Video of Ella

here is a video clip of Ella talking about Christmas on our way home from our friends house Christmas Eve. Enjoy!

Merry Chirstmas!!!

Today was Christmas. We all had a lot of fun today. I really love my kids. I was really excited to see how excited they got over all their presents. This was Ella's first reaction. "Look," she exclaims:




This is Alex when he saw what Ella had. He didn't care too much for his huge Tonka Truck. He finally warmed up to it a little when I put him in it and pushed him around the room. He kept wanting to sit back in it. He's cute.
The kids also really liked this little band set we got for them. It got a bit noisy in the house, but they enjoyed it. Alex really liked the harmonica.
Ella's favorite was her LeapPad learning book.


I was not left out either. I have no photos of me though. The best things I got were running things. Amanda got me a subscription to Runners World Magazine. She also got me an MP3 player that is small and clips nicely to my shorts. I also got earphones that attach to my ears. They are very comfortable. I was also given some time when the kids were napping to go for a run and test everything out. I also got a Metallica CD. That was some good music to listen to. It motivated me or something because I ran really fast for seven miles. You should click on the workout on the side of the page here to see more about my run. My last mile was about six minutes. That felt really good. I need to go out and run an all out mile just to see how fast I could do it. That was the fastest mile I have ran in probably several years. Even in the couple of speed workouts working up for the marathon I tried for a six minute mile, but I only got about 6:20 or so. I was really feeling great today. I've been feeling great for a while now. Last Saturday I went for a 14 mile run and even pushed Alex in the stroller. Well, I need to get off to bed. I'm getting up early tomorrow to go pick up my parents from the airport. They will be here for 10 days and we will really enjoy getting to spend time with them.

It's Christmas Time

Merry Christmas to all. I really don't have much to write about except that I took my wife out to a movie and dinner tonight, but you would probably be pretty bored with (as my dad would say) "mushy" stuff like that.
Lets see what kind of photos I can find from my computer.
This first one is from the photo shoot three years ago when Ella was a baby. I guess she wasn't too happy.

It is fun to browse old photos.
This next one will probably get me in trouble. We were just having some fun with the camera and goofing around. I got a great shot of Amanda puckering up for a big smooch (I know I promised no mushy stuff, but this is cute). I love my wife.
Well, I hope you enjoy your holidays. We are going to decorate ginger bread houses tomorrow with some friends. If I'm feeling up to it I also plan on going for a long run tomorrow. I think 12 or 15 miles.

Running News and More

I just went for a five mile run. I ran two miles to a great hill. Then I did ten 10 second sprints up the hill. I feel great. I plan on taking a day off from running tomorrow and going on a bike ride. I think I'll do 25 miles, but we'll see how much time I have. So, there is a half marathon not too far from here that I think I might do. It is on January 5th. I might not be able to though, we'll have to wait and see.

I thought you might like to see a photo. I was finished telling you about my running for today, so I went looking for a photo. This is what i came up with. I took this photo in Monterey California back in 2003. I really liked running out there. There is a nice path that goes all the way around the peninsula there. There were a lot of great hill runs too. We would often go running on the beaches. It was always great running on the beaches out there. Maybe I could go running on the beaches here. Only, I don't feel like driving that far just to go running. I like to step outside and start running straight from my doorstep. This next picture was taken in May of 2003. I love my beautiful Amanda.
We were at my friend's wedding in Utah.

Well, enough reminiscing. Maybe I'll make it a habit to find old photos to show you. I only have photos back to April of 2003 though. Well, I have some older ones, but they are not digital. I would have to scan them in and that would be too much work. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Fun at the Beach

So, Yesterday we decided to play at the beach. Most of my life I've lived in places that has seasons. I love the snow. But is sure is fun to brag about how I can go play at the beach while at the same time the rest of my family is living in freezing rain and snow. We decided to take pictures for our Christmas cards while we were out there to show everyone what they are missing.



Here is a video clip of the photo shoot.
Well, enjoy the snow and ice for me. I wish I could be there where it is nice and refreshing. I think it is annoying to have to turn on the air conditioner in December.

Recovery

Well folks, it has been four days since the marathon and I feel great. So great in fact that I went for a short easy run today. I was going to do two or three depending on how I felt, I felt great, so I did three. I feel a little tired now. I think it is a good thing I didn't do more than three miles. I tried my new socks. At the marathon, I got Baton Rouge Beach Marathon socks. They are really bright. I tried them today and I really like them. They are comfortable. I'll run two or three again tomorrow, or maybe I'll go for a bike ride. I haven't ridden my bike for a while. I need to get my legs moving, and a bike ride would give me a chance to do that while giving my legs a bit more of a rest from the pounding that running gives them. Well I'm still motivated to do some ultra marathons. It is 19 weeks away from the SLC Marathon. Maybe after that I can do a fifty miler. Or maybe I'll be working too hard or studying too hard at that point. I don't know where my future will take me. I keep thinking that I should go to school, but I can't decided on what I would want to study. Well, I guess that is enough rambling.

Baton Rouge Beach Marathon Recap

OK here it is. We all got up at about 5:30, although after I looked at my watch at 5:00 I couldn't really sleep. I kept thinking that I hadn't set the alarm right and that we were sleeping in too much. I finally just got out of bed and got ready. We got down the the starting area at about 6:00. We actually were able to park right at the start/finish area. It was nice. I walked around a bit and stretched and jogged. I was feeling great. Here I am less than five minutes before the start of the race.


And here I am about 200 feet after the starting line. I look great.

