Last 20 Miler DONE

OK, 20 miler number 4 is done and in the bag. Today was a tougher run for me for some reason, I think the wind (about a 16 mph headwind, depending on which direction we were running) had a lot to do with that. John Y was there, the dude is an elf, he might weigh 160 lbs, nothing but leg and muscle, he spent most of the run just chatting away. I was of course struggling to keep up with him so I didn't have much to say out side of "yes" "no" "too fast" "uphill, woohoo". I of course did not say that last one too often.

The third guy did show up - - Dr. Mike. Dr. Mike is a real doctor for one of the units here on post, his specialty is, drum roll, Sports Medicine. How very convinient. He and John spent the first 8 miles chatting about gatorade, other sports drinks, supplements, gu, etc. Scintillating. John and Dr. Mike were into it so I didn't really say much, just listened. After a while, Dr. Mike wanted to slow down some so he fell off and it was just me and the fast elf. My theory is that if your talking a lot, your probably not running fast enough, unless your an elf.

The run was a very disruptive one, we had our route set up, our water and Gu stops planned and the Air Force messed up the plan. Every saturday morning for the past year couple of years the Manna Multisport group has run from Lee Field House on FT Bragg, onto Pope AFB to run around the airfield and back onto Bragg (about 8 miles). Normally, just one person in the group has to carry an ID card and can vouch for the rest of the group. I never carry mine (an extra 1.7 ounces will make a difference when your running with an elf) John Y always carries his (let the elf carry that 1.7 ounces). When we ran up to the gate this morning I knew we were in trouble: There was a brand spanking new airman on guard and he wanted to see EVERYONES ID card. Normally, you can talk you way past an older guy because he has seen us several times, but a brand new airman has no history or knowledge of the crazy folks that have come onto Pope AFB for the past 2 years on saturday mornings. Brand spanking new airman would not budge, he wouldn't let us on Pope AFB. Doing his job, but disrupted our run. Of course, my Gu and water strategy was messed up, so I had to actually had to think that.

We ended up running our basic route, except we added an extra 6 miles to make up for the airfield. We had to go up some more hills and were really effected by the wind. All in all, it was a good run, I kept it a bit slower than last weeks 20, but it was a bit more challenging. 7:25 minutes a mile was my pace for the day, pretty respectable. For the rest of the train up time, I will be focusing on speed some and maintaining my condition without over doing it.

The USASOC group has smoked it's $5,000 goal - - one person raised 2500 bucks and two other ones are over the $1,000 mark, so doing real well. Thanks a ton.

One more long run . . .

Ok, yesterday was a good tempo run, I started off with a slow 2 mile warm up, running from Ritz Epps gym through the woods to Longstreet, then out towards the ranges. Once I got on Longstreet, I hit the hills for 3 miles out and 3 miles back, pretty good burst. I managed to keep a 6:40 pace for that 6 miles. The first sister kind of got me, made me wonder why on earth I was running up ANOTHER hill, but then I thought of miles 16 through 21 in Boston and kept running. After the hills and tempo I had a nice 2 miler for a cool down.

I am at the point in the training plan where I am starting to get those little aches and pains when I run. For example, I may have a couple of steps where my calve hurts a bit, I naturally think that is the end of my running career, then I tell myself to settle down, it will go away in a couple of seconds and of course it does. I have my normal 42 year old aches and pains - knee, ankles, but that is nothing out of the ordinary. I am actually feeling very strong and ready.

Saturday is my 4th 20 miler, I will be running with John Y and another person, not sure who the third person is but the more the merrier. Normally if you can find one person to run 20 miles with, your good to go, two people, that is just a pure bonus. I will let you all know how that goes.

Mom kicked in with a donation, I am right at 865 bucks, pretty good chunk of change. I do appreciate as will all the soldiers (SOF and otherwise) that will benefit.

Did I say 12 miles . . . ?

