Marathon Training Log - February 26th - Day 54 - 5.5 miles

Yawwwwwwwwwwn... Ok, I am getting too old to stay out late on a week night. The getting up early really starts to take a toll on me during the week, and staying at Gene's till 1 am didn't help. I got to bed about 1:30 and up by 5:30. Out and running at 5:45 and back about 6:30. I am sleepy... Anywho, I made it. The weather was awesome... a little wind, and almost too hot for a sweatshirt. Somewere around 60 degrees at 5:30! I actually took off my pull over about a mile in and was perfect after that. My legs felt like lead blocks, and I was sleepy, but I managed. Decent time, about 8:30 m/m for 5.5 miles. Gotta get ready for a 14 this saturday. Gonna be cold again. Should be easy compared to last week. Until next time...

Marathon Training Log - February 25th - Day 53 - 9 miles

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The weather is finally throwing me a frickin bone... Today was GREAT. 40 degrees with almost no wind. I love the cool air, and it even smelled a little like rain. I got sprinkled on Tuesday morning, but no such luck today. I basically broke this into 3 different runs; The first 3 miles I went slowly just to warm up, then the next 4 I really kicked it on, and the last 2 I sort of cooled down. Amazing thing is, I was almost exactly where I am pace wise every other day! Funny. I finished in 1:13:42. Just a little over 8 m/m. Originally my goal was 9 m/m. I am still shooting for 3:45 in the race. Only 32 days to race! Wow... I can hardly believe that I have managed to follow this training program so closely(I missed a single 3 mile run early on--and caught it up the next week). This was a 9 miler and the hardest thing about it was getting up early enough to get back in time to help get the kids ready for school. I did it, comfortably (actually felt really really good - which I needed as a confidence boost after the tough Saturday run) I am sure glad that it is warming up. Until next time...

Marathon Training Log - February 24th - Day 52 - 5 miles

To be honest, I was a bit worried that I would not be able to run Tuesday morning, mostly due to the soreness that I still had Monday evening. Only muscle pain remained from Saturday's long run and a good night sleep helped fix that right up. I left at normal time and it honestly seemed like I had cheated on the distance. It feels strange to think of 5 miles as just a short run, and I conciously decided to take it slow. That didn't really matter, as my pace was the same as it usually is. Not much to say about this run... the wind was blowing out of the east and it was a mostly comfortable 40 degrees. The route I took was mostly from end to end and side to side around town.
Until next time...

Marathon Training Log - February 21st - Day 51 - 18.14 miles

To be fair and objective, I decided to wait a couple days before posting about my long weekend run to make certain that I could put it into perspective first. A couple things about this run make it somewhat special; First, it is both the longest distance and the longest time duration that I have ever completed in a single 'run', a new PR on distance (18.14 miles) and duration(2 hrs, 44 mins and 4 secs). Second, this is the second to longest run of the entire training regimen. 18 miles... I have been looking at the schedule daily for the better part of 3 months now, and have somewhat lost perspective on how far that actually is. Saturday slapped me right across the cheek and gave me a real hard reminder of exactly why this is called a marathon. After runs of 5,10 and 5 miles and a single days rest I knew this would be a difficult day... but it turned out to be my most difficult so far.

This run was destined to be difficult from the beginning, but there were also a few extenuating circumstances that made it even more arduous. To start with, I got very little sleep the night before (due to some personal stuff I will not discuss here, but just know that the minutes actually slept were few and far between). About 7:30 am I gave up trying to sleep and checked the weather and I knew I was in for it. It was 22 degrees with sustained NW winds of 25 mph with gusts up to 35. Great. I have long since decided that weather would be a non-issue, and geared myself up to go. This time I took two 16 oz. water bottles, and 4 powerbar gel packs. Before I rolled, I ate 2 packs instant oatmeal, 2 bananas and 1 large cup of coffee.

I left the house and the first 4 miles were super easy(no hip pain at all, THANK GOD), basically with the wind at my back and the sun on my face. It was easy to stay warm, but I could just tell that my mind was just not right for this big of a push. I knew things were going to get worse as soon as I turned to the west, and boy was I right... According to a wind chill calculator that I found online, if you take into account that it was roughly 25 degrees, I was traveling between 6 and 7 mph (I used 6) and I wasn't running directly into the wind (used 20 mph) it calculated the wind chill at -12.7 degrees. Take on top of this the fact that the wind steals your breath, makes your legs push against a greater force, and the psychological factors... basically the math proves that this really sucked. It was a little better on the 5 mile stretch after making a U turn and running back to the east. The turn directly to the north (at about mile 14) is when this run morphed from something uncomfortable to something absolutely brutal.

