Guess Who's Back....Back again...

I can't believe it has two months since my last blog post, but honestly, there has not been a lot to blog about (triathlon speaking). I have been really trying to lose some weight without working out for the last couple of months. I really wanted to see if I could drop to under 200 without killing myself by swimming, biking or running. I figured that if I can drop the weight on diet alone, then by the time the new year comes around, my eating habits will be better and more of a "routine" and everything will work that much better. So I am down to right at 200 and feeling pretty good.

This January I did not make out a race schedule like normal. I guess I am just over it, or I am tired of life getting in the way and them looking back at all the races I missed. So no schedule, but I do have a plan, or some races I want to do for fun. They involve a couple of sprints and a mini sprint race that should be a lot of fun, and then based on how those go, I think I want to look at maybe a 70.3 towards the end of the season.

So in January, I bought the following items: new jammers, new clear goggles and new running shoes! I have found that I really do miss training for something, so it has been good to get back in the water and swim. I have not got to use the new kicks yet, but I will. I stayed with Brooks Adrenaline shoes, my go to shoe it seems. My plan is to really use January as a base building month, which will include some of the elliptical, some swimming, little biking and weights. I feel like I am starting over, like a 500 yard swim is epic and a mile run is huge!  I guess 3 years off after doing IM will do that to you!

Funny story- I was in the gym locker room lacing up my Hokas and an older gentlemen asked me if I was starting a run plan for the New Year (I'm a resoluter now I guess) I told him that "Yeah I was going to get back to running again", then he started to give me all these tips on running. I finally saw a break in him speaking and told him that I used to run a lot when I was training for Ironman. That stopped him and he said, "you did Ironman?" I said, "Yes Sir at the end of 2013" and he just walked off.

So I guess I can say I am back to training and racing and looking forward to it. I got my new gear and I am ready to see what 2017 brings!!!  Hope you all have a great year and a lot of PR's!!!

Proud of my Slowest 13.1 Ever!

So here I am writing the day after the St Jude Marathon Weekend where I ran the half marathon. This was the first time I have ever run the half, and I am so glad I was not signed up for the full. This is one of the premier races in the South in my opinion and I love doing it, it benefits St Jude Hospital in Memphis. No family ever pays for medical treatment at St Jude due to donation from all over the world.  So the first weekend in December, over 18,000 runners come to Memphis to run this race. The Marathon weekend offers a 5K, 13.1, 26.2 and a 26.2 relay option!

Now I knew going in that this was going to be a tough race for me. My last long run was an 11 mile run on November 1st and it took me 1:55, so I felt I was on track to have a great race. Well, things happen. Some things you can foresee and other things you can't. For some reason, I always seem to think I can train through the Christmas "Black Friday" rush and everything that goes into planning for those 2 wonderful days (and yes, that is sarcasm). Due to travel with work, I had a hard time keeping the training schedule going, but I decided I was still doing the race anyways.

So here we were on Saturday morning waiting to start. I started in Corral 8, which was a 10:07 mile. I was really unsure of how long I would be able to hold that pace, but I was game. I was running with 3 other friends and I knew that would help me. I also knew I was going in with no expectation except to finish the race and enjoy making that turn to the finish line.

The first 6 miles were awesome. Tons of people cheering and runners were everywhere. Our foursome stuck together, which you know is tough in a race this size. we were hitting a 10:07 pace which was getting tougher each mile, so I pulled back alittle and let the guys go on. I was able to keep a steady pace for the first 9 miles or so before I knew I needed to focus on finishing.

So I did some walking through the water stations and then ran tot he next one for the next few miles. My calves started tweaking around 11, but  managed to push through and get to the finish line. I crossed the line at 2:31:23.

2:31:23...my PR is 1:54.

