Weekly Totals

5/25 – 5/31 total miles = 17.56 miles average pace of 9:48

May total miles = 101.93 miles pace of 10:59

2008 total miles = 477.87 miles average pace of 10:13

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Up early so we could meet a group at Parkside by 6 am…who would have thought that there would be 10 of us!! That is a record! We headed out to do a loop in the park (better to do the road now since we are doing the trails at 7) I was only feeling ok. I ebbed and flowed with the group and once we were nearing the parking lot I decided to do a couple of trails. I got out to the parking lot and still had some time so I meandered out to Hwy E and back. By this time there were people waiting at their cars.

We had 5 people I’ve never met before show up…I was glad to meet them all. We started at 7 and headed for the trails I really wanted to do the entire 10k course so even though I walked a bit more than I liked I still managed to push my way through the whole thing. Completed the day with 10.13 miles and while not a great time I did complete it in 1:45:49

Friday, May 30, 2008

Late at night but needed to get a mile in. 1.00 mile in 9:53

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Tried to keep an easy pace today but the GPS shows it all…started off slow and built to a nice pace. 1.01 miles in 8:56

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Neighborhood loop…1.01 miles in 8:38

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Wanted a little more today but the route I chose was not as far as I thought it would be. 1.38 miles in 11:47

Monday, May 26, 2008

Around the neighborhood as usual 1.00 mile in 8:36

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Ran a little longer today 2.03 miles in 18:26

Weekly Totals

5/18 – 5/24 total miles = 11.54 miles average pace of 9:15

May total miles = 84.37 miles pace of 11:14

2008 total miles = 460.31 miles average pace of 10:14

Saturday, May 24, 2008

It was nice to get up later…but once we got there I found out that the ladies were there early…I felt bad but at the same time I was happy! 5.50 miles 52:31

Friday, May 23, 2008

As always…I’m behind on this blog so here is the recap: today 1.01 miles in 8:52.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Got home from my meeting and there was still time to get in a run before my wife got home. Tried to take things easy but as I have pointed out before easy isn’t what it once was…1.01 miles in 8:53

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 part 2

Got home from the gym and since I made the commitment to run a mile every day I still needed to get that in. It was after 10 PM but I still had not run so off I went. Got my 1 mile in at an 8:44 so now I can go to bed!!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 part 1

My wife has been raving about her personal trainer for over a year (nearly 2!!) and since I really don’t have any plans (marathons) scheduled for the next few months I agreed to start working out with them. I really need to strengthen my core and lose a few pounds so that will be the focus with them.

We did the measurements – not really pretty and calculated the %fat…@18-19%...both my wife and I think that the number is a bit low…I’m think around the mid section…then we got to a 30 min work out.

I really understand why my wife thinks this is good – because it is!!! For only 30 minutes I really worked my tail off…I can only imagine what the 60 min workouts are going to be like!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Was rushed at work today so I wasn’t able to get out and do the run before heading off to trap but since there was no one at trap this week I was home early and could get my run in. 1.01 miles in 8:54

Monday, May 19, 2008

Still recovering from Saturday and still not 100%as far as this cold is concerned. But I still hit the street and got my mile done. 1.01 miles 8:57

Sunday, May 18, 2008

It was a long day!! 9+ hours of driving…I didn’t have to stop as many times as I did the previous day but I still wasn’t feeling well and there were a few times where I got nauseous in the car…thankfully they passed. Got home and I wanted to try to run a bit. The wife came with and we managed 1 mile in 9:56

Weekly Totals

5/11 – 5/17 total miles = 34.08 miles average pace of 12:29

May total miles = 72.83 miles pace of 11:32

2008 total miles = 448.77 miles average pace of 10:15

"How Far will you Go?" Fargo Marathon

This is one of those races that I really wish I could do over…and maybe I will once all the states are completed. I woke up this morning and my throat was bad. I was in and out of the bathroom 3 times before we left for the bus. My only hope was that I would feel a bit better once I started running.

My wife and I met the other girls in the lobby of the hotel and drove over to the mall to catch the bus. It was about 47 degrees and not a cloud in the sky…a good day to run!

We got the bus and rode it to the FargoDome…in retrospect we should have just driven here ourselves but oh well. We did the customary bathroom stop (number 4 for me!) and milled around for a bit before heading out to the bag drop and the starting line.

This is my wife’s first attempt at a half marathon and I know she is going to do well. Her goal is sub 10 and she has a stretch goal of a sub 2 hour half. Both the half and the full start at the same time so we all line up together and the gun goes off…and we walk to the start line. There was about 5-7 thousand people between the two races so it was a bit of a bottleneck.

The race was very flat and I had been hoping for the last 2 weeks that I’d be able to break 5 hours…well it didn’t happen. I was going along pretty well until around mile 5-6 when I stopped for another bathroom break…and just to avoid the repetition I stopped again around 10, 14, 15, 19 and 23.

The course was great, the road not so much, the people were very nice and the neighborhoods we ran through were terrific! I saw many people outside partying and cheering on the runners…this community is really behind the race which was very nice to see. We ran through a number of parks and so many neighborhoods it was tough to count and there were people throughout the course ringing bells, offering support and some just watching. One of the local businesses even had flat Coke available to runners around mile 15!!

There were 2 Gu stops and I used them both but did not use one of my own…by that time I was walking and it seemed useless to use it then. I have to say that the Banana-strawberry Gu was rather tasty, much better than the mango Gu I had a couple of weeks ago.

Once I hit mile 19 I was done. I had been in and out of bathrooms too many times…I was run down…my throat was soar…and to be honest I really didn’t want to do this any more…but I’m 19 miles in. I can do 7 miles standing on my head practically…so I decided just to walk it out. Based on my rough numbers I would still be able to make it in less than 6 hours.

I talked with a number of people along the course and was surprised to hear how many were from Canada! I finally saw my wife at around mile 22. I immediately harassed her because she was not wearing her medal. She completed her race in 2:09:03!!! WOW, I was impressed! This is the same woman that just over a year ago said she would never be a runner and thought that the whole thing was rather dumb…now here she is a half marathoner!

I explained what was going on…told her I shouldn’t have started the race but at this point was going to complete it. She walked with me for about a mile and then said she would meet me on the flip side (there is a small loop to the North). We met back up around the 24 mile mark and she walked with me all the way to the FargoDome. I ran the last 0.2 in…just to show some effort. Completed the course in 5:58:09

That makes state number 12, 4 marathons for 2008 (so far), 2 marathons in the last 13 days…I’m tired and I think I’m going to take a small break.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Up early again…marathon is tomorrow and didn’t want to run tonight!! Still not feeling right but might just be jitters!

Got up got my 1.02 miles done in 9:19…we are ready for the race…shouldn’t be real windy until late and it will be nice and cool most of the morning!!