell almost from the beginning it was not
going to be a good race for me. I just didn't feel like there was
much in the tank and I am thinking the hill run on Thursday along with
double run on Wednesday took a little more out of me than I
anticipated. Mainly though I just wasn't in the race mentally. For
whatever reason I just didn't have the drive to do it today.

First 5K I did in 21:12 (6:50 pace) and 2nd 5K I did in 22:17 (7:11
pace). Final time was 43:29 or a 7 min pace. Finished 10/37 in
M45-49 age group and 77/538 overall. Afterwards did a 15 mile bike
ride to get some cross training in.

Next week I have one more 10K that will be hilly and may try to find a
5K in 2 weeks to get one more fast tempo run in. All of this is in
preparation for the half marathon in early May that I am targeting.

YTD Numbers:

	YTD Act	Goal	% Accomplished
Swim	9,550	35,000	27.3%
Bike	470.15	2,500	18.8%
Run	350.95	1,600	21.9%

Swim	5.93	21.74	Miles

I do convert the swim to miles based on a metric conversion formula.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2008-03-30T17:20:00.002-05:00

Two weeks in review

It has been a very busy and joyful past couple of weeks. I spent easter weekend with my youngest daughter visiting my oldest daughter, son in law and grand daughter. While there I was able to go out for a 17 mile run with my son in law who is training for his first marathon. It was cold but nice and we had a good time running it together.

Earlier this week I was able to have another luncheon with TriSaraTops and baby Jackson for my every 6 week visit to our Akron OH facility. What a great looking boy he is (wearing some very adorable UNC clothing also!). Sara looked really good and is clearly getting back into her athletic shape after having the baby. She is also up for some special award for her community service as a Tri Athlete. Check out her blog for more details.

Today I ran a 5K and it was cold. I felt that I would not be at my best given the sunny but very breezy and chilly temperatures. The good news was apparently so was every one else. Times were slow and these are people I run normally against. Final time was 20:34 good enough for 11/204 overall and 2nd in age group. So given everything it was a good run at my 10K pace.

Oh yes and UNC is going to the final 4 and dook still sucks.

I hope everyone has a great week.

2008-03-16T15:27:00.001-05:00

St. Patrick's Race report

I ran the race making a last minute decision to do so. The race is in the Hampton's in Long Island boasting to be a flat fast course running through some of the most expensive properties in the US. I can say the course was flat and fast (plus long they admitted they started the race in the wrong spot.

The 3.2 mile race was a beautiful course and the mansions were amazing. Truly fun to see what some peoples style of living was.

As far as the race I had run some hard hills on Saturday and was still feeling the race from last weekend along with having a sore right knee. The intent of the race was to simply break 20 min and call it a tempo run. I did my usual 2.5 mile warm up and after a 15 min delay we took off.

I quickly settled into my pace (slow for me) and crossed the 1st mile at 6:15 but felt ok. I pretty much kept up the same pace and we all settled into the order we were going to finish. The only fun was around the half way mark a young male passed me and eventually pulled about 50-70 meters ahead of me. I hit the 2 mile mark at 6:20 and was still feeling good.

3rd mile I did in 6:18 and eventually caught the kid who had passed me and I could tell he was spent. I kicked a little but realized that the finish was further than I thought and just held onto the pace. Final time was 20:11 (19:31 on the 5K mark) and finished 7th overall out of roughly 100 and 1st in the age group (M40-49).

Given how I ran last week and the extra miles I did yesterday I was pleased with my time. I do believe on a flat course with accurate measurements I can break 19 again. It still remains a goal of mine this year.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2008-03-10T09:26:00.002-05:00

Putting it in perspective.

I had intended to make some lame attempt to write something witty but the past few days have put things into perspective. I ran a 15K on Saturday that may have been the most challenging course I have run outside of a 10K that I do in the summer. Time was 1:06:13 finished 63/654 and 12/64 in age group. I know I can do better but that isn't what put it in perspective.

I went to graduate school at University of North Carolina where the student body president was murdered a few days ago. She was a very bright, beautiful young woman who had so much going for her and someone just eliminated it in a blink of an eye. What a waste and I can only hope that the person who did such a horrible thing lives with it everyday of their worthless life.

On the brighter side dook lost to UNC (dook still sucks). UNC should be a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament and I think they have a real shot at the title this year.

YTD Stats:

Run 211.4 miles
Swim 8,650 meters
Bike 398.85 miles

Sunday I did a recovery run of 5 miles with a 14.4 mile bike ride and I am still sore.

Oh I did get a picture in the mail of Running Amy and she and Troy are such a good looking couple. Need to find the right kind of gift (thinking sheep still) for them! Also check out my running buddy Andy's blog, he is more nuts than I am for doing a race that the truly nutty ones would do!! Good luck Andy, if you live let us know how it goes.

Enjoy the week and if you have a few moments remember those who have passed away. It does put it in perspective for us.

2008-02-24T07:55:00.005-05:00

Back from Vacation

I was off work last week in VT with Marsha and enjoyed an enjoyable time doing vacation things. I went to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory, visited an apple cider and apple pie making location, shopped a little, ate a lot and of course did some running. It was nice to run in the mountains again and the course I was running was all uphill at first and then leveled out. The view was incredible along with the quietness of it. Snow was not much of an issue fortunately and the single digit temps were not a problem.

We stayed in a nice Bed and Breakfast and both Marsha and I enjoyed just doing a lot of resting.

Here are a few pictures of the place I went running:

and here is a different view of the mountain I was running up:

I started at the base of it and ran the 1300 ft it takes to get to the top where I was. I was down to 10 min miles by the top and felt it in the legs. Of course coming back I was running closer to 6 min miles and felt good!

YTD Stats (as of Sat 2/23/08)

Run 145.65 miles
Bike 339.75 miles
Swim 7,650 meters

Running is still behind schedule but getting better. Still feel a little twinge of the tendinitis so it is a careful balance with the mileage and ensuring the leg stays injury free.

Enjoy the week everyone.

2008-02-03T08:35:00.000-05:00

Week in Review

I still haven't done my Sunday workout but will be shortly after my daughter wakes up. Goal is to run 5.1 miles and then head to the gym for time on the bike and swimming.

Overall I am dealing with tired legs at this point. This week I will run 30 miles, bike 55 miles and swim 1500 meters. Yesterday I pushed myself a bit with the 6.2 hill run, the 15 mile bike ride and the 600 meter swim.

The biking is the part I dislike the most. Pretty much the bike and I have an understanding and that is we despise each other. Still I need to do as I recover from tendinitis and does make for good cross training.

I have no plans for doing a tri either. I enjoy the training side of it but my focus is on running and doing well on races.

YTD (as of Feb 2nd) here is how I am doing:

	YTD Act	Goal	% Accomplished
Swim	4,000	35,000	11.4%
Bike	192.35	3,000	6.4%
Run	59.65	1,650	3.6%

Swimming is in meters and the biking and running are in miles. I am behind on both biking and running for the overall goals.

Enjoy the day everyone and despite the silly game called the super bowl I do want to point out the UNC tarheels are playing today.

Go Heels!

2008-01-27T20:53:00.000-05:00

Week in Review

The leg injury is healing nicely now. I have started running again and no issue with the tendinitis as I slowly ramp my running up. I ran 3 days this week along with the biking and swimming.

YTD:

Run 34.75 miles

Swim 3,600 meters

Bike 151.5 miles

This will be lowest mileage month in 5 years but I feel that I am still on track to do a decent marathon in October. Overall conditioning should be still good as I increase my miles next week up to 25 or so miles. Goal will be to continue swimming and I have found 500 meters to be pretty easy now. I will keep working up to doing 750 meters at a time. Biking I will shoot for 50-100 mile weeks as a supplement to the running depending on the mileage I am running.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2008-01-20T14:07:00.000-05:00

Catching Up

My good buddy Running Amy reminded me that I haven't posted for almost 3 weeks. Sorry I have been extremely busy with life, work, parenting and seeing my girl friend.

I work as a Controller for a public company and when January 1st came it was our year end. I am really busy with year end reports, tax packages along with ensuring various year end activities are completed.

Since I last posted I did one race on the 1st and it was a 3 mile race. Time was 19:08 and 1st in M45-49 age group and 15th out of 200 overall.

I also had tendinitis in my left leg and that has kept me from running for two weeks. I hate that! So like all good banged up runners I gave it a week of complete rest and then hit the bike and swimming. This week I rode 86 miles on a stationary bike along with 1700 meters of swimming.
I see the doctor tomorrow (Monday) and hope to be cleared to start running again. I will probably continue to swim and bike as cross training (no I am not doing a sill Tri LOL).

I also moderate an online running group Joy of Running (JOR) feel free to join our yahoo group and enjoy a good daily discussion on running, exercise and life in general topics.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2008-01-01T19:01:00.000-05:00

It was amazing to read so many of the great running accomplishments
that so many of the bloggers have accomplished this year. Whether
it is running 500 miles or 2500 miles I think everyone should be proud
of what they have accomplished.

My stats were a little off for me this year. I ran 1,575.45 miles in
2008 or about 300 miles shy of what I had hoped to accomplish. New
job and raising a 10 yr old has made running more of a challenge this
year.

I met several new runners this year and it was a great year for
running encounters. I met Coach Tammy again, TriSaratops and my new adopted nephew Jackson from Blog land.

My big goal for 2008 is to qualify for Boston at the Twin City Marathon and have the JOR (joy of running sports group) encounter and hopefully have a very large turnout for it. I also have big plans to crash running Amy's wedding and trying to decide on bringing either sheep or goats.

By the way here is a picture of myself and my girlfriend at the Top of the Rockefeller building in New York City.

Enjoy both the day and the year everyone!

2007-12-25T14:41:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my blogger friends.

It has been a very busy month in December with lots of travels to Chicago and Akron OH. In addition work has been extremely busy and taking more of my time.

During my last post I did a 4 mile race and finished in 26:03 which was good enough for 3rd place for an age group award despite coming in 5th out of 37 in age group. I was 22nd out of 600 overall.

I also manage to meet 3 runners during this period. I met TriSara in Cleveland and her baby Jackson (he is so adorable!). I also met Katherine after seeing the rockette's in Radio City Hall (she is a great runner and dancer) and finally I met my running hero finally Lisa M. She is a 2:45:xx marathoner and is an exceptional runner.

I am in NC for the Holidays visiting my son and my 10 yr old is with me also.

Lastly I wish to thank my girl friend for being there for me, for showing me that love truly does exist still with me!

Enjoy the day everyone!

2007-12-02T13:20:00.000-05:00

Catching Up

It has been a few weeks since I posted and time to get caught up on blogs.

For thanksgiving I went upstate NY to visit my daughter and son in law along with my Grand daughter. Here is a quick picture of them (they are so cute as a family)

First for the Turkey day race, I did beat my son in law I ran 20:18 (pitiful time for me) finished 38/587 and 7/39 in the M 45-49 age group. Son in law ran 20:42 and finished 48/587 and 2nd in M25-29 age group. We had a good time despite the 37 degrees and rain.

After that it was time for fun and food. I was with Natalie a lot and she enjoyed playing with me and my hat.

And here is my favorite:

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and enjoyed time with family and friends.

2007-11-19T15:49:00.000-05:00

Race Report of the Mineloa Mustang 5K.

Today was one of those races that reflects the training that one has
put into the previous period. In other words my lack of consistent
training and doing speedwork really reflected.

