Bwainzzz!

Earlier today, @robdew’s unborn child posted this on the babyblog:

With apologies to ICanHasCheezBurger, here is Ben and our reluctant Yorkie, Joey.

Ben is rockin the KU hat

 

My Fav:

More pics from the Kansas (half) Marathon

Grinding it out:

Kinda smiling:

Apparently I thought it was appropriate to stick my tongue out:

Crossing the finish line with some slow 10K’ers:
 

Making sure the Garmin is turned off:

Kansas (half) Marathon

So after spending a lot of time talking with my new internet coach Steve Speirs (@britishbulldog), David Manthey of Runner’s Edge and the Garry Gribble’s guys, I came up with a pretty solid plan to conquer my first half marathon.  Hold back…settle in…finish strong!

Before I get all geeky on you, let me say how very cool of an experience this was.  It was 50 degrees out, very wet and very windy.  And the supporters were out there all bundled up, cheering us all on.  The volunteers at the aid stations were all smiles and supportive.  Everybody involved brought a lot of positivity to the race and it meant a lot.  Even at the toughest parts of the race, I was in a good mood and it had a lot to do with the volunteers and observers.

So, sticking to my plan, my first two miles were 7:46 and 7:55.  It was really tough having all those people pass me.  The starting gun is like a shot of adrenaline and all I wanted to do was come out full speed, but a lot of smart people told me to start slowly, so I did.

At mile 3, I started to turn it on.  This is also where the first hill was and I do a far amount of hill training, so I was able to start picking off lots of the people that had been passing me for the first two miles.  Mile 3, 4 and 5 were 7:16, 6:56 and 6:58.

Mile 6 was the start of a 3 mile hill.  I was able to keep my splits around target range 7:07, 7:30 and 7:11.  The best part was that I kept picking people off.  A few of them would increase their stride as I approached, but eventually I would pass by them.

Mile 10 was go time.  A nice flat stretch, no opposing traffic and a guy in front of me that I was having trouble closing the gap on.  6:44 was that split.

Mile 11 was approaching the last turn.  I knew I would be heading north soon into a very nasty wind and going up the final hill.  I took advantage of the flatness and clipped off a 6:55.  I also finally passed that guy in the orange shirt.  He was an older guy.  Probably at least 55 or 60.  How proud he must feel to be so healthy at his age.  I’ll never forget that color of orange.

Mile 12 is probably the most exhausted I have ever felt on a run.  The wind was gusting like it only does in Kansas, and the hill was an 150 feet incline that was just soul crushing.  Never in my life did I want to walk so badly.  But there was a guy in front of me that I had been chasing for the last 1/2 mile and he stopped and walked for about 10 seconds.  I dug deep into the will power reservoir and ended up with a 7:22.

Mile 13 finished up that last nasty hill and I saw the finish line in all it’s glory.  This feeling came over me and it was like a shot of energy.  I could feel every muscle in my body and all they wanted to do was go, go, go.  I felt like I was coming out of the blocks in a 100M dash.  I must have passed an additional 4 or 5 people that had been in my sights, but I didn’t think I could catch them.

I crossed the finish line at 1:32:43.  I looked down at my Garmin and it said 12.79 miles.  Huh?  I figured I messed something up along the way, but other people had recorded about the same distance.  So the race was about .4 miles short, but I had reached my average target pace of 7:15, which would have put me in at just under 1:35, which was my goal.  And better yet, it gets recorded at 1:32:43.  So I’ll take it.

I ended up in 25th place overall and 2nd in my age group.  Once I turned on the gas at mile 3, I was never passed again.

And here is some photographic proof:

Before the race, texting my wife.  It was a nippilicious temperature :)

Passing one of the fountains on the Kansas University campus

Finishing up strong!

Map:

Elevation:

Ha-tea

I’d hit that…oh wait, I DID hit that!

Wii have a new addiction

I will SMOKE you in some wii tennis.

Pics from Easter

I know I’m way behind on this blog, here is a few catch up pics from Easter:

Day out with Daddy

Ben and I had such a fun day this past Saturday.

We woke up around 7:00 and let mama sleep in for a bit.  A bit being about 4 hours – which is barely a drop in her sleep deprivation bucket.

I needed some new running shorts for my race on Sunday because I got a new black shirt that I wanted to wear and I’m just fruity enough to not want to wear it with navy shorts.

So we went to Kohls and Penneys and Walmart (ugh) and finally found a pair at Target that worked.

Ben was a champ the whole time.  He was wide awake most of the time, “chatting" away and sucking on his hands.  I’m sure I look like a goon “chatting” back at him as we walk though stores.  Yup, I’m *that* dad.

