If you follow this blog or click on the link I provide when I post it on social media, you might have wondered what happened after the recap of week 12 of my training for the Mill Race Marathon.
If you’re keeping track of the weeks, this would have been week 18.
This would have been – RACE WEEK!
Life got in the way during week 13. I didn’t get a chance to sit down post a recap which included a speed workout of five minutes at 5-10k pace with two minutes rest, a nine-mile-steady-state run, and the 16.75 mile run through the country roads. That long run on a hot and humid Sunday included a stop at the house of my favorite sports-radio-talk-show host and Saturday night Kickin’ the Jams man, JMV, to refill the hydration bottles. I also ran through the tiny village of Banta. I winded my way around the country roads of hills and back to almost civilization to run by that CITGO sign at the corner of Morgantown and Smokey Row roads before finishing at the corner of Brer Rabbit Drive and Olive Branch Road.
Note 1 – think I am Dick VanDyke looking straight into the camera after he has performed as the one-man band at the beginning of “Mary Poppins.”
Then came week 14 and the groove to my running returned. I literally could feel the fitness in me. I again did my favorite speed workout – pyramid intervals on Tuesday. Finally having enough of the stop-n-go and still fearing I might get run over on Paddock Road, I drove to Dan and Mari Jo’s and parked the car in their driveway. I did my warm-up and subsequently nailed my best steady state run in weeks.
It had been since July 4th weekend when I felt this good about a steady-state run. Later in the day I wouldbe informed the Mill Race Marathon had been cancelled.
I had the day off from work. It was the first Friday I have had off since February (minus being on vacation). The house was quiet enough for once I even got in a solid two-hour nap after the workout.
I awoke and opened my phone. I checked my e-mail…
BAM!
A message from the Mill Race Marathon. They announced that because of the recent surge from the “Delta Variant” of the COVID virus (Note 2), they had made the decision to cancel the marathon on Sept. 25. They were still going to have the half marathon and the 5k. Runners, who had registered for the marathon, were given four options.
Drop down to the half marathon and receive the price difference in return
Run the marathon virtually
Defer to 2022
Request a full refund
I immediately messaged my Runnin’ Sista, Catharine, and told her, “I think I am going to be sick. I haven’t felt like this since I found out the fix was in when I interviewed for my dream job in 2009. (Note 3)”
All of this training since May 24 especially with the “feeling of fitness” (Note 4) I was experiencing especially with the two best workouts I had that week since running in Georgia now for nothing. I believed I would have nothing to show for it.
Taking a look at the options provided by Mill Race:
I could do the half and erase the demons from the previous two times when Ryan and I ran Mill Race. I had no desire to only run 13.1. I trained to run 26.2 and to accomplish all of the goals I had set when I got this idea to finally run a marathon.
As I said earlier this year – I’m done paying money to virtual races of any kind.
Not knowing what weeks or even Saturdays the two people ahead of me in seniority will request for next year deferring wouldn’t be a good option (Note 5).
That left me with the only thing to do – request the full refund.
Note 2 – That’s COVID-19 4, Races 1. Well kind of – Ryan and I neither one ran the Peachtree Road Race back in July like we were racing it.
Note 3 – The process was fixed prior to the applications being accepted and interviews. The committee for the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame already had their pick. I should have known especially with the other candidates I supposedly beat out to get to the final two. It was also at this time the beginning of my admiration for high school hoops in Indiana began to deteriorate.
Note 4 – I was coming into the best shape of my life since my younger years during this training for the Mill Race Marathon.
Note 5 – see below
I felt disappointed about the announcement for about 10 minutes. Actually, maybe less.
Through it all it was an answered prayer that the Mill Race Marathon got cancelled for me.
Back at the beginning of the year at “The World on Time” I was sent to a different group to help streamline their process and become more efficient. Just as that group had turned the corner and showing improvement, I was transferred to another group to do the same thing. During this the vacation requests were sent out and approved. Since I was technically still under my manager my bid for vacation time still had to go through him. When I returned to my group in the middle of June, I found out the married couple in my group (who have seniority over me) had requested Sept. 25 off and had gotten accepted.
Unlike with the Peachtree Road Race, which took place during the Fourth of July weekend, when my manager let it slide when the couple and myself wanted the weekend off, he wasn’t as forgiving about the Mill Race Marathon (Note 6). As short staffed as we are right now, he demanded that I come into work after finishing the race.
Note 6 – Prior to me moving to other groups for the better part of five months, I had asked the couple along with my manager if anyone had planned to take that weekend off. I explained to them my plan for that weekend. All of them said they were fine with it and would leave it open.
Now, with the postponement of the Mill Race Marathon, I don’t have to worry about rushing through the finish and heading back to Indianapolis for work. When my manager told me I had to come to work that day after finishing, it didn’t set well with me. My first marathon and I wasn’t going to get to enjoy it.
Once I realized the blessing I had been given, I started looking for a marathon in the spring of next year to possibly run. I thought about Monumental Marathon in November, but then I saw the registration price and I was like “Nope.” (Note 7). Several running friends kept sending me suggestions for other fall races, but others in my work group had already been granted those Saturdays off (Note 8).
Note 7 – over $100 for a marathon – that’s a bit steep even with about two months to go before the race takes place on Nov. 6. Well, now just over a month to go, but when I looked at the price on Aug. 27 it was $110.
Note 8 – I had already turned in all my other Saturday off requests. After my upcoming vacation, my next Saturday off will be the weekend of my 50th birthday in November.
It didn’t take long for me to find a spring marathon that was close to me.
The winner – the Carmel Runners Club’s Carmel Marathon on April 9, 2022.
When I walked into work the next morning the first thing I did was look up the vacation schedule. To my excitement – NO ONE WAS SCHEDULE OFF THAT WEEK! I could have the entire race week off. For the first time ever, I was going to be on vacation the week of the race. I wouldn’t have to worry about working the day before and being on my feet the entire day prior to the race. I delve more into that as I get closer to starting the training program in December.
I immediately sent a vacation change to my manager. He permitted it. Although it wasn’t until last weekend when I officially registered for the race (Note 9), I had told my friends the Carmel Marathon would be my next attempt at trying to conquer the marathon distance for the first time.
Note 9 – although I told my friends I was registering for the Carmel Marathon, a little birdie – ok my running friend Tracy (who I mentioned earlier I see running through Wakefield and Innisbrooke with her huskies) – told me to hold off because a nice discount was coming last weekend.
There’s a lot to like about the Carmel Marathon.
For those not in the know Carmel, Indiana is an affluent community just north of Indianapolis. A lot of us refer to it as the Beverly Hills of Indiana (Note 10). Aside from that fact, the area is rich in running history within the state of Indiana. The high school cross country teams are annually ranked in the polls and have won several state championships through the years (Note 11). Any given year when you look at the list of runners from the state of Indiana for the Boston Marathon, you wonder to yourself if those registered from Carmel will ever end.
Note 10 – Main Street Carmel isn’t Rodeo Drive, but let me tell you it’s as close as you can come in the Midwest.
Note 11 – Carmel High has won a combined 35 team state championships between its men’s and women’s cross-country programs. Most recently, the men’s team has won five state championships since 2012. The women’s team has won eight since 2010 including a stretch of seven in a row from 2010-2016. The Greyhounds have also had five individual state champions – four women and one man.
This will be the 12th annual Carmel Marathon Weekend – which includes the marathon, 13.1, 10k and 5k races. I met up with Catharine and some of our running friends last year when they ran at the event. It was impressive to see all the precautions that race director Todd Oliver and his staff put together to make sure the races went off without a hitch despite the COVID-19 Pandemic.
All of my friends who have run any of the Carmel races even prior to last year commented about how great an event it is for the area. My friends who ran it this past April commented about how scenic the course was and how encouraging the fan support was throughout the route.
The marathon course was recently updated in 2018 to be more runner friendly. My running friend Lucie Mays-Sulewski (who won her age group returning from an injury which required surgery) told me she really enjoyed the new course. It was one of the reasons she was glad she made the Carmel Marathon her return race (Note 12).
Note 12 – Lucie set the course record for her age group at this year’s race on April 3. She also qualified for the Boston Marathon with a ridiculous 50-minute buffer!
According to the race’s website the course features “slightly rolling but fast and scenic with less than 400-foot elevation change over the entire distance. There are long but rolling straights, scenic running/walking paths through parks, various urban and semi-rural landscapes and a finish you will not forget!”
The Carmel Marathon and Half Marathon course.
From the sounds of it, the course is similar to what I have been running for my steady state runs through Wakefield and Innisbrooke. I don’t see myself changing a lot during the next training segment.
More from the website – “The 2021 Carmel Marathon Weekend returned as an in-person event. The marathon had more than 1,000 finishers for the first time, with 3,300-plus total finishers in all events. IN addition, six new course records were set in 2021 and 29 percent of marathon participants qualified for the Boston Marathon, making the event a top-5 Boston-qualifier race per MarathonGuide.com.”
The Carmel Marathon also is ranked among the top 25 Boston Marathon Qualifying Races by Findmymarathon.com.
The Carmel Marathon also has been chosen as an Abbott World Marathon Majors Wanda Age Group World Ranking Qualifying Series, the first ever global age group marathon ranking system. Participants can run in various marathons to earn points to then qualify for the World Age Group Championships.
“With the many challenges brought on by the pandemic, it is great to see our events having continued success and growth, including the Carmel Marathon,” Oliver said. “With growth comes recognition. We are honored to be included in the AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Rankings Series, and I’m thrilled that our participants can be featured on a global scale.”
That recognition along with the history of running in the area in the north suburb of Indianapolis should get anyone excited to want to register for not only the marathon but any of the races that weekend. Next to Monumental, the Carmel Marathon is the second biggest marathon in the state of Indiana.
Although the Mill Race Marathon was cancelled, I decided to continue to run. Instead of running six days a week, I only ran five. I made Wednesday’s a non-running day and have done various versions of the IronStrength for Runners series. Tuesday’s speedwork became me doing nothing more than starting slow and then progressively picking up the pace to a point where I was at my marathon pace for the last couple of miles. I returned to my old friend – Cushing’s Hills – on Fridays. After a little over a mile warm-up, I let it rip and ran marathon-race pace or faster. I continued to run double-digits on Sundays including a 15-miler on a new route I put together. The weekend of 9/11 and close to the 11-year-anniversary of my father’s death, I ran to the neighborhood where I grew up. It’s always nice running through there and imagining I am a younger version of myself (Note 13).
With the cancellation of the Mill Race Marathon, it was time to get some sweatin’ going on with Dr. Metzl and the IronStrength gang.
Note 13 – seeing how much fun and the people I have met since “officially” joining the running community in 2013 – you better believe I kick myself for not running when I was younger instead of trying to become the Mr. Basketball of Indiana.
Upon conclusion of this Friday’s run at Cushing’s Hills, I’m going to take a break of at least 16 days. Because of the recent surge of the virus, we decided not to head to Florida. Instead, I’ll probably put the tent up in our backyard for a few days, sit on the deck and read the sequel to “Once a Runner” – “Again to Carthage.” I’m going to take full advantage of this retreat from running and working out.
Strong final run on Cushing’s Hills before taking a much earned and deserved two-week break. Went with the “Cajun Lightning” look in honor of Sid Vaughn. Vaughn will miss the Chicago Marathon due to injury.
It’s going to allow me to heal some nagging soreness issues I’ve been dealing for a few weeks.
The most important aspect of this “break in the action” as Claire Bee once wrote to a young Bob Knight after the Hoosiers 1974-75 season, I plan to be “suddenly refreshed by the driving desire that has always inspired…to rush forward and upward, to grasp the new challenge with eager hands and race for the starting line.”
Time to reduce fractions again as week 12 ends – now 2/3 of the way through training for the Mill Race Marathon on Sept. 25. There have been some minor ailments along the way, but easily cured with an extra rest day along with extended sessions of mobility stretches and of course the torture tool of the foam roller. Unlike the last two races I’ve trained for by myself (Valpo Half in 2018 and the last few weeks of last year’s Monumental 13.1) I haven’t had to take a whole week off to prevent an injury from getting any worse (Note 1).
Knocking on my wooden desk here in the Mind Palace, hopefully the final six weeks will go as smooth as the first 12 from that aspect. I have gradually come out of the valley I have been in since returning from Georgia and running the “Sun City Peachtree Hills of Hell.” The steady state-run Friday didn’t go as planned, but Sunday’s long run made up for it.
Note 1 – I didn’t suffer any kind of injury while training for my first half marathon in 2013. The only times I missed any runs during that training was because two times I developed severe head colds that knocked me out for about a week each. In 2018 I had to take a week off from training after suffering a severe hamstring strain. Last year, was the beginning of this on and off issue with my hip that I have been experiencing.
Monday
My Aunt Lee and Uncle Bill left before the sun came up Monday morning. We had a nice visit with them. We played several card games and watched television (Note 2). They also got their White Castle fix on Sunday night (Note 3). They are still shocked with everything we have going on in our lives how we can keep our sanity (Note 4).
Note 2 – cut-throat games of euchre and Wizard.
Note 3 – they always have White Castle’s at least once when they come to visit.
Note 4 – for me it’s thank God for running.
After we watched them leave the subdivision, I went back upstairs to bed. A couple of hours later, I went downstairs and fixed my coffee. Wendy and I discussed the weekend with Bill and Lee. Our issue didn’t appear until late Sunday night and by then it was time for everyone to go to bed. We counted our blessings for that. Unfortunately, that would be the first of many nights dealing with a variety of issues this week.
Finally, around 11 a.m., I decided it was time to lace up the shoes and head out for my seven-mile run. It was during this run that for some reason the death of my cousin Ron hit me a little harder than I thought it would. It was either that or his death parlayed with Bill and Lee’s visit got me thinking about my parents (Note 5).
Note 5 – and how much I freaking miss them especially when Bill and Lee are “home” and I see other family members like I did Saturday. Plus, all the other events they have missed out on since they both unexpectedly died.
I went through the new subdivision on the west side of Paddock Road and then into Wakefield and Innisbrooke and back. It was quite the uneventful easy run, but it went quick mainly because of all the other things I thought about during the run.
The session with Ryan the Chiro wasn’t painful at all. He did hit a spot in my upper right shoulder blade I wasn’t expecting. At least he didn’t do anything with my hip or hamstrings this week.
“You know it’s gotta be nice to be in tune with your body like you are,” he did reply as he worked on my legs.
“Look, I don’t research and am intrigued about injuries and how to prevent for nothing,” I said. “I still kick myself for not becoming the Dr. Joe Early of the sports medicine world (Note 6).”
Note 6 – Ryan actually got the Emergency! reference.
Tuesday
The weekly quick speedwork session was four minutes at 5-10k race pace with one-minute-easy run. I started up the incline to get to the tri-oval this week. Once I get up that hill (Note 7), I finally start to feel comfortable in this workout. I also got it down that it’s about two and three-fourths of a lap to make a mile around the oblong circle (Note 8)
Note 7 – it’s feels more like conquering
Note 8 – it’s actually .39 of a mile and yes I made it a Strava segment both going clockwise and counter-clockwise.
It was 75 degrees this morning and the humidity had the air at drinking it level. Fortunately, it was partly cloudy that morning. During the last two sets, I felt like I was in cruise control. It was even better than the previous week’s interval workout at three minutes.
All smiles and it’s so bright in the “Mind Palace” I gotta wear shades.
I left the tri oval and finished where the new and old section of our subdivision meet. I walked back to my house. I opened the garage door and immediately went for the water bottle. I dumped the cold water over my head to cool off before starting the cool down. For whatever reason, I decided to go down the incline from the crack in our street. I made the turn left and headed up the steepest incline in our subdivision. The only thing I can think is I wanted to try something different and enjoy the hard work out just completed.
Air temp of 75 and the dewpoint almost equaling it with 90% humidity meant dumping water over my head at the end of the interval workout.
Wednesday
Speaking of trying new things this would be the first time to run on Wednesdays for the rest of the training segment on a permanent basis. Although I hadn’t woke up in complete “Zombie” mode the last few Saturdays, I could tell the running in the morning before work along with the long hours at “The World on Time” were taking its toll on me not only physically, but mentally.
I decided to run every cul-de-sac and the outside loop of the subdivision. The loop ended up being almost exactly two miles. I’m not sure what it was that morning, but it seemed like the run took forever. It probably was the temperature of 75 degrees, the dewpoint almost equaling the air temp and the humidity again made it feel like I was swimming around the neighborhood instead of running.
Thursday
I went back to an old reliable loop and ran it counterclockwise (Note 9). When I opened the door to the garage you could feel the heat coming at me. I checked my phone one last time, and it was 79 degrees along with the dew point around 73. Even easy runs in the heat can hold the mantra – “Runners are made in the summer.” Although it was warmer (whoa, a whopping four degrees) going with this loop compared to the day before felt a lot faster. Then again it was by about 23 seconds comparing the average paces. It was a nice run to build into the next day’s steady-state workout back at the flat course of Wakefield and Innisbrooke.
Even easy runs serve purposes during marathon training and can be a way that “Runners are made in the summer.”
Note 9 – as Frank Shorter says – “Find your loops.”
Friday
Got done with the warm-up, dynamic drills and stretches along the path in Wakefield. I took one last drink of Gatorade before resyncing my watch for the nine-mile-steady-state run. The last few weeks I had set the pacer on the watch, but still ended up going by feel. This time I decided I would forgo the virtual pacer altogether.
It was 70 degrees, and the humidity was not as bad as it had been the previous two days, but you could tell it was going to get warmer fast. The sun also was breaking through the clouds. That was going to produce trouble especially in the unshaded areas of the path and stretches through Innisbrooke.
I got to Inni Way (Note 10) and the watch beeped for the first mile split – 7:18. This was on par for what I had been running the last few weeks. Around the Fairview Road entrance of Innisbrooke and back. I approached the “T” of Innisbrooke Avenue, and I was at 7:26 for the second mile. “OK, that’s more like it,” I thought to myself. The third mile ended at the beginning of the path, and I was back up to 7:19.
Note 10 – Inni Way is the street which connects the Wakefield and Innisbrooke subdivisions.
I reeled off successive sub-7:20’s splits the next four miles. I went over 7:20 for the seventh mile and then
BOOM!
I am not sure exactly what it was, but I developed a horrible cough as I made the turn from Pennswood to Fairfax Lane. I continued on to where Fairfax “T’s” with Wakefield Road and again had to stop. I couldn’t stop coughing. I mustered up enough strength to get started again, but I got a couple of houses from Dan and Mari Jo’s house, and I had to stop again. The coughing wouldn’t stop. It was a lot like the coughing spells Ryan had been having during most of his runs with me.
Finally, a lady, who had been walking as I had been running in the neighborhood came out of her garage with two bottles of water.
“Here, pour this one into your bottle and dumped this one over your head,” she commanded. “It’s a lot hotter out here than you think.”
“Thank you so much,” I replied.
“Miss seeing your son with you,” she said. “You know you two really put on a show for us last May with the virtual Indy Mini. That was fun.”
“Thank you,” I said between gulps. “Yeah, he still runs some. But the fast stuff wasn’t his forte.”
“Well, I don’t know how you do it,” she said. “I’d crumble just trying to run a thousandth of what you do.”
I finished the one water bottle and put it in her recycle bin. She walked back into her garage. I regained my composure and continued on for the rest of the run. The eighth mile was my slowest at 7:27 when I made the turn again at the Innisbrooke entrance. I ran a solid pace until I made on to Wakefield Drive South and then Gainesway. I ran about 100 feet when my watch signaled the final mile with a time of 7:12. I slowed down the pace and made it to the intersection of Gainesway and Paddock to stop.
Minus the coughing episode I was pleased with the run because it was consistent pacing. Although I’d still rather be inside 7:20-7:30, I at least know if I need to I can kick it up a notch. Still, I didn’t like having to stop, but the important thing was before that issue developed I was running comfortably and consistently which is what I will want on race day.
Another hot-steady-state run completed. Can you tell even my freckles were sore after that one.
Sunday
We won’t discuss Saturday and another long workday at “The World on Time.” I woke up Sunday morning thinking I’d be recovered enough to want to get out early. Moving the Saturday run to Wednesday wasn’t the only thing that changed this week. My weekly Wal Mart also changed as I went to get the “runner’s essentials” (Note 11).
I returned home and fixed my coffee and breakfast sandwich. I then took my computer out to the deck and watched my favorite morning news program as usual. After the news was over with, I watched Dustin Hite deliver the sermon for that Sunday at Bargersville Christian Church (Note 12).
