This just in from my friend Bob. Bob has broken 3:00 in the marathon 13 times. And owns a 20:58 100-mile PR. Bob is a genius. He hangs around with me anyway. Community service, I think.
We're doing Crooked Road 24-Hour together Dec. 3-4. It's a .94-mile mostly gravel loop down near Roanoke. And Bob has a plan.
From Bob ...
"I have a scheme that I think will work. I am using the run/walk model, and here is what I found. Walk 3, Run 2. Running pace is 10:00, walk pace is 20:00. I came up with a two-loop scheme: 3-2-3-2-3 first loop, 13 minutes; 2-3-2-4-2, 13 minutes, second loop. For a .94 mi loop that is right at 14:00 per mile, which will get us 100, plus a little. The 3s are walks, all 2s are runs, and the 4 is a walk, once every other lap. After 26 laps, we have 36 minutes to spare and still make 100 miles. That is for each 26-lap segment, we have an extra 36 minutes, for whatever. If we don't need it after each 26 laps, we are building in a good cushion in any case. 106 laps is a 100 miles. I think this scheme is guaranteed to prevent going too fast early. Walking @ 20:00 pace is leisurely, not the least bit pushing. It's a stroll, almost. Two minutes running is not going to get your heart rate up very high, ya know? Especially on a flat course. The key is inverting the usual ratio, with the walk segment a little longer than the run segment."
I don't really know what to say about this, other than that I thought I should share it. You just should not keep stuff like this to yourself. It begs to be shared.
I will come back here now and then in the coming weeks. Just to ponder this. And to wonder if I have the moxie to actually try it. I am betting no.
Could, however, make for a heckuva story. If the other runners don't beat us severely at 3 a.m. when my Timex 150-Lap Ironman -- the one with the SIXTEEN different interval settings that I can engage at the same time -- beeps for the 413th time.
November 1, 2011
October 5, 2011
Oh lookit ...
Kinda looking around for a little something something to cap this year off when I get email today from my buddy Bob with this.
Let's see: December. Kinda close by. Mostly flat. Loop that's almost a mile. $40 entry fee before Nov. 1. A new-to-me event.
Hmmm ...
Hmmm ...
May just have to pull the trigger on this one.
Let's see: December. Kinda close by. Mostly flat. Loop that's almost a mile. $40 entry fee before Nov. 1. A new-to-me event.
Hmmm ...
Hmmm ...
May just have to pull the trigger on this one.
September 19, 2011
Word of the Day
OK, so Hinson Lake 24-Hour is this Saturday.
This is my fourth try there. The previous three have been, well, laughable. Here's how each has gone: Go out fast. Blow to teeny bits. Barely make it to 2 a.m. Stumble back to the vehicle. Drive home with tail tucked firmly between legs.
So how about No. 4? I am gonna go out on a limb here and say that No. 4 is gonna go differently. Call it a hunch, but I think I may have come to a reality at Hinson last year – I really really REALLY do not like puking. At all. Which is what I typically do at Hinson. Because, even after 105 ultra finishes and another 44 at the marathon, I pretty much suck at the event nutrition thing. Been practicing it with fervor all summer and think I may have some semblance of an answer ... NutriFit drink from Food Lion. Think scaled-down Ensure Plus. NutriFit is 250 calories. When I drink half of a bottle every hour, good things seem to happen. Haven't tried it beyond 5.5 hours, so that will be uncharted territory. Truth is that I'll probably change my mind and be after real food by then anyway, so no sweat.
Training has been off-the-hook good this year, yet that seems to have very little bearing on my performance. When I was faster, it mattered a lot. Now? Not so much.
I am in full-on pro taper mode. Most recent 2-hr. runwalk was Friday. Will likely do one Tuesday a.m. just to help with sleep. Legs have now officially moved past that achy start-of-taper feeling and on to oh-wow-strong feeling. Forecast changes daily, but is hovering around 80/50. Not optimal, but also not 91F like last year.
So here's the rough plan: Go slowly after the first lap or two, eat, drink and take what the day gives. Steady as she goes. Leave a bunch for night, especially at Hinson with as dark as it gets on the Back Nine. This is, after all, the site of the famous Fred "Doom" Dummar quote: "The party don't start till the lights go out."
OK, so my goals. Primary Goal: Do the whole 24 hours. Reach Goal ("reach" based on how poorly I've done at 5 of the 6 24-hour formats I've tried so far): 24-hour format PR of 60 laps for 91.20 miles. Dream Goal: 66 laps for 100 miles.
Word of the Day Saturday and Sunday: Joy. I get the chance to run a long, long way with friends and snacks and dirt and peace and somebody else keeping track of the distance.
Count me lucky.
August 19, 2011
From the "can-this-REALLY-happen?" file drawer ...
Latest ridiculous non-event brainstorm: Reddish Knob Road 100-Miler.
Briery Branch Dam to the top is 6.7 miles. 6.7 x 15 equals 100.5M. That is an estimated 39,000 feet of elevation change. If you start at the top, it would be 7 Reddish summits. If you start at the bottom, 8 Reddish summits.
When Mike Frazier, Jack Broaddus and I just did the Reddish Knob Marathon, the 26.8M jaunt took me 5:10. That was only two down-and-ups. And that was with running the final 2 miles without walk breaks. That was also on a thoroughly overcast day. That was also with me knowing that I was only gonna be out there about 5 hours.
Let's see ... 100 miles of Reddish road. Seven or eight summits. 39K of change. Um ... can anybody say 36 hours or so (maybe?).
Oh. boy.
Good thing I have a 24-hour coming up the end of September.
Really, really good thing.
Briery Branch Dam to the top is 6.7 miles. 6.7 x 15 equals 100.5M. That is an estimated 39,000 feet of elevation change. If you start at the top, it would be 7 Reddish summits. If you start at the bottom, 8 Reddish summits.
When Mike Frazier, Jack Broaddus and I just did the Reddish Knob Marathon, the 26.8M jaunt took me 5:10. That was only two down-and-ups. And that was with running the final 2 miles without walk breaks. That was also on a thoroughly overcast day. That was also with me knowing that I was only gonna be out there about 5 hours.
Let's see ... 100 miles of Reddish road. Seven or eight summits. 39K of change. Um ... can anybody say 36 hours or so (maybe?).
Oh. boy.
Good thing I have a 24-hour coming up the end of September.
Really, really good thing.
July 21, 2011
Love you for always, VA
Last week, we lost one of the finest humans ever.
Virginia G. Gentry, ill the past couple years, finally gets some much-deserved peace and rest.
I could say so much about my remarkable mother, but for now I'll just leave it at this poem that I wrote on the morn of her memorial service. Overheard my dad Sam tell a visitor about this pesky plant the night before.
