September-present

It's been about two months since I last posted, so I figured it was time for an update. After a solid August my shin started hurting pretty bad in one spot within a 3 day span. My knee also still hurts from the fall I took on the trails at Mt. Airy back in May (smashed it on a rock). I decided to take 3 weeks off in September to heal up, then hopefully get some runs in so I can at least finish the St. Louis Rock N Roll half-marathon on October 23rd. I got 3 weeks of 15-20 miles in with all 4-6 milers. I decided to help pace good friend Amy Marxkors who would be attempting to run the full marathon in 3:15. The two races run together for 8 miles when they split, so we were to run 7:24 pace for those 8 miles. 6 days before the race I did a fairly hilly 8 miler at 7:15 pace, so at least I knew I could make it to the 8 mile mark with her. The race turned out to be a lot of fun as we just chatted the entire time and had a great water stop at the 6 mile mark where all my former co-workers were working. We averaged 7:18 pace for the first 8 miles and we were off on our separate ways. The last 5 miles I ran in 34:56 with a 6:40 last mile...totally shocked myself. Time was 1:34:11, not shabby for running 50 miles total in the previous 6 weeks. Amy had an amazing race running 3:12 for a 5 minute PR! After the race my knee and shin were hurting pretty bad so I decided to go see an Ortho. He informed me that I have a ruptured bursa on my patella tendon...awesome. I have been doing physical therapy and getting treatment 3 times per week and hopefully can start back up around Thanksgiving. It is hard seeing all my co-workers head out on runs and I am heading home to eat too much food. Soon I will be back out there though! Until then...

January-August 2011 wrapped up

I am taking a 2-3 week break from running to heal up some nagging injuries. So far this year I have had some success and also had some setbacks. I have not done any real races (other than a muddy 5.4 mile trail race in May and the Hyde Park Blast 4 miler in June) which is kind of a bummer, but hopefully I am starting a base that will lead to successful and injury-free trail running next year. The biggest mistake I have made this year is running on the road too much. We live in such a runner-friendly community in Cincinnati that it is hard not to hit the streets when there are so many people out running. Once I start back later this month I will not be running on the roads at all. Strictly trails and grass for this guy. I have some pretty nice trails and parks to pick from even though a couple of them are a 30-40 min. drive from home. Luckily I will now have a set work schedule in Newport, KY and will be able to plan my runs accordingly. Here are my stats so far this year. The end of March and beginning of April were bad because of a hip injury and part of June was bad with a knee injury that I am still trying to heal.

January: 160 miles-Notable run was a 14 miler around Hyde Park at 7:22 pace.
February: 168 miles-Notable run was a 15 miler on the bike path at 6:54 pace.
March: 83 miles-No notable runs.
April: 61 miles-Notable run was a very muddy 1 hour and 23 minute trail run at Mt. Airy.
May: 129 miles-Notable run was a 10 miler on the bike path at 6:47 pace.
June: 95 miles-Notable run was a workout consisting of 2 miles in 11:46, 5 min. rest, then 1 mile in 5:34.
July: 133 miles-No notable runs because it was 100 degrees this entire month.
August: 159 miles-Notable run was a workout consisting of 15x400m with 90 seconds rest at 75-76.

Total for 12 months last year was 1,059 miles (20.3 miles per week). Through 8 months this year I am at 988 miles (28.5 miles per week). The best thing is I have lost 13 pounds since the beginning of the year!

Week of 8/21-8/27

Sunday-0 miles: Hanging out in Madison, WI.

Monday-0 miles: Travelling back from Madison to Cincinnati.

Tuesday-6 miles (45:15-7:32 pace): Forced in this run after work. Felt bad and awkward from not running the last couple days. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

Wednesday-6 miles (43:30-7:15 pace): Same route and same time of day as yesterday, felt much better. Pretty warm out, but it is supposed to cool off a bit tomorrow after this line of T-storms rolls through.

Thursday-6.5 miles: Headed across the river for a track workout in Ft. Thomas. After a 1.75 mile warmup I did 15x400m with 90 seconds rest. Ran times of 78,76,76,76,76,76,75,75,76,75,76,75,76,76,75. The last 4 reps got pretty tough as far as breathing goes, but my legs felt really good the whole way. Also did a 1 mile cooldown. Once again another solid track workout!

Friday-0 miles: Took an off day and just hung with Carrie after work.

Saturday-7 miles (50:14-7:10 pace): I headed to the bike path for an easy 7 miler. I wore a new pair of Asics Nimbus Limited Edition. They seem to work perfectly, my aches and pains were almost gone. Even though I only have 240 miles on my old Nimbus, it is amazing what a new pair can do.

Week of 8/14-8/20

Sunday-0 miles: off because I am way too sore from the Mudathlon yesterday.

Monday-9.5 miles: AM-5.2 miles (40:01-7:41 pace) felt horrible, worst run in a long time. I think everything is just sore from the Mudathlon still. I was going to run 6 miles, but cut it short since it was so slow. PM-4.3 miles (31:52-7:24 pace) at Clear Creek Park on the grass. Felt a bit better than this morning, but still not great.

Tuesday-6 miles: Track workout in Ft. Thomas, KY. After a 1.5 mile warmup I did a ladder consisting of 1600m (5:34), 4 min. rest, 1200m (4:05), 3 min. rest, 1000m (3:22), 2 1/2 min. rest, 800m (2:39), 2 min. rest, 600m (1:56), 90 sec. rest, 400m (74) followed by a 1 mile cooldown. I beat all my goal times and felt pretty good doing it.

Wednesday-7.5 miles (53:45-7:10 pace) on the bike path. Knee was hurting pretty bad the whole run, so I will probably take tomorrow off and do a short run from the hotel outside Chicago friday morning. A little warm, but still a gorgeous day today.

Thursday-0 miles: Rest day and driving to a suburb of Chicago after work.

Friday-3 miles (23:11-7:43 pace) in Schaumburg, IL before Carrie and I drove the rest of the way to Madison, WI for the weekend.

Saturday-2 mile warmup for the Madison Half-Marathon. Race was supposed to start at 7:00am, and after the national anthem all 4,700 people were on the starting line in downtown Madison. At 6:52am the announcer came on the speakers and said the race is being delayed indefinitely due to a bad storm cell moving in and we all had to find shelter someplace. I ended up in a hotel lobby a block away and sure enough a bad storm with rain, wind, and lightning came rolling through. I waited for an hour then decided to run through it back to the parking garage. Carrie and I came here this weekend to visit her brother Tim, and I didn't want to waste half a day waiting for this race to hopefully start. They ended up starting it around 9am, but of course I wasn't there. I looked up the results and only 2,800 people finished. Almost 2,000 people left because of the weather. Oh well, there will be another day and another chance.

Totals
Miles: 28
Time: 3:26:30
-Horrible week in mileage because of the two day taper and the race not happening Saturday. I will not be running Sunday or Monday either because of the trip and driving back to Cincinnati. Tuesday I will be back at it.

Week of 8/7-8/13

Sunday-13 miles (1:30:53-6:59 pace): Went to the Little Miami River Trail for my first long run in about 2 weeks. The first 8 miles averaged 7:07 pace and the last 5 miles averaged 6:47 pace. I felt real good and thought about going farther, but with a half in 2 weeks I didn't want to overdue it just yet. Today's run gives me 57 miles in a 7 day span, first time I have done that many miles in a week since 2005 when I lived in Connecticut.

Monday-0 miles: Taking it easy after yesterday.

Tuesday-6 miles (42:43-7:07 pace): Worked from 7am-7pm today and headed to Clear Creek afterwards for some grass running. My knee was hurting again, but the pace was still decent without much effort.

Wednesday-11 miles: AM-Went to Ft. Thomas, KY for a track workout. After a 1.5 mile warmup I did 6x800m with a 3 min. rest between each. Goal was to run 2:40's, ended up running 2:40, 2:38, 2:39, 2:39, 2:39. 2:37. On the 5th one there was a lady casually walking in lane 1 while talking on the phone. I let her know she was dumb and she immediately left the track. The one other guy running on the track, an older fella came over and thanked me. PM-5 miles (37:12-7:26 pace): I finished the track workout this morning at 11:30am and started this run at 3pm. I wanted to get it over so I could meet up with a friend from home in Bellevue, KY for some brews at 5pm.

Thursday-9 miles (1:04:35-7:10 pace): Ran from the house around 10:30am to Eden Park and back to Oakley Square for an extra mile at the end of the run. Felt pretty good, wanted to go a bit longer because I only had time for one run today.

Friday-7 miles (47:27-6:46 pace): Went to the Little Miami River Trail after work around 7:30pm for a really good run. The first 3 miles were at about 7:05 pace which is about when my legs started loosening up. The last two miles I involuntarily started chasing some casual bikers and ended up running mile 6 in 6:23 and mile 7 in 6:20. Funny thing is it felt really good. Maybe I can get close to 1:25 in the half next week?