Note 11 – when I ran into JMV from the “World Famous JMV Takeover” at Wal Mart a few weeks back he referred to my grocery cart as “Runner’s essentials.” This included chocolate milk, bananas, Clif bars, and my newfound favorite recovery drink – Prairie Farms Chocolate/P.B. milk.
The Prairie Farms Chocolate and P.B. flavored milk. My new go-to-recovery drink. Look at that 13 grams of protein.
Note 12 – I am going to return to Bargersville Church in person eventually. This recent surge of COVID though has me staying home. Well, what about race day? I’ll handle that when that day gets here.
Finally, around 11 a.m. I decided it was time to change into the running shorts and head out the door. No note here, I’m done running down Paddock to get to Wakefield. I’m going to start driving and parking the car at Dan and Mari Jo’s. I lost count how many times between my house and the path I had to stop because of traffic. Once I got to the path, I decided I would run the rest of the 10 miles on the “flat course.” When I finished, I would make the long walk home and avoid having to continuously start and stop for the final mile.
Despite the stop-n-go issues on Paddock, I was under eight minutes for the first mile with a time of 7:54. It was 73 degrees, but it was mostly cloudy, and the humidity was again lower than it had been earlier in the week. I knocked out negative splits until the ninth mile and at that I was only two seconds slower. I finished the tenth mile under 7:00 at 6:58.
For the first time I also tried a different gel – Maurten Gel 100. It’s the same gel used by now two-time-Olympic Gold Medalist in the marathon and the world record holder Eliud Kipchoge. The texture is like little chunks of Jell-O and taste like you’ve put sweet-n-low in water. I definitely liked it better than the GU because I didn’t immediately feel like I had to grab my water bottle to chase it down. It will be my go-to gel for race day.
Finally, a solid long run on Sunday. Looking forward to using those logs later this fall for some smores in the firepit action.
Overall, week 12 was a better indicator of what I think I am capable of running at the Mill Race Marathon. The refocus and reset seem to be in the back mirror. Now is time to begin the dialing it all in for the final six weeks.
This week didn’t go as planned and rightfully so. I was scheduled to run 49 miles, my longest week at this point in the training segment along with my first of three 16-mile runs. After my run Tuesday morning – a solid three minutes at 5-10k pace with one minute easy for three miles – I was in our bathroom getting ready for work. Wendy came in and started talking to me about the upcoming weekend (Note 1). My Aunt Lee and Uncle Bill would arrive Friday night. Our cousin Ron’s funeral was Saturday (Note 2). They would be staying until Monday morning.
“I know you’re training for your marathon. I totally get it and glad you’re enjoying it, but…” (Note 3)
“Let me guess,” I stopped her in mid-sentence. “You’d like me to not run Saturday and Sunday and not run until after they leave on Monday morning?”
“I think it would be nice,” Wendy said. “I think they would enjoy spending as much time with us as possible. And if the weather is nice you could sit on the deck, listen to JMV Saturday night while drinking the wine. Then Sunday drink coffee on the deck with them.”
Note 1 – with the way things are going in our home cornering me in the bathroom as I am getting ready for work is about the only chance Wendy has to talk to me without interruption.
Note 2 – I went to work on Saturday morning and worked for four hours. I went home, showered, and changed clothes and went to the funeral. I went back to work where I didn’t get home again until 9:30 p.m. Had I stayed at work the entire time I would have worked 13 ½ hours! It’s getting beyond ridiculous at this point. Plus, I missed an opportunity to be with family I don’t get to see very often anymore. Back in the day, this side of my family (my mom’s side) is the one where we went for Thanksgiving and other various holidays.
Note 3 – come on you had to know there was a “but (insert request from the wife)” line about to be said by Wendy.
“I was already ahead of you on this,” I said. “I have been trying to figure out how to adjust the schedule ever since Bill texted and said they were coming up for Ron’s funeral. (Note 4).”
Note 4 – No. Seriously, almost the second I read Bill’s text, I was already plotting how I was going to get a majority of the miles in prior to them arriving on Friday night.
I collaborated with Ben Houston about the proper adjustments. We decided I’d keep Wednesday as a rest day, run 10 easy miles Thursday and finish the week with the 16 miles on Friday. The run on Friday would be a race set up. The objective was to make the most out of those two days and get as much mileage as possible (Note 5).
This also was a good time to adjust the schedule beginning with week 12 and moving the Saturday morning “Zombie Run” to Wednesdays (Note 6).
Note 5 – ended the week at 38.93 miles
Monday
Still recovering from the long workday Saturday and the 10 miles on Sunday. Ryan the Chiro called Sunday night to inform us he had to take care of somethings and would not be able to come to the house for everyone’s weekly appointments.
I was alright with Ryan the Chiro not coming this week (Note 7). I fixed my coffee and took Cooper outside. I sat on the deck and watched my puggle run around the back yard (Note 8). I could hear Center Grove Cross Country Coach Howard Harrell talking to his runners as they went up and down the Brer Rabbit Drive side of Cushing’s Hills (Note 9).
Note 7 – meant I didn’t have to worry about rushing around cleaning the house before he arrived on Monday morning.
Note 8 – Cooper didn’t catch any varmints or ducks
Note 9 – this would be the last Monday morning the CGXC team would be running up and down Cushing’s Hills this summer. School started later that week.
My body finally felt it was ready to head out for a run around 11 a.m. My mind on the other hand was content on being lazy. I decided to run to the high school (Note 10) and back that morning. I went south on Mullinix and into the subdivision that way (Note 9).
Note 10 – I wanted nothing to do with any part of “Cushing’s Hills” that morning. My body was ready to run but both my mind and body wanted nothing to do with hills that morning.
I left that subdivision and headed west on Stones Crossing Road into Kensington Grove (Note 11). I went around the athletic complex of the high school to where it meets up with Stones Crossing Road. As I passed the football stadium on the campus, I thought of my friend Jason Mueller. He recently died after a hard-fought battle with cancer. The man lived and breathed Center Grove sports. Mueller was “The Voice of the Trojans.” On Friday nights in the fall, we can see the lights of the football stadium from our house. We also can hear the music and somewhat see the fireworks when Center Grove scores a touchdown or field goal. We also were able to hear Mueller’s booming voice when the Trojans made a spectacular play (Note 12).
Note 11 – I have never ran this stretch without having to move completely into the grass because of oncoming traffic.
Note 12 – I said a prayer for his wife and another childhood friend, Hannah, and the rest of Jason’s family as I ran by the stadium.
I turned around at Stones Crossing Road and headed back. I could tell it was warming up and I thought maybe I should have brought water with me on this run (Note 13). I finished right where I started at the crack along the street in front of our house.
Note 13 – on easy runs I usually don’t bring hydration with me, but these temps have me thinking otherwise.
Tuesday
I could feel my legs waking up as I did the one-mile-warm up followed by the dynamic stretches and drills. Honestly, I thought about skipping the pre-workout routine. Then I remembered a tweet just the day before from Stephanie Bruce of Hoka Northern Arizona Elite team (Note 14).
“The days you don’t feel like doing the ancillary work, the prehab, the form drills and strides and you still do. Those are the days you learn about yourself mentally as an athlete,” Stephanie Bruce.
When I remembered that tweet, I instantly knew I had to do my usually routine. As a former sports-reporter colleague Robert Sullivan used to tell me, “You know, Rueff, what keeps you from being good to a great sports reporter – the little things.” Well, the little things here are doing the pre-workout regime and also later that night following up with stretches and foam rolling before bed (Note 15).
I am constantly learning and being motivated by Stephanie Bruce with her posts. (Photo cred: NAZ Elite).
Note 14 – How can you not be a fan of Elite Runners when they speak the truth like Stephanie Bruce does. They just bring it all down to earth and show they are real people. It’s refreshing.
Note 15 – those little things will add up to being HUGE when the going gets tough during the Mill Race Marathon Sept. 25. I’ll be glad I did them.
I also did something I hadn’t done in the previous times of doing these intervals on Tuesdays – I went south on Harness Drive to the “tri-oval (Note 16).” This meant going up that hill by my friend Chad and Stacey’s house that I loathe to get to the tri-oval on the west side of our subdivision.
Note 16 – getting up and over that hill at the start of this workout was like finally winning the mental block I have about it.
I stayed around a 6:40 pace on each rep. It felt even more comfortable than the week prior when I did the pyramid intervals. As usual I was midway through the interval when my watch beeped for three miles. I left the “tri oval” and headed south on Harness Drive. The watch beeped again to inform me the three minutes at pace was over and it was time to run easy. I finished going down the incline of our street to the stop sign.
All smiles after a pleasing 3:00 @ 5-10k pace/1:00 easy interval workout. How many pairs of Hoka’s do you see?
This was the most pleased with these interval workouts I have been since I started them back on June 29. It was the confidence boost I needed heading into the off day followed by the readjusted 10 miles on Thursday and 16 on Friday, respectively.
Wednesday
Up and downstairs into the theater room for a session of IronStrength Core Blaster with Doc and Meghan. I also did some mobility stretching and foam rolling before work. The hip pain I had been experiencing has been almost nonexistent since I started foam rolling and stretching before bed (Note 17).
Note 17 – thank goodness there’s an alarm to alert Luke to take his medication. It’s a great way to also remind me to go into my office and feel the torture of my foam roller before bed. Was I concerned about the hip pain? Absolutely, but it was matter of me looking up some stretches in my injury prevention book along with calling my physical therapist friend for suggestions. Plus, Ryan the Chiro doing his weekly torture has made a significant difference.
Thursday
It was the first day of school for Center Grove. There was no way – and I mean NO WAY I was leaving my subdivision to run. How do I make 10 miles interesting? I expanded on Frank Shorter’s comment from last year’s “Training During COVID: A Conversation with Frank Shorter and Ben Rosario” where he said to “Find your loops.” I ended up making five loops throughout the subdivision.
The big loop
The exactly a mile loop
The inner loop
Mockingbird Lane loop
Calvert Farms/Harness Drive loop
I ran each one in one direction. I finished the first three loops and when I stopped for water, I also took the shirt off – despite the coolness in the air that morning, I could tell I was getting a tad toasty. After completing the Calvert Farms Drive/Harness Drive loop, I reversed it (Note 18 & 19).
Frank Shorter said, “Find your loop.” I think I made the most of them on this run.
When I switched the course, I’m not sure what happened, but my legs picked it up a notch. I was under eight-minute pace the rest of the way. I had even splits of 7:47-7:46 for miles five through eight. On the ninth mile I saw my friend Lynn (Note 20). She was making the turn up the street from her house to Chad and Stacey’s. I yelled at her – “One more mile, Lynn.” We met at the corner in front of her house and talked for a few minutes before both decided to continue on and indeed finish that last mile.
I ended up running the big loop two times and then around the cul-de-sac of Champion Way to complete the 10 miles. I figured there was no reason to run around the straightaway of Champion Way when I could easily accomplish the final tenths of a mile on the cul-de-sac. It was nice running up the hill and into the section and finishing with a 7:10 mile.
Note 18 – the best part of this run – I was hitting sprinklers on both sides of the streets.
Note 19 – another best part – I didn’t have to carry my hydration belt with the bottles on my waist. I had water bottles on our mailbox post and picked them up as I ran by.
Note 20 – Lynn and her husband Mike are also our insurance agents.
Boston Brian messaged me later that day, “Oh man, that made me cringe seeing you did 10 in the hood. I did a 10-mile tempo on a treadmill once and was about ready to give up running.”
I replied – “Wait until you see tomorrow.”
Friday
The second day of school for Center Grove. Again, I thought the traffic would still be maddening. Not to mention who knows what new drivers could be on the roads like Mullinix, Olive Branch and Paddock. Being on those roads on a school morning just wasn’t the risk I was willing to take.
Thus, there was no possible way I was going to leave my subdivision. As I have said since February and more specifically since my promotion at “The World on Time” I believe my mental game has evolved into one of my stronger characteristics. I decided to challenge it this morning. I would run the big loop I had designed through our neighborhood. I started by going south and when I reached the crack in the road to complete a lap, I turned and ran the opposite direction. The little mental game I was playing with myself was seeing how focused I could remain while running lap after lap.
Like the day before, I placed water and Gatorade bottles on our mailbox. I had the GU Jet Blackberry gels in my shorts’ pockets. The plan was water every two miles, Gatorade at each 5k and the gels every 40-45 minutes (Note 21).
Note 21 – I’m thinking the adjustment needs to be water every two miles, but Gatorade every 15 minutes. Will work on that with next week’s tempo and long runs.
Not wanting to miss the little things, I made sure to do my drills and stretches prior to starting the first of three 16-mile runs of this training cycle (Note 22). Even with the 10 miles the day before, I could sense my legs felt a little springy. I kept reminding myself – “Race simulation. Just let it flow. No neck-break speed. No Mach 3 with hair on fire. Let this run come to you.”
Note 22 – this also would be the farthest I’ve run since the “22.5 Bargersville Time Trial” back in May.
I started up the incline toward the new section. Without even switching the screen on my Garmin from distance and time to distance and pace, I told myself, “I like this pace. This is comfortable. Really. This right here is what we need more of.”
Alternating directions for 13 laps to complete the first of three 16-mile runs in this training cycle.
I got to the north entrance of our subdivision when my watch beeped to complete the first mile (Note 23) – 7:45.
“Are you not learning a thing,” I said out loud to myself. At this point the neighborhood was about to pick up with activity. There were several people running and walking. Several parents were also walking their kids to the St. Francis & Clare school. Then you throw in the construction workers on all the new houses going up in our subdivision were arriving to begin their workday (Note 24). “I’m telling you it has to be around the 8:00-8:10 pace those first couple of miles or I’m in for a long day on Sept. 25 (Note 25).
Note 23 – but not the first lap. From the entrance of the subdivision to the crack is just under a fourth of a mile. It would be 1.22 going south and 1.12 going north.
Note 24 – this meant I was going to have the best radio station in ALL the land to listen to for a majority of my run as all the crews again were listening to WTTS-FM. We have about 15 new houses going up.
Note 25 – I reiterate: I can’t accomplish my race day goals in the first mile, but I certainly can crash them if I don’t start out with a conservative approach and build up.
I found out at the end of the second lap that my transition game of picking up the water bottle cleanly for lack of a better term – SUCKS! Unlike the last couple of weeks when I stopped to regain my composure because I was overheating or dead tired from the heat and humidity, I paused to get the bottle cap off to drink the water or Gatorade.
I completed the sixth mile and stopped to take in one of the gels along with chasing it down with water. The neighborhood had been quiet for a few miles when it suddenly became alive again with children walking to the corner to catch bus or the parents walking with them. There were also a few more walkers and runners as I reached the midway point (Note 26).
Note 26 – again I was running through every sprinkler when possible. Unless they were doing it when I wasn’t around them, I didn’t see anyone else taking advantage to cool off by running through them. Their loss. There’s nothing better during a summer run than going through the sprinklers to cool off.
I was about to complete the tenth mile when Wendy and Luke came outside with Cooper and Izzy. Izzy finished and Luke took her inside. Cooper was being contrary and taking his sweet time to “Do his business.”
I stopped and talked with Wendy. I wanted to see how she was feeling after some horse play Andrew, and she were doing the night before. She said her toes felt better, but she was having some soreness in her calf muscle (Note 27). She definitely was walking better than she had most of the night after the incident.
Note 27 – Andrew and Wendy were playing some game. She walked into the entry way of the house Thursday night and Andrew tackled her. I thought for sure she’d broke or tore something. We are fortunate it was nothing more than a couple of bruised toes and a sore calf muscle.
I don’t know if it was sympathy pains for my wife or what, but as we talked I took a step. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my left shin.
“You alright?” Wendy asked.
“Yeah,” I answered. “I’m about finished.”
“You look concerned,” she said.
“It’s just I haven’t ever felt pain in the front of my leg like that before,” I replied. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“Well, if it gets too painful, don’t be stupid,” Wendy said. “Just stop.”
“Don’t you think I know that” I questioned her.
“You might still play your wannabe athletic trainer, Dr. whatever his name is on Emergency! But let’s face it, you’re like all these other runners you make fun of at times – you’ll keep going until you’re limping.”
“No, I won’t,” I said.
“Ah, ok,” Wendy said with a smile on her face.
Despite having to stop to grab the bottles and slurp on the gel, I liked this run. It was my best run since the 4th of July when I ran the “Sun City Peachtree Hills of Hell” (Note 28, pt. 1). I didn’t force the pace like I had the last few weeks. From the third mile until the end, I was in my “sweet spot.” My paces were somewhere between 7:20-7:35 those last 13 miles.
I went seven laps around Calvert Farms Big Loop South and six laps of the Calvert Farms Big Loop North (Note 28, pt. 2). My watched dinged at the intersection of Harness Drive and Calvert Farms Drive, but there was only one way to end this run – all out with a strong, fast finish to the corner of Harness Drive and Champion Way.
Note 28 – Strava segments I have recently made.
As I walked from Champion Way back to my house, I had a huge smile on my face. I am refocused and reset now for the final 1/3 of my training for the Mill Race Marathon.
An adjusted short week of training completed at Champion Way with the first 16 miler of the training segment. Smiling for hitting the “sweet spot” pace.
The reset and refocus of this training segment began this week. I got to do another one of my favorite speed workouts on Tuesday. During the steady state run on Friday and for most of the long run Sunday, I also did what Deena Kastor says in her book “Let Your Mind Run.” In both of those runs I still found myself pressing the pace. I also questioned myself at the end of both runs – “Am I overtraining?” “Am I tired from the grind?” “Did the heat get to me?” “Even though I need it, did the sunscreen cause some issues?”
More on that and what I think the answers are down below as week 10 of Mill Race Marathon training is in the books.
Monday
As hard as I ran most of that 15-miler the day before, my legs (I thought) actually felt pretty good when I woke up Monday morning. This was also the first Monday of six straight at seven miles the day after a long run. I also couldn’t decide where I was going to run this morning. I decided to head east on Olive Branch Road and into the quadruple subdivision area known as Hunter’s Pointe, Brockton Manor, Highland Park and Willow Lake Estates (Note 1).
Note 1 – Could I make it two times in a row through Willow Lakes and not get lost?
It was early enough and everyone else was still asleep, I knew I could do the run, return, do IronStrength Core Blaster and have breakfast before any of them were functioning for the day (Note 2).
Note 2 – this also meant I would have my run done before cleaning the house prior to the arrival of Ryan the Chiro.
I left my subdivision and crossed over into the west bound lane of Olive Branch Road. I ran by Morgantown Road and headed up the one big hill on Olive Branch before getting to the Hunter’s Pointe entrance. I got to the four-way-stop sign and something in the high weeds scampered off and scared me. I couldn’t exactly see what it was, but it was enough to make me jump (Note 3).
Note 3 – Thankfully, I am alive, so this means it wasn’t the “Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog.”
Traffic didn’t seem too busy that morning. I thought to myself for a second and thought, “why not. Let’s go up to the second entrance of Hunter’s Pointe this morning.” Besides I was ready for a little adventure to keep things interesting on this easy run (Note 4).
Note 4 – from the four-way stop at the first entrance, Olive Branch drops into a little valley with a curve and then back up an incline to the next entrance.
I entered Hunter’s Pointe after going up the hill followed by a couple of small stretches in Brockton Manor and Highland Park. Out of Highland Park, I took Shoreline Drive all the way around until it turned into Willow Lakes East Boulevard. When I got to the corner of Willow Lakes East Boulevard and Fountain View Drive it was decision time. Go straight and maybe wind up at Stones Crossing Road or turn right and getting lost. I went straight. Interesting that I did because when saw Stones Crossing Road there was a cul-de-sac to my left and to my right. I went around the east court then the entrance then the west (Note 5).
Note 5 – Perfect way to turn around and head back home and not having to turn right at all. Also, I ran through every sprinkler that was on and spraying more water on sidewalks than the grass it was intended to water.
I headed back through the subdivisions. When I got through Hunter’s Pointe, I turned on Hunter’s Ridge Lane and went out the first entrance of that subdivision. Unlike the last time I ran by, my junior-high-basketball coach was not to be seen in his front or back yard.
I made it back to Olive Branch. I had to stop a couple of times because traffic was coming in both directions. A couple of cars at a high rate of speed. Running across Morgantown and up one more hill then down. I was between Skyline and Brer Rabbit Drive when I saw a couple of the Center Grove High School Cross Country Runners make a turn around on Brer Rabbit. Then I saw Coach Howard Harrell. He waved. I continued toward Brer Rabbit. When I got to the intersection, Harrell had turned back around.
We talked for a few moments. Harrell said he had been following my training log. He commented that it looked like my running had been going well this summer. Harrell also asked how running without Ryan was going. I told him as I have told everyone else, running without Ryan has had its pluses and minuses.
