History Stands

History Stands, Olympic trials to be telecast (super cool!), rumor that Verzbicas is leaving Oregon, Shalane, and Lauren Fleshman part 2.

Obviously, the Paula Radcliffe marathon record is a very important milestone in running. Pacers or not, she still had to hit the time. London 2003 was one of the greatest performances ever in the sport - one that should be celebrated, not scrutinized. Bravo to the IAAF for reversing their decision!

Wednesday, November 9th - 7 miles. Forest Park run with the Big River Group. Started out with Crystal, Tim, Gibbs, Craig, Ryan, and Hillary. Ran the FP Loop starting at the Visitor's Center. Kind of chilly at first, which got us out fast, but we settled into pace. Fun with the group, and Gibbs took us on a detour which added a little extra length. Ran a little more to even out the mileage (you're welcome, Crystal), but felt pretty good all in all. Long stretching afterwards, then Timmy and I hit up Cicero's for dinner and a bucket of 312! 57:49 total, felt really good.

My new stretching program has me feeling pretty good and fresh, and I no longer feel like a crippled old man every morning. Although we haven't had too many killer workouts lately as well, so enjoying the easier mileage and perfect weather. Group run in Forest Park again tonight, and the weather looks perfect again!

More NYC

Evolution of a fast marathon, how did the celebrities fare in NYC?, Marathon Majors winners, Mutai the best?, Patrick Makau, Lauren Fleshman, and the lovely Miss Kara Goucher and her marathon tips.

Monday, November 7th - 6 miles. Francis Park loop with Timmy. Started from his house, and ran to the park and did loops. Tim was having some stomach issues, so dropped out a couple miles into it so I finished solo. Ran with a group of people for a little bit, but took off and kept a decent pace. Felt pretty tired, but more from a hard weekend of running. Ran for 50 minutes.

Tuesday, November 8th - 6 miles. Forest Park loop with Cristina. With the time change, not as many runners out there anymore. Ran pretty conservative, and reversed the usual route which seemed to make it go by faster. Felt ok, long stretching afterwards to loosen up. Abs are still screaming with soreness from Sunday's workout, so deferring corework to Wednesday night. 57:51 total.

Tonight, going to do FP with Crystal. Enjoying the fall running, as the weather is absolutely perfect outside :)

NYC, Lung Cancer Connection 5K Race Recap

Geoffrey Mutai - NYC Marathon Champ, Meb PR's, Americans from NYC talk, Sara Hall wins, Lauren Fleshman, Shalane to Rock and Roll in San Antonio, and James Kwambai wins in Seoul.

What an amazing NYC Marathon this year! Women's race was pretty crazy with Mary Keitany going for broke, but ultimately fading at the end. The men's race was not too surprising, but showed that Mutai's performance in Boston was legit. NYC's course is a beast, and he took it to a level that was not ever dreamt of. Very strange that NYC's course record is now faster than the much flatter Chicago's, but I foresee that changing in the next few years as the assault towards a sub 2 hour marathon seems a lot more feasible now more than ever. Geoffrey Mutai has established himself as the man to beat (assuming Kenya picks him for their Olympic team), and will be a force to be reckoned with for many more marathons to come.

Friday, November 5th - ~3 miles. Ran after work - was stuck in traffic forever due to a major accident on I-270, but was anxious to shake out the legs a little since I hadn't felt all that great lately. Definitely did the trick and felt pretty relaxed afterwards. Ran for 20 or so minutes easy.

