Category: General

I’m starting into the third week of training, and nothing’s new. It’s like getting into the seat of a car on a very tall roller coaster after a long winter + fucking virus + long winter break. You know you’ve done it before and it’ll be a thrill, but there’s still that ‘holy shit’ feeling.

Fortunately, roller coasters tend not to run when there’s a few inches of snow on the ground covering a sheet of ice. I’ve had to move two runs to the dreadmill thanks to poor weather. Those two days were fortunately separated by two days of outdoor running, once in 19F weather (luckily my Gatorade didn’t freeze, that was a 14 mile run) and once in slush… it was around 37F but there was an inch of snow.

This week is like going up the hill. You know the coaster can’t go backwards one it starts. It keeps clicking up, notch by notch, until it reaches the top and crests the hill. Next week starts going down with a 16 mile long run. Since the Pig was cancelled, I rotated most of my long runs through 12, 13, 14, and 15 miles. Running 16 miles is like a coaster I’ve ridden before but haven’t in a while.

In other news, I signed up for the BAA 5k. Since the penultimate goal is a BQ Marathon time, I figured I might as well sign up for a BAA race.

So I have two virtual spring 5ks – the Bockfest 5k (March 1-7) and the BAA 5k (April 16-18).

I did manage to finally add some crunches to my strength routine. We’ll see if that sticks. I’m going on a likely-flawed approach that working out muscles tends to improve that part of the body. There’s plenty of people to tell me I’m wrong, but knowing what my legs look like after thousands of miles of running, I’m willing to try this.

Another email about how I (we) feel about this virus and an announcement about Bockfest 5k going virtual reminded me to actually sign up for the Beer Series and maintain my Braumeister status. Every race, every year since it’s inception.

While I was in Race Roster, I clicked “claim” on my 2020 Flying Pig Marathon Deferral. Since that seemed to have no effect but to remove that from the screen, I decided to go “all in” and do it. I’m signed up for four races this year. One is guaranteed to be virtual and I can’t say I’d be shocked if the other three are.

After the pandemic started and the FPM announced that they were moving to the fall, I deferred my 2020 FPM to another year. In my ‘high’ of signing up for races, I did it… I clicked register, filled out the web form, and used my deferral code. I doubt I can’t defer again, and honestly even if I can I shouldn’t unless I end up injured (at this point, not wanting to do a virtual marathon and deferring a second time because of that is a douche move, this pandemic is going to be around for a while).

Last year was an interesting race year. It started normal, which is to say “nothing was weird before the season actually began”. The writing was on the wall in late February on the Bockfest 5k day (also the US Marathon Trials day). Over the course of the year, the remaining two Beer Series races went virtual, and hte NKU XC Series and the Honor Run Half Marathon were cancelled. The Queen Bee Half and 4 Mile went virtual, which I don’t run but usually volunteer with. With the one exception of the Bulldog Blast 5k, the racing season stunk.

Given the cancellations, I had a long gap between everything. I spent a lot of time doing speedwork, which I reduced in December due to stress (season + work + everything else). The Bulldog Blast was in August. The virtual races for the Hudy 14k and the 50 West Mile were in September. I didn’t do so well in the 50 West Mile. I didn’t do a standalone mile, so my 7:20 wasn’t as good as it could have been compared to my 2019 PR of 6:32. I treated the Hudy 14k like a race, though. Besides the obvious lack of crowds, the only real difference was that I carried some fluids with me and that there was no actual start or finish line. My PR for that race was 2018 and was a 1:04:51. I ran 1:05:20. Not bad given the circumstances, and it beat 2019’s race of 1:06:24 in some serious heat.

By the time November hit, I was itching to do something. After looking into a few virtual options and not feeling really enthusiastic about any of them, I decided to just run my own Turkey Day 10k. I probably should have registered for the hot mess that is the Western & Southern Cincinnati Turkey Day 10k, but being at the right place (my computer) at the right time (when I remembered to look into it) never happened. I ended up running a PR at 49:01. I don’t run many 10ks (it seems there are few standalone 10ks or 5k/10ks in the area, and it seems there is a push to offer a 5k and half marathon).

