PLANET3RRY

My duties this past weekend as a course monitor for the Knoxville Marathon was fairly straight forward. I was at the 0.35 mi from finish mark for ALL the races (Kids, 5k, Half and Full). I got to see it all. I was also at a fairly busy intersection where I was to flag runners in the right direction. I also had three police officers there to help.

This post is a humorous, but sad (as a Christian) event that occurred this past Sunday morning.

The scene was this:

It was well into the race, the 5k runners didn’t affect traffic to much because of their route. The Halfers and Full runners had to bisect Cumberland (the main artery). So, most traffic was continuing Easy and West on Cumberland. However a few people came down 11th street and wanted to turn left on to Cumberland to travel East. However, this was illegal during the race as the police wouldn’t allow it.

A red sports car comes down the 11th street hill, drives around the parked police car in the left turn lane and has turn signal on to turn left. The police officer points for him to turn right, that going left is not an option. The driver isn’t happy by this turn of events…

“I’m trying to turn left, my church is right there.”

“I don’t care. No Left Turn,” and the police officer points up the West side of Cumberland (i.e. Turn Right).

“Asshole!” the driver shouts as he guns his car up Cumberland.

Yeah, nice.

We actually thought the exchange was rather humorous, especially some of the drivers who were waiting for breaks in the runners to continue through the intersection.

The police officer didn’t miss a beat.

“That’s okay, in a little while, I’ll go up to the church parking lot and find his car.”

Chorus:
And they’ll know we are Christians
By our love, by our love,
Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

That’s right! Terry has a marathon (to be a volunteer for) on Sunday. I was just getting all excited about doing this when my Team Leader comes and drops off my packet of stuff at work! Talk about service.

My shift is going to be near the end of the race, within the last 0.5 mile at the intersection where I direct the 5k people in one direction and the kids and other racers in another. Based on the race starts, there should be no over lapping. I will be too close to the finish to have my standard fare of Pretzels, Gummy Bears and M&Ms, but I will have some water out there for the people struggling at the very end. After all, you have to look good for the camera!

I’m at that blue dot on the map. I’ll run that part of the course tomorrow and probably Friday so that I will know what to expect and know what to tell the runners.  So, I don’t think any of my readers are going to be running Knoxville on Sunday, but if some reason you are… scream your name, I’ll be recording the next Gravity at that time. Plus I am going to have Stella there and if you want a “Foto voor geen geld”, let me know and I would more than happy to oblige.

Welcome again to my running blog, this weekend was a kick-off of sorts as I officially begun an 18 week training program for the 2006 Knoxville Marathon whose second running will be on March 26th. In my previous attempt at an 18 week training program, I swore that I would never ever do that again. It was for the Richmond Marathon that I started an 18 week program, 18 weeks out from the second weekend in November is in July… hot dry, hot, boiling and slightly warm July. I have found, that for me, 16 weeks is works for me, 12 is too little, 18 too much… 16 is Terry's Goldilock's Marathon Training timeline.

We met in the Bi-lo parking lot in sub freezing temperatures for our first group long run, oh, I mean official group long run. In this inaugural training run, there was close to 15-20 people bound up in a variety of running garb to protect themselves from the artic chill that covered the sheltered Third Creek greenway. The training runs were to be separated by “beginner” and “advanced” and with this first meeting, it was hard to distinguish who fell into which group. But that doesn't really matter, we're all going for the same goal.

I was thinking, Chickamauga last week, perhaps the advanced running distance of 10 miles would be a little long, but on the other hand, it's just a recovery run. Perhaps that was my downfall… just a recovery run… because my recovery runs turn into freakin' tempo runs. History did repeat itself and now I wonder if my Thursday speed run (Autumnfest 8k) will be too much of a reach and will I truly be ready for my 5k on December 4th when at 2:21:55 (if it starts on time) my 4 year old 5k PR will fall.

We had a little kick off party before we actually ran. Jason A collected vital information from us, I think to guilt us when we don't show up, nah, probably just to remind us incase we forget that we are running a marathon in a few weeks. There was a great variety of paces that people wanted to run, but it turns out that 4 hour pacer for the marathon, Pete, was going to run 9:00 minute miles. Oooo, that's where I want to be (see, I already forgot it was a recovery run) but I wasn't warm enough to actually start at that pace, also, I had a full bladder.

We finally took off and I began to wonder if I had enough clothes to protect my skin from the elements. I had opted for my Almost Tights in lieu of just shorts. I couldn't remember my Rules of Thumbs on cold weather running. Anyway, I had hat, gloves, LS coolmax, SS cotton shirt, NB climalyte top, Almost tights, compression shorts, coolmax socks and my GT2080 and that did the trip.

