December 23rd to the 29th

Being the holidays and all running usually suffers, due to time constraints, family obligations, ect, running just sits on the back burner...well not this year. Might sound sad, but we had a nice quiet Christmas. Lots of cooking, relaxing, and even plenty of time to run! We do miss our family and friends back east, but we can also be so thankful to have each-other.

Mon: 2.9 easy. Called into work sooner than I thought. Cold out.

Tue: 10.2 moderate - Christmas eve run. Temp went from 8 degrees to 2...brrr. Pup came back with beardsicle.

Wed: 4.2 easy snowshoe. Legs were surprisingly soar from yesterday. All that slip sliding around on snowy roads. Not easy at all. Snow coming down (on Christmas day!) and poorly packed ski trail made it quite the workout. Kept it short.

Thur: 9.5 mi total. Ditched the planned tempo and did a progressively faster mile repeats with .25 rest. (5:55, 5:46, 5:43, 5:39). Finished off with a half mile slow at 6% grade. Solid workout. Pleased to feel how easy it was even though it was on a treadmill. I hit my knee pretty bad at work on a piece of steel and it swelled right up. It was stiff starting out, but it was ok running the repeats.

Fri: 7.3 mi total. Got 7 miles done easy. snowy roads made it a nice recovery run. Finished off the run with 4, short fast hill repeats for strength.

Sat: 16 miles. Long run. Ran with the pup. Snow covered roads for much of it, but we were treated to temps just about at freezing for the first time in over a month. Even though the sun hadn't come out yet, the light breeze made it for one of the most enjoyable runs in the last couple of weeks. Miles 11,12,13,14,15 were all at a hard effort. (Below 6:40 pace).

Sun: 4 miles. snowshoe run on the snowmobile trails. Pretty soar. Right soleus, knee and hamstring all bothering me. Dam right leg...Got in a solid core session as well.

Total: 54 miles

Good week. Got a couple of races coming up soon and I'll try to get results and commentary posted as soon as I can.


It may be evident to anyone that pays attention to my running log that I've ignored weights and core for the last couple of weeks..Well I have a good reason. I got a temporary job with UPS as a pre-loader (or better stated, un-loader). I sit in the trailer and get the packages off the trailer onto the belt pretty much as fast a possible. Back to running, it's provided a nice strength routine the last couple of weeks. A whole body routine as some packages could weight in excess of 70 lbs. But it's time to come back to reality as the Holiday season wraps up. Time to refocus.

I'll leave you with this. The holiday season is great. Friends, family, make it what it should be, a joyus time, but there is one thing that continues to keep me ticking year after year. FOOD!

Christmas morning breakfast: Eggs Benedict. Minus the Canadian. 

Christmas dinner: Roasted Veggies, stuffing, sweet potatoes casserole, honey glazed ham. 

Our Christmas dessert was buttermilk pound cake, that didn't last long enough for the camera. Our post Christmas desert (Saturday evening) was oatmeal Chocolate Chip craisan cookies. 

Sturday dinner: Chicken enchiladas. 

I sit hear rolling around on the ground now in pain. January will be spent recovering i'm sure, but gotta enjoy it while it lasts right??

Onward.

Last week
44 running miles, 4.9 nordic classic, and 5ish biking

Fairly decent week. A solid tempo (4 miles at 6:00min/mile) and finally a double digit long run of 14 with 5 miles at gmp.

Today I could only get in a couple of easy miles (2.9) before I was called into work. Tomorrow, I can be excited about! I can either sleep in till 4!, or I can get up at 3 (like i have been for the last week, for work) and run a few easy miles before I bang out a workout sometime tomorrow. Oh, life's decisions.

We got another 6" of snow since yesterday. Now were at 2.5' of the fluffy white stuff. Perfect for snowshoe running. Gotta get on the snowmobile trails at some point here.  It's also been cooold...like bitter cold. This morning was 4 degrees, the run was 8, and it warmed up to 12!

Today:

2.9 miles in 20:49.

Last mile moderate effort in order to get back in time.

21st...what was I thinking?

Started my day off with a snowshoe run,  and a road run. There's about 18" of snow outside my door at this point and it's all fluff. The trail that I had packed about a week ago was buried, so off I went making three loops of the .4 trail just out my door. The first loop was tough, second better, third faster..still first mile in 9min+..HR avg 137!....did a little out and back on the trails next door to the house, than jumped on the road.

Roads were a mess, a couple of inches buried the thick layer of ice underneath..Made for a slippery time. Not a single car though! Love early morning like this. Even though it's been 24hrs plus, trees are still covered in snow.

AM
snowshoe - 2.3 miles in 21:47
easy run - 3.15 miles in 24:32

We than drove down midday about an hour south to Cross Country Ski Headquarters to get in some Nordic. After a quick lesson in falling down from the instructor we were off. Honestly, it's a great workout and I hope to take advantage of it more. It's too bad the equipment is so darn expensive. Got some great climbs in, and just kept things relaxed by flowing.

4.9 miles in 66 minutes

A short nap in the afternoon (I'm talking like 20 minutes, and 15 of those was playing with the pup and his squeaky ball) I was out the door again! Legs a bit stiff and surprised i was still going. A shakeout of sorts for the long run planned today (Sunday).

PM
2. 3 miles.

A good day in the books, sorta made up for the lack of running from Friday (1 mile running to and from the UPS truck in the afternoon.)

Decmber 9th through the 15th

As the cold weather continues, so does the lake effect snow, in fact i'm pretty sure it snowed every single day this past week. By Sunday night we had 20" of fresh powder. It be shoe'ing  time!

Mon: 4mi easy. A date with the treadmill.

Tues: 4mi total. 3x 400. (83, 79, 81). I was tired from being outside and cold all day, somethings better than nothing.

Wed: 3.2mi easy on snowshoes. Bitter cold. Heart rate up there.

Thurs: 6mi total. 1 easy, 5mi fartlek. On the treadmill 6:41 pace.

Fri: Early training meeting, bad roads equals no running. blah..

Sat: A bit of a workout. 7mi total. 3x1mi (6:06, 5:57, 5:47) plus 2x400 (80, 81) 3.5 miles in 20:31 (5:52 pace)

Sun: 13 miles total. Finally some solid miles and time...10 miles on the treadmill at a moderate pace, than took the dog out for 3 in our lake effect blizzard. ( We got dumped on, another 10+ inches).

So it continues to snow, making it nearly impossible for good workouts on the roads which has turned me to the treadmill for now. Good news it i can get plenty of snowshoe running in and not be worried about not getting in plenty of hard work.

D'OH!

D'OH

That pretty much sums up these last couple of weeks..Lack of quality, lack of quantity, lack of ambition..

