Disappointment fades, excitement returns!

So the Olathe marathon got canceled due to a freak spring blizzard. 18 weeks of training in any and every kind of weather, and the race is canceled due to the threat of severe weather. What a ripoff. I will hand it to the organizers, they were very thoughtful, kind and respectful. They even had volunteers personally call and apologize and explain to us. It was nice, and I plan on taking them up on their offer of carrying my registration over to next years race.

In the now, I have elected to go run in the Hogeye Marathon in Fayetteville Arkansas on Sunday April 5th. (Assuming weather does not cancel it) It will be a lot more hills, but I am willing to accept that challenge. I trained for a marathon, I am running a marathon. How can I collect donations based on a run that I didn't do? I can't... I must run this race.

Also, don't forget that there are cancer patients (and many others) all over the county that use stored blood. Make a trip to your local blood drive and MAKE A DONATION to the AMERICAN RED CROSS! That little needle stick hurts a lot less than losing a loved one because the blood they needed was not available. Please, you will be glad you did. You don't have to run a marathon to make a difference. All the little things count.

Arkansas here I come!

Marathon Training Log - March 25th - Day 70 - 2 miles

I did it. The first of my two part goal is complete. I finished Hal Higdon's 18 week marathon training program. 70 training runs totaling almost 450 miles. I ran every run, and followed every strategy that he suggested. Accomplishing a goal that you set for yourself is a very rewarding thing, and today I feel awesome. The entire 15 minutes and 50 seconds I was running today I had a large grin on my face. My body feels great... I am ready. I am ready to accomplish part 2 of the goal I set for myself somewhere early in November 2008. I am going to finish my first marathon. Twenty six miles and 385 yards, or one hundred thirty-eight thousand four hundred thirty-five feet. The weather forecast does not appear to be great for Saturday, but I don't care/ that is to my advantage having trained in every possible scenario. I am ready. Ready to run!

Marathon Training Log - March 24th - Day 69 - 4 miles

Well I should have held my tongue instead of bragging about how awesome the weather has been. It caught up with me today. I got up about 5:15 and it was calm, but by the time I got my coffee it was raining cats and dogs. Thunder and lightning filled the air and the wind was swirling like hurricane Katrina had come back. I figured I would wait it out, being in Kansas the weather changes like a woman's mind. Sure enough, about 5:45 is slowed way down (almost to a sprinkle). I get dressed and head out for a quick 4 miles in rest mode and figured 35 minutes would take me around my 4 mile loop. About a mile into it, the ceiling opened up and the lightning and wind started back up. I jogged along with a smile (soaking wet) and made it back in about 33 mins. Not too cold, so it wasn't too bad being wet. The only problem was vision, cause when it is raining and blowing you almost need goggles to see. I was glad I wore a ball cap. Hahahaha.

Marathon Training Log - March 23rd - Day 68 - 3 miles

Another easy 3 miles. I am hitting right at 8m/m pace, but only cause I am forcing myself to slow down. I feel as fresh legged as I have in a long time! It was a bit windy, but not bad. Temp was 65 and AWESOME! I love to run. I did have this 'lightbulb' moment this morning. No big deal, I just figured out the meaning of life (not 42)...the meaning of life for me at least. Pain. Pain is the meaning of life. Not for what it is itself, but for what it does to your perspective regarding everything else in your life. Without pain, it becomes so easy to take everything 'pain free' for granted. Pain is the sharp reminder of what you have that is worth having. This is why I decided to do this race... I needed to feel the pain. My life had gotten so easy and soft, that I needed a reminder that everything is not easy and soft. I needed to remember not to take for granted all the things that I was just used to. Training for this marathon has opened my eyes to things I have never seen before, and wiped away misconceptions and incorrect perceptions that I have carried with me for most of my life. Without pain, you will never be pain-free.

Marathon Training Log - March 21st - Day 67 - 8 miles

Today was a nice day for a run. It was sunny and just a little breezy, an all around great day to try out my new shoes. I paid more for this pair than the last...ugh... but it was worth it. They are NB 1063 and are about the most comfortable shoes I have ever tried on. I love em. Anyway, the run was good, my little injuries I was dealing with are basically gone after a week of less miles and will be forgotten after next weeks final taper. I finished 8 miles in an hour an 5 mins and some change, so right on track with my normal train pace. Nothing much to say... felt good... only 3 more runs before race... I basically have a near constant case of butterflies.