OK, I just went 10, for some reason, I couldn't get my lazy butt out of bed this morning. My alarm clock went off, I hit the snooze, it went off again, I hit the snooze, and one more time. I was feeling kind of bad about that, then I realized I was running when 90% of NC was still in bed!

I really wanted to run from Ritz Epps and hit the sisters, but it was closed - - - something about Easter weekend and the rest of post having the day off for the holiday. The heathens at USASOC decided to work today. No big deal. I ended up running from the headquarters and went down Chicken Road for 5 miles out and back. Luckily, there are lines now, so I felt pretty safe. I did 7:30s the whole way there and back, so I kind of hit my goal of running a little slower than on saturday.

Today marked my 4 week out point from the actual race. I am feeling pretty strong and well prepared, finally have my shirt and shorts picked out, I am good to go.

20 Mile Saturday

Nice run today, great weather, started off at about 55 degrees and ended around 65. I didn't run with the Manna Multi-sport group, most folks were doing the Easter weekend thing so I just ran from the house. I started off on Raeford Road, hit Wayside, then onto Plank/Chicken Road (Just to let you all know: they put lines on the new pavement, so no more chaos) up to MacRidge for a little while. One of my favorite routes. I put out two water drops - one at 6.5 and one at 10 (I hit the one at 6.5 on the way out and on the way back) and tried something a little different: I ate a slice of peanut butter bread before the run. Doesn't sound like much but it made a difference at the beginning of the run.

BLOG BREAK: The Duke Blue Devils just got beat, sigh. Live by the 3 pointer, die by the 3 pointer.

My pace was pretty strong once I got onto Wayside Road, Raeford Road is weird - - there is a ton of traffic on there and that throws me off, also, you can't run on the asphalt because it is a very busy 4 lane road, and some folks don't appreciate runners. There are some great hills on the route and there was a tailwind on the way out headwind on the way back. Once I hit the first water point (water and some Sharkbites - little jelly bean things shaped like a shark, kind of like gu, but not really) I started to feel really strong, I kept checking out the forerunner and it was telling me I was running at around a 7:00 - 7:20 pace along Chicken/Plank Road, once I made the turn at mile 10 (had some gatorade, which is also different, I normally just drink water), I got a little stronger, I actually had to tell myself to slow down. It was actually pretty nice, just cruising along at a faster pace than I ran at the Marine Corps Marathon with no real effort.

After my last water break (Gu and water) on the way back, the last 4 miles were right at 7 minutes a mile, so it was a good day. I am feeling pretty strong and am very confident I could have kept that pace for another 6 miles. Add in the magic of race day and I should do ok.

I have one more long run next weekend, then I start to taper on down. Happy Easter!

Ah, March Madness . . .

I was going to write up yesterday's run yesterday, but something bad almost happened - - the might Duke Blue Devils almost got beat by Belmont. Since I have lived in CA (way back when) I have been a Duke fan, they came out to California and cleaned UCLA's clock two years in a row, and I liked the way they played, since then, I have been a huge fan of the program. Last night, Belmont played an almost perfect game and lost by a single point. Incredible game.

Yesterday's run was a pretty fair run, I can tell spring is here because the winds have picked up a great deal. I did a quick out and back from the house, 5 miles out on Stoney Point Road and 5 miles back. Stoney Point used to be a pretty good run not so much anymore. Since all of the suburban sprawl occured, there is a ton of traffic on it, even at 6 am when I was running, so I was mostly off to the side of the road. There was a good tailwind on the way out and of course if you have a good tailwind on the way out, you have to suffer the headwind on the way back, no big deal, just makes me a stronger runner. Averaged out to be a 7:45 pace for the ten miles.

I think I am at a closure on the race day attire: With three votes (Julie, Fay and Don) cast I will go with the new shorts with the pocket, my FASTEST SHIRT EVER with my name on the front and I am considering a throw away shirt for the fine ladies of Wellsley College. The first 13 miles are downhill, so I should be able to put up with that. Umm, no earrings or sweatbands, but thanks for the suggestion Faye.