I could come up will all kinds of excuses but it I have nothing.

Winter as arrived. Yesterdays short snowshoe run was bitterly cold with 9 degree temps and light wind (wind chill was below zero). Luckily I can just step out my door and be on trails which is awesome. 

With 6+ inches of snow on the ground, poor road conditions, it's nearly that time to start treadmill running again. Hopefully in the coming weeks i can just stay consistent (whatever that means) and bring in the new year with a bang. 

Running Log: 11/18 to 11/24

Well I think Old man winter is right around the corner. This past week started off with howling winds, and by the end we had 3"+ of snow. So far this week (thanksgiving week) it's been non-stop snow and it's only gotten colder. This morning (11/29) in Gaylord it was -3 when i woke up, luckily where where we are down South its only(!!) 22. 

Monday: AM; easy 4 miles with the pup. Winds just a howling. PM: explored Avalanche Preserve. Fun single track. 7.1miles. 

Tuesday: 9.1 miles. Didn't eat much before and by the middle miles I was feeling wobbly. Finished off with some strides post run.

Wednesday: 4 miles warm up/cool down. 4 miles of 4 minute cycles. Every 30 seconds I would get faster starting off around Tempo +5" pace for 2:30 minutes. Well I started off too fast and it didn't go as planned but that's ok. 2.64 miles at 5:36 pace.

Thursday:  6 miles rather slow. Just wanted a nice easy run. Cold out for sure.

Friday: A nice 9 mile progression run with strides thrown in at the end. Messed something up in my foot at work but it didn't hurt too much to run on it.

Saturday:  Snowed overnight got about 3+ inches. Made the roads slick, but the trails were fun. Just one of those days i didn't really want to get out, but i forced myself out the door convincing myself it would get better, and it did because by the time I reached 5 miles I wanted to do some more. The pup didn't argue either. 9 total.

Sunday: Played around with the Pup and Brittany on the sled. It was a fun time. 3 total. 

Total:  57 miles.

Didn't get the long run I wanted. I need to step up on those. Another good mileage week though and it looks like I'll hit 200+ for this month which would be the most in way too many months. Bring on the snow!

The Runners- A short Film.

If you haven't seen this. Watch it. It's a short film just talking to random runners on the street, but it's more than just answers as to "why do you run?" It catches people off guard, and brings out something remarkable in people. Great stuff!

**** The Runners is a short film made by Matan Rochlitz and Ivo Gormley. The film is supported by GoodGym and the London Legacy Development Company, it was produced by Banyak Films.

The film contains strong language, parental guidance is advised.

Gave me the shivers this morning. Off for a 10 mile run.

The Week in Training - 11/11 to 11/17

A great week for me running wise.
I was also actively posting this week. If you missed it, I've started a list of all the states, and counties I've run in here in Michigan and in Maine. It's fun to see where I've run and where I haven't at this point. Only 6 or so years running and I have quite the foot print. Maine is kinda sad looking. I grew up there and started running there and I still haven't run in all the counties. I guess I know what I'll be doing during my vacations up there. Michigan is going to be a challenge. There are 83 counties, spread across the upper and lower peninsula.

I've got my running cut out for me! Gotta run!

Training

This week was a really great week of running for me. Finally I was consistently out there. 6 hours total for the week, puts me where I would like to be on average across the whole year, but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way.

Late summer and pretty much all of fall was rough for me. Plus I put running on the back burner during the two weeks leading up the wedding.

Already this month I've racked up more miles than I did for October, which is a good sign. 

Monday: Snow overnight made the roads slick with snow and ice. Didn't put icespikes on which was a mistake. I was all over the place with no grip (10.1 miles)

Tuesday: Windy, still snow and lots of ice on the roads, but the IceSpikes made all the difference grip wise. Fun to get out there and be pretty much the only one on the back roads. (10.3 miles)

Wednesday: Another snow covered, icy-dicey road again. Ran a bit harder effort wise, with a great hill during mile 7. (9 miles)

Thursday: Planned on a solid workout from Jack Daniels Marathon Plan, but the roads were still icy in spots so I have to change it up a bit. Turned into a true fartlek (didn't run based on time or distance) by hitting the watch when I hit a clear section or icy section. Total up time ended as - 3.34 miles in 18:53  for 5:40 pace/mi. SOLID! For where I'm at couldn't be happier. (11+ miles)

Friday: Long day at work, heavy boots, and yesterdays workout made this run feel horrible. Working on the Michigan county list I hit up the local town I was working on. Probably a mistake to run this fast as I ended up making my left knee tight and antsy...(4 miles)

Saturday: Another long day at work and I didn't want to aggravate the knee any more. Plus this week had been great for me so far no reason to push it and take too large of a bite. (OFF)

Sunday: Knocked out some easy miles. warm out, with rain and even a tornado warning in effect for the county!..Knee felt a bit wonky at times, but with the proper warm up and cool down ( mobility excercises) it seemed better than Friday. (8 + miles)

Total: 53.6 miles.

States I've Run in.

ok. On a role here...States I've run in.Hmm..Short list for sure, but for a such a short running career I think I'm off to a good start.

Blue = Complete

Run them all: Maine Counties

Clearly I have some work to do in Maine. Spending the last 15 years in Maine, I find it hard to believe I haven't run in every county, but it holds true..I've gotta change this. I foresee my vacations as finding races in these counties in order to get them.

Have you completed every county in your home state?

Run them all: Michigan Counties

Michigan counties: started October 2013.

I've seen other people doing this recently and it sparked my interest to see how much of the state I've actually visited. I thought about breaking it down by town, but I'll be honest that's a lot of freaking work, and the lack of GIS information makes it pretty hard to do. So, counties will suffice.

Meet Michigan. I think this may take some time. Can I complete every county?

Have you completed every street in your town? Every Town in your county? Let me know!

It's a pretty cool challenge, and also changes things up a bit.

Running Log 11/4-11/10

Monday: 5 miles easy out on the lakes loop.

Tuesday: fartlek time! 4x4min min. Just wanted something to wake the legs up. Feeling like things are coming together slowly.

Wednesday: Calves continue to be tight. 6.3 easy

Thursday: 8.5 in the snow. roads clear. calves still tight, will it go away?

Friday:  6.5 miles easy, starting to sense a pattern? oh the calves are still soar.

Saturday: 4.2 in the pouring rain after work. I should have just worked earlier.

Sunday: Off. Calves were soar all week so I decided to drop the November streak and take a day down.

I had wanted to streak all November but that came to an abrupt end when the calves were soar all week. Skipped the long run in hopes this coming week would be better.

