Training for 2/28/17

Yesterday, I ran an easy lap around the 5.5-mile loop. I got to wear the newest Zantes for the first time, and I’m happy to say I like them just as much as I liked the first two versions.

Today had this week’s middle distance run on the schedule, an 8-miler, so I went out and ran a lap around the 8.4-mile loop. It was an OK run. Nothing notable.

But, it finished off February for me, so it’s time to sum up the month.

Mileage:

• Week 1 (Feb. 1-4): 24.9 miles
• Week 2 (Feb. 5-11): 67.8
• Week 3 (Feb. 12-18): 24.8
• Week 4 (Feb. 19-25): 53
• Week 5 (Feb. 26-28): 13.9

Total: 184.4 miles

Not bad! If only I hadn’t skipped that last 20-miler, I’d have been over 200 for the month. Oh well.

Overall, it was a pretty successful month. I put in a lot of training miles and ran two races, a 50K that turned out to be long, 32.5 miles, and a 5K that turned out to be short, 2.9 miles.

Tomorrow is the first day of March, which means Shamrock is just around the corner. I’ve made it to the taper in one piece.

Training for 2/27/17

My weekend did not go according to plan.

I guess it started falling apart (I’m using “falling apart” here pretty loosely — there wasn’t actually a disaster) Friday afternoon. Both pairs of running shoes in my current rotation seem to be nearing the end of their useful life, so I wanted to get a pair of the newest New Balance Zantes for my 20-miler. I got a 15 percent off coupon and a $10 gift certificate to VP Shoes at the Algonquin 50K a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to buy them there instead of ordering them online.

After an extremely aggravating and unproductive afternoon of arguing at the DMV, I drove all the way to Salisbury to at least get my stupid shoes. Naturally, VP Shoes had several other pairs of neutral New Balances, but they didn’t have the Zantes. Fail.

Since I didn’t have a pair of shoes I wanted to run 20 miles in Saturday morning, I just did the 10-miler on the schedule for Sunday. Before I left for my run, I called the New Balance store in Rehoboth. They’re owned by VP Shoes, so I could use my gift certificate and coupon there, and best of all, they had the new Zantes and set aside a pair in my size.

I went out for my run. It was stupidly warm here for late February. I mean, 75 degrees and sunny is great, but not when you’ve been running in colder temps up until that moment. It felt like running in an oven. I really wished I’d bothered to bring my water bottle. I wound up removing my shirt when I stopped to use the bathroom about 7 miles into the run. In spite of all that though, it was an OK lap around the 10.1-mile loop.

That afternoon, I went to Rehoboth and picked up my Zantes. I thought I was all set for a good 20-miler the next day.

That evening, Clark and I went to his boss’s house, whose wife is out of town, so he got bored and decided to host a last-minute dinner party. Pepper probably had the best night of his life — he got his very own steak haha.

I did not have the best night of my life. Clark got pretty drunk and really pissed me off, so I left him there, drove myself and Pepper home and stewed about it all night. I did not get a minute of sleep. It might have been the maddest I’ve ever been at him. Definitely in the all-time top three.

Finally, around 5:30 in the morning or so, Clark had sobered up enough that I could talk to him about what he had done that had made me so angry, and I chilled out enough to get about two hours of sleep before he asked me to come back to his boss’s house to pick him up.

After I picked him up, we got breakfast. When we got home, I knew there was no way I was running 20 miles. I was obviously exhausted.

I really intended to go out and do a short run, to at least try out my new shoes, but I just napped instead while we watched pre-race coverage. About two laps into the Daytona 500, I gave up pretending and decided it was going to be a rest day.

The race was pretty good. We had to leave halfway through it to drive to Dogfish Head for the beer dinner, so I didn’t get to see Jimmie stupid Johnson wreck for the third time already this year, but we did get to the brewpub in time to see the last 35 laps of the race. Those last couple of laps were great, and I was happy when Kurt Busch came out on top at the end.

The race ended just as we were being called upstairs for the dinner. Clark and I were with his boss (Clark had bought him a ticket online the night before) and two other couples.

This dinner had been originally scheduled for Feb. 12, two days before Valentine’s Day, so the five-course menu featured supposed aphrodisiacs. There were two appetizers to start, fried oysters and then asparagus tips with caviar; an arugula salad with fried goat cheese, honeycomb and pomegranate seeds; roasted pheasant; and finally strawberries three ways. Each course came with its own beer pairing.

It was an awesome meal, and I think everyone had a great time. I was feeling pretty good myself.

Luckily, one of the people we were there with doesn’t like to drink much, so she just had a sip of each beer and was fine to drive the rest of our drunk asses home afterwards.

The weekend ended on a high note — Kara agreed to do the swim for a relay team in the upcoming Eagleman half Ironman, so I’m going to do the bike, and Dave is going to finish up with the run.