Saturday, November 6th - 7 miles (1 up, LUNG CANCER CONNECTION 5K (1st place!), 1 down, 2 miles). Saw this race via a flier hung up at work, so decided to run since one of my colleagues has lung cancer and it was definitely for a great cause. Crazy morning, and crazy race. Woke up early and drove to Creve Couer Park to get my race number and warm up. Only there wasn't anyone there except for a clueless volunteer who had no idea where anything was, what direction we were running, and most likely he wouldn't have known his own name had I asked. Right before I was about to start warming up, he comes running towards me and tells me the race is on the other side of the park. Crap. So I hightail it to the location, where there were several hundred people already there engaging in the festivities. Make it in time to get my race shirt and number, run back to my car to change (parked a good half mile away since I had gotten there late), ran back and met up with some friends for a few minutes. The race was not organized very well, so when I saw the cluster of runners walking towards the start (not marked), I ran over really quick to line up front. Asked the starter where our turn around was - he said just follow the signs, then immediately started the race. Thanks buddy. One other guy came shooting from the blocks, and was seriously sprinting like it was nobody's business. I thought he was gone, but a half mile out I was already reeling him in (he was turning around every 10 seconds to check on me, so figured he was already tiring), so just waited and tried to settle into pace without losing him. At the halfway point, he blazed through the turn around cone, and I shouted for him to turn around (should have just let him go lol), and me being a good sportsman, waited for him to catch up and ran with him for awhile. Felt ok at this point, then started to strategize where I would lay the hammer down. At the 2nd mile marker, picked it up and never looked back. Definitely gapped a bit, then was settling in for victory when suddenly I noticed the upcoming trail had about 20 ft. of water that was a good 6 inches deep coming up. So I was going to wrong way, and didn't know what to do! Ran through the water, ran into some muddy field and came to a stop trying to figure out where the hell I was. Saw the parking lot, so started running through there, then saw the trail a bit ahead and started running for that. Seriously stared to panic, because I thought I was going to lose because of the idiot race director who didn't mark the turns correctly. Eventually made it back despite my long detour around the course, and crossed the finish line amazingly still in first place. Had a "nice chat" with the race director about not marking the course (seriously????), went to cool down and change, then went to hang out with friends and coworkers afterwards. Cool for my coworkers to see me win, and poignant to win for Chuck (see picture above) who is my coworker/friend that is battling lung cancer. Definitely the strangest win I have ever had, but a win nonetheless. Got home, ran 20 minutes more, but stopped because my right foot was killing me (probably from running through the "adventure course" trying to get back onto the actual course, which was uneven as it gets). 5K official time is unknown, but definitely wrong since I ran a good extra quarter mile, but I am going by my Garmin splits which were pretty accurate on the course (hit all the mile markers dead on) - 18:44 (5:50, 6:10, 6:08). Lots of R&R on Saturday, but had a mini celebration at night with dinner at a nice restaurant in Central West End called Salt, then a few cocktails at various places in the area.

Sunday, November 7th - 10 miles. Glad for the extra hour of sleep with the time change, and wasn't feeling too hot from the night before. Crystal dragged me out nice and early for our scheduled long run. Not the best weather - windy, overcast, and cool, but warmed up during the run. I overdressed, so was a bit uncomfortable later in the run. Felt like garbage and my foot was still hurting, but eventually snapped out of it and my foot felt better on the second half. Out and back on Old Faithful, but hit a pretty nasty headwind by Casey's which made Crystal and I laugh at how ridiculous it was outside. Pretty exhausted by the time we finished, but we kept it nice and slow thankfully. Ran into Pat on the way in - so squeezed in a mile or so before finishing. Ran for 1:27:27, laid on the couch the rest of the day, then did a good 20-30 minutes of stretching and corework at night which has caused some unwelcome soreness all over my body today. NYC Marathon afterwards - awesome race, and so happy to watch. Really want to run there again someday. Big congrats to my buddy Gabe who ran 3:02!!!

40 miles this week, I'll take it.

So trying to make a concerted effort to work on flexibility and corework for this block, and nutrition and rest as well. Happy about the race for the most part, but still don't have very good strength which is something to work on. Nothing crazy this week, but did sign up for the Girls on the Run 5K in Forest Park this Saturday, which will make for a good speed work session.

Happy Birthday Crystal!

NYC favorite Mary Keitany, Ritz, Deena, NYC preview, great story about a runner and some divine intervention, and Kenya will pick their Olympic marathoners after Sunday.

Thursday, November 3rd - 4 miles. Got home from work on a nasty, rainy, windy evening and busted out a quick 4. Out and back on the trails - legs felt ok, but needed to get this in because of dinner plans with Pat and Crystal. Afterwards, went to Global Brew and Tap to celebrate Crystal's birthday. Happy Birthday Crystal!!!

Racing tomorrow. I have a small run I want to get in after work, then relax for tomorrow's race. Would like to run something strong, as this will probably be my best attempt at a 2011 best 5K time so we shall see. I know the course pretty well, and it's flat so I'll give it a go. At the very worst, a good opportunity for speedwork. NYC is this Sunday - best of luck to the runners, and a special shoutout to my buddy Gabe who is shooting for an aggressive time. GOOD LUCK RUNNERS!!!!!!!

3 more days!

Kim Smith, NYC nostalgia, Mary Wittenberg, Sam Chelanga joining OT Elite, NYC Marathon over 2 days?, Jen Rhines, Bobby Curtis, dropping pacers hasn't hurt the NYC Marathon, more Kim Smith, and the evolution of the marathon.

Tuesday, November 1st - 6 miles. Nice and easy in Forest Park with Timmy and Cristina. Lots of people out on a nice, fall day. Sadly, probably our last run with much daylight with the time change this weekend. 58:22 total.

