I need to be more regular....

with updating this blog! not that other 'regular' thing...of course, a couple of NuWay chilidogs usually takes care of that. Gosh that was gross...sorry....

I do apologize for not posting recently. Since I spend my entire workday in front of a computer screen (three of them actually) you can imagine that last thing I want to do in the evenings is get on here for fun. I will try to be more timely in my posts.

My recovery is going well I suppose. I was alternating bike and run days but have changed that up this week. My plan is to run 5 days a week and ride 1 (maybe 2) days. I've set a new goal for myself. Drop down to 170 lbs. It's a lofty goal. But, 28 months ago I set a lofty goal of running a marathon and I did it. So, dropping the weight will happen...because I know something....Philippians 4:13...."I can do ALL things through Christ which strengthens me."

Shoes are a good topic to touch on. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to be in the right shoe. I highly recommend going to a store to be fitted in the right shoe. RunFit is the only local stores to Macon and Warner Robins that I know who can do a proper fitting. "But they are just running shoes Tommy?' If you had asked me that 20 years ago I would've said yes. Technology and manufacturing processes have dramatically changed athletic shoes. One of the biggest mistakes I see parents making with their child's shoes is not seeking professional and qualified fitting. So many adults think they can just go out running in the same shoes they mow the lawn with or, worse, shoes they've had for 10 years. Please don't do this. Get fitted in the right shoe for you before you step foot outside to run/jog or walk.

T

Survey says? well, actually it wasn't a survey...but a doc visit...

I haven't had a lot of positive things to write about lately... Honestly, its been a tough year with regards to running. Training for the Snickers Marathon went well until I started feeling some weirdness in my left leg. At first it wasn't in the shin. It was actually in my left hip. It caused a 15 mile training run in mid-November to be cut short at 12.5 miles. Then, in February I started having shin pains and figured it was just shin splints. If only knew then what I knew now about 'shin splints'. March was marathon time. I've shared in an earlier post about my marathon experience so I won't get into that. A successful marathon in that I crossed the finish line. A failure in that I was almost a full hour off my target time.

The last few months have been filled with highs and lows....mostly lows. Go to the doc and be told 'stop running...get this test...come back in 4 weeks....ok, you can start running again'.... only to have the pain come back in my left shin. This cycle seemed to happen on a monthly basis...almost like a lunar schedule or something.

Last month I decided to seek a 2nd opinion and learned something the first doctor didn't see or even check for. My left tibia is larger in diameter than my right. Why? Well, still not sure. I met with 3rd opinion doctor today whom the 2nd opinion doctor requested me to see. He ran through a laundry list of things that he thought could be wrong only to cross off items on the list one by one. Probably the most comforting items to be crossed off were the three types of cancer it could be. All three are not possible because, well, if I had them I wouldn't be with you anymore. So, those were ruled out. Another possible item not possible because it would involve me having TB which I do not have. All items on his list were struck....leaving no definitive diagnosis of my problem....except that my left tibia is almost a half inch in diameter bigger than my right.

The doc said 'go forth and conquer!' But, he followed his edict with 'CROSS TRAIN!' He said it again a few sentences later...'CROSS TRAIN!' Ok doc...gotcha...i should consider cross training. Then, it popped in my head...'hey....i could train for a triathalon!!!!' Silly thought at first which I kept inside my noggin. I will confess this idea has popped in there before.

Who knows what the future holds.....all I know is I miss running....i miss seeing the mommy and daddy coyotes in the empty subdivision i have trained in for the last two years....i miss seeing the red tail hawk and it's neighboring coopers hawk floating effortlessly along my flank as i jog through that area....i miss seeing the baby deer tracks on the sides of the roads...i miss the smells of farm land and trees...and i miss listening to all that wacko 70s and 80s music i grew up on along with my Christian tunes on my ipod

Sometimes we encounter hurdles.....sometimes we come up to a wall and face the decision of 'over?', 'around?', or, 'go back the way you came!' I'm not sure if what I've faced (am facing) is just a hurdle or a wall....one thing is for certain though, i'm not going back the way i came......

and now begins a new chapter

Hopefully a pain free one. As of today I have done three walk/jog routines. The first two were awesome. Today was tough in the heat. I wish I could report no pain on this run but unfortunately I have some pain in the location that has the docs baffled. On top of that, the knot that was the point of interest...is once again the point of interest....it actually grew in size after today's run. I have a followup at Piedmont next week and I'm anxious to see the doc. I'll continue to alternate my days of running and riding the bike. My mileage is very low...the running segments have been 800 meters with a recovery by which I wait until my heart rate hits 100bpm. It takes about 60 seconds for my rate to drop from 150 to 100. According to one of the coaching physiology books i'm studying thats pretty darn good! Anyways, i'll contine to trod on...lightly...slow mileage...short distances....and lots of praying.

