Taper Mode

I am in taper mode for the Madison Mini Marathon this upcoming Saturday. Last Saturday was my last long run (10 miles) and Sunday was a 17 mile bike ride. This past week I received a note from Heather, who decided to sign up for Madison this Saturday. She just made it before the race closed and we are going to try to have a blogger meet up this weekend.

I am glad that this is my last long race of the year. I put to much pressure on myself this year with hopes of being ready for a full Marathon. I just don't know if it is in the cards for me. I would sure like to put it on my bucket list, but I don't know if I can commit to what it takes to train for it, let alone run 26.2. I sure give all of you who have kudos. I guess I will be sticking with the 1/2 for a little longer and see where that takes me.

I am running this weekend with no time fame in mind and plan on running a comfortable pace so I can take in the scenery and the crowds. On my 10 miler last weekend, I ran with my wife and a friend of mine. We talked the whole time and before I knew it 10 miles were done. I enjoyed that run and would like to be able to not worry about my pace, time or anything else and just enjoy a run just like last weekend.

This has been a great summer and today was back to school for my son. I feel like I have been on vacation the whole summer, I took every Friday off, a week in July and a few other days here and there. I sure can get used to that. Next week is may last Friday off. I now have to stretch the rest of my time off (7 days) until the end of the year. Luckily we have Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years to help out.

Breaking out of the Funk

It’s been so long I don’t know where to begin.

I had a wonderful 40^th B-Day party on the 9^th. I celebrated by spending the evening with family and friends. My wife had dinner catered in and we had plenty of food and drink on hand. Funny thing is I don’t feel older, or even old for that matter. I am glad that I am able to run and be in the healthy condition I am. I am sure that has everything to do with how I feel. I even feel this way despite the fact that my wife plastered the lawn with fake tombstones and “Over the Hill” signs everywhere. I’ll take the good and the bad as long as I can still feel as healthy as I do at this time in my life.

I have 10 days until the Madison Mini (1/2) Marathon. I have to admit I haven’t been training as much as I should have been and I am getting a little nervous. Ever since vacation last month, I seemed to have been slacking a bit and not running the longer distances I should have to prepare for this. I do get motivation from reading a lot of wonderful blogs out there and it really seems to help, but for some reason after my 12 hours days of working/commuting, I seem drained. I know exercise gives you energy and all and I have been running just not like I should have. Lately my body has been aching more than its normal pains. I am not sure if has anything to do with running a few miles on concrete everyday to get to the paths I have near my house or worn out shoes or psychological. I changed my shoes, tried staying off the concrete as much as possible and tried to get my head out of the funk I was in. I read a great post over at Runner Dudes blog yesterday that seemed to help. So last night I started off my evening run and ended up doing 7 miles at a quick pace (quick for me). I left right after I got home from work at 6:00 and didn’t get home until 7:45. After my return and showering, I was exhausted and in bed by 9:00. During the week I don’t normally have the time to commit to these longer runs, but I just felt I needed to get the cobwebs off and needed to break out of my routine. I was sore but felt great afterwards. Today, I assumed I would be feeling a little beat up but not a bit. I hope to get out tonight for an easy three and then cut the grass. I have 10 days to get my head and body in the right place. I have come to terms that I am not going to worry about a PR and just enjoy the race as much as I can. I have a long run scheduled with a friend of mine for Saturday morning and I am off work for a 4 day weekend so I hope to get a few quality runs in preparation for the upcoming ½.

Last weekend we had some college friend visit us up in Wisconsin for the weekend. We had a great time and a friend of mine took us all out in his boat for the afternoon. We docked at a sand bar and were able to let the kids swim and enjoy the day.

Summer seems to be coming to a quick end. My son starts school next week and for me that signals the end of summer. I am ready for some cooler and less humid weather for running anyways.

Over the Hill

This past Thursday evening I ran a 5K downtown Chicago, or so I thought. The weather was perfect, but the organization of the 2009 Race Judicata sucked. Not to mention the 5K turned into a 3.41 miler. Seriously when you move the starting line you know that the rest of the course will be affected. My Garmin told me something was wrong by mile 2 when there was no split time around. The timer was much farther away as well as the water stop. The crappy part of the whole thing is that I was running my fastest 5K pace ever. The final approach was under Columbus Avenue and uphill. Unfortunately when you are pacing the finish line to be .31 miles closer, it adversely affects you. I know it was only a 5K, but this still pisses me off. Not to mention this little race cost $38 to run. You think they would have gotten it right.

