Running and Running

It was warmer and humidier (I made that up) than expected this morning. I slept a little late then headed out for 8-10 miles. The course I ran ended up being 9.1 miles and for some unknown reason I started the watch as I headed out. That can be a dangerous thing for Geezer as I nearly always turn those runs into a progressive pace run. Sure enough, I was clicking along at a steady 7:30 for the first 4 miles then just let her fly. The final overall average ended up at 7:14 with the final mile in 6:30. It felt great to let it rip and close a run.

Then we headed out to meet up with our Broker. We had agreed to participate in HUD listings if he was approved. Sure enough, we are now one of only 2 brokerages in Central Texas able to list HUD homes. It is a lot of work but we anticipate having 40-50 listings within a couple of weeks. Lots and lots of new rules and special protocol involved with HUD properties but once we get going, we will be closing 2-3 transactions per week. I can't wait to get our investor network built up to take advantage of this opportunity for great deals.

A Few Good Miles

I mapped out a 12 mile hilly route from the house this morning. Raincreek Pkwy from Great Hills to Fireoak, left on Fireoak to Yaupon then home via Oakview and my regular Sadie loop. I didn't wear a watch but Ruth Anne noted the time as I went out the door and when I got back I had run 12.1 miles in under 1:33 for an overall pace of 7:40ish. I felt very strong up the hills and fast on the flat return portion. I may have finally pushed through my running malaise. I have about 62 miles in the bank this week and plan to run 8 barefoot miles tomorrow morning at Zilker.

Thanksgiving

Ruth Anne and I celebrated 25 years this year. Our oldest daughter Anne got married and is having a baby. Elizabeth is in her Junior year at UT and planning to go on to graduate school. Eileen is in 2nd grade and performing well above average. My sister has reconnected with her high school sweet heart, moved to Alaska and plans to get married over New Years. My parents are healthy, Ruth Anne's parents are healthy. Many many things to be thankful for. With all of the hoopla though, this has been a stressful year. Thanksgiving plans were put off as we planned a wedding and the final result was the first family unit Thanksgiving in our 25 years together. What a wonderful day! The weather was perfect, I had a relaxing run through the neighborhood while Ruth Anne prepared the turkey. Once the turkey was in the oven we shared a walk with the Chiahuahua. With only 6 of us at the table, I carved the smallest turkey ever and we all fit at the dining table. The crash halfway through dinner was the cat knocking the Pecan Pie on the floor while going after the turkey carcass. We got to the pie before the dogs but they celebrated thanksgiving by licking up all of the scraps left on the floor. Sorry, no pictures Mike!

I am getting all of my runs in even though I am running much slower than I would like. I am at 40 miles and getting ready to go for 10 more in a few minutes. I think I will settle for 70ish this week. I have been getting a lot of runs in my neighborhood and have been concerned that I have not seen some of my regulars in a while. Jack On The Bike, Grand Canyon Man and Kitchen Timer Tom had not been seen in weeks. Yesterday though I saw Jack and said hi as he pedaled past me. Near the end of my run I caught Grand Canyon Man and stopped to walk with him for a while to get to know him. His Name is Larry (I'm glad this Larry doesn't run!) and he had a great time at the Grand Canyon. I asked what's next and he said Alaska! I told him my sister had just moved there and we talked about some of the great adventures to be had there. I can now call him Grand Canyon Larry.

Let's see, my regulars now include: Grand Canyon Larry, Jack On The Bike, Kitchen Timer Tom, Max Clean, Jennifer and Skip. I introduced myself to Tom Terkel(?) who was running in a pair of five fingers on Wednesday. Somehow I don't think he will be a regular though.

Well, gotta go RUN!

Let's Roll

Boston is 20 weeks away. I averaged 40-45 miles per week each week but last week since Portland and ran 72 this week. I feel so much better getting in a run every day and 9 or 10 is kind of my daily base run. We run 12-16 on week day Team days and 20+ on Saturdays. I keep looking at the Lydiard Schedule that Steve gave us last year trying to figure out where I should be right now. I think I will just keep my regular routine going.

Mon 10 Tue 12-14 Wed 10 Thu 14-16 Fri 10 Sat 20-24 Sun 8-10. That will result in 85-95 miles per week or about 1,800 training miles for Boston. That will actually never happen because life does manage to get in the way of a few runs. I plan to race 3M so I won't go 22 on that Saturday. Probably.

Anyway, it is comforting in a way to have my plan. Steve will plan out the soul busting workouts. My teammates will push the pace occaisionally. I will run 2:58 at Boston. Let's Roll.

Geezer's Nekkid Run Part 1

Debra and Pragati from my Austin Marathon group joined by Mark from Team Rogue accompanied me on a barefoot run at Zilker Park this morning. It felt GREAT to once again feel the earth beneath my feet and the mud between my toes. I ran 8 miles, the last one with Bruno who has never run with me before. I was surprised that he kept up for the entire mile at my normal easy pace. I've been home for about 1 1/2 hours and he has been sacked out the whole time! I made a short little video of the group below. Mark was finishing up a 8 mile run and wanted to sample the barefoot running deal. Debra and Pragati have both tried it before in dealing with Plantar Faciitis. We talked a grat deal about barefoot running and minimalist shoes. All in all a great day in the park! Whoo Hooo.

