Once a Runner, Always a Runner

What Inspires You?

2010-05-08T10:20:00.001-05:00

With this blog I have always talked a lot about what is going on with my running, racing and a little about life in general. I have many times mentioned some of the things that get me excited about running, what motivates me to keep going and what inspires me in life. As I begin to shift some of the focus of this blog, I am going to occasionally post a question looking to find out more about who reads and follows me on my blog.

My 1st question is: WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

It could be about the things that inspire you to run, or it could be the things or people that inspire you to get through each day of life.

Here are a few things that inspire me.

I am inspired daily by the students that I get to work with in my classroom and out on the track. They keep me feeling energized and upbeat even when I often don't feel that way when I show up to start my day. I am inspired every time I go to watch a marathon. When I see so many people pushing themselves beyond what they thought they could have done and getting excited about doing something most people would never dream of doing, I get inspired to continue training for marathons myself. But the thing that inspires me most is the relationship I have with my family and with God. They mean everything to me. They encourage me and keep me positive when so many others wouldn't do that for me.

There are countless other things that keep me going, but what about you??

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

Lake Minnetonka Half-Marathon

2010-05-04T21:18:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday I ran in the 30th annual Lake Minnetonka Half-Marathon that run from Wayzata to Excelsior. It was a beautiful morning for a race and lots of people ran great races that day. I ran the race as a pacer for the Minnesota Pacers Pace Team. My goal time was 1:40:00 and I came to the finish line at 1:39:47. It was a lot of fun to run in this race and it was great to help lead a bunch of people in my group to personal best times!

This was my second race as a pacer and I enjoy it a lot. I have two more races I will be pacing this month: the Northern Lakes 30K in White Bear Lake on Saturday, May 22 and the Stillwater Marathon on Sunday, May 30. If you are running either of these races, come and join us.

My other focus for running right now is figuring out my summer races as I prepare for the 2010 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in October. I'll be running a pair of half-marathons, a 10 miler, and a 5K. I am also excited to be doing a small road race in Baldwin, Wisconsin in early June. I'll be doing a 5K or a 10K, or possibly both. I'm looking forward to it as Baldwin is the town where my entire family came from and I have a lot of great memories in that town.

Getting Back to Blogging

2010-04-25T20:05:00.006-05:00

I realized that I haven't posted since last September and I've finally decided to get back into posting on a regular basis. A little update of what my running life has been like since last September is what I'll start with. Along with that I want to start posting more stories of struggle, inspiration and hope, some of my own personal experience and some that I just have found and have had from friends.

We'll begin today simply with an update.

Since September 2009, I have been running quite a bit and have competed in a number of races. I have run 2 marathons, 4 5Ks, a 10 miler and starting running races as an official pacer. I'll go in chronological order. In October I completed my 4 career Twin Cities Marathon in a course P.R. of 3:06:56, not as fast as I had hoped for but still had a great race and am still fighting my battle with Summit Avenue. After the marathon, I ran a series of 5K races: the Anoka Grey Ghost Run, the Turkey Day 5K in Minneapolis, and the Reindeer Run at Lake Harriet. All of them were sub-18:00, with a best of 17:37 at the Turkey Day 5K, and a 2nd place finish at the Reindeer Run. Right around the time that I was running these 5Ks I decided on my spring marathon, the Go! St. Louis Marathon in April 2010.

As the calendar turned to 2010, my training for St. Louis intensified. At the end of 2009, I spent 6 days in St. Louis at a missions conference and got an opportunity to see some of the race course and it got me going on getting ready for that run. While at the missions conference (Urbana 09) I also made a decision to run with a purpose other than just competing. I decided to run for a cause, the Hall Steps Foundation, an organization created by Ryan and Sara Hall. Go to their website to find out more. In preparing through a tough winter of training I hit my career high in mileage per week, just shy of 90 miles and had my highest mileage month ever (March - 319). In March, I ran a 10 mile race, the 100% Irish for a Day 10 Mile at Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun. I placed 9th overall in a P.R. of 1:00:20. It was a great race and a big confidence booster.

My winter and early spring laid all the groundwork for the marathon in St. Louis, Missouri on Sunday, April 11, 2010, a race I felt truly ready for. The entire experience of the trip and the race was unforgettable. I flew to St. Louis on my own the day before and my fiancee and her mom joined me later that day in St. Louis. An exciting moment for me was getting my race number because I had qualified for the elite/competitive start field for this race and was assigned #10!! After the expo, we relaxed the rest of the day and I prepared for my race the next morning.

Race morning came and I was wide awake at 4am. I went through my usual race morning routine of a hot shower, dressing in my warm-up clothes and a breakfast of a bagel, yogurt, a banana and Gatorade. I left my hotel at 5:45am and walked to the start (only 4 blocks away). It was nerve racking walking to the start on my own, watching the St. Louis Fire Department raise a gigantic American flag over the starting area. It reminded me of the finish area at Twin Cities. I ran my warm-up run of about a mile around the starting line, waited in a couple long lines to go to the bathroom multiple times and finally stripped down to my uniform and stepped into our reserved starting area at the front. I was freaking out at this point on the inside, but managed to keep composed on the outside. Moments before the race, I knelt and said a prayer which helped me relax and focus on my reason for doing all of this. 2 minutes later, I crossed the starting line and my ninth career marathon was underway...

I went out slow as I had planned, or at least I thought it was slow. It turns out I ran my opening mile in 5:55, 40 seconds faster than I wanted to be, the adrenaline had gotten to me again. Two miles later, I had to go to the bathroom, something that has happened to me in every marathon I have run. Once out of the bathroom, I was more relaxed and began hitting my pace. Jen and her mom found me at mile 6 and they were a welcome site in a place where I felt a little bit alone. I was near the front of a marathon of over 2000 runners and the further along the course I went the fewer spectators and competitors there were.Unfortunate for me I was already feeling soreness in my legs by the halfway point. I went through 13.1 in 1:25:04, right where I had hoped to be, but my goal had been to run a negative split race, and that would be a great challenge. The course proved to be much hillier than I had anticipated and it took more out of me than I had planned on.

When I reached mile 17 I was all alone in the race and very few spectators were in sight. I was getting a bit down on myself. I began to pray and then to sing to God, and I continued to remind myself of what and who I was running for. About a mile later I was still singing, and almost instantly my legs began to loosen up and I was able to open up my stride again. This feeling stayed with me for about 3 more miles before general fatigue and minor leg cramping finally took over, but it gave me the knowledge that I was not alone in my race.

Over the final 5 miles I fought the notion of stopping to walk numerous times but I never did. This is only the third marathon I've done where I never walked. When I could finally see the American flag that had been at the start I knew I was almost done. Jen and her mom were just underneath the flag cheering me on like crazy! I was going to finally get a new P.R. and I pushed all the way to the finish line and crossed in 25th place in a new best time of 2:58:15. It hurt but the elation was like nothing else! Having a P.R. I had been trying to break for nearly 4 years was such a great confirmation that all of the hard work I had put in was worth it.

The biggest thing I took away from this race though, was that I know I can be a whole lot faster in the marathon than I have been to this point. It has awakened me to want to work significantly harder in my training than I have ever been before and I can't wait to get started in the next month!

Been Too Long

2009-09-04T14:43:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been over a month since my last posting so it's time for a big update. Since my last blog post I've been putting in a lot of miles, more than I've ever done in a month before. The last two weeks I have put in 86 and 85 miles respectively and am currently on pace for 80+ miles again this week. I have run two races in August and will be running my final tune-up race a week from Sunday in Minneapolis. I ran the Mora Half-Marathon in scorching hot conditions. Needless to say I did not have a good day. Most people don't enjoy long races in hot conditions, I may be even worse than most. I prefer near frigid conditions for my longer races. I ended up running just over 1:29:00 for the half-marathon, finishing 11th overall. Last Saturday I ran a cross country 5K in River Falls and finished 2nd in our Alumni race in a time of 17:25, my fastest 5K since college track over two years ago. It felt remarkably easy, which was a good feeling for me.

The rest of my training has been very solid. I ran 2 20+ mile runs over the last month. The first was at the Lakes in Minneapolis with Kyle and we ran a 20.5 miles in under 2:20:00, an average of around 6:45-6:50 per mile. 3 weeks later we did 20.5 miles again, this time along East and West River Roads and Summit Avenue with some Fartleking on Summit Avenue. We completed the 20.5 mile run in under 2:15:00, averaging 6:40 per mile this time. Those workouts have been very encouraging for my fitness. I am hoping for a good solid 25K race next Sunday to give me a final boost of confidence leading into the marathon in a month. The last 20+ mile run will be tomorrow morning with a planned 7 mile tempo in the latter part of the run at GMP (goal marathon pace), which is about 6:10 per mile.

