Got my runs in!

Busy work week! I haven't posted in my blog since Sunday. Not that I post a lot to begin with, but I usually log in during the week and read up on blogs that I follow and sometimes post on Thursdays. I hadn't even logged my week's runs on Garmin Connect or on Dailymile until today.

Training schedule for this week called for:

Sunday - cross
Monday - rest
Tuesday - 4 miles
Wednesday - 7 miles
Thursday - 4 miles
Friday - rest
Saturday - 14 miles
Total = 29 miles

This is how it went:


Sunday - 5 mile run\10+ mile bike ride
Monday - 3 Mile run with the club at 6:30PM (forgot my Gamin at home)
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - 5 miles during my lunch hour
Thursday - 6 miles at 5am before work
Friday - 3 miles during my lunch hour
Saturday - 14.5 miles
Total miles runs = 36.5

It being a busy week at work, I was worried that I wasn't going to get my runs in. That's why I ran on Monday night with the running club and ran before work on Thursday. Friday was just a stress release day. I NEEDED that run! Today's 14 miler followed the same route as last weeks 15 miler minus the extra loop I did last week to make it 15. It snowed the whole run!! Big wet heavy snow flakes!! I was drenched by the time I got home. It ended up to be 14.5 just because as I didn't want to stop the run at some weird number like 14.39. So I ran until the Garmin read 14.5 :) The run took 2hrs and 2mins to complete with an average pace of 8:27. I'm content with that run.

I have an achy knee at the moment. I'm icing it and relaxing today. Tomorrow, weather permitting, I will most likely go for another long bike ride. If not, I'm making it a rest day. I think my knee can use a day off. Next weekend's long calls for 17 miles! Woot!!
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What are your running plans for the weekend?
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Yikes! Worcester Marathon is 2 months away!!
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Enjoy your weekend!!

Found a New Running Route

The 15 miler on Saturday went as planned. I was little bit all over the place with my time, but mostly under 9min miles. Which my goal for this run. If I can keep this pace through the whole marathon, I will be happy!

I needed to get this run in early because I had a pretty busy day ahead of me. So I was up at 6am, had coffee and a Powerbar and out the door by 7. For those of you that do not know, I live in Webster, Ma. Webster borders Thompson, Ct. In all my time running, I have never run into CT. Just always stay in town or in the surrounding towns, just never in CT. Don't ask me why, just out of habit I guess. But when mapping out a 15 mile run I found a nice loop that a mile into my run it goes into CT for about 4 miles then comes back up into MA for a mile, then back into CT for a bit, then back into MA. (see the map below)

The run into CT is all country roads. Mostly flat for the first 3 miles, then it's rolling hill from there on. I run by farms, ponds, rivers, swamps and by beautiful homes. I almost stepped on a turtle that was on the road at one point. I saw frogs jumping into ponds as I ran by them. I even saw a place that had Emus running on their property! ..... What!?  Emus I said! Giant birds man!!

If I would have saw them at mile 14, I probably would have thought I was hallucinating!  Nope... very real.

Anyways... I think I found my new running route. The best part about it was that I probably saw 6 cars the whole run into CT. In Webster I'm always weary of cars as I run on busy roads all the time. All this time and it was only a little over a mile down the road.

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Today I ran 5 miles this morning. By 3pm I was edgy and looking for something to do. So I hopped on my bike and headed towards CT to check out some trails that I had noticed when I was running the day before. I basically jumped into the first entrance that I saw to see where it took me. 

As you can see on the map, the trail (the red line) was pretty much straight except that it had a lot of other trails that ventured out to the left and right. This being my first time on it, I stayed on the main trail just to see where it came out. At one point I had to pull my bike off to the side at let a parade of noisy 4 wheelers go by me. Mostly all kids. I swear they revved their motors louder as they went by me. The trail ended back out on the road but across the street the trail continued on. I decided to stick to the road and basically followed the same route I had run the day before. The hills were tougher on the bike in my opinion. :) I plan to run these trails next time and venture off into the lefts and rights. These would be great for early morning summer runs!

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That's it for me today. Hope everyone has a great week! Happy runnings!

Thursday's Tidbits....

Thank you for everyone's comments on my last post! I appreciate every single one!!!

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Saw this posted over at The Boston Marathon's Facebook page. It is very cool. Sam Adams Brewery (thanks to Detriot Runner for this link) brewed a special beer to celebrate one of Boston's traditions. This is will only available on tap at local bars and restaurants along the marathon route. I will be on the look out for it. I hope to score myself one of those commemorative beer mugs as well.

