A NEEDED Run

Today was an off day from running, at least so I thought. Once this afternoon came and all my girls were napping, I decided I needed a run. I didn't need a run for training and a day off would have felt really good, but I NEEDED a run. I had a ton on my mind and decided the best thing to do was to run. So I set out on a 5 miler that steadily increased in pace. It was nice out, maybe 30 and sunny, a touch of wind. I ran to a park that was close by that had a loop a little over 1 mile and then back home. By the time I was about a half mile from home, I was just tearing up the road. I do not know what my pace was as I left without my watch but I didn't care, that wasn't why I was out there.

It is amazing the therapy that running offers. I have gotten some of my best ideas and problems worked out while running. I even "wrote" the speech for my best friends wedding toast on a run. Unfortunately, I didn't solve anything today. I really wish I had.

Icy

The last time I ran a marathon (just under a week ago), I ran the entire race only 2 to 8 feet away from ice. The Icebreaker Marathon is run around the 400 meter Olympic Ice Oval that the long track speed skaters train on. All that separates the runners from the ice is a foam barrier there to protect the speed skaters when the biff it and slide into the wall. But that was ice I didn't run on.

This morning there was ice that I DID run on. I woke up and drove to East Troy where Mike lives to go on a 10 mile run with him. We didn't get the few inches of snow that they predicted, instead we got freezing rain. The main roads were all salted and fine but when I got into Mike's neighborhood, it was slippery and I almost slid right through a stop sign. Once out of the car, it was slightly difficult to get up to Mike's door. Once ready to go, we actually were not sure if we were going to continue. No need to slip and fall just to get a run in.

We got out of the neighborhood onto more used roads and the side area was still icy but the road was OK so we ended up running in the road, that is until cars came and we moved over to avoid getting killed. By a mile, we had already thought of cutting the run to only 4 miles but when that turn off came, Mike just went straight. Talk about confusing, I guess we were going longer.

We were not running fast as we didn't feel fast and the roads sort of prevented us from doing so. We go to where we needed to turn to run only 10 miles and again, Mike went straight. Guess we are doing more! We ended up only doing a "looper" as we call it and did 11.7 miles.

By mile 4, I had to stop for a bit which ended up helping a lot. First 4 miles were at 9:08 pace and the final 7.7 miles were at 8:35 pace and that was with the ice every once in awhile. I think we put in the effort of closer to the low 8's but that is all I could muster with feet slipping every once in awhile.

In the end, I think it went well, at least the last 7 miles. My legs felt a little tired from Icebreaker but for the most part, good. I still have nothing on the agenda but don't really think there will be for awhile. Just training and having fun. But.........Ice is NOT fun.

Back on the Road - Quickly

Yesterday was my first run after the Icebreaker. Yes, I only took 2 days off, Monday and Tuesday. I also ran today. Both days I ran a little over 5 miles over the hills loop near my work. The incredible thing is that I felt really good! Why is that?

I think it is very similar to training. If you run only one day, the next day may be hard to get going. If you run regularly and run 10 days in a row, the next day really isn't all that hard to run. I think I have trained my body to recover faster. I actually feel like I could run another marathon again this weekend, that is if I wanted to, I don't. But I may do 10 miles.

So I am back to running and feeling good. But I still have no definite plans on any races yet. Running Diva Mom suggests I run the Madison Half Marathon over Memorial Day Weekend. I have run the full, the 4 person relay and the 2 person relay but never the half there. Maybe, just maybe, this will be my year.

There is Something Missing

There is something missing in my life right now. Actually there are a lot of things missing in my life, hopefully not for long, but as far as running is concerned, there IS something missing. As of right now, I am NOT signed up for ANY races. Not a single one. Remember back [HERE] when I was signed up for 4 1/2 marathons at one time? Yes, back in September, I was signed up for 4 different marathons and on the waiting list for another one. Those being the Grand Rapids Marathon, The Haunted Hustle Marathon, The Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon, and the Icebreaker Marathon. I was also on the waiting list for the Zoom Yah Yah Marathon which I ended up not running. Instead I ran the double, Mississippi Blues Marathon and the Mobile Marathon. So since that post, I have run 6 different marathons and now I having no plans in concrete. Sure there are a few that I want to run but I am not signed up.

It is an odd feeling right now. I am going to continue to train and maybe even have a big mileage month in February but for what? I have not selected a full or half marathon this spring that I would like to race but I know there is something out there. More than likely I am going have to pick a closer race that I can drive to.

There are A LOT of marathons in Wisconsin in May that I could choose plus there are some other "fun" races that I could run as well. I may run the Lake Geneva Euro Cross Race like I wanted to last year before I signed up for the Fargo Marathon. This would be a long training run though. It is on a path that surrounds Lake Geneva and follows the entire shoreline going through all the mansions backyards. But it is kind of like a trail run and I am unfamiliar how to run those so I would only use it as a training run.

Paul is planning on running the Green Bay Marathon on the 3rd weekend in May so that is a possibility. The Wisconsin Marathon is on the 1st weekend of May and is local so maybe there. I just don't know.

