Bill Menees's Blog

Since my last blog entry, I've run three more races. When you add in Thanksgiving, my son's 8th birthday, and Christmas preparations, it's been a busy few weeks.

11/14/09 - Team Nashville 10 Miler - 1:15:06 (7:31) - I ran the first three miles sort of fast, but I didn't feel like pushing it. It was cold, and I knew I had another race the next day. So the last seven miles I slowed down and focused on running "marathon pace". I felt fine at the end, so it was hardly a race effort. But technically it was still a PR because I've only done a couple of 10 mile races.

11/15/09 - TSBA 5K - 19:24 (6:15) - Another cold morning, but I felt pretty good. I led from the beginning, and I finished first overall. I was only 6 seconds over my PR, which wasn't bad for having no one in front of me and running my second race of the weekend.

11/22/09 - Flying Monkey Marathon - 4:10:11 (9:33) - As in years past, the wheels came off in mile 19. I ran the first 14 miles with my friend Phil. He made us run smart and easy, and we intentionally averaged about an 8:45 pace for those miles. Then at 14 he took off, and I couldn't keep up. When I got to the 18 mile mark, I was still doing "ok", but I knew the next 4 miles were going to suck. And they did. I lost a ton of time there as I walked up the hills and stopped to stretch. I eventually figured out that my lower back muscles were painfully tightened up, and that was causing the tightness in my glutes, hams, and knees. After I did some toe touches and trunk twists (in mile 22), my back relaxed, and I felt much better. I ran the last 4 miles fairly well, but I missed going sub-4. My splits were 1:50 for the first half and 2:20 for the second half. Sheesh.

Next year I plan to just volunteer for the Monkey. Running it three times is enough for me. I love everything about the race except running the 26.2 miles. I realize now that I'm not a marathoner, and I'm ok with that. I'm also ok with the fact that most of my running friends are marathoners, and they love it. I enjoy running up to 13 miles or so, but I mostly enjoy running fast. Running long may be better for others, but it's not my thing. I'm averaging a little over 30 miles a week this year, and that's not enough to race marathons on. But with good planning, it's enough to get two quality, intense runs, a long run, and a couple of short, easy runs each week. I'm happy with that, and we'll see what I can do with that knowledge next year.

Live well and have an excellent holiday season!

Labels: Personal, Running

# posted by Bill Menees @ 5:24 PM