Looking Back

2006 was a fine year for my family. My brother and his wife delivered healthy twin babies, to end a long history of trying to build a family. Our parents are all in good shape, and seem to have plenty of things to amuse themselves. Their children don't appear to be making them crazy, so that's a good thing, too. My children are both healthy and, for the most part, trouble-free. So far, impending teenager years haven't delivered too much in the way of angst for Mary Anne and me.

So, it's this time of year that I like to think about the things that make my life full and interesting. Certainly my family comes first, but there's so much more than that! The simple act of running and the pursuit of faster and stronger racing gives me more happiness than it should, perhaps. The friendships that I've made through running and through the Gazelles are wonderful, and I am grateful for each of them. Gilbert continues to be an inspiration and taskmaster, and for both of those things, I thank him.

My web of friends scattered from North Carolina to Florida to Texas to Arizona to all points in between are wonderful as well. It's still amusing to me the circumstances under which I met Jeff and Andy in North Carolina, as well as Justin in Florida. It would be great to see them more often, but I usually get to see at least Jeff and Andy twice or three times a year, and that's almost enough to tide us over for all the months in between. I'm thankful that Mary Anne still finds that a yearly trip for me to guitar camp at the Swannanoa Gathering is valuable for my mental well-being. And, most years, I get to make a fun out-of-town running trip, which for the last several years has been to the Indy Mini-Marathon in May. I'm looking forward to the 2007 edition of that race as I type.

And what about other stuff? I've gotten more enjoyment than I probably should have from Bob Dylan's "Theme Time Radio Hour" show on XM satellite radio each week. I enjoy making music with the Austin Guitar Ensemble, a group of classical guitarists. We meet once a week, and it's a fun exercise to learn, rehearse, and perform classical music in the area. I even have a good time teaching at the arts high school here in town during the week, in their guitar ensemble classes.

Resolutions for 2007? In running, I'd like to continue chipping away at my marathon PR, finally score lifetime PR's at 10K and 5K to wipe out those old times, and be more consistent with my training and gym work. In music, I want to learn songs. It's embarassing to break out a guitar at a party and only have 5 songs ready to play for people. Once again, I've embarked on my "Song A Week" plan, to learn a complete song, lyrics and music, each week. That will bulk up your playlist in a hurry, right? It would be good to tame the procrastination dragon in all things, too. Those are probably enough things to work on for the coming year, I think. :-)

Get On Up! [Mt. Bonnell "Recovery" Run]

"Get up! (Get on up)!" - James Brown
"Can we hit it one more time, from the top?" - JB

The above lyrics are from the wonderfully titled "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine." You gotta love all his song titles that featured the parenthetical commentary! Subtlety was not usually a feature of JB's lyrics and performances, but he sure brought the funk with his amazing shifting cast of band members. Star child Bootsie Collins was even a player in the James Brown band for a while, and obviously he learned the Art of Funk at the James Brown University of Soul.

The famous "I jump back, I wanna kiss myself!" line that Eddie Murphy parodied in his dead-on impersonation in the "James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub" skits on SNL is from "Super Bad." That's a really fun song, by the way.

Today, I read about JB's last tour, where his body was taken on a 3-city tour for his fans to pay their respects. And what about that gold casket?! Unnnnnnhhh! His handlers redressed him for each stop on the tour, so even after death, JB kept up his tradition of multiple costume changes and show biz flair. There won't be many, if any, of his like to come, so take note of the passing of this star. And, at the very least, go to your neighborhood record store (sorry, CD emporium), and snag a Greatest Hits CD of Mr. Brown. It's endless fun, and the funk just rushes out of the speakers.

And now for something completely different, our little recovery jaunt on the hilly Scenic loop plus Mountain Bonnell. The weather shifted again, as it often happens, and we got cooler temperatures, about 51 degrees throughout the run, and thankfully no additional precipitation for today's festivities. Sure, we had to deal with some puddles on the roads and on the trail, but that's not too bad. Once the hierarchy of the runners settled down, we had about 10 people again for our pace crew. Among them were Carrie and Thon, still recovering from White Rock, Frank, Sue, Amy, Colleen, Jennifer, Rachel, Brad, Jan, Brian, and probably some others who I'm not recalling.

Through the first water stop, we sort of found our way into our mob, and dialed in the pace. We were a little quicker than usual, probably since we were "only" going about 13-14 miles. Sheesh. Amy pulled away from us after the first water/powerade stop, since she was having a good day, but the rest of us stuck together for the most part. There were several people willing to help do the pace work today, so that was nice. Frank and I sort of led the way through the Scenic hills, and then after slogging through a big puddle/pond on Mt. Bonnell Road, it was time to wage our assault on the mountain. As usual, we got quiet at the bottom of the hill, and everyone went to their own mental place to get themselves up the incline. I felt pretty strong today, and ended up finishing ahead of my pace pals. That gave me a much longer water/gu/powerade stop, but it's a training run, so what the heck.

Thon showed us a new way down the mountain, which added a few tenths of a mile to the day. I think I'll make that way the new Bonnell route for future runs. It was relaxing to not have to deal with Balcones Woods and the occasionally scary traffic on that road for a change. I tucked in with Thon, Carrie, Sue and Frank on Exposition, and we rolled along the hills there in good fashion. The last water/powerade/GU stop was at O. Henry, and then it was time for a fast finish for those so inclined.

I just took off at a reasonably quicker clip, and waited to see who wanted to run in with me. Turns out that my friend Sue was again at my side for the big finish. We rolled down the modest downhill first mile, and then hit the trail. The fast Gazelles caught us on the trail (I think they added some miles to their day before catching us), and then Thon caught us during the last mile. We sort of drafted off of him, using him as a pace target ahead of us when we were tiring at the end. Except for that last mile, I felt pretty comfortable. During the last mile, though, I was just in the position of needing to focus a bit more to keep my pace steady. It was great to have Sue push me during those last fast finish miles, too. It really helps to have someone there to keep you moving quickly.

It was a really strong run. Splits: 9:41, 9:01, 8:54, 0.93 miles at 8:35, 2:02 water stop, 8:43, 8:46, 9:04, and 0.1 miles at 9:33 (the final Bonnell crawl), 3:26 water/GU stop for me as we waited to gather everyone together for the descent, 8:40, 9:02, 8:55, 0.43 miles at 8:25/mile pace, 1:57 final water/GU stop, and fast finish at 7:36, 7:43, 7:33, and 0.19 miles at 7:01/mile. Overall, 8:37 running pace, and 9:09/mile with water stop time included. That's a good run for us on that course.

After knocking out some striders on the trail, it was time for stretching. Today, we used the front "porch" at RunTex, since the ground was pretty muddy in our usual spots. We laughed a lot more than usual, and finished up about the time they unlocked the doors to the store. One of the guys at RunTex (David?) joked with us that we needed to buy some shoes. I told him that I needed some, coincidentally, and told him what shoes and what sizes to pull out for me. After retrieving my wallet, I indeed picked up new pairs of Fila Providence (the newest model of those), and Mizuno Creation 7. Both my pairs of existing shoes are nearing the end of their useful lifespan, so I needed to get new ones in the rotation. The newest Providences are much better, aesthetically, and they still have that nice comfortable ride. The Mizunos are exactly the same as my existing pair, so no surprises there. After picking up some Enervitene for next weekend's ARA 20 Miler, I was done with my shopping.

Alex and I talked for a while about various and sundry topics, and then he had to get going to hit Chick-Fil-A for his standard Saturday lunch. It was a great day out there, and yet another fun time with my running friends.

Oh, yeah, for the day, 13.65 miles.

Bobby, Can I Take It To The Bridge?

