2014 Year in Review, and Arthur the stray dog finds a home.
Monday, November 17th –~ 4 miles. Holy freezing! Wind chill of 2 degrees, and eventually
forced myself out the door – mask and all.
Did 270 loop and some change, and ended up wiping out on the sidewalks
on 159 because of ice. No damage, but
enough of a scare that I cut my run short.
Dark and icy sidewalks are not a good combination. 30-35 minutes (no watch), and two almost
frozen eyeballs.
Tuesday, November 18th – 6 miles. Easy run with Yoch after work in the
Maryville roads. We switched workout
with easy run, because of the crappy temps – another cold night (high teens),
and I was concerned with doing a tempo run on hilly, icy sidewalks, so
flip-flopped my schedule. Easy out and
back, and we were cruising the entire time.
Cold as balls, but we warmed up a bit coming back. Sad when 18 degrees can feel “warm” in
parts. 47 minutes total.
Wednesday, November 19th – 8 miles (1 up, 6 mile
cutdown, 1 down). Yoch and I ventured
out to Village Circle, per plan. A much
warmer 28 degrees, and could actually feel my appendages. Goal was 6-8 miles cutdown tempo, starting
from a little over marathon pace, and cut down 10 seconds every mile. Given the cooler conditions and my lack of
patience, decided to do the shorter 6 miles but cut down from marathon
pace. So we got started, and tried to
get settled into a comfortable pace as the first few miles should have felt
nice and controlled. Well, we immediately
started with a sub 7 minute mile, and tried to hold pace for the second mile so
we weren’t getting too aggressive. After
the too fast third mile, finally got in control and worked out way down with
good results and good effort. Yoch is
great for my workouts – he just sits with me and very easy to work with. Last mile, didn’t even look at the watch and
just grinded. On the last quarter mile,
kind of gave into the pain and my form went to hell but we finished out strong
despite all that. Very pleased with this
workout and results, and things are really starting to round out. Splits were: 6:56, 6:57, 6:35, 6:28, 6:18,
6:04. Warmup/cooldown right at 8
min/pace.
Thursday, November 20th – 6 miles. Forest Park group run with Craig, Joe, Timmy,
Matty D, Andrea, and two others I don’t know that well. Cold evening, but we warmed up and did
reverse loop nice and easy. Great
company, and the run went by very quickly.
Didn’t see hardly anyone out on the trails – obviously, the colder
weather really weeds out the true runners from the wannabes (JK!) J. 50 minutes overall.
Friday, November 21st – 0! Late night at work, and dinner plans equals
no time. Scheduled fartlek, so not happy
to miss a workout. Gonna have to make it
up at some point…
Saturday, November 22nd – 12 miles. Out and back loop with Mike on a windy/rainy
day. We were going to do out and back on
the trails, but opted for Old Faithful since the wind/rain combo was starting
to get uncomfortable. I made the
tactical mistake of eating a big breakfast (sausage and scrambled eggs, if you
were wondering), and felt like I was carrying a massive brick the entire
time. About 9 miles into it, final
started to feel better and the remnants of my breakfast was starting to
digest. Cruised in, and literally
finished exactly the same time to the second as our 12 miler from last
weekend. Kind of crazy, seeing we did a
different route – may have to see if we can three peat next weekend!
Sunday, November 23rd - ~8 miles. St. Louis Track Club Marathon Relay on a
rainy, cooler morning. I got dragged
into doing this by some buddies, and dragged my carcass out of bed to convene
with my team in Forest Park during an annoying rainfall. This was actually a race I have been wanting
to do, and it worked out well in my schedule.
Spent most of the hour before the race trying to put up a tent (how many
runners does it take to put up a tent?
The answer is 3), and got in a pretty pathetic 5 minute warmup – it was
determined that I would lead the team, and I was pretty adamant of not running
fast given my long run the day before and just general tiredness from the early
morning. Ran into a couple local runners
and my friend Larry, and got swept up in the moment and ran out with Larry, who is faster than I
am. We looped back through the start
area, before running around the Muny and headed towards the Visitor’s Center
and Skinker. Looked at our pace, and saw
we had split sub 6 minute pace through a little over the half, so backed off a
ton and let Larry go and tried to get locked into a good tempo pace. Ran out, and looped around a huge roundabout
close to Art Hill before heading back towards the Muny. Felt pretty comfortable, and saw Larry pass a
couple people a bit ahead so focused on the two girls in front of me. Picked off one of them with a little less
than a mile to go, then was closing ground on the other before I finished my
leg. At this point, I think we were in 9th
or 10th place, and there were some pretty fast runners ahead of
me. Good effort, and got in the tent to
dry off and wait an hour or so before my next leg. Legs were a bit tired, and didn’t expect much
from my second run and intentionally started out easy. Since everyone was running the same 3+ mile
loop, there were a ton of people to pick off as I worked my way through the
loop. Felt surprisingly good, and maintained
a good hard effort through this leg.
