A chance????

Well, as things go i had a good last week of runs. It was a cut-back week, three slow runs of 9 miles and as things go my slow time seems to be a consistent 8:00-8:15 pace and that's how my rans went.

Saturdays run turned into Sunday morning. 9-10:30 am-ish, followed by....coaching Jimmy for little league.....followed by.....riding our bikes to practice.....coaching the entire team for an hour or so ....ride the bikes back home....walk the dog with Fun Guv for about 2 miles.....ride the bikes to the high school and play tennis with Mack....

busy day....i need to get back to the office for some time off.

So with Sunday's 9 miles....the week will be

Sunday....9 miles...done
Tuesday....8 miles
Thursday...7 miles, with three sub 7:30 miles for tempo
Saturday....20 miles, the final 20 of the training plan

So i gotta take a moment to brag cause.....

8 miles......1:00:28.......7:32 pace

....and for those keeping score.....pace to BQ.....7:41

but was it consistent? you judge...

Mile 1....7:25
Mile 2...7:30
Mile 3...7:38
Mile 4...7:29 1/2 way....30:02 ( no negative split today)
Mile 5...7:33 5 miles....37:35
Mile 6...7:39 new personal 10k best here.....under 47:00
Mile 7...7:44 a bit of a bummer, but in the wind and had to slow slightly to jay-run a busy road
Mile 8...7:29

Total time.....1:00:47 plus one second to turn off the Garmin.

Nothing is even close to this run as i have never ran this fast this distance. And only one mile was above marathon pace.

and of course my weight is still 200 lbs....any thoughts on going low carb for the first two weeks of the three week taper to quickly drop some lbs?????

Knowing of course...so many things in a marathon are out of my control...at least i feel the things i can control are being taken care. Mother Nature can be a biatch.

Thanks for reading

OK, i get it.

life, work, running got in the way of posting again.

Those of you interested, you may like to hear that i have had a exciting week of training.

let's go back in time to a week from today.

Last Tuesday, my fastest 9 miles ever. 9 miles/time.....1:10:29 pace is a nice 7:50/mile....best part was the slowest mile was my first. A wonderful afternoon run with a cool fast time and a negative split.

Thursday, a not as fast 8 miles. Not even an attempt to go fast, just nice and steady. Honestly, i think i still felt the affects of the earlier 9 miles. Still, a fun run for the day....time 1:08:08....a slow 8:27 pace....and really it felt slow, weird eh?

Saturday....with renewed energy about not caring about pace, or time, but just the distance...Saturday was a slow 16 miles....lot's of walk breaks and a full 2 liter camel-pak sooo....2:23:22 for a 8:58 pace.....

Monday....back to a little speed....start slow and try to make every mile a little quicker....9 miles....started at a nice 8:29 mile and ended with a quick 7:46 mile; total time....1:13:48.....big negative split here....over a minute diference as my last two miles were the quickest in the run.

There is a week in my runs....7 days, 4 runs....distance 42 miles....

Weight...still at the 200 lb area.....maybe i'm more of a camel myself, carrying my reserves as i go, and not so much a horse.

Anyway, fun guv wants the computer now so maybe i'll get a chance again in the next week to post again.

Thanks for reading

Good Luck (o'the Irish)

Run Strong....

Beat Lance....

Good luck to the Steers next week in Boston

McTange and O'Nitmos, hope to see you there whenever i get old enough to have my current time qualify, age wise.

Have fun and enjoy the moment, and let's hope the weather is a bity nicer than last year. OK, it's official, i'm a running geek as i can remember the conditions of previous races that i haven't been involved with.

Anyway on to today's reprise of the weekend run. Coach...i burned out. The weather blew and after spending two hours in the rec pool playing with the kids i set out for my 20 miler. Against the wind, tired and bundled up and wearing the 2 liter camelpak.

it was rough and although my time was decent, i was miserable for the last 4 miles. And so, unlike previous posts of success, i'm gonna wallow in self pity and keep the bad news to myself.