This is a very popular race, it is a Long Island USATF Grand Prix race
and is just outside of the big bad city so it tends to be bigger and
more competitive. This year proved to be no different.

It was cold with temps in low 40's but fortunately the threat of rain
held off during the race.

Race started and my splits were 6:20/6:25/7:05 for a 5K time of 19:50
or 6:23 pace. Clearly my speed has really taken a hit with the lack
of doing any type of speed work.

I finished 64/847 overall and 12/63 in age group.

I have resolved myself when I get back from Thanksgiving to do a
weekly track session to work on my leg turnover.

Now comes the big challenge the turkey day race against my son in law.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-11-15T15:26:00.000-05:00

Mid week training plan correction

So here goes the week, it is looking good, doing a decent but hard 4 miles on Monday, did doubles on Tuesday for 10 miles and thinking I would run somewhere around 45-50 miles for the week when I see an email from Juan. Juan is our team captain for the racing team and I only get emails when their is a race and sure enough there is a race on Saturday that I forgot about.

So the decision was do I taper a little or screw the race and keep on my training plan to be able to run with Pace Bunny Shannon next October as well as my race on T day with son in law?

I decided to take Wednesday off, ran 5 on Thursday will do 4 on Friday (easy) and do what I can on the race. It is a 5K so it will give me some sense of where I am at in race condition. I will then do a double work out that afternoon and easy 10 miles on Sunday. Then comes the taper for the 5K on the race Thursday (Thanksgiving day) with son in law and the beer and cheesecake bet!

I am still working on the wedding crashing plans with Amy (I think a herd of sheep might be appropriate for her and Troy but considering other options also).

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-11-12T09:54:00.000-05:00

Week in Review

Work kept me busy a few days this week and simply did not have the time or opportunity to run as much. New boss is in place and he wanted to have after work dinners for a few days. I felt obligated to attend those dinners (probably smart move for my career) to go to them.

I ended up running 33 miles over 4 days. Most of that came on Saturday where I did 10.25 miles and Sunday where I did 12.25 miles. Both were primarily hill running as I build my base back up. I am thinking of heading to the track more but with a 4 mile race and a 5K race (against Son in Law in upstate NY) I want to go into them strong.

I did enjoy my weekend very much despite living in the non grit eating frozen state of New York. Frozen mornings like this remind me why I miss the South so much!

My soon to be 10 yr old has her first swim meet of the winter on her Birthday so I will be having to change dates for the B day. Glad I didn't send the invitations out yet.

Goal this week is to get in 40-45 miles. Next week will cut back but 2 races in 4 days will compensate for the speed work. Son In Law says he thinks he is ready to beat me so I am sure we will be pushing each other pretty hard on the 5K. I still have about 30 second edge even running like a sloth that I am. Goal on that is to be as close to 19:30 as possible.

Enjoy the day everyone!

P.S. After reading Tri Shannon's post I can tell she has agreed to be my pace bunny at Twin City Marathon next year. She rocks!

2007-11-06T14:41:00.001-05:00

Week in review

This past week I took it easy and just ran 32.5 miles I am going to be just slowly getting my miles up and run between 32 and 45 miles over the next few months as I rebuild my base. The nice thing also is I am starting to feel the race bug and the need to go out and race hard and win hardware.

On a side note I have always been a big fan of the many triathlete's that are on my links. Coach Tammy, Sock Stealing Jessi, TriSara(I am a Mom)Tops and my hero Tri Shannon are all great athletes. So it is with no wonder that I am now training with a local elite Triathlete and we are starting to run together. She did her PR on the Ironman (Florida) in 2005 with a time of 10:14:22. She is looking to break 10 hrs this year. It will be interesting running with her as she is a far superior athlete to me and I plan on being pushed as I push her. Who knows we may end up running Twin City Marathon and shoot for a sub 3 hr marathon.

2007-10-31T12:50:00.001-05:00

I am back.

Yes I am back from the dead. Why you ask? Someone has to keep on Running Amy's list of wedding crashers (yep still planning to go to Atlanta and meet her and Troy at their wedding!).

I am back into running again, just finished up a 42.5 mile week and starting to get some speed back. Last race was a 5 miler and did it in 33:19 so felt ok considering I been training like a slug.

Big goal next year is to run Boilermaker 15K under 1 hr and run at the twin city marathon and run with my friend DG and break 3:15:00

I will begin to post more.

I can't wait to read more on Baby Z from TriSaraTops!

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-09-04T14:45:00.000-05:00

Taking a break

I haven't been posting much lately and have decided to take a break. I have some serious stuff happening in my personal life that is over whelming at the moment. I will be checking Tri Shannon's blog for her Iron Man results (she is one of my hero's and I mean that). I will be back I just not sure when that will be at this time.

I need to focus on my running and more importantly my children who I love above everything.

If something comes up and you want advice or make me aware of something special please just email me at klafor@yahoo.com

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-08-26T14:19:00.000-05:00

Week in Review:

Not much to report this week, doctors are still not talking to me fully on the kidney issues. Looks like a kidney stone and hopefully that will be the last of that. Trust me it isn't much fun to have one of those.

This week I ran 35.75 miles mainly hills. Starting with Monday I was able to run from Capital Hill in Seattle over some other hill and then run over the I 90 floating bridge. It was a tough fun run and really fun.

Tuesday I was in Galena Illinois (about 2.5 hrs from Chicago and ran hills there. Much more humid than Seattle but still was fun. Did another run while I was there on Wednesday.

Thursday I was back in NY and ran every day but Thursday. Really worked on doing more hills also and really trying to get back into running more consistent than I have been. Last few races reflect the training I have put into it.

I am also doing each night when I am in town a 1 mile walk with my youngest. She is 9 yrs old and we spend that time talking and of course she is getting exercise. This is very important to me that she learn to incorporate exercise into her life. She enjoys swimming and being a critter running around but at the same time I want her to have a everyday routine. We usually do this after dinner now.

By the way make sure you give TriShannon your best wishes and support. She is going to race an Ironman Wisconsin in a few short weeks. She is a remarkable athlete and I have been tracking her blog and progress for several months now. I am proud of her accomplishments and very impressed by what she has done.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-08-20T15:13:00.000-05:00

Seattle Trip and race report.

Friday I traveled to Seattle to see family and friends. While there I elected to do a 10K. In hind sight I probably should have skipped it and just done a training run. Friday proved to be a travel day from hell as I was re routed around the country and after 12.5 hours I finally made it into Seattle around 5 pm. After meeting my friends and having dinner I settled down for the night and before I knew it I was up and getting ready for the race.

We arrived a bit later than I would have liked but was able to register and do a 1.5 mile warm up. Race started and off we went. First half of the race went well, ran a steady 6:30 pace which was my goal. Unfortunately at the turn around point I could feel my legs giving out and began to slow down. Last half of the race was slow with miles around the 7 min pace.

Final time was 42:16 for a 6:45 pace.

The most interesting thing was the end when I went to find the results they told me I was 47th and 9th in my age group. That struck me odd as I knew there were some folks ahead of me but that seem high given I had seen who was ahead of me at the turn around. I asked my friend who was there and he had counted 28 people ahead of me which was consistent with what I was thinking. The event did have a 5K race that started 20 minutes after we did and it turned out they combined the race databases and did not split it out. So I don't know yet how I did relative to age group but appears that I was about 29th overall out of 300-400 who did the 10K.

I did manage to go to the zoo with Coach Tammy afterwards and enjoyed the visit to the zoo. The zoo was much smaller than I remembered which was good as I was tired and ready for a nap after the stroll.

I am currently writing this from the Seattle Airport on my way to Dubuque Iowa and everything is delayed. The fun for traveling continues and it looks like I will be staying over for the night in Chicago.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-08-11T10:37:00.000-05:00

Merchant Mile Race Report

Today I ran the 1 mile race. This is the first time as a master runner I have done a mile race. Given the issues I have been having with my heels, kidney's and lack of consistent running I was hoping for a time on or around 5:45. I knew despite everything I should be able to kick out a sub 6 min mile.

The mile race is done on the street with a point to point course, fairly flat and just a few small gentle winding curves but they were not much of an issue. Weather was decent and they do the race in waves. I was slotted for the first wave which is the Master's competitive runners. The expectations is everyone should do sub 6:30.

There were 90 of us in this group. I did a nice 3.5 mile warm up and was as ready as I was ever going to be. Left heel was bothering me some but I didn't think much about it.

Race started, I went out quickly and then settled into my pace. I hit the first half mile at 2:42 and was feeling it. Last half seem to take forever and I finished it in 2:45 and only because of the final kick in the last 100 meters. I was passed by two runners but caught 3 others for the mad scramble to finish. Final time was 5:27 which was good enough for 14th in my wave and 6/26 in the age group. Top two in my age group finished sub 5 min miles. I did do my usual 2 mile cool down run.

Overall I was pleased with the race despite hurting like the dickens at the end of it. Running the mile is hard work. I believe I could take another 10-12 seconds off with some decent training.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-08-05T18:13:00.000-05:00

Kidney's update

It looks like I will be back at the doctor's on Tuesday for more testing. The first diagnosis was kidney stones (for you women I have a better understanding of child birth now). Still they saw something or felt something to warrant more testing. In the era of worrying about being sued they just want to be cautious (I am paraphrasing now). So until they find something or decide I am worm bait I will keep doing what I do best. I will run, eat chocolate, annoy my children to no end, and go to work.

This week was rough work wise only ran on 5 days so just 33 miles in. Since the doctor didn't say not to run I will keep running (no one every said I was the bright light bulb! Besides it helps with the discomfort and keeps me sane). This week will be a bit easier so I should be able to get back to running a more normal schedule (assuming everything is okay so to speak).

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. They do mean a lot to me.

Enjoy your day!

2007-07-29T18:44:00.000-05:00

Interesting Week.

This week I was in both Wisconsin and North Carolina. Both proved to be interesting trips albeit for not the reasons I had hoped.

In Wisconsin I was in Sheboygan (sp?) right on Lake Michigan and spent some time running there. One day I was able to do 4 and the second day I did 11. The hills their are easy, they complained about the heat but it was not that bad I thought.

After my 11 mile run I went to bed and woke up and had blood stains on the sheets. I have had some issues with my kidneys in the past so it means back to the doctor (they did a quick check nothing to serious) and Monday I go back to the Dr for a more thorough check up on the kidney and urological system. The bleeding has slowed down so I hope it can be fixed quickly.

I kept my trip to North Carolina to see my oldest son. I had a good time with him except when he fell and broke his nose. So another trip to the doctor and more time chatting with him.

Total miles run this week was just 30.25 miles and total time with doctors was 8 hrs! Grr, to much time in with doctors and not enough time running.

I will get caught up on blogs soon, I just have been real busy this week!

Take care and enjoy the day everyone.

2007-07-22T16:44:00.000-05:00

Upcoming races

I am going to do a 1 mile race on August 11th as part of the Grand Prix USATF series. My goal is to break 5:30 on this and I think I will need devine intervention for this to occur. Oh well I will train for it and see what happens. I am running a lot of hills and doing 200's twice a week. I shoot for sub 35 seconds on them with no more than a 90 second recovery (so far I have only done the speed work once this week I do it twice). I will start with 8 x 200 shooting for 12 x 200. These are the most painful runs I do but it is good for me. I need to really work on improving my speed to compete.

Next race after that is with Coach Tammy in Seattle on August 18th. I am flying back to visit my son (he is stationed in the Navy out there) and visit my mother and nieces. Tammy and I are doing a 10K where my goal is to be somewhere around or less than 41 min. I don't know the course but it is at a brewery so if I don't do well I can always drown my sorrows in some yummy tasting beer.

