Running again

Haven't posted in a while because my running has been lackidaisical (is that still a word?)

2009 is going to be The Year of Ed. All that means is that I've committed to get in top shape this year, all in preparation for the Austin Marathon in Feb 2010.

How am I gonna do it.

First off, I'm back on Atkins to try and trim off about 20 lbs. I've put on a lot of useless fat in the last few months, that has to go.

Second, I'm running 5 days a week and hitting the gym the other days. My first running goal is the Governor's Challenge 10K at the end of April, I expect to do that in under an hour.

That's it for now, I doubt anyone reads this but if you do, I expect to do at least a weekly post on my progress and anything else that happens to need posting.

I'm back

Well, it's been a while since I updated the blog. It was important to me to keep track of my marathon training and blogging it was a great way to do it. I looked back several times to see where I had been. It was fun to see stuff about how hard 12 miles was after running 22.

Guess what, I'm ramping up for my next marathon. It is in Feb some time, I have my training schedule all laid out and you would think I would be ready to go.

Not so fast. A few months ago, I started having some dizziness, periods where I really felt like crap. After working out I would be really unsteady and it got worse and worse so I finally went to the doctor. To make a long story short, after seeing several people and finding out I don't have any heart problems or a brain tumor, I finally found someone who was interested in actually curing my problem instead of just kicking the tires and calling it a day. Turns out I have a type of shingles, a nerve disorder of some kind, in my right ear causing my balance to be hinky and consequently causing my dizziness. I'm taking some meds for it and need to do some blood work and stuff but I think I'm well on my way to getting better.

So, I cranked up my running last week in an attempt to get to start this at the beginning of October.

I've got a ways to go to get ready to start training. I tried to do 5 miles on Sunday and fell a bit short. I completed the entire 5 but only made it about 3 before having to walk on and off the rest of the way. I'm supposed to be doing 6 on Sundays so we'll see how I do next week.

Wish me luck. My body is still in pretty good form, the advances and changes I made last year are still with me but I have put on some flab. My wind usually seems really good but I haven't pushed very hard yet.

More next week.

The Freescale Austin Marathon and Me

I tell ya, with the various problems I've had, especially crashing at 18 miles on my 22 mile runs, I was a bit worried in the week coming up to the marathon. However, Friday evening I went to this site to read up on everything I needed to know about the race:

Freescale Austin Marathon

I had been reading the site for a while when I noticed a timer at the top right, counting down the seconds until the race. This wave of excitment went thru my entire body, only 1 day, 12 hours till I was going to see the results of the months of grueling training. Only 1 day, 12 hours till I was going to run my first marathon. I felt like a kid the day before Christmas, all the worry went right out the window.

Saturday was a long day, nothing seemed to hold my interest for long. I finally just hit the hay about 8 PM, planning on getting up at 4 to eat and get ready. It was a rough night, I didn't sleep good at all but finally the alarm was going off.

I got out of bed and checked the temperature. 27 degress, oh my God I'm gonna freeze my ass off. Oh well, what you gonna do. I made some coffee, had a breakfast bar and a banana and sat at the computer for a while. Around 5:30 I woke everyone up (my wife was driving me to the race) and we left about 6. It's not too far from my house to the race site but about 2 miles before the start, traffic was completely stopped. We sat in the line for about 30 minutes and finally got there 10 minutes before the start at 7. I jumped out of the car, ran to the start but no one was really lining up yet. I asked a lady who was walking by if they were starting on time and she said they had delayed till 7:30. Great, now I get to stand around freezing for 30 minutes. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, a fleece pullover, shorts, sweats and my hat. My wife had loaned me an old set of ear muffs so that helped keep my ears warm but it was still freezing.

Finally, we start getting lined up. I was pretty far back, I never start at the front because I'm too slow. We couldn't really even hear the loudspeaker but eventually, I could see the line moving was up front. The movement finally gets to us but I decided to jump out of line for a last minute pee break. I was back pretty quick and crossed the start line about 8 minutes after the gun. For those of you who don't know, they give you an RFID chip you tie on your shoe and that records your actual start and finish times vs clock times. Starting to run after standing around is always nice, I always get an andreline rush but I just kept my pace slow and easy. We were running down a residential street and it was pretty packed, not that hard to run but impossible to pass. That was fine for me but some guys were jumping up on the sidewalk. There is this lady standing on the sidewalk yelling, "Ice, Ice, Ice." and pointing at the icy spot. Sure enough, here comes this knucklehead, totally ignores her and busts his ass big time. I didn't see if he got up or not, just kept running. I have to say something about the clothing during the first few miles. As folks started getting warmed up, they start stripping and most people just throw them on the side of the road. There was enough discarded clothing along the road way to start a second hand store. You had to see it to believe it. They have people that come along, pick it up and donate it to charity so nothing is really wasted but I was amazed at the sheer volume.