"...Take it to the bridge? [band says "Yeah!"] Take it to the bridge! ["Yeah!"] Hit Me!" - JB

This morning, Frank, Rachel, Brian and I took it to the bridge(s), both Mopac and I-35, and had a wonderful time chatting about various salacious topics (look it up if you don't know that word, it's a good one!) as we cruised around Town Lake on the 7 mile loop. Rachel, Frank and I started at 7:00am at Mopac, and it was another nice running day when we were out there. Sunny, clear, and temps in the mid 50's. We headed clockwise around the lake, and about 2.5 miles into it, we ran into Brian, coming the opposite direction. He had showed up at 7:00am all right, but at RunTex. We gathered him up and continued on our way. We were having so much fun talking about topics that shall not be detailed here that the run just flew by. Brian stayed with us until past the footbridge over Barton Creek, and then turned around to finish off his day. The rest of us sailed home.

I can't remember the last time a run has had so much laughter involved in it. Again, we are all lucky to have such a great group of running friends. I'm grateful to know each of the many people that make up our regular running crew, and it is their presence and inspiration that help me stay focused on the program. Especially on those days when it's raining (rare here in Austin, but it happens), cold, steamy, blazing hot, or on mornings where you feel like you've been run over during the night.

As I put on dry clothes after the run, Gilbert ran by on the trail, happy and cheerful as usual. Of course, he noticed me and called me by name. He's got that amazing gift for remembering names. I'm envious of that.

I had to get back to the house to await the arrival of our plumber, so the gym visit for today will have to wait until later. For the day, just under 7 miles, about 9:17 pace, including the water stop at Auditorium Shores. My legs feel great, but I'm looking forward to a day off of running tomorrow. I need that day to recharge.

I Break Out In A Cold Sweat! (1200m Repeats)

As you may have guessed, I've been immersed in James Brown's music since his passing on Monday. What fun stuff! I had not previously gotten into a lot of his music outside of about 12 songs I had pulled into the iPod from the great "Star Time" 4-CD set that I purchased a long time ago. I've gotten out the discs this week, and I found I'd been missing some things. I love his count-in on "Hot Pants, Pt. 1" where he goes "One, Two, One, Two, Three, Unnnnnnhhh!" How cool is that?! Along with the Ramones' ubiquitous "One, Two, Three, Four!," those are the best lead-ins possible. Good God! Anyway, I digress...

Today, on another crisp and cold morning, we headed out at 5:45am from RunTex for 1200m repeats at AHS. It was about 38 degrees, perfect! Cold sweat, indeed! It was a fairly small crew, which is expected due to the holidays, but we still greatly outnumbered the Rogue training group, which Kenny reported counting only two people for their morning workout. Go Gazelles! It was good to see Rachel again after being off schedule with her for a week or two. We took the easy warmup seriously, and after drills, I felt good and ready to run. It was still quite dark, of course, but I can deal with that. It's harder to check your pace on the repeats, especially in a big pack, but I love the cold, so I was happy.

Our pace group was huge today. We had 10-12 people, but that turned out to be okay. Frank joined us for the first 3 repeats before taking time to check in with the magic running doctor who was there to check people out this morning. Gilbert told us to run the 1200's at the same pace as we ran the 1000's last week, continuing the trend (last week, we were supposed to run the 1000's at 800m pace). I estimated a target of 5:24 per 1200m (7:14/mile), which matched our target for the 1000's. We went faster on the 1000's than that, but it was an easy pace to calculate on the run, so I used that today at first.

The first repeat started out a little slow, so I picked it up on the third lap to bring us in just off our stated pace. After that, we settled into a faster groove, which felt fine to me. It's just a lot of fun to run when it's nice and cool. Most folks dropped out after 5 repeats, per Gilbert's instruction, but those of us who've been at this a while did the sixth repeat, the stated maximum for the day. Leslie and Jennifer joined me for that last repeat, and we scored our fastest repeat on the last, as planned.

Splits: 5:27, 5:18, 5:21, 5:19, 5:18, 5:15. Avg lap was 5:20, 7:09/mile pace. That's about right on target, so it was a fine day of running. I was especially impressed with Jennifer, who continues to come back strong after being hurt in the post-Freescale training last spring. She's tough!

We knocked out our 3 x 200m striders, and except for some instructions yelled at me across the track on the third strider, they were uneventful. I think Gilbert was yelling for more butt kicks, but it's hard to say. :-)

A nice relaxing cooldown run back to RunTex with Frank, Rachel and Jennifer, and we were done. I stretched a little bit, chatted with Alex, and it was time to go to the gym. For the day, 8.6 miles.

After that, I cruised up to Gold's for today's workout to keep the streak alive. I started out with some good stretching, and then launched into the workout. Today was core stuff again (I did floor exercises and the return of planks. Those planks were harder than they once were. I've got some remedial work to get them back where they should be, but I still managed two sets of all three planks at 45 seconds each. I'll take that.), and then upper body. The upper body stuff is still where the falloff is greatest in the case of a gym vacation, but it's coming back. I added back in the chest dumbbell exercises today, with flies, and they went better than I had expected. More work with the assisted pullup machine, too. I found a setting that allowed me to do 10 pullups, which at the end of the workout is pretty tough. But, it's a project, so I'll stick with it. I'll work on reducing the level of assist week by week.

So, another good workout day. Tomorrow is another nice and easy run with Frank.

I Feel Good!

"Like I knew that I would, now..." - James Brown

It was simply wonderful out there this morning! Since Frank has this week off, we met a little later, at 7:00am, and we started from the Rock underneath Mopac. It was just the two of us, and on a day when it was crisp, clear, and maybe 35 degrees out there, it was a really fun little run. Frank and I don't get a lot of opportunities to run alone, so runs like today are a welcome change from the larger group running activities. We got a chance to get caught up on life at our respective households, we got to tell a few funny stories, and shared some humorous memories from the distant past. There weren't many folks out there on the trail, and we really enjoyed the morning. The running was what it was supposed to be, nice and relaxed. We ended up just under 7 miles at 9:10/mile pace, and that was perfect. I was a little stiff and sore yesterday, two days after the 20 miler, but I felt great during and after this run today. Mission accomplished.

After chatting a little while longer, Frank had to get home, and I went up to the gym to keep my newfound resolution alive. Today at Gold's, I did the core and leg workouts. Before I got going, I stretched for 15 minutes or so, just the most essential stretches to continue the healing process from Saturday's long run. Bumped back up to double sets of the core stuff, and although it was a struggle on those last few reps on some exercises, it was a good kind of struggle. On the leg stuff, I did full double sets on everything except the 4-way hip machine, where I did single sets on all those exercises. I did some easy stretching between sets, and especially on the calf raises, I needed that between rounds. Them calves is tight! [sic]

So, a very successful workout day, and it was time to go home and start the Christmas decoration removal process.

Merry Christmas, and James Brown

First, Merry Christmas to all five of my regular readers! :-) We had a successful Christmas morning here at Casa Clement, and I checked in with all my siblings and my parents, and everyone seems in fine form and good humor. Gifts were given and received, and in the tradition of the New Age Christmas, the kids have much in the way of gift cards to burn through in the coming weeks, along with "real gifts."

However, it was sad to read on the Web this morning that the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, passed away this morning. True to form, JB gave us something to talk about, even in his passing. As noted previously in these scribblings, the James Brown Christmas Album has always been a favorite of mine during this season, and now it will remain so, but with a bittersweet edge. I've told folks before, over and over, that when I'm a little down, James Brown's music never fails to bring me back out of the doldrums. I mean, how can you be sad when you hear JB throwing out a "Good God!" or "Unnnnhhhhh!" in the middle of funky tune? :-)

And so the Rock and Roll Heaven Band adds another singer, and Heaven becomes a lot more funky as James Brown joins the band. I wonder what will be the first tune that Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley and JB will crank up? :-)

What's This?! A Gym Visit?! [Entered 12/25]

On Sunday, with Christmas shopping long completed and a drizzle falling outside, I took advantage of available time and dashed off to the gym for a return visit...finally. I've been slacking a lot on that phase of the program, and some things Gilbert has mentioned in the last week brought it home even more. So, I had the time, I had the urge, so hie thee to Gold's!