At the time I came to my finish line, I have never been more ready to stop doing something than at this point in time. I felt emotionally drained, physically exhausted, and freaking cold. I was as profoundly miserable as I have ever been, yet at the EXACT same time I was as proud of myself and as completely satisfied as I have ever been. This illustrates to me perfectly that there is no pleasure without the existence of pain. So embrace the pain... The more intense and total that the pain is, the more your capacity to understand and appreciate the moments that are most important. I have never suffered from cancer, but I do understand what it feels like to have to force yourself just to take a single step. What I am still working to understand is what it feel like when it is your life in the balance.

If you would like to help me help families struggling with cancer, check out my site, or look me up on facebook or myspace.

Marathon Training Log - February 19th - Day 50 - 5.2 miles

The weather is continuing to play its games with me. One morning it is 43 degrees, the next it is 22. One day there is no wind, the next it is approaching tropical storm strength. I have come to the conclusion that in the end all of the training that I have done regardless of the weather will benefit me in the actual race. Race day is on March 28th, and in Kansas that could mean any variety of weather patterns, including but not limited to; wind, rain, heat, snow, ice, fair, sun, clouds, tornado, thunder, lightning and hail. Chances are the race officials would cancel for a certain subset of those conditions, but not all. So for me, I am basically prepared for any and all conditions to be no more than normal. If the day is perfect or cruddy makes no matter to me. Now treadmill trainers, and indoor track runners... they may be at a major disadvantage if they have to run in a cold wind that they are not prepared or used to. So, that's my perspective on mother nature is this; Bring it on. Today's run was a simple 5 miles, but unfortunately my hip kind of snagged and hurt. Not while I was running but after. It hurt to take a step. I stretched for about 10 minutes, and it worked itself out... I must have stepped in a little pothole or something. All good now (day after) no pain at all. Must have just been an anomaly. Even with some hip pain, finished in 42.29 for 5.2 miles. The main thing now, is gearing up for the big 18 on Saturday morning... I have been eating mostly pasta since tuesday. Yesterday for lunch I had chicken noodles and dinner fettuccine. Today it will be lots of fruit and veggies.

Marathon Training Log - February 18th - Day 49 - 9.5 miles

Awesome! About 150 people have joined my facebook group "Going the Distance for Families Fighting Cancer"! If you want to join, look me up on facebook ziggysocki@gmail.com . Or if you want to donate, check out my site and use your paypal to support my cause.

Another long mid-week longer run is behind me. This is getting harder to do, not because of the distance, but because I can't get up much earlier... Man, 5 am comes too early. When you are planning on actually running (not including warm up and cool down) for an hour and twenty minutes or so this leaves little time for things like showering and getting dressed before work. I'm just whining cause today I never really had a chance to get anything to eat, so I am kinda grumpy. The other thing that is difficult about these midweek long runs is the fact that it is hard to find enough roads in my little town of Girard, Kansas to add up to 9 or more miles. Treadmills, tracks, and running loops is infinitely boring to me, so I always try to run a route where I don't rerun the same stretches of pavement. The route I took this morning basically crisscrossed every street in town that runs from north to south. That still wasn't quite far enough, so I started hitting the east and west streets. I am conciously decided to take today a bit slower, so I could maybe keep a little fatigue out of my legs in preparation for this weekends 18 mile. So I slowed down, and man did it seem SLOW... but I did and finished my run in 1:21:05. This put me at just over 8:30 m/m pace. I was pleasantly surprised, cause if felt like I was crawling...a big difference those 25 seconds per mile made. I was barely tired at the end, and have not felt sore or tired at all during the day. Anyway, tomorrow is another 5 miler and then some rest before Saturday. Until next time...

Marathon Training Log - February 17th - Day 48 - 4 miles

Today begins week 13. 12 of 18 weeks and I have missed only 1 day of training (in week 3 i missed a 3 miler). Today's run was nothing out of the ordinary, 4 miles right at 8 m/m pace. It was about 45 degrees with a little wind. Wore my standard gear, and no pain at all. I could go much faster but this week will be a total of 36 miles, so I am not gonna push it and get injured this close to the peak mileage in week 15 (40 miles). I am really starting to get excited especially with my 20 miler in 2 weeks. That is the longest run of the program and is designed to really get you ready to mentally prepare for the race 3 weeks later. ( The final 3 weeks is a taper down period of rest).

Here is a cumulative summary of what I have done so far:

	Total	Average	Maximum	Minimum
Duration (hh:mm:ss)	39:42:35	0:49:38	2:17:25	0:23:24
Distance miles	282.66	5.89	16.77	3.00
Average Speed mph		7.14	7.94	5.68
Pace min/mi		8.44	10.56	7.56
Calories (kcal)	37826	788	2192	383

WOW! I will be well past the 300 mile mark after this week. It occurred to me today that I will be kind of lost when this is done, I will have to find something else to obsess over when this is finished.

And remember, I am trying to raise some money for families fighting cancer, at the same time remembering survivors, so help out if you can.

