Long Slow Distance

Time: 120:28
Distance: 16.97 miles
Pace: 7:06 pace

Splits:
8:15, 7:34, 7:12, 7:10, 6:58,
6:41, 7:42, 7:22, 7:14, 7:05,
6:53, 6:50, 6:47, 6:49, 6:43,
6:42, 6:25 (for .97 miles or 6:36 pace)

I'm a little embarrassed that I couldn't manage the .03 to get to 17 miles, but it was a chore just getting to the 2 hour mark. Now that I see it on the screen I should have finished out the full 17 miles, but I wasn't feeling it at the time. Scott Hollingsworth and I put in some time on the feet in the early morning hours. I was out the door at 6:45 am and was hoping to put in 2+ hours so I started off with a trip out to the GT. Carrot Top was running some 1200s out there, but I didn't have much time to chat because I had to make the trip back to pick up the graduate.

I swooped by Holly's house and picked him up around the 45 minute mark. You can see from the splits that when I picked up Scott, who graduates later today, the pace slowed. I was glad to have company but I never felt great during the run. He was feeling a little sluggish too. Usually he's out the door feeling more chipper than both Scotty D and I. Today was not the case and it took him well over 20 minutes for his legs to start feeling good.

I started glancing at my watch constantly around 85 minutes and made the decision that 120 minutes would suffice on this day. It was getting windier about this time and I was glad to have put in 45 minutes before picking Holly up. We are supposed to be getting a cold front this afternoon and it could be nasty by the time the day is over. This partly is why I wanted to get in a longer effort because tomorrow's high is likely to be around 15 degrees. The loop around Irving Middle School was painful, but I was glad to get in the extra minutes. I'll take the recovery day at an easy pace and hopefully will remain on target to hit a hundo.

Who Spiked the Egg Nog?

Time: 60:07
Distance: 8.5+ miles (estimated)

Last night was the annual holiday sweater part over at Scott Hollingsworth's place. It was the usual cast of characters but this time they were all sporting sweaters your grandma found stylish circa '92. The party was relatively tame except for the puppy chow which Jess brought. I think I had a few too many handfulls because by 10:00 pm I was getting tired. We watched part of the Suns v. Blazers game and I was already nodding off to sleep. The body was definitely trying to tell me something.

I stayed over at Holly's and in the morning I ran from his place around town. It was nice starting from a different site but it was hard to know how far loops were going to be. I put just over an hour on my feet before having to rush upstairs to take a shower. The weather was great this morning and the body felt much recovered. I'll hopefully put in a double this evening.

North Base Romp

Time: 82:11
Distance: 12 miles (estimated)

I met up with Hollingsworth and Stephen Pyle this morning along Brooks for a romp through Norman. We ran up to North Base for a few extra minutes of relatively wind-free running. It was cold and I sported my HVAC Seamless L/S aka "ol' 98er" piece for the first time. It was quite warm and 10 minutes in I had to untuck to cool off a bit. I was also wearing an old Brooks jacket from the fall season of '06. It's probably my favorite running jacket I've ever worn and I would have no qualms with it except now that I live in Sooner country, the OSU orange flavor is its only flaw.

The loops around North Base were alright and the pace was quite gentle. I needed it for the first part of the run as my legs are still feeling a bit tender from the effort on Sunday. We dropped Mr. Pyle off at his pad along Hwy Symmes and continued on to Pickard. Holly wanted to pick up the pace a bit so I obliged and we started clipping along. My stride feels much smoother at sub 6:30s than it does at any other pace. I finally started getting cold running into the wind the last 10-15 minutes. It didn't help that I opted to wear pants and my legs had become a little sweaty and now they were getting cold. I was pleased at how the body was feeling by the end of the 80 minutes of running, but I was ready to hit the showers.