Dilemmas, dilemmas, what to do . . . .

OK, today's run was pretty sweet: I did 9 miles worth, with a 7 mile tempo run in the middle of it. 1 mile warm up, tempo run, 1 mile cool down. Good weather (Midwest crowd: I actually started off with two short sleeve shirts on, but took one off before I did the tempo portion of the run, it was just TOO warm!), challenging route, just a good run. Today, I really wanted to concentrate on my pace and I was almost successful with that. I ran from the headquaters parking lot, went through 3d SFG, took Chicken Road to McRidge and hit the hills. I concentrated all the way to the turn off point on McRidge then totally lost concentration. Here's why.

I started thinking about:

For the past three marathons - - the Marine Corps Marathon, Boston Marathon and my Boston qualifying marathon I have worn the same clothes. Same shirt (my red one, I run much faster in red), my long blue Nike shorts with the black stripe (the ones in the blog picture from the Army Ten Miler, please note, I was not wearing the red shirt because I was running for the FT Bragg Army Ten Miler team) and a pair of Thorlo short sockettes. I have had very good luck with that outfit. My dilemma is two part:

1. I have just bought three pairs of Addidas shorts, very comfortable, the appropriate length and they have a cool pocket in the back so I can put my gu packs in there. The blue shorts don't have that big of a pocket. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Should I wear my FASTEST SHORTS EVER, or the newer, flashier model?

2. I plan on writing my name on the front of my shirt so that folks can cheer me on during the race. The theory is that someone will read my shirt and say "Go Fritz!" or something like that. I also plan on writing something on there for the fine ladies of Wellesly college, because they cheer so hard for all the runners. Now, the dilemma is: Should I deface my FASTEST SHIRT EVER just so folks can cheer me on, or should I preserve my red shirt and run the risk of wearing another, less fast and lucky one during Boston?

3. I am good on the socks.

These are the things that distracted me when I made the turn on McRidge. I did manage to recover from my wandering mind and got back on track after a few miles. Despite the obvious distraction of my marathon wardrobe, I managed to turn a good tempo: 6:45 over the 7 miles, with another good negative split. If it wouldn't have been for the distraction, no telling what I would have turned.

If you have any input on my dilemma, please let me know. Quite the quandry.

On the donation front, CSM John made a hefty donation to the cause a while ago, and he got mad that I haven't mentioned him in my blog yet, so here it is. He even offered to forward my request to his church choir, which was very cool. Thanks a lot!

Chaos on the roads . . .

Today's run was an 11 miler, I ran a pretty standard route from the building, through 3d SFG and onto Chicken Road. I started off about 6 am, and with DST it was still on the dark side. Because I am a slightly picky runner, I don't really like run facing traffic (like all the rules say your supposed to), the headlights kind of annoy me, I know, stupid stuff, but that is just the way I am wired I guess. Anyway, this was not a problem until I got past the access control point. FT Bragg is currently re-paving most of Chicken Road which is cool (they are even adding an extra wide shoulder to accomodate bicycles VERY COOL). HOWEVER, they haven't painted the lines back on the new asphalt, so, when folks wer driving onto and off of post, they were all over the road, it was entertaining to be honest.

There was about a 2 mile stretch of pure chaos on the road - - some folks were toward the middle of the road, some folks on the edge of the new asphalt, pure entertainment. I guess folks need lines. I didn't really notice it on the way out, but on the way back, the sun was up and there was plenty of light so I could actually see where everyone was driving, too funny. Because of the chaos, I switched sides of the road so I could see the cars coming towards me.

Anyway, 11 miles, 7:23 pace, pretty fair run.

Big props to Brenda L. she kicked in a donation pushing me over the 800 dollar mark, I do appreciate everyone's support.