Saturday-3.1 miles: Ran the Mudathlon this morning with about 20 co-workers. I would say I ran an easy 8:00 pace when I was actually running in the race. There were 40 obstacles in the race which was wild. I suggest anyone do one of these races if you ever get the opportunity...tons of fun! Even though I was just having fun with it and joking around the whole time I ended up finishing 28th out of about 3,600 folks.

Totals
Miles: 49.1
Time: 5:48:02

-Solid step in the right direction. I was hoping to get into the 50's this week in mileage, but that will come soon enough. The more miles I run the better I feel which is a very good sign. Looking forward to the Madison Half-Marathon next weekend. I am treating it as an up-tempo long run, so no real expectations other than to have a good time. Here is a song from the John Butler Trio, a band that some friends and I saw in Covington, KY last week.

Week of 7/31-8/6

Sunday-0 miles: This seems to be how I start every week. Dad and my brother headed back home this afternoon, and when I got home from work I just spent time with Carrie since she is leaving for Wisconsin on a work trip tomorrow for three days.

Monday-11 miles: AM-6 miles (43:25-7:14 pace) before work from the house. PM-4.5 miles (32:37-7:14 pace) at Clear Creek on the grass followed by 8x100 barefoot strides.

Tuesday-8 miles (1:03:46-7:58 pace): Worked in our Loveland location for the first time this evening. After work I ran 3 miles with co-workers Ryan and Sarah at about 8:30 pace then did another 5 miles solo on the bike path at about 7:40 pace. It is kind of funny because Sarah and I chatted about all the places we like to run in St. Louis since she is on the Wash U. cross country and track teams.

Wednesday-12 miles: AM-1.5 mile warmup, 3200m (11:48), 5 min. rest, 1600m (5:37), 4 min. rest, 800m (2:42), 3 min. rest, 2x400m with 90 sec. rest (79, 76), 1.5 mile cooldown. The 2 mile sucked, but everything else felt pretty good. PM-5 miles (36:13-7:14 pace) at Clear Creek, last mile barefoot. I stole that idea from Michael Burke.

Thursday-0 miles: Tired and sore. Went to see The Head and the Heart as well as The Decemberists tonight which was a ton of fun.

Friday-13 miles: AM-7 miles (50:25-7:12 pace) on the bike path. Legs felt sluggish the first 3 miles, but loosened up quite a bit after that. PM-6 miles (41:26-6:54 pace) from the house. Felt pretty good.

Saturday-off: Worked and had date night with the lady. Went to dinner then saw Cowboys and Aliens. It was awesome! Carrie even said she liked it!

Totals:
Miles: 44
Time: 5:18:32
-Finally got the miles up a bit, and managed to do it with just 4 days of running! If I can just add a long run to this I could get close to 60 mpw soon. The knee is feeling a little bit better which is a good sign.

Week of 7/24-7/30

Sunday-0 miles: Just went to work in Newport and hung with the lady in the evening.

Monday-11.5 miles: AM-7 miles (48:58-6:58 pace) on the bike path around 11am. Felt pretty good. Thought about going a bit farther, but knew I was running again this afternoon so decided not to. PM-4.5 miles (32:49-7:17 pace) after work at Clear Creek dodging soccer games the whole way. Felt pretty good for my first two-a-day.

Tuesday-7 miles: Went to Ft. Thomas for a track workout with a solid group, seven of us I believe. The workout called for 2 sets of 400m at 75-77 with a 400m jog rest between reps and 4 minutes between sets. I did the first set all in 77, then after the 4 minute rest did the 7th in 75. I then started struggling and ran 79, 82, and 81. I called it quits then and did a 1.5 mile cooldown. Not where I want to be, but much better than last week.

Wednesday-0 miles: off, tired and sore.

Thursday-10 miles (1:12:46-7:16 pace): Went to Lunken Airport to run for the first time around 9am. It was already near 90 degrees. The problem I quickly learned about this flat 5 mile loop on a bike path is that there is NO SHADE. I did the first loop in 36:38 and the second loop in 36:08. I was planning on going 12-13, but it was way too hot out there. I doubt I will be back out there until it cools off a bit.

Friday-7.5 miles (54:12-7:13 pace): Ran at 8am before work because my dad is driving up from Louisiana to hang out with us for a long weekend. When they got here around 8pm he said he had a surprise for me from home that is is the back of the truck in the camper top. He said it started with a "C" so of course I was thinking crawfish or boiled crabs. He opens the back door and my brother Craig pops out and scares the crap out of me. Good one dad. We then started drinking beer, and lots of it.

Saturday-0 miles: Carrie and I took my dad and Craig around town to the Findlay Market, then to Hofbrauhaus in Newport, KY. This place is awesome! I will be coming back here to drink one of the huge one liter steins. Had dinner at Terry's Turf Club, the best burger joint in Cincinnati. They were actually on "Diner, Drive-Ins, and Dives" a while back..here is the video from that show. One of the best burgers I have ever had.

Totals
Miles: 36
Time: 4:17:52

Week of 7/17-7/23

Sunday-0 miles: Felt like I needed to give my knee a break after 5 straight days of running.

Monday-7 miles: Went to Clear Creek Park for some grass running. Covered 6.5 miles in 46:50 (7:12 pace) followed by 8x100 barefoot strides. Ran at 3:50pm and it was pretty hot out. This was the only time I could get the run in  though, so I considered it time spent working on my tan.

Tuesday-6 miles: Went to Ft. Thomas, KY for a track workout with co-worker Marc. At 7:30pm when we started it was still 95 degrees! I decided to attempt his workout with him, even though I doubted I could finish it. After a 1.5 mile warmup we did 1,000m (3:27), jogged 100m then did 3x200m also with 100m jog recoveries in 38, 39, and 40 seconds. We jogged 400m then repeated this. The second set we ran the 1,000m in 3:22 then 3x200m in 39, 39, and 38. After jogging another 400m I paced Marc for the first lap of his 3rd 1,000m in 80 seconds then I stopped. It has beena long time sinceI have done a workout with that short of recoveries. I added some barefoot strides on the football field and did a 2 mile cooldown. These Tuesday evening workouts at 7:30pm in Ft. Thomas are going to be a weekly tradition from now on. Running with faster people can only make you faster!

Wednesday-9 miles: AM-Did an easy 4 mile loop from the house in 29:58 (7:29 pace) then headed into work. After work I went to Clear Creek for a 4.5 mile run in 32:28 (7:12 pace) and 8x100 barefoot strides. 86 degree weather felt like air conditioning!

Thursday-9 miles (1:03:21-7:02 pace): Went to the bike path in Newtown just after 9am and could not believe how hot it already was. When I finished it was 90 degrees with a heat index of 102 degrees! After the turnaround at 4.5 miles I looked like I had jumped into a swimming pool. The scale said I lost 4.5 pounds on this run...awesome. I did manage a 6:49 and 6:44 last 2 miles without even realizing I was picking up the pace.

Friday-4.75 miles: Went to Clear Creek and ran 4.5 miles in 32:36 followed by four strides. I wanted to watch the Tour live this morning since it was the last mountain stage and I didn't have to work until 3pm. This meant I had to run at 1pm when there was a heat index of 110 degrees, dumb. At least the sprinklers were shooting out on the soccer fields!

Saturday-0 miles: Worked until a little after 5pm then we had the Arpin's and Hadaways over for dinner. Good times, especially my choice in youtube videos. Carrie loves watching youtube.

Totals
Miles-35.75
Time-4:15:15
-Not nearly as many miles as I wanted to get, but the heat made it pretty difficult. Hopefully the temps will drop a bit next week and I can get some longer runs in. Hopefully next week I will be able to get 50 miles in with a better effort on the track on Tuesday. On a side note, anybody who is interested in reading a hilarious blog check out my friend Brian Gregg's take on being a first time dad at age 45. It is HYSTERICAL! I think my favorite line so far is: "I haven’t glanced at one parenting magazine. If something goes wrong with my kid, I can Google it!"

Week of 7/10-7/16

Sunday-0 miles: Hung out all day in New Orleans with my family as well as Matt Carroll and his parents. Flew back this evening and got home around 1:30am, exhausted from the crazy weekend!

Monday-0 miles: Luckily I had a short day at work and was done at 3pm. I honestly still felt hungover from Friday and Saturday's extravaganzas. Tomorrow I will start back with the running grind.

Tuesday, 85 degrees-6 miles (44:32-7:25 pace): Worked from 9:45am-7:45pm today and then headed out for an easy 6 miler up Madison to Woodburn and back down to Oakley Square then back to the house. About a mile into it co-worker Brian ran up behind me and joined for about 2.5 miles where he stopped at the store to head home. My knee was hurting pretty bad during the whole run which worries me since I haven't even run in the past 4 days. I really need to get back on the grass and stay off the road.

Wednesday, 90 degrees-6 miles (5.5 miles in 39:38-7:12 pace, 8x100 barefoot strides): Went to Clear Creek Park to run on the soccer fields, and surprisingly my knee didn't hurt at all! I plan on making the effort to run out here most runs, even though it is pretty boring and has no shade.

Thursday, 85 degrees-6 miles (5.5 miles in 38:35-7:01 pace, 8x100 barefoot strides): Same run as yesterday, a little bit cooler which made the run a little easier.