Himalayan Adventure

Time: 43:47
Distance: 6 miles

Tonight I went on a run with Scotty D. and Holly from Holly's pad. We headed out Hwy. Symmes and hit up campus with some loops around the track. Nothing occurred during the run worth noting other than the wind. It was pretty real. The final few minutes of my run this morning witnessed the arrival of a northern front that stuck around all day. Tonight the wind was strong out of the north which made running east/west pleasant, and north/south a push/pull type of thing.

We topped off the evening with our 'sticking trip to Himalayas Indian restaurant/buffet. I've heard the Himalayas are where the earth and sky meet. Holly and I had never been to the restaurant before and I'm glad we chose to venture away from some of our other mainstays. I was surprised the naan, chicken tikka masala, paneer, dal, rice and more had a good amount of flavor. Sometimes restaurants in Oklahoma that serve food other than burgers, pizza or steak, dumb down the flavor so that it's not as intense. This may have been partly the case, but overall Himalayas served a great meal for our group of 6.

MNF

Time: 30:07
Distance: 4 miles

Once we shut down the store I suited up with my costume for a run over to Holly's house. He still had the remnants of Saturday night's tailgate lurking out on his back room and he invited Dizzle, Skolnick and myself over to help polish the stuff off. I jogged along the back route behind Westwood Golf Course to Holly's but needed to add on a few extra minutes which I found at the park by the Firehouse Art Center. The legs felt pretty solid this evening. The brew was pouring properly out of the keg and the pizza was cheap and tasty. The game was average at best mainly because none of us cared about the Saints and whoever they were playing. No complaints on the night.

I almost forgot to mention that the NCAA cross country championships were this morning and Galen Rupp had a victorious duel against Sam Chelanga. There are other recaps out there and you'd be better served reading letsrun.com or trackshark.com if you're truly interested in the sport.

Pick Him Up

Time: 58:58
Distance: 8 miles

I ran from the apartment over to Scotty D's abode and picked him up for a jog. I was feeling pretty good after a relaxing day spent mostly at Cafe Plaid. Dizzle and I ran from his house up Pickard where we spotted Scott Hollingsworth. We picked his half-tighted wearing ass up and headed towards my place. It was a convenient loop that encorporated all who partcipated. Just looking out for the sparse Norman running community.

Road to Nowhere

Time: 100:55
Distance: 14.87
Pace: 6:47

I met up with Holly along Brooks St. for a bit of a long run. I had the day off and was able to run later than normal around 9:30 am. It was good stuff as the temps were creeping up from the 40s into the 70s. I still made a regrettable decision by wearing a light jacket during the run. The top two Pub Run finisher headed over to Scotty D.'s house and picked that fool up.

Our group of three went out on Garbage Loop south of Hwy 9 and past the Norman Police Department firing range. There was no action on the day, unfortunately. We spotted a private gravel road with an abandoned farm house and a collective decision was made to run down it. We had high hopes of the road linking up with the other side of Cedar Lane, but it wasn't meant to be. The road curved back past a pasture of Clydesdale horses which were kinda cool in a Budweiser drinking kind of way. I was quite alert at the time because I was certain some farmer was going to come tearing through a field in his rusty pickup wielding a shotgun from the window. Luckily that didn't happen while we trespassed on the road that eventually just ended in a field of hay.

The return trip back into town was nice as the wind was at our backs, but this is when the jacket became a mistake. We were clipping off some pretty decent miles by this point and since I hadn't intended on running so long I was getting tired. The Scotts and I departed ways at Brooks and Jenkins and that's all she wrote. My splits were:
7:55, 7:18, 6:57, 6:33, 7:28 (picked up Scotty's hobbling ass),
7:02, 7:00, 6:46, 6:55, 6:49,
6:26, 6:12, 6:11, 6:07, 5:13 (partial mile) for 100:55 total.

In the evening we headed up to "breadstick" at McNellie's and set a date for the Blowout $450 Tab Party. That's roughly 100 beers for all to enjoy on Friday, December 12 at 7 pm.

