436 Miles, 8 Days

WOW! I am just 8 days out from the Paris Marathon! Had a nice little jaunt round Upper Park with Tina and "Cindy" this morning and that brings my total mileage preparing for Paris to 436 miles since the first week of December. We leave next Wednesday so I can have a few days to get over jet-lag and do some sightseeing before the races. Saturday is the UNESCO 5K or "Course de l'Unesco" and then the marathon on Sunday the 5th.
The pre-race expo looks to be fantastic and I am sure some of my tourist dollars are going to go to some memorabilia. I can't believe the race is upon me; seems like I have been training since forever for it. I feel great and ready. I had a terrific run at the Shamrock-N and set a new PR of 1:44:57. If I am able to hold that kind of pace for Paris then I should be able to hit my goal of breaking 4 hours. If anyone is actually awake here in the U.S. you can check out MySports.com and plug in my bib number (32292) and see me run past the cameras they have set up along the course. Don't worry.. you can go in later and look. The race starts at quarter to 1 in the morning west coast time so most everyone I know will be snoozing during the race!
My next post will likely be after the race so look for some pics here and on Facebook. Thanks for all the support over the last few months! Bon Voyage!

Log Your Run

Hey Monkeys,
Got turned on to this great site "Log Your Run." You can find routes others have submitted, track your own runs including which shoes you wore, the weather, all kinds of cool stuff.
Check it out! Great way to keep track of your routes, mileage on your shoes etc.
You can find the Google Map of wherever your ran, or want to run and plot out the route to see how far the mileage is. I think it will be great to use to plan out H3 runs!

44 Days, 311.5 miles

Wow.. its been a hectic few weeks. Through the layoff and job searching I have still managed to keep pounding away at the miles and I am still hopeful Paris is going to happen. I havent had much chance to keep the blog going but hoping I can really chronical these last few weeks.
I finally got tired of rebuilding iTunes, and my Garmin logs and all my personal docs and took advantage of Circuit City going out of business to get a great deal on a new Lenovo laptop. I am huge fan of ThinkPads but I digress.
Today I got all the logs for my Garmin rebuild and totalled everything up. I am sitting 44 days out from Paris and have a total of 311.5 miles logged to date in this training program. I have an 18 miler slated for tomorrow so now we are getting to some SERIOUS long runs. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

I did a 16 last weekend with SZ and TTD in a howling, driving rain storm that had all three of us questioning our own sanity. We decided when it was done that from this point on that run would simply be know as "That Time." As in, remember "that time" that it took three days for my shoes to dry out.. or "that time" drowned rats looked better than we did.. you get the picture.

Contrast that with a run while I was down in Walnut Creek. Running along the Contra Costa Canal Trail to the Ignacio Canal Trail and ended up with a steep climb on to the mountain at sunrise. It was clear, and brisk and much as I love Bidwell Park in Chico, the run that morning in Walnut Creek was really special.

All in all things are going well. The heels are a little sore and I have to keep on the stretching to ward off that PF thats nagging at my left foot again. :-( Going to try some Arnica Gel that I hear is great for the stiffness and aches we runners seem to get.
But, the mileage is up to about 35-40 miles a week and I am doing pretty well at holding a pace that should help me meet my target time. No injuries, staying clear of all the creepy crud all my fellow runners in Chico seem to be coming down with. I swear, its those "kettle bells" they are all going on and on about. Everyone I know doing them is getting sick.. maybe its the kooties being transfered off them!
Onward! Tight Laces and Flat Trails

