2012 in Review

Desi out of Boston, Makau targets London, a heavy 10k!, 153 marathons in a year!, Delilah continues to roll on the roads,

Thursday, December 27th - 10 miles.  I don't remember this run very well, but I did 10 miles.

Friday, December 28th - 8 miles.  I don't remember this run, but I did 8 miles.  Actually upon further thought, I did at lunch at Creve Couer park, and it was freezing!  I think all the food/beer over the last couple weeks has eaten away at all my short term memory brain cells.  Seriously.  I do remember going to Global Brew to hang out with friends afterwards, and have a somewhat impromptu 15th year high school reunion!

Saturday, December 29th - 10 miles.  Crapped out on a run with Crystal with Marc and Trish coming in the morning, and ended up with a pretty late afternoon start.  Exhausted and the run didn't go too well but it got done.  Went out and back towards Troy, then 270 loop.  I think it was around 8:30 average pace, but not completely certain.  Definitely running on empty right now.

Sunday, December 30th - 2 miles.  Pretty much a wasted day with the Symphony and an impromptu Sunday Funday with Kyle on Wash Ave (downtown STL).  Took a long nap after a heavy brunch, then got outside for 18 glorious minutes of running on just beat down legs.  With all the heavy work I did at the beginning of the week, it's all caught up but I have a little bit of room to work with.  Afterwards, had a ton of fun with Megan to watch the St. Louis Symphony perform Pirates of the Caribbean on the big screen!   65.5 miles this week, 249.5 miles in December, 1991 miles in 2012.  Almost there...

Monday, December 31st - 9 miles.  Trail run with Colby on Old Faithful.  Crystal texted me in the morning to advise me to run Old Faithful since the snow was a nuisance and it was best to get out of the open area.  Colby came over at about 11:30 a.m., and we got started.  Ran to the trail on some lightly packed snow/slush conditions.  I intentionally wore a hat, but it didn't help - the wind was pelting my face with snow. Made our way to Old Faithful, then got settled into pace and hammered it out.  Snow wasn't too bothersome, but got tricky on the bridges where there was some accumulation.  Last mile and a half, we decided to tack on one more mile (previous plan was to break it up into 2 runs, but the snow/slush was starting to suck), so did a Village Circle mile and looped around the neighborhood.  Picked it up the last 2 miles, and worked hard for my 2000th mile!  Total time - 1:09:35 so 7:28/mile average pace.  Ran with Megan's new pink watch, which clashed significantly with my lime green attire, but the watch was effective and I definitely miss my Garmin - time to make a phone call and get this fixed.  258.5 miles in December (jesus, all time record BY FAR), 2000 miles in 2012!

Tuesday, January 1st - ~6 miles (44:32).  Happy New Year!  Forest Park New Year's Day run with the Wolfpack.  Ran with Crystal and Colby before they took off (punk skateboarders who were goading them), then ran with Fenley and Julie for a mile or so before we caught up with a few others who had taken the shortcut and had gotten ahead of us.  Legs were feeling really heavy, so slowed down and ran it in with Orrico the rest of the way.  Fun times and a good run with some good friends.  Post race champagne and Panera bagels at Sean's place - kudos to him for hosting!

Wolfpack New Year's Day

Wednesday, January 2nd - 5.5 miles.  Went to SLU track to try to catch Crystal for a cooldown since she was doing her track work with Coach Tim.  Was originally just going to go home and not run, but guilted myself into an easy run since my legs were just destroyed and thought a few easy recovery miles couldn't hurt.  Well, got up to the track, and snow had completely blanketed the track so Crystal was doing hill repeats on the road.  So I ran 3.75 miles on the track, then another 1.75 with her to cooldown.  Pretty chilly outside, but fine once I got warmed up.  We probably went faster than I wanted to, but felt fine.

So while I'm playing catch up on my blog, here we go with 2012 in review.  There were some positives and negatives, and I think I need to be overall happy since I accomplished most of what I set out to do, despite being well over race weight and not working as hard as I should have.  I started out with a good spring, but could never maintain where I wanted to.  There were a lot of disappointing races, but a few good ones that I'm very proud of.  So what I am getting out of 2012 is I proved to myself that if I can work hard and stay disciplined, I can do some good things.

Favorite Workout:

Always a toughy, and there were a lot of workouts to look back at.  Sadly, most of the work I did was before March which is why I don't remember as much.  This 4 mile tempo run was a good one early in the year that gave me a lot of confidence.  This workout was pretty recent, and gave me hope that I wasn't completely out of shape this fall/winter. Also enjoyed doing short track work with Crystal on this improvised workout - hitting 71-72 on quarters is pretty good for me.  But I think I'll go with the 4 mile tempo - when I hit a good tempo, I feel like it's the most rewarding workout of them all.

Favorite Race:

Man, another toughy.  I almost need to break this into 2 parts, because I ran a few team races that were memorable.  For team purposes, I was leaning towards the Shamrock Shuffle Open Coed Winner since it is such a big race and we rolled out, but the GO! STL Relay tops the cake.  We finished 2nd overall and won the co-ed division.  Also involved the most entertaining prerace of all with Crystal (most responsible, punctual person I know) oversleeping, then making it downtown in about 10 minutes (25 minute trip typically) to get us our bibs/timing chip and Gabe to the starting line on time.  Then blazing through our leg to set Mike up for a top finish.  Just an awesome story, and one I'll always remember with great friends.