“Hey, that’s OK,” Harrell said. “He had fun with it, and he knows he can always go back when he’s ready.”
Harrell noticed I was wearing my Hoka Cliftons.
“You like them,” Harrell asked. “A couple of the kids on the team wear them for their trainers.”
“Honestly, best running shoe I have ever had,” I replied. “I got two pairs of these Clifton sevens. I got a pair of Brooks in my closet I was rotating with them, but lately because of the cushion, I have only been wearing this pair or the white pair (Note 6).”
Note 6 – I wore my black Hoka One Clifton 7s on this run. I have been wearing the black ones on easy days and the white ones on speed work, steady state, and long run days. I think the cushioning has helped my hip issue.
We ended the conversation talking about the upcoming cross-country season for the Trojans. The team placed fourth last year at the state meet. Most all the top seven are returning along with some younger runners coming up through the program (Note 7).
Note 7 – it’s going to be a lot of fun following the Center Grove team again this fall. Hopefully, with blue ribbons around their necks atop the greatest award podium in all of sports at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind.
Then came my weekly appointment or lately my weekly torture from “Ryan the Chiro.”
Like last week things were going well then he got to my hamstrings.
“What the…” I screamed.
“Your hammies are trashed,” Ryan said as he continued to press down on the back of my left leg. “What did you do last week?”
“Hill repeats, steady state for eight miles, long run for 15 and then seven this morning,” I responded.
“Feels like you ran the entire 26.2 since the last week (Note 8).”
Note 8 – if that’s my legs this week wait until I run the full 26.2 on Sept. 25 and I see him on Sept. 27.
Tuesday
During my extended walk home Sunday after my 15 miler as I talked in my head, I looked forward to this morning’s workout – Pyramid Intervals. When I did this workout training for my first half marathon in 2013, I ran it with 1:00 at full out sprint, 2:00 at 10k pace and 3:00 at half marathon race pace (Note 9). The last few training cycles at the suggestion of Ben Houston, I did it the opposite. This time though, I took a page again from Hoka One Northern Arizona Elite Coach Ben Rosario from the book “Inside A Marathon.” I started with 1:00 at 10k pace, 2:00 at half marathon pace and 3:00 at marathon race pace. Unlike the other times when the rest period equaled the time of that interval I only went easy for 1:00 between each.
Note 9 – another workout I took from Runner’s World. On these intervals though your easy run/rest was the same amount as the interval – so if you ran 1:00 then you ran easy for 1:00; hard for 2:00 easy for 2:00; hard for 3:00 easy for 3:00.
After a little over a one-mile-warm up and dynamic stretches, I ran up the incline to the “tri oval” of the new section of our subdivision. I would run for the given sequence and when the watch on my right wrist beep, I stopped to reset the timer and then continued (Note 10).
Note 10 – I wore my Garmin watch on my left wrist to keep track of distance and pace. I wore my Timex Ironman watch to keep track of the intervals. I had to stop every time to reset for the next corresponding segment.
I went up and down the pyramid then back up. Instead of doing back-to-back 3:00 at marathon race pace, I did 2:00 and 1:00 to finish. When I completed the eighth lap around the tri oval, I also left the new section of the subdivision. I passed my house and ran around the older section (Note 11) of our subdivision. I finished at the top of the hill in front of my friend Chad and Stacey’s house (Note 12).
Note 11 – It seems weird calling the section around us the older one, but that’s what it is despite the houses still being fairly new.
Note 12 – I like Chad and Stacey and I have known them since junior high. Although there are other hills in our subdivision, I despise the incline by their house the most and I dread it every time I run up it. It’s not as steep as the one on the street in the middle of our subdivision or the one cul-de-sac south of us, but it just seems to be a struggle to get up on most days during my runs.
The workout finished and I noticed I ran a little over four miles doing the pyramid. Along with the warm-up, I was already over the scheduled five miles for the day. I glanced at my watch and debated skipping the cool down. I walked through some sprinklers and decided to forgo the cool down (Note 13).
Pyramid Intervals – one of my favorite speed workouts. I am sure to use it again as training winds down for the Mill Race Marathon.
Note 13 – as previously stated in my last post, my favorite part of workouts is the cool down. It killed me to not do it after this run. I still had several hours of work out in the heat ahead of me at “The World on Time.” Missing an easy mile wasn’t going to kill me.
Wednesday
A zero day. I got up and fixed my coffee, watched my favorite morning news program, and worked on the week 9 recap of this blog. I did receive news that my cousin Ron (my Aunt Beulah’s oldest son) (Note 13) has passed away that day. My Aunt Lee and Uncle Bill will be coming up from Atlanta next weekend for the funeral.
Note 13 – my aunt who has the park named after at the south end of the church parking lot on the property of First Christian Church of Bargersville. Ron was 74 and graduated from Purdue. Of all our family members on that side he was the only Purdue fan. Many a Sunday when he was over to visit my aunt, he laid on the couch watching golf. On Thanksgiving he was the one in charge of the television. Death to anyone who tried to change the channel from the football games that day.
Thursday
My legs actually had some unexpected pep in them this morning. I ran the “big loop” around the subdivision (Note 14). Maybe the extra liveliness in my body might have been from all the new home construction workers were blaring the same radio station – WTTS-FM (Note 14). It definitely made the time go faster hearing the music as I ran by during the four and half laps. I stopped again at the top of the hill in front of Chad and Stacey’s.
Although it was an easy run to build into the next day’s steady-state workout, it was nice to pick up the pace with each mile. I felt a bit of accomplishment negative splitting the run. Like Tuesday, I walked through every sprinkler as I returned to my house. The construction crews were still booming WTTS, and I enjoyed it very much.
Note 14 – I mentioned last week that the JMV Takeover on B-105.7 was my favorite radio show, but the station I listen to the most is WTTS out of Bloomington, Ind. The station goes by the slogan “World Class Rock.” The station plays a great mix of music from as far as the 1960s to the present. On Sundays after my morning and then to unwind on Sunday nights I enjoy listening to the program “Over Easy.” In January they take a few days and play EVERY song in the station’s music library. If you’re in Indiana, you can find it at 92.3 on the FM dial. If not, listen online at www.wttsfm.com or on the WTTS app.
Friday
The last couple of Fridays it seems my day begins with the 5 am alarm, getting dressed and then heading to Wal Mart to pick up the essentials of chocolate milk and bananas (Note 15). I have also started buying a couple of 14 oz. bottles of chocolate/peanut butter milk (Note 16).
When I return home the next order of business is to change into the running shorts and get ready for the Friday-steady-state-run workout.
Note 15 – If this keeps up one of the stock clerks at Wal Mart and I will become good friends. I can see it being a Friday morning and them looking at me saying, “The usual Friday pick up I see.”
Note 16 – Prairie Farms – and it’s awesome with 13 grams of protein. Definitely a great recovery drink after a hard workout. I have been buying two bottles one for after workouts on Friday and after the long run on Sundays.
My new post-workout-recovery drink – Prairie Farms Chocolate/PB milk.
I went through the same routine as last week with about a mile and a half warm up. I followed that with the dynamic stretches and drills along the path. I had finished the warm-up and already was soaking in sweat – although it was only 68 degrees I could tell the humidity was high and the air was at a drinkable level.
I got going on the path and looked at my watch to see where I was regarding the pace. When I completed the first mile just inside of Innisbrooke my watch beeped with a split of 7:19 (Note 17). I hit 7:19s for both the second and third mile.
As I began the fourth mile running on the path and going up and down a small dip in the pavement, I kept telling myself and thinking I heard all my “coaches” in my head at the same time.
“Just keep the effort. Don’t focus on the pace and let your mind run.”
I got to the intersection of Paddock Road and Cody Lane when my watch bleeped – 7:17.
“A tad faster, but the importance is effort. But, wow, I’m hot!” I said this as I reached into my zipper pocket my shorts and took out a gel to slurp on as I made the turn at the entrance of Innisbrooke to finish the fifth mile – 7:25.
“Slower than the previous four miles, but you’re in the sweet spot,” I said to myself. “You don’t have to run neck-breaking, Mach 3 with your hair on fire fast to accomplish your marathon race goals.”
Got back to Wakefield and around Gainesway Drive and I was back at the close to original pace of 7:18. The sun really began to beat down on me during the seventh mile. I was pouring water on my wrist, back, on top of my head. I also took my sunglasses off and sprayed the water on my face.
I winded around the path and through Pennswood. As I turned to go south on Fairfax Lane my mind wandered, “This mile seems to be taking forever.” Just as I got to the corner of Fairfax and Wakefield Drive this time my watch tooted – 7:31.
“Really? That’s great because I swore I was crapping the bed on that mile.”
Into Innisbrooke, past Dan and Mari Jo’s – earlier during the run Dan had been out in the yard working and yelled, “Looking good!” I got around the entrance of Innisbrooke and the final mile dinged at 7:18. I decided to continue and go to where Innisbrooke Avenue and Innisbrooke Trail come to a “T” to finish.
1:00:47 total for an average of 7:21 for the 8.26 miles covered.
A solid start to this steady-state run. Still trying to get into that sweet spot pace though.
Before starting my cool down run, I paced up and down the sidewalk and again talked to myself.
“Still too fast. We really need to make a concentrated effort to get this pace in the sweet spot especially with the nine-and-10-mile-steady states coming up the next six weeks.”
The cool down was an uneventful mile and a half. I again walked from the entrance of Brookhaven to the house. I enjoyed the leisurely trudging and although thinking I needed to get the pace slower, relished the fact even with the humidity skyrocketing and the sun crushing me, I had a solid workout.
Saturday
I woke up Saturday morning and looked at the mileage I was supposed to run for the week. With 10 miles tomorrow and of course the marathon-like hours I was getting ready to work at “The World on Time.”
Going with the philosophy that something is better than nothing I decided I would run close to the minimum amount this morning to reach my scheduled 42 miles for the week.
I ran my Saturday-morning loop and for the third week in a row did not feel like a Zombie while running through the neighborhood. The 3.55 miles also allowed me to tally 180 miles for the month of July.
Early Saturday morning run of “Something is better than nothing.” Nice putting up that 180 miles for July.
It was another 12+ hour day at “The World on Time.” I was frustrated enough with how the workday went, I even stopped at McDonalds to get a Big Mac, fries, and a large coke (Note 17). I got home, cleaned up and jammed to the JMV Takeover while on the deck with my usual two or was it three cups of Mallow Run Wine (Note 18).
Note 17 – When I got home, Andrew had bought White Castle’s for everyone. Wendy nor he texted me to let me know this before I stopped at McD’s.
Note 18 – Two cups within an hour. I think I nursed the third cup for most of the 11 pm hour on the deck. Again, none of the neighbors complained about the music.
Sunday
Just once I would like to not work forever on a Saturday (Note 19). I’d like to wake up to my Sunday morning alarm feeling rested, watch Zach and Amber on Fox 59 (Note 20) from 6 to 7 am then head out for dynamic stretches and drills to do my long run.
Note 19 – again I would understand if this was December, but it’s blown up since February. I dread December!
Note 20 – Hey Jessica Hayes, who used to be on the weekend morning crew was back with them this weekend, it seemed like old times.
I felt exhausted all over. I ventured downstairs and started the coffee then looked over my Instagram and Twitter feeds. I also continued watching the morning news program (Note 21).
Note 21 – my body was like – let’s just stay on the deck the rest of the day.
I checked the weather again to see when the temperature was going to rise (Note 22). It wasn’t getting any cooler. Again, it would be another 10 am start or later (Note 23).
Note 22 – if I didn’t get going soon, it would be mid 70s degrees before I got out and I didn’t want any part of that.
Note 23 – I really want to do the long runs at 7:30 am like the start time of the Mill Race Marathon.
Finished with drills, stretches, and applied the sunscreen. I walked over to the Brookhaven entrance and started the run. I got down Paddock and into Wakefield to the path. The first mile completed where the path meets the sidewalk along Wakefield Road for a split of 7:57 (Note 24).
Note 24 – Close enough to 8:00 for that first mile, but I’d feel more comfortable if it was over 8:00 pace for that first mile.
The pace picked up by about 20 seconds for the next two miles (7:38 and 7:40). The next five miles I was in the “sweet spot” area running between 7:20-7:30 pace.
“Run by feel and effort. Don’t concentrate on the pace. Remember the spring long runs when you just went with it.”
I ran through the sprinklers on the path at the completion of mile seven (Note 25). I headed back into Innisbrooke and hit the same split for mile eight as I did mile seven – 7:22. As I turned into a cul-de-sac to make the quick turn around and head out of my “Flat Course” (Note 26) to finish at Brookhaven, I felt my body give way again – much like it did the previous two weeks.
Note 26 – Everyone has there favorite course. I wouldn’t say this is my favorite, but it definitely is one that’s my “home course.”
I wanted to stop, but I fought it. I slowed the pace down until I regained my composure. I got by Dan and Mari Jo’s when my watch beep 7:30. I continued on and felt like I picked up the pace. I went around the retention pond and could see the entrance of Wakefield.
When I got to the entrance there were no cars coming in either direction on Smith Valley Road. I crossed and continued on Paddock. I had to stop a couple of times because of traffic coming in both directions. I got over the bridge and just a few tenths of a mile after that my watch peeped – 7:34.
The average pace is right where I want it to be for the Mill Race Marathon after these 10 miles. I still think some fine tuning needs to be made – I’ll get there.
“Dammit!” I yelled and coasted for a couple of steps before picking up the pace again to finish at the entrance of Brookhaven.
The walk back to the house again was trying to find the positives of the run while also trying to figure out what went wrong those last two miles. I was also sweating profusely. The perspiration had not evaporated from my body at all since about the fifth mile. The first half of the run felt like those runs from the spring, the second half seemed like I was fighting for dear life.
“Maybe it’s a fueling issue? Maybe it’s the sunscreen? Maybe it’s what I know it is – the combination of a long workday on Saturdays and then trying to run this far on Sundays. I did it all through the winter and spring – so what’s different. The heat and humidity. How is that – my favorite mantra is ‘Runners are made in the summer.’ Yes, but I’m working 12-plus-freaking hours in the heat and humidity on Saturday subsequently turning around and running double digits on Sunday. That will take a toll on anyone. Even I know that’s different than working in the cold or mild temperatures of the winter and spring over an extended period of time.”
More lessons learned and to put in the back of my head for when I have to go to the well during the Mill Race Marathon in eight weeks.
It seems like it was last week when I started my recap of week 3 writing about being 1/6 of the way through training and how it seemed like there was still a long way to go in training.
Here I am now in week 10 of training while writing the recap of week 9 of an 18-week training segment for my first marathon. Yes, it’s going by fast and I am still enjoying every step of the process. I have had my “I’m going to crush this marathon” good vibes after a run. I have also had my “there’s no way I am I will finish 26.2 miles. This is just stupid” feels as well.
At the midway point of this training segment, I believe I am at a crossroads. It’s like I am on this teeter totter, and I have nine weeks to figure out the perfect balance. In some respects, if I continue on with how some of the workouts are going I will be fine. Conversely, lately there have been some workouts – particularly the last two long runs – which have left me not doubting my ability for race day but feeling like I need to focus on the end game. If I don’t, I am going to leave my race out on the training course of Wakefield and Innisbrooke and not in Columbus, Indiana on Sept. 25 which is the ultimate intention.
Monday
I waited until everyone in the house was up and functioning before beginning to clean for when “Ryan the Chiro” arrived in the afternoon. It was another one of those runs when I couldn’t decide where I wanted to run. I could do as Frank Shorter suggested when he was in a Zoom video with Ben Rosario last year and run the loop I have made in the subdivision, or I could venture out.
I got up the incline and into the new section and turned-on Champion Way. Around the bend and past Champion Way I decided I would run into Boston Brian’s neighborhood. Despite the previous day’s long run at a 7:21 average pace, my legs felt good enough to tackle the hills on Mullinix that lead to Brian’s neighborhood. Like my neighborhood there are some decent slopes throughout Brian’s. I ran through every cul-de-sac in Brian’s subdivision (Note 1). After you go around the curve by his house there is a small incline followed by what I think he is a very deceiving uphill. Regardless of your pace, if you don’t remember it, the hill will catch you off guard with quite the challenge to get up it.
My final five-mile-easy run on Mondays for a few weeks. Just enjoying the moment before intensity was to pick up later in the week.
Note 1 – anything to add hundredths or tenths of a mile to a run.
After I exited Brian’s neighborhood, it was back on Mullinix and into mine to finish. I passed the starting crack in the road in front of our house and continued up the incline until the next intersection. I walked down the incline back to the house. I went downstairs into the theater room and did the IronStrength Core Blaster with my virtual training partners Doc Metzl and Meghan. I hadn’t done rows from plank in a while, and it showed (Note 2).
Note 2 – you would think doing planks would be the last thing of a core workout, but no, Doc Metzl punishes you with descending oppositional burpees. BTW – burpees in any form still suck.
Later in the day, things were going well during my session with “Ryan the Chiro.”
Then…
He hit that spot on my hip like he did the previous week. I grimaced as he bent my right leg into a backward figure four. Then he pushed down on my hip with the palm of his hand.
Ryan the Chiro: “You foam rolling?”
Me: “Yes. Every night when Luke takes his meds.” as I grunted in pain.
Ryan the Chiro: “Stretching after your runs?” As he straightened my leg and then preceded to press his bony elbow into my hip some more.
Me: “Yes,” I replied grabbing the sides of the table with my hands as the pain shot all over my leg. “This is going to be like this for another 10 weeks isn’t it.”
Ryan the Chiro: “Probably, but it does appear to be opening up more than last week.”
Me: “At least I got that going for me.”
Ryan the Chiro: “That’s one way of looking at it I guess.” (Note 3)
Note 3 – Ryan the Chiro oozes with sarcasm during my sessions especially lately since this issue with my lower back and hip flared up. There are times I just want to sit up and backhand him. I must say though I’m getting my monies worth these last few weeks.
Tuesday
When I put this schedule together I knew I wanted to try some new workouts (the fartleks with various times and recovery periods) while also doing some old things that I know have given me success in past races I have done by myself (Note 4). During my vacation in May when I constructed the plan I knew there were two workouts I wanted to make sure I did – Bart Yasso’s favorite hill repeats and pyramid intervals (Note 5). I have also remembered what my friend and former Greenwood High School Track Coach, Tad Frahm, told me to make sure I always did when training for race, “keep the legs guessing.”
Note 4 – My first half marathon – the Indianapolis Half at Fort Ben in October 2013 and the Valpo Half when I tried to automatically qualify for the New York City Half Marathon in 2018.
Looking over Yasso’s book “Race Everything” in his “seasoned runner marathon training plan” he prescribes this hill workout on week nine (Note 6). Well, it’s week nine of my training for the Mill Race Marathon. After three weeks of doing the intervals it was time to have the legs have a new/old experience. Like Frank Shorter says, “hills are speedwork in disguise.”
Note 6 – I first saw this workout in the August 2013 issue of “Runner’s World.” The article was called “The Rules of the Half.” Then I saw it again in Yasso’s book co-authored with Erin Stout. It’s a pretty simple workout. 1. Find a hill that takes about two minutes to run up. 2. Mark off halfway for a short repeat. 3. Do 3-4 sets to the halfway point then easy run back. 4. Run all the way up to the two-minute mark. Easy run to the halfway point, then sprint to the bottom. You’re supposed to another set of short hills, but I have always only done one set of each.
Thus, it was to the to the Skyline Drive side of Cushing’s Hills for hill repeats (Note 7). I have two spots marked off for these hill repeats as Yasso suggests. The first one stops at the corner of Birch Lane and Skyline Drive. The second stops at the southern end of Skyline Court “horseshoe” and Skyline Drive.
Note 7 – Skyline Drive is perfect because Birch Lane is about a one-minute run up and the corner of Skyline Drive and Skyline Court is about two. The other about this hill is it ascends up to Birch Lane, flattens for about 30 feet then goes up higher to Skyline Court.
It was a somewhat cooler morning, but the humidity was sticky. Despite the 66-degree-air temperature, I was already soaked in sweat after completing my one-mile-warm up and dynamic stretches (Note 8). I completed the first three repeats and easy jogs back down in about 1.25 miles. I knew the second set going up to the 2-minute mark would get tough just after the 1:00 mark. It’s where I have always battled to keep the 5-10k pace and not feel like I’m dying before I get to the corner of Skyline Court and Skyline Drive during this part of the workout. True to form as I look over the pace chart from this workout, I was around my 10k race pace until I got to Birch Lane. You can definitely see where I fought to even stay close to 13.1 race pace from Birch Lane to Skyline Court.
Note 8 – humidity also known as the poor-man’s altitude.