Whoa, 16 miles today

Ok, 16 miler today. Hmmm, what to say, it was a beautiful day on FT Bragg, nice, sunny, about 60 degrees or so (couldn't help but notice that it was 32 degrees in Bellevue this morning). It was a pretty standard run, 8 miles around the Pope Airfield and 8 miles on FT Bragg. Not much to say about the run really outside of it was a PRETTY SWEET PACE, 7:20 a mile, and I did that without my trusty ForeRunner 205. For some reason, I left that at home. I was a little concerned about that because I normally use that to set my pace, so I felt a little naked without it. To top that off, nobody from the Manna Multi-Sport group or the USASOC Boston Marathon group wanted to go 16, so I was pretty much on my own.

At the Boston Marathon two years ago I ran a 3:18, that averages out to about a 7:20 pace, so, during a training run two years later I was cruising along at a 7:20 pace with no real strain. Next week's long run is a 20 miler, John Y will be running with me, I am going to see if I can talk him into pacing me at about 7:10 or 7:15, if I can maintain that pace the magic of race day will take care of the rest. Next week will be the first week that I go over 50 miles in a long time, should be a hoot.

One of my loyal readers (thanks Julie) asked me what my favorite flavor of Gu is. For the record, Gu (the little packets of carbohydrate magic that you eat with a lot of water to replace the electrolytes you sweat out during a long run or race) is not one of the foods that I would turn to when I need a little flavor pick up. When I do go buy Gu, I normally look for whichever flavor has no caffeine and is not a strange combo or flavor. That all said, VANILLA Julie, vanilla. I will probably be carrying about 3 of them during the marathon (one every 8 miles) and will try to maintain solid Gu discipline: I failed to do that at the Army Ten Miler earlier this year, I was planning on having a Gu at mile 4, which I did, and another one at mile 7, which I did not. I was feeling a little cocky about mile 6.5 and decided to throw it away (who wants to carry 2.5 extra ounces?). Naturally, about mile 9 (after going over that last bridge) I was wishing I would have slugged that baby down.

Wednesday and Thurdsay

Ok, two pretty good runs - - Wednesday was an interval day, today was an 11 mile recovery run. Yesterday was 4 x 1 mile intervals with a 2 mile warm up and cool down. I ran the intervals with at the Polo Ground on the kilometer track. For some reason, there was a unit running around the track backwards, I knew they were running backwards because everyone else was running the other way. it was kind of hard to dodge folks going both ways. Luckily the backwards unit ended before I started the intervals up. First interval was a 6:26, second was 6:16, third 6:23 and the last one was 6:19 or so. Pretty good pace, made me happy. Then I had to go to work. Sigh.

Today was an 11 mile recovery run and I have to say I am not liking Daylight Savings Time. I was going to run on the trails, but it was still dark. Now, normally Green Berets are not scared of the dark, but, the trails around here are kind of iffy if you can't see where your running. I ended up starting on a trail, then quickly switched to roads after a few stumbles. I ended up going in a big circle around training area J. Luckily, there was a unit doing some good machine gun training, sounded like M-240B and the gunner was knocking out some good 6-9 round bursts. Pretty cool, I was able to listen to them most of the way down MacRidge.

Tomorrow is an off day and saturday should be a tame 16 miler. Geoff H. kicked in a donation, I am up to 750 bucks, pretty good stuff, I do appreciate it.

12 Miles, on a Monday . . . .?

Yikes, 12 miles this morning. It was actually a pretty good run. Kind of on the cold side, so I wore the magic gloves (thanks Faye, if your reading), I also put out a water drop and Gu on my way in, so I was feeling very strong. Of course, it was just me and the Forerunner, but it was a good run. I started off at the HQs building, cut on up through 3d SFG (my old unit) and hit Chicken Road. I stayed on Chicken Road through the access control point and past MacRidge. I ran past several ranges, but, nobody was firing. There were a few units that were setting up, but I was a little too early for them. I turned around at 6 miles, hit my Gu stop and came on back. Gotta say, the Gu and water were on the cold side this morning, kind of sat in my stomach for a while, but, hey, not like it snowed on me or anything. 7:21 pace for the 12 miles, faster on the way back, so, negative split.