Clark has been trying to convince me to do Eagleman ever since he finished it last June. Obviously I love running, and I liked cycling enough when I borrowed Kara’s bike last spring that I think I could get through a 56-mile ride. But I sincerely dislike swimming, so a 1.2-mile swim sounds about as appealing as watching a highlight reel of every one of Jimmie stupid Johnson’s championship seasons back to back.

This relay is perfect though. I get to try training for something new without having to go through something I already know I hate. And I get to be on a team with my siblings.

I already know what we should call our team: The Runny Schmidts haha.

Looks like I’m going to need to get a real bike. And those shorts with the padded butt, and sunglasses, and clip-in shoes. Geez.

Last year, before he did Eagleman for the first time, Clark rode the whole 56-mile course during a cycling event they hold every May, so he knew what he was getting into ahead of time. I’d like to do that this year.

So anyway, all’s well that ends well, right? I might have completely botched yet another long run this weekend, but I like Clark again, I’m picking back up with training today with a pair of new shoes, my favorite marathon of the year is less than three weeks away and now I’ve got the Eagleman relay to look forward to.

I’m still mad at the DMV though.

Training for 2/24/17

Today, I made up the other half of the run I cut short yesterday. It was another warm, breezy day, but I got out a little earlier, so it didn’t feel as hot as yesterday. I did a very slow, easy lap around the 4.5-mile loop. Actually, I ran a little farther past where I normally slow to a walk for a cool down, to make it 4.6 miles, so it added up to the entire 9.1 miles I was supposed to run yesterday. There, I feel better.

This weekend is the last big mileage weekend before Shamrock, and there is absolutely no reason why I can’t get in all the miles on the schedule.

Tomorrow is the final 20-miler. The weather is going to be fine and I’ve got nothing else going on all day that I know about, so no excuses! Sunday is another 10 miles.

Sunday is also the Daytona 500, and then that evening, we’ve got tickets for a beer dinner at Dogfish Head (five courses with beer pairings.) It was supposed to be two weeks ago, but got postponed for whatever reason.

Training for 2/23/17

Today, I was going to do another nine miles, but by the time I went outside, I didn’t feel like it. It was windy and a little too warm — about 75 degrees and sunny. When’s the last time I got to complain about it being too warm to run in February?

I just did a slow lap around the 4.5-mile loop. Tomorrow was going to be a rest day, but I guess I’ll make up the other 4.5 miles in the morning. Before it gets too warm again.

Tonight is the Can Am Duels to set the rest of the starting lineup for the Daytona 500! It’s almost here!

Training for 2/22/17

Today, I put off running until the mid-afternoon. I wasn’t feeling very motivated to do this week’s middle-distance run, a 10-miler.

It was at least a beautiful day again for a run, shorts and T-shirt weather. But I just never really got into it.

However, I managed to run straight through the whole 10.5-mile loop. It wasn’t smooth, but it was consistent. It’s been a long time since I was able to run that distance even though I didn’t really feel like it, without taking a bunch of walk breaks or letting myself take a shortcut. So that was a positive.

Training for 2/21/17

Early yesterday afternoon, I went out to do the easy 5-miler on the schedule. It was another gorgeous February day that felt more like spring.

Less than a mile from the end of the 5.5-mile loop, I passed a house just as someone was pulling out of the driveway. The car slowed when it caught up to me. Driving was an older guy I’d never spoken to before.

I paused my music to say hi. He was friendly enough. Just wanted to ask if I had any upcoming races. Then he asked where my dog was. I told him Pepper had been sick recently and he shouldn’t run with me right now.

“Well, he’s your protector, isn’t he?” the guy asked.

I laughed and said Pepper might look vicious (he really doesn’t), but if anything ever went down, he’d run the other way as fast as possible. He’s my running buddy, not a bodyguard.

The guy looked truly disappointed I’d tell anyone that “secret.”

“Don’t ever let anyone know that dog doesn’t bite!” he said. “You’re very vulnerable out here, you know.”

Great, this shit again. I informed him I’ve been running those roads for nearly nine years now, and I’ve never felt threatened. There was that one weird old guy who said some things that creeped me out years ago, but the state police talked to him about that and I never heard from him again. I’ve never felt physically threatened by anyone.

In fact, the two things I worry about the most are animals (wild animals or aggressive dogs — I’ve been charged twice by a dog from someone’s yard, but never bitten, thankfully) and distracted drivers. Just recently, I heard about a runner, running on the correct side of the road, against traffic, who was struck from behind and killed by a drunk driver who crossed over the entire road.

Those are things to actually worry about. Not the super statistically rare event of a passing stranger plucking me off the road. Maybe it would be smart to carry a cell phone with me or something, but I’m not going to get a treadmill and cower in fear in my house because I might be amongst the 0.00001 percent of adults who will get abducted in their lifetime if I go outside.

