My name is David (Dylan to some). I am a runner.

After two weeks of hardly running, including two important long weekend runs of 18 and 20 miles, I played catch up. I’ve not caught up to the plan and I’m not right about it. Last weekend - a 3-dayer - I resumed running up a ladder (5 miles, 10 miles and 12.5 miles) to put some miles back on the board.  This week I managed a 4- and 7- miler before today’s test of 20 miles.

The plan was to run from the house (2 miles) to Park Avenue and join the gang for 10 miles, then do a 6-mile loop and then home (+2). Total: 20 miles. There were dozens of runners out today. It was nice to see them all but it actually made for some crowded streets and corners along the route. I enjoyed all the company (spells of running with Leslie, Chris, Jack, John, Bob and Chad) and missed them when I had to go on my own for the final eight miles. 

I only got 5.2 miles more done before my left foot starting hurting, more like a burning on the ball of my foot than anything else. I suspected a loose sock causing a blister so I pulled over to peel off the shoe and sock for a look. Just then Joan C. drove by and said out the window with a smile, “You’re so busted,” for not running. I could not have been happier to see her because I was pretty whipped as it was and I feared what aggravation lay ahead for my foot if I had to walk/jog/limp it in. She was sweet enough to give me a ride home so I could run another day. Yea!

Total 17.2 miles. 41 for the week, 90% of week goal. 47 miles to do next week.

Easy pace vs. Marathon pace?

I posted a question to Facebook that a few folks answered, yet I am still not believing them. When the schedule calls for an easy run, should that be slower than marathon race pace? I can’t seem to make it happen. I invariably pick up the tempo to suit the (usually) shorter distance on an easy pace run vs. the longer drawn out marathon race pace runs. My easy runs are around 9:30 pace and the long runs at 10:00+.  I can’t seem to stay in first or second gear.  How about you?

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It’s January 14. Since January4 I have run once: 5.8 miles along Riverwalk in San Antonio. I have fallen off the wagon but not without some drama.

I had it all working until I went to Texas. Despite a short but delightful phone conversation with Runner Susan from the Dallas airport, I could not muster a running routine when faced with the Army schedule I had to embrace. From crack of dawn until late at night we were on the move to learn all you can fit into a day about Army medical training, research and care at Ft. Sam Houston.

The second day was spent at Stinson Airfield waiting to cross one off the bucket list as I jumped tandem with the U S Army Parachute Team Golden Knights from 14,000 feet. I still have flashbacks of the fragmented thoughts I had throughout. The video doesn’t make me tense up any more, after showing a hundred times. It was intense; and it was cold!

The next day was taking in the pre-game and spectacle of the U S Army All American Bowl high school all-star football game. With the ensuing travel home, the tiredness and the inevitable cold I developed, I have not run since the Riverwalk run on the night I arrived in San Antonio.

So what. I had a memory for a lifetime.

I’ll go out and run tomorrow.

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I looked back over the previous two years of running (in November and December) to see if I was doing sub-9:15 mile long runs when I was “younger.” Uh, no. Maybe once or twice but not anything like the way I am moving this winter. That was a great Christmas surprise.

So yesterday I went out for the sixth consecutive day of running without a break - in my attempt to achieve my annual mileage goal (1250) - and also ramped up to a 14 miler so to begin the important weeks of marathon training before the Feb. 28 race. It was a chilly 51 degrees because of the humidity but tolerable once warmed up. I threw an extra half mile of distance in and managed an overall 9:27 mile pace.

The company was challenging in the persons of Dave and Chad who kept us moving. Chad the Quiet One answered questions and revealed he’s a Purdue grad from Peru, IN. Dave went to Indiana State. They got along well in reflecting on past days and the current state of housing and finance.

Earlier, a guest runner - Jay - came along at my invitation. He knows Cheryl and was up for eight miles although our pace was not quite what he wanted, I suspect. Jay is a hard-body triathlete who eats legal cases for mental nutrition. Cheryl was testing her shin splint legs for the first time all week. She has two weeks until the Disney Marathon. Crossing fingers.

In other news, Jeanne is five weeks away from invading Texas and conspiring with Runner Susan to defame my name. I knew I should have sent them both bottles of wine for Christmas. [I expect both will comment that it's not too late to do that too.]

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So I set my running mileage goal for the year at 1,250 (as I mentioned recently). I have been following along on my next marathon training plan and found, to my horror, that I was going to be nine miles short of my goal on New Year’s Eve.