Here is the thing. I am more proud of this 2:31 than I would have thought. I knew going in that I was not trained for it and even had thoughts of ditching the race, but I didn't. I pushed through. It hurt and my legs are still sore. I didn't listen to the voices. I maintained, I persevered and I finished. When you think about the reason this race exists, to raise money for kids battling cancer, my leg cramps seem trivial. So like I said, I am probably more proud of my 2:31 and everything it took for me to get there than I am my 1:54.

On The Other Hand...

Recently I read a blog post about what to do when your PR's are behind, or basically "how are you going to handle the fact that you aren't as fast as you used to be?" This really got me thinking because I have already been struggling with this.

I know I will never be like the 25-35 year old JFORD when it comes to physical activity. I just won't. My body has changed over the years (knees and wrists are becoming issues) recovery takes me longer than it did, and I am sure if I go curl up in the corner and think about it, I could come up with more, so I won't. But it is true, I am getting older.

Granted I am only 43, but I have a lot of years of sports on these old bones. I have even told my wife that I think I have maybe one more year of trying to be competitive (my definition of competitive). So I have to ask myself this, are there anymore PR's in my future?

On one hand I say no, it's doubtful. I do not have the same drive, the same ego, or the same confidence in my body that I use to have. I think this is normal, that as we age our body change, but it could just be a mental thing as well. But I honestly do not see me going sub 20 on a 5K (not that I ever have before, but it was always a goal) AND I honestly do not see me going to get my aches and pains looked at by a doctor cause I am a big wuss and I am afraid of what they might say, so I just won't go and will deal with it. So I expect a few extra non scheduled rest days here and there out of necessity.

But on the other, I can totally see me setting a new PR in the IM I am racing this fall. Beside the fact that I am racing Brad D at Redman, I actually EXPECT to set a new PR at he 140.6 distance. (So I know this post sounds weird, going back and forth, but this is the way I am thinking right now.) So maybe I am just going to be a long distance guy going forward, cause let's be honest. The longer the race, the less people care about your time, just as long as you finish.

I know I can beat 15:53 on IM (and beat Brad in the process), but I know I will most likely not go under 22 in a 5K and I have to find a way to be OK with that. As I wrote in an earlier post, PR's are forever.

I Do Not Have A Catchy Title.

I have been feeling pretty lazy lately.

My grandfather passed away early last week and the family made a whirlwind trip to go to the funeral on Thursday and Friday. We drove over 700 miles in 2 days, and that time in the car does not include the hour we spent at a McDonalds in Atkins Arkansas trying to get the mini van swagger wagon started! So we spent about 12+ hours in the car.

My last good solid workout was Thursday before we left. I did a 1000 yd swim in 18 and change then I followed that up with a 4 miles run in under 35 minutes. (Then I sent a trash talking video text to Brad D at Brad's Ironman Journey, because he has been sending me mean video texts, so I had to fire back!!) Then I sat in the car for hours and hours it seemed. Sitting in a car seat for an extended period of time always stiffens my joints up! So I have not been to fired up about doing any training.

Even today at my teams basketball game (I am coaching my son's 12-13 year old team), I was wearing my Ironman Branson 70.3 shirt for some motivation. One of the refs called me over and started asking me questions about doing IM races. Usually that fires me up, but for some reason, I was still unmotivated. And I am down 5 pounds since Christmas! What gives??

Well, I don't drink, but other than that...

I finally told my bride that I know what I need to motivate me.I need to sign up for my Olympic race. I spend the money, then I know I will train harder. That's the way it works isn't it? Is that true motivation? I am not sure that is the thing that would motivate me, the spending of money, but more of a deadline. So, maybe when I am officially entered into the race, it will light a fire under my butt. Or maybe the driving wore on me more than I thought. I do have a 5K trail race tomorrow I am going to run, so maybe that race will get my juices flowing again. I just know it is way to early for me to be thinking of missing workouts already!!!

