Running Some More

Winter started off very....well wintery...this year.  I got home from work yesterday afternoon with temps still in the upper 40's.  But the forecast was for the temp. to drop and some very heavy winds to be moving in.  I knew I had to try and get a 45 minute run in, so I immediately put on the running clothes and headed out.  It was a little rainy, but temps in the upper 40's are really not bad for running.  Once I get going I warm up pretty quick.  But, the winds were starting.  Not as heavy as they would get later in the evening, but heavy enough to make running a little difficult.  Also, when I don't eat the healthiest throughout the day, it tends to create issues when I run, and working with a bunch of bakers during the Christmas season doesn't tend to lend itself to healthy eating.  However, I did make it through the 45 minutes of running and got almost 4 1/2 miles in.  Not my greatest run at this point, but I've learned to embrace the bad runs.  If I can make it through a bad run then the good runs are cake.  Making it through a bad run makes it easier to push through those rough times in races.

This weekend I'm considering adding my 10th state to the states in which I've run a race.  St. Marys, WV is hosting a 5K run.  While it is expected to be cold, the winds should have died down and it is supposed to be sunny.  Better yet, this run is scheduled for 2:30pm, so instead of driving down the night before and staying in a hotel, I can take a little road trip on Sunday and come back without the added expense of a hotel.

Running is supposed to be one of the most affordable sports to participate in.  I'm not sure I agree with that assessment.  I have yet to find running clothes that are "cheap" and the registration cost for races continues to go up every year.  For those of us that participate in "destination races", the cost of travel of hotels adds even more to the cost.  It has become somewhat of a circle for me.  Running helps me to reduce stress in my life.  It's something I enjoy that I can pretty much do anywhere I go.  But in order to be able to afford to run, I have to work a lot of overtime at work.  Working a lot of hours increases stress, which I work off by running, which means I work more to pay for the running, which causes stress, which I work off by running...well, I think you get the picture.  I don't have deep pockets by any stretch of the imagination, but I do work hard to make sure I have something in my pockets and still be able to do what I love doing.

I made the mistake of canceling my vacation day on New Years Day.  My thought at the time was that I didn't want to use a vacation day when I can save the day for another time and get holiday pay for working.  However, what I forgot, was that New Years Day hosts one of the few races being held during this time of the year.  Having run the "First on the First 5K" last year, at a point when I was just getting back in to running, I would have liked to have gotten a chance to run this race again and see how much my time would have improved running along the same course a year later.

Next stop is Myrtle Beach for the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon.  That's not until February, so I've got a little extra time to prepare for this one.  I'm hoping for some jumps over my last half marathon, and also hoping to be down to, or lower than, my goal weight by then.  We'll see what happens.

When I Was Young

This morning I had the pleasure of doing something I haven't been able to do in a long time.  As I was getting ready for work I listed to a Christmas record.  I had decided the other day that I now had a room in my house with enough room to hook up my stereo.  I have not had my stereo hooked up for several years, and haven't used the turntable in an even longer period of time.

When I was young(er) part of the Christmas morning tradition was that dad would go downstairs and put a Christmas record on the Hi-Fi (That's right...I said "record" and "Hi-Fi" in the same sentence).

I've got a stack of records at home in my back room.  For those of you who are too young to understand what I'm talking about, records are essentially CD's made out of vinyl.  I had hoped to listen to some records on Monday, but after hooking up all of my stereo components I found that the needle had broken off the stylus on my turntable.  I was able to find a shop in Columbus that still sells parts and does repairs on old stereo components (including turntables) and was able to buy a stylus from them after getting off work yesterday.  I'll spend some time over the next week listening to some old Christmas records.  Some of these records are 50-60 years old, but still in wonderful condition.  After the Christmas season I'll look at getting some of my stereo components in to the shop to be "tuned up".  I've got a lot of records and cassette tapes I want to listen to.  But for now, I like the slight crackle coming through the speakers of a record that's not quite as clear as a CD.  I brings back a lot of memories. 

Memories of Christmases Past

I'm not sure that it's accurate for me to use the word "Memories" when talking about some of these pictures, because some of the early pictures I don't remember.  But in going through some photos I came across several pictures that were taken during the Christmas season that I thought I'd share.

Christmas 1968 at the Burkhardt grandparents' place.  I'm the one in the light colored suit standing in front of my mom.

I'm on the left in the white turtle neck.  This was taken at the Lyon grandparents' place on Christmas Day of 1970 or 1971.

This would have been taken at the Burkhardt grandparents' place with all the aunts, uncles and cousins.  I originally thought this was a Christmas photo, but it may not be.  Based on the size of my brother sitting on my mom's lap, it would have been taken in 1970.

Taken at the Lyon grandparents'.  Possibly around 1971.  In those days Santa would show up to pass out some gifts.

Taken at the Burkhardt grandparents' in 1972.  I'm the one in the puke green suit (But that was stylin' in those days) and back in the days when we used to get dressed up to go to the grandparents' on Christmas Day.

Earlier that same Christmas at the Lyon grandparents'.  How do I know it was earlier and not later?  Two things..first of all my brother and I are still wearing are suit coats.  Secondly, that was the "schedule" on Christmas Day....the Lyon's in the morning and the Burkhardt's in the afternoon.

Not only was the suit a nice shade of puke green...it was pinstriped puke green.  But remember...1972

Obviously, part of the Christmas tradition were pictures in front of the Christmas tree.  All of these were taken at the Lyon house.

These two were taken at our house in Groveport.  The tree was always in the corner by the front window of the house.  The smell of fresh pine and fresh baked Christmas cookies are part of what I have always loved about the Christmas season.

This picture was taken at the Groveport United Methodist Church at the Christmas Eve service.  I'm in the back row wearing the white shirt.  My brother Kevin is directly in front of me wearing the white shirt and dark tie.  My sister Tammie is standing next to the piano in the blue dress.  I think  you can see the top of my brother Mike's head right in front of Tammie.  He's the blonde kid with the yellowish shirt.

