I've been away for a while,......

not from running by any means, but from my blog. Sometimes I feel like writing, sometimes I just can't wait to get to my keyboard and write and sometimes that's just the last thing I want to do and before I know it several days have gone by. So running is my passion, there, I've said it! I run so I can eat, but I also run because I can. God has been very good to me and allowed me to keep running well in to my 60's relatively injury free. When I was in college I had a shin splint. About 10 years ago while training for a marathon I injured my Achilles tendon. I have fallen while trail running several times and bruised my ribs on one of them. That's it - not bad considering I have been running a lot since my 30's. I do have some arthritis in my left knee which flares up now and then but I am having a blast. Some of you may know that I have finally decided to run a marathon. In fact, I will probably run two marathons on the same day - my first and my last. So, you ask, how is my training going. I am running three days a week, two short runs and a long run. I do yoga and Spin classes in between and throw in a little swimming when I can. I am doing my long runs on Mondays instead of the traditional Sunday so that I can spend Sunday with my wife and my church. So, Monday I was scheduled to do between 15 and 16 miles. I plotted out a course for 15.6 miles and did my checklist. Shirt, shorts, shoes - check. Garmin, Gymboss, iPod, hydration pack - check. Fanny pack, wallet, phone - check. Put em on, strap em on, load em up and out the door at 7:40 a.m. Set GymBoss for 2 min run/1 min walk intervals. As I head out through the neighborhood my legs feel a bit stiff, my ankle creaks a couple of times, my knee twinges and by the end of mile 1 I am settling into it. It's a nice cool morning, so even though I am in shorts and t-shirt I included my skull cap to keep my bald head warm. Down White Lane, right on to Old River, right on Stockdale until I get to Cal State University where I get on to the bike path. Warming up so I take off my skull cap and stuff it into my fanny pack. Lot of runners, walkers and bikers using the bike path this morning, most of whom give a friendly wave or at least a head bob as we pass. Turning on Mohawk I am still feeling really good. I am thinking, I could do this all day long! I am cruisin', feeling strong and powerful when I get to California. I stop at the intersection and push the button for the cross-walk. The car on my left is waiting behind the cross-walk and when the pedestrian light goes on I step into the intersection. I take two steps and the car on the left decides to go through without even looking to his right. Uh-oh, car/pedestrian collision occurs. Fortunately I run into him instead of the other way around. I give him the ol' whats up gesture, he apologizes profusely and drives away. No harm done, let's go. Everything was good until about mile 12 when suddenly my left knee starts hurting. I walk a bit, run a bit and work through it and am able to finish off strong. Dang, I don't feel like I just ran 15.6 miles. Woo hoo! Tomorrow, recovery run.

I'll say it again, it is much easier......

to run when the weather is cool. I took off today at about noon from a ranch where I visit in Paso Robles, in the heart of the beautiful Central Coast wine country. The temp was in the 60 deg range. It was misting lightly so I figured I might get rained on. I wore a tech t-shirt and my long running pants, strapped on my 4-bottle hydration belt with my phone, i.d. and insurance cards tucked safely inside and down the road I went. The first 5.2 miles was down Creston Rd, two lanes with a decent shoulder but very fast traffic. I decided to do 3 min run/1 min walk intervals so my GymBoss timer was set accordingly. I really cruised along this section and reached the intersection with Hwy 41 where I turned right. Relatively level still with just some gentle rolling hills. 2 miles along Hwy 41 then right on Cripple Creek Rd, then about a mile to El Pomar Rd where I hung a left. To this point it was mostly level. El Pomar Rd though has some pretty good hills for the next 3 miles. Some were gentle, and then there were some that were a little more challenging. At about 3 miles I turned right on to S El Pomar Rd. I knew that the hills would not be as significant from this point on so I changed from 3 and 1's to 7 and 1's. I was still feeling really strong so I figured I could take it all the way in. It was about 1 1/2 miles up to Creston Rd, right on Creston and then another 1 1/2 back to the ranch. I was really cookin' along. I checked my half-marathon split at 2:33, not bad considering my PR is 2:15. I pulled in to the ranch feeling really good, although my legs definitely felt used I had no pain issues with my normal trouble spots, left knee, groin or piriformis muscles. My only issue is that I realized that even if I was able to hold that pace (11:39 per mile) that a marathon would be almost 6 hours. Bummer. But I will soldier on!

When I run......

I have a hard time wanting to keep going. What? Could that be true? Yes, sometimes it is. It's interesting because I really love to run. I can get into a groove where I feel like I can just go forever. Then I get to a point, generally towards the end of a longer run, that my body just wants to stop. It has nothing to do with my breathing hard or my heart beating too fast. That doesn't happen. It's just that my body wants to stop. I can usually push through it just fine and I am always glad I did because one thing I hate is to not finish what I started. This concerns me because my longest run ever is about 16 1/2 miles and I am wanting to do a marathon, 26.2 miles. I battle with myself all the time, how am I going to continue to increase my long runs when I have such a hard time every time I get up to 9 or 10 miles. One thing I know, I am not going to blame it on my age or tell myself I can't do it. I can do it. Now I just have to convince myself that I want it bad enough.