For individual purposes, I was leaning towards the Top of the Morning 5K, which was my first 5K (and sadly fastest) of the year.  Nice to come back here and redeem myself after my awful 2011 race, and outkick Harry too since he had gotten me good in the last few races we had done.  But I am going with Cherry Blossum - a list on my bucket list, and I had gotten an entry through the lottery.  Nice overcast, cooler day in D.C., and because I had run virtually sans watch (didn't start Garmin on time), pretty much ran the entire race by feel and got in a great rhythm.  Awesome scenary as we ran past many of the monuments, and got to see a few cherry blossums as well.  But a good PR in one of my favorite cities, and a race I'm pretty proud of.

Favorite Long Run:

Wow, had to literally sift through all my runs this year and take a look because I don't remember much!  2012 was the first year sans marathon since 2007, so there wasn't much to write about (not to mention I crapped out all summer, the perfect time for long runs).  It's hard for me to designate a "favorite" since there were so many types of long runs - easy runs, workouts, pacing, etc., and I almost have to break it down into separate areas.  So a few highlights - Lakeshore long run with Megan during my sister's wedding weekend.  Gorgeous day, and got in some great distance.  The Rock n Roll Chicago Half Marathon plus a few extra on Lakeshore.  Ended up being a leisurely pace through the city, and enjoy the sights and sounds without having to race.  And I can't forget the Forest Park workout/long run with Crystal this summer.  The one hour tempo on the 2 mile hell loop - beastly, but I'm proud of the splits on a hot day.  The Fast Eddie's run was a blast, and definitely felt the easiest of any run that I had not to mention all the good company and post race food/brews at Fast Eddie's.  But my favorite long run would have to go to my 13 mile cooldown in Champaign while running Megan in for her first marathon.  A great workout/race in the morning with the 10K, then jumped in to run Megan in.  Very cool to run around my old stomping grounds, and keep Megan company as well.  Awesome to watch her cross the 50 yard line/finish and trust her fists in the air.  Everyone always remembers their first...marathon.  Get your mind out of the gutter!


2012 PR's:

4K: 15:49 (USA XC Championships)
8K: 31:27 (Shamrock Shuffle 8K)
10K: 39:35 (Illinois Marathon 10K)
10 Mile: 1:05:54 (Cherry Blossum 10 Miler)

Goals in 2013: PR in the half marathon, 8K, sub 18 5K again, return to the marathon???, 2000 miles in 2013.  Actually try to work hard as well, the last 2 years have been mediocre/disappointing, and I can't seem to put a few good months together.

Merry Christmas!

Top 2012 running stories, Delilah, and NYC race vs. subway!

Monday, December 17th - 5 miles.  Big River Christmas Lights Run!  Crazy amount of people there, so Tim and I took a different path and looped around the neighborhoods backwards before rejoining the pack.  Awesome to see 1000+ people out there, but the run is almost too big at this point with the crowds.  The lights looked amazing, and the families/homes outdid themselves this year.  9-10 minute pace - pretty slow.

Tuesday, December 18th - 9 miles.  I don't remember this very well, but it's in my phone at 7:58/mile pace.

Wednesday, December 19th - 9 miles.  Slow

Thursday, December 20th - 9 miles.  Slow

Friday, December 21st - 10 miles.  Happy Day off to me!  Ran out

Saturday, December 22nd - 12 miles (8 a.m., 4 p.m.).  Late morning run with Megan - out and back on the trails towards Troy.  Sunny and a bit windy, but nice to get out before our trek up north to see the family for Christmas.  Nice and easy pace (~9:55/mile), but we picked it up at the end.  Tacked on 2 extra to call it a morning before we took off.  P.M. - ran solo in Peoria neighborhood loop.  They got some snow the day before, so the sidewalks were covered in snow/ice so was a little tricky at a few spots.  Nice and easy pace, but the hills still suck.

Sunday, December 23rd - 4 miles.  Made Megan run my neighborhood loop at my parent's house - nice and snowy trails, but we were trying out her new Xmas present from me.  My quick viewpoints on the new watch is it's very small (good), and insanely fast to get a GPS signal.  The pacing doesn't jump around much at all (my Garmin can show paces anywhere from 5:10/mile to 10:10/mile when I'm doing 7:30's) and is very consistent.  The only bad thing is you can only display 2 things on the screen so between time/pace/distance, one of those aren't shown on the main screen (you can scroll on the next screen, but still a little inconvenient).  Cool watch though, and a good buy given the price.  Run was fine though - 10:10 average pace.  Didn't make it out the door again due to just fatigue and Christmas dinner, but didn't beat myself up too much over this.  We celebrated Christmas on this day, and was great to spend some quality time with my family.  58 miles this week, 185 miles in December, 1925.5 miles in 2012.  Legs are definitely getting abused with this high mileage, but the slower recovery pace on some of these runs are helping a ton.  Last week!

Monday, December 24th - 9.5 miles.  Got home from Peoria and literally forced myself to get out the door for a run.  Ran on the trails towards Troy, and headed back around town as well.  Legs were just jacked up, and my knees felt all of 33 years old.  S-L-O-W!!!

