Thank you Mike for letting me join your blog. I am not as savvy as you when working on the world wide web but look forward to our honest and heart felt dialogs.
That said, today was a great race. I got a good race in. My New Year's resolution was to run at least one race per month. I beat Mike McFreezeroo which is always a joy but is getting harder and definitely takes more time, and while talking about the race with Mike, Lou, and Pete a nice guy places a pizza right in front of us. It was a Freezeroo Trifecta!
The course was fairly flat and fast. A couple of hills but nothing that made me go into a wein whine. The weather was goofy. When was the last time a January race had temps in the 40's. I wore shorts. Not a good idea as the sun reflected off my legs and head creating a driving hazard.
Tomorrow will be fun, too because we will get together with the group for an easy long run and rehash the race like a couple of old pinochle players reviewing each hand.
First blog ever. Done. Need a nap now.
The Erie Canal, Running Paradise
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Kenyan Runner Gets Tackled in Race
Similar to tactics Mike W. uses in advancing his place in races, a Kenyan runner was taken off the course by a spectator while leading the race. The spectator is obviously deranged, fortunately the motorcycle police were right there.
Rumor has it Mike likes to hire thugs to take out his opponents too. This Kenyan, Edwin Rotich, still managed to win the race.
Rumor has it Mike likes to hire thugs to take out his opponents too. This Kenyan, Edwin Rotich, still managed to win the race.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
I had many running goals for 2012 but really met only two of them; completing my first (and last) half-ironman and my fifth (and last) Marine Corps Marathon. MCM was also the 19th marathon I completed (and last). I also finished fourth in the Rochester Runner of the Year contest, which was nice. (Jan and Pete also finished fourth. Top five get awards).
The marathon has always been a challenging distance for me, at least to complete it at the pace I wanted. My goal was always to qualify for Boston and many times run much faster than the necessary time required. This usually resulted in me not reaching either time goal. I made the BQ time once and ran the 1996 Boston Marathon. If you look at the race time prediction charts none of my marathon times match up to what the charts said I was capable of running. This includes when I used to run 37-39 minute 10k's to the 45-49 minute 10k's I run now.
Since ultra-distance races (which I consider anything longer than the Olympic distance triathlon and half-marathons in running) are out of my future plans, here, finally, are my sports goals for 2013.
1. Beat Mike Weinpress in every race we compete in. He has been a training partner, racing nemesis and friend for longer than we can remember. I think we both had hair on our heads when we began running. Despite this I still enjoy beating him in a race and know I had a good race when this does happen. 2013 will be the year of "beat MW".
2. Train for and run a "fast" mile on the track. In 30 years of running I never trained specifically for the mile and my fastest ever was a 5:13, though there were a few times I ran in the 5:20's during longer races. I'm spending the next eight weeks or so doing just that. Fast now means under 6 minutes. This training will leap-frog me into faster 5k's -10k's for 2013.
3. Run under 7 minutes a mile at races in the 5k-5 mile distances and 45 minutes or less in at least one 10k.
4. Bench press 200lb 4x on my home gym weight machine. My best ever is 200lb one time.
5. Beat Amanda and Jan on our virtual bike trip to Oregon - 3,000 miles.
6. Commute to and/or from work by bike more often, at least 1x per week when weather allows.
7. Lose at least 6lbs. During a recent physical exam my doctor said I was in good shape, but noted 5 years ago they weighed me in at 170 and 3 years before that 162. Dr. Sarnov said I must have been training hard for some race to be 162. That was the year I missed a BQ time at MCM by 63 seconds and ran the Philadelphia Marathon 4 weeks later, missing BQ by 10 minutes. He laughed when I said I knew I was fat and needed to lose weight.
That's all the goals for now. Feel free to share one or more of your goals.
The marathon has always been a challenging distance for me, at least to complete it at the pace I wanted. My goal was always to qualify for Boston and many times run much faster than the necessary time required. This usually resulted in me not reaching either time goal. I made the BQ time once and ran the 1996 Boston Marathon. If you look at the race time prediction charts none of my marathon times match up to what the charts said I was capable of running. This includes when I used to run 37-39 minute 10k's to the 45-49 minute 10k's I run now.
Since ultra-distance races (which I consider anything longer than the Olympic distance triathlon and half-marathons in running) are out of my future plans, here, finally, are my sports goals for 2013.