I figured doing the weights would help in the recovery from the 20 miler yesterday, at the very least. Started with a quick 15 minutes on the cycle to spin the legs up to some level of warmth, and that felt fine. Since I've been away a while, I did single sets of the full core routine to get back into the swing, and then moved on to the legs. I did the full leg routine, and I stretched between sets and between exercises to ease the legs out of their day-after stiffness. I felt much better after knocking out all those exercises. For upper body, I did some single sets (curls, lat pulldowns) and some double sets (bench press and tricep pulldowns), and I even tried the pullup assistance machine. I'm terrible at pullups, and I'd like to get where I can at least do the 10 pullups in a row that Gilbert asks us to do from time to time after a workout. So, experimenting with the pullup machine, where you can select the amount of assistance the machine gives you, might be a way to accelerate the process of getting to that 10 pullup goal. Did 2 x 5 pullups, with different levels of assistance.

Afterwards, I felt pretty good, and I'm happy I got back to the gym, even for one day. Now, will I go on Tuesday and Thursday? Hmmmmm...

Long AT&T Reconnaissance Run (v.3) - [Entered 12/25]

Saturday saw another fun tour of the new AT&T marathon course. Sure, it was Christmas Eve Eve, and sure, lots of folks were off travelling, to Grandmother's house we go, and all that. But, the weather was nice and crisp, perfect for long distance running, and there were just enough folks of all sorts of pacing to make for a companionable trek through Austin.

A good-sized mob gathered at 5:45am at the Austin High School track so that we could visit the late middle chunk of the course that we've been skipping in our previous two AT&T checkdown runs. That's the part that goes up Shoal Creek, and then backwards against the old Freescale/Motorola course that we knew so well, turning behind Northcross Mall, and then finally dropping back into the previously scouted course on North Loop. It was dark (duh) and stayed dark for quite a while. It wasn't light enough to get good vision until well up Bull Creek, but that was pretty much okay.

My crew turned out to be Amy, Sue and me. Missy joined us for the first 8 miles or so, but then turned off to cut the run shorter on Burnet. More on that later. The four of us rolled along, easing into training pace by mile 3, going up Exposition. We all skipped the portion of the course that went down Lake Austin Blvd to Enfield, just so we could get in the full tour later in the course. We were having fun, and after carefully getting across Mopac on 35th Street, we had gotten through the worst traffic spots for the day. I threw down Billy Ocean's "Caribbean Queen" on them for the Bad 70's/80's Song of the Run, and it did get to them, so that was a score! :-) First water/Powerade/GU stop was along Bull Creek, and we were all feeling pretty good. So far, a successful run.

Splits, miles 1-4.4: 9:40, 9:18, 9:03, 8:51, and 0.41 miles at 9:23/mile pace. We might have had a traffic light issue during that last bit, but what the heck. I took a GU at each water stop today, just as I will during the race, and whether it helped or not, I don't know, but I like to practice that sort of thing on these long runs. Average pace so far, 9:14/mile. Water stop 1:31.

Up Bull Creek, into the brightening sun on Hancock, then up Shoal Creek we went. We got caught and passed by the tribe of fastest Gazelles as we turned on White Rock/Bullard/Great Northern. Gilbert and his crew were smoothly by us almost before we could say "howdy," but it was nice to see them, even if it was for a flash of an instant. We noticed that the course's slight uphill trend is an annoyance, but I'm trying to tell myself that this isn't altogether a bad thing. The incline is ever so subtle for the most part, at least after Exposition, so hopefully, I can do well on this course just like I usually do at Decker's more notorious hills. The 8 mile mark was almost exactly at the second water/GU/Powerade stop, and we tanked up. Good, consistent running.

Splits miles 5-8: 8:57, 8:56, 8:59, 0.64 miles at 8:39/mile pace (we got caught up in the tailwind of the Gilbert group as they went by us). Average overall pace dipped to 9:05/mile. There were oranges and bananas at the water stop, which was a very nice surprise. Merry Christmas! Water stop slightly longer at 2:34.

We cruised behind Northcross Mall, and Missy cut down Burnet, leaving Amy, Sue and me to handle the rest of the day. More modest but real inclines followed as we dealt with a long straight stretch over to Woodrow Ave. The sun was pretty bright on this stretch, running right into the East. We covered a good number of conversational topics, of course, none of which I can share with you. It still made the run go by quite nicely. Turning down Woodrow and winding our way down to Romeria and then finally hitting North Loop, we got the benefit of some gentle downhill running, which is only fair, right? The hills on North Loop were not terrible, but they'll be challenging on race day, around mile 20 or so. The sun was tough, though. Across to Guadalupe, and then down towards the Intramural Fields, we got a little nervous looking for the next water/Powerade stop, but found it in the parking lot at the fields, just a little further along than we had expected. Just over 12 miles done, and except for feeling a little bit of early muscle fatigue, everything was fine. Tank up and go!

Splits miles 9-12.5: 8:56, 8:53, 9:21 (thought we had dropped a key and searched for it a bit - and of course, we didn't drop one...oh well), 9:06, and 0.5 miles at 8:47/mile pace. Average overall running pace 9:04. Water stop 2:28.

As we dipped across on 46th Street, I finally succumbed to my need for hydration adjustment, and took advantage of the construction facilities available along that street. Amy and Sue ran on, and after my quick stop, I had to crank it up a bit to catch them just before 51st Street. I'll just consider that a hill climb simulation. My HR dropped back down to long run rate after I had caught them, maybe by the time we turned onto Red River. We were taking turns leading the pace, and that was good to see. I finally ran on the actual 38th Street hill this time, and it wasn't too awful. It'll be tough on race day, though, at about mile 24 or so! The last water/GU/Powerade stop was on Congress, going towards the Capitol, and we saw Missy again there. She had made a wrong turn and had wandered a bit, but ran in with Amy from that last stop. It was time for a fast finish of some sort, since we had only 3-3.5 miles left. My last GU consumed and fluids taken aboard, let's go!

Splits miles 13-17.3: 9:14, 8:54, 8:36, 8:48, and 0.84 miles at 8:52/mile. Overall running pace had dipped to 9:01. I was a little weary, but nothing terrible. My legs were just getting a little bit tired.

Sue tagged along, and she and I raced home from that last stop. We eased into the fast finish thing at first, and then picked it up a little more each mile after that. Once we hit the trail, we took turns pulling ahead of the other and then getting caught. A couple of times I thought I was going to let Sue get away for good, and then I'd find a little more reserve to catch back up, and I'm sure she felt the same when I'd go ahead a little bit. We rolled up to the finish at Austin High School, and it was another long run in the books. Nice fast finish, too.

Splits miles 18-20: 8:00, 7:39, and 0.7 miles at 7:23/mile pace. Overall running pace dropped way down to 8:50/mile. With all the water stop time included, we were still at 9:16/mile, so it was a really strong running day.

Gilbert had already started the earlier finishers on stretching, so those of us finishing later did our strides (4 x 100m), collected our warm and dry clothes, and made our own stretching pod. We got started with stretching about 9:20, and it felt great out there with the sun beaming down, snug and dry in our warm clothes. Ahhhhhh... I brought Christmas fudge and Chex mix for my fellow Gazelles, and they took full advantage of the snacks.

Once we were done, I was lucky enough to find a group who wanted to do breakfast at Magnolia Cafe, and so Brian, Alex, Jan and Brad joined me for a monster breakfast. Hale and hearty, as they say. With the combination of running afterglow and massive caloric intake, we were quite happy both during and after our meal. It was really nice to spend time with my running friends on the holiday weekend. We're sort of an auxiliary family for each other, and it's only right that the holidays included this sort of gathering.

For the week, a measly 37 miles of running, but at least they were all quality workouts.

