Running Gifts and Running...

I have always been pretty lucky when it come to gifts at Christmas, but now that I am on this crazy running adventure it seems like I get some pretty awesome stuff (this includes other holidays and other gifts - my Garmin 405, camel pack, water bottles, etc...)!

Socks - never liked getting them as a kid, but now they rock!  Who would have thought that getting two pieces of cloth would bring so much joy?

Glide - you can never have too much Glide!  Not sure if anyone ever gave me Glide or any other type of non chafing stick in the past (ok, maybe Vaseline)... 

Energy Bars, Jelly Beans, Vitamins - very cool and a great way to try stuff you may not normally buy.

Running Books - the best!  

My mother in law and my wife gave me the book Once a Runner.  My wife also gave me: Born to Run, The Runner's Rule Book and Pain (the book).  And my sister gave me a subscription to Marathon & Beyond.  How cool is that?

I recently read the book My Life on the Run (Bart Yasso).  It was amazing.  I even read a section to my son and he loved it.  I am now reading Meditations from the Breakdown Lane: Running Across America (the verdict is still out on that one).  Now I am trying to finish it as fast as possible so I can read Once a Runner.  When I was reading Bart Yasso's book I would force myself to put it down for a while just so I wouldn't finish it too fast...

Anyway, I was going to rest over the Christmas weekend but it was too nice out.  I ended up running eight miles on Christmas afternoon.  We were staying with my in-laws who live a few miles away.  I found this great new road to run on.  The developers are making an area called Carolina Park (tons of houses and businesses), but for now there is nothing there except roads and trees.  The temperature was around seventy degrees and even with the clouds it was a beautiful day.  I ran and ran.  I didn't want to stop.  

I did take a day off on Saturday, but I was back out on Sunday.  I ran a ten mile run from my house over the Cooper River Bridge and back.  There were a lot of runners out, but I noticed something odd.  When it's cold out, people are not as polite.  Everyone loves to talk about how nice people are in the south, but that's only when it's warm.  I said good morning to at least twelve people and only one person even acknowledged me!

Today was another cool morning, but it was sunny and there was a light breeze.  I ran six miles in the Old Village to the old Pitt Street pier and back home.  It must not have been too cold because people actually said good morning to me...

Not a race, just a Christmas Eve Morning Run

Not a race, just a Christmas Eve Morning Run...

I ran my five mile tempo run this morning.  It's Christmas Eve and a beautiful day.  It was over 50 degrees this morning and the sun was beating down.

There were a lot of runners out, but one stood out.  I usually wear black shorts and a white top (not sure why, but this makes up most of my running color spectrum).  I recently bought a dark blue long sleeve shirt that I wanted to wear this morning.  You can't wear black shorts with a dark blue shirt, so I put on my only non black shorts which are light grey.  So there I was running in my dark blue long sleeve shirt and my light grey shorts and what should I see running in front of me?  You got it, some guy in the same outfit!  What the hell?  We were running on the same street, about twenty yards apart, at the same pace.  We looked like we were on a team.  He was not aware of this because he was in front of me.  I came close to speeding up my pace just so I could pass him and he would have to think about the chances of this happening, but the turn to my house was coming up and if he increased his pace we would end up running next to each other and I would totally look like I was stalking him.  Such are the things one thinks of when running on Christmas Eve...

Recap for the last week:

Wednesday - 5 Mile Tempo Run (12:43, 7:56, 7:58, 7:56, 10:08)
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Track - 8 x 400 with drills
Saturday - 10 Mile Long Run Over the Bridge(10:03, 9:51, 9:52, 10:00, 8:57, 9:38, 9:33, 9:15, 9:17, 9:05)
Sunday - Rest
Monday - Boot Camp Workout
Tuesday - No workout (had visitors)

Merry Christmas!

Running in December

I love running in December...

Ok, granted it was a beautiful day with the temperature over seventy this afternoon.  After a few cold mornings, it was awesome getting out and breaking a sweat in the hot sun.  I got a little carried away and ended up running nine miles (that's about three more miles than I had planned).

I also changed my route and ran over the Cooper River Bridge.  I love running over the bridge.  Seeing the Yorktown in the distance, watching the tugboats pushing the container ships and seeing all the sailboats circling the waters is just amazing.  Looking up at the sky from the top of the bridge is not too bad either...

