Set the Bar Too Low or Had a Really Good Day...Or Both

Well, my ultimate goal was to average about 12:34 per mile for today's half marathon.  I started off at about 11:04 a mile so I tried slowing down.  Five minutes later I was still at 11:04 a mile.  As I continued to run and continued thinking that I was slowing down, but my per mile pace kept getting faster.  I was basically running negative splits without even meaning to.  By the time I got to mile 10 I was averaging about 10:45 per mile.  I slowed down the last three miles and finished with an average pace of 11:14 per mile.  Still much faster than the 12:34 I thought was going to be my "push it" goal.

I had wanted to finish in under 2:44:40 and ended up coming in way under that.  My official finish time was 2:28:43.  My best time is about 2:20 back in 2009 when I was training for a full marathon.  Before I set a goal to beat that time, I'll see how my training is going.  However, I will set one goal now for the Columbus Half Marathon in October.  That will be to finish in under 2:23.  That would mean averaging about 11 minutes per mile for the whole 13.1.

The course for the Little Miami half marathon was just as advertised, shady the entire way.  As a matter of fact, it was almost 4 miles in before I could even see the sky through all the trees.  It was a very flat and fast course.  The only down side was that it was run on a bike path and there were a lot of bikers, some of whom obviously had no clue about common courtesy of how to act when sharing a bike path with runners.  Other bikers were courteous and careful when biking around the runners, but I really think it's safer to run on streets that have been closed down than it is to run around bikers on a bike path that is being shared...even in  a scheduled/organized run.

My legs were REALLY sore when I finished today, which is the norm for running half marathons.  They feel a little better now, which is good, because I am jumping right back in to training this week.  My long run on Saturday will be six miles, and in eight weeks I will be back out on the race course.

Columbus has tremendous crowd support for the first half of their marathon, so I'm looking forward to running that morning.

Running Bug Biting Harder

Well, as I prepare for my next half marathon this weekend I set up 3 goals.  My first goal (which is normally the "easy - I can do this" goal) is to finish in under 3 hours.  My last half marathon time was a little over 3:08, and given that I've trained better this time around and have dropped about 40+ lbs. since then, that should definitely be doable.

My second goal (which is normally the goal that I expect to be a little more difficult but can push for goal) would be to finish in under 2:54.  That would be averaging 13 minutes per mile for the entire 13.1 mile course.  I averaged a little less than 15 minutes per mile back in May, so that would mean bringing my average per mile pace down quite a bit, but something that I also think is doable.

My third goal (which is normally the hardest of the goals) is to finish in under 2:44:40, which would mean averaging about a 12:34 per mile pace.  That would also mean that I would finish this as my 2nd fastest half marathon.  I have been able to maintain a pace better than that for my 10 mile run, so I'm hoping I can maintain it for the full 13.1.

After finishing this half marathon I will jump right back in to training for the next half marathon that will be coming up on October 21.  The Columbus Half Marathon is a terrific course with a lot of crowd support.  I ran the full marathon in Columbus back in 2009, but the second half of that course did not have nearly the amount of crowd support that the first half had, which can make for a long run.

After finishing that half marathon I will jump right back in to a training program, but I've now got to re-evaluate that.  I am going to be running the Las Vegas Half Marathon in December.  I had originally planned to finish up Columbus and jump back in to my half marathon training, which I might still do.

However, yesterday the running bug bit a little harder, and I signed up to run the Myrtle Beach Marathon in February.  No, not a half marathon this time, but a full 26.2.  With no other races, I would typically start training for a full marathon 20 weeks out, meaning late September.  So, the question I have now is...do I fall in to the middle of marathon training and use Las Vegas as my long training run for that week?  OR  Do I do half-marathon training to prepare for Las Vegas and then jump in to full marathon training following that?  I'm not yet sure how that will play out since right now I'm training to run the full half marathon for Columbus, but plan to do the Myrtle Beach Marathon as a 5 minute run/1 minute walk marathon.  It may be October before I figure this one out, but we'll see what happens.

The Taper

Well, in just over a week I will run my next half marathon.  I've stuck to the training schedule much better than I did for the last half marathon I ran, so I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing some improvement in my time and in how I feel once I've gone the 13.1 miles.

I also hope that the weather next weekend is as cool as it is this weekend.  Yesterday I went out and walked 4 miles and it felt like I was walking on a nice fall afternoon (my favorite season).  After work today I will head over to the Olentangy Trail and run 5 miles.