NOW WAIT JUST A SECOND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE:

I wrote this post on Saturday night, and Sunday after church, I did run the Winter Off Road Series 5K at Stanky Creek. A nice little trail run that I hit a new PR!!!!  25:51 on the trails! I am so stoked about that, an 8:20 pace through the woods!!!!  That placed me 15/42 in my Age Group and 95/499 Overall. For the overall series, I am in 14/58 place in my age group! Funny how things work out, but I am over that pity party and ready to train!!!!!

St Jude Memphis Marathon Report

What a day it was. As I am sitting here typing this post, I am thinking back over that day and trying to determine how I want this to read. I want to be positive even though I was so close to my goal time. I did in fact improve my time over last year by 1 hour and 6 minutes, which I am stoked about, but I know I should have been a sub 5 hour marathoner pretty easily. This will be a rather long post, so sit back and ready yourself!

EXPO: The expo is always cool. I love seeing everyone milling around looking at the sponsors, buying St Jude apparel. This year, as you know, I signed up to be a St Jude Hero! That meant that I promised to raise money for St Jude and it gave me the opportunity to wear a special singlet stating that I had raised a certain amount, so again I want to thank each of the that donated money to this race. I went to the expo alone this year due to my family being involved in a church program, so this actually made me be a little more focused on my race and what I wanted to do. So I picked up my packet and strolled around, spent some time talking with Dane Rauschenberg. This guy ran 52 marathons in 52 weekends while holding down a full time job! Amazing accomplishment! It was good to talk with him for a bit and discuss strategy! I really did not stay very long at the expo, I bought nothing, did not even really look for anything, i just went with the flow of the crowd and headed back home to try and get a good nights sleep.

RACE DAY:
I woke up a little before 5 Am and took a quick shower, ate my bagel and then met up with Buck and Steve to head down to the race. Once down to the site, we just walked around, met up with other runners, took pictures with my fellow Warriors and headed to the start line.  I lined up in corral 7 and waited. Last year I was corral 11!  So I had higher expectations!

Mile 1-3:
These miles always go by pretty fast because of the crowds of runners and the crowds of spectators. I really was paying attention to my pace because I knew I did not want to start off to fast. I felt comfortable running but once I looked at my Garmin, I knew I needed to back it down some if I wanted maintain.I was running with a friend at that point and several times we both had to slow each other down to stay within our paces. We had already gone down Beale Street, down Riverside Dr, which goes along the Mississippi River, which is one of my favorite parts of the race. My 5K split was 31:16, which was a 10:06 pace. I was feeling good and on my pace.

Mile 4-9.5:
I was still feeling good as we passed the Pyramid, a Memphis landmark and as we turned in to the St Jude campus. The campus last year was a very emotional spot of the race for me. All the families and children of St Jude outside cheering on the runners was something I will never forget. This year it was different. I had the St Jude singlet on , so I think more people were yelling at the singlets than I noticed last year, so that gave me an extra boost. The whole section was different than last year. Once we got out of the campus, I knew we were at the 10K mark. Mile 6 was my planned stop to eat something and get water for 1 minute, and then go again until mile 10, just like I did in training! I had to add a bathroom stop in at this mile marker though, which I do not think hurt my time that bad. I did end up splitting away form running with Steve at this point, which allowed me to focus on my race a little bit more. My 9.3 mile split 1:36:54 with a pace of 10:26, still on track!!

Mid way, 13.1:
After you hit the 9.3 mat, you start heading back towards downtown and I always remember seeing the heart on the top floors of LeBonheur Children's hospital. It sort of guides you back to where you finish. I was hitting the water stops as I planned, eating what I brought and overall feeling pretty good. I was starting to get passed by a lot more people that were trying to kick it in to finish the half marathon, but I did not let them phase me cause I knew I had a ways to go still. One thing that stood out to me was that I did not feel so alone once the "Halfers" turned to go to their finish line and the marathoners continued on. Last year, it was like a ghost town, but I was further along this year than last, which helped me mentally. I knew I was coming up on the section of the route that I hated, so I just tried to prepare my self mentally to get through the next few miles until we turned on to East Parkway. My 13.1 mile split was 2:18:49, a 10:36 pace. I felt good about this cause I was using a 2:25 mark for the half, so that would get me under 5 hours. Still on track.