Anyway, it's been a long day and it's time to wallow in the train wreck known as "The Bachelor" Fun Guv has me hooked on it

Thanks for reading

i'm a clydesdale.

Well, maybe more of a draft horse.


As i keep moving forward trying to get a few minutes faster for the big run in a few weeks, my girth keeps getting in the way.


Fer instance, i seem to have able to break the years long cycle of smoking and running.


Now, non-smoking runners out there my poo-poo the idea of an early morning smoke before heading out the door for a long slow run, but my friends, you're missing out.





Well, not really.....but, what's this got to do with horses?????


Great question, thanks for asking. See smoking did one thing.....it surpressed my appitite. Which really......before running i had at one time ballooned up to the 250-260 range, and smoked too.....what the hell was being surpressed, eh????


Today, i sit at the not-so-ballooned 200 lbs and once in a while i'll manage a weight of 190, usually during the taper. So, i aknowledge, that, yes, quiting smoking led to a bit more eating of late and my weight is more than it should be but....

i realize, i'm still kicking ass,( obtuse horse pun) and had some killer speedwork Thursday. 8 miles with four under 7:15/mile- with 800 meter jogs between.

Go figure, the winter is kicking in for one last hurrah around, so while doing my laps around the local school track, the temps started to fall and the wind picked up, and a little mist, turned to drizzle, to outright downpour.

....but still the draft horse had a job to do. Mile 1 of speed 6:47 ok a little fast and may have affected the rest of the miles......Mile 2 of speed 7:05 .....Mile 3, 7:10 (are you seeing a pattern)......Mile 4, 7:14 (and yes....speed is a relative term to all the quarter horses out there)

This weekend is a 20 miler.....when?, again great question....it's Sunday morning. Yesterday was a complete pile of work and family obligations. Today is Jimmy's 7th birthday....so off the the local rec center for a school friend swimming party, after a cubscout park cleanup, which i head for as soon as i hit "publish post".

Alas, it's 9:25 and i need to leave at 9:30...no time for topical banter

Thanks for reading

Tagged, i'm it!!!!

Great.....thanks coach, for tagging me with the oddest game of blogsphere yet. Let's see if i can summon a muse to give me a 6 sentence memoir.....

"He didn't fall outta the tree"

Which, thanks to Arcane, is more and more appealing. Although, with all the scratches from fallen and snagged limbs a person could think i'm a leper given the current appearance of my hands.

Well, let's try a running update, yesterday was 4, just 4 miles. And per the online plan, at a 9:07 pace. Well, if four 9:07 miles equals 31:12 i did OK. Actually, i am a little upset about the time as it's a 7:48 pace.

two things....it's not the 7:41 marathon pace and it's really not the 7:30 pace i was shooting for. Mile three killed and it was windy and i shouldn't have had a big dinner before running, and ....blah, blah,blah....who cares, i didn't get it done.

This week i have some speed work planned, and a 20 miler this weekend.

Movin On.....

i gotta admit to feeling a little hypocritical regarding the chinese olympic games.....

fer instance....i'd like to visit China, see the wall, pandas, lead paint&toy factories, etc.... but....

human rights is a issue and since we, as a country, have made such a big deal about freedom and all in the middle east....maybe we, as a country, hypothetically speaking....could have some concern over the far east.

i mean that's why we went to war right???? Freedom for the oppressed Iraqi's.....evil regime.....dirty bombs.....wmd's......getting even with the guy who laughed at my dad....

Anyway, back to me. Personally, i've decided to boycott by not attending this summers olympic games in person. That's right...none of my hard earned american rebate (really, this may sound self-centered, but let's take the extra cash to solidify social security, i mean someday i'd like to be 67 without thinking "oooooh, i bet it would be nice to be getting a nice check, but nooooooo i got a rebate 28 years ago") will be spent in China.