Christmas of 1984 at Grandma Burkhardt's house.  I enlisted in the Army and left the Monday following Thanksgiving that year.  I was in Basic Training, stationed at Ft. McClellan, AL then.  

Christmas time 1986 in front of the Käthe Wohlfahrt Christkindlmarkt in Rothenburg Germany.  1986 was the only year when I did not make it home for Christmas.  But to be at one of the most famous Christmas markets in the world during the season made it a special Christmas.

My nephew Alex and "Santa" at the Meijer store on Sawmill Rd.  If you shave away the white beard and cut the hair, you'll see that this Santa has a strange resemblance to me.

My nieces Bailie and Kylie with Santa at the Dublin Justice Center in 1998.

A Tale of Two Half's

No, the title does not contain a grammatical error...I meant to say Half's and not Halves.

At the beginning of this year I made a resolution to run two Half Marathons.  I had chosen the Cap City Half Marathon in May and the Columbus Half Marathon in October.  I did complete both of those Half Marathons, as well as two others.

As I was going back and thinking about this past year, and everything that's happened, I realized something.  In the Cap City Half Marathon I recorded my slowest Half Marathon time.  Now, that's not really surprising.  I had not truly run or trained for an event like that in quite some time and I had also put on some weight during my two year hiatus.  But, I completed it, and that was the goal.

I also realized that the Columbus Half Marathon, the 2nd that I had resolved to complete in 2012, was the fastest half marathon time that I have ever recorded.  Again, not completely surprising, as I had been training a lot more to prepare for this run.  However, it was a little more surprising because it beat a time that I had set back in 2009 when I was three years younger, had been running a lot longer, and was in the process of training to run my second full marathon.

In between the first Half Marathon of the year, and what would end up being the third of four Half Marathons for the year, I dropped a good bit of the extra weight I'd gained and trained a lot harder to prepare.

In total I ran four  Half Marathons in 2012.  In 2013 I will run five Half Marathons (Myrtle Beach, Lexington, CapCity, Philadelphia and Columbus).

I've now run races in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada.  In March I will add Kentucky to that list and will be 20% through my goal of running a race in every state.  

A Little Glimpse At My Christmas Lights

This video was shot while it was still somewhat light outside.
 

This one while it was darker.
 

Four Half Marathons

Well, I finished my fourth half marathon of 2012 and made it back to Columbus without too many problems.  I went in to the Las Vegas Rock and Roll Half Marathon a little nervous and a little excited.

Nervous because I'd never done this long of a run at night before.  Now, when I say night, the run started at 4:30pm (by the time my corral made it to the starting line and got going it was more like 5:10pm).  But I wasn't quite sure if I'd be able to prepare the way I normally would for a run of this distance.

Excited because, although my training was a little rough, the last few weeks of training leading up to this run had gone well, and my speed had continued to get better on my long runs. 

I went in to this run swearing that I was going to do it "just for the fun of running the Las Vegas strip at night" and not set any goals.  Just have fun.  But, like any other run, once I got moving there were goals starting to enter my brain.  Two goals actually.  One was to run the entire half marathon without walking (something I have yet to accomplish) and the other (which got in to my head at about mile #5) was to record a personal best time for a half marathon.

I'll let you know right now that neither of those things happened in Las Vegas. 

I got a little more nervous about things when I started reading reviews of last year's Las Vegas Rock and Roll event on line the day of the race.  It seems that they had several major issues with the race in 2011, and many of the runners were not happy.  Some were so unhappy with the event that they swore never to run another Rock and Roll event ever.  Not only did this make me nervous for the run that I was planning on doing that evening, but also for the other two Rock and Roll Half Marathons that I've already registered for next year.  But, having read the website for this event, as well as some emails that had been sent out, it appeared that the organizers had taken a lot of steps to improve the experience for the participants and deal with those issues from last year.

Overall, I think they did a pretty good job of handling the event given the number of runners that were participating.  At nearly 30,000 half marathoners, the registration was actually down quite a bit from last year, but it still made for a very large event.

Anyone who is familiar with Las Vegas knows that traffic along the strip is quite heavy, especially in the evenings.  But not on this evening.  The City of Las Vegas shut down the streets starting about 1/2 mile south of the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign, all the way in to and including the streets of downtown Las Vegas.  There wasn't a single car moving on those streets from before 3pm until after 8 or 9pm on Sunday afternoon and evening.  This makes me understand a little better why the registration fee for this half marathon is the most expensive in the world, according to Runner's World Magazine.  The number of Las Vegas Police Officers it takes to shut down that many major roadways in a city like Las Vegas costs a lot of money.  Add to that the staff to run such an event and all the other perks and it makes for an expensive event to put on.  Now, at anywhere from $165-$195 per runner times 30,000, I still don't think they lost money on the deal, but I really can't complain about the registration cost after seeing all that went in to it.  I've run the Disney World Half Marathon, which was almost as expensive, and didn't feel like I got near the experience for the money I spent.  If someone told me that I had to run another half marathon for that price but could choose between Vegas and Disney World, I'd choose Vegas.  Like I said, I actually felt like I got some value for the money I spent.  Having said that, I don't plan on running an event that expensive again. 

Getting back to the actual run.  I started off doing pretty well.  By mile #2 I had settled in to a 9:46 per mile pace.  Much faster than I had anticipated.  I kept telling myself that I needed to slow up a little, but just didn't do it.  I maintained that pace pretty steadily until about mile #8 when I started to slow down.  My legs were starting to get pretty tired and feeling heavy at that point.  At about the 11 mile mark I couldn't run any more.  I stopped to walk with the intention of walking five minutes then running five and keeping that going for the last couple of miles.  That didn't happen.  After five minutes of walking I tried to start running again, but my legs would not cooperate.  At that point I was still on pace to run a personal best, but I knew then it wouldn't happen. I could not run any more. 

