I don't have the time to write the details now, but I am going to recap the last 7 month over the next two weeks. 

Eat, Run, Sleep,

RunningRob

http://ryanhall.competitor.com/2010/08/23/overcoming-adversity/

"We all face challenges that knock us down from time to time. Here are some ways I have found to stumble back to my feet, whether it is enduring tough workouts, life circumstances, or personal shortcomings.

1. Rise again. One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from Proverbs. It says, "Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again." I can't tell you how many times I have reflected on this verse in tough times. I constantly remind myself that I must get back up and it's not the falling that determines my character-it's whether or not I rise again.

2. Remember your original vision. In college, when I felt like quitting running, I often reflected on the vision God gave me for my running when I set out on my first run at 13 years of age. I couldn't allow myself to quit because I knew that I had yet to accomplish the vision God had given me for my running, which was to run with the best guys in the world and to help other people through running.

3. Spend time with people who care about you and give them the chance to pour encouragement into your life. As a guy, I often find that I will keep things that are bothering me inside and perhaps won't even deal with them at all. I have learned to share these things with my wife and family and allow them to encourage me through them. I certainly wouldn't be running at the level I am at if it weren't for the encouragement of my wife, family and friends. This journey of life is not meant to be lived alone.

4. Figure out what makes you you. When I left school for a quarter during my sophomore year in high school I realized that my self image was based on how I performed on the track. During this time away from school, I got to the point were I saw myself for who I was independent of my performances, whether it be on the track, classroom, or wherever. In the culture of today, which is largely performance-oriented, I encourage you to see yourself independent of your performances. Chances are you will perform better from this perspective, anyway. I like to see myself the same way that God sees me, which, thanks to Jesus, is in perfect light.

5. Don't go overly introspective, but keep moving forward. It's easy to get overly introspective. I struggle with this one from time-to-time, however I am learning to focus on how I want to be, not my shortcomings, and walk as if I am already there."

There has been a lot going on in the world of eat, run, sleep and I just haven't had a spare moment to write about it.  I feel I must attack each item in the order that they occurred so I can properly remember what happened! 

I finished up the month of April with some great training runs.  People can attest to the fact that I was running with a great deal of energy and conviction.  I had the Country Music Half Marathon coming up and I wanted to be ready to hit a new PR. This was a race I had set ahead of me, and had put some great consideration into running.  I was treating it as a rebirth, a point at which I would start to take a new direction with my life and with my running.  I had made a decision to attempt to run a race of 10 miles in all 50 states(I decided to back count a few)but Nashville represented the first real state on my list.  It was symbolic to me,  I hadn't raced since December, and I was going to see some people that I hadn't seen in a while. I just wasn't sure how it was all going to go down, this was a race, a moment,  at the very time I needed it.  Ok, with the serious stuff out of the way a few funny stories did occur during this training time;   I went out for a normal run(which is about 6-8 miles), but was feeling really great, so I kept going, and going, and going......turned into a solid 16.5 mile run.  The funny part isn't the run, it's that my brother was ready to call out the National Guard to look for me because I typically don't disappear for that long.  He has never actually run down the hill in search of me before, and never before has he been like concerned/angry!  I also learned that I can run to my gym from work.  It's about 9 miles of mostly flat terrain, which is great...but I learned I could do it while wearing a 20 pound backpack!  It was truly fun learning the extent at to which I could push myself during this training period.

Weather.com had said it might be rainy the weekend of the race...stormy...so I arrived in Nashville hoping for grey overcast and a nice temperature for the race.  My good friend Doug lives in town so he was nice enough to let me stay by him, and drive my butt to the expo.  The country music marathon does know how to really organize their stuff!  It was one of the nicest expo's I had ever been too.  Simple, easy race packet pick up, they kept the lines moving, and there was just enough stuff to see, and to play with that made you stick around for a while.  It did a great job of pumping you up for the event itself!  Seeing how this blog is also about running I will rave about where I had my pre-race dinner, The Italian Store in Nashville was a great place to enjoy a quiet meal.  Food was good(I had linguini with a meat sauce), and some of a large anti-pasta.  Portion size was good(which is important don't want to be bloated) and it was not heavy on the salt - see bloated.   Weather.com was right though, there were storms arriving.  It rained Friday night, woke up to overcast on Saturday, with a chance of Tornado's...oh boy.....also they pushed they race time up...didn't know that detail till I was on the line for the race!  So.....I ran without a warm up, without stretching, and having raced from the bathroom to make the gun(that's right I was seated..how...I don't know)  Sadly, I didn't run the race I wanted to, and the course was far hillier than the elevation chart on the webpage said, but overall it was a enjoyable time and race.  I am not going to go into the detail of the race, I'll simply say it was a cool course.  The atmosphere was great, people line the entire course, band are at every mile,  and the town gets involved beside the normal volunteers.  Water, and whatever the Gatorade rip off was they were serving  stations were manned by friendly encouraging people.  I was sad to see the Marathon get called early due to the weather, but the safety of all those around had to be taken into consideration. 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention two other quick Nashville places that are a must!  Bongo Java - they serve a breakfast bagel called "The bachelor" it's a perfect pre-race day before kinda lunch. It's a wheat bagel served with natural peanut butter, and a banana sliced on top with a bit of cinnamon.   It's got a little of everything runners want, carbs, potassium, and maybe a little sugar.

