Is this the wall?

I just got back from another run.

Thank god for two things. One, it was not raining or snowing or anything else!!!! It was windy but who cares after the last run! And two, I am so glad that I had a decent run!

Now I am not saying I am fully recovered because I am not but I sure didn't feel as winded as I did Thursday.

This situation has been a little different for me. I have never felt so drained for so long. Yeah yeah I know i just finished a marathon, but still this has been pretty hard to recover from, I really think it is killing me more mentally than anything else.

During my run tonight I felt like the waistband of an old pair of sweats just totally stretched out! Not to mention my legs that still feel like they have lead in them.

I think what it is, is that I ran the marathon fairly easy and didn't have to put 100% effort in to it as I have always done in my runs, therefore I feel like I shouldn't be tired at all.

Like I said before all mental.

At least tonight I had a little spark of excitement as I was thinking ahead to my favorite race, Bloomsday!

I do think I have started a new tradition for running. I have never really ever been training in December, but I like running through the neighborhoods and seeing all the lights. I am sure this will be an annual thing for me.

Let me know how your running's are going!

I think I am spent!

I finally got a run in!!!!!!

Yeah it only took me about 10 days after my marathon but I finally did it. Oh and did I mention that I totally picked the crappiest day of the year to do it too! Unbelieveable!

I took a week off after the race to rest and was going to run (schedule is still TBD)but it has been very icy out and I am not breaking a hip at my age! I am totally going to wait to do that until I am 70, and it's not going to be because of a fall either! ;-)

No the night I go out it is:
A) Raining
B) Snowing
C) Slushing
D) POURING
E) All of the above

Take a guess and I'll let you know if you are right with a California howdy!

Also since the no one shovels the damn sidewalks, I was the target for 794 cars to splash me from the roads.

I still can't believe how tired my body still feels...ugh

Maybe it is time to go watch Tosh.0

2010 Seattle Marathon race report

Some pics from the last post.......on our way to Seattle

On our way to Seattle with snow covered roads

 But not before stopping at Starbucks at 5:30 AM

 My daddy's going to run a marathon! YAY!

 Summit of Snoqualmie Pass

 Columbia River at Vantage

Oh marathon, how I've missed you!

Well my second marathon is in the books. This race was a little different for me as I really changed everything up a bit and didn't really do any of my normal in the past race routines.

Saturday night Jeff flew in to Seattle (so he didn't have to deal with all that driving in the snow to get to the west side of the state) but unfortunately I didn't get to see him at all as I was not getting any texts because my memory was full and my phone neglected to inform me of that, therefore I missed about 8 texts from Saturday afternoon to Monday morning! Sheesh

Race morning came quickly but I got a good seven hours of sleep or so but still seemed to awake before the alarm, which was nice as I could really take it nice and slow to get everything together and not be rushed.

I gave Jeff a call to see if he was ready to get his goody bag from me and have some breakfast downstairs so we headed down. Now I have never ever wanted to eat anything before racing or even just running for that matter before I started training for this marathon but now it seems I need the food before long runs. So I indulged in a bagel with cream cheese.

We were checking out Sunday and Jeff was staying another night so we headed back up and moved all our stuff from our room to his so we had somewhere to shower after the race (Thanks Jeff!!!!!) It was starting to get close to start time so we all headed down toward the start.

It had rained during the night and the ground was still wet and it was about 40 degrees out with just a very slight wind but it was basically perfect conditions for a marathon. We got down to 5th Ave and the race was just about to start so we posed for this pic and got out good lucks from our good lookers (bosses or wives) and jogged down the street 3 or 4 blocks to get to the back of the pack. On the way we got to see my parents and brother as well and got some more luck thrown our way......Hey I'll take all I can get.

We probably had only about a 2 minute wait til the gun went off. There were only about 1500 to 2000 people that were doing the full marathon so it wasn't that bad of a crowd. The start for me was just a blur. I was trying to soak it all in, but I am the coach at this race and there was no way in hell I was going to go out to fast and kill both of us, So I was very focused on pace (even though my Garmin didn't get a signal til about a mile in).