Gardening and words were among my mom's many passions. She really, truly was something else. :)
Two Blooms
Fully formed, forest green
Four-year-old Peace Lily
Standing guard from its gracious front-porch perch
Four years old. Never bloomed.
Until Tuesday, July 12, 2011.
Two small, creamy blooms.
One for Sam.
One for God.
Virginia G. Gentry, ill the past couple years, finally gets some much-deserved peace and rest.
I could say so much about my remarkable mother, but for now I'll just leave it at this poem that I wrote on the morn of her memorial service. Overheard my dad Sam tell a visitor about this pesky plant the night before.
Gardening and words were among my mom's many passions. She really, truly was something else. :)
Two Blooms
Fully formed, forest green
Four-year-old Peace Lily
Standing guard from its gracious front-porch perch
Four years old. Never bloomed.
Until Tuesday, July 12, 2011.
Two small, creamy blooms.
One for Sam.
One for God.
July 2, 2011
The July Project
Here it is. July, in all its glory. Right before my very eyes. Begging to me from my Runner's World online training log.
I hear it calling to me in its soft, sing-song voice: "Hit me back ev. ry. day. C'mon. Lemme see what you got."
So far, I have a pair 2-hr. runs posted. Yesterday, July 1, Me and Jack knocked out the standard Tuesday/Friday 7-minute run/3-minute walk at a casual pace. Nice one. Great way to start a day, that. This afternoon, I pushed out a 4/2 on blistering roads in Harrisonburg. Shoulda gone first thing in the morning, before it got to 85F. Lesson learned? Guess we'll see.
As many of you know, i have a run streak going. July 6 will be Day 1,600. OK, you say, so don't you put an entry in your log for each day? Not exactly. Only the runs of 2 hours or longer get logged. Easier to keep track of the long stuff that way, plus this supports my assertion that the long stuff is all that really matters anyway – especially for me.
I don't always go 7/3. Sometimes it's 3/2. 4/1. 5/1. 25/5. 20/5. 12/3, or some such. That's if it's roads. The countdown-timer thing doesn't work for me on trails. At least on most trails. Don't need to force walks on trails. :)
Hello, July. Vaycay at the beach is in there. So is Catherine's 50km. And the mostly regular Tues/Thur/Fri group runs me and my bunch always do. I can usually squeeze another longish one in on one of the weekend days, and often on the other weekend day, too. So the greatest challenge will be those pesky workday Mondays and Wednesdays, that always require 0400ish wake-ups. Just from memory, I think my largest one-month total is 20 days. So far. :)
So ... here I am. Staring at July. Two boxes filled. Twenty-nine still empty. All with such promise. Sights to see. Moments to share.
Miles. to. go.
I hear it calling to me in its soft, sing-song voice: "Hit me back ev. ry. day. C'mon. Lemme see what you got."
So far, I have a pair 2-hr. runs posted. Yesterday, July 1, Me and Jack knocked out the standard Tuesday/Friday 7-minute run/3-minute walk at a casual pace. Nice one. Great way to start a day, that. This afternoon, I pushed out a 4/2 on blistering roads in Harrisonburg. Shoulda gone first thing in the morning, before it got to 85F. Lesson learned? Guess we'll see.
As many of you know, i have a run streak going. July 6 will be Day 1,600. OK, you say, so don't you put an entry in your log for each day? Not exactly. Only the runs of 2 hours or longer get logged. Easier to keep track of the long stuff that way, plus this supports my assertion that the long stuff is all that really matters anyway – especially for me.
I don't always go 7/3. Sometimes it's 3/2. 4/1. 5/1. 25/5. 20/5. 12/3, or some such. That's if it's roads. The countdown-timer thing doesn't work for me on trails. At least on most trails. Don't need to force walks on trails. :)
Hello, July. Vaycay at the beach is in there. So is Catherine's 50km. And the mostly regular Tues/Thur/Fri group runs me and my bunch always do. I can usually squeeze another longish one in on one of the weekend days, and often on the other weekend day, too. So the greatest challenge will be those pesky workday Mondays and Wednesdays, that always require 0400ish wake-ups. Just from memory, I think my largest one-month total is 20 days. So far. :)
So ... here I am. Staring at July. Two boxes filled. Twenty-nine still empty. All with such promise. Sights to see. Moments to share.
Miles. to. go.
May 25, 2011
One For The Ages
Unbelievable. Mind-bendingly, expectation-shatteringly, reality-alteringly unbelievable.
Holy cow. Now I have a PR for a freakin' 72-hour race. And I actually had gas left in the tank at the end. And it didn't really suck hardly ever.
It really, truly was not what I expected. And then it was all that I expected and more. So, so much more.
Final total: 183.5 miles. Fifth overall. Fourth boy. Day-by-day totals of 66 miles, 55 miles and 62 miles.
Had the pleasure of sharing the path with some remarkable runners. Formed some bonds that I expect will last the rest of my life. Laughed until my stomach hurt. Slept so hard that I woke myself up because of the slobber ... twice!
Ate the best McDonald's milkshake in the history of modern civilization. Burned the back of my arms and the insides of my ankles -- the two places where I failed to put sunscreen -- so badly in the first 10 hours that I'm not done peeling yet and it's 10 days later.
Basically sprinted the final two laps of the .85-mile course with the awesome Sabrina Moran, who managed to tally just nine fewer miles than me even though she was in the 48-hour!!!!
Joe Judd. Mike Potter. Fred Murolo. Pete Stringer. Charlotte from Canada, who beat us all. Mike Brooks, a retired firefighter from Maine who notched 150-plus miles walking the entire way.
RDs Rick and Jenn McNulty. Rick's sis Marie. The McNulty children. Jessi Kennedy, who ran some of the 48 but who i think was awake for the entire 72 hours helping out. Scott Brockmeier and Liz Bauer starting the 48, not having the best of days, yet still coming back out to clock some miles and offer amazing support ... especially to ME! Inspiring work, you guys. I am in your debt.
So many stories shared. Such rich laughter. A teeny bit of suffering along the way, but nothing like I expected on the way to collecting so. many. miles.
A dream come true? Yeah. Sure was.
A return trip next year? 10-4.
May 12, 2011
Here I Go ...
Holy cow. Trained for a YEAR for this one. Three Days at the Fair. 72 hours. Starts in 1.5 hours.
I know what I'm getting into. And I don't.
It's not gonna suck. And, yet, it is.
Fun. Misery. Company. Laughter. New friends. Old friends. Patience. And lack thereof.
Time to think. Time to not. Heat. Cold that's not really cold but feels like it.
Yummy food. Lots and lots of yummy food.
A 72-hour look inside myself ... over and over and over.
I know what I'm getting into. And I don't.
It's not gonna suck. And, yet, it is.
Fun. Misery. Company. Laughter. New friends. Old friends. Patience. And lack thereof.
