Marathon Me

It has been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve decided to get back into the game so to speak today.  Last night we rocked in the New Year at three different events, culminating at a friends house for drunken Karoke.  We got home and went to bed around 3:45am.

Our local running store, RunTex, has an annual run on the 1st where you run from RunTex North to RunTex Riverside, which is a little over 13 miles.  It starts at the typically very generous 9am.  However, when I went to bed last night (this morning?) I gave myself a 50/50 chance of waking up and running it.  I decided not to set an alarm and if I woke up in time, then I’d go.  Well I woke up at 8am, and told myself that if I went back to sleep AND woke up again in time then I’d go.

Somehow I woke up again at 8:15 and I resigned myself to running it.  I was very, very slugish getting going, but managed to drag myself to RunTex north.  I got to see lots of friends I don’t see that often and we traded various war stories of who was out the latest and imbibed the most.  Needless to say most everyone had a late night but rang the bell at the start to make the run.

We start out and hit the first mile in about 8:00/M pace which actually felt too slow and too fast at the same time.  I felt like my blood had thickened over night and my heart was struggling to pump it.  I started speeding up and settled into a comfortable rhythm.  And the miles started clicking off, I joined some packs and left others until I needed to make a pit stop.  A quick detour into McDonalds and then I was feeling better and met back up with a different set of friends.  That felt a little too slow and so I picked it back up.  We hit the hilly portion with a lot of downhills and the speed just dropped, I was running in the low to mid 6s and felt pretty good.  By mile 7-8 my hangover was gone and I felt pretty good.  My blood was still too thick, but tolerable.

Finished the last 2 miles with another good friend and then headed to the porta-potty.  I left my gloves and headband on the ground in front of the porta potty so as not to leave it on a nasty floor.  While I was in there some ass-hat stole my headband but left my gloves. I’m hopeful that it was a homeless person who needed it more than I did and not some jackass just stealing for no good reason.

Afterwards Runtex really takes care of you, they had black eyed peas, bread, mimosas, beer and everyone got a commemorative shirt for completing the run. It was a great way to start the new year.  I finished the 13.2 mile run at 7:20/M pace. I’ve got the Houston Marathon coming up in two weeks and am starting to feel like I am rolling in to shape.  See you in two weeks.

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As we approach the 4th quarter I am closing in on my next milestone.  I’ve done 12 marathons this year (well, 11 marathons and 1 ultra) which has brought me very close 100 total marathons or longer races in my career.

A quick check of the Marathon Maniacs stat board had me ranked at number 184 in terms of total marathons with a total of 86, but since I hadn’t updated my stats in a while, I was curious how far I’d jump once updating my stats.   After updating with the 10 missing races for this year, I jumped up to spot #155.

100 marathons is currently good enough for #144, however to crack the top 100 you need 118 marathons.

I’ve got four more on the schedule for this year, so it will actually be a down year for me from last year (16 vs. 20 respectfully).

Not sure what the next goal should be after reaching 100, still pondering.

Here’s where I’ll be next:

10/3 St. George

10/24 Frankenthon (Directing, not running)

11/1 New York City

11/15 Rock and Roll San Antonio

12/13 White Rock (Marathon #100 if all goes well).

Hope to see you there.

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Al’s Ship of Fools has descended on Mesa Falls, Idaho this weekend. Around 15 runners have traveled from Austin along with one from Dallas to run the Mesa Falls Marathon tomorrow. Apparently it was such a big deal we even made the local paper.

We’re planning on taking home a lot of hardware tomorrow morning.

Afterwards we will journey to the Big Jud’s hamburger stand where they sell 1-5 lb hamburgers and a 15 scoop, 5 toping ice cream sundae. If you finish any one of these you get your picture on the wall.

Here is my son holding the dog big-ass mixing bowl:

We’ll let you know how the Ship does and if any big burgers or huge sundaes get taken down

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The Frankenthon keeps getting better and better. We’ve signed up two new sponsors this week:

• Rogue Equipment is a local Austin, TX running store specializing in running shoes, technical apparel and accessories. They will be providing a 10% discount to all participants in the Frankenthon as well as $100 gift certificates to the overall male/female winners and male/female masters winners.
• Performance Wellness is a local Austin, TX massage, chiropractor and overall athlete heath group that emphasizes improving your health in an effort to reduce the risk of pain and illness in the first place. They will be providing free massages after the marathon to all participants as well as gift certificates for an hour massage for the overall male/female winners and male/female masters winners

Just a reminder that the Frankenthon takes place this October 24th, 2009 (the Saturday before Halloween) at Brushy Creek Lake Park, which is in Cedar Park, Texas (just north of Austin).

We have a cap of 150 runners, so sign up today and reserve your spot. (Note: entries are transferable, we’d love to have you run, but if you can’t make it you can give/sell your number to another runner)

Finisher’s items include: Frankenthon Monster Tech Socks, Long Sleeve Tech T-shirt, Monster Medals.

It will be a frightfully good time, so come join us in October.

Frank

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There is a new marathon coming to town.  I will be making my first attempt to put on a marathon with this years Frankenthon Monster Marathon.  I’ve been directing a 12 race 5k series in the summer, the Sunstroke Summer Stampede, which is about to finish up it’s 6th year.  This has been very enjoyable to me, but I’ve always wanted to put on a marathon as well.  The Summer Stampede has been a more low-frills type of race, but for the Frankenthon we are going to try and put on a top notch marathon with great goodies, certified Boston Qualifying course, chip timing and other exciting things to ensure you have a frightfully good time.
We’re going with a monster themed race and will be running the Saturday before Halloween, which this year falls on October 24, 2009. The course will be mostly flat with a mixed paved/crushed granite trail.  It will cover three 8.75 mile laps.

The overall winners (male/female and masters) will each receive a free pair of Mizuno shoes as well as other goodies.  We’re looking to do something special for the last male/female finishers as well.

We will provide long-sleveed tech shirts and tech-socks for all entrants.

Age groups awards will be 3 deep in 5 year age groups.

Come out and run, or come volunteer, I can for sure use the help.

Hope to see you out there.

Frank

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