I can actually pinpoint what went "wrong" with this event.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm not disappointed with my finish.  I had gone in to this half marathon planning on "just having fun".  I was disappointed for a short time when I realized that I had to stop and walk at mile #11, and I was disappointed for a short time when I realized that walking would prevent me from beating my personal best time.  But, I reminded myself that this was just for fun, and I enjoyed the sights of the running along the Las Vegas strip and downtown Las Vegas at night.

My mistakes though, basically boiled down to three things.  One was that I put too many miles walking on my legs in the two days leading up to this event.  I guess it really wasn't the number of miles as much as the kind of miles.  The kind of walking that happens in Las Vegas is a little different.  I didn't rest my legs the way I should have leading up to a half marathon.  Mistake #2 was that I didn't properly fuel myself during the race.  Normally I'm pretty good about taking my GU Energy Gels at the proper intervals that work for me.  For some reason, I didn't do that this time, and that was the reason that I was unable to to finish the last two miles with the run/walk that I normally would have.  Mistake #3 was a simple mistake.  One I actually realized I was making while I was doing it.  At the pre-race area there was a "Refreshment" tent, giving out free food to runners.  I didn't eat too much, but it was WHAT I ate that caused the problem.  Anyone who runs long distances knows that you don't want to do anything to cause any gastro intenstinal issues during a race.  You want to be very careful leading up to and during a race to eat the right amounts of the right kinds of food.  I had been very careful throughout the day to make sure that I ate enough to not be hungry before the race, but not so much that it would cause problems during the race.  Then, while at the pre-race area, I ate a very large apple.  Not something I should have eaten at that time, and I paid for that late in the race.

One other factor, one that I couldn't control, was the weather.  Now the temperature was great during the run.  A little warm (even for Vegas in December) at 70 degrees early, it dropped in to the upper 50's to lower 60's.  However, there were some pretty strong winds that evening.  Gusts of 35 mph can play havoc on your legs.  Especially when you put that many miles on them.  Some of the buildings helped to block the winds most of the time, but when the wind blew, running against it was not easy.

I do believe that, given my performance through the first eight miles, that I do have the capability of running a faster half marathon than I have so far.  My next half marathon will be in Myrtle Beach on February 16.  My three goals are:

1 - To run the entire half marathon without any walk breaks.  Given my performance here in Columbus in October, I know that is a goal that is within my reach.  I was so close then, and I'm optimistic that Myrtle Beach will be the place that I'll finally accomplish that.

2 - Run a personal best time.  In Columbus I ran a 2:16:28.  My times have continued to improve, and given my performance through the first 11 miles in Las Vegas, I know this is something I can accomplish if I train right and learn from my mistakes.

3 - Run a sub 2:10:00.  This would require me to average about 9:53-9:54 per mile.  Through the first 8 miles of Las Vegas I was running a steady 9:46, and at the point when I stopped to walk I was running at 9:53 per mile.  If my times continue to get better, and I run the entire half marathon and I refuel properly, and I do all those other things I need to do to prepare, this is a goal that is within my grasp. 

I'm challenging myself a little more this time around.  Usually I set an "easy" goal a "medium" goal and a "hard" goal.  This time I think two of the goals are medium to medium/hard and one goal is hard. 

My legs have recovered pretty well after last Sunday's half marathon.  I know what mistakes I made and can work to avoid those same mistakes in the future.  I've got five half marathons planned for 2013, one of which will give me another state to cross off my list of states I've raced in.  I'm not going to put the cart before the horse, but I hope that by the time I run Columbus next October I'll be setting a goal of running a sub 2 hour half marathon.  We'll see what happens though.

In the mean time, I will be registering tomorrow for the Snowflake 5K run, which will be held in Dublin this Sunday.  If I'm one of the first 500 males to finish I get a nice mug. 

Christmas Season Begins

Before getting in to Christmas stuff I have to mention a couple of other things.  First of all I have to say that I was very happy to watch Ohio State beat Michigan today.  It was played the way the OSU-Michigan rivalry is supposed to be played.  A close game with a lot of emotion.  To see this group of Buckeyes go undefeated for the season made it even better.

Next I have to say that I'm really looking forward to the Las Vegas Half Marathon on December 2.  My training, which didn't seem to be going really well after running the Columbus Half Marathon in October, has really taken off the past couple of weeks.  I've continued to get faster.  The only thing I worry about right now is starting off too fast and not remembering to pace myself early so that I can keep running (hopefully for ALL of the 13.1 miles).  I'll fly in to Las Vegas on Friday morning and head over to the expo to pick up my running packet and check out what vendors they have there.  I'm hoping to be able to pick up some tickets to the opening night of the Shania Twain show at Caesars Palace for Saturday night.  I'm also a little nervous about the fact that the half marathon is an evening run.  I usually run better first thing in the morning after having a light breakfast, so I'll have to be careful about what I do during the day on Sunday and what I eat.  I'll have all day Monday to recover from the run, and will fly back to Columbus on Tuesday the 4th.

Yesterday I began doing some decorating around the house.  All eight of my Nativity sets are set up throughout the living room.  The corner curio cabinet now displays the Rudolph figurines, the three foot nutcracker now guards the fireplace, pictures have been switched out to reflect the holidays and I'm working to figure out where the tree, which I'll probably buy in the next couple of days, will be placed.

That got me thinking about my own first Christmas tree.  I enlisted in the Army in 1984 and left for Basic Training the Monday following Thanksgiving.  The majority of my Christmas season that year was spent listening to drill sgts yell...alot.  The following year I was stationed at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLI) in Monterey, CA.

DLI is the school where the four branches of the military send people who need to learn to speak a foreign language as part of whatever job they are doing for the military.  Most people there are going in to military intelligence, but there are also some with other jobs, like working at an embassy where they needed to know how to speak the language.  I was a military policeman, and at that time, the Army was looking for MP's who spoke German to work with the customs units in Germany. 

