Total Pageviews

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

exploring the territory

The runs started out as 4 mile loops around Montclair - the neighborhood bordered by Archdale, Tyvola, Park, and South Blvd. They progressed to 6-7 mile loops venturing into Madison Park, the neighborhood to the North across Tyvola. Today I needed some new scenery, so I decided to cross Archdale and run into Starmount.

My legs felt kind of dead...not hurting, just not real responsive to anything quick for almost the entire run. Running in new territory always kind of throws me off on my internal map, so I feel like the run is taking longer than normal. Around mile 5 I was feeling like I should be done, also my legs were feeling like they were about ready to call it a day. Since I wasn't hurting though, I pushed on - and the last mile I forced the pace...which wasn't saying much since for 6 miles I was running close to 750-8 min pace. I closed solidly, and was glad I logged 7.4 for the day.

One thing about Starmount is that it is hillier than MontClair. I enjoyed that part of it. I only ran around about half of it, so there is more roads to blaze later on.

Miles: 7.4
Time: 58 mins
Pace: 7.50

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The U

I wanted everyone to know that I think ESPN 30 for 30's "The U" was amazing. Ya'll should check it out HERE. It was very well made, and very informative. It also made me wish I was a 'Canes fan - which I must say I did start to like them this year, with their team and their sophomore QB Jacory Harris.




Anyway, I ran with David tonight.

Miles: 7.55
Time: 56.xx
Pace: 7:25

We started on Princeton Ave, and ran down Queens towards the hospital, then went up to Providence and ran around Myers Park golf course. We ran down Selwyn, then through Colony past MP high school...down Woodlawn, to the greenway and back. It was pretty cold - gloves and headband were comfortable, and we started the run slow...around 7:40 pace and dropped it down the last few miles. The run felt good, and it was a nice converstational pace.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Back on the road...

...Finally!

Miles: 6
Time: 45 mins
Pace: 7:25

So as my cold and sick days wore on, I just scrapped the whole week and treated it as a holiday vacation too! Not too surprising - I've never been known to be too strict about any of my training. As John Fox says, "it is what it is."

I tell you what though, it was kind of nice. With Christmas being on Friday, the whole weekend was a great vacation. Only Sunday did I really have the itch to run, since it was so nice outside - but I saved it for today.

I decided to ease back into the training with a 6 miler around the neighborhood. It was colder than I thought, so after 2 miles I stopped back by my house and grabbed my gloves and ear band. My legs felt fresh, and the run was comfortable. I didn't really feel like I pushed it, but didn't have to fight a slow pace as the recovery time did me well.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

siiicccccckkkkkk

RUN: O

So much for the first few weeks of the Blog living up to exciting expectations of being filled with all kinds of training logs - seems I have almost as many "non run" days as I have accounts of my training so far. Oh well, I guess that's how it goes.

Today I felt much worse that I did yesterday, and although I was tempted to try and run - I knew I would probably prolong whatever ailments I am currently going through with my immune system. I'm thinking, unless I'm really feeling lousy tomorrow, come hell or high water - I'm going to get at least a few miles in, and see how that effects me.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

it's beginning to look a lot like...

...I could be getting sick.

Woke up twice before my alarm for work this morning, with a sore throat. So when my alaram did go off at 7:15am I sent work an email and told themI would not be coming in, since I wasn't feeling well.

I went back to sleep until about 9:30, at which time Katie got up. I flicked the TV on and proceeded to watch the rest of Regis and Kelly, although I was dissapointed to soon learn that Regis was not on this new episode and that Kelly's husband was co-host. Booo.

Went over to SportClips, and got my holiday trim from some young lady who has never cut my hair before, which always makes me nervous. She did a fine job, and I left feeling great after the MVP treatment. I absolutly love getting my hair washed and head massaged, and the hot towel they wrap around my face. They even finished me off with a shoulder massage. Can't beat that! - unless you are into back door speak easy type "men's lounges" where endings are oppostite of sad. After my haircut, went over and met David Brinkley at McAlisters for lunch.

I was thinking I would go home for a little bit and rest, and try for a run late afternoon. Well, my nap proved to be something which made my throat feel worse, and I decided to take today off as well. I don't know if running feeling semi under the weather would have made me feel worse or not, but I wanted to try my luck at no activity and hope to feel 100% tomorrow.

Monday, December 21, 2009

rest day

No running for today. Needed my legs to recover from Sunday's 14 miles. Which after watching Running the Sahara, my 14 miles didn't seem like it qualified for a rest day. These guys are ultra runners, and ran the Sahara (4,400 miles) across Africa in 111 days. About 40-50 miles a day, with out a day of rest.

