We now enter the time of year in South Dakota where it seems as though Mother Nature is going through menopause with mood swings as wild and severe as a hungry school of piranhas that just smelled blood in the water. Early last week, temps were spring-like, with afternoon highs in the 50s and 60s...Rapid City even set a record high of 64 or something like that one day. Hell, overnight lows were in the 30s and 40s, which I'm usually pretty happy with as the high temp this time of year. Of course, that couldn't last and as quickly as it left, winter returned in the form of a winter storm that rolled in on Saturday, dropped temps to the teens with negative windchills and left behind over 6 inches of fresh snow (to add insult to injury, almost all of the snow we had before had finally melted by Friday). Son. Of. A.....
Monday - 7.1 miles. Beautiful day, had every intention of heading up Lookout Mtn. at lunchtime. Only problem was that I forgot to pack a shirt with my running gear in the morning. So I had to settle for a road run after work.
Tuesday - 6.2 miles in the morning, 6 in the afternoon. Made damn sure to pack a shirt for the afternoon run this time and did get up on the Lookout Mtn. trails. They were mostly free of snow, but there were some pretty slick ice patches and one section of still deep snow near the top.
Wednesday - 10.2 miles with 6 tempo. The term "tempo" takes on a new meaning during ultra training. Back when I would actually focus on a marathon, my tempo pace was faster than my marathon pace by 20 or 30 seconds. Now, I'm just happy if I can actually get to what used to be my marathon pace. Doing a tempo run early in the morning doesn't help matters any....just can't get my legs to turn over that fast that early.
Thursday - 6 miles in the morning, 4 in the afternoon. A little chillier out. Nothing at all remarkable about either run.
Friday - 6 miles. Back up on Lookout Mtn. The snow and ice was much reduced since Tuesday, but it had been replaced by mud. I managed to slip on said mud once, but also fell onto the same patch of mud, so a pretty soft landing.
Saturday - 15.2 miles. Got up at the buttcrack of dawn to meet up with Ryan in Sturgis and run the Centennial Trail. We ran the first section of the Black Hills 100 course, starting at Woodle Field and following the trail out and back. Like Lookout, the trail was mostly clear but had a few patches of ice in the shady areas. With about 2 miles left in the run, I managed to find one of those ice patches and fell. Hard. Landed on my left side, with my upper buttcheek (for lack of a more technical term) taking the brunt of it. Usually when I fall on a run I bounce back up and keep going (while looking around to see if anyone saw me fall). This time, though, I had to sit there on the trail and catch my breath for a little bit before I got up. I knew nothing was seriously damaged, but it sure as hell hurt. After the initial pain wore off, I felt fine running back to the vehicles but after I cooled down it got pretty sore.
Sunday - 7 miles. The winter storm struck in earnest overnight, dropping at least 6 inches of snow. My butt was sore from the fall the day before and the weather/road conditions left me with very little motivation to run outside, nor was the idea of running 15 miles (as I had planned for the day) on the indoor track all that exciting. I seriously contemplated ditching a run altogether and just calling it a rest day, but I finally forced myself out the door in the afternoon and managed to get 7 miles done on the indoor track. My legs (and sore butt) felt fine, but I just was not into it mentally, which is half the battle.
Total - 67.7
So, three trail runs this week, which isn't bad for February. Of course, if the weather would cooperate that number could increase, but I won't hold my breath on that one.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Collegiate Peaks/Bighorn Week 1
It's the dead of winter, so must be time to start cranking out some miles and training for spring races, right? Nothing like kicking off training for two trail runs in mountains than by running laps around a perfectly flat indoor track. The last couple weeks have seen a similar weather pattern around here.....colder than sin early in the week and then warmer over the weekend. Running on the indoor track a few days a weeks sucks, but better that it happens early in the week rather than when I have my long runs planned.
At this point, I'm going forward with the notion that Collegiate Peaks is basically a training run for Bighorn. I've never run a marathon as a training run for another marathon before, much less a 50 mile as a training run for another 50 mile, but I'm gonna give it a shot anyhow. Bighorn has been in my crosshairs ever since the moment the friendly aid station volunteer cut my bib off my shorts last year, so it will remain my focus during training. Before I registered for Collegiate Peaks, I had planned on running 30/10 that weekend....now, I'm just running an extra 10 miles that weekend but doing it all on one day.
In any case, here's how the first week of "official" training shook out:
Monday - 6 miles on the indoor track.
