The three ring circus has nothing on Hayward Field I’ve always been a sucker for a good track meet. Well, even a mediocre one too. Since my first one, the Huron Relays in March of 1967, I’m hooked.When P.T. Barnum added the third ring to his “Greatest Show on Earth” in 1882, he indeed invented the three ring circus. He was, however, a little behind in this whole three ring… Read More »A Track and Field Kind of Summer
Lately, my running has provided few highlights and fewer accomplishments. This past week marked the end of that trend. Four, count ’em, FOUR things went very right this week: mileage, long run, weight loss, extra sessions.First and foremost, I didn’t travel this week so it allowed for some focused mileage. The total for the week was 57. This followed a nice 48 week. This one we’ll back off a little… Read More »A For Accomplishment
There are just a little more than thirteen weeks until the San Francisco Marathon. Three weeks after that is the Squamish 50K. I should be firmly entrenched in some serious base training, ready to begin a strength phase. I am not. I am struggling with juggling.The last four weeks and the next nine are some of the busiest ever. Teaching and prepping classes, traveling, and marketing for the fall schedule… Read More »Struggling With Juggling
The start, where it’s always okay. Forty-Four years ago, I placed 14th in the Florida Relays Marathon. 2:58:24. Today, amazingly, I ran roughly the same time for a half marathon. And I’m not sure which makes me prouder.In 1972, I had just run a very comfortable 1:50:00 twenty mile tune-up. It meant I was ready to run under 2:30. So, while 2:58 is an okay PR to have in my… Read More »Worst Race EVER, So I Kept Going Anyway
With some very good news last week, my “race” schedule is once again revisited. It was Tuesday when my email arrived proclaiming I was accepted into the 2016 New York City Marathon. I have run New York in 1993, 84 and 98 and am extremely excited to do this one as 1) it’s been a long time and 2) race day is my 65th birthday.Latest schedule as set (registered races… Read More »See You In New York! Schedule Re-Revisited
Coming off the Boulder Canyon I saw the Flotrack workout. I read Running With the Buffaloes. I heard the stories. I’d never run Magnolia Road.Sunday, in some sort of a cross between self-sacrifice and stupidity, I decided that my long run should be up Mags. I had my wife, Linda, perform familial last rites, packed my car with the essentials and headed to Boulder. The key word here is Sunday. While… Read More »Magnolia Road Lives Up to It’s Reputation. Jenny Simpson’s the Bomb!
Back on November 29th of 2015, I speculated as to my racing schedule for what was then, the upcoming year (see http://runspittle.blogspot.com/2015/11/look-out-nyc-squamish-and-imogene-im.html). Now that the upcoming year is the here year, let’s see where we’re at on this thing.Schedule as set (crossed out no longer running – races added in red):March 6 Napa Valley Marathon (this one is still up in the air)April 10… Read More »Schedule Revisited
I have accepted the challenge. Or I guess I did. It was going to happen anyway, so why not make it official? Yes, I have joined the 2016 miles in 2016 challenge.Two great guys, Adam Goucher and Tim Catalano at Run the Edge, have created this outstanding multi-layered challenge for people wanting to get off the couch (or easy chair, or wherever). For more info, go to http://www.runtheyear2016.com/. Very cool.Anyway, like… Read More »The Challenge Is ON! or is it really?
335 to 30! That’s a crushing margin. If someone, or some team, won any kind of game by that much, it would be an overwhelming slaughter. 335 would rule the day (year)! Then, why am I so upset about the 30? I ran on 335 of last years 365 days. That’s 91.8%. I should be pretty happy about that. As you can probably guess, it’s the 30 that is bugging the crap out… Read More »Why Does a 91.8% Full Glass Seem Half Empty?
Spoiler: I finished. Was it fast? NO! Was it strong? Eh, Not really. Was it fun? YES! Finished a short racing year running The North Face Endurance Half Marathon in the Marin Headlands Sunday. First and foremost, it was fun. 13.75 miles (yeah, LONGER than a half marathon) of uphill and down on some beautiful trails that would have had some awesome scenery had it not been cloudy/misty. My biggest goal was to run the… Read More »The North Face Half: Race Report. Hills, Unscathed Nips, and Kashmir