Happy Thanksgiving...

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I ate more than I should have just like I do every year but it gives me more incentive to get outside and work hard in training. Here's the weeks recap:





Tuesday, 3 miles at a light, steady pace.


Thursday, 5k (3.1 miles) at race pace, finished the run in 23:34, first mile was around 7:15.


Friday, 5k, ran the same course as the day before but in the opposite direction. Recovery run at about 9 minutes per mile. It was a little colder than I thought and I had the first hint of frost in my beard during a run for the season.





Measuring a run can be done by driving the route, using a GPS watch like Garmin, or software that is available on the web (usatf.org or favoriterun.com offer this software for free). The most accurate way to measure, and the way it is done for certified races is using a bicycle wheel. For training any of the other's are fine but may be off by 1-2%.

Training run for Friday

Went out for a 6 mile run on my lunch break today. The temp was a nice crisp 38 degrees. I had a nice even effort throughout the rolling course. When I got back to the office I did 10 minutes of stretching and some upper body work (I have been nursing an injured shoulder for about 3 weeks and can just now start upper body strength training again). I was supposed to actually do this run yesterday but my schedule was too hectic. Tomorrow as part of my run I will do 5.5 miles in honor of Ryan Shay as part of the nation wide 11/17 tribute to the fallen runner http://completerunning.com/archives/2007/11/07/ryan-shay-55-mile-memorial-run-in-your-hometown-saturday-november-17/print/.

Happy Birthday Emmeline!

today is Emmeline's 6 month birthday. She had a great trip to the doc yesterday for a check-up (poor thing did get 4 shots though). Her weigh in was at 15 lbs 14oz. She is sitting up like a big girl and gets in a crawling position then lunges herself forward. Here is a recent upclose of her:



and a look back at the new born:

Minimarathon is now 75% full and will likely sell out around Thanksgiving...

if you are planning to run the 500 Festival Minimarathon in May then you will need to register soon. Visit http://www.500festival.com and click on Minimarathon to register today!

My new PB and US Marathon Trials

On Friday I ran a 4 mile route. For the past two years I have raced the "Jump the Gun" 4 miler. This year Liz is at U of Evansville homecoming so I am skipping that race. To keep the 4 miler tradion alive I decided to run it on Friday night. I set out at 8:30 with temps dropping slightly into the 40's. The sky was clear and full of stars. I felt stronger than usual for the first mule and shaved a minute off of my norm. The extra energy carried me all the way through to a 31:44 personal best (PB).

Trials results...

Top 3 qualify for 08 Olympics. 4-5 will serve as alternates:
1. Hall, Ryan, 2:09:02 New Trials Record
2. Ritzenhein, Dathan, 2:11:07
3. Sell, Brian, 2:11:40
4. Khannouchi, Khalid, 2:12:34
5. Lehmkuhle, Jason, 2:12:54
6. Browne, Daniel, 2:13:23
7. Jenkins, Nathaniel, 2:14:56
8. Keflezighi, Meb, 2:15:09
9. Rohatinsky, Josh, 2:15:22
10. Hartmann, Jason, 2:15:27

Noted DNF's (did not finish) Culpepper, Abdiraham, Gilmore

Tragically, 28 yr old Notre Dame grad Ryan Shay collapsed after mile5 and was pronounced dead shortly after. http://www.thefinalsprint.com/2007/11/ryan-shay-tragically-passes-away-while-competing-in-olympic-trials-marathon-07/#more-5092My prayers are with his new bride Alicia and their family and friends.

"I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith."
2 Timothy 4:7

Lots to cover

First...Men's Marathon US Olympic Trials are scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 am. Runners will start on 5th Ave in NYC and run to Central Park where they will do 5 laps around the park and finish at Tavern on the Green. You can watch the entire race live for free at nbcsports.com. There are 134 men registered to compete for 3 positions on next years Olympic team. About 7-10 are legitimate contenders. I like Meb, Ryan Hall, and Brian Sell to fill the spots but Abdi Abdiraham, Alan Culpepper, Dathan Ritzheim and Dan Browne will also contend. Culpepper won the trials last time around and Ryan Shay (also registered) the time before that. Should be a great race with the winner posting a time between 2:08 and 2:11. All finishers will probably be finished by 10am.

Next...as promised, here are the Baptism pictures:

Emmeline with her mommy


Emmeline with her daddy


our family


Emmeline with her Godmother, my cousin Brenda


And finally, this is the Happy Halloween entry so here are the girls:

Introducing Big Weez-The Meanest Pirate of All the Seas!


Trick or Treat

Training Log, Oct 28

I planned to do a 1 hr 15 minute run today followed by stretching and yoga...My training schedule has been off by a day this week. I started my run at Cool Creek park and set out for the Monon trail. I felt really strong as I got started at 4PM (after the early NFL games- Go Colts, Bengal who?). The weather was about perfect for a run, sunny and 55 degrees. I followed the Monon trail down to Carmel's new town center area and then back to Cool Creek for a lap around the 1 mile loop that has 2 decent inclines and finished in 82 minutes. My run went a little better than expected and I handled the hills well. This was my longest run since the Mini half-marathon in May. I followed up the run with some stretching and yoga as mentioned above. Yoga has been great for my conditioning...Check out Rodney Yee
to get started with yoga or find a program for the sport that you play.

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I promise to post pictures from Emmeline's baptism this week.