Vegas recap

Wow, I really let this one slip, sorry about that.  Hopefully I can still remember the details of my trip!

Zach and I left for Vegas on Saturday (11/16) afternoon.  I'm not sure if I mentioned this in my last post but my two little girls (L and N) had been suffering off and on from the stomach flu for the past week so Angie and I were really worried about getting it as well.  It would be the worst possible time for both of us as I was going to run a half marathon and Angie would be home with two semi-sick girls (they were, for the most part, on the mend.)  Well, by the time we landed in Vegas I had a few texts from Angie saying how she caught the stomach bug and was not doing well.  Fortunately her cousin came over to feed the girls dinner and then my parents came over later that night to help out the next day.  Needless to say I felt awful that Angie was sick and, as is usually the case when someone in your house gets sick, my stomach immediately started feeling like it just wasn't quite right.  Fortunately it was just nerves because as soon as the race started I felt 100% better.

Hello Vegas! (not my photo)

Anyway, we ended up going with a private transportation service and the driver was waiting for us at our terminal.  Once Chris, Bob, Zach, and I were all loaded up in the car we headed to the expo at the convention center.  At the expo we picked up our packets that included our race bib, our chip timer, and shirts (after all, that's why we sign up for races right? For the "free" t-shirt.)  The expo was pretty lame.  We were expecting a lot of free samples (race fuel, energy bars, energy drinks, etc.) but it was mostly shoes and clothes that were on sale.

We rode around Vegas in style!

We took the tram to our hotel (Flamingo) and proceeded to the check in line.  Thanks to Angie's brother Robert I learned about the $20 sandwich.  I know what you're thinking and I felt the same way when I first heard this term.  I assumed it was not something I should look up on my work computer.  It turns out it's actually a way to get room upgrades.  Basically when you check in you put a $20 bill between your drivers license and credit card and ask if there are any complimentary room upgrades available.  Since we had two rooms booked we decided to try this trick to get connecting rooms.  Chris and I walked up to the clerk (the rooms were in our names) and Chris did the honors.  Let me point out that Chris lives near Seattle and is a big Seahawks fan.  Let me also point out that the clerk that was working with us was also from the Seattle area, and was also a big Seahawks fan.  I think you know where this is going.  The guy worked at his computer for a couple minutes and then disappeared after telling us he'd be right back.  When he came back he said that, unfortunately, there were no connecting rooms available that night but that he upgraded both our rooms to suites!  He also said that if we came back the next day he would move us to connecting rooms with strip views!  I should mention that we booked our rooms through the Rock N Roll Vegas Marathon website and we got awesome rates.  $90 for the first night (Saturday) and $40 each night for Sunday and Monday (per room.)  We got the upgrades for the same price (can you beat a strip view room for $40/night?) AND he gave Chris his $20 back!

This was about the only time I've rooted for the Seahawks

Needless to say our trip got off to a great start.  After we checked in we headed across the street to Caesar's Palace to grab some dinner.   Bob wanted to try Gordon Ramsay's Pub & Grill so we headed through the casino and made a rookie mistake by getting a table without looking at the menu first.  After the hostess seated us and we got our water glasses filled (which I immediately drained) we finally looked at the menu.  It's a Pub & Grill, they have to at least have a burger on the menu right?  Wrong.  Ramsay is a Scottish chef and this restaurant reflected it.  The closest things to what we were looking for were Shepherd's Pie and Fish & Chips.  They must have been good because they were at least $25.  Don't get me wrong, I knew any restaurant in Vegas would be expensive, especially the restaurant of a famous chef, but we didn't want to spend $30 - $40 each to eat something we weren't exactly excited about.  We decided to "drink & dash" and bolted before our waiter had time to come over to get our drink orders.

Gordon is not happy with us

We ended up finding a burger joint and had dinner there before heading back to the Flamingo.  We walked around a bit, sat at the sports book and watched some college football, and then called it quits pretty early trying to save ourselves for the race the next evening.  

Sunday was pretty relaxed as we ate a late brunch at our hotel, walked to Walgreens to get some Gatorade, and then watched football in our rooms until it was time to go to the race.  For my race recap go here.

Finally found this nice photo

After the race we watched the end of the Broncos - Chiefs game (won by the Broncos!) and then took a cab to Freemont Street to get a cheap steak dinner.  We ended up at Magnolia's Veranda at the Four Queens and I got the Ribeye Dinner for something like $14.  After running 13.1 miles I have to say that was one of the best steaks I've ever eaten.  We stayed down on Freemont Street for awhile and then headed back to our hotel.  For some reason the Flamingo has a 24-hour brick-oven pizza place right by our elevator so we had to stop and have a pizza before bed.  Hey, we burned ~2000 calories during the run so we deserved two dinners right?

The next day was pretty low key but the highlight was definitely the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar's Palace.  I always thought the buffet at the Rio was the best.  Boy was I wrong.  This was the most amazing buffet I have ever seen (of course it costs $45 for dinner.)  I can't remember everything I ate that night but off the top of my head I remember having a huge plate of crab legs, sushi, salad, a fancy meat/cheese plate, truffle scalloped potatoes, mini hotdog, Wagyu beef slider, the most amazing sweet potato tater tots with a honey glaze, carne asada street tacos, lime pork green chili, ice cream, cheesecake, fresh chocolate chip cookie, and a few other things I'm not remembering.  I would definitely recommend going there if you ever find yourself in Vegas and need to intake 3500 calories.  We somehow managed to walk back to our hotel and hung out for a little bit before crashing for the night.

Good night Vegas

We flew back to CO the next morning and we happy to get home to see our families.  Overall it was a great trip and I think I've had my Vegas fix for awhile.  At least until next February when the Broncos are in the Super Bowl!

2013 Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon Recap

*note: I just read this and it is really long, you might want to take a bathroom break first or grab a coffee*

I did it!  I ran 13.1 miles!  Actually, according to my GPS watch I ran 13.25 miles but that was probably because of all the zigzagging I did.  I don't want to get ahead of myself so let me back up a bit.

This post will only be about the race.  I will write about the trip in general next week.

