Comeback

I am slowly returning to my favorite hobby: Running. Dealing with an injury has been a trial for me and stay out of the paths a difficult task. While recovering from this nasty injury I started teaching Spinning classes 5 days a week at my local gym. I just love it! what a way to keep in shape!!!

This week I finally went back to the path for the first time after 8 months. On Thursday logged in 5 miles and o Friday another 6 miles. As far as pain, so far so good. After each run I made sure to ice the injury area and elevated it following my doc's advice. I am planning on start training for good second week of April when the weather should be better.

My biggest decision now is if I should stick to run half marathon only or try yet another full. I am not so sure that training for a full marathon will be a good idea. Time will tell. I believe for now I will stick with with half marathons and see how well recovered I really am before attempting to run a full marathon.

It's about time...

Gee........it has been a long time since my last post on this blog.... as a matter of fact, the last time was June 09. Many things has happened in the meantime. The worse is an cronic anckle injury that to this day is still bothering me. Afte running on full and 2 half's marathon last year, I decided to take some time off and take care of the injury. It's has been almost 9 month since my last run. Now my concern is how my body would react once I return to training.

So here we are... new year and I hope to be able to run one full marathon and at least two halfs. My plans are to return to train in a couple of weeks. Let's see how my body reacts. I hope I will not have any more problems.

13.1 Half Marathon

This past Sunday I ran the 13.1 half marathon here in Chicago. Race started and finished at Museum o Science at Washington Park. The weather could not be better. Perfect day for a race. My goal was to finish under two hours and I accomplished just that.... my official time was 1:53:18. Not bad!

4 DAYS TO GO

It's only 4 days away for the half marathon. Monday ran a 6 mile @8:33/mile which is really good. Tuesday was speedwork: 6x800M @ 3:40.

Today I cross trained. The rest of the week will be also light with 5 miles tomorrow, 6 on Friday an resting on Saturday.

13.1 Half Marathon

This coming Sunday will be my second marathon of 2009. On April 11 I ran the Illinois Marathon down in Champaign-Urbana and this Sunday it will be the newest half marathon in town, 13.1 Half Marathon (the same one that happens in Atlanta, Miami, and Ft. Lauderdale). The novelty on this race it will utilizing wave starts, which I have never experienced before on half marathon. We will see how this thing works. My goal for this race is to finish under 2 hours.

As far as training goes, this past Saturday was my longest mile since the full marathon. Ellen and I logged in 11 miles on Saturday. This week we will cut back a little. My weeks looks like this:

Monday- 5 miles (at 8:44/mile)
Tuesday - Speed workout
Wednesday - off
Thursday- 6 miles
Friday 4 miles
Saturday - rest
Sunday - race

Keep running.

Interview with Mark Robinson

As mentioned on several posts my friend and running partner is moving to Texas at the end of this month. As a matter of fact, all I have left is just a couple more days to enjoy his company while running. This is a guy who has ran so many marathons; know so much about running and who is a truly inspiration to many of us who know him. I, for one, will miss him dearly. As a matter of fact, running will not be the same without him. Unless of course, I move to Texas or join him for a few marathon in his new state. It its definitely a possibility. Well, I truly believe Mark can teach us a thing or two about races so I decided to dedicate this post to him. Instead of writing about him I decided to interview him so that he can share his experiences with us.What Read his interview below:


Q: Tell us about your very first marathon. Where? What year? What was your
time?

A: The first marathon I ever ran was the 19993 Chicago Marathon. It was a much smaller field back then. It was late October and snowing on marathon day. The wind was blowing in from the lake and we had a 4 mile out and back at the end of the race right along Lake Shore Drive. The freezing spray was horrid. The conditions were so bad that unknown to me as she was waiting for me to finish Sue was rehearsing reasons to give to explain why I didn’t finish. It was to be my only marathon ever and I wanted to finish it less than 5 hours. My official time was 4:59:59. I crossed the finish line and said never again. And here I am 35 marathons and two ultra’s later.


Q: Why do you run?

A: FUN. I started running because my doctor at the time said I had such a high stress level that if I didn’t find some release I would probably die. But that is a reason to run a few miles every day, not a reason to be out at 8 deg. F on a snowy morning running up and down hills. Some days I am not sure why I run. A lot of it is my type A personality. I am still trying to find out how far can I push the envelope. Every day I run I challenge my body to do more.

Q: How many marathon have you done?

A: 35.

Q: Which were your best or your favorite marathon and why?

A: If I had to give one favorite I would say Chicago when it was smaller. But I have so many race that I loved parts of. The most beautiful race I ever ran was Carsbad California. The best neighbor support was Green Bay. The most fun is Disney. I could list more also. Boston was Boston and for many of us it is the runners Nirvana, and it was mine too.


Q: What are the "dos" and "don't'" you would advise to new runners?
A: Don’t overtrain. Don’t add miles to quickly, Don’t think that just running will make you lose weight. I won’t. Don’t ignore injuries (but don’t confuse those aches and pains with injuries). The most important: Get a running partner. Train with a group, at least once a week. Do remember that this is supposed to be fun, it is a stress reliever. We are amateurs if running starts to give you more stress that it relieves find a new sport. Remember every time you go out in a race the only person you are really competing against is yourself. Enjoy the day.

Q: What is your motivation during a long run?

A: Running with my partner. A running partner makes the miles easier. I know this is her blog but even if it wasn’t having Sandra as a running partner has been one of the greatest experiences on my running life. We have challenged each other to go farther, faster and longer. We have alternately “carried” each other through those bad runs.


Q: As far as marathon, which ones are in your "to do" list?

A: Big Sur, and Sandra would never forgive me if I didn’t include Rio.


Q: What is the best part of your training?

A: The sense of accomplishment I get when the run is done.

Summer Races

Well, I am totally rested now from my last full marathon of April 11th down in Champaign-Urbana. Now it’s time to get back to training again for the next races on my schedule.

Fist one will be in a couple of weeks (June 7) - 13.1 half marathon. This race is Chicago’s newest half marathon. This same race happens every year in Miami, Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale and now Chicago.

The second marathon on my schedule is another half, Rock’N’ Roll Half Marathon on August 2. This race finally arrived in Chicago. Other cities where you can run this race is San Diego and San José (California) San Antonio (Texas) and now Chicago. As a matter of fact there is a real cool twist on running this race. If you run all 4 of them within a calendar year you will become part of the “Rock’N’ Roll Hall of Fame and get a really nice medal for participating in all 4. I am really planning on running all 4 some time in the future.


The third half marathon will be the 13th Annual Chicago Half Marathon on September 13followed by a full marathon On September 19 in Dayton, Ohio (Air Force Full Marathon). I am not 100% sure if I am running or not yet. It will depend on two things:

1)If I am picked to run NY City marathon or not which I should know by July (hopefully).
2)And most important, if the orthotics that I will start using within a few weeks will eliminate the problems on my foot. I really need to get rid of this injury before trying to run another full marathon.

Another idea that I am “cooking “ at this time is if I don’t get picked to run NYC Marathon I will than run Air Force and than in November while in Europe on business travel to the city of Porto, Portugal to run an half marathon there. For now all is only this: a plan.