Track Work.. UGH !

Last nite, for the 1st time in ages, I did track work.
My schedule called for 4 x 800's, with 2-3min recovery.
I got to our local HS track, and started with a mile warm up. It was disgustingly hot & humid at 5:30pm here, but good news and bad news.. there was a breeze! Good news.. breeze felt good... bad news.. breeze made it tough running!
I started with an easy mile warm up, making sure I was warmed up enough, I didn't want to pull a hammy!
The 800's went by really quickly. I wanted to do them around 3:40, like Yasso's. They were tough, especially the 2nd lap of them.

1. 3:18
2. 3:19
3. 3:24
4. 3:30

After the last 800, I did a mile cool down, and was wiped out! I was really surprised at how hard they were, but I was glad I did them.
I am running a 5 miler on Sat, in Cape May, so hopefully the speed work will help. My schedule says to run 6 @ MP, but I'm going to shoot for a PR. Weather should be good, and Cape May is flat, so we'll see !

2 Weeks down, 14/16 to go !

The first 2 weeks of my fall marathon training are in the books! It has been 2 hot & humid weeks here in NJ! I was lucky enough to be in Wildwood last week, but even still, it was hot & humid the first few days. It's amazing, when you get out to run at 6:00am, and it's 85deg F and 99% humidity!
I still am not sure how I am going to run NYC. I really want the 3:40 in Philly, so I am thinking my plan for NYC, might be to run it leisurely, and try and leave something in the tank for Philly 2 weeks later. Only problem with that is I don't know if I could handle P Diddy or Oprah having a better finishing time than me!


One last thing, thanks for those who have donated to help me raise the $2500.00. I need to run NYC! It is very humbling to have running friends willing to help me achieve my goal.

NYC MARATHON 2010 !!

Guess who's going to NYC to run a little race on the 1st Sunday in Nov ??

The good people at ANRF have asked, and I have stepped up to the plate, and will run the NYC MARATHON for their charity.
I need to raise $2500.00 for the foundation, and while I am not one to ask for money, I would be honored if anyone who reads this blog, or has a family member, friend, or child who has arthritis, would help me reach my goal !
The best thing about ANRF, is that 91cents out of every dollar goes toward research. I don't know of another charity that gives back that much!

Here's the link to donate if you would like.

http://www.active.com/donate/nycmarathon4cure/billscannon

Now I really have to buckle down and run! I am 2 weeks behind, training for NY, and have no idea about a goal time yet, and I have Philly 2 weeks later!

Back in the Saddle again!

Today starts my 18 week journey to my 3rd PhiladelphiaMarathon !

The past 2 years, I have done a Liberman plan, and while it has been effective, I think it is time to change things up a bit.
My goal is a fall 2011 attempt at a BQ time. This year I would need to run a 3:20 marathon, and that's just not going to happen. Next year, I move up to the 45-49 age group, and would need a 3:30. So, the plan this year is to knock 10mins off my time, and hit a 3:40, so next fall I would only be 10mins away. I think it's asking too much to drop 20mins at once.

SO with a 2011 BQ my goal, I have done some research, and have chosen Uncle Hal, and his AdvancedI plan! He spells out everyday a plan/goal to accomplish, and I like the added hills & speed work. I think that will be a huge benefit come Nov. The past 2 years, I have logged miles, and not much else.

The only thing that might throw a monkey wrench into my 3:40 or bust plan, is this little race held in NYC on the 1st Sunday in Nov. I still have a shot at running it, with a charity. I have tried to raise awareness & money for ANRF, and was asked to go to NYC with them to the opening of NASDAQ.

While I was there, one of the board members was asking me to run the marathon for the foundation. While I am all for running it, $2500.00 is a lot of money to raise. I'll know more in the next week or so, if I am in or not. If I do run it, that will be 2 marathons in less than 16 days, and would make me MarathonManiac eligible!

So day one is in the books, and 18 more weeks to go!

2010 EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPS!!

HOCKEY IN JUNE !!! Doesn't get any better!!

I'm still around.... and RUNNING !!

While I have not updated lately.. well, actually it's been months... I am still running.
Here's a quick capsule of what I have been up to ...
Chilly Cheeks trail race.... A trail race in Jan... wearing shorts... it was anything but Chilly !
Ugly Mudder trail race... A trail race in Feb... wearing shorts... it was chilly, oh and did I mention that if you got out of the one lane of trail, you fell into snow knee deep!! I bought a pair of YaksTrax the day before, smartest move ever! They are a must for ice & snow!
Ran a local 5k in March.. again weather played a major role.. at about the 1.5 mile mark, it started to hail, and eventually pour on us!
Ocean Drive 10 miler! perfect weather, winds were challenging as usual, running at the shore in March, but set a 10 mile pr 1:18:xx !
Ran the 1st of 2 1/2 marathons.. Rutgers Unite 13.1. Started out with a hall of fame blogger, TED, with plans of running a sub 1:40, but Ted was too strong, and after trying to keep up with his 7:20 pace, I faded to a 1:45:xx. I have #2 this weekend at the Long Branch 1/2 !
I have one more 1/2 to go, my buddy Shoreturtle talked me into teaming up with him, to run the Superhero 1/2 marathon, as a relay team ! This should be fun. While we are on the same team, I have no doubt that we will be trying to outdo the other one's time for the 6.55 mile legs.