On my way back down of the second repeat up to Skyline Court, I lost my concentration. I didn’t do the full-out sprint until I was about 50 feet north of Birch Lane. I am not even sure what I was thinking about to cause me to lose focus. I do know after Monday’s session with Ryan the Chiro my hip was feeling the best it had even before our trip to Atlanta (Note 9).
Back in the driveway after finishing a session of my favorite hill repeat workout from Bart Yasso.
Note 9 – The addition of foam rolling, and mobility stretches complemented with the chiropractor sessions does wonders.
Wednesday
Unlike last week when I suffered a bad case of food hangover from the Japanese Hibachi meal, I got up and went downstairs into the theater room for another IronStrength Core Blaster session. My core was still a little sore from Monday’s session, but I know running alone will not be enough for me to accomplish my goals for the Mill Race Marathon (Note 10). The combination of rows from plank and then weighted sit ups with 15-pound dumbbells is just torture. In the end though, I am pleased with the results.
Finishing up an IronStrength Core Blaster session with Doc Metzl and Meg.
Note 10 – I still think it’s wrong that Dr. Metzl puts the burpees at the end and not the planks of the core blaster video. That’s just pure mean and makes me want to hate his guts even more. At least he doesn’t overcount on the reps like he did in a couple of the other videos.
Thursday
Again, the temperature was a tad cooler in the morning than it had been of late. Then again the humidity was still up in the very sticky range. For the most part this was a ho hum of a ho hum easy run anyone could have. Despite the easy pace (Note 11) thanks to the humidity as I completed the second mile, I hoped some of the neighbor’s sprinklers would still be on or start to turn on as I approached. I saw a row of sprinklers on and decided to quicken the pace. Much to my dismay, the sprinklers shut off as I was inches away from running through them.
Note 11 – almost on the verge of “sexy pace.”
After the run, it was downstairs into the theater room. This time not to do the IronStrength Core Blaster, but the Eliud Kipchoge core workout (Note 12).
Note 12 – if doing single-leg bridges, dead bugs, fire hydrants, back kicks, oblique presses and planks is what the GOAT of marathon running does then I should do it too. FYI – your abs will hurt for a couple of days the first time you do it.
Friday
I actually did the one-mile-warm up before doing dynamic drills and stretches for this run. I ran to Smith Valley Road and the entrance of Wakefield. I walked along the path and got to the “entrance” walkway of one of the parks in the subdivision (Note 13). It was secluded enough I don’t think people driving in either direction of Smith Valley Road could see me. I did though have an audience of two – a gentlemen sitting on his patio with his morning coffee and his dog.
Note 13 – The name of the park is Anne’s Park but there’s nothing really there but a bunch of trees and grass beginning to regrow after the construction of the new western regional interceptor sewer expansion.
I started on the path at the “entrance” to Anne’s Park. About a half mile into the run, I got close as usual to my friend Josh’s house. I went about another tenth of a mile and instinctively turned left on Cody Lane to Paddock.
“Crap! That’s not right,” I said out loud to myself as I headed east on Cody Lane. I am supposed to go straight on Fairfax back to Wakefield Road. “Next lap, go straight.” (Note 14)
Note 14 – there was a lime-green Camaro parked on the street right where Cody and Fairfax Lanes meet. That would be my marker to know to go straight the rest of the workout on Fairfax Lane.
I got to Dan and Mari Jo’s house when my watched beep 7:16. It felt comfortable and relax – plus it helped that it was 66 degrees despite the sun beating down on me (Note 15). I thought to myself, “keep this effort right here. This is nice.”
Note 15 – Some of the trees have died and been cut down because it’s not as shady through Innisbrooke this summer as it has been in years past.
Around the entrance of Innisbrooke and back toward Wakefield. Again, to Dan and Mari Jo’s and this time 7:14. “Right here. This is fine. No reason to go any faster. No reason to go any slower. (Note 16)
Note 16 – it is exactly a half mile from Dan and Mari Jo’s house to the entrance of Innisbrooke.
Ran south on Paddock and to the path. I got to where I started (Note 17) and about a tenth of a mile past my watch beep – 7:09. “OK, five seconds faster still felt comfortable, but let’s work on getting it back to that 7:15 pace.”
Note 17 – the entire loop is 2.94 miles.
Ran the bend in the road where Pennswood turns into FairFax and there was the lime-green Camaro. “Green Camaro – go straight. Go straight.” Went straight to Wakefield Road then to Paddock. Had just crossed where Paddock Road becomes Inni Way when my watch sounded – 7:07. “Uh, that’s not getting down to 7:15 pace.” (Note 18)
Note 18 – it still felt comfortable, and I didn’t feel like I was dying. Still, 7:15 I think would feel better than flirting with 7:05.
To make a long story short, I ended up settling in for 7:10.5 pace the final four miles – 7:11, 7:10, 7:10, 7:11. I took in my water and Gatorade at my usual times (Note 19). I might start adding a gel around mile four or five next week. (Note 20).
Note 19 – water every 2 miles, Gatorade at 5k and 10k and with a half mile left. With the hot temps, probably should have done every 1.5 miles for the water and somewhere around every 2.5 for the Gatorade. Will try the gel next week as mentioned and see what happens.
Note 20 – The lime-green Camaro was gone as I turned on to Fairfax Lane during mile 7. I did go straight though instead of immediately turning left as I did on the first lap.
Finally, a consistent paced steady state run. Problem is, I don’t think 7:11 is my ideal marathon race pace.
Walked around for a few minutes and let my heart rate get lowered before the cool down (Note 21). During the cool down I thought about the steady state run. It was as close to consistent splits that I have had during this training segment. As I got to Smith Valley Road and had to stop for traffic (Note 22), I continued thinking to myself and out loud, “Yeah, it’s fun blazing this course we’ve made at this pace, but it’s not the pace I think I can handle to survive 26.2 miles and accomplish what I want on Sept. 25. Let’s see how Sunday goes with the – gulp – 15 miler – gulp. (Note 23)”
Note 21 – the cool down is my favorite part of any workout. There’s nothing more refreshing than busting butt on a hard workout and then enjoying a nice gentle run for a mile or two.
Note 22 – I had to stop again on Paddock Road because cars were coming in both directions and as I mentioned in my last post going south on Paddock is a little more treacherous than going north.
Note 23 – as I took swigs of the remainder of Gatorade in my bottle as I waited for traffic.
I had barely walked in the door when my Mother-in-Law arrived. She brought doughnuts for my oldest son Andrew’s birthday (Note 24). Later that night, Andrew had a party with several of his friends over to celebrate. Hard to believe he’s 20-years old now and the week prior got engaged to his girlfriend. Plus, he recently graduated from college with his degree in criminal justice. Just stinks he has to wait until he’s 21 to try to get into the police academy (Note 25).
Note 24 – my Mother-in-Law brings doughnuts for the boys on the morning of their birthdays every year.
Note 25 – Andrew wants to be like my Father-in-Law and become a CSI. A Gil Grissom waiting in the wings. It doesn’t shock me – one of Andrew’s favorite TV shows is CSI. Of course, both of us are big Sherlock fans as well.
I knew I shouldn’t have blinked – I can’t believe Andrew’s 20, Ryan’s 18, Luke’s 16, and Micah is 14. The younger three still have birthday’s coming up later this year.
Saturday
Work didn’t start until 8 a.m. this Saturday. I could sleep in for an extra 30 minutes before heading out for the five miles. For the second straight Saturday I was ready to run when I hit the button on my alarm clock. I was up, dressed, downstairs tying my shoes and heading out the garage door. Looking over the last several Saturday of runs, I now have a “Saturday morning” loop. It’s just so much quieter on Saturday mornings than any other day of the week – including Sundays (Note 26). It’s nice to soak it all in and be able to let my mind wander.
Note 26 – Sundays involves church traffic with several churches around us.
At the same time my mind was wandering, my legs were gliding through my subdivision. Not to mention after the second mile the humidity was at full force. Close to 6:30 a.m. several of the neighbor’s sprinkler systems were going (Note 27). Unlike Thursday when I missed out on the quick showers to cool off, I hit every one of them during this run. After I completed the second lap of the loop, I turned from Harness Drive to Calvert Farms Drive. I purposely went on the sidewalk to catch any and all the sprinklers I could before finishing at the entrance to the subdivision (Note 28).
Note 27 – I even went through my sprinklers as they turned on in the front yard at 6:45 a.m.
Note 28 – from the south of Calvert Farms Drive to the entrance on Olive Branch it’s winding downhill (it’s basically parallel with Cushing’s Hills, which is in the subdivision next door to us).
Somehow I lost track of time after I completed the run. That or I walked the slowest I could from where I finished the run back to my house. I got cleaned up and ready for work. I ended up being 30 minutes late (Note 29). It didn’t matter, I still ended up with a 12-plus-hour workday. My manager looked at me as I was getting my area ready for the day and asked ” You run this morning?” I replied, “Yep.” He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head at my response.
Note 29 – I clocked in 30 minutes early on Thursday, so basically it balanced out.
I know it’s been this way or worse on Saturdays since February for me at work. Still, it’s one thing to work 12-plus hours on Saturdays in December at “The World on Time,” but this is going on six months with no end in sight! It’s beginning to take its toll on everyone. I got home, cleaned up and jammed to the JMV Takeover on B-105.7 while drinking two more cups of strawberry wine from Mallow Winery on my deck (Note 30).
Note 30 – Wendy didn’t have to come out and wake me up this Saturday night. Once JMV was over at midnight, I promptly went inside and walked upstairs to bed.
Sunday
Like the previous Sunday, I woke up still feeling tired and exhausted from the previous day’s run plus work (Note 31). Although I was up at 6 a.m., I went downstairs and poured my coffee and nuked my breakfast sandwich. Took my laptop out to the deck and watched my virtual weekend coffee pals – Zach and Amber on the Fox 59 Weekend Morning News (Note 32).
Note 31 – I have strongly thought about moving the Saturday run to Wednesdays. I think I might when the 16-mile runs start every other Sunday here in a couple of weeks.
Note 32 – Zach runs the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini Marathon when it’s a live event every year. During the race, they will play videos of him at various points along the Mini course during the show. Amber ran track in high school, and I still believe runs.
After the morning news program was over, I closed my laptop and headed back inside to change into my shorts. I came back downstairs to get my shoes and head out when I needed to help Wendy with a situation. It quickly passed. I got my water and Gatorade filled up and found two gels I was going to use for this run. I then drove to the Wakefield entrance and hid a water and Gatorade bottle in the thick bushes along the path (Note 33).
Note 33 – this would be my longest run of the training segment. With the temperature already in the mid 70’s, I knew I would need to refill my bottles.
When I returned home, I did my dynamic stretches and drills (Note 34). This Sunday and from here on out, I walked from my house to the entrance of Brookhaven. I did this because I wanted to avoid the two hills on Paddock Road. Also, because this would truly give me some resemblance of the Mill Race Marathon course from start to finish regarding the elevation (Note 34).
Note 33 – I thought about skipping the dynamic stretches and drills, but my legs still weren’t quite ready. It was a good way to wake them up.
Note 34 – the Mill Race Marathon course is almost completely flat.
The first four miles went perfectly. I negative split the miles and gradual got faster by about five seconds per mile on average. I cross the entrance of Anne’s Park for the completion of the fourth mile and suddenly my legs shifted automatically into another gear. The pace went from 7:45 to 7:31 on the fifth mile.
“This is OK, if we stay here,” I said to myself “Focus on maintaining this effort.”
The legs were taking off and disregarding anything my mind requested. I stopped close to the seven-mile mark to refill the bottles and take my first gel (Note 35).
Note 35 – today’s flavor was GU strawberry/banana – one of the flavors they will have on the course at the Mill Race Marathon.
I jumped from a 7:28 seventh mile to 7:15 eighth mile.
“Nope, this is not good,” I said to myself as I ran past Dan and Mari Jo’s house. “Yeah, it’s kind of comfortable, but teetering on falling apart.”
Mile nine seemed more like the pace I should be running. My friend Tracy ran by with her husky Elsa. We waved and told each other, “Good morning.”
I made the turn around the Innisbrooke entrance and much like I ran the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini Marathon virtually last year with Ryan I could tell I was falling part. I took my last gel and continued on. I tried staying positive. I could feel it slipping away.
The long workday
going at a pace that felt comfortable, but I know is not the pace I should run a marathon
the heat
All of that above was winning the battle this day. I stopped just past 13 miles to refill the bottles one last time. My quads were screaming. I was screaming back in my head – “Just a little under two miles. We can do this.”
I ran the path and around Pennswood Drive and turned the corner on to Fairfax Lane. I got to Cody Lane and my watched sounded for the completion of mile 14. I continued straight to Wakefield Road and over to Paddock. I got to the court where Ryan and I used to turn around and head back as part of our 5k loop when we lived in Wakefield.
I headed for the finish. I thought I would end back at the entrance of Brookhaven. I totally miscalculated the final mile from the where my Garmin beeped. I ended at the entrance of Wakefield. I stopped my Garmin and I walked around for a few minutes. Then I decided to pick up my water and Gatorade bottles I had stashed in the bushes on the path. This way I wouldn’t have to drive back to get them later.
It started out like I wanted, but Sunday’s long run got frustrating especially the last five miles. Plus, it didn’t help matters any that the heat and the previous 12-plus-hour workday overwhelmed me.
I crossed Smith Valley Road and made the long walk back to my house. It was during this walk I started talking to myself again. I likewise envisioned Coach Ben Houston and Ben Rosario walking by my side discussing the run just completed. Ben Houston talking about the tactical aspect while Rosario telling me the positives. I could even hear Tad Frahm interjecting as the walk continued in my head (Note 36).
Note 36 – It’s fun thinking that these coaches are in my head like this. Definitely made the walk home seem to go by faster.
My takeaway from these last two long runs – the sweet spot for my race pace at Mill Race is going to be between 7:20-7:30. Anything faster will be detrimental to me for the rest of the training segment and more specifically on race day when it’s going to matter most. More importantly, I think one of the big goals, which had been in the back of my mind, recently had been put in the forefront. It was causing me to force the paces.
It was around 12:30 p.m. when I reached Olive Branch Road. Mass at St. Francis & Clare had just let out. I stood there for five minutes waiting to cross the road to get to my subdivision. Once I did, I stopped and sat on the sidewalk and took my shoes and socks off (Note 37). I walked through the grass and could feel the negativity going away.
Note 37 – my socks and shoes were soaked in sweat – I literally wringed my socks out!
The point is for that one goal I don’t even have to run a “neck breaking speed.” I just have to run my comfortable pace like I did during the spring. It’s time to scale back and return to the basics like I did with the “Bargersville Time Trial.”
Midway through his training segment for the New York City Marathon, Scott Fauble got a tattoo. Here at my halfway point of training for the Mill Race Marathon, I decided to reset and got a haircut (Note 38).
Note 38 – I don’t normally get my haircut until race week.
What better way to start the second half of training than refocusing and getting a haircut.
Some more lessons learned during week 8 of training for the Mill Race Marathon. Monday’s additional rest day proved to be beneficial for the rest of the week. The training continues to progress as it should. I continue to see the challenges presented as a way to get better each week. This was a good springboard into the next few weeks. From here the mileage ramps up significantly and the workouts intensify.
Monday
After Sunday’s 10 miler, all I wanted to do was make my coffee (Note 1). My legs felt like a weird combination of cinder blocks and Jell-O. I went outside and sat on the patio watching Cooper scamper around our backyard trying to catch anything that either walked through or landed. On a couple of occasions Cooper almost caught a duck.
It’s never a dull moment at Stately Rueff Manor with Cooper the Super Puggle.
Note 1 – I still have not perfected how my uncle makes his coffee. I’ll know when the smell is what wakes me up in the morning (btw – timers on coffee makers are best invention ever – ok maybe not but you get what I mean).
Later in the day I had my weekly chiropractor appointment. I enjoyed it until Ryan the Chiro guy (Note 2) got to my lower back, my glutes, and my hamstring. I squirmed a couple of times. Then he hit the spot where I am feeling my most discomfort. I grimaced and pounded on the table. Right then and there I promised him I would begin foam rolling before I went to bed on a nightly basis. (Note 3)
Note 2 – the chiropractor actually comes to our house. He works on Wendy, Andrew, and I along with several others. Our house is a revolving door on Mondays. BTW – Wendy makes me clean the house before I go for my run every Monday.
Note 3 – Since that promise when the alarm goes off at 9:30 p.m. every night for one of my sons to take his medications I get the foam roller out.
After Ryan the Chiro guy left, Wendy asked me what I was thinking for dinner. Her birthday was the next day. Not exactly knowing what time I would get off work, I said, “Want to celebrate your birthday a day early?” She replied, “sure. Mexican?” “Done,” I responded back.
I called the Mexican restaurant down the street from our house. I ordered our usual Burrito Acapulco (Note 4). Drove to the restaurant and picked the food up and returned home. I cut mine open and took a picture. I had to post the picture on twitter and send it to my favorite runner, Scott Fauble (Note 5). Faubs said the burrito had great size. He loved the tinfoil tray and that the situation looked smothered. Faubs scored it 14/10. Well done Rosita’s. Well done!
My favorite runner with the Hoka Northern Arizona Elite the Godfather of the “Burrito Mafia” – Scott Fauble – and his comments on my Burrito Acapulco.
Note 4 – a burrito Acapulco has chicken, steak, and shrimp. It also comes with refried beans, rice, sour cream, guacamole, and shredded lettuce
Note 5 – Scott Fauble is the Godfather of the Burrito Mafia. People take pictures of their burritos and tweet them to Fauble using the hashtag #burritomafia. He then scores and reviews the burrito. You can even buy Burrito Mafia gear off the Hoka Northern Arizona Elite website. I’d get a shirt, but Wendy says I already have enough shirts. This is true, I actually have the bigger side of our walk-in closet because I have more clothes than her.
The rest of the night was spent playing cards and laughing at what Micah called trump a few times while we played euchre (Note 6). At 9:30 Wendy’s alarm on her phone went off. Luke came down and took his medications. I went into my office and foam rolled.
Note 6 – Micah is infamous for calling trump and only have three or less of the suit he’s calling it – including not having either Jacks. He’s also good at trumping his partner’s (me) ace even when we have secured the trick because the other two players played their cards before him.
Tuesday
The schedule said four minutes at 5-10k pace with one minute easy. While reading “Inside A Marathon” (Note 7), Rosario had Fauble do a workout where he went two minutes hard and two minutes easy. I figured maybe that would help me especially as it seems this would be a continuation of a recovery. I did my one-mile-warm up and dynamic stretches. My mind fought my legs the entire time as I did various stretches and drills.
I think a conversation between them would have went something like this.
Mind: “Come on. We got a workout this morning. You got to get going. Look, Rob’s giving you a two-minute break between going fast. And he’s giving you another rest day tomorrow.”
Legs: “Don’t care. Have no desire today. He’ll slog through it and like it.”
Mind: “You better get right.”
Legs: “And if I don’t?”
Mind: “I’ll make sure he does double the foam rolling session tonight.”
Legs: “Oh, I am so scared. I’m not the one who’ll be screaming ‘make it stop’ as he rolls.”
Note 7 – “Inside A Marathon” is a must read especially if you are desiring to run a marathon or prepping to run one as your goal race. Also, the book reminded me the importance of recovery and that it’s OK to miss a workout for extra rest from time-to-time.
I decided to start up the incline and into the new section (Note 8). The construction workers hadn’t started to arrive. Harness Drive, Champion Way, Angel View Way, and Skylark Drive make a nice loop with just a slight incline on each straightaway which to me sounded like the best option to run these intervals (Note 9).
Note 8 – no way was I going to run up that incline more than once with the way my legs were feeling.
Note 9 – the St. Francis & Clare parking lot might become hazardous with all the cars coming through to drop off their children for day care.
It felt like I ran up that incline with cinder blocks on my feet and not the Hoka One Clifton 7s. I really forced the pace up the hill. About three-tenths of a mile I reached the “oval” I would run the remainder of the workout.
During the first rest period of the workout, it was like my legs suddenly either woke up or decided not to be obstinate. Toward the end of the first easy segment, my legs took off and hit the prescribed paces the other five intervals. It was the first time since that Fourth of July run through the retirement community at my aunt and uncle’s my legs sensed some livelihood.
The pace chart and route of my 2:00 on 2:00 off speed work from Tuesday July 13.
Before I left for work later that morning, I asked Wendy to have a plan for the night. We had talked about going for dinner with the boys since we had Mexican the night before. When I got home that evening, she still couldn’t decide. The boys weren’t helping matters any because anything which was brought up they sneered Note 10,
Note 10 – Actually, I didn’t want to go anywhere. I would be content if she ordered pizza and we watched movies the rest of the night in the theater room.
