Cold feet

It's been snowing like crazy up here in Toronto and it's really been making training difficult. I was having a hard enough time as it was before the blizzards starting hitting the city. A few days after my Vegas half, I caught a nasty cold and I'm still not 100 percent recovered about two weeks later.

I took a week off after the half -- you know I wasn't feeling good if I wasn't running at all. It was the first full week I took off in about a year. I wasn't happy about it, but I was not feeling good at all. This last week, I ramped it up and logged 40 miles in the week, three of the four runs coming indoors.

On my first three runs, I quit before I intended to, which is also an odd thing for me. I couldn't tell you the last time I quit a run for reasons other than injury. I felt really defeated. On a day I planned to run 12, I ran five outside. On a day I wanted to run 14, I did 11 indoors between the track and treadmill. On another day I planned on running 10, I did only four.

But, all was not lost. You can't just mail in a marathon and mine is less than three weeks away now. So, forced inside due to the bad weather, and still nursing a cold and a swollen left big toe, I completed 20 miles on our little indoor track on Sunday. That's 330 laps! You basically feel like you're turning left the whole time.

I took short breaks at miles 3, 11, 14, 17 and 19 to use the bathroom or to drink water or gatorade. When I was running, I averaged 8:09 per mile. And, sticking to what I try to do with every run -- no matter the distance -- my last mile was my fastest at 7:55. That was a good way to finish up what had been a disappointing week.

I took Monday off to recover and planned on running 10 miles today -- "planned" being the key word. I had some errands to run, and when I was going to head to the gym, some news happened in the baseball world and I was stuck working for a few hours. With chores to knock off before our early-morning drive to Chicago, I didn't have time to squeeze the run in.

That's not a good way to start off this week, especially when we're heading home to even colder conditions during the week of Christmas. I have to make sure I get a few runs in this week somehow, though. The marathon is right around the corner and I can't afford to slip up now.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Stay tuned for more...

Las Vegas Half Marathon

Early this morning, and I mean early -- 6 am out here -- I ran the Las Vegas Half, which was a really fun race to take part in. Before I get into the day, I'll get to the results:

I finished the 13.1 miles in 1:41.41, or an average of 7:45.3 per mile. Out of 7,718 runners, I placed 288th. Out of 3,769 men, I finished 235th. I was 32nd overall in my age division (25-29).

This was a really satisfying finish for me. I was gunning for a 1:45 finish, or at least a 1:47 to best my cousin John's half PR. So, needless to say, I obliterated my goal, and by about 15 seconds per mile! This included a mid-run porta-potty stop, too. So I walked away very happy with the end results.

What's funny is my Garmin said I'd only run 12.75 miles when I crossed the finish line. It does the distance with a footpod, so it's prone to errors, but the discrepancy meant I didn't realize I was running as fast as I was. According to my watch, I was pretty much dead on an 8:00 pace. I guess I've been training harder than the ol' Garmin has been telling me. Nothing wrong with that.

The race itself was cool. It was still dark when we started, right by the Mandelay Bay hotel at the edge of the Strip. At the start, they shoot off fireworks and keep them going for a few minutes while everyone gets through the gates. Then you run for about 5-6 miles up the Strip with all the buildings lit up and everything. It was a very cool experience.

It was a slight downhill -- and I mean very slight -- for the first half. In the second half, it's a gradual incline that you start to notice around mile 9 or 10. Either way, it's still a pretty flat and fast course, as my time clearly shows. The second half you're running a few blocks over from the Strip, and it's not the most scenic route. It was probably in the mid-40s for the run, which felt warm after training in the cold in Toronto these past few weeks.

I flew into Vegas on Saturday and bunked with our Yankees writer at the Marriott Suites. He and our Tigers writer also ran the half. Jason -- the Detroit reporter -- finished in 1:35.26 and Bryan finished in 1:59.16. I'll gladly take the silver for us MLB.comers. Beck caught me at about mile 5, but I wasn't able to keep up with his crazy 7:00 pace.

Now, it's back to work here with baseball's winter meetings kicking off on Monday. I have some runs to try to squeeze in this week still, so I'll try to get up early and run the strip again. I still have a lot of work to do before being ready to run the Walt Disney World Marathon in January. This race at least showed I'm on the right track.

Decking the halls

There's Kelly and I, and an almost cooperative Barkley, sitting in front of our condo-friendly Christmas tree shortly after decking the ol' halls here on Sunday night. Every year we put on Christmas music while we decorate and imagine how our kids will be completely embarrassed by us years from now. Always a good time.

Every year, our ornament collections grows as we pick up souveniers from our vacations, family events or my travels. It's tough to see in the above photo, but I added a memento from my first marathon to the tree this year. At the marathon expo in Chicago, I found this ornament that will be a part of my tree from now on:

Anyway, I'm less than a week removed from the half marathon in Las Vegas. If I were only training for the half, I would've tapered this past week or two. Instead, I logged 41 miles this past week and ran a practice 13.1 miles on Sunday, when it was below freezing here with winds that got up to over 30 mph.

For that run, I bundled up and headed out to the Don Valley path. After a two-mile warm-up with splits of 9:02 and 8:21, I did by best to stay between a 7:50-8:20 pace for the next 11 miles. With the exception of a brief walking break that upped mile 7 to 8:31 and a long light at mile 12 that brought that one up to 8:37, I met that goal.

Practice half-marathon splits:

9:02/8:21/7:59/8:02/8:04/8:14/8:31
8:03/8:01/8:02/8:02/8:37/7:51/0:47

total: 1:47:42

So, for the entire run, I averaged 8:13. After the two-mile warm-up, I averaged 8:06. Considering I did this out in the bitter cold weather that I did, I should be able to hit my target of 1 hour, 45 minutes at the Vegas half. Fingers crossed. Doing this 13.1 trial run in 1:47 was pretty encouraging at least.

Prior to that run, I did 10-mile runs on Tuesday (8:17 pace) and Thursday (8:13 pace) and an 8-miler on Friday at an easier pace. The Tuesday run was good simply because I was pain-free during the run after that nasty fall on Sunday. I still have a bruised left knee, some scrapes in a handful of places and a really sore right arm, which I may have landed on.

But, beyond the bumps and bruises, I had no issues when actually running. That's all I'm concerned with right now. This week, I plan on straying some from the program I mapped out in order to rest up and recover some leading up to the Vegas run on Sunday. I'll probably stick to the indoor track to make sure I do shorter distances.

More later...

Road tripping

Take a good look at the above photo. That is the enemy. I think the theory behind making construction fencing like that a bright orange color is so that it's easily visible. Well, when the sun has set and you're running on a lakefront path with no lighting besides the moon, it turns out this type of fence is invisible.

I had just gone over 17 miles and was moving at a decent pace on my way to 20 last night. I had to start the long run when the sun was already setting due to a rare weekend day shift I drew for work. So, by the time I was 17 miles in, it was dark and I was finishing up my run near our condo along the lake.

Apparently, the city is doing some sort of construction on the path I frequent, though you couldn't really see as much in the dark. Running full speed -- probably at about an 8:30 per mile clip at that point -- I met up with a waist-high orange construction fence that came out of nowhere. My legs went right into the fence and my upper body was thrown toward the pavement.

Fortunately, I have pretty good reflexes. I was able to get my arms up just before my face hit the concrete. I was rolling around on the ground -- I think one foot still tangled in the fence -- in agonizing pain, trying to figure out what just happened. It wasn't one of the situations where I saw the fence at the last second and braced myself.

I was on the ground, and I didn't know how I got there. It wasn't until the pain let up some that I got it together and saw I was laying on the other side of this fence. I could've easily knocked my teeth out or hit my head. Instead, I wound up with some cuts on both arms, a swollen left knee, a cut on my left ankle and a really sore back the morning after.

I stayed on the ground for a few minutes, moaning in pain with the wind knocked out of me. Not what you want to happen at any point in a run -- let alone a 20-mile long run. Once I got up and walked a little, realizing I hadn't seriously injured myself (thank you God!), I decided I had come too far to quit because of a stupid fall.

So I turned around and walked/jogged/ran until I finally completed the 20 miles. At a little over 18 miles, I was right by my condo and I nearly quit and went home due to the pain I was in. I actually stopped and started walking home, but after a few steps, I snapped out of that mindset and continued the run.

All in all, while running in below freezing temps, with double layers on my upper and lower body, running on top of snow and ice for much of the path, and after enduring that nasty spill and the really slow 3 miles that followed, I finished the 20 miles in 3 hours, 8 minutes. Considering all the circumstances, I was thrilled to have simply finished.

