June 29th, 2009
by Dave
in
Undy 5000 |
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This past Saturday was a new race this year to Denver called the Undy 5000 5K to help fund colon rectal cancer research. The hook is that you get a pair of boxer shorts instead of a tee shirt, and there were probably 25% of the people “dressed up” in some form of underwear attire. Most were pretty tasteful, and at least the ones that were a bit risque, they had the bodies to pull it off.
I was hoping to do around an 8:00 mile pace for this run, and I ended up doing a 8:16 pace. I didn’t really prepare myself properly for this race, and it didn’t even start until 9:00 am which by then was already 75 degrees. Usually for a short race like this, I warm up with an easy 1 mile jog, and then I do some strides to get the heart rate going. But it was already getting hot so I decided not to do anything, which wasn’t too smart.
The first mile I started out and did a mile in 7:37 which really killed me right there. Between the first and second mile, I wore out and did it in 8:34. I even stopped at the water station and walked a bit. The third mile I did in 8:22, and the last tenth of a mile I smoked it at a 7:15 pace! Wahoo.
June 14th, 2009
by Dave
in
Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, Left Hand Brewery |
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Another half marathon is run and done and today was a great indication of how much training means to a successful run. I haven’t run very much in the last three weeks and when I did run, I didn’t push myself. Today was the Rocky Mountain 1/2 Marathon, and I knew going into it that I wasn’t fully prepared.
One thing about this run that I didn’t like, is that they don’t start until 7:30am. I know that I would have done much better if it had started at 6:30, or even 7:00 because it really got hot the last half hour or so of the run. I ended up taking a few walking breaks in the last 4 miles, so that alone probably cost me 3 or 4 minutes.
My final time was 2:02:54, which is the slowest half marathon that I’ve ever done. But that’s okay. I was hoping for around 2 hours, so I didn’t miss it by too much. I ended up with the following stats;
I finished 616th out of 1497 runners and 352 out of 585 males.
The good news is my knee felt good and they had some great beer at the end from Left Hand Brewing Company. None of that Michelob Ultra Light crap that are at some of the runs.
June 7th, 2009
by Dave
in
Miles, Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, Undy 5000, Red Wings, Tigers, beer, training, Running |
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Next week is the Rocky Mountain 1/2 Marathon in Denver, and my goal for this one is to just break 2 hours. I haven’t been running a whole lot since my last 1/2 marathon, which was only 3 weeks ago, and I can sure tell. But that’s okay. This was never a target run or anything like that, just something to keep the adrenaline going.
The Detroit Red Wings are playing well at home, and lousy on the road. They are up 3 games to 2, and game six is in Pittsburgh. As much as I would like to see them win at home, they need to get it over with now.
We finally got cable the other day. Now my question is, “do I now have DVR, and can I get rid of my VCR”? My dog Miles chewed the cord on my VCR anyway, so it’s not like I’ll miss it.
How do so many people think that what President Obama is doing is so great? His massive, massive spending is going to ruin this county. Soon we will all have to send the government over half of our paycheck. Shit, I already send my ex-wife almost half my paycheck. He wants government run health care? The government can’t even run the post office or Amtrack effectively.
Not to be outdone, but the Detroit Tigers are in first place. I haven’t been following them yet (it is still hockey season), so I don’t know if they are a good team, or just that there are so many bad teams.
Why is it that I cringe at the beer store when my favorite beer is about $8.00 for a six pack, but when I go out to the bar, I’ll not even think about paying $4.50 for one pint?
Did I ever mention that Tom Brady of The New England Patriots is great? I think that if I were gay, he’d be the one.
There is a 5K that I’m going to sign up for and it’s coming up soon. It’s called the Undy 5000, and instead of getting tee shirts, you get boxer shorts. This run is really going to be “brief”.
May 26th, 2009
by Dave
in
Bolder Boulder, Jason |
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Another Bolder Boulder has come and gone and every year this race amazes me. I don’t know the final count, but there is somewhere around 55,000 running this race. I believe that is the 2nd largest 10K in the country next to the The Peachtree in Atlanta, Georgia. It is just mind boggling that this race seems to go off without a hitch. I’m sure that there are issues and problems, but they must be behind the scenes.
My son Jason and his girlfriend Megan came in to run the race, and this was Jason’s second time doing it. As I mentioned before, he ran it in 2007, and the difference between then and now is awesome. Jason has really improved (not that he was bad in the first place) and it’s great to see him get better every time I see him. Megan had never run a 10K and she did great! I struggled a bit, and I’m guessing that it was because I ran 10 miles 2 days earlier, and another 2 miles the day before. I never said that I was too smart.
May 19th, 2009
by Dave
in
Bolder Boulder, Jason |
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One of the largest 10K’s in the country is this Monday in Boulder, Colorado. There will be around 55,000 runners that will take to the streets in Boulder to do The Bolder Boulder that finishes up at Colorado University stadium.
The cool thing is that my son Jason will be coming back to try and improve on his time from 2007, which I’m sure he won’t reveal, but I will. It was 56:26. I’m not sure if he will though, because as in his words, he is “fat and happy” now. I guess that means he hasn’t been training much. He will be coming in to run the race with his girlfriend, Megan, who has never run a 10K before. She may never run one again after this one!
I have no idea how I’ll do. Right now my knee is hurting from my half marathon on Sunday, and one thing I didn’t mention before was I got a blister on the bottom of my foot. The blister should heal up soon, but not sure about the knee. But the main thing will be to run with my son and have fun, and I just hope one of these days we can run a marathon together.