The race started at 4:30 pm so we (Chris, Bob, Zach, and I) decided to head to the "start line" at around 2.  One of the benefits of staying at the Flamingo was that there was a Monorail stop at the hotel so we decided to take the Monorail to MGM Grand (the last stop) and walk the rest of the way.  There were a lot of runners waiting to get on when we got there and more coming all the time.  Once the Monorail arrived we were lucky to get on because it was already pretty full.  At the next stop a few more people were able to squeeze on while a lot of others were out of luck and left to complain about how that was the third time they had been unable to get on.  I guess that's the downside of staying at the next to last stop.  Anyway, once we got off we walked through the MGM Grand and down the strip to the "start line."  I put that in quotes because it was more like a small village with a couple hundred porta potties, bagel/banana/water booths, a huge stage with the All American Rejects singing, and about 25,000 people.  We decided it would be a good idea to get in line for the porta potties so we got in line.

Not a picture from my race but you get the idea

There were about 50 people in each line so we had to wait for about 20 minutes.  After that business was done we stretched a little bit and then decided that we should make our way to our corral.  Based on our projected finish time of 2 hours, Zach, Chris, and I were placed in corral 14.  The corral system is used to space out the runners and let the faster runners out first so they aren't stuck behind slow people like me.  Corral 1 goes first and then every other corral is released 1.5 minutes apart.  Each corral is designed to hold ~1000 runners although I have no idea how many people were actually in our corral.  It was a little disappointing to see people from corral 33 (probably an estimated 3 hour finish time) walking through my corral on their way to who knows which corral in front of us.  I know that during the race I passed people that were probably walking the entire race.  Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with people walking the race but I don't like that they went to the front just so they didn't have to wait for their corral.

View in front of me (you can just make out the start line)

View behind me

Anyway, right at 4:30 pm they had someone sing the National Anthem and then the race started.  There was an emcee at the start line calling out the corrals as they were released.  There was also music blaring out of speakers at each corral and I have to admit that I was definitely getting pumped up!  Maybe 5 or 6 minutes after corral 1 was released we saw the first runners racing past us.  Holy cow they were going fast.  I'm not sure I can sprint as fast as their race pace.  I don't know if the first corral was all marathoners or also some half marathoners mixed in but they were all moving fast.  It turns out first place of the marathon finished in 2:35:26 (5:56 min/mile pace) and the first place half marathoner finished in 1:06:17 (5:04 min/mile pace.)  Wow.

As we got closer to the start line I definitely had butterflies but I was also excited to get started.  Once we finally got started I didn't feel like I was going much faster than when we were walking our way to the start line.  Because I decided to do run/walk intervals I thought it would be nice of me to start near the back of the corral so I didn't stop in front of anybody when I did my first walk.  That was a big mistake.  There were so many people that it was almost impossible to set any type of pace.  At around 0.75 miles I looked at my watch and saw that I was only doing a 12 minute mile!  I really didn't want to be so far behind my target pace so I started running faster and darting in and out of people and running on the sidewalk.  I ended up getting my first mile done (with no walking because we were going so slow) in 9:30.  I decided that I didn't want to completely give up on my intervals so I walked for around 2 minutes and then started running again.  It was really had to walk because as you walk, all the people you worked so hard to pass while running, go right past you.  It's like making a stop at a rest stop during a long road trip and you see the big semi, that you worked so hard to pass, blow by.

Course map.  We started out going south and turned around just before mile 1

We did get to pass by the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign which I had never seen in person...that was pretty fun.  There were quite a few people that stopped to take pictures.

I saw this sign for about 30 seconds

My intervals were all over the place and I tried to keep them around 5 minutes of running to 1 minute of walking.  It was tough, not just because of the number of people, but because there were times the road narrowed and everybody got crammed together.  Or, at the water stations, there would be people that would run right in front of you to get over to the water.  A few times I had to come to a complete stop so that I didn't run into anyone.  Another time a lady in front of me stopped in the middle of the road to take a picture with her cell phone and I narrowly avoided crashing into her.  I think, on average, I walked between 1.5 to 2 minutes per mile which is just about what I was hoping to do.

As many of you know I was pretty excited to listen to the Broncos games during the run.  I found out that Las Vegas did not carry the game on FM radio (my iPod has an integrated FM radio) so I decided to take my phone along and stream KOA.  That didn't work out so well.  I think the number of people trying to stream music (and just people in Vegas using their phones in general) overloaded the cell tower because the game kept cutting in and out.  And by in and out I mean out.  I fought with my phone for probably about 2 miles so that really helped the time go by!  I finally ended up putting my phone in my fuel belt and listened to my book on tape.  I have to say that I listened to my book for about 1.5 hours and I don't really remember any of it.  I was so busy enjoying the scenery and dodging other runners I wasn't really paying attention to the book.

My time at the 10 mile mark was 1:35:21 which was pretty close to the times for my 10 mile runs in training so I was pretty happy.  I ended up running the last 3.1 miles at a faster pace than I did the first 10 so I guess that means my training was successful, right?  The last mile was a blur and before I knew it I was crossing the finish line completing my first ever half marathon in 2:04:54!  Five minutes under my goal!  What a great feeling it was to finally finish something I have been training for for almost 8 months.  I met up with Zach, who finished in under 1:55:00! and we took our time walking through the finish line village drinking water, Gatorade, chocolate milk, and eating bananas, bagels, and pretzels.

My medal that L loves because it glows in the dark!

Overall I thought the race was organized very well and ran smoothly.  The course was pretty well lit for the most part (with the exception of the part where we ran around some neighborhoods just before we turned around and headed back down the strip) and the volunteers were great.  There were a ton of people on the sidelines giving high fives and cheering on the runners.  I didn't have any one there to specifically cheer me on but it felt like the streets were lined with hundreds of my closest fans.  As we ran through the aforementioned neighborhood people were sitting on their patios cheering us on.  As is the case with most half/full marathons (or so I hear) people were holding up the usual silly signs.  Some of my favorites were "Worst Parade Ever", "Toenails are Overrated" and of course:

Again, not from my race

I'm not sure I would ever run a half marathon with 20,000+ people again but I'm glad I did it once.  I had such a great experience and am so glad I did it (and that it's over!)  I think 10k's are more my distance but I would like to try another half marathon at some point.

