Yes, You Can

My wife brought my attention to a nice article today about a good friend of mine and how he has overcome adversity. I wanted to share it with my readers because it is both inspirational and running related. I'm super happy for David's accomplishments! I'm glad I know David.

Winning over MS

HTC Half Results

So, my estimated time was quite optimistic! Instead of 1:40:12, I was 1:40:23. The optimistic number was probably the last time I saw. Really, I was so exhausted and spent, that I wasn't very aware of what was going on around me.

78 of 563 overall and 9 of 50 in my age group. Not bad for a rookie runner. Just back in February, I was barely able to run 3 miles! YOU can do it, too.

Anyway, as always, Tanjie's blog links the results with an emphasis on Limestone County finishers. I really appreciate her work in this. Hmmm.... Had I known that the title of top Limestone County finisher were at stake, I may have tried harder to overtake Glen! Really, I don't think I could have. Glen was just running strong today! Congrats on being the top Limestone County finisher.

And a huge congrats to Whitney Hollingsworth for winning her age group! Non-runners do not know how HUGE an accomplishment that is, especially in a race that large! Whitney is just such a solid runner, consistently at the top.

Overall results and age groups are at HTC's website.

Huntsville Half Marathon Recap

I met my friend Mark at the start of the HTC Huntsville Half Marathon at about 6:45 this AM. The training schedule called for 20 miles, so Mark and I ran 6 miles together before the race start at about an 8:10 pace. We finished just about 10 minutes before the race start. The goal that I had set for this race was 1:40. I crossed the line at about 1:40:12. I'll link to the official results when they're available.

What a great turnout for today's race! There were over 1000 entries for the half and the 5k combined. I didn't get to visit as much as I normally do before and after the race. Before, I was busy getting in my 6. After, I was completely toast! I tried visiting, but I just couldn't make myself be friendly. I could only think about how bad I hurt!! I've never felt as bad after any run or race as I did today at the end of the race.

I didn't set the Garmin up to auto-lap, so I don't have mile splits. But I held around 7:25 to 7:35 for the first 10 and about 7:55-8:05 for the last 2.5, and all I had for the last 0.6. Mark was my pacer, and I had told him that he should leave me behind if he has something left. For the last 5k or so, he took off. One day I'll catch him if he slows down. Nice run today, buddy. I enjoyed the 17 mile visit.

During the first mile, Glen King and Whitney Hollingsworth passed me. For the rest of the race, all I saw was Glen's back. He was REALLY running strong today. Nice race, Glen! Congrats on shattering your PR by 4 minutes. I was able to pass Whitney somewhere past mile 11, but Glen was barely in sight then. I entertained the thought of trying to catch him, but my legs talked me out of it.

I'm relatively pleased with the finish. I was fading in the last 5k, but I was not getting passed. Only one runner passed me (well two others did as I stopped at the last aid station, but I easily tracked them back down) in the last 3.1, and I passed 5 or 6, maybe more.

That last quarter to half mile, I really gave it all I had, which was a mistake. There was nobody really in sight to try to pass, and I saw the clock pass 1:40, which disappointed me a little. I was in some pretty serious pain when I crossed the line.

Then, Mark and Glen joined me for a one mile jog so that I could get in my 20 for the day.

Off Day and Half Preview

Today was a day off from running and I slept through the alarm that was supposed to get me up to go to the gym. And tomorrow, I can't run or go to the gym because of other obligations. So, I'll take a couple of days of rest to get ready for Saturday's race, the Huntsville Half Marathon.

My schedule calls for a 20 mile long run Saturday. This half is in a tricky spot for me. It's too long to make the race a tempo workout, and it's too short go at long run pace. So, as weird as this seems to me, I'm not really that concerned about my time in this race because I'll need to find 7 more miles after I finish the race. I'll just leave some low hanging fruit for a PR in my next half.

Tempo!!!

I've attempted something similar to today's workout 5 times, but I've only completed it once before today. The goal is 3 miles @ 7:30 pace, 6 x 800m @ 3:21 each, 3 miles @ 7:03 pace. Man, that workout is HARD!! But the triumph of finishing it is pretty sweet!