Speed work out on Wednesday, maybe I can guilt some of the other guys into coming out and running with me.

Last of the Recovery Runs

Saturday was the last of my 9 mile recovery runs. I ran on post with the Manna Multi-sports folks. That is the group that John Y organizes and trains with. They have all just got done running the Myrtle Beach Marathon and have set their sights on some local races. There are a couple of folks that are training for a marathon, John being one of them (he is in the USASOC Boston Group as well). We started off at Hendricks Stadium, where one of the tracks here on post is. From there we got up on Reilly Road and went on to Pope AFB to run around the airfield. Outside of a big downhill at the beginning and a corresponding big up hill at the end of that route, it is mostly flat and fast.

I like running with John, he is an extremely good runner and is very experienced. The first race I ever ran with him I started off kind of fast (like normal) and was just tooling along. He passed me up, said hello (we were in the same Group at the time) and kept motoring past me. I figured I would catch up to him later on and that he would fade on out. Well, I kept thinking that as he got smaller and smaller in the distance. I think he was 2 minutes faster than me in a 10k, that was when I decided I should run with him more, it is better to train with someone that is faster than me. On Saturday, I kept up with him for the 9 miles, until we hit the big uphill, then he pulled away a little bit. Ended up keeping a 7:24 pace for the 9 miles, which was just about on target. Pretty good run.

Wednesday and Thursday

This is a recovery week for me, just 4 x 9 mile runs, one on monday, wednesday, thursday and saturday. Wednesday's run was a good run (of course, any run is a good run in my book), I did 9 miles starting at Ritz Epps gym. I hit some of the trails, went onto Longstreet, hit the sisters and kept going. I went past McRidge, which marks the boundary of the range area on FT Bragg, unfortunately, nobody was firing that morning, so it was just me and the Forerunner. There was one guy on a bike, but he fell into the category of Bike Snob: He had a cool, rather expensive bike, all of the cool guy bike gear and clothes and he was wearing cool guy sunglasses, what made him fall into the Bike Snob category was as we passed each other, I said "morning" (which is my running policy, always say something) and he of course said nothing, being a Bike Snob. After I made the turn back to the gym and went through the Access Control Point I hit some firebreaks and ran through the woods back to Ritz Epps gym. FT Bragg has an extensive network of fire roads through most of the woods, so it is great running, well maintained, clear and through the woods, nice running.

Thursday was a quick 9 miler from the HQs building, I had some work stuff that made me run a little early (I hate it when that work stuff gets in the way of a good run. . . .), I started off from the parking lot, hit Yadkin extension road then turned onto Yorktown Victor. Yorktown Victor is an interesting road, it was one of the roads that was fenced off when FT Bragg became a closed post (post 9-11). The road is almost exactly 1.5 miles long, and has a great set of hills on it. Because it is closed there is no traffic and you can really get some good momentum on it. There is also a good chance that there will be other runners to chase down or pace off of. For me, it is normally chase down . . . . Anyway, at the end of Yorktown Victor, I made a right onto one of the firebreaks and just kept going, after 4.5, I turned around and knocked out a negative split on the way back, nice strong finish on the hills, pretty good run.

Ten Mile Monday

Today was an easy ten miler, pretty much straight out and back from the headquarters, right down Chicken road and out the back gate. I was thinking that it was a nice, warm morning but I kind of misjudged that. I started off with three shirts on (left the gloves in the car), one real tight undershirt sort of thing, a long sleeve shirt and a regular t-shirt. All of em were clima-cool, quick dry, synthetic sort of shirts. About 3 minutes into the run, I decided that it was WAAAAY to warm for three shirts, so I ditched the long sleeve shirt right after I crossed Yadkin Road. Big mistake, again.