T

Survey says!!!!

NO MASS FOUND!!!! Actually it was the MRI report that stated this. Periosteal reaction is the determination. This means there has been new bone growth on my tibia. The unknown is what caused this to happen and when.

This has baffled Doc #2. Two docs? you ask? Yep. When i'm told to stop running it is serious enough to seek a second opinion. Doc #1 says no running for 2-3 weeks and believes it is 'just a shin splint that got really aggitated....possibly brought on due to the stress fracture...'. Doc #2 says to start back running when I'm ready and is still 'puzzled by the size differential of my left tibia compared to the right tibia'. Which, by the way, only Doc #2 took the time to x-ray both of my legs...unlike Doc #1 who has remained focused just on my left leg.

I'm staying with Doc #2 because I feel he is looking for the cause...not simply treating the symptoms. Nothing bad against Doc #1....well, maybe a little. When I have to ask the doc (#1) to feel my leg and tell me what something is, well, thats kinda unsettling. However, my first visit with Doc #2 he rolled his stool over to me, rolled up my pants leg and started pressing and mashing asking where it hurt and didn't hurt. He used a Sharpie pen to mark spots where it hurt and where he felt something unusual. Then, he sent me back for xrays...of both legs! I remember laying on the xray table and thinking 'now this doc is trying to find out what is going on with me....'

There are those who say if you go to the doc enough they will find something wrong with you. Totally agree with that. But, when you feel like all you are doing is paying a copay, getting a test, coming back in a few weeks for a followup....well, it begins to grate on you. Not to mention the lags in my 'treatment' by Doc #1 caused me to run into a new insurance year (started July 1st). That means the MRI I had done July 21st isn't fully paid for because my deductible was reset on July 1. So, Doc #1 has cost me my $500 deductible. Ugh.

I'm anxious to start running again. But, this setback has allowed me to really think about why I run....what about it gives me joy.....do i really need to do the marathon distance? Many discussions with myself over the last few months. RC told me back in late March..."the thing" should be my fitness....not running a marathon in 3 hrs 30 minutes (my qual time for B) which would be totally awesome....its not doing a 50k in the rain and mud (like my buddy Tim did last year).....its about keeping my heart conditioned....enjoying the feeling of being fit and able to play with my kids....and grandkids some day.

I don't know what the future holds yet. This weekend I plan on doing a short 2 mile mixture of walking and jogging. Just to check out the legs. If the pain returns I will not lie....i will be very upset. My prayer is that the pain never comes back.

T

Tomorrow is the big day....

I go back to the doc to find out what the MRI told him. I wish I could say I'm not nervous, anxious, scared, excited and many other things....but, i can't. This ordeal began in January with a little tingle in my left shin during a 15 mile training run on Robins AFB. From there it obviously became a stress fracture because two sets of xrays by two different doctors has confirmed that. The whole start again stop again thing with my running has been a struggle. Buying a mountain bike to cross-train while i was told not to run has been fun and frustrating. Frustrating because of the hills I tumbled down. Fun because I have had a blast reliving some of the same feelings I had back in my motox days (1976-1984 competitively).

So, tomorrow is a big day....many unknowns....why has my leg not healed? what is the lump i discovered on the 4th of july just to the side of the infamous 'knot' i've had since Snickers? when will i run again? will I be able to run again?

just when you think......

Hello those few people who follow my blog! :)

Well, after the bone scan described in my last post I returned to the doctor. Bone scan showed 'no activity' meaning, the stress fracture had healed. I was told to return to running but to keep the mileage low. My followup would scheduled for July 14 (today).

I returned to running by jogging and walking in various mixtures with nothing longer than a mile. As I started this regiment the pain in my shin continued. The 'knot' remained. I iced twice a day. I've been taking a multivitamin with extra calcium and vitamin D.

Two weeks ago RC (Sam) felt I was ready to try doing a 2 miler so I did. We were on vacation at Ft Walton Beach at the time and let me tell ya...if you want to run in northern Florida in June/July you better do it before the sun comes up. My first run was a 1.5, recovery and 1.5. No issues other than the nagging pain in the shin. Breathing was good. Held a sub 10 min pace which I've really tried to do (more on that later). But my goodness the amount of sweating i did was insane. My socks were soaked to the point that when I completed these short jogs I could actually wring them out!

Last week I decided it was time to try bumping the mileage a tad. We began XC conditioning practice at Central Fellowship Christian Academy (where i am an assistant running coach). The 'cornfield', as we call it, is 1.95 miles around the perimeter. Perfect place to run. Well, for the most part. The folks who farm that field went a little too far into the outer dirt path with the discs and made it quite the challenge to run through. Tue and Thu of last week I did a 2 and 2 workout. The heat at 6:30pm is quite rough so my pacing was hard to keep under the 10 min pace. Sunday I decided to try a 1/3/1. I left the house about 30 minutes before the sun popped up. It felt nice outside. I use the mile over to the empty (but not for long) subdivision as a warmup. Construction has begun out there but I imagine I still have a year or more of running to do out there before traffic/kids/dogs/teradactyls take over. The warmup was rough...i felt like i was running in mud. My legs were heavy...my breathing was uncontrollable. I felt like I did 2 years ago when I began this insane brain damaged lifestyle. I almost quit during the 3 miler but decided to hang tough and get it done. the mile cooldown back to the house wasn't so bad.

During my recovery walks I stretch and let my heart rate drop below 100 bpm. If I went by time or how I felt I would never start back running :). Seriously though, for those of you out there who are starting out or battling the heat, get a HR monitor so you can watch your rate and use it as a guide for when your body is ready to start back jogging/running. Don't go by time/distance or how you feel. The one thing I've learned about my body over the last few months is that my heart rate drops rapidly after a jogging segment. Two years ago that didn't happen. It would take me 15-20 minutes to fully recover from running...now it takes, maybe, 2 minutes. That shows that the ticker health has really improved. I just wish I could say the same for the rest of this 46 yr old body.

Today's followup was basically me paying a $40 copay to have the doc agree I need an MRI. Something I wish I had requested last month when I met with doc to talk about the bone scan results. Live and learn. Well, today I get the MRI scheduled for Tuesday of next week which is ok but a little further out than I expected. Then I learn that my doc can't see me until the 31st. I left in a funk and drove home. As I drove the madder I became. I'm tired of things taking too long to get done. I've contacted another group in Macon who will see me tomorrow, review my xray and hopefully my bone scan (if i can get it sent up there tomorrow) before i see their doc. Then, I will see if they feel I need an MRI. If I do, it is my hope they will get the MRI done promptly and then have me come back in a day or so for the followup. I'm hopeful this will happen. At this point its not about the running anymore...i want to find out what the crap is wrong with my leg!

OK, now for the 10 min pacing 'issue'. I began training for my first marathon exactly two years ago in June of 2007. I managed to experience ITBS and many other fun injuries along the way. I completed my first marathon but was running on a very painful knee. I mean drop you to the ground kinda painful. Last year, I begin training for my 2nd marathon (which was Snickers 2009). I completed it but only after a hamstring lockup issue at mile 17. But I finished. I firmly believe that my training was my downfall. Not because of mileage or lack of distance/speed. It was the mixture of speed/distance. I did too many long slow miles and not enough tempo/interval work. If I can get this darn leg healed I will work on those things. I'm shelving the marathon for now but will return to it when I know I'm ready.

I better close this post because blogger just called and said i'm using too many characters...lol

take care and run smartly

Tommy

The day I became radioactive....

It wasn't an experiment to see if I could turn into the Hulk or anything. It was just a bone scan.....'just a bone scan'....what a scary set of words. Usually those words are to determine the extent of the spread of a cancer. Praise the Lord that is not what my scan was for. No, my scan was to give my orthopedic doctor a little more detail of the stress fracture in my left tibia....and, more importantly, find out when I can start running again.

