Going Long

As I mentioned in the previous post, I once again left a lot of miles to be run on the weekend. This weekend, however, I actually ran them. I really need to get some miles in for the Fall 50 and the long runs need to start taking up the bulk of my mileage. Today I was up and out of the house by 9 AM for a run with Parsenn. He doesn't run particularly well in certain conditions, such as hot, humid, early morning, on pavement, sunny days, or cooler, any-other-time-than-early-morning, on trails on overcast days for that matter either. (I know...very poor grammar in that last sentence, but it's late.) While it's tough for me to swallow, he simply isn't much of a runner dog. Luckily, he's very well behaved and a lot of fun to play Chuck-It with, so we keep him around.

Parsenn could do this allllll dayyyy. Running with his dad, on the other hand, has a time limit of roughly 7 minutes.

At any rate (pun intended), I took him out for a short run to start my day. I knew that having him around would keep my pace quite a bit slower. Mission Accomplished, as I ran 2 miles (including two potty stops) in about 17 minutes.

Next, it was on to an out and back loop totalling 14 miles (the Southern part of the map linked to above). I wanted to complete 30 miles today in preparation for the Fall 50, so I knew I had to keep the pace slow. At every mile marker of this particular 14 mile out-and-back I walked at least 2 minutes. Arriving back at home, I was still feeling great and was under 9 minute pace. Doing great!

I reloaded on Clif Shot Bloks and nuun, chugged some gatorade, and hit the roads again, this time for a 14 mile loop. Unfortunately, during the first 6 or 7 miles of this loop, I could feel the fatigue setting in. Still, I kept plugging away and reached a convenience store to refill my bottle with ice water and take in some sodium in the form of a candy bar. It really hit the spot and I was on my way again in a power walk/slow jog. Still, things weren't feeling that great and the thought of calling it a day was crossing my mind. I was about 25 miles into the day and was feeling my left heel a bit, and the positive effects of the convenience store stop and begun to wear off. Discouraged, I decided to call Ellie and tell her I could use a ride home. She, however, did not answer. I guess I'll be finishing my run. About a mile later, an angel appeared along my route.

This angel didn't have wings, though. She was wearing a bike helmet and riding a Specialized Mountain Bike. And she wasn't playing a harp. Instead, she was honking a really annoying bike horn.

Ellie had decided to bike out to me along my route, bringing along Gatorade, Ice Water, and SunBlock. What a woman! I told her about how I had just tried to call, and she suggested we sit down for a bit in the shade and then make a decision. That 5 minute break totally re-energized me! Ellie left soon after on her bike and rode home, returning in the car to pick me up. In the time it took her to get home and drive back, I covered 3 or 4 more miles and actually sprinted to the car when I saw her ahead along the side of the road. It was a great finish. Sitting down in the car, I stopped my watch (which had run continuously since I left with Parsenn in the morning) at 4:50.

After eating and getting cleaned up, I mapped out my run and was pleasantly surprised to see I covered 29.29 miles on the day, for an average pace of 9:54/mile. Not bad! I'm hoping to average 10:45 during the 50 miler, so I was happy to feel as good as I did at a faster pace. Today the legs are a bit sore but I think that may have a bit to do with the fact I got up last night at 1:30 AM to watch Team USA beat Spain for the Gold in Basketball. It'll be an early bedtime tonight.

Mid Week Rundown

Running has again been sparse this week. I have, however, prepared several weak excuses substantial and legitimate reasons for my absense from the pavement.

• 1. Usain Bolt. WOW.
• 2. I'm still basking in the age group victory from last week, which involves me searching the local papers and internet endlessly for posted results, to no avail. I am very suspicious of hacker foul play.
• 3. Usain Bolt. (Hey, he's got two golds, so he can appear twice.)
• 4. The Olympics in General. What I find most humorous is the stuff coming out of China regarding the firewall. Click here and definitely click here.
• 5. Usain Bolt. (He's still got one event left.)

I have managed two runs and a total of 20 miles. Both runs felt good and were at a decent clip. Once again, I'm looking forward to this weekend to get in some serious miles. Ahh, once again putting off the real running until the weekend. Once again, we'll see...

