I'm Back! Let's Get It On!

Well, sort of.

I went running for the first time in three weeks. Woot!

A four-miler on Friday and an eight-miler on Sunday. And the foot felt OK.

Unfortunately, the rest of my body felt like hell, but you take what you can get.

I should be able to get in eight or so runs before the CIM.

Let's get it on!

Northwest Running and Triathlon Race Calendar - Christmas Races

A few more Holiday runs. Get them in while you can because we're about to head into the dead part of the year very soon.

Let's Race!

-Green Text for Trail Runs
-Red Text for Marathons and Half Marathons
-Blue Text for Triathlons and Duathlons
-Orange Text for everything else, the normal 5k, 10k, etc

RACES FOR WEEK OF DECEMBER 10th TO DECEMBER 16th

December 15th / Frozen Trail Run Fest 50k, 14.2m, 8.5m, 6.7m and 5k / Eugene, OR

December 15th / Pullman 50k and 25k / Pullman, WA

December 16th / Holiday Half Marathon and 5k / Portland, OR

December 15th / Calli's Run 5k / Salem, OR

December 15th / Cable Bridge Run 10k and 5k / Pasco, WA

December 15th / Jingle Bell Jog 5k / Sumner, WA

December 15th / Magnuson Series Holiday Fun Run 15k, 10k and 5k / Seattle, WA

December 15th / Santa Runs Tacoma 10k and 5k / Tacoma, WA

December 15th / Jingle Dash 5k / Keizer, OR

December 15th / Jingle Bell Jog Free Run Run 5.4m and 3m / Bozeman, MT

December 16th / 12k's of Christmas Holiday Run 12k and 5k / Kirkland, WA

December 16th / Winter Solstice Run 5k / Eugene, OR

The Day of Your Marathon Race

My homeboy Pete Pfitzinger wrote up a nice article of tips, hints, and tricks to follow for your day-before and day-of your next marathon.

Of course, it helps if you've actually put in the training before that day comes, but let's not go there.

Check it out here.

Don't think Pete knows what he's talking about? Here's a different list.

And one more.

Last one.

Nanowrimo - I'm Late for a Very Important Date!

OK, I had to take some time off to finish up an article for RaceCenter (look for it in February 2013!), and now I'm behind on my novel for Nanowrimo.

Not all is lost though. Now I just have to average 1900 words a day instead of 1667. I think I can handle it. I'll also try to get some new excepts up soon.

Wish me luck!

Northwest Running and Triathlon Race Calendar - Christmas Races and Ugly Christmas Sweaters

It's that time of year again - time to break out the ugly Christmas sweaters!

And don't forget the Ugly Christmas Sweater Dash!

Let's Race!

-Green Text for Trail Runs
-Red Text for Marathons and Half Marathons
-Blue Text for Triathlons and Duathlons
-Orange Text for everything else, the normal 5k, 10k, etc

RACES FOR WEEK OF DECEMBER 3rd TO DECEMBER 9th

December 8th / Deception Pass Trail Run 50k and 25k / Oak Harbor, WA

December 9th / Ho Ho Trail 5k / Tigard, OR

December 8th / Birch Bay Ghost Marathon and 30k / Birch Bay, WA

December 9th / Honolulu Marathon / Honolulu, HI (Had to include this one)

December 8th / Jingle Bells Run 12k, 8k and 5k / Eugene, OR

December 8th / Toys for Tots Airport Run 10k and 5k / Arlington, WA

December 8th / Christmas Rush Fun Run 10k and 5k / Kent, WA

December 8th / Rogers Reindeer Run 10k and 5k / Puyallup, WA

December 8th / Bellingham Jingle Bell Run 5k / Bellingham, WA

December 8th / Rain Deer Run 5k / Port Hadlock, WA

December 8th / Puddle Scuttle 8k and 5k / West Linn, OR

December 8th / Ugly Sweater Dash 1m / West Linn, OR

December 8th / Santa Claws 5k / Pocatello, ID

December 9th / Crime Stoppers Reindeer Run 5k / Olympia, WA

December 9th / Seattle Jingle Bell Run 5k / Seattle, WA

Welsch Sisters Running Controversy

Or is it not a controversy at all?

Yes, I know I haven't been posting much lately...

Trying to write a novel this month, remember?

But I did think this was interesting:

Kaytlynn and Heather Welsch, 12 and 10 years old respectively, are good little runners. Emphasis on the "little." They're running marathons, half marathons, trail races - combined, the two girls have run over 160 races in the last two year. That's a LOT of racing, for anyone, of any age. They seem to enjoy it and they both do well at school, so where's the harm?

Well, I don't like the sheer number of races. I don't mind running for children, even longer distances, but racing is different. You're going harder in a race, you're stressing your body more, you're setting yourself up for injury, short-term or long-term. These girls should not be racing 160 races in two years. That's insane.