Friday, 91 degrees-6 miles (5.5 miles in 38:56-7:05 pace, 8x100 barefoot strides): Again, same boring run except it was pretty hot today. The good news is my knee has not hurt much at all the past 3 runs.

Saturday, 84 degrees-11 miles (1:17:00-7:00 pace): Went to the Little Miami River Trail for my first long run in 2 weeks. The first 4 miles I was running about 7:15 pace and was feeling kind of dizzy. After that I started feeling pretty good. I noticed from 4 miles to the turnaround at 5.5 miles I was picking up the pace without even knowing it. I ended up going out in 39:35 (7:12 pace) and coming back in 37:25 (6:48 pace). Very happy with this run.

Totals
Miles-35
Time-4:06:41
-Good week considering I only got 5 runs in. Next week I am hoping to bump the mileage up to 50 per week with a track workout on Tuesday evening across the river in Kentucky. 5 weeks until Madison!

Week of 6/26-7/2

Sunday-0 miles: No running today, had way too much fun at the wedding in Oxford, OH last night. I just can't keep up like I used to. Had a nice little visit from Nicola in the afternoon before her journey back to Louisville. Took a 90 minute nap and still went to bed early.

Monday-10 miles (1:10:17-7:01 pace): Decided to punish myself today for the drinking I did two nights ago at the wedding. Did a very hilly loop (1,216 ft. elevation change) that included running up the long 2 mile hill up Erie and Observatory almost to Ault Park, Edwards Rd. to Grandin Rd., and a bunch of other lovely inclines and declines. First day of work at Bob Roncker's Running Spot, largest inventory of shoes I have ever seen. Everybody that works there seems to be awesome and love what they do, which is the kind of place I am looking to be a part of.

Tuesday-0 miles: Sore from the run yesterday and was on my feet for 9 hours today, so took the day off.

Wednesday-6.9 miles (48:59-7:05 pace): Ran with co-workers Matt and Brian after work around Oakley, Mt. Lookout and Hyde Park. It is pretty awesome to actually have people to run with!

Thursday-6.1 miles (5.6 miles in 41:23, 8x100 strides): Went to Clear Creek Park to get some grass running in. Felt pretty good, just taking it easy. Did some barefoot strides afterwards which felt nice.

Friday-11 miles (1:18:49-7:10 pace): Went to the Little Miami River bike path for an out and back 11 miler. At the turnaround my shorts and shoes were already completely soaked due to the crazy humidity. Even though I was running by 9am, it was already 85 degrees. The last 2 miles I was struggling and really didn't want to be out there anymore. I did this longer run today because I knew I probably wouldn't get any running in this weekend.

Saturday-0 miles: Worked until 4:30pm then Carrie and I headed to Pittsburgh to visit her family for the weekend.

Totals
Miles-34
Time-4:02:08
-Last week I did 35 miles in seven runs, this week I did 34 miles in four runs. The quality is getting there, now I just need to work on the volume. With going to Pittsburgh this weekend and to the wedding down in Louisiana next weekend it may be a little bit longer before I can really up the mileage before the half-marathon in late August.

Week of 6/19-6/25

Sunday-6 miles (43:53-7:18 pace): Ran down Madison to Woodburn, turned around and headed back down to Oakley Square and back home. The knee didn't hurt too bad which is a good sign. The week off seems to have helped.

Monday-6 miles (41:29-6:54 pace): Same route as yesterday, but faster. I didn't look at my watch the whole time, just went on feel and it worked out well.

Tuesday-6 miles (41:12-6:52 pace): Did a different route today, up Marburg towards Ault Park, then down to Mt. Lookout Square and back up to Hyde Park Square. Again I didn't look at my watch until I was done and the pace was pretty decent.

Wednesday-5 miles: Went to Seven Hills School for a track workout. I wanted to do some longer reps to see what kind of shape I am in. I planned on doing 2 miles (11:40-11:45), take a 5 min. rest, then do 1 mile (5:40-5:45). In the 2 mile my half mile splits were 2:57,2:57,2:56,2:56 for an 11:46. It was nice getting a pace locked down and just rolling with it. The one mile went even better. I hit splits of 82,84,84,84 for a 5:34. I was toast after that, but hopefully this will give me something do build on over the next 8 weeks before the half-marathon in Wisconsin.

Thursday-4.8 miles: Met the Greater Cincinnati Trail Runners for a nice, hilly loop. I ran with Mike Rioux and another guy, can't remember his name. It was good to be back on the trails.

Friday-1.7 miles: Pretty tired from the past few days, so I just jogged 1.5 miles on the track and did some strides. Hopefully I won't be this tired tomorrow morning!

Saturday-5.5 miles: I ran Hyde Park Blast 4 miler this morning. It is a pretty huge race through Hyde Park (half mile from our house) with about 3,000 participants. Here are the results. This was not an easy course, 545 feet of elevation change. My goal was to get close to 6:00 pace, but really had no idea what I could do. I ended up running splits of 6:02,6:17,6:13,6:17 for 24:49 and 40th place. I tried not to get chicked, but 3 of them got me in the end.

Totals
Miles: 35
Time: 4:09:18
-Pretty solid week of running. I didn't get a long run in this week, but that will be back next week. It's good that my knee is holding up a little better, but is still sore after all my runs.

Week of 6/12-6/18

Only ran once this week. On Thursday in Blue Ash I did a 3/4 mile warm up, 3 mile tempo (splits were 6:10, 6:08, 6:02), then a 3/4 mile cool down. My mom flew into town for the week. I couldn't take any time off work, so I spent all my free time with her and Carrie. It was good seeing her, first time since Thanksgiving. Luckily both my parents will be at Jimmy and Megan's wedding in 3 weeks down in Thibodaux, LA! That should be a heck of a time.

Week of 6/5-6/11

Sunday-9 miles-ish hiking: Drew, Jason K., and I headed to the Red River Gorge for some hiking. We left Cincinnati around 6:15am and didn't get back until 9:00pm. Long day, but tons of fun. We even did a little bit of trail running while we were out there! I am not going to count this in my total miles, but it was a great workout.

Monday-6 miles (42:44-7:07 pace): Ran at Clear Creek after work and it was pretty hot, about 90 degrees. It was the first time I have run out there while soccer games were being played. This made the run go by pretty fast since there was actually something to look at.

Tuesday-0 miles: Long day at work and soreness from Sunday is kicking in.

Wednesday-6 miles (42:05-7:01 pace): Ran at Clear Creek again, this time at 8:45am before work. It was not as hot, only 78 degrees, but it was humid as all get out.

Thursday-9 miles: At 9am I went to Seven Hills School for a track workout. After a 1.5 mile warmup I did 10x400m with 90 seconds rest (80,76,74,73,75,75,75,74,72,75). Other than being hot and humid it felt pretty good. I did a 1 mile cooldown and headed to work. 6:30pm-We had our first summer speedwork workout at Fleet Feet which I am helping coach. I just ran easy and totaled about 4 miles.

Friday-0 miles: Spent  the day getting the yard/house ready for my mom to come into town tomorrow.

Saturday-0 miles: Worked all day then hung out with Mom and Carrie on the deck for a bit. Went to Teller's for dinner then to the Madison Theater in Covington, KY to see The Head and the Heart perform. My mom may have a new favorite band!

Totals:
Miles: 21 running, 9 miles hiking
Time: 2:28:30 (running miles)
-After the second run on Thursday my knee was hurting pretty bad. Since my mom is in town for a week I will probably just take off from running to spend as much time with her as possible and to hopefully heal up this knee.

Week of 5/29-6/4

Sunday-0 miles: After 7 straight days of running on a bum knee it is time to take a day off.

Monday-0 miles: Took today off because Carrie and I were at her Aunt and Uncle's house in Loveland, OH all day stuffing our faces with delicious food. I have not been this full in a long time!

Tuesday-6 miles (43:25-7:14 pace): Went to Clear Creek Park before work for a very hot and humid run. My knee didn't hurt too bad, the two days off seem to have helped a bit.

Wednesday-6 miles (41:51-6:58 pace): Ran at the same time as yesterday, 8:45am, at the same effort and ran quite a bit faster. About 4 miles in an old guy cutting grass on a riding lawn mower stopped me to tell me I shouldn't run along the back treeline because there are coyotes back there. You have to love old timers!

Thursday-6 miles: I attempted my first track workout in 3 months today. After a 2 mile warmup I decided to do 4x800m at 2:50 with 3 min. rest and 4x400m at 80 with 90 sec. rest. I have no clue what shape I am in, so these times seemed attainable. I ran the 800's in 2:48, 2:45, 2:39, 2:35, then two 400's in 74 and 75 which is where I stopped because I was running WAY faster than I had planned. I didn't want to overdue it and hurt myself again. At least now I know where I am and can plan workouts accordingly. Also did a 1.5 mile cooldown. I was jealous of the people barbecuing on the side of the track the whole time.

Friday-0 miles: Knee is pretty sore, along with everything else after yesterday's workout.

