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5 Days Until Sunmart & The Delinquent Blogger

Yeah, OK... I've been a terrible blogger for the past week. Mostly, I've just been a TIRED PUPPY. Evenings are when I normally make time to blog and this past week has just been tough to balance and I've found myself wanting to get ZZZ's earlier and earlier. It's a combination from being busy, a few long days, and obviously the heavy mileage over the past several weeks. And as Mike Kennedy has said to me multiple times, "as if you have so much time to begin with....."

Tired Puppy: Is Apollo stretching, asleep... Or both?


So here is the previous week in review!

Thanksgiving - 27M
Thanksgiving morning was COLD, but I got in my longest training run since the KC Marathon (where I did 28M total). I started my run at Wash Park at 5:50am and banged out 15M before meeting up with Jim Lynch at his house. It was 7 more back to the park and we arrived with some extra time on our hands due to Jim's not-so-spot-on-math-skills; you'd think after 71 marathons he would have his pace down! :-) So with some extra time we decided to work in one more mile prior to the start of the Turkey Trot. Julie brought Apollo & Champ with her to cheer, and since the Turkey Trot really is more of a fun-run with costumes, strollers and plenty of doggers, Champ got to run her first "official" race as we chilled with the mid-pack and cruised the 4M race to round out my 27M workout.

Gettin' ready for the Turkey Trot!


Look Mom, my first PR!


I felt very strong throughout the morning with the only issue being a small bit of IT Band pain; most likely from having to weave so much through the crowded race. Dinner was fantastic as Julie and I went to Whole Foods to pick up some select items from their pre-cooked cases. We figured since she was preggers and with me having just gone long that spending hours on our feet with food prep wasn't the most appealing option. A bit of football, lots of sleeping, and then we went out to see the movie August Rush which I definitely recommend - I incorrectly thought it was a chick-flick (since Julie picked it out and I didn't know anything about it), but turned out really enjoying it as I love good music and a motivating story.

After the Turkey Trot, a Green Bay Packers victory, and Thanksgiving kibble, it's nap time!


Black Friday - 21M
Black Friday was one of those good/bad kind of days... It started off with a bit of nervousness due to the weather, along with the fact that I was aiming for 20M for my own training. Going into any of our Runner's Edge of the Rockies Saturday morning training runs during the winter, my anxiety level goes up along with the likelihood of snow/sleet/rain. After last year's "winter of hell" where we literally got snowed on every single Friday/Saturday, I always find myself doing some sort of Sun Dance in hopes that we'll have good running conditions. There was the slim chance that we would have to move our trail run in Evergreen to the streets, but thankfully the weather held off enough. (GOOD) So that just left my own training. I wasn't sure how well I would do after the 27M yesterday, let alone on a trail with some good incline sections.

So I drove up to Evergreen in the early afternoon to get my run in while also marking the trail. The temperature was in the teens, but the trail conditions were excellent at Elk Meadow Open Space. (GOOD) Unfortunately my IT Band was still pretty tight and right out of the gate it let me know it was there. (BAD) Since I began training for Sunmart, this was the worst it had felt and I started to wonder if I was going to be able to finish the run, (let alone get the course set up for the next morning). Several times in the first 3 miles I had to stop for a minute to thoroughly stretch. But about 30 minutes into the run it started to loosen up and the pain decreased a bit. (GOOD) Since there was an inch of snow up in Evergreen and the trail was mostly clear, I was able to run the route and just carry orange athletic-field spray paint with me to mark the snow. Unfortunately about 3.5 miles into the route, the paint can fell out of my jacket pocket as I was running up an incline. (BAD)

By the time I realized it a half-mile later and turned back, the can had been picked up by a hiking family that I had just passed... (VERY BAD) We'll call them The Idiot Hilljacks. Jr. Hilljack (probably 10-12 years old) had proceeded to paint the trail like he was doing graffiti (and in fact later admitted to me that he had "tagged" the trail), and dad & grandpa Hilljack just jerked me around when I chased them down (multiple times), to ask them where they had left the paint can. I literally was given three different answers as to it's location, didn't believe any of them (correctly), and finally asked them why they couldn't just be nice and help me out since it was the day after Thanksgiving. With the conversation turning less than friendly and the Dad starting to get confrontational (BAD), I ran off before finding out if the Hilljacks were packing a gun. (SMART)

I finally ran my way back to where I had dropped the paint can in hopes that God would somehow grant me divine vision to actually find the thing. It had a bright orange top... How hard could it be, right? (I had already spent 15 minutes trying to locate it previous to chasing them down for the last time.) And before even getting back to the spot where Jr. had tagged everything I noticed an odd mound of snow about 10 feet off the trail. I kicked into it and sure enough... The Hilljacks had buried the thing! Well, victory went to the good guys, I gave them a silent victory salute (HA-HA!) and I was able to finish setting the remainder of the route. What was ironic is that I bumped into several very nice people along the trail during the rest of my run, (one who even ran with us the next morning!), and it just left me scratching my head at the lack of kindness some people show and the degradation of our youth. I would have been beaten to within an inch of my short life had I ever acted that way when I was a kid. Obviously these guys weren't Rhodes Scholars, and in the words of the honorable Judge Smails from Caddyshack... "Well, the world needs ditch diggers too!"