Today's run went well. I took my son in law out for 8.1 miles of hills and then dropped him off at home. We kept it easy for him (8:06 pace) and then I went and did another 3.55 miles of tempo running after that. Of course I decide to go to the beach after that and relaxed and enjoy the day!

I hope this finds everyone well.

Enjoy the day!

2007-07-14T20:21:00.000-05:00

Getting caught up now.

What a week, made a trip to Akron Ohio on Wednesday where I met TriSaraTops for lunch. Now I have met 2 bloggers in 1 year and will continue to strive to meet more(Try Piggy your on my list still to meet and race against!). To say she was glowing would be an understatement. She was just as lovely in person as she is on her blog and was a real joy to meet her. She and Matt will be wonderful parents and she is one awesome athlete.

I am thinking of going to Wisconsin in September to see Sara's friend and fellow super studette TriShannon with my youngest daughter to watch the Shannon kick arse at the WI Ironman. Oh yes as far as meeting bloggers I am planning on crashing Running Amy's wedding next year(I saw wedding crashers and figure her wedding with the 5oo people she is inviting will be perfect she won't notice I am there and I plan on eating and drinking at her and her soon to be husband Troy's expense LOL).

In August I will be going out to Seattle to see family and my youngest son who is in the Navy stationed out there. While there I will be running with very beautiful and exceptionally smart but hopelessly misguided in her location (think NY) Tammy and hopefully see GingerbreadMan who is also expecting a blog baby along with the amazing Tri Super Athlete sock stealing Jessi.

Saturday I ran the Rolling Thunder 5 Miler race and it was both a challenging and a fun race. This is another evening race with the race starting at 6 pm. The race was part of the Long Island USATF Grand Prix series so it was going to be competitive.

Temp at race time was 87 but the humidity was tolerable (much better than the NC humidity that I was use to). This course starts flat and then goes up gradually for an elevation change of about 300 feet over a course of 2 miles and then works it way down until the last mile where it is flat. I had never run this race before so didn't know what to expect.

Split times are as follows:

Mile 1) 6:39
Mile 2) 6:52 (feeling the heat and the hill at this point)
Mile 3) 6:33
Mile 4) 6:40
Mile 5) 6:34

Total time 33:44 (avg pace 6:44)

Finished overall 22/roughly 400 and 5/37 in age group

Felt good and pleased with the results especially given my recent problem with my left heal and right knee. Next race is a one miler in August so I will be doing a 5K Wed night and hitting the track for more 200 work outs to prep for it.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-07-08T10:11:00.000-05:00

Eating out

Saturday night I took the crew to a local eating establishment that specializes in steak near the house that I just purchased. As we were sitting my youngest asks me what something on the menu was just as the food server shows up. Here is pretty much how the transcript of our conversation.

Waitress: What is the question?
Me: She was asking what so so is
Waitress: Where are you all from?
Daughter: We just moved from NC
Waitress: Ah that explains it, I understand your question. This thing is called a menu.
Me: What are you talking about? (I am just totally shocked what she has said)
Waitress: This is a menu and they list what we serve (and then she proceeds to read the menu to us)
Me: Just stop we know how to read a menu
Me: Where is your road kill?
Waitress: What?
Me: Roadkill stew you have any? How about some possum steak? Any roasted pig feet with BBQ?
Waitress: I am going to go get the manager
Manager: What is going on sir
Me: I explain the whole thing to him and tell him we are leaving for some other establishment that knows how to treat people a little better. At that point just left while they were saying some unkind things about southern folks and me saying at least in the South the treat you with respect. Maddie and I found a better place down the road where they assume we knew what a menu was LOL.

I know things are different in NY but that was something else. Besides they didn't have grits, BBQ or cornbread on the menu!

On the brighter side I ran 40.85 miles this week with more hill work going.

2007-07-02T12:40:00.000-05:00

Firecracker 5K race results.

Sunday I ran the subject race and it was unique with a start time of 5pm when it was a tad warmer (85 but no humidity thankfully). This was also a USATF Grand Prix race for the Long Island clubs.

I did my usual warm up and as I looked at the front I could see that this was going to be a fast group.

Splits were as follows:

Mile 1) 6:12
Mile 2) 6:36 (loose gravel on trail slowed us down)
Mile 3) 6:28
.1) :36

Total time 19:52 pace 6:24

Overall finished 68/678 7/59 in the M45-49 age group.

Race proved to be competitive as I suspected it would be. We had several kids in the 15 to 16 min range. Top to in my age group were low and mid 17's with the 3rd in the age group being low 18's. Still a lot of work to do on the speed side of it.

Nevertheless I felt I ran the race well considering with the house move and putting up things in the house I just bought.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-07-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

I been busy.

This week I have nothing but little garbage miles to report. Up through Saturday I have only 15.3 miles of running. I spent two days in Chicago and was stuck their do to the cancellation of flights. Ended up staying in the Hilton there at $300/ night (all company expenses) until they could fly me back home to NY.

Friday I closed on my house and Monday the movers are coming. Yesterday my youngest and I scoped out the house and started building shelves for our hardware. We have 8 shelves I am putting up for all the good stuff she and I have won over the years. It will be called the Sports Room!

I realized my furniture doesn't work in the house and I am off to buy a new couch and a new grill today.

Oh and I have a 5K for the Grand Prix to run tonight at 5 p.m. Not going to do as well but I need to do it for the team standings.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-06-25T08:05:00.000-05:00

4 Mile Championship Race Results

Saturday I ran the 4 mile Long Island Championship race. It was a beautiful day, sunny with a nice breeze and temps around 70 with no humidity. This race was further east than I realized and good thing I left plenty early.

Did my warm up of 2.75 miles and and the course is advertised as a flat fast course. I could see a little hill for the start (going down so knew their would be one on the way up somewhere). Took off and felt comfortable and did the first mile at about 6:12. Mile 2 was flat and settled into a pace and hit the 2nd mile at 6:30 (tad slower than I hoped but not to far off). Mile 3 came and everything fell apart for me. The hill that was relatively flat seemed to take it out of me. It was a steady climb with an elevation change of 350 feet and more than anything I lost focus on it. Mile 3 came and pace was down to 7:42. Mile 4 I did what I could and hit it about 6:45.

Total time 27:12 6:44 pace. Finished 43/647 overall and 10/48 in M45-49 age group. I was seriously disappointed with my time and effort in the second half of the race. Ran the 4 mile race at the same pace as a 15K race. I still think I should have ran sub 26 on this course but it just didn't happen today. There is always next year though.

I am taking a break from racing for a few weeks and next race is a 5 miler on July 14th.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-06-20T08:55:00.001-05:00

Going to try to run with the big dogs this weekend.

This Saturday is the Long Island 4 Mile Championship race and this is a USATF sponsored event. This race promises to bring out the best in the NY area as I understand it so I decided to drag my sloth body to the race and see how I can do. My goal is to run anything under 26 minutes (6:30 pace) and hopefully have a top 10 in the age group placement. I ran an easy 6.1 miles last night, will do 4 or so tonight and take two days off to rest the legs.

All this is in preparation for my trip to Seattle where I will do my annual race with Coach Tammy (she did the Olympic Tri this weekend). Hopefully this year Jessi (who just ran a great tri)and her soon to be husband Tom (just watch your socks around them) will make it also. Tammy and Jess are awesome athletes.

If you get a chance read their race reports plus my blog buddy's race report in Colorado, Tri Shannon. She also did a great tri this weekend. She was very impressive with her race.

These women are all amazing athletes with their times and effort they put into the training and the races. They think I am fast (they are very kind to me) but I admire them. I think they are great athletes!

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-06-18T12:23:00.000-05:00

Today I finished my 3rd 5K race in the past 5 days and this was a
really fun race. It was in memory of a fire chief who died in the
line of duty on father's day 6 years ago and the turn out was
enormous. Total for both the 5K race and the 1 mile fun run exceeded
over 2,000.

It was a hot day with temps at the start already 86 and it hit 90 by
the time we finished. With the tired legs from yesterday's race and
the heat I knew it would be a real challenge to run back to back sub
20 min 5K's and it turned out it wasn't meant to be.

The only real complaint I had was at the start of the race a bunch of
kids jumped up near the front after they were told not to. Many of
the kids were pushed out of the way and a few did hit the pavement
unfortunately but they should have not started the race and made them
go to the back where they belong.

Splits were:

Mile 1) 6:15
Mile 2) 6:39
Mile 3) 6:43
Mile .1) 0:48

Total Time 20:26 avg pace of 6:35

Overall finished 30 out 1,449 who finished, 5/107 in M 45-49 age group
but 1st in Military or prior Military age group. I was very happy
with this as it was a beautiful piece of hardware. If I hadn't done
the race yesterday I would have most likely taken 3rd in the age group.

On a side note I did pass the same guy again at around 1.5 mile mark
that I had beaten the last two races. I could see he was struggling
and did come in about 2 minutes behind me. Heat really got to him.

They had a great post race meal, free beer and ice cream. I really
enjoyed the day at the race and was a nice end to the speed week training.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-06-16T17:10:00.000-05:00

Diamond Dash 5K Race Results

Today I did the first of two 5K's this weekend. With the goal to start racing myself back into 5K shape this was a good opportunity to see how I was doing especially after doing the speed workout 5K on Wednesday.

Weather was a tad warm at 75 degrees but a nice gentle wind was blowing so I never felt heat was an issue.

Roughly 700 people showed up for this race and I knew it was going to be competitive when I saw several of the running clubs show up in force.

Did my usual 2.25 mile warm up and then did the race.

Mile 1) 6:03
Mile 2) 6:31
Last 1.1 mile) 7:12

Total time was 19:47 for a 6:22 pace

Mile 1 was a tad short according to my garmin and mile 2 compensated for it.

Overall 33rd, 5/35 in M 45-49 age group. No hardware but still I enjoyed it. The guy who I beat on Wednesday by 6 seconds for 2nd place was there and he was ahead of me the whole way. I was slowly realing him in and caught up with about a 100 meters to go. At that point we both did a semi kick (not much in the tank though) and I beat him by 1 second. It was his PR so he was pretty happy.

Tomorrow I hope to break 20 minutes.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-06-15T12:56:00.001-05:00

Follow up to Running Faster questions.

Yesterday I posted about a race and the question Neese asked and others followed up is how do you get faster. A great question and others have asked it before.

First I want to remind everyone speed is relative. For some a 20 min 5K is flying, for others it would be really slow. That being said here is my response.

Each of us are different and unique. You can only do so much with what was given to you by your parents. However a few simple things have been proven to work.

First you need to have a good base mileage. For me that is 40 miles a week. Their are a lot of plans out their but the vast majority all have some base mileage of x miles.

Second thing I believe you have to do is go to the track. For the 5K I believe strongly in doing 200 meter runs and toss in some 400/800 meters. Why the 200 meter run? Foot turnover. I run my 200's around 35 seconds, take a 90 second job and do it again for 8-10 times. It is critical to do the speedwork.

Third, find some hills. Hills are your best friend. They make you stronger, faster and teach you to run when your not comfortable.

Fourth, nothing replaces running. The machines at the gym keep you in good cardio shape but will not make you faster.

Fifth, have a plan. Make sure you target a race and for the 5K 6 weeks out is usually sufficient.

Sixth, for a 5K a little taper is needed but not a whole lot. I see to many runners take to much time off for the 5K and treat it much like a longer race.

