Adventuring in New York City

I am on business travel in NYC this week and tonight went for a walk around Manhattan with a quick stop in Times Square. What a great place to visit on a cool September night!

Miracle Mile 15K and The 18 Mile Long Run

Two great running adventures to tell about this weekend! :-)

Saturday began with the Miracle Mile 15K. This race is run in downtown Orlando and tends to attract the more competitive of the running community. You have to maintain a 15 min/mi pace to participate and the top female in my age group (45-49) ran it in 1:03:11, a 6:46 min/mi pace! I was 51/73 for my age group, 407/584 women, 881/1106 overall. Still, I was very pleased with my 1:41:04 finish time.

For some reason, I thought the race started at 7:30, so I naturally timed my arrival for 1 hour before the race to avoid the last minute crowds. When I arrived near the race area at 6:30 there were crowds everywhere. I finally double checked the race information and found that the 15K started at 7:00! It all worked out ok - I got my car parked and even got my porta potty stop in before lining up for the race. The race started a little late because people were still arriving.

I had decided to run my target marathon pace (11:00 - 11:30 min/mi) so I took a nice easy pace right at the start. I wasn't sure how I was going to work in my walking breaks so I did them at the mile markers initially. Later I settled into walking through the water stops. I also kept my walks to about 30 seconds. I was feeling pretty good, the weather was cool, and all conditions were ideal! My only problem was where to put the Clif Shot I had with me. I didn't want to run with my fuel belt and it didn't fit into that little pocket in my running shorts. I ended up carrying it in my hand until I took it between mile 4 and 5.

After a few miles, it appeared my pace was close to the 11 min/mi point - which I was happy with. I greeted most of the police officer's working the race - wishing them a good morning and thanking them for working the race. As I got further on in the course, I started to chat with a few runners. I ended up speeding up a bit running with them. I also skipped a walking break here and there.

Near the finish, I felt great so I picked up the pace the last 1/2 mile or so and sprinted the last .1 mile, passing at least 20 other runners who were bunched ahead of me. I finished about 1 min short of a PR - but felt great with an AHR of 159 bpm. A little high but still within my aerobic zone.

Sunday 18 Miler

So after running a strong 15K on Saturday, I wasn't sure what to expect today for my scheduled 18 mile long run. Surprisingly, my Saturday runs have not hurt my Sunday long runs but seem to help them out. According to the Higdon training plan, Saturday should be run at race pace and Sunday long and slower. I have been running Saturday's runs pretty easy so far.

I also felt pretty crummy yesterday afternoon and then in the evening. I had a headache so I popped some Advil and headed to bed - hoping to feel better in the morning.

I got up a little later than I have for recent long runs - at 5:30 am with the intent to start running about 6 am. My headache was gone and I felt ok - just the normal 5:30 am tiredness. I decided to split the run into 10 miles then 8 miles - stopping at the house in between to refill water.

I started out really easy - with the goal just to finish and a hope I could keep the pace below 13 min/mi - but that I wouldn't push my pace if I was feeling it too much. I ran 5 minutes and walked 1 minute. As it turned out, I felt REALLY GOOD through the early miles. My heart rate was nice and low - in the low 140s for the first 9 miles. Low heart rate for me means I am not working so hard, meaning I have gas for the latter part of the run. I was feeling good but I didn't want to start to push the pace until I was about 5 miles from the end. I decided if I felt good then I would step it up.

My AHR stayed below 150 until I got to mile 13 - and since I was 5 miles out, I stepped it up. My average pace until this point was about 12:12 min/mi. My last 5 miles were around 11:55 with my 18th mile in 11:30. Although it was feeling harder the last 2-3 miles, I just got it in my brain that I was now training to push through the end of that marathon :-). I also got a little help from my iPod tunes. I was around 17 miles in and feeling like I really needed a break when Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty" came on. The Forrest Gump in me kicked in and I picked it up a notch.

What a great long run after racing yesterday! I think I will focus my Saturday runs on race pace for now on!

Have a great running week everyone!

Preliminary Race Report - Miracle Mile 15K

Quick update on today's race!

Goal: Target marathon race pace (11:00 - 11:30 min/mi)
Actual: A bit faster, around 10:51 min/mi

Final time: 1:41:04 / only about a min off my PR!

Felt great this morning. Cooler start to the day and strong finish! More later :-)

Today is Not That Day

This month’s Runner’s World magazine featured an article called “Get Motivated.” One contributor said, “I taped my mantra to the wall: ‘There will be a day when you can no longer do this. Today is not that day.’” I thought quite a bit about that mantra and made it the theme of my thinking this morning during my 5-mile run.