For the first 10 miles, I ran at an 8:38 pace, and that's including two walking breaks to drink some gatorade. I didn't stop and rest at all during the run -- minus the laying on the ground in pain moment. I kept moving forward and used four walking breaks to refuel. After the fall, though, my times of 10:59/13:28/9:46 to finish the 20 really killed my overall time.

It's good that this week is a lighter week running wise. I need some time to regroup from the general soreness from that run, along with time to heal up some from the fall. If I feel as sore tomorrow as I do today, I may not do the nine mile easy run I'm scheduled to do. Then again, I didn't let a scary spill stop me from finishing on Sunday.

Stay tuned for more...

Of medals and music

This is a picture of my new first marathon "trophy" case, hanging in our den here at our Toronto condo. Kelly needed to go to Michael's craft store yesterday, so I made the trip worthwhile by finding this frame.

It's a diorama-type frame, so it's deeper than a normal one, allowing you to put bulkier stuff inside it. So, as you can see, I've got my Chicago Marathon finisher's medal, a photo my sister Melissa took and my bib from the race on display. Pretty cool huh.

A quick update on my running week so far: Ran nine miles along the lakefront on Tuesday at an easy 8:31 pace, did an eight-mile speed workout on Thursday with eight Yasso 800s (four miles) and four other regular miles at roughly 7:45 per mile, and three easy miles on Friday at about 8:20 per mile.

I was originally down to run nine miles on Friday, but my legs were really sore -- likely from the two hours of volleyball I played with Kelly and some friends on Thursday night (AFTER my speed workout). So after three miles on Friday, I cut things short to rest up for my 20-miler today (haven't gone yet). I'll still hit 40 miles for the week.

I also go to thinking this week about what I would consider my Top 10 songs to run to. Not my favorite songs of all-time, or what I consider the best songs of all-time (yes, those two lists would differ), but my favorites to run to, whether it be due to the beat or the lyrcis or whatever. After going through my iPod, I came up with this list.

In no particular order (with links to youtube):

Da Funk by Daft Punk -- This techno song makes the cut because it reminds me of my Cross Country days at Thornwood High School. It was a favorite for us runners to have pumping through our discman's during warmups before a meet, OR pumping through the cd player we'd tote with us to races. It has a steady beat that is easy to use to set a nice pace.

Confusion by New Order -- This is another techno song that I like to use during longer runs. Like Da Funk, it has a good beat to help establish a strong pace. And the song is lengthy, which is good because it can last for more than a mile of running for me. That helps my mind avoid trying to count songs (usually it's about two normal songs per mile on average).

Cochise by Audioslave -- This rock ditty, the first big single by Audioslave (the band formed by former members of Rage Against the Machine and former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell), has heavy guitars and a strong beat that is awesome for faster workouts. Key lyrics: I've been drinking life, while you've been nausous." This one always pumps me up.

Going the Distance by Cake -- The title says it all doesn't it? The song has lyrics more in line with a horse or car race, but it can easily be applied to us runners. I'm not big on listening to lyrics, but these are hard to ignore and easy to get into when you're running: The sun has gone down and the moon has come up, and long ago somebody left with the cup. But he's striving and driving and hugging the turns, and thinking of someone for whom he still burns. He's going the distance! He's going for speed!"

More Human than Human by White Zombie -- Again, not really reflective of my favorite type of songs. But this heavy rock tune is awesome for workouts. The chorus of "More human than human" being basically shouted over and over is great for getting the ol' blood flowing. Besides, when you're pushing yourself to the limit, you do feel more human than human. At least I think so.

Hail, Hail by Pearl Jam -- PJ is my all-time favorite band and there are a number of songs I could include here. But Hail, Hail is a short, fast song off the album No Code that I really get into when working out, especially during speed work. Key lyrics: "I find I'm on the run in a race that can't be won, yeah." So what? It's about crossing that finish line, not always about coming in first.

Hard Sun by Eddie Vedder -- While I'm on still on the subject of PJ, this single off the Into the Wild (great film, by the way) soundtrack by PJ singer Eddie Vedder is another favorite of mine on the run, especially for longer distances. It's not as hard or fast as other songs, but it works for me. Key lyrics: "There's a big, a big hard sun. Beating down on the big people, in the big, hard world." That's sure what the Chicago Marathon felt like.

Thunderstruck by AC/DC -- It'd be easy to list a number of AC/DC tunes, but after going through them this one stands out as my favorite to run to. It starts off slow and slowly builds as the song goes on -- great for the start of a long run. Key lyrics: "I looked 'round, and I knoew there was no turning back." Ain't that the truth.

Heinrich Maneuver by Interpol -- One of my favorite of the newer class of rock bands. Of course, I liked Interpol when hardly anyone had heard of them and before they signed with a major label. But I digress... This song really worked for me when I was out running in Anaheim this past year, when I was starting to set new personal records for long runs. Key lyrics: "How are things on the West Coast? I hear you're moving real fine. You wear those shoes like a dove. Now strut those shoes, we'll go roaming in the night."

Shipping Up to Boston by Dropkick Murphys -- This song is short, fast and it simply flat-out rocks. It's been made famous as the warm-up music of Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. In the marathon world, Boston is the promised land for elite runners. Someday, I'd love to be able to qualify to run there. This song is fantastic for short bursts, like the 800s I do during some speed workouts.

Honorable mentions: Beautiful People, Marilyn Manson; Lust for Life, Iggy Pop; No Way Out, Stone Temple Pilots; Pug, Smashing Pumpkins; Burden in My Hand, Soundgarden; Aenima, Tool; Mr. Brightside, The Killers; Super Bon Bon, Soul Coughing; I Might Be Wrong, Radiohead; Shut 'Em Down, LL Cool J; Neighborhood #2, Arcade Fire; Bombs Over Baghdad, Outkast; Stage, Live; I'm So Sick, Flyleaf; Personal Jesus, Depeche Mode; Paper Planes, M.I.A; Disco Science, Mirwais; Falling Away from me, Korn; Getting Smaller, Nine Inch Nails; Not for You, Pearl Jam; Comatose, Pearl Jam; Do the Evolution, Pearl Jam; Rearviewmirror, Pearl Jam; Tahitian Moon, Porno for Pyros; Let Down, Radiohead; There, there, Radiohead; Bulls on Prade, Rage Against the Machine, People of the Sun, Rage Against the Machine; Killing in the Name, Rage Against the Machine; Around the World, Red Hot Chili Peppers; Untreatable Disease, Sparta; Punk Rocker, Teddy Bears; Ball and Biscuit, The White Stripes; Seven Nation Army, The White Stripes; Song 2, Blur; Rabbit in Your Headlights, U.N.K.L.E.

Gee, think I could've fit any more songs in there?

Stay tuned for more...

Mail run

So we've all heard the unofficial motto, or similar versions of it anyway, of the United States Postal Service, which begins: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night..."

Well, it was hard not to think about that old saying while slogging through an 18-mile run this morning with my running buddy, Kev. When we started, it was sunny and gorgeous out, considering it's mid November. As we got deeper into the run, we fought strong winds, cold rain and the first snow flurries of the season.

Making matters worse, this was one of those runs where I wished every single step I took would've been my last. I was just not feeling it today. I wasn't sore or battling an injury -- I just did not feel like being out there running. But, despite all these factors, we pushed through and completed the 18 grueling miles.

We did the run in 2:32:12, or roughly 8:27 per mile. That's including a two-mile warmup (8:46/8:57 splits) and a 5K cooldown (8:51/8:56/8:49). In between those two periods, we averaged 8:18 per mile for the 13 in the middle. Considering the elements we were dealing with, I can live with that pace.

It's the second time this week I had a run where I really just didn't want to be doing it. The other was a tempo run on Thursday. For that 8-mile run, I did a one-mile warmup and cooldown with six-mile splits in the middle of 7:56/7:55/7:55/7:48/7:48/7:28. I was really happy with the time on that run, which are closer to what I hope my half-marathon on Dec. 7 resembles.

Today, it was a good thing I had Kevin with me, and I made sure to tell him so. Had I been by myself, I probably would've worked in a few more breaks or walked some. With him running a few strides ahead of me the whole way, I did my best to suck it up and push through. He was probably getting sick of my whining though!

Overall, it was a strong week for me. I had the 16-miler last Sunday during which I suffered the right hamstring issue. This never came up this time around and was no longer an issue by Thursday night, when I did my tempo run. This week I logged 45 miles, establishing yet another personal high. Seems to be a weekly trend these days.

On Tuesday, I did a nine-mile run along the Don Valley path, which I blogged about in the last post. On Friday, I was down for another nine-mile easy run and this time I did it along the Toronto lakefront. I was taking it nice and easy (8:32 pace), and I felt good, so I actually stretched it into a 10-mile run, last mile clocking in at 7:41.