Also!  Jack's BBQ....I pigged out after the race, as the rain came down outside in buckets, I devoured the choice bbq inside.   Totally enjoyable meal!  DEFINITELY AN AFTER RACE THING!

I need to also mention that this race occurred a week before the flooding in Nashville.  It was really hard to see the destruction that took place to the town which just a few days earlier, had hosted such a great event.   It's been a few months, and from what I am hearing from my friends, things are looking way up.  There is still a lot to be done though!  People lost everything in this flood, the same people who stood on the side and held their hands out with water, who clapped their hand and cheered us onto the finish!   Check out this donation page, it is on the marathons main webpage so it's legit.  http://nashville.competitor.com/features/donate-to-nashville-flood-relief/

Eat, Run, Sleep

-RunningRob

  The mere thought of combining those two terms seems out of place, almost painful.  Vacation time is precious.  There is so little time afforded to many all year, and the cost of being able to travel can often be prohibitive.  So, when one gets a chance to have an opportunity to just get away from it all, why would you make running a part of your vacation? 

  This past summer, I had the opportunity to spend some time with my family at the shore.  I haven't taken the time to run/exercise at the beach since I was in high school and was training for cross-country and track.  The most work I wanted to do was carry myself to the beach and then back again, with cool refreshing beverage in hand.  The last time I ran while at the beach, it didn't go so well.  I learned a hard lesson.  Running after lounging in the sun all day, not a good idea.  The water I had with me was used mostly to cool myself down, and I quickly dehydrated and overheated.  This time I was ready.  This would be a part of my vacation routine as much as sun tanning at the beach would be.  It also revealed to me just how important a part of vacation that this really is.  These became my guidelines/rules for running while on vacation.

  First, know the lay of the land, or be strong enough to get back.  Know where you are going.  Being adventurous has its place, but the further you get away from home base, the trickier it can be to get back.  I'm not saying don't go off the beaten path, but a little planning and preparation can help you avoid making an emergency phone call to family or friends, trying to describe where you are. 

   Get up early and go.  This counts doubly in the summer when the heat can break you.  Bring fluids, bottles, whatever.  There are many helpful suggestions online to help you be hydrated in the summer, but it will be more effective without noontime heat beating on you.  Besides, this is vacation, there is a lot to see and do and that does not include running by it, unable to stop and take part or admire it.  If you can, get out at or before sunrise.  Getting this done early makes the rest of the day wide open for you.  There is no need to try to fit it in, in between events, trips, or excursions.

  Running on vacation can give you an opportunity to break the routine of running itself.  Too often the places you run can become routine and perhaps boring.  You now have a chance to run along the sea, feeling the ocean breeze in your face, or along the waves, avoiding the tide.  If you are on a cruise, some boats have a small running track.  This was my experience a few years back.  Even though the track was small, you wouldn't notice it.  The open waters make it feel bigger than what it is, and the movement of the ship adds another change to your routine.   If you are out in the mountains, trail running provides an experience that is fast becoming a lost opportunity in urban and suburban territories. 

  My past experience of running while on vacation was a very uplifting experience, and actually improved my enjoyment of the time, and I will use any time away as a time to get the sneakers on and break my old routine again.  If this post seems like a lesson, I can't help it, I'm a teacher, however, this is a lesson I had to learn myself, and I just can't help but share it.

  Next post, thoughts on Baltimore Marathon 2009 and 2008.  

Image via Wikipedia

I have a complete lack of energy today.  I know it's because I have not been eating like I should be to maintain the energy levels I need.  Right now I do not have the brain power to write why this happened, and how I am going to remedy it. Believe me, when I do, it will be a good one.  I will just leave you with this: copious amounts of coffee, is not the answer. 

-RunningRob

2010 NYC Half Marathon --

Yesterday was my best half marathon yet. As I stood in the corral waiting for the race to start, the chill in the air was a welcome change from the heat and humidity of last year's race. The decision to move the race from August to March was a good one. The course is definitely a fun one. It starts with an 8 mile loop around Central Park before exiting onto 7th Avenue. From there, the route goes to 42nd street, through Times Square, and out to the West Side Highway where the course finishes near Battery Park.
I started out with the goal of beating my time from last year. As long as I did better than 1:51:49, I'd be happy. I was hoping I'd finish within a minute or two of the half marathon PR I set back in January, but I wasn't counting on it.
As I ran I looked at the split times, and roughly gauged how I was doing, trying to stay on target for something close to 1:37 finish, but primarily making sure I was doing better than last year's 1:51. At mile 8, just before exiting Central Park to head to Times Square, the clock time was about 59 minutes. I realized that the winner of the race was about to finish, if he hadn't already, and I hadn't even made it out of the park.
This year's splits were much better than last year's.