As I got out of bed once again in the darkness at 5:30 am, pulled on my running gear and stepped outside – I thought about how I didn’t really like running in the dark, or early in the morning when I wanted to sleep. But then I thought about how there will be a day, someday, when I wouldn’t be able to get up and run anymore. Today is not that day.

As I ran along my normal 5-mile path, I thought about the people I have been running for who can’t run like I do. Like my dad, who shuffles to get around; my mom with heart disease and emphysema who feels exhausted just walking across a room; and our little friend Elijah – who probably CAN run, but with his cancer treatments would have a hard time. There will be a day when I may be too ill to run. Today is not that day.

As I ran I met a fellow runner I see frequently on my runs. Joan is a 58 year old runner who runs with her husky. She always wants to stop and talk – and sometimes I just want to keep running and get my day going. But today I stopped and we chatted a bit. As I continued my run, I thought about how much I would miss seeing her if one day she stopped running. There may be a day when she no longer can do this – and I knew I would miss her. Today is not that day.

Michael Mucklow’s instrumental guitar music played as I mused on these thoughts and others. I enjoyed the cool air, about 65 deg F, along with a small breeze. The sky was clear and the stars and moon were bright as the eastern sky just started to change from black to a brightening blue. As I finished up my easy feeling run in my driveway, I looked at my Garmin and saw that I ran the run as fast as I did just two days ago, but with an average heart rate of 147 bpm – easy run. I looked up as the crescent moon smiled at me.

There will be a day when I can no longer do that.

Today is not that day.

Running for Team Parkinson

About a month ago, shortly before going to Arizona for my brother's wedding, my 71 year old dad told me that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. I had never (personally) known anyone with the disease, and didn't really know much about it - so I did some online research and learned quite a bit.

According to Wikipedia:

Parkinson's disease (also known as Parkinson disease or PD) is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that often impairs the sufferer's motor skills and speech, as well as other functions.[1]

Parkinson's disease belongs to a group of conditions called movement disorders. It is characterized by muscle rigidity, tremor, a slowing of physical movement (bradykinesia) and, in extreme cases, a loss of physical movement (akinesia). The primary symptoms are the results of decreased stimulation of the motor cortex by the basal ganglia, normally caused by the insufficient formation and action of dopamine, which is produced in the dopaminergic neurons of the brain. Secondary symptoms may include high level cognitive dysfunction and subtle language problems. PD is both chronic and progressive.

PD is the most common cause of chronic progressive parkinsonism, a term which refers to the syndrome of tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia and postural instability.

My dad had been having trouble with his balance - and falling quite a bit - when he was diagnosed. He has the typical Parkinson's "shuffle" but is still getting around ok.

Last year, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon for my mom - not so much for a charity but for the fact that she suffers both from Heart Disease as well as Emphysema - and could never run, let alone walk, around the block.

This fall, I have decided to dedicate my running of the San Antonio Rock N Roll marathon to my dad and to use the occasion to help raise money for Parkinson's Disease research. I have a link here on my blog if you want to donate for this run - I have no big fund raising goals to meet (I set my own goal at $500 but no minimum limit like TNT). I would like to run in honor or memory of anyone you know who suffers from PD. Feel free to email me their name at marathonchris@gmail.com and I will pin it on my race jersey and dedicate a mile to them. No donation is necessary if you want to send me a name. I am just happy to be running for others and for my dad.

Today's Long Run:
I had a good long run today. Since I was going "only" 13 miles, I figured I would push my pace a bit and see if I could keep it under 12 min/mi. I came pretty close - but the run was more work that I thought it would be with 74 deg F and 100% humidity (the fog was so thick I could see about 100 feet in front of me). There was very little wind and I was sweating so much, my feet were squishing for all the sweat that ran down my legs into my shoes!

My Garmin has been acting flaky lately, and around 11 miles got weird and started counting backwards on me....I ended at about 9.5 miles! After downloading my run to Sport Tracks and fixing the route, it was more like 13.3 miles. I recorded it in my log as 13.2. My pace was about 12:03 min/mi. I am very happy with that.

I will be back to the longer runs next weekend (18 scheduled). On Saturday, I am actually running my first race since April - the Miracle Mile 15K. I am not going to go for a PR (I would need to maintain a 10:40 min/mi pace for that) but instead will target running it at my goal marathon race pace (around 11:15 - 11:30 min/mi). Hopefully it won't be too hot!