I used to have a picture of myself with an Olympic Gold Medal around my neck. No joke. Unfortunately, I can't find it. The medal wasn't actually mine, but Beau Hoopman's. Beau and I graduated from high school in the same year and it's a privilige to consider him a friend (even on Facebook, so you KNOW we're tight!). In high school Beau was one of those freak athletes, much like Usain Bolt, whom I usually hate because they make sports look easy. (And now he's been compared to Bolt...) I believe he lettered in Football, Soccer, and Cross Country in high school, which is remarkable when you consider all of those sports are played in the fall. He lettered in CC his freshman year, Football his sophomore, and then Soccer his junior and senior year as a goalie. When he was a freshman at the U-Dub, a rowing coach looked at him and thought he looked like a good athlete. Long story short, he's won a Gold in Athens and a Bronze in Beijing, and he's got a sign up on the outskirts of our hometown that reads "Plymouth, WI: Home of Olympic Gold Medalist Beau Hoopman." Really, really cool, and he couldn't be a better guy.

A couple years ago he was the Master of Ceremonies for the Plymouth Christmas Parade (just another little gem in a small town) and I caught up with him after at a local pub. After being polite and asking about his parents and talking about the weather, I cut to the chase and asked to see the hardware. To get to look at and wear the medal was most likely the highlight of my athletic career. Now if only I could find that damn picture!

Beau, if you happen to find this blog somehow, I'd like to let you know I recently won a RoadID bracelet for winning my age group in a half marathon. If you'd like to try it on, just let me know. I'll even snap a photo. Oh yeah, and it's an honor to call you a friend.

An Off-the-Couch PR Near Miss

Hey folks! I've been a bit MIA recently around here. I started working at a new chiro office last week and was overwhelmed to say the least, so I took a bit of a break. Add the fact that my last two runs were really crappy and your result is a small amount of motivation and an even smaller amount of time.
Last night I came "off the couch" and decided my first run in over a week would be the Full Moon Half Marathon here in town. It's a first-year event and is unique in the fact it starts at 7:00 PM and runs into the night. I really had zero expectations for it but decided I'd be very pleasantly surprised if I could average 7:00 miles, but realistically expected to be able to run 7:20s at best. I did a lot better than I was expecting, getting stronger as the race went on, and would now like to present a "How To" for any of you out there that haven't won an age group. Consider it yet another generous public service offered by yours truly. I'm sure it will help some more than others.

How To Win Your Age Group

by nwgdc

• 1. Pick a race in its first year of existence. It hasn't had the time to generate a loyal following or bring the speed demons out of the woodwork.
• 2. Pick a race that has an entrant cap. It's kinda like figuring out your wedding invitation list: You can expect only 75% of your list will actually show up, and 25% will be drunk for the reception (or, in this case, drunk for the 7:00 PM start time. Hey, it's Wisconsin!).*
• 3. This one is the KEY... Make sure the only really really really fast people entered in the race aren't in your age group.

Ta-Dahh! And there you have it, Nic wins his 21-29 age group (widely considered the most competitive age group, of course) in the Inaugural Full Moon Half Marathon with a maximum entrant list of 200. **

As I mentioned, I got stronger and stronger as the race went on and ended up running a huge negative split (7:08 avg first half, 6:51 final pace avg), even avoiding a "chicking" (present-tensed form of being "chicked") by passing "duding" the winning woman with half a mile to go. I finished 5th overall and all 4 runners in front of me were age 19 or YOUNGER! Wow. I can remember what I was doing at age 19...for the most part...and it would have severly impaired my ability to run a 1:27 half marathon.

