For Whom the Dogs Bark

May 02, 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

Fri, Oct 22, 2010

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
2.00	10.36	0.00	0.00	12.36

64F, 96% humidity, calm and partly cloudy. A little bit warmer but very nice weather, clouds in the east, clear in the west so the moon could show. Woke up early and was out the door by 5:10, ran 2 miles warmup, 10:29 and 9:19, then hit the gas pedal, working up to 160 bpm after about 3 miles and held it at that for 7 more. Got 10 miles at marathon pace, 2 better than Wednesday. Fastest mile was 7:47, slowest was the 10th, right at 8:37. Wasn't feeling it at first but by the end I was feeling pretty strong. Amazing scientific discovery, the slower I went the stronger I felt! Average pace for the 10 was 8:14, about 4 seconds faster than Wednesday. Overall pace including warmup was 8:29 per mile, total running time 1:44:47, flat shoes. As good as this run was, it isn't good enough. I think I have to be able to do about 15 at or below MP and 160 bpm in order to have a good chance at qualifying. The good thing is my legs are liking this speed so far so I'll keep doing it.

A mini crisis yesterday. I checked my entry at the Richmond Marathon and saw to my horror that they had entered my age as 54 -- can't believe they wanted me to run against those spry and supple 50-year olds. I fired off an e-mail demanding an immediate correction. They politely corrected it to 55, so now I am back at the young end of my age group, plus I can still order off the senior breakfast menu at the Richmond IHOP. Pretty sick sport we have when it makes you mad to be mistaken for someone younger. But now I'm wondering if there are cheater geezers our there. I think we need to institute controls. In order to haul off your very handsome age group certificate you have to not only present a valid urine sample but show them your drivers license.

Comments

From SlowJoe on Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 17:54:48 from 214.13.130.104

Great pace for the 10, given you didn't have to work terribly hard to get it. What's your strategy for the race? Warm up into MP, or try to bank a few minutes early on in anticipation of a slow down?

From flatlander on Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 12:33:11 from 76.31.26.153

SJ, you hit the nail on the head with that question, it has been nagging at the back of my head for the last week. I may not have enough reserve to be able to either speed up enough to take care of early slow miles, or warm up ahead of time. Either one soaks up energy. Now that I think about it, though, I think the thing to do is go out easy and give the running gods a minute or two at the start. Maybe they will give it back -- if not, then it probably wasn't going to be my day anyway.

From SlowJoe on Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 17:27:48 from 214.13.130.104

I like that answer, seems like warmup miles always make things easier. I would like to reserve the right to copy your strategy if it is a success.

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