TEXAS Paul - Out to Pasture - Healing

Nice cool day in Austin, Texas, about 60 degrees.  We met at 5:00 AM at Karen F's home and ran through Austin down to Townlake and then down to the 1st Street Bridge, then back up through Austin and up LaMar to 29th Street, and back to Karen F's home.  A real nice run.  

We're going to run the Susan G Komen Race For The Cure 5K on Sunday morning.  Should be a nice race, just one week prior to the San Antonio Marathon next Sunday. 

My wife, Lynn, and my son, PD, went with me to the race this morning and we picked up Karen F on the way down. Last week was our Austin Oyster Adventure race where I joined Karen F and Karen H to take 2nd place in the co-ed division and 4th place overall.

Today was an awesome race day. I ran the best 5K race that I have run in 4 or 5 years. The past several years my 5K races have all run very close to a 22:40 time, but today I ran a 21:47.4, and actually averaged sub 7 minute pace at 6:59, giving me 1st place in my age group (60 - 64) out of 13 men. This pace would even have given me a 2nd place in the age group 10 years younger (50 -54) out of 39 men. The 2nd place runner in my age group was only 31 seconds behind me. A fun day for sure. This race pace gave me a 111th overall finish out of 1069 total runners. Any time I can finish basically in the top 10% of overall runners it has been a good day. I expect to finish in the top grouping of my own age group but finishing 1st place was especially satisfying.

My running partner, Karen F ran a real nice race at 22:53.7 giving her a 5th place in the women 45 - 49, out of 97 women, a great race. We saw several others from our Monday night speed group and everyone did real well today. Our friend Louis K took 1st place in the men 45 - 49.

We went to breakfast over at Maudie's and were joined by Sean, Melanie, and Angel from our support group from last week's race.  Only Joe was missing.. A great way to finish any running workout. This was the first time PD had been able to join us at Maudie's and he liked the Pete's Special (my favorite).

A warm evening in Austin, TX, about 85 degrees before the sun went down. Ran at McNeil HS with Donnie's group. Did 3 miles warm-up (2 with Earl and 1 with Karen F), then did drills, then did 10 each 200M runs with 50M recovery. Then did a mile cool-down with Karen.

A nice workout after racing yesterday and tapering for the San Antonio Marathon this next Sunday.

Wondering when Kory Wheatley will put up his race report from the Silicon Valley Marathon he ran yesterday.

A nice cool evening in Austin, TX, about 70 degrees.  We ran at Brushy Creek.  I did 2 miles warm-up at marathon pace, then we did drills, and then the workout over on the concrete path across the dam.  It was getting dark by the time we started the dam workout which was 3 repeats across the dam and back which is almost a mile loop.  I ran with Lemuel, Gordon, and Tom.  We ran a 6:50 pace the first repeat, and a 6:30 the second repeat, and a 6:45 the third repeat.  A nice workout.

Now it is finish the taper week for the San Antonio Marathon this weekend.   

Wow, they finally posted the results on the San Antonio Marathon web site and it turns out I took 1st place in my age group out of 22 runners. So out of my last 3 individual races (2 5K's and now this marathon) I took 1st place in each of them. Unexpected. All I did was run my guts out in each one. And in the middle of all these races Karen F and Karen H and I took 2nd place in the coed division of the Austin Oyster Adventure race. Too much. I honestly can't believe it.

Boston qualified for consecutive number 8 and 9 Boston. That was the primary goal and and I made it with a 6 minute cushion, thank goodness. This was the hottest marathon "race" that I have ever run. The race started at 7:00 AM in San Antonio, TX with a temperature already in the 70's at the start. We were lined up for the start and already had sweat beginning to drip. By the finish of the race the temperature was in the mid-80's.

I had a great support group at the race as Tam, Karen F and Karen H all drove down to San Antonio from Austin. Tam ran the entire marathon but I only saw him at the start and a little during the first couple of miles. Karen H ran the first 4 miles with me and did a good job of holding me back as we paced with the 3:45 pace group. Karen F had her bike and joined me later in the race.

After Karen H peeled off at the 4 mile mark I picked up the pace just a little and joined the 3:40 pace group and stayed with them up to mile 10. By then the temperature continued to rise and I was careful to get hydrated at the water stations by pouring water on my head and by drinking Gatorade. As I would take these walk breaks through the water stations after mile 10 the 3:40 pacers didn't do any slow downs and I started to have a gap between me and them.