The first 5 miles or so were pretty uneventful. I felt pretty good even though my knee was talking to me a bit. I just kept plugging along. I would usually stop at the water stops and walk the short time it took to chug a drink, drinking mostly powerade but some water. There were a lot of spectators at certain spots so I kept looking for people I knew. I hadn't seen anyone so my focus had gone inside when I hear someone yelling. I looked up and it registers he is yelling, "Jim Edwards!!" It was a friend from work, Kenneth Mitchell. He is a big time runner (he wussed on this one) and has been a big suporter of mine so it was nice to see him out there. The course was mostly downhill so that was nice.

Miles 5 thru 10 were a little rough, my legs were bothering me a bit and I was letting my head play with me but I just kept going, keeping my pace easy and relatively slow. Right at about the 10 mile mark, once again my focus has gone inside and I hear someone yelling. There weren't as many spectators in this area so I look up and guess what, my wife, Janie, and my son, Jason (Bubba), are across the street yelling and cheering me on. I tell ya, seeing them was a real morale boost. My wife yells, "Where are your gloves?" Well, I had taken them off and stuck them in my wasteband so, thinking I wouldn't need them, I dropped them on the street and my son comes and picks them up. Big mistake. The temp hasn't gone up much but we have the wind at our backs. It might be 30 by now and when you hit an area where the wind gets you, it's freaking cold. More on that later. I ate 3 Clif Shot Bloks at around mile 10.

Miles 11 thru 15 went by pretty slow. Hitting mile 14 was a good milestone because I have been running 12 miles on Sundays so just tell myself that all we have left is a nice Sunday run. It was somewhere during this time when my left hand, the side the wind was blowing on I guess, starts getting really, really cold. The race packets had these cheap cotton gloves in them and a lot of people had dropped them but the pickings were getting slim. I finally found one, it was a bit damp but I didn't care. My left hand was so cold I couldn't even pick the thing up but I finally got it. I spent the next 10 miles switching it from hand to hand, warming one at a time.

Miles 16 thru 20 were pretty good actually. We started coming into downtown, my hood, and I started seeing familiar landscape. I also knew the end was in sight. I kicked up my pace a bit since it was mostly down hill and I was feeling good. I knew I probably should keep going slow but just decided to go for it. My hips and legs were hurting but I had lots of juice left. I would kick a couple of miles then walk a minute thru a water stop, then kick some more. It was working out pretty good for me and 16 thru 20 seemed to go by pretty quickly as we wound down thru UT. At mile 19 I passed a timer and it said, "3:30" That really encouraged me. I had wanted to do the marathon in 4 hours but realized early on that it was probably going to be closer to 5 hours. I really wanted to split the difference so when I saw I had an hour to make 7 miles, I was pretty jazzed.

20 - 26 were a bit rough. I was still running pretty good but walking more. Mile marker 21 took us around the capitol. There is a fountain on the south entrance and it had a lot of icicles haning on it so I guess the temp was still below freezing. Leaving the capitol grounds and heading down Congress is a pretty nice downhill run so I did that in good time. Just as we passed mile 22, Clif folks were handing out gel packets of this Mocha Mocha. I grabbed one because I was getting pretty spent and needed all the help I could get. I've never taken a gel before, they just flat don't appeal to me but with the end this close and me starting to lose the juice I needed some help. I held it till I saw a water stop, ripped it open and squeezed it in my mouth. Well, it was everything I expected, like taking a mouthful of mocha flavored Vaseline. I only took half and grabbed two cups of water to wash it down with. At 22 miles, the course headed west then doubled back. So, you can see the runners coming down the other side and there was nothing to prevent you from just crossing over (that I knew about anyway). It was sure tempting but as always, I just kept plugging on. The wind was in our faces. Luckily it wasn't very strong but it was still cold as hell. I had expected to shed some clothing along the way but was still wearing everything I had started with (except my gloves of course). However, my inner layer was soaked with sweat so that wind cut right thru. A lot of 22 - 24 was uphill so I ended up walking way more than I wanted to but when I ran, I was running strong with a good pace. I found a second discarded glove at about mile 23.5 and almost got run over when I bent down to pick it up. I would make myself run at least a mile before walking a short way. We finally get to the turnaround and 24 mile point. What I found at the turnaround was a chip mat, I guess to catch any cheaters who cut across. Let me tell ya, if you've never done a marathon, you have no idea how good it is to only have two miles to go. By this point, when I stop I'm having trouble breathing so have to stop and let my throat open up. Anyway, when I hit 24, I decided to kick it in and started running strong. I was tired, out of juice and my legs hurt like hell but two miles is like rolling over in bed. I ran a pretty good pace till about 25.2 miles or so when I had to stop and breathe again. I walked a ways till I saw a big crowd, no way was I going to walk past a crowd so took off.