I typed all of the above to basically say I’m ready. I know that I might be circling Batavia Township Park and the subdivision next to it for 26.2 miles (I’ve done 20, I can do this). I might be putting on a vest for the Flying Pig Marathon. Or March might fix everything (one can hope, right).

So on the day I’m writing this (Sunday), I did my first race in the training plan. This week has a lot – 6 days of running, hill repeats, and an M pace workout (and I have no clue what I’m going to use as M pace). Next week has a tempo run – something I’m no stranger to.

First off, if you didn’t think about the video below when seeing the title, go watch it. I’ll wait.

There’s nothing in the drivel that I’m typing below that has anything to do with this video, but since I thought of it after typing that title and the video is hilarious (even if you religiously watched He-Man as a kid like I did), I felt it was the right way to start this post.

I used to do weekly updates on this blog. I’ve amazed myself that I stuck with them for over a year, but truthfully they were pretty boring to write (and anyone religiously reading them likely figured that out). They were pretty boring to read, too. Only about half of them were proof-read, the other half were too boring and too routine. The pictures were the best part, and if I get back to weekly updates I might just go with all pictures and no text.

Speaking of pictures, I did take a few on the past month of runs…

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July came and went with 194 miles ran. Some of those were tough, and I recall cutting a few runs short because of that feeling of not being able to continue running due to dehydration or just plain exhaustion. July also came with a few race cancellation announcements – the NKU XC series was silently cancelled, PigWorks cancelled all their fall events, and Honor Run cancelled their races in November. The PigWorks events are the ones that made their mark in my schedule – the beer series races have been a staple in my running calendar for eight years – nearly as long as I’ve been running. The Flying Pig events have been on my calendar in one way or another for nine or ten years – one of the beer series races is on the Friday evening of Flying Pig weekend, and I volunteered with the marathon twice before starting to run on Sunday. I’ve run the 10k twice (2013 and 2016), the half three times (2014, 2015, and 2017), and the full once (2018). In 2019, I was the ham radio “shadow” to the race director, which I’ve also done for every Queen Bee Half Marathon since the race began. After a very tough marathon debut in 2019, I opted to travel to Toledo, Ohio for their marathon in 2019, which is normally the Sunday prior to the Flying Pig. In fact, the only Flying Pig Sunday that I wasn’t downtown was 2016 – I was flying out to Denver that morning, and I recall sitting in the airport listening to the ham radio comms… it was a pretty rough year, I think they may have red-flagged the race that year.

I was entered into the 2020 Flying Pig Marathon, which was cancelled in late March. After my experience with training in the summer for the 2019 Columbus Marathon, I decided to defer my marathon registration to hopefully 2021 instead of making a run for October, and that’s okay since October was cancelled in late July. Pigworks decided to not allow deferrals for the remaining beer series races, and I truthfully don’t blame them. I’m not sure I would have considered a deferral, and I want to keep my “Braumeister” status going (not that I think any decision would have stopped that, I think they’re ignoring 2020 for the purposes of all streaks). I’m also hoping that the Brew Hogs mug is a Masskrug. Nothing says “fuck this pandemic, I’m drinking beer” like huge glass of fine Marzen beer!

I am trying to warm up to the idea of virtual races. It’s going to be difficult, though. It’s been a long time that I haven’t found someone to talk to, whether it is a homebrew buddy that is also a runner (who introduced me to a few of his coworkers at the Sam Adams brewery in Cincinnati also), my former boss (who was scheduled to run the Flying Pig Half and usually runs the Hudepohl 14k), former coworkers, people I occasionally pass on the paths (when I worked downtown), or a complete stranger that I start talking to because she had a cool headband (“I Sweat IPA”).