Seventh, and the most critical, for the 5K you just have to accept it is going to hurt. To run it fast you are running at 88-92% of effort. Basically you are pushing the whole way. To run the 5K effectively you will be running way above your comfort zone. I maintain to run a 5K well it is harder than a marathon. Not everyone agrees but to push yourself at the higher effort is very difficult. I have severe asthma so for me I know I am hitting my full out when I cross the finish line and either getting sick or passing out. I know that maybe a bit extreme but that is how I gauge myself.

I am 46 and for me a good time is sub 19 minutes. That is my goal and something I am going to do this fall.

Good luck to all who want to get faster, just believe in it and go for it!!

2007-06-14T07:56:00.000-05:00

After flying back from NC and spending two days with packers and movers to move the sty north, I arrived in time to do the weekly Wednesday night summer 5K. The weather was not as nice and the crowd was smaller as a result.

I ran consistent with the past few weeks, finished in a time of 20:28 (6:35 pace). 6th out of 128 and 2nd out of 15 in A/G (M45-49). The fun part was I was not pushing still running at 15K pace and effort was only 74%. Came in handy at the end having the extra energy when I caught the two guys in front of me with a half mile to go. Both were in my age group and I recognize them and I just drafted until 200 meters to go. As I pulled up to them I said their was one guy in our age group ahead of us so we were racing for 2nd and 3rd place. One guy kicked and we all took off but they faded and I did a decent kick of 75 seconds. Finished 8 seconds ahead of 3rd A/G place guy and 14 seconds ahead of the guy who finished 4th in A/G.

Fun night and look forward to doing a race or two this weekend.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

P.S. Note to Jessi, speed is relative. I know for some that is fast for others it is slow. My expectations for my target 5K race this fall is sub 19 min. I have 30 second per mile to knock off and run closer to 90% effort.

2007-06-07T08:31:00.001-05:00

Last night I did my second Wednesday night 5K race. This is a mid week race sponsored by my running club and as the weather was very nice we had a bigger turnout. Roughly 250 people showed up and it was a nice night for the run. I approach these Midweek races more as speedwork out rather than a true race for myself.

I did a 1.75 mile warm up (ran late and didn't have time to do a full warm up run) and then we started the race.My time was 20:30 or a 6:34 pace. I finished 12th overall and 4th in the age group.

I am not holding onto a decent pace still for my 5K times and just have to remain patient with attempting to go faster at this point. It will take time to get back to 5K shape.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-06-03T17:14:00.001-05:00

I ran the 5 mile race today.

It was a competitive race as it was one of Long Islands Grand Prix Races in conjunction with a Duathalon. First mile went well on pace (6:22) and then the whole thing fell apart for me. Basically asthma kicked in and ran the race lighted headed and getting sick every mile or so. At the end I had to be helped to the water and medical for oxygen.

Final time was 34:48 or a 6:52 pace. I was 8th out of 28 in age group (M45-49) and 42nd out of 265 who competed for the 5 mile competitive category. It was my 3rd worse 5 miler race I have run (one other when I was really sick and the other was on a very difficult course). Long hours at work, lack of sleep and new pollens are not helping me right now.

Tomorrow I will run and see how it feels.

2007-05-27T09:41:00.000-05:00

I ran this 5K which was originally scheduled the same weekend as the Boston Marathon. The race was delayed then due to severe weather.

I used this race simply as a speed drill in preparation for the 5 mile race next weekend. Friday we did a hard tempo run and Saturday we ran an easy 10.3 miles so I was running this race with tired legs.

Weather was warm with temps in low 70's and roughly 70% humidity making it the first warm race of the year.

Goal was to break 20 minutes and see if I could pull it out with the limited training I had done.

Split times are as follows:

Mile 1) 6:07
Mile 2) 6:34
Mile 3) 6:35
.1) 0:39

Total time was 19:57 for a 6:25 pace. I finished 3rd in age group with roughly 200 runners for the race.

I was pleased with my time all things considering and hope to be around 32 to 32:30 on the 5 miler next week.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-05-17T13:15:00.000-05:00

Wednesday Speedwork

Last night I ran in a 5K that is put on weekly by the running club I
joined on Long Island. It was really wet and a bit windy but just a
real joy to run in (it was warm enough thankfully). They do the full
thing, anyone can run, issue age group ribbons and have water and
snacks at the end.

My goal was just to run 2 miles to warm up, do the 3.1 miles at 10K
pace (about 77% effort) and then a 2 mile cool down. I am still
getting my legs back and didn't want to push it to hard.

My splits were real consistent for a change. 1st mile was 6:32,
followed by splits of 6:36 and mile 3 at 6:37 and :39 for the
remaining .1 Total time was 20:24 for avg pace of 6:34. Overall was
8th out of roughly 55 who showed (weather kept the numbers down I
suspect) and 2nd in age group.

I met some of the runners who are on the club racing team and they
were nice folks. The Grand Prix series is based on team performance
against other teams and each age group earns points. I should be able
to contribute to the team with consistent top 5 age group placements.

The guy who won the age group ran 20:03 and was his PR. After I
congratulated him he did ask what my normal times were. After I
explained for target races I will be typically in the low to mid 19's
he said he look forward to the competition. So do I!

Enjoy the day.

2007-05-12T11:16:00.000-05:00

Race for Brain Cancer Cure 5k

Today I decided to do the above mentioned race even though I knew my speed would be typical sloth time for me. I still need a few weeks to recover from the Flying Pig so I approached this as more of a tempo run to start shaking the legs loose again in preparation for 5K training.

The race was beautiful, 75 but windy and was right on the board walk at Jones Beach on Long Island.

Did my usual 2 mile warm up and then prep for the race.

Splits are as follows:

Mile 1) 6:14
Mile 2) 6:35
Last 1.16) 6:57

Total time was 20:54 on a 3.16 mile course for an average pace of 6:37.

Distance was long I had 3.16 miles, others were closer to 3.2 miles with all of our GPS.

Overall I was 10th out of roughly 200 who participated in it, 3rd in the age group but 2nd for hardware in the Male 40-49 age group (I don't particularly like 10 year age groups but still manage to place)

The race director was the daughter whose father has recently passed away from brain cancer. She showed great poise, did a great job on the race and I was honored to provide my support and money to her cause. I always enjoy doing races that support a family or medical research.

Now for a nap, another short run this afternoon and a movie tonight.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-05-09T10:47:00.000-05:00

Flying Pig Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the weekend (Coach Tammy asked before for Pictures so here we go)

Here is my youngest and grand daughter at the expo and with a Flying Pig

Morning of the race we are all to chipper at 4:45 a.m. but how could you not be with this adorable little piggy?

My oldest and Grand daughter pretending to be awake and getting ready for the race. They look good (I have cute kids and grand daughter!)

Here I am at mile 4 and still enjoying the race.

Here is my son in law looking way to happy.

Here I am at mile 12 and form has gone to hell and not feeling good at all.

Post race celebration. Natalie decides the table is better than food and beer.

My youngest, Maddie, being a piggy and going for the chocolate cake.

All in all a very good weekend.

2007-05-07T09:36:00.000-05:00

Sunday I ran my targeted race for the Spring and it was the Flying Pig Half marathon. First I would say it was one of the best weekends with an excellent course (challenging), great volunteers, a very slick expo and this weekend really wonderful weather.

I had almost all of my family with me including my son in law who was running his 1st half marathon.

The night before we met up with several runners from two different running groups including Mike R, Sid, Letty and BK. BK and I were going to compete against each other for a winner to receive a cheesecake. It was nice with 20 of us at dinner enjoying the pleasure of seeing these folks for the first time.

The only negative was I had left my asthma meds back in NY so I was running without them (it would come back to haunt me on the hills) and went 2 days without them.

Sunday morning my oldest drives my Son in Law, my grand daughter and myself over to the start area. I do an appropriate 1.5 mile warm up and run into BK in the Bengals Stadium while doing final stretches and potty break.

Right before the start I see Mike R (who was running the Full marathon) so with that the race starts.

I did a good job on the 1st 4 miles of keeping easy pacing around 6:45 - 6:50 min per mile pace. I had by Forerunner 305 but with all the bridges and buildings it wasn't accurate and the constant beeping was annoying me so I eventually turned it off. Mile 4 I was at 27:30 time saw my oldest daughter. Nice to see one friendly face at that point.

At mile 5 I finally saw all the hills BK had warned me about. This is where the lack of asthma meds really took their toll. As I begin to climb I felt my lungs just tightening up and of course the pace began to falter off rapidly. I kept expecting BK to catch me at any time as I reverted back to my sloth pace and was struggling to just breathe.

Finally mile 10 comes (no more uphills thankfully) and I knew that from here it was downhill and then flat. Mile 10 time was 1:11:50 or about 3 minutes off where I had hoped to be.

The downhill was nice and I picked up pace and started to catch some of the people who been passing me. I also knew somewhere behind me was BK and he was a strong finisher.

At mile 11.5 there is a sharp U turn and for the first time I was able to see who was behind me as I made the turn. I had run about 25 meters when I saw BK and I knew I just had about a 45 second lead on him and he was looking smooth and running well. I on the other hand was totally drained and every step was a struggle for me.

I kept just digging in and kept the mantra of cheesecake is mine if I win. I thought of what kind of cheesecake I would love to have and oreo vanilla swirl cheesecake or banana pumpkin were what I concluded on.

Finally I know I am coming around the bend to the end and with a .2 mile to go I begin to kick some and know that BK isn't going to catch me.

Final 5K I ran in 20:19 so I was okay with that portion (long downhill really helps!)

I finished 1:32:09 97th overall out of 5555 who completed the race, 88th male and 9th out of 246 in the male 45-49 age group. BK came in a minute behind me and we chatted briefly before I went to find my son in law. SIL finished in 1:46:54 and that was great for his first half.

It was a good weekend overall. I enjoyed the whole Pig experience. Today I hurt though!

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-05-01T21:32:00.000-05:00

I am not prepared.

I am running a half marathon on Sunday (Flying Pig) and have never gone into a targeted race feeling so un ready. My training has not gone well, the crazy hours at work and increase in asthma related issues aren't helping. But mostly mentally I am just not their yet. Typically when I start getting close to a target race all I do is live, breathe and die about the race. I drive everyone nuts. I become so focus that I am ready.

Running is as much mental as anything. I am racing a buddy of mine for a cheesecake. Normally that would be enough for anything and yet I am not fully motivated for it.

Of course I will have family their, several friends and the joy of my grand daughter. Not to mention I will be racing my son in law and totally showing him I may be older but still top racing dog in this family.

I am struggling with many changes in my life right now. Friends, family and life are a constant balancing.

On the good news I have a place for two months on the beach here in Long Island until my house that I am buying is ready for me to close on.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-04-28T12:23:00.001-05:00

I ran this 5K race and had not done this one in several years. It was a strange day for all things considered. We arrived at the spot but very few cars where there (turned out they moved the start and didn't tell anyone). We eventually found the registration and after was registered only had enough time for a short 1.4 mile warm up. The weather was warm with temps already at 75 degrees. I went to take my inhaler for asthma and realized I left it at the home.

The race started and splits were as follows:

Mile 1) 6:05
Mile 2) 6:32
Mile 3) 6:47
.1) :47

Time was 20:15

In the 3rd mile I had leg cramps in the left calf and some real tightness. I eventually was able to finish the race and then stretch it out.

It was a small race, I finished 2nd out of 68.