Tuesday - 6 miles indoor track in the morning, 4 miles with 8 strides indoor track in the afternoon (different indoor tracks though....a little variety to running in flat circles).
Wednesday - 10 miles indoor track (115 laps of pure, unadulterated fun).
Thursday - 6 miles. Finally got to run outside and it felt horrible. For one, I expected it to be much warmer than it actually was, so I was underdressed and consequently cold. For another, I just didn't have any energy and my stomach felt off.
Friday - 6 miles in the morning, 4 miles in the afternoon. Both outside and felt much better.
Saturday - 15 miles. Totally effortless. Got done and felt like I'd run 5 miles.
Sunday - 15 miles. Took more effort than on Saturday, but still felt pretty good. The 20-30 mph wind sucked hardcore, but overall a pretty decent run.
Total - 72 miles
The biggest thing missing from last week were trail miles. With two long trail runs coming up, I need to get away from the indoor track and city streets as much as possible and get the trail legs going. Unfortunately, Mother Nature makes that a difficult endeavor this time of year. But, the temperature is supposed to be in the 50s and maybe even 60s for most of this week, and was in the 50s over the weekend, so massive melting is occurring. I plan on heading out for a trail run this afternoon and getting as many in as the weather allows for the next few months. I'm guessing today's run is going to be a snowy/muddy mess, but that's just part of the fun of trail running, right? Better than running in tiny circles, for sure.
At this point, I'm going forward with the notion that Collegiate Peaks is basically a training run for Bighorn. I've never run a marathon as a training run for another marathon before, much less a 50 mile as a training run for another 50 mile, but I'm gonna give it a shot anyhow. Bighorn has been in my crosshairs ever since the moment the friendly aid station volunteer cut my bib off my shorts last year, so it will remain my focus during training. Before I registered for Collegiate Peaks, I had planned on running 30/10 that weekend....now, I'm just running an extra 10 miles that weekend but doing it all on one day.
In any case, here's how the first week of "official" training shook out:
Monday - 6 miles on the indoor track.
Tuesday - 6 miles indoor track in the morning, 4 miles with 8 strides indoor track in the afternoon (different indoor tracks though....a little variety to running in flat circles).
Wednesday - 10 miles indoor track (115 laps of pure, unadulterated fun).
Thursday - 6 miles. Finally got to run outside and it felt horrible. For one, I expected it to be much warmer than it actually was, so I was underdressed and consequently cold. For another, I just didn't have any energy and my stomach felt off.
Friday - 6 miles in the morning, 4 miles in the afternoon. Both outside and felt much better.
Saturday - 15 miles. Totally effortless. Got done and felt like I'd run 5 miles.
Sunday - 15 miles. Took more effort than on Saturday, but still felt pretty good. The 20-30 mph wind sucked hardcore, but overall a pretty decent run.
Total - 72 miles
The biggest thing missing from last week were trail miles. With two long trail runs coming up, I need to get away from the indoor track and city streets as much as possible and get the trail legs going. Unfortunately, Mother Nature makes that a difficult endeavor this time of year. But, the temperature is supposed to be in the 50s and maybe even 60s for most of this week, and was in the 50s over the weekend, so massive melting is occurring. I plan on heading out for a trail run this afternoon and getting as many in as the weather allows for the next few months. I'm guessing today's run is going to be a snowy/muddy mess, but that's just part of the fun of trail running, right? Better than running in tiny circles, for sure.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
I'm Back
Hey, it's only been two months. Give me a break. Nothing really exciting happened anyway. I managed to exceed my 2010 mileage goal of 3,300 with just over a week left in the year. 2011 has gotten off to a slower start, thanks largely to a voluntary (and minor) surgical procedure that I underwent on New Year's Eve and resulted in taking the first 8 days of 2011 off. Once I started running again, it was low mileage for the first week to make sure everything as A-OK and then I ramped it up from there, hitting 70 miles for each of the last two weeks.
I guess the biggest news is that I seem to have settled on a race schedule for 2011. In fact, just today I registered for the Collegiate Peaks Trail Run 50 mile in Buena Vista, CO. This race wasn't even really on my radar until this past weekend when Black Hills 100 co-director and occasional running partner Ryan mentioned that he was probably going to do it along with two guys who are using it as a training run for the BH100 and asked if I wanted to tag along. The seed was planted in my head and festered from awhile before I gave in and registered (I held out for all of three days....such willpower). It's six weeks out from the Bighorn 50, which is my main goal race for the summer, so hopefully if I don't go too crazy I'll have some time to recover and still exorcise my Bighorn demons. I've been intrigued by the Colorado ultras (and admittedly intimidated by the high elevation) for a couple of years now and CPTR seems like a good place to test the waters. Ultimately, I couldn't pass up a running road trip to the Colorado Rockies.
