“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney

This quote by Walt Disney is truly fitting for first time marathon runners this weekend at the Walt Disney World Marathon. That’s why we chose it for our race shirts. Not only will my sister and I be wearing these shirts during the race, our entire family will be cheering us on in them on Sunday. If you’re there, give Kirsten a big Runner’s Gang Sign salute!!!

RMFR

I remember my first marathon four years ago. I had trained for an entire year, lost 65 pounds and hit the wall at 18 miles. I finished with my entire family cheering me on and sat around thinking about how hard I worked and how proud I was to accomplish something big!!!

Last year, my wife surprised me with a great gift. The first part involved entry into the 2010 Walt Disney World Marathon. The second part was that my sister, Kirsten, was going to run with me. She wasn’t officially a runner but I’m sure she had spent some time on the treadmill before this. What was supposed to be a half marathon turned into a full when I selectively listened to my wife and happened to “not hear” the half and just heard marathon. Not one to back out, she dutifully accepted the challenge.

With some advice from me and I’m sure plenty of advice from her husband Jonathan (who had previously completed a marathon), she set a course to get ready for January 10, 2010.

Her first goal was to run a marathon relay at the Fargo Marathon back in May. Her and the Cobber Chicks kicked some arse and she caught the running bug. Not satisfied with only running 6 1/2 miles, her next step in this journey was the Dick Beardsley 1/2 Marathon in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. She finished in glorious fashion in just under 2:07 and I couldn’t have been more proud!!!

This has set us up to where we are now…four days away from her first marathon!!! I’ve always tried to encourage people to run. I know what kind of difference it’s made in my life and more specifically my health, and if there’s a way I can get one more person to walk out the door and start running, I’ve done my part. Hopefully she’ll be a runner for life – if I have any say about it!!!

The fact that I actually get to run with her is an honor and I know that when we cross that finish line, there will be tears shed. Kirst, I’m so proud of you and I can’t wait to celebrate your first marathon it just 4 days!!!

RMFR

Well, we’re officially 6 days away from the Walt Disney World Marathon. With the Holidays and my recent running rut, it’s really snuck up on me. While training has been going well, it’s just kind of been there. It’s funny looking back. During the weeks leading up to the Rock-n-Roll Las Vegas Marathon, all I could do was think and write about that race. Now here we are under a week away and this is basically the first post on this race. Well, ignored no more!!! Let’s get to it!!!

This race has been on the schedule now for more than a year. What started out as a gift from my wife, turned into something WAY more. Accompanying me in this race will be my sister Kirsten – her first marathon!!! It was supposed to have been a half marathon but there was no way I was flying across the country just for a half marathon. The die was cast and the challenged was accepted. My sister would be training and running in her first marathon.

After running the Disneyland Half Marathon now the last three years, I can’t wait to run an entire marathon with Disney. From the overall organization (minus the Expos), the excitement and the Disney atmosphere – this is going to a fun race no matter what happens.

They boast that the course has no more than 100 feet elevation change and with Orlando sitting at 98 feet above sea level, it should be fast (I hope). The only things I’m really concerned about is the humidity, crowds of runners squeezing thru tight sections and being strong supporting my sister. The course winds throughout all four parks with sections on roads surrounding the resort. They’ve also put together some race videos that take you along sections of the course as well as a Google Earth 3D tour (although I can’t get the plugin to work).

The best part about this weekend is that it has become a family event. Not only will my family be joining me, but my sisters entire family as well as my parents will be cheering us on!!! Everybody came out to Las Vegas to support me in my first marathon four years ago and it’s only fitting we all regroup and do the same thing for my lil sis!!!

I’ll be heading out Wednesday and won’t be back to Las Vegas the following Thursday (the wife and I are throwing in a long belated honeymoon – almost 12 years later). No worries about the website though, I’ll have posts scheduled for you all while I’m away.

Mickey…here we come!!!

RMFR

As 2009 comes to a close, I find myself in a unique situation – I’m in a running rut. It’s not a physical rut. I don’t think I’ve ever been running better or been in as good of shape as I am now. This is all mental. I’m just not “that into it” right now. For those of you who visit this site often you can probably tell by the lack of posts recently. I consider myself “Runningcentric”. All I ever do is think, talk and dream about running. Want to go on vacation? OK, let me check the running calendar. Need help with your homework? Let’s go for a run and talk about it. But lately….NOT.