There’s a few differences between virtual races and real races. With a real race…

• Race with hundreds of others
• Race on a closed course (well, 95% of the time)
• In the case of the Hudepohl 14k, run past some cheerleading squads that come out to cheer us runners on
• Finish the race in front of people cheering running under a gantry that has a big “FINSH” banner, sometimes some mascots, and sometimes hearing the sound of your name being announced over the speaker
• Drink beer legally while enjoying the post-race party (well, sometimes on the beer)

Virtual races are a little different…

• Run by yourself
• Run on a path or sidewalk that is open to all and you may be dodging asshats that block a sidewalk, traffic, and other people that may be out for a leisurely stroll (some of which may be less than attentive to things going on around them)
• Nobody is cheering you on because to them you’re just some crazy person that’s out of breath from running
• Finish the race unceremoniously with the press of a button on your watch
• Possibly drink beer illegally by yourself risking arrest for an open container violation

…yeah, there’s a few reasons that almost all of us like to race.

There might be one in-person race left in this fucked up 2020 season. I raced in the Bulldog Blast for the past two or three years (one of which gained me an age group win). They claim it is on with some guidelines that – as of the time I’m writing this – have yet to be announced.

It seems as if this racing season will end the way it started – with a 5k sprint. See y’all at the finish line… hopefully someday.

This past season played host to two new races for me – the Glass City Marathon and the Columbus Marathon. The middle of the season had a lot of the same races as normal… which isn’t all of a bad thing, since these are races I enjoy.

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I ran 2,021 miles in 2019. This was up from 1,649 in 2018 and 1,401 in 2017. Two marathons really put the miles on.

2018 had a lot of successes – I PRed in 8 of 10 races, and I hoped that the momentum would stay. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I PRed in the marathon (3:45 -> 3:33) and the mile (6:39 -> 6:32), but other races were near misses:

• NKU XC (14:44, + 0:28)
• Bulldog Blast 5k (21:58, + 0:12)
• Hudepohl 14k (1:06:24, + 1:33)

These three are on top of four other races – the Bockfest 5k (23:15), the Glass City Marathon (3:32:58), the 50 West Mile (6:32), and the Columbus Marathon (3:39:23). I raced fewer times this year.

What Went Wrong?

The weather was not a friend to me. Winter training was tough and sent me to the dreadmill a few times and to icy paths other times. I have distinct memories from early in the year of sliding my car into a parking spot at the park , getting pelted by frozen rain, running in 6″ of snow in DC with a friend (and without… that shit stayed around). Summer wasn’t fun either, as I remember once sitting in an armchair in my bedroom and falling asleep after a particularly hot run, as well as some more effects of dehydration that I’ve never seen before (and fortunately, not since… peeing brown is just 🤢).

But blaming a poor season on the weather feels like someone blaming shoddy work on their tools. I can’t prove anything (yet), but I think the Pfitz plans are just not for me.

In 2018, I felt like I did a ton of speedwork (hill repeats, intervals, or tempo runs). While my marathon training didn’t – it had a lot of M pace runs, but no real speedwork, the last half of the season had a ton. My summer had two speedwork sessions each week – either hills or intervals on Monday or Tuesday and a tempo session two days later (Wednesday or Thursday). I shifted into the Hal Higdon Advanced Half Marathon plan in late August which continued with two speedwork sessions each week. My average weekly paces went way down into the mid 8s during the latter part of the season and I had a breakout half marathon (Cincinnati Hungry Turkey Half – 1:39:35).

Where Do I Want To Be?

A BQ for me would have been 3:08:21 (3:10:00 – 1:39), which is a 7:11 min/mile pace. And I’ll likely need a larger cushion time unless shoe technology improvements are halted. I want to go fast at other race distances too… in fact, I think training for all distances (instead of one) improves all racing.

What’s The Plan?

The race schedule next year will likely be:

• Potential 10k
• Bockfest 5k*
• Little Kings Mile*
• Flying Pig Marathon (goal race)
• Potential 10k
• NKU XC Series
• Bulldog Blast 5k
• Hudepohl 14k*
• Fall Half Marathon(s?) (goal race)

If you know me, these aren’t anything different from past years with a few exceptions. One is the two potential 10ks. One of those potentials is a race I had a poor experience at (the start time was held by nearly half an hour to allow people to pickup race packs, and we were left standing outside in sub-30 temps). The other is one I had a good experience at, but it’s routinely been at a poor time given recovery from major goal races. The starred races are part of a series I’ve run every year.

