What a Week

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!

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

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

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...

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

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

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!