Rocky Raccoon

I hit the submit button and now I'm registered for the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile Trail race on February 6, 2010. Not sure how I should feel, but I'm excited and look forward to the training days. I feel really good about my running right now which starts with my health. I know there will be some speed bumps along the way, but I'm prepared to take those on as they come. I'll be running the Fort Worth marathon on November 8th, Ultacentric 24 hour race on November 21st, and the White Rock marathon on December 13th. Not sure what and where I will be running after that so stay tuned.

Pearl Izumi

I love Pearl Izumi running shoes and have been wearing them for about 5 years now. I've been wearing the Float for as long as I can remeber and I have now started to wear their trail shoes as well.

I also like their marketing message about running and not jogging. A runner is anyone that has run in a race or cares about being just a little bit faster. A runner tries to catch the person in front of them as they get close to the finish line. A runner pushes themselves in training and races to get a little better. Time is not a concept between running and jogging, only the effort to improve. If you would like to see more images here is the link.
we are not joggers

Test

Test using BlogPress to post from my iphone. Here is a picture from a back tie event that my wife and I attended a few weeks back.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Stronger

Saturday I had an 18 miler scheduled and was feeling a little nervous about the run. My back had been bothering me all week and was not sure how it would hold up. It was a great morning for running with temps around 50 degrees and little to no wind. I was amazed at how well I felt. It must have been because I hadn't run all week, but I felt really good for the first 14 miles. I was running with a friend and we were hitting a few miles around the 9 minute mark, which is fast for me. I think in all my long runs for the past few years I was running around 10. The last 3 miles were a little tough and I actually blew up with about 2 miles to go so I slowed down and walked for a minute then started back up and ran the last mile in 9:05. I finished the 18 miler with a 9:25 pace, so I felt really good about this run and I hope it will help me this fall and winter. Leading up to the fall races I feel so much stronger than I have in the last 2 years and haven't had any trouble with the legs. I'm already looking forward to my next long run this coming weekend.

Back Pain

Last week was a good week for running and ended it with a cold and wet 15 miler that I started around 7pm. I was glad to finish and really enjoyed the peace and quite that can come with a night run. Saturday morning one of the girls had a soccer game and the other one had a afternoon game. After that the wife and I headed out to a black tie event and had a wonderful time, but I could tell my back was a little tight after standing around most of the day. Well I woke up on Sunday morning and I could tell something was wrong. I've had back problems every since my basketball days in college and it usually flares up 1-2 times a year, so I figured I would be out of comission a day or 2. Here it is Tuesday night and I think I'll be ready for my long run this weekend, but not sure. I tried to run last night and only made it about a half mile before heading back home. Today I just rode my spin bike and went for 90 minutes and it feels like it has losened up so I have hope for having a productive week.

This weekend will be an 18 miler and really looking forward to getting it done. Legs feel good so I just need to get my back in order and get in the miles.

Feeling Good

So far my running is going very well and I have no injuries to report, which is much better than the last 2 years. I've been steadily building up my mileage and feel really good going into the month of October. I'm getting excited to see what I can do at the white Rock marathon in a couple of months and hopefully build on that and run the Rocky Raccoon 100 in February. I've run long runs of 12 and 14 with a group and have been pushed out of my 10 min/mile pace that I normally run. The 12 miler was a 9:25 pace and the 14 miler was around 9:40. I know when I start getting into the longer runs the pace will go up even more but it's nice to run under 10 min/miles because I haven't done that in a few years.

Tonight I even went power walking since I figure I had better get those muscles in shape as well. I'll probably be doing quite a bit of that in the future!