My mileage this week brings me to 1,161 miles over the past 389 days. That's an average of 2.92 miles a day -- this includes all my days off, mind you -- over that period. So I'm almost back up to a 5K a day for more than the last year. The distance? Well that's almost exactly how far it is between Denver, Colorado, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Yeah, I looked it up.

This coming week, barring some kind of setback, I'll log 46 miles with a 20-mile long run lined up for Sunday. That will move me over 1,200 miles and will mark the quickest I've run 100 miles since I've started keeping track. I will have breezed through the century mark in nine runs, or more than 11 miles per run.

Stay tuned for more...

Back on the trail

The picture on the left is another from the Chicago Marathon in October. That was one of the more enjoyable sections of the run, I want to say around mile 9 or 10 or so. The trees provided some welcome shade on that 85-degree day.

What I'd give for some warm temperatures now! To think I was complaining that it was too hot! Kidding, of course. Luckily, it hasn't been brutally cold. It's been chilly up here in Toronto, but the real bitter cold hasn't arrived yet.

Yesterday, it was about 35 degress out when I convinced myself that I'd be fine testing out my sore right hamstring with a nine-mile run. If it hurt too bad, I could always turn around and shorten the distance, so what's the big deal?

And it turns out it wasn't a big deal at all. Sure, I still have a small bump that's tender to the touch on the back of my thigh -- what I believe to be inflammation. But it doesn't hurt when I walk, didn't hurt when I ran and it felt much improved after icing and elevating and all that jazz.

I completed the nine miles in 1:15:06, or roughly 8:21 per mile. Last week I did the same run in 7:57 per mile, but this time I worked in a two-mile warmup to test my leg and a one-mile cool down on mile No. 8. Following the cool down, I pushed hard through the end and ran my fastest mile with the last one.

Here were my splits:

8:39/8:42/8:22/8:10/8:11/8:12/8:19/8:31/7:54

I'm resting today -- no gym even -- and I'll be back at it tomorrow. I did a core workout on Monday and tomorrow, Thursday, I'm down to run 8 miles with a tempo workout. So one-mile warmup and cooldown with 6 miles at marathon pace or a little faster, depending on how my leg feels. I'm skipping the speed workout this week.

On Friday, I'm scheduled to do a nine-mile easy run and I'm down for 18 miles for my long run on Sunday. Next week, that jumps to 20, which will be my first 20-miler since the marathon. I've been fortunate so far this winter to have all the Sundays providing good weather for the long runs, minus some light rain here and there.

Of course, I probably just jinxed it...

Temporary setback

Courtesy of a google image search, above is a photo of a section of the Don Valley bike/running path here in Toronto -- introduced to me by my new running buddy. It's a very picturesque path that runs northeast of the downtown, taking you through some nice wooded areas and away from the windy conditions along the lakefront.

It's been a pleasant run every time for me, until this past Sunday. In a week during which I logged a personal-best 41 miles, my right leg finally began to complain. During our 16 mile run on Sunday, about 9.5 miles into the run, I was greeted with a stabbing, grabbing, biting -- however you want to describe it -- pain behind my right knee.

The pain was so sharp, I had to stop, which is something that hasn't happened before. With past injuries, I've had to slow down and could usually push through it, or I'd stop after trying to jog on it with poor results. This was the first time I've had something so sharp that it forced me to stop right then and there.

We had been going at a nice 8:18 per mile pace for the first nine miles or so before the pain hit. For the rest of the run, I was forced to slow to a 9:10 pace -- a clip that I could keep up without any jarring. The pain popped up a few more times, when we'd try to pick up the pace again, but I was able to at least complete the 16 miles.

So, all in all, even with the pain, we finished the 16 miles in roughly 2 hours, 19 minutes, or 8:42 per mile. I guess that's not too bad for running with a really sore leg. I iced it for a while when I got home and today, a day later, I can feel what seems like swelling on the back of my right leg, above the knee. I'm pretty sure it's a hamstring issue.

It was a disappointing conclusion to what had been a very good week of running. On Tuesday, I did a nine-mile run at 7:57 per mile, which is what I hope to be around for the Vegas half marathon on Dec. 7. On Wednesday, I did some weight training legwork, which could've contributed to the injury. Who knows?

On Thursday, I did a speed workout (8 miles) with six Yasso 800s (half miles) mixed in on the indoor track at our gym. I did a 7:23 mile warmup, followed by 3 miles in the Yasso format: 3:28 800 run (3:32 walk), 3:26 (3:32), 3:30 (3:30), 3:26 (3:33), 3:27 (3:35), 3:20 (3:36). Then, I did 4 miles alternating running/jogging: 7:50, 9:19, 7:28, 9:29.

On Friday, I was down for an eight-mile easy run. This was when the hammy issue first came up. I ran all eight miles at 8:24 per mile, but I had to stop after 7 miles to massage out what felt like a knot in the muscle on the back of my thigh, above the knee. It felt fine for the last mile, but it was similar, not as painful, as what flared up on Sunday.

I'm down to run 44 miles this week, which would set a new personal best, and am scheduled to run 18 miles on Sunday. I plan on sticking to the program, as long as my leg shows improvement by tomorrow. I'll ice it again today and hold off my Tuesday run (nine easy effort miles) until evening, to give it more time to rest and recover.

I don't think this will keep me sidelined long, but I have to be smart about it, too. More later...

What happens in Vegas...

Ignore the part of my last post that says I'm not going to Las Vegas for this December's Winter Meetings. Found out today that I will indeed be going and that means I can run the half marathon there on December 7th.

That will be a good way for me to test out my marathon "race pace". I'll aim for 8 minutes per mile and will push harder if I feel up to it. So, hopefully I can finish the half in 1:45 or faster. Our Yankees writer will also be running the half that day.

Stay tuned for more...

Getting stronger

As I get a little further removed from running the Chicago marathon, I can definitely tell that I'm starting to get stronger during my runs. The 12-miler I did last Sunday wasn't bad, but I didn't feel that great throughout. This past Sunday, I felt much better during a 14-mile jaunt with my new running mate, Kevin.

I think it helps that he's a bit faster than I am. Although, we'll be having a conversation and at times he'll be talking normal and I feel like I'm fighting to get words out because I feel like I'm about to die! But, on this last long run, I averaged 8:20 per mile (8:26 per for the first seven and 8:15 per for the last seven).

So we finished the 14 miles in 1:56:52, which would put me on pace for a 3:38:42 marathon finish, if I was able to keep that pace. That would be a time I'd be THRILLED with. I think I'm going to set my sights on finishing under 4 hours at the Walt Disney marathon, and anything I do beyond that will be icing on the cake.

I learned that I probably set too lofty a goal for my first marathon -- not really knowing what to expect and all. This time, I would still love to finish around 3:30, but I'm setting my goal as four hours, because I believe that's attainable and, if I finish faster, then that's just a bonus. I think that's a better way to set my goal this time around.

I'm kind of bummed, though. I signed up to run a half marathon in Las Vegas in early December, thinking that I'd be there for this offseason's baseball Winter Meetings. It turns out that our company if cutting back on travel costs where it can (thanks economy!), so not every reporter (I unfortunately landed in this group) is making the journey this winter.

Ah, well. I'll just keep training in Toronto and this now means I get to stay home with the Wife more this offseason. Being away from home for six weeks for Spring Training can be tough, so I'll take any extra days with the family that I can get! Maybe I'll look into the Las Vegas marathon next winter, who knows?

I'm glued to the ol' TV today watching the election coverage, but at some point I have to break away and run an easy nine miles. The cold weather has eased some over the past few days, so I think I'll be able to run in a t-shirt and shorts today! We'll see how long this keeps up. It'll be nice to leave the long sleeves at the condo, though.

Congrats to my fellow MLBdotcomers who completed this year's New York City marathon this past Sunday. I had fun tracking you guys online and rooting you on. Once you've run a marathon, you can see those times and understand just how hard it is and just how satisfying it is to cross that finish line. I can't wait to do it again in January.

I ran a personal-high 39 miles this past week and am down to set a new personal best with 41 this week. I've been dealing with some very minor discomfort in my left knee for the past few days, but have been able to run without any pain. I've been icing it and resting when it's bothering me, so I'm not overdoing it. I'm not going to take any risks if it really starts hurting.

So, hopefully that starts to feel better so I can continue with my training without any hiccups. So far, so good. Catch you all a few miles down the road...

Technical Difficulties

Not with my running. No, there have been some issues with blogger up here in Ontario for the past few days. They must have sorted things out, because I'm back on my blog and posting again. For almost a week, I couldn't access any blogger-based blogs, which forced me away from my laptop to find things to do! Imagine!

The new training program has been going well. My legs haven't felt as fresh as they have before, but I think that's understandable, considering I jumped right back into training a week after running Chicago. I'm crazy huh. I logged 36 miles last week and have logged 17 so far this week in what will be a 39-mile period.