Time to think. Time to not. Heat. Cold that's not really cold but feels like it.
Yummy food. Lots and lots of yummy food.
A 72-hour look inside myself ... over and over and over.
April 17, 2011
THIS is how we roll!!!
Scene: Yesterday. David Frazier's wedding day, so a buncha us took our friend for a trail run up on Kaylor's Knob. Joining in the fun in addition to the Man of the Hour were his blood brother (and later best man at the coolest wedding I've ever been to) Mike Frazier, Carp, Thomas Jenkins, Jack Broaddus, Phil Turk (all the way from Morgantown, West By God!!!), Mike Zook, Vince Bowman, Tom Syre.
In other words, nine uber-studs and then me.
Tornado-like wind. Driving rain. Some gnarly trail. A lotta pristine trail, much of it built by hand by the Shenandoah Valley Bike Coalition forces who include a buncha the dudes there Saturday. A toast at the top of Kaylor's. A whole lotta laughs.
Oh yeah. Nine of the 10 of us wore shirt and tie.
All in all, vintage!!!
Some photos for my Me Wall ...
(From left): Phil Turk, Carp, me.
Me at my finest ...
(Thanks, MikeFraz, for setting this thing up, for shooting all this photos and, most importantly, for being a constant reminder to us about what it's really like to love someone as much as you love your brother. My life is a lot better because I have you guys in it. Same goes for most of these other knuckleheads involved in this particular affair.)
In other words, nine uber-studs and then me.
Tornado-like wind. Driving rain. Some gnarly trail. A lotta pristine trail, much of it built by hand by the Shenandoah Valley Bike Coalition forces who include a buncha the dudes there Saturday. A toast at the top of Kaylor's. A whole lotta laughs.
Oh yeah. Nine of the 10 of us wore shirt and tie.
All in all, vintage!!!
Some photos for my Me Wall ...
(From left): Phil Turk, Carp, me.
Me at my finest ...
(Thanks, MikeFraz, for setting this thing up, for shooting all this photos and, most importantly, for being a constant reminder to us about what it's really like to love someone as much as you love your brother. My life is a lot better because I have you guys in it. Same goes for most of these other knuckleheads involved in this particular affair.)
April 12, 2011
Big boy gear
Here, ladies and gentlemen, is a real, true head lamp. The Petzl Myo 3. Technology. Wow. No more $8 flashlights from Lowe's for me. No sir. Now, I'm big time.
Now, you may actually be able to see me at the same time that you hear me. Well, maybe.
April 5, 2011
Smart: The New Tough
This time, I was smart.
In each of my other 10 Umstead 100 finishes, I've had to be a lot tougher than this time because I haven't ever been as close to being as smart as I was this time.
Bob Ring and I basically did 4 minutes run/2 minutes walk for the first five of the 12.5-mile loops. Yeah. FIVE of them. That's the first 62.5 miles. Patience is good, especially when you've been there/done that/own the sweet, embroidered-with-your-name 1,000-Mile Club hat (!!!), you aren't too bothered what time you run and your main goal is to finish without suffering like a dawg. So we did the first FIVE laps in 3:00 each. There was a fair amount of messing-around time in there -- clothes change here, yak session there -- but, again, we had more or less turned this Umstead into a Three Days at the Fair learning lab from the get-go, so messing-around time worked. Lap 6 was slower because Ring sprung a slow leak that eventually resulted in a general blow-out to his right ITB. I hung with him through half of Loop 6, then bolted when he said he was gonna re-assess and that he didn't want to be my anchor. (He dropped at the end of this loop).
About two minutes after he cut me loose, this really cool thing happened. Along comes my boy Bill Burns, on his final lap, with a pacer and really down in the dumps after having gone for a sub-18 and having blown to bits. Burns says, "Kevin, this is Bill Gentry. He'll be good for a few laughs. Gentry, I can't talk, so you'll have to cover for both of us." Me? Talk? Hahahahah! Stealing a line from frequent training partner and ref buddy Mike Carpenter, I tell Kevin, "Oh, dude, are you in luck. My guys at home say I'm better than AM talk radio once I get going."
So back to life I come and BAM, before I know it, Burnsie is running faster than I can keep up with. Hah! We ran a lot of what Ring and I call The Back Nine (everything after the No. 2 fully manned and stocked Aid Station), including running almost the entire final 2 miles to his finish!!! Complete awesomeness! 19:15 or something. Of course I'm thinking, "Holy sheep-dip, it's gonna be hard to explain having done this if I blow a gasket but, what the hell, why else am I on Planet Earth if not for times like these, right?"
Well, Lap 7, I kinda did turn crater into a verb a little. Exhibit A: I freakin' fell asleep while stopping to pee ... standing UP, I fell asleep. OK. Time for a nap. After a 30-min. siesta at Aid Station 2 on Lap 7, I'm ready. It's 35F and I'm shivering so badly when I get going again that I have to start running after 200 yards of hiking cuz I have a little freak-out moment when I dump the hot chocolate I'm trying to drink all over myself, but it's OK. It didn't burn (much), and I realized it in time to suck some of it off the front of the blue zip-up fleece. Hey, L.L. Bean makes good stuff. You probably couldn't suck dumped hot chocolate off some cut-rate fleece, ya know? Anyway, a few minutes go by, I get back up to shuffle speed and it's all good again.
Kick out the rest of Lap 7 right at the 24-hour mark, so that means that I have done 87.5 miles in a comfy 24 hours (with a :30 nap and probably 5 other 10- to 15-minute stops, so I'm pretty MAJORLY psyched about Three Days at the Fair now!!!) ... especially if I can push this final Lap 8. Grab the iPod, snag some chicken broth, down a hot chocolate (heckuva lot easier to hit the mouth while sitting in a chair and not shivering), wait for the sun to come up enough that I don't need the hand-held flashlight, hit ... the ... gas.
Now it's ON, baby! Both earbuds in, sound turned up high, time to crank the run-3-songs, walk-1-song routine. (Hey, I runwalk on every run, so I like variety.) Do this for the first 3 miles -- with a quick stop to yak with Pete Lefferts who goes on to record his record-tying 13th Umstead 100 finish (Pete, you're one of my faves!) -- and then I manage to find another gear. Now it's 3 songs run, 1 walk and even a bit of 100-steps-run, 100-steps-walk on the uphills, too. No that-long hills at Umstead, but after 90-couple miles, it's all relative, right?
Outcome: I split Lap 8 in 2:50, easily my fastest of the day. And that includes a 3-minute break right at the end to blab with my friend Brenda from Virginia Beach who had been pacing earlier and has come back out to cheer the weary. Hey, more important to hear about her training and how excited she is about being in the Badwater 135 field than it is to push the final half-mile and still miss cracking 27 hours.
