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.

Still being somewhat new to running, I have just now begun to realize how rare it is to be able to run without a challenge of some sort. What I wouldn’t give for a long stretch of healthy running. After my first half marathon it was a pulled groin muscle that derailed my running, and discouraged me from running for a few years. This spring, during preparation for my first marathon, it was shin splints that challenged me. Now I’m dealing with an apparent Morton’s Neuroma.

Even if you are not dealing with chronic issues, there are the inevitable ups and down from run to run. Saturday was definitely one of my down days. Having missed my scheduled 18-mile group run while on vacation, I tried to get in a long run on my own. It turned out not to be my day. My feet felt like lead, and I gave in to post-vacation fatigue after only 9 miles.

Running, beyond the obvious physical challenge, is a test of will, whether fighting a snooze alarm at 5:00 AM, or toughing out an extra mile. Running also requires common sense, listening to your body, and knowing when to compromise. Perhaps I am a little too skilled at compromise.

This summer, as my training for the Kansas City Marathon gets into full swing, I hope to find the will to push myself a little farther and a little faster, while still being smart about my health. I’ve signed-up for 12 weeks of speed sessions with The Runners Edge. My goal is get below an average pace of 8:00/mile on a two mile run, and ultimately to finish a marathon in under five hours.

Last week I missed the group time trials for the speed sessions. I was on vacation and had to do my time trail on my own. Since I was in St. Louis, I did it around the Gateway Arch. I warmed up for about 10 minutes before starting my two mile hard run. I started out at a pace below 8:00/mile, but eventually slowed down. I finished with an average of 8:46/mile. Not as fast as I wanted, but faster than I’ve ever run for that distance. I don’t know if it is possible to shave off 45 seconds in just 12 weeks, but I’ll try. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, or at least so I hope.

This week I ran my two fastest 5-mile runs. Coming from a old, slow guy, the numbers aren't very impressive, but everything is relative. Also, today was my first run with my new metatarsal lifts. I'm still tweaking their placement on my insole, but the nerve on the ball of my foot between my second and third toe did not seem as sore today. Once I get the lifts in the right position I think they will barely be noticeable on my runs. They definitely didn't interfere with my speed.

In the past, my 5-mile runs have averaged between 10:30 and 11:30/mile, with many winter runs over 12 minutes/mile. This week has been a completely different story. I've been running with Duane Gentlemen, a former competitive runner with a best marathon time of 2:43. He won the  Nashville Marathon "back in the day." I need to find out when that was. He stopped running years ago due to issues with his knees.

Duane decided to start running again and now we run together twice a week. He's been coaxing me to get my pace up. Last week didn't go well because of the heat. We were supposed to run a 5-mile run a week ago, but I had to stop after 4-miles because I was so hot.

This week is much cooler, in the sixties, and I was determined to improve my time. Tuesday we ran a flat 5-mile route on the Indian Creek trail. I didn't have to battle the heat and I settled into a good rhythm. I knew we were making good time, but I was surprised to see that we had covered 5.02 miles in 49:26, or 9:50/mile.

Today, we did our hill workout with a loop in Stump Park where the elevation gain is about 100 feet. I really tried to push it, knowing we couldn't beat our time the day before on the flat course. Nope, I was wrong. We covered 5.02 miles again, but this time we did it in 49:11, or a 9:48/mile pace.

Can you keep a secret? I would love to push my pace down to 9:06, that magic number needed to finish a marathon in 4 hours. That may take a couple years to accomplish in a marathon, but I certainly could shoot for a 9 minute pace on training runs.  My realistic goal is to finish the Kansas City Marathon in between five and five and a half hours, but my stretch goal is to break five hours.  Only time will tell.

A week from tomorrow the bus chartered by The Runners Edge will be rumbling out of Kansas City destined for the The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon--my first marathon.  Tonight I squeezed in a short run after supper which turned out to be a veritable nature tour.

Aside from the plethora of rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks that have come out this spring, I was treated to the sight of a couple of woodpeckers in a territorial dispute over a dead tree next to the trail.  Their red caps flashed in the light from the setting sun at eye level as I approached the tree. They were surprisingly large.  They moved their fight elsewhere as I jogged by.

On the return trip I caught site of large owl sitting at the top of a tree next to the trail at Switzer Road, not far from where I broke my wrist earlier this month. It appeared to be a Great Horned Owl, about a foot tall.  I stopped and pulled out my camera phone, hoping to get a shot for my girls, but without a zoom it was just a bump on a far away branch.  I've been hearing owls a lot during my night runs for months now.  It was nice to finally see one.  After watching me fumble with the camera the owl decided it had seen enough and dropped from its perch in a graceful dive, wings outstretched, turning to fly deeper in the woods.  I would like to think my owl encounter was a good omen--okay, maybe I'm reaching a bit.