Saturday-0 miles: I wanted to run, but decided to rest up for our all day hike in the Red River Gorge tomorrow.

Total:
Miles: 18
Time: 2:06:44
-Pretty lame week mileage wise with only 3 runs. I am happy none of it was on the road and I got my first track workout in. Hopefully this knee issue will go away soon. I am pretty sure it is from the fall I took on the trail at Mt. Airy a couple weeks back.

Week of 5/22-5/28

Sunday-3.7 miles: Flew back from Orlando today and wanted to get a run in before the bad thunderstorms got here. By the time I got to Mt. Airy the sky was pretty dark, but there was no rain and no wind so I figured I would be ok for the 5 mile loop. About a mile into the run it start raining a little, but it felt good since it was 80 degrees. About 2 miles in it got so dark I could barely see the trail and the wind started picking up a lot. At about 3 miles it was getting kind of scary so I took a cut through trail to the ridge road. The second I stepped onto the road the rain started coming down hard. Because of the crazy winds the rain was basically coming sideways and stinging pretty hard, especially since I had no shirt on. One the lightning started I got kind of freaked out. I looked down at my garmin at one point and I was running about 5:50 pace. Accidental fartlek workout I guess! I dove in my car and headed home.

Monday-5 miles: Went back to Mt. Airy to run on a very nice day, but it was so muddy and slick from the rain last night I could barely keep a decent pace. I was going to run farther, but I was dead after one loop.

Tuesday-5.3 miles: Ran at 9:30pm around the neighborhood. Night runs are always kind of fun.

Wednesday-4 miles : Ran with Robert around Hyde Park. Knee is swollen and hurting pretty bad. I didn't want to run on the road, but it was nice to actually have somebody to run with.

Thursday-7 miles: Went to Clear Creek Park after work for a run on the grass fields to hopefully give my knee a break. After 2 miles I saw a thunderstorm rolling in, and roll in it did. After about 3 miles of sideways rain it passed, the sun came out and there was a double rainbow. It was actually a pretty nice run.

Friday-11 miles: I was going to do a track workout today, but I thought a longer run would be better for me. I went to the Little Miami River Trail for an out and back. I ran at a casual effort and averaged about 7:15 pace. After the shorter runs this week it was good to get a little volume in.

Saturday-4 miles: Ran in the neighborhood after work and the knee was killing me. After running 7 straight days I think I am going to take one or two days off and try to heal this up.

Totals:
Miles: 40
Time: 5:07:27
-Decent increase in mileage this week, but hopefully my knee is not a casualty of it. I did four runs on the road this week which isn't good. Next week I plan on running on the grass at Clear Creek Park more even though it is VERY boring.

Week of 5/15-5/21

Sunday-12 miles: AM-Headed to Mt. Airy for my first trail race, a very low key 120 person 5.4 mile race in very sloppy conditions. After a 2 mile warm up we hit the trail. I ended up finishing 10th overall averaging 7:58 pace, pretty good considering everybody was sliding all over the place in the mud due to rain that had fallen the previous day. PM-Did an additional 4.5 miles around the neighborhood just before dinner. Shins are sore, but feeling pretty good otherwise.

Monday-10 miles: After work I was not in the best mood (fairly rare for me) and decided to head to the Little Miami River Trail, fairly flat with only 460 feet of elevation change). Ended up having a solid run with splits of: 7:11, 7:05, 7:06, 7:02, 6:46, 6:43, 6:43, 6:32, 6:27, 6:17 for a 6:47 average. I was shocked at how good I felt, especially since I went at 7:00/mile effort for the first 7 miles. Great run, but it may be the last of the week since we are headed to Florida for a couple days.

Tuesday-0 miles: Bad weather, work, and packing for vacation.

Wednesday-0 miles: Flew to Orlando and went to Hollywood Studios for the afternoon/evening.

Thursday-0 miles: Animal Kingdom the first half of the day, sat by the pool for a while relaxing, then headed to Downtown Disney for dinner and drinks.

Friday-0 miles: Magic Kingdom all day, then took a ferry to the Fort Wilderness Lodge for dinner, then back to the hotel for 10 hours of sleep.

Saturday-0 miles: Epcot from 9am-7pm, then took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom for some more rides and the Projection/Firework show. I have to say, the Projection show they did on the castle was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life. Absolutely amazing how they do that.

Totals:
Miles: 22
Time: 2:43:53
-Only two days of running due to vacation, which is fine with me. We were walking the parks for 10-12 hours a day which I consider cross training...sort of. The two days of running were pretty solid though, so now it is back to the grind. Congrats to Michael Burke for finishing his first 50 mile race out in Washington coming in 8th place overall with a time of 7:21:44. That is just motivation for me to get the trail miles up! Here are two photos I took with my phone at Disney. The first is on the Test Track at Epcot when we got up to 64.8 mph in this little car! We may have rode it more than once :-) The second is of Carrie going through the door of our Toy Story themed hotel.

Week of 5/8-5/14

Sunday-6 miles: Brad Bullock came by the store when we closed so we could do a run around Blue Ash and Montgomery. He ran for Northern Kentucky University and is an assistant coach at Fairfield High School. It looks like I will also be an assistant coach there for cross country in the fall. He said they are expecting about 40 boys and 40 girls on the cross team, so it should be a lot of fun.

Monday-5 miles: Headed to Clear Creek Park for a morning run in the tall wet grass. Felt very sluggish and achy for whatever reason. I am loving this warmer weather!

Tuesday-6 miles: Bought a pair of Asics Nimbus 13's today, and they felt GREAT on the road. The weather was great...80 degrees has never been so enjoyable. I could do with a little less humidity, but it beats the rain we have had all spring.

Wednesday-0 miles: Took today off to rest up.

Thursday-9.5 miles: Headed back to Mt. Airy for a longer trail run. For the first time in forever, it was almost completely dry! About 7 miles in I clipped a rock and I went flying off the edge of the trail. I ended up banging both my knees on rocks causing one of them to bleed pretty bad. I walked for a couple minutes, then continued running (only had 2 miles left). Later in the evening I headed to Ault Park to throw the football with fellow Fleet Feeter Drew and my left knee was about twice as big as my left knee. Awesome.

Friday-0 miles: Knee is still very swollen.

Saturday-0 miles: One more day of resting knee. Trail race at Mt. Airy tomorrow!

Totals
Miles: 26
Time: 3:21:00
-Did not get a lot of miles in with only four runs because of the fall I took on the trails on Thursday. I was hoping to get close to 40 miles, and next week I won't be running much because Carrie and I are headed to Florida for 5 days. The trail race tomorrow will be a good test, especially since it will be plenty muddy from the rain we have had on Friday and Saturday. Here is a picture when I got back to my car after the run that I fell on.

Week of 5/1-5/7

Sunday-3 miles: Went down to the 11 mile mark of the Flying Pig Marathon to run with various people from Hyde Park Square up the Paxton Rd. hill and back. Also went down to the 22 mile mark at the Fleet Feet cheering section to run with people again. Hit up IKEA afterwards for some bedroom furniture. Mr. Allen, I curse you for inventing the allen wrench!

Monday-9.5 miles: Headed to Mt. Airy around noon for a tough, muddy run. For whatever reason I felt like I was struggling, especially on another trail I attempted to "explore" which turned out to be a death march coming back up through the muddy, rocky valley. Note to self, do not take that right turn again.

Tuesday-0 miles: Took today off, pretty tired from yesterdays run.

Wednesday-5.5 miles: The roofers showed up pretty early to finish our roof. I decided since I did not have to work until noon to venture to French Park for some muddy trail running on new trails. There are not a lot of trails in this park, but they are pretty technical. I even had to cross through ankle deep creeks about 8 times which was kind of fun. At work tonight Jeff Galloway came to speak and I have to say he is a really good speaker. Bad part is I didn't get home from work until 10pm, but it's all good.

Thursday-6 miles: Once again I didn't have to work until noon, so I decided to cut the grass in the backyard, then go on a run on the roads from the house. It was such a nice morning I had to take advantage of it.

Friday-0 miles: Worked from open-close then headed to The Pub to meet up with Carrie, Rachael, Rusty (aka James, aka Hammer), Kendall, and Ben for drinks and cheese balls. Good times talking about sporadic trips to Vegas and kayaking.

Saturday-11 miles: Headed to the Little Miami River Trail for the first time since my 15 miler on Feb. 25th. I did an out and back 11 miler hoping to run at least 7:15/mile pace. I ended up averaging right at 7:00 pace and felt pretty good doing it. Splits were:
1-7:07
2-7:11
3-7:12
4-7:05
5-6:55
6-6:58
7-6:55
8-7:00
9-6:54
10-6:57
11-6:51

Totals
Miles: 35
Time: 4:47:11
-Was able to get 5 days of running in and up the miles a bit. The long run on Saturday felt good, hoping to keep that increasing over the next couple weeks. Here is a photo of me after Monday's trail run at Mt. Airy and another photo from a Starbucks in Kentucky across the Ohio River from Cincy (pretty cool view of the city).