1. Beat Mike Weinpress in every race we compete in. He has been a training partner, racing nemesis and friend for longer than we can remember. I think we both had hair on our heads when we began running. Despite this I still enjoy beating him in a race and know I had a good race when this does happen. 2013 will be the year of "beat MW".
2. Train for and run a "fast" mile on the track. In 30 years of running I never trained specifically for the mile and my fastest ever was a 5:13, though there were a few times I ran in the 5:20's during longer races. I'm spending the next eight weeks or so doing just that. Fast now means under 6 minutes. This training will leap-frog me into faster 5k's -10k's for 2013.
3. Run under 7 minutes a mile at races in the 5k-5 mile distances and 45 minutes or less in at least one 10k.
4. Bench press 200lb 4x on my home gym weight machine. My best ever is 200lb one time.
5. Beat Amanda and Jan on our virtual bike trip to Oregon - 3,000 miles.
6. Commute to and/or from work by bike more often, at least 1x per week when weather allows.
7. Lose at least 6lbs. During a recent physical exam my doctor said I was in good shape, but noted 5 years ago they weighed me in at 170 and 3 years before that 162. Dr. Sarnov said I must have been training hard for some race to be 162. That was the year I missed a BQ time at MCM by 63 seconds and ran the Philadelphia Marathon 4 weeks later, missing BQ by 10 minutes. He laughed when I said I knew I was fat and needed to lose weight.
That's all the goals for now. Feel free to share one or more of your goals.
First Grandchild!
Not wanting to wait and share a birthday with her grandfather (taking after her mother, who came a day after her grandpa's birthday) Ellowyn Fairamay McCullough-Davis was born on November 21, 2012.
In this photograph she is wearing one of the more typical Portland, Oregon style hats. Jan and I spent a month out there but did not get Ellowyn started on a running/biking/swimming program yet.
Monday, December 17, 2012
What Lance Armstrong Made Me Do
With the recent investigation into whether Lance did or didn’t take performance enhancing drugs from 1998-2006 while competing in the Tour de France, and winning it seven straight times, it’s appropriate to look at what Lance made me do. We can discuss his guilt or innocence later.
Because of Lance I:
1. Bought a Trek bicycle (Trek was one of Lance's sponsors)
2. Became a Tour de France groupie on television and the internet. When he was racing I would follow the stages at work on the computer and watch the television coverage at home, even if I knew the outcome.
3. Realized I could train outside on my bike in the rain.
4. Read his book, “It’s not all about the bike”.
5. Read other books on the history of the Tour.
6. Honestly I did follow the Tour a little bit before Lance, back when Hinault and Greg Lemond battled (late 80’s-1991). But nothing like when Lance took hold. He captivated myself and much of the United States.
7. Ride indoors, even on good weather days, while watching the Tour and pretending to ride with the pros.
8. Enjoyed the French not liking an American winning "their" race.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Oregon Factoids
1. Chris Solinsky won the Ho Ho 5k Jan and I ran in. He is a world class runner sponsored by Nike. Chris finished in 14:58, which was probably little more than a tempo run for him, as he used to have the 10k American record, 26:58!
2. I finished 2nd and Jan 3rd in our age groups, unfortunately there were no awards.
3. Nike is looking for tax breaks and if received will add a minimum of 500 jobs at their Beaverton Headquarters in 2013 and up to 1,500 by 2015. This is in addition to the 8,000 people now employed by Nike in Beaverton! How many shoes do they sell? They already purchased 3 additional buildings and many acres of land near the headquarters to build on.
4. Our favorite running place in Beaverton seems to be Tualitin Nature Park. (Two-owl-eh-tin). It is about an 8 minute run from our daughter's home. The park isn't huge, but we have the choice of a bike path or trails throughout the park that can add 1-3 miles to our run.
5. Our new grandaughter, Ellowyn, is beautiful. I'm thinking within a year we will be running together. At least we will be pushing her in a running stroller.
6. Beaverton is like the busiest section of Ridge Road in Greece with stores and strip malls everywhere. Name a store, it is here. We went in a Sports Authority today, which is like a larger, nicer Dick's Sporting Goods.
7. Beaverton has about 90,000 people, like Greece, but many, many more bike paths, parks small and large, and most roads have bike lanes. We are 10 miles from Portland.
8. Jan and I are too old to sleep on an 8 inch air mattress for long. The toughest part is getting up from the bed. What will we do if we ever try and bike across country? Sleeping in a tent on the hard ground doesn't sound that appealing right now.