I digress from my ranting. A few good things happened out of the whole thing: (1) I have a new PR for a 3.41 Miler (2) There was cold Goose Island 312 beer waiting for me at the finish line and after each one I seemed to be less annoyed about the whole thing (3) A friend of mine drove me home, so I didn’t need to worry about that aspect of the evening.

On Friday I played in a golf outing with my uncle and his buddy's. We played at Evergreen Golf course in Elkhorn Wisconsin. We had a great day, beautiful weather and didn't play to terrible either. I only play golf a handful of times a year so I was elated when I got a birdie on a par 3 hole. Of course I started to fall apart on the back nine, I am not used to swinging a club around for 4 hours. I was pretty tired after that. After golfing they cooked steaks over a large grill and had door prizes. I won a bottle of merlot and my uncle got a Tasmanian devil head cover. He gave it to me to give to my son for his clubs (he loved it).

I am approaching the colossal milestone of turning 40 this weekend. We are having some friends over at the house to help celebrate my old age. I honestly don’t feel different physically, but I do have to admit, there is a bit of a mental thing going on for me. I can’t exactly pinpoint what it is, but maybe I have to recognize I am no longer a kid and officially an adult, or should this have happened already?

I am trying to stay focused and keep up with training for my ½ at the end of the month, but my knees have been a little sore this week. I ran a few times over the weekend after the Thursday night race and my legs felt heavy and sore. I took last night off from running and took the dog out for a walk around the neighborhood instead. Maybe my body is getting ready to shut down at 40 years old. I guess I will just keep plugging along, I would feel too guilty otherwise.

Vacation & a 10K PR

I seemed to have fallen into a black hole lately. After vacation, I have found it difficult to find time for everything. Anyways, I am still out here and still running.

Vacation was wonderful. Having eleven days away from work was refreshing. I did however find myself overindulging in food and drink a bit too much. The fun thing is that there are a group of friends that take vacation the same week that have summer places by us so we have the option to do things with friends if we want. I did run on vacation, just not the miles I probably should have. I did find a 10k race on the morning of the fourth of July. It was a great way to kick off Independence Day. My last 10K back in April, I managed a 55:41 and this time I was hauling ass (for my standards) and finished with 52:16. That is 3:25 faster than last time. I don’t know why, the course was hilly and out in the country running past corn and cows and other animals but something snapped and I broke my plateau I was stuck on. I hope this continues through my next races. Anyway I was stoked to have improved my time by that much for a 10K.

In addition to the 10K there were a few scattered runs, varying in distance, not pushing myself to hard, after all I was on vacation.

One of my trip highlights was going to New Glarus, Wisconsin to tour one of my favorite breweries, the New Glarus Brewing Company. They had just opened their new hilltop brewery, so new in fact, the varnish on the woodwork and paint on the walls still smelled wet. We walked into the brewery and immediately proceeded to get a pint to sample & walk around the brewery with. I was surprised that they gave you us a glass and let us wander around with it. The building was an impressive display of copper kettles and stainless steel pipes traversing throughout the building. Each area was open to view by a glass wall as to see the operation & each brewing process. I ended the tour with a visit to the gift shop to load up on souvenirs. Next we headed to the lower level where all the beer was. New Glarus is only sold in Wisconsin, so I tried to get a decent sampling for the rest of vacation and to share with my poker buddy’s back home.

A few days after the brewery tour, a group of us went tubing down the Wisconsin River in a town called Spring Green. Spring Green is also famous for the home of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin House. We actually floated right past the house on the river. It was a real treat to see, especially if you are into architecture. There were sand bars all along the river; we stopped for lunch and then just to let the kids run around and play. A good time was had by all.

The rest of vacation was spent visiting with friends and spending time with my family and just relaxing. I often feel I need a vacation to recover from my vacation once I get back. And don’t get me started about catching up at work!

Vacation Preperations

Things have been going well, despite the fact I have been a no show on the blog world lately. Last Saturday I went for a run with a faster friend of mine who pushed me during a 6 miler. We started out at a 9:30 pace, which is my normal speed for this distance and by mile 5 he was pushing me at 8:45. I was having a hard time keeping up, but glad I did. When I downloaded my Garmin, I realized that I had run at an average pace of 9:13 for the six miles. I was happy with my progress and albeit out of breath thanked him for pushing me.