May 17th, 2009
by Dave
in
Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, Colfax Marathon |
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The Colfax Marathon is officially over for 2009. I actually thought this years was better that last year, but that could be because last year I ran the full, and this year I ran the half.
It was a picture perfect day for the most part. I think it was a bit warm for my tastes, and I would have melted if I ran the full. The race started at City Park in Denver which to the start line from my house, is 3 miles. I thought that would be a great warm up to jog down to the park in the morning before the race, and although I think it was a good idea in normal times, it wasn’t this time. My longest run sine January was only 14 miles, so here I am running 3 miles for a warm up before I run 13. Oye. I think I overdid it a bit. At right about mile 10, I started wearing out. I was dragging and the one thing that saved me was Diane and Miles (my dog) were waiting for me at about 11 1/2 miles. That rejuvinated me a little bit and made the last mile and a half a little more bearable.
Although I didn’t hit my goal (1:50), I was allright with my finish time, which was 1:56:17. It was exactly 1 second faster than my last half marathon. Out of the 2294 runners, I came in 563rd place. Out of 846 males. I came in at 341, and then in my age group, there were 104 runners, and I came in 24th.
Next uo, The Rocky Mountain Half Marathon next month.
May 9th, 2009
by Dave
in
knee, marathon, Jason |
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I got my final “long” run in today. It was an easy 8 miler in Parker, CO and right now, knock on wood, my knee feels good. Not great by any means, but good. I hope that nxt weekends weather will be like today’s was. It was a very comfortable 50 degrees. It was sunny also, and I would rather run when it’s cloudy out, but the sun didn’t bother me at all. I’m getting excited but I know that with my training that I missed, it won’t be my best time. I would think that a 1:50:00 is doable and I would be pleased with that.
One think that I’m not sure about is if I want to shoot for a marathon this fall or not. I guess we’ll see how the knee goes and if all goes well, then I just might. I’d love to have my son Jason run one with me before I need a walker, but he’s got so many things going on in his life that it’s very hard to commit to all that training.
May 2nd, 2009
by Dave
in
Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, Colfax Marathon |
3 Comments →
I think maybe it’s because I’ve been hurt, and sick for most of April (I only did 60 miles all month), that I really haven’t been paying that much attention to when my race is. That and the fact that it’s “only” a half marathon. But I just happened to look at the calendar, and it’s 2 weeks away! Holy shinsplints Batman! Now what? I’m not nearly as prepared as I have been in the past, so do I go into this saying, “what the heck, just do your best and not worry about a time”? I think that might have to be the case. I really would have liked to do around a 1:45:00, but at this point, I’ll be ecstatic with a 1:50:00.
One nice thing about the Colfax half marathon, is that it’s a flat course. Unlike the marathon, which goes west and is hilly, the half goes east and has slight elevation change. The first 7 miles has about a 205 foot elevation gain, then you basically turn around and go back downhill.
I’m thinking though that since this one probably won’t turn out as well as I had originally wanted, I might have to sign up for another half. So I’m looking at the Rocky Mountain 1/2 Marathon June 14 which starts in downtown Denver.
April 28th, 2009
by Dave
in
knee, training, Colfax Marathon |
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I think I should just get a knew knee (yes, I purposely spelled it that way). I’m back doing some more shots because it was hurting again, and I was sick for a few days, so I lost about 2 weeks of training. I very rarely get sick, so that was a new experience, but the whole knee thing just caps it off. Get it, cap, like knee cap? Tonight was my speed workout and I was supposed to do 2 miles at a 7:08 pace, do another mile at a 8:30 pace, 2 more miles at the 7:08 pace, and then another mile at the 8:30 pace. But that didn’t happen. I did do a mile at at 7:30 pace, a recovery mile, and another mile at the 7:30 pace, a recovery mile, and then one more mile at about a 7:45 pace. I really struggled with the whole thing, and it’s affecting my mental state of mind. Well not really because my mind isn’t even in this state. I can’t remember where I left it. So anyway, the Colfax Marathon is less than 3 weeks away, and I hope to be able to get back somewhat to where I should be. We’ll see what happens, and if it seems like I’m still struggling, then that’s okay. I really like my training and the fact that I targeted a half marathon instead of a full. I would be upset if I was training for a full, and this all happened, but the fact that it happened during my training for the half, it just doesn’t seem as bad.
April 17th, 2009
by Dave
in
knee |
1 Comment →
Well, I haven’t run all week because I’ve been having issues again with my knee. I’ve been noticing sharp pains (like it would be hard to notice?) in my knee whenever I would run lately, so I’ve been taking it a bit easy, and went back to my orthopedic doctor. She recommended the set of shots again because they did work well the first time and lasted 7 months. It’s some kind of stuff (sorry to get all technical on you) that they shoot right into the knee, and I have to get 5 shots all together. But then I’m good to go. It has set me back a bit on my training for my next half marathon, but I think I’ll be back up to speed soon, so I’m not too worried. I was hoping to get out tomorrow and run 10 to 12 miles, but it’s snowing and they are predicting up to 20″!!! It’s freaking April 17th! By Monday, it is supposed to be 70. Crazy. Sunday shouldn’t be too bad either, so I may run Sunday instead of Saturday, and we’ll see how it goes.
I was diagnosed with MS about 4 years ago and I am one of the lucky ones. I don't have too many problems associated with it, and the disease has actually slowed down. I took up running 3 years ago just to see if I could do it. So far I've run 4 marathons in 2 years.