Other than CPTR and Bighorn, I'm planning on running the Missoula Marathon for the 5th time (i.e., every year it has existed). And that's about it. I'll try and hit as many of the local Black Hills Trail Running Series races as I can (and am directing one of them, the Crow Peak Ascent on 7/31). And, of course, there's the big debut of the Black Hills 100, which I'm co-directing with Ryan and Jerry Dunn, on 6/25. Two 50s and a marathon in a two monthish span seems sufficient right now. I would like to run another 100 sometime, but don't think it's in the cards for this year. Maybe Bighorn or Leadville (if I overcome my altitude fear at CPTR) next summer...
I guess the biggest news is that I seem to have settled on a race schedule for 2011. In fact, just today I registered for the Collegiate Peaks Trail Run 50 mile in Buena Vista, CO. This race wasn't even really on my radar until this past weekend when Black Hills 100 co-director and occasional running partner Ryan mentioned that he was probably going to do it along with two guys who are using it as a training run for the BH100 and asked if I wanted to tag along. The seed was planted in my head and festered from awhile before I gave in and registered (I held out for all of three days....such willpower). It's six weeks out from the Bighorn 50, which is my main goal race for the summer, so hopefully if I don't go too crazy I'll have some time to recover and still exorcise my Bighorn demons. I've been intrigued by the Colorado ultras (and admittedly intimidated by the high elevation) for a couple of years now and CPTR seems like a good place to test the waters. Ultimately, I couldn't pass up a running road trip to the Colorado Rockies.
Other than CPTR and Bighorn, I'm planning on running the Missoula Marathon for the 5th time (i.e., every year it has existed). And that's about it. I'll try and hit as many of the local Black Hills Trail Running Series races as I can (and am directing one of them, the Crow Peak Ascent on 7/31). And, of course, there's the big debut of the Black Hills 100, which I'm co-directing with Ryan and Jerry Dunn, on 6/25. Two 50s and a marathon in a two monthish span seems sufficient right now. I would like to run another 100 sometime, but don't think it's in the cards for this year. Maybe Bighorn or Leadville (if I overcome my altitude fear at CPTR) next summer...
Monday, December 6, 2010
Just putting in miles
Nothing spectacular about last week, just getting the runs in and accumulating some mileage for a yet-to-be-determined goal race (although it's appearing more and more likely, for a variety of reasons, that the Bighorn 50 will be my "big" race of 2011...but a return to Lean Horse may also be in the cards).
Monday - Woke up. Looked outside. Looked cold. Checked temp. Negative windchill. Didn't feel all that inspired to run at the gym, so went back to bed. About a half hour later I hear the answering machine pick up a phone call saying school has been canceled. I hold out hope that the office will also be closed, but eventually accept the fact that I have to go to work. I waffled back and forth about whether to run at all, but finally forced myself to the gym after work for 6 miles on the track.
Tuesday - Another 6 track miles in the morning. Warmer temps are supposed to be coming, but they haven't arrived as of 5:00 AM. I tacked on another 6.4 miles at lunchtime running with my friend Jerry and his friend Bob. That run was outside and it was still pretty damn chilly, but much better than running in circles.
Wednesday - Ran outside and was determined to get in 10 miles, even though I really did not feel all that good. Legs were really heavy and the pace was pretty pathetic, but I did finish the 10.
Thursday - Another double, 6.2 in the morning and 5.4 in the afternoon.
Friday - Only had to work 6 hours, so worked through lunch and then ran a big 12.1 mile loop from the office around the backside of Lookout Mtn. and then back through Spearfish. It's a nice loop with some good variety of terrain (lots of hills in the first 7 miles) that I've only run twice ever, for some reason.
Saturday - This was one of those cruise control runs. I started running, my body took over and I flew through 8 fairly quick miles with very little effort. If every run was like this, I'd run 200 miles a week.