The last couple of weeks I've been "tapering" in my training.  Basically, what that means is, I've been cutting back on how far or how long I run.  The purpose of the taper is to allow the muscles to recover from the hard training they've been doing over the previous 12 weeks.  During that time period they've been put through a lot and not given a lot of recovery time.  The taper is meant to give the body a chance to truly recover and rebuild itself so that it is in the best shape possible on race day.  However, you don't want to stop running completely or you won't be loose on race day and it will take longer to settle in to a decent pace.

One of the things that I like about running is that it has taught me a lot about life in general.  In life we sometimes have to back off and rebuild.  Give ourselves a chance to fully recover and utilize all that we've been taught.  But we don't want to stop living life completely or it could take a while to settle in to a good "pace".  BOY....is that insightful or what?!  I should get a job writing for a fortune cookie company.

Today marks my 20th consecutive day at work without a day off.  As it stands right now I will be off work for the next two days, and am planning on taking full advantage of the time off.  I guess by "full advantage" I really mean, not working.

Tomorrow I will get in my weekly weigh-in to see if I've lost any more weight since last week.  After that I'll head to church, then I'm taking my brother, who is also trying to lose weight, to a running store to get him a good pair of walking shoes.  After that I'm taking him to lunch/dinner to celebrate his completion of his course of study for the Methodist Church, where he serves as a minister.

On Monday I've got to do a light run and I may try to go catch a movie.  There are a few movies out right now that I'd like to see, so this may be an opportunity to relax and go see them.  You know....taper.

Long Hours and Running Too

Well, I'm currently sitting here at work for my 2nd week of 7th Day overtime.  My last full day off was on July 22 and my next scheduled day off is August 12.  Between people being off sick at work, a new dispatcher being trained, which takes one of our current dispatchers out of staffing in order to train her, and the annual Dublin Irish Festival, there have been a lot of slots that needed filled in order to maintain staffing levels.  I've been only too happy to help fill some of those slots, which will make for a nice paycheck, but also makes for a long three weeks.

For those who don't know, Dublin, OH has an Irish Festival the first weekend of August each year.  This year was the 25th annual Irish Festival.  I found out this year that Dublin's Irish Festival is the second largest Irish Festival in the United States.  Pretty impressive for a suburb the size of Dublin.  We pretty much have three "major" events in Dublin each year.  In the spring the PGA comes to town for the Memorial Golf Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club here in Dublin.  Of course, like any "all American" town, we have our Independence Day celebration, which always includes a parade and a free concert that usually brings in a well known performer.  And the Dublin Irish Festival.  The festival is kicked off on Thursday evening with a 5K run in downtown Dublin.  I've run this race in the past and was happy, as part of my return to running and part of my half marathon training, to run it this year.  I started off a little too fast though and it cost me.  No matter how many times I run this course, I keep forgetting just how long that hill on Marion St. is when you have to run it.

The actual festival starts on Friday evening and the weekend draws very large crowds.  Of course that also means a lot of hours worked by the police department.  With the festival being held the first weekend of August each year we can usually count on two things.  First, it's going to hot.  Forget about global warming, it's just hot in August in this part of the world.  That typically leads to some medical issues with the heat for those who are elderly, have medical conditions, or drink too much.

The other issue that typically comes up during the Irish Festival weekend is that some type of severe weather watch or warning ends up being issued at some point during the weekend.  Evacuating a crowd that large from the festival has proven to be an "interesting" endeavor at times, especially if they have not yet finished drinking that beer they just bought.

On another front, I've begun to taper my running in preparation for my next half marathon.  My two weekly runs will drop from 60 minutes to 40 minutes this week and my long run is only 5 miles this Saturday.  In just under two weeks I will run the Little Miami Half Marathon in Morrow, OH.  While I do have a couple of "goals" for this half marathon, I do keep reminding myself that this is more of a training/evaluation run.  I want to see where I'm at as I continue to get ready for the Columbus Half Marathon in October.  While most half marathon training schedules build in a two week rest period following the actual race, I will be jumping right back in to training a few days after this half marathon.  After I finish the Columbus Half Marathon I will again jump right back in to training in preparation for the Las Vegas Half Marathon, which I will run in December.

While I have some goals in mind for the Columbus Half Marathon, my only real goal at this point for Las Vegas is to have fun.  They advertise their half marathon and marathon as the opportunity to "Run the Strip at Night".  I have been to Las Vegas and walked up and down the strip in the evenings, but this will be a unique perspective.  It's what is known as a "destination run".  A run that has the ability of combining a vacation along with the run.  I've done destination runs in the past; the Myrtle Beach Marathon and Disney World Half Marathon.  Those were situations, like Las Vegas, where I scheduled the run as a way to give me a nice place to go on vacation.  I've also scheduled vacations and then looked for runs to do in those locations while I was in town.  Then there were the destination runs that fell somewhere in the middle.  Like the Tunnel to Towers Run in New York City.  That was a run where the run itself and the destination were equally important.

I do plan on going to New York in September to run the Tunnel to Towers Run again this year, and am considering going back to Myrtle Beach in February for their Half Marathon.  The Rock and Roll marathons and half marathons look to provide some opportunities for some other destination runs too.  A couple of new cities have been added to the list of Rock and Roll Half Marathons, so I may look at doing some of those next year.  

Something That Needs Remembered

People seem to forget how to treat each other.  Not make assumptions.  Not put themselves above others.  Realize that we all have a very limited view of the world and if we continue to draw conclusions based only on our own individual view then we're going to make a lot of mistakes.  If we continue to focus on what upsets us and refuse to look at the positives, refuse to look beyond our own assumptions and insecurities, then we're going to be miserable and make those around us miserable.

"Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.  But as for prophesies, they will come to an end.  For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.  
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.  Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.  And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love."  I Corinthians 13:4-13

Long Week

It's been a long week at work this week.  I started off working 4 hours of OT on my day off (Monday), and then worked 4 hours of OT the first four days of my work week.  I was originally supposed to be working a twelve hour shift on Saturday also, but 4 hours of that were cancelled.  However, I am coming in for four hours early Sunday morning.

The overtime happens here every once in a while.  Right now it's mainly because of the fact that we've got people on vacation time, people out of the radio room to train the new dispatcher and people off sick.

Weeks like this are the kind of weeks when I'm thankful to be a runner.  The exercise I get helps me to stay rested, even when I'm working a lot of hours.  It helps to get rid of the stress that comes from working all the hours.  It keeps me in a good mood, even when I'm dealing with people who clearly aren't in the best of moods.

Keeping that in mind, I was able to sign up to run another 5K run next week.  Next weekend is the Irish Festival in Dublin.  The last few years it has been kicked off by a 4 mile or 5K run in downtown Dublin.  A lot of runners come out for the run and many stay to participate in the Pub Crawl afterwards.  It's a nice run through a nice part of old Dublin.  Although I'm supposed to run for 50 minutes next Thursday, and a 5K run will most definitely be finished in less than 50 minutes, I always enjoy running with the large groups of people that participate in this run.  Add to that the fact that some of my co-workers will be directing traffic at the intersections, and that keeps me motivated to keep running and not slack off.

Back to Vegas

Well, I enjoyed Las Vegas so much when I visited in May that I decided to go back in July.   I flew in to Vegas on Sunday July 8.  I got in a little earlier this time, actually getting checked in and to my room just after noon on that Sunday.

I decided to take in a show on the first night and was able to get tickets to see Carrot Top, who has his show at the Luxor.  The Luxor is right next door to where I was staying at Excaliber, and there is a walkway inside so you actually don't have to go outside to get from one to the other.  This came in very handy during the week I was there, since the high temps for the week averaged about 115 degrees.

The show was really good, although the crowd didn't seem to get in to it as much as I did.  He also had some special guests attend the show.  The lead singer of a group called God Smack was in the audience.  He was celebrating his birthday, so he and his friends were sitting a few seats away from where I was sitting.  Now I have absolutely no idea who God Smack is...but Carrot Top seemed to be impressed that they came to his show.

On Monday night I went to Brad Garrett's comedy club.  Brad Garrett, for those who may not recognize the name, played Robby Barone on the TV Show "Everybody Loves Raymond".  He now has his own comedy club in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.  Fortunately for me, he was in town the week I was there, so he actually was the host each night, so instead of seeing just the three comedians that normally perform, I was able to see those three, plus Brad Garrett.  I can tell from watching him that he was influenced quite a bit by Don Rickles.  I told that to someone at work today and she asked me who Don Rickles is...boy does that make me feel old.   I will also say that, if you ever get a chance to see Brad Garrett doing his stand up, do not expect to see "Robby Barone"!  He is very funny and I really enjoyed watching his stand up.

On Tuesday morning I made the trek north of the strip and went to the pawn shop that was made famous by the TV Show "Pawn Stars".  It's really a pretty small place compared to how it looks on TV.

  I walked the entire way from the south end of the strip where I was staying, in to downtown Las Vegas where the pawn shop is.  It actually got a little scary at times, because some of that area is not the best part of town for a tourist to be walking.  I actually spent part of the time looking for "escape routes" in case I had to make a quick break for it.  But I saw a lot of the area and a lot of the little wedding chapels along the way, including a couple "drive thru" wedding chapels.  I walked inside the pawn shop and looked for just a couple of minutes when they made an announcement that they needed to get everyone out so they could do some shooting for the show and that they would open back up in about 45 minutes.  I didn't really hang around after that, and headed back south.

My next stop that morning was the Stratosphere.  I went inside planning on going to the top.  But the charge was $18.00, and while it's not really THAT expensive, I decided that I really didn't want to pay to see Las Vegas from a higher vantage point.  I was able to look out the window of my airplane when I flew in, and that was good enough for me. 

Later that night I went to the Laugh Factory comedy club inside the Tropicana.  That show wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either.  Not a very big crowd and if you want something to drink, there are no waitresses, so you just go up to the bar and stand in line while a single bar tender gets the drinks.  I wouldn't recommend that show for anyone going, unless you happen to know the comedian(s) performing and like him/her/them.

On Wednesday I spent the entire day just wandering around the Excaliber and Luxor.  With the heat the way it was, I did not want to go outside at all.  That evening I did walk up the strip to the Bellagio to see the water show.  It's well worth making the trek up to watch, and even staying a few times.  The first one I saw was to the song "Singin' in the Rain".  I waited around for 15 minutes to watch it again and the second time they did the show to Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA".  Had it not been so hot I would have probably stuck around for at least a couple more shows.  

Thursday I really didn't do much sightseeing either.  On both Wednesday and Thursday I was able to get in to the fitness center and get about 4 1/2 miles of running in on the treadmills each day.  But as far as going outside went, I had no plans on going out if I didn't have to.  

On Friday I left Las Vegas to head back home.

My flight leaving Las Vegas started off being delayed by 25 minutes.  Apparently, without my knowledge, a dust storm had hit Las Vegas the night before, forcing a plane that was scheduled to land in Las Vegas to divert to Los Angeles until the storm went through.  So, that meant the crew had gotten in very late.  The part that really kind of irritated me was, as they loaded us on the plane the flight attendants did their best to rush us on the plane and get everyone seated, even though the entire crew was not yet there and so we all sat in our uncomfortable seats on an old airplane while the crew finally showed up and started their pre-flight checks.  We finally took off and were told that those of us with connections in St. Paul/Minneapolis would have our flights changed if we weren't going to be there on time to make the connections.  We were also told that we could use the Wi-Fi on the plane to check out the Delta website to see if our flights were changed, or if we would have to rush to make our connection.  However, they couldn't explain what those of us who didn't have a computer or Wi-Fi device were supposed to do.  Fortunately there was a guy across the aisle from me who 1- had a Wi-Fi capable phone and 2 - was also making a connection to Columbus.  He checked his ticket and found that Delta had determined that we could make our connection, so we were not re-booked.  We got in to St. Paul/Minneapolis at 12:45pm and had to make a flight that was scheduled to leave at 1:05pm.  It almost didn't matter though.  I have to say that was the most uncomfortable landing I've ever experienced.  As we touched down and started braking, the plane did not stay straight on the runway.  It weaved left and right several times.  So much so in fact that when we finally did slow down to taxi speed the passengers on the plane started applauding that we had made it without crashing.  

Sitting near the back of the plane we "patiently" waited while we pulled to the gate and everyone in front of us took their time getting their bags out of the overhead compartment and slowly making their way out of the plane.  

We then got off the plane, checked the screen to see which gate we needed to get to in order to make our connection, then moved as quickly as we could to get from gate G18, where we had landed, to gate C13 which was, of course, about as far away from the G terminal as one could get.  But all was well, we made our connection, even with time to spare, and got back to Columbus safely.  

As for the flight, I was happy with Delta last time I flew back from Las Vegas, much less so this time.  The planes I was on this time were not nearly as comfortable, but the employees were all still pretty nice and professional (most of the time).  

As for the vacation itself.  I have to say that I would not recommend a trip to Las Vegas in the summer time. Way to hot to really enjoy yourself, unless you plan on spending all your time in the casinos.  I also would not recommend staying for five days.  I was really ready to come home after 3 or 4, and could have combined both my Vegas trips in to one 5 day trip and seen everything I saw in the two separate trips.  

I do have one more trip scheduled in December to run the Las Vegas Half Marathon.  I'm looking forward to that more for the run than anything else.  And I'm sure I'll take in a show or two while I'm there, but that will probably be my last Vegas trip for quite a while.