For the first 0.5 mile, I was mentally out of running, my bladder was taking too much of my cognitive thinking. I was looking around for a good place for me to sidestep into the brush and relieve myself. Now, I am not too shy about states of nakedness, but, at 7:45 in the cold cold morning… I didn't want anyone in the apartments that border the greenway to decide that I was some sort of perv and call the cops (although I probably could out run them). To my delight, I found the small trail that was sheltered from the apartments, so I could, well, become lighter.

I was now back with Jill B. Jill B's current marathon PR is 6 hours, 27 minutes… her goal is to break 6 hours. More on her in future posts. I had the privilege of running with her for about a quarter mile before I took off in search of the 9:00 min pace group. So, to get up with them, I had to run a sub-9 for a while to get there. After about 20 minutes, out on Tyson Greenway, I caught up with them: Pete, Ann and Angie. And thank goodness because I was getting a small cramp in the stomach and my legs were getting heavy. I was a little out of breathe and it took me about 1/2 mile to get up back to level where I could converse with my fellow runner. We made it to the halfway point right at the 45 minutes or so, Pete was right on target. Sweet!

On the way back, the effects of Chickamauga were taking their toll. Angie was also hurting overall and so I held back with her to get her through the distance. Attending and encouraging her was a distance to the fact that my muscles where being replaced with iron, heavy heavy iron, with rust. Finally we made it back to the parking lot… somewhere around 10 miles, I am recording 10.5, as that is what my software program that I use, USAphotomaps, says it was. There were two Garmins on the course and one said 10.5 and the other 10.2, but neither was with our group (I think), so I will go with what I have. It'll all average out in the end. We did about a 9:00 minute pace

I felt good after the run, but my legs were toast, they were like concrete posts and the drive home did not help either. I think the little stretching helped, but my legs hurt ALL day and night. I used my massager (that should get its own post) to help speed up my recovery and Sunday, they do feel much much better, so… that means that I can run tomorrow. Sweet!

Next week the Long Run venue is at Anchor Park (about 1 mile from my house)!

I got more running Stuff in my head, more on that in the future…

Upcoming Races:
11/24 Autumnfest 8k (Knoxville, TN), Goal time 37:30
12/04 Reindeer Run 5k (Maryville, TN), Goal time 21:55
01/28 Calhoun's 10 miler (Loudon, TN)
02/18 Strawplain's 1/2 marathon (Strawberry Plains, TN)
03/26 Covenant Health 2nd Annual Knoxville Marathon,Goal time 3:59:59
(indicates potential Personal Record for distance)

I running up against the clock because I want to get this post out but I need to leave to get home so that Jen can get to her openhouse.

Tomorrow I am particpating in the 2006 Knoxville Marathon Training Program's first long run tomorrow morning. I have no idea how many people will be there or the levels of experience but I do know that it will be run on a familiar course for me, so it's a good way to get in 10 miles of running under my belt. Hopefully, there will be someone looking to run a 3:45 marathon that will push me to run fast and train faster and therefore finish faster. If you go to the website and click the Schedule of Long Runs, I will be doing the “Advanced” section.

This will be my first long run since Chimichanga 10 miler last Saturday. I seem to have passed my speedwork training on Thursday with flying colors, so I should be A-OK to go the distance. My toe is not sore, but looks like crap, maybe a gruesome picture is warranted. I anticipate it to be cold tomorrow morning, so we will see what the turn out is like. That is the bad thing about training for a Spring Marathon… long slow runs in the cold… yucky icky!

Upcoming Races:
11/24 Autumnfest 8k (Knoxville, TN), Goal time 37:30
12/04 Reindeer Run 5k (Maryville, TN), Goal time 21:55
01/28 Calhoun's 10 miler (Loudon, TN)
02/18 Strawplain's 1/2 marathon (Strawberry Plains, TN)
03/26 Covenant Health 2nd Annual Knoxville Marathon,Goal time 3:59:59
(indicates potential Personal Record for distance)

I got this in my email today:

Dear Terry Higgins:

Thank you for registering and welcome to the 2006 Covenant
Health Knoxville Marathon!
We are glad you'll be joining us for this wonderful event.
We will send you more information as the race gets closer. All
packet pickup will occur at the Health & Fitness Expo on March
26th in downtown Knoxville. You will receive more specific
instructions on this as well.
If you have questions, be sure to check out the website FAQ and
forum sections. If you don't find the answers you need, please
contact us at info@knoxvillemarathon.com
And finally, we are trying to build our core of volunteers to
make this event great. If you know of anyone who could help
out race weekend, whether it is family, friends, co-
workers, we have many options including ones where they can
still cheer you on. Please send volunteers our way to
management@knoxvillemarathon.com.

