Lets do 20

Well tomorrow shall be the day. I've done less training then ever before running a 20 mile training run and yet I feel better then ever before. It seems odd. I must put a footnote here though that I now have 20 months of running under my belt rather then the 4-12 months I had prior to my previous attempts. Plus I am currently in what I would call the best shape of my life. Between the running, taekwondo, boot camp and yoga classes, and just my every day life and work I have managed to get lean and fit.

With all this in mind I am also worried more about the long run tomorrow then I have ever been before. Perhaps this is because I now truly understand what is involved in running these distances and also respect the Marathon distance more then ever before. So with all this in mind I'm going to now take my kids to Nan and Pap's house so I can get some sleep and head down to toe the line. If all goes as planned it will be one of the more fulfilling runs I have had. If not well we won't worry about that just yet :)

See some of you in the morning.

Back to the grind

So I'm back from Vacation and a little darker then before. I'm pretty close to the point at which I have to switch languages to Spanish actually. So got back Saturday night. Spent around 4 hours Sunday cutting/splitting wood. Monday I put in a tough 7 miles with some good hills and then onto Taekwondo that evening.

So Tuesday morning I wake up and run the two miles to my meeting point with Nick. I guess I should expand some as I was to meet Nick at 5:20am. My house is almost 2 miles from the meeting point and I didn't wake up until after 4:45am. So I grabbed some water, got dressed, took care of some business, and then headed out the door. I made it to the end of my road and when I hit the streetlight I realized just how late it was. By the time I met up with Nick I know that I had turned out some sub 8 minute miles. Talk about shocking your body. Eat nothing for over 10 hours and then 15 minutes after waking from a dead sleep put in some quick miles. We had only gone about 2 miles when I realized I had really overdone things. I ended up spending much of our time walking and Nick was very good. He even drove me home when we finished so I didn't have to get that extra 2 miles in.

Skipped my second run Tuesday and instead hit Chipotle. Wednesday I was back to my running and got in a good hill workout followed by Taekwondo in the evening and got in a good workout just now at the gym. I'm hoping to get in a run this afternoon and maybe even another Taekwondo class. I'm really enjoying the martial arts and you wouldn't believe what kind of leg and core body workout you get from all the kicking and sparring. I come out of class exhausted and soaked.

See some of you Sat.

Where in the world am I

Well let's see. A few days in CA, return to Ohio for a few days and then off to Vacation.. So the family and I jumped in the car and drove down to South Carolina for a 9 days of relaxation.

So woke up today at 6:45 while everyone was asleep (15 people in the house, friends, kids etc) and left the house. We are about 200 ft from the beach so I ran across the street and onto the beach for a run. 7 Miles later I was back and eating breakfast. most of the house was awake by this time and it was time for Breakfast.

Oh and I forgot to mention we have bottles and bottles of hard liqueur plus a refrigerator that is half full of beer. Its amazing how well I did this morning on my run. I'm hoping to get in another couple of miles tonight after the kids go to bed and before the fun starts. If my plan stays true this will be my highest mileage week in months.

Here is to hoping the drinking and beach don't kill my training this week. I'm just starting my ramp to train for Akron. I have that little voice in the back of my head though telling me I will only be running the half so why worry. We will see. I still want to run the full but I guess it is out of my hands and all up to my stomach. If I can stomach the 18 and 20 mile training run I will revise my plan.

Recover

Well after beating my self up last week I returned to the normal planet. I traveled to CA with my boss this week so I actually had 4 days without any exercise (other then walking through airports). It was pretty nice. To much drinking and eating though. When I'm with my boss we tend to do a little extra in these categories. I actually visited a customer Wednesday who was pouring Martinis and Single Malt Scotch for us at 3:30 in the afternoon. Well you can imagine that meeting went on until after 6. Believe it or not we got a lot of business accomplished. Sometimes it helps to bring a personal touch to your working relationship. Especially when the person pouring is the President of the company.

So we flew home Thursday but first we took a trip down to fisherman's wharf to pick up some sour dough bread and pastries for the wife and friends. Your welcome Bill :)

Got home late Thursday, put in 8 miles on Friday and then spent the day Saturday touring the BR100 course taking pictures, cheering, and working a rest stop with the family. I couldn't believe it when one of the early runners came into the Happy Days rest stop and proceeded to run over and intercept a football that the kids were throwing around. He then threw a very nice spiral back before coming into the rest stop to fill bottles. He had way to much energy for 70 miles into the race but he explained that it was just a short burst.

I posted some of the pictures from the race here http://picasaweb.google.com/shriverfamily/BR1002008

So I've got a week to get back into my groove and then I'm off to SC for a family vacation. This is when I really get to turn up the heat and get some miles in. It should be in the 80's every day and I will be able to run at least once a day for the entire week. Should be able to log some miles.