Then about mile 12 the 3:45 pacers caught me which was a surprise so I just locked into them and stayed on their back to the halfway 13.1 mark. At the halfway mark I had about an 8 minute cushion on the imaginary Boston Qualifier Runner. I was sure glad that he was that far behind me.

After the 13.1 mile mark as I would do the water stop hydration routine the 3:45 pacers began to get a gap away from me. I wanted to stay close to them out to mile 20, but by mile 15 the gap kept widening and I decided that I had to just set my own pace and lock into it.

Karen F on her bike had joined me somewhere in this area and she told me that Tam was still in the race but was falling behind. She chatted and gave encouragement until I entered a park where they would not let the bikers go. Then as I looped the park for a couple of miles by the time I rejoined Karen F the 3:45 pace group was basically out of sight, somewhere about mile 18 or 19. I started focusing mentally on that illusive 20 mile mark and calculating the buffer of time I had on the imaginary Boston Qualifier Runner. I wanted to get to mile 20 with at least a 60 minute window to use for the last 10K of the race. Good news I arrived at mile 20 with a 64 minute 33 second buffer. I was convinced that a Boston Qualifier was in the books if I could just hold a strong effort for the last 10K.

The heat was taking a nice toll on all the runners and my good news was that I was keeping a pretty consistent pace and was passing runners. Most of the runners through this part of the race were pretty much holding their pace but there were some who had started suffering enough that they were falling back. Karen F was still there on her bike giving good encouragement and asking if she was being a nuisance or not. I thought it was fun for her to be able to see me struggle in the heat, yet still pass other suffering runners.

Karen F rode ahead as we approached mile 22 and joined Karen H who had run out to that mile marker to join us. So, the K's switched and KH got on the bike and KF joined me running the last 4.2 miles. Now I had two witnesses of my suffering and determination to hold the pace. This last 4.2 miles was hard, hot, and fun as we now found many runners who were falling off their pace and fortunately I was able hold my pace and somewhere as we approached mile 25 Karen F reminded me of the race we had done in Dallas a few years ago to get her qualified for her 9th and 10th consecutive Bostons. This race today had many similarities to that one, but this time it was me running the race and suffering and pushing the effort. And I had two wonderful witnesses of my ordeal which made this one real fun.

As we reached the mile 25 marker and got into the last mile Karen H reminded me of how the last mile of a marathon is the greatest mile you ever get to run. By now I was flying by runners who could not hold the pace and it really made me feel sorry for their suffering. This last mile was a fun one because I had such a large buffer on the imaginary Boston Qualifier Runner who was 6 minutes behind me. We finished the race with K&K peeling off just before I entered the Alamodome. I expected us to run around the inside of the Alamodome, but instead they had the finish line right there just as we entered the arena so I pushed and passed a couple of runners just before the finish line, a great race.

Sunday afternoon and evening they didn't have the results or placeings on the San Antonio Marathon web page so I didn't know how the age group placeings had gone. The finish time on my watch was 3:54:43. I needed to beat 4 hours 59 seconds to qualify for Boston. A few years ago I would have been extremely disappointed with a time like this, but because I'm almost 2 years into this Polymyalsia Rheumatica business of muscle disorder and still on 5mg daily Prednisone medication, so I just have to respect the length of a 26.2 mile marathon race and reflect on the level of effort it took to accomplish getting re-qualified for Boston. The official posted finish time was 3:54:45 so the time on my watch was off by 2 seconds. I'll live with that. A great race after all. My overall placing of 198th out of a total of 1,112 runners puts me in the top 18% of all runners, not quite as good as I like but good enough today.

Tam struggled in the heat and finished in 4:15:58, but he did finish and was happy to do that.

Run4fun, Run4Life, Run-in-the-heat,
Paul

Went over to McNeil HS track and did a slow easy jog with Daniel and Ly and did a mile with Karen F.  We did the drills and then Donnie gave them the workout which I jogged through slowly with Daniel and Ly.  A fun evening of mixing it up with great running friends.  Fortunately I was not nearly as sore from the marathon as I expected to be, hopefully a good sign.  

A nice night at Brushy Creek.  I did 3 miles warm-up, real easy for the 1st one just to get the legs started.  Joe ran with me for the 2nd mile and we picked up the pace a little.  Then I did the 3rd mile alone and pushed the pace to about a 7:15 pace, probably too fast for me 3 days after the marathon.

Then we did drills and then Bill had us run over to the boat dock and we set out on a loop that was a little less than a half mile, where we pushed the effort each loop for a faster pace.  I ran 3 of these with Joe and then called it enough for a workout this close after doing the marathon. 