38.4 Miles Total. 1 core session.

Running log: 10/21 to 11/3

Well I'm slowly coming around and getting back out. I just have to have patience. I know i can't just get back out there and attack the hard workouts and long runs.

Mon: 5 miles easy. soar all over. Cold out, been in tights now for over a week. 28 degrees this morning.
Tues: 9 miles! Finally getting over the hump? A good snow cover this morning, about 1".Supposed to disappear fairly fast though.
Wed: 5 in the morning. PM: First decent looking workout in way to long. A little fartlek descending from 5 minutes to 1 minute. Not in any order but each  descending section faster than the previous. 10+ miles for the day.
Thur: another easy 5. running new routes nearly everyday right from the house.
Fri: Cold morning, icy roads. Just took it easy 5 miles.
Saturday: OFF.
Sunday: OFF

Total: 36.1 miles, two core sessions. One good workout. Honestly I'll take it. I just want to stay consistent over the next couple of weeks so i can start hitting up some races.

Mon: OFF. Well so much for consistency. Work from dawn to dusk just gets ya.
Tue: OFF
Wed: Off.....mhm, you see where this is going?
Thurs: 4.2 in the woods. Being in Gaylord, it's nearly the heart of XC skiing. Lots of trails (mostly flat) that are well maintained. I'm a bit worried about running into hunters though as I've been told whitetail season is a religion here even more than in Maine.
Fri: explored more trail but it quickly turned into a swamp fest. 2.5 in the AM. 4 in the PM with britt nice and slow.
Sat: about 2.5 miles from my house there's a nice bowl with a steep climb on both sides with about 100+ ft of elevation gain. Good place for workout. 8.2 miles today.
Sun: 10 miles! first double digit run in...eh, I'm not even going to count. Out and back through five-lakes. Didn't know the area, I could have easily just made it into a loop. Next time.

Total: 29.2 miles. Finally a long run. I think this may be a turning point. November = streak. EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. you heard it. Now see it happen.

A walk in the woods with the pup outside our house in Michigan. 

Back again?!

Well here I am...yet again. Another 3 months  5 months!! or so without anything from me, no real excuse, just didn't feel like posting anything up. For all that don't know I have some major life changes coming up, so running has been kind of on the back burner, but I'll give you the full run down of all the happenings and to do's.

First off, I had a disappointing end to July as i couldn't just pull myself together to finish the Great Cranberry Island 50k. We arrive on the island a day before the race and stayed with some great company. I knew that morning when I took a short walk, my legs just wouldn't hold up. They were achy, complaining, and just plain ol' bitching to me.

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Morris Photography 
Running with Gary, and Ty. Legs not feeling good at all. This was around mile 6. 

Well by mile 10 I was walking and after turning around at mile 11 I plain ol' quit...it was so frigging sad. I tore off my bib and dropped. I felt bitter and totally unsatisfied with of my running career.

Moving on...

August came and went...very few miles were logged. One good race come September.

I managed a few good workouts before the Bangor Labor Day 5 miler.

• 6x30 sec hills w/ 1 min recovery
• 8x30 sec hills w/ 1 min recovery
•  Two 21+ long runs with the Crow Athletics on the carriage roads of ANP

September

The plan: Build a solid base, run some nasty workouts, and come into October ready to roar!...Errrr...Didn't go like that one bit. 

Finishing the 51st Bangor Labor Day Road Race. 75 seconds faster than last year.

I ran the Bangor Labor Day 5 miler in 27:56 about 75 seconds faster than the previous year. I felt really good for this race. Legs felt decent and I finally had the itch and hunger to run and run fast. Will it last?

NO! The next week we made a quick trip to Michigan to apartment hunt and managed only a few miles. I tired to bounce back the next week with 48 miles but that didn't really help as i still fought to run. It wasn't that I didn't want to run, it just got extremely busy. Come September 29th i noticed I hadn't race in a while. Hey why the heck not? I jumped into the Mainiacs Charities Half Marathon.

Ty and I chatting post race after an decent effort of 1:20:24. All smiles. 

I wanted to know how I would fare running a half on such little running in the past month. First 6 miles felt easy. (me: All that perfected tapering). Ty caught up to me and we chatted and just kept cruising through the turn around. I soon began to labor a bit more around mile 9 or so. Luckily the last 2 m miles are pretty much flat so coasting at this point is easy. I just had to keep my legs under me and not let Ty get away. Running with a good friend who really wasn't racing made it that much easier as he slowed down with me as i began to fall apart by mile 12. We push each other over the next half mile, but i just couldn't stick with it. With a 1/4 mile to go we ran in together. All smiles, but the work had been complete. 1:20:24. 3rd and 4th overall.

The next couple of weeks running really took the back burner as life began to pick up.  Finishing off last minute work, a ridiculously great bachelor party and the our wedding kept us so busy I just didn't focus on running much.  

Now the middle of October has passed, were settled into our new apartment in Gaylord, Michigan (ok..snicker away), the first snow has fallen (about 1" today) and my running is now starting to pick up again. 

Now time to find some road races out here. 

Looking back at June: A review and report

Well there goes June, oh and it's already six days into July. Time flies!

The Training:

• I got three decent long runs in during June (12, 16, and 17.5 (which was up Cadillac numerous times)).
• Another Sub 3 hour Marathon at Bay Of Fundy International Marathon. 
• 290 Miles for the month of June

Bay of Fundy Race Report:

For anyone that read my Running log entry for the Inaugural event realize I spoke very highly of this event mere hours after finishing. I continue to reflect upon my 7th marathon, and 6th Sub 3 hour and it nearly brings me to my feet to get outside, this oppressive heat tells the body otherwise. 

As I said, this was the inaugural running of The Bay of Fundy International Marathon and from what I've heard, saw and experience it was very successfully run. Starting at the West Quoddy Light in Lubec, the race meandered through flat, steep up and downs and beautiful stretches to Campobello Island, Nova Scotia, Canada and East Quoddy Light. The course was really beautiful, but a very tough one. 

Off we go! You see the top 4. Robert (over my right) 3rd and the guys in blue and green were 1st and second.

East Quoddy Light on Campobello Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. This was the turn around point after going out on the Island. Can you believe you had to pay extra to walk out to the light!? Rip off!

West Quoddy Light, Lubec, Maine. The easternmost point in the United States.  The marathon Started at the top of the hill where this picture was taken. 

Proud to say I didn't wear a watch for this marathon. Not that I chose to. My Garmin just wouldn't turn on. In a way it was pretty refreshing and it showed me how decent i was at pacing. I started off the start line in 6 or so. I was running with a couple of guys who wanted to run sub 3 but upon asking them if they had done any scouting of the course they said only to Lubec. I told them immediately they were in for one tough mother, and these few easy miles that we had covered were just a warm up. Some took that comment seriously others trudged on with me. We went through 3 miles in something like 20 minutes. After that I had no idea on time until I managed to cross the finish line 4 minutes slower than my personal best in 4th pace for 2:56:27. I'll take it. 

