The MS Runner

Running While Battling Foot Blisters, Leg Cramps, Black Toe Nails - and MS

Archive for the ‘Rocky Mountain Half Marathon’


A Great day for a Run

Published June 14th, 2009 in Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, Left Hand Brewery | No Comments »

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.

The predonderance of pondering

Published June 7th, 2009 in Miles, Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, Undy 5000, Red Wings, Tigers, beer, training, Running | 2 Comments »

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”.

Another half marathon in the books

Published May 17th, 2009 in Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, Colfax Marathon | 11 Comments »

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.

Only 2 Weeks Away

Published May 2nd, 2009 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.