The classes were a combination of people with different ranks, different jobs, and different branches of the military.  There were also civilians dependants in the classes.  They were allowed to take the classes that their spouses were learning, or of the language for the country where their spouses would be stationed following the school.  So, in my class there were two of us who were Army MP's fresh out of MP school (myself and Norm Babcock), an Army Chief Warrant Officer who was a helicopter pilot instructor (CW2 Roman), an Air Force Sgt. who was going in to Air Force Military Intelligence (Sgt. Priquette), an Army soldier who was going in to Military Intelligence (Maril Burnsed) and two civilians.  One of the civilians was the wife of a Marine Corp. Major who was going to be an embassy liaison officer and the other was the wife of a soldier who was going in to Military Intelligence.

In the fall of 1985 I spent a lot of Sundays with Norm Babcock and his family watching football.  His wife would make great spaghetti and meatballs.  I spent my Thanksgiving in 1985 with the Babcock's in California and again with them in 1986 when we were both stationed over in Germany.

Christmas season of 1985 was much different than 1984.  I was still in the Army, but being stationed at a school in California was much different than being in Basic Training in Alabama.  In 1985 the class got together and had a Christmas Party/Dinner at our German instructor's house.  We kind of "volunteered" him to host the dinner.  That was the first of many Christmasses when I made Robert Redford (a desert that I now make pretty much every year at Christmas time).  Obviously, living in the barraks, I didn't have the ability to cook anything, but Maril allowed me to come to her off post apartment and cook there.

We had a nice class dinner that year shortly before training shut down and everyone went home for Christmas leave.  It was a nice break from class, which was six hours a day, five days a week for thirty-two weeks of nothing but learning to speak German. 

The barraks I stayed in at DLI had two man rooms, so I shared my room with one other guy.  We weren't allowed to do a lot of decorating, but I did manage to get a small two foot tree to put up in the room.

 

The teddy bear was a present I bought for Erica (Norm's daughter) who was born just a couple of months before this Christmas.  The larger of the two presents was a clock for Norm and his wife.  I can not remember what the other present under the tree was or who it was for.  But this was my first tree.  I think it got left in California when I left a couple of months later, along with all the decorations on the tree.

 

Even though I wasn't home for most of the Christmas season, I enjoyed myself this year.  The people I was stationed with, and the time we spent together, kept the Christmas season fun and enjoyable.  Christmas of 1986 was spent in Germany and during Christmas of 1987 I had moved back home after finishing my enlistment, so it would be 1988 before I got my next Christmas tree.  Those stories will have to wait until another entry.  For now I'm sitting here blogging and watching "The Santa Clause".  I'll probably look to get my next tree tomorrow or Monday.



 

Surprised Myself

Yesterday I headed to downtown Columbus early for a 5K run.  I've cut back on the number of 5K events that I run compared to what I ran a few years ago, but this one sounded kind of fun.  The Hot Chocolate 5K also started earlier than most at 7:30am.

When I got downtown traffic was a little busy, especially for that early on a Sunday morning, but it appeared that everyone who registered for the run (several thousand) were all trying to park in the same parking garage.  The Hot Chocolate 5K is new to Columbus, and appeared to want to be a large event.  They did manage to register quite a few runners, but I was surprised by the lack of anything more from the event in the way of vendors etc.  But I enjoyed the run, and running a good 5K downtown is usually enjoyable.

As I started I could tell that my pace was a bit faster than I normally run, but I didn't realize just how much faster.  Typically, a "fast" pace for me is faster than a 10 minute mile (usually anywhere from 9:45-9:55/mile).  But when I got the first update from runkeeper on my phone, I was averaging an 8:40 per mile pace.  Rather than trying to slow down I decided to try and maintain my pace and see how far I could make it.  I quit worrying so much about the pace and listened more to my body, slowing down a little if I needed to, but still trying to push myself "just enough" throughout the race.

I ended up finishing the race at 27:55.  For me and very good time, with an average pace of under 9:00 per mile.  I felt really good about that time.  Just a little over a week earlier I had been concerned with how I felt my training was progressing as I prepared for the Las Vegas Half Marathon.  My times were slow, and on my long run I was not able to go the entire 10 miles without having to take walk breaks and without my legs feeling like someone had pounded them with a hammer.  But this week's training has gone well.  Just one day before running this 5K I did an 8 mile long run.  I finished that run averaging just under 10:00 per mile which, for me, is a great time for a run that distance.

I know I said that the Las Vegas Half Marathon was a run that I was going to do just for fun.  No goals other than to run the race and have a good time.  But I know that, if my training continues to go well throughout the taper period, I will be looking to see if I can run a PR (personal record).  The other thing I have to keep in mind is that the Vegas run is done at night.  My training runs tend to be much better when I run in the morning.  But then again, I did that 8 mile run in the evening after being up since midnight the night before and it went well, so who knows...

Another thing that surprised me this week was the scale.  I have been using myfitnesspal on the computer and through an application on my phone to log my food an exercise in order to lose weight.  I had been pretty successful with that, but as I get closer to my goal weight it has been harder to lose the last few weeks.  I had a nice jump back on the scale this week though, losing 3.5 pounds this past week to allow me (as my brother puts it) to move the bottom weight on the scale.  I'm now just nine pounds from my initial goal, once I get to that weight I will evaluate where I'm at, how I'm feeling, how my running is coming, and determine then if I want to maintain my weight there, or work to lose some more.  

This Time Last Year

Yesterday I went back through some of blog entries from this time frame last year.  I read my blog entries from the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, most of which talked about Christmas memories from past years.

Reading those entries started me thinking about the Thanksgiving Holiday season.  Although I enjoyed Thanksgiving as a kid, we really didn't have a lot of family traditions surrounding this holiday.  We would try to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade on television, and turkey was (almost) always the meal for the day.  Sometimes we would have Thanksgiving dinner at home with just the immediate family, sometimes grandparents would come over and join us and sometimes we'd head down to visit other grandparents and spend the holiday at their place for dinner.

There was one year when someone thought that, instead of turkey, we would have cornish game hens for Thanksgiving Dinner.  No offense dad, but "tastes like chicken".