Aftermath: I crushed a huge omelet right away, then Ring came by from the hotel to scoop me up and home we came. Monday: Very little muscle soreness. No more than after a typical Sunday long run. Tuesday: none. at. all.
So, Umstead No. 11 Finish, I was smart. Stuff happened. I fixed it. Fun was had. Stories were told. Friends were seen. Hugs were exchanged. New friends were made. I finished in one piece, and I finished laughing.
Smart. My new tough.
March 29, 2011
Three More Sleeps
Randomness in the shadow of this weekend's Umstead 100-Miler in Raleigh, N.C. ...
• My Umstead PR is 21:57. I did that in 1998.
• It's 100 miles. Stuff is gonna go sideways. The Fun Factor will take some dips. Deal. With. It.
• I'm going with a 10 oz. FuelBelt Sprint. Totally tempting to punt that with all the aid at Umstead. Not carrying always blows up in my face. Every. single. time.
• This time, I'm bringing my own aid. Frito's corn chips. Chocolate milk. Nutella crackers. Feeling fairly certain that I'll grab here and there from Umstead's awesome fare, too.
• That famous Fred "Doom" Dummar quote is plain down truth: "The party don't start till the lights go out." Leave. some. running. for. later.
• Of my 10 Umstead 100-mile finishes, I have zero in the 22s. Or the 26s, 28s or 29s.
• On the 12.5-mile Umstead loop, it's crazy easy to waste gobs of time at both of the manned aid stations. Really, really easy to add 2 hours. Something to think about.
• In the first three months of 2010, I knocked out 42 runs of 2hrs. or more for 114:10. For 2011, numbers so far are 51 for 132:34. Feeling pretty good about those.
• I have gained 5 pounds in the past month. Happens when you add two meals a day. Strength is way up. Way way up.
• I see that I'm tied for fourth on the all-time Umstead finish list. Pete Lefferts should match Tom Sprouse's all-time mark of 13 this year. Louise Mason should get to 12. Alex Morton and Mike Smith will get to 11. With some good luck, I will join them. Bob Calabria, Fred Davis and Susan Rozanski are each poised to snag 1,000-mile buckles this time. Here's hoping that their respective weekends will be a magical as last year's was for me.
Another Umstead 100. Three more sleeps.
• My Umstead PR is 21:57. I did that in 1998.
• It's 100 miles. Stuff is gonna go sideways. The Fun Factor will take some dips. Deal. With. It.
• I'm going with a 10 oz. FuelBelt Sprint. Totally tempting to punt that with all the aid at Umstead. Not carrying always blows up in my face. Every. single. time.
• This time, I'm bringing my own aid. Frito's corn chips. Chocolate milk. Nutella crackers. Feeling fairly certain that I'll grab here and there from Umstead's awesome fare, too.
• That famous Fred "Doom" Dummar quote is plain down truth: "The party don't start till the lights go out." Leave. some. running. for. later.
• Of my 10 Umstead 100-mile finishes, I have zero in the 22s. Or the 26s, 28s or 29s.
• On the 12.5-mile Umstead loop, it's crazy easy to waste gobs of time at both of the manned aid stations. Really, really easy to add 2 hours. Something to think about.
• In the first three months of 2010, I knocked out 42 runs of 2hrs. or more for 114:10. For 2011, numbers so far are 51 for 132:34. Feeling pretty good about those.
• I have gained 5 pounds in the past month. Happens when you add two meals a day. Strength is way up. Way way up.
• I see that I'm tied for fourth on the all-time Umstead finish list. Pete Lefferts should match Tom Sprouse's all-time mark of 13 this year. Louise Mason should get to 12. Alex Morton and Mike Smith will get to 11. With some good luck, I will join them. Bob Calabria, Fred Davis and Susan Rozanski are each poised to snag 1,000-mile buckles this time. Here's hoping that their respective weekends will be a magical as last year's was for me.
Another Umstead 100. Three more sleeps.
March 8, 2011
Why EVERY Day?
This morning's little 2-hour runwalk with Jack marked Day 1,477 in my current consecutive-day running streak, just a touch beyond four years. Thought it might be a good time for a few "here's why" comments that have been roiling around in my head of late.
• When I was in college, I put in a LOT of 130-mile weeks without a rest day. Now, it's more like a lot of 50s and 60s. Maybe I never learned how to train properly? Or maybe I did.
• Stubborn is good.
• "When?" and "how long?" are a lot easier to answer than "if?"
• It's a constant reminder that except for those rarest of days, "hard" lives squarely between your ears.
• My hearing's not so good any more, but I hear The Clock of Life ticking loud and true.
• Several days a week, I get somewhere between 20 minutes and as much as 6 hours ... all. to. myself.
• On about half the days of a given year, I get 23 hours, 30 minutes or so of non-running rest.
• I don't want to miss a thing, especially before the sun comes up.
• There's nothing like the flow that comes from getting inside your own head, and my best way to get there is on foot at 5-7 mph.
• When I streak, I own the quote, "There will be a day when I can no longer do this. Today is not that day."
• When I was in college, I put in a LOT of 130-mile weeks without a rest day. Now, it's more like a lot of 50s and 60s. Maybe I never learned how to train properly? Or maybe I did.
• Stubborn is good.
• "When?" and "how long?" are a lot easier to answer than "if?"
• It's a constant reminder that except for those rarest of days, "hard" lives squarely between your ears.
• My hearing's not so good any more, but I hear The Clock of Life ticking loud and true.
• Several days a week, I get somewhere between 20 minutes and as much as 6 hours ... all. to. myself.
• On about half the days of a given year, I get 23 hours, 30 minutes or so of non-running rest.
• I don't want to miss a thing, especially before the sun comes up.
• There's nothing like the flow that comes from getting inside your own head, and my best way to get there is on foot at 5-7 mph.
• When I streak, I own the quote, "There will be a day when I can no longer do this. Today is not that day."
January 20, 2011
... or no Blue Monkeys!
Sometimes, you have to throw down an ultimatum. Sometimes, "ultimatum" = a great outcome. Take this morning, for instance.
I was 2:37:00 into what I was hoping was gonna be a 4:00:00 runwalk when I'd just dropped Vince and Jack off at their houses. They were heading to Shank's. (This is where, if my Verizon phone took photos worth anything at all, I would insert a photo of the world's most amazing blueberry muffins or chocolate cheese bread ... or make that THE WORLD'S MOST AMAZING BLUEBERRY MUFFINS OR CHOCOLATE CHEESE BREAD!)
Anyway, back to the run. Now I'm solo. Talk about a mega-serious dip in the Fun Factor. Enter the Annoying Voice. You know the one. "Dude. You've done way more than usual. You're the MAN! Stop now. What's the big?" Next, just a notch or two louder: "C'mon. 2:45:00 rules. Really. Who does that on a workday morning? Seriously. Five minutes to the truck. Call it now."
