That's more like it!

Wow, what a week. It's been a long time since I hit all my mileage and this was a strong one; 40 miles covered which was a staggering 24 miles more than covered last week!

After the recent disappointing weeks with runs missed to due work or sickness I was determined to get a full week of training behind me. Despite starting the week with a tight right calf muscle I pushed through and set some strong times throughout including an 8 mile run at 7m30s pace which is dead on 1 hour. That was an anomaly, we're getting into the serious mileage now so I need be careful. My long run this week was 16 miles which is not something you can afford to mess with!

The 'Norterra Running Club' is started to gain some steam; we are now three! I am delighted to say that 'Brett' is our newest member, we met yesterday at a community event.

A Trade Show for local residents was held on Saturday in which residents displayed a variety of home businesses and services. My wife in fact debuted her new business Lemonade Events and had some positive feedback which is exciting. Whilst my wife worked the stand I walked between the other displays with our daughter and right opposite was a stand for a local race which I naturally made a bee line for...

TriPhx is run by a Brett and Kristin, a Connecticut family who moved to the area around 1 year ago. They set up the company as a side business and are organizing an adventure trail run within our community.

Brett is a serious athlete; he has completed over 40 triathlon, 5 marathons (including an Ultra) and many shorter races. Although currently on the recovery stage after the Ragnar Relay in which he ran 33 miles of a 200 mile relay he joined us for a period of today's long run. Ironically, whist out on our long run two weeks ago Trevor and I caught the tail end of this race but had no idea what it is! I am hopeful that Brett and Trevor will continue to meet up for long runs in the next two weeks whilst my family and I are visiting the UK.

My training is going to be challenging these next two weeks. We travel to London on Thursday, and stay for 10 days. I have some serious mileage scheduled during the trip. Naturally I will aim to do as much as possible but it's obvious I will miss runs. That's another reason why hitting my mileage this week was so important!

Week 2

Not great but, a good week. I missed one run of 3 miles but aside from that I hit all my goals. As a result I actually ran 2 miles less than last week for a total of 24 miles run.

My long run of 11 miles this week was good, completed in a time of just over 1h30m which equates to a 8m11s pace. If I can keep that kind of pace going as my distance increases I will be delighted.

For next week, my midweek and Sunday runs increase to 6 miles but my 'long' run is a modest 8 miles only. This is a rest week on my long run, this step back will occur every 3 weeks and is a nice respite from the long runs. Unfortunately, the week after I bump up 5 miles to 13 miles! I will already be half marathon ready!

The time has come for some new shoes. Two pairs that I purchased in mid 2008 are approaching 300 miles so it's time to retire them. I will be getting another pair of Brooks but, I am not sure whether to go for a paid of Defyance 2 (I will be retiring a pair of Defyance 1 so am familiar with them) or a pair of 'Summon'. This is a new shoe for Brooks, I plan on a visit to Runners Den this coming weekend for a test run.

I am enjoying being back in training mode.
The commitment is challenging, it takes
me away from my girls more than I want
but I hope they understand how much I
enjoy this.

Race day!

I came, I conquered :) Well, conquered my personal goals anyway, some pesky Mexican guy actually won the race...!

After the build up and tension race day came up fast... I eased into it with minimal training as I was still feeling the results of my muscle sprains however, with a mixture of rest, ice, compression and massage I was able to walk to the start line free of pain.

I had trained for a sub 3h45m finish and therefore attached myself to the 3h40m pace team hoping they can pull me through despite my recent lack of training. The race started very well (albeit 20 mins early which caused some confusion and last minute removal of warming clothes!), I got chatting with a Canadian guy called Barry who was competing in his final marathon. He also had a goal of 3h40m so we stuck together.

Very quickly we left the pace team behind, which is clearly not the idea. We were however feeling very good as we ran through the streets if Brooklyn, adrenaline pumping as we listened to their screams. I think I was perhaps the most supported person on the day, RUN COOKIE RUN!!! was emblazoned on my shirt and I lost track of how many times I heard it shouted, it was literally in the hundreds. Our pace was good, 8m11s average miles, way better than I had hoped or planned/trained for.

"Barry" and I remained strong all through Brooklyn and into Queens. By that stage we had a Half Marathon under our belts and were talking as though we were on a stroll. Mile 16 (the last mile before Manhattan) however is the Queensborough Bridge. We'd been warned by the pacer at the start that the bridge was hellish; no fans are allowed so all you can hear is the pounding of feet and heavy breaths. Salvation is however there; at the end of the bridge is 1st Avenue in New York which was a wave of noise for the runners, if anyone was lagging then the adrenalin shot in the veins from those fans was instantaneous.

