World Record Wednesday

Time: 42:49

Distance: ~9k

I had an event yesterday in Winston-Salem and certainly had a place to crash, but that fell through. Fortunately, Owen's girlfriend is at Duke Med School and she bailed me out big time with a blowup mattress to sleep on. In the morning, after doing some work, I headed out the door to pick up some distance. My watch was acting a fool and had me running 10 seconds/kilometer. I ran something like 2 minutes and had already covered over 5k. I would have continued on to track my route but the watch was beeping constantly which was annoying as shit. I ended up turning off the GPS and just used the watch as a tradition watch. Who would have thought!?

I ended up finding the kilometers back in a new housing development and nearly got lost but my keen sense of direction didn't let me down. I was back at Katie's house a little after 40 minutes and was able to head off to visit accounts.

Flowin' Owen

Time: 52:42

Distance: 10.63k

Pace: 4:57

Map

I got to run with my old roommate and teammate at Brown this morning. His girlfriend is in Duke's Medical School and is hospitable enough to let me crash when I come to Durham. She informed me last night that Owen was arriving late and we fixed a plan to give him a little surprise upon opening the front door. Anyway, fast forward to this morning, we got to go out and get in some distance together. He had found some trails near Katie's house his last visit and that's where we ran.

It was a little sketchy getting to the trails as the sidewalks in Durham were seemingly designed by Shel Silverstein. Once we got to the trails it was nice to wander around a pond that was an old rock quarry. Owen informed me that the quarry provided much of the rocks that helped to pave Interstate 40. Learn something new everyday.

Meagan's Ready, Achilles Acts Up

Time: 78:13
Distance: 11 miles

W/u: 23:47 for ~3 miles
W/o: 15 minutes up tempo, (3 min recovery), 6 x 3:00 (1 min.), (3:00 recovery), 20 minutes at Meagan's MP
C/d: 8:14

This morning Meagan and I drove over to the parking lot of Bull City Running Co. where the paved side American Tobacco Trail starts/ends. We had her last big pre-Houstaon Marathon workout to complete as it was 10 days out from race day. The workout involved 15 minutes of up tempo running to wake up the legs, 6 x 3 minutes hard to tire out the legs and labor the breathing and then 20 minutes of marathon paced running. Simple enough right?

Splits:
15:00 up tempo (6:35, 6:28 for the first two miles)
(3:00 rest)
4 x 3:00 (1:00 rest) *I only did four as I had to run to the Kroger bathroom and my achilles wasn't feeling great.
(11:01 combined rest as Meagan finished the last two intervals)
20:00 marathon pace 6:11, 6:11, 6:07, 1:33 for final 400m

Meagan never sounded great during the workout, but I'm unconcerned as her fitness is where it needs to be. The early miles at 6:30 pace were more labored than they should have been, but she hung tough the rest of the workout. We were coming through the 800m mark of the 3 minute intervals in about 2:50 each time. The rest was kept short on purpose so that she would feel tired at the start of the final and most important segment. It's nearly impossible to replicate the race day feel of the marathon's late miles. All one can do is learn how to run with tired legs focusing on maintaining form and pace.

My achilles was a little stiff when I woke up this morning and had this not been Meagan's final big workout, I probably would not have run as far or as hard. By the end of the run I had to cut my cool down short. The fleshy part just above the achilles is tight and bothersome. Not good, not good.

Umstead State Park

Time: 57:34
Distance: ~8 miles

This evening, after visiting Raleigh Running Outfitters, TAF Raleigh, TrySports Raleigh, Fleet Feet Raleigh, Bull City Running Co., Inside-Out Sports and Raleigh Running Outfitters in Cary, it was time to go on run number two. We weren't too far from Umstead State Park which is always a great place to run. Again it was Meagan's first time to run here and I ran with her for 3 miles on the way out. She turned and returned back to the parking lot while I continued on for another mile (30:00 on the watch).

I flipped back and upped the tempo just a touch to get back prior to 6:00 pm. There were signs posted everywhere you looked saying the gates are locked at that time. I returned with about 10 minutes to spare. I cleaned up best I could before taking off in the direction of our hotel.

My achilles was alright, but I can tell it's still a little off. The hilly terrain were probably not the best for it on today's morning and evening runs.

Duke's Al Buehler Trail

Time: 45:50
Distance: ~6 miles

Duke's campus has a gem of a hilly ~3 mile trail that loops around the Duke Washington Inn and Golf Course. It's frequented by students, local runners and out of town travelers like Meagan and me. We ran two loops around the trail this morning at a nice gentle pace. My right achilles felt perhaps felt a little strained running up the one monster hill on the backside of the loop. Meagan had only run in the Duke Forest previously so it was cool to show her this great venue.

The rest of our day was spent visiting accounts in the Raleigh and Durham areas.

GORE Gear

Time: 94:37
Distance: ~12 miles

I put on some of my new GORE Running Wear this morning and gave it a solid testing. It was in the low 30s when I started from Sarah Swiss' house. I hit up a new bike path that I ran on with George Linney a few months back. I managed about 30 minutes before swinging back by the house to pick up Meagan. We then ventured onto the American Tobacco Trail and wound up at Bull City Running before making the turn home. I warmed up nicely and felt good by the end of the run.

