Runners High

Sunday was the first race of the season. The Southwest Half Marathon in Palos, and the results are in.
I was hoping to hit 1:45 or better.
Official time 1:43:44 :) That's a 7:56 pace.
Top 30 in my age group (by one ;) ) and 220th overall.
 I'd like to thank my brother for pulling me around by my hair in the pain cave during a forest preserve run late winter. I put myself back in that HR zone on a number of occasions during the race to  try and hit 1:45. I was at 1:20:03 at mile 10, and decided to move back into that zone and focus for a "3 mile run". It went well, and I'm happy with my results.Considering I have spent a majority of the time avaialble on the bike and not so much time running..
 I  used my new ZOOT recovery compression tights for the first time after a long race and bottom line, they work. I was not sore at all in the evening and the following day (yesterday), I actually went out for a recovery ride on the mountain bike for about an hour and a half. Wouldn't of done that previously. Money well spent :)
during the race I seen a long time friend "Johnny B"at the turn around and he finished well as expected, I beat everyone else I know who was there. YES I am out to beat everyone I know, its competition right? It is Duh, Winning!  Next comes the Quarryman challenge on Saturday. 10 miles of ridiculous hills That one is gonna be fun?!

Run Like Hell

This weekend starts the road to Chicago 2011. I'm running the Palos 1/2 marathon on Sunday, and am looking forward to a very nearby race and the opportunity to add 13.1 miles to the running bank. I've been spending more time on the bike than actually running, but have been smart enough to get in a few 8 to 10 milers over the last couple of months, and the weekly 3 mile runs have begun to include fartlek sessions in preparation for the harder efforts and eventual track workouts. I don't anticipate a fast race, but am confident that the recent weekly 3 hour rides are good for the endurance part of the race. Might not be the best training method to prepare for a half marathon, but I'm thinking more long term - October. Next weekend I'm doing a very HILLY 10 mile race in Lemont, The Quarryman Challenge . This one's got me a bit more concerned, because it is the hilliest race in the Chicago land area, and I have not been running hills. Although, I have been riding the hills of Lemont a number of times this spring, (anyone see a pattern?!), and again, I won't be PRing or anything like that, but am thinking long term - October. So hurRAY for spring, and away we go.
 RUN Like Hell!

End of the story, time for a new one...

The end of 2010 is quickly approaching both in and out of sport. With it, comes reflection, closure, and a moving on. It's also a time for setting new, goals, attitudes, outlooks, training plans, hopes and maybe even dreams to be realized. So with that being said, I've found it inspiring and ultimately necessary to move on to hopefully something new and or better without a need to "scroll back" so to speak thru the struggles and YES some accomplishments of the past year.As far as the past year is concerned I've had a lot in the back of my complicated mind regarding an experience I had gone thru regarding my joining a racing team. An experience that ultimately caused a lot of strife, aggrevation, and even misdirected resentment and frustration... An interesting and worthwhile note is thru this entire year, I NEVER once slammed the team  by name, and I'm happy I didn't. It would have been shallow, juvenille,and petty, and in all honesty, it wasn't the team per se, but "the fit" that didn't work. They are an incredible group, and one of the members is someone I've known since suspension forks were invented LOL, and I think incredibly highly of him. In and out of the sport. So as far as the team experience is concerned, live and learn, and YES I did. I've learned a good deal about myself over this last year, made some mistakes along the way, and fell into a couple mindtraps that really messed me up...With that being said, I'm ending this blog, (and currently considering wordpress or blog.com for added features) and since the new year falls on 1/1/11 feels like a very fitting time for a much needed for sport and personal reasons - restart. I  hope some if not all of you follow me over to my new blog,when it goes live! So now its time for me to ultimately wrap up all loose ends, get my house organized both "upstairs" and downstairs and move forward. Time to get "Stoned on Endorphins" I'm excited, and hopeful.
thanks to all
Ray

