Pushing the Reset Button

These have been some really trying times... Chicago didn't end the way I wanted it to at all, although I should've seen it coming. I was a little more sick the week before than I was willing to admit, and it showed when I broke out in cold sweats between a quarter and a half mile into the race. While the result was disappointing, the lessons and experience more than made up for the disappointment. 

After Chicago, I maintained a certain level of fitness to be able to run the Dallas White Rock 1/2 Marathon with my girlfriend, Stephanie - being her first 1/2, I wasn't going to miss it for the world; I was willing to risk injury and anything else I had to in order to cross the finish line with her. Not to foreshadow too much, but that was in fact the end result, for both of us unfortunately. She has since recovered from a stress fracture in her foot, I am still awaiting answers on my hip. I had an MRI yesterday, I have my follow-up appointment Monday morning, my fingers are crossed, I'm praying for the best, because I would really appreciate being able to get back out there sooner than later!

In my down time, I have watched "Unbreakable" the documentary on the Western States Endurance Run, I have had discussions with David at PlayTri, and have come up with some pretty big future plans that I'm more than ready to get to work on! 

Big Sur International Marathon 2011

I'm ashamed to admit that I have been slacking off on this blog -- not that there is a large crowd demanding more content, but I keep this up for personal satisfaction as much as anything else.

Since it has been over a month since I completed the Big Sur International Marathon, the details of the memories (certainly not the memories themselves) have begun to fade a little so I thought it would be better fitting to give you the Runner's World Challenge race report that includes input from both my dad & myself so.... ENJOY!

A weekend full of running greatness:

Saturday, I went back to work the 47th Jesuit Sheaner Relays. With a brand new stadium, the new track was much needed and provided for a great venue. Some incredible performances while I was working curve judge; a kid from Mansfield Timberview ran the 2nd leg of their mile relay team, got the baton in last, ran (hand time claimed) :45.6 and put their team in 1st, quite impressive. Reliving the great memories of running hurdles at Jesuit for 4 years is always great.

But Sunday was the main event. My dad is the reason I started distance running to begin with after I had watched him run a few marathons, so for the Rock' n Roll Dallas 1/2 Marathon, I decided we were going to run the race together. We had agreed on shootin' for 1:45, running negative splits, and staying under 8:00/mile. Through 8 miles, we had hit all our times exactly and began to pick things up to start working on that negative split. The one complaint I do have about the race was when in Highland Park, the city wouldn't allow bands to play, and that's after all one of the highlights of the Rock 'n Roll series is to have bands playing at every mile. But anyway, the pace was getting ratcheted down quicker than I expected, as I was letting my dad dictate the pace... 7:40... 7:36... 7:25... at which point he decided over the course of mile 12 that mile 13 was going to be our fastest mile of the day. My watch went off when we hit the mile 12 sign, indicated we had run 7:15, I passed that message on to my dad, and the race was on... I stayed even with him but I wasn't pushing it, letting him dictate, but if I let off the gas even a little, he would start to pull ahead. At 50+ years old, my dad threw down a 6:40 final mile, finished in 1:39:30. We crossed the line together, hands held high (at the exact time might I add, even though they of course had me at 1:39:31). I had great expectations for this experience, but they were all far surpassed and once again gave me yet another reason to love running. The cherry on top was my mom, also running, ran a PR by over 8 minutes finished 2:09:27, I believe... all the while we had our own fan section of my brother & his girlfriend, my aunt, & my best friend. All in all, incredible day!

Eight weeks of training completed on my path to Big Sur on May 1st, it's pretty standard that you test your level of fitness with a 1/2 marathon. Sunday was slated to be that day. My parents drove down so my dad & I could run the Armadillo Dash 1/2 Marathon together. In regular terms, the weather was a little cold, but in running terms, it was perfect. Mid 40's at 7 a.m. when we stepped to the line ready to compete for 13.1 miles.
I did my usual, go out way too hard the first 1/2 mile, looked down at my watch to realize I was hitting 6:20/mile pace and tried to settle into my rhythm. My strategy was get to 10 miles, assess where I was at, and finish the race accordingly. When I get to about mile 8, the section of the course that had a few good hills, I was feeling really good, powered up the hills with ease, and just felt good so I decided to give it a go. I kept trying to settle in with people that seemed to be going about my pace, but every time I did that, they seemed to fall off, or I just was ready to push the pace a little more.
Going into the race, I had three goals: finish in under an hour and a half, finish top 10 overall, & finish top 3 in my age group. I was an incredibly happy person; I finished in 1:26:17, 9th overall, 2nd in my age group.

To a non-runner, running is running. To those who hold proud membership in the running community, you know (sometimes all to well) that there are many different types of runs. Speed work, fartlek, intervals, distance... the list goes on. But I'm not talking about type of workout. My run last night just reminded me of why I live by four words: "Don't think. JUST RUN!" It was about 9:00PM. Knicks vs. Heat game was into the second half. Oscars were on (although it turned out to be a good choice not to tune in). I had no motivation, wasn't in the best of moods, the list of reasons why I should just mail it in and head for bed early seemed longer than reasons I could force together in some order to lace up my shoes and hit the pavement. There is no logic to it, but those four words won again. Well, an hour had passed, 8 more miles were in the books, and it was all well worth it. It was windy, I took the hilliest route I could come up with in College Station, I finished with 8 x .25 mile hill repeats, and loved every second of it. Those workouts when your body doesn't feel up to the test, but your mind doesn't realize it, or doesn't care... is one of the million reasons I love running. Even when workouts were terrible, your cadence just wasn't in sync, whatever it might be; those days aren't about getting stronger or better at running, those are the workouts that propel the strengthening of the mental aspects of running - fight through the negative thoughts to just get it done. 
If you took the time to read this, thank you. But if you have no idea what I'm talking about, I strongly encourage you to give it a shot, take a chance, and hit the road.

For the first time in my life, I feel like a "Weekend Warrior." This makes two weekends in a row that I've hit the trails and enjoyed every second of it. This weekend was Lake Bryan; if you can read the numbers on the map, I covered 14-19 (I tried to notate it with a pink line, not sure how easy it is to tell). I don't claim to be an experienced trail runner, but when the trail is named "Texas Tornado" you know it could get interesting. It was a lot more winding than Huntsville State Park so it took a lot out of me initially, but I found a good rhythm about halfway through to make a strong finish. After I finished my 5 miles, Bailey (my now 3 year old boxer) was waiting patiently in the car and got to go for a cool down with me and found a new boxer friend, Annie, along the way. Great weekend, still totally love trail running.  

Trail running is something that I've gotten an itch to do since I read "Born to Run" over a year ago. Yesterday, I finally decided to act on it. I first adventured to Houston with my best friend, Stephanie & my dog, Bailey to REI and acquired a pair of Salomon XT Wings 2, then it was off to Huntsville State Park. I hit the Chinquapin Trail and completed the 7 mile loop in a little over an hour. I felt accomplished because I didn't fall, I came out pain-free, and I'm not sore today like I thought I would for sure be. Stephanie & Bailey went a hiking adventure of their own to get some quality exercise while I ran. Overall, awesome experience & I'm really looking forward to getting back on the trails in the near future. 
The video isn't the greatest, but I figured it would be fun to post it anyway.