1000's on the Track [Entered 12/21/06]

Wednesday, on yet another yucky weather day (humid and warm), we took a modestly numbered crew over to Austin High School for 1000m repeats on the track. Usually, we've done 1000's on our road course over at Zilker, but with the Trail of Lights, we are temporarily banished from the road course there. Warmups were fine and dandy, and I actually felt pretty peppy for an early morning run. Once we got to the track, there were lots of Rogues there, so we had to work on our respective track-sharing skillz, but it worked out just fine. We drilled, they ran, and despite the overcast darkness, we had no collisions.

Gilbert and Kenny got us together, and soon enough sent us out for our workout. Gilbert called for 5-8 repeats, at 800m pace. I couldn't remember what that was for me, off hand, so I decided to try for a pace similar to the last time I did 1000's on the track, around a 4:25 average pace. I got there last time by hitting a 4:09 on my last 1000 to drop my average from 4:29. I also hoped to do at least 6 repeats (one more than last time), and maybe up to 8.

It was quite confusing at the start, with a bunch of people taking off at the same time, weaving through and around the Rogues, trying to figure out what pace to run while also trying not to knock anyone over, including fellow Gazelles. At the first 400, Leslie called out 1:56, which was way slow for a projected 4:28 pace. So, I kicked up the pace for the last 600, trying to get us back on track. No one really wanted to go with me, but eventually, the groups split a bit, and I ended up with 6-7 people finishing the first lap with me. Once we gently jogged the 200m recovery, the group was pretty well established. We had some good volunteers to lead us around the repeats, which helped. After 5 repeats, everyone was done, but I hooked up with Frank for the 6th repeat. I got a few seconds head start on him, but once he caught me, he was nice enough to run at my slightly slower pace. I was all set to do a seventh and final repeat, but Gilbert told me that 6 was enough. My pace hadn't slacked off or anything, but since this was the first time, ever, that Gilbert told me I had done enough repeats when I asked, I decided to listen to my coach! :-)

Times: 4:26, 4:28, 4:28, 4:25, 4:20, 4:20. Average pace 4:25 (7:06/mile pace), which was about what I did last time with only 5 repeats, and I had plenty left today.

Frank and I did our 3 x 200 meter striders, and I felt like I had the smooth running stride thing happening pretty well for the most part. Done with that, we cruised back to RunTex, and called it a day. I stuck around for most of the full stretching with Lisa and Colleen, too. By the time I was leaving RunTex, a drizzle had started to fall, and the temperature had dropped 10 degrees, so maybe we're done with the ugly morning running weather?

For the day, about 8.5 miles.

Through the Fog and the Mist... [Entered 12/21/06]

Friday, I finally came back out to play, and joined Frank and Marcy for the longer weekend run. I was traveling over the weekend, and Frank and Marcy just wanted to get the run done so they could play on Friday night with their respective families. At any rate, it was a chance to run with different folks for a change, and we got underway right on time from RunTex at 5:45am.

The weather was really eerie. It was totally foggy out there, and we couldn't even see the buildings of downtown Austin for the most part. Runners would appear in the distance out of the mist, and then would disappear just as strangely as they passed us by. For the most part, we enjoyed ourselves, and chatting away, as we circled Town Lake on the Longhorn Dam loop. Quick water stops at the Holly Power Plant and at Mopac provided necessary water, and I even took a GU at Holly and at Mopac, just for fun.

The Friday Atomic Bomb runners blasted by us near the Austin High track, and all we heard was a sort of "swoosh!" as they went by us. They weren't laughing and grinning, either. That particular group and that particular run is serious running business! Still, it was nice to see them all out there.

From Mopac, we made our way up the rough and ready trail along Mopac north to Enfield, then all the way to Lake Austin, doing the AT&T hills backwards, finally turning for home at the boat docks. One last sip of water at Mopac, and we said goodbye to Marcy, who had run over to RunTex from Mopac earlier. Frank and I finished up with the last couple of miles, and then we even did striders. No real fast finish today, but we got the miles in, and that's what was important.

I got in some stretching, and called it a day. The splits weren't all that interesting, as we kept a pretty steady pace. We did have one mile (Marcy's last mile) that was 8:08 pace, but for the most part, we clicked along steadily. For the day, 14.3 miles, 9:16/mile pace, including water stop time. Actual running pace was probably more like 8:45-8:50. I'm glad I went.

Even Longer AT&T Reconnaissance Run [Entered 12/11/06]

Saturday, it was about perfect for a long, long training run. Temperatures were in the low to mid-40's as the run progressed, and it was overcast, which kept the sun from heating us up. Very nice. On the program for today was a long run, 20 miles for those of us on the slightly longer long run track. There were 17 and 18.5 mile options available, as well, but all of the routes gave the participants a good taste of the most challenging bits of the new AT&T course.

We got started at 5:45am, and this time we included the first 4 miles of the new course for the first time in a training run. The course starts on the bridge at Town Lake on Congress, and heads south on S. Congress to Oltorf, across to S. First, and then back north to Barton Springs Road, then west to Lamar and across Town Lake again. That's the first 4 miles. There's a pretty good hill in the first mile of the race, but since we'll all be settling into our marathon at that point, it won't be that much of a bother on race day. At first, I thought I might be running with just Amy, since some of my regular long run partners were either running other distances or were with the Boston training crew. That would have been just fine, of course, but as the 18.5 mile people cut off the course at Elizabeth Street, there were 6 of us continuing on for the full Monty (so to speak). By the time we came back around and hit Barton Springs, we also gathered up Eric, who would end up doing 18.5 and finishing with us. We also had about 6 people who were doing 11 miles today, and they certainly helped shoulder the pacing load for the first 8 miles or so.

As we reached Austin High School, it was still pretty dark with the overcast skies, but we spotted the coolers okay, and tanked up on water/Powerade and GU, for those who were packing sugar today. We had settled into a good pace by then, and all systems were still "go." I was sort of holding back early, knowing that we had a long day ahead of us, so I wasn't at the front of the pack too much. It was much nicer to tag along at the back of the pack for now.

Splits miles 1-5: 10:13, 9:26, 9:02, 8:54, 8:52. Rest stop 2:19. Total running pace 9:17/mile.

The very familiar Veterans/Lake Austin portion of the course came next. The shorter distance people picked up the pace there for a little while, but settled down once the hills started on Enfield. As we reached Exposition for the journey north, we waved goodbye to the 11 milers, and almost immediately found the next water/Powerade/GU stop. We were passed there by faster and celebrity runners, including Bernard, Gilbert and Pete, and a pack including Paul and Ironwoman Desiree Ficker (birthday girl, as it turned out). Needless to say, we never saw them again on the road. That "whoosh!" sound we heard was them flying away up the hills. :-)

Splits miles 6-8: 9:12, 8:39, 8:46 (hilly stuff commences). Rest stop 2:03. Overall running pace down to 9:08/mile.

I suppose I started helping out more on the pace work through the next stretch, as we went up Exposition, over on 35th, and through the zigzag turns to Bull Creek. I infected the group with Prince's "Little Red Corvette," which is just catchy enough that it stuck in people's heads for quite a while. At this point, our crew had settled in with Chris (a new guy that just ran the Ironman in Kona, as well), Eric, Stephanie, Melissa, Amy, and Marty. I'm pretty sure that was the gang. We did a good job of maintaining a steady pace through this part, and were rewarded when the course levelled out on Bull Creek for quite a while. We left the AT&T course at Hancock, and took North Loop across town like last year's course did, and got water/powerade/GU near Lamar Street. We were doing pretty well, and personally, I felt very good. Off we went...

Splits miles 9-12.5: 9:09, 9:02, 9:07, 9:05, and 0.56 miles at 9:07/mile. Eric and Chris did a lot of the pacework through here, and they did a great job of being human running metronomes! Overall pace still in the 9:07/mile range, without stop time. Rest stop there was 2:36.