The fist part of the Seattle marathon is my favorite. You start right at the Seattle Center (Space Needle for you out of towners(and no that is not a movie as one of my best friends asked me just after he moved here from California)) You follow the Monorail tracks for a mile from the Center to Westlake Center, where they have all the trees along the street lit up with Christmas lights for the holiday season. This actually is 10 times better if you are running the half as it is darker in the morning and it is just intensified.

Sadly Superman kicked our asses

Now by this point we had missed our first walk break(due to lack of room) and were almost to our second. This is where you hit the first hill, which is just a small incline. At the top you can see a long gradual downhill all the way to the stadiums and where you will be getting on to the I-90 express lanes. When you get to this entrance it is a long fairly steep uphill over I-5 and to the top of the ridge east of downtown.

At this point we were feeling very very good. We were keeping a slower than normal or planned pace but we were still in good shape. I was keeping my eyes on the 4:45 pacer as I knew we would be somewhere right around the 5 hour mark. This stretch of the race is both good and bad, you get pumped that you get to run on the freeway and get to run through the long tunnels as well as the floating bridge but there are also no spectators on this part of the course from mile 2.5 to mile 8. Jeff really enjoyed running in the tunnel and I had forgotten all the hooting and hollering that goes on in there. As we were coming out of the tunnel and on to  the floating bridge there was one spot where some spectators had come up the hill and could cheer. One guy was waiving to them and totally took himself out on a traffic cone. I tried really hard not to laugh but I couldn't. As Jeff said anyway "Hey he was laughing himself all the way to the ground!" Smiles at mile 5 are great anyway!

Jeff and I took the bridge hard, we were averaging about 9:30 mile pace which was about 30 seconds faster than anticipated but we had been around 11 earlier so we were making up a little time. At mile 6 we caught up with a guy we had been joking with  in the first mile about walk breaks. This was his first marathon and he was using the same walk ratio and training program as us. I love chatting with people during runs, it just gets me all pumped up that everyone has a story. I was keeping myself so hydrated that I had to stop at the turnaround and go. We had been about 3/4 back in the pack but has plenty of people around. When we got out we were almost at the back. We kept up our pace and caught up a little, hit the end of the bridge and headed down to Lake Washington Dr.

Trying to find us, but only porta potties on the bridge


Down on the drive there were so many people cheering it just sends a tingle down your spine and gets your adrenaline going. There was another turn around up ahead so we got to see the leaders go by which I have never gotten to see before and I really enjoyed that. I also enjoyed when the third place guy acknowledged me when I told him great job (I really liked that later I found out he was from the city I grew up in, Olympia)

We were still feeling great but starting to get a little tires at about mile 9 or 10. We were also waiting to see where our crew was going to show up where we had some foods and gels ready for us. We hit Seward Park and I knew we would not see our crew til we were out of there at least as there is no access for them. But this would be the part where we would hit the halfway point in the race. This is also the part I noticed that my strap from my chip was starting to dig in to my leg, another first for me. Jeff was fighting fatigue at this point as well. We took another potty break at the entrance to the park and that was the end of that.......we were at the BACK of the pack. Nothing but sparse runners from here on out. That took a bit of wind out of my sails.

We were doing very well at the halfway point. We hit it at about 2:24. Almost 13 minutes under the 5 hour mark. At mile 14 Jeff was fading fast and took on of my GU's which he can't stand but he got it down and it helped. I had to get some Vasoline on both my chip strap and nipples as both were getting raw.

A few miles down the road at mile 16 we hit up our crew!!!!!!! I have to tell you it was great seeing them and boosted us up a bit. I also never knew a PowerBar could taste so so good! Jeff and I grinded out the next few miles. I knew he was hurting but he was also pushing hard too! We saw our guys out there again at 17.