Week of 4/24-4/30

Sunday-9 miles: Headed to Mt. Airy in the early afternoon for some fun in the mud. I did one of the usual loops, got a swallow of water and explored one of the cut through trails which worked out very well. This is my first long run since starting back and it felt pretty good.

Monday-5 miles: Warm 77 degrees out this afternoon, love it. Headed to Mt. Airy after work for more hilly mud running. Legs were a little tight/sore from the longer excursion yesterday. Overall a pretty nice recovery run.

Tuesday-0 miles: Legs are pretty tired and the weather is horrible, so I decided to take a day off. Worked late and hit the hay pretty soon after getting home.

Wednesday-10 miles:Beautiful day today and I didn't have to go to work...perfect combination! Another trail run at Mt. Airy, actually decided to do the normal loop backwards. It is amazing when running a trail in the opposite direction how different everything is. I even took a wrong turn and added on some mileage that I had not planned on doing totalling 7.5 miles. I headed over to the track afterwards and jogged a mile, did some drills, then some strides, then jogged another mile for another 2.5 miles.

Thursday-0 miles: Took off today, legs are pretty sore from basically running twice yesterday.

Friday-0 miles: Another rest day, thinking about running on the road after work tomorrow for the first time since mid-March.

Saturday-6 miles: First road run in forever. Ran through O'Bryonville and back then through Oakley Square and back home for 6 miles in 41:07 (splits were 7:08, 6:57, 6:57, 6:49, 6:36, 6:37). I haven't run faster than 8:30/mile pace on the trails, but it obviously builds strength! Back to the trails tomorrow.

Totals
Miles: 30
Time: 4:14:44
-Ran one more day than last week and finally got some decent runs in. Looking forward to doing more of the same next week, hopefully 5 runs and about 35 miles. Here is a photo of the most expensive running shoe I have ever put on my foot, the Mizuno Prophecy. I will say, I have never worn a shoe that felt like this.

Week of 4/17-4/23

Sunday-0 miles: Carrie got back from Nashville today, so instead of running I wanted to just spend some time with her.

Monday-6.6 miles: Mt. Airy was finally dried up a little from no rain for 48 hours. I explored the Cedar Trail, not a good idea. It is basically a 300m drop straight down the side of a ridge, then comes right back up the other side.

Tuesday-0 miles: It was raining pretty bad all morning, so I skipped the run and just headed into work.

Wednesday-5 miles: After the crazy rain/wind storms yesterday and last night I headed to Mt. Airy after work today. There were tons of trees down along the trails, not to mention it was sloppy as hell. I tried to move as much of the branches/trees off the trails as I could, but there were some trees down that I wouldn't even be able to wrap my arms around.

Thursday-0 miles: I left work at 5pm and would have liked to go to the trails, but the grass needed to be cut in a bad way. Does cutting grass for 2 hours count as cross training?

Friday-4.8 miles: I left work around 6:45pm and headed to Mt. Airy right in the middle of a pretty bad thunderstorm. I decided to brave the weather and get the run in anyway. The trails were like ankle deep flowing rivers the whole way. There was one stream I had to cross that was about shin deep...good times! I even sat in a puddle afterwards to wash off some of the mud off before driving home.

Saturday-0 miles: Worked all day, then headed straight to a concert afterwards...so no running.

Totals
Miles-16.4
Time: 2:24:38
- Not a lot of miles and only 3 runs. The hip is feeling good though, no pain. Next week I can hopefully get more runs and more miles in, even though this rain is supposed to continue throughout the week. Congrats to Michael Burke who finished 2nd in the Wildflowers 50k trail race in a huge PR of 3:55!

Saturday 4/16/11

It was cold, windy, and on/off rain today...perfect weather for a trail run! Headed to Mt. Airy for some fun in the mud. Ran about 5 miles trying not to bust it, which I almost did once by clipping my toe on a fallen tree while running down a slippery hill. That would have been a stellar face plant. The University of Cincinnati ROTC people were out in the woods in full camouflage gear practicing how not to get lost in the woods (I am guessing). I am just glad they realized I am on their side. Headed to my favorite restaurant in Cincinnati...actually up in Mason, The Wildflower Cafe for dinner with the Hadaway clan. Once again, delicious! It is pretty quiet around the house this weekend with Carrie being in Nashville for the bachelorette party. Looking forward to her coming back tomorrow!

Tuesday 4/12/11

Headed to Mt. Airy Forest this morning for another trail run. After about 14 hours of rain it was pretty sloppy. Also the temperature was about 45 degrees cooler than Sunday! Everything was going good, just trying not to fall down on the muddy trails when about two miles in I twisted my right ankle pretty bad on a rock. I hobbled around on the trail and finally loosened it up enough to where I could start running again. Then about four miles into the run I did the same thing to my left ankle. This one was not nearly as bad, but needless to say I wasn't very happy with myself. I should have been watching more carefully. In all the run was 4.8 miles in 43:15, pretty slow pace with the mud and twisted ankles. Otherwise it was a great run. Jeff Wells, owner of Fleet Feet Louisville came in today to train us on how to educate customers on Trigger Point Therapy. Pretty amazing what it can do for people!

Monday 4/11/11

Woke up today to the threat of some pretty bad weather. It rained pretty hard, but not too much wind like what was predicted. I had off work today so as usual I bummed around drinking coffee and while watching CNN and Sportscenter. The only two places I went today was to Kroger to get supplies so I could make jambalaya tonight and to the Blue Ash Recreation Center which I joined two weeks ago. I have started lifting weights 2-3 times per week which I haven't done in a couple years. I have to say I am really enjoying it. I took the day off from running as I don't plan on running back to back days for a while. For dinner tonight I made the jambalaya with andouille sausage rather than smoked sausage and the verdict is that it is better with smoked sausage.

Sunday 4/10/11

After a hiatus to heal up everything I headed out to Mt. Airy Forest for a hilly, muddy trail run. I have not run at all for two weeks and ran close to nothing the three weeks before that. Needless to say, I was huffing and puffing every step of this run. Of course my first day back is also the hottest day of the year so far, about 87 degrees. The good news is my hip did not seem to hurt at all. Being off the road and having a fresh pair of shoes helped. In total the run was 4.7 miles in 40:48 (8:41 pace). Mt. Airy along with Clear Creek Park are going to be the only places I run for a long time. As nice as it is to run through all the neighborhoods around our house, I don't think my body can handle pounding pavement like it used to. Old age I guess! I received word this week from my good friend from high school and college Jimmy Wiggins that he wants me to be a groomsman in his wedding in July back home in Louisiana. I can't wait since he and his soon-to-be wife Megan were both on the LSU Track team with me and we have many of the same friends...most of whom I haven't seen in 5 years or longer. Thibodaux, Louisiana will never be the same! Here is a photo I took today of a tree house that is in Mt. Airy Forest pretty close to where I start and finish my trail runs.

Wednesday 3/30/11

As I was sitting on the sofa this morning watching Sportscenter I look outside and see that it is snowing. I won't even comment on what was going through my head, dumb snow. I headed into work at 1pm and it was nothing special...same old thing. I am looking forward to a busy couple days: Reds-Brewers game tomorrow, Civil Wars concert tomorrow night, and Guster concert Saturday night. Oh, and there are some sort of basketball games as well. Should be a good time!

Tuesday 3/29/11

Back to work today after the 3 day weekend was actually good. It was busy, seems like we never have enough hours in the work day to get everything done. The best thing today was I found out somebody could cover my shift Thursday so I can go to Opening Day! I am not a Reds or Brewers fan, but it should be a ton of fun sitting 20 rows behind home plate! Played with Finn for a bit in the yard after work, but not much else to talk about. I am about to join the Blue Ash Recreation Center in the next week so I can start swimming and lifting weights, just some kind work out while I am not able to run. I have never swam without a beer in my hand, hard to think of it as exercising!

Monday 3/28/11

Coffee, mac and cheese, Home Depot, Zip's for a burger and beer, Kroger, Ace Hardware, yard work, cooking chilli, HBO mini-series, Yuengling. That was our Monday!

Sunday 3/27/11

Well, after a little early spring cleaning of the house and a trip to Target for a bookshelf I headed to Mt. Airy Forest for a very casual trail run (hopefully easy on the hip) followed by a Hash trail run. The normal run was pretty standard, just jogging around the trails without the hip hurting much at all. Thank you four Advil. We finished and found the Sin City Hash House Harriers at the oval. We all had a beer, had the rules explained to us, and the "hares" were off into the woods to lay their markings for us to attempt to follow and catch them. It was pretty wild, running off the trails and through brush and some pretty rough patches trying to spot patches of flour left behind by the hares. Eventually we came to a drinking stop where I had n IPA (yum!) and after 5 minutes we began chasing after two more hares through the woods. Finally we came to a "swing check" where we had to swing on a swing set then finish up at the cars. In all we ran about 7.5 miles. The fun was just beginning as we were all put into a circle and songs began being sung at us...not G-rated songs either. We all huddled around the pickup truck with the beer to listen to the last minutes of Virginia Commonwealth beating Kansas in the Elite Eight. Crazy! We headed to some sports bar where I discovered they had Abita Amber on tap! Of course I had to have one before heading home and picking up some delicious Pad Thai for dinner. End of day...wow.