One difference not evident in the list is that I plan on using the Hal Higdon Advanced 1 plan for the marathon. While the speedwork isn’t as intensive as his Advanced HM plan, it retains a few things I like – a real speedwork day (Thursday on the plan, that will change in implementation). There’s hill repeats, tempo runs, and 800 repeats. Then, for 10 of the 18 weeks of the plan, there’s an M pace run two days later. There’s two triple-double weeks (three >=10 mile runs in a week). I think I like that the last 6 weeks of the plan (before tapering) – the long run is 20/12/20/12/20/12. I certainly like the idea that there’s recovery weeks, especially since I started feeling a little over-trained using the Pfitz 18/55 plan.

The fall half marathon will likely follow the Hal Higdon Advanced Half Marathon plan, which I’ve used in the past with great success. As I mentioned above, this has a day of speedwork – usually hills or intervals and two days later is a tempo run. I found this plan to be on the intensive side, but I also get a lot of satisfaction of nailing a tempo run (particularly). And I believe that my spring marathon success had a lot to do with using this plan for the last half of 2018.

One thing that has slightly changed is the locale – the last time I did hill repeats, I had all of downtown Cincinnati at my disposal. With working from home, I have some places that will work, but they’re not as easy to get to… although a bonus is that it is pretty rare to see other people to wonder why some guy is repeatedly sprinting up a hill. On the other hand, a construction crew that was fixing a retaining wall started cheering me on once in downtown while I was doing hill repeats! 😂🤣. I did figure out the grade of the hill I was using and found a similar grade near the East Fork Dam, which seems like it’s a ways from my house, but it’s the same distance to my “normal” area of East Fork. So that might be the solution. The other possibility is the hill on the Batavia-Williamsburg trail, which is about the same distance and rise.

Here’s to a bunch of miles and successful races in 2020 🍻

This is what happens when I start typing my weekly running report and decide to copy and paste A Visit From St. Nick and change everything to a more standard midwestern December and place it in the park where I normally run. Enjoy!

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the park,
Not a creature was heard, ‘cept for a runner’s fart;
His stockings were pulled on his feet with little care,
In hopes that some speed soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds
While wondering what’s got into daddy’s head?
Mamma still in her kerchief and I with my hat,
I whispered “I’ll be in at park” while she continued her nap.

When out in the garage, there arose such a clatter
It’s the fucking door spring, that’s the matter!
Over to the door, I flew like a flash
To turn off the opener to stop the crash.

The moon on the fields of soggy grass,
Got me to just want to pass.
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a shorter-than me runner leading eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old runner so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Meb!
More rapid than eagles his coursers they fled,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

“C’mon, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and pokey-ass Blitzen!
Along the path and over top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So along the path the coursers they flew
He’s pulling a sleigh full of toys, at a 5 minute pace too!

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down to the ground St. Meb came with a bound.

He was dressed running gear, from his head to his shoes,
And his clothes were all damp with sweat (not booze!);
A bundle of gear he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.

His eyes—how they twinkled! his stride, how swift!
His cheeks were like roses, the gel was a lift!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the jacket on him was as white as the snow;

The stump of a gel pack he held tight in his teeth,
And the sweat, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a wiry build
That shook when he laughed, after the world that he thrilled.

He was skinny and strong, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but flew straight past on my left,
He took a quick drink; then flew on with deft,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, fired snot like a hose;

He sprang on past me, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, as he ran out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

This is the last week of the recovery plan. I’m back to five running days per week. It was a warm week.

Monday: 7 miles. It was a warm one, and it was Memorial Day, so with the expectation of no traffic on the main road, I ran along it and into a different subdivision. 7.02 miles in 59:58 (8:33 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: 5 miles. Ran this one in the subdivision. 5.03 in 43:11 (8:35)

Wednesday: 7 miles + 8 strides. Ran this in East Fork. Since my calendar on my watch and the one in my head isn’t updated, I ended up running 8 miles with no strides. 8.04 miles in 1:10:52 (8:49)

Thursday: 4 miles. Since rain was expected and this is a short run, I stayed in my subdivision. Of course the same asshat that had the off-leash dog a few weeks ago was parked across the sidewalk. 4.13 miles in 34:15 (8:17 min/mile pace).