I look forward to the taper for the Pig half next week.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-04-22T10:18:00.001-05:00

Spinal Victory 10 Mile Race Report

Today I ran my second race in Long Island. It was a beautiful day finally (it took 3 weeks before the sun came out). They had both a 5K and the 10 miler with about 300 and 200 runners in each.

This was a training run for me with a goal to run 68 min but no more than 70 min. I felt this was very achievable given the up and down training I have had recently. Despite the long hours at work and the tired legs I did my usual 2+ mile warm up and went to the starting line.

First 3 miles were on target and then I began to cramp. I had leg cramps in my calves and the left hamstring off and on from that point to the end of the race.

Here are the mile splits:

1)6:40
2)6:46
3)6:52
4)7:05
5)7:21
6)7:24
7)7:21
8)7:12
9)7:19
10)7:05

Total time was 1:11:17
Finished 2nd in A/G and I think around 18th overall of the 200 or so that entered.

The last mile of the race was a bit more fun. The guy who beat me by 8 seconds at last weeks race caught up to me as well as the guy who was right behind me at the same race. I knew both were in my age group so I stayed with them until the last .1 mile. At that point we all sprinted and I beat them both by 7 seconds. The guy from last week who finished 3rd in A/G finished 4th in the A/G this time.

I see a big nap in my future today and more stretching of the legs.

Enjoy the day everyone!

Kurt

2007-04-18T10:05:00.000-05:00

Latest Update

I am still working a lot of hours. Yesterday I planned on my 2 x day run but only was able to sneak in a 5 mile race. Oh well, such is work (Coach Tammy makes me work way to much).

I am doing a 10 mile race on Sunday. Suppose to be hard, very competitive and a real challenge. It will give me an indication where I am at in my current state of slothness. I will not take any break for this and just do this as part of a 40 mile week. Last hard week before the Pig (Try Piggy is still making me run this in honor of him).

Boston was on Monday and several of my friends ran it and pretty much described it as the race from hell. Times were down and wind was a real factor. I hope they all recover quickly.

As a side note on Boston, my blog buddy Gingerbreadman did it and she did great. She is a great runner! About 4 months ago after reading her blog for 2 months I did realize that Gingerbreadman was a she. Monday I found out Gingerbreadman isn't even named Ginger.

I decided to clean up some of the blog links I had. A couple of blogs basically were pulled down from their owners. A few bloggers never stop by anymore so it was time to do some house cleaning.

Shannon has excess chocolate and I am trying my best to convince her to send it to me. Yep I have a chocolate (and diet coke)_ problem. Oh well, if your going to be slothman then might as well enjoy the food!

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-04-14T15:26:00.000-05:00

Running and work update

I have successfully completed two weeks of work (and even received my first pay check!) but the hours were really long. First week I worked 70 hours and last week cut it back to 60. My running has shown the results of that with only 36 miles last week and may just barely get over 30 this week. I am enjoying my new job though!

Today I ran a 5 mile race that is well established and I was told it was tough. It was probably one of the more difficult races for me as I had not slept well and did not know the course. The course is very hilly and was a good indicator for the flying pig half marathon.

Split times were:
1) 6:17
2) 6:41
3) 6:55
4) 8:15 (really big hill for 1.25 miles and went up 800 feet elevation change)
5) 6:59

Total time was 35:11 finished 4th in A/G. Not sure where I was overall but probably around 25th or so. I would have placed in the 3 younger age groups but didn't this time. I missed it by 8 seconds and another 100 meters I think I would have caught the 3rd place finisher in my age group.

I didn't even run this in my racing shoes and worked more on pacing and getting use to racing on really big hills again. Tomorrow I will do a 4 mile race and do it in conjunction with my 15 miler I have planned.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-04-01T18:20:00.001-05:00

Week in Review

I did have a decent week of training this week. With a month to go to the Pig Half Marathon I needed to step up the training and get more serious.

Total miles for the week was 46 and included 1 day of speed work, 2 days of hills (one very hard with speed drills in it).

I am running my 8 x 800's comfortably at a 3:10 pace with a 90 second jog recovery and when I get serious for the 5K training will work on them back to the 2:55 pace.

Long run was only 13.55 miles this week at a 8:09 pace with the group. Ran and chatted the whole way and just enjoyed my last group run in Wilmington.

Highlight of the week was taking my youngest to the aquarium in Charleston and staying the night with the fishes (school outing for the night field trip). Saturday I drove up after the group run to Chapel Hill and visited oldest son and then made it to Baltimore for the night. Sunday I made it to Long Island where I am settled in a Hilton Garden in for the next 2 months.

I look forward to joining the running clubs here and participate in new races.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-03-29T10:05:00.000-05:00

Thursday Track Day.

Today was my usual workout at the track at 5:30 a.m.again. Goal today was to run 8 x 800's with the 90 second jog recovery. I did not put full effort in terms of speed but worked more on pacing in preparation for the Flying Pig half marathon.

Here are the splits:

1) 3:08
2) 3:09
3) 3:08
4) 3:12
5) 3:15
6) 3:11
7) 3:12
8) 3:11

Total miles with warm up and cool down 7.7 miles.

Overall felt pretty good except Mile 5. Probably dragging some from the hill work outs on Monday and Tuesday evening.

Enjoy the day.

Kurt

2007-03-27T07:29:00.000-05:00

I survived.

My first house hunting trip to Long Island. I looked at 18 houses of which half are beyond scary. It never ceases to amaze me what people will not do when they put their house on the market. I did find one that I liked and still recovering from sticker shock. Still with the pay raise I am about the same as I was in my last job financially. Oh well, easy come easy house payment!

When I was in the Hampton Inn in Garden City across the expressway there was another building with the number "666" lit up in Neon lights. And yes it was a law firm. You draw your own conclusions.

Last week only 26.4 miles of running. It was a very busy week and with finishing up the one contract and now getting ready for a real job it remains so. Still the plan is to get in 40-45 miles this week. Afterall I do have a half marathon to do in May. Time to train hard the next few weeks.

2007-03-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

I did 8 x 400's this am with the goal to keep the pace below 90 and take a 90 second jog recovery in between laps. I still find it hard to do the speed work at 5:30 a.m. but it is the only time I have available to me.

Did the proper warm up and here are the splits:

1) 84 (to fast)
2) 87
3) 86
4) 89
5) 87
6) 91 (dying off now)
7) 86
8) 94 (just nothing left for speed)

Did a bit longer cool down and called it a morning for running. Despite the pollen and the asthma issues I was pretty pleased with the times except the last split. Just wasn't able to pull it out.

On a side note, last night I went and saw the Count Bassie Orchestra and they were wonderful. I just love the big band jazz music live. They are really worth seeing if you get a chance.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-03-17T16:24:00.000-05:00

St. Patrick's Race Report

I ran the now annual St. Patrick's race here at the beach today. This race is unique as it was set up by a Catholic Priest who recently died while running at the beach a few months ago. As a result it had a very large turnout for this area of North Carolina. There are two races, a 5k and a 10K and I chose today to do the 10K.

The 10K had 200 runners and the 5K race had just over 500 so it was a real good turnout.

Weather was cool with temps in low 40's and very strong gusty winds. This race both starts on the beach and finishes on the beach. As a result the race times tend to be slower.

First .1 starts off in the deep sand until you hit the board walk and eventually make your way to the road. Mile splits were off but I felt strong and good throughout the race despite no rest this week. The race goal was just simply to keep my half marathon race pace or better.

The run is fun and I was in a comfortable grove and eventually made it to the final part of the race where the last .8 miles are on the beach. This part is slow and the tide was high so it was a delicate balance to run along the edge of the water and minimizing the deep sand portions until the final turn on the beach.

Final distance was 6.3 miles due to the running the edge of the water, time was 42:49 (6:49 mpm) good enough for 2nd masters male. I felt good the whole way and enjoyed the race in particularly as this was in memory of one of our local priests.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-03-14T08:15:00.000-05:00

Moving.

Yep I am moving. I am taking a position with a very large Multinational company where one of the business units is located in Long Island NY. So this means the big apple will have to put up with me.

I look forward to many visits from the bloggers. The racing and running scene looks awesome in NY!

2007-03-11T16:52:00.000-05:00

Week in Review.

This week I ran a decent week, 42.5 miles. I manage to get a decent balance in the week, one day of speed work, one day with a modest tempo (10 miles at 7:45 pace but I was dragging my tush), Sunday I did 8 miles of hill work, so overall I felt pretty good about the week. Next week will bump the mileage up and make my long run 13-15 miles now that I have worked on my base again. Need to get the mileage back up as I am down to 8 weeks to the Flying Pig and will do a full 10 day taper for it.

UNC did win the ACC tourney and I believe they will be a #1 seed in the NCAA. My guess is Florida, UNC, Ohio St and Kansas will be the #1's this year.

Looks like I may be moving to a new city. More to follow once I have all the paper work in hand and signed off (all work related).

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

2007-03-07T08:30:00.000-05:00

Wed Ladder work out.

Due to flying on Thursday I moved my Thursday track work to Wednesday.

Today I did the following:

1 mile warm up

1 mile @6:40
1200m @ 4:50
800m @ 3:13
400m @ 85 sec
200m @40 sec

Each of the recovery runs was a 90 second jog of 200 meters

1 mile cool down

Total miles for the a.m. 5 miles

Tonight I do the slower 4-5 miles to get the rest of my mileage in.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-03-06T13:13:00.000-05:00

Tidbits of this and that

I have noticed several things all occurring at and around the same time. There are more race reports going on (Read Neese's for a most excellent race report). My buddy Andy is training like the crazed mad man he is (an outstanding runner in other words).

The Tri club is doing their never ending training. Check out Tri Shannon and Tri Sara for what is going on with them. Sara is teaching kids and when they misbehave she makes them work out with her. Shannon is a female stud.

Running Amy is now hanging out with Floyd Landis and is now a groupie. Transitions is still training so hard and doing great in it.

Jessi, Try Piggy have departed their blogs for a bit. Jessi is still hiding my socks and Piggy is looking for an asteroid.

The Black Knight is on death bed but will recover to plunder another race.

Firefly has started her own cat worshiping cult in Chicago.

Little miss Runner pants is going to cross over from the dark side and stop rooting for KU and become an UNC Fan (yeah for March Madness!).

I had been reading the Gingerbread Man's blog for almost 3 months before I realize he was a She! She is going to rock at Boston this April.

Running Rabbit is now a man hater (but just limited to the 30-39 age group) thankfully.

And finally, my favorite Coach, Coach Tammy, is working on some big news. I am sure it is either she is taking me to Europe or she has joined Wal Mart to represent them.

A lot going on with the blog world. I am swamped at work and flying to Chicago and NY this week.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-03-04T12:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I ran the Rumba 5K race which typically has about 600 runners and is generally a fun course to run. The race was a beautiful day with sun and temp right at 70 degrees.

The first race was the 1 mile fun run and I did that with my daughter (9 years old) and she ran her fastest 1 mile to date and we finished in 12:01. No matter how the 5K went I was already extremely happy with that run and seeing how hard she kept going during the whole mile.

My goal was to run the 5K race hard to gauge where I am at on speed work. I had been concerned how I have been doing and with the change in asthma medication I was hoping for better times than I had been doing.

Race splits:
Mile 1) 5:58 (right on target)
Mile 2) 6:27 (slowing more than I wanted to)
Mile 3) 6:39 (fell apart at this point)
last .1) 42 sec

Total time 19:48

Despite my slug time I finished 1st in the age group (M45-49) and 28th overall.