OK, so back to my own run. With the route marked and ready to go for the the next morning, I still had my own miles left to log. But after all of the back/forth due to the Hilljacks, time had flown by and the sun was setting. I hammered it back down the trail, also realizing that I was losing daylight quickly. (BAD) With almost 14M logged when I got back to the car and no daylight, I realized I couldn't run more miles up in Evergreen. The temps were dropping rapidly and no way I wanted to risk bumping into a mountain lion. (BAD)

So I quickly drove home with the intention of getting in 4 more miles. But when I got home my running mojo was on empty (BAD) and I really wanted nothing more than to eat dinner. Julie was awesome though and told me that I would be so disappointed with myself if I didn't at least get 18M in for the day since I had been training hard, and all but pushed me out the door with Champ. I started to feel better (GOOD) and after a 2.5M loop I swapped out Champ for Apollo and knocked out another 1.5M. But after dropping Apollo off, I told Julie I was going to run 2 more miles and went back out again for another loop... At this point, I was feeling so good and in the middle of an amazing runner's high that I decided to up it to 3.5M, and clipped it off at 8-min. per mile. (GOOD) I finished exceptionally strong for having just run 48M in two days (and 80M in six days), and that was such a mental bonus that I will probably rely on it during any tough miles I experience at Sunmart...

Saturday Group Trail Run
And to top it off, the group run in Evergreen was tremendous! Our recommended nutritionist Nancy Pudwill came out to do a quick training tip on how to balance "holiday food", the weather was fantastic (sunny/warm), no more Hilljacks messed with us, and everyone really had a great workout. Following the workout I took the dogs out to an off-leash dog area just to the south of Elk Meadow Open Space and Stage Coach Blvd. Champ and Apollo absolutely loved it, and we hiked around for a couple of miles. (OK, I hiked and they ran everywhere!) That probably wasn't ideal for my training as my calves were pretty beat from the previous two days and the hiking exacerbated the soreness/inflammation a bit. But with two weeks left until Sunmart and my heavy training "in the bank" so to speak... I had time to recover!

The 3:40 Runner's Edge pace group cruises through beautiful Elk Meadow.


Another bonus about Saturday was that I swung by Runner's Roost to pick up a new pair of tights - John Shults, the owner of the Denver & Aurora Roost stores commented on my "holy tights" when he saw me at the Turkey Trot and said I needed to get in to pick up a new pair. He was raving about these new tights called Skins, and said that the training benefit they provide is outstanding. They are SNUG, but not uncomfortable and apparently seven Denver Nuggets wear them under their shorts, and a lot of elite runners/cyclists are going to them as well. (And while I haven't logged enough miles in them yet to notice a huge difference, I may have to break them out at Sunmart if the weather is less than ideal.)

Fried Chicken Wings-Err... LEGS!
After no running on Saturday/Sunday, I banged out a smooth 7M on Monday morning with Michelle Wolcott. That run felt really fast for my first run after the previous week and we ran 8-9 minute pace the entire run. It felt great with no IT Band pain, but the calves were still a bit sore. So it was in to Karen Kalbach for a massage which turned out to be 10% massage and 90% pure hell. Karen is amazing for sports massage, but my calves were so inflammed and sore that she could barely get much done. Again, probably my fault for hiking around with the doggers on Saturday and as my stride breaks down on longer runs I do have the tendency to supinate and run on my toes even more... But hopefully with a lot of stretching, ice, hydration and maybe one more massage this week with Karen, they'll be feeling good by race day!

Prayers For a Friend
On Tuesday evening Julie and I went to go visit Mark Iwan, a good friend of ours who is currently in the hospital. Mark has been very ill for the past 2+ years and the doctors are still not completely sure of the exact cause. He was initially diagnosed with a brain tumor, then it was thought it was spinal meningitis or even encephalitis. I don't know all of the details but effectively his bodily systems have been getting progressively worse, which resulted in pneumonia and he's now on a trach-respirator. The good news is that Mark is at Kindred Hospital in Denver where he is being weaned from the respirator and getting transfusions but long-term a diagnosis is still needed. What's been very sad and humbling for Julie and me is that Mark is one of the brightest people around (Julie used to work with him), and he also was incredibly gifted as an athlete: He played football for Case-Western University in Cleveland, ran on the track team (4:04 miler), and also became a very accomplished marathoner (2:30). The three of us used to run every morning before work, and hopefully there will be more running in Mark's future... Please keep him in your thoughts prayers - Thanks!