Friday: 11 miles. I ran this in the township park and the subdivisions next to it. The first mile started slow, but as I got towards the last few miles, my podcast list finished and I switched to music (my AfterShokz Trekz Airs make it easy to use the Google Assistant in my phone to shuffle my “Epic Running Playlist”). As I got to the last few miles I started daydreaming about my next 5k, which will be in that park and started running some very low-8 miles. 11.02 miles in 1:34:16 (8:33 min/mile pace).

That’s it for the week and the month. The week was 35 miles, and the month was just under 128 miles.

I figured I’d write another year-ending blog post to get lost in everyone’s RSS and Twitter feeds.

Overall, I ran 1,650 miles in 2018 in 233 hours, 58 minutes, and 41 seconds (that’s an average of 8:31 min/mile pace).

I’ve divided this post up into four parts – short distances (5k and shorter), medium distances (>5k to half marathon), long distances (the marathon), and some discussion about all the running that was not racing (which represented 95.5% of my running).

Short Distances

My racing calendar traditionally has two 5ks, three 3.2ks, and one 1 mile. Since 2013, one of the 5ks has been the Bockfest 5k. This year was not a PR(23:13; my prior PR was 23:04). This was a course PR on a difficult course, though. In 2017 and 2018, the other 5k has been the Batavia Bulldog Blast 5k. This is an easy 5k on a fast pancake-flat course, and I made another PR there of 21:46. Even better, I won my age group and was 7th overall!

Another short distance I race is a 3.2k (ish) cross-country series. This is a series of three off-road races operated by the NKU XC team, and the third of the series, the Brian Rohne XC Championship, is named in honor of my brother. He ran for NKU prior to his death in 1993. Out of the three races, two of them were PRs – the first and the third. The second happened to be 3 days after the Bulldog Blast 5k. Apparently, I won my age group in one of those, too!

The only other short distance I run is the Little Kings Mile. I ran the one mile course in 6:39 this year, a nice improvement over last year’s 6:55 on a similar course.

Medium Distances

I had three medium distance races on the calendar this year, the Hudepohl 14k in September, the Honor Run Half Marathon in November, and the Hungry Turkey Half in November. 

The Hudepohl was a breakout race. For years, my long races have been slower than an 8:00 minute/mile pace. This time was different. All my paces were sub-8:00 minute/mile, and the overall pace was 7:28! This was my first race as a 40-year-old, and I was 13th in my age group, about 10 minutes behind the AG winner. I looked at the M34-39 results, I would have also been 13th, but I would have been just under 20 minutes behind the leader.

The Honor Run was a freezing cold race, and I had some GI issues. It was a PR with a 1:42:33, was 10th in my age group (of 57 people in my age grou) and 61 overall (of 859 total runners).

Late in the season, thanks to targeted advertising on Facebook, I ran the Hungry Turkey Half a day shy of two weeks after the Honor Run. I had some of the makings of a bad race – some stomache issues at the beginning – but the race itself went well. I PRed again with a 1:39:35, won my age group (of 19 people), and was 27th overall (of 461 people).

Long Distances

The only race longer than a half marathon that I’ve run is the marathon. I ran the Flying Pig Marathon in early May. I set out with the primary goal to finish the entire race running, with secondary goals of sub-4:00 and sub-3:45. I was unsure of the time-based goals because I used several online calculators to help predict my time to pace the race correctly, and they ranged from about 3:40 to 4:09. I also saw another runner who ran his 20 mile long runs in about the same time as me – 2:57. He ran his marathon in just over 4 hours. So I was pretty happy to cross that finish line in 3:45:14 after fighting through the last 7 or so miles under yellow-flag conditions (and you know, first wall).

Training

The year kicked off with marathon training – I used Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 1 Marathon Plan. It’s a good plan, and it feels like it’s designed to break you down and rebuild you better, faster, and stronger.

The summer training was a little less focused, partly because I went between plans, until I started the Hal Higdon Advanced Half Marathon in the late summer.

