Race Ready

I did a little speed workout yesterday. It was good, nice and short. I totaled four miles. Today I went for a five mile easy run. I pushed Alex along in the stroller. I feel really good. I went down to the store today to get some energy gel. I bought some Gu. I also bought some Nuun. It is an energy drink that I learned about recently. It is really cool. It is just a tablet that you put in water and it dissolves to an energy drink. It's great because it doesn't have all the bad for you sugars. I also bought a running shirt. I've been just using a t-shirt. It works, but all the sweat just stays there on the shirt and by the end of a run my shirt weighs about ten pounds. This new shirt should work great. Well that's it for now. I only have three short days till the marathon.

Great News

I went for a seven mile run today on a track and I felt great the whole time. I used to think that 28 laps on a track would be really boring, but it didn't seem that long at all. I even tested my speed a little to see how my back would handle it. I did a 400 meter lap on the second mile at 1:21 and another one for the first lap of my seventh mile at 1:20. That is not a great 400 meter time, but it was pretty good for having just run six miles. It was pretty cold and windy too. I think the temp was about 50 but it was really windy and it felt like it was about 40. Well, if I have a couple more runs like this I might think about pushing myself a little on the marathon for my 3:25 time. We'll see.

Recovering

Good news: I went for an easy three mile jog today and it felt great. I was very cautious because I didn't want to aggravate my back. I went a mile up the road here, then came in and ran another two on the treadmill. The whole run felt great. When I stopped though, I felt my back tighten up a little. Nothing to worry about. I'm still taking some Motrin to help loosen up my muscles. I have Icy Hot that I am using too. Here is a tip for you. Never put Icy Hot on imediately after a hot shower or bath. It normally feels great. A nice soothing cool followed my a warm tingling sensation. It feels good. If you put it on when your skin is already hot or warm: it burns. I looked at my back and everywhere the Icy Hot was was bright red. I had to go lay down on the bed with the fan on high. The burning sensation went away after just a few minutes, but they should put a warning on the label or something. Well, that is all I have for now. Tomorrow I hope to be able to run five or six miles. Just another easy run. Keep your fingers crossed.

Bad News

Yesterday as I was getting Alex in the car, I pulled my back. It was really annoying because I've done the same thing hundreds of other times before and never had a problem. This time I guess Alex has grown too big. When Amanda came outside, I was on my hands and knees. That was pretty humiliating, I couldn't even stand up. She helped me up. I took some medicine and it helped, but I still hurt. I took a hot bath this morning and then sat down and didn't move for a few hours, when I finally started to move around I was surprised that I didn't hurt nearly as much. I am aching now, but I hope it will go away so that I can run this marathon. I am definitely not going to push myself now. Maybe I'll make a four hour goal for myself. I'll see how I am feeling the day of the race. I'll keep you updated and let you know how I am feeling.

Long run

I ran 17 miles today on my longest training run before the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon. I would have liked a few more weeks to build up some more endurance, but I am glad i have something specific to work for. I felt pretty good today, except for the slight dehydration towards the end. I really should start carrying water on my longer runs.

Baton Rouge Beach Marathon

Well, I did it. I just signed up for the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon on December 1st at 7:00 AM. I also reserved a hotel for the night before. There is no going back now. I have paid my money: no refunds. It will be fun. This will be my second marathon. My first marathon, the Top of Utah Marathon, was over five years ago. My time was 3:26:46. My goal for this race is to finish faster than that. I would like to beat three hours, but I don't think I am ready for that yet. I had to cut off a month from my training and modify it a bit so that I would be ready for this marathon. Maybe three hours can be my goal for the Salt Lake City Marathon in April. I've got a ways to go to prepare for that race. Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted on my training and I will definitely tell you about the results. It is just three weeks away. I hope the Thanksgiving feast will not get in the way too much, especially since we are having two of them this year.
This race is pretty small. In the past, there has only been about 100 people doing the marathon and 400 or so doing the 1/2 marathon. If I plug my last time into last years results or the year before, I would be in the top 5 or 10. Anyway, I'll go rest now for my upcoming training week.

