For Whom the Dogs Bark

May 05, 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, Mar 24, 2012

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
0.00	4.06	0.00	0.00	4.06

55F, 100%, calm and 50-foot fog. Could barely see out there, which was good, because it was ugly. Simply couldn't hold a marathon pace. Started out at a 7:30 pace and got so tired I pulled up after about 1K, then picked it up again on miles 2 and 3, where I hit 7:30 and 7:29, but mile 4 was 7:42 and my heart rate hit 166 and was climbing. Overall 4.06 miles in 31:37, 7:47 per mile. After running two halves at 7:09 and 7:06 pace, I know that today's speeds are not close to my potential. Amazing how much havoc a few bad weeks of running creates. I will not be ready for Boston and it takes too much time and money to go there just to go. I know others don't feel that way about Boston, and I certainly look forward to the time I can go there prepared to run my best, but for me it isn't important just to be there. Realistically, I would run about 3:35 to 3:40 and that isn't good enough. It's hard enough to get a good marathon time at peak fitness; I have no desire to run one unprepared. I might be able to find a good marathon somewhere this summer -- suggestions welcome, nothing hot and nothing at altitude! But mainly I need to keep training and chipping away at the granite mountain.

Comments

From SlowJoe on Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 07:46:53 from 69.131.141.92

Hmm, summer marathon, not hot and not at elevation. North Pole?

I definitely understand your decision to back out of Boston -- I will see you there next year.

From SonofaFlatlander on Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 09:53:12 from 99.109.157.160

Bum luck. Well at least we know you will have no trouble qualifying again. Also you have a jump on 2013 Boston hotels right now; better get on it!

From Stephen on Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 10:11:08 from 71.195.220.45

I did notice one marathon in Duluth, MN on about June 9. It is definitely flat, at elevation 600 feet, along Lake Superior. May not be a bad choice. It's called Grandma's marathon, but I think they allow grandpas too.

From flatlander on Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 10:51:01 from 198.207.244.102

Joe, just didn't want to run it without you, wouldn't have been the same.

Clint, good point.

Stephen, I'm already on it. I'm showing June 16, though. The hotels are full but there are apartments that the University of Minnesota (Duluth) [must be a hockey powerhouse] is making available for that weekend. No service on United to Duluth but it is drivable from Minneapolis, I think.

From I Just Run on Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 20:11:18 from 12.162.141.2

Sorry Flat but I understand your decision completely. Running just to be running just doesn't seem right. Maybe I can qualify for next year and we'll be there together. I'm still going to OKC in about 6 weeks to try and qualify. Maybe you could come up there just to get your qualifier for 2013....Joe will be there :-)

From Claudio on Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 13:39:35 from 96.234.244.240

Sorry that things did not work out for Boston this year, Flatlander. Your decision is admirable, though. The Lake Placid Marathon in upstate NY (almost Canada...) is in June and I've heard is really nice and popular as a summer destination marathon.

From Burt on Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 13:51:16 from 72.223.93.158

You might want to stay away from any non-existent marathons in the summer in AZ.

From derhammer on Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 20:15:39 from 70.113.125.159

I, too, looked at Grandmas last year. Talk about expensive. I couldn't find a flight for less than $500, and the hotel stay, rental car, etc. Too much for me. Also, late start ensures you will be running in the sun.

I went to Iowa instead. Great course. We did get lucky with the weather, though. There is a great write-up on it in the latest Marathon and Beyond magazine.

http://www.marathon2marathon.com/events.html

Good luck, and I completely understand your decision on Boston.

From Dan on Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 21:55:39 from 24.209.83.20

Understand, but will miss the chance to meet ya there... I'm the opposite, i know I can't pr there, but going to relax since I don't have that expectation (plus I paid for the dang thing). I hope it will propel me to a solid fall marathon. Like DH I looked at grandma's and he's right.

I say ya run Ohio in the fall, air force one is nice :)

From JG on Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 09:55:53 from 71.56.87.5

Bummer you won't be in Boston Flat! I'm with Dan, I paid for the registration & am going to enjoy the experience without expectations! Every race can't be a PR, if I run my second fastest marathon, I will jumping through hoops!

It appears you are still just feeling effects of flu, but you have logged great mileage, you might surprise yourself if you go! If I didn't run races because of a couple disappointing training runs, I would never race, because I outperform almost every training run on race days.

Hopefully next year I will go again, injury free & peaking at the right time ... I figure running the course this year, will help me crush the course the day I can run it in peak condition.

Just things to consider ... :)

From flatlander on Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 11:32:30 from 198.207.244.102

Thanks everybody, points all taken. (JG, once I plateau for good (probably sooner than I would like to admit), I will probably go to Boston regularly and run it on low to medium-mileage training. For now, though, I don't want to use up a training cycle on a race that would almost certainly be slower than 3:30. My body clock is ticking, that's the problem. I certainly understand other viewpoints on this, though.)

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