For Whom the Dogs Bark

April 29, 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

Mon, Jan 17, 2011

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
8.89	0.00	3.50	0.00	12.39

48F, 93% humidity, calm, foggy and misting rain. This is very good running weather. I got almost 8 hours of sleep and felt much better this morning. Ran the first half at low heart rate, averaging about 9:55 per mile or so, almost back in my zone. Then the goal was to run two sets of 2 at 6:30, but I wasn't strong enough to pull that off. I ran one at 6:59 and felt pretty trashed. Ran a recovery mile, then did 1.5 at 6:55, a little better. Ran another recovery mile then another fast mile at 7:00. On this one I felt like I was able to get into a smoother, more relaxed rhythm, even though it was still difficult. Then jogged it in. Overall 12.39 miles in 1:52:03, average pace 9:03 per mile.

I ran across some references over the weekend to age group All-Americans, got curious and looked it up. Turns out the standards are ridiculously loose, I have already met all of them for 5K through marathon for the road racer category and I am an average runner. Inexplicably, they are much tighter for the track category (18:25 and 39:00 for my age group). But in the process I found out that there are standards for national ranking by age group. For my group they are: 5K: 18:20 (5:54); 10K: 39:30 (6:22); half: 1:27 (6:38); and full: 3:00 (6:52). Those are worthy goals and a significant accomplishment for any 55-year old who can do it. To put things in perspective, this morning I ran 2.4K at a pace slightly slower than target pace for a 3-hour marathon. Hard to believe there are old guys running around that fast out there. They must be wearing very short shorts and doing yoga.

Comments

From derhammer on Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 21:51:12 from 12.50.125.163

Some people just have natural ability. We have a 60 year old in our group who runs 3:25's on 3 to 4 days a week running and Pilates on the other days. Go figure.

From Kelli on Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 22:52:40 from 71.219.84.215

Those are some very interesting facts! I do not even want to know what I *should* be running, I prefer to remain oblivious to that!

From Stephen on Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 10:16:24 from 204.182.3.235

That's my problem. My shorts are too long!

From SlowJoe on Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 12:59:51 from 184.79.24.255

Nice running - you have rocketed to the top of your age group pretty fast. Don't know about those crazy track standards, I would feel proud just to someday get those in my 30s.

From flatlander on Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 16:25:21 from 198.207.244.102

David, pilates, that is almost yoga!

I agree, I'm almost sorry I looked it up. The "All American" thing is particularly lame.

Stephen, you should have asked me, I could have provided you some much-needed fashion advice.

Joe, something to file away. Maybe someday I might hit one of those times, but most likely not. Are you back yet? Never mind, I just peeked at your blog. Welcome back, soldier.

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