Half Marathon......DONE !!!

Sorry it took so long to post this, but for you folks around Macon, and if you've been watching the news ya'll will understand I have been a lil busy. ( I'm a Crime Scene Investigator....hint hint )

Anyway it's official, I have my first official Half Marathon in the books.

The morning started out brisk and cold. I think the official start time temp was 21 degrees.

I had dressed appropriately enough for the run I was guessing, and then after hearing Tim talk about it, I decided to take at least one shirt off.
So that gave me two pair of tights, and a pair of running shorts and wind pants for the lower half. The upper half consisted of a technical tee ( 2008 LDRR ) , sleeveless tee ( Macon Tracks ), and a long sleeved technical tee and a fleece pullover. I also had a scarf and a stocking cap and convertible mittens.

I never got cold in this outfit and never really got overly warm.

So once the gun sounded me and my running partner for most of the day ( Bo Drinkard ), were off.

We had decided on running the Galloway method, using a 5-1 ratio (5 running and 1 walking ), since this was his first half marathon as well as mine. My longest run since Bartram Forest had been only 6 miles, and the run at Bartram was mixed with limited break periods.

I'm not going to give a mile by mile report, since that would be boring and I'm not that good of a writer anyway.

Some of the highlights of the run:
Bo's 2 minute potty break at water stop one....LOL
Being able to flex for the camera when we saw Tommy on the back part of the flight line.
I was able to stay with Bo for the first 9 miles of the race, then the lack of serious preparation miles began catching up on me, so I let him head on to keep his pace up.

I was able to hook up with a nice lady from Minnesota who was here for the race. She said her name was Sam and she was here working on her running streak that she has kept going since Jan. 26, 1985.........She has ran every MONTH, either a MARATHON or ULTRA-MARATHON since the streak started ( I think we did the math and it came up to 274 ) WOW what a streak !!!

Well my streak started that day with a half marathon at the Warner Robins Museum of Aviation.

I now consider myself a runner.....for life. I want to thank all my friends who helped make this dream come true ( Amy, Tim, Kerry, Dave, Monika, Perry, Alana, Macon Tracks Club )

Now it's time to start training for my first Marathon...........Deb ya ready to push me !!!!

Two Days till my first Official Half Marathon.

Yep only two days till my first official half marathon. I'm coasting till Saturday morning so as not to have any injuries or excuses.

The weather is supposed to be brutal, but who cares, pain is only temporary, right, Finishers Medals last Forever !!!

Stay tuned because the next blog will be as a Half Marathoner !!!!

It's Official....THEY WORK !!!

Well it's official.

It wasn't a fluke.

Last night at the weekly speed workout, those neat little bungee shoelaces did their magic.

I was running a faster pace than I have run in years !!! I was there to just do a few maintenance miles before the Aviation Half Marathon this Saturday.

But I found myself running a lot faster pace than I did before I transitioned to the new laces. I was running 2:00-2:30 a minute faster pace consistently now with the new laces. I even had one lap where my pace would be what it was YEARSSSS ago.

Like I said earlier.........it's amazing what a $7.00 investment can do to help things along.

A lot of blogging to catch up on !!!

Well I have been a little slack about keeping up my blog.

Since my last post a lot has happened !!!

A friend of mine was bound and determined to RUN 300 Miles in one week. Kevin Hatfield "AKA" Superman, averaged 50 miles a day to get those 300 miles. Several of his friends helped pace him during the week and some of us was there at the end. Troy paced him on his bike that last day and then ran the last 4 miles with him. Me, Tim, Mandy, and Amy were there at the finish line waiting on him and Troy. When Kevin finished you should have seen the vertical leap he finished the 300 with. ( I can't jump that high with no running ).

Next came the New Years day run. This is a concept that has been going on for several years, where instead of going out and getting plastered on New Years Eve and not being able to function the next day, you would get up early and meet at Anne Wrights house for a pre-breakfast run and then a pancake breakfast afterward. Man what a neat concept. Anne had maps of routes from 3-12 mile options.
Well me and Tim started off thinking we would just do a 3 mile run and say hey we did it. But peer pressure being what she is, we went almost 5 miles after hooking up with Amy and her brother Bryan and downtown Deb. Once we got back, what an awesome breakfast ! Makes ya wish it was new years day everyday....LOL



Ok the best thing I have to say on this particular post is, I have a Fitness Changing Revelation !!!


I have been plagued for years where my feet would tingle or go to sleep while I ran. I knew my feet swell when I run so I figured my shoes were tied too tight. Well I have always used a technique where I skrunch my toes up to spread my feet out and then tie my shoes real loose. This has worked most of the time to an extent. On my last post I wrote where I ran the old SWAT course. This ran sucked to the max and my calves and ankles were swollen and were sore and the run time was embarrassingly SLOW.

Ok so here comes the revelation.............I have been thinking about getting a pair of those cool little bungee shoe laces. So I went to Run-Fit-Sports and bought a pair of Yankz shoe laces.
My first run after putting these in, was the New Years Day run, and after 4 miles I realized that my feet hadn't tingled at all and my legs felt great and my times were even faster. I have been wondering why my run times haven't been getting better and then I realized, the slow circulation ( since my circulation was constricted at me feet ) is a factor on aerobic capacity, not to mention ( like Kerry said tonight at the track workout ) running with the pain of my feet being asleep will cause my runs times to suffer.

I have been a skeptic about the new laces being a factor, since I have only ran one run using them.
But tonight at the weekly track workout, I realized after I warmed up my pace was 2:00-2:30 minutes faster than my recent 5K pace !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and once again there was no tingling or swelling.

Now I am convinced about these new laces......Buh Bye old laces !!!! Hello Yankz !!! This was the best 7 dollar investment I have ever made. Perry ya better stock up on em cause I'm gonna be singing their praises.


Well 10 days till my first real Half Marathon (Aviation H.M.) ......a few more maintenance miles then it's race time !!!