Sunday - I knew I wanted to run kinda long, but I was sitting at 60 miles for the week so knew in the back of my head that I only needed 10 to get to70. So I told myself I'd go at least that far and see how I felt. I ended up feeling pretty good (not as good as Saturday, but still good) and ultimately ran a big loop around Belle Fourche that totaled 16.2, so the necessary 10 plus a bonus 10K.
Total - 76.3 miles (biggest week since Lean Horse)
Monday - Woke up. Looked outside. Looked cold. Checked temp. Negative windchill. Didn't feel all that inspired to run at the gym, so went back to bed. About a half hour later I hear the answering machine pick up a phone call saying school has been canceled. I hold out hope that the office will also be closed, but eventually accept the fact that I have to go to work. I waffled back and forth about whether to run at all, but finally forced myself to the gym after work for 6 miles on the track.
Tuesday - Another 6 track miles in the morning. Warmer temps are supposed to be coming, but they haven't arrived as of 5:00 AM. I tacked on another 6.4 miles at lunchtime running with my friend Jerry and his friend Bob. That run was outside and it was still pretty damn chilly, but much better than running in circles.
Wednesday - Ran outside and was determined to get in 10 miles, even though I really did not feel all that good. Legs were really heavy and the pace was pretty pathetic, but I did finish the 10.
Thursday - Another double, 6.2 in the morning and 5.4 in the afternoon.
Friday - Only had to work 6 hours, so worked through lunch and then ran a big 12.1 mile loop from the office around the backside of Lookout Mtn. and then back through Spearfish. It's a nice loop with some good variety of terrain (lots of hills in the first 7 miles) that I've only run twice ever, for some reason.
Saturday - This was one of those cruise control runs. I started running, my body took over and I flew through 8 fairly quick miles with very little effort. If every run was like this, I'd run 200 miles a week.
Sunday - I knew I wanted to run kinda long, but I was sitting at 60 miles for the week so knew in the back of my head that I only needed 10 to get to70. So I told myself I'd go at least that far and see how I felt. I ended up feeling pretty good (not as good as Saturday, but still good) and ultimately ran a big loop around Belle Fourche that totaled 16.2, so the necessary 10 plus a bonus 10K.
Total - 76.3 miles (biggest week since Lean Horse)
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Running for pie
Hot on the heels of the first snow of the year came the first sub-zero temps, another dubious landmark that I'd rather not see each year, but is basically inevitable when you live in South Dakota. To top it off, it seems like the lower the temperature goes, the more the wind blows, which creates mind-numbing (literally) wind chills and results in me running in a bunch of circles on the indoor track at the gym. Ugh. You know it's getting bad when you get excited about the mercury breaking 20. In any case, enough bitching about the weather (well, not really, because I'll pretty much bitch about it for the next 5 or 6 months until it warms up and then I'll bitch about how it's too hot outside....it's a vicious cycle).
Monday - First run of the year on the indoor track. 7 miles (80.5 laps).
Tuesday - Even colder than Monday, so back to the track for another 10 miles (115 laps).
Wednesday - What sucks more than running 115 laps around the track. How about 161 (that comes out to 14 miles)? Actually, my legs felt REALLY good, which is why I ran so far, but I couldn't help but thinking how much awesomer (that's a word, trust me) the run would've been if it wasn't -15 outside and I could actually see some sights instead of the same four walls of the gym 161 times.
Thursday - Even though it was still cold enough that your spit might freeze solid before it even hit the ground, I ran outside. Why? Because I'll do damn near anything for the chance to win a pie. So I drove to Rapid City for the annual Turkey Trot and, thanks to the cold, there were more pies to give away than there were runners to win them, so I got one. Well worth it. Oh and I was reminded of why I haven't run a 5K in over a year....because they suck. I did run a 20:50, which is decent for me considering I haven't done speedwork since....uh....May?? I don't really remember. What I do know is that I'd much rather run far at a steady pace than short at a fast pace. I mean, if I run a marathon or ultra, I feel like hell afterward, but I also feel like I've freakin accomplished something. When I run a 5K, I still feel like hell and I've only added 3 miles to my training log. The cost/benefit analysis just doesn't work out. It's for that reason that I tacked on 3 miles of warmup/cooldown so I could at least claim 6 miles for the day.
Friday - I've always known that I'm not very good at doing math in my head, like trying to calculate splits near the end of a marathon. I found out on this day that I can't even do simple math. I headed out for a 10 mile loop (the temp had finally risen to a reasonable level) but got confused at some point and was somewhat surprised when I got home and my Garmin said 11 miles instead. Oh well, better to run too many than not enough.
