For Whom the Dogs Bark

April 27, 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, Jul 10, 2010

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
17.51	0.00	0.00	0.00	17.51

73F, 97% humidity to start, 82F/85% to end. Got up dark and early to run with a group at the YMCA located about 8 miles from my home. I ran 2 miles to my friend's house, drove then started running at 5:30. He is a little faster than me, but having trouble going long distances in the heat, so he was happy to go a slower speed with me. We settled on 10 minute miles and kept that up most of the time, running what was supposed to be a 14 mile course with the group but it was only 13.5. Toward the end the pace picked up quite a bit, down to low 9s. When we finished we drove back to his house and I ran the last 2 miles home, stiff and slow at first but finally speeding up to low 9s. I was toying with running home from the Y, but due to the speeding up at the end of the group run I had a heart rate over 170 and knew in the full sunlight it would be a deathmarch, so I took the ride. Overall pace for 17.51 miles was 9:55, including some slow warmup miles, total time 2:53:52, regular shoes. I think before the summer is over I will be able to do 20 at a low 9 pace, mid to low 8s would be a fantasy goal. Today was about a minute per mile faster than last week and I wasn't as tired. I feel like I am finally getting acclimated. The other two summers since I started running I had injuries that kept me in the house during the summer, so this is the first time I have been out in the soup week after week.

I am pretty happy with this run. Took some salt tablets and a little bit of Gatorade without any adverse effects, so branching out from warm water here. Amazing how fast the time goes by when there is somebody to talk to. Plus I met some people in the area who are serious about running marathons, one guy I was running with has done 50.

Not sure I will go out there every week, some Saturdays the program just doesn't fit with what I need to do, but I will probably join the group, they charge dues for Gatorade and such, but not much. Do running groups in Utah charge dues? It makes sense but I hadn't really heard of it. Here in Texas we always organize, it seems. At the Alamo we weren't organized and we learned our lesson.

Comments

From Stephen on Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 14:55:56 from 71.195.218.176

I don't remember the alamo.

Great run, Mark. You can see my report at stephen.fastrunningblog.com. You are miles ahead.

From Smooth on Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 15:13:44 from 174.23.191.197

NICE long run! WAY to pick up the pace to a strong finish on a hot humid day. I agree that running with someone is the way to go for long runs, make the miles go by faster.

In Utah we bring our own fuel, fluids and organize our own so no charge for Gatorade. a local running store, Salt Lake Running Co. Have placed coolers of Gatorade and water and bag full of energy gels on the Jordan River Parkway some Saturdays before major Utah Marathons. No charge either. It's such a nice gesture and benefit for locals runners.

From SlowJoe on Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 15:10:06 from 84.11.148.246

Solid long run by the looks of it. They have a running club here with small dues, but you get a shirt and reduced entry fees to local races so it's probably a net zero.

From flatlander on Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 10:32:08 from 76.31.26.153

Stephen, I do.

Smooth, that's cool the local running stores are so integrated into the running community like that. I think we are just too big here.

Joe, they might have something similar going on here, I just haven't dug into it deep enough yet. As I have thought about it over the weekend I am a little skeptical that this group's pacing is going to match up that well with what I need to be doing on my long runs. I'll have to be careful about that and no get too comfortable.

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