It all started on my week off after the Rock-n-Roll Las Vegas Marathon. I was overflowing with excitement for that race. Training had gone well and it was the inaugural event. Even though I didn’t finish like I had wanted, I wasn’t disappointed and spirits were high. I already had the Walt Disney World Marathon on my schedule to look forward to and the fact that I would be running with my sister (her first marathon) is even better. 10 days of vacation, a cruise, Walt Disney World AND a race thrown in? I should be on cloud nine…but I’m not.

I can’t explain it. I know we all go thru let downs after races but this is the first time I’ve hit a wall in my head. Maybe it’s the Holidays, maybe it’s work or it just may be the culmination of a series of events that are out of my control. The fact of the matter is, when we hit these low points we need to keep on keeping on. Lace up the shoes and get out the door. It wall all come back eventually.

So that’s what I’ve been trying to do this last week before the race. All my training runs have no goals. I’m heading out the door with no anticipation. I don’t know which route I’m taking. Don’t know how far I’m going to go. The only thing I do know for sure is that I’m running for the pure enjoyment of it. Taking in the scenery. Taking in other runners I meet on the way and running for the moment only. It may not happen overnight and it might even take weeks but I know if I bring things into perspective, it will all come back.

Happy New Year and RMFR!!!

First off, this post in no way is meant to be bragging. I know there are plenty of runners that do much more than this and by much more, I mean WAY MORE (i.e. 50 in 50). This actually happened by accident – well O.K. not an accident but more so by circumstance.

A year ago this Christmas, I talked my sister into running her first marathon at the Walt Disney World Marathon in January. I’ve been running now for 4 years but I’d only run one marathon and that was at the end of 2006. Worried that I would fail supporting her thru 26.2 miles, I decided on running the full Rock-n-Roll Las Vegas Marathon (more so for confidence than anything else). After a great year of training and racing, it didn’t even dawn on me that the races were merely 36 days apart.

The biggest hurdle in this whole thing has been the training. The shortest training program I’d done preceding a race was 12 weeks. After a week off following the Las Vegas Marathon, that left me with only 4 weeks of training. With over 750+ miles and 3 races under my belt this year, I know I have the strength for a 4 week schedule but it still doesn’t seem like enough. Using the trusted Runner’s World SmartCoach, it whipped out this maintenance schedule:

Week     Mon.     Tues.     Wed.     Thur.     Fri.     Sat.     Sun.
1             6 mi.                   5 mi.                            10 mi.
2             6 mi.                   5 mi.                            12 mi.
3             5 mi.                   5 mi.                            14 mi.
4                          3 mi.                    5 mi.     3 mi.              RACE

The absence of a 20-miler kind of freaks me out but the last thing I want to do is be overly fatigued or worse yet get an injury before my sister’s race. This is definitely one race I wouldn’t miss for the world!!!

Have you done a short training session for a race? If so please share what you did.

RMFR

So many times we get caught up in our training runs that we forget how enjoyable running can be when we put all that other crap else behind us. Such was the case with me last week.

Coming off what I considered a somewhat disappointing Rock-n-Roll Las Vegas Marathon, I was entering a runner’s low. I took off the whole week before starting up training for the Walt Disney World Marathon. I needed a recharge and it came with snow.

Las Vegas occasionally gets snow every winter and this year has been no different. Instead of putting in a short easy run to get the muscles firing again, I put on the trail shoes and headed up to the white fluffy stuff. Overnight, mother nature had deposited a nice dusting of snow up in the foothills. Since running in snow is something I don’t get to do that often, this was a situation I had to take advantage of!!!

I had my Garmin but didn’t look at it once. Instead I let myself blend in with God’s creation and tried to take everything in. I stopped. I walked. I even thru a couple of snowballs. When I reached a point to turn back, I took photos. I even took the time to call my dad and share with him the beauty that surrounded me. This was running for the pure enjoyment of it. I didn’t care what my mile splits were. I didn’t have any goal except to be one with the moment. Yes, my batteries are recharged and I’m going to try and remember that running IS enjoyable. If it’s not any fun, why do it?

RMFR

Where the Party Meets the Pavement. That’s the claim offered by US Road Sports & Entertainment Group and their series of 8 half marathons spread across the U.S. On Sunday, January 10, 2010, the 13.1 Marathon® Series will launch their latest half marathon in Los Angeles.

For one week only, you have the opportunity to win free entry to this inaugural event. Simply comment on this post and remember to enter your first and last name and an email I can reach you at. On Christmas Eve no less, we’ll choose someone at random and that person will receive a comp registration code!!!