I was told to be at the hospital admissions office at 7:30am so i was there a few minutes ahead of time. Shirley admitted me and was a very sweet lady. I was sent to the Radiology department around 7:45am where I sat in a small waiting area by myself for about 20 minutes. The TV was set to CNN and I could only take about 5 minutes of their so called 'reporting'. They spent more time talking about the guy who got Sarah Palin's daughter pregnant than the controversial nominee we now have for Supreme Court Justice. I changed it to ESPN and got a rundown of the current baseball stuff. Someone called my name from around the corner so I got up and met the lady who was going to shoot radioactive juice into my vein. Very nice lady. She explained what she was going to do and that I would only feel the needle. No big...homey has been stuck more times than a pin cushion over the years. What was interesting is the small lead lined box that the syringe was retrieved from. I knew I'd have some radioactive stuff put in there but dagum! Was it so much that it had to be stored in a lead lined box? As she gave me the shot she said i would be radioactive for about 4 hrs and that she prefers to get the scan after 2 hours. I guess my warm glow would be at its peak by that point. :)

After the nuclear juice shot I went back to work for 90 minutes before returning for the actual scan. My lovely bride joined me. The scanning process was interesting. Nothing magnetic like they use for a MRI. Why? Because I was the one emitting the energy! :) I was placed on a table and raised up about 4' off the floor. For a moment I thought I might be a prime candidate for one of those floating person magic tricks. I was told to be perfectly still. A monitor was pulled over near me so i could watch a progress bar on the screen along with a fuzzy rendering of my legs. Three shots were taken from above. Then, I was turned on my side with my legs spread just a little so that both legs showed in the scans. Still not sure why she did both when the orders stated 'left shin'. Anyways, two shots from the side and I was done.

So, I wait until 4:10pm Tuesday, June 2nd. That is my followup with Dr Easom for the results of the scan and the news of how long I must wait before running again.

we'll see.....

Suspicion confirmed

After a 5 week layoff from running I decided to try a few short jogs. They were 800m jogging with 800m of walking in between. The shin would begin to throb immediately as I started the jogging portion. I tried a brand new pair of Mizuno Nirvana 4 (my fave shoe BTW). I left the regular laces in them rather than installing the iBungees that I love. Made no difference. However, the pain remained. This was Saturday, May 16. After this run I sat down to do my icing routine and noticed that an area on the front of my shin was numb. The numbness extended 2-3 inches above and below the primary pain point on my shin. Which, by the way, was easily noted by a butter bean sized knot which has been there since late February.

Monday morning I called my regular doctor to ask if I should see him or be referred to an orthopedic doc. The office called back and referred me to Dr Easom at Middle Georgia Orthopedic. My appointment was scheduled for Tuesday May 19 at 2pm. I had a peace about the visit because I knew I'd finally know for sure what was wrong and looked forward to hearing, one way or another, what was wrong but, moreso, when I could start running again.

I arrived at MidGAOrtho at 1:45 to fill out the paperwork. I was taken back to a small room and asked a series of questions by a nurse. Then, she led me to the xray room where they took two xrays of my left leg. The first was from straight above the leg. The other shot was of the side of my left leg. I went back to the small room and waited about 5 minutes before Dr Easom came in. He and I know each other very well because I have chaired a golf tournament that is in memory of daughter, Macy, whom he lost to pediatric cancer in 2006. He asked me to take him through the last few months of training leading up to Snickers. He asked about the distances of my long training runs and when I think the pains began. After sharing all that he put the two xray slides on the lightbox. He immediately said 'well Tommy...you have a stress fracture in your left tibia...no doubt about it....'. 'He added I'm having you get a bone scan so I can determine the extent of the fracture and then we'll know when you can resume running.'

He was encouraging and said this is a very common injury and that I shouldn't feel that I did anything wrong because this just happens sometimes to distance runners. He turned towards the xrays again and said he was highly impressed by the thickness of the structural integrity of my shin bone and that it was evident I have put in some long mileage. I asked if that was a bad thing and he said 'oh no...its a very good thing...this tells me you have done a good job with your training...' Of course, I had to ask 'ok doc...if i've done such a good job then why?' He laughed and said 'T...this could've started when you went from pavement to grass or grass to pavement one day on a run...you probably didn't feel anything but the initial crack started...'.