The 20 mile mark was where the hurting started. Now I have never been this far back in a race before. It was a great perspective, I loved it, you hear stories from people you get a little more motivation from people out there watching, albeit there aren't as many people out there cheering you on. Jeff told me many times he felt he was holding me back during training, but my objective here was to coach him to his first marathon finish. This is why this race felt so different to me, I was not competing, I was coaching. I saw so much in Jeff that I saw in my first marathon, the pain, the mental anguish, and the best thing.....the will to finish no matter what!  So when at 21 he asked if I wanted to go ahead I told him to piss off.

The hills at 21 and 22 were, how can I put this lightly, a bitchy whore. At 21 Jeff got a cramp in his calf and had to walk just about every uphill to prevent it from locking up. This made the next few miles slow as there are so many hills. We got to see our crew for the last time at mile 22 before they headed to the finish line, and we made our way to the arboretum.

This is the point we noticed that it was getting colder out. If I am not mistaken the temp dropped from the time of the start to this point. We were getting cold. I made another potty trip at 23 and let Jeff go ahead. I got out and took off to stretch my legs a little. I was somewhere around a 8:15 pace. People were looking at me like holy shit did this guy just start the race late and he's now catching up. It made me chuckle. But was was really great was Jeff was no where to be found. That SOB took off. he wanted to make the most of a hill that we had come up on and was making great time! We also passed a radio station blaring music (one of only two...what a crock!) and that got him pumped up and we were at mile 23. I got Jeff to keep trying our 3:1 walk ratio and he started playing a game of catch this person then walk. This got us to mile 24 easily and then we had a small uphill to conquer.

Once we hit the top of that hill you could see all off DT and knew the finish was at the needle. We headed down a hill where I could totally feel my quads at this point and there was 25. I did bless the queen and as an extra bonus gave her the finger. Bitch.

From here you can just about see the finish line. but you have a steep downhill, slight uphill, then a underpass to go. I was trying to pump Jeff up at this point but he was spent and he just wanted that finish line ASAP. At this point I was pretty sure he was going to murder me with an ax at some point later in the day.

At 26 and I mean AT 26, at the turn, the last turn the entrance to the stadium, the end, the finale, the finish, the end, Jeff got a cramp that almost took him to his knees. He stretched it and decided to just continue on. Hobbling he turned the corner and entered the stadium. I first saw my dad cheering us on, then heard my brother above and behind me yelling "Your my boy Blue", saw my mom trying to get a pic and lastly my wife halfway down the field to the finish. I heard our names get called out and where we were from and saw the finish ahead. I let Jeff ahead so he could have the view all to himself. I remember feeling no pain at the finish, that's my favorite part, that last 25 yards, no pain, all accomplishment, pure victory. I hope Jeff felt this way at the end. He EARNED it. He PUSHED, FOUGHT, STRUGGLED, and SUCCEEDED. Our finishing time was 5:25:52

High five for daddy!

 

Now after all those hills guess what you have to go up to get your food and things. A ramp. An F'ing ramp. There must be some asshole here running the show. At least there was food left. Chicken noodle soup NEVER tasted so good! We did run in to that guy we were talking to on the bridge, he finished he was very very close to his goal of 5 hours. I was pleased. I should have gotten his contact info. He was a good guy! Maybe he'll find me here someday! Hit us up buddy if you do, come do Bloomsday with us!

We headed back to the hotel cleaned up and decided to hit Julian's for some beers and food before we headed back to Spokane. Jeff told me he has never known there was pain like he was feeling, he also said "never again" to another marathon. That's ok though, he's finished one and knows what it takes and how it's done. Good job Jeff. By the way as of Tuesday Jeff was looking up other marathons. I told him all it takes is one and your addicted!

But I really think this pic really just says it all best!

Pre-race

Today was a long but such a great day!

It started at 5:30 AM. Got up got dressed got the wife and kid up and got in the car and west we went. Now of course it was snowing all night in Spokane so there was a good new 4-6 inches on the ground on top of the 7 or so already there. Needless to say the trip was a little slow going but I have definitely driven in worse.