That's when it hit me. Blue Monkeys! Completely awesome pancakes filled with blueberries and bananas from Little Grill Collective, one of my favorite places on Earth.
Ultimatum time: "Look, here's the drill. If I get to 4:00:00, I hit the tall stack of Blue Monkeys. Any less, no go. Period. End of sentence."
Annoying Voice (wildly unhappy now): "Wait. No. Too much trouble driving across town for that. Plus, you have a crap-ton of work you need to get to today, all with deadlines. Now. Dude. Stop. Now!"
Just then, the biggest smile broke across my face. I had him. I really had him. And we both knew it.
Watch check says 3:32:00.
Annoying Voice (barely a whisper now): "3:32:00. You rock. Close it down now."
Me (really, really big face-breaking smile now): "Yo. Gotcha this time."
A bit later ... easing over to the Falcon ... 4:00:00.
Me (gathering my stuff and heading off to the shower): "Hey Voice ... suck it!"
I was 2:37:00 into what I was hoping was gonna be a 4:00:00 runwalk when I'd just dropped Vince and Jack off at their houses. They were heading to Shank's. (This is where, if my Verizon phone took photos worth anything at all, I would insert a photo of the world's most amazing blueberry muffins or chocolate cheese bread ... or make that THE WORLD'S MOST AMAZING BLUEBERRY MUFFINS OR CHOCOLATE CHEESE BREAD!)
Anyway, back to the run. Now I'm solo. Talk about a mega-serious dip in the Fun Factor. Enter the Annoying Voice. You know the one. "Dude. You've done way more than usual. You're the MAN! Stop now. What's the big?" Next, just a notch or two louder: "C'mon. 2:45:00 rules. Really. Who does that on a workday morning? Seriously. Five minutes to the truck. Call it now."
That's when it hit me. Blue Monkeys! Completely awesome pancakes filled with blueberries and bananas from Little Grill Collective, one of my favorite places on Earth.
Ultimatum time: "Look, here's the drill. If I get to 4:00:00, I hit the tall stack of Blue Monkeys. Any less, no go. Period. End of sentence."
Annoying Voice (wildly unhappy now): "Wait. No. Too much trouble driving across town for that. Plus, you have a crap-ton of work you need to get to today, all with deadlines. Now. Dude. Stop. Now!"
Just then, the biggest smile broke across my face. I had him. I really had him. And we both knew it.
Watch check says 3:32:00.
Annoying Voice (barely a whisper now): "3:32:00. You rock. Close it down now."
Me (really, really big face-breaking smile now): "Yo. Gotcha this time."
A bit later ... easing over to the Falcon ... 4:00:00.
Me (gathering my stuff and heading off to the shower): "Hey Voice ... suck it!"
January 17, 2011
On the Move
Today for lunch, I ate an entire large pepperoni pizza. All by myself. After a 2-hr. runwalk of 8 mins. run/2 mins. walk. That was on top of yesterday's 5-hr, 25-min. runwalk of 3 mins. run/2 mins. walk. I'm expecting to kick out another 2-hr. runwalk tomorrow, which is Tuesday. And Thurs. and Fri. And either Sat or Sun.
If I'm reading the calendar correctly, Umstead 100-Miler is 11 weeks in the future. And the Three Days at the Fair 72-hour is another five weeks from there. So the time to bumpity-bump-bump the training up a bit seems to be now. Combine this with a flurry of activity at work and the loooooooong days thanks to before-work runs and after-work travel/refereeing and we have the perfect environment to simulate a multi-day ultra. Now, if I could only find some people to scream obscenities at me around, say, 8 p.m. at Umstead or any of the nights at Three Days, well, I think I'd feel right at home.
Great start to the year. Counting today, I have 10 long runs for a total of 27:10. Staying consistent with the supplemental stuff too -- the low-key, in-my-living room yoga and Pilates, bodyweight leg exercises, and also the back-and-forth, sometimes-really-fast hoops referee running. It's all training, and it's all good.
I'm all over the map with goals for Umstead, the 72 and Old Dominion 100. Sometimes, I feel as if I want to rip it at all three. Other times, I feel content to just do whatever I can to get to the finish line of each. In the end, I expect the latter will win out. Seems to be my way this last decade or so. And that seems to be working pretty OK.
Streak is at ... lemme see ... 1,428 days. Year 4 is Feb. 17. Still having a LOT of fun with it. Still completely motivated by it. Yet to have a day when I just flat did not feel like going out. Not really sure how to explain it. Very thankful that there is no need to. :)
Eleven weeks to Umstead. 16 weeks to Three Days. A handful more after that until OD 100. Yippee skippy!
Do I have any clue at all what I am doing here? Nope. Am I having the time of my running life these days? Yes. Yes I am.
If I'm reading the calendar correctly, Umstead 100-Miler is 11 weeks in the future. And the Three Days at the Fair 72-hour is another five weeks from there. So the time to bumpity-bump-bump the training up a bit seems to be now. Combine this with a flurry of activity at work and the loooooooong days thanks to before-work runs and after-work travel/refereeing and we have the perfect environment to simulate a multi-day ultra. Now, if I could only find some people to scream obscenities at me around, say, 8 p.m. at Umstead or any of the nights at Three Days, well, I think I'd feel right at home.
Great start to the year. Counting today, I have 10 long runs for a total of 27:10. Staying consistent with the supplemental stuff too -- the low-key, in-my-living room yoga and Pilates, bodyweight leg exercises, and also the back-and-forth, sometimes-really-fast hoops referee running. It's all training, and it's all good.
I'm all over the map with goals for Umstead, the 72 and Old Dominion 100. Sometimes, I feel as if I want to rip it at all three. Other times, I feel content to just do whatever I can to get to the finish line of each. In the end, I expect the latter will win out. Seems to be my way this last decade or so. And that seems to be working pretty OK.
Streak is at ... lemme see ... 1,428 days. Year 4 is Feb. 17. Still having a LOT of fun with it. Still completely motivated by it. Yet to have a day when I just flat did not feel like going out. Not really sure how to explain it. Very thankful that there is no need to. :)
Eleven weeks to Umstead. 16 weeks to Three Days. A handful more after that until OD 100. Yippee skippy!
Do I have any clue at all what I am doing here? Nope. Am I having the time of my running life these days? Yes. Yes I am.
January 10, 2011
What a SWEET gift for 2011!!!
Found the following in my inbox today ...
We are happy to announce that NJ Trail Series will be offering a 72 Hour option at 3 Days at the Fair in 2011. This is in addition to the current offering of 48 and 24 hour races. The link to the website is www.njtrailseries.com/fair. The start date for the 72 Hour is Thursday May 12, 2011. The race location is Augusta, NJ at the NJ State Fairgrounds.