For me it was a wonderful moment; I saw my friend Kat and then my wife, daughter and parents. Despite being 17 miles into the race, it felt like the first mile for a moment...

However, I then hit the wall. I liken the moment to being hit by a baseball bat on the knees, all of a sudden (and only 1 mile after feeling so strong) my knees said "enough is enough" and started burning... I still had 8 miles to go...

The wheels fell off at this stage; I was able to run 1 - 1 1/2 miles however at a much reduced pace and broken up with stretches of walking (hobbling). My miles went from around 8 mins to 10 mins, with one at 12 mins. Barry and I had lost each other at the turn for 1st avenue so, my supporter was gone (I later tracked his result and see that he fell off worse than I did), all I had was the supporters ("RUN COOKIE RUN!!!") and my determination to see it through...

Suffice to say, I did make it although I lost likely 10 mins on my time in the last few miles. Approaching and being in Central Park was tough, by this time my calves, hamstrings and of course knees were on fire however I grinned and bared it.

My family support was again in prime position as I turned the penultimate corner on 60th Street Manhattan and with only 3/4 of a mile to go I was able to use their support to push through and even end with a 'sprint' finish of sorts....

My final time was 3h54m47s. I beat 2 of my goals; 1) to finish! and 2) to beat 4h.

As I write this I am back in Arizona and resting up. I intend to take 1-2 weeks off running to allow my muscles to recover and then start training for my next challenge; the Phoenix Half Marathon in January.

The marathon was an amazing experience, from the expo
to the race day and the celebrations thereafter! I can't wait to do another one, it's a hell of a bug to catch!

Week 16

Well, sleep deprivation got the better of me this week, one guess why...! To be honest, it wasn't just my first born. Aside from the regular awakenings for Ava's feeding during the night, our puppy Violet also choose this week to have 'bathroom' issues and also disturbed every 2-3 hrs. Of course it is too much to expect them to be on the same schedule so, it felt as though we were up every 1-2 hours for a few days!

Despite these disturbances and also my return to work this week, I managed to maintain my schedule through Saturday, letting just that run suffer.

In total I covered 32 miles this week. That was 8 miles less than planned but I am very happy with the end result. The long run this week was 16 miles which I completed today in 2h16m at an average pace of a little over 8m30s per mile. If I could maintain that for the marathon I'd finish sub 3h45m which would be a great achievement.

This coming week sees just a 1m increase in my scheduled mileage, Sunday's run is 17 miles. Of course with my missing this weeks Saturday run I am looking to run 9 miles more this week.

I am in unknown territory now. Not only have I never run as far at one time (today's run was 2.9m longer than I have EVER run) I have also never clocked the this kind of mileage consistently week by week.

The good thing is that I am still enjoying the training and aside from my aching muscles from today's run, I am injury free. I am looking forward to taking more of my running outdoors and plan on going a Scottsdale running team in September for my Saturday 10m runs. By the end of September I in fact hope to have the majority of my runs outdoors as it will cooler by then.

Starting this week I am going to change my Tue/Thu runs to incorporate hill and interval work once each, this will help my overall stamina and strength for the longer runs.

Lets see how it goes!

Week 14

What a week! Running wise, it wasn't my best but, baby Ava Helaine was born on August 1st and everything else just seems a little less important :) The last few days have been a whirlwind. I spent all day Friday and Saturday in the hospital with Nicole and Ava and ever since we have been home essentially sleeping and eating on Ava's schedule.

Training wise I completed my Tuesday and Wednesday runs relatively well (Wednesday's 7 miler was a little tough) but thereafter I missed my runs, 3 in total and 24 miles. A bit of a set back for sure but, I can justify it, it's not like I missed runs due to laziness or being hungover!!

This week is one of the 'resting' weeks I mentioned previously. My long run this Sunday is just 10 miles, the Wednesday/Saturday runs are 7 miles a piece. I have no concerns on completing any of this mileage despite missing 3 runs last week. Next weeks long run does concern me however, it's 16 miles! That's 3 miles more than I have ever run in one go, and will require not one but two changes of treadmills! (see last week...).

Although I had no aches and pains to speak off, the 6 day lay off from running I am sure did me good. Aa break of that long will not have an adverse affect on my stamina but allows my joints recover!

So, time to sign off and go and see my baby girl and baby mama who are curled up on the bed. Remember, we sleep when Ava sleeps now!