Anyway, moving on. This morning, Clark left really early to drive to Pennsylvania again for work. I got up not long after he left and decided I might as well get today’s run out of the way first thing, before I had to cover an early meeting for work, instead of putting it off until the afternoon (and ultimately taking a rest day.)

It was so cold compared to the last two days’ runs! I was about to complain about it until I remembered it is, in fact, still February, so it really wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

I left right before sunrise. It was a beautiful morning, and I ran another easy lap around the 5.5-mile loop.

Today, I got an email about the Delaware Marathon, the May race at which I was going to pace the half marathon. Turned out they were not able to get enough pacers to fill out the team on such short notice, so there’s just not going to be any pacers there this year. They said they’d remember me for next year though.

Clark asked me if I wanted to do the Crab Run Half Marathon in Cambridge on April 8. It uses most of the same course as the running leg of Eagleman, which is probably why he’s interested. Why not? Looks like I’ve added another race to my schedule.

There’s also a King Crab challenge. You have to finish the half marathon, which starts at 7:30 a.m., in under two hours, and then you run the 5K, which starts at 9:30. It’s only $10 more than just doing the half, and it could be fun. Or awful! Maybe I’ll find out which it is.

Training for 2/20/17

Saturday morning, Clark, Pepper and I went to St. Michaels to run the Love Run 5K, this month’s free 5K hosted by TriCycle & Run. We stopped on the way to pick up one of Clark’s coworkers, Dave.

It was a pretty nice day for a run, not too cold or windy, with plenty of sun. No freezing rain icing over the bike path like the last one of these races Pepper and I ran, in December.

We got there about a half hour before the 9 a.m start, dropped off our donations to the local humane society and got our race bibs.

This was a prediction race as usual; I put down 23:42 for Pepper and me.

We walked down to the start at the entrance of a small subdivision. The course was the same as it’s always been. I tried to start pretty close to the front with Pepper. The fewer people I had to get him around, the better.

We got the start commands and instead of going forward, Pepper immediately jetted right into the middle of the crowd trying to take off. I yanked him back over to the side of the road before he could trip anybody, but that was just the beginning.

Clark ran with Pepper and me, and that was just more fuel for Pepper’s typical lunacy fire. He was SO EXCITED to see Clark out there running too. He wanted to simultaneously be in front and keep checking to make sure Clark was still there with us.

I could not get him to run in a straight line to save my life! He kept slowing down to pee or look at Clark, Clark would run past us, and then Pepper would sprint ahead, with me dragging behind him, to get back in front. He was an absolute mess. Once, near the beginning, he was trying to sprint back past Clark, but almost tripped him instead.

The leader of the race missed the turn for the second cul-de-sac we were supposed to run while in the subdivision, and the rest of us followed. TK later said there was tape on the road showing where we were supposed to be coming back from the cul-de-sac, but no tape showing where we should have turned onto it, so I can’t really fault the lead guy for missing it.

Anyway, after we left the subdivision, we ran to the end of the bike path in one direction, made a U-turn, ran to the other end of the bike path in the other direction, made another U-turn, then ran back along the path, turned off and finished in a small parking lot.

Pepper kept up his routine of slowing to pee, seeing Clark run by, sprinting to get back ahead, etc. Once he even stopped to poop (in the woods this time at least.) I thought that was it, that we wouldn’t catch back up with Clark after that, but nope! Pepper dragged me right back in front of him.

The last half-mile or so, Pepper really started to lose interest. He just wanted to sniff things. I kept yelling at him to go.

We finished the short course in 22:06. TK wore her Garmin and said it recorded 2.9 miles, so I think if we’d run the whole 3.1, Pepper and I still would’ve been too far off my prediction to win anything, but we’d have been a lot closer.

Later that afternoon, we hosted a party for my Aunt Helen’s 70^th birthday. I think everyone had a good time, even Aunt Helen.

On her throne.

I gave her some 70 proof flavored vodka and a flask that says “Old enough to know better.”

Julie gave her photos of her favorite leading men: Tom Selleck, Pierce Brosnan and Chris Hemsworth.

My parents gave her a much larger Tom Selleck poster.

She just read the lines out loud, with no explanation: “The older we get, the better we get! That’s so true! Bite me!” haha. It made more sense once we all saw the card.

Aunt Helen with Kaylee.

Pepper, who wanted me to get out of his spot on the couch.

Julie and the glass bottle of Coke she brought to drink during the party. (???)

Kasey had this cake custom made. (Can you tell Aunt Helen is a big Tom Selleck fan?)

Dreaming of Tom Selleck, I’m sure.

Aunt Helen with her sisters, Aunt Debbie and Aunt Gail.