Throughout all the training, I kept with a mostly-regular (twice weekly) set of form drills that are outlined in Meb for Mortals. I also added squats on the same day after my run, and these tended to align with my two harder days of the week (not to be confused with my longer days).

I learned a lot about training in general from my marathon training. After a particularly rough training run that just kicked my ass, I started to do these things with a little more intelligence: high-carbohydrate meal on the night before, Gatorade Endurance during the run with an appropriate amount of gels (I started with Gu, but ended the year with Gatorade Endurace Gel, which I think taste better). I also learned more about recovery and bought some compression socks. After that same ass-kicking training run, I could barely stretch and my calves looked like I had something crawling under the skin.

What’s Next?

Not one, but two marathons! I’m signed up for the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio on April 28, 2019. The second will be a fall marathon. I was originally thinking of the Air Force Marathon, but the past few years of weather has me reconsidering – the race was Black-Flagged this past year. Perhaps the Columbus (Ohio) Marathon in late October (the weather is usually pretty good around that time of year). The summer will be filled in as usual with the Bulldog Blast 5k and NKU XC Series. I’ll probably run in the beer series again (I was reconsidering, but they truly are fun races).

I’m still building up miles for the Pfitz 18/55 plan and targeting a spring marathon. This was more of a return to my normal training.

Monday: 7 miles. Ran in the park and only in the park in a cold 18 degree morning. I did start with my form and mobility drills, and ended with my normal stretches and squats. 7.13 in 1:01:05 (8:34 min/mile).

Tuesday: 3 miles + 7 strides. Since it was 17 degrees in the morning, my attitude was every bit of “fuck this”, and I ran over lunch when it was (per my phone) 33 at the start of the run and 37 at the end. MUCH NICER! Evidently, my happiness over the weather bled into my running, because I ran 4.09 miles in 32:17 for a pace of 7:54 min/mile.

Wednesday: 8 miles. Ran 8 miles around the township park and the neighboring subdivisions. The weather was a little better. 8.11 miles in 1:11:06 (8:46 min/mile pace).

Thursday: 4 miles + 7 strides. Ran laps around the park. 5.07 miles in 43:35 (8:36 min/mile pace).

Friday and Saturday: I was supposed to run 10 miles, but having to work on my wife’s car took precedence. I would have rather went running!

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In honor of National Running Day, TheRunChat is doing 24 hours of questions. Since I have work (boo!), I can’t answer them on the fly like some lucky people can, so I’m answering them here.

1. What do you love most about running?
   I lost a metric shit ton of weight, partly from running. When I started, I was somewhere around 240 – 260. I now weigh 184. I enjoy competing, but also the process of preparing to compete (practice runs). I enjoy being outside (I loathe dreadmills entirely!)

   

2. Where’s your favorite place to run?
   I have several. The Ohio River Parks (Friendship Park/Sawyer Point/Yeatman’s Cove/Smale park) is nice, as is the other side of the river (and Newport is really cool about letting us run through their levee/commons area while festivals are setup).
3. What’s a must-do marathon in Europe?
   After hearing the Munich Marathon race recap from Marathon Training Academy Podcast, I think that would be a fun one to run. Not as big as Berlin (one of the Abbott World Marathon Majors), and Munich is well known for good beer! A second would be Dublin, Ireland (also known for good beer, and part of my ancestry comes from there).
4. Running with music: of course/no way?
   I normally run listening to podcasts and AfterShokz headphones, so for normal running, music is good too. I don’t race with headphones, though.
5. Do you prefer to run as the sun is coming up or as it is setting?
   When it is coming up. Afternoon runs are more difficult because I’ve had time for other stuff happen during the day (you know, life!)
6. What’s your biggest lesson learned with running?
   Patience is important. It’s possible that I fractured my sacrum due to impatience. I’ve seen a lot of people that go from zero-to-marathon because they want to check something off the bucket list – and they usually hit the wall HARD. I’ve improved immensely – I remember being so happy when I ran 4 miles in 48 minutes several years ago, and now I run around 6 miles in 48 minutes! It’s all because of perseverance.
7. What’s your favorite race medal?
   Maybe it’s because it’s my first marathon and you always remember your first, maybe because it’s the hometown, maybe because I consider the race a success (I missed my ‘A’ goal by 14 seconds!), but this is it…