Thank you!
Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon
Organizing Committee

It's 53 degrees outside and they kicked us (the recreational swimmers) outside to swim. Out in the cold. Actually it was pretty darn comfortable ONCE you were in the water and moving!

What really sucked this morning was that I woke up this morning with a sore neck. It actually hurts to look forward, but when I try to look to the left it becomes excruciating painful. I tried to give myself a deep tissue massage on the neck and that helps but it doesn't really last. I would love to cut open my neck, pull the muscle out, kneed it a bunch of times and put it back. Now that would be great… anyone got a Time-Life Book Homemade Surgeries?

Oh well, on another note, I am about to send in my entry form for the Knoxville Marathon and my training will begin Oct 31st. Actually, that will be the start of my “base” training. My hardcore training will begin Dec 5th and I will follow a home cooked 16 week plan. I laid it all out on an earlier post, but I have had to tweak it a bit here and there to follow what I can and can not do.

One funny thing during the swim today and I really digress back to my college days… I had posted previously that there was writing on the pool floor… well, now there were pictures. Immature pictures of the male anatomy that when I finlly saw it and realized what I was looking at, I sort of chuckled a little bit. Who would take the time to draw something like that on the bottom (we are talking 12-14 feet deep) of the pool? Maybe the SCUBA class or something… okay, back to civilized thinking.

Looking forward to the weekend. The only football game (Furman and Virginia are both on byes) is the UT/South Carolina game. UT really needs the win, but it is against Fulmer's arch nemesis Steve Spurrier, so you never know. Things against us: Our Main running back Riggs is out, We are favored by 14 points. Things for us: It's at night. It'll be on ESPN2 at 7:45; so you will know where I will be.

Sunday is the Marine Corp Marathon and gregmce will be running for a PR time. I have him down for 4:39:25 (I think) at his Guess His Time contest. I KNOW that he will finish under 5 hours. I should have looked at the weather first though. Hmmmph. The statistician in me would rather calculate a confidence interval. Sunday night is our church's Trunk or Treat. Basically a safe halloween event where people dress up their trunks (of their vehicles) and kiddos get sugary sweetness. Eric won't wear a costume, so we will see what he does this year.

I just got back from the 10 o'clock press conference for the Knoxville, errr I mean “Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon” which will be taking place on March 26th of 2006. The conference only last about 20 minutes and included the mayor of Knoxville Bill Haslam, Covenant Health Representatives Tony Spazio and Missy Kane, UT Athletic Director Mike Hamilton and the former and present Knoxville Marathon presidents Zane Hagy and Kevin Skurski.

The mayor talked about how well the marathon impacted the city through the information of a post race survey by Dr. Carol Costello. The amount of revenue that the city enjoyed was a breath of fresh air as the report estimated that $400,000 dollars were spent in the area over the weekend. He was also pleased that Covenant Health has signed on for two years as the featured sponsor. Covenant Health's Spazio and King revealed the first change of the morning, with the Knoxville Marathon being renamed to the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon. (I can see it referred to the Knoxville Marathon in the vernacular much as the ING New York City Marathon is commonly referred to as “New York Marathon” or simply “New York”).

Mike Hamilton expressed his thanks that UT and especially Neyland Stadium could be part of such a prestigious event. Even though the press conference was very laid back, Hagy provided some comic relief with his statement about those in the race needing hospitalization. “4 runners needed to be hospitalized after the race, with me being one of them, I can say that Covenant Health provided great care” - or something like that. Kruski, the present leader of the Marathon, officially revealed the date of the marathon this year 03.26.06, 7 months from today, which we already knew. He also announced a few changes for the upcoming year.

The biggest change will be a team competition to the marathon race. He didn't go into great detail, but awards will be given to the fastest team and also the team that completes the most cumulative miles. So, you don't have to be fast to win a team prize. He did mention that there might slight modifications of the course, but did not go into detail. He did mention that they are going to take the comments from last years and incorporate them into 2006, to make it bigger and better than 2005. Here are a few pictures from the conference:

Mayor Haslam welcomes everyone to the conference

Zane Hagy speaks about the success of the 2005 Knoxville Marathon

Kevin Skurski outlines some of the highlights of the 2006 Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon

No big changes to the 2005 logo, other than the name addition

Kevin reveals the date of the marathon on a timer clock

All runners are shown on the Jumbotron as the finish at the 50 yard line of Neyland Stadium

Here is the plan that I have created using the RW's “Train Less, Run Faster” article from the August 2005 edition. The article highlights the F.I.R.S.T. at Furman University (GO FU!) and their approach to training. It seems that this plan will fit into my schedule and I have devised a scheme, errr training regiment, that should be workable for me. The training program will be for the Knoxville Marathon on March 26th 2006. Last year, I was registered but was unable to run due to pneumonia complications.

