OBX Thanksgiving 2009

We spent the entire Thanksgiving week in the Outer Banks at our resort Ocean Villas. We usually spend the whole week walking on the beach, running, movies and fires at night. On the second day there Marsha and I were getting ready to head out for a 13 mile run when I bent over to tie my second shoe when I pulled something in my back, run was cancelled for the time being. Later that day I did head out for a 3 mile run and surprisingly running didn't hurt if I went slow but sleeping in the extra soft bed was very hard on my back, tried a couple nights on a air mattress then another night on the floor which lasted til about 4 am when I finally went back to the super soft bed. I did go see a chiro in the Outer Banks but his adjustments didn't seem to help much. Thanksgiving morning we were to run the Outer Bans Gobbler 5k and that was supposed to be Kyle and I's big showdown but his knees were bugging him and I was in no shape to run fast so we paced Marsha for the first 2 miles then we took off to pass as many people as we could in the last miles finishing in 23:15 with a 6:45 last mile. Kyle was the 2nd under 18 year old across the line so he won a small apple pie. This was more of a fun run with no results and you got your own time when you passed the clock.I ran every day on this trip but only one 10 miler with Marsha and the 6 plus miles on Turkey day and all the others were quick 3 mile runs. The drive home was the toughest part of the whole trip, no matter how I sat my back was killing me, I drove for 3 hours but it was even worse in the drivers seat so Marsha drove for over 7 hours on the way home. Three hours after we got home we headed to the bowling alley where I had a hard time throwing the ball but I bowled anyways and shot 581. We then headed to Walmart to get some groceries and got home and being totally exhausted from our long day went to sleep. I got up Sunday morning and still was a little sore but just one night back in our sleep number bed and I was feeling better. 11:00 was our group run and this run felt better than any all week, Marsha, Charles Janet, Jeannine and I ran this run but Charles and Janet cut out at 7 miles as Charles is still having problems since Nashville and Janet was struggling a bit. We went on and hit 11 miles just before getting back home. Today was my 29th run of the month and after tomorrows run I will have run every day of November and if I get in my 6.5 miles tomorrow I will have 230 miles for the month and a new record for a single month. Then a couple days off with the Ashland Half marathon next weekend.

The Day Before Our OBX Vacation Marathon + 11/20/2009

We were leaving for the Outer Banks on Saturday morning and I decided to take Friday off work. Chuck was also off on Friday so he asked me if I wanted to do a 20 miler on Friday morning. I was already running 6 miles with Jeannine, Roberta, Debbie and Dan B at 5 am but told Chuck I was in and that I was running a marathon on Friday morning then. I ran the first 6 miles between 5 and 6 then met Chuck at his house and we ran from there. We headed out on the same route I had run at 5 am but this time it seemed a little harder and a little windier. We headed down the Chippewa trails and down 162 where I ran up and surprised My Uncle Gary and talked to him for a minute or two. Then we headed out through Buckeye Woods and around the big open field then down towards Chippewa rd. and back towards my house but then we realized that we were gonna be a little long and ended our run just before we arrived back at Chucks house at 22 miles giving me 28 for the day. Friday night we made a stop at the Candlelight Walk and headed home to prepare for our long drive to the Outer Banks where we are now. It is now Nov. 23 and I have run every day this month with the intention of running every day but since arriving and sleeping on this super soft mattress I have been having back aches since yesterday when I tired to tie my shoes and had sudden pain that has not gone away yet. Thursday Marsha, Kyle and I will be running the OBX Turkey Trot 5k and I hope to give Kyle a hard time beating me but that may not be the case if the back ache doesn't go away by then. Only 3 days til Thanksgiving.