Wednesday, November 2nd - 6 miles + drills. Team Sullentrup reunion, as Mike joined us again. Finally had a run that felt ok, and I got yelled at a few times for pushing the pace. Part of it on the trail, the rest in the neighborhood as we did 4-5 loops around. Drove to the track to do drills afterwards. Total time: 50:35 (negative split every mile, I believe).

Running a 5K this weekend in Creve Couer park with some coworkers. Not much time expectations, but would like to run well as I know the park and it's pretty flat.

NYC this weekend!

Meb's preparation, NYC elites, where to watch the marathon this weekend, Deena wins in LA, 2:03:42 for Wilson Kipsang, Kenyan Olympic debacle, bad weather in NYC.

Tuesday, October 25th - 6 miles. Ran Forest Park loop very slow. Amazing how dark it is getting after 6 p.m. Legs felt like poop - ran for 56-57 minutes.

Wednesday, October 26th - 0! Rain + couch's strong gravitational pull = no run.

Thursday, October 27th - 4 miles. Ran with Pat and Crystal on the trail, then around the neighborhood. Definitely tired, ugh. I think we ran for 33:21.

Friday, October 28th - 1 mile. 1/2 day at work, then slept for a while. Went to Game 7 with Timmy, which killed my evening and any hopes of running. But I left my bag at Papa Johns, and had to run back there which was a good mile so I'm counting that.

Saturday, October 29th - 0! Slept forever, then Halloween party at night.

Sunday, October 30th - 0! Rams game bright and early, then got home in the late afternoon. Was too exhausted to do anything. Very sad.

15 glorious miles this week, and at least 5 lbs. gained. God bless the off-week!

Monday, October 31st - ~4 miles. Big River Halloween costume group run. Fun times, but tough trying to run around Francis Park in my Batman mask. Awesome to be running with the devil, Mario (from Super Mario Brothers), Joe Dirt, the Riddler, Mr. and Mrs. Kara Goucher, and the pregnant Chi Marathon runner. Nice day to run, drills at DuBourgh afterwards, which were painful. Ran 4.2 miles in 35:16. Congrats to Pat for winning the Big River Costume Contest - he was dressed up as a gigantic beer bottle lol

139.5 miles for October. 1707 for 2011. Can't screw around too much, or I'll miss 2000 this year.

Back to a new block. Trying really hard to work on corework, good nutrition, and a lot of rest. Hoping I can pull through this time around, and give it a good go for Houston in a couple months.

STL Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon Recap

Kara changes coaches/groups, STL RNR, results, Michael Wardian, Matthew Kisorio makes his marathon debut in NYC (he won Philly RNR 1/2 in a blazing 58:46), Geoffrey Mutai, and Haile wins again.

Saturday, October 22nd - 2 miles easy. Out and back with Pat and Crystal for a shakeout run. Felt ok for the most part, Home Depot trail route.

Sunday, October 23rd - 15 miles (STL ROCK N ROLL 1/2 MARATHON - 1:28:10, 85/~14,500, 19th in age group). Ugh, not what I hoped, and pretty much a disaster of a race. Got downtown bright and early, and warmed up for 20 minutes or so with Crystal. Got to line up front which was awesome, so the 22,000 runners weren't too much of an issue. Started out with Crystal, and ran the first couple miles with her. Gabe jumped in to pace for a while, but I fell off a little and was trying to get settled in - very difficult with the hills and many, many turns. Had already fallen off pace slightly on the 5K (20:23 I think), and was further off at the 10K split (41:02), and basically lost complete focus and mentally shut down. Legs weren't responding, and I was getting passed left and right and was getting very demoralized, so was a very long run back in at this point. Tried to rally towards the end, but just didn't have it in me, and was very disappointed all around. Amazingly, still finished in the top 100 overall, so I guess there was one goal I hit (try to get in the top 100). Crystal smoked it with a huge PR (1:25:09), and 5th woman (48th overall), so really proud of her - she put in some great work, and ran a great race. Congrats to Megan, Stacy, Pat, Tim, and Jeff who all gave great efforts on a tough day. Demolished some PI pizza to finish out the day, which was delicious as usual.

40 miles this week. Really surprised I got this much, didn't feel like 40.

Monday, October 24th - 4 miles. Big River Monday group run with Crystal, Megan, and Tim. Legs felt a little sore, but gorgeous afternoon and did 2 loops around Francis Park. A little over 4 miles in 41:07, I believe. Afterwards, went to the Mack to watch the World Series game. I got whupped in power putt golf, and so did the Cardinals.

Easy week this week. Had a long talk with Crystal after dinner to try to work out the kinks of what went right/wrong in this block. Ready to put in some good work, and try to get to the next level again.