Along with my training, high school cross country season is underway. At Watertown-Mayer, the team's first meet was yesterday afternoon in Maple Lake, MN. It was a pretty hilly course so times were not fast plus it was the first meet of the year. The team has a lot of potential so the meets will be very exciting as the season continues. School starts on Tuesday so my days will only get busier and busier. The fortunate part is that the initial taper starts right after the City of Lakes 25K gets done.

A Workout to Remember

2009-07-31T07:32:00.002-05:00

My workout last night was one for the ages, but not because of the workout itself. I drove out to River Falls, WI to run with my college teammates Kyle and Justin and a current UWRF runner, Scotty. We were going to go to the UWRF track to do a 5 mile tempo run at goal marathon pace. The track and football field was setup for the Kansas City Chiefs training camp as they hold their camp on the campus there every summer. Practice starts today so we showed up to get our workout in the night before the place turned into a zoo. As we got going on the workout we were hitting pace real well and everyone was feeling good until the 2nd mile.

During the 2nd mile, two people in red shirts came out to the track to tell us we had to leave the track. Needless to say, we weren't going to stop just because a couple guys told us to when they had no real authority. Both of them were working for the campus for the training camp, one of them was a former football player and "track athlete" for the university. We had only 20 minutes left at that point so we just kept going. The two guys continued to yell at us quite disrespectfully each time we went by, so I finally said, "If you want us to stop, then catch us!" Kyle and Justin also had their own things to say. Eventually, the former "athlete" got on the phone and 3.5 miles in the campus police arrived and our workout came to an end.

We could all tell right away the campus policeman thought it was ridiculous that he had to come out here to deal with something like this. We explained our story and that we were doing nothing wrong and that there were no signs telling us to stay off the track. He fully agreed with us and decided to talk to the head of the facilities, a former coach of ours no less, to let him know this call was ridiculous. We still left the track and ran over to the River Falls High School track to do 2 more miles at pace. On our way over, we spotted the two guys who had gone on a power trip, and needless to say when they saw us coming, they both went and hid inside the hockey arena!

We finished our workout at the high school track but we were all still fuming and had the adrenaline pumping even on our cool down run after the workout. Justin even ran 100 meters backwards during the final 2 miles of the tempo and kept his pace!

This report of the situation is much calmer than it would've been had I written this post last night. I felt it would be better to sleep on it before I posted. I don't normally badmouth people unless they really get me fired up but one thing that will always get me fired up is a complete disrespect for runners, especially by football players, and especially when we know we are doing nothing wrong. However, this workout/moment takes the cake for me.

Racing Update

2009-07-24T07:58:00.002-05:00

In the last week I have run three short distance races, all with something good to take away from them. Last Saturday I ran at the first annual Jammin' Jamaican Run in Wells, MN. I ran both the 5K and the Mile race there, winning the mile and placing 4th in the 5K. It was a cross country style race, something I hadn't done in almost 3 years! It proved to be a great challenge for me but it was a lot of fun to try it again. The course proved to be fairly slow with a number of 180 degree turns and a few hay bails to hurdle so times certainly were not very fast. I ran an 18:57 in the 5K and 5:39 in the mile but running hard and competing in a different style for me was a very good experience. The best part for me was to be able to spend the weekend with a great friend and his family. It was great to get away from the routine of my summertime life in the Cities and to just forget about all the other things going on.

The week concluded with me running 75 miles, my highest of the TCM training so far. I'm planning to hold steady around 70-80 miles per week for the next couple weeks before ramping up to close to 90 miles per week. I've never done that before so we'll see what my body can handle.

The third race of this past week was on Wednesday night in downtown Minneapolis. It was the annual Torchlight 5K, run just prior to the Aquatennial Torchlight Parade down Hennepin Avenue. I've run this race 3 times before but not since 2004. When I finally arrived and parked, I barely had enough time to run to get my BIB and my shirt at the Basilica, get back to my car, change and get to the starting line. I got to the line a little frustrated because I didn't feel like I was able to warm-up the way I wanted to but I couldn't do anything about it. The horn blew and I took off flying off the starting line. There were thousands of people lining the streets cheering, and thousands of people running as well. I went out way too fast and I paid for it on the 3rd mile but ultimately it worked out. I ran a 17:41, my fastest 5K since my last college track 5K over 2 years ago. I felt the legs start to burn at the start of the final mile which told me I was definitely pushing the pace. I finished somewhere in the top 60 but since this was a fun run, no official times were kept and no places were recorded. I don't know exactly how many people ran but there was at least 4,000 to 5,000 in it if not more than that.

My next race now is a more serious race for me, a half-marathon in Mora, MN on August 15th. It will be my best test so far to see how my training is going for me. I'm looking forward to focusing on my training for the next 3 weeks without any racing interruptions though. The races are a lot of fun to do and good opportunities to test myself but they can sometimes throw off the training of a given week. I have some interval workouts coming up as well as some very good tempo workouts and of course some quality long runs. I'm doing a long 16-17 miler in Stillwater tomorrow morning with a friend of mine, Mike Reneau. It will be a good hilly long run which will also be a good workout for me, above and beyond just running the long distance.

Great Week of Training

2009-07-11T15:23:00.002-05:00

This week has certainly been my most productive training week of the summer so far. On Thursday I completed my first two-a-day of the summer. I plan for two to three of these a week as August hits. Thursday I ran an easy 4 miles in the morning with my WMHS runners and then headed out to River Falls to do some mile repeats with two college teammates in the evening. Kyle ran 8 miles and Justin and I did 5 miles each. We averaged around 2:30-2:45 recovery time in between each one. The wind on the track was unusually light which was great for running well on the track. I ran 5:51, 5:50, 5:48, 5:48, and 5:43 for my 5 miles. I ran the first 4, took the 5th mile off and ran the 6th one. After that I ran alternating laps to pace Kyle through his final 2 mile repeats. I ran the 400s in 79, 81 and 77 seconds respectively. Kyle ran his 7th and 8th miles in 5:24 each, giving Kyle a very good indication that he is running very strong right now.

All 3 of us that did the workout are preparing for the Twin Cities Marathon in the fall. Twin Cities will be Kyle's first career marathon, it will be my 8th marathon and 4th Twin Cities, and it will be Justin's 5th career marathon and 4th Twin Cities as well. Justin is also an ultramarathoner and will be running a 12 hour run in Milwaukee during Labor Day weekend.

This workout gave me a good indication of my fitness at this point in my training. I am already feeling good about it, especially with this workout being my first faster workout since my last marathon two months ago. I have run 56 miles so far this week with an 11-12 mile run planned for tomorrow. I ran 15 miles bright and early this morning along Summit Avenue in St. Paul. I pushed the pace in the middle 5 miles of the run from approximately the 21 mile mark to the finish line of the Twin Cities Marathon course. The long run felt great and the weather was phenomenal.

Time for an update

2009-07-08T11:30:00.002-05:00

It's been a little while since I last posted so I figured an update was overdue. I've been running pretty steadily over the last couple of weeks, getting in 60 and 64 miles over the last two weeks. I ran an 8K road race in Blaine, MN on the morning of the 4th of July to test out the strength and recovery of my left hamstring. I didn't push the pace, just ran a good effort to make sure my hamstring could go fast again before I ramped up my training for Twin Cities. The race went well and the hamstring felt good the whole way. I ended up running 30:39 for 8K and placed 5th overall. Not too bad considering I was not racing at all.

I am aiming for somewhere between 65 and 70 miles this week with today being an off day for me. I am doing a two-a-day tomorrow for the first time, running an easy 4-5 miles with my WMHS runners and then doing a hard workout with Justin and Kyle in River Falls, WI tomorrow night. It will be my first up-tempo/interval type workout of the summer (with the exception to Saturday's road race). I'm looking forward to doing a harder workout with some good training partners, something I don't always get in my neck of the woods.

My next race is on July 18th in Wells, MN. It is a cross country 5K and mile set of races raising money for a missions trip to Jamaica this winter. The race is being organized by my friend Justin. If you're looking for a fun race and a change of scenery in terms of getting off the roads and racing on some soft stuff, make the trip down to Wells. It should be a lot of fun! There is a link to race info on the right side of the page under 2009 Races, it's called the Jammin' Jamaican Run.

I hope the summer is going well for everyone's training. It will fly by quick and the fall will be upon us very soon!

Personal Highs, Running Lows

2009-06-23T13:42:00.002-05:00

Over these last couple of weeks my running has been up and down, mostly down. The good news though, is that just about everything else in life has been awesome. The school year is over and I have lots of free time this summer, which will be extremely great once my body gets back to 100% for running (I'm around 90% right now).

The best news of all is that as of last Friday I am engaged to the most amazing girl in the entire world! We are planning for a wedding next summer which is already extremely exciting to begin the planning and working on coming up with all of our ideas for our ceremony and celebration.