That will be the most miles I've ever run in a week, topping the 38 I logged a few weeks before the last marathon. But I'm gradually building up to being able to do 36-56 miles per week now. In the previous training plan, I was logging between 18-38 -- mostly staying around 25-30 per week. I've done that long enough where I can safely add more miles and not kill myself.

Yesterday, I did an 8-mile speed workout, mixing in four Yasso 800s. It's a training program created by Bart Yasso. Basically, you run 800s (half mile) at a pace you want to run the marathon in. So, if I want to aim for 3 hours, 30 minutes, I would run 3 minute, 30 second 800s, with a 3 minute, 30 second rest period between each 800.

I felt really good after doing 4 of those -- that's how many you're supposed to start with the week you begin doing them -- so I ran 5 more speed interval miles. So my speed workout looked like this:

1 miles warmup: 7:44
Yasso 800s: 3:21 (3:38 rest)/3:24 (3:40 rest)/3:26 (3:31 rest)/3:24 (3:30 rest)
5 mile intervals: 9:41/6:47/11:20/6:39/10:28

I'm down to do an 8-mile "easy" run today and then a 14-mile long run on Sunday. I'll be teaming up with the guy I met at the Toronto marathon, Kevin, for the long run. We ran 12 together this past Sunday and he showed me a nice running path that I didn't know about before. He's a tad faster than I, so it helped me push through the whole distance without slacking.

It's been really cold and windy up here of late. I headed out and bought some winter gear -- tights for my legs that I can wear under windbreaker-like jogging pants that I bought, and also a pair of running gloves. I have a long sleeve technical nike shirt and a pullover from the Chicago marathon.

So, s far, I've been able to keep running outside. We'll see how long I can keep it up. I don't want to have to do long runs indoors. Ugh. The cold I can deal with, but it gets reeeaaallly windy here right by the lake. At least this new path Kev showed me runs north and south, so you don't have to deal with as much wind as you do when running along the lake.

That's all for now. Good luck to everyone running the NYC Marathon this week! I hope to be in that crowd next November.

So, what now?

I've completed my first marathon, so "what now?" is the question I'm getting from friends and family, but most of all, from myself. Well, here's what now: I'm signed up to run the Walt Disney Marathon on Jan. 11, 2009.

After experiencing Chicago, I couldn't shake the thrill of completing 26.2. I wasn't sure about doing another marathon this offseason, but I ran twice less than a week removed from Chicago and I was able to hold a strong pace and I felt great.

So, I looked into it and I have plenty of air miles and Marriott points to foot most of the bill for a trip to Florida. Kelly is coming with me, my sister might make the journey and my dad will probably be in the Orlando area that weekend. So I'll have more support for my second marathon.

Let's be honest, though. One of the main reasons I'm doing this is because of what happened in Chicago. I want to get closer to my goal time of 3:30-45. The heat in Chi killed me, but I learned a lot from that run. I want to put what I've learned to good use, and I don't want to wait until next fall to do so. So I've already started a new abbreviated, but intense, training program.

I'm gradually building my miles back up and my weekly mileage will be higher than the previous plan. I also think I tapered too much last time, so I'm not going to back off as much this time. I obviously can bounce back well, considering nine days after the marathon I had already logged 20 miles, including one nine-miler at under 8 minutes per.

Beyond Disney, I want to run the New York City Marathon in 2009, so that will probably take Chicago out of the picture next year. I have a few friends who might be running NYC and my cousin John -- a veteran of the Pikes Peak marathon! -- is considering doing it, too. Earlier this week, I also met a guy who might be a good running partner for me.

The Toronto marathon was going on this past Sunday and Kelly and I headed down to the lakefront to root on the runners (I wanted to reciprocate after feeling the love in Chicago). While down there, I met a guy named Kevin who has done five marathons -- he was also cheering them on after completing his latest 26.2 recently. He's a bit faster than me, but we're planning on heading out on a 12-mile run this Sunday.

The only issue right now is it's starting to get cooooold in Toronto. So training over the next 10-12 weeks might actually be more difficult that balancing training and travel during the baseball season. At least it was summer time for that. I'm going to hit up a store here later today and check out some winter running gear to get ready.

Stay tuned for more...

One Memorable Day

It's over. I ran 26.2 miles with more than 30,000 people in Chicago on Sunday morning, braving the heat but making it all the way to the finish line. It was a day that could've been extremely disappointing for me, but one that I made sure to enjoy despite some unwanted circumstances.

So, I'll get what I consider to be "the bad" out of the way. I finished in four hours, 22 minutes and 22 seconds, or exactly 10 minutes per mile. Even so, I finished in 10,816th -- so in the top third. I guess that's not too shabby when you think about it.

But, for those of you who have been following my posts over the past few months, my goal going in was to finish under four hours and, in a perfect world, in 3:30. For the first 12 miles, I was on pace to finish in three and a half hours. By the halfway point, I was still on pace for 3:45. Then, the sun won.

Temperatures climbed to the mid-80s (ideal marathon weather is in the mid-40s) and the marathon alert system was elevated to Red/Severe. It wasn't as hot as last year -- thank God -- and there was plenty of water/gatorade to stay hydrated, but it was hotter than any day I trained on. I saw a few people collapsed and my family saw a man blow something out in his leg and nearly get trampled.

Around 13-14 miles in, I had to mix in some walking breaks and was fighting some cramping and shortness of breath -- the latter was only briefly. Once I realized I was falling way behind my goal, I decided not to get too discouraged. This was my first marathon after all.

Instead, I focused on some advice my wife Kelly gave me the night before the race. It was simple enough, she just said, "Just make sure you have fun. Enjoy it. Take time to soak it all in." When things got really hard during the run, I kept that in mind and that's exactly what I tried to do.

I made sure to high five little kids who were holding their hands out and I yelled "Go Green!" to the many Michigan State supporters I saw. MSU was in town this weekend to play Northwestern, so there were lots of Spartans in the crowd, and probably in the race as well.

My favorite poster I saw -- besides the ones my family made for me, of course -- was one being held by a young girl maybe 5-6 six years old. She was standing there, no smile at all, probably tired of being out so early for so long, holding a poster that said, "Go People!" I might've laughed out loud.

I might've been able to finish around 4 hours had it not been for a four-mile friendship I started. About 21.5 miles in, I was walking next to a guy about my age and I made a passing comment about the heat. We started chatting and decided to try and work together for the final few miles.

When I needed to stop for a breather, he did the same. When he needed a break, I stopped to encourage him. He was also aiming for a 3:40 finish, so he was in the same boat I was. It was fun to be a motivational partner with someone through one of the hardest stretches of the marathon.

Once I reached mile 25, though, I said that meeting him was a great experience, but I wanted to see how much I had in me for the final 1.2 miles. So I pushed through some nasty leg cramps -- I had muscles twitching that I didn't know existed -- and ran hard the rest of the way, passing a lot of people down the stretch.

The way I was able to finish made me feel better about the run, and topping it off, my brother Karl was waiting for me right across the finish line. So, instead of having a complete stranger hand me a medal, my big bro yelled "Yo Bro!" and put my finishers medal around my neck.

That was one of the special moments of the day for me. I also ran by our old church -- Moody -- where I high fived my nephew Parker and my sister Melissa. In Chinatown, I saw my wife's side of the family and then around the corner spotted Melissa and crew again, and this time she ran onto the course with me for a few steps.

My bro was also volunteering at the first water station, so I grabbed my first water of the day from him. After the run, both sides of the family headed out to Flat Top Grill -- one of my favorite joints in the city -- and had a good time. Having so many people there for the big day meant a lot to me.

So, as you can tell, there was a lot of good to come out of this day. I saw some Chicago neighborhoods I'd never seen before, experienced something only a small portion of the population on the planet experience, and fought through what was one of the hardest ordeals of my life.

And, now, since I didn't meet my goal, setting a new personal record next time should be a piece of cake! Yeah, that's right, I'm not done with this marathon thing yet. Sure, I checked a life goal off the list, but I'm not satisfied. I plan on doing more -- maybe making this a hobby. We'll see.

I also have more pictures to post, but I'll add those in a separate post later. It's getting late and I wanted to at least get an update online for those of you who have been wondering how I did. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement along the way and the many notes I received leading up to marathon day.

That was a day I'll not soon forget.

Next Up: 26.2 miles

"If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing.

You have to make the mind run the body.

Never let the body tell the mind what to do."

--General George Patton

I'm revisiting this quote that I originally posted at Christmas time, because it's been by far my favorite little motivational tidbit I've come across in all these weeks and months of training. The physical part is done: the marathon training. Now comes the mental aspect: the marathon itself.

