Kind of a blah week of running! I did manage to get in 5 days of running but the miles just weren't there. I wanted to get at least one run of 8 miles in but managed a high of only 5.25. I really need to get my schedule completed for the Rocket City marathon and get on track with that. I really want to get to where I am running 30 miles a week until the program starts. Hopefully this week will bump me back up there.

Mon- 3 miles
Tues- no run
Wed- 4 miles
Thurs- 4.1 miles
Fri- no run
Sat- 5.25 miles
Sun- 4 miles

Total- 19.35

Trip and stuff.
We got back from Arkansas on Sunday. We had a nice time visiting and catching up on news. This trip is always a tough one. When I am away from home I am always anxious to get back home, but when I leave there I always get kind of sad that I am leaving. I get to go to the town where I lived in the summers as I was growing up and also get to go to the farm where I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. The old home place and the barn haven't been kept up to well and really need a lot of work. These days there are no cows, no horses, no gardens, no tractors and all of the pastures are growing up. We took a ride down through the fields and the weeds and stuff are over head high. It's hard to look at it the farm in that shape and not get sad. My grand father worked hard as a forester/farmer and would hate to see the farm in that shape. I guess things change over time... and I deal with change well... but that is just kind of a heritage thing I guess.

On the way back to Georgia on Sunday I started feeling pretty bad- sore throat, head ache, achey muscles/joints. My step mom was feeling bad on Saturday so I guess I picked up what ever she had. I am still not feeling 100% but am feeling somewhat better.

The running has been slow go. After missing 1 1/2 weeks with the achilles, then busy weekend, and then the trip I wanted to start back up strongly. But the cold (or whatever I had) had me feeling bad and I wasn't able to get back in to it like I wanted. I ran 3 on Monday, 4 on Wed., and 3 this morning. The run on Monday had to be funny to watch- I felt like I was flailing my arms and legs every where. My stride felt so off. Wed.'s run felt better and this morning was ok. Guess I just had to remind my arms and legs what they were supposed to do.

I want to wish a Happy 34th Birthday Derek... my (as Glenn calls him) work running buddy. Have a good one Derek.

I am leaving in a bit to head to Arkansas to visit my family. The last time we went was in Oct. so it is about time. Kathy isn't able to go on this trip so it is just, as Glenn calls it, "a boy's trip." As it turns out my brother is going to go with us too.
I haven't run a step since last Wed. With my achilles and then just right out being busy trying to get everything done to be ready for the trip and then Father's Day there hasn't been a lot of time nor motivation to get out and run. I am going to take my stuff jsut in case I can get out for a couple of quick runs..... and I went on line and found a 5K about an hour from my Dad's house. I may sneak up and run that next Saturday morning... chances are not good but there is always the possiblitiy.

Hope everyone has a great week- til next week..... cheers!

I had a pretty good week going with two strong runs so far. I used the race last weekend to help me get back in to some faster times. I had kind of become a one speed runner- close to the same pace for long runs and short runs. Both of my runs this week were a good 30-45 seconds per mile faster than what I had been running and it felt ok. I think I just needed a good race to help me stretch my stride back out and increase my foot turnover.

Unfortunately about two miles into my run yesterday my left achilles started hurting. I ran 4 more and finished the run but was hurting. As the day progressed the tendon hurt worse and worse to the point that last night it hurt just to barely move my foot from side to side. When we got home from church I iced it and then put some sports cream on it. It felt a little better this morning but still very sore. As of now I will be day to day on running- hopefully I can get back out tomorrow. I used to get this every so often when I ran hills all of the time but it went away with icing and stretching. Hopefully it will go away quickly again.

I really wanted a big week this week as I will get very little running in next week. I am taking Glenn to Arkansas to see my father. Living in Arkansas he doesn't get to see is grandfather very often so we are going to spend most of the week there.

10K Torture Trail

Start- 82* Humid - Finish - 85* humid

I went in to this race knowing I couldn't do the 7:20 "Derek-A goal" given race pace but tried my best. This course it tough with the first mile flat to downhill. The next 1.5 miles is mostly uphill. Then alot of major rolling hills before a .8 uphill in mile 6 and then flat to the end. I was running about where I thought I would be going for "Derek- B goal" of 47:30. I kinda of lost it in mile 4 and walked up a couple of hills but was ok to push on from there. We were coming up on the 5 mile mark and I passed a wheel chair racer on an up hill and cheered him on. On the corresponding down hill side he passed me and headed in to the sharp left hand turn. A complete wipe out!! I heard 2 people behind me say "Should we stop?" My response was "If you have to ask then don't!!!!" Me and 3 other guys stopped and checked on the racer and stayed with him for 3-4 minutes until he caught his breath and assured us he was ok. We helped him back in his chair and then started up again. I guess I forgot to hit my split with everything going on. The rest of the race was kind of a jog to just get done.

Mile Time
1 7:20
2 8:10
3 8:09
4 8:45
5
6 17:55
.@ 1:45
Total 52:05

I think I would have been closer to 48-49 had I not stopped but I am glad I did. I saw the racer after the race and took him some gatorade and checked on him. He (and his wfe and two sons) were very appreciative. Five years ago I would have been so involved in my race time I would haven't stopped but at this point in my "racing career" it is more important to help people than to run a faster time.


There will be other races to push hard and hopefully I will get that faster time next time.

All of the running is over for the week until the race unless I decide to go for a short jog in the morning. That is very unlikely though. Friday's have histroically been my off day and I usually try to keep it that way.
I ran 6 miles with 6X100M pickups on Tuesday. I got up Wed. morning, put on all of my running stuff and headed for the door. On the way to do the door I let the left side of my brain tell me how tired I was and that I didn't sleep well, etc. and convince me that I needed to go back to bed.... which I did. No run on Wed. This morning I went out for a very nice 5 mile run. It was nothing special but I ran it all in my neighborhood. I wasn't in the mood to put up with cars this morning so I stayed in the 'hood- I was at 4.7 miles before I saw my first car on the road- then 4-5 cars came by. Oh well, I almost made it the whoel 5 without seeing one.

Marathon #13 / State #11

I have been thinking about what I was going to do this fall/winter race wise. I solidfied my plans yesterday when I signed up for the Rocket City marathon in Huntsville, AL. I have been wanting to do this race for a few years but it never worked out so this year I scheduled it and will try to schedule other things around it.

Marathon registration - check
Hotel - check
Training program- under development

This is a week I would like to forget running wise. My run on Tuesday was at lunch and I finished up feeling drained. I ran Wed. and Thurs. before work and had stomach problems both days. As it ends up I think I had some kind fo stomach bug or something as my stomach didn't feel good most of the week.
Cut my 12-14 miler on Sat. down to 9 because of the heat and the schedule I had the rest of the day. And then had 6 scheduled for Sunday but cut that to 4. I probably could have pushed through and done the 6 but given the way I felt Saturday I decided less was probably better for today. I just wanted to make sure I got out and ran some good, slow recovery miles.

Mon- rest day
Tues- 6 miles
Wed- 6 miles
Thurs- 6.1 miles
Fri- rest day
Sat- 9 miles
Sun- 4 miles

Total- 31.1 miles