I’m seriously disappointed I won’t be able to run in this event (I’ll be at the Walt Disney World Marathon) as the Santa Monica area is one of my favorite places.

(from press release)
13.1® Los Angeles will bring a fun and unforgettable race experience to one of Los Angeles’ most popular training grounds. Beginning and ending amidst ocean views along the Santa Monica Bay, the course will head South through iconic Venice Beach before heading East to Culver City, and returning to finish on hip Main Street in Downtown Venice. (click here for course map)

Both first-timer friendly and perfect for marathoners in training, 13.1® Los Angeles will offer a scenic and festive run along a closed course with fully supported aid stations, live entertainment, and medals for all finishers. This themed race celebrating the best of Los Angeles encourages participants and spectators to wear costumes and enjoy a race “Where the Party Meets the Pavement”.

If you don’t win the free entry, don’t worry, registration is open and priced at $70 thru January 3rd, it’s not going to break your wallet.

Bring on the comments runners and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Before I get into the review of the Rock-n-Roll Las Vegas Marathon, I would like say my thoughts and prayers go out to Eric Reitman’s family and friends. Eric collapsed shortly after finishing the half marathon and was rushed to an area hospital before passing away later that evening.

I waited all year for this event. Devine Sports that put on the previous 3 Las Vegas Marathons was mailing it in. When I heard The Competitor Group was coming in and making Las Vegas one of their Rock-n-Roll series of races I was “all in” – and they didn’t disappoint.

With temperatures in the low 30ºs I opted for wearing running pants and long sleeves (ol’ blue) with Under Armour underneath. Luckily (or not) the temperatures didn’t get any higher than the mid 40ºs and I didn’t need to worry about shedding gear.

There were nearly twice as many people (27,000+) as the year before and you could feel the excitement in the air from the minute you arrived at the starting area. For those of you running in this event in future years, duck into Mandalay Bay to stay warm before the race!!! With so many people, I was worried about crowding in the corrals but overall it wasn’t bad (at least in the back). In the future, I would hope they would monitor the corrals or at least set up barriers between them. I met a really nice couple from Canada and chatted while we struggled to stay warm. That’s one of the really cool things about races is that you can strike up a conversation with just about anybody!!!

They promised “something never seen before” at the start. For most of the crowd, I think it stayed that way!!! Parachuters drifted in the dark sky with lights on their feet and landed near the start (ummm, OK). Anyway, the local broadcast of the event was displayed on the huge Mandalay Bay video board. For us in the back who couldn’t hear anything (note to the organizers, put speakers in the back corrals) it was cool to watch the elites and first waves of runners take off.

Spanning Las Vegas Blvd. was a huge stage that housed a Blues Brothers band with showgirls and white tigers flanking each side of the start line. The wave start implemented by the race was genius. Even though it took me a half hour to start, it eliminated a lot of the crowding you usually get at the start of the race. It also helped when we reached the hairpin turn that brought us back on the other side of the strip heading north.

As with most races, runners were shedding gear along the first two miles. The funny part was that about the same amount of runners were scrambling for gear on the road to put on!!! You’ve never seen so many uncoordinated outfits in one race.

Running up the Las Vegas strip is just plain cool. I could describe each hotel and attraction but they’re all spectacles in their own way. To be honest, there was so much going on in the first 4 miles it’s sort of a blur. The one thing that stood out was all the Running Elvi and the runners getting married at the Paris Hotel. By the time I got there, the Elvi were already serenading the couples.

With both sides of the strip closed to traffic, it was fun to see the elites coming at us in the opposite direction. I had heard a lot of complaints that seeing runners coming at you would “demoralize” the other runners. It was just the opposite. As the front runners of the marathon and half marathon passed, they were cheered and encouraged by all of the back-of-the-packers. I hope they got lift from us because I saw a bunch of running forms improve in our mass of humanity – mine included!!!

Once the route entered the older downtown area things were starting to thin out a little. At this point, the marathoners and half marathoners were still running together. With 20,000 doing the half, I was eagerly awaiting for the course to thin out.

At about 10 1/2 miles, we broke from the strip and started our trek out west. Las Vegas is a valley with the strip at the bottom which meant a good part of our middle distance was slightly uphill. Once we hit Twain Ave., it didn’t take long to get used to the incline and I don’t think it bothered too many runners.

At the halfway point, I was slightly ahead of my goal pace in 2:07:23. I’ve never been “on pace” in my life and I immediately had thoughts of grandeur!!! Thoughts of a 4:15 finish were in reach – but not for long.

Miles 13-15 ran south on Decatur Blvd. Some small climbs but nothing as steep as I run in my training runs. At the beginning of this stretch, I was fine. By mile 15, I could have eaten a small child!!! I have no idea what happened but I was starving. I even thought about running into one of the many convenience stores along the route to eat something…anything!!! I had already gone thru 3 gels and was loosing energy fast. Mile 15 was the turn back up the valley on Hacienda. By this time, the fast runners were flying down the hill already, it gave me a small and short lived boost up until the Rainbow hairpin turn. BONK!!!

For me, the rest of the race was a will of putting one foot in front of the other and restraining from trying to steal food off of spectators on the street. There was a gel table after mile 18 but at that point I couldn’t eat anymore GU or Cytomax – I needed way more and it was going to come for another 8 miles.

Big props to all the bands, spectators and volunteers that came out. On more than one occasion I saw a few stages with a crowd of runners rockin’ away.

At the 20 mile turnaround, I had slowed way off my pace and was hoping just to make it in under my previous 5 hr. mark when I was stricken with every cramp known to man. At mile 24 I was able to grab a banana from a half marathoner walking towards us and a Pabst Blue Ribbon from an “uncertified” aid station. Gotta love spectators who show up on the course with beer. Seriously, those 3 people were able to snap me out of my hunger coma.

I was able to put it into high gear for the last mile and cross the line in 4:40:27 – a PR by 21 minutes. Although I had my sites set higher, I was proud to push on thru my lack of fuel and energy. The most important part was I didn’t get hurt. With the Walt Disney World Marathon 30+ days away, my sister would have killed me if I did something where I couldn’t run her first marathon at her side.

I know this is a long post so I’ll make this short. I’d just like to thank the Competitor Group for bringing a Rock-n-Roll to Las Vegas. Everything was great and I can’t wait until next year!!!

RMFR

Like most runners, when things go wrong, we try to figure things out ourselves. With all the running we do, we begin to learn things about our bodies and how things work. Granted, there’s no replacement for a physician’s diagnosis – but most of the time, we can come up with our own.

I took 5 days off recently for a ache/pain/tightness I was feeling in my right ankle. Personally, this injury was something new that I’ve never experienced before. To put it in general terms, it’s an ache I’m feeling on the top of my ankle as it connects toward my shin. It isn’t a sharp pain but sometimes feels like a weakness in the ankle. It doesn’t necessarily affect my running but it’s a discomfort that is unsettling at times.

After some time off, I then went out and put my ankle to the test with an easy 5-mile run. After an easy first mile and no sign of the pain, I mixed up my paces to test it under different circumstance. I didn’t feel anything during my run but it has showed up again a day later. This got me wondering and I did a little internet exploring.

My unprofessional diagnosis is a Superior Extensor Retinaculum Injury. Defined by Podiatry Today, “it’s a overuse injury in athletes where chronic tendinitis can occur above the superior extensor retinaculum in the musculotendinous junction. This condition is closely related to abnormal biomechanics and excessive pronation.” I am an overpronater so this fits right in with the diagnosis. They suggest using the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) treatment for this injury – which pretty much covers 90% of running injuries that I’ve encountered.

As with all injuries, if this worsens, I will seek medical help. Until then I’ll resume my taper and hope that with a little TLC that it will work itself out. After 700+ miles and no previous injuries this year, I guess I can expect an overuse injury. It also has told me that after the Walt Disney World Marathon that it’s time for a little rest before I crank it up again next year.

RMFR

Less than two weeks until the Rock-n-Roll Las Vegas Marathon and I have a concern. After going the entire year injury free I have a pain. It’s not a sharp pain but there’s something up with my right ankle/shin. It occurred after my Friday tempo run and is still bothersome two days later. It’s not the same ankle I rolled last year – 3 weeks before I ran the Las Vegas Half Marathon.

I have run more this year but I’ve spent extra time making sure that I’m taking care of myself to account for the extra mileage. My worst fear would be the beginnings of a stress fracture. With Las Vegas coming up and the Walt Disney World Marathon a month after – I’m treading lightly on this one.

Taking the advice that I usually give, I’m going to take some days off and see how it goes. I’ll throw in a 7-8 mile run in a couple of days and make up my mind where to go from there. Physically I’m ready. I’ve done the work and can probably afford to taper a little early and still be OK.

I can positively tell you with 100% certainty that I WILL BE running both races. At this point and time it’s just a matter of how much pain I will be running them with.

RMFR