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I got 17miles in this week during lunch at work. We've had 4 days straight of 80 degree weather. Can't complain at all!! My shirt usually last about a mile before I throw it on the side of the road. I usually, if I dont forget, pick it up on the way back. Day off from running tomorrow, but I'm thinking of strapping my bike to my car and going for a nice long ride during lunch. The weather will be back down to the 60's (boo), but perfect for biking.

I mapped out a nice route for Saturday's 15 miler. It's looks like such a long of a run, when mapped out. Gotta get that out of my mind though!! I just gotta do it!

Happy runnings...Have a great weekend!

New Bedford Half recap

The New Bedford Half marathon is a big deal around these parts. I honestly didn't realize this until today. It's rated in the top 25 half marathon in the nation and top Half in New England. This was evident by all the athletes that competed at this race. All of the NE running groups were represented in the race. I saw groups from Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, CT and of course MA. Had I known this I would have worn my club singlet.

My recap will be quick:

• Race started at 11am. It was suppose to be in the upper 70's today, but being that New Bedford is close to the coast, it was more like mid 60's. and breezy. Great for running, but sucky if your just standing around.
• Last couple of runs, I had a case of the achy feet. It was no different at the start of this race. My feet were burning the first couple of miles. I wanted to stop and walk!
• It wasn't until mile five that I started to get my groove.
• The best scenic race I've ever run. For about 5 miles you are running with the beaches and the ocean on your right. 
• The wind kept it cool, but the sun was brutal. My head & face are really sun burnt!
• 10k mark I realized that I can possibly PR in this half. - I went for it!
• 60+ yr old couple past me at mile 10, and I couldn't catch up.... I was schooled! 
• Mile 12 was a killer hill that made you or broke you! It almost broke me!
• I PR'd by 3 mins from my last half.
• Forgot to turn off my Garmin at the end :(
• Very well organized race. This is a must do for any runner.

Setting a PR was honestly the last thing on my mind. But once I saw it was capable, I totally went for it. 

I ended the race at 1:37:38. Just about 3 minutes faster from my last half back in August of 2011. I am wicked happy with that!! Happy beyond belief!

Before this race I had many doubt as to where my training was taking me. As long as I stick to my runs and keep pushing forward. I think my marathon in June is totally achievable. I just hope I'm right. 

I need to hit my training  harder the next couple months. I need to know for sure that I can do this.

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Next week run calls for a 15miler..........  Bring it!!!

I'm hoping to find company for this run.....

Boston Volunteer Assignment

I signed up to volunteer for the Boston Marathon back in December. Honestly, I forgot all about it until I got an email yesterday with my assignment.

As you may notice, it will not be volunteering on race day. I'll be working one of the merchandise booths at the expo (I'm assuming) on Saturday. Which will be an awesome experience. I can't wait!!

I know there are two or three bloggers (that I follow & follow me) out there that are running Boston this year. Keep this in mind and stop by and say hello. :)

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Good luck to everyone running races this weekend!!!! Hope you have great runs!!

Week 7 of Marathon Training

I've been pretty quiet about my training lately. It's because (knocks on wood) it's been going fairly well. Been having some good strong runs lately. Besides the normal aches and pains, everything has been going as planned.
Week 7 calls for a 14 mile run this weekend. I instead will run the New Bedford Half Marathon and swap out my 13 mile run on week 9 with this weeks long run. So instead of doing 14-15-13, I will do 13-15-14. Works well for me. I've only done two other half marathon in the past, Worcester Half -1:44 & Providence R&R -1:40. I'm not sure if I'll set a new PR. I'm actually not aiming for one. I'm taking this as part of my training. But I should at least be close to these times.

Even though I haven't posted lately, I have been reading through the blogs I follow. I see a lot of you pulling some awesome long runs! I can't wait until my training calls for 18+miles runs. Sounds crazy, but I'm looking forward to the aches and pains. But most importantly, looking forward to the satisfaction of finishing these runs!! 80 days 'til Worcester Marathon. The reality hasn't set it yet. I'm sure these long runs will help!

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I want to give a shout out to my sister-in-law, Sue. She pulled out a great 5 miles with me this past weekend. Keep up the good work, Sis! You are doing awesome!! I'll run with you anytime!

And also to Sandy, a former co-worker and a Facebook follower of my blog, that has been hitting the pavement hard lately. Keep it the good work!!

Keep on Running!!