As far as running has been going, it has been up and down lately. A week and a half ago I re-aggravated my hamstring injury while doing some biking, the cross training my doctor told me to do. The running has not hurt my hamstring at all. Since then I have stopped doing any biking and my cross training has become some swimming and aquajogging. I have gone running the last 4 days though and it's been getting better and better with each day. I ran for over 1 hour each of the last two days in the heat and humidity. The legs felt good although the rest of the body was struggling due to the weather.

The other big thing I've had to do this week is to re-evaluate my racing plan for the summer. I most likely will not be racing on the 4th of July so my first race of the summer will be the Jammin' Jamaican Run in Wells, MN. I also will not be running the Rice Street Mile since that race has been canceled this year. The same night as that race was scheduled to be is also the Lifetime Fitness Torchlight 5K in Minneapolis. I've run this race 3 times before but it's been 5 years since I last did it. I haven't decided on that one yet but it's certainly an option. I am also looking at one of 3 half-marathons in August: Gopher to Badger, Mora, and Rochester. I will do one of the 3 but I haven't decided which one yet. A lot will depend on how the training over the course of the month of July goes and when I feel I'll be ready for a half-marathon race.

I am going into the doctor's later on this week to hopefully get the okay to up my training in July so here's hoping all goes well with that.

Stay cool this week everyone!!

Update

2009-06-07T07:00:00.002-05:00

It's been a few weeks since I last updated, a lot has been going on. Friday was the last day of school for me as a first-year teacher! I survived my first year and am looking forward to year #2. I also spent all day at the state track meet at Hamline in the wind and rain cheering and coaching. For Watertown-Mayer we had 3 girls and 1 boy make it to state and we had one of our girls qualify and place in the top 3 in four different events! It was a lot of fun to see her compete so hard and do so well.

I am also back into the swing of things with my running. I started back up about two weeks ago and got the okay from the doctor to get back into a steady training plan. The only drawback is that I can't do any tempo or speed workout for another two weeks because of some still minor tightness in my hamstring. I am doing a lot of strengthening exercises to get my hamstring back to 100%. I can go and run steady miles without any problem but I just have to be careful with my pace for a little while longer.

I am heading out on a 10 mile run later this morning. With that run my weekly mileage will reach 45 miles and I am hoping to be up in the mid-50s for mileage next week. As long as things continue to improve the way they are I am aiming to be in the 70s for weekly miles by the start of July and into the 90s and even possibly hit 100 for a week or two before the end of the summer.

Microtears in the Left Hamstring

2009-05-15T22:25:00.002-05:00

I went to the doctor on Tuesday after school and found out I have some small microtears in my left hamstring where the tendon meets the actual muscle. It's not too serious of an injury but it's enough to keep me from running for about two weeks. I'm doing a lot of icing, a lot of stretching and I'll be doing some aquajogging a few times over the next week so I can at least get some workouts in. I can start running again at the end of next week as long as everything is feeling all right and it has been getting better each day.

This is probably the best time for me to be forced to take off because I am in between training for marathons. The first week of June will be the first week of marathon training for Twin Cities next fall so I've got a couple weeks before that starts. As long as all things go well, I'll still be on track to get right back into it very soon.

2009 Fargo Marathon

2009-05-11T19:50:00.007-05:00

A day with some very high hopes ended with a goal P.R. still unreached. Despite that, I had a lot of fun at the Fargo Marathon. I ran a hard race, I went after my goal, came up short, but I never would have been close to it had I not gone after it. I ended up running 3:01:40 and placed 31st overall out of around 1,250 runners. It was second fastest marathon ever so I'm still fairly happy with that.

The start of the race was very emotional and inspiring. With all of the flooding the city of Fargo had dealt with and fought through, there was a lot to celebrate with this event. The mayor came out to be the official starter of the race. The national anthem was very moving and the invocation prayer by a local pastor was very moving and uplifting. With this being a slightly smaller marathon I was able to get myself directly behind the elite runners and was only about two or three steps behind the starting line. The horn sounded and we were off running down University Drive going right by my old college campus.

I felt like the first mile was so slow, I felt like I wasn't working but it's amazing what adrenaline can do to a man. I ended up running 5:54 for my opening mile! It felt like a 6:40. I went to the bathroom on mile 2 and eased up on my pace. Still, it took me a while to ease up enough to get down to where I had wanted to be at. Ultimately this was probably a big part of what prevented me from running stronger later.

At the halfway point, I was in 14th place at 1:23:19, my 4th fastest time for a half-marathon ever! I managed to make it to around mile 18 holding steady at my pace before the pace began to fall off. At mile 20 I was still in 15th overall but my pace had slowed considerably. The last 6.2 miles were complete survival mode. I averaged over 8 minutes per mile for the final 10K and I just managed to keep running to the finish. In my young marathon career this was only my second marathon in which I did not walk at all (my P.R. of 2:59:01 is the only other one). The finish was very cool inside the FargoDome. Lots of people in the stands cheering really loud, being very supportive just like all the spectators along the course had been all morning.

After I was done, I got interviewed by some local reporters on camera. I don't remember where they were from and for a few hours I couldn't remember what they had asked me. I got so light-headed I couldn't think or remember much of anything about the race. When I went to lunch later, it began coming back to me though. It was a little scary for a while though when I couldn't. Today many of my students were amazed by what I had just done. It's hard to believe that when I crossed the finish line I was a little disappointed that I didn't P.R. or reach my goal time. I still finished a 26.2 mile race in a little over 3 hours. Most people would love to be able to do that. I just have a determination and a drive to try to get better that I don't want to accept a finish like this, despite how good it actually is.

I chalk every race, good or bad, up to being a learning experience. If I don't learn something new about myself during the course of a race, then I really feel I didn't accomplish anything. This is the hardest I've ever trained for a marathon before. Perhaps I trained too hard. Analyzing my training plan will tell me more about that in the days to come. I had a bad hamstring that flared up on me again. I am going into the doctor's in the next week to get that looked at. It also could have played a part. It could be something as simple as I just went out too fast and paid for it late in the race. It could be a combination of all of them.

It could still be that the course was longer than 26.2 miles...my dad's co-worker ran the marathon with a GPS on and at the finish her GPS recorded a distance of 26.7 miles, half a mile longer than it should have been! Now, this of course is unofficial and won't change anything in the final results, but it is potentially a bit disappointing if that were to end up being the case. Half a mile for me meant a new marathon P.R. or not. Oh well, nothing you can do about it. I'm happy about how things are going with recovery and I'll be running again soon and in a few short weeks, training for the 2009 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon and another attack at 2:45 will begin.

One Day Away

2009-05-08T06:43:00.002-05:00

It's 6:45 am the day before the Fargo Marathon and I can't sleep anymore. I took the day off of work today to travel up to Fargo so I had planned to sleep in this morning, go for a short run and then hit the road. So far, I'm 0 for 1 on that plan. I've basically been wide awake for over an hour with nothing but the race running through my mind. For me, getting nerves like this is a good thing but getting the sleep is also a good thing. I might have to take a little nap on the drive up to Fargo today.

The weather report is becoming more and more likely to be correct by this point in the week and we're looking at low 40s and partly cloudy during the race, absolutely perfect for me. And those strong Fargo winds, they're gonna be pretty calm tomorrow as well. This is shaping up for a big P.R. kind of day for me! I always look forward to the whole experience of running a marathon and being a part of the entire event. Aside from race day easily being my favorite day of any training season, the race expo the day before has to be a not too distant second. I haven't been to Fargo's expo before so we'll see how it compares with the others I've been to. Just being around all those other runners and all of these companies, races, and stores in one place, being there for all of us runners is just so cool to me! Being at one of these expos is like putting my 10 year old self in a toy store with the candy store attached next door, I'm in heaven!

The goal for race day remains 2:45 or under, a 14 minute P.R. if all goes according to plan. Regardless of what happens tomorrow morning in Fargo, North Dakota though, the ultimate reason why I'm doing what I'm doing will never change: I'm praising God and thanking Him for blessing me with the gift of being able to run the way I do and for giving me the joy and passion to want to do it. It's all about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I wouldn't be where I am today without Him.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with perseverance the race God has set before us."
- Hebrews 12:1

Getting Excited!

2009-05-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

With my 7th career marathon only a little over 4 days away the nerves have truly begun to set in. I'm checking the Fargo weather forecast every single time I hop online. Every moment that I get a chance to stretch out my legs in any way, I do it. There is a water or Powerade bottle almost permanently attached to one of my hands (a Powerade bottle is about half a foot from my keyboard at the moment). I'm going to bed 15 minutes earlier than the night before each night (tonight that means in bed at 8:45 pm). I'm getting very anxious and the race is virtually the only thing on my mind.