As I mentioned, I ended up finishing in 2:04:54 which comes out to a pace of 9:32 min/mile.  Subtracting out my walking I averaged a 8:36 min/mile (or around there) while running which I am very happy about.  My splits came out to: 9:30, 9:54, 9:17, 10:10, 9:16, 9:28, 9:20, 9:28, 9:44, 9:16, 9:29, 9:19, 8:57, 7:18 (for the last 0.1.)  Overall these splits are pretty consistent which was the goal of my intervals.

13.25 miles! Note my random walking intervals

I think the flat course and lower elevation helped quite a bit and I wish I could run that course with about 24,500 fewer people!

Thank you all for your support over the past 8 months, especially my wife Angie!  I didn't know it at the time but she was watching my times from home and was cheering me along, even though she was home with the stomach flu!  Thanks sweetie!

Needless to say I'm enjoying taking some time off of running but soon it will be time to figure out my next race!

Please post any questions you have for me about the race!

Time's Up

Well, it's Friday afternoon and at this time tomorrow I'll be on my way to the airport.  It's hard to believe that my last week of training is over and the only thing left in front of me is the race.  Unfortunately both of my little girls were plagued by the stomach bug this past week and I'm actually home with both of them right now.  I've been using so much hand sanitizer that my fingers are about to crack off of my hands.  I'm doing whatever it takes to try to stay healthy for the run.  I really hope Angie is able to fight off this bug as well as it wouldn't be much fun to have two kids at home by yourself while sick.

Anyway, assuming I don't catch anything in the next 51.5 hours I think I'm ready to go.  As I've mentioned before, I know I shouldn't have a time goal for myself and just run to have fun and finish but I can't help but predict how I'm going to do.  Running at 2000 feet (as opposed to 5000+ feet here in CO) and on a flat course should definitely make things easier but I'm guessing running with 35,000+ other people will probably cancel all that out.  I'm not sure how difficult it will be to do my run/walk intervals with so many other people but I'll try to stay out of the way on my run to walk transitions.  I'm going to stick with alternating 4:30 of running with 1 minute of walking and hope that by the end of the race I'll have enough energy to push hard at the end.  My final goal is to finish in under 2:10.  I'll update you next week on how it went.

Quick prediction on the Broncos.  HUGE game this week at home against the 9-0 Chiefs.  I keep going back and forth on this one mainly because it's supposed to be chilly (20s-30s), maybe a bit windy, and Manning with 2 bad ankles.  What finally wins out for me is the fact that I can't see the Chiefs scoring more that 17 points against the Broncos unless they get some defensive touchdowns (which you can never predict.)  I'm expecting a great crowd and a big win for Denver, 31 - 17.

Have a great weekend!

That Blows

Of course I am referring to the wind and, of course, the last two times I have decided to run it has been very windy.  I'm sure it's good for me and builds strength but I'd much rather run on a calm day.  We were in the mountains all weekend so I didn't get my long run done until Monday.  And what a long run it was!

The kiddos enjoying the mountain air

I was undecided whether I wanted to do 11 or 12 miles and the cold, windy weather made me want to turn around after 2 miles but I ended up going 12!  That run was the longest (time and distance) I have ever run.  For the most part the first half was uphill and into the wind so most of the second half felt pretty good.  The last three miles, however, I hit a bit of a wall.  I've done 10 a couple times and felt pretty good at the end.  I'm sure the weather (30 degrees and 14 mph winds) didn't help but I'm guessing the fact that I ran 12 miles had something to do with it!  You'll probably notice from the picture below that I stuck with the run 4 minutes/walk 1 minute intervals the entire way and I think it was pretty successful.  I'm hoping that on race day I'll be able to up the running to 4:30 or 5 minutes.  I ended up going 12.05 miles in 1:55:51 for an average pace of 9:37 min/mile.  My splits were: 8:47, 9:08, 9:23, 9:45, 9:53, 9:43, 10:00, 9:29, 9:32, 9:53, 10:03, 9:55.  A couple of those longer splits were due to bathroom breaks.  Guess I drank too much water before the run.

Longest run of my life...and it felt like it!

I wanted to run yesterday but ended up being really busy at work and didn't fit it in so I went today.  Yesterday was in the mid 60s with no wind and of course today was windy.  I felt pretty tired the entire time and don't think I could have gone 13.  Good thing the half marathon wasn't today.
 You want to know what scares me?

CSU blew and early lead at home against Boise St. and ended up losing 42-30.  I didn't get to watch the game but from watching updates on my phone it doesn't sound like the game was that close.  Still no Connor Smith sighting.  This week the Rams host Nevada.  I don't know much about the Wolfpack but I think CSU gets back up to .500 by winning 38-28.

The Broncos had an eventful bye week as coach John Fox had to have a valve in his heart replaced and may miss up to 6 weeks.  Obviously the top concern is for his health and I hope he makes a full recovery.  It is probably a good thing that we have another former head coach on the team as Jack Del Rio will take over in Fox's absence.  Denver travels out to SD for a game against the Chargers.  This would have all the makings of a trap game since the Broncos play KC next week but I don't see Denver looking past San Diego.  I do think it will be a close game and I'm interested to see how the defense plays.  If you'll remember back to last season (maybe it's just me) Denver came back from 24 down at halftime to stun the Chargers 35-24.  Denver really needs to hold on to the ball this week if they want to win.  I think it will be a close game but I see Denver coming out on top 38-31.

Have a great weekend!

Running Out of Time

Sometimes I think I am really clever with my titles.  This week isn't one of them!

I don't have much time to write today because we're going to head up to the mountains for the weekend and I need to pack.  I'm not bringing my running gear so that makes this a recovery weekend.  I still want to get one more long run in before the race so it will probably have to wait until next weekend.  With the time change this weekend I think it will be too dark to run 2 hours after work this week.  I can't believe I'll be getting ready for my race in just over 2 weeks.  I think I'm ready and I have to hope my training me has prepared me for it.  Last month I mentioned that I only ran 48.76 miles in September due to some soreness/injuries.  In October I ended up running 69.86 miles which is almost 10 miles more than I have run during any month!  For my 10 mile run last Saturday, as I mentioned in my last blog, I decided to switch up my intervals.  After running the first mile I alternated 1 minute of walking with 4 minutes of running.  Compared to the last 10 mile run I cut 1 minute 14 seconds off my time.  This might not sound like much but considering this route included an additional 100 feet of elevation gain, I think it was pretty successful.  Whenever I get out for my next/last long run I think I'll try it again although I might push the running interval to 4:30 or 5 minutes.

