Jeff’s Post – I’m Being Chased!

We are in the midst of a crazy heat wave in Southern Maryland so Tamara and I got up early again this morning to try to beat the heat.  We had a short 5 mile run planned which I was ok with given the heat and my tired legs.  We took off out the driveway and decided to run a reverse route of a loop we have run many times.  Almost instantly I was ahead of Tamara.  It wasn’t planned but just happened.  Our rule is to not slow down for the other just run how we are feeling (Just had a flashback of the Rock n Roll ½ Marathon in DC this year where Tamara flew by me at mile 12!).  About a mile in I had a pretty decent lead in our race of two :).  I looked back a few times to both check on Tamara and to see how close she was to me.  It was strange but the whole time I was feeling a little bit of pressure to keep my lead (yes I wanted to win).  I also thought a couple times that this is really good training for me to stay focused and keep pushing.  It reminded me of the one and only 5k race I won last year.  I passed a runner for the lead about 2 miles in and it was a strange feeling to be the front runner.  I won’t win many 5ks but I really did love the feeling of being chased this morning.  It kept me focused and made me push myself to run faster than I would have.  Thanks for the chase Tamara!

Jeff’s Post – A Strong Weekend and We “R” Ready to Rock and Roll!

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving weekend.  Tamara and I had a nice few days with family and we were thrilled that we could get in a few runs together.  We didn’t only run – we kicked some running butt!  We didn’t break any land speed records and we are just average runners but we ran hard and we ran fast and it felt so good (I pasted the spits for those running geeks!).  I love the feeling when we are both running side by side in unison fast and strong!  We have our final ½ coming up this weekend and “We “R” Ready to Rock and Roll!  After running two marathons over the last few months I’m excited to be done at mile marker 13 this time and I feel very strong at the moment.  I do feel like I ate a bit more than I should have over the last few days so I will be looking to drop a few pounds by Sunday.  After running 32 miles over the last 3 days I took today off and plan on running a mostly normal week leading up to the ½.

Our Splits on our two runs below – Notice the negative splits – Yeah!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather in Southern Maryland continues to be beautiful and today was no exception.  It was all we could do not to run but we knew that rest was more important.  We spent a relaxing afternoon tagging our Christmas tree and visiting a few of the local scenic areas.

Have a great day and go for a run if you can!!  You will be glad you did!!

Rock Star!

 

A Rest Day!

Tagging our Tree!

Jeff’s Post – Challenges and Hurricane Pics!

Geez – we have had some challenges lately.  In the past week we have had an earthquake and a hurricane (The Annapolis 10 Miler I was supposed to run was cancelled due to the hurricane).  Thankfully we survived both with no damage.  We lost power for around 24 hours after Hurricane Irene but I have a generator so we were able to stay comfortable.  I still don’t have internet and have been working off my Verizon Wireless Mifi card, better than nothing but still not the same as my cable.  In the midst of all of this I’ve come down with some sort of cold/sore throat.  I’ve been doing everything I can to keep it in check (extra Vitamin C, cough drops, zink, extra sleep).  I just don’t get sick and I have my first “official” ½ marathon on Sunday (The Virginia Beach Rock and Roll) – I don’t want to be sick for this race.  I’m trying to run a normal week but will scale things back a bit if I’m not feeling any better.

More Pics Here

I haven’t posted for a few days so where is a quick running recap:

Saturday – I ran 12 miles on the treadmill.  I’m a geek so I live tweeted my run (follow me @werrunners) giving updates every two miles.  I also did my first livestream (www.livestream.com/werrunners).  I really would like to livestream a little more – maybe get some virtual group runs going.  Not sure what I ultimately want to do with that but it combines my love of running and technology so I would like to do something – we will see.

Sunday – This was the day after the hurricane and I really figured that I wouldn’t be able to run this day – thought I would be cleaning up.  Tamara and I were both very very fortunate – we had limited cleanup so we were able to sneak in a 6 mile run that afternoon.  It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon – such a difference from a few hours earlier.  We had a great run!

Monday – I didn’t get power until late Sunday night and I had already decided that if I didn’t have power Monday morning I was going to cut everything else off and run the treadmill off the generator.  Happy I I didn’t have to do that. I ran 6.5 miles on Monday – really a struggle as I was tired from all of the weekend activities and didn’t feel well.

Tuesday (today) – I really had a good run 8.5 miles.

Have a great day – for a run if you get a chance!

Jeff’s Weekend Recap a new PR – 70 Miles for the week

I had a good running week and finished strong with two good runs this weekend.  I normally try to run outside on the weekends but I was up against a schedule crunch on Saturday morning.  I knew I wanted to get a long run in on Saturday and knew it would be on the treadmill.  Some people hate the treadmill but I actually like it.  I would definitely prefer to run outside but the treadmill gets rid of all the variables.  I don’t have to worry about the weather, I get to watch TV, I get to listen to music, I have two fans on me, a refrigerator stocked with water, piles of towels (man I sweat!) and I really feel like it saves my legs.  I’ve run 13 miles on the treadmill more than a few times but knew I wanted to go more on Saturday.  To switch things up a bit I decided I would bring my phone down and live tweet my run.  Who knows if anyone other than Tamara was paying attention but I really did enjoy it and found it motivating.  I was tweeting in 2 miles increments and ended up going 16 miles – A new treadmill record for me.  I will run a marathon distance on the treadmill soon and will live tweet that too!  It was a great run and I had a great time.

I thought I would get to run with Tamara on Sunday but that didn’t work out so I decided on an outside run from my house.  Before I talk about my run I want to give a shout out to Tamara for her 11 mile treadmill run on Sunday.  I remember when she told me I was crazy for running those distances on the treadmill – I’m glad she has come over to the crazy side!  Before I left the house I peeked at the distance on Garmin Connect and saw that I was about 12 miles short of 70 miles for the week.  I really don’t give myself distance goals when I start the week but I have looked a few times at the end of the week and if I’m close to a personal goal I will shoot for it.  I really didn’t want to run that far this morning but I wanted to hit 70.  I went out on a familiar route this morning and really got to the 12 miles pretty easy.  I need to pick up my pace but distance was more important to me this morning.  I live in Southern Maryland and once nice thing on my run this morning were the many many Amish buggies pacing me as they were on their way to church.

A great running week – Looking forward to the week to come!