Entrepreneur. Mentor. Builder.
Well, we have done it again. It has been almost a year since we ran the Portland Marathon, and Amy and I decided to sign up for another race. Only this time, it’s a 1/2 marathon. More posts soon, but this is the official mark of the start of our 12 week training program.
You can follow all my training on daily mile here, or you can subscribe to my updates on twitter.
Well, we did it. Amongst the long hours of work, moving to the city and other surprises… not to mention Amy Macs knee tendinitis, 6 weeks of inactivity and 4 weeks of physical therapy… we made it! Not only did we make it, we made it look goooood.
Ok, maybe not good, but we both were very happy with the race. 26.2 miles is a hard race to prepare for not only physically, but mentally as well. How do you run that far, and more importantly, how do you plan to run that far? When we started this adventure 6-7 months ago we had no idea what to expect in terms of time commitment, training hours and miles or even how fast we would try to run this thing… so we through some goal times out (pulling them from thin air) and put them out there.
Originally I thought ~4 hours would be something I could accomplish, and I would try to drag Amy along with me. But as time wore on it became more and more obvious with our short training schedule and demands at work that this would not really be possible. I adjusted my plan to be around 4:30 and Amy adjusted her schedule to be 5 hours (although she really wanted to be able to keep pace with me). While not 100% successful, we are very happy with what the results were. I ended up running 4 hours and 38 minutes and Amy ran 4 hours and 59 minutes! Success, I say!
As of this writing it has been one week since we finished our race. I will probably run one again, but Amy was only in it for the one race. Im not sure when I will be able to begin my training again, my toe nail fell off yesterday (my big toe) and it hurts to walk, let alone run. We will just have to see how soon the pain goes away so I can start moving again. Most likely I will start training for more triathlons and half marathons and find a sweet full marathon in the next few years to test me again.
I just read that Sarah Palin ran a sub 4 hour marathon… and with that, I have a new goal time. I would like to say my goal was to qualify for the Boston marathon, but to make that happen I would have to slash about 90 minutes off of my time. Ha ha ha ha!
To all of our supporters for the last few months and those who cheered us on along the route in Portland, thanks for your support, kind words and tips. You helped make this a memorable experience all around.
This past weekend Amy and I took off for a long 10 mile run. This was the first long run we did with my new Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS watch. We ran from the ocean here in San Francisco, through Golden Gate Park and back again and ended our run sipping beers and mai tais at the Park Chalet. I have to admit, this was one of the best runs Amy and I have ever been on (especially considering it was 10 miles)!
If you click on the map above or on this link, you will be connected to the Garmin website where you can review the details from the GPS data of our run. It’s not a big deal, but the data that comes from the watch is just plain interesting to look at (at least to a nerd like me). We averaged 11 minute miles for the whole run and even ran our last miles the fastest, clocking in at 9:41 for the last mile! Typically I would not be that impressed, but this was 10 miles!
Coming up in a few weeks Amy and I are planning on running the San Francisco 1/2 marathon with a goal time of around 2 hours and 10 minutes for the 13 mile race (which if you do the math, is 10 minutes per mile). This is slow for real runners, but considering this is our first long distance race, we have our fingers crossed we can make it. One month of training to go!
Wish us luck with our 1/2 marathon and full marathon training!
Amy wrote a great post about the run we did in southern California a few weeks ago with Run for the Fallen. Read Amy’s blog post, I could not describe it any better.
From WithAmyMac.com:
“Every time I head out for a run, I’m focused on MY goals, MY progress, MY training and making it to the next mile. But today it was different. Today we traveled over 400 miles so we could run 5 miles with the “Run for the Fallen†team. The “Run for the Fallen†team, lead by Jon, is a group of 12 people that after recently losing a loved one in Iraq has decided to run a mile for every fallen U.S. soldier. There have been over 4,080 lives lost in Operation Iraqi Freedom and starting on Flag Day 2008 these runners began their journey from Fort Irwin, CA to Arlington National Cemetery. The goal is to memorialize each soldier by assigning them a mile and planting a flag and placard at the start of that mile.”
Read the rest of Amys description of our trip and experience titled “Today, it’s not about me” on her blog.
This coming Wednesday (June 18, 2008 at 6am), Amy and I will be in southern California (near Camp Pendleton) to run 5 to 10 miles with the people at Run for the Fallen. I am proud of the effort they are making and am thankful for what they are doing to help heal the pain of the friends, families and loved ones of the over 4,000 soldiers who have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In my opinion, this is a great way to help remember those who have died protecting us.
If you are a runner and you would like to take part in what is going on with the Run for the Fallen folks, head on over to the website www.runforthefallen.org and check out their route map and other links. They have setup a Facebook Group for each day of the event (over 70 days total of running) listing the time and date of every days run, the days running map, and also the name and details of the soldiers they will be running for and memorializing that day. Here is the Facebook Page for the day of the run Amy and I will be taking part in and here are the names and photos of all the soldiers we are running for that day. Even if they are not running through your area, you should take some time if you are a runner or walker to head outside and take a few steps (or a few 1000 steps) to support the cause.
As we all run across the country, there will be an American flag and signcard for every one of the over 4,000 soldiers who have died placed at every single mile. Our friend, Tim McGovern, will have is signcard and flag placed on August 18th in the middle of Virginia on the way to Arlington National Cemetery.
TIME AND PLACE of Our Run:
Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Time: 6:00am – 6:00pm
Location: South Harbor
Street: Harbor Drive S.
City/Town: Oceanside, CA
What is Run for the Fallen (from their Official Site):
ONE MILE FOR EVERY SOLDIER KILLED IN OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.
Beginning Flag Day, June 14, 2008, a dedicated team of runners will run across America from Fort Irwin, CA to Arlington National Cemetery, one mile for every soldier killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. For ten weeks, team members will mark each mile with an American flag and signcard in an apolitical reflection of remembrance of each soldier.
Here is a Video that explains why this run was setup: