This past year has been one of the better years, a building year, that I have had in quite a while. I did start the year off with a injury, which did not let me run until about 6 weeks before Boston. But I have been able to pull off some consistency since then. I ran ok on July 4th at the LL  Bean 10k in Freeport Maine winning my age group, albeit in a time that I was slightly disappointed about. Then I was able to continue training. I could slowly see my 5k time start to drop going into the fall. I did have  disappointing half marathon at Eligahs race, but that is ok, I think I went into that race tired having not giving myself a break to rest for the distance. Not a horrible time, just not what I think I was capable of running. Coaching the cross country season made it difficult to find time for my own running but I managed to get just enough in to not loose too much fitness. I began training again near the end of October, and ran well at the Wobble Gobble on Thanksgiving, running a 5:47 pace which was my best pace at this 4 miler for almost 10 years. 2 weeks after that I ran a 16:51 5k in Manchester to win my ager group (masters 40-49, ((old men)) ). This was subsequently my second fastest 5k ever, and my fastest by far in 10 years. I have wained off a little in my training the last 2 weeks due to work and family obligations, though I will be running hard today, just because i am in that mood. You all know what I mean, when you get up in the morning and can just feel the tension in your body and know the only way to get it out is to go out and hammer for 6 or 8 miles! Angella and I signed up for a winter race series, so this should be some motivation to keep us training through the winter months when it is hard to get out the door. This sbitious though, I want to pr in every distance. Yeah, I know! But I think it is possible. I am getting oldeThis past year has been one of the better years, a building year, that I have had in quite a while. I did start the year off with a injury, which did not let me run until about 6 weeks before Boston. But I have been able to pull off some consistency since then. I ran ok on July 4th at the LL  Bean 10k in Freeport Maine winning my age group, albeit in a time that I was slightly disappointed about. Then I was able to continue training. I could slowly see my 5k time start to drop going into the fall. I did have  disappointing half marathon at Eligahs race, but that is ok, I think I went into that race tired having not giving myself a break to rest for the distance. Not a horrible time, just not what I think I was capable of running. Coaching the cross country season made it difficult to find time for my own running but I managed to get just enough in to not loose too much fitness. I began training again near the end of October, and ran well at the Wobble Gobble on Thanksgiving, running a 5:47 pace which was my best pace at this 4 miler for almost 10 years. 2 weeks after that I ran a 16:51 5k in Manchester to win my ager group (masters 40-49, ((old men)) ). This was subsequently my second fastest 5k ever, and my fastest by far in 10 years. I have wained off a little in my training the last 2 weeks due to work and family obligations, though I will be running hard today, just because i am in that mood. You all know what I mean, when you get up in the morning and can just feel the tension in your body and know the only way to get it out is to go out and hammer for 6 or 8 miles! Angella and I signed up for a winter race series, so this should be some motivation to keep us training through the winter months when it is hard to get out the door. This sr and fear the dreaded slow down is upon me, so I want get a couple more years of fast racing in while I still can. I am thinking sub 3 hour marathon, sub 1:20 half marathon, sub 36:00 10k, and sub 16:40 5k. The shorter the distance the harder it will be to pr, I feel I am losing some of my speed. This is where I intend to spend some time on training. I love short, fast workouts so this should be a fun year. I am so looking forward to this year of running! I hope you all have a great 2015!!

Putting on a race

 

 

 

 

As many of you know, I am now the middle school cross country coach at Monadnock Middle School. Therefore, I am putting on a race to benefit the team. The race will be in May.

Here is a link to the web site. ididarun10k.blogspot.com You can also find the race on coolrunning.com. I would love to see as many people as I can get there, so please spread the word.  

11/4 - 11/10

Mon.  Work to home, 9 miles, 1:03:34
Tues. Home to work, 9 miles, 1:04:52
Wed.  10 miles on drummer hill,  workout, 1 mile, 4x400, 4x200, 7:06, 71, 79, 74, 0, 32, 31, 28, 31 
Thur. Home to work, 9 miles, 1:08:03
Fri. off
Sat.
Sun.

