I am writing this as I watch the movie "Elf". This is one hilarious movie and has taken over as my favorite Christmas movie. Just moved ahead of "A Christmas Story" with Ralphie another classic. So forgive me if I stray off course during this as I am looking over the monitor and watching. Buddy is about the meet Jovie for the first time.

I hope all of your Thanksgivings were good. I, for one, ate too much once again. I read that the best way to handle all the extra food you may have eaten is to go on a long slow run the next day. Did I do this on Friday? Nope, I slept in some and worked around the house. I was not one of those who was up at 4AM getting the best bargains around though I do know some people who have. Not much thrilled me in the ads. Instead it was Christmas Light Decoration day. I was on the roof and up 24 foot ladders putting up the lights. I didn't fall off the roof or the ladder so that was a plus. The ladder did fall over once though and put a nice gouge into the siding on my chimney. I wasn't happy about that especially when I went over to my neighbors house to tell him I bent his ladder I borrowed. We did fix it though. That made me happy as I thought for awhile I would have to buy him a new $250 ladder. I put up some more lights today but I can always put up more as I love Christmas lights. I will see if I can get a good picture sometime and post it.

This morning I woke up early as I was planning on 18 at Pettit. The plan was to run at 2:23 per lap for all 65 laps without a break. All did not go exactly according to plan. For the first 10 miles, I was averaging around 2:27 per lap but none at 2:30 or higher. Pettit has a restroom to use every 0.27 miles which was good at mile 10. This messed up my plan to go all 18 without a break. I got back out there as dropped the laps to about 2:23/24 and went the last 8 miles without another break. All in all an OK run and no laps were 2:30 or higher but I did have 1 break. My miles were all between 8:40 and 9:00 so that wasn't too far off goal. My arm was a bit sore during the run and not muscle soreness. That stayed most of the day but did go away a couple house ago so that is good. A nice good Papa Murphy pizza did the trick tonight.

Time to watch more Elf. Don't be a Cotton Headed Niggy Muggins!

Jef fuh fuh Dun Ham

Happy Wednesday to you. Yesterday I did another quick 5 mile run on the hilly route I do often in the winter near where I work. Went pretty well for a somewhat easy run. Averaged 8:35 pace.



I got home and after the princesses went to bed, I popped in the new Jeff Dunham DVD. Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special. Jeff Dunham is a Ventriloquist Comedian and has about 5 characters he brings out. From Walter the old grumpy guy to Achmed the Dead Terrorist, to Bubba J the beer drinking Nascar watching Redneck, to Peanut a green haired purple monkey, to Jose Jalapeno on a Steeeek. The show was really funny and was recorded here in Milwaukee in July. JULY I SAID! I had 2 different friends that went to this show back in July so they have an entirely different perspective on the show. You can tell it is summer by what the audience is wearing. They were told to wear Christmas stuff as they knew is was being filmed for the Christmas Special but you can see plenty of people in shorts, something you don't see too often around Christmas in Milwaukee. Jeff Dunham throws out a lot of Politically Incorrect jokes but that made the show very funny. I recommend this to watch for a good laugh. I checked Comedy Central and it is playing again on 11/27 (Tomorrow) at 8PM and Friday 11/28 at 5PM. Not sure which time zone this is for, most likely eastern.



Thanksgiving weekend is upon us starting tomorrow. I wish everyone in Blog land a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving. I most likely will not be running today or tomorrow but the days off will be nice. Hopefully a couple of longer runs on Friday and Saturday can happen. I can train hard up to just after Christmas then I will start my taper for the Icebreaker Indoor Marathon. Not yet sure of my goal for that on yet. It is hovering between 3:45 and 4:00 right now. The race is on January 17th so plenty of training still to come.

Paul has challenged me to a very insane challenge in Texas for February. I will let you know more about this later.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Snow?

Today I woke up and looked out the window to see a fresh white blanket of snow had covered the neighborhood. While it looked very pretty, it did mean I had to get out the shovel quickly and clean the driveway before I left for work. Not a lot of snow but it was the heavy kind. I got a call during the day and was informed that when my 4 y/o princess woke up and looked outside, she said "Look, it is Christmas outside" How cute!

I did go on a run today despite the snow outside. Snow usually won't stop me from running outside. I try to keep the runs to 7 miles or less when snow is out as ice is harder to see, but I was only going 5 today. Living in Wisconsin, you get used to these things. I am sure people give me odd looks when I am out there. It was 33F today when I ran so, to me, that meant shorts. My legs don't get cold when running unless it is in the 20's or less. I have even run when it was snowing in shorts and I can only imagine what people say in their cars when the see that. Today was shorts, 2 short sleeve T-shirts, 1 long sleeve T-shirt, and a pair of short socks over my hands and I worked up a good sweat. I use these socks as keeping my fingers together keep them warmer that if I wore gloves.