It was a little chillier than I expected this morning! I met Matt on my jog over to the Athens High 1.5 mile track where we did the required 6 laps before jogging back home. Well, I didn't jog all the way home. I had my wife pick me up at Matt's house because I was completely toasted. 3/4 mile more was just too much to ask.

I don't have the exact splits for the first 3 miles, but they were right at 7:30. The Garmin had them at 7:10, 7:16, and 6:53. But it beeped and auto-lapped before I hit a good known mile marker on the track. It was just a few seconds optimistic this morning. Those splits were more like 7:25, 7:30, 7:15 or so. Estimating.

The 0.5 miles were... 3:12, 3:17, 3:20, 3:19, 3:17, 3:15. After the 4th one, Matt pointed out that we carried on a conversation for most of that 0.5 mile. Hmmm. We must be getting fitter! A conversation at a 6:40 pace? That was impossible not very long ago.

Now, this next part is the hardest part of the workout! I've always struggled to finish it. Running 3 miles at 7:00 pace isn't that bad. Running 3 miles at 7:00 pace is very difficult after running 6 pretty hard miles before it. I'm VERY pleased with these splits!

1. 7:01
2. 6:53
3. 6:55

As I was running that last mile one from a group of men more senior than I asked if I were on my 10th lap! I just grunted, "Almost!" A grunt was about all I could manage at this point!! I see those men most mornings that I go to the track. It's good to see so many people getting out and exercising even when the weather isn't the most comfortable.

BIG props to Matt for finishing this workout on his first attempt. He was about a quarter mile behind me at the very end, but what he accomplished today is VERY impressive! This was my fifth attempt at this or a similar workout. I'm only 2 for 5 on finishing it. So, way to go, dude.

Today's total, counting warmup and cool down was just a shade over 12 miles.

Hill Repeats

The plan for today was on again off again because of some personal things going on. But I was able to get the workout in, and it was a great one!

The schedule called for 10-12 miles with 10 minutes of total uphill time. Because of time, I had to opt for the lower end and only 9:00 TUT. Hopefully next week I can get 12 miles in. I drove over to Hughes Road in Madison and ran up and down the path that runs along Hughes Road for about 5 miles. Then I went to Thomas Drive and did 3 long hills (0.28 miles) and 3 short, steep hills (0.16 miles).

1. 8:02
2. 7:43
3. 7:27
4. 9:44 (Explanation to follow..)
   
5. 7:53

During the 4th mile, I had to take a tech support call from my wife. It lasted a few seconds into the 5th mile, also. I tried not to slow down, but I had to stop and walk to be of any help to her at all! She needed to know how to set the interval timer on my stopwatch. :) She got her workout in this morning too! One day soon, I'll post about some people who have recently started running. And some even credit my blog for getting them started!

Times for the long hills...

1. 1:56
2. 2:05
3. 2:03

Times for the short hills...

1. 1:06
2. 1:05
3. 1:01 (Man, I REALLY want to break 1:00 on this hill, but I haven't ever. I really thought I had done it as I was chugging up that hill for the 3rd time. I WILL!!)
   

The I ran a couple of cool down miles at 7:43 and 7:55. Counting the 5 miles, uphill and downhill, it all came out to right at 10 miles.

Easy Long Run

This is a recovery week, so this weekend's long run was only 10 miles. And I took them fairly easy. I met Matt at 6:00 AM to start. He already had 4 miles in before he met me and did another 1 after I quit. Nice job, buddy!

The coolest thing about marathon training is that I can say (and really mean) "only 10 miles"! This was my first run with a Garmin Forerunner (borrowed, not stolen or bought, thanks Angie!!). It took a little getting used to, but I really like this device! I only got splits for the last 8 miles because I didn't know to press the start button. Anyway, here they are...

1. 8:02
2. 8:08
3. 8:04
4. 7:56
5. 8:06
6. 8:03
7. 7:57
8. 7:44

I really like that the last two were the strongest. That 7th is an uphill mile with a fence.

Oh yeah, I played 6 games of racquetball after the 10 miler.