Dried off and cooled down, and socialized with some of the other teams
as there were a lot of familiar faces out there. Waited for the rest of my team to circulate,
then started my next loop with some tired legs.
Clicked off a 6:13 first mile without too much discomfort, and just kept
the effort up and powered through with a faster split than the first, to my
surprise. Everyone else finished up, and
we ended up 4th overall! Fun
times with a good group of guys and a great workout as well. 6:19 average pace for first leg
(6:11/6:30/6:19), 6:17 for second leg (6:13/6:28/6:17). 44 miles this week, 143 miles in November, 2067.5 miles in 2014.
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| Hatcher coming through his first leg |
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| Mikey and I |
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| Starting my second leg |
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| The 4th place team of "Gibbs smells funky" |
Monday, November 24th – 0! A crazy night in the city of St. Louis, and
the Ferguson protests became deadly. We
got home pretty late, then ate a quick dinner.
Had intentions of a quick run, but the press conference of the Grand
Jury decision stole my attention, and watched as anarchy ruled the city of
Ferguson. Very scary sights and sounds,
and praying for peace and safety for the people.
Tuesday, November 25th – 0!
Wednesday, November 26th – 0! Travel day home. Weather was a mess, as we ended up getting
snow and very slick conditions. Opted to
start the drive to Peoria before it got too nasty, and made it despite some
horrible conditions north of Springfield.
With the race tomorrow, opted for rest.
Thursday, November 27th - ~7 miles (2 up,
INAUGURAL CHOCOLATE TURKEY 3 MILER: 18:13, 11/450, 1st in 35-39 Age
Group, 2 down). Cold morning in Peoria,
and made my way to the Peoria Riverfront to run the inaugural Chocolate Turkey
3 Mile race. Did a 20 minute warmup on
the trails, and tried to get some feelings in my hands as it was pretty chilly
outside (20’s and windy). Loop course
that went out on the main roads, crossed over to the trails, and back to the
finish (same as start). Pretty flat
overall, with a decent hill we went up on the first mile but conversely a
downhill on the second mile, with a flat last mile. Lined up with the fast college kids, and off
we went! Immediately, we were gapped by
a group of 6-7 college kids, and worked my way out towards the outskirts of
downtown before turning up the only hill on the course. At that point, I got caught by 3 other
runners, and worked with them before they slowly pulled away. We hit above 6 minutes on the first mile,
which was a big warning flag to me because the effort felt a lot stronger to me
and was expecting around 5:50. We turned
off the main road onto a side street, which made its way onto a trail that led
us back – there was a tight turn which I slipped on (not a bad slip, but enough
to slow down and take the turn carefully), but then it was all flat trail for
the rest of the race. One of the guys
that passed me fell off the little pack, and saw him looking over his shoulder
quite a bit so I knew he was struggling and it was go time for me. Reeled him in a little past the 2 mile
marker, and encouraged him to come with me which he did. We worked together for the last mile, and
worked our way to the Riverfront street with about a third of a mile to
go. On that final stretch, there were 3
stop signs and the finish, and strategized to make my move on the second stop
sign. Well, right as we passed the first
one, this little punk summoned some ungodly reserve strength and blasted off
like he had a jet propeller on his back.
He turned around and motioned me to come with him, but his move and
reserve adrenaline more or less demoralized me and I limped in with my tail
between my legs a couple seconds behind.
Beaten, but by a kid half my age, so I don’t feel too horrible about
it. Nonetheless, a fun race, and one
that I felt very rusty but what can I expect after my 3 day sabbatical? Cooled down with the 2 guys that finished
ahead of me, then destroyed some chocolate fondue and waited for my candied
apple age group prize! 6:02/6:08/6:00
were my splits.
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| Inaugural Chocolate Turkey Race! |
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| Spoils of war |
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| Happy Thanksgiving! |
Friday, November 28th – 6 miles. Solo run at Creve Couer Park. Forgot a watch, and went purely by effort and
did the big loop around CC. Warm day,
and felt myself pushing quite a bit. Did
the loop under 45 minutes, which means I went over a minute per mile too fast!
Saturday, November 29th - ~5 miles. Crystal dragged me out to help on her steady
state run. Goal was 4 miles at 6:10-6:15
pace, which is pretty aggressive for me, and because of the wind we settled on
doing an out and back on Old Faithful which was protected with the trees. Probably should have done it all with her but
figured the part I could help the most was at the end, so told her I would do
1-1.5 miles with her, then the finish.