Skins

Ok.. I had to put a plug in for "Skins" compression apparel. I got a pair of the half tights before CIM and have been using them for post long run recovery. My friend, coach, mentor Alan R swears by them and I am a new convert! I cant say enough about the benefits of wearing these after a long run. Now Alan says he wears his (the long ones) for 24 hours after a long run.. I just cant go that far.. BUT.. I have found they help the recovery incredibly. I did 21 miles during the CIM Relay, wore the half tights the rest of the day and Monday I felt like I hadnt run at all! Amazing stuff. To paraphrase my good friend Ferris Bueller "I highly reccomend picking one up if you have the means" :-)

http://www.skins.net/us/en/default.aspx

225.08

Well.. I am 7 weeks into the ramp up for Paris and have two hundred twenty five miles and some change logged.. if your doing the math.. thats averaging 32 miles a week.. which puts me pretty much on target! So far so good.. If I can just stay away from all of you coming down with the creepy crawly crud I should be fine. Seems all my friends are into this "kettle bells" work out.. hmm but the same ones are all sick.. what are they puttin on thos kettle bells? Anthrax?

Todays run was 12 miles with a fast 10K stuck in the middle up. It was beautiful today.. up through One Mile out along the levy and into upper park and back. Got to run a bit with some of of you who started the half marathon training group today. GO GIRLS!

Next weekend is the Redding Marathon Relay. Tracy TD and Susan and I are signed up. See the rest.. or most of the rest of you in Sacramento on March 15th for the Shamrock-N Half which is just a few weeks out from Paris (what? you thought I wouldnt mention it again? :-P )

Holiday and end of year wrap up

Well it was a crazy year.. and crazy busy holiday season.. jingle bell runs

and a great turn out for the Flying Monkeys Hash House Harriers 1st Annual Charity Run!

We garnered a TON of stuff for the local homeless family shelter The Torres Shelter and had a great turn out that ended up with everyone at Cafe Coda.. and great new eatery in Chico.

And the years ends with 1,073 miles under my belt and right now I am just 12 weeks out from "Le Marathon de Paris!"

I have made a ton of new friends through starting the Hash House Harriers group in Chico, new "busmates" from C.I.M, and really made special friends out of those "acquaintences" at the start of the year and ended 2008 on a upside pretty much all around.

Special thanks and hugs to everyone who supported me, befriended me and all around made my life terrific. You are too many to mention without worrying about leaving someone important out.

Stay tuned for tales and tribulations as I ramp up for the race in April.

Happy New Year.. and happy running- Ed

Holiday Catch Up

Wow.. whirlwind few weeks!! Hawaii was awesome.. nice relaxing time with my folks and a pretty cool helicopter ride over Kilauea and some lava flows!!

Runs were easy since it was the week before CIM but I managed to log a few on the IronMan course and watched some of the Ultraman International Championships.. THIS is an unbelievable event. Three days of the most intense stuff. Day 1 starts with a 10K open ocean swim followed by a 90 mile bike.. Day 2 is a 170 mile bike and THEN they wrap all that up on Day 3 with a 55 mile run.. HOLY COW!!

Got off the plane from Kona to hook up with the gang in Sacramento for Calif. International Marathon and Relay Challenge. We ( Liz, Tracy and Patty and I ) were "Three Foxes and No Hair".. love it.. Patty had to bow out late Saturday night due to a family emergency but we all had planned on running numerous legs anyway. Liz did the WHOLE daing thing, I did three legs and Tracy two.. Tracy was the hero of the day (Aside from Liz) as she scored a full marathon finishers medal for Liz... The weather was cold, and foggy and at times I never did get quite warm. Mile 16 to 17 and some was tough.. just started to bonk a bit but got some food in me and finished pretty well. Sometimes you have to do some kind of dumb things to learn how dumb they are so you dont do it again.. Like flying home from Hawaii the night before a 21 mile run BUT, I had kind of wanted to see the impact on my body of that kind of travel so I am ready and know what to do for Paris.

Speaking of.. Monday the 15th was the first "official" training day for my run up to the Paris Marathon.. the week has gone well and I have my plan all worked out thanks to Brad Hudson' and Tim Noakes books which gave me a great framework and then the final massaging by my good friends, ertswhile coachs and running Jedis, Alan Rice and Susan Zepernick from Fleet Feet.

This weekend we are doing the Flying Monkey Hash House Harries charity run to benefit the Torres Shelter so look for more next week.