TheRunningRev.Com

211 Days To Comrades

Between now and May 29th, 2011 all of my running will have a single focus... getting to the finish line of Comrades Marathon in under 12 hours!

I'll chronicle my journey of running through the Minnesota winter as I prespare for the 56 miles from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. Just the thought of running under African skies already has me excited, and to be running in the childhood home of my mother will be an even greater thrill.

One of my goals in running for Team World Vision is to find sponsors for 56 kids, one for each mile I run. As soon as I find out who the 56 kids are the I'll be finding sponsors for I'll let you know.

Meanwhile I'll be running a 5k tomorrow morning... gotta start somewhere!

Comrades 2011

It's been a while since I wrote anything here. This is just a quick update to say that I've registered for Comrades 2011 in South Africa. It's an uphill year, which many say is the easier of the two routes, but 56 miles is still 56 miles.

I'll be joining a team from World Vision to run this race and raise awareness of justice and poverty issues in our world today.

I'm looking forward to joining 18,000 others in the world's largest ultramarathon. One things for sure, its going to be fun! 

Minneapolis 13.1

It was a beautiful August morning, warm and muggy! After a couple of poor performances in the marathon I was hoping to use this race to rebuild my confidence. The plan was to run a slow first mile to warm up and then settle into a sub-8:00 pace for the rest of the race.

As the race began I felt great running through the one mile mark in 8:22 and then picked up the pace and settled in. After two miles I was really hot so I ditched my t-shirt and exposed everyone on the course to my 41 year old physique (or lack thereof!). I aslo made the decission that I would walk through all the water stops to make sure I kept an adequate fluid intake throughout the race.

I loved every minute of the race, I felt great from start to finish, it was well organized and the volunteers where great.  As I crossed the finish line in 1:42:22 I was well shy of my PR but thoroughly satisfied with how I felt. It was everything I'd hoped for.

After crossing the finish line I took on the greater job of cheering home the other members of our team from church who were all running as part of Team World Vision to help raise funds to provide clean water for the people of Kenya.

After all our team members had crossed the line we stayed and cheered home the rest of the Team World Vision runners, some 500 in total from the Twin Cities area. The best part of the story is that some $140,000 has been raised for the clean water projects as a result of this race.

Grandma's Marathon

The day started off well, we woke around 5:00 am after falling asleep at 9:30. I had a good breakfast, whole wheat bread with marmalade, banana, glass of orange juice and a small cup of coffee, my usual pre-marathon meal.

When we boarded the bus for the start line I was feeling very confident that I could run somewhere between 3:20 and 3:30. My training had been good and I felt everything pointed to a good run. The weather wasn't quite perfect, a little warmer than ideal, low 60's at the start and feeling considerably warmer when the sun popped out of the clouds. The west wind was blowing at 10-15mph but wasn't much of a factor.

When the horn sounded to start the race I placed myself with the 3:20 pace group. It was a beautiful start as we headed south along the scenic Highway 61 with Lake Superior on our left.

The guy leading the group was the same person who led this pace group at the Twin Cities marathon and the first couple of miles where very similar. Mile one was a few seconds slow but then he ran hard to make them all up in the second mile. By the third mile I knew I wasn't going to have a good day.

Entering into the water station at mile three I grabbed a water and a Powerade and downed them both. My quads were already starting to burn and I couldn't figure out why but I immediately decided that I would walk through the remaining aid stations to try and keep my legs as fresh as possible. I quickly lost touch with the 3:20 pace group and came through the 10k in 47:39. By the half way point I was being caught by the 3:30 pace group as I struggled to a 1:44:45 split for the half. I was feeling terrible, everything hurt.

The next seven miles took 1:04 to run, although "run" may not be the right term for what I was doing. When I reached mile 20 in 2:48:21 my new goal was to get to the finish and if lucky break four hours. The run into Duluth was fantastic, great crowd support and a welcome change of scenery. I felt energized but my legs simply refused to respond. At mile 22 I arrived at Lemon Drop hill and enjoyed the climb followed by the downhill run into downtown Duluth.

Miles 20-25 took 53 minutes to run!

With 1.2 to go I decided to speed things up and finish strong. So I gave it all I had and ran the last 1.2 in 12 minutes, a blistering 10 minute/mile pace!

It was just one of those days. I have no explanation for it, 25 minutes worse than I'd hoped for, I just gutted it out as best as I could to the end. If there was any mistake in training it might have been that I didn't do enough long tempo runs but that doesn't explain everything going wrong at mile 3.

CO 5k

It was a near perfect morning for the first CO 5k. The goal was to raise $10,000 for Camp Ojibway and they were successful in this quest. The race itself was very well organized, although there were no official times, about 200 people showed up to run and walk the course. The entire Craigan clan was present and ready to run. 

As the race got underway I found myself in a position I'd never been in before, I was leading! Unfortunately a small pack tucked in a little behind me just waiting to pounce and after about three quarters of a mile I gave up first place, just past the 2k mark I gave up second place and around 3.5k I lost my third place... boo. I thought I might lose fourth place but fought hard to the finish crossing the line in 20:46.

It was an interesting experience for me to be running at the front and I clearly didn't race it well. I shouldn't have run at the front, I should have held back but I don't think I've ever been in the lead before!