Bill's Bad Ass 50K Nov. 14, 2009

About 6 -8 weeks ago Chef Bill posted to quite a few people "are you a bad ass" and that is how he announced the 50k they were planning. I put maybe on his site because I told Bill I was running Columbus and Niagara Marathons just 2 and 3 weeks before this race. I wanted to do this race but sort of set it aside and forgot about it til Dan saw it days before the race and I checked in with Chef Bill and he told us to come. The weather was unbelievable, a little chilly to start the day but it warmed up quick, shorts and a tee all day (gloves too for most of the day). There looked to be somewhere between 75 and a 100 people at the start but only 44 bad ass's finished by the results Bill posted, waiting to see the candy ass list to see total of all runners. This race was held entirely on the Perkins loop in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park not far from lock 29 where we run sometimes. The first 2 plus miles was a hilly gradual climb that we mostly walked the hills every loop and it was still tough, the last half was of course coming back down and much easier except the steep down hill that we also walked almost every lap. There were also several water crossing that were all easy due to no rain lately, not exactly what these ultra runners were hoping for, Bill wanted rain, mud, cold, wind and more horse do do on the trail but it was a beautiful day and dry so I can only imagine what this would have been like on a bad day. Marsha came out and joined us for the last 5 mile loop and the final mile up the stairs which was also a tough finish but I had a couple weeks of recovery from my last marathon and was feeling rather well. It was a fun day running with Dan as we always seem to get the nice weather when we head for the trails, our recent Facebook blog was funny as Dan wrote he was having an affair with trail running and I posted "oh you doing her too" and we had a bunch of funny comments from there with Dan's friend Dee making comments and she had me laughing alot. Novembers goal is to run every single day so the day after the 50k I ran 7 more miles and felt really good. It will be a record month and record weeks are coming too. 18 for 18 so far and we will be heading to the OBX soon for the big duel between Kyle and I.

Connie's 46th Birthday / Dick's Horse Radish 5K

• Marsha and I started our weekend off by going to Connie's birthday gathering at her house, it was open to most any runner that Connie knows so we got Jeannine to finally agree to go. Most there will not forget how sloshed and funny she was that night even though she forgot alot of that night, we stayed til midnight or later and we had a blast, runners are such a great group of people. I had plans to go run Dick's Horse Radish 5k in Canton Sunday , 1. because my friend Bill lives right on the course and he has driven here for many runs and 2. it was the second to last Subway race of the season and wanted to run one more. So being at a party with lots of runners I found a whole car load to go to Canton, Dan H., Connie, Chuck and I all went and had a pretty good showing. All four of us place in the top 25 with 312 runners. I followed Chuck off the line but we got split up in the crowd and he got by what Connie said about 20 seconds in front of me and that's where he stayed for over 2.5 miles, I was hoping to catch him but thought it wasn't gonna happen till the last half mile, he slowed just a bit and I was closing in but as the finish line neared I was almost right behind him and kinda tired and thought I'd wait til the end to try and make a move but in the last 30 yds. there was a 90 degree turn to the finish and I just couldn't get by then as Chuck sped up going in to the last turn, he knew someone was behind him he just didn't know it was me. Chuck was 15th, I was 16th with a 19:43, 1.5 seconds behind Chuck with Dan and Connie both less than 27 second back. I really think all the long runs, marathons, etc. have had a good effect on my speed as I hadn't done speed work in quite some time. Thanksgiving day I will need some speed as I will be racing Kyle in a 5K in the OBX.

November is Upon Us

Why does winter have to come, I like running in the cold but I still hate winter. My quads were really sore after the last marathon just 9 days ago but how else to get over that but to run and get them stretched. Ran a few times after Niagara and really had some sore muscles but it's getting better quick, ran at 5 am with Jeannine, Roberta and Debbie last week and again today, 6 miles each time at just over an 8:30 pace. Last Saturday Dan D. and I went to Hinckley and ran just over 13 miles, at 6:45 I texted Dan and wanted to see if he was thinking we should cancel as there was a threat of rain all morning and it was raining at the time. Being that Dan has his second trail marathon in 2 weeks coming up he wanted to run rain or shine so off we went. It was a great run and no one else braved the weather with us, I had one new experience as a runner as Dan and I came to some high water and the river crossings, the first one I scaled a tree and crawled a little to get over to the other side as Dan waded through. On our way back maybe 3 miles from the truck we came to that crossing again and this time I followed Dan in and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be except the water was really cold, we both had clean clothes, socks and shoes so we were dry 25 minutes later. We have been very lucky more than once going out when the weather was supposed to be bad and getting a nice break when we have arrived. Sunday I ran 5 more miles with Marsha and Jeannine cutting off as we neared our house, ran the first 5 at about a 9:15 pace and the last one heading home in 7:20 averaging 8:57 for all 6. Overall feeling less sore and Monday night after mowing and raking I thought let's see if I can run a 5k for fun in a decent time, heading out near dark I ran my 3.1 mile loop in 21:55 at a decent pace and felt pretty good so I decided that I will run my last Subway race this weekend down by my buddy Bill's house on Cable Lake in Canton. I ran this morning with Jeannine, Roberta and Debbie and am thinking that I will run again tomorrow with Roberta and Debbie but running to her house and cutting off when we get near here. Also running at 5 am Thursday and Friday as a MCRR run but we'll see if anyone else shows, so far Dan B. and Chuck are the only takers besides JN and I.