Drop it like it's....carbs?

My next race on the calendar is the Chicago Marathon on October 9th. And I am actually attempting to finish at my goal time.... which is still slow enough to not get a start corral, I am in the "open" corral. Depressing. Our goal time is a good 15 minutes off my best race time to date. And that was 4 or 5 years ago, before kids! So the summer and fall are serious training times for me. I just have to stay injury free.

My last marathon before Marine Corps this past October was Rock 'n Roll San Diego. I attempted to run that for a goal time as well, unfortunately I wasn't paying attention and sprained my ankle at mile 6/7 by stepping in a pothole. And I was dumb enough to run on it (I blame the endorphins that made me think I was OK) until it really started to hurt around mile 17/18. By that point everything hurts anyway, so it has to just be regular race pain, right? Yeah.... I went to the medic tent after the race to get some ice or a bandage, and they guy's response was "Dude, that ankle is swollen....!" Well, yeah, why do you think I came to you for something to treat it... Let's hope I learned to pay attention when I run this time.


My friend has a great theory that if we lose some weight, running our goal time will be a snap. And he has lost 20 pounds and I can barely keep up with him some days, I figure that his theory may just be right.   So I found this handy-dandy chart online about how much weight loss will effect race time.



Pounds Lost           5k            10k             1/2 Marathon               Marathon
2                            :12.4          :25               :52                                1:45
5                            :31           1:02             2:11                                4:22
10                        1:02           2:04             4:22                                8:44
20                       2:04            4:08             8:44                              17:28



According to RW author Amby Burfoot, the table is based on research that runners, on average get 2 seconds per mile faster for every pound they lose. The times you see above are the amounts a runner can shave off his/her race times by losing weight.



Needless to say, the dieting has started. Ugh. I want to steal my kid's pasta noodles and crackers. And making them pancakes or waffles for breakfast is pure torture. Progress has been good so far, I am 6 pounds closer to a faster race time. Nine more pounds to go...

Happy gardening and running all!

Geeking out, runner style

A few weeks back, my friends and I planned on meeting Friday morning for a run.  I have a girlfriend who has to work every now and then on the weekend and she would not be able to do the Saturday morning group run, so we decided to divide up her run and each do part of it with her so it wouldn't be so lonely.  Since I generally have to push a double jog stroller if I am running during the day, I opted for the last 5 (hoping and praying that she would be tired and I could go slow and maybe talk her into a few walk breaks -- what can I say?  That double jog stroller is a beast!).
I found them shortly after getting the kids all loaded up in the stroller with their toys and snacks. First thing they asked..... "Did you see Meb?" Now here's where the running geek stuff comes in to play. Meb can only mean one thing in the running world. Meb Keflezighi, 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist - Marathon, ING New York City Marathon Champion 2009, American Record Holder - 10K (27:13.98) and 20-Time National Champion. (http://www.runmeb.com/) WHAT???????  Meb and his family live in San Diego, so I shouldn't be so surprised, but I've lived here 8 years now and have never seen him. I was pretty bummed I missed him, so we set out to run the opposite way he was going in the hopes that our paths would cross.  Nope.... BUT.... he was at the end talking with some people. And we chatted with him a bit and got some photos of him.



Meb and his trainer


Ryle, me, Gray, Meb and my girl friend Gaby


Needless to say I was a happy running geek that day!