I want to run sub-20 before the end of the year.

Jump To It 10k

I rolled out of bed this morning happy to see that the snow had not accumulated and that there was no precipitation falling from the sky. It was cold, mid-30's with a windchill in the mid-20's.

The race started at 9:00 am with both the 5k and 10k having simultaneous starts which made it difficult to decide on a pace. I ran through the first mile at 6:50, which was right on the pace I had hoped for but something in my head went off telling me I was going to fast and my body slowed itself down considerably, with 7:25 for mile 2, very annoying! Mile three was a little faster, 7:20, and mile 4 a little slower. 

All my distance work had me locked into running between a 7:20 and 7:40 mile which will hopefully be a plus in Grandma's marathon in a few weeks time but was not helpful at all today!

I determined to run run harder miles 5 and 6 and did just that pushing through those miles with a pace around 6:55 giving me a time of 44:39 at the finish, a 7:12 average pace. Good enough for 5th in my age group, (note to self: more speed work needed so you can place). 

Trail Mix 50k

It was a beautiful clear morning at Hyland Lake Park Reserve in Bloomington, MN. The clear night saw temperatures drop to the mid-30's and were supposed to reach the mid-60's by the afternoon. The first question of the day was, what to wear? Decided on shorts and t-shirt with my Injinji socks and Brooks Cascadia shoes.

The 100 or so 50k runners started the first of four loops at 7:00am. It was a beautiful rolling course that included a couple of steeper sections in the Richardson Nature Center. On our first trip through the nature center several wild turkeys showed their support for us as they gobbled away! 

On the first loop I realized my first and fatal mistake of the day. I was told this was a well supported race but there was an inadequate supply of liquids and this would come to haunt me later. Lesson learned, never run an ultra without your own supply of fluids.

Finished loop one in 1:10, right on track for my goal of breaking five hours.

Loop two was very uneventful and I enjoyed conversation with several other runners as I came through in 1:12. Half way in 2:22, five hours was looking doable.

Loop three started fairly well and I hit the 20 mile mark in 3:10, but I also hit the wall at the same time! Lack of fluids was starting to have an impact. It would take another 32 minutes to finish the loop. Over those 3.25 miles I wondered if I should drop out but ultimately decided to continue running. 

I ran the first mile of the final loop very slowly and then went to walk, a long walk through the park. My mouth was dry and I couldn't spit, at the aid stations I was stopping to drink several of their tiny cups of water but to little affect. My upper back and shoulders seized up and my calf muscles began to cramp. I didn't want to risk injury so I spent considerably more time walking than running. When I tried to run I felt horrible but I knew the end was in sight. 

Breaking five hours disappeared from my radar as I lumbered on. Finally crossing the finish line in 5:32. Yes that was one hour fifty minutes for the last 7.75 miles or just over fourteen minutes a mile. Ugh!

I'm home now drinking lots of juice and feeling good.

BTW this was my first ultra wearing Injinji socks... loved them, not a single blister.  

TWV Running Comrades

Perhaps you've heard of the Comrades Marathon in South Africa, with the first run being held in 1921 it is the longest running ultramarathon in the world. With some 15,000 runners it is also the largest ultra in the world.

This year a group from Team World Vision (I want to join the team next year) will be flying out to compete in this fabulous race. Each member of the team has a goal of finding sponsors for 150 children, they are running to save lives!

We are also hoping that the first member of Team World Vision to finish the race will also be the winner of race. Josh Cox (US 50k record holder) is currently training hard in the hopes of becoming only the second American winner of Comrades. Among those joining Josh will Michael Chitwood who leads Team World Vision, Bart Yasso (Runner's World) and Andy Baldwin (The Bachelor).

If you don't currently sponsor a child now might be (is) a good time to start!

Running Update

I've been busy training for the Trail Mix 50k coming up on April 17th. I'm looking forward to this ultra-marathon race of four 7.75 mile loops, running on the trails will be a pleasant change from the road and soft shoulder of the roads around our home.

My training's been going well finishing up March with 201 miles run, the highest monthly mileage I've ever recorded. I've managed to get two 20 mile runs in with 10 miles on the day after and have felt strong each time. I finished up March with a great 9 mile run at a 7:36 pace around Bald Eagle Lake. The sun wasPublish shining and it was a comfortable 75 degrees out. The ice is out of the lake so I think it means spring has officially arrived.

I was especially delighted when a woman riding her bike told me I looked fast as she passed me in the opposite direction for the second time. I guess looks can be deceiving but it was a nice compliment.

Today we are about 25 degrees above normal, I pray we don't see average temperatures again any time soon, gotta love this weather for running.

13.1 Minneapolis and Team World Vision

Yesterday I attended a fabulous breakfast with Team World Vision. World Vision will be the primary charity at the 13.1 series of races this year and that includes the Minneapolis race on August 22. All the funds raised by runners will go to digging wells in Kenya to provide life saving clean water to villages.

Jenny and I are planning to lead a team for this race as we both believe in the work that World Vision is doing and have a passion for the poor of the world. If you are in the Twin Cities area and would like to run with us go to the Team World Vision website and follow the three steps to sign up.

Yeah, I know for some of you 13.1 isn't far so lets do it together, have fun and support a great cause while doing so.