Marathon Training Log - February 14th - Day 47 - 12 miles

Happy Valentine's Day! What a beautiful shiny morning to go for a run. Cold crisp air greeted me at the door, but the warm sun made it totally worth it. I made a special effort to wave and smile at everyone that I passed. It was my way of spreading some random kindness... some people actually gave me strange looks. I suppose that they are not used to strangers smiling and waving for no apparent reason... they were probably wondering if I had mistaken them for someone else. If you want to do something kind of fun, during your normal daily routine, give a complete stranger some random compliment and then watch the response. I tried this yesterday, and one look I got was actually suspicion. It was strange. I'm gonna keep doing it. I know that even if they think it is weird it probably makes them happy. I don't know what this has to do running, but I have been on this strange kick to go out of my way to make other people happy. But I digress...

The wind was a little strong, and takes my breath away, it is kind of annoying, but a fact of life in Kansas. I finished my 12.3 miles with no pain at all in 1:39. Just over a 8 min pace... I am getting faster and stronger with every run... there is something to this whole "training" thing.

Marathon Training Log - February 12th - Day 46 - 5 miles

I know this is probably getting repetitive, but guess what, it was a nice chilly morning for a run. I headed out, did 5.25 miles in about 43 minutes. Nothing real special about this morning, every day that I get to run is a good day. This is the last real step back week as far as mileage goes, so I better get ready to log some big miles in the next 3 weeks.

And remember if you would like to support my cause check out this link

Marathon Training Log - February 11th - Day 45 - 8 miles

And remember if you would like to support my cause check out this link


Well folks, I knew it was coming. It was bound to happen with spring rapidly approaching. Last night we had severe storms and tornado warnings, and, of course, rain. I get up early to prepare for the midweek 8 miler and it is raining cats and dogs. It is fairly warm, about 48, so at least it wouldn't be too miserable. I put on some wind pants a hat and pullover and headed out. The wind was coming out of the north pretty good, and I was soaked by the time I hit the end of the first block. My legs were freezing through the wind pants, so I actually turned around, doubled back and changed into my winter fleece. Much better. After that, I finished the rest of my 8 in a total of 1:07:17. Not bad all things considered. Body felt great no real aches or pains. The new kicks are working wonders! I wonder how many more soggy days I will have until the race.

On a side note, 55 people so far have joined the facebook group I created called "Going the Distance for Families with Cancer". A lot are my friends and acquaintances, but people I don't know are starting to join! Cool. If you are on facebook, check me out ziggysocki AT gmail DOT com is my facebook email.

And remember if you would like to support my cause check out this link

Marathon Training Log - February 10th - Day 44 - 4.18 miles

Check here for more info about me and my cause, or to make a donation.

A 4 mile run after 2 days rest and I felt like I was flying. I took off about 6 (slept in a little) and when I hit the door, I could immediately tell that the weather was PERFECT. It was 59 degrees with just some wind. I loved every second of it, and had to actually fight myself to slow down a little and take it easy. Tomorrow is another mid week 8 miler, so I am gonna run a bit faster tomorrow because Saturday is only 12 miles. Anyway I finished today in 32:08 for 4.18 miles and walked for a few minutes after, just to really enjoy the weather (and the rush). Not much else to say, other than I LOVE my new shoes... I am already saddened to think that they will eventually wear out. ;(

Until next time! And if you would like to support local families fighting cancer, check out the links at the top and bottom of this post.

Check here for more info about me and my cause, or to make a donation.

Running for a Reason

Check here for more info about me and my cause, or to make a donation.

If you hadn't noticed I changed the name to my blog. During my long Saturday run, I was inspired to take the hard work that I have been putting into my training and using it to help something larger than myself. I owe a huge debt to all of those that helped my family and I over the last year while we were a family struggling with cancer. I came up with this idea to dedicate my marathon to all of those struggling families who have loved ones that have suffered or died from cancer. If you would like to donate or get some more information, check out the links at the top and bottom of my post. Thanks to everyone out there.


Check here for more info about me and my cause, or to make a donation.

Marathon Training Log - February 7th - Day 43 - 16.76 miles

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First things first, a HUGE thank you to my friend from the north pole, The Man From the North
Pole himself Roger Dubois!. Roger made sure that I realized how important a good shoe was if I was to continue running the amount of miles that I have been running as of late. I finally took his advice and bought a new pair of New Balance 1306 running shoes. (Although it looks like I overpaid by about 30 bucks!) These are made for longer distance than my old shoes, are motion control +, and I love them. I wore them for the first time Saturday morning and went almost 17 miles without so much as a single blister. I didn't wear any knee or ankle braces and my legs were tired, but almost completely pain free. THANK YOU ROGER! I should have listened to you 3 weeks ago.

