There are 10 different contractors who poured the sidewalks that wrap around the Scottsdale airport. That is 10 different ones in the 6.3 miles which took me 53:30 this morning. About one minute per mile faster than my leisurely “stroll” of last night. I also went the other direction (Clockwise) this morning. Now I have to get ready for work.

6.3 miles, exactly one hour.

10 curls each arm 45#

50 single leg leg presses each leg – 110#

Upstairs I got on the Concept 2 rowing machines. The first two attempts were a wash, because the first machine kept resetting after about 200 m, and the second machine didn’t have anything on the screen at all. I moved to the third and played with it enough to figure out how to set up what I want to do. I think the first machine may have been set on some short program…so I set up a 10k or 10000m row that I would push through.

The first 5k went by in 21:30 exactly, but it also has a projected time to finish the whole workout and I was on pace to do the second half faster, so I kept it up. One bad thing about rowing hard is that your hands are busy so it is hard to wipe away any sweat. I pushed pretty hard and kept the pace up through the entire second 5k so that I finished in 41:08.9. That means I did the second 5k in 19:38.9. I have to go back and check, but I think that sets a new mark for Josh to go after, in the 5k, and 10k distances. At least I am faster than him in a boat if not on land. (I can fly faster than him too, I guarantee that.) You just know that now that I have rowed 10k, I am thinking about cranking it up for a 50k row. I will have to go at a slower pace for sure, and wear some weight lifting gloves, but I think I can do it. Josh? Wanna join me? After McNaughton?

I walked a lap after getting off the rower and did 50 crunches, and stretched, and did 25 inverted situps holding a 25# plate as well as 25 sideways situps each way holding nothing.

I moved out on the track and after warming up for two laps walking, I set out to run two miles.

Mile 1 – 7:32

Needed a bathroom break here, and so I stretched and did 50 more crunches, and talked to local runner Jim for quite awhile. He had just finished 5 miles hard at about a 7 minute pace (I was behind him and he was pulling away when I did the 7:32.)

I got back out on the track and walked two more warmup laps because I sat so long…then

Mile 2 – 6:56

2 more walking laps (I walk them fast/with purpose like I might in an ultra…)

Then I had a desire to do ONE fast lap, so I cranked up a good song and did

200m – 36 seconds (the indoor track is so hard to run any faster on because the corners are so tight…)

We started with a 3 mile warm-up run and wound that up at the top of the hill on Valley View Drive. The workout as laid out by Tony was for us to run 10 hill repeats and then he was going to go on for another 6-7 miles, while I went home. I just didn’t feel like I have a 13 or so mile run in me tonight. I pushed myself pretty hard the first three hill repeats to stay with Tony, and while draining it was pretty cool too to run that fast. Then I took one off while I wandered into the woods to pee and Tony kept running. I came back as he came back down the hill and ran another one up at his pace, and then I finished off running an easy one, and I knew I was done. I was torn at the top of the 5^th repeat, in that I REALLY wanted the feeling of accomplishment of getting through all ten, but after the 4 run right near Tony’s pace, I was pretty wasted and figured it was best to do the last one easy and then jog home easy too. My heart kept telling me to go back and do 5 more even if they were slow, but I reigned in my testosterone and just went home.

I can build up to the 10 repeats gradually. Hopefully I can have the self control to run 7 or 8 next time out and then go for all 10 in a few weeks. I think that is the smart way to go about this, as this was my FIRST ever true hill repeat workout after all.

Total miles tonight 4.89

Thanks Tony!

I started tonight with the weight room.

15 curls each arm 40#

10 leg presses 225# – 25 toe raises 225#

50 torso ab twists each way, 110#

50 hip adduction 190#

25 lat pull downs 110#

25 butterflies 165#

TRACK WORK

Mile 1 – 8:49

Mile 2 – 8:50

Mile 3 – 8:34

¼ mile walk

BATHROOM BREAK

50 crunches

30 inverted situps

50 pushups

Minor stretching

Mile 4 – 8:21

Mile 5 – 8:20

Mile 6 – 7:53

¼ mile walk

WEIGHT ROOM

10 curls each arm 45#

50 crunches

Wandered onto the basketball court and watched for about 15 minutes before I was needed in a few games. I couldn’t let the fellas down, so I played. Now, how do I know I am getting more athletic? I had 4 blocks in a row and then a steal. It has been a long time since I blocked anyone near my size and these guys were all my height. They might have been tired from playing for a while, but still, they were all 10 years younger and I was being called Dikembe for my blocks. Good stuff (pun intended – they always are.)