Only a few workouts remain and tomorrow I'll be up to do a set of 400s on the track at 6 am. We are hosting two track meets this week (tomorrow and Thursday) so those days, getting a workout in during the afternoon will be next to impossible. I did this today as well and it got me off to a good start for the week. I'm leaving for Fargo on Friday morning to go to the expo and to get my race packet. I just really want to get through this week of teaching so that I can get to Fargo to be ready to race. I honestly don't know that I've thought through and prepped myself for a single race as much as I have for this one. I tend to do better the more prepared I feel so I think this is a good sign!

A Wet Windy Run

2009-04-26T14:12:00.002-05:00

Today's run brought back fond memories of last October's Twin Cities Marathon. It was very wet, a little windy and there was a definite chill in the air. I did a tempo workout on the Dakota Trail by my apartment and it felt great. I got my pace down under 6:00 per mile for the final 20 minutes of the tempo and it felt very comfortable. Along with getting in a good workout in the rain I tested a new piece of running apparel during my workout: arm warmers. Many elite runners have been seen in marathons over the last few years wearing these on cool days as a way to keep their arms warm without having to wear a long-sleeved shirt under their uniform. After wearing them in cool wet conditions I can totally understand why many runners have begun to wear them. I have a pair of Asics warmers and they cover my arms from my wrists all the way up to my shoulders. A great benefit to them is that if you get warm and no longer need them, you can pull them right off without having to remove your shirt or uniform to get them off. The particular pair I have also kept my arms dry from the rain as well as keeping them warm.

I know for sure that if it is a cool morning in Fargo in 2 weeks, I will be wearing these on the starting line of the marathon. With less than 2 weeks until the race now, the tapering is really beginning. I still hit 60 miles this week but next week I'll drop down to around 50 miles with one day off as well. The week of the marathon I'll probably get 30-35 miles in prior to the actual race. In the past this level of tapering has proven fairly effective for me. I am also going to begin getting to bed a little earlier this week. During a normal week I can get by with around 7 to 7.5 hours of sleep a night. My goal this week is to get at least 8 hours a night and the week of the marathon between 8.5 and 9.5 hours a night.

It's going to be a good couple of weeks. Getting past this rain this weekend and the next few days coming up, the weather looks to be very good in favor of some ideal marathon conditions. Next weekend I am going to head out to Eau Claire, Wisconsin to watch the 1st annual Eau Claire Marathon to check out the race and the course to see what it's going to be like. May is quite the month for marathoning in the upper midwest: Eau Claire, La Crosse (Wisconsin) and Lincoln (Nebraska) next weekend, Fargo the following weekend, Green Bay in 3 weeks, Madison and Stillwater in 4 weeks and Minneapolis in 5 weeks. With these new marathons I am looking forward to checking them out to see some potential future races that I may run in springs to come.

Mile Repeats in a Heat Wave

2009-04-23T18:48:00.002-05:00

Today I ran one of my last interval workouts prior to the marathon in two weeks. I picked the hottest day of the year so far to do it and it was ridiculously windy as well. Considering those conditions, I ended up having a really good workout. I averaged 5:42 per mile with only 5 minutes of recovery between the 4 miles I did. When I did this workout last fall prior to the Twin Cities Marathon, my fastest mile was 5:42 with my slowest being 5:55. The conditions that day were much more favorable for running mile repeats than today was.

Considering all of that, even though I was somewhat disappointed in my performance after the workout, it gives me a strong indication I am in great shape leading up to Fargo.

On another note, the Boston Marathon was on Monday, one of my favorite races I've ever done. The US had a great showing with Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher placing third overall in their gender races. Quite possibly the most inspirational team of runners ever, Team Hoyt finished their 27th Boston Marathon and their 1000th career race together. For those who don't know about Team Hoyt, here is a link to a video about them. I also had two UWRF teammates complete their first Boston Marathon on Monday. Both of them ran slower than their qualifying times but at Boston, that's pretty normal. I am hoping to be back in Boston competing again in either 2010 or 2011. After my performance there in 2005, I am still looking for some redemption on that course.

It's going to get wet over the next few days, I hope everyone can get out and get in a good run or two in the rain, always one of my favorite things to do in the spring!

Earth Day Half-Marathon

2009-04-18T22:06:00.002-05:00

My final preparation race for the Fargo Marathon was today in St. Cloud. I ran the Earth Day Half-Marathon. It ended up being a pretty good test for me. The weather conditions were pretty good for a longer race like that. It was cloudy, upper 40s, with a light breeze coming out of the north. I stayed the night in St. Cloud so I wouldn't have to get up too early to travel. I was still up early anyway, like I normally am on the morning of a race. After a good warm-up run I was feeling very ready to get in a good race. My goal was to break 1:20:00. My P.R. was at 1:22:42 from almost 3 years ago so I was overdo for breaking that.

The race got started and I was out at a good pace early. I came across the first mile in 5:56, a little quicker than I had wanted but it felt really comfortable. I backed off on my pace a bit anyway because I wanted to try and negative split the second half of the race. At mile 3 I lost 20 seconds on my time because I had to make a pit-stop at a port-a-potty. Usually I don't have that problem in races like this but it was somewhat out of my control. Despite losing that time I was still running pretty strong and I made it through the first 7 miles in the top 15 and feeling well for the most part. On the 8th mile though, my left hamstring began to tighten up for the first time in a couple weeks. My pace slowed as a result of that and I didn't have the ability to push the second half of the race as strongly as I had planned. I maintained my place and was able to bring my pace down to 6:00 for the final 1.1 miles. The finish to the race was great, there were a ton of spectators and the finish line was on the middle of the football field on the SCSU campus. It felt a lot like the finish to a marathon.

I ended up 11th overall and 2nd in the men's 20-24 age group. I ran the race in a new P.R. time of 1:21:50, not as fast as I had been planning for but considering how my body responded I'm fairly happy about it.

There are now only 3 weeks until the marathon. I begin to reduce the mileage slightly next week and then much more the next two weeks. Due to flooding in Fargo, the course for the marathon has been changed drastically. It is now a two-loop course with the entire course staying in Fargo. The original course crossed the Red River into Moorhead, MN and back and it also traveled south of I-94. The two-loop course also stays on the north side of I-94. These are the roads I am also the most familiar with from days of running in Fargo at NDSU.

Feeling Ready

2009-04-11T15:42:00.002-05:00

4 weeks away from marathon race day, I have completed two very important workouts over the past two days that have given me a good indication of my fitness level going into the Fargo Marathon. With yesterday being Good Friday, I had the day off of work and took advantage by going home to Coon Rapids and did my interval workout on my home high school track. It was a modified version of the famous Yasso 800s workout. Instead of doing 10x800m, I did 10x1000m the same way. I did this to challenge myself a bit more and to see if my body could take it. I found out yesterday that it could. I averaged 3:24 for the 10x1000m, with my fastest being 3:23 and the slowest being 3:27. I was very consistent and I know it was about where I needed to be to attain the goal of the traditional Yasso 800s workout. Had I done the traditional workout, my 800 splits were between 2:43 and 2:45 for all of them, so based on the workout, that tells me I should be capable of running around 2:45 or just under for the marathon (doing 1000s probably tells me I could have done 2:40-2:43 for just 800s).

Today for a follow-up, I did what will end up being my last 20+ mile run. I did a tour de Coon Rapids, hitting nearly every area of the city this morning. The final distance measured out to be 20.5 miles and I maintained a pace of 7:10 for the run. Considering I was sore from the intervals on Friday I was very happy with it. I stopped only once for water at the Coon Rapids Dam by the Mississippi River (I did not drink from the river though) and took an energy gel there as well.

My final significant test of my training before the tapering begins will be a week from today when I run the Earth Day Half-Marathon (link on the right side). If all goes well, I will be feeling really good about the marathon coming up. I have also posted a list of all the races I have run so far in 2009 and the races I am preliminarily planning to run this summer and next fall. It is just a rough plan and it certainly could change but it is my ideal list of races at this point so far.

For you midwest marathoners, registration for the 2009 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon opens on Friday, April 17th at 12:01am. It fills fast so register as soon as you can. I'll be registering the moment I wake up on Friday morning!

It's finally feeling like spring this Easter weekend. Enjoy the weather and the running but don't forget why we celebrate Easter in the first place. God Bless and Happy Easter everyone!

T-minus 5 Weeks...

2009-04-05T14:20:00.002-05:00

It is now less than 5 weeks until the 2009 Fargo Marathon. It is about this time in my training where the marathon begins to consume my thoughts more and more. I am down to just one more race prior to the marathon, the Earth Day Half-Marathon in two weeks. Yesterday I ran the Bunker Hills 8K in Coon Rapids. I placed 6th overall, in 29:29, nothing fast at all. The course is hilly but I certainly could've been a minute faster or more had my hamstrings not tightened up with about 1.5 miles to go. The trails the race was on are trails I know way too well, so I knew every hill and turn. It just wasn't my day but that's the way things go sometimes. Needless to say, I'm not training for 8K's or even 10K's.