Check out a videohere.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

past a half

Miles: 14
Time: 1:45:00
Pace: 7:30

Week: 48


Today's run finally felt like I was actually training for something longer than I have ever done before. Although it was not the longest run I have completed in my life, it was top 3. The 13-14 miles I was going to attempt this afternoon ended up being 14 give or take a little bit for human calculations, which I was happy. Again, I am mapping out runs on the Internet and looking at kitchen clocks to calculate my runs. Although the only real figuring out I had to do today was determine the distance from my parents house to the green way.

After visiting my parents church, Katie and I came back to their house and had eggs, biscuits, bacon, hash browns, and juice. Delicious! While I was digesting my food, I played my Dad in a couple games of ping pong, and kept his streak alive of him never losing to me. One day. One day...




I did an out and back, and ran from home onto the greenway, into McAlpine park, did the course, and then ran to Old Bell parking lot and back. Added on the last mile of the 5k course before getting back on the greenway and coming home. I had a pack of powerbar gel in my shorts, which I bought last night while at the mall Christmas shopping to try and see what it was like, and found that I couldn't take it all since I didn't have water. I think I don't need to experiment anymore with it, but I could feel that it did give some pop back into my legs the last few miles.

I started out slow, never was hurting, and maintained until about 8 miles and then began to naturally accelerate the pace. Averaged about 7:30 pace. This gave me my highest weekly mileage by about 15 miles. 48 for the week. A few more of these and I'll be ready for the marathon. 2 months to go.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

strong run and shopping

Time: 41 min
Dist: 6
shopping completion: 90%


I'd definitly say the 3 hours at the mall tonight wore me out much more than the 6 miles this afternoon. It was cool though; the malls were open until midnight this weekend and so the crowds had died down and it really wasn't that bad. Not as bad as I would have thought before my run today of doing 6 miles sub 7 min pace. That went better than expected. It was nice to open up and not feel like I was pushing. I guess I'm still improving, and with the new route, it seemed to go bye very quickly.

Had the change of scenery over at Providence Country Club and Adrey Kell, up Rea Rd. Had to run everything outside of the neighborhood(4 miles) on sidewalk, aka concrete...Not pleasant. Definitly can feel that it is harder. My body felt fine though, and I'm looking forward to accomplishing tomorrow's long run.

Also, to do the amount of running that I currently am with NO WATCH is pretty odd / rare / dumb. I really need/want one know - hopefully I can hold out until Christmas. I'm currently, and have been, pulling what some of us would know as a Keith Kimmons: the old check the clock on the cable box by the TV before you head out the door, then do calculations when you come running in and look at the same clock (most likely rounding down to account for time running to the street, etc.). So we will see about that. I'd like the Garmin but a non gps traditional running watch will do.

Then I can post more accurate running logs. Anyway, I'm tired and am fading fast.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Little Sugar Creek Greenway venture

Time: 1hr 3min (aprrox.)
Distance: 8.5 (approx.)
Pace 7:24 (approx.)


One of the cool things about running, to me, is that you get to "explore" your surroundings at the same time. Having moved less than 6 months ago to Montclaire neighborhood, and only serioulsy running for a couple months, there are still many places I am exploring and discovering. Starting out as little 2,3, and 4 miles loops around my immediate neighborhood, the runs have naturally progressed to 6,7, and 8 miles adventures.

I've grown my "loops" and "out-and-backs" to the adjacent neighborhood Madison Park, and yesterday I took my route over to the Greenway near Park Rd. shopping center that feeds into Freedom Park.



Before I left work yesterday, I went to mapmyrun to see how far from home I would need to go on the Greenway before I had to turn around to accuratly log in 8.5 miles for the day. It had me going to East Blvd and back, which is nice because that is a good turn around point.

The run started out slow and easy, as they have been lately, and I was covered in full winter running gear. I probably didn't have to run in the pants, and I even thought that when I run in them I always feel slow...but I wasn't cold! It must have been low 40s and high 30s when I was finished.

Around mile 5 I started to feel quicker and lighter so I let my legs open up, and I finished the run solidly. I really hope that soon my legs start responding ealier, but I guess with training for a marathon I need to be patient, and if I'm starting to feel good in mile 4 or 5 that is not that long into a run anyway. Still, once I get a couple more weeks of solid base, I'll hope to get quicker with some more focused "workout" type runs.

Marathon training to date

So far I have been pleased with my commitment and dedication to this point. I'm trying to be realistic about my training, as I balance a full time job requiring over night out of town travel almost every week (luckily not much over the Holiday season) and husband responsibilities.

My major goals for this marathon are: 1.) Finish 2.) Be in good enough shape to "enjoy" the experience, and 3.) To train wisely so I stay injury free.

My legs were going to have to get used to running regularly again. The first two weeks I started slowly at about 20-25 miles each week and was feeling good. After two weeks my legs were killing me and I realized this was nothing to be alarmed about, just my bodies way of telling me they were kind of in shock. I took a few days off while I was out in Los Angeles, and ever since then I haven't felt over strained.