I was trying to get to some presentations at the expo that were late in the morning, nothing really important just tips on eating the day before right, injuries and course tips, you know the same ol' stuff at any marathon expo. But today would not be the day for that. No biggie. I had just never really planned a trip around a run before and wanted to immerse myself into this race. I guess I really just want to relish it and reap the reward of 7 months of hard work and doing something I said I was gonna do and actually did it!

So we didn't get in to Seattle til noon, checked in to our hotel which we did change last minute from the host hotel which is the Westin to a Hyatt much closer to the starting line. It might be ok for guys that run a sub 3:30 to warm up with a 0.9 mile jog to the start but when you are running 5 hours, every step counts! Plus there were ALOT of rude people at that hotel today and the elevators were lagging something huge! Then we rode the monorail to the expo got our stuff and luckily let us pick up Jeff's stuff as he wouldn't get in to town til later in the evening. We got some decent stuff, nothing really exceptional, but the shirts this year are really rockin' I cant even wait to wear it. All I have to say is Mariners colors! (pics will follow in the post report)

Went back to the room and let my 16 month old go ape shit on it, then headed out to dinner at Buca de Beppo. Now I am back just relaxing and hoping I get some sleep tonight. I do have to thank everyone for their support and well wishings. I hope you know that those do filter in to my thoughts during my runs and really do help during the "down times". So thank you to all of you!

Hence I will call it a night and tomorrow I will conquer!

A week off running = Suck

So I am resting this entire week in hopes it will help heal the problem with the IT band that I have been dealing with. So far it hasn't been too bad, however I am starting to want to run really bad and it is starting to suck! I am just hoping to make it though the week without going crazy on anyone! LOL I also hope to have little to no problems with my knee this weekend!

Thank goodness the weather so far is looking great for the race partly cloudy and about 43. WOO HOO!

I'll post a blog Saturday hopefully from the hotel at the expo.

Blue balls

So this is my last weekend of training before the big day.

I have noticed that I have been talking like this is my very first marathon. Perhaps it is, maybe its like a born again virgin, maybe I am a born again marathoner. Who knows?

I think I have just been exhausted about thinking/motivating/planning/psyching up/counting days/everything marathon. I was doing just fine until that last 20 which just killed me both physically and mentally. But the last couple of days I have been on the rebound. I am feeling alot better and am finally feeling ready to tackle a long long run again. So the next week of rest is going to be great! Oh and did I forget about all that turkey I am going to choke down? That has TONS of carbs right?

I'll actually be butchering my own turkey this Thanksgiving, just like I did last Thanksgiving! I have to tell you it is quite an experience! I'd compare it to taking, let's say third in a prominent 10K race.

But why the blue balls you say? Well it's going to get COLD COLD COLD this week and yes I have to train in it. It's not the 7 miler Sunday when it's going to be 24, I've done that before. I actually did 12 miles in 25 degree weather. But the short 30 minute run on Tuesday when it will be somwhere around 5 degrees or so.....BRRRR makes me feel like I have just a stack of dimes already. Now I know, I know I have to layer my clothes and all, but thats not what I am worried about.....It's my face that I am worried about, I don't need that stupid run grimace frozen in all winter, I am in sales...it would kill my numbers!

Oh well I guess there is only one way to find out what running in 5 is going to be like. One more thing, do you think the clinking of my frozen balls should motivate me to run faster or seek shelter? Hmmmm......

Alison!!!

My friend Alison has just started running again like me and tomorrow she is running her first race in a long long time.

I have been getting text updates almost nightly telling me her new 5K PR, I am loving watching this. I am thinking perhaps I need to become a coach...I am enjoying watching the progress of other as of late.

Anyway, get out there today girl and whoop some ass!!!!!!!

I'll be awaiting your text! :-)

I just gave Alison the best running tip in the whole world. I tell it to you too but you haven't come to visit me.

The great beyond

So as my marathon inches near I am trying to figure out what the next great adventure is going to be. I have to do this because if I don't you know what the drill will be.

