The Beginnings

It has been awhile…

Doug — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:55:24 +0000

Well it has been a long time since I have posted anything. I still have yet to come up with my unique idea, but my running has been going very well.

I have hit two half marathons since my last posting. I now have a PR of 1:16:59, which was run at the Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half marathon September 18, 2011. This past weekend I ran my first half marathon as a pacer with some friends on the racing team I have just joined. I am now racing for The Running Store based out of Gainsville VA. Our original goal time was 1:20 and it was changed race day to 1:18. This was slightly faster than I had planned for, but I said what they heck and went to help some friends hit a PR. We cruised the first five in a comfortable 29:24 and hit the ten-mile mark in 59:04. At that point I was feeling good and let the guys know I was going to work the hills on the return to the finish. We cruised through and both teammates were able to hang on for PRs. I finished in a time of 1:17:15 – feeling nice and relaxed after the race. The Heritage Half Marathon was a great course and the organizers did a great job.

I am feeling comfortable now and ready to run my first marathon in two weeks. I am running the Marine Corps Marathon on October 30th. If you are in the DC area and are willing to come in nice and early and cheer me on I would greatly appreciate it. My main goal is to finish. I am excited, I am ready and I am hungry.

Keen Lake Friday

Doug — Fri, 13 May 2011 14:13:07 +0000

Heading up to Keen Lake this weekend. Really looking forward to the trip. It will be nice to sit around a camp fire, burn some marshmallows and do a little fishing.

The roads up by Keen Lake are great country roads. Perfect for the type of running I like to do. Plenty of hills, nice and relaxing. No one is around so you get lost in your thoughts. It will be a good weekend to get lost in my thoughts. Sometimes the only escape from this reality is in your head. Then again all of it is your head.

Fuck. I don’t know what I am talking about. I like to babble about this ideas that seems so philosophical at the moment and then come out as completely silly. The idea yesterday about the time and shit – after looking back I laughed at myself.

I guess it is that search of the unique idea. One idea that someone else has yet to think, but after examining all my ideas – it seems someone has already thought of that. I am not unique. There are other people who like running. There are other people in the same situation as me trying to achieve the same goals. We are certainly just cogs within the clock of life. Sometimes I make myself sick.

Your time is your power

Doug — Thu, 12 May 2011 21:24:21 +0000

When it comes to anything time is the essence of life. It is a never stopping power that continues even after we are gone. Time and its vast and ever stopping power amazes me.

When running time can be viewed as a negative thing. When you run a race you want to beat the clock. You want to go as fast as possible. When training time is your power. I have come to accept the fact that I may never be a world class runner, but I have the time to try.

Time is my power.

The essence of the moment needs to be the reward of the feeling at that exact instant. Be the feeling the deepest pain you could ever experience. In that moment the pain that you feel will never be greater. To know that you felt the worst pain and conquered it is your power. Time allows you to know that agony, hurt, loss, pain will be things that are felt. One cannot escape the power of time, but we are able to work with it. We are able to use time to our advantage – to learn, to determine the best approach for the next move.

And it time we will see if that move was correct. With time we can learn from our decisions. Determine the ones that were right, the actions that were wrong and the ones that really did not matter. Time is our power, but one must first be able to realize the power and take control.

Race Schedule

Doug — Mon, 09 May 2011 20:42:49 +0000

Here is my race schedule not including 5k/8k/10k-s I may sign up for as a tempo workout.

07/02/2011 – Goshen Great American Weekend 10k
09/18/2011 – Philadelphia “Rock n Roll” Half Marathon
10/30/2011 – Washington DC Marine Corps Marathon

These races have some time in between them. The Goshen 10k is a great course. I have run the course a number of times as a run and as a tempo workout. It has some great hills on it that are fun to work through. I am shooting to see how close I can get to 34 minutes. If I can break 35 I will be very happy. Last year I hit 38:23 with very little training.

The Philadelphia Half is going to be a training run to see where I am at for the full Marathon. Hopefully in the Philly half marathon I will be able to break my goal time of 1:15. The course is nice and flat. Last year I hit a time of 1:20:33 with not enough training and during a very stressful time. Hopefully this year we will see improvements.

The Marine Corps Marathon is making me a bit nervous. My main goal for the race is to finish, but we all know each runner has the goal that is achievable, the goal that is slightly achievable and the goal that if the moons align would be achievable. I will let everyone know what I believe is my achievable goal after hitting 1:18:24 in a half marathon. I believe my achievable goal is to finish the race. My slightly achievable goal is to break 3 hours and my if the moons align right goal is go under 2:50. If I finish, I will be happy!

The Big Dive

Doug — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:30:06 +0000

Well it has been awhile since I last wrote anything. It hasn’t been awhile since I have hit the roads. I have been out there every day. Pondering the meaning life and why I sit in a cube all day. I still haven’t come to a good conclusion as to why during the best years of our lives we work the hardest instead of exploring the world. Maybe the answer will come to me when I have enough saved for retirement when I can no longer work any more. Maybe that is the only answer – To be able to pay for yourself when you are old.

Enough of that tangent. Let’s get to the running details. My running has been lite at best. I have been averaging around 37 mile weeks for last five weeks and am about to pick up my mileage to put on a nice base. Marathon training begins on June 13th, which gives me about a 20 week training program. The base mileage is starting now when I bump up my average to about 50 mile weeks. This is in anticipation of the Goshen Great American Weekend 10k (July 2) and the Marine Corps Marathon (October 30).