Before I knew it, we were crossing the river bridge with only about a 1/4 mile to go. I hear someone coming up on my left and when I look over, it's a lady who looks to be older than me. Well, there simply ain't no way some old lady is going to beat me in the home stretch so I start kicking it up a bit. Guess what, so does she. Everytime I speed up, she matches me. We get about 3/4 of the way across the bridge and I learn a lesson in humility (not my first for sure) when I peter out and the old lady shows me her heels. I putter on for a while and enter the corral to the finish line. I decide to finish strong and kick it up a bit when there they are, Janie and Jason, screaming at the top of their lungs and cheering me on. I get a little choked up which affects my breathing but I'm still able to kick past one last person and cross the finish line with a chip time of 4:34:39.

I'm now a marathoner. I've done something a lot of people have done but a hell of a lot more never will. All the training paid off and while I certainly didn't break any records, I'm extremely pleased at my performance. I'm even more pleased that I stuck with it thru the whole training, not wimping out or getting lazy once. I'm pretty amazed I stayed healthy thru the whole thing as well. I gotta thank the most important person in my life, my wife Janie, for her support thru the whole thing. She not only rode along on my long runs but there were lots of evening when I'm sure she wanted to do something else but came home or went to the gym so I could run. She's not only the love of my life but my best friend, I'm a lucky man.

What's next? Well, there are two rather big deal 10ks in April, the Capitol 10k and the Governor's 10K. I plan on smoking those bad boys so need to start doing some speed work. I think I'm going to take a few days off though, my pegs need a little rest.

Week 20

Week 20 ended with the marathon. I'll make a seperate post about that.

Monday was an off day, just hit the gym, lifted some weights and did some situps.

Tuesday was Valentines day and the wife and I took the afternoon off. We went to the gym first and I ran a fairly easy 5 miles. I almost got hit by a bus. I was running along not really paying attention and looked up just in time to see this city bus pulling in to the bus stop I was passing. This fat bitch either didn't see me or cut it too close but I had to jump up on the curb to keep from getting run over. I just kept running, she was gone by the time I got good and pissed off.

Wednesday was 4 miles, another fairly easy run. I'm feeling pretty good and ready for the marathon.

Thursday and Friday are rest days.

Saturday was 2 easy miles. It was pretty cold so I was able to test out my marathon attire. Man that wind cuts right thru you.

Week 19

I was in New York City most of the week. Some who read this will have seen most of it already.

Monday was an off night. When I got out of class I just wandered around, scouting out my running areas. I found the running path along the Hudson with no problem and then found the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. There is a big wide path going right up the center of it but after mapping it out, I just couldn't get the mileage I needed without running in some areas I wasn't too sure of. Besides, it's cold enough on the ground, I can't imagine what it would be like 300 feet in the air over a river (yes, I'm a wuss). I'll probably do the bridge when the wife and I come back on vacation, for now I'll confine my running to ground level.

Tuesday night was 5 miles. They have built a running/biking path all around Manhattan so you can run without having to cross many streets. It goes along the water so that is nice but that wind will cut right thru you. I spotted the Statue of Liberty on my return path. It was getting dark so I could just make her out but the torch was shining brightly. That was pretty cool for an old country boy like me.

Wednesday night I went running south from my hotel (went north on Tuesday). This took me around the south end of Manhattan, thru Battery Park, past the Staten Island ferry and under the Brooklyn Bridge. It was still light so I got a good view of the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park. The trail is not near as nice on this end, lots of running on sidewalks, across streets and as you come up the east side, you run thru what is basically a big parking lot. However, it improves a bit as you get close to the bridge. It's still freezing cold so I was glad to get my 4 miles done and get back to my nice cozy hotel room.