On the marathon front, I entered the lottery for NYC, and did not get picked. No biggie, it just adds fuel to the dislike of NY, from this Philly fan! So, I did the next best thing.. I signed up for another go at the PHILADELPHIA MARATHON ! They say the 3rd time's a charm. I'll let you know come Nov. if that's true.
Here's my marathon goal... I'll be 44 in July, and I want to drop my time to a 3:40. I am going with a new plan, Higdon Advanced I, in hopes of doing this. Next year, at 45, the BQ time is a 3:30, so the plan is to find a flat fast BQ marathon in the early fall, and do it !

So there you have it... I am still running, avg, a little over 100 miles/month.
I will try and finish my 2009 2nd half review and get that posted, and try to keep my blog on the active list!

2009, The Year in Review.. the 1st 6 months

Hard to believe another year has gone by. I had a great year of running, met and ran with some awesome new friends, and set a few PR's along the way. With the good, there was some bad, but all in all, a good, mostly injury free year.

Here's a quick bullet point review for the 1st half:

• 1/1/09 Hamilton Hangover 5 miler.. 1st race since the ankle issues.. PR'd broke 40 min mark, and finished in 39:02.
• 1/25/09 Chilly Cheeks Trail race.. Wow, what a crazy event.. Traveled to Reading,Pa with the HATR's, and never walked so much in a race before.. It was an extremely challenging race.. hills, or mountains, bushwhacking, with running mixed in.
• 2/1/09 Took a road trip with Shoreturtle, to meet up with Joy & Progman, to run part of the NJ Marathon course.
• 2/22/09 Ugly Mudder Trail Race.. Who would have thought that a race could be harder than the Chilly Cheeks, but this was. More hills, and I overheated myself. It was flurring at the start, and I wore too much, and it caught up to me a little over 1/2 way thru.
• 3/8/09 Another road trip with Shoreturtle, this time to Seaside Heights, to run with JoyRun and the world famous Ted ! It was a great run.. 16 miles of fun! And what better way to finish a 16miler, than pizza on the boardwalk.
• 3/21/09 Ran part of the Ocean Drive course, to prepare myself for the race the following week.. The toll bridge was out, heading back into Wildwood, and I had to scheme my way across.
• 3/29/09 Ocean Drive 10 Miler... I invited Shoreturtle to spend the nite at our place in Wildwood. My sister in law came down to run the race with us. It was her 1st 10 miler, and she did great! We met up with JoyRun on the bus, and had dealt with a little misty ran at the start, but the winds cooperated, and it was another PR! 1:20:23. In the span of 3 years, I had knocked off about 20+ mins from the 1st time I ran this.
• I didn't have any races in April, but I continued my long runs on Sunday's, getting ready for the Long Branch 1/2 in May.
• 5/3/09 Long Branch 1/2 Marathon... Another gloomy day for a run! It was spitting at the start, and by the time I finished, it was raining hard! It was an awesome race for me! I didn't know what to expect, and I ran a great race. Crowd support was awesome, and while I hit a little rough patch in the gut around mile 5-6, I hung in there. I ran with the 3:30 pace group, and actually left them with a mile or so to go! Another PR at 1:43:20 !
• The month of May started the 5k race season, and I had a few I planned to do.
• 5/16/09 Great Cape May FootRace 5k.. This was the 1st time I had run this in probably 10 yrs, and they changed the course a bit. One thing they didn't change was the free beer at the finish! This was one of those runs, where I went out way too fast, and payed for it in the end. My 1st mile was a 6:39, and mile 3 was 7:39... pretty bad! I did place in my age group, so all in all, a good day of running! 22:18
• 5/24/09 Turtle Trot 5k... I had a bad few days of running leading up to this race,and had no idea what to expect. I met JoyRun and her family at the race, and all I wanted to do was run a nice even paced race.... Mission accomplished! Not only did I run even splits, but it was my 5k PR! I broke the 22min barrier, and finished in 21:54.
• 5/31/09 Fabulous Feet 5k... This was a nice small local 5k, about 100 runners, and I met up with Jess, who was running this race with her son in the stroller. I wanted to build off the last 5k, and keep the even miles. I did that, and if not for the nice up hill around the 2.5 mile mark, might have even pr'd! I did get a 2nd in my age group, and finished under 22 again! 21:59
• June was more of the same.. logging miles, and enjoying the warmer weather to run in. It had been a rainy spring.
• 6/21/09 Run for Dad 5k.... This is the one race we as a family look forward to all year. They have a "100 yard dash" for the kids to race in, and my boys love doing it. As luck would have it, it was a rainy miserable day! The 5k itself wasn't bad. I of course was back to my old ways and went out way too fast. No PR, and I finished in 22:02!
• There ya have it.. the 1st half of 2009 !