Post marathon:
Day 1: Ah, I am going to take a week off because I deserve it!
Day 7: That felt great maybe if I take another week off I'll PR by an hour!
Day 14: OK, time to start running....oh look Tosh.O is on.
Day 35: Damn is my belly getting bigger or am I just happy to see me?
Day: 88: Ah fuck it!

So if i have a plan perhaps after the week of rest I can focus on another goal.....especially since it gets so damn cold here in the winter and I am really going to need something to get me going through all that!

As all my friends, family and any person I have EVER made contact with knows I am a Bloomsday junkie, we all know I will be doing this race as usual, but we don't know if I am going get to try to test my 1 hour time limit as we are not sure if Angie is running and I'll be walking with Will in the stroller.

It's peanut butter jelly time in Spokane

But even before that I am thinking of doing another marathon in the spring. I have had my eyes on the Yakima River Canyon marathon for a while now. I know it's not really a PR one (but it could be with the right training) and right now I am really looking for scenic, new and challenging courses at the moment. Ya know kinda pushing the boundaries to see how I can react for marathon training before I really try to push hard to qualify for a Boston.

Of course Jeff is trying to talk me in to doing some triathlons, which I am all for, except for the extra time for training and all that new stuff I need to buy. My long term goal is to attempt an Ironman in Coeur d' Alene within perhaps the next 5 years or so.

I also really need to start looking at some sort of post marathon training schedule as well and have been kinda coming up short with finding results with that. 18 days is crawling but at the same time flying by. SO much to think about and do til then....and did I mention that Thanksgiving and Christmas are around the corner too?

Oh well maybe I'll take a GU and call you in the morning.

By the way has anyone done or heard of anyone that has competed in the Mount Lemmon Marathon in Tuscon? Let me know about it.

Last 20 miler

I have trained for three marathons.

The first was for the 2002 Portland Marathon. The second one was for the 2006 Spokane Marathon in which I got injured 6 weeks before the race, and this one I am currently training for is my third.

I have pretty much always considered the last 20 as basically the end of marathon training as everything else is just a short run, plus you are basically suppost to relax the last 4 weeks and rest up.

So last weekend was the "end" of training. I have been training for 27 weeks of a 30 week schedule and I have to say that this run was the shittiest run of every run for 27 weeks.....what a way to go out huh?

Jeff is in Mexico, so I am running this one solo, which normally isn't a problem. I knew that going in to the run I just wasn't feeling it but it had to be done so off I went.

I decided to run the Fish Lake Trail, which is an old railroad grade turned in to a paved trail. It's scenic, quiet and a good running trail.

So I started in downtown Spokane at Riverfront Park.....ya know near the big red wagon? I wanted to run through Browne's addition so I could have one last great fall run with all the colors of the leaves and all (I guess I should have run the south hill instead then). Two miles in I hit the trail and up I go. Why do I say up? Well as I am running I keep checking my Garmin and the elevation, up,up and up I go. Luckly like I said it is a rail grade so its not too stee but I am running up and I dont care who you are if you run uphill for 10 miles, you are going to feel it

The other problem on this trail is no water. Now I have noticed a few things in my marathon training that point me to believe that I have some major brain damage. The first is, I enjoy running 20 miles, this has been pointed out to me several times so I just ignore it now. Another one is I really must have an ego about my abilities when running, apparently I can do ANYTHING while running and it is ok. A good example you ask? How about running 20 miles with 32 ounces of water? Here's a pointer for anyone training for any long long distance run. You are suppost to drink 20-32 ounces of water an HOUR. We'll get to my time later.

So I'm not doing too bad here, but I do start to feel my IDBS act up around mile 7 or so, but not too bad. I get to the end of the trail at 9.75 and run up to the tracks above to hit and even 10 (There are live RR tracks to the left and the right of the trail, it makes it very interesting!) So down the trail I go and I am feeling good! I just go with it cause it is feeling right. I am going downhill, I have my stride and I look at my Garmin and I am hitting like a 7:40 mile. This would be sign #2 of brain damage.....I am aiming for a goal of 10 min/mile.

