In a post a long time ago, I told yall I would be putting up a list of races for 2008. I have been somewhat busy and am finally getting around to doing it. I want to start by saying that I had a great time running last year. I had so much fun that it has inspired me to become an animal on the trail. I have decided to become more focused on distance over speed. I want to try to run at least one 50K or longer each month this year. I also would like to complete my first 50 mile race. By the fall of 2008 if all goes well, I would like to try a 100 mile race. This is a huge commitment because I work very long hours and I have a new born baby girl at home. I think that I am going to have to start running in the middle of the night or something. Hopefully, I will be able to stay injury free. Anyway, here is list of races that I have planned for 2008
February 16th- Sylamore 50K
March 1st- Mississippi 50 Mile
March 16th- Germantown Half Marathon (Sidebar- This was the first race that I ever ran. I took the 5K option and ended up with a 24:01. This year I am going to try to PR the Half Marathon. My current PR is 1:44:45)
April 6- Double Death Run 30 Mile (Note: I found this date somewhere on the Internet. It was not in a spot where I would normally look. However, it is always somewhere around the first weekend in April.)
April 26- Nashville Marathon (We went to Nashville last year and had a great time. I only ran the half marathon last year. This is a fun race with bands all along the course and great aid stations.)
May- I currently have nothing on the books for May. I would love to participate in one of the triathlon relays here in Memphis. The first day is a mountain bike triathlon and the second day is a regular triathlon. I did the mountain bike last year and almost quit before I got out of the swimming portion. So this year I am looking for relay partners. I want to do the running portion, I know a biker and I need a swimmer. The mountain bike tri is a 1/3 mile swim and the next day is 1.5 K. Let me know if there are any takers.
June & July- Nothing on the books.
August- Stanky Creek 50 Mile (I ran the 50 K last year. It was my first Ultra and it was hot. The temperature was 103!!!! I will be attempting the 50 Mile this year.)
September- Nothing on the Plate.
October & November- These are the two months where I will be hopefully attempting a hundred miler. The two races I am looking at are The Arkansas Traveller or the Cactus Rose. If anyone has any input on either of these race, I would love to her it.
Well, there you go. A list of craziness. It ought to be a great year.
Happy Trails To You Until We Meet Again
Michael
Friday, January 18, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
2007 Running Survey
I was tagged by Holly for a 2007 race questionnaire.
Most memorable moment on the trails in 2007.
The most memorable moment on the trails for 2007 is definitely finishing my first ever ultra marathon. I had never run over 24 miles. In fact, the closest I came was running up to the 24 miles and then hitting the wall. Holly was there to see me crash and burn and she also helped me by driving me home. (Thanks by the way J) Anyway, back to the first Ultra. It was in August in Memphis, the temperature was 103, and the humidity was outrageous. I was not sure if I could complete the race but was able to pull through with a little help from my friends and some race day magic. I ended up finishing at 6:55:17.
Best new trail discovered in 2007.
This is sort of a trick question for me. I started running in February of 2007. So basically, every trail was new to me in 2007. Next year iprobably will have a great answer for this question.
My best performance of 2007.
My best performance for 2007 would have to be the Memphis marathon. I signed up for the race just because it was in my hometown and I didn’t want to miss it. I had grown so fond of trail running that I had almost become a trail snob and had no desire to run the pavement. Leading up to the race my training began to suffer because I had a baby on the way and needed to get some stuff done before she arrived. However, to my surprise, I did a lot better than I thought. I was shooting for a time of around 4:00:00 and ended up with a 3:47:42. After that, I started to wonder what kind of time I could post with some training.
I don't know how I previously survived without...
There are several things that come to mind. Like I said, this was my first year to run. I started out with cotton t-shirts, white cotton socks, crappy shoes, no water bottle and no idea what was going on. I now have grown accustomed to my water bottle, my stretchy underwear (also known as “Mantees” on the trail), and of course the dry fit shirts.
The person I would most like to meet on the trails in 2008.
I would like to meet anyone who likes running. This sound pretty generic, but I am a pretty generic person. I will run with anyone.
The race I am most excited about for 2008. Right now, I am most excited about the Mississippi 50 miler. This race is on March 1. The furthest distance I have completed prior to now is 32ish miles. So this will be a first for the Squatting Bear and me. I can’t wait to see what happens.