I remember making a turkey with an apple, mini-marshmallows and some toothpicks.

I remember always waiting for Santa to pull up in front of Macy's to signify the official start to the Christmas season.

I remember the year Santa's pants fell down in front of Macy's, signifying a very interesting start to the Christmas season.

Getting Thanksgiving Day off work hasn't really been a huge priority for me until the past few years.  Shortly after buying the house I live in now I even hosted Thanksgiving Dinner with my parents and my brother's family.  Don't ask me how I was able to fit all those people in my very small house for dinner, but somehow I did.  Those years were even spent working and then doing the dinner after work.  Of course, it also involved buying the dinner at Carfagna's so that all that really needed to be done was to heat the food in the oven.

Although the Christmas commercials have been on television and radio for a while, most radio stations won't start playing Christmas music until Thanksgiving or the day after.  One station in Columbus always starts a little early and I occassionally tune in to listen to the Christmas music on my way to work.  This morning, when I got in my car, one song came on that really took me back.  I would have to say that it is the song I like most.  It reminds me of listening to Christmas music on the radio on Christmas morning as we drove down to the grandparents'.  I'm really not sure why this one sticks with me more than others...it just does.

Running and Stuff

Well, I should have followed my neighbors' lead yesterday.  Three of my neighbors took advantage of the nice weekend and put up their Christmas lights.  I thought it might be a good idea to do that myself, and thought I'd wait until today.  Of course I woke up this morning to rain and falling temperatures.

I was scheduled to run 50 minutes today, so I headed out to Worthington to the end of the Olentangy Trail to run.  It spit rain most of the run, until the last mile when the rain started coming down much heavier.  I got back to my car completely soaked and headed home.

When I got home I jumped in the shower to clean up and warm up, then ate some lunch.  I grabbed my phone to log the food on myfitnesspal, but the touch screen on my phone was not responding.  Fortunately, I pay for the insurance on the phone.  So, a quick trip to the Sprint store and the phone was fixed pretty quickly.

Now I get to continue to focus on my running.  I've already started making plans for next years runs.  I will be running the Hot Chocolate 5K in downtown Columbus this Sunday and am hoping to do a Thanksgiving Day run somewhere in the Columbus area next week. 

I've got the Las Vegas Half Marathon coming up in December and the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon scheduled in February.  In March I'll be headed down to Lexington, KY to run the Lexington Half Marathon and then will head to Philadelphia in September for the Philadelphia Half Marathon (Both part of the Rock and Roll Series of Marathons).  In between those two I'll be running the Cap City Half Marathon in May here in Columbus.  In September I plan to head back to New York for the Tunnel to Towers Run and plan to run the Columbus Half Marathon again in October. 

I started 2012 with the goal of running two half marathons, and am now preparing for my fourth.  I've got plans to run at least five half marathons next year, and with next months run in Las Vegas and next year's run in Lexington will check off two more states in my quest to run a race in all of the 48 continental United States. 

If I can find a 5K run or something to do in West Virginia next year I will have covered Ohio and all its bordering states, as well as New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada.  Maybe I'll try to focus on the New England states in 2014.

Of course, if Mayan prediction comes true, none of this means a thing after December 21st.

 

I Want to Keep Having Fun

Well, yesterday I decided that I'm not ready to run a full marathon.  I do believe that I could run one and finish it, but it would not be fun.  After training for some half marathons, and preparing for another, I decided that, for right now, I will stick to half marathons.  So, I transferred my registration for the Myrtle Beach Marathon in February to the half marathon event.  I'll still be going to Myrtle Beach and running early in the morning on February 16, but it will be 13.1 miles instead of 26.2.

I decided this while out running the other day.  Believe it or not, I have enjoyed preparing for the half marathons that I've run.  It has been enough running to keep me challenged without being so much that I end up burning out on it.  I also still have that goal I need to meet of running an entire half marathon without stopping to walk.  I came very close to hitting that goal a couple of weeks ago, but I'm not quite there yet.  Until I can accomplish that goal, and do it a couple of times...until the half marathon becomes more routine than challenge, I will stick to making that my long run.

I do believe that running another full marathon is in the cards for me.  Eventually I plan on being at the point where running a half marathon will be more fun than challenge and I will want to challenge myself at the next level again.  But for now, I'm going to have fun challenging myself at this level.   This will also give me the opportunity to run more races.  Running a full marathon in February would have meant that I would not be able to recover in time to run some of the other half marathons that I am looking forward to running next year.  By switching to the half marathon I will be able to run a few more of the longer races and keep challenging myself to try and improve my times.

For now, I'm still looking at Las Vegas as being a fun run to do.  Not setting any specific goals for that race, at least not yet.  I will be setting goals for Myrtle Beach though.  Even though it's still early, I'm setting a preliminary goal of beating my last half marathon time of 2:16:29.

As I get closer to February 16, I'll decide what other goals I want to set for that race.

Trick or Treat

Yesterday was beggar's night in my neighborhood (and many other neighborhoods).  This is my 12th beggar's night since I moved in to my house, and every year I give out full sized candy bars.  I know it would be easier (and cheaper) to give out the small fun sized candy bars, however, I live in a pretty small neighborhood and there are not that many trick or treaters.  Also, I remember when I was a kid there was one lady who would give a full size candy bar to the kids that she knew.  That was always a special feeling to know that I was one of the "special ones" to get a full size candy bar.

The weather in this area last night was not good.  It was cold and rainy, which kept a lot people home last night.  But I had to smile at the reactions I got from kids who did brave the weather.  As they walked up to my door they would look inside and see the large bowl of candy bars I had setting by the door.  The faces would light up and they would start telling their brothers/sisters/friends, "He's got REAL CANDY BARS".  In the past I've even had some of the older kids come back around a 2nd or 3rd time.  I know they thought I didn't notice that they'd been there before, but like I said, there's not a ton of kids that come around, so repeat beggars are pretty easy to remember.