The race is held on a flat certified loop of .85 miles (approx 1.4km). There is a full kitchen on the loop to provide hot and cold food 24 hours a day. Bathrooms and showers are also right on the loop to allow the runners their best chance to achieve their maximum result. Plenty of space to set up tents or other items alongside the course as well.
--
Thank you,
Jennifer and Rick McNulty
----------------------
(No WONDER I found the extra mo' to kick out a 2-hour runwalk before work on this Monday when I typically do 25 minutes. Somehow, I must have KNOWN that Rick and Jennifer were gonna give this idea the official nod!)
OK, so now it's official. There will be LOTS of extra fun to be had along the way to the NJ SEVENTY-TWO HOUR. I'm gonna do a 72-hour run. A 72. Me.
Oh. my. word. times. infinity. With a big, fat smile mixed in there.
We are happy to announce that NJ Trail Series will be offering a 72 Hour option at 3 Days at the Fair in 2011. This is in addition to the current offering of 48 and 24 hour races. The link to the website is www.njtrailseries.com/fair. The start date for the 72 Hour is Thursday May 12, 2011. The race location is Augusta, NJ at the NJ State Fairgrounds.
The race is held on a flat certified loop of .85 miles (approx 1.4km). There is a full kitchen on the loop to provide hot and cold food 24 hours a day. Bathrooms and showers are also right on the loop to allow the runners their best chance to achieve their maximum result. Plenty of space to set up tents or other items alongside the course as well.
--
Thank you,
Jennifer and Rick McNulty
----------------------
(No WONDER I found the extra mo' to kick out a 2-hour runwalk before work on this Monday when I typically do 25 minutes. Somehow, I must have KNOWN that Rick and Jennifer were gonna give this idea the official nod!)
OK, so now it's official. There will be LOTS of extra fun to be had along the way to the NJ SEVENTY-TWO HOUR. I'm gonna do a 72-hour run. A 72. Me.
Oh. my. word. times. infinity. With a big, fat smile mixed in there.
December 14, 2010
Math is Sometimes Good
In the spirit of go-for-it-to-finish-the-year-big, I unveil the following ...
The 12-in-17 Plan.
That's 12 in 17, as in 12 more runwalks of at least 2 hours in duration across the remaining 17 days of calendar year 2010. Why, you ask? Simple. Because once I knock down these 12 runwalks of at least 2 hours in duration across the remaining 17 days of calendar year 2010, I will then be able to stand on the tailgate of the Millenium Falcon (aka 10-year-old Ben Gentry's name for my 2004 Nissan pickup) and crow ...
"Oh yeah, 2010. That was the year that I averaged a long run every other day. Yeah. For the whole year. Yeah."
Some quick math. 365 days in 2010. Half of that is ... lemme see here ... 182.5. And with this being Dec. 14 and my total resting at a big, fat 171, and my JMU Christmas break time off from work running (arf! arf!) Thursday, Dec. 23, through the end of the year, lemme see here ... if I can manage to throw down an extra one here ... and here ... and ... oh, lookit ... we come to Dec. 31 and a year-end tally of ... 183.
Sometimes, you just gotta go a little crazier than your normal crazy. Yep. Must. do. this.
Let the hunt begin, baby!
The 12-in-17 Plan.
That's 12 in 17, as in 12 more runwalks of at least 2 hours in duration across the remaining 17 days of calendar year 2010. Why, you ask? Simple. Because once I knock down these 12 runwalks of at least 2 hours in duration across the remaining 17 days of calendar year 2010, I will then be able to stand on the tailgate of the Millenium Falcon (aka 10-year-old Ben Gentry's name for my 2004 Nissan pickup) and crow ...
"Oh yeah, 2010. That was the year that I averaged a long run every other day. Yeah. For the whole year. Yeah."
Some quick math. 365 days in 2010. Half of that is ... lemme see here ... 182.5. And with this being Dec. 14 and my total resting at a big, fat 171, and my JMU Christmas break time off from work running (arf! arf!) Thursday, Dec. 23, through the end of the year, lemme see here ... if I can manage to throw down an extra one here ... and here ... and ... oh, lookit ... we come to Dec. 31 and a year-end tally of ... 183.
Sometimes, you just gotta go a little crazier than your normal crazy. Yep. Must. do. this.
Let the hunt begin, baby!
December 7, 2010
One step at a time
Beautiful, beautiful solo run this morning. Two hours of 9 minutes run/1 minute walk through the darkened streets of da 'Burg before work. 19F with a steady wind that made it a heckuva lot colder than that. Wore tights. Hopefully will have the good sense to continue doing that all winter.
One of those mornings when 1.6753-million thoughts streamed through my brain and nearly all were positive. Or at least wound up as positive after passing through the this-frozen-morning, endorphin-covered filter that sometimes doubles as my brain.
This morning's random list ...
• Why do coaches holler at us when we're reffing? Does it EVER help their causes?
• Another huge training year. Record totals for long-run frequency and overall time on feet. Sweetness!
• Need to e-mail Brad to snag a spot pacing at Shamrock Marathon again.
• Beeeeep. Oh wow. Already at 7 cycles of 9/1? No way!
• Crewing Amy at Hellgate this coming wknd is gonna be awesome!
• 17 weeks till Umstead. 23 till Three Days at the Fair. Not many more after that till OD 100. Lots to do to get ready. Oh what fun it will beeeeee!
• If 2-hour runwalks help define you, is there any hope at all that you can be classified as "normal?"
• OK, how 'bout this: In tonight's varsity girls' game, the first time a really obnoxious fan yells, how 'bout I blow the whistle, stop the game, run up in the stands and scream my head off at the dude? "Actually, idiot, yeah, I do happen to know what a walk looks like. I've done, what, 1,000 games maybe. I've called a few walks. And while we're at this, a kid hasn't had to be completely still to draw a charge for, oh, I dunno, maybe 20 years. He can even -- brace yourself -- be jumping in the air. It's called The Rule of Verticality! Oh, and one more thing: We don't cheat your team! Now, because I suck so badly, here's your $5 back. No, really. Keep it. What? Am I being a jackass?!" (Sorry. referee non-humor. Sometimes, I need to vent.)
• Slow down. Easy does it. Smiles rule.
• Man, that wind is cold. Man, that sky is gorgeous!
• Rabbit!
• How am I gonna finish Umstead, do 250km at Three Days, then come back and finish OD, all within a 9-week stretch? I know. I know. The same way I have been since the first day I laced up those adidas SL-72s 35 years ago.
One step at a time.
One of those mornings when 1.6753-million thoughts streamed through my brain and nearly all were positive. Or at least wound up as positive after passing through the this-frozen-morning, endorphin-covered filter that sometimes doubles as my brain.