So, I have a bone scan on Friday May 29th. I get an injection of some radioactive stuff at 7:30am and then go back at 10am to have the scan done. My followup with Doc Easom is June 2nd at 4pm. At this followup I hope to learn how long before I can begin running.....until then, all i can do is hope and pray it won't be long.

Running happiness.....

After Snickers (March 7th) I did like a good marathoner and took a full week off from running. I did walk each day and extended the distance each day. My first jog was 8 days after Snickers and it felt so nice to be moving again. However, the shin began to hurt immediately and continued through the run. This kept happening each time I would run regardless of speed or terrain. Last week while in Huntsville on business I tried a treadmill at the hotel and had the same pain. I accepted the fact that I would have to take 4-5 weeks off from any form of jogging/running.

So, here I am... 5 days since I ran on the treadmill. The acceptance was tough enough...but, to try and find something else to do has been difficult. I rode a mountain bike with my buddy Tim Saturday afternoon on his long run and that was ok...but it wasn't the same. I enjoyed seeing my buddy run for one hour without stopping though...it was a hurdle for him and he crossed over it easily....just like I knew he could.

What makes running so different?

After pondering this for the last week I have realized why running has become such a part of my life. The time I spend running I am sorting things out, planning, smiling, observing, listening and praying. Sure, those things can be done with other activities...but, there is nothing like putting on my shoes each afternoon and heading out for a short journey.

Leading up to Snickers I began using my iPod and found it to be a nice way to break up the really long runs. I still enjoy running the first few miles just listening to my steps...my breathing...the little yapping dog at mile 0.8 on my Garmin who barks but wags his tail so hard...he doesn't want to bite me or chase me...he wants to run with me! I really miss seeing the two huge redtail hawks patrolling in the empty subdivision that I log most of my miles in. Also, I miss the occasional glimpses of the fox and coyote family that live in the wooded areas. I miss the smell of fresh air mixed with the scent of pine needles, magnolia flowers and the wild flowers that grow over there.

A few weeks before Snickers I had the ultimate pleasure of running a few miles in the snow! As I ran I kept my mouth open catching snowflakes. I'm 46 yrs old but not too old to catch a few snowflakes!

Gosh I miss running. My new running coach made a statement to me that I am trying to accept. I must accept that 'The Thing' is not the thing I thought it was...meaning, running. "The Thing" is fitness. So, I am trying to accept the wisdom of this simple saying. I'm exploring biking now. It seems expensive but when I look in the floor of my closet I can relate the cost of all those shoes to a very nice mountain bike. I am trying to make "The Thing" fitness for me....but it is difficult. I miss the activity that caused this 46 yr old body to lose 27 pounds in the past 23 months. The activity that has caused my resting heart rate to drop from 72 bpm down to 54 bpm. The activity that has so greatly enhanced my awareness of what is around me.

I miss you running....but, I will see you again soon....

What a journey

Hey to the one or two people who follow my blog... :) (Tim, Amy and maybe a few stragglers).

Well, let's see...what has happened since my last post...hmmm...I completed my second marathon! No where near my time goal though. Going into this year's Snickers Marathon I honestly believed I was ready. I had logged the mileage...I had mentally prepared for my second attempt at the 26.2 mile monster. However, sometime in January I started having some shin problems with my left leg. At first it was a nagging pain that went away after a mile or two. As I approached the middle of February the pain had begun to linger during runs and sometimes hurt while just walking around. I began stretching more and tried some things that I'd read about. Nothing seemed to help. So, I chose to follow the wisdom I bestow on my cross-country team and track team at Central Fellowship Christian Academy...'Shutup and run!' :)

Raceday Eve:
We drove to Albany on Friday (March 6th) to setup a table for the runner's expo (for PeachSports, my photography company). The expo and packet pickup were fun. Let me back up a tad...I had contacted one of the pacers (Pacer Jim to be specific) and asked a few questions about pacing strategy, etc. When I picked up my packet I introduced myself to Pacer Jim. He said to join them at the starting line and give a pacing group a try. As I walked back to our table a small siren was going off in my head (meaning 'do not do this Tommy!'). I shook off the idea of using the pacing group. In the room I made sure all of my gear was ready. I decided to go with two gels and hit the first one at mile 10 and the second at mile 19. Why? Easy, on my training runs leading up to Snickers I tried to find the right time to take them...and i found that every 10 miles worked best for me.