Here is legend for the table:
Date/Day/Note - pretty obvious
Name - chronological identifier for the week. I prefer a 12 week training program, but I think that I should commit to a 16 week (standard time period) but you will notice that I have added 5 weeks called Base. This is the “I'm not in official training” but rather getting some mileage in to start official training already [insert pun here] a leg ahead
Day - This is the general classifications for my “Day”. Cross - Crosstraining, Easy - Runs at a comfortable pace, Long - runs that are 10 miles or more, Repeats - aka Intervals - run a distance fast recover run 1/2 distance repeat, Speed - 5k race pace, Tempo - Tempo Workouts something faster than easy but slower than intervals
Type - Short, med, Long and interval number which dictates the speed at which I should be running given the “Day” I am supposed to have
Mileage - The amount of distance that I am schedule to run
Distance - Same a Mileage, only in Repeats is the number of total meters to run at pace
Recovery - Repeats only, the amount of distance for the recovery runs between intervals
Total Mileage - Distance + Recovery
Faster End Pace / Slower End Pace - This is the window of pace that I should be running given the “Day” this pace was calculated from my last 10k run of 50:02 where my pace was 8:03 mile. I expect this to change as my training increases. Either way, the slower end of my “Long Run” is 9:18 a PR pace for me, but in most cases my Marathon pace (based on “Long” run pace) would be a 9:48 to 10:18
Weekly - Total Mileage for the week. By most standards, the mileage (20-30 miles per week) is not adequate for running a marathon. But to be honest, I have completed with very little mileage, so it will not be new territory

Most of my running will be done during my lunch time, but some will be after work. If I tutor this fall, I will have one day a week that I will be on campus until 9 or so. As a result, I will have an hour or so where I can run before having to go to tutoring. So those days will be a Twofer. Also, on Tuesdays I will be bringing Eric to preschool, so I will go in late, this will give me a chance to run in the am where I could get in as much as 5 miles, then at lunch can get the rest of mileage, another Twofer. Saturdays will be for long runs, which is nice because I can accommodate some KTC races on those days.

Comments? Suggestions? Leave a Comment!

I was excited to see that the swimming lanes were in the 50m configuration, this allows for less counting of laps and so it is easier to keep track of distance swam. I had bought some new goggles to replace the ones that were lost and then found. I scored a great deal at Wal-mart, they were $7 on clearance. I think I will have to go back to see if there are more left.

I ended up getting in 1200 meters today in roughly 30 or so minutes. There was one lap that everything was clicking, breathing, stroke and I was gliding in the water. If I had more time, I might have gone on for a little longer but I didn't want to wear myself out. After all, we have two bundles of energy at home!

Knoxville Marathon training will officially start on November 1st of this year. I will create my formal training schedule after I read the magazine article that Ray sent me (I did get it!). I am looking forward to NOT getting sick this year and having a great marathon. More to come on that in the next few weeks.

Next Race on the schedule is the Scholar's Run to be ran on August 20th. It is a challenging 5k with some “hills” on the course. I have a personal affection for this race, as it was my first 5k PR back in 1998 where I finished 5th in my age group. The next year, it was another PR (22:07) and I knocked off one minute from my personal course record. I have had decent showing at this race since then, mostly I use it as a gage for my fall speedwork, to see how slow I became after the summer months. It is part of the Ruby Tuesday's Triple Crown and makes me eligible for the triple crown prizes in December, also a nice incentive.

Prediction for this race is still in question… I would like to have a time less than 24:48 (8:00 min pace) but would really be happy with anything less than a 7:54 pace or a 24:30 time.

sunday was the inaugural Knoxville Marathon and I had initially signed up to be a runner, but two weeks ago, I was diagnosed with pneumonia and was unable to run the race for fear of a relapse. So, to be a part of the race, I decided that I would volunteer on Sunday during the race. This way, I can say that I have been a part of all the Knoxville Marathons (in years to come) but I will not be able to say that I “finished” them all. I will take what I can get!