So what...

These past couple of months have been poor mileage for sure. In March I covered just over 300 miles and since then it's been 173, 176, and 190 for June. Two things come to mind about this. One is I'm racing too often and too long, and two if i want to take the next logical step I need to step up the miles and back off with this Marathon streak going on. Coming into July with a couple of big events i can feel my body not fully recovered yet from Bay of Fundy, and probably Cabot Trail, but I'll keep pushing on. 

Big things coming for July. A little relay around an Island, a possible mountain race, and the Final Running of the Great Cranberry Island Ultra Marathon. 

Consistency will be on my mind throughout July. I'm not setting any weekly or monthly goal of mileage, but I do want to take less off days than my 9 days in June. So far 2 days in july, gotta get back out there!

June 10-16th Running Log.

With a marathon coming right up you would think that the taper would have started,  I'd be well rested and almost complaining of the lack of miles I'm putting in. Well last week i ran 65 miles with a number of workouts that left me pretty tired. This week wasn't all that different. I wasn't able to get out for as many doubles (ok, so i got none) due to lack of sleep and the need to stay well rested. The weather also played a pretty big role in the lack of doubles and just getting out more. After spending 8 hours in the rain working and taking measurements, than using whatever will power is left to get out for another hour or so in the rain, you really don't feel like getting out of the warm bed at  4am when it's still pouring. Yes excuses, but next time you've spent nearly 10 hours in the rain i don't think you'd want to leave the bed either.

By the end of the week though the weather was beautiful and this past weekend was beyond perfect. We even got out for a camping trip down to Acadia National Park. What a treat!

June 10 Monday: 4am- 7 miles (49:53). Off to a good start. Didn't want to get up this morning but i knew it was going to be a late afternoon and I would probably miss a chance if i didn't go than. Turns out I wouldn't get home till 8pm (bedtime!)

Tuesday: Pm: 9.1 miles (63:27) Bagged the planned mile repeats. Pouring rain this morning wasn't inviting but the dog needed to get out so sacrifices had to be made. Explored some old woods roads. Nearly found the trail to even more trails. Gotta get out there again.

Wednesday: Pm 4.1 and 4.5. For anyone that knows our dog Loki he's pretty much scared of everything. He does okay on the roads but if it's too busy he just gets so scared, he puts himself in danger. I needed to get the car to the mechanic and with Britt gone on business, I had to run back from the mechanic. 4 miles before i dropped the car off with the dog. 4.5 back to the house, with stomach issues...

Thursday: Pm: Unplanned speed session. 4x800 (2:44, 2:45, 2:46, 2:41) roughly 2 minutes recovery between each plus 2x400 ( 77, and 73). Thought about doing nothing, but than this week would have really turned out horrible. glad I got something in, even though the legs were tired feeling.

Friday: Zilch, nada. A big fat zero for the day.

Loki and I getting some miles in on some single track.

Saturday: Am: 3.5 PM 17.1 Arrived in Acadia pretty early. We wanted to get some kind of hike in before the afternoon adventure. Choose Norumbega Mountain, one we haven't done yet. Fun time for sure. The first .6 is on your hands and knees at points, once your about .1 from the top it got flat enough that we started to run/jog slowly. (14min miles?, didn't wear a Garmin). Snapped a few pictures at the top, and we were on our way. Had a bit of fun trying to take a video and run at the same time. Enjoy!

Peter and I ready to hit Caddy 7 times.
Filled the water bottle
at the top where there's a fountain and at a few stream crossings.
Stashed water and GU in a few spots as well.
Next time we need more food. 

The Pm adventure was with Peter Keeney a Crow teammate and resident of Bar Harbor. Our plan (well his) was to take 7 different routes to the top. We started at Bubble Pond on Cadillac West Face Trail (0.9mi), upon reaching the junction we took a left and made our first ascent of Cadillac Mountain (1530ft) Next up was a quick up and down (0.8mi total) on Notch Trail at the bottom of Dorr Mtn, that made 2 ascents. By this trip, we had run out of fluids and decided to grab a quick drink at the fountain. We made our way down the South Ridge Trail to the Pond Trail and Cannon Brook Junction. First we took Pond Trail as an out and back (2.2miles) (tough little sucker) than the Cannon Brook trail out and back(1.8miles) where flowing water made things very slippery at times. Lots of boulders were challenging as well. A quick trip back to the Summit of Cadillac, we turned around on our heels and made the long out and back on the South Ridge trail (3.5 miles one way). Making the return trip to the top my toe became more noticeable. For some odd reason, and it's happened before at some point in the last 4 months, my skin separates where the toe meets on the foot on the bottom. It's pretty painful, and step after step i could feel it rip open more and more. Upon a quick look, the cut (as i'm calling it) was pretty deep, luckily no blood. I decided at the top (13 miles in and about 3hour:45 minutes in) to call it and try again for all seven when i wasn't in pain. Peter followed suit, and we made our way down on the auto road. Getting the legs to turn over at this point was pretty hard. I think i knocked off 9:00, 7:18, 7:14 all downhill. Looking back on other descents i was knocking back 6:30's with ease. Shows your how time on your feet can change things. Peter got back up there this morning  (Sunday) at 8am to finish the final two Ascents(what an animal CAW!).

For some reason part of the data is missing. Here's the actual course we ran.

I had stashed some water and Gels at the bottom of South Ridge, but i wish i had left something more substantial. Note to self, bring or stash more food for long runs like this. Fuel can make or break the trip. 

Very happy with the run itself. Came out to 17.1 miles by the time we made it back to the car 4 hours 8 minutes. 

Sunday: Nada, legs tired for sure. No niggles of pain, just soreness and the need for some solid rest.

Total miles: 52.5 in 9:51:06

Bay of Fundy International Marathon this coming weekend should be an interesting one. 

Looking back on May

I've been contemplating writing up a report for my past two big events this past month, but the more I think about it, I can just wrap it into one. Why the heck not. You may have noticed I attached a new banner at the top. Each of those pictures have great meaning to me, and each brings inspiration to be and do better.

Running in May

May started off with school ending, and one of my best semesters (grade points wise). I think by the start of May I was coming off the hectic, tragic, truly inspiring events of the Boston Marathon. I say inspiring because so many people who aren't part of the running community came together plus it affected the whole city and sports teams. I vow to return in 2014 to Boston.