Marathon Training Log - March 19th - Day 66 - 3 miles

Wow it has been a long time since I have run only 3 miles. I slept in, had 2 cups of coffee... I feel spoiled! T-shirt weather, no wind... what a great day to run. My foot felt awesome this morning when I woke up. I really had to force myself not to sprint the entire distance! I was keeping a pretty quick pace, and seemed to be done as soon as I started. The real taper has begun. My 'long' Saturday run is only 8 miles. Next week is almost exclusively rest, and then... BANG Marathon time! I am getting so excited that I am already having trouble sleeping. I will be a mess in about a week. I have finished EVERY single run in my training program to the letter. I have missed no time for any reason (early on I did put off a thursday run until friday) and I am very proud of myself. My 'new' shoes already have 200 miles on them and are worn thru the rubber on the heel... crap. Running may be a more expensive hobby that I guessed. I am gonna get a new pair before Saturday. The final countdown begins! Only 4 more runs for a combined total of 18 miles until the race. I will keep you posted.

Marathon Training Log - March 18th - Day 65 - 6 miles

Spring is really starting to get here... not just like the few false alarms we have had in the last month or so. The grass is starting to green up, and it is comfortable to run in shorts and a sweatshirt. Today i ran a nice easy pace (8:45) for my 6 miler. My foot was still a bit tender, so I decided to just take it easy. Upon finishing I was still feeling good... no real pain, but still a twinge. Nothing really to report about today, it is nice that the school is in spring break so there is almost no traffic.

Marathon Training Log - March 17th - Day 64 - 4 miles

Well good news is that my foot felt good this morning when I got up. No real pain in my hip either. I am sure I will be fine by race day. Today was nice and warm (around 50) and I made pretty good time right at 8 min mile for just over 4 miles. The sun is coming up right as I am finishing, and it is amazingly large. Bright orange and absolutely huge! The kids are on spring break this week, so I have absolutely no reason to hurry... I took full advantage and walked for another 15 minutes after running just to watch the sunrise. Pretty cool morning. These are little things that are easy to miss, don't let them pass you by. I know I won't. Don't forget, give blood... smile at a stranger... help a child... donate blood to your local Red Cross blood drive... anything, just do something. Just do some random act of kindness and you will see that it will make you feel better than any drink or drug that you can get your hands on.

Marathon Training Log - March 14th - Day 63 - 12 miles

A nice cool morning for a run. Somewhere in the low 40's, with just a hint of wind. I left the house right at 6:30 (early for a Saturday morning because we were going out of town) I felt good early on, but started to get some pain in my left ankle, and eventually in my right hip. Noting excruciating, but disturbing considering that the marathon is 2 weeks away. I finished in 12 miles in 1:40:01, so my time wasn't terrible but the pain worried me some. It is now Monday, and it still hurts when I first get out of bed. Hopefully it will feel better tomorrow morning or I may consider bumping this weeks runs back a day, will just have to wait and see. Tomorrow is a 4 mile run, and the weather should be near perfect.

Marathon Training Log - March 12th - Day 62 - 4 miles

The only thing hard about today was not running flat out. The distance seems so short, I barely feel warmed up by the time I finish. I hit 8 m/m pace (31:56) only because I was slowing myself down intenetionally. Last thing I want to do is hurt myself and not being able to run in the marathon running a 4 miler. That would seem like a waste of 57 hours 7 minutes and 10 seconds it took me to run 406.14 miles since November 25th. Anyway, my route this morning was the standard 4 mile loop that I have been running. I was a little tired, due to being up till about 2 am last night for nerd night (Dungeons and Dragons with Gene, Bryan and the boys). One thing I will mention is that it is not advisable to eat 4 pounds of Oreo cookies, Chips Ahoy cookies, no-bake cookies, pizza rolls, pringles washed down with a liter of water 4 hours before a run... I literally thought I was going to "toss my cookies". And on the advice of a friend I will remind you PLEASE DONATE BLOOD! Give something back to the community that you get so much from.

Marathon Training Log - March 11th - Day 61 - 8 miles

So this morning getting up at 5 am was a battle. It really felt like about 4 am for some strange reason... On the schedule today was 8 miles in the once again frigid air. It was 22 degrees or so when I left. I basically ran 2 laps around town, on my usual 4 mail path. The body felt strong, my chest cold is mostly gone, and I did it in 1:06:24. That's right about at my normal pace... I am running out of anything interesting things to say about my runs so I guess it is a good thing that the race is now only 2 weeks from Saturday!

