For Whom the Dogs Bark

May 14, 2024

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Location:

Cypress,TX,

Member Since:

Oct 10, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K: 24:22 (March 2010); 22:33 (October 2010); 20:47 (May 2011); 21:05 (May 2012); 21:33 (September 2012); 21:23 (November, 2013); 22:31 (September 2014)

5M: 39:22 (November, 2012); 35:54 (November, 2013); 36:03 (March, 2015)

10K: 44:08 (November, 2010); 49:20 (July, 2013); 44:07 (April, 2015)

12K: 56:03 (December, 2013); 58:58 (December, 2014)

10M: 1:11:58 (October, 2012); 1:15:24 (October, 2014)

Half Marathon: 1:53:xx (London's Run 2010); 2:05:21 (Cowtown 2010); 1:37:04 (Gusher 2011); 1:42:19 (Huntsville 2011); 1:33:47 (Baytown Jailbreak 2012); 1:33:50 (The Woodlands 2012); 1:42:52 (Texas 2015); 1:49:17 (Jailbreak 2015); 1:38:34 (The Woodlands 2015)

25K: 2:01:47 (Fifth Third River Bank, May 2014)

Marathon: 5:51:35 (Texas Marathon 2009); 6:21:36 (Ogden 2009); 4:58:29 (St. George 2009); 4:13:45 (Texas Marathon 2010); 4:04:12 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2010); 5:11:14 (Hartford ING, 2010); 3:41:43 (Richmond SunTrust, 2010); 3:39:27 (Texas Marathon 2011); 3:41:46 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2011); 3:30:35 (St. George 2011); 3:41:51 (Richmond 2012); 3:49:15 (Texas 2013); 3:46:59 (Paavo Nurmi, 2013); 3:34:04 (St. George 2013); 3:49:51 (Texas 2014); 3:31:59 (Richmond 2014); 3:28:34 (Boston 2015)

Short-Term Running Goals:

3:20, 1:30, 0:20

Long-Term Running Goals:

I'm 60, there is no long term.

Personal:

I live, work and run in Houston, Texas. I have run 17 marathons, some good ones and some others. I prefer straight, flat, cold, sea-level marathons, still waiting for my first one. I feel like there are more PRs out there. When I have them, I am told it is time to dial it back, run for healthy reasons. I'm sure that's right, and I'm sure it won't happen.

My wife and I are from the mountains of the west. We have five kids, three granddaughters and three grandsons. The kids and grandkids are native Texans but we are not -- you have to be born here.

As for my blog title: I run most of my miles before sunrise, sometimes hours before. On the back road of my neighborhood two hours before daylight, I can depend on a pack of mutts behind the boundary fence lighting up when they hear my footsteps. I have wondered what they wanted; but according to Hemingway I needn't ask.

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00

Sat, Feb 06, 2010

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
7.43	3.00	0.00	0.00	10.43

41F, ran 10.43 miles in 1:49:39, average pace 10:43 per mile. I had planned to run 20, 15 of them at a pace of about 8:30 or so. I warmed up for 4 miles but never seemed to get completely loose. Tried anyway, but it was obvious after 3 miles that I still had groin/hip problems in my left leg, so I shut it down and jogged in.

Whenever I get an injury, it has been traceable to running too fast rather than too far, probably a geriatric problem. This is the same groin that first acted up in my last marathon -- it came back a few hours after the half marathon a week ago and never completely disappeared during the week. If I don't run fast I won't get better, so there isn't an easy answer, but I think going forward I will run faster but shorter and increase it more gradually, just like the slow running. There are no important races on the near horizon, so I will probably shut it down completely this week, maybe try some machines or something so as not to lose ground. My goal was to not let this happen, but it did. Hopefully a week will be sufficient.

Two bits of good news. First, I drove out to the Rocky Raccoon 100 last night (Saturday) in Huntsville, Texas, about an hour from my home, hoping to spot Davy Crockett. I missed him because he was way ahead of schedule, but it was fun watching all the hundred mile runners come through the home aid station at the end of their third or fourth laps. Davy a couple of weeks ago generously invited me to pace him (he doesn't normally use pacers) but I had to decline because of my leg. Probably a good thing, I might have slowed him down. Some other year.

Second, a friend who is an orthopedic surgeon came over today and we talked about running. He doesn't like it too much, says the biggest problem is that it can eventually cause osteoporosis, but if I take lots of dairy I should be fine. Time to add that Sam's non-diet rocky road 3-pack to the shopping list.

Back in a week for better or worse.

Comments

From SlowJoe on Sun, Feb 07, 2010 at 22:55:07 from 71.21.119.111

Bingo, ice cream is dairy too!

Bummer about the injury. I think the mental part (thinking you're losing the fitness you worked for by sitting out) is the worst side effect. Here's to a quick and full recovery.

From flatlander on Mon, Feb 08, 2010 at 06:56:37 from 76.31.26.153

Thanks, I'll try to get in some machines this week and hopefully be able to maintain most of what I have earned.

From Mack on Mon, Feb 08, 2010 at 20:12:44 from 71.111.182.118

Smart! Hope you have a speedy recovery.

From jasro on Tue, Feb 09, 2010 at 17:39:01 from 198.50.4.4

Eat some ice cream for me too!! I eat a lot of dairy and I take calcium supplements too. I guess I won't know if it works for a few years.

I hope you get feeling better. You'll probably find that the mental break does you some good.

From flatlander on Tue, Feb 09, 2010 at 17:42:16 from 198.207.244.102

Thanks guys. My leg is feeling better and it is only Tuesday, but running is different and I won't know for sure until I get back out there and try it out. The flavor of the day is mint chocolate chip.

From baldnspicy on Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 03:05:02 from 72.77.113.184

Good luck! I'll eat some ice cream for ya...I prefer Mint Chocolate Chip. Is that OK or do you insist it's Rocky Road? Either way, I'm cool...

From Huans32 on Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 08:16:40 from 98.202.0.57

Oh man Flat. Sorry to hear you have been taken out of action. Keep up some good xtraining and it you could come back even stronger and faster.

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