Also, not crazy about some of the comments made by the father. He can say he's not forcing them to run all he wants, but at times, it sure sounds like he's forcing them to run.

-Check out the fantastic article at the New York Times.

-Here's a brief article on Yahoo.

-Here's an XTERRA article about Kaytlynn winning a race.

-Do the trolls at LetsRun.com have an opinion on this. Of course they do!

So what do you think? Too young? Too much?

Or much ado over nothing?


Hey, there's Max King, right beside Kaytlynn, in the photo! Photo credit to XTERRA from the Yahoo article.

Running a Marathon without Training

Well, without "running" training anyway. So if you glance over to the right of the page here, you'll notice that for the second time in the last three weeks, I had a week with absolutely no running. Why? The ankle just won't heal up. I took almost two full weeks off before the Runaway Pumpkin Half, and the ankle didn't bother me terribly during the run, but after?

Yeah, it hasn't come back yet since that 13.1 mile jaunt.

So now, I'm biking and swimming every day. And I'll continue to bike and swim every day. Running? No. Maybe a 5k on Thanksgiving morning just to test it. And maybe not, depending on how it's feeling at that point.

Let's face it, I'm not going to be in any kind of running shape anyway - I mean that's just not possible at this point, so I might as well make sure the ankle is healed up by the CIM on December 2nd. I'd rather run out of shape on a healthy ankle than limp along, sort of in better shape, on a still-hurt ankle.

And yes, I am still running the CIM. There's no question there. I'm registered, I've got a hotel room, a plane ticket, a rental car...I'm running. Or walking...or crawling, if I have to.

Of course, the expected finishing time has been dropping daily as I see my last long run drifting off in the rear view mirror. I've gone from wanting to run my BQ 3:25 to wondering about 3:40, then thinking 3:50, and finally thinking it would be nice to break 4:00. In the next few weeks, we'll see if I drop my expectations even more. I hope not, but hey, there's no sense kidding myself.

So, can you run a marathon without training for a marathon? People say they have:

-A BBC report on running a marathon without training.

-Here's Sean Ogle, who apparently ran the Eugene Marathon with basically no training.

-Apparently, Peter Wilkinson of CNN ran a marathon, but only started training about two weeks before the race.

-Here's a Competitor article about how cycling is the best cross training exercise for running.

And before you say, "the R's has gone off the deep end - he's completely delusional," believe me, I already know I'm delusional. I would never try to run a race without putting in the miles...by choice.

Nanowrimo - Novel Excerpts Posted

Hey, I'm posting regular updates and excerpts of my Nanowrimo novel, "Off the Res," so head over there, take a gander, and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

Northwest Running and Triathlon Race Calendar - Christmas Races

Yeah, it's time. Christmas doesn't lump all of its races together nicely on one day like Thanksgiving does. So since we just finished our Turkey Day runs, it's time to start running Jingle Bell Runs!

Time waits for no man! Or woman, I imagine.

Let's race!

-Green Text for Trail Runs
-Red Text for Marathons and Half Marathons
-Blue Text for Triathlons and Duathlons
-Orange Text for everything else, the normal 5k, 10k, etc

RACES FOR WEEK OF NOVEMBER 26th TO DECEMBER 2nd

December 1st / Shellburg Falls Trail Run 7m / Lyons, OR

December 1st / Reindeer Run Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / St. Helens, OR

December 2nd / California International Marathon / Sacramento, CA (Had to include this one)

December 1st / Winter Wonderland of Lights Run 6m, 4m and 2m / Portland, OR

December 1st / Turkey Trot 5k / Rexburg, ID

December 1st / Bend Jingle Bell Run 5k / Bend, OR

December 1st / Port Orchard Jingle Bell Run 5k / Port Orchard, WA

December 1st / Spokane Jingle Bell Run 5k / Spokane, WA

December 1st / Mount Vernon Jingle Bell Run 5k / Mount Vernon, WA

December 1st / Holiday Fun Run 10k and 5k / Ridgefield, WA

December 1st / Candy Cane Dash 5k / Shoreline, WA

December 1st / Christmas Gift 5k / Idaho Falls, ID

December 1st / Fairhaven Frosty 10k and 5k / Bellingham, WA

December 1st / Girls on the Run 5k / Bellingham, WA

December 1st / Girls on the Run Fall 5k / Seattle, WA

December 1st / Holiday Lights 5k / Blaine, WA

December 1st / Santa Run 5k / Clarkston, WA

December 2nd / K-9 Candy Cane Run 5k / Renton, WA

December 2nd / Jingle Bell Run 5k / Idaho Falls, ID

December 2nd / Portland Jingle Bell Run 5k / Portland, OR

Nanowrimo Starts Today!

Today's the day! Start writing!

Check here for my first excerpt.

And if you need an opening line for your novel, you can't lose with these.

Good luck!