We were back on the marathon course by now, and the next chunk featured all the many turns found in the back end of the course. It's mostly flat to gently downhill, but there are a few little inclines that will be challenging in the real race, mainly since they will come pretty late. A big pack of Rogue runners swarmed around us as we turned onto 46th Street, doing some sort of marathon pace run, but they weren't moving that much faster than we were at the time. There was some good-natured banter back and forth between the groups, but they had a water stop on 46th, so we lost them almost as soon as they caught up with us.

When we got to 38th Street, we had the option of running on a fairly rocky trail alongside the golf course or running on 38th Street, which doesn't have a sidewalk the whole way. I went for the rocky road, and enjoyed the change in running terrain after all those miles on asphalt so far. Most didn't share my enjoyment of the rocks and hills, but we all managed to get to Duval easily enough. The last water/powerade/GU stop was there, and from that point it was "fast finish" time. I still felt pretty darned good, and my HR numbers were right on the button, so unless I blew up in the last 4 miles, it was going to be another quality long run for me.

Splits miles 13-16: 8:59, 8:50, 8:57, 8:51. Water stop time 2:35. Overall, we had whittled running pace down to 9:04/mile.

Now it was time for a fast finish. Eric and Chris joined me, and we soon had the pace knocked down quite a bit. Since the course was favorable for the first mile or so, it felt pretty comfortable, even though we had really kicked it up. We were even talking a little bit. Well, I got Chris to talking about the Ironman a little bit, and I mostly listened. Anything to try and handicap the stronger runner... :-) Up MLK, onto Congress, and that was the last of the inclines. On race day, this would be mile 25-26. We caught our breath a little bit as we circled the Capitol, and Chris had to stop to tie a shoe. So, Eric and I carried on, down Congress, which will be great on Race Day. We caught all the lights as we rolled down Congress, and except for a spot where I tried to cross Congress and swerved back into Eric, we made it without incident down to 2nd Street. I had drawn up the route maps, and had everyone taking 2nd Street over to Guadalupe and then down across the 1st Street bridge. But, Eric talked me into going straight to Cesar Chavez and then over to the 1st Street bridge instead. It might have chopped a tenth of a mile off our day, but I sort of felt guilty about it after we were done. Chris rejoined us on the bridge, and we ran pretty hard all the way to Auditorium Shores for the big finish. Done!

Splits miles 17-20: 7:49, 7:44, 7:21, and 0.17 miles at 7:04/mile pace. Total distance "only" 19.72, as I cut an early corner trying to catch up with everyone at the first (went over on Riverside instead of Barton Springs Road), and cut that last corner a little. Shame on me. Overall running pace a nice 8:50/mile. With water stop time, pace still 9:19/mile. It was a great running day, and it was fun to get to know Eric and Chris a little better as we rambled along.

Gilbert was there taking people through balance drills, but I got in a couple of striders on the grass, and then did two more striders as I made my way back to the car to get my stretching stuff. Eventually, we got a good crowd for the stretching, and worked all the way through the full regimen. After such a long run, stretching is a must.

I had to miss the post-stretching breakfast with Frank, Jan, Brad, Lisa and Alex, which was a drag, but it was still a good start to a full day for me. I sure hope these good long runs are a sign that something good is going to happen in February on marathon race day!

For the week, a modest 32 miles, as I missed all the recovery runs. I need to get back with the program, but so far, it doesn't seem to be affecting my training in any large negative way. Fingers crossed...

Personal Records Musings

In fixing the personal bests table on the newly "Beta'd" blog, I noticed some goofy numbers. So, as an exercise, I'll let you know how many of those older/stale numbers have been surpassed, unofficially. I think I've said before that I don't take PR's set on the way to a longer race. I know that, technically, you can claim records set from the start of a race, if there are certified timing mats at those intermediate distances from the start. You're not allowed, in the real world, to take credit for "PR's" set in the second half of a 20k, last half of a marathon, etc.

Even though there was a good marker for 30K at last year's RunTex 20 Miler, I can't take credit on my lifetime bests for my 2:45:00 as I crossed that marker last January. It would have been a big PR, but alas, that 30K mark will have to wait for another, standalone, 30K race. It sure doesn't match the other longer race times, though. That 25K distance is rarely run, and with the demise of the Run For The Hills 25K here in town, it may be a while until I can wipe that mark out. Again, it's obvious that I ran 25K during that 20 mile race faster than that 25K PR, but rules are rules. :-)

I almost got my 10 mile PR at Scenic this year, missing by only 20 seconds or so. I ran the last 7 miles of that race faster than my existing 10K PR, but as noted above, I can't claim that 10K PR. Hopefully, it will go down this spring. And, lastly, that 5K PR from eons ago may prove to be the toughest to knock off, but I'll take a shot at that this spring, too. I'll need to improve about 20 seconds/mile from last year's Bun Run 5K, but it might happen.

Okay, that's enough ramblings for one post. Gotta go and wait on the garage door repair folks.

Format Changes

I've succumbed to the siren song of "New! Beta!" and switched to the newest version of Blogger software, now that they've merged or been purchased by Google, apparently. I've got some work to do with the Personal Bests table, which got exploded in the changeover. There will be other format changes to follow, just because I can. We'll see if I can make this more legible...stay tuned!

600/400 Repeats & Maintenance

This morning was just fine, temperature-wise, but it was about 20 degrees warmer than yesterday. Texas weather, Chapter 2,304. We had a very large crowd at RunTex today for the "easy" 600m / 400m repeat sets at Austin High School. We took it pretty easy going over to AHS, and my legs seemed okay after being very stiff and sore yesterday. By the time we finished the drills, I actually felt ready to do some speedy stuff.

As always, we asked for some fairly specific pace numbers, and as usual, we got the suggestion that we should hit the same pace for the 600m and the subsequent 400m repeats, and we shouldn't be gasping for air at the end of the 400m lap. We were to jog, very slowly, the 200m between the 600m and 400m intervals. The schedule called for 1:00 rest between sets.

There were several other groups at the track, so it was pretty confusing on the first set of 600/400. It was difficult to tell who was running with you, who was doing some other workout entirely, and who was merely in a faster or slower Gazelles pod. There was a large group around my pace, maybe up to a dozen people. Bonnie, Norma and Eric moved ahead to run with Frank's people, but that still left plenty of folks with me. The ones who hung up front until the end were Christine, Shannon ("tall Shannon," the "other" Shannon, the Shannon who doesn't have Teek for a running partner... I think I'll christen her "Shannon 2" for purposes of this blog), Marty and Brian. There was a fair amount of movement forward and backward between pods as the workout went on.

Gilbert had whispered to me that 1:40 would be an adequate pace for the 400m laps, so I had that in mind as we started off the 600m initial repeat. It was still dark out, so I couldn't easily see my watch to check us out at the "corners" of the lap, and so we had to rely on perceived effort. With all the runners, I couldn't take my eyes off the runners around me, so until the sun came out later in the workout, I couldn't activate the light on the watch to see how we were doing. Nevertheless, we started off pretty well, and just got quicker as the workout progressed.

I didn't intend to run hard, but I just let others set the pace except for the first and fourth repeats, when I took my turn up front. We turned in quite a good performance, though. We easily did the full complement of 5 sets of 600/400, and I was only feeling the burn, so to speak, on the very last 400m lap. It was honest effort before that, but I didn't have that focused frown on my face until that last lap. I was surprised that the times were as they were. Gilbert did give us "bonus" rest between sets of 2:00 instead of 1:00, which probably helped us keep the pace going.

The last time I did this workout was way back in April of this year, when I did 4 sets at an overall average pace of 6:54/mile. Today, we clicked them off as follows: (600,400) - (2:34, 1:47), (2:29, 1:46), (2:26, 1:35), (2:24, 1:37), and (2:21, 1:31). That's 5 sets at an average pace of 6:36/mile, a huge improvement from April. That's pretty cool.