Once I started to go down the big old hill, it got colder and colder and colder. I really should have turned around and gone back to get my shirt, but it was all the way up the hill, so I kept running. I just stayed on Chicken Road for 5 miles, then turned around, all of them cold. Of course, the Nebraska and Kansas contingents will have no sympathy for me, but my thumbs got real cold. My time was pretty good, 7:21 miles, ten of them, so outside of the really cold thumbs, it was a good run.

On the donation front, my Aunt Faye (the one that gave me the gloves) kicked in a donation, putting me over the 600 dollar mark. Pretty sweet.

Saturday's Run

Saturday was another 20 miler, there are 4 of them in my training plan, I ran a bit early yesterday morning so I could shoot up to Moncure and meet up with my friend Bill. Bill is a HUGE NC State fan, season ticket holder for football and basketball. In the past he has invited me to several football and basketball games. I have taken him up on his offer for the football games, I have an affinity for teams that wear red. I have never been able to go see a basketball game, so this was the first. It also was the first time that I have seen my beloved Duke Blue Devils play live, so it was very special. Several years ago when I was stationed at FT Ord, CA, I was watching a UCLA basketball game against Duke, I had never heard of Duke and figured that UCLA would clean their clock. Well, Duke played a very unique brand of hoops, fierce defense, not too flashy offense and they pasted UCLA. I later found out that Coach K graduated from West Point, and I became a fan. His son-in-law, a graduate assistant, just got out of the Army as well. When I moved to NC and found out that almost every Duke basketball game was on television here, I was in heaven.

Fast forward about 19 years . . . . and I was at the RBC Center with Bill, in a sea of frustrated Wolfpack fans, watching the game. Wolfpack fans are pretty intense, so I was not being too Dukish, and I thought State might actually pull an upset. I have to say, State played a whale of a game, and should have walked off the court with a W, but, Duke pulled it out. If the Pack would have been playing anyone but the Devils, I would have been wearing red. If they play with that sort of intensity from here on out they will be very dangerous in the ACC Tournament. Such loyal fans deserve more games like yesterday, I hope Sidney Lowe can deliver. Bill, thanks for the invite and fine afternoon of basketball.

Oh, wait, I am supposed to be blogging about my run - - I ran from the house yesterday morning, heading down Raeford Road, hitting Wayside Road, going onto FT Bragg and taking a right on Chicken/Plank Road. Good hills on that course. I started off kind of sluggish, I was internally whining about my legs being tired, it being too early, blah, blah, blah. Well, after about the first half mile I looked at my faithful Forerunner and I was clicking along up a hill at 7:30 a mile, and I decided to shut up, enjoy the run and pick up a comfortable pace. I finished off the run and averaged 7:21 a mile for the 20 miles. Of course, beings how this was FT Bragg on a Saturday morning, there was an Army Reserve unit training on one of the ranges, I saw them setting up on the way out, on the way back, they were blazing away with M-240B Machine Guns. Like I have said before, nothing like a little range action to cheer up a run. My average time was slightly faster than my first 20 miler, and believe it or not, close to my race pace at the Marine Corps Marathon. I think I am finally injury free and enjoying some pretty good training.

After about 13 miles yesterday, I realized that the course I had selected roughly corresponded with some of the fiercer hills at Boston. Boston starts off with about 14 miles of steady downhill, bottoms out for a couple of miles, then miles 16-21 are a constant up hill, mile 20 or so being the famous Heartbreak Hill. Well, on this course there is a bridge at mile 15.5 that marks a solid mile and a half up hill, there is a slight flat after that, a short downhill and the run ends up with .75 miles of uphill back to the neighborhood. I pushed it a little on those last two uphills to see how strong I was, especially on the last hill which roughly equated to Heartbreak Hill, and finished up it with a 7:15 pace up that hill. Very nice.

This was a pretty good week of running, next week is an easier week. Special thanks to Al B. for kicking in a donation to the SOF Warrior/Wounded Warrior fund.