This is about the five mile mark with a time of about 40 minutes. For the first half of the marathon I had a pretty good pace. I felt great.


So great in fact that at the half way point (13.1 miles/1 hour 47 minutes) I was still enjoying so much that I was smiling big. Someone a few feet further up from this photo called me "smiley." I thought that was pretty funny, but I felt great. I thought I was going to be able to break 3:30 for sure.

After the half way point I slowed down to probably a 9 minute per mile pace or even 9:30 for the next 6 or 7 miles. That must have been my wall. I hit it pretty hard too. I never noticed a sudden lack of energy like I have heard people tell of, but I just gradually slowed down and felt like I couldn't keep going, but I did keep going, one foot in front of the other. I decided not to get a split time at every mile, although I wish now that I had done that so that I could analyze exactly where it was that I slowed down the most and such. I did however get a few splits. The first split was at mile marker 22 my time was 3:17:51. I wanted to see how much I had slowed down. At mile marker 23 it was 3:28:21. It had taken 10:30 to do one mile. I really had slowed down. By that point I had started adding 30-40 second walks every five to ten minutes. I was feeling pretty tired. My legs cramped up too. It was also about that point that I started noticing my lower back tighten up. I hurt it pretty bad just two week earlier, and I decided that I would rather get a really slow time, than really hurt my back again. So I didn't push it too hard. I could feel that my legs were really tight and after mile 23, I walked pretty much the whole way. I tried jogging every 5 to 10 minutes for 20-30 seconds, but I just couldn't do it. My legs were so tight that by the end of the 20 second jog, I would have to walk and try to loosen it out so that it wouldn't cramp so bad that I wouldn't even be able to walk. I actually got splits on all those last miles. At marker 24 my time was 3:47:40 (a 19:19 mile), at marker 25 my time was 4:11:23 (a 23:43 mile), and at marker 26 my time was 4:29:50 (an 18:27 mile). With all the energy I could muster I told myself that I could jog the last .2 miles to the finish. I did all but about 5 seconds where my legs started cramping. I came in to the view of the finishing crowd and forced myself into a jog again. Here is the grand finish:

At least I had enough energy to raise my arms as I crossed the finish line. It took me 2 minutes and 30 seconds to go that last .2 miles. My final time (unofficial, from my watch) was 4:32:19. Am I disappointed with that time? Yeah, but it is something I can live with. I have lots of excuses: I hurt my back two weeks earlier, because of that I missed five good runs, I didn't eat enough, etc. etc. I can look at how I did and plan how I need to change. I think I need to load up on more carbs the day before. Maybe a bit more of a substantial breakfast too. All I had was a Powerbar. I was had four Gu energy gels that I took along the race too. There was only one point where I was getting a little bit worried. For probably about a mile before the last aide station, I started getting a little shaky. First my pinkies started tingling, then my ring finger too, and pretty soon my whole hands and arms were tingling and feeling numbish. I definitely needed more sugar in my body. It was right about mile 24 that I came upon the last aide station. I think it was actually a little after mile 24. I drank two cups of Poweraide. That was it. I really should have stopped and got more, like an orange or two. But I didn't want to stop. I was feeling much better within 10 minutes. My arms and hands stopped tingling.

As you can see by the video below, I look really worn out. I come across the finish line pretty darn slow. I must say though that I had a really great crew cheering me on. My daughter had a really big voice. I was actually quite surprised that I heard her from so far away as I approached the finish line: "Go Daddy!" She was great. My wife must have worked hard to teach her to be vocal like that. Thank you Amanda for getting such great photos of the race.

It is now 11:00 Sunday night. I woke up this morning feeling really sore. I took an ice bath about an hour after the race, then again last night when we got home. I also took some Motrin last night. Once I got up and started moving around I felt better, but I was still sore all day. It is hardest going up and down stairs. It is easier to walk down backwards. I don't think I will try running tomorrow. It all depends on how I am feeling. I hope I can go for an easy three mile jog by Thursday or Friday and run five or six on Saturday. I definitely need to do some more speed work to get ready for the next marathon. There is a pretty good hill about a mile and half from my house that would be perfect for hill work. I can jog over there for warm up, do the hill 4 or 6 times, it is about .25 miles up, then jog back to cool down. I'll also do more track work. I would like to be able to get my mile time down to 5:30 or even 5:00. I don't know about sub five though. Probably not while training for my next marathon. We'll see. I think it would definitely help develope my fast twitch muscles.

Well, I'm sure I have rambled on too much about this. That is it. I ran. I jogged. I walked. I raced. I finished. Make sure you watch the video.

Marathon Finish Video

The Marathon

Well, I did it. I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but at least I finished. I came around the half way point at 1:47, which was a little slower than I wanted but acceptable. I then slowly slowed down. My mile 23 my leg muscles were so cramped and tight that I could barely even jog. I had to walk most of the last four miles. I kept trying to run, but after 20 or 30 seconds I would have to stop and walk. I managed to jog the last .2 miles in two and a half minutes, with only stopping to walk for about 10-15 seconds. time at mile 23 was 3:28:21. each of the next three miles was about 20 minutes. My final time was 4:32 and some change. I don't have any photos right now to show you. They are on the camera and I am to lazy to go get it. I will post them tomorrow. I'll tell you a little more about the race too, with some more specific times. I even have a video of me coming up to and crossing the finish line. It was a great day for the race. We couldn't have asked for better weather. The family was a great support, by the end of the race Ella was yelling "Go Daddy!" loud enough for me to here her down the street.