A nice and easy jog back to RunTex gave me the opportunity to chat with Frank, and that made for a good finish to a solid workout day. We hung out with Brian and talked about our plans for training through Indy 2007, and generally it was just another great day with the Gazelles. I did some stretching with Lisa, and headed home.

For the day, 7.5 miles.

Later on, it was time for the post-Decker massage with Ron. He only found two knots in my quads today that were painful, and there were a few spots deep in the calves that were interesting, so all in all, it was much less agony than the massage visit after the 18.5 miler a few weeks ago. I got some suggestions as to exercises and massage techniques to use myself to work on those trouble spots, so hopefully I can do some self-maintenance and help myself out a bit. We also talked about some exercise strategies for after AT&T, to build some snappier speed through shorter intervals and plyometrics, but that will have to wait until after the long race in February.

Christmas CD Suggestions

Up front, I've got to tell you that I have a mild addiction to Christmas CDs. It has gotten to the point that I allow myself up to a maximum of two new Christmas CDs every new year, to prevent wholesale damage to my credit rating. The first step in curing an addiction is to admit the problem, and so that I've done. :-)

Therefore, I have a pretty solid working knowledge of the Christmas CDs available, and I have some suggestions as to some music that you may or may not have yet. Let's see what I find in my Holiday CD section of the old home collection:

ESSENTIAL CDs:

1. Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack - Vince Guaraldi Trio: If you can only have one Christmas CD, this is the one to have. It's timeless, and it's a fantastic jazz CD besides.
2. A Christmas Gift For You - Phil Spector and Friends: The monster producer Phil Spector got together a bunch of his stable of performers back in 1963, and using his "Wall of Sound" production techniques, came up with this great collection of Christmas tunes. It's worth it for any of the 13 cuts, but I especially love Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and The Ronettes version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Awesomely great.
3. Santa's Got A Brand New Bag - James Brown: Oh My God! You'll just have to trust me on this one, but it never fails to bring joy to my day when I hear JB crank up the funky stuff for these holiday tunes! He shrieks his way through "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting...)," and that's pretty fun, but the great songs are the originals. "Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto," "Go Power At Christmas Time," and "It's Christmas Time (Part 1)," are all classic JB raveups, not to be missed. He even takes on some blues tunes, and makes them his own, too. You Got To, Got To, Got To get this one. Good God! Unnhhhh!
   
4. If Every Day Was Like Christmas - Elvis Presley: You just gotta have Elvis, right? This particular compilation of The King's Christmas tunes is chock full of winners, including the essential "Blue Christmas." I like his take on "Santa Claus Is Back In Town," too, as well as a bopping "Here Comes Santa Claus."
5. The Sinatra Christmas Album - Frank Sinatra: I'm talking about "J-I-N-G-L-E Bells (woo!)" The Chairman of the Board swings his way through 14 tunes, but none better than "Jingle Bells."
   
6. The Christmas Music of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection - Johnny Mathis: This is required listening at holiday time here at Casa Clement. Johnny Mathis is a masterful singer, and his version of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is worth the cost of the collection. I also like his odd take on "Carol of the Bells" from his "Christmas with Johnny Mathis" CD, if you find it available. He just sings the tenor part as a more or less lead vocal, with the other parts of the standard choral arrangement as his "accompaniment." Weirdly effective.
7. A Very Special Christmas, Vol. 1-3 - Various Artists: These three CDs are chock full of great (and a few not so great) versions of classic Christmas tunes, along with quite a few original Christmas tunes by rockers, rappers, soul stylists and country artists. Volume 2 is the weakest of the three, if you have to make a choice. Volume 1 is my favorite, and it includes a really great Run-DMC tune, "Christmas In Hollis," which is just awesome. That volume also has one of the few Madonna performances that I've enjoyed, her take on "Santa Baby." It's perfect for her. The only clinker on Vol. 1 is the billy goat singer, Stevie Nicks, doing "Silent Night." On Volume 3, my highlight is Jonny Lang's burning performance on "Santa Claus Is Back In Town."
8. Now That's What I Call Christmas! (Vol. 1) - Various Artists: I mention this one mainly for those looking for a single two-disc collection to cover most of their Christmas musical needs. This one collects a bunch of one-off Christmas pieces in one place that are aggravating to locate otherwise. Included here are "Little Saint Nick" by the Beach Boys, a taste of Frank and Johnny (see above), Bruce Springsteen's essential take on "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "White Christmas" by Bing, Nat King Cole, the Carpenters, "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" by Brenda Lee, the original "Jingle Bell Rock," "Santa Got Run Over By A Reindeer," and many more. Disc Two has a bunch of new performances that don't do much for me, but pretty much everyone needs this collection anyway. It even has John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)," which remains an odd but effective song.
   

Non-Essential, but Great Additional CDs:

1. The Beach Boys' Christmas Album - The Beach Boys: Not an essential album, but they do have one song that IS essential, the great "Little Saint Nick." What a great tune!
2. Light Of The Stable - Emmylou Harris: The wonderful Ms. Harris wraps her voice around 10 tunes, and it's magical. Might be a little too country for some of you, but it's terrific. Of course, I'd probably be happy listening to her sing the telephone book listings, so caveat emptor and all that. :-)
   
3. Blue Yule / The Alligator Records Christmas Collection - various artists: These two blues Christmas collections are big fun. Being blues records, most of the songs are about, uh, good lovin', but it don't make it any less of a holiday celebration, right? "Please Let Me Be Your Santa Claus" and "Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'" are about as great as it gets. Makes the lyrics "Shaking 'round your Christmas tree" and "Coming down the chimney tonight" take on entirely new meanings!
   

Jazzy Stuff:

1. He Is Christmas - Take 6: These guys can really sing, and they do wonderful versions of the tunes here. I love their highly original speed rap take on "The Night Before Christmas," revisited here as "Twas Da Nite." Brilliant!
2. Hymns, Carols and Songs About Snow - Tuck Andress: Tuck Andress is pretty much a musical genius. At least a genius with the guitar. He is so good, and he does some magical things on these 13 cuts. When you listen, realize that there are no tricks, no overdubs, no patches or fixes...it's all one guy, one guitar, played at one time. How does he do some of that stuff, anyway?
   
3. A GRP Christmas Collection - Various Artists: A variety of jazzy players doing their thing. It's fun to take the journeys with them, as they state a familiar theme, and then proceed to places new and exciting.
   
4. The Carols of Christmas - Windham Hill Artists: Yeah, I know. Windham Hill. The label that gave us the musical genre "New Age." But don't hold that against this CD. While there are a handful of those atmospheric type pieces that made Windham Hill famous, there's plenty of great stuff here. This CD is worth buying for two cuts: the late, great Michael Hedges' celtic take on "What Child is This?" and the unbelieveable "Carol of the Bells" played by master classical guitarist Manual Barruecco and rock/fusion player Steve Morse.

Classical Stuff:

1. Messiah - G. F. Handel: You need at least a "Best Of" single disc sampler of this masterpiece oratorio, if not the complete two-disc set. There are a zillion possible choices, but I have two favorites. For original instruments, I like Christopher Hogwood leading the Academy of Ancient Music. The great Emma Kirby is one of the sopranos, and she is wonderful here. This is probably my favorite version of all. For the giant chorus/giant orchestra school, I favor the one conducted by Andrew Davis. He leads the Toronto Symphony and Choir on this one. The soloists are terrific, especially the baritone/bass Samuel Ramey and the soprano Kathleen Battle. There are many recorded versions, though, and almost any of them will do the job for background listening.
2. Christmas Night - Carols of the Nativity - The Cambridge Singers: John Rutter conducts a sublime choir, and this is just magnificent from start to finish.
3. Christmas Carols and Motets - The Tallis Scholars: Now, this one is going back in time. Way back. The Tallis Scholars only record music from the way back machine, but they are probably the best at what they do. This is a capella singing by a small group of singers, and the recording is spectacular. Don't worry if all the lyrics are in Olde English, Latin, or ancient Germanic tongues...just let the music wash over you.