The rest of Saturday, I helped him finish installing/building a screen porch on his deck. I figured he had a few hours of work left but found myself still there 8 hours later. I was late to dinner at party my wife and son were already at. I showed up late, apologized and they were kind enough to keep everything out for me. I was glad to help my friend finish and look forward to breaking the porch in some time in the future.

Sunday I didn’t run but played tennis with my son. I got him 2 rackets for his birthday a few weeks ago and had not had the opportunity to play. We just tried to volley the ball back and forth, as neither of us are very good. It was nice to spend some time together and I did manage to get a little exercise in chasing the tennis ball all over the court. I was just reading they have different size tennis balls that have different compression to bounce slower and faster for practice. I need to investigate and find some that have a slower bounce so we can practice a bit.

I am looking forward to the upcoming holiday weekend, especially since I will be on vacation and away from work for 11 days starting this Thursday. We are heading to Wisconsin for the week and a few other families we know will be up there vacationing at the same time. We are trying to coordinate a few activities such as tubing down the Wisconsin River past Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin, a Brewers game, the Madison zoo and just hanging out at the lake and pool. I am planning on taking a day trip to New Glarus, Wisconsin, home of the New Glarus brewery. New Glarus is only sold in Wisconsin and I can’t get it anywhere in Illinois. I am planning to stock up on my trip to the brewery. I do plan on keeping up with my training. That is why I signed up for another ½ marathon in August to keep me accountable and on track.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July celebration!

Father's Day Weekend

I had quite a busy weekend. After spending Friday morning watching a movie in the basement while the tornado warnings passed, we headed up north to Wisconsin for the weekend. My son got a new bike last week for his birthday, but we had to return it because it wasn't put together very well. We returned it at the Target in Wisconsin, so I knew it was put together by a different person. Luckily this one worked and we picked up a new hybrid for my wife as well. Of course we had to go on a ride Saturday morning so they both could try their new rides out. We went 10 miles on the trail and everything was good. I attempted to do a run immediately after biking and that is such a strange feeling. My legs felt like rubber bands. I didn't go far, I just wanted to know what it felt like.


I washed my golf cart for the first time this year and it was cleaning up nicely. That is until I cleaned the tires and found out that 3 of the valve stems had dry rotted. I lost air in all three tires as soon as I touched them. I am glad it happened while I was cleaning it and not driving. I had to remove all the tires and put the golf cart on blocks so I could have new stems put in the tires. I thought the picture looked a little funny, like I had just gotten my rims stolen. Anyway, I returned home with 4 new valve stems and was cruising around. At least it cleaned up well and no one was hurt.


After spending the afternoon fixing the wheels, I headed to the pool where my wife and son were all day. I did get to relax and have a little fun at least.

On Sunday, my son & I went and golfed 9 holes. It was our first time out for the year and we both were a little rusty. The course was packed for Father's Day and we were waiting at every hole. I should have picked a less hectic day for our first outing of the year. Hopefully the next time we go, we got the cobwebs out and will play a little better. It was nice to spend the time together with my son, nonetheless.



On Sunday afternoon, we headed home and went to my sister's for a cookout. It was nice to go to someone else's house while they did all the cooking for a change. Terri and Dante were able to relax a little as well.


All in all it was a busy weekend, but I enjoyed myself. Oh and by the way, my official time from Thursday's race was 25:44. A new PR for me by 1 second. Now I need to buckle down and sign up for my next race, the Madison mini marathon on August 29th and see what I can do about a sub 2:00 time.

Thursday Night at the Races

Last night I ran the Jim Gibbons 5k at Chicago's lake front. The weather was humid and quit muggy, but there is nothing like running along the lakefront after work. Like most races this was for a good cause, leukemia research. I talked one of my buddies I ride the train with to run with me and in turn he recruited someone from his office as well. I have not been able to find my official time yet but my Garmin indicated it to be 25:47. If that is the case, I missed my PR by 3 seconds. It is motivating to see so many peole running and I really enjoy running these Thursday races after work in the summer. Now that I have been running longer distances, I found it hard to pace myself effectively for a 5K.

I am looking into another 1/2 marathon in Madison. They are having a mini marathon in August and I think it will keep me on track to keep my weekly mileage up.