Tuesday, December 25th - 14 miles (8 a.m., 6 p.m.).  Merry Christmas!  Woke up later morning, and opened some presents and headed out for an a.m. run.  Ran loops on the roads by the track, and ran some circles on the track as well.  No idea of pace, but pretty slow.  P.M. - before dinner, headed out and did a loop around town - 270 loop and Glen Carbon.  Made myself get in a few extra miles to take advantage of the few days I have off, since it will only get harder on Thur/Fri when I work.  Legs were pretty beat up, and the last mile (fastest) was around 8:50.  Love it!

Wednesday, December 26th - 12 miles (8 miles early p.m., 4 miles evening).  Old Faithful with Crystal on a cold, winter day.  Legs felt poopish as usual, but went sans Garmin and prayed that Crystal wouldn't kill me. We got locked into a good pace, and finished with no problems albeit I was getting pretty tired at the end.  P.M. - passed out on the couch post run after eating a ton of leftovers, and woke up with about 50 minutes to run and get ready for dinner over in Webster.  Well, jumped back out into the cold night for 4 easy (270 loop plus neighborhood loop), then headed out to Milagro for a nice Mexican dinner.  Good drinks and decent food - may be back there sometime soon.  Early run was 1:01:35 (7:41/mile average pace), later run was 33 minutes and some change (8:17/mile pace).  On a less pleasant note, I weighed myself on Megan's new scale and was horrified to see 183 lbs.  So I have gained 5 lbs this last week or so, when I have been running almost 60 miles/week.  Not good.

4 more days to go.  39 miles.  This is starting to look like it may be possible.  I am going to take a big break when this is done.

Pere Marquette/Dash 4 Dan 5K Recap

Ryan Hall and his new coach, and weird running stuff/gifts that work.

Saturday, December 8th - 12 miles.  Met up early in the morning at Fast Eddie's with Craig, Dickson, and Justin, and headed out to the Pere Marquette lodge for the 24th Pere Marquette Trail Race.  First one ever for me, and had talked with a few friends of the craziness that I was about to endure.  It had rained the night before, so the trail was nice and muddy.  Justin and I were in the same wave/corral, so decided to start together.  Started roughly 6 minutes after the first group went off, so began through an easy path before we hit our first climb.  And was it a doozy!  Within 5 minutes, I was already looking at my watch and wondering when this torture would be done - the footing was uneven, stones everywhere, and the hills were unlike anything I had ever seen before - long and ridiculously steep.  Ran for what seemed like an eternity, and we hit the first mile marker.  Lovely - only 6.5 more crazy miles to go.  Separated from Justin, because the pace was already getting challenging for me with the hills, so geared back substantially and went into pure survivor mode.  Hit the second mile, and actually wondered if I was going to be able to finish this race.  The next couple miles were a bit better effort-wise (not as hilly) but even though I was intentionally going easy, it's a bit humbling to hit 42 minutes for your 4th mile split.  We had made almost the highest accent somewhere at this point, and was cool to see the scenary from the top of the bluff - amazing, but unfortunately didn't have much time to enjoy the view with this race going on.  Anyways, Justin has distanced himself quite a bit through the first couple miles, but I made up a lot of the ground back and caught up with him and passed him a little later on.  The middle/end part of the race is hilly, but not as painful as the start, and I was feeling pretty good so picked up the pace.  The downhills were rough, as it felt like I was hydroplaning since I had virtually zero grip on the surface.  My feet were killing me towards the end from the uneven surface and the pitter-patter steps I had to take going down hills, but survived.  After one more treacherous climb on some stone steps, it was off to races for me and basically flew through the rest of the course and finished with a blaze of glory.  Fun, fun times, but exhausting.  Awards afterwards, Fast Eddie's for lunch, then 4 slow cooldown miles at home.  Not sure if I ever want to do this race again, but it was quite the experience.  I felt like Frodo climbing Mount Doom - a little dramatic I know, but I'm not that far off.  But cross this off the bucket list!  Trail race time was 1:11:27 (9:32 pace), cooldown was sloooooww.

We went up and down these evil steps

Wonderful climb

FML

Torture

Pain

Climbing Mount Doom

Sunday, December 9th - 0!  Legs were exhausted, and I felt like poo-poo.  Opted for an entire day of couch potatoing and watching football.  Tough day, I know, but the rest day was well-deserved.  45 miles this week (crap), 65 miles in December, 1805.5 miles for 2012.  Making 2000 miles this year REALLY tough for myself :(

Monday, December 10th - 9 miles.  2 miles up with Robbie, 7 miles with group at Big River.  Nice, chilly evening to do group run.  Wanted to get a little extra in, so jogged a couple early around the neighborhood before jumping into the actual 7 mile loop.  Ran with John, David, and Heidi and not surprisingly picked up the pace substantially before Robbie basically told me to slow down.  So ran it in easy - much more smart to do so.  7:40's average pace.

Tuesday, December 11th - 6 miles.  Did solo at night, I don't remember this very well but it was slow.  Loop around town - nothing special here.

Wednesday, December 12th - 12 miles (6 miles a.m., 6 miles p.m.).  Happy 12-12-12!  Decided to do 12 miles in honor, so did early out and back on trail (Home Depot), then late night loop around town.  8:15 average pace in the a.m., and I honestly don't remember the p.m. pace at all.

Thursday, December 13th - 6 miles.  Another run I don't remember very well, but did at night.  I don't remember time at all.  I do remember being very aggravated that I missed speedwork due to laziness/procrastination.  My discipline is complete crap right now.