So, that's it. One man's obsessive thoughts on the Music of the Season. If you want the bare bones collection, I'd go with "Messiah," the Christopher Hogwood version; A Charlie Brown Christmas; Now That's What I Call Christmas! (the original); and Phil Spector's Christmas Album. Start there, and then next year, add something else from the list. Have fun listening!

Recovery Circuitry

Man, I was creaky this morning as we started our warmup jog over to Austin High School! A very tiny crew of hardy souls met up before dawn today at RunTex. It was downright chilly, around 30 degrees, but at least I was dressed properly for it. I had planned on either running an easy 7 miles with Alex or doing easy circuit training, if that was an option. Gilbert confirmed that we would be stepping, hopping, and lunging, so I went with that option instead. This is sort of new this year, but I've discovered that circuit training makes a pretty good day-after-a-race recovery workout. I don't push the running segments at all, and I don't hurry through the circuits, but instead just use most of the exercises as active stretching.

Some of the drills showed us exactly where we were sore, but I was surprised to find that I felt pretty good today. I was definitely still tired, but I wasn't as stiff as I had been after Motive, for instance. It was good to see Gilbert out there this morning, after his long series of flights back from Sacramento last night. He didn't have to be out there for us. We'd have understood. But, it was sure a treat to have him there to give us good-natured grief about our workout.

After four circuits, we had to do some extra core stuff. That consisted of the 15/30/45/90 degree leg lift deal (2 sets of that), and then lots of variations on the "Arch/Press" core deal. As we jogged back, Colleen and I could both tell we'd been working over the core muscles. For the day, a modest 4.75 miles, but it did the job.

I did most of the stretching routine, and except for my numb toes, I felt pretty good once I finished. Alex stayed around and kept me company, and he regaled me with his stories of hunting down his very own Wii game system. With all my post-run clothing bundled up and keeping me warm, it was really pretty nice out there. A little more chatting with Gilbert, and it was time to get going. Now, all I have to do is get my massage scheduled for Wednesday, and the recovery shall be complete!

Decker Challenge 20K [Entered 12/4/06]

Another Distance Challenge race, more hilly terrain, some wind and some nice cool temperatures...a potentially fun mix of ingredients, if (a) You're ready, (b) You use some strategery (sic), and (c) The stars align with respect to food/hydration/digestive issues. So, how did it go on Sunday?

The Decker race, as previously noted, is my favorite Challenge race. It has been so from the first time I ran it, and this was my fifth time in this event. I've run it twice in its 12 miler configuration, and now 3 times as a 20K, on the third variation of the 20K course. I think they've got the course nailed down, if you ask me. The changes made between last year and this have eliminated the interminable looping in the parking lots and grounds of the County Exposition Center that made the last couple of miles of the race last year so mind-numbing.

My internet research last night was right on as far as the weather conditions were concerned. It was in the high 30's, with a 10 mph north wind. The temperatures were perfect, and the wind was mainly an issue in the first 3 miles of the race, running a long straight stretch right into the teeth of the breeze. It was also annoying in the last 3/4 mile or so in the parking area and finishing stretch at the Expo Center, but everything's annoying in the homestretch of a distance race, so what's different about that, anyway? :-) I dressed appropriately for the conditions, with my warm hat, gloves, two long-sleeved shirts, and shorts. It wasn't cold enough for tights. And, although I'm not superstitious, I wore my lucky red long-sleeved Gazelles shirt as my outermost layer. Come to think of it, I also wore my lucky gray BOA shorts with the GU pockets. But, I'm not superstitious. Really. :-)

On top of that stuff, I wore a bunch of other layers for warmups, as it's just not much fun to get down to your racing gear until you have to do so. I need the extra warmth for warmups. Of course, I got to the race site and was parked and ready to go about 45 minutes before I needed to be there. I overestimated the time necessary to get out to Decker, as well as worrying a little much about potential traffic jams into the race site. Oh, well, better early than rushing to get there at the last minute. I was the second car in the parking lot. What a goober I am sometimes! So, I hung out in the car, finished off my pre-race beverage and banana, and waited on more folks to arrive. After some quality XM radio tunes, I finally rolled out 20 minutes until 7:00am, when we were going to embark on the warmups with the Gazelles.

A quick pitstop on the way (port-o-johns are chilly places on days like Sunday!), and soon enough, I found a clump of Gazelles gathering inside the warm Expo center. At 7:00 sharp, we took off on the course for warmup reconnaissance running. We did the last mile of the race, out and then back, so at least we knew what to expect in the home stretch when we were probably going to be a little goofy. It was a beautiful morning, with a great orange sunrise coming up, and only the wind was annoying. Coming back from our turnaround point, it was cool to see that the rising sun worked to activate the reflective running gear of those running towards us. Maybe it was just me that thought this was interesting or noteworthy, but that's the way my brain works sometimes.

After those 2 miles of easy running (9:48 pace), the gang scattered all over. Some did the drills, some darted back inside to wait for the race start, some went to their cars to ditch gear, and some just hung out at the Gazelles tent near the start/finish line to change into their race gear there. I was in the car option group. I did some strides in the parking lot on the way, and then climbed into the Tahoe to change out of the many layers of pre-race clothing. I managed to remember to pin on my race number, always a good thing, and reappeared some 10-15 minutes later with all my stuff ready to go. I still had on an extra long-sleeved shirt, but I dropped that at the Gazelles tent with about 10 minutes to go before race time. I remembered to take my pre-race GU, taking advantage of the water that was there at the tent (thanks, Kenny, for taking care of us!!!). After dropping the shirt, I wandered over to get in the midst of the throng waiting for the horn to sound.

As I looked around, it was funny to me to see that we had a tidy little clump of Gazelles gathered right in the middle of the crowd. Brad, Jan, Chad, Frank, Sue, Diana, Amy, Shannon, Rich and Marcy were all within a 20 foot circle. Some last-minute bantering was had in the mob, the National Anthem was sung, live, and then the horn hooted, and we were off. I was a lot closer to the front than normal today, maybe just 20 seconds to the line. We made a quick left, then right, and we were headed out of the Expo Center for our big loop in the country. Amy and Chad pulled on ahead during the first mile as we cornered and headed north into that wind, and I figured I might see Amy again, maybe, but Chad would be long gone. Sue joined up with me, and once again, she and I made up our tiny pace pod for the rest of the day.

The first mile was more or less right on goal pace, which meant I had gone out a little faster than I needed. No worries, though. As we turned into the wind, I tried to run to a perceived effort level rather than fussing with pace, and that worked out pretty well. For the day, I grabbed water at every stop, which was about right. Sue and I rolled through mile 3 and finally turned the corner out of the direct wind just at mile 4. As I sipped my water there, I clicked my lap split, and noticed that Amy was ahead about 50 yards. So far, so good. Everything was checking out just fine. I was a few seconds over 8:00/mile pace after the windy miles, but I knew that those seconds should be easy to retrieve, based on the last couple of Challenge races and on last year's Decker splits. Time to get going, though.

Splits miles 1-4: 7:54, 8:08, 8:06, 7:58. 8:02/mile overall pace.

I didn't get my GU taken at the mile 4 water stop, but I figured I'd just wait. I put the GU packet in my glove, though, so that it would be a little less like gummi bears and a little more like the syrupy texture we've grown to know and love. :-) Sue and I rolled up on Amy during mile 5, and as I passed her on a short little hill, I figured that was it. Based on previous races, I would have been correct. But, Amy reappeared pretty quickly, and we started an unofficial pace group from that point until quite late in the race. Amy would generally push up the hills, dragging Sue and me along, and then my longer legs would pull us down the hills. We caught up with Diana during mile 6 on a hill, and although there was some leapfrogging back and forth, she also joined us in our journey around Decker.