Mile 13-20
This is basically through the midtown area of Memphis, and I hate this part. I am not sure why, but I dreaded it the most. The route along Peabody seems to last forever and a day. Another bathroom stop, more nutrition and water at every stop was my game-plan. I hit a wall at 16 last year, but I knew I was going to make it through that marker. I was at mile 17 when I hit the 3 hour mark, which was good. I was still on my pace I wanted to be, I knew I would soon be making one of the final turns, heading down East Parkway soon. Last year at this point I was so out of it mentally that if I could have found a cell phone I would have called my wife to come pick me up, but I was still feeling strong. I think having a better idea of the course helped me a lot as well. I had hooked up with the 4:40 pace group at this point and ran with them through mile 20, which was helpful because it allowed me to gauge my pace better.My 19.6 mile split was 3:34 with a 10:54 pace. I knew I was on my way to a sub 5 hour race.

 Mile 20-26
Mile 21 was when I saw some familiar faces! My wife and youngest son Jesse were there cheering me on. I was not expecting them to be so that made it even nicer to see them and their sign. I had thought my wife had said they would be around mile 20 and when I did not see them I figured something just didn't work out, so I was really happy to see them at 21. I stopped and got a kiss and a high five and kept on going, determined to keep running. Mile 22 came up on me and that's when I felt the dreaded twinge of calf cramps! I slowed down a bit, walked a little and even stopped to stretch out my calf, and it seemed to help for a minute, but it got to where I could only run for about 2 minutes before they locked up again. So I would run and walk, run and walk. I drank 2 waters at every stop, emptied out all my nutrition I had left and tried to force myself to run just a little bit further. I knew I needed to keep going to hit a sub 5 and I tried. The 2 minute runs soon became one minute runs, then 30 second runs, then it was light pole to light pole through mile 25. Once I hit 25, I knew I was on the cusp of a 5 hour finish and I just gritted my teeth and tried to push through the cramps, hoping I could run them away,but it didn't happen.

Mile 26
Once you hit 26, there is a slight uphill you make before turning into the stadium and I had just turned on the back road leading into the stadium when my watch hit 5 hours. I wanted to finish strong though, so I tried to wipe the pain off my face and run through the finish line, but of course, I got another cramp right there about 20 feet from the finish line and I was running like a hobbled old man. I made it through at 5:01:46, with a pace of 11:32. This was an improvement of 1:06 over last year!  That's a 1 hour improvement, not a 1 minute improvement! BOOM!

184/245 in AG

1669/2624 OA

I got my finisher's medal (which is seriously blinged out) and then tried to climb the steps out of the infield of the stadium. BAD IDEA!  Climbing steps was not good for me. I only made it halfway before I had to sit down and then fight off serious cramping. Eventually I made it to the food tent where I grabbed some pizza, cokes and some other goodies, including a box of Krispy Kreme donuts!

Saturday night I spent basically on the couch fighting off calf cramps eating donuts and a huge steak my wife cooked for me. Sunday morning was tough for me to get around, but I felt amazingly better than I walked. On Sunday afternoon, I got a chance to go back downtown and hang out with blogger Jeff Irvin from Dangle the carrot fame! Jeff, his wife Annie and friends were super cool as we got to hang out at the hotel lobby and talk about the marathon and future races.

While I was running, I really questioned myself about whether or not I wanted to try to do an Ironman. If you had asked me Saturday or even Sunday, I am not sure what I would have said. Right now I am only about 40% sure I want to go on and try Redman next year after this race. It was tough, but I know I have a sub 5 in me. I know it! So we will see. Right now I am going to enjoy the holidays, I am going to reintroduce myself to Stella (my bike) and get back into the pool. Even as I am writing this, thinking about 2013, I have some lofty goals. I had at least 8 PR's this year and swam/biked/ran more than ever, and I feel good.

