Random things

I'm so disappointed. Thursday night was the one night only showing of My Run in movie theaters across the country. I really wanted to go to see it, but I couldn't. I had to work. My Run is the story of Terry Hitchcock losing his wife to breast cancer and raising three children. He wanted to bring attention to the difficult lives of singe parents. Hitchcock ran 75 marathons on 75 consecutive days. How incredible. It took me years to see Spirit of the Marathon. I hope it doesn't take years before I see documentary. I really hope it will be offered on Netflix.

After a long layoff, I finally ran some intervals Wednesday. I incorporated them into my 13.1 mile run. For the first four miles, I did 8x400m. The last two miles, I threw down 4x100m. I decided to try to do some speed work once a week. Ever since gas prices climbed, I haven't been joining my track club for Tuesday night workouts. I miss running with the group, but it is too expensive to keep filling up my car. Especially when I saw gas was $3.65 a gallon. I have the discipline to run over 100 miles by myself every week, I need to have the discipline to do speed work by myself also.

I photographed my first track meet of the year Wednesday. Its spring and March and that meant the weather was awful. The temperature was in the high 30s, but it was windy. The wind made it very cold just to be standing outside. I was wearing a sweatshirt, a hat and my winter coat but I was still cold. When I photograph events, it is hard for me to wear gloves and work. Gloves are bulky and it is hard to shoot and take notes. I went without gloves for the entire track meet. The track meet lasted about three hours. But I shouldn't complain, I wasn't wearing a track uniform and running in the cold like the kids were. I'm just happy that the track season has started. Warmer weather will be on the way.

The University of Toledo is about 35 minutes south of my home. The Toledo Rockets women's basketball team will be playing in the WNIT championship game Saturday at their home, Savage Arena, at 3 p.m. against the University of Southern California. The Rockets defeated UNC-Charlotte 83-60 in the WNIT semifinal Wednesday to advance to the final. Hope the Lady Rockets can pull off the win.

Decision

With gas prices climbing higher over the weekend, my decision was made.

On Friday, I drove 175 miles round trip for work. I filled up my car later that evening for $41. I couldn't believe it cost that much. I wasn't too pleased. This week, I will be driving to two out of county sporting events. Since I'm driving out of the county to some far destinations this week, I will not be participating in the AATC workout Tuesday. I'm bummed about it, but gas is so expensive. I cannot afford extra trips anywhere.

Hard decision

I joined the Ann Arbor Track Club at the end of November 2010 and I have run many Tuesday workouts with them. I've only missed two workouts due to weather. I like running workouts with the group. I usually run alone and it is nice to run with others who are faster then me. We run intervals which I know will help me become a better runner. Besides the intervals, I have met a great group of runners who I'm friends with on dailymile. Met them online first and it has been great to meet them in person.

I live south of Ann Arbor. The drive time on a good day is 45 minutes. When the weather is awful, the drive time can be about 1.5 hours. Driving to and from Ann Arbor, it takes about a quarter tank of gas. With gas as expensive as it is now, $3.29 a gallon, I may have to rethink my membership. I've heard on the news that by Memorial Day that gas could be $4-5 a gallon. That is really expensive. For my job, I drive around the county photographing athletic events three times a week. Sometimes my games are out of county, like tonight. My round trip drive will be 150 miles or more. My job does reimburse me for my gas which helps a little.

I don't like to be a quitter, especially when I paid to join the AATC. But I have to have some limits. I know I can always run intervals on my own. If I leave the AATC I know I will miss my dailymile buddies. I have a hard decision to make. Whatever I decide I know it will not be easy.

Miles run in 2010 - final count

What a year! I can't believe I ran 2764.6 miles this year. This is probably my best year since high school. I didn't run that many miles in high school, but I weighed about the same as I do now. Everything good that has happened to me running wise is because of my weight loss. I lost 80 pounds in 2010. Dropping the weight has helped me run more miles and lower all of my PR times in the 5K, 10K and half marathon. A couple of weeks ago I ran a timed mile with the Ann Arbor Track Club in 7:35. Just shy of my best high school time. I thought I would never run that time ever again.

My running goals for 2011 is to continue running strong. I want to keep running 80 mile weeks, do more speed work, keep running 6 or 7 days a week and keep improving on my times. I am confident I can do it.

Total miles run for the year:
2004: 318.6
2005: 350.8
2006: 470
2007: 573.7
2008: 960.2
2009: 1257.9
2010: 2764.6

AATC Mini Meet

I participated in the Ann Arbor Track Club's Winter Mini Meet Tuesday evening at the University of Michigan Indoor Track Building. The events contested were the 1 mile, 400m, 800m, 60m, 3200m, 200m plus a track hexathon, which required runners to compete in each of the the six events. Participants could run in as many events as they wanted. I ran all of the events: 1 mile, 400m, 800m, 60m, 3200m and the 200m.



I had a great time. Most of my times were consistent with what I ran in high school. My mile time was 7:35. My best time in high school was 7:29. I accidentally ran an extra lap in the 3200m and finished 17:26. My estimated finishing time probably was 16:26. I think my best in high school was right around 16:30. My 400m time was slower then high school. My best in high school was 1:23. Last night I ran a 1:45.



I'm glad I joined the Ann Arbor Track Club. So many nice runners. Everyone cheered and clapped for all runners. Just a great environment to improve your running. My goal is to my speed and beat all of the times from Tuesday's mini meet during the summer mini-meet.

New Memberships

I'm proud to say that I am a member of the Ann Arbor Track Club and the USATF.

This past Tuesday, I drove to Ann Arbor to the University of Michigan Indoor track building to participate in a Tuesday evening workout. I can say it really was a workout. I slowly ran a mile for a warm up. After listening to announcements and all of the new runners telling everyone our names, it was time to run intervals. I went into the workout with an open mind. I haven't run intervals since high school track. I do know that I need to run them because my goal is to improve the last half of my races. We were told that the workout for the evening was an 800m at tempo, 400m at mile pace, 200m all out followed by a 400m jog three times.

We the clock started, I was getting passed by so many runners. It didn't bother me. There was no need to keep up with them. I needed to run the intervals at my pace. The guy leading the workouts didn't keep splits or times, so I really don't know how I ran. I know that I did work hard because at the end of the workout, my quads were very sore. They kicked my butt. But I think that is really what I need. When I do my everyday runs, I do work on speed a bit. But doing this intervals with the AATC a couple times a month will help me get faster.

Next Tuesday the AATC is having its annual Mini Meet. The mini meet has six events. People can run them all or whatever they want. The order of the meet is 1 mile; 400m, 800m, 60m, 3200m and a 200m. I want to run them all. I want to compare my winter mini meet times with the mini meet held in the summer. I want to know if I am getting faster. A longtime member came up to me after the workout was over and said, "At the mini meet, you'll find out how out of shape you really are." I know that I'm not out of shape, long distance wise. But for shorter races I know I am. My goal for 2011 is to really improve my speed and of course lower all my times in all races.

Besides the AATC, I joined the USATF the same week. I really wanted to join because as a member of the USATF, I can run in the USATF Michigan Open/Masters Cross Country Championships. I want to represent my club at a state meet. I think it would be really fun to run against other USATF members in a state meet on a cross country course. There are other benefits to joining the USATF; discount subscriptions to magazines, discounts of USATF merchandise (I'm really liking that), discounts to hotels, car rentals and products.

I'm really looking forward to 2011 and the new adventures I will take with the AATC and the USATF.