Who's with me??? (i mean after the stunning support of the "vote for Mike '08" campaign, who wouldn't? i'm a grass-roots kinda guy....or bud....or maybe leaf......just no stems or seeds)

And speaking about human rights.....Segue prepped.....

Once again "the man" is positioned to bring down a young successful black man!!!!

Sure, i coulda picked a more flattering picture, but here's my promise....

if i ever have a mugshot taken, i'll post it online, but until that day......

Anyway....where to start???? am i even allowed to, cause admittedly, i'm a white guy...

but, from a human rights perspective.....

the mayor of the city to which my little suburb is in the community of is a black man.

as is....

the previous two mayors of Detroit.....

the majority of citizens in Detroit....

the three ex-Detroit police officers; who sued the city, won the case, and then settled for 8 million

the prosecutor, who brought the perjury charges against the mayor for allegedly lying under oath (although, technically a woman), and

the 30-some local ministers using skin color as a rallying point to defend the mayor, except...

everybody involved seems to be of the same skin color, except for the mayors attorney....

He's a white guy.

At least things in the motor city are never boring.

Maybe someday the Tigers will win a game and i'll take my mind off local politics

Thanks for reading

"Hang in there, baby"


i'm not sure why, but this seems to be stuck in my head from a childhood spent in the "70's"

As you may see we caught our little RJ. Just one....about a year old and lot's of fun.
Kids being what they are wanted to keep her as a pet.

Go figure, i have bleedin' heart liberal kids, who wanted to be sure Pestman would release her to the wild (or nature center a few miles from us), rather than making a cap outta her.

Anyway, feeling inspired after an incredible 18 miles through Paint Creek, running into GLRG (and throwing her off her mojo), i felt it was time to takes dead limbs off our Maple Tree.

Not sure if Fun Guv realized the amount of time i spent climbing trees as a child but it's a little like riding a bike.....i just need to stick to slightly thicker branches.

Anyway back to running....18 miles with a 2 liter camelpak on.

Tuesday was a crappy weather day...so 5 miserable treadmills miles and Thursday....

Thursday rocked.....

7 miles....53:59....no lie...after hitting the Garmin timer a few seconds later, i went back to look.

Now, Nitmos really pushed me to get a 53 to stay on goal. i figured i was 15 seconds off marathon pace...to BQ, i need 7:41....thursday was 7:43.

So close

Thanks for reading

A New Roommate????

We seem to have a family of racoons living in our attic. Isn't this nice??

BubbleShare: Share photos - Powered by BubbleShare

Some random interent pictures, freely available for connecting so its not my house but....you get the idea.....

Dammit, well the pest control guy (Let's call him "Pestman") is heading over now, so soon we set traps. i saw the head of one of the critters last night as it taunted me from it's perch inside the vent with it's head sticking out of the house just watching me.

bastard!!!!

Anyway, back to running, cause that's what i do...

i had a great week of runs....

after Tuesdays intentional negative split, i figured to run a nice 8 miles again on Thursday.

again, it snowed, but not to be dampered, i ran within my abilities but with a little edge and finished 1 minute quicker than tuesday.

Saturday was a 7 miler and that ended up at a 7:48 pace. Still a little bit quicker.

Big kudos to Nitmos....we spoke earlier and he is saying the things i don't want to hear....making me do the things i don't want to do....to help me get the results i want.

Keep pushing me!!!!

This week is again a couple 7 mile runs and a saturday of 18 miles. Well, my plan has 16, but it could be a good day to run Paint Creek Trail....a pre-marathon tradition of running. This run will be with Brett ("Hit-Man"), first time marathoner and Steer....gotta pay it forward, eh?

Anyway, work is good, running is good and the family is good...not really in that order.

While typing this....Pestman set a trap for our little RJ....While setting the trap, our furry tennant stuff his/her head up to the vent and laughed at me while Pestman set the humane style trap.

Maybe...we can post our own pictures of the ordeal....and RJ.

Thanks for reading.