Saturday 3/26/11

It was a pretty awesome feeling to not have any responsibility in life today. Finally around 2pm we decided to be "productive." We headed up to IKEA to look for a new bookshelf to keep the rest of our DVD's and books on. I have never been to an IKEA and it was nothing like what I expected. The best way I can think of to describe that place is a furniture museum. We were just in a line of people being snaked through a bunch of exhibits. In the end they had the shelf we wanted, but we knew we wouldn't be able to fit it in the car. We headed home and we (mostly me) watched the Butler-Florida game. It is amazing what Butler has been able to do. We met up with the Hadaway clan at 7pm at the Cincinnati Gardens to watch the Cincinnati Rollergirls. It was pretty fun I have to say, couldn't believe how many people were there! The names of the players and coaches was hysterical. Here are some photos of the Roller Derby. The third photo is a pic of the sweet beer can pyramid that somebody made next to the rink.

Friday 3/25/11

Well it's winter again. Cold weather is getting old. Today was Day 1 in recovering from this hip thing. Work was pretty normal, but one good thing that happened was I found a guy to buy my marathon entry for Flying Pig (at half price though). At least I will get some of my money back. After work we headed to Casa de Arpin in Milford for some DELICIOUS food. Becca's chicken with baked macaroni and cheese, amazing! Tasted some of David's home brewed beers, pretty damn good I have to say. I picked Ohio St. to win the NCAA tournament, but it was great seeing an SEC team take them down. Virginia Commonwealth playing Butler in the Final Four? That would be entertaining. Here is a video Brian Schoenholz and AJ Hoeltzel posted on FB a while ago, talk about keeping you on the edge of your seat!

Thursday 3/24/11

Today after work I headed to Clear Creek Park for a 5-6 miler on the grass. After 4 miles I stopped and walked back to my car because my hip/groin was hurting really bad. I decided tonight it is not a good idea to attempt 16 miles on a hilly, muddy trail this weekend. I am taking off from running until this gets better. That means I won't be running the Flying Pig either. If anybody wants and entry into the full marathon or half marathon (it can be transferred to the other distance) just let me know and you can have mine. On a good note, since I requested this weekend off for the race I have off Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Carrie took Monday off work so we will have three days together. It should be fun...planning on going to the Findlay Market this weekend and then maybe the Newport Aquarium on Monday. I'm watching the SDSU-UConn game right now. These are going to be some exciting games coming up in the next couple days. Here is a video that still gives me goosebumps when I watch it, as it will to anybody who watched last year's national championship game.

Wednesday 3/23/11

Carrie woke me up around 8am, but I ecided to keep sleeping since I didn't have any place to be until 1pm. I headed to Panera for some coffee and some reading. I took a drive to Ault Park and through some neighborhoods below it that I have not been to yet. Work was steady, but not nearly as crazy as yesterday. The most exciting thing that happened today was the tornado sirens going off twice. Took today off from running, but plan on running a bit longer than previous days tomorrow after work. I am going to start posting videos on here that I find amusing, entertaining, or maybe even controversial. Here is one that I think is hilarious.

Tuesday 3/22/11

For a nice change I got to open at work today which means I got off at a normal time! Went in at 9:30am and left at 5pm. I went back to Clear Creek Park after work and tried something a little different. I wore my Nike Lunaracers, a lightweight racing flat, instead of my normal Nike Structure Triax. I was thinking with running in water and mud the lightweight shoe will be less strain on the hip/groin than a heavy trainer that holds all the water. It seemed to work well...it still hurt, but was MUCH better than yesterday. I did 5 miles in 37:23 (7:28 pace). I was given a pair of Saucony Kinvaras last week at the expo and I may try running in them with a Superfeet insert this week. I could tell my Lunaracers would start hurting my ankles pretty bad after an hour of running. I am just trying to decide what shoes to wear in the trail race Sunday. Carrie made an awesome dinner tonight of grilled chicken, potatoes, and steamed green beans. The marinade she used on the chicken was awesome!

Monday 3/21/11

I lounged around the house until it was time to go to work at 11am. Work was way more busy than I expected, which means it went by very fast while also making us exhausted. I stayed 30 min. late to help out with some stuff then headed home to change and run. I got to Clear Creek Park around 8pm and there was a little daylight left. After one loop it was completely dark (no lights in these fields). I busted out my trusty headlamp and went for another loop. All the way in the back fields I was running along the treeline and whenever I shined my headlamp in the brush I could see tons of sets of eyes shining right back at me! It was pretty freaky when one of them busted out of the bushes and started running along side of me, but luckily it was just a rabbit. I must have seen 10 sets of eyes in that half mile stretch. I ran 4 miles in a slow 32:04 (8:01 pace). My hip/groin was hurting a lot worse today than yesterday...not a good sign at all. Once I got home I showered and walked down to Oakley Pub and Grill for a burger and some brews. My buddy from work Robert met me down there and we hung out on the patio for a bit, then decided to walk down to another bar called Animations. This is the bar to go to if you want to shoot pool. Overall a pretty solid day. Here is a photo of the view on my run with the headlamp.

Sunday 3/20/11

I am pretty excited because I FINALLY was able to run. I had work from 11:30am-6:00pm then headed to Clear Creek Park hoping that the flood waters had receded. There was still a small portion of the park flooded, but about 75 percent of it was dry. The hip was still hurting, but seemed to loosen up after the first mile. In all the run was 4 miles in 30:32 (7:38 pace). After only running 5 of the past 15 days it is going to be tough in the trail race next Sunday. I feel there is no way I can run on the road anytime soon because every step feels like a knife in my hip. The grass (and hopefully no more flooding) is going to get me to the starting line of the Flying Pig. On another note Carrie and I finally saw The Fighter tonight. It was pretty good, Christian Bale very much played a "Daniel Day Lewis" type role.

Saturday 3/19/11

Another day of no running. This is starting to really get to me. I headed to Starbucks to pick up Diane this morning and we headed downtown to the Convention Center to work the Heart Mini Marathon Expo. It was a lot of fun, worked with the Saucony peeps most of the time. At 2pm I headed back up to the store to work the last 4 1/2 hours of the day on the sales floor. Watching the NCAA Tournament right now and I can't believe Butler is doing it again. How can anybody not pull for those guys? Tomorrow after work I am going to attempt to run, but we'll see how it goes. The hip is still feeling pretty bad.

Friday 3/18/11

I thought I was going to be setting up at the Expo today, but worked at the store from 9am-7pm instead. Pretty long and busy day which will be followed by another crazy day working at the Expo tomorrow. Enjoying a Goose Island Honker's Ale  and some NCAA basketball right now. Hip is still killing me, so again no running. I am looking forward to watching the Illinois-UNLV game tonight just because I have some friends back in St. Louis that are pretty big Illinois fans. I am sure they were pretty happy to see Mizzou lose in the first round. :)

Thursday 3/17/11

Worked from 11am-7pm today, then came home to an awesome dinner of grilled salmon, couscous, and steamed carrots. Not much else to report, hip is still hurting pretty bad so no running. I will be downtown at the Convention Center all day tomorrow setting up for the expo. Maybe Sunday I will be able to get some sort of run on the grass. Just frustrating.

Wednesday 3/16/11

I didn't have to work until 1:00pm today, but I decided not to run because my hip is hurting pretty bad. It is strange because I can't press on it anywhere and feel where it hurts. It seems like it is deep inside and only hurts when my left foot hits the ground. Hopefully I can get this thing healed up so I can attempt some sort of long run this weekend. After two days off from work it was good to be back at it. I even helped a guy about my age that is originally from Hahnville, LA which was pretty cool. We are gearing up for the Heart Mini Marathon and expo this year where we will have a booth. I haven't worked an expo since the 2008 Portland Marathon. Should be fun!

Tuesday 3/15/11

I was pretty much a bum for the first 5 hours of being awake today. I just drank coffee and watched ESPN. I was determined to run on some grass today to give the body a little relief, so I drove 25 min. north to Winton Woods. I looked at the park, which is 2,555 acres on a map and it looked like there were some blacktop paths all over which hopefully had enough grass along them to run in. I parked next to the huge 156 acre Winton Lake and started my run on the edge of said path. After crossing a bridge less than a mile into the run I saw a trail heading off to the right. I decided to run onto it since it looked nice and soft, thinking in my head it was probably only one or two hundred yards long. Well it just kept going and ended up veering off of the path and pretty soon I was running in the woods! The trail was pretty muddy and hilly, but still very runnable. I decided to keep going and see where it took me. After about 2 miles I came upon a creek that was about 20 feet across and about knee deep in water. I said screw it and I jumped in and ran through it. After about another half mile I came into a field and realized I had been running on horse trails and was now on the horse farm where they originate. I turned around and ran back the same way (including through the creek again). Once I was back where I had first come upon the trail I saw that it continued in the other direction, so of course I wanted to see where that would take me. It went through a very hilly patch and through some sort of field with bird houses on poles probably every 15-20 yards or so. The trail took me back into the woods and winded around until it dead ended at some country road. I turned around and headed back the same way, then back around the lake to my car. In all the run was 7.8 miles in 1:00:19 (7:44 pace). I figured there are about 5.5 miles of horse trails in all. I will be coming back here quite often, such a fun run! For dinner Carrie and I headed to Gordo's Pub for some burgers and brews. The food was great, but not too expensive. The beer and wine selection was outstanding. I had the Surf and Turf burger with a side of Mac and Cheese, a Dogfish Head 60 Min IPA (from Milton, DE) and a Flying Dog Raging Bitch IPA (from Frederick, MD). We will be back there for sure!

