Five Year Flashback

June 17, 2004:
Not to the day, but sometime around this date.
This is what it was like.
Two years ago in 2002 I ran my first 10K. It was the Heritagefest run in New Ulm, MN. My very first road race of any sort. I don't know what my time was, but I remember other parts of it well. I hurt for days afterward. But there was a flicker, a spark of something within me that made me want to try it again.
You see, now I'm a seasonal runner. My goal is to do the Heritagefest 10K again. Every June, I get out and run for a bit. Run a mile, walk a bit, run a little more. Mary got me going on this. I can't run the full 3.5 mile route up to County Road 29 and back without stopping, but in the next couple of weeks...I should be able to work up to it.
The 10K is coming up next month, but it seems like the training gets tougher every time. I'm 2 years older than my first 10K. I'm 43 years old now, weighing a bit heavier than the year before. Somewhere around 180 lbs. I'm not fat, but I've got love handles and size 31 jeans are a bit snug.
The training runs are slower than last year. But I'm older. My best days are long behind me.
I get 2-3 runs in per week and end up being able to run the entire 3.5 mile route PLUS an additional mile without stopping on my final training runs.
On July 17, 2004, I ran the Heritagefest 10K.
I thought I did pretty good. Got through the entire distance. Official time was 52:51.94

It was in the paper. I still have that race result pinned on my bulletin board.

I stuck around for awards, thinking that I might have a chance for an age-group award. Nope, there were guys in their 40's kicking my butt.
But, Mary ran the two mile and placed in her division.
I felt beaten, I got down on myself and didn't run any more that year.

June 17, 2009:
Here I sit - 5 years later, with tears in my eyes reminiscing about my early running days.
Grandma's marathon is in 3 days.
I am not down on myself anymore.
I've run nearly 10,000 miles in the last 4 years.
I have a goal and I am prepared.
Sub 3:00:00
I am not beaten......I am going to do it.