Friday, December 14th - 9 miles.  A much deserved day off work, so got in a nice run in the late morning/early afternoon after a couple hours of errands/cleaning.  6 miles early - out and back towards Troy on the trail, Village Circle loop, then a mile around the neighborhood.  Typical negative split for me, but oh well - it's my speedwork right now.  Played 9 holes of golf, then 3 slow miles later on.  Felt pretty good on my run, and cruised through it even though it was getting warmer.  I can't believe how warm our December has been - 60 degrees, and sunny!  Splits for the earlier part of the run were: 7:38, 7:29, 7:25, 7:06, 6:41, 6:29.  Pushed the last couple miles, but made it through.

Saturday, December 15th - 8 miles.  Broke this sucker up into two runs as well - 6 miles early (out and back towards Troy on the trail) at low 8 minute pace, then 2 miles right before dinner (7:57, 7:51).  Felt really good, but definitely some fatigue at the end of this long week.  Nice dinner with Pat and Crystal at Cleveland Heath, then a wii night at their place - just what the doctor ordered!

Sunday, December 16th - 12 miles (3 up, DASH 4 DAN 5K (10th place - 18:52), 3 down, 3 miles p.m.).  Benefit for a local runner in Megan's parent's town (Bethalto) so we signed up to run for fun.  Sunday afternoon races are definitely not in the norm for me, especially a warmer mid December day.  Was pleasantly surprised to see a crapton of people (kudos to Missouri Running Company for making this event very big - 500+ runners!), so got parked and headed out for a warm up.  Intended on 20 minutes easy, but saw arrows for the course markings, so ran the course to get a lay of the land.  Stretched a bit, then lined up at the start.  No GPS for me today - just my trusty Timex, and going purely by feel instead of psyching myself out with time.  No real time goals, but would have been happy with anything sub 19 minutes.  Right away, I saw that the pace car was going to be an issue (literally 20 feet from us), so had to twist my way to get around everything.  Went out with a group of 10-15 runners, but it quickly got strung out so was working with a younger high school runner for the majority of the race.  Felt ok, but knew we were going pretty fast on the first mile.  Tried to get settled in, and into a rhythm, and successfully so.  Tried to pick off the high schooler, but he outkicked me.  In hindsight, he was slowing down the last quarter to half mile, and I should have pushed then but just couldn't will myself to do so.  Frustrating that I know I left some out there, but pretty happy with the time especially considering I was at the end of my highest mileage week of the year.  I finished 10th overall (damn young-ins) but won my age group.  Bling is always cool to win.  Jogged the course backwards for cooldown, then 3 easy at home.  Legs were pooped!  Total time: 18:52 (5:46, 6:11, 6:10).  62 miles for the week, 127 miles for December, 1867.5 miles in 2012.  Very, very pleased with this week.

Alton Telegraph Cover!

Franklin playing with his new toy

1st 30-39 Men

Post race

Ryan Hall gets a new coach!

Ryan Hall gets a new coach!

About damn time.  Hall will undoubtedly benefit from one of the better coaches out there.  Excited to see what next year brings from him.  Canova coaches some pretty high Kenyans such as World Champion Abel Kirui and Chicago Marathon Champion Moses Mosop.  He has written a few articles for Running Times that detail his training philosophies - very aggressive stuff, and he pushes the hell out of his athletes.  Like I said, can't wait to see what happens in the next couple years.

Thursday, December 7th - 6 miles.  Met up with Crystal, Colby, Joe, and Justin at the Forest Park Visitor's Center for a FP loop.  Started out with the group, but wisely backed off after 2 miles - was already waaaay under pace and with this Saturday trail race coming up, didn't need to run an impromptu tempo.  Goal pace was 8-8:30, but a couple 7:20's and Justin and I broke off and ran easy the rest of the way.  Ended up hitting 7:44 average, so a little faster than I would have liked but still felt pretty good.

Friday, December 8th - 4 miles.  6 a.m. run with Crystal on the trails.  Out and back towards Home Depot, and it was pretty foggy and dark outside.  Leisurely pace, but my legs were definitely feeling the tough week.  Over dressed for this one, and was sweating pretty hard at the end.  8:40ish pace overall.

Looking forward to tomorrow's race, although all the blogs and pictures I have seen today have scared the bejesus out of me.  But the weather looks good, and running with a few friends so will enjoy it.  Because of the narrow path through Pere Marquette and the amount of people running (capped at 625), we will be going off in waves.  I looked up the wave starts/times, and saw I am starting 6 minutes back which puts me right in the middle.  The aggravating part is I am starting behind the Clydesdales (200+ lb. runners), which is very irritating and pretty much eliminates any decent chance of competing.  Not that I was running this race all out, but maybe if I felt good I would really push it.  Regardless, enough about my complaining, but plan on thoroughly enjoying my experience and getting a great hill workout while I'm at it.  Happy Friday!

Happy December!

Olympic Trails standards changed, NYC resolution - not anywhere in sight, impactful situps, Tera Moody, Lagat going for 2 Mile record.

Wednesday, November 28th - 8 miles - I don't remember this very well, but I know I did the mileage sometime in the evening around town.

Thursday, November 29th - 6 miles - late night once again.  My old 270/Glen Carbon loop.  Nice and slow.  Felt fat after eating candy all day.  I hate the holidays.