This week will be a short work week for me as there is no school on Good Friday. The WMHS track team has their first track meet of the season on Thursday so I'm excited to see how our runners' training has been going. My workouts for the first half of this week coming up will be pretty easy but the 3 day weekend is going to be a good challenge. I'm hoping with a few easy runs to start the week will give my legs, especially my hamstrings some time to recover and loosen up before the tough workouts come. I decided to take today off (my first in 3 weeks) to see if that will help.

Best of luck to all of those running either the Zumbro 100K or 100 mile this weekend. The weather looks like it will cooperate for you. I will be sleeping while you all get your race started but I certainly am not taking my weekend easy by any means (I just won't be running 62 or 100 miles straight!). Friday's plan is to run 10x1000m on the track between 3:20 and 3:25 (5:20-5:30 mile pace) with equal time recovery. Saturday will be a long run of 20 or 21 miles and Sunday morning will be a tempo workout with a total of 45 minutes of hard running around 10-15 seconds under goal marathon pace. If the legs get the recovery they currently need during the first half of this week, the weekend of workouts will tell me a lot about my fitness and whether or not I am ready for a sub-1:20 half marathon and a sub-2:45 marathon.

Up and Down Week

2009-04-02T15:05:00.002-05:00

I am on spring break right now and my training this week has been a little up and down. I had a good long run last Saturday at Elm Creek. I put in just over 18 miles on a nice morning. Since then though, my left hamstring has been feeling a little tight every now and then. My run this morning it was very tight so it was pretty slow going. Since the run it has loosened up nicely and I should be just fine for my run later this afternoon in River Falls. It has been a couple months since I ran in RF so I'm really looking forward to it.

On Saturday, I'm running an 8K race at Bunker Hills Park in Coon Rapids. The park is only a couple miles from the house I grew up in so I know the trails and the course extremely well. It will be fun to race on trails I'm very accustomed to. I ran that race 3 years ago and placed 6th. I wasn't in that great of shape at that time compared to now. This has been my most consistent training I think I have ever had. It's making me very optomistic for the marathon coming up in 5 weeks!

After the race in Coon Rapids I only have one race left prior to the Fargo Marathon and that will be the Earth Day Half-Marathon in St. Cloud, MN on Saturday, April 18th. It has traditionally been a very fast, very competitive half-marathon, often with the top runners easily running under 1:10 for the race. I'm setting my goal at running under 1:20 which would be around a pace of 6:06 per mile, a P.R. in the distance by about 2 and a half minutes. If I can accomplish that and not feel totally dead at the end, I know I'll be ready for a big marathon P.R. in Fargo.

A Good, Tiring Test

2009-03-23T20:06:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was the annual Human Race on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota. As the unofficial start to the spring racing season in the Twin Cities, tons of runners came out for what turned out to be a pretty nice day on Summit. The 8K was the road state championship so many top local elite runners were competing. The course on Summit is gradually uphill for most of the first 2 miles, a block turn-around near halfway and the final 1.5 - 2 miles around downhill. And with the wind yesterday, there was a strong headwind on the way out and a very nice tailwind on the way back.

I fared pretty well in my attempt at the doubleheader of running both the 5K and 8K races at the Human Race. I placed 7th overall in the 5K, running 18:03. I negative split the entire race, something I've never done in a 5K before. My first mile was 6:02, slow, as I spent much of that mile breaking the wind for the pack I was in. I felt smooth and strong in my final mile, while trying to not push too hard, knowing I had 5 more miles of racing less than 90 minutes later. Many UWRF teammates were in the 5K race. Jason Quarford won it, Ben Kirmse was second, I was seventh, and 4 other UWRF alum, Matt Olson, Eric Nordgren, Jeremy Olson and Kevin McDonough were not too far behind me.

In the 8K, I tried to pace myself out early, but it was of no use. My first mile in the 8K was 5:52, 10 seconds faster than the 5K. The legs felt okay at that point but miles 2, 3, and 4 were a major challenge. I kept trying to get my legs to go, but there just wasn't any speed there. I managed to close with a 5:42 for the final 0.97 miles, equal to just over 5:50 for the final mile. My time was 30:11, placing 129th overall. I've run much faster in 8Ks before but I've never run one shortly after a decent 5K. The results for the doubleheader haven't been officially posted yet, but looking at the 5K and 8K results, I finished 3rd out of all those that ran both races.

Overall, the day was fun. I was able to get a good reading for where my body is at. I need to keep reminding myself that I'm not training for these distances, I'm training for a marathon. Still, I will be racing again in two weekends in my hometown of Coon Rapids, MN. The annual Bunker Hills Run is run on trails that I have been running on for nearly 10 years, only 2 miles from the house I grew up in. It'll be an 8K race and it will be good to see what I can do over that distance when my legs are fresh.

Until then, the training will continue. I have mile repeats this week and when the weekend arrives I will be on spring break!

What Do You Think About When You Run for 2 Hours?

2009-03-16T19:17:00.002-05:00

Many of my students and some of my fellow teachers have asked me this question multiple times now and I finally decided to pay a little more attention to just all the things I think about on a long run this weekend. I ran 18 miles down at the chain of lakes and along Minnehaha Parkway in Minneapolis on Saturday afternoon. Saturday was a beautiful day for a run, a little breezy but couldn't ask for much better.

So, over the course of my hours of running, here is a list of the different things that ran through my mind:

- amazed by the number of people out on the trails around the lakes (tons of them!)
- rethinking my tests I just finished taking (took 2 Praxis tests to renew my teaching license, 4 hours of testing)
- my races coming up: Human Race 5K & 8K doubleheader on Sunday
- Fargo Marathon in less than 2 months
- my girlfriend (who is currently enjoying running in the foothills of the Rockies in Boulder, CO
- my lessons I will be teaching over the next 2 weeks (only 2 weeks until Spring Break!)
- training plans and workouts with the WMHS track team coming up over the next week
- more than anything though, I think about what an amazing gift God has given me to be able to run, and I use my long runs as a way to worship and thank him for that

Needless to say, a lot goes through my mind, especially when I'm all alone on these runs. Towards the end of the run I was beginning to feel some discomfort along the front of my left shin, right where my foot flexes and relaxes. It was still sore yesterday so I took the day off (my first in 3 weeks) and it made the difference. Today, in the beautiful 65 degree sunny weather, I ran for over an hour and it felt really good. This week should be a good one with the warmer weather. I have an interval workout and a hill workout along with the two races at the end of the week.

Enjoy the beautiful spring weather in Minnesota!!

Good Training Week

2009-03-08T20:42:00.002-05:00

This week I completed my first 70+ mile week in nearly two years. The legs are feeling pretty good at this point and I had some real good workouts this week. Yesterday I put in 17 miles the day after my first interval workout since September. The interval workout on Friday went well. I ran it in shorts on the WMHS track, doing 6x800m at 2:40-2:50 with equal time recovery. It is called Yasso 800s (see earlier post) and I felt really good about how it went. I ran faster on each interval despite getting wetter and colder with each interval.

I'm looking forward to this week. High school track practice starts tomorrow afternoon. It will be exciting to see what kind of athletes we get out for the team this spring. I have talked to a number of my students who will be out for the team and they are getting excited to get going on the season. The first outdoor meet isn't until the first week of April so we'll have a good amount of time to get the runners in shape for their first meet. I will be running with the team most days of the week but when I run with them it will usually be only the start of my workout because my short runs are now very similar to the high school team's medium to long runs. I might also start doing my main workout early in the AM before school and then put in some easy miles in the afternoon with the team. I haven't decided for sure on that yet but it's certainly a good possibility.

More snow and nasty weather is on its way to Minnesota this week. It wouldn't be the start of track season without it though! Enjoy daylight savings time being back, lighter much later, I'm liking it already!

Blizzard Run on a Shortened Work Day

2009-02-26T19:37:00.001-06:00

My planned run for today was to get in between 11 and 13 miles at a normal pace, just putting in some miles. Well, obviously today in Minnesota was not an ideal running day. The snow began to fall in Watertown outside my classroom a little after 10:30 am and the superintendent decided to close school at 11:00 am because of the incoming storm. I spent a grand total of 50 minutes teaching today (I don't teach during 1st period, that is my prep time). In a way, it was great but it was also almost like a waste of the morning because I didn't feel like I accomplished much. The big positive that came out of the day was that I got to drive back to my apartment in Mound before the snow got too heavy. Once back I decided to get my run in right away before the snow got to be too much.