I know bats are not a good omen.  The Indian Creek Trail follows a park and some fields west of Switzer Road and the bats had come out in droves in the fading sunlight to sample the spring crop of flying insects.  This was the first time I noticed bats this spring.  I was so intent at watching the small bats dive and dart through the twilight sky, not far above my head, that I came inches from stepping on a large toad that had parked itself on the trail.  That could have been a disgusting mess! I wonder if any runners have injured themselves stepping on a toad?  Leave it to me to pull something like that a week before a marathon.

All that was missing from my nature run were the deer I've seen on my last two runs in a field near Nieman Road where I exit the trial. As I approached the field I was disappointed not to see any deer silhouettes, but then, as if on cue, a large doe crossed the trial not 40 feet in front of me. It stopped to graze near the side of the trail.  As I ran past her, maybe 15 feet away, the deer was looking in the opposite direction, not seeming to care about my presence.

Seeing the deer again so close was a nice ending to a pleasant run.  It is hard to believe that a week from tonight I'll be packing my gear for my first marathon.

The The 2009 Olathe Marathon has been canceled due to the approaching snowstorm.

Marathon runners were given three options:

1. Run in the 2010 Olathe Marathon.

2. Run in the Olathe Half Marathon (rescheduled for next week).

3. Take your participant medal and go home.

I opted to run in the half marathon next week.  That still gives me time to taper for The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon a month from now.

I'm not really that disappointed.  Oklahoma City was going to be my "main marathon event" anyway.  The Olathe Marathon was just a warm-up event that would have allowed for my family to see me finish.  My only disappointment is that my family won't be in OKC to cheer me on.  This is probably going to work out better for my shin splints though.

My training schedule is screwed up now since I ran my last 20-mile run three weeks ago.  I'm going to head out for a seven mile run tonight before the weather turns bad.  If the snowstorm has not begun by 7:00 AM I'll probably join The Runners Edge on its Saturday morning run too.  I wish there was a way for me to work in a 20-mile run this weekend. That can't happen without a road trip.

The Olathe Marathon is in eight days.  I just finished my run for the night and I'm icing my shin as I type.  My pace is deliberately two-minutes/mile slower, I'm walking longer after each mile, and it's helping. 

My first weeknight run after my last twenty-mile run was downright painful.  I was uncomfortable for the first six miles of my run last Saturday.  Tuesday it took about four miles before the pain in my shin subsided. Tonight my shin bothered me, but I wasn't "limp running," and it was barely noticeable after two miles.  I can't say I had a normal run, but it was getting closer to normal.

This Saturday I will just be running eight-miles with The Runners Edge and I'll be running with the 11:40 pace group instead of the 11:20 pace group.  After than I have two short weeknight runs, and then it's marathon time.  I can't believe that it's almost here.

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.

What I really like about The Runners Edge Saturday runs are the people.  I meet so many interesting people and have some great conversations.  I assumed that I would just be keeping to myself today, since I was running with a new pace group, but that wasn't the case.  I met several people, and spent all of the last five miles talking to one individual in particular.

The conversation with my new acquaintance began with the usual small talk.  She has run the Oklahoma City Marathon, and five others, and is considering running the Abilene, KS marathon. As we talked, I learned that she has a painful, chronic medical condition that has required multiple surgeries. And yet, here she is, pushing through a 10-mile workout, and planning her seventh marathon!  I asked if this kind of training helped her condition, and it didn't sound like her doctors were very happy about her running.  She just likes to run.

The strength and determination of the people I meet on my runs amazes me, like Julie, the woman I met on my 8-mile run, who completed an IronMan and is training for another, and now this woman today. I can't help but be inspired and humbled. Each time I hesitate to run on a frigid night, or feel like giving up, like I was tempted to do on my 16-mile run, I draw from inspirational stories like these to keep going.

My new friend and I went on talking about kids, work, nutrition and training, how running makes us feel, and the next thing I knew we were within sight of the finish line.  That is how it goes when you get caught up in a good conversation.  Coach Valdez is always reminding us that we should be running slow enough to get out six words without taking a breath.  I certainly did that today.

Despite all my gabbing, my “time in motion” was 1:54:31, covering a distance of 9.96 miles, at an average pace of 11:29. I started out with the 11:40 pace group, but when we caught up with the 11:20 pace group at the 2-mile aid station I decided to switch groups. I've been working on lengthening my stride since the Topeka Half-marathon, and have come to the conclusion that a little faster pace feels more natural.

Next week - 18-miles.