A FANS-tastic weekend

Saturday, June 6, 2009 (6:30 AM)Legends 5K:
Mary and I went to Deephaven to take in the Legends 5K on Saturday morning. We got there around 6:30AM, and there was enough time to take a warmup jog. Didn't recognize any people that I knew, but visited with a runner named Jim before the race. As we were lining up, I saw Rob on his bike. He had come over to watch the race, biking to several points on the course.
The 10K and 5K run the same course up to 1.55K, where the 5K turns around. We got started, and there were 7 runners that shot out ahead of me right away. Got into a steady pace around 5:50/mi. A couple of the runners came back to me after a half mile, but there was one really fast guy that disappeared out of sight. Got to the turnaround, was in 4th place, and saw that only 1 guy ahead of me turned around.
I was in 2nd place?!? Rob showed up and hollered that I was reeling him in. I told him it sucks to run fast. This is why I don't run many 5K's.
Got to the final 400 meters and the leader (found out it was Paul Brown) continued on the Minnetonka trail. I followed him for 100 meters and finally realized that we were off course. I back-tracked and got onto the street. At that point, Mac (a 19 y.o. X-country runner from Valpo) caught me. I pushed real hard to the finish and crossed the finish line 3 seconds ahead of Mac. I explained the situation to the race director and told him that I would not have been able to catch Paul.
There was a pancake breakfast and Legends ceremony after the race. Left there with a 2nd place trophy and a time of 18:52 for a Garmin-measured 3.26 miles.
The fast guy ran a 31:40 10K - wow!
FANS 12/24 hour (noon):
After visiting with Jessica, Matt, Noah and Travis in Edina for a while that morning, it was time to move on. Mary was going to travel back home with Noah, and I was going to spend some time at FANS.
Got there about noon, and saw Adam on the course. It was raining, but not too hard yet. Didn't even change shoes or take off my jacket - just started running with Adam. We visited quite a bit and he was doing very well. His mood was great and he was running smoothly. Adam told me that John Storkamp was attempting the 12 hour record and that he was really going fast.
Next lap I ran with Dave, Rolf and Greg from WI. I got to know these guys at Lean Horse last year. Good to see them again.
After that lap, I went to my truck. On the way, I met Helen and visited a bit. I saw her running with Storkamp just earlier and asked how he was doing. She said he was starting to slow down a bit. but hey, this was now 5 hours into the run - of course he's going to slow up a bit. I got to the truck and put some running gear on. Plus, warmed up a bit. Soon I found out that getting rained on combined with the cool temps and wind would be pretty tough conditions.
Put on the water belt, and started running the course opposite direction. Met up with John and ran with him a bit. I told him I could stay out here a while, just tell me to get lost if you don't need anyone around. He said it was good.
We didn't talk much. John was so focused. He was already in pain. 7 hours to go. You really can't say anything. We ran. At times we stayed under 8:00 miles, but the going got real tough. We'd get to the lap counter table and people would cheer him on. Let's go do it again. Mid afternoon the rain came down harder. The wind blew stronger. Going across the bridge was the worst, with the wind coming from the east across Nokomis.
Paul, Helen and Alicia were crewing for John. They restocked him and kept pouring fuel into him. And then we'd run again. John's stomach got real tight after the crew area. His extreme effort was tying up his stomach. But he always came back fighting. I have never witnessed a person that can dig so deep within to push that hard.
That's John Storkamp.
I ran 6 1/2 laps with John. We had slowed down to 9:00+/mile pace now. Eric was now going to run with him (Later I found out that John ran over 80 miles).
I went back to my truck. I was shivering and soaked. Changed into some dry clothes and warmed up with the heater on high.
FANS 12/24 hour (7:30 PM):
It was time to get to Aid Station #2, where I was going to work until 2:00AM. Learned where everything was and what to do. Worked the shift with Amber, who is a past recipient of the FANS program - how cool is that? While at the aid station, got to know a lot of the runners. So many really great people.
And then there was Mike Henze. What can you say? This guy just keeps going and going and going. Absolutely incredible. We got a call at 11:25PM. Mike has just left the lap counter and is on his way to hit 100 miles.
The 100 mile sign is outside our tent. We need to write down and sign the official time. Take the Coleman lantern out and here he comes. Official time of 15:40:31 for 100 miles!
That alone would make an extremely fast 100 mile time, but this guy was just getting going - more than 8 hours to go.
Worked the aid station until 2:00AM and needed some sleep. Made a cozy spot in my truck and slept until 6:30 AM.
FANS 12/24 hour (7:00 AM):
This is when the place starts buzzing again. The final hour. Runners making their decision to run another long lap or start with the short laps. Logan from Edmonton came through at 7:10 AM and didn't know what to do. By looking at the leader board, it looked like he was in 5th place. He was asking questions about his placement and a bit confused about the long/short laps. I ordered him to start a long lap - I'll catch up and explain. The two guys ahead of him had hit the medical tent a while back.
Logan was in 3rd. I caught up to him, introduced myself, and explained the situation to him. He had plenty of time for a long lap. Short laps suck, and he'll get to do plenty of them yet. Logan was able to run yet. In fact we ran the whole way around the lake - he probably didn't realize that. It was slow, but probably his fastest lap in the last 6 hours. Nice guy - he had lots of stories to tell.
After we got back, I just hung by the lap area and cheered on runners in the last 20 minutes.
Absolutely amazing.
In the final 10 minutes, Fast Eddie finished off a long lap that was his 2,000th FANS mile in 20 years. I got tears in my eyes. He's 69 years old now and ran 99 miles.
Eddie inspires.
John Miles Olsen and his friends. 13 years old. Visited with him a bit at night. Great young man who is talented, polite and humble. Got the endurance gene from his mother Sue. She started him out a bit early - like before he was born.
John Miles inspires.
Mike Henze - what can you way. 147.2 miles in 24 hours. Game plan was perfect.
Mike Henze inspires.
So many other runners/stories at FANS, I can't do it any justice writing here.
All in all - a FANS-tastic weekend.

Another successful benchmark effort

The last few weeks of training have gone well for me. The legs were feeling pretty fresh, only two days after a pretty good fast-finish long run on Saturday.
I've been itching to get out and race a little bit, so Mary and I went to Mankato today for the 10 Kato run, which is held every Memorial Day in Mankato, MN.
I've run this course twice before, and it is not an easy 10K. It features a 190 ft. drop in elevation(miles 3.7 to 4.2) and then back up the 190ft. in the next 1.8 miles. That makes it a 3.6% grade which isn't too bad, but it is taxing on the legs at that stage of the race.
I started out near the front, and a lot of runners zipped out very fast. I was probably in 20th place at the half mile mark (which I hit in 2:51 - waaay too fast).
Soon I settled into a nice 6:00 pace and started picking off runners.
Hit the 4 mile (cruising down the hill yet) in 23:50 - yowsers!?!?!
Shortly after that came the long climb up the hill (Glenwood Ave).
It was tough, but didn't go any slower than 6:25 going up the long hill.
And, I was still able to see the leaders, but really couldn't gain any ground on them.
Finished in 4th place overall in 37:23 - only 1:11 behind the winner.
My prior PR at the 10K distance was 39:59 - so crushed it by 2:35
Here's a HR and elevation chart of the race.

