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.