Running with the Stars

 Jared has been participating in the after school program "Running with the Stars" for the past several weeks.  He really works hard at this program and has done extremely well.  

His first accomplishment was winning the 4th grade Turkey Trot this past November.  His prize, a 23 lb turkey that he brought home and we had for Thanksgiving dinner!  I believe that's the first time he's contributed to putting food on the table.

He's been practicing a couple times a week after school.  Basically, this means he runs around the school field non-stop for one hour.  He's a little feisty and competitive with wanting to come in first place.

This past weekend was the finale to the program.  The event is a 5k run out in Ashburn, VA.  Of course the program calls for a buddy runner and Daddy was up for the challenge.  Timing of this event wasn't so good, as I just rode the Casa River Century in West Virginia the day before.  But what the heck, aren't we all still young?

Pre-Game Photo

Finishing Times:  Jared 25:04    Daddy 27:37

Very proud of Jared.  I just couldn't keep up with him.  He shot off from the starting line and never bothered looking back for his "Running Buddy".

Post finish dessert: Colossal donut from SFW

Runners with their fan base

Here are the official running results: http://www.runningwiththestars.com/index.php/results/spring-2012

Here is the Garmin result from my run: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180099300

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National Half Marathon - Check!

This morning was the National Half Marathon run which starts at RFK stadium. A 5am alarm went off and surprisingly I was able to get out of bed easily.  Guess it helped to go to bed at 8PM.  D-Salazar came to pick me up around 5:30am and off we went.  34 degrees and dark ... lovely.

I was fairly intimidated by this event, as my training runs consisted of 4, 5, and 6 miles.  One time I went 9 miles.  I just wasn't sure what was going to happen attempting 13.  The whole reason for this run was a deal with D-Salazar.  I run a half marathon, and he rides a century (100 miles).  I definitely think that he got the easier end of the deal.

The first 3 miles were fairly uncomfortable.  It'd been 11 days since I ran and everything felt heavy.  I did like running with the crowd, hearing everyone cheer on the sides, and the energy in the run.   D-Salazar and Mickey were already ahead of me and getting further ahead.

Around 5 and 6 miles I was thinking this was about as far as I can comfortably go so I started getting nervous.  All of sudden, out popped D-Salazar from the side of the road to join me on the run.  He didn't manage his fluid intake very well and had to pee for the entire first 8 miles.  He bailed from the porta-potty line when he saw me running up.  He later found an empty alley around mile 8.

Surprisingly, miles 7-11 were absolutely blissful.  I have no explanation for this but it felt like I was soaring down the road, feeling no pain, and for the first time actually enjoyed the running.  I was actually thinking "How hard can a full marathon be?"  That thought didn't last long.

Around 11.5 I had to stop to tie my shoe.  When I took off again, p-ting!  My left calf got the same tweak that put my training on schedule on hold twice.  I was thinking oh-man!  The last couple miles took more effort than I have put out for quite some time .. possibly ever.  It was hard, and I knew that if I stopped then I wouldn't be starting again.  It hurt, but I made it to the finish line and got my medal (~10 minutes ahead of D-
Salazar!)  My pace was around 10 minute miles.

My running days are officially behind me.  Many miles ahead on my bike!

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Half-Marathon Training Week 7

7 weeks in and I've done a tremendous amount of running ... too much running in fact.  One of my goals during this endeavor was not to injure myself.  I've been fortunate to only have dealt with usual soreness and two left calf strains.  Calf strains seem to pop up when I'm pushing the run uphill.

My longest run was 9.1 miles from my house down around Lake Accotink.  It was just a wee bit to far for me at the end of week 5.  There was a little walking at the end, but the hills are very demanding at the end of the run. My follow up 5 mile run was really aggressive and that's when the 2nd calf strain kicked in, 1/4 mile from finishing the run.  I rested 1.5 weeks and ran 4.4 the other day with fine success.

I'm having a hard time finding motivation to keep running.  I have been spending considerable time on the bike rollers as supplement training. However, there's very little I can take from biking to running.

At this point, almost 4 weeks from the event, I've decided I'll do my best at finishing the training .. but there's going to be a price to pay on race day.  The longest run I expect to achieve will be 10 miles. Thankfully, all my training has been hilly, and the race is dead flat.  I'm hoping that works to my benefit.

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Half-Marathon Training Week 1

This is the first official week of a 10 week training regiment for the half-marathon in late March.  Last night I completed the second run of the week, a short 3 mile loop through the community.  The first run was 3 miles 2 nights ago.  The first time was a slow 31 minute jaunt which was lowered to 29 1/2 last night.  Plus, last Saturday I went out for a 5 mile jaunt with D-Salazar around Burke Lake Park.

I've decided this is hard work.  Any single run isn't that big a deal, but repeated runs start wearing on ones commitment.  There are a lot more miles ahead and I'm sure hope it gets a bit easier.

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Run/Bike

Feeling good from my first new day at Guident, I took to the blacktop for a little running.  Next week is the official kick-off for the half-marathon training in late March.  I marched forward for about 3 miles last night, but was forced to walk a little with tightness in the right calf.  After getting home and feeling a little wimpy, I took to the recumbent for 25 minutes on level 5.

To my surprise, I can actually move around and get out of my chair just fine today!  An internal debate on whether to run again tonight is currently going on in my brain.

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I Qualified !!!

D-Salazar and K-Lance Post Race

The need for cross-training has led me to the running world with my friend D-Salazar (aka Danimal, aka Danny Clarke).  My near term running goal is to compete in a half-marathon in late March next year.  I tried to register for the event and learned that I need a qualifying run.  Why put off tomorrow what can be done today?

I woke up early this am to participate in the 8k Drumstix Dash race at Burke Lake Park.  On the way over to pick up D-Salazar, I kept thinking "52 minutes or bust!"  That's the required qualifying time for the half-marathon.  So I haven't run since early Spring ... how big a deal is an 8k?

The race started out with a quick pace resulting in a 7 min 16 sec first mile.  I think the 2nd mile was about 8:15 and miles 3 through 5 got progressively slower.  I've recently blogged about great ride support during my long bike rides.  Today I'm praising my quality run support by D-Salazar.  He waited when necessary, and let me walk a little bit ... very nice.  During the last mile he said, "K-Lance, just stay with me and we'll finish this last mile with plenty of time to spare."

Sure enough, K-Lance registered a 47 minute 23 second run thus placing me 25 out of 27 in my division.  Not sure what division means, but I'll take it.  D-Salazar registered a blazing time of 46 minutes 56 seconds.

Official race page: Drumstix Dash

I've got plenty of running ahead of me this winter if I'm going to hope to make 13 miles.  I can honestly say that I felt much better during the race at every point than I do now 5 hours later.

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