When I read about the weather wilting the natives, I wonder about my intention of doing the 5K Racewalk at the National Senior Games in Clevlenad next year. Seems a little daunting, but I'm planning on being there.

A more current daunting challenge is that I signed up for the Leukemia and Lymphoma SocietyTeam in Training Rock and Roll Half Marathon in San Jose, on Oct. Fifteen yeaers ago, my husband and I did 14 mile hikes; but they took all day. I'm not sure if I can complete in the time alotted, but that's what the idea of the Team in Training is - help build up to that distance. I signed up for the walk, but since it's not a formal Racewalk, I can choose whatever style (walk, racewalk, run, trot, etc.) that goes best for me. My rickety hips have been complaining lately - they are the only things that would cause me to have to drop out. There are promises that the coaches won't let me over do to the point of injury, but I understand that it is really my responsibility to be in charge of my own health. So I'm going to give it my best shot for however much I can accomplish.

Meeting the goals of the fund raising portion of the challenge is also daunting. When I told my friends what I am going to be doing, they were all supportive and promised to help me. So that makes me feel better. Thursday is my first metting with the team - I'll keep you-all posted as I get into this one.

Phyllis: TNT Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

urun2me wrote:

 

Wow, Kirk! Congratulations!!!

 

Are you a Marathon Maniac yet? You've certainly met all of the criteria. You made it through May. I'm impressed!

 

 

Yes I qualified at the Wisconsin Marathon. Exactly one year to the day that I became a Half Fanatic. So I am now a paert of the Double Agent club.

Now I am looking to see if there is a close marathon in July or August, since my next scheduled one is all the way in September.

Urun, what a great outlook you have! Glad you're enjoying training. You've rather answered the question about what do you do to stay fit between long races - keep running just as long or cut back and retrain.  There's a local 4 mi. race coming up Jun. 30 and I've joined a training group for that. This time if I don't like it I only have to stick with it 5 wks. and if I do like it, I can enroll in more. Webpro and Urun and Az, good luck with the heat! We'll be complaining soon, too.

Debra, I felt exactly the same way after the Flying Pig. I didn't want to run and even after I pushed myself to do it and I knew it was because I had another race soon, I didn't want to. There must be a mental fatigue that goes with the physical. I'm betting it will pass. In the meantime, it sounds like you are having fun breaking out of the training routine. 

Steve, great race! I am in awe that you had such a good run after all that vacation. I guess muscle does have a memory.

Kirk, you are amazing! It was hot in Cleveland, too but I thought that was just because it was a concrete wasteland. The shaded areas were downright comfortable but then they were full of potholes and cracks. The race should have been called a trail run. I wonder if northern OH is really that economically depressed or if its politicians are neglecting the infrastructure and/or mishandling revenue. It reminded me of Afghanistan in spots. I could see awful road surfaces in smaller cities but Cleveland? Anyway, the jumbotron at the stadium said the temp was 75 but it felt like 85. The announcer said the race had gone to red flag and runners were being told to slow down but then he had a flair for the dramatic. I literally passed three people down on the way to the finish (getting first aid) and many with bags of ice tied to their calves. Sad. 

Marathon Maniacs? Thanks guys. As if I needed to feed this addiction more.

Phyllis, so you are thinking of training for a HM? You have such great energy! Good. There were many in my age group and above walking the HM. I believe there were 5 runners and 39 walkers in the 69-90 group.  It is a long distance compared to a 5k or even a 10k. I sure hope by the time you compete next year Cleveland will have you walking in a newer area or have done something to fix the road surfaces. I can help you a little now with pointers on where to stay and getting around if the events are downtown. Hopefully, they won't be.  The waterfront area was very nice but you have to pass really awful areas to get there, not dangerous areas, just ugly, decrepit, repurposed, neglected, city-that-used-to-be-great relics housing bail bondsmen, jailhouse lawyers or nothing.

Well, I LOVE my race medal! It is better than imagined. The guitar spins! So glad I did it! I learned that, for whatever reason, I am trained enough to complete a HM but not to run the whole distance. I felt much stronger this time, started almost every mile running and had only three miles below pace due to walking. I struggled the first three miles; they seemed to go on forever. At one point I tried telling myself to calm down and then thought "WTH, this is a race. It's time to work and no one said it would be easy so stop whining." It must have worked because I remember mind-bitching about everything else at that point. Maybe I struggled because I haven't been running much or maybe because it was mostly uphill. Something happened near mi.5. I think it was the shade trees. So, five and six were great. I walked a little during seven because I told myself I could take a break halfway and then started up running again mi.8. All was good until a steep hill mi.10 followed by slow uphill across a long bridge (mi.11).  "Flat and fast" my ***. Then after the short downhill from the bridge there was the stench of dumpster lane (uphill) for mi.12. The last mile was all downhill but there was regular traffic (cars and people) crossing and actually on the course until the last half mile. Srsly??? When the half runners joined the fulls for the last half mile, things were a lot more professional with guide rails and fans but until then, we HM runners, coming from a different direction, were afterthoughts.

