Sub-seven

With my taper starting this week, I knew this was my last shot for a while in getting a sub-seven mile ... after last week's debacle (miscounting of the laps involved), I got the lap count right.

Unfortunately, in the pic my watch is upside down ... still, the time is what matters. Now, I can stop chasing that goal for a little while and just focus on Sunburst ...

One year later

I was at SQLSaturday Detroit in 2013 when Tina Walters called me on the phone and told me that I had been accepted into season six of Fort Wayne Smallest Winner.

Here I am one year later at the same event ... 

What a difference a year makes, eh?

Failed mile

Every now and then I run a single mile as fast as I can to see how far I've come. My current record is 7:02. Today, I tried it again on the track at Spiece. I really wanted to get my time under 7:00.

Nine laps equals one mile. To get my goal, each lap would need to be 0:46 or better. That would even leave me a six second cushion.

I was flying around that track, and I was feeling good. I knew I was ahead of pace, and when I counted off my last lap, I stopped my watch and started walking a few cool down laps. When I looked at my watch to see my time, I saw a number that made me furious ... 6:05.

I knew that I wasn't THAT fast ... I'd probably only ran eight laps. I double checked my watch (which has a lap counting feature), and sure enough, that's exactly what I had done.

Losing count sucks, because I would have definitely nailed my first sub-seven mile ... Oh well, I guess I'll get it next time.

Goose poop and Bambi

My longest run before the full marathon ... felt much better than last week's 20 mile run. I tweaked my fueling strategy, and it paid off! Time: 3:39:25 (9:40 / mi)

I didn't see many running club buddies on the trail today, but I did see a lot of geese ... and they sure were a hissy bunch. You'd think I was the one who had pooped all over something that they valued instead of the other way around.

I also saw two deer that were kind of trapped on the trail. The river was pretty close on my left and there was a long, tall fence on my right. They were clearly spooked and they could only run towards me or away from me. I'm glad that chose to run from me! I kept thinking of that scene in Tommy Boy where the deer wakes up in the car and goes crazy ... I didn't want to be the victim of Bambi rage.

I ran behind them and tried not to get to close, but I was also worried about my pace. I was moving pretty good and didn't want to sacrifice time. I was actually paced by a couple of deer for a little over half mile! Eventually, the river peeled away from the path, and my wild running buddies were able to disappear into the woods.

20 miles?

First time running 20 miles ... one of the most grueling physical challenges I've ever completed. I shudder to think that there's another 6.2 in a full marathon. Time? 3:22:25 (10:33 / mi)

Fortunately, I ran into several friends along the way. It keeps you honest, because you never know who you're going to see on the trails ... well, actually, I had a pretty good idea who I would see because I am a member of the local running club. We have a Facebook group where we can share our running plans and we might pick up a running buddy or two. There was a group doing 20 miles that day, and I would have preferred to join them, but I needed an earlier start, so I ran solo.

My particular route was a beautiful section of River Greenway that stretches between New Haven and Fort Wayne. I started fairly strong, but started to noticeably slow down after my first five miles. By the time I had finished ten miles, I had slowed down even more.

The last two miles were little more than a walk. I've heard a lot of folks talk about "hitting the wall" around 18 miles, and I felt it. Let's just say that if that wasn't the wall, then I'm in trouble.

I definitely need to reevaluate my in-run fueling. Physically, I did it without problems, but the lack of "juice in the tank" as the run wore on has left me a little worried. Can I do this marathon? It's less than a month away!