As soon as I get all the pictures, I will have a post with nothing but photos of the race. Thanks for reading!

A Twofer! (2 for 1 post)

This post is like reading two posts in one post, hence the name twofer. ( I feel obligated to come up with catchy titles after I just posted about blog titles). As you might have heard, I have a marathon coming up on Saturday? I am sure I have mentioned once or twice on here. Anyways, I have been going back and forth on  my preparedness for this thing. One day I feel I am so ready, only to be followed by the dreadful thoughts of "why did I sign up for this thing"? So no sooner do I have my mind set that this is a pointless race for me to run, then my psyche changes it up and I feel ready to run. Sooooooooo, here are my thoughts, both sides of the brain, the part that is ready and the part that is not.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

What was I Thinking?

I am not sure I can beat 6:08!  Last year it was tough and embarrassing to run a marathon that slow. I have never been a great runner and distance is definitely not my thing. There is no way I can get a decent time and I really think I will have trouble and be very disappointed if I do not see a major improvement. People have donated money for this race also and I will be letting them down. The weather is going to be much warmer than I expected so I will probably cramp up and have troubles. I never order a new pair of shoes like I was going too either. I know I will screw up my nutrition plan, I won;t be able to keep up with my pace group. I know I will start out to fast. It will get lonely once all the half marathoners split off. I know I will be walking A LOT! I should have done one more 20 miler!!!

PIECE OF CAKE, I GOT THIS!!!

I can't wait for Saturday morning at 8 o'clock. I am so much more prepared for the marathon than I was last year, and I learned a lot from running it a year ago. I am so proud to have raised money for St. Jude! I have a plan for the race that will get me a sub 5 hour marathon. I know where and when I am going to take in nutrition. I know where the water stops are going to be.I know what to expect and I am ready for it. I know this course. I know what pace I can keep. I have all the support in the world. The weather is going to be perfect, no cold like last year. This year I get to wear the St Jude Heroes singlet! Such an honor for me! It's one mile at a time, I am going to run my race, at my pace! I am a solid sub 5 hour finisher. I cannot wait to slap high fives with the crowd throughout the the course, I can not wait...CAN NOT WAIT for that finisher's medal to be placed around my neck. I will get to the food tent this year when they actually have food left!

I am hoping to be in the mindset of the second piece of this post on Saturday. Tapering sucks and gives me to much time to think!

My 1st Race Video & Race Reports (video fixed)

This weekend I manage to complete two different races. A sprint triathlon and a 5 mile run race. I have to admit I was pretty excited to try completing these races. I knew I could finish both races, but I did not know if I could meet my goals and still like I was being competitive.So I looked at this as a way to measure my fitness levels and really try to push myself. So here is my race report for the Sharpshooter Sprint Triathlon and race video!

Sharpshooter Triathlon:

This is always a fun race for me. It is short enough (400 yd swim, 11 mile bike and 2 mile trail run) that you can really push it. And that was my attitude with this race, let's see what I can do. I was shooting for under an hour on this race. I have gotten close in the past, but never under an hour.

The Swim:
 The swim went well. I had zero nervous energy for this race and the swim. I spent too much time standing around talking to other people that I almost missed having a chance to swim before the race! I was able to get in my pre-swim, so I felt ready. the cool thing about this swim is that we get to dive off a dock, which I though was a lot more graceful than it appears on video. I felt like I got into a great pace and was passing people quickly. I never realized how bad my heads seems to come up out of the water while swimming! I pushed the pace and finished strong. Time: 9:29 to transition.

T1:
I decided to go ahead and put on socks in T1, which went pretty well. I had some trouble getting my shoes strapped in and then trouble getting clipped in. Other that that, T1 went fine.