Friday, November 30th - 0!  Went to dinner in STL after work at a place called Sage (ok, nothing that special), then headed home.  Exhaustion kicked in from the long week, so crashed out by 9 p.m.  Not the way I wanted to end November, but it is what it is.  Rest is good.  208.5 miles in November - I'll take it.

Saturday, December 1st - 12 miles (8 a.m., 4 p.m.).  My long run was broken up due to a combination of sleeping in an extra hour and having to pick up my car from the autoshop (finally!).  So woke up around 8ish and got in 8 miles on the trail towards Troy, going out and back.  Hot outside - 70 degrees, and ripped off my shirt halfway through.  Can't believe I'm running shirtless in December.  Stopped quickly at home to pick up my wallet and phone, then headed to the autobody shop which is roughly 2 or so miles away.  Ran on backroads around town - legs were getting a little tired towards the end.  1:03:02 total (~7:53 mile average).  Later in the afternoon, got out and did Troy route again on the trail.  Had a bit of time constraint with some errands to do, so progressively got faster.  Was pretty overcast and windy, but felt nice outside and more importantly my legs felt ok.  Splits were: 8:26, 8:02, 7:43, 6:58.  At night, had a group of people come over for an Ugly Sweater Party!  Tons of fun - here are a few pics below:

Jenga!

Family photo

We're sexy and we know it

Sunday, December 2nd - 8 miles.  Late night around town.  Procrastination wins yet again, and suffered through another long run around town.  Legs were tired, and my body felt beat up - no idea of time at all, but pace was S-L-O-W.  44 miles this week, 20 miles in December, 1760.5 for 2012.

Monday, December 3rd - 6 miles.  Ran with Pat and Crystal, and did Crystal's 6 mile loop around town.  Ran with Pat for the first 1.5 miles, then dropped pace to try to catch Crystal which I eventually did.  Didn't feel too great after dropping pace, so was hurting the last couple miles.  I like the loop - definitely not flat, and goes by pretty quick.  45:18 total (~7:32 pace).

Tuesday, December 4th - 9.5 miles.  Hill workout with Joe.  Met at Visitor's Center after work and ran into Orrico, so did 4 mile warmup on the golf course with him and Joe.  The soft surface was awesome on the legs, and both guys had head lamps so was nice to run around the park and give the legs a break.  Ran over the Art Hill and did 10 hill repeats (~3-3.5 miles) without any breaks (jogged down and started right back up again).  Painful and tiring as usual - about 50-60% effort, and it just beats you up.  But a great workout nonetheless, and nice to see a couple people out there suffering with me.  Afterwards, ran around Forest Park and hit the soft trails in for a cooldown.  Very happy overall

Wednesday, December 5th - 7.5 miles.  Ran solo after work around town - ran to the trail, Village Circle loop, jumped on the trails, then weaved all around town.  Legs were tired, so wanted to keep it slow.  Watched my first mile split (7:52), then tried to keep effort light.  Well, good podcast + absolutely perfect running weather (high 40's, low 50's) equals happy legs.  So upon looking at my mile splits, I definitely pushed way too hard so shame on me.  ~7:25 average (7:52, 7:31, 7:22, 7:32, 7:30, 7:10, 7:15, 7:10 pace last 1/2 mile).  Part of this too was probably the hill workout - first mile, I thought I ran 9 minutes, but was way under it.

Easy run with Joe and Crystal tonight in Forest Park.  Running Pere Marquette trail race on Saturday with Craig and Justin - a race that I have always wanted to do!

Deer suck

Welcome back Lukas, soups, the end of Paula Radcliffe?, London Games learnings, award winning commercial, best running tips, Haile running marathon this weekend, Jeffrey Eggleston, and Kelly Calway.

Thank you Bambi

So I was a little behind on updates, but for good reason - on my way home on Monday night, my car met a deer which jumped directly into my path on Glen Carbon Road by the post office.  No one was hurt (yes the deer survived and scampered off), and this accident was the best case scenario accident I could ask for considering I hit a deer, but my car is a mess and now I don't have one until it gets fixed.  When I called Enterprise, they were completely out of rentals (holiday week), so I am trying to make due sans car.  Was a complete pain in the @ss to deal with insurance/police/auto body shop/rental car/etc., and the $1000 deductible isn't much of a consolation either.  Anyways, enough with my rant - please be careful driving at night, and deer suck.

Monday, November 19th - 8 miles (3 up, 4x400, 3x800, 2x400, 2 down).  Weird workout, I know.  Met up at SLU track with Crystal, John, and Colby, and worked with almost everybody at some point to get in this tiring workout.  Another perfect night to be outside.  Forgot watch so ended up using my Iphone as my watch.  Started out with 400's, but couldn't run a slow pace for the life of me (not to mention tired of holding a damn phone) so worked with John for a few 800 reps.  Did a 400 with Colby, then one solo to finish out the workout.  Legs were pretty tired by the end of the workout - hard to change up the distances like that.  400 splits were: 1:22, 1:20, 1:21, 1:18, 1:15, 1:17? (no watch).  800 splits were: 2:55, 2:53, 2:51.

Tuesday, November 20th - 8 miles solo.  Glen Carbon run around town, and looped all around trying to keep an easy pace.  Stomach was in knots towards the end, and Culvers ended up saving the day for me (TMI, I'm sure).  I don't know what my deal is, but I need to regulate what the heck I eat before runs - worst feeling in the world when your stomach is about to explode, and you're miles away from home.  8:15ish average pace.