I finished up the week at 72 miles. With the exception of Tuesday's fast pace I felt great all week. One small blister yesterday is the only ill effect.

Great Run - Empty House

I ran 20 miles today, I think. The winner of my forum contest to guess how I earned the name Geezer was Bill Durbin. His prize was ME. I offered to carry gu's discarded clothing etcetera figuring some beginner running 9 or 10 minute miles would be the winner. After declaring Bill the winner I started checking on who he was and got a little worried that I might be in for a tough run. Not to worry. Nothing to carry and no extra clothing at the start so I was off the hook there. All I had to do was keep up! We grabbed the 20 mile map but I don't remember seeing him check it. Bruce went with us planning to run 20 so I'm sure we were close. I thoroughly enjoyed our run. Great conversation, a decent pace and 20 miles of mostly Austin Marathon course.

Yesterday was interesting. I ran my 9 mile version of my DK plus Sadie loop. On the same run almost a year ago, I saw a petite, very fast woman running on my route. I sped up trying to catch up but couldn't close on her. About a week later I saw her again crossing my route but again I couldn't catch her. Yesterday, I saw her coming at me. We were both on the sidewalk and this time I flagged her down to introduce myself. She was older than I expected and said her name was Jennifer. She was wearing a 2008 Boston shirt so I asked her what she was training for. She said "nothing, I'm just lazy and fat out for a run". I laughed at that remembering I couldn't catch her the times I had seen her before and I'm telling you she was NOT fat.

Tomorrow, I am hosting the first Run Nekkid With Geezer event at the Zilker Park Great Lawn. I am hoping to introduce some of my athletes and running buddies to the joy of running barefoot in the grass. If you are interested, 7:30am at the east end of the ACL area.

Ruth Anne and Eileen went to Dallas this morning so the house is empty. I get to wash ALL of my clothes today! Whoo Hooo! I'll finish cleaning out the shower from my tile repair and watch the Texas game tonight. After the Nekkid Run tomorrow, Ruth Anne wants me to repair a couple of broken tiles in the other bathrooms so I guess I'll be busy enough.

Groovin'

I am back in the groove! I took the entire week off (except for the Hokahey 5K) as planned. Tuesday was test the hip day so I headed down to Rogue for the 5:30am run. The weather was cool and the youngsters where feeling friskie so we cranked out 12 miles at a ridulous pace in the low 7s. The hip was fine but my legs were shot! Wednesday morning was even colder but I didn't get started until 7:30 and got hot in the beautiful sunshine. I ran 9.2 at an easy recovery pace and felt pretty loose by the end. This morning, the alarm woke me up for the first time in weeks. I had trouble getting out the door but finally got out the door and headed to Barton Springs. 14 miles was the longest option and several runners indicated they were going 14. I ended up with a side stitch in the first 2 miles and had trouble holding the pace. By mile 5 I had caught up to the group just as those running shorter were turning around. By mile 8 Mike and I were running alone and at a comfortable pace. We ended up just short of 14 miles so I am sitting at 34.4 miles after 3 days. This mileage feels GREAT! I will try to get 8-10 tomorrow, 20 on Saturday then 5-8 barefoot miles on Sunday. That will net 68-72 miles for the week in 6 days. I will be getting 70-76 miles per week in until Boston in April. Feels so good, feeling good again!

Hokahey 5K

Our new business is keeping me busier than I ever imagined. For the first time in many years, I am fully engaged from the time I get up until falling into bed. I had forgotten the thrill and energy produced by taking on a new challenge. I have even come up with a new marketing ploy based on my running. I'm thinking of contacting all of the fast guys in my age group and offering to reduce my commissions if they will let me sell their house in Austin and refer them to an agent in say Portland. In a couple of years, I could start walking away with some age group awards!

Speaking of running, I actually haven't done much lately. In the days following the IBM 10K I noticed some tightness in my hip. The location was in the same general area that took me out of the 2007 Boston training and trashed a year of training. I began a concerted effort to address the issue before it become an injury. By Monday of this week it had reached the point of pain during my run so I cut the run short and developed my plan of attack on it. I notified my running buddies that I was taking a week off. I scheduled a massage with Lisa, the Mistress of Pain, and hit it with Aleve on day one then Advil and Tylenol after that. At my massage, Lisa was amazed at the lack of knots in my calves and at the vastly improved range of motion in all of the major joints. She agreed that the barefoot and near barefoot running has transformed my lower body and that it seems to be the right approach to running for me. Then she got busy on my hip. I had been dreading this because I hadn't done a massage in over 8 months BUT we were both surprised at how easily the muscles released. I left with a little bit of soreness that was nearly completely gone by the time I reached the office. No running on Friday. I had no time to really think about the Hokakey 5K that I had entered for Saturday.