I was dog tired at the end but felt none of the serious pain and weakness I had two weeks ago. Looking back now, I know I could have pushed harder and been fine but I still feel like such a stranger in this body as a runner that I didn't know if I Al would be ok. It's disappointing but I'll do better next time. My overall time is 11 min. better for this race and my avg. pace improved by more than a minute because the course was longer. That feels good.

Although community support was great, I would not recommend this race. It was poorly managed and Rite Aide seemed to be doing everything it could to squeeze money without spending any. Volunteers weren't wearing Ts except for their own. Runners were still trying to get to corrals when the race started because they had very limited space and organizers let strollers and spectators in the corrals. Toilets in the stadium didn't flush, made you wish for portapotties. Runners had to pay $8 to park their cars at the expo to pick up their bibs because it was in the middle of nowhere. But, gotta love the bling.

Phyllis, don't think of it as 13 miles unless you think it would be good to scare yourself into doing it. At race time, it will be just as long or a little bit longer than your last long walk. Chances are good that if you spend the time training that your body needs to adjust to the longer distance, you'll be able to do it. Good luck!

Had to post a pic of this. It's just too neat. The back is a full color pic, also with 35 yrs. in place of Rite Aid. Promise this is the last one unless Philly is very original. Kirk and Pinoy are shaking their heads right about now. Sorry. I'm new and loving it. 

Finishing the Rockford Marathon in the 90* heat. This was Marathon #4 in 23 days!

Nancy: 104 degrees is HOT. that gets into the "Only mad dogs an Englishmen go out in the hot sun" range.

Kirk: Do you run in your sleep to get all those races in? Your picture is great - I like all those great colors, especially the green socks with the orange shoes. Who said men dress drab?

I haven't tried compression socks, but have worn compression tights, and I feel they give my hip joints needed support.

Tonight is my first TNT training at the track, and I am nursing a very sore, maybe broken, little toe. I stubbed it while finding my bed in the dark hotel room on Saturday. The poor little pinky is taped to my other toes and I'm wearing my stiffest shoes today to give support. I don't think I'll be able to do much track work - even if it is learning to walk. At least I have had a small leg up with my one 5K racewalk event. I hope getting off to a rocky start won't hold me back too much.

Great Job on the HM MaryKay!!  I am impressed with your fortitude.

Had a good laugh at myself today, so feel free to join me.  Found a new way to injury myself- doing PUSH-UPS!!  Seriously!

On non-running days I've been trying to build core/upper body strength with a program to get to "100 push-ups"  3 days/week you do 5 sets of varying # push-ups, and it steadily advances, based somewhat on how many you can do at the start.  Today I did 72 in the 5 sets, and struggled, as usual, at the end of the last 2 sets.  later in the day I've had sharp muscular pain in left pectoral area and beneath left shoulder blade, so I must have been using poor form on the last few I struggled with.  Couldn't have anything to do with being 58, I suppose.    We will see how  much it sets me back.

Enjoy running on the long weekend- be safe in the heat!

Hello everyone,

I haven't posted much but try to watch all of your exploits. I ave been running long runs (up to 9 miles), intervals ( qtr, half mile and mile) and all was going well. Then the first of may I went to a trade show for 4 days with no time for running and on my feet all day and into the night. Then long plane rides going and coming back (12 hours + each way). When I got home and was able to run again I did my long run. I planned to go 9 miles but was only able to do about 7 and not very fast at the end. I have been struggling trying to get back into the routine and it is finally am now doing better. Las week I did a long run of about 6 miles slow the whole way. I had a race today so I did no interval work at all just 3 to 4 miles of tempo running Monday and Wendsay, Thursday a long walk.

My last race I watched my watch to try to run my pace, but the pace I was checking was the average pace on my Garmin. Well that gave me a false sense on security and I was going slower than I planned. The first mile was fine but second and third were slower than I had wanted. Still finished 11th overall out of 80. Well after that I change the watch to show real time pace. I think that helped a lot. Today I ran more the way I planned. I ran each mile under 8 min. Not all the same pace, faster the first and slower each successive one. I would prefer to get faster as I run but it never works out that way. I was quite happy with my time and place. I was first in my AG in a time of 22:43. The medal was cool.