It was a good and bad plan all in one. I avoided the roads and ran on the Dakota Trail which goes right through the center of town and connects St. Bonifacius to Wayzata (about 17-18 miles long). I went west into the wind first until I reached St. Boni and turned around to come back. Just prior to me turning around to come back the wind shifted and the entire run back to my apartment was also into the wind! Not fun. The snow also picked up at that point so I had steadily growing icicles coming off of my eyebrows, eyelashes, and my hat. Despite all of that I completed the run (about 12.5 miles) and felt fairly good about it too. It will set me up good for the rest of the week's workouts. Tempo workout tomorrow after school, long run of 15-16 miles along the Mississippi and on Summit Avenue in St. Paul on Saturday, and a hill workout at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids on Sunday. I'm looking forward to them and hopefully no more snow!

Tough Race, Tough Start to the New Week

2009-02-23T19:01:00.003-06:00

Saturday was a tough race to get through. It was a 5K, which is basically a warm-up for me, and the course was covered in fresh snow. Parts of the course had been plowed but much of it had not been so I knew the times would not be fast (which was right). I ran a hard effort without faceplanting in the snow and finished 2nd overall out of about 150 runners. Considering the conditions I was happy with the race. I ran my cool down with the guy who beat me. He actually lives about 10 miles from me and is also training for a spring marathon, Madison (Wisconsin), at the end of May. He's run a couple before with a P.R. of just over 3 hours.

Sunday's run was tough and it was simply because I didn't eat what I normally do prior to a longer run. The food didn't sit well and I was uncomfortable for most of the run, but I maintained a decent pace and got in 14 miles before the sun went down. I ended with 61 miles for the week which I am pretty happy with for it being only February. I'm looking at reaching into the 80s for mileage by late March and into early April and everything is right on track for that. My first significant interval workout is next week, a workout called Yasso 800s. I'll be doing 5-6 of them the first time around. The goal is that 3 to 4 weeks prior to the marathon, you run 10x800 at your goal time (i.e. run the 800 in 3 minutes, 0 seconds if your marathon goal is 3 hours, 0 minutes) with an equal amount of jogging recovery. I'll be doing this workout 3 teams over the next two months, gradually increasing the number of intervals each time.

Anyway, I'm ready for this day to be done. I am currently sitting at the quarterly parent-teacher conferences. I haven't had a parent come by in about 15 minutes, this place is like a ghost town for all the teachers around me right now (kinda nice!). I'm here for 20 more minutes and then my day of 13 hours at school will be done...just in time to start it all over again in less than 10 hours!

Phase 2 Underway

2009-02-18T19:47:00.002-06:00

This week marks the start of the 2nd phase of my marathon training for Fargo in May. The 1st phase was primarily just a base training phase, building miles and increasing the endurance. This 2nd phase brings in more marathon pace workouts and hill and interval workouts as well as continuing to increase my longer runs and my overall mileage. Today I ran my first real tempo workout (not counting the Fartlek workouts I've done weekly) and considering I ran most of the tempo pace head-on into a pretty tough chilly wind, the pacing felt good and I felt strong. I didn't push too hard but I know I put in a good effort with the legs definitely feeling a little sore right now.

What will be really interesting will be my 5K road race coming up this weekend. I'll be racing an outdoor 5K in White Bear Lake Saturday morning. It'll simply be a test to see where I'm at. I plan to push myself pretty hard but a February 5K outside can be pretty unpredictable with weather and road conditions. I'm excited to just get out and compete though, it feels like it's been too long.

If all goes well on Saturday, my next race will be the Human Race on March 22nd in St. Paul. I'm planning to run the doubleheader there (5K then 8K). After that, it's a little open but I'm looking at this for a schedule: April 4th: Bunker Hills 8K in Coon Rapids, April 25th: Get in Gear Half-Marathon in Minneapolis, and May 9th: Fargo Marathon.

A Fun Day at School!

2009-02-05T20:08:00.002-06:00

The weather is finally taking a turn for the better in Minnesota. We hit 35 today, and it felt like 40! But before I got out on my afternoon run, we had a fun event at the end of the school day today. It is Snow Week at WMHS and today was the annual Staff vs. Seniors basketball game. This has been a tradition for over 20 years and I got to be a part of it. I hadn't played much ball in a while so I was unsure of how it would go. I grew up playing basketball before I got into running so it is another love of mine. With me being the youngest teacher in the building and in very good shape compared to most of the other staff members, I basically played the entire game (only 20 minutes). My shots early on were ugly but I managed to put a few baskets in and the Staff ended up winning by 2 at the end! It was a lot of fun to have many of my students cheering for me and I even got to play against some of my students.

Running is a sport that rarely gets publicity or much notice from the average public. My students occasionally hear me talk about my running but they don't ever see it, but they got to see a small taste of it today. A few students came up to me after the game and said, "Wow! You are fast!" I wasn't even running that hard but I almost always beat everyone else down the court. That's just how I always played. Tomorrow will be fun to see some of the other comments I get from my other students about the game.

After the game and the school day ended I got out on a 10.5 mile Fartlek run in the beautiful weather. It felt great and I got warm enough I dumped my headband and gloves 2 miles in. Looking at the weather report, it'll be like that for a week or so now. I am looking forward to it.

Also, there is a new half-marathon race in the Twin Cities beginning this spring. The annual Get In Gear event at Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis is adding a half-marathon to the event. I am leaning towards running this as my final prep race before the Fargo Marathon. The Get In Gear will now have a distance for almost every runner: Half-Marathon, 10K, 5K, and 2K.

Enjoy the warm weather in the midwest this next week, I know I will!

Super Saturday before Super Sunday

2009-02-01T11:14:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, spring made an appearance on the last day of January. 45 degrees and very sunny made for an amazing day to be outside and to get a break from what has so far been a tough winter for running. I had my longest single run since last October's Twin Cities Marathon, just shy of 14.5 miles and it felt great. Running in shorts, long sleeves, sunglasses I got a lot of weird looks from passers-by and got some interesting comments from them as well. Deep down I know it won't last but boy I sure wish it would. After I finish my run this afternoon I will be just shy of 60 miles for the week, a great week considering how busy things have been and I'm hoping that this pace can continue.

Looking back at my past marathon training seasons, this one is already on pace to be the highest mileage training season and my endurance level at this point is already much higher than it's been in quite some time. My goal is to maintain my mileage around 55-65 miles for the next few weeks (doing only 6 runs a week, one-a-day, with one rest day) before I really start to ramp up in mid-February. This is me hoping that over the next few weeks the weather will gradually warm up (next week we're supposed to be in the 20s and 30s!) and stay that way for a while. This is never a guarantee in Minnesota but I'm an optimistic guy and I like to keep hoping.

In March, the high school track season will begin and I will be helping out with my school's track team. My primary role for this spring will be to simply run with the distance runners, do an occasional interval workout with them and cheer them on at the track meets. It'll be interesting to see how my personal training will go with running with the high school team, whether I will need to keep a faster pace, do additional miles myself, or run tempo or interval workouts above and beyond what the team is doing. Since I do want to be a full-time track and cross country coach while still doing my own training and racing, this spring track season will be a great test for me.

Everything in the upper midwest, enjoy this weekend's heat wave. I'm going out for my run and then settling in to enjoy the Super Bowl tonight!

GO CARDINALS! (I'm a diehard Packers fan but I'm also a Coon Rapids Cardinal alum, so the Cardinals have a special place in my heart, at least tonight!)

What a Week

2009-01-16T19:52:00.002-06:00

For those of you in Minnesota and the rest of the upper midwest, you know what an interesting week for living it has been here. Having the coldest temps in 5 years (-20s with wind chills into the -40s!) made it a tough week just to step outside, let alone run outside. The one positive that came out of it for me was that school was closed yesterday and we had a 2 hour late start today! With every intention of heading to Lifetime yesterday on my day off to get a good indoor workout in, my car managed to not work and I was stranded at my apartment all day!

With the warmth slowly coming back I got in a good run after school today. Fortunately I had a great workout on Tuesday in the snow that the week hasn't been a total waste. I ran at AT in 2 feet of snow for 30 minutes on Tuesday afternoon. My AT is currently at 185, the highest it has ever been for me. I was tested about two weeks ago for it to start my new training, just so I knew where to base my training off of.

Tomorrow I will be heading back to River Falls for our annual Alumni track meet. I don't know if I'll run any races yet. The longest race they have is 2000 meters, which isn't even a warm-up for me but getting in something quicker would be good for me to do. If nothing else, I'll get in a good run around River Falls with a change of scenery. With nearly 4 months until my next marathon, I'm not worrying too much about racing at this point and if the weather is forcing me to take a day off or at least run inside, now is the time to do it. I hate missing a day, even this early in my training program but I know that it's better I miss a day than to be frostbitten and miss a week or two.

So goes the life of a runner in a Minnesota winter. Happy running all through the rest of January and stay warm!!

- Brandon

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-22T13:00:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas to one and all! I have reached my first Christmas break as a teacher and the break really feels like one! It feels weird that I don't have work or schoolwork of any kind to have to do and I can truly relax. It has given me plenty of time to go running but of course this cold weather and snow has provided its own challenges. I've had many of my students and fellow teachers look at me out running and just call me crazy.