I wanted to keep a steady pace today.  The incline on the bridge and the wind made it hard, but I was able to keep a pretty even pace (9:03, 9:05, 9:08, 9:06, 9:07, 8:56, 8:45, 9:08, 9:04).  My legs were a little tired when I was done, but man did it feel good!  I am running a tempo run in the morning and it is probably going to suck, but it was worth it.

I put in some good runs over the last week:

Friday - I was back on the track.  I ran 1200's at below 5k pace with 2 minute rest.
Saturday - I ran with a small group for about 7 miles (9:46, 8:56, 8:58, 8:50, 9:00, 8:44, 8:27) and then ate pancakes!
Sunday - I went out for a six mile run (9:00, 8:50, 9:45, 9:40, 9:08, 9:00) in the rain, I love running in the rain!
Monday - I ran six miles (9:35, 9:32, 9:52, 9:46, 9:25, 9:33)

Friday was wicked cold.  I just wanted to keep running to get the workout over with.  I had a great time on the Saturday Pancake Run.  Nothing like eating pancakes after a run.  Sunday was really crazy.  I was feeling like I had eaten too much on Saturday and just wanted to get out and burn some calories.  I made it to the turnaround point and the skies just opened up on me.  It rained so hard I thought I was going to have to swim.  I'm also pretty sure that a few cars were intentionally getting closer to the larger puddles as they passed me!

The weather is a little crazy, but at least I am still running in December...

www.mooreonrunning.com

Group Runs

Nothing like a group run to get you out of bed at 5:00am...


I know that if I tell someone I will be at a group run I have no choice but to show up.  Its a great motivator when all you feel like doing is rolling over and going back to sleep.  This is one of the reasons Boot Camp is so good for me.  I know that if I miss a day someone from the group is going to email me and razz me about not showing up.  But its even worse when you don't show for a group run with only a few runners.


This morning I woke up for my group run and almost went back to bed (I was not feeling that great).  I had told a friend (Michael) about the run and was not sure if he would show up or not.  I also figured there would be at least ten other runners there so if he did show up it would not be that big of a deal.  That thought only lasted about two seconds...


I got up and drove downtown.  The weather this morning was pretty strange, it was warm and the wind was crazy.  When I got to the gym there were only three other people running (including Michael).  How bad would I have felt if I had slept in today.


We ran five miles, our first mile was a slow warm up (11:51).  Then we picked it up for three miles (8:02, 8:25, 8:21). The first tempo mile was ok, but the last two we were running against the wind coming in from the Charleston harbor.  We finished with a cool down mile (10:19).


I ended up running with Michael the whole five miles and had a great time.  I think I even talked him into running the Palmetto200.  


My other runs this week were on Monday and Tuesday:


Monday - six mile recovery run (10:16, 10:04, 10:02, 9:43, 9:26, 9:15).


Tuesday - six mile steady run (9:36, 8:31, 8:39, 8:38, 9:02, 8:42).

www.mooreonrunning.com

Wet and Cold Reindeer Run

Yesterday I ran the Charleston Reindeer 5k with my son.  It was wet and cold, but we had a blast!

We woke up and dressed for the cold.  Its Charleston, anything under 50 and we are throwing on cold weather gear...

There were a lot of people walking around the starting line with dogs and costumes.  My son was really excited about running the race.  My wife and I had done the Turkey Day Run the week before and he was really jealous (how cool is that?).

The race started and my son took off.  He understands sprinting and walking (he does not get pace yet).  He did the whole race on his own and ended up finishing in 44:46(PB)!  We had so much fun.  We did a lot of short races as we went along and he was laughing most of the way.  He finished fourth in his age group (6 and under) and even got a trophy!

I am getting back into the groove of my training and it feels good.  Here is a recap of my training from last week:

Monday (11-30) - 6 mile run (9:46, 8:46, 8:34, 8:37, 8:46, 9:32) - Downtown in the afternoon
Tuesday (12-01) - 6 mile run (9:54, 9:21, 9:32, 9:18, 9:12, 9:13) - Downtown in the afternoon
Wednesday (12-02) - Rest
Thursday (12-03) - Boot Camp in the morning (2 miles) / 5 mile run (10:13, 7:51, 10:37, 7:59, 9:59)
Friday (12-04) - Track workout (6x200, 6x300, 2x400 + drills) - 4.5 miles total
Saturday (12-05) - Ran the Reindeer run with my son - 3.1 miles
Sunday (12-06) - 6 mile run on the Cooper River Bridge (not much of a workout yesterday so I threw this in for fun (9:59, 9:23, 8:34, 9:41, 9:20, 8:21).

Moore On Running