Last review for a while! (Which is good, it’s more of my impressions than a real review… )
I’ll admit it. I like to run with music or podcasts. Given that many of my runs are solo, it’s almost a requirement.
I’ve been searching for the perfect earphones to run in for quite a while. Honestly, I’ll probably be searching forever.
This should have been a quick post, but oh well. I wanted to write it, as I specifically looked for a post like this before I bought the G5 GPS.
Synopsis: Yes, It works with the RS800CX. Yes, if you have an RS800CX you want to buy it. If you don’t own the RS800CX, don’t bother reading more.
The Walt Disney Family Fun 5k. An excellent reason to get up at 3am and freeze while waiting to run 3.1 miles on a Friday morning!
We went down for the Marathon. But, there is the 5k, thus an opportunity.
Don’t click to read more if you are on a slow connection. I have a camera and I wasn’t afraid to use it!
Heading into the Disney world Marathon, I ran into a quandary. One of the major attractions to the marathon are the characters on the course. And of course, if you are going to stop for a picture with the characters, it’s helpful to have a camera with you.
Alrighty. This one is tough.
I knew going into it that I wasn’t trained as well as I’d like. But I also knew that I can be pretty competitive, and the numbers had been coming up closer as I neared taper. I wasn’t as good as I was a year ago, but I wasn’t far off, either.
Last year, we debated about on twitter and in real life about what to wear – the forecasts were bouncing around all over the place until the morning of the race. Turned out to be close to perfect.
This year, there wasn’t any debates over what the weather was going to do, that I saw. It was cold.
Well, I don’t. (Run for the Party, that is.) I run for the race.
This was the 3rd running of the Half Marathon, and the best.
(Btw, this race was in November. This post has been in limbo for a while, waiting on me to actually take pictures of the medals. Shiny reflective surfaces take a bit of care to get right. Laminated cards even more & and frankly, I didn’t want to take the time to do it. Sorry for the delay. )
Ouch.
And DUH!
My lovely wife had a Library conference at Montgomery Bell State Park this weekend. In an effort to get away from the kids for a little bit, I came along, figuring I would take advantage of the park while she did her thing.
I’ll gloss over the wild parties that ensued – I mean, it was a LIBRARIAN Conference. I’m sure that the word Legendary isn’t quite appropriate.
I did want to take a chance on the trails surrounding the Inn. Little did I realize it was actually a chance.
I posted an update to my saga of running in Vibram 5 Finger shoes yesterday. Unfortunately, I did not have any idea of the incredible weather events that started to occur about an hour after I posted this.
I had whimsically named the post : “Rumors of their demise are greatly exaggerated.” Given that I had effectively written these shoes off.
When I retweeted the post a few minutes ago, I thought about all of the weather detail I had posted the previous day.
I’ve re-titled the post. 1000 miles.
On a family note: Thankfully, all of our family, spread through Alabama, made it through the storms yesterday without loss. Mom visually tracked two of the Tornados from her safe spot, including the one that really tore up Cullman. Arab, AL got hit pretty hard, although not on the scale of Tuscaloosa or Birmingham. When I see the aftermath pictures, and remember the way T-town used to look, it’s pretty hard to not get choked up.
Mom and the rest of Arab are without power, and likely to remain without power for quite a bit, but she’s got a generator for essentials, and frankly, it’s such a small thing after the possible outcomes from yesterday’s events.
We are obviously very thankful today for their safety, and our prayers are out for everyone affected.
Does anyone remember this post: What’s happening to my shoes?
My Bikila’s at that point had 711 miles then.
It’s the end of the year. Tradition DEMANDS that the numbers be counted and presented. I don’t feel too bad about mine, but I’m going to put them into context of the previous years.
Because, I’m a numbers junkie too. It’s not often (ever) that I run without my Polar HRM, GPS and foot pods. The GPS on my iPhone comes along with Runkeeper as well, unless it’s looking wet. Btw, Runkeeper is offering their Pro version for free during the month of January. If you have an iPhone or Droid, you need to get it. It’s not as good as a dedicated device for accuracy (with my phone at least), but it is close, and has other advantages. I pulled some numbers from it to help out in my PRE-Polar days.