The good news is that after this workout I'm almost looking at the marathon last Sunday as not much more than a real nice long workout.  Where I had thought that I probably need to go into an extended recovery period, right now I feel more like continuing the progression of training.   Hmmmmm, what to do.  But it does feel good to feel good. 

A nice cool morning in Austin, TX with temps about 60 degrees and a little rain drizzle for the drive down to Austin.  I drive about 45 miles south to get to Austin to do the weekend runs. 

I met up with Karen F and Karen H and we ran the Mt. Bonnell 10 mile loop.  I think everyone in Austin was running Mt. Bonnell this morning.  We saw Gilbert's Gazelles on the way up Mt. Bonnell and even got to see Gilbert with one of his groups.  His runners teased him on the way up Mt. Bonnell and told him to pick up his knees and push hard up the road to Mt. Bonnell. 

Considering it is just 6 days since the San Antonio Marathon I am sure feeling great for running.  We saw Joe after the run down at the RunTex water station under Mopac by Townlake.  We asked him if he wanted to commit to a Boston Qualifier run in February with a 3:45 marathon, and if so we would help him in his training and I would run the race with him and we would do a 3:45.  He said he would like to do that.  This will be fun and will help keep me focused on training with a purpose. 

Lynn and PD and I stopped by the U-haul rental place in Georgetown on the way home and picked up a trailer that we will use to haul an old Volkswagen Beetle up to Colorado next week for our son-in-law for a project car. 

A nice start to a Saturday and a weekend. 

A nice warm evening in Austin, TX, with temps about 75 degrees.  I got 1.5 miles warm-up, then we did drills and then the workout, which included 8 loops of the track, each with 100M medium effort, 100M hard effort, 100M medium effort, 100M easy.  This was a fun workout to do something a little different.  Then we did 1 mile cool down. 

During the first mile warm-up I felt just a little nuisance feeling in the lower left calf muscle, which I also felt during the last 2 or 3 loops of the workout.  I'll be careful not to overdo anything while I make sure I get the full recovery from the marathon last week.  I still have to say the good news is that I have no injuries at all after all the racing during the last month.  This nuisance feeling tonight is not an injury, just a caution reminder to get full recovery.

I've been in Colorado with our daughter's family for the Thanksgiving holiday. We worked in 15 degree weather pounding fence t-posts for about 1,500 feet of fence, so I didn't get in any actual runs. I had dreamed of running half way up Pikes Peak on one morning but we got doing too many family things and I'm a woose with the cold weather that I would have faced on Pikes Peak. I did pull the grandchildren around on their sleigh for an hour or so which I will count as equivilent to a 4 mile easy run.

Drove back to Texas from Colorado.  We had over 2 inches of rain in the last 2 days here at home in Texas.  The temperature was only 40 degrees today and freezing is forecast for Monday.  It will be good to do our Monday night run at McNeil HS and see how everything feels after basically taking a week off on our trip to my daughter's family in Colorado. 

Beautiful evening in Austin, TX.  Temp about 50 degrees tonight at McNeil HS track.  We had a nice group of about 40 runners at the track.  I did 2 careful warm-up miles, listening very carefully to the left calf muscle, as it has been tender last week.  It felt real good during the warm-up.

We did drills and accellerations and then Donnie had us do the workout; 3 repeats of 1100 meters with a 100 meter recovery.  Each 1100 meters was run faster than the one before.  I ran a 7:20 pace  for the first 1100 meters, then 6:55 pace for the 2nd 1100 meters, then 6:45 pace for the last 1100 meters.  Through all of these I was listening very closely to the left calf muscle, and good news was that it felt fine all the way.  Then Tam, Lemuel, and I did 1/2 mile cool down.

This was a very enjoyable evening after basically taking a week off during the holiday.

A real nice evening at Brushy Creek.  I got there about 5:45 so I only had time for a 1 mile warm-up which Joe ran with me.  Then Bill had us do drills and then jog over to the dam. 

We did a reverse stair step with each step pace run faster than the previous one, doing almost 1.5 miles (9:31) (probably a 6:30 pace) then a 1 minute rest, then almost 1 mile (6:08) (probably a 6:15 pace) and 1 minute rest, then almost a half mile (2:51) (probably a 6:00 pace).  Then recovery back over to the parking lot.  A real nice workout.  Joe and I ran all 3 legs of the workout together.  Gordon stayed with us for the first one but had a cramp and had to fall back on the others.