I must admit, I got a little worried when I realized that we were going to stay with Diana. I'm not accustomed to being anywhere near her during the longer races, as she's much faster than I've been. Today, though, the combination of my slight speed increases lately and the fact that she's still getting her speed back after a summer away from Gazelles World brought us together for this race, at least. I settled down once I confirmed that I wasn't doing any crazy HR number to stay around her, and we continued on with our business. The Gazelles water stop was crazy fun, and it was great to hear the support of our fellow herdspeople as we grabbed water (and I took my GU).

I hit the 10K split more or less right at 8:00/mile pace, which was my announced pre-race plan. So, if I was correct, it was time to start grabbing time back to head towards my 7:50/mile pre-race goal pace. I did the math in my head (well, duh! It's not like I had a calculator, pencil and paper with me in those pockets in my shorts!), and figured I just needed to grab back 60 seconds over the next 10K, or some 10 seconds per mile. That was math I could handle.

I picked it up immediately, albeit a modest pickup, and we rolled through mile 7. As we hit the dirt road portion of the race (due to construction), our little gang caught up with Chad. That was surprising, but so much that was happening today was that way...what's just one more thing? Anyway, we rolled up the long steady incline there during mile 8, and hit that mark after a surprising mile split. It seems I had already recovered all my "lost" time, and I was at my goal pace for the race already! While that scared me just a little, thinking I'd messed up with too big of a surge with so long still to go, I once again settled down by confirming that my HR was right in the pocket, and I wasn't feeling too toasted. Starting to feel some fatigue, but nothing awful. It's a race, after all!

Splits miles 5-8: 7:51, 7:39, 7:31, 7:24(!). That 7:24 mile included some decent climbs, too. What's up with that? Overall pace at mile 8 was 7:49/mile. I was already trying to talk myself into running a little more conservatively, but my body wasn't listening. The group mojo of the Gazelles crew was capturing me, and I had no choice but to let it take me to the finish.

Mile 9 had a couple of long ups and downs, but nothing terrible. I took my Enervetine ("runner's crack") right during there, as well. Fuel for the finishing kick! Mile 10, however, had the tough long hill that was formerly around the mile 9 mark of the old course. It's a double decker affair (oh, God, a pun! I honestly didn't realize it until I read this completed post...really!), and those of us who've run the course before knew about it. A woman who pushed past us on the first part of that last hill was unpleasantly surprised to see part 2 ahead, and audibly mumbled as she realized that her big push may not have been as decisive a move as she had hoped. :-) Chad pulled slightly ahead here, but I tried to keep him in sight, at least. The others were slightly behind me, but I was trying to do the old "GO!" strategy after that last bad hill at the 10 mile mark. It was all about the individual from here on. It had been great running with everyone to that point, but it was time to turn within oneself now, and to press as hard as you could to the finish.

Diana was also ahead of me, but I tried to keep her a little closer than Chad. I was working hard now, and the wind was more of an annoyance now that we were heading back west. The last tailwind had gone away. I was really begging for that 11 mile marker, inside. Fortunately, the markers were big and blue, so I could see it from a good distance. I let the marker sort of pull me towards it...that elastic band mind trick you can sometimes use. Once I got past mile 11, I did a last quick calculation, and saw that I still had 20 seconds or so "in the bag" ahead of my 7:50 pace goal, so although I was still working hard to maintain my pace, I knew I could still have a great race even if I messed up the last mile a little bit. That helped me to get through the last mile.

Somewhere during the modest hills of mile 12, I caught up with Diana. It might have been as late as the mile 12 marker or even after, but it was certainly close to the finish whenever it was. I was a little dizzy feeling as I slogged up that tough little hill entering the Expo Center, but once I passed the actual mile 12 marker, I was on top of that hill, and it was pretty clear sailing from there. The wind made that bit a little less enjoyable than it might have been, but surely I could hang on from there? I felt a little like I was running in slow motion, but I was passing people, so that was just another example of time distortion that happens late in a hard race effort. I didn't get past Diana until the last couple of tenths of a mile, about when I saw Pete and Patrick and some other Gazelles jogging back along the course. They screamed at me to race hard to the finish, and the (later) funny thing was that some folks I was passing also turned to me and told me to race hard to the finish. By name! Weird, that. But, it helped, and I found a little bit of a finishing kick as we made that last turn and burned up the finishing stretch. Done!

After the traditional post-race gasping for air in the finishing chute, I found Sue, Chad, and Diana right away, and we moved towards the land of warm clothes and post-race food. Amy came up just a little bit after that. It had been a unique race for me, running more or less in a group with that many people for most of a race. It worked out pretty well, too. Hmmmm...maybe I should consider making pace pals for the marathon? :-)

Oh, yeah, the numbers. Splits miles 9-12.43: 7:21 (again, what's up with that?), 7:49 (the big last hill was in here), 7:47 (and I thought I had slowed down during mile 11), 7:58 (oops!), and 0.43 miles in 3:18, a modest 7:47 finishing "kick." Overall time 1:36:45, a 20K lifetime PR by some 2:39 over last year's race. Overall pace 7:47/mile. I beat my McMillan time by a little bit, and beat my pre-race goal by 30-some odd seconds. I did a big negative split Sunday, going 49:26 for the first 10K, and 47:18 for the last 10K. And, although I don't count PR's set this way, if you take my time from the 5K mark to the finish, I even scored a lifetime 15K PR by 15 seconds. It was a great day at the running office!

Shannon and Rich celebrated their return to racing in a big way, with monster races, and it seems like most of us set PR's today. Once again, all those hills and such that Gilbert puts us through in training came through in our races, as we were able to deal with the hills a little more efficiently than those around us.

Shannon and Amy joined me after we put on our post-run warm clothing, and we did a stupendously slow cooldown jog around the grounds of the Expo, retracing last year's finish. On the way, we caught up with Frank, who joined us on the way back. Those super slow miles were quite difficult, but as we finished up, I could already tell that they had helped my legs work out some of the junk that accumulates during a long hard race.

After that, it was time to go inside and tell our race stories to all our buddies. It always tickles me to see how fast we can put aside those memories of angst and pain once a very short period of time has passed. Everyone seemed pretty happy, and I saw a bunch of friendly faces from Galloway days and from Gazelles, of course. I even got in a tiny bit of stretching once the main crowds had dispersed, and that helped a bunch to alleviate the stiffness in my legs as well.

As the runners had gotten their fill of Krispy Kremes (I just can't eat those yummy treats so soon after a race...but Alex would have loved them!) and other goodies, we finally headed out to a nearly deserted parking lot to start the journey home. It had been a wonderful day, and another celebration of life and fitness. One just can't ask for much more than that.

For the week, only 36 miles, because I failed to do any of the recovery runs. Still, I'm quite content with my running week. :-)

The Day Before The Race, Chapter 23 or so

Today was the usual easy 30 minutes on the trail (we got 3.2 miles), followed by striders (we got 8 of those), followed by the full stretching routine (we did that, too).

It was a nice and chilly morning, with temps in the crisp 38-40 degree range. We had but a small group today, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. There was a good amount of discussion of tomorrow's Decker Challenge, as well as marvelling at the crazy and varied Texas weather. It should turn out to be almost perfect tomorrow for Decker, with the traditional north wind blowing in our faces about 10 mph for the first 2 miles or so.

Race Goals for Decker? Jan and Brad said I could only have one goal, so I'll go with shooting for a 7:50/mile average pace, or 1:37:20. That's a little slower than my McMillan number (1:36:58), but is a reasonable goal. Last year, I went exactly 8:00/mile pace for 1:39:24, which is my 20K lifetime PR. As always, I'll go out trying for a negative split (and we have a 10K mark on the course, so it will be exact), leaving my best miles for the last 2.4 miles. We'll see. It promised to be pretty cool, and it will be important to try not to fight the wind early in the race. After we turn that corner at mile 3 or so, the wind won't be as big of a deal the rest of the way. Decker has always been my favorite Challenge race, so I'm looking forward to it, whatever the conditions.