1600 miles

Thanks for all the good comments concerning the running club. Joe Garland made some good points. I do have a small group of 4 to 6 of us that meet regular to run together. We are all currently in the club but are considering not resigning up for the upcoming year. We have been using there meeting place to plan our runs from. The one benefit we would lose is the use of a cabin in winter months before and after a run. They have elected a new president, the past one didnt run this year. I know alot of people have personality problem with him and quit coming because of it. He seems to worry more about cutting costs and apperances then how many people show up. On outside it looks great, they won awards from RRCA, some national some regional. RRCA runner of the year was a member. I may of seen him at 1 or 2 club functions a year. Looks good on paper though. Anyways I have a month to think it over and see what the guys I regularly run with decide to do.

On a colder note, I ran 5.8 miles today in 20 degrees with the windchill down to 5*. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. But that got me to 1600 miles for the year. I made it, sure I made it to this arbritrary number even though another rest day may of better served me. But what fun is running without some OCD??

Running Club

I moved this past weekend hence the reason I havent posted in almost a week. Better reason then my usual laziness. I did get some running in.

On some recent runs with the guys I normally run with we have been discussing whether we are going to continue to be in the Youngstown Road Runners Club, YRRC. I think I mentioned this before, but its really gotten away from what we would want out of a club. It's like why should we spend our money on this. Im back to work now but after being laid off for 4 weeks and not knowing what ahead I rather save my money or spend it on a race. Its a given Im going to spend so much money a year on running/racing. So its best to be prudent with it. I figure February first is the cutoff date since if im not paid by then I wont get a discount at the Distance Classic half marathon in March.

The other main reason is the club has seemed to go from a fun club to one thats mostly money oriented. Has much has a non profit organization can be. The number of people regularly attending has dropped noticably. Some days its almost sad how few are there. It seems most decisions are made with saving/making money in mind and not about the members enjoyment. They have gotten rid of many fun things, a corn roast, 100 mile club to name a few to save money. They keep using the reason of putting more money for the shoe program or endowment while building a good size bank account. Maybe if enough of us dont pay it will send a message. Since money is their main concern Im not sure I want them to have mine. Of course maybe I need to be more charitable.

Merry Christmas and Happy running!!

Snowy Sunday

Todays run went better. Even though I slept in and got there late. But they waited for me. So the 4 of us, Bob, Len, Carrie and me took off for a 7 miler. The roads were snowed covered but the snow had stopped. Basically it was just cold. It was my best run of the week, even in the conditions. I probably could of gone longer but it felt like enough to me. Was odd because I cannt remeber when I was late for a Sunday run at 9 am. Guess I was more tired then I thought last night.

Wheres my mojo??

I felt like I lost my mojo this week. My desire to run was lost. Even today while I did get in 8 miles it wasnt a fun lets get out there and run. Good thing I had podcasts to listen to. Thank you Dan and Nik.

But this week I returned to work, on midnight shift. I always feel tired while working nights no matter how much sleep I get in. Blah. I was on track to make 1600miles but now I dont think Im going to make it because of several factors.
*Being on Midnight shift.
*Twisted ankle in November.
*The cold I had in November.(November wasnt good to me)
*The cold. I havent had alot of desire to run in it.
*I should of done more miles earlier in year.
*My foot leg was bothering me. Need to stretch more.
*Im moving end of the month. Wont have has much time to move next week.

I try not to make excuses but those are the reasons I probably wont make it to 1600 miles. Notice I didnt list the Holidays. Bah Humbug I will run on Chrismas. This week I have not had my regular desire to run. Hopefully it will be back soon. I get this way occasionally but usually only lasts a day or 2.

The streak ends.

My 19 day running streak ended yesterday. It was a short streak but I felt I needed it. And getting back to work, on midnight shift none the less made it tougher to recover from runs. My foots been hurting, thinking plantaars fascitis flaring up. Hurts worse walking around barefoot. I hardly been stretching might be the problem.

This is probably going to be a cutback week. I was over 40 for 2 weeks in a row for first time ever. Need more weeks like them. But think I should stick to 5 or 6 days of running, I seem to need that day off, even though I would like to get a few extra easy miles in.

Tonight had a fun run with Bob, Rick and Len over in Girard. It was cold but good company on the run.

Back to work

I had a good week. Especially good weekend. I have run 18 days in a row. Not sure if the streak will continue since im back to work starting tonight. I got 42.3 miles in this week. Last week 42.1. I think I will shoot for 42 again next week. I realized later on that this was first time I ever did 2 weeks in a row of 40 mpw. I guess I never thought about it. I have had bigger weeks when I was marathon training but I guess never had that much 2 weeks in a row. Now to shoot for 3. Since im working wont be has easy.