We had the masters runner run 15:36 (John Hinton who is Joan Nesbitt's husband). Overall winner was 15:12 and the male grand master ran 17:22. Some fast guys were there today.

I have plenty of work to do to get my speed back to the 5K shape after the flying Pig half marathon. Still despite my 5K time being about 30 seconds of where I hope to finish I was thrilled with my daughters time. It did make the whole day so worthwhile.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-02-26T13:23:00.000-05:00

This week was a shorter but intense running week.

Mileage for the week was only 31.5 miles this week but included the track work out previously posted, a trip to NY and 11.1 mile run early Sat a.m. at my tempo pace (hr was 75% despite only running 7:30 pace). This week I plan on cutting back to a real easy mileage week and then run hard on the 5K Saturday. Breathing issues continue to bother me a change in medication should take care of that.

I will be doing the 1 mile fun run with my youngest this Saturday about a hr before the race. I look forward to spending that time with her and when she receives her Finishing Medal she will have that big smile that all parents love.

After that I go (hopefully close to 19 min) on the 5K and I want to win hardware (it is actually a painting a local artist does) for my age group (M 45-49). This race is also the South East Regional RRCA 5K championship race so I look forward to the competition.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-02-20T15:47:00.000-05:00

Tuesday track workout

Started up again with my speed work outs after taking a few weeks off due to weather. Today was focused on shorter but faster pace. These were done at 5:30 am and not my best time for speed work.

4x400
1) 85 sec
2) 84 sec
3) 87 sec
4) 86 sec

4x200
1) 42 sec
2) 40 sec
3) 44 sec
4) 44 sec

Each lap had a 90 sec recovery jog (200 meter) and then went right into the speed drill. I am okay with the 400m for that time of day but need to move the 200m closer to 35 sec. Most likely will have to be later in the day for that to happen. Just hard to wake up and 30 min later do speed work.

Total miles in the a.m. 4.5

Going to do an afternoon run with some friends for Mardi Gras. Just planning on an easy 4-5 miles tonight and rest day is Wednesday this week.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-02-17T13:23:00.000-05:00

Birthday Day!

I turned 46 today and went out with a buddy of mine where he and I did an easy 13.1 miles (7;45 pace). It was sunny and cold, but running along the beach was awesome. Not to many runners out so we had much of our course to ourselves to run and chat. He let me know he is inviting me to his wedding on August 4th and I look forward to it.

There will be cheesecake in my future tonight along with much celebrating. Now if I just can stay awake past 10 pm (down side of getting older!) it will be a great day. Tomorrow I just am planning on an easy 8 miles to round out the week for 40 miles.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-02-12T11:49:00.000-05:00

Cut back week.

I finally was able to take a decent cut back week. Ran only 27.5 miles this past week which included the race on Saturday and Sunday doing just 10 miles with the group. Again just an easy chatting pace at 7:55 pace (we started slower but gradually kept it going a bit faster as the miles went on as we were all just plugging after the race on Saturday).

This coming week, I think it will be back to low 40's and two sessions of speed work as I try to find my speed again. Will be running a 5K on March 3rd and do want to get it closer to 19 min on this course. I will need to in order to win hardware in the M 45-49 age group and it should be competitive!

Enjoy the day everyone.

P.S. I decided I am Anna Nicole's baby father. Now they need to pay me money to hush me up also.

2007-02-10T17:44:00.000-05:00

Today I ran a 5K that was actually 3.2 miles (3 of us with GPS all had the same distance). It was a bit cool with starting temps of 34 and was run on the local University. I have always enjoyed this race as some years the course is long, it has numerous turns as you go around dorms, buildings and parking lots, trails and other fun items that make this course unique. The other interesting item that it is either short or long and always changing each year due to construction or sporting events that are taking place. You just really never know what your going to get with this race but is still fun.

I was curious to see where I was at with my lack of speed work and in the past week I have been fighting some asthma issues triggered by a head cold. Combination of the two lead to a disappointing time of 20:41 or a 6:30 pace (for the 3.2 miles). I still have a long way to go to get back to 5K shape and have some decent speed back.

Not sure where I finished overall my guess around 12th out of 125 and did take first in the m 45-49 age group.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-02-08T13:14:00.000-05:00

Things are good.

Yes things are well in the Universe. I could be down on all the murders that occurred recently in the press, or go on about Iraq, or comment on how my running this week has totally sucked and I have a head cold.

Just to keep it in perspective last night UNC tarheels played dook. dook lost and UNC won!!

Makes things a bit better today.

Now to go run later and make the cold go away is the game plan.

2007-02-04T21:32:00.000-05:00

Week in Review

After finding new socks (yes the previous post was about my racing socks that I had to replace) I did manage to run 40 miles this week. Highlights were lame speed work on Thursday (freezing rain made me run like a slug again) but the more positive run was today. Melanie and I ran 16 miles at an easy 8:02 pace and was able to comfortably chat the whole time. A significant portion of the discussion was related to socks and other clothing items and how she and I both tend to use the same socks or outfits for races. Maybe it is superstitious of me but I always feel comfortable running in the same shirt and shorts and of course my favorite socks.

Goal this week is to cut it back to 30 miles and also do a 5K on Saturday. I will use that for speedwork and hope to break 19:30 in the cold. I have done no proper speedwork for a while so we shall see.

I continue to have fun tracking endless amounts of detail with the Garmin Forerunner 305 and don't understand why the family doesn't find it as fun and interesting as I do.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2007-02-03T10:46:00.000-05:00

Letting Go

I think one of the most difficult things we do as people is letting go of relationships that are not working out for us. I recently (last night) decide to end my relationship with X.

I called my support group (my children) and talked to to first my oldest daughter and she was supportive but then promptly asked when could I fly up to baby sit my grand daughter. Talking to my Son In Law he felt it was time to move on also and then asked if I could watch Natalie for a weekend.

Second call to oldest son was not returned. It was pre UNC basketball party night so will not hear from him til later.

Third call to youngest son (in the Navy) was more of the same as he said do what you need to do and can I send him some money.

Talking with my youngest and 4th child she said dump X and can I order the new Harry Potter book.

A call into Coach T told me to dump the hussy and join her quest to amend the constitution and re elect Bush (sorry Tammy he can't).

I tried calling A. Maria but all she kept talking about was Army guy, something about eloping and being married by Elvis.

So after all that I sat down with X. I looked at X and finally said it isn't you, it is me.

I then took X put X in the trash. Yes, one to many holes in my favorite racing socks.

Time to let go and head to Target for new socks.

2007-01-31T13:03:00.000-05:00

Behind and trying to Run.

I am so far behind on reading blogs at this point. I haven't read anyone's blog since last week and just have been swamped at work. I will make my best effort to get caught up by the end of the week.

Last week ran 45.5 miles, did speedwork on Tuesday and Thursday with only limited hamstring issues. Knee still bothers me once I do my long run and go over 12 miles but is tolerable.

This week will cut back some, I was in Pittsburgh Monday and Tuesday and took both days off to rest. Only one day of track session scheduled this week and probably will end up with a very modest 35 miles of running.

I will start doing more and more hill work in preparation for the Cincinnati Flying Pig Half Marathon. Try Piggy has promised me a free trip to London if I win hardware.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-01-22T12:02:00.000-05:00

Back to normal running.

Last week I manage to get 47.5 miles of running in. This despite the rain and freezing rain we had. The speed work sort of sucked, could barely keep the pace going for the intervals of running 5:30 pace with 8:00 pace for 4 miles. Sunday I did do 16 mile run at an easy 8:10 pace as my knee, hamstring and heel are all still tender. Nothing to serious but didn't want to push it to hard.

This week I still plan on running somewhere between 42-50 miles and do some 800 meter work at the track on Thursday along with double runs on Tue and Thur.

Feels good to finally be past the slug stage and moving up to snail stage. Still a lot of work to do to get ready for the Flying Pig and running a decent half marathon.

Enjoy the day everyone!

2007-01-17T08:57:00.000-05:00

Training for Flying Pig half Marathon (Sunday May 6th) is underway.

Despite my feeling like a slug lately and running slower than I would like, I have started my Pig training. Of course this means Try Piggy needs to come across the pond and run it with me (he can be the Pace Piggy). I suspect Running Rabbit (she can be the pace bunny) will run that race not sure who else will though.

Goal for this week is just get my mileage back into the 40+ mile for the week as I start pushing it closer to 45-50 mile weeks. Tuesday did my first 2 x day for the year, will do it again on Thursday with some attempt at track work on the second session. Hopefully will be able to do 6 x 800 meters at a 3 min pace. Goal for the race is to break 1:30:00 on a rolling hill course. Should be challenging and fun to try.

It finally became cold (it was 35 and windy) and will stay that way for a few days. I actually had to wear gloves and a long sleeve shirt for a change.

2007-01-11T11:44:00.000-05:00

I feel like a slug.

Yes I have officially hit slug status. No speed, to much craving for chocolate and not enough runs. Sure I could blame the marathon last month or other such physical issues. They no doubt have contributed to them.

The real reason is I am just not focused right now. To distracted by things going on in life (ah the attempt to find balance is always a struggle). With my body recovering faster than my mental focus I need to start getting into the groove again. I have cancelled going to any races for the next month and will not run another race until early March. That will be a 5K and I am going to target as close to 19 minutes as I can achieve. This will require focus and actually doing my speed work.

I have always considered myself an average runner who trys hard. Now is the time to start trying hard again. Time to build up the mileage, do the Thursday track work outs and 2 x a day on Tuesday and Thursday.

Focus is what I have to find again.

2007-01-07T10:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I ran the Half marathon and it has been 4 weeks to the date since the Vegas Marathon. I was not expecting a PR but thought I would produce acceptable results for myself.

Unfortunately the body felt otherwise, legs are still beat up and with the warm temps (it was 70 degrees for the race) creating asthma issues I ran my 2nd worse half marathon. Final time was 1:36:17 and finished 3rd in age group (M 45-49). It is a small race and not as competitive so that allowed me to win some hardware.

I am still sore from the effort of yesterday and realize I need to take some more time off to fully recover. Lower legs just don't feel good and I am probably 4 weeks away from getting the "fire in the belly" again. Goal is still to run a 40 min 10K at Oak Island and break 1:30:00 at the Flying Pig half marathon.

Enjoy the day everyone.
Kurt

2007-01-03T10:54:00.001-05:00

In our local running club we have the Grand Prix races that some of us compete in each year. Typically it is 10 races and had not changed much in 3 years. After this season some of us more competitive runners (anything for hardware) approach the Board Race director and recommended we change the races up and spread them out. The GP typically had 3 races in November (a 10K, half and then a 5K) in consecutive weeks and by the time of the 5K we usually tired and not at our peak to excel in the 5K.

So after the group discussed this issue we dropped two races and added two races. The two that were dropped were the two biggest in town (Tri Span 10K in July and I hate that one) and the Battleship half marathon in November. Now we have everyone bitching and complaining about it. The kicker is nothing stops them from running it, it will just not be part of the GP series this year and many of them just participate in a few of the races with no opportunity to win an age group or overall awards.

The result is at the next board meeting (January 10th) the GP races will be debated again even though the first event is this Saturday and the schedule has been published.
It is interesting how little things tend to rile up runners when most of them will not even participate in the events. Should be a very interesting board meeting next Wednesday.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2007-01-01T08:42:00.000-05:00

Here are the basics of my last year and comparisions to the previous years:

Year # of Runs Total Miles Avg Run Distance
2006 313 1,853.10 5.920447284
2005 329 1,825.15 5.547568389
2004 285 1,683.90 5.908421053

Overall 2006 I ran around 25 or so races (I lost count) and placed in the age group in almost all of them. My hightlight of the year was Gasparilla where I won 2nd place male master out of the 400 or so who competed in the 3 races for the Jeep Challenge.