Finally, she made her choice – “you-me hibachi!”
Japanese steak house hibachi it was. I quickly went upstairs, showered, and got dressed. We drove over to the mall where the restaurant located. We were quickly seated and ordered. There was a couple with their three daughters celebrating a birthday (Note 11).
Note 11 – it was the middle daughter’s birthday along with the mothers.
As we watched the chef perform and make our meals, Wendy and I talked. We discussed our situation at home and how it seems to be progressing. It has its good days. It has its really bad days. Lately, the good days have outnumbered the bad and that’s encouraging. Although there were some issues while we were gone to Atlanta for Peachtree. Fortunately, they were mild and were easily handled.
It was during this conversation because of our circumstances at home, Wendy reminded me to the possibility of some aspects regarding what I am training for with the Mill Race Marathon. Whether she believed me or not, I told her I totally understood, and I could accept it. I also told her a lot has to happen between even now – as we watched the chef light the onions up and he made a train sound as he pushed the onions across the grill – and the race on September 25 for what she mentioned to be a consideration (Note 12).
Note 12 – chicken, steak, and shrimp for a second straight night. I hadn’t eaten all day and had double rice even. And I ate it all!
Prior to COVID, when we would go out for dinner at the mall, we usually ended up at the bookstore for about an hour. This night, it was straight home to watch a movie with the rest of our family including my oldest son Andrew’s girlfriend. The alarm went off at 9:30 p.m. Luke came downstairs to take his medication and I went into my office to foam roll.
Wednesday
I think there is such a thing as a food hangover. I had all intentions of getting up Wednesday morning and doing a session of IronStrength Core Blaster before going to work. My body was like, “Don’t even think about it. Just lay here and watch your favorite morning news program.” (Note 13)
Note 13 – Indianapolis’ Fox affiliate WXIN-Fox 59. The news is serious, but after the headlines those anchors along with the co-hosts (weather and traffic) can give you a good laugh. Much like the Hoka One Northern Arizona Elite crew, they appear quite personable and interact with their audience through all the social media platforms.
Thursday
I was up early this morning mainly because I needed to get the house straightened before the cleaning lady came over to clean the house. I quickly jumped out of bed, put on my shorts and socks. I headed downstairs to put on my shoes and head out for an easy six miles.
My legs felt good enough I thought even for an easy run I could handle the two hills on Paddock. I would venture to the “flat course” in Wakefield and Innisbrooke. I got over the hills and ran into the new subdivision on the west side of Paddock. I headed north on Paddock. I crossed the bridge and felt like I was gliding toward Smith Valley Road. I heard a vehicle in the distance. I looked back. There was a 4×4 Ford pick-up truck in the north bound lane changing over to the south bound lane. I could see the driver firmly had both hands on the steering wheel. As he got closer it didn’t appear like he had any intention of moving back into his proper lane.
I got into the area where they had been working on the sewer expansion and was completely clear of the road. It was at that point the truck moved back into the north bound lane. I gave him the one finger salute as he smirked. I had two thoughts go through my mind as this happened. One of the thoughts was, “Son, I got so much going on in both my professional and personal life right now it’s gonna take more than you are acting cute with your big toy trying to intimidate me to not run this country road.” The second one, “what if I were a person of color? Would he have moved back into the north bound lane after I had gotten over? Would the driver have gone off the road and continued at me?” (Note 14).
Note 14 – I always run going against traffic. I have encountered these drivers with their big 4×4’s on the country roads on several other occasions. They usually are coming toward me when we play their game of “chicken.” This is the first time I have ever experienced someone coming at me from behind. Boston Brian and I had an occurrence once when the lady in a maroon Mustang pulled over to the side of the road once (actually, the Friday after Brian had run Boston). She stopped us and said, “You’re two are gonna get killed running this road someday. And I’m not the one going to jail when I do it.”
I gathered my composure and watched the truck cross Smith Valley Road and go into the Wakefield subdivision. I spent a majority of my time in Wakefield and Innisbrooke looking for that truck as I ran. I stopped at the entrance of Brookhaven just over six miles. On my walk back home, I couldn’t stop but think I was lucky earlier at the beginning of that run. What if that driver had hit a bump and couldn’t control his truck in time? What if I was another color of skin? It makes me mad that this is the world we live in today. As the sign says across the street from us – “Just Be Kind.”
Friday
Friday was a new day. I went out of my routine and did my dynamic stretches and drills before doing my one-mile warm up (Note 15). As I ran down Paddock Road, I did think about what had happened the previous day. I know it will be entrenched in the back of my mind for a while, but not enough to make me stop running on the country roads like I do.
Note 15 – It’s one thing to do those stretches and drills on the sidewalk in the front of my house and my neighbors seeing me. It’s another to do them along the path in Wakefield, which parallels with a major road like Smith Valley Road where several people could see me.
When I finished my warm-up mile I walked along the path and looked to see how flooded it was from the rain we had gotten overnight. It was flooded in a couple of areas. The puddles were passable, but I decided to stay on the roads through Wakefield and not get my shoes soaked.
As I started the steady state run, it began to rain. I clocked a 7:21 first mile. This run finally felt like I thought it would be running on the “flat course.” Unlike last week’s steady state run, the pace didn’t seem forced. I completed the second mile at the same pace. I ran out of Innisbrooke and back into Wakefield during the third mile. I turned from Gainesway Drive to Paddock Road to finish the first lap of the workout. My watch beep with a 7:12 split.
“Dammit!” I said out loud. “So much for consistent splits.” (Note 16).
Note 16 – it really didn’t feel like I was going nine seconds faster than the first two miles.
Purposely worked on slowing down the fourth mile. It was like I compromised with myself and went 7:16. The rain started to hit a little harder during the fifth mile. I made the turn at the Fairview Road entrance of Innisbrooke and headed back to complete the second loop. I was back at 7:12 for the fifth mile. I made the turn off Paddock around Wakefield Drive South and to Gainesway Drive and finished with a 7:06.
This run definitely showed that last week’s run was merely a sign that I didn’t recover properly from the previous week’s runs on the hills in Georgia. It was definitely the confidence boost I needed with the easy run coming up Saturday morning before a long day at work. It also had me excited to see what would happen when I returned to the “flat course” on Sunday for the long run.
This steady-state run showed me that I was back and had finally recovered from the Peachtree weekend.
Saturday
Unlike the previous Saturday mornings at 5:30 a.m., I didn’t feel like a zombie on this run (Note 17). The pep in my legs shocked me. The first mile was 9:36 but once I got around Champion Court to complete the first mile, I felt a surged in me and I carried with the rest of the way through the run. Although it was an easy-recovery-like run, it was fun getting faster with each mile and having negative splits.
Note 17 – Minus Peachtree, it was the first time in weeks I had gotten excited about getting up and running any kind of mileage before work.
It had me excited to see what I would do tomorrow for the long run heading back to the “flat course” of Wakefield and Innisbrooke.
It was a typical Saturday at “The World on Time.” It doesn’t help matters right now we are in the midst of the annual infestation of Japanese Beetles. This means once the planes are loaded we have to set off a “bug bomb” in the cargo area. The pilots and I have to leave the plane and wait another 12 minutes before we can finish with the final verification of the plane and its contents. It seemed like it also took the load team an eternity to load the planes Saturday.
I got home from work, cleaned up and went out on my deck. As always I jammed to my favorite radio show – The JMV Takeover on B-105.7. The show is hosted by my friend John Michael Vincent (JMV) (Note 18). He plays all requests for the songs on the program. I have the outside speakers blaring while I drink a cup or two of strawberry wine from Mallow Winery. This particular night I was dead tired from the day. I fell asleep in the rocking chair on the deck while listening to JMV. Wendy came out and woke me up around 1 a.m.
“Hey…hey. You have a long run in the morning. You need to come to bed.”
Note 18 – JMV lives along one of my 16-mile routes. When I run that route by his house, I drop off my water and Gatorade in his front yard prior to the run later that morning. It was cool, we saw each other one night at Wal Mart. He definitely thinks I’m crazy for all the running I do. His sports show during the week on “The Fan” is the only sports-talk radio I listen to anymore. The JMV Takeover on Indianapolis’ B-105.7 has quite the cult following. Famous singers and groups from the 80s have been known to tweet JMV as well to let him know they are listening to the show via online or the app.
Sunday
Per usual getting up at 5:30 a.m. and running then parlaying it with work took a lot of out of me. I woke up Sunday wanting nothing more than to watch the Fox 59 weekend morning news and drink my coffee on the deck (Note 19).
Note 19 – technology is great. Who would have ever thought I could watch TV online on my deck back in the day? Fox 59’s Zach Myers and Amber Hardwick are my weekend virtual coffee pals. Since the crazy Saturday schedule started at “The World on Time” I enjoy watching them on Sundays prior to my run.
Around 10 a.m., I decided it was time to get the long run started. I got changed into my shorts and went outside. Last weekend, I noticed my shoulders got a tad too toasty during the 10-mile run. I decided it was time to up my SPF game from 30 to 50. I sprayed the remaining bottle of the SPF 30 bottle on my legs and face. I had bought a bottle of the new Coopertone Sport Mineral SPF 50 (Note 20).
Note 20 – I saw a commercial for the new Coopertone sunscreen and thought why not. It doesn’t come out like a regular sunscreen spray though. It’s thick and you need to vigorously rub it into your skin. It’s also one thing for the freckles on my shoulders to imaginarily get sore from a hard-hot-summer run. It’s another when it’s because I didn’t apply strong enough SPF sunscreen. Melanoma is not a good thing.
I don’t know what it was – maybe it was me thinking my legs needed to be fully awake for this run – but I did double the dynamic drills and stretches compared to what I normally do before a long run (Note 21). That or I needed to make sure my entire being was completely awake before heading out for the 10 miles.
Note 21 – my neighbors must get a good laugh (might even spit their morning coffee out) watching me do these drills and stretches on the sidewalk in front of my house.
I finished the stretches and drills and synced the Garmin. While my Garmin synced I took a Clif shot gel. Now I am not saying it was the extra drills and stretches or the gel, but I got out to a solid start. I easily ran up and down the two hills on Paddock Road. Then I cross the bridge over Honey Creek and my Garmin beeped. 7:31!
“The WHAT!” I said out loud.
These Sunday runs I want to use it as close to a race set up as I can. There is no way on Sept. 25 at the Mill Race Marathon that I want to be running 7:31 in the first mile (Note 22). My mind wasn’t even thinking that fast even at 10:30 a.m. in the morning. It was like my legs were exacting revenge from Tuesday’s workout when my mind begged them to go fast.
Note 22 – you can’t PR in the first mile, but you can lose it if you don’t run smart that first 5,280 feet.
I got close to my friend Josh’s house at the second mile, and it was 7:16. I didn’t have another gel with me for this run. All I had was my bottle of Gatorade and water (Note 23). I tried to stay positive but as I made the turn around at the entrance of Innisbrooke on Fairview Road and headed back I couldn’t help thinking I was going to crash hard on this run. It was quickly getting warmer, and the sun was beating down on me. Even with the SPF game upped to 50, I could tell the freckles on my shoulders were gonna be sore after this run.
Note 23 – 10 miles or less I normally don’t stash additional Gatorade or water along the route.
One of my favorite mantra’s is – ok not one it is my favorite mantra – “runners are made in the summer” (Note 24) sums up what I think about running on hot days. There’s a part of me that believes running in the summer and suffering through runs in the heat makes or breaks you. It allows you to really dig deep when you need it most in your fall goal race.
Note 24 – it’s awesome when running friends comment on their posts or send me messages saying they thought of “runners are made in the summer” when they run in the heat.
After the seventh mile the legs began to falter. It was time for the mental game to rise to the occasion. Mile eight close to Josh’s house again and down the straightaway of Fairfax Lane the sun felt intense as it beat down on me. I envisioned running in a pack with all my running friends. I made the turn on to Paddock Road and then when it becomes Innisbrooke Trail. I wasn’t forcing the pace, but I could tell I was definitely slower than I had been at the beginning. Around the entrance of Innisbrooke and it was time to head home. I crossed the bridge just before Dan and Mari Jo’s house and clocked my slowest mile of 7:20 since the first mile.
“Just think this is Washington Street in Columbus and heading down the final stretch for Mill Race,” I looked left as if I was talking to a running friend. “Don’t fall apart. Finish strong.”
I had to stop briefly at the entrance of Wakefield because there was traffic coming in both directions on Smith Valley Road. I got going again and had to stop because there was traffic both north and south (Note 25). Over the bridge and past the house with the Great Danes. Right after I ran by Old Smith Valley Road my watch beeped for the 10th mile split – 7:23.
Note 25 – going south on Paddock the yards and shoulder are a little more treacherous than going north. Best to just stop and wait for the cars to go by then continue with the run.
“Dammit!” I said out loud. I slowed down and lightly ran to where the sidewalk begins on Paddock Road in front of the Brookhaven subdivision. I took off my hydration belt and drank the rest of the Gatorade and water that was left. As I walked on the sidewalk the sun’s rays continued to hit down on me. I was frustrated with the run because I ended up positive splitting it (Note 26). I knew better than to get out that fast. Then it was like I could hear Hoka NAZ Elite Coach Ben Rosario walking by my side.
“Yeah, but you kept it together. You battled to the end. This is a run you’ll remember when you have to press deep into the well on Sept. 25.”
Note 26 – I was slower the second half of the run than the first. For this run it was the last five miles were slower than the first five. This for my non-running followers who might not understand the jargon.
There was only one thing left to do when I got home – take off the shoes, put on the bucket hat and turn the garden hose on me to cool off (Note 27).
Note 27 – Before I left for the run, Wendy told me to rinse off the sunscreen before coming into the house.
Cooling off after a strong long run in the heat because as I like to say, “Runners are made in the summer.” Oh and check out that product placement.
Week seven of Mill Race Marathon training reminded me how important recovery is when training for any race. Specifically, when you throw traveling into the mix. It might have also proven my Aunt Lee was right that running like I did with the steady state and long runs bookending the Peachtree Road Race might have been “overkill.”
Monday
This was the scheduled “travel” day for us. We left a little later than expected from my Aunt Lee and Uncle Bill’s house in Griffin. Compared to driving through Atlanta on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Monday’s trip was a breeze. Then we got to Chattanooga. From there until we got to Louisville, Ky., it felt like we were in stop-n-go traffic. You know how when you are going somewhere it seems like it takes forever to get there? Then it’s time to go home and it seems like your vehicle went straight into hyperdrive. Well, this trip was the complete opposite (minus when we got into Atlanta at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday). It seemed like we were never going to get home.
We finally arrived safely in the garage of Stately Rueff Manor around 7 p.m. Andrew, Luke, and Micah along with our dogs Cooper and Izzy came out to greet us. Wendy’s Mom also was glad to see us – we all wished her Happy Birthday (Note 1). She told us about what all that had happened during the five days and showed us how much food was still left (Note 2)
Note 1 – just another example of why I have been blessed with the world’s greatest mother-in-law she sacrificed her birthday to watch over the other three sons and our dogs while we were in Atlanta.
Note 2 – Wendy cooked so much food prior to us leaving there was no way the other three boys would starve or want to even go out for food.
Once we were unpacked and Wendy’s mother said she needed to go home, I went into my office and saw my mail. There was package I anticipated getting and it arrived while we were gone. My long awaited Hoka Northern Arizona Elite shirt arrived. I quickly opened it, changed into it, and took a selfie wearing it. I was amped to at last be able to have something to wear of my favorite running team.
All smiles after returning home from a great trip to Georgia. The arrival made better with my Hoka Northern Arizona Elite shirt waiting for me.
Tuesday
I woke up this morning really debating if I should go ahead with the speed workout which I had planned or to go easy (Note 3). My legs felt super tight. I did a one-mile-warm up and then my dynamic stretches. The good thing about Tuesday was I had another day off work from “The World on Time.” With Sunday being the 4th of July and that consider my weekend, we observed Tuesday as the holiday. This allowed me to sleep in a little bit. It also allowed me to be able to walk after my dynamic stretches and drills to the parking lot at St. Francis & Clare.
The best thing about the parking lot – it’s mostly flat. There’s a small incline on the north end of the parking lot where I would complete the loop, but not enough to make a big difference.
I got to where a turn of the 400-meter “track” outline is painted in the parking and started my 3:00 at between 5k-10k pace and 1:00 easy run for three miles. I used part of the marked “track” and then ran south to one entrance and back around to the north entrance.
Took the speed workout to the flat parking lot at St. Francis & Clare. Definitely beat going up and down the inclines through the subdivision after last weekend’s hills in Georgia.
I got six reps in at the desire pace. It seemed like I hit the walk interval when I reached the north entrance. Despite feeling tight during the warm-up and most of the walk to the parking lot, my legs began to loosen up during the first interval.
Recently, the bells at St. Francis & Clare stopped working and need repaired. They usually ring every quarter hour. On the hour, the bells would ring as many times as to what hour it was. I enjoy the bells because it reminds of when the bells would ring in Franklin in a similar fashion. My Dad had the bells of his grandfather clock ring like that as well.
I found out the church is trying to raise funds to make the necessary repairs. They need to raise $14,080 and at last check the church has raised $6,775. If you’re interested in donating here’s the link – https://www.ss-fc.org/
The best was the sun was out and it was a hot 73 degrees and sticky humidity.
Note 3 – I pondered switching the workout to Wednesday and running easy on Tuesday. Then again the Hanson’s program or any program for that matter calls for you to be consistent. In week eight, I planned to make Wednesday the rest day again.
Wednesday
An uneventful-easy run. Just the big loop around the subdivision which goes through the new section. I got out early enough that the new-home-construction traffic wasn’t an issue.
Thursday
Ran through one of the new subdivisions going up around us and then to my other “home course.” Ran through our old neighborhood and Innisbrooke – where we ran last year’s virtual 500 Mini and Monumental 13.1. The layout is flat enough to resemble what I will run on the Mill Race course. I will run there for most of the steady state/tempo and long runs throughout the rest of this training segment.
I ran up and down the two hills on Paddock Road. On the way back from the old neighborhood and the “Racecourse,” I stopped at the entrance of the Brookhaven subdivision. My legs still did not want anything to do with hills.
Friday
For the first time all week the temperature was below 70 degrees. It was also the first time I wasn’t going to Cushing’s Hills or running hills on a Friday run. It would be my first steady state/tempo (Note 4) run. I was going to run back-and-forth from the entrance of Wakefield to the entrance of Innisbrooke. I would get two full laps in and then finish at the Innisbrooke entrance. I saw my friend Tracy that morning. She was running with her huskies – Elsa and Zeus. We both commented how perfect the weather was that morning. Maybe I wasn’t liking the cooler temperature with the sunny sky. That or this was the moment I could tell I hadn’t recovered properly from the runs in Atlanta a few days ago. As my Aunt Lee had said, I might have overkilled it with those runs.
Note 4 – Friday’s run is supposed to be at or close to what I plan to run for a majority of the race. Some call a steady state run while others call it a tempo.
My first workout on the flats. Having ran the hills the weekend prior like I did in Atlanta along with those five runs on Cushing’s Hills, I guess I thought I would be faster. I wasn’t. I actually ran on average the same pace as I had the last couple of runs – including the one the week prior on the “Sun City Peachtree Hills of Hell.” Unlike those runs, I could tell I was forcing the pace. Perhaps I’m scaling down and dialing into what will be my true race pace for the Mill Race Marathon. I doubt it. Ben Houston and I both believe I did not recover properly from Peachtree weekend.
During my cool down, I got to thinking I should take a day off. I could justify taking the next day off since it’s Saturday and I need to be at work around 7:30 a.m. Then again as I have mentioned, I hate not running the day before a long run. Monday – ah yes that would be perfect. I could sleep in (Note 5) on Monday. If it’s nice weather out, I could make my coffee and sit on the deck drinking it. I could even venture over to Cushing’s and talk with Howard Harrell, the Center Grove Cross Country, while he watched the team run.
The numbers say I had a successful run. This one had me questioning myself especially if I had recovered properly from my runs in Atlanta the previous weekend.
Note 5 – sleeping in for me means up at 7 a.m. with a coffee cup in my hand either at my desk in my “Mind Palace” or on the deck by 7:10 a.m.
As I finished my cool down again at the entrance of Brookhaven, it was decided – run the four easy miles tomorrow followed by 10 miles on Sunday. Monday – would nothing more than lounging around the house.
Saturday
These Saturday morning 5:30 a.m. runs I am nothing more than a running zombie (Note 6). The Saturday at Peachtree was different – although I woke up earlier and we had about a 45-minute drive to the airport, I had adrenaline pumping through me.