Breadsticking Run

Part I
Time: 23:00
Distance: 3.48 miles
Pace: 6:37

Wednesday nights are breadsticking nights and the venue for our outing was Cici's Pizza on Main St. After I shut things down at the store I grabbed the iPod, jacket and headlamp and headed out on the streets in search of pizza. I ran through the neighborhood south of the golf course on Robinson. The streets were dark but I've been enjoying the podcast of a radio station out of San Francicso that I grew up listening to. It's nothing like the Euro savvy mixes that Keith or Owen bang miles out to, but José Melendez pays homage to old school Bay Area artists during his spinnings.

Once at Cici's I took down roughly 12 greasy slices of pizza along with some cinnamon rolls and brownies. Cici's pizza is kind of like Tom McArdle, sloppy at best, but it was worth every bit of my $6.50. Great deal.

Part II
Time: 21:05
Distance: 2.92 miles
Pace: 7:13

Around 9 pm I left our breadsticking establishment and proceeded to roll home. Literally. I was pretty filled up but I was still able to run longer and faster than Tom would be able to. What is wrong with that guy? He never runs. I looks like there could be a good match up in January out in Boston between an Irishman and a fake Englishman. Oh the good ol' days.

Speaking of days, 3 days.

Partially Rainy

Time: 57:29
Distance: ~9 miles

This morning I ran from the Lodge in towards campus to meet Holly along Brooks St. We crossed paths around the bus stop on the south oval and then we messed around in the neighborhoods and on a Lloyd Noble Loop. It was a bit chilly this morning but, more importantly, it was raining during parts of the run. The wind started out of the south which was huge time because had it been out of the north the run would have been miserably cold. At some point during the run the wind switched to the east and the return route to my apartment was frustrating.

Holly was trying to get in a 2 hour run as he plans to run the Phoenix Marathon in January. I think shortly after he dropped me off it began pouring on him. Luckily he planned to sit around the house all day and drink coffee.

T-town Shuffle

Time: 70:53
Distance: 10 miles

The crew of pub runners and myself stayed at Holly's last night and in the morning we decided to go for a little run. The run started out with Dizzle, Holly and Skolnick but it was quickly down to myself and the two Scotty's when someone's knee flared up. Holly showed us a run that wandered around the streets of Tulsa. I didn't realize how hilly the town was, but it was fun getting to run on hills again. Unlike running in Norman where you have to seek out hills, in Tulsa the hills just come to you. We ended up doing a half lap around LaFortune which is a site where a ton of walkers/runners come out to enjoy the outdoors and then we ran a few barefooted laps on a soccer field at Holly's old high school. The run was good and company was great.

McNellie's Pub Run

Race Time: 19:37
Distance: 4 miles (really more like 3.75)

Billy Grona, Stu & Holly post race.

Scotty and I arrived at Holly's house this afternoon where we prepared our stomachs for the McNellie's Pub Run. We met up with Spencer "Spenis" Hunt, Andrew "Skolnick" Call, Scott "Holly" Hollingsworth, and Jessica Eldridge for the race. We headed over to McNellie's Public House where we found several hundred runners and beer drinkers mingling around the entrance to the bar. The characters whom I was with wanted to do an actual warm-up for the race which seemed like a logical option, but terrible idea. My legs weren't tired from the run this morning but I was not wanting to run any unnecessary distance. I think we ran for a little over 12 minutes which could be called 1.5 miles.

Everybody got their costumes on before making the walk up to the starting line. Just moments before the race we spotted some potential hitters and spoilers of our sweep. We spotted Chuck Sloan, Ryan Ripley and Phillip West doing some strides before the race. Strides!? I mean seriously, this was really about the beer.

I should give a little background information about this Pub Run before proceeding with the post. First, Scotty D is the two time defending champion of the race. Second, this race is now in it's 3rd year, but has used different courses each time. Third, Holly is fit and can drink. The rules are fairly simple for those competing in the Guinness Challenge:

GUINNESS CHALLENGE 4 MILE RUN A special category for those walkers and runners who would like to drink their beer before the race is over! Guinness Challenge participants will have to FINISH three 12 ounce Guinness pints during the 4 mile run; one at each water stop and one at the finish line. Male and female Guinness Challenge winners will win $300 (1st place), $150 (2nd place), and $50 (3rd place) house accounts at McNellie’s Pub.