Other highlights included setting course PR's on several courses and a new Master's PR in the half marathon. I also won the overall Grand Prix series this year after struggling with some illness earlier in the year.

I met several new people this year. The Reliable Leslie and her husband, Coach Tammy, Bill the slow twin and his brother the fast twin, and Bruce The How in Chicago. I met Matt and several others in Las Vegas for dinner for a large group meeting the night before the race.

I have enjoyed getting to know the circle of blog friends and look forward to watching the progress of everyone as they continue to run and face new challenges.

Overall it was a good year but now it is time for me to focus on running faster for 2007. I will also have to break down and buy me new favorite racing socks as they are still somewhere either in Seattle (being held hostage by Jessi no doubt)

Enjoy the day and the year everyone.

Kurt

2006-12-27T15:24:00.000-05:00

How to tell your a Hard Core Runner (I plagarized this from someone else)

1 Your toenails are black.
2 Your shoes have more miles on them than your car does.
3 You have chafing in strange places.
4 Your underwear covers more than your running shorts.
5 You go to a golf course to run.
6 Your friends go on the elevator and you beat them on the stairs.
7 You combine phrases like "10 mile run" and "Easy Run" in the same breath. (yep it is fun!)
8 You can eat your weight in spaghetti.
9 Your highest heels are your training shoes. (Oh Running Rabbit please note this one)
10 Your christmas list includes more than one pair of running shoes.
11 Your chest is as flat as your back. (alas to true for me)
12 You feel lost without your water-bottle.
13 You have running withdrawl if you don't run everyday. (God Yes I do)
14 Gatorade is your drug of choice.
15 You can see your ribs thru your shirt.
16 You enjoy running hills. (I do and look for them)
17 You start to crave Power Bars.
18 You can strip and change in a car seat in less than 2 minutes. (I need only 30 seconds now)
19 You are always hungry. (True)
20 Your running in your dreams. (Still True)
21 You have no life besides running. (Very True)
22 You can maintain a 5:30 pace uphill while throwing up. (Well closer to 6:15)
23 You try to impress girls by saying you're a fast finisher. (Is it working Ladies?)
24 You own spandex in more than 1 color.
25 You foam at the mouth everytime you see a big hill.
26 "Chariots of Fire" is actually entertaining to you.
27 You wear skimpier clothes than Madonna
28 Runner's World provides more pin-ups than Playboy (YEAH SUZY HAMILTON!!!)
29 You're running and you don't know why. (Oh I know why I do)
30 You can't get the "All you can eat" at spaghetti restaurants (I been limited now at Cici's pizza buffet)
31 There's nothing like intervals to start the week off fresh!!
32 Watching the New York Marathon on T.V. made you get up and go for a run
33 You can pronounce those funny Kenyan names
34 You belong to online groups like RoadsScholars and We Love to Run
35 You think I am very cute and cuddly. (Now your REALLY over the deep end)

Enjoy the day everyone.

2006-12-24T07:16:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Yes twas the day before Xmas and I finally am posting well wishes to everyone for a great and happy 2007.

2006 was a good year running wise. I will have run close to 1,850 miles this year, did the Jeep Challenge at Gasparilla (2nd place male masters woo hoo!) along with several new hardware from age group awards, and won the Grand Prix Competition for the running club I am in. The only negatives were I bonked on the Las Vegas Marathon, sore and still sore left hamstring, never recovered the stolen socks from Jessi and didn't run a sub 19 min 5K this year.

Goals for next year are to run 18:45 5K and sub 40 min 10K. At soon to be 46 years old it is more challenging to keep the speed down with age.

It has been a real joy to me to watch and read the blogs of you. I do take joy in the accomplishments that others have done and continue to strive for. In the end it is the journey that matters, not the destination (okay I admit I am still somewhat a hardware junkie).

May 2007 be a blessed and joyful year to each and everyone of you.

Enjoy the day.

2006-12-21T06:21:00.000-05:00

Beta Blogger sucks.

I find that I can not post comments to others using the beta blogger. Guess I will have to upgrade myself soon.

Note to Try Piggy, whenever I try to post to your blog it comes back with a a msg saying I need to add something to your account. Something about the text magic server your using doesn't like me.

The blogger hosts hate me. Think I will go run and ignore the blogger. Grrr on Blogger.

Enjoy the day everyone and the holidays.

2006-12-19T10:08:00.000-05:00

Back from the Magical Kingdom

To properly recover from the Las Vegas fiasco I ran away to the kingdom of mice and princess.

Unfortunately the Black Knight was not there to help me ransack it and kidnap the wenches and loot the riches. In fact it seemed to me we were held hostage by the evil Mouse and that they looted my checking account quite nicely.

My Maddie realized this and the look captures it all (after being I let her know that I could not buy the Cyrstal Mouse she wanted)

But with a little running and some quality time with the rides and other goodies we did have a good time.

Here is picture of us at the MGM stunt show.

On a side note the hammie is still sore but better and the knee is much better. Now I just have to get ready for the half marathon on January 6th!

2006-12-11T12:21:00.000-05:00

Bonked Las Vegas Race Report.

Sunday I ran the Las Vegas Marathon with every expectation I would finish between 3:15 and 3:20 and the training had gone well for me. I had been fighting a sore hammie and knee since my half marathon a month ago and unfortunately it would be my undoing.

Overall I was not pleased with the organization of the race. To get in the proper pen you had to climb a fence, no one could figure out or tell us how to make our way to the right staging area. This resulted in two good cuts on my leg. The mile splits were off mile markers ranged for me everything from 5 min miles to 12 min miles in the beginning. So split times were no good. Race started late and it was cool and windy so not good on that either.

Race went off eventually and I settled into the 7 min mile (as best I could tell) and at mile 3 my left hamstring tightened up. At that point I knew I was in for the long day and manage to still hit the half way mark around 1:40:00. The wind was strong and the extra effort to maintain the pace was really straining my left hamstring and eventually at mile 19 it tightened up. Stretching and working it out helped out some until Mile 23 when it still tightened up to the point I had a medical tent slap some wraps on it. They wanted me to stop (knee was swollen at that point but I still was determined to make to the end). At that point it was just a bloody ugly 5K and my final time resulted in 3:35:04 gun and 3:33:36 chip time. Finished 68 out of 504 (M45-49) in age group and 508th out of 5,903 finishers.

Interesting note was they had over 7,000 finishers on the half marathon this year.
Still the trip to Vegas was fun, I enjoyed the food, shows and the fun time despite the ugly race I had. So it looks like no Boston for me this year and I can now heal up and focus on the shorter races.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2006-12-05T10:08:00.000-05:00

It does Loom.

After spending weeks solving Try Piggy's C-E riddle I realized in 5 days I run the Las Vegas Marathon. I am still struggling with a left hammie and left knee that are not fully healed up for the effort a few weeks ago on the half marathon. Still I believe I can still run a sub 3:20:00 at least given my miles and training.

Only down side has been I have never recovered my favorite running socks that Jessi ran away with. Oh well.

On the bright side my youngest child, Maddie, turned 9 on the 1st. So keeping with the tradition we took her out to dinner on Friday, a movie on Saturday (stranger than fiction and it is very good) and Sunday I rented a roller skate rink for 2 hrs and had 30 or so yelling crazy 8-10 yr old kids. Good time was had by all and when it was done my daughter told me I was the best dad in the world and she loved me. In the end that means a lot more to me than the marathon.

Enjoy the day everyone. Next post will be after the marathon. I go down on Thursday and check the city out for a few days before the race!

2006-11-27T10:50:00.000-05:00

Grand Prix Update

Like a lot of clubs ours has a Grand Prix (a series of races). This year we had 10 races, 2 half marathons, 4 10K's, 2 8K's and 2 5K's. After competing in each of the races I won the whole GP series. I am not the fastest runner but do compete in each race as hard as I can. This is the 4th year that I have won my age group, 2nd for overall male and first year winning the overall total.

I am happy to have done it finally and despite training for the marathon, suffering from bothviral encephalitis and mononucleous (sp?) along with the various aches this year, I am happy to have accomplished this goal.

Next year I will not focus on it as much as finally getting my 5K time back down to where it should be and be more competitive next year.

Enjoy the day and I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving Holiday!

2006-11-21T08:57:00.000-05:00

Marathon Travel Plans

The other day Coach Tammy calls me up and our conversation went something like this:

Coach T: K I am booking your flights for the marathon and putting in an incentive program for you

Me: Umm, I think I can book my own flight and what incentive program would I need after you made me do all those races and distances?

Coach T: Stop sweating the little stuff and trust me. You will like this plan. I will book it all and call you right back.

So after taking all my information and credit card number she calls me back

Coach T: Okay it is done. You have a flight going into Las Vegas on Thursday and that will give you a few days to adjust to the time zone and weather.

Me: Good idea and good thinking.

Coach T: Your flight out is that Sunday afternoon after the race

Me: Okay sounds good what time?

Coach T: It leaves at 12:25 pm

Me: What? Why so soon?

Coach T: Yep, race starts at 6 am, you run less than 3:30:00 then you can get to the hotel and change and make the airport and flight. You run slow, your on the redeye and pay the change fees. You have your incentive plan!

After I groan and whine I hang up and have decided running marathons suck.

2006-11-20T12:16:00.000-05:00

Last race before Marathon Report

Sunday I ran my favorite 5K and it was the end of my last hard week of training. Unfortunately the half marathon really took its toll on me and the legs were just tired and with out a good break I didn't do as well as I did last year.

Overall time was 19:37 and finished 3rd in Age group and 16th overall. I was 20 seconds slower than last year but given the training and the last 3 races I was in the time I expected to be.

Next year I might skip the half marathon and target this 5K for a time around 18:50.

Oh on the bright side I beat Melanie. She was complaining of being tired and she only race a few times this past week. She was still first female but I still enjoyed beating her but hate that I lost to Jeff B. Oh well there is next year!

Enjoy the day everyone.

2006-11-13T10:28:00.000-05:00

I ran the Battleship Half Marathon Sunday with a goal of breaking 1:30:00. As I woke up in the Morning the rain started coming down and the wind was really blowing hard. I wasn't to concerned about the rain but the wind I was very concerned about.

I did an easy 3 mile warm up and talked briefly to Melanie and gave her some last minute goals on how fast to start out. Her goal was 1:28:30 (she ran 1:28:14 my coaching is helping her!) and I was confident she would acheive this goal.

Race started on time and splits and race thoughts are as follows:
Mile 1) 6:49 (bridge) (Also wondering why Coach Tammy is making me do this)

Mile 2) 6:38 (smaller bridge) (Still stuck on Try Piggy's riddle on what is between C and E)

Mile 3) 6:46 (Cursing The Black Night as he is already done with his race and I am still going)

Mile 4) 6:44 (Should have done Rim Rock and avoided this race!)

Mile 5) 6:54 (hill) (Wondering how many shoes Racing Rabbit has and what is the right shoe for a cast?)