I do think there ought to be a rule though.  If you're old enough to grow facial hair, you're too old to go trick or treating.  If you're old enough to grow facial hair, get a job and buy your own candy.  I wasn't short on candy by means, so I did give the older kids candy also.  However, I did decide that, starting next year, I am going to start buying a bag of the small candy.  Better yet, I may bring in my jar of pennies.  If a kid shows up at my door who is just too old to be out trick or treating, they get the pennies.  The candy bars are meant for the kids to remember having a good time trick or treating.

Nice Guys Finish Last

Something I've come to realize...

In a large number of situations, nice guys really do finish last.  If you are one who is willing to make sacrifices for the good of the whole, when others are not, then you will be expected to make sacrifices when others are not.

If you put the needs and wants of others ahead of your own.  Then there will be many people out there who will take advantage of your kindness and expect you to put their wants and needs ahead of your own, while refusing to repay in kind.

I've realized that once you no longer have anything to give or anything to contribute to those people, then their "friendship" or "relationship" with you changes, or disappears all together.

This realization makes it very difficult not to be cynical.  This realization makes it difficult to be willing to open up and put yourself out there for anyone.  This realization makes it difficult for you to "do the right thing".  After all, if you're gonna get screwed more often than not for "doing the right thing" then why do it?

Guarded keeps you from getting hurt.  Guarded keeps you from getting screwed.  But I have to keep believing that guarded will also keep you from finding that person, however scarce, who may actually appreciate and give back in kind.

So I'll get over it, I'll move on, and I'll keep trying not to be too cynical.

Who Says Decorating is Only for Christmas?

Success!!! Well...mostly

Well, I completed the Columbus Half Marathon today and accomplished two of the three goals I had set for myself.

The funny part was that the goal I did not achieve was Goal #1, which is usually the easiest of the three goals.  That goal was to run the entire half marathon.  I did not do that.  At the 12.27 mile mark I did have to stop and walk.  When I stopped, my legs were so rubbery that they almost didn't hold me up.  For about 100 yards I think I looked like a new born foal trying to learn to walk...legs wobbly and barely able to move forward. 

I walked for 5 minutes, which was probably about 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile.  I did get back to running after that, which took me up the two steepest hills of the course (High St. to Nationwide) and then (Nationwide to Front).  After that, it was down hill to the finish line.

Goals #2 and #3 were time goals.  Goal #2 was to beat my last half marathon time of just over 2:28 and goal #3 was to run a personal best time, which would be mean running faster than 2:19.  I finished with a time of 2:16:29.  So overall I'm very happy with the results.

Two other friends from work were running also, so once I got through the post-run area I headed back on the course to meet up with them.  It didn't take me very long to find them, and I walked with them for about 1/4-1/2 mile as they finished up. 

Kristin, our HR rep at the police department, was running her first half marathon, and Linda, one of our records clerks at the department, was running again after finishing the half marathon a year ago.  They both were looking really good coming in to the finish and having a good time running together. 

Kristin's daughter seems to think that Kristin had an aneurysm since she was voluntarily heading to downtown Columbus on a cold October morning to run 13 miles.

Next for me is the Las Vegas half marathon.  I will not be setting any goals for that run, as it is going to be used as a training run for the Myrtle Beach Marathon, which I'll be running in February.  So Las Vegas will be run for training and fun.

After finishing up this morning, I headed home and took a nap.  A post run nap is the BEST kind of nap.  Slept like a baby!!

Columbus Half Marathon and Completing My New Years Resolution

In January I resolved to run the CapCity Half Marathon in May and the Columbus Half Marathon in October.  I accomplished part one of that goal, and on Sunday I will finish out my commitment.

Anyone wishing to track my time or track me on the course can receive a text message on their phone when I start (sometime after 7:30am on Sunday), when I cross the 10K (6.2 mile) mark, and when I finish.  To find out how go to http://www.columbusmarathon.com/faq   It will explain where to go to register for RTRT.com    Or...if I set it up correctly, you can get those same split times by following me on twitter @cburky911

A couple other friends/co-workers will also be running that day.  One of our records clerks here at the police department (Linda Richey) and our HR rep (Kristin Maier) will also be running.  I'm going to try and set up to receive their times too, so I can keep track of where they are on the course.

This run will be a fun atmosphere.  The last time I ran Columbus I ran the full marathon.  The first half had a lot of spectators out on the course and plenty of cheering and entertainment along the course, so I'm looking forward to the atmosphere.

Revisiting the Taper

I've started my taper in order to prepare for the Columbus Half Marathon, which is now less than two weeks away.  I've set my goals:

Goal #1 - Run the entire half marathon with no walking breaks.  In a couple of my training runs to prepare I very much felt like walking.  However, I was able to work through that, which will hopefully give me a little preparation to work through those rough times and continue running in the middle of Columbus Half.

Goal #2 - Finish with a better time than the half marathon that I ran in August.  I ran that half marathon in a little over 2:28, averaging about 11:15 per mile.  Most of my training runs since that time have seen my per mile speed decrease, and if I accomplish goal #1, then accomplishing goal #2 should follow suit.

Goal #3 - My current personal best time for a half marathon is 2:19:20.  In order to beat that time I would have to run better than a 10:36 per mile pace for the entire half marathon.  My last long training run was a 10 mile run on Sept. 22.  For that 10 miles I averaged 10:29 per mile.  If I can maintain that for an additional 3.1 miles then I will achieve Goal #3.

Another thing that should help in this regard is that I have lost a little more weight since running my last half marathon.  In May I ran the Cap City Half Marathon at about 315-320 pounds.  In August I weighed in at 273 pounds the week prior to that run.  As of last Sunday I'm down to 260 pounds.  Obviously carrying around less weight, combined with the fact that I've been training continuously since February, has helped my times get faster.

After completing the Columbus Half Marathon, I will start my training for the Myrtle Beach Marathon in February.  I am scheduled for another half marathon prior to that, but will use that as my long training run for that week.  My long run that week is supposed to be 12 miles...I'll, of course, but running a little over 13 that weekend.