Turning around at 5 miles and going downhill felt GREAT!

L's newly appointed "favorite holiday" occurred last night.  I'm sure that will change as we get closer to Christmas but she was so excited for Halloween.  She dressed up as Ariel (as a princess, not mermaid), N dressed up as Sebastian the crab (even though the costume may have been a lobster), and Angie was the evil sea-witch Ursula.

My adorable family

Unfortunately I didn't get into the spirit of Halloween like the rest of my family.  Maybe next year.  L has the next 4 years of Halloween ideas mapped out and next year will be a Star Wars themed event.  We'll see if that holds.  This morning L woke up and one of the first things she said to me was: "Daddy, candy!"  I love the way kids' minds work.

Don't forget to comment, you can be anonymous!

Did you dress up for Halloween?  What were you?  Did your family do a theme?
Do you have a long run this weekend?  How long?

Baker's Dozen

Unfortunately the title isn't a clever way for me to say that I ran 13 miles.  It's the number (approximately) of donuts I ate last weekend while in Minnesota.  Keep in mind, these weren't normal, full-sized donuts but they also weren't the mini powdered sugar donuts we all grew up eating.  L and I got up early last Friday morning to catch a 6:55am flight to Minneapolis.  The church that my Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle, cousins, etc. go to was hosting a missionary conference and my parents and brother + family were attending.  It was a fun-filled weekend that went too quickly.  On Saturday we went to a pumpkin patch/apple orchard/corn maze that my Dad's cousin owns and we had a blast.  My favorite part was when we took a "hay" ride through the orchard and Steve, the owner, had the driver stop so we could all walk into the orchard and pick some fresh apples.  This was special as it is not something they normally do on the ride.  There were two families, not related to us, that were also on the ride so they got to enjoy the special pit stop.  I have to say, I've never had a fresher, tastier apple in my life.  The apple was called a Winter Sweet apple and, wow, it was sweet.  It tasted like candy.

Doesn't this look delicious?

L examining her apple carefully

Even L, who doesn't like the apple skin, ate most of her apple. Steve and his wife were so generous by not letting us pay for a thing while we were there.  Anything we wanted to do, see, eat was on the house.  As I was trying to buy three donuts for the road the cashier asked "Are you an Eckdahl?"  I said that I was and he said to put my money away and that Steve would kill him if he took my money.  The lady running the donut machine, upon hearing I was an Eckdahl, gave me three additional donuts for the two hour ride home.  L ate two of them as soon as we got in the car (completely covering her face in cinnamon/sugar in the process) and then managed to sleep for the entire drive home.  The rest of the weekend was spent visiting with family and watching L play with her cousins.  My MN family are such wonderful people and every time I visit I wish I was able to see them more often. I also wish that Angie and N had been able to come with us.  Maybe we'll have to make the apple orchard an annual event.

Eckdahl family minus Angie and N

As I mentioned last week I ran 8 miles on Thursday to preemptively burn off some of the donuts.  I didn't run at all while I was in MN and am trying to make up for it now.  I ran 3 miles Tuesday, 3 miles on Wednesday, and then 4.38 miles yesterday.  For my 4.38 mile run I tried a new interval strategy.  Instead of my usual run the first mile, walk 2 minutes, run the remainder of the mile, walk 2 minutes, run remainder of mile, etc. I stretched all my runs to 1.38 miles.  Why 1.38 miles?  Because in 2 minutes of walking I go 0.12 miles so that makes each interval 1.5 miles.  Being a nerd and loving to over-analyze everything, I entered this interval method into my self created half marathon calculator and it should cut around 4 minutes off my time.  I used to feel like doing intervals was cheating and that people would look down on me because I throw walks into my "runs" and, for the most part, I've gotten over it.  I think that if I didn't do intervals I might not have the will power to get these long runs in.  I mentioned this once to one of my aunts and she told me she does the same thing and told me about a guy named Jeff Galloway who, in the late 70s or early 80s, developed a run/walk system for running to 1) make it more enjoyable, 2) reduce injuries, and 3) introduce running to people that do not consider themselves as runners.  While I didn't know anything about Jeff Galloway or his system until July, I found that the method I created for myself is very close to the one that he recommends.  I was looking at his website again yesterday and found this chart:

Run-walk-run ratio should correspond to the pace used (Runners).

8 min/mi—run 4 min/walk 35 seconds

9 min/mi— 4 min run-1 min walk

10 min/mi—-3:1

11 min/mi—2:30-1

12 min/mi—-2:1

13 min/mi—-1:1

14 min/mi—30 sec run/30 sec walk

15 min/mi—30 sec/45 sec

16 min/mi—30 sec/60 sec

My typical intervals are 7+ minutes of running and 2 minutes of walking which follow very close to his run/walk ratios.  I'm currently averaging somewhere around a 9:30 min/mile on my long runs which would put me on pace for a 2 hour 5 minute half marathon.  One of the great things about this run/walk system, not to mention the fact that I always have a walk to look forward to, is that my mile pace remains very consistent from mile 1 to mile 10.  One thing that Galloway mentions is that the first walk break is the most important, the second is the next most important, and so on.  This is to avoid getting tired right off the bat which obviously would affect you in the later miles.  I started thinking about this more and decided that, for my 10 mile run tomorrow, I'm going to try the 4 min run/1 min walk interval rather than running 7+ minutes and walking for 2 minutes.  I'm a little concerned that this much starting and stopping will wear me out faster but I'm very curious to see how my time compares to my last 10 mile run, not to mention compare how my lungs, legs, and feet feel at the end.

OK, sorry about all that running talk.  On to football!

I guess I should never watch another CSU game if this is how they respond.  CSU beat Wyoming, on the road 52 - 22!  Yes you read that right, they won by 30 points and actually "held" a team to 22 points.  Not just any team either, the nation's #10 ranked offense.  Kapri Bibbs ran for 201 yards and 3 TDs and (much maligned by me) QB Garrett Grayson had a great game completing 78% of his passes for 219 yards and 3 TDs.  As you read last week I predicted CSU would lose by 18 points so a 30 point victory came out of nowhere.  This might be one of those games that can turn a season around.  For the last few years I've been calling for a defining win and I think we finally got it.  Now we need to see how they respond on Saturday night at Hawaii.  It's gotta be hard playing a game at 8:30pm MST when you're used to playing at 2 in the afternoon.  CSU is favored by 2.5 points and while I said I wouldn't do it, I'm predicting that the Rams win their second consecutive road game 34-28.

