5K rolled into a 10K . . .

Hey all,

It has been a while since my last post. Sorry about that. It has been a little busy around here.


A few weeks ago, I received and email about a 5k being put on by the Fitness Center here. I was stoked. Something to look froward to sure helps the time go by. When I signed in I found out it was actually a cross country event. You needed 5 or 6 people to make up a team. I don't have that many people at work here that are into running as much as I am. They also allowed individual runners to run the course. So I did. It was pretty chilly. But it sure felt good. At the end I heard the race director say that there would be another one the following Saturday. How cool? I think they will be having one a week until the end of November. Which pretty much rules. I ended up getting a shirt last time. But it had absolutely nothing to do with the 5k we ran. It was actually for a 10k they must have had a while ago.

Well, the second one was this morning. I convinced one guy at work to come along with me. He has recently been coming out with me on my daily runs. I told him he might get a shirt out of it. I also had signed up for the Nike+ Human Race 10K. Which was today. So I knew I needed to run another 5K after I was done with this one. The first 5K was great. I ran most of it using the Pose Method. I think that may have actually helped with the loose sand they had us running through. After the race the other guy told me he was tapped out. I said that is just fine, and that he did great. I dropped off something in my room and when I went out to finish my 10K there he was. He said "Let's go finish this." I asked if he was sure and he said he might instantly regret the decision, but at the moment, why not. He sure hung with me pretty well. It was inspiring. We ended the 5K at 25:37. We finished the 10K at 51:37. Not too bad if you ask me.

See you next week.

Until then, get out there and run!!

Holy Blistered Big Toes, Batman!

So, I took the KSO's out for a spin today. They felt great at first. The only downfall I have discovered with them, the seams holding the toe pockets together. The seams are under my toes, and after 1.5-2 miles, it felt like my toe was split open. I got back to my room and showered and had some decent bliters on my big toes. Ouch!

I will continue to walk around in them for sure. I will gradually increase my mileage while running in them. I will most likely swap days between my KSOs and my Sauconys.

More to come in the future.


Get out there and Run!!

KSO's, and a new personal goal achieved!

Ok, so it must be time for an update.

I singed up for, and completed the World Wide Festival of Races: Pheddipidations Half Marathon. I had signed up for the 10k, but I really wanted to do the half. I kept talking myself up for it. I just had to do it.

I finished it in 01:50:05. I was shooting for a sub 2 hour, and I got it. I was pretty happy about that. It was rough. I can't wait to run one at an actual event. Looking forward to my next one.

On another note, I finally ordered some Vibram Fivefingers. KSO's or "Keep Stuff Out".

They came in the mail today. They are pretty weird feeling right now. I am sure I will get used to them soon. If you want to learn more about Vibrams, head on over to Birthdayshoes.com, a site devoted to Fivefingers, and fans of them. Pretty cool stuff really. Here are some shots of the VFFs. Let me know what you think.













One last thing, I am registered for a satellite running of the Valley of Fire Half Marathon in November. It's pretty cool really. PJ over at his blog "Desert Running" (check out the blogs I am following for a link) has been setting up a few satellite races down in Afghanistan and asked if I wanted to be involved in one. I said Hell Yeah! Well, Tracy, the race director for the Valley of Fire Marathon has implemented something pretty cool. Runners, or interested parties can sponsor those of us that are deployed and wanting to run the satellite race. That is just so cool. I am super excited about this race too. I hope it's not too cold then. We will see. I will keep you guys posted on the progress of this.

WWFoR. . .

This weekend is the World Wide Festival of Races. I am gettting excited. I found another guy here who is a runner, and was interested in the race. He signed up for the Half Marathon. Then that got me thinking. I had signed up for the 10k. Should I try for the half? Well, this morning when I was running I decided that if I was going to try for the half this weekend, I should at least run 10 miles. And I did. It felt great. I hope Steve and everyone at WWFoR won't mind if I decide to do that.

I have started up a running club for my squadron here. Kind of short notice for lots of people, and pretty early for most of them too. I don't think I will be having many people out there with me. My lead tech here with me has been coming out to run with me. The first day out he managed to hang with me, running at my roughly 8:30 min/mile pace, for 3 miles. I was pretty impressed since he didn't run a whole lot previously. A few days later, he came out with me again, saying he knew he couldn't go much further than he had two days prior. I thought to myself, "We'll see about that." I figured I would try and test his motivation/drive or what-have-you. Any time he asked how far we went, I lied a little. I told him we hadn't gone as far as we actually had. I was going to get him to 4 miles. At 3 and a half, he said he was done. I told him that if he could make it another half of a mile, he would have gone 4 miles. He called me some names with some choice words sprinkled in there, but he kept going. He was elated when he finished too. He said I was still a bastard, but that he appreciated what I had done. I felt good that I had succesfully pushed him further than he thought possible.

I told him something my father told me many times growing up. "It takes doing something 28 times to make it a habit." So he is determined to run 28 times, to try and make running a habit. I will be with him every day too, to help him along. Just doing my duty in this world, as a runner.


Get out there and Run!

Frustration. . . .

Well, the past two days, I tried out the "nature/running trail" here on base. I don't know if it was the difference in temperature from when I am used to running, or the fact that I was running in sand, or both. But I was dying. I struggled to get 3 miles in on that trail. I was dripping sweat like crazy. I got pretty frustrated with my performance. I ended up with another mile or so on the sidewalks. I kept my pace pretty good I think. I guess that is a good thing that I was able to do that on a trail setting. I was sniffing around some of the Manas websites, and I found a map with 5/10k distances drawn up. I went out there today to give it a shot. I don't know who measured that, but they were wrong. Unless they meant two laps. Which actually, I tried, but had to stop in walk. I barely finished 4 and a half miles. This place is killing me. I'm not sure what the elevation is, but I am certain it's not that much different than Kansas. So that isn't my problem. I think it may be having to wear this suffocating Air Force PT gear. Whoever decided to make the shirts a polyester/cotton blend rather than 100% cotton should be forced to wear this stuff in the same places we do. But I digress. I need to get behind this running block I am having. I may have to start running in the morning again, after work. I'm not sure if that will effect my sleep or not. I may try that next week and see how I do with it.


I am still up in the air about the Vibrams. One thing I hated about running the trail was after only about a mile I already had sand in between my toes. The Vibrams i'm thinking about getting are the KSO's, which stands for "Keeps stuff out". That is pretty appealing to me after getting sand everywhere. Also, the upper portion of them are made of neoprene, and I am hoping that, with socks, they might be fairly warm in the winter time.

Until next time.

Get out there and run!