DING! I have it figured out

Well like I mentioned a number of weeks ago, I would be reflecting on this past year, and plotting my course for the next one. So now that the dust has settled and I have had some (not done yet) time to look around, I've realized something/things.
* If it were not for this past years experiences, I would not have learned anything. Only thru trial and error am I able to improve.
* There's no faking it when you want results, your either completely in, or your not.
* A training regimen with all the focus and dedication equal to that of something like Lindsey Lohan's quest for straightening out her life, or Scott Weiland trying to stay straight doesn't cut it.
* Diet when your in your 20s and 30s does not equal diet when your in your 40's. The 40's are cruel but fair...
* Family will always come first, and I simply don't have it in me to short change them, or ever want to.
* My love of the sport can't be altered. My LPM pointed out a simple truth. You can take the man (me) out of the race, but you cant take the race out of the man.
* Dedication along the lines of obsession make it happen.
* There is no pressure when you have a redo, and are honest with yourself as to where you are.
* Today matters....

I am still getting things sorted out, but am happy to know that I am starting to make sense of it all. The frustration is gone because of a change in perspective. Now it's all about putting the pieces together in the puzzle that makes me who I am and seeing what I can do.

drinkin the kool-aid AKA one of the cool kids

UGH, gone are the days I could be hitting the road or trail for a 7am ride. I am sitting here temporarily delayed, looking out at a dark (and brisk!) morning waiting for the sun to come up. A sobering reminder that winter is right around the corner. So since the time changes this weekend, I made every attempt to get out for a late afternoon ride a few days this past week. I recently picked up a new hard tail mountain bike or more appropriately a 29'er, and HAD to get out on that beautiful new machine to spend the required and tedious amount of time adjusting seat height, bar height, and I even swapped 3 different lengths of stems, and bars to get to a place I feel was dialed in(at least initially...) I suffer from a bit of O.C.D. (ala Eddy Merckx) when it comes to bike setup, but it's totally worth it in the long run, or should I say ride. First impressions? At first the big wheels made me feel like I was on a circus bike, and the fact that I spent the last year on a full suspension bike makes the ride even more noticeably different. Aside from that, NO complaints. I come from a simplistic back in the day hard tail rigid bike world, and way back then I even balked and didn't ride with a suspension fork. I have always preferred simple, so the hard tail is where I like to be. The riding feels different, but I am pretty convinced it is faster. The future of the sport? Maybe, but it IS for me. I'm digging it, and I'm digging the insane deal I got it for. NOTE Some situations work out in the end, case in point the bike purchase. I rebuilt my full suspension bike for my LPM ;) and I'm sure she will reap the benefits of a high quality full suspension ride and all the comfort and control it provides her. Not a bad bike to be given, but she is my "A" number 1 supporter, fan and the love of my life so of course I'm going to set her up big time.
The other notable thing I did is pick up some compression wear. I've been toying with the idea for a while and a vendor was at a race expo I was at last night so out comes the VISA, and off I go with the latest performance wear.I actually bought my LPM ;) a pair of the tights in my never ending quest to assist her in staying a healthy, faster, and less injury prone athlete.
 So now it's time to get on the arm and leg warmers, wind jacket, and anything else I may need to hit the trails on that WAY cool 29er that all the cool kids ride, and then I can follow that up with a stroll around the village in some cutting edge recovery compression wearr.
ALLEZ
Ray

Its the end of the world as I know it..

Boy, REM sure makes a lot of good music...