While I was waiting prior to playing, I watched this one lady who runs a lot of laps at night. I wonder if she ever runs ultras or marathons because she puts in a lot of miles, and since I ran behind her for a while tonight, I can say she runs them at about a 9:00 per mile pace, or even 8:30. The odd thing about watching her is that she looks like she mostly has her eyes closed. I just started wondering what her back story is, whether she runs for a reason, or just fitness; whether she is kind of meditating while she runs or what. It is very interesting watching others at the gym and wondering what everyone’s story is. I have wanted to approach so many people who are working hard and in the shape I used to be in, to try to encourage them, and tell them to keep at it, but I haven’t figured out the best way to do that without making them MORE self conscious. I KNOW what it is like to feel like you don’t belong in the gym and wonder what everyone is thinking about you. I was there, and not too long ago. Somehow I have morphed into feeling like I belong.

A few more lifts before I hit the streets.

20 leg presses 225# – 30 toe raises 225#

20 tricep presses 115#

I am hopeful I can run with the master (Tony) tomorrow, on his hill workout, even if he is going to put me to shame. I really value every minute I get with Tony.

I did quit though in time to go up to the track and do 2 miles.

Mile 1 – 7:53

Mile 2 – 7:42

Quarter mile walking cool down

20 abdominal “L” leg lifts

In the weight room I did:

15 curls – 40# each arm

60 crunches

50 single leg presses at 100# (50 each leg)

50 torso twists each way at 90#

50 hip adduction at 175#

15 curls again 40# each arm

50 tricep pushdowns at 110#

Up to the track

Walked ¼ mile

Ran 1 mile 7:32 – started on a 8:00 pace and gradually sped up

Walked ¼ mile

Into the pool

Swam ½ mile untimed

Walked another ½ mile in the pool in the 3-4 foot water

It was funny, while swimming my laps there was an elderly lady sharing my lane, and I was racing her. 2 laps for me for every 1 lap for her was my baseline. I had to go faster than that. Of course she had no idea the race was on, but I was just using her as a reason to keep swimming and not rest much.

I rewarded myself when done with 10 minutes in the hot tub and then 15 minutes in the sauna. I would like to add a few miles running today, I will have to see.

Cross Timbers

Trail Marathon

Check in time from the shores of Lake Texoma. I had to wake up about 3:15 am central time to pack my crap up and get headed north for the marathon this morning. After just under a two hour drive, jamming to a strong radio station out of Dallas, that somehow stayed strong enough the whole way, I arrived at the race start at 5:50 am. Just in time to fire up the laptop, start this post, and transfer some music to the mp3 for the run. Gotta have the quad J’s along with me for my projected 5+ hour journey. Jack Johnson and Janet Jackson.

Right off the bat on the drive, I saw an advisory sign that said an elderly person was missing; I think from the Houston area, and they are driving a beige Oldsmobile. It was kind of odd and caught my attention. Was this a “beige” alert, akin to the national “amber” alert system when children go missing? Who knows? I put in my little teeth whitening mouth piece and drive…a perfect time to whiten the teeth, driving with nothing else to do, and not expecting any phone calls because it is so damn early. My drive for continual self improvement lately would make Gombu proud. The dental hygienist at my last appointment taught me so much about dental health, that I have really been incorporating that info in my daily regimen as of late. She was awesome.

I was driving north along I-35 and a tan Pontiac Bonneville went by me on the highway with it’s 4 way hazard flashers on. It is still dark out so that made a big impression on the eyeballs, and I had to think it through a few times to realize that the Bonneville is a Pontiac and not and Oldsmobile…but I was definitely thinking it could be the missing grey (old person, NOT alien.)

I digress, I am here now, having wandered over to the check in tent and gotten my packet, goodies (a really nice shirt AND socks) and pinned ye olde number onto my shorts (429.) The only mix-up was that at first they didn’t have me on the sheet for the marathon; they had me for the half marathon. I know I signed up for the marathon, but they didn’t worry too much about it and gave me a marathon bib and added the socks to my bag that the marathoners get. (I wonder what extra swag the 50 milers get?) But now I am self conscious about whether or not I clicked the right box on Active.com and if I find out I underpaid for the race, I plan on sending a check to the RD Teresa to make it up. I know Active.com can do weird things, but I have not had this happen before.