   

8. How far in advance do you sign up for races?
   Depends on how much of a training cycle goes into a race. If it is a 10k or shorter, I don’t mind signing up really close to the event. Longer races tend to be a target for a PR and require much more of a training commitment (as well as cost more), so I sign up earlier. Also, cost – I try to get the best prices by signing up early.
9. What PR do you want to set next?
   My next big race is the Honor Run Half Marathon, and I’m pushing for a PR there. Even to the point that I’ve decided to up the ante with Hal Higdon’s advanced half marathon plan (previously, I used the intermediate-II plan to get me to 2 PRs in 3 half marathons – and the third was not a PR due to a back strain two weeks before race day).
10. Did you run track in high school? What was your big event?
    I was on the track team, but I didn’t run except when the coaches made me. I threw shot put and discus. I was decent, but not near the best in the school or anything.
11. If you could do a relay with 3 Twitter friends, who would you pick?
    I was drafted to a team on this one, and I think my answer is similar, and I would add that I got a chance to meet @ShimmyRunner and @LordDolish at the Little Kings Mile (which isn’t a relay, and we ran in different heats, but it’s kinda similar)
    https://twitter.com/DRappBeerRun/status/1004377900735520768
    After much discussion, it was decided that this would be a great group run so we could talk during the run.
12. What’s your ideal running weather?
    Mid-40s, dry with no rain, low humidity. I prefer to wear a long-sleeve shirt and shorts, gloves are okay.
13. What’s the best shoe you’ve ever owned?
    I’m going to go with my New Balance Zante v3s. I just ordered my third pair.
14. What’s the best sunscreen you’ve used?
    Banana Boat active.
15. What’s your favorite trail?
    In terms of real trails, I’ve only run in Mt. Airy Forest and NKU’s Valhalla course. Both are my favorite.
16. What’s your favorite community race?
    The Hudepohl 14k. It’s a serious race, but a lot of costumes are involved. One year, I ran around four people in prison stripes – they had last names on the backs (like with sports jerseys) with Lohan, Peterson, Rice, and a fourth that I don’t remember. The person with Peterson came complete with a switch. And there’s beer at the finish line.
17. What’s your favorite non-racing distance to run?
    12, because math. 1/12, 1/6, 1/4, 1/3, ?, 1/2, ? 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, 11/12, done! It’s like a fucked up Fibonacci Sequence!
18. Living or dead, what singer would you pick to run with? What would you ask him/her?
    I really don’t have an answer to this questions. I don’t know what singers can run easy at sub-9 paces, and I’m not really enamored by famous people. However, I can think of several that I’d be happy if they performed along the course of the next half or full marathon I run…
19. What’s your all-time favorite running memory?
    Finishing my first marathon missing my stretch A goal by 14 seconds. I had kinda dismissed my A and B goals (3:45 and <4:00) and was really concentrating on the C goal (run the entire race), so narrowly missing A was fucking awesome. Add in the fact that the race went to yellow flag.
    Second to that is finishing the Flying Pig Half 2017 where a friend (volunteer) came running down from his spot at the finish line to give me a high-five because it was a great race.
20. What’s one thing you’d like to improve with your running?
    Speed. I want to get to some fast 5ks and qualify for Boston.
21. What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever seen on a run?
    Saw someone getting arrested on the back of a police cruiser in Covington, KY.  Also, on a different day a block away from where that happened, I was running a long run on Easter Sunday. I ran past Molly Malone’s bar, where someone stumbled out of the front door with a Bud Light in their hand… at 9:00 AM!
22. Friends with Dogs! How far does your dog run with you?
    I have a dog, a miniature long-hair dauchshund, and I don’t run with her. She’s old. And she’s short.
23. What’s your next race? What’s your goal?
    Batavia Bulldog Blast 5k. I want a PR out of this – it’s a short, flat course, but it’s in July :-/