Wednesday, November 21st - 6 miles.  1 up to Crystal's, 4 miles with her, 1 down back home.  Nice and easy on the trail was the plan, but we (meaning Crystal and I was forced to follow) picked it up and it was painful.  Still feeling the remnants of Monday's workout, methinks.  7:45ish average sounds about right, but I know we dropped it pretty hard the last couple miles.

Thursday, November 22nd - 8 miles.  4 miles in Peoria, 4 miles at night at home.  Happy Thanksgiving!  Great to be home, albeit for one day, but got in a late morning run solo.  Eventually made it home, then hammered out an easy 4 miler late at night, but the 8 miles weren't enough to offset the damage from the day (thousands of calories from turkey, ham, stuffing, cornbread, you get the picture).  4 miles in Peoria was 31:34 (8:03, 8:17, 7:57, 7:17), 4 miles at home were slow.

Friday, November 23rd - 6.5 miles.  Glen Carbon loop on a cold, windy night.  Did 270 loop, then ran through Edwardsville and looped back.  Wasn't feeling the best, and had crapped out on hills this week, so felt somewhat motivated to push it towards the end after I saw I was dropping pace pretty quickly after the first few miles.  Picked up the pace pretty good, and ended up doing a fat negative split on this run where I dropped almost 20 seconds per mile.  Was definitely working pretty hard at the end and although the splits weren't great, the effort was there so I'll take it for an impromptu fast finish.  Slow jog/cooldown home to finish it out.  6 mile splits were: 8:04, 7:40, 7:16, 6:54, 6:39, 6:22.

At night, ended up doing some massive cleaning around my place and hung up all my running posters and plaques.  I had bought a running medal and bib holder earlier this year, so decided to finally hang them up since my lamp (previously holding the medals) was starting to bend over from the sheer weight of 7 years worth of medals.  So here is the end result - pretty cool looking might I add.  For the bibs, I have saved almost every race I have ever done, so ended up separating by year and tying to a loop, then hanging by hook.  Picture to come.  Pretty awesome to look back at the races I have done and what I've accomplished - it's been a long ride, but I definitely appreciate everything that has happened and don't regret 1 single step!

Saturday, November 24th - 8 miles.  Troy route on the trail.  Felt poopish, but forced myself outdoors for the workout.  Meant to keep it nice and slow, but failed in that endeavor.  Didn't feel like I was going very fast, but the pace was good.  On the last mile, realized I was flying so kicked the last minute to try to break 7 minutes for fun (on the last mile).  Sunny outside, and deceptively warmer than I thought despite the winds.  1:01 and change total (~7:30ish pace).

Sunday, November 25th - 12 miles.  Waited till the last possible second to do this death run late at night.  Procrastination wins, but I still managed this run around town.  On top of it all, Megan made rice krispie treats which is my kryptonite.  So after eating half the pan, I made myself hit this long run as punishment.  I am absolutely disgusted with myself.  No idea on pace, was slow.  56.5 miles this week, 184.5 miles in November, 1716.5 miles in 2012.  Very nice week, but the eating was completely out of control and offset everything!!!

Monday, November 26th - ~5.5 miles.  2 solo before group run, then 3ish miles with Crystal plus a few drills.  Nothing special to report - pretty standard run.  Pretty damn cold outside.  Low 8 minute pace average, although we threw a 7:40 in the middle.

Tuesday, November 27th - ~4.5 miles.  Lucky I even got this in, quite honestly.  GO! St. Louis Happy Hour in conjunction with Movember (growing moustaches for prostate cancer awareness).  Crashed at Tim's place afterwards because of my damn car situation, and ended up getting a late run around South City.  I am not a big fan of running around that area late at night because of the crappy uneven sidewalks, but was able to run the streets without any issues since it was late.  Nice run, nothing crazy to report.  Averaged right at 8 minute miles while dropping pace hard every mile (8:39, 8:19, 7:45, 7:19), and added on a little extra because of a wrong turn.  Cold outside, but virtually no wind which makes it sooo much better.  Hill work moved to later in the week.

We're sexy and we know it

Thanksgiving Week/Much needed catchup

Ritz, NCAA XC Champs.

Wow it's been awhile since I've updated this.  Took a couple days to remember what I have been doing but since I have slacked off on my updates, I tried to be more detailed with this blog update.

Saturday, October 27th - 13 miles - group run, park to park with a big group.  Started at Forest Park Visitor's Center, then looped over to Tower Grove Park and back.  Fun with the group, but lots of confusion on the actual route.  Ended up doing an additional 2-3 with Crystal to get in the mileage.  Lots of turns, lots of hills, not my favorite run especially with tired legs. 1:44:37 overall, 8:02/mile pace for the run.  Halloween party at Sherry and Steve's later!

Sunday, October 28th - 8 miles.  I don't remember this run.  I am pretty sure I ran with Crystal, and this is what was on my schedule.  54 miles this week, 192 miles in October, 1509 miles for 2012.  Another solid week and headed towards 200+ in October.  Been a while since I had 200 miles in a month.