Marathon Training Log - March 10th - Day 60 - 5 miles

Wow! It was almost muggy this morning. The time changed to daylight savings on Sunday night so it was a bit hard to get my butt out of bed this morning, but I was glad I did. Outside was a beautiful springlike morning; 72 degrees with a bit of wind. I put on a short sleeve shirt, a pair of shorts and my favorite running shoes and hit the road Jack. I was really pretty sore on Sunday and even still a little sore on Monday. This morning I felt tons stronger, and with the nice weather, and 11 less miles this week, I ran a good pace time of about 7:47 for today's 5 miles. A great rush after finishing, and the body felt great. Not much more to say other than I am really getting excited, and actually starting to feel some butterflies when I think about the race. On a side note, I have added over 320 Facebook friends to the Going the Distance for Families Fighting Cancer group that I created. Cool. If you want to find out more or donate to my cause, check out my webpage. Only 9 more training runs before the race. The countdown begins.

Marathon Training Log - March 7th - Day 59 - 20 miles

I have survived (and thrived) the pinnacle week 15 of Hal Higdon's novice marathon training program. Today I got up about 6 am after a good night sleep. I have been eating mostly carbs this week, and had bananas, coffee, and oatmeal for breakfast before driving over to my sister in law's house. She lives almost exactly 20 miles away. I hit the road with a southwest wind pushing me alone for about the first 10 miles. The turn to the west was brutal, as the wind was VERY strong and was about as westerly as it was southerly. The wind was blowing steadily at about 25 and gusting to up to about 35 mph! My route had a stretch of almost 6 miles. This was the hardest part of the run. I finished in 2:47:23. My goal was 2:40 so I am pretty happy with the outcome, considering the wind. Now it is time for the taper, and then......... the big race.

Marathon Training Log - March 5th - Day 58 - 5 miles

The legs were a bit tired today... and the wind whipping out of the south didn't help either. 30mph is not that fast if you are in a car, but when you are running directly into it... it sucks. I kinda slacked off going into the wind all the while telling myself that the time today didnt matter. I forbid myself from looking at the stopwatch and I didn't... until half way... then I realized I was going kinda slow at 23 minutes. I once again told myself to not care about the time. Unfortunately that did not work and I took off. I managed to make up the 3 minutes over the next 2.5 miles, and finished in 40:08 that means I did the last 2.5 miles somewhere around 17 minutes. Thats a pretty good clip for me... and it felt great when I stopped. I was really breathing pretty good. It did not help that I had a chest cold settle over me this week (just in time for the 20 miler!) It looks like the weather will be great for that by the way... Well my next report will come in after I finish my epic 20. Until then...

Marathon Training Log - March 4th - Day 57 - 10 miles

I had a real good run this morning, the weather was just right and I felt awesome. No new aches or pains... I didn't slack off, but I didn't push too hard either. I finished 10 miles in EXACTLY 1:22:00. I think this is the first time I hit a time on 00 seconds. That is 8:12 min/mile pace. I am pretty thrilled with that. The only thing that sucked was getting up at 4:30 a.m. (Not really that bad considering I go to bed early as hell) All in all a great day. Only one more run (5 miles) before the big beast on Saturday. The weather is looking nice for Saturday's big 20, as long as it is not too windy. That's all I got to say about that. Oh... I did start looking to get a shirt printed with the logo and names of the folks that I am running for today. I found a place that will print a single shirt and is not super expensive. I was planning on using an Under Armor shirt, but printing on them is difficult (and expensive) so I will just go with a long sleeve cotton tee. Here is what the early artwork is looking like...

Marathon Training Log - March 3rd - Day 56 - 5 miles

March is here. I am only 27 days from my goal. One thing I really really noticed about today's 5 miler is how much of a difference 4 miles make. I am not talking about today, but about Saturday. Saturday was 4 miles less than the previous Saturday, and I could definitely tell this morning. It surely helps that it was 30 degrees and no wind (nice weather compared to what it has been like the last week or so), but I felt so rested today. I decided to take it nice and easy and save a lot for this Saturday's epic 20 miler, and was very surprised when I finished faster than 8 m/m pace. I would have sworn that I was going no faster than 9 m/m. So today was a 5 mile route in 40:16. It felt good. I gotta get to bed early tonight, I got 10 miles in the morning, and am guessing it will take between 1:20 and 1:30 to complete. That puts me getting up somewhere around 4:15 I suppose. Ughh. Until next time...

Marathon Training Log - February 28th - Day 55 - 14 miles

No rest for the wicked I suppose. I had to get up at 5:30 Saturday morning cause I had to be back early. So I hit the street, and once again, it was cold. 77 degrees on Thursday and 24 on Saturday. I'm getting ripped off. Anyway, the 14 miles seemed easy (not fast though 2:04:42) even with the cold. Now on to the big one. 20 miles next Saturday. Almost there.