Saturday - DOMS!! If you're not familiar, that stands for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. It's a phenomenon where you put in a hard effort and feel fine the day after, but then 2 or 3 days after, you suddenly feel like crap. It happens a lot after a marathon, but I guess for me it happens after a 5K too (after all, my body is more adjusted to marathons by now). I set out to get my long run of 16 in, but immediately (like within one block) could tell that that was NOT in the cards. My legs were dead and sore in places that they haven't been sore in awhile (stupid 5K....but it was still worth it for the pie). So I ran an easy (albeit painful) 7 instead.
Sunday - Still felt a little of the DOMS, but better than Saturday so I made another attempt at 16. I made it through alright, although I was pretty damn glad when I got home that I hadn't set out for 17....or even 16.5.
Total - 70.2 miles
Monday - First run of the year on the indoor track. 7 miles (80.5 laps).
Tuesday - Even colder than Monday, so back to the track for another 10 miles (115 laps).
Wednesday - What sucks more than running 115 laps around the track. How about 161 (that comes out to 14 miles)? Actually, my legs felt REALLY good, which is why I ran so far, but I couldn't help but thinking how much awesomer (that's a word, trust me) the run would've been if it wasn't -15 outside and I could actually see some sights instead of the same four walls of the gym 161 times.
Thursday - Even though it was still cold enough that your spit might freeze solid before it even hit the ground, I ran outside. Why? Because I'll do damn near anything for the chance to win a pie. So I drove to Rapid City for the annual Turkey Trot and, thanks to the cold, there were more pies to give away than there were runners to win them, so I got one. Well worth it. Oh and I was reminded of why I haven't run a 5K in over a year....because they suck. I did run a 20:50, which is decent for me considering I haven't done speedwork since....uh....May?? I don't really remember. What I do know is that I'd much rather run far at a steady pace than short at a fast pace. I mean, if I run a marathon or ultra, I feel like hell afterward, but I also feel like I've freakin accomplished something. When I run a 5K, I still feel like hell and I've only added 3 miles to my training log. The cost/benefit analysis just doesn't work out. It's for that reason that I tacked on 3 miles of warmup/cooldown so I could at least claim 6 miles for the day.
Friday - I've always known that I'm not very good at doing math in my head, like trying to calculate splits near the end of a marathon. I found out on this day that I can't even do simple math. I headed out for a 10 mile loop (the temp had finally risen to a reasonable level) but got confused at some point and was somewhat surprised when I got home and my Garmin said 11 miles instead. Oh well, better to run too many than not enough.
Saturday - DOMS!! If you're not familiar, that stands for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. It's a phenomenon where you put in a hard effort and feel fine the day after, but then 2 or 3 days after, you suddenly feel like crap. It happens a lot after a marathon, but I guess for me it happens after a 5K too (after all, my body is more adjusted to marathons by now). I set out to get my long run of 16 in, but immediately (like within one block) could tell that that was NOT in the cards. My legs were dead and sore in places that they haven't been sore in awhile (stupid 5K....but it was still worth it for the pie). So I ran an easy (albeit painful) 7 instead.
Sunday - Still felt a little of the DOMS, but better than Saturday so I made another attempt at 16. I made it through alright, although I was pretty damn glad when I got home that I hadn't set out for 17....or even 16.5.
Total - 70.2 miles
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
SNOW.......!@#%!^
Well, my dreams of brown Christmas.....and a brown winter altogether have been utterly crushed by Mother Nature. Granted, November 17th is pretty damn late for our first real snow here, but I was holding out the slim hope that there wouldn't be a first snow. Of course, I probably have a better chance of winning the Powerball 10 times in a row than that happening, but one can hope anyway. Getting myself in shape for the Bighorn 50 would be so much easier if I could actually run trails all winter long (I'm not hardcore enough to strap on snowshoes and give er hell).
So, not a ton of miles last week, mostly due to two days off on the weekend while I was back in Missoula with some old college buddies watching a little Griz football and drinking a lot of beer. And I do mean "old"....we all called it a night by about 8:30 on Saturday. But of course, we started at 10:00 that morning, so it was a long day. Still, I don't remember that stopping us back in our college days. In any case, I ran 40-some miles during the week (I honestly don't even know off the top of my head...it was less than 50 though), including a good 8 mile on the Centennial Trail and a surprisingly fast 11.6 on roads the next day. Hoping to get back over 70 this week, but this damn weather isn't helping...well, it's not really hurting either (it's not THAT bad), just making motivation a little harder to come by.