I wasn't sure if I would ever try to run a full marathon again, but wanted that challenge, at least one more time.  I'm doing something a little different with the full marathon also, not training to handle it as a run/walk like I did my last two marathons.  I will be training to run the full marathon.  Not sure I'll be able to accomplish that, but will start off training that way.  After that marathon I'll evaluate if I want to run another marathon, or stick to half marathons as my long runs.  

NYC and Tunnel to Towers Run

This past weekend I took a trip to New York City to do a little sight seeing and participate in the Stephen Sillers Tunnel to Towers Run.  I had participated in this run in 2008 and 2009.  I registered for the run again in 2010 and 2011, but did not make it to New York those years.  So I was happy to get back to New York for the event this year.

In 2008 I flew in to New York and stayed at a hotel in Manhattan.  While convenient, it was a tad bit more expensive to pay for a plane ticket, plus pay for the cost of a hotel room in Manhattan.  The following year I drove with some friends and stayed in Seacaucus, NJ.  A much less expensive alternative.  We were able to stay at a hotel that was just as nice, but not as expensive, and the NJ Transit system has a bus that picks up right across the street from the hotel and will take you in to the city for less than $4.00 each way.

I drove out early Friday morning, taking I-70 most of the way.  It seemed like most of I-70 in the state of Pennsylvania was under construction, but the drive wasn't too bad and the construction didn't slow traffic down too badly.  The scenery was much better on I-80 coming back though, with a lot more trees and driving through some "mountains" at this time of year was much more colorful.

I got to the hotel, grabbed some lunch down the street at Chili's, then took a nap.

On Saturday I took my trip in to the City to pick up my stuff for the race and take in a little sight seeing.  After getting off the bus at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan, I walked in to Times Square and took in some of the sights there.

Then I jumped on the subway and headed south to the lower end in order to pick up my race stuff.  While I was there I was able to get a good view of the Freedom Towers, the towers being built to replace the twin towers of the World Trade Center.  Last time I was in New York the scaffolding at just cleared ground level; now they are nearly finished.

After picking up my race packet I walked through Battery Park and made my way back to the South Ferry area, where I caught the subway back to midtown.  I took in the sights around Times Square.  All of 6th Ave. was closed down for a street fair, so I walked that area, checking out all the vendors.  Most of the vendors were selling the same thing on every block, but occasionally I'd find something a little different.

I also went to the "Top of the Rock", the upper levels of Rockefeller Center.  This time I actually found that there are three observation levels at the top...I had only taken advantage of two levels last time I was there. I was able to get some good pictures of New York from the Top of the Rock.

After checking out the street fair and going to the Top of the Rock, I took the studio tour of NBC Studios.  Since NBC studios are copyrighted, they do not allow any photos on the tour.  So this was the best I could do there.

It was a neat tour though.  I was able to see the studio where Brian Williams broadcasts the news, as well as the studios for Rock Center and Saturday Night Live.  I knew getting in to see Saturday Night Live was difficult, but found out just how difficult.  They hold a ticket lottery once a year in August for tickets to the show...that's it.  If you don't get them then, which is extremely unlikely, then the chance of getting in to see the show live is even more remote.  You can get in line to get standby tickets.  The week prior to my trip people started camping outside the studio on Tuesday evening hoping to get tickets to the show Saturday.  After finding out just how small the studio is and how little you can actually see if you're in the studio, I'll watch the show from home.

On Sunday I headed in to the run.  For those of you who have not heard the story...here's a brief history of the Tunnel to Towers Run.  On Sept. 11, 2001, FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller was off duty, on his way to meet his brothers for a round of golf, when he heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center.  Siller went to his firehouse, grabbed his gear and headed towards Manhattan.

  He was unable to enter the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, so he parked his truck on the roadway, grabbed his 75 pounds of fire gear and ran through the tunnel.  He was last seen alive in the area of Liberty and West streets.  Siller died in the collapse of the towers, leaving behind a wife and five children.  The Siller family started the Tunnel to Towers run the following year and have teamed up with several different charities to raise funds for children who lose parents in tragedies such as 9/11, injured and fallen soldiers and more.  The run re-traces the footsteps of firefighter Siller, starting in Brooklyn and running through the Brooklyn Battery tunnel.  As you come out of the tunnel on the Manhattan side the streets are lines with West Point Cadets holding American Flags as well as FDNY firefighters holding banners for each of the 343 firemen killed that day.

This year there were over 30,000 runners participating in the run.

After running through the tunnel the runners and walkers head run through the Battery Park Esplanade along the Hudson River.  A boat from the FDNY sits in the Hudson with its water cannons going as the runners go through the area.

The past two times I've participated in the run it has been cloudy and rainy.  As you can see from the pictures, it was a beautiful day for the run this year.  Because the tunnel is very humid, it felt great coming out the Manhattan side in to the nice cool autumn air on such a beautiful, sunny day.

I made my way home on Monday and am back to work on Tuesday.  I was thinking about trying to take a comp day today, but after looking at the schedule, I didn't want to take a comp day and cause one of my co-workers to miss out on time he has said he so dearly needs in order to work on some issues he has to deal with.  He was given time on Tuesday to work on those issues, but would have had to cover radio instead if I took the day off.  So I came in to work....and HE comp'ed off.

10 Miles Today

I ran 10 miles today and was reminded of a very serious condition that I've become afflicted with.  Please take time to watch the video and take the steps necessary to avoid this terrible affliction.

Good Running Weekend

One of the things I enjoy about running is seeing real progress.  When I first started running again late last year and early this year, I was running anywhere from 11:30 - 12:30 per mile.

My half marathon training program has 3 running days per week.  Saturdays are my "long run days".  This past Saturday my long run was 8 miles.  I'm usually pretty sore after a long run, but this past Saturday I actually finished the run fairly invigorated.  I made my typical walk down to the store and bought my post run chocolate milk and a bag of ice for my ice bath.  I went home and soaked in the ice water for about 25 minutes.  On Sunday morning, a day which is usually a non-running day, I ran the Scioto Miles 5K run at Easton Shopping Center.  I had my best run of the season, finishing in just over 30 minutes or 9:44/mile.  My 8 mile run the day before was run at faster than 11:00/mile.