I did a few big events that I really wasn't training for or focusing on at all. They both pretty much happened on a whim. Thanks to my good friend from the County I was able to run the Fredericton Marathon on May 12th a mere 28 days after the Boston Marathon in Canada. Not really sure what I was thinking but hell it was great! Really awesome to run somewhere new. Like I said no goal in mind going in, but we decided soon after arriving that we needed to show those Canadians no Mainer's are to be ignored and come GCI 50k they better be nervous because this year is the National Championships. We ran 2:54 and 2:55 respectively for 5 and 6 place. Excellent showing.

Side note: The Great Cranberry Island Ultra Marathon staff (AKA Gary and Mary) announced that this would be the last year of the BEST RACE EVER. If you're on the short list of participants or really should be, make sure you run. Maybe not the whole thing, but come get a training run in. It's truly an experience you don't want to miss. This will by my focus of the summer. I had signed up for a 10k a week after, and I plan to run the 10k, but the 50k means more to me as it's the last edition of this spectacular event. 

The other big event was Cabot Trail Relay. I got an invite sometime in March to run for the Rhino Redux team, on the four teams from Maine. Some absolutely great people on all four of those teams. The Maine-iacs grabbed first for the 17-leg 178 mile relay, while my team the Rhino's grabbed 6th, the Maine Hags 7th, and Maine Running Fossils 70 out of 71 teams. 

Again another event I vow to return to. (I think this is become an addiction far beyond what I originally thought). I got to run two legs coming in 3rd for leg 1 and winning Leg 13 at 2am in the morning. My only regret is having a coffee at midnight. Note to self Coffee past midnight when nervous doesn't settle well!

Leg 1: 

Leg 13:

May's mileage was down a bit from where it could be, but running is a gift and I wanted to be at least healthy through this month so the summer would start off with a bang. June through August will be tough as i've got big plans running, work, school, and wedding planning going on. 

By the numbers

186.8 Total Miles 

1 Marathon (28 days after the Boston Marathon): 2:54:26 3rd Fastest Marathon out of 6 total now.

2 Cabot Trail Relay Legs (L1-3rd place, L13-1st place)

Run on my friends.

Back after a short hiatus...

If it will please the people, than so be it.

A friend sent me a text message recently asking where the heck did the blog go? Why did I delete it? Honestly I didn't have a response that meant anything. I was going to write back " just didn't feel like blogging any more" or something like "got bored of it". But as I pulled into the driveway and started planting everything (yes the garden is 85% in!) I gave the blog some more thought.

This blog has allowed me to include some pretty cool stories of races over the last couple of years. I have family and friends who occasionally read and comment (I'd like to see more of both! yeah you reading this, spread the word, or is it the link?!). Although I log just about everything over on my running log sometimes it's great to have another outlet to turn to. Somewhere other thoughts that aren't related to the race or event can be put on the interwebz. 

I hope people enjoy my scarce ramblings and I'll continue to plug away. 

In the meantime look forward to posts about the Cabot Trail Relay, summer plans, and other misguided adventures along the way coming soon!

talk with you all soon! 

Back on my feet: Training for April 16 through 28th

After Boston I took my planned four days off. Nothing except homework during that time period. Fun.  Pleased with how I felt after a PR, legs were stiff up until Wednesday this past week and things starting to come around really nicely. Signed up for Fredericton Marathon on May 2th with Ty and looks like i'll run Bay of Fundy Marathon on June 23rd also if everything works out. If i complete these races in the next couple of months that would get me Marathon Maniac status at the minimum level of 3 marathons in a 90 day period. Didn't think I would do anything like that at this point in my life. Looks like there's lots in store for this summer. Adventure races, relay races, some planned long trail runs with friends. Can't wait!

Sat-4/20: 4 easy in the forest. quads and hamstrings soar and tired. ran with the dog.
Sun-4/21: 5 easy. Quads still soar but i'm starting to feel like i know how to run again. such an odd feeling.
Mon-4/22: 5 easy. still the quads.
Tue: 8 moderate. explored some new trail at the Bangor City Forest. Found this great website that lists all of the trails in this area. At some point I want to get a super long run in on some of them. I'd think getting a group together for something like this would be sweet as well.
Wed: 6.3 easy met up with Erik M. He wants to steal me fro the Maineiacs team.  I'm excited for Cabbot
Thurs: 8 moderate. explored some trail off of the River trail here in Orono.
Fri: AM-8.3  Again at the Bangor City forest. Explored more trails. I think i can run from my house. spend 1.5miles on road and run all the way to Bangor on trails. Gotta do that someday as well. PM-5.5 miles. Two loops of Beech Hill. I miss running hills like this.

Sat: PM: 2.3 easy with a bunch of Crow's at 3Crow Resteraunt and Bar. Fun time. Wasn't expecting 20+ people to show up! Peter walked in 20 minutes later after i had finished a beer and said he had covered most of the Camden Hills and he wanted to get Ragged Mountain in. I was all for it but just had ordered another beer. Needless to say the first 2 miles up Ragged were a bit bumpy, but my head cleared on the way down thankfully. PM: 4.6 miles


Sun: 5 miles easy. legs soar. explored some more trails quickly in Owls Head.

Total: 53 miles this week.
155.5 miles for April
822.7 miles year to date

Quite the week for sure. Kept things interesting by exploring lots of trails and new places. Gotta keep things lively and moving about. Lots of great things happening this summer, so hard to decide. Take care till next time!

Boston Marathon 2013: Mind blowing.

It's taken some time for me to piece all the events that happened pre and post race. The clash of adrenaline pumping through my veins and total devastation as I sat a Wendy in Wellesley was heartbreaking.

As most people that afternoon myself and Brittany both went to the phones and social media sites make sure our friends who were in town were safe, and to let our families know we were safe. Utter disbelief over the next 5 hours as family, friends, and even our landlord called, text and messaged us to make sure we were ok. Thank-you to everyone.

I'm not sure really where to start, but I think in order to show these B*stards that we (our nation)  won't stand for this incredibly selfish act, we need ponder and reflect on our achievements from this day.

Supporting the families affected by this horrific event and  events such as the one in Texas should always be a reminder to everyone that this world isn't perfect, but by picking each other up during hard times we can stand stronger than ever before.

I'll do my best to recall the achievements of Monday Morning and leave the afternoon where it belongs.

Pre-race (morning)

I previously posted  goals going into Boston this year. I felt like it was achievable but I also didn't want to get stuck in a similar position like last year where I ran 3:29. I decided to play it safe and run at least the first couple of miles, if not more with a group that included Ty, and Reno who were planning on 2:50-2:55 pace. Seemed right in the ball-park for me.

