The Long Run

I found a pretty cool website, that links up a bunch of races so that you can check them out all at one stop. Similar to Letsrun.com I guess

Check it out if you get a chance



www.thelongrun.webs.com

Gratitude

Many of my blogs involve insight into my training and racing, just from my point of view. Today I wanted to write on some pretty cool people locally who have inspired the community of runners who seldom went full circle with meeting others and keeping in contact. This past year the running community has seemed to blossom tremendously thanks to Theoden Janes blogging and the reach of the CRC {Charlotte Running Club} to the people in and around Charlotte.

Theoden has been a HUGE boost to the local running and triathlon community as he took a face first dive into racing in 2009. While competing in numerous local road races, he plunged into the Triathlon scene as well as knocking out the NYC and Thunder Road marathons within a month of each other! He managed to fit all this training and racing in while still writing some kick A** blogs about people and races in our local community. It's simple things such as his post below that has shed light on so much more than simply running but humanity for instance.


TrySports' "Run For Haiti" is likely to be the more organized of the two events. The combination 3 Mile Fun Run and Shoe Donation Drive is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Saturday, and participants are being asked to donate $20 and/or pairs of used or new shoes. All profits will be donated directly to the American Red Cross; the shoes will get to Haiti by way of Deserving Soles. Store is at 9830 Rea Road, Suite H. Details: 704-544-4626

But the Charlotte Running Club's "Dollars for Distance" fundraiser, scheduled for McAlpine Creek Park (8711 Monroe Road), has a more novel concept: Runners will meet at the park's main entrance at 8 a.m., divide up into pace groups, and start running. When you're tired, just stop, tally up your miles, and donate a dollar for every mile you've run (cash or check will be accepted). All proceeds go directly to the Red Cross Relief Fund.
<

This leads me to Spot light the Charlotte Running Club and the efforts a few people have made to get people to do what they love or hate the most, together. Running is a passion for many of us and 3 local runners in Charlotte pushed to connect so many of us who were not in touch because we missed some social avenue that united all of us. Aaron Linz pushed to get people together to make this a runner friendly atmosphere in town, so Caitlin Crisman and Jay Holder jumped on board and the 3 together created the Charlotte Running Club.


Between every person blogging and Theoden's Uplifting post, the CRC quickly took off with the clubs members near 200 at this point. Weekly runs are dispersed through a system of emails along with social events that take place frequently to see people without the standard running attire. I am glad that these people have made such a push for the Charlotte Area to be aware of so much that truly goes on. We have been able to see people we may have never seen before and get intriguing stories that we would have never heard from someone we met on a long run on a freezing cold morning.


Thank you, Theoden Janes, Thank you, CRC!!!

Through you guys I haven't had so much fun since college and along the way I have met some outstanding people who each get to share their stories with me as I soak it up like a sponge. Thank you once again, the Charlotte Running Community has been revitalized!!!

Optimistically Inconsistent: 2009 into 2010

Recently I was in Theoden' Janes blog in which he ask me several questions about the sport of triathlon and what I would recommend for those people who are giving it a shot for the first time. It was a pleasant surprise to see that some people had a few comments which were jabs at me. The pot got stirred, and then the other comments poured in, all of which were very interesting.

As a whole I would find it hard to pressed to meet many people who would think of me in a derogatory manner. I have always been friendly as well as encouraging to other runners and triathletes, no matter their skill level. So to see that merely a couple people decided to rip into me a bit I wanted to discuss my inconsistent 2009 and even back to my inconsistent 2008 racing year. This blog post was reviewing part of my 2008 and 2009 race years, just a few things that happened along the way.

2008:

Sarasota Half Marathon - 1:13:19 PR; 1st place by nearly 2 minutes; 3:10 off my previous half marathon PR

Duke Twilight 5k - 15:42 PR; 26 second PR from my college years, total shock

Skyline 5k - 16:01 Road PR; This was the first time I actually ever challenged Tim Budic and Bob Marchinko during a race. They both got me but it was a good step for me.

Twilight 5k - 16:22; 2nd overall in a grand prix race, tactical race between Paul Mainwaring, so our time was slow but it was a lot of fun, to push up front of a big race.

Turkey Trot 8k- 26:34 PR; Cody blew my doors off but I was pleased to run this at my level of fitness, another PR.

CTTC Championship Mile- not sure on time, it was slow I am sure but I won again. Usually people just sit on me then I gun it.

2009


Charlie Post 5k- 1st place 15:56 Road PR; Solo race, dropped sub 5 on the last mile.

Sarasota Half Marathon- 2nd overall 1:12:40 PR; The most tactical race I have ever been in and we both still managed to PR. Wished we had one more in the mix so that we could have both went sub 1:12.

UNCC 49'er classic- 15:27 PR; signed up at the last minute because I was focused on firefighter training. I kept the pace steady at 5:00 pace and then kicked a 63 to pass 8 people in the last 1/4m.

Shamrock 4 miler- 2nd overall 21:19 PR; This was about 10 hours after my UNCC 5k PR, so I took it out easy to see how I felt. I remember passing Alana Hadley about 1/2 mile into the race and seeing the stream of people ahead. This was the smoothest race I had ran in quite awhile.