Following the numbers HAS caused me to get out of the house in the early morning, simply to BEAT the number. It’s really not healthy. Oh wait, it seems like it IS!
| 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Total Miles | 0 | 247 | 1377 |
| Avg Pace | Only in a car | 10:22 | 8:56 |
| Weight (end of year) | 202 | 172 | 153 (mid Dec) |
| Longest run | 50 feet | 13.1 miles | 26.2 miles |
| Calories burnt | HA! | 34,660 | 186,957 |
2008 had me +200 pounds (I’m being nice about the 202 number. Mid 2008 was much worse). I ran when chased, but frankly, IF anyone tried to run after me, they would have caught me quickly.
2009, I was loosing the weight. I started running mid year. 247 miles isn’t that much, but I’m proud of it. It was a struggle to do. I wasn’t very fast. That 10:22 average belies a lot of slower times.
2010. I’ve added 1000+ miles to my previous year, and I’ve done the Marathon distance, successfully, under 4 hours. I’m VERY proud of that. 2010 is an upward graph of mileage and speed for me. The second half of the year is more impressive than the first. The 8:56 average pace isn’t bad, but it would be interesting to break it up first half/second half. (Ok, so I did. Second half is a few hundred miles more, and a half minute faster on average.)
All that running is great for fitness, but you also have the races to prove it. So, let’s look at race numbers as well – Best per year.
| Best Times | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| 5k | Did Not Start | 26:09 | 23:07 |
| 10k | Did Not Start | 1:01:04 | 46:59 |
| 13.1 | Kidding, right? | 2:07:02 | 1:41:30 |
| 26.2 | Insanity! | - | 3:51:58 |
Could I have done better? Yes. 2010 was a year that started poorly for me. I trained for running the Country Music Marathon, but January was a very low mileage month. After the failure at Country Music, I didn’t run very much in May. It took me a while to recover. I’ve changed shoes to Vibram Five Fingers and had to spend a significant period of time adapting to them and keeping mileage low.
So what to do about 2011? Frankly, 2009 was such an improvement over 2008, that I had to repeat it. 2010 was a great year for me running. Much better than 2009. I expect the same from 2011. I want to be able to look at these numbers again next year, and every SINGLE one needs to be better.
1377 miles? I WILL do better.
8:56 average pace? I can do better, but I have to remember to slow down for my long runs.
Weight? This to could be better, but I’m not going to commit to going up or down. Frankly, 151 doesn’t leave much on me. I’d rather have a balanced weight, I just don’t know exactly what that is yet.
26.2 miles? I don’t know. I know I’ll run that distance again. I don’t know if I want to run further than that yet. Running my age sounds like a great idea, but I’m not sure it will sound as good come May. 
I might run my age in Kilometers instead.
Calories burnt? Geez, if I hit ANY of the above, this is a given. I don’t follow this stat often, but it is fun to sum up at the end of the year.
All of my PR’s are from this year.
My 5k PR is from mid year 2010. That 23:07 can definitely be improved on.
10k PR is the Franklin Classic. After running the 5k close to my PR. I’m sure I could improve that as well, in a straight 10k.
1:41:30 half marathon. That’s not from too long ago, and it was much faster than I thought I was going to do. I think I can improve it, but it’s going to take training and work.
3:51:58 Full Marathon. I’m still enjoying this. But when I run the marathon again, there will be a bullseye on this number as well.
I expect to be setting new PR’s this year. I don’t think they’ll be as huge of jumps as they were in the past, but I still think I can improve every one of them. But at the same time, I’ve really enjoyed just running for the sake of running. It’s going to be an interesting time, mixing hard VO2Max runs against social running (which I’ve come to enjoy immensely).
I’m looking forward to it.