The miles have been logged. The shoes have been worn down and replaced. The injuries have been rehabbed and recovered. The carbs have been loaded. And the countdown is about to be over. The next time I post, I will have accomplished the goal I've been writing about on this blog: running my first marathon.

Tomorrow, I head downtown to attend the Running Expo to pick up my packet and timing chip, and I'm spending the day in Chicago and the night in a hotel in the city. Come Sunday morning, I'll bein Grant Park with 40,000 or so fellow runners, ready to embark on this 26.2 mile journey. I wouldn't say I'm nervous. I'm just anxious to get started.

I've done the long runs, the tempo runs, the interval workouts, cross-trained, cut out pop and alcohol, learned to love veggies, refused to give up cookies (my Achilles' heel), got hooked on Gatorade, tapered, and become educated in the ways of Garmin, Saucony, Brooks, Nike, while frequenting Runners World's magazines and Web site.

This week it's been a grind not running as much. I did a two-mile "jog" today way below race pace. I will allow myself to say I went "jogging" -- even though as a runner I don't like to use that term -- because the slow pace drove me bonkers. The tapering is finally over now -- I can start looking ahead to Sunday.

I've received a lot of notes this week from well-wishers and I'm grateful for them all, and appreciated of everyone who has been supportive along the way, tolerating my drinking only water while everyone's having brews, or asking me how my runs are going, even if they really might not be all that interested.

I have a great support system, which is awesome -- it helps keep you in check and helps you maintain your focus. Part of the reason it's been easy to stay so dedicated to this is because I don't want to have someone ask how the training going and me not to have an answer, or a good one at that.

Obviously, I haven't crossed the finish line yet. But, if I do, a big thanks is owed to my lovely wife, who has put up with all this craziness. Kell has stayed at home waiting for me to return from long runs, had carb-friendly dinners waiting for me, tagged along to running stores, joined me on a few jaunts, and even went driving around looking for me once to make sure I was OK during a rain storm. Talk about dedicated.

Kelly will be with me tomorrow and on Sunday, along with some family, rooting me on and waiting for me to finish so we can all go feast at one of my favorite restaurants in the city -- Flat Top Grill. I can only imagine how great it's going to feel to cross that finish line, and have family there to congratulate me -- after this past year of training.

I'm not an elite runner by any means, and to balance my work schedule with this training program has been trying at times. It's been a delicate juggling act, and I've managed to stay on course for most of these months of running. Hopefully come Sunday, it'll be a beautiful day -- not too hot -- and everything will go as I've pictured.

To be continued...

Closing In

"Only those who will risk going too far

can possibly find out how far they can go."

--T.S. ELIOT

I'm currently sitting around in the airport in Cleveland, killing time during a lenghty morning layover in my quest to reach Baltimore. And, I'm a little peeved, because the unfortunate travel/work schedule I have today might erase any window for me to squeeze in my planned three-mile easy run.

If I miss out on running today, though, it won't be the end of the world. After all, I'm tapering now, gradually decreasing my workout pace in the days before the Oct. 12 marathon. There is just a little more than two weeks left until the big day, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my playoff work schedule can help me out.

See, I'm down to follow the Mighty Tampa Bay Rays in the first round, and they could potentially meet up with the Chicago White Sox in Division Series. The South Siders blew it this week by being swept by the Twins, who now reside in first place in the Central. I'm hoping the Sox can take the division, so I can travel between St. Pete and Chi in the week before the race.

We'll see if the teams play along with my hopes. In a perfect world, it's be Rays-Sox in round one, with the series ending in Chicago, so I can hang out until the marathon. At least it looks like I won't be needing to fly between Tampa and L.A. this coming week. The last thing I need is jetlag disrupting my sleep as I prep for 26.2.

Anyway, things have been going well on the running front of late. This past Sunday, I woke at 5 a.m. and did 22 miles before heading to work. Besides a nasty blister, and some cramping, I did all right, averaging 8:20 per mile -- not including the few stops I took. It didn't go as well as my previous 18-miler, but it was the longest run of my life and it wasn't too far off my goal pace.

This week, during an 8-mile speed workout, I ran one mile in 5:56 -- topping my previous best mile of the last year by 1 second. That made me laugh some when I was scrolling through my splits on my handy-dandy Garmin. My other two fast miles during that run were 6:01 and 6:10. It's getting to the point where running a 7:30-45 mile seems easy.

With that in mind, I'm hoping that the adrenaline that comes with being in a race with 45,000 people in a big city with large crowds cheering us all on will help me hold the 8 minute pace I'd like to achieve in Chicago. I guess with this being my first marathon and all, I should just be happy when I cross the finish line -- no matter my time.

But, I know myself, and I've always had an ultra competitive side. It's rare that I walk away from something thinking I couldn't have done better. I remember back in my baseball days, I'd come home and my mom or dad would be proud of the two or three hits I got, and I'd be stewing over the one out I made.

That's how I've always been, but I'm trying to coach myself mentally to, not necessarily be satisfied by how I do, but to take pride in the achievement I'm about to complete. It's taken a lot of work to get to this point, there have been a few injuries, I've had to exercise will power more than any other time in my life, and it's all about to pay off.

I have the feeling, though, that when I cross the finish line, my family and friends will all be excited, and I'll see my time and immediately want to best it. I guess there are worse hobbies than running marathons. And, I know after finishing my first, I'll probably want to take on another soon with the newfound knowledge I have in hand.

Only a few more miles to go...

A Great Week

This was probably my best week of running since I decided I was going to run the marathon. And that's saying something, considering I'm just coming off a really frustrating left foot injury. The foot issue is gone and this week I put up some of the best splits since my high-school cross country days.

During a 7-mile speed workout on Thursday, I ran one of the miles in 5:57. That's my first sub-six-minute mile since high school, and I weighed 30 pounds less back then. For the entire speed workout, I averaged 8:11 per mile. Then, funny enough, I ran five miles normal the next day and also averaged exactly 8:11 per mile.

To top it off, I nearly duplicated that pace during an 18-mile run on Sunday night. I was only down to run 16, but I felt so good for the first eight miles that I decided tacking on another two wouldn't hurt. Besides a nasty cramp in my side around mile 15, my legs and body felt fantastic for the entire run.

Here were my splits for the 18 miles:

7:55/8:16/8:16/8:16/8:12/8:05/8:11/8:05/8:06 (short water break)
8:15/8:16/8:21/8:20/8:24/8:15 (cramped up)
8:54 (ran through cramp)
8:06/7:39

My goal of every run is to make my last mile my fastest. That way, I learn to push hard, but still leave enough in the tank to push even harder through the finish. Once the cramp died down, I was able to post two of my best splits in the last two miles. That was especially satisfying.

The whole run was in 2 hours, 28 minutes, 2 seconds, or 8:13 per mile. If I maintain that type of pace on marathon day, I'll finish in around 3 hours, 35 minutes. In a perfect world, my goal is to run the 26.2 in 3:30, so I'm on the right track. When I ran 20 miles a few weekends ago, I did so around 9:00/mile, so this run went much better.

My weekly mileage was 36, which is the most I've ever run in one week during this training. I'm off today, and this will be an easier week for me. I'm down to run 27 miles with no run more than 7 miles, but I might up my Sunday run to 10 to make up some for the two weeks I didn't run at all. Then, two Sundays from now, I'm scheduled to run 20 on my birthday.

Stay tuned for more...

Trial run

Got me some new kicks. That's what the new shoes look like there to the right, though I'm rolling in the silver and black (the awesome Green and White Michigan State edition wasn't in stock).

As per the advice of the doctor who examined my ailing left foot, I purchased the Saucony Hurricane 10 for my next two months of training. I took them out for a trial run today and I can immediate tell a difference, as I should -- my Brooks had over 400 miles on them.

I ran three miles on Monday in my Brooks at a 7:30/miles pace and had some minor discomfort afterward. Today was a speedwork day and I decided it was an opportune time to try out the Hurricanes. I tried to get up at 5 am, but that wasn't happening. After hitting the snooze a bunch of times, I was out the door at roughly 7:30.

I planned on running 8 miles outside this morning, but even at that hour it was too stinkin' hot and humid to stay out there long. For what it's worth, I did log six along the St. Petersburg waterfront and then finished up with two on a treadmill indoors. Outside, my splits were 9:10/6:34/11:07/7:13/11:12/7:07. Inside, I did half-mile splits of about 4:15/3:15 for two miles.

Immediately after the run, I felt a tiny bit of discomfort in my left foot, but not enough to say running today was a bad idea. During the run, I felt fantastic -- minus the heat -- and sitting here after being done for a while, my foot is presenting no issues. The big test will be to see how it feels later tonight and when I wake up tomorrow.