Note 6 – and if any of neighbors are up that early and see me, I am sure they would agree.
There’s a part of me that thinks these Saturday-morning miles are nothing more than “junk miles.” Looking a possible 10-plus-hour workday, maybe I would be suited sleeping in for another hour.
Regardless having done my research and read the book about the Hanson’s Marathon Method, I know these runs have a purpose. Plus, I have to keep with my own philosophy of running the day before a long run to keep my legs honest for Sunday. (Note 7)
Note 7 – I used to do a speed workout on Saturdays with the intention that it would force to go slower for my long run-on Sunday. With this new schedule at “The World on Time” Saturday’s an easy run and Sunday’s I tend to make it an extended form of a speed workout.
This particular Saturday when the watch beeped with a 10:00 first mile as I left the new section of our subdivision, I said to myself, “I’m so not awake. Let’s walk the last three miles.” As I finished I again said to my legs and really the rest of my body, “Give me a good effort tomorrow and we’ll take Monday off again. I’m sorry for not recovering properly.”
Honestly, I thought it was a tad ambitious to think I could return Tuesday and go eight straight days without a day off from running. Putting the rest day into the mix to start next week after Sunday’s run definitely was the best option.
Sunday
I had no clear direction of how I wanted Sunday’s long run to go. I knew I would tackle the two mounds on Paddock Road and go into the new subdivision called Riley Meadows followed by going through our old neighborhood and Innisbrooke. I knew I’d probably go across the street into Pebble Run before heading back. All I knew at some point, I had to figure the mileage to make sure I stopped at the entrance to Brookhaven and not go up those two hills on Paddock.
The 12-hour day at “The World on Time” along with the 5:15 a.m. wake-up call Saturday took their toll on me. I woke up Sunday morning and decided I was going to take my time in getting out the door for this run. I sat in the chair in my office and drank my coffee along with a banana. Note 8
Note 9 – Still haven’t come close to making that perfect pot of coffee like my Uncle Bill since our return from Georgia.
Around 8:15 a.m., I finally went upstairs and got into my running gear and headed out the door. Dynamic stretches and drills and any tightness I felt in my right leg again was gone. Off with the shirt, spray on the sunscreen, sync the Garmin – “Let’s GO!”
Got up and down the hills on Paddock. I was into Riley Meadows when my watch beep for the first mile split of 8:04. Back on Paddock and into Wakefield and the path. I ran down the little valley by the electrical panels and was at 7:43. That’s when I thought to myself, “Let’s kick this up a notch and see what happens. Let’s pretend these eight miles are how I want to run miles 18-26.2 at Mill Race.” Note 10
Note 10 – There is a part of the Mill Race Marathon course that goes through a subdivision on the northside of Columbus in the latter stages of the race. The stretch from the entrance of Wakefield to Brookhaven can also mimic Washington Street and the final mile of Mill Race. Definitely will be good practice running through here like that in preparation for the real thing.
I ran through the part of Wakefield where we used to live and Innisbrooke. When I got to my friend Dan and Mari Jo’s house I had to stop. I wasn’t tired or in need to refill my water or Gatorade bottle. I needed a moment to calculate how far I had to go from that point to turn back and eventually end at the entrance of Brookhaven. Once I had the calculations done, I continued the run. Went through Innisbrooke and crossed Fairview Road into Pebble Run. I made it a point to run in every cul-de-sac in each subdivision. After a 7:30 third mile, I got into a comfortable pace and ran between 7:27 and 7:18 the rest of the way.
Back against the tree relaxing after Sunday’s 10 miler.
I probably will condense the route and make it a three-mile loop through Wakefield and Innisbrooke – basically the course we ran for the virtual Monumental 13.1, but with some slight changes. This will allow me to only have to cross one busy street instead of two. We will see how that goes for my long run to complete week 8.
The lesson learned during week seven – recovery is important and should never be overlooked especially with the end goal in mind.
When it came to this week of my training for the Mill Race Marathon, I have to be honest, I was both excited and dreading it.
Excited
we were heading down to Atlanta to visit my Aunt Lee and Uncle Bill on the weekend of my favorite holiday – 4th of July.
Ryan and I also were finally going to run the famed Peachtree Road Race (Peachtree) in Atlanta.
I was going to get two serious hill workouts on Friday and Sunday running up and down the main road of the retirement community where my aunt and uncle live.
I was going to get to have pizza from my favorite pizzeria – Slices in Griffin, Ga.
More importantly, we were going to get to spend some quality time with the world’s greatest aunt and uncle.
Dreaded
Had to restructure the schedule for the travel day on Thursday to Atlanta and then the following Monday upon our return home (No way Wendy was going to let me run before we left either day)
The Hanson’s and Luke Humphrey don’t necessarily frown upon it, but they don’t recommend racing prior to running your marathon either.
It’s one thing to make a trip to downtown Indianapolis the day before either the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini Marathon or CNO Financial Monumental race to get the packets then get up early the next morning for the race. It’s quite the other when you’re in a city where traffic is beyond ridiculous, and you don’t know exactly how to get to where you need to go to pick up your packet. Then there’s coordinating where you’re going to pick up the MARTA to get to the start line. Not to mention, what time you’re going to have to leave to get to the train station to make it to the start line in time (we got seeded in Corral A and scheduled to start at 6:30 a.m.).
Traveling in general is stressful enough and you throw in running the World’s Largest 10k Road Race.
The possibility of not doing what I expected and end up “racing” the Peachtree Road Race. I planned to use the race as an easy hill run when I put together the training schedule for this week back in May.
Monday
Ryan and I had our final run together before the Peachtree Road Race on Monday morning. It was already a hot 82 degrees and sunny when we started just before 11 a.m. I let Ryan dictate where we were going that day. We ran up the steep incline on the cul-de-sac just south of us. Then we hit all the cul-de-sacs and ran to the Mullinix Road entrance of our subdivision. We turned around and went through the church parking lot. We went down the sidewalk parallel to Olive Branch Road and then back into our subdivision.
When we got to the crack in the road in front of our house we stopped. I grabbed my water bottle and Ryan went inside. He returned a few moments later, but you could tell the heat that morning was beginning to have its way with him. I waited until he said he was ready to continue before pushing the start button on my Garmin and resuming our run.
We made it back into the cul-de-sac at the top of the incline on our street when Ryan stopped. He did what Coach Ben Houston likes to refer to as chumming. I asked him if he wanted to continue or call it.
“I won’t be mad if you want to call it,” I said. “It’s up to you.”
Ryan paused for moment and thought. Finally, he looked at me and said, “I’m done.”
Ryan walked back to the house, and I continued on to finish the loop and complete the five-mile run. What had happened when Ryan stopped at 2.75 miles on that hot summer day was a pre cursor to what would transpire at the Peachtree Road Race on Saturday.
Tuesday
My first true structured speed work of this training segment. When putting together the Tuesdays, which are usually speed work days, I reverted back to a comment Hoka OneOne NAZ Elite Coach Ben Rosario made last year during a video chat along with Frank Shorter for JackRabbit and Hoka OneOne.
“Make speed workdays your medium workouts. You want to work on your speed, and you want to do some 200s. Well, you don’t have to do the fastest, craziest repeat 200-meter workout in the world…do it at your 2-mile or 3k type pace and be done for the day. So, you touched that zone without absolutely killing yourself…you go to your harder day and make that something you’re really good at. You’re an aerobic monster and you love a long tempo run. Go ahead and rip that one a little bit.”
While reading the book “Inside A Marathon” to and from Atlanta this weekend, I learned my favorite runner, Scott Fauble, and I are alike when it comes to being that aerobic monster – more on that later.
Remember, I am basically using the Hanson’s Marathon Method as an outline for mileage. I am using the mileage from the “Just Finish” plan because it fits better into my ever-changing-work schedule. Plus, it peaks at 51 miles, and I believe that’s my sweet-spot number no matter what distance I am training to race – that was proven during the winter/spring training for the 22.5-mile-time trial.
I looked through several books back in May in plotting out the speed sessions. I knew a couple of the workouts I wanted to do would be pyramid intervals and Bart Yasso’s favorite hill-repeats workout. Something that look interesting and would suffice replacing your basic 400s, 800s, 1200s, etc. repeats would be fartleks ranging anywhere from two minutes to five minutes with either one minute easy or two minutes easy between. Better yet, I could do the segments at between my 5k-10k pace.
This first Tuesday of speed work I did two minutes at 5k-10k pace with one-minute easy for three miles along the big loop through our subdivision and including the road that leads out to Mullinix Road. I had started the eighth one when my Garmin beep for the third mile. I couldn’t just stop the middle of the interval. I ran it out until my watch beep to signal it was time to go easy.
The first structured workout of this segment. Fartleks – 2:00 at 5k-10k pace with 1:00 easy.
Wednesday
With Thursday being a travel day, I ran Wednesday to make sure I kept up with the intended mileage for the week. I ran the same loop I had the day before while running the fartleks. When I started I looked to the northwest and could see the clouds starting to get dark. There was the sight of lightning and the sound of thunder. About halfway through the five-mile run, the clouds finally opened up. By the time I got to Golden Field Drive the road was flooded. The rain had hit so quickly, I was running through water that was to my ankles.
Being completely drenched when I completed my run, didn’t stop me from heading downstairs and getting in one last session of IronStrength Core Blaster (I knew my chances of doing core were going to be slim and none while in Georgia).
Last run in Indiana before heading to Georgia for Peachtree.
Thursday
It was up early, pack the van and head down to Georgia for the weekend. Once we got on the road and were safely en route, (Note 1) I opened up the book “Inside A Marathon” by the aforementioned Fauble and Rosario.
Note 1 – I admit I am a horrible driver. I hate driving on the interstate. Seriously, I sweat profusely when driving on a road that has a speed limit faster than 55 mph. Think the gif with the man heavily sweating – that’s me. Thus, when we make trips like this Wendy does all the driving because she doesn’t have faith in my driving either.
I got into such a groove reading the book, I didn’t even realize we had made it through Kentucky. We were on the northern edge of Nashville when Wendy looked at the dashboard.
“Uh oh,” she said.
Me not paying attention.
“Uh, Rob,” Wendy said again. “ROB!” this time she yelled.
“What?” I replied as I finished reading chapter 13 and acknowledging that Wendy was talking to me.
“The check engine light just came on.”
She had the van checked prior to the trip earlier in the week. They told her she didn’t even need an oil change, but definitely needed a new battery. When we pulled off at the next available exit and into the parking lot of a gas station, we checked the oil. Bone dry was the dip stick. We got the funnel out from the back of the van and quickly poured two quarts of oil into the engine. We got back on the road and headed to Atlanta. I didn’t read the book the rest of the way to Atlanta because I knew I was going to need to have something to read on the way home Monday.
“Inside A Marathon” by my favorite runner, Scott Fauble, and my favorite coach, Ben Rosario, is a must read for anyone interested in running. I couldn’t put it down. If you read this and don’t get inspired to run a marathon, then you might want to check your pulse.
We got into Atlanta at 5:30 p.m. I don’t need to tell you how much of a “Cluster you know what” that was – I think I was even beginning to perspire just from seeing all the traffic. I reset the GPS on my phone. We winded around several roads on our way to Griffin, Ga. We even saw the Chik-Fil-A distribution center on one of the roads.
Then I saw a sign for Del Taco (Note 2).
“Del Taco!” I spoke.
“Del what?” Wendy said.
“Oh, we must! I haven’t had Del Taco since one of my last trips to South Bend working for Rubbermaid.” I then looked up where the closest one would be to my aunt and uncle’s house.
Note 2 – the Del Taco in South Bend, Ind. opened in 2008 and closed in 2014. When I was the sports information director for Cal State Northridge baseball in 1995 my diet consisted of at least two maybe even three meals a week from Del Taco.
We ended up at a Del Taco in McDonough, Ga. about 10 miles from my aunt and uncle’s house.
After we ate, we got back in the van (with the check engine light still on) and headed to my aunt and uncle’s house. Just as we did back in November when Wendy and I went down to spend a week with them, we winded around to a road called Jordan Hill Road. This time though the sun was still out. We could see where we were at and going. Our GPS sent us down this gravel road about 4 ½ miles from the retirement community. As Wendy drove down the road too many baby rabbits to count crossed the road in front of us. We were almost to the end of the road when I shouted out – “DEER!” There was a deer right in the middle of the road. It looked like it had no intentions of moving even as we got closer. Finally, it moved out of the way, and we were able to get on the road that led us right into the retirement community.
When we finally got settled down, I checked my e-mail and had received a message from Ben Rosario. Earlier in the week, Rosario and I started exchanging messages on how to possibly meet up this weekend. The logistics never worked out. DAMN COVID! Any regular year of Peachtree and we could have probably met at the expo. (Note 3)
Note 3 – if Rosario had shown up at the starting line Saturday morning to surprise me, not only would he be my favorite coach in all of sports, but he also likely gets my vote as one of the best human beings of all time. A regular year without a pandemic and I am sure Aliphine Tuliamuk and Steph Bruce along with Rosario would have had a meet and greet during the expo.
Friday
I woke up Friday morning and looked at my Garmin. The face read 5:38 a.m. I thought to myself, “OK, I got about another half hour to sleep before waking up and getting into my semi-usual routine” (there would be no cup of coffee or light breakfast).
I looked out the window. It was awfully light out for it to be 5:38 a.m. That’s when it literally dawned on me. My watch hadn’t switched back to Eastern Time from when it switched right after Elizabethtown, Ky. to Central Time. It was actually 6:38 a.m. I quickly got out of bed, changed into my running shorts, and put on my shoes. Next, I grabbed my hydration belt and bottles and went into the kitchen and filled them up with water and Gatorade, respectively.
I rushed out and opened the garage door. When it was completely opened imagine my surprise when I saw a deer in the front yard. It looked at me and quickly pranced away across the street and into the backyard of one of my aunt and uncle’s neighbors. I would see that deer or one of its family members a couple a more times during my run that morning (Note 4).
Note 4 – sorry didn’t get a picture of the deer.
Although I had been running Cushing’s Hills the previous five weeks, today would be my first workout with a warm-up run, steady-state run followed by a cool down run.
Time to get in the time machine, TARDIS or do that wavy thing with your hands and arms like Wayne and Garth used to do.
When Wendy and I were here to visit my aunt and uncle back in November (a much needed get away from the stresses of our home life at the time) I took several walks along the main road of their community. Most of the walks I thought to myself about what was going on at home. I kept trying to figure out what I could do better or be of more help to the situation. Most of those walks I prayed, and I know God’s got this. Someday, maybe, I’ll be able to discuss in length what’s happening. Until then please know progress is being made.
I was also in “Zero Week” after just completing the virtual Monumental 13.1 the Saturday before we left. I let go of what was happening at home for this walk. As I walked up and down the hills, I decided to look into the crystal ball for 2021 regarding running. If things could continue as they were with the pandemic, I knew we’d likely be back this weekend to run Peachtree. Despite the vaccines being produced and even before I bet my friend, I had a feeling the Mini wouldn’t take place in person again in 2021. The Mini likely would be the only race Ryan would be interested in running besides Peachtree. After Ryan ran his virtual Monumental 13.1, he decided he needed to take a break from running. I was fine with that because he’d been running hard since we first ran the Mini in 2016. At that time, Ryan also commented that he wasn’t interested in trying to PR (personal record) anymore. He wants to run to run. Again, I was fine with that.
As for me…
There was something left to be completed on my running resume. Something most of my running friends have begged me to do for a few years now – run a marathon. Of course, the reason I hesitated was Ryan. There’s no doubt in my mind Ryan could cover 26.2 miles. Even with his autism and his ability to lock into a pace for a long period of time, Ben Houston and myself have always believed Ryan needed to be a few years older before jumping up to that distance. Seen it with too many kids in Ryan’s group attempt to run a marathon and fall completely apart. One of our friends, who even qualified for Boston before they were 21, hasn’t fully recovered from some injuries they sustained.
It started to rain this November afternoon as I reached the community center of the neighborhood. Again, I thought to myself (Note 5) “I have pretty much tapped out my potential in the half marathon. I don’t think I’ll ever come close to eclipsing my PR of 1:28:35. I’m going to be the big 5-OH next year. There’s only one thing left to do – run a marathon.”
Note 5 – I might have even been talking out loud to myself from the looks of people who I either walked by or those driving by me in their golf carts.
The walk continued. The debate ensued inside my head and out loud – which marathon to run – Mill Race or Monumental? The walk ended. My uncle was at the door with a towel for me to dry off from the rain. I got into dry clothes and then sat at the dining room table to put together my usual “Ben Franklin Chart.” When I looked at the pros and cons of the two races I likely would run in the end the Mill Race Marathon checked a few more pros than Monumental.
Back to as close to present day as I can go now as I write this post.
When I put the schedule together with this weekend in mind, I knew I needed to make the most of my opportunities to run the hills of my aunt and uncle’s community. I talked with my uncle one night and asked him if the ends of the main road were still closed off. He said they were. That made for perfect turn arounds. I made a six-mile loop starting in the front of their house and going up and down the main road. To complete the loop, I plotted the route to go back up the road that connects their section of the community to the main road. Instead of turning on to their street where I started, I went up and took the next right and came around.
Friday, I would run the loop once for the tempo/steady-state run. Sunday, I would run the loop twice for my 12-mile-long run.
After my warm-up and dynamic stretches along with a quick conversation with one of my aunt and uncle’s neighbors, it was time to get the workout started. It was overcast, 70 degrees and 97 percent humidity. Throw in the hills I was about to run, and I had my perfect training-run conditions.
About a third of mile into the run, I made it to the main road of the community and turned left (Note 6) and ran toward the new section. I had almost reached the turn around when I completed the first mile in 7:27 (Note 7). I made the turn around and headed toward the community center. Unlike Cushing’s Hills, which has some flat stretches, these hills which I labeled on Strava as “Sun City Peachtree Hills of Hell” has no level sections. The hills also have almost double the elevation compared to Cushing’s.
A couple of the “Sun City Peachtrere HIlls of Hell.
The biggest of these hills is by the golf club in the community. Going up this knoll feels like you are your own roller coaster right when the chain connects to the train to take you up the rise at the beginning of the ride. When I got the apex of the hill by the entrance of the golf course I clocked a 7:30 mile – that would be my slowest mile of the run. I made the turn around and headed back up that steep mound. As I headed back down the hill from the golf club, some of the members of the community must have had tee times coming up. Several golf carts came my way and I had to veer over to the sidewalk (Note 8). There are some really nice decked out golf carts – mostly with various college logos. There are some though that resemble off road 4×4’s.
Finally, I turned off the main road and back up the road toward my aunt and uncle’s house. I went by the road that I started on and made it around to the next road. This allowed me to go around and complete a full loop (Note 9). It didn’t completely make six miles like I had mapped out (Note 10). I ran another tenth of a mile to the end of the street to complete the six-mile run.
I averaged 7:22 pace for the six miles. It had me excited to see what I would do Sunday for the 12 miles.
All smiles after conquering one loop of the Sun City Peachtree Hills of Hell.
Note 6 – I try to make all of my routes with left hand turns. When you’re facing traffic when running making left hands turns is much easier than turning right.
Note 7 – my intended pace was 7:35
Note 8 – I ran in the golf cart lane.
Note 9 – Frank Shorter says make loops.
Note 10 – I did a good job hitting the tangents.
During my cool down I was heading back to my aunt and uncle’s house when I was informed I must have a doppelganger. A woman walking her dog said she sees me running through the community daily and wondered how many miles I ran (Note 11).
Note 11 – after telling my aunt and uncle about the conversation with said woman, I was shocked to find out there are several people between the ages of 50-55 who live in the community.
After I cleaned up, we headed to the driving equivalent of hell – downtown Atlanta. As we entered I-75, Wendy looked at the dashboard and screamed.
“Hooray!”
“What?” I replied.
“The check engine light went off.” She responded.
When we got to the World Congress Center, Wendy dropped Ryan and I off at the entrance. We quickly went into the building. We went through the winding barricades. I showed the officials my vaccination card and Ryan got sniffed by the COVID-dog. We then were instructed where to go to pick up our bibs. We showed the gentlemen at the counter our papers. He handed us our bibs and told us “Good luck and have a great race.” We took our picture with the AJC Peachtree Road Race logo in the background. Then we winded around the expo not stopping to look at any of the merchandise for sale. I wanted to get in and get out of there as soon as possible. Our only stop was at the MARTA booth to purchase our train tickets for the next day.
Picking up our bibs for the Peachtree Road Race.
Wendy texted me and told what lot she was parked in and how to find her when we came out of the World Congress Center.