I ran a route that has lots of hills and I like that to build up my ability to race on hills. No one joined me today so I was out there alone. No worries though. Running alone at times is nice. I get a lot of good thinking done during that time. I wrote the toast to my best friends wedding I was the best man at during a run.

Have a good day. Turkey Day is 3 days away!

Random Thoughts

Today I have been chugging down Chocolate Milk like mad. i bought a gallon on the way home from my 15 miles yesterday and can't stop drinking it. It tastes so good! It is also a great recovery drink, though I am too late for that plus, again, I am drinking too much. Studies suggest that chocolate milk is as good as Endurox for recovery after a hard workout and much better than Gatorade due to the mix of proteins and sugars. I just know it tastes awesome. Too bad they don't have a lactose intolerant version for those who need that.


My legs are a bit tired today from last nights run but I feel good everywhere else.



Today, my Alma Mater UW-Oshkosh was running in the Division III National Cross Country Championships. It has been 16 years since I have run for the team but I still watch and support them. Turns out the finished in 9th place as a team, close to where my coach thought they wood. Way to go guys! Also, Willy Kaul from the team, finished 2nd overall. The 2nd time someone from UW-O finished in 2nd and the 11th time someone finished in the top 10 with 36 All Americans. Not too shabby!

Life with the princesses can be quite interesting. One minute my 6 y/o likes the Disney Princesses, the next she doesn't. Peer pressure from her friends at school. Peer pressure at age 6!!! Their teenage years will be way too much for me to handle. I already know more about Disney Princesses, Hannah Montana, and High School Musical than any grown man should.

Thanksgiving is not even here but I have to think Christmas as the entire extended family will be here on Christmas Day since this is our first year in the new house. Therefore I assemble the new Christmas Tree today since I had time. The ornaments are not up but I had to see how it would look. I bought it last year a few days after Christmas from Lowe's on discount. Regularly price at $250, I got it for $25. 90% off is not too bad. Looks pretty good too.

Went to the Chiropractor today and had an adjustment. He gave me the OK to run tonight so I left from there to go to Pettit. I called Paul as he was going to meet me there sometime.

The plan was to run 15 miles (54 laps) and then take the weekend off. I started out right at 8:30 pace and it felt good. Again I was going to try to run the entire 15 miles without any 30 second walk breaks. Some speedskaters were finishing their workout on the ice and even some running a little on the track. I ended up talking to one of them that I caught up to. I think it was Shani Davis (not sure though), the speedskater that won multiple Olympic medals at the last Winter Olympics. Seemed like a nice guy the whole 1 minute I talked to him as we ran.

After 2 minutes of running, Paul showed up. He joined me the rest of the way. With 14 laps to go, my legs were getting pretty tired. but I broke the rest out into 2 different 7 lap milestones. & laps until the Half Marathon Point and 7 more until 15 miles. I used this as a good opportunity to try to keep up the pace even with being tired. I didn't slow and kept the pace and went through the half marathon close to 1:52. Paul and I finished the last 7 laps with a little pick up the last 2 laps and then left for home. It wasn't a great run nor was it a bad run for me. I am still working on the long run without breaks and this is the exact pace I am thinking of attempting at the Icebreaker in January.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend, i know I will with no running and lots of rest.

Have I ever . . .

Here is a little fun thing I found at http://rachelandgrantharvey.blogspot.com/ (History of the Harvey's) blog. They borrowed it from someone so I hope they don't mind me borrowing it from them. Let me know Rachel and Grant if you do!!! Thanks!

Bold the ones you’ve done...
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights - Not north enough to see colors though.
15. Gone to a huge sports game - Went to a lot of the Atlanta Olympics
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper - 3 Princesses at home, All the time.
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope - U of Wisconsin's Telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight - I live in Wisconsin after all
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster - I love coasters!
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states - I think I am up to 33 or so.
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
42. Had amazing friends
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing - I suppose a rock wall does not count
49. Taken a midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero - All little boys do this
58. Sung karaoke - Badly though
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain - I love to run in the rain!
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest - No, but did win a Christmas Light Contest once.
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on a television news program as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house - On #2 now
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children - Well, still raising the Princesses
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking with the windows open
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart - sucks to do this
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon - No but did see Sunrise at the South Rim - AWESOME!!!
122. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. States
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi - Did not like too much though
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - Does a fish count?
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head - no but have thought about it.
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life - Maybe, not sure

Christmas Lights Already?