Monday, October 29th - 7 miles - 53-54 minutes.   I vaguely remember this.  Group run fun, and last Monday night run before the time change.  Escorted a couple newbies on the run, and ran with Robbie as well.  Picked up the pace later on the run, and we went faster than I wanted to but made it through ok.  Got to meet the New Balance guys (in town for meetings with Big River) at dinner at the Mack - great guys, and enjoyed some stimulating running conversation with some decorated runners.



Tuesday, October 30th - 8 miles.  I don't remember this, but have written down 8.  This is what happens in my old age, and not updating my blog on a timely manner.

Wednesday, October 31st - Happy Halloween!  8 miles (2 up, 4 mile tempo, 4 down).  Workout at SLU, and did warm up with Crystal before she engaged in her last workout before her assault on Indy.  Plan was to go a little faster than half marathon pace.  4 mile tempo was tough - never felt that great, and was fighting the entire way after the 2nd mile.  Crystal commented my form looked weird on the third mile, which was where I distinctly remember struggling.  But made it through all 4 miles relatively unscathed.  Effort felt like too much, but I need to stop complaining because I did ultimately hit the workout.  Splits were: 6:22, 6:21, 6:23, 6:18.  215 miles in October, 1532 miles in 2012.  Boom

Thursday, November 1st - 8 miles.  4 a.m. with Crystal, then 4 with Megan when we got to Chicago on Lakeshore.  Awesome day to be outside in both home and Chi, and the highlight was hitting a fast mile after Megan got mad when a girl cut us off getting onto the trail.  Funny how little things that can set you off will push you to new boundaries.  Wedding weekend begins with some good mileage.  Dinner with Dad and Ben at a Korean restaurant in Wicker Park.  Awesome to watch my Dad try to get Ben drunk on soju (Korean liquor).  Initiation to the Kim family, I suppose.

Friday, November 2nd - 15.5 miles.  5 solo, then 10.5 with Megan.  Lakeshore running - my favorite!  Woke up early and headed out to get in some good mileage.  Did 5 miles going north on the trail, and felt like complete crap and struggled the last few miles.  8:15 pace shouldn't feel that bad, but maybe just getting tired from all the mileage over the last few weeks.  Met up with Megan near the zoo, then headed South on the trail (into the city through Navy Pier) and made our way to Shedd Aquarium before turning around.  I had never made it that far south on the trail before, and was cool to be in a very scenic area where I have driven by many times.  Anyways, was really windy on most of the route, but made it through ok despite some very tired legs.  Fun times, and the scenary was amazing.  Rehearsal and dinner at Cafe Babareeba, which was very, very filling.  Late night at Aaron's (groomsman) place in Buctown, but I felt I earned it after the morning workout.

Megan on Lakeshore

Spoils of war at Orange!

Saturday, November 3rd - 0!  Anne's wedding day, and could not for the life of me make it up to get the run in.  But with the heavy mileage the day before, didn't feel too bad.  Woke up and ran to the phone to catch the Indy results - AMAZING with Crystal and Ken PRing, and the rest of the group had some great results as well.  But Crystal hitting 1:18 and Ken hitting 1:20 for the half - just mind-blowing, and started this special day with a big smile on my face.  Anyways, the wedding day was truly magical, and my sister was a beautiful bride regardless of what I typically say of her.  Lots of details, but too much to put into this post.  Below are some pictures from Saturday - it was truly a perfect day!

Sunday, November 4th - 8 miles.  Did this sucker LATE after we got home from Chicago.  Spent the majority of the morning/afternoon helping the cleanup/transfer of crap from my sister's hotel suite back to her place.  Was exhausted and could barely feel my body as I was running.  No idea of time, but ran around town nice and slow.  54.5 miles this week,  31.5 miles in November, 1563.5 miles in 2012.  Pretty awesome considering I laid a big goose egg on Saturday.  

Monday, November 5th - 7 miles group run.  I don't remember this, but I'm pretty sure I did group run?

Tuesday, November 6th - 6 miles - Big River Neon Night at West County/Queeny Park.  Brooks Running brought some of their people to the store to try on some night life apparel, so tried one of their blinky hats which is really cool.  I actually own an older model of this Brooks hat, but my big complaint is you need to press the light as hard as possible to get the light to blink.  This one is a little more sensitive and easier to trigger, and you can change the light to blink or just stay continuously on.  Anyways, I ran with Tim and did a loop at Queeny Park with the rest of the runners.  Really difficult to see since it was so dark, but they had glow sticks on the ground for direction for the runners.  Got really frustrating when we ran in the woods and couldn't see anything through the woods, and I'm pretty sure we made a few wrong turns which added to our overall mileage.  But made it through with no injury, and had a great time overall.  No idea of time, but went pretty slow and easy because of the conditions.

Tim, Kyle, me, and Kim at Big River Neon Night

Wednesday, November 7th - 7 miles with Brad.  Out on the trail, then looped through town and onto Old Faithful - completely different route than I had done before, and tricky in the dark with the crappy footing.  I need to find some basic roads to run on again instead of these awful awful crap trail conditions.  7:30 pace overall, picked it up substantially at the end.  

Thursday, November 8th - 6 miles.  Really quick loop after work around town.  Not much to say - legs felt like crap.  All this mileage is starting to catch up to my old legs.  51:23 total, I believe.

Friday, November 9th - 6 miles.  I don't remember this day at all, so going by what was on my plan.  Old age strikes again.