“If I see your orange shirts, I will start to drive toward you if I can,” she texted.
We got our MARTA tickets and quickly got out of the World Congress Center. We made the walk up a hill and across the Ivan Allen, Jr. Boulevard to the parking lot where Wendy was parked.
From there it was a trip to Lawrenceville, Ga. to visit with Wendy’s great aunt Cletus and her cousin Paula Kay (Note 12). Cletus turns 90 this month and they are having a big birthday party for her. We visited for a few hours. Cletus continued to try to get Ryan and I to play the piano. Ryan constantly replied, “uh…no thank you.” Cletus, who NEVER had a piano lesson, got behind the keyboard and played snippets of several patriotic songs since it was the 4th of July weekend.
Note 12 – several years ago on our way back from a trip to Florida, we went to Cletus’ house in Jonesboro, Ga. It was Mother’s Day. She had us and all of her family over for breakfast. I had never seen so much food made and NEVER reach the table! I think the final tally was about 100 pancakes and 10 pounds of sausage and bacon!
When we got back to my aunt and uncles it was time for dinner. There was only one place I wanted to eat Friday night – Slice’s! My aunt ordered the pizzas. My uncle and I drove to downtown Griffin (Note 13) to pick up pies. We were driving up a hill when my uncle looked at me and asked, “This hill on the route for Sunday?” I quickly replied, “uh…nope.”
No better place for a pre-race meal than Slices in Griffin, Ga.
Note 13 – Griffin, Ga. has become a place where several television shows and films are made. There are several markers throughout the town showing where scenes have taken place. Most notably “The Walking Dead.”
After dinner we tried to figure out the best way to get on the MARTA. Once we decided the airport was the easiest, it was a couple of games of euchre before heading to bed. 3:15 a.m. (Note 14) was going to come awfully early.
Note 14 – Knowing now that we were only running Peachtree to run it and not “race” it, I probably shouldn’t have submitted our times from the Hathaway Memorial 5k when I registered us. Doing that put us in Corral A and a 6:30 a.m. start.
Peachtree Day
I tossed and turned the entire night. I woke up at 1:30 a.m. to go to the bathroom. Then I woke up at 3 a.m.
“Is it time to get up?” Wendy asked sleepily.
“No.” I replied.
I had just fallen back asleep when the alarm on my watch went off. My watch had synced back to Eastern Time as I started my work out on Friday.
“Now, it’s time to get up.” I spoke.
We both got up and started to get dressed. I went into the room where Ryan was sleeping and woke him up. We headed out to the airport to ride the train from the airport to the Lenox Square. Not exactly sure where the train station was located, we got off at the international departures exit. I realized we were supposed to go the north end of the domestic arrivals and departures.
Ryan and I got out of the van. I asked a security guard where we were supposed to go to get to the train. The security guard pointed and told us to go inside and up the escalators to the station. We got up to the station and the doors were locked. There was one lady there, who was also waiting for the doors to open.
“Do you know when the doors will open?” I asked.
“No, I don’t,” she replied. “Why?”
“Well, I thought the trains were supposed to start at 4:30 a.m. today for the Peachtree Race. It’s 4:40 right now.”
We were then told we could go through the food court and there would be a way to get to the platform to catch the train. We did that. About two minutes later the train arrived.
When we got on, I noticed a change in Ryan. He held on to the pole by his seat for dear life.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Train,” he replied. “I haven’t been on one since we went to Chicago with Grandma several years ago. I don’t like it.”
As Ryan clenched the pole, we watched as more and more people participating in the Peachtree got on at each stop. We arrived at the Lenox Square stop. We made our way from the platform out to the street level. We followed the mass of people to the starting area – which seemed to be a two-mile walk.
Ryan still looked nervous. This is the most apprehensive he had looked before a race. I was the complete opposite. I was loose and ready to enjoy the atmosphere. Unlike our last race – Monumental 13.1 in November 2019 – we weren’t on top of each other like a package of sardines. There was plenty of room to stretch and move about.
Around 6:25 Deacon Juan Sandoval (Note 15) gave the invocation. Emerie Ediger, who finished runner-up in the voting for the NBC affiliate’s “Oh Say Can You See” contest to sing the national anthem for the race sang the Star Spangled Banner. Moments later 2021 US Marathon Olympian Jacob Riley started us. Our adventure in the Peachtree Road Race began.
In front the draped down American flag before the start of the Peachtree Road Race.
Note 15 – Starting in corral A also meant we missed getting blessed by Deacon Sandoval. He didn’t start blessing and sprinkling runners with holy water at just before the completion of the second mile until 7 a.m. We missed him by about 15 minutes.
Mile 1 – We couldn’t have asked for a better day to run Peachtree. The last few years when we have watched the race on television, the commentators talked about how it was already in the mid-70s with almost 100 percent humidity. This day – partly cloudy and 63 degrees at gun time.
We got out to a clean start. We were passing people and people were passing us. It felt great just be around people and running again. It also brought a smile to my face as we neared the first mile marker and heard the beeps of watches going off. I looked around and saw several heads drop as people looked to see their splits. We clocked 8:21 and I felt really good about that split. I was content to stay right at that pace the rest of the way.
Mile 2 – We crossed Peachtree Avenue. Ryan still had a nervous look on his face. We went about two tenths farther and…well let’s just say last night’s dinner of Slice’s and Gatorade got Ryan.
“You Ok?” I asked.
“The nerves are getting to me,” Ryan said. “COVID. All these people. It all just hit me.”
We got back a decent pace when we reached the second mile marker at an 8:14 pace (Note 16)
Note 16 – Whenever we stopped, I stopped my watch and then started it back up when we continued.
Mile 3 – We were working on mile 3. I was trying to get myself mentally prepared because up to this point the course has been predominantly downhill. That was about to change as the famous “Cardiac Hill” awaited us. Just prior to attacking the legendary incline we made a pit stop at the Covenant Presbyterian Church. After a brief conversation with the volunteers, who were outside the church and cheering on the runners, we continued.
By my watch we had a split of 8:09.
Mile 4 – We were about to head up Cardiac Hill when a car pulled out on to the course! The driver crossed over to the other side of the road. Fortunately, the police along the route suddenly stopped that car. Ryan and I continued on and reached the 3-mile mark.
BOOM! Cardiac Hill! It was everything I had heard and thought it would be and then some. It’s about three times the length of our “Big Ugly” on Mullinix. After yesterday’s run, I was beginning to feel it as we made the climb.
As we made the ascent up, I looked at Ryan and said, “Hey, we are on Cardiac Hill!” Ryan looked at me and said, “Oof.”
Another gentleman looked at us as we approached him and the halfway point of the hill. He asked, “When does it end?”
“When we get up to the Piedmont Hospital.”
“Really? Dang! I’m in better shape than I thought I was.”
Cardiac Hill beat us both that day as our split was 8:45.
Mile 5 – We were about to reach the Brookwood Bridge when another car came off the exit of I-85 and tried to get on the course.
Police officer: “You can’t get on the road. Can’t you see there’s a race going on? You do realize Peachtree is today? (Note 17)”
Driver: “I am going home.”
Police officer: “Back up your car. This road is closed.”
Driver: “I got to get home, and this is the way to my apartment.”
Police officer: “Not today it isn’t.”
Note 17 – I’m going to give the driver a little grace mainly because Peachtree is usually run only on July 4. Then again, when you live in Atlanta there’s no excuse to not know the race was going to be run on two days this year especially with all the publicity the race garners in the area.
That’s all I heard of the conversation. Ryan and I crossed the bridge. It was beginning to warm up and the sun was completely out. The heat was getting to Ryan, and I was beginning to suffer from running up and down the hills on this course along with the tempo run the day before. My quads were screaming.
Mile 6 – We approached Peachtree Circle and some of the spectators on the course began cheering. I looked behind me and the person they were cheering was coming up to us. As she got near her cheering section, one of the spectators shot off a confetti gun. Red, white, and blue paper shot out and showered her as she ran through.
We made the turn from Peachtree Road to 10th Street and the finish for the final half mile. Once my watch beeped for the sixth-mile split, I looked at Ryan and said, “It’s kick time. Time to go.”
I think at this point, Ryan had enough. He was ready to finish. He mustered whatever energy he had left.
“Here comes. Here comes Speed Racer,” Ryan said.
Heading toward the finish at the Peachtrere Road Race.
The people around us got a laugh out of it. Suddenly, it was like a pack of gazelles had taken a cue from Ryan. We all blazed down the final stretch of the course, which is completely downhill and feels like at any second you’re going to end up somersaulting down it, to finish line.
As usual in a big-city race – well, minus the 2019 500 Mini – Ryan and I crossed the finish line together. We left the course and went into Piedmont Park. We got our reward – the famous Peachtree Road Race Shirt – grabbed our water then winded around to get a can of Coca Cola and Powerade.
All smiles after successfully completing the hills of the Peachtree Road Race.
The next order of business – find the train station to head back to the airport. Ends up, the walk is about as long from the finish to the train station as it is from the train station to the start line. The kicker – that hill we just ran down, we walked back up it on 8th Street to the Art Center station.
The Peachtree Road Race did not disappoint. It was as tough as I had read about or heard people talk about who had previously run the race. Much like watching another event held in Georgia – the Masters – you really have no idea how steep the hills truly are on the course from watching it on television. I thought about deferring again to next year to be able to get the full experience with the crowds and the big party in Piedmont Park. Not knowing a lot of variables that could hinder – and almost deter us from running it this year – I decided this was our best option.
The Atlanta Track Club had everything so well organized in its first big event since the Pandemic. The city of Atlanta certainly has earned the moniker – “Running City USA.”
We got back to my aunt and uncle’s house. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, playing games, and watching television.
Sunday
I woke up the morning of my favorite holiday to one of the greatest smells in all the world – my aunt and uncle’s coffee! Doing my best to not wake Wendy up, I got my running shorts on, grabbed my socks and shoes. I softly closed the door and saw my uncle sitting in his recliner.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Morning,” I replied. I walked by and went right to the coffee maker. I looked to my left and my aunt was sitting at the table playing a game on her computer. As I said good morning to her, I fixed my coffee and got one of the Clif Bars we got from yesterday’s race. I took a sip and smiled at the sheer perfection that is the coffee my uncle makes.
I took a seat on the couch and went to the NBC affiliate in Atlanta’s website to watch the Peachtree Road Race with the elites running that morning. The wheelchair race had just finished. In a split screen they showed the start of the women’s race. A few moments later they showed the start of the men’s race.
I wasn’t overly impressed with the coverage. Thank goodness for Carrie Tollefson – she saved what she could of it (Note 18). At least they showed the finish of both races. Sara Hall crushed those hills in 31:41. Next up for her at 38-years young – a shot at the American Marathon record in Chicago on Oct. 10.
Note 18 – All local stations like the NBC affiliate in Atlanta need to watch either the local telecast of the Boston Marathon or the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini Marathon. Both WBZ and WTHR do an excellent job intermixing the elite races along with the recreational runners in their coverage.
After watching the finishes of both the men and women’s races, it was time for me to head out for my long run and final workout on these hills. The temperature was an uncharacteristic 61 degrees, but the humidity was creeping into the uncomfortable territory. Unlike Friday when the sky was overcast, the sun was out in full force.
I’m not going to bore you with a full or close to it description of this run. It was two loops of what I ran Friday. I hit that big hill by the golf club for miles 3, 4, 9 and 10. Like Friday, the third mile caught me a little off guard. I rebounded and got into a steady pace the rest of the way. I was about to finish mile 11 when I got close to the community center. My aunt, Wendy, Ryan along with my aunt and uncle’s dog, Tilley, were coming up the hill in the golf cart.
“How much farther?” my aunt asked (Note 19).
“About a mile and 15 hundredths,” I replied as I looked at my watch.
“Well, hurry it up,” Wendy said. “We want to get breakfast started when we get back from the dog park.”
Going down the hill and my watch beep with the mile-11 split. I decided it was time for a fast finish. I kicked up the pace. I ran down the hill and made the turn on to the road that would lead up to their section. Again, I must have hit the tangents because the 12th mile didn’t end where the sixth mile did on the first loop. I was ecstatic when I saw the split of 6:58 for the final mile.
Heading toward the end of the second lap of the loop through my aunt and uncle’s communityCouldn’t be happier with this long run – two loops of the “Sun City Peachtree Hills of Hell”right at my marathon race pace.
Note 19 – my aunt is too cute for her own good sometimes. Prior to our arrival and me telling her I planned to run on that Friday and Sunday between Peachtree said, “Don’t you think that’s a little overkill with the race?” Which my uncle replied during this conversation, “He’s training for a marathon. He’s got to get his miles in.” Then while we were sitting at the table eating Friday night – “You always run against traffic, right?” Which I replied, “Yeah, but this playing chicken with golf carts would take some getting used to.” But I’d rather go head-to-head with a golf cart built to look like a 4×4 than the real thing on a country road any day.
Later that day we went to the pool where a lady commented to my wife, “Are those your sons?” Wendy replied, “Uh, well that one (as she pointed to Ryan) is my son and the other (as she then pointed to me) is my husband.” “Well, you can definitely tell they’re related.”
The rest of the best holiday in the world was spent playing games, watching fireworks, and eating the most delicious grilled hamburgers. Dang, my uncle can grill a hamburger with the best of them.
The weekend was a success. Got to do the two workouts I wanted through my aunt and uncle’s community. Ryan and I FINALLY ran the famed Peachtree-Road Race.
More importantly, I got to spend quality time with the world’s coolest and greatest aunt and uncle.
Week five of Mill Race Marathon training began with me still thinking about my Running Sister Catharine and her accident with the dogs. It also started with me trying to find new tires for my car. Saturday night while on my way home from my first non-12-hour Saturday since Feb. 4 at “The World on Time,” as I jammed to the best radio show in ALL the world – John Michael Vincent’s “JMV Takeover” on B-105.7 – my right front tire blew. Fortunately, I took my short cut through a community called Southern Dunes, which has one of the popular golf courses in the area. I wasn’t on the side of a major road or the interstate. I was able to pull into the club house parking lot. I called Wendy and asked her to meet me. I knew I could change the tire but wanted her to follow me home in case the doughnut spare failed.
By the time Wendy arrived in the club house parking lot, I had the tire changed. I felt like Ralphie’s father in “A Christmas Story” in changing the tire like a member of an Indianapolis 500 pit crew. Unlike Old Man Parker though, none of my sons lost the nuts and said “THE word. The big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the F-dash-dash-dash word!”
Wendy followed me and we safely made it home that night.
MONDAY
Which brings me to Monday of last week’s training. I spent the morning looking for an auto shop which had the right tires for my car. Somehow on the ENTIRE southside of Indianapolis (well mainly in the Center Grove area where we live) not a one had the right size tires for a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am! NOT A ONE! The one shop closest to us was able to order them but wouldn’t have them in until Friday.
In times such as these as I like to say – “So…Be…It!”
Later that morning, Ryan and I went out and ran our five “Miles and Smiles for Catharine.” As usual it was another easy pace run. We ran down the incline from the crack in the street and out to the main entrance of our subdivision. We ran up the sidewalk which leads to the parking lot of the church. Around the church parking there is a ¼ loop marked in red. We ran ¾ around that loop and then out to the road that leads to the secondary entrance of our subdivision. We turned around at that entrance and ran through the new section and back to our house. This loop is close to being two miles. We took a short break for water. We started up again in the same direction. On the second lap, we changed the route a little came back around for another small water break at the 5k mark. We ran through the new section and back to the secondary entrance and through the church parking lot. When we got to the sidewalk toward the finish of the fifth mile, Ryan looked at me with that smile. I knew was about to happen to me.
Ryan and I sitting on the steps of our front door after a Monday run. Ryan dropped me for the final .15 of the run. Hope he does that again on July 3 at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Ga.
Yep, just like he did at the 2019 OneAmerica Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini Marathon, Ryan dropped me. I didn’t mind though because I was in no mood to push the pace especially after my run on the hills of Mullinix and Smokey Row the day before. It was good to see him push it at the end. It showed he still likes to crush when he feels like it.
During the winter, Wendy had thought about making some changes to our property with a landscaping project. So, thank you stimulus check, we built five flower beds and fixed our drainage issue. We made four of the five flower beds she had planned. After Andrew and Ryan’s graduation party, Wendy and my sons worked on the fifth. Before my tire issue, I had planned to help finishing the project on Monday (she promised to give me Father’s Day off). When she looked at the pending weather forecast, it looked like rain for most of Monday. Then miraculously the skies cleared up. As I drove home from ordering the tires, Wendy called to let me know Andrew and she were taking the car we had just bought for the boys to another repair shop to have it looked at for repairs. Wendy said, “We are also going to get the rock and start finishing the flower bed.” To Wendy’s shock, I told her “I had already planned on doing that after Ryan and I got done with our run.” She actually didn’t hear what I said and started to get mad. Then she stopped and said, “You just said you planned to do that today?” I replied, “Finally, you listened.” She responded, “Well, at least one of the males in my house is on the same page with me today.”
The final flower garden (on the right) we finished after Ryan and I ran on Monday. The massive landscaping project of our property officially completed.
We spent the rest of Monday afternoon placing the rock around the fifth and final flower bed. Wendy’s goal was met – we had it all completed before we left for Atlanta next week.
Tuesday
Right before training for Mill Race began, I looked at the mileage on my current footwear. I had almost 400 miles on both a pair of Hoka One One Clifton 7s and Brooks Ghost 13s. I knew I could likely start training with these two pairs of shoes. By the end of June though, I would need at least one new pair and preferably two for the next three months of training. One pair to use for my easy runs and another pair to use for my speed, tempo, and long runs. After completing my 22.5-mile-time trial, I started shopping around. I saw that the Clifton 7s were getting discounted to make way for the 8s. With that price cut plus my credit with one running store, I ordered a pair through its website. Side note: I have completely fallen in love with the Hoka One One shoes – not because my current favorite team in ALL of sports – NAZ Elite wears them (although like it was when I was younger with basketball shoes, it doesn’t hurt). The Cliftons would definitely be used for the hard workout days. I still needed a pair for the easy days, and I hoped to get them a tad cheaper than the Cliftons. I kept looking at various websites for deals for another pair. While I was on vacation in May, a friend called me up and said, “Hey, come up on Friday, do lunch and hang out.” Well, he lives on the northside of Indianapolis. My friend, Shannon, works at a running store close to his house. I messaged Shannon and asked her to see what they might have in stock on the clearance rack. The next morning, she sent me a picture of the shoes they had in my size.
There was a pair of Brooks Launch GTS 8s in my size for a good price. I sent her a reply, “I’ll take the Brooks.” Shannon answered, “Are you sure? Uh, they’re pretty crazy looking even for you.” Me: “I don’t care what they look like. I just need a shoe that fits me right and I can get through easy day runs. I’m not out there for a fashion show.” Shannon replied with the laughing out loud emoji at my comment and said she would hold them for me to pick up when I came up on Friday.
The “Shamrock Shoes” my friend, Shannon, found for me at her store. These will be used for easy run days and of course whenever I feel like cheering for Notre Dame and on St. Patrick’s Day.
Having ran in the Cliftons I recently purchased on my run Sunday, I decided it was time to get the Brooks out of the box and try them for a run. Although it was Tuesday, I didn’t think it would hurt to see how I could go with a progression run.
As I made it up the incline on my street to start this run my legs didn’t feel quite awake. Then again my entire body didn’t feel conscious even for almost 7 a.m. When I made it around the small circle before turning to go around the main entrance of our subdivision my legs finally started to feel like they were ready for some speed. I was about 40 seconds faster than the first mile. The third mile I was about 20 seconds faster than the second. It didn’t feel as comfortable as Sunday’s run in the Cliftons, I could tell I was having to force it a little more in these shoes. The fourth mile was a tad faster than the third. During the fifth mile, I decided it was time to really see what I had left.
As every Tuesday, I purposely go a little faster because Wednesday is the off day. I made it around the entrance and back up the incline to my house. A complete circuit of this same loop would put me way over five miles and I still had core work to do before getting ready for work. I made a turn at the top of the incline and then a quick left on to a street with a couple of rolling hills. Although my watch beep when I got to the end of the street, I turned right and continued to pick up speed until I reached where the road came to a “T.” I clocked a final mile of 6:50 and the additional two tenths of a mile at a 6:21 pace.
WEDNESDAY
The off day was spent praying and thinking about Catharine and her surgery. Happy to report the operation went according to plan. The surgeon even did as Catharine requested. He said she should be able to get back to running within three months! I texted her husband, Craig, and daughter, Anne, to get the report. I figured she would be worn out from the surgery and bombarded by others. They gave me the information about the surgery and agreed. Matter of fact, Craig even said she was zonked by 5 p.m.