Raceday:
I woke up at 5am and took a shower. Then, I went downstairs and made some toast with peanut butter. Also, had a cup of coffee. I went back to the room and got my running gear on and headed out for a jog to warmup. The air temp was brisk but felt good. But, the problem was the fog. It was a very thick fog...heavy...you could feel the moisture in the air. I ran into my buddy Tim Cook. We jogged to the end of the Civic Center parking lot together and back. He shared that he might try to run with the 5:00:00 pace group but wasn't sure. I had totally forgotten about the 4:30:00 group from the night before. As we walked up to the groups beginning to form I saw the 4:30:00 sign being held high by Pacer Jim. His hair was dyed a bright red color. I stayed back a little ways because I had made up my mind not to run with them. A lady standing to my left asked 'hey...are you running with this group?' I said 'no...just here...' The guy to my right said he was running with them. I figured 'ok...i'll start off with them....see how it goes...' The siren in my head went off again..this time with flashing red lights though. The one thing that Pacer Jim had told me was we would go out slow and stay close to the time goal pace (10:18 per mile).

I was chatting with some of the folks around me and all of the sudden we heard the gun go off. We were about 50 yds from the start so it took about a minute before we began to move. As I crossed the timing mat I hit the Start button on my Garmin. The race had begun! I saw my wife and some of my photographers clicking away at the crowd as we ran by. On several of my long training runs (10+ milers) I had been practing the starting pace I wanted. The first two miles of the Snickers involves some slow uphill grades and then a rather steep one as you leave Albany State's campus. So, I had physically and mentally prepared to do 10:40s the first two miles and then slowly make up that deficit over the first 8 miles. As we crossed the bridge I looked down at my Garmin and saw 9:45 as the current pace. It felt fast but I didn't think it was that fast. Now the siren and redlights were going off bigtime. I thought 'surely we'll slow down when the group leader realizes we're going out too fast...' We hit mile 1 at 9:47. Rather than back off I showed my ignornance and stuck with the group.

I felt fine but knew I should back off the pace group eventually. By the time we passed back over the Flint River bridge we were almost 2 minutes ahead of schedule. That may not sound like much but at my pacing its almost a quarter mile (actually around 300m). Several of us joked loudly about being well ahead of schedule....no comment from the pace leader. As we neared mile 7 we were approaching Darton College. It was then that I decided to let the pacing group go ahead. 7 miles is 19.2 miles short of the finish line and I felt it was time to get back on my plan. The pace group disappeared into the foggy mist ahead of me as we left the college campus. I backed down my pace to around 10:45 miles. When I crossed the timing mat at mile 10 I was 9 seconds late....that is not too darn bad. It showed me just how fast the group had gone out.

The runners became more spaced out. I was passing more people than were passing me. By the time I reached the 13.1 timing mat I realized i was slowing down so I picked up the pace just a tad. I felt strong, hydrated and excited about finishing my second marathon....especially after the debacle of last year's Snickers. Even though I was behind schedule I was still on track to finish well below 5:00:00 and that was a good feeling.

As I approached my 17 I felt my left ham tighten up. This was quite odd. In all my years of sports I've never had hamstring problems...ever! The furter I went into mile 17 the tighter it became. For those who run these distances you know the mental checklist you start going through when something starts to happen such as this....'is my stride correct?' 'am i favoring one side over the other?' 'is this one of those things that comes up and goes away during a long run?' At mile 17.8 on my Garmin my left leg totally seized up....i mean stiff legged to the point I had to stop. I spent about a minute stretching. Man it was tight! I continued but could tell something wasn't right.

Each mile went by slower and slower because I was having to stop more frequently to stretch my ham so that I could continue running. I hit the timing mat at mile 20 at 3:46:28. At this point I'm thinking 'OK...click off 11 min miles from here and you still have a sub 5hr marathon....'