I am about 15 minutes from heading over for the briefing now. It is cold out and I have on shorts, Smartwool socks (my favorite pair!), a wicking t-shirt, my new Target jacket, hat, and gloves. The shoe of choice wasn’t much choice. I only brought along “road” shoes on my trip and am wearing the light blue (gay) Asics Gel Nimbus that I bought in Palm Springs. By the time I project I will be done, the temperature should be between 55-60 which will be great, but I will also have to tote along my warm weather crap through the last half of the race. A word about pace before I sign off…I plan on running similarly to how I approached the Winter Buckeye Trail 50k a month or so ago, just easy and enjoy it (I hope.) I don’t think this is a course for a PR and I felt like I ran pretty hard the other night around DFW (although the pace didn’t show that!) On to the journey – hopefully I can finish this report on my flight home to Ohio this afternoon!

I am at the terminal now, with about an hour to go before my flight home. So this morning, we all got the race briefing about 5 minutes prior to the start. The trail was to be marked in white ribbons and occasionally flour. It was marked very well…I only lost track once and took a wrong turn about 100 yards down the wrong trail before retreating when I saw the white ribbons on the other path. The first aid station was to be at 3.5 miles and then two more before reaching a turnaround point, and then returning to the start finish line and doing a loop on another trail.

Lake Texoma – that is Oklahoma on the far shore

We all started bunched up and I was fortunate to fall in behind a very shapely butt beacon that led me for a few miles until things started spacing out. Right from the start Janet Jackson was having sex with my ear drums. Her new album (Discipline) is very sultry and nice. This first section was very technical and seemed to go on and on. When I got to the first aid station, I knew right away that the distance was off. 55 minutes. No stinking way. I could believe 42 or even 45 minutes, but I just wasn’t running slow enough to take 55 minutes for 3.5 miles. Like most people I took off my coat at this point and hung it on a fence as I was getting hot. I grabbed some food, ate a little, carried more out and had a few cups of drink. (I did not carry a water bottle.) Off I go, and Janet has finished her molestation of my auditory canals and now I am onto to soul therapy with Jack Johnson (help me here Josh.) Jack and I head down the trail, and soon I am so cold that I run a few miles with my hands down my shorts. I wished I had brought my gloves, but at least I wasn’t still listening to Janet during this time; that could have been a problem.

Bad hair day?

The trail is less technical the rest of the way out to the turnaround and I hit the second aid station in 34 more minutes. Two young boys are working here with their Mom amongst others and the youngest one is complaining about being cold. I sympathized with him. I ask how far into the race we are and two people right away tell me 7.5 miles. What? I KNEW that first section was longer. No way I ran 55 minutes for 3.5 miles and then another 4 in 34 minutes. Even with the trail differences, I just wasn’t THAT lopsided. The first leaders start passing by coming back from the turnaround about the time I hit aid station #2.

The next section is both nice AND crappy. Nice because we run a lot along the shores of Lake Texoma, with Oklahoma being the far shore. Crappy because high water on the lake has deposited lines of rubbish and little from the lake at the point where it reaches when the lake is up. It was obvious from the volume and positioning of the rubbish that the lake dropped it off as it rose up the hills. I hit the turnaround in about another 30 minutes at 2:02 and thank the high school kids working there. From this point on, I never got passed by anyone, and kept picking off a few runners every mile or two. It seemed to me a lot of people went out hard and then just crashed today. No biggie. It does feel good not to get passed though.

I stopped caring about pace and times and distances in here and just enjoyed the day. I knew a PR was out of reach on this course, and I really just focused on not falling, and looking around.

I gathered up my coat at the aid station where I left it, and carried it and wore it around my waist until I got back to the start finish. I would leave it here while I did the other out and back segment. I would also leave the camera for the traditional whoo-de-whoo.

At the aid station at the SF line, I was munching and laughing and a lady came in with a dislocated shoulder. She had done a face plant with her hands out in front, and popped her left shoulder out of the socket. She asked the volunteer there to yank it back, and he couldn’t get enough force on it. Then she looks at me, and the question resides unspoken in her eyes. Am I willing? I say sure, I will give it a go. She says just pull hard, it has to come out no matter what. So I take her hand and wrist while she opens her stance to steady herself, and like cracking a whip, I pull her arm towards me, and her shoulder back into the socket. Weird. I never did that before. Her name is Cathy Hoover. She would follow me out on the last segment and finish just behind me.