In case you didn't believe me

Last week I predicted Denver would lose their first game of the season and I was right.  Unfortunately Denver played their worst game of the season and lost to the Colts 39 - 33 (I predicted 37 - 34!.)  They looked shaky right from the start and their 4 turnovers (OK 3 since the safety doesn't officially count as a turnover) were just too much to overcome.  I just heard that fumble prone Ronnie Hillman is going to be inactive for the game (hooray!) and undrafted rookie C.J. Anderson will see his first game action.  I'm very excited to see what Anderson can do and think the Broncos will ruin Mike Shanahan's return to the Mile High City 38 - 27.  Let's hope there are no injuries and that the team can get healed up during their bye week next week.  Oh yeah, let's also hope for a Chiefs loss against the Browns (yah right.)  

Do you throw any walks into your long runs?
Do you like apples?  What is your favorite variety of apple?

Coming Home

L and I are going to Minnesota this weekend to see family so I had to get my long run in today.  Unfortunately Angie and N are staying home.  The biggest reason for this is because at the time I was making plans to go to MN we had just returned from a trip to Montana where N was a train wreck on the both flights and all car rides in between.  As soon as we got back we both decided we were never (slight exaggeration) going to fly anywhere ever again.  Now that the trip is only a day away, and the thoughts of 5 hour drives with N crying/screaming/whining long gone, we are wishing we had booked the trip for 4.  Either way I'm excited for L to have time playing with her MN cousins and spend some time with her great grandpa.  OK, I'm a bit excited to see everyone too!

Back to my run.  I did a short 3+ mile run on the treadmill Monday where I started at a speed of 5.0 and increased it by 0.2 every 2 minutes until I was at 6.4 at which point I started slowing back down until I was back at 5.0.  I don't know about you but I don't believe treadmill speeds.  Sure, I believe the walking speeds (< 4.0) but once I get into the 5s and 6s I don't.  When I put the treadmill at 6.0, which is a 10 min/mile, I have to run pretty hard.  When I'm running outside I have a very hard time running slow enough to be at a 10 min/mile pace.  I'm sure my strides are all out of whack when I'm on the treadmill and that probably has a lot to do with it.  I guess I need to get one of those foot pods that count the number of strides in a mile and compare inside to outside.  Anyway, I got 8 miles in today at an average pace of 9:19 min/mile.  Oh yeah, ONE MONTH FROM TODAY IS THE HALF MARATHON!

That uphill climb from mile 2 through mile 4 were rough today

Well, this is the week everyone has been waiting for.  CSU vs. Wyoming.  OK, that was a (bad) joke but the Rams do head north to Laramie this weekend to play the Cowboys.  I don't want to get into the game last weekend where CSU blew a 24 - 17 halftime lead on their way to a 34 - 27 lose to San Jose St. on homecoming weekend.  Once again QB Garrett Grayson had many over/underthrows to open receivers and couldn't make a big play when the Rams needed it.  Coach McElwain refuses to play back-up QB Conner Smith and I'm getting frustrated.  The defense continues to give up huge plays so I'm guessing they lose big this week, 38-20.  Oops, I guess I got into it.

The big week I was actually referring to earlier is Peyton's return to Indy when the Colts host the Broncos on Sunday Night Football.  Thank goodness it's a nationally televised game so I can watch it in MN.  This week also brings the much needed return of Von Miller to the lineup.  I can see this game going both ways and if the Broncos win, I think they win big.  Jim Irsay's comments regarding Peyton's in Indy have to bother Manning and, if they win, I bet Manning really sticks it to Irsay.  (As a side note, props to John Fox on sticking up for his QB.)  Unfortunately, I see this as Denver's first loss of the season (please please please be wrong) 37- 34.

If this doesn't give you chills, you must not be a Broncos fan ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4h-THRP2EA (sorry for the poor quality)

D) None of the above

In my last post I mentioned that, due to the cold weather, I had three options for my long run on Saturday.  I ended up choosing none of them and waited until Monday (when the weather was nicer) for my long run.  On Saturday morning I wimped out and did 46 minutes on the treadmill.  I made up for it on Monday morning as I did my first ever double digit run!  That's right, I finally got up to 10 miles and did it in 1:34:00.

10 miles!

Unfortunately my usual path was washed out (from the floods last month) at the 3 mile point so I had to find a new route on the fly.  I felt pretty good overall but one of my knees started feeling a little weak around the 8 mile mark.  I did my usual run/walk intervals and my mile splits were pretty consistent (8:48, 9:20, 9:24, 9:29, 9:20, 9:54, 9:50, 8:56, 9:26, 9:33.)  The splits got a little wacky around mile 6 because I walked for an extra minute while trying to get my book started on my ipod (I had been listening to Broncos talk on the radio).  I made up for it by walking a minute less the next mile but then had to make a quick pit stop at a nearby port-a-potty.  I guess I was drinking too much water.  Anyway, as I said I felt pretty good overall and may have been able to go another mile or two but I needed to get to work.  I ran on the treadmill yesterday morning and felt pretty sore/tired which I'm sure was due to the long run on Monday.  I'm not sure how far I'll go Saturday morning but I'm thinking I'll stay with 5 - 6 miles.  L and I are going to Minnesota next Friday so I'm going to have to get a long-ish run in either Monday or Thursday.  Then I'll be in the home stretch for the half marathon.  Yikes.

100% accurate

Last week I predicted that Denver would win a close game, 34-30.  I was pretty close to the actual score of 38-33.  Oh wait, that was the score after three quarters.  I actually was right that Denver would win a close game and wasn't far from the margin of victory but I didn't give the offenses enough credit (or maybe I gave the defenses too much credit.)  Denver won 51-48 after a last second field goal by Matt Prater.  Denver had the ball at the end of the game thanks to a clutch interception by Danny Trevathan.  Denver lost three defensive starters in the game and it doesn't sound like any of them will be back this weekend.  Fortunately, I don't think Denver will need them as they are hosting the 0-5 Jaguars of Jacksonville.  They will also benefit (most likely) from the return of perennial pro bowler Champ Bailey.  Right now the line is Denver by 26 points which is the largest line in the history of the NFL.  I can see Manning on the sidelines with his baseball cap on by the fourth quarter although I don't see them covering 26 points.  DEN 34 JAX 13.