So, I think it's safe to say now that one of my goals for the Columbus Half Marathon in October is to run the entire half marathon without any walking breaks.   This would be the furthest I have ever run without a walk break ever in my life.

My second goal would be to beat my time from my last half-marathon.

My "ultimate goal" for the Columbus Marathon would be to run a personal best.  That would mean running about 10:36/mile to finish in 2:19 or better.  That should be a tougher goal for me to meet this time.

Once that day is over I will jump in to training for the Myrtle Beach Marathon, which is in February.  I am scheduled to run the Las Vegas Half Marathon in December, and will be using that as my long run in my marathon training for that week.

It would be nice to be able to run the entire marathon with no walking breaks, but considering I still have not done that for a half marathon yet, that may be a little bit too tough.  But for now I'll focus on my half marathon.  I'll start setting goals for the marathon when it gets closer to that day.

What Were You Doing?

Yesterday, as we remembered the events of 9/11, I heard a lot of talk about where people were and how they heard the news of the attacks on that day.  It made me think, not only of where I was at and what I was doing that day, but where I was and what I was doing when I learned of other significant events.

On 9/11 I was at my apartment.  I was preparing to buy my house at the time and was scheduled to do a final walk through inspection that morning.  I got a call from my dad saying, "Did you see?"  I asked "See what?" and he told me to turn on the news.  When I asked which station, my dad told me that it didn't matter.  By that point both the north and south towers of the World Trade Center had been hit.  I talked to my dad while we both watched events unfolding on TV.  I then called my older brother and asked him if he had seen the news.  He had not yet heard of the events.  As we watched and talked about the events the news began reporting a plane had crashed in to the Pentagon.  Before leaving to meet my realtor I watched as the first tower collapsed.  I drove out to the house I was preparing to buy and started thinking about how all of these events were affecting the emergency dispatchers and how many calls they must be receiving.  I also started wondering if I would need to go in to work.  Dublin, OH was pretty far away from New York or Washington DC, but these were unprecedented events that would surely have an impact everywhere.  Sure enough, when I got home from my walk through, there was a message for me to call work.  When I called, my supervisor told me to get to work.  The emergency operations center had been opened.  During that day we got some calls of fights at gas stations, where people were waiting in long lines to fill up their tanks, reports of vandalism to some businesses that people perceived as being owned by people of Arabic decent, and lots of calls of "suspicious people".

That was my 9/11 experience.  But like I mentioned earlier, yesterday brought to mind some other events that have occurred in my lifetime and what I was doing when they happened.  I can remember the Watergate Hearings on television, though I had no interest in them at 7 & 8 years old.  I remember the "Handshake in Space" when rockets from the United States and the Soviet Union docked in space for the first time.  I remember the "Miracle on Ice", the only hockey game I have ever watched, as the young US team beat an "unbeatable" Soviet team to advance to the Gold Medal round of the 1980 Winter Olympics.

But my first "what was I doing" moment, was when I heard about Ronald Reagan being shot by John Hinkley.  I had stayed home sick from school that day and got a call from my mom telling me to turn on the news.  I didn't know it, but earlier they had said that the President had not been hit in the assassination attempt.  By the time I had turned on the television the President had been rushed to the hospital.  I remember thinking that no President who was elected in a year ending in "0" since 1840 had left office alive, and I thought this was going to be a continuation of that "Indian curse".  Of course it was not.

The next event that I thought about was the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.  I was in the Army at the time, stationed at the Defense Language Institute - Foreign Language Center in Monterey, CA.  I was learning German there when one of the instructors walked in to the room and told my instructor, in German, "Das Space Shuttle ist explodiert".   I think I would have understood what he was saying even without the seven months of German language training I had up to that point, but three of us in the class all confirmed with each other that we were correctly translating what we had heard.  During our next break we went to a classroom with a television set and watched replays of what had happened.  The first time I saw it, I jumped when the explosion occurred.  We didn't stop classes that day, but I did go out and buy the San Francisco and Monterey Newspapers that evening.

The next event was when the President Reagan ordered the bombing of targets in Libya in retaliation for the bombing of the Berlin Disco that targeted US Soldiers stationed in Germany.  I was stationed in Germany then, and first heard of the bombing on a German radio station.  Again, first hearing the news in German, I was sure that I had misinterpreted what had been said.  I tuned in to the Armed Forces Network, and sure enough, they confirmed it.  The United States had bombed Libya.  During morning formation we found out that our commander was at a meeting in Frankfurt and we'd be briefed when he returned.  Later that afternoon we found that some restrictions were put in to place in order to protect US Soldiers from retaliatory strikes.  A curfew was put in to effect and no US Soldier or US dependent of a soldier was to be out after midnight unless they were on duty or on their way to or from a duty assignment.  For those who lived on a base they had to be on base by midnight.  For those who lived in off post housing, they had to be in their homes.  We were also not allowed to have any "organized activity" outside of a secured area.  Now, I was stationed at a remote missile site in Germany, so we didn't have an Army Post.  We had the missile site, and we had a barracks, that was it.  Typically, when moving as a unit from the barracks to the site, we would march up the road.  When this happened, we would have formation by the barracks, which was fenced in and secured, then we'd be dismissed to walk on our own to the missile site.  Once we got on site, we'd then re-form and go on with work or PT or whatever was on the agenda for that day.  Our morning runs were typically in formation running through the small town of Hardheim, but during the restrictions this would have constituted an organized formation outside of a secured area, so our runs got much shorter, as the missile site wasn't that big.

I'm sure that the more I think about it, other events will pop in to mind, but these are the events I remember.  The funny part is that there are some people I work with now who won't remember any of these events.  What's even funnier (or sadder depending on your perspective) is that the reason many of my co-workers weren't even born when these events took place.