FA

Im such a wimp. I woke up at 6 to go run at 7 for this run put on bye the trail club, http://teampr.info/urineo.htm I had planned to do just one loop. But I woke snow on the ground and it was 17* out. I lollygaged around, then finally drove to park and got there about 8. Which is when I normally show up. I was going to either jump on trail alone or just stay on roads. But a few of the guys were about to start the second loop, only knew what but heck I can run with almost anyone. The trails there barely had a dusting of snow. Other then being frozen were in good shape. One of the guys I ran with came from Pittsburgh, the another came down from Cleveland. And I had trouble getting moving this morning, good thing I didnt have to drive that far. I stuck to my plan and just did one loop of 8.3 miles. They continued on. One guy was planning to do the whole 50 miles, he's signed up for a 100 miler next spring. Other guy was going to do around 32. Made me feel wimpy. One nice part of running trails with going that far is they were going at a nice easy pace. We even stopped at the covered bridge to talk to some others that were doing the loop in the opposite direction. Maybe next time I will do a less wimpy 2 loops.

The quest continues.........

My quest for 160o miles is still on track. I need 104.7 miles left this month to make it. That works out to less then 5 miles a day. I plan to do some longer runs. If this keeps up will be my biggest month ever. Considering im not in an actual "marathon plan" and just base building for my next marathon. I havent canceled my plans to run Cleveland marathon. Im hoping im back to work real soon, january at the latest. So I should have a better base and do more miles then in other training phases. Well thats the plan at least.

Serious race photo

See how serious we took this race, this is the picture we STOPPED to have taken like truly serious runners.


http://teampr.info/darkpark.htm




Finishing video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMCMOLwTgSk

To race or not?

Im trying to decide whether or not to run the Frozen Firefighter 5k the coming Saturday. Normally its a no brainer. I have run it 4 years a row, every year since I started running. Matter of fact I only missed the first running of it, because I wasnt running then. But since Im laid off and not sure when Im gong back to work. So I probably shouldnt spend the money. The fact I havent done any speedwork the last month is only a small factor. I dont feel like Im running has been has good has it was, due to twisted ankle and catching a cold. So should I run it or not? I wont bandit a race, dont agree with it. If you dont pay you shouldnt take advantage of what racers are paying for. Plus I wouldnt consider it a race if im not officially registered.

Dark Park Pursiut 15K Adventure Run

Yesterday afternoon while waiting for the race I watched it snow and snow and snow. It hadn't been snowing in morning then around 1 it started snowing. In bunches. But I guess if you are going to run a race at night in december you shouldnt be surprised by these things. I got ready and Rick showed up, I was riding with him to race. It was a slow ride there cause of road conditions had me wondering what the running conditions will be, especially the trail sections.

We got there and did a "warm up" bye sitting in Bob's car trying to stay out of the cold and wind. No its not my normal warm up but this was to be a fun run. And I was guaranteed a PR. I had got my shirt and number. Nice long sleeve shirt.

Finally it was time to start the race. With headlamps on we headed to starting line. The course did a lot of loops around Mosquito Lake park, on and off road. http://teampr.info/darkparkmap.htm With a couple of inches of snow and it snowing the whole race made for some tough footing. The 3 of us had decided to run it together which we stuck to. It was tough running, wind, snow and in the dark. The trail parts of the course were real tricky. But it turned into one of the funnest races I have ever done. We even stopped and got our picture taken. I know who took it and will be checking his blog for picture.

Our group was joined bye this girl who basically used us to pace herself. Probably a good thing that she wore head phones and didnt hear any of our mindless chattering. We finally got back to finish. We pick it up for the last 50 yards or so, just glad to be done with it. My time: Very slow. Splits: I didnt bother, I was lucky that I even saw some of the mile markers in the dark. Overall, a fun race, regardless of weather, course was marked good enough, with plenty of volunteers. I feel the weather just made it more of a challenge.

Not much after race but being there was no where to go inside, we didnt stick around long. Rick, Bob and me went and got a few beers and wings. Good way to finish off the night.

Friday

I got in a chilly run today. I am still coughing a little but feeling better. Not much of a pace but this month is all about getting the miles in. For me thats the only good thing about being laid off, I got time to run and recover. This will be one of the few times I have run 7 days a week. I had set a goal of 1600 miles for the year and while I hit some bumps in the road during november, december is off to a good start. I got 25.1 miles in so far this week and a big weekend planned. Im signed up for a 15K race tomorrow evening. http://teampr.info/darkpark.htm A few of us have talked and are doing it has a fun run. It will be run in the dark, with snow

Then Sunday is the Road Runners christmas party. I told someone I would be there a little early so we could get 8 miles in. I feel a big december, at least running wise.

Running Times

When I ran Akron Marathon one of the premiums listed was a years subscription to Running Times. It had been so long I had forgotten about it. Figured it was messed up or they changed their minds. Maybe I read it wrong. Then yesterday, they arrived. 2 issues came on the same day. Why not spread them thru out the year a little. A little time between issues isnt a bad idea. The one issue is probably a month old, had article about Constantina Tomescu-Dita winning the gold medal. If she runs for Romania why she live in Colorado?

Any ways, I wil say this is another plus for running the Akron marathon.