Big-time interception that saved the game

It's Homecoming weekend at CSU and they will host San Jose St. at Hughes Stadium in a battle of 2-3 teams.  CSU is coming off of their bye week while the Spartans are back in the continental United States after beating Hawaii 37-27 last week.  I don't know much about San Jose State's team this year and I don't have a lot of faith in CSU (yet) but I think the Rams squeak out their third victory 38-34.

Go RAMS!

Know Thigh Body

This was going to be a big weekend for my half marathon training.  I was all set to run a personal best 9 miles on Saturday.  Unfortunately the weather had different plans.

We woke up to snow this morning

While the snow might be gone by tomorrow morning (they are predicting rain/snow showers throughout the night and early morning) the cold weather won't.  Looking at the forecast it should only be around 30 degrees at 7am which is the time I usually run.  It looks like I've got 3 options.  Option #1 is to suck it up, put on some warm running gear and battle the cold.  Option #2 is to wait until later in the day when the weather is in the 40s and 50s.  The last option is to bust out the long run on my nice, new treadmill.  I'm leaning toward option #3 because I'm a wimp about running in hot/cold weather, and it's tough to do it during the middle of the day because that's usually when we're out running errands.  The good thing about my treadmill is that when I run on it my Achilles feels great.  The bad thing is that it's boring and it's just not as satisfying running a long distance on a treadmill compared to completing a long run outside and looking at the course and my splits on the Garmin website.

Around 6 months ago my friend Chris (the ringleader of the guys trip to Vegas to run the half marathon) told me that at some point in my training it would stop being about my cardio shape and more about my leg strength.  He was right.  Usually at the end of my long runs my lungs feel pretty good but my thighs and feet are pretty sore.  I naively thought that running would build up my leg strength and no other exercise would be necessary.  Now knowing that that isn't the case I decided to start doing squats and lunges.  I've been running a lot so this shouldn't be a big deal right?  Wrong.  After two days of squats/lunges I was afraid my rubber legs wouldn't get me through my softball game.  I did them again on Wednesday and by that night I was hurting.  Do you know the pain I'm talking about?  It's the pain where you just have to drop the last 6" on the toilet (TMI?) because you just can't lower yourself all the way down.  Fortunately my run on Thursday morning loosened my tight muscles a bit so I'm not hurting too much right now.  I guess I should have started this about 4 months ago.  Oops.

This kid makes it look so easy

The Broncos take their 4-0 record to Jerry-World on Sunday to play the 2-2 Dallas Cowboys.  While Vegas only has Denver as 7 point favorites it sounds like the rest of the world has Denver winning by a lot more.  As for me?  I'm not so sure.  Maybe it's from watching the Broncos in the post-Elway years, but I'm nervous.  I was nervous about the Giants game and I was even nervous about the Eagles game.  I guess it depends on which Dallas team shows up.  I would love to be an arrogant fan and always believe my team is going to blow out the other teams but I'm not.  I'll sit on my couch on Sunday afternoon clutching the remote control living and dying on each "Omaha" and "hurry hurry" Peyton Manning shouts out.  What I need to do is look back at all the 12-4, 13-3, and 14-2 seasons Manning had with the Colts and realize that this Denver team is better than (IMHO) all of those Colts teams.  Anyway, this should be an exciting game (much better than next week's game against Jacksonville will be) and I'm looking forward to it.  I think Denver will win a close game (it won't be the worst thing in the world for them to have to face some adversity in a fourth quarter).  DEN 34 DAL 30.

Manning explaining to Tony Romo how to order at www.papajohns.com

CSU is off this week after their high scoring affair (and win!) last week against UTEP 59 - 42.  CSU had a nice fake FG for a TD near the end of the second quarter that increased their lead to 28 - 7.  At the time (in between fist pumps) I thought they were rubbing it in a bit but it turned out to be a good thing they got 7 because UTEP scored 21 straight points in the third quarter to tie the score at 28 - 28.  Fortunately some key plays (including a defensive saftey) helped propel the Rams to their second win of the year.

Have a great weekend and Go Broncos!

September Update: Going the Wrong Direction

I'm guessing that most half marathon training plans have you going more miles as you get closer to the event, not less.  Unfortunately I ran into some Achilles issues early in September and had to take 8 days off.  Well, I should say that I chose to take 8 days off hoping that my Achilles pain would go away and I'd be good to complete my training and run the half marathon in November.  I did an 8 mile run on 9/7 and then didn't run again until I did 3.24 miles on 9/16.  Since I started running again I've slowly been building back up and I hope to run 8 - 9 miles this weekend.  Now that the calendar has turned to October I'm realizing how little time I actually have left to train.  

For the month I only ran 48.76 miles (compared to 60 miles in August) but I hope/expect the numbers in October to be closer to 70 miles.  I love that the weather has cooled off.  I now am running in 40 - 60 degree weather instead of 70 - 80 degree weather.  It is, however, harder to get up in the morning as it's still pretty dark at 6:30am but I just need to force myself to get up.  We also got a new treadmill a few weeks ago since our last one decided it wanted to try to tear our ACLs by randomly stopping.  I'm not talking about randomly turning off and coasting to a stop, I'm talking about slamyourfootonthebrakesandstoponadime stop.  I did 70 minutes on it last Saturday and I like it much better than our last one.  I do have to say that I think they are was some "gamesmanship" done at the treadmill dealer as it felt like I was running on a pillow at the store.  Don't get me wrong, I still love it but it just doesn't feel the same.

Oh, I guess I should mention that my Achilles does feel better.  It still starts out tight when I run and I notice it but it's not a sharp pain like it was before.  At this point I'm just going to have to play through the pain since I'm only 47 days from the race.  

Here's to healthy knees and feet, and to cooler (but not cold) weather!