The night before as we finished dinner, Ty invited me to join him at Reno's friends house where we could stay warm have bathrooms without lines a mile long and just relax only 2 blocks from the start. How sweet that was indeed. 9:30am rolls on by and Gary Allen passes by. Ty and I don't waste a moment and flag him down. He goes on to tell us he was just heading down to the start line to wish Shalane Flanagan good luck. He just gets to roam around the elite wave just like he was one of them, how cool is that.

Race Time

Starting in corral 3 instead of corral 2 I was thinking I might be able to take it out a little slower, how wrong I was.
Mile 1- 6:38: Ok a little fast, back it off. Stay controlled, this could make or break it. Reno and his group quickly disappeared in the crowd. Ty and I had found Matt and Tim and we non-verbally decided to stick together.

Miles 2-7: Ty and I kept running together. Took my first Honey Stinger at 6. The pace felt controlled but it should have because of the net downhill. We were rolling off 6:20's like nothing. Dam!

Miles 7-13: Lost Ty around 9 maybe 10 miles in. Tim still around but he was looking good and I soon began to fade averaging 6:30's. Great...First half in 1:24:59, little fast. I didn't see this split and really didn't pay attention to any split during the race except the first mile.

Miles 13-20: I was by myself at this point. Tim was within grasp through 16 miles than got away from me. I was feeling tired by 15  but didn't fade all that much still consistently in high 6:20's. The hills at 17 and 18 were a bit nerve racking as I did slow down and I was afraid that might do me in.

Miles 21, 22, 23 - 6:49, 6:32, 6:36: I could have been more aggressive on heart break hill but at this point I almost wanted it to be over with. The crowds were starting to get on my nerves, dodging other runners was beginning to be a pain in the ass and a real nuisance at water stops. Somewhere during the long downhill I passed Marathon-Junkie and thought to myself, "well dam I should say something, he looks like he's in pain."I was too shy and just kept on pushing ahead. I do remember this photo he posted the night before. He still went on to run really well with a 2:55. Finally the CITGO sign appears in the distance and it's the only god-dam thing i see. Tunnel vision has set in. Legs still feeling tired but no crash.

Mile 24 and 25 - 6:39, 6:42: I'm passing more people than people passing me. That's a good sign, but i'm starting to slow and really starting to worry if the small cramps in my calves and hamstrings are going to blow up on me. They never do.

Mile 26.2: 6:34 + some (my garmin had another .44 at 5:58 pace): Going under the overpass and coming up the last little climb felt tough, but passing some more people felt great. I kept pushing. At this point you might want to skip to the end. Fair Warning;  As I made the turn onto Hereford Street right before the final stretch onto Boylston. I passed a man who has Sh*t his pants. Aaarrg, the smell was horrible even from a 100 feet away. Running down his legs, I chuckled and than pushed hard at that point and just wanted to get past him. Thank you dude who ever you were you made me work just a bit harder.

Although Official results haven't come out yet I ran a 2:52:13 which is 1:50 personal best. Amidst all of this
chaos, triumphs and accomplishments happened. The events that unfolded over the hours afterwards were terrible and ruined the day for many. By letting these terrorist, terrorize and take away a celebratory holiday such as Patriots day and all of our hard work we aren't gaining anything. Let us celebrate our accomplishments and come back stronger than ever.

ATT Athlete Alert- Boston Marathon

ATT Athlete Alert:

So you wanna follow me race day. You have a couple of options.
1. Follow and watch the race Live on Universal Sports on TV.
2. Watch online via Baa.com
3. Sign up for ATT Athlete alert Via the link above.

My bib number is 1647.

Know someone else running? You can search the entrants list (yes all 26,000+ runners) here.

Thoughts about Boston 2013

"Few things in life match the thrill of a marathon." - Fred Lebow:


With just 9 days until Boston Marathon 2013 I'm starting to get jittery. It's a wonderful feeling. All this hard work over the last 3 month comes down to just 3 hours of running.


Everything hasn't gone perfectly during this cycle, but what cycle can be perfect with so many other things going on in life. School, work, life events and such all get in the way and it gets to a point where you can't get in your workout and must make a sacrifice Is this going to effect one race or tomorrow's run? No, and it won't effect the whole cycle either as runners we learn to set aside that feeling that we've missed something and move on to the the next day.


Last year at this time I had covered 876 miles! Along with numerous 20 milers both solo and with great friends week after week, and really strong workouts. Do i feel less prepared this year, compared to last year? NO!


Yes, last year I set a half-marathon PR, while this year didn't run quite as well on a different course. So far this year I've covered only 700 miles, which is by far the second most I've covered in a 6 month period. I ran a really strong 5k just a couple weeks back, and have had some really great workouts such as a 5 mile tempo, 2x3.5 mile tempo and some marathon pace work over hilly courses.


It was a rough start to 2013 with my right knee problems, but after spending time with Gary, ok 21 miles, I got strong once again pretty fast. I started off with only 8.8 miles in the first week of January, quickly building the next 3 weeks to 40 miles. From there I haven't looked back much. I'm well on my way to 2500 miles for this year by averaging 52.1 miles/week or 7.4 miles/day.


So what does Boston 2013 hold for me?
Goals:


Based on the half-marathon, 5k and some calculators kicking around the internet and a semi-conservative approach to the marathon I should be able to run under 2:54 which is my PR. I think this is totally reasonable. During last years event I never felt the course was all that hard. Yes the heat set me back quite a bit, but i believe that course is not as tough as people say. You just need to run smart, wicked smaaht guy.






I go into each marathon with a set of goals. 1. Always finish. Never start something your not sure you can finish. 2. Sub 3 hour marathon. This would be year number 4 for me. 3. PR. Something under 2:54 would be spectacular. 4. 2:50 There it's stated. I've gone back and forth with 2:55 and 2:50 now for some weeks and just couldn't hold a solid goal. I've decided it's doable and it's possible. If i start to feel bad after the first 10 miles I'll back off a little, but the goals written down and now big things await!






Good luck to everyone running The Boston Marathon this year, so far so good on the weather!

Training: 3/25 through 3/31 2013

A solid final week to training. Some would say the Hay's in the barn. From past years I've taken these next two weeks very easy with less than ideal running involved. I will complete the 100 day challenge in 10 days so that should keep me going up until next week. Feeling ready and already nervous. So far weather is looking promising. More on that in the middle of next week probably.