This is the first time I've run negative splits. What really amazes me is that not only was the second half faster, but every 5K split was faster than the previous. There was an excitement exiting the park. There was an amazing rush turning the corner onto 42nd street. The crowds were great, cheering every runner as we passed by.I remember around the mile 11 marker realizing I had a chance to PR, estimating my time at about 1:36, and picking up the pace a bit. I started passing people left and right. One runner saw me and yelled, "Go, man! Go!"

Out of about 15 to 16 thousand people that signed up, 11,493 finished. I finished in 895th place; far, far, behind the winner who took home $20,000.

Universal Sports had a live telecast of the event. I set the DVR to record it before I left, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet. It likely focused primarily on the professionals who ran, including the Marathon world record holder, Haile Gebrselassie.

This was a great race on a great day.

--RainySoul

This week is going to be short and simple.  This week has been awesome, I have been going through my Rubbermaid container of spring and summer clothes and pulling them out every day I need them!  It's so exciting.  While I do like running in the winter, the apparel is so heavy, sometimes you run and feel like you are going nowhere.  It is a great feeling to break out shorts and a t-shirt and enjoy the weather rather than hide from it.  Not only that, but we have daylight saving time!  I really hate losing an hour of sleep, but I do enjoy running when it's still sunny outside.  The fact that crowds of people step off the treadmill and back into the daylight makes me feel a lot less alone outdoors.  It's pretty unbelievable.  I am not going to comment on being careful about hydration and heat exhaustion yet cause we aren't really at that point yet.  So get outside! Enjoy the weather! Enjoy the beauty of the changing season, and I'll see you all on the roads tonight!

So I say GOODBYE WINTER!  I never liked you anyway!

Image via Wikipedia

Ok, so this isn't going to be about pancakes, but I just wanted to get that out of the way.  Today I wanted to write about how great it is to run with friends or in a group. 

For the most part we are lonely distance runners.  Most of the miles that we put in are on the trail or some sidewalk with only the sound of our breathing or pounding footsteps to keep us company.  It is very hard to get others to come on our journey.   Not just because it's running, it's more about how fast, far, hilly, wet, muddy, snowy, and overall crazy our journey might be.  How many times I have heard "well...how far are you going? ",  followed immediately by "well how fast are you going?",  followed even quicker with "Well, you're nuts..have fun".   So the lonely miles pile up, lonely, but happy.  I can't complain, I run the pace I want, turn right or left where I want and can attack a hill without thinking that it might kill the person with me.   Plus, it's really fun to observe what's going on, just yesterday I was running on the national mall.  I noticed a ton of other runners.  We are finally starting to get some good weather in the Northern VA, DC area, and I think people are starting to get off the treadmill.  There were also a ton of photographers out, but please don't get angry if I run through your photo.....I am looking for fame here after all.  There was also a news cast going on(saw some reporter doing his thing on the Mall).  Anyway, it was fun to watch as I coasted along in my own little world. 

Ok, so after reading the first part everyone is probably thinking "wait, I thought this was supposed to be about how great group running is? "    Ah..and here it is,  the run I look forward to the most every week?  It's the little 3.5 mile run I do with the Shirlington Running Club.   It's simple, it is short, it's mostly flat, there are a bunch of people, I have had some really great conversations, and I have made some pretty good friendships.  I look forward to meeting up with the group every week.  Afterwards we all hang out have a beer or two and eat appetizers....thereby undoing everything we did by running!  No, It's actually really important to take a moment and have fun like that.  Running doesn't only have to be about miles, splits, calories burned, and races, there really is a social aspect of it that can best be seen Tuesday nights at 6:30 at the Capital City Brewery in Shirlington.  Anywhere between 20-50 runners jammed into the back room of the bar in running clothes, sweaty from a great run, having a beer, eating some wings or humus, and talking about what has been going on with them since the previous Tuesday.   It's an encouragement every week to get around these folks!

            Ok, I said this wasn't going to be about pancakes, but I have to share another example of group running.   It was my two brothers, our friend Matt and I out for a nice 6 miles, for my older brother's birthday.   It's been sort of a tradition that we go out for an early morning run on his birthday for the last couple of years.  It's also a tradition that we follow it with pancakes!  It's a selling point mostly, no one wants to get up early on a Saturday and run 6 miles, but the promise of pancakes sweetens the deal.  Great run, super fun conversation, joking, and just goofing off, with a lot of talk about the pancakes that await!  With the run over, the destination was IHOP.  Matt, Ian and I huddled into the corner of IHOP in our running clothes chomping on pancakes, swilling coffee, and devouring our grits.  My point in all this is the encouragement.  We sat around the table, and talked and laughed and it made my day that much lighter.   Running with a group can push you physically, encourage you mentally, and also be a relaxing environment.   There are tons of good running groups around!  Go out and find one!  You'll be happy you did!

-RunningRob