The big obsession this week is Griz football. It's Griz-Cat week, the most important week in the football year if you're from Montana. Of course, there's smack flying back and forth pretty fast and furious between Griz and Cats. Much more often than not (69 times compared to 38, to be exact), the Griz win this game, but this year is a little different. This time it's the Cats sitting in position to win the Big Sky and the Griz maybe needing a win to secure an at-large playoff berth (they might get in with a loss and a 7-4 record, but would definitely get in with a win). If it weren't for the fact that the game is in Missoula, the Cats would probably even be favored, which is just damn odd. I have faith, though, that the Griz will make it 5 in a row and 21 out of the last 24. Up with Montana!! In honor of Griz-Cat week, here are a few of the better jokes that have been floating around Facebook this week:
How do you get a Bobcat cheerleader into your dorm room?......Grease her hips and push like hell.
Why do Bobcat grads put their diplomas on the dash of their cars?....So they can qualify for handicap parking.
Why is a dollar bill better than a Bobcat?....You at least get four quarters out of a dollar.
Why don't they serve ice at Bobcat Stadium any more?.....The senior who knew the recipe graduated.
Give em hell, Griz!!
So, not a ton of miles last week, mostly due to two days off on the weekend while I was back in Missoula with some old college buddies watching a little Griz football and drinking a lot of beer. And I do mean "old"....we all called it a night by about 8:30 on Saturday. But of course, we started at 10:00 that morning, so it was a long day. Still, I don't remember that stopping us back in our college days. In any case, I ran 40-some miles during the week (I honestly don't even know off the top of my head...it was less than 50 though), including a good 8 mile on the Centennial Trail and a surprisingly fast 11.6 on roads the next day. Hoping to get back over 70 this week, but this damn weather isn't helping...well, it's not really hurting either (it's not THAT bad), just making motivation a little harder to come by.
The big obsession this week is Griz football. It's Griz-Cat week, the most important week in the football year if you're from Montana. Of course, there's smack flying back and forth pretty fast and furious between Griz and Cats. Much more often than not (69 times compared to 38, to be exact), the Griz win this game, but this year is a little different. This time it's the Cats sitting in position to win the Big Sky and the Griz maybe needing a win to secure an at-large playoff berth (they might get in with a loss and a 7-4 record, but would definitely get in with a win). If it weren't for the fact that the game is in Missoula, the Cats would probably even be favored, which is just damn odd. I have faith, though, that the Griz will make it 5 in a row and 21 out of the last 24. Up with Montana!! In honor of Griz-Cat week, here are a few of the better jokes that have been floating around Facebook this week:
How do you get a Bobcat cheerleader into your dorm room?......Grease her hips and push like hell.
Why do Bobcat grads put their diplomas on the dash of their cars?....So they can qualify for handicap parking.
Why is a dollar bill better than a Bobcat?....You at least get four quarters out of a dollar.
Why don't they serve ice at Bobcat Stadium any more?.....The senior who knew the recipe graduated.
Give em hell, Griz!!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Catching up
Believe it or not, I am still alive. It's been over a month since I posted here. Not really sure why, just been lazy (about posting, anyway). So, time to get back at it.
Running has been going pretty well. I've managed to get back up to 70 miles per week a couple of times and have started getting long runs in (which significantly helped in achieving 70 mpw) the last four weeks. Most of those long runs have gone very well, but I did run an 18 miler last weekend that was a struggle. Not sure why, but my legs died on me at the halfway point, but I was 9 hilly miles from home and had no choice but to keep plugging. But then yesterday I ran a 16 miler where my legs still felt fresh when I was done. The mysteries of running....
This past weekend I wrapped up 3rd place in the men's open division of the Black Hills Trail Running Series....and I didn't even run. I had accumulated enough points throughout the summer that I was assured of 3rd in the series going into the last race. Still, I would have run the final race but my son's football team was playing in the league championship (more on that later) at the same time so I was at the game instead (which was MUCH more nerve-wracking than any race I've ever run). I won the men's open division last year, but only missed one race. I missed a few this year, which hurt my chances of repeating so, really, third is about as good as I could've hoped for.