Mary also ran a PR today (52:56), so her training is coming together very well.
Got to visit with some old and new running friends today.
Grandma's Marathon is less than 4 weeks away now.
Time to focus on maintaining quality training and diet. After that, a slow taper into goal race day.
John

Success at New Prague Half!

Yesterday, Mary and I went to New Prague, MN to run the half marathon there.
This will be a short and sweet race report.
First of all, Schmoopie had a great day, setting a new PR!
She ran 1:55:06, wiping out her previous PR of 1:58:03 set 2 years ago!
It was a late decision for me to run this, but thought it would work as a "benchmark" race. My goal was to run around 1:26, as this is the time that most of the race predictor calculators will equate to a 3 hour marathon.
I ran the first 4 miles alongside Sonya Decker, she ended up winning the women's overall.
The pace felt good, and I drafted/used a couple runners ("Jake" and "Butch") when the wind got strong from miles 7-12.
Just before mile 12, I dropped the proverbial hammer.
My lap split from mile 12 to 13 showed a 5:46 and the Garmin showed a bit faster.
Came in at 1:24:06 for 9th/663 overall and 1st place AG in M45-49.
Smashed my prior PR of 1:27:00!
This was a real confidence booster for me.
It was a fantastic day!
John

Good luck Sis!

This weekend, my sister Joja Jogger is running her very first ultramarathon. Turns out she wanted to do something "special" for her 50th birthday.

She'll be running the Lake Waramaug Ultra Marathon 50K in New Preston, CT.

I think she has what it takes to do this.

Good luck Sis!

I'm going to post a picture here, as I've accomplished one of my goals in preparing for Grandma's. I really like how it feels to have less body weight (except when running into the wind).

Just a Training Run??

Today, Mary and I ran the Earth Day races in St. Cloud, MN.
Mary chose the Half marathon and I ran the 20 miler.
I went into this planning to run as a fast finish long run.
The goal simply was to run the first 10 miles at 7:20 pace and then at mile 10 I would try to stay under goal marathon pace (6:52/mile) and then finish strong.
The weather was great. About 52F and a good breeze out of the ENE.
I started out and had a little trouble finding my pace, but soon settled in. I ran alongside a steady runner named Rod and he was running a similar pace. I visited with him quite a bit and we drafted each other when the breeze got a little too strong. The miles went by in a hurry.
Here are the splits:
7:26, 7:13, 7:07, 7:12, 7:15, 7:05, 7:15, 7:19, 7:12, and 7:17.
So, the 10 mile split was an average of 7:14/mile - not too far off the original plan.
I said goodbye to Rod and wished him a strong finish as we parted ways at mile 10.
I found it quite easy to get onto marathon pace and it was uplifting to start to pass runners as I really enjoyed the faster pace.
I found myself moving a little too fast, but was still feeling very comfortable, so I stayed with it.
Passing other runners was kind of a game now, as I would always look for a strong runner way ahead of me and just try to close the gap.
Soon it was mile 18 and time to see if there was anything left in the tank. I pushed a little harder and worked really hard the last mile.
Finished in 2:18:34 for 12th place overall and 2nd place in the M45-49 age group.
The last splits were:
6:44, 6:44, 6:38, 6:45, 6:45, 6:36, 6:44, 6:38, 6:29, and 6:10.
That comes out to be an average of 6:37 for the final 10 miles.
This run was a great confidence booster - maybe the sub-3 marathon really is possible!?!?
Mary finished in 1:58:26, just missing her PR by 22 seconds!!
Yea, it was a good day!
John

Thinking of Zumbro

I was just thinking about the runners that are at Zumbro right now. Matt P is running the 100K and maybe he has finished already. I think he will do great - can't wait to hear from him.
Steve Q is running the 100M option. I really worry about Steve and how many times he falls while running. I saw him last year at Afton after falling. He's one tough competitor! Please stay upright, Steve!
I just finished my FFLR and it was a success. 12 miles at 7:55 and then 7 more miles.
6:51, 6:46, 6:50, 6:43, 6:43, 6:44 and 6:31.
It went well.
Next Saturday, Mary and I go to St. Cloud for the Earth Day runs. Mary will run the 1/2 and I will run the 20 miler as a fast finish training run.