Therefore I’ve been adding miles to scheduled runs and throwing in short runs on off days to cover the delta. I’m a little tired but determined. It’s gonna happen even if I have to run seven tomorrow before the Christmas festivities.

Merry Christmas to all of you who observe the day. See you on the roads somewhere soon.

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There is such a remarkable difference between what you can do when it is hot out (75-85) and when it is cold out (45-55) - not that 45 is cold to some of you. Even with a nippy early morning breeze, today was a great day to run.

Wearing a polar tech high collar long sleeve top over a short sleeve microfiber short sleeve shirt, I was good to go this morning at a steady 9:00-9:15 pace for 13 miles.

I spent the first four miles running with Chris, Jurgen and Liz. I spent a good portion of the time encouraging Chris to make the pre-emptive smart move and invite his sweet wife Cindy to go see the January 6 release of “Leap Year,” a movie with great scenery in Ireland and a good story line if you like taming of the shrew kind of love story chick flicks. I saw it in a sneak preview last week and loved it.

After the four mile water stop I took up with Dave, Leslie, Jurgen, Justine and Todd. When Todd turned off to take the six mile route the ladies were quick to  dissect his account of buying “jewelry” at Outdoor World for his one-week long four-dates female friend as a Christmas gift. Todd loves to fish so that’s why he was there. Who knew there was a jewelry department at Outdoor World? Needless to say, there were many parts of that story to extend the discussion for a mile or so.

Leslie was drafting on me again. We learned from talking about it that I prefer/perform better when being chased. She prefers/performs better as a chaser.  So when we finished ten miles we stuck together for another 1.5 miles while the others headed for the barn. She nailed 21 miles today at a 9:36 pace. My 13 total was at a 9:11 pace. It was just fine running weather.

For the last month all my runs of 10 miles or more have been sub-9:15s with the exception of the day after I raced a half - 9:15, 8:41 (race), 9:06, 9:01 (race), 9:50, 9:13 and 9:11. I’m feeling pretty well in a fast groove. I may actually have to go back and look at previous Decembers to see if I’m that good or just delusional.

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I had a lazy week, skipping three workouts. Intuitively, I translated tiredness into a “recovery” attitude, on the back side of the half last weekend and the 10-miler the day after. My recovery wasn’t quite as meek as Dave’s but we’ll get to that later.

I found myself with Carolyn to start this morning’s run. We had a nice two mile chat about the OUC Half before she upped the pace.  I followed until we caught Seth at the second mile and I let her go. Seth detoured to his house to put out some Gatorade and Ed was backing up to me as I headed down the Pine Tree loop.  We went a mile together and discussed the feasibility of running faster than when we were younger.  I said yes. He said he hoped so.

We allowed Jen, Leslie, Chad and Rick (?) to catch us along the loop and fell in with them. I have a habit of baiting Leslie so at the first hill I charged it and she charged me with the “show off” tag. Of course, that didn’t stop her from chasing me up the hill just as fast.

We all bopped along for the next two miles with more hill charging and a water break. When it came time to declare how far were each running, Dave started wah-wah-ing about recovering from the OUC Half last weekend and only going six miles. That earned a robust round of abuse and he conceded to run 10 with us.

At Seth’s house we downed Gatorade and he told us how he’s a little beat up and not running well. I attribute it to 20 marathons this year including his 50th state. On top of that, he conquered Space, the final frontier marathon a week later (Space Coast Marathon, Cocoa).

As we all chided Dave some more, Cheryl showed up after a late start, taking short-cuts and catching us. On we went, four guys and three gals. Cheryl shared stories of her wedding plans, ever changing. I charged hills and heard the show-off tag a few more times.

With two miles to go I decided to exercise my two-mile closing speed gear and took off, leaving everybody behind. I paused for water and Todd, Dave and Rick caught up. The last half mile was a high heart rate race to the finish with Chad.

So went an episode of running with the Orlando Runners Club Sunday bunch. Lots of different folks to talk to, pace with and laugh with. I topped the morning off with brunch at the Briar Patch. I was joined by my sister Anne and we were served by NOS Trevor’s girlfriend Tara. Good service. Good chow.

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I ran my seventh half marathon this morning in 1:58:07.

[Sidebar #1: I've run more marathons than halfs. Wondering why.]

It was my second visit below the two hour mark. 