Bike:
My legs felt very heavy right off the bat and I am not sure why. I took a couple good drinks from my aero bottle hoping that would help. I kept on pushing trying to get my legs feeling right. I knew there were some hills at he end of the course, so I wanted to have something left. I kept an average around 20 mph. I came out of my shoes easy and had an easy transition to my run. Time: 34:02

T2:
Only thing I will say is that due to my spending to much time talking before the race, I never got my shoes setup like I wanted them to be and that cost me a few seconds.

The Run:
I started the run feeling well but soon my calf starting twitching, so I was worrying about a cramp coming on. I grabbed some water at the first water stop and continued to push through it. I hate trail runs and never seem to run well on them. I really started feeling well with the last 1/4 mile to the finish line. Time 19:49.

Overall I finished in 1:05. 4th in my Age Group and 31st Overall. Here is the video that my oldest son Jacob took with our camcorder!




The MRTC RRS 5 Miler

This race was the following day at 7 AM. A 5 mile run through my city Bartlett, TN. This is part of a race series I am doing to prep for the marathon. I was really unsure about how I would do since I was feeling tired from the day before and my stomach was not feeling the greatest that morning either. My goal was going to be 45 minutes, anything under and I would be thrilled.I did do a little jog before it started but I was still not feeling confident.

Again, I ran without my Garmin or iPod. I started further back than normal also. Once the race started, I weaved my way through people, running steady. I checked my stopwatch at mile 1, saw it said 9:06. I was feeling pretty good now so I decided to step it up some. Mile 2 marker read 17:45, so I knew I was on pace to beat 45 minutes, but I was still feeling good, so I sped it up even more. Mile 3 and 4 felt great, I was running steady, passing lots of people and feeling great. I was almost passed with about 100 yards to the finish, but I did not feel like being passed, so I sprinted it out. Nearly killed me, but I held him off. I was expecting somewhere in the 43's, but finished with a new PR. 42:43! 23rd in my AG and 300th out of 1084 runners overall. This also moved into the top 20 in the series for my Age Group.

Overall, it was a great weekend for me racing wise. This gave me more confidence and showed me that I am improving. I have a new fire for the last couple of weeks of training for the HIM and I am looking forward to running the marathon in December!

Thanks for reading!

I Tried to Tell You...

I did.

I remember saying it, over and over and over. Go here to see for yourself!

In 2012, I am Bringing it!!!

This morning, I surpassed all of 2011's swim totals and it is only June. In 2011, I swam 84,992 yards or roughly 48.29 miles. After my morning swim, I have reached 85,695 yards swam in 2012. That is 48.69 miles.  And I still have more to go.



This is one of the places where I BRING IT...

Consider it brought...
Consider that this is just the beginning...

Also you might be interested in knowing that by next week, my 2011 bike totals will go down as well.

BROUGHT!

Is it any wonder I am seeing better times in my swim and bike???  I thinks it says that I am Bringing on the bike as well!  I am on pace to crush all my training volume from last year and I am seeing the benefit of swimming/biking/riding more. Funny how that works huh?

Also , I have not missed an early morning workout since I started my HIM plan either. That certainly sounds like someone is bringing it, does it not???

My focus is pinpoint accurate.  This bell has been rung, this train is movin down the tracks, full steam ahead! My diet has changed, my workouts have changed and my attitudes have changed since I started bringing it. You know what has changed since I first started to Bring IT?  My race times! Yeah, I have already like 5 PR's this year. Go ahead, look at my race schedule page and you will see a theme, a trend, A new PR theme and you see that new theme because why??? That's right, I'm Bringing it!

So let me ask you this. Are you bringing it on your workouts?? Are you fearing the hat???

Keys To The Race

I have been watching a lot of playoff basketball lately and before every game , some former basketball player always gives his "Keys To The Game", in other words, it is what he thinks the team needs to do to win the game. So with that in mind, I give you the first ever Daily Trainings keys to the Race; Memphis in May Olympic Triathlon.