I slow a little and continue on. In the back of my brain I am thinking PR for my 20 for the training and doing some calcs. I think I am near a 3 hour pace for 20, that would be a 30 min PR....NICE!

About mile 15 the shit hits the fan. I am starting to feel tired and getting that feeling in my legs that hurts when I have to push off to start running after my walks. At 16 that was when the mental game took over and it was all brain power from there on.

Each mile was worse and worse and my pace was dragging! I am pretty sure I was down to a 12 min/mile. I finally get to the park and am noticing I have an extra .25 to go....remember the end of the trail.....what a mental buster. I am pretty sure the people in the park thought I HAD brain damage as I went round and round the fountain with this grimace look on my face. But what the hell do they know especially that guy with the poodle. 

I finally finished and got water at the park. My god. The cramping in my legs was horrific, I remember that pain, same pain from mile 19 in my first marathon. At least I know how to avoid that in 2 weeks.

All in all, I did PR 3:24:29 and 5:30 improvement from my first 20 6 weeks ago. You can see the stats here if you want.

So remember kids, don't be stupid like Uncle Sparky and always carry water with you on you runs!

I'm a dumb ass.

Montage

This blogging is exhausting!

I cant even seem to get settled to get an entry in. So here is at least a quick one to get things going!

So have you ever been out running and listening to your Ipod, you've been kicking ass in your run and a rockin' song starts playing, then another bad ass song starts and then another? Then you think to yourself, this would be a kick ass montage for a moving....ya know if I ever qualify for Boston, you think to yourself.

This may be the worst montage EVER, but mine was nothing like this!

That happend to me the other night. It was a great motavation and I am looking for as much as that as possible right now. I don't have very much of that right now. No more long runs to look forward to, cold mornings and evening runs, and still almost 3 weeks until marathon time. Sigh.

Maybe I'll just read about Asicsholes again.

45 days to go

I was experiencing some knee pain the last 2 runs and did some research. It looked like it might have been ITBS, which is your IT band rubbing parts of the knee. I got some new shoes and so far they seem to do the trick (thank god!). We will see how I feel this weekend when we run our 6 miler.

2010 Spokane Half Marathon Report

It's been a couple days since Jeff and I ran our "half marathon" and I say that because this was the first time I have run a race and had to add extra miles to it to complete a workout. It was very odd to say the least. It was also the first time I have thought of the half marathon as a "short" race as every other half I have done, that race was my goal, not a marathon. So all in all it was a very peculiar race!

Anywho, as I said in my last post my buddy Steve was running the Portland Marathon this morning and I was hoping to talk to him. Just as my alarm went off at 6:30 I got a text from Steve asking if I was up. So on my way to go get Jeff I called him and got to give a few words of wisdom. It was great to hear the excitement in his voice it brought back alot of memories of my first full marathon and I found myself hoping that the next 7 weeks would come very quickly! Steve told me it was pouring and I mean pouring in PDX. I wished him luck and told him I would be awaiting his call later in the morning!

Steve talking to me before his race!

So I picked up Jeff at 6:45 and both of us were in good spirits and looking forward to the race. We got down to Riverfront Park just after 7 and got running just on time at about 7:15. We had to run 20 miles today so we did a 6.9 mile "warmup" we were right about where we have been training the whole time, right around an 11/min mile pace. After the run we hit the car, got our numbers and headed straight for the porta-potties. We had 12 minutes til the gun.

We got to the line picked one much to the left as this was Jeff's thinking that everyone goes to the potty on the right, and we stood there and stood there and stood there. After about 5 minutes the lady in front of us tells us hey we aren't in line. I was in too much of a hurry to beat her to the ground.

We finally got in a "line" and got to the potty. Then I hear the gun go off and about 20 doors around me slam almost simultaneously. I run out of the bathroom and Jeff is just standing there looking at me like what's the hold up? Again I was in too much of a hurry to kill him.