Monday 3/14/11

Today I decided to take a drive to downtown so I could snap some photos of the flooding Ohio River. It is pretty crazy how high it is. Riverside Dr. in Kentucky is completely under water. I crossed back into Ohio on I-275 and headed to Newtown and Anderson to check out Clear Creek Park where I have been running. It was under about 5 feet of water which blows me away since 6 days ago I ran there and it was totally dry. I also bought a scale today so I can monitor how much I weigh. So far since New Year's I have lost 10 pounds, hoping I can knock 5-10 more pounds off before the Flying Pig. I headed out for my run around 3:45pm and the first half mile I basically hobbled because my left groin/hip was killing me. It loosened up after a while, but felt pretty tender the whole way. The good thing about that is it kept my mind off my bum toe. I headed up to Hyde Park Square and up Edwards towards Grandin. I hung a left on Madison and ran up to Woodburn, then turned around and ran the same way back for 8 miles in 57:50 (7:13 pace). The pace was much better than yesterday and felt like less effort, but I am feeling pretty beat up. This week I am just going to have to run through it and hopefully the body holds up. I made baked ziti for dinner, DELICIOUS. Here is a pic of the finished product.

Sunday 3/13/11

Woke up at 8:00am (felt like 7:00am...dumb time change) and left to drive to Clear Creek Park for a run. After I got in my car I realized because of the time change I would have enough daylight to run after work, so I went back inside, made a pot of coffee and watched CNN and Sportscenter. Carrie's parents came over around 10:30am and we all headed to Panera for breakfast. Work was really slow the first hour, not normal for a Sunday. We figured it was because people probably forgot to change their clocks. Drew, who I work with and lives near Clear Creek Park, told me today it was now completely under water from the flooding. That is crazy to me since 5 days ago I ran there and it was totally dry. I was determined to start back training today no matter how much my toe hurt. I took a box cutter and cut a hole in the outside of the toe box of my shoe to give my swollen pinkie toe a little room to...well, be swollen. I headed down to Hyde Park Square then down Linwood to Mt. Lookout Square and back up Delta. I then headed down Erie to Brotherton and back to Oakley Square and the house. Total was 6.2 miles in 46:13 (7:27 pace). The toe didn't hurt too bad, but I could tell I haven't run much recently. Here is a picture of my shoe after taking the box cutter to it.

Saturday 3/12/11

Worked from 8:00am-4:30pm today, pretty good day. It went by very fast which is always nice. After work I headed home to take care of Finn then headed up to Loveland to meet up with Carrie and her family for dinner at Shooter's. After that we headed back to her cousin's house from some Wii Pictionary...that is a fun game! Not looking forward to losing an hour of sleep tonight, but it will be worth it with the longer days coming up. Congrats to my good buddy Michael Burke out west who just finished 32nd in the Way Too Cool 50k in California. I am sure he will soon have a pretty cool race recap on his blog soon.

Friday 3/11/11

Carrie woke me up this morning to tell me about the earthquake in Japan, so I got up, went downstairs and turned on CNN. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Watching the waves take out everything has to be the scariest thing I have ever seen on TV. This has to be the worst natural disaster in our lifetime. My heart goes out to everybody in that part of the world. Worked from 11am-6:30pm today, busy as usual. I rushed home, showered, and changed so we could head to Wildflower Cafe for dinner. This is easily my favorite restaurant in Cincinnati as of right now. Carrie's brother Tim drove into town today and we joined their parents as well as their aunt and uncle for dinner. It was DELICIOUS! Busy day tomorrow, then back to running Sunday morning.

Thursday 3/10/11

Another gross day today, rain which turned into about an inch of snow this evening. I decided since my mileage this week is already shot, I may as well take off the rest of the week from running to make sure my toe heels up. I will be back at it Sunday. I did buy a new pair of shoes today, the Asics DS Trainer, to wear in the marathon. That will be the first time I have ever worn any sort of light weight shoe in a marathon and also the first time I have ever worn Asics in a marathon. I was pretty pumped when I found out we would be bringing them in. Our Diva Night was just getting started when I left work at 7pm tonight. I think 130 women in one room  is a little much for me, so I was happy to head out. :-) We had an awesome dinner of grilled salmon, couscous, and steamed carrots. I am really starting to enjoy this healthier lifestyle. I need to buy a scale to see how much weight I have lost since Christmas...has to be at least 15 pounds. Carrie's new computer finally came in today, a MacBook Pro. I don't know what kind of stuff it can do, but it sure looks cool.

Wednesday 3/9/11

I really did not feel like running today for whatever reason. Maybe it was the fact that it was 45 degrees and raining all day. Just nasty out. I also thought I should rest my messed up toe for at least a day. Work is getting crazy since out inventory is getting huge. In the nine years we have been open we currently have a bigger inventory of shoes than we have ever had. One cool thing I found out today, I am going to MLB Opening Day here when the Reds play the Brewers on March 31st if I can get off work. Not only is it Opening Day, but the tickets are free...and not only are the tickets  free, the seats are 20 rows behind home plate! I hope I can get off work, that would be one fun day.

Tuesday 3/8/11

Went to Panera this morning to eat, drink coffee, and do some reading. Took a short drive to Otto Armleder Park where I have done some workouts on the soccer fields and saw it was completely under water from the Little Miami River flooding. That was pretty crazy to see. I then went and chopped off my hair hoping it would make me more aerodynamic. On my run at Clear Creek Park I felt surprisingly good again. The 1.8 mile grass loop gets pretty boring, but it is so much easier on the legs...and the toe for that matter. After 4 miles my toe actually stopped hurting. I took that as a good sign and continued on for a total of 7 miles in 47:40 (6:48 pace). The bruising on the toe/foot has spread, but the swelling has gone down a bit which I think is helping as far as the running goes. Carrie and I met four of her friends from work for dinner at an Indian restaurant in Hyde Park Plaza tonight. Ashley is from Chicago and Ben, Rhiannon, and Oli (I think his real name is Oliver) are from Britain. Needless tos to say all the British accents and sayings were cracking us up. I learned that "dodgy" means "sketchy" or "shady." Overall a good day. Back to work tomorrow!

Monday 3/7/11

Happy Lundi Gras to everybody back home! Even my parents are in on the action...they sent me a photo from the French Quarter today. I pretty much bummed around, and when the temps warmed up I headed to Clifton to hang out at Sitwell's Coffee Shop. Pretty eclectic crowd in Clifton, probably since it is right next to the Unversity of Cincinnati. After that I headed to Clear Creek Park to attempt a run on my messed up toe. With the help of some tape and multiple advils I managed 4 miles on the grass fields in 28:38 (7:09 pace). Other than my toe hurting I felt really good. I had to cross a blacktop path a few times, and every step I took on it with my right foot I thought my toe was going to crack. On the grass it was tolerable, so I guess I will be spending a lot of time at this park in the next couple days. Here is something funny I saw in a book today about running:

Rule 1.2-Expand Your Definition of Fun

For runners this may include:
-waking up at 5:30am to run 10 miles
-running in blistering heat
-running in the rain
-running in 400m circles
-feeling as if your lungs are about to explode
-paying a race director good money for the privilege of turning your own toes black and blue
-any combination of the above

Sunday 3/6/11

I skipped the Sunday morning group run to rest up some aches and pains, and around 9:30am I slammed my pinkie toe in the corner door. Awesome. I may have let out a few four letter words. I had socks on and once I limped back downstairs I looked down at my feet and noticed a discrepancy between them. I took my right sock off and noticed my pinkie toe was facing sideways! I had no choice but to pop it back in place. That was interesting to say the least. I headed into work at 11:30am, had a crazy busy day, and once I got home I took my shoes and socks off to see if it had swollen. To my shock it was solid red and purple. Again, awesome. I have a bag of ice on it as I type right now and plan on attempting to run on it tomorrow. I am pretty sure I broke it, and the thing about a pinkie toe is that there is not much you can do with it and it can't really get worse...just going to hurt like hell. Here is a picture I took when I got home from work around 6:30pm.