Stay tuned...

My Left Foot

Things have unfortunately slowed down for the past two weeks, thanks to a stinkin' foot injury. I've been having some discomfort in my left ped ever since I ran my first-ever 20 miler two Sundays ago.

The run went well, though. While in Traverse City, Michigan, visiting some old college friends for the weekend, I got up early and logged a cool 20. Did so in almost nine minutes per mile on the nose, including a few stops along the way. So running-wise I managed probably around 8:40ish pace, which is strong.

But, my feet were killing me the next day and, two days later, I could barely put any weight on the left one. It died down over the first week, but I tried running in Boston and had to stop after one mile. That was more than a week ago. I ran three miles this past Friday and it felt fine during the run.

Some pain kicked up about an hour after that, though, so I decided it would probably be advisable to see a foot specialist. The good news was I didn't have a stress fracture. But, he did say I had peroneal tendinitis. I can still run short distances and keep up the cardio on the bike.

That's what I've been doing. The week after the run, I ran that one terrible mile, and did an hour (20 miles each time) on the bike a few days. This past week, I did an hour on the bike (22 miles) on Tuesday, 45 minutes (17 miles) Wednesday, ran three (6:55/8:15/6:38 splits) on Friday and then on Sunday I tried to mimick a long run, going for two hours on the bike, logging 41 miles in that time.

Today, I'm catching a flight to Florida for the Jays' series against the Rays. I'm going to buy some new running shoes -- the ones I bought in March have 400+ miles on them now -- for training and maybe a raceday pair as well. Not sure what I'll attempt running wise. I was supposed to log 20 this Sunday, but I can't dive right back into that distance after two weeks off.

So, things could be worse. I could have a broken foot and not be able to run the marathon. I just need to nip this in the bud now and get back on target here. I have to try hard not to overdo it. My lovely wife stopped me from going to the gym to try running earlier in the week and good for her. Someone's got to keep me in check.

That's it for now. Let's hope this foot heals quick...

Plugging along

It's been way too long since my last post, but that just means I've been busy, which isn't a bad thing. I've also posted less because I started keeping a running journal in a little notebook. So I write in there every day -- kind of taking away from the blog.

But, things are going great. I'm entering Week 8 of the 18-week program I outlined leading up to the marathon. I mix in easy/recovery runs, tempo runs, progression runs, speed workouts and long runs on a four on/three off schedule. Runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and long runs on Sundays.

Last night, I actually completed my first 16-mile run, doing it in around 8:25 per mile. If I can keep that pace for 26.2, I'll be right around my goal of finishing the whole dang thing in around 3:45 (under four hours is really what I'm shooting for). I logged the 16 along the Toronto lakefront.

It started off fine, but then it started raining decently hard. I wasn't going to let a little rain stop my workout, or the nasty blister on my right second toe that was killing me with every step, either. I stopped halfway to tend to the blister and did the ol' mind over matter deal and plugged along.

Kelly actually drove up alongside me and honked about 11 miles in, because she said it was raining hard downtown and she wanted to make sure I was OK. What a great wife, huh? I told her I was fine, even though it was REALLY tempting to hop in the car and call it quits.

When it was all said and done, my left groin was killing me, my right foot felt numb by this point and the cold I've ben fighting had me feeling more than a little fatigued. Still, no excuses -- I got the long run done and I'll be better for it (even if I'm aching all over this morning).

I've had some quality runs over the past few weeks, too. Running along the lakefront in Milwaukee was surprisingly enjoyable a few weeks back. Getting in some runs along the waterfront in St. Pete, Florida was awesome, even if the heat was almost unbearable. Seattle? Got 10 miles in running from downtown, through a beautiful forested area and coming out at the U of Washington campus. Gorgeous. Also ran along the waterfront in Seattle -- another beautiful spot.

I also had the chance to run along that same trail I did before in Anaheim again -- right before getting some homemade enchiladas at my Aunt Linda's house. Awesome. I've been forced to the treadmill a few times, and forced to get up at 4-5 am a couple other times, but with the exception of one day, I haven't strayed from my program.

I've also cut out pop altogether and I stopped drinking any beer on the road. I was only drinking diet pepsi for the past two years or so, but I figured I should just stick to water, juice and gatorade. The result? Well I quickly dropped under 160 pounds for the first time since my sophomore year of high school! I did sneak in a cigar one night in St. Pete, but was punished two days later with a sore throat.

The running journal has been a good addition, too. I log how much sleep I get, I scribble down every single thing I eat and I log all my runs, obviously. I'll jot down notes after the run -- what hurt, what was improved, etc; -- and it's helped me keep a constant focus on this training. It's one thing to just go out and run. It's another to make this a sort of lifestyle.

On that note, I'll leave you all with a few quotes. I get little motivation quotes e-mailed to me daily from runnersworld.com (I know, sounds dumb right?), and there's a few I've received that I have really enjoyed. Here's a couple:

"What counts in battle is what you do once the pain sets in."
--John Short, South African Coach

"You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone."
--Percy Cerutty

"Everyone is an athlete. The only difference is that some of us are in training, and some are not."
--Dr. George Sheehan

"To describe the agony of the marathon to someone who's never run it is like trying to explain color to someone who was born blind."
--Jerome Drayton

Ain't that the truth...

~JB

Uncharted waters

How are things on the West Coast?
I hear you're movin' real fine.
You wear those shoes like a dove.

Those were the lyrics that came pumping through the earbuds of my ipod as I legged out the final few yards of my 14-mile run on Saturday out in Anaheim. Funny huh? It's the opening three lines from an Interpol song and it was certainly fitting after I just completed the longest run of my life.

Thus the title of my post. Since my last entry, I have steadily increased my weekly long runs, putting in distances I've never done before now. Going back to the week of my last post, when running in Boston inspired me to get my butt back in gear, that week I put in 20 miles, including a 9-mile run (no biggie) along the Toronto lakefront on May 3.

The next week, my long run day fell on May 10, when I was in Cleveland for the Jays-Indians series. Unfamiliar with where to run in Cleveland, I headed down to the lakefront and ran laps around Browns Stadium until I reached 10 miles. That brought my weekly mileage up to 24 for that week.

The following Saturday (May 17), my long run just so happened to be the same day I was supposed to stand up in my brother-in-law's wedding back home in Chicago. Undeterred, I got up early and put in 12 miles that morning around Thornton, setting a new personal record, and then did the whole wedding thing. My left knee was barking that night, but no issues since.

Back in Toronto the next week, I upped it to 13 miles on Saturday, logging 23 miles for the week. I once again ran along the lakefront, running from near our condo to nearly where Kelly works. I had a kink in my neck after that run, probably from looking at the great views of the skyline from 6 miles down the lakefront, and I cramped up really bad for the last two miles.

That brings us to this past week. I was out in Anaheim for the Jays-Angels series and the Jays' strength and conditioning guy pointed me toward a great bike trail near the stadium that the players use for jogging when they're out in Cali. I put in 14 miles, finishing in almost exactly 2 hours with a break halfway. So, a little under 9 minutes per, I think.

But, my 14th mile clocked in at 7:30. So, needless to say, I had PLENTY left in the tank. I cramped up again in the 13th mile, but the fact that it happened toward the end of my run two weeks in a row makes me think the cramps come from my mind relaying to my body that I was near the finish. This time, I sped up as soon as I felt it coming on, and it went away quickly.

I'm in New York right now and got in a cool 4 miles on the treadmill this evening. It wasn't a fun 4 miles, though, but I think sitting on a plane all day from Cali to the Apple will sap your energy. I'll be back in Toronto on Saturday and I'll aim to get in 15 miles. It was really encouraging that I felt so great on my last run and I've finally gone beyond a half marathon.

I'm not worrying about times right now. If I do the marathon at 9 minutes per, I'd finish under 4 hours. I want to be around 3:30-45, though. Once I get up to 19-20 miles on a run, I plan to back off for a while in terms of long runs and then, when I begin building up again, the second time through I want to focus more on my speed.

Anyway, just thought I'd toss an update on here. I visited some family out in the L.A. area last night and my aunt pointed out that I hadn't updated this in a while. Well, things are going swimmingly right now. I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life and logging these 12, 13, 14 mile runs has really revealed how intimidating running a marathon is.

I'm still alive

Just judging by the lack of posts, you can probably assess what kind of run I've been on lately -- pun intended. Since I last blogged on here on March 22, I took an intended period of time off, fought a nasty bout with the flu and tackled a handful of minor hip/back ailments, all while adjusting to the rigors of another baseball season

Leave it to Boston to get my butt back in gear.

During a recent road trip to Boston, there were posters all over the city for the city's famous marathon. It reminded me of what's at stake here and convinced me to start picking things back up -- no excuses. While in Beantown, I enjoyed a nice jaunt along the Charles River and I've been off and running -- pun intended again -- ever since.