Mile 6) 6:44 (Now wondering what house warming gift I need for Running Transitions)

Mile 7) 6:55 (hill and wind) (Can I blame Running Amy for the wind she is in GA afterall)

Mile 8) 6:44 (What new posts from Running Susan and her ongoing canine issues will she have)

Mile 9) 6:56 (Tri Sara should be pacing me but she is recovering from trying to educate the youth and help me with the Try Piggy riddle)

Mile 10) 7:04 (wind) (A. Maria is making KU blow nasty wind this way I know it and what new thing is going on in her life)

Mile 11) 7:02 (really strong wind) (Time for DG to pull out a shovel for me as I am hurting now)

Mile 12 & 13) 14:01 (Last bridge and very strong gusts running against the wind think of Chariots of Fire running slow mo now) (Where is Andy when I need him? not here for sure but eating some BBQ in MO laughing at me no doubt)

Mile .1) .40 (I need to fly like the Fire gal from MN and end this torture)

Total time 1:30:08 (Damn I am still sockless and have to wait to next race to get my socks from Jessi)

Missed the goal by 8 seconds but considering the wind the last 3 miles of the race I was happy. At mile 11 my hamstrings were really tightening up and I am still feeling the effort from yesterday today.

This is my new Masters PR and 2 minutes faster than last year. I believe on a flat fast course with decent weather I can push my time to 1:28:00.

Enjoy the day everyone.
Kurt

2006-11-09T14:49:00.000-05:00

3 days and counting

In preparation for the half marathon I have run the course several times along with going over it in my mind. I have raced this particular course 3 times already and I know every square inch of it. I have plotted my times and where I need to be at each mile. The first two miles are difficult with two bridges and grates but after that it is okay until the 11.5 mile mark and then the last and most difficult bridge is there. Last year I lost it on the final bridge and it cost me about 30 seconds in overall time.

I intend to take off at a 6:35-6:40 pace (holding back is sooooo hard to do) and run smooth until mile 10. At that point it is just a 5K and I will give whatever I have left. If I make it to mile 10 under 68 minutes I will be in good shape for the sub 1:30:00 goal.

I must remember to post about my travel plans on the Marathon in December. Interesting to say the least.

Enjoy the day!

2006-11-05T07:50:00.000-05:00

Saturday I ran this race for the 4th year in the row. This race is interesting as you never know what the weather is going to be like and this year was no different. Weather temps were cool in the mid 50's but it was very windy with very strong gusts. Still it was beautiful to see the ocean and the white caps as they broke on the island.

Melanie and I left Wilmington around 9 am (race is at 12:30 but we had to catch the 10:30 Ferry to the Island). We arrived on time and found many of our running buddy's there. We did a decent warm up (3 miles as it was cold). My expectations were to go hard for the race and just see what I could do. I expected Melanie to break 40 minutes and place in overall females.

My split times:
Mile 1 6:10 (no wind)
Mile 2 6:32 (against the wind)
Mile 3 6:49 (strong wind and rolling hills)
Mile 4 6:46 (last of the rolling hills but dissapointed with this mile)
Mile 5 6:45 (being wimpy at this point)
Mile 6 6:22 (finally ran a decent mile again)
.2 1:32

Total time 40:58

Overall 11th out of roughly 150, 3rd in age group.

Melanie finished in 40:03 and 2nd female. Overall female ran 37:38. Top two males ran sub 35 min 10K's.

Overall I am pleased with my time, my fastest 10K in a few years and finally seem to be getting some decent times in. Still have a bit of work to do on it but look forward to the half marathon and see how I do in the goal to break 1:30:00 or face the wrath of Coach Tammy!

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2006-11-03T09:37:00.000-05:00

Easier week

Despite Coach Tammy's efforts to make me run more miles I have successfully manage to cut back my miles this week. This is in the plan and I will end up around 35 miles after the weekend.

Saturday I have the race at Bald Head Island. Weather is suppose to be low 50's with winds between 15-20 mph. Wish it was a bit warmer and no wind but it will be a good race nevertheless. Melanie and I will do our usual battle for bragging rights and we are both hoping for sub 41 on this race.

On a more serious note I saw this site on a running board. Check out www.runlizrun.com

It is the story of a cancer patient fighting the cancer and continuing the run. I don't Liz but would be honored to run a race with her one day. It puts running into what it should be, running for life, for ourselves and for what is important. It isn't about the speed, the hardware or beating others. Running is truly a blessing I cherish and provides so much to me. I am grateful to be a runner.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2006-10-31T09:52:00.000-05:00

Easy week

I actually did an easy week for a change. I only ran 30.1 miles last week and my legs are almost able to feel normal again. I am still bothered by my heal (heal spurs are no fun) but it is manageable. Knees and ankles are getting back to normal and rarely bother me except when I first warm up.

I have a race Saturday (10K) and then the big half marathon in just under 2 weeks. I am also officially 40 days away from the marathon (viva Las Vegas!).

YTD I am about at 1,600 miles and ahead of last years mileage. I will have less total runs (less 2x a day this year) but more longer miles. Next year I will have to find a way to incorporate both to get myself back in 5K shape.

There have been several runners who I know completed the Chicago and Marine Corps Marathon. Even if you didn't achieve the time you wanted (Special note to Dani here) we are all proud of you for doing it and still doing it well.

I am also working on better excuses and global warming, election mayhem, failure to visit Alaska in the winter, not enough Science Geek Tuesday from Coach Tammy along with still no new running socks from Jessi continue to rise to the top as top reasons when I need them for whatever race I do. Afterall I do believe in being prepared for the big races! (Side note to all the excuses are my nutty humor and not to be taken seriously except for the lack of new socks!).

2006-10-24T11:55:00.000-05:00

Working on my Excuses

With 3 weeks to go to the half marathon and my goal of not achieving sub 1:30:00 I am starting to work on the excuses why I didn't make it.

Here are what I have come up with so far:
1) Weather (to hot, to cold, to windy, etc just pick one)
2) Bridges hurt my feet
3) Food didn't settle
4) Dani's fault for making me dig holes at the beach to bury all her former roommates
5) Tammy's fault for making me think of Pigs running in my head
6) Blog mate Tryathlete for reason 5 above
7) To much fun thinking of Las Vegas

and the last one so far

8) Jessi's fault for not sending me the socks to be speedy in

Yep I am good at working up excuses on not achieving my goals! Only 3 more weeks and the taper madness has begun.

2006-10-23T10:39:00.000-05:00

Modify my Training

I did something I rarely do, I changed my training plan. I decide to move my long run up a week so I would have a full 3 weeks to taper for the half marathon on Nov 12th. So after the long runs of 2 weeks ago, I did 10 on Saturday at marathon pace (7:30ish) and then Sunday did 21 with 2 friends at just slightly over 8 min miles. I admit I was hurting at the end of the Sunday run but still hoping for a sub 3:20:00 at Las Vegas. Mileage for the week was just 49 miles and will cute back to 30 or so miles this week and next.

I will take an easy week this week, next week have a 10K to run and then going to do the half marathon all out in 3 weeks. Goal is sub 1:30:00 or totally blow it on the race.

On a side note whoever the idiot at Chicago who put plastic down at the finish line should be taken out and horse whipped. Lets see plastic, rain and we have created a slip and slide. Lets hope the winner from Kenya remains okay.

Enjoy the day everyone.

2006-10-18T08:48:00.000-05:00

To much work and not enough running!

Like many of the bloggers, I am working to many hours and had to cut back my running for both work and my training plan. Last week I hit cut back to 32 miles, this week will be a modest 40 or so miles. Next week I will be pushing 60 miles including a long run of 23 or so miles. After that it is a small taper for my half marathon in mid November, one long hard week after that and then a real taper for the Las Vegas Marathon.

We have several folks doing various marathons over the next few months. I am sure everyone will do well and have a good time. As a buddy of mine says "this is fun!" Make sure your having fun and just enjoy the day while running.

2006-10-09T10:31:00.000-05:00

Crazy and long weekend of Running and racing.

It was indeed a lot of running this weekend. For the week I ran 58.5 miles and felt good for the most part. Saturday was my long run of 21 miles and did good until last mile. Started to cramp and had to really slow down and take it easy as I waddled on in to the car! Still was pleased to get it done, spent 2:50:00 enjoying the darkness (11 miles solo) and then 10 miles with the group and watching the sunrise.

Sunday I was signed up for two races. The first race was a 8K that is challenging, hills, 3 big bridges and some cobblestone. I finished well (17 out of roughly 275) and kept a pretty steady pace with my time of 33:32 (8 seconds faster than last year). With the warm up and cool down that gave me 9 miles for the morning. The only downer was one of my arch nemisis showed up at the race and Jeff beat me by 8 seconds. Just nothing in the legs to do the final kick. Still Jeff and I did the cool down run together. First time Jeff has beat me in 3 years and it was bound to happen (Saturday run was taking its toll LOL). Finished 3rd in AG (male 45-49) but 1st for Hardware purposes (first two were masters award winners).

Sunday afternoon rolls around and this time it is a 5K with roughly 300 runners on a course I have not run officially before. Did a nice easy warm up of 1.5 miles and then the race starts. I can tell my legs are not having a lot of fun despite the will to go faster. The goal was to try to break 20 minutes on this race but alas was not destined to happen. Final time was 20:30 and I did finish a clean 1st age group. The masters winners were in the 40-44 and one in the 50-54 age group. In a straight race I think I would have finished 2nd Masters and had a nicer piece of hardware but I am still pleased with my race.

Overall I feel good, tired legs and will take it easier this week. Feel good about going sub 1:30:00 on the battleship half marathon (same nasty 3 big bridges) in November and doing a Boston qualify time at the Las Vegas Marathon.

Enjoy the day everyone.

Kurt

2006-10-02T15:05:00.000-05:00

This was a small race with about 75-100 runners for the 5K and about half of that for the 21K in Oswego NY (about 30 miles from SyracuseNY). All I can say is compared to the Plainfield race you can see the difference between a well organized race and one that is so-so organized. Bottom line is I have no idea on my time as the last mile was very twisty and there was no one at the the turn to point me to the last 200 meters. It was down a little path that I ran right past and by time I found it I dropped from 3rd to 6th and lost a few minutes. I was so annoyed with the race director that I forgot to stop my watch and the race director's excuse was everyone knows where to turn when I conforted her on the lousy finishing. Explaining to her that I was from NC she seemed shocked that someone would show up and run her race and had not considered that someone might need to have somoene point them to the finishing turn. Nevertheless I finished top in Age Group and still beat son in law, I did run the first mile very comfortably at 6:01 (no 2 mile split) and felt very strong through out the race. Once they post the race results I should be able to figure out where I would have finished time wise (the guy who I passed in the last half mile knew the turn but didn't say anything to me as I went past the turn). I guess in the end it doesn't really matter and I just have to focus on the next set of races.

2006-09-26T08:14:00.000-05:00

Yes I am alive!

Hello fellow blogmates. It has been a bit of time since I have posted. Between work, the virus and travel I simply have been overwhelmed and no time to post or do much with the internet. Unfortunately I was not kidnapped by the lovely DG (see Dani's blog) or abducted by Tammy and forced to enjoy time in San Diego (note to Tammy not to late to abduct me and and make me hang out at the beach with umbrella drinks!).

I have not read anyone's posts for two weeks but do endevor to remedy that by the weeks end. Inquiring minds want to know what is going on in blog land and how the donkey miles, piggy trails or rabbits speeding along are doing. Transitions seem to occur and I have missed reading her great posts also.

So in the past two weeks I manage to run about 75 miles, do a 5K in 19:35 while in the Chicago area and work 130 hrs. It has been a busy time.

Enjoy the day all and I will read and get caught up on the blogs shortly.