So now that is out of the way I'll get to the race. I lined a bit to the right next to a little older dude with a sweet 'stache and a "got beer?" camouflaged hat, while our Tulsa Run competitors were to the left. Sloan and Ripley got out well and were followed closely by an ambitious Skolnick. I was surrounded by some decent runners including Phillip West, Scotty D., Joel Stansloski, and Stuart Lisle. The first beer station was just after 1 mile, but I caught a glimpse of my watch and the mile mark which read 5:10. Normally that would be a pretty comfortable mile split, but considering it's the fastest (or fattest) I've run a mile in several months, things had the potential to turn pretty ugly. I had my doubts running in for the first Guinness, but luckily I was incredibly dehydrated and my mouth was nearly made of cotton. I was in a group of guys tied for 4th going into the drinking station and I emerged definitively in 3rd. Holly drank the first beer like he needed the nutrients to sustain life while Sloan managed his pint respectably. I had forgotten how thick a Guinness is and really had to concentrate between breaths to get my first beer down. I looped the turn-around cone and reeled in Sloan who was gagging uncontrollably. I immediately lost a bit of respect for this champion triathlete and mountain man from Montana.

Scotty and I just after the first beer coming up on a gagging Chuck Sloan.

Scotty and I were about 30 meters behind Holly at this point and were trying to string things out. Phillip West was right there in the mix with the two Team OK Runner athletes. I think Ripley made a strong push to catch the group of runners challenging for the prize money midway through the 1st and 2nd beer stands, but I can't confirm this. Ripley eventually finished 5th and out of the money, so did Sloan as he was back in 6th.

I, along with West, eventually caught Holly about a half mile from the 2nd beer station. We ran together for a little bit and then I felt the need to shake things up so I took off with a little surge to the front. I was a few seconds up by the time we hit the second beer stop. Holly's training served him well as he drank the second beer quicker than West and myself. He was back to the front with a 20 meter lead while West and I worked together to close the gap. As we rounded the turn near the pub I saw a large overpass that I was convinced was where the course would take us. I was sorely wrong as the lead police officers waved us on to the finish.

The third and final beer was 10 feet in front of the finish line. Holly had a good lead and was almost guaranteed the victory with a solid chug. I was in a good battle for second with West and it was going to come down to who could finish the beer the fastest. I was still hurting from beer number two when the finish line seemed to get thrown at us. Normally a runner wants the finish line to come sooner, but during this race I would have rather had the finish line be a half mile farther off. It was important for me to get second because our crew was relying on a sweep and no worse than a 1-2 finish for a lump sum bar tab of $400. I managed to hold off West and cross the line in second, actually I thought I had a shot at first when the first half of my last beer went down pretty well.

After crossing the line I felt some of the Guinness coming back up and I had the luxury of tasting beers number two and three in my mouth again. I spit my mouths contents out in a trashcan a little fearful of being dq'd but all was good. The team from Nompton safely claimed 1st and 2nd for the third year running. Unfortunately, we couldn't manage a sweep as Scotty was back in 4th, though considering his state of fitness 4th is very respectable. Our attention soon turned to the women's race as we were hoping for Jessica and Cat to finish 1st and 2nd because that would turn things into an $800 bar tab. Things didn't work out as well for the women as both Cat and Jess struggled after beer two. Oh well. Next year.

The rest of the night was a great time. We all enjoyed a few more Guinnesseseseses (Guinnessi?) but in a much more casual way. The laughs were enjoyable, the football was great, the food was good and everybody was happy to partake in the day's challenge.

Me feeling pretty unfantastic post race.