Irish Snug Run
On Thursday, Holly Robinson from the group invited me to come out and do the "Snug Run" that night. Quite a few of our Runner's Edge members do the Snug Run in Denver every week including David Gillikin who actually handles some of the logistics/organization. It was a very laid-back, fun 3M run which was perfect for my taper run that evening. I took Champ with me (since dogs are allowed) and met up with members Holly, Courtney Szubielak & Mike Kennedy at the Irish Snug. Following the run we partook in the free pasta dinner provided to all of the runners, and yes, I admit that I did have a pint! It was a good time, Mike's final taper run prior to the Tucson Marathon on Sunday, and then on my way home I stopped over at Kindred hospital to visit with Mark for a bit.

"Find My Phone!"
On Friday evening while doing my 8M training run during set-up the Saturday morning group training run from Runner's Roost-Lakewood, I reinforced the belief that "David is losing his mind" when my cell phone dropped out of my pocket. (About a month ago my wallet fell out of my pocket while at Einstein Bros, the paint can in Evergreen was number two, so the cell-phone completed the trifecta.) I think I was putting a turnaround marker down on the route when the cell phone decided to jump out of my running jacket to spend a cold night alongside the Bear Creek Trail. Of course it was after sunset, dark, cold, and all I had was my headlamp. So at next morning's run, I told everyone to look for it but it was actually another runner who was out earlier than our group who saw the flashing voicemail indicator and picked it up and eventually brought it to me at Runner's Roost. So after my experience with the Idiot Hilljacks the week before, I was very encouraged with how nice this runner was to bring it back to me. Of course, he also told me he is an FBI agent so obviously the yin balanced out last-week's yang. (His name has been witheld or he'll be forced to kill me.)

The big bonus about doing Saturday's group run from Roost-Lakewood, is that I had the chance to pick the brain of the owners Sonya Estes and her husband Chris Alderman. Sonya did the 50km at Sunmart last year and Chris did the 50M and had several choice recommendations, the first being to plan on cold/humid conditions in the morning. Next Saturday's forecast at Sunmart called for rain (which could have meant several muddy sections), but later that afternoon Dave Longcope texted me an updated forecast that it was looking like upper 70's for the high temp. CRAP.... Traditionally I don't do well in hot/humid conditions. Julie then said, "yeah but it won't get that warm until the afternoon". Of course, I then reminded her that I will probably be running all day long!

Doggers Visit Santa
So would you believe me if I said that we were out running errands on Sunday and just happened to bump into a Santa photo-op for the doggers or is it more believable if I said we actually planned our errands around it? Yeah, I thought so... OK, guilty as charged - Julie wanted to take Champ & Apollo to visit Santa Claus at PetSmart. We're pathetic!


Dear Santa, we want lots of pets, walks, bones... Oh, and a few bunnies to chase. Cool?


It's All Mental
At this point, it's all mental. Literally. I know I've put in the mileage necessary required for my first ultra marathon and now it's all about getting good sleep, stretching, staying relaxed, eating well, staying hydrated, and not letting the brain get in the way of what my body can do... So with that, I'm going to get back to the 60+ E-mails in my inbox and get ready for what will hopefully be a fun, light week of training.

Oh... And I promise I'll blog in the next three days leading up to my flight to Houston on Friday morning, as there is lots to cover regarding the course, my strategy, etc.

Have a great week!

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous said...
     

    Glad to see you back to posting! Sounds like you've had some great adventures in the past week+. I can't wait to hear about Sunmart. Stay positive, David!

  2. Tonia said...
     

    David,

    I so look forward to your blogs. The Hilljack story was classic....what a bunch of tools!!

    Good Luck at Sunmart.

  3. Anonymous said...
     

    Man, I'm worn out just reading this! :) Good luck, we'll all be saying our prayers to the running gods for you!

    Kari

  4. Anonymous said...
     

    I have definitely enjoyed reading your blog postings, and wish you much success this weekend.

    I was also really touched by the section about your ill friend. Sometimes it takes hearing something like this to realize just how truly fortunate we are to just be able to go out for a run --- even if we know we're never going to break any world records.

    Steve

  5. Anonymous said...
     

    Dave,
    Thanks for the plug for The Irish Snug. I'd love to see more Runners Edge runners show up, so maybe now we will!

    Dave Gillikin

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