It was quite cold this morning. I woke up at 5 AM to go on a 5 mile run before work. The local high school track is only 1/4 mile away so I ran over there and hopped the fence to do some laps where I don't have to worry about traffic. The wind was going good so the wind chill was low. I started well but after 1.2 miles I started not doing well. My back was a bit sore still so I decided to cut the run to 3.5 miles and run later in the day.

After work I went to my chiropractic appointment and got 'cracked' which felt good. But the Doc said no running to let the adjustment settle in. No running until Friday. Puts quite a damper on the training but a good run on Friday will remedy that.

As I drove home, I saw a lot of houses with Christmas Lights up and lit up. My rule of Thumb is that they can be up but not lit until December. But if it makes you happy to have them on, then more power to them. Me personally, I LOVE Christmas lights. I love decorating the house to best I can and then throughout December, we, as a family, drive around looking at all the nice houses decorated, and the not so nice ones as well. He jokingly give out awards every year. We only do it for fun and not actually tell the people about them but it is fun. We give out 4 awards each year:
1. First Place Award - This goes to the house that is decorated the best overall. A real nice display not over done.
2. The "Why Bother?" Award - This is to the guy who decorates so little that we say :Why did they bother ever decorating"? This could be a house that has many windows but only 1 window has lights and lots a trees but only 1 with lights. You get the point.
3. The 'Clark W. Griswold' Award - Named after Chevy Chases character in Christmas Vacation who puts lights on every open part of his house. There is even a house in the area here that does this to an unbelievable level. I think his electricity meter is smoking it is moving so fast. We have given this person the Lifetime Achievement award already.
And the final award is
4. The Craptacular Award - This goes to the display that is so horrible and with no thought that all you can say is that it is craptacular. Could be icicle lights with half out or lights strung up with no rhyme or reason.

Maybe this year I will try to take some pictures and post them for you all. Maybe you will get a kick out of it.

Looking forward to Friday's run!

No Running :(

I did not get out for a run yesterday. I took one of the princesses with me to the chiropractor and let him twist me into a pretzel. I don't know if you have ever gone to a "Crackopractor" or not, but to me it is a bitter sweet experience. First I am put on electrodes to tire out my back muscles so the 'adjustment' goes better. Then I go into a room with a table to be "Cracked". The crack he dose in the middle of my back feels OK, not problems there. He also cracks my neck which feels very weird as it sort of seems like he is going to pop it right off my head. Then on the my lower back where I have been having my trouble. I lay on my back and he puts my knee over the other leg, he then puts my arms in some sort of a crossed formation. then while holding my knee in place, he exerts lots of quick pressure in the opposite direction with my back and hips which makes a firecracker sound with my back. It hurts quite a bit for a few seconds but the relief in pressure afterwards is wonderful.

The drive home was challenging as the road suddenly froze over wit black ice which is ice you cannot see and can make you into a wreck before you know it. I drove 15 MPH for 4 miles before the roads got any better.

I go again tomorrow!

No running today as well. I was suppose to run with Mike after work but a meeting went late and I had to pick up a different princess from school (We call Day Care School). My plan is to wake up before work and put in 5 miles before I leave. Then after the Chiropractic Appointment, another run, possibly a Tempo run at Pettit since I will be close by. I cannot run on Thursdays as my wife plays bells in the Church Bell Choir and has rehearsals on Thursdays.

Sunday Afternoon

It has not been a good day for me so far today. Not horrible, but not good. Right now 2 of my "Princesses" are not being to royal by not napping good. They become little monsters with lack of sleep like most toddlers. Second, I pulled some muscles in my back again. I did this a few weeks back and they are sore again. Time to make that appointment for the Chiropractor again.

I just got done watching my Packers beat the Chicago Chipmunks yet again. So that is good news.

Anyways, to get to know me better, I thought I would list out all the marathons I have completed so far in my life, 13 and counting:

