For Whom the Dogs Bark

May 05, 2024

15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

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.

Click to donate

to Ukraine's Armed Forces

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

Thu, May 13, 2010

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
9.03	2.00	0.00	1.19	12.22

75F, 85% humidity, wind SSE 10-20 mph. Good running weather. Ran 12.22 miles at a mixture of speeds, overall pace 10:58 per mile, low heart rate on the easy miles. I warmed up in flats then tried to run at 7:00 per mile, my new 10K goal. Had to quit after .32 miles (7:02 pace) because the house key fell out of a hole in my pocket. (Bet that's the first time anybody heard that one.) So I jogged for a while longer then tried it again. This time I made .87 miles at 7:09 pace (top heart rate 186 bpm) before the wind picked up and slowed me down. Then I jogged back to the house and changed to regular shoes, ankle was feeling it a little bit and still is. I went back to low heart rate (about 12:00 per mile, some higher some lower) until mile 9. Even though the regular shoes felt heavy and clunky, I knew I needed some marathon pace miles, so I did the last two at 8:37 and 8:26, although it was hard to hold a steady pace, I kept wanting to go to either 8:00 or 9:00. Anyway, it went pretty well, I thought it would be harder than it was after running ten miles including a little bit of fast stuff, but probably a good thing it wasn't, otherwise I wouldn't have a prayer for a BQ in a month. There is a workout that people talk about, which is to do a 20-mile run, first half at MP plus 1.5 minutes, then 8 at MP then 2 at 10K pace, accelerating to 5K pace for the last 400. They say if you can do that one you will have confidence that you can make your marathon pace in the actual marathon. I have a few Saturday's left, maybe I'll try that one a couple of times if my left ankle holds up.

Comments

From Burt on Thu, May 13, 2010 at 12:29:41 from 206.19.214.144

You must be getting really fast Mark.

From lightitup on Thu, May 13, 2010 at 12:54:02 from 67.185.20.107

I hope your ankle does better throughout the day today.

As far as confidence, I think only you know what will help your confidence...if you think X, Y, or Z, will best ensure your overall goal, do that. I went into Boston unconvinced of my training...although I had a hernia, I don't know if I could have gotten my goal without it, simply because my head was in the way.

From KP on Thu, May 13, 2010 at 13:07:03 from 65.208.22.26

nice mileage!

From Mack on Thu, May 13, 2010 at 19:22:27 from 71.111.186.66

Be careful with that ankle and either buy some new shorts or at least sew up the hole in the pocket!

From Rye on Fri, May 14, 2010 at 18:27:24 from 174.27.100.178

Hey atleast you took a house key with you. I don't think of taking one with me. I think that someones going to be home to let me in. I've waited for an hour to get in. Hideaway key would be to easy.

From flatlander on Fri, May 14, 2010 at 18:36:09 from 75.247.137.189

Thanks all.

E, I'll get confidence all right if I can do the run. If I can't it would have been better not to do it.

As for my shorts, I guess I need new ones. I have only two. The expensive one got the hole in it, of course.

Add Your Comment.

Keep it family-safe. No vulgar or profane language. To discourage anonymous comments of cowardly nature, your IP address will be logged and posted next to your comment.
Do not respond to another person's comment out of context. If he made the original comment on another page/blog entry, go to that entry and respond there.
If all you want to do is contact the blogger and your comment is not connected with this entry and has no relevance to others, send a private message instead.

Debt Reduction Calculator

Featured Announcements

Most Recent Entries:

New Kids on the Blog
(need a welcome):

Lone Faithfuls
(need a comment):