On Wednesday, I received my assignment to be a course monitor at the intersection of Forest avenue and 10th Street. This spot was about at the 11.5 mile marker, a very flat 0.1 of a mile and right after a turn off a hill. I was able to have a great shot of the runners as they made their way in my direction. My main responsibility was for the safety of the runners, mostly from vehicles. Other responsibilities were to cheer on the runners and look for runners that may need any help and contact the lead so that medical personnel could arrive (luckily, I didn't need any of that).

I checked in right around 7:00am which was race start, they wanted us at our post 20 minutes before the first runners showed up. So for me, this was about 8:00am and so I needed to be there at 7:30. It was a short walk from volunteer check-in to my post. The day before, I had made little bags of pretzels and had bought the kids sized water bottles and Snack sized M&Ms for the runners. I also had prearranged with Marty that I would have a gel packet for him there but didn't tell him that I made him a bag of the secret weapon… shortbread cookie with the chocolate stripen. This reference dates back to my Mardi Gras Marathon in 2002 when I was very hungry around mile 14 and somebody had shortbread cookies with chocolate on them. They seemed to work wonders and Marty has “made fun” since I told him the story. Well, I thought that this would be the perfect time to “turn the tables” on him and give him the “shortbread cookie with the chocolate stripen” (said in a German accent).

The first half-marathoner came through around 7:56 or so. The leader Charles Kiwibot, who was the ultimate winner came through at 7:58, all by himself. He was easily a good 30-45sec ahead of the next runner at this point. At this point, more runners started to round the corner. I had made a sheet with runner's bib numbers and their name from the people that I met on the Knoxville Marathon Discussion Forum. Since I didn't know what they looked like, I could only tell them by their number. That lasted for about 10 minutes until the first of several motorists came to my intersection. The Fort Sander's area is home to Children's Hospital, Fort Sanders Medical Center and NHC nursing home. The course went along the perimeter of Fort Sanders to allow movement in and around the hospital. Unfortunately, there was an emergency during the race and so my street was a point of access toward the hospitals. Only one person made any type of fuss, although you could tell that some of the other people were very stressed that they had to wait for a break in the runners to go across the street.

I was able to see Ray G, John F, Marty V, Solange V, Tom H, Annette H and their friend Andre'a. One of the other forumites, Mary, had asked me to keep on the look out for her friend Pat, and if I did see to yell “Go Pat from Michigan!”. I did see her and yelled out to her. Mary told me later that Pat was very surprised to hear her name during the race.

At 10:00am my section of the course closed, which meant that if any runners were still on the course, they had to fend for themselves. At this point I had to go to the bathroom, so I actually jogged a little to Panera where I could relieve myself in comfort. I saw a lot of the 5k people in there and a few of the half marathoners as well. The batteries in my camera had died earlier (the reason fewer pictures), so I need to get some new ones. I went to the BP station across the street and was ready to pay the steep $4.29 for 4 AA batteries, but he only charged me $4 total…sweet. I busted my but over to the stadium since it was 10:15… 3 hours and 15 minutes into the course and the first people I knew should be finishing in 3:35. I jogged a little more through campus and up the hill, I was a little winded but felt fine.

I made it to the intersection just before the stadium, right about at the 26.1 point. I had my runner's sheet out since I had a good view of the runners as they made their way down the final stretch. I cheered on the runners as they went by. I found out that it was very fun to cheer people who had their name or nickname on the FRONT of their shirt… you could really yell out “GO BOB GO”! I caught alot of the Forum people off guard as I saw their number and yelled out their name. It was very satisfying. I got to see everyone except for Solange (she ran the half in 2:18). As I was cheering the runners on, I had heard a number of people forgetting to look at the Jumbotron! Yikes. Probably the funniest event while cheering runners was one lady who responded “I love youuuuu” in response to me cheering her on as she past. When Tom, Annette and Andre'a went to the finish, I went into the stadium to see what the finish line looked like.

I found Tom and Annette as they were leaving the field, and was able to chat with them for a bit. All the finishers received a “Finisher” Shirt as well as the medal. The medal was very nice. I was a square medal with the Knoxville logo, in color, with 2005 in Orange (they had to get orange in there somewhere, after all it IS Tennessee) and a dual colored ribbon of blue and green.

I was very excited and satisfied with my involvement with the Marathon. It makes me want to volunteer for more races here, I think it would be a very fun thing to do. I should get a kid carrier so that I can take Eric with me to these races and even Jen could go if Eric is in the Bird's Nest watching the runners. But I need a Kid Carrier first!

I was able to have my 2005 entry deferred to next year, so I am ready to run next year. I think though I will volunteer the day before the race… I think that would make it very rewarding, but NOTHING beats being a course monitor.