1. 1993 Fox Cities Marathon in Appleton, WI. This is still my PR of 3:40 and I did this right after college but did not train properly at all. I totally missed my opportunity at Boston here with the shape I was in after college.
2. 2004 Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee, WI Bonked at the end, did not taper properly.
3. 2006 Disney Marathon, Orlando, FL
4. 2006 Chicago Marathon, Chicago, IL Windy, Rainy but broke 4 hours
5. 2007 Disney Goofy Challenge, Orlando, FL Half Marathon on Saturday, Full Marathon on Sunday.
6. 2007 Trailbreaker Marathon, Waukesha, WI Ran this as a training run with Paul. Very hard run with trails and 600 ft elevation gain to half and then return to start. Best part was at the halfway point, we had to climb an observation tower and climb down to return. Worst part, No Medal, No Certificate, only 7 water stops.
7. 2007 Chicago Marathon, Chicago, IL This was the hot one! 93 and humid. By half way, no one cared about times anymore, just merely finishing was the goal.
8. 2007 Grand Rapids Marathon, Grand Rapids, MI I loved this one. PR since the first marathon 14 years ago. 3:43 I recommend this one to everyone.
9. 2008 St. Louis Marathon, St. Louis, MO I was running a fever when I ran this one so after half way, all I wanted to do was finish and that is all I did. great road trip with Mike, Chaz and Paul though.
10. 2008 Madison Marathon, Madison, WI I thought I was in better shape than I was and went out too hard and suffered to the end.
11. 2008 Fox Cities Marathon, Appleton, WI Again not good, but oh well!
12. 2008 Twin Cities Marathon, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN Pouring rain and wind from mile 3 to mile 16 but oddly fun. Beautiful course, probably more so with the sun out. Ran great through 21, then all fell apart.
13. 2008 Rails to Trails Marathon, Norwalk, WI This is on an old railroad bed and runs twice through a 3/4 mile tunnel which was pretty cool. 500 foot elevation gain from 13 to 21 did me in. Worst organized marathon I have ever done though. This was their first year in their defence.

More later!!!

Post #2, I am on a roll . . .

Time for blog post number 2. I am at work right now catching up on what I was unable to complete this week. Need to be prepared for Monday morning. Our "Muzak" station is on a 50's music station and it is God Awful to listen to. I recognize about 1 in 7 songs. Maybe this will be a short post so I can get out of here and go home to the princesses who are napping right now.

This morning was the 15 miler inside The Pettit National Ice Center. It was rainy and mid 30's this morning and I wanted to stay dry today for the whole 15. My goal was to try something new today. usually when I run 10 or more miles, I take short 30 second walk breaks every 2 to 3 miles to give the legs a short rest, this time no breaks was the goal. Mike is trying o help me improve my late race endurance and the last 5 marathons I have petered out after 20 and my mile splits creep up and I lose out on my Sub 4 goals. Goal today: No Walk Breaks!

I was meeting Paul this morning and he showed up a little after me. I was just competing lap #1 (of 54) when he joined me. We started out at about 8:35 pace and that seemed pretty good. After a few laps, Paul decided to catch up his lost lap to me and go ahead and "catch up" to me. After quite a few laps he came up behind me and we were even on distance. After 5 miles, we dropped the pace to about 8:10 and kept going. Paul told me he had to leave soon but I convinced him to run at least 13.1 miles. I passes the half marathon at 1:48 and Paul left to go home. 7 Laps to go on my own. My legs were a bit tired from no breaks but I convinced myself to pick up the pace anyways.

By this time, there were speed skating time trials going on the oval. Helps break up the monotony to see these people skating a breakneck speeds. I finished the last 7 laps in a good pace and even dropped the last mile to about 7:15 which made me happy. this is the place I am running my next marathon so it is good to get the feel for the course. Hmmm, I guess I sort of ran the course 54 times today.

It will be an unusual marathon for sure at Pettit. About 94 or so laps and about 1/4 inch of hard plastic rubber right on top on cement. No so good for the legs but proceeds from this marathon are going to make a new running track in its place. Hopefully one more forgiving on the legs. I was checking their race website http://indoormarathon.blogspot.com/ and the course map is quite humorous. Here it is: O The race director has a sense of humor!!! The hard surface is the bad, but the good will be no rain, no snow, no sun, no wind, Temp. 50-55 degrees and an elevation change from the highest level to the lowest lever of 0 feet. This will be the flattest marathon in the history of the world.

My 1st Ever Blog

Hello to all! This is my first ever blog if you can believe it or not. Why did I decide to Blog? I am not sure. A runner co-worker of mine did a blog a few years back and still does but does not update as much as he used to and I liked reading that and seeing all of those who responded to him all over the world. Seems exciting! Then a week or so ago while just surfing around, I came upon a blog that goes by the name of "Life is a Marathon..." by a runner named Melanie from Tennessee. I do not know Melanie at all but after reading some of her blogs about running and about life, she seemed like a cool girl and had similar interests as me. Maybe someday she will see this blog and wonder what kind of weird guy from Wisconsin sees my blog and starts his own? All that made me decide to try out blogging and specifically a runner blog.