[Sidebar #2:  There is absolutely no explaining my other visit - at 1:50 - back in 2005. That was just crazy fast for me with 8:30 miles.]

Five of the other six were either 2:02 or 2:03. So what does that foretell for a marathon time? I’ll tell you: about 4:20.

So why can I not manage to come in under 4:40 in the marathon? Where’d that 20 minutes go? It’s like I’m missing the 10 minute per mile gear.

Today’s race was better than expected, given the overnight torrents of rain …

[Sidebar #3: my pool water level is very happy. My brown patch fungus lawn is not.]

I had a well executed pre-race plan and a fast start. I was with Lytle for the first lytle bit of the race. I cautioned her to avoid the sock soaking puddle right across the start line. My pace was maybe too high for the first three miles (8:30, 8:18, 8:28) but I was aware and looked at the good time as “in the bank” for later.

Miles 4-6 were around 9 minute pace with a pause for Shot Bloks. The next three miles showed an erosion of performance, sliding down to a 9:37 9th mile. I averaged 9:15s the rest of the way. My legs felt heavy late. The humidity made breathing tough. I thought about taking off my shirt. Lytle passed me. So did Cheryl, Todd and Jen. In the end, I beat Jen by eight seconds. Other acquaintances I missed seeing were Wendy, Cyndy and Abbie. I did see Doug S, Lorraine, numerous other folks and all the staff from Florida Citrus Sports who put the race on.

Mark V said on Facebook he missed the joys of serving beer at the OUC Half. That’s one of the reasons the race is so popular. The beer never runs out. They gave out a long-sleeve tech shirt this year which was very popular. A lot of people ran in them.  I held to my belief that you don’t wear the shirt until you’ve done the race. Do you agree?

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Turkey Day Trio

I left the cabriolet at Cathy’s house since we had Tiffany joining us for the ride. Cathy’s car has plenty of room and a GPS that got us there directly. We had a good time driving over, knew well enough to not panic and slide into the first visible parking slot. Result: we sat in the parked car, out of the wind, and 30 yards from the start line. At four minutes before the start, we joined the throng of 500-plus (10 milers and 5Ks).

Cathy wanted to do 8:45s. Tifany wanted to do 7:45s. I was happy for 8:45s-9:00 so we all slinked up towards the front. Like I belonged!?

I went out fast. 8:17 first mile and 8:29 second. 40 seconds faster than my September 15K race. I fell in behind a young girl for the next three miles and steadied at about 8:50s. We ran side by side for a long time but at the five mile post I slowed for water to wash down a caffeine-laden orange Shot Blok. My brief sidekick moved on unaware. At the same time, Cathy passed me, she sticking to her 8:45 plan.

I kept moving at an 8:50 pace the next three miles until I hit mile 8 when I started passing my erstwhile neighbors of the road, reeled in the young lady from miles 3-5 and cranked up some pace to 8:33 and 8:27 to finish in 1:26:52.4. Negative splits are a Thanksgiving blessing, don’t you think? [Correction - my splits were 43:24 and 43:28; close enough]

I wisely anticipated all around success for today’s Turkey Trio and pulled three cold beers from my cooler to celebrate. The ladies were most pleased and the other runners were vocally jealous. We’ll run a concession next year, Tiffany decided. Cathy popped off six 8:45s as planned, then hit the pedal all the way down to a 7:55 10th mile to finish in the 1:24s. She won a door prize and finished sixth in her age group. Tiffany ran too damn fast to analayze her race but she closed out in the 1:14s, good for third in her age group. They gave awards five deep. I finished fifth and can now proudly mount an “Award Winner 10 Mile Thanksgiving 2009 DeLand, FL” license plate on the front of my car!

We took lots of pictures and drove home. On the way I read a text from Jack S. who reminded me of the 80th annual Turkey Bowl touch football game at Showalter Field, beginning at 10:30.  It only feels like it’s been 80 years and is probably just 13. Many Winter Park High alums and dads show up to heave it around. I was almost an hour late but I went directly to the field and was immediately assigned to the team that was losing. We made a game of it and lost 11TDs-9TDs. Another beer in the parking lot to wrap that one up and I was homeward bound to smell what’s cooking.

I reckon it’s time to go carve the turkey and I can say I’m mighty satisfied without having taken a bite. I see an early bedtime in my future after all the exertion and whatever it is that turkey does to you. Thanks to all who have made today and every day special.

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