I love the fall. Running in cool weather is so much easier than running in the summer. I don't handle the heat well. Now that it's cooler I'm having some of my best runs of the year.

Monday the temperature was in the fifties and I had a great 4-mile training run with my neighbor, Duane Gentlemen. We ran up Quivira Road on the west side of the Overland Park Golf Course. Those of you familiar with the area recognize that as a decent hill workout with a half mile gentle climb. Despite the climb we took a full minute off the average pace of our recent runs. I was able to stretch out my stride and go into cruise mode.

Duane commented afterwards that if you do your marathon training correctly you should feel an abundance of energy once you start cutting back on your miles. I have to say that I do feel stronger, but I give most of the credit to the cooler temperatures. Speed sessions are helping too.

Skunks must like the cool weather because I've seen three in the span of a week. A week ago Monday, Duane and I saw one in a front yard in the next neighborhood, then on Tuesday I saw one wandering out of the woods at Leawood Park after the speed session, and yesterday we almost ran into one.

We came across the skunk just a few blocks from the start of our run, about the same spot we saw one last Monday. I was talking and not watching where we were going when I heard Duane say “skunk.” I glanced up, expecting to see it in someone's yard, and then realized it was crossing the street right in front of us. By the time I saw the skunk it had crossed over to the curb and was about to duck into the storm drain as I passed within spitting distance, or should I say spraying distance! That's way too close for me.

I was guilt ridden about skipping the Saturday run after The Olathe Marathon was canceled, so I decided to go for a run Monday night. After all, it was warm out and all the snow had melted. I crossed 119th Street on Switzer heading towards the Indian Creek Trail. There is a steep hill along side a tall flagstone retaining wall. Snow melt was seeping out of the retaining wall, flooding the sidewalk with a stream of water.

Just past the end of the retaining wall there is a slimy patch of algae covering the sidewalk. The algae is like ice. When I stepped on it both feet shot out from under me and I did a very fast seat drop, you know, like you do on trampoline, except I did it on concrete. Luckily, I was wearing my CamelBak FlashFlo Lumbar Pack and fell far enough back that it acted like a cushion between my tailbone and the sidewalk. Unfortunately, I planted both hands to catch myself and broke my left wrist in the process. I sat there in the icy stream of water for a second slightly stunning by the jarring landing. My first concern was my tailbone and my back. It took a few minutes before I realized that the bigger problem was my wrist.

I'm now sporting a lovely blue cast that goes up my arm a little past the middle of my forearm. The good news is that the break is minor and the doctor said I can still run in the rescheduled Olathe half-marathon Saturday and The Oklahoma City Marathon in four weeks. The cast will be removed just a couple of days after the marathon. I'm sure they will be holding their noses as they cut it off <grin>.

Hey, I guess I have something in common with Lance Armstrong this month!

I almost didn't run with The Runners Edge today since I only had an 8-mile run scheduled and today's run was on the other side of town.  It was only at the last minute that I decided to go, and I'm glad I did. 

Everybody seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood today. Pre-race excitement filled the air, that and general relief that spring is finally here. This is an exciting time of year for many runners because this is the start of the spring race season.  Most of the gang I run with were doing the last 20-mile run on the Oklahoma City Marathon training schedule.  That included DaShaun, Julie, Christie, and Mark, to name a few.  Dan and Becky, also training for Oklahoma City, were running 24-miles today because they are crazy  (Dan's has been running a ton of miles every week). 

Not everyone is doing Oklahoma City.  Christie is getting ready for the Big Sur Marathon.  I saw Leslie at the Gary Gribble store after the run, and she and Carl are running the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in Washington, D.C.  A lot of people are running the Olathe half or full marathon next week, as I am. 

Lisa, the 11:20 pace group leader who injured an abdominal muscle in a fall, is doing much  better.  Before the fall Lisa had been running over 40 miles a week, but has not been able to run more than a 5-mile run for weeks.  Today she was cautiously trying a longer run.  I hope it went well.  Her doctor says she should be able to run in Oklahoma City.

On my return trip I met Chris and Kelly, two women training for the Olathe Half Marathon. This will be Chris' first half marathon.  She started running after joining the board of The Pumpkin Run, a memorial run for Jared and Jayne Coones, a mother and son who died a year apart from breast cancel and leukemia. Kelly is studying to become a nurse practitioner and Olathe will be her second half marathon, Lincoln was her first.

I'm happy to report that my shin splints seem to be healed, with nothing remaining but a little tenderness.  I ran slowly out to the 4-mile turn-around, then tested my planned race pace, about 11:00/mile, on the return leg.  Coach Valdez encouraged those running in the Olathe Marathon to run with one of the pace groups.  Eladio organized the pace groups following his

marathon pacing strategy.  I looked at the available pace groups after the run and have decided to run with 4:50 pace group.  I will be happy just to finish my first marathon, but I would like to do it in under 5 hours.  Based on how my two 20-mile runs went I think I could finish in 4:40, but Olathe is just a warm-up for Oklahoma City, so I don't want to push it.  I'll try to finish in 4:50 next week, and if that goes well I can try for a 4:40 in Oklahoma City.  That could just be a novice pipe dream though.

Something has changed, fundamentally changed, that made it possible to run 20-miles in the time that I did today at the Runner's Edge Saturday run.  Looking at running logs from my first ½ marathon in 2005 shows that my speed remained flat throughout my training.  Contrast that with this year and there is something remarkable, to me anyway, as my distance increased, so did my speed.

Breaking my endurance barrier – that's the only way I can describe it – means being less timid about running. I used to be afraid of not being able to finish long runs, so I held back, running a safe, slow speed.  Now, I've learned that if I push hard up a hill, or run hard to catch-up with someone, I can recover while running.  Breaking my endurance barrier means gaining the confidence to do these things, as well having the physical stamina to do them.

It was after my two hardest runs, the Topeka half and my 16-mile run a week later, that I noticed the change.  That is when I started adding hill workouts.  For the first time that I can remember I was able to dig-in and cruise up hills.  The hills on my route aren't monstrous, but they are long steady grades--enough to be a challenge. I was also able to add “hard miles” to my workout where I run faster than usual. 

Shaking my “fear of fatigue” also gives me a more relaxed running style.  I've gone from what can best be described as a rigid shuffle to, well..., actual running.  My legs are looser and my arms swing more freely. I'm still a bit tight in the shoulders, but my form is evolving. I'm now free to experiment with stride length, rate of turnover, and amount of spring.  Oh yeah, spring, I never had any of that before .

Today's 20-mile run was more-or-less routine. There was some drama when Lisa, the pace leader, had to slow down and fall behind when an injury to her abdominal muscle, from a fall two weeks ago, started to bother her.  By then, somewhere around mile 13, there were only four of us left, and there was a lot of debate about what to do.  In the end, Dan lent Lisa his cell phone and, at Lisa's insistence, we went on. 

Dan and his wife, Becky, were the one's promoting Gu Roctane and Succeed S!caps last week.  I gave both a try this week and I did pretty well.  Dan has done 11 marathons.  Becky is training for her first.  I learned that they got married at the Chicago Marathon last October, the day before.  Becky was the race horse today on our return leg.  She kept lowering the pace under 10:00/mile.  I noticed several times we were running a 9:40 pace.  That eventually caught up with me.  I was really huffing and puffing the last few miles.  Our elapsed time was 4:29, after deciding what to do about Lisa, waiting for port-a-potties, and what not, but our time in motion was only 3:53:46.  That's an average moving pace of 11:39, including walks.

Dan and Becky were a real source of inspiration coming back.  I said several times that I was going to drop off to run at a slower pace, but they refused to let that happen on my first 20-mile run.  They cheered me on and kept encouraging me.  I really appreciate what they did.

Here is how my speed improved over the last couple of months as my distance increased:

Distance / Time in Motion / Minutes per Mile:

12.10 miles / 2:28:04 / 12:14

13.34 miles / 2:41:14 / 12:05 (Topeka half)

16.26 miles / 3:29:43 / 12:53 (snow/ice)

18.25 miles / 3:31:26 / 11:35

20.05 miles / 3:53:46 / 11:39

Basically, I've shaved about 30 – 40 seconds/mile off my average pace, while increasing my distance.  I've got to be happy with that.  I would like to see if I can improve on that a little more on my final 20-mile training run in two weeks.