Hello Gents..! Well ive not ran one step since the Tokyo marathon but I have signed up for the Denver marathon for 14 October. That will give me just over three months to train. This time im gonna shoot for under 4 hours & hopefully make it by doing less short runs and more longer/faster training runs.
take care & ill keep you posted!
from my first ever marathon race. my time was about 4hr 12min on my watch and 4hr 17min on the official clock. it was COLD and raining at the start, I was soaked before i even ran 1 meter.
I think i saw a few of you right around the 16, 17k mark (you guys were at about 12, 13k). Christioph, if it was in fact him, was jogging methodically & had a determined look on his face, a few hundred meters behind was Reza and Paul looking fresh on a brisk fall walk. Then just behind them was Joe, he had a roll in one hand & a bottle of water in the other and hes was running, so im not sure how or why he was behind Reza & Paul?
Well im glad its finished… and im REALLY looking forward to the everyones posts. ; -)
here are some pictures of the race a friend took…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68492719@N00/show/
Gents the time has come! I ran 28 k on the 6th of Feb, and since then ive been resting & thinking positive!!
I got some new skids after the half marathon & they really feel good. The 28k was the first long run I didnt have blisters afterward, so im hoping the new shoes help keep me fresh on Sundays journey.
good luck to everyone… ; -)
Today was the day for the half marathon which I wanted to think of as a benchmark for my progress for the big race in 3 weeks. Before i talk about today’s race….. i just want to say to Paul & Graham - its not how well you run the race, but how well you blog the experience that counts!! I enjoy reading both of your posts and want to nominate each of you for post race recognition/awards:
Most informative blogs – Paul, for all the valuable info (jumpers knee, norovirus) & great graphics (Homers brain, jumpers knee, running shoes, watch).
Most entertaining blogs – Graham, for such classics as ‘Blue’, ‘My knee is speaking to me’, ‘Cramp’ and of course his unique training philosophy…. ‘I am story believer in the power of rest and of positive thinking.’ : -)
Now about the race… it was packed with 4500 participants. At the start the running track was full half way around the stadium with runners standing a to b (asshole to belly button). The course was laid out in 3 laps, the first was 10k and then cut down to the same 5k course for laps 2 and 3. Two things stand out from the race that i didn’t expect, were the amount of people and the idea of not knowing where i was running.
For the entire race there were people right in front of me and right behind me, not once did i have the feeling that the pack had thinned or i was running on my own. Also because i didn’t study or understand the map, i had no idea where we were going. It was a little strange to be running a race and not know where i was racing too.
I ran pretty hard the first 10k lap, and started thinking that I may run out of gas if i didn’t slow down. After the 10k mark I made a conscious effort to slow down & get my wind back. I noticed a LOT of people running by me on that 3rd lap and i was wondering how many I would be able to catch before the race was finished. A bit after the 15k mark I felt good and picked up the pace, so I slowly started passing many of the people who just ran by me. I made a real effort not to look at my watch during the run…. so i don’t know my times at 10 or 15k, but when i got to 20 i had to take a look. 1 hr 38min. I was pleasantly surprised and felt good about the run into the stadium, around the track to the finish line.
My official time was 1hr 44min, but the time on my watch (from when I crossed the start and finish lines) was 1hr 43 min. I ran the race with Andy & I think he finished at 1hr 53min, he had a personal best for his time to the 20k mark and until today he had never ran over 20k, so that was also a personal best distance for him.
just want to wish everyone a happy new year & post a brief update on my lack of progress. Ive been sick twice the past two weeks, and on vacation in Manila now. Im not doing any running here so I will be going on a crash course to get ready for the race over the remaining 50 days. Actually, i wont do much training the last 10 days before the race so that should leave me about 40 days of training.
Seems we are all pushing the limit a bit more as the race gets closer & closer. Congrats to Joe K for breaking the 15 k barrier and reaching 20k!!! I just want to be sure & avoid that ’serial’ universe Paul mentions below… it sounds painfull and is likely that everything moves very slow. ; -)
I started off for a run today at about 11am the weather was nice although a bit on the chilly side. I wasnt sure how far i would go but was leaning to the idea of a run in the morning & another later in the evening.
The course where i run is along the Sumida river a few blocks from my aparment. It not a straight shot as i have to cross a few bridges were two rivers branchs meet. When i get the to end, I just turn around and go back the same way… so im essentially running back & forth like an idiot.
I like running there as the view is quite nice, the paths are wide and un-obstructed, no stop lights or streets to cross, and not many people running, walking, or biking. Im not certain how far it is but im estimating it to be about 4k based on my times.
Sooo… today didnt start so well because my legs were feeling very tight on the very first lap. Not sure why but they just didnt feel ‘fresh’ even though I have only been running twice a week lately. I felt much better on laps 3, 4, & 5, and the weather was still nice… so i decided to see how far i could go.
I stopped a for a few short water breaks and some quick stretches on laps 6 and 7, but i was really really getting tired and hungry. For a split second i had aspirations of going a full 10 laps(40k), but my knees & feet were having none of it today. I stopped at 8 and had to sit on a park bench for a good 20 mins before I could muster up the energy to walk home.
32k – 3 hrs 20 min 37 sec