Monday: 7mi easy. Some soreness from the back-to-back long run's last weekend. Pleased how i feel at this point.
Tuesday: 9 miles easy w/ strides over the last 2 miles.
Wednesday: 8 miles easy and 2.4 miles walking. Had a workout planned today but the phone died at school, no communication with the mechanic where the car was left me stranded. Thank-goodness from friends who work downtown.
Thursday: 2mi easy, 2x3.5 tempo, 6x30sec strides, 2.5 easy. Excellent workout. Very pleased with my fitness at this point and pleasantly surprised that I could handle this. Felt great on the warm up. The goal was to hit 6:05's for the tempo portion. First 3.5 in 20:59 (6:00 min avg), .75 recovery, second 3.5 in 20:23 (5:50 min avg). This was a big workout for me. Originally i had it as a full 7 mile tempo but I wanted to break it up and get a little more speed in. The strides afterwards were also for speed which I need (or at least I think so).
Friday: 5 hours in a woodlot working with a friend. getting lost only once. walking nearly 5 miles did me in for the day. Considering i planned on racing tomorrow I didn't need much more.
Saturday: 3.7 easy warm up. 3.03 (by the Garmin) (5K) in 16:33~!! 3.3 easy warm down. Felt great during the warm up and just let things fall together as I ran the course. Let me tell you first off this was very flat with some downhill after 1.5 that helped push me just a tad faster that i thought i could run. Split: 5:31, 5:28, 5:25, 0:07 (.03). 1st place win. I think it equates to just below sub 17 5k. Which i can be extremely happy with as i haven't hit that mark since 2009. Results, Running Log.
Sunday:  14 miles medium-long run. Legs again feeling great. First 7 miles with the dog. After dropping him off I kept the pace consistently under 6:50. Over the last three miles i threw in strides for 45-60 seconds.

Like i said excellent weekend. Taper or sharpening time! Whatever floats your boat.

Total: 68.8 miles with 2 core sessions.
Days in the Streak: 90 days ( surpassed my old days personal record, but 100 miles less than last year)
Days till Boston: 15 days

Weekly log from March 11th through 24th

Last week was sort of a recovery week. Took me 4 days or so to come around and feel good. Just in time too. The weekend was great!

Monday: Easy 8.1 w/ core.
Tuesday: 8.5 easy. felt horrible from the first step. got through it without too much complaining.
Wednesday: 1 mile easy. kept the streak alive. barely..shitty week so far just getting worse.
Thursday: 7 miles easy. legs still soar and tired..took me one day last year at this time to recover from a race. Just shows what kind of fitness i had before Boston last year. I should have bowed out last year and ran something later and I might have had a Spring PR. On the other hand i shouldn't have regrets about doing Boston. I did qualify and deserved to be there.
Friday: Day off from work allowed me to get out early. 8 miles. felt great and thew in some strides..oh this week will change?! 3 mile walk later with Britt in the city woods.
Saturday: 18 mile long run. Solid is all i have to say. First 9 into the wind than turned around and banged out 7 miles (close to marathon pace) in 46:26. closed off with 2 miles easy. Happy with the effort, especially on the hills. I believe there is a huge misconception about hitting 20 milers for the marathon. Who set this distance? Yes i think time on your feet is very important for the later stages of the marathon, but why do you have to hit 20 miles? or 22 for that matter? This cycle so far i haven't hit nearly the amount of 20 milers i did last year but it doesn't bother me one bit. I'm hitting workouts during the long run that i believe will carry over quite nicely.
Sunday: 11 miles easy. Felt great today. Funny huh? Met up with a few people and got a  ride back. Nice to get out with some people and just enjoy a run without pushing or worrying about the pace.

Total Miles: 64.5

Although this week had a bumpy start, everything came around for the weekend where i was able to get a good chunk of mileage in. Feeling confident and excited where my fitness is headed. Like I've said all along it's not pre-Boston 2012, but promising for sure.

Monday March 18th:  easy 8 miles. Garmin died....it's been shutting down on me as i head out the drive way. I fear my 5 year old Garmin 305 may be close to the end.
Tuesday: 11 miles moderate/ medium long. Originally planned on 14 cut that back to 12 before starting than to 11 by the time i got to 5 miles.  I won't bitch about it. From 5.5 to 8 miles Loki and I hammered out a few faster splits ( 6:26, 6:13, 6:18). that was fun. Snow coming down pretty hard by the time we finished. not much on the roads yet.
Wednesday: Woke up to a half/day snowday. Had school at 1pm. With over a foot of fresh snow (YES snow in  late MARCH!)  I hit the trails or so I thought i would.  Din't pan out. after a 1/4 mile i was out of breath and decided a mile would be better than nothing on the snowshoes. One last hoorah for the winter. Hit another 5 miles on snow covered roads. 6 total.
Thursday: Workout day: 2 mile warm up, 5 mile tempo in 30:18, 3x2min fartlek with 1:30 rest at 5:29 pace, 2 mile cool down. Hot damn, that fun! Breathing was out of wack for the first couple of miles of the tempo but i settled in nicely and hammered out those short portions at about 5k effort.
Friday: 7.2 miles easy in my Brooks Pure Cadence 1. Second time I've tried another brand other than Asics. Hope it turns out well. These shoes were cheap and similar to the DS trainer series so i went with it, so far so good.
Saturday: Treadmill time! why, well Ty was running 24 hours on the treadmill so i though 2 hours wouldn't be so bad. Workout was 5 miles easy, 4 miles moderate to easy. 7 miles of 1/2 mile at marathon pace followed by another 1/2 mile at marathon pace. Finished off with 2 miles easy. Good stuff. felt strong. Good heat training also. Never know what will happen in April. 18 total.
Sunday: Nice surprise that this group run worked out for me. Didn't think it was going to happen and I know i wouldn't have gone this long without a group to run with. 16 miles (7:12avg)

Total Miles: 80 (highest ever!)
Total Days in Streak: 83
Total Miles in 2013: 598.3

Training log week of March 4th

Monday: easy 7.25 after the long run with marathon pace work on Sunday. 
Tuesday: just one of those day's your not in it. 10 miles "medium-long".
Wednesday: treadmill (my piss poor excuse, the wind) t'was windy. 3 mi w/u 5 mile tempo (6:22, 6:18, 3:14, 6:08, 6:03, 3:01) 2mi w/d
Thursday: 7 miles easy at 4:40am. I was up at 3:45! amazing what coffee can accomplish that early.
Friday: 6 easy with strides as a pre-race prep run.
Saturday: 3.5 w/u with Tim, Ty, Matt and Eric R. Chamberlain Half Marathon (13.02 by my watch) in 1:19:15. 2.5 w/d with Tim, and Matt.
Sunday: 4 miles easy. legs soar and tired. Achilles and Hamstring whispering to me. 

Total: 63.4 miles with one core session of 10 minutes. 

Very happy with this week.  We're on spring break here at UMaine and all that means to me is I can work full time and run more! Just sitting at a computer all week for roughly 8 hours a day does take a toll on you. Luckily my boss is pretty laid back so i can bring the dog in and go on 3 or 4 walks with Loki outside in the woods which breaks things up nicely. 