We ducked through the crowd and hit the street which was now deserted and were being told to hurry to the mat as they needed to move it for the location of the 10K which was to start in 15 minutes at another location. This sounds like very poor planning on the race's part, cause we all know runners are never late right. As we cross the mats I hear Go Nick!!! I see Angie (my wife) with the stroller waving. We were suppost to to meet her before the race for Gatorades. I yelled back I'll see ya later and we tried to catch up to the police escort. At least there was no one behind us so we couldn't get passed, it's gotta be all uphill from here right?

It was easy to keep the adrenaline rush down as we were already 7 miles up of these lazy bums that were only running 13 miles today so that was pretty easy and were were feeling pretty good all the way up to about the 7 mile mark of the race, then we hit some hills and that slowed us down a little bit. At mile 8 of the race and 15 of our day, Jeff really started to feel it. Our pace slowed even though were were on a downhill but it was probably for the better as we knew what was coming up ahead anyway, Doomsday Hill.

This hill sucks. It sucks in Bloomsday, it sucks when you are training and it defiantly sucks when you have run 16 miles and have to run up it. We made it up the hill and did get a chuckle at the top as the Ferris High School water station was up on top. Most of the water stations were full of cheerleaders doing cheers and floating pom poms in our face trying to get us moving. But this was ALL guys and all of them had boobs. The best part was they were all creative on how they looked, I mean they all looked bad, but it was a good boost!

We cruised around the canyon at about a 11:30 pace for the next few miles talking to a few people along the way. This is the point in the race that I do love, as you pass or get passed it seems like you get or give everyone a nice job or a you can do it or whatever and that sometimes really gives you the boost you need to keep moving or even to finish. I love it because every single person on that course is competitive and vying for position but at the same time there is a comrade among us and the pain we have suffered together that morning. Those are the little things I had forgotten about during my hiatus from running and really missed.

As we turned the corner of the canyon we could see downtown and the clock tower where the finish was. Every time we started running from our walks Jeff was grunting from the pain to start up again. I knew exactly how he was feeling as I felt the same exact way he was 3 weeks prior when I ran my first 20 miles. I was actually dreading how I was going to feel again after running that distance but I was feeling so good and full of energy I really could not believe it.

We got a few blocks from the finish and I talked Jeff in to picking up the pace a little and to bring us home. There were a ton of people at the finish waiting for the full runners to finish but it was nice none the less. And we did it! Got that 20 out of the way and Jeff has officially finished his first half. Our official time for the race was 2:33 and the 20 was 3:45

 Jeff and I after the finish

Steve finished his first full at a 4:24. A very respectable time for a first timer, especially with the weather he had to suffer in and he did run in to a few problems along the course, but he kept with it and EARNED that finish.

Congratulations Jeff and Steve! You guys are awesome and remember you earned all of this. I am proud of you and it has been a fun getting to watch you guys achieve your goals!

Night before Spokane Half Marathon

Tomorrow's not too big of a day but it also is!

Tomorrow is just the second of three 20 mile runs for our marathon training but we are incorporating a half marathon in to that. The Spokane Half Marathon is of course 13.1 miles long so we will be doing a 6.9 mile warm up before the race to make it a full 20.

This of course will be Jeff's very first half marathon race and I am curious to see how he handles the 20 as well. This run should serve us well as it is a good representation of the Seattle Marathon course. Hopefully the rain will hold off til after the race, I say this as it is currently pouring outside, but I am sure this might serve as practice as well!

The other event happening tomorrow is the Portland Marathon. Where my good buddy Steve will be running his very first Marathon! I was hoping to talk to him tonight and see how he is doing and give a few last minute pointers for the race but alas I missed him by about 20 minutes tonight. My very first and so far only marathon was the 2002 Portland race. My god did that hurt! So...good luck my friend! Hope you have a great race and kick the hell out of that St. Johns bridge!

Well I suppose it is off to rest to be fresh for the morning! I will of course post a race report soon!

Night all!