*By the way, I happened to attend college in a town which holds an annual competition entitled "Blatz vs. Old Style" and find Nitmos' comment regarding both Schlitz and Blatz highly offensive to my personal and state's German heritage. Perhaps reparations are in order. Your call, Mr. NoseInTheAirWhenItComesToGoodAndCheapBeer Nitmos

**That makes a grand total of: 5 age group victories in my career. I won the 25-29 age group last year in the 2 Mile Lake Street Run, and in my freshman year of college I won my age group in 3 different sprint triathlons (I was pretty much the only 18 year old in the competition...see the above criteria...I still display the plaques in my basement, though :) )***

***Notice the double parenthesis at the end. That's intentional and gramatically correct, as the first parenthesis is included in what the young people refer to as an "emoticon" and the second parenthesis acts as a closing. Try to keep up.****

**** Thanks again to Nitmos for the idea of a ridiculous amount of asterisks. By the way, I linked to his website 4 times in this post. Not sure what that says about me...

Mid Week Rundown

Week 2 of actual running has again been positive. I ran 5 miles on Monday with my bro-in-law Doug, who will be running in the Fall 50 on a team with Ellie and my bro- and sis-in-law Curt and Gretchen. Their team name? "50K...wait...50 MILES?!"

I like it, although I also am a big fan of the team "Big Tuna." Last year that same group was named "That's What She Said." There's an award for the first person to name the TV show that this particular team is getting their inspiration from.*

The 5 miler with Doug felt great. I even had some spring in my step going up some of the hills on the way. It may be the first time ever I've really worn Doug out, also. He's one of those real a$$h*1es that is pretty much good at everything--Kayaking, Soccer, Snowboarding, Running, Growing a Beard--and he has always done all this with an effortless Prance--but on Monday he was begging for mercy. And a beer. Personally, it felt great.

I ran with Parsenn on Tuesday and that was just fine, besides when he ran around the opposite side of a mailbox and hung himself temporarily by his own leash, and then tonight I did a hilly 5 miler in a local state park. I ran to the top of Dundee Kame twice and stopped to enjoy the view only long enough to be enveloped by mayflies and mosquitos. They're ridiculous at the moment. This weekend I'm hoping to do my first 20 miler in a while. All systems go so far!

*The "award" is the empty containers which once held my Lyme Disease and Shingles Medications--I have no need for them anymore! Medication not included.
A hint about the TV show: It is the only show (besides "Wipeout") that makes me laugh out loud on a consistent basis.

Please Click the "1 Month 100 Miles" Link on the right and find out what I'm up to this fall!

On Like Donkey Kong

I thought for sure the phrase used in the title of this post was a quote from a movie or had some story behind it. Apparently not.


Oh well...I can remember loving that game back in the days of the Apple IIe. Donkey Kong was a favorite game of mine, second only to Taipan! which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED. Is it around anymore?


This just in.. it's available!


But I digress...I put in a solid 40-some miles this week, with weekend runs of 11 and 17, and think I've finally licked the Lymes/Allergic Reaction/Shingles Trifecta that has been my life the last month. It has not been fun. I pride myself on wellness and I've learned quite a bit from the last month, but I'm ready for a healthy lifestyle once again, and I think it has arrived.


I have found it comfortable running at about an 8:00 pace, but any speed I had is still MIA, so I'm holding back on any real fast stuff at the moment.

So, for the fall running, I want to do some fundraising. Running can be a bit of a selfish habit, but it can also be a motivational tool for others. I tend to get swept up in a project when it inspires me, and this has happened once again. As many of you know, I have a dear friend that has a genetic disease known as NF, and in the past I've run fundraising campaigns for the Children's Tumor Foundation, which is the primary research organization for NF. You'll notice all of my marathons have been run in the NF colors, and that won't be changing. But instead of just running in the colors, I decided I want to also boost my donations to the cause, also. Hence...


www.1month100miles.com/


In about a month, I'm going to run 2 marathons and a 50 miler and I'm looking for sponsorship from my local community (already going a whole bunch better than I ever thought it would). My goal is to raise $10,000 before I cross the finish line in Door County on October 25th.


Most of my training for the fall has focused around the Fall 50, and I'm going to use the marathons as training runs for the "Big One." I may even run to the start of the Fox Cities Marathon (it's a point to point course) and make that marathon about 40 miles total. It's all for a great cause and I'm looking forward to putting in the time contacting local companies and also figuring out how my body is going to handle 50 miles. This is gonna get interesting!

It's On! It's on like Donkey Kong!