Thursday night I was going running Central Park at 7:30 with some of the folks from the Coolrunnings board. Here is their web site: http://thereservoirdogs.com/ I had to take the subway and there was a station right in the same block as my hotel so I head down there only to find that some asshole has jammed a candy wrapper in the credit card machine. So I head back up to the next station, get in just in time to see the train coming. Since there was only one choice when you go in, I asked a cop if that was the right train to Central Park. He gives me a dirty look but says it is. So, just to make sure, when it stops, I ask a guy hanging out the window on the front and he says it's will get me close. The only problem is that now I can't get in the damm train, it is so packed full of people. I mean these people are lined up at the door literally like sardines in a can. So, I move down to the end of the platform and wait for the next one. I finally get on but don't get to my stop till 7:25. I come out of the station not sure which way to go but just take off running in what I hope is the right direction. I'm at 86th street and soon come to 87th street (I'm going to 90th) so I know I'm going north and that Central Park is on my left. On the map, Central Park looks to be one block west of the street I'm on but when I look that direction, all I can see are more buildings. I get to 90th street and head west, hoping for the best. After a block, I see a lady and ask if I'm going in the right direction which she confirms so I keep going. It turns out to be 4 blocks so just as I'm crossing the street in to the park, I see a group of 6 - 7 people take off running. I pick up my pace a bit and soon catch up to them. I run up along side one of the them and greet him, expecting one of them to ackowledge me but he just returns the greeting and runs on. So, I'm just running along with them with no one saying anything so I say, "Are you guys the group I'm supposed to meet." They all turn around and look at me and one says, "Are you Big Ed?" Since I was probably the only Big Ed in Central Park that night, I acknowledge the fact that yes, I'm Big Ed. He says, "This is the guy from Texas." to the rest of the group and they all welcome me into their little running party. From that point, we all just chat and run and have a grand old time. 5 miles went by like 5 minutes. Central Park is beautiful, even at night and it is relatively quiet compared to the rest of the city. I got lost coming back to my hotel and damm near freeze my butt off but eventually get going the right direction, grab some supper and hit the room for the night.

Friday is an off day and it's a good thing because I fly back to Austin later in the afternoon.

Saturday is an easy 3 miles. My legs hurt a bit but level out once I get warmed up.

Sunday is my last 12 miles before the marathon. I get up about 7:30 and the temp is 30 so I make breakfast, putz around a bit and about 10 the temp is 47 so I get ready and take off. The wind is blowing but it's pretty comfortable with just shorts and a long sleeve shirt. The wind really hits me at places but I cover the 12 miles with little trouble. My hips are pretty tight by the time I stop but I pushed the last few miles pretty hard.

One more week to the big day, my first marathon. I'm a little worried but I'm just going to go and see what happens. My goal is 4 hours, I expect to do it in 4 1/2 hours but anything less than 5 hours is OK with me.

Wish me luck, hopefully I won't need it.

Week 18

Week 18 is ending a day early because I'm going to New York City tomorrow (nanny nanny boo boo).

Monday was an off day and it was a damm good thing because I felt like hammered horse shit. Sunday's 22 miles took a lot our of me. I usually go to the gym but I bagged that too and just went home after work and vegged out.

Tuesday I felt a lot better. As soon as we got home, I went out and ran 6 miles. It was rough, my legs were pretty stiff and tired and my knees were hurting but I persevered and made it.

Wednesday was supposed to be 5 miles. I decided to bag it, my knees were not feeling well at all and I'll be dammed if I'm gonna blow a knee two weeks before the marathon.

Thursday I ran 8 miles. I felt pretty darm good most of the way but had to push it a bit at the end. Once again, I made it.

Friday was a rest day but I went to the gym and did some upper body and situps. My back was hurting a bit and I think it was because I hadn't been to the gym all week.

Saturday was supposed to be 4 miles but I decided to do my normal Sunday run on Saturday instead. My plane goes at noon which means I have to leave the house no later than 10. The run is 12 miles which is a good 2 hours. Add breakfast, a shower, pre being gone a week quality time with the missus and I would have had to get up at 4 AM.