I just need to do it

I have no excuses why I have not been fit for several years know. I am very frustrated that I can not run fast though. I know all I need to do is run, more. My mind knows what I want and how to get it. At what point do I actually apply the knowledge and allow my heart to do what it wants. I want to run fast. I know I can run fast. I need to run consistently to run fast. No more week on week off stuff. The one thing that I love about running is that it is such a great metaphor for life. My mother says you only get out of it what you put into it. So true. I need to put it into running to get running out of it. I have a new sense of motivatin after coaching the middle school. Some of the kids just want to run because it is fun. That's right, running is fun. I love to run like the kids. I love to run because it is fun. How simple fun can be. All you need to do is to just run. I am going out for a run.

The Marathon

AS said previously, I tried to go from couch slog shape into pr marathon shape in 10 10-12 weeks. Yeah, right. Don't know what I was thinking. All was going good until about a month before the race, them my overzealousness caught up with me. Apparently I cannot do a 24 mile long run, 9mile tempo run, and three mile race all within 4 days. When I got up that Thursday morning my left calf told me so. Two weeks out from the race I was worried I might not make it to the starting line. I gave it one last hard workout, a 3 mile race again, then all of a sudden the next morning the pain was gone. WOW. Now I am excited. I did a mile race on Wednesday before the Sunday marathon and ran 5:07 and felt great. I felt great up until race morning when I had no energy at mile 2, it was tough to get to mile 20 but I did it at a 2:55 marathon projected time. Then it all fell apart. I managed to stager in 3:12, still qualified for Boston, but way under my pr and planned race. Oh well. Swanzey half up next, then Pisgah, then redemption after last years horrible De Mar.

Mileage to this point this year, not enough to remember. This has been a really busy year thus far. Unfortunately life has not left a lot of time to run. I have recently made a move to force myself to have the motivation to get up early and start training. Earlier this week I decided I wanted to run Boston next year. I will have to renew my qualifying time as the last one has expired. Also, from what I have been reading, merely qualifying may not get me in. The goal is to beat my bq time by at least 15 to 20 minutes. The problem is the marathon I signed up for is on August 18. I did this to guarantee time to register for Boston when reg. opens in Sept. This gives me 12 weeks of solid training to go from the worst shape I have been in for 10 years, to a mararthon pr. Lets see, I need to loose 25 pounds, go from zero miles to 70 a week in just a few weeks, increase intensity to maintain pace for 26 miles, and not get injured doing so. Did I mention I will be a masters runner at the time of the race.  To look at it another way, kind of like floating down a lazy river on a leaking raft, 100 yards later you are in a class 5 white water, 100 more yards and your going over a 300 foot water fall with sharp pointy rocks at the bottom.................Sounds fun, Bring It On!!!!!

New Year, New routine

      My routine has not been conducive to running lately. Needless to say I have not run a step since DeMar. Then on New Years Day my 7 year old Jace said something to make me change all that. Ang, Jace and I went to the Peanut Butter Chip 5k. Ang ran solo, and Jace wanted to run also, he actually asked to run a 5k as a Christmas Present. What better present than one of the harder 5k's in the area. I decided to just run with Jace to make sure he was ok. Yeah, no problem there. He hit the first mile in 9 minutes flat, this is all up hill mind you. Then ran just under 10 minutes each for the remaining 2 miles. Finished in 29 and change. Only 3 minutes behind his mom. Any ways, back to the question. He asked me how he could get faster, I obviously told him he needed to run more often. Then the question came, How come to don't run more often? What kind of example am I setting for him? I guess he is old enough to understand what kind of lifestyle we live and it is up to me to be the example that a regular routine is part of  that lifestyle. Hence the reason I ran to work Thur. morning at 7 below zero. I have no excuses not to run, and I guess sometime the ambition came come from somewhere you would not expect it. I will be thinking everyday I wake up what kind of example am I going to set for my children today?