This was a great survey. It was so great that I am going to tag Mike Hudson. By the way it was cool running into you on the trails and I will see you at the Swampstomper. I won’t be running but I will be there to cheer yall on.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Year in Review
Well, 2007 has come and gone. Its time to look back and decide if I wasted another year or actually enjoyed it while it was flying past my face. I had several resolutions for the past year. I can only remember a couple of them right now. The first was to become a better organized person. I was able to accomplish this at work. However, in my personal life I have decided that I really don't need or want that much structure. I didn't really decide that consciously until I wrote this but I think my brain subconsciously bailed out on organization long ago. The second resolution was to finish the many projects that I had started and let go idle. One of the projects was the arbor, it had several warped and cracked boards that needed to be replaced and stained. I completed this while I was still on top of my resolutions. The four other projects are lingering on the verge of completion. 1) Put cap blocks on the retaining wall beside the house 2) Register the boat, get life jackets and a throw able 3) Seal off several air leaks in the smoker and cut the grate out of expansion metal 4) Finish out the upstairs room (ohhhhh sooooo close). About three days of solid work and several hundred dollars to complete all these. I can't seem to remember the rest of my resolutions for 2007. Some highlights for the year include taking up running, Jim and Allison got married, Greg and Hallie got engaged, and me and Claire had our first baby on New Years Eve. Looking back on 2007, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed the great moments and forgot about all the crappy ones. HA HA. As far as this years resolutions, I have not yet decided on any. As you can see from above, I didn't really follow them anyway. If I do decide on some I will let you know.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Christmas Buzz.......
I was tagged by Claire http://chocolatey-clairebear.blogspot.com/ for this Christmas craziness.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bag? I always like the gift bag because you don’t have to tear it and you can reuse it next year.
2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial is way easier. It requires no watering, our cat doesn’t eat it, and you can put it up anytime you want. Plus, you don’t have to go out and purchase it every year.
3. When do you put up your tree? If you are in my mom’s house, then you start right after Thanksgiving and finish the day before Christmas. At our house Claire normally busts it out near Thanksgiving. She is on top of the seasonal décor.
4. When do you take down your tree? Once again if you are at my mom’s house, then you leave everything up for as long as you can because it takes so long to put up. We generally used to have everything up by Easter. At our house Claire gets it down with the quickness.
5. Do you like eggnog? I like the bourbon portion of eggnog.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don’t have one that jumps out at me. I did love my huffy, rollerblades were cool, and one time I got a box set of baseball cards.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yup, my mom got it for us.
8. Hardest person to buy for? I don’t really buy presents for people. Claire normally takes care of everything.
9. Easiest person to buy for? Claire, she always lets me know what she wants and loves everything chocolate
10. Worst Christmas gift you’ve ever received? I got a lot of crazy clothes.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Once again, Claire normally takes care of this area. Last year we made our own. They turned out pretty good but took a long time to craft.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? Christmas Vacation!!! Holy S@#%!!! Where’s the Tylenol?
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Claire starts after Christmas is over and goes throughout the whole year.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not to my recollection.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I like Chex Mix, Puppy Chow, Pies and I just love the ability to be able to pick from all the different dishes.
16. White or colored lights? I like small white lights and big colored lights.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Infant Holy, Infant Lowly. The choral arrangement is the best. All Christmas songs sound the best with mass choirs.
18. Traveling for Christmas or stay home? This year we are staying home because we are waiting on the babies arrival.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer's? Most of the time, but sometimes Donner escapes me.
20. Angel or Star on top of tree? Big shiny Christmas Star
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or Morning? We used to open up one present Christmas Eve which was always new PJ’s. Now we just open everything up on Christmas Day.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? I don’t like the crazy, hardcore shoppers or the crowded parking lots. I especially don’t like the parking lot Nazi’s who stalk you while you’re walking to your car.
23. What I love most about Christmas? I like all the food and the time off work.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bag? I always like the gift bag because you don’t have to tear it and you can reuse it next year.
2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial is way easier. It requires no watering, our cat doesn’t eat it, and you can put it up anytime you want. Plus, you don’t have to go out and purchase it every year.
3. When do you put up your tree? If you are in my mom’s house, then you start right after Thanksgiving and finish the day before Christmas. At our house Claire normally busts it out near Thanksgiving. She is on top of the seasonal décor.
4. When do you take down your tree? Once again if you are at my mom’s house, then you leave everything up for as long as you can because it takes so long to put up. We generally used to have everything up by Easter. At our house Claire gets it down with the quickness.
5. Do you like eggnog? I like the bourbon portion of eggnog.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don’t have one that jumps out at me. I did love my huffy, rollerblades were cool, and one time I got a box set of baseball cards.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yup, my mom got it for us.
8. Hardest person to buy for? I don’t really buy presents for people. Claire normally takes care of everything.
9. Easiest person to buy for? Claire, she always lets me know what she wants and loves everything chocolate
10. Worst Christmas gift you’ve ever received? I got a lot of crazy clothes.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Once again, Claire normally takes care of this area. Last year we made our own. They turned out pretty good but took a long time to craft.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? Christmas Vacation!!! Holy S@#%!!! Where’s the Tylenol?
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Claire starts after Christmas is over and goes throughout the whole year.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not to my recollection.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I like Chex Mix, Puppy Chow, Pies and I just love the ability to be able to pick from all the different dishes.