The Hokahey 5K was not really a "race" after all. This was an opportunity to come together with the friends of Dan Keitz and raise funds for his battle with ALS. As I got ready for bed, I didn't know if I would race or not. The thought even occur ed to me to try running barefoot. I decided on the drive out to Oak Hill that I would run it barefoot if the pavement looked smooth. When I got there they were handing out chips with the bibs. Hmmm, hadn't thought about attaching a chip without shoes. Ok, lets run some of the course and decide what to do. I jogged out for what I thought was about a mile and found the pavement to be pretty rough so shoes were staying on.

I seeded myself near the front and decided to just see what I had when the gun went off. I knew Kurt M. would go for the win and there were several buff looking high school XC guys with that look in their eyes. When the horn sounded I found myself running in 5th place with Kurt and 3 XC guys out ahead. I was breathing heavy within 20 seconds while these guys seemed to be just cruising. At what I thought should be about the 1st mile I sneaked a peak at my watch and saw 4:20 so I knew I was in trouble. I was feeling like we had run a mile already but we had only run 3/4 mile if that! Then I saw the HILL. Where in the hell did that come from? I dug in and passed one of the XC kids but Kurt and the other two were now pulling away. Going down the backside was no fun because I could see we had to come right back up in short order. From this point on I could hear footsteps right on my heels. I never looked back though. On the return trip up the hill, I got passed by some guy named Larry. Why do they always seemed to be named Larry? He passed me like I was standing still. I figured I would now get passed by 5 or 6 more before we finished as I was beginning to run out of steam. I could hear footsteps getting closer and closer as we neared the final stretch. With about 200 meters to go, I felt someone try to pass me. I dropped whatever hammer I had left knowing it wouldn't be enough if it was one of the young guys. After about 50 meters, I heard them back off and knew that I had broken them. I pushed to the finish vowing to NOT look at my watch crossing the line. I looked up and saw Dan at the finish line so without thinking I jumped and gave Dan my best salute. I had my usual couple of minutes of dry heaving before I realized I hadn't stopped my watch. I don't yet know what my time was BUT I managed to hold onto 5th place overall and 1st masters! Kurt held off the 2 XC guys for the win and Larry must be younger than 40. I spent about an hour visiting with Dan and many of the folks from our Pikes Peak training. It was good to see people that I had not seen in 2 or 3 years. I'll be back to run this race next year!

RESULTS:
Hohahey 5k
Austin, TX
14 Nov 2009

1 0:18:42 Kurt Mohlman M 29
2 0:19:01 John Vogt M 31
3 0:19:27 Larry King M 43
4 0:19:40 Matthew Nyfeler M 17
5 0:19:50 Geezer Collins M 46
6 0:19:50 Cody Castelline M 15
7 0:19:56 Michael Wedel M 34

Essential Lydiard

Thank you Mike for forwarding this article! Anyone who has read my blog for any length of time knows I have struggled with the mental and physical aspects of becoming a marathoner. Not running a marathon, that was actually pretty easy, but becoming a marathoner. Shedding the excesses (shoes, technology, fueling, hair) and learning to simply run by feel has been the hardest thing I have done in my life except perhaps raising kids. So I plan to read this article a few more times. I hope it puts some of my rambling and disjointed blogging into perspective for me as well as you!

A moment of Pizza and TRUTH

Last night was our Post Workout Pizza Party at Mangia Pizza! A great time was had by all, including yours truly who tried valiantly to clear the table of pizza before abandoning the cause with 2 or 3 slices left. On my very slow pizza residual laden 8 mile run this morning, I was reflecting on recent conversations with several runners from my group.

The First Ten-A-Tive Steps to Boston

I really was excited to get the training started. So excited I woke up at 3:30am. I managed to lay in bed till 4 then got up. I have a training plan that has worked for me for a year now. I run 10 miles each day that I run on my own. Then I run whatever the longest route offered on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday workouts. That typically starts out getting me about 70 miles per week and builds to 85 or 90 by the peak of training. I also will skip any day that I am hurt or sick (not many lately) and don't feel the need to make them up. Anyway, the longest anyone seemed to be interested in going this morning was 10 miles. Mus, Chris and I were the longfellows this morning. So I have now logged 10 miles toward sub 3 hours at Boston!

Of note this morning: Chris E is back with our group. He is training for an Ironman and Rogue will be his running training. Glad to have him back as we ran many miles together last Boston season. Jim F is back and leaning toward an assault on 3 hours. He will be hard to keep up with on days he feels good so I'm looking forward to the challenge. Tausha is back!!!!! Julie is back in black!!! A couple of new faces that Steve didn't introduce yet. Missing some of the core people still, Ken, Mike, Bruce, Jason. I think Mike and Bruce will be joining up later. Larry is still too damned fast for me to chase and Kamran will likely go for sub 2:50. Mus and Damon are chasing 2:55. So I will have some bodies to try to keep in sight on tempo runs and some to run with. Its gonna be epic!