9. The amount of coffee people drink here is amazing. I used to think it was exaggerated, but no longer. Jan and I can stop at a local shop 5 minutes from Stacy's house and there are always people there. Coffee shops are on every corner and seem to be thriving.
10. I see "Free Wi-Fi" on almost every store and motel advertisement. How long will it be before these places charge for access? Hotels, especially, will use this as a customer draw.
2. I finished 2nd and Jan 3rd in our age groups, unfortunately there were no awards.
3. Nike is looking for tax breaks and if received will add a minimum of 500 jobs at their Beaverton Headquarters in 2013 and up to 1,500 by 2015. This is in addition to the 8,000 people now employed by Nike in Beaverton! How many shoes do they sell? They already purchased 3 additional buildings and many acres of land near the headquarters to build on.
4. Our favorite running place in Beaverton seems to be Tualitin Nature Park. (Two-owl-eh-tin). It is about an 8 minute run from our daughter's home. The park isn't huge, but we have the choice of a bike path or trails throughout the park that can add 1-3 miles to our run.
5. Our new grandaughter, Ellowyn, is beautiful. I'm thinking within a year we will be running together. At least we will be pushing her in a running stroller.
6. Beaverton is like the busiest section of Ridge Road in Greece with stores and strip malls everywhere. Name a store, it is here. We went in a Sports Authority today, which is like a larger, nicer Dick's Sporting Goods.
7. Beaverton has about 90,000 people, like Greece, but many, many more bike paths, parks small and large, and most roads have bike lanes. We are 10 miles from Portland.
8. Jan and I are too old to sleep on an 8 inch air mattress for long. The toughest part is getting up from the bed. What will we do if we ever try and bike across country? Sleeping in a tent on the hard ground doesn't sound that appealing right now.
9. The amount of coffee people drink here is amazing. I used to think it was exaggerated, but no longer. Jan and I can stop at a local shop 5 minutes from Stacy's house and there are always people there. Coffee shops are on every corner and seem to be thriving.
10. I see "Free Wi-Fi" on almost every store and motel advertisement. How long will it be before these places charge for access? Hotels, especially, will use this as a customer draw.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Ho Ho 5k
No, this is not a race with prostitutes! The Ho Ho 5k began years ago in Tigard, Oregon, starting and finishing at Cook Nature Park. Besides being a reference to Christmas time, the race organizers used to supply Hostess Ho Hos and Snowballs to finishers. Unfortunately Hostess is bankrupt and the treats were changed to Little Debbie dessert cakes and brownies.
We are spoiled in the Greater Rochester NY area with race costs and what runners receive. It is unusual not to receive a t-shirt and still pay $20 or less for the race. NY races have mile markers, are normally electronically timed, results are immediate, awards give to age group winners, second and third places.
The Ho Ho 5k cost $20, $25 day of and had a record crowd of more than 400 people. No shirt, no road marshals, cones marking the course, no mile markers, awards only to the top three overall men and women, an open air shelter and some random prizes based on your race number, though none were substantial. The course was nice, about 1.3 miles on road, 1.2 on a bike path and the remainder on a trail. Hopefully we will see results on the organizer's web site in a few days. This was an old school type Rochester race with no frills. It just cost a surprising amount and would have been neat to have a shirt from a race in Oregon.
However this seems fairly typical in the Portland area, as all of the 5k-10k races I have seen cost at least $20 and up to $40, with a shirt, if offered, being an additional expense.
We are spoiled in the Greater Rochester NY area with race costs and what runners receive. It is unusual not to receive a t-shirt and still pay $20 or less for the race. NY races have mile markers, are normally electronically timed, results are immediate, awards give to age group winners, second and third places.
The Ho Ho 5k cost $20, $25 day of and had a record crowd of more than 400 people. No shirt, no road marshals, cones marking the course, no mile markers, awards only to the top three overall men and women, an open air shelter and some random prizes based on your race number, though none were substantial. The course was nice, about 1.3 miles on road, 1.2 on a bike path and the remainder on a trail. Hopefully we will see results on the organizer's web site in a few days. This was an old school type Rochester race with no frills. It just cost a surprising amount and would have been neat to have a shirt from a race in Oregon.
However this seems fairly typical in the Portland area, as all of the 5k-10k races I have seen cost at least $20 and up to $40, with a shirt, if offered, being an additional expense.
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