Saturday, November 10th - 11 miles (2 up, 3 x 1000 meters, 2 x 400, 1 down).  Crystal belated birthday run with Pat, Crystal, Mike, and Joe.  Got up to 70 degrees - pretty crazy that I was running shirtless in mid November.  Joe and I hit the track for some work early - did 1000 meter repeats, and it was rough because of the 18 mph winds.  Got in 3 repeats before throwing in the towel, then finished it off with some 400's for turnover.  Got to Pat and Crystals - out and back on Old Faithful.  Nice, easy run at about 8:20 pace with the group (well Mike, Pat, and I).  Afterwards, hit Global Brew for some celebratory beverages!

Sunday, November 11th - 0!  Crapped out on the chance to go early, then it literally rained all afternoon and night.  Legs are completely dead.  The break was much needed, and my quest for 2000 miles is pretty much done, especially if I am building up for a race.  Curses to my procrastination, but what can you do?  43 miles for the week,  74.5 miles in November, 1606.5 miles in 2012.

Monday, November 12th - 6.5 miles.  Big River Monday night run with Crystal.  Improvised long loop, then headed to DuBourgh for drills and strides.  Pretty standard, but felt good with the day break.  Stopped by Three Monkeys for dinner and some delicious pizza!

Tuesday, November 13th - 6 miles (2 up, 10 x hills, 1 down).  Forest Park run/workout with Joe.  Decided to try the dreaded Art Hill workout that he has been raving about, so parked at Turtle Park and warmed up around the park before heading to the Art Museum.  Anyways, this beastly mountain (see picture below) is about 250-300 meters long, and long and steep.  No break in between reps, other than jogging down which isn't easy because of the slope (and at night) - just one long continuous run/jog until it was done.  Decided to go slower to get a good idea on how bad these hills were - very intimidating, standing at the bottom and surveying the long, steep hill.  Within 3 repeats, I was wondering if I could even get through 5 of these completed.  Gutted through 8 repeats, before taking a quick breather, then hammered home 2 more to finish the workout.  I went probably a little faster than marathon pace - it would have been impossible to do any faster.  Tough, tough, tough workout but I will do again.  Quads were on fire!  Cooldown to my car, then home for some stretching.

Mount Doom

Wednesday, November 14th - 6 miles.  A.M. run with Crystal on the trails.  Cold, and my legs were still destroyed from the hill workouts.  Out and back on Old Faithful, but went by pretty fast due to good company and good conversation.  49:40, I think?  Later that morning, got some great news that Mike and Melissa had their baby over night, so went to the hospital to go see their new one.  Welcome to the world, Ruby Claire!

Ruby Claire

Mike's daughters

Thursday, November 15th - 8 miles (2 up, 2 x 2 miles tempo, 2 down).  BREAKTHROUGH WORKOUT!!!  Had been grovelling for the lack of results from my 6 weeks of hard work, so wasn't expecting much from this.  Weather was absolutely perfect - 40's and still air, so headed out to the SLU track (mainly because I couldn't find anyone to run with in Forest Park).  Warmed up then got at it.  Really focused on form and being relaxed, and trying to get into that zen state of mind where I was focused on running and being relaxed instead of pain and how much I hate running at a fast pace.  After locking into pace, I knew this was going to be a good workout.  Literally was hitting 200 meter splits within a second of each other, and was in my zone.  Last rep - locked in again, then let it fly the last half mile.  Just a lot of fun when you're hitting a tough workout, and it feels so easy.  Cooldown with Crystal, then long stretching.  Very pleased with this workout - hopefully this is where things start to click for me as I ramp up the longer tempos.  Splits were: 12:31 (6:16, 6:15), 12:11 (6:13, 5:58).

Friday, November 16th - 6 miles.  Bright and early with Crystal on the trails.  Old Faithful out and back.  Legs were tired, but got moving ok because of the cold air.  Standard run, but good pace.  Faster than I thought we were going, but the effort harder than "easy".  Mainly because my legs were tired from the workout last night, but pleased with the pace.  46:52 total, ~7:48 pace.

Saturday, November 17th - 13 miles (~9.5 a.m., ~3.5 p.m.).  Early morning run with Crystal and Colby on the trails of Glen Carbon.  Old Faithful out and back - plan was 70 minutes easy, but I knew that "easy" would not necessarily be easy.  Colby had just gotten in a track workout before our run, so we all agreed on 8 minute pace but after an opening 7:40, it was looking like a faster run.  Legs were tired, but we got through it ok.  Negative split, and definitely went through the last couple miles pretty quick.  Should have finished the rest of mileage immediately afterwards, but was just exhausted and literally went home to nap for a few hours.  Eventually scraped myself out of my bed and got in a loop around Glen Carbon to finish out the day's mileage.  Morning pace was 7:32/mile, evening pace was 8:20's average, I believe.

Sunday, November 18th - 8 miles.  Wasted the day sleeping in until uber late, then football.  Eventually snapped out of my funk, and did a town loop for 7 miles.  I had an hour before we headed out for dinner plans, so couldn't fart around too much.  Got home and did a quick mile jog to finish out a strong week.  8:07 pace overall - beautiful night to run.  53.5 miles this week, 128 miles this week, 1660 miles in 2012 - good mileage, great workouts.  Very pleased.

Happy with the way my running is going.  Hoping Thanksgiving doesn't completely throw me off track, and  I can hang on for another solid week.  Changing plans around to do trackwork tonight, then easy mileage for the next few days.