Frigid Five Mile Race - Edmond, OK

The Edmond Running Club held their 14th annual Frigid Five mile race yesterday. This is one run that I haven't run and yesterday was no exception. I was part of the volunteer group that put this race on. The run takes place in Mitch Park in Edmond, OK and this year we smashed our previous attendance record (2007) by over 300, with just over 930 participants.

The winner of the race, second time he's won in recent years, Edmond's Jerry Faulkner, is also an Olympic marathon hopeful for the 2012 Olympics to be held in London. We also had Edmond's Mayor O'Neal as the official starter of the race and as a race participant.

Everyone received new Frigid Five long sleeve technical shirts, a "green" reusable goodie bag. The medals for this year were in the form of a snowflake and were a big hit.

What a great way to start Valentine's Day!!!!

December Stuff

Well here it is the new year and December, where did it go....sigh

On December 6 I ran in the St. Jude, Memphis Marathon. I did a 5 hour 55 minute run and was pleased that I finished under 6 hours.

The course is interesting, the weather was cold (ran in a jacket and long pants from start to finish), the aid stations were great (one every mile...yes every mile), spectators were great on the first half of the course a bit more sporadic on the second half but still enthusiastic.

The start was in corrals, and I think I was in corral 12. I was somewhere in-between the 5:00 and 5:15 pace groups. I think we crossed the start line almost 20 minutes after the initial gun was fired.

I managed to stay ahead of the 5:15 pace group until near mile 14. I ran out of energy it seemed around mile 15 and walked a mile. Then I found the positive side of my mind again and decided I couldn't just walk this one in, so I started to run/walk again. I started to pass a number of the folks that had gone by me when I walked the mile.

The last several miles of the course are mostly downhill so that helps with being tired. Overall, it was a great race, not really that difficult if you do some hill training in advance.

Happy New Year to all......hope your holidays were safe and fun.

Thanksgiving Eve

We will be off to Dallas this afternoon as soon as Bonnie can get away from work. Me, I've been on vacation yesterday and today, and now....four days away together. We will be staying just across the street from the Grapevine Mills Mall, Black Friday here we come.

Tomorrow morning we meet my future son-in-law, Scott, and my daughter, Lindsey early in the morning. Scott will be driving us to the 41st annual Dallas Turkey Trot....they are supposed to be the Granddaddy of all Trots, the first numero uno. My daughter is not running and will be going to her Mom's to "do some baking", omg...."Susie Homemaker" look out. The Turkey Trot is a biggie race (I had to confirm this number), they are expecting over 30,000 to run....it's only an 8 mile run!!!!

We got a call from my daughter last night asking if we wanted to go to the Dallas Cowboy football game tomorrow afternoon....I think they play the Seattle Seahawks and somehow they have some very good seats and free parking, so we said sure. Neither of us have ever been to a Dallas game so a virgin experience for both of us.

After the game we head to Scott's parents home for Thanksgiving Day feast.

Then the all-mighty Black Friday...Dallas style, should be a blast, remember I do like to shop.

May your Thanksgiving be a special time for you and yours, give thanks for what you have and remember those less fortunate, and never forget our brave men and women serving our great country abroad so that we can enjoy the freedom that we have today. Love you all.

Saturday Long Run

It was like 25 freakin' degrees yesterday morning in Oklahoma, it felt like it might have well been -25 degrees. I ran almost 16 miles, 15.7 to be exact, well ok I walked a good part of the last 2 miles, but there is a story that goes with that, so get comfy, pour some hot chocolate, throw another log on the fire, where is the hot water bottle.

I layered for this run, five yes 5 layers up top, and 3 layers on the bottom, plus a new cap and face mask looking thingy. See I knew it was going to be cold and that the wind might be blowing, after all it is Oklahoma. The mask worked good and the cap was great. Everything actually worked well.

I did the first 12 miles in 3:28 and change. I met Bonnie at that point. Yes I was tired, no I wasn't cold, I was heated but from my hips down to my knees I was sore. She had the driver's side of our vehicle open, so I leaned in on the seat for no more than 30 or 40 seconds and I've never ever been chilled so fast. I had been sweating I guess and when I stopped running and was still in the wind it cut right to the bone. We started out with the intent of doing another 6 miles or so, but......I quickly discovered I couldn't get warmed back up again. We ran, we walked, we ran, we walked, we walked. I swung my arms but to little or no avail.

We ended up doing just over 3.5 miles I think and I needed to call it quits, I was worn to a frazzle, in fact the frazzle was becoming frayed.