The rest of the day was spent visiting accounts in Raleigh. I had a great visit with the guys at Raleigh Running Outfitters who recently won the 50 Best Award. The day ended at the Philosopher's Stone where Mr. Matt Jaskot was having a beer marathon. He was the first patron when they opened and stayed all day. It was something like 10:00 am until 2:00 am with a total of 30 beers and a few shots. Don't worry, he's still alive though his liver is in a dark place.

Godiva Track Club & Bull City Running

Time: 56:11
Distance: ~7 miles

This evening I got to run with some members of the Godiva Track Club in Durham. Meagan was conducting a Craft baselayer and Karhu shoe wear test run. A handful of runners got to try out what Craft is all about and feel the ride of Karhu. I was able to tag along and run with the group through the hilly neighborhoods near the Tobacco Trail. The pace was quite brisk given the hour and weather. I believe it was in the low 40s but that didn't stop a few guys from pressing the hills and opening up small gaps on the group. I chatted with Jim who will be running at Club XC on a masters team.

ATT in Bull City

Time: 76:08
Distance: ~10 miles

The morning run took place in Durham again with Meagan and Sarah Swiss. We hit up the paved section of the ATT for about 30 minutes before dropping Sarah off at home. I wasn't feeling fantastic early on, but steadily the body warmed up and I was able to fall into a groove late in the run. Meagan ran strong and stayed right on my hip on the few occasions I tried to drop her.

In the afternoon, before heading back to Charlotte, I got to meet up with Mr. Washburn for a quick lunch near Duke's campus. It was great hearing about the Colbert/Stewart rally that he attended. It wasn't great hearing about his bum knee. However, I think we were both excited to know that Lil' Wayne is free from Rikers and will start dropping albums any day now.

Durham ATT in the Rain

Time: 35:18
Distance: ~4.5 miles

I ran with Meagan this morning from Sarah Swiss' pad in Durham. We hit up a new bike path near the ATT that took us a couple miles from the house. We weren't too keen on running far as the weather was crap and we were under the impression that it was going to be better in the evening. This made our morning run little more than a few miles on the feet so that our legs would be good in the evening.

New Durham Trails

Time: 60:18
Distance: 7.57 miles
Pace: 7:57
Map

I had an early morning run with George a.k.a. Monk on some new trails in Durham. I like how there is a solid trail system in town, but they all seem to be paved. My most recent run with Monk was out at the White Water Center a few months ago. He told me the story behind his trail name which was earned with a group of guys who run in the area. The rules to earning a trail name are you (a) have to run at least three times, (b) have to tell a joke on a run, (c) have to buy everyone coffee. Pretty cool. Also on the run was Sally (Monk's 11 year old dog) who is also known as Bullet or Ricochet. She ran along side of us venturing off into the woods and then popping out a few meters in front, never falling too far behind. Sally completely ignored the barks of other dogs from behind fences or the ones being walked on a leash. If Meagan and I were ever to get a dog, I would want to be able to run with it and for it to behave like Sally.

Jason Page Jaunt

Time: 61:43
Distance: ~8.5 miles
Map

After the run this morning with Sarah I visited a few bike accounts, drank horrible coffee and ate way too much bread from Weaver Street Market. I had a successful showing at Fleet Feet Carrboro and a few Omega Sports locations. During this time I knew that I was going to visit Jason, George/Monk and Kim over at Bull City Running. However, I wanted to end my day there so I could run with the guys once they closed down the store. When I called though, Jason said that he was running at 3:00 pm which was fine, but it was 95 degrees out. Oh well. I manned up and joined him.

Mr. Garmin continues to give me a hard time as not only is the strap broken, but the attachment is busted. I won't even be able to buy a new strap now, I'll have to send it back to Garmin offices. And, to top it off the little bastard couldn't find satellites so the accuracy of the run is off. Jason and ran out, back and around an extra portion of the same trail that Sarah and I did this morning. It was good to catch up with him and hear how the training is going.

After the run I showered up and hit three last accounts out in Raleigh bringing this trips total to somewhere around 24. I killed time in downtown Raleigh making a few quick notes in my work journal and then Sarah arrived from her travels. We had a few pints post some local fashion show that neither of us were on time to view. It was a fun evening in an area of Raleigh that I'm not all that familiar with, but a somewhere I would definitely hang out again.

Durham's Tobacco Road

Time: 40:31
Distance: 5.24 miles
Pace: 7:44
Map

I stayed with the Brooks tech rep last night in Durham. It's big time when you don't have to find a sketchy hotel to stay in and I'm glad to have Sarah as a resource. She took me on a short run from the house to the Tobacco Road Trail that would have eventually brought us to Bull City Running Company. I've run on the paved section several times in the past. On the run I also saw Victor Ornelas who runs for Saucony and works at Fleet Feet Carrboro. I would see him later on in the afternoon when I dropped in to show sandals.