MALE GUNNINESS CHALLENGE

Place Name                   City            St Age Guntime Chiptim
===== ====================== =============== == === ======= =======
 1 Scott Hollingsworth    TULSA           OK  23   19:36   19:35
 2 Jordan Kinley          norman          OK  24   19:39   19:37
 3 Phillip West           TULSA           OK  26   19:48   19:47
 4 Scott Downard          Norman          OK  25   19:59   19:59
 5 Ryan Ripley            Tulsa           OK  24   20:23   20:22
 6 Chuck Slaon            the village     OK  31   21:14   21:13
 7 Brian McKinney         Tulsa           OK  37   21:20   21:18
 8 Cailean Carlberg       TULSA           OK  24   21:28   21:26
 9 Billy Grona            tulsa           OK  26   21:29   21:28
10 Joel Stansloski        TULSA           OK  23   21:38   21:37
11 Lisle Stuart           Oklahoma City   OK  25   21:45   21:44
12 Christian Ballard      norman          OK  36   23:20   23:19
13 Watson Aaron           Ponca City      OK  32   23:51   23:51
14 Andrew Call            Norman          OK  36   23:59   23:57
15 Stillson Darryl        Broken Arrow    OK  50   24:33   24:32

FEMALE GUNNINESS CHALLENGE
Place Name                   City            St Age Guntime Chiptim
===== ====================== =============== == === ======= =======
 1 Jennifer Johnson       tulsa           OK  31   24:22   24:19
 2 Lisa Butler            Tulsa           OK  35   24:37   24:35
 3 Lisa Oliver            Tulsa           OK  25   24:38   24:36
 4 Odell Catherine        Oklahoma City   OK  23   25:35   25:35
 5 Lisa Clark             Tulsa           OK  40   25:39   25:37
 6 Jessica Eldridge       broken arrow    OK  23   25:42   25:41
 7 Renine Stanloski       TULSA           OK  24   26:01   26:00
 8 Eichor Caren           Tulsa           OK  29   27:37   27:34
 9 Patricia Codenhead     Tulsa           OK  46   28:46   28:44
10 Janice Podpechan       Tulsa           OK  46   28:47   28:40
11 Muge Park              tulsa           OK  33   29:21   29:18
12 Kristi Perryman        Tulsa           OK  35   29:44   29:38
13 Staci Benton           TULSA           OK  41   30:55   30:49
14 Landrum Lauren         Tulsa           OK  23   31:20   31:01
15 Renee Chilton          Tulsa           OK  43   31:25   31:21 

McNellie's Pub Training Run & Monique's Cafe

Time: 31:44
Distance: 4 miles

I got off work a little early today when Scotty D came by the shop. We made our way over to Holly's house for a little McNellie's training prior to breadsticking. Holly and Saker were sitting on the porch sharing some scoops when we showed up for the run. There was a big pitcher sitting on the table with something that looked quite a bit like apple juice, it was in fact leftover beer from a keg that was appreciated over the weekend. The flat beer had been sitting in the pitcher since Monday when the keg had to be returned to the liquor store.

Scotty D, Skolnick and I were the only ones who were going to run this evening so we headed out for a short jaunt. Skolnick poured himself a Guinness before starting towards Campus Corner for the first part of our run. It was pretty dark and none of us were dressed in neon clothing so things got real considering the amount of traffic and number of puddles. We took a spin past Monique's Cafe which is where we were going to be dining in a few hours for our breadsticking outing. The place was empty, completely deserted, not a single patron. We looped back by the house and Skolnick enjoyed his beer while Scotty and I tried to drink the apple juice substance. I put the pitcher to my lips, got one taste, spilled more down my shirt, gagged and then handed it off to Scotty. He did a little better than I, but not great. That was rough. Absolutely terrible. I'd rather take a hot shot of whiskey.

The second part of the run was more eventful because a dog started chasing us. It was a friendly dog and just wanted to play, so I tested him out. I took off in a sprint to see how long Mr. Bojangles could hang. The answer? Not that far. I smoked that fool. After watching my brash celebration, Fido trotted back home tired and humbled.