Recreated after the race

So, I go back out onto to SOB hill. Pre-warned, I know this segment is going to be the worst, most technical of the race. It IS. I run about a mile or so of it, and am catching up to yet another runner. He is older than me, and when I get close he looks back. He HAD been walking and running, but once he made eye contact with me, he started running non-stop, even on the uphills, except the very steepest. I kept my pace and walking the same and stayed within sight of him, thinking to myself “Go ahead old man, tear yourself up. I WILL catch you anyhow.” No offense to him if he reads this, but that IS what I thought.

So he reaches the aid station a little ahead of me, just in sight. I make my stop and he leaves while I am there, but I still can see him on the return leg. Soon, on a longer steep downhill, where he and a few others are walking, I just let it roll and blow by 4 guys all at once. I never looked back, and never saw them again. I knew within a minute or so how long this return trip would take, and I just kept counting down the minutes. Soon I popped out on the short road to the finish line. I had preselected a little ACDC (Thunderstruck) and cranked it. I let out about 3 thunderous Whoo-De-Whoos and flew down the road and through the finish. 5:48:59

Right after finishing they gave me my wooden finisher’s award, and then the lady asked me how I knew how to reset that woman’s shoulder. Was I a doctor? I hit my mark and with a serious look in my eyes, I said “No, but I DID stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”

http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/tx/dallas-fort-worth/344573042

Pace turns out to only be 9:28, which is disappointing…I thought I was doing better than that, but it was cold and such.

I had gotten up early in the day and intended on doing the run in the morning, but it was raining felines and K9s. So bagged that idea and then after lunch was going to take a stab at it, because I didn’t have to be at the airport for flight training until 5pm or so. I even drove to and parked at the airport, but when I got out of the car and felt the cold air (I only had shorts, t-shirt and no hat or gloves) I took a few steps and retreated to the heat of the rented Ford Mustang…nice even if it is a V6 and not the GT. I thought that a smart runner would realize how miserable this run was going to be in the last hour, and I bagged it again, but went to Target to acquire some layering to make the run doable later at night. Actually since the morning rain was a cold front passage, the lowest temps were right after it, and then they slowly rose during the day so that when I started it was about 40-41. I had found a light weight shell jacket on clearance at Target and brought my hat and gloves, so I really felt ready.

The jacket was great for stowing my little bit of food, cell phone for safety, car key, cash, and camera. It didn’t really breathe enough for me. On long runs wearing these lightweight jackets for me, the lower sleeves always fill up with moisture (sweat) and it happened again tonight. It really is a nice jacket, but I am going to keep searching for an ideal light weight jacket that I can have for long runs.

I chose to go the same direction I went last year, and this year I missed the wrong turn I took last year.

Here is last year’s post: http://fitfromfat.blogspot.com/2007/03/dfw-dallas-fort-worth-perimeter-run.html

I am now looking at the marathon tomorrow morning, gonna just rest today, maybe walk a little if anything. Sunday for the 44 miler at Mohican, I may pass on. It will be both smart to rest my legs, and also, I REALLY miss my kids. I don’t want to go home, just to disappear again the next morning for pretty much all day. Sorry, Rob, Kurt, Josh, and others, I miss my kids more than you. Deal with it. I can always run something at home though on Sunday.

Yes, they would, and did, and I signed up for the Cross Timbers Trail marathon – the oldest trail race in Texas. I cannot do the 50 mile option and still get home Saturday, but the marathon is right up my alley. It looks to be a hard one with 5590 feet of elevation on the marathon and a course record of 4 hours. So I am guessing wildly that I will finish somewhere under 6 hours. That will be plenty to get me done and on my way back to Dallas in time for my airline, as well as add another state to my marathon list, and a trail marathon to boot. I do prefer to run trails over roads.

Then Sunday, I plan to run 44 miles at Mohican with much of the gang, body permitting. I think I can do it all if I don’t push any one run too hard, and this is ideal training to start getting ready for the 100 milers I plan this season. Still planning on doing the 21 mile airport run tomorrow morning too…looks like in the rain.