Cooper River Bridge run 10k- 33:40 PR; This was a weak PR, I enjoyed my self as usual too much the day before, but hey not bad to still set a PR.

Duathlon Nationals- 10th in my AG; Qualified for the world championships. this was my 2nd duathlon ever and making worlds was a LONG SHOT. Finished the day with the fastest 10k overall and the 6th fastest 5k.

King Tiger 5k- 16:16; Not a fast time but my first Grand Prix victory after several 2nd's and 3rd's.

CTTC Championship Mile- 1st overall; set my official full mile PR of 4:27 running with Bert before the championship.

UNC Wellness Triathlon- 2nd overall; I was pleased with the race, as I haven't done tri training in 2 years. Fun race.

Duathlon World Championships- Horrible placing(not even sure on place but I wasn't last!); too much going on, I was flustered before the race even began and the results showed.

Take Flight triathlon- 2nd overall; Lance Leo whooped me but I was glad to finish off in 2nd place, with a solid swim, ride and run.

LungStrong 15k- 5th place 53:38 PR; This was was used as a progressive workout, I started off at 6:03 1st mile and worked down to pass lots of people and averaged 5:46 pace. weak PR, but that will change in 2010.

Turkey Trot 8k- 5th place 26:20 PR; highest placing at the turkey trot ever and ANOTHER PR to wrap my year up. Should have pushed harder the last mile but it is what it is.

2008 = 4 PR's and several overall placings.

2009 = 8 PR's, World Championships and several wins.


All in all the goal for 2010 would be to stay as inconsistent and undedicated as I did in 2008 and 2009. I guess setting a PR in every event basically is fairly inconsistent.

- One thing I want to acknowledge is that I enjoy racing, if I am not in prime shape I will still race to push myself and enjoy it. it's all about having fun, some people race like 3 times a year when they are at their prime racing level, well i choose to race more simply because I enjoy it. No I can't PR everytime, but every race makes for a learning experience! I cheerish the great people that I get to surround myself with on many weekends a year.

NO SPRING MARATHON FOR ME

NO SPRING MARATHON

Recently after speaking with several other runner's in the community, I decided to actually form a racing schedule so that I could the focus in appropriate places for my training. At this point in time, I have decided that my "running season" is stopping around April/May, with the hope that I set a new Personal Record at the Duke Twilight 5000m race. During a longer run yesterday it just suddenly hit me that running a spring marathon at this point would clearly set me back for my other personal goals in the spring time, so I decided to opt for only going up the the Half Marathon Distance.

Training is going amazing right now, as I recently set an all time high in weekly mileage with just over 90 for the week. This week I hope to continue the trend but with backing the mileage slightly down a bit, to remain healthy. Just a few weeks ago I decided to focus all of my un-needed stress towards my training and it has worked quite well, if nothing at all I am setting my self up for some more personal records going into 2010. Below I have lined up my racing schedule out to June basically. After May 9th, I plan to turn myself into a triathlete and really get in some solid competitive racing through the summer and fall...

Race Goal
January
30th : Charlie Post 15k/ Winter Flight 8k Sub 51:00

February
6th : Tybee Island Half Marathon Sub 1:12
13th : Cupids Cup 5k 15:45


March
6th: Corporate Cup Half Marathon/relay
19th: 49'er invite 5000m tentative Sub 15:30
21st: Shamrock 8k tentative 25:50:00
27th: Cooper River Bridge 10k 32:45
April

14th: Boston Marathon (pacing logan) 2:55-2:59
21st: Duathlon nationals 90% unlikely
May

9th : Duke Twilight 5k Sub 15:15

June

11th: China Grove 5k 15:40


TRI SEASON HERE I COME


I just want to say what an amazing thing it is to be surrounded by so many people who are supportive in so many ways. Each and every person encounters other people for specific reasons, big or small. I am thankful to be acquainted with some truly amazing people, whether or not they are runners, triathletes, or couch potato's.

-as for the photo I included, I ran across it and thought it was pretty cool. This was a race in college my buddies and I competed in called the "porta potty dash" at the Best of Badin festival. hard to believe this was almost 10 years ago.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for 1st Long Progressive of 2010

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for 1st Long Progressive of 2010

This was supposed to be a test to see whether or not I could do a longer progressive run solo in order to gauge the possibility of a marathon in March. Due to my recent sickness my mileage and training really tanked. I had some serious difficulties with just sleeping through the night much less trying to get in a long run.

Things appear to be getting better for me and today's run was helpful in thinking about actually signing up for the Shamrock Marathon on March 21st. The run started out fairly quick and I felt pretty decent so I just wanted to keep it steady for a few miles and eventually pick it up. My turnover does not appear to be where it always is, I may have to take some spin classes to get the legs turned over.

Today at church the sermon was on "blessings", not about blessed people, those who have $ and power but those blessed with other things. I am fortunate enough to realize I am blessed with an ability to run and also be surrounded by some truly amazing people who offer so much to life.

Thank you to everyone I have ever ran with or even had the chance to speak with

CL