Felt very strong, and made our way through pretty easily until we hit
the bridges, which had ice/slush on them.
Slid my way a bit, then had to slow down to prevent a massive spill
before surging to catch back up to Crystal.
We hit the first mile at 6:08 (slightly downhill), and maintained pace
until I pulled off at 1.5 miles. Jogged
back with Pat past the bridges, and she caught up soon after and we hammered the
last mile or so in 6:20 (uphill, into the wind) to hit her workout on the
nose. Warmed up and cooled down for 10
minutes in the neighborhood, and a solid workout for both of us. I probably should have attempted to do it all
with her – would have been tough, but I know I can do it.
Sunday, November 30th – 11 miles. Long run with Pat, Colby, Yoch, and
Crystal. Long loop towards Home Depot,
down Meridian, and up Old Faithful. Felt
like complete poo from the Thanksgiving weekend celebrations, and summoned
enough strength to join the very fast pack.
The weather was very warm and sunny (mid-high 60’s in late November???),
and almost tore my shirt off at a few points because I was getting so sweaty. Ran the first 1.5 miles with Pat before he
turned around, and we ventured onwards.
Not surprisingly, picked up the pace going down the Meridian Hill, and I
told the others that I was going to slow down a little once we flattened
out. Well, the pace did slow down for a
mile, before it picked back up, and we hit our 3 fastest miles going up Old
Faithful which was a nice slow ascent.
Didn’t feel any worse than I had on the run, but Crystal started picking
it up and just sat on her. The last mile
turned into us pushing it, and Yoch and Colby chasing. We all turned off into the neighborhood, then
the pace dropped to virtually 5K pace and just a good old fashioned throw
down. Those guys gapped me by about 5
seconds, and a mid 6 minute last mile, which was more or less all because of
the last 0.4 miles. Fun, but definitely
felt that one! 1:23 total (~7:37
avg.) 29 miles this week (UGH), 170 miles
in November, 2096.5 miles in 2015.
Monday, December 1st - ~4 miles. Solo run late at night. The cold weather moved its way in last night,
and wreaked havoc on the roads and delayed any ideas of a run until later at
night. So eventually forced myself to
brave the elements around 9:30 at night, and get in roughly 30 minutes. It was cold, but barely any wind which made
things a lot more comfortable. Looped to
Village Circle, then did a partial 270 loop before bailing because of some ice
on the sidewalks. Nice and easy…
Tuesday, December 2nd - ~7 miles. (1x800, 3x400, 4x300, 4x200, 4x100, jog the
rep distance in between) Track workout
with Colby on a chilly evening. Put this
workout off for a bit, and finally found a good day to get this in. Goal was to hit the longer reps at mile pace
effort, then work a little faster on the shorter distances. Colby and I traded off the leads on reps, and
hit aggressive paces overall. I hadn’t
done much turnover work, and was tough to find the pace. Having Colby out there helped, and we were
definitely moving a bit. By the 3rd
300 meter rep, my legs were pretty shot and could feel the lactic acid
burn. Pretty happy overall with this
workout, and a lot of fun since it was different than the ones I have typically
done. Splits were: 800 – 2:40, 400’s -
76, 75, 74, 300’s – 55, 55, 55, 55, 200’s – 34, 34, 33, 34, 100’s – 17, 17, 17,
17.
Wednesday, December 3rd – 6 miles. Neighborhood run with Yoch, Pat and
Crystal. As predicted, my legs were
absolutely shredded and we started out nice and easy. Looped around the neighborhood doing every
possible combination of turns and loops, and did the entire run rather
painlessly. By the third mile, I had
sufficiently loosened up and we picked it up.
Chilly night, but not much wind and felt really good by the time we were
done. Started out in the high 8’s,
finished in the low 7’s – 48:08 total.
Thursday, December 4th – 6 miles
Friday, December 5th – ~5 miles. Fartlek with Crystal in the rain. 20 seconds on, 1 minute off at mile effort,
and blasted through this in her neighborhood.
Effort was tough for me, but we made it through despite stepping in 50
puddles and some annoying drizzling rain.
A little puzzled by the stats upon looking at them – thought we were
cruising, but a little slower according to Garmin. Wet conditions and tight turns may have
contributed to that, but who knows?
Saturday, December 6th – 6 miles. Solo out and back towards Troy on the
trails. Dragging but made it
through. Didn’t do the long run I should
have – just couldn’t do it, and happy to get in some mileage. At night, went out to see my first country
concert – Garth Brooks! By no means am I
a country music fan, but he was a hell of a performer and glad to see a legend
perform on his last tour!