Well, your guess may be as good as mine. Stay tuned and we will find out together.

Race Report - Icebreaker Indoor Marathon

The official results are not online yet so I don't know my exact place or time yet, but I finished in about 4:08:34, an Icebreaker best for me.

I can't say enough about how cool, awesome, exciting, super the Icebreaker Indoor Marathon is. It is a true hidden treasure in the world of marathons. Chris and Dana put on a superb marathon and it only gets better year after year. Check out the cool shirt we got. It has the look of a worn rugby shirt and is NOT a technical shirt which is a really good thing. I have WAY to many technical shirts. Finally a marathon shirt I can wear anywhere.

Yesterday was the 2 heats of the Half Marathon and the Marathon Relay and they went really well. Being on the committee, I was on my feet working the race from 5AM to about 5PM. I was very tired when I left and my feet were sore but that was yesterday and now it is today.

I slept in a bit and woke up at 6AM. I knew I didn't really have to work much before the race so I drove in and tried to get to the Pettit Center by 7. I did have one job in the morning and that was to deliver the Chocolate Milk to the Pettit for the runner. Note to all the race directors out there. Runner LOVE chocolate milk after a race. And not that fake organic crap, the real deal, low fat is preferable. We received a ton of compliments on having chocolate milk. Thank you goes out to Kwik Trip convenience stores for donating it!

I was told that this was race day by the race director Chris Ponteri, but I knew that I would have a few questions to answer since a lot of the runners saw me the day before working. I got the new marathon pace charts put up and then headed to the Chiropractor on site for a quick back and neck adjustment (psss, don't tell my regular Chiro, he may think I cheated on him, LOL). It felt good and I headed to the start line for my 95.3 laps of pure enjoyment.

Right before the race, Paul showed up and wished me luck. He was volunteering at the water table for the first 4 hours. Then Chris introduced me to Dick Daymont, he is the race director for the Zoom Yah Yah Indoor Marathon in Northfield, MN That race was run 2 weeks ago. I tried to get in but didn't make it in on the lottery. Only about 42 runners are allowed in that one. Dick is a great guy and we ran the first couple laps together.

The gun goes off on time and sure enough, on my second lap, I am already passed. It is OK, I knew I would be passed All. Day. Long. The music is playing and the atmosphere is festive and runners are circling the track. I get into a rhythm after a few laps and begin to drop lap after lap between 2:26 to 2:30. I wanted to run right there as an average pace of 2:31 equates to a 4 hour marathon. My plan was to take breaks every 10 laps (2.75 miles) up to lap 80, then every 5 laps. I hit this plan the entire way.

One unique aspect to this race is that there is an announcer who does the right mix of music playing and announcements on the runners. Early in the race, he would say a few unique things about runners in the race that the runners submitted when registering. It is a great distraction and you got to learn a few things about some of your fellow racers out there. He would mention about 5 and then let the music play for awhile and then some more. He would mention when the leaders reached the halfway point and then also start announcing when runners were on their final couple laps. Most runners knew what lap they were on plus they had a big screen scrolling the name and place you were in. Really cool set up. At some point, he mentioned that there were 3 different race directors in the race today. He mentioned Dick Daymont from Zoom Yah Yah and also Kris Hinrichs, the race director for the Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee. The he mentioned me as the race director for the WELS Kids Marathon and said some pretty cool things about the race.

I was on lap 46 when he announced that half of the runners were past the halfway point of the race and I wasn't there yet. Since there were 108 (I think) runners in the race, I knew my place wasn't great but I was OK with it. I reached where I thought the half marathon point was at 1:58:30 and I was still feeling good. Not long after that, I was told I was in 55th place.

In a race this small, you really get to know some of the runners on the course. I had remembered Robyn from last year and made sure I said "Hi" or "looking good" or something like that to her each time I passed her. I also was able to cheer on the leaders and other runners near the front often. Most of the fast guys appreciate it. We added a new feature this year as well. We had blank race bibs where runners could write something on and put on their backs for other runners to read. Some were quite interesting. A lot had their name or the number of marathons they had run. One lady had hers say "Go Bears", oh well, they lost. A very clever one said "Race Official - Do Not Pass" I had a good laugh at that one. One lady from Pennsylvania even wore a "Cheese Head" the entire race, not that takes some balance, maybe not mental balance though. those things are not exactly super light.

They allowed people to make signs by providing paper and markers. Some were pretty cool. I saw one that said "Run like you stole something". I don't think I am a fan of that one but I saw another that was "You Run 26.2 Miles Because 26.3 Miles is NUTS!" Some lady also had a dry small dry erase board and kept changing her notes. Some were very funny and I think at one point in time she was looking for a date?!?! I mentioned this to Chris that next year we should have a large dry erase board and keep changing the notes to clever things.