The Swim:
This race is a time trial swim, meaning athletes start out every three seconds. I highly doubt that it will be wetsuit legal since we have had high temps in or near 90 this past week. The lake is only 6ft deep max, so I am not counting on wearing a wetsuit. I have to get into a pace soon and remember that a steady swim is best for me. I am looking to go sub 30 minutes on this swim. If I come out of the swim feeling strong, not tired or winded, then I should be set up for a strong bike. It is an unusual shaped swim, and once I make that first turn around the buoy, it is a fairly straight shot throught he channel. This swim is very spectator friendly, and nice to hear loved ones cheering you on!

The Bike:
The bike is one area where I have to not crush it so hard that I am out of it when it comes time to run. I am looking to average around 21mph for the ride, which will put me in a great position to have a solid run and meet my goal times. I need to ride my ride and not worry about others passing me or be too concerned about passing people. I want speed, but I do not want to go out too hard.

The Run:
Thihs is what I have struggled with the past three years. I burn out on the run. I am hoping my bike fitness is better, and I can finally overcome this obstacle. Here are the times from my last three MIM races:

Year                                           Overall Time                        Run Time                   Pace
2008                                              3:44                                    1:27:14                   14:03
2009                                              2:57                                    1:01:07                     9:50
2010                                              **** went on a cruise no race****
2011                                              3:00:57                                1:11:23                   11:29

Not great numbers there (although the run course was 1/2 mile longer than it should have been). I have known for awhile that the run is where I need my most work, and I have really tried to focus on it this year. So with that in mind, I have three main goals for the run this year.

1. No walking what-so-ever. I know that the first walk leads to the second walk, which leads to the third walk and so on and so on. I have to keep a steady pace.
2. Get to the 4 mile mark. Once I know there is only two miles left, something hits in my brain that tells me I am almost done and it flies by.
3. Under 1 hour. I need to get my run under the one hour mark, and when I do that, I should have a new PR on my hands. I know I do not have to haul balls to hit that mark either, but the further under the hour I go, the better.

I do have high expectations this year. Last year the bike and run were done in a thunderstorm, and I was on a borrowed bike that I picked up 3 days before the race, and I still would have PR'd if the distance was marked correctly, which would have continued my trend of getting faster, but I am looking for a significant time difference this year. I am shooting for a 2:45-2:47. Wish me luck and send all fast thoughts my way Sunday morning! Thanks for reading!

Great Way to Start 2012!

Today I ran the first race in the Winter Cross Country Series presented by the Memphis Runners Track Club. The first race was a 3K trail run. Last year was the first time I did this series, so I had a time goal I wanted to beat. Last Year's time was my goal! Last year I finished it in 17:08, so I had a better idea of how to run this race.

At the start, we all ran into a problem because someone started up at the front of the group with their kid. The kid tripped or something and went down and the parent tried to grab/protect and almost got trampled. So, if you are reading this and want your kid to run with you, that's cool and all, but please, start in the back!

Anyways, I knew I could start off faster than I normally would because we ran through a big field for the first 1/4 mile or more before we hit the actual trail. Once in the woods, it was very difficult to pass people, I felt like I was in NASCAR picking my spots to pass. It got pretty bad in a couple of spots and we bottle necked and pretty much came to a stop. I knew this would happen, so it gave me some time to catch my breath after starting as fast as I did. It eventually opened up and we were able to get into a good pace.

I did not run with my Garmin or iPod. I wanted to really beat my time from last year and I did not want to be looking at my pace the whole time, so I was glad I left them at home and just went with the old stopwatch.

Anyways, here is the good news. I set a new PR on this race by 1:08. I finished in 16 minutes flat! (I really wished I had hit under 16) I was 17th out of 44 in my AG and 195th out of 750 Overall! So I can say I brought it!  Nice way to start off the new year!

P.S. I really think the marathon has helped my running because after running a marathon, a 3k seems kind of silly and no reason that I should not push it!