So I got up Saturday morning, ate breakfast and took off about 9:30. Honestly, I almost bagged it. My legs had been hurting at night and my knees didn't feel 100% but I sucked it up and went anyway. Can't be half stepping this close to the marathon. The weather was beautiful, perfect running weather. It was about 47 degress but not cold with a light breeze and a completely cloudless sky. My legs felt really good, not stiff at all. My knees talked to me a bit at first but everything settled down and the first 8 miles went by like nothing. It's really funny when you get to the first mile on a long run it seems like you have a long way to go but when it's over, I can't remember most of it and it seems like a snap. At about the 9 mile point, I hit some pretty hilly area and started feeling it a bit. My mind was telling me to stop and walk, a habit I picked up on my long runs but 12 miles is cake, no way I need to walk on a 12 mile run so I kept plugging. By 10 miles my legs were hurting but I just kept going. I made the 12 miles in some pain, I was even limping a bit when I stopped but I made it so it was all worth it.

The next two weeks are pretty light as I taper down to the marathon. I'll be running in NYC next week, won't that be fun. Oh yeah, before you get too jealous, the high temp the whole week I will be there is 38.

Two weeks to the big day. Man I'm looking forward to putting that thing behind me.

Week 17

Not a bad week overall. Hell it was a damm good week simply because I got my last long run done before the marathon.

Monday was an off day so just went to the gym. I stopped lifting weights on my legs altogether, just concentrate on my upper body and do a lot of situps and leg lifts. I'll go back to legs after the marathon but it was causing me too much trouble.

Tuesday was 5 miles. Legs were very stiff for the first half but loosened up afterward.

Wednesday went to the gym, lifted and did some setups and ran three miles. Still pretty stiff but got it done.

Thursday another 5 miler. My legs have loosened up a lot and I'm feeling a lot more confident.

I took Friday off from work for a complete rest day. Didn't do anything all day but sit on my ass. It was a little boring to be honest.

Saturday was 3 miles. A little stiff but that's what the runs before a long run are for, to work out the kinks.

Sunday I got up at 5:30 to take my daughter-in-law to work. I was going to just stay up and hit my run early but the bed was looking too good so climbed back in and slept till after 7. Got up and ate a banana and breakfast bar with a cup of coffee. I started getting ready to go around 8:30 and it looked like the wife was going to stay in bed but jumped up at the last minute and decided to go.

We got out of the house right at 9. The temp said 46 but it seemed a lot warmer than that. The sun was out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky and only a light breeze blowing, it was a totally beautiful morning. That is not always a good thing in Texas because it can get hot quick. I started out slow, legs feeling a little stiff and my knee was twinging a bit. The first few miles were a little rough but everything eased up by 3 miles. I decided to not try and run straight thru but stop and take short rest stops occasionally. I stopped at 6 miles, walked a bit and ate some Shot Bloks. The run into Hutto is a gradual uphill and was a little rough but as I turned the corner I stopped for a pee break and felt great. In fact, I was feeling a little too good and let my pace increase a bit which turned out to be a mistake. From the 8 mile to 11 mile point, I was running very strong and easy. The wife was riding right along side me and we were chatting a bit, it sure is nice having her along. I do worry about her a bit, she doesn't watch traffic like she should but luckily it's pretty sparse. She has been so totally supportive of my insanity, she either rides along on her bicycle or meets me in the car and keeps my fluids refilled and it's just nice having here out there with me.

Back to the run. At 11 miles I turn south and dag nabbit, start running right into the same headwind again. I swear there are places on this earth where the wind always blows and always blows against you and I chose to run on one of them. The wind was pretty strong and it took it's toll on me. I managed to run the 3 miles to the end of that road but I was pretty tired with 8 miles still to go. I stopped for another rest break, ate some more shot bloks and trudged on. The rest of the way was tough and somewhere between 20 and 21 miles, I was completely exhausted. I walked most of the rest of the way with short bouts of running, pushing thru on sheer will power alone but somehow still managed to finish something around 22.75 miles in under 4 hours. I ended up laying on the floor for about 10 minutes when I got home trying to get some energy back.

That was my last long run before the marathon. The next two Sundays are only 12 mile runs and the marathon is only three weeks away. I'm hoping that by pushing myself so hard in the training, it will show results as my body rebuilds itself into a lean, mean marathon running machine. We shall see...

Isabella

Isabella
Originally uploaded by Big Ed the Bad.

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