This morning's random list ...
• Why do coaches holler at us when we're reffing? Does it EVER help their causes?
• Another huge training year. Record totals for long-run frequency and overall time on feet. Sweetness!
• Need to e-mail Brad to snag a spot pacing at Shamrock Marathon again.
• Beeeeep. Oh wow. Already at 7 cycles of 9/1? No way!
• Crewing Amy at Hellgate this coming wknd is gonna be awesome!
• 17 weeks till Umstead. 23 till Three Days at the Fair. Not many more after that till OD 100. Lots to do to get ready. Oh what fun it will beeeeee!
• If 2-hour runwalks help define you, is there any hope at all that you can be classified as "normal?"
• OK, how 'bout this: In tonight's varsity girls' game, the first time a really obnoxious fan yells, how 'bout I blow the whistle, stop the game, run up in the stands and scream my head off at the dude? "Actually, idiot, yeah, I do happen to know what a walk looks like. I've done, what, 1,000 games maybe. I've called a few walks. And while we're at this, a kid hasn't had to be completely still to draw a charge for, oh, I dunno, maybe 20 years. He can even -- brace yourself -- be jumping in the air. It's called The Rule of Verticality! Oh, and one more thing: We don't cheat your team! Now, because I suck so badly, here's your $5 back. No, really. Keep it. What? Am I being a jackass?!" (Sorry. referee non-humor. Sometimes, I need to vent.)
• Slow down. Easy does it. Smiles rule.
• Man, that wind is cold. Man, that sky is gorgeous!
• Rabbit!
• How am I gonna finish Umstead, do 250km at Three Days, then come back and finish OD, all within a 9-week stretch? I know. I know. The same way I have been since the first day I laced up those adidas SL-72s 35 years ago.
One step at a time.
September 30, 2010
Saved by a Trash Bag
OK, so Hinson didn't go anywhere close to as well as I had hoped.
Did slightly more than 100km, 41 laps, before shutting it down at 4:20 a.m. Sunday after an 8 a.m. Saturday start.
In freakish 97F, I popped off 25 laps with my friend Suzanne in 8:00:00 -- on pace to crack my 100-mile PR by one hour!!! -- then the puke-fest ensued and I managed just 16 more laps in the remaining 12.5 hours. Well played, Goob. Well played.
I was eating. I was drinking. I was flying. And then, pretty much all at once, ka-BLAM! Stomach went South. I walked. Tried ginger ale. And kept walking. Tried candied ginger. Walked and sat. Walked and sat. Switched to really cold water. Tried cheese 'za. Even considered eating a bug that I found crawling across my lap about 3 a.m. Sunday, but it got away before I could close the deal.
I let my friend Donnie drag me back outta the chair and back out onto the course for one more lap shortly after the bug thing. I had one more lap to get to 100k. Donnie had one more lap to, as he so eloquently put it, "beat all the bozos who quit or will quit at 100k," so off we went. I had nothing left at all. Check that. I could still dry-heave great. Did that three times on that final 1.5-mile loop.
I went for it. I drew back a nub. Hinson Lake grade = Ep. ic. fail.
Solo trip home bordered on miserable. Cranky and tired from a fitful 3 hours of sleep afterward -- after practically no sleep Friday night -- and then a 6-hour drive with not close to enough stops. Proud that I kept trying and trying to find some sour belly answers before finally packing it in during the run, yet still pretty disappointed in the final outcome.
Short runs Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Lotsa non-running time to sit around and feel like an old coot and an abject failure who maybe shouldn't even try long ultras anymore.
Then came a marvelous thing this morning. That thing? A Trash Bag Run.
Woke up normal time for a Thursday, 4:01 a.m. Coffee maker was perking on auto. Wait? What's that roar? Is that rain hitting the side of the house? OK. Lemme look a sec. Whoa! That's not rain. That's SHEETS of rain! Great. Outstanding. So I'm gonna go do a solo 2-hour runwalk in the dark in THAT? On still-probably-too-tired legs four days after a 100k puke-fest? Really? OK, so now would be a good time to try out that new Mizuno jacket Craig gifted me as part of my TRC gig. Right? Um, well, maybe not the best idea to test-drive it in THIS weather. OK, maybe I'll just mess around and go 30 minutes or something once it gets daylight.
And that's when it hit me. Oh. my. GOSH! I know EXACTLY what I need. Serious time for a first-time-in-a-few-years Trash Bag Run! Lemme check over here in the garage ... and ... bingo! ... still one big, honkin' brown leaf bag left from the fall. Sweetness.
So a 20-minute drive later, I'm shoving off from JMU's Godwin Hall parking lot wearing a trash bag as a rain jacket. Learned the trick at my first Old Dominion 100-Miler when I think everybody in the field was wearing one as the sky dumped buckets on us at 4 a.m. on that steamy June morn.
Wind is cranking. Rain is blowing. Temperature is mid-50s. And then there is me, with the bag covering my torso and my Outdoor Research Gor-Tex hat-covered head poking out of a hole I tore in the bottom of the bag. And I have the biggest smile on my face. And the happiest song in my heart.
Two hours of runwalk later, I'm ready to take on the world again. And all it took was a driving rainstorm and a brown trash bag.
Lucky, lucky me.
Did slightly more than 100km, 41 laps, before shutting it down at 4:20 a.m. Sunday after an 8 a.m. Saturday start.
In freakish 97F, I popped off 25 laps with my friend Suzanne in 8:00:00 -- on pace to crack my 100-mile PR by one hour!!! -- then the puke-fest ensued and I managed just 16 more laps in the remaining 12.5 hours. Well played, Goob. Well played.
I was eating. I was drinking. I was flying. And then, pretty much all at once, ka-BLAM! Stomach went South. I walked. Tried ginger ale. And kept walking. Tried candied ginger. Walked and sat. Walked and sat. Switched to really cold water. Tried cheese 'za. Even considered eating a bug that I found crawling across my lap about 3 a.m. Sunday, but it got away before I could close the deal.
I let my friend Donnie drag me back outta the chair and back out onto the course for one more lap shortly after the bug thing. I had one more lap to get to 100k. Donnie had one more lap to, as he so eloquently put it, "beat all the bozos who quit or will quit at 100k," so off we went. I had nothing left at all. Check that. I could still dry-heave great. Did that three times on that final 1.5-mile loop.
I went for it. I drew back a nub. Hinson Lake grade = Ep. ic. fail.
Solo trip home bordered on miserable. Cranky and tired from a fitful 3 hours of sleep afterward -- after practically no sleep Friday night -- and then a 6-hour drive with not close to enough stops. Proud that I kept trying and trying to find some sour belly answers before finally packing it in during the run, yet still pretty disappointed in the final outcome.
Short runs Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Lotsa non-running time to sit around and feel like an old coot and an abject failure who maybe shouldn't even try long ultras anymore.