Bonnie did let me know that according to her Garmin it was the slowed 5k she had ever run, but she was there to support me, but she had never run so slow in her life or her short running career. Now!!!!! since this is my blog I get to tell the "rest of the story" that she wouldn't tell any others that she spoke to yesterday, she just left it at how slow "that" 5k was. It took me about a half mile to formulate this coherent thought process but I finally was able to correlate a come-back and I informed her that while that 5k may have been the slowest ever, I had just completed something like 5 consecutive 5k's in the cold and wind, thank you very much. But I still got no sympathy.

I ran slower than last Sunday when I did 10 miles in 2:09....I think my 10 miles yesterday was 2:11, but I was figuring I was going to be running close to 20 so take it easy.

I ended up with a blood blister looking monster on my left little toe. As far as I can remember that is a first. I'm not sure what caused it, my socks weren't wrinkled, the shoe felt ok, it just was there. I didn't even feel it until later in the day....go figure.

We are going down to Dallas on Wednesday to run their 8 mile Turkey Trot on Thursday morning. They lay claim to instituting the very first Turkey Trot run, like 40 some odd years ago. I ask...Why 8 miles? The flipping bird will have nothing left on his thighs after that distance and the poor breasts will no longer be suculent, oh what poor bird we will have at the end of the day! We are running with my daughter's fiance, or I should say we will be somewhere behind him as he is a speedster. He anchored the marathon relay that Bonnie ran on in OKC back in April and his part was the finishing 10k, which he did in 56 minutes and change....and....he did that will little or no training.

Dreams of a Runner - Getting Lost In Oneself

Does anyone ever have dreams, night-dreams....or day dreams of being a world class marathoner? Do you ever picture yourself running at the front of the pack, leading a race, setting the pace, instead of in the middle or at the back of the pack? There are times I can close my eyes and that vision is so real I almost break out in a sweat. I have no idea where it comes from, maybe some of the competitive genes that are a holdover from high school...oh those would have to be ancient by now.

I can get lost when I run too...not literally, but at times I can see myself running with what Bonnie calls my Ethiopian or Kenyan buddies, out away from everyone else. I don't know if when that happens during a run if I'm hitting a runner's high or not, but I'm usually feeling at the top of my game at that point, the pain has been erased, the slowness of my pace is of no concern, I'm just running, running out there with guys I can't understand but know through their efforts that I'm in a different class.

Is this too weird, if we had a running shrink maybe I would take a water break and have a quick discussion about my childhood or something. I can never predict when it will happen it just does. Sometimes it is on training runs, other times it has happened while in the middle of a marathon....so very strange.

Whining Wonderful Wednesday

If at first you must whine about the wind, then run fast to overcompensate for the cold it creates, a wise man must have once at least thought that. Today the wind was somewhat cold, even if it was out of the southwest, it was blowing 18-20 mph and the temps were in the 40's. When I stepped out of my vehicle for our Wednesday run I felt as if I had left some running clothes at home...wimpy me...I know I know.

Well off we went...after a bit I didn't notice the wind until well into mile 2, almost to mile 3 when I turned into it for the last time. First it was the wind, then my Garmin started to act up, the light stopped coming on and under a street light I realized the message it was sending me was "Low Battery"....did that make me run faster this morning or was it the wind and my attempt at finding warmth? Who knows. I did discover that the Garmin has some extra juice left in it...it just stops the light from coming on when my minute "laps" would go by in its own attempt at saving itself. I did get my 4.5 miles in without it cratering totally.

So today's results, 4.5 miles 52:25 for a pace of 11:39......a new training PR since I've started runnig specifically to this distance on Mon/Wed...it only took me a month and half to improve....my old PR had been 52:29....but 4 seconds is 4 seconds and I'll take it. I can remember on Monday thinking.....did I really run this same route that fast...or was it someone else. I guess the stars were in alignment or something, I felt good, never really felt like I was overly exhausted or anything....just tired at the end.

Bottom line....for a training run I'll take the time.

Route 66 Saddened

Last Sunday was the running of the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa. A friend of ours that ran the half reported that they saw the 21 year old that died while running the half and was being worked on by paramedics. He apparently went down while attempting to finish the hills of the course, the last couple of miles of both the half and full courses. It's not known yet the cause of death, but one thing is for sure, it can strike us at any time. Being prepared is soooo important and can't be stressed enough to run these distances.

Fluids and fuel should never be neglected as that can get one into trouble the quickest. If you wait too long it can also be too late. Take fluids at the right times and don't overlook the fuel that the body is calling for during the run. The replacements that the right fuel offers to the body is important in the replacement of what the body is burning as we run and what we sweat out, so fuel wisely and do it at the right frequency.

Our prayers go out to the young runner's family at this time.