We ended up at Monique's Cafe around 7 pm hungry for some authentic Caribbean cuisine. A crew of 6 started off and it soon swelled to 8. The food was great, but when we arrived there were still no customers. None. Zip. Zilch. People would come, look in the window and then walk over to Victoria's a pasta shop next door. I had the chicken curry roti, Holly had the Caribbean jerk chicken and Scotty had something with pork. Everyone enjoyed the meal including Aldwyn Sappleton. Sapp, as everyone calls him, joined us which brought immediate street cred to our table. It's not everyday you get to dine with an Olympian. The only disappointment of the night was when a fat Jamaican lady with colorful clothing, and a gap between her front teeth failed to greet us at the door with "a wan irie likkle place."

Hurt Tank

It's been quite awhile since my last post because I developed a pain in my right hip/quad. area. The last run I did was on Monday following Owen's departure. I went out for an easy 10 on Dead Presidents with Scott Hollingsworth and the leg never felt great. I managed to get through the run and in the afternoon I doubled with a 5 miler around Lloyd Noble. It didn't feel any better. Perhaps worse.

I decided to take a few days off to see if I could shake whatever was causing discomfort. At that point every time I landed on my right leg I could feel something was not quite right. I'm still not positive if it is muscular or if it's the bone. My freshman year at Brown I had a femoral stress fracture which wasn't any fun. At the time, I had to take off 16 weeks. Most of the time I gimped around on crutches. In this instance, I had to decide that whatever was giving me a problem needed the opportunity to heal.

It has now been a little over 2 weeks and I am able to walk comfortably again. I'm almost certain that my hips are out of alignment and I need to visit a "bone bender." I hope to get back out there soon. It's frustrating to know I was in really good shape and that I would be opening my season at the John Jacob's Invitational on Saturday. I was going to open with a 5k and was hoping to run under 14:20. What is more frustrating is now that the weather is nice I'm not out there with all the fairweather joggers. I trained through the freezing temps and windy mornings to be stuck inside on nice afternoons. Such the cycle.

Morning Run

Time: 42:53
Distance: 6 miles

Ran in the morning from the Lodge to the Mosier Indoor Facility. I left my spikes at the track on Saturday night b/c I didn't want to cool down with them in hand. I had meant to pick them up on Sunday but forgot. Luckily they were still in the corner underneath the tarp where I left them. Last night Scotty D. and Holly agreed to meet on Pickard at 8 so I took a chance and ran over there to see if I could find them. I think I caught a glimpse of them running at the far north end of the street but they were too far off. I only wanted to get in a few miles this morning b/c I will be doing a speed session after class tonight.

The run started off in nearly perfect weather, but ended in complete shite. It was cold but not freezing. More importantly the flags were still. As the run approached 4 miles the wind started to pick up and soon it started to hail. I got back to my apartment and a few minutes later I looked outside to see snow. Not sure how the workout tonight will go.

200s and Donuts

Time: 80:54
Distance: 12 miles

Ran in the morning on the loop that takes me from the Lodge, out to the GT, up to the golf course, back along 24th. Since it was windy I ducked into the neighborhood and ran back weaving east and south until I made it to Brooks St. I ran into Scotty D. and Holly as I was running through campus and learned donuts were still on for the morning. I had to run some 200s at the track so I ended up over there around 60 minutes. Tom wanted me to turn the legs over and run 6 x 200, not worrying about the splits. I hit:

(55.92), 32.92, (57.07), 33.31, (55.75), 32.62, (55.75), 32.50, (56.82), 32.32, (55.61), 31.51 = 8:52.10 for 1.5 miles

C/d back home 12:00.

South Base

Time: 80:17
Distance: 12 miles

Ran from the Lodge through campus and over to Pickard. Met up with Scotty D. and Holly for a little morning run. It was freezing out. First morning I've had to wear half tights and tights. The pace wasn't brisk, the wind wasn't bad and the convo's were good. I learned all about the "Creamers." Our run took us out by the National Weather Center and what is called "South Base." Haven't really explored over there much but it seemed decent. Ran back toward Pickard to drop Scotty D. off and then ran back through campus.