Back at it

After 8 days off to let my Achilles recover I laced up my running shoes Monday morning for an easy run.  I went 3.24 miles in 29:58 (9:16 min/mile pace) around the neighborhood and felt pretty good.  My Achilles was a little tight, but not sore, for about half of the run but by the time I got done I didn't really notice it.  The best part is that it wasn't sore later in the day and still feels good today.  We'll see how it feels tonight in my softball game where I'll probably have to do some sprinting.  Today is September 17 which means I only have 2 months until the race!  It's hard to believe I've logged just under 300 miles since I started the couch to 5k program back in March.  I really hope that I keep it up even after the half marathon is over.

CSU got a win this weekend over Division I-AA foe Cal Poly 34 - 17.  CSU racked up 533 yards of offense led by QB Garrett Grayson.  I still would have liked to see Connor Smith get some playing time but I'm happy that Grayson had a nice game.  Things go from easy to impossible as the Rams travel to Tuscaloosa, AL to play #1 ranked Alabama.  Right now Vegas has the Crimson Tide as a 39.5 point favorite with an over/under of 51.5.  That means they expect Alabama to win by a score of 46 - 6.  If you ask me it won't be that close but maybe they are banking on Nick Saban to take it easy on his former offensive coordinator's team.  Either way it will be interesting to see how CSU competes against a national powerhouse.  I'm hoping for the Rams to give it their best shot and not get any injuries.  I'm thinking Alabama wins 56-13.

RB Donnell Alexander celebrates his first
quarter TD for the Rams

The Broncos got a huge win in New Jersey on Sunday afternoon against the New York Giants in the Manning Bowl.  Just like last week the Broncos started off slow and only scored 10 points in the first half (all in the 2nd quarter.)  They actually had a great drive to start off the game only to see rookie RB Montee Ball fumble into the end zone for a touchback.  Knowshon Moreno had a great game scoring 2 TDs on runs of 20 and 25 yards and Peyton Manning had another solid game with 300+ yards passing and 2 TDs.  The stars of the game for me, however, was the defense that only gave up 3 first half FGs and forced Eli Manning into 4 interceptions.  Some bad news did come out of this game, however, as pro-bowl, stud LT Ryan Clady may be lost for the season due to a Lisfranc sprain in his left foot.  Isn't that they way it always seems to happen?  Sign someone to a big contract in the off-season and they get hurt.  Hopefully the next man up (Chris Clark) can protect Peyton's blindside.

Eli drops to 0-3 against big brother Peyton

Thankfully the rain has stopped and temps are back in the 80s.  I get to take the day off tomorrow to golf with my Dad, cousin, and uncle at the Colorado National Golf Course.  Although I'm not super excited that the course is the official course of the CU Buffs, I have heard great things about the course and I'm looking forward to trying it out.

August Update and Broncos Opener

I had to add the word Broncos to the title so you wouldn't think this was just a running update.  I will talk about the game tonight but first, a running update.

For the month of August I ran 60.03 miles which is actually 0.61 miles LESS than I ran last month.  A big part of this was that I caught a nasty daycare cold (N always gets a cold at daycare after being on vacation) that made it tough to run for a week or so.  I've also been suffering from some mild achilles pain which makes me nervous to go for a long run.  The longest run I did this month was only 7.11 miles (and that was back on August 5) which I'm really disappointed about.  I am going to try for a 8 - 9 mile run on Saturday morning so we'll see how that goes.  I'm trying to figure out the best way to fuel during my run (I haven't found a gel that I like) and the best way to bring water along.  There are no water fountains on the route I'm going to take on Saturday so I might be stuck carrying a water bottle.  I usually carry along a small bottle of Gatorade when I run (8 oz I think) but I'll probably need a bit more than that if I go 9 miles.  I guess I'll eventually have to break down and buy one of those awesome fanny packs that runners wear that hold two 8 - 10 oz water bottles.  Oh joy.

I mentioned last week that I got a medal for finishing the 10k and that L was in love with it.  Here is a picture of her wearing it:

Thumbs up for the "gold medal"

I don't think she's that impressed with it anymore as it's balled up on the desk right now.

I have also mentioned the Garmin Forerunner 310XT that I bought last month.  I still really like it although I keep forgetting to try out the heart rate monitor strap.  Here is a picture of it on my wrist:

GPS watch

It's a decent sized watch and I don't think I'd ever wear it as an everyday watch but it has all the options I was looking for in a GPS watch.

We ended up going up to Estes Park for Labor Day weekend with my parents and my brother and his family.  We stayed at a beautiful house/cabin that had two bedrooms with king sized beds, two rooms that each had bunk beds, 2 futons, and at least one couch that could be used as a bed.  Oh, there was also a hot tub that the girls were in love with.  One of my highlights of the weekend was going to the "rainbow slides."  If you've been to Estes you know what I'm talking about.  For those of you that haven't been there it's one of those slides where you take a piece of fabric up to the top to slide down on.  I knew that L would love it (which she did) but what I wasn't expecting was that N loved it.  N likes short slides but won't sit on a swing for more than 10 seconds.  Also, she loves to be picked up and twirled but often stiffens up like a scared cat.  After N's first ride down the slide on my lap I expected to hear her crying or screaming but was shocked by what I saw.  Beneath her pacifier was a huge smile and she was frantically making the "more" sign with her hands.  I went with L the next ride while N went with Grandpa.  As soon as they got to the bottom N made a beeline straight to the stairs to go back up for another ride.  When Grandpa said that we were all done she immediately started crying.  Sweet girl.

The girls fixated on a movie

My Dad and I were given tickets to the final preseason game for the Broncos last Thursday.  Although the last preseason games are usually (and this one was no exception) made up of a bunch of guys that are playing for only a few spots on the roster or practice squad, just being in the stadium really got me pumped up for football season.

Denver scrubs vs. Arizona scrubs

Speaking of football season, tonight is the big night!  Ravens vs. Broncos.  The game we've been waiting for for the past 8 months.  The Broncos are looking for a bit of revenge although you can't compare a regular season game to being knocked out of the playoffs.  This game might mean more to the fans than it does the players and I'd hate to see what happens to all the Broncos fans out there if the Broncos lose.  Hopefully that won't be an issue.  I'm not expecting much defense in this game although you never know.  Maybe the Denver D will be pumped up whether it's for revenge or because it's the season opener on national TV.  Whatever reason someone will need to step up for the suspended Von Miller and injured Champ Bailey.  My prediction is Denver 34 Baltimore 24.

