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...