Beautiful day for a Tough Run!! - Volunteer recap

Today was in the upper 60's maybe even hit 70 in some places. It was beautiful out!! I planned for a 4 mile lunchtime run, but after mile 1 I decided to make a longer run. I headed towards the hills in Hopkinton. This is a run I have done before and figured it wouldn't be too bad.

Somewhere at about mile 5 my feet felt heavy and were achy. Being warmer, I was wishing I had brought some water with me.  I was cursing myself! What was I thinking?! I should have just kept it at 4 miles today!! Ugh.... On I marched..... Only when I hit the last mile did I really start to pick it up.

Not a bad run on paper. But my feet would have told you different.

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Volunteering at Stu's 30k on Sunday was pretty cool. My oldest daughter came along to lend a hand as well. I met some awesome people there! We worked Water Station #2 which was at about the 10k mark. We had water in the small cups and Gatorade in the bigger cups.

Water Station #2 - My Daughter looks cold (on the left)

The first lone runner probably came by 30mins after the start of the race. Not to long after that the flood of runners started barreling in. You can't imagine how hard it is to give a cup of water to a person who is flying by you. Many people missed the cups or dropped them. I found myself running with them to make sure they got the cup in their hands! Ha! It was cool to see the different styles of runners out there too.

After the last person came by, which we all gave loud cheers for, we headed down to catch the runners cross the finish line. Not long after we got there we caught the first place guy cross the finish line at 1hr 52mins!! I was impressed! I couldn't help but to think what my time would have been in this race. At a guess I would say 2:15. 

Volunteering at races was such a great experience. I couldn't believe how many runners thanked us for helping out. Some even said that they couldn't do it with out us being there. It was a good feeling. I would recommend everyone volunteer at least once. I'm telling you it's an uplifting experience. This is such a big part of a race. I will never look at another water stop the same again and I will also make sure to thank these people for their support.

My Run in NYC

Schedule called for 12 miles and 12 miles I did. It was raining and the ground was slushy & slippery from yesterday's snow. Rain was coming down pretty good, so for the first time ever, I ran with a poncho. I probably looked like a dork, but whatever, I had to get this run done today. Tomorrow I am volunteering at Stu's 30k, one of the club' races. Not sure what I'll be doing yet, but I told the race director that I'm willing to help out where ever. It will be fun.

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This week's trip to NYC was a busy one. We worked a lot of hours but we did get to go out at night and do some site seeing. I've been there many times before for work and with the family, but this was the first time my coworker had been there since he was a kid. So he was in awe of the whole trip. If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw some of my tweets from my trip.

Thursday morning I got up about 5am had myself some coffee, threw on my running gear and hit the streets a little after 6. I had no clue where I was going. I just figured that I would just run, keep track of the miles on my Garmin and just turn around at about the 2.5 mile mark and make it a good 5 miles. I headed towards Times Square which was a mile from our hotel.

It was weird to see Times Square so empty.

Though I have visited NYC many times. I still don't know where everything is in relation to everything else. I couldn't tell you where the Statue of Liberty is or where the Twins towers were. I can only tell you where the  Empire State Building is and that only because I can see it in the skyline. I ran past Times Square and I eventually ended up at Central Park. When I saw all the runners there, I at first thought there was a race going on. Nope.... just people out for their morning runs. Honestly, without exaggerating there were hundreds of people out there! Everywhere you looked, people running in all directions. Fast runners, slow runners, solo runners, group runners... runners of all kinds! I was in runner's heaven!!! I started down a path and was on my way. In no time, I was in a pack of runners. I had no clue where I was going. I just followed the pack. It was like being in a race but I know that I wasn't. So it was hard to get my mind not to switch in to race mode. I kept telling myself  "relax, just enjoy this". Time stood still while running with my newly formed pack. That is, until I looked at my Garmin and saw that I was already 3 miles out! I could have run with them forever!! Sadly, I broke away and ran on the outside of the park headed back towards my hotel.

The run back was really hectic. By this time I think most New Yorkers are on their way to work and the streets were super busy. I was avoiding cars, buses and Taxis of all kinds. But mostly avoiding people. The sidewalks were the busiest. I zig-zagged my way back in one piece.

Literally zig-zagged my way back.

Unfortunately, that was the only run that I was able to pull out while out there. Work got in the way. According to my new boss, it looks like I will be out here at least once every other month for 3 to 5 days at a time. So I'll get another chance to run with a pack again. :) 

Hope you guys are having a great weekend.