Yesterday morning I completed the last event I signed up for this year. A halloween 1/2 marathon called the Monster dash http://www.chicagomonster.org/. Lots of costumes - note (I was going to dress up in a running singlet from the team I'm on(in theory only) as a crafty artistic move but decided against it at the last minute), plenty of scary halloween music Thriller, Time Warp, LOL,overall a fun event. The course was along Chicago's beautiful lakefront and we never once were running in the streets.All lakefront path... It was cool and windy on the first leg of the out and back course, and aside from the winds was perfect for a running event. I did well. I set a goal of completing it in under 2 hours and finished in 1:50. The most ironic part of this is aside from about 3 runs over the last month with the longest being 9 a month or so ago, I did not prepare for this AT ALL or minimally at best. I went into it with no pressure (aside from getting from start to finish), and it was a pretty strange feeling. I am ALWAYS stressed going into a race, and it was a welcomed frame of mind. I need to work on the prerace stress next year. This proved that stressing out does not do you any good. Easier said than done, but totally worth working on. The family is still amazed how I can still pull this type of results off with no training. What I'm thinking is hmm, just imagine if I trained for it...

 So there it is I'm done. I learned, or better yet realized, a LOT this year, some good, some bad. If anything over the next month or so I'm taking the time to reevaluate what I want or more appropriately what I can do next year. I need to take everything into account. Time constraints, current abilities, current weaknesses, family and work (ugh) obligations. What I want to give up (time, interests, etc) and what I'm willing and able to do. 

So this past year I somewhat foolishly dove into racing(mostly the racing team) without having a solid plan or anything to realistically base my goals and limiters on.I based it mostly on where I left off 10 years ago, and a LOT has changed. To the benefit of this past years experience, I now know (realistically) where I'm at, and what I can and can't do with regards to life and how to live it. Even though it was frustrating, and at times heartbreaking, I can learn from the experience I guess if I hadn't of jumped in, I wouldn't have the answers that I have now. There's still one thing that remains true after all these years. I'm not willing to be absent from ANY of the kids activities, or take away from quality time from my wife. I  realize though that I need to be somewhat selfish with my training time if I plan to excel but there's only so much time and so many things you can do in a day... So it's going to take some reflection to get it all figured out, but I'l be back next year, better than I was this year based on what I've learned, and isn't that what it's all about?? It's the end of the world as I know it -and I FEEL Fine :)

Monster Dash half marathon race photos

Ray

Thats me in the corner...

Yep, another sly reference to a song by a brilliant band, REM...
So it's interesting how God talks to me (you) when you need it most, and the creative way God does it. This past Sunday was one of those days. It started out with being asked to take up the offeratory gifts at mass with my 2 "little people", and a couple things that were said during mass. Later that day I was out doing my training RUN for this weeks 1/2 marathon, and I looked down and found this little rubber flourescent cross. I stopped, picked it up, and put it in the pouch I had on that I was carrying my car key in. I was thinking I found it for a reason, and will make a point of keeping it with me fore subsequent events. As an aside, later in the run,a full grown deer with a huge rack proceeded to come out of the forest and gallop for a good 1/2 mile slightly ahead of me because it could not veer off the trail due to the canal blocking it's escape. It was sureal. I had not see a deer that majestic in a long time and to have it run along with me was sureal, of course it was on a day I did not bring my camera/phone with... Anyway, when I finished the run, I went to get the cross out of the pouch and although the key was still in there, the cross was gone. It had worked it's way out of a hole in the mesh. hmmm... And to think I did NOT lose the car key. Fast forward thru the week and my most recent "conversation with God" came about because I've really started to get hung up on the thought that based on my age, I'm past my prime, and should seriously reconsider my athletic endeavors, and where I'm at in life.Hate to say it's all the trappings of crazy mid life thinking, and it has been REALLY fcuking with my head. I actually had somewhat of a meltdown over it last night.
So this morning the first thing I see is a FB post from a friend who just won silver at the World championships in his age group for the 2000 meter pursuit. Did I say he is at least 10 years OLDER, and he took a silver medal at the WORLD Championships?! It struck me like an eighteen pound sledge, it's NEVER too late, UNLESS I give up, and I've been contemplating that lately. Silly me.Realistically I will probably never get to the world championship arena, but I AM gifted with talent above and beyond your typical athlete,so TODAY matters, and age is irrelevant!So yes God I'm listening and thanks for the bit of hope, inspiration, and Divine Intervention (no doubt) .....
Ray