Then came a marvelous thing this morning. That thing? A Trash Bag Run.
Woke up normal time for a Thursday, 4:01 a.m. Coffee maker was perking on auto. Wait? What's that roar? Is that rain hitting the side of the house? OK. Lemme look a sec. Whoa! That's not rain. That's SHEETS of rain! Great. Outstanding. So I'm gonna go do a solo 2-hour runwalk in the dark in THAT? On still-probably-too-tired legs four days after a 100k puke-fest? Really? OK, so now would be a good time to try out that new Mizuno jacket Craig gifted me as part of my TRC gig. Right? Um, well, maybe not the best idea to test-drive it in THIS weather. OK, maybe I'll just mess around and go 30 minutes or something once it gets daylight.
And that's when it hit me. Oh. my. GOSH! I know EXACTLY what I need. Serious time for a first-time-in-a-few-years Trash Bag Run! Lemme check over here in the garage ... and ... bingo! ... still one big, honkin' brown leaf bag left from the fall. Sweetness.
So a 20-minute drive later, I'm shoving off from JMU's Godwin Hall parking lot wearing a trash bag as a rain jacket. Learned the trick at my first Old Dominion 100-Miler when I think everybody in the field was wearing one as the sky dumped buckets on us at 4 a.m. on that steamy June morn.
Wind is cranking. Rain is blowing. Temperature is mid-50s. And then there is me, with the bag covering my torso and my Outdoor Research Gor-Tex hat-covered head poking out of a hole I tore in the bottom of the bag. And I have the biggest smile on my face. And the happiest song in my heart.
Two hours of runwalk later, I'm ready to take on the world again. And all it took was a driving rainstorm and a brown trash bag.
Lucky, lucky me.
September 23, 2010
Pre-race Thursday
(Subtitle: Even Pro Tapers Suck)
Did I pack those extra shorts? Wonder if I should really drive I-81 and U.S. 220, or if I oughta go U.S. 29 that I know. Well, that I know except for that part around Greensboro. I gotta remember to call my boy Doc when I get around there too. Been way too long since I saw him. Can't believe they're actually moving to Charlottesville. How cool is that? Is it really gonna be 92F Saturday? Holy crap, that's gonna be something. And with 200 and whatever people in the field, there is really gonna be some carnage out there. Please please please do not let yourself be part of that. Patience, patience, PATIENCE. Dude, it's 24 hours. There is no "too slow" for the running. We're talking just-faster-than-a-crawl pace at the start. And gentle walking. Man, I hope Andy can meet with me and David today or next Tuesday to yak about that Choose JMU brochure. And I gotta tell Chris to dig out that Duke Dog coloring thing and send it to Monyette. Maybe I ought to re-do my to-do list first thing. Is it Saturday yet? Or even Friday so I can get going on this trip. On Friday, do I Little Grill first for the awesome Blue Monkeys, or do I just run short, shower quick and then get the heck outta Dodge ... and get to Rockingham by late morning ... and sit around all day freakin' myself completely out. OK. OK. Little Grill. Or maybe I run short, shower quick and then meet Jack and Vince for Shank's muffins like a normal Friday. All that's left to pack is the cooler. Did I put my Saucony Rides in there? No I am NOT unpacking this whole truck. Wonder if I can find some pumpkin beer somewhere? Doesn't that sound delicious for Friday night? Especially if it's been on ice all day. Chocolate milk? Check. Ginger wedges? Yup. S-Caps? Si. Thyroid med? In the bag on the counter by the potato bowl in the kitchen ... with the S-Caps, ginger wedges and Nathan electrolyte tabs. Oh, and the chocolate goldfish. Why does 10 p.m. always feel like what I imagine 1 or 2 a.m. should feel like when I'm doing a timed event? Maybe it's cause I always go. out. too. fast? Slower-than-everybody-else-who-is-serious does not necessarily mean slow enough. Do NOT forget to re-order that Student Information Card. This will be my third time at Hinson. Is the third time really the charm? All good things come in threes, right? And I really hope this book on CD turns out to be a good one. So glad Rinn's letting me borrow her GPS. Is it Saturday yet? Or at least Friday, so I can get this show on the road? OK, so it's Thursday. And I'm typing this from the driver's seat of my pickup. At 4:38 a.m. OK, def time for a short run.
Did I pack those extra shorts? Wonder if I should really drive I-81 and U.S. 220, or if I oughta go U.S. 29 that I know. Well, that I know except for that part around Greensboro. I gotta remember to call my boy Doc when I get around there too. Been way too long since I saw him. Can't believe they're actually moving to Charlottesville. How cool is that? Is it really gonna be 92F Saturday? Holy crap, that's gonna be something. And with 200 and whatever people in the field, there is really gonna be some carnage out there. Please please please do not let yourself be part of that. Patience, patience, PATIENCE. Dude, it's 24 hours. There is no "too slow" for the running. We're talking just-faster-than-a-crawl pace at the start. And gentle walking. Man, I hope Andy can meet with me and David today or next Tuesday to yak about that Choose JMU brochure. And I gotta tell Chris to dig out that Duke Dog coloring thing and send it to Monyette. Maybe I ought to re-do my to-do list first thing. Is it Saturday yet? Or even Friday so I can get going on this trip. On Friday, do I Little Grill first for the awesome Blue Monkeys, or do I just run short, shower quick and then get the heck outta Dodge ... and get to Rockingham by late morning ... and sit around all day freakin' myself completely out. OK. OK. Little Grill. Or maybe I run short, shower quick and then meet Jack and Vince for Shank's muffins like a normal Friday. All that's left to pack is the cooler. Did I put my Saucony Rides in there? No I am NOT unpacking this whole truck. Wonder if I can find some pumpkin beer somewhere? Doesn't that sound delicious for Friday night? Especially if it's been on ice all day. Chocolate milk? Check. Ginger wedges? Yup. S-Caps? Si. Thyroid med? In the bag on the counter by the potato bowl in the kitchen ... with the S-Caps, ginger wedges and Nathan electrolyte tabs. Oh, and the chocolate goldfish. Why does 10 p.m. always feel like what I imagine 1 or 2 a.m. should feel like when I'm doing a timed event? Maybe it's cause I always go. out. too. fast? Slower-than-everybody-else-who-is-serious does not necessarily mean slow enough. Do NOT forget to re-order that Student Information Card. This will be my third time at Hinson. Is the third time really the charm? All good things come in threes, right? And I really hope this book on CD turns out to be a good one. So glad Rinn's letting me borrow her GPS. Is it Saturday yet? Or at least Friday, so I can get this show on the road? OK, so it's Thursday. And I'm typing this from the driver's seat of my pickup. At 4:38 a.m. OK, def time for a short run.
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