Plus the brothers, my dad and Uncle John.

Aunt Helen and me, with the demon apparently haunting my house.

Dave, Kaylee and Kasey.

Mom and Julie.

That night, the Clash got rained out and postponed to the next morning.

Sunday morning, Clark got up early and went out and ran the 6.5-mile loop, and then I went out to do my 12-miler before the Clash started.

It was a beautiful day, warm enough for shorts and a T-shirt. I took it pretty easy the whole way, and finished 12.3 miles in 1:48 on the dot, an 8:46/mile average pace.

I got back just in time for the race. It was actually a pretty entertaining race. Jimmie stupid Johnson spun out all by himself twice. The first time, he bounced off another car and was able to gather it back up (though the other car got turned into the wall and wrecked), but the second time, the other car wasn’t there, so Jimmie finally hit the wall. A good start! Joey Logano wound up winning.

A few hours later, they held qualifying for the Daytona 500. Well, just for the front row. Chase Elliott got the pole for the second year in a row, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start second. Everyone else has to race in the Duels on Thursday to set the rest of the starting lineup.

Bobby, unfortunately, does not have even a part-time ride for these restrictor plate races this year.

Clark had gone to Cambridge to go for a bike ride with his former coworker, as they’re both doing Eagleman again this year. Later that evening, I went to Cambridge to meet them for a couple beers at RAR and some dinner at The High Spot.

Today, I’m about to go out and run the easy 5-miler on the schedule.

Training for 2/17/17

Today, I ran a lap around the 9.1-mile loop. It wasn’t quite as good a run as earlier in the week. It seemed like I was a little dehydrated or something. I kept getting side stitches. Other than that though, it was fine.

When I got home, Pepper hadn’t left any surprises in the utility room floor, which was appreciated, but he wanted to go out multiple times over the next half hour or so, to puke. I’m not sure what happened, but he seemed especially upset as I was leaving to run, so I’m wondering if he just got himself really worked up. He’s been totally fine again after he got that out of his system.

This weekend is light on running, compared to last weekend. Tomorrow morning, I’m running another free 5K in St. Michaels. So is Clark and one of his coworkers. I’m also taking Pepper, as long as he doesn’t start puking again. I think he’ll be fine for 3.1 miles. He’s got to miss running at least a little bit.

Sunday, I’ve got a 12-miler on the schedule for this week’s long run.

Other than running, we’re having a 70^th birthday party for Aunt Helen tomorrow afternoon, which she’s already complaining about, and then there’s finally some NASCAR to watch – the Clash is tomorrow night, and Daytona 500 qualifying is Sunday afternoon!

Training for 2/16/17

Man, I just did not feel like running today. Clark and I met my brother for a few beers last night, and for whatever reason, I didn’t sleep well. I mean, I slept plenty, but when I woke up this morning, I felt like I’d barely slept at all.

I kept putting off running, thinking I’d feel more awake later, but that hasn’t happened, so I’m just calling it another rest day.

Something exciting happened though. A running friend I saw at the race last weekend messaged me today, asking if I’d be interested in pacing the full or half distance at the Delaware Marathon in May, in Wilmington. I’ve never run this race, but it was taken over last year by the same group that puts on the Baltimore Marathon, so it’s probably a pretty nice event.

I emailed the guy organizing the pace team, and he said he’d put me down for 1:50 or slower in the half (this race is six days before the St. Michaels half marathon, which I am planning to race, so I don’t think I should run the marathon distance the weekend before, even with a much slower pace group.)

It all kind of depends on whether or not he can get enough pacers to fill the team. I contacted three more of my friends who have pacing experience, and two of them are interested. So it could very well happen.

Speaking of pacing, I’ve also been contacted about doing the half marathon in Ocean City again in April. I just don’t know yet which group I’ll be leading.

Training for 2/15/17

Today, another guy who was taking pictures before and after the race and along the course at the 50K last weekend posted his pictures to Facebook.

Melissa and me at packet pick-up the night before the race.

I think this was around mile 2.

Somewhere in the first half (I smiled at least once!)

Chitchatting with Karen, another runner I’ve met before pacing the OC Half Marathon, in between stuffing my face at the mile 15 aid station.

Arriving at the mile 24.5 aid station.

The only picture of Hadjer (in the skirt) and me during the race, getting ready to leave the mile 24.5 aid station.

Everyone who organized or ran the race at the finish line.

I’m a little disappointed no one got a picture of Hadjer and me finishing together, but I got a lot of good, 100 percent free shots from this race, so I can’t complain.

Today, it was raining this morning, so I waited until the afternoon to run. By the time I went out, the rain was over, but the wind had really picked up. I did an easy lap around the 5.5-mile loop that felt just as smooth as yesterday’s run did. I hope this trend continues.