Monday, March 19, 2012

No Marathon For Me!

It's been  along time since I posted here. 

  Is this a Race report for the copper canyons?

Nope

Did I run the L.A. Marathon
(I wasn't gonna give any money to this crook)

Nope

Have I picked a winner for the Sketchers ?
Thank you to all that entered
&
 The winner is: Comment Number "63"  
(picked by a random number generator)
Joshua n.Mar 13, 2012 09:46 AM 
" i donated to norawas :-)"

Thanks for the donation
&
CONGRATULATIONS

What the hell have I been doing?

At the start of last week I was in the worst shape I've been in in years.  
  I feel like I have been broken for months and that the body is finally ready to start moving again.  

Ultrabelly

The nice thing about being carrying a few extra pounds I call it an "ultrabelly" is that it means I have plenty of fuel to burn.
:)
I did think about running the LA marathon and made a few calls to see if a could garner a free entry.  Then I looked at weather report for race day

"Santa Monica High 49  with a a 70% chance of rain"

and
 I didn't want to go through that again.
If an entry came my way I would have taken it but I wasn't gonna kiss any butts to get one.


I'm signed up for Boston Marathon in mid April.  Time to learn how to run fast again.  I ran hard on the beach all week long andby Saturday night I had covered 70 miles for the first time in along time  and my body felt pretty good. 
 I had planned on watching the L.A. Marathon the next morning.  Inspired by the glass of bourbon in my hand I decided I would run a marathon on the treadmill while I watched it on T.V.  At about 1 a.m. I got to bed.with my Alarm Set for 5:24

What a Stupid Idea!

After pressing the snooze button a few times I stumbled out of bed made my self a peanut butter sandwich had a cup of coffee, about 5 oranges, strapped on my Luna Sandals and headed off to gym.

My initial plan was to start my marathon 1 hour before the actual start of the race and see if I could finish before the winner.  This would mean I'd have to average  around a 7 min mile.  Not a very difficult thing to do on fresh legs. 

I arrived to gym a little a late and maybe still a tiny bit buzzed from St Paddy's day.  I set the treadmill to a 7min pace and was off and running.  As I watched the T.V. and the pre-race coverage of the marathon there was no rain.
(I was jealous, as I scampered along on the treadmill)

After the first mile I bumped the incline up to 2 degrees (pretty hardcore huh) and also picked up the tempo. I got about 9 miles in the first hour and also a big blister on the inside of my foot that was bugging me.

I had started too late to finish before the actual race was won and around mile 14 I developed a weird kink in my leg.  I dropped my pace to almost a walk for a few miles until it disappeared.

I was getting tired by the time I reached mile 24 and so was my treadmill.  at the the 24.8 the machine abruptly stopped almost throwing me off of it.  I didn't see this coming and my midsection nailed the front of the machine.
(ouch)
By this time the gym was packed and there were no open machines.  and my water bottle was empty.
I was on pace for about 3:30 marathon (whoop dee doo)  but now that was out of the question. 
That's when I decided I wasn't gonna run 26.2?

I filled my bottle and wandered around the gym for a few minutes before finding another open machine.  The combination of rest  and water made me feel like a new man.  This time I wouldn't be running at an incline I felt great and ran an additional 10km in under 42 minutes totaling 31 miles for the day in and finishing just under 4 hours and 20 minutes after I began.

Other than the blister my body felt good and after a couple hours in the sauna and the hot tub. 
I grabbed an avocado and banana from the store.
and
headed down to the beach for a few more miles finishing the week with 103 miles and about 5 pounds lighter and I plan on working even harder this week.

Life is good.


Copper Canyons Race Report?

I'm working on it and hope to have it done by the end of the week.
Here's a preview of what to expect.