Winter running provides a unique challenge. The weather is the greatest foe and with snow covering everything, many of my favorite grass and dirt trails have disappeared. Running through the snow is a great workout though and at the rate this snow has been coming I can tell I'll be having plenty of runs in the snow over the next few months. This will be my first winter of preparing for a marathon throughout the winter season so it'll be a big test to see if I can do it.

I begin my marathon training shortly after the new year to get ready for the Fargo Marathon in May. Everyone enjoy the Christmas season. In Minnesota it'll be another white Christmas. Enjoy your time with family and friends.

- Brandon

Update...It's Been A While

2008-12-02T19:51:00.002-06:00

Well, I haven't posted since mid-October so I decided it was about time. I certainly have been running since then, but it's always a challenge to keep running when there isn't anything specific to be training for. I just decide at the time of the run how far to go and how fast to do it. However, it has been nice to just enjoy running.

On Thanksgiving, I did get into a race, the Turkey Day 5K in downtown Minneapolis. I didn't run any spectacular time but I certainly don't have much for 5K speed anymore but I had a lot of fun and still averaged under 6:00 per mile. My girlfriend and her mom both ran as well as my buddy Justin and his girlfriend Kristen. I gained a little motivation from it as I will be running another fun event this Saturday, the Reindeer Run out at Lake Harriet. This will be my 4th Reindeer Run in 5 years and I'm hoping for good weather. My first year (2004) was in the mid-40s and beautiful, the second year (2005) was blizzard conditions and I ran my slowest road 5K ever! My most recent Reindeer Run was 2006 when it was about 5 degrees above zero. Any kind of weather is possible and I'll certainly be ready for whatever comes.

Also on Saturday, my friend Justin will be running a 50 miler out in River Falls, WI. I will be joining him for part of his run after I am done at Lake Harriet.

The other major update for me is that I have registered for what will be my 7th marathon. I will be running the 5th annual Fargo Marathon on Saturday, May 9th, 2009. It's a flat course and they are roads I know well. A fellow teacher I work and run with will most likely be attempting his first marathon that same day (he hasn't decided between doing 13.1 or 26.2 yet) and a high school teammate of mine will be running as well as my girlfriend's mom will be running the half-marathon there. I'm excited for it and it will be interesting to see how my body reacts to some serious and hopefully consistent training throughout the upcoming Minnesota winter.

One Week After

2008-10-12T12:10:00.003-05:00

The 2008 Twin Cities Marathon is a race that will remain etched in my memory for years to come. Completing career marathon #6 was a bit of a survival run because of the conditions but certainly another unforgettable one. I felt like I prepared myself very well in the final weeks leading up to the race and was full of energy when I arrived at the Dome Sunday morning. After running my warm-up with my good friend Justin Youngblom, we made our way to the starting line. I was in Corral 1 and was running a bit behind in getting to the line so once I reached my starting spot, I had only about 30 seconds before the horn blew and the race was underway. I was near the back of Corral 1 at the start so I spent about a mile just passing people and finding others that were near my ideal pace.

I quickly found a good group to run with and then the rains came. Despite getting totally soaked it was actually a lot of fun running in the pouring rain. I found myself in a good pack that stayed tight together running at a good pace, partly so we could all stay warm. Near mile 11 I saw my parents for the first time (they were at mile 7 but I didn't see them) cheering and going nuts in the pouring rain. That gave me a little shot of adrenaline and got me going. Not long after that the rains began to let up but the wind increased my legs started to get very cold. I ran with a guy from New Zealand for a couple miles around Lake Nokomis and talked with him for a while which made those miles go by much faster. I encountered him again at mile 18 and we ran stride for stride until the hill at St. Thomas when I was really struggling. He kept me going for about as long as I possibly could which I really appreciated.

I ran into my parents at miles 17 and 21 and they were now joined by my girlfriend and her mom, who had run the 10 mile earlier in the morning. I also saw my college cross country coach and his wife while I was struggling up the St. Thomas hill and my coach, Don Glover, was going absolutely nuts for me! He has always been an amazing encouraging man and a great motivator so he put a smile on my face again. From there it was a battle with Summit Avenue. I would call the battle a draw because I survived the final miles but I was nowhere near where I had hoped to be.

I ended up running 3:10:52, good enough to qualify me for Boston again, which is always awesome. I had hoped for a sub-2:59 but today just wasn't the day. A week later now, my body has recovered well and I'm getting back into running starting tomorrow. I won't be going to Boston this next spring because of the cost, so my plan right now is to most likely run the Green Bay or Fargo Marathon in May 2009. My serious training won't start for that until January so the next couple months are just going to be some good time to just enjoy running, get into good overall shape, and have some fun running a couple 5Ks that I always like doing: the Turkey Day 5K and the Reindeer Run.

I've also added some pictures on here from last Sunday's marathon.

One Week and counting...

2008-09-28T08:50:00.000-05:00

At this time a week from now I should be somewhere between the 9 and 10 mile markers on Minnehaha Parkway in the 2008 Twin Cities Marathon. It's been a year and 3 months since my last marathon (which was a disaster) and I've been itching to get this one underway ever since. A marathon is almost like an addiction; once you complete that first one you gotta do another and then another.

I've never been more excited for a marathon though than this one. My entire family is getting in on the fun of the weekend this year. My sister and her boyfriend are going to be running in the 5K at the State Capitol on Saturday morning and the entire family is going to the expo afterwards. On Sunday, my girlfriend's (Jen) mom, Jill, will be running in the TC 10 Mile and then the marathon will begin. I am shooting for a new P.R. this year and if the weather cooperates I think it will be well within my reach. My current P.R. is 2:59:01 set at Grandma's 2006 and it's my only sub 3:00 to date. I also want to re-qualify for Boston so I can get myself back out to Boston for a little redemption on that course in either 2009 or 2010.

Good luck to those running next weekend as well. Enjoy the final week of tapering...it is probably the most exciting frustrating week of the year!

Countdown is Underway

2008-09-16T19:30:00.000-05:00

I have now officially begun the countdown to this year's Twin Cities Marathon. With less than 3 weeks to go, my tapering has gradually begun. I completed my final long run last Saturday, a 22 miler on the marathon course on a rainy cool morning. It felt good despite how tired my body was. I was certainly sore from it but recovered rather quickly and am feeling very good now about getting ready to run 4.2 miles longer than that in a couple weeks.

My body has been physically and mentally taxed over the last 2 weeks more than ever before in my life. Being a teacher and training seriously for a marathon at the beginning of a school year has been a great challenge. My runs have often been a great stress reliever at the end of a busy day of working with high school kids. Teaching 3 different science classes has required a lot of time in and out of school for preparation of labs and activities as well as grading students' work plus doing what I can to be getting my body ready for the marathon. With each day though, it is becoming better and better, and easier to get everything done I need to get done.

And with each day, I'm loving the profession of teaching more and more. I am getting to know my students better each day and am building some good student-teacher relationships with many of them. I am also keeping my students posted on my preparation for the marathon. I keep a countdown on my board in my classroom and they all think I'm nuts for doing it, but many of them are going to be coming out to the race to cheer me on, which I think is very cool considering I've only been in this school for 3 weeks.

It's an exciting and busy time for me, one that I am loving and I certainly each day continues to get better like it has been.

God Bless,
- Brandon

City of Lakes 25K

2008-09-07T18:09:00.000-05:00

You couldn't have asked for much better weather this morning for running. It was cool, cloudy and not too humid, which translated to the great chance of having a great day of racing. At the City of Lakes 25K at Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet I had my final race leading up to next month's Twin Cities Marathon. I wasn't sure how to approach this race other than I really wanted to know where my body was at and if it could handle the kind of pace I was hoping to run next month. The first 13 miles went really well and I was running a pace that would translate to around 2:50 - 2:53 for the marathon. The last 2.5 miles were a little hilly and my legs did not like it one bit. My quads are still burning as I type this hours later but I still managed to finish in a time of 1:44:53, which would be equivalent to a 2:58 marathon. That would be a P.R. for me and considering I had a couple hard workouts earlier this week I'm feeling extremely good about it.

I'm planning for one more good long training run next week before the tapering begins. I can only hope that this amazing fall weather continues to cooperate for the next few weeks and on October 5th, we can get a day similar to today. If so, expect to see a lot of amazing times at TCM! I plan on being one of them!

Tough Day

2008-08-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

With today being a fairly cloudy and cooler day, I decided to get out onto the track at my new place of employment: Watertown-Mayer High School. As the workout of mile repeats went along, the humidity in the air increased greatly and I was ridiculously soaked after only 3 repeats. I hit the times I was aiming for each time but by the time the third one was done, I was on the edging of passing out and puking at the same time (not a good feeling). I called it a day at that point.

Fortunately, this has been one of the few workouts over the last week and a half that has not gone well. On Saturday morning (an amazing morning for a run), I got up early and ran the Twin Cities Marathon course from mile 16.5 to the finish line and back. It went extremely well and was my longest training run so far. My legs recovered really quickly and I really felt great afterwards. I'm planning to run the City of Lakes 25K on Sunday, September 7th as a final prep race for the marathon and then will hopefully get a 20-22 mile run in sometime the following weekend before the tapering begins!!

Only 38.5 days until Twin Cities Marathon 2008!!

First Run in My New Town

2008-08-18T16:19:00.001-05:00

I had my first run in my new town of Mound, Minnesota this morning. Right behind my apartment complex runs a brand new paved trail that used to be a rail line. I followed it west of town away from Lake Minnetonka and ended up at, for me, an infamous place: Gale Woods. For those who don't know, Gale Woods is an educational farm and park with a 5K cross country running course. I ran in the first ever cross country race held there during my senior year of high school and placed 10th in the conference meet. When I spotted the sign and realized where I was, I just had to run a little bit of the course. It's still just as challenging as it was back then with a few really tough hills but it was good to find a familiar place in an otherwise unfamiliar location.

Olympic Fever & Marathon Prep

2008-08-12T22:06:00.000-05:00

The Olympics have been going strong for a few days and I've been glued to my TV and to my computer, watching events every free chance I get. Fortunately, I don't have to work during the duration of the Olympics so I can get away with it. I'm absolutely loving what Phelps has been doing in the pool (just got gold #4, going for #5 in minutes!) but I'm really looking forward to the track and field events starting on Friday, especially for the men's marathon on the final day of competition. I'm really pulling for Ryan Hall. He is a humble but confident runner, and he runs for all the right reasons, not for his own glory but for God's.

After about a week and a half of taking some days of rest to let my shin splints subside, I've been getting back into my training. Yesterday I got in a quality 2 hour run with the Coon Rapids High School cross country team on their first day of official practice for the fall season. I hadn't planned to run the full two hours but I ended up doing it. It counted as my long run for the week and it definitely showed to me that I was back and ready to get back into full training again. I did not run the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon as I had originally planned because of my shins, so I am planning to get a final preparation run in sometime in early September, possibly the City of Lakes 25K or a 20 miler in White Bear Lake or River Falls, WI.

I'll be moving into my new apartment in Mound, MN at the end of the week so most likely my next post will come from my new residence, certainly searching for new places to run.

Tough Run

2008-07-27T12:45:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was one of those days where you just try to survive the race distance. I had high hopes for the Lumberjack Days 10 mile yesterday morning. The race came at the end of one of my toughest weeks of running I've had in a very long time and I found myself with almost no energy halfway through the race. Multiple times the thought of dropping out crossed my mind but I knew the answer to that would always be no.

I was able to finish fairly strong, getting my final mile down to about the time I had been shooting for the entire race. I still finished 63rd overall in a race of 1,100 finishers so that I was certainly not disappointed about. I spent the rest of the day drained so I'm going to back off a little bit this week and give myself a little bit of recovery. I may change my race plans for the coming weeks. I really want to have a good half-marathon prep race so I really know what my body is capable of when the marathon comes up in 10 weeks.

Short Race

2008-07-20T11:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, my last day as a 23 year old, I ran a 5K in my soon-to-be new town, Watertown, MN. It was a decent day to race but the race seemed so short. I ran very even mile splits but felt I easily could've kept that pace for many more miles. At the start I felt really slow because all of these high school and college aged runners went sprinting out in the first mile. However, I caught a few of them about 2 miles in, even though my final time was nothing to brag about.

I recovered really quickly and ran 13.5 miles this morning to celebrate my birthday! Next week will be a real test to see what kind of endurance shape I am in and how good I really am getting at my pacing as I plan to run the Lumberjack Days 10 Mile in Stillwater. I'm looking forward to it because I haven't run a long race like that in quite some time.

Update: TCM Training

2008-07-13T12:57:00.000-05:00

It's been quite a while since I posted. My life has been a whirlwind these last couple of months. As the summer continues on, my life will be encountering a lot of big changes. I will be moving out on my own to take on my first teaching job at Watertown-Mayer High School in Watertown, MN. I will be teaching chemistry and physical science. I am really looking forward to it and I'm excited to be moving out on my own.

In the mean time this summer, I'm enjoying my last bit of time living with my family and running around the city of Coon Rapids and the north metro. However, I'm beginning to see some indications that maybe it's time to get out of CR and move on to somewhere else. A few days ago I saw a giant banana run across the street as I approached them along my run! An odd sight to see for sure but I know I wasn't hallucinating because I was only 2 miles into my run.

I am into my full training for the Twin Cities Marathon now and have been increasing my mileage over the last couple weeks. The training has been going well but because of my summer job I have been forced to run at 4:30 in the afternoon three days out of the week and each of those days I am on my feet for 10 hours during the day before the run. It's been a big challenge but my body is finally getting used to running in the heat of the day. I would still much rather run early in the morning though.

Over the next few weeks I'll plan to post more regularly and keep posting on my training and my races coming up over the next few weeks. I will be racing three times over the next four weeks: Watertown Rails to Trails 5K next Saturday, Lumberjack Days 10 Mile on July 26th in Stillwater, and the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon on August 9th from Stillwater to Hudson, WI.

Sick of Snow

2008-04-12T20:04:00.000-05:00

So living and running in Minnesota has long provided some interesting challenges, primarily in the weather department. Our winters are long, cold and snowy, our spring almost doesn't exist, our summers are humid, and our autumns go by in the blink of an eye back to winter. However, the last couple winters have had much less snow (but still cold) so trails have been much more accessible. This winter seems like it will never end. More snow came over the last two days and some of my favorite trails are covered in a few inches of snow. Normally, I don't care but with my recovery from my most recent injury I have to be careful on uneven and unpredictable surfaces. The weathermen are saying 60s sometime this week but I'll believe it when I see it. In the meantime, I am continuing to pound the pavement dreaming of the days when I can finally run on some beautiful wooded grass and dirt trails again.

Only 6 days until Twin Cities Marathon registration begins and only 7 days until my first race in 10 months!

Running in the Rain

2008-04-06T17:12:00.000-05:00

From the moment I left church this morning the rain has been coming down. With so many things to get done for what will certainly be a busy week I had to make time for my first run in the rain of the year. I love to run in the rain, as long as it's not too cold along with the rain, because it can be extremely refreshing. I don't mind getting wet and muddy on a run and with this rain, the good news is most of the snow around here is melting away. I decided to run on some of the trails through Bunker Hills Park to go through the woods. The sound of the rain hitting the trees and falling to the ground is so relaxing, plus I had the trails to myself which allowed me to talk to myself and not appear crazy to anyone else!

I just got hired as the middle school track coach at Northdale this week and practice starts in a week, so training these young kids should be an exciting experience. I'm really looking forward to it and I can't wait to see if my training methods will be beneficial to them.

Who I Am

2008-03-30T12:24:00.000-05:00

My name is Brandon and I am a runner from Coon Rapids, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. I have been running now for 10 years, since I was in middle school and am about to finish college this spring with a teaching degree in physics and chemistry. I will be using this blog to talk about why I run, what I'm doing with my running, racing, basically anything that has to do with running in my life.

A little history of my life as a runner: I began running on my middle school track team as a way to stay in shape for basketball season but quickly fell in love with running, so much so that within two years of high school I no longer played basketball but ran year round! I ran for Coon Rapids High School in cross country and track and absolutely loved it. I began college at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND preparing to run for the college but a major injury came quickly and that plan ended abruptly. I transferred to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls the next year and began training for my first marathon (once I was healthy) and ran the 2004 Twin Cities Marathon that fall.

That race got me hooked on the distance and I had to do another one! I barely qualified for Boston but I did qualify so I had to go out and run it, so I did. I ran Boston 2005 and since I have run Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN in 2006 and 2007 and also ran the Twin Cities Marathon in 2005. My P.R. (personal record) is 2:59:01 (Grandma's 2006) but my running has been sporadic over the last 8 months.

After running Grandma's 2007, I began training for my final season of college cross country at UW-River Falls but quickly developed a rather severe injury to my left hip. I went through a number of doctors before getting physical therapy which finally solved the problem. Over the last month, while student teaching, I have finally gotten back into running consistently and it's such an amazing feeling to just be able to be running regularly again. When I can't run consistently, it feels like there is something missing in my life.

I believe that my ability and love of running is a gift that God has blessed me with and I want to be sure that my gift does not go to waste, not to mention running is easily my greatest stress reliever and my best way to relax.

I'm planning to register for the 2008 Twin Cities Marathon and train for it this summer. Up until then, I'm planning to take each run one workout at a time and just enjoy the coming of spring and perhaps run a road race here or there!