I ran my first race after the half marathon. I hit the Patriots’ Cup 8k Corporate Challenge. The company I work for sponsors a couple of teams each year to run the race. I was able to help with the organization this year for our teams. It helped to give the race more meaning than me just running it. Granted I wanted to hit the race well, but I would have been satisfied with just running. In the end I was able to do both. I hit the race in PR time, which beats anytime I ran in college for an 8k. I raced to a second place finish overall and the pace actually felt relaxed. My final time of 27:49 will be something that I am proud of for a while. My next goal in the 8k will be to break 27.

Before I shoot for breaking 27 – I am looking forward for training to finish a full marathon. This will be the first time I will run distances over 16 miles. I am a little nervous to surpass the 20 mile mark. From what I have read this will be the turning point. Either I will love it or I will hate it. Hopefully when I reach that point I will be determined to keep going.

It has been great to hit some goals. Breaking 1:20 in the half and breaking 28 in the 8k. The next goals are to break 34 in a 10k and finish a full marathon. It is always nice to cross goals off the list, but it feels even better to be adding new ones.

Here’s to the big dive on running a full marathon. The waters look murky now, but hopefully by the time October comes around they will look crystal clear and inviting.

Getting Some Speed Work

Doug — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 21:02:40 +0000

I am finally at that phase where I am dropping my mileage and hitting some speed. I have on my schedule in the next couple weeks - repeat miles, repeat quarters and repeat halfs. During these weeks I am also doing tempos with two miles at the tempo pace (this is shorter then when I was doing tempo pace for four miles). Yesterday, I hit my first bit of speed work 4×800 with 2 minute rest in between (with 2.5 mile warm up and cool down). I have to admit that these felt good, but hurt very much at the same time. It was nice to feel the speed under my legs. I haven’t felt that in a very long time. The soreness the day after is something I forgot about as well. It is a good feeling though.

Results for Celebrate Life Half

Doug — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:50:30 +0000

Well the results are in – I finished the Celebrate Half Marathon in 1 hour, 18 minutes and 24 seconds. That means I averaged about 5:59 per mile. I am very satisfied with the results. The course was challenging and a lot of fun. There were a lot of hills and wind. It was also very cold. I am happy with the results.

Taper Time

Doug — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:44:25 +0000

Well this past weekend I hit some good runs. Mostly this was just a weekend to get my legs back to the feeling of being relaxed. The mileage wasn’t as high as I have been hitting for the week. There were two quality work outs this past week a tempo and hill work out. Both of the workouts I hit them exactly as I had hoped. This coming week my only workout is a tempo and the following week I will be doing quarter mile repeats to get a little speed under my legs. The mileage for the next two weeks is very low. I am hitting just about 62% of my weekly peak mileage. Hopefully all this training and thought in the process will allow me the ability to run a PR on a course that isn’t made for PRs. We will see. I have put the time in. I just need to stay mentally tough and have some fun with it.

Getting Ready for Celebrate Life Half Marathon

Doug — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:12:29 +0000

With a little over two weeks left I am getting pretty pumped for the Celebrate Life Half Marathon. I have had many people respond to my donation flyers and help by donating funds to the cause. Currently we have had a total donation of $265.00. I can’t believe it! I love the support from both my fellow employees, family and friends.

In running news this past weekend I ran in the Frostbite Five Miler in Ambler PA. It was a good run. It was very windy with gusts of wind reaching up to 50 mph. I was able to finish in 28:40. I felt real good and held my pace except for the third mile when I lost some time to the wind. Without the wind who knows if I could have gone faster. We will find out hopefully during the Patriot’s Cup on May 1st.

I am currently about to start a taper on Monday. My legs are starting to feel real fresh with a slight drop in mileage this week. I am excited for the Half. The goal of this race is to finish with a smile on my face and know that I did it for something bigger than myself.

In other news – I signed up for my first full marathon. I don’t know why I did it and am hesitant to admit I would do such a thing. I can’t believe I paid money so that I could put my body through running 26.2 miles. This race will be to finish and nothing else. Hopefully I will have fun doing it.

Well that is a good little catch up of everything that is going on in my life. Hopefully I will see you on the roads.

Mileage

Doug — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:56:59 +0000

Started this week off with an 8 mile run on Monday. It was nice out so I hit it outside. Went down 7100 North for ways and felt nice and relaxed. Averaged in at 6:43 a mile. Felt good and relaxed after running 15 miles the day before. Tuesday I hit a work out at the gym. I hit mile repeats on the treadmill. Started with a two-mile warm up then hit 4xMile with 3-3:10 rest in between. And finished with two-mile cool down. Total time on the run was 56 minutes. I felt good on the miles and hit them right where I wanted. Today I hit a 10 mile recovery run. This run was down 7100 again. I felt good going out for the first 5 miles. At the time I didn’t realize that the wind was at my back until I turned around. After the turn around I cruised back and still came in averaging just at 6:44 miles. I will take it considering I was running relaxed. Tomorrow will be split up into two runs. I will hit one in the morning and then one in the evening. Should be a good break. I am feeling ready for this half marathon.