The tempo on the treadmill turned into a disaster. 2.5 miles in I managed to pull the emergency plug which shut it down. Pissed and moaned for second than fired it up to 10 mph for the last couple. Solid workout after that mis-hap.

 The Chamberlain 1/2 marathon was a great precursor to Boston. I didn't have any true goal going in, but i knew I wanted to a) finish  and b) dip under 1:21. With my current fitness and only 8 or so weeks of solid training since the knee problem I was worried, but felt confident I did have some strength to do so.  Went out rather stupidly (okay; ran my own race.) and went with the lead through 2 miles with another guy who quickly dropped off after 4.5 miles. A good group caught us in the first sub-division and I tired to stay with them but I knew that that 5:50ish pace was a little out of my realm. Stuck with them anyhow through mile 6 but decided not to push it and ask for something bad to happen  Hung back with Ty, just cruising. As we made our way over the 395 overpass the wind just sucked the life out of ya. By mile 11 or so Matt caught up to TY and I and flew past us. I responded, and tired to stay with him, than passed on a short downhill after mile 12 and tired to push him to get under 1:19. Both merely missing the sub 19. Had we worked together a little longer we could have gotten the sub 1:19. Clearly I have some work ahead, but very happy with where my fitness is at this point. Splits are all over the place due to lots of reasons (hills, wind, out of shape ect...).

 Time to keep putting in solid work over the next few weeks before Boston. Tempo and marathon work ahead. I think if i can keep plugging away at the long pace work I should be good for something solid. 

I could include a long rant in this post but I'll save that for another time.

The Numbers:
Crow Athletics 100 day Streak: Day 69
Total Miles this year: 453.8
Lifetime Miles: 9166 

Training log: Week of February 25th

Monday: Treadmill session: 2 mile warm up 6 miles tempo (6:51, 6:33, 6:29, 6:18, 6:09, 5:58) 1 mile cool down. treadmill (9)
Tuesday: 8 miles Not in the right mindset. Things weren't clicking.
Wednesday: 11 miles. What i call a medium long run.
Thursday:  Treadmill Session: 2 mile warm up. 5.3 fartlek in 33:30. Did 4,3,2,1,2,3,4,5 min on's and half off's. offs at 6:58.
Friday: 7 miles easy. felt great, but  i had no reason to push the pace.
Saturday: Ended up going home Friday night and got a wicked good hike up Ragged Mountain with my uncle and brother.Some great climbing and descending. 5 miles total
Sunday:  Treadmill again! 6 miles easy, 8 miles at planned marathon pace. 2 easy. 16 total

Total: 66.3 miles and three core sessions.

Great week. Ending up with three treadmill sessions wasn't planned but with crappy weather (rain and snow) off and on through Friday I knew just getting some speed would be better for my Boston build up rather than tweaking something at this point. I am wandering if this treadmill sessions are going to catch up to me eventually. Anyone have any long-term experience with this? Some people say the treadmill is so boring but i find you only make it as boring as you want. It's great for mental toughness when you can just play around with the incline and speed. Feeling tired? RUN MORE!

Play hard, RUN HARDER

Week of February 18 2013 Training log

Training log for the week of February 18, 2013

“If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”

Monday: 10 miles starting 7:30 working down to 6:00 on the  treadmill. Need to get a strong workout in. Both a confidence booster and preparations for Boston.
Tuesday: 5.6 snowshoe run  and 1.5 on the snow covered roads. Really enjoyed the snow while it was still cold out there. Only started to stick towards the end. Need to sharpen up the teeth, getting dull. 15 minute core session
Wednesday: 3.1 warm up followed by 6x1min hills (2mi) with 3mi cool down. Ran with the dog. He wanted to go hard up hills, at first, and hard down hill. So i guess i got two workouts in. Perfect for Boston!
Thursday: Flurries coming down, 8 miles with the dog. Kept it easy threw in strides over the last mile.
Friday: 7 miles around Stockton Springs. That's a fun route. Nice island route with plenty of hills. If i get into Mount Washington Road Race there's a nice hill there that would be perfect for long repeats
Saturday: 21 miles with Tim T. Ty T. and Matt H. Good meal afterwards. Point to point runs can be fun.
Sunday: 1.5 miles after 6 hours of skiing. First time we've been in two years. Got 6" of fresh pow-pow through the day. legs were toasted.

Total: 

Over the last 3 weeks I've run 51, 56, 63. Three long runs of 14, 16, 21 and I continue to be consistent with at least 30 minutes a week devoted to strength work of some kind. It's progress. I'm not anywhere close to the same kind of shape I was in last January and February but I really shouldn't compare the two years. Things have been different that's for sure. The point to point was from Bar Harbor to Ellsworth. It took 10.5 miles just to get off the island from The MDI Y. Some grueling hills on that section of route 3. After that it really didn't get much easier with the horribly small shoulder. Overall it was nice to run with a group and get a solid long run in.

Some numbers
13 days till The Chamerblain March 1/2
50 days to go till Boston..
55 days in of the Crow Athletics 100 day streak
322 miles year to date

Take number....I lost count...lets reflect

Well after dealing with nagging hamstring issues after MDI, oh PR 2:54!, I dug myself into a deeper hole by running too much too soon. Nagging knee pain kept me from closing out 2012 on a good note and through the first couple of weeks into January it didn't look good. I slowly became frustrated and just really sick and tired of sitting around doing nothing. I think the call if the runner's blues, sort of like taper madness before a Marathon but much worse because your held back from even going out the door.

Finally i got a hold of myself. Started more strength work centered around the knees and hips (they're important) and really got inspired by my good friend, Gary Allen. Gary ran from Maine to DC in 14 days, yes it sounds daunting but a well seasoned runner like himself, 5 decades of sub 3hr marathons, could do it and he did. I crewed for him Monday and Tuesday early in January and it was at that point I realized i didn't need to be held back by my knee. I wanted to run, and RUN I was going to!

I jumped in with Gary for 20 miles, somewhere around 11-12min pace (3 1/2 hours). I loved it. Just happy to be back and running again. His 700 mile trek was a daunting and fairly spur of the moment adventure but his willingness to just DO IT gave me that extra push i had needed.

Now here I am..275 miles into the new year, getting in some solid workouts and finally getting long runs in again. It's day 51 of the Crow Athletics 100 day streak and at this point i just hope to beat last year's streak of 88 days.

Boston is what, 7 weeks away, and i can't wait for it. I've been thinking at night of what a nightmare last year was, it makes me want to work harder and want it even more. I'm going to hunt down that dam Unicorn this year.