A quick note on the latest installment of the Rocky Mountain Showdown.  I was really impressed with the Rams special teams (punt return for TD and 87-yard kickoff return) but not that impressed with the offense or defense.  Garrett Grayson had some issues and missed quite a few open receivers.  At times it looked like he was throwing the ball with way too much velocity on short passes.  I don't know if it was that or just dropped passes but CSU missed on quite a few opportunities.  The defense actually wasn't bad outside of two long touchdowns by Paul Richardson.  Before the game I remember telling my Dad that I was nervous about Richardson because he is fast and torched CSU two years ago.  Right on cue Richardon scored an 82-yard touchdown on the Buffs second play from scrimmage.  There were no CSU players within 20 yards of Richardson (he would go on to score a 75-yard touchdown at the end of the game.)  I understand that stuff like this happens in the first game of the season but something better change soon.  CSU travels to Tulsa next week before going back home to host Cal Poly before heading on the road to Tuscaloosa to play the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide.  I hate to say it but it's looking like a 1-3 start to the season.  Oofta.  Prediction: CSU 17 Tulsa 31

10k you very much

(Note: if you're only interested in Broncos talk skip to the bottom!)

Sorry for not posting last week but the week seemed to sneak by.  I guess most of my attention was on the 10k race that was on Saturday morning.  There was actually a half marathon walk, half marathon run, and 10k race and, fortunately, the event was in Erie about a mile from my house.  I briefly considered signing up for either the half marathon walk or run and doing it slow to get an idea of what 13.1 miles feels like but finally decided not to burn myself out and stick with the 10k.  Before I get into the race let me back up.

On Thursday night (8/22) I stopped by a local pharmacy in Erie to pick up my race packet (shirt, bib, and other goodies.)  As I was walking toward the pharmacy I noticed there were quite a few people inside the Papa John's next door.  One of the ladies in Papa John's was knocking frantically on the window and I assumed she was trying to get the attention of someone outside.  I continued on my way to the pharmacy.  When I walked into the store I immediately heard someone crying hysterically and talking to someone.  Initially I thought it was a customer talking to an employee of the pharmacy but soon found out it was the employee talking on the phone.  I had a few guesses as to what was going on (fight with spouse, child in trouble, child missing, etc.) but never would have guessed what was really going on.  I stood in the store for about 30 seconds unsure what to do when the employee told the person on the phone to hold on and asked what I wanted.  I said I was there to pick up my race packet but could come back later and she told me she had just been held up at gunpoint and she was talking to the police!  I hurriedly left the store and by now the people in Papa John's were actually telling people not to go into the pharmacy.  (If they were trying to warn me earlier I still don't know why they wouldn't have opened the door to tell me instead of knocking on the window expecting me to know what they were trying to say.)  Anyway, I looked it up on Google that night and found out that some 27 year-old man had held up the store at gunpoint looking for drugs.  He was caught not long after the robbery not too far from our house.  Thank goodness I didn't show up 5-10 minutes earlier.  I can't even begin to imagine what I would have done in that situation.  There isn't much information on the robbery...this is all I have been able to find: http://www.dailycamera.com/erie-news/ci_23920780/dispatchers-suspect-arrested-at-gunpoint-following-pharmacy-robbery

Somehow everything was back to normal on Friday and I stopped by the pharmacy again and picked up my packet.  I give the employees a lot of credit for showing up for work the day after an armed robbery.  I didn't sleep great Friday night, big shock there, as I was thinking and dreaming about the race all night.  At some point in the night I decided that I was going to abandon the interval program I've been following (run the first mile, walk 2 minutes, run the remainder of the mile, walk 2 minutes, run the remainder of the mile, and so on) and either shorten the length of my walk breaks, eliminate some of the walk breaks, or some combination of the two.  I ended up doing a combination of the two.  I ran to the water station (just before mile 2), walked for about a minute while I drank some Gatorade, ran until I passed the turn around point at 3.1 miles, walked for about a minute and a half, ran back to the water station (just after mile 4), walked for a minute while I drank my Gatorade, ran until the big hill that was after mile 5, walked up the hill which took almost 2 minutes, and then ran the rest of the way.  I ended up walking for about 5 and a half minutes and running for 47 minutes which put my time at 52:37 and an average pace of 8:33 min/mile.  My initial goal was 56 minutes so I was very happy to come in under 53 minutes.  I finished 4th overall (out of 29) for the 10k and first in my age group (out of 5.)  It turns out that most men in the 30 - 39 age group ran the half marathon but it's still fun to win your age group.  The best part is that I got a medal for finishing (although I thought they only gave medals to the half marathoners) and my 4 year old L was SO excited about the medal.  In fact, she wore it most of the morning and said things like "I'm so glad WE won the gold medal!"  Sweet girl.

There is no way (at least right now) I could keep that pace up for a half marathon but if I did Runners World calculates that I would finish a half marathon in 1:58:18.  While I'd love to run a sub-2 hour half marathon I'm still of the mindset that I will be happy to finish it without the help of an ambulance and still have a goal of 2 hours 15 minutes.

10k pace and elevation

I have developed a very mild case of Achilles tendinitis and am going to take a couple days off before I get geared up to get up to 8 or 9 miles.  I'll feel really good about my chances to run a half marathon once I can get up to 10 miles.  Hopefully that will be sometime in September or early October.  Yikes, I just checked the website for my half marathon and there are only 83 days, 3 hours, and 30 minutes until the race!  I'd better get back out there soon!

I figure I should write a little something about the reason I started this blog: the Broncos.  Through 3 preseason games the Broncos have looked pretty average.  The offense (when not turning the ball over) looks great and the defense looks sloppy.  I won't even mention the special teams.  This is preseason so I'm not really that concerned about the sloppy play (because they won't waste sophisticated plays in the preseason) but the turnovers worry me.  Denver finished 17th in turnover margin last year (-1 for the season) and that's just not going to work this season with the tough schedule.  Ronnie Hillman has already fumbled twice this year and I hope it doesn't turn into a thing for him.  My Dad and I are going to the final preseason game on Thursday, which will probably be a bore as most final preseason games are, but I'm guessing there will be a chance that Von Miller will play.  I'm also interested to see how Brock Osweiler looks.

Might want to hold on to that Ronnie

Have a great week and please feel free to leave your comments! :)