Marathon Training

This was a good week for marathon training. I found a marathon I want to run on December first. It is a couple hours away from here. I mapped out a training schedule for the next four weeks. I will be ready for this marathon. I ran ten miles on Tuesday. I ran twelve miles today. This week totaled 32 miles. I feel good. I've been a little sore this week, but I feel really good today. I have a 35 mile week lined up next week. I will run 15-17 miles on Friday or Saturday. I have a couple of speed workouts lined up for this week too. I want to beat my time from the last marathon which was 3:26. I haven't done a lot of speed work, so I don't know if I will be able to beat that time. I will though, be able to run the whole thing and not be as sore as I was after the last marathon. I have only 3 weeks until this marathon, so wish me luck.

On another note, yesterday we went to an air show. It was pretty cool. We stayed there all day. Alex napped a little bit in the stroller. The Super Hornet is a very loud airplane. It is very cool. At first Alex was scared and cried about the loud airplanes, but once he realized that the planes wouldn't hurt him, he was very excited. He was so excited that he was jumping and screaming (for joy, not fright), and pointing up to the sky. The show ended at 6:30 or so and we were home in time for bed time.

HIghest peak in Florida

So, today we decided to brave the elements and climb the highest peak in the state of Florida. It was easy to breath up there and no one got nose bleeds. We all made it too; Ella, Alex, Amanda and me. The altitude was a grand total of 345 Feet. It was actually a roadside park. Not too far from where we live. Now I have been to one of the "highest" point in the US. I have 49 more states to go.


Alex kept running around not wanting to pose for a photo.

This little monument marks the actual high spot. Nothing in Florida is higher than this spot, except any building or tower.


Alex could care less about this thing. He notices airplanes even when daddy doesn't. I'm training him well.

Ella is a blooming photographer. She loves taking pictures with our old camera. She manages to get a few good ones. She is a real cutie.

Ella loves to drag Alex around. She'll pull him over, then tell him to be careful. I have the cutest kids in the world!

Alex love to put everything in his mouth. Here he is eating an acorn.

Ella and Alex loved playing with all the moss too. They've never seen it before. It was soft and nice to stroke.


Alex was particularly fond of this piece. He probably even tasted it.

You can check out Amanda's blog if you want to see a little more about this trip. She also has a more fun way of wording things.

Mountain Biking

A week ago I went mountain biking. It had been raining and so the trail was a bit wet and so were all the roots and fallen trees we were riding over. I guess I just wasn't comfortable on my bike that day. Within the first few miles I crashed twice. After 14 miles, I had crashed four times. All four times I fell on my left side. I bruised my ribs up pretty bad. A couple days later, I was still hurting pretty bad, and it seemed to be getting worse. Finally after a week I went it to see a doctor about it. My appointment was at 0800 this morning. They took several x-rays to see if anything was broken. They couldn't see any fractures, but the doc said that badly bruised ribs can hurt just as bad as broken ribs. He just gave me some strong medicine to dull the pain. I guess I have to take it easy now. I'll probably go on a few bike rides (off the trails) for the next week or two until I heal.

I've been tagged!

Well, my wife tagged be so I figured I'd better actually post something.

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Running Cross Country for Pleasant Grove High School and placing 3rd as a team at the State Meet.
2. Working at Pony Express Pizza as a delivery boy.
3. getting into rock climbing
4. Climbing Mount Timpanogos
5.


5 things on my To-Do List today:
1. Call work (they've told me to wait for their call, but I can't just do nothing, I need to bug them)
2. Do Laundry
3. Recover from bike ride
4. Watch The Office
5.

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Travel
2. Invest
3. Buy a house
4. Climb Everest
5. Get my immediate family out of debt.

5 things I'll never wear again:
1. Turtle neck
2.
3.
4.
5.

5 favorite toys:
1. Computer
2. Bike
3. Digital Camera (that's my wifes toy but I play with it too)
4. My running Shoes
5.

5 people to tag:
1. David
2.
3.
4.
5.

Yeah, I guess that is pretty pathetic. I left a lot of blanks, I know. Just live with it.