When I got to mile 22 my ham was seizing up about every 400m. I tried to keep my stretching time to 20 seconds and balance out the running pace so that i'd hit the 11 min mile pace. I borrowed someone's cell phone so that I could call Carol and tell her to have the girls wait by the train station for me and that I would be late. My girls wanted to run in with me.

Somewhere around mile 23 I heard someone coming up from behind me as I walked a little bit after stretching. It was Tim Cook. He passed right on by and I hollered out his name. He turned and had this shocked look on his face...'what the heck are you doing here?' He thought I had already finished I guess. He came back and asked me what was wrong and said he'd go with me. I knew he was trying for 5:00:00 so I told him to go on. He said 'nope...i'll hang back with you'. He shuffled along with me for about a half mile and I told him to just go. I was walking more than I was running by this point. He continued on.

A lot of the people I had passed earlier were now passing me. As I approached mile 24 I was so depressed. I realized that the 4:30:00 goal was out the window and that the sub 5hr goal was also out the window. Major disappointment. I shuffled through the last 2 miles though. Stopping every 100m to stretch and trying to accept the fact that all my training for the last 16 weeks resulted in a failure to complete the desired goal. I began to wonder if the marathon distance was more than my 46 yr old body could handle....or, that my training methods were not working for me.

When the train station came into view I knew my girls would be there to run in with me. As I turned down the cobblestone road leading to the train station I saw my lovely bride standing with my girls. Unfortunately, I had to stop twice before I got to them to stretch my ham. My wife has been a major part of my training for this marathon attempt. So many weekends where she'd drive ahead of me as I ran on base for my 10+ mile training runs. She'd wait with water in one hand and G2 in the other...and a gel pack hanging from her teeth....whatever I needed she was there with it. We ran in as a family. As I entered the shoot Carol and Julie peeled off but Kathryn ran with me through the finish. Carol placed my medal around my neck and gave me a kiss. It was bitter sweet. So glad to cross the finish line...but, majorly disappointed in my time.

After a week of sulking, analyzing and questioning things I accepted the fact that my training method was probably to blame for the performance. However, the stupid decision to go out with the pace group might've had a little to do with it. Not placing blame...i'm a big boy...and I should've said 'see ya' when i first looked at my Garmin going across the bridge (at mile 0.3).

I took a week off. Met with my new running coach (RC as he's called). I have continued to battle this shin issue....i say 'issue' because i'm not sure I have a splint or a stress fracture. It's going to be an interesting few more weeks...part of me wants to run 12 miles...but, the shin says 'sorry...not yet....'

Behind and I apologize

Running (pun) behind on updating this blog. I've found FaceBook and have realized I need to restrict myself to no more than 30 minutes of FB each night.

Let's see...what have I been doing....oh, RUNNING! I'm sure some folks consider my pacing to be more of a jog than of a run and that's ok if they feel that way. All I know is that I'm able to do something faster than walking and go quite a long way doing it. For example, on MLK day I did a 16 miler. Three days later I did a speed workout where I did 4x1600m with 800m jogs in between with a mile warmup on the front end and a mile cooldown on the tail end. Then, Sunday I did my first 20 mile training run....my longest distance since Snickers 2008. The more I train the more I'm starting to believe I'm cutout for the half marathon distance. My splits look good through 13-14 miles everytime I go beyond 13 on a run....hmmmm....i'll worry about that after Snickers. It's only five weeks away!

My buddy Tim is an official Marathon Maniac and what better person to wear a maniac shirt than Tim. :) He achieved this milestone upon completing the 2009 Museum of Aviation Marathon on the 17th of January. It was an almost perfect day. It needed to be in the high 30s or low 40s....NOT the low 20s with a breeze. But, everyone seemed to handle it well. I heard many people coming up to the water stop at mile 6 where I was taking pictures say something about their gel packs being frozen or at least crunch.

I'm taking the clan to Tallahassee this weekend. We are shooting the Tallahassee Marathon on Sunday. My oldest daughter celebrates her 15th birthday on Saturday so it will be fun being together on her birthday.

Track practices begin next week at Central Fellowship where my daughters go. I'm an assistant coach again because I enjoy being around the kids and helping them improve. It should be fun. We have a lot of JV runners again this year and thats a good thing. We'll see how things pan out for us.

nite nite everyone...