As for my run itself, I left about 9 am and the weather was absolutely fabulous! 60+ degrees! There was a strong wind out of the southwest, but that just goes with the territory... welcome to the midwest. I had a long sleeve Under Armour shirt and running shorts, and felt so fast since I wasnt all covered up. I finished 17.76 miles in 2:17:25 so just about 8:12 minute mile pace. It was great. Don't get me wrong, I was tired at the end... But I just keep feeling stronger after each run. I took 4 gel packs and a 16 oz. bottle of water-ade (half gatorade - half water). I ate 2 of the powerbar gels; the first at 7 miles, the next at 12. It is almost time to take my second bottle of water with me, I ran out around 13 miles due to the warmer temps and the wind. All in all a great run. I was sore Sunday and even some this morning when I got up... the only thing that sucked was going up and down the stairs when I was working on my mancave yesterday.
Tomorrow is a 4 miles, no biggie. I will just take it easy to work out any soreness I have left.
Until next time...

Check here for more info about me and my cause, or to make a donation.

Marathon Training Log - February 5th - Day 42 - 4 miles

Blughhh... I'm exhausted. Unfortunately it is not from running, but from staying up late playing Settlers of Catan. Nerdnight at my house again and I didn't get to bed until 1:30am or so. My alarm was very unforgiving at 5:15 am and did not care that I won a game of Ca$h and Gun$ AND a game of Settlers of Catan. I got a cup of coffee and downed it in a hurry and hit the road. I mostly don't remember the first 2 miles, I guess I was still asleep. The 8 miles from yesterday affected me a little more today than they did yesterday, so between that and the sleep deprivation, I just took it nice and slow. Still finished in under 9 minute pace. A little windy, and looking like a warm up coming, so that will be nice for the weekend. I don't have much to say right now, at least not that I can think of... Until next time...

Marathon Training Log - February 4th - Day 41 - 8 miles

After coming in from my morning run I was fixing a pot of coffee getting ready to wake up the kids when I realized that I had just run 8 miles. I mean, 3 months ago I was regularly running 3-5 and sometimes longer, but this was a weekday morning. It hit me that my 'routine' distance has actually gone up A LOT. I ran 8 miles with no special planning, no food before... I just went and did it. I have kind of lost perspective on how far I am running. One of my coworkers asked me how far I ran this morning (cause it was so cold, only 12 degrees) that when I told him his eyes were wide and his jaw dropped. The point is this; I have been conditioning myself slowly over time so it doesn't seem that long to me.

Tomorrow I got another EASY 4 miles and then my longest run so far - 16 miles - on Saturday. The weather is looking good (freakin' 65!) but could be windy. I will check direction and then go that way... lol. Until next time...

Marathon Training Log - February 3rd - Day 40 - 4 miles

Today was the first run of week 11 of my training program. Nothing special about today's run. It is still cold outside, it is still dark at 5:30. One thing I noticed was that there are only 54 more days until the Olathe Marathon. Man, I am starting to get really stoked about this... I can't imagine the feeling on race day! I am really doing some long runs, and only getting stronger. Today's 4 miler is so easy it has become almost trivial... I almost feel like I am cheating myself. But, like the program says, not too fast on Tuesday, after a long run on Saturday it is meant as a way to loosen up for tomorrow's 8 mile. But damn it felt good today! 4 miles, in 32 min or so... a nice easy pace not too slow, not too fast.

Another random thought; I need new shoes. The shoes I am wearing now have about 300 miles on them. Also, doing some further research, the shoes that I prefer are probably not the best for long distance training. I like New Balance 790 cause they are light and comfortable, but they are intended for shorter distance trail type running. I am looking into a "Motion Control" shoe. Heavier, but preferred by distance runners, these shoes are best qualified for my feet, size, and running style. I used I guess it is time to go shoe shopping. No new aches or pains, but I don't want any due to old shoes.

After crossing the finish line this morning (my driveway) I slowed to a walk like I always do. I felt a huge rush of blood pulsing through my entire body, my skin immediately became much warmer, and it was about 30 seconds of this awesome radiant feeling. I get this after every run, but today I decided to put it into words to help explain to non-runners. People always tell me I am crazy to go out in this weather to punish myself running. It is a reward not a punishment. A natural high that has WAY more positive side effects than negative ones. In the last 5-6 years, running has helped me quit smoking, drinking, lose weight, get stronger and furnish me with more self confidence than one person deserves. It also helped give me the energy to survive the last year of my wife dealing with breast cancer and everything that comes with it; Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, etc... I am fully hooked on this 'runners high' as they call it. If I could make people feel the same with only words, I know the streets would be a lot more crowded at 6 am than they are now. If you want to try it, do it. Suffer through the first month, and I promise you change from going to sleep dreading the alarm to waking up before it with your running shoes by the bed.

Until next time...