Turning a Corner?

I am trying hard to keep this thing updated. Really I am, but with everything else going on right now, this is the one thing that I'm slacking on. Well, actually the blog and the pool in my backyard are the two things I'm slacking on right now. The pool isn't exactly what I would call "swimmable" right now. Alright, onto the running...

Last Saturday we went to Michigan to stay in a cabin as part of my nieces 12th birthday celebration. On Friday night, a few hours before I was leaving to go up there, I found out there was a 5K out there the next day. Never one to skip a chance to run a race if the opportunity arises, I figured I would do it. I didn't have much to go on except for the race name, which was called "Red Bud Challenge Extreme 5K." Hmmm...sounds like it could be a fun one, but really. How extreme could a race be that it's in the middle of nowhere and has a total of 80 runners?

The answer: very extreme. The race started out on the road and we immediately headed straight up a pretty good sized hill. Once we got to the top of that we hung a left and headed into the woods. That's when the fun started. I came through the first mile in 5:23 and it was just me and one other guy, whom I had picked out before the race as someone to be reckoned with. I think he was a little surprised to see someone running with him. Once in the woods we headed through streams, up and down hills via some switchbacks, and climbed over and under fallen trees. It was a ton of fun, but it was tough running. At one point, my shoe came off in one of the many mudpits, and I had to go back and get it. Then, just as we were coming out of the woods (it was still just me and the local fast guy), one of the volunteers tells us, the leader is about 50 seconds ahead of you. Huh? Did you say the leader? No ma'am, we're the leaders.

Sure enough once we got out of the woods, we hit a straight away on the road, and there was another guy out ahead of us. He certainly never passed us, but somehow he was ahead of us. We tried to catch him and we did make up about 30 seconds in the last half-mile, but he finished ahead us. The local guy beat me too as my legs were just toast once I hit the road. After the race, we questioned the guy but he wasn't budging in his stance that he didn't cut the course. He obviously did, but we dropped it and accepted our 2nd and 3rd place trophies with pride. I later found out that local fast guy is a 2:27 marathoner who is trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials in 2008. It kind of took the sting out of getting outkicked by him a little...although that other guy finishing ahead of me really does kind of bug me. Oh well. Oh yeah, after that blazing 5:23 opening mile, I came in with a finishing time of 20:57. And you know what? I didn't even die at the end. The course was just that tough...or extreme I guess.

This week has been good quality training, but I am still having a hard time getting the volume up to where it should be. While I could potentially bust my butt over the week to hit 100 miles for the week, with a 10 mile race scheduled for Monday, I don't think I want to do that. I will probably just take it easy and try and really nail the race on Monday. I did some marathon pace work on Tuesday, and a tempo run on Thursday, and then an 18 miler this morning.

Since my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on August 1st, my training has been sporadic at best. It just doesn't hold the same importance to me right now that it once did. However, I also know I'm in the best shape of my life right now, so I owe it to myself to at least finish the training and try and run my best at the Chicago Marathon. My mom has always been my biggest supporter, so I know she is rooting for me too. However, with the initial shock of the news from my mom and then a nasty cold that followed that, the quality of my running really took a hit in August. I finished the month with a total of 292 miles, which is my lowest monthly total since February. If I can recover from this month and ramp back up the training, I don't think this will matter much, but I need to refocus on it now.

The tempo run yesterday and today's longrun were both very encouraging. The tempo run consisted of 4 miles at a 5:44 overall pace, with the first two miles in 11:40 and the last two miles in 11:16. I finished feeling strong and probably could have pushed it a little further if I wanted to. Today's longrun was equally easy. When I got into work I actually did a google map on the route because I couldn't believe that it was really an 18 mile run. I figured it must have been short. It wasn't, (if anything it was a little long) so I'll take it.

Alright, now that I have been added to Mike's 2:30 chaser list, I guess the pressure is really on. I promise to update this thing more frequently.