Thursday
Another Thursday and another “Where am I going to run this morning?” I got my Garmin synced with the satellites and walked to the crack in the street. I headed down the incline toward the entrance of the subdivision when I looked behind me and saw the teenage girl, who lives next door to us, driving down the street. It was at that point I decided to veer left and run the “It’s Exactly 1-Mile Loop.” As I stated in the last post, Frank Shorter says this is a good way to chart your progress and make the run go faster when you “find your loops.” Thursday’s runs aren’t for registering if I’m getting better. These runs are supposed to be easy pace. I had five miles that morning, which running this particular loop meant five laps.
About midway through the training segment for last year’s virtual CNO Financial Monumental 13.1 to now, I have made a concerted effort to follow the paces in the Luke Humphrey calculator for all types of runs, but especially the easy pace ones. I realized how important it to make sure to go slower on the easy days. I could feel a significant difference in my legs on my speed, tempo and long run days compared to my other training segments.
Anyway, Thursday, I made my five laps around the “It’s Exactly 1-Mile Loop” then followed it up with IronStrength core blaster session.
Friday
As I went to bed Thursday night, I dreaded my weekly Friday appointment with Cushing’s Hills. I believe the reason was because I knew I was going to be out of my Friday routine. Since training began in May for the Mill Race Marathon, I’ve done about the same thing on both Fridays and Sundays. I get up, make my coffee, eat some breakfast – usually a banana and a breakfast sandwich. While I’m eating and enjoying my coffee, I lounge around, watch television, and catch up on what people are doing on social media. Since I am now working every Friday at “The World on Time,” but go in a tad later than normal, I usually head out to Cushing’s Hills around 8:30 a.m. Sundays, I try to get out at 7:30 a.m. – which is when the train horn is expected to go off to start Mill Race Marathon on Sept. 25.
I was being taken out of my habitual schedule because I needed to have my car back at the tire place at 8 a.m. to have the new tires put on it. I skipped the breakfast and even the dynamic warm up to head straight over to Cushing’s Hills at 6:30 a.m. My thought was this could be a good thing because who knows how much out of my routine I could be taken out of come race day.
I got out a little slower for the first mile this week than I did the previous week. The last two weeks I had went out at 7:51 and this time I was at 7:57. When I made the turn from Skyline Court back to Skyline Drive, I could feel my legs saying, “let’s go!” I stayed consistent between 7:22-7:15 pace for miles two through four. The fifth mile picked it up and clocked a 7:09 split where Skyline Drive meets Birch Lane. From Birch Lane down to Brer Rabbit, I went for a fast finish. I looked down at my watch to see the pace around 6:10 as I reached where Brer Rabbit meets Olive Branch Road.
The rolling hills of “Cushing’s Hills” – it nice running these the last five weeks in preparation for the hard work about to be put in for the rest of Mill Race Marathon training.
It will be a few weeks before I head back to Cushing’s Hills. I’ll probably go back for some hill repeats on a Tuesday, but not to run the full course. I have to say these five runs have been some of my best on those rolling hills. The last four I went from 7:35 average pace on June 4 to back-to-back runs of 7:21 average pace on the last two.
Heading to the intersection of Birch Lane and Skyline Drive on Cushing’s Hills.
Saturday
I got to bed late Friday night. 5:30 a.m. came awfully early Saturday. I was in the “shamrock shoes” and the pace was nothing like it was when I wore them for the first time on Tuesday. It felt like I was literally running in my sleep as I went up the incline of Harness Drive into the new section of our subdivision. When the watched beeped to show my first mile at 9:23, I shrugged my shoulders. Old me would have been gotten frustrated and immediately did all I could to get the pace faster. Now, I’m like “this is an easy day run it as slow as you can and want. It will pay off on race day.” I slogged through the rest of the run. I even ran through a few of the neighbor’s sprinklers as I finished.
Sunday – Final Day of Fun
Work wasn’t as easy Saturday as it was the previous one. It was about an 11 ½-hour-work day. I still was up at 5:30 a.m. I fixed my coffee and light breakfast. Around 7:15 a.m. I was out in the driveway doing my dynamic stretches and getting ready to venture to a new route to me.
While I was at work Saturday evening I felt some tightness in my upper right quad and hip. After the dynamic stretches and as I made the turn from Olive Branch Road on to Skyline Drive I felt my leg loosen up. I basically had run the same path up Skyline as I did at the beginning of Friday’s run. My watch beeped at the completion of first mile on the south end of “horseshoe” on Skyline Court. 7:51! I yelled out – “THE WHAT!” Not the pace I wanted for the beginning of this 10-mile run. Maybe I was excited because it was sunny, 73 degrees and the humidity again made the air feel like I was drinking it. This was definitely another long run to cherish my mantra – “Runners are made in the summer.”
I was between miles two and three when went around the middle school. I was between the school and its football field when I looked down at my watch. The pace was jumping all over the place. It went from 7:35 down to 6:00 to 4:30 to 3:30 to even 1:50 before going back up – but my effort continued at the same level. It seemed to finally sync back into place when I got on the path that is parallel with Morgantown Road and eventually goes around the soccer and softball fields complex.
The heat map and pace chart from Sunday’s run. The black circle is where I ran around Center Grove Middle School and the brief moment my watch went bizerk.
Following several people who live around me on Strava, they seem to enjoy this path that goes in front of the elementary school and the aforementioned soccer and softball fields complex. Along the path I was visited by two rabbits and squirrel. The latter almost meeting my right foot as it jumped out in front of me on the path. The path continues and winds into a neighborhood. I went through that neighborhood and an adjoining one back out to Stones Crossing Road. I crossed there and went around the high school’s athletic complex. For it being just past 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning there appeared to be quite the exciting baseball games taking place on both the varsity and junior varsity diamonds.
After getting out to that fast start, I yo-yoed my splits for the majority of the run. The miles alternated between 7:30 and 7:40 for the splits. I passed the CITGO sign at Don’s Garage between miles six (7:30) and seven (7:40). Of all things on this run, I went up the highest point in Johnson County – Sally Doty Hill – not once but twice amid miles seven and eight. I joked with Catharine after the run my main objective was to avoid “Big Ugly” on Mullinix Road this Sunday. So of course here I was going up the highest point twofold. The first time I went up the hill was going north on Morgantown Road. The second pass of Sally Doty Hill was going up Nottinghill Court in Kensington Grove.
Missed running by this sign June 19. Decided to go by it on my way up to Sally Doty Hill this past Sunday.
I went around the fountain roundabout in Kensington Grove. I was about to exit on to Stones Crossing Road for a short stretch back to Horizon Boulevard/Skyline Drive and the finish. I was forced to take a break because there was traffic coming in both directions making it impossible to cross the road.
Another difference from this run compared to the one last week – there was plenty of shade along Mullinix Road and Smokey Row Road to and from Stewart Farm. That wasn’t the case this Sunday. The shade was non-existent for about 90 percent of the run. Actually, I was glad for the small interruption. It allowed me to fully take in some much-needed Gatorade to finish the final mile and quarter.
Safely across and heading up and down the rolling hills of Horizon Boulevard/Skyline Drive, I was ready to finish the run. As I veered left from Skyline Drive to Birch Lane and eventually Brer Rabbit Drive I thought to myself – this was the last week of “fun running.” The serious part of this training segment for Mill Race Marathon started the next week with structured speed work on Tuesdays and tempo runs on Fridays.
I exited out of that part of “Cushing’s Hills and was on Olive Branch Road. The sprinklers in front of Calvert Farms were still on and I gladly ran through them as my watch sounded for the completion of my tenth mile. I stopped when the sidewalk ended at the entrance.
Checking the watch – yep – Week six means the fun is over. Time for the hard work to begin.
After I uploaded the run from my watch to the website, the one thing I was most impressed with was despite the up and down of the splits, the heat map was all blue. The pace chart (except for the one section around the middle school) was a complete flat line.
I posted the run on Strava, Twitter and Instagram as I drank my chocolate milk while eating my waffles and bacon. Of course, Catharine was the first to give me kudos and comment about the run on Strava. Finally, my routine seemed to be back to normal.
After my Sunday long runs, I have a routine – sync my Garmin to Strava, drink chocolate milk while I stretch and foam roll with “The Stick,” shower and breakfast – more chocolate milk along with waffles (let go of my Eggos!), bacon (four to five strips) and coffee (with Deena Kastor’s secret ingredient of cinnamon sprinkled in the grounds during brewing).
What I also look forward to is my Runnin’ Sista Catharine – who I have mentioned quite frequently in this blog – being the first to give me “kudos” on Strava for the run. If the run appeared particularly spectacular to her, she’ll message me. Since I started working those ridiculous hours at “The World on Time” in February, her usual note reads, “WOW great run! How can you do that after working such long hours on Saturday?” I have been known to reply with a gif – One of them is from “Sherlock” when Moriarty comes out of the helicopter to the Queen song, “I Want to Break Free” at Sherrinford Island in the final episode. The other is Michael Jordan shrugging his shoulders after he had hit six 3-pointers against the Blazers in the 1992 NBA Finals.
My usual responses at times to Catharine’s messages about a long run on Sundays.
This past Sunday I ran up and down the rolling hills of Mullinix and Smokey Row Road to Stewart Farm and back. Upon my return I did my normal routine as mentioned above. This time though instead of waiting for Catharine to be quick with the finger and give kudos or send me a message, I sent her one.
“Please forgive the language.
BUT…
Hot damn that felt good!”
The run to Stewart Farm and back that day was 10.7 miles. Amid the hills and the heat that morning, I averaged my goal pace for the Mill Race Marathon. My shorts were soaked in sweat to the point I could wring them out.
Soaked in sweat after a strong run up and down Mullinix and Smokey Row Road to end Week 4 of Mill Race Marathon training.
Normally, Catharine is quick to respond. I ate breakfast while watching Dustin Hite’s message online via Facebook for that Sunday at First Christian Church of Bargersville. By the time communion was over, I still hadn’t heard from her. I don’t usually get worried when someone doesn’t instantly reply to me on Messenger but this time I was because it wasn’t like Catharine.
I started watching “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” I was about to fall asleep when the Messenger app on my phone dinged to notify me I had a message.
FINALLY!
It was from Catharine. She sent me three pictures – two which appeared to be a very broken ankle and another with said ankle in a cast almost up to her knee.
Yep, my Runnin’ Sista had suffered a dislocated ankle and three broken bones in her foot. A couple of unleashed dogs had charged by her. One of them with a leash got tangled up with her and she fell.
Catharine had been doing so well rehabbing from her most recent injury.
This was more than a setback. This was devastation to her ultimate dream of running the Boston Marathon on Oct. 11. The one where I was going to watch and follow her on the Boston Marathon app. The one where I was going to plug my laptop into my big screen like I did for “A Time & A Place,” watch for her to cross the finish line. I couldn’t wait to scream with excitement as she did. I knew I’d be crying as well while jumping up and down in the theater room.
None of that will happen this October because someone was irresponsible with their pets.
We had talked about how we were going to have two great experiences between Sept. 25 and Oct. 11. Me – as she along with some of our mutual friends have been thinking – FINALLY – running a marathon with the Mill Race Marathon on Sept. 25. Catharine, of course, fulfilling the dream of running the Boston Marathon on the new Marathon Monday – instead of Patriots Day this year but Columbus Day on Oct. 11.
I instantly had to go into my office from the living room and start crying. One of my sons was the only one home with me at the time. I can’t go into specifics, but it was better for me to let out the cry with this certain son not seeing it.
I don’t think I have cried that hard since the night I found my father dead in his bed on Sept. 9, 2010. Interesting enough this was Father’s Day. Catharine had worked so hard to get over one injury to run the CNO Financial Monumental Marathon in 2019. She was amazing that morning here in Indianapolis. Catharine qualified with a time of 3:55:41 – more than enough to qualify for her dream race.
All smiles after my Running Sister, Catharine, and I after she BQ’d at the CNO Financial Monumental Marathon in November 2019. Here’s to hoping Catharine and I are smiling again like this at a race in the near future.
Of course, COVID hit and there was no Boston Marathon in 2020. Then when they announced the window to register for this year’s Boston Marathon in October, Catharine fretted that her time from Monumental in 2019 would not be enough because of the reduced size of the field for the qualifiers and those running for various charities. I, along with several of our mutual friends, continued to tell Catharine her time would give her plenty of room to run the race.
The cutoff for this year’s Boston Marathon ended up being 7:47. That meant anyone in Catharine’s age group with a time of 3:57:13 or faster got into the famed race. Catharine was in this year’s race with 1:54 to spare from the cutoff time.
Then came her most recent injury. When I saw Catharine in April prior to her running the Carmel Half Marathon, you could tell her back and leg hurt. She powered through the race though and had a solid time despite the injury. Me being the sports-medicine-research junkie, Catharine explained to me what was happening. Through my inquiries, I told her it sounded like a possible stress fracture in her back. Even the doctor she went to said he was somewhat shocked with the results of the MRI when it showed she didn’t because “you had all the symptoms of possibly having one.”
The rehabilitation of this recent injury was going well. Following and messaging back and forth, it looked like she was in the process of building base mileage. I could tell in her words that she was getting ready to pick up the training. She was going to be ready to conquer the Boston Marathon course, especially those hills. She was looking forward to seeing the CITGO sign with a mile to go.
Now…
We wait and see how surgery goes and the time timetable of Catharine being able to run and seeing that finish line on Boylston Street.
After that, it was hard for me to stay excited about my run from earlier that day. When we returned from my Father’s Day lunch at a local pizzeria, all I wanted to do was lay on the couch in my office and continue to cry for my “sister.”
I couldn’t even get amped for the book “Inside a Marathon” by one of my favorite runners, Scott Fauble and currently my favorite coach in ALL of sports Ben Rosario – both, of course, with the Hoka One One Northern Arizona Elite. Plus my replacement band for my Garmin finally arrived as well.
My reading material for our upcoming trip to Atlanta for the Peachtree Road race and my replacement band for my Garmin watch.
Since “meeting” in the Coach Jenny Hadfield’s “Challenge,” Catharine and I truly have become the brother and sister we always wanted from a virtual standpoint. The best part though is how supportive and encouraging we both have been to each other whether it’s running related or not. We have had our fair share of happy moments, but there’s also those times when she’s been that “big” sister and letting me know I needed the appropriate attitude adjustment.
It’s also funny how most of our other friends call her Cathy and I constantly call her Catharine. I don’t know if it’s because I had a great aunt named Catharine or I do it to be that annoying little brother in hopes that she doesn’t like it – HA!
Crack-Boom-Zap
I missed my first run of this training on Saturday. My alarm clock didn’t wake me at 4:45 a.m. the boom of thunder and the crackling of lightning did. The lightning even zapped the electricity for a brief moment. Wendy tapped me on the shoulder and asked, “You going out in that this morning?” “Nope,” I replied. “It’s only three easy miles any way. Not like I would be missing a tempo or long run.”
Missing three easy miles regardless at any point in training is not going to make or break the goals I have set for the Mill Race Marathon.
Despite the fact I FINALLY worked less than 12 hours for a Saturday at “The World on Time” for the first time since February and the sun was still out (thank you Daylight Savings Time), I decided not to lace up the shoes to run those three miles in the evening. Felt it best to rest up and be ready to attack Mullinix and Smokey Row the next day.
Fridays at Cushing’s
After leaving my subdivision and running to Cushing’s is located, I didn’t run up Brer Rabbit first. I decided to be different and run up the Skyline side of “Cushing’s Hills.” When I rounded the “horseshoe” of Skyline Court and made the turn back on to Skyline Drive, my watch beeped a time of 7:51 for the first mile. I made the turn just past Bob’s Court and headed back up and down the inclines of Horizon Boulevard/Skyline Drive. I had just grabbed my water bottle off my hydration belt when my watch beep again between Kathie Court and Tony Court with a split of 7:19. My thought was – either I am going to fall apart at some point later or I was going to battle for a consistent pace.
Consistent splits it was. Getting back up Skyline Drive I went from a 7:16 third mile to a 7:18 for the fourth. I made the turn again just south of Bob’s Court and it hit me – it was June 18. If my dad were still alive he would have been 82 last Friday. I could feel I had begun to push the pace. Thinking about my dad’s birthday, Father’s Day, and the fact both parents have been gone for 14 and 11 years, respectively, I think I instantly began running harder to not get depressed. I went into a serious saddened time after my dad died in 2010. I barely slept. Actually, I’d go days without sleeping. I completely shut down. All I wanted to do was watch television, read books, and work the games I was still under contract for as a high school basketball official – and I did all I could to give as many of those games back or have my partners find replacements for me.
At the south end of the “horseshoe” on Skyline Court after another crushing of “Cushing’s Hills”
It got to the point Wendy forced me to go to a psychologist. Thanks to him along with a two-week trip to Disney World and the beach in May of 2011, I believe saved me.
Anyway, I looked down at my watch as I got to Kathy Court and saw I was under 7-minute pace. I reached the fork in the road where Skyline Drive and Birch Lane meet. I finished the fifth mile with a 7:13 split. I veered to Birch Lane and then down Brer Rabbit to finish the run.
Despite the overcast skies that morning, going through the sprinklers in the front of my subdivision again was a great way to cool off from another strong run at Cushing’s Hills.
The Path is Destroyed
I don’t know what it is about Thursdays, but I can never decide on a route. Am I going to run the big loop I have plotted in my subdivision which is 1.12 miles? Am I going to run the “It’s Exactly 1-Mile” loop in my subdivision? Am I going to run an out-n-back to Innisbrooke? Am I going to run through Deerwood and maybe see “Boston Brian?” What about the new subdivision still having houses built in it and Brookhaven – which had the nice 1/3 of a mile path in the back of it? I say had because the construction of the “western regional interceptor” through that part of Brookhaven, they completely took out the north end of the path. I enjoyed having that path. It made it easy to run a warm-up from my house to the path prior to the workout scheduled that day – if it was repeats such as 400s, 800s, mile, etc. After the completion of the workout, I could run back to my house for an easy cool down. I ran on the dirt of what used to be the path Thursday, but it wasn’t the same. It also doesn’t look like they are going to rebuild the north end of the path any time soon.
The north end of the path in Brookhaven that no longer exists. It was the perfect place to do various distance repeats during training.
Typical Tuesday
Knowing Wednesday would be its typical off day from running, I let it rip on Tuesday. I ran the big loop around my subdivision. All the while thinking of what Frank Shorter said last year during the Zoom meeting with Ben Rosario sponsored by JackRabbit by running loops. Shorter is right the big loop – about 1.125 miles around from the crack in the street in front of our house – it does go quicker and doesn’t feel like it takes that long. It definitely didn’t feel like it took long on this Tuesday.
After what felt like a pedestrian 7:56 first mile, I picked up the pace. The watch beeped as I ran from the new section back into our section of the subdivision with a 7:15 split. Pick it up a little more I decided. Before I knew it, I had zipped up the incline by my friends Chad and Stacey’ house, back into the new section and down Champion Way with a time of 7:04. Well, why not, let’s go a little faster. This time into the new section where Angel View Way merges into Champion Way, I had broken the sub-7 barrier with 6:52. Time to finish it. Around Champion Way on to Harness Drive back to Golden Field Drive to Angel View and as I got to the crest of the incline by Chad and Stacey’s, my watched beeped for the end of the fifth mile and 6:44. I ran a few more feet to finish at the corner of Angel View and Surry Lane.
All smiles after a hard five-mile run on a Tuesday morning. Still about a week away from the real speed work to begin.
I walked home with a smile on my face knowing I had a solid run going into the off day. I felt good about how the rest of the week was shaping up regarding my training.
Mondays with Ryan
It seems Monday’s runs with Ryan are used to get him used to running in the heat. We got out about mid-morning and the temperature was already scorching 79 degrees and the sun beating down on us. Prior to going out, Ryan again asked me what kind of run was planned for the five miles. I said same as always – easy.
We were heading toward the entrance off Mullinix Road when I had to stop. I couldn’t clear my throat and couldn’t stop coughing. We stopped right at the entrance of the parking lot to St. Francis & Clare of Assisi Roman Catholic Church and School. Once I thought I had it under control, we continued on with the run. This loop I created through our neighborhood is about 2 1/3 miles long. We stopped at the crack in the street for a quick water stop. We went back around and this time through the church parking lot and down the sidewalk that’s parallel with Olive Branch Road to the entrance of our subdivision.
When we made the turn on to our street, I looked at Ryan and said, “Time to attack! It’s a race to the crack in the road and the finish.”
I actually think he beat me by the length of a hand.
Ryan racing past the crack in the street on our regular Monday run.
Rueff Report 