When I got to lap 60, my legs started feeling very heavy and tired and my laps started falling to 2:45 to 2:50. I made sure I didn't take an unplanned break though as I knew that would kill me mentally. About 10 laps later I was able to bring it back a little to the upper 2:30's but sub 4 was now out of the question. I know I got a little over 2/3s done when the first runner finished the race. Albertus Rohling was the winner this years in 2:45:56. Last year he took 3rd and 2nd 2 years ago. Steven Teits took 2nd place but the more incredible part of that was that yesterday, he took 3rd in the half marathon. He was the Gold Medal Challenge winner, runners who ran both the half and the full, just like the Goofy Challenge at Disney World.

With about 22 laps to go, my girls showed up to watch me and they made some really cool signs to show. Once again, they gave lots of the runner high fives and cheered on everyone. Not long after that, Mike showed up to my surprise. He had never some to Pettit before and lucky for him, he got to see me run really slow toward the end. He and Paul were yelling at me to pick it up and drop the hammer. Maybe that was why I was running so slow, maybe it was a sledgehammer I was holding.

I took my final break at lap 90 and was ready to be done. I suddenly said to myself to try to crank out my final 5 laps. With 4 laps to go, I had my fastest lap of the race, 2:24. With 3 laps to go, I ran a 2:22 and noticed I was in 51st place and knew there was another runner on the same lap as I was. I wanted to pass him/her so get the top 50. I was running a lot faster than anyone left in the race and then the announce said I was on my last lap and I was cranking along. My final lap was 2:02 and I finished in 4:08:32 (results were just poster) and I took 50th place. I was happy with my time and it was close to where I expected it after working the races the last 2 days being on my feet most of them.

Of all the comments on the race, I would say 98% of them were positive. Most everyone said it was an extraordinary race and they will be coming back next year. If you want in, registration opens about August 1st.

There were a couple notable racers there this weekend, each were running the Gold Medal Challenge. Julie Faylona won the half marathon and is an Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier. And Michael Henze who took 2nd in the US 24 hour run championships and represented the US in the World 24 hour championships. I had a chance to talk to both of these awesome runners and also cheer them on when we were all running. I remember Michael from Nashville where we both ran the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon last November.

Also attending the race as a spectator was Jenny Crain, a former US Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier who was hurt very bad in a car accident a few years back. She is a star in the local running community and is supported greatly. She is just as nice as she was before the accident, a wonderful person.

After the race, I was able to get a picture with my girls and the awesome signs they made before they left for a birthday party.

I was also able to meet Jamie as well. Jamie is a fellow blogger from the Madison, WI area. You can see her blog at Running Diva Mom. She took a picture of us and I think she is going to post it on her site. Jamie has a ton of running product reviews she does on her blog and they a ton of giveaways of all the products she reviews. From compression socks, to Bondis, to runner jewelry, to runner books to . . . She does a ton and her blog is fun to read. She is also a really awesome lady and it was great to finally meet her! Check out her site!

After the race, I stuck around until the final runner finished helping make sure she had all the cheers the other runners had. After loading my car, I went to pick up my daughter and her friend from the birthday parity they attended and then when I finally got home, I was able to watch the final quarter of the NFC Championship game between the Packers and the Bears. It got nerve racking toward the end but the Pack pulled it off and they are going to the Super Bowl to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I feel pretty good right now. Of course my legs are tired, but for the most part, I feel good. My knees are a touch sore and my feet have had it. I shall sleep good tonight.

Here are a few pictures I took on Saturday on the half marathon and marathon relay.

The Half Marathon being run as a Speed Skater cruises on the ice oval.

As you can see, the running track is not very wide but it is pretty long (442.43 meters, longer than a high school track).

The Marathon Relay was run when public open skating was going on.

Lots of runners and fans lined the track during the Marathon Relay.

Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers are going to the SUPER BOWL!!!!!!!!

Icebreaker Marathon report very soon.

Icebreaker Day One - Quickly

I got homer a little bit ago from the first day of the Icebreaker Marathon, Half Marathon & Marathon Relay. My feet are very tired and a bit sore from walking and standing most of the day helping out here, there, and everywhere. I think that a sub 4 will be almost impossible for me tomorrow. I will try though but I feel like I already ran at least a half marathon today.

Some quick hi-lights from today. The half marathon was very fast this morning. The winner was Eamon McKenna who finished in 1:09:25. He was FLYING. And a side note, he ran his college days at UW-Oshkosh where I ran. He was attended about 6 years after I graduated though. In all, 4 runners broke 1:20.

The marathon relay was a riot like last year. I mean really fun to watch and I am guessing, participate in. If you thought Eamon was running fast, 2 teams were going even faster. The winning team finished in 2:16:57. And just as impressively, 6 teams ran faster than 2:30 including another team made up of former runners from, you guessed it, UW-Oshkosh.

I do want to say Thanks to Erin for stopping by and saying "hi". She says she has been reading my blog "quietly"for awhile and wanted to introduce herself. She was running the relay herself. Hope you had fun, Erin!


I am going to sleep real soon now. I only got 4 to 5 hours the last 2 nights.