We got home just in time so that mama could get a little Ben time before she headed out for a girl’s night out.

That is when I made a bad decision.  I thought going for a walk would be a good idea.  Outside air for Ben, exercise for our puggle, and a little activity for me before my big race.

Wrong answer Chuck.

I should have known after the first couple of blocks when Ben fussed after after a little bump in the sidewalk.  He does that sometimes if he’s really tired and he gets woken up.  No biggie I thought, he’ll fall asleep here shortly and we’ll be good. 

Nope.

With each bump, the cries got louder and the pacification time got longer.  At about a mile out (yeah, I’m not such a fast learner), I decided to turn around.  By this point, I was carrying him over my shoulder, pushing an empty stroller that had an over-energized, under-exercised puggle attached to it.

And I thought I looked like a goon in the store baby talking.

Ben finally calms down and I’m able to put him back in his stroller after carrying him for about 1/2 a mile.  So we are about 1/2 mile from home, when in a display of my learning disability, I decide that since he’s asleep now, that we can probably continue our walk so I head out for the loop that we normally take.

Bad idea.

About 3/4 of a mile from home, he get’s woken up and it all starts over again.  So I carried him the rest of the way home, feeling even dumberer than the first time, because I should have known better and gone straight home.

We get home and start getting ready for bed.  I’m really hoping that he will fall asleep quickly so that I can get things organized and get to sleep early.  After fighting it for 30 minutes or so, he crashed out.

It was a great day.  Not only did we get to spend so much time together, I also have even more respect for my wife.  It is so much work, and there are so many things to be aware of taking care of a baby, and she does it all day, every day.  What a champ!

Self Imposed Half Marathon

I was wanting to know what I should realistically set as a goal for the Lawrence Half Marathon, so I bumped up my scheduled 11 miler to a full 13.1.

I felt pretty good though out the entire run.  A little slow starting out like always.  There was also 25 MPH winds which is always fun – side note, I’m tired of Kansas.

Anyways, I ended up with a 1:38:14.  I don’t think I can shave any off that time.  I could barely up my pace the last quarter mile.

So, that’s what I’m going to shoot for, 1:38:00.  Even though I really wanted to break 1:30:00, I guess it’s just not in the cards.  Maybe next time.

Splits:

Route:

Mmmm…Data

I went through my training log tonight on BuckeyeOutdoors and marked my old Nike+ workouts at walks where appropriate.  I did this because I’m bored and my wife is out boozing it up while I babysit (which I totally love to do and she totally deserves it because she is super-mom!).  This also gives me some more accurate data which is always fun.

So here are my totals since 6-21-2008:

Runs: 106
Average distance: 4.9 miles
Total distance: 519.3 miles
Average pace: 7:21 min/mile (pretty happy about this)

Walks: 82
Average distance: 2.2 miles
Total distance: 178.3 miles
Average pace: 16:22 min/mile (blazin!)

Bike ride: 2 (just started logging them)
Average distance: 4.3 miles
Total distance: 8.5 miles
Average speed: 12.9 MPH

Total workouts: 190
Total distance: 706 miles
Calories burned: 69,839

Here is a chart that shows my increase in speed over time – You can also see the drop in pace that I’ve been complaining about lately :)

I can haz speed nao?

Just when I was complaining of my pace slowing down, I go and bust out 3.12 miles at a 6:40 pace!  Granted, I’m still going to probably adjust my sub 1:30:00 half marathon goal, but it was still nice to fly though some miles.

Splits:

Map:

Run postponed due to overeating

I’m supposed to do a 3 mile run tonight, but there is small matter of digestion that will need to take place first.

mmm…Asian Zing :)

Good training week so far

I haven’t had time to update my training log the last couple of days.  I really wanted to follow the format I was doing, which I blatantly ripped off my running idol, Steve Speirs, aka @britishbulldog, but alas, I’m just not gonna have time for that.  I really like throwing up the maps and the stats and whatnot, it’s just not going to be as structured as it was.  Which is fine.

So anyways, I’ve had a good week so far.  24 miles of running, 8.5 miles of biking and a mile of walking.

My pace has really been dragging the last week or so.  Not sure what the reason behind it is.  I’m running the Lawrence Half Marathon in a couple of weeks.  I originally was hoping to break 1:30 (6:52 pace), but I’ve been struggling to keep a sustained pace under 7:00 minutes a mile.  Dunno what is up.  I might have to change my target time.

Here are some pics of where I’ve ran/biked the last couple of days:

Biked to Clinton Lake:

Ran at Clinton Lake:
 

Biked home:

45 minute tempo run.  Which I didn’t even come close to executing properly.  I don’t know how to throttle my pace.  I only know how to run normally, and run fast.