This might sound funny, but I even added a motivational wallpaper to my work computer screen -- http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243---12572-0,00.html -- to help keep myself focussed. If you visit that link, I picked the desert one, partly cuz the little guy running sort of looks like me. At least I thought so anyway.

Things have been going good of late, though. I've steered away from clocking my times and just have been dedicating myself to finishing runs. That's the important part. I think if I get too caught up in my splits, I'm missing the point, which is going the distance without killing myself. I'll keep an eye on my pace, but finishing times aren't my focus right now. Maybe when I get closer to race day.

It's helped that the weather has been getting nicer. Running on a treadmill or on an indoor track is not cutting it right now. I'm loving running outdoors and really getting used to that. Just this morning, one of my fellow Toronto reporters met up with me at my condo and we enjoyed a nice 6-mile run along the lakefront. It felt good to leave the ipod at home for once.

Through two runs this week, I'm up to 11 miles. I'll probably run 3-4 tomorrow and another 10 or so on Saturday in Cleveland. That'll make around 24-25 miles for the week. I ran 20 last week -- some of the miles logged in Boston. I'm having to get used to sticking to my program without fail, even though I'm hopping between cities. It's been tough, I'll be honest.

Prior to the 20-mile week last week, I had only run 33 miles in a five-week span -- partly because of the various injury and illness issues. I've come close to that in one week before. It was probably good to take some time off, but I can't get used to that type of schedule. It's time to step it up again, and that includes keeping myself accountable on here more often.

The Beast and Me

Thanks for all those who were concerned about the status of my behind recently. It's been a little more than two weeks since I injured my left glute/hip and I'm happy to report that there have been no serious issues lately. Still some stiffness, but I found a few new stretching exercises that have helped out enormously.

The reason for the picture of the shoe above is that, as you might've guessed, I am sporting a brand spanking new pair of Brooks running shoes. Thanks to co-worker John for reccommending I visit a specialty running store to be fitted with a shoe that's appropriate for my individual needs. I found a local joint in Dunedin, Fla., down here and man it was a great experience.

The guy at the store had me walk without my shoes on and with them on, and then asked me to run a little bit so he could observe my technique. I was very impressed, because the guy could tell I was rolling my right ankle slightly and wondered if I had ever done anything to it. Why yes! I had in fact sprained that thing multiple times.

He pointed to my New Balance shoes and said, "Never wear those again." Now, this could've been a sales ploy, but after he broke down how my feet and ankles worked and how I needed a shoe with better support, I was sold and willing to listen to anything this guy had to offer. He suggested I try the above shoe and I could immediately tell a different.

Apparently, the type of New Balance shoes I bought were better suited for someone with flat feet. I have a medium arch, according to Shoe Store Guy, and shouldn't wear NB shoes. Never again will I simply walk into a sports store and grab a pair of shoes that looks cool. Go to a specialty running store and have this done if you are an avid runner/walker.

On a different note, I've got to say that having a professional athlete marvel at an Average Joe's athletic venture is a great confidence booster. Earlier this week, Jays outfielder Reed Johnson and I were chatting at the ballpark and he mentioned he saw me running the other day around our condo complex. "I don't know how you do that," said Johnson, referring to my running long distances.

He and I had talked previously about how I was training for a marathon after I ran by he and hiw wife and their dog Shooter earlier this spring. Now, this is a guy who is a finely-tuned athlete. One of the top outfielders in the game and a former gymnast. He's impressed with what I'm doing? That felt good to hear.

Then, also earlier this week, I was walking back to my condo and stopped for a minute to chat with Toronto pitcher Jason Frasor, who was out walking his dog Cosmo. He asked how far I had just run, and I said "Six miles at eight minutes per." He laughed and said, "You trying to make the team or something?" Nice.

Needless to say, I've been feeling a little better recently. I took a full week off from running following the minor injury, and it was killing me not to be out there. By the end of that week, I was getting really stir crazy mentally. It's strange after a while how you wind up feeling like you need that fix. There's times during the day when I actually plot out when and how far I'm going to run that night. I'm a crazy person, I know.

Things didn't go so hot my first few times out after the long layoff. The low point was a three-mile run on March 15 that I needed nearly 26 minutes to complete. OK, for some people that's not that bad. But averaging over 8:30 per mile for three miles when I can usually stick between 7:10-7:30 per miles over that distance was depressing. I felt defeated.

I took the day off after that and returned with a sub-8 minute average on a six mile run. Then, after buying the shoes, I ran a 7:15 first mile in my new footwear and averaged 7:48 over 4 miles. Skipping forward to today, there were a few other runs in there, I ran 3 miles at 7:23 per miles. So, I'm getting back to my usual pace. Man, it's a good feeling, too.

So far this week, I'm up to 22 miles with one day to go. That equals my highest weekly output since I've been in Florida, and I plan on running again tomorrow. I've ran a total of 89 miles since heading down here to the Sunshine State, averaging nearly 4.5 miles per run. It all comes to an end soon, too. I head back to Toronto on Friday and the season opens on March 31.

I'm interested to see how I adjust to running on treadmills again once I'm stuck in hotels during the year. I know I won't be able to get outdoor runs in as often as I'd like. Balancing my training with the schedule I have is going to be a tough task.

I'm a Hipster Doofus

Yeah, see that pathetic looking dude over there on the right? That's me. I've become my own pain in the butt, literally.

I've had some discomfort in my hip area for about a month now I'd say. I even went as far as talking about the matter with the Blue Jays strength and conditioning guru to see what I might be doing wrong. He gave me some tips and everything seems to be going fine since.

Then around Sunday (six days ago), the discomfort flared up a little more, unsurprisingly, the day after I logged 10 miles. I didn't think much of it and I ran a hard three miles on Monday -- sticking to my program -- and on Tuesday, man, I could barely get out of bed. The discomfort had turned into full-fledged pain.

I continued to think it was the left side of my hip, but upon further review, the source is deep in my left glute. Yeah, my left cheek. So I googled "Pain deep in buttocks" and found this thing called Piriformis Syndrome, which I may or may not have, but includes symptoms that I've been having -- hip discomfort being one of them.

It says this "syndrome" is more common in women than in men, but that in other cases it can be common among runners. Hmmm, I seem to fall within that group (Runners -- not women!). Kelly was down here this past week and she thinks it could simply be from running on the hard promenade, which is made up of cobblestones. It could be that, combine with the running form I discussed with the Jays guy.

He said that one problem I could be having is running too upright, suggesting that I lean slightly forward during my stride instead. I thought that was going well, but maybe I reverted back to a more upright technique while logging the 10 miles on Saturday. It's been uncomfortable to go up stairs, get up from my seat, get out of bed and at times even to walk.

Needless to say, I haven't logged any miles since Monday, even though I've been going stir crazy. It's weird how I start getting really antsy if I haven't gone running in a couple days. I'm itching to get back out there and I'll probably start with a slow three miles tomorrow (Monday). The wife isn't here to tell me to take it easy any more, so if I do go running, I need to at least force myself to focus on finishing, not setting record time or anything.

That 10 mile run was great, though. I finished in 1:21:31, or a little more than 8 minutes per mile. My splits were 8:09/8:21/8:24/8:23/8:20/8:23/8:12/8:06/8:10/7:03. Yeah, I had enough leftover at the end to run nearly a 7-minute mile on the last mile. I could've kept the pace slower and done a few more miles, but I figured 10 was a solid long run at this point.

The following day, which apparently wrecked my body, I ran 3 miles in 21:48 (7:08/7:10/7:30). That last mile might've been more in line with the first two had it not been for a giant puddle of water that I didn't see. It felt like my whole foot went under and my entire right shoe and sock were soaked with about 1/4 of a mile to go. I was not happy, cuz I was hoping to break 21 minutes. Ah, well. I ended up breaking me instead.

We'll see how I feel this week...

Take it outside

So that picture there is a couple years old now, but the place I stay at every year for spring training looks the same. It's a great little gated community of condos, where a few of the ballplayers live during February and March as well.

One thing I love about the joint is the brick promenade that runs behind the buildings and along the water. It's great for running, though a little hard on the legs when you haven't been running on a real hard outdoor surface in a while.

The only disappointment was finding out that the running path isn't the 1.5 miles that they bill it to be. My handy-dandy Garmin informs me that the path is actually roughly 1.35 miles, so 2.7 when running from end to end. That stinks, because here I always thought I was getting a 3-mile run in and I was being shorted by more than a quarter mile.

No worries, though. I've been down here for 13 days and I've gone running on 7 of those. My legs were killing me after the first few runs -- I think simply making the adjustment to the type of surface, the new winding turns and some light hills here and there -- so I took six days off in a nine-day span there at one point.