Saturday 3/5/11

I had to work from 8am-5pm today. Not much running going on with my groin not feeling good, raining pretty hard outside, and wanting to chow down on some Indian food. The rain is supposed to turn to snow in the morning so I will probably skip the Sunday morning group run. I can get my long run in Monday or Tuesday since I am off work both those days. One crazy thing that happened today was at the gas station at Kenwood Rd. and Montgomery Rd. I walk into the gas station to buy something and there is a young guy and middle aged lady working the registers. The young guy is checking two teenagers out and as they walk off the lady, who is checking me out, says "Those kids are freaks." I laughed out loud a little and she then says "No, they are freaks. That bitch told me one time that she didn't know if I was a man or a woman. I wanted to tell her that she should check between her legs to see if she had a dick." I was shocked and just started cracking up! I am sure her manager would not approve, but that is what free speech is all about.

Friday 3/4/11

Woke up to a rainy day, pretty nasty. Had work from 9:30am-7:00pm then headed home for a run. It was my first night run in a while and I was really looking forward to it since it was 50 degrees with a foggy, misty rain. After about 2 miles I could feel something was wrong with my groin. I figured I had tweaked it during the track workout yesterday that I had no business doing. Finished up the run pretty slowly, only 5 miles in 38:10 (7:38 pace). I was going to run tomorrow, but may take the day off to let this groin issue heal up. Hopefully it is better for the long run on Sunday. Finishing up the pot of jambalaya right now with a big glass of chocolate milk while watching the movie The Chase with Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson. Only Charlie Sheen could have sex with Kristy Swanson while driving a car at 90 mph that is being chased by tons of police cars. If that is not a winner, I don't know what is.

Thursday 3/3/11

First thing that needed to be done today was wash clothes and go to the grocery. Once those chores were done I headed to a small high school about 10 min. from home. I planned on doing 16x400 at 80-82, but after I ran the first couple way too fast I decided to cut the workout short. This was my first time on the track since Aug. 24th at Fleet Feet Fenton speedwork. Needless to say, I was WAY off on pace. After a 2 mile warmup I ended up doing 10x400m with 90 seconds rest in 77, 76, 74, 76, 75, 76, 75, 77, 78, 77. I then decided to tack on 4x200m in 36 seconds each. I had to dodge a lot of high schoolers that were conveniently just walking in the first 2 lanes. I didn't really enjoy being back on the track, so I think from now until the marathon I am going to do workouts on the grass or tempos on the Little Miami River Trail. After the workout I decided to take Finn on a little adventure to Ault Park and Alms Park. We made jambalaya for dinner again, and once again it was just a little bit better. We used a different sausage which I think helped a lot. Here are some pics of Finn on our adventure today.

Wednesday 3/2/11

Didn't do too much today except watch CNN, Sportscenter, and play with Finn in the yard. I was going to go to the track, but decided instead to run to Hyde Park Square and all the way down to Marimont and back. It was so nice out, 53 degrees and sunny, that I wanted to enjoy it a little. It ended up being 9.5 miles in 1:05:32 (6:54 pace). 7:00 pace is getting to be pretty easy which is a good sign. I think tomorrow instead of a track workout I may see how fast I can run 10 miles. That sounds fun right? This nice weather is really making me want it to be summer. I am sure it is just a tease, since there is always that one last March snowstorm.

Tuesday 3/1/11

Woke up to a gorgeous day, although it was still a little chilly. Headed to Clear Creek Park for another run on the soft grass, trying to take it easy on the legs. Covered 6 miles in 43:29 (7:14 pace). I felt really good and am really looking forward to the next two days. We are supposed to have perfect weather and I am off work both days! Work was interesting with having the store closed and having to re-inventory everything along with training on the new POS system. One cool thing I received in the mail from my mom is all our old family videotapes that I had no idea even existed, but converted to DVD's. There are videos from holidays and birthday parties along with me playing basketball at Madisonville Jr. High, little league baseball, and high school cross country/track. It was crazy to see how young we all looked! One of the coolest videos was one of me, my dad, my brother, my uncle, and my grandpa who died in 2002 all standing around chatting at some park. Good memories.

Monday 2/28/11

The day started at 5:30am when the tornado sirens started going off. They actually didn't wake me up, but Carrie did. She asked if we should go down in the basement, and I said no. In my half awake mind I was thinking we could not move the bed to the basement, since I was not planning on getting out of it anytime soon. Ended up sleeping a solid 10 hours which was needed. I took off from running today because the legs are feeling a bit beat up. I will be back at it again tomorrow. Work was a little different since we had about five people from Fleet Feet Corporate in the store. Tomorrow we officially turn over to SRDC which does not mean much initially, except that we will have a new POS system. The store is closed tomorrow, but we will be training all day with the new system. We are watching Charlie Sheen on Piers Morgan which is cracking us up! The dude is INSANE, but HILARIOUS!

Sunday 2/27/11

Met up with the Sunday crew in Wyoming at 7am this morning. After the 15 miles on Friday I was thinking I would go a shorter 10 miles today. Ryan, who I have run with the past couple weeks, was doing the 12 mile course so I agreed to run it with him. The first 3 miles were flat then we started going uphill. We ran up to the ridge line that goes along the west side of Wyoming, were running down Sharon Rd., and were looking for a left turn that just never came. Finally our road dead ended at Mill Rd., so obviously we had missed our turn and didn't really know where we were. We turned around and took a right on Winton Rd. which we knew we would have ended up on eventually. We ran past an awesome park called Winton Woods. Supposedly it is 2,555 acres...pretty huge. Finally we came up on a road we were supposed to turn on and just like that were back on course. We finally made it back and instead of the planned 12 miles we ended up doing 14.5 miles in 1:49:50 (7:35 pace). We all hung out and had a stellar breakfast afterwards at Half-Day Cafe. Work was wild as usual, had to pull out the fitting stool to sit on because the legs were aching pretty bad. The lady made an awesome spaghetti sauce tonight for dinner. I can just feel that I am craving carbs more and more! Tonight and tomorrow it is supposed to storm again, not good for the Ohio and Little Miami Rivers. I heard the Ohio River's flood stage is 53 feet, and it is already at 45 feet. Hopefully it holds off.

Saturday 2/26/11

I was planning on running this afternoon after work, but after the crazy day we had I was too tired and sore from yesterday to do anything. We were going to go to dinner at Montgomery Inn, but once we got there we realized it was all you can eat ribs night. No way we were getting in there. Then we went by some italian place next to Kenwood Mall, and they said it was a 3 1/2 hour wait! Seriously? We finally headed back to Hyde Park and went to Green Papaya for some Thai and sushi. I have to say, it was delicious. Should be a fun run tomorrow morning with the Sunday crew. We are going to Wyoming, the neighborhood a certain David Spetnagel grew up and went to high school in.

Friday 2/25/11

Had off work today so I decided to get my long run in. Around 2pm I headed to the Little Miami River Trail for my jaunt. It was overcast and about 37 degrees, perfect for a long run. I started in Newtown and ran to Wards Corner which is 7.5 miles, turned around and came back for 15 miles in 1:43:31 (6:54 pace). This is probably the best run I have had in the last couple months, and it was not difficult. When I finished I thought about adding on another mile or two, but I am going 10-12 miles Sunday morning and I didn't want to be too sore. Here are my splits for the run:
1-7:04
2-7:09
3-7:04
4-6:57
5-6:44
6-6:53
7-6:52
8-7:02
9-6:55
10-6:51
11-6:50
12-6:52
13-6:48
14-6:46
15-6:38
Cooked jambalaya for dinner, made a couple changes and it was even better than last time. Ironically we were watching Man vs. Food while eating and he happened to be in New Orleans. He went to Mother's and Acme Oyster House...two of my favs back home. We are about to watch "Waiting for Superman" which I have heard is an amazing movie.

Thursday 2/24/11

Decided to take the day off from running for a couple reasons. It was nasty weather, I knew I was going to be working late, and I am planning a long run tomorrow. Work was hectic, but in a good way. Ended up not leaving until 9:30pm. Not much else to talk about, except I hope this wild thunderstorm is out of here by tomorrow. I think we are getting 3 inches of rain tonight.

Wednesday 2/23/11

Had a crazy busy day at work today with tons of customers and having to do some inventory work, which I will have to finish up tomorrow. I walked over to Subway and got my standard foot long tuna. When I got back to the store I took a bite or two then set the sub down on a table and put three water bottles in front of it so Gus, our owner's dog, would not get to it. I walk back in 5 min. later and somehow Gus had gotten on the table and eaten 3/4 of the sub with the rest all over on the floor. I went to clean up the mess and he bit me on my left hand! I instantly reared back to knock his head off, but I didn't since...you know...it is the owner's dog. About 10 minutes later he peed on the sales floor! Needless to say Jeremy and Susan freaked out over both instances and brought him home and gave me some medicine for the bite wound. Gus is usually the friendliest dog, but I guess being 14 years old he is a little unpredictable now. Around 5pm I drove to The Little Miami River Trail for a tempo run. I have not run hard for more than 3 miles, but I was in the mood to go a little farther. I did an out and back 7 miles in 45:05 (6:26 pace). Mile splits were 6:45, 6:29, 6:24, 6:24, 6:16, 6:23, 6:21. I have not run this hard for this long in quite a while, so I am pretty happy with it. Maybe getting bit by a dog helps out! We had chili for the third night in a row tonight, but it looks like we are finally running out. Looks like Friday will be another day to experiment for dinner!