Sunday, December 7th – 0! Completely inoperable, and probably needed
the off day quite honestly. My mileage
has been sh*t the last couple weeks, so need to step it back up. I don’t want to fall into too much of a lull,
and lose momentum, especially with the long run. 34 miles this week, 34 miles in December, 2130.5 miles in 2015.
Monday, December 8th – 6 miles. Ran solo late at night on my Glen Carbon loop
(to the covered bridge and back). Late
start, so traffic was minimal and the conditions were pretty decent despite the
cold air (minimal wind). Legs felt a
little rusty, but was keeping up a decent pace which didn’t feel
uncomfortable. 45 minutes and some
change, overall – pretty solid.
Tuesday, December 9th – 6 miles. Maryville loop with Yoch. What a difference one day makes! Effort felt harder, and pace was 40 seconds
per mile slower. Long day at work, and
was just dragging in general. What is it
about winter days that make you want to only eat and sleep??? Weather was chilly, but made it through ok
despite running like a sloth. 48 minutes
and some change.
Wednesday, December 10th – 8 miles (2 up, 5 x 1
mile, 1 minute rest, 1 down). Track work
after work with Pat, Crystal, and Yoch.
Warmed up on the streets, then got going. Coach Kyle had me do this workout with strict
instructions to hit 6:40 pace, which I thought was kind of soft. 4-5 mile repeats with 1 minute rest in
between, and the weather was cold but pretty tolerable. Crystal paced me through the first one, and
it was clear to me that 6:40’s were going to be tough to hit since we were
having to slow down to hit 6:30 and conversing the entire way through. Did the next few solo (Pat jumped in and
helped out on a few laps) and was cruising, but going way too fast then the
prescribed pace. Yoch and I both decided
to hit 5 repeats, so made it through the last one (was getting a tired) and we
cooled down for a quick mile. Very
pleased overall, and blew this one out of the water but not overly surprised
either – workouts have been going good for me, lately. Splits were: 6:32, 6:28, 6:24, 6:18, 6:07.
Thursday, December 11th – 5 miles. Early morning run with Crystal. Neighborhood loop over and over again, and
pretty much sleep walked through this one.
Legs were a bit trashed, but made it through ok. Threw the towel in at 5 miles, as I got a
late start in the morning and needed to get ready for work. Hit the 5 mile split exactly at 40 minutes,
and threw in a couple more minutes to run back to my car.
Friday, December 12th – 0! Scheduled day off – need to let the legs rest
a bit before the crazy running weekend.
Saturday, December 13th - ~8 miles. Pere Marquette Trail Run! Fun times on a complete opposite day fromlast year, and ended up running easy with Craig. Well, easy is still difficult on this course,
and definitely struggled on parts but made it through relatively
unscathed. Twisted my ankles a countless
amount of times, and almost wiped out but made it through! This course is so difficult to explain, but
stole a ton of pics from my buddy Brent Newman’s photo feed to help try to show
the “fun”. First 3.5 miles are pretty
brutal, but gets more tolerable later on.
I will contest that this is the most difficult course in the area!
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| Group photo |
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| These steps are pure evil |
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| Seriously! |
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| Are your quads aching yet??? |
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| Prerace |
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| Finishing the race |
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| Somewhere in Mile 1 - muddy fun |
Sunday, December 14th – 14 miles. Supposed to be the Arch loop, but improvised
to catch some of the Hot Chocolate Racers.
Joe and I met by the greenhouses in Forest Park, then looped our way to
Lindell and met Yoch roughly 3 miles into our run. Ran down Grand through SLU, then turned onto
Lafayette and made our way towards the Brewery and set camp for a few minutes
on Broadway to catch Crystal and O’Connor, which we successfully did. Backtracked, and dropped Yoch off before
finishing out the run. Last few miles,
Joe and I picked it up, and it didn’t feel very good. My legs were trashed to begin with, and
running 14 hilly miles through STL wasn’t the most intelligent idea. Averaged 7:50’s, mainly from the 7:20’s to
finish it out. Ouch! 47 miles this week, 81 miles in December, 2177.5 miles in 2014.
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| Long Run Selfie! |
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| Go Crystal! |
Monday, December 15th – 5 miles. Got Crystal to run a few miles with me, which
somehow turned into 5. My legs were
destroyed, and needed to get in some recovery miles. Well, some rain and good company makes time
fly by, and we knocked it out pretty quickly.
First couple miles were hobbly, but quickly picked up and dropped to decent
pace – finished in 39 minutes or so.
May take today off to get in some good rest for my weary
bones. Winding down a solid 2014!
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