My first run here went spectacular. I think I was just so excited to be back in Florida and running on one of my favorite routes that I was hymped up on adrenaline. I logged three miles in 22 minutes flat the day I got here -- splits of 7:15/7:33/7:12. I bested that on Saturday with a three-miler in 21:26 (7:00/7:04/7:22).

I really didn't feel like going today, but I got out there and did three miles in 22:10 with my third clocking in at 6:58 -- my first mile under seven minutes since I came down here. On the seven days I've run, I've logged 30 miles, including an 8-mile run (longest since Dec. 21), completed in 1:08:51 on Feb. 17. I had a few miles over nine minutes on that run, but I was taking it easy and I did finish with a 7:28 split on my last mile that day.

I'm on my feet most of the day at work, so part of me has been resisting the desire to get out there and run each night. I'm trying to work in off-days to incorporate long runs again, but the trick is not falling prey to too many off-days in a row. I've continued my core work each day for the most part and have hit up the nice little gym they have here a couple times, too.

Another issue I'm dealing with is eating out (man, that Thai place tonight was awesome!). It's tempting to head out every night with friends on the company's dime, but I'm trying to talk myself into staying in more often this year. I may come off as being anti-social, but it's for my own good!

Well, that's all for tonight. Again, even I think reading all of this is kind of boring, but hopping on here and writing about it helps keep me keep me in check. So far, I'm pretty happy with how I've stuck with this whole running thing, even though, honestly, I hate running. I was telling someone today -- I can't stand the actual act of running, but I love the idea of competing against yourself.

300 Spartan

That's right, this Michigan State Spartan has finally reached 300 miles. With that, I'm set to head to Florida for Spring Training. I logged 25 miles this past week -- was aiming for 30, but I listened to my dying legs and took a day off on Sunday. So, I did a 5-miler on Monday to reach the 300 mark. I've averaged roughly 2.7 miles per day this offseason, and 4.5 per day on the days I ran.

Now, I head to Tampa tomorrow morning for six weeks of Spring Training for the Blue Jays and Marathon Training for me. I'm transitioning back into my long-run routine, which consists of runs on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. So I'll log between 3-6 miles for now on the first three days and use Saturday as my long day. I'll probably start with an eight miler this coming Saturday. We'll see.

That's all for now. It's been quite the winter for me. I started off at around 170 pounds and am back down to a lean 160. Ideally, I'll be around 155-160 by October for the marathon in Chicago. Right now, it's all about strenghthening my core, building up my endurance and continuing to get better at that whole mind over matter thing. I like to remind myself of that Patton quote while I'm running: "Never let the body tell the mind what to do."

I lost, 6-5

Yup, Kelly outlasted me at the gym today, running six miles to my five. OK, five miles was all my routine called for today. But regardless, Kell's showing was the longest continuous run of her life, which is pretty cool for her. She wanted to do six to stick it to me after I gave her a hard time for taking the day off yesterday. Well played.

Since I posted last, I've logged 18 miles in five days, with an off-day on Monday. My goal this week is to run 30 miles, which would give me an even 300 for the offseason only three days shy of departing for Florida. I was hoping to have more by this point, but more than a week off after Christmas and a minor leg injury last month put me back some.

Word is slowly getting out that I'm training to run a marathon. As I'm getting closer to getting back to work, I've run into more fellow scribes and the usual reaction is along the lines of either "Wow, good for you," or "Geez, you're a crazy person." I've also found a couple coworkers who have marathon experience and I plan on hitting them up with questions and for tips in the coming months.

As for my recent runs, my handy dandy watch has all the info. Today I cracked up because my third and fourth miles were identical in time and steps (7:43/1344). I guess I was locked in my zone. I'm typically averaging around 7:30-40 per mile on runs of 5-7 miles. In six of my last seven runs -- ranging between 3-7 miles -- I've also clocked between 6:40-7:02 for my final mile, meaning I'm getting good at stepping it up a notch in the home stretch.

Here are my mile splits for my recent runs around the track:

Jan. 28: 3 miles -- 8:01/7:10/6:50 = 22:01
Jan. 29: 5 miles -- 7:45/7:48/7:44/7:25/7:32 = 38:16
Jan. 31: 7 miles -- 7:57/8:02/7:47/9:01/8:10/7:47/7:02 = 55:48
Feb. 2: 5 miles -- 7:53/7:48/7:31/8:02/6:40 = 37:57
Feb. 3: 3 miles -- 7:23/7:02/6:41 = 21:06
Feb. 5: 5 miles -- 7:59/8:01/7:49/7:54/7:01 = 38:47
Feb. 6: 5 miles -- 7:30/7:41/7:43/7:43/6:57 = 37:36

I'm hoping, in a perfect world, to be able to average around eight minutes per mile during the marathon. So I'm shooting for something around three and a half hours to three hours and 45 minutes. That probably means I'll finish around four hours. We'll see. I'll see how I hold up on some longer runs in the coming weeks.

No turning back now

It's official. As soon as the clock flipped to 1 a.m. here in the East, the online registration opened for the 2008 Chicago Marathon. I waited up, logged on at the first possible moment and am now officially registered to run the 26.2 mile course on Octber 12, 2008. So, what has been a whole lot of talk is now set in stone.

I've paid the non-refundable fee and can now really start mapping out my training for the coming months. The only thing that could derail my part in all this would be if the Blue Jays make the playoffs and then advance to the ALCS. Let's just say the percentages are in my favor that I'll be able to run in the marathon.

As for my latest workout, yesterday I ran seven miles, which is the most I've run at once since Christmas Eve. I had removed long runs from my workouts in order to stick to indoor runs for now. The long runs will return in a couple weeks, when I'm down in the comforts of Florida. The winds have been blowing nearly 60 mph up here in Toronto this week and it's snowing now.

I finished the seven miles in 55:48, so just under eight minutes per mile. According to my handy-dandy Garmin, I took 9,568 steps and burned roughly 886 calories. My legs were aching in the first three miles (splits of 7:57, 8:02 and 7:47). But then I cooled down with a 9:01 on mile 4, suddenly felt refreshed and finished up with splits of 8:10, 7:47 and 7:02 on the last three miles.

It's nice to know that if I do feel some fatigue, I can slow my pace for a mile or so and then pick right back up after that. A lot of times, the fatigue seems more mental than physical. Once I slowed my pace, my legs no longer felt sore and I was able to steadily increase down the stretch. Hopefully I can use a similar approach come October if my body tries to convince me to stop.

Stay tuned for more...

Watch me go

For all those Garmin owners out there, this will come as no surprise, but I'm loving my new watch. It arrived in the mail yesterday and I immediately put it to the test at the gym.

I ended up getting the Forerunner 50 (thanks Marriott points!), which isn't nearly as fancy shmancy as some of the other ones people recommended, but it's light and has all the functions I care about. I just want to be able to see my splits for miles, and see how far I've run without counting laps or guessing based on a route I looked up online.

Yesterday, I ran two miles on a treadmill to test the watch's data to the treadmill's numbers. When I hit one mile on the watch, I was at about 1.97 on the treadmill. So, it was pretty darn close to exact, which is good enough for me. The next test was to see if our thoughts on the track at the gym were correct.

No one has been able to tell us exactly how many laps is one mile on our local track. Apparently, that info wasn't given to the people who work there when the place was built. Since it's smaller than the track we'd run on back home in the Chicago area, we ended up guessing that 15 laps was one mile. Well, my handy-dandy Garmin informed me that 17 laps was indeed one mile.

That was bad news, considering I've been keeping a nice log of my mileage this winter. I started running primarily on the track in mid December and have guesstimated that I've done about 100 of my 250 winter miles on said track. If my math's correct, I didn't run about 12 miles that I thought I had. Ah well, from now on I'll at least know my numbers will be accurate.

The watch also came with the cool wireless USB plug-in dealy that can upload your workout data. I played around with that some on my computer last night and was pretty impressed with all the graphs and charts it spit out. I also found that what I thought was a normal pace on the track was actually a whole heckuva lot faster than I was running on the treadmill.

I ran the first mile on the treadmill in 8:01, the second in 7:10 and the third mile, on the track, in 6:50. I didn't realize I was running that much faster on the track. Now I'll know, thanks to my Garminator. That'll definitely help me keep my pace in line when I start up on the long runs again. It also logged my steps =3,846.

It doesn't take much to impress me. Everyone told me I needed this big high-tech Garmin and I think my simple one that I got for the cost of shipping is awesome. People told me I was dumb for not getting one of those video iPods when I bought my little iPod shuffle, but the shuffle has turned out to be a great little gizmo for running.

Stay tuned for more...