I hoped in the Turkey Trot after about 4 weeks of training just to kind of take inventory of how my endurance and fitness was coming around. I surprised myself with a time of 31: 33 for the 5 miles course. Having heard that the most important part of marathon training is the long run, I have been diligent for the most part of making sure I get in a quality LRs - and have built up to 12 miles thus far.

Marathon training to date, I have been totaling weekly mileage starting around 20 the first week to hopefully 45-50 after this week

Hello!!

I guess for my first posting, I will give thought to why I now suddenly am blogging. I think a lot of it has to do with my personality and just how I am. I've never been known to be a real "book-smart" person, a great thinker, or one who writes or does brainy things; but I am someone who does like to dabble in new trends, and is not one to shy away from the latest fads of society. I guess until now I never had an interest in blogging because I never really had an inspiration or a platform that my blog would center around.

I have been a runner...more accuratly, was a runner, from the time I was 16 until I was 21. Going to a new school for high school, and not wanting to play soccer anymore in the fall season, I decided to try cross country to keep me occupied and figured it was a good "sport" to get me in shape for my favorite sport basketball. It was fun, and I met some good friends that year which made the transistion to Charlotte Christian in 9th grade easier. After JV basketball I figured I would do track since I enjoyed cross country, and never really got into baseball growing up anyway. As the next year rolled around, I of course did cross country again but this time started having some relative success. I made all conference and all state that year and really started to enjoy running. After the season and about 2 weeks into basketball season, I decided to quit basketball and join the indoor track team for a couple of reasons. Primarily I did not enjoy the coaches for basketball, and I knew that I had more long term potential with running. I regret missing out on a fun year with my good friends who made up the basketball team, as that would have been a fun way to part with basketball, but at the same time indoor track was something in which I went on to be the school's "mvp" that season, and also served as a spring board into my serious running career.

After highschool, I ran cross country, indoor and outdoor track at Appalchian State University for 2 and a half years. (3 cross country seasons and 2 track seasons.) The reason I didn't run the whole time I was at App was simply because I got burned out. I know I probably didn't reach my full potential, (and I never really struggled with injuries) but at the same time I am glad I got to experience the college life aside from the huge commitment that is being part of an NCAA sports team.

Since the day I told my coach I was going to "hang up the spikes", running has predomently become something I have only done from time to time. The fact that I quit running due to being "burnt-out" I haven't considered myself a "runner" since then. That could change.

When Katie and I moved this summer into our first house, one thing that I started doing was jogging around the neighborhood so as to get a feel for the new surroundings. As summer turned to fall I was planning on doing the Turkey Trot again on Thanksgiving so I was running a little bit here and there...probably 10-15 miles a week. While we were at ASU for Homecoming I was talking to Carson Blackwelder - an old teammate of mine at App - catching up like old friends do. He has never become burnt out on running as far as I can tell, and after college has been a coach for Morehead in Kentucky and now currently South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg. Aside from that, he told me he was running a marathon over Thanksgiving in Philly with another one of our old teammates. I told him that was something I definitly wanted to do at some point in my life. (The way I figure, as much running as I have done, I have better at least be able to say that I have run a marathon in my lifetime. ) I saw Carson the next weekend at Brain Deal's wedding in Boone, and he encouraged me, like Nike says, to "just do it. Don't worry about what your time will be - you can do it easier than you think", he said.

I'm not sure why - but I decided to go for it. I started looking at Marathons all around the US. I wanted to pick one that met a few criteria. I wanted to pick one that was not too far off - so I wouldn't loose motivation; and I wanted to pick one that was not too soon, so I would have at least a decent amount of time to train. The other thing I wanted my marathon to accomplish was that it be in a fun location. I ended up finding a couple that might fit the time frames, but the reason I decided on the A1A Marathon in Ft. Lauderdale is because I could also visit my good friend Evan down in Boca Raton like I've said I wanted to do for sometime.

After I picked my marathon, I started googling marathon training one day and found that a standard training calander is 16 weeks. When I did the math, I realized I would only have a few more days of "casual-every-now-and-then" running before I had to get dedicated. With my first marathon on Feb. 21st, my traning started the week of Nov. 2nd.

All that to say, I now have a platform with which to blog. My hopes are that posting and seeing my entries will encourage me to stay motivated and dedicated for ever how long I stay on this running kick, and while doing so will use this as a medium to express myself through ideas, thoughts, and whatever else I feel like sharing. The blog name represent Philippians 4:8, which says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." I chose this because I want this to be positive outlet, and I was trying to think of something cool for a name in general that made people go - what does that mean?!

With that, I close my first ever blog post and sincerely wish thanks to anyone who reads this!

-Daniel Eggers