Yesterday marks 5 weeks of training

I've now run about 100 miles since I started training 5 weeks ago - I've run 24 of those miles in the last 5 days! I've lost 7 pounds since I strarted and 13 pounds since my heaviest weight this winter. I'm down to 190# which is heavy for a Marathoner and about 30 pounds heavier than I weighted when I ran track in college. I expect to weight between 170 and 180 pounds on race day late July - still heavy for a Marathoner but a good "fighting weight" for me.
I'm feeling pretty good about how my training is proceeding. I've had a few minor strains as my old legs have adjusted to running again, but I feel healthy now. I expect to be ready for the Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon coming up May 6th and then the Mt. Tam. Boar Ridge 18k 6 days later.
Our dog Squeak needs a lot of attention but still seems to be doing great.

Squeak update and the LMJS 15k

So it's now been a week since Squeak's accident and surgery. She's doing great. It's amazing how much fight there is in that little 5 pound dog. Thanks to those of you that have offered to help with the hospital bills, but we are not accepting any help with those - these pups are our responsibility. You are encouraged to donate to my favorite charities - there are links on the right side of this page - thanks.
On Sunday I ran in a 15k (9.3 mile) race in Oakland sponsored by the Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders. This was 3 laps around Lake Merritt. I started out at too fast of a pace, passing the 2 mile mark at 16:30 (8:15 mile pace), and knew I'd pay for it later. I slowed my pace and passed the 5k mark at 26:10. At about the 5 mile mark I started to fatigue and the remaining 4 miles were a challenge. I passed the 10k mark at 54:00 and finished the race with a time of 1:22:22. My times for each 5k were 26:10 (8:25 pace), 27:50 (8:57 pace) and then 28:22 (9:07) pace.
I'm a little disappointed that I went out quite so fast, but thats one of the reasons I'm running so many races as part of my training for the Marathon in July. Going out too fast in that event could be disastrous. The good news is that even though I faded later in this 15k, my pace for the race overall was 8:50 which is in the range I was aiming for. This was my longest race ever and my longest run in 20 years.
My next event is the Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon in 2 weeks. This is a much larger event than the two local races I've run so far - thousands of runners instead of 100 or 200. Also 13.1 miles is a significant distance. It will be critical that I don't start out faster than my 9 minute target pace or it won't be much fun later in the race...

My first race and our dog gets hit by a car!

Well, the best news first: Our dog will probably be ok. Squeak, the smaller of our two dogs (they are Chihuahua/Dachshund mix), was hit by a car Sunday while I was running my race. She has two fractures in her pelvis and had some internal injuries as well. They operated on her yesterday and it seems that she's going to be fine. Hopefully she'll be wiser or at least faster after this...

Anyway, I also had my first race in over 20 years and I'm thrilled at how well I did. I was expecting a time of somewhere between 54 minutes and an hour for this 10k (6.2 mile) race. I finished in a time of 51:29! I was shocked. That's an average of 8:18 per mile, a much faster pace than I thought I could sustain. Also, this was not a flat course - the last mile or so was uphill and I felt it. Anyway, I'm thrilled I did so well...

Next Sunday, I'm running a 15k (9.3 mile) race in Oakland sponsored by the LMJS (Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders). 3 laps around Lake Merritt. This will be my longest run thus far and I'm hoping to average 8:40-8:50 for each mile of the race. I'll run a little before and after to make it an 10-11 mile day...

I have some fun but tough races ahead in May:
Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon - May 6th
Mount Tam. Boar Ridge 18k - May 12th
Tilden Tough 10 miler - May 20th

And tougher races ahead in June:
Lake Chabot Trail challenge (Half Marathon on tough fire roads) - June 3rd
and the Double Dipsea (13.7 miles - up and over Mt. Tam twice on tough trials) - June 23rd

Hopefully with some of these tough races under my belt, the S.F. Marathon in July will feel like a stroll in the park...;-)

Today marks 3 weeks of training

So my most excellent adventure started 3 weeks ago today. I've now run a total of 50 miles, lost 3 pounds and have pieced together something of a training plan. At this point I'm not even running the distance of a Marathon in a week. By July 29th I hope to be able to run the entire distance of 26.2 miles - in less than 4 hours! This weekend I have my first training race and my longest run thus far. The Dolphin South End Runners sponsor races almost every weekend of the year. They have a 10k (6.2 miles) race this Sunday. I plan to take it easy in this event. My goal is to finish the race in less than an hour and run a little extra to increase my mileage for the day to 7 or 8 miles...