Big River Dominance

Congrats to the Big River Racing Team for their 2nd place finish in the Shamrock Shuffle! The race is one of the biggest 8K's out there, and you basically run the start and finish of the Chicago Marathon which is super awesome. 25,000+ ran it this year, despite the cold and windy conditions. The elite team competition was cumulative timing, and the guys just missed first place by 13 seconds! Ryan Bak finished 5th overall, Ben was 10th, Brian Lyons was 15th, and Kyle Cameron was 22nd - congrats BRR guys!!!! (pics from last year's race - Ben and Brian)



Well, I did some running over the last 5 days, so let's cut to the chase. Thursday, ran to my buddy's treadmill during lunch. Some girl was on the treadmill with the fan and the t.v., so I was forced to use the other treadmill with no fan and no t.v. Needless to say, this didn't last long. Did 2 or so at marathon pace (7:15), then went outside to cool off and do an impromptu hill work. Did 4 repeats up and down, roughly a minute hard at 5K pace. Turnover felt good, needed to get in more miles but wasn't going to get it in that day due to busy scheduling. Total mileage: ~4 miles

Friday, got home after work and got in some mileage. Weather was decent outside, and I felt pretty good. Did out and back on the trail, kept myself in check other than racing a couple cyclists the last 1/2 of the trail. Tried to stay as loose as possible, feel like I succeeded. Total mileage: 6 miles - total time out was 50 minutes (I think?).

Tim was in town over the weekend visiting, so met up with him at night. Stayed out a little too late, and had our 20 miler scheduled early. Got up, met with Crystal and Mike at the trails, and did the run. Felt pretty decent throughout the entire way, had to make a pit stop at a port-a-potty right around the turn around point, then had to play catchup. Was fun running after those guys, and had to work off some runners to help aid in the challenge. They had almost a half mile lead on me, so took me roughly 2 miles to catch up, albeit I picked it up considerably. Was definitely tired when I finally did, but had the long downhill on Meridian to coast for a while and get my energy back. Could tell Crystal was struggling in the later miles, so we were working with her a bit. Last mile, ended up picking it up a little, finished strong. Crystal slapped Mike and I on our last quarter mile pickup saying we never let her win, but for the record she did get the better of us. Felt really strong throughout the run, amazing with the lack of sleep I had. Total mileage: 20 miles - splits were: 9:03, 8:18 (watch beeped fast), 8:43, 8:40, 8:43, 8:38, 8:30, 8:33, 8:19, 8:21, 7:21 (trying to catch up with Crystal and Mike), 6:54 (oops!), 7:53, 8:22, 8:20, 8:21, 8:16, 8:32, 8:30, 7:40.

Huge nap, hung out with everybody to watch Tourney Games, then met up with Tim and his dad for drinks afterwards - fun times :) Sunday, spent most of the day in intensive recovery from the damage that was done the day before. It was raining all throughout the day, so eventually made it out the door for a recovery run, which was pretty late at night. Temps were in the low 30's and rainy and WINDY - not the best running weather. Did my Glen Carbon city loop, felt really strong throughout the run and tried not to push it too much. Kind of a pain to run into the wind, but conversely was awesome running downwind. Had thoughts of doing more mileage, but wanted to keep the legs rested for a potentially hard running week. Total mileage: 6 miles - total time run was 45-50 minutes.

So got in a weird 48 miles this week, but the good news is I felt really strong and somewhat fit. I think with a couple more solid weeks, I should be sitting somewhat pretty for this marathon. Hill work is a must over this last month of training!!!

Friday night fun


Watching the Tourney Games!