16. White or colored lights? I like small white lights and big colored lights.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Infant Holy, Infant Lowly. The choral arrangement is the best. All Christmas songs sound the best with mass choirs.
18. Traveling for Christmas or stay home? This year we are staying home because we are waiting on the babies arrival.
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer's? Most of the time, but sometimes Donner escapes me.
20. Angel or Star on top of tree? Big shiny Christmas Star
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or Morning? We used to open up one present Christmas Eve which was always new PJ’s. Now we just open everything up on Christmas Day.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? I don’t like the crazy, hardcore shoppers or the crowded parking lots. I especially don’t like the parking lot Nazi’s who stalk you while you’re walking to your car.
23. What I love most about Christmas? I like all the food and the time off work.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Marathon Debut!!!
Well, I have finally completed my first road marathon (St. Jude). Going into the race, I knew that I had not prepared enough. My running has been suffering from lack of attention. As talked about in my previous posts, I have a lot going on outside the running section of my life. For instance, there are only 17 days until the due date for the birth of me and Claire's first child Ella Kate. That's a whole different blog, back to the marathon. As I said, I was stringing together runs here and there on the weekends and barely training during the week. I was not sure how I was going to do in the marathon. My plan was to go slow and avoid injury. I started out running with John, Patrick and Vinnie. After about 2, 9:00 minute miles Vinnie and I turned around, and Patrick and John were lost in the crowd. I was a little hesitant running with Vinnie for three reasons. One, he was running the half marathon and I was doing the full. Two, we were running within sight of the 3:30 pacer. That seemed really fast. Three, I did not want to BONK! One thing that kept my thoughts positive was that Vinnie and I were talking the whole time. Neither of us were breathing heavy and everyone around us was sounding like they were breathing with one lung. We continued to run a pace of around 8:10 until Vinnie left me at mile 10 or so to finish up his race with authority. At this point I was alone for the rest of the race. I did see Holly at mile 12ish. Who by the way had a completely surprised look on her face. She almost missed getting my picture because I snuck up on her. As you can see below.
I also saw John Dodd at several aid stations along the way. Other than those two, Vinnie was my last contact with anyone until I made it to the finish line. My brain began to rationalize the miles left in front of me. I would think, "Okay half way finished", "Only ten miles to go". For the first part of the race we had stayed close to the 3:30 pacer and now some other pace groups were beginning to catch and pass me. I ended up following the 3:40 pace group for several miles until they started their push to the finish. The voice in my head kept telling me to walk and the other voice in my head would say, "You only have 6 miles left, just keep running". I was able to keep a decent speed until around mile 22, when I had to walk several hills. I did get passed by several people on these hills but I eventually passed them back before the end of the race. So I think this might have saved me a little. I had been eyeballing my watch for the second half of the race and was anticipating coming in at about 3:55ish. When I came down to the last 1.2 I looked at my watch and saw that I could come in under 3:50. I tried to make my legs turn over faster but they just kept the same beat they had been drumming for the past couple of miles. When I rounded the corner into the stadium, I was so excited to see the finish line because I was ready to stop. I ended up coming in at 3:47:42. That is 485th out of right under 2,000 runners. I am pretty pleased with my first marathon time. It makes me wonder how long it would have taken if I actually was able to devote a decent amount of time to training for the race. Hmmmm.......
Either way, I am excited for my time as well as the rest of the Memphis Ultra Running Group times. Holly ran in the 5K that morning and snagged 3rd Place in her age group with a 25:29. Vinnie busted out a Half Marathon Personal Best at 1:48:12. John and Patrick came running in at 4:08:ish to set the Personal Best for Patrick. Overall, it was a great experience.
On another note, soon I will be posting my race schedule for the up coming year. I think that I will be concentrating on more trail running and longer distances in year two of my running experience.
Anyway, yall have fun this weekend, maybe I will see some of you on the trails.
I also saw John Dodd at several aid stations along the way. Other than those two, Vinnie was my last contact with anyone until I made it to the finish line. My brain began to rationalize the miles left in front of me. I would think, "Okay half way finished", "Only ten miles to go". For the first part of the race we had stayed close to the 3:30 pacer and now some other pace groups were beginning to catch and pass me. I ended up following the 3:40 pace group for several miles until they started their push to the finish. The voice in my head kept telling me to walk and the other voice in my head would say, "You only have 6 miles left, just keep running". I was able to keep a decent speed until around mile 22, when I had to walk several hills. I did get passed by several people on these hills but I eventually passed them back before the end of the race. So I think this might have saved me a little. I had been eyeballing my watch for the second half of the race and was anticipating coming in at about 3:55ish. When I came down to the last 1.2 I looked at my watch and saw that I could come in under 3:50. I tried to make my legs turn over faster but they just kept the same beat they had been drumming for the past couple of miles. When I rounded the corner into the stadium, I was so excited to see the finish line because I was ready to stop. I ended up coming in at 3:47:42. That is 485th out of right under 2,000 runners. I am pretty pleased with my first marathon time. It makes me wonder how long it would have taken if I actually was able to devote a decent amount of time to training for the race. Hmmmm.......