I am will have to try over the next few weeks to learn how to modify this page to show all the other cool stuff I see in other blogs like mileage reports and other stats. Time will tell if I can actually learn that stuff.

Well, if you want to know about me, here goes: I am 37 years old and live in Muskego, WI. I have a wife who sometimes runs half marathons (and did 1 full, NYC at that) and 3 little Princesses named Melissa, Megan, and Katelynn. they are currently 6, 4, and 3 respectively. They see Daddy running a lot or wake up on a Saturday morning a wonder where did Daddy go?!?!? Then later that morning, Daddy come through the door and they come running for a big hug. A sweaty hug that I try to decrease how wet they get, but a hug none the less. My wife on the other hand wants nothing to do with me when I first get home from a run. After a nice shower and that is a different story.

I have been running since about 5th grade. I still have my 2 awards I won in the 6th Grade Olympics my school ran many years ago. 1st in Cross Country and 2nd in the 600 Yard Run. I ran in High School and was pretty good but not great. I did win a conference title in the 800M as a Senior and the Region Title that year as well but missed out on the State Meet. I was pretty bummed about that!

I then ran on my college Track and Cross Country teams. The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. I was an average D3 runner in Track by the time I was a senior. I competitively for the Cross Country team and we had a great team. We even won the National D3 title Championships 2 of the years I was there. No thanks to me as I was the slowest runner on the team. I think I was #26 on the team. I was so excited my second year when I finally beat someone from my own team in a cross country race. But in truth, I ran cross country to help train for track as I ran the half mile there. I had a great time in college on the team and my coach was a great guy and he still coaches there. His name is John Zupanc and I would recommend any kid wanting to run in college to check his program out. Year in and year out they are one of the best D3 teams in the country. He is the guy who inspired me to run my first marathon a half a year out of college. He was and still is a great Marathoner. He won the Milwaukee Marathon at least once and took 2nd a few times as well. i think his PR is about 2:20 or close to that. I am way off that time.

My first marathon was in was the 1993 Fox Cities Marathon in Appleton, WI. I was fresh out of college and is great half mile shape. Too bad you need to be in marathon shape to run a marathon. While it is still my PR marathon (3:40), I suffered bad after mile 18 when I strained some leg muscles who have never run further than 14 miles at a time before that. I lived and learned by not running another marathon for 11 years.

I have just completed my 13th marathon about 2 weeks ago and my 5th this year. It has been a down year for my marathons as I haven't been but 23 minutes off my best time from 2007. Oh well, I still train and am training for my next which is scheduled for January 17th in Milwaukee. WHAT! JANUARY IN MILWAUKEE?!?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!?! Well yes I am crazy, but not because of this race. It is the Icebreaker Marathon held INSIDE the Pettit National Ice Center on a 450M track. This is the place where lots of the US Olympic speedskaters train and race like Bonnie Blair, Dan Jansen, and Chris Witty. They have a 2 lace running track on the outside of the ice oval. Great for long runs during the winter to avoid icy street and crazy drivers in the dark. Th race will be 94 or so laps. I run there often for long runs during the winter so I am used to the monotony of the laps. My goal (as with all marathons) is Sub 4:00.

I do train with a group of friends that we all like to do marathons and we travel to them together as well.

There is Art (The guy who also has a blog), he has run 7 marathons so far.

There is Mike, another coworker of mine. He has run 28 marathons and this year PR'ed with his first Sub 3 Hour Marathon.

Paul is also a coworker of mine. He is a nut a likes to run marathons a lot and do all this crazy stuff like climb mountains and do IronMan competitions. He has run close to 20 so far. Including 9 last year and maybe 9 this year wile climbing part of the way up Mt. Everest.

Chaz is a friend of mine I met playing Volleyball. He ran his first marathon when I ran my 2nd in 2004. Is consistently runs Sub 3's now and is up to 14 or so marathons and Ultras.

Larry is also a coworker of mine who tags along sometimes but is more a Triathlete than a marathoner though he has goals of Boston like Paul and myself so. He does those crazy IronMans as well.

There are others that run with us occasionally and we have actually created a small running boom where I work with people doing fulls and half marathons. I think in the past 3 years, we have had 9 people where I work run a full marathon and we only have a little over 200 people work in the building. I have many running friends including Cherylynn (Chaz's wife), Laura, Angelo, Pat, and Ken & Wendy (from Church). We all share our experiences running a love to talk about running as well as all sorts of other stuff. I hope you enjoy this bog and please reply and let me know what you think. I hope to perfect this blog thing soon.

15 Miles tomorrow morning at Pettit! 54 laps! Will share more soon!