Back to football, this year my son played for the first time in the Black Hills Youth Football League. There isn't a team in Belle Fourche, so he played for the Spearfish Rams mitey mite team (6-8 year olds). The league had 6 teams in the mitey mite division and the Rams finished the regular season with a 5-1 record. Their one loss came on the last week of the regular season to the Rapid City Steelers, a team they had beaten in the first week of the season (which turned out to be the Steelers' only loss of the season). So, it was pretty clear that the Rams and Steelers were the best two teams in the league. The top 4 teams advanced to the playoffs, where the Steelers beat the Bears and the Rams beat the Broncos to advanced to the Super Bowl. Everyone was expecting a good game and it definitely lived up to it. The Rams took a 12-0 lead early in the 3rd quarter, but the Steelers managed to pull within 12-6 at the end of the 3rd. The game ultimately came down to the final minutes when the Rams stopped the Steelers on 4th down with a couple of minutes remaining, but then couldn't convert enough first downs to run the clock out. So, on 4th and short from deep in their own territory with only 13 seconds left, the Rams opted to intentionally take a safety and run the clock down as much as possible. That left 5 seconds on the clock, the score was now 12-8 and the Rams had to kickoff. The kickoff was immediately covered, leaving the Steelers with one play to score from about 40 yards out and 3 seconds left. The ensuing pass attempt was knocked down and the Rams were champions! Pretty exciting to say the least. One thing I know for sure is that it's much, much harder watching a game like that from the stands, as a parent, than it is actually playing the game. I was in some pretty close, intense games in high school and never once did I feel as nervous then as I felt watching that game on Saturday. Now I know how my mom felt during all those football games I played in.
So, there are the highlights from my last month plus in a nutshell....hopefully they'll come more frequently from now on.
Running has been going pretty well. I've managed to get back up to 70 miles per week a couple of times and have started getting long runs in (which significantly helped in achieving 70 mpw) the last four weeks. Most of those long runs have gone very well, but I did run an 18 miler last weekend that was a struggle. Not sure why, but my legs died on me at the halfway point, but I was 9 hilly miles from home and had no choice but to keep plugging. But then yesterday I ran a 16 miler where my legs still felt fresh when I was done. The mysteries of running....
This past weekend I wrapped up 3rd place in the men's open division of the Black Hills Trail Running Series....and I didn't even run. I had accumulated enough points throughout the summer that I was assured of 3rd in the series going into the last race. Still, I would have run the final race but my son's football team was playing in the league championship (more on that later) at the same time so I was at the game instead (which was MUCH more nerve-wracking than any race I've ever run). I won the men's open division last year, but only missed one race. I missed a few this year, which hurt my chances of repeating so, really, third is about as good as I could've hoped for.
Back to football, this year my son played for the first time in the Black Hills Youth Football League. There isn't a team in Belle Fourche, so he played for the Spearfish Rams mitey mite team (6-8 year olds). The league had 6 teams in the mitey mite division and the Rams finished the regular season with a 5-1 record. Their one loss came on the last week of the regular season to the Rapid City Steelers, a team they had beaten in the first week of the season (which turned out to be the Steelers' only loss of the season). So, it was pretty clear that the Rams and Steelers were the best two teams in the league. The top 4 teams advanced to the playoffs, where the Steelers beat the Bears and the Rams beat the Broncos to advanced to the Super Bowl. Everyone was expecting a good game and it definitely lived up to it. The Rams took a 12-0 lead early in the 3rd quarter, but the Steelers managed to pull within 12-6 at the end of the 3rd. The game ultimately came down to the final minutes when the Rams stopped the Steelers on 4th down with a couple of minutes remaining, but then couldn't convert enough first downs to run the clock out. So, on 4th and short from deep in their own territory with only 13 seconds left, the Rams opted to intentionally take a safety and run the clock down as much as possible. That left 5 seconds on the clock, the score was now 12-8 and the Rams had to kickoff. The kickoff was immediately covered, leaving the Steelers with one play to score from about 40 yards out and 3 seconds left. The ensuing pass attempt was knocked down and the Rams were champions! Pretty exciting to say the least. One thing I know for sure is that it's much, much harder watching a game like that from the stands, as a parent, than it is actually playing the game. I was in some pretty close, intense games in high school and never once did I feel as nervous then as I felt watching that game on Saturday. Now I know how my mom felt during all those football games I played in.
So, there are the highlights from my last month plus in a nutshell....hopefully they'll come more frequently from now on.
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