Either way, I am excited for my time as well as the rest of the Memphis Ultra Running Group times. Holly ran in the 5K that morning and snagged 3rd Place in her age group with a 25:29. Vinnie busted out a Half Marathon Personal Best at 1:48:12. John and Patrick came running in at 4:08:ish to set the Personal Best for Patrick. Overall, it was a great experience.
On another note, soon I will be posting my race schedule for the up coming year. I think that I will be concentrating on more trail running and longer distances in year two of my running experience.
Anyway, yall have fun this weekend, maybe I will see some of you on the trails.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Memphis Ultra
We decided to start a new running group called Memphis Ultra. Currently we have seven members. This all came about after five of us took a trip to Chatanooga to participate in the Stumpjump 50K. We had such a good time and saw so many people from Memphis, that we decided we should start a running group. Right now, we are looking for anyone in the Memphis area who like to run long distances. We are going to try to set up a group run every weekend. Eventually we would like to show up at races all over the place and represent Memphis running. We are not hardcore. Our times range all over the board. We are more excited about finishing races than finishing them fast. If anyone is interested, you should definitely join us for a run and some cold frosty beverages. If anything you will get a cool running jersey.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Run Rabbit Run
Sorry its taken me so long to respond, but this is one of my most busy times of year at work and this year at home as well.
I am not really sure why I run? I have always been kinda sporty. I like the idea of sports minus the intense competitiveness some sports carry. I originally started training to surprise Drew and Holly by showing up at one of their 5K races. After I completed my first 5K and told them that I had started running, I decided to try and go a little bit farther. I decided my next race would be the Nashville half marathon. After I completed that, I decided I wanted to see if I could go farther. By the end of my first summer running I have completed 2 ultra marathons. As you can tell, my running has kind of snowballed into a mental & physical competition with myself to see how far I can go. I will be attempting a 50 mile race this march. Right now, I am running to see how far I can go.
There are a lot of things that keep me running. I like the look I get when I tell people, " I am only doing an 18 mile race this weekend".
I like to be the one who cleans the spider webs off the trails in the morning.
I like to run with a head lamp until the sun comes up and shines through the trees.
I like the solitude of running alone and I also like the camaraderie of running with a group of people.
I like the way my body feels when I am about to fall out after 26 miles (Its kinda euphoric).
I like the way everyone on the trail is so friendly. You can meet a person during a race and find out things about them that some of their closest friends don't know.
I like to see the occasional wildlife on the trail.
I also like to observe the subtle changes on the trail through out the different seasons. For instance, the mushroom that's been sitting there for two weeks or the tree that takes longer to loose its leaves, or the one area that is always boggy, or the area where its always foggy in the mornings. I love nature.
Most of all, I like the feeling of accomplishment when I cross the finish line.
I guess its really a combination of multiple factors that make me run. One day I might be able to give you a solid answer but for now its a little bit of everything above and some other stuff too.
I am not really sure why I run? I have always been kinda sporty. I like the idea of sports minus the intense competitiveness some sports carry. I originally started training to surprise Drew and Holly by showing up at one of their 5K races. After I completed my first 5K and told them that I had started running, I decided to try and go a little bit farther. I decided my next race would be the Nashville half marathon. After I completed that, I decided I wanted to see if I could go farther. By the end of my first summer running I have completed 2 ultra marathons. As you can tell, my running has kind of snowballed into a mental & physical competition with myself to see how far I can go. I will be attempting a 50 mile race this march. Right now, I am running to see how far I can go.
There are a lot of things that keep me running. I like the look I get when I tell people, " I am only doing an 18 mile race this weekend".
I like to be the one who cleans the spider webs off the trails in the morning.
I like to run with a head lamp until the sun comes up and shines through the trees.
I like the solitude of running alone and I also like the camaraderie of running with a group of people.
I like the way my body feels when I am about to fall out after 26 miles (Its kinda euphoric).
I like the way everyone on the trail is so friendly. You can meet a person during a race and find out things about them that some of their closest friends don't know.
I like to see the occasional wildlife on the trail.
I also like to observe the subtle changes on the trail through out the different seasons. For instance, the mushroom that's been sitting there for two weeks or the tree that takes longer to loose its leaves, or the one area that is always boggy, or the area where its always foggy in the mornings. I love nature.
Most of all, I like the feeling of accomplishment when I cross the finish line.
I guess its really a combination of multiple factors that make me run. One day I might be able to give you a solid answer but for now its a little bit of everything above and some other stuff too.
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